UCT Open Access Journals (Univ. of Cape Town)
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Promoting global clinical care and research for children with orthopaedic disabilities through motion analysis technology
Get PDFHuman motion analysis is a tool used to understand orthopaedic disabilities in children and to plan and monitor treatment strategies. It enables clinicians to quantitatively describe rehabilitative progress, plan surgeries, and conduct research. While this technology is prevalent in major academic medical centers, access is lacking in many regions throughout the world. This paper presents a novel approach to offer more accessible technology at greatly reduced cost. Current applications are underway in the Philippines, Mexico, and Colombia. Through international partnerships, improvements in clinical care, medical education, and research have been observed
Potentiality of the South African Construction SMME Contractors Globalising within and Beyond the SADC Construction Markets
Get PDFThe African continent stands on the verge of developmental take-off, most especially the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region being one of the emerging economies. The 15 years SADC strategic plan for implementation of infrastructure and construction development is believed to stimulate economic, social and technological advancement; and increase the competitiveness and sustainability amongst the Small, Medium and Micro Enterprises (SMME) and large contractors within the region and globe. The major problem is that most of the SMME contractors within South Africa, which have the potential to grow into large construction companies and, to further internationalise their businesses lacks the global readiness. Thus, the global thrusts have generated the concepts of globalizing business strategy and operations, as one of the drivers of competitiveness of many countries and organisations. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the potential of the South African construction SMME
/contractor's capability for globalizing within and beyond the SADC construction market. This study was conducted among the construction SMME contractors in Port Elizabeth, the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. The qualitative research method was adopted an in-depth interviewing technique with 34 contractors (civil engineering and general building contractors) within the cidb grade 4 to 6 contractors. These SMMEs are being perceived to have the potential capacity to become large-scale construction organisations shortly. Findings revealed that only two SMME contractors are operating internationally while other contracting firms are currently sustainable and competitive in the domestic market, and however, few are planning to go global. The study also revealed that most of the SMME contractors are reluctant to amplify their potential capabilities, and needed the readiness to develop international business strategies that would enable them to penetrate and participate in the SADC region and global construction market. The study recommends that the SA construction contractors both SMME and large contractors should strive earnestly to harness their potential capacity towards globalizing their businesses, strategies and operations frameworks that would foster their global competitiveness.
Keywords: Business Strategies, Capability, Globalisation, SMME Contractors, South Africa
Water, birds, and biodiversity - key elements of education
Get PDFGiven the reality of the water crisis in the Western Cape (WC), especially in the City of Cape Town and the satellite towns, a unique opportunity exists to use the combination of the Paarl Bird Sanctuary and the Drakenstein Waste Water Treatment Works (PBS/WWTW) for education about water and related facts. Severe drought is not the only reason for the shortage of fresh water. It is likely that the water requirements of the burgeoning human population of the province, together with the need to use water to irrigate food crops, now exceed the water resources of the WC, despite the storage created in dams. An associated fact is that in the WC a large proportion of employed people work in Agriculture, both directly and indirectly. So any cut in water for irrigation, would increase unemployment and intensify poverty, which are already huge problems. The overall predicament has /country-wide, and even global implications, emphasising the need for water-related education
Towards Improved Performance in Marketing: The Use of Property-based websites by Estate Surveyors and Valuers in Lagos, Nigeria
Get PDFThe increase in globalisation has changed marketing strategies available to professionals within the built environment. This study investigated the marketing methods most used in Lagos’ metropolis. It assessed the extent to which estate surveyors and valuers in Nigeria have adopted property-based websites for the marketing of their real estate services. A random sampling method was used to obtain data from 82 estate surveyors and valuers within Lagos’ metropolis. The data were analysed with SPSS V24 (statistical software), using Friedman’s Test and One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The study concluded that conventional/traditional methods of marketing dominate the marketing activities of estate surveyors and valuers, weakening agency practice in Nigeria in relation to the current global context
Editorial
Get PDFWelcome to Volume 3, Issue 2 of the Journal of African Real Estate Research. This will be my final issue as Editor-in-Chief of JARER, and it has been a great pleasure to be a part of the journal’s recent relaunch. I am very confident of the journal’s continued success under the stewardship of my successor who will be announced in the new year. I am very grateful for the opportunity to play such an important role in the advancement of real estate research on the African continent
An Evaluation of Risk Factors and their Impact on Road Project
No full textConstruction projects are generally known to be susceptible to risks. This results in an inability to meet performance targets. This paper assessed the risk factors encountered in the delivery of road projects in Osun State, Nigeria. A questionnaire survey was used to obtain data from all the 146 construction professionals involved in the construction of the 34 road projects executed in the study area. The professionals comprised of 34 Consultant Civil Engineers, 34 Consultants’ Civil Engineers, 34 Consultant Quantity Surveyors, 34 Consultants’ Quantity Surveyors, one project financier and 9 Project Managers, making a total of 146 respondents. Using two-dimensional scaling, the respondents were asked to provide opinions on risk occurrence and their impacts on road projects. The data collected were analysed using mean ranking analysis and student t-test. A further analysis was carried out using factor analysis to reduce the factors impacting road projects into fewer factor components. The results revealed that the risk factors with high extent of occurrence are in the order of change in scope of work, defective design, error and re-work, change in design, delay in availability of design details and unforeseen adverse conditions. Surprisingly, the top ranking risk factors are not the ones with high impact based on the result of the analysis. Using factor analysis, 9 component factors regarding the extent of risk occurrence were obtained and they accounted for 73.73% of the variance explained while 4- component factors were obtained regarding the impact of risk occurrence and they accounted for 46.16% of the variance explained. The study concluded that professionals involved in the delivery of road projects need to be aware of the significant risk factors impacting road projects and put proactive risk management approach in place to deal with them to avoid surprises.Keywords: Performance, Projects, Risk factors, Risk impact, Road
PREDATION OF YELLOW-BILLED HORNBILL ON ADULT SOUTHERN GREY-HEADED SPARROW: n/a
No full textThe article describes a predation incident of a yellow-billed hornbill on an adult southern grey-headed sparrow that took place at the Mabuasehube area of the Kgalagadi Transfrontier Park, Botswana
CYCAD SEED DISPERSAL: THE IMPORTANCE OF LARGE FRUGIVOROUS BIRDS
Get PDFObservations of relatively large frugivorous birds, e.g. Purple-crested Turaco, feeding on cycad fruit are provided and contextualized in the important role they play in seed dispersal
Systematic atlasing in Hessequa - Moving from mapping to monitoring
Get PDFThe Stilbaai Bird Group is atlasing in a structured and co-ordinated way to contribute towards the objectives of SABAP2. This paper documents the targets set and achieved over the period 1 October 2014 to 30 November 2017