Many researchers (Cronin&Taylor: 1992, 1994, Grönroos, 1984; Parasuraman, Zeithaml&Berry: 1985, 1988) have devoted considerable attention to the development and testing of models for the measurement of service quality. Although some researchers (Chang&Yeh, 2002; Otto&Ritchie, 1996; Sergio&Hudson 2006) paid attention to service quality research within the tourism industry, little is known about service quality research within the business tourism sector and specifically at an International Convention Centre (ICC). Service quality focuses on the standard of service delivery and the interaction between the customer and the service provider in order to ensure that the customer’s expectations are met (Hernon, 2001:1; Palmer, 2005:64). The literature addresses several models for service quality for example “SERVQUAL” (Parasuraman et al., 1985, 1988), the “Servicescape” model developed by Booms and Bitner (1981:39) and the “Servuction” model (Eiglier&Langeard, 1987 in Palmer, 2005:82). SERVQUAL plays a more important role in the measurement of the service quality at a service firm, i.e. an ICC, than “Servicescape”. SERVQUAL focuses on five service quality dimensions: (1) tangible; (2) reliability; (3) responsiveness; (4) assurance and (5) empathy as identified by Parasuraman et al. (1988:23), while “Servicescape” covers the physical features of a service firm. In this study the researcher seeks to add some conceptual insight to the theoretical literature on service quality. This paper explores the use of the SERVQUAL model at an ICC as a diagnostic tool and examines the difficulties that arise with regards to the measurement of the gaps in service quality in the convention consumer market segments, both domestically and internationally. Suggestions are made that the full value of SERVQUAL may not be fully realised if the measurement processes are not well executed. It may be easy to adapt the SERVQUAL model and implement it in a survey (i.e. the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) ICC) and continue to measure the outcomes, but if that is not acted on it becomes a futile exercise. / Dissertation (MCom (Tourism Management))--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Tourism Management / unrestricted

M.Tech. (Construction Management) / This research provides an overview of intra-organisational centralised/decentralised structures and inter-organisational consortia. It then aims to provide a theoretical explanation of Management Shared Services, prior to providing case study evidence of management shared services performance and proposed areas of improvement, comprising business units and services departments of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The research provides empirical evidence of the proposed improvement areas of selected processes of management shared services as a viable structural option for improving services provided to the business units and a starter to currently untapped reservoir of potential research. It suggests an additional improvement options to be considered in determining the optimum management shared services model and to provide business case evidence and suggestions for optimum usage of the management shared services. The research assessed the actual level of performance of Management Shared Services Unit in order to provide a basis on which to identify potentials for efficiently improving and optimising existing Management Shared Services Unit. The research identified two areas as success areas in the current set-up and six other areas as requiring improvement if Management Shared Services Unit is to serve the purpose of providing non-core services to the Business Units. The first area of success is the organisation, governance and compliance in the Management Shared Services Unit. The second is in the area systems and technology. The areas identified by research as requiring improvement are strategy, customer relations, human resources, business processes, performance management and continuous improvement.

A low-cost titanium production process, the CSIR-Ti powder process, which aims to produce titanium powder directly by metallothermic reduction of titanium tetrachloride with lithium, has been under development at the Council for Industrial and Scientific Research (CSIR). Crude titanium powder produced using the CSIR-Ti process is inevitably contaminated with by-products such as lithium chloride, lithium and titanium dichloride. These by-products tend to become sources of impurities in titanium powder, specifically oxygen and chloride impurities. The presence of oxygen and chloride impurities has marked effects on the mechanical properties of titanium finished products. Consequently, for the crude titanium powder to be rendered useful downstream, it must be purified and the by-products reduced to concentrations specified in the commercial standards. The present study was undertaken to examine whether acid leaching could be used to selectively dissolve and prevent hydrolysis of the by-products—specifically excess lithium and unreacted titanium dichloride in the crude titanium powder produced by the CSIR-Ti process. A further objective was to determine whether a purified product that meets both oxygen and total residual chloride content as specified by the standards can be achieved. The effects of key leaching variables and their interaction were also investigated to gain fundamental understanding of these effects on the by-products leaching behaviour. A literature study to select a suitable lixiviant and to establish the aqueous chemistry of the byproducts and their effect on the leaching conditions was undertaken. It showed that of the various acids suggested in the literature, hydrochloric acid was the cheapest and that it was more suited for the CSIR-Ti leaching process than nitric acid, due to the common ion chloride. This simplifies the leachate purification process downstream. The literature study established that Ti(II) has no aqueous chemistry but instead is oxidised to Ti(III) in solution. It was found that Ti(III) is easily oxidised to TiO2+ by dissolved oxygen and water. However, the oxidation rate was slow in hydrochloric acid solutions with the advantage that hydrolysis of the ions could be minimised and the precipitation of the oxides or oxychlorides prevented. It was further revealed that the lithium neutralisation reaction is highly exothermic, with the possibility of raising the leachate temperature to 60°C, resulting in the contamination of the titanium powder particles by the oxide layer and precipitated hydrolysis products. Batch leaching tests were carried out using factorial design of experiments to investigate the effect of initial hydrochloric acid concentration, which was estimated by varying the concentration between 0.032 M and 1 M; particle size, which was varied between −10 mm and +10 mm; and the initial temperature, varied between 14°C and 30°C. The resulting data were modelled and analysed using the analysis of variance statistical method. The solid residues were analysed for oxygen and total residual chloride content. The solid residue was also characterised by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to examine the morphology of the leached particles. Leaching kinetics model fitting was also conducted. The statistical analysis showed that of the three factors investigated, temperature was the factor with the most statistical significance on both the oxygen and chloride concentration in the purified product, followed by particle size. The effect of acid concentration proved to be minimal, a phenomenon attributed to low concentrations of acid-consuming impurities, specifically excess lithium in the crude product. Thus, the two concentrations of hydrochloric acid investigated were found to be efficient to prevent hydrolysis product formation. Scanning electron micrographs revealed that crushing the crude product with a jaw crusher occluded crude titanium pores, thus locking in some by-products in addition to the pores locked by sintering during the metallothermic reduction. The observation showed that residual chloride impurities in the purified product are not just a consequence of hydrolysis products but also byproducts locked deeper in the pores of the product. Based on the parameter ranges evaluated in the study, a product that satisfied both oxygen and chloride standard specifications was achieved when the crude product was leached in both 1 M and 0.032 M initial HCl concentrations, temperature of 30°C and particle size of +10 mm. The combination of (−10 mm and 14°C) at all concentrations also yielded acceptable oxygen and chloride content levels. Overall, it was concluded from the present work that purification of crude CSIR-Ti product by leaching in dilute HCl is technically feasible. / Dissertation (MSc Applied Sciences (Metallurgy))--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Materials Science and Metallurgical Engineering / MSc (Applied Sciences (Metallurgy)) / Unrestricted

Pavement layers are constructed using a combination of materials, of which rock aggregates constitute a larger proportion. Current understanding is that the performance of pavements is dependent on the aggregate shape properties which include form, angularity and surface texture. However, direct and accurate measurements of aggregate shape properties remain a challenge. The current standard test methods used to evaluate aggregate shape properties cannot measure these properties accurately. Among the reasons contributing to the difficulties in the determination of aggregate shape properties is irregular shapes of aggregate particles. Therefore, current research efforts focus on developing accurate, reliable and innovative techniques for evaluation of aggregate shape properties. The work presented in this dissertation contributes to the current innovative research at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in South Africa, to automate the measurement of aggregate shape properties. The CSIR’s present research is aimed at improving pavement performance through better materials characterisation, using laser scanning and advanced modelling techniques. The objective of this study was to investigate improved techniques for the determination of aggregate shape properties using analytical and laser scanning techniques. A three-dimensional (3-D) laser scanning device was used for scanning six types of aggregate samples commonly used for construction of pavements in South Africa. The laser scan data were processed to reconstruct 3-D models of the aggregate particles. The models were further analysed to determine the shape properties of the aggregates. Two analysis approaches were used in this study. The first approach used the aggregate’s physical properties (surface area, volume and orthogonal dimensions) measured by using laser scanning technique to compute three different indices to describe the form of aggregates. The computed indices were the sphericity computed by using surface area and volume of an aggregate particle, the sphericity computed by using orthogonal dimensions of an aggregate particle, and the flat and elongated ratio computed by using longest and smallest dimensions of an aggregate particle. The second approach employed a spherical harmonic analysis technique to analyse the aggregate laser scan data to determine aggregate form, angularity and surface texture indices. A MATLABTM code was developed for analysis of laser scan data, using the spherical harmonic analysis technique. The analyses contained in this dissertation indicate that the laser-based aggregate shape indices were able to describe the shape properties of the aggregates studied. Furthermore, good correlations were observed between the spherical harmonic form indices and the form indices determined by using the aggregate’s physical properties. This shows that aggregate laser scanning is a versatile technique for the determination of various indices to describe aggregate shape properties. Further validation of the laser-based technique was achieved by correlating the laser-based aggregate form indices with the results from two current standard tests; the flakiness index and the flat and elongated particles ratio tests. The laser-based form indices correlated linearly with both, the flakiness index and the flat and elongated particles ratio test results. The observed correlations provide an indication of the validity of laser-based aggregate shape indices. It is concluded that the laser based scanning technique could be employed for direct and accurate determination of aggregate shape properties. / Dissertation (MEng)--University of Pretoria, 2013. / gm2013 / Civil Engineering / Unrestricted

The Innovation Hub project is a strategic partnership between the Gauteng Provincial Government's Blue IQ initiative, and SERA, the Southern Education and Research Alliance, a partnership between the University of Pretoria and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research. The site for the proposed development forms part of the Agricultural Research Farm of the University of Pretoria and calls for a synergy between urban development, architecture, and the natural surrounding. The Naledi 3D Virtual Reality factory forms part of numerous companies involved in cutting edge technology which is to be associated with the development. In this computer age, which can be compared to the industrial era in terms of the revolutionisation of our daily lives, architecture has to respond. Buildings need to be designed to ensure the productive interaction between man, machine and the natural environment. Copyright 2003, University of Pretoria. All rights reserved. The copyright in this work vests in the University of Pretoria. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the University of Pretoria. Please cite as follows: Bergh, FS 2003, Hyperlink : the Naledi 3D virtual reality factory, MArch(Prof) dissertation, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, viewed yymmdd < http://upetd.up.ac.za/thesis/available/etd-11242003-105302 / > / Dissertation (MArch (Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2005. / Architecture / unrestricted