Botswana Ash (Pty) Ltd which is situated in Sua Pan, north east Bostwana, is one of Africa's largest suppliers of salt and soda ash. For a number of years, the company has been experiencing problems which have resulted in the final soda ash product being contaminated and discoloured. The problems experienced at Sua Pan have been reported also to occur in other salt works all over the world. It has been suggested that contamination in many salt works could be possibly be due to the microbial activity by halophilic algae and bacteria that grow in the solar ponds. This study was undertaken to investigate the nature of the contaminating organic compounds present in the brine, to identify the compounds, and to establish how these components vary during the various stages of the soda ash processing. For this study, two sets of brine samples were used; the first set was collected before the summer rains and the second set was collected after the summer rains. Solid bicarbonate and soda ash samples were also used. Extractions, desalting, UV and HPLC analysis and oxidative biotransformations using four enzymes, were used for developing profiles and characterizing the brine components. From these studies, we were able to confirm that the components of the brine are organic in nature. A thorough study of one of the compounds isolated,from solid bicarbonate and soda ash was conducted using UV, HPLC, IR, NMR, HPLC-MS, GC-MS and TLC. The results of these analyses, show that the. isolated compound was benzyl butyl phthalate which is generally regarded to be humic in nature. This compound was found to be present in all the brine samples collected after the summer rains including the well brine, suggesting this compound occurs naturally and is not formed during the processing.

As a contribution to the existing knowledge of grooming in primates five and a half years of grooming data were examined from a group of free-living chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) in the Budongo Forest, Uganda, to investigate various functional significances of grooming behaviour within the context of social reinforcement. The fission–fusion social structure of chimpanzees results in group members not moving around as a single unit, but forming temporary units as the need arises. This reduces opportunities for individuals to groom others and therefore, based on time and association constraints alone, grooming was as expected found to be unevenly distributed among group members. Grooming patterns found among this group of chimpanzees were comparable to those observed in other free-living populations with variations possibly being attributed to resource base, population numbers and differences in age-sex class composition. One of the suggested social benefits of grooming is that it is used to enhance reproductive success, either by allowing males to enhance their proximity to oestrous females, or by influencing female choice through the development of affiliative relationships with males. Grooming was found to increase between males and females, whilst females displayed sexual receptivity through the presence of anogenital swellings and grooming may be a strategy used by males to increase their access to copulation opportunities, whereas females may use grooming to increase protection from harassment by less preferred males during swollen periods and also increase the likelihood of copulation with preferred partners. Based on the availability of oestrous females, copulations between males and adult females occurred significantly less frequently than expected, whereas copulations between males and subadult females occurred significantly more frequently than expected. Overall a positive correlation was found between grooming of females by males and frequency of copulations. Due to concerns regarding the validity of different sampling methods, scan-focal and ad libitum sampling methods were compared to establish if results from different sampling methods were similar. Results from the scan-focal and ad libitum sampling methods had very few discrepancies, and it is suggested that ad libitum sampling methods which record behaviour types whenever they occur, may be more beneficial for species which don’t move around as a single unit and live in environments where visibility is reduced, therefore increasing the possibility of recording individuals or behaviours that are observed infrequently. Scan-focal sampling may be more beneficial in studying species which move around together in habitats which are conducive to greater visibility, therefore allowing all or most group members to be observed simultaneously. / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Zoology and Entomology / unrestricted

No description available.

La presente investigación, tiene como objetivo principal "Determinar el nivel de influencia de las habilidades sociales y el talento emprendedor en las mujeres de la organización Pan-Soy, 2016". Por lo tanto, se formuló el siguiente interrogante: ¿Cómo son las habilidades sociales y el talento emprendedor en las mujeres de la organización Pan-Soy?, debido a esta pregunta la respuesta se basó en encontrar la relación entre ambas variables, a través del análisis de correlación de Pearson la cual permite medir y definir la relación (directa o indirecta), respecto a las variables. Como sustento científico de la investigación, se desarrolló una aproximación conceptual tomando aportes provenientes de las habilidades sociales y el emprendimiento integrando trabajos empíricos validados científicamente. La población de la organización Pan-Soy es de 1290 mujeres que son capacitadas a través de incubación empresarial, por este motivo se consideró una muestra probabilística usando la fórmula de tamaño de muestra finita en 153 beneficiarias del Programa Pan Soy, realizada en el 2014. La metodología de investigación, se aplicó un diseño cuantitativo debido a que permite evaluar las variables sociales y el emprendimiento junto con la trayectoria (experiencias), posibilidades de desarrollo de los negocios. Además se usó el tipo de estudios no experimentales y transaccionales. Los resultados demostraron que existe una relación entre las capacidades de las habilidades sociales y el talento emprendedor en 57%, situación que hace sostener que las habilidades pueden ir perfeccionando si estas interactúan socialmente. Dentro de este contexto, las habilidades más representativas están determinadas por la motivación, el liderazgo, el trabajo grupal, acompañados por el compromiso y la responsabilidad. Finalmente, se analizaron las características de las emprendedoras, el uso de estrategias y los resultados económicos logrados. / Trabajo de investigación

No description available.

The subject of this diploma thesis is costructional design gastronomical multifunction tilting pan with capacity 100 l. CAD model of equipment is designed in Autodesk Inventor 2008. Engineering design of equipment is supported by analytical calculation as well as strtuctural analyses in software Ansys Workbench 11.

This document describes implementation of photo slideshow editor. This editor can be used to create dynamic sequences from taken photos. Image taken by camera is projected onto three-dimensional sphere and drawn to screen. Then it is posible to rotate and zoom camera over image. Visual output of this editor makes moving over image more real. If panoramic image is used, user is able to free look around. This document describes method which can translate two-dimensional coordinates to three-dimensional space. Shows how to use transformations for moving camera and methods to implement camera zoom. Contains description of user interface and also mentions extensions that were implemented in editor.

"This study attempts to provide a picture of how parliaments have been contributing to the protection of human rights and democracy and how the Pan-African Parliament (PAP) can draw lessons from the different mechanisms adopted by these parliaments. This study consists of five chapters. The first chapter sets out the problem that this study aims to address and reviews existing studies that have touched upon the issue. The second chapter discusses the dynamics that lead to the establishment of the continental parliament by putting it in the context of continental efforts towards better human rights protection and democratic consolidation. It also discusses the objectives of the parliament and particularly its human rights and democartic mandate. The third chapter sets out a framework for analysis. This is done by examining how parliaments have been dealing with issues of human rights and democracy with particular focus on the European Parliament (EP). This chapter looks at the different structures and mechanisms that the parliaments have employed towards this end but also tries to look further into the powers and compositions of parliaments that [have] enabled them to use such mechanisms and effectively engage in the promotion of human rights and democracy. The fourth chapter discusses in detail the powers, functions and their implications on how PAP promotes human rights and democracy. The activities so far carried out, institutional mechanisms adopted and the potential role it could have and mechanisms it could employ by taking lessons from the design, internal workings, and mechanisms discussed in the previous chapter is provided. Finally the relevant conclusions will be made with recommendations on the way forward for the continental institution in terms of organisation, composition, structures and mechanisms it could adopt towards promotion of human rights and democracy." -- Introduction. / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

Biocatalytic membranes (BMs) have promising applications in a diversity of fields including food, pharmaceutical and water treatment industries. Of particular relevance, Alcalase is a commercially important protease that has been applied for the production of peptides from the hydrolysis of proteins. In this study, two different approaches were applied for the modification of electrospun polyacrylonitrile nanofibrous membranes (EPNMs) for Alcalase immobilization. The first approach is alkali modification of EPNMs followed by EDC/NHS coupling for covalent bonding with Alcalase, whereas the other is based on polydopamine coating with or without glutaraldehyde grafting as a covalent linker. Immobilized Alcalase on these prepared BMs were studied and compared with free enzymes. It was found that the stabilities of Alcalase on BMs created using both approaches were improved, which enabled their reuse of 10 cycles with significant retention of enzymatic activity. A continuous reactor housing BMs were tested for hydrolysis of both model substrate, azo-casein and soybean meal protein (SMP). It was found that decreasing flux could improve the extent of hydrolysis and that a single-layer reactor can hydrolyze about 50% of the substrate to peptides with the molecular weight of 10 kDa or less. Hydrolysis of SMPs was demonstrated in a continuous five-layer BM reactor and both BMs showed excellent hydrolysis capacity. This study provides the groundwork for the development of high-efficiency BM for continuous and cost-effective protein hydrolysis for the production of value-added peptides.

Increasing anthropogenic alterations propelled by a growing human population paired with ecological perturbations and climate change has amplified rates of disease transmission at the human-wildlife interface. While attention has focused primarily on diseases that cause high rates of morbidity and mortality, there is a dearth of research on more common, non-lethal “mild” infections. However, despite less obvious and immediate consequences, these infections still have long-term effects on both public health and the conservation of wildlife. Currently, disease research is primarily cross-sectional, with a lack of longitudinal studies, leading to an undervaluation of the dynamic nature of disease systems. In addition to pathogen monitoring, concurrently being able to measure immune system activation will help to clarify the effects of non-lethal diseases on host health and to provide further insights into life-history trade-offs. Here, I investigated malaria parasite (Plasmodium spp.) infections, a “mild” disease, in wild habituated chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) residing in Taï National Park (TNP), Côte d'Ivoire. I used historical biological samples collected from non-human primates (including chimpanzees) and humans, as well as collected mosquitoes within their habitat. First, I identified longitudinal patterns of malaria parasite prevalence detected in chimpanzee faeces; next, I validated a biomarker of immune system activation, urinary neopterin, in wild chimpanzees; and lastly, within a larger ecological framework, I examined the interface of malaria parasite transmission between humans and non-human primates sharing a habitat. With a longitudinal study design, I found substantial intra- and inter-annual fluctuations in the faecal detection of malaria parasites across four non-consecutive sampling periods between 2004 and 2015. Peaks were observed during wet seasons—suggesting that environmental factors relating to vector abundance determine infection patterns. A higher prevalence was also detected in younger individuals, suggesting that the availability of susceptible hosts plays a role. With variations in parasite detection, similar trends should also be observed in health status. Urinary neopterin, an early inflammation marker of the non-specific immune response, increases during malaria parasite infections in humans and has been validated as a marker of immune system activation in laboratory and captive non-human primates. However, it was unclear whether it would be sensitive enough to provide a clear signal in mild diseases against the back-drop of co-infections commonly seen in wildlife. Therefore, we first needed to validate urinary neopterin as a biomarker of immune system activation during severe disease in wild animals. I measured urinary neopterin before, during, and after a severe respiratory outbreak and showed that levels corresponded to respiratory symptoms and predicted mortality. While urinary neopterin is sensitive enough to detect changes in immune system activation during severe disease, future research should still aim to validate its use in mild diseases, such as malaria. Finally, human-to-animal disease transmission is known to occur in TNP, with direct declines in chimpanzee populations observed that resulted from several outbreaks caused by human respiratory diseases. Given the zoonotic origin of malaria parasites in humans, I examined the genetic diversity of malaria parasites infecting humans and non-human primates sharing a habitat. Mosquitoes were also captured to identify potential vectors that may bridge transmission between host species. Only P. malariae was found in both humans and chimpanzees—however, the directionality of cross-species transmission would require a larger sample size to correctly assess. Additionally, no anopheline mosquitoes, the only known vector of mammalian malaria parasites, or mosquitoes positive for human- or great ape-specific malaria parasites were captured—suggesting that transmission events may be rare due to the sparsity of vectors in this region. This thesis shows that malaria epidemiology is a temporally and spatially diverse system that requires the use of longitudinal datasets and diverse sampling schemes. This thesis provides a baseline of data on which future malaria parasite research can build. Additionally, the validation of urinary neopterin will allow researchers to pursue questions on how mild diseases affect host health and to investigate questions relating to strategies and variations in life history trade-offs. This thesis is relevant for research on wildlife disease ecology, eco-immunology, and in the creation of pathogen and health surveillance programs.