As a result of deterioration in the colour and polarisation of the VHP sugar caused by abnormal cane quality during October of the 1983/84 crushing season, it was decided to test a modified boiling system at Illovo as proposed by van Hengel at the SASTA Congress of 1983. The results achieved for the period before, during and after the trial are presented and compared. It was found that the qual...

Leaded pol analyses are used in sugar factories as an estimation of sucrose for factory control purposes and for cane payment. Health and environmental concerns associated with the use of lead for sample clarification has put pressure on the use of this method. Near infrared (NIR) polarimetry has been investigated as an alternative worldwide and the South African sugar industry has decided to r...

Problems related to the use of personal protective equipment (PPE), specially the use of protective gloves for the manual sugar cane cutting, motivated this research, made possible by a tripartite negotiation involving the Ministry of Labor, the Union of Rural Workers and the Employer's Association of sugarcane agribusiness. The main objective was to evaluate, from an ergonomics perspective, th...

Particleboards can be manufactured from particles of any lignin-cellulosic material that can be combined with an adhesive and consolidated under the action of temperature and pressure. Because the raw materials in the industrial process are continually changing, the particleboard industry requires methods for monitoring the quality of their products. Hence, the aim of this paper was to evaluate...

OBJECTIVES To investigate the risk of lung cancer among sugar cane farmers and sugar mill workers. METHODS A case-control study was conducted based in six hospitals in the predominantly sugar cane farming districts of the province of Maharashtra in India. Newly diagnosed, histologically confirmed cases were identified from these hospitals between May 1996 and April 1998. Other cancers were ch...

The passing on of a gold-headed cane from an older to a younger physician as a sign of high regard and affection became a common practice in the eighteenth century.2,3 This tradition was imaginatively captured in The Gold-Headed Cane, written in 1827 by William Macmichael.1,4 Through nine editions, the book has acquired an elevated status in medicine, and the presentation of a gold-headed cane ...

The greater cane rats (Thryonomys swinderianus) and African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) are among the largest rodents in Africa, undergoing domestications for meat and research purposes. The aim of this study was to explore whether there are any quantitative anatomical gastrointestinal adaptations associated with their omnivorous or herbivorous diets. In the African giant rat, the...

Canebrakes are monodominant stands of cane (Arundinaria gigantea [Walter] Muhl .), a bamboo native to and once prominent in the southeastern USA. Canebrakes were important wildlife habitat within the bottomland hardwood forest ecosystem. They have been reduced in areal coverage by an estimated 98 % since European settlement due to land conversion and the drastic alteration of disturbance regime...

The results obtained from 17 030 samples of cane taken by grab samplers at five Huletts mills during the 1975176 season were analysed for extraneous matter. They indicate a mean of approximately 10 0/, on gross cane. The benefits of a reduction to 7 % are estimated and a proposed programme to achieve this target is outlined. Introduction Oliver Lyle in one of his entertaining and highly informa...

To justify the cost effectiveness of sex pheromones for the control of the stem borer Chilo sacchariphagus Bojer in sugarcane, the relationship between the per cent internodes bored and the various yield parameters, i.e. pol % cane, purity, fibre % cane, industrial recoverable sugar % cane (IRSC) and weight had to be determined. Analyses were made on cane samples, with varying degrees of infest...