The University of Pretoria has been active in research on dynamical systems since 1982. These activities eventually culminated in the establishment of the Dynamic Systems Group (DSG) in 2000. While the DSG originally focused primarily on vibrations, structural dynamics and fatigue, a strong activity was soon established in vibration based condition monitoring. These activities gradually expanded to include the maintenance engineering activity in the department, which is supported by Anglo American, Eskom, Sasol and Exxaro. In January 2012 a specialist centre was established with the support of Eskom to expand these activities even further to the broader field of physical asset management.
The DSG research therefore currently entails a range of activities which include:
1. Machine and structural condition monitoring, modeling and assessment
2. Vibration based condition monitoring and signal processing
3. Mathematical and computational modeling of structures.
4. Structural fatigue testing and analysis
5. Engineering optimization
6. Maintenance engineering and optimization, reliability and risk management
7. Physical Asset Management
The group actively co-operates with industry and many of its projects and programs are supported through industry funding.
TuksGolf Training Centre officially opened at the University of Pretoria - 17/05/2013
The University of Pretoria prides itself on its publicly recognised achievements pertaining to its various sporting fraternities. These achievements can be attributed to the University’s sporting facilities, which are of the highest quality among South African universities. To add to its quality achievements, the University of Pretoria, through TuksSport and the High Performance Centre (hpc), has now officially opened a golf training centre.
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South African law professor to report to the United Nations on Lethal Robots - 16/05/2013
South African human rights law professor, Christof Heyns, will submit a widely anticipated report on Lethal Autonomous Robots (LARs) to the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council on 29 May 2013.
Prof Heyns, from the University of Pretoria (UP), was appointed as UN Special Rapporteur on extra-judicial, summary or arbitrary executions in 2010. During last year, he conducted worldwide research on the question whether states should be allowed to use LARs - weapons that, once deployed, can use lethal force without further human intervention - during war, or peace.
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A continental Leadership Transformation Programme established - 15/05/2013
The African Union’s New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Albert Luthuli Centre for Responsible Leadership (ALCRL) recently co-hosted a roundtable aimed at establishing a continental leadership transformation programme.
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