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Privatisation of Prisons and Prison Services in South Africa
No full textThis study explored options for the provision of efficient prison services in South Africa. The researcher compared public and private prisons with respect to costs, quality, accountability and impact on jobs. The study also drew lessons from the international experience on prison privatisation.
The primary objective of the study was to develop practical options for privatisation of prison and prison services in South Africa. The study includes a literature review as well as an assessment and selection of theoretical frameworks. The researcher relied on reports and legislation(s) with respect to prison privatisation. A case study was developed on three countries where prison privatisation had gained momentum (USA, Australia and UK). In Africa, at the research report focused on Lesotho, Malawi and Botswana, focusing on the extent of overcrowding and prison privatisation in these respective countries.
The study found that, the legislation regulating private prisons favours private contractors and needs to be revisited. It also emerged that the privatisation of prisons and prison services has become an international trend, spreading to other continents such as Africa, Asia and South America.
The study also found that the project on private prisons was rushed and not properly piloted in South Africa, however, it also came out that private prisons could coexist alongside private prisons. The general claim that private prisons are cheaper than public prisons could not be proved, especially in relation to South Africa. The main finding in relation to costs was that, private prisons have at least helped to come up with a formula to establish how much it really costs to keep a person in prison.
Finally, the study concluded that the topic on prison privatisation needs further exploration and that; there is a need for renewed partnerships between private and public prisons that would be mutually beneficial
Genetic diversity of maize landraces from Tanzania as compared with commercial improved varieties and elite lines through morphological characterization
No full textMaize production challenges require well-known genetic diversity to ensure effective improvement. The study aimed at conducting a morphological evaluation on 50 maize landraces from Tanzania compared with 7 commercial varieties and 11 elite lines from CIMMYT, Kenya. The experiments were conducted in randomized complete block design at three locations in the Arusha region, Tanzania. Data were collected on 19 quantitative and 12 qualitative traits that were subjected to analysis of variance, descriptive and multivariate statistics. Significant variations (p<0.05) were observed for all traits while higher contribution for accessions variability was found with yield, a thousand kernel weight, flowering traits, kernel, ear, and vegetative plant characteristics. Commercial varieties were characterized by significant yield (107.4g per plant) and yield-related parameters of (a thousand seed weight, number of rows per ear, ear diameter, ear length) also early days to tasseling and silking of 67.7 and 73 respectively. CIMMYT elite lines were characterized by significant low plant and ear height of 138.9cm and 50.6cm respectively as well as flint kernel type. Landraces were more diverse in every trait evaluated with a significant long anthesis-silking interval of 7.5 days and a large ear height of 95.9cm. Some landraces (eg TZA 2793 and TZA 5170) expressed significant traits that would be tapped for further crop improvement. Other landraces clustered themselves irregularly in terms of their collection sites within their major group due to the selection and exchange of seeds. Thus, farmers as custodians of landraces are supposed to be involved in systematic selection and breeding
International Entrepreneurship by African Firms: A Discussion on Constraints and Capabilities
No full textThis paper offers a conceptual assessment of some constraints associated with development of dynamic capabilities, for achieving a competitive advantage by African firms in international context. The paper advances the extant international entrepreneurship and dynamic capabilities literature by specifically highlighting the role of financial, managerial, institutional, and spiritual factors in relation to the development of capabilities needed for success in international markets.
Several strategies including human resource management and human capital development practices which can potentially strengthen the dynamic capabilities linked to international entrepreneurial competitiveness of African firms are also suggested based on the conceptual discussion
Amharic Online Handwriting Recognition
No full textGrowth in the demand of touch screen devices such as smartphones, tablets and PDAs on global market is influencing the way we interact with computers. because of their architectural design these devices does not include attached keyboards as a text entry mechanism rather they use their screen as input device and let the user touch the screen to operate them. This text entry is mostly similar to the traditional way of text entry. For example works that are usually done like text entry are done using virtual keyboards which have same functionality as the hardware keyboard. Amharic is the second most popular Semitic language in Africa and it is the working language of Ethiopia. Despite its popularity no valid and workable research is found that can simplify the text entry and input system of this language. In Spite of rapid technology advancements, text entry on handheld devices is still inconvenient since there is a chance of missing buttons due to their small size specifically input mechanism for Amharic language the use of a keyboard is awkward due to the number of alphabets present in the language. Recently developers are making different keyboard applications but that doesn't seem to solve the problem. Using the touch screen capabilities of handhelds input method which is similar to handwriting is the best way to replace the current text entry approach. most people learn writing by using a pen and a pencil not a keyboard so writing on a touchscreen device like you write on a piece of paper is the natural and easiest way for the users .users can stroke their hand on a given canvas and the application reads what they write . Online handwriting recognition (OHWR) is getting renewed interest as it provides data entry mechanism that is similar to natural way of writing. This project mainly focuses on using this technique to solve the problem mentioned above. The
online handwriting recognition project is not new idea .in recent years many researchers are adopting this method for their language use
Managing Intellectual property in Digital Libraries. Chapter Title: Open access to knowledge and challenges in digital libraries.
No full textThe recent developments in Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have profoundly impacted modern information and knowledge management dynamics. In particular, the internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) have redefined the different aspects o scholarly communication and the role of its stakeholders. Among the emerging realities from these paradigm shifts are the open access and digital library phenomena. As the world embraces these phenomena there are emerging issues and challenges, chief amongst these are the barriers imposed by the copyright acts to free access to information. This chapter gives a detailed understanding of open access as an aspect of digital libraries and further explores the existing strategies for dealing with the copyright issues. It is based on desktop study of the available literature. It concludes that the future of scholarly communication rests with open access content, which will constitute the bulk of scholarly output and a formidable pillar of digital libraries. In this recognition, different players have come up with successful interventions for dealing with the barriers posed by copyright requirements. The chapter recommends that all the players in the scholarly communication sector should fully embrace open access principles at their levels and that stakeholders should urgently relook at the challenges posed by copyright to the realization of open access
Agric Based Battery
No full textWhen electricity passes through the system , the electron in the system becomes unstable. sodium ion is highly electronegative, the electron in sodium will pass through aluminum foil but gets trapped in the silicon and elephant grass electrolyte. Grass absorbs photon light from the sun in the process of photosynthesis but in this way the grass will store the electrons from electricity as photoelectric and also silicon is a good conductor for electricity, therefore electrons can feel comfortablein that region.Similarly the zinc will tend to sacrifice its electron because it is a highly active metal. but it will also be trapped in the electrolyte. Also fiber grass will block the electron from going out of the system till when it is needed. After it is successful charged, you can connect your phone and the electron stored in the electrolyte will charge them
Discursive Strategies For Managing Bad News: Exemplification From Akan (Ghana)
No full textBad news is a problem for both news bearers and news recipients, especially in situations where apprehensions run high given that it may run counter to people’s in situ social and psychological needs (Maynard 2003). The object of this paper was to examine the discursive strategies used by diseased individuals and their caregivers to deliver and manage their bad news. In pursing the above objective, transcripts of narratives collected from diseased individuals and their caregivers were subjected to empirical inspection with the view to determining the communicative strategies they employed to deal with their special situation. The study was done within the framework of language and liberty (Obeng 2018, 2020) and the results showed that disease and “powerful” actors intrude on diseased individuals and care-givers’ negative liberty (by encroaching on their fundamental freedoms) and positive liberty (by preventing them from participating in their family and communal lives). Common linguistic strategies used in talking about disease and in seeking and protecting participants liberty include: silence, hesitations, reduplication, adjectives of quality, adverbs and intensifiers, verbs denoting physical sensation, and factive formulae (for evidentiality and credence). Discourse-pragmatic strategies for delivering bad news and for seeking liberty include the speech acts of complaining, blaming and assuring. Other strategies include avoidance, inferencing and polyvocality. It is concluded that to protect diseased individuals’ liberty from and liberty to, there is the need to put in place rights that protect these freedoms and empower diseased individuals to participate in their family and communal lives. Also, society must understand the communicational mores surrounding bad news delivery and management and be “educated” about the intertwining nature of language and care-giving
Forecasting Financial Valuation Comparing ARIMA and Prophet
Get PDFIn this study, we limit the forecasting period to one year since the same method is applicable to more than one year. The reason for that is the only five-year historic data we have for Discount Cash Flow (DCF) and six years for Price Earning (P/E) and Price to Sale (P/S) valuation. We use a time series approach for comparison, so we use the last given year, which is 2018, for comparison with the predicted value based on all previous years. So, in this study, we compare the predicted 2018 year Using ARIMA and Prophet Methods with the real 2018 year. Some steps were taken to make forecasting and rebuild time series and apply forecasting methodologies. The errors between real data and the forecasted data for both methods shown almost similar results
On odd perfect numbers
Get PDFIn this note, we introduce the notion of the disc induced by an arithmetic function and apply this notion to the odd perfect number problem. We show that under certain special local conditions an odd perfect number exists by exploiting this concept
The mission of the Church in the face of socio-political challenges in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
Get PDFThe Church has a plural mission for the holistic transformation of man and his society. However, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a multi-crisis country, churches are not participating in socio-political mission, owing to a limited understanding of this holistic concept. What are the many dimensions of the missio Dei? What are the various sorts of churches in the Democratic Republic of Congo in terms of social engagement? How can the Church play a sociopolitical role in the Democratic Republic of Congo? These are the main ideas of this post, which tries to motivate the Church to take action and bring about comprehensive change because that is its mission