10 research outputs found
Asset allocation restrictions and pension funds’ performance in Southern Africa
No full textA research submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Management in Finance and Investment (MMFI) to the Faculty of Commerce, Law and Management, School of Business Administration, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, 2020The relationship between asset allocation restrictions and performance of pension funds is critical in determining whether asset allocations as selected by fund managers of pension schemes are critical in influencing the financial performance of pension funds resulting in better retirement benefits for pensioners. The main objective of this study was to determine the effect of assets allocation restrictions on the financial performance of pension schemes. Governments have an obligation towards the pension funds in safeguarding the returns for the members, particularly when the contributions are obligatory. This obligation has been the reason used to justify stringent regulations of pension funds’ portfolios, the funds management industry’s structure and investment returns but these restrictions have a cost. This research was conducted through a descriptive survey and utilised Primary data given by pension funds managers on monkey survey platform. 20 fund managers from three countries (Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa) were used. Survey Monkey tool was used to collect the data and Social Package for Social Science (SPSS) software was used to analyse data. Secondary data was also used in this study which was collected from retirement benefit fund financial reports, journals, newspaper articles, investment reports. The study revealed that there is negative linear correlation between -asset allocation restrictions and the performance of pension funds. The most negative effect of restrictions was felt on the organization’s ability to be innovative, the organization’s ability to diversify risk and the organisations and investment opportunities for pension funds. As restrictions increased, innovation of pension funds decreased the most. The study recommended that quantitative restrictions should be replaced with prudent person rule to be implemented with corresponding strengthening of regulatory capability.TL (2020
The SASSCAL contribution to climate observation, climate data management and data rescue in Southern Africa
No full textA major task of the newly established "Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management" (SASSCAL; www.sasscal.org) and its partners is to provide science-based environmental information and knowledge which includes the provision of consistent and reliable climate data for Southern Africa. Hence, SASSCAL, in close cooperation with the national weather authorities of Angola, Botswana, Germany and Zambia as well as partner institutions in Namibia and South Africa, supports the extension of the regional meteorological observation network and the improvement of the climate archives at national level. With the ongoing rehabilitation of existing weather stations and the new installation of fully automated weather stations (AWS), altogether 105 AWS currently provide a set of climate variables at 15, 30 and 60 min intervals respectively. These records are made available through the SASSCAL WeatherNet, an online platform providing near-real time data as well as various statistics and graphics, all in open access. This effort is complemented by the harmonization and improvement of climate data management concepts at the national weather authorities, capacity building activities and an extension of the data bases with historical climate data which are still available from different sources. These activities are performed through cooperation between regional and German institutions and will provide important information for climate service related activities
The international surface temperature initiative's global land surface databank
No full textThe International Surface Temperature Initiative (ISTI) consists of an end-to-end process for land surface air temperature analyses. The foundation is the establishment of a global land surface Databank. This builds upon the groundbreaking efforts of scientists in the 1980s and 1990s. While using many of their principles, a primary aim is to improve aspects including data provenance, version control, openness and transparency, temporal and spatial coverage, and improved methods for merging disparate sources. The initial focus is on daily and monthly timescales. A Databank Working Group is focused on establishing Stage-0 (original observation forms) through Stage-3 data (merged dataset without quality control). More than 35 sources of data have already been added and efforts have now turned to development of the initial version of the merged dataset. Methods have been established for ensuring to the extent possible the provenance of all data from the point of observation through all intermediate steps to final archive and access. Databank submission procedures were designed to make the process of contributing data as easy as possible. All data are provided openly and without charge. We encourage the use of these data and feedback from interested users.Fil: Lawrimore, J. H.. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Estados UnidosFil: Rennie, J.. Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center; NoruegaFil: Gambi de Almeida, W.. Centro de Previsao de Tempo e Estudos Climáticos. Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais; BrasilFil: Christy, J.. University of Alabama; Estados UnidosFil: Flannery, M.. Bureau of Meteorology; AustraliaFil: Gleason, B.. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Estados UnidosFil: Klein Tank, A.. Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute; Países BajosFil: Mhanda, A.. frican Centre of Meteorological Applications for Development; NigeriaFil: Ishihara, K.. Japan Meteorological Agency; JapónFil: Lister, D.. Climatic Research Unit; Reino UnidoFil: Menne, M. J.. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Estados UnidosFil: Razuvaev, V.. Russian Research Institute of Hydrometeorological Information; RusiaFil: Renom, M.. Universidad de la República; UruguayFil: Rusticucci, Matilde Monica. Universidad de Buenos Aires; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Tandy, J.. Met Office Hadley Centre; Reino UnidoFil: Thorne, P. W.. Nansen Environmental and Remote Sensing Center; NoruegaFil: Worley, S.. National Center for Atmospheric Research; Estados Unido
Minerals and trace elements in domesticated Namibian Ganoderma species
No full textEdible and medicinal mushrooms are regarded as the ideal health foods. They are well appreciated for their exquisite taste and flavor and are consumed both fresh and in processed forms. Nutritive value of mushrooms is attributed to their high content of essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals and low lipid content. Regular consumption of whole medicinal and edible mushrooms could introduce a functional or medicinal contribution within the individual’s diet. Medicinal mushrooms may prevent or treat "lifestyle-related diseases". The extent of the health beneficial effect will depend on the level, regularity of consumption, the relevance of medicinal mushrooms and concentrates to the particular disease. The minerals and trace elements in domesticated Namibian Ganoderma mushroom species were determined. The results show that fiber content was found highest with 45 g/100 g of dry weight, followed by calcium with 23 g/100 g, carbohydrate with 23 g/100 g, protein with 18.2 g/100 g, iron with 6.41 g/100 g, copper with 4.3 g/100 g while the least were zinc (2.89 g/100 g) and fat (1.9 g/100 g). The presence of these essential nutrients, which are nutritional requirements of human beings, implies that Ganoderma can be a valuable dietary supplement to boost the immune system and improve general health of people. It was therefore concluded that the domesticated Ganoderma has significant amount of nutrients that makes it a good fungus to be used on daily bases for health benefit.Keywords: Mushrooms, Ganoderma, minerals, nutritional, domesticate
Minerals and trace elements in domesticated Namibian Ganoderma species
No full textEdible and medicinal mushrooms are regarded as the ideal health foods. They are well appreciated for their exquisite taste and flavor and are consumed both fresh and in processed forms. Nutritive value of mushrooms is attributed to their high content of essential amino acids, vitamins, minerals and low lipid content. Regular consumption of whole medicinal and edible mushrooms could introduce a functional
or medicinal contribution within the individual’s diet. Medicinal mushrooms may prevent or treat "lifestyle-related diseases". The extent of the health beneficial effect will depend on the level, regularity of consumption, the relevance of medicinal mushrooms and concentrates to the particular disease. The minerals and trace elements in domesticated Namibian Ganoderma mushroom species were
determined. The results show that fiber content was found highest with 45 g/100 g of dry weight, followed by calcium with 23 g/100 g, carbohydrate with 23 g/100 g, protein with 18.2 g/100 g, iron with 6.41 g/100 g, copper with 4.3 g/100 g while the least were zinc (2.89 g/100 g) and fat (1.9 g/100 g). The presence of these essential nutrients, which are nutritional requirements of human beings, implies that
Ganoderma can be a valuable dietary supplement to boost the immune system and improve general health of people. It was therefore concluded that the domesticated Ganoderma has significant amount of nutrients that makes it a good fungus to be used on daily bases for health benefit
Developing a Contextually Relevant Concept of Regional Hegemony: The Case of South Africa, Zimbabwe and “Quiet Diplomacy”
No full textSouth Africa’s “quiet diplomacy” has been often used to reject the notion of South African leadership or regional hegemony in southern Africa. This article finds that this evaluation is founded on a misguided understanding of regional hegemony, which is based on conventional hegemony theories that are mostly derived from the global role of the United States after World War II. Alternatively, this article uses a concept of hegemony that, for example, takes into account the “regionality” of South Africa’s hegemony, which both allows external actors to impact on regional relations and allows South Africa to pursue its foreign policy goals on the global level of international politics. This concept helps to systemically analyze South Africa's foreign policy in the Zimbabwean crisis and to better integrate this policy into the broader framework of its regional and global ambitions.regional powers, hegemony, South Africa, Zimbabwe, quiet diplomacy
Changes in temperature and precipitation extremes in western central Africa, Guinea Conakry, and Zimbabwe, 1955-2006
No full textUnderstanding how extremes are changing globally, regionally, and locally is an important first step for planning appropriate adaptation measures, as changes in extremes have major impacts. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's synthesis of global extremes was not able to say anything about western central Africa, as no analysis of the region was available nor was there an adequate internationally exchanged long-term daily data set available to use for analysis of extremes. This paper presents the first analysis of extremes in this climatically important region along with analysis of Guinea Conakry and Zimbabwe. As per many other parts of the world, the analysis shows a decrease in cold extremes and an increase in warm extremes. However, while the majority of the analyzed world has shown an increase in heavy precipitation over the last half century, central Africa showed a decrease. Furthermore, the companion analysis of Guinea Conakry and Zimbabwe showed no significant increases
International Surface Temperature Initiative global land surface databank: monthly temperature data release description and methods
No full textDescribed herein is the first version release of monthly temperature holdings of a new Global Land Surface Meteorological Databank. Organized under the auspices of the International Surface Temperature Initiative (ISTI), an international group of scientists have spent three years collating and merging data from numerous sources to create a merged holding. This release in its recommended form consists of over 30 000 individual station records, some of which extend over the past 300 years. This article describes the sources, the chosen merge methodology, and the resulting databank characteristics. Several variants of the databank have also been released that reflect the structural uncertainty in merging datasets. Variants differ in, for example, the order in which sources are considered and the degree of congruence required in station geolocation for consideration as a merged or unique record. Also described is a version control protocol that will be applied in the event of updates. Future updates are envisaged with the addition of new data sources, and with changes in processing, where public feedback is always welcomed. Major updates, when necessary, will always be accompanied by a new journal paper. This databank release forms the foundation for the construction of new global land surface air temperature analyses by the global research community and their assessment by the ISTI's benchmarking and assessment working group
