152 research outputs found
Abezimu/Badimo (ancestors) and copyright law: from the Decolonial Turn to the pluriversal author
No full text"A spectre is haunting Europe – the spectre of Communism” is the sentence that opens Karl Marx's and Friedrich Engels' iconic text, The Communist Manifesto. Marx and Engels set out what was to become the primary program of action for all communist parties in Europe. The Communist Manifesto's cardinal observation was that Communism was an epochal inevitability, and that it was the task of all revolutionaries to ensure that conditions are befitting for a Communist reality. Although in a completely different context, this thesis accepts that the spectre that is currently haunting Africa and the Global South is that of Decoloniality and Decolonisation. This thesis studiedly perceives the #MustFall moment as one that presented South Africa with a Decolonial Turn – this is an epochal inevitability that seeks to complete the incomplete task of decolonising society. To respond to the Decolonial Turn, this thesis methodologically employs decolonial theory, Black consciousness philosophy and Black Marxism to study the essence of copyright law's authorship from the perspective of people on the other side of Western modernity. The basic contention of this thesis, and its original contribution to the corpus of literature as regards authorship in copyright, is that the logical aftermath of the Decolonial Turn leads to a “pluriversal author” – this is a type of author that is reflective of the pluriversal epistemic and ontological patterns of a decolonised world. This is a world where many worlds exist. One of those worlds is inhabited by people whose epistemic traditions suggest that an author in copyright is inclusive of “Abezimu/Badimo”, that is the non-human author who is represented in an onto-triadic edifice of Being; the living, the dead and the yet-to-be-born. The thesis that is defended in this doctoral project is that Abezimu/Badimo are an author in copyright, and that this ought to be accepted, embraced, and reflected in prevailing copyright law legislative frameworks
Infrastructure and Economic Development in Africa: An Overview
No full textEvidence abounds to support the view that economy of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) has been growing in recent times, but there is considerable concern that the growth has not been accompanied by economic transformation. The lack of economic transformation is traceable to low level of investment in transformation activities especially raw material processing industries occasioned, at least in part, by the fact that sub-Saharan Africa has the highest cost of doing business in the world with cost of infrastructure services making up a disproportionately large part of production and trade costs. This is a reflection of serious deficit in the three dimensions of infrastructure, namely quality, quantity and access. Against this background, it was considered topical to devote the plenary session of December 2007 to the issue of infrastructure and economic development in Africa. This volume, therefore, contains the three papers presented at that plenary session. The first paper by César Calderón and Luis Servén on infrastructure and economic development in SSA focused on analysing the linkages between infrastructure and economic development pointing out that the literature on effects of infrastructure on economic development is inconclusive. Noting that physical infrastructures are rarely homogenous and analysing a large panel data for 136 countries, they found that infrastructure development is associated with both higher growth and lower inequality. They also found that while infrastructure made a large contribution to reducing inequality in East and South Asia, the impact was relatively modest in SSA due to poor quality of infrastructure. They concluded that corruption adversely affect impact of infrastructure on productivity and growth stressing, among other things, the importance of independent regulation agencies in offsetting some of the consequences of corruption on infrastructural services. Kennedy K. Mbekeani, in the second paper, presented a review of international experience in infrastructure, trade expansion and regional integration and lessons for Africa. Delving into the relationships between trade, infrastructure and regional expansion, he asserted that improvements in productivity lead to increased trade and can foster regional integration through improved intra-regional trade and industrial relocation. There is persuasive evidence that adequate infrastructure provision is a key requirement for trade liberalisation to achieve its intended objective of efficient resource reallocation and export growth. The paper concluded by providing a summary of some Africa's infrastructure programmes that have the potential to lead to trade expansion and regional integration. Finally, the paper by Mthuli Ncube on financing and managing infrastructure in Africa presents arguments on the relationship between infrastructure investments and economic growth in Africa. Infrastructure encompasses transport, telecommunications, water and sanitation, power and gas, and major water works, and also focuses on quantity versus quality of infrastructure. Ncube also found that, in the literature, the causal nexus between infrastructure capital and economic growth and development, in general, has been ambiguous. However, it does seem one thing is clear, namely that sustainable high economic growth often occurs in an environment where there is a meaningful infrastructure development, although it is not obvious which leads the other. The paper presents the various financing strategies, around Public--Private partnerships (PPPs) and examples of PPP-type arrangements in Africa. Ncube concluded the paper by exploring policy implications of the state of infrastructure and economic growth in Africa. Copyright The author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected], Oxford University Press.
Occurrence of aflatoxins and aflatoxin-producing Aspergillus spp. associated with groundnut production in subsistence farming systems in South Africa
No full textAbstract: Author: Ncube, E. Flett, B.C. Waalwijk, C. Viljoen, A. Vol 27 Issue 2 Publication: 2010 Page: 195-198 : Aflatoxins are carcinogenic mycotoxins produced by Aspergillus spp. in groundnut kernels. Forty-six groundnut samples were collected from subsistence farmers in three provinces of South Africa, namely KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), Mpumalanga (MP) and Limpopo (LP), in 2006 and 2007. Aflatoxin levels of groundnut kernels were quantified using an ELISA technique. The occurrence of A. parasiticus colonies was predominant and it was isolated at twice the frequency of A. flavus. Aflatoxins were present in groundnut produced in the northern parts of KZN, where aflatoxin levels of up to 131 parts per billion (ppb) were found. In Mpumalanga and Limpopo, the highest aflatoxin levels were 160 ppb and 2 ppb, respectively. In the Makhanisi and Mbazwane localities situated in KwaZulu-Natal, and in Boshoffontein in Mpumalanga, aflatoxin levels were higher than the maximum permitted level set by the Food and Drug Administration in the USA (20 ppb), the European Union (6 ppb) and the Department of Health in South Africa (10 ppb) for groundnut that is intended for direct human consumption. This study indicates the need for mycotoxin awareness campaigns and control programs to be implemented in rural areas of South Africa
‘Highlander Ithimu yezwe lonke!’ : intersections of Highlanders FC fandom and Ndebele ethnic nationalism in Zimbabwe
No full textAbstract: Football is one of the most emotive cultural forms through which people experience and express nationalism. The study demonstrates intersections of Zimbabwean Premier Soccer League (PSL) team- Highlanders FC fandom and Ndebele ethnic nationalism in Zimbabwe. This nationalism challenges state narratives of a ‘united Zimbabwe’ and advocates for secession of Bulawayo and Matabeleland provinces to form an ‘independent Ndebele nation’. Literature on Zimbabwean football has under-theorised its interface with football discourse. The author was an observer as participant in Zimbabwean football stadia for a four- year period observing terrace rituals especially songs and chants during Highlanders FC matches. In-depth interviews were also conducted with selected fans to get clarity on observed issues. The study concludes that while discussing secession is criminalised and condemned as ‘tribalism’ in Zimbabwe, Highlanders FC fandom is a critical site where some people express feelings and aspirations towards establishment of a separate ‘independent Ndebele nation’
PLoS One
No full textIntroductionZimbabwe has a high human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) burden. It is therefore important to scale up HIV-testing and counseling (HTC) as a gateway to HIV prevention, treatment and care.ObjectiveTo determine factors associated with being HIV-tested among adult men and women in Zimbabwe.MethodsSecondary analysis was done using data from 7,313 women and 6,584 men who completed interviewer-administered questionnaires and provided blood specimens for HIV testing during the Zimbabwe Demographic and Health Survey (ZDHS) 2010\u201311. Factors associated with ever being HIV-tested were determined using multivariate logistic regression.ResultsHIV-testing was higher among women compared to men (61% versus 39%). HIV-infected respondents were more likely to be tested compared to those who were HIV-negative for both men [adjusted odds ratio (AOR) = 1.53; 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.27\u20131.84)] and women [AOR = 1.42; 95% CI (1.20\u20131.69)]. However, only 55% and 74% of these HIV-infected men and women respectively had ever been tested. Among women, visiting antenatal care (ANC) [AOR = 5.48, 95% CI (4.08\u20137.36)] was the most significant predictor of being tested whilst a novel finding for men was higher odds of testing among those reporting a sexually transmitted infection (STI) in the past 12 months [AOR = 1.86, 95%CI (1.26\u20132.74)]. Among men, the odds of ever being tested increased with age 6520 years, particularly those 45\u201349 years [AOR = 4.21; 95% CI (2.74\u20136.48)] whilst for women testing was highest among those aged 25\u201329 years [AOR = 2.01; 95% CI (1.63\u20132.48)]. Other significant factors for both sexes were increasing education level, higher wealth status and currently/formerly being in union.ConclusionsThere remains a high proportion of undiagnosed HIV-infected persons and hence there is a need for innovative strategies aimed at increasing HIV-testing, particularly for men and in lower-income and lower-educated populations. Promotion of STI services can be an important gateway for testing more men whilst ANC still remains an important option for HIV-testing among pregnant women.201626808547PMC47266921018
A Pan-African Exploration of Queer Embodiment in African Film: A Book Review of Gibson Ncube’s Queer Bodies in African Films (NISC, December 2022)
No full textGibson Ncube’s monograph produces a Pan-African archive of films that grapple with the specificities of queer embodiment in several regions on the African continent. Queer Bodies in African Films does important intra-continental theorising about what it means to be queer in Africa, or African and queer, in both North and sub-Saharan African contexts, with a corpus that maps filmed queer bodiesin selected Maghrebian (chapter one), Egyptian (chapter two), East African (chapter three), and South African films (chapter four). Throughout, Ncube centres the filmed queer body as a site where “multiple and often intersecting discourses and narratives” (Ncube 2022, p.2) contest for legitimacy within their given cultural milieus. In this frame, the author remains attentive to “how the touching of bodies and rubbing together of physical bodies produce feelings and affection and forge (dis)connections” (2). As Ncube avers, this kind of pan-African consideration of queerness is lacking in Queer African Studies, and the monograph provides a useful entry point for scholars looking to do similar intracontinental research
Prime numbers demystified
No full textThe paper is the ultimate prime numbers algorithm that gets rid of the unneccessary mystery about prime numbers. All the numerous arithmetic series patterns observed between various prime numbers are clearly explained with an elegant "pattern of remainders". With this algorithm we prove that odd numbers too can make an Ulam spiral contrary to current ""proofs". At the end of the paper this author proves the relationship between a simple arithmetic series pattern and the Riehmann\u27s prime numbers distribution equation. This paper would be important for encryption too. As an example, prime integer 1979 is expressed as 1.2.4.5.10.3.7.3.1.7.26.18.11.1. This makes even smaller primes useful for encryption as well
Strengthening the regulation regimes for collecting societies in South Africa and Nigeria: any room for competition law?
No full textCollective management organisations (CMOs), also know as collecting societies, are natural monopolies and they occupy dominant positions, with anticompetitive tendencies if not regulated, in the copyright management and licensing market. Regulation regimes must thus set efficiency, transparency and accountability standards for CMOs. In achieving these standards, competition law aims to address specific concerns through the regulation of CMOs’ capacity to limit copyright owners’ economic rights, discriminate against them in terms of membership, and fix excessive and discriminatory royalty rates for users. CMOs in Nigeria and South Africa are subject to copyright-sector specific regulation. Nigeria and South Africa have competition legislations, which applies in principle, but has so far not been applied to CMOs in practice. Undertaken as desk and library based study, the thesis examines the regulation of CMOs in Nigeria and South Africa. It determines if the regulation in both countries empower the relevant copyright regulatory agency to address the competition-related concerns in regards to CMOs and whether there is need to apply competition law to CMOs in both countries. The thesis explores the copyright and competition law interface. It argues that, although adopting different methodologies, both fields pursue the similar goal of promoting creativity by enhancing dynamic competition in copyright markets which underscores the regulation of CMOs. It concludes that whereas competition law does not need to be applied to CMOs in Nigeria, there is need to apply it to CMOs in South Africa because unlike its Nigerian counterpart, there are observable gaps in the South African copyright regime in the treatment of the competition-related concerns of CMOs. At the time of writing this thesis, both Nigeria and South Africa are reviewing their copyright legislation. CMOs regulation is a major issue being considered in the process. The thesis will be indispensable, the author hopes, in determining the form and content of CMOs regulation in both countries. Further, there is scarcity of literature in Nigeria and South Africa on the copyright and competition law interface relating to CMOs regulation. The thesis will fill this gap and form an invaluable resource for further research; a useful guide for copyright and competition law regulators and enforcers; and a rich reference material for academics, judges and policy makers in Nigeria and South Africa
Financing and Managing Infrastructure in Africa
No full textThis paper discusses various ways of financing infrastructure under public private partnership (PPP) arrangements in Africa. The paper presents the standard literature on the relationship between infrastructure investment and economic growth, highlighting the contradictory findings in the literature. Stylised facts about the state of infrastructure in Africa, compared with other regions such as Asia and Latin America, are also presented. Examples of how PPPs structures work are discussed including the build-operate-transfer, build-own-operate-transfer, build-own-operate and other arrangements. We also discuss various ways for funding housing in Africa. Examples of specific toll roads and hospitals in South Africa are provided. The paper draws some policy conclusions. Copyright The author 2010. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Centre for the Study of African Economies. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: [email protected], Oxford University Press.
Scheduling and Code Generation for Parallel Architectures
No full textAutomatic partitioning, scheduling and code generation are of major importance in the development of compilers for massively parallel architectures. In this thesis we consider these problems, propose efficient algorithms and analyze their performances for automatic scheduling and code generation. In the first part of this thesis, we consider compile-time static scheduling when communication overhead is not negligible. We provide a new quantitative analysis of granularity issues to identify the impact of partitioning on optimal scheduling. We propose a new algorithm for scheduling on an unbounded number of processors named DSC, which outperforms existing algorithms in both complexity and performance. Furthermore, we study algorithms for scheduling on a bounded number of processors based on a multistep approach. We use DSC to cluster tasks and then use a load balancing and physical mapping heuristic to map the clusters onto processors. Finally we introduce a new task ordering algorithm that tries to minimize parallel time and overlap communication with computation. What distinguishes our approach with that of others in the literature is the low complexity and very good performance. We present theoretical and experimental results to verify the performance of these algorithms. In the second part of the thesis, we consider the code generation problem for message passing architectures. We propose a new optimized method for code generation in executing a schedule of an arbitrary task graph based on an asynchronous communication model. We optimize the code by reducing communication overhead, eliminating redundant communication and improving memory utilization. We present a correctness analysis of the generated code to assure data coherence and deadlock-free communication. We also present a new multicasting algorithm for a hypercube that eliminates unnecessary routing processors. We have implemented a compiler tool system named PYRROS that integrates the above algorithms for scheduling and code generations. The input of this system is a C program with annotated dependence information and the output is optimized parallel C code for nCUBE-I, nCUBE-II and iPSC/860 machines. The experimental results show that the performance of automatically produced code is comparable with that of hand-written codeTechnical report DCS-TR-29
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