116 research outputs found
Communication and journalism curricula in Africa : the case of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania
No full textThis is an incisive scientific evaluation of the existing curricula in journalism and communication training institutions in East Africa. The study pays close attention to most of the crucial elements of a good curricula, including the aims and objectives of the courses, the teaching methods adopted, the assessment methods of the courses and the flexibility of the courses to accomodate community, national, regional, continental and international needs. The aims of the study were five-fold: To provide emphirical evidence on the orientations, objectives and scope of the existing curricula in journalism and communication training in East Africa; to suggest variousways of re-modelling the curricula; to access the quality of training offered to journalists so as to find out if they are being adequately funded and teachers well remunerated and; to generate fresh data on journalism and communication training in the region which can be used by policy makers and implementors in shaping future training needs. Field survey research design was used to collect data from stations, newspapers, training institutions and governmental departments. A total of 19, 21 and 22 respondents from Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya respectively were interviewed. The study raises concern over two pertinent issues: the fact that the training institutions have less teaching staff and that the curricula used are relatively old with the newest having been drawn in 1994. The author suggests that there ought to be regular review of the curricula to make them responsive to the ever-changing media demands. Three track approach to the review of the curricula are recommended. They invite Unesco and other stakeholders to commission further studies aimed at a comprehensive improvement of the curricula so that the beneficiaries may be able to face the various complex communication challenges facing their communities and countries; the region, continent and the world
Impact of Soil Fertility Management Practices on a Major Insect Pest Infestation and Yield of Beans (Phaseolus Vulgaris l.) in Taita District, Kenya
No full textThe common bean is an important food and cash crop in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa. It provides food for more than 100 million people and is a critical source of income for rural households. Common bean yields, however, have declined in the last ten years. This decline is the result of poor soil fertility and nutrient depletion as well as high incidences of insect pests, key among them being the bean stem maggot (BSM). To address soil nutrient depletion and the accompanying declining agricultural productivity, integrated soil fertility management (ISFM) has been adapted as a framework for enhancing crop productivity through combining fertilizer use with other soil fertility management technologies, adapted to local conditions. The current study evaluated the influence of soil fertility treatments on yield and yield components of the common bean. Additionally, to establish the potential links between soil fertility and crop protection, the effect of ISFM interventions on the incidence of the BSM was also assessed. The experiment was carried out in Taita District where agriculture contributes 95% to household income with very little or no fertility inputs in farms. Bean variety Mwezi moja was sown during the wet cropping season. Farm plots were amended with Mavuno fertilizer (a blend of fertilizer containing 11 nutrients); Triple Superphosphate fertilizer with Calcium Ammonium Nitrate (TSP + CAN); cow manure; Trichoderma inoculant; Trichoderma inoculant with cow manure combination; Mavuno fertilizer with Trichoderma inoculants combination; and control (untreated check). Field survey was conducted four weeks after bean emergence to determine the incidence and prevalence of the BSM. Plant survival: dry-seed and and bean straw weight were used as criteria for assessing crop yield. Yield and yield components of common bean were significantly affected by addition of soil ammendments, with Mavuno fertilizer + Trichoderma inoculant improving yield by 52.9%. However, the influence of the soil ammendments on the BSM incidence was minimal. These findings point to the fact that soil fertility management interventions increase crop yield. Nevertheless, to maximise yield, there is a strong need to adopt agroecological strategies that not only optimise soil fertilization but also incorporate a pest management dimension. Key words: Bean, Soil fertility, Beanfly, Yiel
Development expenditures and the local financing constraint
No full textFocusing on the local financing constraint sheds new light on issues of aid, fiscal reform, and the management of public spending. The fungibility of aid need not translate into resource flows to fill the local financing gap. Indeed, project aid can widen the local financing gap. To augment direct local financing of development, aid must be nonproject aid that can generate local currency. In the longer term, project aid's effect on local financing lies in its impact on growth and on expanding the base for tax revenues, seigniorage, and borrowing. When inadequate local financing limits project implementation and effective use of aid, local currency funds are more valuable than project aid, at the margin--and it becomes important to reallocate local funds, to leverage project aid, and to raise the quality of investment projects. A persistent gap in local financing complicates programs of fiscal reform. For such programs to be effective, the local financing gap has to be confronted directly by matching planned local fund expenditures against expected local fund receipts. This requires a transparent database to develop indicators and to monitor the allocation and use of local resources.Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Environmental Economics&Policies,Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness,National Governance,Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Economic Theory&Research
Erratum: Search for photons with energies above 1018 eV using the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory (Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics (2017) 4 (9) DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2017/04/009)
No full text1 Exposure calculation Due to a mistake in the numerical integration following eq. (6.2) of the original article [1], the exposure shown in figure 5 of the original article was incorrect. The correct exposure is shown in figure 1. 2 Upper limits on the integral photon flux and fraction The incorrect exposure affects the calculation of the upper limits on the integral photon flux following eq. (6.1) of the original article. The correct values for the upper limits are 0.038, 0.010, 0.009, 0.008 and 0.007 km−2 sr−1 yr−1 for threshold energies of 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 EeV. The correct values for the upper limits on the integral photon fraction subsequently derived are 0.14 %, 0.17 %, 0.42 %, 0.86 % and 2.9 % for the same threshold energies. 3 Author list The author list of this erratum also corrects a mistake made in the original article, where F. Zuccarello was missing and Z. Zong was listed twice
Evidence for a mixed mass composition at the ‘ankle’ in the cosmic-ray spectrum
No full textWe report a first measurement for ultrahigh energy cosmic rays of the correlation between the depth of shower maximum and the signal in the water Cherenkov stations of air-showers registered simultaneously by the fluorescence and the surface detectors of the Pierre Auger Observatory. Such a correlation measurement is a unique feature of a hybrid air-shower observatory with sensitivity to both the electromagnetic and muonic components. It allows an accurate determination of the spread of primary masses in the cosmic-ray flux. Up till now, constraints on the spread of primary masses have been dominated by systematic uncertainties. The present correlation measurement is not affected by systematics in the measurement of the depth of shower maximum or the signal in the water Cherenkov stations. The analysis relies on general characteristics of air showers and is thus robust also with respect to uncertainties in hadronic event generators. The observed correlation in the energy range around the ‘ankle’ at lg(E/eV)=18.5–19.0lg(E/eV)=18.5–19.0 differs significantly from expectations for pure primary cosmic-ray compositions. A light composition made up of proton and helium only is equally inconsistent with observations. The data are explained well by a mixed composition including nuclei with mass A>4A>4. Scenarios such as the proton dip model, with almost pure compositions, are thus disfavored as the sole explanation of the ultrahigh-energy cosmic-ray flux at Earth
Erratum: Search for photons with energies above 1018 eV using the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
No full textExposure calculation Due to a mistake in the numerical integration following eq. (6.2) of the original article [1], the exposure shown in figure 5 of the original article was incorrect. The correct exposure is shown in figure 1. 2 Upper limits on the integral photon flux and fraction The incorrect exposure affects the calculation of the upper limits on the integral photon flux following eq. (6.1) of the original article. The correct values for the upper limits are 0.038, 0.010, 0.009, 0.008 and 0.007 km−2 sr−1 yr−1 for threshold energies of 1, 2, 3, 5 and 10 EeV. The correct values for the upper limits on the integral photon fraction subsequently derived are 0.14 %, 0.17 %, 0.42 %, 0.86 % and 2.9 % for the same threshold energies. 3 Author list The author list of this erratum also corrects a mistake made in the original article, where F. Zuccarello was missing and Z. Zong was listed twice
Elites and institutions : literature review
No full textExploring elites and their relations to institutions can assist understanding the day-to-day realities of politics in Africa (Chabal and Daloz 1999, Amundsen 2001, Lindberg 2003). This review is a scoping exercise in what has been written on the subject in recent years. The main task of the review is to summarise current understandings of how elites work with and through political institutions in Africa. There is a huge literature in this subject area. We have tried to pick out a) that which is most pertinent and non-repetitive, and b) that which raises as many questions as it provides answers. On the whole we have focused on literature published in the last five to ten years and we have inclined towards the literature on Anglophone Africa. The review is presented as follows: Section 1 is an introduction to Africa’s recent political landscape and it introduces some of the major issues that appear in the literature. Section 2 provides some working definitions of elites, institutions and democratisation as three of the recurring themes in the review. Section 3 reviews literature broadly on democratisation in Africa and specifically on elections and elites. Section 4 examines how political parties have evolved over the last 15 years. Section 5 reviews the three branches of government and Section 6 briefly examines decentralisation and its relation to elites and politics. The remaining sections of the review move outside the more formal political structures to examine the media (Section 7), civil society (Section 8), women’s movements (Section 9), Trades unions (Section 10) and business associations (Section 11). The final Section 12 pulls out a number of gaps in the research that we have identified in the course of the review. Section 13 contains a complete bibliography of citations used in the review. It is crucial to remember that Africa’s experiences of democratisation are no more than 15 years old, and many scholars have cautioned that it is still very early to draw any definite conclusions (Amundsen 2001; Randall and Svasand 2002). Inhaltsverzeichnis: 1. Africa’s political landscape 3 * Diversity of ‘Africa’ 4 * Elections do not mean democracy 4 * Presidentialism 4 * Ethnicity 5 * Personal rule and patronage 5 2. Definitions 6 * Elites 6 * Political institutions 7 * Democratisation 8 3. Democratisation and elites 8 * Elections 9 * Elites and elections 13 4. Political parties 16 5. Branches of government 17 * The executive 17 * The legislature 18 * The Judiciary 20 6. Decentralisation 20 7. Media 21 * Radio 25 * Television 25 * Newspapers 25 * Internet 26 8. Civil society 26 9. Women’s movements 29 10. Trade unions 32 11. Business associations 34 12. Gaps in the research 36 13. Bibliography 3
Observation of a large-scale anisotropy in the arrival directions of cosmic rays above 8 × 1018 eV
No full text
- …
