Economic integration in the lower Congo region : opening the Kinshasa-Brazzaville bottleneck

This working paper assesses cross-border economic integration in the Lower Congo region. It focuses on the Kinshasa-Brazzaville conurbation, which is projected to become Africa's largest urban area by 2025, and is already serving as the gateway to large hinterlands. Despite their size and proximity, formal economic exchanges between the two cities are extremely limited. The volume of recorded passenger travel between Kinshasa and Brazzaville corresponds to about one-fifth of the volume of traffic between East and West Berlin during the time of the Berlin Wall, and formal trade volumes are derisorily small. As a consequence, the authors find evidence of statistically significant differences in retail prices, indicating unexploited scope for cross-river arbitrage. Through a survey of firms, they find that local traders perceive substantial scope for increasing cross-border economic activity if cross-river trade costs were reduced. Trade in locally produced goods and by small firms would especially benefit from such reductions. Existing high trade costs mainly result from a lack of competition in cross-river transport services, which are dominated by a duopoly of state-controlled operators. High administrative border costs, exacerbated by the presence of multiple government agencies at the border, act as a further obstacle. Liberalization of cross-river transport and customs reform could yield large economic benefits for local producers and consumers.Transport Economics Policy&Planning,Economic Theory&Research,Emerging Markets,Trade Law,Free Trade

Development of a decision support system for assessment of mobile bridges

The development of a prototype Decision Support System (DSS) for the condition assessment of the Armored Vehicle Launched Bridge (AVLB) has been demonstrated in the current work. AVLB is a mobile bridge that has been used by the US Army for tank and assault vehicle crossing. It is employed for spanning short gaps of 50 feet or less in the terrain. The condition assessment of such bridges, to ensure safety of personnel and tank, is of strategic importance. The methodology of the prototype DSS is based on a refined visual inspection procedure and a previously established vibration measurement technique.;Conforming to the design requirements, the DSS has been developed as an Internet based, interactive application, and is integrated with an automated vibration measurement system. The web-based DSS, which incorporates an expert system and a database system, can be run from a web-browser. The development of the system, as described in this thesis, involved: identification of important visual and vibration inspection parameters; development of an expert system for bridge condition assessment, based on these parameters; and design of a database for storing important inspection data and other vital bridge records. The prototype system has been validated through limited test runs. Discussion on further verification and validation issues has also been put forth in this work.;The unique feature of this DSS is its accessibility through the Internet, which is practical considering that the AVLB is deployed worldwide. With a central database, this system provides a useful research tool for further study of the AVLB behavior and damage mechanisms, and can be used to establish failure prediction model and remaining life assessment

An exploratory study of psychologists’ perceptions of the phenomenon currently understood as ‘borderline personality disorder’

The phenomenon currently understood as ‘borderline personality disorder’ (BPD) has been complex and multifaceted since its inception. Previous studies have focused on the validity of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) conceptualisation of BPD, aetiologies of BPD, the psychologies of persons diagnosed with BPD, and the gendered nature of BPD. This study aimed to specifically explore South African practising psychologists’ perceptions of BPD. Through thematic analysis from a constructivist, post-modern paradigm, this study aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of practising psychologists on BPD, as well as the usefulness of the DSM in working with BPD in a non-western society such as South Africa (SA). The study sampled two Counselling and two Clinical psychologists practising in the South African context, with exposure to and experience in working with BPD. Collectively, results in this study identified psychologists’ perceptions of shortcomings in the usefulness of the DSM’s approach to categorising phenomena associated with BPD, and brought attention to a need for further research and attention into the role of psychologists’ in the construction of BPD. This study seeks to represent psychologists’ practical experiences and perceptions, in an attempt to add contextually relevant findings on the DSM’s construction of BPD, and to contribute to challenging the stigma and misunderstanding associated with BPD. Specific practice implications and recommendations for future research are discussed within

An exploratory study of psychologists’ perceptions of the phenomenon currently understood as ‘borderline personality disorder’

The phenomenon currently understood as ‘borderline personality disorder’ (BPD) has been complex and multifaceted since its inception. Previous studies have focused on the validity of The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) conceptualisation of BPD, aetiologies of BPD, the psychologies of persons diagnosed with BPD, and the gendered nature of BPD. This study aimed to specifically explore South African practising psychologists’ perceptions of BPD. Through thematic analysis from a constructivist, post-modern paradigm, this study aimed to explore the perceptions and experiences of practising psychologists on BPD, as well as the usefulness of the DSM in working with BPD in a non-western society such as South Africa (SA). The study sampled two Counselling and two Clinical psychologists practising in the South African context, with exposure to and experience in working with BPD. Collectively, results in this study identified psychologists’ perceptions of shortcomings in the usefulness of the DSM’s approach to categorising phenomena associated with BPD, and brought attention to a need for further research and attention into the role of psychologists’ in the construction of BPD. This study seeks to represent psychologists’ practical experiences and perceptions, in an attempt to add contextually relevant findings on the DSM’s construction of BPD, and to contribute to challenging the stigma and misunderstanding associated with BPD. Specific practice implications and recommendations for future research are discussed within

One-stop border posts in East Africa:State encounters of the fourth kind

Across Africa, One-Stop Border Posts are being rolled out as part of a continental/ regional integration agenda that seeks to facilitate the movement of people and goods. This article focuses on four OSBPs in East Africa and addresses the question, firstly, of how far they make a break with entrenched operational patterns within government bureaucracies, and secondly whether they represent a distinct type of border management regime? The article finds that while there has been progress on data sharing in Customs, the construction and management of OSBPs reflects the persistence of distinct institutional cultures within each country. Moreover, working practices involve practical workarounds which belie notions of a paperless border. Secondly, the article finds that OSBPs are unlike other border crossings and share some features with airports and seaports in that they have been designed to handle both cargo and people. But they differ in that they are not heavily securitized and represent co-produced spaces of interaction in which transporters and members of the surrounding community have helped to shape the organizational patterns. The outcomes fuse an official ideology of service, everyday bureaucratic practice and local understandings of ownership

A Comparison of the Construction Industry in Europe, Characteristics, Governance, Performance and Future Perspectives

Series: Department of Economics Working Paper Serie

The Validation of Novel Ecological Survey Methods for Use in Describing Harvest Mouse Micromys minutus Autecology

According to much of the literature relating to Micromys minutus (harvest mouse) the species has historically presented many challenges to researchers, particularly when attempting to collect sufficient data to describe their ecology, life history and responses to the ever-increasing threat of habitat loss and fragmentation. Methodological improvements are needed which provide sufficient species-specific data to underpin conservation and which are of sufficient quality to allow their movement ecology to be quantified. Here two novel methods were developed and tested, which included remote scent surveys using a detection dog and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) trapping. After validation, RFID trapping was then used to quantify M. minutus movement in fragmented habitats. A preliminary study was carried out which assessed the ability of a dog to be trained to indicate the scent of M. minutus. Here positive reinforcement training methods were used and the dog’s effectiveness was evaluated in a training environment using scent samples collected from controlled and uncontrolled situations. Secondly, RFID trap effectiveness was compared to the results of live trapping. Data were maximised by releasing individually tagged M. minutus into a suitable semi-natural enclosure on the Moulton College estate. After validation a further release was undertaken to investigate M. minutus movement ecology. Here gaps of differing widths were incorporated into the release enclosures and movements between the habitat patches were measured. Individuals included in each release cohort were exposed to an Open Field Test prior to release, and thus, their behaviour in relation to trapping and movement was also assessed. There is strong evidence that a dog can be trained to detect M. minutus and discriminate their scent from other sympatric nontarget species in a controlled training environment. When applied to uncontrolled field situations, the remote scent survey proved more effective than nest search surveys by volunteers during the autumn months, providing preliminary evidence that olfactory indicators could be more efficient than visual clues when establishing presence of M. minutus. Additional validation in uncontrolled settings is still required. Encouraging results were also seen during validation of the use of RFID trapping with better results in terms of raw trapping rates over live trapping being observed. Furthermore, findings indicate that M. minutus have sufficient navigational and motion capacity to successfully move over gaps ≤2m, but gaps greater than 2m could limit their movement with possible implications for population persistence. The findings also suggest that individuals that explore more slowly may have an advantage when inhabiting a fragmented habitat. Thus, movement propensity is likely to be an individual behavioural trait and may vary across situations; this provides a novel perspective on their conservation and may support conservation decisions being based on behaviour rather than density. The data collected for this thesis demonstrates that progress has been made in terms of monitoring M. minutus and the findings presented are entirely novel for this species. Nevertheless, they remain a challenging species and more questions have been asked than can be answered within the thesis. However, the sum of this work has provided a clear direction for future research on M. minutus