Key issues in regional growth and integration in Southern Africa

Abstract: The decade to 2015 saw rapid growth in trade between Southern African Development Community (SADC) countries. Much of this growth reflected South African exports to its neighbours of diversified manufactured goods to meet growing urban consumption and to supply inputs to mining and infrastructure. While most SADC countries, aside from South Africa, grew quite rapidly over this period, their exports remained oriented to a narrow range of minerals and agricultural commodities destined to go outside the region. Drawing from a series of sectoral studies, we assess key regional issues including the investment and production decisions of firms whose operations stretch across borders, and consider the implications for a bottom-up integration agenda that could build productive capabilities across countries. Our evaluation highlights the importance of the spread of supermarkets, the need to address transport and logistics, and value chains whose competitive advantages are inherently regional, as in the cases of poultry and mining

Interaction of Lanthanum with Boron and Carbon: Phase Diagram and Structural Chemistry

International audienceThe isothermal section of the La-B-C phase diagram at 1,270 K has been investigated by means of X-ray, neutron powder diffraction, microstructure and EPMA analyses. Eight ternary compounds were found, and for six of them, the crystal structures have been established. The phase with the structure type of La5B2C6 has a broad homogeneity range described by the formula La5(BC) x (5.6 ≤ x ≤ 8.8). The lanthanum sesquicarbide La2C3 exhibits an extended solid solution in the ternary domain La2C3−x B x (x = 0.4). The boron substitution of carbon leads to the decrease of the superconducting temperature from 13.4 K for La2C3 to 10.0 K for La2C2.8B0.2 and from 5.6 K for La2C2.7 to 4.1 K for La2C2.6B0.4. The compositions of two new compounds ~La4B3C12 and ~La4B5C18 were found via WDX analysis

The enduring influence of death on health: insights from the terror management health model

The terror management health model suggests targeting sources of self-esteem or identity, in conjunction with mortality salience, offers a pathway for health behavior promotion. To date, however, empirical evidence has been limited to single time point studies. Two studies assessed whether similar processes impact behavior over time. In Study 1, mortality salience was paired with exercise (i.e., riding a recumbent bike); two weeks later, individuals primed with mortality reported more exercise than those not primed with death, and this increased fitness-contingent self-esteem and exercise intentions. In Study 2, when smokers visualized a prototypical unhealthy (vs. typical) smoker after mortality salience, they reported more attempts to quit smoking (over three weeks) than participants not primed with mortality. This facilitated continued quit attempts and decreased smoker identification three weeks later. Implications are discussed for a longitudinal process model in which mortality salience catalyzes a reinforcing relationship between behavior and esteem/identity, potentially sustaining health behavior change over time

Electronic Structure and Lattice dynamics of NaFeAs

The similarity of the electronic structures of NaFeAs and other Fe pnictides has been demonstrated on the basis of first-principle calculations. The global double-degeneracy of electronic bands along X-M and R-A direction indicates the instability of Fe pnictides and is explained on the basis of a tight-binding model. The de Haas-van Alphen parameters for the Fermi surface (FS) of NaFeAs have been calculated. A $\mathbf{Q}_{M}=(1/2,1/2,0)$ spin density wave (SDW) instead of a charge density wave (CDW) ground state is predicted based on the calculated generalized susceptibility $\chi(\mathbf{q})$ and a criterion derived from a restricted Hatree-Fock model. The strongest electron-phonon (e-p) coupling has been found to involve only As, Na z-direction vibration with linear-response calculations. A possible enhancement mechanism for e-p coupling due to correlation is suggested

Investigations in the ternary praseodymium–boron–carbon system: Solid-state phase diagram and structural chemistry

International audienceThe solid-state phase equilibrium in the Pr–B–C system was established using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and electron probe microanalysis. The region up to 60 at % of Pr was studied at 1270 K, whereas the Pr-rich corner, due to the generally lower melting points, was investigated at 1070 K. Eleven ternary compounds were isolated. The existence of PrB2C2, Pr5B2C5, Pr5B4C5, Pr5B2C6, PrBC, and Pr10B9C12 was confirmed. Pr15B6C20 and Pr25B14C26 have been found only in arc-melted alloys. Three new ternary compounds were isolated, namely Pr2BC, ∼Pr4B3C13 and ∼Pr7B9C34. The monoclinic structure of Pr2BC was solved from X-ray single crystal data: space group C2/m (a = 13.088(1) Å, b = 3.6748(8) Å, c = 9.488(1) Å, β = 131.03(1)°, R1 = 0.035 (wR2 = 0.086) for 585 reflections with Io > 2σ (Io)). Additionally, the phase of Pr5B2C6 was analyzed showing a broad homogeneity range described by the formula Pr5(BC)x (7.5 ≤ x ≤ 9.3

The Impact of the Global Commodity and Financial Crises on Poverty in Vietnam

Economic growth in Vietnam has been fairly resilient to the global commodity and financial crises, but it is unclear why. In addition, the impact of the crises on employment and poverty is in dispute. We develop a dynamic computable general equilibrium model to decompose impacts and estimate distributional outcomes. Our results indicate that the 2008 commodity crisis increased employment and reduced poverty by favouring labour-intensive exports, especially in agriculture. The 2009 financial crisis reversed these gains. It pushed more than a million workers into unemployment and about 3 million people below the US$2-a-day poverty line, with the vast majority of these being rural dwellers. The net effect of the crises left Vietnam little changed from a baseline (no crises) path in terms of aggregate indicators including the poverty rate. An effective stimulus package has the potential to offset one third of the increase in poverty caused by the financial crisis leaving poverty rates below the (no crises) baseline.Economic crisis, growth, poverty, Vietnam

The role of mortality awareness in hero identification

Three studies examine hypotheses derived from terror management theory to investigate the relationship between mortality concerns and hero identification. Study 1 found reminders of death, followed by a distraction task and a self-prime, led to greater inclusion of heroes in the self. Study 2 found that writing about a personal hero, but not other’s heroes or acquaintances, led to lower death-thought accessibility after being reminded of mortality. Finally, Study 3 found that after death reminders, participants led to identify with a hero exemplifying traits of legacy and/or sacrifice showed lower death thought accessibility. Findings are discussed as generative for heroism research, informing a previously overlooked motivation underlying hero identification and the existential function of such identification