Bayesian Experimental Design For Bayesian Hierarchical Models With Differential Equations For Ecological Applications

Ecologists are interested in the composition of species in various ecosystems. Studying population dynamics can assist environmental managers in making better decisions for the environment. Traditionally, the sampling of species has been recorded on a regular time frequency. However, sampling can be an expensive process due to financial and physical constraints. In some cases the environments are threatening, and ecologists prefer to limit their time collecting data in the field. Rather than convenience sampling, a statistical approach is introduced to improve data collection methods for ecologists by studying the dynamics associated with populations of interest. Population models including the logistic equation and the Lotka-Volterra differential equations are employed to simulate species composition. This research focuses on sequentially learning about the behavior of dynamical systems to better inform ecologists of when to sample. The developed algorithm of sequential optimality designs sampling regimes to assist ecologists with resource allocation while providing maximum information from the data. This research in its entirety constructs a method for designing sampling schedules for ecologists based on the dynamics associated with temporal ecological models

Subtitling and loss of meaning: politeness features in Pieces d'identite/ID

Introduction This research focuses on subtitling as a discipline in translation studies and investigates the extent to which constraints in subtitling lead to loss in meaning, in particular loss of politeness features in the film Pièces d’identité/ID (1998) by Ngangura because of differences in the expression of politeness in French and English which are two opposing cultures. For the past two decades, there has been a growing awareness of African cultural values across the African continent and the African Diaspora as expressed through language. The desire to express those cultural values has led to what is termed “Afritude”1 in Cameroon and other French-speaking West and Central African countries. The spirit of Afritude has long had a tremendous impact on the way Africans consider their cultures and cultural values. The pride in their expression has greatly revolutionised the show business sector: African designers are creating wears that reflect Africanness; musicians are creating and or modernising African musical genres (Makossa, Kwaito, Dombolo, Kwassa-kwassa, etc.); writers are moving from postcolonial themes to other themes which highlight African cultures and values, and finally, film producers and writers are today some of the pioneers of Afritude in the Multimedia sector. Multimedia input in the film industry, through advertisements and the screening of films, further enforced by the relentless activities of FESPACO2 in the promotion of African films and documentaries, has led to an increase in the demand for African films across the continent and beyond. However, between the demand and supply of these films lies the aspect of language barriers created by the huge variety of 1 This refers to the pride to be African and to consume African as expressed by individuals in Cameroon and Gabon, through their preference for African designs, music, dances, and films among others, over those from the Western World. In South Africa the term afrocentrism is used to express this reality. This term was used during the early 1990s till when I left Cameroun and Gabon around mid 2001. The closest synonym to the term Afritude is Afrocentrism as used in South Africa (Personal Experience). 2 Festival Panafricain du Cinéma et de la Télévision de Ouagadougou/ Panafrican Film and Television Festival of Ouagadougou. 2 languages spoken by prospective audiences and consumers. Hence, if the demand for those films is to be met they have to be translated. Film translation is a mode of translation which takes place in four different forms: Voice-over, dubbing, surtitling and subtitling. Voice-overs and dubbing are isosemiotic forms of translation which involve translating speech into speech while diasemiotic forms like surtitling and subtitling have to represent the speech from the soundtrack of the film in writing, usually posted as captions at the bottom of the screen (Hatim and Mason 2000:430). This research focuses on subtitling and shows how constraints in subtitling (linguistics, cultural and technical) have in many ways affected the writing of subtitles in films, and how these constraints have led to loss of meaning, in particular in relation to politeness features, in scenes depicting interpersonal interactions between characters in the film Pièces D’identité/ID

Effective Distribution of Drugs Through the Use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT): The Case of Selected Pharmaceuticals Companies in Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis, Ghana

Distribution channels enhanced by ICT ensure the effective distribution of drugs. This paper sought to find out the factors that influence the choice of distribution channel used in ensuring the effective delivery of drugs, make known the role of ICT in the distribution of drugs to save lives in Ghana and also to determine the role played by ICT in achieving effective distribution of drugs within Sekondi-Takoradi Metropolis. One hundred and seventeen (117) respondents were used for the study. The study results reveal that the main distribution channel of drugs is producer-wholesaler-retailer to consumers. This accounted for 60%. The study also revealed that the key function of distribution is to ensure product and information flow. Financial strength/credit rating, goal and strategies, communication among other things were identified as factors that influenced the choice of distribution channels used in ensuring effective delivery of drugs. These factors produced a mean response value above 4.0. Managements of Pharmaceutical shops are encouraged to engage or employ more pharmacists in the handling and administration of drugs and also focus on current software(s) to ensure that the usage of information and communication technology in the pharmaceutical companies is at the prime and bring the essence of urgency to pharmaceutical firms to engage professionals in the field of drug administration to improve service delivery. Keywords: Distribution channels, Effective delivery of drugs, Information Communication Technology, Pharmaceutical Industr

Conservation of the African forest elephant (Loxodonta africana) in the Lobeke, south-east Cameroon

The Lobeke forest contains not only the largest elephant population of Cameroon, but also the highest density of elephant surveyed in the Central African rainforest. This study aimed at providing the information needed for the creation of a reserve in the Lobeke forest. Data were collected on the ecology of elephants as well as on the ecology of the indigenous peoples living in close proximity to the proposed reserve. The study reviews the status of elephants in Africa and in Cameroon and descrives the Lobeke forest. Dropping counts along line transects were used for the study of the distribution and numbers of elephants in the proposed reserve. Daily activities and aspects of the population dynamics, such as the age structure, sex ratio and reproductive performance were studies by direct observations. The diet and crop depredation by elephant were also studied. The ecology of the indigenous peoples were assessed using data collected by direct observations in villages and in the forest, in conjunction with a questionnaire. The study focused on their demography, food restrictions and traditional activities such as hunting, fishing, gathering and farming. It was found that: the Lobeke forest is an elephant refuge during the dry season; there are important movement of elephants in and out of the area over the seasonsl the Sangha drainage system is important for elephants in the Lobeke forest; the distribution of elephants is more related to food availability; the defecation rate does not vary over the seasons; forest elephant tend to associate in small groups; bark and leaves make up the bulk of their food and crop raiding is negligible in the Lobeke forest. For the indigenous peoples, the forest contributes to their daily subsistence needs as well as providing the means of earning cash income. It also provides them with medicine, building materials, fuel wood and materials for all sorts of household articles. Throughout the discussion, comparisons to other elephant populations as well as other indigenous peoples are made. Aspects of the design of the future reserve are also discussed. The study concludes with a set of recommendations for the conservation of the elephant population in the Lobeke forest

Gender and language in sub-Saharan African contexts: Issues and challenges

In this paper, we examine a range of issues associated with the study of gender and language in sub-Saharan African contexts. These include whether (and in what sense) such contexts may constitute a ‘special case’, the relevance of feminism, and what might be encompassed by ‘context’, ‘African contexts’ and ‘African topics’ – and a substantial amount of what we write is relevant to Applied Linguistics in Africa more broadly (see Makoni and Meinhof 2004 for a discussion). We argue that while all the gender issues are of interest and importance to language and gender study in general, it is possible to see some of these issues as ‘characteristic’ of African contexts (albeit with ‘echoes’ elsewhere). It will be evident from this first paper (and those which follow) that along with taking on board commonalities in terms of the theoretical notions used in our field in African and non-African contexts, there is also a need to recognise a range of situated understandings of gender identities, gender relations, understandings of gender more broadly, and feminism

Developing effective chronic disease interventions in Africa: insights from Ghana and Cameroon.

RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are.BACKGROUND: Africa faces an urgent but 'neglected epidemic' of chronic disease. In some countries stroke, hypertension, diabetes and cancers cause a greater number of adult medical admissions and deaths compared to communicable diseases such as HIV/AIDS or tuberculosis. Experts propose a three-pronged solution consisting of epidemiological surveillance, primary prevention and secondary prevention. In addition, interventions must be implemented through 'multifaceted multi-institutional' strategies that make efficient use of limited economic and human resources. Epidemiological surveillance has been prioritised over primary and secondary prevention. We discuss the challenge of developing effective primary and secondary prevention to tackle Africa's chronic disease epidemic through in-depth case studies of Ghanaian and Cameroonian responses. METHODS: A review of chronic disease research, interventions and policy in Ghana and Cameroon instructed by an applied psychology conceptual framework. Data included published research and grey literature, health policy initiatives and reports, and available information on lay community responses to chronic diseases. RESULTS: There are fundamental differences between Ghana and Cameroon in terms of 'multi-institutional and multi-faceted responses' to chronic diseases. Ghana does not have a chronic disease policy but has a national health insurance policy that covers drug treatment of some chronic diseases, a culture of patient advocacy for a broad range of chronic conditions and mass media involvement in chronic disease education. Cameroon has a policy on diabetes and hypertension, has established diabetes clinics across the country and provided training to health workers to improve treatment and education, but lacks community and media engagement. In both countries churches provide public education on major chronic diseases. Neither country has conducted systematic evaluation of the impact of interventions on health outcomes and cost-effectiveness. CONCLUSIONS: Both Ghana and Cameroon require a comprehensive and integrative approach to chronic disease intervention that combines structural, community and individual strategies. We outline research and practice gaps and best practice models within and outside Africa that can instruct the development of future interventions

An analysis of the representation of citizenship education in contemporary grade six South African social sciences textbooks.

Master of Education. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2017.This thesis comprises a case study of four grade six South African Social Sciences textbooks, published in the post-apartheid era. The study focuses on how they represent citizenship education. It examines citizenship education as a highly important concept, used in many nations with different aims. An important resource in education, textbooks have been used as a channel through which learners are educated regarding citizenship. This dissertation answered a main research question on how citizenship education has been represented in the selected textbooks. Based on an interpretivist paradigm and approached from a qualitative perspective, I generated data from four contemporary Social Sciences textbooks, compliant with the Curriculum Assessment and Policy Statement (CAPS), that are utilised at the grade six level. Semiotic analysis was used as a method of Discourse Analysis (DA) to analyse the data. The findings revealed that citizenship education is taken very seriously in the textbooks, which cover virtually all aspects of the political, social and economic rights and responsibilities of citizens as a means of creating an identity for South African citizens

Rehabilitation and Reintroduction of wild born orphan chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) within the pongo and okokong islands of the douala-edea wildlife reserve, Littoral Region Cameroon

This study had as main objective to document on the reintroduction of chimpanzees in the Douala-Edea Wildlife Reserve which appears to be the first case of chimpanzee reintroduction in Cameroon. The study was carried out in the South East zone of the Douala-Edea Wildlife Reserve which holds a small chimpanzee sanctuary under the auspices of “Papaye France” association. Data was collected on the field using semi structured questionnaires, interviews and direct observations alongside a participatory action approach at the sanctuary. Data from discussion guide and questionnaires were descriptively analysed and discussed with respect to our objectives. There were 24 orphan chimpanzees all together present in the zone and being cared for by the association PAPAYE France. This association has released 16 chimpanzees on two Islands of the reserve, the first group made of 9 chimpanzees (6 males and 3 females) were released in 2008 on the Pongo Island and a second group made of 6 chimpanzees (4 males and 2 females) were released on the Okokong Island in 2010; one female was later introduced to this group early 2015. These chimpanzees were released after a rehabilitation process not in line with IUCN guidelines for reintroduction of great apes and not following any developed scientific approach or methodology. Despite this, the released chimps are faring well as new births have been recorded on either Islands, chimps feed, nest, movement and vocalize indicating there have gotten adapted to live on the Islands. It was also noted that the sizes of these islands may not maintain a viable, nutritionally self-sustaining population in the long run hence could better serve as a semi naturalistic sanctuary. It is necessary that the carrying capacities of the islands be determined while larger potential release sites be assessed and prepared for an eventual transfer/reintroduction of these apes in the future

Analyzing Ghana’s Tourism Operating Environment: A Political Economy Perspective

Notwithstanding its importance to the success of businesses and industries, the external operating environment is hardly a subject of interest in the tourism literature. But understanding the operating environment is of major value when assessing the efficacy of tourism and its role as a vehicle for socioeconomic transformation in any country. The present study therefore employs a qualitative design within a political economy framework to assess the current environment within which Ghana‟s tourism operates. Using unstructured in- depth interviews the study collates views from 10 senior tourism sector operatives representing both public and private sectors chosen through the purposive sampling technique. The findings suggest that the political and economic factors of the present operating environment combine to create a difficult operational theatre for both the public and private sector actors in tourism. By implication therefore, the environment disables rather than enables the tourism trade and circumscribes its potential for expansion. To reverse the situation it is recommended that the existing organizational structures must be repositioned and also there must be reorientation of the existing ideological and fiscal policies