NATURAL RESOURCE ACCOUNTS FOR THE STATE AND ECONOMIC CONTRIBUTION OF FORESTS AND WOODLAND RESOURCES IN SWAZILAND

Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Households’ Willingness to Pay for Improved Water Services: A Case of Semi-Urban Households in the Lubombo and Lowveld Regions of Swaziland

Management of water resources in an equitable manner by water managers has proved to be a demanding task. Therefore, evaluating domestic water demand behaviours produces an underlying basis for water managers to sustainably and efficiently meet the ever increasing demand for water. Using survey data collected from 314 households in the Lowveld and Lubombo regions of Swaziland, this paper uses the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to determine households’ willingness to pay (WTP) for improved water services. In estimating the parametric mean WTP and its determinants, the paper uses both the bivariate probit model and univariate probit model, respectively. The results show that 67% of the households were willing to pay the initial bid for improved water services. The mean WTP for a 20 litre of water was estimated at E0.47[1]. Probit model results show that household income, education, gender, distance and owning a backyard garden positively influence household WTP. However, age, water quality and the initial bid offered deter households WTP for improved water services. This suggests that socioeconomic factors should be considered when setting domestic water tariffs and designing strategies for improved water supply services. Keywords: Willingness to Pay (WTP), Contingent Valuation Method (CVM), Swaziland [1] 1 USD = E13.5 Emalangen

Exploring the relationship between elementary education preservice teachers' dispositions toward diversity and their approach to curriculum and teaching

Scope and Method of Study: Using the culturally responsive teaching/teacher theoretical lens, this qualitative study sought to explore the relationship between elementary preservice teachers' dispositions toward diversity and examine how these dispositions relate to their curriculum content selection and teaching strategies when teaching student populations that are culturally linguistically, and socioeconomically different from them. Four White female elementary preservice teachers, conducting their clinical internship in a culturally diverse elementary school participated in the study.Findings and Conclusion: There was a significant relationship between the preservice teachers' dispositions and their curriculum content selection and their teaching strategy selection. Findings indicated the following: (a) lack of awareness and lack of experience, (b) family influence, (c) active/silent resistance, (d) savior/missionary mentality, and (e) selective othering. From the findings, I concluded that since the participants did not have culturally diverse knowledge base, and skills, they were not able to select culturally relevant curriculum and teaching strategies for culturally diverse student populations. Teacher educators still have a challenge to prepare teacher candidates to work with diverse student populations

Equality or justice? Section 9 of the Constitution revisited — Part II

The purpose of this article is to establish whether section 9 of the Constitution guarantees equality or justice. The Constitution stipulates that everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law. It defines equality as including the full and equal enjoyment of all the rights and freedoms. It also prohibits unfair discrimination against anyone on one or more of the listed grounds. This provision aims to create an egalitarian society where all people are treated as human beings with dignity and self-worth. It cannot, however, be interpreted to mean that there will be total equality of all persons in every respect whatever their circumstances and that all people will enjoy all rights fully in the same way. The Constitutional Court has interpreted this provision to mean justice and fairness rather than complete equality. It has been accepted that in a democratic society differentiation is permissible and even necessary. However, permissible differentiation becomes impermissible (and consequently results in unfair discrimination) when the dignity of the person is violated. Although this approach has been criticised as being narrow in that it shifts emphasis from equality to dignity, it demonstrates that there is a close relationship between equality and dignity

Contribution of Rural Schools to Socioeconomic Development in Swaziland’s Rural Areas

This paper examines the contribution of rural schools to economic development in Swaziland. The important linkage between rural schools and their communities is also outlined. The paper shows that successful socioeconomic development should focus on harnessing the resources already in the community to find solution to community problems. The paper is based on secondary information using document methods study. The results suggest that not only do rural schools educate learners, but they also perform a myriad of other functions within their communities from providing physical resources and facilities, involving community members in activities, sporting and cultural activities of the schools, encouraging learners and community members to work together to develop a greater understanding of their communities.Key words: rural schools, contribution, socioeconomic development, community leaders, rural areas, Swaziland

Equality or justice? Section 9 of the Constitution revisited — Part I

The purpose of this article is to establish whether section 9 of the Constitution guarantees equality or justice. The Constitution stipulates that everyone is equal before the law and has the right to equal protection and benefit of the law. It defines equality as including the full and equal enjoyment of all the rights and freedoms. It also prohibits unfair discrimination against anyone on one or more of the listed grounds. This provision aims to create an egalitarian society where all people are treated as human beings with dignity and self-worth. It cannot, however, be interpreted to mean that there will be total equality of all persons in every respect whatever their circumstances and that all people will enjoy all rights fully in the same way. The Constitutional Court has interpreted this provision to mean justice and fairness rather than complete equality. It has been accepted that in a democratic society differentiation is permissible and even necessary. However, permissible differentiation becomes impermissible (and consequently results in unfair discrimination) when the dignity of the person is violated. Although this approach has been criticised as being narrow in that it shifts emphasis from equality to dignity, it demonstrates that there is a close relationship between equality and dignity

CHARACTERISATION OF MULTIVARIATE TRAITS IN SWAZI INDIGENOUS GOATS

Swazi goats from two different regions in Swaziland kept in communal systems were characterised based on phenotypic measurements. Objective measurements for 200 goats included body weight (BW), abdominal circumference (AC), body length (BL), chest circumference (CC), face length (FL), neck circumference (NC), neck length (NL), rump height (RH) and height at withers (HW), while qualitative traits included coat colour, coat texture and presence or absence of horns. Seven coat colours were observed across both regions. Goats with straight coat texture (82%), short hair length (68%) and with horns (84%) were predominantly more. Goats in Manzini region had the lower BW, AC, BL and CC (51.77±1.32, 61.77±1.32, 62.49±0.66, 57.96±1.18) than Shiselweni goats (53.09±1.01, 71.09±1.00, 73.67±0.94, 53.83±0.90). The study provided a reference for phenotypic and genetic diversity for Swazi goats useful for designing genetic strategies for improved production, food security and sustainable utilisation

On the Computation of Blow-up Solutions for Semilinear ODEs and Parabolic PDEs

We introduce an adaptive numerical method for computing blow-up solutions for ODEs and well-known reaction-diffusion equations. The method is based on the implicit midpoint method and the implicit Euler method. We demonstrate that the method produces superior results to the adaptive PECE-implicit method and the MATLAB solver of comparable order

Atypical pneumonia in adults in southern Africa

The true incidence of Legionella pneumophilia, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Chlamydophila pneumoniae and Coxiella burnetti, the so-called atypical pathogens that cause adult community-acquired pneumonia in southern Africa, is unknown. Although there are a lack of community-based studies, hospital-based studies suggest that the incidence may be as high as 30% in patients admitted to, but not requiring, an intensive care unit. A lack of specific clinical features that differentiate atypical pathogens, plus the lack of reliable, simple diagnostics, compound the uncertainty regarding the contribution of atypical pathogens to the sum total of community-acquired pneumonia in southern Africa. Without reliable diagnostic tests, macrolide or azalide antibiotics are widely used for in-patients with pneumonia, potentially fuelling the rise of antibiotic resistance to macrolides in other bacteria

Experimental verification of entanglement generated in a plasmonic system

A core process in many quantum tasks is the generation of entanglement. It is being actively studied in a variety of physical settings - from simple bipartite systems to complex multipartite systems. In this work we experimentally study the generation of bipartite entanglement in a nanophotonic system. Entanglement is generated via the quantum interference of two surface plasmon polaritons in a beamsplitter structure, i.e. utilising the Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) effect, and its presence is verified using quantum state tomography. The amount of entanglement is quantified by the concurrence and we find values of up to 0.77 +/- 0.04. Verifying entanglement in the output state from HOM interference is a nontrivial task and cannot be inferred from the visibility alone. The techniques we use to verify entanglement could be applied to other types of photonic system and therefore may be useful for the characterisation of a range of different nanophotonic quantum devices.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure