Economic relations between turkey and Africa: challenges and prospects

African affairs occupied a secondary status in Turkish foreign policy until very recently. However, following the adoption of the Action Plan for Opening up to Africa in the late 1990s, Turkish politicians started to assign a higher priority to relations with African countries. The incumbent Turkish government now attaches great importance to developing long-term relations with those countries. We can also see that Africa’s image in Turkey is changing with journalists presenting new narratives about the continent and supporting Turkish involvement in African affairs. There is also an increasing interest in African studies in the academia, although scholarly work produced on African issues remains limited. This study explores the evolution of Turkish-African relations and concentrates mostly on Turkey’s economic engagement in African countries. It also seeks to analyse recent Turkish initiatives in Africa’s energy sector. The article argues, among other things, that although the low level of attention paid to African issues has changed, the pace of the development of relations with Africa is still slow and more steps have to be taken to further improve relations with African countries.Keywords: Turkey, Africa, Sustainable Developmen

Crisis and Crisis Management in the Legislature: the Rivers State House of Assembly Experience, 2011 - 2015

The legislature is an assemblage of the representatives of the people, elected under a legal framework to make laws for the good governance of the State. The Legislature like every other institution of the State hardly functions without crisis. Crisis is a change, which may be sudden or which may take some time to evolve, that results in an urgent problem that must be addressed immediately. Although crisis events are unpredictable, they are not always unexpected. Crisis management is the process of identifying a potential issue or crisis and coordinating organisational or inter-organisational response as necessary to resolve the crisis. The methodology for this study is qualitative, using documentary evidence and the ex-post-facto research design in terms of reviewing necessary literature. The scope of this study is the Rivers State House of Assembly, 2011-2015. Furthermore, we utilized the Frustration – Aggression Theory (F- A) as a framework of analysis. The study revealed two paradigms in the crisis that engulf the Rivers State House of Assembly in the period under review. The study recommends full autonomy of the Legislature, respect for rule of law and House Rules, continuous training, reorientation of Members and Staff, making parliamentary offices as part - time and less attractive as well as institutional strengthening as the prospects for political stability in the Legislature

Application of ground magnetics and geoelectrical methods in delineating sulphide deposit in oshiri area, southeastern nigeria

The Asu River Group Shale in the Oshiri area was evaluated using ground magnetic and geoelectrical methods within existing mine. Some exploration programs in the area have resulted to failure due to the fact that project managers have not fully understood the use and importance of geophysics in enhancing the search for mineral deposits. The aim of the study was to delineate the sulphide deposits using ground magnetics and geoelectrical methods. Result of the ground magnetic survey delineated some shallow tectonic structures like fractures and faults which are capable of hosting metallic sulphide deposits. The residual magnetic intensity of the study area indicates very low magnetic field intensities around the central and southern portions of the study area. These low values indicate absence of magnetite in the near surface materials as suggested by previous studies in the area, but could be referred to as zones with shallow tectonic structures which could be faults and/or fractures capable of housing sulphide deposits. The ore-bearing veins within the sedimentary rocks have susceptibilities of ≤ -1.8 nT. The low, negative residual susceptibility zone in the southeastern portion of the study area was targeted for the induced polarization IP and electrical resistivity tomography. Four traverses of induced polarization IP and resistivity surveys were carried out with all the profile lines were in the NE-SW direction. Isolated chargeable bodies with values greater than 340msec and a correspondingly low resistivity values (10Ωm-50Ωm), were encountered across some of these profiles. This zone may represent zones with sulphide mineralization. These identified chargeable bodies occur at approximate depth and width range of between 25-30m and 50-70m respectively. The 1D stratigraphic models reveal an average thickness estimate of 11.0m. Using scalar geometric approach, an estimate of 103,513.75tonnes was obtained, representing a relatively economically viable quantity and a worthy target for investors. &nbsp

Mutagenic effects of sodium azide on the survival and morphological characters of tomato varieties

Sodium Azide (SA)-induced mutagenic variability was studied on four tomato varieties namely Roma vf, Roma savannah, Tropimech and Tima. The SA concentrations used were 0.1%, 0.3%, 0.5% and 0.7%, with 0.0% as control to determine the percentage emergence and growth parameters of the tomato varieties. The plant seeds were pretreated with the various concentrations of the mutagen before planting. The seedlings were raised in the nursery and transplanted after 30 days of planting into the field in polythene bags filled with 70g of a mixture of soil and farm yard manure. The experiment was carried out in randomised complete block design with three replicates. Increase in SA concentration caused a remarkable decrease in the percentage emergence and all other growth parameters evaluated. The effect of the interaction between variety and SA concentration revealed that the interaction was not significantly different from the control at P≤0.05 on the number of leaves, number of branches and leaf length, but the difference was significant for plant height. Formation of two stems was observed at 0.3% Sodium Azide for Roma vf. variety. The 0.1% and 0.3% concentrations of Sodium Azide seem to be promising treatments under the experimental conditions and thus could be used to induce variations for tomato crop improvement. Tima and Roma savannah performed better and were resistant to the mutagen than other varieties, hence they can be recommended as good varieties for further breeding purposes; also Sodium Azide could be a good mutagen for the improvement of tomato plants. Keywords: Tomato, growth characters, mutagenic, Sodium Azide, morphological variability

Introduction Turkey and Africa: Motivations, Challenges and Future Prospects

Turkey's presence in Africa has experienced significant growth over the last two decades. In recent years, Turkey's expanding African outreach has transformed media narratives and generated a surge of scholarly studies on Turkey's involvement in Africa. Turkey's renewed focus on the continent and its commitment to establishing an equal partnership with African nations came after years of neglect. Previously, Turkey's relationship with African countries followed a cycle of ups and downs. The interest in Africa was largely driven by short-term foreign policy considerations, such as breaking Turkey's international isolation and securing diplomatic support from African nations. Understanding how Turkey's carefully crafted discourses resonate with African countries in the face of competition from other external actors is a challenging task. Despite the existence of a rich and extensive literature on how external players engage with Africa, Turkey's role and the long-term impact of its involvement have often been overlooked. This special issue aims to contribute to the existing literature by exploring different dimensions of Turkey's multifaceted Africa policy, including its engagement in the security landscape, the African arms market, humanitarian efforts, and public diplomacy initiatives

Piromellitik dianhidrit ile modifiye edilmiş silika jel üzerinde eser düzeydeki Ni(II), Cd(II) ve Pb(II) iyonlarının zenginleştirilerek alevli atomik absoprsiyon spektrometresi ile tayini

06.03.2018 tarihli ve 30352 sayılı Resmi Gazetede yayımlanan “Yükseköğretim Kanunu İle Bazı Kanun Ve Kanun Hükmünde Kararnamelerde Değişiklik Yapılması Hakkında Kanun” ile 18.06.2018 tarihli “Lisansüstü Tezlerin Elektronik Ortamda Toplanması, Düzenlenmesi ve Erişime Açılmasına İlişkin Yönerge” gereğince tam metin erişime açılmıştır.Bu tez çalışmasında, piromellitik dianhidrit ile modifiye edilmiş silika jel (PMDA-SG) kullanılarak eser düzeydeki Ni(II), Cd(II) ve Pb(II) iyonları zenginleştirildi ve ardından Alevli Atomik Absorpsiyon Spektrometresi ile tayin edildi. PMDA-SG'nin karakterizasyonu C,H,N elementel analizi ve FT-IR spektroskopisi ile gerçekleştirildi. Kolon katı faz ekstraksiyon tekniği ile yapılan zenginleştirme çalışmalarında çözelti pH'sı, elüent çözeltisinin türü ve derişimi, akış hızı, çözelti hacmi, matriks iyonları gibi faktörlerin etkileri incelendi. PMDA-SG ile doldurulmuş kolonda Ni(II), Cd(II) ve Pb(II) iyonlarının zenginleştirilmesinin optimum koşulları numune çözeltisinin pH'sı 7,0, numune akış hızı 5 mL/dk., maksimum çözelti hacmi 500 mL ve elüent olarak 5 mL hacmindeki 1 mol L-1 HNO3 çözeltisi olarak belirlendi. Çevresel numunelerde bulunabilecek düzeydeki matriks iyonlarının varlığında bile Ni(II), Cd(II) ve Pb(II) iyonlarının geri kazanımı kantitatif olarak bulundu. Geliştirilen yöntemin doğruluğu, standart referans su örneği analiz edilerek ortaya koyuldu. Yöntemin kesinliği ise 50 mL hacminde 20 ng mL-1 konsantrasyonda Ni(II), Cd(II) ve Pb(II) iyonlarını içeren numune çözeltisinin geliştirilen yöntem ile tayin edilerek incelendi (n=5). % 5'den küçük yüzde bağıl standart sapma değerleri ve kantitatif geri kazanım verimleri elde edildi. Çeşme suyu, Sapanca Gölü, Çark Deresi ve Sakarya Nehrinden alınan su numunelerindeki Ni(II), Cd(II) ve Pb(II) derişimleri geliştirilen yöntem kullanılarak başarıyla tayin edildi.In this thesis study, Ni(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions at trace level were preconcentrated using pyromellitic dianhydride modified silica gel (PMDA-SG) and then determined by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. Characterization of PMDA-SG was performed by C, H, N elemental analysis and FT-IR spectroscopy. In the preconcentration studies with column solid phase extraction technique, the effects of factors such as solution pH, type and concentration of eluent solution, flow rate, solution volume, matrix ions were investigated. The optimum condition for the preconcentration of Ni(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions in the PMDA-SG filled column as follows the pH of the sample solution was 7.0, the sample flow rate was 5 mL/min, the maximum volume of the solution was 500 mL, and the eluent was 5 mL of 1,0 mol L-1 HNO3 solution. The recovery of Ni(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions was quantitatively found even in the presence of matrix ions at levels that could be found in environmental samples. The accuracy of the developed method was demonstrated by analyzing standard reference material water samples. The precision of the method was evaluated by determination of Ni(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) levels in the sample solution (50 mL) containing Ni(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions at 20 ng mL-1 (n = 5). The quantitative recoveries and relative standard deviation values lower than 5% were obtained. The concentrations of Ni(II), Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions in water samples from tap water, Sapanca Lake, Çark Stream and Sakarya River were successfully determined by using the developed method

Internacionalização setor das Rochas Ornamentais: o caso da Solancis

O estudo analisa o desempenho da empresa Solancis, no setor das rochas ornamentais, nomeadamente a sua integração em redes de parcerias, e, o processo de evolução de inovações e de internacionalização, O setor das rochas ornamentais tem assistido, na última década, a uma mudança estrutural induzida pelas organizações manifestadas através de alterações internas (equipamentos, processos e organização) como externas (cluster). Podemos inferir, através deste estudo, que tais preocupações se consubstanciaram em projetos de promoção externa da pedra portuguesa pela via da qualidade e diferenciação. Uma crescente dinâmica de investimento em I&D, em tecnologia e ainda, em novos processos e procedimentos organizacionais nas empresas, suportados em novos modelos associativos setoriais e regionais. Assim, foi possível identificar um modelo de trabalho onde as parcerias se formalizaram (cluster) com um objetivo de criação de valor. O estudo, de teor qualitativo pretende observar os aspetos relevantes para o desempenho ao nível da competitividade, e, consequentemente da internacionalização. Num primeiro momento, foi realizada uma análise dos investimentos em I&D e em equipamentos capazes de potenciar a inovação tecnológica e de processo. De seguida, procedeu-se à análise das parcerias estratégicas da empresa e das suas contribuições, através de entrevistas (reuniões de trabalho) com o diretor geral, e principal acionista da empresa, aquando das visitas às instalações. Trata-se de uma empresa leader de mercado, onde se associa a integração vertical (12 pedreiras) e horizontal (linha de processamento e trabalho em pedra único em Portugal). É possível inferir que o desempenho positivo da empresa está associado à sua capacidade de inovar e estabelecer parcerias consubstanciadas em ganhos de competitividade e na conquista de novos mercados. E à capacidade de liderança e de visão da sua gestão

Turkish and Brics engagement in Africa

This article studies the political economy of Turkey’s relations with sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) since 2002 while Turkey was under the Justice and Development Party’s (AKP) rule. It argues that Turkey has focused its engagement in Africa mostly on humanitarian assistance and the economy. Contextualizing Turkey’s relations with SSA vis-à-vis other emerging market economies, especially the BRICS (Brazil/Russia/India/China/South Africa), provides ample insights into the nature of Turkey’s engagement in SSA. While Turkey’s involvement has some similarities with that of the BRICS, there are greater fundamental and structural differences from how the BRICS established their presence in SSA. These differences mostly find resonance when juxtaposed with the activism of non-governmental actors engaged in humanitarian missions and charity work with trade-related economic investments and activism.Keywords: Turkey, sub-Saharan Africa, political economy, BRICS, trade, humanitarian assistance