Presidential elections and the manipulation of exam success rate in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper investigates whether the exam success rate in Africa increases significantly in the months prior to the occurrence of the presidential elections. It hypothesizes that the incumbent is tempted to increase the exam success rate to retain a form of social cohesion and to 'buy' votes. A sample of 15 francophone African countries observed from 1990 to 2009 yields three findings. First, post-exam presidential elections significantly increase the exam success rate by six percentage points. Second, the manipulation of the exam success rate is positively correlated with the re-election of the incumbent. Third, these results do not hold when elections occur before the exam dates or when the incumbent or a member of his/her party do not run for the presidential seat.Sub-Saharan Africa;Exam success rate;Presidential elections

Presidential elections and the manipulation of exam success rate in Sub-Saharan Africa

This paper investigates whether the exam success rate in Africa increases significantly in the months prior to the occurrence of the presidential elections. It hypothesizes that the incumbent is tempted to increase the exam success rate to retain a form of social cohesion and to ‘buy’ votes. A sample of 15 francophone African countries observed from 1990 to 2009 yields three findings. First, post-exam presidential elections significantly increase the exam success rate by six percentage points. Second, the manipulation of the exam success rate is positively correlated with the re-election of the incumbent. Third, these results do not hold when elections occur before the exam dates or when the incumbent or a member of his/her party do not run for the presidential seat.Sub-Saharan Africa, Exam success rate, Presidential elections

Are Foreign Aid and Remittances a Hedge against Food Price Shocks in Developing Countries?

This paper measures the effects of food price shocks on both the level of household consumption per capita and the instability of the household consumption per capita growth rate in developing countries. In this vein, the paper explores the role of aid and remittance inflows in the mitigation of the effects of food price shocks in the recipient economies. Using a large sample of developing countries observed over the period 1980-2009 and mobilising dynamic panel data specifications, the econometric results yield three important findings. First, food price shocks significantly affect both the level and the instability of household consumption in highly vulnerable countries. Second, remittance and aid inflows significantly dampen the effect of food price shocks in the most vulnerable countries. Third, a lower remittance-to-GDP ratio is required in order to fully absorb the effects of food price shocks compared to the corresponding aid-to-GDP ratio.Household consumption, food price shocks, vulnerability, Aid, Remittances

Admit one’s driving offences or attribute them to others: an exploratory study among a sample of Cameroonian drivers

In the field of social thinking the question of norms give rise to several publications. Moreover there exists no study in this theoretical framework concerning Cameroon drivers’ relationship with the rule. In order to understand this, a group of 50 motorists filled out a characterization questionnaire on driving, purposely oriented to the use of the mobile. The instructions to the drivers were to fill it out for themselves (standard condition) and for other drivers (substitution condition). The results confirm the role of the substitution instructions in bringing to light inadmissible offences with standard instructions. It can be concluded that the Cameroon drivers are well aware of the rule and that they tend to attribute thegreatest transgressions to other drivers

Phenolic content of Hypodaphnis Zenkeri and its antioxidant effects against fenton reactions’ mediated oxidative injuries on liver homogenate

Under oxidative stress conditions, endogenous antioxidant defenses are unable to completely inactivate the free radicals generated by an excessive production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). This state causes serious cell damage leading to a variety of human diseases. Natural antioxidants can protect cells against oxidative stress. Hypaodaphnis zenkeri (H. zenkiri) is a plant consumed as a spice in the Cameroonian diet, and its bark has been used in traditional medicine for the treatment of several diseases. The present study aims at investigating the antioxidant activity, which includes free radical scavenging and protective properties of an extract from H. Zenkiri against oxidative damage on a liver homogenate. The free radical assays determined the scavenging activities of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), hydroxyl (OH), nitrite oxide (NO) and 2,2-azinobis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline)-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) radicals and the enzymes, whose protection was to be considered in the liver homogenate, including superoxide dismutase, catalase, and peroxidase. The antioxidative activities were studied using the ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP), reductive activity, and phosphomolybdenum antioxidant power (PAP) methods. In addition, the phenolic contents of the extracts were examined. The results showed that these extracts demonstrated significant scavenging properties and antioxidant activities, with the hydro-ethanolic extract of the bark of H. zenkeri (EEH) being the most potent. This extract had the highest total polyphenol (21.77 ± 0.05 mg caffeic acid (CAE)/g dried extract (DE)) and flavonoids (3.34 ± 0.13 mg quercetin (QE)/g dried extract) content. The same extract had significantly greater protective effects on enzyme activities compared to other extracts. The high performance liquied chromatography (HPLC) profile showed higher levels of caffeic acid, OH-tyrosol acid, and rutin in the leaves compared to the bark of H. zenkeri. In conclusion, the ethanolic and hydro-ethanolic extracts of the bark and leaves from H. zenkeri showed an antioxidant and protective potential against oxidative damage

Patterns of injury and violence in Yaoundé Cameroon: an analysis of hospital data.

BackgroundInjuries are quickly becoming a leading cause of death globally, disproportionately affecting sub-Saharan Africa, where reports on the epidemiology of injuries are extremely limited. Reports on the patterns and frequency of injuries are available from Cameroon are also scarce. This study explores the patterns of trauma seen at the emergency ward of the busiest trauma center in Cameroon's capital city.Materials and methodsAdministrative records from January 1, 2007, through December 31, 2007, were retrospectively reviewed; information on age, gender, mechanism of injury, and outcome was abstracted for all trauma patients presenting to the emergency ward. Univariate analysis was performed to assess patterns of injuries in terms of mechanism, date, age, and gender. Bivariate analysis was used to explore potential relationships between demographic variables and mechanism of injury.ResultsA total of 6,234 injured people were seen at the Central Hospital of Yaoundé's emergency ward during the year 2007. Males comprised 71% of those injured, and the mean age of injured patients was 29 years (SD = 14.9). Nearly 60% of the injuries were due to road traffic accidents, 46% of which involved a pedestrian. Intentional injuries were the second most common mechanism of injury (22.5%), 55% of which involved unarmed assault. Patients injured in falls were more likely to be admitted to the hospital (p < 0.001), whereas patients suffering intentional injuries and bites were less likely to be hospitalized (p < 0.001). Males were significantly more likely to be admitted than females (p < 0.001)DiscussionPatterns in terms of age, gender, and mechanism of injury are similar to reports from other countries from the same geographic region, but the magnitude of cases reported is high for a single institution in an African city the size of Yaoundé. As the burden of disease is predicted to increase dramatically in sub-Saharan Africa, immediate efforts in prevention and treatment in Cameroon are strongly warranted

La relation de prix entre le Cameroun et le Gabon

This paper analyzes the causal relationship between Cameroon and Gabon. Based on the estimation of a causal model of Holtz-Eakin et al (1988), we find that Cameroonian's price have a positive and significant impact on the gabonese markets

Coûts de passage portuaire et les performances opérationnelles et commerciales : le cas du port de Douala

In the port context, the costs of stopover and cargo handling are bound to the stopping times. When these are well controlled, they constitute the element of the operational performance of the ports whose any failure would lengthen the transit time and would inevitably increase port passage costs. In spite of a global context favorable to the expansion of maritime traffic, would a variation in port costs have a significant effect on the commercial performance of ports via their level of traffic? Our research aims to assess the existing interferences between port passage costs and operational and commercial performances, in the case of the port of Douala. A two-phase methodological approach allows firstly, in the light of the facts, to establish that the infrastructural constraints of certain ports such as that of Douala, are such as to prolong the time spent by ships at the port, which increases port costs; secondly, it is about the analysis of the possible significance of the relationship between port costs (variable x) and the level of traffic (variable y)