Youth Leadership in the Public Service Sector in Africa: Opportunities for Engagement?

The popular belief that the youth have not contributed much to national development in pre- and post-colonial Africa is grossly erroneous. As study has revealed that low level of active youth leadership on the continent is not due to lack of interest and effort on their part, but more because of the hostile political, economic and social environment, rigid structural barriers to youth mobility in politics and the economy in many West African countries. 'Harmful' cultural practices that require young people to defer to older ones make it hard for the youth to 'liberate' themselves (Sesay, 2014). Young people have also not been able to successfully organise themselves into workable pressure groups to effect positive political and economic change in their favour (Sesay, 2014).There is a direct link between the plight of Africa's youth and the prevailing governance systems on the continent. It is essential to convince the old political class that youth empowerment and inclusion in governance processes is a sine qua non for overall national development, peace, and security. The demographic picture of youth makes it patently evident that engaging youth fully in development is not a matter of choice, but rather an imperative for national development. In not-so straightforward circumstances of political leadership as has been observed in Africa, only some form of affirmative action can take us anywhere close to achieving democratic equity for the youth in matters of political leadership on the continent. Given the way power is exercised, the power to change these cultural contexts considerably rely on head of states who in a snap of their fingers could change the deal if they had the will; and the king-makers and advisers of both the former and the latter, who often are more influential than the head of states themselves.Equally, as today's old generation was yesterday's youth, it is imperative for young people to not become different as they grow older. Especially, as they experience the realities of power, they are encouraged not to become corrupt themselves and maintain integrity in order not to perpetuate the cycle. The youth must always remember Annan's saying: "you are never too young to lead, and you should never doubt your capacity to triumph where others have not.

The Role of Civil Society in The Promotion of Peace in West Africa

Through its involvement across sectors, civil society plays a critical role in peacebuilding processes. It does so by involving in wide-ranging peacebuilding processes in several capacities, including facets of justice and the rule of law, economic and psycho-social recovery and security and public order. Hence, CSOs serve as pillars of democratic systems, playing important roles in democracy and good governance for pre-and post-conflict societies. The role of civil society has increasingly been recognised in both the domestic and international arenas. Peacebuilding programmes continue to give support to CSOs, echoing the growing importance of these groups in development cooperation (Belloni, 2006). In societies transitioning from war to peace and democracy, this interest corresponds to even more specific motivations. Read Full Publication here

Youth Leadership and Governance in West Africa

Are young people truly in a "waiting period"? As they turn into liabilities only when not recognised as assets, and become problems to solve only when not seen as solutions, does the youth realise that they matter now more than ever?The problem with youth representation in governance is not just generational but also ideational, as the reality of weak institutions has a prevalence on the question of age. They are no longer driven by idealism but rather by materialism and opportunism. How can these youth be the agents of change when themselves require to be changed? In the following lines, factors favoring youth involvement in civil society in the region will be presented, whilst emphasising solutions by sector, notably through the academia, the private sector, the government and most importantly, the civil society itself.Ultimately, innovation will be discussed as a tool to leverage in the political arena. It is noteworthy to stress that West Africa's large youth population can either spur innovation, creativity, and enterprise – or fuel instability and violence, as they face poverty, barriers to education, multiple forms of discrimination and limited employment prospects and opportunities. How policies, structures and processes are implemented in this regard will determine the prospects for current and future generations and economies

Extension and optimisation of a communication platform for pc-based control systems

Die vorliegende Arbeit befasst sich mit der Erweiterung und Optimierung einer Kommunikationsplattform für offene PC-basierte Steuerungssysteme für Parallelkinematiken und leistet einen Beitrag dazu, den Umsetzungsaufwand von Steuerungsapplikationen selbst in einer verteilten Umgebung zu reduzieren und gleichzeitig die Performanz und Zuverlässigkeit des Steuerungssystems zu steigern. In Gegensatz zu Seriellen Robotern bestehen Parallelkinematiken aus einer geschlossenen kinematischen Kette, bei dem der Manipulator über mehrere Führungsglieder mit den fest am Gestell montierten Antrieben verbunden ist. Begünstigt durch diese mechanische Struktur resultiert für jeden Antrieb eine gering zu bewegenden Masse pro Verfahrbewegung. Dies wiederum führt dazu, dass im Vergleich zu seriellen Robotern höhere Arbeits¬geschwin¬dig¬keiten und -beschleunigungen bei höherer Genauigkeit und Steifigkeit gefahren werden können. Neben einer Erhöhung der Performanz des Steuerungssystems liefert diese Arbeit die architekturspezifische Grundlage für die Integration von rechenaufwendigen parallelroboterspezifischen Besonderheiten in den Steuerungspfad. Weiterhin schafft diese Arbeit eine Plattform für die Implementierung und Ausführung von echtzeitfähigen verteilten Steuerungsapplikationen. Dafür wird die Middleware so erweitert, dass sie Anwenderapplikationen eine transparente Nutzung von Kommunikations¬mechanismen im verteilten System gewährleistet. Eine optimale Nutzung der verteilten Ressourcen wird durch die Integration eines Self-Managers in die Steuerungssofware erreicht. In diesem Zusammenhang wird im Rahmen dieser Arbeit eine Monitoring-Komponente in die Middleware integriert, die topologische und zeitliche Informationen über die Ausführung von Tasks im verteilten System zur Laufzeit ermittelt und dem Anwender bereitstellt.The present work covers the expansion and optimization of a communication platform designed for the implementation of an open and computer-based control system for parallel kinematics. This work helps to reduce the implementation cost of control applications and increases at the same time the performance of the control system. Unlike serial robots, the mechanical structure of a parallel kinematics consists of a closed kinematic chain. The manipulator is connected over many links to the drives mounted on the rack. Favored by this mechanical structure each drive has a reduced mass to move and therefore higher velocities and accelerations are achievable. In addition to the performance increase of the control system this work provides the architectural fundament for the integration of computationally intensive and parallel kinematics specific features in the control system. Furthermore, the present work provides a platform for the implementation and execution of real-time distributed control applications in both multi-core processors and computer network. In this context, the middleware is extended so that it ensures user applications a transparent using of communication mechanisms in the distributed systems. To ensure optimal use of the resources available in the distributed system a self-manager is integrated into the control system. The self-manager responds independently and efficiently to changes occurring in the system topology as well as to changing demands on the control. It automatically adjusts the distribution of the control modules at runtime. In order to achieve this, a monitoring component is integrated in the middleware. It determines and provides topological and temporal information about the execution of tasks in the distributed system at runtime

EFFECT OF METHANOLIC FRACTION OF KALANCHOE CRENATA ON RENAL MORPHOPHYSIOLOGY IN ADRIAMYCIN-INDUCED IMPAIRED KIDNEY IN RATS

Objectives: The effect of methanolic extract of Kalanchoe crenata (MEKC) was investigated on renal morphology and function in adriamycin-induced kidney impairment in rats.Methods: Ether anesthetized rats received three intravenous injections (days 0, 14, 28) of 2 mg/kg body weight of adriamycin. Repeated doses of the extract (0, 50 and 68 mg/kg bw) and losartan (10 mg/kg bw) were administered orally once daily, for 6 weeks, to adriamycin- nephropathic rats. Kidney functions were assessed through proteinuria, creatinemia and creatinuria, renal malondialdehyde (MDA) level, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity and morphology analyses.Results: The 50 and 68 mg/kg MEKC, as the losartan, decreased proteinuria: -63.74 % and -64.94 % respectively, significantly (P<0.01) increased the creatinuria and the creatinuria/creatinemia ratio, and also decreased the creatinemia in diseased rats. The plant extracts markedly (P<0.05) increased plasma sodium, and decreased (P<0.01) the urinary sodium and potassium levels. The MEKC has remarkably (P<0.01) decreased the level of the thiobarbituric acid reactive substances and increased the SOD level in nephropathic rats. The extract has improved the damage of kidney induced by adriamycin.Conclusion: The results indicate that the treatment with the K. crenata methanolic extract may improve proteinuria and all the symptoms that breed from nephropathy, and could improve kidney morphology. Therefore, K. crenata could be promising for the development of a standardized phytomedicine for the treatment of kidney disease.Â

Absorption of water and corrosion performance of a clear and pigmented epoxy coating on Al-2024 alloy

The corrosion performance of Al-2024 substrates coated with an epoxy clear coating and a pigmented epoxy coating was investigated. The absorption of water in the pigmented coating was high compared to the clear coating. The clear coating provided a good barrier which is stable beyond 120 days of immersion in a 0.5 M NaCl solution. The shape of the Nyquist plot of the pigmented coating changed with immersion time and reveals the existence of physico-chemical processes in the coating and/or at the interface. Its impedance magnitude at low frequencies remained very high (~ 109 .cm2) after 72 days of immersion in sodium chloride solution. Both coatings exhibited good dry adhesion on Al-2024. The wet adhesion of the clear coating was poor while the stress (~ 9 MPa) required in a pull off adhesion test of the wet pigmented coating remained high

Topically applied Tetrapleura tetraptera stem bark extract promotes healing of excision and incision wounds in rats

Objective. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the in vivo wound healing effect of water extract of Tetrapleura tetraptera in stem-bark. Method: The healing activity was studied in 40 male rats using excision and incision wounds on normal and dexamethasone-suppressed wound healing. For each model, rats were divided in 4 groups as follows: control, dexamethasone, T. tetraptera and dexamethasone combined with T. tetraptera. Results: Data recorded exhibited a significant effect by the extract in the epithelialization time within 14 and 18 days of the normal and dexamethasone-induced healing delay rats respectively (p<0.05). The extract also significantly increased the wound tensile strength in dexamethasone treated rats. Histological examination of incision wounds of extract-treated group showed many fibroblasts and the same rats presented significant cutaneous tensile strength, suggesting important collagen crosslinkage. Conclusion: This study illustrated an excellent potential of the bark of T. tetraptera therapy on dermal wound healing with a possible mechanism of action related to epithelialization, contraction and tensile strength improvement