The Impact of Load Shedding on The Cost of Living: A Zambian Perspective

In this paper, we assess the impact of Zambia Electricity Supply Corporationrsquos (ZESCO) power rationing (load shedding) on the cost of living of the Zambian people. We also assess whether the businesses and households have capacity to resort to alternative sources of energy in the time of crisis. Our results show that, although the rationing does not last for 24 hours in most places, the duration that businesses and households stay out of power is long enough to impact negatively on the livelihoods of the Zambian people and consequently itrsquos Economy. nbs

The moral work of subversion

This article critically reconsiders dominant understandings of morality and subversion within organizations. Existing organizational literature does not adequately address the important productive role of morality for producing and justifying everyday subversive practices as well as the use of subversion to legitimate power relations and dominant values. Drawing upon interactionist insights, we develop a practice-based account of morality, highlighting the means through which subversion retroactively legitimates the diverse range of actions performed by organizational subjects. This form of retrospective reasoning, which we term ‘moralization’, serves as an important resource for subjects to actively negotiate the often competing moral and practical demands placed on them as organizational subjects. Consequently, we position subversion as an important means of accomplishing, legitimating and preserving a given organizational order, rather than a ‘common sense’ view that subversion necessarily subverts organizational values. In doing so, we make explicit the ‘positive’ function of rule-bending for processes of organizational control

Cortical Mechanics and Meiosis II Completion in Mammalian Oocytes Are Mediated by Myosin-II and Ezrin-Radixin-Moesin (ERM) Proteins

Analysis of mouse oocyte mechanics shows that effective tension drops 6-fold from prophase I to metaphase II; the metaphase II egg has a 2.5-fold tension differential between the cortex over the spindle and the opposite cortex. Manipulation of actin, myosin-II, or ERMs alters tension levels and induces spindle abnormalities during meiosis II

Building a Distributed Decision Support System Architecture for National Health Care

There are several benefits for developing a distributed decision support system for national health care. Decision makers especially in the health sector of the nation will make timely, informative and accurate decisions as both detailed and aggregated data from different health centres or facilities in the nation will be at their disposal together with various tools for analysis of data. The paper describes the architecture and prototype of distributed decision support system for national health care.nbs

Macro-Economic Variables Determining Stochastic Volatility of The Zambian Currency

In this paper, we assess the macro-economic determinants of the stochastic volatility of the Zambian currency over time. The research was motivated by the debates revolving around the depreciation of the Zambian currency against major foreign currencies, which are mainly characterized by a lack of empirical analysis and evidence of the factors influencing the volatility of the currency. We determine the correlation between the Zambian foreign currency exchange rate and the macro-economic variables including inflation, interest rate, foreign direct investment and external debt and forecast the volatility of the Zambian currency based on the historical data. Our results show a statistically significant relationship between the exchange rate of the Zambian currency and the macro-economic indicators at a 95 percent level of confidence. In this respect, the Zambian foreign currency exchange rate is found to be highly sensitive to external debt and foreign direct investment net inflows