Structural Adjustment in Africa: How Can We Do it Better, How Can We Improve It?

Paper for Economic Reform And Liberalization, Perspectives From African Experiences, Harare, Zimbabwe June 12-15, 1994.Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes (ESAPs) have generated hot debate since they commenced. In most cases they started in mid-1980s. There has been a tendency by some observers to associate ESAPs with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Sometimes it is associated with both the IMF and the World Bank. This is because of the role which these two bodies play in the programme design. The IMF usually assists restructuring developing countries with macro-economic stabilisation policies package. The World Bank nom1ally assist in devising actual structural reform policy measures. The IMF has supported implementation of agreed policies with funds from Structural Adjustment Facility (SAF) and later from the Enhanced Structural Adjustment Facility (ESAF). The World Bank lend support with loans to enable implementation of structural policy measures. Yet there can be independently designed and implemented ESAPs/. Nigeria and Zambia did try their own ESAPs albeit for a very short period and without much success. Most ESAPs in Sub-Sahara Africa involve a partnership among the host government, the IMF, the World Bank and other cooperating partners.Conference co-sponsored by: The International Centre for Economic Growth (ICEG) and Southern Africa Regional Institute for Policy Studies (SARIPS)

The design and construction of a large scale-force feedback joystick for the use in physiotherapy

The design and construction of the joystick in this project is aimed at helping stroke patients in rehabilitation, the joystick will help exercise the wrist muscles. The joystick will have assistive behavior. This assistive behavior will work such that a patient will follow a target and if they go off course the joystick will act as to assist them to go back on course. A cube steel structure was designed as the structure for the joystick, the joystick was built using 25 x 25 x 3 steel beams this steel structure is to house the motors as well. A pulley system was used to transmit the motion of the motor to the stick and to transmit the motion of the stick to the motors. With a potentiometer mounted on the motor shaft as to determine the motor position. An Arduino Deicimila development board used to control the motors hence the joystick. A servo motor was used in this project. The motors were be programmed to move back and forth in a straight line and the force feedback will be applied so as the motors to help the patient move in the right direction a PID was be incorporated in to the control system so as to correct the errors in the shortest time possible. If time permits the joystick will be programmed to move in a rotational motion so as to get the total wrist exercise. The design of the casing for the joystick, the hardware and software were completed, testing was completed as well

Derivative Work in Open-license Platforms

The emergence of derivative works in open-license platforms has sparked inquiries regarding their impact on original works and the platform as a whole. While it is widely recognized that derivative works may compete with the original content, there are also arguments that they can augment traffic and engagement. This remains an open empirical question. We extend the conceptualization of derivative works to open-license platform environments and then explore the implications of such works. Our empirical analysis of original music videos and corresponding reaction videos on YouTube shows that derivative works are complementary to original works and to the platform ecosystem. The findings shed new light on both the complex impact of derivative videos in open-license environments - as well as its broader strategic significance for platform operators seeking sustainable long-term growth opportunities

Improvisation and Performance in Software Development Teams: The Role of Geographic Dispersion

Software development teams are increasingly faced with unanticipated obstacles to effectiveness that require extemporaneous actions. Team improvisation has been identified as an important team situated response to emergent challenges to team effectiveness. However, the efficacy of team improvisation is not well understood in the context of software development teams—which perform complex, knowledge intensive tasks. We examine the efficacy of team improvisation in enhancing team effectiveness and identify team geographic dispersion as an important boundary condition. We test our hypotheses using data from 299 team leaders and members belonging to 71 teams. We find that team improvisation positively affects team performance, and that the degree of team geographic dispersion moderates the relationship between improvisation and team effectiveness. Theoretical and practical implications are offered

Social Loafing in Brainstorming CMC Teams: The Role of Moral Disengagement

Social loafing, i.e. the tendency of some individuals to not exert as much effort in team settings as when they are working alone, has been identified as a major source of productivity loss in brainstorming teams. Studies of social loafing in brainstorming Computer Mediated Communication teams are scant. This paper examines the mechanisms through which previously identified antecedents (Group size and perceived loafing of other members) of social loafing work. This paper utilizes the Theory of Moral Disengagement which helps explain how people engage in antisocial i.e. social loafing in this case, behavior by disengaging their self-sanctions that otherwise will restrain such conduct. To test the hypotheses, this study employs a controlled experiment with 47 undergraduate students from a Middle Eastern university. Findings indicate that diffusion of responsibility and dehumanization mediates the positive effect of group size on social loafing in brainstorming teams. Also, attribution of blame was found to have a direct negative effect on social loafing. Implications of these findings are discussed and managerial guidelines presented.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116292/1/Alnuaimi et al. 2009.pd

Idea Generation in Technology-Supported Teams: A Multilevel Motivational Perspective

In this research, we draw on multilevel theory to understand the interplay between team characteristics—team size and team dispersion—and individual goal striving in influencing individual idea generation performance. We conducted a laboratory study involving 185 individuals nested in 34 brainstorming teams and found that individual goal striving is a stronger predictor of individual idea generation performance in dispersed team contexts compared to co-located team contexts and in larger teams than in smaller teams. The implications of the findings for theory and practice are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116288/1/Srinivasan et al. 2012.pd

Zimbabwe/Rhodesia writing home: Space, place, mobility and diasporic identity in selected novels

Philosophiae Doctor - PhDThis thesis examines how “unhomeliness” in a Zimbabwean context enjoins mobility and the diasporic particularities that manifest as subjects move back and forth in a homemaking journey between the country-side and the urban, as well as mobility to foreign countries and back to the homeland. Particularities of inclusion and exclusion, (re)emplacement, (re)identity, assimilation, rejection and (un)belonging, all loom large as mobility, paradoxically, takes root and comes to shape experience in as significant a way as being in a homeland or hostland. This thesis is also about the ways in which the “diasporic” settler, in one of the novels which destabilises the familiar paradigms of diasporic literature, can exist and be dominant in the foreign but colonised spatial setting without needing to assimilate, and how this attempt to territorialise can traumatise those marginalised by the settler community. Since the end of the twentieth century, there has been a rise in the significance of space in humanities and literary studies. Theories about diaspora, identity and belonging have featured strongly in works of scholars of space and place such as Henri Lefebvre, Yi-Fu Tuan, Doreen Massey, Edward Soja, Tim Cresswell, Nigel Thrift, Robin Cohen, John Agnew, and Kelly Baker. Space is largely regarded as a dimension within which matter is located

Influencing Individual Perceptions of Deep Level Diversity in Virtual Learning Teams (VLT)

Two emerging trends are impacting both universities and corporate training programs: virtual learning and diversity. Virtual Learning Teams (VLT) learn by solving intellectual and cognitive tasks that require the sharing and utilization of information to achieve learning objectives. VLT members are separated by spatial distance and do not have the same opportunities to communicate as do traditional learning teams. Compounding the operational challenge of establishing and maintaining VLT member relationships is the fact that their members are often non-traditional students who tend to be diverse in terms of demographics, work experience, and beliefs compared to traditional teams. Naturally, this creates challenges in facilitating social integration. One way in which social integration may be enhanced is through leveraging the very communication technology that VLTs are reliant upon. Results of our study provide insight into how communication technology can support learning.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116289/1/Newell et al. 2009.pd

Grace “The story of a wise cat and a cruel man.”

Morgan, a widower and police detective, is quickly promoted from constable to captain after a series of successful criminal investigations, creating enemies in the process. One of the convicted and incarcerated is Paper, a gang leader with a violent upbringing. After a lucky release from prison, Paper, now Morgan’s fierce foe, plots to hurt him in the worst way possible – by killing his only son. The story is narrated by a cat named Grace, whose presence and companionship comes from another dimension and helps Morgan to keep sane

Offshore Information Systems Project Success: The Role of Social Embeddedness and Cultural Characteristics

Agency theory has served as a key basis for identifying drivers of offshore information system project success. Consequently, the role of relational factors in driving project success has been overlooked in this literature. In this paper, we address this gap by integrating the social embeddedness perspective and the culture literature to theorize how and why relational factors affect the success of offshore IS projects that are strategic in nature. We identify organizational and interpersonal cultural differences as critical success factors in this context. Using data from a longitudinal field study of 155 offshore IS projects managed by 22 project leaders, we found evidence of a relationship between hypothesized relational factors and two measures of offshore IS project success—namely, project cost overruns and client satisfaction—over and above the effects of project characteristics and agency factors. Specifically, we found that information exchange, joint problem solving, and trust reduce project cost overruns and improve client satisfaction. We also found a relationship between cultural differences at the organizational and team level, and offshore IS project success. The model explained 40 percent and 41 percent of the variance in project cost overruns and client satisfaction, respectively, for projects with a client representative. For projects with no client representative, the model explained 35 percent and 37 percent of the variance in project cost overruns and client satisfaction, respectively. Collectively, the results have important theoretical and practical implications for how client– vendor relationships should be managed when partnering with offshore firms and designing offshore IS project teams