Youth, mobility and mobile phones in Africa: findings from a three-country study

he penetration of mobile phones into sub-Saharan Africa has occurred with amazing rapidity: for many young people, they now represent a very significant element of their daily life. This paper explores usage and perceived impacts among young people aged c. 9–18 years in three countries: Ghana, Malawi and South Africa. Our evidence comes from intensive qualitative research with young people, their parents, teachers and other key informants (in-depth interviews, focus groups and school essays) and a follow-up questionnaire survey administered to nearly 3000 young people in 24 study sites. The study was conducted in eight different sites in each country (i.e. urban, peri-urban, rural and remote rural sites in each of two agro-ecological zones), enabling comparison of experiences in diverse spatial contexts. The evidence, collected within a broader research study of child mobility, allows us to examine current patterns of usage among young people with particular attention to the way these are emerging in different locational contexts and to explore connections between young people's phone usage, virtual and physical mobilities and broader implications for social change. The issues of gender and inter-generational relations are important elements in this account

Street remarks, address rights and the urban female: Socio-linguistic politics of gender in Harare

(ZAMBEZIA: Journal of Humanities of the Univ of Zimbabwe, 2000 27(1): 55-70

The Language of Ethnic Contempt: Malawian-Zimbabwean-Shona Rivalry

The contact between the Shona and immigrants from Malawi dates back to more than six decades ago. Throughout this period, the ethnic relations of the two groups have been represented in fiction, drama and popular music as antagonistic. However, very little has been said about how these two ethnic groups express their attitudes towards each other through language, in particular, the names or labels that they use. This paper argues that the relations of the two groups have been largely antagonistic and are covertly or overtly reflected in the language that members of the groups use to refer or to name or label each other. This article demonstrates that names or labels both groups use to contemptuously refer to or name (insult) each other derive from the socio-cultural and historical context. These names or labels reflect the groups’ disapproval of and stereotypical attitudes towards each other

Wheel and rail damage and detection : a review

There are many factors that affect rail/wheel life due to wheel-rail interface causing wheel-rail defects such as rail corrugation, squats, rolling contact fatigue, scaled wheel, crack initiation and growth. This paper is first to review the effect of the wear and fatigue mechanisms in the wheel and rail contact. Various detection methods for rail and wheel defects have been developed. Capturing the damage features is a vital part of any condition monitoring approaches for the inspection of railway wheel defects. There are different types of sensing techniques to be adopted and data can be collected under in-service conditions or during the maintenance in the workshop. This paper summarizes sensing techniques used for detecting wheel and rail damage. The advantages and disadvantages of each method are also presented. Based on these methods, an effective way to detect wheel and rail damage is proposed

Full-size testing to determine stress concentration factors of dragline tubular joints

This paper describes the determination of stress concentration factors (SCFs) of dragline tubular joints through laboratory testing of four full-size dragline tubular joints. Strip gauges are installed both outside and inside the footprint of the joints to measure stress distribution at the weld toe and weld root. Measurements for SCF are carried out for two load cases, i.e. tension or compression forces in the main chord alone and tension or compression forces in the vertical bracings alone with reaction forces in the inclined braces. The relationship of the SCF between the corresponding weld toes and weld roots are presented in the paper. The weld profile and weld root gaps that have been measured using the silicon imprint technique and feeler gauges, provide valuable information for future FE simulation and weld root failure study using the effective notch stress approach