No. 11: Urban Food Security, Rural Bias and the Global Development Agenda

This discussion paper sets out the global, African, and South African contexts within which both urban development and food security agendas in Africa are framed. It argues that the pervasive rural bias and anti-urbanism identified in the international and regional food security agendas in the first decade of the 21st century have persisted into the second. In examining whether the last decade has brought any significant changes to the dominant discourse and its accompanying sidelining of urbanization and urban food security in policy debate and formulation, the authors find that there are promising signs for cracks in the edifice but that rural bias remains the dominant feature of current thinking about food security policies. Although researchers have begun to press for the urban to be included in the food security agenda, and food to be included in the urban agenda, there has been limited policy uptake to date at the international level and very little at the municipal level. If urban food security is addressed in a substantive manner, it will probably be indirectly, through the actions of the influential global nutrition lobby

No. 22: The Return of Food: Poverty and Urban Food Security in Zimbabwe after the Crisis

The nadir of Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis in 2008 coincided with the implementation of a baseline household food security survey in Harare by AFSUN. This survey found that households in lowincome urban areas in Zimbabwe’s capital were far worse off in terms of all the food insecurity and poverty indicators than households in the other 10 Southern African cities surveyed by AFSUN. The central question addressed in this report is whether food security in Zimbabwe’s urban centres has improved. AFSUN conducted a follow-up survey in 2012 that allows for direct longitudinal comparisons of continuity and change. The status of household food security in low-income neighbourhoods in Harare was improved in 2012 relative to 2008, and yet persistently high rates of severe food insecurity demonstrate that the daily need to access adequate food continued to be a major challenge. The key lesson for policymakers is that even in the context of overall economic improvement, food insecurity remains endemic among the poorest segments of the urban population. Households are already accustomed to drawing on resources outside of the formal economy and improvements in employment income have not reversed that trend. These alternative livelihood strategies should therefore be considered as a normal part of urban life and supported with state resources that can improve access to food for the most marginalized groups

The Return of Food: Poverty and Urban Food Security in Zimbabwe after the Crisis

The nadir of Zimbabwe’s political and economic crisis in 2008 coincided with the implementation of a baseline household food security survey in Harare by AFSUN. This survey found that households in lowincome urban areas in Zimbabwe’s capital were far worse off in terms of all the food insecurity and poverty indicators than households in the other 10 Southern African cities surveyed by AFSUN. The central question addressed in this report is whether food security in Zimbabwe’s urban centres has improved. AFSUN conducted a follow-up survey in 2012 that allows for direct longitudinal comparisons of continuity and change. The status of household food security in low-income neighbourhoods in Harare was improved in 2012 relative to 2008, and yet persistently high rates of severe food insecurity demonstrate that the daily need to access adequate food continued to be a major challenge. The key lesson for policymakers is that even in the context of overall economic improvement, food insecurity remains endemic among the poorest segments of the urban population. Households are already accustomed to drawing on resources outside of the formal economy and improvements in employment income have not reversed that trend. These alternative livelihood strategies should therefore be considered as a normal part of urban life and supported with state resources that can improve access to food for the most marginalized groups

What are Millian Qualitative Superiorities?

In an article published in Prolegomena 2006, Christoph Schmidt-Petri has defended his interpretation and attacked mine of Mill’s idea that higher kinds of pleasure are superior in quality to lower kinds, regardless of quantity. Millian qualitative superiorities as I understand them are infinite superiorities. In this paper, I clarify my interpretation and show how Schmidt-Petri has misrepresented it and ignored the obvious textual support for it. As a result, he fails to understand how genuine Millian qualitative superiorities determine the novel structure of Mill’s pluralistic utilitarianism, in which a social code of justice that distributes equal rights and duties takes absolute priority over competing considerations. Schmidt-Petri’s own interpretation is a non-starter, because it does noteven recognize that Mill is talking about different kinds of pleasant feelings, such that the higher kinds are intrinsically more valuable than the lower. I conclude by outlining why my interpretation is free of any metaphysical commitment to the “essence” of pleasur

Attitudes Toward Participation in Organized Religion: Its Impact on Mental Health and Life Satisfaction

This is a non-experimental study which is designed to discover potential relationships between an individual’s attitude towards participation in organized religion and their mental health, as well as their life satisfaction. The study contained 203 young adults taken from a convenience sample using social media, e-mail, and SMS messages. The research was conducted using a survey form composed of three instruments intended to measure attitude towards religion, general well-being, and life satisfaction. The results from the study indicated that there is a weak positive relationship between one’s attitude towards organized religion and mental health. Additionally, the results also indicated that there is a weak positive relationship between one’s attitude towards organized religion and their life satisfaction

The velocity of circulation of money : empirical evidence for the United Kingdom 1870-1991

The equation of exchange is not in itself a theory of the demand for money. It can be argued that it is no more than an identity velocity determines the value of velocity. Given certain assumptions it can be a theory of the aggregate price level. One such supposition is that velocity is a constant, or at least a stable function of a few variables. Velocity over time is far from being a constant. Friedman argues that this is mainly due to errors of measurement and deviations between actual and desired velocity. Keynes suggests that there is no reason to believe that velocity is stable, and that in periods of underemployment equilibrium it may be quite volatile. He also proposes that velocity will depend on the structure of the economy, including the state of technology and institutional arrangements. The main aim of this thesis is to employ long time series data and up to date econometric techniques to produce evidence that relate to these two opposing views. The models employed use both income and transactions velocity measures. Transactions velocity has been much neglected in the twentieth century, on the grounds that a direct statistical measure is not available. This thesis attempts to resolve this problem by using archive material, sixty variables and seven thousand observations to construct an original transactions series for the period 1870-1991. The thesis traces the historical origins of the concept of velocity, provides a comprehensive and critical review of earlier work on the subject and produces a considerable amount of empirical work based on long term United Kingdom series of observation. The reported evidence using Johansen cointegration techniques, suggests that there is a long run vector between velocity and a few economic variables. However, the dynamic relationships are both unstable and volatile over the full sample period. Only in using sub-samples can satisfactory statistical results can be achieved

No. 11: Urban Food Security, Rural Bias and the Global Development Agenda

This discussion paper sets out the global, African, and South African contexts within which both urban development and food security agendas in Africa are framed. It argues that the pervasive rural bias and anti-urbanism identified in the international and regional food security agendas in the first decade of the 21st century have persisted into the second. In examining whether the last decade has brought any significant changes to the dominant discourse and its accompanying sidelining of urbanization and urban food security in policy debate and formulation, the authors find that there are promising signs for cracks in the edifice but that rural bias remains the dominant feature of current thinking about food security policies. Although researchers have begun to press for the urban to be included in the food security agenda, and food to be included in the urban agenda, there has been limited policy uptake to date at the international level and very little at the municipal level. If urban food security is addressed in a substantive manner, it will probably be indirectly, through the actions of the influential global nutrition lobby

Tele-Operated Portable Ventilator

This summary outlines the design and manufacturing of a low-cost portable ventilator with remote operation capabilities for long-term continuous usage by patients with impaired lung function. This design serves as a potential solution for a lack of available ventilators in hospitals and serves as a means to help reduce overloading of hospital beds by acting as a bridge to patient recovery from critical condition in the hospital and at home. The ventilator is distinct from existing designs primarily by focusing on portability, consistent operation, and remote operability by medical professionals. A hydraulic actuation system to deliver air to the patient was prototyped and is demonstrated through operation in inhalation and exhalation cycles. Future work includes data input from pressure and flow rate sensors to adjust flow control parameters to meet physiological requirements and a control system to modulate assisted breathing. The resulting apparatus will show feasibility of an at-home ventilator system with remote control for application to patient populations