A sustainable model for ICT capacity building in developing countries

System administrators are often asked to apply their professional expertise in unusual situations, or under tight resource constraints. What happens, though, when the “situation” is a foreign country with only basic technical infrastructure, and the task is to bauild systems which are able to survive and grow in these over-constrained environments? In this paper we report on our experiences in two very different countries – Cuba and Ethiopia – where we ran a number of ICT projects. In those projects we assisted local universities to upgrade their ICT infrastructure and services. This included skills and process building for local system administrators. Based on our experiences we formulate a model for sustainable ICT capacity building. We hope this model will be useful for other organizations doing similar projects

Nodal separators of holomorphic foliations

We study a special kind of local invariant sets of singular holomorphic foliations called nodal separators. We define notions of equisingularity and topological equivalence for nodal separators as intrinsic objects and, in analogy with the celebrated theorem of Zariski for analytic curves, we prove the equivalence of these notions. We give some applications in the study of topological equivalences of holomorphic foliations. In particular, we show that the nodal singularities and its eigenvalues in the resolution of a generalized curve are topological invariants

Quasi-periodic oscillations and noise in neutron star and black-hole X-ray binaries

Before the launch of the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) satellite, the differences in the rapid X-ray variability between the two main types of neutron star binaries (i.e., the Z and atoll sources) could be explained by invoking different mass accretion rates and magnetic field strengths. However, the results obtained with RXTE now show that these systems are more similar than previously thought and although differences in mass accretion rate are still likely, the differences in the magnetic field strength have become questionable. The great similarities between the neutron star systems and the black-hole candidates at low mass accretion rates also point towards a similar origin of their timing phenomena indicating that the presence or absence of a solid surface, a magnetic field, or an event horizon do not play a significant role in the production mechanisms for the rapid X-ray variability.Comment: Talk presented at the 33rd COSPAR Scientific Assembly, Warsaw, Poland, 16-23 July 2000. Submitted for publication in Advances in Space Researc

Presidents\u27 Day in a Land at War

Monday is Presidents\u27 Day, our modern conglomeration of the celebrations of Washington\u27s and Lincoln\u27s Birthdays. Of course, no one but Mary Todd, Tad and some friends were celebrating Lincoln\u27s birthday in 1863. Dying has a way of making special family events into cherished national holidays. Hence Washington, father of the nation who was already cold in the ground, warranted celebration and accolades on his birthday. [excerpt

Pennsylvania at Chancellorsville, But Headed Back Home

With the anniversary of the battles around Fredericksburg this week, the Civil War world\u27s eyes seem to be turned toward Chancellorsville and the battles there. Almost as a reflex, my mind has gone there too. I\u27ve been thinking about Simon Stein Wolf, the Gettysburgian who faced death at Chancellorsville only to find it terribly displayed in the days after. So today another excerpt from my manuscript, to start re-conceptualizing Chancellorsville through the eyes of a Pennsylvania College dropout. [excerpt

Can\u27t Turn Around, We\u27ve Come This Far By Faith: Day 4

...today I want to say to the people of America and the nations of the world, that we are not about to turn around. We are on the move now. Yes, we are on the move and no wave of racism can stop us. We are on the move now. The last time I went to a Catholic Mass was on Easter last year. My head was in a bad place. I felt all alone. Mom was gone. and the landscape of the world looked entirely foreign. Even the Mass itself had changed. New responses replaced old ingrained phrases. My mouth didn\u27t match the rest of the congregation. I was lost. [excerpt

War Against Slavery Without a Black Soldier in Sight?

I\u27ve been lying to people. OK, not exactly lying, just not telling the whole truth. One of my favorite lines to use when I worked in Washington at the Lincoln Cottage was that the, most important part of the Emancipation Proclamation came near the end, where it says that black men, the former slaves, can serve in the army and navy, that they can fight for their very own freedom. [excerpt