Meaning in the Process of Signification by the Advertisement of Honda

This study mainly deals with the process of signification in order to reveal how meaning is created by the advertisement of Honda HR-V 2014 through the use of expressions. In this study, “Meaning” is an integrated form consisting the three elements which are denotative form, connotative form, and myth form. Using qualitative content analysis (Schreier, 2012), the writer did this study based on Barthes's process of signification (1987) and Peirce's indexicality (1931-58). From the analysis, the writer found out that meaning is created by indexicality. The index connects the product and the traits that the product possesses. Then, the use of expressions in the advertisement visualises the index of the product. The index which was visualised by the use of expressions which produces denotative meaning and connotative meaning. Those denotative meaning and connotative meaning are perceived by the audiences and creates myth which naturalises the index itself. It can be concluded from this study that meaning is created by the index and has undergone several steps in order for audiences to perceive the myth and become unaware of the index

Facilitating Cross-Border Mobile Banking in Southern Africa

The use of mobile banking is an increasingly important component of national and regional economic development in Southern Africa. Mobile banking can help bring the large unbanked population into the formal financial sector, and can facilitate cross-border trade by easing the difficulty for small businesses and traders to make financial transactions. For mobile banking to reach its full potential in Southern Africa, however, African governments must establish more efficient regulatory frameworks and implement well-designed pilot programs to gain more insight into the challenges facing a full rollout of mobile banking.Mobile Banking, South Africa, Africa, development, trade, small-business, regualatory framework, pilot program, money, access to banking

Working Paper 86 - A Review of Ex - ante Poverty Impact Assessments of Macroeconomic Policies in Cameroon and Ghana

This paper summarizes two extensive case studies of experiences with ex-ante poverty impact assessments of macroeconomic policies in Cameroon and Ghana during the last ten years. The paper provides a short description and critique of the studies and models that have been used in one way or the other for such assessments. It shows that much more needs to be done to provide policy makers with critical information to reduce poverty more effectively. The paper also reviews briefly the key institutional issues that constrain the more extensive analysis of the impact of macroeconomic policies on poverty, which are related to data constraints, capacity constraints, and power structures. The paper closes with a variety of recommendations, covering methodological, political, and data issues as well as suggestions for more evidence-based policy-making.

Dynamics of a Monolayer of Microspheres on an Elastic Substrate

We present a model for wave propagation in a monolayer of spheres on an elastic substrate. The model, which considers sagittally polarized waves, includes: horizontal, vertical, and rotational degrees of freedom; normal and shear coupling between the spheres and substrate, as well as between adjacent spheres; and the effects of wave propagation in the elastic substrate. For a monolayer of interacting spheres, we find three contact resonances, whose frequencies are given by simple closed-form expressions. For a monolayer of isolated spheres, only two resonances are present. The contact resonances couple to surface acoustic waves in the substrate, leading to mode hybridization and "avoided crossing" phenomena. We present dispersion curves for a monolayer of silica microspheres on a silica substrate, assuming adhesive, Hertzian interactions, and compare calculations using an effective medium approximation to a discrete model of a monolayer on a rigid substrate. While the effective medium model does not account for discrete lattice effects at short wavelengths, we find that it is well suited for describing the interaction between the monolayer and substrate in the long wavelength limit. We suggest that a complete picture of the dynamics of a discrete monolayer adhered to an elastic substrate can be found using a combination of the results presented for the discrete and effective medium descriptions. This model is potentially scalable for use with both micro- and macroscale systems, and offers the prospect of experimentally extracting contact stiffnesses from measurements of acoustic dispersion

Schooling in Illinois Detention Centers and Youth Prisons: What Works?

The work outlines issues with the Illinois juvenile detention centers and youth prisons, outlining inequities in educational coursework, staffing shortages, and student class size and compares Illinois statistics in these systems with national ones.https://digitalcommons.colum.edu/theses_communication/1001/thumbnail.jp