Looking in the Mirror: Intra-Party Democracy and Party Politics in Southern Africa

Political parties serve as a link between the state and society. Being so, they have a fundamental role in the consolidation of democratic values. It then becomes important to understand their internal functions and character. The purpose of this thesis is to measure the levels of intra-party democracy within three opposition political parties in Southern Africa. Also, this thesis seeks to show whether authoritarian political culture has an affect on a democratic party\u27s behavior. This thesis will strive to show that as party levels of intra-party democracy decrease, fracturing in the party increases. A qualitative case study was conducted on UNITA in Angola, the ANC in South Africa, and the MDC in Zimbabwe. A content analysis was performed on the parties\u27 respective constitutions and official party documents, as well as other scholarly writings. This was paired with an historical analysis of the case states and parties. The parties were assessed along a determined framework for intra-party democracy: political environment, legal framework of the state and party, the inclusiveness of the party, and party economics. Inclusiveness of the party gauges membership participation, leadership competition, gender parity, and oversight. The ANC exhibited the highest levels of intra-party democracy, and has shown the most stability. The MDC was found to have the lowest levels, and has split multiple times in recent years. All the parties demonstrated a need to open leadership participation and create better oversight mechanisms. Political parties proved to be a critical element in a state\u27s potential democratic development, and though there exists deficiencies, the political parties of this study seem committed in many of their functions to this goal

Setting the STAGES:Introduction to the Special Issue

For now, this Special Issue is one of a kind. Each piece grows directly out of the cross-institutional network between the University of St Andrews (STA), the University of Glasgow (G), and the University of Edinburgh (E)’s Security studies (S) programmes. Together, we have created the acronym STAGES to capture these ongoing collaborations. In August 2018, we, as a small group of colleagues working at each contributing university started to discuss how our master students can learn more about security beyond the confines of their separate classrooms. As Jorge M. Lasma writes, ‘In many cases, classrooms have slowly come to be seen as the only domains for learning. Other forms and channels of learning and knowledge are viewed with suspicion and sometimes even discouraged for fear of higher costs’ (2013, p. 369). Challenging this idea, we set out to create a collective project to allow different students, with their own unique opinions and viewpoints on security, to meet one another to share their ideas in open, honest and lived ways

Complex-Distance Potential Theory and Hyperbolic Equations

An extension of potential theory in R^n is obtained by continuing the Euclidean distance function holomorphically to C^n. The resulting Newtonian potential is generated by an extended source distribution D(z) in C^n whose restriction to R^n is the delta function. This provides a natural model for extended particles in physics. In C^n, interpreted as complex spacetime, D(z) acts as a propagator generating solutions of the wave equation from their initial values. This gives a new connection between elliptic and hyperbolic equations that does not assume analyticity of the Cauchy data. Generalized to Clifford analysis, it induces a similar connection between solutions of elliptic and hyperbolic Dirac equations. There is a natural application to the time-dependent, inhomogeneous Dirac and Maxwell equations, and the `electromagnetic wavelets' introduced previously are an example.Comment: 25 pages, submited to Proceedings of 5th Intern. Conf. on Clifford Algebras, Ixtapa, June 24 - July 4, 199

Teaching cancer imaging in the era of precision medicine: Looking at the big picture

The role of imaging in cancer diagnosis and treatment has evolved at the same rapid pace as cancer management. Over the last twenty years, with the advancement of technology, oncology has become a multidisciplinary field that allows for researchers and clinicians not only to create individualized treatment options for cancer patients, but also to evaluate patients\u27 response to therapy with increasing precision. Familiarity with these concepts is a requisite for current and future radiologists, as cancer imaging studies represent a significant and growing component of any radiology practice, from tertiary cancer centers to community hospitals. In this review we provide the framework to teach cancer imaging in the era of genomic oncology. After reading this article, readers should be able to illustrate the basics cancer genomics, modern cancer genomics, to summarize the types of systemic oncologic therapies available, their patterns of response and their adverse events, to discuss the role of imaging in oncologic clinical trials and the role of tumor response criteria and to display the future directions of oncologic imaging

Static stretching does not alter pre and post-landing muscle activation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Static stretching may result in various strength and power deficiencies. Prior research has not determined, however, if static stretching causes a change in muscle activation during a functional task requiring dynamic stability. The purpose of this study was to determine if static stretching has an effect on mean pre and postlanding muscle (vastus medialis VM, vastus lateralis VL, medial hamstring MH, and biceps femoris BF) activity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>26 healthy, physically active subjects were recruited, from which 13 completed a 14-day static stretching regimen for the quadriceps and hamstrings. Using the data from the force plate and EMG readings, a mean of EMG amplitude was calculated for 150 msec before and after landing. Each trial was normalized to an isometric reference position. Means were calculated for the VM, VL, MH, and BF from 5 trials in each session. Measures were collected pre, immediately following the 1^ststretching session, and following 2 weeks of stretching.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A 14-day static stretching regimen resulted in no significant differences in pre or postlanding mean EMG amplitude during a drop landing either acutely or over a 14-day period.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Static stretching, done acutely or over a 14-day period does not result in measurable differences of mean EMG amplitude during a drop landing. Static stretching may not impede dynamic stability of joints about which stretched muscles cross.</p

The dependence of dijet production on photon virtuality in ep collisions at HERA

The dependence of dijet production on the virtuality of the exchanged photon, Q^2, has been studied by measuring dijet cross sections in the range 0 < Q^2 < 2000 GeV^2 with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 38.6 pb^-1. Dijet cross sections were measured for jets with transverse energy E_T^jet > 7.5 and 6.5 GeV and pseudorapidities in the photon-proton centre-of-mass frame in the range -3 < eta^jet <0. The variable xg^obs, a measure of the photon momentum entering the hard process, was used to enhance the sensitivity of the measurement to the photon structure. The Q^2 dependence of the ratio of low- to high-xg^obs events was measured. Next-to-leading-order QCD predictions were found to generally underestimate the low-xg^obs contribution relative to that at high xg^obs. Monte Carlo models based on leading-logarithmic parton-showers, using a partonic structure for the photon which falls smoothly with increasing Q^2, provide a qualitative description of the data.Comment: 35 pages, 6 eps figures, submitted to Eur.Phys.J.

Search for a narrow charmed baryonic state decaying to D^*+/- p^-/+ in ep collisions at HERA

A resonance search has been made in the D^*+/- p^-/+ invariant-mass spectrum with the ZEUS detector at HERA using an integrated luminosity of 126 pb^-1. The decay channels D^*+ -> D^0 pi^+_s -> (K^- pi^+) pi^+_s and D^*+ -> D^0 pi^+_s -> (K^- pi^+ pi^+ pi^-) pi^+_s (and the corresponding antiparticle decays) were used to identify D^*+/- mesons. No resonance structure was observed in the D^*+/- p^-/+ mass spectrum from more than 60000 reconstructed D^*+/- mesons. The results are not compatible with a report of the H1 Collaboration of a charmed pentaquark, Theta^0_c.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures, 1 table; minor text revisions; 2 references adde

Validity of physical activity monitors for assessing lower intensity activity in adults

Background: Accelerometers can provide accurate estimates of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). However, one of the limitations of these instruments is the inability to capture light activity within an acceptable range of error. The purpose of the present study was to determine the validity of different activity monitors for estimating energy expenditure (EE) of light intensity, semi-structured activities. Methods: Forty healthy participants wore a SenseWear Pro3 Armband (SWA, v.6.1), the SenseWear Mini, the Actiheart, ActiGraph, and ActivPAL monitors, while being monitored with a portable indirect calorimetry (IC). Participants engaged in a variety of low intensity activities but no formalized scripts or protocols were used during these periods. Results: The Mini and SWA overestimated total EE on average by 1.0% and 4.0%, respectively, while the AH, the GT3X, and the AP underestimated total EE on average by 7.8%, 25.5%, and 22.2%, respectively. The pattern-recognition monitors yielded non-significant differences in EE estimates during the semi-structured period (p = 0.66, p = 0.27, and p = 0.21 for the Mini, SWA, and AH, respectively). Conclusions: The SenseWear Mini provided more accurate estimates of EE during light to moderate intensity semi-structured activities compared to other activity monitors. This monitor should be considered when there is interest in tracking low intensity activities in groups of individuals.This research was funded by a grant from Bodymedia Inc. awarded to Dr. Greg Welk

Plastisol Foaming Process. Decomposition of the Foaming Agent, Polymer Behavior in the Corresponding Temperature Range and Resulting Foam Properties

The decomposition of azodicarbonamide, used as foaming agent in PVC - plasticizer (1/1) plastisols was studied by DSC. Nineteen different plasticizers, all belonging to the ester family, two being polymeric (polyadipates), were compared. The temperature of maximum decomposition rate (in anisothermal regime at 5 K min-1 scanning rate), ranges between 434 and 452 K. The heat of decomposition ranges between 8.7 and 12.5 J g -1. Some trends of variation of these parameters appear significant and are discussed in terms of solvent (matrix) and viscosity effects on the decomposition reactions. The shear modulus at 1 Hz frequency was determined at the temperature of maximum rate of foaming agent decomposition, and differs significantly from a sample to another. The foam density was determined at ambient temperature and the volume fraction of bubbles was used as criterion to judge the efficiency of the foaming process. The results reveal the existence of an optimal shear modulus of the order of 2 kPa that corresponds roughly to plasticizer molar masses of the order of 450 ± 50 g mol-1. Heavier plasticizers, especially polymeric ones are too difficult to deform. Lighter plasticizers such as diethyl phthalate (DEP) deform too easily and presumably facilitate bubble collapse