Mining, dependence, and post-independence urbanisation in Botswana : sustainable development?

Bibliography: leaves 187-197.Botswana has been considered as one of the few post-independence development successes in Africa. The country's recent status is attributable to the growth of the minerals sector, with diamonds and copper/nickel matte forming the basis of exports and government development revenues. Mining has not only been responsible for boosting export earnings, but has also stimulated most recent urbanisation, resulting in the some of the highest urban growth rates in sub-Saharan Africa. The problem of urban in-migration has been compounded by a bias in development expenditure, with the towns receiving a disproportionately large share of scarce resources. All new towns since independence have been established as service centres for the mines, with limited wider development occurring. Resultant vulnerability and instability in the urban sphere has been reflected in the case of Selebi-Phikwe, where a decline in the copper/nickel industry has threatened the future integrity of the town. That mining has not contributed towards development which is sustainable over the long terms calls into question, the resilience of Botswana's progress. A political-economic analysis of the development history of Botswana indicates a continuity between colonial neglect and the migrant labour system, and the current problems of dependence on the mining sector and external employment opportunities. The reasons for the dearth in diversified productive activity in mining towns in Botswana are related to an externally orientated development policy, with dependence on the world mineral markets. As the mining industry is based on the extraction of finite, non-renewable resources and is susceptible to fluctuations in mineral pricing, towns exclusively based on mining are latently unstable and have similarly finite lives. The problem is compounded by the lack of a local entrepreneurial class capable of stimulating the 'modern' sector which is related to the historical lack of an urban elite in the country. Given that there has been minimal associated development of productive opportunities outside of the primary sector in Selebi-Phikwe, the Government has instituted a crisis management strategy to deal with the situation. Proposals to diversify the economic base of Selebi-Phikwe are focused on attracting foreign investment, as a means of stimulating local, export-orientated industrialisation. As the incentives for locating in the town are primarily based on cheap, malleable, labour supplies, transnational investment is likely to be of a highly mobile nature and is unlikely to sustain employment and development in Selebi-Phikwe Certain conclusions are drawn from the experience of Selebi-Phikwe: Firstly, the problem of continuity in Selebi-Phikwe has historical roots indicating that short term panaceas are unlikely and that structural solutions are needed. Secondly, the town's fate holds important implications for the maintenance and support of the wider urban system in Botswana. Thirdly, expectations of indefinite economic prosperity have been generated in part, by continual Government emphasis on urban infrastructural development, something which is potentially problematic given the potential for urban discontinuity. A more rational evaluation of the urban sector in Botswana is required. With the precarious foundations of urbanisation in Botswana borne in mind, surplus revenues generated by mining should be channelled into rural employment creation rather than urban areas. An approach which treats the urban question in its entirety is required. There is thus a real need for a national development programme which integrates population and environmental policy with rural and urban sector planning, and which bases future development on the criteria of equity and sustainability

Community pharmacy type 2 diabetes risk assessment: demographics and risk results

Objectives: To determine the demographics and risk results of patients accessing a community pharmacy diabetes risk assessment service. Method: Participating patients underwent an assessment using a validated questionnaire to determine their 10-year risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Patients were given appropriate lifestyle advice or referred to their general practitioner if necessary. Key findings: In total, 21 302 risk assessments were performed. Nearly one-third (29%) of 3427 risk assessments analysed yielded a result of moderate or high chance of developing the condition. Conclusions: Community pharmacies can identify a significant number of patients at risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the next 10 years. Further follow-up work needs to be done to determine the cost-effectiveness of such a service and the consequences of receiving a risk assessment

Citizens, Loopholes and Maternity Tourists: Irish Print Media Framing of the 2004 Citizenship Referendum.

Ye

Citizens, Loopholes and Maternity Tourists: Irish Print Media Framing of the 2004 Citizenship Referendum.

Ye

The MiALA Fine Arts Interest Group: Making Connections Across the Mitten State

The Michigan Academic Library Association (MiALA), established in 2014, is the leading professional organization for academic librarians in the state of Michigan, and a chapter of the Association of College & Research Libraries (ACRL). Within the organization are several established interest groups that reflect a wide variety of interests across academic librarianship. The MiALA Fine Arts Interest Group was formed in 2017 to serve as a forum for academic librarians who work with users and collections in the fine arts, including but not limited to, visual art, creative writing, dance, film, media production, music, and theatre to share ideas, collaborate, and develop professionally in order to best serve our constituencies’ unique needs. The Interest Group advocates and communicates the work of arts library organizations, such as the Music Library Association and the MLA-Midwest Chapter, with hopes for communication from other arts-library organizations in the future, such as TLA and ARLIS-NA. Through virtual meetings, the group has brought together librarians across Michigan for collaborative efforts, including conference presentations and feedback on day-to-day projects. In this session, three members of the Interest Group share how the group started, the benefits of connecting with local arts librarians, and future plans for the group. Librarians interested in making connections with other professionals across their region will gain ideas for starting similar groups and fostering relationships with local colleagues

Acoustic comfort in open-plan offices: The role of employee characteristics

Purpose – This paper aims to determine the extent to which employees’ experiences of acoustic comfort, well-being and productivity in open-plan offices are determined by specific characteristics (including demographic information, task characteristics, and personality traits). Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was distributed to the occupants of three open-plan office sites and was completed by 166 employees in total. Findings – The results indicated that acoustic comfort in open-plan offices is largely determined by noise sensitivity. Higher noise sensitivity was associated with more negative ratings of acoustical quality, more perceived disturbance by speech and more difficulties in concentration. More negative experiences were also reported by employees with lower interactivity with colleagues. Practical implications – There is significant inter-individual variability in experiences of acoustic comfort, well-being and productivity in open-plan offices. As such, workplace practitioners should consider acoustic and behavioural solutions for introducing a greater diversity of functional workspaces within the office, so that employees can choose the most suitable working area for their requirements. Originality/value – Whereas the majority of past acoustics research has been laboratory-based, this study is conducted in real office environments with a representative sample of knowledge workers

The effect of environment and superalloy composition on TBC lifetime

While the water vapor content of the combustion gas in natural gas-fired land based turbines is ~10%, it can be 20-85% with coal-derived (syngas or H2) fuels or innovative turbine concepts for more efficient carbon capture. Additional concepts envisage working fluids with high CO2 contents to facilitate carbon capture and sequestration. Also, for land-based, power-generation turbines, there is industry interest in reducing alloy costs by decreasing the superalloy Re content, either by developing new alloys or employing earlier generation superalloys. To investigate the effects of these variables on thermal barrier coating (TBC) lifetime, furnace cycling tests (1h cycles) were performed in air with 10, 50 and 90 vol.% water vapor, O2-50%H2O and CO2-10%H2O and compared to prior results in dry air or O2. Two types of TBC’s were investigated: (1) diffusion bond coatings (Pt diffusion or simple or Pt-modified aluminide) with commercially vapor-deposited yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) top coatings on second-generation superalloy N5 and N515 (1.5%Re) substrates and (2) high velocity oxygen fuel (HVOF) sprayed MCrAlYHfSi bond coatings with air-plasma sprayed YSZ top coatings on superalloy X4, 1483 and 247 substrates. For both types of coatings, a 20-50% decrease in coating lifetime was observed with the addition of water vapor for all but the Pt diffusion coatings which were unaffected by the environment. However, the higher water vapor contents in air did not further decrease the coating lifetime. Initial results for similar diffusion bond coatings in CO2-10%H2O also did not show a decrease in lifetime due to the addition of CO2. Characterization of the failed coating microstructures showed only minor effects of water vapor and CO2 additions that do not appear to account for the changes in lifetimes observed. Reductions in TBC lifetime were observed for 1483 substrates (compared to X4), which were attributed to the lower Al content and possible the higher Ti content. The higher Hf content in N515 (compared to N5) likely explains the higher TBC lifetimes observed for this substrate. More recent work with 247 substrates is in progress as well as furnace testing with 100h cycles to better simulate the base load duty cycle. Future work also is planned to investigate the role of SO2 on TBC lifetime as increased water vapor contents in the exhaust do not explain the current 50°-100°C de-rating of syngas-fired turbines