The Option Value of Investments in Energy-Efficient and Renewable Energy Technologies

This paper takes up the need to engage in substantial investments in the energy producing capital stock to attack the climate change problem, caused by rising carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere. However, the precise magnitudes of economic impacts of global warming as well as abatement and mitigation costs of climate change are not known and may be learned after time. Thus preferences to restrict or to loosen environmental objectives and related emission levels might change and are reflected in an uncertain “price” for environmental usage (e.g. emission tax, marketable permits). As a consequence investors face some uncertainty and need to take the option value of their investments in the energy producing capital stock into account and tend to delay their investment. Considering long usage periods and indivisibilities of power production investments adequate environmental policy has to be designed in a way to reduce uncertainty for investors.Climate Change, Option Value, Investment Uncertainty, Renewable Energy, Klimawandel, Optionswerte, Investitionsunsicherheit, Erneuerbare Energien

Uji Efek Penyembuhan Luka Sayat Ekstrak Ikan Toman (Channa Micropeltes) Secara Oral Pada Tikus Putih Jantan Wistar

Ikan gabus (Channa striata) telah terbukti dapat menyembuhkan luka sayat dan tergolong dalam famili yang sama dengan ikan toman yakni Channidae. Ikantoman (Channa micropeltes) mengandung protein (albumin) dan asam lemakyang dapat mempercepat proses penyembuhan luka sayat. Penelitian ini bertujuanuntuk mengetahui efek penyembuhan luka sayat ekstrak ikan toman dankonsentrasi ekstrak ikan toman yang memberikan efek terbaik dalammempercepat proses penyembuhan luka sayat yang diberikan secara oral. Sampel12 ekor tikus Wistar dibagi dalam kelompok dosis 4, 8, dan 16 mL/Kg BB tikus,dan kontrol negatif. Tikus diberi luka sayat dan diamati pada hari ke-1, 3, 5, dan7. Luas area luka sayat diukur dengan program Macbiophotonic Image J. Analisisdata menggunakan One Way Anova dan Post Hoc Test-Tukey HSD. Hasil analisismenunjukkan bahwa pada hari ke-5 dan ke-7 terdapat perbedaan yang signifikan(p<0,05) antara kelompok 1 dengan kelompok 2, 3, dan 4. Hal ini menunjukkanbahwa ekstrak ikan toman memiliki efek penyembuhan luka sayat. Kelompok 4(97,21%) memiliki efek terbaik dalam mempercepat proses penyembuhan lukasayat daripada kelompok 3 (84,30%) dan kelompok 2 (70,73%)

African modern art and black cultural trauma

The thesis is an inquiry into modern art in sub-Saharan Africa, its genesis and initial stages during colonial rule and the early phase of independence, and into the impact on its trajectory of a black cultural trauma mainly caused by colonial oppression. The submitted documentation includes writings on 20th century African modernism published 1992-2009 in conjunction with two extensive, partly art practice-based projects, ‘Woman in the World’, 1984-86, and ‘Ethics of the Wound’, 2001-09. ‘Woman in the World’ was an in-residence project carried out in Denmark, Tanzania and India, which presented an open-ended form of research built upon listening to testimonies and on interaction between oral and visual communication. In this sense it laid the ground for a more academic investigation of psychiatric literature on trauma and post-traumatic stress disorder as well as of the cultural studies literature on trauma and cultural production, which had predominantly focused on trauma symptoms in literature and film. This research, culminating in ‘Ethics of the Wound’, was supported by observations derived from the author’s own trauma experience as an African-born woman artist in the diaspora, facilitating an extension of interdisciplinary cultural studies to the field of visual art. The art historical research into modern African art was initiated in 1992 with an extensive inventory of available literature in European archives and museums and followed up in 1995 with concentrated research in Nigeria and South Africa. In combination with in-depth studies of the Nigerian pioneering painter Aina Onabolu and the black South African artist Ezrom Legae it led to several insights. In the case study of Onabolu the thesis discusses in terms of a paradigm shift the crucial moment around 1900 in the changeover from pre-modern to modern art in West Africa, and in the Legae case study it presents an elaborated analysis of how, seventy years later, post-traumatic stress disorder inflicted by apartheid produced an extraordinary aesthetical tension. By studying the emergence of modern art in sub-Saharan Africa through the perspective of cultural trauma, the thesis identifies the dual role of colonialism as the context for acquiring new ideas on art and the obstacle to African subject-forming processes fundamental to modern art production

Vision-Aided Navigation using Tracked Lankmarks

This thesis presents vision-based state estimation algorithms for autonomous vehicles to navigate within GPS-denied environments. To accomplish this objective, an approach is developed that utilizes a priori information about the environment. In particular, the algorithm leverages recognizable ‘landmarks’ in the environment, the positions of which are known in advance, to stabilize the state estimate. Measurements of the position of one or more landmarks in the image plane of a monocular camera are then filtered using an extended Kalman filter (EKF) with data from a traditional inertial measurement unit (IMU) consisting of accelerometers and rate gyros to produce the state estimate. Additionally, the EKF algorithm is adapted to accommodate a stereo camera configuration to measure the distance to a landmark using parallax. The performances of the state estimation algorithms for both the monocular and stereo camera configurations are tested and compared using simulation studies with a quadcopter UAV model. State estimation results are then presented using flight data from a quadcopter UAV instrumented with an IMU and a GoPro camera. It is shown that the proposed landmark navigation method is capable of preventing IMU drift errors by providing a GPS-like measurement when landmarks can be identified. Additionally, the landmark method pairs well with non a priori measurements for interims when landmarks are not available

Book review: Julius Nyerere by Paul Bjerk

In a short and precise volume, Paul Bjerk succeeds in debating the legacy of Nyerere in six short chapters. The book deals with the highs and lows of Nyerere’s illustrious political career and balances this in a manner befitting a great African statesman, says Nicodemus Minde

Knowledge management in a competitive economy: the Knowledge Management Readiness Score (KMRS)

Conference paper presented at Polytechnic of Namibia (Namibia's University of Science and Technology) 5th international conference in Windhoek.Knowledge Management has been touted the ultimate solution to most organizations’ competitiveness in this era that is the knowledge edge. The knowledge possessed and used by an organization’s personnel could be the difference between its survival or collapse at these times when competition is cut-throat and when today’s market leaders could as well be part of the story of the dearly departed if they do not put their acts together. Organizational competition has grown from having the muscle to build new factories and plants or flexing financial or liquidity muscles to learning how an organization can capitalize from improving its processes, on a competitor’s mistake, or learning how to collaborate if outright competition will hurt the concerned organizations. But how should organizations go about knowledge management, where they start

Opposition politics in Tanzania and why the country will benefit from a strong unified opposition

As opposition parties in Tanzania unite, Nicodemus Minde looks at how this new coalition could become a credible option for the country’s citizens

Recalibration or power consolidation of African ruling parties?

Nicodemus Minde explores the recent political changes in African ruling parties. Are they recalibrating or consolidating power