EMERGING BUSINESSES: THE SOUTH AFRICAN WINE INDUSTRY CASE

Emerging economies such as South Africa, only a few years out of apartheid, have been feeling the strains of socio-political change. While South Africa has experienced political reform, economic reform and access are slow to come. Currently, South Africa is the 7th largest producer of wine in the world. Although this industry is impressive, the apartheid era production practices have caused primarily the European consumers and media to be vocal about this issue. However, this concern has spread to other regions. The South African government and wine industry must respond to the external and internal market pressures and minimize transaction costs. Both entities want to increase wine exports and expand market share, however, given the socio-economic and political climate in the country neither knows how to manage this difficult process which emanates from deeply rooted distrust of groups within the country. Socio-political constraints facing previously disadvantaged groups (PDG) as emerging business owners need to be understood; and, measures which could be undertaken by government and industry need to be identified. The objectives of this research were to identify: institutional constraints and transaction costs faced by PDGs aspiring toward production and leadership roles in the wine industry; ways the government can collaborate with the KWV to build social capital and promote PDG ownership in the wine industry, thus minimizing social conflict; and, identify industry strategies to increase exports and international market share under the "New South Africa" banner. This analysis was based on primary and secondary data and information gathered on site. Several potential solutions were suggested for ways to include PDGs in the South African wine market while minimizing the impact on the market shares of existing producers. It is anticipated that the window of opportunity to increase exports and involve PDG is quite small.Agribusiness,

Adjustment of screen brightness in low-power state

Consumer electronic devices generally switch their screens to a low-power or off state when the device is not in active use. During periods of inactivity, the application processor of the device is in a sleep state. For always-on devices, the application processor periodically wakes up to update screen content, e.g., displayed time. However, such wake-up does not include any adjustments of screen brightness, and the screen may be difficult to read during inactive periods despite such periodic updates. This disclosure describes techniques to update screen brightness, and hence maintain screen readability, when the screen is in a low-power state. The techniques leverage periodic wake up of the application processor during inactive periods to enable measurement of ambient light and adjustment of screen brightness

Assessing the Influence of the Media on the Work of Development Organisations

This paper assesses the influence of the media on the work of development organisations. It employed case study evidence of the comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) policy and the female genital mutilation (FGM) practice in Ghana. The paper argues that the media does not only impact the works of development organisations but influence their identity, how they are perceived and rated by the public, governments and donors which determines their ability to raise funds and achieve the objectives of their development interventions.The paper equally establishes that development organisations also influence the effectiveness of the media in discharging their duties. The paper calls for close partnership between the media and development organisations in sustaining and advancing their works

Загальна характеристика надання транспортних послуг в Україні

Транспортна послуга – результат діяльності на транспорті, пов'язаний із задоволенням потреб населення в перевезеннях. Ринок транспортних послуг – сфера надання послуг пасажирського автотранспорту з урахуванням сукупності соціально-економічних відносин на транспорті

Role-Play Technique as an Antecedent of Performance in English Language: Evidence from Secondary Schools in Wareng District, Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

In Kenya, there is a national concern over English language dismal performance over the years in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (K.C.S.E). Blame has been put on teachers of English language for relying on techniques that favor them at the expense of their students. This article therefore sought to assess the use of role-play technique as the most appropriate technique to improve performance in K.C.S.E English language. Moreover, it sought to establish the attitude of both teachers and students towards the use of role-play technique. Findings, conclusion and recommendations are presented.Keywords: Role-play technique, attitude, performanc

Resonating bipolarons

Electrons coupled to local lattice deformations end up in selftrapped localized molecular states involving their binding into bipolarons when the coupling is stronger than a certain critical value. Below that value they exist as essentially itinerant electrons. We propose that the abrupt crossover between the two regimes can be described by resonant pairing similar to the Feshbach resonance in binary atomic collision processes. Given the intrinsically local nature of the exchange of pairs of itinerant electrons and localized bipolarons, we demonstrate the occurrence of such a resonance on a finite-size cluster made out of metallic atoms surrounding a polaronic ligand center.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Europhysics Letter

The Effect of Immune Serum on the Infectivity of Sonically Damaged Plasmodium berghei Infected Erythrocytes

Author Institution: Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State UniversityThe reduction in the infectivity of those Plasmodium berghei containing erythrocytes which remained unlysed following exposure to sonic energy and treatment with immune serum was shown to be far greater than that caused by the sum of the separate actions of immune serum and sonic energy applied separately. This indicates that, after exposure to sonic energy, plasmodia in surviving, parasitized erythrocytes are more susceptible to neutralization by immune serum than are plasmodia in unsonicated, parasitized erythrocytes. The membranes of parasitized erythrocytes that survive sonication thus appear to be permeable so that intracellular parasites are accessible to antibodies in immune serum

The Surface Chemical Properties of Novel High Surface Area Solids Synthesized from Coal Fly Ash

The zeolite, Na-P1, was synthesized from fly ash samples originating from coal-fired power stations in South Africa by hydrothermal treatment of the raw ash with concentrated aqueous NaOH solutions. The zeolite was then further modified by acid leaching at elevated temperatures. This resulted in the formation of a novel high surface-area solid. Spectroscopic and potentiometric investigations into the surface properties of both solids indicate that acid-base properties are most likely due to the presence of =AlOH- and =SiOH-type surface groups. Surface protonation constants for the various solids (unmodified ash, base-modified ash, acid-etched zeolitic product) are reported. Metal sorption studies were performed for cadmium and copper. It is suggested that the zeolitic product sorbs copper and cadmium by an ion exchange mechanism instead of a surface complexation mechanism, whereas the high surface-area solid, formed after acid etching, sorbs these metals via a surface complexation mechanism. Metal adsorption constants for the formation of =XOMOH species on the surface of the last mentioned solid for use in speciation models are reported. (South African Journal of Chemistry: 2003 56: 34-39