Whither post-post-conflict development? Development in the security-development Nexus

LSE’s Sasha Jesperson argues that targeting aid on post-conflict and fragile states at the expense of conflict-free less developed countries will leave the latter struggling to maintain progress

A decade after the war, #SierraLeone is on the right track

LSE’s Sasha Jesperson assesses whether Sierra Leone is developing at the right pace ten years after the civil war

Calls for a radical change in West Africa’s drug policy

A new report by the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD) has called for a radical rethink on how West African governments tackle the war on drugs. The report, entitled Not Just in Transit: Drugs, the State and Society in West Africa, urges the decriminalisation of low-level and non-violent drug offences, choosing to view these offences as a public health issue. LSE’s Sasha Jesperson conducts research on organised crime on the security-development nexus and in this post, she outlines some of the factors at play in the drugs trade in West Africa

The Need for New Approaches to Organised Crime in West Africa

LSE’s Sasha Jesperson argues that international organisations will need to vary their strategy in the war on drugs if they are to gain ground on adaptable narco-traffickers

Development of Low-Cost Treatment Options for Arsenic Removal in Water Treatment Facilities

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INFLUENCE OF COOLING RATE DURING QUENCHING ON IMPACT TOUGHNESS OF A HOT-WORK TOOL STEEL AT AMBIENT TEMPERATURE AND AT 200 °C

Gross cracking of die-casting dies with inferior toughness sometimes occurs through too low preheating temperature and/or too slow cooling during quenching. This study aimed to clarify the influence of cooling rate on the toughness of the hot-work tool steel grade Uddeholm Vidar Superior at ambient temperature and at 200 °C, a typical preheating temperature for aluminium die-casting dies. Toughness was measured through instrumented Charpy V-notch impact testing. The decrease in energy absorption with increasing cooling time between 800°C and 500°C both at both ambient temperature and 200 °C was pronounced. At ambient temperature, the decrease in total energy was a consequence of a decrease in initiation energy whereas, at 200 °C, the decrease in total energy was due to a decrease in propagation energy

Development of Low-Cost Treatment Options for Arsenic Removal in Water Treatment Facilities

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Virginia Oyster Aquaculture Production and Marketing Virginia Oyster Aquaculture Production and Marketing Survey

As aquaculture replaces wild harvest of oysters in the Chesapeake Bay region, we felt that there was a need to reevaluate how producers could get their products to market in the most efiicient, profitable way. In order to do this, we wanted to capture the lessons learned in other regions that have already made the progression from wild harvest to aquaculture, such as France, New England, and the Pacific Northwest. In this study, we examined the methods of productions and marketing that are currently in use in regions beyond the Chesapeake, including the Northeastern United States, the Pacific Northwest, and the Can~ale region ofFrnnce. Additionally, we conducted a market analysis study to determine the options available to local growers, and specifically, the potential for developing a central market or co-op

Capitalising on criminality: a new lusophone route through Mozambique

Mozambique is becoming recognised as an emerging hub for cocaine trafficking, with links stretching back to Brazil. The arrest of a well-known associate of Brazil’s Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) suggests the emergence of a new ‘lusophone route’ driven by the group. Mozambique’s connection to other illicit flows – heroin and methamphetamines from the Makran Coast, and natural resources moving outward – provides the infrastructure to begin moving a new commodity through the country, however the PCC should not expect a silent partner in Mozambique. Political elites have played a key role in other illicit flows, and there is no reason to suggest cocaine would be any different

Performance of a parallel code for the Euler equations on hypercube computers

The performance of hypercubes were evaluated on a computational fluid dynamics problem and the parallel environment issues were considered that must be addressed, such as algorithm changes, implementation choices, programming effort, and programming environment. The evaluation focuses on a widely used fluid dynamics code, FLO52, which solves the two dimensional steady Euler equations describing flow around the airfoil. The code development experience is described, including interacting with the operating system, utilizing the message-passing communication system, and code modifications necessary to increase parallel efficiency. Results from two hypercube parallel computers (a 16-node iPSC/2, and a 512-node NCUBE/ten) are discussed and compared. In addition, a mathematical model of the execution time was developed as a function of several machine and algorithm parameters. This model accurately predicts the actual run times obtained and is used to explore the performance of the code in interesting but yet physically realizable regions of the parameter space. Based on this model, predictions about future hypercubes are made