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Zimbabwe's Land Reform: myths and realities

- Helliker, Kirk D

Authors: Helliker, Kirk D
Date: 2011
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/144710 , vital:38372 , DOI: 10.1080/02589001.2011.581502
Description: Zimbabwe’s land reform is the first book on contemporary Zimbabwe that offers an empirically-rich and detailed account of redistributed farms that arose from ‘fasttrack’ land reform 10 years ago. In order to fully appreciate the significance of this book, it is necessary to outline briefly recent intellectual debates on Zimbabwe. Two main positions exist on Zimbabwean politics and society. The first position argues that the radical restructuring of agrarian relations (including undermining white agricultural capital and breaking up large commercial farms into smaller units) is a progressive tendency that has opened up opportunities for black small-scale farmers. Simultaneously, this position often underplays the existence of state restructuring of an authoritarian kind. The second position argues that land redistribution has dramatically undercut agricultural production thereby severely compromising food security for all Zimbabweans. It brings to the fore violent state action in instigating land occupations and in thwarting political opposition to ‘fast-track’.
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Date Issued: 2011

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Zebra fingerprints: towards a computer-aided identification system for individual zebra

- Foster, Gregory G, Krijer, Hans, Bangay, Shaun D

Authors: Foster, Gregory G , Krijer, Hans , Bangay, Shaun D
Date: 2007
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/433482 , vital:72973 , https://doi.org/10.1145/1108590.1108616
Description: The article presents a study which investigates the development of a computer-aided system for individual zebra identification based on the lateral side stripe pattern. The model proposed for individual animal identification is based on a combination of image processing and fingerprint identification technology. About 20 minutes of zebra footage was filmed at the Amakhala Game Reserve in South Africa. The study indicates that there is sufficient variation in lateral stripe patterns to differentiate individual animals.
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Date Issued: 2007

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World Lexicon of Grammaticalization by Bernd Heine and Tania Kuteva

- Simango, Silvester R

Authors: Simango, Silvester R
Date: 2004
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/469311 , vital:77231 , https://doi.org/10.2989/16073610409486363
Description: The major goal of this book is to show that the processes which underlie grammatical evolution are not only regular cross-linguistically, but are also universal. The book consists of three chapters, three appendices and an extensive list of references. Conceived primarily as a reference source for those interested in the diachronic reconstruction of language, the authors describe over 400 grammaticalization processes drawing on data from about 500 languages. The overall organisation reflects the text’s primary purpose as a reference work: nearly three hundred pages (pp. 27–316) are devoted to the listing of the ‘source—target lexicon’ arranged in alphabetical order of the ‘source’ lexical items. The authors’ stated goal is to provide researchers with tools for explaining in a principled way ‘how and why different grammatical meanings can be related to one another’(p. 1). Although the book succeeds in showing which linguistic elements are sources and which are targets of various grammaticalization processes, it does not clearly provide the reader with the analytical tools with which to explain the link between ‘source ’and ‘target’ in a principled manner as the authors claim.
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Date Issued: 2004

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Will the real custodian of natural resource management please stand up

- Shackleton, Charlie M

Authors: Shackleton, Charlie M
Date: 2009
Language: English
Type: Article
Identifier: vital:6657 , http://hdl.handle.net/10962/d1007076
Description: South Africa is the custodian of an immense wealth of biodiversity resources, and is estimated to be the third most biodiverse country in the world. At the ecosystem level this biodiversity supports the production of goods and services used by us all; water, air, soil fertility, wood, food, etc. At a more local level the harvesting of numerous natural resources provides consumptive products for millions of poor South Africans, as well as income for equally significant numbers.Consumption of and trade in these resources is the very mainstay of their well-being, and crucial in preventing deeper poverty levels. For example, despite massive improvements in the provision of electricity, most rural and a significant proportion of urban South Africans continue to use fuelwood as a key energy source for cooking (e.g. 65% of electrified households in the urban areas of Makana municipality, and 92% of households in the rural areas of Bushbuckridge); approximately 75% of the population use medicinal plants for medicinal or cultural reasons; and millions of urban and rural households make use of wild edible herbs. With such high demand for these resources, it is not unsurprising that there are large and established trade networks spanning local, regional, national and, for some resources (e.g. specific medicinal plants, mopane worms), international boundaries. The total value of this trade is unknown, and unrecorded in local or national economic or GDP statistics. It certainly equates to billions of rands per year. The direct-use and trade values are substantial and provide a cost saving to the State. Where biodiversity resources are overused or exhausted, people have to purchase alternatives, which reduces their scarce cash resources, thereby increasing their likely dependency on State welfare grants.
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Date Issued: 2009

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Why old maids stay sweet

- Compton, Stephen G

Authors: Compton, Stephen G
Date: 2004
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/452095 , vital:75103 , https://hdl.handle.net/10520/EJC32590
Description: The usual function of floral nectaries in plants is to attract and reward pollinators, while extra-floral (foliar) nectaries function in the defence of the plant, attracting ants and other insects that can act as bodyguards (Beattie 1985). In a few plants these functions have been reversed, with floral nectar used to attract bodyguards (Dominguez et al. 1989) or foliar nectar used to attract pollinators, Poinsettias, Euphorbia pulcherimma L. are a well-known example (Thorp and Sugden 1990).
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Date Issued: 2004

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What matters in economics teaching and learning? A case study of an introductory macroeconomics course in South Africa

- Snowball, Jeanette D, Wilson, Magdalene K

Authors: Snowball, Jeanette D , Wilson, Magdalene K
Date: 2006
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/68500 , vital:29270 , https://doi.org/10.19030/tlc.v3i11.1659
Description: Publisher version , In many universities, economics lecturers now face the challenge of dealing with large, diverse classes, especially at undergraduate level. A common concern is the non-attendance at lectures of unmotivated (conscript) students. Poor lecture quality, as reflected in student evaluations of teaching (SETs), is often blamed for lack of attendance and consequent poor performance. This paper presents the results of a student assessment of a macroeconomics 1 course, coupled with a self-assessment of their own input into the course. The results obtained, using econometric models, suggest that students inputs and attitudes to the course are equally, or more, important than lecture attendance itself.
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Date Issued: 2006

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Wax discrimination in the Lesser Honeyguide Indicator minor

- Hepburn, H Randall

Authors: Hepburn, H Randall
Date: 2009
Subjects: To be catalogued
Language: English
Type: text , article
Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/448440 , vital:74730 , https://doi.org/10.2989/OSTRICH.2009.80.2.11.838
Description: Beeswaxes consist of complex mixtures of homologous neutral lipids that vary among species of honeybees but share many compounds in common (Aichholz and Lorbeer 1999). However, the beeswaxes of subspecies of the honeybee, Apis mellifera, can only be distinguished after careful calculation of the peak elution pattern area ratios of selected compounds (Brand-Garnys and Sprenger 1988). This is of interest in an ornithological context because honeyguides (Indicatoridae) subsist in large measure on the pillage of the combs of honeybees (Friedman 1955) and their enzymic capacity to digest beeswax has been demonstrated experimentally (Friedmann and Kern 1956, Diamond and Place 1988, Downs et al. 2002). Honeyguides can utilise olfactory orientation to find beeswax (Stager 1967, Archer and Glen 1969) and can even detect and seek out the combs of honeybees stored in hives devoid of bees in darkened out-buildings (HRH pers. obs.).
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Date Issued: 2009

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