• Title/Summary/Keyword: East africa

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Population growth and carbon dioxide emission: An investigation of the Africa perspective

  • Saka, Abdulrasaki
    • East Asian Journal of Business Economics (EAJBE)
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    • v.2 no.4
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    • pp.1-8
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    • 2014
  • This study examines the relationship between population growth and carbon dioxide emissions in the context of Africa perspective. Population growth and carbon dioxide emissions helped identify the key driving forces of environmental impacts by including other predictors in all the different income levels of all sampled countries in Africa. To explore the role of population growth in the emissions of carbon dioxide, this research employed a panel data set of 52 Africa countries from 1960 to 2012 using fixed effects, random effects and GLS/FGLS estimators to estimate the modified STIRPAT model. The results found that a 1% increase in population growth suggests an increase in carbon dioxide emission loads by about 0.33%, 1.08%, 0.57% and 2.32% on the average, controlling for all other anthropogenic driving forces, for LICA, LMICA, UICA and HICA respectively. There is a significant relationship between population growth and carbon dioxide emissions in all the national income levels in Africa.

Current State of Postharvest Fruit and Vegetable Management in East Africa

  • Wakholi, Collins;Cho, Byoung-Kwan;Mo, Changyeun;Kim, Moon S.
    • Journal of Biosystems Engineering
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    • v.40 no.3
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    • pp.238-249
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    • 2015
  • Purpose: Fruit and vegetable production is a fast-growing sector in East Africa, and it bears considerable local and international market potential. In an effort to analyze the challenges within this sector and suggest possible solutions, this study reviews the postharvest handling technologies commonly used with fruits and vegetables in East Africa. Methods: During the course of this study, small-scale farmers were identified as the most prominent producers of fruit and vegetable crops in the region. Results: We found that many of these small-scale farmers employed relative simple and inexpensive techniques in handling their limited volumes of produce. Several factors could be addressed to reduce postharvest losses, including weak policies, inferior infrastructure, and poor market strategies. However, the lack of basic knowledge (including demographic, scientific, and economic knowledge) among the stakeholders (e.g., researchers, farmers, governments, nongovernment organizations, and merchants) on how to develop, implement, use, and sustain the recommended handling technologies is probably the most problematic. Conclusions: We recommend that high priority be placed on closing the knowledge gap, which could enhance the efforts of all the stakeholders to address and reduce postharvest losses.

Transcriptome-based identification of water-deficit stress responsive genes in the tea plant, Camellia sinensis

  • Tony, Maritim;Samson, Kamunya;Charles, Mwendia;Paul, Mireji;Richard, Muoki;Mark, Wamalwa;Stomeo, Francesca;Sarah, Schaack;Martina, Kyalo;Francis, Wachira
    • Journal of Plant Biotechnology
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    • v.43 no.3
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    • pp.302-310
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    • 2016
  • A study aimed at identifying putative drought responsive genes that confer tolerance to water stress deficit in tea plants was conducted in a 'rain-out shelter' using potted plants. Eighteen months old drought tolerant and susceptible tea cultivars were each separately exposed to water stress or control conditions of 18 or 34% soil moisture content, respectively, for three months. After the treatment period, leaves were harvested from each treatment for isolation of RNA and cDNA synthesis. The cDNA libraries were sequenced on Roche 454 high-throughput pyrosequencing platform to produce 232,853 reads. After quality control, the reads were assembled into 460 long transcripts (contigs). The annotated contigs showed similarity with proteins in the Arabidopsis thaliana proteome. Heat shock proteins (HSP70), superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (cat), peroxidase (PoX), calmodulinelike protein (Cam7) and galactinol synthase (Gols4) droughtrelated genes were shown to be regulated differently in tea plants exposed to water stress. HSP70 and SOD were highly expressed in the drought tolerant cultivar relative to the susceptible cultivar under drought conditions. The genes and pathways identified suggest efficient regulation leading to active adaptation as a basal defense response against water stress deficit by tea. The knowledge generated can be further utilized to better understand molecular mechanisms underlying stress tolerance in tea.

Cultural Exchange and Its Externalities on Korea-Africa Relations: How Does the Korean Wave Affect the Perception and Purchasing Behavior of African Consumers?

  • Ochieng, Haggai Kennedy;Kim, Sungsoo
    • East Asian Economic Review
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.381-407
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    • 2019
  • The Korean wave has become a global phenomenon whose effect has been widely studied in Asia, Europe and the US. However the presumption of cultural distance makes it appear unlikely that the Korean wave could gain traction among African consumers of cultural products. As such, a dearth of evidence exists on the effects of the wave in Africa. This paper examines the effect of the wave in East African countries employing both descriptive and Probit model analyses. The results show that, contrary to conventional beliefs, most Africans surveyed perceive value proximity with Korea through the values conveyed in Korean dramas, movies and music. Confucius values, such as filial piety, family love and respect for the elderly are the most appealing to the East African audience. Importantly, contact with Korean wave contents contributes to the respondents' disposition to form favorable attitude towards Korea. The African consumers of Korea's cultural products are equally likely to purchase other Korean commercial products. These results remotely suggest that Hallyu may be a tool for advancing Korea's soft power towards Africa and could generate positive economic externalities.

A Study on Kanga Fundanental Notion of Apparel Widely Throughout East Africa (동(東)아프리카 지역(地域)에서 광범위(廣範圍)하게 착용(着用)하는 Kanga개념(槪念) 연구(硏究))

  • Kang, Eun-Sook
    • Journal of Fashion Business
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    • v.8 no.4
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    • pp.104-116
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    • 2004
  • Kanga is a type of cotton clothes with splendid patterns that East African women throw on their bodies. It first appeared in the East African shores in the mid-nineteenth century. A new style of squared handkerchiefs brought to Africa by Portuguese merchants for the first time was referred as to leso of which early designs were in a basic form of white dots on dark background. Consumers called such material by kanga as they began mentioning its craftiness and comparing its elegant nature to a sociable red rooster and graceful feathers. From the early 1990s, Swahili characters have been embroidered in designs of kanga, mainly consisted of proverbs. Kenya's kanga products are widely known and well represented whereas Tanzania makes the best use of it for political and social events. Fascinating and practical kanga has established its position as an essential part of East African cultures that is being well received as a fashion style there in these days.

China's Public Diplomacy towards Africa: Strategies, Economic Linkages and Implications for Korea's Ambitions in Africa

  • Ochieng, Haggai Kennedy
    • East Asian Economic Review
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    • v.26 no.1
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    • pp.49-91
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    • 2022
  • Recent years have witnessed renewed interest in Africa and public diplomacy has emerged as the vital tool being used to cultivate these relations. China has been leading in pursuing stronger economic partnership with Africa while middle powers such as Korea are also intensifying engagement with the continent. While previous studies have analyzed the implications of China's activities in Africa on advanced powers, none has examined them from the paradigm of middle powers. This study fills this gap by assessing China's activities in Africa, their economic engagement and implications for Korea's interest in Africa. The analysis is qualitative based on secondary data from various sources and literature. The study shows that China's public diplomacy strategy involves a high degree of innovation and has evolved to encompass new tools and audiences. China has institutionalized a cooperative model that permeates many aspects of governance institutions in Africa, enabling it to strengthen their relations. This could also be helping China to adjust faster leadership transitions in Africa. Whereas the US is still the most influential country in Africa, China is influential in economic policies and has outstripped the US in infrastructure diplomacy. This could be because African policy makers align more with China's economic model than the US' mainstream economics. Chinese aid to Africa has been diversified to social sectors that are more responsive to the needs of Africa. Trade and investment relations between China and Africa have deepened, but so does trade imbalance since 2010. China mainly imports natural resources and raw materials from Africa. But this product portfolio is not different from Korea and the US. China's energetic insertion in Africa using various strategies has significant implications for countries with ambitions in Africa. Korea can achieve its ambitions in Africa by focusing resources in areas it can leverage its core strengths-such as education and vocational training, environmental policy and development cooperation.

Epiphytic Communities on Marine Plants of Seychelles, Indian Ocean, East Africa

  • Ivin, V.V.;Zvyagintsev, A.Yu.;Titlyanova, T.V.
    • Ocean and Polar Research
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    • v.22 no.1
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    • pp.37-43
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    • 2000
  • Epiphytic communities on marine plants of Seychelles (Indian Ocean Island group associated with East Africa) were investigated in January - March of 1989 during the $15^{th}$ biological voyage of the research vessel cademic Alexander Nesmeyanov. A seagrass species, Thalassodendron ciliatum, and macroalgae (Sargassum spp. and Halimeda spp.) were tested for host substrates and biomass of their dominant epiphytes were assessed. Also, in order to understand the effect of shading and nutrient filtering by epiphytes, two series of photosynthetic rates were compared for Th. ciliatum host leaves having 10% and no epiphytes. Total of 84 species of algae and main taxons of benthic animals were identified from three different host plants. An average biomass of the epiphytes on Th. cihiatum was $184.6g\;kg^{-1}$ and dominant species were green alga Halimeda opuntia, red algae Dictyurus occidentalis and Gelidiella myrioclada. These dominant species and their biomass were remarkably varied with depth increment. On Sargassum spp., an average biomass of the epiphytes was $0.18g\;kg^{-1}$ and the maximum biomass was never exceeded $0.16g\;kg^{-1}$. In the case of Halimeda spp. an average biomass of the epiphytes was $8.0g\;kg^{-1}$, and dominant species were Peyssonnelia dubyi, sponges and decapods. Photosynthetic rates of Th. ciliatum were significantly reduced in the leaves having 10% epiphytes (1.72 times lower, t=6.718, p<0.001).

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A Comparative Analysis of Korean and Central African Construction Laborers Job Consciousness

  • Bulunda, Mbale Michael;Bitamba, Bauma Frigeant;Jean, jihoon;An, Sung-Hoon
    • International conference on construction engineering and project management
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    • 2015.10a
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    • pp.748-749
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    • 2015
  • Recently Korean construction companies have started launching into the world beyond the Middle East to Southeast Asia. Launching into Central Africa has emerged as the blue chips; therefore, it is needed to study the local people and culture of Central Africa. However, launching Korean construction companies into Central Africa may cause some problems between Korean and African construction laborers' thinking. Therefore this comparative analysis of Korean and Central African construction laborers' job consciousness can provide to Korean companies a minimum understanding of these kinds of problems to expect while launching into Central Africa and so using this analysis as a basic data to supply them.

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East and West Meet in Africa: Effects on Clothing and Textile Businesses in Kenya's Liberalized Economy

  • Wanduara, M.W.;Oigo, E.B.;Nguku, E.K.
    • The International Journal of Costume Culture
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    • v.13 no.2
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    • pp.101-103
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    • 2010
  • Liberalization may be described as the opening up of the economy to the outside world by relaxing government trade and economic policy restrictions to allow imports. In Kenya, this took place in the early 1990s and it had negative and positive effects on businesses manufacturing and retailing clothing and textiles. This case study narrates what has happened over the last 20 years to businesses in Nairobi, Kenya dealing in clothing and textiles. Some of the original businesses have closed down and been replaced by new ones. More small scale Kenyan businesses have been started dealing in clothing imports from the East and West selling both new and second hand clothes. There has been increased employment in the small scale clothing and textiles sector in garment making and retailing. All in all, liberalization has forced large and medium scale textile manufacture to change strategy so that they target selling to the export market more than to the local market.

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