Regional trade and food security in SADC
Abstract A number of pertinent questions on regional trade and food security in southern Africa is addressed in this paper, namely: Should a country go it alone or should it belong to a regional trade bloc? Within the SADC region, should countries be content to be cereal importers? How can free trade be phased in? How can intra-SADC trade be expanded? Potentially sensitive agricultural products are listed and the sensitivity in grain milling and cereals is discussed in detail. The major conclusion is that trade in the region can contribute substantially to provide improved food security. There is also considerable scope for greater intra-regional trade in grain and other food products, and for greater cross-border investment in agriculture and agro-industry.
Military spending and regional integration in southern Africa: paper was presented at ‘Business and Management Conference’ held at the University of KwaZulu Natal, Durban, South Africa.on the 28th-30th September 2011.
Military expenditure in developing countries and Africa in particular has over the years produced a varying mix of positive and negative economic development effects across countries. In Africa milex and conflict had an overall negative impact on economic growth and development. Conflict also negatively affects efforts at consolidating regional integration in general. The negative effects are most pronounced in countries facing legitimacy and security crises like Zimbabwe and the DRC. Countries afflicted by conflict and poverty pay higher economic costs for their national security. The paper explores the effect of regional integration on military expenditure in Southern Africa. The basic premise of the research is that economic integration reduces conflict and eventually military expenditure. In addition regional security integration (via a peace dividend) may have positive economic externalities through uninterrupted trade been member states in regional groupings. There is dearth of studies that focused on the relationship between conflict or military expenditure and regional integration in southern Africa. Most of the studies focus on the benefits and strategies that enhance regional integration, without analyzing the importance of regional integration to security sector developments. Security sector studies have in general ignored the importance of economic and regional integration in ensuring reduction in military spending while consolidating peace. The results of this study show that regional integration has a negative impact on military expenditure in southern Africa.
The measuriment of ferromagnets magnetic characteristics using Labview software
The digital method of measurement and registration of dynamic loops hysteresis family of magneto-soft materials where, along with known analogues from electro-technical steel, magnetic materials with considerably smaller specific magnetic losses such as amorphous alloys on the basis of iron, is offered. Tests of magnetic properties of materials are carried out on the base of the hardware-software measuring complex in which along with the standard established electric equipment and USB oscillograph for realization of a digital method, the software for the personal computer developed in the environment of visual programming of Borland Delphi 7.0, connected through the ActieveX technology with the Labview 7.0 environment, is applied. The software allows carrying out input of basic data concerning geometry of prototypes of cores from magnetic materials and numbers of rounds of the magnetizing and measuring windings located on their surface. Experimental data on voltage at measuring winding terminals are processed by means of the virtual integrator in a Labview package. The developed software provides the possibility of saving the obtained hysteresis loop in the form of a text file, and creation of the hysteresis loops family on the virtual oscillograph screen.