The use of information and communications technology (ICT) in e-service delivery and effective governance in South Africa

Published ArticleThe current debate within the ASGISA and NEPAD policy structures of the South African Government is to enhance E-service delivery via Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for all citizens. This paper deals with the problem how ICT in governance may be constructed to facilitate greater accountability, transparency and reducing corruption through better financial, public information management, procurement and administrative systems. South Africans especially in rural areas have a limited access to ICT. The main barriers to ICT access relate to high cost of Internet access, connectivity problems, lack of technical skills to support maintenance and low number of computers with Internet connectivity at schools, libraries and other public places

The "success story" of peasant tobacco production in Tanzania : the political economy of a commodity producing peasantry

This book studies how Tanzania in a period of 25-30 years became a tobacco producer and exporter. But its emphasis is on production, and therefore on the producers. It analyses the processes that made Tanzanians into peasant producers of tobacco for the international market. The dynamics of the organization of production under changing conditions of production. The effects on the development of productive forces, reproduction processes and the standard of living among the producers

A simple effective heuristic for embedded mixed-integer quadratic programming

In this paper we propose a fast optimization algorithm for approximately minimizing convex quadratic functions over the intersection of affine and separable constraints (i.e., the Cartesian product of possibly nonconvex real sets). This problem class contains many NP-hard problems such as mixed-integer quadratic programming. Our heuristic is based on a variation of the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM), an algorithm for solving convex optimization problems. We discuss the favorable computational aspects of our algorithm, which allow it to run quickly even on very modest computational platforms such as embedded processors. We give several examples for which an approximate solution should be found very quickly, such as management of a hybrid-electric vehicle drivetrain and control of switched-mode power converters. Our numerical experiments suggest that our method is very effective in finding a feasible point with small objective value; indeed, we find that in many cases, it finds the global solution

Anethum graveolens: An Indian traditional medicinal herb and spice

Anethum graveolens L. (dill) has been used in ayurvedic medicines since ancient times and it is a popular herb widely used as a spice and also yields essential oil. It is an aromatic and annual herb of apiaceae family. The Ayurvedic uses of dill seeds are carminative, stomachic and diuretic. There are various volatile components of dill seeds and herb; carvone being the predominant odorant of dill seed and α-phellandrene, limonene, dill ether, myristicin are the most important odorants of dill herb. Other compounds isolated from seeds are coumarins, flavonoids, phenolic acids and steroids. The main purpose of this review is to understand the significance of Anethum graveolens in ayurvedic medicines and non-medicinal purposes and emphasis can also be given to the enhancement of secondary metabolites of this medicinal plant