Search results

This paper aims to illustrate the use of the augmented epsilon-constraint method implemented in general algebraic modelling system (GAMS), aimed at optimizing the geometry of a thermoacoustic regenerator. Thermoacoustic heat engines provide a practical solution to the problem of heat management where heat can be pumped or spot cooling can be produced. However, the most inhibiting characteristic of thermoacoustic cooling is their current lack of efficiencies.

Lexicographic optimization is presented as an alternative optimization technique to the common used weighting methods. This approach establishes a hierarchical order among all the optimization objectives instead of giving them a specific (and most of the time, arbitrary) weight.

A practical example is given, in a hypothetical scenario, showing how the proposed optimization technique may help thermoacoustic regenerator designers to identify Pareto optimal solutions when dealing with geometric parameters. This study highlights the fact that the geometrical parameters are interdependent, which support the use of a multi-objective approach for optimization in thermoacoustic.

The research output from this paper can be a valuable resource to support designers in building efficient thermoacoustic device. The research illustrates the use of a lexicographic optimization to provide more meaningful results describing the geometry of thermoacoustic regenerator. It applies the epsilon-constraint method (AUGMENCON) to solve a five-criteria mixed integer non-linear problem implemented in GAMS (GAM software).

The melting pot of trade and commerce in present day Zambia dates to the interactions between the peoples who inhabited the territory, their new migratory neighbours fleeing regional conflicts and consequent interactions with European explorers attempting to penetrate the interior region of south central Africa. Today, Zambia is a blend of 73 multi-ethnic groups that have inter-married, coexisted and crossed paths with many central, eastern and southern African societies and empires in the name of trade, expansion and exploration. The Zambian chapter explores what practices were part of their societal structures and what has survived the fusion of migrants whether intra-continental or beyond. This chapter also presents the subsequent post-independence complex society under the Zambian identity and the author reflects on how Africans can manage affairs responsibly.

This chapter examines US Africa Policy under Obama with a particular focus on the Southern African region. The author examines American policy from a historical perspective to give credence to his view that while certain changes have occurred in American global and Africa Policy in particular, it is the issues that have changed, and the drivers of that policy change but the fundamental basis of the American policy has not changed much. American policy has remained anchored on global hegemony driven by the increasingly frayed Washington consensus as expressed initially in its Cold War rhetoric and stance against the former USSR and its perceived allies and now against terrorism.

This work examines the existing literature on Southern African history and politics written by scholars and observers including regional heads of state like Nyerere of Tanzania and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia. This study also draws from the author’s knowledge and experiences as a citizen and observer over the years of the many facets of vicissitudes of regional politics and is interface with international foreign policy pressures and interests. This work thus, draws from the literature on and about regional politics and international relations over the years coupled by the author’s personal experiences.

This chapter makes clear link between Cold War politics and current American foreign policy on African and the Southern African region in particular. In fact the US anti-terrorism rhetoric has remained consistent during and after the Cold War. During the Cold War, liberation movements in Southern Africa fighting to end colonial rule and racist apartheid regime were declared terrorist movements and hence the subject of US hostility especially given these movements’ support for arms and materials from the USSR and China. USSR was manufactured as the organizer of international terrorism. Proxy wars were waged to deal with these movements and their supporters such as the war in Angola where the United States supported dubious and questionable characters like Jonas Savimbi of the National Union for the Total Liberation of Angola (UNITA) and Holden Robert of the Front for the National Liberation of Angola (FNLA) and Zairian dictator, Mobutu SeseSeko. While FNLA was widely accepted as a CIA outfit, Mobutu was imposed by US intelligence support (CIA) against a popular leader, Patrice Lumumba, who was assassinated shortly after independence.

At the end of the Cold War a new form of terrorism manifested itself in the form of Muslim Jihadists who on the continent were seen to emerge in East Africa and the Horn of Africa and the American fascination has been to ensure that this terrorism does not afflict the rest of the continent and the Southern African region in particular. Support to African governments has shifted from the initial years of confused neglect complimented with ambivalent engagement and finally, to humanitarianism. This has taken the form of the support to Africa to fight HIV and AIDS so as to harvest a favourable ground among African governments. This was seen as helping to ensconce American support in the region and weaken the ground for the Al Qaeda intrusion, real or imagined. It was also hoped that this might help counter growing Chinese influence. It is not entirely surprising too that the economic and strategic focus has been to sustain a declining hegemonic position especially in a region where Chinese investments and influence have outstripped American and Western influence.

When questioning the relationship between media, development, and democracy, especially in the ill-defined “Global South,” it’s important to go beyond the commonly held meta-narratives that frame these concepts as common sense. In a quest to investigate alternative characterizations of these terms, this chapter uses Ghanaian political economist Lord Mawuko-Yevugah’s (2014) theoretical framework of “developmentality” to explain how development has been used as an ideological instrument to promote the Western liberal media model in the “Global South.” Using a case study of Malawi, which is heavily dependent on foreign aid from the same countries who have defined and promoted this liberal media model aboard, raises important questions about a media model that is characterized by high objectivity and political neutrality on one side, but subjects countries to high levels of competition and free market principles on the other. By outlining the temporal sequence of events that have unfolded since the arrival of missionary media in the 1800s, the presence of international donors and the rise in non-governmental organizations, this chapter reveals how certain ideologies and practices have been legitimized through development to preserve the unequal balance of power between the “Global South” and their former colonial powers.

In October 1991, Zambia experienced its first competitive elections in 23 years. These elections for both the presidency and the National Assembly were expected to mark the end of one‐party rule and the beginning of a new regime of multi‐party politics. In the aftermath of the elections, some also expressed the hope or expectation that the transition starting to take place in Zambia would inspire a movement elsewhere in sub‐Saharan Africa away from authoritarian regimes or regimes effectively immune from electoral accountability. In fact, even some Zambians drew hopeful comparisons between what was occurring in Lusaka and the democratic transformations that had begun several years earlier in Central and Eastern Europe.

In this chapter, we examine the role of charismatic leadership in postcolonial Tanzania. Primarily used in sociological and political analysis, the concept of charisma has been viewed as a central component in nation-building in postcolonial Africa. Based on a decolonial perspective, we discuss charismatic leadership in Tanzania, focusing on Julius Nyerere, the first president of Tanzania. Nyerere, one of Africa's most influential leaders of the mid-twentieth century, fought the colonial rule, pushed for national independence and political freedom, and offered radical solutions to colonialism. Finally, the future directions regarding leadership in postcolonial Tanzania are discussed.