‘My hope is that people can grow to appreciate this sector – its challenges and opportunities, but most importantly, the role agriculture can play in improving South Africa’s rural economy, creating jobs and bringing about much-needed transformation (or inclusive growth).’
Wandile Sihlobo is perfectly positioned to provide a well-rounded, accessible view of agriculture in South Africa. He spent his school holidays in the rural Eastern Cape, studied agricultural economics at university, has worked in private-sector agriculture, consulting with farmers across the country, and has been an adviser to government as part of South African policymaking bodies.

Finding Common Ground is a selection of key articles from Sihlobo’s regular Business Day column, framed with insightful commentary and context. The book covers the broad themes that have marked current discussions and outlines the challenges and opportunities faced by South Africa’s agricultural sector, including:

• The contentious and complex issue of land reform;
• The potential for new leadership to revive the sector;
• How agriculture can drive development and job creation;
• Cannabis as an exportable commodity;
• The urgent need for agricultural policy to address gender equity and youth involvement;
• Technological developments and megatrends that are underpinning agricultural development;
• The importance of trade in growing South Africa’s agriculture; and Key lessons that South Africa and other African countries can learn from one another.

Ultimately, Sihlobo is optimistic about the future of South Africa’s agricultural sector and shows us all – from policymakers to the general public – how much common ground we truly have.

Navigating Information Literacy captures a range of skills and topics essential for students who intend positioning themselves in academic or workplace environments that are globally connected and competitive.

The clear, well-structured and informative text leads the reader through all aspects of information literacy and provides practical advice and relevant examples from a variety of international contexts.

‘A gripping read that will anger as much as it fascinates’ Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall ‘An incredible journey into the world of rubbish, full of fascinating characters and mind-bending facts’ Oliver Bullough, author of Moneyland   ‘Urgent, probing and endlessly interesting’ Cal Flyn, author of Islands of Abandonment 'A fascinating, deeply researched and hugely important exposé of what happens to the stuff we no longer want, and the social and environmental cost of dealing with it' Gaia Vince  ‘Compelling, smart, fair, often funny, always interesting, and just very important’ Mary Roach, author of Stiff 'There are stories in all our discarded things: who made them, what they meant to a person before they were thrown away. In the end, it all ends up in the same place – the endless ingenuity of humanity in one filthy, fascinating mass.'   When we throw things ‘away’, what does that actually mean? Where does it go, and who deals with it when it gets there? In Wasteland, award-winning journalist Oliver Franklin-Wallis takes us on an eye-opening journey through the global waste industry. From the mountainous landfills of New Delhi to Britain’s overflowing sewers, from hollowed-out mining towns in the USA to Ghana’s flooded second-hand markets, we meet the people on the frontline of our waste crisis – both those being exploited, and those determined to make a difference. On the way, we discover the corporate greenwashing that started the recycling movement; the dark truth behind our second-hand donations; and come face to face with the 10,000-year legacy of our nuclear waste.   Both shocking and hopeful, Wasteland is the timely and ultimately human story at the heart of an urgent global issue.  

How can we promote people-centered governance in Africa? Cell phones/ information and communications technology (ICT) are shown to be linked to neoliberal understandings of more democratic governance structures, defined by the Worldwide Governance Indicators as: the rule of law, corruption-control, regulation quality, government effectiveness, political stability/no violence, and voice and accountability. However, these indicators fall short: they do note emphasize gender equity or pro-poor policies. Writing from an African feminist scholar-activist perspective, Assata Zerai emphasizes the voices of women in two ways: (1) she examines how women's access to ICT makes a difference to the success of people-centered governance structures; and (2) she demonstrates how African women's scholarship, too often marginalized, must be used to expand and redefine the goals and indicators of democratice governance in African countries. Challenging the status quo that praises the contributions of cell phones to the diffusion of knowledge and resultant better governance in Africa, this book is an important read for scholars of politics and technology, gender and politics, and African Studies.

Industrial Policy and the Transformation of the Colonial Economy in Africa offers an in-depth analysis of the role industrial policy can play in the transformation of African economies. Using examples from Zambia's industrial development experience, this book illustrates that core features of the colonial economy have not just survived six decades of independence in most African countries, but they have continued to shape the nature, scope and pace of economic activities on the continent. The book argues that since the colonial economy in Africa was not intended to serve the interests of Africans, it is imperative that the structures and the underlying rationale of the colonial economy are radically reoriented if economic activities in Africa are to benefit the majority of Africans. Drawing from the Zambian experience, the book shows that the transformation of the colonial economy in Africa is urgently needed. Whilst this has proved to be difficult over the past six decades, it can be done. The book outlines a specific type of industrial policy, Frontier Industrial Policy, as a key instrument for transforming the structure of African economies. At a time when economic growth across Africa is under considerable pressure due to COVID-19, the insights in this book will be of interest to researchers across Economics, Development, Postcolonial Studies, and African Studies.

This book explores the mobile ethnography of Dar es Salaam, where consultants and politicians have planned and implemented a bus rapid transit (BRT) system for two decades. It analyses the dual processes of assembling BRT in the Tanzanian metropolis and establishing BRT as a policy model of and for the Global South. The book elucidates how policy models are constructed and circulated around the globe and depicts the processes by which they are translated between, and materialise within, specific contexts. It presents the case of BRT to demonstrate how technocrats shape these processes through persuasive work aimed at disseminating and stabilising this transport model, and how local actors influence its adaptation in Dar es Salaam. The book adopts a 'double mobility' approach to show how this ethnography follows travelling consultants, circulating policies and moving buses to explore the fluidity of the BRT model. Linking key debates in policy mobility studies and Science and Technology Studies, enriched with postcolonial perspectives and geographies of transport and infrastructure, it offers new insights into the technopolitics of planning and implementing infrastructure systems. This book will appeal to academics and students of human geography, transport studies, science and technology studies, and African and development studies interested in the technopolitics of transport planning.

A new edition of the bestselling introduction to design styles and movements in architecture. This is an easy-to-use guide to a wide range of architectural styles, from classical times through to the post-modern era. For each style there is a definition, an introduction to the topic, a list of key architects, keywords, and major works as well as suggestions of other styles you might be interested in. This new edition now includes four brand new chapters covering Performatism, Ornamentalism, Giganticism and Bioclimatism. Understanding Architecture is a must for anyone interested in architecture and wanting to know more - whether you are a sightseer, a visitor of historic buildings or an architecture connoisseur.

This book provides an analysis of the legal and policy dimensions of open access to research, education and public sector information with a focus on Nigeria. Kunle shows how open access has evolved across the world and how such initiatives could be implemented in Nigeria and other countries in the developing world. The author argues for a platform where Nigerians are able to freely connect to the 'global library', through the open access dual platforms of self-archiving and open access publishing, thereby providing access to knowledge. The importance of connecting local works to the 'global library' to increase visibility and impact of such works is also underscored. This book furthers our understanding of open educational resources as alternative avenues to accessing education and seeks to foster citizenry participation, good governance, accountability, democratic values and spur creativity and innovation through open governance and access to public sector information. Providing a framework for open access in developing countries, Open Access to Knowledge in Nigeria is an important read for scholars interested in knowledge production in Africa, development of the knowledge economy and the open access and Access to Knowledge movements.

Has a child – or anyone else – ever asked you why the sky is blue? Could you explain why ice cream melts? Have you forgotten why scientists think the universe started with a Big Bang, and do you understand the difference between respiration and breathing?

Why Don’t Things Fall Up? will gently remind you of everything you may have learnt once upon a time, but have somehow forgotten along the way. If you’ve ever changed the subject when a child has asked for homework help, or if you have the curiosity of a seven year old yourself, or if you know everything but have forgotten the basics or don’t want to know anything except the basics – then this is the book for you.

Using questions asked by children as a starting point, Alom Shaha (who has spent over two decades trying to help people of all ages understand this stuff) takes us on a tour of the “big ideas” of science from his unique perspective. His experience as a dad, a teacher and science communicator means he knows exactly what people don’t know -and especially the misconceptions and other intellectual hurdles which prevent us from grasping key ideas.

Combining his proven skill for explaining science with storytelling and flashbacks to school experiments, Why Don’t Things Fall Up? reminds us that science is not just for scientists – it’s a human endeavour that enriches all our lives.

This book investigates the ways in which soft power is used by African countries to help drive global influence.

Selecting four of the countries most associated with soft power across the continent, this book delves into the currencies of soft power across the region: from South Africa’s progressive constitution and expanding multinational corporations, to Nigeria’s Nollywood film industry and Technical Aid Corps (TAC) scheme, Kenya’s sport diplomacy, fashion and tourism industries, and finally Egypt’s Pan-Arabism and its reputation as the cradle of civilisation. The book asks how soft power is wielded by these countries and what constraints and contradictions they encounter. Understandings of soft power have typically been driven by Western scholars, but throughout this book, Oluwaseun Tella aims to Africanise our understanding of soft power, drawing on prominent African philosophies, including Nigeria’s Omolúwàbí, South Africa’s Ubuntu, Kenya’s Harambee, and Egypt’s Pharaonism.

This book will be of interest to researchers from across political science, international relations, cultural studies, foreign policy and African Studies.

Suitable for both graduate and senior undergraduate students, this textbook offers a logical progression through the underlying principles and practical applications of nonlinear photonics. Building up from essential physics, general concepts, and fundamental mathematical formulations, it provides a robust introduction to nonlinear optical processes and phenomena, and their practical applications in real-world devices and systems. Over 45 worked problems illustrate key concepts and provide hands-on models for students, and over 160 end-of-chapter exercises supply students with plenty of scope to master the material. Accompanied by a complete solutions manual for instructors, including detailed explanations of each result, and drawing on the author's 35 years of teaching experience, this is the ideal introduction to nonlinear photonics for students in electrical engineering.

One of the key challenges current biomaterials researchers face is identifying which of the dizzying number of highly specialized characterization tools can be gainfully applied to different materials and biomedical devices. Since this diverse marketplace of tools and techniques can be used for numerous applications, choosing the proper characterization tool is highly important, saving both time and resources. Characterization of Biomaterials is a detailed and multidisciplinary discussion of the physical, chemical, mechanical, surface, in vitro and in vivo characterization tools and techniques of increasing importance to fundamental biomaterials research. Characterization of Biomaterials will serve as a comprehensive resource for biomaterials researchers requiring detailed information on physical, chemical, mechanical, surface, and in vitro or in vivo characterization. The book is designed for materials scientists, bioengineers, biologists, clinicians and biomedical device researchers seeking input on planning on how to test their novel materials, structures or biomedical devices to a specific application. Chapters are developed considering the need for industrial researchers as well as academics.

This book separates fact from fiction and teaches science basics in an easy-to-understand and -apply way. With the knowledge base gained from Dave Farina’s teaching, you can spot misinformation and lies on the internet before they spot you.

Is This WiFi Organic? is about science that affects us all. Food, medicine, and technology. Earth, sea, and sky. Light, heat, and fire. Science is the study of everything around us. It has ultimately yielded to all of the modernity that is inextricable from our everyday experience, from cures for diseases to the electricity we use constantly. But one impressive scientific breakthrough, the internet, has pervaded and encapsulated popular culture, and it is also making it harder and harder to know what is true―and what is not.

Learn how to separate internet fact from fiction. We live in the information age, giving us access to every datum ever collected and every opinion its originator thought fit to share. But with this newfound access to information comes a new challenge. Namely, how can you tell what information is true and what is false? In Is This WiFi Organic? Dave Farina, author and science expert from the YouTube channel Professor Dave Explains, is here to help you fight confirmation bias and logical fallacies.

In this book of science essays, you will learn:

• The real science behind controversial health issues like medications and vaccines
• What energy actually is―and how we use it each and every day
• A core of scientific knowledge, from biochemistry and molecular biology to theoretical physics, that will help you pull truths from the weeds of misinformation and outright lies

Readers captivated by the scientific and technological teachings in science books like Brief Answers to the Big Questions by Stephen Hawking, Everybody Lies, and The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe will love Is This WiFi Organic?

THE CONFIDENCE BOOSTER WORKBOOK is a simple and effective plan to build your confidence using straightforward, scientifically tested systems. Whether you're the type of person who always shys away from speaking in front of a crowd, or finds it difficult believing you deserve that work promotion, help is at hand in this resourseful workbook. At the beginning of the book you will learn the fundamentals of what confidence is - scientifically and psycologically - and then build your own personal confidence profile, and find a confidence-boosting strategy that works for you. With visualization exercises, questions to assess your self-esteem, and motivation goals and strategies, this book is full of helpful techniques to give you the confidence to do anything.

Best Available and Safest Technologies for Offshore Oil and Gas Operations: Options for Implementation explores a range of options for improving the implementation of the U.S. Department of the Interior's congressional mandate to require the use of best available and safety technologies in offshore oil and gas operations. In the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, Congress directs the Secretary of the Interior to regulate oil and gas operations in federal waters. The act mandates that the Secretary "shall require, on all new drilling and production operations and, wherever practicable, on existing operations, the use of the best available and safest technologies which the Secretary determines to be economically feasible, wherever failure of equipment would have a significant effect on safety, health, or the environment, except where the Secretary determines that the incremental benefits are clearly insufficient to justify the incremental costs of utilizing such technologies." This report, which was requested by Department of the Interior's Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE), also reviews options and issues that BSEE is already considering to improve implementation of the best available and safest technologies requirement. Table of Contents Front Matter BEST AVAILABLE AND SAFEST TECHNOLOGIES FOR OFFSHORE OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS: OPTIONS FOR IMPLEMENTATION Summary 1 Introduction 2 Processes for Identifying Technologies 3 Processes for Evaluating and Developing Technologies 4 Implementation Mechanisms References Appendix A: Statement of Task Appendix B: Lessons from Other Organizations for Best Available and Safest Technologies Implementation Study Committee Biographical Information

This book offers a critical analysis of the contemporary and global tech culture and exposes the gender bias of masculine tech ideology and stereotypes. Is the place of 'women in tech' immovable from masculine leadership practices? And what are the cultural, social, personal and economic consequences of gender as a point of difference in the context of work in the tech sector? Mariann Hardey examines the rise of entrepreneurial work and leadership, the contemporary urban setting of global tech work, and specifically women's place in tech clusters. The book engages with attempts by women to establish and then sustain their professional status and long-term careers, despite predatory social media trolling and inappropriate sexualized behaviour. Based on a series of commentaries from research undertaken by the author about workers located within 'tech cities' in the UK, USA and East Asia regions, the work exposes the serious problem of women's position in the industry. While this study continues to be critical of the conceits of masculine tech ideology, prejudices and stereotypes, the work contributes to recent calls to help find solutions and ways forward.

Popular Lost Cities author David Childress opens the door to the amazing world of ancient technology, from the computers of ancient world to the "flying machines of the gods." Technology of the Gods explores the technology that was allegedly used in Atlantis and the theory the Great Pyramid of Egypt was originally a gigantic power station. Childress also uncovers many other mysteries, including:
-- the technology of ancient flight
-- how the ancients used electricity
-- megalithic building techniques
-- the use of crystal lenses and the fire from the gods
-- ancient evidence of high-tech weapons, including atomic weapons
-- the role of modern inventors, such as Nikola Tesla, in bringing ancient technology into modern use
-- impossible artifacts, and more, much more.

Childress has done it again! From beginning to end, Technology of the Gods is filled with facts, keen observations and tales that challenge modern assumptions in a humorous, intelligent and compelling way that is quintessential Childress.

How can we promote people-centered governance in Africa? Cell phones/ information and communications technology (ICT) are shown to be linked to neoliberal understandings of more democratic governance structures, defined by the Worldwide Governance Indicators as: the rule of law, corruption-control, regulation quality, government effectiveness, political stability/no violence, and voice and accountability. However, these indicators fall short: they do note emphasize gender equity or pro-poor policies. Writing from an African feminist scholar-activist perspective, Assata Zerai emphasizes the voices of women in two ways: (1) she examines how women's access to ICT makes a difference to the success of people-centered governance structures; and (2) she demonstrates how African women's scholarship, too often marginalized, must be used to expand and redefine the goals and indicators of democratice governance in African countries. Challenging the status quo that praises the contributions of cell phones to the diffusion of knowledge and resultant better governance in Africa, this book is an important read for scholars of politics and technology, gender and politics, and African Studies.

"A required read for every university administrator grappling with the complexities of technology and education. Bates has combined an impressive depth of experience and practice to produce an authoritative and well-reasoned approach."--Bruce Pennycook, vice-principal, Information Systems and Technology, McGill University

"Digital technologies are revolutionizing the practices of teaching and learning at colleges and universities all around the world. This book will be helpful for all those who are planning and managing such organizational and technological change on their campuses."--Timothy W. Luke, executive director, Institute for Distance and Distributed Learning, Virginia Tech

Implementing new technology at a college or university requires more than simply buying new computers and establishing a Web site. The successful use of technology for teaching and learning also demands major changes in teaching and organizational culture. In Managing Technological Change, Tony Bates -- a world-renowned expert on the use of technology in university teaching -- reveals how to create the new, technologically competitive academic organization. He draws from recent research and best practice case studies--as well as on his thirty years of experience in using technology for teaching--to provide practical strategies for managing change to ensure the successful use of technology. Readers will learn how to win faculty support for teaching with technology and get advice on appropriate decision-making and reporting structures. Other topics covered include reward systems, estimating costs of teaching by technology, and copyright issues. Bates also details the essential procedures for funding new technology-based systems, managing the technology, and monitoring its ongoing educational effectiveness in anticipation of future changes. Throughout the book, he maintains a focus on the human factors that must be addressed, identifying the risks and penalties of technologically based teaching and showing how to manage those hazards.