The subject of ubuntu has taken a central stage in academic research on Africa in recent years. In Zimbabwe as in Africa in general, academics and researchers have tussled with various aspects of this subject, with most research emphasizing the contribution of ubuntu in business, education, healthy, philosophy and legal systems. Ramose (1999), Teffo (1995) and Shutte 2001, for example, explore the importance of ubuntu in African philosophy, especially in areas such as morality/ethics, epistemology, logic and metaphysics. Mbigi and Maree (1995), Goduka and Swadener (1999) and Prinsolo (1995) focus on the value of ubuntu in business, education and healthy fraternity respectively. Still other studies (Cornell ny; Sindane 1995) have exported the concept of ubuntu into legal systems and politics. Surprisingly, insignificant attention has been devoted to exploring the value of ubuntu in environmental conservation. This paper examines the extent to which since time immemorial, ubuntu helped to conserve the ‘natural’ environment and to save it from deterioration by human action. The piece marshals the concept of ubuntu and positions it against the southeastern Zimbabwe, in particular, Norumedzo and Mukanganwi landscapes. It argues for the revival and reinstitution of ubuntu to complement efforts by Science in biodiversity conservation. The argument finds its justification in ubuntu’s profound respect for life (of both human and non-human beings) which makes it a potential drive for sustainable development and biodiversity conservation.

This study investigated the influence of Calabar Carnival on the economy of the residents of Calabar Metropolis of Cross River State, Nigeria. Special focus was on the resident’s income from tourism jobs and related activities during the period of the Christmas festival celebration in the state. Information for the study was basically from the questionnaire survey and participatory research method. The generated data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean, simple percentages and graphic illustrations. The study demonstrated that there was a steady increase in the number of tourists’ visits for the Christmas festival with a corresponding increase in the number of people involved in tourism related activities during the time under investigation, with the greatest number of people involved in trading during this time and recording the highest income. The result shows that tourism influenced economic activities vis-à-vis enhancement of the people’s income in the area. Based on the above findings, it is recommended that all stakeholders in the tourism industry should be involved in the planning and execution of tourism projects and that tourism activities be organized all through the year to ensure more tourists visitation and avoid seasonality in the tourism industry.

There is a tendency by some scholars, especially those professional African philosophers who belong to the analytic school of African philosophy, to deny any relationship between philosophy, myth and cosmology. Their denial is based on their characterisation of philosophy as a rational and critical inquiry, while myth and cosmology are taken by them as belonging to the realm of stories, folktales etc. created by so-called primitive or traditional society to satisfy some emotional and instinctual need. Hence, they conclude that the concepts are unrelated. However, I shall argue that there is a deeper relationship between them than it is acknowledged since myth and cosmology constitute the raw material for philosophy. Again, both concepts offer a perspective for an interpretation of the world and the mysteries and phenomena of existence in general.

Interests in the design of water-based muds(WBM) have escalated due to wellbore instability issues that arise from the abundance of problematic shales encountered while drilling. Conventional water-based muds(WBMs) that are used to drill through water sensitive shale formations cause a high degree of wellbore instability. Consequently, oil based muds(OBMs) were adopted to solve the wellbore instability problems due to their superior shale stabilization properties. Unfortunately, high costs, environmental restrictions, cuttings and used mud disposal difficulties and safety have largely limited the use of OBMs. As a result of these challenges with OBMs, WBMs that have the ability to effectively reduce shale instability problems have once again come under the lime light to replace the OBMs. Potassium-based (KCL)muds are used in areas where inhibition is required to limit chemical alteration of shales. This research study therefore was undertaken to evaluate the inhibition effects of different concentrations of KCL on the rheological properties of water-based mud(WBM) contaminated with shale. The rheological values using FANN viscometer with different concentrations of KCl((0.2%, 0.4%,1.0%,2.0% and 4.0%) respectively by weight of contaminated 8.5PPG WBM with typical shale sample from the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria were evaluated. Test results indicated that the KCl inhibited the swelling tendencies of the shale and the rheological values reduced drastically. The reduction in rheological values considering the 600rpm reading were 0%, 36%, 60%, 94% and 181% respectively compared to results without KCL in the mud as indicated above. Therefore, to avoid non-productive time resulting from hole instability problems caused by shale, when drilling is expected to encounter shale zones, proper design of the drilling fluids using WBMs with KCL that will inhibit shale swelling is imperative.

Demands for and prices of liquid petroleum fuels are increasing. This challenge is motivating the development of alternative fuels, like biodiesel from non-food sources. Microalgae are a promising source of oil feedstock for biodiesel. Growing microalgae indoors uses water, chemical nutrients, artificial lights, and energy for harvesting, drying and oil extraction. The economics would be greatly improved if microalgae are grown outdoors in a hot sunny climate where the light energy is free and the temperature is adequate for growth. Using non-potable water (such as available and free salt-water) would reduce the water footprint. Open pond systems have low capital and operating costs and are wellsuited for growing microalgae in salty water. The ideal location for growing microalgae outdoors is a non-arable land that cannot be used for agriculture (such as Qatar desert). The purpose of this research is to study the growth of salt-water microalgae outdoors in Qatar’s hot sunny environment and compare it to indoor growth. Three Dunaliella microalgae (Bardawil, Parva and Salina) were grown in Persian Gulf saltwater medium. A fish tank photobioreactor was used to simulate an open pond. Dunaliella Bardawil provided the highest microalgae oil feedstock for biodiesel production, with a production rate of 20 mg dry algae/L-day, an oil content of 5.7 g oil/100 g dry algae, and oil production rate of 1.14 mg oil/L-day. The operation had a carbon sequestration efficiency of 6.5% and a photosynthetic efficiency of 1.11%. Among the algae tested, Dunaliella Bardawil is the optimal candidate for growth in Qatar conditions using an open pond system.

The aim of this study is the analysis and presentation of some ideas on performance testing in Cloud Computing. Performance is an important factor in testing a web application. Performance testing in cloud computing is different from that of traditional applications. Our research methodology in this article includes an overview of existing works on testing performance in Cloud Computing, focusing on discussion that the traditional benchmarks are not sufficient to analyze performance testing in Cloud Computing. In this study we are focused mainly on analysis performance metrics in Cloud Computing, based on their characteristics such as elasticity, scalability, pay-per-use and fault tolerance, and then we discuss why needed new strategies for performance testing in Cloud Computing and creation of new benchmarks. From this study we conclude that the performance testing and evaluation should be performed using new models testing, which are created according to Cloud Computing characteristics and metrics.

The Sahelian West Africa (Long 20W:20E, Lat 0:30N) by its climatological and geographical conditions is a key region for the characterization of global atmospheric aerosol optical properties. This study evaluates the spatial and temporal variation of the Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD440nm), aerosol particle size characterization (Angstrom exponent (α440-675nm) at four locations (Agoufou, Banizoumbou, Cape Verde and Ilorin) over a period of January 2005 to December 2009. Results of the day-to-day AOD440nm variations as well as the seasonal and annual variations are presented in order to establish the aerosol climatology in the region. We compared satellite derived data of Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer - Aerosol Index (TOMSAI), MODIS (Terra and Aqua) with those of ground-based Sunphotometer AERONET measurements. In general, there exits good relationship between MODIS (Terra and Aqua) and the ground-based AERONET measurements with correlation coefficients, R2 › 0.8 reported in all stations. However low coefficients (as low as 0.40) were obtained in all the stations for regressions between TOMS AI and ground-based Sunphotometer AERONET data.

Wireless Intrusion Detection System (IDS) performance metrics are used to measure the ability of a wireless IDS to perform a particular task and to fit within the performance constraints. These metrics measure and evaluate the parameters that impact the performance of a wireless IDS. Wireless IDS analyze wireless specific traffic including scanning for external users trying to connect to the network through access points and play important role in security to the wireless network. Design of wireless IDS is a difficult task as wireless technology is advancing every day, performance metrics can play an important role in the design of efficient wireless IDS by measuring the factors concern with the performance of a wireless IDS. In this paper we provide a performance metrics scorecard based approach to evaluate intrusion detection systems that are currently popular for wireless networks in the commercial sector. We provide a set of performance metrics that are relevant to wireless IDS and use a “scorecard” containing the set of values as the centerpiece of testing and evaluating a wireless IDS. Evaluation of a wireless IDS is done by assigning score to various performance metrics concern with wireless IDS. We apply our performance metrics scorecard evaluation based approach to three popular wireless IDS Snort-wireless, AirDefense Guard, and Kismet. Finally we discuss the results and the opportunities for further work in this area.

Thirty-six species of fresh water algae were taxonomically identified. The samples were collected from rain-fed streams (Algaadha) in Shamshoki, District Karak during March to May, 2011. Algae was collected, identified and described from this area for the first time. These specimens belongs to 36 species, 25 genera, 17families, 15orders, 7classes and 5 divisions of Cyanophyta, Chlorophyta, Chrysophyta, Bacillariophyta and Ochrophyta including Oscillitoria (1 spp), Lyngbya (1 spp), Chroococcus (2 spp), Synechocystis (1 spp) Spirogyra (3spp), Ulothrics (2 spp)Cosmarium (2 spp) Oedeogonium (1 spp) Rhizoclonium (1 spp) Fragilria (1 spp), Synedra (1 spp), Diatoma (1 spp), Pinnularia (2 spp), Amphora (1 spp), Cymbella (2 spp), Surirella (1 spp), Cocconeis (1 spp), Achnanthes (1 spp), Nitzchia (2 spp), Navicula(2 sp) had one Stauroneis (3 spp) and Vaucharia, Epithamia, Mastogloia, Frustulia.

The purpose of this study is to explore the emerging research areas in marketing. The literature from the various journals is reviewed to find out the evidence from different contexts that which areas are gaining the attention of researchers. On the basis of literature review, the first part of study explains how to find out an emerging research area in particular discipline as well as emerging trends in research in different areas of marketing. 2nd part the study focuses on the theory development and argues that the theory development in marketing has been neglected throughout in different paradigms of management. And at the end the remarks of the authors are concluded.