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In this paper, I discuss the theory behind the use of a dense, concentrated neutron particle-based beam. I look at the particle based physics behind such a beam, when it is focused against solid material matter. Although this idea is still only theoretical, it appears that such a beam may be capable of disrupting the stability of the atoms within solid matter- in some cases by passing great volumes of neutrons between the electron and nucleus thus effectively shielding the electron from the charge of the nucleus. In other cases, by disrupting the nucleus by firing neutrons into it, disrupting the nucleus and weakening its bond on electrons. In either case- the resulting effect would be a disruption of the atom, which in the case of material matter would cause said material matter to fail, which would appear to the observer as liquification with some plasma generation. Thus, a dense neutron particle based beam could be used to effectively liquefy material matter. Such a beam could bore through rock, metal, or even thick, military grade armour, like that used on tanks- causing such materials to rapidly liquefy. The denser and thicker the neutron beam, the more devastating the effect of the beam- thus the faster material matter will liquefy and the greater the area of liquification. Such a beam would have applications in Defence, mining and drilling operations.

With the explosion of social media sites and proliferation of digital computing devices and Internet access, massive amounts of public data is being generated on a daily basis. Efficient techniques/algorithms to analyze this massive amount of data can provide near real-time information about emerging trends and provide early warning in case of an imminent emergency (such as the outbreak of a viral disease). In addition, careful mining of these data can reveal many useful indicators of socioeconomic and political events, which can help in establishing effective public policies. The focus of this study is to review the application of big data analytics for the purpose of human development. The emerging ability to use big data techniques for development (BD4D) promises to revolutionalize healthcare, education, and agriculture; facilitate the alleviation of poverty; and help to deal with humanitarian crises and violent conflicts. Besides all the benefits, the large-scale deployment of BD4D is beset with several challenges due to the massive size, fast-changing and diverse nature of big data. The most pressing concerns relate to efficient data acquisition and sharing, establishing of context (e.g., geolocation and time) and veracity of a dataset, and ensuring appropriate privacy. In this study, we provide a review of existing BD4D work to study the impact of big data on the development of society. In addition to reviewing the important works, we also highlight important challenges and open issues.

School shootings tear the fabric of society. In the wake of a school shooting, parents, pediatricians, policymakers, politicians, and the public search for "the" cause of the shooting. But there is no single cause. The causes of school shootings are extremely complex. After the Sandy Hook Elementary School rampage shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, we wrote a report for the National Science Foundation on what is known and not known about youth violence. This article summarizes and updates that report. After distinguishing violent behavior from aggressive behavior, we describe the prevalence of gun violence in the United States and age-related risks for violence. We delineate important differences between violence in the context of rare rampage school shootings, and much more common urban street violence. Acts of violence are influenced by multiple factors, often acting together. We summarize evidence on some major risk factors and protective factors for youth violence, highlighting individual and contextual factors, which often interact. We consider new quantitative "data mining" procedures that can be used to predict youth violence perpetrated by groups and individuals, recognizing critical issues of privacy and ethical concerns that arise in the prediction of violence. We also discuss implications of the current evidence for reducing youth violence, and we offer suggestions for future research. We conclude by arguing that the prevention of youth violence should be a national priority. (PsycINFO Database Record

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to make a case for contextual interpretivism in managing diversity in organizational settings, specifically in its bearing on internal communication, going against the dominating functionalistic stance of venerated and ubiquitous approaches.Design/methodology/approach– Qualitative and quantitative methodologies were employed to explore the potential of contextual interpretivism within the mining and construction industries of South Africa, due to the fecund diversity context of its employee population.Findings– This paper points to the enriched understanding that could result from following a contextual interpretivistic approach to internal communication for diversity management, and in so doing discusses the ways in which this could take hold in organizations through the application of germane theoretical assertions of revered internal organizational communication literature, specifically the excellence theory and communication satisfaction.Research limitations/implications– The main limitation to this research is the restricted generalizability of its empirical research. Further research is required for the exploration of the central premise in other organizational contexts.Practical implications– The paper provides insights into the ways in which organizations could approach its diversity management so as to speak to more than just the functional aspects thereof, and rather to the importance of nurturing an understanding of employees' interpretation of the organization's diversity endeavors.Originality/value– The implications of applying a new approach to diversity management in organizational settings is discussed and argued, offering an empirical application thereof, which gives way to practical, data-driven recommendations for use in organizational settings.

Zambia faces its toughest economic challenges in at least a decade. The economy has come under strain in 2015 as external headwinds and domestic pressures have intensified. The main domestic risks are threefold. Firstly, that the power crisis will worsen. Secondly, a deterioration of confidence in the economy, leading to further weakening of the currency and increased levels of inflation. Lastly, a bad harvest that serves to increase food prices and reduce rural and agricultural incomes, with the greatest impact falling on the poorest households. Commodity-exporting countries' policy makers face increasing challenges across the globe. Zambia is no exception and must grapple with multiple challenges as the economy slows down. Strengthening the fiscal position and restoring fiscal buffers are necessary to increase confidence in the economy, reduce the need for costly borrowing, and build resilience against further exogenous shocks. Economic progress since 2000, driven by mining production and services, has substantially increased the demand for electricity in Zambia. Key to note is that an increase in tariffs to cost-reflective levels is necessary but not sufficient to increase private investment in electricity generation in Zambia. The new generation capacity and emergency measures for 2016 will help in mitigating the impact of the power crisis in the coming year, but global experience shows there is no substitute for effective planning. Particular efforts are needed to improve sector planning and the procurement processes for large power projects.

For much of South Africa's history, rural areas provided the labor necessary to fuel the furnaces of South Africa's manufacturing and mining sectors. In turn, wage labor in urban areas and mines provided opportunities for black Africans to access the hard currency increasingly necessary for survival. However, since South Africa's transition to democracy, the connection between rural and urban areas has changed dramatically. Through this thesis, I seek to contribute to the nascent literature on the changing relationship between rural and urban areas in South Africa by investigating how economic perceptions - which have been shown to influence voting behavior, resource allocation, mental health outcomes, and the degree of social and political cohesion in a society - differ in both. In particular, I explore how these perceptions are shaped by migration. Migration has framed how generations of black South Africans experienced the South African economic system, either directly, as migrants themselves, or indirectly, as beneficiaries of remittances. This study focuses on a particular migration pathway between "Alfred Nzo" - a district municipality in the rural northeast of the Eastern Cape centered on the town of Mount Frere - and Cape Town. Twenty-six individuals were interviewed, from three different, and socially and economically relevant, migration backgrounds: those who migrated to Cape Town and have remained there ("migrants"), those who migrated to Cape Town but have since returned to Alfred Nzo ("returnees"), and those who have never left Alfred Nzo ("non-migrants").

Economic modelling techniques can assist policy makers to understand the effects of policy or external shocks and to make informed decisions about economic development programmes. Economic diversification is a priority of resource-dependent regions such as South Africas North West Province (NWP) in the wake of the 2014 platinum strike. The economy of the NWP is highly specialised and dependent on a few sectors - in particular, mining and quarrying. Both the NWP and the South African economies were adversely affected by a prolonged strike in the platinum sector.This paper sets out to illustrate the effects of industrial cluster formation as a strategy to enhance competitiveness in the NWP and diversify its economy using SAM multiplier analysis. The supported activity of eight of the ten industrial clusters was shown to be greater than the actual activity, indicating that industrial cluster formation will enhance economic activity in the NWP. Of the ten identified clusters for the NWP, four were found to be moderately integrated and to have high upstream effects. Finally, structural change in the NWP economy through industrial cluster formation was observed using economic landscaping. A key finding was that the identified industrial clusters are significant contributors to the structural change of the NWP economic landscape with the promotion of cluster-specific exports. It is recommended that the North West provincial government adopt this strategy with a view to enhancing competitiveness and economic diversification.

In the wake of the recent trend in governments stepping back from performing administrative duties aiming at improving service quality of citizens, Albania has witnessed a rapid growth in the Private – Public Partnerships (PPP). The ever growing confrontation of the government with the challenge to improve infrastructure and public facility planning grows proportionally with the increase in demand from the population as well as the need for enhancing existing infrastructure and public facilities, which suffer from delayed maintenance interventions.One of the distinguishing features of the latest developments in Albania is the boost in the number of PPP arrangements completed and in progress, aimed at meeting different infrastructure objectives, efficient mining exploitation, construction of Hydroelectric power plants and various public facility centers offering an array of public services etc. The PPP arrangements take a number of forms depending on the degree of involvement in the private sector and according to the methods used for their implementation.In this paper we are going to focus only on the accounting and financial reporting aspect of these issues, from the prospective of the public sector entity, i.e. the offer, by giving limited consideration to the operators of these agreements due to the fact that the accounting treatment and the respective financial reporting for Service Concession Agreements for private operators are covered by IFRIC 12 of the Interpretations committee for the International Financial Reporting Standards on "Service Concession Arrangements". DOI:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s2p117

Economic modelling techniques can assist policy makers to understand the effects of policy or external shocks and to make informed decisions about economic development programmes. Economic diversification is a priority of resource-dependent regions such as South Africas North West Province (NWP) in the wake of the 2014 platinum strike. The economy of the NWP is highly specialised and dependent on a few sectors - in particular, mining and quarrying. Both the NWP and the South African economies were adversely affected by a prolonged strike in the platinum sector.This paper sets out to illustrate the effects of industrial cluster formation as a strategy to enhance competitiveness in the NWP and diversify its economy using SAM multiplier analysis. The supported activity of eight of the ten industrial clusters was shown to be greater than the actual activity, indicating that industrial cluster formation will enhance economic activity in the NWP. Of the ten identified clusters for the NWP, four were found to be moderately integrated and to have high upstream effects. Finally, structural change in the NWP economy through industrial cluster formation was observed using economic landscaping. A key finding was that the identified industrial clusters are significant contributors to the structural change of the NWP economic landscape with the promotion of cluster-specific exports. It is recommended that the North West provincial government adopt this strategy with a view to enhancing competitiveness and economic diversification.

Economic modelling techniques can assist policy makers to understand the effects of policy or external shocks and to make informed decisions about economic development programmes. Economic diversification is a priority of resource-dependent regions such as South Africas North West Province (NWP) in the wake of the 2014 platinum strike. The economy of the NWP is highly specialised and dependent on a few sectors - in particular, mining and quarrying. Both the NWP and the South African economies were adversely affected by a prolonged strike in the platinum sector.This paper sets out to illustrate the effects of industrial cluster formation as a strategy to enhance competitiveness in the NWP and diversify its economy using SAM multiplier analysis. The supported activity of eight of the ten industrial clusters was shown to be greater than the actual activity, indicating that industrial cluster formation will enhance economic activity in the NWP. Of the ten identified clusters for the NWP, four were found to be moderately integrated and to have high upstream effects. Finally, structural change in the NWP economy through industrial cluster formation was observed using economic landscaping. A key finding was that the identified industrial clusters are significant contributors to the structural change of the NWP economic landscape with the promotion of cluster-specific exports. It is recommended that the North West provincial government adopt this strategy with a view to enhancing competitiveness and economic diversification.

The term "Old Malaya" refers to the Malay states of the eastern coast of the Peninsular (Kedah, Perlis, Kelantan and Terengganu) and the "New Malaya" to the states on the west coast (Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Selangor and Pahang). The British concentrated their economic growth on the west coast, thereby giving rise to a dual economy. On the west coast, the British were profit driven with special focus on mining and plantation sectors which reaped great economic growth. Similar policy was carried out by the post-independence government which focused more on the west coast states. This had serious implications and caused the east coast states to be underdeveloped. It is only very recently (2007) that the government planned to create the East Coast Economic Region (ECER) and Northern Corridor Economic Region (NCER) with major projects to improve the economic condition of the east coast states. The unequal development extended beyond regional inequalities, again as in the case of colonial rule. For instance, the Indians were marginalised both during the colonial era as well as in post-independent Malaya/Malaysia. The marginalisation of the Indians when plantations were bought over by government owned companies led to uneven development in post independent Malaya. This article intends to explore the uneven development of Malaya in the 19th and early 20th centuries, a situation which continued to exist in post-independent Malaya. DOI:10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n2s1p161

Bolivia's distinct characteristics and aspirations are a key for understanding its development trajectory. Bolivia is one of the countries with the highest share of indigenous population, representing a tapestry of different groups with different historical, cultural and economic features, with a significant influence in policy decision making. The country is landlocked and one of the most sparsely populated in the world. As a result, long distances to the nearest seaports and markets and a challenging topography pose important natural constraints to economic expansion, and hamper broad-based and inclusive growth. Bolivia is also wealthy in natural resources, not only in hydrocarbon and in mining but in forestry and arable land, with high potential for growth, which make it vulnerable to commodity price shocks. In addition, in the last decade, the country has experienced a profound economic and political paradigm shift, enshrined in the 2009 Constitution, which has been predominantly driven by a state-led development model geared at addressing the social aspirations of Bolivians. The Agenda Patriótica provides the overall policy vision to 2025 and includes 13 strategic pillars. The PDES contains a five-year rolling plan with policy actions and budgets to operationalize the Agenda Patriótica. The overarching development agenda of the Government is still, by and large, based on an economic model that emphasizes state-led public investment, but which is increasingly opening up to private investment in important areas.

As the result of past investments in gas and mining sectors and high world commodity prices, the Bolivian economy grew considerably during the last seven years. Prudent macroeconomic policies and high taxes on hydrocarbon revenues led to a significant accumulation of fiscal surplus and external reserves. Under a state-led development model, the government led by President Morales pursued redistributive policies and invested heavily in road construction. However, it has retained far more of the conservative fiscal and macroeconomic policies than would have been predicted. Sustained growth has translated into significant poverty reduction and improved equity as unskilled labor, including from indigenous groups, benefited from booming non-tradable sector activities. The availability of hydrocarbon revenues, however, created little incentive for the government to address the structural issues in the economy. The Plurinational State of Bolivia is more resource dependent, institutions are weak, decision making is increasingly discretionary, productivity remains low both inside and outside the agriculture sector and environmental degradation is worsening. Going forward, the Bank Group should develop a long-term partnership with the government as well as groups outside of the government. The Bank should scale up the good practice programs in agriculture and help the government develop a strategy for improving agricultural productivity and rural development more broadly. In transport, the Bank should continue to focus on road maintenance to complement the construction programs of the government and other partners.

The objective of the Ugandan government is to make Uganda an upper - middle income country within thirty years. Economic diversification is a key component of that strategy. The country economic memorandum (CEM) report discusses how the emergence of oil and mineral production can contribute to Uganda's effort to promote economic diversification as a means to achieve sustainable and shared growth. Based on the lessons from international experience, the report outlines the elements of a development and diversification strategy, which the Ugandan government may wish to consider in the design of its macroeconomic, fiscal, and sectoral development policies. It then focuses on the set of policies required to maximize the benefits of a diversification strategy in an oil-producing country. Finally it describes a series of actions which the government should plan, and carry out to deal with a number of specific implementation issues. The first part of the report focuses on the importance of economic diversification for Uganda and on the prospects and challenges of oil and mineral development. It addresses the following three issues: (a) why diversification is important for economic development?; (b) where Uganda stands in that area and why it should give a new impetus to its diversification strategy?; and (c) what are the prospects, possible impact, and challenges associated to oil and mining development for Uganda's economy?

Dascalu, M., Stavarache, L.L., Dessus, P., Trausan-Matu, S., McNamara, D.S., & Bianco, M. (2015). ReaderBench: An Integrated Cohesion-Centered Framework. In G. Conole, T. Klobucar, C. Rensing, J. Konert & É. Lavoué (Eds.), 10th European Conf. on Technology Enhanced Learning (pp. 505–508). Toledo, Spain: Springer. ; ReaderBench is an automated software framework designed to support both students and tutors by making use of text mining techniques, advanced natural language processing, and social network analysis tools. ReaderBench is centered on comprehension prediction and assessment based on a cohesion-based representation of the discourse applied on different sources (e.g., textual materials, behavior tracks, metacognitive explanations, Computer Supported Collaborative Learning – CSCL – conversations). Therefore, Reader‐Bench can act as a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) which incorporates both individual and collaborative assessments. Besides the a priori evaluation of textual materials' complexity presented to learners, our system supports the identification of reading strategies evident within the learners' self-explanations or summaries. Moreover, ReaderBench integrates a dedicated cohesion-based module to assess participation and collaboration in CSCL conversations. ; This study is part of the RAGE project. The RAGE project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 644187. This publication reflects only the author's view. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains.