Bambara Household Organization

2021 ◽  
pp. 243-258
Author(s):  
Camilla Toulmin
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Loss Of Control ◽  
Household Organization ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Demographic Risk ◽  
Productive Assets

The Bambara households of Kala are very large domestic organizations, in comparison with those found elsewhere in West Africa. This chapter examines the factors which encourage persistence of large domestic groups, including the advantages reaped from production, investment and reproduction, alongside protection of the individual from risk. The drawbacks to the individual from incorporation within a household are examined, such as loss of control over labour and other resources. Membership of a household involves agreement with an unspoken contract regarding the duties and expectations of members; however, such terms are subject to some flexibility and can be renegotiated. Modelling relations within the household allows for a review of options for cooperation, vulnerability to demographic risk, the significance of economies of scale, acquisition and maintenance of productive assets, game-theory, cooperation, conflict and division.

scholarly journals The Challenges and Prospects for Regional and Economic Integration in West Africa

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (5) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Maiyaki Theodore Bala
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Economic Integration ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Individual Survival ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Decisive Action ◽  
Collective Development ◽  
The Individual

The age-long practice of the individual survival of nations have long given way to the emergent concept of integration and cooperation among states as an option to meeting the collective development needs of the cooperating states. Practice has shown over time that when states take comparative advantage of each other’s strength and weaknesses, it opens the space and engenders the potentials for specialization, development of the economies of scale and indeed reduces the cost of production. Consequently, it enhances the purchasing power of the citizenry. In recent times, there have been significant increases in the efforts of developing countries especially in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve regional economic integration. The advent of the African Union (AU) and the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) have given new impetus to the global African and regional integration processes and has focused particular attention on the need to take decisive action to tackle the continent’s numerous problems through the instrument of the economic integration strategy. This paper appreciates the evolution of regional integration and analyses the rationale for economic integration in West Africa. It evaluates the challenges and prospects of integration in West Africa. 

scholarly journals Holocene changes in African vegetation: tradeoff between climate and water availability

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 681-686 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Hély ◽  
A.-M. Lézine ◽  
APD contributors
Keyword(s):  
West Africa ◽  
Water Availability ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Plant Distribution ◽  
Climate Conditions ◽  
Tropical Plants ◽  
Plant Migration ◽  
Spatio Temporal ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Instrumental Records

Abstract. Although past climate change is well documented in West Africa through instrumental records, modeling activities, and paleo-data, little is known about regional-scale ecosystem vulnerability and long-term impacts of climate on plant distribution and biodiversity. Here we use paleohydrological and paleobotanical data to discuss the relation between available surface water, monsoon rainfall and vegetation distribution in West Africa during the Holocene. The individual patterns of plant migration or community shifts in latitude are explained by differences among tolerance limits of species to rainfall amount and seasonality. Using the probability density function methodology, we show here that the widespread development of lakes, wetlands and rivers at the time of the "Green Sahara" played an additional role in forming a network of topographically defined water availability, allowing for tropical plants to migrate north from 15 to 24° N (reached ca. 9 cal ka BP). The analysis of the spatio–temporal changes in biodiversity, through both pollen occurrence and richness, shows that the core of the tropical rainbelt associated with the Intertropical Convergence Zone was centered at 15–20° N during the early Holocene wet period, with comparatively drier/more seasonal climate conditions south of 15° N.

Increasing Commonalities by Designing Production-Oriented Modular Product Platforms

2014 ◽  
Vol 907 ◽  
pp. 197-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Günther Schuh ◽  
Stefan Rudolf ◽  
Jens Arnoscht ◽  
Bastian Lüdtke
Keyword(s):  
Organizational Design ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Product Architecture ◽  
Product Range ◽  
Product Platforms ◽  
Modular Product ◽  
Product And Process ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Descriptive Framework ◽  
Architecture Development

Companies producing in high-wage countries are increasingly challenged due to the necessary differentiation and cost pressure. The modular product platform approach is more and more used by these companies for structuring their product range in order to realise and deploy commonalities. This type of product architecture enables companies to produce nearly individual products without losing economies of scale across the product range. Economies of scale due to communalities result in decreased process costs, reduced development lead-time by uncoupling the development of modules and products as well as the augmentation of the technical product robustness. However, the design of modular product platforms itself causes new challenges regarding the product structuring, the process and organizational design. Recent approaches for the development of communalities through modular product platforms are focusing only the product itself. Since costs are mainly determined in the development phase but caused later in the production phase both product and production have to be taken into account. Furthermore, modular product platforms have a higher variety and diversity of elements since they represent the components, modules and functions of the entire product program. This paradigm shift from an integral product design to a modular product structure cannot be controlled with existing models and methods. Our paper confirms commonality has to be optimized by focusing both the product and production. Therefore we have designed a descriptive framework (commonality model) to display and optimize the commonality both in the product and the process. Furthermore, a product architecture development process that is superior to the individual product development processes was developed for the systematic design of commonalities. The approach presented in this paper focusses on the interactions between product and process parameters. In our approach these interactions will first be displayed based on the graph theory and then be optimized applying sensitivity analysis. By varying relevant parameters both on the product and process side constitutive features can be derived determining product and process standards in order to enhance the overall commonality level.

scholarly journals Evolutionary game theory modelling to represent the behavioural dynamics of economic shutdowns and shield immunity in the COVID-19 pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 201095 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. M. Ariful Kabir ◽  
Jun Tanimoto
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Game Theory ◽  
Evolutionary Game ◽  
Economic Cost ◽  
Complex Model ◽  
Emergency Relief ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Behavioural Dynamics ◽  
At Home

The unprecedented global spread of COVID-19 has prompted dramatic public-health measures like strict stay-at-home orders and economic shutdowns. Some governments have resisted such measures in the hope that naturally acquired shield immunity could slow the spread of the virus. In the absence of empirical data about the effectiveness of these measures, policymakers must turn to epidemiological modelling to evaluate options for responding to the pandemic. This paper combines compartmental epidemiological models with the concept of behavioural dynamics from evolutionary game theory (EGT). This innovation allows us to model how compliance with an economic lockdown might wane over time, as individuals weigh the risk of infection against the certainty of the economic cost of staying at home. Governments can, however, increase spending on social programmes to mitigate the cost of a shutdown. Numerical analysis of our model suggests that emergency-relief funds spent at the individual level are effective in reducing the duration and overall economic cost of a pandemic. We also find that shield immunity takes hold in a population most easily when a lockdown is enacted with relatively low costs to the individual. Our qualitative analysis of a complex model provides evidence that the effects of shield immunity and economic shutdowns are complementary, such that governments should pursue them in tandem.

scholarly journals Meta-frontier analysis of organic and conventional cocoa production in Ghana

2013 ◽  
Vol 59 (No. 6) ◽  
pp. 271-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.A. Onumah ◽  
E.E. Onumah ◽  
R.M. Al-Hassan ◽  
B. Brümmer
Keyword(s):  
Technical Efficiency ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Production Systems ◽  
Returns To Scale ◽  
Conventional System ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Organic System ◽  
Frontier Analysis ◽  
Cocoa Production ◽  
The Individual

This study considers the meta-frontier technique to compare the efficiency level of organic and conventional cocoa production systems in Ghana using a cross sectional data of 390 farms. The results reveal that the organic systems exhibit an increasing return to scale whilst, the conventional system exhibit decreasing returns to scale. All the inputs variables positively influence the production except the age of trees. The combined effects of operational and farm specific factors are identified to influence the technical efficiency although the individual effects of some variables are not significant. The mean technical efficiency relative to the meta-frontier is estimated to be 0.59 for the organic and 0.71 for the conventional farms. The study concludes that the conventional system of cocoa production is more technically efficient than the organic system. However, the increase in the scale of production in the organic system to take advantage of the economies of scale may enhance the efficiency of production.  

Benefit Analysis about Parts Supplier and Bus Factory as Well as Users Based on Game Theory

2012 ◽  
Vol 220-223 ◽  
pp. 202-205
Author(s):  
Liang Han ◽  
Xiang Mei Si
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Current Situation ◽  
Perfect Information ◽  
Game Model ◽  
Benefit Analysis ◽  
Static Game ◽  
The Game Theory ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Voluntary Cooperation

This thesis analyzes the benefit produced by the cooperation or non-cooperation of parts supplier and bus factory as well as users by use of the perfect-information static game model of the game theory in connection with the current situation of China's bus market supply chain. Conclusions are drawn from the analysis that good after-sales service not only brings benefits to users but also can efficiently promote the voluntary cooperation between a parts supplier and a bus factory, so that the individual benefit and the overall benefit are both increased, and a win-win situation is finally achieved.

Book Reviews

2011 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 1250-1251
Keyword(s):  
Game Theory ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Self Control ◽  
Individual Identity ◽  
Multiple Selves ◽  
Philosophy Of Economics ◽  
Human Individual ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The University

Charles Sprenger of Stanford University reviews “Individuals and Identity in Economics” by John B. Davis. The EconLit abstract of the reviewed work begins, “Examines the nature and different directions of development in thinking about the human individual in recent economics. Discusses the individual in economics; psychology's challenge to economics--rationality and the individual; multiple selves and self-control--contextualizing individuality; social identity and social preferences in the utility function; the individual in game theory--from fixed points to experiments; multiple selves in interaction- -teams and neuroscience; evolution and the individual--identity through change; evolution and capabilities--human heterogeneity; the identity of individuals and the economics of identity; and economic policy, democracy, and justice. Davis is Professor and Chair of History and Philosophy of Economics at the University of Amsterdam, Professor of Economics at Marquette University, and Fellow at the Tinbergen Institute. Index.”

scholarly journals EXPERIMENTAL INTRADERMAL PNEUMOCOCCUS INFECTION IN RABBITS

1928 ◽  
Vol 48 (1_suppl_2) ◽  
pp. 1-1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hideyo Noguchi
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
West Africa ◽  
Gold Coast ◽  
The Individual

Dr. Noguchi left New York on October 22, 1927, for Accra, Gold Coast, West Africa. In his absence the observations on inoculated monkeys and the further transfer of the trachomatous lesions of the monkeys were carried out, according to his plans, by his assistants. Moreover, on several occasions during his absence, the monkeys were examined by Drs. F. I. Proctor, P. Richards, A. Knapp, J. S. Friedenwald, M. Cohen, and W. C. Posey, and the results of these examinations are recorded in the individual protocols. The last examination was made on May 25, 1928.

scholarly journals Evaluating Web-based Static, Animated, and Interactive Maps for Injury Prevention

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Cinnamon ◽  
Claus Rinner ◽  
Michael D. Cusimano ◽  
Sean Marshall ◽  
Tsegaye Bekele ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Health Planning ◽  
Visual Exploration ◽  
Map Comparison ◽  
Interactive Maps ◽  
Map Design ◽  
Health Related ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Demographic Risk ◽  
Demographic Risk Factors

Public health planning can benefit from visual exploration and analysis of geospatial data. Maps and geo-visualization tools must be developed with the user-group in mind. User-needs assessment and usability testing are crucial elements in the iterative process of map design and implementation. This study presents the results of a usability test of static, animated and interactive maps of injury rates and socio-demographic determinants of injury by a sample of potential end-users in Toronto, Canada. The results of the user-testing suggest that different map types are useful for different purposes and for satisfying the varying skill level of the individual user. The static maps were deemed to be easy to use and versatile, while the animated maps could be made more useful if animation controls were provided. The split-screen concepts of the interactive maps was highlighted as particularly effective for map comparison. Overall, interactive maps were identified as the preferred map type for comparing patterns of injury and related socio-demographic risk factors. Information collected from the user-tests is being used to expand and refind the injury webmaps for Toronto, and could inform other public health-related geo-visualization projects.

Health Insurance and Labor Supply

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Colman ◽  
Dhaval Dave ◽  
Otto Lenhart
Keyword(s):  
Labor Market ◽  
Health Insurance ◽  
Labor Supply ◽  
Economies Of Scale ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Market Effects ◽  
Job Lock ◽  
Individual Market ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The U.S

Health insurance depends on labor market activity more in the U.S. than in any other high-income country. A majority of the population are insured through an employer (known as employer-sponsored insurance or ESI), benefiting from the risk pooling and economies of scale available to group insurance plans. Some workers may therefore be reluctant to leave a job for fear of losing such low-cost insurance, a tendency known as “job lock,” or may switch jobs or work more hours merely to obtain it, known as “job push.” Others obtain insurance through government programs for which eligibility depends on income. They too may adapt their work effort to remain eligible for insurance. Those without access to ESI or who are too young or earn too much to qualify for public coverage (Medicare and Medicaid) can buy insurance only in the individual or nongroup market, where prices are high and variable. Most studies using data from before the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in 2010 support the prediction that ESI reduced job mobility, labor-force participation, retirement, and self-employment prior to the ACA, but find little effect on the labor supply of public insurance. The ACA profoundly changed the health insurance market in the U.S., removing restrictions on obtaining insurance from new employers or on the individual market and expanding Medicaid eligibility to previously ineligible adults. Research on the ACA, however, has not found substantial labor supply effects. These results may reflect that the reforms to the individual market mainly affected those who were previously uninsured rather than workers with ESI, that the theoretical labor market effects of expansions in public coverage are ambiguous, and that the effect would be found only among the relatively small number on the fringes of eligibility.

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