This chapter turns to research with young people in north-west Namibia to ascertain their perceptions and understandings of “wildlife”. The aim is to better understand how young members of communal-area conservancies in north-west Namibia know and perceive the value of selected indigenous fauna species in these areas, alongside domestic livestock––specifically goats (Capra hircus). This study is set within a context in which tourism in Namibia is understood to greatly contribute to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), with Namibia being home to animals whose value is linked with their contemporary scarcity. Such species include black rhino (Diceros bicornis bicornis)––monitored and celebrated through organisations and campaigns such as Save the Rhino Trust and the Rhino Pride Campaign––as well as lion (Panthera leo), and oryx (Oryx gazella), all of which draw tourists to Namibia. Whilst these wild animals need to be protected at a global level, nationally they are also Namibia’s pride, even being pictured as nationally important symbols on Namibian bank notes.

The application of new public management to the assessment of smart local governance in the knowledge economy is an emergent area of scholarship in sub-Saharan Africa. This article thus employs the concept of new public management based on the framework of the fourth industrial revolution to evaluate the defining attributes of Namibia's local government system with the view of delineating important lessons for technologically-oriented public administration. Specifically, it identifies eight broad themes that configure new public management in smart local governance: e-government, knowledge management, participatory geographic information systems and decentralised governance, agency and innovation, performance management and administrative efficiency, policy and organisational learning, public accountability, and public-private partnerships. The article observes that technology tools and the effective management of information or knowledge systems constitute preeminent mechanisms for promoting local government efficiency in contemporary times.

This study explores the scholarly literature on emotional intelligence (EI) and psychological capital (PsyCap) using a comprehensive bibliometric analysis to map the research landscape and propose future directions. Data was collected from the Scopus database using specific search queries related to EI and PsyCap, with inclusion and exclusion criteria established to refine the dataset. A total of 39 articles published between 2007 and 2023 were selected for analysis. Utilizing bibliometric techniques through VOSviewer, patterns of citation and collaboration within the field were quantified, capturing descriptive statistics related to citation data and performing network analysis on authors, countries, publications, citations, and keywords. Key documents, sources, authors, organizations, and countries contributing to the discourse on PsyCap and EI were identified, providing insights into the evolution and trends within this field. The analysis revealed longitudinal trends in research output and explored the intersectionality of EI and PsyCap with other individual differences and personality traits. The findings contribute to a deeper understanding of knowledge growth in positive organizational psychology, informing evidence-based practices, and guiding future research endeavors.

With the rise of grid connected independent power producers (IPP), performance analysis of energy generation plants becomes an essential task. This chapter presents design and development of a performance analysis tool using MS Excel for typical IPP with a grid connected solar PV plant. The tool utilizes historical data to determine various energy-metrics, econometrics, and financial metrics. Additionally, the tool can determine various key parameters such as the energy sales to the utility, energy that cannot be sold, and the load that cannot be served. The tool will have the capability of capturing data, doing calculations, and visualizing the data and output from calculations through plots and graphs.

This research seeks to assess the effect of different selected feature descriptors on the accuracy of an automatic image registration scheme. Three different feature descriptors were selected based on their peculiar characteristics, and implemented in the process of developing the image registration scheme. These feature descriptors (Modified Harris and Stephens corner detector (MHCD), the Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) and the Speeded Up Robust Feature (SURF)) were used to automatically extract the conjugate points common to the overlapping image pairs used for the registration. Random Sampling Consensus (RANSAC) algorithm was used to exclude outliers and to fit the matched correspondences, Sum of Absolute Differences (SAD) which is a correlation-based feature matching metric was used for the feature match, while projective transformation function was used for the computation of the transformation matrix (T). The obtained overall result proved that the SURF algorithm outperforms the other two feature descriptors with an accuracy measure of -0.0009 pixels, while SIFT with a cumulative signed distance of 0.0328 pixels also proved to be more accurate than MHCD with a cumulative signed distance of 0.0457 pixels. The findings affirmed the importance of choosing the right feature descriptor in the overall accuracy of an automatic image registration scheme.

Human-induced direct mortality affects huge numbers of birds each year, threatening hundreds of species worldwide. Tracking technologies can be an important tool to investigate temporal and spatial patterns of bird mortality as well as their drivers. We compiled 1704 mortality records from tracking studies across the African-Eurasian flyway for 45 species, including raptors, storks, and cranes, covering the period from 2003 to 2021. Our results show a higher frequency of human-induced causes of mortality than natural causes across taxonomic groups, geographical areas, and age classes. Moreover, we found that the frequency of human-induced mortality remained stable over the study period. From the human-induced mortality events with a known cause (n = 637), three main causes were identified: electrocution (40.5 %), illegal killing (21.7 %), and poisoning (16.3 %). Additionally, combined energy infrastructure-related mortality (i.e., electrocution, power line collision, and wind-farm collision) represented 49 % of all human-induced mortality events. Using a random forest model, the main predictors of human-induced mortality were found to be taxonomic group, geographic location (latitude and longitude), and human footprint index value at the location of mortality. Despite conservation efforts, human drivers of bird mortality in the African-Eurasian flyway do not appear to have declined over the last 15 years for the studied group of species. Results suggest that stronger conservation actions to address these threats across the flyway can reduce their impacts on species. In particular, projected future development of energy infrastructure is a representative example where application of planning, operation, and mitigation measures can enhance bird conservation.

This paper aims at examining how the relationship between research and practice on Operational Excellence (OE) occurs. For that, a qualitative, empirical approach was conducted in which 25 experts (12 academics and 13 practitioners) from both emerging and developed economies were interviewed. Content analysis of the collected data was framed within an ecological view of the knowledge management (KM) activities. Findings indicate that, despite the growing efforts to strengthen their relationship in the past decade, there is still a gap between the knowledge of both academia and industry on OE. Nevertheless, both academics and practitioners seem to be fairly aware of the needed countermeasures to mitigate such gap in the future. Based on the commonalities found among experts’ opinions, four propositions for future theory testing and validation were formulated to stress the relationship between OE’s research and practice from the ecological perspective of KM activities. With the competitiveness increase, the search for OE is mandatory for any organization that wishes to remain active in its market. Thus, strengthening the collaboration between industry and academia may facilitate the achievement of OE, avoiding the development of isolated and/or outdated initiatives from both researchers and practitioners, being an original contribution of this study.

Pyrethroid-based indoor residual spraying (IRS) and long-lasting insecticidal nets (LLINs) have been employed as key vector control measures against malaria in Namibia. However, pyrethroid resistance in Anopheles mosquitoes may compromise the efficacy of these interventions. To address this challenge, the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use of piperonyl butoxide (PBO) LLINs in areas where pyrethroid resistance is confirmed to be mediated by mixed function oxidase (MFO). This study assessed the susceptibility of Anopheles gambiae sensu lato (s.l.) mosquitoes to WHO tube bioassays with 4% DDT and 0.05% deltamethrin insecticides. Additionally, the study explored the effect of piperonyl butoxide (PBO) synergist by sequentially exposing mosquitoes to deltamethrin (0.05%) alone, PBO (4%) + deltamethrin (0.05%), and PBO alone. The Anopheles mosquitoes were further identified morphologically and molecularly. The findings revealed that An. gambiae sensu stricto (s.s.) (62%) was more prevalent than Anopheles arabiensis (38%). The WHO tube bioassays confirmed resistance to deltamethrin 0.05% in the Oshikoto, Kunene, and Kavango West regions, with mortality rates of 79, 86, and 67%, respectively. In contrast, An. arabiensis displayed resistance to deltamethrin 0.05% in Oshikoto (82% mortality) and reduced susceptibility in Kavango West (96% mortality). Notably, there was reduced susceptibility to DDT 4% in both An. gambiae s.s. and An. arabiensis from the Kavango West region. Subsequently, a subsample from PBO synergist assays in 2020 demonstrated a high proportion of An. arabiensis in Oshana (84.4%) and Oshikoto (73.6%), and 0.42% of Anopheles quadriannulatus in Oshana. Non-amplifiers were also present (15.2% in Oshana; 26.4% in Oshikoto). Deltamethrin resistance with less than 95% mortality, was consistently observed in An. gambiae s.l. populations across all sites in both 2020 and 2021. Following pre-exposure to the PBO synergist, susceptibility to deltamethrin was fully restored with 100.0% mortality at all sites in 2020 and 2021. Pyrethroid resistance has been identified in An. gambiae s.s. and An. arabiensis in the Kavango West, Kunene, and Oshikoto regions, indicating potential challenges for pyrethroid-based IRS and LLINs. Consequently, the data highlights the promise of pyrethroid-PBO LLINs in addressing resistance issues in the region.

The global pandemic, Covid-19, caused by corona virus disease is responsible for a significant number of deaths and huge economic losses in almost all the countries of the world, including Nigeria. In order to manage the spread of this disease in Nigeria, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control(NCDC) has proposed and implemented various control and preventive measures such as vaccination, use of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, social distancing, and others. The aim of this paper is to model the transmission dynamics of Covid-19 in Nigeria, and obtain, by using Pontryagin Maximum Principle, the combination of these control strategies for effective control of the disease in Nigeria. Numerical experiments with Nigeria Covid-19 data show the effectiveness optimal use of these preventive and control measures for Covid-19.