This study is concerned with the feasibility and problems associated with the timely establishment of the SADC monetary union and central bank. During this study an indepth literature review was done to analyse / establish the historical background for the establishment of the monetary union for SADC, to look at the reason for a central bank's existence and the functions performed by the central banks in the region. The study looks at the benchmark used for the establishment of this monetary union, this being the European Union. It looks at the establishment of the monetary union from a political, central banking, commercial banking and business perspective and also how these entities will be affected by the establishment. The study aims at looking at the problems that might prevent the SADC region from reaching the expected implementation date of 2016 and to make some recommendations to assist the different parties to best prepare for the successful implementation of this monetary union for SADC. / Thesis (MBA)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Westville, 2006.

From 1981 to 2010 flooding claimed an average of 92 lives each year in the United States. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service, in 2010 the number of flood-related fatalities (103) was second only to heat (138). Flash flooding is especially dangerous as sudden, torrential downpours from thunderstorms can cause gullies, streams, and creeks to rise quickly and become an immediate risk to life and property. Across the southern Appalachian Mountains this threat is aggravated by steep terrain and the rapid accumulation of rainfall in narrow valleys and gorges. Severe storm reports were gathered from the National Climatic Data Center from 1996 to 2010. An emphasis was placed on flash flood events collected after the modernization of the National Weather Service in the mid-1990s when verification of storm reports became mandatory. Using a Geographic Information System, an abbreviated climatology of flash flood events was constructed to better understand the frequency and distribution of such events over the extent of the southern Appalachians. Additionally, forecasters and hydrologists provided insight on where flash floods occur most frequently across their County Warning Areas. In total, there were 4,938 flash flood reports across the southern Appalachian Mountains from 1996 to 2010. Of those reports there were 71 fatalities and 64 injuries, many of which occurred during the evening and overnight hours. Nearly 33 percent of all fatalities were associated with a vehicle and another 38 percent occurred when residents were swept away while traversing swollen creeks and streams. The information presented herein will assist meteorologists and hydrologists as well as those who would like to gain additional knowledge about flash flood climatology across the southern Appalachians. / Review of relevant literature -- Data and methodology -- Results, part I : an abbreviated climatology -- Results, part II : National Weather Service WFO discussions. / Department of Geography

Intraregional variability in tropospheric environments during freezing rain events is investigated for the South Central United States. National Weather Service (NWS) Automated Surface Observing Stations (ASOS) are used to detect the occurrence of freezing rain, and rawinsonde observations (RAOB) employed to analyze lower tropospheric vertical profiles of temperature, dew point temperature, wind, and layer thicknesses during these periods. The study area consists of seven 100 mile radius RAOB proximity sub-regions centered around Peachtree City Georgia, Nashville Tennessee, Birmingham Alabama, Jackson Mississippi, Shreveport Louisiana, Little Rock Arkansas, and Springfield Missouri. A series of difference of means tests are performed to determine if statistically significant differences exist in mean values of selected tropospheric variables during periods of freezing rain between adjacent RAOB sites to determine the character of intraregional variability within the South Central United States. Results of these tests suggest 5 sub-regions exist in which freezing rain events can be forecast based upon thresholds and ranges of lower tropospheric environmental variables. As a final step, flow charts are developed for each of the 5 subregions to aid meteorologists in forecasting freezing rain within the Southeast United States. / Department of Geography

Blanche DuBois marked the most significant literary achievement of Tennessee Williams. Though her rape functions dramatically as a powerful climax which has troubled critics and bothered audiences, it is more a thematic culmination of Blanche's inability to sequester her sexuality. In fact, nearly everything Williams wrote prior to 1947 was building toward Blanche's rape; nearly everything that came after was a thematic attempt to resolve that issue left incomplete in her character--the southern dialectic, the preponderant theme and unsolved riddle of Williams's long career.The southern dialectic--a model developed from the joint theories of southern historian W. J. Cash, theorist Allen Tate, novelist William Faulkner, literary critic C. Hugh Holman, and playwright Tennessee Williams--is the internalization of opposites virulent in human nature which seeks to synthesize its disparate traits. Williams juxtaposed onto most of his characters this metaphysical debate between antinomies, most notably flesh and spirit, past and present, and miscegenation. Although he explored each with precise attention to balance, Williams returnedto flesh and spirit and its teleological (as opposed to theological) assessment of the human condition as his thematic touchstone.From his first performed play in 1935 to his last works of-the Eighties, Williams harnessed the dialectic in himself --between his innate desire for flesh and his learned duties to spirit--and generated from it the art that was as much his career as it was his exercise in psychotherapy. By placing both traits in his characters and dramatizing their interaction through two key images--the cat and the bird, whose own timeless battle reflected the same attraction/ repulsion nexus of the flesh-spirit dialectic--Williams could search for the one-androgynous hero who, like Christ, would successfully integrate them.Androgyny, for Williams, was not strictly hermaphroditism, though he was drawn to the asexual, but the ideal state of human existence--the integration of paradoxically repellent and attractive forces created by the dialectic. Though his Grail-like pursuit led him to discover different ways to end or survive this dialectic (denial, then death, then endurance), Williams's search for his androgynous hero would ultimately be in vain. / Department of English

The taxonomy and biogeography of the southern African pheasant shell fauna are poorly known. Thirty–one nominal taxa referable to Phasianelloidea have been described or recorded in this region, but no systematic revision of these has ever been undertaken. Morphological evidence suggests that 16 taxa represent valid species, 13 are synonyms and two represent incorrect identifications. DNA sequence data from mitochondrial COI and 16S markers are used to assess the validity of the described nominal southern African Tricolia species. Phylogenetic analyses recovered seven distinct clades. Tricolia adusta, T. elongata, T. formosa, T. kochii, T. saxatilis and T. neritina were recovered as distinct species. Tricolia africana and T. capensis are genetically indistinguishable. However, morphological characters of the shell are clearly diagnosable. This could be due to incomplete sorting (ancestral polymorphism) reflecting recent speciation with rapid morphological and ecological divergence co–incident with geographical separation. Similarly, there is little genetic differentiation between T. bicarinata, T. insignis and T. kraussi. In this case the similarity is also supported by morphological data as the three species are conchologically close with intergrading shell characters, and might even be one species exhibiting ecogeographic variation in shell form. Monophyly of the southern African Tricolia species is not supported as well as the relationship between these and the European Tricolia pullus. In the last chapter a molecular phylogeny based on sequence data from mtDNA (COI and 16S), nuclear (18S and 28S) and the combined data (COI, 16S, 18S and 28S) is presented for the Phasianelloidea. Bayesian inference analyses performed on the combined data support the monophyly of Tricolia sensu stricto, Eulithidium and Phasianella. Tricolia sensu lato is not monophyletic, as its southern Australian and Indo–West Pacific species do not cluster with its southern African and Eastern Atlantic representatives. The position of Hiloa and Gabrielona within the Phasianelloidea is unresolved. Phylogenetic reconstructions using bayesian inference support monophyly of the Phasianelloidea. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2010.

Minorities have gained more civil rights with the cooperation of both major political parties in the United States, yet the actions of the Republican Party are often conflated with racism. This is partially the result of clashes in ideological visions, which explain the different political positions of partisans. However, during his 1980 run for the White House, a concerted effort was made to tie Ronald Reagan to racism, as he was accused of pandering to white Southerners. Therefore, this thesis also focuses on “Southern strategies” used by both the Republican and Democratic parties to exploit race, which have spilled into the new millennium.

On the forefront of the recent expansion in biofuels research is the production of cellulosic ethanol, or ethanol produced from a cellulose containing feedstock. Cellulose is a six-carbon polysaccharide found in most plant life and is one of the most abundant organic compounds on the planet. While the first generation of ethanol facilities uses sugar and starch based (corn kernels) plants as their feedstock, the next generation will use cellulosic sources such as wood chips, switchgrass, and forest residues. These cellulosic sources require far less energy and resources to grow and harvest, and are also much more abundant. A cellulosic source widely available in Georgia and much of the southeastern US is southern pine. This study involves the modeling of a complete 2000 dry ton per day pine to ethanol production facility with the AspenTech3 software Aspen Plus, which outputs a mass and energy balance as well as the capital cost of the equipment. A key parameter which affects the competitiveness of cellulosic ethanol is the internal processing energy required to convert the pine to ethanol. As a result, the heat and electrical load of every component within the facility is modeled and then quantified through the Aspen Plus simulation. After this base case energy analysis is developed, various alternate plant configurations are integrated in an attempt to reduce this process energy requirement. The material that is not fermented into ethanol is burned on-site to provide steam and electricity to the plant, as well as excess electricity to be sold to the grid as a byproduct. As the facility processing energy requirement is decreased, more excess electricity is available for sale. The implementation of the alternate distillation scenarios effectively reduce the internal processing energy in a manner as to increase the amount of excess electricity sold to the grid by 13.5%. The additional equipment required in this alternate scenario returns a simple payback period of 1.1 years through the additional revenue of the increased electricity sale.

Typescript. / Bibliography: leaves [97]-102. / ix, 125 l tables

The aim of this study was to determine which strategy would be most appropriate to enhance regional trade integration in COMESA so that it can provide to its member states the benefits they expect to have from it.

This research investigates particular ways that memorialising and mourning can be made manifest through public commemorative objects and spaces such as memorials and through smaller scale personal mementos. It also examines ways that these physical reminders can act as repositories and markers for memory, and as metaphors for identity. In particular the research is focussed on Traditional Southern Italian customs, reflecting on the ways that keepsakes and the cenotaph can provide allegories for declining cultural practices of Southern Italian migrants in Australia. The data collected for this thesis is based partly on participant observation, and on informal conversations with migrants from Southern Italy, regarding their funerary practices and stories told about the rural areas left behind in Italy. Research of visual and published material in the area of memorialising and memorial object are examined in order to gain an understanding of the language of death. The thesis also examines the use of Catholic religious objects in what anthropologist Per Binde has coined 'transactional acts', during supplication and remembrance and during times of mourning. An exploration of memorial and memento objects, by contemporary practitioners including Christian Boltanski, Lindy Lee, Julie Blyfield and Maya Lin has also been included. Inclusion of contemporary artists reflects on how memorials continue to play an important role in today's society as well as being integral in reflecting identity and maintaining connections with the past. Investigation of this genre is expressed through the research document and a body of studio-based research connected to the traditions of Memorialising. The studio research is expressed in the exhibition 'In Black' through the language of Catholic religious objects, memory boxes, personal mementos and cultural signifiers in wax, metal, and installation. These works, as time capsules are filled with significant representations of individuals and events that evoke memories through depictions of life, significant places and words descriptive of time and place.