Supporting adaptive capacity of agropastoralists through fish production and marketing: The case of Tendaho Reservoir

The present study was conducted to share the experience of promoting fish production and marketing from the Tendaho Reservoir of the Afar region, Ethiopia. The study results indicate the reservoir is serving its purpose, namely to generate gainful employment for the pastoralist youth and to create sustainable livelihoods and sources of income for the pastoralist‐fishermen of the Afar region. Further, the reservoir fish production has improved the nutrition and food security status of children. It also created a new business entry for hotels and restaurants in the area. Fishermen in the study areas, however, face problems getting the required support for such efforts, in the form of training in fish post‐harvest practices. The present study also indicates dried catfish marketing should be targeted in the short run to address the substantial fish spoilage observed in the high‐production hot season. Dried catfish marketing is highly recommended for the Afar region since it is well adapted to the climate of the study area, noting the product is less perishable and can be sold throughout the country. Dried catfish marketing is also expected to address the problem of gender inclusiveness, an issue clearly missing in the fish production system in the study areas.     

Characterization of general systematic form errors for circular features

Characterizing systematic form errors in manufactured parts is essential to generate meaningful feedback information for production process improvement, as well as to develop a reliable conformance checking method. A new iterative measurement data analysis method is presented in this paper to characterize general and significant systematic form errors in parts with circular features, with two mathematical models based on combinations of Fourier components. The method starts from the ideal circular geometry and progresses by adding the most weighted Fourier component into the current model. This iterative process first constructs the dominant model containing the dominant Fourier components in the unknown systematic form error through the partial F-ratio test. The process then goes further to construct the significant model by capturing the remaining significant Fourier components through randomness tests that include the serial correlation and chi-square tests of the fitted residuals. It has been demonstrated from the analysis of extensive simulated and experimental data that the present method is able to characterize a wide variety of systematic form errors. The effect of random form error on the reliability of the systematic form error characterization has been examined and found to depend on its relative magnitude with the systematic form error.     

The Singapore e‐commerce ‘code’

It has become accepted that the legal regime for commercial transactions in Singapore, which has been in place for over a century now, cannot be fully applied to the new forms of activities (in particular, electronic commerce) generated by the Internet. This article hence examines Singapore's evolving responses to the legal problems posed by the emerging e‐commerce. Section 1 reviews the general framework for e‐commerce in Singapore. Section 2 then appraises the main legal instrument introduced only a year ago, namely the Electronic Transactions Act 1998 (No. 25 of 1998). The conclusion rounds off the discussion by outlining the unfinished tasks left for future resolution such as the proper law governing e‐commerce, jurisdiction and dispute resolution.     

Book review

Law & the Internet: Regulating Cyberspace Edited by Lilian Edwards and Charlotte Waelde; Published by Hart Publishing, Oxford, 1997, xix + 264 pp. ISBN 1–901362–30–2 pb, £25.00.     

Building a model for an information property framework

The paper argues that intellectual property has become fixated on a few unchanging postulates, categories and rules even while society is transiting towards a new era, that of information; such a transition makes serious reversals of thinking in intellectual property timely. The paper outlines the fundamental cracks in intellectual property that have become more prominent in the last two decades of the 20th century and suggests a model for integrating it into the emergent information society. The model proposes to transcend the disparate tendencies in current forms of intellectual property. The paper concludes by pointing to the need for establishing a tool of measuring creativity that could be crucial for such a model.     

Modeling fatigue crack and spalling for rolling die under hot milling

In hot milling process, rolling die is subjected to nonsteady conditions which can rise the combinations of fatigue and spalling damage mechanism. An understanding about the failure mechanism of the rolling die is essential under hot rolling process. Fatigue crack growth and spalling process are governed by highly concentrated strain and stress in the crack tip region. Based on the theory of elastic‐plastic fracture mechanics, an analytical model are presented in this paper to determine the elliptical crack growth rate and spalling damage mechanism. The model includes new proposed constitutive equations for fatigue and spalling crack growth. To verify the models, finite element simulation and experimental data are considered. The results show good agreement with finite element simulation and experimental data.     

A critical evaluation of government-sponsored reviews of intellectual property in Australia

Constant changes to the Australian intellectual property (IP) system undertaken in the three decades since the 1970s have been accompanied by a proliferation of legislation and intermittent reviews. The staggering volume of such activities has generated debate as to whether such an approach should be allowed to continue in light of Australia's determination to forge ahead in knowledge creation and management that the information era demands. This article investigates the propriety and consistency of the reviews conducted, the respective recommendations made, and the underlying perspectives, if any, for IP lawmaking and implementation in Australia in the past or, indeed, for the future.     

Internet regulation in China: the never-ending cat and mouse game

China's initial attitude towards the Internet was entirely predictable. It did not view with amusement a technology that opened up to its population vast means of communications with the outside world. The stranglehold on information generation and dissemination that the Communist Party had for decades could not be abandoned overnight for whatever reasons. Thus the first form of Internet regulation adopted was slightly less than total blackout of the new technology. China belonged to the group of nations (Myanmar, Saudi Arabia and Iran) that saw in the Internet a pernicious tool to breakdown its social and political order.

The sweeping spread of the Internet across the world and its acceptance by nearly all nations persuaded China to abandon absolute control and introduce censorship schemes. China soon discovered that its attempt to choke the Internet for fear of what it might do to the political establishment clashed with its commitment to open up the economy to foreign investment and trade. The use of the Internet for business, education, government and other purposes had a particularly dampening effect on Chinese enthusiasm to throttle the Internet. Gradually, the usual Chinese pragmatism prevailed and institutional and legal means of taming the Internet started to take over.

Nevertheless, China has not succeeded in finding an appropriate formula to deal with the Internet; it continues to fight a rear-guard battle with the power of the Internet. News stories of the Chinese authorities arresting and sentencing citizens purportedly disseminating 'illegal content' on the Internet are recurrent items. Its continuous preoccupation to police the Internet and hound out people from among the ever-growing number of Chinese surfers for alleged 'wrongful' use make headlines across the world. China is still treading along a contradictory path of simultaneously allowing and restricting the Internet.

This article attempts to examine the dilemmas that have confronted China in clamping down on the Internet, and the extent to which the legal and institutional solutions it has adopted have proved effective. It concludes that China is fighting a losing battle; that, unless it joins with other nations with similar views on the common plights arising from the abuse of the Internet (such as in the dissemination of child pornography), its single-handed efforts will be counter-productive. Above all, China's fixation with shutting out the Internet as a means of mass communication and flow of information will only shorten the days of the dictatorship.     

Computer misuse law in Singapore

Adapted from the UK's Computer Misuse Act 1990 from which it borrowed three types of offences (mere unauthorized access, access with ulterior motive and modification of the contents of a computer), the Singapore Computer Misuse Act 1993 (CMA) boasted innovative features of its own: intercepting a computer service, abetting of offence, the making of a compensation order against the wrongdoer, and, until recently, admissibility of evidence. The CMA has been tested in the courts with increasing regularity. This Article seeks to review the impact of that law. Section 1 presents the conceptual basis of the law with a view to throwing light on some of the inconsistencies and difficulties unveiled in practice. Section 2 summarises the scope of CMA. Section 3 examines the recent amendments to the law. Section 4 then traces developments in the application of the CMA. The Conclusion summarises the experiences in Singapore in combating computer misuse and the attempt to modernise the law for that purpose. It suggests further pointers for reform in light of the shifting nature of the problem of computer misuse and the necessity of continuous adjustment of the law.