Manufacturing And Construction
Volume 6 No. 3

FEATURES - Manufacturing & Construction

Young Entrepreneurs in Cameroun Transform the Local Economy

Jean-Jacques Mebiame

This article presents the efforts of a few young Camerounian graduates from L'Ecole Polytechnique de Yaounde who are manufacturing laterite bricks and parabolic dish antennas.

Construction in Africa: Challenges Facing the Industry

Kofi Ayeke

A cursory glance at the construction industry in most African countries presents a gloomy picture for the continent. Ayeke discusses the technologies of equipment, materials, and human and financial resources needed to cope with new construction technologies.

Labor Intensive Construction

R. T. McCutcheon

A research program in development engineering carried out by the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. This is a broad overview of the whole program with a focus on the particular research where the greatest progress had been made to date.

Adventures in a Mud Hut

Ikem Stanley Okoye

Okoye challenges the assumption that Africa's building 'tradition' is at best one that changes slowly, accepts innovation reluctantly, and restricts itself to the simple and formulaic.

Creating a Small Scale Edible Oils Industry

Jonathan Otto

During the course of a five-week mission, a two-man technical team from ATI developed a ram press that was easier to use for the women of Haraba, in one of the first consulting missions of ATI's Regional OILS Project.

Technical Details of the Ram Press

Mawuli Tse

Manufacturing Research in South Africa

Ronel Nel and Cecilia de Vos

The "hunter-gatherer" ability is well-developed in South Africa. If a need for a specific product is identified and agreed on, South African industry excels at finding and implementing the technology to produce it.

Opinion

Editors notes

Telecommunications: A Critical Analysis

Silvio Tavares

Tavares reviews the current state of telecommunication systems in Africa and proposes future general approaches for telecommunications development.

Preserving Africa's Biodiversity

T.M. Crowe

The Fitzpatrick Institute's Conservation Biology program was presented at a recent conference held in Nairobi, Kenya.

Transforming Foreign Technology Into Indigenous Capabilities

F. E. Ogbimi

The adoption of an appropriate national development strategy is very important for a nation because it determines whether society achieves rapid and timely economic development, or experiences untold hardship. This article suggests a strategy that would facilitate rapid technological development in Nigeria.

Information Systems

Why Governments Need Access to Computer Network (Part 1)

George Sadowsky

Individuals and organizations working toward international connectivity for their countries need to demonstrate how such connectivity will address directly the needs of government ministries and will contribute to achieving the development objectives of the country.

Computer Networks and African Studies Centers

Patricia S. Kuntz

This paper argues that the twelve African Studies Centers funded by the U.S. Department of Education should be on the "cutting edge" of contemporary electronic communication.

Agriculture

Pottery: A New Technology for the Preservation of Fruits & Vegetables

Victor O. Aimiuwu and Sweet Ebeigbe

Mention a new technology for storing food, and most people would immediately think of refrigeration, cold storage, or expensive mechanized canning methods. One way to reduce the problems of cost and availability is to employ traditional clay vessels for food storage. This is possible based on an understanding of the mechanism of evaporative cooling and the structure of clay.

The Physical and Chemical Nature of Clay