Capturing Collaborative Challenges: Designing Complexity-Sensitive Theories of Change for Cross-Sector Partnerships

Systems change requires complex interventions. Cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) face the daunting task of addressing complex societal problems by aligning different backgrounds, values, ideas and resources. A major challenge for CSPs is how to link the type of partnership to the intervention needed to drive change. Intervention strategies are thereby increasingly based on Theories of Change (ToCs). Applying ToCs is often a donor requirement, but it also reflects the ambition of a partnership to enhance its transformative potential. The current use of ToCs in partnering efforts varies greatly. There is a tendency for a linear and relatively simple use of ToCs that does limited justice to the complexity of the problems partnerships aim to address. Since partnership dynamics are already complex and challenging themselves, confusion and disagreement over the appropriate application of ToCs is likely to hamper rather than enhance the transformative potential of partnerships. We develop a complexity alignment framework and a diagnostic tool that enables partnerships to better appreciate the complexity of the context in which they operate, allowing them to adjust their learning strategy. This paper applies recent insights into how to deal with complexity from both the evaluation and theory of change fields to studies investigating the transformative capacity of partnerships. This can (1) serve as a check to define the challenges of partnering projects and (2) can help delineate the societal sources and layers of complexity that cross-sector partnerships deal with such as failure, insufficient responsibility taking and collective action problems at four phases of partnering

Simple solutions for complex problems? What is missing in agriculture for nutrition interventions

Within the nutritionism paradigm, in this article we critically review the marketization and medicalization logics which aim to address the pressing issue of malnutrition in low- and middle-income countries. Drawing from political economy and food system transformation discourses, we are using the popular intervention types of nutrition-sensitive value chains (marketization logic) and biofortification exemplified through orange-fleshed sweet potato (medicalization logic) to assess their outcomes and underlying logics. We demonstrate that there is insufficient evidence of the positive impact of these interventions on nutritional outcomes, and that their underlying theories of change and impact logics do not deal with the inherent complexity of nutritional challenges. We show that nutrition-sensitive value chain approaches are unable to leverage or enhance the functioning of value chains to improve nutritional outcomes, especially in light of the disproportionate power of some food companies. We further demonstrate that orange-fleshed sweet potato interventions and biofortification more broadly adopt a narrow approach to malnutrition, disregarding the interactions between food components and broader value chain and food system dynamics. We argue that both intervention types focus solely on increasing the intake of specific nutrients without incorporating their embeddedness in the wider food systems and the relevant political-economic and social relations that influence the production and consumption of food. We conclude that the systemic nature of malnutrition requires to be understood and addressed as part of the food system transformation challenge in order to move towards solving it. To do so, new evaluation frameworks along with new approaches to solutions are necessary that support multiple and diverse development pathways, which are able to acknowledge the social, political-economic, and environmental factors and drivers of malnutrition and poverty.Peer Reviewe

E-Commerce and Sales Management in Agribusiness

Der Digitalisierungstrend verändert die Prozesse im Agrarsektor und betrifft alle Akteure in der landwirtschaftlichen Wertschöpfungskette gleichermaßen. Insbesondere die digitale Entwicklung des Agrarhandels wird derzeit von einer Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Anbieter mit Hochdruck vorangetrieben. Dabei sind Fragen nach dem veränderten Einkaufsverhalten seitens der Landwirtschaft und den Auswirkungen für die Agrarhandelsstrukturen derzeit so präsent wie nie. Die vorliegende Dissertation befasst sich daher mit der Rolle des E-Commerce und des Vertriebsmanagements, innerhalb der landwirtschaftlichen Vorleistungsindustrie als einen bedeutenden Teil des Agribusiness. Neben Online-Vertriebskanälen wird in dieser Arbeit auch der persönliche Verkauf, als ein Offline-Vertriebskanal untersucht. Die hier präsentierten Artikel legen dar, dass der E-Commerce als Beschaffungskanal für landwirtschaftliche Betriebsmittel nur unterschiedlich gut angenommen wird und dass der regelmäßige Online-Einkauf nur auf bestimmte, sehr standardisierte Betriebsmittel beschränkt ist. Ein grundsätzliches Interesse der Landwirtschaft am Onlinehandel von Betriebsmitteln ist jedoch gegeben, und lässt darauf schließen, dass der E-Commerce in der Landwirtschaft ein großes, bisher ungenutztes Potential besitzt. Der Online-Einkauf wird am stärksten von den wahrgenommenen Vorteilen des elektronischen Handels beeinflusst, die jedoch von LandwirtIn zu LandwirtIn sehr unterschiedlich bewertet werden. Andererseits wirken sich Misstrauen gegenüber dem Onlinehandel sowie Beziehungen und Loyalität zum lokalen Handel negativ auf die Nutzung des E-Commerce innerhalb der Landwirtschaft aus. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass es unterschiedliche Gruppen von Landwirten gibt, die sich hinsichtlich ihrer Einstellung zum E-Commerce und den Verhaltensweisen beim Betriebsmittelkauf unterscheiden. So scheint ein signifikanter Teil der landwirtschaftlichen KundInnen mental nicht auf den Onlinehandel vorbereitet zu sein, während ein anderer Teil bereits besonders aufgeschlossen gegenüber digitalen Vertriebskanälen ist. Die Einstellung der LandwirtInnen zum E-Commerce wird dabei, wie klassischerweise im B2B, stark von kognitiven Faktoren beeinflusst, wobei jedoch affektive Komponenten nicht vernachlässigt werden sollten. Dementsprechend sind Unternehmen der landwirtschaftlichen Vorleistungsindustrie aufgefordert, ihre Vertriebs- und Marketingstrategien auf die Bedürfnisse der individuellen Kundengruppen abzustimmen. Auch wenn sich der stationäre Handel, insbesondere aufgrund persönlicher Kontaktmöglichkeiten, in der hier aufgezeigten Forschung als Benchmark des E-Commerce herauskristallisiert hat, sollten die Unternehmen ihre Geschäftsmodelle anpassen und digitale Vertriebskanäle im Rahmen einer Multi- bis Omnichannel Strategie integrieren, um ihre digitalen KundInnen von Morgen zufriedenstellend bedienen zu können. Aus Unternehmenssicht wirken jedoch Produkteigenschaften und traditionell persönliche Sektor- und Unternehmensstrukturen sowie fehlende finanzielle Mittel und Humankapital oft als Digitalisierungsbremse. Vor allem der landwirtschaftliche Außendienst ist hierbei sowohl von dem Strukturwandel als auch von der digitalen Transformation betroffen und steht unter einem enormen Anpassungsdruck. Seitens der Landwirtschaft wird der Außendienst insgesamt nur mit befriedigend bewertet. Dabei zeigt sich, dass Fachkompetenz allein nicht ausreicht, um auf den landwirtschaftlichen Betrieben zu überzeugen. Vielmehr ist es die Persönlichkeit und die Sozialkompetenz der Außendienstmitarbeitenden, die zu deren langfristiger Reputation bei den KundInnen beitragen. Die Ergebnisse verdeutlichen, dass es dem Außendienst oft an Kundenzentriertheit mangelt, welche es zu optimieren gilt. Dies könnte dadurch geschehen, dass bereits bei der Einstellung von neuem Vertriebspersonal ein stärkerer Fokus auf die verkaufsorientierte Persönlichkeit und soziale Kompetenz der BewerberInnen gelegt wird. Doch gerade die Akquisition neuer Fachkräfte für den Vertrieb gestaltet sich als schwierig. So zeigen die Ergebnisse der Dissertation, dass eine Position im Vertrieb nur eine mäßige Beliebtheit bei Studierenden der Agrarwissenschaften erfährt. Ebenso wird das Thema Vertrieb im agrarwissenschaftlichen Studium nur wenig zufriedenstellend behandelt. Das dem Vertrieb negativ anhaftende „Hard-Selling“ Image schreckt viele Absolvierende ab. Die Attraktivität einer Vertriebsposition für Studierende der Agrarwissenschaften, kann durch das Aufzeigen von Karriereoptionen sowie der Schaffung von Berührungspunkten mit dem Vertrieb gesteigert werden. Es besteht also noch Handlungsbedarf sowohl auf Berufsschul- bzw. Universitätsseite als auch auf Unternehmensseite, um landwirtschaftliche Auszubildende für eine Tätigkeit im Verkauf zu motivieren. Neben der digitalen Transformation und dem Strukturwandel in der Landwirtschaft übt die überwiegend negative bzw. kritische Haltung der Gesellschaft gegenüber der Landwirtschaft zusätzlichen Druck auf die ohnehin schon angespannte Vorleistungsindustrie aus. Ein strategisches Kommunikationsmanagement der Vorleistungsunternehmen, insbesondere der Vertriebs,- und Marketingdepartements, ist daher entscheidend, um die Kundenzentrierung zu optimieren, aber auch damit öffentliche Anliegen frühzeitig aufgegriffen und bearbeitet werden. Die vorliegende Dissertation lässt erkennen, dass das Thema E-Commerce und Vertriebsmanagement im Agribusiness, insbesondere in der landwirtschaftlichen Vorleistungsindustrie, sowohl für die Forschung als auch für den gesamten Agrarsektor ein hochspannendes Thema bleibt, in dem in den nächsten Jahren strukturprägende Veränderungen zu erwarten sind.The digitization trend is changing processes in the agricultural sector and affects all players in the agricultural value chain equally. At present, especially the digital development of agricultural trade is being driven forward at full speed by a wide range of providers. In this context, questions about changes of the agricultural purchasing behavior and the implications for agricultural trade structures are currently much in the spotlight. This dissertation therefore considers the role of e-commerce and sales management within the agricultural input industry as a significant part of agribusiness. In addition to online the sales channel, personal selling, as an offline sales channel, is also examined. The articles presented here demonstrate that e-commerce as a procurement channel for agricultural inputs is well-accepted overall but to different degrees, and that regular online purchasing is limited to only certain, well-standardized, inputs. A fundamental interest of the agricultural sector in e-commerce can be confirmed and suggests that e-commerce in agriculture enjoys significant potential which has not yet been utilized. Online purchasing is strongly influenced by the perceived benefits associated with e-commerce, which, however, vary significantly among farmers. On the other hand, distrust of online commerce as well as relationships and loyalty to local retailers have a negative effect on farmers' e-commerce adoption. The results also illustrate that there are different groups of farmers, who differ in terms of their e-commerce attitudes and shopping behaviors. A significant portion of agricultural customers appears to be mentally not ready for online retailing, while another part is already particularly open-minded towards digital distribution channels. As common in B2B, farmers' attitudes toward e-commerce are strongly influenced by cognitive factors, although affective components should not be dismissed, either. Accordingly, companies in the agricultural input industry are called upon to tailor their sales and marketing strategies to the needs of their individual customer groups. Even though stationary trade has emerged as the benchmark of e-commerce within this dissertation, particularly due to personal contact opportunities, companies should adapt their business models and integrate digital sales channels as part of a multi-, to omnichannel strategy in order to be able to satisfactorily serve their digital customers of tomorrow. However, from the company's point of view, factors such as product characteristics and traditionally personal sector and company structures as well as a lack of financial resources and human capital act as digitalization brakes. The agricultural sales force in particular is affected by both structural change and digital transformation and is under enormous pressure to adapt. Overall, farmers rate the performance of the agricultural sales force as only satisfactory. Professional competence alone is not enough to convince farmers. Rather, it is the personality and social competence of the sales force that contributes to their long-term reputation with the customer. The results demonstrate that the agricultural sales force often lacks customer centricity, which needs to be optimized. This might be done by placing a stronger focus on the sales-oriented personality and social skills of new sales employees as early as the recruitment stage. However, it is precisely the acquisition of new sales specialists that is proving difficult. For example, a position in sales enjoys only moderate popularity among students of agricultural sciences. Likewise, the subject of sales is not dealt with satisfactorily in agricultural studies. The "hard-selling" image negatively attached to sales deters many graduates. The attractiveness of a sales position for students of agricultural sciences can be increased by pointing out career options and creating options to get in contact with sales. Thus, there is still a need for action both at the vocational school or university side and on the company side to motivate agricultural trainees to work in sales. In addition to the digital transformation and structural change in agriculture, society's predominantly negative or critical attitude toward agriculture is exerting additional pressure on the already strained agricultural input industry. Strategic communications management of input companies, especially of their sales and marketing departments, is therefore crucial not only to optimize customer centricity, but also to ensure that public concerns are taken seriously and addressed thematically. This dissertation suggests that the topic of e-commerce and sales management in agribusiness, especially in the agricultural input industry, remains a highly exciting topic both for research and for the agricultural sector as a whole, in which further structural changes can be expected in the coming years.2022-01-1

Fast and Space-Efficient Parallel Algorithms for Influence Maximization

Influence Maximization (IM) is a crucial problem in data science. The goal is to find a fixed-size set of highly-influential seed vertices on a network to maximize the influence spread along the edges. While IM is NP-hard on commonly-used diffusion models, a greedy algorithm can achieve $(1-1/e)$-approximation, repeatedly selecting the vertex with the highest marginal gain in influence as the seed. Due to theoretical guarantees, rich literature focuses on improving the performance of the greedy algorithm. To estimate the marginal gain, existing work either runs Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of influence spread or pre-stores hundreds of sketches (usually per-vertex information). However, these approaches can be inefficient in time (MC simulation) or space (storing sketches), preventing the ideas from scaling to today's large-scale graphs. This paper significantly improves the scalability of IM using two key techniques. The first is a sketch-compression technique for the independent cascading model on undirected graphs. It allows combining the simulation and sketching approaches to achieve a time-space tradeoff. The second technique includes new data structures for parallel seed selection. Using our new approaches, we implemented PaC-IM: Parallel and Compressed IM. We compare PaC-IM with state-of-the-art parallel IM systems on a 96-core machine with 1.5TB memory. PaC-IM can process large-scale graphs with up to 900M vertices and 74B edges in about 2 hours. On average across all tested graphs, our uncompressed version is 5--18$\times$ faster and about 1.4$\times$ more space-efficient than existing parallel IM systems. Using compression further saves 3.8$\times$ space with only 70% overhead in time on average

Preventing the Resource Curse in Ghana: The Role of Government and International Oil Companies in the Exploration and Management of Ghana’s Non-renewable Resources for Inclusive Development (Oil/Gas)

This study investigated the role of government and IOCs in the exploration and management of Ghana’s non-renewable resources (oil/gas) for inclusive development and the prevention of the resource curse. Incorporating the rentier state theory and resource curse theory into the study, this paper found that following the commencement of oil production in 2010, the Government of Ghana has enacted major institutional and legislative frameworks, including the PRMA and the GLCL, to combat the impending challenges of the oil industry. Through the PRMA 815, the Petroleum Holding Fund and PIAC have been established for a more transparent and accountable disbursement of petroleum revenues to various other Funds. Through collaborative efforts between government and IOCs, strategic capacity development programmes and technical training initiatives have been developed to meet Ghana’s rather ambitious local content targets. However, despite these initiatives, the study found that local content implementation and petroleum revenue management have faced challenges, including high prequalification requirements, politicization of local content implementation, low technical capacity of Ghanaian employees, poor offshore labour practices, and the restriction of powers of petroleum revenue oversight institutions. Generally, oil production has engendered several important infrastructural development projects. However, there is a general discontent and dissatisfaction among local oil-producing communities in the Western Region with oil production due to discrepancies between local needs and IOC and Government socio-economic provisions. As such, this paper recommends the proper definition of the “local” in local content, the empowerment of petroleum revenue oversight institutions, organized regulations by the Petroleum Commission, and more collaborative efforts between government, IOCs, and other important stakeholders to eliminate the varied entry barriers of Ghanaians into the oil and gas industry

Cluster Editing Parameterized Above Modification-Disjoint P?-Packings

Given a graph G = (V,E) and an integer k, the Cluster Editing problem asks whether we can transform G into a union of vertex-disjoint cliques by at most k modifications (edge deletions or insertions). In this paper, we study the following variant of Cluster Editing. We are given a graph G = (V,E), a packing ? of modification-disjoint induced P?s (no pair of P?s in H share an edge or non-edge) and an integer ?. The task is to decide whether G can be transformed into a union of vertex-disjoint cliques by at most ?+|H| modifications (edge deletions or insertions). We show that this problem is NP-hard even when ? = 0 (in which case the problem asks to turn G into a disjoint union of cliques by performing exactly one edge deletion or insertion per element of H) and when each vertex is in at most 23 P?s of the packing. This answers negatively a question of van Bevern, Froese, and Komusiewicz (CSR 2016, ToCS 2018), repeated by C. Komusiewicz at Shonan meeting no. 144 in March 2019. We then initiate the study to find the largest integer c such that the problem remains tractable when restricting to packings such that each vertex is in at most c packed P?s. Van Bevern et al. showed that the case c = 1 is fixed-parameter tractable with respect to ? and we show that the case c = 2 is solvable in |V|^{2? + O(1)} time

Developing an understanding of the relationship between railway safety and operational performance

Railway risk and delays are most often analysed apart with no common language for collecting data making it difficult to analyse or compare railway safety and operational performance. This study attempts to develop an understanding of the relationship between the two performance measures by comparing them on a common scale (in this case using monetary terms/values) while building on existing approaches in the industry. To achieve this, a causal loop diagram (CLD) is firstly used to show the existing known relationships between risk and delays by documenting their causes using data from the Rail Safety and Standard Board (RSSB) and Network Rail respectively. This part of the research identified differences in the classification of some events although these datasets are collated from the reporting of the same incidents on the network. Also identified are the common causes of risk and delays. The common causes which are identified are defined for the purpose of this research as the common performance influencing factors (CPIFs). The existence of CPIFs shows that there are incidents/events that can impact both the safety and operational performance of the railways. Understanding the relationship between the two measures and being able to compare them on a common scale can potentially be beneficial to stakeholders especially in finding solutions to reduce the occurrence of CPIF related incidents on the network. As the CPIFs can lead to both risk (typically measured by Fatalities and Weighted Injuries) and delay consequences (usually measured by delay minutes), it is appropriate to convert their values into a common measure, and this is possible using existing monetary values for both measures. That enabled this research to categorise on a common scale the impact CPIFs have on railway safety and operational performance. This thesis develops an approach to help convert delays into monetary values. It is noted that the values which are taken from published sources are a representation of what delays and risks on the network cost the industry. Given the approach adopted, this creates a reasonable estimate of the relative significance of an event for both risk and performance but would need to be supplemented with real life data from particular routes and contracts to be used to support decision making. This is attempted in the thesis by using route data on trespass incidents for which scenarios were developed to demonstrate the use of the approach in the stakeholder decision making process. In conclusion, the thesis develops our understanding of the relationship between railway safety and operational performance by identifying the common causes of risk and delays on the network (i.e., CPIFs). The identification of the CPIFs have made it possible to develop an approach for comparing risk and delays on a common scale. In addition, the researcher also identified the need for a consistent language and data collection/analysis approach (e.g., an ‘event – based’ reporting system). It is hoped that over time, this would enable a much clearer understanding to be developed and be more efficient in terms of data capture

A Critical Evaluation of Community Rail Policy and Practice During the New Labour Years 2003 - 2010

Seedhouse, Andrew Colin A Critical Evaluation Of Community Rail Policy And Practice During The New Labour Years 2003 - 2010 This thesis examines how the changing governance environments introduced under New Labour compromised or assisted the delivery of the 2004 Community Rail Development Strategy. It considers the origins of Community Rail and the circumstances which led to the adoption of the 2004 Strategy and its content. It explores the wider processes of governance change across multiple scales and the rise of a new neoliberal approach favoured by recent administrations, with particular emphasis of New Labour’s introduction of the Third Way and its creation of the third sector. The primary research aim and four core research objectives are tested within six Community Rail Partnership (CRP) case study areas, through the application of a multi-methodological approach combining desk-based quantitative analysis with qualitative semi-structured interviews of actors engaged in the case study areas and wider policy elites. For each of the case study areas, an empirical overview of the transport planning policies of actor members of the CRPs is undertaken, as well as visual and audio station audits. The research then examines the place of the 2004 Strategy within the wider transport planning policy landscape at all tiers of regional and sub-regional government, concluding a very mixed approach to engagement and support. The resurgent approach to localism and the role of New Labour’s Local Strategic Partnerships are considered in identifying existing levels of CRP engagement and opportunities to create functional spaces of engagement. It identifies a high level of correlation between current CRP activities and alignment with core performance indicators of this new governance framework, manifesting itself in a published national toolkit model. The research then examines the importance of a CRP’s own approach to governance; the role of core individuals; and the importance of actor engagement to support a stable platform for delivering successful Strategy outputs and outcomes. It concludes by recommending national policy options to improve on outcome delivery for individual CRPs and their members.Greater Western Research Fund Department for Transpor

A Survey of Recent Developments in Testability, Safety and Security of RISC-V Processors

With the continued success of the open RISC-V architecture, practical deployment of RISC-V processors necessitates an in-depth consideration of their testability, safety and security aspects. This survey provides an overview of recent developments in this quickly-evolving field. We start with discussing the application of state-of-the-art functional and system-level test solutions to RISC-V processors. Then, we discuss the use of RISC-V processors for safety-related applications; to this end, we outline the essential techniques necessary to obtain safety both in the functional and in the timing domain and review recent processor designs with safety features. Finally, we survey the different aspects of security with respect to RISC-V implementations and discuss the relationship between cryptographic protocols and primitives on the one hand and the RISC-V processor architecture and hardware implementation on the other. We also comment on the role of a RISC-V processor for system security and its resilience against side-channel attacks