An Integrated Assessment of Water Markets: Australia, Chile, China, South Africa and the USA

The paper provides an integrated framework to assess water markets in terms of their institutional underpinnings and the three 'pillars' of integrated water resource management: economic efficiency, equity and environmental sustainability. This framework can be used: (1) to benchmark different water markets; (2) to track performance over time; and (3) to identify ways in which water markets might be adjusted by informed policy makers to achieve desired goals. The framework is used to identify strengths and limitations of water markets in: (1) Australia's Murray-Darling Basin; (2) Chile (in particular the Limarí Valley); (3) China (in particular, the North); (4) South Africa; and (5) the western United States. It identifies what water markets are currently able to contribute to integrated water resource management, what criteria underpin these markets, and which components of their performance may require further development

Designing an Adaptive Web Navigation Interface for Users with Variable Pointing Performance

Many online services and products require users to point and interact with user interface elements. For individuals who experience variable pointing ability due to physical impairments, environmental issues or age, using an input device (e.g., a computer mouse) to select elements on a website can be difficult. Adaptive user interfaces dynamically change their functionality in response to user behavior. They can support individuals with variable pointing abilities by 1) adapting dynamically to make element selection easier when a user is experiencing pointing difficulties, and 2) informing users about these pointing errors. While adaptive interfaces are increasingly prevalent on the Web, little is known about the preferences and expectations of users with variable pointing abilities and how to design systems that dynamically support them given these preferences. We conducted an investigation with 27 individuals who intermittently experience pointing problems to inform the design of an adaptive interface for web navigation. We used a functional high-fidelity prototype as a probe to gather information about user preferences and expectations. Our participants expected the system to recognize and integrate their preferences for how pointing tasks were carried out, preferred to receive information about system functionality and wanted to be in control of the interaction. We used findings from the study to inform the design of an adaptive Web navigation interface, PINATA that tracks user pointing performance over time and provides dynamic notifications and assistance tailored to their specifications. Our work contributes to a better understanding of users' preferences and expectations of the design of an adaptive pointing system

Entering Upon Novelty: Policy and Funding Issues for a New Era in the Arts

The organizational structures and underlying assumptions necessary to thrive in this new development phase for the arts will be quite different from those that served us well -- or that we took for granted -- even in the recent past. Where before we were structured for growth, future success will mean being structured for sustainability; growth capacity as a measure of success will be replaced by "adaptive capacity."This basic change in business assumptions will better reflect the trajectory of contemporary life. Sociologist Zygmunt Bauman suggests we are now living in globalized environments that bypass interdependency and are full of "endemic uncertainty." Living self-determined lives that are independent of the social and cultural norms of the past, people are "looking for engagement, for experiences that they themselves can feel part of creating."We are becoming used to the shift from "proprietary" software to "open-source"; now our organizations have to undergo a similar shift, to accommodate the new "architectures of participation" that Clay Shirky writes about.What all this means is that the ability of an arts organization to adapt its programs, strategies, structures, and systems to address continuous external change and seize fleeting opportunities will become a leading indicator of success and a primary measure of organizational health. In this new era, successful organizations will more deeply recognize and engage with the creativity and artistic potential of the larger community, and the dominant organizational model will change to one that is porous, open, and responsive.This shift will require new forms of strategic thinking, organizational nimbleness, and a commitment to remaining transitory (not to efficiency, specialty, and technical rigidity). Wider definitions of success will center on helping foster "expressive lives" in our communities (a term introduced to arts policy by Bill Ivey), more than on developing a professional cultural community for its own sake. As Samuel Jones wrote recently, "We have moved from a model of provision to one of enabling. The role of the cultural professional has changed.

Forensic Fisheries Science: Literature Review and Research Suggestions

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in litigation against the National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. Litigation may affect personnel throughout the agency, including scientists, whose work is often directly or indirectly influenced by complex legal requirements, but who may not be in a position to comment or engage in public dialogue. It may be helpful for scientists and other agency personnel to join the ongoing discussion in the legal community regarding the interface of science and law. This paper provides a starting point with a selected introduction to relevant legal literature in this area. It uses the phrase “forensic fisheries science” to describe the application of science to legal requirements in the fishery management context. It concludes with suggestions for future research that could assist NMFS scientists as they grapple with the challenge of using science to help the agency meet its complex legal requirements. Forensic: belonging to, used in, or suitable to courts of judicature or to public discussion and debate; argumentative, rhetorical; relating to or dealing with the application of scientific knowledge to legal problems (Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

The Rise of the Resilient Local Authority?

The term resilience is increasingly being utilised within the study of public policy to depict how individuals, communities and organisations can adapt, cope, and ‘bounce back’ when faced with external shocks such as climate change, economic recession and cuts in public expenditure. In focussing on the local dimensions of the resilience debate, this article argues that the term can provide useful insights into how the challenges facing local authorities in the UK can be reformulated and reinterpreted. The article also distinguishes between resilience as ‘recovery’ and resilience as ‘transformation’, with the latter's focus on ‘bouncing forward’ from external shocks seen as offering a more radical framework within which the opportunities for local innovation and creativity can be assessed and explained. While also acknowledging some of the weaknesses of the resilience debate, the dangers of conceptual ‘stretching’, and the extent of local vulnerabilities, the article highlights a range of examples where local authorities – and crucially, local communities – have enhanced their adaptive capacity, within existing powers and responsibilities. From this viewpoint, some of the barriers to the development of resilient local government are not insurmountable, and can be overcome by ‘digging deep’ to draw upon existing resources and capabilities, promoting a strategic approach to risk, exhibiting greater ambition and imagination, and creating space for local communities to develop their own resilience

Evaluating Conservation Effectiveness and Adaptation in Dynamic Landscapes

Rissman talks about evaluating conservation easement effectiveness requires interdisciplinary research that reaches beyond legal analysis to examine how easements influence human behaviors, which subsequently influence environmental conditions. Conservation easement effectiveness is not a fixed target, but is influenced over time by social and ecological landscape change. The promise of perpetuity is central to the appeal of conservation easements within the conservation movement

Unleashing Youth Potential: Understanding and Growing Youth Participation in Philanthropy and Volunteerism

This paper attempts to situate youth in philanthropy in the context of the organizational culture and practices of Canadian community foundations. It will explore the challenges and opportunities presented by engaging young people in community foundations, based on the development of Vancouver Foundation's Youth in Philanthropy program in British Columbia, and its dissemination elsewhere in Canada. Youth in Philanthropy is a province-wide program established by Vancouver Foundation in late 1997 designed to involve young people in their communities and in philanthropy through involvement with local community foundations

An Integrated Assessment of Water Markets: Australia, Chile, China, South Africa and the USA

The paper provides an integrated framework to assess water markets in terms of their institutional underpinnings and the three ‘pillars’ of integrated water resource management: economic efficiency, equity and environmental sustainability. This framework can be used: (1) to benchmark different water markets; (2) to track performance over time; and (3) to identify ways in which water markets might be adjusted by informed policy makers to achieve desired goals. The framework is used to identify strengths and limitations of water markets in: (1) Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin; (2) Chile (in particular the Limarí Valley); (3) China (in particular, the North); (4) South Africa; and (5) the western United States. It identifies what water markets are currently able to contribute to integrated water resource management, what criteria underpin these markets, and which components of their performance may require further development.