Gendered production and consumption in rural Africa

Recent research underscores the continued importance of gender in rural Africa. Analysis of interactions within households is becoming more sophisticated and continues to reject the unitary model. There is some evidence of discriminatory treatment of girls relative to boys, although the magnitudes of differential investments in health and schooling are not large and choices seem quite responsive to changes in opportunity costs. Social norms proscribing and prescribing male and female economic behavior remain substantial, extending into many domains, especially land tenure. Gender constructions are constantly evolving, although there is little evidence of rapid, transformative change in rural areas

Investigating the physiological underpinnings of proactive and reactive behavioural types in grey seals (Halichoerus grypus): Trial deployment of a minimally invasive data logger for recording heart rate and heart rate variability in a wild free-ranging breeding pinniped species

Individuals differ non-randomly in their responses to stressors, exhibiting consistent individual differences (CIDs) in behavioural and physiological coping mechanisms commonly referred to as coping styles. Grey seals (Halichoerus grypus) are one of the few mammal species in which CIDs in stress responses have been documented in wild populations, though evidence thus far has been purely behavioural. Physiologically, coping styles can be distinguished by differences in the autonomic regulation of cardiac activity, which can be measured using heart rate variability (HRV). The objectives of this study were two-fold. First, to assess the suitability of Polar® RS800CX monitors and H2/H3 sensors for conducting HRV analyses in grey seals. Second, to quantify inter-individual variation, repeatability, and reproductive performance correlates of baseline HRV. Polar® devices were deployed successfully during the 2013 breeding season on female grey seals (N = 15) on the Isle of May, Scotland, and were capable of recording HR patterns that characterise phocid seals at rest on land. However, artefacts were widespread and biased HRV metrics. Filtration and correction protocols were able to counteract the effects of artefacts, but severely limited the amount of data available for analysis. There were significant inter-individual differences in baseline HRV, which could not be explained by factors associated with the breeding season (e.g. percentage mass loss, day of lactation), diurnal rhythms (e.g. time of day), or stressors (e.g. days since capture). These differences in baseline HRV showed consistency across early and late lactation. Individuals appeared to separate into two groups: those with consistently lower or higher baseline HRV, characteristic of proactive and reactive coping styles, respectively. Furthermore, females with lower baseline HRV showed greater maternal transfer efficiency – though there were no associations between baseline HRV and maternal expenditure (i.e. maternal mass loss, kgday–1) or fitness outcomes (i.e. pup mass gain, kgday–1). These findings build upon previous studies on behavioural CIDs in female grey seals by providing the first preliminary evidence for physiological CIDs that are associated with maternal investment. However, due to small sample sizes, further studies are required to determine whether these findings are truly indicative of coping styles. In their current form, the use of Polar® devices requires several caveats and further studies are needed to fully realise their potential. Future research should focus on validation against simultaneously recorded ECGs to improve artefact detection and correction, and modification to minimise the occurrence of artefacts. Despite their limitations, Polar® devices have immense potential as a minimally invasive research tool for conducting HRV analyses in the field

Simulator training in driver education – potential gains and challenges

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Urban and Rural Public Trust to Government in Covid-19 Pandemic Responses

This study attempts to assess the level of public trust in the Surabaya City Government and Banyuwangi Regency Government's handling of Covid-19. Utilizing a survey technique that was descriptively analyzed. Using the quota sampling method, up to 400 samples from each city/region's generation Y and Z were collected. According to the findings, there is a high level of trust in all dimensions of the Banyuwangi Regency Government. Medium levels of trust were accorded to the Surabaya City Government in terms of responsiveness and reliability, but high levels of trust were accorded in terms of integrity, transparency, and fairness

mFish Alpha Pilot: Building a Roadmap for Effective Mobile Technology to Sustain Fisheries and Improve Fisher Livelihoods.

In June 2014 at the Our Ocean Conference in Washington, DC, United States Secretary of State John Kerry announced the ambitious goal of ending overfishing by 2020. To support that goal, the Secretary's Office of Global Partnerships launched mFish, a public-private partnership to harness the power of mobile technology to improve fisher livelihoods and increase the sustainability of fisheries around the world. The US Department of State provided a grant to 50in10 to create a pilot of mFish that would allow for the identification of behaviors and incentives that might drive more fishers to adopt novel technology. In May 2015 50in10 and Future of Fish designed a pilot to evaluate how to improve adoption of a new mobile technology platform aimed at improving fisheries data capture and fisher livelihoods. Full report

An investigation of how the Emergency Team within UNFPA could achieve a more effective balancing of supply and demand

Bakgrund: Emergency Teamet skickar ut ERH-Kits då en efterfrågan från kunden uppstår, exempelvis efter en katastrofsituation. Emergency Teamet har blivit kritiserade för att inte ha svarat tillräckligt snabbt på efterfrågan och därför har Executive Director för UNFPA gett nya direktiv för att UNFPA ska svara snabbare och skapa bättre förutsättningar för att leverera snabbt i katastrofsituationer. Syfte: Syftet med studien är att identifiera och föreslå förbättringar för en effektivare balansering av tillgång och efterfrågan av ERH-Kits för Emergency Teamet inom UNFPA. Forskningsfrågor: 1: Vad är viktigt att ta hänsyn till för att stärka balansen mellan hanteringen av tillgång och efterfrågan för ERH-Kits och samtidigt hantera osäkerheten i efterfrågan samt risken av att hålla varor i lager som riskerar att bli för gamla? 2: Vilka faktorer är viktiga för utvecklingen av ett stödverktyg och hur kan detta sättas samman för att hjälpa Emergency Teamet i sin hantering av ERH-Kits? Metod: Utifrån studiens syfte har en fallstudie genomförts för att jämföra Emergency Teamets aktiviteter med den tillgängliga teorin. Intervjuer utfördes för att förstå de utmaningar som finns för Emergency Teamet och för att få en djupare förståelse för dessa. Historisk data analyserades för en mer noggrann analys av studieobjektet. En jämförelse gjordes därefter mellan litteraturstudien och den empiriska studien för att identifiera potentiella förbättringsåtgärder. I samband med en workshop samlades åsikter och idéer från Emergency Teamet och därefter utvecklades ett beslutsverktyg med syfte att stödja Emergency Teamet i dess arbete för förbättringar. Slutsatser: Fallstudien har identifierat reaktionsförmåga och efterfrågestyrning som de viktigaste områdena för att balansera tillgång och efterfrågan. De viktigaste faktorerna inom dessa områden för Emergency Teamet har identifierats som; synligheten och hastigheten i värdekedjan, lagerhantering, identifiering av framgångsfaktorer, förståelse för efterfrågan, varierande källor, lämpliga prognosmetoder samt ett krossfunktionellt arbetssätt. Det framtagna beslutsstödet ska ge vägledning för hur Emergency Teamet kan effektivisera balansen mellan tillgång och efterfrågan utifrån de tre beslutsnivåerna, strategisk, taktisk och operationell.Background: The Emergency Team within UNFPA operates when crisis strikes by distributing ERH-Kits to people in need. The Emergency Team has in the past been criticized of not responding rapidly enough to requests for ERH-Kits and the Executive Director of UNFPA has given new directives that UNFPA needs to become more responsive in its activities and create better prerequisites to deliver fast in emergency situations. Purpose: To analyse and find improvements for a more effective balancing of supply and demand of ERH-Kits for the Emergency Team within UNFPA. Research questions: 1: What is important to consider in order to strengthen the balancing of supply and demand regarding the ERH-Kits, while managing the uncertainty in demand and the risk of having expired goods in stock? 2: What factors are important in the development of a support tool and how could this be put together to help the Emergency Team to manage the ERH-Kits? Methodology: For the purpose of this study, the single case study method is used to enable a comparison of the activities within the Emergency Team and existing theory. Interviews were conducted in order to understand the challenging areas within the team and get a deeper understanding of these. Historical data was also extracted to analyse the activities more thoroughly. When the literature study and the data were collected a gap analysis was done, followed by a workshop to integrate thoughts and ideas from the Emergency Team. The most important potential improvements from this comparison were thereafter used as inputs in the support tool. Conclusions: The study result is that the two most important areas for balancing supply and demand are Responsiveness and Demand Management. For the Emergency Team the most crucial concepts identified were visibility, velocity, managing inventory and associated risk, performance metrics, understand demand and uncertainty, use various sources of data, establish appropriate forecasting techniques, processes, systems and training and using a cross functional approach. The support tool presents guidance for how the Emergency Team can improve its effectiveness in balancing supply and demand on the three decision levels, strategic, tactical and operational

Effective Call Center Management: Evidence from Financial Services

Call centers are quickly becoming the major point of contact for serving customers and generating new revenue in a variety of industries. No where is this growth in the importance of call centers more apparent than in the financial services industry. This paper presents the results of a survey of the management of call center operations at major financial service firms. The results clearly indicate the importance of human resource management practices and technology in creating high-performance call center environments.

Making evaluations matter: a practical guide for evaluators

This guide is primarily for evaluators working in the international development sector. It is also useful for commissioner of evaluations, evaluation managers and M&E officers. The guide explains how to make evaluations more useful. It helps to better understand conceptual issues and appreciate how evaluations can contribute to changing mindsets and empowering stakeholders. On a practical level, the guide presents core guiding principles and pointers on how to design and facilitate evaluations that matter. Furthermore, it shows how to get primary intended users and other key stakeholders to contribute effectively to the evaluation proces

Water for People, Water for Life

This report documents the serious water crisis we are facing at the beginning of the 21st century. This crisis is one of water governance, essentially caused by the ways in which we mismanage water. But the real tragedy is the effect it has on the everyday lives of poor people, who are blighted by the burden of water-related disease, living in degraded and often dangerous environments, struggling to get an education for their children and to earn a living, and to get enough to eat. The executive summary offers an analysis of the problem as well as pilot case studies for water management and recommendations for future action