Local Heroes: Patterns of Field Worker Discretion in Implementing GAD Policy in Bangladesh

Concerns with institutional capacity building in development tend to focus upon changes to the structures and incentive systems of development organisations, at the expense of considering the role of the individual in interpreting policy goals. This paper examines how field workers use their discretion to interpret and implement policy in rural credit programmes in Bangladesh. It focuses in particular on differences in the attitudes and practices of women and men field staff. The paper argues that these lower-level bureaucrats are de-facto policy makers, because of the recursive effect of an accretion of local everyday decisions upon programme outcomes and upon the knowledge which informs policy making. In the case of programmes promoting women's rights of access to non-traditional productive development resources such as credit, field workers are involved in delivering policies which challenge local systems of organising gender difference and disprivilege. Their own attitudes and practices have a powerful effect upon the success of these programmes in challenging the terms of gender relations. Most often, field workers' own biases undermine the more progressive aspects of these policies and reinforce dominant and conservative interpretations of women's needs in development. In other words, they use their discretion in negative ways, to avoid raising issues of gender justice and the redistribution of resources and social value between women and men. On the other hand, field workers may use their discretion more positively, to promote gender-redistributive policy -- they may show a species of local heroism in women's interests. This paper finds a gendered pattern in policy enactment attitudes and routines, with women field workers showing a greater receptivity to gender equity concerns. There is certainly no black and white distinction, however, between women and men field workers in this respect, which warns against making easy assumptions as to gender-based solidarities and affinities between women

Voice and Women's Empowerment: Mapping a Research Agenda

The Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Research Programme Consortium (RPC) uses the entry point of ‘Voice’ in its theme ‘Building Constituencies for Equality and Justice’ to explore how to make institutions more accountable and responsive to women. The ‘voice’ theme explores how women engage with policy change, alliance and coalition building to bring about accountability. This paper reflects critically on assumptions about ways of amplifying women’s political ‘voice’. Voice is associated with – even measured by – political expression and influence on public decisions. Both are hard to measure, so frequently a convenient proxy is used: the numbers of women in representative public office. This tells us very little of course about interest articulation amongst women divided by many interests – based on class, race, ethnicity, age, and so on. Numbers of women tells us very little, too, about political influence. Without a doubt, women’s political influence as a gender will eventually be measurable through improved access to services and more secure rights. But it is not clear that more women in public office, on its own, will deliver this. Instead, this paper argues that we should move past the focus on numbers to ask what is being said, how it is being said and what is being achieved? This implies attention to how women articulate and aggregate their interests, how they try to shape public decision-making, and whether it makes a difference in women’s lives.UK Department for International Developmen

Database Workload Management (Dagstuhl Seminar 12282)

This report documents the program and the outcomes of Dagstuhl Seminar 12282 "Database Workload Management". Dagstuhl Seminar 12282 was designed to provide a venue where researchers can engage in dialogue with industrial participants for an in-depth exploration of challenging industrial workloads, where industrial participants can challenge researchers to apply the lessons-learned from their large-scale experiments to multiple real systems, and that would facilitate the release of real workloads that can be used to drive future research, and concrete measures to evaluate and compare workload management techniques in the context of these workloads

Documentation et caractérisation de l'état de dégradation de peaux de mammifères: évaluation d'un corpus conservé au Musée d'histoire naturelle de Neuchâtel

La taxidermie est l’art de mettre en forme une peau animale en lui donnant l'apparence de la vie, tout en assurant sa conservation. Cela va de la préparation de la peau de l’animal jusqu’à son montage. Le choix et l’application des méthodes de préparation de la peau sont des étapes primordiales et déterminantes, car ce sont elles qui vont conditionner la stabilité du spécimen sur le long terme. Une grande part des peaux conservées dans les musées d’histoire naturelle sont dans un mauvais état de conservation. Dans les pires des cas, la perte des spécimens est totale. Leur dégradation entraîne la modification des données qualitatives et quantitatives nécessaires à leur étude. Ils perdent ainsi leur rôle scientifique et de ce fait, la valeur pour laquelle ils sont conservés dans les musées. Cette étude a pour objectif d’évaluer l’état de dégradation d’un corpus de 17 peaux plates (non montées) de mammifères, conservées au Musée d’histoire naturelle de Neuchâtel. Pour ce faire, nous avons d’abord effectué un examen visuel des spécimens à l’oeil nu, puis des fibres de collagène avec la microscopie optique. Nous avons également déterminé les méthodes de préservation des peaux grâce aux observations macroscopiques, mais aussi au moyen d’analyses par spectrométrie de fluorescence X et par spectroscopie infrarouge à transformée de Fourier. L’ensemble des résultats, couplés à la détermination de la température de rétraction des spécimens, nous ont permis de déterminer les mécanismes et l’état de dégradation de chaque peau et de les corréler avec leur méthode de préparation. Au terme de l’étude, nous avons établi que 47% des peaux étudiées sont dans un état de conservation inacceptable. De plus, 40% des spécimens ne peuvent plus faire l’objet de traitements aqueux, au risque de subir une dénaturation complète. Ils sont également très sensibles à des taux élevés d’humidité. Au vu de ces résultats, nous avons brièvement rappelé les conditions de conservation adaptées à de telles collections. Celles-ci ne font toutefois que ralentir leur dégradation. Les résultats montrent donc l’importance de poursuivre les recherches dans le domaine de la conservation des spécimens d’histoire naturelle, afin de trouver des solutions pour leur stabilisation et leur conservation sur le long terme.The taxidermy is the art of shaping an animal skin to give it the appearance of life, while ensuring its preservation. This goes from the preparation of the skin to its mounting. The choice and application of skin preservation methods are essential and decisive stages, because they will influence the stability of the specimen in the long term. A large share of skins stored in museums of natural history are in poor condition. In the worst cases, the loss of the specimens is total. Their deterioration changes the qualitative and quantitative evidences for their study. They lose their scientific function and therefore the value for which they are stored in museums. The aim of this study is to assess the state of degradation of 17 flat skins (unmounted) of mammals stored in the Museum of Natural History in Neuchâtel. For this purpose, we first performed a visual inspection to the naked eye and collagen fibers with optical microscopy. We also determined the processing techniques of skins through macroscopic observation but also using X-ray fluorescence analysis and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. All the results, coupled with the determination of the shrinkage temperature allowed us to determine the mechanism and the state of degradation of each skin. They are then correlated with their processing technique. At the end of the study, we found that 47% of the skins are in an unacceptable state of preservation. Furthermore, 40% of the specimens can no longer be subject to aqueous treatment, without the risk of a complete denaturation. They are also very sensitive to high humidity. Given these results, we have summarized storage conditions adapted to the preservation of such collections. However, they only slow down the deterioration. The results show therefore the importance of further researches in the field of preservation of natural history specimens, to find solutions for their stabilization and preservation in the long term

Fast, Efficient and Environmentally Friendly Extraction of Cu(II) and Zn(II) by Hybrid Silicas Impregnated with Acidic Organic Extractants

The extraction of copper and zinc by mesostructured silicas impregnated with organic acidic chelators, an acylisoxazolone 3-phenyl-4-benzoyl-5-isoxazolone (HPBI), an acylpyrazolone 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-stearoyl-5-pyrazolone (HPMSP) and an organophosphoric acid di-(2-ethylhexyl)-phosphoric acid (DEHPA) was performed in a sulfate medium. Various factors such as the pH of the aqueous phase, the chelators concentration in the silica matrix, the extraction equilibrium time and the extraction capacity of the two cations on silica were studied. The cations were extracted at very acidic pH with very high extraction rates. The stripping of cations was achieved at pHs that were more acidic than those utilized for the extraction by maintaining the structure intact. Finally, their separation was successfully conducted in the cases of the three chelators

Metabolic control of tobacco pollination by sugars and invertases

Pollination in flowering plants is initiated by germination of pollen grains on stigmas followed by fast growth of pollen tubes representing highly energy-consuming processes. The symplastic isolation of pollen grains and tubes requires import of Suc available in the apoplast. We show that the functional coupling of Suc cleavage by invertases and uptake of the released hexoses by monosaccharide transporters are critical for pollination in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum). Transcript profiling, in situ hybridization, and immunolocalization of extracellular invertases and two monosaccharide transporters in vitro and in vivo support the functional coupling in supplying carbohydrates for pollen germination and tube growth evidenced by spatiotemporally coordinated expression. Detection of vacuolar invertases in maternal tissues by these approaches revealed metabolic cross talk between male and female tissues and supported the requirement for carbohydrate supply in transmitting tissue during pollination. Tissue-specific expression of an invertase inhibitor and addition of the chemical invertase inhibitor miglitol strongly reduced extracellular invertase activity and impaired pollen germination. Measurements of (competitive) uptake of labeled sugars identified two import pathways for exogenously available Suc into the germinating pollen operating in parallel: direct Suc uptake and via the hexoses after cleavage by extracellular invertase. Reduction of extracellular invertase activity in pollen decreases Suc uptake and severely compromises pollen germination. We further demonstrate that Glc as sole carbon source is sufficient for pollen germination, whereas Suc is supporting tube growth, revealing an important regulatory role of both the invertase substrate and products contributing to a potential metabolic and signaling-based multilayer regulation of pollination by carbohydrate

Developing a web-based information resource for palliative care: an action-research inspired approach

Background : General Practitioners and community nurses rely on easily accessible, evidence-based online information to guide practice. To date, the methods that underpin the scoping of user-identified online information needs in palliative care have remained under-explored. This paper describes the benefits and challenges of a collaborative approach involving users and experts that informed the first stage of the development of a palliative care website.Method : The action research-inspired methodology included a panel assessment of an existing palliative care website based in Victoria, Australia; a pre-development survey (n = 197) scoping potential audiences and palliative care information needs; working parties conducting a needs analysis about necessary information content for a redeveloped website targeting health professionals and caregivers/patients; an iterative evaluation process involving users and experts; as well as a final evaluation survey (n = 166).Results : Involving users in the identification of content and links for a palliative care website is time-consuming and requires initial resources, strong networking skills and commitment. However, user participation provided crucial information that led to the widened the scope of the website audience and guided the development and testing of the website. The needs analysis underpinning the project suggests that palliative care peak bodies need to address three distinct audiences (clinicians, allied health professionals as well as patients and their caregivers).Conclusion : Web developers should pay close attention to the content, language, and accessibility needs of these groups. Given the substantial cost associated with the maintenance of authoritative health information sites, the paper proposes a more collaborative development in which users can be engaged in the definition of content to ensure relevance and responsiveness, and to eliminate unnecessary detail. Access to volunteer networks forms an integral part of such an approach.<br /