Data Quality, Power, And Politics: Analysis Of Strategic Decision Making

Most decision makers have biases that are inherent the way they seek information, estimate the outcomes, and attach values to outcomes that produce rational behavior.  Many aspects of decision-making may not be accurate because of information processing limitations, power and politics.  This paper presents a set of ideas, models, and limitations caused by biases of a decision maker when sorting information

Assessing Economic Viability of Pasture Enterprise as Adaptation Strategy in Dry Land Ecosystems - A Case of Ijara, Kenya

To adapt to impacts of climate change and variability that outwit traditional coping mechanisms, communities in the semi-arid Ijara, spontaneously took to pasture enterprise strategy. The spontaneity translated into unclear costs and benefits that impeded management of the scarce resources. The study clarified costs and benefits by isolating them for analysis and measuring the strategies’ viability for adaptation. The objective was to measure costs incurred and benefits gained from avoided damages through adoption of the strategy at community farm-level. Costs-benefit-analysis was the design used, complemented by the financial market-driven 15% discounting rates and net present values. Also co-ordinated regional downscaling experiment models were used to ascertain climate performance and projection. Household questionnaire was administered to 240 sample size calculated from 9000 farmer population.  Fifty-seven per cent pastoralists had  embraced agro-pastoralism to incorporate on-farm rain-fed Sudan grass, whose input costs were US$1333/ha/season with estimated yields of 1.8 tons/ha of dry matter. Cash flow across three rain-fed seasons netted US$21390, US$45214 and US$67820 per hectare from one, two and three seasons respectively. Overall net present value was US$ 2000p.a. Equal to 50.5% agro-pastoralists produced fodder that cushioned against the high costs on inter-county importation.  Land size inadequacy and the communal tenure  upset 86.26% producers  whereas 47.5%  were concerned that drought raised production costs the most after that lack of skills 53.08%, feed deficit at 30.41%, and diseases 20.41% in that order. Overall benefits from the strategy exceeded costs, making the investment viable for adaptation. Going forward and considering the limited adaptation capacities, disease control and feed deficit costs, policies need to focus on formulating livestock improvement guidelines to include revitalizing traditional grazing management practices. Other pertinent investment opportunities include strategic value-chain linkages and infrastructure, promotion of rain-fed and irrigated fodder production technologies incorporating climate-smart water harvesting, supporting post-harvest feed reserves technologies, reviewing land tenure system and investing in local farmer-friendly weather data collection and application Keywords: Adaptation strategy, benefits and costs, climate change, pasture enterpris

Strategies For Gaining Competitive Advantage In A Dynamic Environment Thru Data Quality

Raw data should be treated as materials for manufacturing products so that organizations can identify errors which otherwise could not be detected. Information system can be studied from the same perspective of product manufacturing

Teaching Accounting Online: Dealing With Challenging Situations

This paper chronicles the issues and concerns of teaching an online accounting course.  The issues discussed in this paper constitute the barest minimum that online instructors should address as they contemplate offering an online accounting course.  Analysis of the following crucial factors that impact online teaching such as, knowledge of the online process; technical skills of online teaching; online communication and moderation skills; confidence and motivation are presented.  This paper will present an analysis of teaching and learning issues, which may provide the basis of guidelines for best practice.  It is further noted in this paper that effective institutional support is equally instrumental in successful implementation of online teaching

International Financial Accounting Standards And The Continent Of Africa

In response to the increased globalization of both commercial and financial markets and increased frequency of corporate scandals, the International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) has spearheaded an international initiative to standardize corporate financial reporting. This effort involves setting the standards, creating a process of adopting the standards that is tailored to the needs of each nation, overcoming the challenges of implementation that many countries face and ensuring continued observance of the standards once they are adopted. This paper focuses on the implementation of IFAC standards in the African Continent. An examination of IFAC’s mission, its membership requirements and ongoing compliance program, and its assistance to developing nations will illustrate the current status of African nations in the standardization process. The countries representing the African continent possess many promising opportunities for growth and prosperity in the global economy and also present many distinct obstacles in their effort to embrace and implement the IFAC initiative. The approach used in this paper is to examine broadly the challenges faced by the different regions within Africa. This approach takes into account political, economic, cultural and religious differences found in distinct regions within the continent

E-Commerce And Small Business Enterprise Some Evidence From Northern New Jersey

The purpose of this research was to investigate the extent to which small businesses in Northern New Jersey are prepared for e-commerce. The Internet has changed the market place and the face of business more dramatically than any other technological innovation since the Industrial Revolution. In the last ten years, the Internet has changed and fundamentally restructured business to business, business to consumer and consumer to consumer relationships. Internet based commerce is estimated to be growing at the rate of 200% per annum and the volume of Internet commerce is estimated to exceed $2 trillion by 2003

Voltammetric Determination of Penicillin G in Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate/acetate Buffer Media on Glassy Carbon Electrode

The presence of residues of penicillin in food products like milk and meat of animal origin exerts negative impact on public health such as drug resistance diseases and severe allergic responses. This work reports development of a simple voltammetric method for detection of penicillin using sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) in acetate buffer solution (ABS) on glassy carbon electrode. Addition of SDS to the penicillin G containing acetate buffer solution (ABS) was found to enhance the voltammetric oxidation current signal by about 5 times with insignificant shift of the oxidation potentials. Using cyclic voltammetry, the oxidation potentials for penicillin G were found to be 1.65V vs. Ag/AgCl in SDS/ABS, pH 4.5 and 1.60V vs. Ag/AgCl in ABS, pH 4.5. The diffusion coefficients for penicillin G were found to be 6.01x10-7 cm2/sec and 1.39x10-6 cm2/sec in ABS, pH 4.5 and SDS/ABS, pH 4.5 respectively. Linear concentration range were also investigated using square wave voltammetry and found to lie in the range of 1.25 – 15µM penicillin G in SDS/ABS, pH 4.5 and 2.5 – 10µM penicillin G in ABS, pH 4.5.Limits of detection were also found to be 1.25µM and 2.5µM penicillin G in SDS/ABS, pH 4.5 and ABS, pH 4.5 respectively while limits of quantitation were 3.75µM penicillin G in SDS/ABS, pH 4.5 and 7.5µM penicillin G in ABS, pH 4.5. Possible interferants like Na+, K+, Zn2+, Ca2+, Fe3+, Cl-, NO3-, PO43- and SO42- did not have any significant effect on the anodic currents and oxidation potentials of the penicillin G. These results show that the developed method is sensitive enough for use in the analysis of penicillin G in diverse real samples

Square Wave Voltammetric Determination of Penicillin V in Sodium Dodecyl Sulfate Containing Media on Glassy Carbon Electrode

The effect of adding sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS), a surface-active agent to acetate buffer solution containing penicillin V was investigated. The voltammetric responses of penicillin V on glassy carbon electrode was a function of the concentration of penicillin V, surfactant and pH. Addition of SDS to the penicillin V containing acetate buffer solution (ABS) was found to enhance the voltammetric oxidation current signal by about 10 times with insignificant shift of the oxidation potentials. With this electrochemical method, the optimal pH and SDS concentration were found to be pH 4.5 and 0.347M respectively. Using cyclic voltammetry, the oxidation potential for penicillin V were found to be 1.61V vs. Ag/AgCl in SDS/ABS, pH 4.5 and 1.55V vs. Ag/AgCl in ABS, pH 4.5. Linear concentration range were also investigated using square wave voltammetry and found to lie in the range of 0.04 – 34.6µM penicillin V in SDS/ABS, pH 4.5 and 3.5 – 14.0µM penicillin V in ABS, pH 4.5. Limits of detection were also found to be 0.04µM penicillin V in SDS/ABS, pH 4.5 and 3.5µM penicillin V in ABS, pH 4.5 and limits of quantitation were 0.12µM penicillin V in SDS/ABS, pH 4.5 and 14µM penicillin V in ABS, pH 4.5.Foreign substances like Na+, K+, Mg2+, Zn2+, Ca2+, Fe3+, Cu2+, Cl-, NO3-, PO43- and SO42- did not have any significant effect on the voltammetric currents of penicillin V. These results confirm that this electrochemical method is sensitive enough to be used in the determination of penicillin V in diverse environmental and clinical samples

Adapting dryland livestock production to meet climate change challenges in Kenya

Research demonstrates that with one acre of Sudan grass and improved pasture production, farmers may produce 3.6 tons of feed in a year. This will sustain milk production by three cattle during the annual four-month feed deficit period, and the milk can sustain a family of four. With a strengthened extension service and support for farmers in acquiring adapted livestock breeds, specifically camels, Sahiwal and improved Boran cattle, livestock productivity can be increased by 50% and herd sizes reduced, which decreases overgrazing and environmental degradation. County governments can support these changes by strengthening their extension work in pasture production, organized grazing, and controlled breeding management