Development domains for Ethiopia: capturing the geographical context of smallholder development options

"The choices that smallholder farmers are able to make are strongly conditioned by the geographic conditions in which they live. The importance of this fact for rural development strategy is not lost on policy makers. For example, the government of Ethiopia frequently frames policy discussions by broadly different geographical conditions of moisture availability, recognizing moisture reliable, drought prone and pastoralist areas. These conditions are seen as important criteria for determining the nature, extent and priority of development interventions for different parts of the country. There is considerable evidence, however, that other geographical factors also have important implications for rural development options. This paper uses agroecology, access to markets, and population density to define development domains: geographical locations sharing broadly similar rural development constraints and opportunities. Unlike similar efforts conducted elsewhere, this work is unique in that it seeks to move away from a subjective mapping of factors of theorized importance to a more rigorous definition of development domains on the basis of quantitative data on smallholder livelihood strategies. After selecting variables for mapping, we calibrate our definition for domains in such a way that their explanatory power is maximized across a range of livelihood strategies that figure in the current Ethiopian rural development discourse (market engagement, dependence upon agriculture, etc.)." Authors' AbstractSmallholders, Small farmers, Geographic conditions, rural development strategies, Development policy, Agro-ecology, Market access, Livelihoods, Population density,

Reengineering Corporation Street : an empirical study of business process

This study was focused on Business Reengineering (Hammer, 1990; Hammer & Champy, 1993); aka Business Process Reengineering (BPR). The main aim of the study was to test the authors' (2001) claims that BPR was 'alive and well, ' and that'in fact' it had been 'one of the success stories of business history, ' but in this case within the context of local government organisations (LGOs) within the UK public sector. Throughout the final decades of the 20th Century, and continuing to date, there has been a relentless pace of change within the public sector during which managers have been under constant pressure to improve performance within their organisations (McAdam & Mitchell, 1998; Zeppou and Sotirakou, 2003). This pressure was increased in 2004 with the publication of Sir Peter Gershon's 'Spending Review 2004: Efficiency Review - Releasing Resources for the Frontline: Independent Review of Public Sector Efficiency. ' By 2007/08 Gershon was looking for 'auditable and transparent efficiency gains of over £20 billion, ' and 'a gross reduction of over 84,000 posts' across the military, civil service and administration. Councils across the UK have responded to these demands in differing ways, but some chose to adopt 'reengineering' as part of their range of change management strategies. This study has focused on two such LGOs over that 4-year period. The study commenced by reviewing the literature surrounding reengineering - or BPR, as it has become more widely known - including as appropriate other approaches to quality and change management. Focusing also on critical 'success' and 'failure' factors (CSF & CFF; Al-Mashari & Zairi, 1999), two key issues emerged that were relevant to BPR's potential for success in such organisations; the concepts of 'Organizational Readiness' (Hammer & Stanton, 1995), and that of 'degrees' of BPR, or 'Project Radicalness' (Kettinger et al., 1997). A qualitative research approach was adopted, with 28, semi-structured, in-depth interviews held with 29 participants from the two co-operating LGOs. 'Purposive sampling' (Saunders, et al., 2000) was employed with participants selected from those organisations' BPR training cohorts and those involved more directly at junior, middle and senior management levels. Access was also granted to meetings and organisational documentation. Impact analysis was undertaken with group and individual interviews as necessary. The study's contribution to knowledge is firstly in the combination of the two concepts mentioned above, to create a more comprehensive 'self-diagnostic' mechanism by which UK LGOs might assess and increase their 'readiness' to undertake change of this nature, and/or modify the 'ambition' level of their change projects prior to embarking upon them, thereby greatly improving their likelihood of success. The research therefore has important findings in the areas of diagnosis, planning, implementation and performance measurement, and will be of significant interest to academics and practitioners engaged in understanding or implementing change within the services sector generally and public sector and LGOs in particular. Secondly, the research will also be of wider public interest revealing substantive issues for the future effective management and use of public finances. Whilst some change has been noted, real change does not appear to have yet been achieved, particularly at more senior and organisation-wide levels, and a more concerted and serious approach is necessary based on this new, composite, self-diagnostic process. There are indications that some of the change agencies themselves may be guilty of adding to further waste creation, and the evidence of low levels of 'understanding' of the true meaning and portents of 'reengineering' draws into serious question the oft- stated 70W failure rate of BPR

Finite difference time domain calculation of transients in antennas with nonlinear loads

In this paper transient fields for antennas with more general geometries are calculated directly using Finite Difference Time Domain methods. In each FDTD cell which contains a nonlinear load, a nonlinear equation is solved at each time step. As a test case the transient current in a long dipole antenna with a nonlinear load excited by a pulsed plane wave is computed using this approach. The results agree well with both calculated and measured results previously published. The approach given here extends the applicability of the FDTD method to problems involving scattering from targets including nonlinear loads and materials, and to coupling between antennas containing nonlinear loads. It may also be extended to propagation through nonlinear materials

Interview with John Chamberlin, Pt. 2

Part 2 of two part interview with John Chamberlin recorded on May 24, 2013. Mr. Chamberlin is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Melissa Acosta as a part of SHARE\u27s (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Mr. Chamberlin discusses the following topics: Being raised by his grandparents and great aunt; How his upbringing influenced his choice of friends; Involvement in extracurricular activities in high school; Feelings of not belonging to either race; Regret at not being involved in or as knowledgeable about civil rights activism at the time; Experiences with segregation and integration; Relationship with the church; Experiences as a musician in Kalamazoo; Relationship with his mother and father; Struggles with raising a son with bi-polar disorder. Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/engaging-the-wisdom/1012/thumbnail.jp

Reengineering Corporation Street : an empirical study of business process reengineering (BPR) in two local authorities

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Interview with John Chamberlin, Part 1

Part 1 of two part interview with John Chamberlin recorded on May 24, 2013. Mr. Chamberlin is interviewed by Kalamazoo College student Melissa Acosta as a part of SHARE\u27s (formerly known as the Southwest Michigan Black Heritage Society) Baldwin Archive Engaging the Wisdom Project with Kalamazoo College. During the interview Mr. Chamberlin discusses the following topics: Fostering a love of music and performing as a child; Experiences working as a musical therapist; Favorite artists, musical styles, and instruments; Various musical projects and bands, including “Sweet Maya”; Growing up with a great aunt; Reprioritizing his musical endeavors; Interracial relationships. Additional files include full transcription and abstract (includes content timestamps).https://scholarworks.wmich.edu/engaging-the-wisdom/1011/thumbnail.jp

Reengineering Corporation Street : an empirical study of business process reengineering (BPR) in two local authorities

EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

Algal Wastewater Treatment and Biofuel Production: An assessment of measurement methods, and impact of nutrient availability and species composition

In order to move towards a more sustainable future, human civilization will need to decrease its impacts on air and water quality and minimize consumption of fossil fuels. Using algae for wastewater treatment and biofuel production offers one approach to progress towards these goals simultaneously. Algae are capable of removing nutrients from wastewater and carbon dioxide from the air, and the biomass formed in that process can be used to generate a wide-range of products including fertilizer or fuels that could power combustion engines, power plants, or zero-emission fuel cell vehicles. Using wastewater for biofuel production has the potential to lower biofuel costs and environmental impacts as it provides an existing, free source of nutrients and water. Growing algae during the wastewater treatment process further improves the effluent quality, thus helping prevent eutrophication and costly dead zones in downstream ecosystems. Maximizing the benefits of algal wastewater treatment and biofuel production will require optimizing total nutrient removal, biomass production, and lipid content of the biomass; a complicated problem given that many algal species known for high nutrient removal and lipid production are easily suspended single-celled microalgae that are difficult to harvest efficiently by gravity. In wastewater treatment, growing pure cultures of single-species algae is not practical, so positive and negative impacts of growing algae in the presence of endogenous microbial communities should be evaluated. This dissertation seeks to move algal wastewater treatment forward by improving our understanding of the roles of species composition and nutrient availability on nutrient removal, lipid and biomass production, and settling; and by assessing alternative methods used to quantify algal productivity in order to improve future research. In comparison with traditional quantification methods, alternative methods investigated provided reliable results for a range of algal species and concentrations, with significantly less sample volume, reagents and processing time. For the nutrient and species experiments, Chlorella vulgaris was grown in real and synthetic wastewater and in combination with other algal species and endogenous wastewater microbial communities. Multiple synergistic effects were observed from mixing species with implications that could improve both secondary and tertiary treatment of wastewater while providing biofuel feedstocks

The Memory Representation of Motor Skills: A Test of Schema Theory.

Currently, the pre-eminent model of central representation for motor skills is embodied in Schmidt\u27s schema theory of discrete motor skill learning (Schmidt, 1975). Two experiments are reported here that contrast predictions from a schema abstraction model that is the basis for schema theory to those from a specific exemplar model of motor skill memory representation. In both experiments, subjects performed 300 trials per day of 3 variations of a 3-segment timing task over 4 days of acquisition. The subjects then either immediately transferred to 4 novel variations of the same task (Experiment 1) that varied in degree of environmental similarity to the exemplars experienced during acquisition, or performed two novel and two previously experienced exemplars following 24-hour and 1-week retention intervals (Experiment 2). The results indicated that novel task transfer was not affected by the contextual relationship between the acquisition and transfer exemplars, and that there was no advantage for a previously experienced exemplar over a novel exemplar after either a 24-hour or 1-week retention interval. These results are interpreted as being indicative of a schema abstraction model of memory representation

A linear programming analysis of human diets based upon major staple crops: sensitivity of low cost formulations to caloric, protein and bulk constraints,

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 1971.Two unnumbered leaves included in paging.Includes bibliographical references.by John G. Chamberlin.M.S