Relevance judgements in information retrieval

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this documentThesis (DPhil (Information Science))--University of Pretoria, 2005.Information Scienceunrestricte

The age of Aceh and the evolution of kingship 1599-1641

The evolution of Acehnese kingship is examined against the background of its relations with European traders and the tradingports in the region of the Malacca Straits. There are two defining moments in the history of Aceh: first the arrival of the Portuguese in Malacca in 1511 which gave impetus to Aceh's rise as a local power. The dispelling of the Portuguese from Malacca was the constante in Aceh's policy. The second moment was the arrival of the northern Europen traders from 1599 onwards.European presence in the Straits and beyond profoundly impacted on the region's development.Fusion and fission were part of the changing geo-political scene of the period of this study.Aceh's dominance in politics and trade was the marked feature of the period 1599-1641. A military partnership with the Dutch,later the VOC,was a marked feature of the period examined. Although the two partners failed to meet their obligations and they quarrelled,ther relations continued. The conquest of Malacca in 1641 by the VOC happened without the actual help of Aceh. Aceh's powerful role diminished.LEI Universiteit LeidenColonial and Global Histor

Reflection on innovation processes in a smallholder goat development project in Mozambique

There is an increasing interest among researchers, practitioners and donors in using agricultural innovation system approaches to reach development outcomes. Limited practical experiences have been shared on the dynamics of these innovation processes and how project partners have dealt with that. The objective of this paper is therefore to share experiences from a smallholder livestock development project – the imGoats project in Mozambique – by reflecting on the dynamics of innovation processes in the project. The paper focusses on three intervention domains of the imGoats project: improving access to animal health services, improving market access and developing communal grazing areas. For each area, the innovation process was analysed by looking at the following elements: the local context, innovation type, actors involved, people taking the initiative, changing context, flexibility of project partners, pace of the process, and results. The findings demonstrate that the innovation processes of the three intervention domains varied considerably in terms of participation of actors, predictability of the process, expected and unexpected results and degree of experimentation. Hence, different innovation processes coexisted in the same project context, but were closely interrelated. Each addressed a particular constraint, which together contributed to the overall development objective of the project, though each innovation process was different. These findings and challenges have implications for research, practice and policy. For example, the dynamics of innovation processes may vary and depend on the intervention domain; this asks for a critical reflection on the role of research, facilitation and brokering in each of these cases. Hence, innovation processes require flexible management and should allow for joint experimentation and learning among project partners, stakeholders and decision makers; it also requires flexibility in project design and donor funding so that not only ‘obvious’ interventions are catered for, but also unforeseen developments

Towards the Legal Recognition and Governance of Forest Ecosystem Services in Mozambique

Within the context of Mozambique, this paper examines the state of forest ecosystem services, the dependency of the population on these systems for their well-being, if an adaptive governance regime is being created which will ensure the resilience of the forest ecosystem services including the legal framework, the institutions operating within this framework, the tools available and their functioning, and how cooperative governance is operating.  

Between the East and the West: the wanderings of a Javanese \u27tribe\u27 (a contribution to the study of diaspora communities

Abstract: The village of Tongar nestled in the Minangkabau highlands of western Sumatra in Indonesia is the epitome of a unique Javanese transplant, which has its beginnings in the former Dutch colony of Suriname, South America, where, starting from 1890 onwards until 1939 immigrants from the island of Java followed a five year contract as indentured labourers, and choose to settle after expiration of the contract. But decades of disillusionment, discrimination and not in the least fragmentation within the group laid a solid basis for the decision in favour of repatriation to Indonesia. At the crucial moment of universal suffrage in 1951, 75% of the Javanese rejected Dutch nationality and were therefore regarded by the colonial government as aliens. In 1954 a number of one thousand people left Suriname for Sumatra to start a new life as Indonesian citizens. Keywords: wanderings of a Javanese \u27tribe\u2

Measurement report:Dual-carbon isotopic characterization of carbonaceous aerosol reveals different primary and secondary sources in Beijing and Xi'an during severe haze events

To mitigate haze pollution in China, a better understanding of the sources of carbonaceous aerosols is required due to the complexity in multiple emissions and atmospheric processes. Here we combined the analysis of radiocarbon and the stable isotope 13C to investigate the sources and formation of carbonaceous aerosols collected in two Chinese megacities (Beijing and Xi'an) during severe haze events of a "red alarm"level from December 2016 to January 2017. The haze periods with daily PM2:5 concentrations as high as ∼400 μgm-3 were compared to subsequent clean periods (i.e., PM2:5 less than median concentrations during the winter 2016/2017) with PM2:5 concentrations below 100 μgm-3 in Xi'an and below 20 μgm-3 in Beijing. In Xi'an, liquid fossil fuel combustion was the dominant source of elemental carbon (EC; 44 %-57 %), followed by biomass burning (25 %-29 %) and coal combustion (17 %-29 %). In Beijing, coal combustion contributed 45 %-61% of EC, and biomass burning (17 %-24 %) and liquid fossil fuel combustion (22 %-33 %) contributed less. Non-fossil sources contributed 51 %-56% of organic carbon (OC) in Xi'an, and fossil sources contributed 63 %-69% of OC in Beijing. Secondary OC (SOC) was largely contributed by non-fossil sources in Xi'an (56∼6 %) and by fossil sources in Beijing (75∼10 %), especially during haze periods. The fossil vs. non-fossil contributions to OC and EC did not change drastically during haze events in both Xi'an and Beijing. However, compared to clean periods, the contribution of coal combustion to EC during haze periods increased in Xi'an and decreased in Beijing. During clean periods, primary OC from biomass burning and fossil sources constituted ∼70% of OC in Xi'an and ∼53% of OC in Beijing. From clean to haze periods, the contribution of SOC to total OC increased in Xi'an but decreased in Beijing, suggesting that the contribution of secondary organic aerosol formation to increased OC during haze periods was more efficient in Xi'an than in Beijing. In Beijing, the high SOC fraction in total OC during clean periods was mainly due to an elevated contribution from non-fossil SOC. In Xi'an, a slight day-night difference was observed during the clean period with enhanced fossil contributions to OC and EC during the day. This day-night difference was negligible during severe haze periods, likely due to the enhanced accumulation of pollutants under stagnant weather conditions