Clusters and networks as enablers of product and process innovation

One of the strategies adopted in the Philippines to facilitate a more consistent supply of good quality vegetables from smallholder farmers is the clustering approach, whereby a small group or cluster of smallholder farmers is organized to deliver a pre-determined amount of produce to a focal customer (CRS-Philippines, 2007). Developed from the CIAT Territorial Approach, the CRS Eight Step Clustering Approach for Agro-enterprise Development employs a participatory action learning process, where the cluster members proactively plan their production to meet the specifc quality and delivery requirements of their focal customer. The clustering approach is a strategy which allows smallholder farmers to access higher value chains. Evidence is provided to demonstrate how several of the clusters facilitated have utilised the skills and knowledge acquired in servicing their focal customer to develop new products for new markets, to adopt alternative low cost systems of production to reduce their reliance on external inputs, to reduce postharvest losses and product deterioration through improved packaging, to improve access to low cost community-based loans and to take advantage of local and national government grants that provide production inputs and support the development of community-based infrastructure projects

Morphology Analysis of Si Island Arrays on Si(001)

The formation of nanometer-scale islands is an important issue for bottom-up-based schemes in novel electronic, optoelectronic and magnetoelectronic devices technology. In this work, we present a detailed atomic force microscopy analysis of Si island arrays grown by molecular beam epitaxy. Recent reports have shown that self-assembled distributions of fourfold pyramid-like islands develop in 5-nm thick Si layers grown at substrate temperatures of 650 and 750°C on HF-prepared Si(001) substrates. Looking for wielding control and understanding the phenomena involved in this surface nanostructuring, we develop and apply a formalism that allows for processing large area AFM topographic images in a shot, obtaining surface orientation maps with specific information on facets population. The procedure reveals some noticeable features of these Si island arrays, e.g. a clear anisotropy of the in-plane local slope distributions. Total island volume analysis also indicates mass transport from the substrate surface to the 3D islands, a process presumably related to the presence of trenches around some of the pyramids. Results are discussed within the framework of similar island arrays in homoepitaxial and heteroepitaxial semiconductor systems

Association of FEV1 in asthmatic children with personal and microenvironmental exposure to airborne particulate matter.

Exposure to particulate matter (PM) air pollution has been shown to exacerbate children's asthma, but the exposure sources and temporal characteristics are still under study. Children's exposure to PM is likely to involve both combustion-related ambient PM and PM related to a child's activity in various indoor and outdoor microenvironments. Among 19 children with asthma, 9-17 years of age, we examined the relationship of temporal changes in percent predicted forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1) to personal continuous PM exposure and to 24-hr average gravimetric PM mass measured at home and central sites. Subjects were followed for 2 weeks during either the fall of 1999 or the spring of 2000, in a southern California region affected by transported air pollution. FEV(subscript)1(/subscript) was measured by subjects in the morning, afternoon, and evening. Exposure measurements included continuous PM using a passive nephelometer carried by subjects; indoor, outdoor home, and central-site 24-hr gravimetric PM2.5 (PM of aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 microm) and PM10; and central-site hourly PM10, nitrogen dioxide, and ozone. Data were analyzed with linear mixed models controlling for within-subject autocorrelation, FEV1 maneuver time, and exposure period. We found inverse associations of FEV1 with increasing PM exposure during the 24 hr before the FEV1 maneuver and with increasing multiday PM averages. Deficits in percent predicted FEV1 (95% confidence interval) for given PM interquartile ranges measured during the preceding 24-hr were as follows: 128 microg/m3 1-hr maximum personal PM, -6.0% (-10.5 to -1.4); 30 microg/m3 24-hr average personal PM, -5.9% (-10.8 to -1.0); 6.7 microg/m3 indoor home PM2.5, -1.6% (-2.8 to -0.4); 16 microg/m3 indoor home PM10, -2.1% (-3.7 to -0.4); 7.1 microg/m3 outdoor home PM2.5, -1.1% (-2.4 to 0.1); and 7.5 microg/m3 central-site PM2.5, -0.7% (-1.9 to 0.4). Stronger associations were found for multiday moving averages of PM for both personal and stationary-site PM. Stronger associations with personal PM were found in boys allergic to indoor allergens. FEV1 was weakly associated with NO2 but not with O3. Results suggest mixed respiratory effects of PM in asthmatic children from both ambient background exposures and personal exposures in various microenvironments

Microstructural Evolution in Thin Films of Electronic Materials

Contains reports on five research projects and a list of publications and theses.Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-89-C-0001Semiconductor Research CorporationNational Science FoundationU.S. Army Research OfficeHitachi LimitedIBM Corporatio

Submicron Structures Technology and Research

Contains table of contents for Part I, table of contents for Section 1 and reports on thirteen research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program Contract DAAL03-89-C-0001National Science Foundation Grant ECS 87-09806Semiconductor Research Corporation Contract 87-SP-080Hampshire Instruments CorporationNational Science Foundation Grant ECS-85-03443U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant AFOSR-88-0304U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research Grant AFOSR-85-0154X-Opt., IncorporatedNational Aeronautics and Space Administration Contract NAS8-36748AT&T Bell Laboratorie

Submicron Structures Technology and Research

Contains reports on fifteen research projects.Joint Services Electronics Program (Contract DAALO3-86-K-0002)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS 87-09806)Semiconductor Research Corporation (Contract 87-SP-080)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS 85-03443)U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research (Grant AFOSR 85-0376)National Science Foundation (Grant ECS 85-06565)U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research (Grant AFOSR 85-0154)Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (Subcontract 2069209)National Aeronautics and Space Adminstration (Grant NGL22-009-683)Collaboration with KMS Fusion, Inc

Researching the gender division of unpaid domestic work: practices, relationships, negotiations, and meanings

The paper focuses on the potential of quantitative research methods for sociologists who research the gender division of unpaid domestic work. To begin, it reflects on the emergence of the sociological interest in unpaid domestic work and identifies an early core concern with making invisible work visible. It is argued that quantitative research methods provide us with the most valuable opportunities for ‘recognising’ unpaid domestic work since they facilitate larger scale representative projects. However the data in most of the large scale surveys are scant, and fail to reflect developments in the conceptualisation of unpaid domestic work. Four areas of concern to contemporary sociology are identified: domestic work practices, relationships, negotiations and meanings. Given the complex questions that these four sub- topics raise, the paper proposes a range of sub-areas as a focus for ongoing sociological research into unpaid domestic work. It is concluded that despite the methodological challenges presented, detailed indicators of the multiple dimensions of unpaid domestic work need to be agreed so that valid information can be collected as routinely in large scale surveys as are those on paid work