Regional Tourism Development As Poverty Reduction Strategy in Bangli Regency

Poverty which is an urgent problem faced by Indonesia requires systematic, integrated, and comprehensive handling steps as well as approach. Although many povertyreduction programs have been carried out by government agencies and other institutions, the results have not been optimal yet. This is due to the fact that the poverty-reduction programs carried out so far are generally limited to the symptoms and do not touch the root of the problems. Tourism is one of the alternatives to improve the economy sector because it provides employment opportunities and business opportunities. The purpose of this study was to find out poverty-reduction strategies by developing regional tourism in Bangli Regency. This study used quantitative main approach that was supported by qualitative approach. It was a mixed method combining quantitative and qualitative methods. The quantitative research was carried out through secondary data collection from data sources available at the Statistical Office, the Office of Regional Instrument Organizations (OPD) of Bangli Regency and several articles related to the research available in the institutions. The qualitative approach was also used in this study because some of the problems investigated were carried out through exploration by conducting in-depth interviews. In addition to the in-depth interviews, data collection was also carried out by conducting focus group discussions to explore the specific problems related to poverty-reduction strategy in the form of regional tourism development of Bangli Regency. In general, tourism development policies of Bangli Regency include: (1) The policies of developing tourism destinations in Bangli Regency that cover: (a) improving the quality of facilities and infrastructure as well as supporting services that can still maintain regional culture; (b) developing preservation of historical heritage and promotion of destination areas (DTW) which is carried out in accordance with the tourism development; and (c) conducting tourism activities which are directed to new DTW explorations. (2) The policies of tourism marketing development of Bangli Regency that cover: (a) determining market reach; (b) providing information that can be easily accessed by foreign and domestic tourists from all over the world; and (c) conducting research and development on tourism information systems. (3) The policies of tourism industry development in Bangli Regency that cover: (a) increasing tourism investment and (b) increasing the absorption of labors in tourism field in the context of poverty reduction. (4) The policies of tourism institutions development of Bangli Regency that cover: (a) strengthening tourism management, including management, human resources as well as clean and accountable governance and (b) enhancing the quality of human resources that have certification and international standards.     Keywords: poverty-reduction strategy, tourism developmen

Interactive Audio Pens, Home Literacy Activities and Emergent Literacy Skills

Interactive audio pens - pens that contain a built-in speaker and that can be used in combination with books that are made for this purpose - are new, commercially available technological developments that have found widespread dissemination. In the current paper, we studied the availability and use of these interactive audio pens and their associations with home literacy activities and children’s emergent literacy skills in a sample of 103 German preschool children. We found that the availability of interactive audio pens at home showed small positive relations to children's verbal short-term memory. Home literacy activities were not correlated to the availability of interactive audio pens. Results are discussed against the background of current research in multimedia storybook reading.In den letzten Jahren hat sich ein breites Angebot elektronisch gestützter Lesemedien etabliert. Besonders bekannt sind die digitalen Lese- und Lernstifte, das heißt elektronische Lesegeräte mit Lautsprecher in Stiftform, die beispielsweise zugehörige Kinderbücher nach Berührung des Buchtextes vorlesen. In der vorliegenden Studie (N = 103 Vorschulkinder) wurde kein statistisch bedeutsamer Zusammenhang zwischen der Verfügbarkeit digitaler Lese- und Lernstifte und der häuslichen Lernumwelt gefunden. Für die schriftsprachlichen Vorläuferfähigkeiten (Buchstabenkenntnis, phonologische Bewusstheit, verbales Kurzzeitgedächtnis) zeigt sich ein gering positiver korrelativer Zusammenhang der häuslichen Verfügbarkeit digitaler Lese- und Lernstifte mit dem verbalen Kurzzeitgedächtnis

Evaluating a workspace's usefulness for image retrieval

Image searching is a creative process. We have proposed a novel image retrieval system that supports creative search sessions by allowing the user to organise their search results on a workspace. The workspace’s usefulness is evaluated in a task-oriented and user-centred comparative experiment, involving design professionals and several types of realistic search tasks. In particular, we focus on its effect on task conceptualisation and query formulation. A traditional relevance feedback system serves as a baseline. The results of this study show that the workspace is more useful in terms of both of the above aspects and that the proposed approach leads to a more effective and enjoyable search experience. This paper also highlights the influence of tasks on the users’ search and organisation strategy

Study on yield potentiality and spatial requirement of rice varieties (Oryza sativa L.) in system of rice intensification (SRI) under red and laterite zone of West Bengal, India

Field experiment was conducted at Rice Research Station, Bankura during kharif season 2009 and 2010 to study the yield potentiality and spatial requirement of rice varieties in system of rice intensification (SRI) under red and laterite zone of West Bengal. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design (RCBD) in a three replications with two rice varieties (Swarna and Lalat). Performances of swarna and lalat varieties in SRI as compared to conventional method of rice cultivation (CMRC) were investigated. Swarna (MTU 7029) has yielded maximum grain yield (6.07, 5.66 and 5.86 t ha-1 during 2009, 2010 and in pooled, respectively) from the treatment T7 (25 × 25 cm spacing) under SRI. Lowest grain yield (3.55, 3.23 and 3.38 t ha-1 during 2009, 2010 and in pooled, respectively) was recorded from treatment T9 (Lalat at 20 × 15 cm spacing) under CMRC. SRI technology has potential in increasing more grain yield, it saves seed requirement and irrigation water and chemical fertilizer considering than conventional method of cultivation. Rice cultivation is more sustainable and profitable for the farmers in SRI under the red and laterite zone of West Bengal

Vehicle Routing using the Sweep Algorithm In Parallel

This paper presents a parallel version of the Sweep Algorithm, a heuristic solution to the smgle-termma] vehicle routing problem The Sweep Algorithm uses a duster-first route-second approach in finding a near-optimal set of routes. The clusters of delivery points are formed by using the terminal as the center and moving around it m a sweeping fashion After a duster is defined, the route is found with a traveling salesperson algorithm. The parallel version begins the sweep at different angles and performs both forward and backward sweeps. Each node handles a sweep and returns information concerning total distance traveled to the host. The host then derides which node has the best routes and requests the specific information. The traveling salesperson algorithm is the nearest neighbor method. This starts the route at the point in the duster nearest the terminal and proceeds by visiting the nearest unvisited point. Since this procedure is called many times in the course of finding all the routes, the quick but good results that this method yields were attractive. Also discussed are other parallel implementations of this problem and ideas for further research

Accessing the Next Generation of Synthetic Mussel‐Glue Polymers via Mussel‐Inspired Polymerization

The formation of cysteinyldopa as biogenic connectivity in proteins is used to inspire a chemical pathway toward mussel-adhesive mimics. The mussel-inspired polymerization (MIPoly) exploits the chemically diverse family of bisphenol monomers that is oxidizable with 2-iodoxybenzoic acid to give bisquinones. Those react at room temperature with dithiols in Michael-type polyadditions, which leads to polymers with thiol–catechol connectivities (TCC). A set of TCC polymers proved adhesive behavior even on challenging poly(propylene) substrates, where they compete with commercial epoxy resins in dry adhesive strength. MIPoly promises facile scale up and exhibits high modularity to tailor adhesives, as proven on a small library where one candidate showed wet adhesion on aluminum substrates in both water and sea water models.Verband der Chemischen Industrie http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100007215Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001659Peer Reviewe

Effect of different sources of organic matter on the yield of rice and soil health in red and lateritic zone of West Bengal, India

Field experiment was conducted to study effect of different sources of organic matter on the yield of rice and soil at Rice Research Station, Bankura, West Bengal, India during kharif season of 2009, 2010 and 2011. Average of three years data revealed that inclusion of vermi-compost in the fertilizers schedule of rice cultivation [variety: Swarna (MTU 7029)] increased the grain yield (30.26%) as well as straw yield (32.70%). However higher pH was observed in treatments receiving paddy straw application and organic carbon (%) was also higher in the respective plots where vermi-compost and paddy straw was applied. Regarding available P2O5, there was an increasing trend up to 13-20 kg ha-1 in vermi-compost and green manure applied plots. In case of available K2O, there was a decrease value in all treatments were observed. So there was a positive balance of P and negative balance of K