Beyond recurrent costs: an institutional analysis of the unsustainability of donor-supported reforms in agricultural extension

International donors have spent billions of dollars over the past four decades in developing and/or reforming the agricultural extension service delivery arrangements in developing countries. However, many of these reforms, supported through short-term projects, became unsustainable once aid funding had ceased. The unavailability of recurrent funding has predominantly been highlighted in the literature as the key reason for this undesirable outcome, while little has been written about institutional factors. The purpose of this article is to examine the usefulness of taking an institutional perspective in explaining the unsustainability of donor-supported extension reforms and derive lessons for improvement. Using a framework drawn from the school of institutionalism in a Bangladeshi case study, we have found that a reform becomes unsustainable because of poor demands for extension information and advice; missing, weak, incongruent, and perverse institutional frameworks governing the exchange of extension goods (services); and a lack of institutional learning and change during the reform process. Accordingly, we have argued that strategies for sustainable extension reforms should move beyond financial considerations and include such measures as making extension goods (services) more tangible and monetary in nature, commissioning in-depth studies to learn about local institutions, crafting new institutions and/or reforming the weak and perverse institutions prevailing in developing countries. We emphasize the need to address three categories of institutions – regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive – and call for an alignment among them. We further argue that, in order to be sustainable, a reform should take a systemic approach in institutional capacity building and, for this to be possible, adopt a long-term program approach, as opposed to a short-term project approach

A connection with parallel totally skew-symmetric torsion on a class of almost hypercomplex manifolds with Hermitian and anti-Hermitian metrics

The subject of investigations are the almost hypercomplex manifolds with Hermitian and anti-Hermitian (Norden) metrics. A linear connection D is introduced such that the structure of these manifolds is parallel with respect to D and its torsion is totally skew-symmetric. The class of the nearly Kaehler manifolds with respect to the first almost complex structure is of special interest. It is proved that D has a D-parallel torsion and is weak if it is not flat. Some curvature properties of these manifolds are studied.Comment: 18 page

Thermal conductivity behavior of boron carbides

Knowledge of the thermal conductivity of boron carbides is necessary to evaluate its potential for high temperature thermoelectric energy conversion applications. The thermal diffusivity of hot pressed boron carbide B/sub 1-x/C/sub x/ samples as a function of composition, temperature and temperature cycling was measured. These data in concert with density and specific heat data yield the thermal conductivities of these materials. The results in terms of a structural model to explain the electrical transport data and novel mechanisms for thermal conduction are discussed

Virtual EQ – the talent differentiator in 2020?

In an increasingly competitive, globalised world, knowledge-intensive industries/ services are seen as engines for success. Key to this marketplace is a growing army of ‘talent’ i.e. skilled and dedicated knowledge workers. These knowledge workers engage in non-routine problem solving through combining convergent, divergent and creative thinking across organizational and company boundaries - a process often facilitated though the internet and social media, consequently forming networks of expertise. For knowledge workers, sharing their learning with others through communities of practice embedded in new information media becomes an important element of their personal identity and the creation of their individual brand or e-social reputation. Part of the new knowledge/skills needed for this process becomes not only emotional intelligence (being attuned to the emotional needs of others) but being able to do this within and through new media, thus the emergence of virtual emotional intelligence (EQ). Our views of current research found that HRD practitioners in 2020 might need to consider Virtual EQ as part of their talent portfolio. However it seems that new technology has created strategies for capturing and managing knowledge that are readily duplicated and that a talent differentiator in 2020 might simply be the ability and willingness to learn

Structure and dielectric properties of polar fluids with extended dipoles: results from numerical simulations

The strengths and short-comings of the point-dipole model for polar fluids of spherical molecules are illustrated by considering the physically more relevant case of extended dipoles formed by two opposite charges $\pm q$ separated by a distance $d$ (dipole moment $\mu=q d$). Extensive Molecular Dynamics simulations on a high density dipolar fluid are used to analyse the dependence of the pair structure, dielectric constant \eps and dynamics as a function of the ratio $d/\sigma$ (\sig is the molecular diameter), for a fixed dipole moment $\mu$. The point dipole model is found to agree well with the extended dipole model up to d/\sig \simeq 0.3. Beyond that ratio, \eps shows a non-trivial variation with d/\sig. When d/\sig>0.6, a transition is observed towards a hexagonal columnar phase; the corresponding value of the dipole moment, \mu^2/\sig^3 k T=3, is found to be substantially lower than the value of the point dipole required to drive a similar transition.Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures; Paper submitted to Molecular Physic

Polarization morphology of SiO masers in the circumstellar envelope of the AGB star R Cassiopeiae

Silicon monoxide maser emission has been detected in the circumstellar envelopes of many evolved stars in various vibrationally-excited rotational transitions. It is considered a good tracer of the wind dynamics close to the photosphere of the star. We have investigated the polarization morphology in the circumstellar envelope of an AGB star, R Cas. We mapped the linear and circular polarization of SiO masers in the v=1, J=1-0 transition. The linear polarization is typically a few tens of percent while the circular polarization is a few percent. The fractional polarization tends to be higher for emission of lower total intensity. We found that, in some isolated features the fractional linear polarization appears to exceed 100%. We found the Faraday rotation is not negligible but is ~15 deg., which could produce small scale structure in polarized emission whilst total intensity is smoother and partly resolved out. The polarization angles vary considerably from feature to feature but there is a tendency to favour the directions parallel or perpendicular to the radial direction with respect to the star. In some features, the polarization angle abruptly flips 90 deg. We found that our data are in the regime where the model of Goldreich et al (1973) can be applied and the polarization angle flip is caused when the magnetic field is at close to 55 deg. to the line of sight. The polarization angle configuration is consistent with a radial magnetic field although other configurations are not excluded.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

SQCD: A Geometric Apercu

We take new algebraic and geometric perspectives on the old subject of SQCD. We count chiral gauge invariant operators using generating functions, or Hilbert series, derived from the plethystic programme and the Molien-Weyl formula. Using the character expansion technique, we also see how the global symmetries are encoded in the generating functions. Equipped with these methods and techniques of algorithmic algebraic geometry, we obtain the character expansions for theories with arbitrary numbers of colours and flavours. Moreover, computational algebraic geometry allows us to systematically study the classical vacuum moduli space of SQCD and investigate such structures as its irreducible components, degree and syzygies. We find the vacuum manifolds of SQCD to be affine Calabi-Yau cones over weighted projective varieties.Comment: 49 pages, 1 figur

Large scale emergent properties of an autocatalytic reaction-diffusion model subject to noise

The non-equilibrium dynamic fluctuations of a stochastic version of the Gray-Scott (GS) model are studied analytically in leading order in perturbation theory by means of the dynamic renormalization group. There is an attracting stable fixed point at one-loop order, and the asymptotic scaling of the correlation functions is predicted for both spatial and temporally correlated noise sources. New effective three-body reaction terms, not present in the original GS model, are induced by the combined interplay of the fluctuations and nonlinearities.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

Fragments of the earliest land plants

The earliest fossil evidence for land plants comes from microscopic dispersed spores. These microfossils are abundant and widely distributed in sediments, and the earliest generally accepted reports are from rocks of mid-Ordovician age (Llanvirn, 475 million years ago). Although distribution, morphology and ultrastructure of the spores indicate that they are derived from terrestrial plants, possibly early relatives of the bryophytes, this interpretation remains controversial as there is little in the way of direct evidence for the parent plants. An additional complicating factor is that there is a significant hiatus between the appearance of the first dispersed spores and fossils of relatively complete land plants (megafossils): spores predate the earliest megafossils (Late Silurian, 425 million year ago) by some 50 million years. Here we report the description of spore-containing plant fragments from Ordovician rocks of Oman. These fossils provide direct evidence for the nature of the spore-producing plants. They confirm that the earliest spores developed in large numbers within sporangia, providing strong evidence that they are the fossilized remains of bona fide land plants. Furthermore, analysis of spore wall ultrastructure supports liverwort affinities