Research Evaluation to Increase Impact

Research evaluation, undertaken throughout the life of the research activity, is an important tool for research managers. When correctly implemented, research evaluation can help to increase the success of existing and future research projects and programs, thereby increasing the social, economic and/or environmental impact of the research. The relationship between the life-cycle of the research project and the type of evaluation determines the appropriate type of evaluation to be undertaken. Given the value of research evaluation, and the recent development of user-friendly evaluation procedures and models, management of a R&D portfolio can benefit from increased evaluation effort at the project, program and organisational levels.Research evaluation, research-to-impact pathway, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Population pressure and the microeconomy of land management in hills and mountains of developing countries:

Concerns about harmful environmental impacts are frequently raised in research and policy debates about population growth in the hills and mountains of developing countries. Although establishing wildlife corridors and biosphere reserves is important for preserving selected biodiverse habitats, for the vast majority of hilly-mountainous lands, the major ecological concerns are for the sustainability of local production systems and for watershed integrity. What matters for sustained use of those lands not only is the number of producers but also what, where and how they produce. Evidence from empirical research indicates that population growth in hills and mountains can lead to land enhancement, degradation, or aspects of both. This can be explained by extending induced innovation theory to address environmental impacts of intensification. Increases in the labor-land endowment ratios of households and in local land demand and labor supply make the opportunity cost of land relative to labor increase. As a result, people use hilly-mountainous land resources more intensively for production and consumption, thus tending to deplete resources and significantly alter habitats. But, at the same time, capital- and labor-intensive methods of replenishing or improving soil productivity may become economically more attractive, production systems that enhance the land if the expected discounted returns are greater than those of systems that degrade the land. Users will choose production systems that enhance the land if the expected discounted returns are greater than those of systems that degrade the land. In addition to population change, other factors—market conditions, local institutions and organizations, information and technology about resource management, and local ecological conditions—determine the returns from various production systems.Environmental impact analysis., Population density.,

Three Reductions, Three Gains (3R3G) Technology in South Vietnam: Searching for Evidence of Economic Impact

The aim of the “Three Reductions, Three Gains” (3R3G) project is to reduce production costs, improve farmers’ health, and protect the environment in irrigated rice production in Vietnam through the reduced use of seeds, nitrogen fertilizer, and pesticides. It was developed by the International Rice Research Institute and introduced to farmers in South Vietnam by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in early 2000 through traditional extension work and mass media. Farm survey data provide evidence of adoption of 3R3G primarily in terms of lowering seed rates. The resultant changes in the farm production/cost structure and farmer profits are measured.information-intensive technology, technology transfer, farm-level impacts, Environmental Economics and Policy, Farm Management, Productivity Analysis,

An Evaluation of an Integrated Multidisciplinary Early Identification and Triage of College Students at Risk for Anxiety and Depression

College students across the U.S. are experiencing an increasing prevalence of mental health concerns, such as anxiety and depression. Suicide is currently the second most common cause of death among U.S. college students. At the project site, the university health services report that mental health issues significantly impact the students’ academic progress, contributing to poor performance, inability to complete assignments, and sometimes forces attrition. Campus providers traditionally respond when students approach, often at the point of crisis or exacerbation. This Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) project evaluated the impact of a pilot program using an interdisciplinary approach to universal proactive mental health screening and triage. A retroactive chart audit (RCA) was utilized to evaluate the outcomes of this mental health pilot program. Out of a total of 287 students agreeing to participate during their primary care appointment visit, 61 participants scored at-risk for anxiety and/or depression on the Patient Health Questionnaire-4 and were referred to an in-house behavioral health consultant (BHC). The majority of at-risk participants (39.3%, n=24) scheduled and attended at least one follow-up appointment with a BHC. The results suggest the usefulness of a comprehensive, proactive mental health program in detecting undergraduate students at risk for anxiety and/or depression. This approach has the potential to address mental health issues among college students in a timely fashion and improve not just individual mental health but academic success

Optimal control of a process with discrete and continuous decision variables

technical reportThe task of dynamic optimization consists of manipulating the inputs to a dynamic system (i.e., one in which the state varies with time) so that the system performs in an advantageous manner. This paper presents a systematic technique for solving the problem of optimally controlling a converter aisle in a copper smelter. The converter aisle is distinguished from the usual dynamic system in that some of the control variables occur as discrete decisions while others may vary continuously with time. In this sense, the converter aisle typifies many industrial processes. The aisle is viewed as a total system with the objective of optimizing overall performance as evaluated using a mathematical performance criterion. Typical criteria reflect total processing time and operating costs. An essential step towards optimization is the development of a mathematical model to predict the state of the system. a simple mathematical model of the converter aisle is developed and using this model, two optimization approaches are examined: direct optimization of the total system and partitioning the system into interacting subproblems. The partitioned approach is pursued in detail with techniques for solving the optimization subprobelms presented and illustrated by numerical examples