ICTs: empowering Western Australian women?

The idea that women are empowered through their learning and use of ICTs (ICTs are defined as computers, the Internet, and e-mail for the purposes of this thesis) has been adopted by international development agencies and the governments of most nations throughout the world. Hence, many agencies and governments have made courses on computers, the Internet, and e-mail available to women with the aim of empowering them. Empowerment is defined variously and has at its core the social, political, and economic development of women to create equality and challenge patriarchy. Women's empowerment seeks to bring about societal change that will create conditions and structures that foster and maintain gender equality in all facets of life. This thesis examines the notion of women's empowerment through ICTs. The first section of the thesis uses development and empowerment literature to define, explain, and critique women's empowerment and the conditions under which it is supposed to operate. The second section presents, analyses, and discusses the data collected from a questionnaire answered by some Western Australian women on their experiences of ICTs courses offered by the Western Australian government and their subsequent life changes. The questionnaire was designed to establish whether or not women are empowered to create societal change and challenge patriarchy, as suggested in literature. The results from the questionnaire show that the majority of the women in the cohort were empowered to the intrapersonal (or micro-) level only. Hence, there was little evidence for the majority of women of the interpersonal (or meso-) level and no evidence of the societal (macro-) level empowerment of the women through ICTs. Therefore, this study does not support the contention that women are empowered through ICTs

Why did British Electricity Prices Fall after 1998?

In an attempt to reduce high electricity prices in England and Wales the government has reduced concentration among generators and introduced New Electricity Trading Arrangements (NETA). Econometric analysis on monthly data from April 1996 to September 2002 implies support for two conflicting hypotheses. On a static view, increases in competition and the capacity margin were chiefly responsible for the fall in prices. If generators had been tacitly colluding before NETA, however, the impending change in market rules might have changed their behaviour a few months before the abolition of the Pool. That view implies that NETA reduced prices

Why did British electricity prices fall after 1998?

In an attempt to reduce high electricity prices in England and Wales the government has tried to encourage an increase in generation capacity, introduced a more competitive market structure and changed the market rules. Our econometric analysis on monthly data from April 1996 to March 2002 implies support for two conflicting hypotheses. On a static view, increases in competition and the capacity margin were responsible for the fall in prices, while changes in the trading rules had little impact. If generators had been tacitly colluding before NETA, however, the impending change in market rules might have changed their behaviour a few months before the abolition of the Pool. Regressions representing this hypothesis imply that NETA was responsible for a significant part of the reductions in prices after 1998

Why did British electricity prices fall after 1998?

In an attempt to reduce high electricity prices in England and Wales the government has reduced concentration among generators and introduced New Electricity Trading Arrangements (NETA). Econometric analysis on monthly data from April 1996 to September 2002 implies support for two conflicting hypotheses. On a static view, increases in competition and the capacity margin were chiefly responsible for the fall in prices. If generators had been tacitly colluding before NETA, however, the impending change in market rules might have changed their behaviour a few months before the abolition of the Pool. That view implies that NETA reduced prices.electricity, market power, concentration, market rules

The effects of irrelevant information on processing levels.

The present studies were designed to determine whether color as an irrelevant dimension would affect task performance based on different levels of information processing (Posner and Mitchell, 1967), and to try to assess whether the factors of response competition, response facilitation, and distraction contributed to these effects. It was expected that color, being a visual dimension, would have an effect on task performance based on a comparison of visual codes, and might also affect task performance based on name code comparisons. Experiments 1 and 2 were designed to determine whether, if Ss were asked to make same-different judgments about either the names of two letters presented to them (Experiment 1) or the forms of the two letters (Experiment 2) , the varying of letter color on certain trials would affect task performance. According to Posner and Mitchell (1987), responses to physically identical pairs of letters are based on comparisons of visual codes of the letters; responses to name identical pairs are based on comparisons of name codes of the letters. The results indicated that irrelevant color affected fesponses based either on visual code comparisons or on name code comparisons. Since it seemed improbable that the matching of nominally coded information could be affected by visual factors Opener and Taylor, 1969), it was suggested that perhaps irrelevant color affected not the comparison of the nominal information, but rather, other aspects of task performance prededing and following this comparison

Introduction: 50 Years of Art and Objecthood

Introduction to a special issue of 'Journal of Visual Culture' entitled '50 Years of Art and Objecthood: History, Impact, Critique

Cost-benefit analysis of management practices for ewes lame with footrot

The aim of this study was to investigate the cost-benefit of different strategies to treat and control ovine footrot. In November 2006, 162 sheep farmers in England responded to a survey on prevalence and management of lameness. The costs of lameness per ewe per year (PEPY) were calculated for 116 flocks. Linear regression was used to model the overall cost of lameness PEPY by management method. Associations between farmer satisfaction and time and money spent managing lameness were investigated. The median prevalence of lameness was 5% (inter-quartile range, IQR, 4-10%). The overall cost of lameness PEPY in flocks with ≥10% lameness was UK£6.35 versus £3.90 for flocks with <5% lameness. Parenteral antibiotic treatment was associated with a significantly lower overall cost of lameness by £0.79 PEPY. Routine foot trimming and foot bathing were associated with significantly higher overall costs of lameness PEPY of £2.96 and £0.90, respectively. Farmers satisfied with time managing lameness spent significantly less time (1.46 h PEPY) than unsatisfied farmers (1.90 h PEPY). Farmers satisfied with money spent managing lameness had significantly lower treatment (£2.94 PEPY) and overall (£5.00 PEPY) costs than dissatisfied farmers (£5.50 and £7.60 PEPY, respectively). If the farmers in this study adopted best practice of parenteral antibiotic treatment with no routine foot trimming, and minimised foot bathing for treatment/prevention of interdigital dermatitis, the financial benefits would be approximately £4.65 PEPY. If these costs are similar on other farms the management changes would lead to significant economic benefits for the sheep industry

Administrative Status and Authority of Directors of Special Services in the State of Oklahoma

Educational Administratio