A Qualitative Method for Assessing the Impact of ICT on the Architectural Design Process

During the last thirty years or so, we have witnessed tremendous developments in information and communication technology (ICT). Computer processing power doubles each 18 months, as Gordon Moore predicted during the mid-1960s. The computer and communications world has been revolutionised by the invention of the Internet. It has changed the way of exchanging, viewing, sharing, manipulating and storing the information. Other technologies such as smartphones, wearable computers, tablets, wireless communications and satellite communications have made the adoption of ICT easier and beneficial to all its users. ICT affects the productivity, performance and the competitive advantage of a business. It also impacts on the shape of the business process and its product. In architectural design, ICT is widely used throughout the design process and its final product. The aim of this research, therefore, is to explore the key implication of using ICT in architectural design and what new changes and forms have occurred on buildings as a result of ICT developments and use by architecture practitioners. To achieve this aim, a qualitative research approach was adopted using a narrative review of ICT usage in the design of buildings. The literature found was subjected to a thematic analysis of how ICT adoption affected the architectural design process. The findings of this research indicate that there is a continuous change in the design process and its final products (buildings) as the technology evolves. The framework proposed provides a foundation for gathering evidence from case studies of the impact of ICT adoption by architectural designers. The research proposes that future empirical work has to be conducted to test and refine the relevance, importance and applicability of each of the components of the framework, in order to detect the impact of ICT on the building design process and its final product

The Direct Productivity Impact of Infrastructure Investment: Dynamic Panel Data Evidence From Sub Saharan Africa

The paper aimed at isolating the direct productivity of economic infrastructure using a production function approach. Based on an extension of endogenous growth theory with public finance, infrastructure could have either a negative or positive effect on economic growth. The empirical analysis utilises a panel of 19 countries from Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). With SSA infrastructure being less developed both in terms of quantity and quality, the a priori expectation was that all types of infrastructure have a positive and signifcant effect on aggregate income level. It is found that, like static estimation techniques, dynamic panel data (DPD) estimation techniques could also produce counterintuitive results if endogeneity of infrastructure is not accounted for. Positive and significant direct productive effects of infrastructure (total roads, electricity generation capacity, and telephones) were obtained using the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator (a form of DPD analysis) after instrumentation for infrastructure. Representing infrastructure with an index constructed from the three infrastructure types also produced similar results. The results are confirmed with the use of the System General Method of Moments (SYS GMM) which constructs instruments for infrastructure using appropriate lags of the variables in first differences and in levels. Thus, it would appear that the negative and counterintuitive productivity results that are sometimes obtained in the literature could be partly due to limitations in methodologies that do not appropriately account for time varying fixed effects and the endogeneity of infrastructure in the economic growth process, especially for developing countries. Control variables for the macroeconomic environment and level of political and civil rights are also found to have a positive and significant effect on aggregate output.

The effect of environmental variability on livestock and land-use management: the Borana Plateau, Southern Ethiopia

The Borana people are the predominant ethnic group on the Borana Plateau in southern Ethiopia, who have recently increased their reliance on crops. Rainfall in the region averages between 353 mm to 873 mm; variability is high, with coefficients of variation ranging from .21 to .68. Anectdotal evidence implies that the vulnerability of pastoralist households to drought is increasing; stock levels increase dramatically during good rainfall years but plummet when rainfall is poor, indicating that the drought cycle is becoming more pronounced. In recent years, there has also been a dramatic increase in land allocated to crops, and land allocated to pastures that are either privatized or accessible to only a small sub-group of people. It is hypothesized that one of the key determinants of the productivity and sustainability of the systems is the ability of community members to cooperate over the use and maintenance of these resources. In this paper, we develop indicators of cooperation and examine factors affecting these indicators. We then use these indicators to determine the impact of cooperation on stock densities and land allocation patterns. Results indicate that cooperation is positively related to factors that increase the profitability of livestock, but negatively related to the total number of households, the use of community pastures by non-community members, and heterogeneity of wealth within the community.Ethiopia., Pastoral systems Environmental aspects Africa., Land use Ethiopia., Livestock., Crops.,

Working Paper 105 - Smallholder Agriculture in East Africa: Trends, Constraints and Opportunities

Smallholder agriculture continues to play akey role in African agriculture. This paperinvestigates trends, challenges andopportunities of this sub-sector in EastAfrica through case studies of Kenya,Ethiopia, Uganda and Tanzania. In theseagriculture-based economies, smallholderfarming accounts for about 75 percent ofagricultural production and over 75 percentof employment. However, contributions ofsmallholder farming, and agriculture ingeneral, to the region’s recent rapid growthduring 2005 - 08 have remained limited.Instead, growth was driven by services, inparticular trade. This paper finds that at thenational level, weak institutions, restrictedaccess to markets and credit. These factors,including inadequate infrastructure, haveconstrained productivity growth ofsmallholder farming. Measures needed toimprove productivity of smallholder farmersinclude ease of access to land, training toenhance skills and encourage technologyadoption and innovation, and removal ofobstacles to trade. At the regional and globallevels, international trade barriers need to beaddressed.

Creating Enhanced Capacity for Local Economic Development (LED) through Collaborative Governance in South Africa

The complexities of the twenty-first century have paved way for the emergence and proliferation of cross boundary collaboration in the lexicon of localised and territorial development. Collaborative governance is increasingly playing a vital role in addressing the multi-dimensional challenges of the contemporary era. This paper seeks to contextualise collaborative governance as a possible remedy that could help to salvage the incapacitated municipalities and be more resourceful in their developmental mandate of fostering localised territorial development. In addition, the article discusses some of the contextual limitations of commonly applied state-led and civilpowered approaches to address socio-economic problems in municipalities. To constitute a resilient collaborative governance capable of improving system management and responsiveness to socio-economic issues in municipalities, the paper tends to shed light on the emergence of another type of approach, the hybridcentric collaborative approach. Given this scenario, what would be the specific roles and relationship between the state and non-state

UPAYA GURU MENGEMBANGKAN LITERASI DALAM PEMBELAJARAN DI KELAS AWAL SD NEGERI 12 BANDA ACEH

ABSTRAKKamara, Ayunda. 2017. Upaya Guru Mengembangkan Literasi Dalam Pembelajaran Di Kelas Awal SD Negeri 12 Banda Aceh. Skripsi, Jurusan Pendidikan Guru Sekolah Dasar, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas Syiah Kuala. Pembimbing:(1)Drs. Adnan, M.Pd., (2) Dra. Hasmiana Hasan, M.Si. Kata Kunci: upaya, literasi, kelas awal Upaya guru mengembangkan literasi dalam pembelajaran dikelas awal. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui usaha yang dilakukan oleh guru dan kendala yang dihadapi guru pada mengembangkan literasi dalam pembelajaran di kelas awal SD Negeri 12 Banda Aceh. Penelitian ini menggunakan pendekatan penelitian kualitatif dengan jenis penelitian deskriptif. Subjek dalam penelitian ini adalah seluruh guru kelas awal yaitu guru kelas satu, guru kelas dua dan guru kelas tiga yang terdiri dari 6 orang guru. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah observasi nonpartisipan, dilanjutkan dengan mewawancarai guru serta dokumentasi. Teknik analisis data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah reduksi data, penyajian data dan penarikan kesimpulan. Dari hasil pengamatan dan wawancara yang dilakukan oleh peneliti mengenai pengembangan literasi dalam kegiatan pembelajaran di kelas awal SD Negeri 12 Banda Aceh, kegiatan literasi sudah mulai terlaksana dengan baik. Dalam pengembangan kegiatan literasi guru melakukan berbagai upaya mulai dari tahap pembiasaan membaca 15 menit sebelum memulai pembelajaran, menciptakaan sudut baca didalam kelas serta menentukan waktu kunjungan keperpustakaan. Guru juga mendukung dan memotivasi siswa pada kegiatan literasi dalam pembelajaran, mulai dari memilih buku cerita yang bermanfaat dan menarik untuk dibacakan oleh siswa serta melakukan tanya jawab tentang cerita yang telah dibacakan. Adapun kendala yang dihadapi guru dalam pelaksanaan literasi dalam pembelajaran ini yaitu masih terbatasnya ketersediaan buku-buku bacaan disekolah. Solusi yang dilakukan oleh guru untuk mengatasi hal tersebut yaitu menyediakan media yang mendukung kegiatan literasi seperti kartu kata, media gambar, bacaan-bacaan yang ada dilingkungan kelas serta guru juga mengajak siswa menyumbangkan satu buah buku bacaan pada sudut baca didalam kelas

CHOOSING SCIENCE: The Role Of Social Values

Abstract In this work, the researcher investigated whether social values have a role in students' decisions to study the natural sciences. The research employed ethnography which included interactive discussions on some Relevance Of Science Education(ROSE) slides and focus group interviews as data collecting instruments. The research was done within the joint framework of the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Goal Theory. Collected data from the entire study indicate conformity with both theories to a large extent. Findings reveal that social values play both motivational and attitudinal roles in the students' choices of the natural sciences at higher secondary school level. Social values inform reasons for some students' attachment to the natural sciences as well as other students’ disenchantment with those subjects. Taken together, the findings suggest that social values may help explain present levels of take-up of natural science as career