A Modified Single Defect Cavity Study for Coherent Coupling in Photonic Crystal VCSELs

A modified single defect cavity study was conducted to determine if a calibrated simplified model could be use to predict and subsequently design for coherent coupling in PhC VCSELs. Modeled and fabricated devices are compared

Non-governmental organisations and empowerment: a study of women's self-help groups in India

The thesis examines the nature of empowerment for poor women in India, and the factors that influence empowerment outcomes arising from NGO interventions. Specifically the thesis looks at the role of accountability of the NGO to the people with whom it is working as a factor for empowerment. Empowerment of the poor and marginalised is becoming important a part of poverty alleviation strategies in development practice and it is recognised that the unequal power relations in the lives of the poor has denied them access to many development benefits. NGOs are seen to be important agents in empowerment as they are generally regarded as being closer to the communities with which they are working, than other development agencies, and being public-benefit organisation the goals in much of their work generally support empowerment outcomes. The research was concerned with how the accountability relationship an NGO has to the people it is working with affects the empowerment outcomes they experience. The thesis contends that NGOs are generally not ideal facilitators for empowerment as they are not membership organisations and as a consequence the people with whom they work do not have a direct or mandated accountability relationship with the NGO. This thesis defines empowerment as both the expansion of choice of an individual, and their capacity to act on those choices. The thesis looked at 15 NGOs in Kamataka and Maharashtra in India, and interviewed 77 self-help groups of poor women who were served by these NGOs. The results of the study show that women closely respond to the notion of changes in their agency as being key to what they see as empowering. The greater expansion of choice an action then vi enabled them to take greater control of their lives, and they were able to gain other development outcomes and resources that were available to them. The research found that accountability of the NGO to the groups, together with the period for which the group had been together and the decision-making of the groups, were correlated with empowerment. The research focused on the accountability of the NGOs to the groups and found that this was an area that many NGOs had some difficulty with. First they had competing accountability relationships to other stakeholders, namely their donors and the regulators; and secondly, as public benefit organisations they were hesitant to hand high levels of control over to a beneficiary constituency These findings have important implications for development practice, which in recent years has focused on more on efficient program management practices (including accountability to the donor) for effective programs. These findings point to a stronger focus on formalised participatory processes which hold the development agency to account to the beneficiary constituents as a powerful empowerment process in its own right

The Single-Angle Plane-Wave Spectral Response of One-Dimensional Photonic Crystal Structures

The multiple-incident-angle transmittances or reflectances of fabricated 1-D photonic crystal (PC) structures are measured. Regularization methods are applied to these measurements to determine the single-angle plane-wave spectral response of the structure

The determinants of election to the United Nations Security Council

This is the author's accepted manuscript. The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11127-013-0096-4.The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is the foremost international body responsible for the maintenance of international peace and security. Members vote on issues of global importance and consequently receive perks—election to the UNSC predicts, for instance, World Bank and IMF loans. But who gets elected to the UNSC? Addressing this question empirically is not straightforward as it requires a model that allows for discrete choices at the regional and international levels; the former nominates candidates while the latter ratifies them. Using an original multiple discrete choice model to analyze a dataset of 180 elections from 1970 to 2005, we find that UNSC election appears to derive from a compromise between the demands of populous countries to win election more frequently and a norm of giving each country its turn. We also find evidence that richer countries from the developing world win election more often, while involvement in warfare lowers election probability. By contrast, development aid does not predict election

A Case for Surfacing Theories of Change for Purposeful Organisational Capacity Development

What are the capacities of an effective social change organisation (SCO)? Some SCOs may value strategic planning capacities, while others financial accountability to donors, improved teamwork, or networking capacities. But do the different capacities that SCOs seek purposefully support meaningful social change? How much of what SCOs deem as ‘worth strengthening’ is based on linear thinking, or unhealthy power interests, or what donors want them to want, or a combination of these? This article argues that the capacities that different organisations value are conditioned by a mix of individual, organisational and societal worldviews, including deeply held assumptions on the nature of change and one's roles in affecting change. It posits that the processes SCOs use to attempt to intentionally ‘build’ their capacities should surface these worldviews in order to find more purposeful and systemic relationships between its internal processes, systems and capacities and the complex change that an organisation seeks to support

The Impact of Political Leaders' Profession and Education on Reforms

This paper analyzes whether the educational and professional background of a head of government matters for the implementation of market-liberalizing reforms. Employing panel data over the period 1970-2002, we present empirical evidence based on a novel data set covering profession and education of more than 500 political leaders from 73 countries. Our results show that entrepreneurs, professional scientists, and trained economists are significantly more reform oriented. Contrary, union executives tend to impede reforms. We also highlight interactions between profession and education with time in office and the political leaning of the ruling party