Assessing the outcomes of IWMI’s research and interventions on irrigation management transfer

Irrigation management / Participatory management / Privatization / Water users associations / Farmers associations / Gender

Restraint of Monkeys for Craniofacial Research

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/67286/2/10.1177_00220345730520012101.pd

Prospects for adopting system of rice intensification in Sri Lanka: a socioeconomic assessment

Models / Rice / Paddy fields / Irrigated farming / Rain-fed farming / Poverty / Farmers / Sri Lanka / Ratnapura / Kurunegala / Kalthota Irrigation System

Evaluating Privacy Adaptation Presentation Methods to support Social Media Users in their Privacy-Related Decision-Making Process

Several privacy scholars have advocated for user-tailored privacy (UTP). A privacy-enhancing adaptive privacy approach to help reconcile users\u27 lack of awareness, privacy management skills and motivation to use available platform privacy features with their need for personalized privacy support in alignment with their privacy preferences. The idea behind UTP is to measure users\u27 privacy characteristics and behaviors, use these measurements to create a personalized model of the user\u27s privacy preferences, and then provide adaptive support to the user in navigating and engaging with the available privacy settings---or even implement certain settings automatically on the user\u27s behalf. To this end, most existing work on UTP has focused on the measurement\u27\u27 and algorithmic modeling\u27\u27 aspect of UTP, however, with less emphasis on the adaptation\u27\u27 aspect. More specifically, limited research efforts have been devoted to the exploration of the presentation of privacy adaptations that align with user privacy preferences. The concept of presentation\u27\u27 goes beyond the visual characteristics of the adaptation: it can profoundly impact the required level of engagement with the system and the user\u27s tendency to follow the suggested privacy adaptation. This dissertation evaluates the potential of three adaptation presentation methods in supporting social media users to make better\u27\u27 privacy protection decisions. These three adaptation presentation methods include 1) automation that involves the automatic application of the privacy settings by the system without user input to alleviate them from having to make frequent privacy decisions; 2) highlights that emphasize certain privacy features to guide users to apply the settings themselves in a subtle but useful manner; and 3) suggestions that can explicitly inform users about the availability of certain settings that can be applied directly by the user. The first study focuses on understanding user perspectives on the different configurations of autonomy and control of the examined three privacy adaptation presentation methods. A second follow-up study examines the effectiveness of these adaptation presentation methods in improving user awareness and engagement with available privacy features. Taking into account social media users\u27 privacy decision-making process (i.e., they often make privacy-related decisions), the final study assesses the impact of privacy-related affect and message framing (i.e., tone style) on users\u27 privacy decisions in adaptation-supported social media environments. We offer insights and provide practical considerations towards the selection and use of optimal\u27\u27 privacy adaptation methods to provide user-tailored privacy decision support

Do Companies Value Maintaining ISO 9000 Certification? 2009 Case Study of 41 US Companies First Certified in 2000

The costs of obtaining and maintaining ISO certification are high. Moreover, studies have shown mixed results on the benefits of the certification. Consequently, the objective of this research was to verify whether or not companies do value maintaining the ISO 9000 certification. The empirical study was conducted on 41 U.S. companies that were first certified in 2000. The companies formed an existing database as they were used by Dr. Arbuckle in 2004 in his doctoral dissertation. Of the 41 companies, 12 were found to be out of business, leaving a final sample size of 29. Data were gathered from this sample through telephone interviews and verified through the organizations’ online documents. In this group, 23 companies were found to be still maintaining the ISO 9000 certification as of 2009. When the statistical analyses were performed, the results clearly indicated that companies do significantly value maintaining the ISO 9000 certification. However, it was interesting to note that the primary reason behind maintaining the ISO 9000 certification was pressure from customers and not necessarily as a tool towards achieving quality production or continuous improvement. Indeed, such an observation may help to explain why even certified companies sometimes produce goods and services of inferior quality

Does decentralised governance of primary education improve performance of pupils in Eastern Uganda? Perspectives of education managers

This study seeks to establish the role decentralised governance has played in the performance of primary schools in eastern Uganda. Exploratory and descriptive data drawn from 104 school managers and district officials participating in the study indicate that decentralised governance has strengthened management of the payroll, increased regularity of monitoring and supervision and introduced school management committees. Despite these improvements in governance, there is however evidence that the quality of primary education continues to be low. Only a small and declining percentage of pupils complete primary education, and with increasingly poor grades. This is because, for a number of reasons, both the supply and demand side of governance are still weak. Despite this, overall the author finds that decentralised governance of primary education is a positive development, as it has enhanced the supply side of governance. There is, however, a need to control negative practices in the supply side of governance, and to systematically develop the demand side of governance, if the performance of Ugandan pupils is to improve

Synthesis of Sub-Saharan Africa case study reports

Poverty / Water resource management / Investment / Irrigation programs / Land productivity / Farm income / Constraints / Labor / Manual pumps / Food security / Case studies

Importance of irrigated agriculture to the Ethiopian economy: capturing the direct net benefits of irrigation

Irrigated farming / National income / Economic growth / Crops / Prices / Sensitivity analysis / Crop management / Irrigation schemes / Ethiopia