Report of a High-level Roundtable on Rising Powers and Global Development, and Launch of the Centre for Rising Powers and Global Development

This high-level roundtable meeting, held on 22 April 2015, was co-hosted by the Institute of Development Studies, the Development Research Center of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China, and the China International Development Research Network. It brought together experts from across IDS’ global network of policy, research and civil society partners to discuss the role for rising powers in global development, and how to facilitate mutual learning and partnership. The event marked the launch of the new Centre for Rising Powers and Global Development (CRPD). CRPD conducts and facilitates research on the impact of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and other rapidly changing and increasingly influential middle-income countries on international development, global public goods, and for the future of Development Studies research and training. Its research takes a political economy approach at global, national and community levels of analysis, to explore the effects of new alliances and coalitions, and the impact for development, sustainability and global governance issues, in the context of rapid change. This Evidence Report will provide a summary of the presentations and broader discussion that took place at the event around these themes.UK Department for International Developmen

Rising Powers in International Development: Learning Events 2014

This report provides an overview of the objectives of and discussions held at three learning events held by the IDS Rising Powers in International Development programme in 2014.UK Department for International Developmen

Centre for Rising Powers and Global Development: Learning Events 2015

This report provides an overview of the objectives of and discussions held at two learning events held by the IDS Rising Powers in International Development programme/Centre for Rising Powers and Global Development in 2015.UK Department for International Developmen

The Impact of e-Government Dynamic Capabilities on Information Flow Strategies in Disaster Relief Supply Chains: An Inter-Organizational System Perspective

History has shown that local, state, and federal governments are not well-equipped with the flexible and responsive abilities necessary to manage the short supply chain life-cycle inherent in providing appropriate disaster relief resources in a timely fashion. Unfortunately, in these unique situations these inefficiencies can cause considerable harm to the citizenry, the financial economy, and the physical infrastructure of the affected area. In this study, we provide an examination of the cross-agency capabilities and relationships that impact the flow of information within disaster relief supply chains. Through an inter-organizational systems approach, a theoretical framework is provided to assess the efficacy of e-government dynamic capabilities in disaster relief supply chains. Future research plans include further developing this conceptual understanding of e-government dynamic capabilities through a qualitative research approach. The results of analyzing the qualitative data will aid in the further development of the proposed research model

Local effects of new social-welfare policy on ageing in South Africa

In this paper, new South African social-welfare policy on ageing is analysed through an investigation of a poor coloured community in Namaqualand in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The study, conducted during the implementation of proposals in new draft policy, revealed that the new policy would have negative effects on the residents of a home for the aged located in the focus community. It is suggested that the new policy, which invokes the concept of ubuntu, differs only superficially from past policy on the states provision for older citizens. South Africans are required to provide financially for their retirement, despite it having been shown that both in the past and at present, it is tremendously difficult for the majority to do so. Further research is needed to determine whether the results of this study are unique or whether other communities experience similar effects of the new policy

A Tutorial on Using Qlik Analytics Platform for Business Analytics

Business Analytics focuses on how businesses, non-profits, and governments use data to gain insights and improve organizational decision-making skills. Due to an increasing availability of large data sets from a variety of sources (Big Data), employees with business analytic skills are in-demand in many industries throughout the world. There are numerous analytics platforms that can be brought into the classroom to introduce students to business analytics concepts. The goal of this tutorial is to familiarize the audience with key aspects of using the Qlik (pronounced Click ) analytics platform - one of the leading commercial business analytics tools on the market according to Gartner\u27s 2018 Magic Quadrant for analytics and business intelligence platforms (Howson, Sallam, & Richa, 2018). The tutorial will be organized into 3 parts: (1) discussion of pros and cons of the top 3 business intelligence platforms - Microsoft\u27s Power BI, Tableau, and Qlik, (2) brief introduction to Qlik and a quick review of its functionality, and (3) a hands-on walk through of an exemplar class project using simple linear regression on healthcare insurance data. The tutorial will conclude with best practices and suggestions for incorporating the Qlik Analytics platform into information systems curriculum at the undergraduate and graduate level

Chemistry and Apparent Quality of Surface Water and Ground Water Associated with Coal Basins

Personnel of the Arkansas Mining and Mineral Resources Research Institute conducted preliminary investigations on the chemistry and quality of surface and ground water associated with 12 coal-bearing sub-basins in the Arkansas Valley coal field. The coal field is approximately 60 miles long and 33 miles wide but only in 12 areas coal is thick enough and has proper quality to be termed commercial. Both surface and underground sample sites were established in each of the sub-basins with some minor variations in four areas where not all types of sites could be located. Water was collected from 19 surface points and 19 underground points in the established areas. Both field and laboratory analyses were made and elemental contents are reported herein. In the main, the chemistry and water quality suggests that all water is suitable for agricultural and industrial uses. To obtain potable water, treatment must be made to reduce calcium, magnesium, sodium sulfate and iron. The mineral content of the water is due to its contact with coal-bearing zones and, as such, reflects the mineral content of the coal. However, it is recommended that additional studies on the petrography and geochemistry of the coal, overburden and underburden is in order. Also, it is recommended that at least one detailed study be made of one of the coal sub-basins where geologic parameters can be completely established with regard to hydrogeology. This report is an important first step in determining the character and quality of Arkansas coal which must be fully understood to fully utilize this important mineral resource

Feminists really do count : the complexity of feminist methodologies

We are delighted to be presenting this special issue on the topic of feminism and quantitative methods. We believe that such an issue is exceptionally timely. This is not simply because of ongoing debates around quantification within the field of feminism and women‟s studies. It is also because of debates within the wider research community about the development of appropriate methodologies that take account of new technological and philosophical concerns and are fit-for-purpose for researching contemporary social, philosophical, cultural and global issues. Two areas serve as exemplars in this respect and both speak to these combined wider social science and specifically feminist methodological concerns. The first is the increasing concern amongst social scientists with how the complexity of social life can be captured and analysed. Within feminism, this can be seen in debates about intersectionality that recognise the concerns arising from multiple social positions/divisions and associated power issues. As Denis (2008: 688) comments in respect of intersectional analysis „The challenge of integrating multiple, concurrent, yet often contradictory social locations into analyses of power relations has been issued. Theorising to accomplish this end is evolving, and we are struggling to develop effective methodological tools in order to marry theorising with necessary complex analyses of empirical data.‟ Secondly, new techniques and new data sources are now coming on line. This includes work in the UK of the ESRC National Data Strategy which has been setting out the priorities for the development of research data resources both within and across the boundaries of the social sciences. This will facilitate historical, longitudinal, interdisciplinary and mixed methodological research. And it may be the case that these developments facilitate the achievement of a longstanding feminist aim not simply for interdisciplinarity but for transdisciplinarity in epistemological and methodological terms

ENGAGING STUDENTS WITH MOBILE APPLICATION IS CONCEPTS THROUGH CREATING VIDEO VIGNETTES

This teaching case presents a method for teaching IS concepts related to mobile commerce through a series of video vignettes. These student-created vignettes provide participants with the opportunity to explore and demonstrate the three key mobile commerce characteristics of Ubiquity, Context Awareness, and Identifiability. These three characteristics are essential to revenue generation and product differentiation for most mobile applications. Most college students use them on a daily basis; however, they are unaware of the strategic importance of these characteristics. Yet, it is the authors’ experience that quantifying, demonstrating, and discussing these concepts present students with significant difficulty. Thus, this case highlights how students in introductory IS courses have an opportunity to investigate and explore IS concepts outside of a traditional classroom format. The hands-on interactive use and demonstration of mobile application features made possible through these video vignettes can lead to measurably increased learning of IS concepts in classroom implementations

Reducing Misinformation on Social Media Networks

This study focuses on examining methods that can potentially reduce the spread of misinformation on major social media networks (SMN) such as Facebook and Twitter. Research finding ways to control the spread of misinformation on SMNs has been emergent. Prior research examined a SMN feature called \u27related articles\u27 to provide context directly under SMN posts with potentially misinformed content about controversial topics. Other research examined how SMN users were encouraged to consume online news sources outside their comfort zone when participating within a socialized environment. Each of these features separately were found to significantly reduced misperceptions of SMN users. In this study, we examine how both of these features can work together to reduce the spread of misinformation. We use an experimental survey to measure the effectiveness of SMN features in correcting misperceptions of SMN users and provide results to inform government, cybersecurity firms, social media companies, and SMN users