A deeply embedded sociotechnical strategy for designing ICT for development

This document is the author deposited version. You are advised to consult the publisher's version if you wish to cite from it. Published version DEARDEN, Andy and RIZVI, Haider (2009). A deeply embedded sociotechnical strategy for designing ICT for development. International journal of sociotechnology and knowledge development, 1 (4), 52-70. Repository use policy Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in SHURA to facilitate their private study or for noncommercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. Sheffield Hallam University Research Archiv

Roles and responsibilities in agile ICT for development

This paper examines the different roles in designing interactive software in a ICT for development context. Using experiences from a participatory action research project, in which we used agile methods to design and deploy an system to support ‘agricultural information flow’ for a co-operative of small farmers in rural India, we identify points of difference between the roles in standard descriptions of agile software methods and the roles as they emerged in our project. A key finding is the critical role played by a ‘Development Project Manager’ in facilitating dialogue, orchestrating the activities of other actors and in building the capabilities and confidence of all the participants in joint action

Qualitative Reforms in Indian Tertiary Education System

At one end, we are grappling with quantity i.e. enrollment but on the other hand the most serious concern is quality and relevance of higher education imparted to student. In terms of quality, the biggest lacuna in the system of higher education is mismatch between the need of society and what the students are taught in classrooms. Our universities and colleges produce a number of unskilled manpower every year that is not fit for corporate sector. It is due to lack of proper governance and commitment to work. So, there is need to paradigm shift to education. There is no dearth of intellectuals/professionals in India who may come with shining stars only if policy makers have patience and concern. Keeping the new education policy educate, encourage and enlighten in view, we must go ahead. Keywords: India, Tertiary education, Qualitative refor

Crises of Indian Higher Education System: An Overview

It is true that Indian education system is lagging behind both qualitatively as well as quantitatively in ratio of population and educational progress of developed countries. On the other hand it has achieved substantial growth after independence but we may compete with china and Japan, which are examples for us. On one hand, we are grappling with quantity but on the other hand the most serious concern is quality and relevance of higher education imparted to student. In terms of quality, the biggest lacuna in the system of higher education is mismatch between the need of society and what the students are taught in classrooms. Our universities and colleges produce a number of unemployed youth every year that is not fit for corporate sector. It is due to lack of proper governance and commitment to work. So, there is need to paradigm shift in education. There is no dearth of intellectuals/professionals in India who may come with shining stars only if policy makers have patience and concern. Keeping the new education policy educate, encourage and enlighten in view, we must go ahead. Keywords: India, Tertiary education, Crises

Lattice Element Method and its application to Multiphysics

In this thesis, a Lattice element modelling method is developed and is applied to model the loose and cemented, natural and artificial, granular matters subject to thermo-hydro-mechanical coupled loading conditions. In lattice element method, the lattice nodes which can be considered as the centres of the unit cells, are connected by cohesive links, such as spring beams that can carry normal and shear forces, bending and torsion moment. For the heat transfer due to conduction, the cohesive links are also used to carry heat as 1D pipes, and the physical properties of these rods are computed based on the Hertz contact model. The hydro part is included with the pore network modelling scheme. The voids are inscribed with the pore nodes and connected with throats, and then the meso level flow equation is solved. The Euler-Bernoulli and Timoshenko beams are chosen as the cohesive links or the lattice elements, while the latter should be used when beam elements are short and deep. This property becomes interesting in modelling auxetic materials. The model is applied to study benchmarks in geotechnical engineering. For heat transfer in the dry and full range of saturation, and fractures in the cemented granular media.How through porous media failure behaviours of rocks at high temperature and pressure and granular composites subjected to coupled Thermo hydro Mechanical loads. The model is further extended to capture the wave motion in the heterogeneous granular matter, and a few case studies for the wavefield modification with existing cracks are presented. The developed method is capable of capturing the complex interaction of crack wave interaction with relative ease and at a substantially less computational cost

A Study of Professional Adjustment of Teachers by Nature of Post

In the paper, the researcher attempted to assess Professional Adjustment status and level of teachers according to their nature of post on a sample of 792 teachers. Teachers have been classified into two categories viz. permanent and temporary. To evaluate the status of professional adjustment of teachers, a tool viz. "Manual on Teachers Professional Adjustment" was used which was prepared and standardized by the investigator. The reliability and validity of the tool were found 0.89 and 0.66 respectively. On the basis of percentile rank and professional adjustment scores, professional adjustment status of teachers have been classified into three levels viz. well-adjusted, average-adjusted low-adjusted. Analysis of data was done by t-test and c2 test through SPSS version 13.0 and Prism 3.0. This study reveals that there is no significant difference between professional adjustment of permanent and temporary teachers. But, professional adjustment levels of two groups are statistically significant. The serious concern is that 13-19% teachers are well-adjusted and around 64-72% teachers are average-adjusted. Consequently, there is hardly effect of permanency on professional adjustment of teachers. Keywords: Professional Adjustment, Level, Status, Teacher, Nature of Post

Universal versus Islamic Human Rights: A Philosophical Study

Human rights are those rights which applied to every single person simply because he/she is human being. It applies to everyone; everywhere without exception i.e. equal to everyone regardless race, culture, gender, age, color, social orientation etc. But, it is unfortunate that every human right is not a legal right. It depends upon the will of the state to convert into legal right. Islam declared about human rights in 6th century, while UNO issue universal declaration in 1948. The UNO charter basically classifies human rights in three dimensions. 1. Classical, political and civil liberty rights, 2. Economic, cultural and social human rights, 3.Rights of groups. The holy Qur’an declares that all human beings are progeny of Adam. Therefore, all humans, irrespective of their gender and color, are declared essentially equal. The key terms used by the holy Qur’an is huquq al- Allah and huquq al-‘ibad, the rights due towards the Creator and the Sustainer and the rights of Allah’s servants, i.e., human beings. The researcher makes an effort to understand the philosophy of human rights in Islam and UNO. The paper also attempts to summarize some of basic human rights given by the Qur’an and UNO. The paper especially focuses on a comparison of human rights between Islamic declaration and universal declaration and shortcomings in universal declaration thereafter. Keywords: Human rights, Islamic view, Universal declaratio

Plasma kinetic theory

The description of plasma using fluid model is mostly insufficient and requires the consideration of velocity distribution which leads to kinetic theory. Kinetic theory of plasma describes and predicts the condition of plasma from microscopic interactions and motions of its constituents. It provides an essential basis for an introductory course on plasma physics as well as for advanced kinetic theory. Plasma kinetics deals with the relationship between velocity and forces and the study of continua in velocity space. Plasma kinetics mathematical equations provide aid to the readers in understanding simple tools to determine the plasma dynamics and kinetics as described in this chapter. Kinetic theory provides the basics and essential introduction to plasma physics and subsequently advanced kinetic theory. Plasma waves, oscillations, frequencies, and applications are the subjects of kinetic theory. In this chapter, mathematical formulations essential for exploring plasma kinetics are compiled and described simplistically along with a precise discussion on basic plasma parameters in simple language with illustrations in some cases

Iterative Algorithm for extended mixed equilibrium problem

In this paper, we introduce and study an extended mixed equilibrium problem by using auxiliary principle technique. A generalized predictor-corrector iterative algorithm is defined for solving extended mixed equilibrium problem. The convergence of the method mentioned requires some condition (∗), g-relatively relaxed Lipschitz continuity and relatively g-relaxed monotonicity of the mappings

The fuzzy over-relaxed proximal point iterative scheme for generalized variational inclusion with fuzzy mappings

This paper deals with the introduction of a fuzzy over-relaxed proximal point iterative scheme based on H(-, -)-cocoercivity framework for solving a generalized variational inclusion problem with fuzzy mappings. The resolvent operator technique is used to approximate the solution of generalized variational inclusion problem with fuzzy mappings and convergence of the iterative sequences generated by the iterative scheme is discussed. Our results can be treated as refinement of many previously-known results