The Impact of Community Managed Irrigation on Household Income and Poverty Reduction: The Case of Sehartisamre Wereda, Tigray, Ethiopia

Ethiopia is second populous county in Sub Saharan Africa with tremendous land and water resources. However, most of the areas used by settlement are extremely degraded, per capita land availability is dwindled and productivities of land and labor are reduced. Agricultural productivity is also very much affected due to variability of rainfall and drought. Agricultural production growth mainly comes through intensification and limited intensification. Since 1950s there are mixed experiences with promoting irrigation and other modern agricultural technologies in the effort of intensification. In the last decade, small-scale irrigation and rainwater harvesting are central to Ethiopia‘s new policy and strategy on agricultural and rural development. This thesis explores the impact of irrigation income and poverty in northern Ethiopia. The overall working hypothesis of the thesis is that irrigation has an impact in improving household income and reduces the incidence, depth and severity of poverty in dry land areas of Ethiopia. The analysis is based on primary household-level data collected from randomly selected households in two Tabia of SaharitiSamre in the 2011/12 agricultural year. To analyses the impact, descriptive statistics, poverty profile comparison, and econometrics matching method were used. Research results indicate that households‘ access to irrigation has a significant impact on poverty reduction. Poverty among the user is less by 5% than poverty among the non-user. Irrigation has a positive influence agricultural development through increasing productivity, income of household and overall family employment

Analyzing the Dependency Between National Logistics Performance and Competitiveness: Which Logistics Competence is Core for National Strategy?

With the advancements in the strategic management field, logistics management has changed considerably and logistics competency has emerged as a new and important area of research. In this regard, the purpose of this study is to find the core logistics abilities, which enable nations to achieve a competitive advantage in the logistics market. Two different data sets, one from World Economic Forum and the other from the World Bank were used. Cluster and discriminant analysis were used to answer the research questions. The results indicated that while the logistics infrastructure and the customs were absolute in determining a high-competitive country, the logistics competence and the tracking & tracing were the core logistics abilities needed to sustain the competitive advantage in long term. The implications of these results are also discussed

An Action Research to Overcome Undergraduates’ Laboratory Anxiety

AbstractIn this study, it was aimed to determine and overcome undergraduates’ laboratory anxiety. For this purpose, Laboratory Anxiety Questionnaire (LAQ) was developed by researchers. LAQ was applied to 92 undergraduates as a pre-test and focus group interviews were performed to determine their laboratory anxiety. An action research was conducted by researchers. After instruction was accomplished in ten weeks, LAQ was applied as post-test. According to results, it was found that undergraduates’ laboratory anxiety related to working chemicals especially acids, using laboratory materials and equipments, laboratory accidents and making mistake, which were determined in the pre-test, were overcame in highly percentages

Schadenfreude And Fashion-Themed Shows On Television

Violence which is subject to the lots of television programs such as news, films, serials and even cartoons has been also shown in fashionthemed shows verbal and nonverbal ways so often. Presentation of violence on screen is a big problem but there is another problematic situation as important as it: being delighted by watching the violence. Fashion-themed shows are typical samples of the competitions which symbolic violence is visible. This situation might be explained by the notion of “schadenfreude” which means taking pleasure from pain and misfortune of the other people. Fashion-themed shows which are the example of Reality TV are so popular worldwide and also in Turkey. They are interesting examples of the schadenfreude that has become visible. In this study, expressions of the contestants, jury and presenter will be examined in order to reveal the signs of the pleasure which competitors show when another competitor find herself in a difficult situation and also indicators of the symbolic violence

Investigation the effectiveness of laboratory works related to “acids and bases” on learning achievements and attitudes toward laboratory

AbstractThis study aims to investigate the effectiveness of laboratory works related to ‘Acids and Bases’ over teacher centred traditional approach on high school students’ learning achievements and attitudes toward chemistry laboratory. The effects of laboratory works were assessed by the participations of 108 10th grade students from four classes in two high schools, which were were randomly assigned to experimental (NE-1=21, NE-2=32) and control (NC-1=24, NC-2=31) groups. Before the instruction, the pre-test (KR-20=0.81), applied on all the students to identify their prior knowledge about the basic subjects to learn ‘Acids and Bases’, and no significantly differences were found between experimental and control groups in each school (p>0.05). While the subject of “Acids and Bases” was taught supported with laboratory experiments in the experimental groups, traditional approach was used in the control groups. The results of the post-test (KR-20=0.77), applied after the instruction, indicated that students, who performed experiments was significantly higher mean scores than those of control groups (p<0.05). Students’ pre and post-attitudes towards chemistry laboratory were assessed by using Attitude toward Chemistry Laboratory Scale (α=0.87), and found that mean scores of the experimental groups significantly increased from 77.29 to 96.00 and from 80.03 to 97.66 (p<0.05). Students’ answers to the scale were analysed in four dimensions as (i) Laboratory environment and using equipments; (ii) Experimental process in the laboratory; (iii) Assessment in the laboratory and (iv) Cooperative learning in the laboratory, and significantly increases in the mean scores of experimental group were determined for all the dimensions in comparison with control groups students (p<0.05)

Promoting active learning in high school chemistry: learning achievement and attitude

AbstractThis study was conducted to investigate the effects of active learning applications, based on constructivism, related to the subject of “Acids and Bases”, on high school students’ learning achievements and attitudes toward chemistry lesson. For this purpose, a new active learning material was developed by considering students’ misconceptions and learning difficulties, and its effects were determined by participation of forty-five students from two different classes which were randomly assigned to experimental (N=21) and control (N=24) groups. The results of the pre-test (KR-20=0.81) showed no significantly differences between groups (F(1-43)=2.66, p>0.05). The instructions of “Acids and Bases” were accomplished with active learning material in the experimental group and with teacher-centred approach in the control group. After the instruction, the ‘Acids and Bases Achievement Test’ (KR-20=0.79) was administered to determine students’ learning achievements, and significantly differences were found between experimental (M=80.76) and control (M=47.83) groups (F(1-43)=102.529, p<0.05). Students’ answers to the test and also individual interviews indicated that in contrast to control group, experimental group students had significantly lower proportion of misconceptions about Acids and Bases. Students’ answers to the ‘Attitude toward Chemistry Lesson Scale’ (α=0.81) also reflected positive increases in four dimensions as (i) Interest in chemistry lesson; (ii) Understanding and learning chemistry; (iii) The importance of chemistry in the life, and (iv) Chemistry and occupational choice (F(1-43)=89.40, p<0.05)

Social Media in Social Organization

As global integration process creates changes and new problem areas around individuals, people try to apply new ways for resilience. One of the methods used in this frame is social organization. Also, one of the most important tools of social organization in today’s world is social media which emerge as a result of new communication technologies. The aim of this study is to reveal the role of social media in organizing society. In this context, social organization and social media were primarily defined. Some examples of the use of social media in social action and social organization have been emphasized. Data for the study was collected by using an online questionnaire. Research population of the study was Facebook users in Turkey. The sample of the study uses the convenience incidental sampling. The opinions about the role of social media in the social organization of Facebook users were examined. According to the results of the study, 72% of the participants agree that social media is a powerful tool in organizing social actions. 40% of the respondents think that social media contributes in strengthening democracy. It might be said that participants believe in the power of social media, but they never thought that this power will remain permanent

The Effect of Organizational Limitations to the Decision-Making Process in the Context of Crew Resource Management: The Factors Leading Pilots to Make Bad Decisions and an Implementation

The decision-making process has always been the focus of researches in many fields. In this context, the bad decisions pilots make before, during or after the flight are of great importance when considered from the perspective of human factor in aviation industry. This study investigates how organizational limitations effect the decision-making processes of pilots by using data obtained through surveying 222 pilots working in public and private sector in Turkey. The evaluation of data was conducted by correlation and regression analyses. The findings show that bad decisions within the process of decision-making are effected by performance limitations, CRM limitations, management limitations and that CRM is the most important factor in the declaration of bad decisions. Keywords: Organizational limitations, decision-making, pilot, aviatio

The Effect of Burnout on Organizational Citizenship Behaviour: The Mediating Role of Job Satisfaction

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of burnout on organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) in a mediating model in which the job satisfaction was contextual state.&nbsp; Data were obtained from 257 nurses from three university hospitals. While the data involving burnout and job satisfaction were gathered from the nurses, OCB data were obtained from supervisors. The findings of hierarchical regression analysis demonstrated that the only contributor burnout dimension on OCB-O (ODB toward organization) was the reduced personal accomplishment while emotional exhaustion and depersonalization had no effect. Also the findings of mediation analysis showed that job satisfaction is a mediator in the relation between reduced personal accomplishment and OCB-O and it is not a mediating factor in relation between all three burnout dimensions and OCB-I (OCB toward individuals)

Implementation of a simplified method for actuation of ferrofluids

This paper was presented at the 3rd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2011), which was held at the Makedonia Palace Hotel, Thessaloniki in Greece. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, University of Thessaly, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute.Magnetic actuation of ferrofluids is an emergent field that will open up new possibilities in various fields of engineering. The quality and topology of the magnetic field that is being utilized in such systems is determinant in terms of flow properties, flow rates and overall efficiency. Determining the optimal magnetic field topology to achieve the desired results, and determining the methods by which these magnetic fields are to be generated are central problems of obtaining the desired flow. A healthy comparison of various magnetic field topologies requires a varied set of examples from the most simplified to most sophisticated. Such comparisons are necessary to have a well grounded starting point. This study focuses on a particular pump design that employs a simplified magnetic field topology to obtain ferrofluid flow. The results of this paper such as flow and pressure difference are intended to form a baseline for future reference.Sabancı University Internal Research Grant, no: IACF09-0064