Comparison of consumer attitudes between Cyprus and Latvia: An evaluation of effect of setting on consumer preferences in the water industry

This is the post-print version of the article. The official published version can be obtained from th link below - Copyright @ SpringerModels approaching consumer expectations of their water supplier from a risk perspective suggest that consumers primarily and overwhelmingly want safe drinking water supply. In this study consumer preferences in the water sector are investigated in two contrasting case studies: Cyprus, where there have been significant quantity and continuity of supply issues, and Riga, where there have been water quality issues. While water quality is undoubtedly the main priority of water consumers in Riga, in Cyprus consumers indicate that they prioritise a more reliable service even though many are sufficiently dissatisfied with water quality that they do not drink the tap water. The analysis of consumer attitudes in the two case studies suggests that when water supply is unreliable, reliability takes precedence; once it is reliable quality issues come to the fore.This research was carried out as part of Work Area 6 of the TECHNEAU project, an integrated project funded under FP6 of the European Commission, grant number: 018320

Workshop Report: Framing Ethics in Impact Evaluation: Where Are We? Which Route Should We Take?

This was an interactive workshop – supported by the Institute of Development Studies’ (IDS) Department for International Development (DFID) Accountable Grant and the University of East Anglia (UEA) – with a view to opening up the debate on ethics in impact evaluation to a wider audience in 2015. Our working assumption is that ethics, while well established in social science research (through standards, codes and institutions), is generally undervalued in impact evaluation. The workshop set out to explore the landscape of ethical practice as it currently exists, with a particular focus on the concerns of practitioners presently involved in implementing impact evaluations. The workshop focused especially on exploring the potential for a broader ethics model, where ethical values and principles inform every part of the evaluation process – both within the evaluation itself, as well as in relation to society. Furthermore, consideration was given to how evaluation fits within the knowledge system that informs international development – and by implication, the extent to which evaluation could/should perform a role in better understanding and critiquing what constitutes ‘good’ (ethical) development.UK Department for International Developmen

Process Tracing: The Potential and Pitfalls for Impact Evaluation in International Development. Summary of a Workshop held on 7 May 2014

In international development there is increasing pressure to demonstrate that aid spending is making a difference. In short, that it is having an ‘impact’. During the past decade, there has been a rapid rise in the use of experimental and quasi-experimental evaluation designs – viewed by some as the ‘gold standard’ in evaluation methodologies. Such designs are based on a counterfactual logic of assessing causation/attribution; an approach that requires large-n studies and quantitative datasets in order to test the statistical difference in outcomes between the treatment and a properly constructed comparison group (the control). There is now, however, a growing interest in exploring alternative, yet still robust, approaches to impact evaluation. This is particularly so where the nature of the intervention or the context demands a small-n study (such as interventions that seek to influence policy through engaging civil society actors and other initiatives). It is in this context that process tracing offers much potential; as both an established social science research methodology and one that, at its core, focuses on investigating causal mechanisms. The Institute of Development Studies (IDS) is engaged in a four-year programme of work entitled Strengthening Evidence-based Policy, funded via an Accountable Grant (AG) from the Policy Division of the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The grant contributes to improving the lives of the poorest by expanding evidence-based knowledge, policy options and guidance in six major thematic areas, and a seventh theme focusing on three cross-cutting issues. As part of this work, the AG will assess the impact of its ‘policy interventions’ to bring evidence to bear on policy change. For many reasons, these policy interventions are not amenable to large-n evaluation designs, and many across the Institute and elsewhere are considering the potential of process tracing (see, for example, Barnett and Befani 2014).UK Department for International Developmen

Event Report: Right or Wrong? What Values Inform Modern Impact Evaluation?

This workshop was supported by the Institute of Development Studies’ (IDS’) Department for International Development (DFID) Accountable Grant, with a view to start a dialogue around the use and application of ethics in impact evaluation. The event was hosted by the Centre for Development Impact (CDI), a joint initiative between IDS, Itad and the University of East Anglia (UEA). Its objective was to open up the debate on ethics and explore how it can become more relevant to the field of impact evaluation. This follows on from an earlier framing event held at IDS in July 2014: Framing Ethics in Impact Evaluation: Where Are We and Which Route Should We Take?UK Department for International Developmen

Retrodiction as a tool for micromaser field measurements

We use retrodictive quantum theory to describe cavity field measurements by successive atomic detections in the micromaser. We calculate the state of the micromaser cavity field prior to detection of sequences of atoms in either the excited or ground state, for atoms that are initially prepared in the excited state. This provides the POM elements, which describe such sequences of measurements.Comment: 20 pages, 4(8) figure

Cavity-enabled high-dimensional quantum key distribution

High-dimensional quantum key distribution (QKD) offers the possibility of encoding multiple bits of key on a single entangled photon pair. An experimentally promising approach to realizing this is to use energy–time entanglement. Currently, however, the control of very high-dimensional entangled photons is challenging. We present a simple and experimentally compact approach, which is based on a cavity that allows one to measure two different bases: the time of arrival and another that is approximately mutually unbiased to the arrival time. We quantify the errors in the setup, due both to the approximate nature of the mutually unbiased measurement and as a result of experimental errors. It is shown that the protocol can be adapted using a cut-off so that it is robust against the considered errors, even within the regime of up to 10 bits per photon pair

On the generation of ocean wind waves as inferred from airborne radar measurements of fetch-limited spectra

A section of sea surface that had been subjected to a constant offshore wind was profiled by using an airborne radar-wave profiler. The profiles extended seaward from the coast for a distance of 350 km . From these data, estimates of the spectrum of encounter of the sea surface were obtained for different fetch lengths...

Atmospheric transmission computer program CP

A computer program is described which allows for calculation of the effects of carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, ozone, carbon monoxide, and nitrous oxide on earth resources remote sensing techniques. A flow chart of the program and operating instructions are provided. Comparisons are made between the atmospheric transmission obtained from laboratory and spacecraft spectrometer data and that obtained from a computer prediction using a model atmosphere and radiosonde data. Limitations of the model atmosphere are discussed. The computer program listings, input card formats, and sample runs for both radiosonde data and laboratory data are included

Large-uncertainty intelligent states for angular momentum and angle

The equality in the uncertainty principle for linear momentum and position is obtained for states which also minimize the uncertainty product. However, in the uncertainty relation for angular momentum and angular position both sides of the inequality are state dependent and therefore the intelligent states, which satisfy the equality, do not necessarily give a minimum for the uncertainty product. In this paper, we highlight the difference between intelligent states and minimum uncertainty states by investigating a class of intelligent states which obey the equality in the angular uncertainty relation while having an arbitrarily large uncertainty product. To develop an understanding for the uncertainties of angle and angular momentum for the large-uncertainty intelligent states we compare exact solutions with analytical approximations in two limiting cases.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, submitted to J. Opt. B special issue in connection with ICSSUR 2005 conferenc

Single-shot measurement of quantum optical phase

Although the canonical phase of light, which is defined as the complement of photon number, has been described theoretically by a variety of distinct approaches, there have been no methods proposed for its measurement. Indeed doubts have been expressed about whether or not it is measurable. Here we show how it is possible, at least in principle, to perform a single-shot measurement of canonical phase using beam splitters, mirrors, phase shifters and photodetectors.Comment: This paper was published in PRL in 2002 but, at the time, was not placed on the archive. It is included now to make accessing this paper easie