Goodbye to Projects? - A livelihoods-grounded audit of the Sustainable Management of the Usangu Wetland and its Catchment (SMUWC) project in Tanzania

NoApproaches to projects and development have undergone considerable change in the last decade with significant policy shifts on governance, gender, poverty eradication, and environmental issues. Most recently this has led to the adoption and promotion of the sustainable livelihood (SL) approach. The adoption of the SL approach presents challenges to development interventions including: the future of projects and programmes, and sector wide approaches (SWAPs) and direct budgetary support.This paper `A livelihoods-grounded audit of the Sustainable Management of the Usangu Wetland Catchment (SMUWC) project in Tanzania¿ is the eighth in the series of project working papers.Department for International Developmen

The Delphi: An Underutilized Method of Scholarly and Practical Research for a Public Relations Field in Transition

This paper introduces, analyzes, and explains the Delphi method of research, particularly as it applies to certain aspects of the public relations industry. The Delphi technique became known some fifty years ago when the Rand Corporation used it extensively for forecasting. Since then, scholars and forecasters have used it periodically for early, qualitative explorations into complex issues or domains. The overall purpose of the Delphi is to facilitate formal discussion among selected experts in a given domain around a particular topic; it is particularly useful when those experts cannot easily come together in one place. The method encourages the sharing of diverging worldviews over a few “rounds” or iterations in the hope that the views may converge into some direction around the given topic. For this reason, the Delphi has often been used in situations or environments that tend to be somewhat ambiguous and where interviews and surveys are neither timely nor appropriate. Public relations scholars started incorporating the Delphi method into their research in the late 1980s, and the technique has since been employed to explore broad-ranging issues among experts on at least seven or eight occasions. It has also been used to explore ethical norms. However, public relations literature contains little discussion about the technique and its possible applications or implications for developing knowledge in the field. This paper, then, is intended to dissect the Delphi method so as to offer guidance to public relations scholars who may wish to use it in future studies. The authors, both of whom have conducted Delphi studies, believe that the method is valuable in examining topics that are emerging or underdeveloped in the field; however, certain precautions are necessary in order to ensure that the research achieves the desired effects. The paper is created through a literature review of similar articles on Delphi studies in other domains, notably health communications, followed by an examination of some studies conducted to advance issues in public relations. The authors explore the most appropriate situations for using a Delphi and list the benefits and disbenefits of different aspects or applications of the method. They trace the evolution of Delphi research from its early roots into the era of the Internet and social media, which offer new tools for increasing the number of respondents and moving through the Delphi process more quickly than could previously be done. In advancing such an examination of the Delphi, this paper should be a useful addition to emerging public relations literature

Interparticle gap distributions on one-dimensional lattices

We analyse the successive binding of two species of particles on a one-dimensional discrete lattice, where the second variety is deposited only after complete adsorption of the first. We consider the two extreme cases of a perfectly irreversible initial deposition, with non-sliding particles, and that of a fully equilibrated one. For the latter we construct the exact gap distribution from the Tonks gas partition function. This distribution is contrasted with that obtained from the random sequential adsorption process. We discuss implications for the kinetics of adsorption of the second species, as well as experimental relevance of our results

Sparse Iterative Learning Control with Application to a Wafer Stage: Achieving Performance, Resource Efficiency, and Task Flexibility

Trial-varying disturbances are a key concern in Iterative Learning Control (ILC) and may lead to inefficient and expensive implementations and severe performance deterioration. The aim of this paper is to develop a general framework for optimization-based ILC that allows for enforcing additional structure, including sparsity. The proposed method enforces sparsity in a generalized setting through convex relaxations using $\ell_1$ norms. The proposed ILC framework is applied to the optimization of sampling sequences for resource efficient implementation, trial-varying disturbance attenuation, and basis function selection. The framework has a large potential in control applications such as mechatronics, as is confirmed through an application on a wafer stage.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure

Water governance and poverty: a framework for analysis

YesIn this paper we present a framework for understanding water governance, through which we critique some of the assumptions underlying the current consensus on good governance. Specifically, we suggest that current approaches are based on incomplete or partial understandings of the concepts of governance. We question the idea that governance can be identified as an abstract set of principles, without the need for contextualisation and localisation. In particular, we suggest that there is a general lack of understanding of the way local interactions shape and influence governance processes. Finally, and with specific reference to the MDGs and the water sector, we question the implicit assumption that `good¿ governance is necessarily pro-poor governance. The paper addresses these issues through a critical discussion of governance, from which we develop a framework for conceptualising water governance. The framework draws on theories of governance, institutions and structuration, but is also informed by recent empirical research and experiences from the field. We apply the framework to a specific case in Southwestern Tanzania and raise a number of issues and challenges for further research

Prevalence of head injury and associated disability in prison populations: a systematic review

Objective: This review systematically assesses literature on the prevalence of head injury (HI) and associated disability in adults in prison. Methods: Searches were carried out using electronic databases (PsycINFO, Cochrane Databases, MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science). Reference lists of 2 meta-analyses were checked for relevant articles. Methods were rated for risk of bias. Results: The 10 studies included report a range in prevalence of HI in prisoners from 25% to 86%. Risk of bias was high overall, probably because a range of HI definitions was used, assessments were often not validated, and samples were not or not evidenced to be representative of the prison population. There was an absence of appropriate population controls from which to compare relative risk of HI in different countries. No study reported the prevalence of disability associated with HI. Conclusion: The wide range in prevalence estimates of HI in prisoners is associated with high risk of bias from study design and methods. Persisting disability associated with HI was not reported and as a result the service need for prisoners with HI is unclear. Future studies should indicate that samples are representative of prison populations, use validated tools and internationally accepted definitions of HI, and link prevalence to persisting disability

How institutions elude design: river basin management and sustainable livelihoods.

YesThis paper challenges ideas that it is possible to `get the institutions right¿ in the management of natural resources. It engages with the literature and policy specifying `design principles¿ for robust institutions and uses data from a river basin management project in Usangu, Tanzania, to illustrate the complexity of institutional evolution. The paper draws on emerging `post-institutionalist¿ perspectives to reject over-formalised managerial approaches in favour of those that accept the dynamic nature of institutional formation, and accommodate a variety of partial and contingent solutions. Data from Usangu suggests that external `crafting¿ is inevitably problematic because, to a certain extent, institutions elude design