Towards Extension-plus: Opportunities and Challenges Policy Brief 17

Evidence from recent debates and empirical cases suggests the need for a more broadly conceived notion of extension – referred to here as extension-plus. However in order to operationalise this vision of extension-plus, it is not only necessary to understand the new scope of the extension task, but also to understand ways of stimulating a diversity of extension innovations that respond adaptively to local and evolving circumstances. This policy brief outlines both the scope of extension-plus and the value of learning-based approaches to developing extension innovations. It also discusses the challenges for extension reform of promoting a learning-based approach in public bodies where such processes of change clash with prevailing organisational cultures

Evaluation of sampling gear for demersal resource surveys

The three demersal trawls evaluated were 38 m HSDT-II, indigenously developed by CIFT for deep sea fishing in Indian EEZ; and two imported designs, viz., 45.6 m Expo model demersal trawl and 50 m fish trawl operated from vessels of FSI and IFP, respectively. Vertical opening at trawl mouth was heighest for 50 m fish trawl (3.2 m), followed by Expo model demersal trawl (2.5 m) and 38 m HSDT-II (2.2 m), due to differences in overall dimensions and design features. Estimate of horizontal opening between otter boards was highest for 38 m HSDT-II probably due to low drag of the gear, followed by 45.6 m and 50 m trawls. Lowest catch per unit effort obtained by 38 m HSDT-II is presumably due to smaller dimensions of the gear, larger codend mesh size and difference in ground rig, in addition to chance factors. However, 38 m HSDT-II scores on several features desirable in demersal sampling gear such as simplicity in design and construction, ease of operation; lower twine surface area and drag; and ground rig suitable for wider range of bottom conditions. Modifications to make it more effective while sampling for crustaceans and small sized finfish components are described

The Role of Entrepreneur-Venture Fit in Online Home-based Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Literature Review

Home-based businesses and their founders represent an important, but under-researched facet of entrepreneurship. Far from being small, hobby-businesses with little economic impact, home-based business make significant contribution to national economies in terms of both turnover and employment. Online home-based businesses have been recognised as an important and distinct sector of the home-based business domain, offering unique opportunity for innovation and business diversity. The paper presents a systematic literature review of extant research on online home-based entrepreneurs and their businesses. The findings of the review are structured and discussed using the theoretical lens of entrepreneur-venture fit. Use of this lens allows the study to bring coherence to previously fragmented extant studies, providing a basis for future research in this domain. The study also develops a novel model of entrepreneur-venture fit in the specific case of online home-based businesses. This allows us to suggest five positive interactions between entrepreneurial and venture characteristics. It also allows us to suggest a number of previously unidentified negative interactions, which may result in entrepreneurs becoming ‘locked-in’ and suffering multiple sources of stress

First-Principles Calculations of Hyperfine Interactions in La_2CuO_4

We present the results of first-principles cluster calculations of the electronic structure of La_2CuO_4. Several clusters containing up to nine copper atoms embedded in a background potential were investigated. Spin-polarized calculations were performed both at the Hartree-Fock level and with density functional methods with generalized gradient corrections to the local density approximation. The distinct results for the electronic structure obtained with these two methods are discussed. The dependence of the electric-field gradients at the Cu and the O sites on the cluster size is studied and the results are compared to experiments. The magnetic hyperfine coupling parameters are carefully examined. Special attention is given to a quantitative determination of on-site and transferred hyperfine fields. We provide a detailed analysis that compares the hyperfine fields obtained for various cluster sizes with results from additional calculations of spin states with different multiplicities. From this we conclude that hyperfine couplings are mainly transferred from nearest neighbor Cu^{2+} ions and that contributions from further distant neighbors are marginal. The mechanisms giving rise to transfer of spin density are worked out. Assuming conventional values for the spin-orbit coupling, the total calculated hyperfine interaction parameters are compared to informations from experiments.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figure

From measuring impact to learning institutional lessons: an innovation systems perspective on improving the management of international agricultural research

This paper argues that impact assessment research has not made more of a difference because the measurement of the economic impact has poor diagnostic power. In particular it fails to provide research managers with critical institutional lessons concerning ways of improving research and innovation as a process. Our contention is that the linear input–output assumptions of economic assessment need to be complemented by an analytical framework that recognises systems of reflexive, learning interactions and their location in, and relationship with, their institutional context. The innovation systems framework is proposed as an approach where institutional learning is explicit. Three case studies of recent developments in international agricultural research are presented to illustrate these points. We conclude by suggesting that the innovation systems framework has much to offer research managers wishing to monitor and learn new ways of addressing goals such as poverty alleviation. The greatest challenge however, is that such holistic learning frameworks must contend for legitimacy if they are to complement the dominant paradigm of economic assessment

Institutional Learning in Technical Projects: Horticulture Technology R&D Systems in India

This paper demonstrates the way in which institutional learning has been adopted by a post-harvest technology research project in India to cope with the institutional constraints associated with various public agencies, as well as to help formulate broader lessons for institutional reform in horticultural R&D systems. The case study presents an institutional history of public and private efforts to assist farmers from the Vijaya Association of Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Cooperative Societies of Andhra Pradesh to produce and sell export quality mangoes. Problems in the relationships between stakeholders reveal the need to see technology transfer in a much more holistic light than is conventionally understood

Institutional learning and change: a review of concepts and principles Policy Brief 21

To improve the performance of agricultural research, many international and national research organisations have embarked on impact assessment exercises. These exercises have estimated technology adoption and economic rates of return to research investments. Such exercises in ICAR have contributed to accountability, and provided evidence on whether public funds have been spent judiciously. However, for evaluation to be effective, it must encompass both accountability and learning objectives. It appears that less emphasis has been given to the latter. Hall et al (2003a) state that impact assessment efforts (in international research arenas) have not yielded desired results because of the weak diagnostic power of commonly used impact assessment techniques. These techniques fail to recognise research as a complex process of interactions shaped by the habits and practices of those involved which are critical for improving research performance

Sharing perspectives on public-private sector interaction Proceedings of a workshop, 10 April 2001 ICRISAT, Patancheru, India

This book presents several papers presented at a workshop to gather perspectives on the patterns of interaction between private and public agricultural research institutions. The importance of research partnerships, the types of interaction that are possible, and some new ways of exploring this from a policy perspective, are explained

Post-harvest innovations in innovation: reflections on partnership and learning

In the post-harvest area and in agriculture research in general, both in India and internationally, policy attention is returning to the question of how innovation can be encouraged and promoted and thus how impact on the poor can be achieved. This publication assembles several cases from the post-harvest sector. These provide examples of successful innovation that emerged in quite different ways. Its purpose is to illustrate and analyze the diversity and often highly context-specific nature of the processes that lead to and promote innovation. The presented cases suggest a number of generic principles needed to develop the capacity of innovation systems: the need to pay more attention to revealing and managing the historical and institutional context of partnerships and relationship; the need to build on local contexts and circumstance rather than introducing external blueprints; and the need to strengthen the learning process and to link this to the broader agenda of institutional change, particularly concerning the governance of public science endeavors