Participatory Irrigation Management : comparing theory with practice a case study of the Beni Amir irrigation scheme in Morocco

International audienceParticipatory Irrigation Management (PIM) and Irrigation Management Transfer (IMT) are studied at three levels : the international literature, the policy and action taken in Morocco and field work in the Beni Amir large scale irrigation system. International literature argues that management will improve if users can take management decisions that are the outcome of local negotiations between stakeholders and based on local knowledge and normative frameworks. Since the 1980s, several governments have adopted these turnover programs, often as part of the requirements of a structural adjustment package negotiated with IMF and international development banks. This shows that in many countries the tight financial situation of governments has been important for introducing PIM/IMT. The management transfer from the State to Water Users Associations (WUAs) has been more successfully achieved in some places (Mexico, Colombia and Turkey), than in other places (India, Pakistan, Philippines). Literature provides explanations as success factors for PIM/IMT like relative strength of economy and central government, higher literacy and standard of living. These factors are largely valid for Morocco and thus raises the question about the Moroccan progress in the domain of PIM in large scale irrigation. PIM policy was introduced by the government in 1990 and specified in 1995 as a policy that should be progressively spread, selective depending on location, adapted to the physical and organizational environment, contractual with the water users as partner and finally provide financial advantages for the water users. Field research took place in the Beni Amir large-scale irrigation system in Morocco, situated 200 km south east of Casablanca, where PIM policy became an issue in 1990. In the context of disengagement of the Moroccan state, objectives of the regional government agency responsible for irrigation management in the area (named ORMVAT, Office régional de mise en valeur agricole du Tadla) are to evolve from a complete State management up to farm level, to a more participatory management.Recent field work in which a check list of management tasks performed by farmers was used, showed that, contrary to the policy objectives, WUAs in the Beni Amir system are weakly involved in decision making and hardly perform tasks in irrigation system management. We found that PIM implementation in Morocco does not comply with the theoretical models that have been developed in Mexico, Turkey, the Philippines or elsewhere. This proves the hypothesis that PIM is context-specific which requires that before attempting to implement major institutional reforms in the irrigation sector, it is necessary to understand the national as well as the local context, the opportunities it offers, and the constraints it places on successful institutional reform. Even though local conditions in Beni Amir somehow fit with some points of the theory related to PIM/IMT (i.e. water scarcity should stimulate irrigation reform, the relatively good performance of the infrastructure should permit that IMT programs take off relatively “quickly”, availability of cash money for farmers to pay water fees), PIM programs did not come off the ground in Beni Amir. Case specific reasons that could explain the hesitance of PIM/IMT implementation are i) the irrigated perimeter of Beni Amir, as it is managed nowadays by the ORMVAT, functions relatively well, ii) the society is characterised by relatively strong central rule, iii) rigid labour relations in the civil service and iv) farmers are hesitant to take over the irrigation management

Vocational perspectives after spinal cord injury

Objective: To give insight into the vocational situation several years after a traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI) and describe the personal experiences and unmet needs; to give an overview of health and functional status per type of SCI and their relationship with employment status. Design: Descriptive analysis of data from a questionnaire. Setting: Dutch rehabilitation centre with special department for patients with spinal cord injuries. Subjects: Fifty-seven patients with a traumatic SCI, aged 18-60 years, admitted to the rehabilitation centre from 1990 to 1998. Main measures: Questionnaire with items related to vocational outcome, job experiences, health and functional status. Results: Of 49 patients who were working at the moment of SCI 60% currently had a paid job. Vocational outcome was related to a higher educational level. A significant relation between the SCI-specific health and functional status and employment was not found. The respondents who changed to a new employer needed more time to resume work, but seemed more satisfied with the job and lost fewer working hours than those who resumed work with the same employer. In spite of reasonable to good satisfaction with the current work situation, several negative experiences and unmet needs were reported. Conclusions: Despite a high participation in paid work following SCI, the effort of the disabled worker to have and keep a job should not be underestimated

Voids in the Large-Scale Structure

Voids are the most prominent feature of the LSS of the universe. Still, they have been generally ignored in quantitative analysis of it, essentially due to the lack of an objective tool to identify and quantify the voids. To overcome this, we present the Void-Finder algorithm, a novel tool for objectively quantifying galaxy voids. The algorithm classifies galaxies as either wall- or field-galaxies. Then it identifies voids in the wall-galaxy distribution. Voids are defined as continuous volumes that do not contain any wall-galaxies. The voids must be thicker than an adjustable limit, which is refined in successive iterations. We test the algorithm using Voronoi tessellations. By appropriate scaling of the parameters we apply it to the SSRS2 survey and to the IRAS 1.2 Jy. Both surveys show similar properties: ~50% of the volume is filled by the voids, which have a scale of at least 40 Mpc, and a -0.9 under-density. Faint galaxies populate the voids more than bright ones. These results suggest that both optically and IRAS selected galaxies delineate the same LSS. Comparison with the recovered mass distribution further suggests that the observed voids in the galaxy distribution correspond well to under-dense regions in the mass distribution. This confirms the gravitational origin of the voids.Comment: Submitted to ApJ; 33 pages, aaspp4 LaTeX file, using epsfig and natbib, 1 table, 12 PS figures. Complete gzipped version is available at http://shemesh.fiz.huji.ac.il/hagai/; uuencoded file is available at http://shemesh.fiz.huji.ac.il/papers/ep3.uu or ftp://shemesh.fiz.huji.ac.i

Genomics and justice: mitigating the potential harms and inequities that arise from the implementation of genomics in medicine

Advances in human genetics raise many social and ethical issues. The application of genomic technologies to healthcare has raised many questions at the level of the individual and the family, about conflicts of interest among professionals, and about the limitations of genomic testing. In this paper, we attend to broader questions of social justice, such as how the implementation of genomics within healthcare could exacerbate pre-existing inequities or the discrimination against social groups. By anticipating these potential problems, we hope to minimise their impact. We group the issues to address into six categories: (i) access to healthcare in general, not specific to genetics. This ranges from healthcare insurance to personal behaviours. (ii) data management and societal discrimination against groups on the basis of genetics. (iii) epigenetics research recognises how early life exposure to stress, including malnutrition and social deprivation, can lead to ill health in adult life and further social disadvantage. (iv) psychiatric genomics and the genetics of IQ may address important questions of therapeutics but could also be used to disadvantage specific social or ethnic groups. (v) complex diseases are influenced by many factors, including genetic polymorphisms of individually small effect. A focus on these polygenic influences distracts from environmental factors that are more open to effective interventions. (vi) population genomic screening aims to support couples making decisions about reproduction. However, this remains a highly contentious area. We need to maintain a careful balance of the competing social and ethical tensions as the technology continues to develop

One dimensional drift-diffusion between two absorbing boundaries: application to granular segregation

Motivated by a novel method for granular segregation, we analyze the one dimensional drift-diffusion between two absorbing boundaries. The time evolution of the probability distribution and the rate of absorption are given by explicit formulae, the splitting probability and the mean first passage time are also calculated. Applying the results we find optimal parameters for segregating binary granular mixtures.Comment: RevTeX, 5 pages, 6 figure

Value-based genomic screening. Exploring genomic screening for chronic diseases using triple value principles

Background: Genomic screening has unique challenges which makes it difficult to easily implement on a wide scale. If the costs, benefits and tradeoffs of investing in genomic screening are not evaluated properly, there is a risk of wasting finite healthcare resources and also causing avoidable harm. Main text: If healthcare professionals - including policy makers, payers and providers - wish to incorporate genomic screening into healthcare while minimizing waste, maximizing benefits, and considering results that matter to patients, using the principles of triple value (allocative, technical, and personal value) could help them to evaluate tough decisions and tradeoffs. Allocative value focuses on the optimal distribution of limited healthcare resources to maximize the health benefits to the entire population while also accounting for all the costs of care delivery. Technical value ensures that for any given condition, the right intervention is chosen and delivered in the right way. Various methods (e.g. ACCE, HTA, and Wilson and Jungner screening criteria) exist that can help identify appropriate genomic applications. Personal value incorporates preference based informed decision making to ensure that patients are informed about the benefits and harms of the choices available to them and to ensure they make choices based on their values and preferences. Conclusions: Using triple value principles can help healthcare professionals make reasoned and tough judgements about benefits and tradeoffs when they are exploring the role genomic screening for chronic diseases could play in improving the health of their patients and populations

A hybrid constraint programming and semidefinite programming approach for the stable set problem

This work presents a hybrid approach to solve the maximum stable set problem, using constraint and semidefinite programming. The approach consists of two steps: subproblem generation and subproblem solution. First we rank the variable domain values, based on the solution of a semidefinite relaxation. Using this ranking, we generate the most promising subproblems first, by exploring a search tree using a limited discrepancy strategy. Then the subproblems are being solved using a constraint programming solver. To strengthen the semidefinite relaxation, we propose to infer additional constraints from the discrepancy structure. Computational results show that the semidefinite relaxation is very informative, since solutions of good quality are found in the first subproblems, or optimality is proven immediately.Comment: 14 page

Anomalous Chiral Behavior in Quenched Lattice QCD

A study of the chiral behavior of pseudoscalar masses and decay constants is carried out in quenched lattice QCD with Wilson fermions. Using the modified quenched approximation (MQA) to cure the exceptional configuration problem, accurate results are obtained for pion masses as low as $\approx$ 200 MeV. The anomalous chiral log effect associated with quenched $\eta'$ loops is studied in both the relation between $m_{\pi}^2$ vs. $m_q$ and in the light-mass behavior of the pseudoscalar and axial vector matrix elements. The size of these effects agrees quantitatively with a direct measurement of the $\eta'$ hairpin graph, as well as with a measurement of the topological susceptibility, thus providing several independent and quantitatively consistent determinations of the quenched chiral log parameter $\delta$. For $\beta=5.7$ with clover-improved fermions $(C_{sw} =1.57)$ all results are consistent with $\delta=0.065\pm 0.013$ .Comment: 51 pages, 20 figures, Late

The importance of early arthroscopy in athletes with painful cartilage lesions of the ankle: a prospective study of 61 consecutive cases

BACKGROUND Ankle sprains are common in sports and can sometimes result in a persistent pain condition. PURPOSE Primarily to evaluate clinical symptoms, signs, diagnostics and outcomes of surgery for symptomatic chondral injuries of the talo crural joint in athletes. Secondly, in applicable cases, to evaluate the accuracy of MRI in detecting these injuries. Type of study: Prospective consecutive series. METHODS Over around 4 years we studied 61 consecutive athletes with symptomatic chondral lesions to the talocrural joint causing persistent exertion ankle pain. RESULTS 43% were professional full time athletes and 67% were semi-professional, elite or amateur athletes, main sports being soccer (49%) and rugby (14%). The main subjective complaint was exertion ankle pain (93%). Effusion (75%) and joint line tenderness on palpation (92%) were the most common clinical findings. The duration from injury to arthroscopy for 58/61 cases was 7 months (5.7–7.9). 3/61 cases were referred within 3 weeks from injury. There were in total 75 cartilage lesions. Of these, 52 were located on the Talus dome, 17 on the medial malleolus and 6 on the Tibia plafond. Of the Talus dome injuries 18 were anteromedial, 14 anterolateral, 9 posteromedial, 3 posterolateral and 8 affecting mid talus. 50% were grade 4 lesions, 13.3% grade 3, 16.7% grade 2 and 20% grade 1. MRI had been performed pre operatively in 26/61 (39%) and 59% of these had been interpreted as normal. Detection rate of cartilage lesions was only 19%, but subchondral oedema was present in 55%. At clinical follow up average 24 months after surgery (10–48 months), 73% were playing at pre-injury level. The average return to that level of sports after surgery was 16 weeks (3–32 weeks). However 43% still suffered minor symptoms. CONCLUSION Arthroscopy should be considered early when an athlete presents with exertion ankle pain, effusion and joint line tenderness on palpation after a previous sprain. Conventional MRI is not reliable for detecting isolated cartilage lesions, but the presence of subchondral oedema should raise such suspicion