Outcome evaluation of research for development work conducted in Ghana and Sri Lanka under the Resource, Recovery and Reuse (RRR) subprogram of the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).

This is the main report of an external evaluation of the Resource Recovery and Reuse Flagship of the Water Land and Ecosystems (WLE) CGIAR Research Program. WLE commissioned the study. The Evaluators interviewed researchers and partners in two countries, Ghana and Sri Lanka, and in Ghana visited two sites. They also interviewed key international partners and analyzed a wide range of documents, reports and publications. The evaluation was focused on understanding how and in what ways the research and other activities carried out by IWMI and supported by WLE contributed to the outcomes. In essence, the purpose was to understand the specific impact pathways from research to outputs and outcomes

Towards evaluation design for smart city development

Smart city developments integrate digital, human, and physical systems in the built environment. With growing urbanization and widespread developments, identifying suitable evaluation methodologies is important. Case-study research across five UK cities - Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Milton Keynes and Peterborough - revealed that city evaluation approaches were principally project-focused with city-level evaluation plans at early stages. Key challenges centred on selecting suitable evaluation methodologies to evidence urban value and outcomes, addressing city authority requirements. Recommendations for evaluation design draw on urban studies and measurement frameworks, capitalizing on big data opportunities and developing appropriate, valid, credible integrative approaches across projects, programmes and city-level developments

Research and training in the Olifants and Limpopo basins of southern Africa

L'article décrit la participation des chercheurs français, détachés à l'Institut international de la gestion des ressources en eau (IWMI) par le ministère français de l'Agriculture, aux travaux concernant les bassins hydrographiques de référence Olifants et Limpopo, entrepris dans le cadre du Programme pour relever les défis « Eau et alimentation ». Les scientifiques français mis à la disposition de l'IWMI ne sont pas seulement investis dans les dimensions économiques, géographiques et agronomiques de ces programmes de recherche et de formation, ils contribuent également à la coordination des différents programmes dans les bassins hydrographiques et à l'amélioration de leur coordination. / This paper describes the contribution of the French researchers seconded to International Water Management Institute (IWMI) by the French Ministry of Agriculture in the Olifants and Limpopo benchmark basins of the Challenge Program on Water and Food. The French researchers made available to IWMI are not only involved in the economic, geographic and agronomic aspects of these projects, but also participate in coordinating and developing synergy between different projects in the basins.GESTION DE L'EAU;RECHERCHE;FORMATION PROFESSIONNELLE;AFRIQUE DU SUD;RESEARCH;TRAINING;WATER MANAGEMENT;SOUTHERN AFRICA

Mathematical modeling of irrigation canal systems. Part I - Presentation of the "Mistral-Simutra" software package; Part II - Application of "Mistral - Simutra" to the Kalankuttiya branch canal (Mahaweli System H) Sri Lanka

Mathematical models / Computer software / Canal construction / Simulation models / Sri Lanka / Mahaweli Project / Kalankuttiya

An overview of the hydrology of the Zayandeh Rud Basin

River basins / Hydrology / Water use / Reservoirs / Water balance / Climate / Irrigation systems / Iran / Esfahan Province / Zayandeh Rud Basin / Chadegan Reservoir

Innovative approaches to agricultural water use for improving food security in Sub- Saharan Africa

Irrigated farming / Water use / Food security / Water resources / Water supply / Rain / Water harvesting / Wetlands / Food production / Groundwater management / Urbanization / Recycling / Effluents / Waste waters / Water reuse / Water demand / Crop production

Social disparities in heart disease risk and survivor bias among autoworkers: an examination based on survival models and g-estimation.

ObjectivesTo examine gender and racial disparities in ischaemic heart disease (IHD) mortality related to metalworking fluid exposures and in the healthy worker survivor effect.MethodsA cohort of white and black men and women autoworkers in the USA was followed from 1941 to 1995 with quantitative exposure to respirable particulate matter from water-based metalworking fluids. Separate analyses used proportional hazards models and g-estimation.ResultsThe HR for IHD among black men was 3.29 (95% CI 1.49 to 7.31) in the highest category of cumulative synthetic fluid exposure. The HR for IHD among white women exposed to soluble fluid reached 2.44 (95% CI 0.96 to 6.22). However, no increased risk was observed among white men until we corrected for the healthy worker survivor effect. Results from g-estimation indicate that if white male cases exposed to soluble or synthetic fluid had been unexposed to that fluid type, then 1.59 and 1.20 years of life would have been saved on average, respectively.ConclusionsWe leveraged the strengths of two different analytic approaches to examine the IHD risks of metalworking fluids. All workers may have the same aetiological risk; however, black and female workers may experience more IHD from water-based metalworking fluid exposure because of a steeper exposure-response or weaker healthy worker survivor effect

Nurses Alumni Association Bulletin, Fall 2008

Meetings and Annual Luncheon Table of Contents Officers for 2008-2009 President\u27s Message Treasurer\u27s Financial Report Alumni Scholarship Funds and Endowment Fund Resume of Minutes Alumni Office News Committee Reports Annual Giving Contributors Janet C. Hindson Award Award Qualifications Janet C. Hindson Recipient and Nominees Recipient\u27s Acceptance Speech Ode to Sally Sally\u27s Appreciation News About and From Our Graduates Happy Birthday Interview with a Nurse Memories Fiftieth Anniversary Class 2008 Luncheon Attendees Luncheon Photos In Memoriam Class News~ 2008 Additional Information Application For Nurses Scholarship Fund Application Application For Certification Application For Relief Fund Benefits Hotels Campus Map Note

Nurses Alumni Association Bulletin, Fall 2005

2005 - 2006 Meeting Date Calendar 2006 Annual Luncheon & Meeting Notice Officers, Committee Chairs, Satellite and Volunteers Bulletin Publication Committee The President\u27s Message Treasurer\u27s Report Resume of Minutes Office News Committee Reports Relief Trust Fund Satellite - Harrisburg Satellite Area Bulletin Scholarship Nominating Social Development Annual Giving Janet C. Hindson Award Recipients and Nominees Janet C. Hindson Award Qualifications Quotes from Janet C. Hindson\u27s Recipients Letters Quotes from Letters on Nursing at Jefferson Biography of Lenora Schwartz, \u2766 News About Graduates Memories Odds & Ends How I got my Education U.S. Cadet Nurse Corps Normandy Nightingales Weathered War\u27s Worst Happy Birthday, To Be 80 or more 50th Anniversary Class Center page Luncheon Attendees Class News In Memoriam, Names of Deceased Graduates Additional Information, Pins, Transcript & Address Info Constitution and By-Laws Scholarship Fund Application Certification Reimbursement Application Relief Fund Application List of Hotels Campus Ma

Centered Partition Process: Informative Priors for Clustering

There is a very rich literature proposing Bayesian approaches for clustering starting with a prior probability distribution on partitions. Most approaches assume exchangeability, leading to simple representations in terms of Exchangeable Partition Probability Functions (EPPF). Gibbs-type priors encompass a broad class of such cases, including Dirichlet and Pitman-Yor processes. Even though there have been some proposals to relax the exchangeability assumption, allowing covariate-dependence and partial exchangeability, limited consideration has been given on how to include concrete prior knowledge on the partition. For example, we are motivated by an epidemiological application, in which we wish to cluster birth defects into groups and we have prior knowledge of an initial clustering provided by experts. As a general approach for including such prior knowledge, we propose a Centered Partition (CP) process that modifies the EPPF to favor partitions close to an initial one. Some properties of the CP prior are described, a general algorithm for posterior computation is developed, and we illustrate the methodology through simulation examples and an application to the motivating epidemiology study of birth defects