2,939 research outputs found
Improving water use efficiency under worsening scarcity: Evidence from the Middle Olifants sub-basin in South Africa
With the political changes in South Africa in the early 1990s, the South African government introduced a reform process in the entire water sector with the goal of a more enhanced and equitable water management system. This paper analyzes existing water allocation situations and applies a nonlinear optimization model to investigate the optimal intra- and inter-regional allocations in the Middle Olifants sub-basin of South Africa. Results show higher benefit from inter-regional water allocation. Reducing water supply levels to conform to the sustainable water supply policy, it can be shown that although water supply is reduced by approximately 50%, total benefits from water are only reduced by 5% and 11% for inter- and intra-regional allocation regimes respectively. These results indicate that alternative water allocation mechanisms can serve as instruments to offset for the effects of water scarcity.Water allocation, IWRM, Olifants basin, South Africa, Africa, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,
An evaluation of curriculum-related specialties in grades five and six
Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit
Status of Agricultural Soil Contamination by Heavy Metals in Uasin Gishu County
Heavy metals occur naturally in the environment but anthropogenic activities such as use of chemicals and inorganic fertilizers in farms has resulted in higher concentrations of these metals relative to their normal background values leading to environmental pollution. Soil plays a central role in food safety as it determines the possible composition of food and feed at the root of the food chain. Soil pollution by heavy metals has been on the increase with its main sources being application of agricultural chemicals, improper disposal of industrial wastes, among others. This study investigated different concentrations of the heavy metals in soils of farms during the two major crop seasons in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya. The presences of heavy metals (Lead, Copper, Cadmium, Cobalt and Zinc) were determined in the three agro-ecological zones in Uasin Gishu County. These agro-ecological zones include Lower highland (LH3), Upper midland (UH4) and Upper midland (UH2). Soil samples from randomly selected farmers in the study area at the depth of 0-10cm and 10-20 cm were obtained. A total of seventy two soil samples were collected and analyzed for presence of heavy metals using ICPE-900Shimadzu inductive coupled plasma. The results obtained indicated that concentrations of the heavy metals found in soils at the three agro-ecological zones during the dry and wet seasons varied significantly.The results obtained showed that the mean concentration of Pb, Cd, Co, Zn and Cu in UH2 ranged between 12.0 –15.5ppm, 2.8–4.7 ppm, 2.5–9.5 ppm, 2.3–4.0 ppm, 8.0–16.3 ppm respectively, while in LH3 the concentration range between 10.0 –18.6 ppm, 1.8–4.8 ppm, 2.3–10.0 ppm, 2.0–17.3 ppm, 7.9–17.3 ppm respectively and finally in UH4, the mean concentrations of the five metals ranged between 10.3 –13.0ppm, 1.7–4.3 ppm, 4.0–8.5 ppm, 2.0–2.5 ppm, 7.7–16.5 ppm respectively. The level of Cd concentrations was found to exceed the WHO standard of 3mg/l in the study area. All the heavy metals concentrations varied significantly (P< 0.05) during wet and dry season indicating their mobility in the soils. The presence of heavy metals above the natural levels in the study area is attributed to sources such intensive agricultural activities. The results of this study revealed that the three agricultural zones of LH3 (Lower highland), UH4 (Upper midland) and UH2 (Upper midland) contained variable levels of heavy metals (Pb, Cd Zn, Co and Cu). The levels of heavy metals were high and may be indicative of the level of pollution resulting from farm activities in the three locations. The high level of Cadmium could be attributed to the level of use of inorganic fertilizers in the farmers fields in the study area. Keywords: Heavy metal; Agro-ecological zones; Agricultural soil; Soil depth; Uasin Gishu County
Probing the Earth's interior with a large-volume liquid scintillator detector
A future large-volume liquid scintillator detector would provide a
high-statistics measurement of terrestrial antineutrinos originating from
-decays of the uranium and thorium chains. In addition, the forward
displacement of the neutron in the detection reaction
provides directional information. We investigate the requirements on such
detectors to distinguish between certain geophysical models on the basis of the
angular dependence of the geoneutrino flux. Our analysis is based on a
Monte-Carlo simulation with different levels of light yield, considering both
unloaded and gadolinium-loaded scintillators. We find that a 50 kt detector
such as the proposed LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy) will detect
deviations from isotropy of the geoneutrino flux significantly. However, with
an unloaded scintillator the time needed for a useful discrimination between
different geophysical models is too large if one uses the directional
information alone. A Gd-loaded scintillator improves the situation
considerably, although a 50 kt detector would still need several decades to
distinguish between a geophysical reference model and one with a large neutrino
source in the Earth's core. However, a high-statistics measurement of the total
geoneutrino flux and its spectrum still provides an extremely useful glance at
the Earth's interior.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures. Minor changes, version accepted for publication
in Astroparticle Physic
A Survey on Knowledge Management in Universities in the QS Rankings: E-learning and MOOCs
Purpose – Many public organizations are employing Information Technology “IT” in Knowledge Management “KM” (Silwattananusarn and Tuamsuk, 2012; Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Chatti et al., 2007). Within universities, the use of IT could be an enabler to create and facilitate the development of knowledge (Joia, 2000; Garcia, 2007; Tian et al., 2009; Sandelands, 1997); to improve knowledge sharing (Aurelie Bechina Arntzen et al., 2009; Alavi and Gallupe, 2003); to develop communities of practice (Adams and Freeman, 2000). In the educational organizations IT is also a tool to improve the quality of learning (EC, 2000). E-learning is based on digital technologies (Aspen Institute Italy, 2014), through multiple teaching methods (Derouin et al., 2005), as tools for KM (Wild et al., 2002). The websites of some universities allows anyone to follow free lessons, through the internet. These types of free online courses are known as Massive Open Online Courses „MOOCs“ (EC, 2014; Sinclair et al., 2015). The purpose of this study is to verify the type of teaching adopted by European universities and understand how training through e-learning can improve the processes of transmission and sharing of knowledge allowing everyone, not only to students, to take lessons through the web.
Design/methodology/approach – The analysis allows detecting data on universities by region through the study of the websites of the top 100 European universities present in a ranking called Quacquarelli Symonds, “QS World University Rankings 2015/16”. The method used to collect the data was marked by the creation of a specific database in which are inserted, for each university, different information: status (public/private), size, age, number of enrolled students, references on websites. In this Excel spreadsheet was also taken into account the type of educational offer provided by each university, with particular reference to the provision of online courses and courses open to all.
Originality/value – The article aims to provide a detailed study on the use of technology in the educational context. The exploration allows you to design, within other universities unranked, styles of teaching online to share knowledge.
Practical implications – The survey, currently, is the first step of a larger project which aims to analyse the different types of e-learning platforms used by 100 universities in the European rankings QS to make teaching online. From the results of this first phase, it has emerged that all the surveyed European universities provide training not only through classroom lessons, but also with a variety of courses through e-learning even for free through MOOCs
A Survey on Knowledge Management in Universities in the QS Rankings: E-learning and MOOCs
Purpose – Many public organizations are employing Information Technology “IT” in Knowledge Management “KM” (Silwattananusarn and Tuamsuk, 2012; Alavi and Leidner, 2001; Chatti et al., 2007). Within universities, the use of IT could be an enabler to create and facilitate the development of knowledge (Joia, 2000; Garcia, 2007; Tian et al., 2009; Sandelands, 1997); to improve knowledge sharing (Aurelie Bechina Arntzen et al., 2009; Alavi and Gallupe, 2003); to develop communities of practice (Adams and Freeman, 2000). In the educational organizations IT is also a tool to improve the quality of learning (EC, 2000). E-learning is based on digital technologies (Aspen Institute Italy, 2014), through multiple teaching methods (Derouin et al., 2005), as tools for KM (Wild et al., 2002). The websites of some universities allows anyone to follow free lessons, through the internet. These types of free online courses are known as Massive Open Online Courses „MOOCs“ (EC, 2014; Sinclair et al., 2015). The purpose of this study is to verify the type of teaching adopted by European universities and understand how training through e-learning can improve the processes of transmission and sharing of knowledge allowing everyone, not only to students, to take lessons through the web.
Design/methodology/approach – The analysis allows detecting data on universities by region through the study of the websites of the top 100 European universities present in a ranking called Quacquarelli Symonds, “QS World University Rankings 2015/16”. The method used to collect the data was marked by the creation of a specific database in which are inserted, for each university, different information: status (public/private), size, age, number of enrolled students, references on websites. In this Excel spreadsheet was also taken into account the type of educational offer provided by each university, with particular reference to the provision of online courses and courses open to all.
Originality/value – The article aims to provide a detailed study on the use of technology in the educational context. The exploration allows you to design, within other universities unranked, styles of teaching online to share knowledge.
Practical implications – The survey, currently, is the first step of a larger project which aims to analyse the different types of e-learning platforms used by 100 universities in the European rankings QS to make teaching online. From the results of this first phase, it has emerged that all the surveyed European universities provide training not only through classroom lessons, but also with a variety of courses through e-learning even for free through MOOCs
Trajectory Discrimination and Peripersonal Space Perception in Newborns
The ability to discriminate the trajectories of moving objects is highly adaptive and fundamental for physical and social interactions. Therefore, we could reasonably expect sensitivity to different trajectories already at birth, as a precursor of later communicative and defensive abilities. To investigate this possibility, we measured newborns\u2019 looking behavior to evaluate their ability to discriminate between visual stimuli depicting motion along different trajectories happening within the space surrounding their body. Differently from previous studies, we did not take into account defensive reactions, which may not be elicited by impending collision as newborns might not categorize approaching stimuli as possible dangers. In two experiments, we showed that newborns display a spontaneous visual preference for trajectories directed toward their body. We found this visual preference when visual stimuli depicted motion in opposite directions (approaching vs. receding) as well as when they both moved toward the peripersonal space and differed only in their specific target (i.e., the body vs. the space around it). These findings suggest that at birth human infants seem to be already equipped with visual mechanisms predisposing them to perceive their presence in the environment and to adaptively focus their attention on the
peripersonal space and their bodily self
Labelling experiments in red deer provide a general model for early bone growth dynamics in ruminants
Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de CatalunyaGrowth rates importantly determine developmental time and are, therefore, a key variable of a species' life history. A widely used method to reconstruct growth rates and to estimate age at death in extant and particularly in fossil vertebrates is the analysis of bone tissue apposition rates. Lines of arrested growth (LAGs) are of special interest here, as they indicate a halt in bone growth. However, although of great importance, the time intervals between, and particularly the reason of growth arrests remains unknown. Therefore, experiments are increasingly called for to calibrate growth rates with tissue types and life history events, and to provide reliable measurements of the time involved in the formation of LAGs. Based on in vivo bone labelling, we calibrated periods of bone tissue apposition, growth arrest, drift and resorption over the period from birth to post-weaning in a large mammal, the red deer. We found that bone growth rates tightly matched the daily weight gain curve, i.e. decreased with age, with two discrete periods of growth rate disruption that coincided with the life history events birth and weaning, that were visually recognisable in bone tissue as either partial LAGs or annuli. Our study identified for the first time in a large mammal a general pattern for juvenile bone growth rates, including periods of growth arrest. The tight correlation between daily weight gain and bone tissue apposition suggests that the red deer bone growth model is valid for ruminants in general where the daily weight gain curve is comparable
Newborns Are Sensitive to Impending Collision Within Their Peripersonal Space
Immediately after birth, newborns are introduced within a
highly stimulating environment, where many objects move
close to them. It would therefore be adaptive for infants to pay
more attention to objects that move towards them - on a
colliding pathway - and could therefore come into contact and
interact with them. The present study aimed at understanding
if newborns are able to discriminate between colliding vs. noncolliding
trajectories. To address this issue, we measured the
looking behaviour of newborns who were presented with
videos of different pairings of three events: approaching
objects along a colliding course, approaching objects along a
non-colliding trajectory, and receding objects. Results outlined
that newborns preferred looking at the approaching and
colliding movement than at both the receding and the
approaching but non-colliding movements. Data also suggest
the possible occurrence of a configural effect when two
colliding events are displayed simultaneously. Furthermore
newborns appeared to look longer at movements directed
towards the Peripersonal Space than at those directed away
from it
The economics of desertification, land degradation, and drought: Toward an integrated global assessment
cost of inaction, desertification, drought, Economics, Land degradation, prevention of land degradation,
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