Current Emerging Trends in International Peacekeeping and the Management of Intra-State Conflicts in West Africa

The resolve of this modest study was to investigate the extent to which current evolving trends in international peacekeeping have influenced the management of intra-state conflicts in the West African sub-region in particular and the international community at large. Hitherto, most conflicts across the globe were mainly inter-state. In contemporary times however, the terrain is dominated by complex intra-state conflict); thereby necessitating more appropriate techniques to manage such conflicts. Increasingly, international peacekeeping has proven its relevance in this respect. Indeed this process having been enhanced significantly by a corresponding paradigm shift in peacekeeping activities, that now embraces multifunctional activities other than the traditional observation tasks. Today, these tasks mainly include: observation tasks, maintenance of law and order, humanitarian assistance, peace-building, policing, electoral assistance, disarmament, demobilization and reintegration of ex-combatants. Another significant innovation is that peacekeeping is no longer the preserve of soldiers alone as it has come to involve civilian and police personnel and even many non-UN actors. The main objective of this paper is to appraise how these evolving trends have enhanced the output of peacekeeping operations; within the context of the Liberian Civil War. And as I have tried to demonstrate, Liberia owes much of its success story today to the multidimensional operations that were initialed there by the ECOWAS, UN and many other actors over the years. This investigation which has implications for international policymakers, practitioners, international institutions, non-governmental organizations and the academia alike, has mainly adopted secondary and tertiary data (also made use of legal, historical, analytical and sociological approaches) to arrive at the following findings that: current evolving trends have enhanced in no small way the output of international peacekeeping operations across the globe; peacekeeping operations have contributed immensely  in resolving intra-state conflicts in West Africa; and lastly peacekeeping is still the most relevant and effective conflict management tool today and in the foreseeable future. What however is required is a highly innovative peacekeeping system that is capable of addressing some attendant challenges within the system. Key Words: Current, emerging, trends, international peacekeeping, management, intra-state conflicts, West Africa

The Strange Plight of the Hungry Gulls

https://digitalcommons.acu.edu/crs_books/1539/thumbnail.jp

Optimizing Incentive Plan Design: A Case Study

We study effects of a firm's attempt to optimize an existing incentive scheme to increase sales growth for direct store delivery workers. Before optimization workers reported Ratchet Effects that lowered productivity. The altered incentive plan offered higher compensation for increased sales relative to a sales growth target, and lower compensation for failing to meet the target. We gathered data on performance and attitudes at pilot and control sites before and after the change. Relative to control sites, sales growth increased in the pilot sites by two percent, a meaningful contribution to firm profits. We find no change in distortion of effort or manipulation of the performance measure. Workers did not substantially change number of hours worked, though allocation of time across tasks changed slightly. Despite increased productivity, workers continued to report Ratchet Effects after the change. We also find that an unplanned price increase midway through a fiscal year affected the extent of Ratchet Effects that year.incentives, ratchet effect

A Process for Producing Ice Coverage Marine Information Objects (MIOs) in IHO S-57 Format

While global warming may be opening up more Arctic waters in the summer, ice still infests key shipping lanes in the northern hemisphere during the winter months. To safely navigate these areas, mariners rely on daily ice coverage charts produced by national governmental agencies. Ice charts are primarily issued in paper format or as a fax. However, there is increased interest to ice coverage information on vessel navigation systems such as an Electronic Chart and Display Information Systems (ECDIS). However, to do so, the ice information must be provided as a separate layer of information to the Electronic Navigational Chart (ENC)

Analysis of Organic Growth Strategies on Performance of small and medium sized Enterprises: Case of Thika Sub-County, Kenya

Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) play an important economic role in Kenya. The sub-sector contributes to an estimated 20 percent of the GDP and employs 85 percent of the Kenyan workforce. The purpose of the study was to analyze the influence of organic growth strategies on the performance of SMEs in Thika sub-county, Kenya. The study was guided by the Ansoff’s Matrix and Penrose’s (1959) growth theories and the Balanced Scorecard performance theory by Kaplan & Norton (1992) in the measurement of performance of SMEs. The study was guided by the following null hypothesis: There is no relationship between penetration, market development, product development and diversification strategies on the performance of SMEs in Thika Sub-county. Literature was reviewed on the concept of growth in enterprises, definition of SMEs, organic growth strategies and the concept of performance of enterprises. A conceptual framework was also developed. The organic growth strategies formed the independent variables while the performance of SMEs was the dependent variable. The strategy implementation conditions formed the intervening variable. The central thesis of the study was that organic (internal) growth strategies are core ingredients necessary for spurring growth of SMEs and in turn enhancing their performance. The study was a correlational study. It was located in Thika Sub-County in Kiambu County, Kenya. The study targeted 4805 SMEs within the Sub-County. Proportional stratified random sampling technique was used to sample 36 SMEs. The unit of analysis was the 36 CEOs/ Marketing Managers of the sampled SMEs, who were purposively chosen due to their superior knowledge of the SMEs. Data was collected using Organic Growth Strategies Questionnaire (OGSQ). Quantitative data was coded into a computer sheet that was used to enter data in Statistical Package of Social Science (SPSS) program (version 21.0). Quantitative data will be presented in frequency distribution tables and analyzed using mean, percentage, Pearson-Product correlation coefficient and linear regression. The significance of the results was tested at .05 significance level. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The study found out that penetration, market development, product development and diversification strategies positively influenced the performance of SMEs. The four independent variables account for 44.9% of the total variability of performance of SMEs. Penetration and market development strategies added statistically significantly to the prediction of performance of SMEs. The product development and diversification strategies should approached with caution as they are much riskier. The study concluded that SMEs should embrace the organic growth strategies to spur growth of their enterprises. The study recommended that the government should create a Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises to fund the implementation of the organic growth strategies developed by SMEs and provide technical support in market research, ideas incubation and capacity building of the CEOs/Owners of the SMEs.  Finally, the study recommended that similar studies to be carried in other counties in Kenya. Also, further study should be conducted to analyze the influence of inorganic strategies on performance of SMEs. Key Words: Organic Growth Strategies, Performance of small and medium sized Enterprises

Nitrogen forms in three Kenyan soils Andosols, Lucidols and Ferralsols

The nitrogen cycle in soil is an integral part of the overall cycle of N in nature. The primary source of N is the atmosphere where the strongly bonded gas molecule N is predominately gas (78.08%). Total N content in soils ranges from 0.02% in the subsoil and more than 2.5% in peats; ploughed layers of most cultivated soils contain between 0.06 and 0.5%. The amount present in each case is, however determined by climate, type of vegetation, topography, parent material and activities of man. Over 95% of TN in surface soils is organically bound while the portion of non-exchangeable N is high in subsurface soil. Knowledge concerning the nature of organic N in soils is based on studies involving identification and estimation of N forms released by treatment with hot acids. Organic N forms were determined in three soils by acid hydrolysis. The total hydrolysable organic N for the 0-15 and 15-30 cm layers were 57.2 and 59.3% for Gituamba andosols; 56.9 and 61.9 for Kitale ferralsols; 39.0 and 42.1% for Katumani luvisols, respectively. Amide N ranged from 11.6 to 21.4% of total N; Hexosamine from 5.2 to 10.1% and Amino acid N from 26.2 to 37.1 %. Amino acid N therefore formed the highest portion followed by Amide N of the hydrolysable organic N

Recent marine ostracodes from the eastern Gulf of Mexico

52 p., 33 fig., 8 pl.http://paleo.ku.edu/contributions.htm

Risk, trust, and the interaction of perceived ease of use and behavioral control in predicting consumers’ use of social media for transactions

There has been continued debate regarding competing models with respect to predicting use of social networking services. In this research the authors conceptualize and empirically test a model that combines constructs from the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) together along with (1) a moderator between the two models, (2) perceived risk, and (3) trust. The empirical results support the hypothesis that perceived ease of use (from TAM theory) significantly amplifies (positively moderates) the effect of perceived behavioral control (from TPB theory) on intention to use the social networks for transactions. In short, there are benefits to integrating concepts from the two models instead of choosing one model over the other in research and practice. The results also indicate that perceived risk and trust play significant roles as antecedents in consumer decision making, and that risk-taking propensity has a direct effect on behavioral intention