Promoting research-user collaboration: an assessment of funding schemes: Fifth NCCR North-South Report on Effectiveness

Donors increasingly require that the research they fund be of benefit for society and the environment. To this end, researchers addressing complex and uncertain problems should work together with research users. This is not always easy: researchers are expected to collaborate with non-academic partners, but are not funded for the additional work. Collaborative research projects often cannot tap the full potential of user engagement. Therefore, specific institutional and organisational conditions are necessary that foresee or even foster research–user engagement; funding schemes are one possible solution. Right from the start, the NCCR North-South programme introduced Partnership Actions for Mitigating Syndromes of Global Change (PAMS). This evaluation assesses the types of collaboration supported by PAMS, as well as the value of PAMS as a funding scheme for collaboration. It compares PAMS with similar funding schemes of other universities, research programmes, or projects, and contains recommendations.

Dynamic computer simulations of electrophoresis: a versatile research and teaching tool

Software is available, which simulates all basic electrophoretic systems, including moving boundary electrophoresis, zone electrophoresis, ITP, IEF and EKC, and their combinations under almost exactly the same conditions used in the laboratory. These dynamic models are based upon equations derived from the transport concepts such as electromigration, diffusion, electroosmosis and imposed hydrodynamic buffer flow that are applied to user-specified initial distributions of analytes and electrolytes. They are able to predict the evolution of electrolyte systems together with associated properties such as pH and conductivity profiles and are as such the most versatile tool to explore the fundamentals of electrokinetic separations and analyses. In addition to revealing the detailed mechanisms of fundamental phenomena that occur in electrophoretic separations, dynamic simulations are useful for educational purposes. This review includes a list of current high-resolution simulators, information on how a simulation is performed, simulation examples for zone electrophoresis, ITP, IEF and EKC and a comprehensive discussion of the applications and achievements.

Dynamic computer simulations of electrophoresis: three decades of active research

Dynamic models for electrophoresis are based upon model equations derived from the transport concepts in solution together with user-inputted conditions. They are able to predict theoretically the movement of ions and are as such the most versatile tool to explore the fundamentals of electrokinetic separations. Since its inception three decades ago, the state of dynamic computer simulation software and its use has progressed significantly and Electrophoresis played a pivotal role in that endeavor as a large proportion of the fundamental and application papers were published in this periodical. Software is available that simulates all basic electrophoretic systems, including moving boundary electrophoresis, zone electrophoresis, ITP, IEF and EKC, and their combinations under almost exactly the same conditions used in the laboratory. This has been employed to show the detailed mechanisms of many of the fundamental phenomena that occur in electrophoretic separations. Dynamic electrophoretic simulations are relevant for separations on any scale and instrumental format, including free-fluid preparative, gel, capillary and chip electrophoresis. This review includes a historical overview, a survey of current simulators, simulation examples and a discussion of the applications and achievements of dynamic simulation.

Assessment of soil erosion and soil conservation practices in Angereb watershed, Ethiopia: Technological and land user context

Soil conservation technologies that fit well to local scale and are acceptable to land users are increasingly needed. To achieve this at small-holder farm level, there is a need for an understanding of specific erosion processes and indicators, the land users’ knowledge and their willingness, ability and possibilities to respond to the respective problems to decide on control options. This study was carried out to assess local erosion and performance of earlier introduced conservation terraces from both technological and land users’ points of view. The study was conducted during July to August 2008 at Angereb watershed on 58 farm plots from three selected case-study catchments. Participatory erosion assessment and evaluation were implemented along with direct field measurement procedures. Our focus was to involve the land users in the action research to explore with them the effectiveness of existing conservation measures against the erosion hazard. Terrace characteristics measured and evaluated against the terrace implementation guideline of Hurni (1986). The long-term consequences of seasonal erosion indicators had often not been known and noticed by farmers. The cause and effect relationships of the erosion indicators and conservation measures have shown the limitations and gaps to be addressed towards sustainable erosion control strategies. Less effective erosion control has been observed and participants have believed the gaps are to be the result of lack of landusers’ genuine participation. The results of both local erosion observation and assessment of conservation efficacy using different aspects show the need to promote approaches for erosion evaluation and planning of interventions by the farmers themselves. This paper describes the importance of human factor involving in the empirical erosion assessment methods towards sustainable soil conservation.

Measuring Information Quality on the Internet - a User Perspective

Research into information quality on the internet, in particular on websites, has become increasingly important in recent years. In this paper a research project is described in which a measurement instrument was developed that enables the information quality of websites to be determined and analyzed from the customer perspective. The measurement instrument was developed in several stages and on the basis of a methodical-theoretical approach. In a first step, previous research results and measurement instruments were systematically analyzed. In a second step, these results were adjusted and supplemented on the basis of a qualitative study. A quantitative test of the measurement instrument is planned.

Institutions as key drivers of collective action in WUAs [Water User Associations] of Uzbekistan

This paper presents a multifactor approach for performance assessment of Water Users Associations (WUAs) in Uzbekistan in order to identify the drivers for improved and effi cient performance of WUAs. The study was carried out in the Fergana Valley where the WUAs were created along the South Fergana Main Canal during the last 10 years. The farmers and the employees of 20 WUAs were questioned about the WUAs’ activities and the quantitative and qualitative data were obtained. This became a base for the calculation of 36 indicators divided into 6 groups: Water supply, technical conditions, economic conditions, social and cultural conditions, organizational conditions and information conditions. All the indicators assessed with a differentiated point system adjusted for subjectivity of several of them give the total maximal result for the associations of 250 point. The WUAs of the Fergana Valley showed the score between 145 and 219 points, what refl ects a highly diverse level of the WUAs performance in the region. The analysis of the indicators revealed that the key points of the WUA’s success are the organizational and institutional conditions including the participatory factors and awareness of both the farmers and employees about the work of WUA. The research showed that the low performance of the WUAs is always explained by the low technical and economic conditions along with weak organization and information dissemination conditions. It is clear that it is complicated to improve technical and economic conditions immediately because they are cost-based and cost-induced. However, it is possible to improve the organizational conditions and to strengthen the institutional basis via formal and information institutions which will gradually lead to improvement of economic and technical conditions of WUAs. Farmers should be involved into the WUA Governance and into the process of making common decisions and solving common problems together via proper institutions. Their awareness can also be improved by leading additional trainings for increasing farmers’ agronomic and irrigation knowledge, teaching them water saving technologies and acquainting them with the use of water measuring equipment so it can bring reliable water supply, transparent budgeting and adequate as well as equitable water allocation to the water users.

Synergistic User <-> Context Analytics

Various avours of a new research field on (socio-)physical or personal analytics have emerged, with the goal of deriving semantically-rich insights from people's low-level physical sensing combined with their (online) social interactions. In this paper, we argue for more comprehensive data sources, including environmental (e.g. weather, infrastructure) and application-specific data, to better capture the interactions between users and their context, in addition to those among users. To illustrate our proposed concept of synergistic user <-> context analytics, we first provide some example use cases. Then, we present our ongoing work towards a synergistic analytics platform: a testbed, based on mobile crowdsensing and the Internet of Things (IoT), a data model for representing the different sources of data and their connections, and a prediction engine for analyzing the data and producing insights.