Individual Video Training iVT - Development of a National Infrastructure for Video-Supported Learning

Introduction: Video‐Supported Learning is particularly effective when it comes to skills and behaviors. Video registration of patient‐physician interviews, class room instruction or practical skills allow it to learners themselves, their peers, and their tutors to assess the quality of the learner's performance, to give specific feedback, and to make suggestions for improvement. Methods: In Switzerland, four pedagogical universities and two medical faculties joined to initiate the development of a national infrastructure for Video Supported Learning. The goal was to have a system that is simple to use, has most steps automated, provides the videos over the Internet, and has a sophisticated access control. Together with SWITCH, the national IT‐Support‐Organisation for Swiss Universities, the program iVT (Individual Video Training) was developed by integrating two preexisting technologies. The first technology is SWITCHcast, a podcast system. With SWITCHcast, videos are automatically uploaded to a server as soon as the registration is over. There the videos are processed and converted to different formats. The second technology is the national Single Logon System AAI (Authentification and Authorization Infrastructure) that enables iVT to link each video with the corresponding learner. The learner starts the registration with his Single Logon. Thus, the video can unambiguously be assigned. Via his institution's Learning Management System (LMS), the learner can access his video and give access to his video to peers and tutors. Results: iVT is now used at all involved institutions. The system works flawlessly. In Bern, we use iVT for the communications skills training in the forth and sixth year. Since students meet with patient actors alone, iVT is also used to certify attendance. Students are encouraged to watch the videos of the interview and the feedback of the patient actor. The offer to discuss a video with a tutor was not used by the students. Discussion: We plan to expand the use of iVT by making peer assessment compulsory. To support this, annotation capabilities are currently added to iVT. We also want to use iVT in training of practical skills, again for self as well as for peer assessment.  At present, we use iVT for quality control of patient actor's performance.

Institutional Infrastructure to Support 'Super Growth' in Kenya: Governance Thresholds, Reversion Rates and Economic Development

Kenya Growth Vision 2030 proposes policy and institutional reforms that make it possible for the country to achieve development status of a middle income country by 2030. This paper outlines the institutional framework necessary to achieve ÈSuper Growth,É which describes the character of growth required to meet targets stipulated in the Vision. The paper provides evidence confirming the importance of improving the quality of governance to the achievement of the Vision. The paper also demonstrates that the country is characterized by a high probability of reverting to poor governance. It is argued that, to achieve super growth, the country must attain an institutional tipping point which associates with low reversion rates to weaker institutions. The paper provides suggestions for institutional reforms that result in the achievement of an institutional tipping point and super growth.

Territorial quality and sustainable development : Indicators of performance in the context of a model for participatory rural tourism certification

El turismo rural ha sido incorporado por pequeños establecimientos agropecuarios del partido de Cnel. Suárez, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, como actividad alternativa para mejorar la calidad de vida de sus miembros y superar situaciones de crisis agravadas por la marginalidad productiva del SO bonaerense, región a la que pertenecen. Bajo el programa Cambio Rural del INTA (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) conforman el Grupo 'Cortaderas II', junto a otros emprendedores interesados en valorar el medio rural. Han avanzado en el proceso de reconocimiento de su identidad y puesta en valor de recursos específicos con anclaje en el territorio. Esta identidad comienza a apreciarse internamente, a raíz de la dinámica grupal lograda y la incipiente articulación con otros actores para la construcción de un partenariado público y privado que genere sinergias y contribuya al desarrollo sustentable del territorio. Sin embargo, aún no es claramente percibida por el turista, cada vez más exigente. Por lo tanto, el presente trabajo persigue proponer indicadores para evaluar el desempeño de un Sistema de Gestión de Calidad con enfoque territorial que, adaptando el modelo europeo 'Marca de Calidad Territorial', sustente una estrategia comercial de diferenciación del servicio y simultáneamente, mida el progreso hacia una mejor calidad de vida y fortalecimiento de vínculos con la cultura local y el entorno físico-natural en el marco del desarrollo sustentable. La investigación se plantea para la micro escala, ya que se trata de un estudio de caso, relevándose información primaria mediante observación directa y entrevistas semi-estructuradas, complementada con información secundaria diagnóstica utilizada por INTA. Las características del grupo y su dinámica de funcionamiento bajo el programa Cambio Rural revelan que es posible adoptar un proceso de certificación participativa propuesto para cuatro pilares de la calidad: de Bienes y Servicios, Institucional, Social y Ambiental. El modelo se integra con indicadores de evaluación de desempeño, agrupados en áreas clave para cada una de las dimensiones de la sustentabilidad, que contemplan el paisaje y la gestión de los recursos naturales; el impacto económico de la actividad, la calidad de la oferta y satisfacción del turista; así como las relaciones sociales internas y los vínculos con otros actores del territorio. Principalmente se encontraron fortalezas en la búsqueda de partenariados y debilidades en aspectos de comunicación y promoción. Se considera que este sistema de herramientas de gestión sustentable permitiría superar las dificultades de una certificación individual, pudiendo aplicarse a emprendimientos con otra ubicación geográfica

Territorial quality and sustainable development : Indicators of performance in the context of a model for participatory rural tourism certification

El turismo rural ha sido incorporado por pequeños establecimientos agropecuarios del partido de Cnel. Suárez, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, como actividad alternativa para mejorar la calidad de vida de sus miembros y superar situaciones de crisis agravadas por la marginalidad productiva del SO bonaerense, región a la que pertenecen. Bajo el programa Cambio Rural del INTA (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) conforman el Grupo 'Cortaderas II', junto a otros emprendedores interesados en valorar el medio rural. Han avanzado en el proceso de reconocimiento de su identidad y puesta en valor de recursos específicos con anclaje en el territorio. Esta identidad comienza a apreciarse internamente, a raíz de la dinámica grupal lograda y la incipiente articulación con otros actores para la construcción de un partenariado público y privado que genere sinergias y contribuya al desarrollo sustentable del territorio. Sin embargo, aún no es claramente percibida por el turista, cada vez más exigente. Por lo tanto, el presente trabajo persigue proponer indicadores para evaluar el desempeño de un Sistema de Gestión de Calidad con enfoque territorial que, adaptando el modelo europeo 'Marca de Calidad Territorial', sustente una estrategia comercial de diferenciación del servicio y simultáneamente, mida el progreso hacia una mejor calidad de vida y fortalecimiento de vínculos con la cultura local y el entorno físico-natural en el marco del desarrollo sustentable. La investigación se plantea para la micro escala, ya que se trata de un estudio de caso, relevándose información primaria mediante observación directa y entrevistas semi-estructuradas, complementada con información secundaria diagnóstica utilizada por INTA. Las características del grupo y su dinámica de funcionamiento bajo el programa Cambio Rural revelan que es posible adoptar un proceso de certificación participativa propuesto para cuatro pilares de la calidad: de Bienes y Servicios, Institucional, Social y Ambiental. El modelo se integra con indicadores de evaluación de desempeño, agrupados en áreas clave para cada una de las dimensiones de la sustentabilidad, que contemplan el paisaje y la gestión de los recursos naturales; el impacto económico de la actividad, la calidad de la oferta y satisfacción del turista; así como las relaciones sociales internas y los vínculos con otros actores del territorio. Principalmente se encontraron fortalezas en la búsqueda de partenariados y debilidades en aspectos de comunicación y promoción. Se considera que este sistema de herramientas de gestión sustentable permitiría superar las dificultades de una certificación individual, pudiendo aplicarse a emprendimientos con otra ubicación geográfica

Territorial quality and sustainable development : Indicators of performance in the context of a model for participatory rural tourism certification

El turismo rural ha sido incorporado por pequeños establecimientos agropecuarios del partido de Cnel. Suárez, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina, como actividad alternativa para mejorar la calidad de vida de sus miembros y superar situaciones de crisis agravadas por la marginalidad productiva del SO bonaerense, región a la que pertenecen. Bajo el programa Cambio Rural del INTA (Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria) conforman el Grupo 'Cortaderas II', junto a otros emprendedores interesados en valorar el medio rural. Han avanzado en el proceso de reconocimiento de su identidad y puesta en valor de recursos específicos con anclaje en el territorio. Esta identidad comienza a apreciarse internamente, a raíz de la dinámica grupal lograda y la incipiente articulación con otros actores para la construcción de un partenariado público y privado que genere sinergias y contribuya al desarrollo sustentable del territorio. Sin embargo, aún no es claramente percibida por el turista, cada vez más exigente. Por lo tanto, el presente trabajo persigue proponer indicadores para evaluar el desempeño de un Sistema de Gestión de Calidad con enfoque territorial que, adaptando el modelo europeo 'Marca de Calidad Territorial', sustente una estrategia comercial de diferenciación del servicio y simultáneamente, mida el progreso hacia una mejor calidad de vida y fortalecimiento de vínculos con la cultura local y el entorno físico-natural en el marco del desarrollo sustentable. La investigación se plantea para la micro escala, ya que se trata de un estudio de caso, relevándose información primaria mediante observación directa y entrevistas semi-estructuradas, complementada con información secundaria diagnóstica utilizada por INTA. Las características del grupo y su dinámica de funcionamiento bajo el programa Cambio Rural revelan que es posible adoptar un proceso de certificación participativa propuesto para cuatro pilares de la calidad: de Bienes y Servicios, Institucional, Social y Ambiental. El modelo se integra con indicadores de evaluación de desempeño, agrupados en áreas clave para cada una de las dimensiones de la sustentabilidad, que contemplan el paisaje y la gestión de los recursos naturales; el impacto económico de la actividad, la calidad de la oferta y satisfacción del turista; así como las relaciones sociales internas y los vínculos con otros actores del territorio. Principalmente se encontraron fortalezas en la búsqueda de partenariados y debilidades en aspectos de comunicación y promoción. Se considera que este sistema de herramientas de gestión sustentable permitiría superar las dificultades de una certificación individual, pudiendo aplicarse a emprendimientos con otra ubicación geográfica

Infrastructure (Rural Road) Development and Poverty Alleviation in Lao PDR

Rural road in Lao PDR defined as connecting road from village to main road, where it will lead them to market and access to other economic and social service facilities. However, due to mostly rural people accustom with subsistence farming, connecting road seems less important for rural people as their main farming produce is for own consumption rather than markets. After the introduction and implementation of New Economic Mechanism (NEM) since 1986, many rural villages have gradually developed and integrated into market system where people have significantly changed their livelihood with a better system. This progress has significantly contributed in improving income earning of people, better living standard and reduce poverty. The paper aims to illustrate the significant of rural road as connecting road from village to markets or a market access approach of farm produces. It also demonstrates through which approach, rural farmers/people could improve their income earning, develop their farming system, living standard and reduce poverty.

Infrastructure Finance in Developing Countries by State and Multilateral Development Banks

Infrastructure concession is an alternative widely used by governments to increase investment. In the case of the road sector, the main characteristics of the concessions are: long-term projects, high investments in the early years of the contract and high risks. A viability analysis must be carried out for each concession and consider the characteristics of the project. When the infrastructure is located in a developing country, political and market growth uncertainties should be add in the concession project analysis, as well as economic instability, because they present greater risks. This paper is an analysis of state bank participation in road infrastructure finance in developing countries. For this purpose, we studied road infrastructure financing and its associated risks, and also the features of developing countries. Furthermore, we considered the issue of state banks and multilateral development banks that perform an important role by offering better credit lines than the private banks, in terms of cost, interest and grace period. Based on this study, we analyzed the Brazilian Development Bank - BNDES – and their credit supply to road infrastructure concessions. The results show that BNDES is the main financing agent for long-term investment in the sector, offering loans with low interest rates in Brazilian currency. From this research we argue that a single state bank should not alone support the increasing demand for finance in Brazil. Therefore, we conclude that there is a need to expand the supply of credit in Brazil, by strengthening private banks in the long-term lending market.

Development of the infrastructure for a multi-agent traffic management system simulation

This document contains detailed description of the design and the implementation of a multi-agent application controlling traffic lights in a city together with a system for simulating traffic and testing. The goal of this thesis is to design and build a simplified intelligent and distributed solution to the problem with the traffic in the big cities following different good practices in order to allow future refining of the model of the real world. The problem of the traffic in the big cities is still a problem that cannot be solved. Not only is the increasing number of cars a reason for the traffic jams, but also the way the traffic is organized. Usually, the intersections with traffic lights are replaced by roundabouts or interchanges to increase the number of cars that can cross the intersection in certain time. But still there are places where the infrastructure cannot be changed and the traffic light semaphores are the only way to control the car flows. In real life, the traffic lights have a predefined plan for change or they receive information from a centralized system when and how they have to change. But what if the traffic lights can cooperate and decide on their own when and how to change? Using this problem, the purpose of the thesis is to explore different agent-based software engineering approaches to design and build a non-conventional distributed system. From the software engineering point of view, the goal of the thesis is to apply the knowledge and use the skills, acquired during the various courses of the master program in Software Engineering, while solving a practical and complex problem such as the traffic in the cities.

The role of private sector in development: The relation between public-private investment in infrastructure and agricultural exports in developing countries

Increasing foreign private investment in developing countries explains why the Public-Private Investment (PPI) is becoming a key tool to reach the development goal. This article analyzes the relation between PPI in infrastructure and agricultural exports in developing countries. We use the panel data approach (52 countries and 17 years). Results show that PPI in infrastructure has a positive impact on agricultural exports of developing countries. The impact is greater in developing countries with higher income rates. This suggests that the lower income countries require the intervention of public sector without which private investment cannot help to economic development.

When Wells Run Dry: Water and Tourism Along the Western Coast of Nicaragua

This dissertation uses a political ecology approach to examine the relationship between tourism development and groundwater in southwest Nicaragua. Tourism in Nicaragua is a booming industry bolstered by ‘unspoiled’ natural beauty, low crime rates, and government incentives. This growth has led to increased infrastructure, revenue, and employment opportunities for many local communities along the Pacific coast. Not surprisingly, it has also brought concomitant issues of deeper poverty, widening gaps between rich and poor, and competition over natural resources. Adequate provisions of freshwater are necessary to sustain the production and reproduction of tourism; however, it remains uncertain if groundwater supplies can keep pace with demand. The objective of this research is to assess water supply availability amidst tourism development in the Playa Gigante area. It addresses the questions: 1) are local groundwater supplies sufficient to sustain the demand for freshwater imposed by increased tourism development? and 2) is there a power relationship between tourism development and control over local freshwater that would prove inequitable to local populations? Integrating the findings of groundwater monitoring, geological mapping, and ethnographic and survey research from a representative stretch of Pacific coastline, this dissertation shows that diminishing recharge and increased groundwater consumption is creating conflict between stakeholders with various levels of knowledge, power, and access. Although national laws are structured to protect the environment and ensure equitable access to groundwater, the current scramble to secure water has powerful implications on social relations and power structures associated with tourism development. This dissertation concludes that marginalization due to environmental degradation is attributable to the nexus of a political promotion of tourism, poorly enforced state water policies, insufficient water research, and climate change. Greater technical attention to hydrological dynamics and collaboration amongst stakeholders are necessary for equitable access to groundwater, environmental sustainability, and profitability of tourism.

Tourism potential analysis of the castles of Vinalopó, Spain: an opportunity for social and tourist development of cultural heritage

Within the overall framework of the renewal process of coastal tourist destinations, cultural heritage has frequently been used as a key argument for the introduction and development of strategies for the diversification and differentiation of the traditional tourist product based on sun and sand. This is the situation of the province of Alicante, identified with the Costa Blanca geotourism brand, where there are important economic issues that could contribute to the renewal of this coastal tourist destination. One of the most significant heritage values of this space consists of a series of medieval fortresses located along the axis of the Vinalopó River, which has acted since prehistoric times as a natural route from within the provincial mainland to the coast. It is precisely the argument of this historical, territorial and landscape content that has been used repeatedly in recent years to develop initiatives aimed at the creation of a tourist product, currently inexistent, based on the route of the castles of Vinalopó. This communication aims to analyse the degree of tourism potential of the fortresses located in the towns of Biar, Banyeres de Mariola, Sax, Villena, Novelda, Elda, Petrer and Elche, which constitute the core of municipalities where these medieval fortresses are located, finally pointing out some proposals for the creation of a heritage tourism product.