Samarbete i agila systemutvecklingsprojekt : Vilka mänskliga faktorer påverkar samarbetets effektivitet?

Mänskliga faktorer som till exempel kommunikation och tillit påverkar hur människor interagerar med varandra. I agil systemutveckling ingår relationer, samspel och samarbete mellan människor och dessa påverkar om systemutvecklingsprojektet anses framgångsrikt eller ej. Men ofta i systemutvecklingsprojekt så läggs det mer tid på själva tekniken än de sociala aspekterna, där de mänskliga faktorerna i många fall är en avgörande faktor för projektets slutresultat. Syftet med det nuvarande arbetet är att beskriva vilka mänskliga faktorer som är viktiga för att effektivisera samarbete i agila systemutvecklingsprojekt, samt att beskriva hur agil systemutveckling på Trafikverket utförs. Trafikverket ville ha studien genomförd för att resultatet av studien skulle hjälpa till att minska antalet mindre framgångsrika systemutvecklingsprojekt på Trafikverket. Huvudfrågan i arbetet är: Vilka mänskliga faktorer är viktiga för att effektivisera samarbetet mellan verksamhetskunniga och utvecklare i agila systemutvecklingsprojekt? En fallstudie utfördes vid Trafikverket genom sju semistrukturerade intervjuer som följdes upp av enkäter och dokumentstudier. Det sammanlagda resultatet tyder på att för att effektivisera samarbetet mellan verksamhetskunniga och utvecklare i agila systemutvecklingsprojekt på Trafikverket krävs fokus på följande fem mänskliga faktorer: kommunikation, tillit, ledarskap, kunskap och motivation.

Crop-Specific EU Aid and Smallholder Food Security in Sierra Leone

The article analyses the viability of promoting crop-specific programs as a mean to improve smallholder net farm income and food security. The case study explores the relevance of European Union Stabilisation of Export Earnings (STABEX) funds in supporting Sierra Leone’s agricultural development agenda. By analysing the drivers of food security for a number of targeted smallholders in the two most important agricultural zones of Sierra Leone, it is possible to compare the suitability of crop-specific support (in rice, cocoa and coffee) versus general aid programs (public infrastructure, on and off farm diversification opportunities, sustainable practices, access to productive assets, etc.). The results indicate that crop diversification strategies are widespread and closely related to risk minimisation and enhanced food security among smallholders. Similarly, crop-specific programs mainly focusing on commercialisation tend to overlook important constraints associated to self-consumption and productivity.

Integrated soil fertility management in eastern and western Africa: The role of knowledge and innovation systems, its adoption and impact

The rise in population growth, as well as nutrient mining, has contributed to low agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). A plethora of technologies to boost agricultural production have been developed but the dissemination of these agricultural innovations and subsequent uptake by smallholder farmers has remained a challenge. Scientists and philanthropists have adopted the Integrated Soil Fertility Management (ISFM) paradigm as a means to promote sustainable intensification of African farming systems. This comparative study aimed: 1) To assess the efficacy of Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems (AKIS) in East (Kenya) and West (Ghana) Africa in the communication and dissemination of ISFM (Study I); 2) To investigate how specifically soil quality, and more broadly socio-economic status and institutional factors, influence farmer adoption of ISFM (Study II); and 3) To assess the effect of ISFM on maize yield and total household income of smallholder farmers (Study III). To address these aims, a mixed methodology approach was employed for study I. AKIS actors were subjected to social network analysis methods and in-depth interviews. Structured questionnaires were administered to 285 farming households in Tamale and 300 households in Kakamega selected using a stratified random sampling approach. There was a positive relationship between complete ISFM awareness among farmers and weak knowledge ties to both formal and informal actors at both research locations. The Kakamega AKIS revealed a relationship between complete ISFM awareness among farmers and them having strong knowledge ties to formal actors implying that further integration of formal actors with farmers’ local knowledge is crucial for the agricultural development progress. The structured questionnaire was also utilized to answer the query pertaining to study II. Soil samples (0-20 cm depth) were drawn from 322 (Tamale, Ghana) and 459 (Kakamega, Kenya) maize plots and analysed non-destructively for various soil fertility indicators. Ordinal regression modeling was applied to assess the cumulative adoption of ISFM. According to model estimates, soil carbon seemed to preclude farmers from intensifying input use in Tamale, whereas in Kakamega it spurred complete adoption. This varied response by farmers to soil quality conditions is multifaceted. From the Tamale perspective, it is consistent with farmers’ tendency to judiciously allocate scarce resources. Viewed from the Kakamega perspective, it points to a need for farmers here to intensify agricultural production in order to foster food security. In Kakamega, farmers with more acidic soils were more likely to adopt ISFM. Other household and farm-level factors necessary for ISFM adoption included off-farm income, livestock ownership, farmer associations, and market inter-linkages. Finally, in study III a counterfactual model was used to calculate the difference in outcomes (yield and household income) of the treatment (ISFM adoption) in order to estimate causal effects of ISFM adoption. Adoption of ISFM contributed to a yield increase of 16% in both Tamale and Kakamega. The innovation affected total household income only in Tamale, where ISFM adopters had an income gain of 20%. This may be attributable to the different policy contexts under which the two sets of farmers operate. The main recommendations underscored the need to: (1) improve the functioning of AKIS, (2) enhance farmer access to hybrid maize seed and credit, (3) and conduct additional multi-locational studies as farmers operate under varying contexts.

La implementación de la trayectoria de desarrollo sostenible por parte de los pequeños estados insulares en desarrollo del Pacífico frente a su condición de vulnerabilidad

La investigación busca determinar el propósito que persiguen los pequeños Estados insulares en desarrollo del Pacífico al adoptar una trayectoria de desarrollo sostenible. Se plantea que la adopción de una trayectoria de desarrollo sostenible es la estrategia por medio de la cual estos Estados buscan hacer frente a su condición de vulnerabilidad; lo cual logran a través del uso de la diplomacia en distintos escenarios multilaterales, con el fin de modificar tanto sus prácticas como las de otros actores.

Mobilizing Greater Crop and Land Potentials Sustainably

The supply side of the food security engine is the way we farm. The current engine of conventional tillage farming is faltering and needs to be replaced. This presentation will address supply side issues of agriculture to meet future agricultural demands for food and industry using the alternate no-till Conservation Agriculture (CA) paradigm (involving no-till farming with mulch soil cover and diversified cropping) that is able to raise productivity sustainably and efficiently, reduce inputs, regenerate degraded land, minimise soil erosion, and harness the flow of ecosystem services. CA is an ecosystems approach to farming capable of enhancing not only the economic and environmental performance of crop production and land management, but also promotes a mindset change for producing ‘more from less’, the key attitude towards sustainable production intensification. CA is now spreading globally in all continents at an annual rate of 10 Mha and covers some 157 Mha of cropland. Today global agriculture produces enough food to feed three times the current population of 7.21 billion. In 1976, when the world population was 4.15 billion, world food production far exceeded the amount necessary to feed that population. However, our urban and industrialised lifestyle leads to wastage of food of some 30%-40%, as well as waste of enormous amount of energy and protein while transforming crop-based food into animal-derived food; we have a higher proportion of people than ever before who are obese; we continue to degrade our ecosystems including much of our agricultural land of which some 400 Mha is reported to be abandoned due to severe soil and land degradation; and yields of staple cereals appear to have stagnated. These are signs of unsustainability at the structural level in the society, and it is at the structural level, for both supply side and demand side, that we need transformed mind sets about production, consumption and distribution. CA not only provides the possibility of increased crop yields for the low input smallholder farmer, it also provides a pro-poor rural and agricultural development model to support agricultural intensification in an affordable manner. For the high output farmer, it offers greater efficiency (productivity) and profit, resilience and stewardship. For farming anywhere, it addresses the root causes of agricultural land degradation, sub-optimal ecological crop and land potentials or yield ceilings, and poor crop phenotypic expressions or yield gaps. As national economies expand and diversify, more people become integrated into the economy and are able to access food. However, for those whose livelihoods continue to depend on agriculture to feed themselves and the rest of the world population, the challenge is for agriculture to produce the needed food and raw material for industry with minimum harm to the environment and the society, and to produce it with maximum efficiency and resilience against abiotic and biotic stresses, including those arising from climate change. There is growing empirical and scientific evidence worldwide that the future global supplies of food and agricultural raw materials can be assured sustainably at much lower environmental and economic cost by shifting away from conventional tillage-based food and agriculture systems to no-till CA-based food and agriculture systems. To achieve this goal will require effective national and global policy and institutional support (including research and education).

INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION & RESEARCH FOR OH. Experiences of international networks for collaborative education and research using the One Health approach.

The Authors describe first-hand experiences carried out within the framework of selected International projects aimed at developing collaborative research and education using the One Health (OH) approach. Special emphasis is given to SAPUVETNET, a series of projects co-financed under the EU-ALFA program, and aimed to support an International network on Veterinary Public Health (VPH) formed by Veterinary Faculties from Latin-America (LA) and Europe (EU). SAPUVETNET has envisaged a series of objectives/activities aimed at promoting and enhancing VPH research/training and intersectoral collaboration across LA and EU using the OH approach, as well as participating in research and/or education projects/networks under the OH umbrella, namely EURNEGVEC-European Network for Neglected Vectors & Vector-Borne Infections, CYSTINET-European Network on Taeniosis/Cysticercosis, and NEOH-Network for Evaluation of One Health; the latter includes expertise in multiple disciplines (e.g. ecology, economics, human and animal health, epidemiology, social and environmental sciences, etc.) and has the primary purpose of enabling quantitative evaluation of OH initiatives by developing a standardized evaluation protocol. The Authors give also an account of the ongoing creation of OHIN-OH International Network, founded as a spin-off result of SAPUVETNET. Finally, some examples of cooperation development projects characterised by an OH approach are also briefly mentioned.

A study of the role of a technology-enhanced learning implementation group in mediating an institutional VLE minimum standards policy

Recent years have seen a focus on responding to student expectations in higher education. As a result, a number of technology-enhanced learning (TEL) policies have stipulated a requirement for a minimum virtual learning environment (VLE) standard to provide a consistent student experience. This paper offers insight into an under-researched area of such a VLE standard policy development using a case study of one university. With reference to the implementation staircase model, this study takes cue from the view that an institutional VLE template can affect lower levels directly, sidestepping the chain in the implementation staircase. The Group's activity whose remit is to design and develop a VLE template, therefore, becomes significant. The study, drawing on activity theory, explores the mediating role of such a Group. Factors of success and sources of tension are analysed to understand the interaction between the individuals and the collective agency of Group members. The paper identifies implications to practice for similar TEL development projects. Success factors identified demonstrated the importance of good project management principles, establishing clear rules and division of labour for TEL development groups. One key finding is that Group members are needed to draw on both different and shared mediating artefacts, supporting the conclusion that the nature of the group's composition and the situated expertise of its members are crucial for project success. The paper's theoretical contribution is an enhanced representation of a TEL policy implementation staircase.

Governing the water conservation in the Urmia Lake Basin: addressing macro systems’ fit and micro users’ behavior

To change unadapted water governing systems, and water users’ traditional conducts in line with climate change, understanding of systems’ structures and users’ behaviors is necessary. To this aim, comprehensive and pragmatic research was designed and implemented in the Urmia Lake Basin where due to the severe droughts, and human-made influences, especially through the agricultural development, the lake has been shrunken drastically. To analyze the water governance and conservation issues in the basin, an innovative framework was developed based on mathematical physics concepts and pro-environmental behavior theories. Accordingly, in system level (macro/meso), the problem of fit of the early-shaped water governing system associating with the function of “political-security” and “political-economic” factors in the basin was identified through mean-field models. Furthermore, the effect of a “political-environmental” factor, the Urmia Lake Restoration Program (ULRP), on reforming the system structure and hence its fit was assessed. The analysis results revealed that by revising the provincial boundaries (horizontal alternation) for the entity of Kurdistan province to permit that interact with the headquarter of West Azerbaijan province for its water demand-supply initiatives, the system fit can increase. Also, the constitution of the ULRP (vertical arrangement) not only could increase the structural fit of the water governing system to the basin, but also significantly could enhance the system fit through its water-saving policy. Besides, in individual level (micro), the governing factors of water conservation behavior of the major users/farmers were identified through rational and moral socio-psychological models. In rational approach, incorporating PMT and TPB, the SEM results demonstrated that “Perceived Vulnerability”, “Self-Efficacy”, “Response Efficacy”, “Response Cost”, “Subjective Norms” and “Institutional Trust” significantly affect the water-saving intention/behavior. Likewise, NAM based analysis as a moral approach, uncovered the significant effects of “Awareness of Consequences”, “Appraisal of Responsibility”, “Personal Norms” as well as “Place Attachment” and “Emotions” on water-saving intention.

Rethinking the development, dissemination and adoption of agricultural technologies

This paper focuses on the higher order factors affecting successful adoption of technologies. Drawing on the "actor-oriented perspective" in rural sociology, it is argued that successful examples of adoption at this higher level result from a complex conjunction of people and events, with outcomes that may have been quite unanticipated at the outset. From this perspective, research and extension projects and programs are viewed as arenas in which social actors–village leaders, farmers, researchers (local and international), aid officials, municipal agents, extension workers, and traders–pursue their own short- and long-term objectives and strategies. To this end, they maneuver, negotiate, organize, cooperate, participate, coerce, obstruct, form coalitions, adopt, adapt, and reject, all within a specific geographical and historical context.

A survey of attitudes of agricultural society leaders toward leadership development education

It was the purpose of this study to investigate attitudes toward leadership development education of one client group served by the ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. The survey, answered by 175 participants, attempted to answer the following questions: (a) What is a common definition of leadership?, (b) What leadership concepts are important to leadership development education? and, (c) What are client attitudes toward leadership development education? A descriptive research approach was used and the data were analyzed according to a model developed by Colaizzi. Concept maps were developed under the broad areas of: (a) Developing leader qualities; (b) Past experiences that developed leadership skills that worked on the jOb; (c) Leadership skills developed from present day positions; and (d) How leadership skills may be developed in future situations. A description of the dynamics of leadership development was written and the essential dynamics of leadership skill development in one volunteer organization was described. This study supports the linkages perspective of leadership within voluntary organizations developed by Vandenberg, Thullen and Fear (1987). The linkages perspective consists of three major components: perception, property and process. As a perception, leadership is the set of beliefs each group member holds regarding the behaviours and qualities characteristic of effective leaders. As a property, leadership represents the qualities attributed by group members to persons perceived as effectively (or potentially) influencing the goal achievement process. As a process, leadership involves the use of non-coercive influence to facilitate group accomplishment of valued goals. Leadership concepts important for development in a leadership development education program related to personal, organizational and societal development. The top five concepts in terms of rank order are communicating effectively, forming and working with groups, working creatively (tie), developing followers, managing meetings, directing projects or activities, understanding financial matters, managing negotiations (tie), developing resources and understanding and developing oneself (tie). Several recommendations are relevant for extension personnel as educators. Theoretical concepts on leadership need to be shared to extension practitioners involved in leadership development. currently used teaching materials for leadership development should be evaluated to see if they include concepts from preferrred theoretical leadership perceptions.

Application of the concepts of agro-tourism, agricultural diversification and food and nutrition for the development of Caribbean communities with reference to standards and priority setting

Introduction There is a renewed call for a new approach to development with emphasis on community empowerment or participation, with the belief that more sustainable activities will be undertaken in those communities. Much of that call, however, is coming not from within the communities, but primarily from advocates of change who may have little to do with those communities. What then will the new approach bring apart from a change in who are the decision-makers? And how do we ensure that the change that is called for will, in fact, bring added benefits to the communities themselves? To be sure, there are some successful stories of a community approach to problem solving. However, there are also many more stories of project failures. Serious analytical work, therefore, needs to be done to determine the factors that promote a successful community-based approach; when this approach should be used; and the methodology that should be employed. In an attempt to determine these factors, a brief analysis will be made of some of the governing structures in the subregion and their possible impact on the proposed new approach. Some of the earlier efforts at stakeholder and community approach to projects will also be examined as well as the new development strategy that is prompting the call for this new paradigm. The new paradigm focuses to a large extent on decision-making and community empowerment. With few exceptions, it is short on the promotion of tangible activities that are based on the resource inventory of the communities. This is not surprising, since, as noted before, the advocates of community empowerment may have very little connection with the communities and, in most cases, are unfamiliar with the resource base. Hence, a theoretical case is made, suggesting more style than substance. Another obvious shortcoming of this new paradigm is its continued over- dependence on assistance from the outside to build communities. Externally funded projects, seminars and meetings outside of the communities and foreign technical assistance continue to dominate these projects. While, of course, all communities have basic common needs such as water, health, education and electricity, there is sufficient diversity within communities to allow for tailoring of activities and programmes such that their differences become assets. It is in that context, that agro-tourism activities, standards, agricultural diversification, food and nutrition and priority setting have been chosen as aspects and activities for promoting community development, drawing on the various strengths of communities, rural or urban.

Agricultural policy analysis and planning : a summary of two recent analyses of A.I.D.-supported projects worldwide /

"August 1988."

Conservation farming projects in the Philippine uplands: Rhetoric and reality

The phenomenon of agricultural land degradation in the Philippine uplands has been regarded by scientists and policy-makers as a major environmental and rural development problem. Numerous conservation farming projects have been implemented in the past two decades to address this problem, apparently with little success. Most of these projects have espoused the currently fashionable principles of community-based sustainable development. This paper examines case histories of three completed upland conservation projects. The aim is to compare the rhetoric of project documents and evaluations with the reality of on-going land management practices as seen from the perspective of the land managers themselves. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Development of web services to help risk management of construction projects

Dissertação apresentada na Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade Nova de Lisboa para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Electrotécnica e de Computadores

The development and implementation of math projects in a HEI: expectations, objectives, experiences and analysis

An overwhelming problem in Math Curriculums in Higher Education Institutions (HEI), we are daily facing in the last decade, is the substantial differences in Math background of our students. When you try to transmit, engage and teach subjects/contents that your “audience” is unable to respond to and/or even understand what we are trying to convey, it is somehow frustrating. In this sense, the Math projects and other didactic strategies, developed through Learning Management System Moodle, which include an array of activities that combine higher order thinking skills with math subjects and technology, for students of HE, appear as remedial but important, proactive and innovative measures in order to face and try to overcome these considerable problems. In this paper we will present some of these strategies, developed in some organic units of the Polytechnic Institute of Porto (IPP). But, how “fruitful” are the endless number of hours teachers spent in developing and implementing these platforms? Do students react to them as we would expect? Do they embrace this opportunity to overcome their difficulties? How do they use/interact individually with LMS platforms? Can this environment that provides the teacher with many interesting tools to improve the teaching – learning process, encourages students to reinforce their abilities and knowledge? In what way do they use each available material – videos, interactive tasks, texts, among others? What is the best way to assess student’s performance in these online learning environments? Learning Analytics tools provides us a huge amount of data, but how can we extract “good” and helpful information from them? These and many other questions still remain unanswered but we look forward to get some help in, at least, “get some drafts” for them because we feel that this “learning analysis”, that tackles the path from the objectives to the actual results, is perhaps the only way we have to move forward in the “best” learning and teaching direction.