Suchergebnisse

International audience ; Millions of small reservoirs built across semi-arid areas present a potential to support agricultural livelihoods of rural smallholders. The scale and geographical dispersion of these multiple lakes restrict the understanding of these coupled human-water systems and the identification of adequate strategies to support riparian farmers. This research developed a multi-scalar interdisciplinary approach to characterise the hydrological and wider drivers of agricultural water use around multiple small reservoirs in semi-arid central Tunisia. The combination of field surveys, quantitative questionnaires and qualitative, semi-structured interviews confirmed minimal withdrawals, but highlighted the diversification of practices, the rise in fruit farming and peripheral benefits generated here by the development of 56 lakes. 48% of lakes provide residual benefits for the occasional watering of on average 300 fruit trees and support to downstream wells exploited for irrigation. A further 13 lakes (23%) provide high levels of benefits (900 fruit trees each), albeit with low equity, supporting essentially established farmers. The analysis of surface water assessments every 8 days from Landsat 5-8 imagery over 1999-2014, provides unprecedented insights into the significant water scarcity and unreliability that impedes agricultural intensification on 86% of small lakes. Limited storage capacities and prolonged droughts highlight the need for small reservoirs in this climatic context to retain a supplementary irrigation objective and not strive to support widespread intensification of irrigated practices. Many farmers lack the capabilities to increase their withdrawals and suffer physical and economic water access difficulties, mismanagement, compounded through limited and short-term government assistance. Individual successes resulted from farmers' economic resilience and means to secure alternate water supplies during dry spells.

International audience ; Millions of small reservoirs built across semi-arid areas present a potential to support agricultural livelihoods of rural smallholders. The scale and geographical dispersion of these multiple lakes restrict the understanding of these coupled human-water systems and the identification of adequate strategies to support riparian farmers. This research developed a multi-scalar interdisciplinary approach to characterise the hydrological and wider drivers of agricultural water use around multiple small reservoirs in semi-arid central Tunisia. The combination of field surveys, quantitative questionnaires and qualitative, semi-structured interviews confirmed minimal withdrawals, but highlighted the diversification of practices, the rise in fruit farming and peripheral benefits generated here by the development of 56 lakes. 48% of lakes provide residual benefits for the occasional watering of on average 300 fruit trees and support to downstream wells exploited for irrigation. A further 13 lakes (23%) provide high levels of benefits (900 fruit trees each), albeit with low equity, supporting essentially established farmers. The analysis of surface water assessments every 8 days from Landsat 5-8 imagery over 1999-2014, provides unprecedented insights into the significant water scarcity and unreliability that impedes agricultural intensification on 86% of small lakes. Limited storage capacities and prolonged droughts highlight the need for small reservoirs in this climatic context to retain a supplementary irrigation objective and not strive to support widespread intensification of irrigated practices. Many farmers lack the capabilities to increase their withdrawals and suffer physical and economic water access difficulties, mismanagement, compounded through limited and short-term government assistance. Individual successes resulted from farmers' economic resilience and means to secure alternate water supplies during dry spells.

International audience ; Millions of small reservoirs built across semi-arid areas present a potential to support agricultural livelihoods of rural smallholders. The scale and geographical dispersion of these multiple lakes restrict the understanding of these coupled human-water systems and the identification of adequate strategies to support riparian farmers. This research developed a multi-scalar interdisciplinary approach to characterise the hydrological and wider drivers of agricultural water use around multiple small reservoirs in semi-arid central Tunisia. The combination of field surveys, quantitative questionnaires and qualitative, semi-structured interviews confirmed minimal withdrawals, but highlighted the diversification of practices, the rise in fruit farming and peripheral benefits generated here by the development of 56 lakes. 48% of lakes provide residual benefits for the occasional watering of on average 300 fruit trees and support to downstream wells exploited for irrigation. A further 13 lakes (23%) provide high levels of benefits (900 fruit trees each), albeit with low equity, supporting essentially established farmers. The analysis of surface water assessments every 8 days from Landsat 5-8 imagery over 1999-2014, provides unprecedented insights into the significant water scarcity and unreliability that impedes agricultural intensification on 86% of small lakes. Limited storage capacities and prolonged droughts highlight the need for small reservoirs in this climatic context to retain a supplementary irrigation objective and not strive to support widespread intensification of irrigated practices. Many farmers lack the capabilities to increase their withdrawals and suffer physical and economic water access difficulties, mismanagement, compounded through limited and short-term government assistance. Individual successes resulted from farmers' economic resilience and means to secure alternate water supplies during dry spells.

Cover -- Half-title -- Title page -- Copyright information -- Table of contents -- List of tables -- List of figures -- List of boxes -- Preface -- Acknowledgements -- List of acronyms and abbreviations -- 1 Developing countries and the concept of development -- 1.1 Approaches to development -- 1.2 The development debate -- 1.3 Growth and development -- Rich countries and poor countries: development as economic growth -- Development as structural change -- Development as poverty reduction -- Development as social welfare -- Development as modernisation -- Development as freedom -- Development as sustainability -- The Millennium Development Goals -- 1.4 Are growth and development desirable? -- 1.5 Development and Westernisation -- 1.6 Indicators of growth and development -- International comparisons based on purchasing power parities -- Social indicators -- 1.7 Does the `Third World´ exist? -- Low-income countries -- Lower-middle-income countries -- Upper-middle-income countries -- High-income countries -- The impact of the 2008 global financial crisis -- Oil-exporting developing countries -- Newly industrialising countries -- Countries in transition -- Regional differences in poverty, welfare and growth dynamics -- Dimensions of difference -- 1.8 The gap between rich and poor countries -- The paradox of increasing inequality and increasing mobility -- 1.9 What do developing countries have in common? -- Poverty and malnutrition -- Large shares of agriculture -- Dualism and inequality -- Rapid population growth -- Rapid urbanisation -- Underutilisation of labour -- Political instability and pervasive corruption -- Environmental degradation -- Low levels of technology capabilities -- 1.10 The framework of proximate, intermediate and ultimate sources of growth and development -- Further reading.

Published Article ; The inclusion of access to information (ATI) in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (Act No. 108 of 1996, hereafter the Constitution) and its concomitant legislation, the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) (No. 2 of 2000), is aimed at promoting transparency, accountability and democratic governance in the hitherto closed, authoritarian and apartheid society. The Constitution goes further to entrench socio-economic rights (SERs) in order to address the past injustices of ignorance, fear and want that impair the dignity of the majority of South Africans. ATI is described as the 'touchstone' of all human rights and upon which the other human rights, including SERs, are buttressed. SERs are, supposedly, enforced by the courts of law. However, their justiciability has become acrimonious and adversarial because it may include the courts making orders that may have budgetary implications, which usually fall under the purview of the executive-cum-legislation, thus undermining the separation of powers doctrine. The study suggests the concept of meaningful engagement to break the impasse, arguing that the concept is more 'user-friendly' and grounded in the Constitution and other statutory instrument and practices in the governance of South Africa.

Socio-emotional skills, vital for navigating life's challenges, significantly influence educational success and well-being. Thus, socio-economic disparities in these skills may contribute to broader inequalities in achievement. Despite their importance, research in certain contexts, like France, remains limited. Self-efficacy, a cornerstone of socio-emotional well-being, develops early and it is influenced by familial and contextual factors. The primary school years are central for self-efficacy development. During this period, socio-economic gaps in self-efficacy may emerge, influenced by family environments and experiences at school. Using data from the 2011 Panel of Pupils we find that French pupils have similar academic self-efficacy whatever their socio-economic background at the start of primary school. However, at the end of primary school, children coming from more disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds exhibit lower academic self-efficacy as compared to more advantaged peers, and this socio-economic gap is particularly strong among girls. The findings of this work underscore the need for educational policies to focus on socio-emotional skills development alongside cognitive skills from an early age to reduce socio-economic inequalities.

While impacts of climate change on agricultural systems have been widely researched, there is still limited understanding of what agricultural innovations have evolved over time in response to both climatic and non-climatic drivers. Although there has been some progress in formulating national adaptation policies and strategic planning in different countries of South Asia, research to identify local-level adaptive strategies and practices is still limited. Through eight case studies and a survey of 300 households in 15 locations in India, Nepal and Bangladesh, this paper generates empirical evidence on emerging agricultural innovations in contrasting socio-economic, geographical and agro-ecological contexts. The study demonstrates that several farm practices (innovations) have emerged in response to multiple drivers over time, with various forms of institutional and policy support, including incentives to reduce risks in the adoption of innovative practice. It further shows that there is still limited attempt to systematically mainstream adaptation innovations into local, regional and national government structures, policies and planning processes. The paper shows that the process of farm-level adaptation through innovation adoption forms an important avenue for agricultural adaptation in South Asia. A key implication of this finding is that there is a need for stronger collaborations between research institutions, extension systems, civil society and the private sector actors to enhance emerging adaptive innovations at the farm level.

Intro -- About This Book -- Contents -- Digitization as the Technological Basis for the Future Development of Economic and Social Systems: A Review of Groundbreaking Technologies and Prospects of Their Application -- Blockchain Technologies as a Reflection of Modern Reality: Diversity of Opportunities Versus Security Risks -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Methodology -- 2.1 Purpose of the Study -- 2.2 Research Methods -- 2.3 Theoretical Foundations of the Research -- 2.4 The Information Base of the Research -- 2.5 Results -- 3 Conclusions/Recommendations -- References -- Formation of a Justified Strategy of Education in the Sphere of Information Security in the Digital Economy -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Methodology -- 3 Results -- 3.1 Target Groups of the Educational System in the Sphere of Information Security -- 3.2 Support for Interested Parties -- 3.3 Models of Education in the Sphere of Information Security -- 3.4 Organized Training in the Sphere of Information Security -- 3.5 Advanced Training and Retraining of Specialists -- 3.6 Public Informing and Dissemination of Information -- 4 Conclusion -- References -- The Influence of Digital Technologies' Development on Financing of Small Companies and Startups -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Methodology -- 3 Results and Discussion -- 4 Conclusions -- References -- Parametric Architecture and Artificial Intelligence as a Way of Modeling Three-Dimensional Environment -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Methodology -- 3 Results -- 4 Conclusions -- References -- Cloud Technologies in Banking -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Materials and Method -- 3 Results -- 4 Conclusion -- References -- The Power of Modern Digital Technologies for the Specialist Training in Artificial Intelligence -- 1 Introduction -- 2 Methodology -- 3 Results and Conclusion -- References.

AbstractAchieving human–carnivore coexistence is a growing challenge in an increasingly crowded world. In many cases, humans are already sharing landscapes with carnivores, but conditions promoting coexistence are not well understood. Coyotes (Canis latrans) are adaptable meso carnivores and their activities increasingly overlap with those of humans in urban environments. Does this overlap constitute coexistence? How do social variables situated within their rightful ecological contexts influence the potential for conflict? In this study, we explore aggregated social and land cover variables contributing to coexistence between humans and coyotes. We surveyed residents in four North Carolina cities on their perceptions, interactions and preferred management actions related to coyotes. We then modeled spatial patterns in urbanite interactions with and perceptions regarding coyotes and investigated how land cover characteristics may correlate with those perceptions. Our results suggest prior interactions and select land cover types may drive human coexistence with coyotes and contribute contextual understanding of urban socio-ecological systems to prevent conflict and effectively promote coexistence. Additional research that expands upon this study and explores spatial as well as temporal dimensions of human–wildlife coexistence is needed in diverse contexts.

There is no consensus in the literature about how successful media clusters can be developed. Using insights from workshops and survey data, this study develops and tests a new model that explains why media activities agglomerate at certain places. The model consists of four economic drivers: urbanization, localization, agglomeration and perception economies. The findings emphasize that a one-size-fits-all policy regarding media cluster development is best avoided, due to the high levels of heterogeneity in the conditions for success.