Evaluation of the technical capacity of artisans to fabricate the animal-powered direct seeder super-eco in Sénégal.

This study focused on the ability of local Senegalese artisans to fabricate the animal-powered no-till (NT) direct seeder Super-Eco to reduce the expensive import of seeders. Technical specifications and design of the animal-powered direct seeder Super-Eco were first given to 90 heads of artisanal workshops in three regions of the Southern Peanut Basin for them to reproduce the machine. Detailed information on their workshop equipment was collected in advance. A principal component analysis (PCA) was then used to classify artisan workshops. The results showed that Class 3 was very well equipped and was able to fabricate the direct seeder. It was followed by Class 2 which was fairly well equipped, but was only able to develop 90% of the seeder parts. Because of a low level of equipment, the third class of artisans was only capable of fabricating very few pieces of the seeder. Artisans from Class 3 were able to fully construct the animal-powered direct seeder. However, it was noted that the other classes of artisans were able to reproduce some parts of the animal-powered direct seeder Super-Eco but they could not make the seeder box with its nested seed metering device due to their low level of equipment. They instead buy it from the Sahelian Industrial Company of Mechanics, Agricultural Materials and Representations or from traders. The need to evaluate the performance of the seeders developed by local artisans is also noted.

Women's Voices in Civil Society Organizations: Evidence from a Civil Society Mapping Project in Mali

How does women's engagement in civil society organizations (CSOs) differ from that of men, and what factors predict women's willingness to hold the state accountable? We analyze these questions in the context of rural and urban Mali, leveraging face-to-face data collected as part of a civil society mapping project during February -- March 2020 and December 2020, and an in-depth survey conducted with leaders from a randomly-selected subset of these CSOs during January -- March 2021. First, we explore the characteristics of women's groups compared to other CSOs. Second, we explore their likelihood of sanctioning a hypothetical corrupt mayor. We use an embedded survey experiment to try to understand these groups' willingness to report on the mayor as well as the payments they expect to receive from the mayor in order to not share information about the mayor's corruption. We find that women in Mali are often highly organized at the local level---frequently in self-help groups or organizations related to gendered economic activities. However, these more economically-focused groupings of Malian women frequently do not translate into civic activity. They are not typically recognized by outside actors as viable CSOs that could incentivize better governance; their strong networks and group infrastructure represent untapped social capital. We also find that CSOs comprised of women have lower informational and technical capacity, especially due to lower levels of political knowledge, and incur a higher cost of sanctioning public officials---though they have greater mobilization capacity. Women's engagement in decision-making in the home also predicts one's CSO being more hierarchical and having greater technical capacity, as well as having higher expected transfers from the mayor---findings that do not vary with respondent or CSO gender. Turning to the extent to which women involved in CSOs are willing to sanction the state, we find that they are generally less willing than men to sanction, but become more likely when their CSO is less hierarchical, when their technical capacity is higher, and when their political knowledge is greater. However, priming their importance as a CSO (by telling them they were identified by well-connected citizens as being influential) actually reduces sanctioning---perhaps by making them fear that those recommending them will engage in reprisals. Overall, our findings provide useful evidence on the organizational capacity of women and how it is likely to affect the state.

National health governance, science and the media: drivers of COVID-19 responses in Germany, Sweden and the UK in 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic is an unprecedented global crisis in which governments had to act in a situation of rapid change and substantial uncertainty. The governments of Germany, Sweden and the UK have taken different paths allowing learning for future pandemic preparedness. To help inform discussions on preparedness, inspired by resilience frameworks, this paper reviews governance structures, and the role of science and the media in the COVID-19 response of Germany, Sweden and the UK in 2020. We mapped legitimacy, interdependence, knowledge generation and the capacity to deal with uncertainty.Our analysis revealed stark differences which were linked to pre-existing governing structures, the traditional role of academia, experience of crisis management and the communication of uncertainty—all of which impacted on how much people trusted their government. Germany leveraged diversity and inclusiveness, a ‘patchwork quilt’, for which it was heavily criticised during the second wave. The Swedish approach avoided plurality and largely excluded academia, while in the UK’s academia played an important role in knowledge generation and in forcing the government to review its strategies. However, the vivant debate left the public with confusing and rapidly changing public health messages. Uncertainty and the lack of evidence on how best to manage the COVID-19 pandemic—the main feature during the first wave—was only communicated explicitly in Germany. All country governments lost trust of their populations during the epidemic due to a mix of communication and transparency failures, and increased questioning of government legitimacy and technical capacity by the public.

Control Strategies for Gait Tele-Rehabilitation System Based on Parallel Robotics

Among end-effector robots for lower limb rehabilitation, systems based on Stewart–Gough platforms enable independent movement of each foot in six degrees of freedom. Nevertheless, control strategies described in recent literature have not been able to fully explore the potential of such a mechatronic system. In this work, we propose two novel approaches for controlling a gait simulator based on Stewart–Gough platforms. The first strategy provides the therapist direct control of each platform using movement data measured by wearable sensors. The following scheme is designed to improve the level of engagement of the patient by enabling a limited degree of control based on trunk inclination. Both strategies are designed to facilitate future studies in tele-rehabilitation settings. Experimental results have illustrated the feasibility of both control interfaces, either in terms of system performance or user subjective evaluation. Technical capacity to deploy in tele-rehabilitation was also verified in this work.

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on protected area management and conservation outcomes in Mexico

Protected areas (PAs) are under immense pressure to safeguard much of the world’s remaining biodiversity and can be strained by unpredicted events such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Understanding the extent of the pandemic on PA inputs, mechanisms, and conservation outcomes is critical for recovery and future planning to buffer against these types of events. We use survey and focus group data to quantify the impact of the pandemic on Mexico’s PA network and outline the pathways that led to conservation outcomes. On average, across 62 PAs, we find substantial changes in management capacity, monitoring, and tourism, and a slight increase in non-compliant activities. Our findings highlight the need to increase short-term relief efforts and long-term livelihood diversification initiatives for communities dependent on tourism, who were most vulnerable during the pandemic. Increased management support, including technical capacity and financial resources, could also better sustain management activities in future shocks.

Responsabilidade Social: Uma Abordagem centrada em Universidades Públicas Brasileiras / Social Responsibility: An Approach Centered on Brazilian Public Universities

Resumo: As universidades têm a atribuição de formar cidadãos responsáveis e éticos, de forma que contribuam com o desenvolvimento sustentável e resolução de problemas sociais. Nesta esteira, a responsabilidade social no ambiente universitário viabiliza a construção de ações que impactam a sociedade favorecendo a inclusão social, melhoria na qualidade de vida e outros benefícios. Diante desse cenário, busca-se nesta pesquisa responder ao seguinte questionamento: qual a importância da responsabilidade social nas universidades? E para responder a essa indagação, o artigo apresenta como objetivo geral: identificar qual a importância da responsabilidade social no ambiente universitário, e como objetivos específicos (1) compreender fatores históricos e práticos que favorecem a aplicabilidade da responsabilidade social nas universidades; (2) identificar os desafios na aplicabilidade de responsabilidade social; (3) analisar as características fundamentais da responsabilidade social. Quanto à metodologia aplicada, o artigo foi construído por meio de uma análise sistemática da literatura que permitiu realizar uma revisão teórica e conceitual, em seguida, houve a discussão da literatura, considerações finais e referencial teórico. Os Resultados revelam que a Responsabilidade Social Universitária possui muitos desafios a serem enfrentados e que o espaço universitário precisa ser fortalecido para que proporcione à sociedade indivíduos com capacidade técnica capaz de resolver problemas sociais. Abstract: Universities are responsible for training responsible and ethical citizens, so that they contribute to sustainable development and the resolution of social problems. In this way, social responsibility in the university environment enables the construction of actions that impact society, favoring social inclusion, improved quality of life and other benefits. Given this scenario, the aim of this research is to answer the following question: what is the importance of social responsibility in universities? And to answer this question, the article presents the general objective: to identify the importance of social responsibility in the university environment, and as specific objectives (1) understand historical and practical factors that favor the applicability of social responsibility in universities; (2) identify challenges in the applicability of social responsibility; (3) analyze the fundamental characteristics of social responsibility. As for the methodology applied, the article was built through a systematic analysis of the literature that allowed for a theoretical and conceptual review, then there was a discussion of the literature, final considerations and theoretical framework. The Results reveal that University Social Responsibility has many challenges to be faced and that the university space needs to be strengthened so that it provides society with individuals with technical capacity capable of solving social problems. Keywords: Social Inclusion. Social development. Quality of life. Social justice.

Moving from waste to resource management: A case study of Lake Toba, Indonesia

This article presents field experience in developing local waste management plans called Kebijakan Strategi Daerah (Jakstrada) in the Lake Toba region, one of the popular tourist destinations in Indonesia. It examines the current waste management status and discusses key priorities and actions identified in the Jakstradas to improve the waste management based on resource management and 3R (reduce, reuse and recycle) principles. In partnership with public, private, academic and citizen groups, the project activities supported the development of Jakstradas in all seven regencies and established a resource recovery centre (RRC) as a model to practice 3Rs in the region. The key lessons learned from these project activities are discussed and some practical recommendations are identified based on a literature review, interviews and workshops with local government officials and residents. Through those opportunities, it was found that remote regencies around Lake Toba do not have environmentally sound final disposal sites and do not have the financial or technical capacity to provide waste collection and handling services to residents, which often results in illegal dumping and open burning of waste. It was also revealed that lack of established markets for recycling value chains and citizens participation in waste separation at source had resulted in limited success for recycling and 3R activities in the region.

Neuro-wavelet Model for price prediction in high-frequency data in the Mexican Stock market

With the availability of high frequency data and new techniques for the management of noise in signals, we revisit the question, can we predict financial asset prices? The present work proposes an algorithm for next-step log-return prediction. Data in frequencies from 1 to 15 minutes, for 25 high capitalization assets in the Mexican market were used. The model applied consists on a wavelet followed by a Long Short-Term Memory neural network (LSTM). Application of either wavelets or neural networks in finance are common, the novelty comes from the application of the particular architecture proposed. The results show that, on average, the proposed LSTM neuro-wavelet model outperforms both an ARIMA model and a benchmark dense neural network model. We conclude that, although further research (in other stock markets, at higher frequencies, etc.) is in order, given the ever increasing technical capacity of market participants, the inclusion of the LSTM neuro-wavelet model is a valuable addition to the market participant toolkit, and might pose an advantage to traditional predictive tools.

Evaluation of the Good Review Practices of Countries Participating in the Southern African Development Community: Alignment and Strategies for Moving Forward

Introduction: National medicines regulatory agencies are faced with challenges including limited resources and technical capacity, resulting in countries collaborating and sharing resources to improve efficiency of the review process to facilitate access to quality-assured medicines by their populations. One such collaboration is the Southern African Development Community (SADC) medicines registration collaborative initiative, ZaZiBoNa. Countries participate in the initiative by contributing to regulatory reviews and good manufacturing practices inspections. The aim of this study was to review and compare the registration processes of regulatory authorities of Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe to identify strategies for better alignment.Methods: A senior member of the division responsible for issuing marketing authorisations completed an established and validated questionnaire, which standardises the review process, allowing key milestones, activities and practices of the six regulatory authorities to be identified and compared. The completed questionnaires were validated by the heads of the respective agencies.Results: The six countries vary in population and in the size of their respective regulatory agency and the resources allocated to regulatory reviews. The review processes of the six agencies were similar; however, differences were noted in the milestones recorded; for example, two of the countries did not record the start of the scientific assessment. Additionally, decisions for marketing authorisation were made by an expert committee in four of the countries and by the head of the agency and the Minister of Health in two countries. All six agencies implemented the majority of good review practices; however, the need for improvement in the areas of transparency and communication and quality decision making practices was a common finding for all six countries.Conclusions: Participation in the ZaZiBoNa initiative has improved the way in which the six agencies perform regulatory reviews in their countries, highlighting the realisation of one of the key objectives of the initiative, which was building the expert capacity of member countries. Other agencies in the SADC region and beyond can use the results of this study to identify best practices, which in turn, could improve their regulatory performance.

Centralization and Subnational Capacity: The Struggle to Make Federalism Work Equitably in Public Education

Vast disparities between and within American states’ responses to the COVID-19 pandemic have evoked renewed attention to whether greater centralization might enhance investments in subnational capacity and remedy subnational inequalities or instead erode subnational organizational capacity. Developments in American public education (1997–2015) offer perspective on this puzzle, which we examine by applying interrupted time series analysis to a novel dataset to assess the implications of centralization on subnational investments in administrative and technical capacity, two dimensions of organizational capacity. We find simultaneous subnational erosion in administrative capacity and growth in technical capacity following centralization, both of which appear concentrated in low-poverty areas despite centralization’s explicit antipoverty purposes. Public education reforms highlight both the challenge of dismantling subnational inequality through centralization and the need for future research on policy designs that enable centralization to yield subnational capacity that is able to remedy inequality.