Knowledge in development aid and healthcare: a comparative analysis

Effective delivery in the fields of development aid and healthcare relies on knowledge and its communication. Institutions, practitioners and the end-users are examined in these two fields as key actors in the production and communication of knowledge. Similarities and differences, and strengths and weaknesses of their approaches to knowledge are compared. Knowledge is shown to be an intrinsically political process in which institutions and practitioners play a critical role in its communication. Establishing a common background is essential to communicate knowledge effectively. The World Bank’s notion that knowledge is a simple commodity should be challenged

Knowledge for development? : reflections from consultants and advisors in Bolivia

Knowledge has been a central part of development discourses in the last 40 years. Development organisations have been concerned with its production and dissemination across developing countries with the purpose of eradicating poverty. This thesis focuses on the processes of knowledge production and dissemination for development in the work of consultants and advisors in two organisations in Bolivia. In particular, it examines and analyses the perceptions and reflections of consultants, advisors, and, to some extent, beneficiaries/clients; how they are framed by institutional and organisational discourses; and the apparent limits to reflexivity within the development assistance field. The thesis uses qualitative methods and draws on interview and documentary data collected in the east and central part of Bolivia. It examines the activities of consultants and advisors in two organisations: a Bolivian based development consultancy company Centro de Estudios y Proyectos (CEP) and a Dutch development agency (SNV). Using, as a conceptual framework, the notions of knowledge/power and discourse developed by Michel Foucault and aspects of Jürgen Habermas’s theory of communicative action, the thesis finds that knowledge engagements are heavily framed by dominant development discourses although they are potentially more productive when the different actors share meanings about the world. This, however, is not usually the case, and the engagements are marked by fundamental differences between the actors. The thesis also finds that consultants, advisors and beneficiaries/clients reflect, learn and hence produce rich knowledge individually but this is not openly shared with their organisational hierarchies because it can potentially challenge the development discourses that frame what the organisations do. The thesis concludes that, in order to overcome constraints imposed by dominant development discourses, it is necessary to build shared meanings between the actors where these do not exist, while recognising that their differences are also the source of new knowledge

The Malawian co-operative movement: insights for resilience

Heavy government interference, lack or leadership and low levels of skills are some the factors that have for decades weakened and in some cases caused the failure of co-operatives in Africa. However, in the recent past, African co-operatives have experienced a remarkable renaissance. We examine whether these co-operatives are resilient forms of organisation, and if so, what are the key factors that are conducive to resilience. We examine the Malawian co-operative movement from which very little is known. We explore four of the biggest co-operative Unions in the country. Our analysis is guided by a framework compounded by five key factors conducive to co-operative resilience. Our results suggest that women’s inclusion, business income diversification, collective skills, and strategic partnerships with external agents are factors conducive to resilience. We also conclude that these factors need to be grounded on reflexive behaviour amongst leaders and cooperative members

La celebridad deportiva como intermediario e instrumento cultural de derechos fundamentales e igualdad étnica-racial. Un estudio de la campaña corporativa “common thread”, publicada por la marca deportiva Nike en instagram

Corporate brands play a social role through the discourses they broadcast on their social media. The sports celebrity acts as a cultural intermediary and communicating instrument in the value system that the brand brings together in defence of social, cultural and ethnic diversity (Turner, 2004; Erdogan, 1999; Marshall, 1997). From this perspective, the aim of this proposal is to detect the socio-cultural elements that articulate the discourse constructed by the Nike sports brand in defence of racial and ethnic equality in sport. Methodologically, the content analysis approach is adopted (Krippendorff, 2013). The data consists of 3 short films that make up a campaign created by the sports brand Nike called "Common Thread". The criterion for their selection was the discursive projection that the brand emits in favour of socio-cultural equality on Instagram. In order to define the model of analysis, the classical studies of Greimas (1976) and McCracken (1989) is taken as a starting point. The results show that the brand manifests itself on social media as a social agent that promotes equality and racial-ethnic rights for the black sports community through sport and culture

Innovation priorities for UK bioenergy: technological expectations within path dependence

UK bioenergy innovation pathways have been locked into current energy infrastructure through technological expectations, especially the reciprocal requirements of state bodies and industry. Over the past decade UK policy has given bioenergy an increasingly important role for decarbonising the energy system; technoscientific innovation has been expected to expand the range of biomass that can be sustainably converted to energy. Needing industry investment to fulfil its policy aims, the UK government has faced requirements to provide long-term support measures. Innovation priorities have been shaped by policy arrangements closely involving industry with state bodies. Their expectations for future benefits have mobilised resources for bioenergy innovation mainly as input-substitutes within current energy infrastructural patterns; novel path creation lies within a path dependence. Although technical progress has encountered diffi culties and long delays, expectations for economic and environmental benefits have built support, while confl ating national benefi ts with private-sector interests. Through such expectations, innovation priorities wishfully enact some desired futures from among those which had been advocated in policy documents

Cholinoceptor Activation Subserving the Effects of Interferon Gamma on the Contractility of Rat Ileum

Recombinant rat interferon γ stimulated the contractility of isolated rat ileum at doses of 4–12 units/ml. Muscarinic cholinoceptors were involved, as treatment of the tissue with atropine prevented the contractile response of the ileum. Furthermore, interferon γ increased the affinity of carbachol for the cholinoceptors and did not change its maximum effect. Neurogenic pathways were also involved since pretreatment of ileum with hexamethonium, hemicholinium or tetrodotoxin impaired the contractile effect of interferon γ. In contrast to the action of exogenous carbachol, the effects of interferon γ are indirect. They appear to involve a G protein regulating phosphoinositide turnover and cytoskeletal structures since they could not be induced in ileum strips that were pretreated with pertussis toxin, phospholipase C inhibitors (2-nitro-carboxyphenyl, NN-diphenyl carbamate and neomycin), cytochalasine B or colchicine

Global vaccine safety blueprint: the landscape analysis (survey of regulators)

The perspectives of regulatory licensing authorities were assessed in countries that produce, procure, and both produce and procure vaccines. A web-based survey was developed to explore regulators’ knowledge, attitudes and practices concerning their national vaccine safety system. Additionally, their opinions about what would be needed to ensure future capacity and capabilities for a global vaccine safety system were probed, along with models of collaboration for regulatory authorities and the private sector that address public safety issues

Los requisitos administrativos del matrimonio civil en la legislación peruana

La presente investigación titulada “Los requisitos administrativos del Matrimonio Civil en la legislación peruana” plantea como objetivo general analizar como los requisitos administrativos promueven el matrimonio civil en la legislación peruana. La investigación es de enfoque cualitativo de tipo básica de diseño de teoría fundamentada. Se utilizó como técnicas de recolección de datos la guía de entrevista teniendo como participantes a Abogados, asimismo la guía de cuestionario donde participaron los ciudadanos, la guía de análisis documental y la guía normativa como método de análisis de datos se utilizo la hermenéutica jurídica con lo cual se procedio a elaborar los resultados y la discusión. Y se concluyó que los requisitos administrativos promueven de manera negativa el matrimonio civil en la legislación peruana, ya que transgreden el principio constitucional de promoción del matrimonio, la formalidad de la celebración del matrimonio frente a la realidad social y no son idóneos frente a los actuales problemas sociales familiares

DEVELOPMENT ON MY TERMS: DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANTS AND KNOWLEDGE FOR DEVELOPMENT

Consultants are an integral component of development aid. Their involvement is based on an assumption of the transferability of knowledge to clients and beneficiaries. However, this role, its efficacy and the concept of knowledge transfer have all been questioned. Although research has shown interest in northern development consultants in recent years, detailed processes and practices of southern consultants' engagement with knowledge production are less analysed. Drawing on debates about knowledge, power and managing development interventions and on extensive fieldwork exploring a Bolivian consultancy company's assignments for northern development agencies, we analyse the ‘knowledge engagements’ between clients, consultants and beneficiaries. The results suggest a novel theorisation: knowledge engagements are shaped by power relations exercised through discourses and financial aid on one hand and shared and unshared lifeworlds and backgrounds of actors on the other. They are also characterised by collusive behaviour with the discourses and practices of aid on the part of consultants and beneficiaries, which in turn influences outcomes. Southern consultants, although aware of these issues, are in a difficult position to challenge these relationships. A greater recognition of the tensions could lead to a new role for consultants if collective action were to renegotiate their terms of engagement and aim for a new mutuality

BetaBayes—A Bayesian Approach for Comparing Ecological Communities

Ecological communities change because of both natural and human factors. Distinguishing between the two is critical to ecology and conservation science. One of the most common approaches for modelling species composition changes is calculating beta diversity indices and then relating index changes to environmental changes. The main difficulty with these analyses is that beta diversity indices are paired comparisons, which means indices calculated with the same community are not independent. Mantel tests and generalised dissimilarity modelling (GDM) are two of the most commonly used statistical procedures for analysing such data, employing randomisation tests to consider the data’s dependence. Here, we introduce a Bayesian model-based approach called BetaBayes that explicitly incorporates the data dependence. This approach is based on the Bradley– Terry model, which is a widely used approach for modelling paired comparisons that involves building a standard regression model containing two varying intercepts, one for each community involved in the beta diversity index, that capture their respective contributions. We used BetaBayes to analyse a famous dataset collected in Panama that contains information on multiple 1 ha plots from the rain forests of Panama. We calculated the Bray–Curtis index between all pairs of plots, analysed the relationship between the index and two covariates (geographic distance and elevation), and compared the results of BetaBayes with those from the Mantel test and GDM. BetaBayes has two distinctive features. The first is its flexibility, which allows the user to quickly change it to fit the data structure; namely, by adding varying effects, incorporating spatial autocorrelation, and modelling complex nonlinear relationships. The second is that it provides a clear path for performing model validation and model improvement. BetaBayes avoids hypothesis testing, instead focusing on recreating the data generating process and quantifying all the model configurations that are consistent with the observed datainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio