Examining linkages between Smart Villages and Smart Cities: Learning from rural youth accessing the internet in India

The literature on Smart Cities has not as yet paid adequate attention to the rural sector, and the potential in villages for creating smart and sustainable solutions for the 21st century. This paper focuses on linking proposed smart city strategies to smart village policies to ensure that rural youth have improved opportunities for employment through ICT initiatives to ensure digital inclusion, using primary surveys undertaken in India. The motivation was to understand how mobile telephony could be a catalyst to create Smart Villages in India, where young people can chart out new pathways to realize their aspirations with regard to tertiary education and new avenues for diversifying into rural non-agricultural employment. We use data obtained from a household survey in villages in the states of Punjab and Tamil Nadu to examine the mobile phone usage preferences of rural educated youth to identify the way forward in improving the accessibility of services on the supply side. We make the case that where youth are using mobile phone access to increase their social information base it is indeed possible that the new social media groups formed by rural youth become a powerful conduit for generating new employment opportunities. The key to accessing this solution is to use a demand driven model for mobile services that would permit a bottom of governance model to generate sustainable growth of enterprises and improved human development of these villages.     

Evaluating the impact of Tax-for-Fee reform (Fei Gai Shui) on water resources and agriculture production in the Zhanghe Irrigation System, China

This article questions the effectiveness and viability of rural Tax-for-Fee reform (Fei Gai Shui) on water resources and agriculture production, taking the Zhanghe Irrigation System of China as a case study example. The Fei Gai Shui reform has been heralded as a possible solution for reducing the excessive fiscal burden on peasants. While the reform may achieve in relieving peasant burdens significantly, the initial impact of Fei Gai Shui on water resources and agricultural production indicate least satisfactory trends. The policy shows significant impact on rice yield and area. It might also have profound impact on cropping pattern but it has yet to be seen. Dependence on local water resources such as ponds show significant increase after Fei Gai Shui as it discouraged farmers to rely on regional water sources. Although the lower regional water use under Fei Gai Shui reduced the water charges paid by farmers, the savings were mostly offset by increasing pumping costs in accessing water from local ponds. Without any adjustments, the Fei Gai Shui is likely to cause serious predicament in agricultural sector. It is visioned that local water resources such as water ponds will continue to play an important role in sustaining agricultural production.     

Organizational ownership,competitive intensity,and firm performance: an empirical study of the Indian manufacturing sector

Emerging countries are using privatization as a key strategy in their drive to become free market economies. Although these ownership changes are rapidly gaining prominence, the academic literature has been equivocal about the performance benefits of private vs. state ownership. The lack of clarity in findings can be largely traced to the underspecification of the models that prior studies have examined. Specifically, prior studies have mostly ignored the central role of competitive rivalry. This paper proposes a model that centers around the interactive, inseparable effects of ownership and competitive rivalry on firm performance. Results of the empirical examination set in India show that competitive intensity moderates the relationship between ownership and performance. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Some Implications of the Philosophy of Technology for Science, Technology and Society (STS) Studies

Technology is frequently considered in terms of its impact on entities outside its essential nature: as the impact of technology on the environment and society, but also the impact of human values and needs on technology. By taking particular social implications of technology into account, the Science–Technology relationship can be extended to the field of Science, Technology and Society (STS) studies. STS studies are grounded in socio-technological understanding, that is, systematic knowledge of the mutual relationship between technical objects, the natural environment and social practice. Because technology is a key element of STS, it is expected that the philosophy of technology will have implications for STS studies. The dynamic nature of technology as such leaves its own philosophy in a tentative or flexible state. However, the implications of the philosophy of technology, being in a development phase at the moment with changes in emphasis occuring, for STS studies ought to be determined continuously. The aim of the article is to identify and discuss possible implications of the the philosophy of technology for STS. In order to deduce these implications, the relevant theoretical framework underpinning the article will be discussed in broad outlines. Seeing that the philosophy of technology is such a wide field a delineation of the field needs to be done. Mitcham’s proposed preliminary framework is taken as point of departure for the article. Technology as knowledge (epistemology/theory of knowledge) and technology as activity (design methodology) will be discussed as two key aspects of the modern philosophy of technology which could provide implications for STS. A theory of knowledge usually includes methodology, but seeing that Mitcham classified methodology as one of the modes in which technology is manifested, it is dealt with separately. The epistemology and methodology of technology will each be discussed from a philosophical, historical and practice-based methodological perspective. Some implications of the philosophy for STS are identified and discussed.     

Innovation and new product introductions in emerging markets: Strategic recommendations for the Indian market

While radical innovations and growth strategies supporting such innovations may provide the firm with very high returns, there are also considerable risks in devising and implementing such innovations. Apart from the business risks of venturing into new territories and new markets, radical innovations also carry with them the burden of accounting for market and environmental factors that are often not under the control of the firm. The opportunities presented by the emergence of several Asian markets, such as India and China, are particularly appealing for Western countries willing to expand into these markets. However, market characteristics, institutional development, and customer behaviors bring into sharp focus the choice of a specific innovation and new product development strategy for such markets. This paper examines these various strategic issues in the context of India. The paper concludes with strategic recommendations for managers and some propositions for future academic research.     

The changing public role in services to food and agriculture : The legal regulation of food markets in India

A framework allowing the commercial transfer of property rights is an essential prerequisite to market exchange widely considered the prerogative of the state. Here, the social history of the legal regulation of agricultural markets in central, south and northeast India is examined. Regulatory law is shown to be riven with unanticipated outcomes, working as intended only under rare conditions of competition and absence of preharvest commercial debt. Meso level institutions of collective action and micro level behaviour by firms also regulate exchange, unsystematically according to their multiple objectives. Foreign funded projects and another layer of customary procedure. In the light of this analysis, the current policy debates over agricultural market reform are discussed and an analytical framework and suggestions for reform are offered.     

数字图书馆标准规范应用方案的设计——河北科技大学案例

在充分调研河北科技大学资源建设现状和用户需求的情况下,结合运用理论研究和专家调查法制订出河北科技大学数字图书馆标准规范体系的初步建议方案,并进行建议方案的可行性分析,提供一个普通高校数字图书馆标准的应用实践案例,从而促进标准规范在数字图书馆建设中的应用。     

探讨中小建筑企业的改制

探讨股份合作制的特点和运行方式，股份合作制在企业中的应用所面临的问题，提出若干解决方案，并阐述股份合作制在建筑企业当发挥的优势，将中国建筑企业发展推向一个新的阶段。     

Rice market integration and food security in Nepal: The role of cross-border trade with India

Coarse rice market integration between Nepal and India is analyzed applying a threshold autoregressive model. The price response behaviour of traders is found to be consistent with an asymmetric price adjustment mechanism, indicating coarse rice prices in Nepal respond to shocks originating in India. The results show that adjustments to negative price deviations from long-run stable equilibrium are faster than adjustments to the positive ones given a null threshold. Given that trade flows mainly from India to Nepal, Nepali traders would adjust their prices upward to align with the long-run equilibrium value relatively more quickly in the case of negative price deviations, than if the price deviations were positive. Such a high speed of adjustment to negative price deviations could be detrimental to net food buyers’ food security status in the absence of a price stabilization mechanism. However, a price stabilization policy in Nepal, a food deficit and import dependent country, would hardly have any effect on prices unless further effort is made to build up the level of national food reserves for short-term food security interventions. In the current context of structurally low levels of national food reserves, an alternative short-term policy such as foreign aid, in the form of food or income transfers, targeting the most vulnerable households to price increases is necessary through social safety net programmes. In the long-run, an improvement of transportation infrastructure between market hubs (other than the Biratnagar trade basin) in the Terai (Nepal) and India would contribute to the reduction of transaction costs and create incentives for more competition in formal cross-border trade with India. In times of negative shocks such as the high food price crisis in 2008, restrictive food trade policies in India will continue to undermine household food security in Nepal.     

强化内部质量审核完善企业质量体系

本文通过胜利石油管理局总机械厂在贯彻执行ISO 9000系列标准过程中,实施内部质量审核工作的具体实践,用事实证明了企业在贯彻标准、建立质量体系的同时,必须通过强有力的内部质量审核达到不断完善质量体系的目的.     

SCI收录河北科技大学学术论文的统计分析(2003-2007年)

SCI是衡量一个机构学术水平和科研能力的重要因素,尤其能反映自然科学基础研究的学术水平。笔者以美国ISI公司的Web of Knowledge网络数据库为依据,对2003-2007年间以河北科技大学为著者署名单位被SCI收录及引用的科技论文进行了统计分析,最后提出了增加中国科技论文被收录数和被引用率的一些建议。     

以颜色视觉理论贯穿色彩学教学体系

本论文在论述颜色科学的研究目标和研究方法的基础上,结合多年教学经验,强调颜色视觉属性和颜色视觉理论在印刷色彩学教学中的重要作用.从颜色视觉理论的高度用CIE色度体系的计算公式构筑颜色视觉模型,使学生可以更好地理解计算公式的色彩意义,更好地掌握印刷色彩学知识.     

Interest groups,power relations,and the configuration of value chains: The case of biodiesel in India

Production of biodiesel is technologically simple, and the process of value addition – from the cultivation of oilseeds to oil extraction and transesterification – is straightforward. There is, however, great variation in the socioeconomic configuration of this value chain. In some regions of India, the cultivation of tree-borne oilseeds is organised in a social forestry mode, in which poor landless people are paid to perform reforestation tasks and receive usufruct rights to collect oilseeds; in other regions, peasant cooperatives, subcontracting arrangements between farmers and transnational corporations, or large-scale plantations are promoted. There are also many different end uses and ways of processing biodiesel, from village-level projects for rural off-grid electrification to large scale processing. This article explains how five Indian states have developed biodiesel policies that reflect different political goals and favour different constituencies, reflecting the states’ specific socioeconomic structures, power relations norms.     

Using the DEPTH model to facilitate learning in an integrated Science and Technology pre-service primary teacher course

The paper describes the development of an Integrated Curriculum Science and Technology subject offering as part of the Bachelor of Education (Teaching) degree for primary pre-service teachers at Massey University in New Zealand. The paper discusses some of the difficulties and concerns which arise when pursuing this type of endeavour. This paper also highlights differences from earlier studies carried out at the same institution using the DEPTH framework. The concept of teaching/learning via a project is not new. The innovation here is the integration of Problem Based Learning (PBL) and the DEPTH approach. The previous study (O’Sullivan, Proceedings of Second International Primary Design and Technology Conference—Quality in the Making, Birmingham, 2001) highlighted the usefulness of the DEPTH framework as an evaluation tool to focus students’ responses to critiquing school teaching practice experience and also informing their own personal constructs. This study again found the framework useful but as a diagnostic tool.     

ISO9000质量体系与HSE管理体系的发展及其兼容性探讨

简述了ＥＳＯ９０００质量管理和质量保证系列标准和ＨＳＥ石油天然气工业健康、安全与环境管理体系标准的形成过程。从适用范围、管理目标、标准的级别等方面详细分析了两者的差异;从管理性质、管理思想、组织过程、要素结构内容及标准的效力等方面了两者的相同或相似之处;进而从标准的发展和依据石油天然气企业生产管理的实际论述了两者兼容的可能性与现实性。     

Nutrition,agriculture and the global food system in low and middle income countries

The entire food value chain and diet of low and middle income countries (LMICs) are rapidly shifting. Many of the issues addressed by the nutrition community ignore some of the major underlying shifts in purchases of consumer packaged foods and beverages. At the same time, the drivers of the food system at the farm level might be changing. There is a need for the agriculture and nutrition communities to understand these changes and focus on some of their implications for health. This rapid growth of the retail sector will change the diets of the food insecure as much as that of the food secure across rural and urban LMIC’s. This short commentary contents that current research, programs and policies are ignoring these rapid dynamic shifts.     

适应新体制开创中原油田技术监督新局面

分析了中原油田当前所面临的形势,肯定了技术监督工作在企业管理中的作用和所取得的成绩,强调了进一步加强技术监督工作的重要性.提出了在新形势下抓好技术监督工作的设想和要求.     

日本图书情报大学的电子图书馆系统

介绍了日本图书情报大学电子图书馆的概况、硬件软件构成、元数据结构及有待解决的问题。     

The seed and agricultural biotechnology industries in India: An analysis of industry structure,competition, and policy options

Since the late 1980s, technological advances and policy reforms have created new opportunities for private-sector investment in India’s seed and agricultural biotechnology industries. These changes have had a significant impact on cotton yields and output in India, but less so for rice and wheat—the country’s main cereal staples—for which yield growth rates are tending toward stagnation. This analysis examines the structures of these industries, their potential effects on competition and innovation, and the policies that may improve both industry performance and the delivery of new productivity-enhancing technologies to India’s cereal production systems. Our findings suggest that more substantive policy reforms are needed to encourage further innovation, reduce regulatory uncertainty, and encourage firm- and industry-level growth, while continued public spending on agricultural research is needed to support technological change.