Contextual and Competitive Interference: Inhibition or Facilitation?

Existing literature has found two sources of advertising interference, competitive and contextual, that decrease the effectiveness of an ad in a cluttered environment. However, to date, the negative impact of competitive and contextual interference has been examined independently. This research explores advertising effectiveness when these sources exist concurrently. Contrary to the supposition concerning the additive effects of both sources of interference when simultaneously present, our findings indicate that viewing ads for the same product category with similar executional elements leads to the dissipation of interference effects (Study 1). Consistent with the process rationale, when a product-brand cue (versus a picture cue) is provided, this novel effect disappears (Study 2). The implications of these findings for advertising are highlighted in the discussion section.     

Impact of formalisation of property rights in informal settlements: Evidence from Dar es Salaam city

This paper aims to study the responsiveness of the informal property market and management systems towards the introduction of land registration for informal settlements in Tanzania. City governments are increasingly recognising the need to strengthen legal rights for the urban poor as a means to bring them more effectively into the urban economy and ensure better provision of water, sanitation and other primary services. The research focuses on Tanzania and in particular two case studies within Dar es Salaam. The findings of the work suggest that the introduction of residential licenses whilst potentially assisting in creating legal certainty has not resulted in the financial sector accepting them as full security against loans. Accessing credit by the poor however has not yet been fully realised resulting in some further hurdles for the financial sector to overcome. Finally, and of some significance is the registration of property in the informal settlements has provided the opportunity of formal property transactions within these settlements.     

Quantifying the socio-economic determinants of sustainable crop production: an application to wheat cultivation in the Tarai of Nepal

This study specifies a procedure to quantify the determinants of sustainable crop production, and applies the method to wheat cultivation in the Tarai of Nepal. Three aspects of sustainability were considered. First, the fertility of the land was found to have deteriorated owing to long-term practices incompatible with soil and drainage conditions. Three-quarters of the farmers had reduced land fertility and for one-third of them the wheat yield was at least 20% lower than for farmers who applied farmyard manure to every crop and adopted a rotation consistent with soil and drainage conditions. Secondly, the study found that it was possible to improve resource-use efficiency in wheat production to give 25% higher production at current levels, type, and quality of farm resources. Resource-use efficiency was significantly related to farm management practices such as crop stand, variety, disease, and land preparation quality, and socio-economic factors such as off-farm job opportunities, poor plot accessibility, and migration. Thirdly, the increasing population pressure on land, decreasing livestock number per cropped area, and diminishing fuel wood sources, significantly reduced farm-based nutrient cycling because farmyard manure had to be used for fuel. This had implications for the higher use of the fossil-based inputs in crop production.     

省级地勘基金项目预算编制与审查方法探讨——以四川省为例

从预算管理的起点着手,提高项目预算编制与审查质量,为财政资金使用的合理性、有效性和安全性提供一套系统、完整、规范的模式方法最为关键。以四川省为例从地勘基金项目预算的编制与审查原则、内容、依据和方法等方面,就如何建立系统化、规范化、统一化的项目预算编制与审查的模式及方法进行了探讨。