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Capacity development in the water sector is crucial to achieving universal, sustainable, and resilient services. It has been broadly recognized as a priority, connected with governance of water resources and water and sanitation services. Through a scoping review including 153 scientific articles and 103 other documents, complemented with a consultation of experts, this article presents how the concept of 'capacity development' has evolved, what levels it consists of, and which are the key elements of success for effective capacity development processes. Most existing frameworks do not conduct any indepth analysis of the determinants that define capacity at different levels and that there is no specific framework for public water-related entities. To address this gap, a dedicated capacity development framework is proposed for the public water sector, defining the key determinants at the individual, organizational, sectoral, institutional and structural levels and presenting types of interventions for each level. The framework will enable practitioners and policymakers to develop more systematic work on capacity development in water. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Farmers choose different strategies to cope with disasters. The scientific information on what adaption strategies do farmers across different socio-economic and regional strata choose to cope with disasters can help policymakers to make informed farm-level support interventions. Odisha is a flood-prone state in eastern India. The flood adaptation strategy choices of farmers in Odisha have not been much studied in the literature. Along with identifying the most commonly adopted ex ante and ex post adaptation strategies of farmers, we also identified the common factors influencing the choice of these adaptation strategies. We used the Likert scale and the ordered probit model to analyse the primary data collected from the field survey conducted at the three selected coastal districts. It finds that migration, reduction in food consumption, and pest and disease management are the most common ex post strategies, whereas stocking of foodgrains and usage of flood-resistant seeds are the most common ex ante strategies adopted by the farmers. It also identifies that education, family size and the size of landholding are the main determinants of ex post adaptation strategies, whereas age, the size of landholding and family income are the major determinants of ex ante coping strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The FAO-Thiaroye fish processing technique (FTT) was developed in 2008-2009 by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations in collaboration with the Centre National de Formation des Techniciens des Pêches et de l'Aquaculture in Senegal. The goal in developing this technique was to solve many issues inherent to traditional fish smoking methods in terms of health, safety and the environment. After the FTT was developed in Senegal, many other countries in sub-Saharan Africa have adopted this new method, while others are considering doing so. Using Côte d'Ivoire as the benchmark country for introducing the FTT in small-scale fisheries, this study was based on the assumption that it would be risky to increase the number of these kilns without first establishing their profitability. To do this, the field study combined qualitative and quantitative methods with institutional partners in Abidjan and with fish processors at three of the four pilot FTT processing facilities (Abobo-Doumé, Braffedon and Guessabo). The FTT kilns' financial and economic profitability has been determined using the net present value method, which was combined with sensitivity and break-even analyses. The FTT adoption determinants were ranked according to the so-called ranking model. The results not only confirm the technical superiority of the FTT over traditional smoking systems, but also demonstrate its financial and economic profitability. In light of these findings and lessons learned from the pilot processing facilities, priority actions have been identified at the various levels - facilities, local, regional and national - for the adoption of the FTT by more operators, and its wide dissemination. These actions aim to promote the FTT's sustainability and replicability, and suggest, in particular, that it is possible to increase the number of processing facilities with the same capacity (3 tonnes per day) from 4 units to 25 in Côte d'Ivoire. The total processing capacity would increase from the current 2 640 tonnes of fish to 16 500 tonnes on the basis of 220 days of operation per year considering rest days and maintenance of the kilns, as well as the seasonality of fish supplies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global quality of a product is often subject to the simultaneous evaluation of several of its features; under these circumstances, it becomes necessary to implement a multivariate analysis. The variance-covariance matrix is one of the most important quality control statistics in multivariate settings and it can be monitored using different methods, such as the Shewhart, CUSUM and EWMA charts. In this article, a construction method for the multivariate control chart |S| is proposed using the Winsorized Mean as the mean vector estimator. It was demonstrated that this modification was more efficient when the sampled data hat outliers. This study shows a comparison between the traditional multivariate control chart and the proposed chart, which was found to have more sensitivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we analyze perceptions and determinants of household's participation in a randomized experiment on water quality testing and information in southern Ghana. Beneficiary households assessed the components of the intervention including its relevance and adequacy in improving understanding of water quality issues. Motivating and constraining factors to participation in the randomized experiment are also assessed. We also estimate the correlates of participation in the intervention. Social and economic benefits derived from the intervention based on perceptions are compared with impacts of the intervention using an instrumental variable approach. We found evidence that subjective analysis estimates of the effects of the intervention are higher than the objective analysis estimates. Households generally perceived the intervention to be relevant in improving their understanding of water quality issues. However, there are differing opinions based on random assignment into either child or adult treatment groups on most- and least-liked attributes of the intervention and also motivating and constraining factors affecting participation in the intervention. The factors that statistically and significantly influenced participation in the intervention include educational attainment, ethnicity, religious denomination and marital status of the household heads, in addition to the location of residence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large number of farmers' livelihoods are susceptible to cyclones and floods, and farmers are taking up several adaptation mechanisms. Previous studies, therefore, have examined determinants of various adaptation options and provide policy suggestions to promote a specific one. However, options are undertaken at different points depending on the nature and intensity of extreme events. Hence, it is imperative to identify factors influencing farmers' decisions to adopt an additional option, particularly during ex-ante and expost periods. This could assist policymakers to enhance various farm-level adaptation options. Using survey data from 285 farm households in cyclone-and flood-prone regions in eastern India, this study aims to assess the determinants of adaptation diversity. This study finds that the likelihood of undertaking adaptation diversity is high during the ex-post period, and cyclone-affected farmers are likely to adopt a higher number of adaptation measures. Further, size of household, farming experience, per capita income, agriculture as major source of income and crop loss compensation received are some of the important determinants. These findings emphasize the need for investments in scientific modeling for better prediction of extreme events and suggest restructuring the existing institutions to promote several farm-level adaptation measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The probability of small deviations of the determinant of the matrix is estimated, where is an random matrix with centered entries having the joint Gaussian distribution. The inequality obtained is sharp in a sense. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The paper presents the results of an empirical analysis on the quality of the mandatory disclosure of IFRS 3 -business combinations and IAS 36 - impairment of assets. The analysis focuses, in particular, on the determinants that influence the quality of disclosure. The aim of the paper is to verify the determinants that impact on the quality of disclosure on recognition, measurement and impairment of goodwill. The analysis was carried out on Italian listed groups belonging to the main stock exchange index (FTSE/MIB40); the groups listed on FTSE/MIB40 represent 80% of the total market capitalization of Italian listed companies as stated by the Italian Stock Exchange. The international financial crisis has lead many companies to acquire other groups or to merge together and therefore to recognize impairment losses on goodwill or to verify twice (or more) a year whether impairment losses were generated. In this context disclosure plays a key role for investors. IFRS 3 outlines the accounting when an acquirer obtains control of a business (e.g. an acquisition or merger) and groups have to disclose a great deal of information as for example, the the acquisition and the date it was acquired, the percentage of voting equity interests acquired, the primary reasons for the business combination and a description of how the acquirer obtained control of the acquire, a qualitative description of the factors that make up the goodwill recognized, such as expected synergies from combining operations of the acquiree and the acquirer, intangible assets that do not qualify for separate recognition or other factors, etc. There is a total number of forty key items in the IFRS 3 disclosure. IAS 36 defines that companies shall disclose, among others, the carrying amount of goodwill allocated to the cash generating unit (CGU), the basis on which the unit's recoverable amount has been determined, the discount rate applied to the cash flow projections, etc. We analysed a total number of eight key pieces of information with reference to IAS 36.are eight. Many studies have been conducted on the quality of voluntary disclosure and the results show that the disclosure index is very low. Thus, our paper aims at verifying if, first of all, the mandatory disclosure is shown in the notes of the consolidated financial statement with reference to IFRS 3 and IAS 36 by using the Dscore according to Cooke [1]. Secondly, the aim of the paper is to analyze the determinants that influence the quality of the Dscore by means of multiple regression models. We defined the Dscore as an independent variable and several dependent variables (as Revenues, total assets, etc.) according to previous studies. Results show that not all the groups disclosed the items required by the international accounting standards examined. Furthermore, Leverage, Revenues, Market Values and ROS are the main determinants that influence the quality of disclosure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the determinants of net interest margins of commercial banks in Kenya using secondary data derived from Central Bank of Kenya. We apply fixed effects regression to a panel of 44 Kenyan banks that covers the period 2000-2009. The results indicate that operating expenses and credit risk has a positive and significant effect on net interest margin, however, we found that that the higher inflation the wider the net interest margin. We also found that economic growth and market concentration have negative and significant effect on net interest margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Let A(ϵ) be an analytic n × is matrix function of a scalar s. We obtain expansions in powers of ϵ for det A(ϵ) and smooth functions of it including its powers and its log. An application is given to multivariate statistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We construct solutions to the Kadomtsev–Petviashvili equation (KPI) from particular polynomials. We obtain rational solutions written as a second spatial derivative of a logarithm of a determinant of order n. We obtain with this method an infinite hierarchy of rational solutions to the KPI equation. We give explicitly the expressions of these solutions for the first five orders. • This study is a part of a program of research of rational solutions to PDE's equations. • Using particular polynomials, rational solutions to the KPI equation are constructed. • This method gives very easily the explicit expressions of the first orders of these solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]