Improving water service to the urban poor through delegated management: Lessons from the city of Kisumu,Kenya

Partnerships like the delegated management model (DMM), in which a utility delegates management of infrastructure and service delivery to slum residents, are being promoted to improve services to the urban slums in sub‐Saharan Africa. However, there is little empirical evidence of the benefits that DMM offers beneficiaries and its potential limitations. This study, conducted in 2013, compared water service in two slums in the city of Kisumu in Kenya where DMM has been implemented with another where it has not been implemented. Results showed that DMM had lowered the cost of water compared to water kiosks in neighbourhoods in which DMM had not been implemented. The study findings contribute toward an evidence base for stakeholders and regulators who see an opportunity in the integration of DMM into local drinking water provision solutions in urban slums.     

氮素供给对三个不同基因型小麦品种产量及品质的影响

在涪江灰棕冲积潮田上，测定了每公顷施氮素0，75，150和225kg对小麦绵阳403、绵阳11号和京771的产量和品质的影响。结果表明：氮素供给量对产量的影响均呈二次曲线关系；参数分析显示，达最大产量（Ymax）时的施氮量，绵阳403为187．3kg／hm2，绵阳11号为161．1kg／hm2，京771为177.2kg／hm2，绵阳11号需氮量最小，绵阳403为最大。以二次项（bx2）系数作为判定过量氮导致减产的测度，其系数依次为－0．284，－0．358和－0．077；以绵阳11号对过量氮反应最敏感。供氮对营养品质的影响品种间差异较大：绵阳403除谷蛋白外，其余7项蛋白组分均与施氮量呈显著正相关；绵阳11号清蛋白、球蛋白、赖氨酸与施氮无显著相关，其余5项蛋白组分呈显著正相关。京771除蛋白氮、谷蛋白呈显著正相关外，其余未达显著。供氮对加工品质的影响为：绵阳403和京771的沉淀值与施氮量呈显著正相关；绵阳403和绵阳11号的烘焙体积与施氮量呈显著正相关。     

‘Water divide’ in the global risk society

In contemporary society, which is also defined as global risk society, the water crisis plays a controversial but decisive role in comparison with other kinds of risk (health care, environmental, financial, warlike). However, the sociological debate does not confer to the world water crisis the right significance: the essay precisely highlights this lack and focuses on the hypothesis that it could be also connected to the lack of interest that mass media agenda-setting shows to this issue. The result is that, in most cases, industrialized countries show an irresponsible approach towards a resource which is so precious for the simple fact that it is exhaustible. Furthermore, the advantages of both development and globalization are not equally distributed from a geographic point of view, and the gap between the ‘rich’ and the ‘poor’ is getting deeper and deeper also within this phenomenon. According to the author's perspective, it would be reasonable to talk about a water divide and assume a sustainable development capable of dealing with the overall problem of drinking water availability, its quality, its public access, with a view to democratic management and the sharing of this resource.     

The role of time perspective in predicting Iranian farmers’ participatory-based water conservation attitude and behavior

ABSTRACT

In current perspective, farmers’ participatory behavior toward conservation of water resources (FPBCWR) is one of the most important strategies under water resource management in rural Iran. In this regard, understanding the predictors of farmers’ participatory-based water conservation behaviors and attitudes is gaining more importance than earlier. Among different dimensions of farmers’ participatory behavior, the potential of temporal frames was examined rarely. Thus, 322 Iranian farmers were investigated to examine the potential of their time perspectives in predicting their participatory-based water conservation behavior and attitude. According to the study results, the effects of present orientation on attitude and behavior were negatively significant, while the effects of future orientation on attitude and behavior were positively significant, whereas its effects (path coefficients) were stronger than present orientation effects. Past orientation did not have a significant effect on attitude, though attitude positively and significantly affected farmers’ participatory behavior. The results of causal analysis revealed that presented model accounted for 58% of variance in farmers’ ‘behavior’ and 42% of variance in “attitude.” In conclusion, a few demonstrable illustrations of policy implications are presented to enable utilizing the important findings and concluding results of this study that is linked further with water resource management domain.     

关于发展、完善上海住房租赁市场的建议

当前上海住房租赁市场在租金、房源、规范监控、合同纠纷等方面都存在问题,尤其与发达国家住房租赁市场比较,上海在住房租赁市场的制度建设方面还处于起步阶段,政府对住房租赁市场长期处于缺乏基本数据、基本无法监控的状态。究其根源,我国在住房市场的培育、发展和管理上存有重买卖轻租赁的倾向。应重新认识和重视住房租赁市场对于社会生活健康发展的意义和作用,积极创新租赁住房建设的土地供给,多渠道开辟租赁住房投资的融资通道,加紧住房租赁市场的制度建设。     

基于TOPSIS理论的企业供应商选择应用

供应链管理已经成为企业获取竞争优势的手段,供应商选择是企业构建供应链体系的重要内容。TOPSIS是一种简单易行的多因素选优的理论方法,它利用熵来确定评价指标的权重,避免了在确定评价指标权重时主观因素的影响,为公司的供应商选择提供了一种科学、量化、高效的手段。文章回顾了供应商选择的理论现状,介绍了TOPSIS理论模型和利用它进行供应商选择的步骤,通过对典型企业的深入调研,阐述了该企业如何应用TOPSIS进行供应商选择。     

水资源管理中有关水价问题的探讨

阐述了水价在水资源管理中的重要作用,分析了我国水价制定与管理中存在的主要问题,并提出了相应的对策。     

论我国农村公共产品的供给矛盾

分析了我国农村公共产品供给中存在的供给不足与供给过剩的矛盾及其产生的原因,并进而提出了完善农村公共产品供给的基本思路:(1)坚持城乡一体化的政策导向,向城乡提供均衡的公共产品与公共服务;(2)实现农村公共产品供给决策程序由“自上而下”向“自下而上”转变。     

第三产业内部结构变动影响因素的理论新探

文章系统地分析第三产业内部结构变动的影响因素,认为影响第三产业内部结构有供给和需求两方面的因素。供给方面主要有技术、劳动力、资本、政策等供给因素,而需求方面则主要有居民、企业、政府、国外经济部门等需求因素。通过对各个因素的理论分析,有助于我们对第三产业内部结构的变动有更深入的认识,从而有利于科学的第三产业发展政策的形成。     

供应链技术创新与客户知识管理的协同机理探讨

供应链协同创新已成为供应链产品开发成功的关键。在客户主导的市场中,客户知识是供应链技术创新的关键要素,协同客户知识管理与供应链管理具有重要的理论价值与实践意义。描述了供应链技术创新与客户知识管理的协同动因,提出了客户化供应链思想,并构建了供应链技术创新与客户知识管理的协同机理模型,运用系统论的方法将客户化供应链思想融合于供应链技术创新与客户知识管理的协同机制之中,以期达到提高供应链整体性能和实现客户价值的终极目标。