1,720,966 research outputs found
Current challenges of Albanian extension services in the context of EU integration and global markets
No full textAlbania is a transition country aspiring to become a member of EU, while it is expected that it will become Candidate member within 2012, enabling access to IPARD funding. EU integration implies more
opportunities, in form of subsidies for rural and agriculture development, but also imposes standards related to quality and safety on one hand, and enhancement of efficiency on the other hand. More specifically, in order to be eligible for the coming IPARD
funding, Albanian agriculture holdings and agroprocessors, need to meet national and EU safety standards (see [1], [2] and [3]).
In this upgrading process, the role that extension services can and should play is crucial. The Albanian agriculture extension services have undergone a drastic change from the time of the state-organized economy to the market economy, as also the private extension services have emerged. In this study, we look into
current situation and future perspectives for extension agriculture services in fruits, vegetables and livestock subsectors, in order to identify: a) the present behaviour related to the use and provision of extension services; b) the (perceived) needs for technical assistance and Capacity Building (CB) from the perspective of service providers and clients (agriculture holdings and agroprocessors) with regards to services related to quality
and safety standards, certification etc. Despite improvements in some private and public services, such as cattle insemination and vaccinations, other services are poorly served, such as services related to quality/safety standards certification [9]. Further
research on extension services in Albania is needed as availability of quality extension services is a key factor to achieve agriculture competitiveness in Albania. This is particularly important in the context of EU integration and in the light of multiple relationships
developing with the globalised economy in terms of: a) support to extension services through donor activities; b) chain interplay between local and foreign agriculture and agri-food industry; c) growing competition even in the domestic market
Local government access to funds-it is about who your friends and party are
No full textThe competitive grants schemes, a financing mechanismes tablished for achieving social welfare as well as balanced and efficient territorial development, would have to be applied through a transparent and objective competition process. However, political influence of the ruling party and informal networks with central government decision-makers may influence access to competitive grants. This paper explores the extent to which the political affiliation and the personal informal connections/networks of the Municipalities and Communes leaders influence the allocation of competitive grants in Albania. The study is based on their perceptions and attitudes collected through the application of qualitative research instruments. We used a semi-structured survey that targeted local government leaders in Albania during the year 2013-14. Research shows that local government leaders are more likely to access grants from the central government if both belong to the same political party/coalition, follow personal informal connections/networks, and can use strong (political and/or bribing) lobbying with high-level decision makers
Fiscal Decentralization in Albania: Trends and Challenges at the Dawn of Territorial Reform
No full textDecentralization reforms in Albania started very late compared with
other countries of the Western Balkans. Only in early the 2000s were
important fiscal decentralization reforms undertaken in Albania. The
objective of this paper is to analyse the evolution of decentralization
in terms of its legal and institutional paths, with a focus on the
governance of intergovernmental transfers. Local government in
Albania has inherited a fragmented legal foundation that results in
an unclear division of functions and responsibilities between levels
of government. The performance of the local governments has
been hampered by a non-transparent system of grants distribution,
as confirmed by this study. Accordingly a strong monitoring and
evaluation system and active stakeholder involvement are crucial
Emerging Consumer Preference for Wine Attributes in a European Transition Country – the Case of Kosovo
Full text linkThis study analyzes consumer preferences for wine in Prishtina, Kosovo – a transition country in the Balkans, which is making efforts to withstand to the competition pressure from the traditional neighboring wine producing countries. With the changes in life style and consumer behavior, and incomes rising rapidly since the last conflict, it is imperative to survey the changing demand for producers to compete in the domestic markets. Conjoint Choice Experiments were used to evaluate wine consumer preferences based on wine type (white vs. red), origin (domestic vs. imported), taste (sweet vs. dry) and price. Four distinct classes of consumers were identified. Te top two important attributes in the choice of wine are the type and origin but preferences vary across groups – type of wine and origin appear far more important when compared to price, especially for the richest identified segment, whose consumers prefer more expensive wines
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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