1,720,956 research outputs found
Editorial 2019
No full textDear ReadersI am happy to introduce you the Volume 5 (Annual), 2019 of The Journal of Development Practice – A Peer-Reviewed International Journal of Experiences from the Field (ISSN 2394-0476). The volume carries a section on Microfinance (three articles) Guest Edited by Md Aslam Mia and two other articles related to development. The articles address various themes related to Sustainable Development Goals and puts suggestions to enhance quality of life.The paper by Md. Sohel Rana, Md. Aslam Mia, Izlin Binti Ismail and Mohd Nazari Bin Ismail evaluates the productivity of microfinance institutions (MFIs) from Palestine and Jordan by employing non-parametric Data Envelopment Analysis. The study uses balanced panel secondary data of 13 MFIs and proposes that to ensure long term sustainability, MFIs need to be financially sustainable and productivity could be one of the ways to promote financial sustainability. According to the study the microfinance industry observed 2.6% productivity progress per annum due to change in technological capacity of the MFIs. Moreover, the study also finds that Palestinian MFIs perform relatively better than Jordanian MFIs.The second article Zakat as an Alternative of Microcredit for Poverty Reduction in Bangladesh by Isahaque Ali, Azlinda Azman, Paramjit Singh Jamir Singh, Syazwani Drani, Zulkarnain A. Hatta, Manzur Kadir Ahmed and Tahmina Akhter discusses micronance and Zakat based on Islamic financial philosophy to poverty reduction. The study based on evidence argues that microfinance alone may not be enough to eradicate poverty; however, microfinance and Zakat jointly increase the monthly and yearly income of the recipients.The third article Pitfalls of Microcredit towards Sustainable Economic Development of the Microcredit Borrowers - Evidence from Rupsha, a Locality of Bangladesh by Idris Ali, Ashiqun Nabi and Muhammad HelalUddin discusses the pitfalls of microcredit in Rupsha, Bangladesh. The study points out those high interests rates, lack of proper monitoring mechanisms, failing to lend to right borrowers, lack of training and other factors lead to achieve its larger aim of sustainable economic growth and development.The fourth article Northeast Cultural Values and Principles, Good Governance and Conflict Reduction - A Bodo Socio-Cultural Framework by Leon Miller proposes a solution to problems occurring in Northeast India that result in conflict – that are the consequences of the prior approach to development and governance. The article argues that the problems can be solved in a way compatible with micro level cultural values and that benefit stakeholders at the local, regional, and national levels. The study carried out in context of the Northeast India and a Bodo Socio-Cultural Framework is used to present the case of application.The fifth article Effect of Road Transport Accessibility on Agricultural Produce Marketing and Livelihoods of Farmers in the Kasena-Nankana West District of Ghana by Anthony Kwame Morgan, Emmanuel Dogbey, Wahid Abdul Arimeyaw and Alfred Foster Senior Owusu speaks of roads making significant contribution to economic growth and development in rural societies thus eradicating rural-urban disparities. The study presents a case from Ghana and highlights that while good road connectivity can increase income of the farmers a poor road connectivity not only incurs loss to the famers but also incurs post-harvest loses.I am grateful to all the Authors, the Guest Editor and the Reviewers of the Volume, and wish all readers insights and knowledge on the subjects and issues discussed in the Volume.EditorJacob Islary, MSW, PhDSocial Work, Assam Don Bosco University, Indi
Social Movement and Militancy: A Perspective from Within
Get PDFSocial and identity assertion movements aim at bringing about positive change in society, but some are have come to be associated with militancy and activities of extremism, violence and loss of life. However, this involves a complex process often forced by neglect of the milder means of articulating and asserting their rights by groups who experience and feel marganilised, neglected and dominated by the state or the dominant section of society who also exercise authority and power. This paper presents a narrative and argument of social movements turning militant from within a community’s perspective of their movement for rights – to be recognised and granted. The article also proposes a frame of understanding the process of social movements turning into militant and extremist mode in their approac
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe 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
A Meta-Analysis on the Health Risk of Forest-Ecosystem Degradation
Get PDFHuman beings depend on the forest ecosystem besides other needs for health care and wellbeing. However the structural changes that have taken place in the past centuries especially in the forest ecosystem due to human interventions guided by capitalistic and anthropocentric approach to development have negatively affected quality of life - including health; not only by depletion and loss of medicinal plants and organism but also loss of diet and nutrition from the ecosystem, loss of indigenous health knowledge and overall ecological imbalance which is posing great risk to safety and security of human. The study attempts to analyse the effects of forest ecosystem degradation on human health from literature in the areas of environmental health, ecology and environment study. The study though articulates the relationship between forest ecosystem degradation and negative health effects, however has not been able to statistically establish this relationship as there are gaps within the existing literature and methodology and suggests for a development and application of a methodology of study to capture and fill this gap and contribute towards formulation and planning of policies and programmes that address this concern of relationship between forest ecosystem degradation and human health
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“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
Get PDFWe 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
Get PDFWe 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
Volunteering by Students in Higher Education: An Inter-cultural and Participatory Development Experience from Northeast India
Get PDFAbstract: The article is based on a field experience of a student volunteer programme that Assam Don Bosco University (ADBU), India and University College Dublin Volunteers Overseas (UCDVO), Ireland organise in Northeast India. The programme adopts principles and practice of participatory development approaches and places the volunteer directly into the community, thus providing challenges and opportunities to work with and involve the community people in the development process. The approach provides a platform for mutual learning experience; while the volunteers are able to understand the community in its wholeness with its dynamics, cultures, traditions, practices and meaning systems that interplay with each other, the community members benefit from the volunteers who come from academic backgrounds and possess ability to critically analyse pertinent issues in the community. The article argues for a participatory approach for sustainable community development within volunteering programmes grounded in field experience. The experience has proven to be effective and the positive outcomes outweigh the challenges
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