1,783 research outputs found
Infrastructure bottlenecks, private provision, and industrial productivity : a study of Indonesian and Thai cities
Get PDFThis research project followed an earlier similar project on Nigeria, applying the same methods. A sample of manufacturers was surveyed to document their responses to infrastructure deficiencies in electricity, water, transport, telecommunications, and waste disposal. They found the manufacturers undertook significant expenditures to offset deficiencies in publicly provided infrastructure services, and that changing public policy toward privately supplied infrastructure and changing the pricing of public infrastructure could yield significant savings in social costs. Thailand and Indonesia have made significant strides in following the policies for private sector participation in infrastructure provision. Nigeria, where public infrastructure monopolies still dominate, lags behind, yet stands to benefit most from such policy reform. Government policy toward the industrial organization and pricing of infrastructure sectors can significantly help a developing economy realize the benefits of private sector participation in the provision of infrastructure services.Banks&Banking Reform,Decentralization,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Environmental Economics&Policies,Municipal Financial Management,Banks&Banking Reform,Municipal Financial Management,Urban Services to the Poor,Urban Services to the Poor,Public Sector Economics&Finance
Spin-on-carbon hard masks utilising fullerene derivatives
Get PDFSpin-on-Carbon (SoC) hardmasks are an increasingly key component of the microchip fabrication process. Progress in lithographic resolution has made the adoption of extremely thin photoresist films necessary for the fabrication of “1x nanometre” linewidth structures to prevent issues such as resist collapse during development. While there are resists with high etch durability [1], ultimately etch depth is limited by resist thickness. A possible solution is the use of a multilayer etch stack. This allows for considerable increase in aspect ratio. For the organic hard mask base layer, a carbon-rich material is preferred as carbon possesses a high etch resistance in silicon plasma etch processes. A thin silicon topcoat deposited on the carbon film can be patterned with a thin photoresist film without feature collapse, and the pattern transferred to the underlying carbon film by oxygen plasma. This produces high aspect ratio carbon structures suitable for substrate etching. In terms of manufacturability it is beneficial to spin coat the carbon layer instead of using chemical vapor deposition [2], but the presence of carbon-hydrogen bonds in typical spin-on-carbon leads to line wiggling during the etch (a significant problem at smaller feature sizes). We have previously introduced a fullerene based SoC and reported on material characterization [3,4,5]. The materials low Ohnishi number provides high etch durability and the low hydrogen level allows for high resolution etching without wiggling. The use of the materials in such etch stacks is demonstrated (figures 1-3). A 20nm thin silicon film was sputtered on top of the carbon layers. Resist patterns are defined by e-beam, and in the case of figure 2, EUV lithography and transferred to the silicon thin film using SF6/CHF3 etch chemistry. The carbon layer was then etched by O2 plasma using the silicon mask and finally the pattern was transferred into the silicon substrate using the same process used to etch the topcoat. Recent advances in material development and work towards commercialization of the materials will be reported. Some results from external evaluations of the original 100 series will be presented, together with recent developments with the newer 200 and 300 series formulations (offering improved thermal stability and etch durability).
[1] J. Manyam, M. Manickam, J.A. Preece, R.E. Palmer, and A.P.G. Robinson, Proc. SPIE 7972 (2011) 79722N.
[2] C.Y. Ho, X.J. Lin, H.R. Chien, C. Lien, Thin Solid Films 518 (2010) 6076
[3] A. Frommhold, J. Manyam, R.E. Palmer, and A.P.G. Robinson, Proc. SPIE 8328 (2012) 83280U
[4] A. Frommhold, R.E. Palmer, and A.P.G. Robinson, J. Micro/Nanolith. MEMS MOEMS. 12 (3), 033003 (2013)
[5] A Frommhold, A G. Brown, T Lada, A P. G. Robinson, Proc SPIE 9421-21 (2015
Reminiscences of Yarrow /
No full text"Supplementary chapters" (biographical sketches of the author, and of his father, Dr. Robert Russell) by Rev. Alex. Williamson : p.[283]-325.Mode of access: Internet
Beyond recurrent costs: an institutional analysis of the unsustainability of donor-supported reforms in agricultural extension
Get PDFInternational donors have spent billions of dollars over the past four decades in developing and/or reforming the agricultural extension service delivery arrangements in developing countries. However, many of these reforms, supported through short-term projects, became unsustainable once aid funding had ceased. The unavailability of recurrent funding has predominantly been highlighted in the literature as the key reason for this undesirable outcome, while little has been written about institutional factors. The purpose of this article is to examine the usefulness of taking an institutional perspective in explaining the unsustainability of donor-supported extension reforms and derive lessons for improvement. Using a framework drawn from the school of institutionalism in a Bangladeshi case study, we have found that a reform becomes unsustainable because of poor demands for extension information and advice; missing, weak, incongruent, and perverse institutional frameworks governing the exchange of extension goods (services); and a lack of institutional learning and change during the reform process. Accordingly, we have argued that strategies for sustainable extension reforms should move beyond financial considerations and include such measures as making extension goods (services) more tangible and monetary in nature, commissioning in-depth studies to learn about local institutions, crafting new institutions and/or reforming the weak and perverse institutions prevailing in developing countries. We emphasize the need to address three categories of institutions – regulative, normative, and cultural-cognitive – and call for an alignment among them. We further argue that, in order to be sustainable, a reform should take a systemic approach in institutional capacity building and, for this to be possible, adopt a long-term program approach, as opposed to a short-term project approach
The once and future publishing library
Get PDFThis report looks at topic of libraries as publishers, with investigations mainly in the U.S. research institution context.
Specifically, we reviewed existing literature and conducted a survey of members of the Library Publishing Coalition, seeking to learn the kinds of activities they are undertaking as publishing, the business models they are using, their definitions of success, and their attitudes tow ard open access or end-user pay models. Our aim was to better under - stand this emerging sphere of library activity and its possible future in the scholarly communication and publishing sphere. Will library publishing grow and be sustainable? Will libraries play a new and permanent role? If so, in what way and what will be required?
When we refer to libraries as publishers, we consider the range of transactions in which library leaders and staff conceive, evaluate, support, and ultimately produce what we now call content for broad public dissemination, in whatever medium. We say this in full awareness that different observers will draw in different places the line between “publication” and something less structured, coherent, or significant. That ambiguity is an implicit theme of what follows.
We consulted the growing number of articles and other publications (Appendix A) to better understand the range of ideas that underlie library-as-publisher discourse. Distinguishing the different strains of activity and expectation that animate current conversa - tions can help us understand not only the present moment but also the varied possibilities that loom ahead. We also look at the sub-topic of funding the library publishing enterprise, as well as the sustainability of today’s endeavors, so we present results from a small survey of about 50 librarie
Trade Update Notes; Report of the Task Force on The Aggregate Measure of Support: Potential Use by GATT for Agriculture
Get PDFInternational Relations/Trade,
Development of the Zimbabwe family planning program
Get PDFFamily planning was introduced in Zimbabwe as a voluntary movement in the 1950s. Volunteers formed a Family Planning Association in the mid-1960s. The government became interested in family planning in the late 1960s after analysis of the 1961 population census. It gave the Family Planning Association an annual grant, allowed contraceptives to be available through Ministry of Health facilities, and allowed nonmedical personnel to initiate and resupply family planning clients with condoms and pills. But before Zimbabwe achieved independence in 1980, family planning was viewed with great suspicion by the black majority, so the program's effectiveness was limited to the urban few. A new era began after independence. The new government took over theFamily Planning Association and changed its outlook completely. Through government and international donor support, the family planning program was restructured and expanded. The number of family planning personnel more than doubled in some units. More service delivery points were set up - particularly in rural areas. And the information, education, and communication and evaluation and research units were established. Through a World Bank-assisted project (with grant funding from Norway and Denmark), the Ministry of Health began strengthening its family planning capabilities. These efforts helped increase the contraceptive prevalence rate from about 14 percent in 1982 to 43 percent in 1988. But the program's growth is beginning to stall. More effort and resources are needed if the program is to grow or even maintain its present status. Particularly important are the following: designing innovative strategies to reach hard-to-reach populations; giving more emphasis to information, education, and communication, especially for men and youths, using multimedia; involving other sectors in the delivery of family planning services; broadening the mix of contraceptive methods (especially promoting long-term and permanent methods); making use of alternative family planning delivery systems, such as the use of depot holders, volunteers, and government extension workers; establishing a national population policy; and considering cost recovery and other measures for self-sustainment and program growth.Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,ICT Policy and Strategies,Gender and Health,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Adolescent Health
Correction for Sear et al., Human settlement of East Polynesia earlier, incremental, and coincident with prolonged South Pacific drought.
No full textCorrection for "Human settlement of East Polynesia earlier, incremental, and coincident with prolonged South Pacific drought," byDavid A. Sear,Melinda S. Allen, JonathanD. Hassall, Ashley E. Maloney, Peter G. Langdon, Alex E. Morrison, Andrew C. G. Henderson, Helen Mackay, Ian W. Croudace, Charlotte Clarke, Julian P. Sachs, Georgiana Macdonald, Richard C. Chiverrell, Melanie J. Leng, L. M. Cisneros-Dozal, and Thierry Fonville, which was first published April 6, 2020; 10.1073/pnas.1920975117 (Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117, 8813-8819). The authors note that Emma Pearson should be added to the author list after Thierry Fonville. Emma Pearson should be credited with performing research and analyzing data. The corrected author line, affiliation line, and author contributions appear below. The author line, affiliations, and contributions sections have been corrected online. The authors note that the following statement should be added to the Acknowledgments: "E.P. acknowledges NERC grant BRIS/ 81/0415"
Watchdog for U.S. Labor: Arthur Fletcher Oversees Some 86 Million Workers
No full textSame as same date/author/recipient
Watchdog for U.S. Labor: Arthur Fletcher Oversees Some 86 Million Workers
No full textSame as same date/author/recipient
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