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The persistency of poverty around the world is one of the most serious problems that humanity has to face, so in order to arise awareness, it is essential that the measurement of such problem is improved. These improvements also give the incentive to carry out motivating actions, design good policies, gauging progress, and enable holding political leaders accountable for meeting targets. To help make this possible, we provide an examination of how poverty is currently measured, bringing together evidence on the nature and extent of poverty in 91 countries around the world. This article presents research using the Rasch model, an inductive method which uses a synthetic-analytical process. This method enables us to provide a comparison of poverty among countries and identifies the main factors that contribute to it.

Introduction -- Conceptual definition of poverty and land degradation -- The case of rural poverty and environmental degradation in Ghana - Kwahu South District -- Demographic characteristics of respondents -- Manifestations of poverty in rural areas of Ghana -- Causes of poverty -- Manifestations of land degradation -- Causes of land degradation -- Relationships between rural poverty and land degradation -- Major conclusions

Abstract The family farming sector in Brazil is an important player in the country's economy, especially in poor rural areas., The government has created the National Program for Strengthening Family Agriculture (PRONAF) to stimulate the development of family farming in Brazil. It a credit program that offers loans at a subsidized interest rate. Previous studies have shown that wealthier farmers and more developed regions have more access to subsidized credit. Due to this apparently unequal allocation of PRONAF resources, the study aims to analyze, through econometric regressions and interviews with specialists, the underlying determinants for the unequal credit allocation across the municipalities in Brazil. Results indicate that wealth and knowledge of farmers are significant determinants of loan size, whereas municipalities that represent a high risk have received significantly fewer resources from PRONAF per household head. Thereby, we can conclude that PRONAF's operations are not fulfilling their pro-poor objectives of targeting poor farmers and municipalities. Progress in infrastructure and institutions to reduce risks, enhancement of farmers' qualifications and organization, better access to markets and agroindustry, and improvements in rural extension services are found to be essential to increasing the access to PRONAF's credit.

Abstract The family farming sector in Brazil is an important player in the country's economy, especially in poor rural areas., The government has created the National Program for Strengthening Family Agriculture (PRONAF) to stimulate the development of family farming in Brazil. It a credit program that offers loans at a subsidized interest rate. Previous studies have shown that wealthier farmers and more developed regions have more access to subsidized credit. Due to this apparently unequal allocation of PRONAF resources, the study aims to analyze, through econometric regressions and interviews with specialists, the underlying determinants for the unequal credit allocation across the municipalities in Brazil. Results indicate that wealth and knowledge of farmers are significant determinants of loan size, whereas municipalities that represent a high risk have received significantly fewer resources from PRONAF per household head. Thereby, we can conclude that PRONAF's operations are not fulfilling their pro-poor objectives of targeting poor farmers and municipalities. Progress in infrastructure and institutions to reduce risks, enhancement of farmers' qualifications and organization, better access to markets and agroindustry, and improvements in rural extension services are found to be essential to increasing the access to PRONAF's credit.

Recent advances in computers and telecommunications have allowed networked learning to play a significant role to play across the complete spectrum of higher education teaching. One of the most significant UK government initiatives to date has been the development the Information Environment (IE) originally called as the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER), which is aiming to create a managed environment for accessing quality assured information resources on the Internet (IE, 2004). This paper draws on our formative evaluation of the IE and the investigation of the take up of digital resources produced by a number of projects selected for funding under JISC circular 5/99. Although we identified examples of good practice in using the IE to support learning and teaching and instances where digital resources were successful in addressing certain needs for the learners the benefits were less then anticipated. The digital resources produced by the projects seem to hold a potential to support teaching in higher education, however, the actual impact they had on learning was found to be less than anticipated. The findings suggest that the application and implementation of networked technologies is partly determined by the social context in which it operates. Finally, the paper advocates the need for action to influence educational practice and engage related parties in a genuine way in order to realise the transforming potential of networked learning. By exploring the implementation of information digital resources in teaching and learning under the framework of actor network theory, this paper makes a contribution to the development of theory and practice in the area of networked learning.

Recent advances in computers and telecommunications have allowed networked learning to play a significant role to play across the complete spectrum of higher education teaching. One of the most significant UK government initiatives to date has been the development the Information Environment (IE) originally called as the Distributed National Electronic Resource (DNER), which is aiming to create a managed environment for accessing quality assured information resources on the Internet (IE, 2004). This paper draws on our formative evaluation of the IE and the investigation of the take up of digital resources produced by a number of projects selected for funding under JISC circular 5/99. Although we identified examples of good practice in using the IE to support learning and teaching and instances where digital resources were successful in addressing certain needs for the learners the benefits were less then anticipated. The digital resources produced by the projects seem to hold a potential to support teaching in higher education, however, the actual impact they had on learning was found to be less than anticipated. The findings suggest that the application and implementation of networked technologies is partly determined by the social context in which it operates. Finally, the paper advocates the need for action to influence educational practice and engage related parties in a genuine way in order to realise the transforming potential of networked learning. By exploring the implementation of information digital resources in teaching and learning under the framework of actor network theory, this paper makes a contribution to the development of theory and practice in the area of networked learning.

The focus of human resource management has shifted from traditional topics to concepts such as globalization and international strategy. Management styles of Chinese‐Japanese and Chinese‐foreign joint ventures have been important areas of HRM research. Modern Chinese HRM practices and thinking are rooted in the cultural traditions of the country. Japanese cultural and geographical history has affected its business practices. Discusses Chinese and Japanese cultural characteristics in relation to business management and reviews the research literature. Presents the research study of Chinese‐Japanese joint venture management on which other articles by the same authors are based.