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International audience ; Hyperspectral imaging, which records a detailed spectrum of light arriving in each pixel, has many potential uses in remote sensing as well as other application areas. Practical applications will typically require real-time processing of large data volumes recorded by a hyperspectral imager. This paper investigates the use of graphics processing units (GPU) for such real-time processing. In particular, the paper studies a hyperspectral anomaly detection algorithm based on normal mixture modelling of the background spectral distribution, a computationally demanding task relevant to military target detection and numerous other applications. The algorithm parts are analysed with respect to complexity and potential for parallellization. The computationally dominating parts are implemented on an Nvidia GeForce 8800 GPU using the Compute Unified Device Architecture programming interface. GPU computing performance is compared to a multicore central processing unit implementation. Overall, the GPU implementation runs significantly faster, particularly for highly data-parallelizable and arithmetically intensive algorithm parts. For the parts related to covariance computation, the speed gain is less pronounced, probably due to a smaller ratio of arithmetic to memory access. Detection results on an actual data set demonstrate that the total speedup provided by the GPU is sufficient to enable realtime anomaly detection with normal mixture models even for an airborne hyperspectral imager with high spatial and spectral resolution.

International audience ; Environmental pollution, animal diseases, and food scandals have marked the agricultural sector in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the 1990s. The sector was high on the political and societal agenda and plans were developed to redesign the sector into a more sustainable direction. Generally, monitoring of the agricultural sector is done by means of quantitative indicators to measure social, ecological, and economic performance. To give more attention to the normative character of sustainable development, the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture, Nature, and Food Quality requested for a participatory approach to evaluate Dutch agriculture, which was characterized by stakeholder workshops, dialogue, and learning. This article describes and reflects on this approach, using the Fourth Generation Evaluation framework developed by Guba and Lincoln (Fourth generation evaluation, 1989). Although there are several improvements to be made, the evaluation approach was successful in the way that it gave insight into perceptions, visions, and ambitions of agricultural stakeholders with regard to sustainability. It also encouraged learning about ways to make the agricultural sector more sustainable. And it contributed to the development of a monitoring approach that is complementary to the quantitative, indicator-based, evaluation approach that is generally used and that can be used every few years to see how perceptions and ambitions of stakeholders have developed.

Food-for-work programs distribute food aid to recipients in exchange for labor, and are an important mode of aid delivery for both public and private aid providers. While debate continues as to whether food-for-work programs are socially just and economically sensible, governments, international institutions, and NGOs continue to tout them as a flexible and cost-effective way to deliver targeted aid and promote community development. This paper critiques the underlying logic of food-for-work, focusing on how this approach to food aid and food security promote labor force participation by leveraging hunger against poverty, and how the ideological and practical assumptions of food-for-work become enmeshed within discourses of geopolitical security. I rely on a case study examination of US-funded food-for-work programs implemented in Jakarta, Indonesia following the 1997 financial crisis. The crisis produced acute food insecurity and poverty in Indonesia, provoking fears of mob violence by the hungry poor and the spread of radical Islamism in the post-crisis political vacuum. Food-for-work programs were, in this context, meant to resolve the problems of both food insecurity and geopolitical insecurity by providing food to targeted populations, employment to those otherwise thrown out of work, and resituating the hungry poor in relation to broader scales of local, national, and global power.

Conflict management is an area in which the EU has only recently begun to develop a profile, in particular through its involvement in the Western Balkans. The development of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) has added a momentum to the management or resolution of the unresolved conflicts in the Former Soviet Union. This is a potentially risky undertaking. The ENP was not designed to address these conflicts; it remains politically, institutionally and financially under-equipped to do so, and it faces obvious external constraints, such as the role of Russia in the region. Through the ENP, the EU has assumed greater visibility in conflict management. By giving rise to local and international expectations, the EU runs the risk of becoming entangled in conflicts that it lacks the capacity to address, and of exposing its weaknesses as a foreign policy acotr. The comparison of Moldova and Georgia spells out the scope and limitations of the ENP in the area of conflict management. In the case of Moldova, domestic support for closer relations with the EU and a willingness to discuss the status of Transnistria have allowed the ENP and other EU instruments to shape the process of conflict management. By contrast, the case of Georgia illustrates the scope for instrumentalization and unintended consequences resulting from a loose policy framework. (Ethnopolitics)

"Natural" water scarcity is often touted by international banks and trade organizations as a justification for the wholesale privatization of common water supplies and urban water infrastructure, giving powerful multinational corporations ownership over the most precious precondition for Life. Through participatory research, fieldwork, and a critical anthropological lens, this paper examines two struggles against water privatization in South India: the fight for water rights in the village of Plachimada against the exploitation and pollution of water by the Coca-Cola company, and the fight against privatization of the municipal water supply in the "Silicon Valley" of India – Bangalore - which would effectively cut off free access to drinking water for the city's massive population of urban slum dwellers. I seek to deconstruct the notion of water crises as a "natural" phenomenon by showing how British colonial practices and the modern Indian State have created water scarcity by systematically destroying indigenous water harvesting technologies that have long created ecological abundance in village India and by usurping control and the ownership of water. With the recognition that water scarcity, ecological destruction, and accompanying poverty are man-made phenomena, I explore the inverse by arguing that human design systems can instead create local ecological abundance and economic self-sufficient communities. And it all starts with water: Earth's most precious free gift to Life.

7 pages, 2 tables.-- VII Triple Helix International Conference. Glasgow, UK. Jun. 2009. ; Studies regarding innovation pay increasing attention to the relations that firms maintain with different actors in their environment. It is generally assumed that interaction with other firms, universities and governmental organizations can be sources of knowledge that can improve the ability to drive innovation. Nevertheless, there is scarce evidence with regard to the specific role firms give these partners as providers of useful knowledge for their innovation processes. In this paper we present research-based insights on the dynamics of the Triple Helix networks as a basis for innovation capacity building for firms in a catch-up region. Our main assumption is that firms that adopt an open collaboration strategy have a greater capacity to recombine different knowledge sources and adapt them to their innovation processes. We use a large set of indicators which enables us to identify what regional sources are considered by firms as important for gaining knowledge. By way of a survey of 737 firms located in a region in southern Spain (Andalusia), the analysis identifies types of firms which are characterized by how they focus their interest on specific groups of actors. ; Financial assistance provided by the Andalusian Regional Government for this project. Project Reference: SEJ-2006-0084. ; Peer reviewed

A critical yet often overlooked component of food security is diet quality. Even households who have access to sufficient amounts of food and calories may still lack essential micronutrients, increasing their risk for both short- and long-term health and development consequences. Interventions that address poor diet quality and related deficiencies of vitamin A, zinc, iron, among others, are important for achieving full food security in vulnerable populations. The homestead food production (HFP) program, introduced in Bangladesh by Helen Keller International nearly two decades ago, promotes an integrated package of home gardening, small livestock production and nutrition education with the aim of increasing household production, availability, and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods and improving the health and nutritional status of women and children. Implemented by NGO partners and the Government of Bangladesh, HFP has expanded its reach into over one half of the country's subdistricts and is now operating in several countries of Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa. Evidence shows that HFP in Bangladesh has improved food security for nearly 5 million vulnerable people in diverse agroecological zones. This has been achieved through: increased production and consumption of micronutrient-rich foods; increased income from gardens and expenditures on micronutrient-rich foods; women's empowerment; enhanced partner capacity; and community development. ; Non-PR ; IFPRI1; GRP4; 2020 ; DGO

International audience ; On May 23, 2007 the European Parliament and the Council adopted the Directive 2007/23/EC [1] on the placing on the market of pyrotechnic articles. Following the "new approach" this Directive aims at ensuring the f ree movement of such products within the European Union (EU), improving safety of both consumers and professionals and implementing harmonized safety requirements for these articles in all Member States. Therefore a European frame for the approval of pyrotechnic articles for vehicles is now set up by introducing harmonized Essential Safety Requirements (ESR), CE marking and certification procedures. For manufacturers and importers that had to comply with a different regulation in each country to get technical approvals of their products the principle "tested once, accepted everywhere" is a great achievement. Although this EU directive will reduce the administrative burden for everybody, its substitution and application instead of the current national regulations may create difficulties at the beginning. As Notified Body and Official Laboratory in France INERIS has gained lot of experience in testing, certifying and approving explosives and pyrotechnic articles. In this paper we give an insight of the different parts of the Directive 2007/23/EC and present the frame of the CE marking and certification procedures for pyrotechnic articles for vehicles.

International audience ; The long-term consequences of violence against women are poorly documented within the context of political domination, economic inequalities and rapid social change of indigenous communities. Using data from the first population study on violence against women and their consequences on health in New Caledonia, South Pacific, this article investigates the association between childhood sexual abuse and binge drinking among 441 adult Kanak women. Face-to-face standardised interviews were conducted in 2002-2003, among women aged 18-54 years drawn from the electoral rolls. Childhood sexual abuse before 15 years of age was reported by 11.6% of respondents. Nearly all the perpetrators (96%) were known to the victims (63% being a close relative). The rate of frequent binge drinking amongst the women within the last 12 months was 34%. After controlling for social and demographic factors, an independent association was found between childhood sexual abuse and current binge drinking. This study is the first to analyse the contribution of childhood sexual abuse to the likelihood of later heavy alcohol use in an indigenous population in the South Pacific. The findings call for improving and giving priority to care for children who are victims of violence to prevent long-term health consequences and to develop prevention programs aimed at alcohol-related behaviour in women, while taking into account simultaneous individual and collective factors.

Public procurement represents 16.3% of gross domestic product therefore can be counted as a very important part of the economy. The volume of public procurement is constantly growing in both regional and EU single market levels. So the public and the private sector are interested in effective public procurement system as well as its opportunities to improve and adapt to social and economic conditions, technical and scientific progress in EU member countries. Every contracting authority must choose the appropriate procedure to ensure that the purchase would be carried out properly and in accordance with the principles of public procurement. This Master Thesis focuses on regulations of international public procurement procedures, their separation and clustering criteria, the particular purchase procedures as well as problems related to the application of these procedures in practice. As the public procurement directives are considered to be EU law secondary source, the thesis is not limited only by regulation of directives and analysis of practice of European Court of Justice but takes into account the national legislation of Lithuania in this field. According to logical, systematic, comparative, teleological, historical and linguistic methods, this paper comprehensively analyzes existing public procurement procedures, identifies the features and selection criteria of each procedure, reveals related problems and proposes effective solutions to the named problems.

This is the Submitted Version of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Quality in Higher Education on 12th November 2009, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13538320903343099. ; Arguments for National Qualification Frameworks (NQF) are compelling. Indeed, such frameworks are now an international phenomenon. Yet, few studies take a critical perspective and challenge the broad assumptions underpinning NQF. Arguments presented in this paper attempt to open a debate within the higher education community that draws attention to conflicts and tensions regarding the diffusion and use of NQF. The emphasis of the debate is on the use of the Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework (SCQF) within higher education. The SCQF is used in this paper as an exemplar to explore and highlight these conflicts and tensions. The critique is based on a historical and managerialist view that forms the basis of a number of research propositions regarding the future of NQF. Specifically, four distinct yet interrelated research perspectives requiring future attention are proposed: political; innovation–diffusion; normative; and consistency. Such perspectives are argued to provide a more robust and reliable basis for developing NQF. The paper thus contextualises the SCQF within the recent 'global tsunami' of NQF and uses the SCQF as an exemplar to open up a wider debate about NQF.

International audience ; The long-term consequences of violence against women are poorly documented within the context of political domination, economic inequalities and rapid social change of indigenous communities. Using data from the first population study on violence against women and their consequences on health in New Caledonia, South Pacific, this article investigates the association between childhood sexual abuse and binge drinking among 441 adult Kanak women. Face-to-face standardised interviews were conducted in 2002-2003, among women aged 18-54 years drawn from the electoral rolls. Childhood sexual abuse before 15 years of age was reported by 11.6% of respondents. Nearly all the perpetrators (96%) were known to the victims (63% being a close relative). The rate of frequent binge drinking amongst the women within the last 12 months was 34%. After controlling for social and demographic factors, an independent association was found between childhood sexual abuse and current binge drinking. This study is the first to analyse the contribution of childhood sexual abuse to the likelihood of later heavy alcohol use in an indigenous population in the South Pacific. The findings call for improving and giving priority to care for children who are victims of violence to prevent long-term health consequences and to develop prevention programs aimed at alcohol-related behaviour in women, while taking into account simultaneous individual and collective factors.

Over the last three decades participatory research processes have informed much international development and conservation work in developing countries. Public participation is also a growing legislative requirement in natural resource and environmental management in developed countries. So far, multiple participatory approaches have been formulated and applied in different contexts, including so-called participatory modelling methods. The latter have developed alongside a growing unease and fundamental critique of the participatory approaches and their theoretical underpinnings. One of the central themes running through the critique is the naïveté with which complexities of power relations are assumed to be understood and addressed in participatory approaches. The critique also highlights the danger that participatory approaches become legitimising instruments that simply maintain and reinforce existing power relations. In this paper we engage with the critical literature in the hope of drawing lessons and requirements for participatory modelling. We also empirically evaluate participatory modelling case studies with regard to the fundamental critique. While we do not agree with some demands from the critique that imply abandoning the whole participatory enterprise, we suggest that claims to participatory modelling be taken seriously and that each claim be accompanied by critical reflection. Based on a review of the literature we suggest initial set of questions towards developing a framework for critical reflection.

IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, SMC 2009; San Antonio, TX; United States; 11 October 2009 through 14 October 2009 ; Haptics technology has increased the precision and telepresence of the teleoperation and precision of the in-house robotic applications by force and surface information feedback. Force feedback is achieved through sending back the pressure and force information via a haptic device as the information is created or measured at the point of interest. In order to configure such a system, design, analysis and production processes of a haptic device, which is suitable for that specific application, becomes important. Today, haptic devices find use in assistive surgical robotics and most of the teleoperation systems. These devices are also extensively utilized in simulators to train medical and military personnel. The objective of this work is to design a haptic device with a new structure that has the potential to increase the precision of the robotic operation. Thus, literature is reviewed and possible robot manipulator designs are investigated to increase the precision in haptics applications. As a result of the investigations, conceptual designs are developed. Ultimately, final design is selected and produced after it is investigated in computer-aided- design (CAD) environment and its kinematic and structural analyses are carried out.

Two major events had been dominating effects in the New Zealand media in 2008. The general election was a demanding time in which the media played an active role beyond simply reporting events and came under scurtiny almost as much as the politicians. The international financial crisis became real for the world economy including New Zealand during the year. It cut advertising revenue, leading to financial stresses which had multiple effects on the media as for the rest of the economy. Covering the crisis in all its unpleasent innovation, historical parallels and complexity was also a test of journalists and media outlets in New Zealand as elsewhere. Meanwhile, digital media have continued to expand their coverage, influence, and financial impact, forcing the conventional media to change in the way they see the world. In New Zealand this was emphasised by a wide-ranging regulatory review. It is remarkable that ownership of the media has remained stable during the year. This is as much a result of the credit crunch as depite it: one major owners tried to sell and failed. The ownership continues to be highly concentrated with further acquisitions and centralisation by the major owners. This second annual survey of the media also looks at some developments between the law and the media and changes in the newspaper, internet, magazine, television and radio segements.