Integration of different data bodies for humanitarian decision support: an example from mine action

Geographic information systems (GIS) are increasingly used for integrating data from different sources and substantive areas, including in humanitarian action. The challenges of integration are particularly well illustrated by humanitarian mine action. The informational requirements of mine action are expensive, with socio-economic impact surveys costing over US$1.5 million per country, and are feeding a continuous debate on the merits of considering more factors or 'keeping it simple'. National census offices could, in theory, contribute relevant data, but in practice surveys have rarely overcome institutional obstacles to external data acquisition. A positive exception occurred in Lebanon, where the landmine impact survey had access to agricultural census data. The challenges, costs and benefits of this data integration exercise are analysed in a detailed case study. The benefits are considerable, but so are the costs, particularly the hidden ones. The Lebanon experience prompts some wider reflections. In the humanitarian community, data integration has been fostered not only by the diffusion of GIS technology, but also by institutional changes such as the creation of UN-led Humanitarian Information Centres. There is a question whether the analytic capacity is in step with aggressive data acquisition. Humanitarian action may yet have to build the kind of strong analytic tradition that public health and poverty alleviation have accomplished.     

Getting of the seeds-and-tools treadmill with CRS seed vouchers and fairs

The free distribution of seeds and tools is the standard approach to agricultural recovery. The predominance of this approach is partly attributable to the: (1) perception that farmer seed quality is poor, (2) insistence on seed certification, (3) promotion of researcher varieties, (4) misdiagnosis of unavailability, (5) difficulty accessing farmer seed, and (6) support for the commercial seed sector. This paper presents a Seed Security Assessment Framework to distinguish among the causes of seed insecurity and focuses on three principal concepts: seed availability; access to seed; and factors associated with seed utilisation. Using this diagnostic framework, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has developed a better approach to promoting seed system-based agricultural recovery. It involves a combination of seed voucher distribution and the organization of seed fairs, which bring together a range of sellers from whom the holders of vouchers may purchase seed. This approach is advantageous because it: strengthens farmer seed procurement systems; is cost efficient; in economic terms, has a multiplier effect in the community; is straightforward to plan and implement; allows commercial sector participation; provides an opportunity to promote improved varieties for farmer evaluation; brings together different communities.     

Sampling pure fetal blood in twin pregnancies by fetoscopy using a single uterine puncture

A technique for sampling pure fetal blood in twin pregnancies using a single uterine entry with a fetoscope is described. The fetoscope was inserted into one sac and after blood had been obtained from that, twin, the fetus in the other sac was sampled by trans-septal passage of the blood-sampling needle. This was done in six out of seven patients, the first in the series having two separate insertions of the fetoscope, one into each sac. Pure fetal blood was taken from all 14 fetuses, either from the placental insertion of the umbilical cord or the umbilicus, and the volume of the samples ranged from 200 μl to 1200 μl. In six patients the fetuses were at risk of β-thalassaemia and in one of haemophilia A. Some observations are made relating zygosity to the ultrasonic and fetoscopic appearance of the septum between the sacs.     

Improving the contingent valuation method: A psychological perspective

Results of research on the social psychology of human decision making that offer direction for improving the contingent valuation method are reviewed. The paper focuses on the findings of that literature related to (1) limitations of human information processing and judgment-making abilities, (2) the influence of elicitation stimuli and expectations, and (3) quality of decision making in the face of too much or too little stress. Within the context of this literature, specific research directions are recommended that can improve the validity and reliability of the results of contingent valuation studies. More multidisciplinary studies are encouraged.     

MEASURING ECONOMIC LOSSES FROM GROUND WATER CONTAMINATION: AN INVESTIGATION OF HOUSEHOLD AVOIDANCE COSTS1

ABSTRACT: Economic losses from ground water contamination were estimated in a central Pennsylvania community. The averting expenditures method was applied via a mail survey of households in which water contained the unregulated volatile organic chemical, perchloroethylene (PCE). Expenditures were estimated at $148,900 (1987 dollars) over the six-month contamination period or approximately $252 per household annually. These costs underestimate the lower bound measure of welfare losses to households from ground water contamination. An upper bound measure of welfare losses was estimated at $383 per household annually. These estimates do not represent the full economic losses resulting from ground water contamination since the study did not address municipal-level and business avoidance costs and losses from actual health effects, increased fear and anxiety, ecological damages, and nonuser ground water benefits. The results expand the existing empirical base of information about municipal-level responses and economic losses from ground water contamination to include household-level impacts. The findings indicate that households undertake substantial averting actions in response to ground water contamination and that such actions can have significant economic consequences. The extent and magnitude of avoidance costs documented suggests that policy-makers should give greater attention to this category of economic losses.     

Sex differences in the ontogeny of social behavior in pikas: possible relationships to dispersal and territoriality

Summary A laboratory study on the ontogeny of social behavior in pikas (Ochotona princeps), an alpine lagomorph, was conducted to determine the role of early relationships between adult females and young and among siblings in the development of territorial and dispersal behaviors. Sex differences during development were examined because field studies have reported greater dispersal distances in young females than young males. At birth, females were significantly heavier than males. There were no sex differences in nursing frequency until after the 2nd week of age, when males initiated more nursing attempts than females. By the end of the weaning period (weeks 5 and 6), adult females became non-interactive with young, but aggression of young toward littermates and the mother increased until the eighth week. At this time, young males outweighed their sibling females. Young were dominant over their mothers by the age of 5 weeks, and young males were dominant over their sibling females.Sex differences were observed in aggression, scent-marking, exploratory activity, and submissive vocalizations, with higher rates in young males, except for submissive vocalizations, which were higher in females (Table 2). Vocalizations and scent-marking behavior increased over time, and were positively correlated with interaction rates.These data support the hypothesis that female young disperse farther than male young largely as the result of unsuccessful competition with male siblings for available territories close to the birthplance. A dispersal strategy for pkkas is proposed.