Characterizing precipitation seasonality and variability in the face of future uncertainty is important for a well-informed climate change adaptation strategy. Using the Colwell index of predictability and monthly normalized precipitation data from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) multi-model ensembles, this study identifies spatial hotspots of changes in precipitation ...

Increased water scarcity implies that residents of arid, heavily populated regions of the U.S. will have to increase water conservation or else face the consequence of water shortfalls. Voluntarily conserved water is an impure public good since it is non-excludable and rival in consumption. This means that water conservation benefits are subject to free-riding behavior. This paper considers a d...

A successful programme is reported from Mozambique for training middle-level health workers to perform fairly advanced surgical procedures in remote areas where the services of consultants are virtually unobtainable. Manpower and financial constraints obliged Mozambique to train medical assistants to perform surgical work in rural areas, where three broad priorities were identified: pregnancy-r...

In this paper we study the simultaneous problems of food waste and hunger in the context of food (waste) rescue and redistribution as a means for mitigating hunger. To this end, we develop an empirical model that can be used in Monte Carlo simulations to study the dynamics of the underlying problem. Our model's parameters are derived from a data set provided by a large food bank and food rescue...

[1] During the last decade, there have been increasing concerns over water resource drought in northern England, brought about by the 1995 Yorkshire drought with an estimated 5-month rainfall return period of 200 years. The impacts of climatic change and variability on water resource reliability, resilience, and vulnerability in this region are examined by modeling changes to weather type frequ...

In Japan, the interest in IT education is continuously growing. Most goals of the IT education involve metaability, which cannot be learned by the traditional Japanese instructional methods. It is difficult to design effective IT education material. Moreover, there are only a few specialists in IT education. For this reason, it is necessary and important to provide IT instructors with a powerfu...

A new problem in technology policy-a discipline hitherto largely concerned with the modern industrial sector-is posed by the need for technology suited to creating productive jobs and providing minimum public services at a cost and level of sophistication within the reach of poor people in developing countries. Careful consideration must be given to overall and sectoral development objectives, ...