Water saving through international trade of agricultural products

Many nations save domestic water resources by importing water-intensive products and exporting commodities that are less water intensive. National water saving through the import of a product can imply saving water at a global level if the flow is from sites with high to sites with low water productivity. The paper analyses the consequences of international virtual water flows on the global and national water budgets. The assessment shows that the total amount of water that would have been required in the importing countries if all imported agricultural products would have been produced domestically is 1605 Gm3/yr. These products are however being produced with only 1253 Gm3/yr in the exporting countries, saving global water resources by 352 Gm3/yr. This saving is 28 per cent of the international virtual water flows related to the trade of agricultural products and 6 per cent of the global water use in agriculture. National policy makers are however not interested in global water savings but in the status of national water resources. Egypt imports wheat and in doing so saves 3.6 Gm3/yr of its national water resources. Water use for producing export commodities can be beneficial, as for instance in Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana and Brazil, where the use of green water resources (mainly through rain-fed agriculture) for the production of stimulant crops for export has a positive economic impact on the national economy. However, export of 28 Gm3/yr of national water from Thailand related to rice export is at the cost of additional pressure on its blue water resources. Importing a product which has a relatively high ratio of green to blue virtual water content saves global blue water resources that generally have a higher opportunity cost than green water.\u

Cost-effectiveness of sentinel lymph node biopsy vs inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy in women with vulval cancer

background: This study examines the cost-effectiveness of sentinel lymph node biopsy, a potentially less morbid procedure, compared with inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy (IFL) among women with stage I and stage II vulval squamous cell carcinoma. methods: A model-based economic evaluation was undertaken based on clinical evidence from a systematic review of published sources. A decision tree model was developed with the structure being informed by clinical input, taking the perspective of the health-care provider. results: For overall survival for 2 years, IFL was found to be the most cost-effective option and dominated all other strategies, being the least costly and most effective. For morbidity-free related outcomes for 2 years, sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy with 99mTc and blue dye and haematoxylin & eosin (H&E) histopathology, with ultrastaging and immunohistochemistry reserved for those that test negative following H&E is likely to be the most effective approach. conclusion: SLN biopsy using 99mTc and blue dye with ultrastaging may be considered the most cost-effective strategy based on the outcome of survival free of morbidity for 2 years. The findings here also indicate that using blue dye and H&E for the identification of the SLN and the identification of metastasis, respectively, are not sensitive enough to be used on their own

The Nonprofit Health Care Corporation Reform Act of 1980

In recent years, Blue Cross/Blue Shield has been the subject of considerable controversy. Its critics charge the non-profit, tax-exempt corporation with being unduly secretive, arrogantly unresponsive to consumer interest and not vigorous in its cost containment efforts. These criticisms, along with a variety of other factors, led to the legislative reform I am here to talk to you about this evening

Economic incentives and gender differences in work absence behavior

We estimate a labor supply model on a random sample of Swedish male and female blue collar workers to study the effect of economic incentives on work absence behavior. We observe work absence for each day during 1990 and 1991 for each worker in the sample. We use non-parametric (Kaplan-Meier) techniques; semi-parametric stratified models, where individual effects are removed; and fully prametric Cox regression models, where observed characteristics are used to control for heterogeneity. An exogenous change in the cost of being absent due to a reform of the sickness insurance, which took place during the time period covered by the data, is used as identifying information. The empirical analysis is focused on explaining gender differences in work absence behavior. We find that about one third of this difference in our sample can be attributed to differences in costs of being absent.Sickness insurance; unobserved heterogeneity; stratified analysis

Estimating Lost Output from Allocative Inefficiency, with an Application to Chile and Firing Costs

We propose a new measure of allocative efficiency based on unrealized increases in aggregate productivity growth. We show that the difference in the value of the marginal product of an input and its marginal cost at any plant - the plant-input "gap" - is exactly equal to the change in aggregate output that would occur if that plant changed that input's use by one unit. The mean absolute gap across plants for any input can then be interpreted as an approximation to the gain to society that would occur if every plant had a one-unit change in that input in the efficient direction, holding everything else constant. We show how to estimate this average gap using plant-level data for 1982-1994 from Chilean manufacturing, a sector largely viewed as being one of South America's least distorted. We find the gaps for blue and white collar labor are quite large in absolute value and imply that a one-unit move in the correct direction for blue collar would increase aggregate value added by almost 0.5%. We also find that the gaps for blue and white collar workers are increasing over time while the gaps for materials and electricity are not. The timing of the two separate increases in firing costs and the sharpest increases in the labor gaps is suggestive that the increases in average within-firm labor gaps may be related to the increases in severance pay.

Silver Lake Limnological Survey, 2004

During the spring, summer and fall of 2004, a limnological survey of Silver Lake was conducted. The purpose of the survey was to update the status of Silver Lake. Some of the questions being asked were as follows. Was the lake highly productive? Were the bottom layers of the lake devoid of oxygen? Was phosphorus being released from the sediments into the water column? Were there algal blooms? What might be the cause of them? Were there blue-green algae present? Were algal toxins present? When? Monitoring was designed to take samples only during the summer period with depth to minimize cost. We decided to sample an extra week in the fall because of the blue-green algae bloom that was observed during September of 2004

Airline Fuel Hedging: An Overview of Hedging Solutions Available to Airlines

Over the past several years airlines have been struggling to cope with a barrage of challenging economic conditions and have been very creative in reducing cost. In an attempt to produce a profit for their shareholders airlines have slashed cost in many areas and have not willingly left any stone unturned looking for cost savings. There are two ways to make a profit however, either by lowering your cost or by raising your revenue. The revenue increase side of the airline profit equation has been limited by government security taxes, unhealthy competitive practices, and the entrance additional of low cost carriers such as Jet Blue and Air Trans. Airlines have varying degrees of control over cost with fuel being most illusive

Study of Adsorption Equilibrium and Kinetics of direct blue 71 by activated red mud from aqueous solutions

Background: Some of dyes are toxic and even carcinogenic and require separation and advanced treatment of textile effluents before being discharged into conventional systems. The objective of this study was to remove the direct blue 71 dye from aqueous solutions using activated red mud. Methods: Red mud was activated by nitric acid and was used in the adsorption experiment. Direct blue 71 removal, using activated red mud was studied as a function of contact time, pH, and initial dye concentration. The adsorption isotherms were analyzed using the Langmuir and the Freundlich isotherms. Kinetics data were fitted with Pseudo-first-order and Pseudo-second-order models. Results: The adsorption rate increases with pH decrease, contact time increase, and increase initial dye concentrations. The Freundlich isotherm (R2=0.9737) was the best-fit adsorption isotherm model for the experiment. The adsorption data, followed a pseudo-second-order model (R2=0.9902). Conclusion: Based on the result of the study, the use of activated red mud, as an efficient low-cost adsorbent, can be considered for (pre-) treating direct blue 71 contaminated wastewater. Keywords: Direct blue 71, Textile wastewater, Activated red mud, Adsorption, Isotherm model

Education-Occupation Mismatch and the Effect on Wages of Egyptian Workers

This study attempts to fill a void in the literature by examining education-occupation mismatches in Egypt. Using the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS) 2006 and Egypt Labor Market Survey (ELMS) 1998, this paper investigates whether the empirical evidences of studies on over-education and under-education carry over to the private sector of the Egyptian labor market; evaluates the incidence and magnitude of the education-occupation mismatch by gender and by occupational categories; and determines whether the incidence of educational mismatches has increased over time. The main findings are as follows: there is evidence of an education-occupation mismatch in the Egyptian private sector. The incidence has declined from 51% to 42% during the eight year period, and males are more likely to be mismatched than females. The Egyptian labor market has witnessed a drop in the percentage of overeducated workers at the expense of an expansion in the share of under-educated workers. Empirical findings do not support the main stream literature. Returns to over-education for white collar and blue collar males are higher than those of adequately educated males and are greater in 2006 than in 1998. Females in white collar jobs, both over and undereducated, received higher returns than adequately educated females in 1998, but returns to over-education were higher and returns to under-education were lower than adequate education in 2006. Females in blue collar jobs are being penalized if they are inadequately matched, especially in 2006, and are rewarded less than males. These findings support the job competition model in a labor market with an imperfect information system whereby employers use education as an indicator of the cost of investing in job training. Workers, on the other hand, may accept these jobs while competing for a job