Does institution type affect access to finance for cassava actors in Nigeria?

The cassava system in Nigeria is developing, with increasing attention to its potential positive outcomes. However, credit access is a major problem in expanding productive activities of the different actors across the value chains of cassava products. This study investigates the extent of access to credit by cassava actors with respect to the different financial institutions in the country using data obtained from a sample of 168 actors, including producers, processors, marketers, fabricators and end users. The study found that commercial banks had the highest disbursement rate (88.0%) despite higher interest rate charged, while government banks had the least (73.6%). Processors (79.5%) and marketers (79.4%) had highest credit access rate while fabricators (67.5%) had the least. Regression results revealed that cassava actors that patronized commercial banks particularly those who are medium scale had access to higher amount of credit. However, female actors and those using cooperative banks secured lower credit amount. In line with the results, Nigeria should champion private-sector-led credit provision through appropriate policies aimed at improving the capacity of the institutions. Financial institutions should be strengthened for better credit access by the cassava actors, and hence improve their productivity

Effects of cluster reduction, herbagreen and humic acid applications on grape yield and quality of Horoz Karasi and Gök üzüm grape cultivars

This study was carried out in 5 BB rootstock grafted on Horoz Karasi and Gök üzüm grape varieties (Vitis vinifera L.) during the 2010 growth season. Effects of 1/3 cluster reduction (CR), 1/3 CR + herbagreen (HG) and 1/3 CR + humic acid (HA) applications on grape yield and quality of cultivars were examined. The results showed that 1/3 CR + HA application increased grape yield, berry weight, berry red and blue color intensity values of Horoz Karasi grape variety and 1/3 CR application increased grape yield and maturity index values of Gök üzüm grape variety.Key words: Vitis vinifera L., grape yield, quality, cluster reduction, humic acid, herbagreen

Labor Market Monopsony and Firm Behavior: Evidence from Spanish Exporters

In this paper, I develop a method to estimate the effect of firm behavior on labor market monopsony power. Using China’s accession to WTO for the identification, I employ the proposed empirical framework to analyse the impact of Spanish firms’ exports on their labor market monopsony power. The findings suggest that higher exports raised monopsony power of firms in labor markets between 1996 and 2007. After 2001, more intensely exporting firms reduced their wages by 36-45 percentage points and paid their employees around 39-49 percent of their marginal revenue product. Aligned with increased monopsony power, exporting firms experienced a decline labor productivity and labor share while they employed more low-skilled workers and temporary contracts

Export Destination and Firm Upgrading: Evidence from Spain

This paper examines the role of export destinations on firm upgrading. I exploit the real effective exchange rate devaluation in Spain during the Great Recession to identify the unusual export performance of manufacturing firms. Using directly observable measures of firm upgrading, I find that increased share of exports to low-income destinations in sales reduced productivity and upgrading efforts of firms. However, real effective exchange rate devaluation did not affect the share of exports to high-income destinations in sales as well as productivity and upgrading efforts. The results are consistent with the quality sorting hypothesis that suggests a positive relationship between firm productivity and product quality. The findings in this paper emphasize that export market destination is an important determinant in analysing the gains from exporti

Emissions and Allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System after the Paris Agreement

In this paper, I examine how allowances allocation affected emissions of power sector installations in the EU ETS following the Paris Agreements. The dataset I use covers the 2010-2022 period, includes the emissions and allowances of 4,498 installations operating in power sector across the 27 Member States of the European Union. I discover that installations receiving lower allowances in the first quartile (Q1) reduced their emissions by 3.5% from 2016 to 2022 compared to the 2010-2015 period. I find no evidence on the installations in second, third and fourth quartiles due to the country specific developments. I also show that country characteristics have a crucial role in policy effectiveness because the emissions of installations located in lower-income Member States entered into the EU at later stages did not fall

Emissions and Allowances in the EU Emissions Trading System after the Paris Agreement

In this paper, I examine how allowances allocation affected emissions of power sector installations in the EU ETS following the Paris Agreements. The dataset I use covers the 2010-2022 period, includes the emissions and allowances of 4,498 installations operating in power sector across the 27 Member States of the European Union. I discover that installations receiving lower allowances in the first quartile (Q1) reduced their emissions by 3.5% from 2016 to 2022 compared to the 2010-2015 period. I find no evidence on the installations in second, third and fourth quartiles due to the country specific developments. I also show that country characteristics have a crucial role in policy effectiveness because the emissions of installations located in lower-income Member States entered into the EU at later stages did not fall

Structural Assembly Demonstration Experiment (SADE)

The purpose of the Structural Assembly Demonstration Experiment (SADE) was to create a near-term Shuttle flight experiment focusing on the deployment and erection of structural truss elements. The activities of the MIT Space Systems Laboratory consist of three major areas: preparing and conducting neutral buoyancy simulation test series; producing a formal SADE Experiment plan; and studying the structural dynamics issues of the truss structure. Each of these areas is summarized

Impact and Application of Real-Time Control on Stormwater Systems

Stormwater control measures (SCMs) such as dry extended detention basins and wet ponds are common practices implemented by engineers and designers to mitigate the impact of stormwater runoff. These practices are designed based on historical rainfall data to attenuate runoff to pre-development conditions and, once they are installed, are unable to adapt to changing rainfall patterns or watershed restoration objectives. To solve these climate resiliency issues, several studies were conducted which investigated the impact of retrofitting such systems with a controllable outlet to increase or change detention times during rainfall events along with the novel instrumentation and methodologies necessary for its operation. The first of these studies explored the development, deployment, and validation of a low-cost, accurate stream gauging station capable of remotely sensing stream stage as an alternative to more traditional, but cost prohibitive, systems. Not only can these stations be deployed to cover gaps in existing networks, but the real-time data can also be used to inform the control decisions of SCMs outfitted with real-time control (RTC). The next study analyzed the performance of a dry extended detention basin outfitted with RTC which incorporated real-time water quality data in the decision framework in order to meet water quality objectives more consistently. The results of this study proved that this novel methodology was not only successful but performed better than static stormwater infrastructure or a RTC strategy utilizing predetermined detention times. While the hydrologic impact to a receiving stream once water is released from a RTC equipped SCM has begun to be explored, little is known about the impact to in-stream water quality. Results from the third study of this dissertation investigating these impacts concluded that while noticeable impacts to many parameters were observed, the only concerning impacts were thermal impairments during warm weather. Finally, a comprehensive modeling investigation was undertaken to provide contextualization and explore the advantages and disadvantages of different RTC strategies. Results from this investigation concluded that both wet ponds and dry extended detention basins would be able to further attenuate stormwater during and following rainfall events with wet ponds especially benefiting from additional control

The Higgs Mechanism in Heterotic Orbifolds

We study spontaneous gauge symmetry breaking in the framework of orbifold compactifcations of heterotic string theory. In particular we investigate the electroweak symmetry breakdown via the Higgs mechanism. Such a breakdown can be achieved by continuous Wilson lines. Exploiting the geometrical properties of this scheme we develop a new technique which simplifies the analysis used in previous discussions.Comment: 38 pages, 10 figure