THE EFFECTS OF MULTINATIONAL ENTERPRISES INVESTMENT IN THE NONTRADED SECTOR OF DEVELOPING ECONOMIES

This paper draws attention to the implications of multinational enterprises (MNEs) investment in the nontraded sector of a developing host country when their investment is characterized by the transmission of superior technology, but also draws on the local capital market to secure factors of production. In a simple general equilibrium model, we show that once the MNEs control the nontraded sector, their activities generate disturbing results for the host country¡¯s economy. In particular, the host country may experience reduced total employment and real national income as a result of their investment. The cause for such unsettling outcomes is directly related to the MNEs utilization of their sector-specific stock of knowledge-based assets in the production of nontraded goods.Foreign Direct Investment, Knowledge-based Assets, Multinational Enterprises, Nontraded Good

Dynamics of vortices with magnetic impurities

We investigate the dynamics of BPS vortices in the presence of magnetic impurities taking the form of axially-symmetric localised lumps and delta-functions. We present numerical results for vortices on flat space, as well as exact results for vortices on hyperbolic space in the presence of delta-function impurities. In fact, delta-function impurities of appropriate strength can be captured within the moduli space approximation by keeping one or more of the vortices fixed. We also show that previous work on vortices on the 2-sphere extends naturally to the inclusion of delta-function impurities

Using panel data to estimate the effect of rainfall shocks on smallholders food security and vulnerability in rural Ethiopia

Ethiopia's agriculture is predominantly rainfed and hence any irregularity in weather conditions has adverse welfare implications. Using panel data, this paper analyzes the effect of rainfall shocks on Ethiopian rural households' food security and vulnerability over time while controlling for a range of other factors. To this end, we generated a time-variant household food security index which is developed by principal components analysis. Based on the scores of the index, households were classified into relative food security groups and their socioeconomic differences were assessed. The exploratory results show that compared to the less secured households, the more secured ones have male and literate household heads, tend to have a greater number of economically active household members, own more livestock, experience better rainfall outcome, participate in equb (a local savings group), and use chemical fertilizer. Fixed effects regression was used to identify the factors which affect the score's variability and the results indicate that rainfall shock is an important factor affecting households' food security over time. It is also noted that household size, head's age, participation in equb, off-farm activities, use of fertilizer, and livestock ownership positively and significantly affect the food security score. Results from multinomial logistic regression model reinforce the fixed effects regression results by showing the strong association of persistent food insecurity and vulnerability with adverse rainfall shock. A number of conclusions can be drawn from the results which are useful for policymakers as well as for agencies that engage in areas of risk and food security.food security, principal components analysis, rainfall, panel data, Ethiopia, Food Security and Poverty, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Q18, C13,

Effects of Different Soil Management Practices Under Maize-Legume Production System on Rainfall-Runoff and Soil Loss Relationships in Bako, West Oromia, Ethiopia

Soil erosion is one of the major factors responsible for soil degradation and becomes a threat to human survival. Sustainable soil management systems must be developed to reduce degradation and restore the productivity of the eroded land. Therefore; this study was carried out under natural rainfall conditions with the objective of investigating and evaluating the effects of different soil management practices on runoff, soil, nutrient losses at Bako, Ethiopia. Eighteen experimental runoff plots of 8 m length and 3 m width each were framed with corrugated iron sheets. The experimental design used was randomized complete block design (RCBD) with six treatments namely; sole maize conventional practices (SMCP), sole haricot bean conventional practices (SHCP), maize-haricot bean conventional practices (MHCP), maize-mulch conventional practices (MmCP), maize-haricot bean conservation agriculture (MHCA) and maize-mulch conservational agriculture (MmCA) that were replicated three times. Parameters observed included soil loss, runoff depth, and nutrient losses. The results revealed that there was a significant difference at (P<0.05) between the treatments regarding their effect on runoff depth, soil loss and sediment associated nutrient losses. The seasonal runoff depth ranged between 22.12 and 44.99 mm while the seasonal soil loss varied between 4.04 and 18.92 t/ha during the entire study period. The loss of nutrients and organic carbon (OC) were in the range of 82.719 to 368.747 kg/ ha for OC, for total N (TN) 7.550 to 33.538 kg/ ha, available P, 0.039 to 0.179 kg/ ha and 3.230 to 14.230 kg/ha for available K. The results showed that MHCP, SHCP, MmCP, MHCA and MmCA could control the runoff by the order of 50.83, 36.89, 24.13, 20.25 and 9.40% in comparison to SMCP. Treatments reduced the soil loss in the following order; MHCA > MHCP > SHCP > MmCA > MmCP which was 78.64, 75.21, 62.84, 49.47 and 47.99 % respectively. MHCA had higher reduction potential of nutrients for P, K, OC and TN which was 78.41, 77.30, 77.57 and 77.49 % respectively as compared to SMCP of farmer practices. The results indicated that practicing conservation agriculture can be used as better soil and water conservation tool to effectively check soil and nutrient losses under the existing slope and rainfall conditions in Bako area in Ethiopia. Keywords: Soil erosion, Tillage practices, runoff, soil loss and nutrient los

Determinants of Obesity among Working Adults in Wolaita Sodo Town, Southern Ethiopia

Background: Obesity among working adults is a major public health problem in low-income countries and it increases the risk of morbidity and mortality. This study aimed to assess the determinants of overweight and /obesity among working adults in Wolaita Sodo town, Southern Ethiopia.Methods: Institutional based cross sectional study was conducted from March to April, 2016. Working adults (n꞊422) were the study population. A Simple random sampling technique was used to select study participants. Overweight and /obesity was classified according to WHO classification. Data was entered into EPI info version 3.5.1 and exported into SPSS version 20.0 for analysis. Binary logistic regression model was used to identify factors associated with the outcome variable, and finally multivariate logistic regression model was used to identify independent predictors of overweight and /obesity, with statistical significance set at p<0.050 (95% confidence interval (CI)).Results: Prevalence of overweight and / obesity was 40.7%, out of which 71.4% were among male and 28.6% were among female. The mean ±SD age of male and female was 42.6 ±10.3 years and 40 ± 11.1 years respectively.  Salt intake in diet (AOR= 0.101, 95% CI = 0.3 – 0.32); meal frequency (AOR=23.69, 95% CI= 1.67 – 3.34); use of "Hayat" oil for food preparation (AOR=7.43, 95% CI = 1.72 – 32); being male (AOR=1.79, 95% CI = 1.09 – 2.95) were determinants of overweight and / obesity.Conclusion: This study showed high rate of overweight and /obesity among working adults. Findings suggest the need to implement evidence-based working adults’ nutrition policy and strategies as well as need for intervention to improve dietary salt consumption and the quality of edible oil. Keywords: Obesity, Working adults, Southern Ethiopi

Analysis of Technical and Cost Barriers for Implementation of Green Infrastructure

Overview: My name is Liya E. Abera, a second year Ph.D. student in the Department of Civil Engineering. I am applying for the GSC grant to obtain a hydrological modeling software, HydroCAD, to use in my research for stormwater rainfall-runoff analyses. Intellectual Merit: Stormwater runoff occurs when rainwater flows over the ground. Increase in impervious landcover due to urbanization and land development causes excess stormwater runoff that causes flooding events. Floods can be hazardous to communities by damaging properties and exposing them to contaminated water. Installation of Green Stormwater Infrastructure (GSI) is one sustainable way of reducing flooding events and preventing damages. However, two types of barriers prevent developers and engineers from installing these practices. The first type of barrier is technical, which includes a lack of understanding about the benefits of GSI and a lack of data demonstrating performance. The second type is economic, such as costs of constructing and maintaining GSI practices. We are performing research to evaluate how technical and economic barriers affect the implementation of GSI. Much of the evaluation has already been performed by conducting rainfall-runoff analysis using HydroCAD modeling software and life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) using spreadsheet tools. The HydroCAD software used for this project so far is free, with limited capabilities. Therefore, simplifications of the rainfall-runoff conditions were made. A paid version of HydroCAD is being requested via this proposal to be used for more detailed analyses. The analyses will be performed for different scenarios based on GSI type and storm events. This research will result in information to help developers and engineers see the options of implementing GSI to reduce the damages of stormwater on downstream properties. External Opportunity: I will apply for the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) Horton (Hydrology) Research Grant. The application will close on 04/15/2020. The potential funding is $10,000. If awarded, I will conduct stormwater runoff pollution analysis. The analysis will be performed by sampling stormwater runoff for different storm events from the inflow and outflow of GSI and conducting laboratory analyses. The award will be used to buy water quality testing laboratory equipment and kits and for sampling stormwater runoff. Adding the water quality analysis will help provide more useful information and conclusions about the benefits of GSI, which would help developers and engineer in their selection of specific GSI for their projects

Effect of Urea or Urea- Molasses Treated Maize Stover on Body Weight Change and Carcass Parameter on Hararghe Highland Sheep, Eastern Ethiopia

This experiment was conducted to evaluate feed intake, daily body weight gain (ADG) and carcass characteristics of feeding sheep with a basal diet of untreated and treated maize stover (MS) at Haramaya University. The experiment was conducted in a randomized complete block design using 20 intact male Hararghe Highland sheep having a mean initial body weight of 15.4 ± 0.57 kg (mean ± SD). The animals were grouped into five blocks based on initial body weight  and randomly assigned to four treatments; namely, untreated maize stover ad libitum (T1); urea treated maize stover (UTMS) ad libitum (T2); urea-molasses treated maize stover (UMTMS) ad libitum (T3 and T4). T1, T2 and T3 were supplemented with 300g concentrate mix of wheat bran (WB) and noug seed cake (NSC) at the ratio of 2:1. Hundred kg of maize stover (MS) was treated with 4 kg of urea dissolved in 100 liters of water alone or with additional 10% molasses. Water and block salt were available to the animal at all time. The crude protein (CP) content of MS, UTMS, UMTMS, NSC and WB were 5.9, 8, 10, 30.1, and 17.2%, respectively.  Higher (P<0.001) total DM intake was noted for sheep fed T2 (700.7 g/day) and T3 (770.9 g/day) diets than those fed T1 (538.28 g/day) and T4 (481.4 g/day). CP intake was in the same trend as dry matter intake. ADG was 45.1, 65, 69.1, and 20.7 g/day for T1, T2, T3 and T4, respectively, which was significantly higher (P<0.001) for T2 and T3 than T1 and T4. Furthermore, T1, T2 and T3 animals had higher (P<0.001) feed conversion efficiency, dressing percentages (P<0.001) and hot carcass weight (P<0.001) than T4 animals. In general, animals in T2 and T3 had 1.5 and 3.2 times higher average daily gain than those in T1 and T4, respectively. Similarly, animals in T1, T2 and T3 produced about 2.3 kg more carcasses than those in T4. The result revealed that supplementing either urea treated or urea-molasses treated maize stover is a better option to improve both biological and economic performance of sheep. But, no advantage was gained from treating maize stover with a blend of urea and molasses solution if the basal diet is supplemented with concentrate diet

Small Scale Cooperative to Improve Farmers Livelihood (In Case of Kindo Koysha Woreda, Wolaita Zone S.N.N.P.R)

Small scale cooperatives in most developing countries like Ethiopia are very import so as to alleviate problems associated with low production of agricultural output through rendering service particularly to the rural households. This study was carried out in Kindo Kosha Woreda to examine understand the various economics role of cooperatives. The general objectives of the study were to analysis the overall role of small scale cooperatives to improve farm household in Kindo Kosha  Woreda. For this study primary and secondary sources were used. To achieve the objectives of the study, combination of suitable qualitative and quantitative data were collected. The data were organized, summarized and analyzed using SPSS statistical package (SPPS version 16.0). The result shows different types of cooperatives need facilities like cows on the other consumer cooperatives contained age growth of this is due to  satisfies their consumption with little capital. The result also shows increase income. Cooperatives in rural hose hold both primary and secondary data were used. This data were collected from shows that most rural house hold participates in cooperatives. The government adopt the policies that appropriately encourage the cooperatives development like economy policy (macro and micro) that initiate cooperatives idea. Mobilizing all sticks holders on the development of cooperatives and all stock holders have work on compliment bases. Keywords: Kindo Koysha, Cooperative, role, Credit Small scal

Loan Portfolio and Effect of Delinquency :( Case of Wisdom Micro Finance Institution, Soddo Branch)

The purpose the study was analyzing the effect of loan portfolio quality and effect of delinquency in Sodo Vision Fund Micro financing Institution. The study conducted in the clients received loan from the institution and office staff of Sodo vision fund micro finance institution.  The selection of these target population were made at random sample by using an availability of sampling techniques were taken as a study of population. The data gathering tool employed in this was questionnaires and interviews among 56 member of clients and 6 staff member of the institution, Hence a set of questionnaires distributed to 68(100%) of male and 32(100%) of female and total sampling population were filled and returned. Thus, final result of analyze of the study was made based on questioners and interview from the given group of respondents and documents of the institution. The data was analyzed by using percentage and ranking methods. Generally the study contains problems and its approach review of related literatures. Finally, questionnaires were administrated the sample population the researcher prepared interview questions to both the clients and staff member and percent them to the respondents of sample population. The major intension of the researcher to improve loan portfolio quality and effect of delinquency among clients, and also to improve the culture of saving and repayment of the loan, creating awareness to the people/clients in over all areas of the loan. Keywords: Loan, Effect, Delinquency Vision Fund DOI: 10.7176/JPID/49-03 Publication date: April 30th 2019