Policies and Market Development to Accelerate Technological Change in the Semiarid Zones: A Focus on Sub-Saharan Africa

During the past two decades (1980–2000) donors from developed countries have been promoting structural adjustment in developing countries. This generally includes getting the public sector out of an active role in the economy, moving toward an open or free-trade regime, and eliminating subsidies (Stiglitz, 2002). Policy options, such as marketing boards and input subsidies, have been discouraged, if not eliminated, as available policy tools at the disposal of most developing countries.....

What is the right form of the probability distribution of the conductance at the mobility edge?

The probability distribution of the conductance Pc(g) at the Anderson critical point is calculated. It is find that Pc(g) has a dip at small g in agreement with epsilon expansion results. The Pc(g) for the 3d system is quite different from the 2d quantum critical point of the integer quantum Hall effect. The universality or not of these distributions is of central importance to the field of disordered systems.Comment: 1 page, 1 figure submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. (Comment

A dimensioning and tolerancing methodology for concurrent engineering applications I: problem representation

This paper is the first of two which present a methodology for determining the dimensional specifications of all the component parts and sub-assemblies of a product according to their dimensional requirements. To achieve this goal, two major steps are followed, each of which is described in a paper. In the first paper, all relationships necessary for finding the values of dimensions and tolerances are represented in a matrix form, known as a Dimensional Requirements/Dimensions (DR/D) matrix. In the second paper, the values of individual dimensions and tolerances are determined by applying a comprehensive solution strategy to satisfy all the relationships represented in the DR/D matrix. The methodology is interactive and suitable for use in a concurrent engineering (CE) environment. The graphical tool presented in this paper will assist a CE team in visualizing the overall D&T problem and foreseeing the ramifications of decisions regarding the selection of dimensions and tolerances. This will assist the CE team to systematically determine all the controllable variables, such as dimensions, tolerances, and manufacturing processes

Patterns of diversity in fatty-acid composition in the Australian groundnut germplasm collection

Knowledge of the amounts and types of fatty acids in groundnut oil is beneficial, particularly from a nutritional standpoint. Germplasm evaluation data for fatty acid composition on 819 accessions of groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) from the Australian Tropical Field Crops Genetic Resource Centre, Biloela, Queensland were examined. Data for eight quantitative fatty acid descriptors have been documented. Statistical assessment, via methods of pattern analysis, summarised and described the patterns of variation in fatty acid composition of the groundnut accessions in the Australian germplasm collection. Presentation of the results from principal components analysis and hierarchical cluster analysis using a biplot was shown to be a very useful interpretative tool. Such a biplot enables a simultaneous examination of the relationships among all the accessions and the fatty acids. Unlike that information available via database searches, the results from contribution analysis together with the biplot provide a global picture of the diversity available for use in plant breeding programs. The use of standardised data for eight fatty acids, compared to using three specific fatty acids, provided a better description of the total diversity available because it remains relevant with possible changes in the nutritional preferences for fatty acids. Fatty acid composition was found to vary in relation to the branching pattern of the accessions. This pattern is generally indicative of the botanical types of groundnuts; Virginia (alternate) compared to Spanish and Valencia (sequential) botanical types