Biotech Crops, Input Use and Landslides: The case of Genetically Modified Corn in the Philippine Highlands

Improved seeds varieties have led to an increase in agricultural production as well as to a change in agricultural practices and input use. A side effect of these changes that has received little attention to date is the impact of those new technologies on environmental degradation. Using an original survey method of farming households on the Philippine island of Mindanao covering the past ten years, this paper finds a positive correlation between GM corn cultivation and landslide occurrence, which is robust to the inclusion of household fixed effects as well as to the use of matching and survival models. An endogenous allocation of crops on plots can be ruled out as a mechanism. Instead, more aggressive weed control via broad-spectrum herbicide appears to explain the results. Looking at the distribution of landslides as a function of wealth, landslides are found to increase socio-economic inequality as poorer farmers lose on average a significantly larger portion of their plots to landslides while for the top tail of the landholding distribution is less affected

Biotech Crops, Input Use and Landslides: The case of Genetically Modified Corn in the Philippine Highlands

Improved seeds varieties have led to an increase in agricultural production as well as to a change in agricultural practices and input use. A side effect of these changes that has received little attention to date is the impact of those new technologies on environmental degradation. Using an original survey method of farming households on the Philippine island of Mindanao covering the past ten years, this paper finds a positive correlation between GM corn cultivation and landslide occurrence, which is robust to the inclusion of household fixed effects as well as to the use of matching and survival models. An endogenous allocation of crops on plots can be ruled out as a mechanism. Instead, more aggressive weed control via broad-spectrum herbicide appears to explain the results. Looking at the distribution of landslides as a function of wealth, landslides are found to increase socio-economic inequality as poorer farmers lose on average a significantly larger portion of their plots to landslides while for the top tail of the landholding distribution is less affected

Kualitas Informasi Anatomi Radiograf pada Pemeriksaan Sternum dengan Variasi Penyudutan Arah Sinar

Background: The sternum's radiographic examination involves the use of Right Anterior Oblique (RAO) and Lateral projections. However, if a patient cannot undergo RAO projection, Left Posterior Oblique (LPO) projection in the supine position and adjusting the central ray angle are alternatives. On another note, deviations from perpendicular alignment among the central ray, image receptor, and object can lead to distortions in shape, impacting image quality. Hence, a study is conducted to investigate the impact of beam angle variations on the quality of anatomical information in sternum radiographs to identify the optimal angle that yields the highest quality anatomical information in sternum radiographs. Methods: This research was quantitative research employing an experimental methodology. Data collection involved employing a single-body phantom, which underwent three exposures at each of the specified angle variations Results: Based on the results of the Kruskal Wallis test, there were significant differences in the quality of radiographic anatomic information (p value 0.05). The angle with the most optimal quality of radiographic anatomical information was an angle of 25° to the left with a mean rank value of 11.00. Conclusions: There was a significant difference in the quality of radiographic anatomic information (p value 0.05). The angle with the most optimal quality of radiographic anatomic information was the angle with the highest mean rank value, which was an angle of 25° to the left.

Perbandingan Nilai Index Exposure pada Radiografi Thorax dengan Perubahan Kombinasi Nilai mA dan s Berbeda pada Nilai mAs yang Sama

Background: In CR, there is an indicator called Exposure Index (EI) which displays how much exposure is used for a particular examination. The Exposure Index depends on the exposure factor, the total area of the detector exposed to radiation, and the object being exposed (Bontrager Lampignano, 2014). One of the exposure factors that is often regulated by the radiographer is mAs. Milliampere seconds (mAs) determine the number of X-rays produced. The purpose of this study was to determine the differences in the Exposure Index Values on Chest Radiography with Changes in the Combination of Different mA and s Values at the Same mAs Value.Methods: This research is a type of quantitative research with a pre-experimental design. The object of this research is the thorax phantom. Data were collected by exposing thorax the chest phantom, then recording the resulting Exposure Index value. mA and s value variations that are set are 25mA x 320 ms, 160mA x 50 ms and 400mA x 20ms. Data analysis was carried out using statistical tests.Results: From the statistical test results it is known that there is no significant difference in the Exposure Index Value on Thorax Radiography between the 25mA x 320 ms combination group, the 160mA x 50 ms combination and the 400mA x 20ms combination with a p-value 0.05 (p-value = 0.151) . The reason for the absence of a difference in the Exposure Index value is the variation in the combination of different mA and s values for the same mAs because with the same mAs, the quantity / intensity value of the X-ray radiation produced is also the same or there is no increase or decrease. With the same x-ray radiation intensity, the radiation received by the Imaging Plate is also the same so that the value of the Exposure index is also the same.Conclusions: There is no significant difference in the Exposure Index Value on Chest Radiography with Changes in the Combination of Different mA and s Values at the Same mAs Valu

Nilai Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR) Radiograf Thorax PA antara menggunakan Grid dengan tanpa Menggunakan Grid

Background: In the Thoracic Radiography Technique, applying the use of a grid to control scattered radiation almost never occurs, because the organ that is radiologically examined is classified as soft tissue dominance. Consideration of using grid is very important when the thickness of the thoracic organ exceeds 10 cm, thus potentially increasing scattering radiation which will affect the value of the Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR). The purpose of this study is to examine the difference between the use of grid and non-grid for the chest radiography techniques in the context of CNR values.Methods: In the study, a hundred healthy patient uderwent the chest posteroanterior (PA) radiographic examination, a half of the total patients was examined with grid whereas the rest without the grid embedded. All the resulted images were analyzed by means of the pixel value measurements at the specific organs of interest (costea and pulmonary tissues) in inside and outside of the lung organs, using 1,5 mm of ROI  from Dicom software. The statistical analysis of the CNR values was performed by comparing the results between the groups.Results: There is a significant difference in the contrast values on the PA radiographs between those using the Grid and without using the Grid (p-value 0.001). The average contrast value on the chest radiograph with Grid is 2283.60, while without Grid is 1878.58. In the Noise values, it also deems significance (p-value = 0.001). The average of the noise values employing the Grid in the technique is 25.32, whereas without Grid is 17.84. In the Contrast to Noise Ratio (CNR), the diference seems to be significant (p-value 0.001). The average CNR radiograph of the PA chest using the Grid is 100.79, while the non-grid is 125.62.Conclusions: The application of the grid in radiography technique gives significant difference in the image results (contrast, noise, and CNR), when compare to the radiographic techniques without the grid. Using the grid in the Technique improve the qPA-thoracic quality of the chest images

Agricultural productivity and land inequality. Evidence from the Philippines

This paper presents the first detailed empirical evaluation of the effect of genetically engineered(GE) crops on land inequality, using three waves of census data covering 21 years and 17 million plots in the Philippines. Exploiting exogenous variations in soil and weather characteristics leading to differences in potential gain from GE corn cultivation, I show that the introduction of this labor- saving technology in 2003 led to an increased in municipality-level landholding and land ownership inequality. This effect is partly driven by a relative increase in agricultural land, is stronger in municipalities that adopted modern agricultural practices later and where credit penetration is higher. While increased land inequality is associated with a higher level of terrorist activity, it does not seem to have any adverse effect on agricultural productivity or economic activity