Influence of the Fiscal System on Income Distribution in Regions and Small Areas: Microsimulated CGE Model for Côte d'Ivoire

The objective of this paper is to examine how a small open economy such as Côte d’Ivoire (CI) can obtain growth-based internal tax resources, and how the tax system affects households and individuals through relative prices. A microsimulated CGE model is used to analyse the effects of an alternative tax system on households by utilizing a survey. It is postulated that the military and political crisis that started in 1999 with the first coup d’etat in Côte d’Ivoire is transitory and that CI has an internal tax policy capacity. This paper indicates that an alternative tax structure can reduce distortion in regional poverty, inequality for households, and in cities and small areas of the country. A model is formulated using Côte d’Ivoire’s 1998-based social accounting matrix and the 1998 population survey of 4,200 households. The main findings of this study are that the post-crisis tax policies envisioned by the government (reducing the tax rate on firms, reducing import taxes and increasing taxes on household income) result in an increase in poverty and inequality at the regional, city and small area levels.

ESTIMATING GENDER DIFFERENCES IN AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTIVITY: BIASES DUE TO OMISSION OF GENDER-INFLUENCED VARIABLES AND ENDOGENEITY OF REGRESSORS

This study evaluates managerial differences between men and women and assesses the degree of bias introduced by omission of gender-influenced variables and ignoring the endogeneity of farmer characteristics and input levels. The results also give insight to improving research methods for isolating the gender impact on productivity.Labor and Human Capital, Productivity Analysis,

Deciphering Clusters With a Deterministic Measure of Clustering Tendency

Clustering, a key aspect of exploratory data analysis, plays a crucial role in various fields such as information retrieval. Yet, the sheer volume and variety of available clustering algorithms hinder their application to specific tasks, especially given their propensity to enforce partitions, even when no clear clusters exist, often leading to fruitless efforts and erroneous conclusions. This issue highlights the importance of accurately assessing clustering tendencies prior to clustering. However, existing methods either rely on subjective visual assessment, which hinders automation of downstream tasks, or on correlations between subsets of target datasets and random distributions, limiting their practical use. Therefore, we introduce the Proximal Homogeneity Index (PHI) , a novel and deterministic statistic that reliably assesses the clustering tendencies of datasets by analyzing their internal structures via knowledge graphs. Leveraging PHI and the boundaries between clusters, we establish the Partitioning Sensitivity Index (PSI) , a new statistic designed for cluster quality assessment and optimal clustering identification. Comparative studies using twelve synthetic and real-world datasets demonstrate PHI and PSI's superiority over existing metrics for clustering tendency assessment and cluster validation. Furthermore, we demonstrate the scalability of PHI to large and high-dimensional datasets, and PSI's broad effectiveness across diverse cluster analysis tasks

Partitioning of Poly(amidoamine) Dendrimers between n-Octanol and Water

Dendritic nanomaterials are emerging as key building blocks for a variety of nanoscale materials and technologies. Poly(amidoamine) (PAMAM) dendrimers were the first class of dendritic nanomaterials to be commercialized. Despite numerous investigations, the environmental fate, transport, and toxicity of PAMAM dendrimers is still not well understood. As a first step toward the characterization of the environmental behavior of dendrimers in aquatic systems, we measured the octanol−water partition coefficients (logK_(ow)) of a homologous series of PAMAM dendrimers as a function of dendrimer generation (size), terminal group and core chemistry. We find that the logKow of PAMAM dendrimers depend primarily on their size and terminal group chemistry. For G1-G5 PAMAM dendrimers with terminal NH_2 groups, the negative values of their logK_(ow) indicate that they prefer to remain in the water phase. Conversely, the formation of stable emulsions at the octanol−water (O/W) interface in the presence of G6-NH_2 and G8-NH_2 PAMAM dendrimers suggest they prefer to partition at the O/W interface. In all cases, published studies of the cytotoxicity of Gx-NH_2 PAMAM dendrimers show they strongly interact with the lipid bilayers of cells. These results suggest that the logKow of a PAMAM dendrimer may not be a good predictor of its affinity with natural organic media such as the lipid bilayers of cell membranes

Amoeba: Circumventing ML-supported Network Censorship via Adversarial Reinforcement Learning

Embedding covert streams into a cover channel is a common approach to circumventing Internet censorship, due to censors' inability to examine encrypted information in otherwise permitted protocols (Skype, HTTPS, etc.). However, recent advances in machine learning (ML) enable detecting a range of anti-censorship systems by learning distinct statistical patterns hidden in traffic flows. Therefore, designing obfuscation solutions able to generate traffic that is statistically similar to innocuous network activity, in order to deceive ML-based classifiers at line speed, is difficult. In this paper, we formulate a practical adversarial attack strategy against flow classifiers as a method for circumventing censorship. Specifically, we cast the problem of finding adversarial flows that will be misclassified as a sequence generation task, which we solve with Amoeba, a novel reinforcement learning algorithm that we design. Amoeba works by interacting with censoring classifiers without any knowledge of their model structure, but by crafting packets and observing the classifiers' decisions, in order to guide the sequence generation process. Our experiments using data collected from two popular anti-censorship systems demonstrate that Amoeba can effectively shape adversarial flows that have on average 94% attack success rate against a range of ML algorithms. In addition, we show that these adversarial flows are robust in different network environments and possess transferability across various ML models, meaning that once trained against one, our agent can subvert other censoring classifiers without retraining

The Influence of Image and Consumer Factors on Store Brand Choice in the Brazilian market: evidence from two retail chains

Purpose - Store brands (SBs) are increasingly offered by retailers in emerging markets. What is less clear, however, is how emerging market consumers make their choices between the SBs on offer from different retail chains. The objective of this paper is to investigate the role of image and consumer factors in influencing SB choice between two retail chains (Carrefour and Extra) in a Latin American market, Brazil. Design/methodology/approach - A mall-intercept survey conducted by a Brazilian market research company generated 600 usable questionnaires collected in two retail chains. Structural equation modeling was used to test a series of proposed hypotheses. Findings - The results revealed that SB attitude, SB price-image, store image perceptions, SB perceived value and SB purchase intention have significant and positive direct or indirect effects on SB choice overall, and for each retail chain. However, for price related constructs, the relationships are stronger for the Extra chain compared to the Carrefour chain. Our results show that the Brazilian market presents some departures from both developed and other emerging countries. Research limitations/implications - Respondents were consumers in only one Latin American market (Brazil) and shoppers of only two retail chains. Caution should therefore be exercised when generalising the results to other markets in Latin America. Practical implications - Understanding which factors influence consumer choice of SBs in an emerging market while taking into account the presence of different operators allows retailers to launch new SB programs and implement the appropriate strategies to increase SB sales in this market. Originality/value - The main contribution of this research lies in clarifying consumer behaviour toward SBs in a Latin American emerging market. It fills a major gap in the marketing literature and research in stressing the need to rethink the application of conventional business models to Latin America

Adoption and impact of integrated Striga and soil fertility management strategy in Mali

The possibility to vary the energy matrix, thus reducing the dependency on fossil fuels, has amplified the acceptance of biomass as an alternative fuel. Despite being a cheap and renewable option of waste from agriculture and forestry activities, the use of these materials has barriers due to its low density and low energetic efficiency, which can raise the costs of its utilization. Biomass densification has drawn attention due to its advantage in comparison to in natura biomass due to its better physical and combustion characteristics. Work has been carried out in this areas namely in the densification (briquettes) forestry wastes, kiwi and vine punning waste and their respectively elementary characterization. In a subsequent step, this work also presents the study of the thermal performance and combustion hygiene of the different briquettes produced in a burning hot water boiler. The thermal efficiency was determined by the direct method and it was found that the boiler thermal performance was quite similar for the different types of fuel tested and did not depend on the fuel feeding rate

L’etat-spontex : négocier l’autorité dans les marges conflictuelles : le cas de la Basse-Casamance (Sénégal)

In this thesis, the (mal) functioning of the Senegalese state in the context of conflict (the Casamance crisis) is analyzed through four domains namely local administration, the security sectors, the borders and the communication domain where high ‘state density’ is expected in order to maintain its authority and sovereignty.  However, the grip of the state on the social body remains weak and its powers are very limited in these sectors leading to necessary and continuous negotiations with other actors (traditional leaders, rebels, NGO, etc.), which sometimes are a serious threat to the state’s authority and are a symptom of its fragility. By using the metaphor of a sponge, hence the concept of “the Spontex State”, I demonstrate that, paradoxically, states in Africa in general, and the Senegalese state in particular, are keen to strategize their weakness. Their sponge-like characteristics permit a form of retractability. It allows absorbing and resisting forces that contest its power. Its retractability helps the state to avoid, at least partially, more serious confrontations with various actors. The capacity of retention and retraction of the sponge, reflected in the state, leads to great flexibility, through which the state sustains it grip and, ultimately, reinforces its overall authority. Africa's global connection