Rich Periphery, Poor Center: Myanmar's Rural Economy under Partial Transition to a Market Economy

This paper looks at the case of Myanmar in order to investigate the behavior and welfare of rural households in an economy under transition from a planned to a market system. Myanmar's case is particularly interesting because of the country's unique attempt to preserve a policy of intervention in land transactions and marketing institutions. A sample household survey that we conducted in 2001, covering more than 500 households in eight villages with diverse agro-ecological environments, revealed two paradoxes. First, income levels are higher in villages far from the center than in villages located in regions under the tight control of the central authorities. Second, farmers and villages that emphasize a paddy-based, irrigated cropping system have lower farming incomes than those that do not. The reason for these paradoxes are the distortions created by agricultural policies that restrict land use and the marketing of agricultural produce. Because of these distortions, the transition to a market economy in Myanmar since the late 1980s is only a partial one. The partial transition, which initially led to an increase in output and income from agriculture, revealed its limit in the survey period.

Preparation and Electrical Properties of PZT Thin Film Capacitors for Ferroelectric Random Access Memory

Keywords: PZT thin film, D-E hysteresis, SrRuO3 film, polarization switching, inprint, degredatio

Shock melting origin of a troilite-rich clast in the Moorabiechondrite (L3)

A troilite-rich clast enclosing chondrules was found in the Moorabie chondrite (L3). This chondrite is characterized by elongate morphology of chondrules produced by shock deformation. Average composition of the metal and troilite grains in the clast is close to the eutectic composition of the Fe-S system, indicating the melting origin of the clast. The eutectic composition provides the heating temperature to be around 1000℃. Size and distribution of troilite and metal grains in the clast suggest the slow cooling after the melting. Pentlandite as an exsolved phase of troilite in the clast, found first in ordinary chondrites, also supports the melting and slow cooling. Thermal history of the clast indicates that the melting of the opaque minerals and the elongate morphology of chondrules were caused inside the parent body by the shock event which occurred at an early hot stage (around 400℃) of the cooling after the accretion of the chondrite

Fe-Mg heteorogeneity in the low-Ca pyroxenes during metamorphism of the ordinary chondrites

Pyroxenes in nine ordinary chondrites, ALH-764 (LL3), ALH-77214 (L3.4), ALH-77015 (L3.5), Yamato-74191 (L3.6), Hedjaz (L3.7), ALH-77304 (LL3.8), ALH-78084 (H3.9), Yamato-75097 (L4) and ALH-77230 (L4), were examined by an optical microscope, a scanning electron microscope with a back-scattered electron image technique, and an X-ray microprobe analyzer. Characteristic textures due to alternating lamellae of Fe-rich and Fe-poor compositions have been found in the low-Ca pyroxenes in the chondrites irrespective of their chemical groups, H, L and LL. As far as the author knows, this is the first observation of such lamellae textures in the pyroxenes. These textures are common and remarkable in the higher subtypes of type 3 chondrites (L3.6,L3.7,LL3.8 and H3.9), while they are rare in lower subtypes (<3.5) and type 4 chondrites. These textures are considered to have been formed in the Fe-Mg homogenization process of the ordinary chondrites during metamorphism

Flankside plasma sheet isolation in the ionosphere for northward interplanetary magnetic field

The Tenth Symposium on Polar Science/Ordinary sessions: [OS] Space and upper atmospheric sciences, Wed. 4 Dec. / Institute of Statistics and Mathematics (ISM) Seminar room 2 (D304) (3rd floor

Origin of metal-troilite aggregates in six ordinary chondrites

Coarse metal-troilite aggregates several mms in sizes have been studied in six ordinary chondrites, Yamato (Y)-794006 (L4), Y-793211 (L6), Y-793213 (L6), Y-791629 (H4), Y-791686 (H5), and Y-791555 (H6). In each sample, textures of an aggregate and host meteorite show an evidence for the aggregate being solidified from metal-sulfide melt under a slow cooling condition. Metal and silicate texture in the host meteorite suggest a formation of the metal-sulfide melt by weak or moderate reheating by an impact process on the parent body. Bulk Fe-S compositions of the aggregates show variations in melting temperatures which correlate with petrologic grades of the host meteorites. These evidences suggest that the aggregates formed by impact melting on the "hot" parent bodies by weak or moderate reheating piled on the pre-impact temperatures during thermal metamorphism