208 research outputs found
INTERLINKAGE IN THE RICE MARKET OF GHANA: MONEY-LENDING MILLERS ENHANCE EFFICIENCY
Most of the large-scale millers in Ghana provide a loan to the farmers under the agreement that the farmers will bring their paddy to them. This paper examines the effect of this interlinkage on the efficiency of rice milling. A quadratic cost function was estimated, and capacity utilization was calculated in relation to money lending. The results show that if the millers provide a loan to the farmers, the operating rate will increase by 24%.Crop Production/Industries,
Rice Miller Cluster in Ghana and Its Effects on Efficiency and Quality Improvement
This paper investigates the roles of industrial cluster on the efficiency of rice milling and the improvement of milled rice quality. The data were obtained in Kumasi area, central Ghana because the enhancement of domestic rice production is a urgent policy issue in this country, but little attention has been paid to the roles of clusters in post-harvest processing and marketing. Among 63 rice millers interviewed in the Kumasi area, 24 millers form a few clusters in the city of Kumasi, while others are scattered over 25 satellite towns around Kumasi, which enables us to examine the effect of the cluster. Regression analyses reveal that rice millers in the Kumasi clusters tend to adopt more advanced technology, and that the innovation increases milling efficiency and improves 1 milling quality. Moreover, it is found from the estimation of price determination functions that in the Kumasi clusters milled rice price is affected by milling quality namely the content of whole grain, while in the rural areas there is no clear relationship between milling quality and the price. This indicates that the clusters, probably because of the concentrated transactions, will foster informal quality grading system, which is critical for the market development. Therefore, the clusters in post-harvest industry will benefit not only the industry itself but also traders and producers, and in consequence will stimulate agricultural production.rice, miller, industrial cluster, efficiency, product quality, sub-Saharan Africa, Crop Production/Industries,
Depletion of 15N in the center of L1544: Early transition from atomic to molecular nitrogen?
We performed sensitive observations of the N15ND+(1-0) and 15NND+(1-0) lines
toward the prestellar core L1544 using the IRAM 30m telescope. The lines are
not detected down to 3 sigma levels in 0.2 km/s channels of around 6 mK. The
non-detection provides the lower limit of the 14N/15N ratio for N2D+ of
~700-800, which is much higher than the elemental abundance ratio in the local
ISM of ~200-300. The result indicates that N2 is depleted in 15N in the central
part of L1544, because N2D+ preferentially traces the cold dense gas, and
because it is a daughter molecule of N2. In-situ chemistry is unlikely
responsible for the 15N depletion in N2; neither low-temperature gas phase
chemistry nor isotope selective photodissociation of N2 explains the 15N
depletion; the former prefers transferring 15N to N2, while the latter requires
the penetration of interstellar FUV photons into the core center. The most
likely explanation is that 15N is preferentially partitioned into ices compared
to 14N via the combination of isotope selective photodissociation of N2 and
grain surface chemistry in the parent cloud of L1544 or in the outer regions of
L1544 which are not fully shielded from the interstellar FUV radiation. The
mechanism is the most efficient at the chemical transition from atomic to
molecular nitrogen. In other words, our result suggests that the gas in the
central part of L1544 already went trough the transition from atomic to
molecular nitrogen in the earlier evolutionary stage, and that N2 is currently
the primary form of gas-phase nitrogen.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
ALMA Observations of the IRDC Clump G34.43+00.24 MM3: DNC/HNC Ratio
We have observed the clump G34.43+00.24 MM3 associated with an infrared dark
cloud in DNC =3--2, HNC =3--2, and NH =3--2 with the
Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA). The NH emission is
found to be relatively weak near the hot core and the outflows, and its
distribution is clearly anti-correlated with the CS emission. This result
indicates that a young outflow is interacting with cold ambient gas. The
HNC emission is compact and mostly emanates from the hot core, whereas
the DNC emission is extended around the hot core. Thus, the DNC and HNC
emission traces warm regions near the protostar differently. The DNC emission
is stronger than the HNC emission toward most parts of this clump. The
DNC/HNC abundance ratio averaged within a area around the phase center is higher than 0.06. This ratio
is much higher than the value obtained by the previous single-dish observations
of DNC and HNC =1--0 (0.003). It seems likely that the DNC and
HNC emission observed with the single-dish telescope traces lower density
envelopes, while that observed with ALMA traces higher density and highly
deuterated regions. We have compared the observational results with
chemical-model results in order to investigate the behavior of DNC and HNC in
the dense cores. Taking these results into account, we suggest that the low
DNC/HNC ratio in the high-mass sources obtained by the single-dish observations
are at least partly due to the low filling factor of the high density regions.Comment: accepted to Ap
Mental Health in Local Public Employees Affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake
The Great East Japan Earthquake was a complex disaster with a variety of
destructive effects, including tsunami damage and damage due to the nuclear
power plant accident. Local public employees who work for
disaster-struck municipalities, while themselves disaster victims, are engaged
in unimaginably difficult work including disaster relief and recovery.
This study presents the outcomes of a two-stage panel survey on mental
health conducted once in 2015 and once in 2016. The subjects were 672
local public employees in one disaster group that suffered tsunami damage
and another disaster group that suffered damage from the nuclear disaster.
Results showed the high-risk rate on the Impact of Event Scale-Revised
(IES-R) was 11.9% for the tsunami-disaster group and 31.4% for the nuclear-
accident group at Time 1. At Time 2, it was 8.9% for the
tsunami-disaster group and 27.2% for the nuclear-accident group. From
Time 1 to Time 2, the high-risk rate significantly decreased in both groups,
but the percentage of high-risk persons remained elevated in the nuclear-
accident group. In addition, factors predicting high risk for mental
health issues by group were examined by logistic regression analysis. As a
result, it was shown that the risk of traumatic stress and psychiatric disorders
was increased by the occurrence of burnout as a result of high stress
due to work experience after the disaster. Based on these results, future
issues concerning stress care for local disaster public employees were
discussed
肺外科手術における術後早期の高次脳機能および術中脳酸素需給バランスに対する麻酔薬の効果 : ランダム化比較試験
PURPOSE: One-lung ventilation (OLV) may impair cerebral oxygen balance and induce postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). It is unclear whether the type of anesthetic influences the incidence of POCD in patients undergoing OLV. This prospective study compared the incidence of POCD and intraoperative cerebral oxygen desaturation in OLV patients anesthetized with propofol vs sevoflurane during lung surgery. METHODS: There were 148 participants enrolled in this study and randomized equally to either the propofol or the sevoflurane group. Anesthesia was maintained with either propofol or sevoflurane combined in both groups with fentanyl and epidural anesthesia. Regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2), jugular bulb venous oxygen saturation (SjO2), and the incidence of cerebral oxygen desaturation (rSO2 or SjO2 < 50% or rSO2 < 80% of baseline) were measured during anesthesia. Cognitive function was assessed using seven neurocognitive tests two days preoperatively, five days postoperatively (primary outcome), and three months postoperatively. Bivariable and multivariable regression analyses were conducted to identify factors associated with POCD. RESULTS: Rates of POCD did not differ statistically between groups five days postoperatively (propofol, 16/72 patients; sevoflurane, 24/72 patients; RR, 0.67; 95% CI, 0.39 to 1.15; P = 0.14) or three months postoperatively (propofol, 9/60 patients; sevoflurane, 12/58 patients; RR, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.33 to 1.59; P = 0.42). Only three subjects per group showed intraoperative cerebral oxygen desaturation. Multivariable regression analysis revealed older age as an independent predictor of POCD. CONCLUSIONS: No statistically significant difference in the incidence of POCD could be detected between the sevoflurane and propofol anesthesia groups. Postoperative cognitive dysfunction was relatively frequent following OLV in both groups. (REGISTRATION NUMBER: UMIN 000002826).博士(医学)・乙第1397号・平成29年3月15日© Canadian Anesthesiologists' Society 2016This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Canadian journal of anaesthesia. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12630-016-0700-4
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