Why Africa’s strategy matters for dealing with China

As China has risen as a global power, its strategy has expanded for engaging Africa. But what has been the African response? Lloyd G. Adu Amoah writes that Africa needs to think and coordinate strategically to maximise its relationship with China, pursuing long-term, integrated goals through the African Union and at state levels

Modern macroeconomics: a review of the post 2008/2009 crisis debate

This paper reviews the current debate on the state of modern macroeconomics from methodological standpoint. While some senior figures in economics have argued that modern macroeconomics has gone wayward and thus become irrelevant for policy, others argue otherwise. Methodologically, the fundamental sources of dispute have centered on realism of assumptions, mathematical formalism and empiricism and falsification of economic models. Our conclusion from this review is that the observable world upon which macroeconomist rely on to make their assumptions, theories and predictions represent a very tiny fraction of physical reality. Thus any policy derived from such partial and short sighted analysis can only produce a sub-optimal outcome. Moreover, the fundamental analysis employed in macroeconomic analysis overlook peculiarities which should be the rule rather than the exception for addressing important economic conundrums. In short, although we do not support the position of most critics on the view that macroeconomics of the last 30 years is completely useless, we are of the view that there is need for serious rethinking about the future of macroeconomics. This is the only way forward, if the subject has anything to say about policy. Keywords: Financial Crisis, Modern Macroeconomics, Rational Expectations, Illusion, Perception and Realit

Contribution of Agriculture to Deforestation in the Tropics: A Theoretical Investigation

This paper compares the deforestation path taken by profit maximizing agricultural firms in tropical regions to the path that will maximize social welfare based on optimal control techniques. We set up a theoretical problem where the socially optimal deforestation path that maximizes the discounted sum of net benefit of forest land use to society diverges from that of a farmer. We arrived at this conclusion after solving for the optimal choice of deforestation for both the private farmer and a social planner. The key source of this divergence in deforestation path is that the cost of deforestation is external to the farmer. The paper concluded that the farmer’s deforestation path leads to socially suboptimal outcome. Fiscal policy measures and public ownerships are recommended to deal with externalities that are inherent in forest land use. Keywords: Agriculture, Deforestation, Optimal contro

Особенности выхода предприятий на японский рынок органической сельскохозяйственной продукции

В настоящей работе представлены результаты маркетингового исследования для выхода сельскохозяйственных производителей из России на органический рынок Японии. В 21 веке все актуальнее становится тема здорового образа жизни. Перспективным выход на органический рынок именно этой страны может быть, так как Японцы тщательно следят за своим здоровьем и поэтому тщательно подходят к выбору продуктов питания. Очень маленькое количество органических фермеров из России экспортирует товары на этот рынок. Одной из основных сложней является обязательное требование по сертификация органической продукции, ввозимой в Японию, по национальным органическим стандартам JAS. Соблюдение требований данного стандарта гарантирует покупателю, что продукция выращивается строго, исключая применение пестицидов или химикатов Одной из главных проблем сельского хозяйства в Японии является недостаточный уровень производства, поскольку подавляющее большинство хозяйств общей площадью до 1 га. В данной работе мы проанализировали почему в новой эре после COVID-19 самое время действовать для отечественных производителей

External electric field effect on electron transport in carbon nanotubes

Electronic transport properties of carbon nanotubes are studied theoretically in the presence of external electric field E(t) by using the Boltzmann's transport with constant relaxation time. An analytical expression for the current densities of the nanotubes are obtained. It is observed that the current density-electric field characteristics of the CNs exhibit total self-induced transparency and absolute negative conductivityComment: 5 pages, 2 figure

Research in Progress: Evaluating the Role of Risk Models in Information Assurance

Traditionally, organizations have approached the protection of valuable assets from a risk management perspective and applied a variety of models to protect the organization from losses. The intangible nature of information and the unknown threats to such information assets have given rise to questions concerning whether traditional approaches to risk management are sufficient for the domain of information assurance. This paper discusses the issues of applying traditional risk models to the domain of information assurance and proposes a focus group approach to determine what approaches to risk management are actually being used in practice and whether traditional risk management models are appropriate for information assurance

Protein Enhancement of Yam (Dioscorea rotundata) Peels with Single-or Co-Inoculation of Aspergillus niger Van Tieghem and Trichoderma viride Pers Ex Fr. Under Solid-State Fermentation

This study assessed the protein enrichment of sterilized and non-sterilised yam peels substrates fermented for 21 days at 25°C with mono- and co-cultures of Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma viride. Yam substrates were harvested at 0, 7, 14, and 21 days intervals for protein content and other chemical composition analyses. Results showed an overall percentage increase in protein contents of sterilised yam peels by 71.80% for A. niger, 58.03% for T. viride, and 80.60% for co-culture of A. niger and T. viride. Protein contents in non-sterilised yam peels increased by 113.30%, 95.00%, and 96.45% for A. niger, T. viride and co-culture of the test fungi, respectively. The significantly (p ≤ 0.05) higher protein contents of the fermented, non-sterilised yam peels suggest possible successional microbial colonization of the substrate, and their combined, cumulative contributions to protein enhancement, unlike the sterilised yam peels. Ash content significantly (p ≤ 0.05) increased in both sterilised and non-sterilised yam peels. These findings underscore the fact that, through fungal bioprocessing, protein contents of yam peels can be significantly enriched for value-addition. The practical implications of the findings are discusse