Getting people out of unemployment: A spatial perspective across Auckland

Reducing the unemployment rate is an aim of most governing authorities. This paper presents a socio-economic analysis of area-level employment rate changes across Auckland using Census area-level data for the time period 1996 to 2006. Exploratory spatial data analyses suggest the presence of strong spatial patterns in intra-city employment rates changes. Application of seemingly unrelated regressions highlight forces, such as education, that are associated with increases in part time and full time employment relative to being unemployed.Unemployment; Seemingly unrelated regressions; Queen spatial weights

An Economic Assessment of the Myanmar Rice Sector: Current Developments and Prospects

In this study, the Myanmar rice economy is described in the context of the current political situation and state of national economic development. The forces that are changing rice production and exports are identified; however, the rate of development involves a complex integration of government intervention and politics, as well as availability of resources. Probable scenarios for rice production and export are projected based on recent growth trends and expected infrastructure development. The Arkansas Global Rice Model is used to integrate the Myanmar rice sector with the global rice market in developing projections

Do Non-Economic Quality of Life Factors Drive Immigration?

This paper contributes to the immigration literature by generating two unique non-economic quality of life (QOL) indices and testing their role on recent migration patterns. Applying the generated quality of life indices in conjunction with other independent welfare measures to an extended gravity model of immigration for 16 OECD destination countries from 1991 to 2000 suggests an insignificant role for QOL in the immigration process. The panel results suggest that other economic variables such as the stock of immigrants from the source country already living in the OECD destination country, population size, relative incomes, and geographic factors all significantly drive the flow of immigration for the sample.immigration, quality of life, gravity model

Economics of Using On-farm Reservoirs to Distribute Diverted Surface Water to Depleted Ground Water Areas of the Southern Mississippi Valley Region

Rapid ground water depletion has become a significant problem for parts of the Southern Mississippi River Valley. In 1997, the Arkansas Soil and Water Conservation Commission (ASWCC) declared six counties in the Grand Prairie of Arkansas critical ground water areas. A proposed solution to the ground water depletion problem in this region is to divert surplus flows from the White River by a canal system to the farmer stakeholders. To make the system work, on-farm reservoirs will be needed to store and manage the diverted surface water for crop irrigation use during the growing season

Estimating the influence of different urban canopy cover types on atmospheric particulate matter (PM10) pollution abatement in London UK

In the urban environment atmospheric pollution by PM10 (particulate matter with a diameter less than 10 x 10-6 m) is a problem that can have adverse effects on human health, particularly increasing rates of respiratory disease. The main contributors to atmospheric PM10 in the urban environment are road traffic, industry and powerproduction. The urban tree canopy is a receptor for removing PM10s from the atmosphere due to the large surface areas generated by leaves and air turbulence created by the structure of the urban forest. In this context urban greening has long been known as a mechanism to contribute towards PM10 removal from the air, furthermore, tree canopy cover has a role in contributing towards a more sustainable urban environment.The work reported here has been carried out within the BRIDGE project (SustainaBle uRban plannIng Decision support accountinG for urban mEtabolism). The aim of this project is to assess the fluxes of energy, water, carbon dioxide and particulates within the urban environment and develope a DSS (Decision Support System) to aid urban planners in sustainable development. A combination of published urban canopy cover data from ground, airborne and satellite based surveys was used. For each of the 33 London boroughs the urban canopy was classified to three groups, urban woodland, street trees and garden trees and each group quantified in terms of ground cover. The total [PM10] for each borough was taken from the LAEI (London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory 2006) and the contribution to reducing [PM10] was assessed for each canopy type. Deposition to the urban canopy was assessed using the UFORE (Urban Forest Effects Model) approach. Deposition to the canopy, boundary layer height and percentage reduction of the [PM10] in the atmosphere was assessed using both hourly meterological data and [PM10] and seasonal data derived from annual models. Results from hourly and annual data were compared with measured values. The model was then applied to future predictions of annual [PM10] and future canopy cover scenarios for London. The contribution of each canopy type subjected to the different atmospheric [PM10] of the 33 London boroughs now and in the future will be discussed. Implementing these findings into a decision support system (DSS) for sustainable urban planning will also be discussed<br/

\u3cem\u3eDrosophila\u3c/em\u3e Vitelline Membrane Assembly: A Critical Role for an Evolutionarily Conserved Cysteine in the “VM domain” of sV23

The vitelline membrane (VM), the oocyte proximal layer of the Drosophila eggshell, contains four major proteins (VMPs) that possess a highly conserved “VM domain” which includes three precisely spaced, evolutionarily conserved, cysteines (CX7CX8C). Focusing on sV23, this study showed that the three cysteines are not functionally equivalent. While substitution mutations at the first (C123S) or third (C140S) cysteines were tolerated, females with a substitution at the second position (C131S) were sterile. Fractionation studies showed that sV23 incorporates into a large disulfide linked network well after its secretion ceases, suggesting that post-depositional mechanisms are in place to restrict disulfide bond formation until late oogenesis, when the oocyte no longer experiences large volume increases. Affinity chromatography utilizing histidine tagged sV23 alleles revealed small sV23 disulfide linked complexes during the early stages of eggshell formation that included other VMPs, namely sV17 and Vml. The early presence but late loss of these associations in an sV23 double cysteine mutant suggests that reorganization of disulfide bonds may underlie the regulated growth of disulfide linked networks in the vitelline membrane. Found within the context of a putative thioredoxin active site (CXXS) C131, the critical cysteine in sV23, may play an important enzymatic role in isomerizing intermolecular disulfide bonds during eggshell assembly

Kindergarten teachers\u27 beliefs and practices : assessing teachers\u27 use of developmentally appropriate practice in Massachusetts.

Contemporary early childhood experts, via their major professional organization, the National Association for the education of young children (NAEYC), have adopted a set of guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) in kindergartens. These guidelines, based on child development research, contrast sharply with a contrary educational movement for increased formal academic programming for young children. The primary purpose of this study was to survey the beliefs and practices of kindergarten teachers in Massachusetts, and to examine the congruence of those beliefs with the set of nationally proposed guidelines. A second purpose was to examine the relationship between the beliefs and practices reported and selected professional development variables. A questionnaire designed by a Louisiana group (Charlesworth et al., 1991) and based on the NAEYC guidelines was used. In addition, an author-designed set of questions on key demographic and professional development variables was included. Surveys were mailed to a random sample of 150 elementary schools in Massachusetts. One hundred twenty six teachers responded, representing 102 schools for an overall school return rate of 68%. Results indicated that Massachusetts teachers tend to follow the NAEYC guidelines for developmentally appropriate practice. Correlations between the Teacher Belief Scale and the Instructional Activities Scale (r =.6225, p,.0001) indicate that teachers in Massachusetts generally report using practices that are congruent with their beliefs. Significant positive relationships were found between teachers with advanced college training and both of the Teacher Questionnaire Scales. The professional development activities most frequently listed as valuable to Massachusetts kindergarten teachers included college courses, whole language workshops, Math Their Way workshops, DAP seminars, the Lesley College Kindergarten Conference and inclusion workshops. In further analysis, the sample was divided into thirds based on the total DAP scale scores. Those with high DAP scores differed from those with low DAP scores in the amount and type of professional development activities. The results were discussed with respect to the effectiveness of specific professional development activities

Creative Dramatics as a Language Facilitating Technique

Children\u27s communication development has attracted a great deal of attention in the last few years. Research has begun to make advances in what we know about children\u27s speech, language, and hearing abilities. It has been proposed that children are most interested (and probably learn most) while playing. As a result, the idea of play therapy gained recognition. Creative dramatics is a specific area or technique that can include a child\u27s play and can incorporate specific language objectives and goals. The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of creative dramatic experiences on the expressive verbal language scores of preschool children. A six-week experiment included an initial two-week control period, a two-week experimental period involving group sessions in creative dramatics, and finally, a second two-week control period. The children were tested individually using traditional language sampling methods. The Developmental Sentence Scoring method was used to analyze the language samples. Language samples were obtained at weekly intervals prior to and immediately following the creative dramatics sessions. Analysis of variance yielded significant F ratios for both the subjects source of variance and language sample source of variance. Duncan\u27s New Multiple Range Test further identified the sources of subject variance and testing period variance. The analyses revealed no significant differences among language sample scores obtained in the initial control period. There was an increase in language scores obtained immediately following the two weeks of creative drama, compared to scores obtained at the end of the initial control period. There were no significant differences among language scores obtained in the final control period. These findings support the conclusion that the value of creative drama can be measured in terms of verbal language behavior. Further, the increase in language scores following the creative drama experiences may be, in part, caused by these experiences. The results have some implications for language therapy: Creative drama appears to have a measurable effect on expressive language behavior and could serve as an effective method for sampling spontaneous language. Creative drama may be an effective teaching method in language therapy as evidenced by the improvement in expressive verbal language scores obtained in this study. The design of the present study can serve as a model for future replication studies