Fertility and Consumption when Having a Child is a Risky Investment

This paper studies children as a risky asset associated to an investment option. Children provide utility but have a stochastic maintenance cost. We obtain several new results relative to models where children are deterministic goods, among which: i) Higher child risks diminish fertility and consumption. ii) Risk aversion speeds up fertility as households use the safe utility derived from a child as insurance against fluctuations in consumption. iii) Fertility is increasing in the correlation between income and child cost shocks. The household is reluctant to have children when positive cost shocks come together with bad income shocks. The opposite result happens when children hedge income shocks. iv) The sign of the correlation determines whether higher income volatility speeds up or delays fertility.

A real options analysis of dual labor markets and the single labor contract

We study the optimal hiring and firing decisions of a firm under two different firing costs regulations: 1) Dual labor markets characterized by high firing costs for workers with seniority above a threshold ("permanent workers") and by low costs for "temporary workers". 2) The Single Labor Contract, a policy proposal to make firing costs increasing in seniority at the job. We focus on the option value implied by the regulations and obtain some new results: the optimal firing rule is a constant function of worker's productivity only for permanent workers. For temporary workers it varies with seniority at the job because the firm tries to keep alive the option to fire at low cost. In the Dual regulation the workers more likely to be fired are those close to become permanent. On the contrary, the Single Contract transfers that maximum firing to the new hires. Thus, fired workers are fired sooner under the Single Contract. However, if both regulations have the same average firing cost for workers who become permanent, temporary workers are less likely to be fired in the Single Contract. Moreover, this new regulation increases hiring and average employment duration. It also reduces turnover among temporary workers, but at the expense of higher turnover among permanent workers who are more often replaced by temporary workers.Real Options, Dual Labor, Single Contract

Determinants of Export Performance of Manufacturing Industries in Dire Dawa

The overall purpose of this study was to identify determinants of export performance of manufacturing industries in Dire Dawa city Administration. The research incorporated both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected through self-administered questionnaire whereas secondary data were extracted under a comprehensive desk review of the manufacturing sector policies, performance, status, problems etc. and reviewed mainly from published journal articles and books. Descriptive research design research method was utilized to identify the determinants of export performance of manufacturing industries in Dire Dawa city Administration and quantitative and qualitative information was taken into account. To process the collected data analysis SPSS version 20 was used. The study found that building of physical capital, raw material supplies, logistics and transportation, educated and skilled work force, loan from banks, rate of exchange, incentives, use of the internet, productivity improvement, value addition, and diversification, unit prices, differentiation, branding, retailing, ease of doing Business, competition and utilization of trade preferences are the major determinants of export performance of manufacturing industries. Keywords: Export, Performance DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/11-7-08 Publication date:March 31st 201

A Real Options Analysis of Dual Labor Markets and the Single Labor Contract

We study the optimal hiring and firing decisions of a firm under two different firing costs regulations: 1) Dual labor markets characterized by high firing costs for workers workers". 2) The Single Labor Contract, a policy proposal to make firing costs increasing in seniority at the job. We focus on the option value implied by the regulations and obtain some new results: the optimal firing rule is a constant function of workerÂ’s productivity only for permanent workers. For temporary workers it varies with seniority at the job because the firm tries to keep alive the option to fire at low cost. In the Dual regulation the workers more likely to be fired are those close to become permanent. On the contrary, the Single Contract transfers that maximum firing to the new hires. Thus, fired workers are fired sooner under the Single Contract. However, if both regulations have the same average firing cost for workers who become permanent, temporary workers are less likely to be fired in the Single Contract. Moreover, this new regulation increases hiring and average employment duration. It also reduces turnover among temporary workers, but at the expense of higher turnover among permanent workers who are more often replaced by temporary workers.

Determinants of Export Performance of Manufacturing Industries in Dire Dawa

The overall purpose of this study was to identify determinants of export performance of manufacturing industries in Dire Dawa city Administration. The research incorporated both primary and secondary data. The primary data was collected through self-administered questionnaire whereas secondary data were extracted under a comprehensive desk review of the manufacturing sector policies, performance, status, problems etc. and reviewed mainly from published journal articles and books. Descriptive research design research method was utilized to identify the determinants of export performance of manufacturing industries in Dire Dawa city Administration and quantitative and qualitative information was taken into account. To process the collected data analysis SPSS version 20 was used. The study found that the internal (firm specific) and external (environment specific) determinants affects the firms overall export performance. Keywords: Export, Performance DOI: 10.7176/IEL/9-2-04 Publication date:March 31st 201

The ideal of liberty in the political philosophy of David Hume

There have been two major themes in recent studies of Hume’s political philosophy: on the one hand, the implications, the nature, and the extent of Hume’s anti-rationalistic scepticism; and on the other hand, his continuation of and contribution to the natural law tradition, as it had been generally developed in the late seventeenth century most notably by Grotius and Pufendorff, and in the direction it took within the Scottish Enlightenment in particular. Though these two aspects cover a substantial part of Hume’s work, it has been particularly difficult to place Hume in the context of another major way of thinking about politics, what has been called the Civic Humanist or Republican tradition, which runs parallel to the jurisprudential tradition though often clashing with it in a way that it still debatable and problematic to determine. Though Hume’s entirely secular moral theory is rightly regarded as revolutionary (in philosophical terms) his politics are considered rather conservative and entirely devoted to the principles of peace and stability as central to commercial modernity. From this it would follow that the question of political freedom and free government, especially in regard to its republican understanding, should be a marginal interest in Hume. In fact, what we find is that Hume actively engages in a crucial question that preoccupied the minds of previous generations of Scottish thinkers, most notably Andrew Fletcher, no less than the post-Union one, in which he belongs: that is the question of whether virtue, as the requirement of personality in the civic humanists’ sense, has any place, and if so which one, in a modern commercial world; or, in its more immediately political sense, whether political freedom, understood as the status of a free individual not as a civil right, has any realistic or desirable role to play. Though Hume’s answer to both questions is a resounding ‘no’ (civic virtue and full exercise of citizenship is possible only in warlike and slavery-based societies) the fundamental insight of republicanism, namely government by law, is not only incorporated into his theory but occupies a central place. First, Hume’s utilitarian-evolutionary account of ethics can, in part, be understood in this context as an assault on the civic humanist or classical republican conception of virtue. Secondly, Hume’s realization—central to his political thought—that modern ‘civilized monarchies’ represent an entirely new political phenomenon, that they mark the new paradigm of government by ‘general and inflexible’ laws, can be understood as a criticism of the classical republican understanding of politics associated with citizenship, political liberty (as opposed to civil) and the ‘active life’. However, despite Hume’s thorough criticism of classical- and other forms of republicanism, namely Whig contractualism, I argue that Hume’s concept of liberty remains essentially republican: liberty is for Hume the absence of arbitrariness guaranteed by the rule of law, not absence of interference, as in Hobbes. Having argued that modern politics, including the politics of a republic, consists in a perpetual balance between liberty and authority, Hume does not need to radically reform the traditional concept of liberty, because it is no longer the single most important principle. The republican understanding of liberty holds that we might be rendered unfree not only by the actual exercise of interference, but by our being subject to the arbitrary power of someone else, by our being under his domination, by our freedom being dependent on someone else’s will. It is as important to ascertain the target of Hume’s criticisms as their extent. Hume’s revision of contemporary forms of republicanism does not entail a renunciation of the basic republican understanding of freedom but an adaptation of it to the conditions of modern commercial civilization

Review on Pumkin Production and Nutritional Value in Ethiopia

Among cucurbitaceous vegetables, pumpkin has been appreciated for high yields, long storage life and high nutritive value. All world continent produce pumpkin except Antarctica: including United States, Canada, Mexico, India, and China. Large number of pumpkin varieties varying in shape, size and colour of flesh are available. Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita maxima and Cucurbita moschata are the worldwide commonly grown species of pumpkin. The weather of Ethiopia makes a suitable environment for the growth of pumpkin. Few years ago, farmers used to produce pumpkin in their gardens together with cereals, in farms near fences for the plants to easily creep on fences and houses, marginal or waste land, on decaying hay and heap of cow dung. It is commonly known to be used for both food and in herbal medicine formulation for the treatment of various ailments. Pumpkin contains biologically active compounds like polysaccharides, para-aminobenzoic acid, fixed oils, sterol, proteins and peptides. The fruits are a good source of carotenoid and γ - aminobutyric acid. Pumpkin seeds are good sources of protein, fats, carbohydrates and minerals. It said to have contained 93% essential amino acids, 53% crude fat and 27% crude protein. The seed contains oil which is used for cooking. Pumpkin despite its enormous benefits, information on production, challenges and nutritive value was limited in Ethiopia. This is as a result of inadequate knowledge on its importance and how livelihoods of many families will be affected by its production. Therefore the objective of this paper was to review the production status and challenges and nutritive values of pumpkin in Ethiopia. Keywords: pumpkin, nutritive value, production, Ethiopia DOI: 10.7176/JBAH/10-24-01 Publication date: December 31st 202

Intensity-modulated stereotactic radiosurgery for arteriovenous malformations: guidance for treatment planning.

BackgroundStereotactic Radiosurgery (SRS) is a common tool used to treat Arteriovenous Malformations (AVMs) in anatomical locations associated with a risk of surgical complications. Despite high rates of clinical effectiveness, SRS carries a risk of toxicity as a result of radiation injury to brain tissue. The use of intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) has increased because it may lead to improved PTV conformity and better Normal Tissue (NT) sparing compared to 3D Conformal Radiotherapy (3DCRT). The aim of this study was twofold: 1) to develop simple patient stratification rules for the recommendation of IMRT planning strategies over 3DCRT in the treatment of AVMs with SRS; and 2) to estimate the impact of IMRT in terms of toxicity reduction using retrospectively reported data for symptomatic radiation injury following SRS.MethodsThirty-one AVM patients previously treated with 3DCRT were replanned in a commercial treatment planning system using 3DCRT and static gantry IMRT with identical beam arrangements. The radiotherapy planning metrics analyzed included AVM volume, diameter, and volume to surface area ratio. The dosimetric endpoints analyzed included conformity index improvements and NT sparing measured by the maximum NT dose, and the volume of surrounding tissue that received 7Gy and 12Gy.ResultsOur analysis revealed stratified subsets of patients for IMRT that were associated with improved conformity, and those that were associated with decreased doses to normal tissue. The stratified patients experienced an improvement in conformity index by -6-68%, a reduction in the maximum NT dose by -0.5-12.3%, a reduction in the volume of NT receiving 7Gy by 1-8 cc, and a reduction in the volume of NT receiving 12Gy by 0-3.7 cc. The reduction in NT receiving 12Gy translated to a theoretical decrease in the probability of symptomatic injury by 0-9.3%.ConclusionsThis work indicates the potential for significant patient improvements when treating AVMs and provides rules to predict which patients are likely to benefit from IMRT

Cyclic Voltammetric Study of Paracetamol at Nickel Hexacyanoferrate Modified Carbon Paste Electrode

Electrochemical response characteristics of modified carbon paste electrode towards detection of paracetamol was investigated by cyclic voltammetric technique in 0.1 M acetate buffer solution containing 0.1 M KCl as supporting electrolyte. In the present work, carbon paste (CPE) was prepared by grinding the mixture of dry graphite powder and paraffin oil of ratio 75:25 respectively. Nickel Hexacyanoferrate modified carbon paste electrode was developed by immobilizing different ratios of Nickel Hexacyanoferrate. The best ratio was 20% (w/w) NiHCF; 55% graphite and 25% (w/w) paraffin oil respectively. The peak currents in voltammogram of paracetamol were increased at Nickel Hexacyanoferrate modified carbon paste electrode when compared to unmodified carbon paste electrode in 0.1 M acetate buffer solution containing 0.1 M KCl of pH 7.5 at scan rate of 100 mV/s. The electrode process of paracetamol was examined and then some of the experimental parameters which affect the electrochemical response of paracetamol, such as pH, scan rate and ratio of modified carbon paste electrode have been studied. The effect of scan rate showed that the electrode process was both diffusion and surface controlled. Keywords: Paracetamol, Nickel Hexacyanoferrate, cyclic voltammetry, Modified Carbon Paste Electrod