Total Factor Productivity growth, Technological Progress, and Efficiency Changes: Empirical Evidence from Canadian Manufacturing Industries

As productivity (growth) appears to be the single most important determinant of a nation’s living standard or its level of real income over long periods of time, it is important to better understand the sources of productivity growth. In Canada, total factor productivity (TFP) growth is the major contributing factor (relative to changes in capital intensity) to labour productivity growth, particularly in manufacturing sector. However, the TFP gap is also the main source of labour productivity gap between Canada and other industrialized (OECD) countries in recent years. In this paper, a stochastic frontier production model is applied to Canadian manufacturing industries to investigate the sources of TFP growth. Using a comprehensive panel data set of eighteen industries over the period 1990-2005 and the approach proposed by Kumbhakar et al. (1991) and Kumbhakar and Lovell (2000), we decompose TFP growth into technological progress, changes in technical efficiency, changes in allocative efficiency and scale effects. The decomposition reveals that during the period under study, technological progress has been the main driving force of productivity growth, while negative efficiency changes observed in certain industries have contributed to reduce average productivity growth. In addition, our empirical results show that research and development (R&D) expenditure and information and communications technology (ICT) investment, as well as trade openness exert a positive impact on productivity growth through the channel of efficiency gains. We argue that the decomposition carried out in this study may be very helpful to elicit the correct diagnosis of Canada’s productivity problem and develop effective policies to reverse the situation, and thereby reduce Canada’s lagging productivity gap.Canadian manufacturing, Stochastic frontier, TFP growth, Efficiency changes.

Technologies for climate change adaptation: agricultural sector

This Guidebook presents a selection of technologies for climate change adaptation in the agricultural sector. A set of twenty two adaptation technologies are showcased that are primarily based on the principals of agroecology, but also include scientific technologies of climate and biological sciences complemented with important sociological and institutional capacity building processes that are required to make adaptation function. The technologies cover monitoring and forecasting the climate, sustainable water use and management, soil management, sustainable crop management, seed conservation, sustainable forest management and sustainable livestock management. Technologies that tend to homogenize the natural environment and agricultural production have low possibilities of success in conditions of environmental stress that are likely to result from climate change. On the other hand, technologies that allow for, and indeed promote, diversity are more likely to provide a strategy which strengthens agricultural production in the face of uncertain future climate change scenarios. In this sense, the twenty two technologies showcased in this Guidebook have been selected because they facilitate the conservation and restoration of diversity while at the same time providing opportunities for increasing agricultural productivity. Many of these technologies are not new to agricultural production practices, but they are implemented based on assessment of current and possible future impacts of climate change in a particular location. Agro-ecology is an approach that encompasses concepts of sustainable production and biodiversity promotion and therefore provides a useful framework for identifying and selecting appropriate adaptation technologies for the agricultural sector. The Guidebook provides a systematic analysis of the most relevant information available on climate change adaptation technologies in the agriculture sector. It has been compiled based on a literature review of key publications, journal articles, and e-platforms, and by drawing on documented experiences sourced from a range of organizations working on projects and programmes concerned with climate change adaptation technologies in the agricultural sector. Its geographic scope is focused on developing countries where high levels of poverty, agricultural production, climate variability and biological diversity currently intersect. Key concepts around climate change adaptation are not universally agreed. It is therefore important to understand local contexts – especially social and cultural norms - when working with national and sub-national stakeholders to make informed decisions about appropriate technology options. Thus, decision-making processes should be participative, facilitated, and consensus-building oriented and should be based on the following key guiding principles: increasing awareness and knowledge, strengthening institutions, protecting natural resources, providing financial assistance and developing context-specific strategies. For decision-making the Community–Based Adaptation framework is proposed for creating inclusive governance that engages a range of stakeholders directly with local or district government and national coordinating bodies, and facilitates participatory planning, monitoring and implementation of adaptation activities. Seven criteria are suggested for the prioritization of adaptation technologies: (i) The extent to which the technology maintains or strengthens biological diversity and is environmentally sustainable; (ii) The extent to which the technology facilitates access to information systems and awareness of climate change information; (iii) Whether the technology support water, carbon and nutrient cycles and enables stable and/or increased productivity; (iv) Income-generating potential, cost-benefit analysis and contribution to improved equity; (v) Respect for cultural diversity and facilitation of inter-cultural exchange; (vi) Potential for integration into regional and national policies and can be scaled-up; (vii) The extent to which the technology builds formal and information institutions and social networks. Finally, recommendations are set out for practitioners and policy makers: • There is an urgent need for improved climate modelling and forecasting which can provide a basis for informed decision-making and the implementation of adaptation strategies. This should include traditional knowledge. • Information is also required to better understand the behaviour of plants, animals, pests and diseases as they react to climate change. • Potential changes in economic and social systems in the future under different climate scenarios should also be investigated so that the implications of adaptation strategy and planning choices are better understood. • It is important to secure effective flows of information through appropriate dissemination channels. This is vital for building adaptive capacity and decision-making processes. • Improved analysis of adaptation technologies is required to show how they can contribute to building adaptive capacity and resilience in the agricultural sector. This information needs to be compiled and disseminated for a range of stakeholders from local to national level. • Relationships between policy makers, researchers and communities should be built so that technologies and planning processes are developed in partnership, responding to producers’ needs and integrating their knowledge

RESCIND ERA: THE FAILED EFFORTS IN KANSAS TO RESCIND RATIFICATION OF THE EQUAL RIGHTS AMENDMENT, 1973-1980

Submitted to the Department of History of the University of Kansas in partial fulfillment of the requirements for departmental honors.The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), which would give men and women equal legal rights, was passed in Congress in 1972, much to the pleasure of many women’s rights activists and lawmakers. State legislatures raced to be among the first to ratify the ERA. One year later, 30 of the needed 38 states had ratified the proposed amendment. However, at the same time, grassroots conservative movements were mobilizing very quickly, in large numbers, to defeat the ERA. Anti-ERA sentiment grew notably high in the South and Midwest. Before the one-year anniversary of Congress passing the ERA, Oklahoma became the first state to reject the amendment, giving birth to the anti-ERA movement. Later, Nebraska became the first state to rescind its prior ratification. Sandwiched between these two states was Kansas, a traditionally red state with an unusually progressive history. Resolutions were consistently introduced in the Kansas legislature from 1973-1980. But every anti-ERA legislation brought forth was promptly struck down. This study will conduct a case study into the rescission efforts in Kansas and why they were, ultimately, not victorious. The ERA in Kansas reveals a greater theme about the state’s political makeup at the time. As the ERA’s popularity fell throughout the country, Kansas remained in favor of the amendment showing the state as a moderate holdout to the rising conservatism. At the same time, it also reiterates a common thread throughout the state's history: a disdain for extremism. While the ERA died out in 1982, it was never rescinded in Kansas

La estructura silábica y la intensidad en el árabe de El Cairo: una aproximación didáctica

The linguistic variety spoken in Cairo follows phonetic rules that depend primarily on the syllabic structure of the phonological word and the new syllabic structure of the phonological phrase. This paper develops these rules systematically describing the Cairene Arabic phonotactic that deals with syllabic structure, shift of stress in discourse and their effect on vowels or rhymes. It shows the way the syllabic structure determines the placement of stress in the phonological word whatever its grammatical category is and the effect of this stress within the phonological phrase in which the word is involved while being uttered.La variedad lingüística coloquial en el Cairo sigue normas fonéticas que dependen primeramente de la estructura silábica de la palabra fonética y de la nueva estructura silábica de la oración fonológica. Esta investigación se centra en estas normas; describe la estructura fonética del árabe coloquial de El Cairo relacionada con la estructura silábica, el cambio de la intensidad durante el discurso y sus efectos sobre las vocales. La investiga- ción muestra también cómo la estructura silábica determina el emplazamiento del acento en la frase fonológica cualquiera que sea su categoría gramatical así como el efecto de esta intensidad acentual dentro de la oración fonológica que se va formando a medida que se produce el discurso oral

Las Leyes de Moros son el libro de Al~Tafri. El famoso manuscrito de la Real Academia de la Historia es una copia parcial, fragmentaria, resumida y con interpolaciones del tratado de jurisprudencia malikí de Ibn Al - Gallab.

Sin resume

Precedentes andalusíes en la fiscalidad de las comunidades mudéjares

The taxes that Christian Monarchs required of their Mudejar subjects reveal that their economies were governed by the Islamic laws and Arabic uses that the Ummayad family had implanted during the eighth century and that had evolved in a manner similar to many other Islamic societies. The nexus established between Andalusian finance and Mudejar reality serves to explain the nature of the multiple taxes that the Mudejars had to pay and to cast light on the Andalusian economy, for which the Arabic sources provide little information. The relation between both tributary systems is established, defining the content of each tax.Los impuestos que exigieron los monarcas cristianos de sus súbditos mudéjares muestran que su economía estaba regulada por las leyes islámicas y los usos árabes que había implantado la familia omeya en el siglo VIII y que habían ido evolucionando de un modo similar al de muchas otras sociedades islámicas. El nexo establecido entre esta fiscalidad andalusí y la realidad mudéjar sirve para explicar la naturaleza de los múltiples impuestos que tuvieron que pagar los mudéjares y para arrojar una luz sobre la economía andalusí de la que las fuentes árabes revelan pocos datos. Se establece la relación entre ambos sistemas tributarios, definiendo el contenido de cada tributo

Beyond Inspec - Building a Semantic Enrichment Service to Explore How the IET can Better Support Academic and Commercial Researchers

As the amount of content in the engineering space is constantly growing it is becoming more and more difficult to retrieve relevant information. In this context the IET has commissioned a project to evaluate the feasibility of providing a semantic enrichment service based on the terms contained in the Inspec Thesaurus. The possibility of automated tagging of a variety of content types including traditional academic publishing data (e.g. journal abstracts), commercial product information (e.g. product catalogues) and social media (e.g. twitter feeds) has been explored as well as the auto generation of new terms for the Inspec thesaurus. We have used recognized semantic data modelling techniques to create a working ontology for a subset of the Inspec thesaurus and then used this ontology to entity extract and tag the names of people, organisations and their locations, along with Inspec thesaurus terms themselves, on all items of content run through the system. In addition we have built a number of applications to test the validity and accuracy of this approach as well as to explore how such a system would cope with the volume of future indexing requirements. We are continually evaluating our approach via on-going market research and user testing

Progesterone receptor A and c-Met mediates spheroids-endometrium attachment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Implantation in humans involves cross talk between an active blastocyst and receptive endometrium. The role of the endometrial receptors in this complex embryo-maternal interaction is still unclear. We tested gene and protein expression of endometrial receptors (Progesterone receptor (PR) and c-Met) and the effect of theses receptors in endometrial receptivity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two endometrial cell lines were used: HEC-1A and RL95-2 considered as being of low and high receptivity, respectively. Western blot and RT-PCR analysis were utilized to study the receptor expression profile.</p> <p>The role of endometrial receptors in endometrial receptivity was studied by attachment and invasion assays of JAR spheroids (made of a trophoblast cell line) on endometrial cells. Different manipulations of inhibition and stimulation of the endometrial receptors were used including: inhibition by specific antibodies against the receptors, or antagonist of the receptors, as well as transfection with antisense for the endometrial receptors, stimulation by specific ligands for the receptors and transfection with the gene for endometrial receptors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Different protein expression patterns of endometrial receptors were observed between the tested endometrial cell lines. The expression levels of PRA ratio to PRB, and the 50 kDa c-MET isoform were significantly lower in HEC-1A as compared with RL95-2. Attachment rates and growth of JAR spheroids into HEC-1A were significantly lower as compared with RL95-2. Stimulation of PR with progesterone altered attachment rates to HEC-1A. Inhibition of PR with RU-486 mildly increased attachment rate to HEC-1A whereas it slightly decreased attachment rate to RL95-2. c-Met inhibition decreased attachment rates only to HEC-1A cells that expressing high levels of Plexin-B1 (PB1). Immunoprecipitation studies revealed that c-Met and PB1 associate in complexes in the endometrial cell lines.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Differential endometrial receptor profiles are expressed during the receptivity period. The attachment and invasion processes are separately regulated. We suggest a biologically functional role for PRA in endometrial receptivity and in the attachment process. c-Met contribution is minor and related with creation of a complex with PB1.</p