The Short-Run Macroeconomic Impact of Foreign Aid to Small States: An Agnostic Timeseries Analysis

This study econometrically evaluates the short-run impact of aid in small developing countries (SDCs) by applying a VAR model to study aid's impact on 'absorption' (increasing import demand) and 'spending' (increased domestic demand) across countries. Whilst our approach allows parameters to vary across countries, the focus is on average country effects and differential effects within certain subgroups of countries. In particular, we find substantial differences between 'aid-dependent' SDCs and other SDCs which are more dependent on mineral resources and financial services. In the latter group, aid seems to be neither absorbed nor spent in any systematic fashion. But in the aid-dependent SDCs, aid receipts seem to be used more in the textbook 'absorb and spend' fashion.foreign aid, small developing countries, macroeconomic adjustment, absorption, spending, VAR models, panel data

The short-run macroeconomic impact of foreign aid to small states: An agnostic time series analysis

"We herein investigate the short-run macroeconomic impact of aid in small developing countries (SDCs) by using a vector auto regression (VAR) model to study the impact of aid on net import (absorption) and domestic demand (spending). We focus on average country effects within two country sub-groups, and find substantial differences between ‘aid-dependent' SDCs and other SDCs that are more dependent on natural resources, tourism or financial services. In aid-dependent SDCs, aid absorption more or less equals spending, although only half of the aid flow is absorbed and spent. In the non-aid-dependent group, aid does not seem to be absorbed or spent in any systematic fashion." from authors' abstractForeign aid, Small states, Vector auto regression, Mean group estimator, Macroeconomic impacts, Development strategies, Public investment,

Expansion of a Dust Removal System for the BRAE Department Plasma Table

This senior project discusses the expansion of a dust removal system for welding and cutting fumes. A Donaldson Torit Powercore TG8 dust collector is used to collect and process the fumes created during welding and cutting operations that take place in the BioResource and Agricultural Engineering department at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Expansion of the system allows for greatly increased utilization of the TG8 and a cleaner working environment in Lab #6. Testing shows that the system fluently changes between the plasma table and the three hoods in the shop. Each hood is only capable of collecting a smoke column from up to two feet away due to how high up the hoods are

Sensory emphasis on pork quality related to the diet content of fermentable fibre-rich feedstuffs (chicory and lupine) with special emphasis on the effect on boar taint

Boar taint in entire male pork is caused by skatole and andros-tenone and other compounds such as indole. However, female pigs also pro-duce skatole and indole. The purpose was to minimise boar taint related to skatole by feeding entire male and female pigs with fibre-rich feedstuffs. An organic, 10% dried chicory or 25% lupine diet was applied for either 7 or 14 days before slaughter. Lupines significantly reduced skatole in backfat for both genders whilst chicory showed no significant differences in this re-spect. From a sensory perspective, chicory and lupine reduced boar taint since odour and flavour of manure related to skatole and urine associated to androstenone were minimised. The level of boar taint in the entire male pigs was mainly reduced after 14 days by both chicory and lupine while the “boar” taint in female pigs was mainly reduced by lupine

Information-Sharing and Strategy by Food Industry Firms

This study investigates the strategic behaviour of food industry firms. Its two goals are to: (i) characterise strategies being employed; and (ii) identify distinct approaches to information-sharing Data from an interview-format survey of Danish food industry firms are used to characterise strategy at two levels: 11 “strategic orientations”; each of which is composed of 3-6 of a total 57 “strategic actions”. Principal components were identified and two complementary cluster analysis techniques were used to assemble clusters that are composed of firms either with distinct strategies, or sets of strategies occurring in distinct combinations. Eight clusters emerge, with reasonable procedural performance. The clusters are distinct in a surprisingly large number of ways, including their strategies for market share, pricing, approach and response to regulation, exports and use of retailers’ own-label brands. Information-sharing strategies are closely linked to both marketing strategy and regulation response/anticipation. Individual clusters identify distinct sets of behaviour regarding information-sharing up and/or down the value chain, their approach to quality and other aspects of market segmentation, targeting of export markets, and willingness to compete on price. Clusters’ distinct strategies regarding regulation featured anticipation, as opposed to several diverse means of passing on compliance costs: to buyers or to sellers. Such activities were linked to information-sharing strategies in different ways by different clusters.Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Farm Management, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Industrial Organization,

Normalizing Flows for Knockoff-free Controlled Feature Selection

Controlled feature selection aims to discover the features a response depends on while limiting the false discovery rate (FDR) to a predefined level. Recently, multiple deep-learning-based methods have been proposed to perform controlled feature selection through the Model-X knockoff framework. We demonstrate, however, that these methods often fail to control the FDR for two reasons. First, these methods often learn inaccurate models of features. Second, the "swap" property, which is required for knockoffs to be valid, is often not well enforced. We propose a new procedure called FlowSelect that remedies both of these problems. To more accurately model the features, FlowSelect uses normalizing flows, the state-of-the-art method for density estimation. To circumvent the need to enforce the swap property, FlowSelect uses a novel MCMC-based procedure to calculate p-values for each feature directly. Asymptotically, FlowSelect computes valid p-values. Empirically, FlowSelect consistently controls the FDR on both synthetic and semi-synthetic benchmarks, whereas competing knockoff-based approaches do not. FlowSelect also demonstrates greater power on these benchmarks. Additionally, FlowSelect correctly infers the genetic variants associated with specific soybean traits from GWAS data.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, 3 table

Investigating the Social and Temporal Aspects of Children’s Physical Activity Games

There are a variety of fitness technologies such as activity trackers, exergames and mobile applications available to promote physical activity. Based on our previous research, we found that children prefer having social interaction, a narrative and flexibility while interacting with such technologies. Other research has shown that persuasive displays encouraged adults towards physical activity. In this research, we present the initial results from a user study conducted on 16 children (ages 6-11) who used the Kidfit suite, a collection of mobile applications that combine and utilize the elements found from previous research to promote activity in children

Solar Array Mini Rover

The RoverX Senior Project has been an evolutionary process, with its roots in the RoverX Capstone project which concluded in the Winter of 2023. Our journey commenced with a core focus on hardware, which culminated in the successful creation of the Minimum Viable Product (MVP). Further information on our initial endeavors can be found in the 2022 Alpha Report and the 2023 Summary of Handoff Contents/Quick Start Guide for the RoverX project. However, recognizing the limitless possibilities of software in enhancing the rover\u27s capabilities, our focus shifted towards this exciting frontier. Our final quarter of the senior project was dedicated to refining the source code and generating comprehensive documentation, which will serve as an invaluable guide for future rover teams. In consultation with Prof. Murray, we embarked on the creation of a command layer. The intention behind this was to provide a user-friendly interface where high-level commands could be input and subsequently executed by the rover. The unique structure of this layer was conceived to include an outer layer written in C++, which would then interact with Python-based movement functions controlling the rover. This interaction is facilitated by an innovative interpreter , designed to bridge the C++ and Python realms by translating C++ commands into executable Python scripts. This strategic choice was fueled by the impending transition of the rover\u27s source code from Python to C++ or another object-oriented language by the subsequent rover team. Our aim was to provide a flexible outer layer that could be seamlessly integrated with the new C++ rover source code. In essence, we envisaged creating a dynamic platform that could adapt to future advancements, fostering an environment of continuous development and innovation for the RoverX project

Knowledge Sharing, Maintenance, and Use in Online Support Communities.

Widespread adoption of information technologies has fostered new social arrangements and opportunities for large-scale collaboration. Many of these new collaborations occur in online support communities where members help each other make sense of, and deal with, a particular topic (e.g., website design, cancer treatment). Many of these communities struggle with meeting the divergent needs of novices, experts, and those who overhear their conversations. A few communities have recently augmented their existing threaded conversations (e.g., email list discussions) with a wiki repository which serves a similar purpose as an FAQ document. I demonstrate how a threaded conversation and wiki repository can complement each other by describing in detail a technical support community (css-d) where they do. Using a mixed method approach I empirically examine how activity is organized to leverage both resources through an analysis of the governance structure, social roles and norms, information genres, participation patterns, and technical features. I also use an action research methodology to help 3 online medical support communities implement a wiki repository. I first the limitations of using a community conversation for reuse by arguing that the very same characteristics that make community conversations useful to their participants (e.g., their personalized, immediate, and social nature) make their reuse by onlookers problematic. I then describe how a wiki repository was used by the css-d community to create reusable content that complements the discussion. I characterize the wiki genres most useful to the community (e.g., Annotated Links, Debate summaries, How To pages, Articles) and describe the processes important to their creation, and how they lead to content that fills information gaps, is reusable, and relevant to the masses. I describe how the synergistic relationship between community conversation and wiki repositories helps overcome some of the information sharing and maintenance challenges common to help-based communities, as well as how it helps overcome some of the common social maintenance challenges of online communities such as keeping the discussion on topic and avoiding contentious debates. Finally, I characterize some of the challenges of implementing wiki repositories and collaborative authoring, such as the hesitancy of members to edit others’ work.Ph.D.InformationUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57608/2/shakmatt_1.pd

Chicory roots improves the taste and odour of organic pork

The carbohydrate inulin is known to reduce the production of skatole in pigs. This is caused by inulin changing the intestinal flora, so that the bacteria that produce skatole are held in check. This change in intestinal flora also reduces the number of intestinal parasites in the pigs. However the high cost of inulin makes its use in pig feed impractical. Chicory root contains inulin and a series of other carbohydrates and secondary metabolites. Therefore we have examined whether chicory root can replace pure inulin and thereby reduce boar taint, improve the taste of pork and reduce the infection of pigs with pathogenic parasites and bacteria