Technical and vocational skills (TVS): a means of preventing violence among youth in Nigeria

Technical and vocational skills are an important tool for reducing violence among youth, especially in Nigeria, who face security challenges due to different kinds of violence. This paper focusses on the policies and programmes intended to provide youth with skills that can help them improve their life instead of engaging in violence. The paper also studies youth participation in violence. The study shows that youth in Nigeria participate in violence because of unemployment and economic pressure. These youth are mostly from poor families and are mostly used by others to achieve their own unlawful ambition. The data were collected from various secondary sources such as textbooks, journals and conference papers that were carefully reviewed. The results obtained from the literature revealed that youth are not committed, sensitised and mobilised to taking advantage of the opportunities available to them. The results also revealed that almost all the programmes meant to provide youths with skills have failed. Poverty alleviation programmes established to create jobs, self-employment and self-reliance have been unsuccessful. Therefore, alternatives must be provided to help the younger generations. Based on the literature reviewed, the paper discusses related issues and outcomes and ends with recommendations to improve the situation

Forecasting Price Relationships among U.S Tree Nuts Prices

This paper investigates a vector auto regression model, using the Johansen cointegration technique, and the autoregressive integrated moving average time series models to determine the better model for forecasting US tree nut prices over the period 1992-2006. The Johansen contegration test shows lack of long run relationship among pecan, walnut, and almond prices. As such, only autoregressive integrated moving average-type models were used in forecasting U.S. nut prices.substitutability, cointegration, tree nuts, long-run equilibrium forecasting, Demand and Price Analysis, Production Economics,

On the Capacity Region of the Deterministic Y-Channel with Common and Private Messages

In multi user Gaussian relay networks, it is desirable to transmit private information to each user as well as common information to all of them. However, the capacity region of such networks with both kinds of information is not easy to characterize. The prior art used simple linear deterministic models in order to approximate the capacities of these Gaussian networks. This paper discusses the capacity region of the deterministic Y-channel with private and common messages. In this channel, each user aims at delivering two private messages to the other two users in addition to a common message directed towards both of them. As there is no direct link between the users, all messages must pass through an intermediate relay. We present outer-bounds on the rate region using genie aided and cut-set bounds. Then, we develop a greedy scheme to define an achievable region and show that at a certain number of levels at the relay, our achievable region coincides with the upper bound. Finally, we argue that these bounds for this setup are not sufficient to characterize the capacity region.Comment: 4 figures, 7 page

Will Consumers Pay a Premium for Clone-free labeled Meat products? Evidence from the 2009 Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition

This paper examines consumer willingness to pay (WTP) for clone-free meat labels. Data were collected at the Sunbelt Agricultural Exposition (Ag Expo) in Moultrie, Georgia using a consumer survey instrument. Survey results show that majority (59.45%) of the respondents said they were willing to pay for clone-free labels. Results suggest that bid amount, gender and education are factors that influence WTP for clone-free labels.Willingness to pay, clone-free, label, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

Testing For Seasonal Cointegration and Error Correction: The U.S. Pecan Price-Inventory Relationship

Using time series data we examine behavior of pecan prices and inventories at zero and seasonal frequencies, given results of seasonal cointegration tests. Both, seasonally unadjusted and adjusted quarterly data are used (1991-2002). Results suggest that, first, shelled and total pecan inventories and shelled pecan prices have common unit roots at both the non-seasonal and seasonal frequencies; second, there is no long run equilibrium between pecan prices and shelled or total inventories when unadjusted data are used. Finally, the speed of adjustments suggests pecan prices adjust to shocks in inventories and not the vice versa.Demand and Price Analysis,

PRICE-INVENTORY RELATIONSHIP IN THE PECAN INDUSTRY: A STUDY OF LONG- AND SHORT-RUN EFFECTS WITH SEASONAL CONSIDERATION

Demand and Price Analysis,