Agricultural Returns and Conflict: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from a Policy Intervention Programme in Rwanda

In 1997 Rwanda introduced a re-settlement policy for refugees displaced during previous conflicts. We exploit geographic variation in the speed of implementation of this policy to investigate the impact of conflict-induced displacement and the re-settlement policy on household agricultural output and on skill spill-over mechanisms between returnees and stayers. We find that returns to on-farm labour are higher for returnees relative to stayers, although the evidence suggests that the policy contributed little additional effect to this differential. More speculatively, these differentials suggest that, upon return from conflictinduced exile, returnees are more motivated to increase their economic performance.Microeconomic cost of conflict, migrations, land redistribution, instrumentalvariable quantile regressions

School Proximity and Child Labor Evidence from Rurul Tanzania

Is improved school accessibility an effective policy tool for reducing child labor in developing countries? We address this question using micro data from rural Tanzania and a regression strategy that attempts to control for non-random location of households around schools as well as classical and non-classical measurement error in self-reported distance to school. Consistent with a simple model of child labor supply, but contrary to what appears to be a widespread perception, our analysis shows that school proximity leads to a rise in school attendance but no fall in child labor.Distance to school, child labor, school enrolment

An empirical study of PLAD regression using the bootstrap

Partial LAD regression uses the L 1 norm associated with least absolute deviations (LAD) regression while retaining the same algorithmic structure of univariate partial least squares (PLS) regression. We use the bootstrap in order to assess the partial LAD regression model performance and to make comparisons to PLS regression. We use a variety of examples coming from NIR experiments as well as two sets of experimental dat

Εκτίμηση της τιμής της αντίστασης γείωσης σε συστήματα Ανανεώσιμων Πηγών Ενέργειας

Εθνικό Μετσόβιο Πολυτεχνείο--Μεταπτυχιακή Εργασία. Διεπιστημονικό-Διατμηματικό Πρόγραμμα Μεταπτυχιακών Σπουδών (Δ.Π.Μ.Σ.) “Παραγωγή και Διαχείρηση Ενέργειας

A novel role for dp115 in the organization of tER sites in Drosophila

Here, we describe that depletion of the Drosophila homologue of p115 (dp115) by RNA interference in Drosophila S2 cells led to important morphological changes in the Golgi stack morphology and the transitional ER (tER) organization. Using conventional and immunoelectron microscopy and confocal immunofluorescence microscopy, we show that Golgi stacks were converted into clusters of vesicles and tubules, and that the tERs (marked by Sec23p) lost their focused organization and were now dispersed throughout the cytoplasm. However, we found that this morphologically altered exocytic pathway was nevertheless largely competent in anterograde protein transport using two different assays. The effects were specific for dp115. Depletion of the Drosophila homologues of GM130 and syntaxin 5 (dSed5p) did not lead to an effect on the tER organization, though the Golgi stacks were greatly vesiculated in the cells depleted of dSed5p. Taken together, these studies suggest that dp115 could be implicated in the architecture of both the Golgi stacks and the tER sites

Ecdysone Triggers the Expression of Golgi Genes in Drosophila Imaginal Discs via Broad-Complex

AbstractOne of the most significant morphogenic events in the development of Drosophila melanogaster is the elongation of imaginal discs during puparium formation. We have shown that this macroscopic event is accompanied by the formation of Golgi stacks from small Golgi larval clusters of vesicles and tubules that are present prior to the onset of disc elongation. We have shown that the fly steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone triggers both the elongation itself and the formation of Golgi stacks (V. Kondylis, S. E. Goulding, J. C. Dunne, and C. Rabouille, 2001, Mol. Biol. Cell, 12, 2308). Using mRNA in situ hybridisation, we show here that ecdysone triggers the upregulation of a subset of genes encoding Golgi-related proteins (such as dnsf1, dsec23, dsed5, and drab1) and downregulates the expression of others (such as dergic53, dβ'COP, anddrab6). We show that the transcription factor Broad-complex, itself an “early” ecdysone target, mediates this regulation. And we show that the ecdysone-independent upregulation of dnsf1 and dsnap prior to the ecdysone peak leads to a precocious formation of large Golgi stacks. The ecdysone-triggered biogenesis of Golgi stacks at the onset of imaginal disc elongation offers the exciting possibility of advancing our understanding of the relationship between gene expression and organelle biogenesis