Checklist: Gender-inclusive actionable agro-advisories

This checklist aims to assist producers and translators in developing agro-advisories (forecast and forecast-based advice) that are gender-inclusive and useful for both men and women farmers. It presents five indicators to determine the actionability of such agro-advisories:(1) What information is available?(2) If it is available, is it accessible?(3) If available and accessible, is it on time?(4) If available, accessible, and on time, can end-users understand it?(5) If available, accessible, timely, and understandable, is it useful

Nonsmooth nonconvex stochastic heavy ball

Motivated by the conspicuous use of momentum based algorithms in deep learning, we study a nonsmooth nonconvex stochastic heavy ball method and show its convergence. Our approach relies on semialgebraic assumptions, commonly met in practical situations, which allow to combine a conservative calculus with nonsmooth ODE methods. In particular, we can justify the use of subgradient sampling in practical implementations that employ backpropagation or implicit differentiation. Additionally, we provide general conditions for the sample distribution to ensure the convergence of the objective function. As for the stochastic subgradient method, our analysis highlights that subgradient sampling can make the stochastic heavy ball method converge to artificial critical points. We address this concern showing that these artifacts are almost surely avoided when initializations are randomized

9 steps to scale climate-smart agriculture: Lessons and experiences from the climate-smart villages in My Loi, Vietnam and Guinayangan, Philippines

The Climate-Smart Village approach is a CCAFS agricultural research for development (AR4D) strategy for stimulating the scaling of climate-smart agriculture. CSVs are established in Southeast Asia through the CCAFS program to serve as sites for “testing, through participatory methods, technological and institutional options for generating evidence of CSA effectiveness as well as drawing out scaling lessons for policy makers from local to global levels (CCAFS, 2016). The CSVs in My Loi in Vietnam and Guinayangan in the Philippines were established following this strategy starting 2014 by the World Agroforestry (ICRAF) Vietnam and the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction, respectively. This guidebook showcases the common experiences of the IIRR and ICRAF in the Philippine and Vietnam CSVs, which are outlined in 5 major stages and broken into 9 steps

Soft Power as a Perspective for Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy

Taiwan, being a small country with a distinctive geopolitical position and a complicated connection with the Mainland, places significant importance on the utilization of soft power as a means to enhance its influence both regionally and globally. Since 2016, under the leadership of Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan\u27s New Southbound Policy (NSP) has presented fresh opportunities for enhancing its collaborative ties with target nations. This initiative reflects Taiwan\u27s aspirations to establish a reputable presence and effectively project its influence within the region, thereby showcasing its capabilities on an international level. From the perspective of soft power, the NSP is regarded as an important endeavor undertaken by the Tsai government to strengthen Taiwan\u27s worldwide presence and promote its ideals at both regional and global levels. In addition to the initial accomplishments attained subsequent to the implementation of the policy, Taiwan is confronted with numerous challenges that necessitate the government to engage in strategic calculations in order to strike a balance between its interests and the policy’s objectives

Australian News Narrative on Unauthorised Boat Arrivals During Federal Election Campaigns in 1977, 2001 and 2013

University of Technology Sydney. Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.In recent years an extensive body of media research has accumulated on the representation of immigrant, refugee and asylum seeker (IRAS) debates in western liberal democracies. This research touches on the work of two structuralists, Propp and Levi-Strauss, to suggest that a grand narrative became instrumental in Australian press coverage of IRAS boat arrivals during the federal election campaigns of 1977, 2001 and 2013. It argues that the news narrative of the ‘boat’ is fundamentally a sequence of cycles between binary elements recurring over time. This thesis examines , to describe the identical functions of the main characters in the ‘boat’ news narratives. Such narratives define politicians as the main actors and reproduce their voices as they talk about turning back the boats to reduce problems at sea, the country’s right to choose, the vulnerability of an open nation, and concerns that criminals and non-genuine refugees are getting on the boats. In a thematic analysis, ‘Foreign Relations Threats’ recurred as the top core theme. This reflects how the Australian Governments at the time of the three elections considered the ‘boat’ issue an international and regional problem that relied on offshore solutions

Global Market Shocks and Poverty in Vietnam: The Case of Rice

World food prices have experienced dramatic increases in recent years. These "shocks" affect food importers and exporters alike. Vietnam is a major exporter of rice, and rice is also a key item in domestic production, employment and consumption. Accordingly, rice price shocks from the world market have general equilibrium impacts and as such, their implications for household welfare are not known ex ante. In this paper we first present a simple framework for understanding the direct and indirect welfare effects of a global market shock of this kind. Second, we quantify the transmission of the price shock from global indicator prices to domestic markets. Third, we then we use an applied general equilibrium (AGE) model to simulate the effects of domestic price changes in more detail. Fourth, a recursive mapping to a large nationally representative living standards survey permits us to identify in detail the ceteris paribus effects of the shock on household incomes and welfare. In this analysis, interregional and intersectoral adjustments in the labor market emerge as key channels transmitting the effects of global price shocks across sectors and among households.