Expenditure elasticities for rural households in the Embo ward, Umbumbulu, KwaZulu-Natal

Household consumption patterns were investigated to determine the impact of an income shock on household expenditure and to establish the potential for demand-led growth in a rural area of KwaZulu-Natal. Household consumption data were collected from sample households in the Embo ward of Umbumbulu, KwaZulu-Natal during October 2004 and March 2005. Budget shares and expenditure elasticities were estimated for household consumption categories for the two study periods, allowing for a comparison of expenditure elasticities between the two seasons. Results suggest that expenditure elasticities for consumer expendables, durables and transport were highly elastic, while expenditure elasticities for the aggregate food category were negative (October) and highly inelastic (March). Analysis of the expenditure categories of tradable and non-tradable goods and services showed expenditure on tradable non-farm goods and services to have the greatest potential for demand-led growth with expenditure elasticities of 2.88 and 2.91, respectively. The category of non-tradable non-farm goods and services was not statistically significant for both periods and the category non-tradable farm goods and services was not statistically significant for October. A seasonal difference in expenditure patterns was apparent, suggesting that responses to income changes vary at different times of the year.Expenditure elasticities, demand-led growth, Umbumbulu region, KwaZulu-Natal, Consumer/Household Economics,

Marketing Methods and Income Generation amongst Small-Scale Farmers in Two Communal Areas of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa

High transaction costs are detrimental to the efficient operation or existence of markets for inputs and outputs. The cost of information and the costs associated with the search for trade partners, distance to formal markets and contract enforcement are likely to influence the marketing of food crops. This study hypothesises that the level of income generated from food crop sales by small-scale farmers in the Impendle and Swayimana districts of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, is influenced by transaction costs and certain household and farm characteristics. Regression analysis shows that the depth of marketing methods is significantly influenced by transaction cost proxies such as cooperation with large commercial farmers and ownership of means of transport. Results from a block-recursive regression analysis show that the level of crop income generated is determined by the depth of marketing methods, the size of allocated arable land and off-farm income. Households with lower transaction costs, and having sizeable allocated land and off-farm income can be expected to generate higher crop income. Investment in public goods such as roads, telecommunications and an efficient legal system (to uphold commercial contracts), and farmer support services (extension, marketing information and research) would likely raise farm and non-farm income by reducing transaction costs. This would increase the effective demand for locally produced goods and services, thus contributing to rural employment and livelihoods within rural communal areas.Farm Management,

Dietary variability of western gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)

Spatial and temporal variability in the availability of food resources will lead to variation in a species’ diet, which can then influence patterns of space use, sociality, and life history characteristics. Despite such potential impacts, little information is available about dietary variability for some species with large geographical ranges. Here we quantify the diet and nutritional content of plants consumed by western lowland gorillas (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) in Loango National Park, Gabon over a 2.6 year period and make comparisons with two study sites located 800 km away. The major foods consumed by the Loango gorillas differed greatly from the other two study sites, but gorillas at all three locations spent a similar proportion of feeding time consuming herbaceous vegetation and tree leaves (~ 50%) and fruit (35%). The Loango gorillas spent approximately 10% of feeding time eating nuts, which were not consumed at the other two study sites. Gorillas at those sites spent about 5% of feeding time eating insects, which were not consumed by Loango gorillas. Even though the species composition of the diet differed among the three sites, the nutritional composition of the major food items differed very little, suggesting that western gorillas consume foods of similar nutritional values to meet their dietary needs. This study shows the flexibility of diet of a species with a wide geographic distribution, which has implications for understanding variation in life history characteristics and can be useful for conservation management plans

Double-electron ionization driven by inhomogeneous fields

Authors may self-archive the author’s accepted manuscript of their articles on their own websites. Authors may also deposit this version of the article in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later. He/ she may not use the publisher's version (the final article), which is posted on SpringerLink and other Springer websites, for the purpose of self-archiving or deposit. Furthermore, the author may only post his/her version provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website. The link must be provided by inserting the DOI number of the article in the following sentence: “The final publication is available at Springer via https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00340-017-6672-4"Electron–electron correlation effects play a crucial role in our understanding of sequential (SDI) and non-sequential double ionization (NSDI) mechanisms. Here, we present a theoretical study of NSDI driven by plasmonic-enhanced spatial inhomogeneous fields. By numerically solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for a linear reduced model of He and a double-electron time-evolution probability analysis, we provide evidence for enhancement effects in NSDI showing that the double ionization yield at lower laser peak intensities is increased due to the spatial inhomogeneous character of plasmonic-enhanced field. The change in the emission direction of the double-ion as a function of the field inhomogeneity degree demonstrates that plasmonic-enhanced fields could configure a reliable instrument to control the ion emission. Furthermore, our quantum mechanical model, as well as classical trajectory Monte Carlo simulations, show that inhomogeneous fields are as well as a useful tool for splitting the binary and recoil processes in the rescattering scenario.This work was supported by the project ELI-Extreme Light Infrastructure-phase 2 (Project No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/ 15_008/0000162) from European Regional Development Fund, Spanish MINECO (National Plan grants FIS2011-30465-C02-01, FOQUS No. FIS2013-46768-P, FISICATEAMO FIS2016-79508-P and Severo Ochoa Excellence Grant No. SEV-2015-0522), the Generalitat de Catalunya (SGR 874 and CERCA/Program) and Fundació Privada Cellex Barcelona. N.S. was supported by the Erasmus Mundus Doctorate Program Europhotonics (Grant No. 159224-1-2009-1-FR-ERA MUNDUS-EMJD). N.S., A.C., and M.L. acknowledge ERC AdG OSYRIS, EU FETPRO QUIC and National Science Centre, Poland—Symfonia Grant 2016/20/W/ST4/00314. A. S. L. acknowledges Max Planck Center for Attosecond Science (MPC-AS). J. A. P.-H. acknowledges to the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitivi- dad (FURIAM Project No. FIS2013-47741-R and PALMA project FIS2016- 81056-R) and Laserlab-Europe (EU-H2020 654148). L.O. acknowledges valuable input from Andre Staudte. The authors thankfully acknowledge the computer resources at MareNostrum, technical expertise and assistance provided by the Barcelona Supercomputing Center and the Red Española de Supercomputación (RES)Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

On the Munn-Silbey approach to polaron transport with off-diagonal coupling

Improved results using a method similar to the Munn-Silbey approach have been obtained on the temperature dependence of transport properties of an extended Holstein model incorporating simultaneous diagonal and off-diagonal exciton-phonon coupling. The Hamiltonian is partially diagonalized by a canonical transformation, and optimal transformation coefficients are determined in a self-consistent manner. Calculated transport properties exhibit substantial corrections on those obtained previously by Munn and Silbey for a wide range of temperatures thanks to a numerically exact evaluation and an added momentum-dependence of the transformation matrix. Results on the diffusion coefficient in the moderate and weak coupling regime show distinct band-like and hopping-like transport features as a function of temperature.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, accpeted in Journal of Physical Chemistry B: Shaul Mukamel Festschrift (2011

Collective action and participation in irrigation water management: A case study of Mooi River Irrigation Scheme in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa

In line with the current focus of most developing countries to transfer management of communal irrigation schemes from state to users, an understanding of the determinants of farmer participation in collective activities forms the basis to improve the management of previously government-funded schemes, which are characterised by poor maintenance and performance when farmers are left to manage the schemes on their own. Cross-sectional data collected from 307 respondents in the Mooi River Irrigation Scheme (MRIS) in KwaZulu-Natal were used to identify the determinants of farmer participation in collective activities. The results of the Tobit and Ordered Probit models suggest that collective activities are negatively affected by low farmer-literacy levels. Number of consecutive days that farmers spend without access to irrigation water per week was used as a proxy for water scarcity, and was confirmed to be a significant determinant of farmer participation. The existing incentives for water-users in the MRIS need to be improved to encourage farmer participation in collective water management. This calls for strengthening of local water management systems and institutional policies to ensure maximum benefits from participating in collective activities. The study noted the complexity of managing common pool resources at a localised level, and pointed to the need to further understand the institutional dynamics in which smallholder irrigation farmers operate.Keywords: Collective action, participation intensity, smallholder irrigation scheme, South Afric

Fluid and particle retention in the greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros)

On the one hand, the greater kudu (Tragelaphus strepsiceros) is a strict browser and would therefore be expected to display a ‘moose-type’ digestive physiology with a comparatively low rumen fluid throughput, a low ratio of small particle to fluid mean retention time (MRT) in the reticulorumen (RR), and relatively unstratified RR contents. On the other hand, reports on relatively small salivary glands, susceptibility to negative effects of tannins, and a putative absence of tannin-binding salivary proteins would suggest the greater kudu to be an exceptional browser with a ‘cattle-type’ digestive physiology. We measured MRT in four zoo-kept greater kudu females, which resulted in a MRTparticleRR/MRTfluidRR ratio between 1.07–1.43, well within the range of ‘moose-type’ ruminants and similar to eland (Taurotragus oryx). In this regard, consistent morphophysiological studies on greater kudu are required to resolve the seemingly contradictory findings in this species