Performance, Competitiveness and Determinants of Tomato Export from India

The performance and competitiveness of export of tomato and its products from India have been analyzed to find (i) production and export performance of tomatoes in India, (ii) impact of trade liberalization on export of tomato and its products, (iii) major destinations of Indian tomato and tomato products, and (iv) determinants of tomato export. The export performance ratio (EPR) has been estimated to examine the export competitiveness of India in tomato and tomato products. Annual compound growth rate and coefficient of variation for two periods, before (1985-1994) and after (1995- 2004) the commencement of WTO have been estimated to study the impact of trade liberalization on the export performance of India in tomato and its products. Export demand function has been estimated using OLS technique and the factors affecting the export of tomato and its products from India have been identified. The study has revealed that the existence of high instability in export of tomato and its products require the attention of policymakers to retain hold on the international market.Crop Production/Industries, International Relations/Trade,

Evaluating an MLB General Manager’s Bang for their Buck

With my passion for baseball, I decided to calculate the value of each player on an MLB active roster and determine whether they are underpaid or overpaid. I then used that information to evaluate and rank how efficient each MLB general manager utilizes their money on players. With the luxury tax becoming more of an issue for teams with high payrolls, there has been an emphasis on general managers to construct a team that will be highly competitive at a reasonably low price. In my report, I imported data that reflected the position for each player as well as their adjusted salary. The key metric used to determine the value is known as wins above replacement (WAR). A player\u27s WAR was applied to the average salary for their position to get an estimated value. Using the salary error and percentage error for the whole team, I ranked each general manager. There are numerous ways that statisticians have come up with to apply to the valuation of players. WAR is a relatively new metric that is considered to be one of the best when comparing players. Usually, valuations have been done using traditional statistics such as batting average, on-base percentage, and slugging percentage. My method provides a newer and hopefully more accurate way to determine the true value of each player. The results showed that better-rated teams usually had a higher salary error. This means they were getting more production from players than their salary would suggest. When analyzing the data, I noticed that calculations such as a team\u27s percentage salary error can be misrepresented by having some outliers in the data. Ultimately my method gives a different perspective to create a player\u27s valuation. My future research include multiple statistics in order to get a more accurate representation of one\u27s salary based on their production

Simulating a Pipelined Reconfigurable Mesh on a Linear Array with a Reconfigurable Pipelined Bus System

Due to the unidirectional nature of propagation and predictable delays, optically pipelined buses have been gaining more attention. There have been many models proposed over time that use reconfigurable optically pipelined buses. The reconfigurable nature of the models makes them capable of changing their component’s functionalities and structure that connects the components at every step of computation. There are both one dimensional as well as k –dimensional models that have been proposed in the literature. Though equivalence between various one dimensional models and equivalence between different two dimensional models had been established, so far there has not been any attempt to explore the relationship between a one dimensional model and a two dimensional model. In the proposed research work it is shown that a move from one to two or more dimensions does not cause any increase in the volume of communication between the processors as they communicate in a pipelined manner on the same optical bus. When moving from two dimensions to one dimension, the challenge is to map the processors so that those belonging to a two-dimensional bus segment are contiguous and in the same order on the one-dimensional model. This does not increase any increase in communication overhead as the processors instead of communicating on two dimensional buses now communicate on a linear one dimensional bus structure. To explore the relationship between one dimensional and two dimensional models a commonly used model Linear Array with a Reconfigurable Pipelined Bus System (LARPBS) and its two dimensional counterpart Pipelined Reconfigurable Mesh (PR-Mesh) are chosen Here an attempt has been made to present a simulation of a two dimensional PR-Mesh on a one dimensional LARPBS to establish complexity of the models with respect to one another, and to determine the efficiency with which the LARPBS can simulate the PR-Mesh

Perceptions of fairness: a comparative critique of the use of lifestyle advertising in the promotion of skin lightening products

The popularity and prevalence of the practice of skin lightening in South Asian communities is widespread and the ideas behind the practice are deep-rooted. Skin lightening products are promoted using lifestyle advertising and this technique attracts and makes the product more relatable to its target audience. The trend to use skin lightening products and the advertisements promoting them have branched out into Canada as well, however, few consumers realize the harm that is brought on by purchasing and using the skin lightening products that are available in today's market. The framework surrounding the regulation of skin lightening products in Canada is inadequate and there are several gaps that need to be filled in order to better protect consumers. Like skin lightening products, tobacco products were also widely promoted using lifestyle advertising. In addition, the consumption and use of tobacco products also presents significant risks to consumers. Yet, tobacco regulation in Canada has undergone a major overhaul to address some of the same types of gaps that were initially found during its inception. Therefore, given the similarities in the methods of promotion coupled with the potential harm caused to consumers, this paper makes a case for similar frameworks to be put in place to regulate both types of products

Export of Cucumber and Gherkin from India: Performance, Destinations, Competitiveness and Determinants

The performance, competitiveness, major destinations and determinants of cucumber and gherkin export from India have been studied. Export performance ratio has been used to estimate the competitiveness, and log linear type of demand function has been used to determine the export determinants. It has been observed that India has made tremendous progress in the export of cucumber and gherkin products during the past 15 years (1990-2005). The export has increased by about 128.5- times with an impressive annual compound growth rate of 37.46 per cent, as against only 4.38 per cent in the world market. The major export destinations for cucumber and gherkin have been identified as France, USA, Russia, Belgium and Spain. An increasing and high value of revealed comparative advantage (RCA) and a positive and increasing value for revealed symmetric comparative advantage (RSCA) have indicated high potential in their export, particularly for the provisionally-preserved and prepared/preserved products. One per cent increase in volume of international trade in cucumber and gherkin may increase the demand from India by 5.96 per cent. This indicates that India is highly competitive in export of cucumber and gherkin and has ample scope to further increase its export. The study has also revealed that exchange rate is a more dominant determinant of export from India than price of commodity.International Relations/Trade,

Detection and frequency of recombination in tomato-infecting begomoviruses of South and Southeast Asia

which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Background: Tomato-infecting begomoviruses are widely distributed across the world and cause diseases of high economic impact on wide range of agriculturally important crops. Though recombination plays a pivotal role in diversification and evolution of these viruses, it is currently unknown whether there are differences in the number and quality of recombination events amongst different tomato-infecting begomovirus species. To examine this we sought to characterize the recombination events, estimate the frequency of recombination, and map recombination hotspots in tomato-infecting begomoviruses of South and Southeast Asia. Results: Different methods used for recombination breakpoint analysis provided strong evidence for presence of recombination events in majority of the sequences analyzed. However, there was a clear evidence for absence or low Recombination events in viruses reported from North India. In addition, we provide evidence for non-random distribution of recombination events with the highest frequency of recombination being mapped in the portion of the N-terminal portion of Rep. Conclusion: The variable recombination observed in these viruses signified that all begomoviruse

Youth Voice and Positive Identity Building Practices: The Case of ScienceGirls

Through two stories of youth voice, learning, and identity development in an afterschool science program for girls only, we show the ways in which such programs can be understood as important identity-building practices. We describe key dimensions of a sociocultural approach to youth voice, learning, and identity, situated also in the context of the literature on afterschool programs. We then explore the manner in which youth voice and identity were marked by time and space. We conclude with a discussion of youth voice and ethics in collaborative research projects with youth. RésuméGrâce à deux études de cas, nous montrons de quelle manière un programme parascolaire des filles peut soutenir des pratiques de construction identitaire. Tout d’abord, nous décrivons quelques dimensions clefs de la voix des jeunes, de l’apprentissage et des pratiques de construction identitaire selon une approche socioculturelle, ancrée dans la littératuresur les programmes parascolaires. Nous explorons ensuite la place de la voix des jeunes et le travail identitaire, ainsi que la manière dont il est marqué par le temps et l’espace. Nous concluons avec une discussion sur la voix des jeunes et des questions éthiques soulevées par de tels projets de recherche collaboratif

Public Perception of Police Officers

To generate an understanding of the public’s perception of police officers has taken precedence for reform efforts in recent years, especially in post-colonial societies like Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) with the aim of getting their police institutions to forge closer working relations with their citizens. Developing closer and harmonious relationships between citizens and the police bodies are more likely to foster and increase public trust and confidence in officers, implement consolidated working relationships between both parties and reduce citizens fear of crime, especially when the increasing crime rate in T&T during the past two decades has been considered out of control. Due to the lack of research on the subject of policing and furthermore on the public perception of police officers in T&T, this study was aimed at addressing the deficiencies in the literature by providing insights and understanding on the perception of police officers through the following research questions: (I) What are the variables that affect citizens perception of the police in T&T? (II) Do citizens demographic characteristics affect their relationship with the police and if yes, how and why? (III) In what ways can citizens perception of the police in T&T be improved? This study used a qualitative approach in order to bring some prospective on citizens subjective experiences by interviewing 50 adult members of the public within two geographic locations in T&T relative to people and police, contact, legitimacy, services and performance. The snowball sampling technique was used to obtain participants and the adaptive theory approach was used to analyse the data obtained. The study focused on key variables such as contact, age, socioeconomic status, race/ethnicity, police behaviour and justice. The results obtained suggested that these key variables were consistent with previous studies, however, new Page | 3 variables such as politics, gender and gang involvement were identified and acknowledged as being further responsible for how citizens perception of the police in T&T are shaped. As a result, the theoretical concepts used in this study could be expanded to include these new variables. The findings from this study suggested that the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS) colonial legacy have an active participation on the role and function of the police in T&T and this created an impact on the performance of the police. This study further suggested that police reform in T&T would become an important factor for improving the public’s perception of police officers. Because of previous failed police reform attempts in T&T where officers were identified as being reluctant to participate, this study has proposed training methods to improve officers’ attitude towards accepting changes as an initial priority before applying methods to improve the relationship with the public