Risk Perception and Management in Smallholder Vegetable Farming in Eastern Ethiopia

This study examines vegetable producing farmers’ risk perception and management strategies. Using survey data collected from 385 smallholder vegetable farmers from East Hararghe zone of Oromia region of Ethiopia, descriptive statistics and factor analysis were used for analyzing farmers risk attitude, classifying risk sources and management strategies. The analysis of risk attitude indicated that the majority of vegetable farmers considered themselves to be risk-takers towards important farm decisions which would help in the adoption of risk management strategies. The result of factor analysis identified low profitability, energy inaccessibility, production, price variability, human / social and institutional factors as principal sources of risk. Moreover, factor analysis also identified production management, loss minimizing and diversification as risk management strategies adopted by smallholder vegetable farmers. Policy makers should focus on enhancing the profitability of smallholder vegetable farmers, stabilizing input and output price, managing production risk, expanding energy access and facilitating the provision of necessary farm inputs. Moreover, it is also necessary to make the operation of cooperatives/unions accountable and their input provision fair and efficient. Keywords: Vegetable farming, factor analysis, risk perception, risk management, risk attitude. DOI: 10.7176/JNSR/10-4-01 Publication date: February 29th 202

Resource Allocation, Level of International Diversification and Firm Performance

This paper investigates the threads between international diversification and firm performance, resource allocation to R&D and capital expenditure. The context of this study is a resource-based view and transaction costs theory. Firms that are going international, benefit from the resources available to them outside their home country as well as from the utilization of their core competencies in other countries. Regression models without interactive terms indicate that resource allocation significantly impacts firm performance. Capital expenditure is positively associated with return on assets, while research and development expenditure undermines the firm’s performance. Analyses suggest that there is no thorough relation between international diversification and returns, regardless of using asset or sales diversification variables. The estimates of diversification variable are negative and insignificant in most models

Serum tumour necrosis factor alpha in osteopenic and osteoporotic postmenopausal females: A cross-sectional study in Pakistan

Objective: To compare biochemical parameters serum tumour necrosis factor alpha, calcium, magnesium, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase and vitamin D in postmenopausal women.Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out from June 2015 to July 2016 at Jinnah Medical and Dental College, Karachi, and comprised postmenopausal women. Bone mineral density done by dual energy X-ray absorptiometryscan categorised subjects by World Health Organisation classification into normal (T score \u3e -1) osteopenic (T score between -1 and -2.5) and osteoporotic (T score \u3c -2.5). Biochemical parameters like tumour necrosis alpha, calcium, magnesium, bone-specific alkaline phosphatase and vitamin D were measured by solid phase enzyme amplified sensitivity immunoassay method. SPSS 16 was used to analyse the data.Results: Of the 146 women, 34(23%) were normal, 93(67%) were osteopenic and 19(13%) were osteoporotic. There was significant difference in mean body mass index, serum tumour necrosis factor alpha and calcium in all the three groups (p\u3c0.01). Significant mean difference was observed in serum calcium levels between normal and osteopenic, and between normal and osteoporotic group (p\u3c0.05 each) without any significant mean difference between osteopenic and osteoporotic groups (p\u3e0.05). A significant difference was observed for mean tumour necrosis factor alpha values between normal and osteoporotic groups (p\u3c0.05). Tumour necrosis factor alpha showed negative correlation with bone mineral density in osteopenic and osteoporotic groups (p\u3e0.05).Conclusions: Increased bone turnover in postmenopausal osteopenic women can be predicted by increased serum cytokine

Revisiting Overconfidence In Investment Decision-Making: Further Evidence From The U.S. Market

nvestor overconfidence leads to excessive trading due to positive returns, causing inefficiencies in stock markets. Using a novel methodology, we build on the previous literature by investigating the existence of overconfidence by studying the causal relationship between return and trading volume covering the COVID-19 period. We implement a nonlinear approach to Granger causality based on multilayer feedforward neural networks on daily returns and trading volumes from 2016 to 2021, covering 1424 daily observations of the S&P 500 index. The results provide evidence of overconfidence among investors. Such behavior may be linked to the increase in the number of investors. However, there is a decline in the rate of returns during the study period, implying uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic

中性子過剰核195Osのβ-γ分光

この博士論文は内容の要約のみの公開（または一部非公開）になっています筑波大学 (University of Tsukuba)201

中性子過剰核195Osのβ-γ分光

筑波大学 (University of Tsukuba)201

Geology, Petrographical Features and Ore Mineralization of Volcanic Hosted Iron Ore Deposit in the Mashki Chah Area Chagai District, Balochistan, Pakistan

The Mashki Chah iron ore deposits are located in the western Chagai magmatic belt and hosted withinandesitic rock units in the Late Cretaceous Sinjrani Volcanic Group. Geometry, morphology, and structure of iron orehave massive, thin to thick-bedded and veins type of iron. The major ore type including magnetite as primarymineralization of iron ore and hematite, siderite, goethite, and limonite are secondary mineralization of iron ore.Petrographically, the iron ore is hosted within the basic to the intermediate type of units (Basaltic Andesite, Andesite,and Dacite) within the Late Cretaceous Sinjrani Volcanic Group. Major constituents of basaltic andesitic units arecomposed of clinopyroxene and amphibole with minor constituents of quartz. Andesitic units consist of plagioclase,hornblende, k-feldspar, quartz and biotite. The dacitic unit is comprised of quartz, albite, k-feldspar, biotite, andmuscovite. SEM-EDX and BSE analysis of ore mineralization of iron ore to identify the mineral crystal structure,texture, and elemental composition of iron ore. BSE images indicate the crystal morphology of magnetite and hematitehave well-developed cubic and octahedron crystal shapes with a coarse grain texture. Elemental composition isidentified by the EDX graph that is indicated the high peaks of Fe and O elements associated with the high peak rockforming minerals elements Si and O with sub-peaks of Al, Na, K, and Ca and as well as have sub-peaks of ore-formingmineral elements are include a Cu, Ag, Ti, and Sn. The total iron reserve in the deposit area is approximately about 45to 50 million tons and an average percentage of magnetite is 86.16% and hematite is about 69.40 %. These ore deposithas significant value for economic purpose and as well as economically the Mashki Chah iron ore deposit is viable foriron ore mining

Time Dependent Capacity Increase for Driven Pile in Cohesionless Soil

The increase in driven pile capacity with time is termed set-up. The mechanism contributing to this phenomenon is not yet fully understood. Moreover, a rational approach to account for the increase in driven pile capacity with time in design has not yet been developed. In this study, a database comprising of 55 pile load tests (static and dynamic tests) were collected from the current engineering literature. The piles were driven in cohesionless soils with sand relative density varying from loose to dense. The measured capacities of the database piles with time were correlated to pile characteristics and soil properties. Pile set-up was found to be a phenomenon related to an increase in pile shaft friction with time and increases with decreasing pile diameter. On the other hand, pile setup was found to increase with increasing pile penetration depth and thus with pile slenderness ratio. A new approach for the estimation of pile set-up in cohesionless soils is presented in this study. The new approach considers the effects of pile characteristics and soil properties. Comparison of predicted and measured pile set-up using the developed method in this study indicates reasonable agreement. Also, comparison of prediction using the new approach with those made using previously published methods indicates that the developed method in this study yields better results