Environmental Benefits from Reduced Pesticide Use and Returns to Research: An Application to the U.S. Cotton Industry

Cotton production is one of the main pesticide use industries in the U.S. This intensive use has resulted in the disruption of naturally occurring biological control factors that regulate other insect pest populations and “the pesticide treadmill”. The result is resistance to insecticides, high control costs and unacceptable levels of chemical insecticides in the environment. Concerns about the environmental and human health effects from pesticide use thus need to be modeled in evaluation studies.Cotton, pesticide use, environmental effects, supply function, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy,

Hyperk\"ahler Arnold Conjecture and its Generalizations

We generalize and refine the hyperk\"ahler Arnold conjecture, which was originally established, in the non-degenerate case, for three-dimensional time by Hohloch, Noetzel and Salamon by means of hyperk\"ahler Floer theory. In particular, we prove the conjecture in the case where the time manifold is a multidimensional torus and also establish the degenerate version of the conjecture. Our method relies on Morse theory for generating functions and a finite-dimensional reduction along the lines of the Conley-Zehnder proof of the Arnold conjecture for the torus.Comment: 13 page

Extent of Parental School Involvement for Improved Student Performance in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State

Academic achievement of students does not depend only on school, environmental factors and teacher characteristics, but also on the level of home involvement. This study therefore sought to establish the extent of parental school involvement for students’ improved academic achievement in Awka South Local Government Area of Anambra State. The descriptive survey design was used for this study, with six (6) research questions guiding the study. The population for the study comprised 417 public secondary school teachers from which a sample of 125 teachers using simple random sampling technique. The instrument for data collection was a researcher designed, structured questionnaire which was duly validated by experts in educational management and measurement and evaluation. The questionnaire was tested for reliability using test-retest method. The tool for correlation was the Pearson Product Moment Correlation and this yielded a co-efficient of 0.82. Data collected was analysed using mean and standard deviation statistics to answer the 6 research questions while ANOVA with Friedman’s Test was used to test for significant difference in the six indices of parental involvement. The findings show among others that teachers perceive that parents in Awka South Local Government Area effectively communicate with school and coach their children for improved academic achievement to a moderate extent. There was no significant difference in the teacher’s perception of parental involvement based on the six indices of involvement. Based on the findings, the researchers recommended among others, that parents and the school use social media and other devices to communicate more effectively with the school for improved students’ academic performance

He Wrote, She Wrote: Gender Similarities and Differences in Written Business Communication

The purpose of this research study is to determine whether there are differences between how men and women communicate through written business communication. The study focuses on four aspects of business writing including length of response, readability of the writing, me versus you orientation, and overall positive or negative tone of written communication. No statistically significant differences were found between males and females in the sample used when analyzing the first three variables. However, the use of positive language, as measured by overall positive or negative tone in each writing sample, was more prevalent with women than me

ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY AND MARKETING SUCCESS OF OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY IN SOUTH SOUTH, NIGERIA

This paper examined the relationship between environmental responsibility and marketing success in oil and gas industry in South South, Nigeria. The study adopted quasi-experimental research design. 301 copies of questionnaire distributed and 283 were valid. The Spearman Rank Order Correlation Coefficientwas used with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 23.0), discriminant validity (AVE) and Cronbach Alpha verified the internal consistency and validity status and the results were positive. The findings of the study showed that ER significantly related with marketing success in oil and gas industry, thus enhancing profitability, market share and sales volume. Based on the findings, the study, recommends that, Government should also play its part in encouraging in development and production of environmental friendly and efficient products.Oil and gas firms should invest and develop more on eco-practices, in order to have a bigger impact on the market, and emerge as being environmentally conscious organization and giving more attention to environmentally conscious customers who take an active role in protecting it

Combination of carbon nanotubes and two-photon absorbers for broadband optical limiting

New systems are required for optical limiting against broadband laser pulses. We demonstrate that the association of non-linear scattering from single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWNT) and multiphoton absorption (MPA) from organic chromophores is a promising approach to extend performances of optical limiters over broad spectral and temporal ranges. Such composites display high linear transmission and good neutral colorimetry and are particularly efficient in the nanosecond regime due to cumulative effects.Comment: 5 avril 200