Effect of Concentration on Reaction Speed

This study aimed to investigate the effect of concentration on reaction speed, so that we can find out more about the relationship between reaction rates and factors that influence reaction rates, namely temperature and the concentration of reagents. 10 test tubes are provided on the tube rack, 5 tubes filled with 5 mL H2SO4 (fixed concentration), 5 tubes filled with 5 mL, 4 mL, 3 mL, 2 mL, 1 mL Na2S2O3 0.1 M diluted to volume 5 mL with distilled water. Mix the contents of the tube from the first 5 preparations into the second preparation. The results show that the higher the concentration, the faster the reaction rate. Conversely, the lower the concentration, the slower the reaction rate

Impacts of Foreign Capital Inflows on Domestic Savings in 6 ASEAN Countries: A Panel Data Analysis

This paper examines the impact of different categories of foreign capital inflows (FDI, Portfolio investment, and other investment) on domestic savings in 6 ASEAN countries, namely Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand, and Lao PDR. The study is conducted for two periods: 1990-2015, and 2000-2015 based on regression analyses utilizing Panel and Cross-section data of the selected ASEAN countries. The results show that foreign capital inflows at aggregate level displaces domestic savings. Of all categories of foreign capital inflows, only FDI has significantly positive impact on gross domestic savings rate in the two periods while short-term capital flows such as portfolio investment and other investment are not found to have any significant impact on domestic savings in the studied periods, and short-term capital flows show the increase in its volatile nature which is vulnerable to sustainable economic development. The results indicate the importance of trade liberalization, domestic financial development, and domestic investment to enhance domestic savings

Lao Plantation Policy: Prospects for Change

Policies to promote tree plantations in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic have been developed since independence to support national socio-economic and environmental goals, and in response to domestic and international markets. The effectiveness of these policies has been variable, and the resulting plantation wood value chains are poorly developed due to contradictory and confusing laws and regulations with inconsistent application and high transaction costs. Consequently, there has been limited tree plantation investment, and few investments have realized the anticipated benefits. Renewed interest in plantations from the government, investors and other sectors in Laos has prompted policy reviews and recognition of the need for new policy settings. We reviewed the development of plantation policies in Laos and assessed policy effectiveness and barriers to policy options. Through document analysis, interviews with key stakeholders and actors, stakeholder forums, and field research, we found that smarter regulation, and facilitating value-chain partnerships and knowledge sharing, can motivate smallholders and industry investors in plantations, and increase community-level benefits and financial returns to the Government and private sector. These results are discussed in the context of current international developments in plantation policy and the convergence in related policy processes in Laos.This research was funded by The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research through projects ADP/2014/047 and FST/2016/151

What drives smallholder tree growing? : Enabling conditions in a changing policy environment

Peer reviewe

Land use and land cover change in Vientiane area, Lao PDR using Object-Oriented classification on multitemporal landsat data

Monitoring of land use and land cover change using remote sensing is important to evaluate the impacts of anthropogenic activities on the environment. Digital change detection using post-classification can help to elucidate dynamics of landscape change. This study illustrates the effectiveness of object-oriented classification compared to pixel-oriented classification in generating land cover information and its temporal changes. Spatio-temporal dynamics of land cover types in Vientiane area, Lao PDR were analyzed using Landsat images in two-time series (1990 and 2015). We used the top-down approach to classify the Landsat images in iterative steps with three hierarchical scale levels. Scale levels of 25, 10 and 5 with different weighting parameters were used to map the land cover type of Vientiane in 1990 and 2015. With object-oriented classification, overall accuracy and Kappa statistic were improved by 13.44% and 0.16 for land cover classification (LCC) 1990. For LCC 2015, the improvements in overall accuracy and Kappa statistic were 28.71% and 0.25. Based on the LCC 1990 and 2015, we observed an significant growth of plantation areas over the 25 years in the study area . Instead of traditional agricultural activity, the plantation seemed to be the new driver in the rural areas of Lao PDR. The object-oriented classification approach can be applied in other areas of Lao PDR to generate accurate information on land cover changes for better land resource management

Collaborative Exploration for Plant Genetic Resources in Laos, December, 2014

The National Institute of Agrobiological Sciences (NIAS) of Japan, has been collaborating on the surveying and exploring on the plant genetic resources under Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Agriculture Research Center (ARC) of the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute (NAFRI) of the Lao People\u27s Democratic Republic (Lao P.D.R., Laos) since 2006. The mission of NIAS was conducted from 15th to 25th December, 2014. The period is the end of the rainy season and hence the final stage of crop harvesting in Luang Namtha Province, Laos. In this region, most village farmlands are opened on hill slopes which are usually far from villages. They store seeds in their farm for next season. This mission was planned for the harvesting period. The explored villages were Ja Oub, Nam An, Ja Yee, Pa Kham, Suan Ja, Nam Kae, Nam Ta Lan and Nam Koy. By this mission, total number of 183 landrace samples was collected. It is comprised with 22 samples of sorghum (Sorghum bicolor), 22 samples of squash (Cucurbita moschata), 19 samples of maize (Zea mays), 18 samples of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata), 16 samples of eggplant (Solanum melongena), 13 samples of cucumber (Cucumis sativus ), 8 samples of rice (Oryza sativa ), 8 samples of chili (Capsicum annuum), 8 samples of bottle gourd (Lagenaria leucantha Rusby var. gourda ), 6 samples of luffa (Luffa cylindrica ), 5 samples of bitter melon (Momordica charantia ), 5 samples of sesame (Sesamum indicum), 5 samples of taro (Colocasia esculenta ), 3 samples of Job\u27s tears (Coix lacryma-jobi ), 3 samples of watermelon (Citrullus sp.), 2 samples of rice bean (Vigna umbellata), 2 samples of white flowered gourd (Lagenaria leucantha Rusby var. clavata ), 2 samples of winter melon (Benincasa hispida ), 2 samples of Cucurbita sp., 1 sample of foxtail millet (Setaria italica), 1 sample of amaranth (Amaranthus sp.), 1 sample of winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus ), 1 sample of Vigna sp., 1 sample of melon (Cucumis melo), 1 sample of Momordica sp., 1 sample of Lagenaria sp., 1 sample of yam (Dioscoreaceae sp.), 1 sample of kudzu (Pueraria sp.), and 5 samples of mixed seeds of cucumber and melon (Cucumis sp.).農業生物資源研究所遺伝資源センター(NIAS)はラオス農林省（MAF）の国立農林研究所（NAFRI）の傘下である農業研究センター（ARC）との間に締結した共同研究協定（MOA，MOU）に基づいて2006年からラオスで植物遺伝資源の探索・収集を行ってきた．本報告は2014年の活動の成果について記述したものである．今回の探索・収集は12月15日から同月25日の期間で，ラオスの北部に位置するルアンナムター県にあるジャ・ウーブ村，ナム・アーン村，パ・カム村，スアーン・ジャ村，ナム・カエー村，ナム・タ・ラン村およびナム・コーイ村を回って植物遺伝資源を収集した．これらの村は山間部に位置しており，村人は山の斜面に焼畑を作り，雨季の初めである4月下旬から5月にかけて作物を植えて，雨季の終わりごろの10月から11月にかけて収穫し，得た作物を村の倉庫に納めるのが伝統である．今回の探索で得られた植物遺伝資源は183点であり，その構成はソルガム22点，カボチャ22点，トウモロコシ19点，ササゲ18点，ナス16点，キュウリ13点，イネ8点，トウガラシ8点，ヒョウタン8点，ヘチマ6点，ツルレイシ5点，ゴマ5点，サトイモ5点，ハトムギ3点，スイカ3点，ツルアズキ2点，ユウガオ2点，トウガン2点，カボチャ属2点，アワ1点，アマランサス1点，シカクマメ1点，ササゲ属1点，メロン1点，ツルレイシ属1点，ユウガオ属1点，ヤマノイモ属1点，クズ属1点，またキュウリとメロンの混合種子5点であった．現地での栽培特性等を調査するため収集したこれらのサンプルはラオスの農業研究センター（ARC）のジーンバンクにおいて生物研との共同研究による栽培試験を行うとともに，種子増殖を行い保存する計画である

Forest plantation development, poverty, and inequality in Laos: a dynamic CGE microsimulation analysis

© 2012 Dr. Somvang PhimmavongOver the past decade, the world has observed a major growth in the development of forest plantations. Despite the considerable number of studies that have been undertaken to examine the impact of forest plantation development, there has been relatively little investigation of the economic impact of plantations. Lao People’s Democratic Republic (hereafter Lao PDR or Laos) has implemented policies to expand plantations on the basis of their contribution to economic development, particularly for poor rural people. As a result of these policies, there has been a recent dramatic increase in large-scale projects by some of the largest global forestry companies. Previous economic analysis of the forest plantation industry in Laos has only paid attention to investment analysis, and simple economic estimation such as production, consumption, and trade, but how the forestry industry interacts with the rest of the domestic economy has been either overlooked or poorly accounted for. This dissertation uses a dynamic general equilibrium model to examine the economy-wide impact of forest plantation development in Laos. Analysis focussed on the Government of Laos’ forest policies to promote the development of forest plantation by the year 2020. The results reveal that plantation development policy is likely to have a small but material impact on the Lao economy by increasing the production of several economic sectors and by stimulating exports and household income. Impacts are more significant for the Forestry and the Wood industry sector. Some undesirable impacts are likely on sectors that do not have strong interactions with the Forestry sector. The results also indicate that the government tax revenue is likely to experience some growth. To assess interactions between the macro-economy and micro-economic effects, a macro-micro economic framework was developed by connecting the dynamic Lao CGE model to a microsimulation model (LaoDCGE-MSM model). This technique enables us to assess the plantation impact at the household level or to examine the impact on poverty and inequality. Three important conclusions about the plantation development policy can be drawn from the combined models: (1) Household welfare across the Lao regions for all types of households is likely to be increased, as confirmed by increases in real net income per capita. (2) The incidence of the poverty is likely to decrease slightly across all types of household groups, and (3) Overall, a small increase in inequality is likely. This study is one of the first comprehensive investigations of the economic impact of forest plantation development at macro and microeconomic scales. The LaoDCGE-MSM model can potentially play an important role in analysing economic impacts for public decision-making. At the national level, it can assist the Government of Laos in examining possible impacts of forest plantation development on the Lao economy, poverty, and inequality. The research outcomes should help decision makers to formulate better future strategy for sustainable development of forest plantation and to reduce any negative impacts

Assessing the COVID-19 impacts on the coffee industry in Laos: An input–output modelling approach

This paper employs an input-output modelling approach to quantify the impact of decreases in coffee exports between 2019 and 2020 resulting from the implementation of various COVID-19 policies in Lao PDR. The analysis was undertaken at two levels in investigating the effects of these policies on (1) the regional economy in the main coffee producing region of Champasak Province in Southern Laos, and (2) the national economy of Lao PDR. Results were rather mixed at both the regional and national levels, for four reasons: (1) reduced production in other countries increased demand for green bean exports, resulting in a 1.8% (US$12 million) increase in the total value of gross outputs of the provincial economy; (2) reduced local demand and declines in processed coffee consumption and export in the food industry sector, resulted in a 1.5$10 million) in gross provincial production; (3) at the national level, more green bean exports increased the gross production output of the economy by 0.2% (US$24 million) while reduced processed coffee in food industry exports led to a reduction in gross production of 0.13$19.6 million); and (4) the overall effects of COVID-19 restrictions are potentially positive for the coffee sector in Lao PDR in the short term but may have longer-term implications for the coffee sector due to shift away from processed coffee exports to green beans. Future policies to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 will be instrumental in stimulating investment and enhancing the benefits for the coffee sector in Laos