Agricultural dynamics in Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines

The introduction of new high‐yielding varieties of cereals in the 1960s, known as the green revolution, dramatically changed the food supply in Asia, as well as in other countries. In the present paper we examine, over an extended period, the growth consequences for agriculture in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. Despite geographical proximity, similar climate and other shared characteristics, gains in productivity and income differed significantly among the countries. We quantify these differences and examine their determinants. We find that the new technology changed the returns to fertilisers, irrigated land and capital, all of which proved scarce to varying degrees. Complementing technology‐related changes in factor use were investments, public and private, driven in part by policy. We find that factor accumulation played an important role in output growth and that accumulations from policy driven investments in human capital and public infrastructure were important sources of productivity gains. We conclude that policies that ease constraints on factor markets and promote public investment in people and infrastructure provide the best opportunities for agricultural growth.International Development,

Heterogeneous technology and panel data : the case of the agricultural production function

The paper presents empirical analysis of a panel of countries to estimate an agricultural production function using a measure of capital in agriculture absent from most studies. The authors employ a heterogeneous technology framework where implemented technology is chosen jointly with inputs to interpret information obtained in the empirical analysis of panel data. The paper discusses the scope for replacing country and time effects by observed variables and the limitations of instrumental variables. The empirical results differ from those reported in the literature for cross-country studies, largely in augmenting the role of capital, in combination with productivity gains, as a driver of agricultural growth. The results indicate that total factor productivity increased at an average rate of 3.2 percent, accounting for 59 percent of overall growth. Most of the remaining gains stem from large inflows of fixed capital into agriculture. The results also suggest possible constraints to fertilizer use.Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Economic Growth,E-Business,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems

Measures of fixed capital in agriculture

Capital is a fundamental component of agricultural production, and the accumulation of capital is key to growth in agriculture and the process of development. Unfortunately, cross-country data sets on agricultural fixed capital are rare. Using a common methodology that allows comparisons across countries, as well as over time, this paper introduces a data series on fixed capital in agriculture, based on national accounts data. The fixed capital measure differs remarkably from the Food and Agriculture Organization's data series on tractors, which has been widely utilized as a proxy for agricultural fixed capital. The authors construct comparable measures of capital in livestock and tree stock. They examine the evolution of the capital stocks from 1970 to 2000, paying particular attention to the changing composition of agricultural capital, as well as differences in the accumulation of capital for high-income and middle and lower-income countries. Using the capital measures in agricultural productivity analyses, the data yield estimated input elasticities substantially different from those found previously in the literature. The authors show explicitly that this is due to the improved data set on agricultural capital stocks, as well as the methodology used in the study.Economic Theory&Research,Investment and Investment Climate,Rural Development Knowledge&Information Systems,Economic Growth,Emerging Markets

A new database on investment and capital for agriculture and manufacturing

In this paper, the authors document a new database on sectoral investment and capital, providing details about sources of investment data and the method used to convert those data series into capital stock series. They also provide a copy of the computer program used to implement the method. The data set is available for electronic distribution and will soon be posted on the World Wide Web. They broadly define agricultural capital and calculate series for fixed capital as well as capital embodied in livestock and treestock.Agricultural Research,Banking Law,Economic Theory&Research,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Fiscal&Monetary Policy,Economic Theory&Research,Agricultural Research,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,National Governance,ICT Policy and Strategies

Anaemia, iron status and vitamin A deficiency among adolescent refugees in Kenya and Nepal

AbstractObjectiveTo investigate the prevalence of anaemia (haemoglobin 8.3 μg ml−1) and vitamin A deficiency (serum retinol < 0.7 μmoll−1) in adolescent refugees.DesignCross-sectional surveys.SettingKakuma refugee camp in Kenya and seven refugee camps in Nepal.SubjectsAdolescent refugee residents in these camps.ResultsAnaemia was present in 46% (95% confidence interval (CI): 42–51) of adolescents in Kenya and in 24% (95% CI: 20–28) of adolescents in Nepal. The sensitivity of palmar pallor in detecting anaemia was 21%. In addition, 43% (95% CI: 36–50) and 53% (95% CI: 46–61) of adolescents in Kenya and Nepal, respectively, had iron deficiency. In both surveys, anaemia occurred more commonly among adolescents with iron deficiency. Vitamin A deficiency was found in 15% (95% CI: 10–20) of adolescents in Kenya and 30% (95% CI: 24–37) of adolescents in Nepal. Night blindness was not more common in adolescents with vitamin A deficiency than in those without vitamin A deficiency. In Kenya, one of the seven adolescents with Bitot's spots had vitamin A deficiency.ConclusionsAnaemia, iron deficiency and vitamin A deficiency are common among adolescents in refugee populations. Such adolescents need to increase intakes of these nutrients; however, the lack of routine access makes programmes targeting adolescents difficult. Adolescent refugees should be considered for assessment along with other at-risk groups in displaced populations

Understanding the faint red galaxy population using large-scale clustering measurements from SDSS DR7

We use data from the SDSS to investigate the evolution of the large-scale galaxy bias as a function of luminosity for red galaxies. We carefully consider correlation functions of galaxies selected from both photometric and spectroscopic data, and cross-correlations between them, to obtain multiple measurements of the large-scale bias. We find, for our most robust analyses, a strong increase in bias with luminosity for the most luminous galaxies, an intermediate regime where bias does not evolve strongly over a range of two magnitudes in galaxy luminosity, and no evidence for an upturn in bias for fainter red galaxies. Previous work has found an increase in bias to low luminosities that has been widely interpreted as being caused by a strong preference for red dwarf galaxies to be satellites in the most massive halos. We can recover such an upturn in bias to faint luminosities if we push our measurements to small scales, and include galaxy clustering measurements along the line-of-sight, where we expect non-linear effects to be the strongest. The results that we expect to be most robust suggest that the low luminosity population of red galaxies is not dominated by satellite galaxies occupying the most massive haloes.Comment: Matches version accepted by MNRA

An Excel-based template for estimating induction-phase treatment costs for cryptococcal meningitis in high HIV-burden African countries

This repository contains a costing template for estimating induction-phase treatment costs for cryptococcal meningitis in high HIV-burden African countries. Four country-specific examples are included (and any of these examples can be used as a template for replication with new information, in other locations, etc. A brief User's Guide is included.This dataset is related to the following forthcoming article: Larson B, Shroufi A, Muthoga C et al. Induction-phase treatment costs for cryptococcal meningitis in high HIV-burden African countries: New opportunities with lower costs [V.1; awaiting peer review]. Wellcome Open Res 2021, 6:140 (https://doi.org/10.12688/wellcomeopenres.16776.1)BL: CDC Foundation NPG: CDC, CDC Foundation, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, NIH, UK MRC unrelated to the current work. NPG is partly supported by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (R01AI118511). JJ: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) through a Global Health Professorship (grant RP-2017-08-ST2-012) using UK aid from the UK Government to support global health research. RR: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (K23 AI38851) Disclaimer The content of this manuscript is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the CDC, NIH, NIHR, the Department of Health and Social Care, or other funding entities

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Analysis of potential systematics

We analyze the density field of galaxies observed by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) included in the SDSS Data Release Nine (DR9). DR9 includes spectroscopic redshifts for over 400,000 galaxies spread over a footprint of 3,275 deg^2. We identify, characterize, and mitigate the impact of sources of systematic uncertainty on large-scale clustering measurements, both for angular moments of the redshift-space correlation function and the spherically averaged power spectrum, P(k), in order to ensure that robust cosmological constraints will be obtained from these data. A correlation between the projected density of stars and the higher redshift (0.43 < z < 0.7) galaxy sample (the `CMASS' sample) due to imaging systematics imparts a systematic error that is larger than the statistical error of the clustering measurements at scales s > 120h^-1Mpc or k < 0.01hMpc^-1. We find that these errors can be ameliorated by weighting galaxies based on their surface brightness and the local stellar density. We use mock galaxy catalogs that simulate the CMASS selection function to determine that randomly selecting galaxy redshifts in order to simulate the radial selection function of a random sample imparts the least systematic error on correlation function measurements and that this systematic error is negligible for the spherically averaged correlation function. The methods we recommend for the calculation of clustering measurements using the CMASS sample are adopted in companion papers that locate the position of the baryon acoustic oscillation feature (Anderson et al. 2012), constrain cosmological models using the full shape of the correlation function (Sanchez et al. 2012), and measure the rate of structure growth (Reid et al. 2012). (abridged)Comment: Matches version accepted by MNRAS. Clarifications and references have been added. See companion papers that share the "The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey:" titl

The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: measurements of the growth of structure and expansion rate at z=0.57 from anisotropic clustering

We analyze the anisotropic clustering of massive galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS) Data Release 9 (DR9) sample, which consists of 264,283 galaxies in the redshift range 0.43 < z < 0.7 spanning 3,275 square degrees. Both peculiar velocities and errors in the assumed redshift-distance relation ("Alcock-Paczynski effect") generate correlations between clustering amplitude and orientation with respect to the line-of-sight. Together with the sharp baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) standard ruler, our measurements of the broadband shape of the monopole and quadrupole correlation functions simultaneously constrain the comoving angular diameter distance (2190 +/- 61 Mpc) to z=0.57, the Hubble expansion rate at z=0.57 (92.4 +/- 4.5 km/s/Mpc), and the growth rate of structure at that same redshift (d sigma8/d ln a = 0.43 +/- 0.069). Our analysis provides the best current direct determination of both DA and H in galaxy clustering data using this technique. If we further assume a LCDM expansion history, our growth constraint tightens to d sigma8/d ln a = 0.415 +/- 0.034. In combination with the cosmic microwave background, our measurements of DA, H, and growth all separately require dark energy at z > 0.57, and when combined imply \Omega_{\Lambda} = 0.74 +/- 0.016, independent of the Universe's evolution at z<0.57. In our companion paper (Samushia et al. prep), we explore further cosmological implications of these observations.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures, submitted to MNRAS, comments welcom

Discourse effects on older children’s interpretations of complement control and temporal adjunct control

The reference of understood subjects (ecs) in complement control (John persuaded Peteri eci to read the book) and temporal adjunct control (Johni tapped Peter while eci reading the book) has long been described as restricted to the object and subject of the main clause respectively. These restrictions have shaped the grammatical targets proposed for children, most of whom are reported as having acquired both sub-types by seven. Using three picture-selection tasks, 76 children’s (34 girls; aged 6;9-11;8) interpretations of the ecs were tested. Task 1 established their base-line preferences. Task 2 weakly cued the ecs towards an alternative referent and Task 3 strongly towards an alternative referent. Complement control responses were consistent across all tasks but in adjunct control they shifted significantly towards the object in Task 3 – a pattern mirrored by 15 adults. Responses in adjunct control also exhibited a degree of fluctuation in the baseline condition that complement control did not. A follow-up study on adjunct control showed that neither children nor adults permitted an external-referent reading, even when strongly cued in that direction. Two alternative proposals are discussed: one in which the results are viewed solely as the product of a parser’s sensitivity to activation and another that proposes two possible structures for adjunct control; this permits the evident interpretation shift yet gives precedence to the highly preferred subject-oriented reading