Agricultural Supply Response in Northeast Thailand: Production, Resources, Income, and Policy Implications

This study presents the Northeast Regional Model (NEREGON) for northeast Thailand. It is the first in a series of regional models to be constructed and applied for Thailand. For the Northeast, the model is of the first generation and further model work will continue. Also, a larger demographic and economic data base is being built up in the region to facilitate improved models and analytical work. Northeast Thailand was selected as the region for initiating regional studies because income in this agricultural region lags behind that of other regions. This fact has been recognized in the national interregional programming model developed in the Division of Agricultural Economics (DAE). The national model has been applied to develop five-year plans that focus special attention on the Northeast and in raising income of the region relative to other regions. Other members of the DAE staff and the ISU research team also made large contributions to the research reported.https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/dae-card_sectoranalysis/1007/thumbnail.jp

Agricultural Employment and Migration in Northeast Thailand: Application of a Regional Planning Model

This report summarizes initial work in regional rural development as one phase of an agricultural sector analysis project being conducted in the Division of Agricultural Economics (CAE), the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Royal Thai Government. The project is a cooperative one between the Division of Agricultural Economics and Iowa State University and is funded by the Agency for International Development. The overall project has several phases including national and interregional programming models for analyzing policies and five-year plans, macro models of the entire Thai economy, models of the transport and market sectors, and others. The report which follows explains the initial work completed on regional development of agriculture. Further work on regional economic development is now underway. The analysis in this report relates to the Northeast Region of Thailand. The Northeast Regional Model (NEREGON) includes the 15 northeast Changwats (provinces) of the nation. It also includes five of the Agro-Economic Zones used in constructing the national linear programming model for Thai agriculture. The Northeast was selected for initiating work on regional development since incomes are relatively low, soil and climate are less favorable for crop production, and underemployment of labor is greater than in other regions. This initial study relates to improvement of incomes and employment, mainly through the region\u27s agriculture. Subsequent analyses will consider agribusiness possibilities, nonfarm industry, and human and public services. The current study revolves around a programming model since, in the short time after the overall project was initiated, data were more readily available for this approach. As other data are accumulated and verified, additional types of models and analyses may be included.https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/dae-card_sectoranalysis/1000/thumbnail.jp

Agricultural Planning in Thailand, Final Report

The primary purpose of the Agricultural Planning Project (APP) was to strengthen the capabilities of Thailand\u27s Office of Agricultural Economics (OAE) to carry out policy advisory, problem identification and analysis, planning, data management, and integrated project preparation functions. The assistance was designed to increase the OAE\u27s capability to assist the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (MOAC) to more effectively plan and administer its resources to achieve specific policy objectives

Fracture toughness of the cancellous bone of FNF femoral heads in relation to its microarchitecture

This study considers the relationship between microarchitecture and mechanical properties for cancellous bone specimens collected from a cohort of patients who had suffered fractured necks of femur. OP is an acute skeletal condition with huge socioeconomic impact [1] and it is associated with changes in both bone quantity and quality [2], which affect greatly the strength and toughness of the tissue [3].Support was provided by the EPSRC (EP/K020196: Point-ofCare High Accuracy Fracture Risk Prediction), the UK Department of Transport under the BOSCOS (Bone Scanning for Occupant Safety) project, and approved by Gloucester and Cheltenham NHS Trust hospitals under ethical consent (BOSCOS – Mr. Curwen CI REC ref 01/179G)

Abundance of Bottlenose Dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in the Coastal Gulf of Mexico

The abundance of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) for many coastal areas of the United States Gulf of Mexico is poorly known. During spring and fall 1987, we used aircraft and strip transects to estimate bottlenose dolphin abundance within 37 km of the U.S. Gulf shore. Greatest estimated dolphin densities were in the north-central Gulf (spring), northern Florida (fall) and Louisiana study areas (fall) (about 0.30 dolphins / km2). We estimated the coastal U.S. Gulf population of bottlenose dolphins to be 16,892 ± 3,628 (95% Cl) and 16,089 ± 3,338 in spring and fall, respectively. Bottlenose dolphins were found throughout the U.S. Gulf waters searched, but herds offshore of Texas were concentrated near passes and Louisiana herds were more common in and near eastern bays. Our estimates are one of the first assessments of the abundance and density of bottlenose dolphins throughout the coastal U.S. Gulf and may provide useful baseline estimates

Simulations and experimental demonstrations of encoding for X-ray coherent scattering

Diffraction data may be measured using approaches that lead to ambiguity in the interpretation of scattering distributions. Thus, the encoding and decoding of coherent scatter distributions have been considered with a view to enabling unequivocal data interpretation. Two encoding regimes are considered where encoding occurs between the X-ray source and sample, and where the encoder is placed between the sample and detector. In the first case, the successful recovery of diffraction data formed from the interrogation of powder samples with annular incident beams is presented using a coded aperture approach. In a second regime, encoding of Debye cones is shown to enable recovery of sample position relative to the detector. The errors associated with both regimes are considered and the advantages of combining both discussed

Thoughts and acts of self-harm, and suicidal ideation, in online gamblers

Gambling problems have been linked to suicidal ideation and enhanced risk of suicide attempts. However, we know very little about the factors associated with either thoughts or acts of self-harm amongst people who gamble. A web-based study of 4125 online gamblers (79% males; mean age 35.5 years), analysed using hierarchical multiple regression, revealed that self-reported non-gambling-related self-harm was negatively related to age and marital status, and positively related to problematic alcohol use. Self-reported acts of self-harm both related and unrelated to gambling were associated with drug misuse. Thoughts and acts of gambling-related self-harm were associated with problem gambling, gambling involvement and parental problem gambling. All types of self-harm were associated with mood disorder symptoms, unemployment and certain gambling motivations. When tailoring assessment and interventions for individuals at risk for gambling-related deliberate self-harm, it is important to recognize that contributory factors may include some that differ from those for deliberate self-harm in general, and that there is potential value in evaluating gambling involvement and motivations, and history of parental gambling.supported by the Responsibility in Gambling Trust and the Economic and Social Research Council under grant number 164-25-000

Surface orientation, modulation frequency and the detection and perception of depth defined by binocular disparity and motion parallax

Binocular disparity and motion parallax provide information about the spatial structure and layout of the world. Descriptive similarities between the two cues have often been noted which have been taken as evidence of a close relationship between them. Here, we report two experiments which investigate the effect of surface orientation and modulation frequency on (i) a threshold detection task and (ii) a supra-threshold depth-matching task using sinusoidally corrugated surfaces defined by binocular disparity or motion parallax. For low frequency corrugations, an orientation anisotropy was observed in both domains, with sensitivity decreasing as surface orientation was varied from horizontal to vertical. In the depth-matching task, for surfaces defined by binocular disparity the greatest depth was seen for oblique orientations. For surfaces defined by motion parallax, perceived depth was found to increase as surface orientation was varied from horizontal to vertical. In neither case was perceived depth for supra-threshold surfaces related to threshold performance in any simple manner. These results reveal clear differences between the perception of depth from binocular disparity or motion parallax, and between perception at threshold and supra-threshold levels of performance. © 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

New insights into the application of pair distribution function studies to biogenic and synthetic hydroxyapatites

Biogenic and synthetic hydroxyapatites are confounding materials whose properties remain uncertain, even after years of study. Pair distribution function (PDF) analysis was applied to hydroxyapatites in the 1970’s and 1980’s, but this area of research has not taken full advantage of the relatively recent advances in synchrotron facilities. Here, synchrotron X-ray PDF analysis is compared to techniques commonly used to characterise hydroxyapatite (such as wide angle X-ray scattering, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis) for a range of biogenic and synthetic hydroxyapatites with a wide range of carbonate substitution. Contributions to the pair distribution function from collagen, carbonate and finite crystallite size were examined through principal component analysis and comparison of PDFs. Noticeable contributions from collagen were observed in biogenic PDFs when compared to synthetic PDFs (namely r < 15 Å), consistent with simulated PDFs of collagen structures. Additionally, changes in local structure were observed for PDFs of synthetic hydroxyapatites with differing carbonate content, notably in features near 4 Å, 8 Å and 19 Å. Regression models were generated to predict carbonate substitution from peak position within the PDFs