Cotton-textile-apparel sectors of India:

"Cotton, textiles, and apparel are critical agricultural and industrial sectors in India. This study provides descriptions of these sectors and examines the key developments emerging domestically and internationally that affect the challenges and opportunities the sectors face. More than four million farm households produce cotton in India, and about one-quarter of output is produced by marginal and small farms. Although production has expanded—most recently with the introduction of Bt (Bacillus thuringiensis) cotton—domestic prices dropped sharply in the late 1990s, in parallel to world cotton prices. Using partial equilibrium simulations, we estimate that a price movement of the magnitude that occurred has a significant effect on levels of poverty among cotton-producing households. The fiber-to-fabric production chain, from cotton processing through apparel, employs more than 12 million workers in India and provides 16 percent of export earnings. Except for the spinning industry, these sectors are dominated by small, fragmented, and nonintegrated units, which adversely affect their competitiveness. Recent policy reforms have induced some technological improvements. In terms of future prospects for the Indian processing, textile, and apparel industries, our analysis emphasizes three dimensions of reform—the need for further investments in human resource development to improve industry productivity and reduce poverty among workers in these sectors, the emergence of modern domestic retail marketing chains, and the potentially vibrant prospects for the industry that arise from a growing domestic fabric demand and new opportunities in world markets if appropriate policies and investments are undertaken." from authors' abstractCotton, textiles, Apparel, Rural poverty, subsidies, Industry policy, World markets,

Estimates of Total Factor Productivity in the Philippines

The paper presents an updated TFP estimates in the Philippines. The present estimates were derived using a modified set of methodologies, thus may not be comparable with those derived in the previous estimates (Cororaton and Caparas 1999). Modifications were introduced in the method for computing sectoral employment, sectoral investment and sectoral capital stock. Based on the revised TFP estimates, one can observe favorable as well as unfavorable trends. Sectoral estimates showed improving TFP in the 1990s, although a number of the sectoral TFP levels are still negative. However, for the economy as a whole, 1990 saw a slight decline in TFP. This could indicate that there may seem to be some unfavorable resource allocation effects. Looking at the factor intensity results, the growth during the period could generally be described as capital accumulation type of growth. This is particularly true for nontradable sectors, specially the service-related sectors. The labor-capital ratios and the sources of growth analysis indicate a movement of capital towards these sectors, relative to the rest of the sectors. One factor which may have contributed to this type of resource movement is the prolonged real appreciation of the currency in face of an aggressive trade reform programs in the first half of the 1990s. This kind of an economic environment may not be conducive to production activities, both for domestic consumption and exports. In a period when capital inflow is massive, which actually transpired during the first half of the 1990s, nontradable, service sectors could become an attractive destination of capital

An Analysis of Philippine Trade Reforms in 1995-2000 Using the 1994 APEX Model

There are three major developments in the area of foreign trade in 1990s: (a) the WTO-Uruguay Round agreement in 1995; (b) the AFTA agreement; and (c) the series of unilateral trade reform programs of the government. The paper attempts to make an impact assessment of these reforms during the period 1995 and 2000 using the updated APEX model, a computable general equilibrium of the Philippine economy. Part of the trade reform process is the shift to transaction valuation of imports. The paper also attempts to analyze the possible effects of this shift

Analisis Kinerja Sistem Doppler VHF Omnidirectional Range dan Distance Measuring Equipment pada Navigasi Penerbangan

Navigasi udara merupakan kegiatan untuk mengarahkan transportasi udara dari satu tempat ke tempat yang lain agar tidak keluar dari jalurnya. Sistem transmisi sinyal pada Doppler VHF Omnidirectional Range (DVOR) belum sepenuhnya optimal karena persentase sinyal modulasinya sering mengalami peningkatan yang berakibat pada munculnya kondisi sinyal over-modulated. Deteksi sinyal interogasi maupun sinyal balasan pada Distance Measuring Equipment (DME) mengalami hambatan disebabkan oleh waktu tunda dan jarak pulsa yang tidak sesuai. Pada penelitian ini, akan dilakukan analisis kinerja sistem DVOR-DME dengan membandingkan nilai parameter dan nilai kondisi normal. Berdasarkan analisis kinerja sistem, didapatkan bahwa sistem DVOR-DME AirNav Indonesia Distrik Tanjungpinang beroperasi dengan normal. Nilai optimal 30Hz MOD dan 9960Hz MOD pada DVOR berada pada rentang nilai normal yaitu sebesar 30%. Nilai optimal delay dan spacing pada DME berada pada rentang nilai delay normal dan nilai spacing normal yaitu sebesar 50,01 μs dan 12,02 μs

Allelomimesis as universal clustering mechanism for complex adaptive systems

Animal and human clusters are complex adaptive systems and many are organized in cluster sizes $s$ that obey the frequency-distribution $D(s)\propto s^{-\tau}$. Exponent $\tau$ describes the relative abundance of the cluster sizes in a given system. Data analyses have revealed that real-world clusters exhibit a broad spectrum of $\tau$-values, $0.7\textrm{(tuna fish schools)}\leq\tau\leq 2.95\textrm{(galaxies)}$. We show that allelomimesis is a fundamental mechanism for adaptation that accurately explains why a broad spectrum of $\tau$-values is observed in animate, human and inanimate cluster systems. Previous mathematical models could not account for the phenomenon. They are hampered by details and apply only to specific systems such as cities, business firms or gene family sizes. Allelomimesis is the tendency of an individual to imitate the actions of its neighbors and two cluster systems yield different $\tau$ values if their component agents display different allelomimetic tendencies. We demonstrate that allelomimetic adaptation are of three general types: blind copying, information-use copying, and non-copying. Allelomimetic adaptation also points to the existence of a stable cluster size consisting of three interacting individuals.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 2 table

Neutron radioactivity—Lifetime measurements of neutron-unbound states

A new technique to measure the lifetime τ of a neutron-radioactive nucleus that decays in-flight via neutron emission is presented and demonstrated utilizing MonteCarlo simulations. The method is based on the production of the neutron-unbound nucleus in a target, which at the same time slows down the produced nucleus and the residual nucleus after (multi-) neutron emission. The spectrum of the velocity difference of neutron(s) and the residual nucleus has a characteristic shape, that allows to extract the lifetime. If the decay happens outside the target there will be a peak in the spectrum, while events where the decay is in the target show a broad flat distribution due to the continuous slowing down of the residual nucleus. The method itself and the analysis procedure are discussed in detail for the specific candidate 26O. A stack of targets with decreasing target thicknesses can expand the measurable lifetime range and improve the sensitivity by increasing the ratio between decays outside and inside the target. The simulations indicate a lower limit of measurable lifetime τ∼0.2 ps for the given conditions

Ascospore release and survival in Sclerotinia sclerotiorum

The release and survival of ascospores of a UK Sclerotinia sclerotiorum isolate were studied. Apothecia placed in a spore clock apparatus with different lighting regimes at 15 °C released ascospores continuously with an increasing rate for the duration of experiments (72–84 h). Spore release was not confined to light or dark periods in alternating regimes and occurred in continuous dark or light. Ascospores were released in both saturated air (90–95% rh) and at 65–75% rh. High temperature and rh were detrimental to ascospore survival but spore viability was maintained for longer periods than previously reported. The significance of these results in relation to disease control is discussed

Spectroscopy of 13B via the 13C(t,3He) reaction at 115 AMeV

Gamow-Teller and dipole transitions to final states in 13B were studied via the 13C(t,3He) reaction at Et = 115 AMeV. Besides the strong Gamow-Teller transition to the 13B ground state, a weaker Gamow-Teller transition to a state at 3.6 MeV was found. This state was assigned a spin-parity of 3/2- by comparison with shell-model calculations using the WBP and WBT interactions which were modified to allow for mixing between nhw and (n+2)hw configurations. This assignment agrees with a recent result from a lifetime measurement of excited states in 13B. The shell-model calculations also explained the relatively large spectroscopic strength measured for a low-lying 1/2+ state at 4.83 MeV in 13B. The cross sections for dipole transitions up to Ex(13B)= 20 MeV excited via the 13C(t,3He) reaction were also compared with the shell-model calculations. The theoretical cross sections exceeded the data by a factor of about 1.8, which might indicate that the dipole excitations are "quenched". Uncertainties in the reaction calculations complicate that interpretation.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure