Political Economy of Agricultural Distortions in Transition Countries of Asia and Europe

The paper analyzes the political and institutional factors which are behind the dramatic changes in distortions to agricultural incentives in the transition countries in East Asia (China and Vietnam), Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, etc), the rest of the former Soviet Union, and in Central and Eastern Europe. The paper explains why these changes have occurred and why there are large differences among transition countries in the extent and the nature of the remaining distortions.Distorted incentives, agricultural and trade policy reforms, national agricultural development, Political economy, agricultural distortions, transition economies, China, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17, Q18, N50, O13, O21, P22, P26,

Neogene benthic foraminiferal stratigraphy and deep water history of Sites 645, 646, and 647, Baffin Bay and Labrador Sea

Benthic foraminifers were examined from Neogene sediments of Ocean Drilling Program (ODP) Sites 645, 646, and 647 to determine their biostratigraphy and to place constraints on the paleoceanographic history of Baffin Bay, Eirik Ridge, and the Gloria Drift. At Site 645 in Baffin Bay, a Pleistocene Stetsonia assemblage is similar to the modern Baffin Bay assemblage, but an underlying Epistominella takayanagii assemblage has no modern analog. Miocene assemblages below a barren interval display low diversity and consist mainly of agglutinated species. At Site 646 in the Labrador Sea, benthic faunal turnovers occur near important seismic horizons. A Miocene Nuttallides umbonifera assemblage similar to assemblages at other North Atlantic sites occurs below reflector R3. Above reflector R3, a coarse agglutinated assemblage containing more diversified calcareous benthic foraminifers was found that displays affinity to assemblages in the Norwegian-Greenland Sea. The faunal turnover near reflector R3 was interpreted as reflecting the onset (or renewal) of significant Denmark Straits Overflow Water at Site 646 at ~7.5 Ma, Agglutinated species disappear between reflector R2 and the base of the sediment drift, indicating a change in deep-water properties that occurred at ~ 4.7 Ma. This turnover ultimately may be linked to the reopening of the Mediterranean. The beginning of drift sedimentation at the Eirik Ridge is dated at —4.5 Ma. Drift formation ceased at ~2.5 Ma, concomitant with the appearance of ice-rafted sediments. Pleistocene assemblages containing Stetsonia horvathi display affinity to deep assemblages in high-latitude ocean basins. Upper Pliocene and Pleistocene benthic assemblages at Site 647 contain N. umbonifera, which indicates a continued influence of corrosive deep water at the Gloria Drift

Competitiveness in the Food Industry: a CGE Modelling Approach to assess Foreign Direct Investment in Transition Countries

For transition countries, the food industry sector is a key industry in terms of output and employment shares. As a competitive sector that receives substantial foreign direct investments (FDI), it plays an important role as an element in the process of integration in the European and world market. The GLOBE Computable General Equilibrium model is applied to analyse scenarios of alternative development pathways of the food industry sector, taking into account the impact of FDI in the European food industry. The scenario analyses of this study identify that with an enhanced attraction of FDI in the food processing industries in the New Member States (NMS) the integration of the agri-food sectors in the NMS into the Single European Market will become even stronger.Food industry, foreign direct investment, CGE, transition countries, Agribusiness, International Relations/Trade,

Resolution of Nodular Fasciitis in the Upper Arm

AbstractNodular fasciitis is a benign fibroblastic lesion that was historically misdiagnosed as a malignant neoplasm. Patients present with pain and swelling of relatively brief duration. The clinical presentation is suggestive of an aggressive lesion, usually occurring in muscle fascia. Histologic features can cause it to be mistaken for sarcoma. After the diagnosis is established histologically, observation is the suggested treatment. We present the case of a patient who had a large soft-tissue tumor in the upper arm with a clinical picture indicative of sarcoma, which ultimately was diagnosed as nodular fasciitis. The patient was treated with anti-inflammatory agents and observation. Within 7 months, the mass almost completely resolved, as documented by magnetic resonance imaging

Confinement and the safety factor profile

The conjecture that the safety factor profile, q(r), controls the improvement in tokamak plasmas from poor confinement in the Low (L-) mode regime to improved confinement in the supershot regime has been tested in two experiments on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR). First, helium was puffed into the beam-heated phase of a supershot discharge which induced a degradation from supershot to L-mode confinement in about 100 msec, far less than the current relaxation time. The q and shear profiles measured by a motional Stark effect polarimeter showed little change during the confinement degradation. Second, rapid current ramps in supershot plasmas altered the q profile, but were observed not to change significantly the energy confinement. Thus, enhanced confinement in supershot plasmas is not due to a particular q profile which has enhanced stability or transport properties. The discharges making a continuous transition between supershot and L-mode confinement were also used to test the critical-electron-temperature-gradient transport model. It was found that this model could not reproduce the large changes in electron and ion temperature caused by the change in confinement

Performance analysis of packet layer FEC codes and interleaving in FSO channels

The combination of forward-error-correction (FEC) and interleaving can be used to improve free-space optical (FSO) communication systems. Recent research has optimized the codeword length and interleaving depth under the assumption of a fixed buffering size, however, how the buffering size influences the system performance remains unsolved. This paper models the system performance as a function of buffering size and FEC recovery threshold, which allows system designers to determine optimum parameters in consideration of the overhead. The modelling is based on statistics of temporal features of correct data reception and burst error length through the measurement of the channel good time and outage time. The experimental results show good coherence with the theoretical values. This method can also be applied in other channels if a Continuous-Time-Markov-Chain (CTMC) model of the channel can be derive

Massive binary black holes in galactic nuclei and their path to coalescence

Massive binary black holes form at the centre of galaxies that experience a merger episode. They are expected to coalesce into a larger black hole, following the emission of gravitational waves. Coalescing massive binary black holes are among the loudest sources of gravitational waves in the Universe, and the detection of these events is at the frontier of contemporary astrophysics. Understanding the black hole binary formation path and dynamics in galaxy mergers is therefore mandatory. A key question poses: during a merger, will the black holes descend over time on closer orbits, form a Keplerian binary and coalesce shortly after? Here we review progress on the fate of black holes in both major and minor mergers of galaxies, either gas-free or gas-rich, in smooth and clumpy circum-nuclear discs after a galactic merger, and in circum-binary discs present on the smallest scales inside the relic nucleus.Comment: Accepted for publication in Space Science Reviews. To appear in hard cover in the Space Sciences Series of ISSI "The Physics of Accretion onto Black Holes" (Springer Publisher

Chaos in a double driven dissipative nonlinear oscillator

We propose an anharmonic oscillator driven by two periodic forces of different frequencies as a new time-dependent model for investigating quantum dissipative chaos. Our analysis is done in the frame of statistical ensemble of quantum trajectories in quantum state diffusion approach. Quantum dynamical manifestation of chaotic behavior, including the emergence of chaos, properties of strange attractors, and quantum entanglement are studied by numerical simulation of ensemble averaged Wigner function and von Neumann entropy.Comment: 9 pages, 18 figure

Heirloom rice in Ifugao: an ‘anti-commodity’ in the process of commodification

We analyse the marketing of ‘heirloom rices’ produced in the Cordillera mountains of northern Luzon, the Philippines, as the commodification of a historical ‘anti-commodity’. We contend that, historically, rice was produced for social, cultural and spiritual purposes but not primarily for sale or trade. The Ifugaos were able to sustain terraced wet-rice cultivation within a system of ‘escape agriculture’ because they were protected from Spanish interference by the friction of terrain and distance. ‘Heirloom rice’ is a boundary concept that enables social entrepreneurs to commodify traditional landraces. We analyse the implications for local rice production and conservation efforts.Templeton Foundatio