Impact of climate change on agricultural production and food security of Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada

Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) has a food security issue due to lack of suitable agricultural land, short growing seasons, and unsustainable agricultural policies promoting conventional industrial farming practices, with a limited range of agricultural produce (milk, eggs and poultry) and no facilities for secondary processing of these. The food security issue has been exacerbated in the last decades by climate change events (extreme temperatures, heavy rains and more frequent droughts) which have negatively impacted the province’s agricultural industry. The conventional industrial agricultural practices and the profit focus of maximization agricultural policies have contributed to and have intensified several environmental, social and economic problems. They have as well provided an inadequate guarantee for food security, as the NL agriculture industry does not secure enough healthy, fresh, nutritious, and affordable food alternatives for people to live and be healthy. This research is based on quantitative and qualitative data, collected through surveying both crop and dairy farmers located in western, central and eastern regions of the Newfoundland and Labrador province, and through a literature review of peer-reviewed articles, published government reports and documents and news articles. The research results show that any attempt to solve the multi-faceted problems of the NL agriculture impacted by climate change increases the significance of pursuing an agro-ecological approach to farming in the province. Integrated and small, highly diversified farms are one sustainable alternative to modern industrial farming, as they can make the current agricultural practices more resilient to global climate change (GCC), can enhance food security in the province, as well as reduce the impact of agricultural practices on GCC. This study has found that 100 percent of the crop and dairy farms production has been affected by two or more natural hazards, such as long winters/short growing seasons, late spring frost and heavy rains/rain storms, which are the results of climate change. More interestingly, 56 percent of the farm owners in the study area believe that industrial or conventional farm practices have little or no impact on environmental degradation or climate change, since they follow the agriculture rules and guiding principles imposed by the provincial and the federal government of Canada and apply efficient farm management strategies. In some cases, the soils, chemical fertilizers and fossil fuels are poorly managed by the farmers surveyed in the study area, but a good percentage of the farmers are trying to reduce dependency on chemical fertilizers and pesticides and fossil fuels and at the same time, are trying to increase the use of organic fertilizers, pesticides and renewable energy. Moreover, the current research has shown that there are incipient agro-ecological practices in the province, and that farmers are aware about climate change and the need to adopt more environment friendly farming practices. New policy frameworks and work plans are needed to speed up the transition from the current unsustainable farming practices to small-scale, organic, energy efficient and high yielding agro-ecological practices. Provincial as well as federal government support, and collaboration among educational and research institutions, agricultural farms, non-government organizations and the general public will promote agricultural diversification and integration and more environmentally-friendly farm practices within the province. These will ameliorate province’s food security issue, by increasing the supply of local fresh and healthy food, will provide additional financial benefits to the farm holders, as well as protect the local and the global environment

Contagion risk for Australian authorised deposit-taking institutions

This paper investigates the contagion risk for Australian-owned authorized deposit taking institutions (ADIs) spilling from the US and UK banks. We hypothesized that Australian ADIs are prone to extreme shocks experienced by its US and UK counterparts. We define four discrete events for the Australian banking sector in terms of the number of banks exceeding at a time an extreme value. The extreme value is defined as the 90th percentile on the negative tail of the distribution of changes in the distance to default obtained through Black and Scholes (1973) and Merton (1974) formula. Then we fit a multinomial logistic model (MLM) to relate these events to the number of exceedances (extreme events) occurring in the US and the UK in the previous day for the time period September 2006 to September 2011. The MLM estimates reveal strong contagion effects for Australian ADIs from the US and UK banks

Asymmetry and persistence of energy price volatility

This study estimates and compares the asymmetry and persistence of volatility of crude oil, natural gas and coal- three main sources of energy. This study also evaluates the effect of recent Global Financial Crisis (GFC) on the return and volatility of these energy prices. Threshold GARCH (TGARCH) and fractionally integrated GARCH (FIGARCH) model are employed to facilitate the study. The estimated results show that coal return volatility exhibits strong mean reversion whereas crude oil and natural gas return volatility endures shocks for relatively higher period. The estimated results also confirm that volatility of crude oil and natural gas increases after positive shocks in prices

Study of heteroaromatic enediyne and substituted benzothiophene synthesis with relative reactivity of substituted aryl iodides in the Sonogashira reaction

Enediyne compounds have captured the imagination of chemists since their discovery as a class of natural products. Because of their cytotoxicity, these compounds are not suitable for use in cancer treatment. As a result, chemists have aimed to reduce their toxicity, improve stability and elucidate the mechanism of their cyclization reaction. The Sonogashira coupling reaction is used to synthesize a number of heteroaromatic enediynes and has been examined. By coupling a number of alkynes with 2,3- dibromothiphene a number of corresponding disubstituted enediynes were produced. In order to get fused bicyclic heteroaromatic products both thermal and photochemical Bergman cyclizations have been performed with these enediynes. To date, the attempted cyclizations have not been successful. Beside this, a series of competitive reactions was carried out to determine the relative reactivity of substituted aryl iodides in the Sonogashira reactions. These reactions were carried out in co-catalyst system composed of Pd/Cul. The competitive reactions between iodobenzene and a number of 3- and 4-substituted iodobenzenes provided relative rates which were compared to the theoretical electron densities of the iodidebearing carbon. Generally, electron withdrawing substituents in the para- and metapositions increased the reactivity, while donating substituents decreased the rate of reaction. It was found that resonance effects have a greater effect on reactivity than inductive effects

Towards the Implementation of Monetary Management in Islamic Economic System Based on Recent Developments

Monetary management is an essential part of the objectives of Shari’ah under the umbrella of the preservation of wealth (Ma’al). Our primary sources: Qur’an and Sunn’ah, provide divine legislation on the prohibition of Riba to manage bases of monetary transaction. Further, the juristic tools facilitate scholars to propose solutions to meet the emerging issues on diversified aspects of society. Muslim scholars have always adapted and contributed to the Islamic finance system and regulation, theoretically and practically. In recent decades, Islamic banking and finance has seen strong momentum with double digit growth, fulfilling the monetary requirement of depositors on the liability side along with industry on the asset side. We seek to review the theoretical and empirical literature on Islamic monetary mangement. Monetary management in the Islamic economic context is still an area that needs more research. This paper examines how literature has been developed over time up until modern Islamic economic and banking practices. The findings suggest that Islamic monetary management has been gradually developed in recent years and such development is remarkable steps forward in pursuing Islamic monetary policy independently. In addition, Islamic monetary policy is proved to be relatively more effective compared to interest based conventional monetary policy. The implications of such findings have established new milestones for the central banks of all the countries, including the muslim majority countries for pursuing interest free Islamic monetary policy with full confidence.  Furthermore, there are four major views on Islamic monetary policy and the central banks of the world should choose one of the best methods and views for the greater effectiveness of monetary policy because conventional monetary policy has been less effective in bringing full employment and price stability in recent years and financial crisis has crippled the interest based conventional economic systems quite badly

Remaking urban spaces in Egypt : a study of Bulaq Abul Ela planning schemes 1960-2005.

This thesis examines the shifting politics of remaking the urban experience in post-colonial Cairo, through investigating the account of remaking an old historical district, namely, Bulaq Abul Ela. It examines the extent to which planning approaches and ambitions to improve the quality of the built environment have achieved their objectives and attended to people's changing needs. To achieve this aim, critical analysis of the chronological development of the remaking process, planning institutions and legislation in Egypt has been undertaken in the context of three re-planning schemes for Bulaq, drafted between 1966 and 2005. Understanding spatial quality, in this context, indicates an intersection between two realms: spatial settings and social needs, which both influence the process of space reproduction in Cairo. The schemes are investigated on two levels; first, there is a careful study of the planning institution's ambitions for improving Bulaq's spatial qualities; second, there is critical analysis of how such visions were imposed on the schemes, and how this affected their credibility in terms of improving the district. Through each scheme, the district's conditions, approved re-planning actions, proposed physical attributes and land uses will be discussed and analyzed. The study is based on detailed accounts of original reports, meetings, decrees, correspondents' archives, interviews and fieldwork that took place between 2008 and 2009, and has relied on original documents from various planning institutions, and local newspapers in Egypt. The investigated schemes revealed a consistent clarity of the planning institution's visions towards remaking old districts, but alongside this, there is evidence of a lack of coherent processes in planning and of implementing these visions. Not only was there an apparent conflict between the planning institution's underlying objectives towards re-planning Bulaq, and people's needs, but within the planning institution itself there was a lack of reliability and consistency in performing its role, in which respect it was impeded by the absence of an effective legislative framework to guide planning practices in Egypt. The study revealed that Bulaq's spatial qualities are grounded in the historical authenticity of the district, its physical attributes, and the vibrant mix of activities and land usage practised in Bulaq's urban spaces. Thus, investigating Bulaq re-planning schemes has allowed the research to find new meanings, images, stories, and places to replace the increasingly undesirable authentic fabric of the district. Against this background, continuous dialogue for participation, shared commitments, and flexible planning approaches, have emerged as necessary and, indeed, the only tools through which improvement of the built environment and creation of a successful remaking project may be achieved

The role of warmed intravenous fluid on intraoperative hypothermia and postoperative shivering during prolonged oral and maxillofacial surgery

Background: Under general anaesthesia, the core temperature may drop up to 6°C. Patients undergoing prolonged maxillofacial surgery frequently experience unintentional hypothermia that causes postanaesthetic shivering which is a common complication of anaesthesia that should be prevented. This study aimed to evaluate the role of warmed intravenous fluid in preventing intraoperative hypothermia and postoperative shivering. Methods: Between January 2022 and December 2022, 322 patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status I, II and the age group of 18 to 45 years old scheduled for elective major oral and maxillofacial surgery were evaluated under the Department of Anaesthesiology in Dhaka Dental College and Hospital. The patients were grouped into Room Temperature Group and Warmed Fluid Group. Results: 162 patients received warmed fluid, whereas 160 patients received fluid at room temperature. In Room Temperature Group, there were 89 male and 71 female patients, whereas Warmed Fluid group had 88 male and 74 female patients. At the end of the procedure, the basal core temperature was 36.7±0.2°C in the group receiving warmed fluid versus 35.9±0.2°C in the group receiving fluid at room temperature. The incidence of hypothermia (<36 °C) was much lower in Warmed Fluid Group (n=28, 17.28%) than Room Temperature Group (n=86, 53.75%). Shivering was more common in Room Temperature Group (n = 67, 41.86%) than in Warmed Fluid Group (n = 19, 11.73%) in the postanaesthetic care unit (PACU). Conclusions: The results of this study suggested that intraoperative hypothermia and postoperative shivering are less common when warmed fluid is infused.  

WTO and regional trade negotiation outcomes: quantitative assessments of potential implications on Bangladesh

Despite being somewhat paradoxical, the world has in recent times witnessed ambitious multilateral trade negotiations along with a proliferation of regional trading blocs. Almost all countries are now involved in both types of trading arrangements, with Bangladesh actively participating in several important trade talks under the World Trade Oganisation (WTO) alongside its commitments to the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA). Different multilateral and regional trade negotiations have, however, different implications. For example, while the liberalisation of global agricultural trade – by reducing subsidies in rich countries and thereby causing prices to rise – will benefit many developing country farmers, it may hurl a formidable challenge for the net food importing countries in ensuring food security for their poor populations. Similarly, WTO negotiations in non-agricultural goods aim at improving market access for many, but for the least developed countries, including Bangladesh, currently enjoying tariff preferences in a large range of products in major markets, the ensuing outcomes could lead to preference erosion, undermining their competitiveness. Regional trading arrangements can also be challenging as they tend to replace global imports with less efficient regional supplies resulting in adverse welfare consequences. Effective trade negotiations partly depend on a priori assessments of possible negotiation outcomes. As such, it is very important to provide the policymakers and trade negotiators with informed inputs on the potential implications of negotiating issues. Since trade negotiations comprise subject matters of conflicting interests – often amongst countries at comparable levels of development that otherwise share and support similar views and positions – only country-specific objective analyses based on appropriate research methods can inform the negotiators in the best possible way. This book is an endeavour in that direction. It focuses on some of the major issues in the on-going multilateral and regional trade negotiations, and employs state-of-the-art analytical tools to empirically assess their likely implications for Bangladesh. While the analyses and results presented would be useful for policymakers and trade negotiators, this volume would also be of interest to trade analysts involved in empirical research

WTO and regional trade negotiation outcomes: quantitative assessments of potential implications on Bangladesh

Despite being somewhat paradoxical, the world has in recent times witnessed ambitious multilateral trade negotiations along with a proliferation of regional trading blocs. Almost all countries are now involved in both types of trading arrangements, with Bangladesh actively participating in several important trade talks under the World Trade Oganisation (WTO) alongside its commitments to the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA). Different multilateral and regional trade negotiations have, however, different implications. For example, while the liberalisation of global agricultural trade – by reducing subsidies in rich countries and thereby causing prices to rise – will benefit many developing country farmers, it may hurl a formidable challenge for the net food importing countries in ensuring food security for their poor populations. Similarly, WTO negotiations in non-agricultural goods aim at improving market access for many, but for the least developed countries, including Bangladesh, currently enjoying tariff preferences in a large range of products in major markets, the ensuing outcomes could lead to preference erosion, undermining their competitiveness. Regional trading arrangements can also be challenging as they tend to replace global imports with less efficient regional supplies resulting in adverse welfare consequences. Effective trade negotiations partly depend on a priori assessments of possible negotiation outcomes. As such, it is very important to provide the policymakers and trade negotiators with informed inputs on the potential implications of negotiating issues. Since trade negotiations comprise subject matters of conflicting interests – often amongst countries at comparable levels of development that otherwise share and support similar views and positions – only country-specific objective analyses based on appropriate research methods can inform the negotiators in the best possible way. This book is an endeavour in that direction. It focuses on some of the major issues in the on-going multilateral and regional trade negotiations, and employs state-of-the-art analytical tools to empirically assess their likely implications for Bangladesh. While the analyses and results presented would be useful for policymakers and trade negotiators, this volume would also be of interest to trade analysts involved in empirical research