THE ROLE OF COPROPHAGOUS BEETLES ON DUNG DECOMPOSITION AND ENHACEMENT SOIL FERTILITY: EFFECT OF BODY SIZE, SPECIES DIVERSITY AND BIOMASS

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis pengaruh keragaman spesies, ukuran dan biomassa kumbang koprofagus dalam merombak  kotoran  hewan  dan  meningkatkan  kesuburan  tanah.    Percobaan  dilakukan  menggunakan  Rancangan  Acak  Lengkap dengan  perlakuan    jumlah  dan  panjang  tubuh  spesies  kumbang  koprofagus.  Peubah  tergantung  yang  diamati  adalah  persentase kotoran yang terdekomposisi dan kadar bahan organik serta N,P,K total tanah sebagai indikator kesuburan tanah. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa persentase kotoran hewan yang terdekomposisi lebih dipengaruhi oleh ukuran dan biomassa kumbang yang terlibat dibandingkan dengan jumlah spesies. Persentase kotoran yang terdekomposisi berkorelasi positif dengan ukuran kumbang koprofagus. Kadar N,P,K total tanah meningkat mengikuti jumlah kotoran hewan yang terdekomposisi yang mengindikasikan bahwa aktifitas perombakan kotoran hewan oleh kumbang koprofagus berpengaruh positif terhadap kesuburan tanah

Comparative advantage in Bangladesh crop production

"This study uses data from 1996/97 through 1998/99 to examine the relative efficiency of production of crops in Bangladesh and their comparative advantage in international trade as measured by net economic profitability (the profitability using economic, rather than financial costs and prices), and the domestic resource cost ratio, (the amount of value of non-tradable domestic resources used in production divided by the value of tradable products). The economic profitability analysis demonstrates that Bangladesh has a comparative advantage in domestic production of rice for import substitution. However, at the export parity price, economic profitability of rice is generally less than economic profitability of many non-rice crops, implying that Bangladesh has more profitable options other than production for rice export. Several non-cereal crops, including vegetables, potatoes and onions have financial and economic returns that are as high as or higher than those of High Yielding Variety (HYV) rice. The relatively minor role in cropping systems of these crops despite their higher returns, can largely be attributed to high price risks associated with marketing, suggesting the need for further development of agro-processing industries, rural infrastructure, and marketing networks." Authors' Abstract

Rice price stabilization in Bangladesh

To meet its overall objective of ensuring food security for all households, the Government of Bangladesh undertakes several activities: it intervenes in markets to stabilize prices, targets food distribution to poor households and provides emergency relief after natural disasters. This paper provides measures of the variability of domestic and international rice prices, and examines the mix of government intervention and private sector participation in rice markets. The analysis shows that the relatively high degree of price stability achieved in the 1990s was due in large part to private sector imports that stabilized markets following major production shortfalls. Domestic rice procurement contributed relatively little to raising domestic producer prices at harvest time, involved only a small percentage of farmers, and incurred excessive costs following successful harvests because of procurement prices set far in excess of market prices.Price regulation ,Food security South Asia ,Government policy ,Markets Prices ,Rice Bangladesh ,

Techniques for the Fast Simulation of Models of Highly dependable Systems

With the ever-increasing complexity and requirements of highly dependable systems, their evaluation during design and operation is becoming more crucial. Realistic models of such systems are often not amenable to analysis using conventional analytic or numerical methods. Therefore, analysts and designers turn to simulation to evaluate these models. However, accurate estimation of dependability measures of these models requires that the simulation frequently observes system failures, which are rare events in highly dependable systems. This renders ordinary Simulation impractical for evaluating such systems. To overcome this problem, simulation techniques based on importance sampling have been developed, and are very effective in certain settings. When importance sampling works well, simulation run lengths can be reduced by several orders of magnitude when estimating transient as well as steady-state dependability measures. This paper reviews some of the importance-sampling techniques that have been developed in recent years to estimate dependability measures efficiently in Markov and nonMarkov models of highly dependable system

Food Security and Nutrition in Bangladesh: Progress and Determinants

For Bangladesh food security was synonymous with achieving self-sufficiency in rice production and stabilization in rice prices. The country has made good progress in increasing rice production through technological progress, facilitated by private sector investment in small scale irrigation. But, it is difficult to sustain the progress made in view of the growing pressure of population on scarce land resources. Domestic food grain production remains susceptible to floods and droughts thereby perpetuating the threat of major production shortfalls, inadequate food availability, and vulnerability from fluctuation in prices. The availability of other foods has not increased, and the progress in nutritional outcome has remained slow. Forty percent of the population lives below the poverty line, and income inequality has been worsening. This paper assesses the trends in factors that affect food production, availability of food and their impact on nutrition outcomes. It also probes into the trends in poverty and distribution of income and access to food through markets.Bangladesh, food security, nutrition, poverty, safety nets, natural disasters, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty,

Are business students computer literate?

In the modem world, a person without a computer knowledge will be considered a crippled person. The knowledge of computer is crucial for business managers, however. A computer literate person is one who understands the computer technology, can use the computer, and is able to understand its limitations. Realizing a need for computer literacy, colleges and universities require students to take at least a course in computer. This trend started in 1980 and now most students could be considered computer literate. This paper summarizes the results of the surveys in 1985, 1987, and 1992 of the students in the introductory course in computer. The survey found that more and more students know more about computers, the software, and their applications. The survey shows that the percent of students who know different software has consistently increased since 1985

Historicizing 'Law' as a Language of Progress, and Its Anomalies: The Case of Penal Law Reforms in Colonial India.

This paper dispels the myth of liberal Enlightenment in relation to penal law reforms in colonial India by advancing two sets of argument. First, the liberal project of codification on the basis of universalist notion of utilitarianism never broke with cultural hierarchy inbuilt in the very act of colonisation. In this paper, I specifically look into the emerging phenomenon of evolutionary science in the nineteenth century – social Darwinism – to explain the dominant normative, as opposed to realist, justification of such racial hierarchy in colonial discourses since the nineteenth century. Second, using Dipesh Chakrabarty’s theoretical framework, I provincialise the penal law reform project in colonial India through the examination of literature in the field, and substantiate how the notion of utilitarian universality remained vague and unpromising in face of instrumental needs on ground – both in the colony and in the metropolis. Taken together, these propositions dispel the myth of the liberal project of penal law reforms in colonial India based on this universalist position and underscore the fallacies of the transition narrative of modernity itself

Efektifitas Tanaman Serai (Andropogan Nardus L.) sebagai Tanaman Penolak Liriomyza Sp.(diptera : Agromizidae) pada Pertanaman Bawang Merah Lembah Pal

The research objective was to determine the effectiveness of the lemongrass plant (Andropogannardus L.) as a repellent pest plant against Liriomyza sp. At shallot cropping in Palu Valley. This study used a randomized block design within which treatments included planting lemongrass plant (PLP) at four weeks (PLP 4), two weeks before (PLP 2) and at the same time (PLP 0) of the shallot crop was planted, as well as control (with no lemongrass planting). Variables observed were the populations of adult Liriomyza sp. and the attack rate of Liriomyza sp. as well as the crop production. The results showed that five and six weeks after the shallots were planted, the population of adult and the attack rate of Liriomyza sp. were lower in the PLP 4 than in the PLP 2, PLP 0 and control treatments. The treatment plant as a crop repellent lemongrass does not affect the production of onion valley hammer.Attack rate, repellent plants, Liriomyza sp. imag