The causal relationship between export and economic growth for Sri Lanka

The role of trade policy on economic growth has been the focus of considerable academic effort. Openness, namely the sum of exports and imports to Gross Domestic Product (GDP), has been considered one of the main determinants of economic growth. Export-led growth postulates that exports consist the principal channel through which the liberalization process can affect the output level and eventually the rate of economic growth. Therefore this study investigates the relationships between export and economic growth in Sri Lanka. An econometric model has been developed and estimated in order to determine the direction of causality in both, short and long run. The annual time series used for the estimation cover the time period 1977 - 2009. The variables used in this study of export and economic growth of Sri Lanka are gross domestic product (GDP), exports of goods and Services (EXP), imports (IMP), gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) and per capita income (PCI). The results reveal that export expansion leads to economic growth. It is also checked that whether there is uni-directional or bidirectional causality between economic growth, exports, imports, gross fixed capital formation and per capita income. The traditional Granger causality test suggests that there is uni-directional causality between economic growth, gross fixed capital formation, per capita income, exports and imports and bidirectional causality between export and per capita income

Color Intensity Projections: A simple way to display changes in astronomical images

To detect changes in repeated astronomical images of the same field of view (FOV), a common practice is to stroboscopically switch between the images. Using this method, objects that are changing in location or intensity between images are easier to see because they are constantly changing. A novel display method, called arrival time color intensity projections (CIPs), is presented that combines any number of grayscale images into a single color image on a pixel by pixel basis. Any values that are unchanged over the grayscale images look the same in the color image. However, pixels that change over the grayscale image have a color saturation that increases with the amount of change and a hue that corresponds to the timing of the changes. Thus objects moving in the grayscale images change from red to green to blue as they move across the color image. Consequently, moving objects are easier to detect and assess on the color image than on the grayscale images. A sequence of images of a comet plunging into the sun taken by the SOHO satellite (NASA/ESA) and Hubble Space Telescope images of a trans-Neptunian object (TNO) are used to demonstrate the method.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. The quality of figure 1 been improved from the previous posted versio

Decentralization of public-sector agricultural extension in India: The case of the district-level Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA)

agricultural extension reform, Decentralization, demand-driven, organizational capacity,

Global generalized synchronization in networks of different time-delay systems

We show that global generalized synchronization (GS) exists in structurally different time-delay systems, even with different orders, with quite different fractal (Kaplan-Yorke) dimensions, which emerges via partial GS in symmetrically coupled regular networks. We find that there exists a smooth transformation in such systems, which maps them to a common GS manifold as corroborated by their maximal transverse Lyapunov exponent. In addition, an analytical stability condition using the Krasvoskii-Lyapunov theory is deduced. This phenomenon of GS in strongly distinct systems opens a new way for an effective control of pathological synchronous activity by means of extremely small perturbations to appropriate variables in the synchronization manifold.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in Europhys. Let

Review of agricultural extension in India: Are farmers' information needs being met?

Despite a wide range of reform initiatives in agricultural extension in India in the past decades, the coverage of, access to, and quality of information provided to marginalized and poor farmers is uneven. This paper aims to ascertain why farmers are not accessing information and where information gaps exist, despite the variety of extension approaches in India. Using information provision and access as the basis for analysis, the paper reviews some of the major agricultural extension programs in India by considering their ability to provide information and facilitate information sharing and use in farming communities. The review gives a broad overview of the current extension scene in India while providing a synthesis of recent debates and the observations of various authors as well as working groups in the Ministry of Agriculture and the Planning Commission. The paper examines the challenges and constraints of each agricultural extension approach as it attempts to provide farmers with access to information that is relevant to their farm enterprises. As a result of this analysis, opportunities are identified for increasing extension services' effectiveness and efficiency in reaching smallholder farmers. Research gaps are also identified. The review concludes that there is an increasing need to work in partnership and to share knowledge and skills in order to provide locally relevant services that meet the information needs of marginal and smallholder farmers in India.agricultural extension, Knowledge, information, Innovation, Public-private partnership, Gender, Education,

Method for the determination of the three-dimensional aerodynamic field of a rotor-stator combination to compressible flow

Using the lifting surface theory and the acceleration potential method for the flow field of an axial turbocompressor stage, a recursive and a direct method are presented that make use of the eigenfunction solutions of the isolated rotor and stator to solve for the rotor-stator interaction problem. The net pressure distribution on the rotor and stator blades is represented by modified Birnbaum series, whose coefficients are determined using a matrix procedure and satisfying the boundary conditions on the surface of the blades. The relation between the matrix operators of the recursive and the direct methods is also shown. Expressions have been given for the blade circulation, the axial and tangential forces on the blade, the rotor power required, and the induced upwash velocity of the stage