Smallholders' Cost Efficiency in Mozambique: Implications for Improved Maize Seed Adoption

Maize is an important staple in Mozambique. It is also a dominant crop produced by smallholder farmers. However, the actual maize yields, currently estimated at 1.4 tons/ha, fall short of potential yields of 5-6.5 tons/ha. With population growth rate increasingly exceeding agricultural (and maize) productivity growth rate, the government of Mozambique faces a serious problem of food insecurity and poverty alleviation. This study examines cost inefficiency among smallholder maize farmers in Mozambique, and the impact of improved maize seed adoption on cost efficiency. A Translog functional form is used to estimate the frontier cost function. A cost-inefficiency function is used to examine the factors that determine cost inefficiency among farmers. Econometric techniques to control for self-selection bias resulting from endogeneity of the adoption variable are used.stochastic frontier, technology adoption, selection bias, Mozambique, Crop Production/Industries, Q12, Q16, D13, O33,

Smallholders’ Cost Efficiency in Mozambique: Implications for Improved Maize Seed Adoption

The objectives of this paper are to estimate cost efficiency and investigate factors influencing the cost efficiency of maize-growing smallholders in Mozambique. The data used in this study came from a national random sample of 4,908 smallholder farmers conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2002. Stochastic cost frontier and self-selection bias methods are used. The results indicate that twelve out of twenty factors are significantly found to be the determining factors influencing the cost efficiency. To enhance the cost efficiency of producing maize, policy makers should put more emphasis on improving rural infrastructures, providing better education, and providing access to credit.Crop Production/Industries, Farm Management,

Adoption of Improved Maize Seed by Smallholder Farmers in Mozambique

The objective of this paper is to investigate factors influencing the adoption of improved maize seed by smallholder farmers in Mozambique. The data used in this study were obtained from a national random sample of 4,908 smallholder farmers conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2002. Using Probit and Logit models, the main factors influencing adoption of improved maize seed were identified. The results of this analysis indicate that fifteen out of twenty five factors are significantly found to be the determining factors influencing the probability of adopting improved maize seed. To increase the likelihood of adopting improved maize seed, policy makers should put more emphasis on improving rural infrastructures and providing better education.Crop Production/Industries,

Adoption of Improved Maize Seed by Smallholder Farmers in Mozambique

The objective of this paper is to investigate factors influencing the adoption of improved maize seed by smallholder farmers in Mozambique. The data used in this study were obtained from a national random sample of 4,908 smallholder farmers conducted by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development in 2002. Using Probit and Logit models, the main factors influencing adoption of improved maize seed were identified. The results of this analysis indicate that fifteen out of twenty five factors are significantly found to be the determining factors influencing the probability of adopting improved maize seed. To increase the likelihood of adopting improved maize seed, policy makers should put more emphasis on improving rural infrastructures and providing better education

Study of the Risk of Ankle Injury During Impact on the Ground and Definition of Support Orthoses

This work studies the effect of different orthoses on preventing injuries in the ankle-foot joint. It was carried out using OpenSim and the available ankle-foot musculoskeletal model and AFO orthoses models. The motion situation assessed is related to placing the foot on the ground. It is also analyzed how a passive ankle-foot orthosis, muscles reflexes and muscle coactivation influence the risk of injury, namely during ankle inversion. Results indicate that muscle coactivation and the use of an AFO can reduce injury risk. Thus, an average stiffness AFO is best suited for preventing ankle injuries.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A possible origin of superconducting currents in cosmic strings

The scattering and capture of right-handed neutrinos by an Abelian cosmic string in the SO(10) grand unification model are considered. The scattering cross-section of neutrinos per unit length due to the interaction with the gauge and Higgs fields of the string is much larger in its scaling regime than in the friction one because of the larger infrared cutoff of the former.The probability of capture in a zero mode of the string accompanied by the emission of a gauge or Higgs boson shows a resonant peak for neutrino momentum of the order of its mass. Considering the decrease of number of strings per unit comoving volume in the scaling epoch the cosmological consequences of the superconducting strings formed in this regime will be much smaller than those which could be produced already in the friction one.Comment: 14 pages Latex, 4 figues/ep

Microfluidics for Production of Particles : Mechanism, Methodology, and Applications

In the past two decades, microfluidics-based particle production is widely applied for multiple biological usages. Compared to conventional bulk methods, microfluidic-assisted particle production shows significant advantages, such as narrower particle size distribution, higher reproducibility, improved encapsulation efficiency, and enhanced scaling-up potency. Herein, an overview of the recent progress of the microfluidics technology for nano-, microparticles or droplet fabrication, and their biological applications is provided. For both nano-, microparticles/droplets, the previously established mechanisms behind particle production via microfluidics and some typical examples during the past five years are discussed. The emerging interdisciplinary technologies based on microfluidics that have produced microparticles or droplets for cellular analysis and artificial cells fabrication are summarized. The potential drawbacks and future perspectives are also briefly discussed.Peer reviewe

The influence of structure and surface chemistry of carbon materials on the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide

Carbon materials with different structural and chemical properties, namely activated carbons, carbon xerogels, carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide, graphite and glycerol-based carbon materials, were tested under different operating conditions for their ability to catalyse hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) decomposition in aqueous solutions. Activated carbons treated with concentrated sulphuric acid (ACS) are the most active catalytic materials for H2O2 decomposition in most of the conditions studied, due to the presence of sulphur containing functional groups at their surface. In addition, ACS proved to be a stable catalyst in reutilization tests for H2O2 decomposition. Methanol was used as selective scavenger of hydroxyl radicals (HO center dot), to show that activated carbons with a markedly basic character lead to the highest yield of HO center dot formed during the H2O2 decomposition process (14%, after 150 min of reaction). Overall, from the mechanistic interpretation of H2O2 decomposition, it is concluded that the presence of sulphur containing functional groups at the surface of the activated carbons improves the removal of H2O2 in aqueous solutions, but, on the other hand, the selective decomposition of H2O2 via HO center dot formation is enhanced by the presence of basic active sites on the Carbon surface