Potential Impacts of Bt Eggplant on Economic Surplus and Farmers Health in India

In this article, the potential impacts of Bt eggplant technology in Indian agriculture are analyzed. Several proprietary Bt hybrids are likely to be commercialized in the near future. Based on field trial data, it is shown that the technology can significantly reduce insecticide applications and increase effective yields. Comprehensive farm survey data are used to project farm level effects and future adoption rates. Simulations show that the aggregate economic surplus gains of Bt hybrids could be around US $108 million per year. Consumers will capture a large share of these gains, but farmers and the innovating company will benefit too. As the company has also shared its technology with the public sector, Bt open-pollinated varieties might become available with a certain time lag. This would make the technology more accessible, especially for resource-poor farmers, entailing further improvements in welfare and distribution effects. The wider implications of the private-public technology transfer are discussed. Furthermore, the potential benefits for farmers' health resulting from reduced insecticide applications are examined, using an econometric model and a cost of illness approach. These benefits are worth an additional$3-4 million per year. Yet they only constitute a small fraction of the technology's environmental and health externalities. More research is needed for comprehensive impact analysis.Biotechnology, Bt eggplant, Economic surplus, Health costs, Pesticides, Public-private partnership, Health Economics and Policy, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Estimating the Adoption of Bt Eggplant in India: Who Benefits from Public-Private Partnership?

The study analyzes ex-ante the adoption of insect resistant Bt eggplant in India. Farmers' willingness to pay (WTP) is estimated using the contingent valuation method. Given the economic importance of insect pests, the average WTP for proprietary Bt hybrids is more than four times the current price of conventional hybrids. Since the private innovating firm has shared its technology with the public sector, it is likely that public open-pollinated Bt varieties will also be released after a small delay. This will reduce farmers' WTP for Bt hybrids by 35%, thus decreasing the scope for corporate pricing policies. Nonetheless, ample profit potential remains. Analysis of factors influencing farmers' adoption decisions demonstrates that public Bt varieties will improve technology access for resource-poor eggplant producers. The results suggest that public-private partnership can be beneficial for all parties involved.Public-private partnership, biotechnology, Bt eggplant, adoption, willingness to pay, India, Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Pesticide Reduction Sustainability of Bt Technology in India

The primary focus of the study is the changes that occurred in the pesticide-use structure of cotton production sector of India, owing to the diffusion of Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) technology. Studies from different countries show that transgenic Bt crops can reduce chemical pesticide use with positive economic, environmental, and health effects. However, most of these studies build on cross-section survey data, so that longer term effects are uncertain. Bt resistance and secondary pest outbreaks may potentially reduce or eliminate the benefits over time, especially in developing countries where refuge strategies are often not implemented. Here, data from a unique panel survey of cotton farmers, conducted in India between 2002 and 2008, show that the Bt pesticide reducing effect has been sustainable. In spite of an increase in pesticide sprays against secondary pests, total pesticide use has decreased significantly over time. Bt has also reduced pesticide applications by non-Bt farmers. These results mitigate the concern that Bt technology would soon become obsolete in small farmer environments. The survey data on actual pesticide use in farmers’ fields complement previous entomological research.Crop Production/Industries, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF A MODEL SOFT SOLID NANOCOMPOSITE

ABSTRACT RHEOLOGICAL PROPERTIES OF A MODEL SOFT SOLID NANOCOMPOSITE SEPTEMBER 2018 VIJESH A. TANNA B.S. UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS URBANA-CHAMPAIGN M.S. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Ph.D. UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Prof. H. Henning Winter The fabrication and physical properties of polymer/clay nanocomposites has received a great deal of interest in both academic and industrial settings. Clay is a natural 2D mineral comprised of stacks of platelets with high aspect ratios held together through electrostatic interactions. Typically, polymer/clay composite are found to have the best physical properties when these clay sheets are randomly dispersed, exfoliated, throughout the polymer matrix. However, achieving this state is non-trivial due to the strong electrostatic forces holding the clay sheets together. Previous work has shown by mixing an end-functionalized, hydroxyl or carboxyl terminated, polybutadiene with clay, exfoliation can be achieved with mild annealing, which our group has termed the “self-exfoliation” process. The exfoliation of clay leads to the polybutadiene/clay composite forming a soft solid physical gel, presenting a model soft solid to study a material near its gel point. The work presented here relies on using the self-exfoliation process as a model material platform for 4 projects: (1) yielding of the soft solid physical gel, (2) understanding the effect of clay platelet size on the composite’s linear viscoelastic properties, (3) modification of the polymer to tune its interactions with the clay filler and (4) crosslinking of the polymer matrix to create a clay filled thermoset. In the first project, the yielding behavior of the polybutadiene/clay physical gel was studied. Shear yielding was performed by exposing samples to large amplitude oscillatory shear (LAOS) above their yield stress/strain. These large stresses/strains decrease the composite’s modulus and increase its characteristic relaxation times causing an irreversible softening and reduced the material’s internal connectivity. Samples were exposed to SAOS-Deformation-SAOS (SDS) sequences in which deformations were applied by increasing the deformation strain amplitudes and duration, followed by linear viscoelastic characterization through small amplitude oscillatory shear (SAOS). The flow-induced structural changes first began to occur at the same stress/strain values as the onset of non-linearity in traditional SAOS to LAOS (StL) stress amplitude sweeps. Yielding was found to be a strain activated process since the onset of non-linearity is independent of both frequency and temperature with respect to strain, not stress, amplitude. Finally, SDS measurements were performed at increasing deformation times and showed that these flow-induced structural changes require time to occur and soften the material through a reverse gelation type process. In the second project, we investigated the role of platelet size on the viscoelasticity of the same nanocomposite. Here two liquid polybutadienes served as matrix fluids, a non-functionalized polybutadiene (PB), which is a non-interacting liquid, and a carboxyl terminated polybutadiene (CTPB), which caused the clay to exfoliate. Un-exfoliated clay particles were suspended in PB and the liquid mixture was treated with high-intensity chaotic flow in a planetary mixer to reduce the clay platelet size. After performing the size-reduction, clay particles were then exfoliated through the addition of CTPB. The exfoliated clay in the 50/50 PB/CTPB polymer blend, still formed a physical gel but with a lower modulus when platelet size was reduced. Samples were then yielded which caused the already soft physical gel to soften even further by again irreversibly reducing its internal connectivity. The samples comprised of large platelets softened but remained solid while nanocomposites made up of smaller platelets underwent a solid to liquid transition due to yielding. The third project explored performing post-polymer modification on polybutadiene to vary the location and number of functional groups on the matrix. Prior work on the self-exfoliation process had been limited to commercially available end-functionalized polybutadiene. Thiol-ene click chemistry was used to vary the hydroxyl groups content in the polymer matrix. The addition of hydroxyl groups increased the polymer’s glass transition temperature and as a direct consequence, increased the modulus and other linear viscoelastic functions. Composites were formed by adding clay to the synthesized polymers. Interestingly it was found that exfoliation and physical gelation still occurred when having only a single hydroxyl group per chain (on average). While the composites fabricated with the highly grafted polybutadiene exhibited a lower modulus and remained in a swollen intercalated state due to a lack of mobility. The findings presented here describe the self-exfoliation process as two separate steps: intercalation, driven by the presence of functional groups, and exfoliation, driven by having enough overall mobility in the system. In the final project, a polybutadiene/clay thermoset was developed using the self-exfoliation process. Sample fabrication was designed using a one-step mixing process to allow clay exfoliation to occur first via mild thermal annealing followed by UV activated chemical crosslinking of the polybutadiene’s double bonds. By achieving a high crosslinking density, the composite\u27s storage modulus was shown to increase by several orders of magnitude after crosslinking. The effects of clay were found to be significant only at high frequencies, in which the response was dominated by the elasticity of the exfoliated sheets. By comparing the rheological and swelling properties of the filled and unfilled thermosets, we also proved that clay prevents a small number of crosslinks from forming

Foreign cultures and level of comfort – a three countries empirical investigation in multinational firms

Level of comfort with foreign cultures (CFC) is one of the critical variables in the ease of working in multicultural work teams. In an increasingly multi-cultural working environment in corporations, the observed and latent behavior influences the working relationship amongst employees and has great weight on individual and team performance. This paper investigates level of comfort among employees, which is influenced by the observed and latent behavior at multinational work places in three countries. A framework has been developed and implemented in Italy, Portugal and India, with a controlled sample design to ensure the cultural diversity. Paper analyses that there is a significant ‘country’ effect on many CFC scales. The Mean score differences based on each of the comfort with foreign culture variables among Portugal, Italy and India are also significant, indicating level of comfort of local cultures with foreign cultures differs from country to country. Key Words: Inter-cultural comfort; Cross cultural teams; Multicultural work places; Cultural identit

Status, possibilites and challenges of foreign direct investment in Nepal

Masteroppgave i bedriftsøkonomi – Universitetet i Nordland, 201

Neural induction and differentiation of stem cells using the developmental gene PAX7

Neurodegenerative disorders are conditions that mainly affect the brain and the central nervous system (CNS). Each disease type is characterised by loss of function which results from death of a particular region. Interestingly enough, most of the time disease pathology is due to loss of specific cell types in the CNS. These pathological conditions have both high economic costs and social implications for society. To treat such conditions, either the lost cells must be replaced or the cells surrounding the damaged tissue must be induced to undergo repair to replace the lost cells. The former looks more achievable whereas the latter is problematic as the CNS has limited ability to regenerate. For cell replacement therapies, stem cells hold much promise in particular bone marrow stromal stem cells (BMSSCs). Bone marrow stromal stem cells are phenomenal in terms of their plasticity, their ability to renew themselves and their availability. Just about every possible use of BMSSCs has been proposed from diverse fields, but little success has been achieved in same fields. BMSSCs have been used successfully for bone marrow transplants and to regenerate whole organs for cell replacement therapies. However current research has focused on differentiation of BMSSCs into neural tissue for cell replacement therapies for neurodegenerative disorders has had little success. The initial approach was to optimise conditions for the growth and differentiation of BMSSCs. Once optimal conditions were characterised, experiments to induce differentiation of BMSSCs only produced a_ mixture of neuronal cells. Ideally for cell replacement therapy, only a single type of cell lost in the disease process needs to be replaced. Pax7 is a key transcription factor that drives neural differentiation and migration of neural cells during development. It is also thought to determine neural differentiation in the tectum, where it specifically drives the fate of precursor cells towards a neural lineage. Upregulation of the transcription factor Pax7 in stem cells may induce these stem cells to differentiate towards neural differentiation. Since Pax7 specifies neural cell fate and not any other cell type in the CNS, transfected cells should differentiate into neurons similar to those found in the tectum. It is hypothesised that transfecting stem cells with Pax7 would create a novel method of differentiating stem cells into a homogeneous population of neurons. The differentiated cells could then be used as cellular material for cell replacement therapies. In this project a variety of stem cells, P19 cells, NIH3T3 cells and BMSSCs were transfected with Pax7 and assessed for neural differentiation. P19 and NIH3T3 transfected cells clearly showed differentiation along a neurogenic lineage, specifically towards the neurons of midbrain. Sadly, the BMSSCs did not survive the transfection process and further optimisation of conditions is required to achieve neural differentiation of BMSSCs

Design and Implementation of Competency Based LIS Pedagogy: An Experiential Approach with DLIS Centre at Rajagiri College of Social Sciences (Autonomous) Kerala, India-A Case Study

Utilization of collective manpower in an effective manner is the key to the success of every organization. LIS Students need to be more practical and trained with intensive and extensive knowledge about the use of IT, Communication as well as Soft skills. A competency-based pedagogy and interdisciplinary approach within the institutions can deal with all these. Pedagogy is the approach to learning, refers to the theory and practice of learning, and how this process influences the social, political and psychological development of learners. LIS schools have redesigned their teaching-learning techniques to a great extent to keep track of the latest updates in the knowledge world. This paper discusses the status, developments and opportunities of library and information science education, curriculum, training and employment opportunities in DLIS at Rajagiri College of Social Sciences, Kerala, India. It also provides a brief overview of the historical perspective of LIS education and the LIS curriculum development processes in India and Kerala. The paper also discusses the importance of Competency-Based LIS Curriculum and its involvement in the development of professional growth and how interdisciplinary subject approach will help in this process within the campus

A Newton-like method and its application

AbstractIn this paper we prove an existence and uniqueness theorem for solving the operator equation F(x)+G(x)=0, where F is a Gateaux differentiable continuous operator while the operator G satisfies a Lipschitz-condition on an open convex subset of a Banach space. As corollaries, a theorem of Tapia on a weak Newton's method and the classical convergence theorem for modified Newton-iterates are deduced. An existence theorem for a generalized Euler–Lagrange equation in the setting of Sobolev space is obtained as a consequence of the main theorem. We also obtain a class of Gateaux differentiable operators which are nowhere Frechet differentiable. Illustrative examples are also provided