Small farmer participation in the institutional credit market : a Thai case study

The central task of this thesis is to understand why the institutional credit disbursed by rural credit programmes (RCPs) in developing countries tends to by-pass the small farmers to whom it is frequently directed. In undertaking this task, a number of secondary research objectives are pursued, notably, the measurement of credit demand and the investigation of credit-rationing procedures.The case for RCPs is discussed and selected aspects of programme performance examined. The problem of large-farmer bias is identified and several possible explanations drawn from the literature, which relate broadly to demand-side (borrower) behaviour and supply-side (lender) behaviour. The importance of these various explanations is examined in the context of a case study of farmers in N.E. Thailand.By constructing a series of linear programming (LP) models of representative farms, short-term credit demand is derived and the scarcity value of credit is found to be high for independent farmers (those not participating in the RCP). Questionnaire responses support a positive interpretation of the LP results (independent farmers face a credit-supply shortage) and provide additional evidence that the tendency of small farmers not to borrow from institutions cannot be explained by lack of demand. Demand schedules are constructed to quantify some of the income disadvantages facing farmers who have noaccess to institutional credit. The behaviour of the major lending institution in the study area is then explored in greater detail by investigating the possibilities for non-price credit rationing. Multiple discriminant analysis (MDA) is employed firstly to identify the precise criteria by which small farmers are excluded from the institution's loan portfolio,· and secondly, to estimate the population total of independent farmers in the survey area excluded by these criteria. The number is high, indicating that lender behaviour is a major barrier to small farmer institutional borrowing. Income schedules from the MDA and LP analyses are brought together to show that some relaxation of the current rationing criteria would allow more small farmers access to rural credit without necessarily jeopardising the lender's commercial viability

Localization algebras and deformations of Koszul algebras

We show that the center of a flat graded deformation of a standard Koszul algebra behaves in many ways like the torus-equivariant cohomology ring of an algebraic variety with finite fixed-point set. In particular, the center acts by characters on the deformed standard modules, providing a "localization map." We construct a universal graded deformation, and show that the spectrum of its center is supported on a certain arrangement of hyperplanes which is orthogonal to the arrangement coming the Koszul dual algebra. This is an algebraic version of a duality discovered by Goresky and MacPherson between the equivariant cohomology rings of partial flag varieties and Springer fibers; we recover and generalize their result by showing that the center of the universal deformation for the ring governing a block of parabolic category $\mathcal{O}$ for $\mathfrak{gl}_n$ is isomorphic to the equivariant cohomology of a Spaltenstein variety. We also identify the center of the deformed version of the "category $\mathcal{O}$" of a hyperplane arrangement (defined by the authors in a previous paper) with the equivariant cohomology of a hypertoric variety.Comment: 39 pages; v3: final versio

A Study of the Design of Heavy Industrial Concrete Pavements

The purpose of this study was to review and evaluate various published guidelines for designing concrete pavements and to use the information obtained to design and construct a heavy industrial concrete pavement for a large industrial facility in accordance with these guidelines. Once the pavement was constructed, a Demec gauge was used to measure the elongation of the concrete. The collected data were used to determine the change in strain at control joints, construction joints, cracks, and middle portions of each section. The changes in strain were compared to determine the optimal location for the rebar

Endogenous glucose production and gluconeogenesis during exercise in athletes on either a low-carbohydrate or mixed diet

INTRODUCTION. The LCHF diet produces major changes in whole-body substrate metabolism and energy stores such as reduced muscle and liver glycogen content, increased rates of fat oxidation and decreased rates of carbohydrate (CHO) oxidation. Despite reduced CHO availability, the rate of CHO oxidation that can be sustained during exercise in LCHF athletes is surprisingly high. The most probable source of this glucose is via the process of gluconeogenesis (GNG). However, endogenous glucose production (EGP) and GNG has not been studied during exercise in athletes on a LCHF diet. Therefore, the aim of this study was to determine if there are differences in EGP, GNG and glycogenolysis (GLY) during exercise in endurance-trained athletes who habitually eat either a mixed or LCHF diet. METHODS. Fourteen (7 LCHF, 7 Mix) endurance-trained male cyclists (VO₂max 61 ± 5 ml/kg/min LCHF; 6 3 ± 8 ml/kg/min Mix), matched for age (36 ± 6 y LCHF; 32 ± 5 y Mix), body composition (BMI 23.6 ± 1.8 LCHF; 23.4 ± 2.0 Mix) and relative peak power output (4.8 ± 0.4 W/kg LCHF; 5.0 ± 0.4 W/kg Mix), were recruited. Diets were analysed using the Automated Self-Administered 24-hour Recall (ASA24) analysis software. Participants cycled for 2 h at 55% of peak power output during which EGP was measured by infusion of [6,6- ²H₂ ]glucose, and fractional gluconeogenesis was measured by ingestion of ²H₂O. Blood samples were collected at regular intervals for isotope enrichment analysis. R ESULTS. Rates of GNG were similar during exercise in both the LCHF and mixed diet groups (2.8 ± 0.4 mg/kg/min LCHF; 2.5 ± 0.3 mg/kg/min Mix). The rates of GLY during exercise were significantly higher in the mixed diet group than the LCHF group (3.2 ± 0.7 mg/kg/min LCHF; 5.3 ± 0.9 mg/kg/min Mix) which resulted in significantly higher rates of EGP in the mixed diet group (6.0 ± 0.9 mg/kg/min LCHF; 7.8 ± 1.1 mg/kg/min Mix). There were significant differences in the mean fat oxidation rates (1.2 ± 0.2 g/min LCHF; 0.5 ± 0.2 g/min Mix) and CHO oxidation rates (1.3 ± 0.5 g/min LCHF; 3.1 ± 0.5 g/min Mix). Blood beta-hydroxbutyrate (βHB) concentrations were significantly higher in the LCHF group than in the mixed diet group throughout exercise but there were no differences in plasma glucose, plasma lactate, serum insulin or serum FFA concentrations. The diets of the two groups differed only in fat and CHO intake (%Protein / %Fat / %CHO: 21/72/7 LCHF; 16/33/51 Mix). DISCUSSION. Rates of fat oxidation and CHO oxidation were not associated with the rates of GNG. Apart from βHB, the precursor, substrate and insulin concentrations were remarkably similar in both groups and may have influenced GNG similarly in both groups. We conclude that rates of GNG are relatively stable across a broad range of habitual diets that can significantly alter substrate utilisation, and that dietary CHO modulates the rates of EGP via alterations in rates of GLY, both at rest and during exercise

Press-pulse odocoileus Virginianus herbivory in relict tsuga canadensis stands in the Western Upper Peninsula of Michigan, USA

Ungulate herbivory occurring within a forest plant community’s natural range of variation may help maintain species diversity. However, acute or chronically elevated levels of herbivory can produce dramatic changes in forest communities. For example, chronically high levels of herbivory by white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus Zimmerman) in regions of historically low abundance at northern latitudes have dramatically altered forest community composition. In eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis L. Carrière) stands where deer aggregate during winter, high deer use has been associated with a shift towards deciduous species (i.e., maples [Acer spp.]) dominating the regeneration layer. Especially harsh winters can lead to deer population declines, which could facilitate regeneration of species that have been suppressed by browsing, such as hemlock. To enhance our understanding of how fluctuations in herbivory influence regeneration dynamics, we surveyed regeneration and deer use in 15 relict hemlock stands in the western Upper Peninsula of Michigan in 2007 and again in 2015. With the exception of small seedlings (0.04–0.24 m height), primarily maples whose abundance increased significantly (p \u3c 0.05), we observed widespread significant declines (p \u3c 0.05) in the abundance of medium (0.25 ≤ 1.4 m height) and large regeneration (\u3e1.4 m tall ≤ 4 cm diameter at breast height) over the study period. Midway through our study period, the region experienced a high severity winter (i.e., “polar vortex”) which resulted in a substantial decline in the white-tailed deer population. Given the dominance of maples and dearth of hemlock in the seedling layer, the decline in the deer population may fail to forestall or possibly hasten the trend towards maple dominance of the regeneration layer as these stands recover from pulses of acute herbivory associated with high-severity winters and the press of chronically high herbivory that precedes them

Revised Generalized System of Preferences: Instant Replay or a Real Change

This article will discuss in detail the GSP in the United States. Ini- tially, it will examine the salient features of the original GSP program and subsequently the legislative hearings culminating in the extension of the GSP program. Finally, the article will explore the renewed version of the GSP and discuss its application