How Much Did Speculation Contribute to Recent Food Price Inflation?

Recent increases in commodity prices have led to calls for the regulation of speculators. These calls have come from many reputable quarters including leading agricultural and food policy institutions such as International Food Policy Research Institute as well as different members of the U.S. Congress. They are based on an assumption that speculative activities are a primary or major source of the volatility in the markets and that controlling these activities through regulations would bring more stability to the market. The paper tests this hypothesis and assesses the contribution of speculative activities in the commodity markets over the past decade to price inflation. The paper argues that government regulatory policies to control speculation in commodity markets is a second best solution that would probably yield neutral or negative benefits to the very people the policy aims to protect.speculators, inflation, prices, ARIMA, Agricultural and Food Policy, Agricultural Finance,

PENGARUH PENGGUNAAN MODUL KESEHATAN REPRODUKSI PADA SITUASI DARURAT BENCANA TERHADAP PENINGKATAN PENGETAHUAN DAN SIKAP MAHASISWA PRODI D-III KEBIDANAN POLTEKKES KEMENKES ACEH

PENGARUH PENGGUNAAN MODUL KESEHATAN REPRODUKSI PADA SITUASI DARURAT BENCANA TERHADAP PENINGKATAN PENGETAHUAN DAN SIKAP MAHASISWA PRODI D-III KEBIDANAN POLTEKKES KEMENKES ACEH ABSTRAKIndonesia merupakan salah satu negara yang rawan terhadap bencana dan tidak dapat diperkirakan kapan terjadinya. Untuk meminimalisir kerugian yang ditimbulkan akibat bencana maka perlu dilakukan fase persiapan menghadapi bencana, diantaranya pendidikan dan pelatihan penduduk untuk meningkatkan pengetahuan dan sikap mereka tentang kesehatan reproduksi dalam situasi bencana. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh penggunaan modul kesehatan reproduksi pada situasi darurat bencana terhadap peningkatan pengetahuan dan sikap mahasiswa Prodi D-III Kebidanan Poltekkes Kemenkes Aceh dalam menghadapi bencana. Penelitian Quasi exsperiment dengan menggunakan rancangan one group pretes posttest design terhadap 78 mahasiswa TK II Prodi D-III Kebidanan Poltekkes Kemenkes Banda Aceh. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan nilai rata-rata pengetahuan responden sebelum intervensi adalah 11,73 dan sesudah intervensi meningkat menjadi 16,3. Nilai rata-rata sikap responden sebelum intervensi adalah 31,44 dan sesudah intervensi meningkat menjadi 34,00. Hasil uji Paired Sampel T Tes didapatkan P value = 0,0001 artinya ada perbedaan yang significan pengetahuan dan sikap responden sebelum dan sesudah intervensi. Maka kepada Direktur dan Ketua Jurusan Kebidanan Poltekkes Kemenkes Aceh disarankan agar dapat menyediakan Poliklinik Khusus Kebencanaan di kampus dan selalu mengevaluasi penggunaan modul pembelajaran kesehatan reproduksi kebencanaan agar pemberian informasi dapat diterima dengan baik oleh mahasiswa. Kata Kunci : Modul Kesehatan Reproduksi, Situasi Darurat Bencana, Pengetahuan, Sikap

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Coming of Age: Information Seeking and Library use of Students before and after the introduction of digital information in Babcock University, Nigeria

The crucial role of information technology (IT) in service provision in academic libraries is widely acknowledged and accepted the world over. But the extent to which this technology has been made a crucial part of library service provision may not be immediately ascertained; neither can the impact of its use by librarians on the services they provide to their clientele or the extent of the support given by university administrators. It is in the light of the above that this study investigated coming of age: Information seeking and library use of students in Babcock University, Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive research design. Data was collected using a questionnaire. Five hundred (500) students from third year and final year were randomly selected for the study.426 copies of the questionnaire were returned with an 85 percent response rate. The findings showed a significant difference between students’ library visit before and after the coming of information and communication technologies (ICTs). It further revealed that there was a positive relationship between frequency of ICT use and its usefulness to the respondents. Services provided by the librarians appeared to be helpful to the needs of students. In an ever changing environment, libraries are positioned to harness the ICTs in their services to meet student needs for information. Keywords: Information and communication Technologies, Information seeking, information utilisation, academic libraries, Babcock university

Prevalence of Linguatula serrata Nymph in Goat in Tabriz, North-West of Iran

Linguatula serrata is one of well-known members of Pentastomida which infects both humans and animals. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of L. serrata in mesenteric lymph nodes, livers and lungs of goats slaughtered in Tabriz area, Iran. Mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs), livers and lungs of 280 goats slaughtered in Tabriz, North-west of Iran were investigated for nymphs of L. serrata from September 2009 to September 2010. The organs were examined macroscopically and then a tissue digestion method was also done for investigation of liver and lung of the goats that were infected MLN. The liver and lung samples were mostly taken from the condemned and rejected part of organs. The infection rate of L. serrata nymphs in MLNs, livers and lungs was 27.1 %, 2.8 % and 2.8 % respectively. The number of isolated nymph in infected lymph nodes varied from 1 to 22 with a mean of 7. Only one nymph was isolated from each infected livers and lungs. The infection rate increased with age (P < 0.05). No significant difference in different sex groups and seasons was observed (P > 0.05). Linguatula infection occurs as an endemic zoonosis in the study area and has an active transmission life cycle

Effect of Intra-Row Spacing on Haricot Bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) Production in humid Tropics of Southern Ethiopia.

Field experiment was conducted at the research farm of Dilla University in 2015 main cropping season, with the objective of determining the optimum plant spacing for better productivity of haricot bean under the humid conditions of Dilla, southern Ethiopia. A well-adapted haricot bean variety namely, Hawassa-Dume, was tested at 5, 10, 15 and 20 cm intra-row spacing with 40 cm inter-row spacing for each treatment. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed that plant height, number of branch plant-1, pod plant-1, total biomass and grain yield were significantly (p &lt; 0.05) influenced by varying intra-row spacing. In contrary, number of leaves plant-1, seed pod-1 and thousand seed weight were insignificant in all intra-row spacing. Increasing the intra-row spacing beyond 10 cm resulted in significant reduction in grain and biomass yields, but consistent increase in number of branches plant-1 and pod plant-1. Compared with the grain yield obtained at widest intra-row spacing (20 cm), increase in the grain yield was recorded at 5 cm and 10 cm intra-row spacing that were 22.9% and 33.2%, respectively. In general, the result suggests that narrow intra-row spacing at 10 cm which corresponds to plant population density of 266,667 plants ha-1 was better for achieving optimum grain yield under humid environment. To confirm this, similar investigations should repeated in multi- locations and years. Keywords: Yield, yield components, Haricot bean, Intra-row spacin

Penggunaan Model Problem Based Learning Untuk Peningkatan Hasil Belajar Perilaku Amanah Pada Siswa Sekolah Dasar

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mendeskripsikan (1) peningkatan hasil belajar materi Perilaku Amanah pada siswa sekolah dasar melalui penerapan model pembelajaran Problem-Based Learning (PBL) dan (2) aktivitas belajar materi perilaku terpuji amanah mata pelajaran Akidah Akhlak melalui penggunaan model pembelajaran problem-based learning pada siswa setingkat sekolah dasar. Jenis penelitian Action Research (Penelitian Tindakan Kelas) digunakan untuk memenuhi maksud dari penelitian ini. Subjek penelitian ini adalah siswa kelas IV MIN 16 Aceh Besar tahun pelajaran 2022/2023. Data penelitian diperoleh melalui Paper-Pencil Test materi Amanah dan Lembar Observasi Aktivitas Belajar Siswa. Data dianalisis dengan menggunakan statistik sederhana berupa formula untuk mendapatkan indek persentase dan rata-rata. Data penelitian melaporkan bahwa penerapan model pembelajaran problem-based learning materi perilaku terpuji Amanah pada siswa kelas IV MIN 16 Aceh Besar dapat meningkatkan hasil belajar siswa. Di samping itu, suasana kelas selama pembelajaran berlangsung dengan melibatkan problem-based learning terjadi peningkatan aktivitas belajar siswa yang terekam pada setiap siklusnya. Hal ini menunjukkan bahwa penerapan model pembelajaran problem-based learning pada materi perilaku terpuji amanah dapat meningkatkan hasil belajar dan aktivitas belajar siswa di kelas sekolah dasar