Cereal price instability in Ethiopia: An examination of sources and policy options

Managing food price instability is a long standing policy challenge, which, with mixed experiences of agricultural price policy reforms, has re-emerged as a contemporary policy issue. This is particularly true for Ethiopia, where managing food price stability continues to be a formidable policy challenge. The objective of this paper is to examine the underlying causes of cereal price instabilities and to assess the policy options to manage them. It undertakes three tasks: (a) analyzes the sources and degree of cereal price instability, (b) discusses the viability of various policy options, and (c) critically reviews the country’s past, ongoing, and emerging policies for food price stabilization. The results show that the determinants of price stability—infrastructure, information, and institutions—are at low levels of development; both production and price variability are high, and despite this continued high variability in prices, price risks mitigation has lost its importance in the country’s policy agenda. By analyzing market-based and non market-based policy options, as well as recent trends in the cereal markets, the paper argues and concludes that reliance on any single option may not produce the expected results. A combination of the two will be desirable, especially in the short run.Cereal, Policy, Price instability, Ethiopia, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Crop Production/Industries, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Institutional and Behavioral Economics, International Relations/Trade, Production Economics, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

User resistance in post enterprise resource planning implementation phase

User resistance in post Enterprise Resource Planning (erp) implementation phase is one of the main causes for failure of erp systems. Existing research identified different factors that cause erp failure in the post erp implementation phase. However, existing research is fragmented without strong theoretical base. The main objective of this study is to identify factors that cause user resistance in the post erp implementation phase using innovation resistance theory as a theoretical lens. The study used causal research design as a research method. Data was collected using Google’s online form. The empirical data from this research revealed that risk barriers and usability barriers as main factors that increase user resistance in the post erp implementation phase. The research also developed and validated data collection instruments to use innovation resistance theory for empirical investigation of user resistance in the post erp implementation phase for other researchers. It has also practical implication for managers what intervention to undertake so as to increase success of erp system implementation

SPsimSeq : semi-parametric simulation of bulk and single-cell RNA-sequencing data

SPsimSeq is a semi-parametric simulation method to generate bulk and single-cell RNA-sequencing data. It is designed to simulate gene expression data with maximal retention of the characteristics of real data. It is reasonably flexible to accommodate a wide range of experimental scenarios, including different sample sizes, biological signals (differential expression) and confounding batch effects

On the utility of RNA sample pooling to optimize cost and statistical power in RNA sequencing experiments

Background: In gene expression studies, RNA sample pooling is sometimes considered because of budget constraints or lack of sufficient input material. Using microarray technology, RNA sample pooling strategies have been reported to optimize both the cost of data generation as well as the statistical power for differential gene expression (DGE) analysis. For RNA sequencing, with its different quantitative output in terms of counts and tunable dynamic range, the adequacy and empirical validation of RNA sample pooling strategies have not yet been evaluated. In this study, we comprehensively assessed the utility of pooling strategies in RNA-seq experiments using empirical and simulated RNA-seq datasets. Result: The data generating model in pooled experiments is defined mathematically to evaluate the mean and variability of gene expression estimates. The model is further used to examine the trade-off between the statistical power of testing for DGE and the data generating costs. Empirical assessment of pooling strategies is done through analysis of RNA-seq datasets under various pooling and non-pooling experimental settings. Simulation study is also used to rank experimental scenarios with respect to the rate of false and true discoveries in DGE analysis. The results demonstrate that pooling strategies in RNA-seq studies can be both cost-effective and powerful when the number of pools, pool size and sequencing depth are optimally defined. Conclusion: For high within-group gene expression variability, small RNA sample pools are effective to reduce the variability and compensate for the loss of the number of replicates. Unlike the typical cost-saving strategies, such as reducing sequencing depth or number of RNA samples (replicates), an adequate pooling strategy is effective in maintaining the power of testing DGE for genes with low to medium abundance levels, along with a substantial reduction of the total cost of the experiment. In general, pooling RNA samples or pooling RNA samples in conjunction with moderate reduction of the sequencing depth can be good options to optimize the cost and maintain the power

Synthesis of a terminal Ce(iv) oxo complex by photolysis of a Ce(iii) nitrate complex.

Reaction of [Ce(NR2)3] (R = SiMe3) with LiNO3 in THF, in the presence of 2,2,2-cryptand, results in the formation of the Ce(iii) "ate" complex, [Li(2,2,2-cryptand)][Ce(κ2-O2NO)(NR2)3] (1) in 38% yield. Photolysis of 1 at 380 nm affords [Li(2,2,2-cryptand)][Ce(O)(NR2)3] (2), in 33% isolated yield after reaction work-up. Complex 2 is the first reported example of a Ce(iv) oxo complex where the oxo ligand is not supported by hydrogen bonding or alkali metal coordination. Also formed during photolysis are [Li(2,2,2-cryptand)]2[(μ3-O){Ce(μ-O)(NR2)2}3] (3) and [Li(2,2,2-cryptand)][Ce(OSiMe3)(NR2)3] (4). Their identities were confirmed by X-ray crystallography. Complex 4 can also be prepared via reaction of [Ce(NR2)3] with LiOSiMe3 in THF, in the presence of 2,2,2-cryptand. When synthesized in this fashion, 4 can be isolated in 47% yield. To rationalize the presence of 2, 3, and 4 in the reaction mixture, we propose that photolysis of 1 first generates 2 and NO2, via homolytic cleavage of the N-O bond in its nitrate co-ligand. Complex 2 then undergoes decomposition via two separate routes: (1) ligand scrambling and oligomerization to form 3; and, (2) abstraction of a trimethylsilyl cation to form a transient Ce(iv) silyloxide, [CeIV(OSiMe3)(NR2)3], followed by 1e- reduction to form 4. Alternatively, complex 4 could form directly via ·SiMe3 abstraction by 2

Socio-economic assessment of two small-scale irrigation schemes in Adami Tullu Jido Kombolcha Woreda, Central Rift Valley of Ethiopia

The sustainability of irrigated agriculture is questioned and the challenge is to increase simultaneously land and water productivity in the face of the limited availability of land and water in the CRV, the Central Rift Valley. The aim of this research is to assess the social-economic performance of two communitybased small-scale irrigation schemes in Adami Tullu Jido Kombolcha Woreda (ATJK) and to identify options to improve irrigation performance and resource managemen