The role of non-farm activities in the rural economy

A research paper on the non-farm economic activities in the marginalized rural economy.This paper draws upon recent research, to delineate the non-farm rural economy; its magnitude, its anatomy, and how it changes over time. We present evidence that non-farm activities not only make a major welfare contribution with respect to equity and income-smoothing, but that many of these activities add more to gross domestic product (GDP) than the substitute goods and services supplied by technically-advanced capital intensive producers. Finally, we argue that the sector is no more or less passive than any other sector in the economy, and that it can make substantial contributions to agricultural growth.The research supporting the preparation the proceedings papers was financed by the U.S. Agency for International Development, Bureau of Science and Technology; Bureau for Africa; and the Southern Africa Regional Programme; under a Food Security in Africa cooperative agreement

Scheduling patrol boats and crews for the Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy's Patrol Boat Force carries out essential tasks in the surveillance, policing and defence of Australia's coastal waters. To help the Navy make efficient use of a new generation of boats, the authors have developed optimization procedures to schedule the activities of the boats and their crews. The procedures-embodied in a software system called CBM ('Crews, Boats, Missions')-use simulated annealing and specialized heuristic techniques within a multi-stage problem-solving framework. Tests show that CBM is reliable in terms of solution quality, and flexible with respect to the range of scheduling conditions applied. CBM has proved valuable to the Navy as an investigatory tool, and it is planned that it should be adapted for operational use, as part of a decision support system to aid in the ongoing management of patrol boat operations

Determining the Solution Space of Vertex-Cover by Interactions and Backbones

To solve the combinatorial optimization problems especially the minimal Vertex-cover problem with high efficiency, is a significant task in theoretical computer science and many other subjects. Aiming at detecting the solution space of Vertex-cover, a new structure named interaction between nodes is defined and discovered for random graph, which results in the emergence of the frustration and long-range correlation phenomenon. Based on the backbones and interactions with a node adding process, we propose an Interaction and Backbone Evolution Algorithm to achieve the reduced solution graph, which has a direct correspondence to the solution space of Vertex-cover. By this algorithm, the whole solution space can be obtained strictly when there is no leaf-removal core on the graph and the odd cycles of unfrozen nodes bring great obstacles to its efficiency. Besides, this algorithm possesses favorable exactness and has good performance on random instances even with high average degrees. The interaction with the algorithm provides a new viewpoint to solve Vertex-cover, which will have a wide range of applications to different types of graphs, better usage of which can lower the computational complexity for solving Vertex-cover

Improving Outcomes After Relapse in Ewing's Sarcoma: Analysis of 114 Patients From a Single Institution

The outcome for patients with relapsed Ewing's sarcoma is poor. A retrospective analysis was carried out to identify factors associated with improved survival. Between 1992 and 2002, 114 patients presented with relapsed or progressive disease. Median time to progression/relapse was 13 months (range, 2–128). Treatment at relapse included high dose treatment (HDT) in 29 patients, and surgery or definitive radiotherapy in 29. 2 and 5-year post relapse survival (PRS) was 23.5% and 15.2%, respectively. In multivariate analysis, the most significant factors associated with improved survival were disease confined locally or to the lungs (2-year PRS, 40% versus 6%; P < .001), relapse > 18 months from diagnosis (2-year PRS, 53% versus 8%; P < .001), HDT at relapse (2-year PRS, 62% versus 11%; P < .001), and surgery and/or radiotherapy at relapse (2-year PRS, 51% versus 14%; P < .001). First treatment failure in Ewing's sarcoma is mostly fatal. Improved survival can be achieved in selective patients with aggressive treatment. These improvements are confined to those without bone or bone marrow metastases

RepAtt: Achieving Swarm Coordination through Chemotaxis

Swarm foraging is a common test case application for multi-robot systems. In this paper we present a novel algorithm for improving coordination of a robot swarm by selectively broadcasting repulsion and attraction signals. Robots use a chemotaxis-inspired search behaviour based on the temporal gradients of these signals in order to navigate towards more advantageous areas. Hardware experiments were used to model and validate realistic, noisy sound communication. We then show through extensive simulation studies that our chemotaxis-based coordination algorithm significantly improves swarm foraging time and robot efficiency

Gender-sensitive Risks and Options Assessment for Decision making (ROAD) to support WiF2

The Gender-Sensitive Risks and Options Assessment for Decision Making (ROAD) to Support WiF-2 (ROAD migration project), a partnership coordinated by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Australian National University, American University Beirut, Lincoln University, and University of Dhaka, evaluated the ILO-DFID Partnership Programme on Fair Recruitment and Decent Work for Women Migrant Workers in South Asia and the Middle East (Work in Freedom, Phase 2 project [WiF-2]), which operated from 2018 to 2023. The WiF-2 project specifically aimed “to reduce vulnerability to trafficking and forced labour of women and girls across migration pathways leading to the care sector and textiles, clothing, leather and footwear industries (TCLFI) of South Asia and Arab States” (ToC WiF-2)