The Dynamics of Agricultural Productivity and Industrial Transformation in Transition Countries

Relying on the frontier production approach, we investigated the performance of the agricultural sector in 28 transition countries and its changes over time, especially focusing on the dynamics of productivity changes and the effects of reform policy. Our findings are: (i) Asian and CEE transition countries performed better than CIS countries, while the performance improvement of CEE countries seems to be more prominent compared to that of Asian and CIS countries; (ii) The productivity growth is mainly attributable to the technical progress, particularly in CEE countries; (iii) Reform policy and industrial transformation seems to have positive effects on the performance of agricultural sector and its changes; (iv) The initial conditions do matter.transition countries, efficiency, productivity, directional distance function, agricultural reform, initial condition, industrial transformation, Productivity Analysis,

The Effects of Crop Generic Resources and Biodiversity on Agricultural Production: An Empirical Study on Rice Farming

Replaced with revised version of paper 07/20/06.Environmental Economics and Policy,

The Dynamics of Productivity Changes in Agricultural Sector of Transition Countries

Relying on frontier production approach (e.g., Luenberger's shortage function), we investigated the performance of agricultural sector in transition countries and its changes over time, especially focusing on the dynamics of productivity changes. We found that; (i) CEE countries have improved their performance during the sample period whereas CIS have not; (ii) productivity changes in the last decade was attributable to the technical progress; (iii) overall performance was decelerated for the second 5-year sub-period (1997-2001) in both regions; (iv) agricultural reform has positive effects on the productivity and its components especially in CEE countries.transition countries, productivity, directional distance function, agricultural reform, Productivity Analysis,

A Sustainable Approach to the Adaptive Reuse of Historic Brick Buildings:Analysis of Energy Efficiency Strategies for Historic Facade Retrofits

There are many historic brick buildings in downtown areas of the U.S. that are awaiting appropriate strategies for their adaptive reuse and preservation. The adaptive reuse method enables the adaptation of existing, obsolete historic buildings into new, mixed-use developments that will play an essential role in enhancing urban environments. However, many of these buildings have poor energy performance. This paper explores sustainable methods to balance between historic preservation and reduction of peak energy loads, through analyzing design strategies and conducting energy simulations for a building in downtown, Austin, TX. Energy retrofits related to windows, high performance of the facades with added insulation, and passive (spatial) interventions are covered in depth. Four retrofit scenarios were applied and simulated using the energy analysis tool in Revit, a popular BIM program. Analyzing the energy consumption data, we compare an existing building’s facade condition to the retrofit scenarios’ energy performances and record the energy performance data. This research proposes energy efficient preservation options for historic buildings and ultimately emphasizes potential values such as balancing the integrity of the original design with energy goals. We explore novel solutions for making historic buildings more sustainable through combining the adaptive reuse method with energy retrofit strategies that play up the historic buildings’ unique passive potentials. The various solutions are found to be highly dependent on the climate