Effect of Sand Mining on Economic Performance of Groundwater Irrigation in Cuddalore District of Tamil Nadu

The effect of sand mining on the economic performance of groundwater irrigation has been studied in the Panruti taluk of Cuddalore district in Tamil Nadu. A comparison of water productivity for different farms-size categories has been done in sand mining and non-sand mining blocks. The cropping sequence, cropping intensity, irrigation particulars, investment pattern on tubewells, use of different HP-motors, etc. have been studied in sand mining and non-sand mining blocks. The study has revealed that due to sand mining externality, the watertable has gone down and to offset this effect, the farmers have been increasing the horse-power of their motors. Thus, investment has been increasing in the sand mining block in all farm-size categories. Its repercussions have been reflected in the economic performance of sand mining block in terms of higher annual cost and unit cost of irrigation. The study has suggested to take necessary steps to augment the groundwater recharge on one hand and imposing restrictions on indiscriminate sand mining on the other hand. The regulation of sand quarrying has also been suggested to streamline the flow of river Malattar.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Education and earnings in a transition economy (Vietnam)

The transition from a centrally planned to a market economy is likely to have a strong impact on the labor market, on relative earnings, and on returns to education. Major economic reforms in Vietnam since 1986 (the policy known as"Doi Moi") have included a number of measures to liberalize the labor market. It is too soon to assess the full impact of these reforms, but the authors analyze the returns to education, on the basis of earnings in 1992-93 (collected in the first Vietnam Living Standards Survey). This represents one of the first country-wide analyses of the monetary benefits of schooling in Vietnam at a time when the labor market was in transition. On average, the estimated rates of returns are still relatively low, which is to be expected, since salary reforms were not introduced until 1993. Average private rates of return to primary education (13 percent) and university education (11 percent) are higher than those to secondary and vocational education (only 4 to 5 percent). Returns to higher education are slightly higher for women (12 percent) than for men (10 percent). Evidence from other transition economies suggests that returns are likely to increase as reforms in the labor market take full effect. The results support this hypothesis: Returns for younger Vietnamese workers (14 percent) are considerably higher than for older workers (only 4 percent). Implications for policymaking: 1) it is important to monitor future earnings and trends in the labor market, as updates of this analysis could provide more robust estimates of the transition's effects on earnings and returns to education. 2) At a time when the Vietnamese government is reassessing its pricing policy, the fact that private rates of return to higher education are relatively high suggests the potential for greater cost recovery. 3) Efforts to improve efficiency in secondary and higher education could increase the rate of return by lowering costs.Teaching and Learning,Decentralization,Public Health Promotion,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Curriculum&Instruction,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Curriculum&Instruction,Gender and Education,Primary Education,Teaching and Learning

Spoilage of mackerels preserved in oil

While studying the preservation of mackerels in oil, we came across a type of spoilage similar to "sulfide stinker". Evolution of a stream of bubbles was noticed in less than 48 hours and within a week the fish disintegrated into a pulpy mass

Niacin production test in mycobacteria: Replacement of benzidine - cyanogen bromide reagent by o-tolidne - cyanogen bromide

The identification of M. tuberculosis depends primarily on the niacin production test. Runyon and others (1959) described a method based on the observations of Konno (1956) using aniline as the reagent. However, the aniline reagent gives a yellow colour which can cause difficulty in the interpretation of the results, particularly in the case of the chromogenic mycobacteria. Hence several workers prefer the test employing benzidine (Medveczky, 1960) or o-tolidine (Guttierrez-Vazquez, 1960), since the pink colour produced in these tests is easier to read. The standard method for niacin production test at this Centre has been the one using benzidine. However, satisfactory supplies of benzidine are no longer available, as the manufacture of this compound’ has recently been stopped. Hence it was decided to investigate the test using o-tolidine. Though other workers (Tarshis, 1960, 1961; Gangadharam and Droubi, 1971) have compared the benzidine and o-tolidine methods on small numbers of cultures, no large scale investigation of these two methods has been reported. Therefore a direct controlled comparison of these two methods was undertaken, the results of which are reported here

Ice storage characteristics of fresh and brined shark fillets

Ice storage characteristics of fresh and brined fillets from fresh shark (Carcharias melanopterus) were studied in and out of contact with ice for more than two weeks. Changes occurring in biochemical constituents, physical qualities and bacterial counts of the fillets are reported. Shelf life of brined fillets out of contact with ice was considerably longer than that of control samples tinder similar conditions. Icing of shark fillets is suggested as a method for the removal of urea on a commercial scale

Impact of mechanised fishing on the socio-economic conditions of the fishermen of Sakthikulangara-Neendakara, Kerala

In recent years Sakthikulangara-Neendakara area has gained considerable importance as a major centre of fishing industry in Kerala state. This has been brought about by the introduction of a large number of mechanised trawlers and consequent development of infrastructure facilities like ice factories, freezing cumcold storage plants and boat building yards. Mechanised boats were first introduced in this area in the mid fifties under the auspices of the Indo-Norwegian project and over the years there has been a spectacular growth in the fishing activities of this area. In the fifties the standard of living of the fishermen of this area was very low, showing considerable improvement in the sixties consequent to the introduction of mechanisation in fishing. Great strides have since been made in the socio-economic conditions of these fishermen and it was felt desirable to carry out a study of the same in order to assess the progress made in recent years so as to form abase for further planning of developmental programmes.Accordingly a survey was carried out in this area during march-May 1980 details of which are presented here

Canning of smoked dhoma (Sciaenid sp.)

A process for the preparation of a wholesome smoked and canned product from dhoma (Sciaenid sp.) is discussed. The dressed dhoma is cold blanched in 15% brine containing 0.5% potash alum and 0.2% citric acid and smoked for 120 minutes at 45 ± 5°C. The smoked fish after filling in cans is precooked at 0.35 kg/sq.cm steam pressure for 50 minutes in inverted position, filled with hot refined groundnut oil, sealed and processed for 60 minutes at 0.7 kg/sq.cm steam pressure

Mussel pollution at Korapuzha estuary (Malabar), with an account of certain coliform types

Oysters, mussels and other shell-fish are highly nutritious foods, which, apart from their usual proximate principles, contain fairly high amounts of minerals like iodine, copper, iron, etc., and vitamins. In the shallow rocky areas of Malabar Coast there are numerous green mussel (Mytilus edulis) beds from which large quantities of mussels are taken out almost throughout the year, which form an important item of food for people of low incomes. As the mussels grow in shallow areas subject to the influence of land drainage, sewage and river systems, these beds constitute a potential hazard to public health on account of possible epidemic infections being carried by the shell-fish

Elliptic Curves with Complex Multiplication and a Character Sum

AbstractLetf(x)∈Q[X] be a cubic such thaty2=f(x) is an elliptic curve with complex multiplication by[formula],[formula],[formula]or[formula]. We want to calculate the character sum[formula]where (·/p) is the Legendre symbol. We show that it is enough to calculate the sum for a finite number of primes and this has been done