Economic performance of public investments in irrigation in India in the last three decades

Irrigation programsPublic investmentPerformanceIrrigation systemsRegression analysisOperationsMaintenanceCropsDiversification

Irrigation investments in India in the last three decades: an analysis of economic performance

Irrigation programs / Irrigation management / Investment / Farmer participation / Irrigation systems / Water conveyance / Rehabilitation / Crops / Models / India

Opportunities for private sector participation in agricultural water development and management

Irrigation management / Private sector / Public sector / Public policy / Private investment / Participatory management / Privatization / Financing / Farmers / Households / Water harvesting / Africa South of Sahara

Serving the Urban Poor through Public-Private-Community Partnerships in Water Supply

There are good reasons to believe that provision of water for the poor and poor communities can be a potent tool for poverty alleviation. As such, the special water supply programs intended for poor communities that were set up by the two private water concessionaires, after MWSS' privatization, in partnership with the communities, LGUs, NGOs, other private parties and the MWSS itself are laudable and should be considered for replication in other areas wherever possible.urban poor, private sector participation, public-private-community partnership, water services, water supply, water provision, water pricing

CME: Vitamins, Antidepressants, and the Placebo Effect - How to Help Your Patients

Depression affects roughly 280 million people globally. The disease puts patients at increased risk for stroke, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and diabetes. The psychosocial causes of depression are well-known, but the biochemical causes are multifactorial. Theories range from homocysteine excess, calcium modulation at the neuron, inflammation, cortisol elevation, and disruption of the HPA axis. At the center, however, is serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. Pharmacologic treatment directly aims at modulation of serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine. First-line treatment is a combination of SSRIs/SNRIs with cognitive behavioral therapy. If patients do not see improvement with the above therapy other agents such as bupropion, mirtazapine, and tricyclic antidepressants can be added. These adjunct treatments, however, come with a host of side effects and combined with the mainstay treatment of SSRIs and SNRIs may lead to adverse patient outcomes. This study aims to explore the effects of vitamin D, magnesium, and vitamin B12 on the theorized biochemical causes of depression and formulating treatment plans that incorporate them

Innovative approaches to agricultural water use for improving food security in Sub- Saharan Africa

Irrigated farming / Water use / Food security / Water resources / Water supply / Rain / Water harvesting / Wetlands / Food production / Groundwater management / Urbanization / Recycling / Effluents / Waste waters / Water reuse / Water demand / Crop production

Land as a Renewable Resource: Integrating Climate, Energy, and Profitability Goals using an Agent-Based NetLogo Model

The objectives of this study center over the course of the beef production life cycle as a management strategy to optimize the financial and natural resource endowment on farms at the county level based on the data available. Although the application is to West Virginia, implications can be derived for other areas with similar resource endowments. The beef farms located in adjacent locations within a county are identified as suppliers of inputs to the farm of interest (or contracting farm) in order to provide the basic foundation for agglomeration economies.;Both an intertemporal component and a spatial component are involved since clustering systems are enhanced when key players are interconnected over space. This is accomplished by using an optimal control framework as the basis of a NetLogo agent-based model (ABM) that explicitly includes a spatial component. This model is intended to provide a foundation for developing agglomeration economies in which other locations are able to supply resources to given locations - or to serve as input markets - by taking advantage of the spatially integrated nature of the agriculture industry. The spatial component provides the basis for regional economic development through clustering among the agricultural and other sectors since they might share locally produced inputs/outputs in the supply chain, thereby enhancing both scope economies and agglomeration economies. Thus, the integration of environmentally friendly technologies that enhance diversified products for the area such as renewable energy as well as digested manure along with high quality beef products and carbon offsets would create new markets which expand market channels and spur economic development, of interest to policy makers at all levels. As a result, farmers would be able not only to produce essential inputs for their own farms but, given appropriate incentives, would also supply them to adjacent farms boosting the local economy. Furthermore, a comparison with conventional, confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), is briefly provided for perspective as well as the basis for environmental improvement through PBB techniques. Our intention is to replicate a diversified PBB industry and its interaction with surrounding communities in order to identify the optimized paths of the farmer and society in an intertemporal setting. The design of policy instruments is based on the results from the ABM wherein maximizing farm-level profitability that is able to bring benefits to society in which clustering among locations contributes in intensifying the benefits from the adoption of sustainable best management practices (BMPs). Thus, the explicit recognition and use of multifunctional land attributes enables us to address bio-fuel production and climate-related issues such as carbon offsets as well as to expand adoption of sustainable BMPs across space and time. In order to determine policy instruments, we ran our ABM with the absence of carbon prices and cost-share programs as well as different carbon prices and cost-share percentages under different clustering systems along a planning horizon of 15 years. We also compared the profitability between a diversified entrepreneur with a specialized business as an approach to identify the financial motivation to establish our proposed business concept. Results indicate that in order to observe environmental and social benefits as well as economic development in Appalachia through the introduction of a diversified PBB industry, a combination of cost-share policies and carbon prices must be considered. Our results imply that for an average grass-fed beef enterprise with 93 acres of pastureland (as is typical of Appalachia) as the primary resource surrounded by nearby cow/calf farms within an approximate 20 mile radius, will need to rely on a minimum of {dollar}13 per ton CO2e reduced along with a cost share program willing to share the risk of no less than half of the capital investment associated with an anaerobic digester within a clustering system of up to two participants to successfully diversify its business bringing environmental and economic development to the region. Alternatively, a policy combination of 50 percent cost share with a {dollar}26 carbon price not only will enhance environmental improvement but also profitability under unexpected as well as certain weather conditions. We also found that more renewable energy can be generated when more farms join a regional cluster, implying a synergistic effect through clustering. We estimate results under both deterministic and stochastic situations. The latter relate primarily to weather uncertainty and animal death loss, since those are the variables for which data is available. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)

Reconceptualizing sovereignty in the post-national state: statehood attributes in the international order

The Aims of this thesis are to understand the changes of the concept of sovereignty in the international system considering the role of regional and functional arrangements and the contribution of federalism as a political theory. Federal theory is particularly important to the concept of sovereignty, particularly if one considers the diversity of federal political systems and their different historical experiences. Thus the thesis examines the federal experience of the United States throughout history and the European tradition of federalism. The present research is an attempt to emphasise the diversity of federalism as a legal and political concept and to demonstrate that federal political systems can be applicable beyond the modern state. The EU is a paradigmatic case of a regional arrangement, ‘proto-federal’ that challenges the notion of sovereignty as an exclusive statehood attribute. The thesis examines the recent decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court concerning the Treaty of Lisbon, which can be seen as an archetype of the challenges posed to European integration. Moreover, the thesis analyses the concept of subsidiarity, considered by some as a potential replacement of the concept of sovereignty

Pectin degradation and the firmness of the canned sweet potatoes

From a culinary standpoint, firmness is one of the most important attributes of thermally processed sweet potatoes; nevertheless, the consistent production of a canned sweet potato that would hold its shape while being prepared for the table is a problem confronting the sweet potato processors. Although considerable research has been conducted on variables generally associated with the firmness of cooked fruits and vegetables, the firmness of canned sweet potatoes is an attribute which is not fully understood. This study was undertaken in an attempt to improve the firmness of canned sweet potatoes. The following four major studies were conducted: 1. Effect of four thermal processing treatments on the firmness of the canned product, 2. The relationship between changes in the AIS content during thermal processing and the firmness of the canned product, 3. The relationship between changes in the pectic materials during thermal processing and the firmness of the canned product, and 4. The relationship between the diameter and the firmness of the canned product. The firmness of the raw and canned sweet potatoes was rated objectively using the ASCO Firmness Meter and subjectively by taste panel evaluation. The changes in the AIS and in the pectic substances were determined chemically. The results of the pectin analysis were expressed as percentage AGA of the dry AIS. Under the conditions of this study, several conclusions were indicated: 1. The possibility of favorably influencing the firmness of canned sweet potatoes by thermal processing treatments designed to effect low degrees of cooking was indicated. 2. Thermal processing effected a marked decrease in the AIS content. The two high processing temperature treatments had a greater solubilizing effect on the AIS, regardless of processing time, than the two low processing temperature treatments. There was no relationship between the AIS changes and the firmness of the canned product. 3. Thermal processing effected a marked decrease on the pectic substances. The two low heat penetration ratio treatments effected a lower degree of depolymerization on the total pec tin than the two high heat penetration ratio treatments. The changes in the pectic substances were not significantly related to the firmness of the canned product. 4. Storage time was found to be a significant factor in the objective evaluation of firmness and in the chemical analysis for the AIS and pectin content of the canned sweet potatoes