Consumer Wellbeing in Asia: Introduction to the Special Issue

Consumer wellbeing refers to safety, fairness, satisfaction, sustainability, emotional positivity, security, freedom, and healthfulness which may be sought through consumer products and services obtained from marketplaces. Consumer wellbeing can be measured in various dimensions such as economic, financial, physical, psychological, social, and culture. This special issue focuses on consumer issues in fast changing Asia as many important consumer issues in Asia are under-studied in comparison to the literature about the West. With Asia having a large, 60% of the world population and Asian countries are highly diverse in terms of economic developments, social systems, and cultural traditions, many important issues related to consumer spending, health, and finance need be investigated and studied. Such research will enrich the global literature of consumer affairs and inform public policies to advance consumer interests

Scale Efficiency and Determinants of Productivity of New Rice for Africa (NERICA) Farmers in Kaduna State, Nigeria

Rice productivity is low in Nigeria, and NERICA was introduced by West Africa Rice Development Agency (WARDA) to solve this problem. This study focused on NERICA productivity and efficiency in Kaduna State. A three-stage sampling technique was used with Kaduna State being purposively selected. Igabi and Soba Local Government Areas (LGAs) were randomly selected. Five villages were randomly selected from each LGA, with a total of 129 NERICA farmers selected and used for the analysis. There were technical and managerial inefficiencies among the farmers. NERICA production is characterized by increasing returns to scale with a value of 1.4954. The farmers were cost inefficient, hence there was room for improvement in NERICA production in the study area. The average productivity (AP) was 26.30. The average marginal productivity (MP) is 9.213. The average total factor productivity (TFP) is 12.87. Farmer’s age and access to credit had negative influence on both AP and MP. Extension contact and adoption of NERICA technology positively influenced the AP and MP. Farmer’s age had negative influence on total factor productivity. Formal education, farming experience, extension contact, farm commercialization and adoption of NERICA technology had positive influence on the total factor productivity of the NERICA farmers. Improvements in the supply of NERICA seed, extension services and level of farm commercialization are recommended.Keywords: Scale efficiency, productivity, NERICA, Kaduna State, Nigeri

Jenayah Di Negeri Perlis 1909-1931

Negeri Perlis letaknya di utara Semenanjung Malaysia. Ia adalah negeri yang paling kecil di Malaysia. Luas kawasannya ialah 795 km2. Ia terbahagi kepada enam daerah iaitu Kangar, Arau, Padang Besar, Kaki Bukit, Kuala Perlis dan Simpang Empat(rujuk Rajah 1). Kangar ialah Ibu negeri dan merupakan pusat bandar bagi negeri Perlis. Ekonomi negeri adalah bergantung kepada penghasilan padi dan memelihara binatang ternakan, hanya sebilangan kecil penduduk sahaja yang melibatkan diri dalam bidang perdagangan

Controlling Electronic States of Few-walled Carbon Nanotube Yarn via Joule-annealing and p-type Doping Towards Large Thermoelectric Power Factor

Flexible, light-weight and robust thermoelectric (TE) materials have attracted much attention to convert waste heat from low-grade heat sources, such as human body, to electricity. Carbon nanotube (CNT) yarn is one of the potential TE materials owing to its narrow band-gap energy, high charge carrier mobility, and excellent mechanical property, which is conducive for flexible and wearable devices. Herein, we propose a way to improve the power factor of CNT yarns fabricated from few-walled carbon nanotubes (FWCNTs) by two-step method; Joule-annealing in the vacuum followed by doping with p-type dopants, 2,3,5,6-tetrafluo-7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (F4TCNQ). Numerical calculations and experimental results explain that Joule-annealing and doping modulate the electronic states (Fermi energy level) of FWCNTs, resulting in extremely large thermoelectric power factor of 2250 mu Wm(-1) K-2 at a measurement temperature of 423K. Joule-annealing removes amorphous carbon on the surface of the CNT yarn, which facilitates doping in the subsequent step, and leads to higher Seebeck coefficient due to the transformation from (semi) metallic to semiconductor behavior. Doping also significantly increases the electrical conductivity due to the effective charge transfers between CNT yarn and F4TCNQ upon the removal of amorphous carbon after Joule-annealing

Chronic ulcerative stomatitis: Case series of an under‐recognized entity

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146622/1/cup13347_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146622/2/cup13347.pd

Relevance of Dynamic Clustering to Biological Networks

Network of nonlinear dynamical elements often show clustering of synchronization by chaotic instability. Relevance of the clustering to ecological, immune, neural, and cellular networks is discussed, with the emphasis of partially ordered states with chaotic itinerancy. First, clustering with bit structures in a hypercubic lattice is studied. Spontaneous formation and destruction of relevant bits are found, which give self-organizing, and chaotic genetic algorithms. When spontaneous changes of effective couplings are introduced, chaotic itinerancy of clusterings is widely seen through a feedback mechanism, which supports dynamic stability allowing for complexity and diversity, known as homeochaos. Second, synaptic dynamics of couplings is studied in relation with neural dynamics. The clustering structure is formed with a balance between external inputs and internal dynamics. Last, an extension allowing for the growth of the number of elements is given, in connection with cell differentiation. Effective time sharing system of resources is formed in partially ordered states.Comment: submitted to Physica D, no figures include

All-sky Galactic radiation at 45 MHz and spectral index between 45 and 408 MHz

Aims: We study the Galactic large-scale synchrotron emission by generating a reliable all-sky spectral index map and temperature map at 45 MHz. Methods: We use our observations, the published all-sky map at 408 MHz, and a bibliographical compilation to produce a map corrected for zero-level offset and extragalactic contribution. Results: We present full sky maps of the Galactic emission at 45 MHz and the Galactic spectral index between 45 and 408 MHz with an angular resolution of 5\degs. The spectral index varies between 2.1 and 2.7, reaching values below 2.5 at low latitude because of thermal free-free absorption and its maximum in the zone next to the Northern Spur.Comment: A&A accepte

Bicontinuous minimal surface nanostructures for polymer blend solar cells

This paper presents the first examination of the potential for bicontinuous structures such as the gyroid structure to produce high efficiency solar cells based on conjugated polymers. The solar cell characteristics are predicted by a simulation model that shows how the morphology influences device performance through integration of all the processes occurring in organic photocells in a specified morphology. In bicontinuous phases, the surface de. ning the interface between the electron and hole transporting phases divides the volume into two disjoint subvolumes. Exciton loss is reduced because the interface at which charge separation occurs permeates the device so excitons have only a short distance to reach the interface. As each of the component phases is connected, charges will be able to reach the electrodes more easily. In simulations of the current-voltage characteristics of organic cells with gyroid, disordered blend and vertical rod (rods normal to the electrodes) morphologies, we find that gyroids have a lower than anticipated performance advantage over disordered blends, and that vertical rods are superior. These results are explored thoroughly, with geminate recombination, i.e. recombination of charges originating from the same exciton, identified as the primary source of loss. Thus, if an appropriate materials choice could reduce geminate recombination, gyroids show great promise for future research and applications