Quantity aggregation and quality price adjustment : problems with measuring Indonesian food demand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Agricultural Economics at Massey University

One Asian country which is predicted to provide excellent opportunities for New Zealand exporters is Indonesia. To measure Indonesian demand responses requires the use of cross-sectional survey data. However, the use of such data produces aggregation errors, caused by quality effects, in the measurement of commodity price and quantity elasticities. Such aggregation errors produce biased elasticity estimates. The bias in the estimation of price elasticities is compounded by errors of measurement in measured quantities and expenditures. Adapting the theoretical model of Houthakker (1952) and Theil (1952), Deaton (1988) developed a methodology which accounts for both aggregation and measurement error. Using Deaton's methodology, the demand for five commodities - rice, meat, fruit, vegetables, and milk products - were computed. The expenditure elasticities are ordered much as would be expected, with rice and vegetables close to zero, and meat, fruit and milk products all having elasticities greater than one. Comparing the expenditure elasticities with respect to total expenditure with those of previous studies, the quantity elasticities are decreasing with time as expected. Thus while meat, fruit, and milk products are still considered luxury items, they will increasingly be within the average Indonesian consumer's reach in the near future. Also, the quality of foodstuffs consumed is increasing with incomes. The effects of quality, and measurement error especially, produced dubious price elasticity estimates. After adjusting for these influences, the price elasticity estimates are, with the exception of milk products, negative, although the rice price elasticity is larger than predicted. Meanwhile, the effects of quality in the estimation of quantity elasticities is relatively minor. While the model produced satisfactory results, it was considered that further exploration of the methodology was required, particularly with regard to the use of food expenditure. In the absence of data on total expenditure, Deaton (1988) assumed that food expenditure was a theoretically acceptable alternative explanatory variable. To measure if this was so, elasticities using both food and total expenditure were calculated. Although no formal non-nested tests were used, differences in the price elasticities between the two models casts doubt on the use of food expenditure in place of total expenditure. Nevertheless, estimation of a 'food share' elasticity provides a method for moving from food expenditure elasticities to total expenditure elasticities, with a proxy value for this elasticity providing encouraging results. Yet the estimation of such an elasticity requires information on total expenditure, providing limited empirical value for the researcher with just food expenditure data, and only a theoretical curiosity for the researcher with information on both. Other methodological problems included a larger than expected rice price elasticity and the estimation of biased OLS parameter estimates through the use of zero expenditures in the model. Consequently, without further exploration of these issues, the procedure should only be applied cautiously

Can I have this dance? A perspective on the expectations and demands of current youth work practice in Scotland

This research principally discerns what young people want from their youth worker and portrays the significance of that relationship to them. The research illustrates young peoples’ thoughts and voice within the current discourse around what constitutes effective youth practice. It also reveals that communication, equity and respect which are at the top of young people’s agenda. The young people had reservations about certain types of youth work practice they had experienced in the past but valued and prioritised the personal characteristics of the youth worker

Community Change for Youth Development in Kansas City

Kansas City, Missouri, is one of six sites in Community Change for Youth Development (CCYD), a national demonstration project aiming to increase basic supports and opportunities available to youth aged 12-20. The lead agency is the YMCA of Greater Kansas City; because of its considerable organizational capacity and relationship with funders, the YMCA was successful in operating and expanding CCYD. This report focuses on the benefits of working with the YMCA of Greater Kansas City and the challenges faced by the organization in leading a community-based initiative in three urban neighborhoods

SAPNEW: Parallel finite element code for thin shell structures on the Alliant FX/80

The results of a research activity aimed at providing a finite element capability for analyzing turbo-machinery bladed-disk assemblies in a vector/parallel processing environment are summarized. Analysis of aircraft turbofan engines is very computationally intensive. The performance limit of modern day computers with a single processing unit was estimated at 3 billions of floating point operations per second (3 gigaflops). In view of this limit of a sequential unit, performance rates higher than 3 gigaflops can be achieved only through vectorization and/or parallelization as on Alliant FX/80. Accordingly, the efforts of this critically needed research were geared towards developing and evaluating parallel finite element methods for static and vibration analysis. A special purpose code, named with the acronym SAPNEW, performs static and eigen analysis of multi-degree-of-freedom blade models built-up from flat thin shell elements

Carmel River Lagoon Enhancement Project: Water Quality and Aquatic Wildlife Monitoring, 2005-6

In summer and fall 2004, the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) initiated the Carmel River Lagoon Enhancement Project. The project involved excavation of a dry remnant Arm of the lagoon and adjacent disused farmland to form a significant new lagoon volume. The intention was to provide habitat, in particular, for two Federally threatened species: the California Red-Legged Frog, and the Steelhead Trout (South Central-Coastal California Evolutionary Significant Unit). DPR contracted with the Foundation of California State University Monterey Bay (Central Coast Watershed Studies Team, Watershed Institute) to monitor water quality and aquatic invertebrates in association with the enhancement, and to attempt to monitor steelhead using novel video techniques. The monitoring objective was to assess whether the enhancement was successful in providing habitat with good water quality, adequate invertebrate food for steelhead, and ultimately the presence of steelhead. (Document contains 102 pages

A case study in using electronic presentation media to teach mathematics

Over the past decade the United Kingdom (UK) Government has invested substantially in Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in all sectors of education. Investment has been in infrastructure, staff development and educational software. At the same time there has been concern about the achievements in mathematics of school leavers and about the decline in numbers of students choosing to study mathematics in Higher Education. Through its Widening Participation initiative, (UK) Government intends to increase the number of students entering Higher Education. An account is given of a project to make appropriate use of computer-based projection materials in the delivery of a two-week mathematics summer school for students about to enter a foundation year which would prepare them for to entry to degree courses in mathematics and technology. This study asserts that computer-based presentation material can be used to implement differentiated pedagogy which can assist in making mathematics accessible to a group of adults with a wide range of prior attainment in mathematics

An Investigation of Stratigraphic Evidence for an Abrupt Climatic Event 8200 yr BP in Valle de las Morrenas, Costa Rica

Lago de las Morrenas 4 (9.498056° [degrees] N, 83.486111° [degrees] W, 3466 m elev.) is the lowest lake in a chain of glacial lakes located in the Valle de las Morrenas, a valley facing almost due north from Cerro Chirripó, the highest peak in the Cordillera de Talamanca in Costa Rica. Coarse resolution analyses of pollen, microscopic charcoal, and loss-on-ignition of a ca. 10,000 year sediment record from Lago de las Morrenas 4 was carried out to complement and extend previous research on the environmental history of the Chirripó highlands and to provide context for high-resolution sampling and analysis of early Holocene sediments. The focus of the high-resolution analysis was the period around 8200 cal yr BP, the time of a prominent Holocene climatic event recognized at many northern hemisphere sites between ca. 8000 and 8400 cal yr BP. The high-resolution sampling of sediments encompassing the time period of the 8200 yr BP event revealed a sharp increase in microscopic charcoal indices coincident with a shift from fibrous silty organic sediment to granular peat. These shifts, which occurred ca. 7900 cal yr BP, are interpreted to reflect an interval of drier climate and lower lake level. A decrease in Poaceae pollen percentages and an increase in Alnus pollen from montane forests may reflect reduced pollen production within the páramo at this time. The peak charcoal concentration and influx value at ca. 7800 cal yr BP in the Morrenas 4 record may match a similar peak in the macroscopic charcoal record from nearby Morrenas 1 that occurred ca. 8000 cal yr BP. Both peaks may correspond to the 8200 yr BP event