Consumption Behaviour in Zambia: The Link to Poverty Alleviation?

In order to be able to suggest viable solutions to the overwhelming problem of poverty on the African continent, it is first necessary to know exactly what is causing that poverty. It is the intention of this paper to measure welfare in Zambia, via an estimated consumption function, and then to compare this estimated consumption to the levels of poverty, or subsistence level consumption expenditure, in Zambia. The objective is to understand the underlying determinants and depth of poverty in Zambia, by analysing the root of the problem Ð why people canÕt afford to consume. Aggregate real PCE is estimated in Zambia for the years 1970 to 2001, and it is found that the Zambian economy suffers from a very high MPC. The results also show that the average Zambian is regarded as being extremely poor, spending approximately US$17 on consumption per month, as calculated using the estimated PCE function.

Creating new markets via smallholder irrigation: The case of irrigation-led smallholder commercialization in Lume district, Ethiopia

Crop Production/Industries, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Investigating the Bank-Lending Channel in South Africa: A VAR Approach

The monetary policy transmission mechanism can broadly be categorised into three separate channels: the interest rate channel, the credit channel and the other asset price channel. This paper seeks to examine the bank-lending channel of the credit channel of monetary policy in South Africa by making use of structural vector auto- regressions (SVAR’s). The pass-through effects of a change in the repurchase (repo) rate on bank deposits and loans and output, are tested using a parsimonious vector error correction model (PVECM). The Johansen (1988) cointegration procedure is used to test for a demand- or supply-driven bank-lending channel. In this way, the validity and effectiveness of the monetary policy regime in South Africa is tested and evaluated.monetary transmission mechanism, bank-lending channel, VAR, VECM, Johansen cointegration test

The Operation and Production of the Barramundi, Lates Calcarifer, at the Good Fortune Bay (GFB) Barramundi Farm Australia

Barramundi (Lates calcarifer) is a commercially important species in Australia and Southeast Asia. Barramundi are not difficult to accept artificial diets, resistant to disease and can grow faster in warm climates. System operation in Good Fortune Bay (GFB) Barramundi Farm in Kelso can be divided into nursery and grow-out management sections. The water source for nursery and grow-out is come from ground water with semi-recirculated system was applied. Every cage in the grow-out ponds has equipment with 4-wheel paddlewheel aeration. Aeration is eminent usually at night when the dissolve oxygen (DO) level in the ponds drop. To prevent predation and disease, each cage is covered by oyster tray lid and nursery tanks are always cleaned to remove pathogens. In the nursery, pellet is given to fish and the pellet size increase depends on the fish size, whereas, fish are feed by floating pellet for grow-out fish. Moreover, farmers measure water quality like DO every morning and also take water sample for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate analysis once a month. GFB Barramundi Farm just sells their product domestically and not import to other country since the price of barramundi from South East Asia such as Indonesia and Vietnam is much cheaper even the quality is lower than Australia product. This is because the labor and production cost in Australia is higher than South East Asia

EFFECTS OF ASPIRATION VERSUS NEUROTOXIC LESIONS OF THE AMYGDALA ON EMOTIONAL RESPONSES IN MONKEYS

All previous reports describing alterations in emotional reactivity after amygdala damage in monkeys were based on aspiration or radiofrequency lesions which likely disrupted fibers of passage coursing to and from adjacent ventral and medial temporal cortical areas. To determine whether this associated indirect damage was responsible for some or all of the changes described earlier, we compared the changes induced by aspiration of the amygdala to those induced by fiber-sparing neurotoxic lesions. Four different stimuli, two with and two without a social component, were used to evaluate the expression of Defense, Aggression, Submission, and Approach responses. In unoperated controls, Defense and Approach behaviors were elicited by all four stimuli, "social" and inanimate alike, whereas Aggression and Submission responses occurred only in the presence of the two "social" stimuli. Furthermore, all Defense reactions were reduced with an attractive inanimate item, while Freezing was selectively increased with an aversive one. Relative to controls, monkeys with neurotoxic amygdala lesions showed the same array of behavioral changes as those with aspiration lesions, namely reduced fear and aggression, increased submission, and excessive manual and oral exploration. Even partial neurotoxic lesions involving less than two-thirds of the amygdala significantly altered fear and manual exploration. These findings convincingly demonstrate that the amygdala is crucial for the normal regulation of emotions in monkeys. Nevertheless, since some of the symptoms observed after neurotoxic lesions were less marked than those seen after aspiration lesions, the emotional disorders described earlier after amygdalectomy in monkeys were likely exacerbated by the attendant fiber damage

Transgenetic In Aquaculture

Transgenetika adalah sebuah proses untuk menciptakan organisme transgenik dimana materialgenetik dari organism lain dimasukkan kedalam organism lain. Hal ini membuat hewan transgenic mempunyaiciri yang lebih bagus dari hewan non-transgenik seperti ciri pertumbuhan yang lebih cepat, lebih tahan akanpenyakit dan suhu dingin, peningkatan rata-rata konfersi makanan, kualitas daging yang lebih baik dan cirikhusus seperti peningkatan warna tubuh. Bagaimanapun juga, teknik transgenetika juga mempunyai efeknegative terhadap lingkungan dan kesehatan manusia. Oleh sebab itu, pengelolaan atau manajemen terhadapteknik transgenetik seperti regulasi, penyesterilan hewan budidaya air hasil transgenetika atau memberi labelkepada makanan hasil dari transgenetika sangat diperluka