Conflict and inequality in surface irrigation: a socio-ecological perspective

This paper attempts to understand the role of institutions and governance, in explaining unequal access to canal water under different rules of the game. Two states at different levels of agricultural productivity with different rules of distribution of canal water are chosen to study the problem at project level. While Bihar, at low level of agricultural productivity, represents absence of scientific method of distribution of water, Punjab offers high level of agricultural productivity with the warabandi system. The two case studies offer interesting similarities and dissimilarities in terms of unequal access to water by the tail enders and mechanisms needed to mitigate this inequality. Some similarities are: (a) the tail enders suffer the most with low access to water forcing them to adopt only low water intensive crops in comparison to the head reach and mid reach farmers; and (b) the farmers supplement canal water with ground water. The dissimilarities noticed are: (a) while over exploitation of ground water in Punjab has reached levels beyond natural recharge of aquifers in several places; in Bihar, with low withdrawal of ground water and natural endowment of high water table, such a situation has not arisen; (b) the breaking of canal and water courses for own benefit by the powerful with political clout is rampant in Bihar, rarely attracting a penalty from the irrigation department; (c) the water market for tubewell water (Rs.70 to 80 per hour) has developed in Bihar partly mitigating inequality in access to canal water by the tail enders; no such phenomenon is common in Punjab. The plausible reason for the low density of tubewells in Bihar in contrast to Punjab is low incomes making affordability of tubewell an issue, and (d) cooperative efforts by farmers to lay down pipes through neighbors’ plots to minimize loss of water has succeeded in Punjab; in Bihar such efforts succeeded initially at a small scale but could not sustain without government assistance. The absence of scientific rule for distribution of canal water and the weak canal governance system aggravates the misery of tail enders. In such a scenario, the mitigation of unequal access to water by the tail enders is facilitated by the development of water markets at high cost in a complex situation with tiny holdings and lack of cooperation among the farmers.Length: pp.808-818CanalsWater distributionCrop managementGroundwaterWater market

Direct Evidence on the Informational Properties of Earnings in Loan Contracts

Using a sample of firms that disclose the realizations of earnings used for determining covenant compliance in loan contracts, we provide the first direct evidence on the informational properties of earnings used in the performance covenants included in debt contracts. We find that the earnings measure used in performance covenants does not exhibit asymmetric loss timeliness and has significantly greater cash flow predictive ability than GAAP measures of earnings. We suggest that these results reflect the idea that contracting parties design accounting rules for performance covenants to enhance their efficacy as “tripwires”

Amplification of Fluctuations in Unstable Systems with Disorder

We study the early-stage kinetics of thermodynamically unstable systems with quenched disorder. We show analytically that the growth of initial fluctuations is amplified by the presence of disorder. This is confirmed by numerical simulations of morphological phase separation (MPS) in thin liquid films and spinodal decomposition (SD) in binary mixtures. We also discuss the experimental implications of our results.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Response to commentaries: (de)normalization of drinking and its implications for young people, sociality, culture and epidemiology

Commentar

Declining drinking among adolescents: are we seeing a denormalisation of drinking and a normalisation of non-drinking?

Background In the early 2000s, alcohol use among young people began to decline in many western countries, especially among adolescents (aged between 12-17 years old). These declines have continued steadily over the past two decades, against the backdrop of much smaller declines among the general population. Argument Hypotheses examining individual factors fail adequately to provide the necessary ‘big picture’ thinking needed to understand declines in adolescent drinking. We use the normalisation thesis to argue that there is strong international evidence for both processes of denormalisation of drinking and normalisation of non-drinking occurring for adolescents in many western countries. Conclusions Research on declining adolescent drinking provides evidence of both denormalisation of alcohol consumption and normalisation of non-drinking. This has implications for enabling policy environments more amenable to regulation and increasing the acceptability of non-drinking in social contexts. Normalisation theory (and its various interpretations) provides a useful multi-dimensional tool for understanding declines in adolescent drinking

Examining trends in the representation of young people and alcohol in Australian newspapers over twenty years (2000-2019)

Background: The news media can reflect and influence public opinion, as well as affect individual practice. In the context of significant changes in alcohol consumption among young people over the past twenty years, we examined Australian newspaper reporting of young people (under 18 years) and alcohol to assess whether there have been changes over time in the content and slant of articles that reflect or elucidate these trends. Methods: Factiva was used to search newspaper articles from major Australian newspapers over a twenty year period (2000-2019). After screening, two researchers coded 2,415 newspaper articles across four key domains: article type, article theme, sources cited and topic slant (e.g. approving, disapproving tone). Change over time across the study period was assessed using joinpoint Poisson regression analyses. Results: There was a significant increase in articles on young people and alcohol between 2000 and 2008, before a corresponding decrease to 2019. Policy or prevention strategies were the most common theme of articles (35.8%), followed by articles reporting on risks or harms associated with alcohol use for young people (18.1%). Researchers were the most common source reported (25.1%), followed by politicians (19.0%). Three quarters of articles (75.9%) had a socially disapproving topic slant, which increased significantly up until 2011, with a corresponding decrease thereafter. Conclusion: Attention to, and problematisation of, young people and alcohol increased in the first decade of this millennium which may have acted to sustain or accelerate declining drinking trends. However, this dissipated back to baseline levels in the second decade, which may indicate a lag time in recognition of young people’s drinking becoming less of a public health ‘problem’

Why is adolescent drinking declining? A systematic review and narrative synthesis

Background: Adolescent drinking has declined across many developed countries from the turn of the century. The aim of this review is to explore existing evidence examining possible reasons for this decline. Methods: We conducted systematic searches across five databases: Medline, PsycINFO, CINAHL, Informit Health and Scopus. Studies were included if association between declining alcohol consumption and potential explanatory factors were measured over time. Narrative synthesis was undertaken due to substantial methodological heterogeneity in these studies. Results: 17 studies met the inclusion criteria. Five studies found moderate evidence for changes in parental practices as a potential cause for the decline. Five studies that examined whether alcohol policy changes influenced the decline found weak evidence of association. Three studies explored whether alcohol use has been substituted by illicit substances but no evidence was found. Two studies examined the effect of a weaker economy; both identified increase in adolescent alcohol use during times of economic crisis. One study indicated that changes in exposure to alcohol advertising were positively associated with the decline and another examined the role of immigration of non-drinking populations but found no evidence of association. One study tested participation in organised sports and party lifestyle as a potential cause but did not use robust analytical methods and therefore did not provide strong evidence of association for the decline. Conclusions: The most robust and consistent evidence was identified for shifts in parental practices. Further research is required using robust analytical methods such as ARIMA modelling techniques and utilising cross-national data

Fault Detection and Isolation (Fdi) Via Neural Networks

Abstract Recent approaches to fault detection and isolation for dynamic systems using methods of integrating quantitative and qualitative model information, based upon soft computing (SC) methods are used. In this study, the use of SC methods is considered an important extension to the quantitative model-based approach for residual generation in FDI. When quantitative models are not readily available, a correctly trained neural network (NN) can be used as a non-linear dynamic model of the system. However, the neural network does not easily provide insight into model. This main difficulty can be overcome using qualitative modeling or rule-based inference methods. The paper presents the properties of several methods of combining quantitative and qualitative system information and their practical value for fault diagnosis of Neural network

Elucidation of the structural and optical properties of metal cation (Na+, K+, and Bi3+) incorporated Cs2AgInCl6 double perovskite nanocrystals

This study presents series of direct band gap Pb-free double perovskite Cs2AgInxBi1−xCl6, Cs2NaxAg1−xInCl6:Bi and Cs2KxAg1−xInCl6:Bi nanocrystal systems [Cs2B′(I)B′′(III)Cl6] synthesised using a colloidal hot-injection route. The structural properties investigated using powder XRD, TEM, solid state NMR and materials modelling approaches demonstrate that the incorporation of K+ cations into the double perovskite nanocrystal structure occurs simultaneously on both the Cs (A) site and Ag (B′(I)) positions within a series of closely related cubic and monoclinic structures. As a result of defect passivation, significant improvements in the photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) of ∼4.7× and ∼1.8× are exhibited in comparison to the Cs2AgInxBi1−xCl6, and Cs2NaxAg1−xInCl6:Bi nanocrystal systems, respectively. Materials modelling using the Ab Initio Random Structure Search (AIRSS) method, and the GIPAW DFT calculation of the NMR parameters from the derived structural realisations, shows that K+ incorporation induces significant short-range structural disorder and multi-phase formation. This is highlighted by the large 133Cs and 39K chemical shift dispersion characterising the MAS NMR data. Density of States (DoS) calculations describing these AIRSS generated structures suggest that increasing ionic character and reduced structural rigidity are strongly correlated with A site substitution of the K+ cation into these cubic and monoclinic phases. The 39K MAS NMR data reveals that the increasing PLQY performance maps directly with the K+ incorporation into the cubic CsKyAg1−yInCl6 phase supporting B site occupancy which is observed to be maximized at a 60 ml% K+ incorporation level. However, additional evidence indicates that low level K+ substitution primarily targets A site occupancy in a surface passivation role. The improvement to the optical properties induced by K+ and Na+ incorporation is rationalised in terms of increased covalent character and structural rigidity associated with decreased Cs+, Na+ and K+ cation mobility, as evidenced by the large (∼2 orders of magnitude) variation in the 133Cs T1 data across each compositional range