Globalisation and Shortages of Skilled Labour in Pacific Island Countries: A Case Study of Australia

During the past two decades, the Australian economy has experienced fundamental changes influenced by the increasing propagation of globalisation. Globalising forces have reduced barriers to labour mobility across countries and economies. Concurrently there has been an increase in the importance of the ‘knowledge economy’ and thus the demand for highly skilled workers. The combination of these factors has increased the competition for highly skilled workers across national economies and in particular among Pacific Island countries (such as New Zealand and Fiji) in which the domestic demand for highly skilled labour outstrips the available domestic supply. The primary objective of this article is to analyse the impact of globalisation on the Australian labour market with a focus on shortages of skilled labour in Australia. The paper also examines the implications of shortages of skilled labour for other Pacific Island countries and suggests policy initiatives in this area.

Influence of Increased Salt Stress on Correlations between Different Attributes of Rice

Twenty four rice genotypes were grown under salt stress conditions, in the artificially salinized cemented field basins. The correlations between different attributes were computed separately for each salt stress. Different inevitable correlations were observed, but increased salt stress affected the magnitude of these correlations. The attributes of number of grains per panicle, total florets per panicle and panicle fertility showed very highly significant positive correlations with yeild per plant under the highest salt stress. Such attributes may be utilized as the selection indices for salt tolerance

Induction of Salt Tolerance in Basmati Rice (Oryza sativa L.)

Seven relatively salt tolerant mutants were selecled from segregating populations (1\'12) Wider saline sodic conditions. Further testing of mutants under different salt stresses proved the superiority of one mutant namely RST-24. The mutant also proved its salt tolerance potential under both the gravel culture and saline-sodic field conditions. The mutant slightly surpassed parantal variety Basmati-370, for"length-breadth ratio (milled kernel), elogation ratio and gel consistence .They yield and yield components and other quality traits of mutants and parent unnder salt stress are also presented

The Induction and Evaluation of Productive Semidwarf Mutants of Basmati-370

Dry, uniform seeds of Basmati 370 with about 14% moisture content were exposed to 0, 15,20 and 25kR doses of gamma rays (60Co source). Twenty one semi-dwarf mutants were selected from 36,000 M2 plants originating from about 12,000 Ml plants. The breeding behaviour of these mutants was studied in M3 and consequently 6 mutants were selected. The comparative yield test of mutants with mother cultivar Basmati-370, established the high yield potential and semi-dwarf plant posture of mutant strains. The other plant attributes as well as physico-chemical traits of the mutants and parent cultivar are also presented

Condensation in disordered lasers: theory, 3D+1 simulations and experiments

The complex processes underlying the generation of a coherent-like emission from the multiple-scattering of photons and wave-localization in the presence of structural disorder are still mostly un-explored. Here we show that a single nonlinear Schroedinger equation, playing the role of the Schawlow-Townes law for standard lasers, quantitatively reproduces experimental results and three-dimensional time-domain parallel simulations of a colloidal laser system.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

PREPARATION AND EVALUATION OF VITAMIN E ADJUVANTED OIL EMULSIFIED INFECTIOUS BRONCHITIS EXPERIMENTAL VACCINE

The present study was conducted to prepare oil emulsified (OE) infectious bronchitis (IB) experimental vaccines. The vaccines were prepared using the vaccinal strain H-120 Infectious Bonchitis virus (IBV). The virus was cultivated in 9-day old embryonated eggs via allantoic cavity route. Allantoic-amniotic fluid (AAF) was collected and inactivated with formalin @ 0.12%. Water in oil emulsion was prepared by adding one part of AAF to four parts of mineral oil containing water phase (Tween 80) and oil phase (Span 80) surfactants. Hydrophile lypohile balance (HLB) of the emulsion was maintained at 7.0. Two oil emulsified experimental vaccines were prepared. Vaccine-I was prepared without vitamin E and Vaccine-II with vitamin E (300 mg/ml). A total of 120 day-old broiler breeder chickens were divided into 4 groups, A, B, C, and D, each having 30 birds. At the age of 21 days, experimental Vaccine-I, experimental vaccine-II and commercial IB killed (H-120) vaccine were inoculated @ 0.5 ml in the birds of groups A, B and C, respectively. Group D was maintained as nonvaccinated control. Efficacy of the vaccines was evaluated on the basis of humoral immune response (haemagglutination inhibition antibody titres) against IB in the four groups. The seven weeks cumulative mean antibody titres (CMT) of each group were calculated. The highest CMT was observed in group B (130), followed by group C (69), group A (58) and group D (17). Statistical analysis showed that haemagglutination inhibition (HI) antibody titres in group B (vaccine- II) were significantly higher than those of groups A, B and C (P< 0.05)

Impact of WTO’s Trade Liberalisation on Selected Food Crops in Pakistan

WTO has major implications for almost all the sectors of economy but agriculture sector is the one which is more prone to the implementation of its agreements, particularly the Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). The study intended to evaluate the impact of WTO on domestic ma rket and farm-level prices, production and consumption of major food commodities like wheat and rice and ultimately their impact on the producer’s and consumer’s surpluses. The farm level impact was also evaluated to chalk out the eventual position at farm level with the purpose to identify necessary policies and actions to cope with the new world situation. The study tries to provide a useful guide to the likely impacts of agricultural trade liberalisation. It was found that openness of the economy would affect the domestic demand, supply and consumption along with affecting the producer and consumer surpluses. It was estimated that increased prices would have increased production of wheat which would have generated a gain of producer’s surplus of Rs 10,682 million. On the other hand due to increased wholesale price of wheat, the domestic demand of wheat would have declined and caused a loss to consumer surplus of Rs 12,557 million. Similarly, the increased production of rice would have generated a gain of producer’s surplus of Rs 3,708 million. However, due to increase in the wholesale price of rice, its domestic demand would have declined thus causing a loss to consumers’ surplus. Overall the impact of the increase in the international price of wheat would have resulted in a net loss to Pakistan of Rs 1,875 million during 2004-05 while in case of rice it would have resulted in a gain of Rs 1,215 million in 2004-05.Trade Liberalisation, Food Crops, Export, Consumer Surplus, Comparative Advantage, Free Trade.

SEROMONITORING OF AVIAN INFLUENZA H9 SUBTYPE IN BREEDERS AND COMMERCIAL LAYER FLOCKS

A serological survey for detection of antibodies against avian influenza virus (AIV) subtype H9 in vaccinated layer flocks was carried out. Serum samples were divided into age groups A, B, C, D (commercial layers) and E, F, G, H (layer breeders). Haemagglutination inhibition (HI) test was performed to determine serum antibodies against AIV-H9 subtype. Geometric mean titer (GMT) values were calculated. Results showed the level of protection of vaccinated birds was satisfactory