127 research outputs found
Performance Evaluation of Introduced Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Germplasmfor Yield and Its Related Traits at Atsbi, Ofla and Quiha,Northern Ethiopia
No full textSixty four barley genotypes were tested in 8x8 simple lattice design at Atsbi, Ofla and Quihaenvironments in Tigray region. The objective of the studywas to evaluate the performance of barley germplasmfor yield and its related traits. Analysis of variance revealed that there was a significant difference (p< 0.001)among the sixty four genotypes for all the characters studied except for 1000-kernel weight at Quiha which wassignificant (p<0.05) and plant height was non-significant at Atsbi and Ofla.It was observed that the overallmean for grain yield was the lowest (9.58 qt/ha) at Quiha environment, whereas Ofla seems to be ideal forcultivation of barley as the overall mean grain yield of the location was 36.13 qt/ha which is the highest amongthe three location
Genetic Variability, Heritability and Genetic Advance for Yield and Yield Related Traits in Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Germplasm
No full textSixty four barley genotypes were tested in 8x8 simple lattice design at Atsbi, Ofla and Quiha
environments in Tigray region, in 2009/10. The overall objective was to study the extent of genetic variability,
heritability and genetic advance among the said genotypes. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) study revealed that
there was a significant difference (p< 0.001) among the genotypes for all the characters studied except for
1000-kernel weight at Quiha which was significant (p<0.05) and plant height was non-significant at Atsbi and
Ofla. High phenotypic coefficient of variation (PCV) and genotypic coefficient of variation (GCV) were recorded
for number of productive tillers/m and number of kernels/spike across locations. High GCV along with high 2
heritability and genetic advance was obtained from number of productive tillers/m and number of kernels/spike 2
across locations
Study of Genetic Diversity in Different Genotypes of Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Based on Cluster and Principal Component Analyses
No full textBarley (Hordeum vulgare L.) belongs to the family Poaceae, tribe Triticaeae and genus Hordeum. An experiment
was carried out to assess genetic diversity by cluster and principal component analysis (PCA) for yield and its
contributing characters in Sixty four barley genotypes. The varieties were tested in 8x8 simple lattice design at
Atsbi, Ofla and Quiha environments in Tigray region, in 2009/10. Cluster analysis revealed that the 64 genotypes
were grouped in 5 distinct clusters for Atsbi and Quiha, while it was 6 for Ofla. Distance between clusters showed
significant difference except between cluster I with III at Atsbi, between cluster II and III with IV at Quiha, and
between cluster III and IV, and cluster II and IV at Ofla respectively, for most of studied characters. Principal
component analysis showed that the first four principal components explained about 82.16% of the total
variation, while the first three principal components with 69.27% and 72.04% at Ofla and Quiha environments
respectively
Phenotypic Diversity for Qualitative Characters of Some Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) Germplasm
No full textBarley is believed to have originated in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) and Southeast Asia .Sixty
four barley genotypes were tested in 8x8 simple lattice design at Atsbi, Ofla and Quiha
environments in Tigray region, in 2009/10. The overall objective was to determine the
nature and degree of variability in morpho- agronomic traits of barley germplasm. Three
types of seed/kernel colors, as quality criteria observed were white, tan/red and black in
the percentage of 96.87%, except the genotypes Eritrea07 1, and ISEBON 14 with a seed
color of tan red and black respectively added to the variability of 1.56% each. From this
study, 60.69 % found as two-row type, 31.26% six-row types and 7.81% irregular type
across locations. It was observed that from these barley genotypes had a spike density of
which 6.25% were lax, 64.06% intermediate and 29.69% dense. All the testing entries
were awnletted and the caryopsis or kernel covering with a percentage of the genotypes
were, 21.88%, 10.94% and 65.64% stands for naked, semi-covered and covered types
respectively across locations. The phenotypic diversity index values for qualitative traits
ranged from 0.0 (monomorphic) for lemma/ hood to 0.86 high polymorphic for row
number, for awn color (H’= 0.71), kernel covering (H’=0.84) and spike density
(H’=0.82) revealed the highest diversity. Glume color (H’=0.34) and gain color
(H’=0.16), relatively showed the lowest diversit
Addressing the education puzzle : the distribution of education and economic reform
No full textNo country has achieved sustained economic development without substantially investing in human capital. Previous studies have shown the handsome returns to various forms of basic education, research, training, learning-by-doing, and capacity-building. But education by itself does not guarantee successful development, as history has shown in the former Soviet bloc, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and the Indian states of Kerala and West Bengal. The question is, when and how does education bring high payoffs? Although theory has suggested a strong causal link between education and growth, the empirical evidence has not been unanimous and conclusive. The authors examine two explanatory factors. First, who gets educated matters a good deal, but the distribution of education is complex and not much has been written about it. They construct an asset allocation model that elucidates the importance of the distribution of education to economic development. Second, how education affects growth is greatly affected by the economic policy environment. Policies determine what people can do with their education. Reform of trade, investment, and labor policies can increase the returns from education. Using panel data from 12 Asian and Latin American countries for 1970-94, they investigate the relationship between education, policy reform, and economic growth. Their empirical results are promising. First, the distribution of education matters. Unequal distribution of education tends to have a negative impact on per capita income in most countries. Moreover, controlling for human capital distribution and the use of appropriate functional form specifications consistent with the asset allocation model makes a difference for the effect of average schooling on per capita income. Controlling for education distribution leads to positive and significant effects of average schooling on per capita income, while failure to do so leads to insignificant, even negative effects, of average education. Second, the policy environment matters a great deal. Our results indicate that economic policies that suppress market forces tend to dramatically reduce the impact of human capital on economic growth. Investment in human capital can have little impact on growth unless people can use education in competitive and open markets. The larger and more competitive these markets are, the greater are the prospects for using education and skills.Curriculum&Instruction,Economic Theory&Research,Decentralization,Public Health Promotion,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Teaching and Learning,Curriculum&Instruction,Economic Theory&Research,Gender and Education
DC/DC Converter For Helicopter Starter/Generator
No full textThe use of power electronics DC/DC converters in aircraft has increased due to the state-of-art converters developments. However, the volume, efficiency and mass of such converters are critical issues. Each component of the DC/DC converters contributes to the total mass of the system. By designing each component, optimized to have small volume, high efficiency and small mass, the total system can have small volume, small mass and high efficiency. This master project explores design optimization of dual active bridge (DAB) DC/DC converter components: the capacitors, the cooling system and the transformer. Different types of capacitors are compared in terms of mass, volume and loss for the input and output capacitors. After selecting the types of capacitors, the number, volume and mass of the input and output filter capacitors are optimized by interleaving two and three dual active bridge DC/DC converters. The thermal resistance of external cooling system for the selected switches is optimized by a trade-off between the junction temperature of the switches and the losses induced. The transformer is optimized by an evolutionary algorithm, particle swarm optimization, for volume, power loss and required maximum allowable thermal resistance for cooling. The three interleaved DAB is found to be attractive in terms of less capacitor number which leads to a small volume and mass. It is also found to be attractive in terms of thermal management of the transformers designed using the particle swarm optimization. This decreases the volume of cooling systems needed for the transformer. Interleaved three DAB is selected as best in terms of volume, mass and thermal management.Electrical Power ProcessingElectrical Power EngineeringElectrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Scienc
Information, accounting, and the regulation of concessioned infrastructure monopolies
No full textEconomists often characterize the regulation of monopolies as a"game"(between the regulator and the service provider) in which the two players do not share the same information. The regulator is assumed to have poorer information than the service provider about the scope of future efficiency gains and the size and timing of future investment plans. Over time, the regulator must increase its information base so that regulatory targets become more realistic - but this is a costly process. The authors examine the ways such information can and should be generated, especially throughthe accounting requirements a regulator can impose on private operators of infrastructure concessions. (They view concessioning and regulation as complementary, not substitute, activities.) Concessionaires should provide regulators with the information they need to: 1) Compare outcomes with expectations. 2) Evaluate the cost of adverse shocks that may warrant relaxed regulations. 3) Evaluate whether lower costs than expected are the result of better performance or diminished output. 4) Properly evaluate the asset base and charge for the consumption of capital. Information that regulators get from private operators of infrastructure monopolies should be used to make both regulators and concessionaires accountable. In Chile, for example, the privatization of monopolies led to significant efficiency gains, but it took a long time for these gains to be passed on to users because neither the firms nor the regulators were held accountable - until Congress expressed reluctance to endorse further privatization because earlier waves of privatization had not benefited consumers. In other words, information should be used to make regulatory decisions more transparent and to reduce the risk of the private providers"capturing"the regulators.Labor Policies,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Decentralization,Financial Intermediation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Banks&Banking Reform
Accuracy of assessment of eligibility for early medical abortion by community health workers in Ethiopia, India and South Africa
No full textTo assess the accuracy of assessment of eligibility for early medical abortion by community health workers using a simple checklist toolkit.; Diagnostic accuracy study.; Ethiopia, India and South Africa.; Two hundred seventeen women in Ethiopia, 258 in India and 236 in South Africa were enrolled into the study. A checklist toolkit to determine eligibility for early medical abortion was validated by comparing results of clinician and community health worker assessment of eligibility using the checklist toolkit with the reference standard exam.; Accuracy was over 90% and the negative likelihood ratio <0.1 at all three sites when used by clinician assessors. Positive likelihood ratios were 4.3 in Ethiopia, 5.8 in India and 6.3 in South Africa. When used by community health workers the overall accuracy of the toolkit was 92% in Ethiopia, 80% in India and 77% in South Africa negative likelihood ratios were 0.08 in Ethiopia, 0.25 in India and 0.22 in South Africa and positive likelihood ratios were 5.9 in Ethiopia and 2.0 in India and South Africa.; The checklist toolkit, as used by clinicians, was excellent at ruling out participants who were not eligible, and moderately effective at ruling in participants who were eligible for medical abortion. Results were promising when used by community health workers particularly in Ethiopia where they had more prior experience with use of diagnostic aids and longer professional training. The checklist toolkit assessments resulted in some participants being wrongly assessed as eligible for medical abortion which is an area of concern. Further research is needed to streamline the components of the tool, explore optimal duration and content of training for community health workers, and test feasibility and acceptability
- …
