72 research outputs found
The Effect of Age, Stocking Density and Flooring during Transport on Welfare of Young Dairy Calves in Australia
No full textTransport of young (‘bobby’) calves for slaughter is a contentious welfare issue for some sectors of the Australian community. Factors of age, stocking density and flooring need further research to develop appropriate welfare standards for transport of bobby calves. The objective of this study was to identify the space allowance requirements for transport of bobby calves and to understand factors such as age and flooring that minimise risks to calf welfare during transport. Animals aged 3-, 5- and 10-day old were transported for 12 h in a custom-made cattle truck fitted with 9 pens, with movable mesh divisions. Each pen contained 4 calves, with space allowances of 0.2, 0.3 and 0.5 m2 per calf and flooring of solid metal, mesh or straw bedding. A total of 432 male dairy calves were transported in 12 trips during the 2-year study. Behavioural measurements included lying during transport, and lying and drinking for 12 h after transport during recovery. Blood samples were taken prior to transport, immediately after transport and 12 h after transport. Blood samples were analysed for metabolic state (glucose, beta-hydroxy-butyrate (BOHB)), hydration (packed cell volume (PCV)) and exhaustion/bruising (creatine kinase (CK) activity). It was found that several measures were affected by age, which indicates that the physiology and in particular lying behaviour of 3-day old calves is fundamentally different from that of older calves. It is unclear how this affects their ability to cope with the stressors of transport. Space affected the posture changes and CK activity during and after transport and it is concluded that space allowance should be at least 0.3 m2 per calf for calves of average size, while CK activity suggested that providing more space to 0.5 m2 per calf may provide even greater benefits. Straw bedding is of clear benefit to calves during transport, to the extent that it may even reduce some of the negative effects of reduced space on lying behaviour
Sensitivity of Winter-Active Lucerne (Medicago sativa L.) to Different Grazing Regimes
No full textLucerne (alfalfa; Medicago sativa L.) is the key forage for grazing in dryland temperate regions around the world. While rotational grazing of lucerne is recommended, in southern Australia the intervals between grazing events are often chosen in an opportunistic manner, to meet livestock production targets and utilise excessive spring and summer growth. To assess whether the persistence of lucerne is sensitive to variations in rotational grazing management practice, we report on an experiment with four sheep grazing treatments that was conducted for 2.5 years, including three summers, in southern New South Wales. The grazing management treatments were a crash-grazing control, frequent grazing, feed-based rotational grazing and time-based rotational grazing, replicated four times. The number of grazing events, percentage of time under grazing, lucerne top dry matter (DM) at the beginning and end of grazing periods and plant density were measured. The results relating to number of grazing events, percentage of time grazing and DM removed during grazing indicated that four grazing practices had been achieved. The treatments all had significant periods of rest for at least 73% of time and were empirically different in their approach but resulted in similar grazing pressures, in terms of overall pasture removed during grazing. Nevertheless, there was little difference in lucerne densities between grazing treatments over the life of the experiment. We conclude that there is flexibility in the rotational management of grazed lucerne provided adequate rest periods are part of the management program
Agricultural trade reform and poverty reduction in developing countries
No full textThe author offers an economic assessment of the opportunities and challenges provided by the World Trade Organization's Doha Development Agenda, particularly through agricultural trade liberalization, for low-income countries seeking to trade their way out of poverty. After discussing links between poverty, economic growth, and trade, he reports modeling results showing that farm product markets remain the most costly of all goods market distortions in world trade. The author focuses on what such reform might mean for developing countries both with and without their involvement in the multilateral trade negotiations. What becomes clear is that if those countries want to maximize their benefits from the Doha round, they need also to free up their own domestic product and factor markets so their farmers are better able to take advantage of new market opportunities abroad. The author also addresses other concerns of low-income countries about farm trade reform: whether there would be losses associated with tariff preference erosion, whether food-importing countries would suffer from higher food prices in international markets, whether China's WTO accession will provide an example of trade reform aggravating poverty by way of cuts in prices received by Chinese farmers, and the impact on food security and poverty alleviation.Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Trade Policy,Labor Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Economic Theory&Research,Poverty Assessment,Trade Policy
Looking after bubba for all our mob: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community experiences and perceptions of stillbirth
No full textThe stillbirth rate among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and communities in Australia is around double that of non-Indigenous women. While the development of effective prevention strategies during pregnancy and improving care following stillbirth for women and families in communities has become a national priority, there has been limited progress in stillbirth disparities. With community permission, this study aimed to gain a better understanding of community experiences, perceptions, and priorities around stillbirth. We undertook an Indigenous researcher-led, qualitative study, with community consultations guided by a cultural protection protocol and within an unstructured research framework. A total of 18 communities were consulted face-to-face through yarning interviews, focus groups and workshops. This included 54 community member and 159 health professional participants across remote, regional, and urban areas of Queensland, Western Australia, Victoria, South Australia, and Northern Territory. Thematic analysis of consultation data identified common themes across five focus/priority areas to address stillbirth: Stillbirth or Sorry Business Baby care needs to be family-centered; using Indigenous “ways of knowing, being, and doing” to ensure cultural safety; application of Birthing on Country principles to maternal and perinatal care; and yarning approaches to improve communication and learning or education. The results underscore the critical need to co-design evidence-based, culturally appropriate, and community-acceptable resources to help reduce existing disparities in stillbirth rates.Luciana Massi, Carolyn Lewis, Skye Stewart, Diana Jans, Rupesh Gautam, Lina Jalloub, Anneka Bowman, Philippa Middleton, Sue Vlack, Frances M. Boyle, Carrington Shepherd, Vicki Flenady, Deanna Stuart-Butler, and Kym M. Ra
Teaching adults to read better and faster : results from an experiment in Burkina Faso
No full textTwo cognitively oriented methods were tested in Burkina Faso to help illiterates learn to read more efficiently. These were (a) speeded reading of increasingly larger word units and (b) phonological awareness training to help connect letters to speech. Learners were given reading tests and a computerized reaction time test. Although the literacy courses were shortened by the arrival of rains and government delays, the piloted methods helped adults read better than those in the standard"control"classes. Learners enrolled in the experimental classes performed better on the outcome tests than did learners enrolled in control classes. Ninety percent of the possible comparisons between treatment classes and control classes favored classes receiving treatments, and 72 percent of the measurements in favor of treatments were statistically significant. The evidence suggests that phonological awareness training is particularly effective in situations where the training period was short, and that rapid reading was more advantageous in longer training situations. Overall, the results are indicative of the potential that scientifically backed methods have in making adult literacy instruction more effective. However, due to the short duration of the classes (3-4 months) learners apparently did not receive sufficient practice to consolidate skills. Literacy skills may still be prone to being forgotten if readers do not learn to read automatically and if opportunities to read are few.Curriculum&Instruction,Teaching and Learning,Nonformal Education,Primary Education,ICT Policy and Strategies,Nonformal Education,ICT Policy and Strategies,Primary Education,Teaching and Learning,Curriculum&Instruction
Setting the trade policy agenda : What roles for Economists?
No full textEconomists have influenced the trade policy agenda for establishing multilateral trade rules, disciplines, and procedures, and for negotiating most-favored nation and preferential reductions in trade barriers and subsidies, in addition to affecting the agenda for unilateral policy reform. These roles are considered in turn, before focusing on the economists'contribution through quantifying the extent and effects of existing trade distortions and alternative reform initiatives. Many trade distortions remain, however, sothe author looks at where trade economists'efforts in agenda-setting need to be focused in the years ahead.TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Trade Policy,Trade and Services
Does membership in a regional preferential trade arrangement make a country more or less protectionist?
No full textThe author explores whether a systematic relationship exists between a developing country's participation in a preferential regional trade agreement (RTA) and the restrictiveness of its trade regime. The motivation for her study is provided by the current debate about whether regional trading blocs are a stepping-stone toward a more liberal global trading system and whether these blocs have changed over time so that the"new"blocs differ meaningfully from the"old"ones in terms of openness to the rest of the world. She restricts analysis to reciprocal RTAs involving developing countries in partnership either with industrial countries (North-South RTAs) or with other developing countries (South-South RTAs). Nearly every developing country belongs to one or more RTAs, so the author develops criteria for distinguishing effective from noneffective regional blocs. She then taps into many sources of data to compare levels of restrictiveness. She finds no evidence that participation in a regional trade agreement necessarily leads to a more liberal important regime.Trade Policy,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Rules of Origin,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Trade and Regional Integration,Trade Policy
The evolution of trade treaties and trade creation : lessons for Latin America
No full textThe author examines the main distinction between trade liberalization under the General Agreement on Tariffs andTrade (GATT) and under regional trading agreements. Under the GATT, trade liberalization is based on the most-favored-nation principle. Under regional trade agreements, it is based on preferential trade. Establishing regional trade agreements does not necessarily lead to greater regional integration. The European Economic Community has been an exception, and with greater integration, regional trade has grown steadily. The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been a weak association, but trade among ASEAN members has increased rapidly because member countries have undertaken multilateral trade liberalization. The efforts of Latin American countries to create regional trade associations in the 1960s, based on protectionist policies, reduced trade not only regionally, but with the rest of the world. In contrast, the Latin American regional trading agreements of the 1980s and 1990s have liberalized trade among the groups. Proper regional trading agreements must conform to Article XXIV of the GATT, but nearly all the countries that have created regional integration schemes have not followed it. These regional trading agreements have not increased protection, but neither has there been across-the-board trade liberalization. Regional trading agreements carry with them the danger of trade diversion (when imports that used to come from third countries at lower prices become costlier because of preferential access granted to a higher-cost regional source). How can Latin American countries reduce trade diversion in their regional trading agreements? : 1) keep protection low in the first place; 2) have open regional trade associations (so that it is easy for new partners to join); 3) continue liberalizing trade with the rest of the world, following the most-favored-nation principle; 4) establish common markets rather than free trade areas (because rules of origin create new barriers, including bureaucracies); 5) coordinate regulatory and competition policies (eliminate laws that limit competition and adopt common external tariffs); and 6) improve roads, ports, and means of communications.TF054105-DONOR FUNDED OPERATION ADMINISTRATION FEE INCOME AND EXPENSE ACCOUNT,Trade and Regional Integration,Trade Policy,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies
Aid dependence reconsidered
No full textWhen foreign aid undermines institutional development aid recipients can exhibit the symptoms of aid"dependence"- benefiting from aid in the short term but damaged by it in the long term. The authors find that one equilibrium outcome can be high aid and weak institutions, even when donors and recipients fully anticipate aid's effects on institutional development, but don't take the drastic steps needed to put the country on the path to independence. Another equilibrium outcome can be low aid and strong institutions. Their model encompasses such diverse experiences as those of Tanzania and the Republic of Korea. When the development community ignores aid's effect on institutions, the outcome depends greatly on initial conditions. Where institutions are initially weak (as in many Sub-Saharan African countries at independence), institutional capacity collapses and foreign aid eventually finances the whole public budget. Where they are initially stronger, the result can be close to the institutions-sensitive equilibrium. The results suggest that, even for countries with similar per capita income, the foreign aid strategy should be designed to suit the country's institutional capacity. In some cases a short-term reduction in aid may increase a country's chances of graduating from aid.Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness,School Health,Gender and Development,Economic Theory&Research,Public Sector Economics&Finance,Poverty Assessment,Development Economics&Aid Effectiveness,Economic Theory&Research,School Health,National Governance
Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
No full textDistorted incentives, agricultural and trade policy reforms, national agricultural development, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17, Q18,
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