94 research outputs found
Ghana's labor market (1987-92)
Full text linkUsing the household survey and other data sources, the authors analyze returns to education and other aspects of Ghana's labor market profile from 1987 to 1991. The labor force grew slower than the population did between 1980 and 1990, but the supply of labor is expected to increase as the population of youth is expected to grow faster from 1990 to 2000. And labor force participation rates for 26- to 45-year-olds have been increasing rapidly. Over time, the average labor force participation rates of women have become equal to men's; that of children younger than 15 has remained unchanged at 38 percent. More than half of Ghana's child laborers are employed in agriculture. The formal sector's share of employment is on the decline, while the private informal sector's share has increased, especially in urban areas. Over time, the informal sector (in which most workers have a primary education or less) has absorbed more labor than the formal sector (in which most workers have middle or secondary schooling). Unemployment is pervasive in urban areas, and is less visible in rural areas. Labor productivity may not have increased and is possibly declining. Between 1987 and 1992, there was reverse migration, with many people moving from urban to rural areas, mostly for family reasons. Employment-related migration has also been on the increase. As is true elsewhere, the level of education affects participation in the labor force. Literacy rates for women are lower than those for men, which is one reason men dominate the private formal sector. The rate of return to education increases with higher education and work experience. The return for each additional year of schooling rangesfrom 4 percent to 6 percent in Ghana, quite high for a Sub-Saharan African country. Private and social returns to education are greater for primary than for secondary or postsecondary education.Public Health Promotion,Health Economics&Finance,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Labor Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Health Economics&Finance,Labor Standards,Poverty Assessment
Effect of Solid State Diffusion on Microsegregation in Steels
Full text linkTitle: Effect of Solid State Diffusion on Microsegregation in Steels, Author: Dipak B. Moharil, Location: ThodeControlled solidification of Fe-2wt% Ni binary and Fe-2 wt% Ni-Xwt%C ternary alloys was carried out in a travelling furnace. Metallographic studies were used to observe the effect of carbon on the morphology of growth. Electron probe microanalysis was carried out to obtain
quantitative results on the microsegregation of Ni in the binary and ternary alloys. The extent of homogenization of Ni, occurring both during and after solidification was quantitatively estimated.ThesisMaster of Engineering (ME
Malaysian labor markets under structural adjustment
Full text linkMalaysia's sustained growth in the 1970s was boosted by windfall gains during two oil price hikes plus a commodity boom. Oil and commodity prices fell in the 1980s and Malaysia, an oil exporter, bungled into a rather severe depression in 1985-86. But it recovered quickly, to the surprise of some - and growth resumed in 1987. The events that led to the recession and quick turnaround are a Southeast Asia prototype. The author analyzes the key relationships in this cyclical behavior. He then focuses on long-term labor market issues of interest during the economy's 20-year transformation. It was found that the real exchange rate appreciated because of the inflow of foreign capital to support the government's budget deficit. And the increase in average wages in the period leading up to the recession was not corrected with the rise in the domestic exchange rate in a fully employed economy. Wages increased more than labor productivity did at a time when employment growth had slowed and the rate of unemployment had risen. The author also concluded that rising labor costs were only part of the problem of rising costs before the recession. The whole package of fiscal, monetary, and exchange rate policies - together with the labor market behavior - led to the recession.Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Economic Stabilization,Markets and Market Access
Author Correction: The flying spider-monkey tree fern genome provides insights into fern evolution and arborescence (Nature Plants, (2022), 8, 5, (500-512), 10.1038/s41477-022-01146-6)
Full text linkCorrection to: Nature Plantshttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41477-022-01146-6, published online 9 May 2022. In the version of the article initially published, Dipak Khadka, who collected the samples in Nepal, was thanked in the Acknowledgements instead of being listed as an author. His name and affiliation (GoldenGate International College, Tribhuvan University, Battisputali, Kathmandu, Nepal) have been added to the authorship in the HTML and PDF versions of the article
Assessment of optical transmission and image contrast at infrared wavelengths using tissue simulating phantoms and biological tissues
No full textIn vivo fluorescence imaging is an emerging technique with potential for usage in non-invasive cancer screening, surveillance, real-time surgical guidance, and staging. Fluorescence imaging uses the interaction of non-ionizing optical radiation with endogenous fluorophores or fluorescent labels to provide real-time wide-field images of tissue structure and/or functional components. When imaging in vivo, excitation light must travel through overlying tissue to reach the fluorescent target and emitted fluorescence must then propagate back through the overlying tissue in order to be imaged onto a camera. Recently, fluorescent contrast agents have been developed with excitation and emission wavelengths in the near infrared (NIR) spectrum (~700 – 1,000 nm) in order to minimize attenuation and maximize the measured signal from tissue. While several clinical trials have shown the potential benefits of NIR contrast agents over visible fluorophores, there may still be room for improvement by moving to even longer wavelengths. As scattering is reduced as wavelength increases, some researchers are investigating fluorophores that emit in the short-wave infrared (SWIR) wavelength region (~1,000 – 2,300 nm). This study focuses on examining optical transmission and image contrast at NIR wavelengths and SWIR wavelengths to determine which wavelength region may be optimal for development of fluorescent contrast agents. Transmission and contrast measurements were performed on both tissue simulating phantoms and real biological tissues using 780 nm, 980 nm, and 1550 nm wavelengths. From the experiments conducted, it appears that fluorophore emissions should be chosen based on the goals of the specific application. For an application that requires simple detection of signal, near infrared wavelengths will be better as they can be detected with higher signal levels. For an application that focuses on imaging fluorophore-labeled tissues, short-wave infrared wavelengths will be the better option as they provided better image contrastM.S.Includes bibliographical referencesby Khushbu Dipak Pate
Interest rates in open economies : real interest rate parity, exchange rates, and country risk in industrial and developing countries
Full text linkThe paper tests for the relative importance of international capital market integration in determining interest rates in a broad sample of both industrial and developing countries. The recent turbulence in industrial country financial markets has underscored these concerns. One view holds that it is possible for countries to conduct an independent domestic interest rate policy. The other suggests that there is very little room for managing interest rates in open economies without destabilizing effects on exchange rates - given the massive volumes of capital market transactions that force interest rate parity across countries. Interest rate formation in developing countries has attracted much less attention. But it is an increasingly important issue as a growing number of them undertake financial liberalization. The central question for policy-makers is again the degree to which domestic interest rates are influenced by world interest rates. A separate concern is high domestic interest rates, relative to world interest rates, in some developing countries. A model of real interest rate parity is proposed as the main test for capital market integration - that is, that nominal interest rate differences across countries are largely explained by inflation differentials (rather than uncovered or covered nominal interest parity). The evidence suggests strongly that although domestic monetary policies play a significant role, real interest parity is a dominant factor, in both industrial and developing countries. However, expectations of exchange rate changes also significantly influence interest rates. A third key factor is the apparent presence of significant"country risk", unexplained by macroeconomic imbalances, for some developing countries (for example, Chile, Indonesia, Mexico, and the Philippines) pushing real domestic interest rates higher than what would be otherwise predicted. The concluding section discusses the possible reasons for such"country-risk"in the case of Indonesia.Banks&Banking Reform,Economic Theory&Research,Macroeconomic Management,Environmental Economics&Policies,Insurance&Risk Mitigation
Workshop on the EHCR
No full textThis deliverable provides a summary report of a workshop on Electronic Health
Records that was organised and delivered as the main focus of Workpackage 16 of
the Semantic Mining project.
The workshop was held as day three of a three-day series of events held in Brussels
in late November 2004, under the umbrella and with kind support of the
EUROREC organisation.
This report provides a brief summary of that event, and includes in Annex 1 the
complete delegate pack as printed and issued to all persons attending the event,
This delegate pack included printed copies of all slides and screenshots used
throughout the day.
The workshop was well attended, and in particular the organisers are pleased to
report that some very productive discussions took place that will act as the stimulus
for new threads of research collaboration between various Semantic Mining
partners, under the work plan of Workpackage 26.
The organisers are grateful for the support of the EUROREC organisation in
facilitating the organisation of this workshop and for lending their support to it
through their web site and a personal endorsement of the event
Decentralizing the provision of health services : an incomplete contracts approach
Full text linkThe author studies the allocation-between a central government and a local authority--of responsibility for planning, financing, and operations for the delivery of health services, in the context of an incomplete contracts model. In this model, inputs are required of both the central government and local authorities but they are unable to write down, and commit to, a complete and binding contract describing the actions both should take. The model is meant to capture the tradeoff between central and local authority in decisions about both financing and the provision of services. Each party provides a specific input--for example, the central government establishes a drug procurement system while the local authority designs and implements an incentive scheme to get doctors to carry out their responsibilities appropriately. The responsibility for delivery of services is identified with the ownership of essential infrastructure, such as the clinic or hospital. The author finds that to maximize the joint surplus of the two public bodies: Ownership of the facility should be given to the party that most values the well-being of local residents. (This way, if ex post bargaining breaks down, each still enjoys some benefits from the other's actions.) Financing authority and responsibility for delivering services should be negatively correlated. Generally it is optimal to allocate tax authority to the party that values the residents'well-being less--in other words, separate spending responsibility (ownership) from financing authority. A heavier financing burden (access to a small and inefficient tax base) has the same incentive effect as asset ownership: It increases the return to effort. If transferring ownership of the physical asset is costly (because the party that builds the asset has an inherent advantage in operating it-that is, there is some human capital embodiment), it may be optimal for the party with the higher construction costs to have planning authority. Somewhat paradoxically, the greater the costs of transferring assets from one party to the other, the more likely that ownership of the facilities and their provision should be separated.International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Decentralization,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Labor Policies,Economic Theory&Research,National Governance,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies
Enhancement of optical absorption of Si (100) surfaces by low energy N+ ion beam irradiation
No full textBias current dependence of resistivity in Co0.4Fe0.4B0.2 ultrathin film prepared by RF magnetron sputtering
No full text- …
