Desired Growth Rate Research Articles

Assessing the performance of Moghani crossbred lambs derived from different mating systems with Texel and Booroola sheep.

In our ongoing project, which focuses on the introgression of Booroola/FecB gene and the myostatin (MSTN) gene into purebred Moghani sheep, we assessed the performance of second-generation Moghani crossbreds such as second crossbreds (F2) and initial backcross generation (BC1). These crossbreds were generated through different mating systems, including in-breeding, outcrossing, first paternal backcrossing (PBC1), and first maternal backcrossing (MBC1). Notably, F2 strains exhibited lean tail, woolly fleece and a higher percentage of white coat color compared to BC1. The impact of mating systems and birth types on pre-weaning survival rates was found to be statistically significant (P < 0.0001), with singleton offspring resulting from paternal backcross showing a particularly substantial effect. The F2 crossbred lambs carrying the Booroola gene did not show a statistically significant difference in survivability compared to those carrying the MSTN gene, implying the Booroola prolificacy gene had no significant impact on survival outcomes. However, the occurrence of multiple births had a significant negative impact on lamb survival (P < 0.0001). The PBC1 sheep strains, specifically Texel Tamlet ram strains carrying the MSTN mutation, exhibited superior growth rates compared to others (P < 0.05). Interestingly, the MSTN mutation in the homozygous variant genotype significantly impacts growth rate before weaning compared to other genotypes and pure Moghani sheep (P < 0.05). In conclusion, this study objectively underscores the pivotal role of genetic factors, specifically through strategic mating systems like paternal backcrossing, in enhancing desired traits and growth rates in Moghani sheep, thereby contributing valuable insights to the field of sheep breeding programs.

BREAST MILK FORTIFICATION FOR PRETERM INFANTS

Mother’s own milk is the optimal food for infants. It is characterized not only by a unique balanced composition of nutrients, but also by essential biological properties, which is especially important for preterm infants. If there is no mother’s milk or it is amount is not enough to meet daily needs, it is recommended to use donor human milk (HM) instead. However, donor HM is commonly obtained from the women who delivered at term and often does not contain enough protein to promote proper growth of preterm infants. Whether donor milk or the mother’s own milk, human milk fortifi cation is essential to meet the nutrient needs for growth and development of these preterm infants, who are at high risk of growth retardation during hospital stay. There are several strategies and commercially available HM fortifi ers that can be used to maintain the desired growth rate. Standard HM fortifi cation, which is currently most commonly used in neonatal intensive care units, may not meet the increased protein needs of a signifi cant proportion of very low birth weight infants.Instead, individualized fortifi cation can optimize nutrient intake. It is possible to individualize the food supply with the help of regulated or targeted HM fortifi cation. The quality and origin of commercially available HM fortifi ers are also important. To implement an individualized approach to the fortifi cation of HM, the use of milk analyzers can be useful. However, the clinical benefi ts of individual approaches to breast milk fortifi cation and the use of diff erent commercially available HM fortifi ers remain largely unknown. This review presents the results of the most important studies that infl uence clinical practice and describes current approaches to HM fortifi cation with relevant practical recommendations.

Access, participation and socio-economic benefits of blue versus green economy: a systematic literature review

ABSTRACT There are implications to sustainable development from overconsumption of natural resources. Increasingly, economies are running out of resources to sustain or achieve desired growth rates and inclusive growth. As a result, momentum is building on exploring how the blue economy can be used as complimentary resource, particularly as a taping into it as an opportunity of ensuring that the marginalised groups in society are catered for. This is argued to address the ex-ante inequalities in other sectors of the economy, such as the green economy (land and resources on it), where participation by vulnerable groups like women and youth is limited owing to segregation policies of yesteryears, at least in former colonised countries like South Africa. The study used a systematic literature review, following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses for Protocols (PRISMA-P) approach to ascertain works on this topic and identify gaps that need to be addressed to adequately inform policy and practice. With regards to access and participation in the blue economy, most studies found that women do have access and participate in the blue economy, however, their participation is limited by barriers such lack of education and credit as well as patriarchal beliefs. Furthermore, women participation in both green and blue economies is determined by social norms, skills attainment, access to credit, age, technology. Most of the reviewed studies concluded that men derived more commercial benefits from green economy, while women derive more subsistence and recreational benefits from the blue economy.

Порівняльна характеристика різних способів збагачення грудного молока для дітей, які народилися передчасно. Що найкраще? (систематичний огляд)

Human milk is the preferred feeding for all infants, including those of very low birth weight and vulnerable groups. However, mother’s milk is generally likely has insufficient protein to promote appropriate growth. That's why fortification of human milk is required to meet nutrient requirements for growth and development for these preterm infants who are at high risk for growth faltering during the hospital stay. There are multiple strategies and products that may be employed to support desired growth rates. Purpose - Conduct comparative analysis the current literature on the fortification own mothers’ milk and influence of this fortification on the outcomes for preterm and sick infant’s health. Materials and methods. Search Strategy: A systematic search of the literature was conducted using search strategy was based on MeSH terms/subject headings and separate keywords. The study designs included were randomized or quasi-randomized controlled trials in the English, Ukrainian and Russian languages. Study Selection: Published literature was searched from January 2010 up to July, 1, 2022 using five databases (PubMed, Ovid Medline, Web of Science, Ovid Embase, and the Cochrane Library). The search resulted in 75 articles, and an additional article was identified by an expert in the field; 20 were used for review. Data Extraction: Data from the full-text articles was extracted into a Table. The manuscripts were organised in the table as follows: first Cochrane reviews and systematic reviews, followed by individual research studies that were not cited in any of the systematic reviews. Results and conclusions. The primary outcomes of this review were influence of different types fortification of mother's milk and time of starting fortification in short term growth parameters (length, head growth, and weight gain), feeding intolerance (defined as clinical signs only and/or cessation of feeding), length of hospital stay (number of days that the baby remained in the neonatal unit), and post menstrual age (i.e., gestational age plus chronological age) at discharge. Secondary outcomes were narcotising enterocolitis and sepsis. The study results suggested that early human milk fortification appears to positively affect growth for infants whose human milk feedings are fortified with a fortifier without adverse effects. Implications for Practice: Adequate nutrition in the early weeks of life is rarely achieved in premature infants, resulting in extrauterine growth restriction. The use of fortified human milk produces adequate growth in premature infants and satisfies the specific nutritional requirements of these infants. The use of individualised fortification is recommended but with proper protocols. No conflict of interests was declared by the authors.

Measuring the Impact of Oil Revenues on Iraq’s GDP for the Duration (2005-2020)

The oil sector has an important role in the Iraqi economy represented by its revenues, as oil exports constitute about 96% of the total exports on all macroeconomic variables, including national income, gross domestic product, foreign trade, investments in all its forms and its determination of economic development trends that depend on fluctuations in international oil prices in addition to the unexpected factors such as external shocks. Oil exports play an important role in the structure of foreign trade in oil countries, including Iraq, which faces many challenges that hinder the process of economic development, represented by the lack of capital prepared for investment and the lack of domestic savings. The controversy of the study lies in knowing whether the oil revenues contributed to increasing the gross domestic product and financing the general budget, that is, improving economic growth rates or not. The research aims primarily to achieve the validity of the hypothesis by shedding light on the reality of the oil sector in Iraq, the material, moral capabilities, and oil privileges to clarify the impact of the oil sector and its role in improving economic growth rates. Then, the research relied on the inductive approach in order to reach the objectives of the research by identifying the concept of the oil sector and its impact on achieving desirable economic growth rates using the standard quantitative method in measuring the impact of the oil sector on the gross domestic product in Iraq using the (Eview9) program. The benchmark indicates that the relationship between oil revenues and GDP is a direct relationship, and oil revenues are the main source for generating national income and GDP, as Iraq directly depends on oil revenues and thus the validity of the hypothesis was proven through the analytical side and the standard side, as oil revenues plays a major role in increasing the gross domestic product and thus improving the rate of economic growth.

The Effects of Oil Palm Plantation on Fish Composition in Selangor Peatlands, Malaysia

The cultivation of oil palm on peat swamps in Malaysia has changed the water quality and aquatic ecosystems. We determined the fish species composition and water quality conditions at a disturbed peat swamp, i.e., oil palm plantation, in Kuala Langat peat swamp reserve forest, Selangor. Fishes were collected via gill net in five selected drains during dry and wet seasons between August 2014 and January 2015. In-situ (electrical conductivity (EC), dissolved oxygen (DO), pH, turbidity and temperature) and ex-situ (dissolved organic carbon (DOC)) physicochemical parameters of water quality were measured bimonthly. The length-weight relationship (LWR) of fish related to seasonal and spatial variation was also examined. A total of 336 individuals belonging to five families of fish were found with Trichopodus trichopterus and Anabas testudineus were the two abundant species. The DOC ranges at drainage with established palm trees area (i.e., 15-yo(A) 1stG, 3-yo 2ndG, and 9-yo 2ndG) was much greater than at cleared-felled (CF 2ndG) suggested that these plantation areas have carbon leaching due to high supply of labile leaf litter produced by palm trees. The observed EC and temperature were 5% higher in the dry season compared to the wet season. The A. testudineus showed highly adaption with high DOC levels particularly in 15-yo 1stG, and 9-yo 2ndG drains during the wet season. The LWR showed that A. testudineus was in a desirable growth rate and demonstrated they were doing better compared to T. trichopterus in the oil palm plantation system.

Sustainable aquafeed and aquaculture production systems as impacted by challenges of global food security and climate change

Sustainable aquafeed and aquaculture production systems as impacted by challenges of global food security and climate change

A Proposed Method to Evaluate Warehouse Location for 3PL Cold Chain Suppliers in Gulf Countries Using Neutrosophic Fuzzy EDAS

Logistics processes have been analyzed as one of the most critical expense items for companies. Companies that failed to manage their logistics processes well could not reach the desired growth rates, and some even disappeared. Logistics management without process optimizations can be time and money consuming for the companies. Logistics processes significantly influence organizations' efficiency. Logistic professionals should keep the process flow quality at a certain level, and some decision problems should be analyzed and answered well. Location selection of a warehouse is one of the most crucial decision problems of supply chain and logistics management. Alternatives are evaluated in quantitative and qualitative criteria to decide the best location alternative using scientific MCDM techniques. Different scientific methods have been developed and used to solve this problem. As for this study, the aim is to investigate the warehouse location selection of third-party cold chain logistics suppliers. The importance of keeping perishable products under the right conditions increased, since it is realized that cold chain warehousing and transportation prevent the product spoiled. Organizations can save their funds and time by having effective cold chain management. This study's main scope is to give a new scientific perspective for warehouse selection in cold chain logistics. MCDM technique of Interval-Valued Neutrosophic Fuzzy (IVNF) EDAS method has been used to evaluate essential criteria and choose the best option. Critical cities of Gulf Region countries have been considered alternatives in a numerical illustration.

Methodical Approach to Evaluating the Effectiveness of Consulting

The effectiveness of external consulting for road construction companies is considered. It was found out that the companies-clients of consulting, as a party of consulting interaction, need practical convenient tools for evaluating the effectiveness of the ordered consulting services. It is determined that the effectiveness of consulting should not be assessed by two indicators of the ratio of results to goals — efficiency and results to costs — efficiency. The third equally important indicator for assessing effectiveness is the indicator of expediency as the ratio of the established purpose of consulting to the problems of the enterprise, which company-client identifies and plans to solve with the help of consulting. Thus, the first step in consulting interaction for the customer is to diagnose his problems by interviewing staff at all levels. This parameter determines the features of the industry in which the company operates, because the problems of each industry, their structure are specific. The goal is calculated by an integrated indicator based on the desired growth rates of the main performance indicators for the customer. The ratio of the set goal to the problems of the enterprise determines the feasibility. Two other parameters that allow in addition to the feasibility of calculating efficiency and effectiveness are cost and result. The latter is also an integral parameter based on the growth rate of the actual performance of the enterprise after the implementation of consulting services. Thus, the performance indicator as a ratio of results to goals allows you to determine how effective external consulting is precisely on the basis of achieving the set goals. The cost-effectiveness indicator is traditional and is defined as the ratio of the result to the cost of consulting. The cost parameter is proposed to be determined taking into account not only the payment of the consultant for the work performed, but also the exposure — the level of interaction between the customer and the consultant, and the probability that the consultant’s recommendations will be implemented by the customer. The level of consulting efficiency is determined by the above three indicators as critical, sufficient or high. Interpretation of the three-component model for evaluating the effectiveness of consulting services is based on the criteria and qualitative characteristics of these indicators.

Experimental &amp; Computational Fluid Dynamics Study of the Suitability of Different Solid Feed Pellets for Aquaculture Systems

Fish feed delivery is one of the challenges which fish farmers encounter daily. The main aim of the feeding process is to ensure that every fish is provided with sufficient feed to maintain desired growth rates. The properties of fish feed pellet, such as water stability, degree of swelling or floating time, are critical traits impacting feed delivery. Some considerable effort is currently being made with regard to the replacement of fish meal and fish oil with other sustainable alternative raw materials (i.e., plant or insect-based) with different properties. The main aim of this study is to investigate the motion and residence time distribution (RTD) of two types of solid feed pellets with different properties in a cylindrical fish tank. After experimental identification of material and geometrical properties of both types of pellets, a detailed 3D computational fluid dynamics (CFD) study for each type of pellets is performed. The mean residence time of pellets injected at the surface of the fish tank can differ by up to 75% depending on the position of the injection. The smallest residence time is when the position is located at the center of the liquid surface (17 s); the largest is near the edge of the tank (75 s). The maximum difference between the two studied types of pellets is 25% and it increases with positions closer to the center of the tank. The maximum difference for positions along the perimeter at 3/4 tank radius is 8%; the largest residence times are observed at the opposite side of the water inlet. Based on this study, we argue that the suitability of different solid feed pellets for aquaculture systems with specific fish can be determined, and eventually the pellet composition (formula) as well as the injection position can be optimized.

Effects of Salinity on the Growth, Survival and Proximate Composition of Pangas, Pangasius Hypophthalmus

Climate change induced salinity intrusion has a global and local effect on the aquaculture production. Thai-Pangas (Pangasius hypophthalmus) has become one of the cheapest protein sources in Bangladesh because of its wide range of environment tolerance, excellent growth and survival rate. Present study was thus conducted to measure the effects of salinity on the growth performance and survival of pangas. For the determination of the effect of salinity on growth and survival, 15-day old fingerlings were reared in 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 20‰ for 60 day at laboratory condition. All fish fingerlings in treatment with 20‰ salinity died within 6 hours of stocking while 62.5% mortality was found within 6 hours at 14‰ salinity. No mortality was detected in other treatment groups. Significantly higher specific growth rate was detected at 0, 2 and 4‰ salinity than that of 12 and 14‰ salinity. No significant change in food conversation ratio was found among treatments. No significant difference was observed on proximate composition between and within treatments. Water quality parameters include temperature, dissolved oxygen and pH were 27.23 ± 0.02 °C, 8.33 ± 0.05 mg/L and 8.05 ± 0.03, respectively throughout the experimental period. Thus, the present study suggests the suitability of pangas fingerlings at up to 4‰ saline water with desirable growth rate.&#x0D; Bangladesh J. Zool. 48(1): 141-149, 2020

The Relationship between Inventive Activity and National Export Structure

The presented study examines the relationship between export structure and inventive activity. It is established that the correlation between items of national export and inventive activity in the corresponding areas of technology is clear in medium-and high-tech fields and significantly lower in the commodity sector. The existence of this correlation makes it possible to conclude that maintaining the achieved level of non-resource exports is feasible only in the context of a constant search for new technological solutions that could become the source of new comparative competitive advantages for exported goods. Aim. The study aims to examine the correlation between export structure and the dynamics of inventive activity. Tasks. The authors analyze possible relationships between patent activity and exports in low-, medium-, and high-tech fields and determine patterns in the export dynamics of raw materials, fertilizers, and chemical batteries. Methods. This study uses the methods of correlation-regression analysis and time series analysis. Results. It is established that the correlation between items of national export and patent activity in the corresponding areas of technology is clear in medium-and high-tech spheres and significantly lower in the commodity sector. Conclusions. It is impossible to transfer all results of technological development into production with their subsequent transformation into export-oriented value propositions, which makes it necessary to ensure such rates of inventive activity in the target areas of technology that would outpace the desired growth rates of the corresponding export items. An increase in the exports of goods with high added value by the national economy can be achieved only providing that the rate of inventive activity is higher than the worldwide average for the corresponding area of technology.

An empirical study on general insurance agents' performance in Sri Lankan insurance industry

The confrontational thoughts and poor risk management knowledge has been lead to a complex competitive environment Sri Lankan general insurers. The general public trust on insurance industry became a major problem for the development of the general insurance industry. The insurance regulator of the insurance industry evidenced through the statistical data that general insurance industry has not developing in a desirable growth rate. The penetration has been extremely low for many years. The insurance companies' existence depends on their competent human resources, especially the agents. Thus, the general insurers attempt to concentrate on sales agents performances to improve the company sales to capture a significant market share. Therefore, this study pertained to explore the existing relationship between sales persons skills and agents performance in general insurance industry in Sri Lanka. The study was utilized quantitative method by using questionnaires to randomly select 331 insurance advisors from general insurance industry. The study selected selling skill dimensions (Interpersonal Skills, Salesmanship Skills, Technical Skills, Marketing Skills) as dependent variables and salesperson sales performance as independent variables. The study confirmed interpersonal skill most influencing factor on sales person performance.

Using Weighted Goal Programming Model for Planning Regional Sustainable Development to Optimal Workforce Allocation: An Application for Provinces of Iran

Due to the urbanization and economic growth, planning of regional sustainable development has become one of the major challenges in the world. The key indicators such as gross domestic product (GDP), electricity and energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission (GHG) are considered in sustainable development planning. This paper determines number of required workforce in diferent sectors of each province in Iran considering targets/goals for sustainable development indicators in the 2030 macroeconomic and regional planning. First, the relative goals are designed for GDP, electricity, energy and GHG emission and then, two weighted goal programming models are applied to allocate the optimal workforce among four sectors: agriculture, industry, services and transportation. The frst model minimizes recruitment of new workforce and allows current workforce exchange among the four sectors in each province in order to achieve the goals, while the second model indicates equitable distribution of new workforce recruitment in diferent sectors within each province. In both models, the workforce changes have been investigated based on achieving the desirable growth rates of GDP, GHG, electricity and energy consumption as planned by the government. Based on the results of this paper, policy makers can manage workforce and the government can make optimized decisions to macroeconomic and regional planning.

Impact assessment of frontline demonstrations on green gram: Experience from rainfed condition of Rajasthan

Pulses being rich in quality protein, minerals and vitamins are inseparable ingredients of diet of majority of Indian population. Despite high nutritive value of pulses and their role in sustainable agriculture desired growth rate in production could not be witnessed. The domestic production of pulses is consistently below the targets and actualdomestic requirements are also higher, due to these pulses are being imported. The Krishi Vigyan Kendra Pali has carried out frontline demonstrations on green gram covering an area of 26.5 ha of farmers’ field to exhibit latest production technologies and compared it with farmer’s practice. The study in total 40 frontline demonstrations were conducted on farmers’ fields in villages viz., Kishanagar, Bedkallan, Boyal, Kushalpura and Balara of Pali district of Rajasthan state during 2014, 2015 and 2016, to demonstrate production potential and economic benefit of improved technologies comprising sowing method, nutrient management and chemical weed control and adoption of whole package of practices for the crop. After sowing of seed application of weedicide Pendimethalin (within two days after sowing) at 1.0 kg/ha in 500 liters of water used for effective control of the weeds during kharif season in rainfed condition. The findings of the study revealed that the demonstrated technology recorded a mean yield of 982 kg/ha which was 35.5% higher than obtained with farmers’ practice (755 kg/ha). Higher mean net income of Rs. 46030/ha with a Benefit: Cost ratio of 4.3 was obtained with improved technologies in comparison to farmers’ practices (Rs. 38775/ha). The frontline demonstrations conducted on green gram at the farmers’ field revealed that the adoption of improved technologies significantly increased the yield as well as yield attributing traits of crop and also the net returns higher than the farmers’ practices. So, there is a need to disseminate the improved technologies among the farmers with effective extension methods like training and demonstrations. The farmers’ should be encouraged to adopt the recommended package of practices realizing for higher returns.

Growth performance and lignin content of Acacia mangium Willd. and Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. ex Benth. under normal and stressed conditions

Acacia mangium Willdenow and Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunningham ex Bentham are fast-growing species with wide environmental adaptability. Fast-growing species which thrive in otherwise non-arable problematic soil and which hold the added advantage of improving the condition of the soil, can be used to increase production area, and, thus, are highly desired. We investigated the growth performance and lignin content under normal and stressed conditions for these Acacia mangium Willd. and Acacia auriculiformis A. Cunn. ex Benth. Normal growing conditions was represented by fertile soil, high water-holding capacity due to low soil drainage, high organic matter, low soil temperature, overall consistent rainfall and relatively milder temperatures, whilst stressed conditions were achieved with a sandy soil with low fertility, low water-holding capacity due to high drainage and low organic matter, and high soil temperature accompanied by inconsistent monthly temperature and rainfall. Growth performance under normal conditions was significantly better compared to the stressed conditions. A. mangium performed better than A. auriculiformis under the normal conditions. However A. auriculiformis performed better under stressed conditions due to better adaptability. The lignin content under normal conditions fluctuated from one DBH class to another. As for the stress conditions, A. mangium exhibited incremental increases in lignin content with increasing biomass. In contrast, lignin content in A. auriculiformis decreased with increasing biomass. The differences in performance may be attributable to both the micro- and macro-environments and adaptive differences between the two species. For growth under normal conditions, A. mangium appears to be the superior choice, whereas for problematic soils, A. auriculiformis can be recommended. However, for the selection of superior plants with a combination of desired growth rates and lower lignin content the breeding of interspecific hybrids would be a desirable approach.

Effects of feeding alfalfa stemlage or wheat straw for dietary energy dilution on nutrient intake and digestibility, growth performance, and feeding behavior of Holstein dairy heifers

Feeding high-quality forage diets may lead to excessive weight gains and over-conditioning for dairy heifers. Restriction of energy density and dry matter intake by using low-energy forages, such as straw, is a good approach for controlling this problem. Alfalfa stems contain high fiber and moderate protein content and have the potential to be used to replace straw to reduce dietary energy. The objective of this study was to compare nutrient intakes, digestibilities, growth performance, and feeding behaviors of dairy heifers offered an alfalfa silage/corn silage high-energy diet (HE; 13.1% crude protein, 65.4% total digestible nutrients, 39.7% neutral detergent fiber) with 2 energy-diluted diets that replaced various proportions of the corn or alfalfa silages with either alfalfa stemlage (STM; 12.6% crude protein, 59.1% total digestible nutrients, 46.4% neutral detergent fiber) or chopped wheat straw (WS; 12.6% crude protein, 61.9% total digestible nutrients, 43.7% neutral detergent fiber). Seventy-two pregnant Holstein heifers (16.8 ± 1.3 mo) were stratified into 3 blocks (24 heifers/block) by initial body weight (light, 440 ± 18.0 kg; medium, 486 ± 18.6 kg; heavy, 534 ± 25.1 kg), with each block composed of 3 pens (8 heifers/pen), with diets assigned randomly to 1 pen within the block. Diets were offered in a 56-d feeding trial. Both dry matter intake and energy intake were decreased with the addition of low-energy forages to the diets, but no differences in dry matter intake were observed across diluted diets. Digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, neutral detergent fiber, and apparent N were greater for HE compared with diluted diets, and for WS compared with STM. Total body weight gain (74 vs. 56 kg) and average daily gain (1.32 vs. 1.00 kg/d) were greater for heifers offered HE compared with diluted diets. Feed efficiency tended to be less for heifers offered the diluted diets compared with HE (10.7 vs. 8.6 kg of feed/kg of gain). Heifers did not sort for or against particles when offered HE. However, increased sorting behavior was observed for diluted diets. Compared with ad libitum feeding dairy heifers a diet with high nutrient content forages (corn silage and alfalfa silage), use of diet diluted with alfalfa stemlage or wheat straw is an effective feeding management strategy to control total daily dry matter and energy intake by increasing gut fill, and maintain desirable body condition and growth rates, even though the diluted diets had greater sortability.

Human Capital and China’s Future Growth

In this paper, we consider the sources and prospects for economic growth in China with a focus on human capital. First, we provide an overview of the role that labor has played in China's economic success. We then describe China's hukou policy, which divides China's labor force into two distinct segments, one composed of rural workers and the other of urban workers. For the rural labor force, we focus on the challenges of raising human capital by both increasing basic educational attainment rates as well as the quality of education. For the urban labor force, we focus on the issues of further expanding enrollment in college education as well as improving the quality of college education. We use a regression model to show the typical relationship between human capital and output in economies around the world and demonstrate how that relationship has evolved since 1980. We show that China has made substantial strides both in the education level of its population and in the way that education is being rewarded in its labor markets. However, as we look ahead, our results imply that China may find it impossible to maintain what appears to be its desired growth rate of 7 percent in the next 20 years; a growth rate of 3 percent over the next two decades seems more plausible. Finally, we present policy recommendations, which are rooted in the belief that China continues to have substantial room to improve the human capital of its labor force.

Management strategies of Eremanthus erythropappus (DC.) MacLeish under different initial spacing

ABSTRACT Eremanthus erythropappus, commonly known as candeia, is an income-generating tree native to Brazil. This is due to the high durability of its wood and its essential oil containing the active component alpha bisabolol. Despite this economic potential, until the early 2000's no studies existed to explore the sustainable management in areas in which the species naturally occurs or for establishing commercial plantations. This study proposes new management strategies based on an individual tree model, and evaluates the growth behavior of candeia trees planted in different spacing. The experiment was installed in March 2002, in Carrancas municipality, Minas Gerais state, Brazil. The experimental area was divided into 4 blocks with 4 different spacings as treatments. The individual model used to propose the best management system uses development of crown area as a function of DBH. The results showed that candeia trees were sensitive to initial spacing variation. With increased initial spacing, candeia trees reached competition later, as demonstrated by crown area development. Thus, candeia trees planted at a wider spacing maintain a desirable growth rate without need for thinning for a longer time, compared to trees planted at narrower spacing. The fitted individual tree model presented in this study showed consistent results and flexibility, providing alternatives for different management strategies. The best growth response was obtained for planting densities greater than 3.75 m² per tree, which corresponds to a spacing of 1.5 x 2.5 m.

Closed-loop growth-rate regulation in fed-batch dual-substrate processes with additive kinetics based on biomass concentration measurement

This paper deals with the design of feeding rates for dual-substrate fed-batch processes where the main control objective is the regulation of the microbial growth rate. To this end, feedback of the growth rate error is incorporated to a biomass proportional dual feeding law. A second-order sliding mode observer is used to estimate the growth rate, so that no additional sensors are required. Stability conditions are derived and robustness against several disturbances such as yield uncertainty, measurement errors and kinetic model mismatch is analytically and numerically evaluated. The advantages of the proposal include: minimal measurement requirements, regulation with fast convergence to the desired growth rate and reduced regulation error in the presence of disturbances.