Women multipurpose co-operative societies in Karnataka

Landless agricultural labour

This is a study to understand and interpret the governance structure of and the pattern of development followed by farmer co-operatives in China. China's farmer co-operatives have developed rapidly since the Farmers Co-operative Law came into force in 2007. Unlike their counterparts in western democratic capitalist systems, however, farmer co-operatives in China are owned and controlled by individuals and groups other than farmers -- the resulting structure is referred to as the Company+Household (C+H) co-operative. As a result, the small farmers who make up the majority of members have very little participation or control in these organizations. This thesis also uses the development of farmer co-operatives as a lens through which Chinese agriculture and rural development can be viewed and understood. The proposition examined in the thesis is that the pattern of co-operative development is the expected outcome given the challenges that China is facing in its agricultural sector, China's economic development goals, and the political economy of the country.<p> The thesis examines the governance structure -- i.e., the way in which business entities are structured and controlled -- of C+H cooperatives using political economy theories. This theory argues that corporate governance structures reflect public policy choices. These policy choices are fundamentally the result of political decisions, decisions that are heavily influenced by the preferences and power resources of different groups in a society, as well as by the existing political and economic institutions. China's political economy shapes ``a capitalism with Chinese characteristics.' All capitalist systems require mechanisms that coordinate decisions and expectations. Due to a lack of institutionalized trust (e.g., trust created by reliance on the rule of law and independent judiciaries), China relies on other mechanisms for this coordination. Meanwhile, minority shareholder protections (e.g., auditing and disclosure rules) are virtually absent. The outcome is an economic system in which a blockholder ownership pattern emerges as the most effective governance structure, with the state and large investors (both of which have close personal ties to other investors and other state officials) as the blockholders. Within this system, there is little room for the small investor. Consequently, China's political economy provides an environment in which farmer co-operatives that are owned and operated by small farmers, and in which the state and large private interests are largely absent, would be very unlikely to exist.<p> The thesis also uses industrial organization theory to analyze C+H co-operatives in the context of agricultural industrialization. The argument developed in this thesis suggests that C+H cooperatives have also emerged as the most likely organizational structure for reasons unique to the agricultural sector. Specifically, the industrialization that has occurred in agriculture around the world during the last two decades has created a need for much greater coordination within agricultural supply chains as companies within this chain attempt to provide a rapidly increasing range of products that must meet increasingly higher standards of consistency, quality and safety. Therefore, agro-processors increasingly specify the type and quality of product produced by farmers, who are often contractually required to buy inputs from and to sell output to a particular processor.<p> A key outcome of the research in this thesis is that the development of farmer co-operatives has to be seen as an endogenous response to the political and economic interests operating in China at the time the co-operative law was introduced. The beliefs and associated behaviours of those that benefit from the emergence of this particular policy helped to enforce and reinforce the emergence of new organizational forms that further perpetuate the power of those that initially benefitted. This self reinforcement (i.e., positive feedback) creates path dependency, which in turn explains the persistence of high modernism, capitalism with Chinese characteristics and patron-client structures, all of which contributed to formation of C+H cooperatives. The C+H co-operatives not only have a governance structure that fits into the political structure, but they provide a large degree of control by the company (i.e., the agro-processor) over the decisions made by farmers, which are crucial to meet the coordination needs of modern supply chain. The conclusion is that the political and economic institutions in China today do not provide an enabling environment for the establishment and the success of farmer self-help groups. As a consequence of both China's larger political economy and the conditions specific to agriculture, it is to be expected that the C+H model of a co-operative has emerged as the dominant organizational form for co-operatives in China.

I dag när biobränsle används i allt större utsträckning och uttagen från skog har ökat finns ett behov av att använda restprodukten från förbränning, askan, till skogsmarkerna. Askan från förbränning av trädbränsle innehåller, förutsatt att den är väl utbränd, många näringsämnen och har ett högt pH, därför kan den användas för att återföra näringsämnen till skogen och minska försurning i marker. Vid förbränning av träpulver tillsätts svavel för att minska CO-utsläppen till luft. Syftet med denna studie var att undersöka hur svavel påverkar flygaskans kvalité. Är det någon skillnad i halten oförbränt kol och PAH-halt i askan när svavel har tillsatts i bränslet, och hur stor påverkan har syre på halten oförbränt kol och PAH-halten. Det insamlades tolv referensprover för att se den normala variationen av halten oförbränt kol i flygaskan under en tolvdagarsperiod. Därefter samlades ytterligare 14 prover in under hög/låg syrehalt och med eller utan svavel. På tio av dessa prover analyserades 16 PAH, och på alla prover analyserades halten oförbränt kol. Halten oförbränt kol analyserades med glödgningsförlust enligt SS 18 71 87. 16 PAH analyserades genom mätning med GS-MS. Resultaten visar att det är generellt mycket höga halter oförbränt kol i askproverna och det ger en sämre aska för återföring. Hög syrehalt i förbränningskammaren ger en signifikant lägre halt oförbränt kol i askan. PAH-halten tyder på en ökning i samband med ökad halt oförbränt i askan. Tillsatser av svavel till bränslet verkar ge som effekt att halten oförbränt i askan minskar. / Today with the increase in biofuel use and the removal of wood from the forest, there is an increased need for recycling the ash from combustion back to the forest. Ash from combustion of wood contains many nutrients and has a high pH and therefore can be used to restore nutrients to the forest and to reduce acidification of the ground. Sulphur is induced to the combustion of wood-powder in order to reduce emissions of CO to the air. The purpose of this study was to examine how the induction of sulphur to the fuel affects the quality of the fly ash, if there is a difference in loss on ignition, if the PAH-content is affected of the admixture of sulphur in the fuel and how significant is the effect of the oxygen content in the combustion. Twelve reference samples were collected during a twelve-day period to see the normal variation of the loss on ignition. Then another 14 samples were collected under high/low oxygen content and with or without sulphur. On ten of the samples 16 PAH:s were analysed, and the loss on ignition was analysed on all samples. Loss on ignition was analysed according to the SS 18 71 87. Sixteen PAH:s were analysed by measuring with GS-MS. The results show that there is a generally high loss on ignition on all of the ash samples and that results in a lower quality ash for recycling. Oxygen content has a significant effect on the loss on ignition in the ash and high oxygen content in the combustion chamber gives a lower loss on ignition. PAH content indicate an increase in connection with an increased loss on ignition. Admixture of sulphur to the fuel indicates that the loss on ignition in the ash decreases.

Corn milling (co)products (n=120) were evaluated for their neutral detergent fiber residue (NDR) and neutral detergent insoluble protein (NDIP) ruminal degradation rates using several in vitro methods. Two (co)products (BPX-DDGS and HP-DDG) were fed to lactating dairy cows (n=44) to evaluate effects on milk production. The Cornell-Penn-Miner Institute (CPM) Dairy model was used to formulate diets and predict milk production. In vitro determined NDR and NDIP rates and were compared to CPM-dairy feed library values, and model predictions were compared with observed milk production. Additionally, BPX-DDGS and HP-DDG were defatted and compared with their intact forms for fermentation characteristics using the in vitro gas production (IVGP) technique. Fermentations were analyzed for rumen bacterial population shifts using the 16S rDNA bacterial tag encoded FLX amplicon pyrosequencing (bTEFAP) technique. Lastly, a novel ruminal in vitro method was described to measure the soluble protein fraction of feeds, with adjustments for microbial contamination. Fermentation rate of the NDR of BPX-DDGS and HP-DDG (0.08 and 0.07 h^-1, respectively) and NDIP degradation rates (0.07 and 0.06 h^-1, respectively) were similar to CPM-dairy feed library NDR and NDIP rates of corn distillers grain (0.07 and 0.05 h^-1, respectively). Model predictions using standard and in vitro determined values did not differ. As BPX-DDGS decreased and HP-DDG increased in the diet, observed milk production tended to decrease linearly (P = 0.08). There was a cubic effect for milk fat percent (P = 0.03) and a cubic trend for milk fat yield (P = 0.09). Milk protein yield also tended to decrease linearly (P = 0.06). CPM-dairy model prediction accuracies were less than 50 percent. Defatting (co)products reduced lag time and fractional rate of fermentation by at least half for BPX-DDG, and had no effect on HP-DDG. Defatting both (co)products increased the fibrolytic (26.8 to 38.7 percent) and proteolytic (26.1 to 37.2 percent) bacterial guild populations and decreased the lactate-utilizing bacterial guild (3.06 to 1.44 percent). The novel ruminal in vitro method determined that the specific activity of ammonia production was not different among (co)products. However, results were within numerical range of previously used methodologies.

This research studies Taiwan biggest three vehicle lamp makers and Advanced Lighting System (ALS) R&D Alliance. Firstly, the competition ralations of ALS three lamp makers are examined by Five Forces Model. Secondly, through the viewpoints of ¡§Co-opetition¡¨ and ¡§Co-opetition Value Net¡¨, the factors and processes of from competiton to cooperation between those three lamp makers are analyzed. By the way, the possible problems of sharing maket profits after cooperation are brought up. The main conclusions of this research are¡G 1. It¡¦s difficult to change competitors to be the complementors collaboratively researching and developing together. The process take time and efforts. Strategic alliances are suggested to adapt so-called ¡§Exclusion Clause¡¨, allowing partial members work together by individual projects under confidential agreements. 2. R&D platforms offer the environment of mutual learning and resources sharing. It helps switching competitors to complementors in long term. Alliance members can take advantages from each others through co-working process. 3. The contributions from the joints of future customers and more suppliers will help the commercialization of R&D achievements, while establishing R&D alliances. 4. The multilateral relations of strategic alliance members become complicated as competition occurs inside. ¡§Co-opetition Value Net¡¨ can be applied to explain the condition which competition and cooperation exit together in strategic alliance.

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In this paper, we introduce a new class of general-ized co-complementarity problems in Banach spaces. An iterative algorithm for finding approximate solutions of these problems is considered. Some convergence results for this iterative algorithm are derived and several existence results are obtained.

Since National Health Insurance (NHI) was practiced in 1995,its public satisfaction was nearly 70% in the first year while the financial status got worse and worse years by years (15.3 billion of deficit in 1999,27.8 B deficits in Y2000, and around 37.7 B in Y2001). Therefore, Bureau of National Health Insurance (BNHI) had to not only care about cost saving, social fairness but also maintain medical care quality. In order to balance the worse finance, BNHI enforced many strategies, such as case payment (1997), outpatient and inpatient co-payment, high rejection rate of requested medical cases, global budget (Dental clinic in 1998, Chinese ambulatory in 2000, primary-cared clinics in 2001/07, hospital in 2002/07), drug price reduction from November of 1996 to December of 2002 to save about 14.65 billion, rationalization of OPD service, increase insurer fee (2002/09)¡K.etc. Those implemented strategies incurred the impacts on patients, medical provider, pharmaceutical industry, and government. Therefore, the aims of this study is to explore balancing strategic variables for finding out optimal solutions among heavy financial loading from insurers, profit loss and arguments of so-called ¡§Drug price Black-Hole¡¨ from pharmaceutical industry, and quality of medical care from hospitals. This study was through the ways of two-phase interview. The first one phase is to have in-depth interview with legislators, MNHI ministers, hospital administratives, scholars who are specialized at public health, and managers of consumer society; this phase was aimed at validity for all variables that were identified from the study. Until the second phase, we would focus on validated variables from phase one to design questionnaires for telephone interviewing with all stakeholders such as common people, phsicians from hospitals, managers from pharmaceutical industry, officials from BNHI. The study will try to reveal the strategic variables from different dimensions to find out concrete balancing strategies and suggestions to stakeholders in order for coping with the inevitable impacts under system thinkings in the future.

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