AIM To evaluate the association between mortality-to-incidence ratios(MIRs) and health disparities.METHODS In this study, we used the GLOBOCAN 2012 database to obtain the cancer incidence and mortality data for 57 cou...AIM To evaluate the association between mortality-to-incidence ratios(MIRs) and health disparities.METHODS In this study, we used the GLOBOCAN 2012 database to obtain the cancer incidence and mortality data for 57 countries, and combined this information with the World Health Organization(WHO) rankings and total expenditures on health/gross domestic product(e/GDP). The associations between variables and MIRs were analyzed by linear regression analyses and the 57 countries were selected according to their data quality. RESULTS The more developed regions showed high gastric cancer incidence and mortality crude rates, but lower MIR values than the less developed regions(0.64 vs 0.80, respectively). Among six continents, Oceania had the lowest(0.60) and Africa had the highest(0.91) MIR. A good WHO ranking and a high e/GDP were significantly associated with low MIRs(P = 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively).CONCLUSION The MIR variation for gastric cancer would predict regional health disparities.展开更多
Safflower represents an important oil crop internationally and may have a production potential under low input conditions, but its putatively high phosphorous use efficiency is not sustained. This study aims to direct...Safflower represents an important oil crop internationally and may have a production potential under low input conditions, but its putatively high phosphorous use efficiency is not sustained. This study aims to directly compare safflower with sunflower in terms of phosphorus use efficiency in nutrient solution under controlled conditions. Growth of both species responded strongly to increasing P supply. Safflower recovers less proportion of added P than sunflower. External P requirement ((g P supply (100 g dry matter (DM) produced)~) was higher in safflower than sunflower. The efficiency of the crops for DM production based on accumulated P (mg P potl, efficiency ratio), and P concentration in DM ((mg P (g DM)'I), utilization index) were interpreted using Michaelis-Menten kinetics as growth response curves. Accordingly, Km constant was lower in sunflower compared to safflower in terms of utilization index, but both were similar in terms of efficiency ratio. High Km constant in safflower in terms of utilization index indicates the high P concentration in tissues to produce 50% of potential maximum DM, consequently less efficient crop. Utilization efficiency contributed more than uptake efficiency in overall PUE in the efficient cultivar and could be the cause of its superiority in PUE. It can be concluded that safflower has a high requirement for P with respect to growth, sunflower is more efficient in terms of uptake and utilization of P at optimal and sub-optimal P supplies indicating that safflower can not be considered a low nutrient input crop compared to sunflower with respect to phosphorus.展开更多
The paper presents the research for the purpose of selecting microorganisms into the production process of "chao" to improve the quality of "chao" products and ensure food safety. Several analytical methods such a...The paper presents the research for the purpose of selecting microorganisms into the production process of "chao" to improve the quality of "chao" products and ensure food safety. Several analytical methods such as determination of formal nitrogen, determination of the protease hydrolysis activity, sensory evaluation method, experimental procedure, methods of analysis and processing of empirical data were used in this study. The findings showed that two out of four selected microorganism strains (one strain of fungi and three strains of bacteria denoted NM1, VK1, VK2, VK3, respectively) were the most appropriate for the cooperation among them and the production of %hao", which were coded NM1 and VK1. The suitable mixing proportion of strains of NM1 and VK1 was determined at 1:1.25, compatible with the 1:100 ratio of the varieties of microorganisms (in powder form) to tofu.展开更多
This study provides estimates of smallholder household's production efficiency and its determinants, and separately analyses the technical efficiency of dairy technology adopting and non-adopting farmers using data f...This study provides estimates of smallholder household's production efficiency and its determinants, and separately analyses the technical efficiency of dairy technology adopting and non-adopting farmers using data from Ethiopia. Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function was modeled in the context of local level agricultural innovation systems framework and estimated using 2011 milk production data on 304 dairy farmers. Results show that the mean level of technical efficiency among the sampled farmers was about 26%. This result suggests that there is room for significant increases of production through reallocation of existing resources. Despite significant variation among farmers, these results also indicate only 19% of farmers have mean efficiency scores (_〉 50%), implying a need to focus on creating innovation capacity that pushes the production frontier outward in the dairy production system. It is also revealed that individual farm households' efficiency varied widely across dairy technology adoption status, gender and districts. The significant gamma (g) statistic, of 0.9985 in the analysis indicates that about 99.85% variation in the output of milk production would be attributed to technical inefficiency effects (those under farmer's control) while only 0.0015% would be due to random effects, i.e., beyond the farmers control and hence calling for a focus on efficiency enhancing investments. Education, farm size, extension visit and off-farm income opportunity were found to be efficiency enhancing. The study recommends that different components of an agricultural innovation system have to interact to improve the innovation capacity of different actors and thereby improve the estimated technical inefficiencies.展开更多
China's low agricultural labor productivity has become the key weakness of its agricultural competitive- ness and sustainable development,and strategies for improving China's agricultural labor productivity la...China's low agricultural labor productivity has become the key weakness of its agricultural competitive- ness and sustainable development,and strategies for improving China's agricultural labor productivity lack clear and consistent theory and empirical support.To address this issue,the current study uses the methods of convergence index,correlation coefficient,and nonparametric test,to analyze the characteristics and influencing factors of agricultural labor productivity among 32 major agrarian countries during 1961-2013.This analysis shows that the development gap among countries has been narrowing.The USA takes the leading position among all the countries, while some countries with scarce land like Japan have succeeded in achieving transcendence,and other countries like India have experienced relatively slow speed.The agricultural labor productivity is significantly driven by agricultural labor surplus,agricultural product processing,and agricultural industrial structure.The effects of land resource endowment,agricultural mechanization,and biochemical inputs have been declining and in some cases are no longer even significant.It is therefore necessary to shift attention to marketization,diversification,and high quality,instead of the former focus on agricultural intensification,concentration and large-scale operations,and this shift is probably more closely aligned with current practices.There are more people and less land in China,and the agricultural labor force in China still accounts for nearly 30% of the total population.Considering these national conditions,it is very important to simultaneously improve the efficiency of agricultural production of small farmers and promote the successful urbanization of the agricultural labor force.In the medium and long term,it is imperative to improve the competitiveness of Chinese agriculture by adopting related policy arrangements such as induced agricultural technological innovation,production factor substitution,and multifunctional agriculture development.展开更多
文摘AIM To evaluate the association between mortality-to-incidence ratios(MIRs) and health disparities.METHODS In this study, we used the GLOBOCAN 2012 database to obtain the cancer incidence and mortality data for 57 countries, and combined this information with the World Health Organization(WHO) rankings and total expenditures on health/gross domestic product(e/GDP). The associations between variables and MIRs were analyzed by linear regression analyses and the 57 countries were selected according to their data quality. RESULTS The more developed regions showed high gastric cancer incidence and mortality crude rates, but lower MIR values than the less developed regions(0.64 vs 0.80, respectively). Among six continents, Oceania had the lowest(0.60) and Africa had the highest(0.91) MIR. A good WHO ranking and a high e/GDP were significantly associated with low MIRs(P = 0.001 and P = 0.001, respectively).CONCLUSION The MIR variation for gastric cancer would predict regional health disparities.
文摘Safflower represents an important oil crop internationally and may have a production potential under low input conditions, but its putatively high phosphorous use efficiency is not sustained. This study aims to directly compare safflower with sunflower in terms of phosphorus use efficiency in nutrient solution under controlled conditions. Growth of both species responded strongly to increasing P supply. Safflower recovers less proportion of added P than sunflower. External P requirement ((g P supply (100 g dry matter (DM) produced)~) was higher in safflower than sunflower. The efficiency of the crops for DM production based on accumulated P (mg P potl, efficiency ratio), and P concentration in DM ((mg P (g DM)'I), utilization index) were interpreted using Michaelis-Menten kinetics as growth response curves. Accordingly, Km constant was lower in sunflower compared to safflower in terms of utilization index, but both were similar in terms of efficiency ratio. High Km constant in safflower in terms of utilization index indicates the high P concentration in tissues to produce 50% of potential maximum DM, consequently less efficient crop. Utilization efficiency contributed more than uptake efficiency in overall PUE in the efficient cultivar and could be the cause of its superiority in PUE. It can be concluded that safflower has a high requirement for P with respect to growth, sunflower is more efficient in terms of uptake and utilization of P at optimal and sub-optimal P supplies indicating that safflower can not be considered a low nutrient input crop compared to sunflower with respect to phosphorus.
文摘The paper presents the research for the purpose of selecting microorganisms into the production process of "chao" to improve the quality of "chao" products and ensure food safety. Several analytical methods such as determination of formal nitrogen, determination of the protease hydrolysis activity, sensory evaluation method, experimental procedure, methods of analysis and processing of empirical data were used in this study. The findings showed that two out of four selected microorganism strains (one strain of fungi and three strains of bacteria denoted NM1, VK1, VK2, VK3, respectively) were the most appropriate for the cooperation among them and the production of %hao", which were coded NM1 and VK1. The suitable mixing proportion of strains of NM1 and VK1 was determined at 1:1.25, compatible with the 1:100 ratio of the varieties of microorganisms (in powder form) to tofu.
文摘This study provides estimates of smallholder household's production efficiency and its determinants, and separately analyses the technical efficiency of dairy technology adopting and non-adopting farmers using data from Ethiopia. Cobb-Douglas stochastic frontier production function was modeled in the context of local level agricultural innovation systems framework and estimated using 2011 milk production data on 304 dairy farmers. Results show that the mean level of technical efficiency among the sampled farmers was about 26%. This result suggests that there is room for significant increases of production through reallocation of existing resources. Despite significant variation among farmers, these results also indicate only 19% of farmers have mean efficiency scores (_〉 50%), implying a need to focus on creating innovation capacity that pushes the production frontier outward in the dairy production system. It is also revealed that individual farm households' efficiency varied widely across dairy technology adoption status, gender and districts. The significant gamma (g) statistic, of 0.9985 in the analysis indicates that about 99.85% variation in the output of milk production would be attributed to technical inefficiency effects (those under farmer's control) while only 0.0015% would be due to random effects, i.e., beyond the farmers control and hence calling for a focus on efficiency enhancing investments. Education, farm size, extension visit and off-farm income opportunity were found to be efficiency enhancing. The study recommends that different components of an agricultural innovation system have to interact to improve the innovation capacity of different actors and thereby improve the estimated technical inefficiencies.
基金National Natural Science Foundation of China(41471115,41871109)The Agricultural Science and Technology Innovation Program(ASTIP-IAED-2018)
文摘China's low agricultural labor productivity has become the key weakness of its agricultural competitive- ness and sustainable development,and strategies for improving China's agricultural labor productivity lack clear and consistent theory and empirical support.To address this issue,the current study uses the methods of convergence index,correlation coefficient,and nonparametric test,to analyze the characteristics and influencing factors of agricultural labor productivity among 32 major agrarian countries during 1961-2013.This analysis shows that the development gap among countries has been narrowing.The USA takes the leading position among all the countries, while some countries with scarce land like Japan have succeeded in achieving transcendence,and other countries like India have experienced relatively slow speed.The agricultural labor productivity is significantly driven by agricultural labor surplus,agricultural product processing,and agricultural industrial structure.The effects of land resource endowment,agricultural mechanization,and biochemical inputs have been declining and in some cases are no longer even significant.It is therefore necessary to shift attention to marketization,diversification,and high quality,instead of the former focus on agricultural intensification,concentration and large-scale operations,and this shift is probably more closely aligned with current practices.There are more people and less land in China,and the agricultural labor force in China still accounts for nearly 30% of the total population.Considering these national conditions,it is very important to simultaneously improve the efficiency of agricultural production of small farmers and promote the successful urbanization of the agricultural labor force.In the medium and long term,it is imperative to improve the competitiveness of Chinese agriculture by adopting related policy arrangements such as induced agricultural technological innovation,production factor substitution,and multifunctional agriculture development.