Characteristics and Functions of Cooperative Economic Organizations for Water-saving Irrigation in Agricultural Development in Arid Areas

Agricultural cooperative economic organization for water-saving irrigation in arid areas is a new form of economic organization in production,operation and management during the application process of water-saving irrigation technologies.Currently,there are few researches on this cooperative economic organization.In this study,connotations of cooperative economic organizations for water-saving irrigation are specifically defined,and the characteristics and functions of this cooperative economic organization are analyzed.Based on that,several suggestions are proposed on the continuous development of cooperative economic organizations for water-saving irrigation.

Researches on Agricultural Cooperative Economic Organization Promoting Agricultural Insurance Development

The advantages of cooperative economic organization being the effective carrier of agricultural insurance development are analyzed. Firstly, cooperative economic organization promotes scale management and solves the problem of decentralized operation of small households. Secondly, cooperative economic organization can settle the problem of peasants' low systematization. Thirdly, cooperative economic organization can largely reduce the costs of agricultural insurance operation. Fourthly, cooperative organization decreases moral risks as well as adverse selection to some extent. Lastly, cooperative organization, to a certain degree, reduces the risks of agricultural production and increases the insurability of agricultural risks. Meanwhile, limitations of agricultural cooperative economic organization being the carrier of agricultural insurance operation are pointed out. Firstly, cooperative economic organization has limited coverage and small size of organization, which is harmful to the diversification of agricultural risks. Secondly, cooperative economic organization lacks capital funds and its development is not standard, which is not perfect for the function exertion as a carrier. Lastly, members of professional cooperative organization have low cultural qualities, which restrict the implementation of agricultural insurance. The modes of farmers' cooperative economic organization promoting agricultural insurance development are proposed, including mode of agricultural insurance cooperative ( mutual corporation), mode of "leading enterprises (companies) + professional cooperative organization (planting majors) + insurance" and mode of professional cooperatives serving as agricultural insurance agent. Last of all, the promoting role of agricultural insurance in agricultural cooperative economic organization is briefly illustrated.

Profits and Costs of the Development of Rural Cooperative Economic Organizations

Through analyzing the economic profits of rural cooperative economic organizations,the following conclusions are obtained.The rural cooperative economic organizations can get the economic profits which are in accordance with the demands of market-oriented economy.The rural cooperative economic organizations can benefit from sharing the knight service provided by the government;from reducing and avoiding various kinds of risks in operation and from applying the agricultural technology and standardization production.Besides,the organizations can share the profits bought along by the standardized production of agricultural production and their members can enjoy the profits bought by socialized service system.In addition,the rural cooperative economic organizations can enjoy the profits produced by the agricultural management integration strategy.What' more,they can increase profits by reducing the transaction costs;enlarging scale and enjoying the brand advantages.The analyses of the costs of the development of rural cooperative economic organizations mainly include the organizing costs,operation costs,restriction costs and cooperation costs.We think that the slow development of rural cooperative economic organizations is caused by their high operation cost and the impediment of external environment.In the end,the countermeasures on strengthening the research on the theory,promotion,education and training of rural economic cooperative organizations and intensifying the supports on the policies of rural economic cooperative organizations are put forward.

Impact of taxes on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development:Evidence from Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development(OECD)countries

Multiple ecological and socioeconomic problems have occurred worldwide,raising the awareness of sustainability.This study aims to examine the impact of taxes on Sustainable Development Goals(SDGs)in the context of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)countries.This research used effective average tax(EAT),tax on personal income(TPI),tax on corporate profits(TCP),and tax on goods and services(TGS)as the variables of taxes,and employed secondary data from 38 OECD countries covering 2000–2021.The study also used Breusch-Pagan Lagrange Multiplier(LM),Pesaran Scaled LM,Bias-Corrected Scaled LM,and Pesaran Cross-sectional dependence(CSD)tests to analyze the existence of crosssectional dependency.Then,we established the stationarity of variables through second-generation panel unit root tests(Cross-sectional Augmented Dickey-Fuller(CADF)and Cross-sectional Im,Pesaran,and Shin(CIPS)),and confirmed the long-run cointegration of the variables by using secondgeneration panel cointegration test(Westerlund cointegration test).The results showed that EAT,TPI,TCP,and TGS are positively associated with SDGs.However,the change in TPI has a smaller effect on SDGs than the change in EAT or TCP or TGS.The result of panel causality indicated that EAT,TPI,and TGS have a unidirectional causal relationship with SDGs.The study also found that TCP has a bi-directional causal relationship with SDGs.Moreover,the finding indicated that the OECD countries need to focus on tax policies to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.This study is based on the theory of optimal taxation(TOT),which suggests that tax systems should be designed to maximize social welfare.Finally,we suggests the importance of taking a comprehensive approach for the managers and policy-makers when analyzing the impact of taxes on SDGs.

Consideration on the Organization of Peasant Market Entry

In the process of agricultural commercialization, it is crucial to develop specialized co-operative organizations as well as to apply initiatives to protect agriculture by the government. Government should organize peasants to enter, adapt and influence the market Peasants should participate and affect policies, monitor the implementation of agricultural protection policy, and form self-protecting mechanism through co-operative organizations.

Management Results and Financial Status of Rural Collective Economy under the Background of Rural Revitalization

Based on the analysis of financial statements,the performance and problems of rural collective economic organizations in their business activities were analyzed.It is believed that rural collective economy was developing continuously in a good way,with strong debt paying ability,but the operation ability and management efficiency need to be further improved.The operation was too conservative,and the asset utilization efficiency and profitability were weak.There were many unnecessary liabilities,and they developed mainly relying on their own accumulation.Therefore,it is proposed to crack the"talent dilemma"of rural collective economic operation and management,straighten out and clarify the relationship between rural collective economic organizations and villagers self-governing organizations,correctly handle the relationship between collective accumulation and member distribution,adhere to the financial input of blood replenishment and transfusion,and make liabilities reasonable according to the management development.

Role of nurses in improving patient safety: Evidence from surgical complications in 21 countries

Objectives: To analyze the role of nurse staffing in improving patient safety due to reducing surgical complications in member countries of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).Methods: The number of practicing nurses' density per 1000 population and five surgical complications indicators including foreign body left in during procedure (FBL),postoperative pulmonary embolism (PPE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT) after hip and knee replacement,postoperative sepsis after abdominal surgery (PSA) and postoperative wound dehiscence (PWD) were collected in crude rates per 100,000 hospital discharges for age group of 15 years old and over within 30 days after surgery based on surgical admission-related and all admission-related methods.The observations of 21 OECD countries were collected from OECD Health Statistics during 2010-2015 period.The statistical technique of panel data analysis including unit root test,co-integration test and dynamic long-run analysis were used to estimate the possible relationship between our panel series.Results: There were significant relationships from nurse-staffing level to reducing FBL,PPE,DVT,PSA and PWD with long-run magnitudes of-2.91,-1.30,-1.69,-2.81 and-1.12 based on surgical admission method as well as-6.12,-14.57,-7.29,-1.41 and-0.88 based on all admission method,respectively.Conclusions: A higher proportion of nurses is associated with higher patient safety resulting from lower surgical complications and adverse clinical outcomes in OECD countries.Hence,we alert policy makers about the risk of underestimating the impact of nurses on improving patient safety as well as the quality of health care services in OECD countries.

Nurse staffing and life expectancy at birth and at 65 years old:Evidence from 35 OECD countries

Objective: To measure the possible magnitude of the role nurse staffing has on increasing life expectancy at birth and at 65 years old.Methods: The statistical technique of panel data analysis was applied to investigate the relationship from the number of practicing nurses' density per 1000 population to life expectancy at birth and at 65 years old.Five control variables were used as the proxies for the levels of medical staffing,health care financial and physical resources,and medical technology.The observations of 35 member countries of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) were collected from OECD Health Statistics over 2000-2016 period.Results: There were meaningful relationships from nurse staffing to life expectancy at birth and at 65 years with the long-run elasticities of 0.02 and 0.08,respectively.Overall,the role of nursing characteristics in increasing life expectancy indicators varied among different health care systems of OECD countries and in average were determined at the highest level in Japan (0.25),followed by Iceland (0.24),Belgium (0.21),Czech Republic (0.21),Slovenia (0.20) and Sweden (0.18).Conclusion: A higher proportion of nursing staff is associated with higher life expectancy in OECD countries and the dependency of life expectancy to nursing staff would increase by aging.Hence,the findings of this study warn health policy makers about ignoring the effects nursing shortages create e.g.increasing the risk of actual age-specific mortality,especially in care of elderly people.

A review of science–policy interface for water governance in the Caspian Sea

Science and policy have been interlinked for decades and perform essential nexus conditions in the governing aspects of environmental scenarios.This review paper examines the present challenges in the science–policy interface in terms of water governance in the Caspian Sea and identifies effective conditions that may be used in the current context to enhance the mechanism.The evaluation of the science–policy link in the water policy of the Caspian Sea reveals a gap between knowledge producer and governance system,impeding the translation of scientific information into action.Complicated and context-dependent solutions make it challenging to establish effective science–policy processes in the Caspian Sea water governance settings.Establishing a common governing authority,implementing water and resource management regulations,and protecting the natural environment through legal frameworks are crucial steps to address these concerns and ensure sustainable development.Collaboration among coastal states is essential in environmental,economic,and social aspects of regional development.However,the lack of a comprehensive approach,coherent activities,and effective utilization of national and regional power has hindered efforts to halt the environmental degradation of the Caspian Sea.Local governments need to recognize their responsibility to protect and utilize the Caspian Sea for present and future generations,considering both environmental and human security.The interlinkage of the Caspian Sea water governance with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)water governance principles offers a framework for policymakers to assess gaps and make necessary amendments to existing mechanisms.Effective science–policy interaction,engagement of diverse stakeholders,institutionalizing agreements,and addressing collective action issues are critical for successful water governance.

Is there regional convergence between Morocco and its OECD partner countries in terms of well-being?

Morocco wants its 12 regions to play the role as the main lever of its public policies to initiate harmonized spatial multidimensional development. In the context of this goal and Morocco’s openness over the past two decades to bilateral and multilateral cooperation in an effort toward regional integration, this article studies the convergence of 389 regions in 36 countries(Morocco and 35 of its partner member countries in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD)) between 2000 and 2019 in terms of well-being. To this end, we considered the territorial dimension of β-convergence models for well-being and its four domains(economic, social, environmental, and governance). Then, we adapted the absolute β-convergence model by taking into account the existence of spatial heterogeneity according to five specifications of spatial models. Thus, apart from environmental domain, we found that β-convergence of regions is significant for well-being and three of its domains(economic, social, and governance). These convergences are made by a spatially autocorrelated error model(SEM). However, the speed and period of convergence are relatively low for social domain, partly explaining the very exacerbated tensions at the territorial level. The fastest convergence was achieved in governance domain, followed by economic domain. This suggests that emerging countries must pay particular attention to national public action in favor of social cohesion at the territorial level. The lack of convergence in environmental domain calls for common actions for all countries at the supranational level to protect the commons at the territorial level.

A Study of the Link Between the Tourism Industry and the GDP in the ECO Countries

The present study aims at exploring the causal relationship between tourism industry and GDP in the economic cooperation organization （ECO） countries for the period of 2000-2010. To this end, the causal relationship between the two variables was examined using panel data and Granger standard causality test. The results demonstrate a unidirectional causality from GDP to the number of tourists coming to the ECO countries, it is also concluded that a rise in the country＇s GDP provides necessary conditions for investment on all sectors of the economy including the tourism sector. In such conditions, if the country＇s economic priorities comprise tourism development, then tourists will start visiting the country and the industry will flourish. Thus, policy-makers should focus on the increasing GDP if they want to increase the tourists＇ influx.

Estimated cost for cardiovascular disease risk-based management at a primary healthcare center in Nepal

Background:Low-and middle-income countries are facing an increasing burden of disability and death due to cardiovascular diseases.Policy makers and healthcare providers alike need resource estimation tools to improve healthcare delivery and to strengthen healthcare systems to address this burden.We estimated the direct medical costs of primary prevention,screening,and management for cardiovascular diseases in a primary healthcare center in Nepal based on the Global Hearts evidence based treatment protocols for risk-based management.Methods:We adapted the World Health Organization’s non-communicable disease costing tool and built a model to predict the annual cost of primary CVD prevention,screening,and management at a primary healthcare center level.We used a one-year time horizon and estimated the cost from the Nepal government’s perspective.We used Nepal health insurance board’s price for medicines and laboratory tests,and used Nepal government’s salary for human resource cost.With the model,we estimated annual incremental cost per case,cost for the entire population,and cost per capita.We also estimated the amount of medicines for one-year,annual number of laboratory tests,and the monthly incremental work load of physicians and nurses who deliver these services.Results:For a primary healthcare center with a catchment population of 10,000,the estimated cost to screen and treat 50%of eligible patients is USD21.53 per case and averages USD1.86 per capita across the catchment population.The cost of screening and risk profiling only was estimated to be USD2.49 per case.At same coverage level,we estimated that an average physician’s workload will increase annually by 190 h and by 111 h for nurses,i.e.,additional 28.5 workdays for physicians and 16.7 workdays for nurses.The total annual cost could amount up to USD18,621 for such a primary healthcare center.Conclusion:This is a novel study for a PHC-based,primary CVD risk-based management program in Nepal,which can provide insights for programmatic and policy planners at the Nepalese municipal,provincial and central levels in implementing the WHO Global Hearts Initiative.The costing model can serve as a tool for financial resource planning for primary prevention,screening,and management for cardiovascular diseases in other low-and middleincome country settings globally.

Country size bias in global health:crosscountry comparison of malaria policy and foreign aid

Background:Foreign aid has been shown to be favourably biased towards small countries.This study investigated whether country size bias also occurs in national malaria policy and development assistance from international agencies.Methods:Data from publicly available sources were collected with countries as observational units.The exploratory data analysis was based on the conceptual framework with socio-economic,environmental and institutional parameters.The strength of relationships was estimated by the Pearson and polychoric correlation coefficients.The correlation matrix was explored by factor analysis.Results:Malaria burden is strongly correlated with GDP per capita,total health expenditure per capita,HDI;moderately with latitude,weakly with elevation,urban population share,per capita funding from the Global Fund,PMI USAID,UK government and UNICEF.Small country status is strongly correlated with population size,land area,island status;moderately with development assistance received per capita,weakly with funding per capita from Global Fund,government NMP and PMI USAID.Policy score 1,a variable derived from our factor analysis and related to malaria endemicity,is significantly strongly correlated with the malaria burden,moderately with HDI,GDP per capita,total health expenditure per capita,PMI USAID funding;weakly with island status,urban population share,latitude,coastal population share,total government expenditure and trade openness,Global Fund funding,World Bank funding,UK government funding,and UNICEF funding per capita.Policy score 2,which captures variation not related to malaria endemicity,is significantly weakly related to the ICRG index,PMI USAID funding per capita and small country status.Conclusions:The results suggest that malaria burden and economic development are bidirectionally related.Economic development can contribute to a reduction in the malaria burden.Country size does not negatively impact malaria burden,but it does account for greater development assistance per capita from selected international agencies.National malaria policy is associated with parameters related to public governance and is modified in small countries.Small country bias is present in the distribution of socio-economic resources and the allocation of foreign aid.Small countries are characterized by distinct environmental and socio-political properties.

Clinical Study on Tuina Combined with Auricular Point Sticking for Cervical Radiculopathy

Objective: To observe the clinical effect of tuina combined with auricular point sticking on cervical radiculopathy and evaluate in health economics. Methods: Using randomized single-blind controlled clinical design, a total of 72 cases with cervical radiculopathy were randomly allocated into an observation group or a control group by the ratio of 1:1, 36 in each group. Cases in the observation group were treated with tuina combined with auricular point sticking, whereas cases in the control group were treated with tuina alone. Then the clinical effects in the two groups were observed and the cost of health economics was evaluated. Results: The drop-out, recovery, improvement and failure cases, recovery rate and total effective rate in the observation group were 1, 15, 20, 0, 42.9% and 100% respectively, versus 2, 6, 23, 5, 17.6% and 85.3% in the control group, showing significant differences in recovery rate and total effective rate(P<0.05). As for health economics, the cost-effect in the observation group was better than that in the control group. Conclusion: Compared with tuina alone, tuina combined with auricular point sticking can obtain better effect and lower cost in health economics for cervical radiculopathy.

The effects of FDI inflows on income inequality:Evidence from OECD countries

Income inequality is a concerned topic that attracts academia studies for many reasons.Among the long list of factors offered by scholars that contribute to income inequality,the impact of globalization has been extensively studies.This study uses a three-step analysis to examine the influence of Foreign Direct Investment(FDI)inflows on income distribution for Organization for Economic Cooperation(OECD)countries through panel data analysis techniques.FDI flows into OECD countries are generally driven by high skilled works.FDI inflows to OECD countries increase GINI coefficients and widen income gaps due to their skill-intensive nature.A high level of education should be encouraged as indicated by its negative relationship with the GINI index.