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Purpose In this study, the impact of owner-operator and non-owner operator rice mills on productive efficiency is investigated. Design/methodology/approach Primary data collected from a survey of 111 rice mills in the Mwea region of Kenya are used. A metafrontier approach is employed to measure overall technical efficiency which is decomposed into managerial and organisational efficiency. Findings The results reveal no significant difference in overall technical and managerial efficiency between owner and non-owner operated mills. However, a significant difference exists in organisational efficiency of mills: non-owner operated mills were found to be performing significantly better than owner-operated. Practical implications The authors provide supporting evidence to the study and discuss some of the significant policy implications stemming from the study. Originality/value It is recognised that for owners to take the risk of divesting control to a hired manager rather than manage the firm themselves can have major strategic, financial and often emotional consequences. However, there is little empirical evidence on how production efficiency will develop as a result of hiring a manager with the underlying economic theory providing ambiguous guidance. Standard economic theory assumes that firms behave as profit maximisers, which can be achieved by operating efficiently. However, this may not always be the case and as the literature indicates, this may especially be so for small businesses in low- and middle-income countries., open access

Purpose In this study, the impact of owner-operator and non-owner operator rice mills on productive efficiency is investigated. Design/methodology/approach Primary data collected from a survey of 111 rice mills in the Mwea region of Kenya are used. A metafrontier approach is employed to measure overall technical efficiency which is decomposed into managerial and organisational efficiency. Findings The results reveal no significant difference in overall technical and managerial efficiency between owner and non-owner operated mills. However, a significant difference exists in organisational efficiency of mills: non-owner operated mills were found to be performing significantly better than owner-operated. Practical implications The authors provide supporting evidence to the study and discuss some of the significant policy implications stemming from the study. Originality/value It is recognised that for owners to take the risk of divesting control to a hired manager rather than manage the firm themselves can have major strategic, financial and often emotional consequences. However, there is little empirical evidence on how production efficiency will develop as a result of hiring a manager with the underlying economic theory providing ambiguous guidance. Standard economic theory assumes that firms behave as profit maximisers, which can be achieved by operating efficiently. However, this may not always be the case and as the literature indicates, this may especially be so for small businesses in low- and middle-income countries., open access

Purpose In this study, the impact of owner-operator and non-owner operator rice mills on productive efficiency is investigated. Design/methodology/approach Primary data collected from a survey of 111 rice mills in the Mwea region of Kenya are used. A metafrontier approach is employed to measure overall technical efficiency which is decomposed into managerial and organisational efficiency. Findings The results reveal no significant difference in overall technical and managerial efficiency between owner and non-owner operated mills. However, a significant difference exists in organisational efficiency of mills: non-owner operated mills were found to be performing significantly better than owner-operated. Practical implications The authors provide supporting evidence to the study and discuss some of the significant policy implications stemming from the study. Originality/value It is recognised that for owners to take the risk of divesting control to a hired manager rather than manage the firm themselves can have major strategic, financial and often emotional consequences. However, there is little empirical evidence on how production efficiency will develop as a result of hiring a manager with the underlying economic theory providing ambiguous guidance. Standard economic theory assumes that firms behave as profit maximisers, which can be achieved by operating efficiently. However, this may not always be the case and as the literature indicates, this may especially be so for small businesses in low- and middle-income countries., open access

Purpose In this study, the impact of owner-operator and non-owner operator rice mills on productive efficiency is investigated. Design/methodology/approach Primary data collected from a survey of 111 rice mills in the Mwea region of Kenya are used. A metafrontier approach is employed to measure overall technical efficiency which is decomposed into managerial and organisational efficiency. Findings The results reveal no significant difference in overall technical and managerial efficiency between owner and non-owner operated mills. However, a significant difference exists in organisational efficiency of mills: non-owner operated mills were found to be performing significantly better than owner-operated. Practical implications The authors provide supporting evidence to the study and discuss some of the significant policy implications stemming from the study. Originality/value It is recognised that for owners to take the risk of divesting control to a hired manager rather than manage the firm themselves can have major strategic, financial and often emotional consequences. However, there is little empirical evidence on how production efficiency will develop as a result of hiring a manager with the underlying economic theory providing ambiguous guidance. Standard economic theory assumes that firms behave as profit maximisers, which can be achieved by operating efficiently. However, this may not always be the case and as the literature indicates, this may especially be so for small businesses in low- and middle-income countries., open access

Purpose In this study, the impact of owner-operator and non-owner operator rice mills on productive efficiency is investigated. Design/methodology/approach Primary data collected from a survey of 111 rice mills in the Mwea region of Kenya are used. A metafrontier approach is employed to measure overall technical efficiency which is decomposed into managerial and organisational efficiency. Findings The results reveal no significant difference in overall technical and managerial efficiency between owner and non-owner operated mills. However, a significant difference exists in organisational efficiency of mills: non-owner operated mills were found to be performing significantly better than owner-operated. Practical implications The authors provide supporting evidence to the study and discuss some of the significant policy implications stemming from the study. Originality/value It is recognised that for owners to take the risk of divesting control to a hired manager rather than manage the firm themselves can have major strategic, financial and often emotional consequences. However, there is little empirical evidence on how production efficiency will develop as a result of hiring a manager with the underlying economic theory providing ambiguous guidance. Standard economic theory assumes that firms behave as profit maximisers, which can be achieved by operating efficiently. However, this may not always be the case and as the literature indicates, this may especially be so for small businesses in low- and middle-income countries., open access

Purpose In this study, the impact of owner-operator and non-owner operator rice mills on productive efficiency is investigated. Design/methodology/approach Primary data collected from a survey of 111 rice mills in the Mwea region of Kenya are used. A metafrontier approach is employed to measure overall technical efficiency which is decomposed into managerial and organisational efficiency. Findings The results reveal no significant difference in overall technical and managerial efficiency between owner and non-owner operated mills. However, a significant difference exists in organisational efficiency of mills: non-owner operated mills were found to be performing significantly better than owner-operated. Practical implications The authors provide supporting evidence to the study and discuss some of the significant policy implications stemming from the study. Originality/value It is recognised that for owners to take the risk of divesting control to a hired manager rather than manage the firm themselves can have major strategic, financial and often emotional consequences. However, there is little empirical evidence on how production efficiency will develop as a result of hiring a manager with the underlying economic theory providing ambiguous guidance. Standard economic theory assumes that firms behave as profit maximisers, which can be achieved by operating efficiently. However, this may not always be the case and as the literature indicates, this may especially be so for small businesses in low- and middle-income countries., open access

Construction firms in developing economies have started to explore the global market. However, whether internationalization can improve their productivity growth in the long run needs to be considered. Moreover, rapid changes in institutional environments and different ownership concentrations in developing economies can contribute to different outcomes. This study established models that examine the impact of internationalization on total factor productivity (TFP), TFP’s components, and the profitability of 86 construction firms in Malaysia from 2003 to 2016 by applying the generalized method of moments (GMM) estimator. The results showed that internationalization reduced firm productivity during Malaysia’s lack of promarket phase of 2003–2009 but became negligible during the more promarket phase of 2010–2016. The negative impact was due to scale inefficiency. The effect of regulatory control and family ownership concentration reduced the negative impact of internationalization, whereas capital availability, foreign debt, price control freedom, and government ownership negatively affected the impact of internationalization on firm productivity. This study is the first to explore the impact of internationalization on TFP’s components. It contributes to management in the engineering domain by extending insights into the effect of institutional environments, institutional dimensions, and ownership concentrations on the impact of internationalization on firm productivity.

This paper is an extension of the current literature on the impact of climate induced natural disasters on the agricultural sector and the first empirical study that investigates the impact of natural disasters on technical efficiency (TE) of rice (also known as paddy) production in Sri Lanka and elsewhere. Severity and intensity of disasters were measured using data on a number of different natural disasters. Data for 22 districts in Sri Lanka representing two rice growing seasons and three agro-ecological regions for the 18 year period from 2000 were collected. The study employed a stochastic production function approach to examine technical efficiencies of different districts and different agro-ecological regions. The results reveal that drought and flood have a significant negative impact on the TE of rice production and that droughts have had the most severe impact. The disasters have decreased the TE of rice production by 2–5% on average. This study highlights the need to change the policies and resource allocation currently based on the traditional knowledge and beliefs about production efficiency during different seasons and in different agro-ecological regions. Such changes need to reflect the global trend of greater climatic variations resulting from extreme weather conditions.

Current literature on higher education (HE) performance only considers the production of graduates and not graduate employment. The latter needs to be factored into the HE production model as it not only measures the true impact of HE institutions (HEIs), but also provides policy implications on how resources should be allocated. Furthermore, the current literature on HE does not incorporate student responses into outputs, which should be in order to evaluate the teaching quality of HEIs. This study contributes to the existing literature by employing a network data envelopment analysis model that truly reflects the production process of HEIs and incorporates qualitative and quantitative data drawn from the UK Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) to capture the effects from teaching quality and the graduate employment outcomes. The study allows us to compare the actual TEF outcomes with the teaching efficiency scores and determine the sources of inefficiencies which lead to policy implications.

Blumea balsamfera (L.) DC. (B. balsamfera) extract has been shown to exhibit many biological activities. However, the anti-kinase, anti-phosphatase and cytotoxic activities of B. balsamfera are not well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the anti-kinase and antiphosphatase activities using MKK1, MSG5 and PP1 screening systems. Cytotoxic activity was evaluated using acute promyelocytic leukemia cell lines (HL-60). Methanol extracts of B. balsamfera were partitioned into hexane (HE), chloroform (CE), chloroform-methanol (CME), butanol (BE) and aqueous fractions (AQE). Only the CE fraction demonstrated toxic activity against PP1 screening system. Other fractions did not show activity in PP1 screening. CE fractions were further fractionated using silica gel chromatography and a further 11 fractions were obtained. Fraction 2 (CE.F2) showed activity against PP1 and was further fractionated and tested. CE.F2.F6.F3 fraction tested positive against PP1. Inhibition of PP1 by the F2.F6.F3 fraction was further confirmed using an enzymatic reaction and the Vmax and Km constants were 124.999 µmol/ml.min and 204.624 µM, respectively. A Lineweaver-Burk plot outcome of F2.F6.F3 revealed decreasing of Km and Vmax values which supported the inhibition of PP1 activities. Cytotoxic activities against HL-60 were observed for the CE, CE.F1, CE.F2 and CE.F7 fractions. We have demonstrated that B. balsamfera and its specific fractions exhibited anti-kinase and anti-phosphatase activities. These substances have the potential to be used as treatment agent for acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Blumea balsamfera (L.) DC. (B. balsamfera) extract has been shown to exhibit many biological activities. However, the anti-kinase, anti-phosphatase and cytotoxic activities of B. balsamfera are not well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the anti-kinase and antiphosphatase activities using MKK1, MSG5 and PP1 screening systems. Cytotoxic activity was evaluated using acute promyelocytic leukemia cell lines (HL-60). Methanol extracts of B. balsamfera were partitioned into hexane (HE), chloroform (CE), chloroform-methanol (CME), butanol (BE) and aqueous fractions (AQE). Only the CE fraction demonstrated toxic activity against PP1 screening system. Other fractions did not show activity in PP1 screening. CE fractions were further fractionated using silica gel chromatography and a further 11 fractions were obtained. Fraction 2 (CE.F2) showed activity against PP1 and was further fractionated and tested. CE.F2.F6.F3 fraction tested positive against PP1. Inhibition of PP1 by the F2.F6.F3 fraction was further confirmed using an enzymatic reaction and the Vmax and Km constants were 124.999 µmol/ml.min and 204.624 µM, respectively. A Lineweaver-Burk plot outcome of F2.F6.F3 revealed decreasing of Km and Vmax values which supported the inhibition of PP1 activities. Cytotoxic activities against HL-60 were observed for the CE, CE.F1, CE.F2 and CE.F7 fractions. We have demonstrated that B. balsamfera and its specific fractions exhibited anti-kinase and anti-phosphatase activities. These substances have the potential to be used as treatment agent for acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Blumea balsamfera (L.) DC. (B. balsamfera) extract has been shown to exhibit many biological activities. However, the anti-kinase, anti-phosphatase and cytotoxic activities of B. balsamfera are not well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the anti-kinase and antiphosphatase activities using MKK1, MSG5 and PP1 screening systems. Cytotoxic activity was evaluated using acute promyelocytic leukemia cell lines (HL-60). Methanol extracts of B. balsamfera were partitioned into hexane (HE), chloroform (CE), chloroform-methanol (CME), butanol (BE) and aqueous fractions (AQE). Only the CE fraction demonstrated toxic activity against PP1 screening system. Other fractions did not show activity in PP1 screening. CE fractions were further fractionated using silica gel chromatography and a further 11 fractions were obtained. Fraction 2 (CE.F2) showed activity against PP1 and was further fractionated and tested. CE.F2.F6.F3 fraction tested positive against PP1. Inhibition of PP1 by the F2.F6.F3 fraction was further confirmed using an enzymatic reaction and the Vmax and Km constants were 124.999 µmol/ml.min and 204.624 µM, respectively. A Lineweaver-Burk plot outcome of F2.F6.F3 revealed decreasing of Km and Vmax values which supported the inhibition of PP1 activities. Cytotoxic activities against HL-60 were observed for the CE, CE.F1, CE.F2 and CE.F7 fractions. We have demonstrated that B. balsamfera and its specific fractions exhibited anti-kinase and anti-phosphatase activities. These substances have the potential to be used as treatment agent for acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Blumea balsamfera (L.) DC. (B. balsamfera) extract has been shown to exhibit many biological activities. However, the anti-kinase, anti-phosphatase and cytotoxic activities of B. balsamfera are not well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the anti-kinase and antiphosphatase activities using MKK1, MSG5 and PP1 screening systems. Cytotoxic activity was evaluated using acute promyelocytic leukemia cell lines (HL-60). Methanol extracts of B. balsamfera were partitioned into hexane (HE), chloroform (CE), chloroform-methanol (CME), butanol (BE) and aqueous fractions (AQE). Only the CE fraction demonstrated toxic activity against PP1 screening system. Other fractions did not show activity in PP1 screening. CE fractions were further fractionated using silica gel chromatography and a further 11 fractions were obtained. Fraction 2 (CE.F2) showed activity against PP1 and was further fractionated and tested. CE.F2.F6.F3 fraction tested positive against PP1. Inhibition of PP1 by the F2.F6.F3 fraction was further confirmed using an enzymatic reaction and the Vmax and Km constants were 124.999 µmol/ml.min and 204.624 µM, respectively. A Lineweaver-Burk plot outcome of F2.F6.F3 revealed decreasing of Km and Vmax values which supported the inhibition of PP1 activities. Cytotoxic activities against HL-60 were observed for the CE, CE.F1, CE.F2 and CE.F7 fractions. We have demonstrated that B. balsamfera and its specific fractions exhibited anti-kinase and anti-phosphatase activities. These substances have the potential to be used as treatment agent for acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Blumea balsamfera (L.) DC. (B. balsamfera) extract has been shown to exhibit many biological activities. However, the anti-kinase, anti-phosphatase and cytotoxic activities of B. balsamfera are not well understood. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the anti-kinase and antiphosphatase activities using MKK1, MSG5 and PP1 screening systems. Cytotoxic activity was evaluated using acute promyelocytic leukemia cell lines (HL-60). Methanol extracts of B. balsamfera were partitioned into hexane (HE), chloroform (CE), chloroform-methanol (CME), butanol (BE) and aqueous fractions (AQE). Only the CE fraction demonstrated toxic activity against PP1 screening system. Other fractions did not show activity in PP1 screening. CE fractions were further fractionated using silica gel chromatography and a further 11 fractions were obtained. Fraction 2 (CE.F2) showed activity against PP1 and was further fractionated and tested. CE.F2.F6.F3 fraction tested positive against PP1. Inhibition of PP1 by the F2.F6.F3 fraction was further confirmed using an enzymatic reaction and the Vmax and Km constants were 124.999 µmol/ml.min and 204.624 µM, respectively. A Lineweaver-Burk plot outcome of F2.F6.F3 revealed decreasing of Km and Vmax values which supported the inhibition of PP1 activities. Cytotoxic activities against HL-60 were observed for the CE, CE.F1, CE.F2 and CE.F7 fractions. We have demonstrated that B. balsamfera and its specific fractions exhibited anti-kinase and anti-phosphatase activities. These substances have the potential to be used as treatment agent for acute promyelocytic leukemia.

This paper examines the economic impact of climate induced disasters on Sri Lanka's agricultural, industrial and services sectors and their subsectors. In doing so, it seeks to explain a central paradox – that there are winners and losers in terms of the effect of the disasters on sectoral growth. This poses problems for many developing countries which are seeking to aggressively raise economic growth targets. These targets typically do not adequately take into account the impact of climate change on growth nor that climate change likely is to have a different effect on different economic sectors. Using cross-provincial panel datasets for Sri Lanka for the period, 1997–2018, we show that the agricultural sector is the most affected by climate induced disasters, although not all agricultural sub-sectors are equally vulnerable. Similarly, the industrial sector is shown to suffer a significant negative impact due to strong winds and landslide events. The textiles and garment sub-sectors are negatively impacted while the machinery sub sector shows a positive impact. This indicates the effect of higher demand for new machinery and equipment employed in disaster reconstruction efforts. The study further reveals that the services sector derives a mostly positive impact following disasters, especially public administration and health subsectors. The study also indicates that for Sri Lanka during the current decade, there has been a considerably greater negative impact from climate induced disasters compared to the previous decade.

In 1998, the Australian electricity distribution was deregulated with the aim of promoting competition and reducing retail prices. However, since then these outcomes have not transpired, which raises the question of whether there may be underlying causes leading to inefficiencies within the power distribution industry. To assess the performance of the electricity distribution system and sources of (in)efficiency since deregulation, we employ Simar and Wilson's (2007) double bootstrap data envelopment analysis truncated regression approach. The results suggest that most distributors were operating well below efficient levels for the period concerned. In the second-stage analysis, the results indicate that reliability promotes efficiency suggesting that a focus should be placed on the continuous supply of energy. Specifically, inefficient distributors can improve network reliability by replacing aged poles and the expansion of market size could encourage healthy competition.

Climate change is likely to worsen poverty, and agriculture-dependent groups and poorest countries are at the greatest risk. Farmers’ have begun developing and implementing climate change adaptations. This study investigates the extent to which climate change adaptations by smallholder farmers have the potential to contribute to the UN's sustainable development goals of no poverty (SDG 1) and zero hunger (SDG 2). To this end, the study measures the impact of such adaptations on food production using farm-level survey data from Nepal. We utilize a matching technique and stochastic production frontier model to examine the productivity and efficiency of farmers. Results reveal that the group of farmers adopting adaptations exhibit higher levels of productivity and technical efficiency in food production as compared to the non-adopters. It is evident from the results that policy makers should encourage farming households in climate change adaptations, which have the potential to enhance farmers’ productivity and efficiency in agriculture, thereby contributing to two of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of eradicating hunger and poverty (SDG's target indicators 2.3).

The popularity of nature-based tourism revolves around tourist experiences. Tourism, as an experiential good has the potential to impact on tourists’ awareness, appreciation, and actions concerning the environment and wildlife. User preferences and valuations of nature and wildlife may change because of the experience. Exploring user valuations of environmental goods before and after the experience is, however, an area that has been given little attention in the literature. We use discrete choice experiments (DCEs) to evaluate tourists’ preferences and valuations for nature, wildlife and related services before and after experiencing a nature tour. The results demonstrate how the unfamiliarity of the good consumed (in this case fauna and flora in a hitherto unseen natural environment) affect the non-use valuations of consumers. We find that tourists’ valuations for nature and wildlife significantly improve after experiencing the nature tour.

Purpose Many large construction firms (LCFs) adopt product diversification (PD) to counter downturns and spread risks. However, no detailed information is available concerning the type of PD that improves their performance. In addition, it is still uncertain how much changes in institutional dimensions influence the effectiveness of PD. Therefore, the aim is to resolve this issue by establishing a model that shows the extent of this influence. Design/methodology/approach The generalised method of moments (GMM) estimator is used to model the PD strategies of 86 LCFs in Malaysia over 14 years (2003–2016) and its impact on productivity and profitability performance. Findings Unrelated diversification (UD) decreased firm performance in 2003–2016, while related diversification (RD) had a positive impact during the more liberal 2010–2016 phase. The models show that the impact of PD is highly dependent on changes in institutional dimensions. Practical implications Firstly, managers may adjust the type of PD and its level of diversification to improve firm performance. Secondly, they may devise PD strategies based on changes in institutional dimensions to maximise their effectiveness. Originality/value The study contributes to the literature by determining the optimal amount of PD (including RD and UD) and its impact on performance. Secondly, the study is the first to investigate the moderating relationship of the institutional dimensions of economic and regulatory institutions on PD-firm performance. Thirdly, the study is the first to explore the components of technical-scale-scope economies (movement towards and around the production frontier), this being crucial to the strategy that was only conjectured in previous studies.

This report explores the extension of the conventional “kill chain” in a counterintuitive manner. Utilizing lessons learned from the SEA29 work in “Logistics in a Contested Environment,” the “kill chain” is re-defined backward from warhead detonation to “metal bending and metal delivery.” This process provides a more well-rounded examination of Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to maintain supply lines in a major conflict, specifically, those supply lines that provide key rare earth elements (REE) to DOD weapons contractors. Using linear programming and optimization, this report documents a design of three alternatives for the mining, refinement, and production of REEs. By defining a production equation around our Measures of Effectiveness and Performance (MOE/MOP), we maximized the weighted MOPs while minimizing damage to convoys. From the analysis of results, we found REE components produced remotely (OCONUS) and near CONUS had the best results while using medium and large convoys. Finally, the diverse background of the team, professionally and academically, allowed for a combination of perspectives during the research and modeling process, which ultimately led to the creation of this final report., Director, Warfare Integration (OPNAV N9I), Captain, United States Marine Corps, Seren, Israel Defence Forces, Civilian, Singapore Technologies Electronics, Singapore, Military Expert 5, Republic of Singapore Air Force, Lieutenant, United States Navy, Lieutenant, United States Navy, Lieutenant, United States Navy, Military Expert 5, Republic of Singapore Air Force, Military Expert 5, Singapore Army, Military Expert 5, Republic of Singapore Air Force, Major, United States Army, Captain, United States Marine Corps, Captain, Singapore Army, Military Expert 5, Republic of Singapore Air Force, Civilian, Singapore Technologies - Engineering Land Systems, Singapore, Military Expert 5, Republic of Singapore Air Force, Captain, Singapore Army, Civilian, Singapore Technologies Engineering Land Systems, Singapore, Major, Singapore Army, Civilian, DSO National Labs, Singapore, Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.

This thesis presents a Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) methodology for the development of a Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) Digital Twin (DT) with the ability to demonstrate route selection capability with a Mission Engineering (ME) focus. It reviews the concept of ME and integrates it with an MBSE framework for the development of the DT. The methodology is demonstrated through a case study where the UAS is deployed for a Last Mile Delivery (LMD) mission and a route optimization module recommends an optimal route to the user. The optimization module is based on Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT), which analyzes predefined criteria that the user assessed would enable the successful conduct of the UAS mission. The thesis demonstrates that the methodology can execute an ME analysis for route selection to support a user's decision-making process. The discussion section highlights the key MBSE artifacts and also highlights the benefits of the methodology, which standardizes the decision-making process, thereby reducing the negative impact of human-factors that may deviate from the predefined criteria., Military Expert 5, Republic of Singapore Air Force, Approved for public release. Distribution is unlimited.

This report explores the extension of the conventional “kill chain” in a counterintuitive manner. Utilizing lessons learned from the SEA29 work in “Logistics in a Contested Environment,” the “kill chain” is re-defined backward from warhead detonation to “metal bending and metal delivery.” This process provides a more well-rounded examination of Department of Defense (DOD) efforts to maintain supply lines in a major conflict, specifically, those supply lines that provide key rare earth elements (REE) to DOD weapons contractors. Using linear programming and optimization, this report documents a design of three alternatives for the mining, refinement, and production of REEs. By defining a production equation around our Measures of Effectiveness and Performance (MOE/MOP), we maximized the weighted MOPs while minimizing damage to convoys. From the analysis of results, we found REE components produced remotely (OCONUS) and near CONUS had the best results while using medium and large convoys. Finally, the diverse background of the team, professionally and academically, allowed for a combination of perspectives during the research and modeling process, which ultimately led to the creation of this final report.

The demand for education is partly revealed by a higher demand for properties around good schools, which has been the basis for a number of empirical studies. This research attempts to explore the nexus of school quality and the property market when school ranking is clearly available to the public. The spatial hedonic property valuation method was employed to analyze selected Brisbane public (state) and private schools consisting of those with high, middle and low ranking in terms of average student academic school performance. The results imply the capitalization of school values in both property and rental prices. The research also demonstrates the spillover impacts of school development. Such impacts are higher in comparison to previous studies, which are supported by the average school performance considered in individual assessments. The results of this study can be a valuable input into school policy reforms. (JEL: H23, I20, I28, R21)

The Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF) is an assessment of undergraduate teaching quality across higher education institutions (HEIs) in England, Wales and Scotland. The TEF was introduced by the UK government in order to help prospective students make an informed choice about their university, and also to feed into the government’s decision regarding the level of tuition fees that HEIs can charge, although following the publication of the TEF results, the government announced a freeze on tuition fees. Results for those HEIs opting into the assessment (this was voluntary) were first published in June 2017, and HEIs were awarded gold, silver or bronze based on key data and an environment statement. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to apply a two-node network data envelopment analysis (NDEA) to data used in the TEF supplemented by some additional variables to establish the efficiency of teaching of universities in England. In the first node, universities are seen to use their staff to student ratio and their expenditure to student ratio to produce four outputs namely the proportion of ‘good’ graduates, and three student satisfaction responses derived from the National Student Survey. In the second node, the first node output (proportion of ‘good’ graduates) is treated as an input along with the non-academic staff to student ratio, and these produce graduate employment and highly skilled graduate employment outputs. This NDEA approach will allow insights into where precisely inefficient universities are particularly weak (node 1 or node 2). Second, the factors underlying the efficiency results of node1 and node 2 are investigated using a fractional regression model. This paper provides an early analysis of the TEF exercise and the data underpinning it, and as such will have clear policy implications concerning both the efficacy of the TEF and the efficiency of universities’ teaching activities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of community-based organizations (CBOs) on the adoption of agricultural adaptations to climate change impacts. To this end, we first analyze farmers’ perceptions on changes in local climatic condition, its impact and adaptations on agriculture based on information collected through a questionnaire survey of 720 farming households in six districts of Nepal. The findings reveal a widespread feeling of weather getting warmer, decreasing precipitation, and increasing weather unpredictability. It is found that climate change has adversely affected agriculture in Nepal, and farmers have adopted various adaptation practices to minimize the impacts. Second, we employ propensity score matching technique to examine the impact of CBOs on climate change adaptation. About 62% of the sampled farming households were associated with CBOs, and several socioeconomic factors influence such association. This study provides evidence supporting the argument that CBOs play important role in reducing the negative impacts of climate change by enhancing the adoption of adaptation strategies. It is also evident from the study the need of further strengthening and institutionalizing the informal farmers’ groups and institutions for the successful adaptation.

Purpose Existing studies of school efficiency primarily specify teacher inputs as the number of teachers and perhaps the student-teacher ratio. As a result, there is no direct qualitative recognition of the learning environment. The purpose of this paper is to incorporate the learning environment directly into the assessment of school efficiency. Design/methodology/approach The authors employ data envelopment analysis to derive efficiency scores and the double-bootstrap truncated regression approach in Simar and Wilson’s (2007) Journal of Econometrics to quantify the sources of efficiency in 430 Queensland state primary schools. In the first stage, the outputs of student National Assessment Program-Literacy and Numeracy scores and the inputs of full-time equivalent teaching staff and cumulative capital expenditure per student are used to measure efficiency. In the second stage, the authors specify an index of community socio-educational advantage, class size, the share of teachers with postgraduate qualifications, funds spent on professional development, and surveyed opinions from parents/caregivers, students, staff and principals on the learning environment to explain these measures of efficiency. Findings Socio-economic background and the teaching environment affect school efficiency. Although not all variables related to teacher contribution are significant, there is evidence to suggest that teachers have a positive influence on student performance hence school efficiency. Teachers ability to clearly explain the requirements of schoolwork tasks and listening to student opinions sets an ideal student engagement environment which can have a profound impact on student learning. Practical implications From a policy perspective, policy makers should target resources at inefficient schools aimed at enhancing student learning through teacher development and, at the same time, providing financial and non-financial educational assistance to stu

A key issue arising from farmers’ climate change adaptation practices in agriculture is whether autonomous adaptations improve crop production and productivity. A comparison of crop productivity between farms employing autonomous adaptations and those not adopting provides an empirical means of resolving this question. This study assesses the climate change adaptation practices used by rice farmers in the Tanahun district of Nepal, their impact on rice productivity, and the factors that affect farmers’ decisions to adopt adaptation practices. Adaptation practices used by rice farmers include adjustment in timing of farm operations, selection of varieties, crop rotation, improved irrigation, and fertilizer management. Rice productivity was found to be significantly higher among adopting farmers compared to non-adopting farmers. The findings further suggest that age of the household head, family size, migration of family members outside their village, number of plots under rice cultivation, land holding, and farmers’ access to information on climate change all influence farmers’ adaptation decisions. This study provides empirical evidence indicating the need for policy makers to take into consideration autonomous adaptations when designing planned adaptations against likely impacts of climate change.

Adaptation has become a key priority in dealing with climate change issues. However, successful implementation of climate change adaptation entails substantial financial investment. This study examines differences in Nepalese farming households’ willingness to contribute to the implementation of adaptation programs across monetary and non-monetary modes of payments. To this end, we undertake discrete choice experiments with monetary payment and labor contributions as the payment vehicles. We find that farmers are interested in participating in and financially supporting the implementation of climate change adaptation initiatives that increase the availability of climate-adaptive crop varieties, improve soil quality, expand irrigation and build farmers’ capacity in terms of climate-adaptive farming. Factors influencing farmers’ participation in adaptation programs include age, income, access to extension services, size of land holdings, number of farm parcels, climate change perception and climate change experience. Furthermore, the findings reveal significant heterogeneity in the farmers’ preferences across three agro-ecological regions in Nepal. Our findings also strengthen the methodological validity of the results of the choice experiment, which indicated that farmers are willing to pay significantly more when asked to make a payment in terms of a labor contribution compared to a monetary payment for the implementation of adaptation programs. Overall, the findings of this study justify the relevance of implementing agricultural adaptation programs in Nepal.

The level of public response to extreme catastrophes is considerably greater than concern over climate change. This research compares the public’s responses to extreme disasters and climate change when governments intervene to mitigate long-term climate change impacts. To do so we examine the property market behaviour in response to beach erosion and cyclone damage in Queensland, Australia. The results show that the impact on the property market of the public’s response to the negative impact of cyclones is more marked than its response to the negative impact of beach erosion. The relative non-responsiveness to beach erosion can be seen as a product of both local government intervention strategies and the recreational and aesthetic attractions of beaches. This study, therefore, provides useful insights for the development of sustainable coastal development strategies.

As environmentally sustainable practices are becoming popular in the hotel industry, their impact on efficiency is an important issue. To investigate the performance of hotels in this context, we use data envelopment analysis (DEA) double bootstrap approach to firstly assess the technical efficiency and its determinants of a sample of medium and large scale hotels in Sri Lanka for the period 2010–2014. Secondly, we evaluate the impact of a number of explanatory variables in determining hotel efficiency. The results reveal that the average technical efficiency is 61% with the maximum being 71.5% and the minimum 46.8%. The results conclude that being environmentally responsible enhances the efficiency of hotels, specifically in terms of improving energy efficiency and waste management. Water consumption is shown to have a contradictory result in relation of improving efficiency. Finally, we estimate the bootstrapped Malmquist productivity index to examine the level of productivity in the Sri Lankan hotel industry. The results of this study provide hotel operators and government with insights into the nature of competitive advantage which can assist them with strategic decision making to improve the technical and environmental management of hotels.

There is a need for a better approach to measure construction productivity rigorously, multilaterally, longitudinally and decomposed into its components. In response, this paper offers a robust approach to analysing construction productivity at the firm level that has been lacking in the industry to date, by measuring the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) of 37 public-listed Malaysian construction firms over 14 years (2003–2016), based on the Färe-Primont index. In comparing different groups of building, civil and specialist construction firms, this is the first application of a meta-frontier framework to capture the technological gaps involved. Based on the construction firms’ financial data, it is found that TFP improvement generally occurs due to Technical Efficiency (TE) and Scale-Mix Efficiency (SME) (largely scope economies), and significant technological gaps exist among different groups. Moreover, the industry suffered a decline in technologically related production environment over the period–prompting the conclusion that long-term policy engagement should focus on technological improvements. The paper provides a robust approach to analysing construction productivity at the firm level that also can be used for accessing productivity components and technological gaps in construction and other industries.

As environmentally sustainable practices are becoming popular in the hotel industry, their impact on efficiency is an important issue. To investigate the performance of hotels in this context, we use data envelopment analysis (DEA) double bootstrap approach to firstly assess the technical efficiency and its determinants of a sample of medium and large scale hotels in Sri Lanka for the period 2010-2014. Secondly, we evaluate the impact of a number of explanatory variables in determining hotel efficiency. The results reveal that the average technical efficiency is 61% with the maximum being 71.5% and the minimum 46.8%. The results conclude that being environmentally responsible enhances the efficiency of hotels, specifically in terms of improving energy efficiency and waste management. Water consumption is shown to have a contradictory result in relation of improving efficiency. Finally, we estimate the bootstrapped Malmquist productivity index to examine the level of productivity in the Sri Lankan hotel industry. The results of this study provide hotel operators and government with insights into the nature of competitive advantage which can assist them with strategic decision making to improve the technical and environmental management of hotels.

The level of public response to extreme catastrophes is considerably greater than concern over climate change. This research compares the public's responses to extreme disasters and climate change when governments intervene to mitigate long-term climate change impacts. To do so we examine the property market behaviour in response to beach erosion and cyclone damage in Queensland, Australia. The results show that the impact on the property market of the public's response to the negative impact of cyclones is more marked than its response to the negative impact of beach erosion. The relative non-responsiveness to beach erosion can be seen as a product of both local government intervention strategies and the recreational and aesthetic attractions of beaches. This study, therefore, provides useful insights for the development of sustainable coastal development strategies.

Food security is a global challenge. With rising world population and demand for food being compounded by resource and arable land constraints, raising the efficiency of food production and use has become increasingly important. While much of the research on food security is focused on farm efficiency and productivity, most neglect post-harvest (PH) handling which is critical in determining the availability of food. In this study, we employ the network Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) model to evaluate the PH efficiency of milling, using data from Kenya’s rice processing industry. The results show lower efficiency scores when using a network DEA model, which reflects its greater discriminatory power when compared to the standard DEA approach. The study also quantified sources of productive efficiency using a fractional regression model and identified storage space and distance to market as having an impact on drying efficiency; while experience, age of mill, servicing and energy type influenced milling efficiency. The results suggest that policy makers should focus on investing in drying technologies and storage facilities to improve drying efficiency. To improve milling efficiency, policy recommendations include enhancing millers’ access to better technologies, investing in reliable sources of energy and providing PH handling workshops to reduce PH losses.

Globally, adaptation policies and programmes are being formulated to address climate change issues. However, in the agricultural sector, and particularly in least developed countries (LDCs), concerns remain as to whether these policies and programmes are consistent with farmers’ preferences. This study empirically investigates Nepalese farmers’ willingness to support the implementation of adaptation programmes. To this end, we first developed suggested adaptation programmes in accordance with the adaptation measures identified by LDCs in their National Adaptation Programmes of Actions. We then employed a choice experiment framework to estimate farmers’ willingness to pay (WTP) for adaptation benefits. The findings indicate that the substantial benefits of the adaptation programmes for farmers result in a sizeable WTP to participate, which would appear to justify the programmes’ widespread implementation. Key policy insights - Farmers are willing to participate in, and contribute to, the suggested adaptation programmes in the form of increased access to climate adaptive crop species and varieties, improved soil quality and irrigation and the provision of training in climate adaptive farming. - Key socio-economic factors influence farmers’ support of adaptation programmes. Older farmers, those households closer to government extension services, larger land holders, those involved in household labour exchange, farmers located in drought and flood-prone regions and those who perceive that the climate has changed are more likely to participate. - The more farmers are aware of climate change impacts, the greater their preference for adaptation programmes. Increasing farmer awareness prior to implementation of such programmes is therefore an obvious means of further raising participation rates.

This paper provides one of the first empirical studies that examine the impact of climate change adaptation practices on technical efficiency (TE) among smallholder farmers in Nepal. An adaptation index is used to explore the impact of farmers’ adaptation on TE using the stochastic frontier analysis framework. Data for six districts of Nepal representing all three agro-ecological regions (terai, hill, and mountain) were collected from a focus group discussion, a stakeholder workshop and a household survey. The survey shows that about 91% of the farming households have adopted at least one practice to minimize the adverse impacts of climate change. Empirical results reveal that adaptation is an important factor explaining efficiency differentials among farming households. Those adopting a greater number of adaptation practices on a larger scale are, on average, found to be 13% more technically efficient than those adopting fewer practices on smaller scale. The empirical results also show that average TE is only 0.72, indicating that there are opportunities for farming households in Nepal to further improve productive efficiency, on average by 28%. Other important factors that explain variations in the productive efficiency across farming households include farmer’s education level, irrigation facilities, market access, and social capital such as farmer’s participations in relevant agricultural organizations and clubs. This study provides empirical evidence to policy makers that small scale adjustments made by farmers in response to climate change impacts are effective in improving farmers’ efficiency in agriculture production. This indicates a need for farmers’ involvement in climate change adaptation planning.

This paper employs a stochastic metafrontier framework to examine technical efficiencies and technology gaps of Nepalese farmers in different agro-ecological regions. On average, the technical efficiency level derived from the regional frontier is 81%, from the metafrontier it is 57%, and the technological gap ratio is 70%. There is therefore a clear opportunity to improve the performance of farming households within regions through improving farmer’s education, farming experiences, and by adopting climate change adaptation practices. Also indicated is that agricultural policies should be developed to reduce the technology gap between specific regions and the overall agricultural sector. In this context, this study highlights the need to improve farmers’ access to agricultural markets, livelihood diversification and strengthening social capital such as farmers’ participations in relevant agricultural organizations.

The motivation for this study stems from two major concerns that are interlinked. The first is the decades long food insecurity crisis faced by sub-Saharan African (SSA) countries which is still prevalent. The second is the negative impact greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from agriculture may have on future food production and which is likely to worsen the food insecurity problem. The conundrum SSA farmers face is how to increase food output through productivity growth while minimizing GHG emissions. To measure changes in productivity growth and GHG emissions, this study evaluates the agricultural performance of 18 SSA countries by utilizing the Malmquist–Luenberger index to incorporate good and bad outputs for the years 1980–2012. The empirical evidence demonstrates that productivity is overestimated when bad outputs are not considered in the production model. The analysis provides a better understanding of the effectiveness of previous mitigation methods and which informs an appropriate course of action needed to achieve the twin objectives of increasing agriculture productivity while reducing GHG emissions.

This paper explores the factors that influence farmers' decision-making in adopting climate change adaptation strategies and how these adaptations impact on farm yields. We employ a simultaneous equations model to investigate the differential effects of adaptation on adapters and non-adapters. An endogenous switching mechanism is employed to account for selectivity bias. Based on a survey of 422 rice farmers in Nepal, our results show that farmers' education, access to credit and extension services, experience with climate change impacts such as drought and flood, information on climate change issues, belief in climate change and the need to adapt all variously determine their decision-making. We find that the adaptation strategies employed by farmers significantly increase rice yields. Furthermore, results indicate that both adapters and non-adapters would benefit from the adaptation of the identified strategies. This study, therefore, provides supportive evidence for policy makers to take into consideration farmers' existing knowledge and skills in adapting to climate change. The findings show that it is imperative to involve farmers in climate change adaptation planning processes if the full benefits of such policy action are to be realized.

The growing public pressure against the spread of cell phone towers in urban areas has created a need to understand their impact on adjacent house prices. A few existing studies are, however, controversial in their methodology and inconclusive in their results. Therefore, our study on the effect of cell phone towers on house prices is designed to avoid these deficiencies. Property transaction data collected from two suburbs within the Brisbane City Council were analysed adopting the spatial hedonic property valuation model. The estimated models were statistically significant and were largely in line with theoretical expectations. The results revealed that proximity to cell phone towers negatively affects house values, decreasing as the distance from the tower increases. A suitable compensation programme for nearby property owners is, therefore, suggested as being an appropriate policy response.

Psychological influences affect the way people value the environment. However, traditional economic valuation models often do not account for how people are asked about valuing the environment. We examined how valuations by Nepalese farmers differ based on how the questions are asked and which incentives are provided. In a face-to-face choice experiment, incentive receivers spent more time than incentive non-receivers answering the survey, but were not more likely to choose a status quo option. Prepaid survey incentives had minimal effect on the stated welfare measures. The results suggest that prepaid incentives increase response rates, but do not increase welfare estimates. The findings also strengthen the methodological validity of our results, which indicated that farmers are willing to pay a substantial amount to secure climate change adaptation benefits on their land.

It is widely accepted that climate change is having significant effects on global agriculture. However, the precise impacts depend to a large degree on the nature of adaptations which take place. But, little is known about whether adaptation practices adopted by farmers in less-developed countries support farm productivity. To this end, this study first identifies the actual adaptation practices adopted by farming households. This is done by linking farmers’ perception of changes in local climatic conditions, its impact on agricultural production, and the adjustments they have made in response to climate change impacts. Simultaneous equation models are then employed together with the endogenous switching regression methodology to examine the factors that influence farmers’ decisions to adopt different climate change adaptation strategies. How the adoption of these strategies impact food productivity is also examined. Based on a survey of 720 farming households in Nepal, our results show that adoption of adaptation strategies has significantly increased food productivity. Among the adaptation strategies, soil and water management are shown to have the largest impact on food productivity followed by adjustments to the timing of farm operations and crop and varietal adjustment. Factors influencing adoption of adaptation strategies include age and education of the household head (the decision-maker of adaptation strategies), family size, households’ distance to market, farmers’ association with agricultural-related institutions, number of farm plots under cultivation, past climate change experience, access to climate information, belief in climate change, and attitudes towards adaptation. The findings of this study provide insights into designing agricultural adaptation strategies and integrating them in climate change programs and policies.

This paper employs a stochastic metafrontier framework to examine technical efficiencies and technology gaps of Nepalese farmers in different agro-ecological regions. On average, the technical efficiency level derived from the regional frontier is 81%, from the metafrontier it is 57%, and the technological gap ratio is 70%. There is therefore a clear opportunity to improve the performance of farming households within regions through improving farmer's education, farming experiences, and by adopting climate change adaptation practices. Also indicated is that agricultural policies should be developed to reduce the technology gap between specific regions and the overall agricultural sector. In this context, this study highlights the need to improve farmers' access to agricultural markets, livelihood diversification and strengthening social capital such as farmers' participations in relevant agricultural organizations.

Auger electrons emitted after nuclear decay have potential application in targeted cancer therapy. For this purpose it is important to know the Auger electron yield per nuclear decay. In this work we describe a measurement of the ratio of the number of conversion electrons (emitted as part of the nuclear decay process) to the number of Auger electrons (emitted as part of the atomic relaxation process after the nuclear decay) for the case of 125I. Results are compared with Monte-Carlo type simulations of the relaxation cascade using the BrIccEmis code. Our results indicate that for 125I the calculations based on rates from the Evaluated Atomic Data Library underestimate the K Auger yields by 20%.

Introduction: 135La has favorable nuclear and chemical properties for Auger-based targeted internal radiotherapy. Here we present detailed investigations of the production, emissions, imaging characteristics, and dosimetry related to 135La therapy. Methods and Results: 135La was produced by 16.5 MeV proton irradiation of metallic natBa on a medical cyclotron, and was isolated and purified by trap-and-release on weak cation-exchange resin. The average production rate was 407 ± 19 MBq/µA (saturation activity, n = 3), and the radionuclidic purity was 98% at 20 h post irradiation. Chemical separation recovered > 98 % of the 135La with an effective molar activity of 70 ±20 GBq/µmol. To better assess cellular and organ dosimetry of this nuclide, we have recalculated the X-ray and Auger emission spectra using a Monte Carlo model accounting for effects of multiple vacancies during the Auger cascade. The generated Auger spectrum was used to recalculate cellular S-factors. Conclusion: 135La was produced with high specific activity, reactivity, radionuclidic purity, and yield. The emission spectrum and the dosimetry are favorable for internal radionuclide therapy. .

This paper provides one of the first empirical studies that examine the impact of climate change adaptation practices on technical efficiency (TE) among smallholder farmers in Nepal. An adaptation index is used to explore the impact of farmers’ adaptation on TE using the stochastic frontier analysis framework. Data for six districts of Nepal representing all three agro-ecological regions (Terai, Hill and Mountain) were collected from a focus group discussion, a stakeholder workshop and a household survey. The survey shows that about 91% of the farming households have adopted at least one practice to minimize the adverse impacts of climate change. Empirical results reveal that adaptation is an important factor explaining efficiency differentials among farming households. Those adopting a greater number of adaptation practices on a larger scale are, on average, are found to be 13% more technically efficient than those adopting fewer practices on smaller scale. The empirical results also show that average TE is only 0.72, indicating that farming households in Nepal could further improve productive efficiency by 28%. Other important factors that explain variations in the productive efficiency across farming households include farmer’s education level, irrigation facilities, market access, and social capital such as farmer’s participations in relevant agricultural organizations and clubs.

Measuring the performance of transit routes plays a critical role in finding operational problems and helps transit agencies allocate resources effectively. To measure the performance of transit routes, using Brisbane as a case study we employ Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) on 42 bus routes. The analyses show that, for technical efficiency measurement, service duration is statistically associated with inefficient routes, while for service effectiveness, space-km and on-time performance (OTP) have a potential role in improving the performance of ineffective routes.

There is evidence that environmental amenities and dis-amenities may be nonlinearly related to property valuation. This would bring inconsistency in estimating environmental variables of the hedonic price model. To explore the linearity of the relationship this study analyses spatial and temporal variation impacts of the 2011 Brisbane flood on property markets using semi-parametric estimation. The results show that most environmental variables impacts on property values nonlinearly, and in particularly distance to the river, indicating that the amenity value of being close to a river outweighs the flood risks. The estimation of the combined impact of elapsed time and neighbourhood income indicates that the flood risk impact on property markets disappears over time.

It is hypothesised that different property sub-markets react to flood risk information, floods and environmental factors differently. To test this hypothesis this research uses spatial quantile regression and quasi-experimental techniques to examine property sub-market behaviour in response to availability of flood risk information and actual flood. This new contribution to the literature is based on the use of the mapping of flood risk areas in 2009 and the 2011 flooding of Brisbane, Australia, as a case study. The results show that the impact of flood risk and actual flood on property markets varies between different sub-markets. They therefore confirm the existence of property sub-markets based on property and environmental characteristics and suggest the need for differentiate mitigation policies.