title: The evolution of productivity performance on China's dairy farms in the new millennium

authors: Ma, Hengyun

subjects: China

abstract: China's dairy farm structure has experienced fundamental changes across farm types. As the number of backyard farms has dramatically declined, the share of dairy cows from backyard farms has decreased by 22.4% from 2003 to 2008. However, the herd numbers of larger dairy farms have increased. In particular, the share of dairy cows has risen by 18.8% on small farms, by 22.2% on medium farms, and by 80.8% on large farms over the same period. Total factor productivity was decomposed into technical efficiency and technological change on China's dairy farms using the stochastic production frontier framework. The estimated results indicate that patterns of productivity growth appear to have shifted in the 2000s compared with the 1990s, from generally driven by technological change to exclusively driven by technological change on backyard and small farms and uniquely driven by the improvement of technical efficiency on large farms. Tests of the econometric assumption indicate that the variations in total factor productivity growth patterns across farm types and regions are likely caused by the feed input biases and cropping production practice.

text: The evolution of productivity performance on China's dairy farms in the new millennium China's dairy farm structure has experienced fundamental changes across farm types. As the number of backyard farms has dramatically declined, the share of dairy cows from backyard farms has decreased by 22.4% from 2003 to 2008. However, the herd numbers of larger dairy farms have increased. In particular, the share of dairy cows has risen by 18.8% on small farms, by 22.2% on medium farms, and by 80.8% on large farms over the same period. Total factor productivity was decomposed into technical efficiency and technological change on China's dairy farms using the stochastic production frontier framework. The estimated results indicate that patterns of productivity growth appear to have shifted in the 2000s compared with the 1990s, from generally driven by technological change to exclusively driven by technological change on backyard and small farms and uniquely driven by the improvement of technical efficiency on large farms. Tests of the econometric assumption indicate that the variations in total factor productivity growth patterns across farm types and regions are likely caused by the feed input biases and cropping production practice.

year: 2012

title: Connecting with tephras: principles, functioning, and applications of tephrochronology in Quaternary science

authors: Lowe, David J.

abstract: Tephrochronology is a unique method for linking and dating geological, palaeoecological, palaeoclimatic, or archaeological sequences or events. The method relies firstly on stratigraphy and the law of superposition, which apply in any study that connects or correlates deposits from one place to another. Secondly, it relies on characterising and hence identifying or ‘fingerprinting’ tephra layers using either physical properties evident in the field or those obtained from laboratory analysis, including mineralogical examination by optical microscopy or geochemical analysis of glass shards or crystals (e.g., Fe-Ti oxides, ferromagnesian minerals) using the electron microprobe and other tools. Thirdly, the method is enhanced when a numerical age is obtained for a tephra layer by (1) radiometric methods such as radiocarbon, fission-track, U-series, or Ar/Ar dating, (2) incremental dating methods including dendrochronology or varved sediments or layering in ice cores, or (3) age-equivalent methods such as palaeomagnetism or correlation with marine oxygen isotope stages or palynostratigraphy. Once known, that age can be transferred from one site to the next using stratigraphic methods and by matching compositional characteristics, i.e., comparing ‘fingerprints’ from each layer. Used this way, tephrochronology is an age-equivalent dating method.

text: Connecting with tephras: principles, functioning, and applications of tephrochronology in Quaternary science Tephrochronology is a unique method for linking and dating geological, palaeoecological, palaeoclimatic, or archaeological sequences or events. The method relies firstly on stratigraphy and the law of superposition, which apply in any study that connects or correlates deposits from one place to another. Secondly, it relies on characterising and hence identifying or ‘fingerprinting’ tephra layers using either physical properties evident in the field or those obtained from laboratory analysis, including mineralogical examination by optical microscopy or geochemical analysis of glass shards or crystals (e.g., Fe-Ti oxides, ferromagnesian minerals) using the electron microprobe and other tools. Thirdly, the method is enhanced when a numerical age is obtained for a tephra layer by (1) radiometric methods such as radiocarbon, fission-track, U-series, or Ar/Ar dating, (2) incremental dating methods including dendrochronology or varved sediments or layering in ice cores, or (3) age-equivalent methods such as palaeomagnetism or correlation with marine oxygen isotope stages or palynostratigraphy. Once known, that age can be transferred from one site to the next using stratigraphic methods and by matching compositional characteristics, i.e., comparing ‘fingerprints’ from each layer. Used this way, tephrochronology is an age-equivalent dating method.

year: 2013

title: Ngā waka o tawhiti

authors: Tuaupiki, Jackie Whetumarama

abstract: Mai anō ngā terenga waka a te Māori, ko ōna kōrero tuku iho i whakatauira tuatahingia e ngā atua tonu, taka mai ki te iwi tāngata o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Tā tēnei tuhinga, he wānanga i te mana o te kōrero tuku iho e haupū nei ngā pūrākau terenga waka onamata i takoto ai te tūāpapa mātauranga whakatere mō ngā waka tūpuna i heke iho i Hawaiki ki Aotearoa. Nō reira, ka riariakina ngā pūtoi whakatauiratanga waka a te Māori i ōna atua me ōna tūpuna me te ahunga mai o ana terenga mātāmua, ka aromātai hoki i te takiwā o ngā tau i tauria ai e ōna takere Te Ika-a-Māui e takoto nei.

text: Ngā waka o tawhiti Mai anō ngā terenga waka a te Māori, ko ōna kōrero tuku iho i whakatauira tuatahingia e ngā atua tonu, taka mai ki te iwi tāngata o Te Moana-nui-a-Kiwa. Tā tēnei tuhinga, he wānanga i te mana o te kōrero tuku iho e haupū nei ngā pūrākau terenga waka onamata i takoto ai te tūāpapa mātauranga whakatere mō ngā waka tūpuna i heke iho i Hawaiki ki Aotearoa. Nō reira, ka riariakina ngā pūtoi whakatauiratanga waka a te Māori i ōna atua me ōna tūpuna me te ahunga mai o ana terenga mātāmua, ka aromātai hoki i te takiwā o ngā tau i tauria ai e ōna takere Te Ika-a-Māui e takoto nei.

year: 2017