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Modern, clean energy is seen as the golden thread that connects economic growth, human development, and environmental sustainability. However, almost 2.4 billion people worldwide still use solid fuels for cooking, exacerbating energy poverty and endangering human health and the environment. Therefore, this thesis investigated the non-price determinants of cooking fuel choice, including the causal relationship between migrant remittances and both cooking fuel choice and energy poverty. Sri Lanka was used as a case study, using more than 78,000 households from four waves of the Household Income and Expenditure survey from 2009 – 2019. Specifically, this thesis includes three empirical studies and one policy paper related to remittances and energy consumption. The first study found that household income, household wealth, household head’s characteristics (age, marital status and education), education of spouse, household characteristics (household size and number of children under 5), housing characteristics (number of bedrooms, drinking water source, and housing material), and residential sector (urban vs rural) were significant for selecting clean fuel for cooking, using multinomial logistic analysis. Moreover, the Advanced sustainability analysis showed a strong synergy between SDG 7 (clean energy), SDG 6 (Clean water), and SDG 4 (quality education). The second study investigated the relationship between migrant remittances and cooking fuel choice by taking household wealth as a mediating variable. Using the propensity score matching method the study found that migrants used about 5.7% more clean fuels for cooking than non-migrant households. Furthermore, the control function approach found that a 1% increase in remittances increased clean cooking fuel use by 0.034 units, and instrumental variable (IV) mediation analysis indicated that household wealth significantly mediated this relationship. The third study further explored the link between migrant remittances and

Antibiotics are widely used in pig farming across the world which has led to concerns about the potential impact on human health through the selection of antibiotic resistant pathogenic bacteria. This worry has resulted in the development of a production scheme known as pigs Raised Without Antibiotics (RWA), in which pigs are produced in commercial farms, but are ear-tagged as RWA until slaughter unless they receive treatment, thus allowing the farmer to sell the pigs either as premium priced RWA or as conventional meat. Development of antibiotic resistance in pig farming has been studied in national surveys of antibiotic usage and resistance, as well as in experimental studies of groups of pigs, but not in individual pigs followed longitudinally in a commercial pig farm. In this study, a cohort of RWA designated pigs were sampled at 10 time points from birth until slaughter along with pen-mates treated with antibiotics at the same farm. From these samples, the microbiome, determined using 16S sequencing, and the resistome, as determined using qPCR for 82 resistance genes, was investigated, allowing us to examine the difference between RWA pigs and antibiotic treated pigs. We furthermore included 176 additional pigs from six different RWA farms which were sampled at the slaughterhouse as an endpoint to substantiate the cohort as well as for evaluation of intra-farm variability. The results showed a clear effect of age in both the microbiome and resistome composition from early life up until slaughter. As a function of antibiotic treatment, however, we observed a small but significant divergence between treated and untreated animals in their microbiome composition immediately following treatment, which disappeared before 8 weeks of age. The effect on the resistome was evident and an effect of treatment could still be detected at week 8. In animals sampled at the slaughterhouse, we observed no difference in the microbiome or the resistome as a result of treatment s

Over the past two decades, the migration of Cambodian workers has contributed to poverty reduction and economic development. However, it has also constituted a substantial challenge, in view of the significant increase in the exodus of Cambodian migrant workers, particularly the migration to Thailand. This challenge has highlighted the need for a better understanding of the process, as well as of the interconnectedness and complementarity of migration and policies. Given the prominence of the topic, this thesis provides an examination of the Cambodian labour migration process. There are four key research papers in this thesis. Using survey data from 422 households in three northern provinces of Cambodia, the thesis begins with an attempt to evaluate and quantify the monetary costs of migration and evaluate the impact of worker-paid migration costs on decision whether to migrate through legal and illegal channels. In the first core paper, migration cost is a critical factor in international labour mobility, but little is known about the pay of migrant workers in foreign jobs. Previous studies do not capture the effects of direct worker-paid migration costs on migration decisions. An alternative specific conditional logit model is used in this chapter to account for alternative migration costs, and the control function method is used to control for endogenous moving costs. Our results show that lowering the total cost of labour migration reduces irregular migration by 15.8 percentage points. Factors such as Thailand’s immigration policy, as measured by the deportation rate, migrant length of stay, and wages, also influence whether migration is regular or irregular. These findings should prompt policymakers to consider alternative approaches to reducing migration costs and maximising the net gain on migration. The second paper, constituting Chapter 3 in this thesis, investigates the microcredit-migration linkage through the lens of South–South Migration (SSM). Evidence

Global change encompasses many co-occurring anthropogenic drivers, which can act synergistically or antagonistically on ecological systems. Predicting how different global change drivers simultaneously contribute to observed biodiversity change is a key challenge for ecology and conservation. However, we lack the mechanistic understanding of how multiple global change drivers influence different vital rates of multiple interacting species. We propose that reaction norms, the relationships between a driver and vital rates like growth, mortality, and consumption, provide insights to understand community responses to multiple drivers. Understanding how multiple drivers interact to affect demographic rates using a reaction-norm perspective can improve our ability to make predictions of interactions at higher levels of organization – i.e. community and food web. Building on the framework of consumer-resource interactions and widely studied thermal performance curves, we illustrate how joint driver impacts can be scaled up from the population- to the community-level. A simple proof-of-concept model demonstrates how reaction norms of vital rates predict the prevalence of driver interactions at the community level. A literature search suggests that our proposed approach is not yet widely used in multiple driver research. We outline how realistic response surfaces can be inferred by parametric and non-parametric approaches. Response surfaces have the potential to strengthen our understanding of how multiple drivers affect communities as well as improve our ability to predict when interactive effects emerge, two of the major challenges of ecology today.

Background: The healthcare sector is a significant producer of emissions globally and yet paradoxically cares for those who are most impacted by climate change. Purpose: This rapid review examined the role of the nurse in reducing emissions within the hospital setting. Methods: Literature meeting inclusion criteria were identified from 2009 to 2021, resulting in 11 primary research papers being reviewed. Finding: The review found that nurses, the largest profession within the healthcare workforce, are in a unique position to influence emissions reduction in the hospital setting. Conclusion: Whilst nurses have not reached their full potential in influencing emissions reduction, education, setting policy direction, and undertaking research are pivotal for the nursing profession to reduce emissions within the hospital setting.

This thesis presents four papers on the role institutions (defined as Douglass North defined institutions) play in generating uncertainty. Specifically, we focus on how uncertainty changes as institutions change. The thesis is empirically focused. In answering our research questions, we employ, often in combination, tools from the ‘traditional’ econometric literature—in particular, structural vector autoregressions— and tools from the natural language processing literature. Two of the papers in this thesis focus on New Zealand’s wide-ranging institutional reforms, which took place from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990. Drawing on the purpose Douglass North stated for institutions: ‘to reduce uncertainty in exchange’ (North, 1991a, p. 97), we argue that institutional reform is only successful if it lowers uncertainty. We find evidence that New Zealand’s reform lowered uncertainty in general (at least, from firms’ point of view), as well as uncertainty about tax and transfers. We also argue in this thesis that institutional change might affect not just the level of uncertainty but also its composition (in terms of the types of uncertainty experienced). Motivated by the ‘Mundellian trilemma’, we argue that if every monetary regime/ institutional setup is imperfect in its own way, then the types of uncertainty associated with the regime will be idiosyncratic. Based on an analysis of a large corpus of historical newspaper articles, using natural language methods, we find the different monetary regimes adopted by the United States and the United Kingdom since 1890 are generally idiosyncratic in terms of the types of uncertainty they generate. In this thesis we also exploit the institutions—uncertainty link for another purpose: the identification of uncertainty shocks. A problem in research on the business cycle impact of uncertainty is finding movements in uncertainty that are plausibly exogenous to the business cycle (‘uncertainty shocks’). We narratively identify (using th

Most new pathogens of humans and animals arise via switching events from distinct host species. However, our understanding of the evolutionary and ecological drivers of successful host adaptation, expansion, and dissemination are limited. Staphylococcus aureus is a major bacterial pathogen of humans and a leading cause of mastitis in dairy cows worldwide. Here we trace the evolutionary history of bovine S. aureus using a global dataset of 10,254 S. aureus genomes including 1,896 bovine isolates from 32 countries in 6 continents. We identified 7 major contemporary endemic clones of S. aureus causing bovine mastitis around the world and traced them back to 4 independent host-jump events from humans that occurred up to 2,500 y ago. Individual clones emerged and underwent clonal expansion from the mid-19th to late 20th century coinciding with the commercialization and industrialization of dairy farming, and older lineages have become globally distributed via established cattle trade links. Importantly, we identified lineage-dependent differences in the frequency of host transmission events between humans and cows in both directions revealing high risk clones threatening veterinary and human health. Finally, pangenome network analysis revealed that some bovine S. aureus lineages contained distinct sets of bovine-associated genes, consistent with multiple trajectories to host adaptation via gene acquisition. Taken together, we have dissected the evolutionary history of a major endemic pathogen of livestock providing a comprehensive temporal, geographic, and gene-level perspective of its remarkable success.

Lak phages with alternatively coded ∼540 kbp genomes were recently reported to replicate in Prevotella in microbiomes of humans that consume a non-Western diet, baboons, and pigs. Here, we explore Lak phage diversity and broader distribution using diagnostic polymerase chain reaction and genome-resolved metagenomics. Lak phages were detected in 13 animal types, including reptiles, and are particularly prevalent in pigs. Tracking Lak through the pig gastrointestinal tract revealed significant enrichment in the hindgut compared to the foregut. We reconstructed 34 new Lak genomes, including six curated complete genomes, all of which are alternatively coded. An anomalously large (∼660 kbp) complete genome reconstructed for the most deeply branched Lak from a horse microbiome is also alternatively coded. From the Lak genomes, we identified proteins associated with specific animal species; notably, most have no functional predictions. The presence of closely related Lak phages in diverse animals indicates facile distribution coupled to host-specific adaptation.

Thanks to the economic reform after the launch of “Doi moi” in 1986, Vietnam has made significant gains and has transformed from an economically poor country in the 1980-90s towards a middle-income country by the 2010s. A dynamic market deeply integrated into the global economy has helped pave the way for foreign investment inflows to Vietnam. While it is clear that foreign direct investment plays a crucial role in the economy as a whole, the debate continues on whether foreign direct investment has positive or negative effects on domestic firms. In developing countries, foreign investment can be supportive to local enterprises where the former provides technological advantages that are beneficial. However, there are examples of where foreign presence negatively impacts on the development of local firms if they do not have adequate resources to absorb spillovers. This thesis examines whether the presence of foreign direct investment contributes to the development of Vietnamese firms from different angles including productivity, export activity, R&D and innovation and investment during the 2010-15 period. The thesis comprises four papers. The first paper examines the impacts of foreign presence on domestic enterprise productivity within and between industries through horizontal and vertical channels. Panel data models are employed to investigate the linkage between foreign investment and local firm total factor productivity. The results indicate the presence of positive spillovers from foreign investment in downstream sectors to domestic firm productivity in upstream sectors through backward linkages, while a negative impact is found in the same sectors through horizontal linkages. In the second paper, Heckman selection estimation is employed to investigate whether foreign investment has any influence on the exporting activity of domestic firms. The results suggest that while foreign investment in downstream sectors is found to encourage the export decision of local

Regional trade agreements (RTAs) are reciprocal trade agreements between two or more partners. The relatively recent emergence of deep and comprehensive RTAs is expected to have substantial impacts on members, especially developing countries. For a particular country, the impacts of RTAs on trade and foreign direct investment (FDI) depend on various factors, with certain types of trade agreements working better in stimulating these flows. This thesis contributes four studies analysing the effects of RTAs that Vietnam has entered into, focusing on Vietnamese trade and investment. Based on econometric modelling, the first study investigates the effects of trade agreements and FDI on Vietnamese trade flows, while the second study explores whether Vietnam’s overall involvement in FTAs enhances its FDI inflows. The remaining two studies employ computable general equilibrium (CGE) modelling to analyse the EU-Vietnam FTA (EVFTA) and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), with a focus on Vietnamese trade and investment. Using the random effects technique to estimate the gravity models, the first study reveals that the bilateral trade agreements with the US and Japan have resulted in the greatest expansion in Vietnamese exports and imports, while the impacts from other RTAs are more mixed. Furthermore, the impacts on Vietnamese trade flows of FDI inflows are not as strong as those of some of the trade agreements. Results also suggest that Vietnam’s exports have become more sensitive to FDI following the bilateral trade agreements with the US and Japan, whereas Vietnam’s imports have become less sensitive to FDI as a result of the trade agreement with Japan. The regression results from gravity models in the second study indicate that, overall, FTAs are associated with enhanced FDI flows in Vietnam. The results also indicate a dominance of vertical FDI in Vietnam. Further investigation of a recent sub-period reveals that FTAs also affect inward FDI flows to Vietna

Hoagland, Porter; Jin, Di; Holland, Michael; Kostel, Ken; Taylor, Eric; Renier, Natalie; Holmes, Mark. 2019. Value beyond view: illuminating the human benefits of the ocean twilight zone. Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, 35 pp., The twilight zone is a fundamental part of the ocean ecosystem, playing an important role in carbon sequestration and marine food webs and supporting the natural function of many planetary processes. Ecosystem services provided by the twilight zone are highly beneficial to humans, but they occur largely out of sight and they are undervalued by society as a result. To better evaluate the benefits that the twilight zone provides, an ecosystem service framework provides a way to organize our thinking about them and even to quantify their economic value. With this information at hand, leaders and policymakers can think more carefully about what we stand to gain or lose from actions that affect the twilight zone and the broader ocean environment to which it is tightly linked, particularly as we strive for the sustainable use of marine resources. The title was changed from "Ecosystem Services of the Mesopelagic" to "Value beyond view: illuminating the human benefits of the ocean twilight zone."

Intramammary infections (IMI) with Staphylococcus aureus are a common cause of bovine mastitis and can result in both clinical (CM) or subclinical mastitis (SCM). Although bacterial isolates of S. aureus differ in their virulence potential it is largely unclear which bacterial virulence factors are responsible for increased clinical severity. We performed a genome wide association study and used a generalized linear mixed model to investigate the correlation between gene carriage, lineage and clinical outcome of IMI in a collection of S. aureus isolates from cattle with CM (n = 125) and SCM (n = 151) from 11 European countries. An additional aim was to describe the genetic variation of bovine S. aureus in Europa. The dominant lineages in our collection were clonal complex (CC) 151 (81/276, 29.3%), CC97 (54/276, 19.6%), CC479 (32/276, 11.6%) and CC398 (19/276, 6.9%). Virulence and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) gene carriage was highly associated with CC. Among a selection of nine virulence and AMR genes, CC151, CC479 and CC133 carried more virulence genes than other CCs, and CC398 was associated with AMR gene carriage. Whereas CC151, CC97 were widespread in Europe, CC479, CC398 and CC8 were only found in specific countries. Compared to CC151, CC479 was associated with CM rather than SCM (OR 3.62; 95% CI 1.38–9.50) and the other CCs were not. Multiple genes were associated with CM, but due to the clustering within CC of carriage of these genes, it was not possible to differentiate between the effect of gene carriage and CC on clinical outcome of IMI. Nevertheless, this study demonstrates that characterization of S. aureus CC and virulence genes helps to predict the likelihood of the occurrence of CM following S. aureus IMI and highlights the potential benefit of diagnostics tools to identify S. aureus CC during bovine mastitis.

AATD is a common inherited disorder associated with an increased risk of developing pulmonary emphysema and liver disease. Many people with AATD-associated pulmonary emphysema remain undiagnosed and therefore without access to care and counselling specific to the disease. AAT augmentation therapy is available and consists of i.v. infusions of exogenous AAT protein harvested from pooled blood products. Its clinical efficacy has been the subject of some debate and the use of AAT augmentation therapy was recently permitted by regulators in Australia and New Zealand, although treatment is not presently subsidized by the government in either country. The purpose of this position statement is to review the evidence for diagnosis and treatment of AATD-related lung disease with reference to the Australian and New Zealand population. The clinical efficacy and adverse events of AAT augmentation therapy were evaluated by a systematic review, and the GRADE process was employed to move from evidence to recommendation. Other sections address the wide range of issues to be considered in the care of the individual with AATD-related lung disease: when and how to test for AATD, changing diagnostic techniques, monitoring of progression, disease in heterozygous AATD and pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapy including surgical options for severe disease. Consideration is also given to broader issues in AATD that respiratory healthcare staff may encounter: genetic counselling, patient support groups, monitoring for liver disease and the need to establish national registries for people with AATD in Australia and New Zealand.

The presence of the methicillin resistance gene mecC in coagulase-negative Staphylococcus spp. (CoNS) is scarce. The aim of this study was to characterize mecC-positive CoNS isolated from various wild and domestic animals. The presence of the mecC gene was screened in 4299 samples from wild animals and domestic animals. Fifteen coagulase-negative staphylococci, that displayed a cefoxitin-resistant phenotype, were tested mecC-positive by PCR. Antimicrobial susceptibility testing was performed for all isolates. The 15 isolates were genotyped by sequencing of the entire class E mec gene complex (blaZ-mecC-mecRI-mecI), the ccrA and ccrB recombinase genes and other determinants within the type XI SCCmec element. DNA microarray analysis was performed and five selected isolates were additionally whole genome sequenced and analyzed. S. stepanovicii (n = 3), S. caprae (n = 1), S. warneri (n = 1), S. xylosus (n = 1) and S. sciuri (n = 9) were detected. All but the S. sciuri isolates were found to be susceptible to all non-beta lactams. The entire class E mec gene complex was detected in all isolates but ccrA and ccrB genes were not identified in S. stepanovicii and S. xylosus. The genes erm(B) and fexA (n = 4, each) were the most predominant non-beta lactam resistance genes detected in the S. sciuri isolates. Even though the presence of the mecC gene among CoNS is a rare observation, this study further expands our knowledge by showing that the mecC gene, including its allotypes, are present in more staphylococcal species from different animal species than has been previously described.

Background: In 2015, Singapore had the first and only reported foodborne outbreak of invasive disease caused by the group B Streptococcus (GBS; Streptococcus agalactiae). Disease, predominantly septic arthritis and meningitis, was associated with sequence type (ST)283, acquired from eating raw farmed freshwater fish. Although GBS sepsis is well-described in neonates and older adults with co-morbidities, this outbreak affected non-pregnant and younger adults with fewer co-morbidities, suggesting greater virulence. Before 2015 ST283 had only been reported from twenty humans in Hong Kong and two in France, and from one fish in Thailand. We hypothesised that ST283 was causing region-wide infection in Southeast Asia. Methodology/Principal findings: We performed a literature review, whole genome sequencing on 145 GBS isolates collected from six Southeast Asian countries, and phylogenetic analysis on 7,468 GBS sequences including 227 variants of ST283 from humans and animals. Although almost absent outside Asia, ST283 was found in all invasive Asian collections analysed, from 1995 to 2017. It accounted for 29/38 (76%) human isolates in Lao PDR, 102/139 (73%) in Thailand, 4/13 (31%) in Vietnam, and 167/739 (23%) in Singapore. ST283 and its variants were found in 62/62 (100%) tilapia from 14 outbreak sites in Malaysia and Vietnam, in seven fish species in Singapore markets, and a diseased frog in China. Conclusions: GBS ST283 is widespread in Southeast Asia, where it accounts for a large proportion of bacteraemic GBS, and causes disease and economic loss in aquaculture. If human ST283 is fishborne, as in the Singapore outbreak, then GBS sepsis in Thailand and Lao PDR is predominantly a foodborne disease. However, whether transmission is from aquaculture to humans, or vice versa, or involves an unidentified reservoir remains unknown. Creation of cross-border collaborations in human and animal health are needed to complete the epidemiological picture.

Campylobacter spp. are a leading cause of bacterial enteritis worldwide, including countries in Africa, and have been identified by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as one of the high priority antimicrobial resistant pathogens. However, at present there is little knowledge on the prevalence, molecular epidemiology or antimicrobial susceptibility of Campylobacter spp. isolates in Botswana, both in patients and in the zoonotic context. Some data indicate that ~14% of diarrhoeal disease cases in a paediatric setting can be ascribed to Campylobacter spp., urging the need for the magnitude of Campylobacter-associated diarrhoea to be established. In this survey, we have characterised the genomic diversity of Campylobacter spp. circulating in Botswana isolated from cases of diarrhoeal disease in humans (n = 20) and from those that colonised commercial broiler (n = 35) and free-range (n = 35) chickens. Phylogeny showed that the Campylobacter spp. isolated from the different poultry and human sources were highly related, suggesting that zoonotic transmission has likely occurred. We found that for Campylobacter spp. isolated from humans, broilers and free-range chickens, 52% was positive for tetO, 47% for gyrA-T86I, 72% for blaOXA-61, with 27% carrying all three resistance determinants. No 23S mutations conferring macrolide resistance were detected in this survey. In summary, our study provides insight into Campylobacter spp. in poultry reservoirs and in diarrhoeal patients, and the relevance for treatment regimens in Botswana.

Similar to mecA, mecC confers resistance against beta-lactams, leading to the phenotype of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). However, mecC-harboring MRSA strains pose special difficulties in their detection. The aim of this study was to assess and compare different phenotypic systems for screening, identification, and susceptibility testing of mecC-positive MRSA isolates. A well-characterized collection of mecC-positive S. aureus isolates (n 111) was used for evaluation. Routinely used approaches were studied to determine their suitability to correctly identify mecC-harboring MRSA, including three (semi)automated antimicrobial susceptibility testing (AST) systems and five selective chromogenic agar plates. Additionally, a cefoxitin disk diffusion test and an oxacillin broth microdilution assay were examined. All mecC-harboring MRSA isolates were able to grow on all chromogenic MRSA screening plates tested. Detection of these isolates in AST systems based on cefoxitin and/or oxacillin testing yielded overall positive agreements with the mecC genotype of 97.3% (MicroScan WalkAway; Siemens), 91.9% (Vitek 2; bioMérieux), and 64.9% (Phoenix, BD). The phenotypic resistance pattern most frequently observed by AST devices was “cefoxitin resistance/oxacillin susceptibility,” ranging from 54.1% (Phoenix) and 83.8% (Vitek 2) to 92.8% (WalkAway). The cefoxitin disk diffusion and oxacillin broth microdilution assays categorized 100% and 61.3% of isolates to be MRSA, respectively. The chromogenic media tested confirmed their suitability to reliably screen for mecC-harboring MRSA. The AST systems showed false-negative results with varying numbers, misidentifying mecC-harboring MRSA as methicillin-susceptible S. aureus. This study underlines cefoxitin’s status as the superior surrogate mecC-positive MRSA marker., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This handbook is intended primarily for the classroom teacher and the school principal. The focus of the book is on the evaluation of students as they pass through elementary and secondary school. It includes suggestions for the classroom teacher in developing tests and other assessment measures. It deals with a range of educational objectives in the intellectual, cultural, aesthetic, biological, and moral domains. It also examines problems of policy from the point of view of the school staff as a whole, the principal, and superintendent. The contents include: (1) why evaluate, (2) tests, (3) improving skills in evaluation, (4) planning and organizing student evaluation, and (5) the school and the public. (Author/PN)

We present single-contig assemblies for Escherichia coli strain KV7 (serotype O27, phylogenetic group D) and its six plasmids, isolated from a healthy pig, as determined by PacBio RS II and Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The chromosome of 4,997,475 bp and G+C content of 50.75% harbored 4,540 protein-encoding genes.

Controlling inflation is important. The 2008-2009 global financial crisis created new concerns about the macroeconomic effects of inflation targeting. A key issue for many central banks in recent years has been that inflation is uncomfortably too low rather than too high. This thesis examines the impact of inflation targeting on the behaviour of inflation, output growth and real exchange rates for eight Asian countries using time-series and panel data from 1987 to 2013. The econometric methodologies employed include panel GARCH, quantile unit root and Markov regime-switching testing. Panel GARCH results indicate that inflation targeting is more credible in lowering the inflation level rather than its volatility. The quantile unit root testing results indicate that the credibility of inflation targeting and alternative monetary policy frameworks in Asia are imperfect, except for Malaysia and South Korea. Results also suggest that targeting countries have been building up their monetary policy credibility more than non-targeting countries, based on a faster rate of decline in inflation rate changes. Results generally indicate the presence of mean-reversion at the lower quantiles only. Where stationarity is present, results indicate varied speed of adjustment process across quantiles. The regime-switching results indicate that inflation and output growth are generally characterized by partial stationarity, while there is mostly varied stationarity in real exchange rates. Results also indicate that inflation targeting significantly affects the inferred probabilities of remaining in the stationary regime, mainly for output growth and real exchange rates and for inflation in some cases. Results further indicate that the variance of inflation and output growth is lower during the inflation targeting period. Furthermore, results indicate that there is a significant difference between targeting and non-targeting countries in terms of the speed of adjustment of macroeconomic

We present single-contig assemblies for Escherichia coli strain KV7 (serotype O27, phylogenetic group D) and its six plasmids, isolated from a healthy pig, as determined by PacBio RS II and Illumina MiSeq sequencing. The chromosome of 4,997,475 bp and G+C content of 50.75% harbored 4,540 protein-encoding genes.

The Influenza Complications Alert Network (FluCAN) is a sentinel hospital-based surveillance program that operates at sites in all states and territories in Australia. This report summarises the epidemiology of hospitalisations with laboratory-confirmed influenza during the 2016 influenza season. In this observational study, cases were defined as patients admitted to one of the sentinel hospitals with an acute respiratory illness with influenza confirmed by nucleic acid detection. Data are also collected on a frequency matched sample of influenza negative patients admitted with acute respiratory infection as a control group. During the period 1 April to 30 October 2016 (the 2016 influenza season), there were 1,952 patients admitted with confirmed influenza to one of 17 FluCAN sentinel hospitals. Of these, 46% were elderly (≥65 years), 18% were children (<16 years), 5% were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, 3% were pregnant and 76% had chronic co-morbidities. A small proportion were due to influenza B (7%). Estimated vaccine coverage was 73% in the elderly (≥65 years), 51% in non-elderly adults with medical comorbidities and 15% in children (<16 years) with medical comorbidities. The estimated vaccine effectiveness in the target population was 13% (95% confidence interval (CI): -5% to 27%). There were a large number of hospital admissions detected with confirmed influenza in this national observational surveillance system in 2016 with case numbers similar to that reported in 2014 and 2015.

We report the chromosome and plasmid sequences of a spontaneous nalidixic acid resistant derivative of the ESBL-producing E. coli strain KV7. E. coli KV7 was originally isolated from a healthy pig that was treated prophylactically with ceftiofur. KV7 belongs to serotype O27 and phylogenetic group D, and has been used in experimental infection of piglets to study the effect of beta-lactam antibiotics on selection and persistence of ESBL-producing E. coli. A combination of PacBio and Illumina sequencing allowed us to provide a SNP-corrected single-contig assembly for the chromosome and each of six plasmids.

The Influenza Complications Alert Network (FluCAN) is a sentinel hospital-based surveillance program that operates at sites in all states and territories in Australia. This report summarises the epidemiology of hospitalisations with laboratory-confirmed influenza during the 2015 influenza season. In this observational study, cases were defined as patients admitted to one of the sentinel hospitals with an acute respiratory illness with influenza confirmed by nucleic acid detection. During the period 1 April to 30 October 2015 (the 2015 influenza season), 2,070 patients were admitted with confirmed influenza to one of 17 FluCAN sentinel hospitals. Of these, 46% were elderly (>= 65 years), 15% were children (<16 years), 5% were Indigenous Australians, 2.1% were pregnant and 75% had chronic co-morbidities. A high proportion were due to influenza B (51%). There were a large number of hospital admissions detected with confirmed influenza in this national observational surveillance system in 2015 with case numbers similar to that reported in 2014. The national immunisation program is estimated to avert 46% of admissions from confirmed influenza across all at-risk groups, but more complete vaccination coverage in target groups could further reduce influenza admissions by as much as 14%.

Adopting a production function-based approach, we model the role of health as a regular factor of production on economic growth, and use disaggregate measures of male and female health capital using principal component analysis. Allowing for the dynamics of TFP to be embedded in the production function, we estimate both in levels and in growth rates to distinguish between long- and short-run effects. We use appropriate panel cointegration methodology to control for endogeneity, cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity. Our main finding is that while male and female health capital stocks have a significantly positive effect on level of output in the long-run, changes in gender-disaggregated health capital have a negative or insignificant effect on output growth in the short-run.

A confusion over local population counts and employment counts in China persists throughout the economic literature. The existing studies within many branches of economics related to China commonly use the count of people with local hukou registration, the GDP per capita using the hukou count as the population denominator, and incomplete employment counts reported in various Chinese statistical yearbooks as if they were appropriate measures of local population, local employment and local per capita income. This misunderstanding of China’s local population and employment counts may lead researchers astray and could contribute to wrong conclusions and mistaken policy implications. An analogous error would be to study the economic geography of, say, the United States using local population and employment counts that were only for citizens rather than for all residents; the resulting statistical pictures are likely to be biased since cities such as New York or Los Angeles have a much higher share of non-citizens than do other areas. Yet there is no similar criticism of the large and growing literature that relies on sub-national population counts for China, despite the equally egregious errors that are likely to have resulted from using the wrong population and employment counts. Five economic issues that are pertinent to modern China are studied in this thesis using the most reliable estimates of local resident population and employment from China’s 2010 population census. These issues are regional inequality, optimal city size, the city size distribution, the nature, location and size of urbanization economies, and the determinants of urban land area expansion. Each issue is studied in a single, self-contained, paper that in some cases has already appeared in a peer-reviewed journal, and in other cases is under review at such journals. In general, the findings based on the most reliable local resident population counts and employment counts from the 2010 census extens

OBJECTIVES: To characterize the staphylococcal cassette chromosome mec (SCCmec), virulence and antimicrobial susceptibility of Staphylococcus aureus ST130 isolated from mara (Dolichotis patagonum), a large rodent species native to South America and kept in captivity at Copenhagen Zoo. METHODS: The presence of mecC was confirmed by PCR in 15 S. aureus ST130 isolated from mara during a previous study. WGS was performed on two randomly selected isolates to characterize their genomes with respect to SCCmec, virulence and resistance gene content. Antimicrobial susceptibility was tested using commercial broth microdilution tests. RESULTS: All the isolates belonged to spa type t528 ST130 and carried mecC. Based on WGS, mecC was 100% identical to the prototype sequence of S. aureus strain LGA251. The sequence of SCCmec type XI in the mara isolates had 23 SNPs compared with the one described in LGA251. The two sequenced strains harboured a set of virulence factors and other genomic features previously observed in ST130. Both strains carried norA as the only putative antimicrobial resistance gene in addition to mecC. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the notion that a genetically conserved mecC-carrying MRSA ST130 clone is widespread in a variety of unrelated hosts in Denmark. Since the mara at Copenhagen Zoo have limited contact with humans and other animal species, it remains unclear whether mara are natural hosts of ST130 or acquired this lineage from unknown sources. The broad host range of MRSA ST130 supports its designation as a generalist lineage.

There is a long history of examining the relationship between consumption and wealth. The recent subprime mortgage crisis in the US and the European sovereign debt crisis associated with the remarkable fluctuations in both stock and housing markets have brought new concerns over the response of consumer spending to asset price shocks. This thesis re-investigates the relationship between consumption, income, financial and housing wealth: specifically, the wealth effect on consumption based on both time-series data in an examination of the US and panel data in an examination of OECD countries. It is argued that nonlinear estimation might provide a better explanation of fluctuations in the relationship between consumption and wealth, given the nature of the studied variables and the complexity of economic systems. The econometric methods employed include the Markov regime-switching approach, the quantile autoregressive distributed-lag framework, panel unit root and cointegration tests, and a panel vector autoregressive procedure. In terms of the US market, only weak evidence of a linear cointegrating relationship is found between consumption, income and wealth. It suggests that the consumption-wealth relation is better characterised in regime-specific terms. Furthermore, the transition probabilities between regimes are time-varying and driven by monetary indicators such as interest rates. In addition, different speeds of adjustment across the range of quantiles are identified in the long-run relationship between consumption, income and wealth. Wealth effects are found to be larger in lower quantiles. The findings imply that asymmetric monetary policies should be responsible for the movement in asset prices in analysing future inflation and aggregate demand due to the sensitivity of financial and housing wealth effects in different economic states. In OECD studies, cointegration evidence is only observed in market-based countries, not in bank-based economies. Moreover

Vietnam has seen a significant rise in the number of SMEs since introducing the Enterprise Law in 2000. Non-state SMEs are playing a key role in economic growth, creating jobs, and reducing poverty. However, these non-state SMEs participate only modestly in export activity despite the high export performance of the economy. What are the factors impeding export participation? And how does the role of export performance affect employee benefits (e.g. higher wages) and firm performance? This thesis is the first study to provide empirical evidence for answering these research questions. Chapter 3 investigates the causal relationship between export participation and productivity by examining two popular hypotheses, self-selection and learning by exporting. Using a balanced panel dataset from 2005-2009 for Vietnamese private manufacturing SMEs, the results show strong statistical evidence for the self-selection of more productive firms into the export market. The alternative hypothesis, learning by exporting, is shown to be invalid by employing a fixed-effect panel data estimation and a fixed-effect instrumental variable regression. This study also reveals that export participation has no impact on technical efficiency, technical progress, and scale change. Chapter 4 explores the role of export participation in increasing employee benefits in terms of wages and employment quality. First, based on a unique, matched firm-worker panel dataset between 2007 and 2009, the study shows that export participation has a positive impact on wages when taking into account only firm characteristics. However, the exporter wage premium falls and dissipates when both firm and worker characteristics are controlled for. In addition, the effect decreases further and becomes less significant when controlling for time-invariant, unobservable factors by a spell fixed-effect estimation. Second, using a firm level balanced panel dataset in the same period, the results show that there is a positive

The National Influenza Program aims to reduce serious morbidity and mortality from influenza by providing public funding for vaccination to at-risk groups. The Influenza Complications Alert Network (FluCAN) is a sentinel hospital-based surveillance program that operates at 14 sites in all states and territories in Australia. This report summarises the epidemiology of hospitalisations with confirmed influenza, estimates vaccine coverage and influenza vaccine protection against hospitalisation with influenza during the 2013 influenza season. In this observational study, cases were defined as patients admitted to one of the sentinel hospitals, with influenza confirmed by nucleic acid testing. Controls were patients who had acute respiratory illnesses who were test-negative for influenza. Vaccine effectiveness was estimated as 1 minus the odds ratio of vaccination in case patients compared with control patients, after adjusting for known confounders. During the period 5 April to 31 October 2012, 631 patients were admitted with confirmed influenza at the 14 FluCAN sentinel hospitals. Of these, 31% were more than 65 years of age, 9.5% were Indigenous Australians, 4.3% were pregnant and 77% had chronic co-morbidities. Influenza B was detected in 30% of patients. Vaccination coverage was estimated at 81% in patients more than 65 years of age but only 49% in patients aged less than 65 years with chronic comorbidities. Vaccination effectiveness against hospitalisation with influenza was estimated at 50% (95% confidence interval: 33%, 63%, P<0.001). We detected a significant number of hospital admissions with confirmed influenza in a national observational study. Vaccine coverage was incomplete in at-risk groups, particularly non-elderly patients with medical comorbidities. Our results suggest that the seasonal influenza vaccine was moderately protective against hospitalisation with influenza in the 2013 season. This work is

Livestock-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (LA-MRSA) Sequence Type 398 (ST398) is an opportunistic pathogen that is able to colonize and cause disease in several animal species including humans. To better understand the adaptation, evolution, transmission and pathogenic capacity, further investigations into the importance of the different genes harboured by LA-MRSA ST398 are required. In this study we generated a genome-wide transposon mutant library in an LA-MRSA ST398 isolate to evaluate genes important for bacterial survival in laboratory and host-specific environments. The transposon mutant library consisted of approximately 1 million mutants with around 140,000 unique insertion sites and an average number of unique inserts per gene of 44.8. We identified LA-MRSA ST398 essential genes comparable to other high-throughput S. aureus essential gene studies. As ST398 is the most common MRSA isolated from pigs, the transposon mutant library was screened in whole porcine blood. Twenty-four genes were specifically identified as important for bacterial survival in porcine blood. Mutations in 23 of these genes resulted in attenuated bacterial fitness. Seven of the 23 genes were of unknown function, whereas 16 genes were annotated with functions predominantly related to carbon metabolism, pH shock and a variety of regulations and only indirectly to virulence factors. Mutations in one gene of unknown function resulted in a hypercompetitive mutant. Further evaluation of these genes is required to determine their specific relevance in blood survival.

Most countries of the developing world have voluntarily or involuntarily been involved in using foreign currencies and trapped their economies for either the best or worst outcomes of dollarization. For those countries that have fully dollarized their economies, dollarization has provided some benefits in terms of bringing economic stability. However, the benefits in these economies came with costs that have worsened the income inequality and poverty that exist within their economies. Similarly, some countries that rely partially on their own currencies and partially on foreign currencies have seen different outcomes of partial dollarization. This research has specifically examined the reliance of the Eritrean economy on hard currency. Despite numerous studies that have been conducted regarding the Eritrean economy, the dollarization of Eritrea is an important issue that has not been investigated. This research has uncovered what kind of dollarization the Eritrean economy has and also what factors drive the Eritrean dollarization. It has been found that there is partial dollarization with evidence of financial, sovereign liability and underground dollarization in the economy. Real dollarization is only manifested in the form of selling houses and lands in exchange for hard currency. It has also been discovered that banking practices, the structure of the interest rate, loans issued to the private sector relative to the government sector and the Eritrean monetary system, particularly the introduction of new currency, followed by the second war with Ethiopia in 1998, are some of the causative factors. Furthermore, this research has investigated the impact of partial dollarization of the Eritrean economy on macro-economic variables with specific examination on the exchange rate volatility, inflation and the monetary policy transmission mechanisms. In each analysis, quarterly data starting from 1996 to 2008 is employed. The fundamental reason for selecting this time per

This thesis provides a discussion of research into the sources of value creation and addition accruing to banks through the use of relationship banking with small business clients. The investigation involves business managers in several banks and accordingly it portrays their perspective. The study addresses four key questions: (i) what does relationship-banking mean to the five major bank brands in New Zealand? (ii) How does the relationship-banking process actually work? (iii) What are the sources of value (i.e. benefits) of relationship banking to these five major bank brands when dealing with small businesses, and, (iv) how do these banks secure the benefits? Prior research into relationship banking and small business has concentrated on the potential benefits to the businesses. The literature contains both normative theorising and empirical work addressing aspects of the relationship and the benefits accruing to the small business. What is not supported by prior research is an understanding of why the banks engage in relationship management processes with small business. The obvious answer is that it is profitable. This in turn begs the questions of returns and risks faced by the banks and how these are managed. The nature of the research questions which are about investigating processes suggests the use of a qualitative research approach. A multiple case study approach points the research method toward conducting interviews with relationship managers, selected using theoretical sampling, from the five main bank brands and across the five metropolitan cities in New Zealand. The big five control 85% of the registered banks’ total assets in New Zealand and dominate the small business market. The primary data collected through interviews are analysed using the thematic analysis method. This research produces a number of key findings which directly address the research questions and go beyond. It is found that the working definition of relationship banking departs

Immunisation programs are designed to reduce serious morbidity and mortality from influenza, but most evidence supporting the effectiveness of this intervention has focused on disease in the community or in primary care settings. We aimed to examine the effectiveness of influenza vaccination against hospitalisation with confirmed influenza. We compared influenza vaccination status in patients hospitalised with PCR-confirmed influenza with patients hospitalised with influenza-negative respiratory infections in an Australian sentinel surveillance system. Vaccine effectiveness was estimated from the odds ratio of vaccination in cases and controls. We performed both simple multivariate regression and a stratified analysis based on propensity score of vaccination. Vaccination status was ascertained in 333 of 598 patients with confirmed influenza and 785 of 1384 test-negative patients. Overall estimated crude vaccine effectiveness was 57% (41%, 68%). After adjusting for age, chronic comorbidities and pregnancy status, the estimated vaccine effectiveness was 37% (95% CI: 12%, 55%). In an analysis accounting for a propensity score for vaccination, the estimated vaccine effectiveness was 48.3% (95% CI: 30.0, 61.8%). Influenza vaccination was moderately protective against hospitalisation with influenza in the 2010 and 2011 seasons.

Since independence in 1964, Malawi has implemented a number of agricultural reforms particularly in the tobacco and maize sectors. These reforms have been designed with four key objectives as follows: (a) to improve smallholder prices particularly in the tobacco sector; (b) to increase income for the poor especially in the rural areas; (c) to reduce income inequality between smallholders and estate owners; (d) to ensure food security both at national and household levels. In this thesis, econometric and optimization techniques were employed to examine and explore the extent to which these objectives have been achieved. In addition, the links between poverty and deforestation in the country were investigated. Although some objectives have been achieved, there is underperformance in a number of areas. For instance, while there were improvements in the prices of tobacco that smallholders receive, reforms in the tobacco sector did not lead to a sustainable reduction in income inequality between small and large growers. In the maize sector, fertilizer subsidies were found to improve food security at the national level. However, at household level, maize production was heavily skewed with the south lagging behind the centre and the north. Although maize sector reforms improved income distribution for smallholders, they failed to improve the income level and poverty status of non-agricultural households in rural areas. Finally, it was demonstrated that cultivation of maize on customary land by poor smallholders, is the primary causative agent of deforestation in Malawi, with cultivation of tobacco and pulses being the next most important causes. It is therefore recommended that Malawi should adopt improved farming techniques and technology to ensure that farmers are able to produce more output from less land. In addition, there is a need to ensure that farmers, especially the poor, cultivating plots on customary land are granted stronger property rights. This would give sm

The regional income disparities in Brazil are well-known. Since the 1930s, such income disparities have declined only slightly. This thesis combines traditional economic theory with insights from regional science and economic geography to explain the development pattern in Brazil throughout the 20th century, using a wide range of data sets. It contributes to the consolidation of the field of New Economic Geography because some tools employed in this thesis have not yet had widespread use in the literature. The thesis also brings new insights for the understanding of Brazil’s development process. The key finding of the thesis is that there has been almost time-invariant spatial autocorrelation in Brazil’s growth process that impedes the lagging regions from catching up. The reason for this is that there is a clear cluster of contiguous rich regions (Southeast and South) – i.e. the core - characterised not only by high real income levels and high market potential, but also by the fact that they have the largest markets and are the platform of the global economy in Brazil. In contrast, there is another cluster of contiguous poor regions (North and Northeast) – the periphery - that has low real income levels, low market potential and low market access. The agglomeration of population and economic activity explains the observed concentration pattern. Although there were some efforts made through regional development policy to narrow the gaps amongst the regions, the agglomeration forces are very strong in Brazil. The creation of Brasília did not offset these agglomeration forces, partially because place-based policies matter. The creation of Brasilia obviously had major implications for Brasilia itself, but did not offset the agglomeration forces that led to the dominance of São Paulo. Similarly, investment in other lagging regions may not offset the advantages of São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, but they may improve economic conditions in the lagging regions themselves if