Payday Loans: Federal Regulatory Initiatives

CRS_April_2005_Payday_Loans.pdf: 2070 downloads, before Oct. 1, 2020

Health appeals in television food advertising : a social semiotic analysis : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

Lay beliefs about health generally, and health in relation to food in particular, are interesting and moderately researched topics. However, within these areas of study, little consideration has been given to the socially constructed nature of these so-called beliefs and values. Additionally, research that has explored the meaning and ideological significance of advertising has tended to do so in a static way. relying almost entirely upon the researcher's necessarily subjective analysis of print advertisements, while overlooking the active and constructive role of people in creating meaning. Based on the theoretical understanding that advertising, as a social and linguistic medium, both reproduces and creates cultural meanings, this study explores how the concept of health is appropriated in television advertisements for food products. In this way. the ideological implications of the meaningful relationships between health and food in modern consumer culture are elucidated. Fourteen ads for food products, which made some appeal to health, were recorded from free to air television. These ads targeted either middle-class mothers or independent, working women. Two focus group discussions were conducted, employing women from each of the target consumer groups as participants. These groups are referred to as mothers and singles respectively. In the focus group discussions, participants viewed and talked about the ads. A semiotic deconstruction of each of the ads was also undertaken. This involved breaking down the sign systems operating in the ads. in order to identify the underlying cultural assumptions about food and health. Semiotic interpretations of ads were grounded in real-world lay readings produced by participants. Drawing upon these interpretations, it is argued that for women, food and health discourses, particularly where they intersect, are sites of tension and contradiction, creating considerable food related anxiety and ambivalence. Appeals to health in food advertisements conflate health and beauty concerns to disguise and reinforce moral judgements based on body weight. Social constructions of the 'good mother', as evidenced in advertising, hold mothers responsible for the dietary health of children. At the same time, dominant nutritional science explanations of the relationship between health and food disempower women by privileging expert knowledge. Women are ideologically positioned through food and health discourses in oppressive ways characterised by irresolvable moral dilemmas. This study makes a clear social contribution by exposing the assumptions and myths underlying food and health meanings, and thereby laying them open to challenge

One Upper Estimate on the Number of Limit Cycles of Even Degree Li\'enard Equations in the Focus Case

We give an explicit upper bound for a number of limit cycles of the Li\'enard equation $\dot{x}=y-F(x)$, $\dot{y}=-x$ of even degree in the case its unique singular point $(0,0)$ is a focus.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Farmer preferences for milpa diversity and genetically modified maize in Mexico: a latent class approach

Maize, the second most globally important staple crop after wheat, originated in Mexico, where it is typically grown as part of a set of associated crops and practices called the milpa system. This ancient mode of production is practiced today in ways that vary by cultural context and agro-environment. Milpas generate private economic value, in terms of food security, diet quality and livelihoods, for the twomillion farm households who manage them. Furthermore, milpas generate public economic value by conserving agrobiodiversity, especially that of maize landraces, which have the potential to contribute unique traits needed by plant breeders for future crop improvement. In this way, milpas contribute to global food security in maize. However, the sustainability of the milpa system has been threatened by offfarm employment opportunities, long-distance migration, the increasing commercialization and intensification of maize production. Most recently, the milpa system has been negatively impacted by the contamination of maize landraces by genetically modified (GM) maize, cultivation of which is currently prohibited in Mexico. Here, we employ a choice experiment to estimate Mexican farmers’ valuation of three components of agrobiodiversity (crop species richness, maize variety richness and maize landraces), and examine their interest in cultivating GM maize. Choice experiment data, household level social, economic and demographic data, community level economic development data, and information on milpa production characteristics, and farmers’ attitudes and perceptions with regards to GM food and crops were collected from 420 farm households across 17 communities in three states of Mexico. Using these data, we analyzed the heterogeneity of farmer preferences using a latent class model, which can be used to simultaneously identify sample segments having homogenous preferences for milpa attributes, as well as farmer characteristics affecting preferences. We further identified the characteristics of farmers who are most likely to continue growing maize landraces and managing milpa systems, as well as those least likely to accept GM maize. Specifically, we identified three distinct segments of farmers: (i) Landrace Conservationists derive the highest private economic value from continued management of landraces and the highest economic loss from the possible adoption of GM maize. These farmers are young, dislike GM foods and crops, and are mainly located at the Oaxaca site, where transgenic constructs have been found in maize landraces. (ii) Milpa Diversity Managers derive the highest economic value from managing all of the agrobiodiversity components of the milpa, and suffer fewer losses from management of GM maize. These are older farmers, who are curious and like to experiment with maize varieties. (iii) Marginalized Maize Producers derive little value from crop species and maize variety richness, receive minimal value from maize landraces, and also experience the smallest negative impact from the adoption of GM maize. These farmers are located in the most isolated communities, have the lowest level of productivity, and oversee the largest milpa areas. They are also the most tightly integrated into the maize output markets. These novel findings have implications for debates concerning the adoption of GM maize in Mexico and its associated costs and benefits, as well as for the design of targeted, cost-effective conservation programs on farms

A Morse complex for infinite dimensional manifolds - Part I

In this paper and in the forthcoming Part II we introduce a Morse complex for a class of functions f defined on an infinite dimensional Hilbert manifold M, possibly having critical points of infinite Morse index and coindex. The idea is to consider an infinite dimensional subbundle - or more generally an essential subbundle - of the tangent bundle of M, suitably related with the gradient flow of f. This Part I deals with the following questions about the intersection W of the unstable manifold of a critical point x and the stable manifold of another critical point y: finite dimensionality of W, possibility that different components of W have different dimension, orientatability of W and coherence in the choice of an orientation, compactness of the closure of W, classification, up to topological conjugacy, of the gradient flow on the closure of W, in the case dim W=2.Comment: LaTeX2e file, 62 pages, to appear in Advances in Mathematics. Revised version, substantial changes in the compactness par

An economic assessment of banana genetic improvement and innovation in the Lake Victoria Region of Uganda and Tanzania:

"This research report highlights findings from a set of studies undertaken by applied economists on the impact of improved banana cultivars and recommended management practices in the East African highlands. A particular focus of the analysis is genetic transformation of the cooking banana. Genetic transformation to achieve pest and disease resistance of the cooking banana is a promising strategy for smallholder farmers in this region. Biotic constraints are severe and not easily addressed through conventional breeding techniques or control methods. Exports on the world market are currently negligible, so that the risks of reduced exports due to policies against genetically modified foods are low. The crop is both an important food source and a significant generator of rural income, which means that improving productivity could have great social benefits." from Authors' SummaryBananas, Genetically modified foods, Nutrition, Genetic engineering, Economic impacts,

International exchange of genetic resources, the role of information and implications for ownership: the case of the U.S. National Plant Germplasm System

"Changing perceptions of resource ownership have altered international exchange of genetic resources. After summarizing the role of genebanks and issues related to property regimes, this paper presents an empirical study of one of the largest national genebanks, the U.S. National Germplasm System. The demand for its genetic resources appears to be substantial, both domestically and internationally. Utilization rates are higher than suggested by past studies. The role of information in enhancing the usefulness of NPGS resources is explored with an econometric model that indicates that accompanying data make germplasm more useful. U.S. requestors account for most of the germplasm demanded, but developing countries appear to make greater use of these resources, proportionally, in terms of overall usefulness, secondary sharing, and the presence of useful data. Demand for public germplasm is likely to increase in the future, particularly from developing countries." Authors' AbstractCrop genetic resources, Genebanks, Germplasm collection, Genetic resource management, Developing countries,