ON THE ROLE OF THE BROKERAGE INSTITUTION IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF ETHIOPIAN AGRICULTURAL MARKETS

The recognition that policies aimed at “getting prices right” in less developed countries were failing due to incomplete markets has spurred a new wave of reforms, directed instead at “getting markets and institutions right”. Although previous studies have documented the potentially crucial role of the brokerage institution in crop commercialisation, few have investigated what determines wholesalers’ decisions to use brokers. Using data collected in 2006/07 by Gabre-Madhin, IFPRI and EDRI, we examine Ethiopian traders’ decisions regarding whether or not they should use brokers, and how much. Independent variables are human, financial and social asset availability, implemented trading practices, access to infrastructure and institutions, location, travelled distance and traded crops. Results show that brokerage services are particularly valuable for wholesalers lacking social capital and storage capacity, who are based in areas with low population density, and who trade at a distance especially when roads are not asphalted. Buyers in drought-prone domains rely on brokers more for their long-distance purchases, while sellers in moisture-reliable domains employ brokers more for their long-distance sales. These results provide useful indications regarding where and how the recent formalisation of brokerage functions through the ECX could be most beneficial for the functioning of Ethiopian agricultural markets.Agribusiness, O12, O13, O18,

2008 Survey of the Performance of American Elections: Final Report

Analyzes results of a survey on the 2008 elections voting experience, voter confidence in the system, reasons for not voting, and support for reform proposals. Examines how age, race/ethnicity, and length of residency affect voters' experiences

Symplectic geometry of entanglement

We present a description of entanglement in composite quantum systems in terms of symplectic geometry. We provide a symplectic characterization of sets of equally entangled states as orbits of group actions in the space of states. In particular, using Kostant-Sternberg theorem, we show that separable states form a unique Kaehler orbit, whereas orbits of entanglement states are characterized by different degrees of degeneracy of the canonical symplectic form on the complex projective space. The degree of degeneracy may be thus used as a new geometric measure of entanglement and we show how to calculate it for various multiparticle systems providing also simple criteria of separability. The presented method is general and can be applied also under different additional symmetry conditions stemming, eg. from the indistinguishability of particles.Comment: LaTex, 31 pages, typos correcte

Non-Relativistic Spacetimes with Cosmological Constant

Recent data on supernovae favor high values of the cosmological constant. Spacetimes with a cosmological constant have non-relativistic kinematics quite different from Galilean kinematics. De Sitter spacetimes, vacuum solutions of Einstein's equations with a cosmological constant, reduce in the non-relativistic limit to Newton-Hooke spacetimes, which are non-metric homogeneous spacetimes with non-vanishing curvature. The whole non-relativistic kinematics would then be modified, with possible consequences to cosmology, and in particular to the missing-mass problem.Comment: 15 pages, RevTeX, no figures, major changes in the presentation which includes a new title and a whole new emphasis, version to appear in Clas. Quant. Gra

Detection of fast radio transients with multiple stations: a case study using the Very Long Baseline Array

Recent investigations reveal an important new class of transient radio phenomena that occur on sub-millisecond timescales. Often transient surveys' data volumes are too large to archive exhaustively. Instead, an on-line automatic system must excise impulsive interference and detect candidate events in real-time. This work presents a case study using data from multiple geographically distributed stations to perform simultaneous interference excision and transient detection. We present several algorithms that incorporate dedispersed data from multiple sites, and report experiments with a commensal real-time transient detection system on the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA). We test the system using observations of pulsar B0329+54. The multiple-station algorithms enhanced sensitivity for detection of individual pulses. These strategies could improve detection performance for a future generation of geographically distributed arrays such as the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder and the Square Kilometre Array.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figures. Accepted for Ap

Investigating the alignment between coaches’ ideological beliefs and academy philosophy in professional youth football

The impacts of professional sporting culture and institutional discourse on coaching practices and ideologies have largely been unconsidered and undiscussed. Understanding coaching practice from a social perspective can provide insights into the prevailing culture that coaches are immersed within, pointing to patterns of discourse, norms and values that govern coaches’ actions. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential for (mis)alignment between coaches’ ideological beliefs and the instituted philosophy of the professional football academy at which they worked. Thirteen male football coaches (M = 36.23 years) were observed coaching on three separate occasions, equating to 2584 min of footage (M = 66.26 min). Each recorded session was analysed using a computerised version of the Coach Analysis Intervention System (CAIS). All participants were interviewed twice (before first observation and after final observation). Coaches were questioned about the academy philosophy and their personal behavioural profiles. Data were subjected to thematic analysis and placed within a theoretical framework utilising concepts of Pierre Bourdieu. Findings highlighted that coaches’ interpretations of the academy philosophy were impacted by their prior socialisation and position within the status hierarchy. The data also demonstrated ‘philosophy’ being used as a ‘buzzword’ throughout the academy, derived from loose interpretations, but offered few specific suggestions regarding how coaches ‘should’ behave. Coach interactions were used as forms of social control rather than addressing pedagogical concerns, with coaches’ personal dispositions proving extremely strong and ultimately prevailing. It is worth questioning, therefore, the extent to which the academy ‘philosophy’ can be displaced, and the mechanisms required to ensure collective acceptance to an instituted coaching approach

Facing the "new normal": How adjusting to the easing of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions exposes mental health inequalities.

BACKGROUND: Re-establishing societal norms in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic will be important for restoring public mental health and psychosocial wellbeing as well as economic recovery. We investigated the impact on post-pandemic adjustment of a history of mental disorder, with particular reference to obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms or traits. METHODS: The study was pre-registered (Open Science Framework; https://osf.io/gs8j2/). Adult members of the public (n = 514) were surveyed between July and November 2020, to identify the extent to which they reported difficulties re-adjusting as lockdown conditions eased. All were assessed using validated scales to determine which demographic and mental health-related factors impacted adjustment. An exploratory analysis of a subgroup on an objective online test of cognitive inflexibility was also performed. RESULTS: Adjustment was related to a history of mental disorder and the presence of OC symptoms and traits, all acting indirectly and statistically-mediated via depression, anxiety and stress; and in the case of OC symptoms, also via COVID-related anxiety (all p < 0.001). One hundred and twenty-eight (25%) participants reported significant adjustment difficulties and were compared with those self-identifying as "good adjusters" (n = 231). This comparison revealed over-representation of those with a history or family history of mental disorder in the poor adjustment category (all p < 0.05). 'Poor-adjusters' additionally reported higher COVID-related anxiety, depression, anxiety and stress and OC symptoms and traits (all p < 0.05). Furthermore, history of mental disorder directly statistically mediated adjustment status (p < 0.01), whereas OC symptoms (not OC traits) acted indirectly via COVID-related anxiety (p < 0.001). Poor-adjusters also showed evidence of greater cognitive inflexibility on the intra-extra-dimensional set-shift task. CONCLUSION: Individuals with a history of mental disorder, OC symptoms and OC traits experienced greater difficulties adjusting after lockdown-release, largely statistically mediated by increased depression, anxiety, including COVID-related anxiety, and stress. The implications for clinical and public health policies and interventions are discussed

The role of disulfide bond replacements in analogues of the Tarantula toxin ProTx-II and their effects on inhibition of the voltage-gated sodium ion channel Nav1.7

Spider venom toxins, such as Protoxin-II (ProTx-II), have recently received much attention as selective Nav1.7 channel blockers, with potential to be developed as leads for the treatment of chronic nocioceptive pain. ProTx-II is a 30-amino acid peptide with three disulfide bonds that has been reported to adopt a well-defined inhibitory cystine knot (ICK) scaffold structure. Potential drawbacks with such peptides include poor pharmacodynamics and potential scrambling of the disulfide bonds in vivo. In order to address these issues, in the present study we report the solid-phase synthesis of lanthionine-bridged analogues of ProTx-II, in which one of the three disulfide bridges is replaced with a thioether linkage, and evaluate the biological properties of these analogues. We have also investigated the folding and disulfide bridging patterns arising from different methods of oxidation of the linear peptide precursor. Finally, we report the X-ray crystal structure of ProTx-II to atomic resolution; to our knowledge this is the first crystal structure of an ICK spider venom peptide not bound to a substrate