Longitudinal assessment of cognitive and psychosocial functioning after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita: Exploring disaster impact on middle-aged, older, and oldest-old adults

The authors examined the effects of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on cognitive and psychosocial functioning in a lifespan sample of adults 6-14 months after the storms. Participants were recruited from the Louisiana Healthy Aging Study. Most were assessed during the immediate impact period and retested for this study. Analyses of pre- and post-disaster cognitive data confirmed that storm-related decrements in working memory for middle-aged and older adults observed in the immediate impact period had returned to pre-hurricane levels in the post-disaster recovery period. Middle-aged adults reported more storm-related stressors and greater levels of stress than the two older groups at both waves of testing. These results are consistent with a burden perspective on post-disaster psychological reactions. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc

Consumers' Perceptions and Willingness to Pay for Organic Vegetable in Benin and Ghana

Vegetable plays important roles in the socio-economic development in West Africa. It contributes to insuring food security, provides raw materials for local industries, generates foreign exchange and provides employment and incomes for most of the population. However some health hazards are caused by the misuse of chemical on vegetable. This study is undertaken within the framework of the research project: Public-private partnerships for development and implementation of entomopathogenic viruses as biopesticides for key lepidopteran pests in Ghana and Benin. It assesses the potential market of organic vegetables and analyse consumers awareness and perceptions of chemical pesticide residues in vegetables and assess the premium levels that consumers are willing to pay for chemical free vegetables. Data were collected through a formal questionnaire on consumers perceptions of produce quality problems, their level of awareness of heavy chemical pesticide use on vegetable and their willingness to pay for a vegetable if it is chemical free. A Hedonic-pricing model was used to identify the key factors most likely to affect consumers willingness to pay for bio-vegetables. The results show that consumers are aware of the heavy use of chemicals on vegetables. The level of awareness of health hazard linked to chemical pesticides among consumers is more widely spread. The characteristics that consumers are looking for in assessing the quality of vegetable are: damage free, freshness, size, bright colour and hardness. Consumers are willing to pay more than 50% as price premium for chemical free vegetable. The most likely factors influencing consumers willingness to pay for chemical free vegetable are the socio-professional category acting as a proxy for income level, the awareness of chemical residue, the availability, the label and the taste. In conclusion, this study showed that there is a consistent potential demand for organic vegetables if they meet characteristics above mentioned

Consumers' Perceptions and Willingness to Pay for Organic Vegetable in Benin and Ghana

Vegetable plays important roles in the socio-economic development in West Africa. It contributes to insuring food security, provides raw materials for local industries, generates foreign exchange and provides employment and incomes for most of the population. However some health hazards are caused by the misuse of chemical on vegetable. This study is undertaken within the framework of the research project: Public-private partnerships for development and implementation of entomopathogenic viruses as biopesticides for key lepidopteran pests in Ghana and Benin. It assesses the potential market of organic vegetables and analyse consumers awareness and perceptions of chemical pesticide residues in vegetables and assess the premium levels that consumers are willing to pay for chemical free vegetables. Data were collected through a formal questionnaire on consumers perceptions of produce quality problems, their level of awareness of heavy chemical pesticide use on vegetable and their willingness to pay for a vegetable if it is chemical free. A Hedonic-pricing model was used to identify the key factors most likely to affect consumers willingness to pay for bio-vegetables. The results show that consumers are aware of the heavy use of chemicals on vegetables. The level of awareness of health hazard linked to chemical pesticides among consumers is more widely spread. The characteristics that consumers are looking for in assessing the quality of vegetable are: damage free, freshness, size, bright colour and hardness. Consumers are willing to pay more than 50% as price premium for chemical free vegetable. The most likely factors influencing consumers willingness to pay for chemical free vegetable are the socio-professional category acting as a proxy for income level, the awareness of chemical residue, the availability, the label and the taste. In conclusion, this study showed that there is a consistent potential demand for organic vegetables if they meet characteristics above mentioned.Consumer/Household Economics,

CaCO3, foraminifer fragmentation, benthic carbon isotopes, coarse lithic counts and radiogenic isotopes (Sr, Nd, Pb) of the Pliocene and earliest Pleistocene terrigenous component (3.3-2.4 Ma) of IODP Site 306-U1313

We present Plio-Pleistocene records of sediment color, %CaCO3, foraminifer fragmentation, benthic carbon isotopes (d13C) and radiogenic isotopes (Sr, Nd, Pb) of the terrigenous component from IODP Site U1313, a reoccupation of benchmark subtropical North Atlantic Ocean DSDP Site 607. We show that (inter)glacial cycles in sediment color and %CaCO3 pre-date major northern hemisphere glaciation and are unambiguously and consistently correlated to benthic oxygen isotopes back to 3.3 million years ago (Ma) and intermittently so probably back to the Miocene/Pliocene boundary. We show these lithological cycles to be driven by enhanced glacial fluxes of terrigenous material (eolian dust), not carbonate dissolution (the classic interpretation). Our radiogenic isotope data indicate a North American source for this dust (~3.3-2.4 Ma) in keeping with the interpreted source of terrestrial plant wax-derived biomarkers deposited at Site U1313. Yet our data indicate a mid latitude provenance regardless of (inter)glacial state, a finding that is inconsistent with the biomarker-inferred importance of glaciogenic mechanisms of dust production and transport. Moreover, we find that the relation between the biomarker and lithogenic components of dust accumulation is distinctly non-linear. Both records show a jump in glacial rates of accumulation from Marine Isotope Stage, MIS, G6 (2.72 Ma) onwards but the amplitude of this signal is about 3-8 times greater for biomarkers than for dust and particularly extreme during MIS 100 (2.52 Ma). We conclude that North America shifted abruptly to a distinctly more arid glacial regime from MIS G6, but major shifts in glacial North American vegetation biomes and regional wind fields (exacerbated by the growth of a large Laurentide Ice Sheet during MIS 100) likely explain amplification of this signal in the biomarker records. Our findings are consistent with wetter-than-modern reconstructions of North American continental climate under the warm high CO2 conditions of the Early Pliocene but contrast with most model predictions for the response of the hydrological cycle to anthropogenic warming over the coming 50 years (poleward expansion of the subtropical dry zones)