Exchange rate effects on bilateral agricultural trade analysis on the DR-CAFTA

Economic theory states that the exchange rates influences movements in agricultural prices and are in an important determinant of the agricultural sector trade. This paper reviewed the theory and economic models under which exchange rate fluctuations create shifts in the excess supply and demand between countries in the international market along with a history of relations between the United States and the DR-CAFTA region. The theory is econometrically tested through the OLS method to examine to what extent the real exchange rates between the United States and less developed countries were constant with accepted theory. The agricultural trade movements were investigated by examining imports and export values between the United States and the selected counties and proposing the exchange rate as one of the explanatory variables in the econometric model. Given the interdependence of the trade flows within the region, the OLS equations were run as a system of equations under Seemingly Unrelated Regression estimation for annual exports and imports from 1976 to 2004. The exchange rate effect entered into the model was expressed as the foreign countries\u27 currency value with respect to the U.S. dollar. The expectation was that depreciations in the U.S. dollar would have a positive effect on U.S. exports and a negative effect on U.S. imports from the DR-CAFTA region. There were some major concerns of this study in the underlying interdependence of the factors and their effects on trade. Among the results of this study, U.S. agricultural exports are given more emphasis, as the more stable and larger economy. The developed economy of the United exhibited behavior conforming to economic theory. The less developed Central American countries could not be expected to comply with economic theory when there are underlying socioeconomic factors affecting trade. The results, while inconclusive on the U.S. import side, show that exchange rates were important in explaining U.S. exports to the DR-CAFTA region

No longer ‘publishing as usual'

Despite the spread in the use of ICTs in agricultural research, information is still constrained by the way it is published and the degree to which it is open. Piers Bocock of CGIAR shares how his organisation is addressing this

Effect of MTU length on child-adult difference in neuromuscular fatigue

Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare the development and etiology of neuromuscular fatigue of the knee extensor muscles (KE) at different muscle-tendon unit (MTU) lengths during repeated maximal voluntary isometric contractions (MVIC) between boys and men.Methods Twenty-two pre-pubertal boys (9-11 years) and 22 men (18-30 years) performed three KE fatigue protocols at short (SHORT), optimal (OPT) and long (LONG) MTU lengths, consisting of repeating 5-s MVIC interspersed with 5-s passive recovery periods until torque reached 60% of the initial MVIC torque. The etiology of neuromuscular fatigue was identified using non-invasive methods such as surface electromyography, near-infrared spectroscopy, magnetic nerve stimulation and twitch interpolation technique.Results The number of repetitions was significantly lower in men at OPT (14.8$\pm$3.2) and LONG (15.8$\pm$5.8) than boys (39.7$\pm$18.4 and 29.5 $\pm$10.2, respectively; p<0.001), while no difference was found at SHORT between both age groups (boys: 33.7$\pm$15.4, men: 40.9$\pm$14.2). At OPT and LONG boys showed a lower reduction in the single potentiated twitch (Qtwpot) and a greater decrease in the voluntary activation level (VA) than men. At SHORT, both populations displayed a moderate Qtwpot decrement and a significant VA reduction (p<0.001). The differences in maximal torque between boys and men were almost twice greater at OPT (223.9 N.m) than at SHORT (123.3 N.m) and LONG (136.5 N.m).Conclusion The differences in neuromuscular fatigue between children and adults are dependent on MTU length. Differences in maximal torque could underpin differences in neuromuscular fatigue between children and adults at OPT and SHORT. However, at LONG these differences do not seem to be explained by differences in maximal torque. The origins of this specific effect of MTU length remain to be determined

Children Exhibit a More Comparable Neuromuscular Fatigue Profile to Endurance Athletes Than Untrained Adults

The present study compared neuromuscular fatigue profiles between children, untrained adults and adult endurance athletes during repeated maximal muscle contractions. Eighteen prepubertal boys, 19 untrained men and 13 endurance male athletes performed 5-s maximal voluntary isometric knee extensor contractions (MVICs) interspersed with 5-s recovery until MVIC reached 60% of its initial value. Single and doublet magnetic stimulations were delivered to the femoral nerve to quantify the time course of potentiated twitch amplitude (Ttw,pot), high-frequency torque (T100Hz) and the low-to-high frequency torque ratio (T10Hz/T100Hz), i.e., indicators of peripheral fatigue. M-wave-normalized EMG amplitudes (EMG/M) and the maximal voluntary activation level (VA) were calculated to quantify central fatigue. Adults (15.9 ± 3.9 repetitions) performed fewer MVICs than children (40.4 ± 19.7) and endurance athletes (51.7 ± 19.6), however, no difference was observed between children and athletes (P = 0.13). Ttw,pot (∼52%, P &lt; 0.001), T100Hz (∼39%, P &lt; 0.001) and T10Hz/T100Hz (∼23%, P &lt; 0.001) decreased only in adults. Similar decrements in vastus medialis and vastus lateralis EMG/M were observed in children and endurance athletes (range: 40–50%), and these were greater than in adults (∼15%). Whilst VA decreased more in children (-38.4 ± 22.5%, P &lt; 0.001) than endurance athletes (-20.3 ± 10.1%, P &lt; 0.001), it did not change in adults. Thus, children fatigued more slowly than adults and as much as endurance athletes. They developed less peripheral and more central fatigue than adults and, although central fatigue appeared somewhat higher in children than endurance athletes, both children and endurance athletes experienced greater decrements than adults. Therefore, children exhibit a more comparable neuromuscular fatigue profile to endurance athletes than adults

Consumption caught in the cash nexus.

During the last thirty years, ‘consumption’ has become a major topic in the study of contemporary culture within anthropology, psychology and sociology. For many authors it has become central to understanding the nature of material culture in the modern world but this paper argues that the concept is, in British writing at least, too concerned with its economic origins in the selling and buying of consumer goods or commodities. It is argued that to understand material culture as determined through the monetary exchange for things - the cash nexus - leads to an inadequate sociological understanding of the social relations with objects. The work of Jean Baudrillard is used both to critique the concept of consumption as it leads to a focus on advertising, choice, money and shopping and to point to a more sociologically adequate approach to material culture that explores objects in a system of models and series, ‘atmosphere’, functionality, biography, interaction and mediation

Turning collegial governance on its head : symbolic violence, hegemony and the academic board

This article draws on Bourdieu&rsquo;s theorisation of domination and Gramsci&rsquo;s notions of hegemony within the context of a larger empirical study of Australian university academic governance, and of academic boards (also known as academic senates or faculty senates) in particular. Reporting data that suggest a continued but radically altered form of collegial governance in which hegemony is exercised by management rather than by the professor, it theorises the domination of academic boards within western democratic universities. However, traditional collegial governance is also dependent upon a community of scholars, a role historically played by the academic board. In view of the suggested transition in collegial governance and the resultant convergence of academic work and management, the article concludes with questions about whether academic boards can continue to serve as communities of scholars in future

The Penny’s Dropped: Renegotiating the contemporary coin deposit

This is the Accepted Manuscript of the following article: Ceri Houlbrook, “The penny’s dropped: Renegotiating the contemporary coin deposit”, Journal of Material Culture, Vol. 20(2): 173-189, March 2015. The final published version is available at: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1359183515577120#articleCitationDownloadContainer © 2015, © SAGE Publications.This article examines the status of coins as contemporary deposits in the British Isles. With a focus on both historical and contemporary sites, from the Neolithic long barrow of Wayland’s Smithy, Oxfordshire, to the plethora of wishing-wells and coin-trees distributed across the British Isles, it demonstrates the popularity of coins as ritual deposits. The author considers how they are perceived and treated by site custodians, and concludes with a case study of an archaeological excavation, the 2013 Ardmaddy Wishing-Tree Project, which recovered a large amount of contemporary coin deposits. This article does not aim to locate itself within the debates of site custodianship and accessibility, nor does it propose to address the broader dilemmas of a site’s ritual continuity or resurgence. Instead, its aim is to encourage archaeologists to consider the contemporary deposit as an integral part of the ritual narrative of a site, rather than as disposable ‘ritual litter’.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

A cytosolic invertase is required for normal growth and cell development in the model legume, Lotus japonicus

Neutral/alkaline invertases are a subgroup, confined to plants and cyanobacteria, of a diverse family of enzymes. A family of seven closely-related genes, LjINV1–LjINV7, is described here and their expression in the model legume, Lotus japonicus, is examined. LjINV1 previously identified as encoding a nodule-enhanced isoform is the predominant isoform present in all parts of the plant. Mutants for two isoforms, LjINV1 and LjINV2, were isolated using TILLING. A premature stop codon allele of LjINV2 had no effect on enzyme activity nor did it show a visible phenotype. For LjINV1, premature stop codon and missense mutations were obtained and the phenotype of the mutants examined. Recovery of homozygous mutants was problematic, but their phenotype showed a severe reduction in growth of the root and the shoot, a change in cellular development, and impaired flowering. The cellular organization of both roots and leaves was altered; leaves were smaller and thicker with extra layers of cells and roots showed an extended and broader zone of cell division. Moreover, anthers contained no pollen. Both heterozygotes and homozygous mutants showed decreased amounts of enzyme activity in nodules and shoot tips. Shoot tips also contained up to a 9-fold increased level of sucrose. However, mutants were capable of forming functional root nodules. LjINV1 is therefore crucial to whole plant development, but is clearly not essential for nodule formation or function