STRATEGIES FOR SMALLHOLDERS IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: COMMERCIALISATION, DIVERSIFICATION AND EXIT

This paper proposes a strategic framework for policies to assist smallholders in developing countries. It describes the inevitable features of structural change in the agricultural and rural economy, the associated pressures that these changes place on smallholders, and the consequent need for policies to facilitate rather than impede adjustment. A key premise of the framework is that, for the majority of smallholders, the long term (i.e. inter-generational)future lies outside the sector. Hence, long-term policies need to make a distinction between those who potentially have a competitive future in the sector and those who do not. In either case, many of the necessary policies will not be agriculture-specific, so it is important that agricultural policies are framed in a broader economy-wide framework. In addition, a clear distinction needs to be made between short-term policies to reduce poverty and food insecurity and long-term policies to stimulate development. This is because there are intertemporal trade-offs (as well as complementarities) between policies that are likely to be effective in the short-run, and those promising most impact over the long-term. The paper discusses the role of different agricultural and non-agricultural policies in providing the appropriate policy mix in countries at different stages of development.smallholders, rural development, agricultural policy, structural change, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, International Development, O20, Q18, R23,

Litio como suplemento neuroprotector y sus ventajas en enfermedades de deterioro cognitivo.: Lithium as a neuroprotective supplement and its advantages in cognitive impairment diseases

Lithium is a psychiatric pharmacological agent used as a mood stabilizer in bipolar disorder and has been shown to be effective in preventing manic and depressive symptoms and suicidal behavior. However, its neuroprotective properties and its intervention neuronal inflammatory pathways, postulate it as a drug that could be used in pathologies with cognitive impairment. It produces neuroprotective effects in a large number of neuronal populations involved in both behavioral and motor circuits. It has anti-inflammatory and antioxidant benefits at the neuronal level, which makes it extremely useful as a treatment for neurodegenerative diseases. A great ability for neurogenesis and neuroprotection is demonstrated, mainly at the level of the hippocampus. Their limitations and contraindications should be taken into account when evaluating their efficacy. The review was carried out with the aim of analyzing the use, efficacy and benefits of lithium as a neuroprotective and regenerative agent in degenerative neurological pathologies.El litio es un agente farmacológico psiquiátrico utilizado como estabilizador del ánimo en el trastorno bipolar y  ha demostrado su eficacia en la prevención de síntomas maníacos, depresivos y comportamiento suicida. Sin embargo, las propiedades neuroprotectoras y sus intervenciones sobre las vías inflamatorias neuronales, lo postulan como un fármaco que podría utilizarse en patologías con deterioro cognitivo. Produce efectos neuroprotectores en un gran número de poblaciones neuronales  involucradas en los circuitos tanto conductuales como motores. Tiene beneficios antiinflamatorios y antioxidantes a nivel neuronal, lo cuál lo hace de suma utilidad como tratamiento para enfermedades neurodegenerativas. Se demuestra una gran habilidad para la neurogénesis y neuroprotección, principalmente a nivel del hipocampo. Se deben tomar en cuenta sus limitaciones y contraindicaciones a la hora de evaluar su efectividad. La revisión se realizó con el objetivo de  analizar el uso, eficacia y beneficios del litio como agente neuroprotector y regenerador en patologías neurológicas degenerativas

Evaluación de la resistencia a la corrosión de un acero fabricado por manufactura aditiva mediante técnicas electroquímicas

Additive metal manufacturing has undergone a revolution in recent years, being able to be incorporated in several industries such as aeronautics, automotive and even in medicine, allowing the manufacture of complex parts with fewer steps in the process, which translates in material savings and cost reduction. In this work, the corrosion of low carbon steel obtained by depositing consecutive layers is carried out, using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and electrochemical noise immersed in a 0.1 M NaCl solution, establishing a comparison between the metal of contribution and deposited material. The layers of the material are characterized microstructurally and mechanically using scanning electron microscopy and Vickers microhardness. Overall, the results show a good response of the material to the action of the electrolyte after the immersion time, on the other hand, the microstructural results allow identifying the formation of 3 zones due to the cooling of the material. The microhardness of the steel does not show great changes between the zones, however, there is a slight increase in the intermediate zone due to the reduction in grain size. These studies allow researchers to know the behavior of these materials in applications that require contact with corrosive solutions of this nature.La manufactura aditiva de metales ha sufrido una revolución en los últimos años, pudiéndose incorporar en diversas industrias como la aeronáutica, automotriz e incluso en la medicina, permitiendo la fabricación de partes complejas con un menor número de pasos en el proceso, lo que se traduce en ahorro de material y reducción de costos. En este artículo se realiza el monitoreo del estado de corrosión de un acero de bajo carbono obtenido mediante la deposición de capas consecutivas, evaluándose a través de la técnica de impedancia electroquímica y ruido electroquímico, inmerso en una solución 0.1 M de NaCl, estableciendo una comparativa entre el metal de aporte y el material depositado. Las capas del material son caracterizadas microestructural y mecánicamente mediante microscopía electrónica de barrido y microdureza Vickers. De forma global, los resultados muestran una buena respuesta del material ante la acción del electrolito transcurrido el tiempo de inmersión, Por otro lado, los resultados microestructurales permiten identificar la formación de 3 zonas debido al enfriamiento en gradiente del material. La microdureza del acero no muestra grandes cambios entre las zonas, sin embargo, hay un ligero aumento en la zona intermedia debido a la reducción en el tamaño del grano. Estos estudios permiten a investigadores conocer el comportamiento de estos materiales en aplicaciones que demanden el contacto con soluciones corrosivas de esta naturaleza

Who Wants to Farm? Youth Aspirations, Opportunities and Rising Food Prices

Who wants to farm? In an era of land grabs and environmental uncertainty, improving smallholder productivity has become a higher priority on the poverty and food security agenda in development, focusing attention on the next generation of farmers. Yet emerging evidence about the material realities and social norms and desires of young people in developing countries indicates a reasonably widespread withdrawal from work on the land as an emerging norm. While de-agrarianisation is not new, policymakers are correct to be concerned about a withdrawal from the sector: smallholder productivity growth, and agricultural transformation more broadly, depend in part on the extent to which capable, skilled young people can be retained or attracted to farming, and on policies that support that retention. So who wants to farm, and under what conditions? Where are economic, environmental and social conditions favourable to active recruitment by educated young people into farming? What policy and programmatic conditions are creating attractive opportunities in farming or agro-food industry livelihoods? This paper explores these conditions in a context of food price volatility, and in particular rising food prices since 2007. To do so, it analyses primary qualitative research on the attitudes of young people and their families to farming in 2012, a time when food prices had been high and volatile for half a decade. In theory, assuming higher prices benefit small farmers, food farming should be more attractive since food prices started to rise in 2007. But this simple causal assumption overlooks both that in many developing countries, it takes considerable economic power - ownership or access to cultivable land and affordable credit for inputs - to turn a profit in farming. It also fails to take into account more sociological explanations governing work and occupational choice - status aspiration and merit on the one hand, and perceived risk on the other. These two explanations help to explain why young people from relatively low income families, particularly those most likely to innovate and raise productivity levels, do not perceive farming as a realistically desirable occupational choice. Based on analysis of interviews, focus group discussion and household case studies with almost 1500 people in 23 rural, urban and peri-urban communities in low and middle income Asian, African and Latin American countries in 2012, this research digs deeper into some of the established explanations as to why youth in developing countries appear reluctant to enter farming, and identifies conditions under which capable and enterprising youth are being attracted to farming, and entry-points for youth participation in policymaking around agriculture and food security

La imagen y la narrativa como herramientas para el abordaje psicosocial en escenarios de violencia. Departamentos de Atlántico, Bolívar y Sucre

El conflicto armado de nuestro país, es una problemática de violencia que evoca infinitas narraciones a través de las experiencias de horror pero a la vez de transformación de vidas de diversas familias y comunidades de los departamentos y municipios de Colombia, experiencias subjetivas, violencias naturalizas a nivel social, político y económico, afectando la integridad de todos los colombianos, pero en especial a quienes sufren las consecuencias de las violencias generadas por los grupos al margen de la ley, como por ejemplo la exclusión social, desplazamiento forzoso, exilio, hasta perdida de la identidad cultural entre otras. En este trabajo encontraran el análisis de las voces de víctimas que vivieron complejas situaciones de violencia, experiencias de dolor, narraciones de superación y supervivencia, así mismo se expondrá la implantación de estrategias de intervención psicosocial para ayudar tanto a las víctimas como los sobrevivientes para así aportar al reconocimiento de la dignidad y los derechos de estas personas. Finalmente, se puede ver como los profesionales en la salud mental tenemos el reto de hacer parte de la transformación de vida de las personas víctimas de la violencia, por medio de la implementación estrategias de intervención, con el fin de mejorar la calidad de vida, construir una sociedad más justa, pacífica e inclusiva tanto de víctimas como de los sobrevivientes.The armed conflict in our country is a problem of violence that evokes infinite narratives through experiences of horror but at the same time the transformation of the lives of various families and communities in the departments and municipalities of Colombia, subjective experiences, natural violence through social, political and economic level, affecting the integrity of all Colombians, but especially those who suffer the consequences of violence generated by groups outside the law, such as social exclusion, forced displacement, exile, even loss cultural identity among others. In this work you will find the analysis of the voices of victims who lived through complex situations of violence, experiences of pain, narratives of overcoming and survival, likewise the implementation of psychosocial intervention strategies will be exposed to help both victims and survivors to thus contribute to the recognition of the dignity and rights of these people. Finally, it can be seen how mental health professionals the challenge has of being part of the transformation of the lives of victims of violence, through the implementation of intervention strategies, to improve the quality of life, build a more just, peaceful, and inclusive society for both victims and survivors

Drivers for coping with flood hazards: Beyond the analysis of single cases

Flood risks continue to pose serious threats to developing countries with dire ramifications for livelihoods. Yet, contemporary research on determinants for coping with flood hazards is driven mostly by individual cases with less effort to systematically identify coping strategies across multiple floods cases. This research analyses potential determinants of coping strategies to flooding across multiple floods using two case studies in Cameroon. Via empirical research, and qualitative/descriptive statistical analysis, the research investigated how human, social and economic/financial variables influence household coping decisions across the two flood sties. Results suggests a great influence of social and human capital on household decisions to adopt specific coping strategies, and that over 80% of flood victims in both study sites applied post-flood informal coping strategies. Analysis also shows significant inconsistencies with human capital variables, which reveal that coping determinants can be quite different even for floods occurring in the same agro-ecological zone. The findings also reveal that economic and financial capital has little influence on flood victims’ coping decisions, contrary to popular contentions in the literature. The results of this study have implications for research and policy implementation on flood-induced coping strategies in developing countries. Key words: coping strategies, determinants, flood hazards, multiple case

Multiplicity dependence of jet-like two-particle correlations in p-Pb collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 5.02 TeV

Two-particle angular correlations between unidentified charged trigger and associated particles are measured by the ALICE detector in p-Pb collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of 5.02 TeV. The transverse-momentum range 0.7 $< p_{\rm{T}, assoc} < p_{\rm{T}, trig} <$ 5.0 GeV/$c$ is examined, to include correlations induced by jets originating from low momen\-tum-transfer scatterings (minijets). The correlations expressed as associated yield per trigger particle are obtained in the pseudorapidity range $|\eta|<0.9$. The near-side long-range pseudorapidity correlations observed in high-multiplicity p-Pb collisions are subtracted from both near-side short-range and away-side correlations in order to remove the non-jet-like components. The yields in the jet-like peaks are found to be invariant with event multiplicity with the exception of events with low multiplicity. This invariance is consistent with the particles being produced via the incoherent fragmentation of multiple parton--parton scatterings, while the yield related to the previously observed ridge structures is not jet-related. The number of uncorrelated sources of particle production is found to increase linearly with multiplicity, suggesting no saturation of the number of multi-parton interactions even in the highest multiplicity p-Pb collisions. Further, the number scales in the intermediate multiplicity region with the number of binary nucleon-nucleon collisions estimated with a Glauber Monte-Carlo simulation.Comment: 23 pages, 6 captioned figures, 1 table, authors from page 17, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/161

Anisotropic flow of charged hadrons, pions and (anti-)protons measured at high transverse momentum in Pb-Pb collisions at sNN=2.76\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}}=2.76 TeV

The elliptic, $v_2$, triangular, $v_3$, and quadrangular, $v_4$, azimuthal anisotropic flow coefficients are measured for unidentified charged particles, pions and (anti-)protons in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{\rm NN}} = 2.76$ TeV with the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Results obtained with the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods are reported for the pseudo-rapidity range $|\eta|<0.8$ at different collision centralities and as a function of transverse momentum, $p_{\rm T}$, out to $p_{\rm T}=20$ GeV/$c$. The observed non-zero elliptic and triangular flow depends only weakly on transverse momentum for $p_{\rm T}>8$ GeV/$c$. The small $p_{\rm T}$ dependence of the difference between elliptic flow results obtained from the event plane and four-particle cumulant methods suggests a common origin of flow fluctuations up to $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$. The magnitude of the (anti-)proton elliptic and triangular flow is larger than that of pions out to at least $p_{\rm T}=8$ GeV/$c$ indicating that the particle type dependence persists out to high $p_{\rm T}$.Comment: 16 pages, 5 captioned figures, authors from page 11, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/186