Errors in pigeons\u27 memory for number: Effects of ITI and DI illumination

In Experiment 1 all pigeons were trained to discriminate 2 flashes of hopper light in 4 sec from 8 flashes in 4 sec, at a 0 sec delay. One group of pigeons experienced dark lTl’s (Group Dark) while the other experienced an illuminated lTl (Group Light). All birds were then tested with dark delays of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 sec. Analysis showed a significant bias to respond to the comparison correct for small at extended delays, with no difference between groups. In Experiment 2 training was identical to that in Experiment l except that a 5 sec baseline delay was used. The pigeons were then tested at delays of 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 sec. Again, analysis showed a tendency to choose the comparison correct for small at delays longer than baseline, while at delays shorter than baseline they showed a bias to respond large. No group differences were observed. In Experiment 3, an illuminated Dl was introduced for both groups. Analysis showed a reversal of the biases observed in Experiment 2. At delays longer than baseline a choose-large bias occurred, while at delays shorter than baseline a choose-small bias was observed. Again, there were no group differences. It was hypothesized that illuminating the Dl added pulse counts to the pigeons’ memory for the samples, suggesting that an event switch was not being used, but that the total amount of light in each trial was being summed. The results are clearly inconsistent with the contusion hypothesis and support a subjective shortening account of memory biases for temporal discriminations. However, whether this theory can be extended to include a subjective shrinking of number remains in question

Investigating The Effect Of Bank Competition On Financial Stability In Ten African Countries

This paper explores the relationship between bank competition and financial sector stability using 2005–2010 data for ten African countries. The study utilises a Generalized Method of Moments approach to regress bank stability indices –Z-score, non-performing loans ratio and return on banks assets – on bank competition indices – Lerner-Index, Herfindahl-Hirschman Index total assets and Herfindahl-Hirschman Index total deposits. The findings show a robust positive relationship between market power and financial stability. This unequivocally suggests that there is a trade-off between bank competition and financial sector stability in these countries, as per the competition-fragility view

Smallholder Participation in Agricultural Value Chains: Comparative Evidence from Three Continents

Supermarkets, specialized wholesalers, and processors and agro-exporters’ agricultural value chains have begun to transform the marketing channels into which smallholder farmers sell produce in low-income economies. We develop a conceptual framework through which to study contracting between smallholders and a commodity-processing firm. We then conduct an empirical meta-analysis of agricultural value chains in five countries across three continents (Ghana, India, Madagascar, Mozambique, and Nicaragua). We document patterns of participation, the welfare gains associated with participation, reasons for non-participation, the significant extent of contract non-compliance, and the considerable dynamism of these value chains, as farmers and firms enter and exit frequently.

Becoming Librarian OER Advocates & Leaders: Spotlight on the SPARC Open Education Leadership Fellows

Presentation given at the 15th Annual Open Education Conference in Niagara Falls, New York

Effect of difficulty of task on throwing performance and coping strategies in team handball

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Developmentalism, dependency, and the state: industrial policy and structural transformation in Namibia since 1900

This thesis is about industrial development in Namibia over the 20th and 21st centuries: its causes, trajectory, vicissitudes, context, and politics. The research is premised on the notion that higher levels of industrial development are a good thing and that, to achieve large-scale industrial development, active state involvement is required (in other words, the state must successfully implement industrial policy). In the Namibian case, which has seen only limited industrial development and economic diversification over this time period, the thesis investigates what manufacturing sectors have been able to develop and why, why the Namibian state (both colonial and independent) has largely proved unwilling or unable to pursue industrial policy, and what exceptions there have been to this general rule of ambivalence from the state towards industrial development. To answer these questions, extensive archival research in Namibia, Switzerland, and the UK, data collection and analysis, and nearly one hundred interviews with government officials, leading economic actors, and members of civil society within Namibia were undertaken. There are two central arguments in this thesis concerning the conceptualisation of processes of industrial development. The first is that more attention needs to be paid to understanding the causes of commitment (or lack thereof) to industrial policy implementation from the state. Too often the state is assumed ex ante to be committed to achieving the structural transformation of the economy. The argument here is that this assumption does not hold true in a host of countries across the world. A key question for the thesis, then, is why are some states more ‘developmental’ than others? The second argument is that, in understanding challenges in industrial policy implementation, more analytical attention needs to be given to understanding power relations between and across countries, rather than just within a given country, as has often been the case in recent political economy works on industrial policy. The position taken here is that the now numerous country case studies of industrial policy do not, for the most part, give sufficient weight to the manner in which efforts towards industrial development can and are thwarted by the actions of other nations and foreign firms. The contribution of this thesis, therefore, is to present the first ever complete overview of industrial development in Namibia from the onset of colonial rule to present day. Moreover, it represents a novel attempt to explore the determinants of the strength of commitment to industrial policy from the state and the way in which international power dynamics affect industrial policy and processes of industrial development. The argument is that the main reason for limited industrial progress in Namibia has been that the country’s ‘system of accumulation’ (the dynamics of power in the country and the interests underpinning it), which has been perpetually created and recreated by domestic and international actors, has never considered structural transformation a priority, and accordingly the state has failed to actively pursue industrial policy. This has been to the detriment of long-term economic progress.Full scholarship from the Cambridge Political Economy Society Trust. Additional fieldwork funding from Smuts Memorial Fund and the Department of Politics and International Studies (Cambridge)