102 research outputs found
Financing Peace: International and National Resources for Postconflict Countries and Fragile States
This background paper for the World Bankâs World Development Report 2011 discusses current financing arrangements for postconflict countries and fragile states, with a focus on official development assistance. In recent years a consensus has emerged that in these âdifficult environmentsâ the core objective is to build effective and legitimate governance structures that secure public confidence through provision of personal security, equal justice and the rule of law, economic well-being, and essential social services including education and health. Yet tensions persist between business-as-usual development policies on the one hand and policies responsive to the demands of peacebuilding on the other. The preferential allocation of aid to âgood performers,â in the name of maximizing its payoff in terms of economic growth, militates against aid to fragile and conflict-affected states. Compelling arguments can be made for assistance to âpoor performersâ if this can help to prevent conflict and build peace, but the difficulties that prompted donors to become more selective in aid allocation remain all too real. The move to selectivity came in response to evidence that in some contexts aid has perverse effects on economic performance. The same dilemma arises when aid is assessed in terms of its impact on peace and conflict: sometimes aid helps to prevent conflict and build peace, but sometimes it can have the opposite effect. This paper considers how international aid can more effectively help to build resilient states and durable peace.aid; conflict; peacebuilding; statebuilding; fiscal capacity
Paradigmas de vida: Produção e intercâmbio entre os Makassae do Timor oriental
O propĂłsito deste trabalho ĂŠ examinar as relaçþes entre a organização social de produção, o parentesco e a ideologia dos Makassae, principalmente, como elas se expressam nos ritos de intercâmbio entre grupos doadores e receptores de esposas,1 ritos esses de cunho matrimonial ou mortuĂĄrio. Esta ideologia de intercâmbio, juntamente com a cosmologĂa que a intercepta, compreende o paradigma de vidaâ dos Makassae, ou seja, a sua visĂŁo da reprodução da vida em seu sentido mais amplo. A compreensĂŁo desse paradigma de vida contribui para esclarecer a posição de cada sexo na sociedade Makassae em certos processos de produção e troca (preço da noiva e serviço da noiva). Implica, igualmente, em um padrĂŁo social mais geral de utilização de recursos materiais e alocação de recursos humanos. O modo de produção especĂfico empregado pelos Makassae e seu modo de parentesco, a meu ver, coincidem, sendo ambos informados e mutuamente reforçados por uma ideologia de intercambio que define as relaçþes preferenciais entre grupos sociais
Change and Exchange: Economies of Literature and Knowledge in Early Modern Europe
The introductory essay outlines the way in which Change and Exchange places literature, and, in a wider sense, imaginative practice, at the centre of early modern economic knowledge. Probing the affinity between economic and metaphorical experience in terms of the transactional processes of change and exchange, it sets up the parameters within which the essays in the volume collectively forge a language to grasp early modern economic phenomena and their epistemic dimensions. It prepares the reader for the stimulating combination of materials that the book presents: the range of generic contexts engendered by emergent economic practices, structures of feeling and modes of knowing made available by new economic relations, and economies of transformation in discursive domains that are distinct from âeconomicsâ as we understand it but cognate in their intuition of change and exchange as shaping agents
Category structure and the two learning systems of COVIS
An influential multi-process model of category learning, COVIS, suggests that a verbal or a procedural category learning process is adopted, depending on the nature of the learning problem. While the architectural assumptions of COVIS have been widely supported, there is still uncertainty regarding the types of category structures that are likely to engage each of the COVIS systems. We examined COVIS in an fMRI study with two novel (in terms of COVIS research) categorizations. One of the categorizations could be described by a simple, unidimensional, rule that was expected to favor the verbal system. The other categorization possessed characteristics typically associated with the procedural system, but could also potentially be verbalized using a rule more complex than the ones previously associated with the verbal system. We found that both categorizations engaged regions associated with the verbal system. Additionally, for both categorizations, frontal lobe regions (including left ventrolateral frontal cortex) were more engaged in the first compared to the second session, possibly reflecting the greater use of hypothesisâtesting processes in the initial stages of category acquisition. In sum, our results extend our knowledge of the conditions under which the verbal system will operate. These findings indicate that much remains to be understood concerning the precise interplay of the verbal and procedural categorization systems
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Category structure and the two learning systems of COVIS
An influential multi-process model of category learning, COVIS, suggests that a verbal or a procedural category learning process is adopted, depending on the nature of the learning problem. While the architectural assumptions of COVIS have been widely supported, there is still uncertainty regarding the types of category structures that are likely to engage each of the COVIS systems. We examined COVIS in an fMRI study with two novel (in terms of COVIS research) categorizations. One of the categorizations could be described by a simple, unidimensional, rule that was expected to favor the verbal system. The other categorization possessed characteristics typically associated with the procedural system, but could also potentially be verbalized using a rule more complex than the ones previously associated with the verbal system. We found that both categorizations engaged regions associated with the verbal system. Additionally, for both categorizations, frontal lobe regions (including left ventrolateral frontal cortex) were more engaged in the first compared to the second session, possibly reflecting the greater use of hypothesisâtesting processes in the initial stages of category acquisition. In sum, our results extend our knowledge of the conditions under which the verbal system will operate. These findings indicate that much remains to be understood concerning the precise interplay of the verbal and procedural categorization systems
Overexpression of Myocilin in the Drosophila Eye Activates the Unfolded Protein Response: Implications for Glaucoma
Glaucoma is the world's second leading cause of bilateral blindness with progressive loss of vision due to retinal ganglion cell death. Myocilin has been associated with congenital glaucoma and 2-4% of primary open angle glaucoma (POAG) cases, but the pathogenic mechanisms remain largely unknown. Among several hypotheses, activation of the unfolded protein response (UPR) has emerged as a possible disease mechanism.We used a transgenic Drosophila model to analyze whole-genome transcriptional profiles in flies that express human wild-type or mutant MYOC in their eyes. The transgenic flies display ocular fluid discharge, reflecting ocular hypertension, and a progressive decline in their behavioral responses to light. Transcriptional analysis shows that genes associated with the UPR, ubiquitination, and proteolysis, as well as metabolism of reactive oxygen species and photoreceptor activity undergo altered transcriptional regulation. Following up on the results from these transcriptional analyses, we used immunoblots to demonstrate the formation of MYOC aggregates and showed that the formation of such aggregates leads to induction of the UPR, as evident from activation of the fluorescent UPR marker, xbp1-EGFP. CONCLUSIONS / SIGNIFICANCE: Our results show that aggregation of MYOC in the endoplasmic reticulum activates the UPR, an evolutionarily conserved stress pathway that culminates in apoptosis. We infer from the Drosophila model that MYOC-associated ocular hypertension in the human eye may result from aggregation of MYOC and induction of the UPR in trabecular meshwork cells. This process could occur at a late age with wild-type MYOC, but might be accelerated by MYOC mutants to account for juvenile onset glaucoma
A Rapid, Strong, and Convergent Genetic Response to Urban Habitat Fragmentation in Four Divergent and Widespread Vertebrates
Urbanization is a major cause of habitat fragmentation worldwide. Ecological and conservation theory predicts many potential impacts of habitat fragmentation on natural populations, including genetic impacts. Habitat fragmentation by urbanization causes populations of animals and plants to be isolated in patches of suitable habitat that are surrounded by non-native vegetation or severely altered vegetation, asphalt, concrete, and human structures. This can lead to genetic divergence between patches and in turn to decreased genetic diversity within patches through genetic drift and inbreeding.We examined population genetic patterns using microsatellites in four common vertebrate species, three lizards and one bird, in highly fragmented urban southern California. Despite significant phylogenetic, ecological, and mobility differences between these species, all four showed similar and significant reductions in gene flow over relatively short geographic and temporal scales. For all four species, the greatest genetic divergence was found where development was oldest and most intensive. All four animals also showed significant reduction in gene flow associated with intervening roads and freeways, the degree of patch isolation, and the time since isolation.Despite wide acceptance of the idea in principle, evidence of significant population genetic changes associated with fragmentation at small spatial and temporal scales has been rare, even in smaller terrestrial vertebrates, and especially for birds. Given the striking pattern of similar and rapid effects across four common and widespread species, including a volant bird, intense urbanization may represent the most severe form of fragmentation, with minimal effective movement through the urban matrix
Inter-individual variability of stone marten behavioral responses to a highway
Efforts to reduce the negative impacts of roads on wildlife may be hindered if individuals within the population vary widely
in their responses to roads and mitigation strategies ignore this variability. This knowledge is particularly important for
medium-sized carnivores as they are vulnerable to road mortality, while also known to use available road passages (e.g.,
drainage culverts) for safely crossing highways. Our goal in this study was to assess whether this apparently contradictory
pattern of high road-kill numbers associated with a regular use of road passages is attributable to the variation in behavioral
responses toward the highway between individuals. We investigated the responses of seven radio-tracked stone martens
(Martes foina) to a highway by measuring their utilization distribution, response turning angles and highway crossing
patterns. We compared the observed responses to simulated movement parameterized by the observed space use and
movement characteristics of each individual, but naŨve to the presence of the highway. Our results suggested that martens
demonstrate a diversity of responses to the highway, including attraction, indifference, or avoidance. Martens also varied in
their highway crossing patterns, with some crossing repeatedly at the same location (often coincident with highway
passages). We suspect that the response variability derives from the individualâs familiarity of the landscape, including their
awareness of highway passage locations. Because of these variable yet potentially attributable responses, we support the
use of exclusionary fencing to guide transient (e.g., dispersers) individuals to existing passages to reduce the road-kill risk
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