COMMODITY AID AND COUNTERPART FUNDS IN SUB?SAHARAN AFRICA: SOME MACROECONOMIC ASPECTS

Summary Commodity (especially food) aid, counterpart funds from recipient sale of external aid (commodities or import support forex) and the macroeconomics of structural adjustment in sub?Sanaran Africa have become an academically and operationally prominent interlocking cluster of issues. Standard present analysis is both incomplete (especially on multiplier and production linkage impact) and too general (on sectoral and commodity specificities). As a result, CA/CF analysis and practice is rarely integrated into macro/sectoral strategy and policy; and procedures are discussed without adequate attention to their impact on national analytical and accountability capacity. These are not inherent limitations of CA/CF and can be addressed by acting within a clearer conceptual framework, elements toward which are set out. Résumé L'aide en matières premières et les fonds de contrepartie en Afrique sous?saharienne: une discussion des aspects macro?économiques Toute une série de questions: l'aide en matières premières (surtout alimentaires), les fonds de contrepartie dérivés des ventes de l'aide extérieure (par ex. les matières premières, le soutien à l'importation) par le donataire et les aspects macroéconomiques de l'ajustement structurel en afrique sous?saharienne seront désormais imbriquées en raison de leur proéminence tant au niveau intellectuel qu'au niveau opérationnel. Actuellement, l'explication conventionnelle est à la fois incomplète (surtour au niveau de l'impact sur la production et de l'impact multiplicateur) et trop généralisée (relativement aux aspects spécifiquement ‘secteur’ et ‘matières premières’). En conséquence, l'analyse et la pratique relatives à l'aide en matières premières et aux fonds de contrepartie ne sont que rarement intégrées dans les stratégies et les politiques macro/secteur. Qui plus est, les procédures sont souvent discutées sans réfléchir à leur impact sur les capacités d'analyse et de comptabilité au niveau national. Il ne s'agit aucunement de limitations intrinsèques de l'aide en matières premières ou des fonds de contrepartie, ainsi peut?on s'y adresser en agissant au sein de paramètres conceptuels mieux définis: tels que ceux que mentionne l'article. Resumen La asistencia en especie y los fondos de contrapartida en Africa sub?Sahariana; algunos aspectos macroeconómicos La asistencia en especie (especialmente alimentario), los fondos de contrapartida provenientes de la venta de asistencia externa, (productos o apoyo a las importaciones) y la macroeconomía del ajuste estructural en Africa sub?Sahariana, se han transformado en un conjunto de cuestiones entrelazadas operacional y académicamente. El análisis corriente actual es al mismo tiempo incompleto (especialmente en lo que se refiere al impacto de la conexión productiva), y demasiado general (en especificaciones sectorales y de producción). Como resultado, el análisis y la práctica de estos dos aspectos raramente son integrados en las políticas y estrategias macro/sectorales; y se discuten procedimientos sin atención adecuada a su impacto en la capacidad de responsabilidad analítica nacional. Estas no son limitaciones inherentes a las dos cuestiones, y pueden ser encaradas actuando dentro de una estructura conceptual más clara, para la cual se exponen algunos elementos en el presente artículo

I’ve got a mobile phone too! Hard and soft assistive technology customization and supportive call centres for people with disability

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine the use of a mobile technology platform, software customization and technical support services by people with disability. The disability experience is framed through the participants’ use of the technology, their social participation. Method: A qualitative and interpretive research design was employed using a three-stage process of observation and semi-structured interviews of people with disability, a significant other and their service provider. Transcripts were analyzed to examine the research questions through the theoretical framework of PHAATE–Policy, Human, Activity, Assistance and Technology and Environment. Results: The analysis revealed three emergent themes: 1. Engagement and activity; 2. Training, support and customization; and 3. Enablers, barriers and attitudes. Conclusions: The findings indicate that for the majority of users, the mobile technology increased the participants’ communication and social participation. However, this was not true for all members of the pilot with variations due to disability type, support needs and availability of support services. Most participants, significant others and service providers identified improvements in confidence, security, safety and independence of those involved. Yet, the actions and attitudes of some of the significant others and service providers acted as a constraint to the adoption of the technology. Implications for Rehabilitation Customized mobile technology can operate as assistive technology providing a distinct benefit in terms of promoting disability citizenship. Mobile technology used in conjunction with a supportive call centre can lead to improvements in confidence, safety and independence for people experiencing disability. Training and support are critical in increasing independent use of mobile technology for people with disability. The enjoyment, development of skills and empowerment gained through the use of mobile technology facilitate the social inclusion of people with disability

Disability citizenship and independence through mobile technology? A study exploring adoption and use of a mobile technology platform

© 2016 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. Abstract: This article explores the use of a mobile technology platform as experienced by people with disability, their significant other and service providers. An interpretive qualitative study design was adopted involving observations and interviews. The data were analysed using the combined lenses of the social approach to disability and the PHAATE model which represents the factors for consideration in service design for assistive technology. The findings suggest that the adoption of the technology by those in the study could be characterised by a typology of users. The implications of the typology are discussed together with the influencing factors that affected social participation and disability citizenship

Assessing the Impact of Metacognitive Post-Reflection Exercises on Problem-Solving Skillfulness

We studied the impact of metacognitive reflections on recently completed work as a way to improve the retention of newly-learned problem-solving techniques. Students video-recorded themselves talking through problems immediately after finishing them, completed ongoing problem-solving strategy maps or problem-sorting exercises, and filled out detailed exam wrappers. We assessed students' problem-solving skillfulness using a combination of validated instruments and final exam questions scored using a rubric that targets problem-solving best practices. We found a small but significant difference between the rubric score distributions for the control and treatment groups. However, a multiple ordered logistic regression using treatment and Force Concept Inventory (FCI) pre-test score as predictors showed that this difference is better explained by the latter. The surprising impact of conceptual preparation on problem-solving skill suggests two things: the importance of remediation for students with insufficient conceptual understanding and the need to consider problem-solving interventions in the context of students' conceptual knowledge base.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figure

Investigations into the Microbial Ecology and Limnology of Hyrum Reservoir, in Northern Utah

A series of preliminary investigations was carried out to determine the factors promoting the dense, late summer waterblooms of Aphanizomenon flos-aguae in Hyrum Reservoir in northern Utah. Attempts were made to culture the Aphanizomenon in the ASM-8a medium of O\u27Flaherty and Phinney (J. Phycol. 6:95-97. 1970), but no growth was obtained and the algae soon lysed. Cultures were maintained, without growth, for more than four months in a lake water--lake sediment medium at 17 C under 1500 lux flourescent light. Dissolved oxygen measurements using an in situ probe revealed the development of a sharp oxycline during the summer months; on one day the dissolved oxygen concentration was observed to drop from 118% saturation (8.6 mg O2/1) at 6.5 meters depth, to 33% saturation (2.4 mg O2/l) at 7 meters, with a concurrent temperature decrease from 21.5 C to 21 C. During the same period, pH was found to drop from 8.6 at the surface to 8.5 at 5 meters, 8.0 at 10 meters, and to 7.8 at the bottom (16 meters). Secchi disc depth corresponded to 14% of the incident radiation, this depth varying from l.3 to l.8 meters during the algal bloom. The photic zone (1% of incident radiation) extended to 3.5 meters depth. Water samples were collected from late April until early October , and these were analyzed for total organic carbon (TOC) using a Beckman model 915 total organic carbon analyzer. The organic carbon concentrations were found not to vary significantly with season or location. Many of the samples contained large numbers of Aphanizomenon but carbon analyses did not reflect this. It was concluded that the phytoplankton carbon in the reservoir was so much smaller than the carbon in the form of other organic materials, such as microseston, bacteria, detritus, colloids, and dissolved material, that fluctuations in algal carbon were therefore masked by the large amount of carbon continually present in these other forms. The mean organic carbon concentration for the lake was 4.6 mg/1 (n=118, s=1.47) and the range was from 1.2 to 8.9 mg TOC/1. The repeatability of measurements with the carbon analyzer is only within a range of 2 mg C/1, so the instrument is not sufficiently accurate for lake water analysis without the use of concentration techniques. Some trends were observed, but only at a l ow level of statistical significance: TOC concentration decreased slightly with depth, and TOC was correlated with stream discharge in the Little Bear River, which feeds the reservoir. An increase in TOC concentration in the reservoir during the algal bloom could not be verified statistically

Repeated ischaemic preconditioning: A novel therapeutic intervention and potential underlying mechanisms.

Ischaemic preconditioning (IPC) refers to the phenomenon that short periods of cyclical tissue ischaemia confer subsequent protection against ischaemia-induced injury. As a consequence, IPC can ameliorate the myocardial damage following infarction and reduce infarct size. The ability of IPC to confer remote protection makes IPC a potentially feasible cardioprotective strategy. In this review, we discuss the concept that repeatedly exposing tissue to IPC may increase the "dose" of protection, and subsequently lead to enhanced protection against ischaemia-induced myocardial injury. This may be relevant for clinical populations, who demonstrate attenuated efficacy of IPC to prevent or attenuate ischaemic injury (and therefore myocardial infarct size). Furthermore, episodic IPC facilitates repeated exposure to local (e.g. shear stress) and systemic (e.g. hormones, cytokines, blood-borne substances) stimuli, which may induce improvement in vascular function and health. Such adaptation may contribute to prevention of cardio- and cerebro-vascular events. The clinical benefits of repeated IPC may, therefore, result from both the prevention of ischaemic events and attenuation of their consequences. We provide an overview of the literature pertaining to the impact of repeated IPC on cardiovascular function, related to both local and or remote adaptation, as well as potential clinical implications. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Exploiting stochastic locality in lattice QCD: hadronic observables and their uncertainties

Because of the mass gap, lattice QCD simulations exhibit stochastic locality: distant regions of the lattice fluctuate independently. There is a long history of exploiting this to increase statistics by obtaining multiple spatially-separated samples from each gauge field; in the extreme case, we arrive at the master-field approach in which a single gauge field is used. Here we develop techniques for studying hadronic observables using position-space correlators, which are more localized, and compare with the standard time-momentum representation. We also adapt methods for estimating the variance of an observable from autocorrelated Monte Carlo samples to the case of correlated spatially-separated samples.Comment: 45 pages, 16 figures, 3 table

Improved Test Planning and Analysis Through the Use of Advanced Statistical Methods

The goal of this work is, through computational simulations, to provide statistically-based evidence to convince the testing community that a distributed testing approach is superior to a clustered testing approach for most situations. For clustered testing, numerous, repeated test points are acquired at a limited number of test conditions. For distributed testing, only one or a few test points are requested at many different conditions. The statistical techniques of Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Design of Experiments (DOE) and Response Surface Methods (RSM) are applied to enable distributed test planning, data analysis and test augmentation. The D-Optimal class of DOE is used to plan an optimally efficient single- and multi-factor test. The resulting simulated test data are analyzed via ANOVA and a parametric model is constructed using RSM. Finally, ANOVA can be used to plan a second round of testing to augment the existing data set with new data points. The use of these techniques is demonstrated through several illustrative examples. To date, many thousands of comparisons have been performed and the results strongly support the conclusion that the distributed testing approach outperforms the clustered testing approach

Linking Relief and Development: An Introduction and Overview

Summary The article explores why the idea of ‘linking relief and development’ has become popular, but also why implementation is slow. It reviews frameworks of analysis, and identifies (a) development interventions that reduce the frequency, intensity and impact of shocks, (b) relief measures that reinforce development and (c) approaches to rehabilitation. It then analyses five underlying issues: the question of ‘horses for courses’; institutions, politics and planning; state versus civil society; costs and trade?offs; and the special case of complex political emergencies accompanied by war. The paper concludes that there are some circumstances where efforts to link relief and development are not justified; but that in many other cases, the approach makes sense. The main constraints encountered are institutional and political, but there is room for manoeuvre and practical suggestions are made. Resumé Allier l'aide d'urgence et le développement: introduction et vue d'ensemble Les auteurs de l'article demandent pourquoi, dans un premier temps, l'idée d'“allier l'aide d'urgence au développement” s'est acquise tant de popularité et, dans un deuxième temps, pourquoi la réalisation de cette idée a été si lente. Ils offrent un compterendu des structures analytiques et identifient (i) les interventions développementales qui servent à réduire la fréquence, l'intensité et l'impact des perturbations; (ii) les mesures d'aide d'urgence qui servent à renforcer le développement; et (iii) les approches de réhabilitation. L'article présente ensuite une analyse de cinq questions sous?jacentes: la question pratique du financement selon différents besoins et contextes; l'interaction de la politique, de la planification et des institutions; les rôles respectifs de l'état et de la société civile; les coûts et les concessions mutuelles; et le cas particulier des situations politiques complexes qui surgissent en période de guerre. La conclusion des auteurs est qu'il peut exister des circonstances dans lesquelles les efforts pour allier l'aide d'urgence au développement cessent d'être justifiables mais que dans de nombreux autres cas, par contre, cette approche est raisonnable. Les principaux obstacles seraient d'un ordre politique et institutionnel; ceci dit, des possibilités existent, et les auteurs proposent certains moyens pour y parvenir. Resumen Integración asistencia desarrollo: introducción y perspective general Este artículo explora los motivos por los cuales la idea de vincular asistencia con desarrollo se ha hecho popular, pero también por qué la implementación es lenta. Revisa las bases para el análisis, eidentifica: a) intervenciones de desarrollo que reducen la frecuencia, intensidad e impacto de los choques; b) medidas de asistencia que refuerzan el desarrollo; y c) enfoques para la rehabilitación. El artículo continúa con un análisis de cinco temas subyacentes: la cuestión de ‘a cada cual lo suyo’; instituciones, política y planeamiento; Estado versus sociedad civil; costos y alternativas; y el caso especial de complejas emergencias políticas con conflictos armados. Se llega a la conclusión de que en algunas situaciones no se justifica el esfuerzo para vincular asistencia y desarrollo; pero que, en muchos otros casos, es un enfoque muy aceptable. Sus principales limitaciones son de orden institucional y político, pero hay espacio para negociar y el artículo ofrece sugestiones prácticas al respecto

Lameness in dairy heifers; impacts of hoof lesions present around first calving on future lameness, milk yield and culling risk

The importance of lameness in primiparous dairy heifers is increasingly recognised. Although it is accepted that clinical lameness in any lactation increases the risk of future lameness, the impact of foot lesions during the first lactation on long-term lameness risk is less clear. This retrospective cohort study aimed to investigate the impacts of foot lesions occurring around the time of first calving in heifers on future lameness risk, daily milk yield and survival within a dairy herd. Records were obtained for 158 heifers from one UK dairy herd. Heifers were examined in 2 month blocks from 2 months pre-calving through to 4 months post-calving. Sole lesions and white line lesions were scored on a zero to 10 scale and digital dermatitis on a zero to 3 scale. Outcomes investigated were; lameness risk based on weekly locomotion scores, average daily milk yield and culling risk. Mixed effect models were used to investigate associations between maximum lesion scores and outcomes. Lesion scores in the highest score categories for claw horn lesions (sole lesions and white line lesions) in the 2 to 4 month post-calving period were associated with an increased risk of future lameness; heifers with white line lesion scores ≥3 compared with scores zero to 1 and heifers with sole lesion scores ≥4 compared with score 2, at this time point, had a predicted increased risk of future lameness of 1.6 and 2.6 respectively. Sole lesions ≥4 were also associated with a reduction in average daily milk yield of 2.68 kg. Managing heifers to reduce claw horn lesions during this time period post-calving may provide health, welfare and production benefits for the long-term future of those animals. A novel finding from the study was that mild lesion scores compared with scores zero to 1, were associated with a reduced risk of future lameness for white line lesions and sole lesions occurring in the pre-calving or 2 to 4 months post-calving periods respectively. Mild sole lesions in the pre-calving period were also associated with a reduced risk of premature culling. One hypothesis for this result is that a mild insult may result in adaptive changes to the foot leading to greater biomechanical resilience and so increased longevity