Leptodactylus knudseni

Number of Pages: 12Integrative BiologyGeological Science

Leptodactylus cunicularius

Number of Pages: 5Integrative BiologyGeological Science

Leptodactylus syphax

Number of Pages: 9Integrative BiologyGeological Science

The Changing Position of Agricultural Labourers in Villages in Rural Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, between 1981/2 and 1996

This paper looks at agricultural labourers in villages in Coimbatore district in 1981/2 and in 1996. It focuses on Chakkiliyans, the lowest status and most numerous Scheduled Caste group. It shows that while their position had barely changed over the decades prior to 1981/2, between 1981/2 and 1996 it changed dramatically, albeit less dramatically than one might have expected given all that was going on. 1981/2 to 1996 was a period in which (1)industrial and urban opportunities became available to virtually all labourers in the villages for the first time; (2)state policy became more favourable to labourers; and (3)village agriculture declined. The position of Chakkiliyans' agricultural employers weakened considerably between 1981/2 and 1996, but Chakkiliyans nevertheless found it difficult to stand up to them. This was partly because they were still getting a relatively attractive agricultural employment package in 1996, partly because they were in such a weak position in relation to alternative opportunities. Chakkiliyans found 'flexible' urban and industrial labour markets problematic because risky and available only on terms that were harsh. Moreover, housing and increased indebtedness in the villages resulted in Chakkiliyans being tied in some ways more strongly to agricultural employment in 1996 than in 1981/2. Other low caste labourers were getting urban and industrial opportunities that were likely to give them better prospects in the longer term. Chakkiliyans were not. The paper also considers the position of the two other groups of agricultural labourers in the villages in 1981/2, and their descendants in 1996. These were (1) a higher status Scheduled Caste group, Pannadis, and (2) a group of Caste Hindus. The contrast between the three 1981/2 labourer groups is illuminating, illustrating the important role played by caste and the way it operates in this context.

Predicting the Competitive Effects of Mergers by Listening to Customers

This article explores the role of customers in informing competition authorities and courts about the likely effects of proposed mergers. It discusses when, and about what, customers are most likely to be valuable sources of information. It also discusses the potential limitations of customer testimony. Customer views can certainly be informative. However, they are best employed as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, economic analysis that employs more objective evidence. Although the welfare of consumers appears increasingly to have been accepted by competition authorities as the appropriate goal for merger policy, customers will not necessarily have available the information required to predict the economic consequences of a proposed merger. And even when they do, customers may be reluctant reliably and accurately to provide that information, or to express their true opinions, to investigators and before courts. Worse yet, customers may themselves stand to benefit from mergers that are anticompetitive, or may be harmed by mergers that are welfare-enhancing. Appreciating both the strengths and the limitations of customer input is critical to the cause of sound merger enforcement, not only in the U.S., but overseas as well. A growing number of countries, many of whom have less experience or expertise than do competition authorities in the U.S., have begun to adopt merger control policies themselves, and are in the process of developing and implementing investigative best practices. They, at least as much as we, can benefit from better understanding the advantages, as well as the potential pitfalls, of using the views of customers to help ensure the welfare of consumers.

Turbulence in the Star-forming Interstellar Medium: Steps toward Constraining Theories with Observations

Increasingly sophisticated observational tools and techniques are now being developed for probing the nature of interstellar turbulence. At the same time, theoretical advances in understanding the nature of turbulence and its effects on the structure of the ISM and on star formation are occurring at a rapid pace, aided in part by numerical simulations. These increased capabilities on both fronts open new opportunities for strengthening the links between observation and theory,and for meaningful comparisons between the two.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, Summary of Interstellar Turbulence Sessions at the Workshop on Magnetic Fields and Star Formation: Theory versus Observation

Leptodactylus lithonaetes

Number of Pages: 3Integrative BiologyGeological Science