Developing rainfall-based index insurance in Morocco

Cereal production accounts for about seventy percent of all agricultural land in Morocco. Cereal producer prices, influenced by the government, are higher than world prices. Production is divided into six broad agro-climatic zones. About half of cereal production is concentrated in the favorable, and intermediate zones; the rest occurs mostly in less favorable (arid and semi-arid) zones, with average annual rainfall below 450 millimeters. The authors assess the feasibility of rainfall-based index insurance, to provide effective, low-cost drought insurance for Moroccan farmers, and rural dwellers. Their analysis focuses on Morocco's three main cereal crops - hard wheat, soft wheat, and barley - using data on annual production, and planting from 1978-99. Maize is included in some of the analysis. The benefits of this program over the traditional insurance scheme are that it minimizes the risk of moral hazard, and adverse selection, and promotes a streamlined pay-out-process. These features make the program more attractive to international re-insurers, and investors in capital markets. A rainfall-indexed insurance product is feasible in Morocco, where the statistical correlation between rainfall, and cereal revenues is rather strong in seventeen provinces in the more favorable agro-climatic zones. Proportional rainfall insurance contracts, would pay the insured an amount based on the shortfall in actual rainfall, during a set period, compared with the trigger rainfall. The contracts could be purchased in any amount, allowing farmers to insure the full amount of their expected revenue, if they wish.Labor Policies,Water Conservation,Environmental Economics&Policies,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Insurance&Risk Mitigation,Climate Change

UPPER THORACIC SPINE (D2-D3) FRACTURE-DISLOCATION WITHOUT SPINAL CORD INJURY: A CASE REPORT

Fracture dislocations of the thoracic spine in extremly rare and when it occurs,it is considered the most unstable of spinal injuries and is almost always associated with injury to the spinal cord due to narrow spinal canal dimensions.Very few neurologically intact cases of thoracic spine fracture dislocation have been reported in the literature ,which are mostly around the dorsolumbar junction and none in the upper thoracic spine.Here we report a case of 44 years old man who was in a road traffic accident and diagnosed with fracture dislocation of D2 over D3 vertebra with no neurological deficit.Patient was treated with Posterior spinal stabilization,reduction and D2 laminectomy.Patient remanined neurologically intact post operatively.Here we discuss the significance of this injury and the neural sparing mechanism of posterior neural arch disruption(bilateral pedicle fracture and lamina fracture),which  preserves the spinal canal and the spinal cord from being damaged.We also discuss about the usefulness of CT scan and MR imaging in these injuries and the surgical approaches used in treating them.     Keywords-fracture dislocation,thoracic spine,surgical approaches Â&nbsp

2017 Robotic Instrument Segmentation Challenge

In mainstream computer vision and machine learning, public datasets such as ImageNet, COCO and KITTI have helped drive enormous improvements by enabling researchers to understand the strengths and limitations of different algorithms via performance comparison. However, this type of approach has had limited translation to problems in robotic assisted surgery as this field has never established the same level of common datasets and benchmarking methods. In 2015 a sub-challenge was introduced at the EndoVis workshop where a set of robotic images were provided with automatically generated annotations from robot forward kinematics. However, there were issues with this dataset due to the limited background variation, lack of complex motion and inaccuracies in the annotation. In this work we present the results of the 2017 challenge on robotic instrument segmentation which involved 10 teams participating in binary, parts and type based segmentation of articulated da Vinci robotic instruments

C-1 Root Schwannoma with Aggressive Lateral Mass Invasion

Schwannomas are relatively common, benign tumors that are thought to arise from the nerve sheath cell. Schwannomas of the C1 root are extremely rare and seldom invade lateral masses because they gradually increase in size and can extend through the wide space behind the lateral mass instead of the intervertebral foramen. We present here an unusual case of a benign schwannoma that aggressively invaded the lateral mass of C-1

Exploring the feasibility of private micro flood-insurance provision in Bangladesh

This article was published in Disasters [ © 2011 The Author(s) ] and the definite version is available at: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-7717.2010.01218.xThis paper aims to contribute to the debate on the feasibility of the provision of micro flood insurance as an effective tool for spreading disaster risks in developing countries and examines the role of the institutional-organisational framework in assisting the design and implementation of such a micro flood insurance market. In Bangladesh, a private insurance market for property damage and livelihood risk due to natural disasters does not exist. Private insurance companies are reluctant to embark on an evidently unprofitable venture. Testing two different institutional-organisational models, this research reveals that the administration costs of micro-insurance play an important part in determining the long-term viability of micro flood insurance schemes. A government-facilitated process to overcome the differences observed in this study between the nonprofit micro-credit providers and profit-oriented private insurance companies is needed, building on the particular competence each party brings to the development of a viable micro flood insurance market through a public-private partnership.Publishe

Cerebral Bypass Surgery: Level of Evidence and Grade of Recommendation

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Cerebral bypasses are categorized according to function (flow augmentation or flow preservation) and to characteristics: direct, indirect or combined bypass, extra-to-intracranial or intra-to-intracranial bypass, and high-, moderate- or low-capacity bypass. We critically summarize the current state of evidence and grades of recommendation for cerebral bypass surgery. METHODS The current indications for cerebral bypass are discussed depending on the function of the bypass (flow preservation or augmentation) and analyzed according to level of evidence criteria. RESULTS Flow-preservation bypass plays an important role in managing complex intracranial aneurysms (level of evidence 4; grade of recommendation C). Flow-preservation bypass is currently only very rarely indicated in the treatment of cerebral tumors involving major cerebral arteries (level of evidence 5; grade of recommendation D). The trend has evolved in favor of partial resection and radiotherapy. To preserve the flow, the bypass is always a direct bypass.Flow-augmentation bypass is currently recommended for Moyamoya patients with ischemic symptoms and compromised hemodynamics (level of evidence 4; grade of recommendation C) and patients with hemorrhagic onset (level of evidence 1B; grade of recommendation A). Flow-augmentation bypass is currently not recommended for patients with recently symptomatic carotid artery occlusion, even in the setting of compromised cerebral hemodynamics (level of evidence 1A; grade of recommendation A), but may be considered in patients with hemodynamic failure and recurrent medically refractory symptoms as a final resort (level of evidence 5; grade of recommendation D). CONCLUSIONS The results of recent randomized clinical trials narrow the indication for cerebral bypass in the setting of ischemic cerebrovascular disease. However, cerebral bypass is still very useful for managing complex intracranial aneurysms (not amenable to selective clipping or endovascular therapies) and is the only treatment option for managing symptomatic patients with Moyamoya vasculopathy and impaired brain hemodynamics

Isosurface Visualization Using Augmented Reality for Improving Tumor Resection Outcomes

Thesis (Master's)--University of Washington, 2017-06Tumor resection techniques have significantly improved survival rates in cancer patients. However, these require chemotherapy or radiation as follow-up procedures. With the advent of Mixed Reality technology, a wide range of possibilities have opened for the field of surgery. This work explores the use of mixed reality for maximizing tumor margin removed during surgical procedures. An isosurface reconstruction algorithm was integrated with the Microsoft HoloLens, a self-contained holographic computer, to enable visualization of Computed Tomography (CT) imaging superimposed in 3D on the patient. The results suggest that though the device has limitations at its current stage, the Microsoft HoloLens could be used for planning and overlaying the imaging information on the patient for excision of lesions in real-time. The modules developed could also be extended to other types of surgery involving visualization of Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) files