Alternative indices of political freedoms, property rights, and political instability for Zambia

This paper presents new institutional measures for Zambia. Coverage is of political rights and freedoms, of property rights, and of political instability. The sample period is from 1947 to 2007. Comparison of the indices with directly comparable Zimbabwean and Malawian series, shows strong sources of divergence in institutional conditions. The paper also considers interaction amongst the institutional measures, and between the institutional measures and measures of economic development. We find that there is an association among the institutional variables, with the various rights dimensions moving together, and being negatively associated with political instability. The evidence further suggests that the institutional measures are associated benevolently with economic development. In this sense the indicators of the present paper therefore conform to the precepts of the new institutional economicsInstitutions, Political freedom, Property rights, Political Instability and Zambia

Approaching stimuli bias attention in numerical space

Increasing evidence suggests that common mechanisms underlie the direction of attention in physical space and numerical space, along the mental number line. The small leftward bias (pseudoneglect) found on paper-and-pencil line bisection is also observed when participants ‘bisect’ number pairs, estimating (without calculating) the number midway between two others. Here we investigated the effect of stimulus motion on attention in numerical space. A two-frame apparent motion paradigm manipulating stimulus size was used to produce the impression that pairs of numbers were approaching (size increase from first to second frame), receding (size decrease), or not moving (no size change). The magnitude of pseudoneglect increased for approaching numbers, even when the final stimulus size was held constant. This result is consistent with previous findings that pseudoneglect in numerical space (as in physical space) increases as stimuli are brought closer to the participant. It also suggests that the perception of stimulus motion modulates attention over the mental number line and provides further support for a connection between the neural representations of physical space and number

Agriculturas de base ecológica na comunidade Barreira do Andirá.

Este trabalho teve como objetivo caracterizar e sistematizar agriculturas de base ecológica na comunidade Barreira do Andirá. Utilizando metodologia adequada e participativa, foram observadas algumas agriculturas como o uso de sistemas agroflorestais com a cultura principal sendo o guaraná, Paullinia cupana e a criação de abelhas meliponeas

Bisecting the mental number line in near and far space

Much evidence suggests that common posterior parietal mechanisms underlie the orientation of attention in physical space and along the mental number line. For example, the small leftward bias (pseudoneglect) found in paper-and-pencil line bisection is also found when participants "bisect" number pairs, estimating (without calculating) the number midway between two others. For bisection of physical lines, pseudoneglect has been found to shift rightward as lines are moved from near space (immediately surrounding the body) to far space. We investigated whether the presentation of stimuli in near or far space also modulated spatial attention for the mental number line. Participants bisected physical lines or number pairs presented at four distances (60, 120, 180, 240 cm). Clear rightward shifts in bias were observed for both tasks. Furthermore, the rate at which this shift occurred in the two tasks, as measured by least squares regression slopes, was significantly correlated across participants, suggesting that the transition from near to far distances induced a common modulation of lateral attention in physical and numerical space. These results demonstrate a tight coupling between number and physical space, and show that even such prototypically abstract concepts as number are modulated by our on-line interactions with the world

Identificação, caracterização e inserção no mercado de produtos orgânicos na região da Barreira do Andirá.

A pesquisa objetivou caracterizar as principais cadeias de produtos orgânicos da agricultura familiar e sua inserção no mercado. Foi realizada na comunidade Barreira do Andirá, município de Barreirinha - AM e poderá vir a subsidiar propostas de desenvolvimento local sustentável. Como ferramenta de pesquisa utilizou-se o método estudo de caso. Identificando-se duas importantes cadeias produtivas: a da mandioca e a do guaraná e, a importância da organização social para alcançar o desenvolvimento rural com base na agroecologia

Numbers Uniquely Bias Spatial Attention: A Novel Paradigm for UnderstandingSpatial-Numerical Associations

Over the past two-and-a-half decades, numerous empiricalstudies have demonstrated a relationship between numbersand space. A classic interpretation is that these spatial-numerical associations (SNAs) are a product of a stablemental number line (MNL) in the mind, yet others haveargued that SNAs are a product of transient mappings thatoccur in working memory. Importantly, although the latterinterpretation has no implications for the representation ofnumber, the former suggests that the representation ofnumber is inherently spatial. Here, we tease apart questionsof spatial representation (à la an MNL perspective) andspatial strategy (à la alternative accounts). In a novel place-the-number task, we demonstrate that numbersautomatically bias spatial attention whereas other ordinalsequences (i.e., letters) do not. We argue that this isevidence of an inherently spatial representation of numberand explore how this work may help answer futurequestions about the relationship between space andnumber

Frequentist p-values for large-scale-single step genome-wide association, with an application to birth weight in American Angus cattle.

Background: Single-step genomic best linear unbiased prediction (SSGBLUP) is a comprehensive method for genomic prediction. Point estimates of marker effects from SSGBLUP are often used for genome-wide association studies (GWAS) without a formal framework of hypothesis testing. Our objective was to implement p-values for singlemarker GWAS studies within the single-step GWAS (SSGWAS) framework by deriving computational algorithms and procedures, and by applying these to a large beef cattle population. Methods: P-values were obtained based on the prediction error (co)variances for single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), which were obtained from the prediction error (co)variances of genomic predictions based on the inverse of the coefficient matrix and formulas to estimate SNP effects. Results: Computation of p-values took a negligible time for a dataset with almost 2 million animals in the pedigree and 1424 genotyped sires, and no inflation of statistics was observed. The SNPs that passed the Bonferroni threshold of 10-5.9 were the same as those that explained the highest proportion of additive genetic variance, but even at the same significance levels and effects, some of them explained less genetic variance due to lower allele frequency. Conclusions: The use of a p-value for SSGWAS is a very general and efficient strategy to identify quantitative trait loci (QTL). It can be used for complex datasets such as those used in animal breeding, where only a proportion of the pedigreed animals are genotyped

Measurement based investigation of cooperative relaying

Abstract — In this paper we present measurements that involve two access points (APs) and two user terminals, each of which is equipped with 4 antennas, in an indoor office environment. The data allow for the simultaneous characterization of the multiple input-multiple output (MIMO) links from the APs to the user terminals and between the user terminals, and are, to the best of our knowledge, the first of their kind. We show that the links between user terminals are impaired by body shadowing, and have therefore much lower gains than the direct links to the APs. Moreover we investigate the statistics of the links, and their correlation. Based on these measurements, we investigate the performance of cooperative relaying in terms of rate improvement (for this analysis the data from only one AP are used). We show that a significant rate improvement can be achieved if the relaying node is free to set the power level at which it transmits, and if it is free to select which of its antennas is used to perform the relaying. I