The global financial crisis and its aftermath: Economic and political recalibration in the non-sovereign Caribbean

© 2017, © 2017 CALACS. The small non-sovereign island jurisdictions (SNIJs) of the Caribbean have a privileged position in the global political economy, with significant political and economic autonomy on the one hand, and useful protections and support structures provided by their metropolitan powers on the other. However, the global financial and economic crisis of 2007–2008 highlighted starkly some of the fragilities of this privileged status; in particular their economic vulnerability and the unequal and often fractious relationship with their metropolitan powers. This article considers the British, Dutch, French, and US jurisdictions and the short- and longer-term impacts of the crisis. The article’s key concern is to assess the extent to which the instability in the global economy over the last decade has affected both the economic and political dynamic of these jurisdictions, and to what extent their unique position in the global political economy has been compromised

Virus removal from semen with a pinched-flow fractionation microfluidic chip

In the veterinary industry, due to the use of artificial insemination, a single infected boar can transfer a disease to a multitude of sows which can lead to a disease outbreak [1]. An example is the epidemic of classical swine fever (CSF) in the Netherlands in 1997-1998, where the semen of infected boars led to CSF outbreaks in farms all over the country and beyond [2]. To reduce the chance of such an event happening in the future, we present a pinched-flow fractionation device to remove viruses from semen while retaining a high percentage of spermatozoa

Relationship between the estimated breeding values for litter traits at birth and ovarian and embryonic traits and their additive genetic variance in gilts at 35 days of pregnancy

We investigated (1) the relationship between the estimated breeding values (EBVs) for litter traits at birth and ovulation rate (OR), average corpora luteal weight, uterine length and embryonic survival and development traits in gilts at 35 days of pregnancy by linear regression, (2) the genetic variance of OR, average corpora lutea (CL) weight, uterine length and embryonic survival and development traits at 35 days of pregnancy, and (3) the genetic correlations between these traits. Landrace (n = 86) and Yorkshire × Landrace (n = 304) gilts were inseminated and slaughtered at 35 days of pregnancy. OR was assessed by dissection of the CL on both ovaries. Individual CL was weighed and the average CL weight calculated. The number of embryos (total and vital) were counted and the vital embryos were individually weighed for calculation of within litter average and standard deviation (SD) of the embryo weight. Length of the uterine implantation site of the vital embryos was measured and the average per gilt calculated. Results suggests that increasing the EBV for total number of piglets born would proportionally increase OR and number of embryos, while decreasing the average CL weight. On the contrary, increasing the EBV for average piglet birth weight and for within litter birth weight standard deviation would increase the average CL weight. There was no relationship between the EBVs for BW and for BWSD and vital embryonic weight at 35 days of pregnancy. OR, average CL weight, number of embryos, average weight and implantation length of the vital embryos had all moderate to high heritabilities, ranging from 0.36 (±0.18) to 0.70 (±0.17). Thus, results indicate that there is ample genetic variation in OR, average CL weight and embryonic development traits. This knowledge could be used to optimize the balance between selection for litter size, average piglets birth weight and within litter birth weight uniformity