Measuring Poverty in the Pacific

Measuring poverty in the Pacific is important to keep poor people on the policy agenda, to design effective policies and programs and to carry out rigorous evaluation so that we know what works and why. There are various definitions of poverty, ranging from a narrow focus on adequate calorie consumption through to broader concepts of capabilities. This paper takes a practical look at how to measure one conventional indicator of poverty: income (or consumption) poverty. In doing so, the paper highlights both the limitations of household datasets in the Pacific as well as opportunities to make better use of data for poverty analysis. Good progress is being made in improving the quality of household surveys, so the challenge now is to analyse these more fully to inform policies, program design and evaluation.aid

Beyond Paris: 11 innovations in aid effectiveness

The current framework for improving aid effectiveness, the 'Paris' agenda of harmonisation and alignment, has been found lacking. Alternatives are needed. This paper highlights some examples of recent innovations in the management and delivery of development aid. Drawing upon Barder (2009) and Howes (2011), the paper structures 11 innovations into three categories: improving the quality of the aid donor; improving the quality of the aid recipient; and improving how donors interact and the way aid is given. By examining these 11 innovations, the paper shows that aid agencies have the potential to adapt and evolve. The challenge for donors is to start selecting good ideas for implementation now and to never stop searching for new innovations to improve aid effectiveness.aid

Mobility Measurements Probe Conformational Changes in Membrane Proteins due to Tension

The function of membrane-embedded proteins such as ion channels depends crucially on their conformation. We demonstrate how conformational changes in asymmetric membrane proteins may be inferred from measurements of their diffusion. Such proteins cause local deformations in the membrane, which induce an extra hydrodynamic drag on the protein. Using membrane tension to control the magnitude of the deformations and hence the drag, measurements of diffusivity can be used to infer--- via an elastic model of the protein--- how conformation is changed by tension. Motivated by recent experimental results [Quemeneur et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 111 5083 (2014)] we focus on KvAP, a voltage-gated potassium channel. The conformation of KvAP is found to change considerably due to tension, with its `walls', where the protein meets the membrane, undergoing significant angular strains. The torsional stiffness is determined to be 26.8 kT at room temperature. This has implications for both the structure and function of such proteins in the environment of a tension-bearing membrane.Comment: Manuscript: 4 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary Material: 8 pages, 1 figur

VOSpace: a Prototype for Grid 2.0

As Grid 1.0 was characterized by distributed computation, so Grid 2.0 will be characterized by distributed data and the infrastructure needed to support and exploit it: the emerging success of Amazon S3 is already testimony to this. VOSpace is the IVOA interface standard for accessing distributed data. Although the base definition (VOSpace 1.0) only relates to flat, unconnected data stores, subsequent versions will add additional layers of functionality. In this paper, we consider how incorporating popular web concepts such as folksonomies (tagging), social networking, and data-spaces could lead to a much richer data environment than provided by a traditional collection of networked data stores

Investigation Into the Responses of Physcomitrella patens to Herbivory and the Influence of Light on the Production of Defense Compounds

Plant defense mechanisms are well studied in many agriculturally relevant crops such as corn and tomatoes. Though less studied, the more ancestral nonvascular plants may be able to provide insights into the origin and working of modern plant defense systems. In this study, the bryophyte Physcomitrella patens was researched and the role of the jasmonic acid pathway in response to herbivory was investigated. Additionally, the impact of light intensity on the efficacy of this pathway was to be determined. After exposing the moss to various chemical elicitors and mechanical wounding, the activity of proteins produced in the JA pathway was measured. In P. patens, no definitive conclusions could be drawn regarding the role of JA in the defense against herbivory. Due to a lack of results from the initial experiments, the light experiments were not performed

Social Capital and Poverty in India

This paper is a motivated by the need to expand research on social capital and its effects on poverty. Studies of social capital and its economic payoffs have tended to focus on industrialised countries, whilst those studies which have focused on developing countries have been based on micro level survey data. This paper therefore addresses the need to look at social capital at the wider macro level while examining the impact of social capital on poverty. The paper focuses on poverty at the state level in India and asks the question: have those states with larger endowments of social capital been more successful at reducing poverty? In order to answer this question an econometric model of poverty is constructed that not only captures the effects of physical and human capital, but also includes social capital as a determinant of poverty. The paper concludes that there is some evidence to support the hypothesis that a state’s endowment of social capital does affect the ability of that state to reduce poverty