Reforming the Liberal Welfare State : International Shocks, Unemployment and Household Income Shares

We would like to thank Suresh Chand Aggarwal, Deb Kusum Das, Wendy Li and participants at the IARIW 34th General Conference, Dresden, Gaaitzen de Vries, Marcel Timmer and seminar participants at Groningen, Holger Görg, Fredrik Sjöholm, and John Skåtun for useful comments and suggestions. This work was supported by the NORFACE ERA-NET (New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Co-operation in Europe Network) Welfare State Futures Programme, Grant Number 462-14-120. The usual disclaimer applies.Publisher PD

Employment to Output Elasticities & Reforms towards Flexicurity : Evidence from OECD Countries

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work was supported by the NORFACE ERA-NET (New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Co-operation in Europe Network) Welfare State Futures Programme, Grant Number 462-14-120. We thank Nils Braakmann, Sebastian Könings, Steve Matusz, Fredrik Sjöholm, John Skåtun, Allan Sørensen, participants of the NORFACE Welfare State Futures Programme “Globalisation, Labour Markets and the Welfare State” final workshop, and two anonymous referees for their valuable comments. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Promoting Entrepreneurship amid Youth in Windhoek’s Informal Settlements: A Namibian Case

Considering the high unemployment rate among Namibian youth and a lack of job opportunities, the promotion of entrepreneurship has gained wider attention in the country. A number of initiatives have been started such as entrepreneurship trainings and workshops, business idea competitions, etc. All these aim to inspire young people to think of alternative income sources. As part of a two-year funded community outreach research and development (R&D) project, we have investigated participatory approaches to engage marginalized youth into conceptualizing their own context, imparting skills, and deriving new career paths. This article reports and reflects on one of the interventions we have recently concluded with a group of youth in Havana, an informal settlement in the outskirts of Windhoek. We conducted what we entitled “The Havana Entrepreneur”, a series of interactions inspired upon the model of the American reality game show “The Apprentice”. Over a number of weeks two youth groups were given challenges to tackle by means of competing against one another. After completion of each challenge, groups were rated by a number of judges on skills demonstrated such as marketing, presentation, reflection and creativity among others. We observed an increase in, and improvement of skills revealed along tasks’ completion, besides an openly expressed self-realization and discovery of abilities by participants. Moreover, the youth are currently engaged in the continuation of activities beyond the initial entrepreneurial interactions. Thus we suggest replicating “The Havana Entrepreneur”, including the recording on camera of it by the youth themselves as a new mode to instigating a wider entrepreneurial spirit in informal settlements

Synaptic terminal density early in the course of schizophrenia: an in vivo UCB-J positron emission tomographic imaging study of synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A (SV2a).

BACKGROUND: The synaptic hypothesis is an influential theory of the pathoaetiology of schizophrenia. Supporting this, there is lower uptake of the synaptic terminal density marker UCB-J in patients with chronic schizophrenia compared to controls. However, it is unclear whether these differences are present early in the illness. To address this, we investigated [11C]UCB-J volume of distribution (VT) in antipsychotic-naïve/free patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) recruited from first-episode services compared to healthy volunteers (HV). METHODS: Forty-two volunteers (SCZ n = 21, HV n = 21) underwent [11C]UCB-J positron emission tomography to index [11C]UCB-J VT and distribution volume ratio (DVR) in the anterior cingulate, frontal, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, temporal, parietal and occipital lobes, hippocampus, thalamus and amygdala. Symptom severity was assessed in the SCZ group using the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). RESULTS: We found no significant effects of group on [11C]UCB-J VT or DVR in most regions of interest (effect sizes from d=0.0 to 0.7, p>0.05), other than lower DVR in the temporal lobe (d=0.7, uncorrected p<0.05) and lower VT/fp in the anterior cingulate cortex in patients (d=0.7, uncorrected p<0.05). PANSS total score was negatively associated with [11C]UCB-J VT in the hippocampus in the SCZ group (r =-0.48, p=0.03). CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that large differences in synaptic terminal density are not present early in schizophrenia, although there may be more subtle effects. When taken with prior evidence of lower [11C]UCB-J VT in patients with chronic illness, this may indicate synaptic density changes during the course of schizophrenia

Design and Performance Evaluation of a Solar Dryer

One of the ways to combat food insecurity as world population rises is the reduction of food losses. Drying is one of the oldest methods of food preservation and hence reduces food losses. Solar drying uses energy from the sun and an absorber material to carry out drying of produce. In this project, a solar dryer was designed, constructed and its performance was evaluated. The dryer has overall dimensions of 1000mm by 410mm by 700mm. The inner part of the dryer compartment was lagged with aluminum foil to act as an insulator. The solar collector made of galvanized sheet and the glass on top of it have an area of 800mm by 380mm. Fresh scotch bonnet pepper was used as the produce of choice. The pepper was dried in 2 experiments for 3 weeks each. 200g of pepper was used and weighed to measure weight loss periodically. Temperature and humidity of the drying chamber and the surrounding were measured with data loggers throughout the periods of the experiments. The results showed that the ambient temperature during the experiments was higher than the temperature of the drying chamber in the early hours of the morning between 4am and 10am. During every other period, the temperature in the drying chambers was higher than the ambient temperature. An average moisture content of 81.3% w.b. was removed from the pepper during the experiments. The average efficiency of the dryer was 28.4%

WITHDRAWN: Dataset on performance of solar dryer for scotch bonnet pepper drying

The use of solar drying systems to preserve agricultural products has been proven to be cheap, reliable, and environmentally friendly. Solar dryers offer advantages of shorter periods of drying, reduced loss of raw materials and larger scale of production. This paper presents method followed in evaluating the performance of three different solar dryers with different materials used for solar collectors in order to determine the best among the three. The evaluation was performed twice, and each evaluation was done for three weeks. The parameters recorded in these experiments are drying chamber temperature and humidity, solar collector temperature, ambient temperature and humidity and the weight loss of the pepper. It was observed that the temperature of all drying chambers was higher than ambient temperature during most hours of the day. While three different metals were used as solar collectors in dryers and attained significant different temperature through radiation from the sun, the energy transmitted through natural convection to the drying chambers of the dryers was not significantly different (at p ≤ 0.05) from one dryer to the other. The efficiency of the dryers was an average of 29.7%, 29.1% and 30.3% for stainless steel, mild steel and galvanized steel solar collectors respectively

De-Globalization, Welfare State Reforms and Labor Market Outcomes

We are grateful to two anonymous referees and to the Editor of the Journal for very constructive suggestions. We would also like to thank Stephen Boyd, Nils Braakmann, Holger Görg, Sebastian Könings, Steve Matsus, Fredrik Sjöholm, John Skåtun, Allan Sørensen and participants at the NORFACE Welfare State Futures Programme Final Conference at the EUI in Fiesole and at the GlobLabWS final workshop in Aberdeen for useful comments. This work was supported by the NORFACE ERA-NET (New Opportunities for Research Funding Agency Co-operation in Europe Network) Welfare State Futures Programme, Grant Number 462-14-120. The usual disclaimer applies.Peer reviewedPostprin

Performance of various cyanide degrading bacteria on the biodegradation of free cyanide in water

This study reports on the biodegradation of free cyanide (FCN) by cyanide degrading bacteria (CDB) that were isolated from mining wastewater and thiocyanate containing wastewater. The performance of these isolates was compared to cryopreserved CDBs that were used in previous studies. The performance of the isolates to degrade FCN was studied in batch cultures. It was observed that the CDB from the thiocyanate wastewater showed higher biodegradation rates (2.114 g CN−. L−1.O.D600 nm−1.h−1) compared to the isolates from the mining wastewater. The isolates from the cryopreserved CDBs and from the mining wastewater achieved a biodegradation rate of 1.285 g CN− L−1.O.D600 nm−1.h−1 and 1.209 g CN−.L−1.O.D600 nm−1.h−1, respectively. This study demonstrated that the source of the organisms plays a significant role on FCN biodegradatio

The histamine system and cognitive function: An in vivo H3 receptor PET imaging study in healthy volunteers and patients with schizophrenia

Background: The histamine-3 receptor (H3R) is an auto- and heteroreceptor that inhibits the release of histamine and other neurotransmitters. Post-mortem evidence has found altered H3R expression in patients with psychotic disorders, which may underlie cognitive impairment associated with schizophrenia (CIAS). Aims: We used positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to compare brain uptake of an H3R selective tracer between patients with schizophrenia and matched controls (healthy individuals). Regions of interest included the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and striatum. We explored correlations between tracer uptake and symptoms, including cognitive domains. Methods: A total of 12 patients and 12 matched controls were recruited to the study and were assessed with psychiatric and cognitive rating scales. They received a PET scan using the H3R-specific radioligand [11C]MK-8278 to determine H3R availability. Results: There was no statistically significant difference in tracer uptake between patients and controls in the DLPFC (t19 = 0.79, p = 0.44) or striatum (t21 = 1.18, p = 0.25). An exploratory analysis found evidence for lower volume of distribution in the left cuneus (pFWE-corrected = 0.01). DLPFC tracer uptake was strongly correlated with cognition in controls (trail making test (TMT) A: r = 0.77, p = 0.006; TMT B: rho = 0.74, p = 0.01), but not in patients (TMT A: r = −0.18, p = 0.62; TMT B: rho = −0.06, p = 0.81). Conclusions: These findings indicate H3R in the DLPFC might play a role in executive function and this is disrupted in schizophrenia in the absence of major alterations in H3R availability as assessed using a selective radiotracer for H3R. This provides further evidence for the role of H3R in CIAS