Assessing the adoption and impact of organic and fair trade certification of pepper in India

[no abstract

We're (Not) Talkin' Bout a Revolution : Anti-colonial Struggles and Their (Un)justifications

Book SymposiumNon peer reviewe

The role of the corticomotorneurons in pathogenesis of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, degenerative disease of the motor system clinically defined by the presence of upper and lower motor neuron (LMN) signs. The site of onset of pathophysiology within the motor system in ALS remains unresolved and this thesis examines the role of the corticomotor neuron in the pathogenesis of ALS. The diagnostic utility of the split-hand sign in ALS involving preferential wasting of the ‘thenar’ group of intrinsic hand muscles namely the abductor pollicis brevis (APB) and first dorsal interosseous (FDI) was established by recording the split-hand index (SI) which was noted to reliably differentiate ALS from mimic neuromuscular disorders. The cortical and axonal excitability characteristics of the ‘thenar’ muscles namely the APB and FDI was compared with the hypothenar abductor digiti minimi (ADM) with threshold tracking transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) studies revealing cortical hyperexcitability to be a feature of ALS pronounced over the ‘thenar’ muscles while axonal hyperexcitability while a feature of ALS, did not selectively affect the prominently wasted ‘thenar’ muscles. Cortical hyperexcitability was also noted to precede the development of lower motor neuron dysfunction in a clinically and neurophysiologically normal APB muscle. The selective vulnerability of muscles in ALS was further defined by the split hand plus sign with a greater degree of cortical hyperexcitability over the preferentially wasted APB muscle in ALS patients when compared with a similarly innervated and relatively preserved flexor pollicis longus (FPL) muscle. In summary, corticomotorneuronal hyperexcitability as a marker of corticomotorneuronal dysfunction predominates over the muscles which are preferentially wasted in ALS and precedes evidence of lower motor neuron loss. The findings presented in this thesis support the primacy of the corticomotor neuron in the pathogenesis of the split hand phenomenon and suggest a mechanism for the pathogenesis of ALS

Between Marxplaining and Solidarity: The Moral Logics of Venezuela's Populist Divide

This thesis examines the ‘moral logic’ implicit in populist ‘divides’—radical social polarisation— by looking at the case of crisis-ridden Venezuela. I examine Venezuela’s divide from the ‘ground-up’: through the eyes of two confronted groups residing abroad: non-Venezuelan supporters of the Maduro government (‘solidarity activists’), who blame the US for Venezuela’s crisis; and Venezuelan migrants, who have left Venezuela at different points in the last 20 years, and blame the government. The divide coerces understandings of democracy, race relations, ‘the people,’ sovereignty, human rights, even colonialism and imperialism. Both discourses hold these to be values to be protected, or conversely ‘wrongs’ to be shunned; conflict arises from respective discursiveconstructionsthat set differing hierarchies or priorities to those values. Both groups can forgo some of their less prioritised values, in the belief that having their side prevail is ultimately what is ‘good’ for Venezuela in the long-term: either keeping or dismantling Chavismo. Central to the Venezuelan divide, then, are different knowledges and epistemologies of oppression, inflicted suffering, well-being and flourishing. Yet, I will argue that these opposed political positions are strikingly consonant in their logic: overwhelmingly both groups resort to moral arguments to express what they feel about Venezuela’s dire situation, their understanding of the opposing political faction, and the legitimacy of President Maduro’s governance. They express moral emotions responding to their judgements of 'the other' and blame attribution: anger, contempt, disgust (not incidentally, markers of populist discourse). Their positions, although based on a ‘political’ issue, were, as they describe, of deep moral concern—that is, about ‘doing the right thing.’ This meant that one of the most socially problematic consequences of these logics is that approximation with the other side, rapprochement or dialogue, is seen as immoral in itself.Gates Cambridge Trus

Not in the name of the 'Other' : The Democratic Concept of International Adjudication through the Looking Glass

Non peer reviewe

Rage for Order : The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800–1850, written by Lauren Benton and Lisa Ford

Reviewed book: Lauren Benton and Lisa Ford, Rage for Order. The British Empire and the Origins of International Law, 1800–1850. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2016, 288 pp.; ISBN: 9780674737464, $39.95.Peer reviewe

Negotiating Subjection : The Political Economy of Protection in the Iraqi Mandate (1914-1932)

The Mandate System provided a viable means for protecting European interests (without annexation), embedding the principle of foreign property protection as the basis for future relations between capital exporting and importing states. At the same time, the Mandates also protected the non-European Mandate inhabitants in preparation for their emancipation by introducing welfare measures, development, and ‘order’ that could support the protection of (foreign) property. The Iraqi example best explicates how the Mandate System uniquely combined vestiges of older imperial protection models and a future model for newly emancipated states, demonstrating the fluidity between the imperial and the international. I argue that such a fluidity helped facilitate a reciprocal causality between protecting people and protecting property, where protecting Iraqis facilitated British propertied interests. Equally, by separating the protection of people and property, I show how political self-determination of Mandate inhabitants remained distinct from their economic emancipation. Through these arguments, I demonstrate how protection of people and property was divergent and mutually constitutive.Peer reviewe