1,350 research outputs found
Trade Liberalisation, Efficiency and South Africa's Sugar Industry
This paper reports the results of a computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis of the South African sugar industry. The study was inspired by analyses of the EU South Africa Free Trade Agreement that indicated the importance of sugar exports to the welfare gains from agricultural trade liberalisation and by the increasing pressure upon OECD countries to reform their sugar (trade) policies. In addition to the effects of trade liberalisation this study also considers the implications of increases in the efficiency with which sugarcane is converted to raw sugar, which is an important determinant of the competitiveness of sugar production and exports. The results indicate that there would be substantial welfare gains across all household groups and that overall agricultural producers in South Africa should benefit; however there are substantial variations in the impact upon agricultural producers in different provinces, with farmers in some provinces facing reductions in the profitability of farming
Cognitive Innovation: A View From The Bridge
Two pages in Journal with remainder published on-lin
Cognitive Innovation, Irony and Collaboration
What seems clear from the experiences of researchers in CogNovo is that the concept of cognitive innovation offered a new vocabulary, and thus a clear space, within which creativity could be explored free from the baggage of prior conflicting definitions. The concept was, from its inception, intrinsically ironic in the sense that Richâ ard Rorty developed the term. Although initially we did not fully appreciate the potential this offered, approaching creativity under the rubric of cognitive innovaâ tion led to novel ideas that would not have emerged if we had taken a more conâ venâ tional discipline-led approach. One example was expressing creativity as a mathematical function and as a media form in a parallel text. The absurdity of describing a process of such complexity in this form did not pass us by. However, this self-conscious irony, not a common rhetorical strategy in the sciences, clarified our understanding of cognitive innovation as a recursive function that allowed us to express a continuity between the basic life processes of exploration, innovation and the construction of the self, and the social and cultural ramifications of these processes; creativity. It led us to conclude that cognitive innovation furnishes a view of the self as a dynamic entity, for whom reality and novelty are contingent on oneâs current state, both of which can change and be changed, and offers a means for enhancing the rigor of the current debate on what counts as creative. It also reveals the value of irony in not disavowing the inevitability of multiple perspectives and prospectives on reality, and consequently offers a way to avoid unnecessary reductivism. In this paper, we will argue, as we take the insights of CogNovo forward, that irony offers a hitherto unappreciated strategy for collaborative research
Through the looking-glass:Mirror feedback modulates temporal and spatial aspects of bimanual coordination
Mirror therapy has become an effective and recommended intervention for a range of conditions affecting the upper limb (e.g. hemiparesis following stroke). However, little is known about how mirror feedback affects the control of bimanual movements (as performed during mirror therapy). In this study, in preparation for future clinical investigations, we examined the kinematics of bimanual circle drawing in unimpaired participants both with (Experiment 1) and without (Experiment 2) a visual template to guide movement. In both experiments, 15 unimpaired right-handed participants performed self-paced continuous bimanual circle-drawing movements with a mirror/symmetrical coordination pattern. For the mirror condition, vision was directed towards the mirror in order to monitor the reflected limb. In the no mirror condition, the direction of vision was unchanged, but the mirror was replaced with an opaque screen. Movements of both hands were recorded using motion capture apparatus. In both experiments, the most striking feature of movements was that the hand behind the mirror drifted spatially during the course of individual trials. Participants appeared to be largely unaware of this marked positional change of their unseen hand, which was most pronounced when a template to guide movement was visible (Experiment 1). Temporal asynchrony between the limbs was also affected by mirror feedback in both experiments; in the mirror condition, illusory vision of the unseen hand led to a relative phase lead for that limb. Our data highlight the remarkable impact that the introduction of a simple mirror can have on bimanual coordination. Modulation of spatial and temporal features is consistent with the mirror inducing a rapid and powerful visual illusion, the latter appearing to override proprioceptive signals.</p
MSYRâshould the information which has become available since selections were made for RMP development in 1987 have changed perceptions on the likely range and relative plausibilities of values for this parameter for baleen whales
It is argued that continued attempts to estimate MSYR from accumulating data, to refine the plausible range of values for this parameter and relative plausibilities within this range, cannot be other than a crucial component of the process of development (and, in due course, refinement) of the Revised Management Procedure (RMP) and of the interpretation of the results of the associated Implementation Simulation Trials (ISTs) for particular RMP applications. In 1987, when the range of MSYR values for RMP trials was first specified, four of the six independent sources of information available suggested definite "low" MSYR values (~1%). None of these four sources appears to have survived to the present. Estimates of MSYR for twenty populations have become available since 1987 - eleven based on population model fits and the balance on the relationship MSYR > r(0)/2. Two arguments advanced previously against the use of this last relationship are considered: the one is dismissed because it lacks support in empirical data, while the other appears negated by an analysis by Best (1993). In the fourteen cases where estimates of MSYR (in terms of uniform selectivity harvesting on the 1+ population) are determined with reasonable precision, most lie in the 2%-6% range, and only one of these has a lower 90 or 95% confidence/probability bound below 1%. Cases of low point estimates of MSYR show wide confidence intervals not incompatible with this 2-6% range. Thus, evidence forthcoming since 1987 (much of it subsequent to 1993 when the Scientific Committee last discussed this issue substantively) would seem to support a change in the Committee's perception at that time of the likely range of values for MSYR for baleen whale stocks, as well as informing judgments on the relative plausibilities of values within this range
The anxiolytic effect of probiotics: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the clinical and preclinical literature
A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author's publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.Background
Probiotics have generated intensive research interest in recent years as a novel mode of treatment for physical and mental illness. Nevertheless, the anxiolytic potential of probiotics remains unclear. The present systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the clinical and preclinical (animal model) evidence regarding the effect of probiotic administration on anxiety.
Methods
The PubMed, PsycINFO, and Web of Science databases were reviewed for preclinical and clinical studies that met the defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. The effects of probiotics on anxiety-like behavior and symptoms of anxiety were analyzed by meta-analyses. Separate subgroup analyses were conducted on diseased versus healthy animals, specific preclinical probiotic species, and clinical versus healthy human samples.
Results
Data were extracted from 22 preclinical studies (743 animals) and 14 clinical studies (1527 individuals). Overall, probiotics reduced anxiety-like behavior in animals (Hedgesâ g = -0.47, 95% CI -0.77 â-0.16, p = 0.004). Subgroup analyses revealed a significant reduction only among diseased animals. Probiotic species-level analyses identified only Lactobacillus (L.) rhamnosus as an anxiolytic species, but these analyses were broadly under-powered. Probiotics did not significantly reduce symptoms of anxiety in humans (Hedgesâ g = -0.12, 95% CI -0.29â0.05, p = 0.151), and did not differentially affect clinical and healthy human samples.
Conclusions
While preclinical (animal) studies suggest that probiotics may help reduce anxiety, such findings have not yet translated to clinical research in humans, perhaps due to the dearth of extant research with clinically anxious populations. Further investigation of probiotic treatment for clinically relevant anxiety is warranted, particularly with respect to the probiotic species L. rhamnosus
Repositie van supracondylaire humerusfracturen middels een tijdelijke Kirschner-draad
* Abstract
Closed reduction and percutaneous pinning have become the standard method of treatment of displaced supracondylar humeral fractures in children. Precise anatomical reduction is crucial in order to get good treat ment results. Traditional closed reduction can be challenging for these multidirectional, unstable fractures. Our goal is to point out a closed reduction method for the treatment of displaced supracondylar humeral fractures using a temporal KirschnerÂwire which is positioned in the proximal humeral fragment. This tech nique could reduce the amount of conversions to open reposition
* Samenvatting
Instabiele gedislokeerde supracondylaire humerusfracturen bij kinderen worden in opzet behandeld met gesloten repositie en fixatie middels KirschnerÂdraden. Het functionele resultaat is mede afhankelijk van een adequate repositie. Deze repositie kan met de conventionele repositiemethode lastig zijn bij deze soms multidirectioneel instabiele fracturen bij jonge kinderen. Het artikel beschrijft, aan de hand van een casus, een methode waarbij gebruik wordt gemaakt van een tijdelijke KirschnerÂdraad in het proximale humerusfragment. Zodra, middels manipulatie, de adequate repositie is bereikt wordt de fractuur op de gebruikelijke manier gefixeerd en de tijdelijke KirschnerÂdraad verwijderd. Deze techniek zou kunnen bijdragen aan het verkleinen van het aantal conversies naar een open repositie
Towards the selection of a final set of trials for the 2012 ENP gray whale implementation review
At the March 2012 Intersessional meeting of the AWMP Working Group in La Jolla,CA, a set of trials was agreed upon for consideration as part of the Eastern Pacific Gray Whale Implementation Review. Since then, progress has been made on conditioning that set of trials. An assessment of the preliminary conditioning results is presented here, with a focus on five trials that were not able to mimic the available data as well as the remaining trials. If any of these five trials is to be dropped from further consideration, there must be unanimous agreement within the Working Group for such
Suggestions for a way forward to further evaluate ageing error for Southern Hemisphere minke whales.
Paper SC/59/O8 provides a very helpful perspective and suggestions to help clarify the use of Antarctic minke whale age data in the commercial and research permit periods. On the basis of the paper, some areas for further work suggest themselves and these are outlined below. We recognise that these involve, in some cases, quite substantial additional work but believe that this will assist considerably in addressing the issues raised inter alia at the JARPA review meeting as well as during past IA sub-committee meetings and allow the valuable analyses involving both commercial and scientific permit data to be undertaken. The second experiment is designed to confirm the proposal in SC/59/O8 to limit analyses to using only data for animals aged six years and over
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