Agriculture for development in Ghana: New opportunities and challenges

"This paper has been prepared in support of the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) roundtable in Ghana. The study also takes a fresh perspective on the role of agriculture for development in light of the global food crisis. It addresses two main questions: what are the impacts of Green-revolution type agricultural growth to reach the CAADP goal in Ghana? Given the large investments required to achieve such productivity-led growth, what is the sector's contribution to the overall economy? Results from the dynamic computable general equilibrium model suggest that by closing the existing yield gaps in crop production and supporting essential growth in the livestock sector Ghana can achieve CAADP's 6 percent growth target. In this process, agriculture supports the rest of the economy through substantial and largely invisible monetary transfers to the nonagricultural sectors, which are primarily driven by the reduction of domestic food prices. Thus, CAADP growth benefits both rural and urban households, and reduces poverty by more than half within 10 years. However, widening regional disparities between the North and the rest of Ghana will increasingly pose a challenge for the development. Additional measures more targeted towards generating growth in the lagging North will be necessary to bridge the income gap and reach Ghana's poorest of the poor." from Author's AbstractAgriculture, Poverty, Computable general equilibrium (CGE), Development strategies, Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP),

By the waters of Minnetonka: an Indian love song

https://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/sheetmusic/1131/thumbnail.jp

By the waters of Minnetonka: an Indian love song

https://digitalcommons.ithaca.edu/sheetmusic/1132/thumbnail.jp

By the Waters of Minnetonka : An Indian Love Song

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/1195/thumbnail.jp

A comparison of sequential total and activated white cell count in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting, using cardiopulmonary bypass, with and without a white cell filter

Introduction Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has been shown to induce a systemic inflammatory response similar to the local reaction seen after tissue damage [1]. This leads to the release of toxic substances, such as elastase, which cause endothelial damage and may adversely affect outcome [2]. Use of a leucocyte depleting arterial line filter is one of many anti-inflammatory strategies that are undergoing evaluation. Leucocyte depleting filters may be capable of selectively removing activated white cells [3], but this has not been proved in vivo. The aim of the present study was to compare sequential total and activated white cells during CPB, using either a leucocyte depleting or standard arterial line filter. Materials and methods After local ethical committee approval, 20 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting using CPB were prospectively randomly allocated to have either a Leukogard LG–6 (Pall Biomedical, Portsmouth, UK) or a nonleucocyte depleting filter inserted into the arterial line of the CPB circuit. Arterial limb blood samples were taken immediately after institution of CPB (0min) and at 10–min intervals throughout the bypass period. Activated white cells were identified using nitroblue tetrazolium, then both total and activated white cell numbers counted after staining with Leucoplate.Results Table 1 shows the number of white cells counted/1.25 ? l (volume of a single channel of Nageotte counting chamber) using light microscopy (× 25).Conclusion The LG6 leucocyte filter reduces the total white cell count and is capable of selectively removing activated white cells during CPB. The exact relationship between leucocyte depletion and improved patient outcome still remains unclear

Effects of Text-messaging on the Academic Writing of Arab EFL Students

This paper investigates the effect of text-messaging on Arab EFL learners’ English academic writing. It also investigates teachers’ attitudes and reactions to the presence of e-texting features in their students’ writing. Qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis were employed on data obtained from the following sources: (1) a sample of freshman students’ writing, (2) a survey investigating students’ use of e-chatting in Arabic and English, and (3) a questionnaire eliciting teachers’ reactions to students’ use of texting features in academic writing. The data were collected from a student sample of the Arab Open University (AOU). The research findings show that Arab EFL students’ writing does not reveal a heavy use of texting features, which suggests that this phenomenon neither poses a serious threat nor adversely impacts students’ written English

Partial Characterization of Two Moderately Halophilic Bacteria from a Kansas Salt Marsh

Two bacterial species were isolated from a salt marsh located on privately owned land in Russell County, Kansas. Water samples from the saIt marsh were streaked for isolation on tryptic soy agar supplemented with 12 % NaCI. Visual scanning of the plates revealed two prominent colony types. The two colony types were subcultured repeatedly until axenic cultures were obtained. 80th of these organisms were shown to be moderately halophilic. The organisms were characterized partially by fatty acid methyl ester analysis, 16S rRNA sequencing, and scanning electron microscopy. These studies revealed that the bacteria previously were unreported members of genera Marinococcus and Halomonas

A comparative corpus-assisted discourse study of the representations of hosts in promotional tourism discourse

Most studies concerned with the representations of local people in tourism discourse point to the prevalence of stereotypic images asserting that contemporary tourism perpetuates colonial legacy and gendered discursive practices. This claim has been, to some extent, contested in research that explores representations of hosts in local tourism materials claiming that tourism can also discursively resist the dominant Western imagery. While the evidence for the existence of hegemonic and diverging discourses about the local ‘Other’ seems compelling, the empirical basis of this research is rather small and often limited to one geographic context. The present study addresses these shortcomings by examining representations of hosts in a larger corpus of promotional tourism materials including texts produced by Western and local tourism industries. The data is investigated using the methodology of Corpus-Assisted Discourse Studies (CADS). By comparing external with internal (self) representations, this study verifies and refines some of the claims on the subject and offers a much more nuanced picture of representations that defies the black and white scenarios proposed in previous researc

Restoration of auditory evoked responses by human ES-cell-derived otic progenitors

Deafness is a condition with a high prevalence worldwide, produced primarily by the loss of the sensory hair cells and their associated spiral ganglion neurons (SGNs). Of all the forms of deafness, auditory neuropathy is of particular concern. This condition, defined primarily by damage to the SGNs with relative preservation of the hair cells1, is responsible for a substantial proportion of patients with hearing impairment2. Although the loss of hair cells can be circumvented partially by a cochlear implant, no routine treatment is available for sensory neuron loss, as poor innervation limits the prospective performance of an implant3. Using stem cells to recover the damaged sensory circuitry is a potential therapeutic strategy. Here we present a protocol to induce differentiation from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) using signals involved in the initial specification of the otic placode. We obtained two types of otic progenitors able to differentiate in vitro into hair-cell-like cells and auditory neurons that display expected electrophysiological properties. Moreover, when transplanted into an auditory neuropathy model, otic neuroprogenitors engraft, differentiate and significantly improve auditory-evoked response thresholds. These results should stimulate further research into the development of a cell-based therapy for deafness

Intercultural ethics: questions of methods in language and intercultural communication

This paper explores how questions of ethics and questions of method are intertwined and unavoidable in any serious study of language and intercultural communication. It argues that the focus on difference and solution orientations to intercultural conflict has been a fundamental driver for theory, data collection and methods in the field. These approaches, the paper argues, have created a considerable consciousness raising industry, with methods, trainings and ‘critical incidents’, which ultimately focus intellectual energy in areas which may be productive in terms of courses and publications but which have a problematic basis in their ethical terrain. Dieser Artikel untersucht wie ethische und methodische Fragen nicht nur ineinander greifen, sondern in keiner ernstzunehmenden Studie ueber Sprache und interkulturelle Kommunikation ausgelassen werden duerfen. Es wird hier argumentiert, dass der Schwerpunkt auf Verschiedenheit und Problemorientierung im interkulturellen Konflikt einen wesentlichen Einfluss auf theoretische Entwicklungen, Datenerhebung und Methoden in diesem Bereich hatte. Dieser Artikel legt auch dar, wie diese Ansaetze eine betraechtliche ‘Bewusstseinsbildungs – Branche' erzeugt haben, mit Methoden, Trainings, und ‘kritischen Interaktionssituationen’, welche letztendlich allen intellektuellen Arbeitseifer auf Bereiche konzentriert hat, die zwar ertragreich sind in Bezug auf Kurse und Publikationen, jedoch eine problematische Grundlage im ethischen Bereich aufweisen