EU Food Safety Standards, Traceability and Other Regulations: A Growing Trade Barrier to Developing Countries' Exports?

Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, International Relations/Trade,

Assessing natural resource management through integrated environmental and social-economic accounting: The case of a Namibian conservancy

Local natural resource management in its diverse manifestations holds core to its principles that the marginal and vulnerable households are empowered to manage valuable natural resources to improve social and economic equality and conserve biodiversity. Yet studies aiming to identify the impacts often show inconsistent results. Through constructing an integrated Environmental and Social Accounting Matrix (ESAM), we aim to assess how natural resources are used in different sectors and by different livelihoods, thus delivering different direct and indirect benefits to the community. The study was conducted in Namibia’s Sikunga Conservancy, which manages wildlife and fish resources in the Zambezi region. Our village-level ESAM shows an economic structure that strongly disadvantages remote households and identifies a small sector of the economy that benefits significantly from the use of natural resources. The ESAM approach is able to isolate undesirable socioeconomic developments such as unequal benefit sharing, which hinders community development. © 2016, © The Author(s) 2016

Seed selection strategies for information diffusion in social networks: An agent-based model applied to rural zambia

The successful adoption of innovations depends on the provision of adequate information to farmers. In rural areas of developing countries, farmers usually rely on their social networks as an information source. Hence, policy-makers and program-implementers can benefit from social diffusion processes to effectively dis-seminate information. This study aims to identify the set of farmers who initially obtain information (‘seeds’) that optimises diffusion through the network. It systematically evaluates different criteria for seed selection, number of seeds, and their interaction effects. An empirical Agent-Based Model adjusted to a case study in rural Zambia was applied to predict diffusion outcomes for varying seed sets ex ante. Simulations revealed that informing farmers with the most connections leads to highest diffusion speed and reach. Also targeting village heads and farmers with high betweenness centrality, who function as bridges connecting different parts of the network, enhances diffusion. An increased number of seeds improves reach, but the marginal effects of additional seeds decline. Interdependencies between seed set size and selection criteria highlight the importance of considering both seed selection criteria and seed set size for optimising seeding strategies to enhance information diffusion. © 2020, University of Surrey. All rights reserved

Papyrus, Forest Resources and Rural Livelihoods: A Village Computable General Equilibrium Analysis from Northern Zambia

Papyrus is increasingly suggested as an alternative bioenergy source to reduce the pressure on forest ecosystems. However, there are few studies on the economic viability of papyrus wetlands and the benefits for local communities. We construct a village Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to examine whether papyrus harvesting and processing has the potential to improve local livelihoods and simultaneously counteract pressure on local forest resources. We apply the CGE model to a village in northern Zambia where overexploitation of forest resources to produce energy from firewood and charcoal poses a serious problem. The analysis is based on survey data from 105 households collected in 2015. The model results show that papyrus briquetting would be a possible alternative biofuel and that this technology improves household income and utility through labor reallocations. Higher opportunity costs lead to households switching from firewood extraction and charcoal production activities to papyrus harvesting and processing to produce bioenergy. Replacing energy supplies from firewood and charcoal with papyrus briquettes results in substitution effects between forest land and wetland and thereby reduces the pressure on local forest resources. The CGE approach allows for an economy-wide ex-ante analysis at village level and can support management decisions to ensure the success of papyrus bioenergy interventions

Imaging the assembly and disassembly kinetics of cis-SNARE complexes on native plasma membranes

AbstractMild sonication of eukaryotic cells produces native plasma membrane sheets that retain their docked organelles, cytoskeleton structures and cytoplasmic complexes. While the delicate organization of membranous protein complexes remains undisturbed, their inner plasmalemmel leaflet can be rapidly exposed to bathing solutions, enabling specific biochemical manipulations. Here, we apply this system to track membrane-biochemistry kinetics. We monitor soluble NSF-attachment protein receptor (SNARE) complex assembly and disassembly on the plasma membrane at high time resolution. The results suggest two-phase kinetics for the assembly process and dependence of the disassembly kinetics on both N-ethyl maleimide-sensitive factor (NSF) and soluble NSF-attachment protein (α-SNAP) concentrations

Neighborhood Characteristics and Colorectal Cancer Survivors\u27 Quality of Care

Purpose: Quality cancer care entails receipt of a Survivorship Care Plan (SCP). The purpose of this study was to determine differences in SCP delivery by patient-level and neighborhood characteristics. Methods: We obtained California cancer registry data on individuals who were diagnosed with stage I, II, or III colorectal cancer (CRC) between 2012 and 2015 and resided in predetermined geographic areas. We then mailed them a questionnaire, which queried about receipt of a SCP and its content. SCP was defined by content, as summary of cancer treatment, cancer surveillance recommendations, and/or an individualized preventive care. Using logistic regression modeling, each measure of SCP, as well as the summary measure (none vs. any), was evaluated by person-level characteristics. Subsequently, neighborhood-level characteristics were added to the model to explore their additional value. Results: Overall 80% of CRC survivors received a SCP. Receipt of SCPs was associated with person-level characteristics, while neighborhood characteristics did not make an additional contribution. Young, male employed survivors and those with more recent diagnoses or later cancer stages had greater odds of receiving a SCP. Conclusion: When providing SCPs, health care providers prioritize patient groups who they may perceive as vulnerable or likely to benefit from SCPs

Deletion of the Ca2+-activated potassium (BK) alpha-subunit but not the BK-beta-1-subunit leads to progressive hearing loss

The large conductance voltage- and Ca2+-activated potassium (BK) channel has been suggested to play an important role in the signal transduction process of cochlear inner hair cells. BK channels have been shown to be composed of the pore-forming alpha-subunit coexpressed with the auxiliary beta-1-subunit. Analyzing the hearing function and cochlear phenotype of BK channel alpha-(BKalpha–/–) and beta-1-subunit (BKbeta-1–/–) knockout mice, we demonstrate normal hearing function and cochlear structure of BKbeta-1–/– mice. During the first 4 postnatal weeks also, BKalpha–/– mice most surprisingly did not show any obvious hearing deficits. High-frequency hearing loss developed in BKalpha–/– mice only from ca. 8 weeks postnatally onward and was accompanied by a lack of distortion product otoacoustic emissions, suggesting outer hair cell (OHC) dysfunction. Hearing loss was linked to a loss of the KCNQ4 potassium channel in membranes of OHCs in the basal and midbasal cochlear turn, preceding hair cell degeneration and leading to a similar phenotype as elicited by pharmacologic blockade of KCNQ4 channels. Although the actual link between BK gene deletion, loss of KCNQ4 in OHCs, and OHC degeneration requires further investigation, data already suggest human BK-coding slo1 gene mutation as a susceptibility factor for progressive deafness, similar to KCNQ4 potassium channel mutations. © 2004, The National Academy of Sciences. Freely available online through the PNAS open access option

Linguistic repercussions of COVID-19 : A corpus study on four languages

The global reach of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing localized policy reactions provides a case to uncover how a global crisis translates into linguistic discourse. Based on the JSI Timestamped Web Corpora that are automatically POS-tagged and accessible via SketchEngine, this study compares French, German, Dutch, and English. After identifying the main names used to denote the virus and its disease, we extracted a total of 1,697 associated terms (according to logDice values) retrieved from news media data from January through October 2020. These associated words were then organized into categories describing the properties of the virus and the disease, their spatio-temporal features and their cause–effect dependencies. Analyzing the output cross-linguistically and across the first 10 months of the pandemic, a fairly stable semantic discourse space is found within and across each of the four languages, with an overall clear preference for visual and biomedical features as associated terms, though significant diatopic and diachronic shifts in the discourse space are also attested.Peer reviewe

Alkohol-, Tabak- und Cannabiskonsum im Jugendalter – Querschnittergebnisse der HBSC-Studie 2017/18

Tabak, Alkohol und Cannabis sind psychoaktive Substanzen, die oftmals im Jugendalter zum ersten Mal ausprobiert und im späteren Leben weiter konsumiert werden. Die gesundheitlichen Folgen eines regelmäßigen Tabak- und Cannabiskonsums oder des Alkoholmissbrauchs sind gravierend. Im Sinne der Gesundheitsberichterstattung ist es das Ziel, aktuelle Prävalenzen für den Substanzkonsum bei Heranwachsenden nach sozialen Determinanten auszuweisen. Datenbasis bilden die für Deutschland repräsentativen Daten der „Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC)“-Studie 2017/18 von Schülerinnen und Schülern im Alter von 11, 13 und 15 Jahren. Analysiert wird sowohl die Lebenszeit- und 30-Tages-Prävalenz des Tabak-, Alkohol- und Cannabiskonsums (letztere nur 15-Jährige) als auch alkoholbedingte Rauscherfahrungen (Binge Drinking). Tabak und Alkohol wird unter 11- und 13-Jährigen noch vergleichsweise selten konsumiert, die Prävalenz steigt bei den 15-Jährigen jedoch deutlich an. Auch Cannabiskonsum ist bei 15-Jährigen recht weit verbreitet. Schülerinnen und Schüler, die nicht das Gymnasium besuchen, haben ein höheres Risiko zu rauchen. Schülerinnen und Schüler mit einem hohen familiären Wohlstand haben ein höheres Risiko Alkohol zu konsumieren, vor allem Mädchen. Heranwachsende mit Migrationshintergrund haben einerseits ein geringeres Risiko für einen regelmäßigen Alkoholkonsum oder Binge Drinking, andererseits jedoch ein erhöhtes Risiko für Cannabiskonsum (Mädchen mit einseitigem Migrationshintergrund). Die Ergebnisse verweisen darauf, dass Präventionsmaßnahmen vor allem früh ansetzen sollten, da die Prävalenzen bei älteren Schülerinnen und Schülern für den Substanzkonsum deutlich höher ausfallen. Es lassen sich je nach betrachteter Substanz unterschiedliche Risikogruppen identifizieren, die besonderer Berücksichtigung bei Präventionsmaßnahmen bedürfen