Mozambique Cashew reforms revisited

Cashew policy reforms in Mozambique have been controversial. They are often invoked by critics as an illustration of how agricultural policy reforms supported by international financial institutions may fail to have their intended effects. This paper revisits the reforms and their outcomes almost two decades later. While the reforms resulted in higher producer prices and an increase in output, lack of consensus on the specifics of the reforms and associated non-price support arrangements created a situation in which the sector was not able to withstand international price shocks that ultimately led to a collapse of both the processing industry and cashew production. Non-price support by donors improved the efficiency of the processing industry but this was not complemented by an expansion in cashew nut supply as such support did not extend to smallholder cashew producers. For the reforms to have had their intended results, greater investment in -- and support to -- smallholder production was needed to increase yields and overall output. Such a more comprehensive approach to cashew policy reform would have required a greater focus on achieving consensus on the causes of the cashew sector's problems and agreement by all stakeholders on a common institutional framework for pricing and non-price support.Markets and Market Access,Emerging Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Access to Markets,E-Business

How the Occupy movement may have facilitated political change

Occupy protests are one of the major global political waves of our time. But what was their impact? Alper Yagci highlights the link between the recession, inequality, and the Occupy movement, and writes that although the institutional impact might not have been immediately obvious, the wider political change Occupy facilitated is now becoming clearer

Managing the Agricultural Biotechnology Revolution: Responses to Transgenic Seeds in Developing Countries

There has been heated debate over transgenic or genetically modified (GM) crops in agriculture. Advocates and critics argue over possible economic, environmental, public health implications of this technology. This study examines varying policy approaches to regulating GM crop cultivation in four developing countries where the technology has large potential application. Why have some countries banned GM crop cultivation in their territory while others encouraged it? In countries where GM crops were allowed, why have varying systems of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection been constructed? To investigate these questions I comparatively examine the policy experience (1995-2015) of Argentina, Brazil, Turkey relying on original fieldwork and India based on secondary literature. The explanation combines structural considerations with a social constructivist understanding of how actors make use of ideas to interpret and articulate their interests in a context defined by novelty and uncertainty. Transnational biotechnology companies lobby developing country governments for permission of GM crop cultivation and strict IPR protection so as to be able to charge the cultivators technology fees. While public opinion tends to be opposed to these crops, associations of big farmers tend to favor their adoption and view the IPR claims by biotechnology companies as relatively tolerable. Smaller farmers and domestic seed industry, on the other hand, seek guarantees from the state that technology adoption conditions will not be established to their disadvantage. Which agenda is prioritized in policy-making will depend not only on the political weight of each pressure group but also on the statesmen’s management of the available knowledge on such questions as how the GM plants work, who they are good for, why they may or may not be needed. I demonstrate that GM-skeptic coalitions can have a good chance at policy influence where the pro-GM producer sector is highly fragmented, but where the producer sector is strong the same opposition can be functional in obtaining a domestic producer- oriented policy by challenging the legitimacy of extensive IPR claims advanced by transnational biotechnology firms

elastography in primary open-angle glaucoma

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare sonoelastographic findings in the retina-choroid-sclera (RCS) complex and vitreous in glaucomatous and healthy eyes.Methods: For this cross-sectional comparative study, 20 patients with primary open-angle glaucoma and 20 healthy volunteers were recruited. Ultrasound elastography measurements were taken with a sonographic scanner of the RCS complex, anterior vitreous (AV), posterior vitreous (PV), retrobulbar fat tissue (RFT), optic disc (OD) and optic nerve (ON) in each eye.Results: The elasticity index of the RCS complex, RFT, OD, ON, AV and PV was similar in both groups (p > 0.05), although the AV/PV strain ratio in the group of patients with glaucoma was significantly higher (p = 0.04).Conclusion: Glaucoma increases the AV/PV strain ratio. In providing reproducible and consistent values, the real-time elastography (RTE) technique may be helpful in elucidating the mechanisms of glaucoma in some aspects.Advances in knowledge: This study can help to evaluate the elasticity of the RCS complex and vitreous in glaucomatous eyes with RTE

3D seismic structural and stratigraphic interpretation of the TUI-3D field, Taranaki Basin, New Zealand

Identifying seismic structures and stratigraphy are important for exploration of hydrocarbons. The purpose of this study is to discover seismic structural and stratigraphic features and to utilize the results for interpreting depositional environments. A 3D seismic dataset from the Tui-3D Field, the Taranaki Basin, New Zealand with well data were used to visualize structures, to detect stratigraphic features, to identify main lithology, to understand depositional environment, and to describe seismic facies and reflection patterns of the target horizons. The major formations are in the Kapuni Group. Seismic structural interpretation indicates thirty-two minor faults, which may play an important role in oil migration from the Farewell F Sand to the Kaimiro D Sand, and many anticlines for possible oil traps. Depth maps show that the dipping of the Kapuni Group is toward the north. Seismic stratigraphic interpretation reveals features such as lineaments, gullies, and channels, which provide an understanding of evolution of the formations. The Kahu channel was identified in the Farewell F Sand, which may be a potential trap for oil accumulation. Gullies, which were discovered within the Giant Foresets Formation, are NW-SE oriented, straight to low sinuous, U-shaped, roughly parallel to each other, up to 12 km long, 10-50 m deep, and 20-500 m wide. NW-SE oriented and high to moderate sinuous channel complexes were found in the Moki A Sand. Lineament features and a canyon, which is NW-SE oriented, straight to low sinuous, approximately 2 km wide, 260 m deep, and 10 km long, were detected in the shallower part of the area. Petrophysical analysis demonstrates high porosity range from 10% to 25%, and high permeability up to ~322 md for the Kapuni Group --Abstract, page iii

Self-stratifying antimicrobial coatings

Today, antimicrobial polymers/coatings are widely used in various areas, such as biomedical devices, pharmaceuticals, hospital buildings, textiles, food processing, and contact lenses, where sanitation is needed. Such wide application facilities have made antimicrobial materials very attractive for both academic and industrial researchers. Many methods have been developed to produce such materials with different properties. The aim of this PhD study was developing a novel method to prepare environmentally benign, surface active, long lasting antimicrobial surface coatings. This method was also targeted to be a simple one, so that it can be manufactured on an industrial scale and can be applied in our daily life. In Chapter 2 and 3, we developed low surface energy polyurethane films by tethering antimicrobial quaternary ammonium compounds to the polymer network covalently. These compounds were designed and synthesized to diffuse towards the film/air interface during the film curing. In this way, a higher antimicrobial moiety concentration on the film surface was targeted. This property was gained to the QACs by attaching either long hydrocarbon (QACs 1 and 2) or perfuorinated (QACs 3 and 4) hydrophobic tails. QAC enrichment at the film surface was confirmed by dynamic contact angle measurements and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy techniques. Overall, all of the QAC-containing films showed strong antimicrobial activities against the tested bacterial species. Of all systems tested, number 3 was the most effective with a 5 log10 reduction of both bacterial species observed at all concentrations applied. With the long perfluoroalkyl tail, QAC 3 was found to be the most efficiently diffusing QAC towards the film surface. As a result, the number of QAC molecules per cm2 was much higher for system 3 than for the other systems. This suggests that the most hydrophobic nature of QAC 3 resulted in the highest antimicrobial effect. The shorter spaced QAC-containing system 2 was the least effective of all four systems. We obtained minimally desired 3 log10 reduction only with higher QAC concentrations for this system. Also, we found that system 1 was slightly more active against the much simpler Gram-positive S. aureus bacteria than the complex Gram-negative E. coli. In Chapter 4, we investigated a possible antimicrobial activity of some commercially available ionic liquids. These liquids were never used for this purpose before. The covalent incorporation of these liquids to our polyurethane network ended up with very successful antibacterial results. Hence, we successfully reported an ionic liquid based antimicrobial surface coating for the first time in the literature. Moreover, in environmental point of view, leaching of the active QAC compounds from the films to the exterior was investigated by monitoring bacterial inhibition zone around the film samples and the antimicrobial tests of the extraction solutions of the films. None of the prepared films showed any trace of leaching out confirming all the quaternary ammonium compounds were covalently bonded to the polyurethane backbone. Finally, we tried another method to prepare targeted antimicrobial coatings in Chapter 5. Instead of using self-diffusion ability of hydrophobic quaternary ammonium compounds, we utilized hydrophilic QAC structures to enrich at the film surface by forcing them to diffuse with an external attractive layer. However, we found this method impractical after facing numerous problems