THE POTENTIAL ROLE OF PRICE INSURANCE TO IMPROVE WELFARE OF HONDURAN COFFEE PRODUCERS

Coffee is the major export crop in Honduras, but the export price is relatively low. This paper investigates the potential role for a coffee price insurance product - based on the use of the coffee future market - to increasing producer welfare by reducing coffee price risk faced by individual farmers. By constructing a typology of six different types of coffee farmers and developing a forecasting model, the authors show that more risk-averse farmers would prefer to buy the insurance contract than those with lower risk aversion. The subjective assessments analysis also show that Honduran coffee producers have optimistic expectations for coffee prices and appear to underestimate the variability of coffee prices.Risk and Uncertainty,

Participation by men and women in off-farm activities: An empirical analysis in rural northern Ghana

"Using survey data from the Upper East region of Ghana collected in 2005, the paper evaluates the household- and community-level factors influencing women's and men's decisions to participate in off-farm activities, either in the off-farm labor market or in local community groups, and the relationship with on-farm crop returns. Results indicate that crop returns are not affected by increased labor availability over a certain labor-land ratio. Female participation in off-farm labor markets increases at higher levels of labor availability, but participation in women's groups' only increases as labor scarcity is relaxed at lower levels. Alternatively, male participation in off-farm work increases over all levels of labor availability. Results also indicate that male labor is relatively more productive on-farm versus off-farm than female labor, and, though education increases the likelihood that both women and men will work off-farm (with no impact on crop revenues), the impact is greater for women. Finally, participation in off-farm work does not appear to be driven by the need to reduce exposure to risk or to manage risk ex post; wealthier households located in wealthier communities are more likely to participate in off-farm work. Evidence for participation in groups and risk is more complicated; wealthier households in wealthier communities are also more likely to participate, but so too are female-headed households with higher dependency ratios." from authors' abstractOff-farm labor supply, Participation, Community groups, Gender, Land management, Poverty reduction,

Biosynthesis of amino acids by Oxalobacter formigenes: analysis using 13C-NMR

The gram-negative anaerobe Oxalobacter formigenes, grows on oxalate as the principal carbon and energy source, but a small amount of acetate is also required for growth. Experiments were conducted to determine the distribution and the position of label in cellular amino acids from cells grown on [13C]oxalate, [13C]acetate (1-13C, 2-13C, and U-13C), and 13CCO3. The labeling pattern (determined with NMR spectroscopy) of amino acids was consistent with their formation through common biosynthetic pathways. The majority of the carbons in the amino acids that are usually derived from pyruvate, oxaloacetate, α-ketoglutarate, 3-phosphoglycerate, and carbon in the aromatic amino acids were labeled by oxalate. Carbon from 13CO3 was assimilated primarily into amino acids expected to be derived from oxaloacetate and α-ketoglutarate. Approximately 60% of the acetate that was assimilated into amino acids was incorporated as a C2 unit into proline, arginine, glutamate, and leucine. The pattern of labeling from acetate in glutamate, arginine, and proline was consistent with acetate incorporation via citrate (si)-synthase and subsequent formation of α-ketoglutarate via the first third of the tricarboxylic acid pathway. Acetate was also assimilated into amino acids derived from pyruvate and oxaloacetate, but results indicated that this incorporation was as single carbon atoms. Based on these findings, cell-free extracts were assayed for several key biosynthetic enzymes. Enzymatic activities found included glutamate dehydrogenase, phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, and pyruvate carboxylase. These findings are consistent with proposed biosynthetic mechanisms

commanimation: Creating and managing animations via speech

A speech controlled animation system is both a useful application program as well as a laboratory in which to investigate context aware applications as well as controlling errors. The user need not have prior knowledge or experience in animation and is yet able to create interesting and meaningful animation naturally and fluently. The system can be used in a number of applications ranging from PowerPoint presentations to simulations to children’s storytelling tools.Singapore-MIT Alliance (SMA

A Coevolutionary Journey of Strategic Knowledge Management Alignment: A Chinese Case

Although knowledge has emerged as the strategic resource of the firm in the increasingly turbulent and dynamic environment, it is underestimated how knowledge management (KM) contributes to sustained competitive advantage of the firm over time. Drawing upon a coevolutionary view of alignment, this study examines a strategic KM coevolutionary mechanism in which KM strategy, processes, and infrastructure dynamically align with the changing competitive strategy; in turn, the KM derived competitive advantage drives the firm to pursue a more superior position in its niche. To trace the coevolutionary mechanism, we conducted a case study in Li-Ning Company, which experiences 20 years’ development and has become a leading sports goods company in China. Two strategic transitions result in the corresponding changes of its KM strategy, KM processes and infrastructure. The cumulated knowledge helps the firm upgrade from an imitator to a prospector with balanced performance portfolio. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed

LEVERAGING E-GOVERNMENT FOR CITY TRANSFORMATION: A CASE STUDY OF DIGITAL WUYI

Seeing the scarcity of successful e-government programs in developing countries while a high failure rate reported on the opposite, this study investigates the success of \u27Digital Wuyi\u27 program in China. This study exhibits its ten-year roadmap in which the e-government has been continuously upgraded at a municipal level, spanning from e-government infrastructure and platform development, community informatization with rural priority, e-commerce development for pillar industry, to Internet of Things development. Further, this study identifies the key success factors and reflects the corresponding practices that lead Wuyishan City to achieve the success in e-government development. We find that sustainable and dynamic strategic planning, mayor\u27s leadership with entrepreneurships spirits and action learning, public-private partnership and modular promotion contribute much to the success of this municipal e-government project in China. Implications of this study can be derived for the municipal government development in China and other developing countries

The Children in Action Pilot Study

Interventions that can successfully alter the trajectory toward obesity among high-risk children are critical if we are to effectively address this public health crisis. The goal of this pilot study was to implement and evaluate an innovative physical activity program with Hispanic-American (HA) preschool children attending Head Start. The Children in Action (CIA) program was a five month physical activity intervention. This intervention was a pilot study with 3- to 5-year-olds enrolled in four HA Head Start centers. After baseline assessment, centers were matched by enrollment and randomly assigned to either the intervention or the control condition. A total of 295 preschool children were randomly selected across the four centers. The primary endpoints of this study were favorable changes in physical activity levels and gross motor skills. Using mixed effect time-series regression models, changes in weight was a secondary endpoint. We did not observe a statistical difference between intervention and control groups in physical activity levels during the awake time, gross motor skills, or weight status. Process evaluation data showed that there was adherence to protocols and the intervention was delivered 92% of the time, four times per week, during the five month intervention. We demonstrated that it is feasible to conduct the SPARK-Early Childhood (EC) curriculum among preschool children attending Head Start centers but that an increased dose and/or longer intervention duration will be required to impact gross motor skills, physical activity levels and weight status during this critical early childhood development stage

B-Cell Gene Therapy for Tolerance Induction: Host but Not Donor B-Cell Derived IL-10 is Necessary for Tolerance

Genetically modified B cells are excellent tolerogenic antigen-presenting cells (APCs) in multiple models of autoimmunity. However, the mechanisms of action are still not completely understood. In our models, we generate antigen-specific tolerogenic B cells by transducing naïve or primed B cells with an antigen–immunoglobulin G (peptide–IgG) construct. In order to be transduced, B cells require activation with mitogens such as LPS. We and others have found that LPS stimulation of B cells upregulates the production of IL-10, a key cytokine for maintaining immune tolerance. In the current study, we defined the role of B-cell produced IL-10 in tolerance induction by using IL-10 deficient B cells as donor APCs. We found that peptide–IgG transduced IL-10 KO B cells have the same effects as wt B cells in tolerance induction in an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model. Moreover, we demonstrated that the tolerogenic effect of peptide–IgG B cells was completely abrogated in anti-IL-10 receptor antibody treated recipients. Taken together, our results suggest that tolerance induced by peptide–IgG B-cell gene therapy requires IL-10 from the host but not donor B cells. These data shed important insights into the mechanisms of tolerance induction mediated by B-cell gene therapy