Fissidens in the Neotropics

The land areas of the Western Hemisphere south of the United States support over 276 species of Fissidens (Wijk et al. 1962, 1969). This number is approximately 30% of the total number of species known. Progress made on a monograph of the family in the neotropics and the adjacent areas is summarized; approximately 50% of the species have been studied. Commonality among the neotropical, African and Asian species of Fissidens is discussed. Changes to be made in the classification of the family are indicated. New characters used in distinguishing species and the classification of the family are enumerated

Australia's experience with local content programs in the auto industry - lessons for India and other developing countries

Local content programs - especially in the auto industry - accompanied many import substitution policies during the 1960s and 1970s, but most were abandoned in countries that liberalized trade in the 1980s, and early 1990s. The high economic costs of these programs, and their inherent incompatibility with open, nondiscriminatory international trade, were recognized in the Uruguay Round Agreement on Trade-Related Investment Measures (the TRIMS agreement), which required developing countries to phase them out over five years. Despite this, a number of developing countries have introduced new local content programs, and are currently pressing to relax the TRIMS rules, and to extend the year 2000 phase-out deadline. A leader in this effort at the World Trade Organization (WTO) is India, which in 1995 introduced an"indigenization"program for its auto industry that typifies similar programs in other developing countries. Under India's program, permission to import auto components for assembly, is contingent on agreements to reach specified levels of"indigenization", plus enough commitments to export cars, or components to cover the foreign exchange cost of imported components. The system is implemented by a"de facto"ban on the import of built-up cars, and import licensing of car components. The United States, and the European Union challenged the system as a violation of the TRIMS agreement. Since 1996, similar arrangements in Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and the Philippines have been the subject of WTO disputes. Australia hasa long, well-documented history of local content programs in the auto industry. Australia's programs started in 1948, and began to wind down only in 1985. Australia's strongly counter-competitive programs - the administering authority was effectively cartellizing the industry - led to market fragmentation, high costs and prices, and lower national income. They retarded, rather than promoted technical change, and reduced, rather than increased, employment in auto production, distribution, and repair. Export requirements increased the scheme's economic costs, which involved bureaucratic micro-management of the industry, and high transaction costs for the government, and the private sector. Once the schemes were established, they were very difficult to remove, owing to their populist appeal, their lack of transparency, and the vested interests of the international, and domestic firms which relied on them, as well as other interest groups, including the administering bureaucracies, auto industry trade unions, and politicians in electorate areas in which car production was concentrated. The Australian experience, and similar experiences of developing countries with these programs during the 1960s, and 1970s, suggest that they do not serve the economic interests of India, and the other developing countries which are presently seeking to legitimize them at the WTO. On the contrary, the present TRIMS agreement is a useful external counterweight to the influence of domestic lobbies, and populist arguments, which in Australia, and elsewhere have made local content schemes, politically difficult to oppose, and once established, even more difficult to remove.ICT Policy and Strategies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Economic Theory&Research,Rules of Origin,Environmental Economics&Policies,Water and Industry,Economic Theory&Research,ICT Policy and Strategies,Rules of Origin

Liberalizing Indian agriculture : an agenda for reform

In July 1991, India embarked on a program of economic decontrol that greatly speeded the previously slow process of liberalizing trade and domestic regulatory controls begun in 1978. But the focus of reform has been on manufacturing. Reform has barely touched agriculture, which accounts for two-thirds of employment in India and about 30 percent of India's GDP. Although some crops (notably oilseeds) receive heavy protection, the net effect of interventions to date is to heavily favor manufacturing over agriculture. In this agenda for reform, the authors offer recommendations: Remove all quantitative export and import controls on agriculture, except for special treatment (such as export taxes) when Indian exports would be substantial enough to depress world prices (most likely with rice). Further reduce protection on manufacturing, rather than bring protection for agriculture up to the same level. As a transitional measure, consider the use of variable tariffs based on weighted averages of past international prices as a way to partly insulate domestic prices from extreme fluctuations in world prices. Initially allow the export only of high quality high priced varieties of such commodities as cotton and rice, to limit upward pressures on domestic prices of lower quality varieties, which are important to consumption in low income Indian households. Liberalizing fertilizingr imports and deregulating domestic manufacturing and the distribution of fertilizingrs. Remove subsidies on irrigations, electricity, and credit (and create conditions to facilitate the trading of canal irrigation water rights). Deregulate the wheat, rice, oil and oilseed industries, and abolish compulsory government acquisition at below market prices of sugar, molasses, and milled rice. Reform the food security system to protect low income groups from the increase in the general level of food prices required by the liberalization of agriculture. This would involve better targeting of food subsidies and associated reforms of the public distribution system, or even its eventual replacement by a food stamp system.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Research,Markets and Market Access

Distortions to Agricultural Incentives in India and Other South Asia

Distorted incentives, agricultural and trade policy reforms, national agricultural development, Agricultural and Food Policy, International Relations/Trade, F13, F14, Q17, Q18,

The bryoflora of Fernando de Noronha, Brasil

Twenty-two species of bryophytes are reported from Fernando de Noronha. One of these, Fissidens veracruzensis Pursell, has not been reported previously from Brasil

The effect of fermentation broth components and added compounds on mass transfer during liquid-liquid extraction

Imperial Users onl

New bryophyte taxon records for tropical countries 2

Norris & T. Kop. Sabah, Mt. Kinabalu, Mary Strong Clemens. 10741, 15.11.1915 (L) as „Campylopus metzlerioides Broth. nom. nud.“ The species was known before (mostly as Atractylocarpus comosus Dix.) from Sumatra, Celebes, New Guinea, Bhutan and Nepal [JPF]

Modeling the Structural and Mechanical Properties of Pulmonary Arteries in an Animal Model of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disease characterized by elevated mean pulmonary arterial pressure. Although the cause of the disease onset is unclear, manifestations such as remodeling and occlusion of the distal pulmonary arteries lead to pressure overload of the right ventricle, eventually leading to heart failure. While much research has focused on the remodeling of smooth muscle and endothelial cells in the pulmonary arteries, collagen extracellular matrix changes in structure and function are not well defined. In this thesis, mechanical and microstructural properties of pulmonary arteries were investigated during the progression of PAH. Results indicated that the axial and circumferential directions to not respond the same to mechanical loading, collagen fibers become less tortuous and realign to a preferred direction, and left and right pulmonary arteries do not remodel identically. Five models of the pulmonary arterial mechanics were developed to determine the role of structural features in the vascular mechanical response found with biaxial tubular testing of vessels in a rat model of PAH. Models included families of fibers, viscoelasticity, and elasticity theory. While the viscoelasticity-based model was able to identify the changes in the vessel stiffness, it did not account for the structural changes undergone by the vessel. On the other hand, the fiber-family models were able to incorporate collagen fiber preferred directions but were either over-parameterized and or did not account for tortuosity and collagen diameter changes. The elasticity-based model was found to fit measured data, and identify differences in the modulus of elasticity found in circumferential and axial directional data. Future iterations of the model should include measurements such as individual fiber diameter, data from fibers throughout the vessel, or contributions from other vessel constituents such as elastin fibers

Access to health care among Somali forced migrants in Johannesburg

Student Number 9705165A Master of Arts in Forced Migration Studies Faculty of HumanitiesObjective: To identify and investigate barriers faced by Somali forced migrants when accessing health care in Johannesburg. In particular, the study seeks to compare perceptions of health personnel and migrants as to the nature of such access constraints. Design and Methods: The study made use of semi-structured and in-depth interviews with a snowball sample of health personnel and migrants. Ten health personnel were interviewed and twenty migrants (ten male and ten female). Results: Constraints of language and xenophobia were identified by both health personnel and forced migrant interviewed. Constraints related to the shortage of resources and the poor functioning of the referral system are experienced by all users of the public health system, irrespective of their nationality. No mention was made of traditional or allopathic medicine. Conclusions: There exists a gap between the access to health care guaranteed in the Refugees Act and practices at facility level. There are many similarities across interviews in the constraints identified by migrants and some agreement in the constraints identified by migrants and health personnel. These results confirm that migrants experience a fairly severe level of constraint when attempting to utilize formal health care services in Johannesburg

India - Effective incentives in India's agriculture : cotton, groundnuts, wheat and rice

This study explicity considers the possibilities of international trade in evaluating the impact of incentives in agriculture. Specifically, the study estimates three standard coefficients (ratios): (a) the nominal protection coefficient (NPC); (b) the effective protection coefficient (EPC); and (c) the effective subsidy coefficient (ESC). The study also includes estimates of the nominal protection coefficient adjusted for a premium on foreign exchange (ANPC) and some discussion of how such a premium would affect the EPCs and ESCs. Four commodities are covered in this study; wheat, rice, cotton and groundnuts. The estimates for the protection coefficients for the four commodities for the 1980s are summarized, and estimates of comparable domestic and world prices are given. Cotton, and to a lesser extent wheat and rice, have been disprotected during the 1980s while groundnuts have received substantial protection. The study also raises a number of important issues that deserve further research.Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Crops&Crop Management Systems,Agricultural Research,Access to Markets