A conceptualisation of social capital in economics : commitment and spill-over effects

economics;social capital;comparative analysis;social theory

Towards monitoring mutual trade-gender links

international trade;globalization;gender equality;trade policy;gender analysis;indicators

Development as freedom : contributions and shortcomings of Amartya Sen's development philosophy for feminist economics

women;development theory;economic theory;care work;feminist theory;freedom;social philosophy

The effect of training of culture neuronal networks, can they learn

Dissociated 1 or 2 days old postnatal rat cortical cells were cultured onto multi electrode arrays (MEA’s) with 61 electrode sites. They were trained with two protocols, i.e. the tetanic stimulation method from the report by Jimbo et al. (1998) and the selective adaptation protocol (report Shahaf and Marom, 2001). Tetanic stimulation training changed the net- work response significiantly. But training had no lasting effect, which means no learning result. The selective adaptation proto- col did also not lead to lasting learning effects

Non-home prepared foods : contribution to energy and nutrient intake of consumers living in two low-income areas in Nairobi

Objective: To determine the nutritional importance of non-home prepared foods for men, women and schoolchildren living in two low-income residential areas of Nairobi, and the sources of these non-home prepared foods. Design, setting and subjects: A survey was conducted in Korogocho, a slum area, and Dandora, a low-middle-income residential area. Some 241 men, 254 women and 146 children aged 9 to 14 years were included in the study. Food intake was measured using three 24-hour recalls per individual, with special attention on the sources of all foods consumed. Results: The median proportion of daily energy intake of consumers provided by non-home prepared foods ranged from 13% for schoolchildren in Korogocho to 36% for men in Dandora. The median contribution to fat intake was higher than to energy, but the contributions to iron and vitamin A intakes were lower than to energy intake. Men consumed more non-home prepared foods on weekdays than at the weekend. Intakes of energy and most nutrients were below Kenyan Recommended Daily Intakes in all groups, but similar for consumers and non-consumers. In Korogocho, street foods were the main source of non-home prepared foods. In Dandora, both kiosks and street foods were major sources. Conclusions: Non-home prepared foods are an important source of energy and nutients for men, women and schoolchildren in Nairobi. In Korogocho, street foods, and in Dandora, both kiosks and street foods are the main sources of non-home prepared foods. The adequacy of energy and nutrient intakes does not differ between consumers and non-consumers of non-home prepared foods

Acetylsalicylate and salicylates in foods

Acetylsalicylic acid is effective in the prevention of cardiovascular disease. It was suggested that fruits and vegetables provide unknown amounts of acetylsalicylic acid. We could not find any acetylsalicylic acid in 30 foods using HPLC with fluorescence detection (detection limits: 0.02 mg/kg for fresh, and 0.2 mg/kg for dried products). We showed that urinary excretion of salicylates is a valid indicator for intake, and found a median salicylate excretion of 10 mol (1.4 mg) in 24 h urine of 17 volunteers eating a variety of diets. Our data suggest that the content of (acetyl)salicylic acid of diets may be too low to affect disease risk

The Paradox of Resilience and Efficiency

Resilience and efficiency tend to be regarded as trade-offs. Is it possible to have more resilience in a capitalist economy? By referring to the literature on resilience in ecology and the study of the commons, I suggest that we can learn how to build more resilience without having to give up on efficiency. The key to this is cooperation instead of competition and a long-term understanding of efficiency. The history of economic thought provides clues to the role of institutions for combining resilience with efficiency, but also shows that this can only be done in the community economy and outside capitalism