The phytochemical diversity and product quality of shea butter present confounding factors to product standardization in research

Muoghalu et al, describe the anti-inflammatory activity of whole unrefined shea butter in an animal model. This study is important because shea butter extracts have promising characteristics for treating inflammatory disorders. However, the authors did not appropriately characterise the concentration of the specific bioactive compounds identified from their literature review prior to their in vivo studies. This lack of characterisation limits ability to extrapolate the important anti-inflammatory findings more broadly

HOW SUCCESSFUL ARE GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS IN FOOD MARKETS? INSIGHTS FROM THE PHILIPPINE RICE MARKET

We investigate the Philippine government's price stabilization policy for rice. Seemingly Unrelated Regressions are used to examine the effectiveness of the program at regional and national levels over a 21-year period (January 1983 to December 2003). Results of the regional analysis indicate some NFA-induced spatial and temporal differences in terms of producer prices. The NFA successfully increased producer prices in 5 of 13 regions through stock accumulation and paddy rice purchase at floor prices. NFA stock releases do not correlate strongly with retail prices at the national level, although results from the regional model indicate that NFA stock releases reduced retail prices in five regions, leading to perceptible spatial and temporal differences between regions. Although the NFA support price appears to have been moderately successful in increasing producer prices at a national level, on average, the support price led to an increase in consumer prices in ten regions and contributed little to price stabilization. Overall, therefore, our results indicate very limited success on the part of the NFA to achieve its major objectives at either regional or national level. We suggest the NFA should concentrate its resources in the poorest areas of the country, where it might exert greater and more useful influence in smaller and locally thin rice markets.Marketing,

The 2MASS Tully-Fisher Survey : Mapping the Mass in the Universe

The 2MASS Tully-Fisher Survey (2MTF) aims to measure Tully-Fisher (TF) distances for all bright inclined spirals in the 2MASS Redshift Survey (2MRS) using high quality HI widths and 2MASS photometry. Compared with previous peculiar velocity surveys, the 2MTF survey provides more accurate width measurements and more uniform sky coverage, combining observations with the Green Bank, Arecibo and Parkes telescopes. With this new redshift-independent distance database, we will significantly improve our understanding of the mass distribution in the local universe.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, IAU Symposium 289 proceedin

Genetic and environmental risk factors for sexual distress and its association with female sexual dysfunction

A. Burri, Q. Rahman and T. Spector (2011). Genetic and environmental risk factors for sexual distress and its association with female sexual dysfunction. Psychological Medicine, 41, pp 2435-2445. Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S003329171100049

Effects of errorless learning on the acquisition of velopharyngeal movement control

Session 1pSC - Speech Communication: Cross-Linguistic Studies of Speech Sound Learning of the Languages of Hong Kong (Poster Session)The implicit motor learning literature suggests a benefit for learning if errors are minimized during practice. This study investigated whether the same principle holds for learning velopharyngeal movement control. Normal speaking participants learned to produce hypernasal speech in either an errorless learning condition (in which the possibility for errors was limited) or an errorful learning condition (in which the possibility for errors was not limited). Nasality level of the participants’ speech was measured by nasometer and reflected by nasalance scores (in %). Errorless learners practiced producing hypernasal speech with a threshold nasalance score of 10% at the beginning, which gradually increased to a threshold of 50% at the end. The same set of threshold targets were presented to errorful learners but in a reversed order. Errors were defined by the proportion of speech with a nasalance score below the threshold. The results showed that, relative to errorful learners, errorless learners displayed fewer errors (50.7% vs. 17.7%) and a higher mean nasalance score (31.3% vs. 46.7%) during the acquisition phase. Furthermore, errorless learners outperformed errorful learners in both retention and novel transfer tests. Acknowledgment: Supported by The University of Hong Kong Strategic Research Theme for Sciences of Learning © 2012 Acoustical Society of Americapublished_or_final_versio

Supply and demand of creative arts in regional Victoria, Australia

Creative arts can make vital contributions to both economies and communities. Moreover, these impacts can be keenly felt by smaller, regional communities, where shifts away from traditional rural industries are apparent, and in the context of the Inew economy' which emphasises the importance of knowledge industries and creative industries. This research investigates creative arts supply and demand in regional Victoria, Australia through the collection and analysis of qualitative and quantitative data in three target communities. Fundamentally, this thesis presents a detailed analysis of the current supply and demand environment, including the impacts of regional arts festivals, and determines the conditions, events and characteristics which could strengthen regional Victorian supply and demand of creative arts. This thesis analyses focus group data to investigate current levels of supply of creative arts in regional Victoria. Qualitative analysis of the data shows that the supply of creative arts in the target areas is limited by scarce resources, isolation, negative community attitudes towards creative arts, and a small audience or sales market and an over-reliance on volunteers. Small and micro-businesses in the regional Victorian arts sector are seen as having motivations for operating beyond making money, limited business acumen, and have difficulty in marketing themselves effectively. Best-practice strategies to strengthen the operations of small and micro-businesses include adopting a more entrepreneurial attitude towards arts business, using an agent to source new audiences or sales markets and to maximise the promotion of their product, creating art which is accessible to the local community, and to engage in skills development and business training. Using attitudes towards creative arts, participation in creative arts and expenditure on creative arts as a measure of current demand levels, this thesis applies a range of statistical and econometric tests to the data collected from the three target communities. Contrary to the view emergent from the supply data, this thesis shows that regional Victorians have strong levels of demand for creative arts. Results show higher than average levels of overall monthly arts expenditure, and strong demand for cinema, craft fairs or exhibitions, books, CDs and other music formats. Low levels of demand were noted for classical music, opera or ballet. Chi-Squared analysis and ordered probit results show that gender, age, festival attendance, education, and individual levels of overall arts expenditure are all determinants of creative arts demand. Analysis regarding impacts and key aspects of two regional arts festivals found that regional festival patrons are more likely to be female, local to the host region, have a middle income, and hold a high school or equivalent qualification. An econometric model, including two versions of an Ordinary Least Squares regression in addition to Tobit and probit estimations, was used to more accurately estimate individual expenditure characteristics, notably accounting for the zero-expenditure of attendees who are local to the host region. This thesis provides valuable contributions to knowledge regarding the supply and demand of creative arts in regional areas. It also provides practical insights for policy makers, festival organisers, and the regional arts industry

Analysis of Ladar Range Resolution Enhancement by Sinusoidal Phase Modulation

The ability of a ladar system to resolve two or more separate returns from a combined echo is related to the effective correlation bandwidth of the pulse emitted by the ladar system. Phase modulation of an outgoing pulse introduces additional frequency components, which increases the effective correlation bandwidth of the pulse and thus improves the range resolution of the system. In this paper, we discuss the general theoretical basis for achieving improved range resolution using a modulated waveform and a matched filter receiver. We then demonstrate these concepts by considering the particular case of improved range resolution for a sinusoidally phase modulated carrier with a rectangular amplitude function. We also perform computer simulations with a realistic pulsed ladar envelope possessing the same modulation function. Our calculations indicate that the resolution of a pulsed ladar system may be improved by a factor of 70 with a phase-modulated pulse and a matched-filter receiver

Psychophysical effects of subtle modification of the built environment: a quasi-experimental field study

Background: China’s rapid urban growth is associated with an increasingly unhealthy population. Urban planners can design cities to promote healthy lifestyles, but to re-engineer the existing built environment is no simple task. We assessed whether a simple modification of the built environment was associated with altered perceptions of, and ambulation in, that environment. Methods: We adjusted a single-rail stair banister (length 3 m, height 1 m) in an urban area of Hong Kong, China, to increase or decrease the convergence angle with the stairs by 10% (plus or minus 1.91°). When positioned conventionally, the banister was parallel to the stairs (2.19 m width, 26.5° incline). 92 participants (mean age 19.71 [0.79], 54 male and 38 female) who were unaware that the banister diverged from (n=32), converged with (n=30), or was parallel to the stairs (n=30), visually estimated the angle of incline of the stairs from the top by rotating a disk to match the slant of the staircase. Walking speed (metres per second) was video-recorded surreptitiously as a sub-sample of the participants (n=36) approached the stairs with the banister in each position. Data were analysed using one-way analysis of variance followed by Bonferroni comparisons. Ethical approval of the study was obtained from the University of Hong Kong Research Ethics Committee, and participants provided written informed consent to participate. Findings: Visual estimations differed between the groups (F2,70=3.11, p=0.05, ηp2=0.08); estimates of angle were smaller when the banister converged with the stairs (32.53 [8.39]°) than when it diverged (39.69 [9.50]°) (p=0.007) or was parallel (39.88 [8.92]°) (p=0.006). Walking speeds in the final three strides preceding transition to stair descent also differed (F2,70,70=3.11, p=0.05, ηp2=0.08) with mean walking speed slower when the banister diverged (1.24 [0.26] m/s) than when it converged (1.36 [0.19] m/s) (p=0.046). Interpretation: Modification of the angle of a stair banister was associated with differences in perception of the steepness of stairs and in walking behavior during approach to the stairs. Problems associated with rapid urban development, including falls in older people and physical inactivity, are high on the health agenda of the Chinese government. Future work should examine whether stairs that appear less steep are more readily climbed, thus promoting physical activity, and whether stepping parameters are improved, thus promoting fewer falls