The brain is a prediction machine that cares about good and bad - Any implications for neuropragmatics?

Experimental pragmatics asks how people construct contextualized meaning in communication. So what does it mean for this field to add neuroas a prefix to its name? After analyzing the options for any subfield of cognitive science, I argue that neuropragmatics can and occasionally should go beyond the instrumental use of EEG or fMRI and beyond mapping classic theoretical distinctions onto Brodmann areas. In particular, if experimental pragmatics ‘goes neuro’, it should take into account that the brain evolved as a control system that helps its bearer negotiate a highly complex, rapidly changing and often not so friendly environment. In this context, the ability to predict current unknowns, and to rapidly tell good from bad, are essential ingredients of processing. Using insights from non-linguistic areas of cognitive neuroscience as well as from EEG research on utterance comprehension, I argue that for a balanced development of experimental pragmatics, these two characteristics of the brain cannot be ignored

The linguistics of gender

This chapter explores grammatical gender as a linguistic phenomenon. First, I define gender in terms of agreement, and look at the parts of speech that can take gender agreement. Because it relates to assumptions underlying much psycholinguistic gender research, I also examine the reasons why gender systems are thought to emerge, change, and disappear. Then, I describe the gender system of Dutch. The frequent confusion about the number of genders in Dutch will be resolved by looking at the history of the system, and the role of pronominal reference therein. In addition, I report on three lexical- statistical analyses of the distribution of genders in the language. After having dealt with Dutch, I look at whether the genders of Dutch and other languages are more or less randomly assigned, or whether there is some system to it. In contrast to what many people think, regularities do indeed exist. Native speakers could in principle exploit such regularities to compute rather than memorize gender, at least in part. Although this should be taken into account as a possibility, I will also argue that it is by no means a necessary implication

The application of trade and growth theories to agriculture: a survey

This article reviews a broad range of theoretical concepts available to explain international trade in agricultural and food products. For many years agricultural trade analyses were largely based on traditional perceptions of comparative advantage following neoclassical theory. Observations of agricultural trade suggest, however, that concepts from modern trade and growth theories are increasingly relevant. This survey demonstrates that many opportunities exist for applying these new theories to the modern food economy.International Development, International Relations/Trade,

Towards sustainable soy : an assessment of opportunities and risks for soybean production based on a case study Brazil

This study investigates opportunities for and implications of expanding soybean production in developing countries. Increasing soybean production is expected to take place mainly in Latin America. However the international community is increasingly concerned about managing the natural resources in this region. Within the Round Table of Responsible Soy (RTRS) an international dialogue has started to secure that current soybean production and its future expansion is carried out within a sustainable framework. Within the context of this RTRS the study evaluates the compliance of current soybean production in Latin American countries to the sustainability aspects based on the Brazilian case. The research shows that soybean cultivation is embedded in a complex land use system that hampers quick fixes to evolve towards more sustainable production, but also inherit interesting opportunities for the development of integrated soybased production system

The EU at the world market; An impact assessment of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture

This report evaluates the effects of the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture on EU's international agricultural trade position. EU's share in trade of total agricultural products has not changed over the period 1993-2003. Yet, the EU lost market shares in trade on cereals, sugar, and dairy and meat products. WTO commitments to reduce export support have contributed to these decreasing market shares. However, for some products demand developments have had greater impact on EU's market position than changes in trade policies due to the Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture.International Relations/Trade,

East African governments' responses to high cereal prices

This study analyses the responses of governments in four East African countries (Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and Ethiopia) with respect to price formation and price transmission in the cereal sector. All four countries were confronted with high cereal prices in 2008. Government policies applied largely pursued consumer price reduction, but such short-term price policies did not encourage farmers to respond with increasing production, the more so because farmers were facing very high fertiliser prices. The report concludes by discussing policy options to help improve market functioning which supports agricultural productivity growt

POLICIES FOR AGRICULTURE IN POLAND AND THE NETHERLANDS; CONTRIBUTIONS TO A POLICY DIALOGUE

This volume contains background papers that contributed to discussions between Polish and Dutch agricultural policy makers, held in Warsaw (16-17 July, 2002) and in The Hague (26-27 September, 2002). These meetings took place in the context of the Utrecht Conference in which bilateral meetings on various policy issues are organised. The papers give insights in the agricultural and rural development in both countries and point at the main problems at stake. Further, the contributions discuss the past and present agricultural and rural policies and show to what extent these policies help(ed) to tackle the major problems of the agricultural sector and rural areas. Discussions took place on various issues such as farm retirement and direct payment schemes, competitiveness of the sector and the future developments of the Common Agricultural Policy in an enlarged European Union.Agricultural and Food Policy,