scholarly journals Land Policy and Food Prices: Evidence from a Land Consolidation Program in Rwanda

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-73
Author(s):  
Aimable Nsabimana ◽  
Fidele Niyitanga ◽  
Dave D. Weatherspoon ◽  
Anwar Naseem
Keyword(s):  
Food Prices ◽  
Land Policy ◽  
Land Consolidation ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Food Crops ◽  
White Potato ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Price Differences ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Rwanda’s “Crop Intensification Program (CIP)” is primarily a land consolidation program aimed at improving agricultural productivity and food security. The program, which began in 2007, focuses on monocropping and commercialization of six priority crops: maize, wheat, rice, white potato, beans, and cassava. CIP has facilitated easy access to improved seed stocks, fertilizer, extension services, and postharvest handling and storage services. Although studies have documented the impact of CIP on changes in farm yield, incomes, and productivity, less is known about its impact on food prices. In this study, we examine the crop-food price differences in intensive monocropped CIP and non-intensive monocropped CIP zones in Rwanda. Specifically, the study evaluates price variations of beans and maize along with complementary food crops in intensive and non-intensive monocropped zones before and after the introduction of the CIP policy. We find that the CIP policy is not associated with differences in CIP crop prices between the intensive and non-intensive monocropped zones. Over time, prices increased for CIP crops but generally, the crop prices in the two zones were cointegrated. Prices for non-CIP crops in the two different zones did show price differentials prior to the implementation of CIP, with the prices in intensive monocropped zones being greater than in the non-intensive monocropped zones. Moreover, the prices in intensive areas are cointegrated with prices in non-intensive areas for maize and beans and these prices are converging. This indicates that farmers who intensively produced one CIP crop were able to go to the market and purchase other food crops and that price differences between zones have decreased over time, potentially making the CIP intensive farmers better off.

scholarly journals Popular Piety and Devotion to Parish Patrons in Poland and Spain, 1948–98

Religions ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Piotr Roszak ◽  
Sławomir Tykarski
Keyword(s):  
Religious Life ◽  
Second Vatican Council ◽  
Popular Piety ◽  
Vatican Council ◽  
Form Part ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Cultural Expressions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Written Sources

This paper will show the dynamics of change in the celebration of the parish patron’s day at the turn of several decades (before and after the Second Vatican Council) at a Marian shrine in Poland and the cult of Cross from Monjardin in Spain. It will refer to various forms of ritual which are manifestations of popular piety: cultural expressions, services, prayers and songs which form part of the veneration of Our Lady of Sorrows, Chełmno and the Cross in Villamayor de Monjardin. The article will also examine the different ways in which these feasts were celebrated during the period and the impact they had on the religious life of pilgrims. The study will be based on written sources: memories, diaries, newspaper clippings, and historical studies which are instrumental in demonstrating the transformation of how the parish patron’s day was celebrated over time.

scholarly journals Volatile Compounds Emitted from the Cat Urine Contaminated Carpet Before and After Treatment with Marketed Cleaning Products: A Simultaneous Chemical and Sensory Analysis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chumki Banik ◽  
Jacek Koziel ◽  
Elizabeth Flickinger
Keyword(s):  
Solid Phase ◽  
Micrococcus Luteus ◽  
Household Dust ◽  
Water Control ◽  
Cleaning Products ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Obligate Aerobe ◽  
Urine Contamination ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

Urination on carpet and subflooring can develop into persistent and challenging to mitigate odor. Very little or no information is published on how these VOCs change over time when urine is deposited on the carpet covering a plywood-type subflooring. This research has investigated the VOCs emitted from carpet+subflooring (control), carpet+subflooring sprayed with water (control with moisture), and cat urine-contaminated carpet+subflooring (treatment) over time (day 0 and 15). In addition, the effect of popular cleaning products on VOCs emitted and evaluated their efficacy in eliminating those indoor odors over time (day 0 and 15). Carpet-subflooring with all treatments were also contaminated with Micrococcus luteus, nonmotile obligate aerobe commonly found in household dust, to observe the impact of the aerobe on carpet-subflooring VOCs emission. VOCs emitted from carpet+subflooring receiving different treatments were collected from headspace using solid-phase microextraction (SPME). The VOCs were analyzed using a multidimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometer attached to an olfactometry (GC-MS-O). Many common VOCs were released from the carpet on day one and day fifteen, specifically from urine contamination. Cleaning products were effective in masking several potent odors of cat urine contaminated carpet VOCs on day one but unable to remove the odor appeared on day 15 in most cases.

Effect of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery Protocol Implementation on Cost and Outcomes by Type of Colectomy Performed

2020 ◽  
Vol 86 (9) ◽  
pp. 1078-1082
Author(s):  
Miles Landry ◽  
Rachel Lewis ◽  
Andrew Antill ◽  
R. Eric Heidel ◽  
Jessica Taylor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Enhanced Recovery ◽  
Enhanced Recovery After Surgery ◽  
Cost Of Care ◽  
Longitudinal Impact ◽  
Anatomic Site ◽  
Elective Colorectal Surgery ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Eras Protocol ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

Background Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols are widely utilized for elective colorectal surgery to improve outcomes and decrease costs, but few studies have evaluated the impact of ERAS protocols on cost with respect to anatomic site of resection. This study evaluated the impact of ERAS protocol on elective colon resections by site and longitudinal impact over time. Methods A single-center retrospective cohort study of 598 consecutive patients undergoing elective colorectal resection before and after implementation of ERAS protocol from 2013 to 2017 was performed. The primary outcomes were length of stay (LOS) and cost. Comparative and multivariate inferential statistics were used to assess additional outcomes. Results A total of 598 patients (100 pre-ERAS vs 498 post-ERAS) were evaluated with an overall median LOS of 4 days for right and left colectomies and 3 days for transverse colectomies. When comparing type of resection before and after ERAS protocol introduction, an increased LOS for left hemicolectomies from 3.09 to 4.03 days ( P = .047) was noted, with all other comparisons failing to reach statistical significance. Over time, an initial decrease in LOS for MIS approach after protocol introduction was observed; however, this effect diminished in the ensuing years and had no significant effect overall. Total cost of care was significantly increased post-ERAS for all cohorts except transverse colectomies. No further statistically significant differences were found. Conclusion After an initial improvement in outcomes, continued utilization of ERAS protocols demonstrated no improvement in LOS compared to pre-ERAS data and increased cost overall for patients regardless of site of resection.

scholarly journals Pharmacy students’ self-reported attitudes, beliefs and behaviours about communicating with patients, measured over time

2020 ◽  
pp. 116-126
Author(s):  
Bernadette Chevalier ◽  
Bernadette Watson ◽  
William Cottrell
Keyword(s):  
Pharmacy Students ◽  
Baseline Survey ◽  
Communication Accommodation ◽  
Communication Accommodation Theory ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Intern Training ◽  
Accommodation Theory ◽  
Communication Behaviours ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

Background: Pharmacy students receive training to effectively communicate with patients about their medications. Objectives: A theory-based approach (Communication Accommodation Theory [CAT]) was used to investigate the impact of communication skills’ tutorials on Pharmacy students’ self-reported attitudes, beliefs and behaviours in patient communication. Methods: Final year Pharmacy students completed an online, 30-item, patient-centred communication survey at three points in time, before and after attending three CAT-based tutorials (Survey #1 and Survey #2). Survey #3 was distributed six to twelve months into students’ intern training year (post-graduation). Differences between participants’ responses over time were measured and analysed. Results: Response rates were 78% for Survey #1, 84% for Survey #2, and 28% for Survey #3. Further analysis indicated that Survey #3 respondents were not statistically different from the larger sample size. Key areas changed from baseline (Survey #1) to post tutorials (Survey #2) and were sustained well into Pharmacy students’ intern year (Survey #3). Conclusions: This novel research indicated growing awareness and retention of key communication behaviours over time.

scholarly journals Explaining Cooperation in the Council of the EU Before and After the Brexit Referendum

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-15
Author(s):  
Markus Johansson
Keyword(s):  
Major Event ◽  
Network Ties ◽  
Member States ◽  
Decision To Leave ◽  
Eu Integration ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Eu

This article focuses on the impact of the UK’s decision to leave the EU on cooperation within the Council of the EU. It does so by studying how cooperation between member states has changed from the period before the Brexit referendum to the period after. In the emerging literature on Brexit, it has been highlighted that member states that have been close partners to the UK will have to (and have started to) adjust their cooperation behaviour and form new alliances. While the structure of cooperation in the Council is often understood to be stable over time, suggesting that cooperation is mainly driven by structurally determined preferences that don’t easily change, a major event such as Brexit may force remaining member states to restructure their cooperation behaviour. Accordingly, it is expected and tested whether less structurally determined preferences have grown in importance for shaping patterns of cooperation in the immediate period following the Brexit referendum. Using survey data based on interviews with member state negotiators to the Council, asking about their network ties, compiled both in the period before and after Brexit referendum of 2016, it is shown that structurally determined preferences are important in both periods and that more volatile ideologically-based preferences on the EU integration dimension and GAL-TAN dimension have become important following the referendum. The article is informative both for those interested in the effects of Brexit on EU institutions, as well as those more generally interested in causes of cooperation patterns in the Council.

scholarly journals How to make study documents clear and relevant: the impact of patient involvement

BJPsych Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sagar Jilka ◽  
Georgie Hudson ◽  
Sonja M. Jansli ◽  
Esther Negbenose ◽  
Emma Wilson ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Public Involvement ◽  
Patient And Public Involvement ◽  
Mixed Methods Design ◽  
Information Sheet ◽  
Participant Information Sheet ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Research Document ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Participant Information ◽  
Over Time

Background Patient and public involvement can improve study outcomes, but little data have been collected on why this might be. We investigated the impact of the Feasibility and Support to Timely Recruitment for Research (FAST-R) service, made up of trained patients and carers who review research documents at the beginning of the research pipeline. Aims To investigate the impact of the FAST-R service, and to provide researchers with guidelines to improve study documents. Method A mixed-methods design assessing changes and suggestions in documents submitted to the FAST-R service from 2011 to 2020. Quantitative measures were readability, word count, jargon words before and after review, the effects over time and if changes were implemented. We also asked eight reviewers to blindly select a pre- or post-review participant information sheet as their preferred version. Reviewers’ comments were analysed qualitatively via thematic analysis. Results After review, documents were longer and contained less jargon, but did not improve readability. Jargon and the number of suggested changes increased over time. Participant information sheets had the most suggested changes. Reviewers wanted clarity, better presentation and felt that documents lacked key information such as remuneration, risks involved and data management. Six out of eight reviewers preferred the post-review participant information sheet. FAST-R reviewers provided jargon words and phrases with alternatives for researchers to use. Conclusions Longer documents are acceptable if they are clear, with jargon explained or substituted. The highlighted barriers to true informed consent are not decreasing, although this study has suggestions for improving research document accessibility.

scholarly journals Volatile Compounds Emitted from the Cat Urine Contaminated Carpet before and after Treatment with Marketed Cleaning Products: A Simultaneous Chemical and Sensory Analysis

Data ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 88
Author(s):  
Chumki Banik ◽  
Jacek A. Koziel ◽  
Elizabeth Flickinger
Keyword(s):  
Solid Phase ◽  
Micrococcus Luteus ◽  
Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry ◽  
Household Dust ◽  
Water Control ◽  
Cleaning Product ◽  
Cleaning Products ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time

Urination on carpet and subflooring can develop into a persistent and challenging problem when trying to mitigate odor. Very little or no information is published on how volatile organic compounds (VOCs) change over time when urine is deposited on a carpet covering a plywood-type subflooring. This research has investigated the VOCs emitted from carpet + subflooring (control), carpet + subflooring sprayed with water (control with moisture), and cat urine-contaminated carpet + subflooring (treatment) over time (day 0 and 15). In addition, the study has recorded the effect of four popular cleaning product applications on VOCs emitted from carpet and evaluated their efficacy in eliminating cat urine related indoor odors over time (days 0 and 15). Carpet-subflooring with all treatments were also contaminated with Micrococcus luteus, a nonmotile obligate aerobe commonly found in household dust, to observe the impact of the aerobe on carpet-subflooring VOCs emission. VOCs emitted from carpet + subflooring receiving different treatments were collected from headspace using solid-phase microextraction (SPME). The VOCs were analyzed using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometry olfactometry (GC-MS-O). Many common VOCs were released from the carpet on day 0 and day 15, specifically from urine contamination. Cleaning products were effective in masking several potent odors of cat urine contaminated carpet VOCs on day 0 but were unable to remove the odor that appeared on day 15 in most cases.

scholarly journals “Global Britain”: from Idea to Implementation

2021 ◽  
Vol 101 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-32
Author(s):  
Elena Khakhalkina ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Policy ◽  
Policy Agenda ◽  
The European Union ◽  
British Foreign Policy ◽  
Before And After ◽  
New Ideas ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time ◽  
The Eu

The article explores a new British foreign policy agenda under the catchy slogan of “Global Britain”. Over time, the thesis of Global Britain has been viewed by the British leadership as a matrix for a new foreign policy. This slogan is still being filled with various conceptual elements and real political, trade and economic steps. The concept of Global Britain is analyzed through UK-US relations, the Commonwealth and cooperation with the EU in the period before and after Brexit. It is concluded that ideologically, Global Britain is not a set of fundamentally new ideas; rather, it is a reformatting with different accents of the previous foreign policy provisions (the well-known concept of the “Three Majestic Circles” by W. Churchill) and taking into account reducing its opportunities and leverage in the European Union and the European region as a whole and attempts to reorient the economy, trade and financial relations towards the dynamically developing countries of Asia and other regions. It is highlighted that the difficult and protracted negotiations on Britain‟s withdrawal from the EU and UK snap elections in 2019 slowed down the filling of the concept with real content. At present, the future of the British foreign policy largely depends on the course of the new US President, the UK-EU cooperation, and the impact of pandemic on British economy.

scholarly journals The impact of fiscal councils on the budgetary consolidation

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ante Žigman ◽  
Martina Jergović
Keyword(s):  
Fiscal Policy ◽  
Financial Crisis ◽  
Fiscal Rules ◽  
Easy Access ◽  
Finance Management ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Media ◽  
Short Time ◽  
The Impact

Fiscal councils are independent institutions that play an important role in execution of fiscal rules and budgetary discipline through their realistic and unbiased macroeconomic and budgetary analysis and projections. It is important that the fiscal councils have easy access to the media to ensure that their analyses reach the wider public, and influence creators of fiscal policy. This paper analyzes the influence of fiscal councils on budget balance and public debt in period before and after financial crisis. The member states that had functioning fiscal councils before the financial crisis, on average, manage their public finances better than those who founded them after the beginning of crisis. Additionally, supervision of the enforcements of fiscal rules from fiscal boards is already showing positive results in this short time period. Fiscal councils are extremely important to ensure a healthy basis for conducting fiscal policy and to decrease the influence of politics on public finance management.

scholarly journals Impact of a Clinical Decision Support Intervention on Albumin Utilization and Appropriateness of Use in an Academic Healthcare System

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashant R. Mudireddy ◽  
Nikhil K. Mull ◽  
Kendal Williams ◽  
Jennifer M. Bushen ◽  
Nishaminy Kasbekar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Healthcare System ◽  
Clinical Decision Support ◽  
Clinical Decision ◽  
P Value ◽  
Albumin Concentration ◽  
Before And After ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Order Set

Background: Albumin is expensive compared to crystalloid intravenous fluids and may be used for inappropriate indications, resulting in low value care. Aim/Purpose: To study the impact of a computerized clinical decision support (CDS) intervention on albumin utilization and appropriateness of use in an academic healthcare system. Methods: A systematic review examining appropriate indications for albumin use in the healthcare setting was used by an interprofessional group of stakeholders locally to develop a CDS intervention to improve the appropriateness of albumin utilization. The order set was implemented across our healthcare system on 4/12/2011, included a list of appropriate indications, and automatically provided albumin concentration, dose and frequency based on the indication selected and patient weight and creatinine. We measured units of albumin ordered across the healthcare system and individually at each of three hospitals in the healthcare system 12 months before and after intervention implementation. An interrupted time series analysis using monthly data examined changes in the level and slope of albumin use during pre- versus post-implementation periods. We also reviewed charts of all adult inpatients receiving albumin in the 3 months prior to and following implementation of the order set at two of the three hospitals within the healthcare system, to determine if appropriateness of use had changed, as defined by our consensus criteria. We selected the two hospitals with the most frequent use of albumin in the pre-period. We used chi square tests to compare changes in the proportion of appropriate instances and grams of albumin used. We considered a p-value <0.05 as statistically significant. Results: The number of patient encounters analyzed in the 12 months before and after the albumin CDS intervention was 79,108, and 78,240, respectively. There was a statistically significant decrease in mean units of albumin ordered immediately post-intervention across the healthcare system (-4.98 units per 1000 patient days, confidence interval -9.64 to -0.33, p=0.04). At Hospital 1, there were no statistically significant changes in albumin ordering over time. At Hospital 2, albumin ordering significantly increased up to the intervention, but decreased significantly immediately following the intervention and continued to decrease significantly over time following the intervention; the pre and post implementation slopes were significantly different. At Hospital 3, albumin ordering was statistically unchanged up to the intervention, decreased significantly immediately following the intervention, and significantly increased over time following the intervention, but the pre and post slopes were not statistically different. At Hospitals 1 and 3, there was a statistically significant improvement in appropriateness of albumin use in the three months following implementation. Conclusions: Implementation of a CDS intervention was associated with an increase in the amount of albumin administered appropriately at two hospitals within an academic healthcare system and an overall decrease in albumin utilization across the healthcare system.

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