scholarly journals Pan-African Judgments on the Gulf Investments in Oppressive Governments

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Mahgoub El-Tigani Mahmoud
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
The Past ◽  
Pan African ◽  
Accessible Information ◽  
Gulf States ◽  
African Charter ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
African Setting

The African ancient civilizations played influential roles in global trade and power relations; in recent histories and contemporary times, persistent failures of dependent economies and political leaderships underdeveloped the continent by oppression and manipulative investments. Focusing on the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, our paper applied a Pan-Africanist framework to assess the impact of Gulf States’ investments on the African setting. The paper stressed the predetermined cycle of investments that exchanged massive flows of the collected and/or accumulated surpluses into the Gulf, Chinese, and other foreign investors, whereas the poorest African most targeted recipients were the least benefitted. Despite the ambiguity and scarcity of accessible information on the Gulf/African businesses, we have heavily drawn available facts from United Nations and international sources, as well as critical views by Pan- African scholars, human rights’ activists, and political opponents. To ensure sustainable development free of exploitation and abuse of authority for the African peoples, foreign investors should avoid the past colonial and/or neocolonial ventures that dispossessed the land and manpower of the Continent, reinstated wealth-and-power thirst rulers in authoritative systems of rule, and impoverished indigenous farmers and the low-income workers and professionals with lasting poverty.

scholarly journals The impact of African-trained neurosurgeons on sub-Saharan Africa

2020 ◽  
Vol 48 (3) ◽  
pp. E4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Karekezi ◽  
Abdeslam El Khamlichi ◽  
Abdessamad El Ouahabi ◽  
Najia El Abbadi ◽  
Semevo Alidegnon Ahokpossi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
National Income ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
World Federation ◽  
Neurosurgical Procedures ◽  
Ct Scanner ◽  
The Past ◽  
The World ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The Impact

OBJECTIVESub-Saharan Africa (SSA) represents 17% of the world’s land, 14% of the population, and 1% of the gross domestic product. Previous reports have indicated that 81/500 African neurosurgeons (16.2%) worked in SSA—i.e., 1 neurosurgeon per 6 million inhabitants. Over the past decades, efforts have been made to improve neurosurgery availability in SSA. In this study, the authors provide an update by means of the polling of neurosurgeons who trained in North Africa and went back to practice in SSA.METHODSNeurosurgeons who had full training at the World Federation of Neurosurgical Societies (WFNS) Rabat Training Center (RTC) over the past 16 years were polled with an 18-question survey focused on demographics, practice/case types, and operating room equipment availability.RESULTSData collected from all 21 (100%) WFNS RTC graduates showed that all neurosurgeons returned to work to SSA in 12 different countries, 90% working in low-income and 10% in lower-middle-income countries, defined by the World Bank as a Gross National Income per capita of ≤ US$995 and US$996–$3895, respectively. The cumulative population in the geographical areas in which they practice is 267 million, with a total of 102 neurosurgeons reported, resulting in 1 neurosurgeon per 2.62 million inhabitants. Upon return to SSA, WFNS RTC graduates were employed in public/private hospitals (62%), military hospitals (14.3%), academic centers (14.3%), and private practice (9.5%). The majority reported an even split between spine and cranial and between trauma and elective; 71% performed between 50 and more than 100 neurosurgical procedures/year. Equipment available varied across the cohort. A CT scanner was available to 86%, MRI to 38%, surgical microscope to 33%, endoscope to 19.1%, and neuronavigation to 0%. Three (14.3%) neurosurgeons had access to none of the above.CONCLUSIONSNeurosurgery availability in SSA has significantly improved over the past decade thanks to the dedication of senior African neurosurgeons, organizations, and volunteers who believed in forming the new neurosurgery generation in the same continent where they practice. Challenges include limited resources and the need to continue expanding efforts in local neurosurgery training and continuing medical education. Focus on affordable and low-maintenance technology is needed.

The End of Cheap Labor: Are Foreign Investors Leaving China?

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 94-107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julian Donaubauer ◽  
Christian Dreger
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Fixed Effects ◽  
Economic Strategy ◽  
Foreign Investors ◽  
Fdi Inflows ◽  
Spatial Spillovers ◽  
The Past ◽  
Asean Countries ◽  
Wage Increases ◽  
Robust Evidence

China's government has been promoting the shift toward a consumption-based economy in the past few years to arrive at a path of sustainable and socially inclusive growth. In this context, the explicit goal to significantly raise the percentage of wages in the national household income was an integral part of the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011–15). These changes in economic strategy are likely to affect the attractiveness of the country to foreign investors. In this paper, we raise the hypothesis that soaring relative wages negatively affect foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows to China, and alter their distribution within China. In addition, low-wage countries in the Asian region might benefit from the changed direction of FDI inflows. We utilize fixed-effects panel models with spatial spillovers for Chinese provinces and developing ASEAN countries to provide strong and robust evidence that wage increases change the allocation of FDI within China. In addition, we show that the changes in China's economic strategy improve the chances of its low-income neighbors to attract FDI.

Universal versus Targeted Benefits: The Distributional Effects of Free School Meals

10.1068/c0457 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-598 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlo J Morelli ◽  
Paul T Seaman
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Current System ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
School Meals ◽  
Welfare Provision ◽  
Free School ◽  
The Past ◽  
State Education ◽  
The Impact

UK government policy over the past thirty years has seen a movement away from universal provision of welfare towards the targeting of welfare. The advent of devolution in Scotland, and to a lesser degree Wales, has, however, created new policy forums in which the shift towards targeted benefits has been reversed in a number of important fields. Welfare provision in relation to children is a further key area in which this policy debate has emerged. Little evidence has been provided for the effectiveness of this shift in policy until now. We examine the effect of this divergence in welfare policy. We look at the issue of universality and targeting by examining the impact of the proposal for the introduction of universal free school meals to all children in full-time state education. The current system of free school meals is found to be the least effective method of welfare provision. Other methods of targeting are found to be more effective than the current system, but universal provision is found to be the only mechanism for consistently providing welfare to all low-income households.

scholarly journals The Role of Technology in Nigerian Catfish Production: A Review

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samuel Ijabo Ogah ◽  
Goshen David Miteu ◽  
Emmanuel Oluwasogo Oyewole ◽  
Josephine Oluseyi Adebayo ◽  
Elohozino Oghale Benneth
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Developing Nations ◽  
Economic Systems ◽  
Relative Poverty ◽  
Demand And Supply ◽  
The Past ◽  
Slow Development ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Considerable Pressure

This article examines the state of Catfish production in Nigeria and the roles technology has played over the past decades. Heightened demand as a result of increased population puts considerable pressure on production. In response to this pressure aquaculturists ramped up production activities, this demand-driven increase exposes the major gaps as the industry struggles to cope with the absence of fundamental structures like inadequate structured funding, markets, processing and preservation facilities among others. Such gaps exist in all aspects of aquaculture and technology is a viable plug for many of them. The aquaculture of developing nations has certain peculiarities which predispose it to slow development. Many fishermen and aquaculturists in low-income regions are trapped in economic systems that result in relative poverty. Many reasons have been put forward to explain the dynamics behind these consequences with technology playing a major role from the consensus. Rapid advances in hatchery, water quality and molecular technology have been identified as some of the active drivers of Catfish production in Nigeria. The article focuses on the history, progress and prospects of aquaculture technology in Nigeria. It does so by reviewing the technologies already established in Catfish farming and the impact of their roles in balancing fish demand and supply.

Approaches to Macrofinancial Surveillance in Article IV Reports

Policy Papers ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (13) ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Financial Sector ◽  
Policy Advice ◽  
Low Income Countries ◽  
Financial Shocks ◽  
Diverse Range ◽  
The Past ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
The Impact

The Fund has made good progress over the past two years in integrating macrofinancial analysis into Article IV surveillance for a wide range of members. Building on past work to enhance financial sector analysis, Fund staff has sought to develop a consistent and forward-looking view on how the financial sector affects each member’s economic outlook with the aim of strengthening staff’s capacity to provide advice on macro-critical questions. The focus has been on developing a fuller understanding of macrofinancial linkages, and applying this analysis to inform policy advice. Staff has sought to articulate the role of the financial sector in the macroeconomic baseline, and to integrate the financial sector into the risk assessment, taking into account both the impact of macro shocks on the financial sector as well as the effect of financial shocks on macroeconomic stability. Strengthening the analytical foundations of this work has helped staff provide advice in all policy areas, including financial sector policies. Staff has tailored macrofinancial analysis to the circumstances of a diverse set of economies. Area departments have taken the lead in selecting 66 economies for enhanced macrofinancial coverage and in identifying topics, drawing on targeted support from functional departments. The choice of coverage has included legacies from the global financial crisis—such as deleveraging and stretched balance sheets in advanced economies and some emerging markets—and more recent challenges such as commodity price shocks, especially in low income countries, and the risks of housing booms. The financial sector’s contribution to growth and inclusion has become an important question in countries across all income groups. Staff sees benefits in mainstreaming this approach across the membership, while continuing to address analytical gaps and adapting to new challenges. The work of the past two years has underscored the criticality of macrofinancial analysis for a diverse range of members, and laid the basis for progressively mainstreaming macrofinancial surveillance across the membership. Building on this progress, staff sees scope for the Fund to deepen its understanding of the macroeconomic effects of financial shocks, to better adapt microprudential and macroprudential policy advice with an assessment of macro-critical risks including systemic risk, and to deepen the analysis of outward spillovers. Staff will also need to continue to adapt the focus of analysis and tools, and seek relevant data, as economic challenges evolve.

The Ancient Civilizations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
William R. Fowler
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Central American ◽  
European Contact ◽  
The Past ◽  
Current State ◽  
Northern Portion ◽  
Human Habitation ◽  
Ancient Civilizations ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Recurrent Theme

This chapter provides an interpretive synthesis of the current state of knowledge of the pre-Columbian civilizations of Central America from the time of earliest human habitation until European contact. In terms of cultural affinities, the northern portion of the area formed the southeastern periphery of the culture area of Mesoamerica, and the southern regions pertained to the Isthmo-Colombian area (or Intermediate Area). With its relatively high population density, the area is highly susceptible to volcanic, seismic, and climatic natural disasters such as droughts, tropical storms, flooding, and landslides, and the same was true in the past. A recurrent theme in the study of ancient Central American civilizations is the impact of natural disasters and societal responses to cataclysmic events.

scholarly journals The impact of income inequality on rental affordability: An empirical study in large American metropolitan areas

Urban Studies ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (10) ◽  
pp. 2106-2122 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongwei Dong
Keyword(s):  
Income Inequality ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Gini Coefficient ◽  
Metropolitan Areas ◽  
County Level ◽  
Longitudinal Analyses ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Past ◽  
Percentage Points ◽  
The Impact

American metropolitan areas have experienced rising income inequality and worsening rental affordability in the past few decades. Has the rise of inequality caused worsening rental affordability? This study conducts both cross-sectional and longitudinal analyses to examine the impact of income inequality on rental affordability for low-income tenant households at the county level in America’s largest 100 metropolitan areas. The cross-sectional analyses reveal that, everything else equal, an increase of Gini coefficient by 0.1 in a county was associated with 2.2 and 4.4 percentage points more severely rent-burdened low-income households in 2000 and 2008–2012, respectively. The longitudinal analyses confirm that rising income inequality caused worsening rental affordability for low-income tenant households in large American metropolitan areas between 2000 and 2008–2012. On average, counties that experienced a 0.1 greater increase in Gini coefficient from 2000 to 2008–2012 saw faster growth of severely rent-burdened low-income tenant households by 2.9 percentage points.

scholarly journals Impact of Internet use on the income gap among rural residents: A social capital-based analysis of the mediating effect

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lina Shangguan ◽  
Xiaoyan Peng
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Low Income ◽  
Internet Use ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Positive Role ◽  
Income Gap ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Quantile Regression Method

Based on 2010, 2013 and 2015 CGSS data, the impact of Internet use and social capital on the income gap among farmers in the past five years is assessed at three time points using the OLS method and a quantile regression method. The study finds that (1) the income gap among farmers increases continuously in the five-year period, while Internet use plays a positive impact on farmers’ income growth in all five quartiles; the coefficient differences are all significantly negative, indicating that Internet use plays a positive role in alleviating the income gap between high-income and low-income farmer subgroups, and (2) social capital plays a positive role in moderating the income gap among farmers and that Internet use by farmers expands the boundary of social capital, which in turn increases the income level of and alleviates the income gap among farmers.

Fluorescent potentiometric dyes for membrane-potential imaging

1994 ◽  
Vol 52 ◽  
pp. 166-167
Author(s):  
Leslie M. Loew
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Potential ◽  
Single Cells ◽  
Quantitative Imaging ◽  
Optical Recording ◽  
Biological Processes ◽  
Major Focus ◽  
The Past ◽  
Excitable Systems ◽  
Major Application ◽  
The Impact

A major application of potentiometric dyes has been the multisite optical recording of electrical activity in excitable systems. After being championed by L.B. Cohen and his colleagues for the past 20 years, the impact of this technology is rapidly being felt and is spreading to an increasing number of neuroscience laboratories. A second class of experiments involves using dyes to image membrane potential distributions in single cells by digital imaging microscopy - a major focus of this lab. These studies usually do not require the temporal resolution of multisite optical recording, being primarily focussed on slow cell biological processes, and therefore can achieve much higher spatial resolution. We have developed 2 methods for quantitative imaging of membrane potential. One method uses dual wavelength imaging of membrane-staining dyes and the other uses quantitative 3D imaging of a fluorescent lipophilic cation; the dyes used in each case were synthesized for this purpose in this laboratory.

Demonstrating Nutrient Cost Gradients: A Brooklyn Case Study

2014 ◽  
Vol 84 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 244-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Karp ◽  
Gary Wong ◽  
Marguerite Orsi
Keyword(s):  
Low Income ◽  
Energy Content ◽  
Food Selection ◽  
The United States ◽  
United States Department ◽  
Micronutrient Deficiencies ◽  
Caloric Density ◽  
Low Income Families ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The Impact

Abstract. Introduction: Foods dense in micronutrients are generally more expensive than those with higher energy content. These cost-differentials may put low-income families at risk of diminished micronutrient intake. Objectives: We sought to determine differences in the cost for iron, folate, and choline in foods available for purchase in a low-income community when assessed for energy content and serving size. Methods: Sixty-nine foods listed in the menu plans provided by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) for low-income families were considered, in 10 domains. The cost and micronutrient content for-energy and per-serving of these foods were determined for the three micronutrients. Exact Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for comparisons of energy costs; Spearman rho tests for comparisons of micronutrient content. Ninety families were interviewed in a pediatric clinic to assess the impact of food cost on food selection. Results: Significant differences between domains were shown for energy density with both cost-for-energy (p < 0.001) and cost-per-serving (p < 0.05) comparisons. All three micronutrient contents were significantly correlated with cost-for-energy (p < 0.01). Both iron and choline contents were significantly correlated with cost-per-serving (p < 0.05). Of the 90 families, 38 (42 %) worried about food costs; 40 (44 %) had chosen foods of high caloric density in response to that fear, and 29 of 40 families experiencing both worry and making such food selection. Conclusion: Adjustments to USDA meal plans using cost-for-energy analysis showed differentials for both energy and micronutrients. These differentials were reduced using cost-per-serving analysis, but were not eliminated. A substantial proportion of low-income families are vulnerable to micronutrient deficiencies.

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