Land acquisition, investment, and development in the Lao coffee sector: Successes and failures

Despite the increasing acknowledgment of scholars and practitioners that many large-scale agricultural land acquisitions in developing countries fail or never materialize, empirical evidence about how and why they fail to date is still scarce. Too often, land deals are portrayed as straightforward investments and their success is taken for granted. Looking at the coffee sector in Laos, the authors of this article explore dimensions of the land grab debate that have not yet been sufficiently examined. Coffee concessionaires in southern Laos often fail to use all of the land granted them and fail to produce high yields on the land they do use. Thus, the authors challenge the often-assumed superiority and effectiveness of large-scale versus small-scale production, specifically the argument that they modernize agricultural production and optimize land use. They argue that examining failed investments is as important as studying successful ones for understanding the implications of the land grabbing phenomenon for social, economic, and environmental outcomes. Knowledge about the scale of “failed land deals” provides important motivation for national governments to close the gap between intentions and actual outcomes. This article engages with the current debate on quality of investment and challenges the approach of employing land concessions as a vehicle for economic development in the Lao coffee sector and in other sectors and countries.

Transition metal ligands as novel DNA-base substitutes

The base modified nucleoside dBP, carrying a non-hydrogen-bonding non-shape complementary base was incorporated into oligonucleotides (Brotschi, C.; Haberli, A.; Leumann C.J. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2001, 40, 3012-3014). This base was designed to coordinate transition metal ions into well defined positions within a DNA double helix. Melting experiments revealed that the stability of a dBP:dBP base couple in a DNA duplex is similar to a dG:dC base pair even in the absence of transition metal ions. In the presence of transition metal ions, melting experiments revealed a decrease in duplex stability which is on a similar order for all metal ions (Mn2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Ni2+) tested

DNA with Hydrophobic Base Substitutes: A Stable, Zipperlike Recognition Motif Based On Interstrand-Stacking Interactions

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Urethral recurrence in women with orthotopic bladder substitutes: A multi-institutional study.

OBJECTIVES To evaluate risk factors for urethral recurrence (UR) in women with neobladder. MATERIAL AND METHODS From 1994 to 2011, 297 women (median age = 54y; interquartile range: 47-57) underwent radical cystectomy with ileal neobladder for bladder cancer in 4 centers. None of the patients had bladder neck involvement at preoperative assessment. Univariable and multivariable analyses were used to estimate recurrence-free survival and overall survival. The median follow-up was 64 months (interquartile range: 25-116). RESULTS Of the 297 patients, 81 developed recurrence (27%). The 10- and 15-year recurrence-free survival rates were 66% and 66%, respectively. The 10- and 15-year overall survival rates were 57% and 55%, respectively. UR occurred in 2 patients (0.6%) with solitary urethral, 4 (1.2%) with concomitant urethral and distant recurrence, and 1 with concomitant urethral and local recurrence (0.3%). Bladder tumors were located at the trigone in 27 patients (9.1%). None of these patients developed UR. Lymph node tumor involvement was present in 60 patients (20.2%). On univariable and multivariable analyses, pathologic tumor and nodal stage were independent predictors for the overall risk of recurrence. UR was associated with a positive final urethral margin status (P<0.001) whereas no significant associations were found for carcinoma in situ, pathologic tumor and nodal stage, and bladder trigone involvement. CONCLUSIONS In this series, only 0.6% of women developed solitary UR. A positive final urethral margin was associated with an increased risk of UR. Women with involvement of the bladder trigone were not at higher risk of UR.

Dimethyloxalylglycine lyophilized onto bone substitutes increase vessel area in rat calvarial defects.

AIM Pharmacological inhibitors of prolyl hydroxylases, also termed hypoxia-mimetic agents (HMAs), when repeatedly injected can support angiogenesis and bone regeneration. However, the possible role of HMA loaded onto bone substitutes to support angiogenesis and bone regeneration under diabetic condition is unknown. The capacity of HMA loaded onto deproteinized bovine bone mineral (DBBM) to support angiogenesis and bone formation was examined in diabetic Wistar rats. METHODS Diabetes was induced by intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin. The HMA dimethyloxalylglycine (DMOG) and desferrioxamine (DFO) were lyophilized onto DBBM. Calvarial defects were created with a trephine drill and filled with the respective bone substitutes. After 4 weeks of healing, the animals were subjected to histological and histomorphometric analysis. RESULTS In this report, we provide evidence that DMOG loaded onto DBBM can support angiogenesis in vivo. Specifically, we show that DMOG increased the vessel area in the defect site to 2.4% ± 1.3% compared with controls 1.1% ± 0.48% (P = 0.012). There was a trend toward an increased vessel number in the defect site with 38.6 ± 17.4 and 31.0 ± 10.3 in the DMOG and the control group (P = 0.231). The increase in angiogenesis, however, did not translate into enhanced bone formation in the defect area with 9.2% ± 7.1% and 8.4% ± 5.6% in DMOG and control group, respectively. No significant changes were caused by DFO. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest that DMOG loaded onto DBBM can support angiogenesis, but bone formation does not increase accordingly in a type 1 diabetic rat calvarial defect model at the indicated time point.

Partitioning the Choice Task Makes Starbucks Coffee Taste Better

Consumers are often less satisfied with a product chosen from a large assortment than a limited one. Experienced choice difficulty presumably causes this as consumers have to engage in a great number of individual comparisons. In two studies we tested whether partitioning the choice task so that consumers decided sequentially on each individual attribute may provide a solution. In a Starbucks coffee house, consumers who chose from the menu rated the coffee as less tasty when chosen from a large rather than a small assortment. However, when the consumers chose it by sequentially deciding about one attribute at a time, the effect reversed. In a tailored-suit customization, consumers who chose multiple attributes at a time were less satisfied with their suit, compared to those who chose one attribute at a time. Sequential attribute-based processing proves to be an effective strategy to reap the benefits of a large assortment.

Do Information, Price, or Morals Influence Ethical Consumption? A Natural Field Experiment and Customer Survey on the Purchase of Fair Trade Coffee

We address ethical consumption using a natural field experiment on the actual purchase of Fair Trade (FT) coffee in three supermarkets in Germany. Based on a quasi-experimental before-and-after design the effects of three different treatments – information, 20% price reduction, and a moral appeal – are analyzed. Sales data cover actual ethical purchase behavior and avoid problems of social desirability. But they offer only limited insights into the motivations of individual consumers. We therefore complemented the field experiment with a customer survey that allows us to contrast observed (ethical) buying behavior with self-reported FT consumption. Results from the experiment suggest that only the price reduction had the expected positive and statistically significant effect on FT consumption.

A case-control study of tea/coffee consumption and lung cancer risk

Background. Despite the increasing attention to the effects of dietary factors on lung cancer risk, epidemiological research on the role of black/green tea and coffee intake and lung cancer risk is scarce. The purpose of this study was to explore the following three hypotheses: (1) the preventive (protective) effect from lung cancer is higher in green tea than in black tea and coffee consumption. (2) brewed tea (either black or green) daily drinkers have lower odds of lung cancer than non-drinkers of brewed tea (3) regular black and green tea have more preventive effect against lung cancer than decaffeinated teas due to the synergistic effect of caffeine and other tea components. ^ Methods. Data on 1,088 lung cancer cases and 1,127 controls from an ongoing epidemiological study of lung cancer by the Department of Epidemiology of the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer were analyzed. Multiple logistic regressions were performed for testing associations between frequency of specific types of tea/coffee consumption and the risk of lung cancer. ^ Results. We observed that more than a cup a week of green tea and decaffeinated black tea were significantly associated with reduced odds of lung cancer by 64% for green tea (adjusted OR = 0.44; 95% CI = 0.31–0.64), 36% for decaffeinated black tea (OR = 0.64; 95% CI = 0.45–0.90), when compared with non-drinkers and those who drank less than a cup a week. On the other hand, increasing intake of regular coffee (more than 3 cups a day) was associated with a 30% higher odds ratio of lung cancer (OR = 1.30; 95% CI = 1.01–1.09). No association was found between regular black tea, decaffeinated coffee consumption and the odds ratio of lung cancer. However, when drinkers of other tea/coffee beverages were excluded from each model in order to explore the independent effect of each type of tea/coffee, green tea and decaffeinated black tea-lung cancer associations remained but no association was observed for drinkers of regular coffee. ^ Conclusion. We report the chemopreventive effects of more than a cup a week of green tea and decaffeinated black tea on lung cancer. ^

Epiphytic orchid diversity found on trees and shrubs in coffee cultivated Afromontane rainforest, SW Ethiopia

The moist evergreen Afromontane forest of SW Ethiopia has become extremely fragmented and most remnants are intensively managed for cultivation of coffee (Coffea arabica). We investigated the distributions of epiphytic orchids in shade trees and their understory in forests with contrasting management intensity to determine biodiversity losses associated with coffee cultivation and to determine the capacity of coffee shrubs to act as refugia for orchid species. We studied epiphytic orchids in managed forests and natural forests and recorded orchid diversity and abundance in different tree zones of 339 trees and in the understory. Coffee management was associated with a downward shift of orchid species as orchid species were occurring in significantly lower tree zones in managed forest. The number of shrubs in the understory of managed forest was not higher than in natural forests, yet orchid abundance was higher in the understory of managed forests. Local extinctions of epiphytic orchids and species losses in the outer tree zones (a contraction of habitat) in managed forests are most likely driven by losses of large, complex-structured climax trees, and changes in microclimate, respectively. Coffee shrubs and their shade trees in managed forests are shown here to be a suitable habitat for only a limited set of orchid species. As farmers continue to convert natural forest into managed forest for coffee cultivation, further losses of habitat quality and collateral declines in regional epiphytic orchid diversity can be expected. Therefore, the conservation of epiphytic orchid diversity, as well as other components of diversity of the coffee forests, must primarily rely on avoiding coffee management intensification in the remaining natural forest. Convincing farmers to keep forest-climax trees in their coffee forest and to tolerate orchids on their coffee shrubs may also contribute to a more favorable conservation status of orchids in Ethiopian coffee agroecosystems.

NEW ROLE OF COOPERATIVES IN ETHIOPIA: THE CASE OF ETHIOPIAN COFFEE FARMERS COOPERATIVES

Since 1991, policies of economic liberalization in Ethiopia have been effective in releasing the economy from rigid state control. At the same time, they have also exposed Ethiopian people to domestic and international free market competition. In African countries, the retreat of governments from rural development due to economic liberalization policies has led to the re-evaluation of the role of cooperatives. Since 1999, in Ethiopia, several coffee farmers cooperative unions have been established to support peasants who are handicapped by their lack of negotiating power in the global economy. Coffee cooperatives have become market-oriented and are now relatively democratic compared to the former Marxist cooperatives of the previous regime. Thus far, these coffee cooperatives have provided higher profits to coffee farmers than have private traders. The actual volume of purchase, however, is limited　due to financial constraints. Because of this, the majority of cooperatives continues to rely on conventional marketing channels rather than on unions. Considering their weak financial condition, it is too early to judge the sustainability of the cooperatives because international prices have been high recently, and it is not yet clear how they would survive a downward international price trend.