Neighborhood Socioeconomic Deprivation in Early Childhood Mediates Racial Disparities in Blood Pressure in a College Student Sample

The influence of childhood contexts on adult blood pressure is an important yet understudied topic. Using a developmental perspective, this study examines the association between neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage in early childhood (0–5?yrs), middle childhood (6–12?yrs) and adolescence (13–18?yrs) on subsequent blood pressure in young adulthood. Data were from 263 college students (52% Black; M_age?=?19.21 years) and neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage was measured using a tract-level Area Deprivation Index. Neighborhood disadvantage in early childhood was significantly associated with diastolic blood pressure and explained 22% of the race difference between Black and White adults. The findings are consistent with the notion that early childhood may be a sensitive period for the effects of neighborhood disadvantage on blood pressure.

     

Operational oceanography in Indonesia

In 2005 Indonesian and European institutes joined to start the first step for the implementation of an Ocean Operational System in the Indonesian archipelago. The system will support the decision making process for the sustainable use of marine resources, providing useful information and added value products as well as a service for an improved management of the sea with high business impact to targeted groups as public authorities and commercial operators (coastal managers, fishermen, shipping companies). In this paper the System is shortly described with its potential benefits and economic and social impacts.

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The inflationary aspect of repetitive devaluation: A comment

In this paper we use primary data on 500 Ghanaian FBOs collected through semi-structured interviews and risky dictator games (RDG) to test the validity of the cooperative life cycle theory and formulate a measure of cooperative health. We first define cooperative health as the alignment of heterogeneity in risk preferences and the effectuation of collective investments. We then use cluster and correlation analysis to categorize FBOs on the basis of their health and correlate these typologies with various performance indicators. Our findings reveal that organizational health is generally low as there are only a few organizations that manage to provide member-farmers with both risk-sharing and cost-saving opportunities. Further, healthier FBOs experience stronger growth in membership while health is lower in FBOs that have been established for the purpose of benefitting from external incentives.     

Product prices and technological choice: The case of the international cocoa processing industry

Economic appraisals have often relied heavily on the factor use and factor price characteristics of process. In this article we treat impact of product characteristics in choice of technology. Product characteristics are specially important in the earlier stages of manufacturing, namely, commodity processing. The study elaborates also on circumstances which lead to the emergence of different and fluctuating relationships between product prices in different countries, respectively, developing and developed, and their implication for the choice of technology in these countries.