Long-term Gains (long-term + gain)

Distribution by Scientific Domains


Selected Abstracts


The Politics of Population

INTERNATIONAL STUDIES REVIEW, Issue 4 2006
TADEUSZ KUGLER
This essay evaluates the implications of international political development on demographic transitions and economic outcomes from 1980 to 2050. Countries with high levels of political capacity experience the sharpest declines in birth and death rates as well as the greatest gains in income. Politics indirectly and directly affects the environment within which individuals make decisions about the size of families; these decisions, in turn, change the future economic dynamics of a country. We find that political capacity ensures that rules are evenly applied, allowing investment for long-term gain. Our projections show that under conditions of high political capacity, anticipated demographic and economic transformations will allow China to supersede the dominance of the United States by the end of this century and will also enable the rise of India into the ranks of the dominant powers. We assess the consequences of these changes in world politics. [source]


ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Propensity of marine reserves to reduce the evolutionary effects of fishing in a migratory species

EVOLUTIONARY APPLICATIONS (ELECTRONIC), Issue 3 2009
Erin S. Dunlop
Abstract Evolutionary effects of fishing can have unwanted consequences diminishing a fishery's value and sustainability. Reserves, or no-take areas, have been proposed as a management tool for reducing fisheries-induced selection, but their effectiveness for migratory species has remained unexplored. Here we develop an eco-genetic model to predict the effects of marine reserves on fisheries-induced evolution under migration. To represent a stock that undergoes an annual migration between feeding and spawning grounds, we draw model parameters from Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua) in the northern part of its range. Our analysis leads to the following conclusions: (i) a reserve in a stock's feeding grounds, protecting immature and mature fish alike, reduces fisheries-induced evolution, even though protected and unprotected population components mix on the spawning grounds; (ii) in contrast, a reserve in a stock's spawning grounds, protecting only mature fish, has little mitigating effects on fisheries-induced evolution and can sometimes even exacerbate its magnitude; (iii) evolutionary changes that are already underway may be difficult to reverse with a reserve; (iv) directly after a reserve is created or enlarged, most reserve scenarios result in yield losses; and (v) timescale is very important: short-term yield losses immediately after a reserve's creation can give way to long-term gains. [source]


Understanding and treating incompleteness in obsessive-compulsive disorder

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 11 2004
Laura J. SummerfeldtArticle first published online: 10 SEP 200
Incompleteness,the troubling and irremediable sense that one's actions or experiences are not "just right",appears to underlie many of the symptoms of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Because incompleteness may reflect basic sensory-affective dysfunction, it presents a challenge to clinicians wishing to apply cognitive-behavioral treatments. In this article, I review ways of adapting well-demonstrated treatment principles to this condition. A case is presented and then used to discuss challenges in conducting cognitive-behavioral therapy with this population. Behavioral methods aimed at habituation (e.g., exposure and ritual prevention [ERP]) are probably more applicable than conventional cognitive techniques. However, even these may result in modest long-term gains; relapse is a probability if they are not actively practiced after treatment cessation. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session. [source]


Proteinaceous inhibitors of carbohydrate-active enzymes in cereals: implication in agriculture, cereal processing and nutrition,

JOURNAL OF THE SCIENCE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE, Issue 11 2006
Nathalie Juge
Abstract Enzymes that degrade, modify, or create glycosidic bonds are involved in carbohydrate biosynthesis and remodelling. Microbial carbohydrate-active enzymes form the basis of current green technology in the food, feed, starch, paper and pulp industries and the revolution in genomics may offer long-term gains on the quality and quantity of the raw materials. Proteinaceous inhibitors of carbohydrate-active enzymes (,-amylase, limit-dextrinase, polygalacturonase, pectin lyase, pectin methylesterase, invertase and xyloglucan endoglucanase) naturally occur in plants where they are involved in various roles from plant defence to metabolism. Xylanase inhibitors represent the latest addition to this growing family. In this review, we will focus on the inhibitors of carbohydrate-active enzymes present in cereals, mostly represented by ,-amylase and xylanase inhibitors, and summarise the existing knowledge on their structure, function, and implication in cereal processing, agriculture and nutrition. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry [source]


A Classroom Investigation: Can Video Improve Intermediate-Level French Language Students' Ability to Learn about a Foreign Culture?

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 1 2002
Carol Herron
This study examines the effects of video on cultural knowledge at the intermediate level. Fifty-one intermediate-level French students viewed 8 videos. A pretest/posttest design assessed long-term gains in cultural knowledge and in the learning of cultural practices and cultural products from exposure to a curriculum with a video component. Eight postvideo tests measured the students' ability to retain information and to make inferences. A questionnaire assessed perceptions of cultural learning. Results indicated a significant gain in cultural knowledge with posttest scores significantly higher than pretest scores. On the short-answer and free-recall portions of the 8 postvideo tests, the students' ability to make inferences or retain information did not improve significantly in either an advance organizer (AO) or a non-AO condition. For free recall, scores were significantly higher for mentions of cultural practices than for products. The students believed that they learned more cultural practices than products. The results support using video to enhance cultural knowledge. [source]


Picking battles wisely: plant behaviour under competition

PLANT CELL & ENVIRONMENT, Issue 6 2009
ARIEL NOVOPLANSKY
ABSTRACT Plants are limited in their ability to choose their neighbours, but they are able to orchestrate a wide spectrum of rational competitive behaviours that increase their prospects to prevail under various ecological settings. Through the perception of neighbours, plants are able to anticipate probable competitive interactions and modify their competitive behaviours to maximize their long-term gains. Specifically, plants can minimize competitive encounters by avoiding their neighbours; maximize their competitive effects by aggressively confronting their neighbours; or tolerate the competitive effects of their neighbours. However, the adaptive values of these non-mutually exclusive options are expected to depend strongly on the plants' evolutionary background and to change dynamically according to their past development, and relative sizes and vigour. Additionally, the magnitude of competitive responsiveness is expected to be positively correlated with the reliability of the environmental information regarding the expected competitive interactions and the expected time left for further plastic modifications. Concurrent competition over external and internal resources and morphogenetic signals may enable some plants to increase their efficiency and external competitive performance by discriminately allocating limited resources to their more promising organs at the expense of failing or less successful organs. [source]