Global Competitiveness and Canadian Sectoral/Regional Labour Productivity Differences

This paper evaluates the extent to which the decrease in total factor productivity growth that is alleged to have occurred in the last few years is also reflected in corresponding decreases in labour productivity growth, among key provinces and sectors of the Canadian economy. The analysis is based upon non-parametric productivity comparisons, for the 1984-1998 period. Data envelopment analysis is the methodological tool selected for the measurement of total factor productivity and hence of operational effectiveness to assess the extent to which sectoral productivity differences across Canadian regions represents a barometer of global competitiveness. The evidence indicates that labour productivity is growing. Factors associated with economies of scale appear to be the main source of inefficiency, as expected in a spatial setting. These inefficiencies are reflected mostly in increasing returns to scale, which enhances the competitiveness potential of the regions' economic base and of the industries in their midst

The human development index adjusted for efficient resource utilization

The human development index (HDI) developed by the United Nations Development Programme is computed as the average of three equally weighted outcome measures: life expectancy (LI), educational attainment (EI) and income (WI). However, this computational process is independent of the resources being devoted by each country to the achievement of the three outcome levels. Hence, it is conceivable that two different countries may consume vastly different amount of resources in achieving the same outcome, say, LI. However, this difference in the efficiency of resource utilization is not reflected in the HDI. The purpose of this paper is to address this efficiency issue

Caffeinating the biofuels market:Effect of the processing conditions during the production of biofuels and high-value chemicals by hydrothermal treatment of residual coffee pulp

5 figures, 4 tables, supplementary information.-- © 2021. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/The manufacturing of coffee, one of the most popular beverages globally, renders enormous amounts of by-products and wastes, which may trigger severe environmental issues if not treated appropriately. The coffee pulp, resulting from the wet processing of coffee, is the predominant by-product, with around 10 Mt annually produced worldwide. For the first time, this work addresses the hydrothermal treatment of coffee pulp to produce biofuels and platform molecules, scrutinising the influence of the processing conditions (temperature, pressure, reaction time and solid/water ratio) on the process. This strategy allowed the transformation of coffee pulp into bio-crude and hydrochar in different yields (10–26% and 10–42%, respectively), depending on the conditions. The bio-crude included a pool of alkanes, carboxylic acids, ketones, phenols and nitrogen species, with varying quantities of C (54–71 wt%), H (6–7 wt%), O (18–34 wt%) and N (3–5 wt%) and a calorific value shifting from 23 to 32 MJ/kg. The hydrochar contained different proportions of C (57–72 wt%), H (4–6 wt%), O (20–35 wt%) and N (2–3 wt%) and had a calorific value between 22 and 29 MJ/kg. Process optimisation showed that up to 45% of the coffee pulp could be simultaneously converted into energy-rich (29 MJ/kg), merchantable liquid (20% bio-crude) and solid (24% hydrochar) biofuels during the treatment of a 15 wt% coffee pulp suspension at 320 °C and 162 bar for 1 h. At the same time, a bio-crude with a high proportion of profitable phenolic derivatives (42%) can be attained in high yield (25%) when a 5 wt% suspension is treated at 280 °C and 120 bar for 2 h. These promising results, along with the bespoke nature of this hydrothermal treatment, are a landmark achievement for the economy and sustainability of coffee producer countries, thus representing a pioneering step change towards the sustainable management of early-stage coffee leftovers.The authors wish to express their gratefulness to FEDER, the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (Grant Number ENE2017-83854-R) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) (Grant Number COOPA20367) for providing financial support. Besides, Javier Remón is very grateful to the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities for the Juan de la Cierva (JdC) fellowships (Grant Numbers FJCI-2016-30847 and IJC2018-037110-I) awarded. Lorena Pedraza-Segura and Pedro Arcelus-Arrillaga would like to acknowledge the financial support of INIAT and DINV at Universidad Iberoamericana for their research.Peer reviewe

Foreign Exchange Transaction Exposure in a Newsvendor Setting

Abstract In the global supply chain where there is a time lag between arrival of the shipment and the sale, the purchase price to the buyer may, on the day of settlement be different from that on the day of the order if the buyer is to pay in the supplier's currency. Either the supplier or the buyer is exposed to the loss due to exchange rate fluctuations. The key questions that arise then are: Does it matter who bears the risk? What aspect of exchange rate fluctuation affects the decisions of the supply chain partners? In this note related to Transaction Exposure, we show that in a classical newsvendor setting where the supplier has full information, the optimal policies are independent of which one of the two bears the risk. Numerical examples are presented to highlight model. This paper provides good scenarios in the case of risk management for manufacturer and retailer

Classic and spatial shift-share analysis of state-level employment change in Brazil

This paper combines classic and spatial shift-share decompositions of 1981 to 2006 employment change across the 27 states of Brazil. The classic shift-share method shows higher employment growth rates for underdeveloped regions that are due to an advantageous industry-mix and also due to additional job creation, commonly referred to as the competitive effect. Alternative decompositions proposed in the literature do not change this broad conclusion. Further examination employing exploratory spatial data analysis (ESDA) shows spatial correlation of both the industry-mix and the competitive effects. Considering that until the 1960s economic activities were more concentrated in southern regions of Brazil than they are nowadays, these results support beta convergence theories but also find evidence of agglomeration effects. Additionally, a very simple spatial decomposition is proposed that accounts for the spatially-weighted growth of surrounding states. Favourable growth in northern and centre-western states is basically associated with those states’ strengths in potential spatial spillover effect and in spatial competitive effect

Identical repeated backbone of the human genome

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Identical sequences with a minimal length of about 300 base pairs (bp) have been involved in the generation of various meiotic/mitotic genomic rearrangements through non-allelic homologous recombination (NAHR) events. Genomic disorders and structural variation, together with gene remodelling processes have been associated with many of these rearrangements. Based on these observations, we identified and integrated all the 100% identical repeats of at least 300 bp in the NCBI version 36.2 human genome reference assembly into non-overlapping regions, thus defining the Identical Repeated Backbone (IRB) of the reference human genome.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The IRB sequences are distributed all over the genome in 66,600 regions, which correspond to ~2% of the total NCBI human genome reference assembly. Important structural and functional elements such as common repeats, segmental duplications, and genes are contained in the IRB. About 80% of the IRB bp overlap with known copy-number variants (CNVs). By analyzing the genes embedded in the IRB, we were able to detect some identical genes not previously included in the Ensembl release 50 annotation of human genes. In addition, we found evidence of IRB gene copy-number polymorphisms in raw sequence reads of two diploid sequenced genomes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In general, the IRB offers new insight into the complex organization of the identical repeated sequences of the human genome. It provides an accurate map of potential NAHR sites which could be used in targeting the study of novel CNVs, predicting DNA copy-number variation in newly sequenced genomes, and improve genome annotation.</p

Cognitive behaviour therapy response and dropout rate across purging and nonpurging bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder : DSM-5 implications

Background: With the imminent publication of the new edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), there has been a growing interest in the study of the boundaries across the three bulimic spectrum syndromes [bulimia nervosa-purging type (BN-P), bulimia nervosa-non purging type (BN-NP) and binge eating disorder (BED)]. Therefore, the aims of this study were to determine differences in treatment response and dropout rates following Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) across the three bulimic-spectrum syndromes. Method: The sample comprised of 454 females (87 BED, 327 BN-P and 40 BN-NP) diagnosed according to DSM-IV-TR criteria who were treated with 22 weekly outpatient sessions of group CBT therapy. Patients were assessed before and after treatment using a food and binging/purging diary and some clinical questionnaires in the field of ED. "Full remission" was defined as total absence of binging and purging (laxatives and/or vomiting) behaviors and psychological improvement for at least 4 (consecutive). Results: Full remission rate was found to be significantly higher in BED (69.5%) than in both BN-P (p < 0.005) and BN-NP (p < 0.001), which presented no significant differences between them (30.9% and 35.5%). The rate of dropout from group CBT was also higher in BED (33.7%) than in BN-P (p < 0.001) and BN-NP (p < 0.05), which were similar (15.4% and 12.8%, respectively). Conclusions: Results suggest that purging and non-purging BN have similar treatment response and dropping out rates, whereas BED appears as a separate diagnosis with better outcome for those who complete treatment. The results support the proposed new DSM-5 classification

Gender incongruence of childhood: clinical utility and stakeholder agreement with the World Health Organization’s proposed ICD-11 criteria

The World Health Organization (WHO) is revising the tenth version of the International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-10; WHO, 1992). This includes a reconceptualization of the definition and positioning of Gender Incongruence of Childhood (GIC). This study aimed to: 1) collect the views of transgender individuals and professionals regarding the retention of the diagnosis; 2) see if the proposed GIC criteria were acceptable to transgender individuals and health care providers 3) compare results between two countries with two different healthcare systems to see if these differences influence opinions regarding the GIC diagnosis; and 4) determine whether healthcare providers from high-income countries feel that the proposed criteria are clinically useful and easy to use. A total of 628 participants were included in the study: 284 from the Netherlands (NL; 45.2 %), 8 from Flanders (Belgium; 1.3 %), and 336 (53.5%) from the United Kingdom (UK). Most participants were transgender people (or their partners/relatives; TG) (n = 522), 89 participants were healthcare providers (HCPs) and 17 were both healthcare providers and (partners/relatives of) transgender people. Participants completed an online survey developed for this study. Overall, the majority response from transgender participants (42.9%) was that if the diagnosis would be removed from the mental health chapter it should also be removed from the ICD-11 completely, while 33.6% thought it should remain in the ICD-11. Participants were generally satisfied with other aspects of the proposed ICD-11 GIC diagnosis: most TG participants (58.4%) thought the term Gender Identity Disorder should change, and most thought Gender Incongruence was an improvement (63.0%). Furthermore, most participants (76.1%) did not consider GIC to be a psychiatric disorder and placement in a separate chapter dealing with Gender and Sexual Health (the majority response in the NL and selected by 37.5% of the TG participants overall) or as a Z-code (the majority response in the UK and selected by 26.7% of the TG participants overall) would be preferable. In the UK, the majority response (35.8%) was that narrowing the diagnosis for children was an improvement, while in the NL the majority response (49.5%) was that this was not an improvement. Although generally the results from healthcare providers were in line with the results from the transgender participants (and stakeholders) some differences were found. This study suggests that, in an ideal world, a diagnosis is not welcomed. However, realistically - due to healthcare funding - including a GIC diagnosis in ICD-11 is seen as a requirement. The choice for positioning of a diagnosis of GIC within the ICD-11 is as a separate chapter dealing with symptoms and/or disorders regarding sexual and gender health. This was the overall first choice for NL participants and second choice for UK participants, after the use of a Z-code. The difference reflects the fact that in the UK, Z-codes carry no negative implications for reimbursement of treatment costs. These findings highlight the challenges faced by the WHO in their attempt to integrate research findings from different countries, with different cultures and healthcare systems in their quest to create a manual that is globally applicable

Olfaction in eating disorders and abnormal eating behavior: a systematic review

The study provides a systematic review that explores the current literature on olfactory capacity in abnormal eating behavior. The objective is to present a basis for discussion on whether research in olfaction in eating disorders may offer additional insight with regard to the complex etiopathology of eating disorders (ED) and abnormal eating behaviors. Electronic databases (Medline, PsycINFO, PubMed, Science Direct, and Web of Science) were searched using the components in relation to olfaction and combining them with the components related to abnormal eating behavior. Out of 1352 articles, titles were first excluded by title (n = 64) and then by abstract and fulltext resulting in a final selection of 14 articles (820 patients and 385 control participants) for this review. The highest number of existing literature on olfaction in ED were carried out with AN patients (78.6%) followed by BN patients (35.7%) and obese individuals (14.3%). Most studies were only conducted on females. The general findings support that olfaction is altered in AN and in obesity and indicates toward there being little to no difference in olfactory capacity between BN patients and the general population. Due to the limited number of studies and heterogeneity this review stresses on the importance of more research on olfaction and abnormal eating behavior