Ability, parental background and educationpolicy: empirical evidence from a socialexperiment

Following the great expansion of secondary education in the UnitedStates between 1910 and 1940, Sweden was one of the first Western Europeancountries to attempt such an expansion by increasing the years ofcompulsory schooling and and improving access to academic type educationby abolishing early selection. The reform was preceded by a large scale areabased social experiment where 25% of the contry?s municipalities were assignedto the reform. We use this assignment, together with rich individualdata to evaluate this major educational interventions. Our key findings arethat this reform increased the educational attainment of individuals withunskilled fathers. In addition it caused significant and large increases in theearnings of those with unskilled fathers and above median ability. Following the great expansion of secondary education in the UnitedStates between 1910 and 1940, Sweden was one of the first Western Europeancountries to attempt such an expansion by increasing the years ofcompulsory schooling and and improving access to academic type educationby abolishing early selection. The reform was preceded by a large scale areabased social experiment where 25% of the contry?s municipalities were assignedto the reform. We use this assignment, together with rich individualdata to evaluate this major educational interventions. Our key findings arethat this reform increased the educational attainment of individuals withunskilled fathers. In addition it caused significant and large increases in theearnings of those with unskilled fathers and above median ability

Educational reform, ability and family background

In this paper we evaluate the impact of a major school reform, that took place in the 1950s in Sweden, on educational attainment and earnings. The reform, which has many common elements with reforms in other European countries including the UK, consisted of increasing compulsor schooling, imposing a national curriculum and abolishing selection by ability into Academic and non-academic streams at the age of 12 (comprehensive school reform). Our data combines survey data with administrative sources. We find that the reform increased both the educational attainment and the earnings of children whose fathers had just compulsory education. However the earnings of those with educated parents declined - possibly because of a dilution of quality at the top end of the education levels. The overall effect of the reform was however positive

Education and Mortality: Evidence from a Social Experiment

ducational reform that increased the years of compulsory schooling. Using the gradual phase-in of the reform between 1949 and 1962 across municipalities, we estimate insignificant effects of the reform on mortality in the affected cohort. From the confidence intervals, we can rule out effects larger than 1–1.4 months of increased life expectancy. We find no significant impacts on mortality for individuals of low socioeconomic status backgrounds, on deaths that are more likely to be affected by behavior, on hospitalizations, and consumption of prescribed drugs

Magnetic Resonance in the Spin-Peierls compound α′−NaV2O5\alpha'-NaV_2O_5

We present results from magnetic resonance measurements for 75-350 GHz in $\alpha$'-NaV$_{2}$O$_{5}$. The temperature dependence of the integrated intensity indicates that we observe transitions in the excited state. A quantitative description gives resonances in the triplet state at high symmetry points of the excitation spectrum of this Spin-Peierls compound. This energy has the same temperature dependence as the Spin-Peierls gap. Similarities and differences with the other inorganic compound CuGeO$_{3}$ are discussed.Comment: 2 pages, REVTEX, 3 figures. to be published in Phys.Rev.

Unheated soil-grown winter vegetables in Austria: Greenhouse gas emissions and socio-economic factors of diffusion potential

The adaption of historic European cultivation techniques for unheated winter vegetable production has gained momentum during the last years in Austria. Studies that evaluate ecological and socio-economic sustainability-factors of these production techniques are scarce. In this study, we analyze the greenhouse gas emissions along vegetable supply chains based on a life cycle approach and investigate factors of the socio-economic system towards future market diffusion of these new-old technologies based on the Sustainability Assessment of Food and Agriculture Systems (SAFA) guidelines of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Data of the supply-chains of lettuce, spinach, scallions and red radish was collected from field trials in different climatic regions in Austria and compared to existing commercial systems in Austria and Italy. The results show, that unheated winter vegetable production is feasible. Greenhouse gas emissions of unheated vegetables are lower with 0.06e0.12 kg CO2 equivalent versus 0.61e0.64 kg CO2 equivalent per kg fresh product crops from heated systems. Due to small packaging units unheated vegetables show maxima of 0.58 kg CO2 equivalent per kg product. Heated products were outreached by two times when individual shopping trips to the farm were taken into account. Keeping salad frost-free was not found to contribute to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional systems. The analysis reveals that a diffusion of unheated winter harvest systems depend primarily on 11 interdepending socio-economic factors. An innovative subsidy system and the creation of a positive image of winter harvest from unheated vegetables production together with an increased utilization rate of polytunnel areas and the consultancy for producers and processors are the most influential factors towards a sustainable market diffusion of winter harvest produce

An Assessment of Young Cattle Behaviour and Welfare in a Virtual Fencing System

Virtual fencing is a novel technology which uses a combination of audio and electrical stimuli to contain grazing livestock within a GPS boundary. There are however some concerns around the use of such a technology and its potential effects on the behaviour and welfare of animals. To investigate this, 64 dairy-origin calves were assigned to one of two treatments in a randomised complete block design, with 4 groups of 8 calves per treatment. The two treatments were virtual fencing (VF) and electric fencing (EF). The experimental period lasted 31 days in total, consisting of a 10 day training period and a 21 day grazing period. Welfare and behaviour of the animals was measured using faecal cortisol metabolites, activity pedometers, and behavioural recordings. Virtual fence data denoting the number of audio and electrical stimuli delivered for each animal were also recorded. Results show that there was no significant difference in animal welfare and behaviour between EF and VF in the current study. Additionally, there was no significant difference in daily liveweight gain between treatments. In the VF animals the rate of electric pulses declined after an initial learning period however there was a significant degree of variation in the rate of learning between animals. Virtual fencing could therefore offer an alternative to physical fencing for grazing young cattle without negatively impacting animal behaviour or welfare. The individual animal variation in VF systems however warrants further study

The structure and diversity of human, animal and environmental resistomes

Background:Antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are widespread but cause problems only when present in pathogens. Environments where selection and transmission of antibiotic resistance frequently take place are likely to be characterized by high abundance and diversity of horizontally transferable ARGs. Large-scale quantitative data on ARGs is, however, lacking for most types of environments, including humans and animals, as is data on resistance genes to potential co-selective agents, such as biocides and metals. This paucity prevents efficient identification of risk environments.Results:We provide a comprehensive characterization of resistance genes, mobile genetic elements (MGEs) and bacterial taxonomic compositions for 864 metagenomes from humans (n = 350), animals (n = 145) and external environments (n = 369), all deeply sequenced using Illumina technology. Environment types showed clear differences in both resistance profiles and bacterial community compositions. Human and animal microbial communities were characterized by limited taxonomic diversity and low abundance and diversity of biocide/metal resistance genes and MGEs but a relatively high abundance of ARGs. In contrast, external environments showed consistently high taxonomic diversity which in turn was linked to high diversity of both biocide/metal resistance genes and MGEs. Water, sediment and soil generally carried low relative abundance and few varieties of known ARGs, whereas wastewater/sludge was on par with the human gut. The environments with the largest relative abundance and/or diversity of ARGs, including genes encoding resistance to last resort antibiotics, were those subjected to industrial antibiotic pollution and a limited set of deeply sequenced air samples from a Beijing smog event.Conclusions:Our study identifies air and antibiotic-polluted environments as under-investigated transmission routes and reservoirs for antibiotic resistance. The high taxonomic and genetic diversity of external environments supports the hypothesis that these also form vast sources of unknown resistance genes, with potential to be transferred to pathogens in the future

Methodological considerations in the analysis of fecal glucocorticoid metabolites in tufted capuchins (Cebus apella)

Analysis of fecal glucocorticoid (GC) metabolites has recently become the standard method to monitor adrenocortical activity in primates noninvasively. However, given variation in the production, metabolism, and excretion of GCs across species and even between sexes, there are no standard methods that are universally applicable. In particular, it is important to validate assays intended to measure GC production, test extraction and storage procedures, and consider the time course of GC metabolite excretion relative to the production and circulation of the native hormones. This study examines these four methodological aspects of fecal GC metabolite analysis in tufted capuchins (Cebus apella). Specifically, we conducted an adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH) challenge on one male and one female capuchin to test the validity of four GC enzyme immunoassays (EIAs) and document the time course characterizing GC me- tabolite excretion in this species. In addition, we compare a common field-friendly technique for extracting fecal GC metabolites to an established laboratory extraction methodology and test for effects of storing “field extracts” for up to 1 yr. Results suggest that a corticosterone EIA is most sensitive to changes in GC production, provides reliable measures when extracted according to the field method, and measures GC metabolites which remain highly stable after even 12 mo of storage. Further, the time course of GC metabolite excretion is shorter than that described yet for any primate taxa. These results provide guidelines for studies of GCs in tufted capuchins, and underscore the importance of validating methods for fecal hormone analysis for each species of interest