Does child labor always decrease with income ? an evaluation in the context of a development program in Nicaragua

This paper investigates the relationship of household income with child labor. The analysis uses a rich dataset obtained in the context of a conditional cash transfer program in a poor region of Nicaragua in 2005 and 2006. The program has a strong productive emphasis and seeks to diversify the work portfolio of beneficiaries while imposing conditionalities on the household. The author develops a simple model that relates child labor to household income, preferences, and production technology. It turns out that child labor does not always decrease with income; the relationship is complex and exhibits an inverted-U shape. Applying the data to the model confirms that the relationship is concave when all children (8-15 years of age) are included in the sample. Expanding the analysis by stratifying the sample by age and gender shows that the relationship holds only for older children, both genders. The author investigates the effect of the conditional cash transfer program on child labor. The results show that the program has a decreasing effect on total hours of work for the full sample of children. Disentangling labor into two types - physically demanding labor and non-physical labor - reveals that the program has opposite effects on each type; it decreases physically demanding labor while increasing participation in non-physical (more intellectually oriented) tasks for children.Street Children,Youth and Governance,Labor Policies,Children and Youth,Labor Markets

Leveling the Intra-household Playing Field: Compensation and Specialization in Child Labor Allocation

This paper analyzes changes in the allocation of child labor within the household in reaction to exogenous shocks created by a social program in Nicaragua. The paper shows that households that randomly received a conditional cash transfer compensated for some of the intra-household differences, as they reduced child labor more for older boys who used to work more and for boys who were further behind in school. The results also show that households that randomly received a productive investment grant, in addition to the basic conditional cash transfer benefits, both targeted at women, show an increased specialization of older girls in nonagricultural and domestic work, but no overall increase in girls' child labor. The findings suggest that time allocation and specialization patterns in child labor within the household are important factors to understand the impact of a social program.Child labor; intra-household; human capital; impact evaluation; gender

Does cash for school influence young women's behavior in the longer term ? evidence from Pakistan

The Punjab Female School Stipend Program, a female-targeted conditional cash transfer program in Pakistan, was implemented in response to gender gaps in education. An early evaluation of the program shows that the enrollment of eligible girls in middle school increased in the short term by nearly 9 percentage points. This paper uses regression discontinuity and difference-in-difference analyses to show that five years into the program implementation positive impacts do persist. Beneficiary adolescent girls are more likely to progress through and complete middle school and work less. There is suggestive evidence that participating girls delay their marriage and have fewer births by the time they are 19 years old. Girls who are exposed to the program later, and who are eligible for the benefits given in high school, increase their rates of matriculating into and completing high school. The persistence of impacts can potentially translate into gains in future productivity, consumption, inter-generational human capital accumulation and desired fertility. Lastly, there is no evidence that the program has negative spillover effects on educational outcomes of male siblings.Education For All,Primary Education,Tertiary Education,Gender and Education,Disability

Adults with sedentary lifestyle, overweight, obesity and the risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea hypoapnea syndrome in a sample of the Ecuadorian population

Overweight, obesity, and a sedentary lifestyle have been associated with poor sleep quality, which includes obstructive sleep apnea-hypoapnea syndrome. The objective of this research was to relate sedentary lifestyle, overweight, and obesity as risk factors for developing obstructive sleep apnea-hypoapnea syndrome in a sample of Ecuadorian adults. For this research, adults over 18 years of age belonging to 17 provinces of Ecuador were considered as the study population, the non-probability sampling technique was used for convenience, and different questionnaires were used for data collection: Berlin questionnaire was used to evaluate the risk of obstructive sleep apnea-hypoapnea syndrome, Epworth sleepiness questionnaire for the study of sleep quality, as well as the IPAQ international physical activity questionnaire. Among the most important results, 61.4% women, 95.2% mestizos, 47.8% people were those who performed high physical activities, 82.4% resided in the urban areas. Participants with normal weight predominated, 57.7%. It was found that 10.3% of the surveyed population presents a high risk of suffering from obstructive sleep apnea-hypoapnea syndrome. When relating it to the physical activity variable, it was observed that sedentary people have 17.3% of suffering from the syndrome of obstructive sleep apnea-hypoapnea, when relating to overweight and obesity we found 10.85% and 63.6%, respectively. These differences were statistically significant p < 0.05. In conclusion, the risk of obstructive sleep apnea-hypoapnea syndrome was related to sedentary, overweight, and obese people. Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome sedentary lifestyle, physical activity, overweight, obesity. Resumen En los últimos años se ha asociado al sobrepeso, obesidad y sedentarismo como causas de una mala calidad del sueño que han provocado enfermedades como el síndrome de apneahipoapnea obstructiva del sueño. El objetivo de la investigación fue relacionar el sedentarismo, sobrepeso y obesidad como factores de riesgo para desarrollar el síndrome de apneahipoapnea obstructiva del sueño en una muestra de personas adultas ecuatorianas. Para la investigación se tomó como población de estudio a personas adultas mayores de 18 años pertenecientes a 17 provincias del Ecuador, se utilizó la técnica de muestreo no probabilístico por conveniencia, para la recolección de datos se utilizó diferentes cuestionarios: cuestionario de Berlín que evalúa el riesgo de padecer síndrome de apnea-hipoapnea obstructiva del sueño, cuestionario de somnolencia de Epworth para el estudio de la calidad del sueño y el cuestionario internacional de actividad física IPAQ. Entre los resultados más importantes se resalta mujeres 61,4%, mestizos 95,2%, personas que realizan actividades físicas altas 47,8%, residen en la zona urbana 82,4%. Predominaron los participantes con normopeso 57,7%. Se encontró que el 10,3% de la población encuestada presenta riesgo alto de padecer síndrome de apnea-hipoapnea obstructiva del sueño, al relacionar con la variable de actividad física se pudo observar que las personas sedentarias tienen un 17,3% de padecer síndrome de apneahipoapnea obstructiva del sueño, al relacionar con el sobrepeso y obesidad encontramos el 10,85% y 63,6% respectivamente, estas diferencias fueron estadísticamente significativas p<0,05. En conclusión, el riesgo de padecer el síndrome de apnea-hipoapnea obstructiva del sueño se relacionó con las personas con sedentarismo, sobrepeso y obesidad. Palabras Clave: Síndrome de Apnea-Hipoapnea Obstructiva del Sueño, SAHOS, Actividad Física, Sobrepeso, Obesidad

Stenosis triggers spread of helical Pseudomonas biofilms in cylindrical flow systems

Biofilms are multicellular bacterial structures that adhere to surfaces and often endow the bacterial population with tolerance to antibiotics and other environmental insults. Biofilms frequently colonize the tubing of medical devices through mechanisms that are poorly understood. Here we studied the helicoidal spread of Pseudomonas putida biofilms through cylindrical conduits of varied diameters in slow laminar flow regimes. Numerical simulations of such flows reveal vortical motion at stenoses and junctions, which enhances bacterial adhesion and fosters formation of filamentous structures. Formation of long, downstream-flowing bacterial threads that stem from narrowings and connections was detected experimentally, as predicted by our model. Accumulation of bacterial biomass makes the resulting filaments undergo a helical instability. These incipient helices then coarsened until constrained by the tubing walls, and spread along the whole tube length without obstructing the flow. A three-dimensional discrete filament model supports this coarsening mechanism and yields simulations of helix dynamics in accordance with our experimental observations. These findings describe an unanticipated mechanism for bacterial spreading in tubing networks which might be involved in some hospital-acquired infections and bacterial contamination of catheters

Noninvasive imaging of three-dimensional micro and nanostructures by topological methods

We present topological derivative and energy based procedures for the imaging of micro and nano structures using one beam of visible light of a single wavelength. Objects with diameters as small as 10 nm can be located and their position tracked with nanometer precision. Multiple objects dis-tributed either on planes perpendicular to the incidence direction or along axial lines in the incidence direction are distinguishable. More precisely, the shape and size of plane sections perpendicular to the incidence direction can be clearly determined, even for asymmetric and nonconvex scatterers. Axial resolution improves as the size of the objects decreases. Initial reconstructions may proceed by gluing together two-dimensional horizontal slices between axial peaks or by locating objects at three-dimensional peaks of topological energies, depending on the effective wavenumber. Below a threshold size, topological derivative based iterative schemes improve initial predictions of the lo-cation, size, and shape of objects by postprocessing fixed measured data. For larger sizes, tracking the peaks of topological energy fields that average information from additional incident light beams seems to be more effective

Igniting homogeneous nucleation

Transient homogeneous nucleation is studied in the limit of large critical sizes. Starting from pure monomers, three eras of transient nucleation are characterized in the classic Becker-D\"oring kinetic equations with two different models of discrete diffusivity: the classic Turnbull-Fisher formula and an expression describing thermally driven growth of the nucleus. The latter diffusivity yields time lags for nucleation which are much closer to values measured in experiments with disilicate glasses. After an initial stage in which the number of monomers decreases, many clusters of small size are produced and a continuous size distribution is created. During the second era, nucleii are increasing steadily in size in such a way that their distribution appears as a wave front advancing towards the critical size for steady nucleation. The nucleation rate at critical size is negligible during this era. After the wave front reaches critical size, it ignites the creation of supercritical clusters at a rate that increases monotonically until its steady value is reached. Analytical formulas for the transient nucleation rate and the time lag are obtained that improve classical ones and compare very well with direct numerical solutions.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.

Percursos sensíveis nas ruas de chimalhuacán: corpo e emoções em uma marcha femisnista

Marching is a mechanism widely used for social protest, mainly in urban areas. It's presence on the streets make the outraged bodies visible and touchable, even those of people who are no longer alive, but speak out through those who go out onto the streets. The aim of this paper is to show the importance of feminist demonstrations as a social protest’s device, and their interaction with the urban space based on urban corpographies’ notions, which makes it possible to analyze the link between emotions and body in political activism. I will refer in particular to the case of the March against the male violence in Chimalhuacán, State of México, in 2017, that I'll describe based on my participatory research. This paper intends to contribute to the interdisciplinary research on social protests, specially on the fourth wave of feminist that implemented innovative ways of public space occupation. Also, it aims to show the development of those demonstrations that put in motion a series of support nets and collective creation, among which demonstrations are just the most visible result. Las marchas son un recurso ampliamente utilizado por la protesta social sobre todo en ámbitos urbanos. Su presencia en las calles hace visibles y tangibles los cuerpos indignados, incluso de quienes ya no están pero que alzan la voz a través de quienes salen a las calles. El objetivo de este artículo es mostrar la relevancia de las marchas feministas como dispositivo de la protesta social y su interacción con el espacio urbano a partir de la noción de corpografías urbanas, lo que permite analizar el vínculo de las emociones y el cuerpo en el activismo político.  De modo particular me refiero al caso de la Marcha contra las violencias machistas en el municipio de Chimalhuacán, Estado de México en 2017 que describo a partir de mi trabajo de investigación participante. Este artículo pretende contribuir en la investigación interdisciplinar de las protestas sociales, en particular las marchas feministas de la cuarta ola que han puesto en práctica formas novedosas de ocupación del espacio público. Asimismo, se pretende mostrar el desarrollo de dichas manifestaciones que movilizan una serie de redes de apoyo y creación colectiva de las que la marcha es sólo el resultado más visible. As marchas são um recurso amplamente utilizado para o protesto social, sobretudo em âmbitos urbanos. Sua presença nas ruas torna visíveis e tangíveis os corpos indignados, mesmo daqueles que não estão mais lá, mas que levantam suas vozes através daqueles que saem às ruas. O objetivo deste artigo é mostrar a relevância das marchas feministas como dispositivo de protesto social e sua interação com o espaço urbano a partir da noção de corporografias urbanas, o que nos permite analisar o vínculo entre as emoções e o corpo no ativismo político. Em particular, refiro-me ao caso da Marcha contra as violências machistas no município de Chimalhuacán, Estado do México, em 2017, que descrevo a partir do meu trabalho de pesquisa participante. Este artigo pretende contribuir para a investigação interdisciplinar dos protestos sociais, em particular das marchas feministas da quarta onda que colocaram em prática novas formas de ocupação do espaço público. Da mesma forma, pretende-se mostrar o desenvolvimento dessas manifestações que mobilizam uma série de redes de apoio e criação coletiva das quais a marcha é apenas o resultado mais visível

Nota sobre las características estructurales de la zona de "Cueto Negro" (Cordillera Cantábrica)

Se citan algunos datos estructurales respecto a la zona comprendida entre los puertos Pajares y La Cubilla (Cordillera Cantábrica). Se destaca la presencia de una ventana tectónica, en la zona de Cueto negro, relacionada con la unidad cabalgante de Bodón, ampliamente replegada. Estos elementos se integran dentro del haz de estructuras que caracterizan el "arco medio" de la Rodilla Astúrica (Cordillera Cantábrica, España)