Natural Gas and Inequality in Bolivia after Nationalization

The high oil prices and the sharp increases in royalties mean that the natural gas boom in Bolivia has become very important for the economy. This paper uses a Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model to assess the impacts of this boom on key macroeconomic variables as well as the distribution of incomes in the society. From a macroeconomic perspective, the natural gas boom is a blessing, adding around 1 percentage point to GDP growth rates for at least a decade, and sharply increasing government revenues available for public spending and investment. However, the poorest segments of the population (rural small-holders and urban informals) suffer actual reductions in their real incomes, compared to the counterfactual scenario without the gas boom. This means that the natural gas boom not only causes an increase in inequality but also an increase in poverty. The paper finishes with some policy recommendations on how to counteract the negative side effects of the natural gas boom.Natural Gas, Inequality, CGE model, Bolivia

Gas Natural y Desigualdad en Bolivia Después de la Nacionalización

Los precios altos del petróleo y el significativo incremento de los ingresos públicos provenientes de su explotación han implicado que el gas natural se vuelva muy importante para la economía boliviana. Este trabajo utiliza un modelo de Equilibrio General Computarizado (EGC) para evaluar los impactos de este boom sobre las variables macroeconómicas claves así como respecto de la distribución de ingresos en la sociedad. Desde una perspectiva macroeconómica, el boom del gas natural parece ser una bendición, pues podría elevar en cerca de un punto porcentual las tasas de crecimiento del PIB durante por lo menos una década, incrementando vigorosamente los ingresos del gobierno para realizar gastos e inversiones públicas. Sin embargo, los segmentos más pobres de la población (pequeños agricultores e informales urbanos) podrían verse seriamente afectados, sufriendo reducciones en sus ingresos reales en comparación con el escenario opuesto, es decir, sin el boom del gas. Esto quiere decir que el boom del gas natural no sólo podría causar un aumento en la desigualdad sino también una expansión de la pobreza. Este trabajo termina con algunas recomendaciones en cuanto a políticas que sugieren cómo contrarestar los efectos secundarios negativos del boom de gas natural.Gas Natural, Desigualdad, modelo EGC, Bolivia

Do University-Industry co-publication volumes correspond with university funding from business firms?

Trabajo presentado a la 19th Science and Technology Indicators Conference: "Context counts: Pathways to Master Big and Little Data" celebrada en leiden (Paises Bajos) del 3 al 9 de 2014.Analysts of university-industry interaction sometimes measure it through numbers of university-industry co-publications (UICs), because of their relative availability and international comparability. However, we do not know whether UICs correspond to a more direct measure of interaction: university funding from firms. We propose a conceptual model on four types of relationships between UICs and university funding from firms, emphasising the interactive nature of their relation. We test the model with UIC and income data from the Polytechnic University of Valencia at individual level: around 6-7% of researchers participating in projects with firms were authors of UICs published in 2008-2011; and around 27% of those UIC authors were participating in projects with firms during that period. Overall, we do not find evidence of any significant positive correlation between UIC output and university funding from the business sector in general. The one exception is a minority of authors who participate in business-funded projects, where we found a positive association of current UICs and business funding.Peer Reviewe

Do university-industry co-publication outputs correspond with university funding from firms?

[EN] Analysts of university-industry interaction sometimes measure it through numbers of university-industry co-publications (UICs), because of their relative availability and international comparability. However, we do not know whether UICs correspond to another measure of interaction: university funding from firms. We propose a conceptual model on four types of relationships between UICs and university funding from firms, emphasizing the interactive nature of their relation, e.g. not only funding can lead to UICs, but also UICs can signal competences that motivate funding. We test the model with UIC and income data from the Polytechnic University of Valencia at individual level: around 6-7% of researchers participating in projects with firms were authors of UICs published in 2008-11; and around 27% of those UIC authors were participating in projects with firms during that period. Overall, we do not find evidence of any significant positive correlation between UIC output and university funding from the business sector in general. The one exception is a minority of authors who participate in business-funded projects, where we find a positive association of current UICs and business funding.A.Y.Y. and R.J.W.T. received financial support from the CWTS-CHERPA research project (funded by the Netherlands Ministry for Education, Culture and Science).Yegros Yegros, A.; Azagra Caro, JM.; López Ferrer, MT.; Tijssen, RJ. (2016). Do university-industry co-publication outputs correspond with university funding from firms?. Research Evaluation. 25(2):136-150. doi:10.1093/reseval/rvv045S13615025

Connectivity Concordance Mapping: A New Tool for Model-Free Analysis of fMRI Data of the Human Brain

Functional magnetic resonance data acquired in a task-absent condition (“resting state”) require new data analysis techniques that do not depend on an activation model. Here, we propose a new analysis method called Connectivity Concordance Mapping (CCM). The main idea is to assign a label to each voxel based on the reproducibility of its whole-brain pattern of connectivity. Specifically, we compute the correlations of time courses of each voxel with every other voxel for each measurement. Voxels whose correlation pattern is consistent across measurements receive high values. The result of a CCM analysis is thus a voxel-wise map of concordance values. Regions of high inter-subject concordance can be assumed to be functionally consistent, and may thus be of specific interest for further analysis. Here we present two fMRI studies to demonstrate the possible applications of the algorithm. The first is a eyes-open/eyes-closed paradigm designed to highlight the potential of the method in a relatively simple domain. The second study is a longitudinal repeated measurement of a patient following stroke. Longitudinal clinical studies such as this may represent the most interesting domain of applications for this algorithm

Wnt-11 promotes neuroendocrine-like differentiation, survival and migration of prostate cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Wnt-11 is a secreted protein that modulates cell growth, differentiation and morphogenesis during development. We previously reported that Wnt-11 expression is elevated in hormone-independent prostate cancer and that the progression of prostate cancer from androgen-dependent to androgen-independent proliferation correlates with a loss of mutual inhibition between Wnt-11- and androgen receptor-dependent signals. However, the prevalence of increased expression of Wnt-11 in patient tumours and the functions of Wnt-11 in prostate cancer cells were not known.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Wnt-11 protein levels in prostate tumours were determined by immunohistochemical analysis of prostate tumour tissue arrays. Wnt-11 protein was elevated in 77/117 of tumours when compared with 27 benign prostatic hypertrophy specimens and was present in 4/4 bone metastases. In addition, there was a positive correlation between Wnt-11 expression and PSA levels above 10 ng/ml. Androgen-depleted LNCaP prostate cancer cells form neurites and express genes associated with neuroendocrine-like differentiation (NED), a feature of prostate tumours that have a poor prognosis. Since androgen-depletion increases expression of Wnt-11, we examined the role of Wnt-11 in NED. Ectopic expression of Wnt-11 induced expression of NSE and ASCL1, which are markers of NED, and this was prevented by inhibitors of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase, consistent with the known role of this kinase in NED. In contrast, Wnt-11 did not induce NSE expression in RWPE-1 cells, which are derived from benign prostate, suggesting that the role of Wnt-11 in NED is specific to prostate cancer. In addition, silencing of Wnt-11 expression in androgen-depleted LNCaP cells prevented NED and resulted in apoptosis. Silencing of Wnt-11 gene expression in androgen-independent PC3 cells also reduced expression of NSE and increased apoptosis. Finally, silencing of Wnt-11 reduced PC3 cell migration and ectopic expression of Wnt-11 promoted LNCaP cell invasion.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>These observations suggest that the increased level of Wnt-11 found in prostate cancer contributes to tumour progression by promoting NED, tumour cell survival and cell migration/invasion, and may provide an opportunity for novel therapy in prostate cancer.</p

Transient involuntary mirror writing triggered by anxiety

Mirror writing (MW) has mainly been observed in left-hemisphere-damaged patients writing with the left hand. This study evaluated the presence of MW in 24 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We found that MW is not a typical feature of MCI. However, one woman (FC), mislabeled initially with MCI but in fact affected by anxiety, showed florid MW when writing with her left hand, which resolved as her anxiety receded. This case study supports anecdotal reports of MW triggered by anxiety, and the features of FC’s performance indicate a motor rather than a perceptual basis for the phenomenon

Crop and Substrate Tests with Single Use Rooting "Pillows" for the VEGGIE Plant Growth Hardware

No abstract availabl