Thinking Outside the Carton: Electronic Cigarettes and Mental Illness

Tobacco cigaret1es are a highly addictive and highly lethal consumer product which results in roughly six million deaths every year world-wide and is the # l cause of preventable death in the world (Mitrouska, Bouloukaki & Siafakas, 2007). The vast majority of smokers attempt to quit at least once during their lifetimes (Sutton, 2008). While as many as 70% of smokers may attempt to quit smoking in a given year, without assistance, more than 90% will be smoking again within one year (Hughes, Keely, & Naud, 2004). People with serious mental illness, such as schizophrenia are estimated to smoke at two to three times the rate of the general population (Williams & Ziedonis, 2004 ). As many as nine out of 10 people with schizophrenia diagnoses are smokers (D\u27Souza and Markou, 2012). Smoking cessation efforts have reduced the prevalence of smoking in the general population but not with those who have mental illness

The reform of mechanisms for foreign exchange allocation : theory and lessons from sub-Saharan Africa

Administrative exchange allocation has been common in developing countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. Steps to dismantle or modify these control mechanisms have been carried out through traditional schemes. The authors draw lessons from sub-Saharan Africa's historical experience useful both to African former socialist economies. Exchange regime reform should be given highest priority for its role in reducing anti-export bias. Although many sub-Saharan countries have attempted to reform their allocation mechanisms, only a few have made the transition to market allocation (virtually convertible currency, at least on the current account.) Failure to do so is the major shortcoming of most adjustment packages. Both gradual and rapid approaches have succeeded. On purely economic grounds (given the problems of such intermediate steps as auctions), speed is preferable but it is not always politically or institutionally feasible. The transition must be accompanied by a coherent set of fiscal and monetary policies and a willingness to allow the exchange rate to seek a true market-clearing level. Some lessons regarding the specific mechanisms, discussed in approximate order of their proximity to convertibility, are as follows. The most rudimentary transition mechanism is the own-funds scheme, which is no more than a beginning of reform. Own-funds schemes should be accompanied by liberalization of the rules governing exports, or illegal exports and the black market premium may increase. Export retention schemes can minimize the adverse effects on exporters of foreign exchange shortages, reduce the implicit export tax, and fund a legal private exchange market. But the retained funds must be saleable, the retention rates substantial, and traditional exports must be included to adequately fund the legal private exchange market. Open general licensing (OGL) and similar schemes can be a useful intermediate step in liberalizing import and exchange allocation regimes. But in practice the benefits are limited by two features. First, consumer goods competing with local production, whose imports were restricted the most, have usually been excluded, at least initially. Moreover, OGL has no endogenous price-setting mechanism for the exchange rate. The OGL rate should generally be connected to, but lower than, the parallel rate. An auction incorporates a pricing mechanism, which is an important advantage. But the pricing mechanism must be allowed to work, which has not always been the case. Auction rules should be clear (should not allow discretionary disqualification of bids, for example), should minimize participation costs, and allow wide participation. Marginal, rather than the more common Dutch, pricing system is preferred. The use of a reservation price may reduce volatility but may also impede the full disbursement of funds. The shortcomings of transitional schemes to dismantle or modify foreign exchange controls become more important the longer they are in place. A strong case can be made for avoiding delay in moving to full currency convertibility.Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Economic Stabilization,Access to Markets,Markets and Market Access

DOES THE EXCHANGE RATE PASS-THROUGH INTO PRICES CHANGE WHEN INFLATION TARGETING IS ADOPTED? THE PERUVIAN CASE STUDY BETWEEN 1994 AND 2007

This paper analyzes whether the exchange rate pass-through into prices changed when the inflation targeting scheme was adopted in Peru. Firstly, a small dynamic stochastic general equilibrium model is simulated, which shows that adopting this scheme induces an increase in exchange rate volatility. Furthermore, applying the theory of the currency denomination of international trade, it is demonstrated that increased exchange rate volatility reduces the share of firms that set their prices in foreign currency (dollars). Given that the pass-though has a direct relationship with this share, it is shown that adopting inflation targeting generates a pass-through contraction. Secondly, we empirically test whether the Peruvian Central Bank’s decision to adopt inflation targeting in January 2002 actually had an effect on the pass-through estimating a time-varying vector autoregressive model which allows for an asymmetrical estimation of the pass-through. It provides parameters for both the pre and post inflation targeting regimes based on the assumption that the transition from one regime to the other is smooth. An analysis of the generalized impulse response functions reveals that the decision to adopt inflation targeting significantly decreased the exchange rate pass-throughs into import, producer, and consumer prices. The results are consistent with economic theory and are robust to the specification of parameters of the model.Inflation targeting/exchange rate pass-through into prices/ TV-VAR models

Heroic Role and Technological Anticipation in Chilean Children Cartoon, At The Decline Of The Educator State

Indexación: Revista UNABEl presente artículo aborda el imaginario nacional en el contexto del devenir histórico de la sociedad chilena de finales de los años 60 hacia el socialismo, a partir de imágenes que, asociadas a los héroes de las historietas infantiles del periodo, involucran formas diversas de utopía futurista tecnológica que denomina - mos “imágenes de anticipación tecnológica”. Tales formas no se limitan al imaginario militante o al proyecto oficial de la Unidad Popular en el ámbito de la cultura y de las artes; ellas componen un imaginario difuso y generalizado, transversal a los movimien - tos políticos, a veces incluso subconsciente, que estimamos no obstante determinado por una relación particular entre el socia - lismo como una construcción histórica posible y las expectativas de una utopía tecnológica que se expresa literalmente en los pro - pósitos de las grandes historietas infantiles.This article addresses the national imaginary in the context of the historical becoming of Chilean society of the late 60s to - wards socialism, from images that, associated with the heroes of the children’s comics of the period, involve different forms of futuristic technology utopia that we call “images of techno - logical anticipation”. Such forms are not limited to the militant imaginary or the official project of the Unidad Popular in the field of culture and arts; they make up a diffuse and widespread imaginary transverse to political movements, sometimes even subconscious, that we estimate nevertheless is determined by a particular relationship between socialism as a historical possible construction and the expectations of a technological utopia ex pressed literally in the purposes of the great children’s comics.http://revistahumanidades.unab.cl/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/7.-CASTILLO.pd

Preparació i caracterització de vesícules unilamelars gegants fora de l’equilibri

Treballs Finals de Grau de Química, Facultat de Química, Universitat de Barcelona, Any: 2021, Tutor: Francesc SaguésVesicles are spherical-shaped structures formed by the self-assembly of lipids bilayers. Several types of vesicles have been described during the past years due to its potential scientific interest. Specifically, giant unilamellar vesicles or GUVs, have been deeply studied because of its similarity with cell membranes and also they have been used as a model system to study a broad number of features. Thanks to their big size and volume in comparison with other type of vesicles, GUVs attract the interest of many scientific fields such as soft matter physics, chemistry and biotechnology1. This last one is probably the most relevant as, in medical fields, GUVs are proposed to be drug vehicles and an important part inside drug-delivering mechanisms. GUVs can encapsule active molecules and carry them to the site of interest but their fragility and short live are clear downsides that are being investigated. To be as accurate as possible and build a system close to real cell membranes, more than one lipid is further used to form GUVS. This aspect is extremely interesting because of the behavior of this lipids when they are altogether and when temperature changes. A segregation of two phases, also known as lipid raft, is expected and can be distinguished using fluorescence microscopy. Hence, in this project the main goal is the pursuit of a robust protocol to form big and stable GUVs and to observe how lipids dispose in different condition

Fairness, gender and their confounders

Gender differences in behavior, both in economic and non-economic domains, have been observed consistently in experimental evidence. A general view derived from these efforts is that women are more altruistic and tend to show more pro-social behavior. By means of an Ultimatum Game, combined with other constructs to control for ability, preferences and personality traits, I present evidence of a laboratory experiment on senior high school students that suggests that gender is not a determinant factor on fairness behavior; in the sense that, once controlling for potential confounders, observed differences are negligible in statistical sense. I present results on two versions of the Ultimatum Game, the direct and strategy method, and find strong evidence of mean behavioral differences across methods but no gender differences within each approach. The document explores some potential routs of explanation.Gender differences in behavior, both in economic and non-economic domains, have been observed consistently in experimental evidence. A general view derived from these efforts is that women are more altruistic and tend to show more pro-social behavior. By means of an Ultimatum Game, combined with other constructs to control for ability, preferences and personality traits, I present evidence of a laboratory experiment on senior high school students that suggests that gender is not a determinant factor on fairness behavior; in the sense that, once controlling for potential confounders, observed differences are negligible in statistical sense. I present results on two versions of the Ultimatum Game, the direct and strategy method, and find strong evidence of mean behavioral differences across methods but no gender differences within each approach. The document explores some potential routs of explanation

Microprocesado de dieléctricos transparentes con pulsos ultracortos. Nuevos esquemas de fabricación de dispositivos fotónicos

[ES]El microprocesado de materiales transparentes con pulsos láser ultracortos ha atraído un creciente interés en la investigación debido a las propiedades únicas de la interacción lásermateria a escalas de tiempo ultracortas. En particular, la posibilidad de producir modificaciones locales controladas del índice de refracción en dieléctricos abrió la puerta a la microfabricación 3D de circuitos fotónicos integrados. En este trabajo se presentan nuevas estrategias para la optimización de las técnicas para la fabricación de guías de ondas ópticas en materiales cristalinos, así como para su caracterización. El uso de estas estrategias es una contribución al desarrollo tecnológico para la fabricación de dispositivos fotónicos complejos. Las estructuras fotónicas fabricadas están basadas en modificaciones Tipo II en cristales, en este contexto distintas técnicas tales como Guías con estrés inducido y Guías depressed cladding fueron utilizadas. En el caso de las guías de onda con estrés inducido, se utilizó un nuevo esquema de fabricación en el que se utilizó un interferómetro para generar dos haces láser de femtosegundos que, enfocados con cierta separación lateral dentro del cristal, producen simultáneamente dos tracks de da con un solo barrido. Por otra parte, se presenta la fabricación de arreglos de guías de onda basados en guías depressed cladding. Los arreglos consisten en guías de ondas hexagonales divergentes entre sí y con distintas separaciones entre ellas a la salida del cristal. Los resultados muestran un rendimiento óptimo de las estructuras fabricadas y sugieren un uso potencial en aplicaciones fotónicas tales como linternas fotónicas, las cuales pueden ser f當ilmente implementadas en otros materiales transparentes. También se presenta un nuevo tipo de estructuras llamadas guías con estructura fotónicas que emulan en forma, a las fibras de cristal fotónico. Estas estructuras presentan características atractivas tales como el hecho de poder manipular su sección transversal a lo largo de la guía de onda introduciendo defectos axiales que permitan la manipulación del haz de una manera controlada y reproducible. Esta importante característica ofrece la posibilidad de fabricar estructuras monolíticas. También se presenta un estudio de las modificaciones inducidas por pulsos de femtosegundos en la cerámica nanoestructurada YSZ, un material prometedor para aplicaciones biomédicas, así como el estudio y la integración de guías de ondas ópticas en este material. Además se caracterizaron propiedades tales como el umbral de ablación y las propiedades ópticas no lineales. Finalmente, se presenta un estudio preliminar de las características temporales pulsos ultracortos al propagarse en distintos tipos de guías de onda.[EN]Ultrafast laser microprocessing of transparent materials has attracted an increasing research interest due to the unique properties of laser-matter interaction at ultrashort time scales. In particular, the possibility to produce controlled local modifications of the refractive index in dielectrics opened the door to the microfabrication of 3D integrated photonic circuits. In this work, new strategies for the optimization of the techniques for the fabrication of optical waveguides in crystalline materials as well as as for their characterization are presented. The use of these strategies is a contribution to the technological development for the fabrication of integrated complex photonic devices. The fabricated photonic structures are based on Type II modifications in crystals and different techniques were used such as Stressed induced waveguides and Depressed cladding waveguides. In the case of stressed induced waveguides a new approach in which an interferometer was used to generate two femtosecond laser beams that, focused with certain lateral separation inside the crystal, produced two simultaneous parallel damage tracks with a single scan. On the other hand, the fabrication of waveguides arrays based on depressed cladding waveguides is presented. The arrays consist of divergent hexagonal waveguides with different separations between the waveguides at the exit of the crystal. The results show a good performance of the fabricated structures and suggest a promising potential use in photonic applications such as photonic lanterns, which can be easily implemented in other transparent materials. It is also presented a novel kind of structures called photonic lattice-like structures which emulates in shape, the photonic crystal fibers. These structures present attractive characteristics such the fact of being able to manipulate the cross section along the waveguide by introducing axial defects which allows beam manipulation in a controlled and reproducible manner. This important characteristic offers the possibility of fabricate monolithic structures. A study of the ultrafast laser-induced modifications of femtoseconds pulses in the nanostructured polycrystalline YSZ ceramic, a very promising material for bio-medical applications, as well as the study and the integration of optical waveguides in this material is also presented. In addition, properties such as the ablation threshold and the nonlinear optical properties were characterized. Finally, a preliminary study of the temporal features of ultrashort pulses propagating to different types of waveguides is presented

Uncovering Economic Behavior in Heterogeneous Institutional Environments: Three Essays in Applied and Experimental Economics

The three essays in this thesis foster the identification of unexpected influences of different institutional arrangements on economic outcomes. The first two essays, experimental in nature, analyze the impact of two different contexts within Public Goods Games (PGG) environments. The first essay documents exact replications of four classic experiments in PGG and cast unexpected results in contribution behavior. First, it shows how the attenuation effect in replication studies, well documented in other disciplines, is also pervasive in experimental economics. Not all previous findings replicate, and effects found in successful replications are much smaller. Second, it shows that experimental context matters; experimental subjects in Texas tend to contribute more and free ride less, across different experiments. The second essay analyzes whether democratic institutions have any impact on agency problems where group members face a centralized arrangement of sanctioning power. It offers novel evidence, although a weak effect, of the intrinsic incentives for pro-social behavior attached to legitimacy in democratic institutions to promote collective action and higher economic efficiency. Finally, the last essay offers an empirical alternative to unravel heterogeneous unobserved traits on credit market customers. Through the use of mixture density estimation methods and rich administrative data, it identifies different quality-types of clients for credit demand and default decisions. Credit customers differ in their individual preferences, as well as levels of foresight, strategic behavior; all unobserved by the principal (lender). Accounting for these unobserved traits improves the forecast of potential clients' behavior and offers alternatives for different contracts and risk-pricing strategies to reduce credit rationing

Final Muon Cooling For A Muon Collider

To explore the new energy frontier, a new generation of particle accelerators is needed. Muon colliders are a promising alternative if muon cooling can be made to work. Muons are 200 times heavier than electrons, so they produce less synchrotron radiation, and they behave like point particles. However, they have a short lifetime of 2.2 μs and the beam is more difficult to cool than an electron beam. The Muon Accelerator Program (MAP) was created to develop concepts and technologies required by a muon collider. An important effort has been made in the program to design and optimize a muon beam cooling system. The goal is to achieve the small beam emittance required by a muon collider. This work explores a final ionization cooling system using magnetic quadrupole lattices with a low enough β* region to cool the beam to the required limit with available low Z absorbers

Construcción y homologación de las variables de educación en los censos de población de México, 1960-2000

En las últimas décadas, la cuestión educativa ha ocupado amplios espacios de interés en los ámbitos académicos y políticos. La educación mantiene el valor analítico vinculado con el desarrollo, los cambios demográficos y, particularmente, con la participación en el trabajo, los niveles de ingresos y las condiciones de vida de la población. La evolución de los procesos educativos, ligados a los desarrollos recientes de la tecnología, la comunicación y la información han llevado, incluso, a suponer la emergencia de la llamada sociedad del conocimiento. Y es en este sentido que se afirma que, actualmente, la acumulación y uso del conocimiento sean, quizá, más importantes que la propia disposición de recursos naturales para determinar las ventajas comparativas y la riqueza de un país (Plan Nacional de Desarrollo, 1995