983 research outputs found

    Two Decades of Income Inequality in Britain: The Role of Wages, Household Earnings and Redistribution

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    We study earnings and income inequality in Britain over the past two decades, including the period of relatively 'inclusive' growth from 1997 to 2004, and the Great Recession. We focus on the middle 90%, where trends have contrasted strongly with the 'new inequality' at the very top. Household earnings inequality has risen, driven by male earnings-although a 'catch-up' of female earnings did hold down individual earnings inequality and reduce within-household inequality. Nevertheless, net household income inequality fell due to deliberate increases in redistribution, the tax and transfer system's insurance role during the Great Recession, falling household worklessness, and rising pensioner incomes

    Differential impact of mass and targeted praziquantel delivery on schistosomiasis control in school-aged children: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

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    Schistosomiasis is a widespread public health concern in the poorest regions of the world. The principal control strategy is regular praziquantel administration to school-aged children in endemic areas. With calls for the elimination of schistosomiasis as a public health problem, expanding praziquantel delivery to all community members has been advocated. This systematic review and meta-analysis compares the impact of community-wide and child-targeted praziquantel distribution on schistosomiasis prevalence and intensity in school-aged children. We searched MEDLINE, Embase and Web of Science to identify papers that reported schistosome prevalence before and after praziquantel administration, either to children only or to all community members. Extracted data included Schistosoma species, drug administration strategy, number of treatment rounds, follow-up interval and prevalence and intensity before and after treatment. We used inverse variance weighted generalised linear models to examine the impact of mass versus targeted drug administration on prevalence reduction, and weighted boxplots to examine the impact on infection intensity reduction. This study is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42018095377. In total, 34 articles were eligible for systematic review and 28 for meta-analysis. Schistosoma mansoni was reported in 20 studies; Schistosoma haematobium in 19 studies, and Schistosoma japonicum in two studies. Results of generalised linear models showed no detectable difference between mass and targeted treatment strategies on prevalence reduction in school-aged children for S. mansoni (odds ratio 0.47, 95%CI 0.13-1.68, p = 0.227) and S. haematobium (0.41, 95%CI 0.06-3.03, p = 0.358). Box plots also showed no apparent differences in intensity reduction between the two treatment strategies. The results of this meta-analysis do not support the hypothesis that community-wide treatment is more effective than targeted treatment at reducing schistosomiasis infections in children. This may be due to the relatively small number of included studies, insufficient treatment coverage, persistent infection hotspots and unmeasured confounders. Further field-based studies comparing mass and targeted treatment are required

    Small hive beetle, Aethina tumida (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae): chemical profile of the cuticle and possible chemical mimicry in a honeybee (Apis mellifera) pest

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    The small hive beetle, Aethina tumida (Coleoptera: Nitidulidae), is an economically important pest of the Western honeybee, Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera: Apidae). We investigated the effect of rearing environment on the cuticular chemical profile of adult A. tumida, using hexane to extract the hydrocarbons and other compounds from the cuticles of beetles. Beetles were collected from A. mellifera colonies in Australia as well as reared in single sex laboratory cultures on different diets. We investigated whether rearing environment (laboratory vs. field, different apiaries, access to mating partners, diet) had any effect on cuticular hydrocarbons. Coupled gas chromatography–mass spectrometry analyses of the extracts showed that rearing environment had significant qualitative and quantitative effects on the hydrocarbons detected. The data support the hypothesis that cuticular profiles of A. tumida are contingent on environment, partitioning on the basis of rearing diet and source hives. The finding has implications for the regulation of interactions between A. tumida and honeybees and improvements in targeting of management strategies

    Lithographically Defined Micropost Arrays for Programmable Actuation and Interfacial Hydrodynamics

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    Magnetically actuating surface-attached post (ASAP) arrays have great potential in microfluidic flow control, including mixing and pumping. Both passive (nonactuating) and active (actuating) micropillar arrays can also be used to control pressure-driven flow and the motion of microscopic particles carried by the fluid through microfluidic channels. Molding techniques are popular for generating these microstructures. However, fabricating high aspect ratio elastomeric microstructures over large surface areas suffers from practical problems such as damage incurred in the demolding process. Here, we report on a fabrication protocol that generates ASAP with an aspect ratio as high as 23:1 and a cross-sectional area less than 1 μm2 using straightforward photolithography processes. We generated 50 unique ASAP arrays, each occupying an area of 1 mm2 on a silicon mold; these arrays have varied cross-sectional shape and size, aspect ratio, and spacings between neighboring posts. Our protocol also controls the level of magnetic material in the ASAP tips with a centrifugation step. Using a herringbone pattern ASAP array, we have demonstrated control over the relative phase of actuation between neighboring posts. Such ASAP serve as an experimental platform to test current models predicting that reciprocal actuators in close proximity can successfully drive flow in a low Reynolds (Re) number environment

    Gyliauchenid Trematodes and Morphometrics: Is size phylogenetically informative?

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    Three new species of blood flukes (Digenea: Aporocotylidae) infecting pufferfishes (Teleostei: Tetraodontidae) from off Bali, Indonesia

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    We describe three new species of blood flukes (Aporocotylidae) and propose their classification within the genus Psettarium Goto & Ozaki, 1929. All three species were collected from the circulatory systems of pufferfishes caught off Bali, central Indonesia. Psettarium pulchellum n. sp. was found in the gills of both the narrow-lined puffer (Arothron manilensis de Procé) and the spiny blaasop (Tylerius spinosissimus Regan), while P. ogawai n. sp. and P. jimbaranense n. sp. were found in the gills of the reticulated puffer (Arothron reticularis Bloch & Schneider). The morphological characteristics of these taxa necessitated emendation of the diagnosis for the genus Psettarium, to accommodate the presence of an oral sucker, multiple or entirely post-caecal testes and a degenerate posterior testis. Features such as proportion of body length occupied by the oesophagus, and posterior caeca being ≥. 7. × the length of anterior caeca, are no longer regarded as useful genus-level characters. Additionally, Sasala nolani is reassigned to this genus as Psettarium nolani n. comb. In phylogenetic analyses of the 28S and ITS2 rDNA regions, all three new taxa form a well-supported clade, together with Psettarium sinense and Psettarium nolani n. comb., the two other species of tetraodontid-infecting aporocotylids for which comparative rDNA data were available. The short branch lengths within this clade, despite dramatic morphological differences between the five species, suggest that rapid morphological diversification has occurred among the tetraodontid-infecting aporocotylids. The genus Psettarium has long been considered problematic. Further commentary is given on the history of this genus and how the issues presented might be resolved

    Gene-tree gives insight into evolution of unusual group

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    Entraves e facilitadores para a institucionalização da EaD no IFRJ.

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    Organizado por Rute Nogueira de Morais Bicalho. 29 ago. 2019. Resumo expandido

    O consumo de carne de rã: caracterização, tendências e perspectivas.

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