EVOLUÇÃO DO NIVEL DE GASTOS DE TI NO GOVERNO DO ESTADO DE SÃO PAULO

This research explores the level of spendings on Information Technology (IT) undertaken by São Paulo State Government and its evolution from 2004 to 2013. It started on the assumption that companies have increased their investments in IT over recent years, as a natural consequence of IT evolution and the large number of new features available. Thus, the relative importance of IT to a company could be measured by the volume of IT spending over the volume of its total expenditure. Results show that São Paulo State Government investment in IT has increased in absolute terms over this period, however the portion of total budget invested in IT has not grown, and keeps virtually frozen over last years, at percentages close to 1%, which indicates that the relative importance of IT as a Government priority has not increased.This research explores the level of spendings on Information Technology (IT) undertaken by São Paulo State Government and its evolution from 2004 to 2013. It started on the assumption that companies have increased their investments in IT over recent years, as a natural consequence of IT evolution and the large number of new features available. Thus, the relative importance of IT to a company could be measured by the volume of IT spending over the volume of its total expenditure. Results show that São Paulo State Government investment in IT has increased in absolute terms over this period, however the portion of total budget invested in IT has not grown, and keeps virtually frozen over last years, at percentages close to 1%, which indicates that the relative importance of IT as a Government priority has not increased.O presente trabalho estudou o nível de gastos com Tecnologia da Informação (TI) realizados pelo Governo do Estado de São Paulo e sua evolução ao longo do período de 2004 a 2013. Partiu-se do pressuposto de que as organizações incrementaram seus investimentos em TI nos últimos anos, como decorrência natural da evolução da TI e do grande número de novos recursos disponíveis. Desta forma, a importância relativa da TI para uma organização poderia ser medida pelo volume de gastos com TI em relação ao volume de gastos totais realizados pela mesma. Os resultados revelaram que os gastos com TI do Governo cresceram em valores absolutos ao longo do período, mas que a parcela de gastos com TI em relação aos gastos totais não cresceu, se mantendo praticamente estacionada em percentuais próximos a 1% nos últimos anos, o que sugere que a importância relativa da TI dentro das prioridades do Governo não cresceu

Public transport policy, social engagement and mental health in older age:a quasi-experimental evaluation of free bus passes in England

Background Social engagement and social isolation are key determinants of mental health in older age, yet there is limited evidence on how public policies may contribute to reducing isolation, promoting social engagement and improving mental health among older people. This study examines the impact of the introduction of an age-friendly transportation policy, free bus passes, on the mental health of older people in England. Methods We use an instrumental variable (IV) approach that exploits eligibility criteria for free bus passes to estimate the impact of increased public transportation use on depressive symptoms, loneliness, social isolation and social engagement. Results Eligibility for the free bus travel pass was associated with an 8% (95% CI 6.4% to 9.6%) increase in the use of public transportation among older people. The IV model suggests that using public transport reduces depressive symptoms by 0.952 points (95%CI −1.712 to −0.192) on the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. IV models also suggest that using public transport reduces feelings of loneliness (β −0.794, 95%CI −1.528 to −0.061), increases volunteering at least monthly (β 0.237, 95%CI 0.059 to 0.414) and increases having regular contact with children (β 0.480, 95%CI 0.208 to 0.752) and friends (β 0.311, 95%CI 0.109 to 0.513). Conclusion Free bus travel is associated with reductions in depressive symptoms and feelings of loneliness among older people. Transportation policies may increase older people’s social engagement and consequ

Public Transportation Use and Cognitive Function in Older Age: A Quasiexperimental Evaluation of the Free Bus Pass Policy in the United Kingdom.

In this quasiexperimental study, we examined whether the introduction of an age-friendly transportation policy-free bus passes for older adults-increased public transport use and in turn affected cognitive function among older people in England. Data came from 7 waves (2002-2014) of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (n = 17,953), which measured total cognitive function, memory, executive function, and processing speed before and after the bus pass was introduced in 2006. The analytical strategy was an instrumental-variable approach with fixed effects, which made use of the age-eligibility criteria for free bus passes and addressed bias due to reverse causality, measurement error, and time-invariant confounding. Eligibility for the bus pass was associated with a 7% increase in public transport use. The increase in public transportation use was associated with a 0.346 (95% confidence interval: 0.017, 0.674) increase in the total cognitive function z score and with a 0.546 (95% confidence interval: 0.111, 0.982) increase in memory z score. Free bus passes were associated with an increase in public transport use and, in turn, benefits to cognitive function in older age. Public transport use might promote cognitive health through encouraging intellectually, socially, and physically active lifestyles. Transport policies could serve as public health tools to promote cognitive health in aging populations

A CANDELS - 3D-HST Synergy: Resolved Star Formation Patterns at 0.7 < z < 1.5

We analyze the resolved stellar populations of 473 massive star-forming galaxies at 0.7 < z < 1.5, with multi-wavelength broad-band imaging from CANDELS and Halpha surface brightness profiles at the same kiloparsec resolution from 3D-HST. Together, this unique data set sheds light on how the assembled stellar mass is distributed within galaxies, and where new stars are being formed. We find the Halpha morphologies to resemble more closely those observed in the ACS I band than in the WFC3 H band, especially for the larger systems. We next derive a novel prescription for Halpha dust corrections, which accounts for extra extinction towards HII regions. The prescription leads to consistent SFR estimates and reproduces the observed relation between the Halpha/UV luminosity ratio and visual extinction, both on a pixel-by-pixel and on a galaxy-integrated level. We find the surface density of star formation to correlate with the surface density of assembled stellar mass for spatially resolved regions within galaxies, akin to the so-called 'main sequence of star formation' established on a galaxy-integrated level. Deviations from this relation towards lower equivalent widths are found in the inner regions of galaxies. Clumps and spiral features, on the other hand, are associated with enhanced Halpha equivalent widths, bluer colors, and higher specific star formation rates compared to the underlying disk. Their Halpha/UV luminosity ratio is lower than that of the underlying disk, suggesting the ACS clump selection preferentially picks up those regions of elevated star formation activity that are the least obscured by dust. Our analysis emphasizes that monochromatic studies of galaxy structure can be severely limited by mass-to-light ratio variations due to dust and spatially inhomogeneous star formation histories.Comment: Accepted by The Astrophysical Journal, 18 pages, 1 table, 10 figure

Gene drives for schistosomiasis transmission control.

Schistosomiasis is one of the most important and widespread neglected tropical diseases (NTD), with over 200 million people infected in more than 70 countries; the disease has nearly 800 million people at risk in endemic areas. Although mass drug administration is a cost-effective approach to reduce occurrence, extent, and severity of the disease, it does not provide protection to subsequent reinfection. Interventions that target the parasites' intermediate snail hosts are a crucial part of the integrated strategy required to move toward disease elimination. The recent revolution in gene drive technology naturally leads to questions about whether gene drives could be used to efficiently spread schistosome resistance traits in a population of snails and whether gene drives have the potential to contribute to reduced disease transmission in the long run. Responsible implementation of gene drives will require solutions to complex challenges spanning multiple disciplines, from biology to policy. This Review Article presents collected perspectives from practitioners of global health, genome engineering, epidemiology, and snail/schistosome biology and outlines strategies for responsible gene drive technology development, impact measurements of gene drives for schistosomiasis control, and gene drive governance. Success in this arena is a function of many factors, including gene-editing specificity and efficiency, the level of resistance conferred by the gene drive, how fast gene drives may spread in a metapopulation over a complex landscape, ecological sustainability, social equity, and, ultimately, the reduction of infection prevalence in humans. With combined efforts from across the broad global health community, gene drives for schistosomiasis control could fortify our defenses against this devastating disease in the future

MINDMAP : establishing an integrated database infrastructure for research in ageing, mental well-being, and the urban environment

Background: Urbanization and ageing have important implications for public mental health and well-being. Cities pose major challenges for older citizens, but also offer opportunities to develop, test, and implement policies, services, infrastructure, and interventions that promote mental well-being. The MINDMAP project aims to identify the opportunities and challenges posed by urban environmental characteristics for the promotion and management of mental well-being and cognitive function of older individuals. Methods: MINDMAP aims to achieve its research objectives by bringing together longitudinal studies from 11 countries covering over 35 cities linked to databases of area-level environmental exposures and social and urban policy indicators. The infrastructure supporting integration of this data will allow multiple MINDMAP investigators to safely and remotely co-analyse individual-level and area-level data. Individual-level data is derived from baseline and follow-up measurements of ten participating cohort studies and provides information on mental well-being outcomes, sociodemographic variables, health behaviour characteristics, social factors, measures of frailty, physical function indicators, and chronic conditions, as well as blood derived clinical biochemistry-based biomarkers and genetic biomarkers. Area-level information on physical environment characteristics (e.g. green spaces, transportation), socioeconomic and sociodemographic characteristics (e.g. neighbourhood income, residential segregation, residential density), and social environment characteristics (e.g. social cohesion, criminality) and national and urban social policies is derived from publically available sources such as geoportals and administrative databases. The linkage, harmonization, and analysis of data from different sources are being carried out using piloted tools to optimize the validity of the research results and transparency of the methodology. Discussion: MINDMAP is a novel research collaboration that is combining population-based cohort data with publicly available datasets not typically used for ageing and mental well-being research. Integration of various data sources and observational units into a single platform will help to explain the differences in ageing-related mental and cognitive disorders both within as well as between cities in Europe, the US, Canada, and Russia and to assess the causal pathways and interactions between the urban environment and the individual determinants of mental well-being and cognitive ageing in older adults.Peer reviewe

Structural Evolution in Massive Galaxies at z ~ 2

We present 0.2arcsec-resolution Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array observations at 870 $\mu$m in a stellar mass-selected sample of 85 massive ($M_\mathrm{star}>10^{11}~M_\odot$) star-forming galaxies (SFGs) at z=1.9-2.6 in the 3D-HST/CANDELS fields of UDS and GOODS-S. We measure the effective radius of the rest-frame far-infrared (FIR) emission for 62 massive SFGs. They are distributed over wide ranges of FIR size from $R_\mathrm{e,FIR}=$0.4 kpc to $R_\mathrm{e,FIR}=$6 kpc. The effective radius of the FIR emission is smaller by a factor of 2.3$^{+1.9}_{-1.0}$ than the effective radius of the optical emission and by a factor of 1.9$^{+1.9}_{-1.0}$ smaller than the half-mass radius. Even with taking into account potential extended components, the FIR size would change by ~10%. By combining the spatial distributions of the FIR and optical emission, we investigate how galaxies change the effective radius of the optical emission and the stellar mass within a radius of 1 kpc, $M_\mathrm{1kpc}$. The compact starburst puts most of massive SFGs on the mass--size relation for quiescent galaxies (QGs) at z~2 within 300 Myr if the current star formation activity and its spatial distribution are maintained. We also find that within 300 Myr, ~38% of massive SFGs can reach the central mass of $M_\mathrm{1kpc}=10^{10.5}~M_\odot$, which is around the boundary between massive SFGs and QGs. These results suggest an outside-in transformation scenario in which a dense core is formed at the center of a more extended disk, likely via dissipative in-disk inflows. Synchronized observations at ALMA 870 $\mu$m and JWST 3-4 $\mu$m will explicitly verify this scenario.Comment: 25 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Ap

KMOS3D:dynamical constraints on the mass budget in early star-forming disks

We exploit deep integral-field spectroscopic observations with KMOS/Very Large Telescope of 240 star-forming disks at 0.6 &lt;z &lt;2.6 to dynamically constrain their mass budget. Our sample consists of massive (≳109.8M⊙) galaxies with sizes Re ≳ 2kpc. By contrasting the observed velocity and dispersion profiles with dynamical models, we find that on average the stellar content contributes 32-7 +8% of the total dynamical mass, with a significant spread among galaxies (68th percentile range fstar ∼ 18%-62%). Including molecular gas as inferred from CO- and dust-based scaling relations, the estimated baryonic mass adds up to 56-12 +17% of the total for the typical galaxy in our sample, reaching ∼90% at z &gt; 2. We conclude that baryons make up most of the mass within the disk regions of high-redshift star-forming disk galaxies, with typical disks at z &gt; 2 being strongly baryon-dominated within R e. Substantial object-to-object variations in both stellar and baryonic mass fractions are observed among the galaxies in our sample, larger than what can be accounted for by the formal uncertainties in their respective measurements. In both cases, the mass fractions correlate most strongly with measures of surface density. High-Σstar galaxies feature stellar mass fractions closer to unity, and systems with high inferred gas or baryonic surface densities leave less room for additional mass components other than stars and molecular gas. Our findings can be interpreted as more extended disks probing further (and more compact disks probing less far) into the dark matter halos that host them.</p

A CANDELS-3d-HST Synergy: Resolved Star Formation Patterns at 0.7 less than z less than 1.5

We analyze the resolved stellar populations of 473 massive star-forming galaxies at 0.7 < z < 1.5, with multiwavelength broadband imaging from CANDELS andHalpha surface brightness profiles at the same kiloparsec resolution from 3D-HST. Together, this unique data set sheds light on how the assembled stellar mass is distributed within galaxies, and where new stars are being formed. We find the Halpha morphologies to resemble more closely those observed in the ACS I band than in the WFC3 H band, especially for the larger systems. We next derive a novel prescription for Halpha dust corrections, which accounts for extra extinction toward H II regions. The prescription leads to consistent star formation rate (SFR) estimates and reproduces the observed relation between the Halpha/UV luminosity ratio and visual extinction, on both a pixel-by-pixel and a galaxy-integrated level. We find the surface density of star formation to correlate with the surface density of assembled stellar mass for spatially resolved regions within galaxies, akin to the so-called "main sequence of star formation" established on a galaxy-integrated level. Deviations from this relation toward lower equivalent widths are found in the inner regions of galaxies. Clumps and spiral features, on the other hand, are associated with enhanced H alpha equivalent widths, bluer colors, and higher specific SFRs compared to the underlying disk. Their Halpha/UV luminosity ratio is lower than that of the underlying disk, suggesting that the ACS clump selection preferentially picks up those regions of elevated star formation activity that are the least obscured by dust. Our analysis emphasizes that monochromatic studies of galaxy structure can be severely limited by mass-to-light ratio variations due to dust and spatially inhomogeneous star formation histories