Rational Choices and Welfare Changes in Philippine Family Energy Demand: Evidence from Family Income and Expenditure Surveys

This study found Philippine family demands for (1) electricity, (2) gas and liquid fuels, (3) solid fuels, (4) food, and (5) others—based on Family Income and Expenditure Surveys (FIES) in 2009, 2012, and 2015—are rational (i.e., expenditure minimizing). Specifically, all own-price elasticities are negative (downward sloping demand curves). Cross-price elasticities between (1), (2), and (3) are positive (substitutes) while cross-price elasticities of (1), (2), and (3) with (4) or (5) are mostly negative (generally complements). Income elasticities are positive (normal goods), except for (3), comprising “fuelwood, charcoal, and biomass residues” that are consumed less at higher incomes (inferior goods). These elasticities yield a Hicks-Slutsky substitution matrix that is symmetric and negative semi-definite—the necessary and sufficient conditions for expenditure minimization—a finding unprecedented in a Philippine demand study. These results validate computing compensating variation (CV) and equivalent variation (EV) that are changes in compensated incomes for restoring welfare after prices change. During 2009-2015, the overall Consumer Price Index increased 3.08 percent annually to which energy price increases contributed 0.23 percentage points, about equal to mid-point CV and EV estimates of welfare losses ranging 0.18 to 0.30 percent of 2009 total expenditures. However, improved household energy end-use efficiency by “waste” reduction compensated the above welfare losses even without increasing total expenditures or investing in efficiency improvements

Comparative gastrointestinal organ lengths among Amazonian primates (Primates: Platyrrhini)

Objectives: The morphological features of the gastrointestinal tract (GIT) in mammals reflect a species' food niche breadth and dietary adaptations. For many wild mammals, the relationship between the structure of the GIT and diet is still poorly understood, for example, the GIT for frugivorous primates is usually classified as unspecialized and homogeneous. Here, we compare the GIT structure of 13 primate species from the three families of extant platyrrhines (Atelidae, Pitheciidae, and Cebidae) in Amazonia, and discuss possible evolutionary adaptations to different diets and trophic niches. Methods: We measured the length of the esophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, cecum, colon, and rectum of the digestive tracts of 289 primate specimens. We determined the allometric relationships of the different tubular organs with the total length of the GIT as a proxy of specimen body size. Allometric parameters were used to establish the quotients of differentiation of every organ for each primate specimen. Results: There was a high differentiation in structure of the digestive organs among genera. Alouatta specimens clearly separated from the other genera based on dissimilarities in gastric, colonic, and rectal quotients, likely linked to the fermentation of plant contents. In contrast, all cebines (Sapajus, Cebus, and Saimiri) and Cacajao species had similar small intestine quotients, which is expected due to their high rates of animal matter consumed. Conclusions: We show that diverse adaptations in digestive structure exist among frugivorous primates, which in turn reflect different dietary patterns within this group that may enable the geographic coexistence of different primate species

Assistência pré-natal à adolescente e os atributos da Atenção Primária à Saúde

OBJECTIVE: evaluate prenatal care for adolescents in health units, in accordance with the attributes of Primary Health Care (PHC) guidelines. METHOD: quantitative study conducted with health professionals, using the Primary Care Assessment Tool-Brazil to assess the presence and extent of PHC attributes. RESULTS: for all the participating units, the attribute Access scored =6.6; the attributes Longitudinality, Coordination (integration of care), Coordination (information systems) and Integrality scored =6.6, and the Essential Score =6.6. Comparing basic units with family health units, the attribute scores were equally distributed; Accessibility scored =6.6, the others attributes scored =6.6; however, in the basic units, the Essential Score was =6.6 and, in the family health units, =6.6. CONCLUSION: expanding the coverage of family health units and the training of professionals can be considered strategies to qualify health care.OBJETIVO: evaluar la atención prenatal a las adolescentes en unidades de salud, según los atributos de la Atención Primaria a la Salud. MÉTODO: estudio de abordaje cuantitativo, realizado con profesionales de la salud, utilizando el instrumento Primary Care Assessment Tool-Brasil para analizar la presencia y extensión de los atributos vinculados a la APS en las unidades de salud. RESULTADOS: para todas las unidades participantes, el atributo Acceso obtuvo un puntaje =6,6; los atributos Longitudinalidad, Coordinación (integración de cuidados), Coordinación (sistemas de información) e Integralidad obtuvieron puntajes =6,6 y el Puntaje Esencial fue =6,6. Comparando las unidades básicas de salud y las unidades de salud de la familia, los puntajes están igualmente distribuidos: Accesibilidad =6,6 y los demás atributos con puntajes =6,6; sin embargo, el puntaje Esencial en las unidades básicas fue =6,6 y el de las unidades de salud de la familia fue =6,6. CONCLUSIÓN: la ampliación de la cobertura de las unidades de salud de la familia y la capacitación profesional pueden ser estrategias para calificar la atención a la salud.OBJETIVO: avaliar a atenção pré-natal às adolescentes em unidades de saúde, segundo os atributos da Atenção Primária à Saúde. MÉTODO: estudo de abordagem quantitativa, realizado com profissionais de saúde, utilizando-se o instrumento Primary Care Assessment Tool-Brasil, para analisar a presença e extensão dos atributos. RESULTADOS: para todas as unidades participantes, o atributo acesso obteve escore =6,6; os atributos longitudinalidade, coordenação (integração de cuidados), coordenação (sistemas de informação) e integralidade obtiveram escores =6,6 e escore essencial =6,6. Comparando-se as unidades básicas e as unidades de saúde da família, os escores estão igualmente distribuídos: acessibilidade: =6,6 e os demais atributos com escores =6,6, no entanto, o escore essencial nas unidades básicas foi =6,6 e nas unidades de saúde da família foi =6,6. CONCLUSÃO: a ampliação da cobertura das unidades de saúde da família e a capacitação profissional podem ser estratégias para qualificar a atenção à saúde

Mutual information rate and bounds for it

The amount of information exchanged per unit of time between two nodes in a dynamical network or between two data sets is a powerful concept for analysing complex systems. This quantity, known as the mutual information rate (MIR), is calculated from the mutual information, which is rigorously defined only for random systems. Moreover, the definition of mutual information is based on probabilities of significant events. This work offers a simple alternative way to calculate the MIR in dynamical (deterministic) networks or between two data sets (not fully deterministic), and to calculate its upper and lower bounds without having to calculate probabilities, but rather in terms of well known and well defined quantities in dynamical systems. As possible applications of our bounds, we study the relationship between synchronisation and the exchange of information in a system of two coupled maps and in experimental networks of coupled oscillators

Interleukin-1 polymorphisms associated with increased risk of gastric cancer

Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with a variety of clinical outcomes including gastric cancer and duodenal ulcer disease. The reasons for this variation are not clear, but the gastric physiological response is influenced by the severity and anatomical distribution of gastritis induced by H. pylori. Thus, individuals with gastritis predominantly localized to the antrum retain normal (or even high) acid secretion, whereas individuals with extensive corpus gastritis develop hypochlorhydria and gastric atrophy, which are presumptive precursors of gastric cancer. Here we report that interleukin-1 gene cluster polymorphisms suspected of enhancing production of interleukin-1-beta are associated with an increased risk of both hypochlorhydria induced by H. pylori and gastric cancer. Two of these polymorphism are in near-complete linkage disequilibrium and one is a TATA-box polymorphism that markedly affects DNA-protein interactions in vitro. The association with disease may be explained by the biological properties of interleukin-1-beta, which is an important pro-inflammatory cytokine and a powerful inhibitor of gastric acid secretion. Host genetic factors that affect interleukin-1-beta may determine why some individuals infected with H. pylori develop gastric cancer while others do no

La Relación Entre la Motivación Docente y Variables de la Organización: Revisión de la Literatura

Abstract Teacher motivation plays a central role in education because ofitsimpacton student motivation. Previous reviews of teacher motivation have focused on individual variables and psychopathology indicators. However, it is also important to understand the effect of organizational variableson teacher motivationbecause these highlightthe contextthat the teacher is a part of(i.e.,the school). The literature review in this paper analysed studies related to teacher motivation and a pre-defined group of organizational variablesthat werepublished between 1990 and 2014 in several electronic databases.The study found that organizational culture was the most studied variable associated with teacher motivationand most studies in this area were published between 2010 and 2014.Further,there was a prevalence of quantitative studies. This paper concludes with the theoreticaland practical implications of the results,as well assuggestions for future research directions

Glucocorticoid receptor (DlGR1) is expressed in pre-larval and larval stages of the teleost fish Dicentrarchus labrax

Glucocorticoid hormone receptors (GR), members of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily, are ligand-dependent transcription factors expressed in various tissues by binding to specific DNA sequences. Since glucocorticoids have a role in maintaining the homeostatic status in fish, we previously cloned and sequenced a GR (DlGR1) of adult Dicentrarchus labrax; we also showed mRNA expression (in situ hybridization) and tissue immunohistochemical localization of DlGR1 in several organs. This work has now been extended to the examination of the expression, tissue distribution, and cytolocalization of DlGR1 in larval developmental stages by similar methods to those used for the adult organs. The riboprobe included the DlGR1 cDNA transcriptional activation domain (1.0–1,300 nucleotide sequence) showing no significant similarity with a known second GR cDNA sequence of sea bass. The antibody was specific for an opportunely selected peptide sequence of the DlGR1 transcriptional domain. In histological sections of brain, head kidney, gills, liver, anterior intestine, and spleen cells, the riboprobe was mainly located in the cell nucleus. The antibody identified DlGR1 in the head kidney, gills, liver, and anterior intestine, mainly located in the cytosol. These results are in agreement with the receptor location in adult tissues. The greater presence of both the transcript and protein of DlGR1 in the late developmental stages suggests an increasing expression of this receptor. The cytolocalization (nuclear-cytosolic) and presumptive roles of DlGR1-containing tissues are discussed

Compressed representation of a partially defined integer function over multiple arguments

In OLAP (OnLine Analitical Processing) data are analysed in an n-dimensional cube. The cube may be represented as a partially defined function over n arguments. Considering that often the function is not defined everywhere, we ask: is there a known way of representing the function or the points in which it is defined, in a more compact manner than the trivial one

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO