Hypothetical, real, and predicted real willingness to pay in open-ended surveys: experimental results

This study reports the results of experiments designed to elicit, within a controlled laboratory environment, hypothetical and real willingness to pay for an environmental educational program using the open-ended question format. By maintaining both the good and the question format constant across the treatments, our experiments overcome the shortcomings of recently reported experimental results, providing a clean test for hypothetical bias in open-ended valuations. Having found a statistically significant difference between the hypothetical and real values, we turn into the question of whether hypothetical valuations may nonetheless provide useful statistical information concerning individuals’ real valuations. This question, which is perhaps the key question in the current state of the debate surrounding the contingent valuation method, is answered affirmatively in this study.experimental methods, contingent valuation methods, calibration methods

Multilateral negotiations over climate change policy

Negotiations in the real world have many features which tend to be ignored inpolicy modeling. They are often multilateral, involving many negotiating parties with preferences over outcomes that can differ substantially. They are also often multi-dimensional,in the sense that several policies are negotiated over simultaneously. Trade negotiations are a prime example, as are negotiations over environmental policies toabate carbon dioxide. We demonstrate how one can formally model this type of negotiation process. We use a policy-oriented computable general equilibrium model to generate preference functions which are then used in a formal multilateral bargaining game. The case study is to climate change policy, but the main contribution is to demonstrate how one can integrate formal economic models of the impacts of policies with formal bargaining models of the negotiations over those policies.CGE, bilateral bargaining, CO2, Climate Change

Has Portugal gone wireless? Looking back, Looking ahead

This paper analyses the pattern and rate of adoption of mobile telephones by the Portuguese population. It is shown that the pattern of diffusion is S-shaped and is consistent with a logistic function, which describes a symmetrical growth process. Furthermore, it is found that 67 percent of the population will likely adopt mobile phones, and that the levelling-off process in the diffusion of mobile phones has already begun. The analysis is intended to inform the larger discussion of managing the communications service, as well as to assist analysts concerned about assessing the impact of public policies in the evolution of communications sectors.technology diffusion, mobile telecommunications

An experimental analysis of grandfathering vs dynamic auctioning in the EU ETS

This study constitutes a first attempt to experimentally test the performance of a 100% auction versus a 100% free allocation of CO2 permits under the rules and parameters that mimic the EU ETS (imperfect competition, uncertainty in emissions’ control, and allowing banking). It also incorporates a first attempt to include in the analysis measures of the risk preferences of subjects participating in emission permits experiments. Another distinctive feature of this study is the implementation of a theoretically appropriate auction format for the primary allocation of emission permits. Our experimental results indicate that the EU ETS has the potential to reduce CO2 emissions, achieving targets considerably more restrictive than the current ones at high efficiency levels, both with auctioned and free emission permits. Auctioning, however, reveals a clear potential to do better than grandfathering the initial allocation of permits. In addition, the results reveal that concerns about undue scarcity, and corresponding high prices, in secondary markets generated by a primary auction market are not warranted under the proposed dynamic auction format.EU ETS, auctioning, grandfathering, banking, Ausubel auction

The determinants of success in university entrance

This paper proposes that high school graduates applying to higher education institutions do not have equal chances of succeeding. Therefore, admission outcomes must be taken into account by researchers and policy makers analysing college-going behaviour and the equity and efficiency of higher education systems.Educational economics, higher education, chances of success

VALIDAÇÃO DE UM PROTOCOLO DE AURICULOTERAPIA COM LASER PARA DOR CRÔNICA NA COLUNA VERTEBRAL

RESUMO Objetivo: validar um protocolo de auriculoterapia com laser para dor crônica na coluna vertebral. Método: estudo metodológico realizado a partir de uma revisão sistemática, baseada no PRISMA Statement; validação de conteúdo por 21 experts e validação clínica do protocolo desenvolvido em pessoas com dor. Resultados: a partir da análise de 13 artigos foi observado o efeito positivo da acupuntura no alívio da dor e foi possível construir o seguinte protocolo: auriculoterapia com laser, em cinco sessões, com a proporção de uma sessão por semana, aplicação bilateral com alternância do pavilhão auricular nos pontos Shenmen, rim, simpático, bexiga, fígado, subcórtex e vértebras cervical, torácica e/ ou lombar, dependendo do local da dor. A avaliação desse conteúdo assumindo nível de concordância de 80% interavaliadores resultou em aprovação de todos os itens do protocolo. Na avaliação clínica, ao ser administrado em pessoas com dor na coluna vertebral, o protocolo desenvolvido demonstrou reduzir a média de dor, aumentar o limiar de tolerância e diminuir o impacto da dor nas atividades de vida diária. Conclusão: a acupuntura auricular, realizada com laser de baixa potência infravermelho no protocolo estudado, provou ser capaz de tratar com efetividade a dor crônica na coluna vertebral

Analogues of Marine Guanidine Alkaloids Are in Vitro Effective against Trypanosoma cruzi and Selectively Eliminate Leishmania (L.) infantum Intracellular Amastigotes

Synthetic analogues of marine sponge guanidine alkaloids showed in vitro antiparasitic activity against Leishmania (L.) infantum and Trypanosoma cruzi. Guanidines 10 and 11 presented the highest selectivity index when tested against Leishmania. The antiparasitic activity of 10 and 11 was investigated in host cells and in parasites. Both compounds induced depolarization of mitochondrial membrane potential, upregulation of reactive oxygen species levels, and increased plasma membrane permeability in Leishmania parasites. Immunomodulatory assays suggested an NO-independent effect of guanidines 10 and 11 on macrophages. The same compounds also promoted anti-inflammatory activity in L. (L.) infantum-infected macrophages cocultived with splenocytes, reducing the production of cytokines MCP-1 and IFN-γ. Guanidines 10 and 11 affect the bioenergetic metabolism of Leishmania, with selective elimination of parasites via a host-independent mechanism

Protocolos de regulação ambulatorial : psiquiatria adulto

Telemedicin

Evidence for single-dose protection by the bivalent HPV vaccine-Review of the Costa Rica HPV vaccine trial and future research studies.

The Costa Rica Vaccine Trial (CVT), a phase III randomized clinical trial, provided the initial data that one dose of the HPV vaccine could provide durable protection against HPV infection. Although the study design was to administer all participants three doses of HPV or control vaccine, 20% of women did not receive the three-dose regimens, mostly due to involuntary reasons unrelated to vaccination. In 2011, we reported that a single dose of the bivalent HPV vaccine could be as efficacious as three doses of the vaccine using the endpoint of persistent HPV infection accumulated over the first four years of the trial; findings independently confirmed in the GSK-sponsored PATRICIA trial. Antibody levels after one dose, although lower than levels elicited by three doses, were 9-times higher than levels elicited by natural infection. Importantly, levels remained essentially constant over at least seven years, suggesting that the observed protection provided by a single dose might be durable. Much work has been done to assure these non-randomized findings are valid. Yet, the group of recipients who received one dose of the bivalent HPV vaccine in the CVT and PATRICIA trials was small and not randomly selected nor blinded to the number of doses received. The next phase of research is to conduct a formal randomized, controlled trial to evaluate the protection afforded by a single dose of HPV vaccine. Complementary studies are in progress to bridge our findings to other populations, and to further document the long-term durability of antibody response following a single dose

Protocolos de regulação ambulatorial : condições pós-COVID-19

Telemedicin