¿Te ha tocado? El sorteo llega a la política de Madrid.

In early 2019 Madrid launched the first permanent citizen participation scheme in which members are chosen by lot: the Observatory of the City. Although the scheme was abandoned by the new government after the May 2019 elections, the Madrid experiment raises important questions about democracy. The project is another example of the growing prominence that the draw has acquired in many countries, as an ideal element to organise and order the participation of people in political affairs. In this paper we describe the first steps of this scheme and also highlight the features that make the draw in Madrid a unique experience both because of the implications of the use of the draw, and from the point of view of similar schemes that are being carried out in other parts of the world.Madrid ha puesto en marcha, desde inicios del año 2019, la primera experiencia de participación ciudadana permanente cuyos miembros son elegidos por sorteo, el Observatorio de la Ciudad. A pesar de que la experiencia fue abandonada por el nuevo Gobierno después de las elecciones de mayo del 2019, la experiencia madrileña plantea importantes cuestiones sobre la democracia. Esta experiencia se suma al creciente protagonismo que ha adquirido el sorteo en muchos países, como un elemento idóneo para organizar y ordenar la participación de la gente en los asuntos políticos. En este trabajo exponemos los primeros pasos de esta experiencia, así como destacamos los rasgos que hacen del sorteo en Madrid una experiencia singular, tanto por las implicaciones que tiene el uso del sorteo como desde el punto de vista de las experiencias similares que se hacen en otras partes del mundo

Sex Differences in Obesity Rates in Poor Countries: Evidence from South Africa

Globally, men and women face markedly different risks of obesity. In all but of handful of (primarily Western European) countries, obesity is more prevalent among women than men. In this paper, we examine several potential explanations for this phenomenon. We analyze differences between men and women in reports and effects of the proximate causes of obesity -- physical exertion and food intake -- and the underlying causes of obesity -- childhood and adult poverty, depression, and attitudes about obesity. We evaluate the evidence for each explanation using data collected in an African township outside of Cape Town. Three factors explain the greater obesity rates we find among women. Women who were nutritionally deprived as children are significantly more likely to be obese as adults, while men who were deprived as children face no greater risk. In addition, women of higher adult socioeconomic status are significantly more likely to be obese, which is not true for men. These two factors can fully explain the difference in obesity rates we find in our sample. Finally (and more speculatively), women's perceptions of an 'ideal' female body are larger than men's perceptions of the 'ideal' male body, and individuals with larger 'ideal' body images are significantly more likely to be obese.

The effect of suspended sentences on imprisonment

This study finds that although suspended sentences were introduced as an alternative to prison, in New South Wales they appear to have had the opposite effect. Abstract Aim: To see whether the introduction of suspended sentences reduced the number of offenders receiving a fulltime sentence of imprisonment. Method: The number of persons receiving a prison sentence was regressed against the number receiving a suspended sentence while controlling for changes in the total number of proven offenders and the monthly variability using multiple linear regression with ARIMA errors. The data set used for the analysis consisted of the monthly number of persons imprisoned, persons given a suspended sentence and proven offenders from January 2002 to December 2013. Results: Every 10 additional offenders given suspended sentences was associated with an extra 3-4 offenders sent to prison. Conclusion: Although suspended sentences were introduced as an alternative to prison, they appear to have had the opposite effect

The Returns to Flexible Postsecondary Education: The Effect of Delaying School

We investigate the returns to postsecondary education relaxing the standard assumption that it proceeds in a continuous manner. Using a unique survey that collects information on a representative cohort of graduates, we are able to estimate the effects of delaying school among successful graduates abstracting from specific macroeconomic conditions at the time of graduation. Our results show that graduates that delayed their education receive a premium relative to graduates that did not, even after considering other factors such as experience or labour market connections. These estimates are robust to the possibility of selection in the decision to return to school.Human Capital, Postsecondary Education, Flexible School Choice, School Delay

The role of natural variability in projections of climate change impacts on U.S. ozone pollution

Climate change can impact air quality by altering the atmospheric conditions that determine pollutant concentrations. Over large regions of the U.S., projected changes in climate are expected to favor formation of ground-level ozone and aggravate associated health effects. However, modeling studies exploring air quality-climate interactions have often overlooked the role of natural variability, a major source of uncertainty in projections. Here we use the largest ensemble simulation of climate-induced changes in air quality generated to date to assess its influence on estimates of climate change impacts on U.S. ozone. We find that natural variability can significantly alter the robustness of projections of the future climate's effect on ozone pollution. In this study, a 15 year simulation length minimum is required to identify a distinct anthropogenic-forced signal. Therefore, we suggest that studies assessing air quality impacts use multidecadal simulations or initial condition ensembles. With natural variability, impacts attributable to climate may be difficult to discern before midcentury or under stabilization scenarios

Spatio-temporal control of neurotrophin trafficking and signalling in primary neurons cultured inside microfluidic chambers

My PhD project was aimed at applying microfluidics technology to the study of longrange neurotrophin signalling. Neurotrophins are target-derived growth and survival factors that, among other functions, prevent innervating neurons from undergoing apoptosis. Neurotrophins and their receptors have been shown to be transported retrogradely in axons of spinal cord neurons, following a pathway they share with the tetanus neurotoxin binding fragment (TeNT Hc), and which is controlled by the small GTPase Rab7. The Rab7-dependent pathway is thought to trigger downstream signalling events such as the phosphorylation of the transcription factor CREB, important in promoting neuronal survival and differentiation, but direct evidence for this had not yet been provided. To provide direct evidence of this functional relationship between Rab7 activity and CREB phosphorylation, I established microfluidic cultures of spinal cord motor and sensory neurons, in which axonal networks can be treated independently of cell bodies. I used a microfabrication technique known as soft lithography to produce microfluidic chambers. They consist of two parallel compartments interconnected by an array of microgrooves. In this culture system, dorsal root ganglia (DRG) neurons cultured in one of the compartments (somato-dendritic side) can be chemoattracted by gradients of nerve growth factor (NGF) to grow their axons preferentially into the other compartment (axonal side). Control studies by immunofluorescence confocal microscopy of CREB phosphorylation following direct stimulation of DRG cell bodies with NGF in mass cultures and in microfluidic chambers showed no significant differences between these two systems, confirming that the signalling cascade remains unmodified in microfluidic cell cultures. Time-course analysis of CREB phosphorylation in DRG neurons prepared from E18.5 embryos surprisingly revealed a lack of response following NGF stimulation of axon terminals in microfluidic cultures. I tried DRG cultures from E14.5 embryos because a fraction of the total population of DRG neurons during development undergo apoptosis at around E15-E16 if they fail to reach their target tissues. In these cultures, CREB phosphorylation could be observed when stimulating axons with NGF in microfluidic chambers. These results suggest that this long-range signalling pathway is active during a period of development when DRG neurons depend critically on their supply of targetderived neurotrophins, but it is down-regulated at later developmental stages. To gain some further insight into the mechanisms controlling this long range signalling response, and specifically to study the role of Rab7 in this context, I infected E14.5 DRG neurons with lentivirus carrying wild type or a dominant negative mutant of Rab7 (Rab7T22N) coupled to a fluorescent tag. Overexpression of mCherry Rab7T22N affected CREB phosphorylation, significantly reducing the signal generated in distal axons. To confirm this result, I prepared lentivirus carrying shRNA sequences targeting Rab7, and analysed the response to axonal NGF after knocking down the endogenous protein. This different approach also abolished CREB phosphorylation after NGF stimulation of the axonal network in microfluidic chambers. My results provide a direct link between Rab7 activity and downstream effects of the signalling cascade initiated by neurotrophins at axonal networks in compartmentalised microfluidic chambers