Vocational and technical education in Peru

The relative costs of and returns to VTE (Vocational and Technical Education) and general education in Peru are investigated here. The paper is composed as follows. Following a brief introduction, section 2 describes the system of education in Peru and changes that have occurred in this system over time. Section 3 surveys the (relatively sparse) literature on comparative rates of return to VTE and general education. Sections 4 and 5 describe, respectively, the data used for this study and the model used to estimate the returns to different levels and types of education. Section 6 reports the results of the empirical analysis. Section 7 introduces data obtained from Peru's Ministry of Education on the relative costs of VTE and general education. The concluding section 8 considers the implications, if any, of the findings for educational policy.Teaching and Learning,Curriculum&Instruction,Gender and Education,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Primary Education

Ontology-driven International Maize Information System (IMIS) for Phenotypic and Genotypic Data Exchange

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR; http://www.cgiar.org/) centres have developed the International Crop Information System (ICIS; http://www.icis.cgiar.org) for the management and integration of global information on genetic resources, and germplasm improvement for any crop. The Maize breeding programs at CIMMYT (http://beta.cimmyt.org/) have different software tools to manage phenotypic, genotypic, and environmental information for their experiments generated worldwide. These tools have the capacity of collecting information in the field, wet lab, and store it into different relational databases. The IMIS (http://imis.cimmyt.org/confluence/display/IMIS/Crop+Finder) is an implementation of the ICIS, which is a computerized database system for general, integrated management and utilization of genealogy, nomenclature, genetic, phenotypic and characterization data for maize. Data exchange within and between databases as well as retrieving information are often hampered by the variability of terms used to describe comparable objects. To overcome this problem, the Crop Ontology (CO) database (http://cropontology.org/) is developed. It provides controlled vocabulary sets for several economically important plant species and facilitates biocurators working in genebanks of plant genetic resources (PGR) and crop breeding data curation and annotation. The maize trait ontology is developed as one of subclasses of CO trait ontology providing standardized trait descriptions, scales and scale values implemented into the IMIS. This ontology-driven IMIS will allow researchers who wish to exploit comparative phenotypic and genotypic information of maize to elucidate functional aspects of each trait

Acoustofluidics 9: Modelling and applications of planar resonant devices for acoustic particle manipulation

This article introduces the design, construction and applications of planar resonant devices for particle and cell manipulation. These systems rely on the pistonic action of a piezoelectric layer to generate a one dimensional axial variation in acoustic pressure through a system of acoustically tuned layers. The resulting acoustic standing wave is dominated by planar variations in pressure causing particles to migrate to planar pressure nodes (or antinodes depending on particle and fluid properties). The consequences of lateral variations in the fields are discussed, and rules for designing resonators with high energy density within the appropriate layer for a given drive voltage presente

Determinants of Corporate Social Responsibility Spending: A Study of Public Sector Organizations in Tanzania

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has today become an important phenomenon and most organizations spends substantial amount of funds on CSR activities. However, empirical evidence on what determine the amount spent on CSR activities by public water sector organizations in Tanzania is lacking. Thus, the current study focus on determining factors that influences CSR spending by public water supply and sanitation authorities in Tanzania. Quantitative data were collected from 2015 to 2019, and a Fixed Effect estimation technique with instrument variable was employed in the analysis. The study revealed that; the approved CSR budget size, revenue collection efficiency, financial leverage, and organization size significantly influence CSR spending. The study contributes to the existing CSR literature in the public sector, and provides inputs on policies formulation that aims to enhance CSR investment public sector organizations

PROPERTIES OF AQUEOUS-ALCOHOL-WASHED PROTEIN CONCENTRATES PREPARED FROM AIR-CLASSIFIED PEA PROTEIN AND OTHER AIR-CLASSIFIED PULSE PROTEIN FRACTIONS

Pea protein concentrates were prepared from air-classified pea protein by aqueous-alcohol (ethanol or isopropanol) washing. Response surface methodology (Box Behnken design) was used to create mathematical models to explain quantitatively the relationship between treatment combinations (aqueous alcohol concentration, extraction temperature, extraction time) on the protein contents and yields of the pea protein concentrates. Also studied were the effects of these treatments on the starch, fat, lipid, ash and oligosaccharide contents and the functionality (water hydration capacity (WHC), oil hydration capacity (OHC), emulsion activity (EA), emulsion stability (ES), foaming capacity (FC), foam stability (FS) and nitrogen solubility index (NSI) of the concentrates. The protein contents of concentrates decreased as the concentration of alcohol increased, whereas yield increased. Time and temperature were found to have no significant effect on protein content or yield. The protein contents and yields of aqueous-ethanol and isopropanol washed concentrates ranged from 68.2-72.1%, 66.4-76.1% 66.6-73.1% and 63.9-76.4%, respectively. Optimal conditions for protein content were identified as 52% aqueous-ethanol, 32°C, 12-minute extraction time or 55% aqueous-isopropanol, 50°C, 11-minute extraction time. Optimal conditions for yield were identified as 65% aqueous-ethanol, 40°C, 11-minute extraction time or 70% aqueous-isopropanol, 44°C, 10-minute extraction time. All aqueous-alcohol-washed concentrates were true protein concentrates (protein concentration >65% on a dry weight basis) and were higher in protein and starch and lower in lipid and raffinose-family oligosaccharides in comparison to the starting material, air-classified pea protein. In general, the aqueous-alcohol-washed concentrates exhibited higher functionality values compared to the starting material, and WHC, OHC, EA, ES, FC and FS were similar for corresponding concentrates prepared using aqueous-ethanol or aqueous-isopropanol. In a few instances, aqueous-ethanol and aqueous-isopropanol had differential effects on ES, FC and/or FS. NSI was affected negatively by all treatments. All aqueous-alcohol-washed concentrates were lighter in colour and more green (less red) and more blue (less yellow) than the starting material. The functionality of aqueous-alcohol-washed concentrates was similar in most respects to that of one or both of the commercial soy concentrates analyzed. The optimal conditions identified for protein and yield of aqueous-alcohol-washed pea concentrates were used in the preparation of concentrates from air-classified pea, fababean, lentil and navy bean protein fractions. Only products prepared from air-classified pea and fababean protein contained over 65% protein (dry weight basis) and could be classified as true protein concentrates, due to the lower protein contents of the lentil and navy bean air-classified protein fractions. The effects of aqueous-ethanol washing on the composition and functionality of products prepared from fababean, lentil and navy bean were similar to those observed previously for aqueous-alcohol-washed pea protein concentrates. The aqueous-ethanol extracts obtained from preparation of protein concentrates from air-classified pea protein at conditions identified as optimal for protein content or yield were analyzed for their composition. The extracts were similar in composition and contained lipid, protein and oligosaccharide components. Stachyose was the most abundant oligosaccharide, and raffinose the least abundant. The protein constituents of the extracts were analyzed using sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) under reducing conditions. The starting material, concentrates and extracts contained proteins in the molecular mass range of 10-95 kDa, 17-95 kDa and 10-20 kDa, respectively. The concentrates were depleted in lower molecular mass components; these components were predominant in the extracts. Fat was extracted from pea and chickpea flours using either hexane or 70%-aqueous-ethanol prior to fine grinding and air classification to determine the effects of fat removal on the yield and composition of air-classified fractions. Hexane was the more effective solvent for fat removal. For both pea and chickpea, extraction of fat prior to air classification reduced the yield of the fine (protein-enriched) fraction and increased the protein content of both the coarse (starch-rich) and fine fractions. For chickpea, air classification was much more effective in separating starch and protein when fat-reduced flours were employed. A product prepared by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada from air-classified pea protein by reflux extraction with 80%-aqueous-ethanol was analyzed for its composition and functionality. The reflux-extracted product was similar in composition to aqueous-ethanol-washed pea concentrates and commercial concentrates from soybean, with the exception of its lower protein and higher oligosaccharide contents. The reflux-extracted product was similar in functionality to aqueous-ethanol-washed concentrates, with the exception of its lower NSI

Routine Changing of Intravenous Administration Sets Does Not Reduce Colonization or Infection in Central Venous Catheters

Objective: To determine the effect of routine intravascular administration-set changes on central venous catheter (CVC) colonization and catheter related bacteremia (CRB). Design: Prospective, randomised controlled trial Setting: 18-bed ICU in a University-affiliated, tertiary referral hospital. Participants: 404 chlorhexidine and silver sulfadiazine coated multi-lumen CVCs from 251 intensive care unit (ICU) patients. Interventions: After ethical approval, CVCs inserted in ICU and in situ on Day 4 were randomised to have their administration-sets changed on Day 4 (n = 203) or not at all (n = 201). Fluid container and blood product administration-set use was limited to 24 hours. CVCs were removed (Day 7, not required or suspected infection), and cultured for colonization ( 15 cfu). Medical and laboratory staff were blinded. CRB was diagnosed by a blinded intensivist using strict definitions. Data was collected on; catheter life, CVC site, APACHE II score, patient age, diagnosis, hyperglycemia, hypoalbuminemia, immune status, number of fluid containers and intravenous injections, propofol, blood, TPN or lipid infusion. Results: There were 10 colonized CVCs in the set change group and 19 in the no change group. This was not a statistically significant difference on Kaplan Meier survival analysis (Effect Size = 0.09, Log Rank = 0.87, df = 1, p = 0.35). There were 3 cases of CRB per group. Logistic regression found that burns diagnosis and increased ICU stay were the only factors that significantly predicted colonization (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Intravenous administration-sets can be used for 7-days. Routine administration-set changes are unnecessary before this time

Mode-switching: a new technique for electronically varying the agglomeration position in an acoustic particle manipulator

Acoustic radiation forces offer a means of manipulating particles within a fluid. Much interest in recent years has focussed on the use of radiation forces in microfluidic (or “lab on a chip”) devices. Such devices are well matched to the use of ultrasonic standing waves in which the resonant dimensions of the chamber are smaller than the ultrasonic wavelength in use. However, such devices have typically been limited to moving particles to one or two predetermined planes, whose positions are determined by acoustic pressure nodes/anti-nodes set up in the ultrasonic standing wave. In most cases devices have been designed to move particles to either the centre or (more recently) the side of a flow channel using ultrasonic frequencies that produce a half or quarter wavelength over the channel, respectively.It is demonstrated here that by rapidly switching back and forth between half and quarter wavelength frequencies – mode-switching – a new agglomeration position is established that permits beads to be brought to any arbitrary point between the half and quarter-wave nodes. This new agglomeration position is effectively a position of stable equilibrium. This has many potential applications, particularly in cell sorting and manipulation. It should also enable precise control of agglomeration position to be maintained regardless of manufacturing tolerances, temperature variations, fluid medium characteristics and particle concentration