The Effect of Conditional Cash Transfers on the Prepaid and Postpaid Expenditures of Internet and Cellular Services: The Case of Filipino Households

Technology has been playing a large role in the lives of households regardless of income. How, then, do poor families value the importance of internet and cellular services due to the existence of outcome-improving or outcome-worsening effects associated with these services? At the same time, since the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) substantially affects its beneficiaries’ household expenditures, assessing its effectiveness concerning its objectives is important. Most literature on how poor households spend their cash transfers is centered on directly linked goods such as health and education. However, the relationship between CCTs and expenditures on goods that play a more indirect yet increasing role in the lives of poor households (e.g., internet and cellular services) has yet to be explored. Using the 2018 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) with the 4Ps program serving as the treatment, a propensity score matching methodology is applied to compare beneficiaries’ expenditures on prepaid and postpaid internet and cellular services with non-beneficiaries via Average Treatment Effects on the Treated (ATT)

Test of the Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami picture of metastable decay in a model with microscopic dynamics

The Kolmogorov-Johnson-Mehl-Avrami (KJMA) theory for the time evolution of the order parameter in systems undergoing first-order phase transformations has been extended by Sekimoto to the level of two-point correlation functions. Here, this extended KJMA theory is applied to a kinetic Ising lattice-gas model, in which the elementary kinetic processes act on microscopic length and time scales. The theoretical framework is used to analyze data from extensive Monte Carlo simulations. The theory is inherently a mesoscopic continuum picture, and in principle it requires a large separation between the microscopic scales and the mesoscopic scales characteristic of the evolving two-phase structure. Nevertheless, we find excellent quantitative agreement with the simulations in a large parameter regime, extending remarkably far towards strong fields (large supersaturations) and correspondingly small nucleation barriers. The original KJMA theory permits direct measurement of the order parameter in the metastable phase, and using the extension to correlation functions one can also perform separate measurements of the nucleation rate and the average velocity of the convoluted interface between the metastable and stable phase regions. The values obtained for all three quantities are verified by other theoretical and computational methods. As these quantities are often difficult to measure directly during a process of phase transformation, data analysis using the extended KJMA theory may provide a useful experimental alternative.Comment: RevTex, 21 pages including 14 ps figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B. One misprint corrected in Eq.(C1

Physical impacts of the CE 1600 Huaynaputina eruption on the local habitat: Geophysical insights

[ESP] El impacto climático global de la erupción del volcán Huaynaputina (IEV6) en 1600 está bien documentado pero las consecuencias regionales sobre las construcciones y los habitantes están poco conocidas. La localización de varios pueblos sepultados bajo los depósitos espesos del Huaynaputina no es claramente mencionada en las crónicas españolas. Investigaciones geofísicas realizadas durante el periodo 2015-2016 sobre diferentes sitios de ruinas a menos de 16 km del cráter constituyen la parte inicial de un proyecto denominado “Huayruro”, cuyo objetivo es entender mejor los impactos físicos y socio-económicos de esta erupción. Varios métodos e instrumentos geofísicos fueron utilizados: un drone y modelos numéricos de terreno de alta resolución, un geo-radar con imágenes 3D del subsuelo, el magnetismo, las imágenes infra-rojas y el electro-magnetismo. Esta investigación geofísica preliminar ha permitido identificar la futura estratégia y la mejor instrumentación para cartografiar el área del antiguo pueblo enterrado de Calicanto, localizando con precisión su extensión y los muros de las habitaciones. Este mapeo servirá para los futuros estudios tefro-estratigráficos y arqueológicos. El objetivo final del proyecto es diseminar los resultados del estudio multidisciplinar al público incluyendo la creación de un museo de sitio

ASSESSING FEASIBILITY OF INTRODUCING A MARKET TO BARANGAY TANAGAN, CALATAGAN, BATANGAS: A COMPREHENSIVE STUDY

This study delves into the feasibility of introducing a market in Barangay Tanagan, Calatagan, Batangas, with a primary focus on assessing its viability and potential impact on local economic development. Utilizing survey questionnaires and employing statistical analysis techniques, the research gathered data from a carefully selected sample of 366 residents out of the total population of 4,224. The study evaluates both the potential benefits and challenges associated with establishing the proposed market. Findings, subjected to thorough analysis through methods such as frequency counts and weighted mean calculations, provide valuable insights into discernible patterns, emerging trends, and relevant correlations. This analytical approach contributes to a pragmatic perspective that informs and guides future studies in the field. The study reveals an interest among respondents in the establishment of public markets in their vicinity, recognizing its potential to bolster the barangay and attract diverse opportunities. The anticipated positive impact extends to fostering economic growth and enhancing local commerce in Barangay Tanagan. Consequently, based on these compelling findings, the researchers advocate for a proposal outlining the establishment of a public market in Barangay Tanagan as a means of addressing the identified needs and aspirations of the community

The Huayruro Project: mapping the Calicanto Inca area buried by the A.D. 1600 Huaynaputina eruption, with geophysical imaging and remote sensing

We present geophysical and remote sensing observations near the Quinistaquillas town (southern Peru), in the framework of the HUAYRURO Project. This Inca zone was buried during the A.D. 1600 Huaynaputina eruption, the most important volcanic phenomenon of the last 400 years. The eruption had a global impact, due to the volume of emitted ash (2-3 times the one emitted by Vesuvius in A.D. 79). This lead to a 1.13°C cooling of the planet and caused a worlwide agricultural crisis. During the eruption, the Calicanto-Chimpapampa zone was covered by ashes and pyroclastic flows, with a thickness in the range [1 - 20] m. From 2015 to 2017, remote sensing and geophysical methods were deployed to map a ~ 1 km*2 km area, up to 3-m depth

Impacto de la erupción del volcán Huaynaputina del año 1600 d.C. en pueblos aledaños

El volcán Huaynaputina, en el sur de Perú, registró la erupción histórica más grande (VEI 6) en los Andes en el año 1600 d.C, la misma que sucedió durante la transición entre el Imperio Inca y el Virreinato del Perú. Este evento tuvo graves con secuencias en los Andes Centrales y un impacto climático global. Crónicas españolas informaron que existían al menos 15 aldeas o asentamientos alrededor del volcán, de los cuales siete de ellos fueron totalmente destruidos por la erupción. Los estudios multidisciplinarios que hemos implementado en los últimos años nos han permitido identificar y analizar las características de seis pueblos enterrados por la erupción. La caída de tefra y las corrientes de densidad piroclástica (PDCs), tuvieron impactos diferentes según la distancia del pueblo al cráter, la ubicación con respecto al emplazamiento de las PDCs a lo largo de los valles, las características geomorfológicas del sitio, y el tipo de construcciones

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

A Comprehensive Analysis of Shared Loci between Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and Sixteen Autoimmune Diseases Reveals Limited Genetic Overlap

In spite of the well-known clustering of multiple autoimmune disorders in families, analyses of specific shared genes and polymorphisms between systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and other autoimmune diseases (ADs) have been limited. Therefore, we comprehensively tested autoimmune variants for association with SLE, aiming to identify pleiotropic genetic associations between these diseases. We compiled a list of 446 non–Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) variants identified in genome-wide association studies (GWAS) of populations of European ancestry across 17 ADs. We then tested these variants in our combined Caucasian SLE cohorts of 1,500 cases and 5,706 controls. We tested a subset of these polymorphisms in an independent Caucasian replication cohort of 2,085 SLE cases and 2,854 controls, allowing the computation of a meta-analysis between all cohorts. We have uncovered novel shared SLE loci that passed multiple comparisons adjustment, including the VTCN1 (rs12046117, P = 2.02×10−06) region. We observed that the loci shared among the most ADs include IL23R, OLIG3/TNFAIP3, and IL2RA. Given the lack of a universal autoimmune risk locus outside of the MHC and variable specificities for different diseases, our data suggests partial pleiotropy among ADs. Hierarchical clustering of ADs suggested that the most genetically related ADs appear to be type 1 diabetes with rheumatoid arthritis and Crohn's disease with ulcerative colitis. These findings support a relatively distinct genetic susceptibility for SLE. For many of the shared GWAS autoimmune loci, we found no evidence for association with SLE, including IL23R. Also, several established SLE loci are apparently not associated with other ADs, including the ITGAM-ITGAX and TNFSF4 regions. This study represents the most comprehensive evaluation of shared autoimmune loci to date, supports a relatively distinct non–MHC genetic susceptibility for SLE, provides further evidence for previously and newly identified shared genes in SLE, and highlights the value of studies of potentially pleiotropic genes in autoimmune diseases

Fyn Mediates Leptin Actions in the Thymus of Rodents

BACKGROUND:Several effects of leptin in the immune system rely on its capacity to modulate cytokine expression and apoptosis in the thymus. Surprisingly, some of these effects are dependent on signal transduction through the IRS1/PI3-kinase, but not on the activation of JAK2. Since all the well known effects of leptin in different cell types and tissues seem to be dependent on JAK2 activation, we hypothesized that, at least for the control of thymic function, another, unknown kinase could mediate the transduction of the leptin signal from the ObR towards the IRS1/PI3-kinase signaling cascade. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:Here, by employing immunoblot, real-time PCR and flow citometry we show that the tyrosine kinase, Fyn, is constitutively associated with the ObR in thymic cells. Following a leptin stimulus, Fyn undergoes an activating tyrosine phosphorylation and a transient association with IRS1. All these effects are independent of JAK2 activation and, upon Fyn inhibition, the signal transduction towards IRS1/PI3-kinase is abolished. In addition, the inhibition of Fyn significantly modifies the effects of leptin on thymic cytokine expression. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE:Therefore, in the thymus, Fyn acts as a tyrosine kinase that transduces the leptin signal independently of JAK2 activation, and mediates some of the immunomodulatory effects of leptin in this tissue