Social capital : A key determinant of economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Treballs Finals del Màster d'Economia, Facultat d'Economia i Empresa, Universitat de Barcelona, Curs: 2020-2021, Tutor: Dirk Foremny ; Matteo GamalerioSocial capital is believed to spur regional economic development. Since the groundbreaking works of Putnam, scholars hypothesized that it determines how well institutions function at the regional level and thus influences a region’s economic performance. In Europe, a positive association between social capital and regional per-capita income levels could be established. However, is such a relation also found in a set of developing countries? This study investigates the relationship between social capital and subnational economic development in a sample of Sub-Saharan African countries. Using Afrobarometer data on trust, it estimates the relationship by Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) and Instrument Variables (IV). The OLS results suggest that trust is not significantly related to regional economic development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Exploiting regional differences in ethnolinguistic diversity and distances to slave demand centers, the study tries to isolate a potential effect of social capital via IV estimation. Although the results seem to corroborate the OLS findings, caveats remain since distances to slave ports were unrelated and deep cleavages of ethnic diversity only weakly related to trust

Will the Twenty-Five of You Accept This Rose? Assessing Gender Portrayals on ABC\u27s The Bachelor.

Cultivation theory suggests that television viewing influences beliefs and opinions about the real world. Also, framing theory suggests that the way we see an issue may be directly related to how media portray it. The recent pervasiveness of reality-television dating shows in prime time provides a sea of opportunities for gender communication research. The purpose here was to explore women\u27s representations in a courtship context as depicted in ABC\u27s The Bachelor to determine the presence of female stereotypes (RQl). Three groups of eliminated women were also compared to determine differences among them in terms of appearance and behavior (RQ2). In a mixed-methods content analysis, the women in the show were coded for general information and natural appearance (age; occupation; ethnicity; hair color, length and texture; and body type), superficial appearance (dress attire, hair style and makeup style) and behavioral traits (quiet v. loud, shy v. assertive, cold v. emotional, gentle v. strong, and unconcerned v. jealous). Major findings include the following: Most of the 25 women portrayed in The Bachelor were Caucasians; in their 20s; held professional jobs; had long, straight brown/black hair; and were considered to have an hourglass body type. They wore mostly moderately revealing to revealing clothes, displayed moderately well-groomed to well-groomed hair styles, and wore moderate makeup. Most women displayed moderately loud to loud communication characteristics, were assertive, were moderately emotional to emotional, and were rated moderate for the gentle v. strong attribute.. Approximately half of them were unconcerned and the other half displayed jealous behavior. The three groups of women eliminated in The Bachelor were not significantly different (Sig. \u3e .05) on any of the items in the superficial appearance and behavioral traits categories. Because teenage girls often use the same behavior displayed by women when indicating interest in boys, and because The Bachelor calls itself a reality-television show - which studies have found may make viewers believe the portrayals reflect actual reality - the way The Bachelor is presenting women in dating contexts - from the revealing clothes they are wearing to the aggressiveness of their sexual behavior - could possibly influence teenagers who are exposed to the portrayals to replicate those same looks and attitudes

Selective information seeking: can consumers' avoidance of evidence-based information on colorectal cancer screening be explained by the theory of cognitive dissonance?

Background: Evidence-based patient information (EBPI) is a prerequisite for informed decision-making. However, presentation of EBPI may lead to irrational reactions causing avoidance, minimisation and devaluation of the information

Analysis of consumer information brochures on osteoporosis prevention and treatment

Purpose: Evidence-based consumer information is a prerequisite for informed decision making. So far, there are no reports on the quality of consumer information brochures on osteoporosis. In the present study we analysed brochures on osteoporosis available in Germany

Utilizing peer interactions to promote learning through a web-based peer assessment system

Abstract: Peer assessment is an instructional strategy in which students evaluate each other’s performance for the purpose of improving learning. Despite its accepted use in higher education, researchers and educators have reported concerns such as students’ time on task, the impact of peer pressure on the accuracy of marking, and students’ lack of ability to make critical judgments about peers’ work. This study explored student perceptions of a web-based peer assessment system. Findings conclude that web-based peer assessment can be effective in minimizing peer pressure, reducing management workload, stimulating student interactions, and enhancing student understanding of marking criteria and critical assessment skills. Résumé : L’évaluation par les pairs est une stratégie pédagogique au cours de laquelle l’étudiant évalue la performance de l’autre dans un but d’amélioration de l’apprentissage. Malgré son usage répondu aux études supérieures, les chercheurs et les enseignants ont mentionné certaines préoccupations, notamment en ce qui a trait au temps que les étudiants consacrent à cette tâche, à l’impact de la pression des pairs sur la justesse de l’évaluation, ainsi qu’à l’inaptitude des étudiants à poser un jugement critique sur le travail de leurs pairs. La présente étude explore les perceptions des étudiants à l’égard d’un système d’évaluation en ligne par les pairs. Nos résultats nous permettent de conclure que l’évaluation en ligne par les pairs peut constituer un moyen efficace de réduire la pression des pairs, de diminuer le travail de gestion, de stimuler les interactions entre étudiants et d’améliorer la compréhension des critères d’évaluation par les étudiants ainsi que leurs compétences d’évaluation critique

Modernizing Minnesota\u27s Guardianship Statute: Moving Away from Guardianship to Supported Decision-Making

While guardianship is an important option for people with significant cognitive challenges and high support needs, the process is burdensome, expensive, and most importantly restricts the civil liberties of individuals. Together, we must modernize Minnesota’s guardianship statute and invest in Supported Decision-Making to protect the fundamental rights of the person, increase self-determination, and improve life outcomes

OS TRÊS CÓDIGOS FLORESTAIS: ANÁLISE DA LEGISLAÇÃO FLORESTAL BRASILEIRA

O objetivo deste artigo é analisar a evolução da legislação florestal brasileira até os dias atuais, sobretudo as últimas mudanças que figuram na proposta de revisão do texto do código florestal, a fim de identificar as circunstâncias e os interesses que acompanham as leis florestais no Brasil. Com esse propósito, o trabalho se estrutura em três partes: inicialmente será apresentada uma contextualização histórica que abrange o tratamento dos recursos florestais desde a colonização até a proposta de mudança feita pelo deputado; a segunda parte trata das mudanças pontuais advindas do novo texto do Código; e, por fim, serão abordados os diferentes pontos de vista contrários e favoráveis as mudanças. Espera-se, com este artigo, aprofundar os estudos sobre a legislação florestal brasileira e levantar novos questionamentos envolvendo a discussão sobre a conciliação do direito e da legislação com as metas do desenvolvimento sustentável

Caracterização de leveduras de processos de fermentação alcoolica utilizando atributos de composição celular e caracteristicas cineticas

Orientador: Silvio Roberto AndriettaTese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia QuimicaResumo: Nos últimos anos, houve um aumento significativo de trabalhos que buscam entender a dinâmica de população de leveduras habitante das domas de fermentação alcoólica. Os trabalhos gerados elucidaram questões importantes. Entre elas quais seriam as características básicas para que uma levedura permanecesse em um dado processo. Seguindo este contexto este trabalho teve como finalidade contribuir para o conhecimento das características das cepas de leveduras dominantes dos processos fermentativos industriais das destilarias brasileiras. Buscou-se neste trabalho, descrever os atributos de desempenho fermentativo e composição celular de 19 cepas isoladas de vários processos instalados em diferentes regiões do Brasil e com características particulares. Os atributos estudados foram: capacidade fermentativa; taxonomia numérica; tolerância ao etanol; teores de: trealose, proteínalaminoácido, e ácidos graxos. Com objetivo de comparação dos atributos estudados, avaliou-se uma cepa destinada a indústria de panificação assim como uma isolada de um processo de produção de álcool instalado em território Indiano. Os resultados mostraram que em relação às características fermentativas as cepas embora estejam colocadas em 17 grupos diferentes todas se apresentam como boas fermentativas. Em relação à taxonomia numérica foram classificadas 20 das 22 analisadas. Sendo 8 classificadas como Saccharomyces chevalieri, 5 como Saccharomyces coreanus e 7 como Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Se for considerado a classificação segundo BARNET (1992) todas elas são representantes de S. cerevisiae. Em relação à tolerância ao etanol existe uma faixa que varia entre 0,166 e 0,653 11M. A faixa da concentração de trealose na massa celular abrange concentrações que variam 0,47 a 6,3%. No que diz respeito a quantidade de proteína, essa mostra uma variação de 10% da cepa que apresenta uma maior quantidade para que apresenta a menor. As leveduras que apresentaram maior valor de produção específica de massa celular foram também as que apresentaram uma menor quantidade de material protéico. Em relação à distribuição de aminoácidos nesta proteína, os resultados mostram que todas se apresentam dentro do perfil esperando para linhagens de S. cerevisae. Todas cepas testadas apresentaram os ácidos graxos C-12:0 (ac.láurico), C-14:0 (ac.mirístico), C-16:0 (ac.palmítico) , C-16:1 (ác.palmitoleíco), C-18:0 (ac.esteárico) e C-18:1 (ac.oleíco) em sua composição. Alguma cepas apresentaram ainda o ácido graxo insaturado C14:1 (ac.miristoleíco). Os ácidos graxos insaturados (C-16:1 e C-18:1) são os de maior abundância no material graxo que compõe as cepas testadas, que segundo alguns autores estão vinculados com a tolerância das cepas ao etanol. Alguns indícios de relação entre o teor de ácidos graxos C-16:1 e C-18:1 e a tolerância ao etanol pode ser observado, mas uma correlação exata não pôde ser determinada. A partir da compilação dos dados obtidos neste trabalho é possível afirmar que as cepas isoladas dos diversos processos fermentativos apresentaram variações comportamentais e de composição celular. Entretanto quando se avalia o parâmetro de capacidade fermentativa, todas as cepas são classificadas como adequadas para o processo de fermentação alcoólica. Isto confirma a hipótese que, embora as leveduras apresentem características fermentativas semelhantes, pois do contrário não poderiam estar presentes em um ambiente hostil, como é o das domas de fermentação, cada processo seleciona sua própria linhagem, e que a mesma é provavelmente habitante natural da matéria-prima que a unidade processaAbstract: In the past years, there has been a significant increase in studies seeking to understand the dynamics of the yeast population inhabiting alcoholic fermentation vats. The studies generated have elucidated important issues. Among them, which would be the basic characteristics for a strain to remain in a processo Following this context, this study has had the purpose of enhancing the knowledge on the characteristics of the dominant strains of industrial fermentation processes of Brazilian distilleries. This study has sought to describe the fermentative performance attributes and the cellular makeup of 19 strains, with particular characteristics, isolated from several processes installed in different regions of Brazil. The attributes studied were: fermentative capacity; Numerical Taxonomy; tolerance to ethanol, and contents of trehalose, protein/amino acids, and fatty acids. In order to compare the attributes studied, one strain assigned to the baking industry as well as one isolated from an alcohol production process installed in the Indian territory were evaluated. The results have shown that ali strains have presented good fermentative characteristics in spite of being divided in 17 different groups. As for the numerical taxonomy, 20 out of the 22 strains analyzed have been classified, of which 8 have been classified as Saccharomyces chevalieri, 5 as Saccharomyces coreanus and 7 as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. If the classification according to BARNET (1992) is considered, ali of them are representative of S. cerevisiae. As for ethanol tolerance, there is a variable range between 0.166 and 0.653 11M. The trehalose concentration level in the cellular mass encompasses concentrations varying from 0.47 to 6.3%. With regard to the amount of protein, this sample has shown a 10% variation of the strain presenting the highest amount to the one presenting the lowest. The strains presenting the highest value of specific cellular mass production were also the ones showing the lowest amount of proteinie material. As for the amino-aeid distribution in this protein, the results have shown that ali of them were within the expeeted profile for S. cerevisae strains. Ali strains tested presented the following fatty aeids in their makeup: C-12:0 (laurie acid), C-14:0 (myristie aeid), C-16:0 (palmitie acid), C-16:1 (palmitoleie aCid), C-18:0 (stearic acid), and C-18:1 (oleie aeid). Some strains have also presented the C14:1 (myristoleic aeid) unsaturated fatty acid. The C-16: 1 and C-18: 1 unsaturated fatty aeids are the most plentiful in the fatty material composing the strains tested and, according to some authors, they are linked to the tolerance of the strains to ethanol. Some indications as for relationship between the content of C-16:1 and C­18: 1 fatty acids and the tolerance to ethanol may be notieed, even though an exaet correlation has not been able to be determined. From the compilation of the data obtained in this study, it is possible to state that the strains isolated from several fermentation processes have shown behavioral and cellular makeup variations. However, when the fermentative capacity parameter is evaluated, ali strains are classified as suitable for the alcoholic fermentation processo This fact confirms the hypothesis that, although some strains have similar fermentative eharacteristics, since, otherwise, they could not inhabit a hostile environment such as the one in the fermentation vats, each process selects its own strain, and such strain is probably a natural inhabitant of the raw-material of the unit processing itDoutoradoDesenvolvimento de Processos BiotecnologicosDoutor em Engenharia Químic