Does local financing make primary schools more efficient : the Philippine case

In the highly centralized system of the Philippines, local funding provides the only source of flexibility to meet specific and urgent needs. The government in Manila, which pays all teacher salaries, finds it easier politically in times of fiscal belt-tightening to cut recurrent costs. Although local funds are a relatively small percentage of the education budget, they make an important contribution to covering maintenence and operating costs. The total cost of education per student also appears to lower in schools with greater local financing. Administrators and teachers have greater incentive to be cost-effective when forced to consider the effect of their behavior on the people who live and work in the local community. The policy implications of these findings for the Philippines, as well as other developing countries, are important. They strongly suggest that decentralization will increase efficiency. Without an increase in local funding, the quality of primary education will suffer.Teaching and Learning,Gender and Education,Primary Education,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Business in Development

Student performance and school costs in the Philippines'high schools

A key consideration in the policy debate on the appropriate role of private schools in predominantly public school systems is cost effectiveness. The questions are: Do private school students learn more than their counterparts, and is it more or less expensive to educate students in private schools? Taking selectivity into account, the private schools show a significant edge over public schools in both English and Pilipino. Public schools, on the other hand, had a slight advantage in mathematics. A comparison of cost per student reveals a substantial advantage for private schools: public schools in the Philippines spend on average roughly twice as much as private schools. These findings strongly suggest that private schools are an efficient purveyor of secondary education in the formulation of policy measures that could threaten the existence of such schools.Teaching and Learning,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Gender and Education,Primary Education,Educational Sciences

Assessment of pH Value and Release of Calcium Ions in Calcium Silicate Cements: An In Vitro Comparative Study.

UNLABELLED The goal of this study was to evaluate the pH and the release of calcium from four calcium-silicate-based cements. METHODS Four materials were tested (ProClinic MTA; Angelus MTA; ProRoot MTA; Biodentine). The palatal canal root of acrylic upper molars was filled with each cement. Afterwards, they were set in phosphate-buffered saline. Measurements were taken by atomic adsorption spectroscopy (AAS) at 3, 24, 72, 168, 336, 672, and 1008 h. The pH was measured at the same timepoints. Kruskal-Wallis tests were carried out in each period, as the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Shapiro-Wilk tests showed no parametric results. RESULTS Significant differences (p < 0.05) in calcium release were found at the 3-, 24-, and 72-hour evaluations. All of the analyzed groups presented a release of calcium ions up to 168 h, and the general tendency was to increase up to 672 h, with a maximum release of 25.45 mg/g in the ProRoot group. We could only observe significant differences (p < 0.05) in pH value over 168 h between the Biodentine (7.93) and Angelus MTA (7.31) groups. CONCLUSIONS There were significant differences (p 0.05) in the pH values were found at the studied timepoints, except for the values at 168 h

La administración del talento humano por competencias para el desarrollo de una cultura organizacional

Este ejercicio nos brindará elementos para la exploración de una organización sin ánimo de lucro interesada en el abordaje e intervención de diversas problemáticas que aquejan a poblaciones vulnerables, focalizando este análisis en el estado actual de las acciones, procesos y lineamientos establecidos para la administración del talento humano, evidenciando la necesidad de diseñar e implementar un modelo formal y estructurado que permita mitigar los impactos negativos presentes por la manera como se viene administrando el talento humano en la organización, buscando una postura conceptual y metodológica que responda a las características particulares del tipo de organización, de su estructura, de las proyecciones de crecimiento a corto, mediano y largo plazo, de la funcionalidad para su aplicación y sostenibilidad, por último, para llegar a proponer un modelo de desarrollo del talento humano basado en competencias, con un estructura, pasos definidos y establecidos, acciones definidas, tareas y responsables puntuales, para abonar el terreno para la conformación de la subdirección del talento humano en la organización

Static range of motion of the first metatarsal in the sagittal and frontal planes

The first metatarsal and medial cuneiform form an important functional unit in the foot, called “first ray”. The first ray normal range of motion (ROM) is difficult to quantify due to the number of joints that are involved. Several methods have previously been proposed. Controversy exists related to normal movement of the first ray frontal plane accompanying that in the sagittal plane. The objective of this study was to investigate the ROM of the first ray in the sagittal and frontal planes in normal feet. Anterior-posterior radiographs were done of the feet of 40 healthy participants with the first ray in a neutral position, maximally dorsiflexed and maximally plantarflexed. They were digitalized and the distance between the tibial malleolus and the intersesamoid crest in the three positions mentioned was measured. The rotation of the first ray in these three positions was measured. A polynomic function that fits a curve describing the movement observed in the first ray was obtained using the least squares method. ROM of the first ray in the sagittal plane was 6.47 (SD 2.59) mm of dorsiflexion and 6.12 (SD 2.55) mm of plantarflexion. ROM in the frontal plane was 2.69 (SD 4.03) degrees of inversion during the dorsiflexion and 2.97 (SD 2.72) degrees during the plantarflexion. A second-degree equation was obtained, which represents the movement of the first ray. Passive dorsiflexion and plantarflexion of the first ray were accompanied by movements in the frontal plane: 0.45 degrees of movement were produced in the frontal plane for each millimeter of displacement in the sagittal plane. These findings might be useful for the future design of instruments for clinically quantifying first ray mobility

Differences in El Niño Response over the Southern Hemisphere

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Cracking y ataques físicos sobre dispositivos electrónicos

Cracking - Ataques - Físicos - Dispositivos - Electrónico

Cuestión Agraria y la soja en Paraguay: una aproximación a la temática

Trabajo basado en el desarrollo histórico de la economía paraguaya hasta los días actuales.Trabajo de Conclusión de Curso presentado al Instituto Latinoamericano de Economía, Sociedad y Política de la Universidad Federal de Integración Latinoamericana, como requisito parcial a la obtención del título de Bachiller en Ciencias Económicas – Economía, Integración y Desarrollo. Orientador: Prof. Dr. Luciano Wexell SeveroParaguay se caracterizó desde la época colonial por sufrir una explotación doble, de la corona española y del Virreinato. Posterior a eso, ya en la Independencia, los primeros gobiernos del país optaron por un modelo de desarrollo interno, a través de la buena distribución de los recursos naturales, especialmente la tierra, no permitiendo la hegemonía de la burguesía naciente mediante acciones de un Estado fuerte. Sin embargo, a partir de la guerra se perdió totalmente este camino: el Estado fuerte fue desplazado y se vendió la mayor parte de las tierras estatales. Desde entonces, la nación paraguaya es regida por leyes dictadas desde afuera de sus fronteras y las empresas transnacionales dominan a su criterio el funcionamiento de la economía. Actualmente la situación es más grave, pues la soja es una forma de promover la desigualdad social en Paraguay. Desde su origen en el país, dicha producción ha mostrado un perfil mafioso en el gobierno Stronista, beneficiando a los que tienen mayor poder económico y político. Se produce algo que muy lejos de satisfacer la demanda interna, se exporta, sea en estado natural o procesado, acentúa las contradicciones políticas, sociales y económicas. Una parcela ínfima de la población posee grandes parcelas de tierra cultivables. El aumento expansivo del agronegocio va acabando con la soberanía alimentaria de Paraguay, ya que reduce el espacio para la siembra de alimentos que realmente se consumen adentro del país

Estudo da prevalência das imunoglobulinas g para o vírus da rubéola em São Tomé e Princípe com recurso aos Guthrie Cards

A rubéola é uma doença viral contagiosa, geralmente benigna, que afeta essencialmente crianças. Nas grávidas, a transmissão ao feto pode originar a morte deste ou a síndrome da rubéola congénita. Devido à fácil transmissão do vírus surgem frequentemente epidemias com elevadas taxas de morbilidade, no entanto, a incidência da infeção por rubéola diminuiu drasticamente após a implementação da vacina contra o vírus. São Tomé e Príncipe (STP) é um dos países onde ainda não existe vacinação para a rubéola. Estudos de seroprevalência de outros vírus têm recorrido à utilização dos Guthrie cards (DBS), uma vez que são de fácil colheita, armazenamento e requerem quantidades mínimas de amostra. O presente estudo tem como objectivo determinar a prevalência da IgGs contra o vírus da rubéola numa população de STP, recorrendo à utilização dos, Gutherie cards validando previamente o método. Foram analisadas 316 amostras de indivíduos com idades compreendidas entre os 2 e os 35 anos, colhidas nos respectivos DBS entre janeiro e maio de 2014. Para validar o método foram determinados os parâmetros: sensibilidade, especificidade, valor preditivo positivo (VPP), valor preditivo negativo (VPN), eficiência, linearidade, coeficiente variação inter e intra-ensaio. O método implementado tem uma sensibilidade de 89%, uma especificidade de 100%, um VPP de 100%, um VPN de 50% e uma eficiencia de 75%. A prevalência das IgGs contra o vírus da rubéola em STP foi de 64% sendo Mé zóxi a região mais afetada. A prevalência é semelhante em ambos os géneros verificando-se um aumento progressivo da prevalência das IgGs em função da idade. Os DBS mostraram ser uma ferramenta útil para estudos de vigilância epidemiológica em regiões com recursos limitados. A seroprevalência da rubéola na população de STP foi elevada, sugerindo que as infeções naturais continuam a ser comuns nesta região. Assim sendo, torna-se importante a implementação de um plano de vacinação para controlar a disseminação da rubéola em STP.Rubella is a contagious viral disease, usually benign, which affects mainly children. In pregnant women, the fetal spread can cause miscarriage or congenital rubella syndrome. Due to its easy transmission, epidemics arise frequently with high levels of morbidity. The incidence of rubella infection drastically decreases after vaccine implementation. São Tomé e Príncipe (STP) is one of the countries where vaccination for rubella still not available. Seroprevalence studies regarding other viruses have used Guthrie cards (DBS) since they are easy to harvest, store and require minimum amounts of sample.Our study aims to determinate the prevalence of IgGs against rubella virus in STP’s population, through the use of DBS, following the respective method validation. We analyzed 316 samples harvested from individuals between the ages of 2 and 35 years, using DBS between January and May of 2014.To validate the method several parameters were determined: sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), efficiency, linearity, coefficient variation inter and intra assay. The validation of our method reached 89% sensitivity, 100% specificity, 100% PPV, 50% NPV and 75% efficiency. The prevalence of rubella virus IgGs in STP was 64%, being Mé zóxi the most affected region. The prevalence is similar in both genders, showing a progressive increase as the age advances. The DBS proved to be a useful tool for epidemiological surveillance studies in regions with limited resources. The high seroprevalence of rubella in the population of STP suggests that the natural infections continue to be common in this region, making it imperative to implement a vaccination plan in order to control the spreading of this virus in STP