Does the Impact of Oportunidades Program Increases in Highly Competitive Regions?

Evidence on Oportunidades, a successful anti-poverty program in Mexico, has suggested that changes to the current grant structure may induce considerable improvements to its effectiveness. Moreover, there are proposals addressing the importance of regional, observable and unobservable characteristics, regarding its implementation. It is employed competitiveness level outcomes to investigate if this social policy has heterogeneous performance in different regions of intervention. For this purpose, a Difference-in-Difference model is applied to estimate short and mid-term impacts on enrolment rates. Results indicate that the general competitiveness effect is positive but not robust, given the considerable level of aggregation of the data used, whereas if it is distinguised Oportunidades treatment by selected competitiveness outcomes, states with highly efficient government institutions, middle competitive economic sectors and middle inclusive, educated and healthy individuals, present a larger program impact on enrolment rates. It is confirmed the significant improvements to program effectiveness and the impact of the competitiveness variables when it is considered only a sample of older children.Social policy effectiveness, competitiveness outcomes, school enrolment rates, regional effects, difference-in-difference (DID) model

Some extrinsic factors in the aetiology of periodontal disease I

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Intermittent exsposure of gravid rats to 1% nitrous oxide and the effect on the postnatal growth of their offspring

PKThree groups of pregnant rats were exposed to 1% nitrous oxide 6 hours a day, 5 days per week for the first, first and second, and all 3 weeks of gestation. The offspring were weighed and measured at weekly intervals. The following variables were evaluated in control and experimental groups: litter size, body weight, tail length and body length. Litter sizes in animals exposed for the first and second weeks of gestation were significantly smaller than the controls. A two-way nested statistical analysis of the data revealed that over an 8-week period the experimental rats were significantly smaller than the control rats of the same age. Analysis of the 95% confidence intervals revealed no particular pattern related to the timing of the exposure to nitrous oxide

Introduction of Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandú for Milk Production, and Economic Results of a Buffalo Dairy

The effect of introducing Brachiaria brizanta cv. Marandú for forage upon milk production and economic results was evaluated on Tayabito buffalo dairy farm affiliated to Maraguán Livestock Center in Camagüey municipality, Cuba. To this purpose, a two-hectare B. brizanta grazing ground was introduced and its effect on milk production and quality was estimated by a Switch Back design with two treatments and six replicas each. Initially, female buffaloes lactation span was 122 ± 5,7 days. Forage balances were performed on native pastures and half the area with B. brizanta  grassland.  This new species  proved its suitability  by spreading  over 80 % of the 2 ha area after being planted. Concerning milk production during dry and rainy seasons, a significant increase was registered for B. brizanta compared to native pastures (over 0,54 and 0,83 l/animal/day for each season, respectively). Milk quality was not affected in either case. This farm forage production could supply current herd feeding needs by introducing 50 % grazing grounds of B. brizanta; besides, productive indexes could significantly improve

Review of the safety of octocrylene used as an ultraviolet filter in cosmetics

Octocrylene or octocrilene is an organic ultraviolet (UV) filter which absorbs mainly UVB radiation and short UVA wavelengths. It is used in various cosmetic products to either provide an appropriate sun protection factor in sunscreen products or to protect cosmetic formulations from UV radiation. There is no discussion that UV filters are beneficial ingredients in cosmetics since they protect from skin cancer, but octocrylene has been recently incriminated to potentially induce adverse effects on the endocrine system in addition to having allergic and/or photoallergic potential. However, the substance has the advantage to work synergistically with other filters allowing a beneficial broad photoprotection, e.g. it stabilizes the UVA filter avobenzone (i.e. butylmethoxydibenzoylmethane). Like all chemicals used in cosmetics, the safety profile of octocrylene is constantly under assessment by the European Chemical Agency (ECHA) since it has been registered according to the European regulation Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and Restriction of Chemicals. Summaries of safety data of octocrylene are publicly available on the ECHA website. This review aims to present the main safety data from the ECHA website, as well as those reported in scientific articles from peer-reviewed journals. The available data show that octocrylene does not have any endocrine disruption potential. It is a rare sensitizer, photocontact allergy is more frequent and it is considered consecutive to photosensitization to ketoprofen. Based on these results, octocrylene can be considered as safe when used as a UV filter in cosmetic products at a concentration up to 10%

Propiedades, ventajas e inconvenientes de los materiales utilizados en supercondensadores

Este trabajo recoge una visión general de las propiedades, ventajas e inconvenientes de los principales materiales usados en los electrodos de los condensadores electroquímicos (también denominados supercondensadores). La elección de estos materiales tiene una enorme influencia en las características finales del dispositivo electroquímico. Entre los materiales de electrodo disponibles para su aplicación en supercondensadores se incluyen los materiales porosos basados en carbón, los óxidos de metales de transición y los polímeros conductores. Cada una de estas familias de materiales presenta unas ventajas e inconvenientes, por ello, en numerosas ocasiones no se emplea un único tipo de material para la elaboración de los electrodos, sino que la tendencia va dirigida hacia el uso de electrodos híbridos, es decir, aquellos constituidos por materiales de distinta naturaleza que combinan los aspectos beneficiosos y compensan las limitaciones de cada uno de los materiales por separado

Efficiency of Agricultural Upgrading as a Component of the Farming Extension System

Evaluation was effected through a participative-diagnosis  tool which integrates several techniques and the organ- izational work for agro producer training. Three participative exercises, i.e., brainstorming, questions, and the nine- square or the General Electric matrix, were performed. Deficiencies in the training process and how to solve them, the need of team work to diagnose demands, problems, program design, and program application were determined. Besides, the current situation of the School of Training for Agricultural Executives, affiliated to the Ministry of Ag- riculture division in Camagüey, was assessed, for capital and resource investment, and for introduction of new agro- products and services to the market

Evaluasi Sistem Informasi Manajemen Puskesmas Guna Mendukung Penerapan Sikda Generik Menggunakan Metode Hot Fit Di Kabupaten Purworejo

Dinas Kesehatan Kabupaten Purworejo telah mengembangkan Sistem Informasi Manajemen Puskesmas (SIMPUS) demi tersedianya informasi yang cepat, tepat dan akurat guna mendukung pengambilan keputusan dan kebijakan pelayanan Puskesmas, namun pada Kenyataannya ada pelaporan yang kosong dan puskesmas yang tidak menggunakan SIMPUS. Untuk standarisasi SIK Kementerian Kesehatan mengeluarkan konsep SIKDA Generik. Untuk itu SIMPUS DKK Purworejo perlu dievaluasi, evaluasi yang diterapkan pada penelitian ini menggunakan model HOT fit. Jenis penelitian ini adalah penelitian kualitatif dengan menggunakan wawancara mendalam dan observasi langsung. Informan utama dalam penelitian ini adalah Sembilan petugas operator data dan enam informan triangulasi Puskesmas serta lima informan triangulasi Dinas kesehatan. Teknik analisis data dengan analisis konten. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukan bahwa SIMPUS DKK Purworejo dari sisi aplikasi yang digunakan telah setara dengan SIKDA Generik. SIMPUS telah digunakan secara rutin namun belum didukung dengan adanya prosedur penggunaan dan pelatihan. Personil telah mencukupi dalam jumlah, namun secara operasional perlu dibentuk TIM Pengelola SIK sesuai kompetensi. Belum ada monitoring yang rutin dan terjadwal, dan anggaran yang ada belum dapat mengatasi kebutuhan pemeliharaan perangkat pendukung SIMPUS. Kualitas SIMPUS yang digunakan baik, mudah digunakan dan tersedia menu untuk mengkomunikasikan data. Kualitas informasi yang dihasilkan belum akurat dan tidak lengkap karena tidak memuat data pelayanan di PUSTU dan PKD. Kuallitas layanan lambat berkaitan dengan prosedur pendanaan. SIMPUS DKK Purworejo telah setara dengan SIKDA Generik namun belum dapat dimanfaatkan untuk pengambilan keputusan. Disarankan agar Dinas Kesehatan meningkatkan pelatihan, monitoring, pengadaan perangkat keras dan jaringan, serta bagi Puskesmas diperlukan komitmen untuk menerapkan SIMPUS secara maksimal oleh PUSTU dan PKD. Purworejo District Health Office (DHO) has developed Health Center Management Information System (HCMIS) to provide quick, precise, and accurate information for supporting the process of decision making and the policy of services at Health Center. However, there was still any empty forms and did not use the system. To standardize Health Information System, Ministry of Health has released a concept of Generic SIKDA. Therefore, the system applied by Purworejo DHO needs to be evaluated using the method of HOT fit. This was qualitative research using indepth interview and direct observation. Main informants were nine data operators and informants for triangulation purpose was six persons from health centers and five persons from DHO. Furthermore, data were analyzed using content analysis. The result of this research revealed that the application of HCMIS at Purworejo DHO was equal to Generic SIKDA. The system had been applied routinely but there was no a guidance book and training. Number of human resources was sufficient. However, there needed to make an implementer team of Health Information System in accordance with competency. There was no routine monitoring and current budget was not sufficient to maintain hardware to support the system. Quality of the system used was good, easy to use, and available of menu to communicate data. Unfortunately, quality of resulted information had still been inaccurate and incomplete because it did not cover data of services at Subsidiary Health Centers (SHC) and Village Health Posts (VHP). The lateness of services was related to a funding procedure. HCMIS at Purworejo DHO was equal to Generic SIKDA but it had not been used to make a decision. As a suggestion, DHO needs to conduct training, monitor, and provide hardware and a network. Meanwhile, Health Centers needs to make a commitment for applying the HCMIS maximally by SHC and VHP