Evaluation of the Population and Poverty Research Initiative (PopPov)

Since 2005, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, with collaboration and co-funding from research councils in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, France, and Norway and from the World Bank, has invested in a portfolio of social science research on the relationship between population dynamics and micro- and macroeconomic outcomes. It is known as the Population and Poverty Research Initiative (PopPov), and its geographic focus is on subSaharan Africa (SSA). The starting premises that led to the development of PopPov were that evidence showing that population dynamics could affect economic outcomes might increase the interest of ministers of finance in funding population policies and that they might be most convinced by rigorous research done by respected economists. The core aim of the program has been to build (or, in some cases, rebuild) and advance the field of economic demography, orienting the work toward research that would be relevant for policy and would increase recognition by economic policymakers of the value of lowering the rate of population growth and investing in family planning (FP). The program also aimed to strengthen the capacity of researchers in SSA. The PopPov initiative tried to achieve these aims through four main components: (1) grants to support research on PopPov core topics of interest, (2) fellowships to support graduate students preparing their doctoral dissertations, (3) conferences and workshops to support the development of networking opportunities, and (4) other dissemination activities. PopPov has funded 56 doctoral fellows and, together with its partners, has supported 61 research projects. Seven international conferences and additional workshops have been held, and there have been several other dissemination activities. The Population Reference Bureau (PRB) and the Center for Global Development (CGD) have been the secretariats for PopPov. Since 2008, the Institute of International Education (IIE) has administered the fellowship program.In November 2012, to help guide its decisions about both the substance and means of future investments, the foundation issued a request for proposals (RFP) for an evaluation of PopPov. The RAND Corporation was selected to conduct the evaluation

Repeat Migration in the United States: Who Moves Back and Who Moves on?

Migration often occurs more than once in an individual's lifetime. Many people may move back to the location where they were born after a stay in another area, or they may move on to yet another new location. In this paper the migrant's location-specific capital and information costs are examined, and empirical findings for the United States are presented and discussed

The Role of Consumer Knowledge of Insurance Benefits in the Demand for Preventative Health

In 1992, the United States Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) introduced new insurance coverage for two preventive services influenza vaccinations and mammograms. Economists typically assume transactions occur with perfect information and foresight. As a test of the value of information, we estimate the effect of consumer knowledge of these benefits on their demand. Treating knowledge as endogenous in a two-part model of demand, we find that consumer knowledge has a substantial positive effect on the use of preventive services. Our findings suggest that strategies to educate the insured Medicare population about coverage of preventive services may have substantial social value.

Surveillance of paediatric exposures to liquid laundry detergent pods in Italy

Objective To analyse paediatric exposures to pod and traditional laundry detergents in Italy and changes in exposure trends. Methods Analyses of a series of patients aged <5 years and exposed to laundry detergents between September 2010 and June 2015, identified by the National Poison Control in Milan. Results In comparison with patients exposed to traditional laundry detergents (n=1150), a higher proportion of those exposed to pods (n=1649) were managed in hospital (68% vs 42%), had clinical effects (75% vs 22%) and moderate/high severity outcomes (13% vs <1%). Exposure rates were stable over time for traditional detergents (average 0.65 cases/day), but an abrupt decline in major company pods was seen in December 2012, 4 months after the introduction of opaque outer packaging (from 1.03 to 0.36 cases/day and from 1.88 to 0.86 cases/million units sold). The odds of clinical effects was higher for exposure to pods than for traditional detergents (OR=10.8; 95% CI 9.0 to 12.9). Among patients exposed to pods, the odds of moderate/high severity outcomes was four times higher for children aged <1 years than for the other age groups (OR=3.9; 95% CI 2.2 to 7.0). Ten children exposed to laundry detergent pods had high severity outcomes while no children exposed to traditional laundry detergents developed high severity effects. Conclusions The study confirms that exposure to laundry detergent pods is more dangerous than exposure to traditional detergents. In Italy, 4 months after the introduction of opaque outer packaging by a major company, product-specific exposure rates decreased sharply, suggesting that reducing visibility of laundry detergent pods may be an effective preventive measure. Further efforts are needed to improve safety

Automatic Synthesis of Regular Expressions from Examples

We propose a system for the automatic generation of regular expressions for text-extraction tasks. The user describes the desired task only by means of a set of labeled examples. The generated regexes may be used with common engines such as those that are part of Java, PHP, Perl and so on. Usage of the system does not require any familiarity with regular expressions syntax. We performed an extensive experimental evaluation on 12 different extraction tasks applied to real-world datasets. We obtained very good results in terms of precision and recall, even in comparison to earlier state-of-the-art proposals. Our results are highly promising toward the achievement of a practical surrogate for the specific skills required for generating regular expressions, and significant as a demonstration of what can be achieved with GP-based approaches on modern IT technology

Postendodontic Tooth Restoration - Part I: The Aim and the Plan of the Procedure

Endodontskim zahvatom uklanjamo pulpu, nekrotičan dentin i dio zdrava tvrdoga zubnog tkiva. Time smanjujemo otpornost preostala zubnoga tkiva na sile vlaka i tlaka koje nastaju pri okluzijskim dodirima zuba. Zato restaurativna opskrba endodontski liječena zuba mora zadovoljiti zahtjeve retencije restorativnoga nadomjestka, otpornosti nadomjestka i zubnoga tkiva na sile unutar žvačnoga sustava, dobra koronarnog i intraradikularnoga brtvljenja te estetske zahtjeve. Poslijeendodontska opskrba uključuje sljedeće postupke: nadoknadu izgubljena zubnoga tkiva aloplastičnim materijalima u izravnoj ili neizravnoj izvedbi (ispunom amalgamom, kompozitom, stakleno ionomernim cementom, ili izradbom inleja, onleja ili overleja); uporabom intrakanalnih i parapulpnih kolčića uz nadoknadu zubne krune aloplastičnim materijalom; izradbu batrljka zuba aloplastičnim materijalom s uporabom intrakanalnih i parapulpnih kolčića ili bez njih uz nadoknadu zubne krune protetskim nadomjestkom; laboratorijski izrađenom nadogradnjom uz nadoknadu zubne krune protetskim nadomjestkom. U nekim slučajevima bit će dovoljno samo zabrtviti pristupni kavitet nekim od aloplastičnih materijala, a u drugim bit će potrebno osigurati okomitu stabilizaciju preostaloj kruni u obliku intraradikularne nadogradnje i izraditi protetski nadomjestak. Izbor postupka ovisit će o stupnju razorenosti zubne krune, smještaju zuba u zubnome luku, okluzijskim dodirima zuba, morfologiji korijenskih kanala, funkcijskim i estetskim zahtjevima, materijalnim mogućnostima te o vremenu koje imamo na raspolaganju. Pravilno prepoznata indikacija uz poštivanje svih faza izabranog postupka poslijeendodontske opskrbe osigurat će opskrbljenom zubu punopravnu ulogu u stomatognatom sustavu.Endodontic procedure requires removal of the pulp tissue and necrotic dentine, as well as a significant amount of healthy hard dental tissue, which results in reducing the resistance of the tooth to the occlusal loading forces. Restoration of such a tooth needs to satisfy requirements for retention of the restorative material, its resistance, as well as the resistance of the remaining dental tissue to occlusal forces, good coronal and intraradicular obturation and also aesthetic requirements. Postendodontic treatment includes the following procedures: replacement of lost tissues using alloplastic materials directly or indirectly (amalgam, composite resin and glass-ionomer cement fillings or inlay, onlay or overlay restorations); the alloplastic material crown restorations using intracanal posts and parapulpal pins; the alloplastic material core buildup with or without intracanal posts and parapulpal pins covered with prosthetic crown; restoration of lost tooth structure using laboratory made post and core covered with prosthetic crown. Sealing of endodontic cavity using one of the alloplastic materials would be the treatment of choice in uncomplicated cases, whereas in severely damaged teeth ensuring remaining tooth structure by vertical stabilization and the prosthetic crown would be necessary. The choice of procedure depends on the severity of crown damage, the tooth position in the arch, occlusal contacts, morphology of root canal spaces, functional and aesthetic aspects, financial ability and available time for performing the procedure. The correct indication evaluation respecting all steps of the chosen procedure will provide long term survival of the postendodontically treated tooth in the stomatognathic system

Hepatic encephalopathy: a neurochemical, neuroanatomical, and neuropsychological study.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is normally diagnosed by neuropsychological (NP) tests, which are not very specific and do not reveal the underlying pathology. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) of the brain offer alternative and possibly more specific markers for HE. These methods were applied in conjunction with NP testing in order to determine their usefulness in the identification of HE and to understand the pathogenesis of HE more clearly. MR imaging and spectroscopy examinations, in addition to a battery of 15 NP tests, were administered to investigate 31 patients awaiting liver transplantation and 23 healthy controls. MR image intensities from the globus pallidus region were calculated and normalized to those of the thalamus. Absolute concentrations and ratios with respect to creatine (Cr) of several metabolites were computed from MR spectra. The MR data were correlated with the results of NP tests. The patients showed impairment in NP tests of attention and visuospatial and verbal fluency. In T1-weighted MRI, the relative intensity of the globus pallidus with respect to that of the thalamus region was significantly elevated in patients and correlated(negatively) with three NP tests (Hooper, FAS, and Trails B). The absolute concentrations of myo-inositol (mI) and choline (Ch) were significantly reduced in three brain regions. In addition, the absolute concentrations of glutamine (Gln) and combined glutamate and glutamine (Glx) were increased in all three locations, with Gln increase being significant in all areas while that of Glx only in the occipital white matter. In summary, this study partially confirms a hypothesized mechanism of HE pathogenesis, an increased synthesis of glutamine by brain glutamate in astrocytes due to excessive blood ammonia, followed by a compensatory loss of myo-inositol to maintain astrocyte volume homeostasis. It also indicates that the hyperintensity observed in globus pallidus could be used as complementary to the NP test scores in evaluating the mental health of HE patients

Solitary fibrous tumor

Solitary fibrous tumor (SFT) is a rare tumor of mesenchymal origin that account for less than 2% of all soft tissue masses. Initially identified in the pleura, SFT has been identified in multiple anatomic locations and can arise anywhere in the body. The varying histologic features along with non-specific means of identification have led SFT to be associated with several different names. Over the last several decades, sustained advances through research and technology have led to more reliable methods for differentiating this distinct soft tissue tumor. Advances specifically in immunohistochemistry and molecular diagnostics have identified CD34 as the most consistent marker in SFT, however even this lacks specificity to conclusively narrow down the broad differential for exact identification. More recently the discovery of the NAB2-STAT6 fusion gene has led to more precise diagnosis of SFT. Like many other soft tissue tumors, surgical management is the mainstay of treatment for SFT with emphasis on obtaining tumor-negative margins. Radiation therapy and chemotherapy regimens have not demonstrated global effectiveness, and thus no standardized treatments have been identified. Given the rarity of SFT and current supportive evidence for therapies, management should be focused on tumor extirpation. Nonetheless, individualized therapy, determined within a multidisciplinary setting should be considered

Estudio de los estilos de enseñanza aplicados por los profesores de educación física en estudiantes de cuarto año básico en cuatro colegios de la provincia de Santiago

Tesis (Profesor de Educación Física, Licenciado en Educación)La presente investigación tiene como objetivo analizar los estilos de enseñanza de los profesores de Educación Física de la provincia de Santiago. La investigación cuenta con tres etapas, la primera estuvo destinada a la validación y prueba de los instrumentos de evaluación. En la segunda se realizó una caracterización de los estilos de enseñanza desde un diagnóstico del criterio. En la tercera etapa se aplican los instrumentos validados por la Universidad Andrés Bello. Metodológicamente se consideró una investigación descriptiva con una muestra que corresponde a 108 estudiantes de cuarto año básico y cinco profesores de Educación Física del Colegio Pedro de Valdivia de la comuna Las Condes, Colegio Juan Pablo II de la comuna de Las Condes, Colegio Rafael Sanhueza de la comuna de Recoleta y Colegio Saint Gabriel de la comuna de Las Condes, esto representa finalmente a una muestra de 113 sujetos en su totalidad, quienes fueron estudiados mediante dos instrumentos. El primero, una Encuesta aplicada a los profesores, y el segundo, una observación realizada a la clase de Educación Física, con el objetivo de analizar la utilización de estilos de enseñanza por parte del docente. Los datos arrojados fueron examinados a través de la suma de las frecuencias y sus respectivos porcentajes dando como resultados que el estilo de enseñanza mando directo, predomina entre los profesores de Educación Física investigados