Re-examining Economic Growth-Environment Relationship: Evidence from High-, Medium- And Low-Income Countries

There is said to be an inverted U shaped relationship between economic growth and the environment, named environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). But why such relationship exists and what are the mechanisms by which economic development improves environment are not well known. Studies are generally based on reduced form single equation model of this relationship, which could not explain much insight into its underlying causes. To overcome these limitations, we develop a structural model for analysing economic growth-environment linkages. Using panel data from a cross-section of countries widely dispersed on economic growth scale, this study finds that the scale of economic activities deteriorates environmental quality during the earlier stage of economic growth, whereas structural economic changes and abatement activities offset this effect and thus improves environmental quality during the later stage. It is also found that these effects differ widely across high-, medium- and low-income countries and, therefore, a global aggregation is certainly a misspecification of the EKC relationship.

Re-examining Economic Growth-Environment Relationship: Evidence from High-, Medium- And Low-Income Countries

There is said to be an inverted U shaped relationship between economic growth and the environment, named environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). But why such relationship exists and what are the mechanisms by which economic development improves environment are not well known. Studies are generally based on reduced form single equation model of this relationship, which could not explain much insight into its underlying causes. To overcome these limitations, we develop a structural model for analysing economic growth-environment linkages. Using panel data from a cross-section of countries widely dispersed on economic growth scale, this study finds that the scale of economic activities deteriorates environmental quality during the earlier stage of economic growth, whereas structural economic changes and abatement activities offset this effect and thus improves environmental quality during the later stage. It is also found that these effects differ widely across high-, medium- and low-income countries and, therefore, a global aggregation is certainly a misspecification of the EKC relationship

A Structural Analysis of Economic Growth-Environment Relationship under Economic Openness

Economic openness under globalisation process has been instrumental for recent increased transfer of both production and consumption activities across countries. Such transfers may have been shifting associated environmental effects from one country to another. In this paper, we have developed a structural model of the relationship between economic growth and environmental quality. We decompose the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship by breaking down net environmental effect of economic activities into three major determinants: scale, composition and abatement effects. We have incorporated additional variables such as, trade openness, foreign direct investment (FDI) and technological changes in our model to examine the effects of economic openness on the economic growth-environmental relationship. We find that trade openness reinforces increasing scale effect; FDI pushes inverted U-shape of composition effect upward; and technology seems to result in stronger abatement effect. The improvement of environmental quality under globalisation will thus require stronger abatement measures in order to offset increased detrimental scale and composition effects. But stronger abatement measures need better access to modern technologies and therefore, modern technology dissemination is a pre-requisite for improvement of environmental quality

De Novo Glycogen Biosynthesis by a Glycogen Primer Complex in the Obliquely Striated Skeletal Muscle of Ascaris suum

During the purification of the enzyme glycogen synthase from the muscle of the nematode Ascaris suum, approximately 70% of the glycogen synthase activity can be separated from the bulk of cellular glycogen by centrifugation for 60 min at 105,000 x . The glycogen synthase in the supernatant fraction has an Mr of 1.2 x 106 as determined by Sepharose 4B gel filtration chromatography. The glycogen synthase in this high molecular weight complex (glycogen primer complex) can be further purified by ConA-Sepharose affinity chromatography; the enzyme activity was eluted with 100 .mM a-methylmannoside. The glycogen synthase in glycogen'primer complex is predominately in the glucose 6-phosphatedependent form. The glycogen primer complex can catalyze the transfer of glucosyl units from UDP-glucose to an endogenous acceptor in the absence of exogenous glycogen. Analysis by SDS-PAGE showed three proteins (Mr 140,000, 78,000 and 34,000) and a carbohydrate polymer. The carbohydrate polymer can be partially digested with a-amylase. The glycogen primer complex was further digested by acid hydrolysis, and upon descending paper chromatography analysis, eight different carbohydrates were isolated, two of which were tentatively identified as glucose and sialic acid. The [14 C]-autoradiograph showed that in vitro synthesis of a glycogen-like polysaccharide occurred on this carbohydrate polymer. Polyclonal antibodies have been made to the glycogen primer complex, and Western Blot analysis indicated that all three proteins of the glycogen primer complex were antigenic. Collectively, the data indicate that a glycogen-like polysaccharide is synthesized from a carbohydrate-associated protein primer in the muscle of this worm

Retinoic acid-induced transcriptional modulation of the human interferon-γ promoter

Disregulation of vitamin A metabolism is able to generate different immunological effects, including altered response to infection, reduced IgG production, and differential regulation of cytokine gene expression (including interleukin-2 and -4 and interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma)). In particular, IFN-gamma gene expression is significantly affected by vitamin A and/or its derivatives (e.g. retinoic acid (RA)). Here, we analyze the effect of retinoic acid on IFN-gamma transcription. Transient transfection assays in the human T lymphoblastoid cell line Jurkat demonstrated that the activation of the IFN-gamma promoter was significantly down-regulated in the presence of RA. Surprisingly, two different AP-1/CREB-ATF-binding elements situated in the initial 108 base pairs of the IFN-gamma promoter and previously shown to be critical for transcriptional activity were unaffected by RA. Utilizing promoter deletions and electrophoretic mobility shift analysis, we identified a USF/EGR-1-binding element cooperating in the modulation of IFN-gamma promoter activity by RA. This element was found to be situated in a position of the IFN-gamma promoter close to a silencer element previously identified in our laboratory. These results suggest that direct modulation of IFN-gamma promoter activity is one of the possible mechanisms involved in the inhibitory effect of retinoids on IFN-gamma gene expression

O capital humano e o índice de desenvolvimento da educação básica : o caso da qualidade do ensino no sistema federal e estadual

Orientador: Angela WeltersMonografia(Graduação) - Universidade Federal do Paraná,Setor de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, Curso de Ciências EconômicasResumo: A educação tem sido motivo de frequentes debates e estudos, sobretudo quando é vista como instrumento capaz de não somente alterar o quadro social de um país como alavanca-lo economicamente. Essa dinâmica somada a Teoria do Capital Humano permite construir uma perspectiva embasada em transformações sociais. Devido a pouca clareza na literatura sobre o indicador estatístico de qualidade do ensino relacionado com os fatores condicionantes, este trabalho teve como objetivo comparar o desempenho dos Colégios Militares com as melhores Escolas Estaduais mediante o Índice do Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica. A pesquisa qualitativa compilou dados referentes aos anos 2009, 2011 e 2013 e teve como base de dados INEP. Como resultados, observaram-se que as melhores condições de aprendizado, proficiência, infraestrutura, equipamentos, condições de trabalho do docente, indicadores socioeconômicos dos alunos e menores complexidade de gestão da escola concentram nos Colégios MilitaresAbstract: Education has been the subject of frequent debates and studies, especially when it is seen as an instrument to not only change the membership of a country as a lever it economically. This dynamic plus the Human Capital Theory allows you to build an informed perspective on social change. Due to lack of clarity in the literature on statistical indicator of education related to the conditioning factors, this study aimed to compare the performance of Military Colleges with the best state schools through the Basic Education Development Index. Qualitative research compiled data for the years 2009, 2011 and 2013 and had as INEP database. As a result, we observed that the best learning conditions, proficiency, infrastructure, equipment, the working conditions of teachers, students' socioeconomic indicators and lower complexity of school management focus in Military School

Antigen-Independent IFN-γ Production by Human Naïve CD4+ T Cells Activated by IL-12 Plus IL-18

The role of T cells in innate immunity is not well defined. In this report, we show that a subset of human peripheral blood CD4+ T cells responds to IL-12 plus IL-18, but not to IL-12 or IL-18 alone, by producing IFN-γ in the absence of any antigenic stimulation or cell proliferation. Intracellular staining reveals a small percentage of resting CD4+ T cells (0.5 to 1.5%) capable of producing IFN-γ in response to IL-12 plus IL-18. Interestingly, both naïve (CD45RA+) and memory (CD45RO+) CD4+ populations were responsive to IL-12 plus IL-18 stimulation in producing IFN-γ. The expression of IFN-γinduced by IL-12 and IL-18 is sensitive to rapamycin and SB203580, indicating the possible involvement of mTOR and p38 MAP kinase, respectively, in this synergistic pathway. While p38MAP kinase is involved in transcription, mTOR is involved in message stabilization. We have also shown that NFκB family member, cRel, but not GADD45β and GADD45γ, plays an important role in IL-12 plus IL-18-induced IFN-γ transcription. Thus, the present study suggests that naïve CD4+ T cells may participate in innate immunity or amplify adaptive immune responses through cytokine-induced antigen-independent cytokine production

Oral Health Knowledge Among Patients Attending Dental OPD of Bangladesh Medical College in Relation to Gender, Generation, Education and Economic Status

This report describes a questionnaire-based study on 309 adult patients attending the Dental Outpatients Department of Bangladesh Medical College and Hospital, Dhaka during December 2000 to March 2001. The aim of the study was to determine the oral health knowledge of the patients in relation to their age, gender, economic and educational status. Almost two third (63.1%) of the subjects correctly said that pan chewing was bad for teeth. Three fourth (78.3%) of the subjects gave correct answer on question of how to prevent teeth decay. When question was asked about cause of teeth decay, bleeding gum and action of fluoride on teeth, only 38.2%, 41.4% and 32.3% could give correct answer respectively. With a few exceptions, knowledge of oral health was comparatively poor among the older generation, females, less educated and less privileged group