Economic impact of a rotavirus vaccine in Brazil

The study was done to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of a national rotavirus vaccination programme in Brazilian children from the healthcare system perspective. A hypothetical annual birth-cohort was followed for a five-year period. Published and national administrative data were incorporated into a model to quantify the consequences of vaccination versus no vaccination. Main outcome measures included the reduction in disease burden, lives saved, and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) averted. A rotavirus vaccination programme in Brazil would prevent an estimated 1,804 deaths associated with gastroenteritis due to rotavirus, 91,127 hospitalizations, and 550,198 outpatient visits. Vaccination is likely to reduce 76% of the overall healthcare burden of rotavirus-associated gastroenteritis in Brazil. At a vaccine price of US$ 7-8 per dose, the cost-effectiveness ratio would be US$ 643 per DALY averted. Rotavirus vaccination can reduce the burden of gastroenteritis due to rotavirus at a reasonable cost-effectiveness ratio.

Energy absorbed by electronic body protectors from kicks in a taekwondo competition

Objective: Although some scientific information on electronic body protectors in taekwondo is available, no research has been done to assess the impact of kicks in a competitive situation. The purpose of this study, then, was to assess the energy absorbed by these protectors from kicks performed in an actual taekwondo competition. Methods: Subjects consisted of junior (14-17 years) and senior (>= 18 years) male taekwondo-in, who participated in an open tournament. Data on the energy imparted by valid kicks in Joules (1) were collected from a public visual electronic monitor. Results: Energy was higher for the seniors: 264.31 +/- 56.63 J versus 224.38 +/- 48.23 J for the juniors (eta(2) = 0.121). The seniors scored lower in percent impact but the effect was trivial: 123.46 +/- 24.77% versus 136.70 +/- 26.33% (eta(2) = 0.087). Conclusions: The difference between senior and junior taekwondo-in in absolute energy generated was small, while the difference in relative energy impact was trivial in favour of the junior taekwondo athletes.

Particle competition for complex network community detection

In many real situations, randomness is considered to be uncertainty or even confusion which impedes human beings from making a correct decision. Here we study the combined role of randomness and determinism in particle dynamics for complex network community detection. In the proposed model, particles walk in the network and compete with each other in such a way that each of them tries to possess as many nodes as possible. Moreover, we introduce a rule to adjust the level of randomness of particle walking in the network, and we have found that a portion of randomness can largely improve the community detection rate. Computer simulations show that the model has good community detection performance and at the same time presents low computational complexity. (C) 2008 American Institute of Physics.

A PHASE TRANSITION FOR COMPETITION INTERFACES

We study the competition interface between two growing clusters in a growth model associated to last-passage percolation. When the initial unoccupied set is approximately a cone, we show that this interface has an asymptotic direction with probability 1. The behavior of this direction depends on the angle theta of the cone: for theta >= 180 degrees, the direction is deterministic, while for theta < 180 degrees, it is random, and its distribution can be given explicitly in certain cases. We also obtain partial results on the fluctuations of the interface around its asymptotic direction. The evolution of the competition interface in the growth model can be mapped onto the path of a second-class particle in the totally asymmetric simple exclusion process; from the existence of the limiting direction for the interface, we obtain a new and rather natural proof of the strong law of large numbers (with perhaps a random limit) for the position of the second-class particle at large times.

Economic viability of doses and split-applications of nitrogen fertilization in corn crop in a eutrophic Red Latosol

Nitrogen is the nutrient that is most absorbed by the corn crop, with the most complex management, and has the highest share on the cost of corn production. The objective of this work was to evaluate the economic viability of different rates and split-applications of nitrogen fertilization, as such as urea, in the corn crop in a eutrophic Red Latosol (Oxisol). The study was carried out in the Experimental Station of the Regional Pole of the Sao Paulo Northwest Agribusiness Development (APTA), in Votuporanga, State of Sao Paulo, Brazil. The experimental design was randomized complete blocks with nine treatments and four replications, consisting of five N rates: 0, 55, 95, 135 and 175 kg ha(-1), 15 kg ha-l applied in the seeding and the remainder in top dressing: 40 and 80 kg ha(-1) N at forty days after seeding (DAS), or 1/2 + 1/2 at 20 and 40 DAS; 120 kg ha-1 N split in 1/2 + 1/2 or 1/3 + 1/3 + 1/3 at 20, 40 or 60 DAS; 160 kg ha(-1) N split in 1/4 + 3/8 + 3/8 or 114 + 1/4 + 1/4 + 1/4 at 20, 40, 60 and 80 DAS. The application of 135 kg ha-l of N split in three times provided the best benefit/cost ratio. The non-application of N provided the lowest economic return, proving to be unviable.

The use of contingent valuation for evaluating protected areas in the developing world: Economic valuation of Morro do Diabo State Park, Atlantic Rainforest, Sao Paulo State (Brazil)

The Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest is internationally recognised as one of the most biodiverse and threatened tropical forests in the world [Myers, N., Mittermeier, R.A., Mittermeier, C.G., da Fonseca, G.A.B., Kent, J., 2000. Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities. Nature 403, 853-858]. The Seasonal Semi-Deciduous Forest is among the most fragmented and threatened biomes of the Atlantic Rainforest Domain. The largest remnant of this biome (35,000 ha) is protected by the Morro do Diabo State Park (MDSP), situated in the area known as the Pontal do Paranapanema, in Sao Paulo State, Brazil. Despite its environmental importance, the park is under political, economic and demographic pressure. The main aim of our research was to estimate the population`s willingness to pay (WTP) for the conservation of MDSP and for the Atlantic Rainforest`s remnants in Sao Paulo State as a whole, by means of the contingent valuation method (CVM). The results featured a high incidence of null WTP and of protest votes. Nevertheless, the population is willing to pay US$ 2,113,548.00/year (R$ 7,080,385.00/year) for the conservation of the MDSP (use and existence values), or US$ 60.39 ha/year (R$ 202.30/ha/year). The results indicate that the preservation value is strongly associated to the population`s ability to pay, increasing with income levels. Qualitative research questions showed that the population considers protected areas to be very important. Still, the valuation of MDSP revealed a gap between the government budget allotted to the park and the value assigned to the area by the public. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Assessing land availability to produce biomass for energy: The case of Brazilian charcoal for steel making

The paper discusses the availability of biomass in Brazil to supply charcoal to the steel industry on the bases of an initial global assessment of land potentially available for plantations and of Brazilian data that allows refining the assessment and specifying the issue of practical availability. Technical potentials are first assessed through a series of simple rules against direct competition with agriculture, forests and protected areas, and of quantitative criteria, whether geo-climatic (rainfall), demographic (population density) or legal (reserves). Institutional, social and economic factors are then identified and discussed so as to account for the practical availability of Brazilian biomass through six criteria. The ranking of nine Brazilian States according to these criteria brings out the necessary trade-offs in the selection of land for plantations that would efficiently supply charcoal to the steel industry. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Using economic instruments to address emissions from air transport in the European Union

Air transport has become a vital component of the global economy. However, greenhouse-gas emissions from this sector have a significant impact on global climate, being responsible for over 3.5% of all anthropogenic radiative forcing. Also, the accrued visibility of aircraft emissions greatly affects the public image of the industry. In this context, incentive-based regulations, in the form of price or quantity controls, can be envisaged as alternatives to mitigate these emissions. The use of environmental charges in air transport, and the inclusion of the sector in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS), are considered under a range of scenarios. The impacts of these measures on demand are estimated, and results suggest that they are likely to be minimal-mainly due to the high willingness to pay for air transport. In particular, in the EU ETS scenario currently favoured by the EU, demand reductions are less than 2%. This may not be true in the longer run, for short trips, or if future caps become more stringent. Furthermore, given current estimates of the social Cost Of CO2 as well as typical EU ETS prices, supply-side abatement would be too costly to be encouraged by these policies in the short term. The magnitude of aviation CO2 emissions in the EU is estimated, both in physical and monetary terms; the results are consistent with Eurocontrol estimates and, for the EU-25, the total social cost of these emissions represents only 0.03% of the region`s GDP. It is concluded that the use of multisector policies, such as the EU ETS, is unsuitable for curbing emissions from air transport, and that stringent emission charges or an isolated ETS would be better instruments. However, the inclusion of aviation in the EU ETS has advantages under target-oriented post-2012 scenarios, such as policy-costs dilution, certainty in reductions, and flexibility in abatement allocation. This solution is also attractive to airlines, as it would improve their public image but require virtually no reduction of their own emissions, as they would be fully capable of passing on policy costs to their customers.

Economic design of an X chart for short-run production

The aim of this paper is to present an economical design of an X chart for a short-run production. The process mean starts equal to mu(0) (in-control, State I) and in a random time it shifts to mu(1) > mu(0) (out-of-control, State II). The monitoring procedure consists of inspecting a single item at every m produced ones. If the measurement of the quality characteristic does not meet the control limits, the process is stopped, adjusted, and additional (r - 1) items are inspected retrospectively. The probabilistic model was developed considering only shifts in the process mean. A direct search technique is applied to find the optimum parameters which minimizes the expected cost function. Numerical examples illustrate the proposed procedure. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

COMPETITION AMONG EUCALYPTUS TREES DEPENDS ON GENETIC VARIATION AND RESOURCE SUPPLY

Genetic variation and environmental heterogeneity fundamentally shape the interactions between plants of the same species. According to the resource partitioning hypothesis, competition between neighbors intensifies as their similarity increases. Such competition may change in response to increasing supplies of limiting resources. We tested the resource partitioning hypothesis in stands of genetically identical (clone-origin) and genetically diverse (seed-origin) Eucalyptus trees with different water and nutrient supplies, using individual-based tree growth models. We found that genetic variation greatly reduced competitive interactions between neighboring trees, supporting the resource partitioning hypothesis. The importance of genetic variation for Eucalyptus growth patterns depended strongly on local stand structure and focal tree size. This suggests that spatial and temporal variation in the strength of species interactions leads to reversals in the growth rank of seed-origin and clone-origin trees. This study is one of the first to experimentally test the resource partitioning hypothesis for intergenotypic vs. intragenotypic interactions in trees. We provide evidence that variation at the level of genes, and not just species, is functionally important for driving individual and community-level processes in forested ecosystems.

Lepidopteran larva consumption of soybean foliage: basis for developing multiple-species economic thresholds for pest management decisions

BACKGROUND: Defoliation by Anticarsia gemmatalis (Hubner), Pseudoplusia includens (Walker), Spodoptera eridania (Cramer), S. cosmioides (Walker) and S. frugiperda (JE Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) was evaluated in four soybean genotypes. A multiple-species economic threshold (ET), based upon the species` feeding capacity, is proposed with the aim of improving growers` management decisions on when to initiate control measures for the species complex. RESULTS: Consumption by A. gemmatalis, S. cosmioides or S. eridania on different genotypes was similar. The highest consumption of P. includens was 92.7 cm(2) on Codetec 219RR; that of S. frugiperda was 118 cm(2) on Codetec 219RR and 115.1 cm(2) on MSoy 8787RR. The insect injury equivalent for S. cosmoides, calculated on the basis of insect consumption, was double the standard consumption by A. gemmatalis, and statistically different from the other species tested, which were similar to each other. CONCLUSIONS: As S. cosmioides always defoliated nearly twice the leaf area of the other species, the injury equivalent would be 2 for this lepidopteran species and 1 for the other species. The recommended multiple-species ET to trigger the beginning of insect control would then be 20 insect equivalents per linear metre. (C) 2010 Society of Chemical Industry

Economic feasibility of cowpea irrigation in Piaui State

The objective of this work was to evaluate the economic feasibility of cowpea irrigation in Piaui State Brazil. Water balances were carried out on a daily basis using the Thornthwaite and Mather (1955) method, for 165 sites, considering twelve sowings dates and available water capacity in the soil of 20, 40 and 60 mm. The net revenues were estimated with a probability of occurrence of 75%, later being spatialized to Piaui State. Cowpea irrigation was shown to economically viable for all sowing dates, irrespective of the available water capacity. Net revenues varied among several regions of the State, in function of the sowing date and available water capacity in the soil. Considering a planning strategy for Piaui State, sowing on February, I was shown to be most favorable, because it enabled higher net revenue values, covering larger areas of the State.

Prerequisite Programs at Schools: Diagnosis and Economic Evaluation

In this study, 20 Brazilian public schools have been assessed regarding good manufacturing practices and standard sanitation operating procedures implementation. We used a checklist comprised of 10 parts ( facilities and installations, water supply, equipments and tools, pest control, waste management, personal hygiene, sanitation, storage, documentation, and training), making a total of 69 questions. The implementing modification cost to the found nonconformities was also determined so that it could work with technical data as a based decision-making prioritization. The average nonconformity percentage at schools concerning to prerequisite program was 36%, from which 66% of them own inadequate installations, 65% waste management, 44% regarding documentation, and 35% water supply and sanitation. The initial estimated cost for changing has been U.S.$24,438 and monthly investments of 1.55% on the currently needed invested values. This would result in U.S.$0.015 increase on each served meal cost over the investment replacement within a year. Thus, we have concluded that such modifications are economically feasible and will be considered on technical requirements when prerequisite program implementation priorities are established.

Thesis summary: Standardized dried extracts of Brazilian medicinal plants: Assessment of technical and economic feasibility of spouted bed drying

This study is an integral part of a research project which seeks the establishment of protocols for the production of standardized herbal dried extracts emphasizing the spouted bed drying. This thesis was conducted at faculty of Pharmaceutical Science of Ribeiro Preto/University of So Paulo, Brazil, under supervision of Prof. Dr. Wanderley Pereira Oliveira*, defended on September 28, 2007.