The Benefits of building barrier-free: a contingent valuation of accessibilty as an attribute of housing

Estimating the social benefits of barrier-free building has always required indirect solutions, such as calculating the savings in social services, hospitalisation or adaptations made possible by the increase in accessibility. This research uses the Contingent Valuation Method to gain a direct appraisal of the benefits from barrier-free housing. When comparing two similar dwellings, with the only difference being their accessibility conditions, the 1,007 randomly chosen households that answered the direct survey would pay, on average 12.5 per cent more for being barrier-free. None of the different appraisals made on accessibility costs reaches 5 per cent. This confirms the social profitability of building without barriers and shows the potential size of the private market for those housing developers that meet the demand. Accessibility is a general concern, an economic good or attribute that most households value, irrespective of the physical conditions of their members.

The influence of building materials on the residual action of BHC

Residual insecticide activity of BHC vapors from various building materials in controlled humidity chambers in the laboratory were significantly different. Laboratory-reared, first instar nymphs of Dipetalogaster maximus were exposed to vapors of BHC which were being released from the treated surfaces of building materials taken from Mambaí, Goiás.

Culex siphanulatus, a new species of mosquito from the coast of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil (Diptera: Culicidae)

Culex siphanulatus, sp. n. is described from specimens collected in bromeliads of the coast of Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil. The description includes illustrations of female, male genitalia and chaetotaxy of pupa and larva. This species is easily distinguished from the others of subgenus Microculex and does not belong to any of the four series proposed for the grouping of its species.

The genus lobatostoma (Trematoda: Aspidocotylea) in the pacific coast of South America, with description of Lobatostoma veranoi new species, parasite of Menticirrhus ophycephalus (Teleostei: Sciaenidae)

The presence of three aspidocotyleans trematodes in marine fishes from Perú and Chile is reported. One of them, Lobatostoma veranoi from the intestine of Menticirrhus ophicephalu (Sciaenidae) is considered a new species. Distinct characteristcs of the new species are:a cirrus sac smaller than the pharynx; tail overlapping posteriorly the ventral disk; testis in the last third of the body and the presence of 64-66 marginal alveoli. The two other species are Lobatostoma pacificum Manter, 1940 found in Trachinotus paitensis Cuvier, 1830 from Perú and Chile and Lobatostoma Anisotremum Oliva & Carvajal, 1984 from the intestine of Anisotremus scapularis (Tschudi, 1844) from Perú.

Adolescent Drug Abuse Diagnosis (ADAD) vs. Health of Nation Outcome Scale for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA) in clinical outcome measurement.

BACKGROUND: The Adolescent Drug Abuse Diagnosis (ADAD) and Health of Nation Outcome Scales for Children and Adolescents (HoNOSCA) are both measures of outcome for adolescent mental health services. AIMS: To compare the ADAD with HoNOSCA; to examine their clinical usefulness. METHODS: Comparison of the ADAD and HoNOSCA outcome measures of 20 adolescents attending a psychiatric day care unit. RESULTS: ADAD change was positively correlated with HoNOSCA change. HoNOSCA assesses the clinic's day-care programme more positively than the ADAD. The ADAD detects a group for which the mean score remains unchanged whereas HoNOSCA does not. CONCLUSIONS: A good convergent validity emerges between the two assessment tools. The ADAD allows an evidence-based assessment and generally enables a better subject discrimination than HoNOSCA. HoNOSCA gives a less refined evaluation but is more economic in time and possibly more sensitive to change. Both assessment tools give useful information and enabled the Day-care Unit for Adolescents to rethink the process of care and of outcome, which benefited both the institution and the patients.

Pseudohaliotrema paralonchuri sp.n. (Monogenoidea: Dactylogyridae), parasitic on Paralonchurus peruanus (Steindachner) (Teleostei: Sciaenidae) from the peruvian coast

Pseudohaliotrema paralonchuri sp. n., parasitic on the sciaenid fish Paralonchurus peruanus (Steindachner) from the Peruvian central coast, is described, illustrated and compared with related species of the genus. P. paralonchuri differs from other Pseudohaliotrema by the characteristics of the cirrus, accessory piece, anchors and bars. This is the first record of Pseudohaliotrema from the South American Pacific Ocean.

Trypanorhyncha from sharks of southern brazilian coast: Eutetrarhynchus vooremi sp. n. and two other species parasites of Mustelus (Pisces, Triakidae)

In the present paper, Eutetrahynchus vooremi sp. n., a cestode of the order Trypanorhyncha is proposed. The new species was recovered from sharks under the genus Mustelus (Pisces, Triakidae) and was compared to E. ruficollis, E. lineatus, E. leucomelanus, E. litocephalus and E. macrotrachelus. The main character, among others, considered to differ the species refers to the eggs filament, size of proglottids, tentacular hooks and lenght of pars postbulbosa. Two other known species are studied: Callitetrarhynchus gracilis (Rudolphi, 1819) from M. canis (Mitchill, 1815) and Nybelinia (N.) lingualis (Cuvier, 1817) from M. schmitti Springer, 1939 representing new host records.

Saving and Re-building Lives: an Analysis of the Determinants of Disaster Relief

We analyse both theoretically and empirically, the factors that influence the amount of humanitarian aid which countries receive when they are struck by natural disasters. Our investigation particularly distinguishes between immediate disaster relief which helps the survival of victims and long term humanitarian aid given towards reconstruction and rehabilitation. The theoretical model is able to make predictions as well as explain some of the peculiarities in the empirical results. The empirical analysis, making use of some useful data sources, show that both short and long term humanitarian aid increase with number of people killed, financial loss and level of corruption, while GDP per capita has no effect. Number of people affected had no effect on short term aid, but significantly increased long term aid. Both types of aid increased if the natural disaster was an earthquake, tsunami or drought. In addition, short term aid increases in response to a flood while long term aid increases in response to storms.

La Suisse, nation fêlée : essai sur le nationalisme helvétique

Dans l'histoire européenne ont commencé à se former, à partir de la fin du XVIIIe siècle, des objets politiques inédits que l'on appelle maintenant des nations. Le mouvement a commencé en France et en Grande-Bretagne, pour se propager rapi- dement dans toute l'Europe, soutenu par les profonds bouleversements entraînés par la révolution industrielle et une timide démocratisation des sociétés. Au milieu de ce continent en pleine mutation se trouve un autre objet politique, au moins aussi étrange, vieille confédération d'États souverains sortie tout droit du Moyen-Âge et qu'on appelait encore il y a peu le «Corps helvétique». La Suisse, puisque c'est d'elle qu'il s'agit, est-elle affectée par ce vaste mouvement des nationalismes, et si oui comment ? Les nations européennes se construisent fondamentalement autour de quatre éléments : un État centralisé, un territoire, une histoire et un peuple. Dans leur pléni- tude, ces quatre éléments manquent à la Suisse. En fait d'État centralisé, on trouve plutôt un pouvoir central faible, débordé à la fois par des cantons ayant conservé de nombreuses prérogatives et par des associations privées redoutablement efficaces. Son territoire n'est que le résultat hasardeux de traités d'entraide successifs; son histoire est marquée par la désunion et les guerres; quant au peuple suisse, il faut avoir une imagination fertile pour en concevoir concrètement l'existence. C'est pourquoi il faut parler, à propos de la Suisse, d'une fêlure nationale. A défaut de peuple facilement identifiable, on construit des mythes politiques rassembleurs, parmi lesquels la neutralité armée, le consensus, le fédéralisme ou la démocratie. Mais cette mythologie tourne toujours un peu à vide, ce sera le propos de cet essai de le montrer.

A new species of Probursata Bravo-Hollis, 1984 (Mogenea: Heteraxinidae: Heteraxininae) parasite of Oligoplites spp. (Osteichthyes: Carangidae) from the coast of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Probursata brasiliensis n. sp., a gill filament parasite of carangid fishes, O. palometa (Cuvier), Oligoplites saurus (Bloch & Schneider), and O. saliens (Bloch), from the Brazilian coast, is described and illustrated. The new species differs from Probursata veraecrucis Bravo-Hollis, 1984, the type and only species of this genus by the presence of spines in the auricular expansions of the genital atrium, by the trifurcate supplementary process of the clamp's midsclerite, and by having a larger number of tests and clamps. This is the first record of the genus Probursata Bravo-Hollis, 1984, in the South Atlantic Ocean.