2010 Iowa Youth Survey State of Iowa Results, June 2011

The Iowa Department of Public Health (IDPH) collaborated with schools in Iowa to conduct the 2014 Iowa Youth Survey (IYS). In a series of surveys that have been completed every two or three years since 1975. The survey is conducted with students in grades 6, 8, and 11 attending Iowa public and private schools. The IYS includes questions about students’ behaviors, attitudes, and beliefs, as well as their perceptions of peer, family, school, neighborhood, and community environments.

Partisan targeting of inter-governmental transfers & state interference in local elections: evidence from Spain

[spa] En este trabajo examinamos si, en la asignación de transferencias, los gobernantes regionales discriminan a favor de los gobiernos locales controlados por el mismo partido político, y si las perspectivas electorales de los gobiernos locales mejoran si están políticamente alineados con el gobierno regional. Con una nueva base de datos que considera 3.000 municipios españoles durante el período 2000-07 y un diseño de discontinuidad en la regresión, documentamos un efecto robusto de importante magnitud: en elecciones ajustadas, los municipios alineados con el gobierno regional reciben, en media, un 83% más de transferencias per cápita y su gobernante obtiene un 10% más de votos en las elecciones locales. También demostramos que el efecto de la alineación política es mayor: (i) si las elecciones regionales y locales se celebran el mismo día, (ii) en regiones donde las elecciones regionales son menos competidas, y (iii) en regiones con más recursos presupuestarios.

Partisan targeting of inter-governmental transfers & state interference in local elections: evidence from Spain

[spa] En este trabajo examinamos si, en la asignación de transferencias, los gobernantes regionales discriminan a favor de los gobiernos locales controlados por el mismo partido político, y si las perspectivas electorales de los gobiernos locales mejoran si están políticamente alineados con el gobierno regional. Con una nueva base de datos que considera 3.000 municipios españoles durante el período 2000-07 y un diseño de discontinuidad en la regresión, documentamos un efecto robusto de importante magnitud: en elecciones ajustadas, los municipios alineados con el gobierno regional reciben, en media, un 83% más de transferencias per cápita y su gobernante obtiene un 10% más de votos en las elecciones locales. También demostramos que el efecto de la alineación política es mayor: (i) si las elecciones regionales y locales se celebran el mismo día, (ii) en regiones donde las elecciones regionales son menos competidas, y (iii) en regiones con más recursos presupuestarios.

2016 Annual Report, Iowa Collaboration for Youth Development, February 1, 2016

The 2016 Annual Report includes our primary issue and goal, data that demonstrate the state’s current position, activities and accomplishments in the area of youth development completed by the ICYD Council in 2015; emerging activities being implemented in 2016; and recommended actions that will help Iowa achieve the ICYD goal – Increasing Iowa’s Graduation Rate to 95% by 2020. With the understanding that several issues (e.g. substance abuse, family, employment, teen pregnancy, and mental health) prevent many youth from graduating from high school, the ICYD Council agencies address these issues as individual agencies and work together as a team by making the best use of existing resources to maximize efficiency in state government in order to create substantial and lasting positive changes for Iowa’s youth.

Review of Automated Vehicle Technology: Policy and Implementation Implications; Version 1.0; RB28-015, 2016

This report provides recommendations for the state of Iowa over the next five years in regards to automated vehicle policy development. These administrative, planning, legal, and community strategy recommendations for government agencies include: • Encouraging automation by preparing government agencies, infrastructure, leveraging procurement, and advocating for safety mandates • Adjusting long range planning processes by identifying and incorporating a wide range of new automation scenarios • Beginning to analyze and, as necessary, clarify existing law as it apples to automated driving • Auditing existing law • Enforcing existing laws • Ensuring vehicle owners and operators bear the true cost of driving • Embracing flexibility by giving agencies the statutory authority to achieve regulatory goals through different means, allowing them to make small-scale exemptions to statutory regimes and clarifying their enforcement discretion • Thinking locally and preparing publicly • Sharing the steps being taken to promote (as well as to anticipate and regulate) automated driving • Instituting public education about automated vehicle technologies.

Argemone mexicana decoction versus artesunate-amodiaquine for the management of malaria in Mali: policy and public-health implications.

A classic way of delaying drug resistance is to use an alternative when possible. We tested the malaria treatment Argemone mexicana decoction (AM), a validated self-prepared traditional medicine made with one widely available plant and safe across wide dose variations. In an attempt to reflect the real situation in the home-based management of malaria in a remote Malian village, 301 patients with presumed uncomplicated malaria (median age 5 years) were randomly assigned to receive AM or artesunate-amodiaquine [artemisinin combination therapy (ACT)] as first-line treatment. Both treatments were well tolerated. Over 28 days, second-line treatment was not required for 89% (95% CI 84.1-93.2) of patients on AM, versus 95% (95% CI 88.8-98.3) on ACT. Deterioration to severe malaria was 1.9% in both groups in children aged </=5 years (there were no cases in patients aged >5 years) and 0% had coma/convulsions. AM, now government-approved in Mali, could be tested as a first-line complement to standard modern drugs in high-transmission areas, in order to reduce the drug pressure for development of resistance to ACT, in the management of malaria. In view of the low rate of severe malaria and good tolerability, AM may also constitute a first-aid treatment when access to other antimalarials is delayed.

Political centralization and government accountability

This paper studies fiscal federalism when regions differ in voters' ability to monitor publicofficials. We develop a model of political agency in which rent-seeking politicians providepublic goods to win support from heterogeneously informed voters. In equilibrium, voterinformation increases government accountability but displays decreasing returns. Therefore,political centralization reduces aggregate rent extraction when voter information varies acrossregions. It increases welfare as long as the central government is required to provide publicgoods uniformly across regions. The need for uniformity implies an endogenous trade off between reducing rents through centralization and matching idiosyncratic preferences throughdecentralization. We find that a federal structure with overlapping levels of government canbe optimal only if regional differences in accountability are sufficiently large. The modelpredicts that less informed regions should reap greater benefits when the central governmentsets a uniform policy. Consistent with our theory, we present empirical evidence that lessinformed states enjoyed faster declines in pollution after the 1970 Clean Air Act centralizedenvironmental policy at the federal level.

Marmora at the Tarraco of the Antonines: the assemblage of Sant Pau and Santa Tecla Hospital (Tarragona, Spain)

This paper presents an assemblage of marmora found during the archaeological excavation undertaken in 1992, a small part of the site where the Hospital of Sant Pau and Santa Tecla stands today, at Rambla Vella of Tarragona (Spain). Most of them are coloured marmora from a wide range of quarries: not only local (Santa Tecla stone, Alcover stone) and regional (broccatello) but also imported, such as giallo antico, pavonnazzetto, africano, portasanta, porfido rosso, serpentino, breccia di Settebasi. Even though some fine-grained, white marble fragments were also found, they are not being discussed here. Despite the small number of fragments recovered, this set is highly interesting as they were found in a clear, well-dated stratigraphical context: a soil from 125-150 AD that filled up some sort of building from Augustan times. The location of the site, on the limits of the upper part of the town, which was devoted to public areas (mainly related to the imperial worship, the provincial government and public), and the lower part of Tarraco, where the other activities (residential, colonial govern, etc) took place, is also significant. Therefore, both its location and its date are significant, as during this period the upper part of Roman Tarraco underwent major urban modifications which gave it the magnificence worthy of the capital of the largest province of the western part of Roman Empire.

The effects of regional educational policies on school failure in Spain

This paper presents a regional analysis of the effects of educational policies implemented in Spain between 1992 and 2003, focusing specifically on school failure rates. We consider the impact of expenditure per pupil, class size, and pupil-teacher ratio on dropout rates at the end of compulsory education and on the proportion of early school-leavers in the 18-24 year age group. Our results indicate that higher levels of educational expenditure per pupil and lower class sizes and pupil-teacher ratios reduce rates of dropout and early school-leaving (although class-size is not always significant). However, the magnitude of the effects of these variables is small at the average level.

Cost-effectiveness of early detection of breast cancer in Catalonia (Spain)

Background: Breast cancer (BC) causes more deaths than any other cancer among women in Catalonia. Early detection has contributed to the observed decline in BC mortality. However, there is debate on the optimal screening strategy. We performed an economic evaluation of 20 screening strategies taking into account the cost over time of screening and subsequent medical costs, including diagnostic confirmation, initial treatment, follow-up and advanced care. Methods: We used a probabilistic model to estimate the effect and costs over time of each scenario. The effect was measured as years of life (YL), quality-adjusted life years (QALY), and lives extended (LE). Costs of screening and treatment were obtained from the Early Detection Program and hospital databases of the IMAS-Hospital del Mar in Barcelona. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) was used to compare the relative costs and outcomes of different scenarios. Results: Strategies that start at ages 40 or 45 and end at 69 predominate when the effect is measured as YL or QALYs. Biennial strategies 50-69, 45-69 or annual 45-69, 40-69 and 40-74 were selected as cost-effective for both effect measures (YL or QALYs). The ICER increases considerably when moving from biennial to annual scenarios. Moving from no screening to biennial 50-69 years represented an ICER of 4,469€ per QALY. Conclusions: A reduced number of screening strategies have been selected for consideration by researchers, decision makers and policy planners. Mathematical models are useful to assess the impact and costs of BC screening in a specific geographical area.

Post-market environmental monitoring of Bt maize in Spain: Non-target effects of varieties derived from the event MON810 on predatory fauna

The Spanish Government has established post-market environmental monitoring (PMEM) as mandatory for genetically modified (GM) crop varieties cultivated in Spain. In order to comply with this regulation, effects of Bt maize varieties derived from the event MON810 on the predatory fauna were monitored for two years in northeast and central Spain. The study was carried out with a randomized block design in maize fields of 3-4 ha on which the abundance of plant-dwelling predators and the activity-density of soil-dwelling predators in Bt vs. non-Bt near-isogenic varieties were compared. To this end, the plots were sampled by visual inspection of a certain number of plants and pitfall traps 6 or 7 times throughout two seasons. No significant differences in predator densities on plants were found between Bt and non-Bt varieties. In the pitfall traps, significant differences between the two types of maize were found only in Staphylinidae, in which trap catches in non-Bt maize were higher than in Bt maize in central Spain. Based on the statistical power of the assays, surrogate arthropods for PMEM purposes are proposed; Orius spp. and Araneae for visual sampling and Carabidae, Araneae, and Staphylinidae for pitfall trapping. The other predator groups recorded in the study, Nabis sp. and Coccinellidae in visual sampling and Dermaptera in pitfall trapping, gave very poor power results. To help to establish a standardized protocol for PMEM of genetically modified crops, the effect-detecting capacity with a power of 0.8 of each predator group is given.

Welfare spending and ethnic heterogeneity. Evidence from a massive immigration wave

[spa] En este trabajo se analiza la relación entre la heterogeneidad étnica y la redistribución, utilizando la reciente y masiva llegada de inmigrantes a España. En concreto, se estudia el efecto de los cambios en la densidad de inmigrantes, observada entre 1998 y 2006, sobre los cambios en el gasto social municipal. La densidad de inmigrantes se instrumenta utilizando los patrones de establecimiento por país de origen para asignar los flujos predichos de inmigrantes a cada municipio. Los resultados evidencian que el gasto social incrementó menos en los municipios con mayores incrementos en la densidad de inmigrantes. También se proporciona evidencia de la existencia de una relación positiva entre la densidad de inmigrantes y el porcentaje de voto obtenidos por los partidos de derecha. Por tanto, estos resultados son consistentes con las teorías que predicen una relación negativa entre la heterogeneidad étnica y la redistribución.

Welfare spending and ethnic heterogeneity. Evidence from a massive immigration wave

[spa] En este trabajo se analiza la relación entre la heterogeneidad étnica y la redistribución, utilizando la reciente y masiva llegada de inmigrantes a España. En concreto, se estudia el efecto de los cambios en la densidad de inmigrantes, observada entre 1998 y 2006, sobre los cambios en el gasto social municipal. La densidad de inmigrantes se instrumenta utilizando los patrones de establecimiento por país de origen para asignar los flujos predichos de inmigrantes a cada municipio. Los resultados evidencian que el gasto social incrementó menos en los municipios con mayores incrementos en la densidad de inmigrantes. También se proporciona evidencia de la existencia de una relación positiva entre la densidad de inmigrantes y el porcentaje de voto obtenidos por los partidos de derecha. Por tanto, estos resultados son consistentes con las teorías que predicen una relación negativa entre la heterogeneidad étnica y la redistribución.

Why do university graduates regret their study program? A comparison between Spain and the Netherlands

[cat] En aquest article investiguem els factors que porten a universitaris espanyols i holandesos a lamentar els estudis cursats. Espanya i Holanda tenen un sistema educatiu molt diferent en termes de la rigidesa de l’educació secundària i el vincle entre l’educació i el mercat laboral. Comparant Espanya i Holanda ens permet aprendre sobre les conseqüències de dos sistemes educatius molt diferenciats a la probabilitat de lamentar els estudis cursats. Basant-nos en la literatura psicològica sobre l’arrepentiment/lamentació, derivem unes hipòtesis de partida que contrastem empíricament. Els resultats mostren que tant la rigidesa de l’educació secundària com el desajustament entre educació i ocupació són factors importants per explicar la lamentació dels estudis universitaris cursats. L’article conclou amb recomenacions sobre el sistema educatiu universitari.

Why do university graduates regret their study program? A comparison between Spain and the Netherlands

[cat] En aquest article investiguem els factors que porten a universitaris espanyols i holandesos a lamentar els estudis cursats. Espanya i Holanda tenen un sistema educatiu molt diferent en termes de la rigidesa de l’educació secundària i el vincle entre l’educació i el mercat laboral. Comparant Espanya i Holanda ens permet aprendre sobre les conseqüències de dos sistemes educatius molt diferenciats a la probabilitat de lamentar els estudis cursats. Basant-nos en la literatura psicològica sobre l’arrepentiment/lamentació, derivem unes hipòtesis de partida que contrastem empíricament. Els resultats mostren que tant la rigidesa de l’educació secundària com el desajustament entre educació i ocupació són factors importants per explicar la lamentació dels estudis universitaris cursats. L’article conclou amb recomenacions sobre el sistema educatiu universitari.