The effects of a universal child benefit

I study the impact of a universal child benefit on fertility and family well-being. I exploitthe unanticipated introduction of a new, sizeable, unconditional child benefit in Spain in2007, granted to all mothers giving birth on or after July 1, 2007. The regressiondiscontinuity-type design allows for a credible identification of the causal effects. I find thatthe benefit did lead to a significant increase in fertility, as intended, part of it coming froman immediate reduction in abortions. On the unintended side, I find that families whoreceived the benefit did not increase their overall expenditure or their consumption ofdirectly child-related goods and services. Instead, eligible mothers stayed out of the laborforce significantly longer after giving birth, which in turn led to their children spending lesstime in formal child care and more time with their mother during their first year of life. Ialso find that couples who received the benefit were less likely to break up the year afterhaving the child, although this effect was only short-term. Taken together, the resultssuggest that child benefits of this kind may successfully increase fertility, as well asaffecting family well-being through their impact on maternal time at home and familystability.

Ovipositing behaviour of Compsobracon mirabilis (Szépligeti) (Hymenoptera, Braconidae) in a cerrado habitat, southeastern Brazil

The oviposition behaviour of the braconid parasitoid, Compsobracon mirabilis ( Szépligeti, 1901) is described. Observations were conducted in a cerrado region located in Três Marias, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The oviposition occurred in a branch of Alibertia concolor (Cham.) K. Schum. 1889 (Rubiaceae), inside of which there were thirteen larvae of an unidentified species of Lepidoptera.

Asymptotic behaviour of the density in a parabolic SPDE

Consider the density of the solution $X(t,x)$ of a stochastic heat equation with small noise at a fixed $t\in [0,T]$, $x \in [0,1]$.In the paper we study the asymptotics of this density as the noise is vanishing. A kind of Taylor expansion in powers of the noiseparameter is obtained. The coefficients and the residue of the expansion are explicitly calculated.In order to obtain this result some type of exponential estimates of tail probabilities of the difference between the approximatingprocess and the limit one is proved. Also a suitable local integration by parts formula is developped.

Molecular analysis and mating behaviour of the Trichophyton mentagrophytes species complex.

Isolates of the Trichophyton mentagrophytes complex vary phenotypically. Whether the closely related zoophilic and anthropophilic anamorphs currently associated with Arthroderma vanbreuseghemii have to be considered as members of the same biological species remains an open question. In order to better delineate species in the T. mentagrophytes complex, we performed a mating analysis of freshly collected isolates from humans and animals with A. benhamiae and A. vanbreuseghemii reference strains, in comparison to internal transcribed spacer (ITS) and 28S rDNA sequencing. Mating experiments as well as ITS and 28S sequencing unambiguously allowed the distinction of A. benhamiae and A. vanbreuseghemii. We have also shown that all the isolates from tinea pedis and tinea unguium identified as T. interdigitale based on ITS sequences mated with A. vanbreuseghemii tester strains, but had lost their ability to give fertile cleistothecia. Therefore, T. interdigitale has to be considered as a humanized species derived from the sexual relative A. vanbreuseghemii.