How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected the climate change debate on Twitter?

Climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic share many similarities. However, in the past months, concerns have increased about the fact the health emergency has put on hold during the pandemic many climate adaptation and mitigation policies. We focus our attention on understanding the role of the recent health emergency on the transmission of information related to climate change, jointly with other socio-economic variables, social norms, and cultural dimensions. In doing so, we create a unique dataset containing the number of tweets written with specific climate related keywords per country worldwide, as well as country specific socio-economic characteristics, relevant social norms, and cultural variables. We find that socio-economic variables, such as income, education, and other risk-related variables matter in the transmission of information about climate change and Twitter activity. We also find that the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly decreased the overall number of messages written about climate change, postponing the climate debate worldwide; but particularly in some vulnerable countries. This shows that in spite of the existing climate emergency, the current pandemic has had a detrimental effect over the short-term planning of climate policies in countries where climate action is urgent.

Why is the market for hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) moving slowly?

Hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) could be a good short term option to help achieve global targets regarding road transport greenhouse gas emissions. Several common and country-specific public policies based on price or tax rebates are established in order to encourage the adoption of HEVs. The present research empirically assesses market preferences for HEVs in Spain, looking at the role of subsidies. An interactive internet-based survey was conducted in a representative sample (N = 1,200) of Spanish drivers. Drivers are willing to pay an extra amount of €1,645 for a HEV model compared to a conventional vehicle, premium which is well below the price markup for these cars. Therefore, current levels of economic subsidies applied in isolation to promote these types of vehicles may have a quite limited effect in extending their use. Overall, it is found that drivers have clear misconceptions about HEVs, which affect their purchasing choices and perceptions. Therefore, a policy mix of various incentives (including informational campaigns) may be required in order to stimulate the demand for HEVs.

The incidence of calorie labeling on fast food choices: A comparison between stated preferences and actual choices.

In order to test the effect of calorie information on fast food choices, we conducted a questionnaire employing two types of stated preferences methods (the best-worst-scaling and intentional questions) and a follow-up randomized field experiment in a sample of 119 participants. This combined approach allowed us to test the internal validity of preferences for fast food meals across elicitation scenarios. The results showed that calorie information reduces the probability of selecting high calorie meals only in the questionnaire, while it did not have any significant impact on actual purchasing behavior in the field experiment. Thus, the findings show that there is a clear difference between the role of calorie information on immediate stated preference choices, and the relatively low level of responsiveness in real choices in a restaurant. We believe that the current results are quite suggestive, indicating the limits of predicting actual fast food behavior, and may open the way to using data sources that combine stated methods with field experiments.

Analyzing Beach Recreationists' Preferences for the Reduction of Jellyfish Blooms: Economic Results from a Stated-Choice Experiment in Catalonia, Spain.

Jellyfish outbreaks and their consequences appear to be on the increase around the world, and are becoming particularly relevant in the Mediterranean. No previous studies have quantified tourism losses caused by jellyfish outbreaks. We used a stated-choice questionnaire and a Random Utility Model to estimate the amount of time respondents would be willing to add to their journey, in terms of reported extra travel time, in order to reduce the risk of encountering jellyfish blooms in the Catalan coast. The estimation results indicated that the respondents were willing to spend on average an additional 23.8% of their travel time to enjoy beach recreation in areas with a lower risk of jellyfish blooms. Using as a reference the opportunity cost of time, we found that the subsample of individuals who made a trade-off between the disutility generated by travelling longer in order to lower the risk of jellyfish blooms, and the utility gained from reducing this risk, are willing to pay on average €3.20 per beach visit. This estimate, combined with the respondents' mean income, yielded annual economic gains associated with reduction of jellyfish blooms on the Catalan coast around €422.57 million, or about 11.95% of the tourism expenditures in 2012. From a policy-making perspective, this study confirms the importance of the economic impacts of jellyfish blooms and the need for mitigation strategies. In particular, providing daily information using social media applications or other technical devices may reduce these social costs. The current lack of knowledge about jellyfish suggests that providing this information to beach recreationists may be a substantially effective policy instrument for minimising the impact of jellyfish blooms.

Obesity, weight loss, and physician's advice.

Despite the increasing prevalence and economic costs of obesity in the USA, many physicians and other health care professionals do not advise their overweight and obese patients about weight loss. Using the 2001-2003 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data the purpose of our research is to investigate the relationship between individuals' receipt of physician's advice on weight loss and their tendency to eat fewer calories and fat or to use physical activity to lose weight. We find that physician's advice to lose weight has positive effects on both the probability of eating fewer calories and fat to lose weight and on the probability of using exercise to lose weight.

Re-evaluation of the basic procedures involved in the storage of measles vaccine in puplic health units of the municipality of niterói, state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Quatro anos após a primeira visita, dezessete unidades Sanitárias do Município de Niterói - RJ foram visitadas novamente e reavaliadas de acordo com as normas técnicas específicas estabelecidas pelo Programa Nacional de Imunizaçäo. Constatou-se que em 100 por cento das Unidades visitadas os cuidados com os refrigeradores e a arrumaçäo das vacinas no interior dos aparelhos eram adequados ou regulares mas quanto ao controle de temperatura dos refrigeradores este percentual caía para 64,7 por cento. De todos os itens avaliados, o mais problemático foi o apoio técnico imediato frente a situaçöes de emergência, considerado insuficiente em 94,1 por cento dos casos. Em 55,2 por cento das amostras vacinais recolhidas das unidades sanitárias, os títulos estavam abaixo da potência mínima preconizada para tal produto no momento da aplicaçäo. Verifica-se, deste modo, a necessidade de uma contínua avaliaçäo dos fatores que intervêm na cadeia de frio evitando-se, assim, que seja comprometida a qualidade das vacinas a serem utilizadas