At the request of the PLoS Computational Biology Editor-inChief, I agreed to write about computational biology in Brazil (see author information in Box 1). That meant describing: a) the history of the field in our country (short as the history of the field itself is short); b) the current state of the field in Brazil; c) the influence of computational biology–related technologies on the develop...

During the 1980s and early 1990s, the world insurance market grew substantially. World insurance premiums in 1993 accounted for about 8 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP), compared to 4 percent in 1984. This article explains a substantial proportion of the variation in propertyliability insurance consumption across countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and ...

The international pattern of obesity is only partly understood. While in developed countries the association between education and obesity is inverse, in the developing world social distribution of obesity is less predictable. We examined obesity patterns in three countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE): Russia, Poland and the Czech Republic, middle-income post-communist countries undergo...

In fiscal year 1982, Federal, State, and local governments spent $592.6 billion for public social welfare purposes.r This was an increase of $42.1 billion, or 7.6 percent, over the amount spent on social welfare the previous year. Measured in constant dollars, such expenditures rose 1.7 percent from 1981 to 1982. Social welfare spending represented 19.3 percent of Gross National Product (GNP) i...

China is a developing country. Now it is confronted with the dual task of developing the economy and protecting the environment. Proceeding from its national conditions, China has, in the process of promoting its overall modernization program, made environmental protection one of its basic national policies, regarded the realization of sustainable development as an important strategy and carrie...

In fiscal year 1978, social welfare expenditures under public laws reached $394.5 billion, a 9.1-percent increase over the previous year. When adjusted for price and population changes, the total was only 2.5 percent higher in "real" terms. Per capita real expenditures rose by 1 percent in 1978, compared with an increase of 2 percent in 1977. For the second successive year, social welfare expen...

Designed to provide all those interested in Africa with quick reference and a reliable set of data to monitor development programs and aid flows in the region, this is an invaluable reference tool for analysts and policy makers who want a better understanding of the economic and social developments occurring in Africa. tBasic indicators tNational and fiscal accounts tExternal accounts and excha...

This paper gives an up-to-date estimate of the costs of road accidents in Iran. Conventional methods of estimating costs are considered together with special factors which apply to Iran. An attempt is made to quantify direct and indirect costs of accidents, including considerations relating to the exercise of Shar'ia law. The overall results show that road accidents account for between 1.4 and ...