Subsidized Contraception, Fertility, and Sexual Behavior

This paper examines the impact of recent state-level Medicaid policy changes that expanded eligibility for family planning services to higher income women and to Medicaid clients whose benefits would expire otherwise. We begin by establishing that the income-based policy change led to a substantial increase in the number of program recipients. We then examine Vital Statistics birth data from 1990 to 2003 and determine that it also reduced overall births to non-teens by about two percent and to teens by over four percent. Our estimates suggest a nearly nine percent reduction in births to women age 20-44 made eligible by the policy change. We supplement our state-level analysis with an investigation of individual-level data from the 1988, 1995, and 2002 National Surveys of Family Growth (NSFG) to examine the impact of these policies on sexual behavior and contraceptive use. Evidence from this analysis suggests that the reduction in fertility associated with raising income thresholds for eligibility was accomplished via greater use of contraception. Our calculations indicate that allowing higher income women to receive federally-funded family planning cost on the order of $6,800 for each averted birth.

Relationship Between Physical Conditioning and Plasma High Density Lipoprotein-Cholesterol Concentration

Five subjects (three females and two males) took part in an exercise regimen in order to determine if aerobic exercise results in an increase in high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels (HDL-C) in the plasma. The exercise regimen consisted of running three miles a day, five days per week for six months. Running speed was at such a pace that the subjects attained a minimum of 60% of their maximal heart rate reserve (MHRR). Before the training program began the following parameters were measured in all of the subjects: height, weight, percent body fat, maximal oxygen consumption (Vₒ₂ max), vital capacity, resting heart rate, resting blood pressure, HDL-C, plasma triglycerides (TG), and plasma cholesterol (TC). These same measurements were retaken every two months and at the conclusion of the study. The exercise protocol produced significant changes in Vₒ₂ max and resting heart rate. None of the other parameters were significantly changed. The results of this study have shown that aerobic exercise does not cause significant changes in HDL-C levels

Welfare Reform and Non-Marital Fertility in the 1990s: Evidence from Birth Records

The 1996 Personal Responsibility Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act dramatically altered the economic incentive to bear children out-of-wedlock for economically disadvantaged women or couples most likely to avail themselves of welfare programs. We use data from vital statistics and a difference-in-differences research design to investigate whether state and federal welfare reform in the 1990s reduced rates of non-marital childbearing among women aged 19 to 39 at highest risk of welfare use, relative to women at lower risk. We find little consistent evidence for an effect of welfare reform on non-marital childbearing. This finding is similar to the literature that found little or mixed evidence for an effect of AFDC benefits. If anything, federal welfare reform has been associated with a small positive effect of two to three percent for white and black women ages 19 to 39.

Road transport and climate change: Stepping off the greenhouse gas

Transport is Australia’s third largest and second fastest growing source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The road transport sector makes up 88 percent of total transport emissions and the projected emissions increase from 1990 to 2020 is 64 percent. Achieving prospective emission reduction targets will pose major challenges for the road transport sector. This paper investigates two targets for reducing Australian road transport greenhouse gas emissions, and what they might mean for the sector: emissions in 2020 being 20 percent below 2000 levels; and emissions in 2050 being 80 percent below 2000 levels. Six ways in which emissions might be reduced to achieve these targets are considered. The analysis suggests that major behavioural and technological changes will be required to deliver significant emission reductions, with very substantial reductions in vehicle emission intensity being absolutely vital to making major inroads in road transport GHG emissions

Suicide Rates in Greece: Comparing Mortality Data with Police Reporting Statistics and Investigating Recent Trends

This paper analyzes recent suicide trends in Greece. It relies on two separate databases, vital statistics and police records, the latter never having been explored before. Those datasets present a different picture about the suicide rates and trends, confirming the crucial importance of data reliability and consistency in time trend analysis. Frequencies and ratios were calculated and compared using paired sample t-tests. Overtime trend changes were detected applying segment regression analysis on both data collections. Our findings suggest that there are important differences between vital and police statistics on suicides. At national level, over the period 1990–2013, vital statistics reported an average of 7 percent more suicides, annually. Differences were more pronounced among women and younger ages. Both datasets confirm a change in total suicide trends during recent recession, but police data analysis supports that increases are less impressive than vital statistics claim

In Vitro Incubation of Gills Isolated from the Gulf Killfish, Fundulus Grandis

The use of viable and reliable tissue preparations allows for experimental approaches in vitro that would not be possible in vivo. In this experiment, gills were isolated from gulf killifish, Fundulus grandis, and subjected to various incubation conditions. A combination of two types of media and two incubation apparatuses were compared in their ability to sustain tissues, as measured by the vital stain trypan blue (TB) and percent lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage. Trypan Blue analysis indicated no significant difference in tissue viability, regardless of the treatment or incubation time. However, percent LDH leakage analysis revealed that the two most influential variables were the medium and apparatus in which the gills were incubated. Interestingly, incubation time did not have a statistically significant influence on gill viability as measured by LDH leakage. The results of LDH leakage analysis suggest that incubation using SW in the 4 ml apparatus is the best combination tested

Female participation in African agricultural research and higher education: New insights

Female farmers play a vital role in African agriculture, accounting for the majority of the agricultural workforce. However, agricultural research and higher education are disproportionately led by men. There is an urgent need for greater representation of women in the field of agricultural science and technology (S&T) in Sub-Saharan Africa. Female scientists, professors, and senior managers offer different insights and perspectives to help research institutes to more fully address the unique and pressing challenges of both female and male farmers in the region. Gender-disaggregated data on S&T capacity are scarce, often lack sufficient detail, and focus more generally on S&T rather than on agriculture specifically. Data are not always comparable due to different methodologies and coverage. The Agricultural Science and Technology Indicators (ASTI) initiative and the CGIAR Gender & Diversity (G&D) Program partnered together to address this information gap. This report presents the results of an in-depth benchmarking survey on gender-disaggregated capacity indicators, covering 125 agricultural research and higher education agencies in 15 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This is the first study of its kind to present detailed human resources data on female participation in agricultural science, the main findings of which include the following: • Total capacity in terms of the professional staff employed at the agricultural research and higher education agencies included in this study increased by 20 percent between 2000/01 and 2007/08, and women constituted almost half of this capacity increase. The female population of professional staff grew by eight percent per year on average, which is four times higher than the comparable rate of increase for the male population, indicating that the gender gap in African agricultural sciences is closing. • The proportion of female professional staff employed at the sample agricultural research and higher education agencies increased from 18 percent in 2000/01 to 24 percent in 2007/08, but fewer women have advanced degrees compared to their male colleagues. In 2007/08, for example, 27 percent of the sample’s professional women held PhD degrees compared with 37 percent of the sample’s professional men. • Of concern, about two-thirds of the overall (female and male) capacity increase comprised staff holding only BSc degrees, indicating that the overall quality of capacity in agricultural research and higher education is declining in some Sub-Saharan African countries. Notably, the total number of male professional staff trained to the MSc level declined between 2000/01 and 2007/08; however, more in-depth analysis is needed to explain the underlying causes of these shifts and to what degree they represent structural changes. • Levels of female participation in agricultural research and higher education among the sample agencies were particularly low in Ethiopia (6 percent), Togo (9 percent), Niger (10 percent), and Burkina Faso (12 percent). Shares of female professional staff were much higher in South Africa, Mozambique, and Botswana (32, 35, and 41 percent, respectively). • The female share of students enrolled in higher agricultural education was higher than the female shares of professional staff employed at the agricultural research and higher education agencies in most cases, but a significant proportion of the female students concerned were undertaking only BSc-level studies (83 percent). • Only 14 percent of the management positions were held by women, which is considerably lower than the share of female professional staff employed at the sample’s agricultural research and higher education agencies (24 percent). • The pool of female staff is much younger on average than the pool of male staff. • The prevalence of female professional staff is comparatively higher in fields related to life and social sciences, and comparatively lower in fields involving areas traditionally thought of as “hard science”, such as engineering.agricultural R&D, Sub-Saharan Africa, female participation, S&T capacity, agricultural higher education,

Nepal Earthquake Humanitarian Situation Report: Three Months Review

This report discusses the current humanitarian situation in Nepal. Three months after the two major earthquakes affected 2.8 million Nepalese lives, 1.1 million children are still in need of vital humanitarian assistance. Three months after the devastating earthquakes of 25 April and 12 May which struck Nepal, the overall humanitarian situation has improved. The frequency of aftershocks has decreased and several countries have lifted their travel restrictions to Nepal. On 22 June, the Government of Nepal also declared an end to the emergency phase and a shift from humanitarian response to recovery. These recovery and reconstruction efforts are guided by the findings of the Government-led Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA) and supported by the International Conference on Nepal's Reconstruction on 25 June where the international community pledged two-thirds ($4.4 billion) of the$6.7 billion appeal by the Government. The total financial losses from the earthquakes is estimated as $7.06 billion according to the PDNA findings.Despite these advancements, over 5.2 million people live in the 31 districts that have been affected out of which 2.8 million people who live in the 14 most affected districts are still in need of vital humanitarian assistance1. Of this population, an estimated 1.1 million (40 percent) are children. Shelter, food and livelihood support, medical care, sanitation and hygiene, education, nutrition supplements and protection remain as key humanitarian needs. As of mid-July, the number of casualties reached 8,8972 people of which 30 per cent are children3, and 22,310 people have been injured.The situation is projected to worsen with the impact from the monsoon which began mid-June. The heavy monsoon rains will add complexities to the existing needs and to the already challenging logistical access to remote districts, potentially delaying the post-earthquake recovery process. Indeed an estimated 90 per cent of the earthquake-affected population is living in areas which are at high risk of landslides and floods. Over 5,600 landslides were observed after the 25 April earthquake, which is much higher than the total number of landslides reported in the past five years combined

Europe, Middle East, and North Africa (EMN) region population projections : 1989-90 edition

The population of the region is growing at 2.4 percent a year, second only to the Africa region, and should double in size in about 30 years. Regional growth would appear even more rapid were growth not offset by slow and even negative growth in the Eastern and Southern European countries included in the region. The projections of fertility and mortality are modeled on recent trends worldwide,and therefore incorporate the effects of deliberate efforts to reduce vital rates in various countries. Although altering projected trends is possible, it would require at least as much demographic interventions as in the recent past. The projections in the report cover almost two centuries, from 1985 to 2150. The length of the projection period was chosen to allow populations to approach stability, which for several takes essentially the entire period. The report begins with an introduction which explains what projection results are provided in the detailed tables, describes the projection methodology, and summarizes and interprets the main results.Demographics,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Indicators,Health Information&Communications Technologies,

Hot spots in density fingering of exothermic autocatalytic chemical fronts

A light field is commonly described by a two-plane representation with four dimensions. Refocused three-dimensional contents can be rendered from light field images. A method for capturing these images is by using cameras with microlens arrays. A dense sampling of the light field results in large amounts of redundant data. Therefore, an efficient compression is vital for a practical use of these data. In this paper, we propose a displacement intra prediction scheme with a maximum of two hypotheses for the compression of plenoptic contents from focused plenoptic cameras. The proposed scheme is further implemented into HEVC. The work is aiming at coding plenoptic captured contents efficiently without knowing underlying camera geometries. In addition, the theoretical analysis of the displacement intra prediction for plenoptic images is explained; the relationship between the compressed captured images and their rendered quality is also analyzed. Evaluation results show that plenoptic contents can be efficiently compressed by the proposed scheme. Bit rate reduction up to 60 percent over HEVC is obtained for plenoptic images, and more than 30 percent is achieved for the tested video sequences