Education, Employment and Earnings of Secondary School-Leavers in Tanzania: Evidence from a Tracer Study

The extent of information on labour market outcomes and the earnings of educated groups in Tanzania, and Sub-Saharan Africa more generally, are limited. This is particularly so for individuals who fail to gain access to wage employment and are required to rely on exploiting self-employment opportunities. The current paper, using a recently completed tracer survey of secondary school completers, analyses the impact of education and training on individual welfare through the estimation of earnings equations. Our empirical evidence suggests that the rates of return to educational qualifications are not negligible and, at the margin, provide an investment incentive. However, we find little evidence of human capital effects in the earnings determination process in the self-employment sector. Information contained in the tracer survey allowed the introduction of controls for father’s educational background and a set of school fixed effects designed to proxy for school quality and potential labour market network effects. The analysis shows that the inclusion of these controls tends to reduce the estimated rates of return to educational qualifications. This emphasizes the potential confounding role of school quality/network effects and parental background for rate of return analysis. We would argue that a failure to control for such background variables potentially leads to an over-statement in the estimated returns to education. A comparison of our results with evidence from other countries in the region shows that despite an extremely small secondary and university education system the private rates of return to education in the Tanzanian wage employment sector are relatively low.

University Research Supports Groundwater Availability Studies of the Hueco Bolson Aquifer, El Paso/Juarez Area

Water supply and water quality problems facing the City of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez are complex and interrelated. The twin cities share the water resources of the Hueco Bolson, a Tertiary and Quaternary basin fill aquifer that spans the international border. The binational metroplex is located at the junction between the western edge of Texas and the northernmost part of Chihuahua, Mexico. Over-pumping of the Hueco Bolson aquifer has resulted in drawdown of the water table, encroachment of brackish groundwater, and the early retirement of wells. In response to these issues, Mexican and American universities formed a partnership to study the surface and ground-water resources of the El Paso/Juarez area. Governmental agencies are participating in the project by providing existing data, access to water wells, and other support services. The research team is applying a suite of isotopic tracers to provide an understanding of the spatial dynamics of the aquifers by tracing water from areas of recharge to regions of discharge. The team is also using a variety of geochemical and isotopic tracers to answer questions about increasing salinity in the developed parts of the aquifer. With an increased understanding of the flowpaths of the aquifer systems, the team is addressing stream-aquifer interactions between the groundwater systems and the Rio Grande. By combining an understanding of isotopic and geochemical changes in the river system with the information about the groundwater systems, the team is calculating fluxes of water and solutes from the groundwater system to the river system. Finally, this geochemical and isotopic information is being used by the municipal partners to constrain physical and management models of groundwater to utilize the fresh and saline water resources of the Hueco Bolson more effectively

IMPLEMENTASI PELAYANAN MANASIK CALON JAMAAH HAJI DI KBIHU HARAMAIN KOTA PEKANBARU

Latar belakang dari penelitian ini adalah ibadah Haji harus menjadi fokus utama untuk ditingkatkan, yang sifatnya fisik seperti akomodasi, konsumsi, dan transportasi harus ditingkatkan. Namun, bukan berarti yang nonfisik ditinggalkan. Maka harus menambah kualitas penyelenggaraan ini dengan sifatnya nonfisik yaitu dalam segi pelayanan manasik. Manasik haji ini memiliki tujuan untuk meningkatkan ilmu pengetahuan, khususnya tentang tata cara pelaksanaan ibadah haji yang benar, maka manasik haji dianggap penting dan harus diikuti dengan sungguh-sungguh oleh setiap calon jamaah haji. Dengan demikian tujuan penelitian ini ialah untuk mengetahui bagaimana implementasi pelayanan manasik calon jamaah haji di KBIHU Haramain kota Pekanbaru. Informan penelitian ini berjumlah empat (4) orang. Data dikumpulkan melalui wawancara, observasi, dan dokumentasi serta dianalisis dengan metode deskriptif kualitatif. Berdasarkan hasil penelitian dapat disimpulkan bahwa implementasi pelayanan manasik KBIHU Haramain terhadap calon jamaah haji memperhatikan lima (5) konsep kualitas pelayanan yaitu: Pertama, Bukti fisik (Tangibles) yang meliputi penampilan pegawai dan sarana prasarana. Kedua, Kehandalan (Reliability) yang meliputi akurat dan terpercaya. Ketiga, Ketanggapan (Responsiveness) yang meliputi pelayanan cepat dan tepat. Keempat, Jaminan (Assurance) yang meliputi kesopanan dan kompetensi. Kelima, Perhatian individual (Empathy) yang meliputi komunikasi dan perhatian pribadi

Do What I Mean: Online Shopping with a Natural Language Search Agent

Ineffective search engines on e-catalog sites are driving away potential customers. Natural-language querying improves precision and parsing capability, and with advances in the technology, it can also meet these shopping sites\u27 performance demands

Diroximel fumarate in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: Final safety and efficacy results from the phase 3 EVOLVE-MS-1 study

BACKGROUND: Diroximel fumarate (DRF) is approved for adults with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) in Europe and for relapsing forms of MS in the United States. DRF and dimethyl fumarate (DMF) yield bioequivalent exposure of the active metabolite monomethyl fumarate. Prior studies indicated fewer gastrointestinal (GI)-related adverse events (AEs) with DRF compared with DMF. OBJECTIVE: To report final outcomes from EVOLVE-MS-1. METHODS: EVOLVE-MS-1 was an open-label, 96-week, phase 3 study assessing DRF safety, tolerability, and efficacy in patients with RRMS. The primary endpoint was safety and tolerability; efficacy endpoints were exploratory. RESULTS: Overall, 75.7% (800/1057) of patients completed the study; median exposure was 1.8 (range: 0.0-2.0) years. AEs occurred in 938 (88.7%) patients, mostly of mild (28.9%) or moderate (50.3%) severity. DRF was discontinued due to AEs in 85 (8.0%) patients, with \u3c 2% discontinuing due to GI or flushing/flushing-related AEs. At Week 96, mean number of gadolinium-enhancing lesions was significantly reduced from baseline (72.7%; CONCLUSION: DRF was generally well tolerated over 2 years, with few discontinuations due to AEs; radiological measures indicated decreased disease activity from baseline. These outcomes support DRF as a treatment option in patients with RRMS

CD4+ T-lymphopenia in HIV negative tuberculous patients at King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Tuberculosis (Tb) is a chronic infectious disease in which the cellular immunity (specifically CD4+ and CD8 lymphocytes) provides the most important defense in controlling infection. CD4 lymphopenia is a well-defined risk factor for the development of active tuberculosis in patients infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus. In HIV - negative patients, CD4 and CD8 cell count suppression has been associated with Tb infection. Our study was designed to deter mine the baseline and post-treatment values of CD4 and CD8 in HIV negative patients diagnosed with active Tb in Saudi Arabian patients. We recruited twentyeight, non-HIV patients with tuberculosis for the study group comprising 16 males and 12 females with either disseminated or localized active Tb infection. Two control groups were selected - one of twenty one matched healthy controls and the second of fortytwo subjects from pool of controls of an ongoing study in same population for normal CD4 and CD8 counts. The baseline pre-treatment CD4 and CD8 counts in the study group were significantly lower than either control group. Specifically the mean ± SD of CD4 counts were 556.79 ± 298.81 in the study group vs 1,132.38 ± 259.90 in control group 1 and 1,424.38 ± 870.98 in control group 2 (p 0.000). Likewise the CD8 counts in the study group were 1,136.00 ± 512.06 vs. 1,461.90 ± 367.02 in control group 1 and 1,495.90 ± 565.32 in control group 2 (p 0.000) respectively. After treatment of tuberculosis, the study patients experienced a significant increase in their mean ± SD CD4 and CD8 cell counts, from 556.79 ± 297.81 to 954.29 ± 210.90 for CD4 cells (p 0.005) and 1136.00 ± 512.06 to 1,316.54 ± 286.17 for CD8 cells (p 0.002). Analysis of study patients with disseminated disease found significantly lower CD4 cells (but not lower CD8 cells) compared to study patients with localized disease, both at baseline and after treatment. The mean ± SD baseline CD4 cells were 247.60 ± 187.80 with disseminated vs 728.56 ± 186.32 for localized disease (p = 0.000) which rose to 842.30 ± 93.55 vs 1016.50 ± 233.51 (p = 0.033) respectively. We conclude that tuberculosis may be associated with CD4 and CD8 lymphopenia even in patients without human immunodeficiency virus infection, there was the tendency of recovery towards normality especially of the CD4 and CD8 counts after treatment, and that disseminated disease is associated specifically with profound CD4 lymphopenia