Practice and Lived Experience of Menstrual Exiles (Chhaupadi) among Adolescent Girls in Far Western Nepal. December 2018

Background: Menstrual exile, also known as Chhaupadi, is a tradition of “untouchability” in far-western Nepal. Forbidden from touching other people and objects, women and girls are required to live away from the community, typically in a livestock shed, during menstruation. We assessed the lived experiences of Chhaupadi among Nepalese adolescent girls in the far-western Achham district of Nepal, observed the safety and sanitation of their living spaces during Chhaupadi, and assessed the perceptions of local adult stakeholders towards the practice of Chhaupadi. Methods: We collected data from 107 adolescent girls using a self-administered survey in two local schools in Achham. We also conducted a focus group discussion with seven girls, held key informant interviews, and observed the girls’ living spaces during Chhaupadi, using a checklist. Descriptive statistics of the quantitative survey and thematic analyses of qualitative interviews are presented. Results: The majority of the girls (n = 77, 72%) practiced exile, or Chhaupadi, during their menstruation, including 3 (4%) exiled to traditional Chhau sheds, 63 (82%) to livestock sheds, and 11 (14%) to courtyards outside their home. The remaining girls (n = 30, 28%) stayed inside the house, yet practiced some form of menstrual taboos. Of the 77 observed living spaces where the girls stayed during exile, only 30% (n = 23) had a toilet facility. Most exiled girls (97.4%) were restricted from eating dairy products. Participants reported having various psychological problems, including lonliness and difficulty sleeping while practicing Chhaupadi. Three of the girls were physically abused; nine were bitten by a snake. Notably high proportions of the living spaces lacked ventilation/windows (n = 20, 26%), electricity (n = 29, 38%), toilets (n = 54, 70%) and a warm blanket and mattress for sleeping (n = 29, 38%). Our qualitative findings supported our quantitative results. Conclusions: Chhaupadi has been condemned by human rights organizations. While the government has banned the practice, implementation on the ban is proceeding slowly, especially in far-western Nepal. Thus, as a temporary measure, public health professionals must work towards promoting the health and safety of Nepalese women and girls still practicing Chhaupadi

Experimental Examination of Vorticity Stripping from a Wing-Tip Vortex in Free-Stream Turbulence

Time-resolved stereoscopic particle image velocimetry measurements were conducted of a wing-tip vortex decaying in free-stream turbulence. The objective of the research was to experimentally investigate the mechanism causing the increased rate of decay of the vortex in the presence of turbulence. It was observed that the circulation of the vortex core experienced periods of rapid loss and recovery when immersed in free-stream turbulence. These events were not observed when the vortex was in a laminar free stream. A connection was made between these events and distortion of the vortex, coinciding with stripping of core fluid from the vortex core. Specifically, vortex stripping events were connected to asymmetry in the vortex core, and this asymmetry was associated with instances of rapid circulation loss. The increased rate of decay of the vortex in turbulence coincided with the formation of secondary vortical structures which wrapped azimuthally around the primary vortex

An Experimental Investigation of Wing-Tip Vortex Decay in Turbulence

Particle image velocimetry measurements were conducted for a wing-tip vortex decaying in free-stream turbulence. The vortex exhibited stochastic collapse with free-stream turbulence present, with the breakdown initiating earlier for higher levels of turbulence. An increased rate of decay of the vortex tangential velocity was also observed, increasing with increasing free-stream turbulence. The decay of the vortex tangential velocity without the free-stream turbulence was well represented by viscous diffusion, resulting in an increase in the core radius and decrease in the peak tangential velocity. With the addition of free-stream turbulence, the rate of decay of the peak tangential velocity of the vortex increases, whereas the rate of increase of core radius remains unchanged. The circulation of the vortex decayed in time when immersed in free-stream turbulence, whereas it remained approximately constant when free-stream turbulence was not present. This decay in circulation was found to be almost entirely due to a decrease in circulation of the vortex core, caused by the relative decrease in the peak tangential velocity without a corresponding increase in the core radius. The scaling of the radial profiles of velocity and circulation was also examined, and it was found that, regardless of the free-stream condition, the core was scaled by the peak tangential velocity and core radius. The region outside the core did not scale with these quantities, and an alternative scaling for circulation is proposed which results in improved collapse of the profiles

Optimization of windspeed prediction using an artificial neural network compared with a genetic programming model

The precise prediction of windspeed is essential in order to improve and optimize wind power prediction. However, due to the sporadic and inherent complexity of weather parameters, the prediction of windspeed data using different patterns is difficult. Machine learning (ML) is a powerful tool to deal with uncertainty and has been widely discussed and applied in renewable energy forecasting. In this chapter, the authors present and compare an artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic programming (GP) model as a tool to predict windspeed of 15 locations in Queensland, Australia. After performing feature selection using neighborhood component analysis (NCA) from 11 different metrological parameters, seven of the most important predictor variables were chosen for 85 Queensland locations, 60 of which were used for training the model, 10 locations for model validation, and 15 locations for the model testing. For all 15 target sites, the testing performance of ANN was significantly superior to the GP model