A comparative study of adders

This report compares the area, delay, complexity (in terms of gate count) and power of 16, 32 and 64 bit versions of different types of serial and parallel adders. Ripple carry adder, Carry look-ahead adder, carry select adder and parallel prefix adders like Brent-Kung, Kogge-Stone, Han-Carlson and Ladner-Fischer were studied. For the parallel adders schematics were designed in Cadence Virtuoso Schematic Editor using 2 input NAND, NOR and INVERTER gate as the standard cells in 45nm technology. The other adders were implemented using structural Verilog and synthesized using Design Vision (by Synopsys). Auto Place and Route was performed using Cadence Encounter to get the layout of the adders and then Parasitic Extraction was performed to get the actual routing delay. Post-PNR netlist was used to compare the area, delay and power of the various adders. Area-Delay product was used as a figure of merit to compare the adders.Electrical and Computer Engineerin

Overestimation of Vitamin a Supplementation Coverage from District Tally Sheets Demonstrates Importance of Population-Based Surveys for Program Improvement: Lessons from Tanzania.

Tanzania has conducted a national twice-yearly Vitamin A supplementation (VAS) campaign since 2001. Administrative coverage rates based on tally sheets consistently report >90% coverage; however the accuracy of these rates are uncertain due to potential errors in tally sheets and their aggregation, incomplete or inaccurate reporting from distribution sites, and underestimating the target population. The post event coverage survey in Mainland Tanzania sought to validate tally-sheet based national coverage estimates of VAS and deworming for the June 2010 mass distribution round, and to characterize children missed by the national campaign. WHO/EPI randomized cross-sectional cluster sampling methodology was adapted for this study, using 30 clusters by 40 individuals (n = 1200), in addition to key informant interviews. Households with children 6-59 months of age were included in the study (12-59 months for deworming analysis). Chi-squared tests and logistic regression analysis were used to test differences between children reached and not reached by VAS. Data was collected within six weeks of the June 2010 round. A total of 1203 children, 58 health workers, 30 village leaders and 45 community health workers were sampled. Preschool VAS coverage was 65% (95% CI: 62.7-68.1), approximately 30% lower than tally-sheet coverage estimates. Factors associated with not receiving VAS were urban residence [OR = 3.31; p = 0.01], caretakers who did not hear about the campaign [OR = 48.7; p<0.001], and Muslim households [OR<3.25; p<0.01]. There were no significant differences in VAS coverage by child sex or age, or maternal age or education. Coverage estimation for vitamin A supplementation programs is one of most powerful indicators of program success. National VAS coverage based on a tally-sheet system overestimated VAS coverage by ∼30%. There is a need for representative population-based coverage surveys to complement and validate tally-sheet estimates

Conceptual framework of food systems for children and adolescents

Transforming food systems is essential to ensuring nutritious, safe, affordable, and sustainable diets for all, including children and adolescents. This paper proposes a new conceptual framework (the ‘Innocenti Frame­ work’) to better articulate how the diets of children and adolescents are shaped by food systems. The framework is comprised of a set of food system drivers, determinants (namely, food supply chains, external food environ­ ments, personal food environments, and behaviors of caregivers, children and adolescents), influencers, and interactions, which together determine children’s and adolescents’ diets. The conceptual framework conceptu­ alizes the dynamic linkages between the elements of food systems, and highlights the importance of continuously shaping food systems to deliver nutritious, safe, affordable, and sustainable diets to children and adolescents

Birthing practices of traditional birth attendants in South Asia in the context of training programmes

Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA) training has been an important component of public health policy interventions to improve maternal and child health in developing countries since the 1970s. More recently, since the 1990s, the TBA training strategy has been increasingly seen as irrelevant, ineffective or, on the whole, a failure due to evidence that the maternal mortality rate (MMR) in developing countries had not reduced. Although, worldwide data show that, by choice or out of necessity, 47 percent of births in the developing world are assisted by TBAs and/or family members, funding for TBA training has been reduced and moved to providing skilled birth attendants for all births. Any shift in policy needs to be supported by appropriate evidence on TBA roles in providing maternal and infant health care service and effectiveness of the training programmes. This article reviews literature on the characteristics and role of TBAs in South Asia with an emphasis on India. The aim was to assess the contribution of TBAs in providing maternal and infant health care service at different stages of pregnancy and after-delivery and birthing practices adopted in home births. The review of role revealed that apart from TBAs, there are various other people in the community also involved in making decisions about the welfare and health of the birthing mother and new born baby. However, TBAs have changing, localised but nonetheless significant roles in delivery, postnatal and infant care in India. Certain traditional birthing practices such as bathing babies immediately after birth, not weighing babies after birth and not feeding with colostrum are adopted in home births as well as health institutions in India. There is therefore a thin precarious balance between the application of biomedical and traditional knowledge. Customary rituals and perceptions essentially affect practices in home and institutional births and hence training of TBAs need to be implemented in conjunction with community awareness programmes

The Ethics of Care: Normative Structures and Empirical Implications

In this article I argue that the ethics of care provides us with a novel reading of human relations, and therefore makes possible a fresh approach to several empirical challenges. In order to explore this connection, I discuss some specific normative features of the ethics of care—primarily the comprehension of the moral agent and the concept of care—as these two key elements contribute substantially to a new ethical outlook. Subsequently, I argue that the relational and reciprocal mode of thinking with regard to the moral agent must be extended to our understanding of care. I term this comprehension “mature care”. Citing conflicts of interests as examples, I demonstrate how this conceptualization of care may further advance the ethics of care’s ability to take on empirical challenges. Finally, I discuss political implications that may emanate from the ethics of care and the concept of mature care

Conclusions and recommendations of a who expert consultation meeting on iron supplementation for infants and young children in malaria endemic areas [Conclusions et recommandations à l\u27issue de la consultation de l\u27oms sur la lutte contre la carence martiale chez le nourrisson et le jeune enfant dans les pays d\u27endémie palustre]

This article presents the results of an expert consultation meeting aimed at evaluating the safety and public health implications of administering supplemental iron to infants and young children in malaria-endemic areas. Participants at this meeting that took place in Lyon, France on June 12-14, 2006 reached consensus on several important issues related to iron supplementation for infants and young children in malaria-endemic areas. The conclusions in this report apply specifically to regions where malaria is endemic

Global care, local configurations - challenges to conceptualizations of care

Migration, along with the implied geographies of the ethics of care literature and policy initiatives vis-à-vis care have increasingly led to the adoption of the ‘global’ as the most appropriate level for analysing care. Much of the empirical work underpinning analyses of care, however, was done at particular sites and had specific emphases that are now being adopted in the analysis of care globally. In this article, I suggest the need for empirical research from other parts of the world to inform, build on and challenge the existing theorizations of transnational care. Using examples from India, I highlight some ways in which (a) recognizing the varied genealogies of care in different places, (b) bringing together the literature on care diamonds with that on care chains, and (c) recognizing the diversity of family forms and the increasing transnationalization of markets, the state and civil society may enrich existing care chain analysis. I thus suggest that we need to explore what differences in the infrastructural architecture of care means for how we theorize care in the context of migration. I outline some elements of a new research agenda, not only for research on India but also for recognizing the importance of heterogeneous care arrangements in a globalizing world of care

Vitamins and minerals for women: recent programs and intervention trials

Women's nutrition has received little attention in nutrition programming, even though clinical trials and intervention trials have suggested that dietary improvement or supplementation with several nutrients may improve their health, especially in low-income settings, the main focus of this paper. Most attention so far has focused on how improvements in maternal nutrition can improve health outcomes for infants and young children. Adequate vitamin D and calcium nutrition throughout life may reduce the risk of osteoporosis, and calcium supplementation during pregnancy may reduce preeclampsia and low birth weight. To reduce neural tube defects, additional folic acid and possibly vitamin B12 need to be provided to non-deficient women before they know they are pregnant. This is best achieved by fortifying a staple food. It is unclear whether maternal vitamin A supplementation will lead to improved health outcomes for mother or child. Iron, iodine and zinc supplementation are widely needed for deficient women. Multimicronutrient supplementation (MMS) in place of the more common iron-folate supplements given in pregnancy in low-income countries may slightly increase birth weight, but its impact on neonatal mortality and other outcomes is unclear. More sustainable alternative approaches deserve greater research attention