Gender disparity in South Asia : comparisons between and within countries

Using data assembled from the Demographic Health Surveys of over 50 countries and from the National Family Health Surveys of individual states in India, the authors create a new data set of comparable indicators of gender disparity. They establish three findings: 1) As is by now well-known, the level of gender disparities in health and education outcomes for girls in South Asia is the highest in the world. 2) Even within South Asia, and within India or Pakistan, there are huge variations in gender disparity. Differences in gender disparity among Indian states or among provinces in Pakistan are typically greater than those among the world's nations. The ratio of female to male child mortality in one Indian state (Haryana) is worse than in any country in the world, although in another state (Tamil Nadu) it is lower than in all but three countries. 3) Across and within the set of developing nations, gender disparity is not only a phenomenon of poverty. There is almost no correlation between per capita income and the gender disparities in health and education outcomes. So although absolute levels of health and education outcomes for girls are strongly related to economic conditions, the disparities between outcomes for girls and boys are not. Understanding what causes such great gender disparity within South Asia is the next pressing question for researchers.Public Health Promotion,Early Childhood Development,Early Child and Children's Health,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Health Economics&Finance,Health Economics&Finance,Early Child and Children's Health,Adolescent Health,Early Childhood Development,Health Monitoring&Evaluation

Use of tracers in making accurate discharge measurement in pipelines, The

CER66RWF-VMY38.October 1966.Prepared under U.S. Bureau of Reclamation contract.The purpose of this investigation was to provide some field data for the diffusion of a soluble tracer (Rhodamine W-T) in pipes. Nine parameters were selected and their effect on tracer concentration distribution was studied. The most important parameters varied were: water discharge through the pipe, mixing distance and the injection probe geometry. The experiments were conducted in a 36-inch pipe line where it was possible to vary the rate of flow and mixing distance. Uniformity of the rate of dye injection was insured by the use of a Chemcon Model 1110 chemical proportioning pump which could be manually adjusted while a radial arm, some distance downstream from the injection point, could sample the solution at different positions in a cross-section. A Turner model 111 fluorometer constituted the detection device which combined the advantages of high sensitivity in dye detection, ruggedness and nearly complete independence from the power supply voltage. The degree of uniformity of mixing of the soluble tracer is represented by Cv, which is the coefficient of variation of the tracer concentration distribution. Values of Cv, calculated from the observed concentration data for each flow rate, were fitted by the function Cv = Ke^(αz) by the method of least squares, where z is the mixing distance and K and α are constants.Under contract D-293

Rational Vs Emotional Appeals with Communications to Landholders: A Review of Focus Group Responses

There are many organisations that seek to communicate with landholders for the purposes of engaging them in local environmental or conservation programs and sustainable production. This study examined whether different segments of landholders are likely to respond better to communication based on different appeals (rational or emotional), using different messages and communication channels. Seven hypothetical communication campaigns were designed with specific messages and appeals, each produced in three types of media. Focus groups of three specific landholder groups lifestylers., traditional and absentee landowners were held to obtain their responses to the campaigns. Findings suggest that the effectiveness of communications with landholders can be increased by using preferred messages and appeals, and selecting a combination of media appropriate to the landholder group being targeted

Over the Edge: Extending the duration of a reconsolidation intervention for spider fear

Pharmacologically disrupting fear memory reconsolidation dramatically reduces fear behaviour. For example, 2–3 min of tarantula exposure followed by 40 mg of propranolol HCl (i.e., a reconsolidation intervention) abruptly decreased spider avoidance, an effect that persisted one year later. However, the success of reconsolidation interventions is not guaranteed: Pavlovian fear-conditioning research shows that the window to target memory reconsolidation is small and easy to miss. If exposure is too long to trigger reconsolidation, but too short for extinction learning, an inactive transitional limbo state occurs, rendering the fear memory unchanged and insensitive to amnesic agents. In this pre-registered study, we aimed to find this behaviourally-controlled boundary condition. Spider-fearful participants underwent a ~3 min (n = 23) or ~14 min (n = 20) exposure to a tarantula, intended to trigger reconsolidation or the limbo state respectively, followed by 40 mg of propranolol. We expected greater spider fear reduction after 3 than 14 min of exposure. Unexpectedly, there were no group differences on any outcome measures. In both groups, Bayesian analysis revealed a marked reduction in fear behaviour towards a generalisation stimulus (a house spider) accompanied by lower self-reported distress, with a sharp decline in spider fear scores two days after treatment that persisted one year later. Possible explanations include that the boundary conditions of reconsolidation are wider in older and stronger memories than experimentally-induced fears, or that alternative processes caused the treatment effects. Although the mechanism is unclear, these results carry a tentative promising message for the potential of brief reconsolidation-targeting interventions to mitigate irrational fears

Variance component estimation uncertainty for unbalanced data: Application to a continent-wide vertical datum

Variance component estimation (VCE) is used to update the stochastic model in least-squares adjustments, but the uncertainty associated with the VCE-derived weights is rarely considered. Unbalanced data is where there is an unequal number of observations in each heterogeneous dataset comprising the variance component groups. As a case study using highly unbalanced data, we redefine a continent-wide vertical datum from a combined least-squares adjustment using iterative VCE and its uncertainties to update weights for each data set. These are: (1) a continent-wide levelling network, (2) a model of the ocean’s mean dynamic topography and mean sea level observations, and (3) GPS-derived ellipsoidal heights minus a gravimetric quasigeoid model. VCE uncertainty differs for each observation group in the highly unbalanced data, being dependent on the number of observations in each group. It also changes within each group after each VCE iteration, depending on the magnitude of change for each observation group’s variances. It is recommended that VCE uncertainty is computed for VCE updates to the weight matrix for unbalanced data so that the quality of the updates for each group can be properly assessed. This is particularly important if some groups contain relatively small numbers of observations. VCE uncertainty can also be used as a threshold for ceasing iterations, as it is shown—for this data set at least—that it is not necessary to continue time-consuming iterations to fully converge to unity

Strategies for coping with the costs of inpatient care: a mixed methods study of urban and rural poor in Vadodara District, Gujarat, India

Background In India, coping mechanisms for inpatient care costs have been explored in rural areas, but seldom among urbanites. This study aims to explore and compare mechanisms employed by the urban and rural poor for coping with inpatient expenditures, in order to help identify formal mechanisms and policies to provide improved social protection for health care

Measuring health inequality among children in developing countries: does the choice of the indicator of economic status matter?

Background Currently, poor-rich inequalities in health in developing countries receive a lot of attention from both researchers and policy makers. Since measuring economic status in developing countries is often problematic, different indicators of wealth are used in different studies. Until now, there is a lack of evidence on the extent to which the use of different measures of economic status affects the observed magnitude of health inequalities. Methods This paper provides this empirical evidence for 10 developing countries, using the Demographic and Health Surveys data-set. We compared the World Bank asset index to three alternative wealth indices, all based on household assets. Under-5 mortality and measles immunisation coverage were the health outcomes studied. Poor-rich inequalities in under-5 mortality and measles immunisation coverage were measured using the Relative Index of Inequality. Results Comparing the World Bank index to the alternative indices, we found that (1) the relative position of households in the national wealth hierarchy varied to an important extent with the asset index used, (2) observed poor-rich inequalities in under-5 mortality and immunisation coverage often changed, in some cases to an important extent, and that (3) the size and direction of this change varied per country, index, and health indicator. Conclusion Researchers and policy makers should be aware that the choice of the measure of economic status influences the observed magnitude of health inequalities, and that differences in health inequalities between countries or time periods, may be an artefact of different wealth measures used

Impact of Community-Based Larviciding on the Prevalence of Malaria Infection in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

The use of larval source management is not prioritized by contemporary malaria control programs in sub-Saharan Africa despite historical success. Larviciding, in particular, could be effective in urban areas where transmission is focal and accessibility to Anopheles breeding habitats is generally easier than in rural settings. The objective of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a community-based microbial larviciding intervention to reduce the prevalence of malaria infection in Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania. Larviciding was implemented in 3 out of 15 targeted wards of Dar es Salaam in 2006 after two years of baseline data collection. This intervention was subsequently scaled up to 9 wards a year later, and to all 15 targeted wards in 2008. Continuous randomized cluster sampling of malaria prevalence and socio-demographic characteristics was carried out during 6 survey rounds (2004-2008), which included both cross-sectional and longitudinal data (N = 64,537). Bayesian random effects logistic regression models were used to quantify the effect of the intervention on malaria prevalence at the individual level. Effect size estimates suggest a significant protective effect of the larviciding intervention. After adjustment for confounders, the odds of individuals living in areas treated with larviciding being infected with malaria were 21% lower (Odds Ratio = 0.79; 95% Credible Intervals: 0.66-0.93) than those who lived in areas not treated. The larviciding intervention was most effective during dry seasons and had synergistic effects with other protective measures such as use of insecticide-treated bed nets and house proofing (i.e., complete ceiling or window screens). A large-scale community-based larviciding intervention significantly reduced the prevalence of malaria infection in urban Dar es Salaam

Using sparse categorical principal components to estimate asset indices: new methods with an application to rural southeast asia

PRIFPRI3; DCA; ISI; 4 Transforming Agricultural and Rural EconomiesDSG