Study Of The Tsunami Aftermath And Recovery (STAR): Ketahanan dan Pemulihan di Sumatra Setelah Tsunami

Tsunami di Samudera Hindia pada tahun 2004 telah menghancurkan ribuan komunitas di negara-negara yang berbatasan dengan Samudera Hindia. Kerusakan paling parah terjadi di Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam dan Provinsi Sumatera Utara, di mana diperkirakan 170.000 jiwa tewas dan ratusan kilometer lingkungan di sepanjang garis pantai hancur. Bencana Tsunami ini telah mendorong diberikannya bantuan yang begitu besar baik dari Pemerintah Indonesia, LSM dan donor bagi kedua provinsi ini. Pada tahun 2007, upaya untuk membangun kembali daerah yang terdampak Tsunami di Indonesia tercatat sebagai proyek rekonstruksi yang paling besar yang pernah dilakukan di sebuah negara berkembang. Studi Paska Tsunami dan Pemulihannya (The Study of the Tsunami Aftermath and Recovery) atau STAR merupakan sebuah studi longitudinal yang mengumpulkan informasi dari individu, rumah tangga, komunitas dan fasilitas di Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam dan Provinsi Sumatera Utara. Studi dirancang untuk mengumpulkan data tentang dampak Tsunami Tahun 2004 baik dampak pendek maupun dampak jangka panjang serta berbagai upaya pemulihan yang dilakukan. Untuk mengetahui dampak Tsunami terhadap kehidupan individu, komunitas dan keluarga serta bagaimana respon mereka terhadap bencana tersebut, kami melaksanakan STAR. Pada tahun 2005 kami mulai dengan mengunjungi kembali 32.000 responden, tersebar dalam 487 komunitas yang sebelumnya pada tahun 2004 sudah pernah diwawancarai dalam survei rumah tangga oleh BPS (Survei Pra-Tsunami). Wawancara paska Tsunami kami lakukan setiap tahun selama 5 tahun sesudah terjadinya Tsunami. Sebanyak 98% dari responden BPS tersebut selamat dari bencana Tsunami di mana kami kemudian berhasil mewawancarai 96% dari mereka, untuk setidaknya sekali dari rangkaian wawancara paska Tsunami yang kami lakukan. Data yang dihasilkan dari studi ini memberikan informasi tentang dampak jangka pendek yang dialami oleh masyarakat dan upaya pemulihan di wilayah-wilayah yang paling parah terdampak Tsunami, yang mana kemudian kami bandingkannya dengan kehidupan masyarakat di wilayah yang tidak terdampak atau hanya sedikit terdampak Tsunami. Kami akan melaporkan hasil studi kami berdasarkan data yang dikumpulkan sejak tahun 2004 sampai tahun 2010. Saat ini kami sedang melakukan survei lanjutan 10 tahun setelah Tsunami

Effect of Village Midwife Program on Contraceptive Prevalence and Method Choice in Indonesia

Indonesia established its Village Midwife Program in 1989 to combat high rates of maternal mortality. The program’s goals were to address gaps in access to reproductive health care for rural women, increase access to and use of family planning services, and broaden the mix of available contraceptive methods. In this study, we use longitudinal data from the Indonesia Family Life Survey to examine the program’s effect on contraceptive practice. We find that the program did not affect overall contraceptive prevalence but did affect method choice. Over time, for women using contraceptives, midwives were associated with increased odds of injectable contraceptive use and decreased odds of oral contraceptive and implant use. Although the Indonesian government had hoped that the Village Midwife Program would channel women into using longer-lasting methods, the women’s “switching behavior” indicates that the program succeeded in providing additional outlets for and promoting the use of injectable contraceptives

Education, Vulnerability, and Resilience After a Natural Disaster

The extent to which education provides protection in the face of a large-scale natural disaster is investigated. Using longitudinal population-representative survey data collected in two provinces on the island of Sumatra, Indonesia, before and after the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, we examine changes in a broad array of indicators of well-being of adults. Focusing on adults who were living, before the tsunami, in areas that were subsequently severely damaged by the tsunami, better educated males were more likely to survive the tsunami, but education is not predictive of survival among females. Education is not associated with levels of post-traumatic stress among survivors 1 year after the tsunami, or with the likelihood of being displaced. Where education does appear to play a role is with respect to coping with the disaster over the longer term. The better educated were far less likely than others to live in a camp or other temporary housing, moving, instead, to private homes, staying with family or friends, or renting a new home. The better educated were more able to minimize dips in spending levels following the tsunami, relative to the cuts made by those with little education. Five years after the tsunami, the better educated were in better psycho-social health than those with less education. In sum, education is associated with higher levels of resilience over the longer term

Attributing differences of solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF)-gross primary production (GPP) relationships between two C4 crops: corn and miscanthus

There remains limited information to characterize the solar-induced chlorophyll fluorescence (SIF)-gross primary production (GPP) relationship in C4 cropping systems. The annual C4 crop corn and perennial C4 crop miscanthus differ in phenology, canopy structure and leaf physiology. Investigating the SIF-GPP relationships in these species could deepen our understanding of SIF-GPP relationships within C4 crops. Using in situ canopy SIF and GPP measurements for both species along with leaf-level measurements, we found considerable differences in the SIF-GPP relationships between corn and miscanthus, with a stronger SIF-GPP relationship and higher slope of SIF-GPP observed in corn compared to miscanthus. These differences were mainly caused by leaf physiology. For miscanthus, high non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) under high light, temperature and water vapor deficit (VPD) conditions caused a large decline of fluorescence yield (ΦF), which further led to a SIF midday depression and weakened the SIF-GPP relationship. The larger slope in corn than miscanthus was mainly due to its higher GPP in mid-summer, largely attributed to the higher leaf photosynthesis and less NPQ. Our results demonstrated variation of the SIF-GPP relationship within C4 crops and highlighted the importance of leaf physiology in determining canopy SIF behaviors and SIF-GPP relationships

Iron Deficiency and the Well-being of Older Adults: Early Results From a Randomized Nutrition Intervention

Iron deficiency is widespread throughout the developing world. We provide new evidence on the effect of iron deficiency on economic and social prosperity of older adults drawing on data from a random assignment treatment-control design intervention. The Work and Iron Status Evaluation is an on-going study following over 17,000 individuals in Central Java, Indonesia. Half the respondents receive a treatment of 120 mg of iron every week for a year; the controls receive a placebo. Compliance is monitored carefully. Results from the first six months of the intervention are presented for adults age 30 through 70 years. Males who were iron deficient prior to the intervention and who are assigned to the treatment are better off in terms of physical health, psycho-social health and economic success. These men are more likely to be working, sleep less, lose less work time to illness, are more energetic, more able to conduct physically arduous activities and their psycho-social health is better. There is evidence that economic productivity of these males also increased. Among iron-deficient males assigned to the treatment who were also self-employed prior to the baseline, hourly earnings rose substantially and so they earned more on a monthly basis. Benefits for women are in the same direction but the effects are more muted. The results provide unambiguous evidence in support of the hypothesis that health has a causal effect on economic prosperity of males during middle and older ages

Genome sequence of an Australian kangaroo, Macropus eugenii, provides insight into the evolution of mammalian reproduction and development.

BACKGROUND: We present the genome sequence of the tammar wallaby, Macropus eugenii, which is a member of the kangaroo family and the first representative of the iconic hopping mammals that symbolize Australia to be sequenced. The tammar has many unusual biological characteristics, including the longest period of embryonic diapause of any mammal, extremely synchronized seasonal breeding and prolonged and sophisticated lactation within a well-defined pouch. Like other marsupials, it gives birth to highly altricial young, and has a small number of very large chromosomes, making it a valuable model for genomics, reproduction and development. RESULTS: The genome has been sequenced to 2 × coverage using Sanger sequencing, enhanced with additional next generation sequencing and the integration of extensive physical and linkage maps to build the genome assembly. We also sequenced the tammar transcriptome across many tissues and developmental time points. Our analyses of these data shed light on mammalian reproduction, development and genome evolution: there is innovation in reproductive and lactational genes, rapid evolution of germ cell genes, and incomplete, locus-specific X inactivation. We also observe novel retrotransposons and a highly rearranged major histocompatibility complex, with many class I genes located outside the complex. Novel microRNAs in the tammar HOX clusters uncover new potential mammalian HOX regulatory elements. CONCLUSIONS: Analyses of these resources enhance our understanding of marsupial gene evolution, identify marsupial-specific conserved non-coding elements and critical genes across a range of biological systems, including reproduction, development and immunity, and provide new insight into marsupial and mammalian biology and genome evolution

Deinococcus geothermalis: The Pool of Extreme Radiation Resistance Genes Shrinks

Bacteria of the genus Deinococcus are extremely resistant to ionizing radiation (IR), ultraviolet light (UV) and desiccation. The mesophile Deinococcus radiodurans was the first member of this group whose genome was completely sequenced. Analysis of the genome sequence of D. radiodurans, however, failed to identify unique DNA repair systems. To further delineate the genes underlying the resistance phenotypes, we report the whole-genome sequence of a second Deinococcus species, the thermophile Deinococcus geothermalis, which at its optimal growth temperature is as resistant to IR, UV and desiccation as D. radiodurans, and a comparative analysis of the two Deinococcus genomes. Many D. radiodurans genes previously implicated in resistance, but for which no sensitive phenotype was observed upon disruption, are absent in D. geothermalis. In contrast, most D. radiodurans genes whose mutants displayed a radiation-sensitive phenotype in D. radiodurans are conserved in D. geothermalis. Supporting the existence of a Deinococcus radiation response regulon, a common palindromic DNA motif was identified in a conserved set of genes associated with resistance, and a dedicated transcriptional regulator was predicted. We present the case that these two species evolved essentially the same diverse set of gene families, and that the extreme stress-resistance phenotypes of the Deinococcus lineage emerged progressively by amassing cell-cleaning systems from different sources, but not by acquisition of novel DNA repair systems. Our reconstruction of the genomic evolution of the Deinococcus-Thermus phylum indicates that the corresponding set of enzymes proliferated mainly in the common ancestor of Deinococcus. Results of the comparative analysis weaken the arguments for a role of higher-order chromosome alignment structures in resistance; more clearly define and substantially revise downward the number of uncharacterized genes that might participate in DNA repair and contribute to resistance; and strengthen the case for a role in survival of systems involved in manganese and iron homeostasis

High-throughput field phenotyping using hyperspectral reflectance and partial least squares regression (PLSR) reveals genetic modifications to photosynthetic capacity

Spectroscopy is becoming an increasingly powerful tool to alleviate the challenges of traditional measurements of key plant traits at the leaf, canopy, and ecosystem scales. Spectroscopic methods often rely on statistical approaches to reduce data redundancy and enhance useful prediction of physiological traits. Given the mechanistic uncertainty of spectroscopic techniques, genetic modification of plant biochemical pathways may affect reflectance spectra causing predictive models to lose power. The objectives of this research were to assess over two separate years, whether a predictive model can represent natural and imposed variation in leaf photosynthetic potential for different crop cultivars and genetically modified plants, to assess the interannual capabilities of a partial least square regression (PLSR) model, and to determine whether leaf N is a dominant driver of photosynthesis in PLSR models. In 2016, a PLSR analysis of reflectance spectra coupled with gas exchange data was used to build predictive models for photosynthetic parameters including maximum carboxylation rate of Rubisco (Vc,max), maximum electron transport rate (Jmax) and percentage leaf nitrogen ([N]). The model was developed for wild type and genetically modified plants that represent a wide range of photosynthetic capacities. Results show that hyperspectral reflectance accurately predicted Vc,max, Jmax and [N] for all plants measured in 2016. Applying these PLSR models to plants grown in 2017 resulted in a strong predictive ability relative to gas exchange measurements for Vc,max, but not for Jmax, and not for genotypes unique to 2017. Building a new model including data collected in 2017 resulted in more robust predictions, with R2 increases of 17% for Vc,max. and 13% Jmax. Plants generally have a positive correlation between leaf nitrogen and photosynthesis, however, tobacco with reduced Rubisco (SSuD) had significantly higher [N] despite much lower Vc,max. The PLSR model was able to accurately predict both lower Vc,max and higher leaf [N] for this genotype suggesting that the spectral based estimates of Vc,max and leaf nitrogen [N] are independent. These results suggest that the PLSR model can be applied across years, but only to genotypes used to build the model and that the actual mechanism measured with the PLSR technique is not directly related to leaf [N]. The success of the leaf-scale analysis suggests that similar approaches may be successful at the canopy and ecosystem scales but to use these methods across years and between genotypes at any scale, application of accurately populated physical based models based on radiative transfer principles may be required

Good Intentions, Limited Impact: The Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plans Program

In 2007, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1 (PICS), invalidated the student assignment policies of Seattle, Washington and Jefferson County, Kentucky. The Court ruled that the government has a compelling interest to promote diversity, while simultaneously arguing that racial balance and diversity should be considered different and separate goals. Thus, the PICS decision sent mixed messages to school districts across the country. To help school districts navigate the legally uncertain environment, the federal government created a small, one-time competitive grant called the Technical Assistance for Student Assignment Plan (TASAP) grant. The grant was designed in a way that gave school districts significant discretion over the types of technical assistance and the consultants that would support their projects. Eleven school districts received funding from the TASAP grant. The districts faced common challenges, in particular, financial austerity, declining enrollments, and pressure to reduce achievement gaps between racial and socioeconomic groups. The most common topics of technical assistance were public engagement, including marketing and community forums, and geospatial analysis. Most of the districts that used TASAP funds to continue existing policies maintained an emphasis on diversity. On the other hand, most of the districts that used TASAP to help change their student assignment policies moved away from diversity as a priority. Districts that had expressed a commitment to diversity in their TASAP applications could not necessarily sustain those commitments in the face of competition with other local interests and needs. Federal management of the grant did not provide leverage on districts to ensure that the local work remained true to its initial goals. federal government did not insist that diversity remain a priority. We present six recommendations for future federal diversity policy, based on the TASAP experience: 1. Construct a more deliberate theory of change so that all elements of the grant, including the proposal evaluation criteria and funded activities, are aligned. 2. Solicit grant proposals for a longer period of time. 3. Include inter-district approaches to diversity 4. Provide sufficient federal involvement and guidance to support project implementation at the local level, and increase accountability for federal program goals. 5. Build on local capacity. 6. Situate diversity as central to educational improvement to increase the relevance of diversity programs