Poverty and the Environment-Exploring the Relationship between Household Incomes, Private Assets and Natural Assets

Using purpose-collected survey data from 535 households in 60 different villages of the Jhabua district of India, this paper investigates the extent to which rural households depend on common-pool natural resources for their daily livelihood. Previous studies have found that resource dependence-- defined as the fraction of total income derived from common-pool resources--strongly decreases with income. Our study uncovers a more complex relationship. Firstly, for the subsample of households that use positive amounts of resources, we find that dependence follows a U-shaped relationship with income, declining at first but then increasing. Secondly, we find that the probability of being in the subsample of common-pool resource users follows an inverse U-shaped relationship with income - the poorest and richest households are less likely to collect resources than those with intermediate incomes. Resource use by the rich is therefore bimodal - either very high or--for the very rich households--zero. Thirdly, we find that resource dependence increases at all income levels with an increase in the level of common-pool biomass availability. The combination of these results suggests that the quality of natural resources matters to a larger share of the rural population than had previously been believed, common-pool resources contribute a significant fraction of the income not just of the desperately poor, but also of the relatively rich.India, Madhya Pradesh, poverty, environment, common-pool natural resources,rural households

Convection Currents in Nanofluids under Small Temperature Gradient

Nanobiotechnology has huge number of applications in medical science thereby improving health care practices. Keeping in mind the applications of nanoparticles and the convection patterns in biological fields, behaviour of nanofluids is explored for small temperature difference in the layer. The flow of nanofluids is usually described by system of differential equations. A mathematical model for the system based on conservation laws of mass, momentum and energy is formed. To get the insight of the problem, complex equations are simplified wherever needed to get interesting results without violating the necessary physics. The influence of physical properties such as density and conductivity of metallic/non-metallic nanoparticles is examined on the onset of convection currents in the fluid layer

Poverty and the Environment: Exploring the Relationship between Household Incomes, Private Assets, and Natural Assets

Using purpose-collected survey data from 537 households in 60 different villages of the Jhabua district of India, this paper investigates the extent to which rural households depend on common-pool natural resources for their daily livelihood. Previous studies have found that resource dependence— defined as the fraction of total income derived from common-pool resources—strongly decreases with income. Our study finds a more complex relationship. First, for the subsample of households that use positive amounts of resources, we find that dependence follows a U-shaped relationship with income, declining at first but then increasing. Second, we find that the probability of being in the subsample of common-pool resource users follows an inverse U-shaped relationship with income: the poorest and richest households are less likely to collect resources than those with intermediate incomes. Resource use by the rich is therefore bimodal: either very high or—for the very richest households—zero. Third, we find that resource dependence increases at all income levels with an increase in the level of common-pool biomass availability. The combination of these results suggests that the quality of natural resources matters to a larger share of the rural population than had been previously believed; common-pool resources contribute a significant fraction of the income not just of the desperately poor, but also of the relatively rich.

Changing Consumer Preferences From Unorganized Retailing Towards Organized Retailing: A Study in Jammu

The retail industry in India is emerging as a one of the largest industries estimated to account for more than 10 per cent of the country’s GDP and around 8 per cent of the employment.This present study was conducted with a purpose of understanding the changes taking place in the minds of consumers towards modern retail formats and traditional retailers. It was observed that due to the changing demographics, increase in DINKS families, urbanization, and awareness due to electronic media especially internet the customers have multiple options to choose from modern retail outlets to neighborhood shops. Majority of the consumers are visiting organized formats for variety, easy availability, cleanliness with additional facility of entertainment for children and convenient parking facility and restaurant etc. In case of unorganized outlets immediacy of the store, credit and bargaining facility balance the tilt. Unlike higher age groups who prefer to visit Kirana stores, the younger generation has more inclination towards organized retail. Families with annual income less than 4.0 Lakh and having a single bread earner prefer shopping with nearby mom-n-pop stores. Both organized as well as unorganized retailers need to add value added services to make the shopping experience more comfortable and value oriented

Magneto Binary Nanofluid Convection in Porous Medium

The effect of an externally impressed magnetic field on the stability of a binary nanofluid layer in porous medium is considered in this work. The conservation equations related to the system are solved using normal mode technique and Galerkin method to analyze the problem. The complex expressions are approximated to get useful results. Mode of heat transfer is stationary for top heavy distribution of nanoparticles in the fluid layer and top heavy nanofluids are very less stable than regular fluids. Oscillatory motions are possible for bottom heavy distribution of nanoparticles and they are not much influenced by properties of different nanoparticles. A comparative analysis of the instability of water based nanofluids with metallic (Cu, Ag) and semiconducting (TiO2, SiO2) nanoparticles under the influence of magnetic field is examined. Semiconducting nanofluids are found to be more stable than metallic nanofluids. Porosity destabilizes the layer while solute difference (at the boundaries of the layer) stabilizes it. Magnetic field stabilizes the fluid layer system significantly

India's Firewood Crisis Re-examined

Households in rural India are highly dependent on firewood as their main source of energy, partly because non-biofuels tend to be expensive. The prevailing view is therefore that, when faced with shortages of firewood in the village commons, such households, and especially the women in them, have to spend more and more time searching for firewood and eventually settle for poorer-quality biomass such as twigs, branches and dry leaves. Using data from a random sample of rural households in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh, we come to very different conclusions, however. We find that households in villages with degraded forests do not spend longer hours searching for firewood, but instead switch to either using firewood from private trees or to using agricultural waste for fuel. In the long run, moreover, households respond to the firewood shortage by altering the mix of private trees on their land in favor of firewood, as opposed to fruit, trees. We find also that, Joint Forest Management, a government program initiated in the 1990s, is having a positive impact on the firewood economy.firewood crisis, time allocation, fuel switching, JFM, India

The study of maternal and perinatal outcome in prolonged pregnancy

Background: Prolonged pregnancy or post-dated pregnancy is that pregnancy which has exceeded duration considered to be upper limit of normal pregnancy that is above 40 completed weeks or 280 days from the first day of last menstrual period. The objective was to evaluate the maternal and perinatal outcome of post-dated pregnancy.Methods: A prospective case control study was conducted on antenatal women for 18 months period from May 2014- October 2015 admitted to the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department, Era’s Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. The study group was comprised of antenatal women having pregnancy beyond 40 weeks, and the control group was represented with antenatal women between 37-40 weeks admitted for delivery during this period.Results: The prevalence of post-dated pregnancy was found to be 17.6% and of post-term was 5.69%. Among post-dated subjects LSCS rate was 56.50% and in term (37-40 weeks) patient it was 34.18%. The NICU admission for birth asphyxia was 6.09% among term (37-40 weeks) patients and 17.6% in post-dated pregnancies.Conclusions: Any pregnancy that crosses expected date of delivery, Foetal well-being must be assessed and induction of labour should be considered to decrease the risk of perinatal morbidity and mortality

A study of N-acetyl cysteine, metformin and vitamin D3 with calcium on clinical and metabolic profile in PCOS

Background: Polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) is characterized by the combination of hyperandrogenism, chronic anovulation and polycystic ovaries. Objective of present study was to compare the effects of N-acetyl cysteine, metformin and vitamin D3 with calcium on clinical and metabolic profile in PCOS.Methods: 66 women were randomly assigned into three equal treatment groups. Group 1 received N-acetyl cysteine, 600 mg three times a day. Group 2 metformin hydrochloride, 500 mg two times a day for 1 week, then three times a day for rest of the study and Group 3 Vit-D3 60,000 IU weekly with calcium 1500mg daily. Clinical and metabolic assessment was done at baseline and after three months of treatment.Results: After 12 weeks of treatment improvement of symptoms was seen in all the three groups, however better improvement in oligomenorrhea and hirsutism was seen in metformin group than others two groups. The clinical parameters like weight, BMI, waist hip ratio, biochemical markers of insulin resistance, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, fasting glucose/insulin ratio were significantly decreased in N-acetyl cysteine group than others two groups.Conclusions: N-acetyl cysteine had better improvement in clinical, and metabolic profile than metformin and vitamin D3 with Calcium group in PCOS patients. It can be used as a substitute for insulin reducing medications in treatment of PCOS patients, considering its limited adverse effects

Role of oral dehydroepiandrosterone in diminished ovarian function

Background: Ovarian reserve decreases with age and this study determine the effect of oral DHEA supplementation on S.AMH concentration and conception rate in women with diminished ovarian function.Methods: The study was conducted on 72 infertile women of 20-45 years age who had S.AMH <2.2 ng/ml, which was taken as cut off for diminished ovarian reserve in the study. The cases of study group received oral DHEA 25mg TDS and cases of control group received placebo (folic acid 5 mg OD) for 12 weeks. Day 2 S.AMH, S.FSH, S.LH, S.E2, S. Inhibin B, ovarian volume and AFC were measured at first visit and after 12 weeks of oral DHEA or placebo.Results: After 12 weeks of oral DHEA supplementation, S. AMH concentration was found to be significantly improved (p=0.01). S.FSH was decreased (p=0.04) and S. E2 was increased (p=0.03). S. LH showed insignificant decrease. S. Inhibin B, ovarian volume and AFC were increased but insignificantly. Improvement in ovarian reserve resulted in significantly higher pregnancy rate (p=0.04) and live births (p=0.04) in women treated with DHEA than in the control group. Miscarriage rate was found to be decreased but insignificantly.Conclusions: DHEA improves the ovarian reserve