Irrigation and poverty alleviation: review of the empirical evidence

Irrigated farming, Poverty, Conflict, Participatory management, Farmer participation, Environmental effects, Asia, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka

Effects of Touch Therapy as a Means of Treatment for Autism Among Young Children

Autism causes impediments for children with the disorder that they carry as obstacles to overcome for their entire lives. Major characteristics of autism include social delays such as inhibited interaction with others, touch aversion, as well as abnormal intake of sensory information, with understated reactions or high sensitivity to external stimuli. As a result of the many inhibitions the disorder places on afflicted individuals, day-to-day life can be a struggle. The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder is increasing in the United States and the world, and the publication of the DSM-IV has broadened the definition of autism to include forms of varying severity including Asperger syndrome and Rett syndrome. As the influence of autism grows, a greater number of treatments including medicine as well as alternative methods are considered. The objective of this research project was to determine what effects touch therapy has on children with autism spectrum disorder between the ages of 2 and 16. To accomplish this, I surveyed various studies regarding different massage methods and measures of effects on autistic children. Articles examined included: a study that assessed the level of reactiveness children expressed prior to, and after, receiving various forms of therapy, multiple studies assessing the effectiveness of different forms of massage developed by researchers in improving attentiveness of autistic children in school settings, studies which looked at the effect of massage therapy in decreasing anxiety often expressed in autistic children, studies that assessed the impact of massage therapy on the communicative abilities of autistic children as well as examined the relationship between autistic children and their parents, and a meta-analysis which reviewed the validity of other studies regarding massage therapy and its benefits in treating symptoms of autism in children. The studies suggest that massage therapy seems to be an effective treatment to decrease the off-task behavior of autistic children in school, to assuage anxiety, to ameliorate hyper-sensitivity to external stimuli, as well as to further cement intimate bonds between children and their parents, although all acknowledge that their experimental design reduces the ability of results to be generalized. The meta-analysis concluded that there is not yet sufficient empirical data to provide any conclusive support for the benefits of touch therapy in treating autism. Current studies’ findings suggest that massage is indeed therapeutic for autistic children, though they remain inconclusive; as such, these findings, and by extension, the potential benefits of massage as a therapy to mitigate obstacles autistic children face, merit more large-scale, empirical research.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1015/thumbnail.jp

Can a change in cropping patterns produce water savings and social gains: A case study from the Fergana Valley, Central Asia

Abstract The study examines possible water savings by replacing alfalfa with winter wheat in the Fergana Valley, located upstream of the Syrdarya River in Central Asia. Agricultural reforms since the 1990s have promoted this change in cropping patterns in the Central Asian states to enhance food security and social benefits. The water use of alfalfa, winter wheat/fallow, and winter wheat/green gram (double cropping) systems is compared for high-deficit, low-deficit, and full irrigation scenarios using hydrological modeling with the HYDRUS-1D software package. Modeling results indicate that replacing alfalfa with winter wheat in the Fergana Valley released significant water resources, mainly by reducing productive crop transpiration when abandoning alfalfa in favor of alternative cropping systems. However, the winter wheat/fallow cropping system caused high evaporation losses from fallow land after harvesting of winter wheat. Double cropping (i.e., the cultivation of green gram as a short duration summer crop after winter wheat harvesting) reduced evaporation losses, enhanced crop output and hence food security, while generating water savings that make more water available for other productive uses. Beyond water savings, this paper also discusses the economic and social gains that double cropping produces for the public within a broader developmental context

A Framework for analyzing socioeconomic, health and environmental impacts of wastewater use in agriculture in developing countries

Waste water management / Environmental degradation / Waterborne diseases / Water quality / Irrigation practices / Aquaculture / Economic analysis / Social aspects / Health / Environmental aspects / Agriculture / Developing countries / Policy

Understanding Port Efficiency: A CPEC Perspective

This paper aims to provide an insight into the efficacious use and development of Pakistani ports located along the ChinaPakistan Economic corridor. The main objective of this paper is to understand how the physical infrastructure, logistics suprastructure and value-added services contribute in the enhancing port efficiency in the wake of CPEC operationalization. A sample of 15 well-experienced respondents from the domains of supply chain management, logistics, trade and public sector were selected. The study concluded that physical infrastructure, logistics suprastructure and logistics services at a port play a vital role in improving port efficiency. The study further pointed out that adequate port structure and value-added services would significantly contribute to port efficiency and facilitate the smooth clearance of CPEC cargo

Cooling with fans in hot and humid working environments

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1978 H35Master of Scienc

Neuroticism as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Family History of Drinking Problems and College Alcohol Use

Literature has long suggested a correlation between family history and alcohol dependence; heredity plays a role in risk for alcohol dependence. To investigate the influence of the personality trait neuroticism as a moderating factor of the relationship between family history of alcohol dependence, and an individual’s alcohol consumption, analyses were conducted in the Fall 2011 Spit for Science cohort. Survey questions examined the binary variable of whether participants reported a family history of drinking problems, as well as the continuous variable measuring the number of alcoholic drinks participants had consumed in the past 30 days. There were a total of 779 responses that included answers to both questions about family history as well as drinking scores in the data and on these, a linear regression and ANOVA was performed. Results show that reports of family history and high levels of neuroticism are both correlated with increased frequency of alcohol use. Analyses continue to examine the moderating effect of neuroticism on the relationship between family history of alcohol use and an individual’s alcohol consumption. These results add more basic information to the literature on alcohol use in college students.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1016/thumbnail.jp

Total Value of Phosphorus Recovery

Phosphorus (P) is a critical, geographically concentrated, nonrenewable resource necessary to support global food production. In excess (e.g., due to runoff or wastewater discharges), P is also a primary cause of eutrophication. To reconcile the simultaneous shortage and overabundance of P, lost P flows must be recovered and reused, alongside improvements in P-use efficiency. While this motivation is increasingly being recognized, little P recovery is practiced today, as recovered P generally cannot compete with the relatively low cost of mined P. Therefore, P is often captured to prevent its release into the environment without beneficial recovery and reuse. However, additional incentives for P recovery emerge when accounting for the total value of P recovery. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the range of benefits of recovering P from waste streams, i.e., the total value of recovering P. This approach accounts for P products, as well as other assets that are associated with P and can be recovered in parallel, such as energy, nitrogen, metals and minerals, and water. Additionally, P recovery provides valuable services to society and the environment by protecting and improving environmental quality, enhancing efficiency of waste treatment facilities, and improving food security and social equity. The needs to make P recovery a reality are also discussed, including business models, bottlenecks, and policy and education strategies

Understanding the effect of stress hormones on ovarian cancer cells

Department of Cancer Systems Imaging Department of Gynecologic Oncology and Reproductive Medicinehttps://openworks.mdanderson.org/sumexp22/1022/thumbnail.jp

Frequency and Causes of Pediatric Ovarian Torsion: A Systematic Review

Objective: The aim of my study was to determine the frequency and causes of pediatric ovarian torsion. Background: The condition in which an ovary twist along the ligament which hold it in place is known as Ovarian Torsion. The blood flow to ovary and fallopian tube could be cut off because of this twisting. ovarian torsion cab be a cause of unbearable pain due to lack of sufficient blood that should be received by ovary. On behalf of this systematic review, I wanted to dictate the frequency and causes of pediatric ovarian torsion. On the basis of past studies, I reviewed ovarian torsion can be happen at any paediatric age (infant to eighteen years). Around fifty-two % of the cases in children happen between nine years to fourteen years of age, with a median of age 11. Method: An electric database search was performed (google scholar, PubMed and science direct) with time limit until January 2020. All studies, fully available in English, assessing the frequency and causes of pediatric ovarian torsion. Study design: Systematic review-based design is used for this study. Results: 16 articles were reviewed, I found that frequency of pediatric ovarian torsion were rare and happened at any pediatric age. Ovarian torsion was caused by benign lesion, malignancy or by normal ovary. Purpose: The aim of my study was to determine the frequency and causes of pediatric ovarian torsion. Keywords: Ovarian torsion, oophorectomy, neoplasm, malignancy. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/90-15 Publication date:June 30th 202