Adoption of Goat Production Technology and Its Impact Among Rural Farmers in Nawalparsi District of Nepal

Nayabelhani VDC of Nawalparasi district was chosen to judge the effectiveness of goat production technology supported by Heifer International Nepal. Field survey with before and after approach was employed in the study. Information obtained from Stratified random sampling technique from 90 households with structured questionnaire and was compared with the baseline data. Adoption index was calculated through scoring technique after content validation. Participatory rural appraisal for problems identification. The research revealed that the extent of adoption of scientific goat production technology after project was higher than before project (80% Vs 32%, P<0.01). Further, the average herd size after the project was slightly decreased from 6.585 to 5.677 while the kid mortality dropped from 15% to 11%. The average number of kidding in 2 years was increased from 2 to 3 and the average number of kids per kidding was increased from 1 to 2. Goats were more frequently marketed at an average age of 12 months with an average weight of 24kg after the project. Similarly, the average annual income from the goat per household was found to be almost doubled from Nrs. 8,489 to Nrs. 15,084. Predator was found to be the most serious problem out of seven identified problems

The Prevalence and Reasons for Interruption of Antituberculosis Treatment by Patients at Mbekweni Health Centre in King Sabata Dalidyebo (KSD) District in the Eastern Cape Province

Background: In spite of effective therapy, tuberculosis (TB) is still a major health problem in developing countries. In 1993, therefore, the World Health Organization declared TB a global emergency. In South Africa, TB is one of the most prevalent diseases, with an incidence of 556 per 100 000 population. In spite of free TB drugs in the public service and the directly observed treatment short course (DOTS) strategies, there is still a high prevalence of TB and a high treatment interruption rate in rural South Africa. Methods: The objectives of this study were to establish the prevalence of TB and reasons for the interruption of TB treatment by patients attending Mbekweni Health Centre in King Sabata Dalidyebo (KSD) district in the Eastern Cape province. This was a cross- sectional study in which data were collected from 15 July 2004 to 15 January 2005 from patients who were on TB treatment and interrupted their treatment between 6 August 2001 and 30 December 2003. Results: Of the 255 TB patients who attended for treatment, 121 (47.5%) had interrupted their treatment. Reasons given for interrup- tion included change of living place (18.96%), no money to go to the clinic (15.52%), feeling better (13.78%), side effects of the drug (6.90%), did not know the treatment course (5.17%), physical disability either old or too sick to collect treatment and nobody to help (5.17%), clinic too far (1.73%), drug not available in the clinic (13.83%) and no reasons (8.62%). Conclusion: The prevalence of treatment interruption was high in this study. Change of living place, lack of money for visiting the clinic to collect treatment, feeling better, and no drugs at the clinic were the major reasons given for interruption of treatment. Ensuring the availability of TB drugs at the health centre/clinic, patient education about TB and strengthening the DOTS programme, including a stipend for the DOTS supervisors, would help to reduce the prevalence of treatment interruption. South African Family Practice Vol. 50 (6) 2008: pp. 47-47

On generalized cluster algorithms for frustrated spin models

Standard Monte Carlo cluster algorithms have proven to be very effective for many different spin models, however they fail for frustrated spin systems. Recently a generalized cluster algorithm was introduced that works extremely well for the fully frustrated Ising model on a square lattice, by placing bonds between sites based on information from plaquettes rather than links of the lattice. Here we study some properties of this algorithm and some variants of it. We introduce a practical methodology for constructing a generalized cluster algorithm for a given spin model, and investigate apply this method to some other frustrated Ising models. We find that such algorithms work well for simple fully frustrated Ising models in two dimensions, but appear to work poorly or not at all for more complex models such as spin glasses.Comment: 34 pages in RevTeX. No figures included. A compressed postscript file for the paper with figures can be obtained via anonymous ftp to minerva.npac.syr.edu in users/paulc/papers/SCCS-527.ps.Z. Syracuse University NPAC technical report SCCS-52

Magic Islands and Barriers to Attachment: A Si/Si(111)7x7 Growth Model

Surface reconstructions can drastically modify growth kinetics during initial stages of epitaxial growth as well as during the process of surface equilibration after termination of growth. We investigate the effect of activation barriers hindering attachment of material to existing islands on the density and size distribution of islands in a model of homoepitaxial growth on Si(111)7x7 reconstructed surface. An unusual distribution of island sizes peaked around "magic" sizes and a steep dependence of the island density on the growth rate are observed. "Magic" islands (of a different shape as compared to those obtained during growth) are observed also during surface equilibration.Comment: 4 pages including 5 figures, REVTeX, submitted to Physical Review

Combination of improved multibondic method and the Wang-Landau method

We propose a method for Monte Carlo simulation of statistical physical models with discretized energy. The method is based on several ideas including the cluster algorithm, the multicanonical Monte Carlo method and its acceleration proposed recently by Wang and Landau. As in the multibondic ensemble method proposed by Janke and Kappler, the present algorithm performs a random walk in the space of the bond population to yield the state density as a function of the bond number. A test on the Ising model shows that the number of Monte Carlo sweeps required of the present method for obtaining the density of state with a given accuracy is proportional to the system size, whereas it is proportional to the system size squared for other conventional methods. In addition, the new method shows a better performance than the original Wang-Landau method in measurement of physical quantities.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Profile scaling in decay of nanostructures

The flattening of a crystal cone below its roughening transition is studied by means of a step flow model. Numerical and analytical analyses show that the height profile, h(r,t), obeys the scaling scenario dh/dr = F(r t^{-1/4}). The scaling function is flat at radii r<R(t) \sim t^{1/4}. We find a one parameter family of solutions for the scaling function, and propose a selection criterion for the unique solution the system reaches.Comment: 4 pages, RevTex, 3 eps figure

Mean Field Behavior of Cluster Dynamics

The dynamic behavior of cluster algorithms is analyzed in the classical mean field limit. Rigorous analytical results below $T_c$ establish that the dynamic exponent has the value $z_{sw}=1$ for the Swendsen-Wang algorithm and $z_{uw}=0$ for the Wolff algorithm. An efficient Monte Carlo implementation is introduced, adapted for using these algorithms for fully connected graphs. Extensive simulations both above and below $T_c$ demonstrate scaling and evaluate the finite-size scaling function by means of a rather impressive collapse of the data.Comment: Revtex, 9 pages with 7 figure

Novel continuum modeling of crystal surface evolution

We propose a novel approach to continuum modeling of the dynamics of crystal surfaces. Our model follows the evolution of an ensemble of step configurations, which are consistent with the macroscopic surface profile. Contrary to the usual approach where the continuum limit is achieved when typical surface features consist of many steps, our continuum limit is approached when the number of step configurations of the ensemble is very large. The model can handle singular surface structures such as corners and facets. It has a clear computational advantage over discrete models.Comment: 4 pages, 3 postscript figure

Selection of the scaling solution in a cluster coalescence model

The scaling properties of the cluster size distribution of a system of diffusing clusters is studied in terms of a simple kinetic mean field model. It is shown that a one parameter family of mathematically valid scaling solutions exists. Despite this, the kinetics reaches a unique scaling solution independent of initial conditions. This selected scaling solution is marginally physical; i.e., it is the borderline solution between the unphysical and physical branches of the family of solutions.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure