Cataract Blindness: Socioeconomic Factors Associated with Treatment Barriers and High Blindness Rates for Women in Rural Regions of Andhra Pradesh

Despite efforts of Vision 2020 in India, the 2001 Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study (APEDS) extrapolated that approximately 18.7 million blind people resided in India and projected an increase to 31.6 million blind people by 2020. Within the Andhra Pradesh state itself, the preventable blindness population had increased from approximately 1,143,150 people in 1990 to 1,402,264 people in 2001, against reformation attempts by the National Program for Control of Blindness. Of this, cataracts were consistently the leading cause of avoidable blindness. Numerous public health studies have been conducted to outline factors that preclude treatment of avoidable cataract blindness in the India. Conclusively, the escalation of cataract blindness can be largely attributed to personal, social, and economic factors that inhibit utilization of available eye-care services. However, the degree and specificity of these respective barriers varies due to the heterogeneity among regions within Andhra Pradesh. Accordingly, no single approach can be implemented to effectively ameliorate eye health. Instead, population-based studies are required to understand individual regions and respective levels of need. Accordingly, this research is an examination of the female population in rural regions of Andhra Pradesh through the analysis of two major studies (1) the impact of private/non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on economic development and (2) socioeconomic factors engendering lack of utilization of eye-care services, in order to find a correlation between these two seemingly disparate studies. Overwhelmingly, the presence of private/non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increases the economic status of regions by increasing access to both education and employment opportunities. In comparison to developed, urban areas, NGOs presence in rural regions are significantly limited, leading to discrepancies in economic development and thereafter, lack of opportunity for economic and social growth for Cataract Blindness: Socioeconomic Factors Associated with Treatment Barriers and High Blindness Rates for Women in Rural Regions of Andhra Pradesh By Kiranpreet Kaur A U C T U S // VCU’s Journal of Undergraduate Research and Creativity // STEM// February 2018 2 females. Correspondingly, for years, higher incidences of cataract blindness have plagued the female population residing in underdeveloped rural areas of India, especially in comparison to female counterparts in urban areas. I found this to be significantly attributed to an intermittent and cyclic combination of socioeconomic limitations, specifically to lack of education/employment opportunities and cultural restrictions. This in turn, is linked to comparably diminished levels of private/NGO sector involvement. Only through understanding the correlation between these two aspects can intervention efforts be appropriately pursued to reduce cataract blindness rates in the female population. This work increases our understanding of the limitations that exist in accessing treatment options for females and furthermore, obtained results can potentially be extended to other regions of India to create and implement similar public policies

Socioeconomic Factors Associated with Cataract-related Blindness Treatment in Women in Rural Regions of Andhra Pradesh

Despite efforts of Vision 2020 in India, the Andhra Pradesh Eye Disease Study (APEDS) extrapolated, in 2000, approximately 18.7 million blind people in India and also, projected an increase to 31.6 million blind people by 2020. Within the state Andhra Pradesh itself, preventable corneal blindness increased to 1.84% from 1.5% in the late 1980s. Numerous public health studies have been conducted to outline factors that cause and preclude treatment of avoidable corneal blindness in the India. Conclusively, the escalation of corneal blindness can be largely attributed to personal, social, and economic barriers in utilizing available eye-care services. However, due to the heterogeneity among regions in India, the degree and specificity of these respective barriers varies. Accordingly, no single approach can be implemented to effectively ameliorate eye health. Instead, population-based studies are required to understand individual regions and their varying levels of need. Accordingly, this research is an examination of the female population in rural regions of Andhra Pradesh through the analysis of two major studies (1) the impact of private/non-governmental organizations (NGOs) on economic development and (2) sociological factors, namely economic and social aspects, engendering lack of utilization of eye-care services, in order to find a correlation between these two seemingly disparate studies. Overwhelmingly, the presence of private/non-governmental organizations (NGOs) increases economic status of regions by increasing access to both education and employment opportunities. In comparison to developed, urban areas, NGOs presence in rural regions is significantly limited leading to discrepancies in economic development, and thereafter, lack of opportunity for economic and social growth for females. Correspondingly, for years, higher incidences of corneal blindness have plagued the female population residing in underdeveloped, rural areas of India, especially in comparison to female counterparts in urban areas. I found this to be significantly attributed to an intermittent and cyclic combination of sociological limitations, specifically lack of education/employment opportunities and cultural/societal restrictions, which, in turn, are linked to comparably diminished levels of private/NGO sector involvement. Only through understanding the correlation between these two aspects can intervention efforts be appropriately pursued to effectively reduce corneal blindness rates in this at-risk demographic group. This work increases our understanding of the limitations that exist in accessing treatment options for females and furthermore, obtained results can potentially be extended to other regions of India to create and implement similar public policies.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/uresposters/1234/thumbnail.jp

African - Not African: Negotiating Textual Identities in Colonial- Era Travel Writing about Congo (1870-1950)

This study investigates colonial-era travel writing about Congo by, what I call, ‘hyphenated Africans’: authors who claim an African identity alongside another identity. Seven authors from different social, cultural and political backgrounds, with dispersion by colonial power as a common thread linking them to each other, have been selected for this study. As well as close reading, this study draws on archival research regarding the lives and other writings of these travel writers who travelled to central Africa, specifically Congo. My study focuses on the ambivalent identities of the writers constructed by the layers of their connection with Africa and the places of their emigration and immigration. I argue that to negotiate identity, the writers navigate through their multiple selves that arise due to their hyphenated identities and their complex relationships with Africa. From these multiple selves, the writer chooses an appropriate self with which to respond and react in a particular situation in the actual event as well as the textual representation of that event. Due to this, and the representation of sameness and difference, multiple others are also constructed as a response to the performativity of multiple selves in the text. I, therefore, argue that the ‘other’ is also not fixed and stable; it is a textual construction to complement or support the positive textual identity negotiated by the travel writer. This performativity is further enabled through what I call the process of selectivity of silence and voice. I show how writers may choose to be silent during an event itself but then voice an opinion in the text, may sometimes choose to remain silent altogether regarding a particular event, and may sometimes voice the silence by explicitly informing the reader about the choice of ‘not speaking’. This selectivity of silence and voice, I argue, allows the travel writer writing in asymmetrical power relations to use the text as a contact zone to communicate with the readers (who are generally presumed to belong to the powerful society, specifically to the colonial structures in the colonial era), and claim voice, authority and power, which is otherwise denied or restricted. By focusing on the agency of the traveller of the colonial period, this thesis reads African travel writing both within and beyond the colonial context. Recent scholarship on African travel writing has started acknowledging and analysing the rich body of African travel writing. However, it is still largely seen as either ‘writing back’ to the Empire or reproducing the stereotypes constructed by colonial explorers and missionaries about Africa. Although I focus on colonialism as the defining historical force informing the setting and themes of the chosen texts, I also consider synchronous events in other places both within Africa and outside Africa. I argue that travel writing by the travel writers with an agenda is always involved in power dynamics, irrespective of race. Ignoring this leads to maintaining the binaries: travel writing by whites will continue being read for colonial meaning-making and nostalgia, and that by the members of former colonies will continue to be read as either mimicry or counter-narratives to colonial structures; thereby blocking the ways to acknowledge the individuality of the authors. The thesis by reading it against this trend joins the debate to free African travel writing from its Western moorings. Also, by focussing on the agency of travel writers, and the ways they produce travel writing through the politics of representation, the thesis challenges the peripheral status of African travel writing, and tries to position it in the universality of the travel writing genre

Enhancing Performance in Terms of Energy Consumption of Cluster Based Protocol by the use of Priority Queue

The multi channel TCP communication utilized channel estimation in order to transfer the received packets towards destination node. As more and more packets collected at cluster head, congestion takes place causing packet drop. Packet drop ratio subsequently decreases lifetime of network and energy consumption due to packet aggregation increases. The proposed literature tackle problem of packet drop with priority Queue. Packets are assigned with priority and in case of congestion packets with least priority are blocked. By doing so aggregate energy along with packet drop ratio subsequently decreases. Simulation is conducted in MATLAB. The performance analysis indicate enhancement by 22%