The Effectiveness of Community-Based Development in Poverty Reduction: A Descriptive Analysis of a Women-Managed NGO in Rural Pakistan

To assess the targeting performance of community-based development activities and deduce the impact of such activities on poverty reduction, we implemented a survey of a non-governmental organization (NGO) in northwestern Pakistan. A distinct characteristic of this NGO is that it is managed mostly by women and its interventions are conducted through community-based organizations (COs), most of whose members are also female. This characteristic is rather unusual for a male-dominated society like Pakistan. Descriptive analyses of village, CO, and household level data shows that the NGO was able to target poorer villages. Villages with COs are characterized by lower adult literacy rates, lower availability of basic amenities, and higher susceptibility to natural disasters. With regard to household-level welfare indicators - such as consumption, women’s empowerment, children’s school enrolment, and the weight-for-age of infants - we found that the consumption levels of CO member households tended to be lower than that of households in non-CO villages. However, the difference between CO member households and non-member households in CO villages was insignificant, possibly owing to the mixing of the selection effect (i.e., poorer households are served by the NGO) and the causal effect of interventions on poverty reduction. On women’s empowerment and child schooling, CO member households tend to perform better than other households, suggesting the favorable impact of the interventions and/or the self-selection of such households vis-à-vis program participation.

The Effectiveness of Community-Based Development in Poverty Reduction : A Descriptive Analysis of a Women-Managed NGO in Rural Pakistan

To assess the targeting performance of community-based development activities and deduce the impact of such activities on poverty reduction, we implemented a survey of a non-governmental organization (NGO) in northwestern Pakistan. A distinct characteristic of this NGO is that it is managed mostly by women and its interventions are conducted through community-based organizations (COs), most of whose members are also female. This characteristic is rather unusual for a male-dominated society like Pakistan. Descriptive analyses of village, CO, and household level data shows that the NGO was able to target poorer villages. Villages with COs are characterized by lower adult literacy rates, lower availability of basic amenities, and higher susceptibility to natural disasters. With regard to household-level welfare indicators -- such as consumption, women’s empowerment, children’s school enrolment, and the weight-for-age of infants -- we found that the consumption levels of CO member households tended to be lower than that of households in non-CO villages. However, the difference between CO member households and non-member households in CO villages was insignificant, possibly owing to the mixing of the selection effect (i.e., poorer households are served by the NGO) and the causal effect of interventions on poverty reduction. On women’s empowerment and child schooling, CO member households tend to perform better than other households, suggesting the favorable impact of the interventions and/or the self-selection of such households vis-à-vis program participation.

Reduction of thermal conductivity in PbTe:Tl by alloying with TlSbTe_2

A series of s ingle-phase polycrystalline (TlSbTe_2)_x(Tl_(0.02)Pb_(0.98)Te)_(1-x) (x=0, 0.05, 0.1) compounds were made to reduce thermal conductivity while maintaining the enhanced Seebeck coefficients found in PbTe doped with Tl. Transport property measurements confirmed that high Seebeck coefficients from doping with Tl are retained by alloying with TlSbTe_2. At the same time, a thermal conductivity as low as 0.8 W/mK at room temperature, and 0.6 W/mK at 673 K was observed, corresponding to a 30% reduction in lattice thermal conductivity at 673 K compared with 2% Tl-PbTe. However, the maximum zT in this system is 0.8 (at 623 K), which is lower than that of 2% Tl-PbTe prepared in this work (1.2 at 673 K) owing to a decrease of the charge-carrier mobility when alloying with TlSbTe_2. Possible influences on the mobility are discussed

Effect of Sintering Temperature on the Thermoelectric Properties of Ag₂Se Fabricated by Spark Plasma Sintering with High Compression

Silver selenide (Ag₂Se) is a high-performance thermoelectric (TE) material near room temperature. This research improves its TE figure-of-merit (ZT) by varying the sintering temperatures (423–723 K) in the spark plasma sintering (SPS) process with high compression pressure (300 MPa). The SPS compaction of Ag₂Se powders synthesized by wet chemical reaction leads to the fast fusion of particles so that the grain boundaries are hardly visible. Furthermore, the fast fusion causes nanopores at the grain surface and some cracks, particularly at higher sintering temperatures. These featured microstructures decrease carrier concentrations and affect the TE properties significantly. The TE measurements show that increasing sintering temperatures results in decreased electrical conductivity and increased magnitude of the Seebeck coefficient due to microstructural defects. Increasing SPS temperatures also suppresses the thermal conductivity from enhancing phonon scattering by defects. The bulk Ag₂Se sample sintered at 723 K shows the best TE performance with the maximum ZT of 0.90 with a slight variation from 300 to 400 K. Thus, the high-temperature SPS with high-compression pressure is likely to be the key for fabricating bulk Ag₂Se with high TE performance

Cohesive/Adhesive strengths of CsOH-chemisorbed SS304 surfaces

During the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (1F) accident, volatile radioactive fission products (FPs) such as Cs-137 were released, which significantly influenced mid- to long-term decommissioning strategies. A substantial amount of the remaining cesium in the pressure vessel may have deposited onto the 304 stainless steel (SS304) steam separators and dryers. This deposited cesium presents a safety hazard during 1F’s decommissioning, as it can generate radioactive dust and complicate waste storage. However, the cohesive and adhesive strengths of CsOH-chemisorbed oxide scales, crucial for understanding the release of cesium-bearing particles from SS304 surfaces, remain undefined. In this study, we explore how CsOH chemisorption affects the cohesive and adhesive strengths between oxide scales and SS304 substrates using a scratch tester. Our tests revealed that cracks formed at approximately the same load, but the overall cohesive strength of the oxide scales decreased following CsOH chemisorption. Furthermore, the transition from cracks to bulk separation occurred more rapidly in CsOH-chemisorbed SS304 substrates, especially those with lower silicon content. Finally, we found that adhesive failure could not be achieved even at 70 N, suggesting that the deposited cesium cannot be completely removed from SS304 during the decommissioning of 1F

Ubiquitous Environment Control System: An Internet-of- Things–Based Decentralized Autonomous Measurement and Control System for a Greenhouse Environment

A low-cost and flexible system for environmental measurement and control in greenhouses based on decentralized autonomous technics, Ubiquitous Environment Control System (UECS), was proposed in 2004. The UECS is composed of autonomous nodes as the minimum units of measurement and control. The nodes can connect with each other through Ethernet or Wi-Fi and can communicate information regardless of manufacturer or model. To realize automation and efficiency of protected horticultural production, two consortia for UECS development and extension were established. During the last 10 years, the UECS has been used to apply environment control in large-scale greenhouses and plant factories. The stability and utility of the UECS have been demonstrated and verified in these practical cultivations. Current research and development are being carried out to install information and communication technology (ICT) systems to improve productivity in existing small- to medium-scale greenhouses in Japan. The flexibility and concept of the UECS have been very effective to enable sophisticated environmental control technology to be applied to small- and medium-scale greenhouses. In this chapter, self-fabricated UECS, the renewal of old environmental control systems using the UECS, and Sub-GHz radio band use for communicating UECS nodes among distributed greenhouses are discussed

Phase behavior of oxidized Ce and Gd-doped (U,Zr)O₂

Re-criticality analysis of the fuel debris at the Fukushima Dai-ichi Nuclear Power Plant is the key step to ensure the safe retrieval and storage of the fuel debris. Knowledge of the amount and distribution of Pu and Gd within the fuel debris greatly contributes to such analysis as they directly affect the fission-chain reaction. However, little is known about how Pu-doped and Gd-doped (U, Zr)O₂ solid solutions oxidize and whether phases concentrated in Pu or Gd form. In this study, CeO₂ is used as a surrogate material for PuO₂ because of the similarities in their crystal structures and valence states. (U₀.₉-xZr₀.₁Cex)O₂ and (U₀.₉-xZr₀.₁Gdx)O₂ solid solutions are prepared by sintering under an argon atmosphere and oxidized at 1073 K in air for 2 hours to simulate heavily oxidized fuel debris. Samples doped with 5 at% Ce and Gd contain only an orthorhombic-U3O8-x phase after oxidation, but its diffraction peaks’ intensities decrease as the amount of dopant increases. The phase transformation of (U₀.₉-xZr₀.₁Gdx)O₂, with further oxidation, is found to be cubic-(U, Zr, Gd)O₂+x → orthorhombic-(U, Zr, Gd)₃O₇±x → orthorhombic-(U, Zr, Gd)₃O₈-x. SEM/EDS analysis reveals that Ce and Gd are uniformly distributed in the (U₀.₉-xZr₀.₁REx)O₂ (RE = Ce, Gd) samples after oxidation

Enhancement of Thermoelectric Efficiency in PbTe by Distortion of the Electronic Density of States

The efficiency of thermoelectric energy converters is limited by the material thermoelectric figure of merit (zT). The recent advances in zT based on nanostructures limiting the phonon heat conduction is nearing a fundamental limit: The thermal conductivity cannot be reduced below the amorphous limit. We explored enhancing the Seebeck coefficient through a distortion of the electronic density of states and report a successful implementation through the use of the thallium impurity levels in lead telluride (PbTe). Such band structure engineering results in a doubling of zT in p-type PbTe to above 1.5 at 773 kelvin. Use of this new physical principle in conjunction with nanostructuring to lower the thermal conductivity could further enhance zT and enable more widespread use of thermoelectric systems

The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as a novel independent prognostic factor for multiple metastatic lung tumors from various sarcomas

Purpose Sarcomas are among the most refractory malignant tumors and often recur as pulmonary metastasis. Although the presence of a high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been associated with the prognosis of several malignancies, the relationship between the NLR and sarcoma with pulmonary metastasis is unclear. We investigated the impact of the NLR in patients who underwent surgical resection for metastatic lung tumors from various sarcomas. Methods The subjects of this retrospective study were 158 patients with metastatic lung tumors from various sarcomas, who underwent initial pulmonary metastasectomy between 2006 and 2015. We examined the clinicopathological variables, including the NLR and the characteristics of surgical procedures. Survival was estimated by the Kaplan–Meier method and prognostic factors were evaluated by multivariate analysis. Results Multivariate analysis revealed significantly better survival of the group with an NLR  2 years, and 3 or more pulmonary metastasectomies. Conclusion The NLR immediately before the most recent pulmonary metastasectomy is a novel independent prognostic factor, which may be helpful when considering repeated pulmonary metastasectomy