SOCIAL INFLUENCE AND CONTRACEPTIVE USE AMONG ADOLESCENT GIRLS AND YOUNG WOMEN IN MALAWI

Background: In Malawi, 45% of adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) report their pregnancies as unintended or mistimed, yet uptake of modern contraception remains low. Adolescence and young-adulthood are periods when individuals begin to make health-related decisions independently but are still largely influenced by those around them. Understanding how social interactions impact AGYW contraceptive use might explain low levels of contraceptive uptake beyond individual and environmental factors and guide effective strategies to engage AGYW and their social networks in reproductive health interventions. Methods: Two studies were conducted using data from Girl Power (GP), a one-year intervention for sexually active AGYW (age 15-24) in Malawi. Study one used cross-sectional analyses to examine whether contraceptive communication and social norms (descriptive and injunctive) were associated with contraceptive outcomes and how associations differed by source of social influence, marital status, and parity (N=942). Study two used longitudinal mediation analyses to examine whether exposure to GP, and to contraceptive-specific empowerment sessions within GP, was associated with contraceptive outcomes and whether associations were mediated by contraceptive communication (N=517). Results: In study one, contraceptive communication and descriptive norms were associated with non-barrier contraceptive use. However, associations differed across sources of social influence, marital status, and parity. Contraceptive communication with partners was important for all; communication with peers was important for single AGYW, regardless of parity; and communication with older women in the family was important for single, childless AGYW. Descriptive social norms were important for single AGYW, regardless of parity. There was no association among contraceptive communication, social norms, and condom use. In study two, exposure to contraceptive-specific empowerment sessions was positively associated with non-barrier contraceptive use and the relationship was mediated by contraceptive communication with partners. Exposure to contraceptive-specific empowerment sessions was also positively associated with condom use but the relationship was not mediated by contraceptive communication with any source. Conclusions: These findings inform reproductive health interventions situated in sub-Saharan Africa by highlighting the variation in sources of social influence for AGYW non-barrier contraceptive use. Interventions for AGYW that encourage contraceptive communication in general, but especially with partners, have the potential to increase non-barrier contraceptive use.Doctor of Philosoph

Optical processing for semiconductor device fabrication

A new technique for semiconductor device processing is described that uses optical energy to produce local heating/melting in the vicinity of a preselected interface of the device. This process, called optical processing, invokes assistance of photons to enhance interface reactions such as diffusion and melting, as compared to the use of thermal heating alone. Optical processing is performed in a 'cold wall' furnace, and requires considerably lower energies than furnace or rapid thermal annealing. This technique can produce some device structures with unique properties that cannot be produced by conventional thermal processing. Some applications of optical processing involving semiconductor-metal interfaces are described

Use of replication technology in a global software development environment

In this article, we have proposed a new global software development support system. Until now, the technological challenges in global software development support have been addressed on a semi-automatic ad hoc basis by Groupware technologies such aS electronic mail, teleconferencing, electronic meetings, calendaring and scheduling, and workflow. These methods are usefid but do not address the issues of site autonomy, and transactional consistency. Our proposed software development support system is based on replication technology. In our system, each software development center has the ability to make additions and modifications. Further, the system also maintains transactional consistency so all sites have the identical copy of documents in near real-time

Mechanical and fracture properties of a self-compacting version of CARDIFRC Mix II

CARDIFRC is the trade name of two main groups of ultra-high performance fibre-reinforced concrete mixes – Mixes I and II – differing primarily in the maximum size of quartz sand used (0.6 mm in Mix I, and 2 mm in Mix II). In this paper, the conversion of CARDIFRC Mix II to a self-compacting and industrially competitive ultra-high performance fibre-reinforced concrete (UHPFRC) is described. A full mechanical and fracture characterisation (i.e. size-independent fracture energy and the corresponding bi-linear stress-crack opening relationship) of this UHPFRC is provided

Bending and wrinkling as competing relaxation pathways for strained free-hanging films

An equilibrium phase diagram for the shape of compressively strained free-hanging films is developed by total strain energy minimization. For small strain gradients {\Delta}{\epsilon}, the film wrinkles, while for sufficiently large {\Delta}{\epsilon}, a phase transition from wrinkling to bending occurs. We consider competing relaxation mechanisms for free-hanging films, which have rolled up into tube structures, and we provide an upper limit for the maximum achievable number of tube rotations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Paired pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation in the assessment of biceps voluntary activation in individuals with tetraplegia.

After spinal cord injury (SCI), motoneuron death occurs at and around the level of injury which induces changes in function and organization throughout the nervous system, including cortical changes. Muscle affected by SCI may consist of both innervated (accessible to voluntary drive) and denervated (inaccessible to voluntary drive) muscle fibers. Voluntary activation measured with transcranial magnetic stimulation (VATMS) can quantify voluntary cortical/subcortical drive to muscle but is limited by technical challenges including suboptimal stimulation of target muscle relative to its antagonist. The motor evoked potential (MEP) in the biceps compared to the triceps (i.e., MEP ratio) may be a key parameter in the measurement of biceps VATMS after SCI. We used paired pulse TMS, which can inhibit or facilitate MEPs, to determine whether the MEP ratio affects VATMS in individuals with tetraplegia. Ten individuals with tetraplegia following cervical SCI and ten non-impaired individuals completed single pulse and paired pulse VATMS protocols. Paired pulse stimulation was delivered at 1.5, 10, and 30 ms inter-stimulus intervals (ISI). In both the SCI and non-impaired groups, the main effect of the stimulation pulse (paired pulse compared to single pulse) on VATMS was not significant in the linear mixed-effects models. In both groups for the stimulation parameters we tested, the MEP ratio was not modulated across all effort levels and did not affect VATMS. Linearity of the voluntary moment and superimposed twitch moment relation was lower in SCI participants compared to non-impaired. Poor linearity in the SCI group limits interpretation of VATMS. Future work is needed to address methodological issues that limit clinical application of VATMS

Paired pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation in the assessment of biceps voluntary activation in individuals with tetraplegia.

After spinal cord injury (SCI), motoneuron death occurs at and around the level of injury which induces changes in function and organization throughout the nervous system, including cortical changes. Muscle affected by SCI may consist of both innervated (accessible to voluntary drive) and denervated (inaccessible to voluntary drive) muscle fibers. Voluntary activation measured with transcranial magnetic stimulation (VATMS) can quantify voluntary cortical/subcortical drive to muscle but is limited by technical challenges including suboptimal stimulation of target muscle relative to its antagonist. The motor evoked potential (MEP) in the biceps compared to the triceps (i.e., MEP ratio) may be a key parameter in the measurement of biceps VATMS after SCI. We used paired pulse TMS, which can inhibit or facilitate MEPs, to determine whether the MEP ratio affects VATMS in individuals with tetraplegia. Ten individuals with tetraplegia following cervical SCI and ten non-impaired individuals completed single pulse and paired pulse VATMS protocols. Paired pulse stimulation was delivered at 1.5, 10, and 30 ms inter-stimulus intervals (ISI). In both the SCI and non-impaired groups, the main effect of the stimulation pulse (paired pulse compared to single pulse) on VATMS was not significant in the linear mixed-effects models. In both groups for the stimulation parameters we tested, the MEP ratio was not modulated across all effort levels and did not affect VATMS. Linearity of the voluntary moment and superimposed twitch moment relation was lower in SCI participants compared to non-impaired. Poor linearity in the SCI group limits interpretation of VATMS. Future work is needed to address methodological issues that limit clinical application of VATMS

Production and Purification of Pectinase by Soil Isolate Penicillium Sp and Search for Better Agro-Residue for its SSF

Pectinase producing microorganisms were isolated from pectin industry waste using selective isolation technique. Among them, a potential culture was identified on morphological basis as Penicillium sp. It was found to produce significant amount of extracellular pectinase under submerged fermentation process. The type of enzyme produced was subsequently identified as polygalacturonase (PG). On partial optimization, culture showed maximum enzyme production at 35 oC in a medium having pH 6.0 containing 1.5% pectin on 72 h of incubation. The PG produced by the isolate was further purified by ammonium sulphate precipitation, size exclusion and ion exchange chromatography. The molecular weight of purified enzyme was determined to be 35 kDa by SDS-PAGE. Under optimized conditions, purified PG showed 98.66 U/ml activity which was almost 12 fold higher than crude. In view of cost effective pectinase production, substrate optimization using solid state fermentation was carried out amongst which orange bagasse gave 64.50 U/gm PG activity which was higher than other natural substrates