Health sector reform in South Asia: new challenges and constraints

In early 1990s, Jamison, Mosley and others concluded that a profound demographic and consequent epidemiological transition is taking place in developing countries. According to this classical model, by the year 2015, infectious diseases will account for only about 20% of deaths in developing countries as chronic diseases become more pronounced. These impending demographic and epidemiological transitions were to dominate the health sector reform agenda in developing countries. Following an analysis of fertility, mortality and other demographic and epidemiological data from South Asian and other developing countries, the paper argues that the classical model is in need of re-evaluation. A number of new \u27challenges\u27 have complicated the classical interplay of demographic and epidemiological factors. These new challenges include continuing population growth in some countries, rapid unplanned urbanization, the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Sub-Saharan Africa (and its impending threat in South Asia), and globalization and increasing marginalisation of developing countries. While the traditional lack of investment in human development makes the developing countries more vulnerable to the vicissitudes of globalization, increasing economic weakness of their governments forces them to retreat further from the social sector. Pockets of poverty and deprivation, therefore, persist giving rise to three simultaneous burdens for South Asia and much of the rest of the developing world: continuing communicable diseases, increasing burden of chronic diseases, and increasing demand for both primary and tertiary levels of health care services. While these complex factors, on the one hand, underscore the need for health sector reform, on the other, they make the task much more difficult and challenging. The paper emphasizes the need to revisit the classical model of demographic and epidemiological transition. It is argued that the health sector in developing countries must be aware of and effectively address these \u27new challenges\u27. Although it has included data from many developing countries, the focus is primarily on South Asia

An Agent-Based Simulation Model for Understanding Diffusion Dynamics of Open-Source (OS) Software in the Presence of Upgrades

There is an increasing interest in the evolution of open-source software (OS). Researchers as well as practitioners are trying to better understand factors that impact the diffusion of OS. This paper presents an agent-based model of OS diffusion. Specifically, we investigate how software upgrade cycle affects firms’ OS adoption. In addition, we also incorporate factors such as variability in OS support costs, interoperability issues and network structure that have not been systematically studied in prior OS research. Simulation results demonstrate the individual and interaction effects of these variables on the rate of OS diffusion. High variability in OS support costs and more frequent introduction of major upgrades encourage OS diffusion. The rate of diffusion is also influenced by the degree of cliquishness in the network structure. Interoperability issues hinder OS diffusion when proprietary software (PS) is currently the dominant standard. However, if other factors encourage OS diffusion and a critical mass of OS adopters is reached, then interoperability issues encourage OS diffusion. The impact of interactions between network structures and other factors on diffusion dynamics is also illustrated

Characterizing Key Stakeholders in an Online Black-Hat Marketplace

Over the past few years, many black-hat marketplaces have emerged that facilitate access to reputation manipulation services such as fake Facebook likes, fraudulent search engine optimization (SEO), or bogus Amazon reviews. In order to deploy effective technical and legal countermeasures, it is important to understand how these black-hat marketplaces operate, shedding light on the services they offer, who is selling, who is buying, what are they buying, who is more successful, why are they successful, etc. Toward this goal, in this paper, we present a detailed micro-economic analysis of a popular online black-hat marketplace, namely, SEOClerks.com. As the site provides non-anonymized transaction information, we set to analyze selling and buying behavior of individual users, propose a strategy to identify key users, and study their tactics as compared to other (non-key) users. We find that key users: (1) are mostly located in Asian countries, (2) are focused more on selling black-hat SEO services, (3) tend to list more lower priced services, and (4) sometimes buy services from other sellers and then sell at higher prices. Finally, we discuss the implications of our analysis with respect to devising effective economic and legal intervention strategies against marketplace operators and key users.Comment: 12th IEEE/APWG Symposium on Electronic Crime Research (eCrime 2017

Sustainable Quality Fodder Production under Temperate Mountain Agriculture in Kashmir

Inadequate supply of quality feed and fodder is the primary cause of lower productivity of milch animals in India. Oats (Avena sativa L.) is an important fodder crop in J&K. Jammu and Kashmir state the fodder requirement is about 4.31 million tonnes against the available 3.26 million tonnes (Anonymous, 2008). Kashmir valley experiences a long lean period of winter, resulting in scarcity of green and quality fodder which results in drastic decrease in milk production. Therefore, to meet the need of animal products, there is a great importance of fodder cultivation to compensate fodder scarcity during lean period (Rabi crops remain dormant due to snow/ freezing temperatures). The best measure related to forage quality is animal productivity, which can be affected by nutrient intake, digestibility and utilization efficiency. Quality forage must have high intake, digestibility and efficient utilization. Physiological characteristics have significant impacts on growth and development of plants grown in production systems. Keeping the above facts in view, the present investigation was undertaken to identify the parents and their crosses for physiological and forage quality traits which are economically sustainable for forage yield and quality for sustainable consumption in hill agriculture

Cerebrospinal Fluid Drainage for Prevention of Spinal Cord Ischemia in Thoracic Endovascular Aortic Surgery-Pros and Cons

Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) carries a risk of spinal cord ischemia (SCI) which exerts a devastating impact on patient\u27s quality of life and life expectancy. Although routine prophylactic cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drainage is not unequivocally supported by current data, several studies have demonstrated favorable outcomes. Patients at high risk for SCI following TEVAR likely will benefit from prophylactic CSF drains. However, the intervention is not risk free, and thorough risk/benefit analysis should be individualized to each patient

Ensuring the Role and Impact: Reaching the Poorest While Alleviating the Poverty by Micro Finance in Dera Ismail Khan KPK Pakistan

Micro Finance is used as one of the tools for poverty alleviation.  Micro Financial Institutions provide small loans to poor people, farmers and small enterprises. It is the best solution of removing poverty. This research study provides an overview on Micro finance and poverty alleviation at D.I.Khan district KPK Pakistan.This study is based on both quantitative and qualitative methodologies in order to find out the feasible solution of thisresearch question:what are improvements achieved in the reduction of poverty in the fields of income, employment, education, communication, health care, children’s education and housing etc? Stratified random sampling techniques were used to get a total of 96 respondents. Data were collected through close ended questionnaires, semi structured interviews, observations and documentary reviews. Data analysis was based on descriptive statistics using various statistical tools like regression, correlation, t- test and ANNOVA with the help of tables. The Study findings show thatprovision of Micro-finance is very useful in poverty reduction. The result of the study also show that microfinance helps in poverty alleviation of different categories of poor people and has the positive significant impact on the dependent variable i.e. Poverty Reduction. Key words: Micro finance, poverty, MFIs, income, employment and education

Variation in fish catches from the continental shelf between Quilon and Gulf of Mannar and its relation to oceanographic conditions during the southwest monsoon period

The present paper is based on the fishing results of FORV Sagar Sampada during July-August, 1987 along the southwest coast of India. The fish fauna of the Quilon Bank and Wadge Bank has a dominant nemipterid element and the Gulf of Mannar area has a dominant population of barracudas. Nemipterids constituted 88.2 and 64.4% of the total trawl catch from the Quilon Bank and Wadge Bank respectively

Mangostins stimulate glucose uptake and inhibit adipocyte differentiation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes

Garcinia mangostana (Guttiferae) has interesting biological activities with potential medicinal application. α-mangostin and β-mangostin are the most abundant xanthones isolated from the species. The paper reported the inhibitory effect of the compounds on triglyceride formation, glucose uptake stimulation and gene expression effects on 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Evaluation of the effect of the compounds on triglyceride accumulation was examined by Oil red O staining. The result showed that all compounds inhibited lipid accumulation on 3T3-L1 adipocytes at concentration of 50 μM (P < 0.05) compared to MDI treated cells in a dose-dependent manner. Effect of the cells on uptake of 2-deoxy-D-[3H]glucose was significantly improved by increasing the concentration of the compounds. Analysis of gene expressions by quantitative real-time PCR demonstrated that the compounds inhibited the expression of early adipogenic transcription factor (PPARγ). In addition, the compounds enhanced the expression and plasma membrane translocation of GLUT4 in mature adipocytes. Analysis by using the adipolysis kit showed that α-mangostin particularly increases the free fatty acid release by stimulating the lipolysis pathway. Therefore, these results suggested that α-mangostin and β-mangostin have been found to have a beneficial action in diabetic complications (antiobesity effect) via stimulation of GLUT4 expression and inhibition of PPARγ expression