A life-course perspective of sex trafficking among the Bedia caste of India

Thousands of Indian women and girls enter the commercial sex industry (CSI) annually based solely on membership in particular castes (e.g., Bedia, Nat). CSI-involved females bear the burden of sustaining entire family units on money earned in the sex trade; it is a life-long responsibility with negligible social status or personal indemnity. Based on the life-course developmental theory (Elder, Jr. 1994, 1998) this investigation was intended to examine trafficked women’s experiences within the commercial sex industry across time. Beyond the CSI, we were equally interested in experiences with factors that could promote well-being (i.e., social support) and normative developmental transitions including education attainment and motherhood. To that end, three questions were posed. First, to what extent do factors surrounding CSI entry and continued involvement differ through time among CSI-involved Bedia? Second, how do CSI-involved Bedia describe social network composition and perceived support through time? Finally, are differences detectable, through time, in CSI-involved Bedia women’s experiences with normative developmental transitions including education attainment and motherhood? Interview data were collected from 31 Bedia females (age range 17 – 65 years) residing in rural Madhya Pradesh, India. To examine change through time, participants were divided into cohorts based on age and time involved in the commercial sex industry. Data were then analyzed within and across cohorts with particular attention to cohort-related experiential differences. Policy implications and suggestions for continued research are presented

The SERVICE Framework: A Public-service-dominant Approach to Sustainable Public Services

In this paper we argue that the new public management has been a flawed paradigm for public services delivery that has produced very internally efficient but externally ineffective public service organizations. Subsequently we develop the SERVICE framework for sustainable public services and public service organizations. This framework is rooted within the public‐service‐dominant business logic and emphasizes the need for a focus on external value creation rather than internal efficiency alone

Comparison between Landsat-8 OLI and PROBA-V over Libya-4 Pseudo Invariant Calibration Site (PICS)

Landsat-8 OLI and PROBA-V both are put successfully in orbit during the first half 2013. Both sensors passed their commissioning period and are transferred to the operational phase, delivering new observations of the Earth’s surface. In orbit radiometric calibration and validation of PROBA-V is done at Vito’s Remote Sensing Department, by means of the OSCAR facilities. The Landsat-8 OLI sensor is done at the South Dakota State University Image Processing Laboratory. Both teams rely, amongst others, on acquisitions above the Libyan desert. The spectral properties of this site have been identified in various (inter) calibration exercises as temporally quite stable. Therefore, it is one of the six Pseudo-Invariant Calibration Sites (PICS) identified by CEOS. Specific properties of these sites are: high reflectance, usually made up of sand dunes with climatologically low aerosol loading and practically no vegetation. Many methods have been developed and inter-calibration exercises have been performed over this site for many different sensor. This poster presents the comparison between both sensors by applying the models of both cal/val teams. The 4 spectral bands (3 optical and 1 short wave IR) of PROBA-V are compared against comparable Landsat-8 OLI bands. For the Vito case, the measured TOA reflectances of both sensor are compared against simulated reflectances, using the 6S RTC model combined with a spectral BRF model of the site. For the SDSU case, near simultaneous acquisitions from PROBA-V and Landsat-8 OLI over Libya 4 PICS will be used to cross-compare the instruments. The spectral band differences will be accounted using EO-1 Hyperion sensor. Finally a comparison will be made between the results of the two cross calibration approaches

Using Hyperion to Develop an Absolute Calibration Model for the Libya 4 Invariant Test Site - Initial Concepts

Pseudo Invariant Calibration Sites (or PICS) have been in use for the past 15 years for long term trending of optical satellite radiometric stability. Those PICS in the Saharan desert have shown the best stability and have been used to show the long term stability of many satellite systems with precision of less than 3% in the visible and infrared. While the use of PICS for trending purposes has been of great value, these sites also have the potential for use in absolute calibration such that sensor performance can be assessed without requiring long periods of time. This paper reports on the development of an absolute calibration model for the well-known Libya 4 site using Hyperion data sets. Libya 4 has been identified as perhaps the most stable PICS in the Sahara Desert and, therefore, has been identified as a data collection site for the Hyperion hyperspectral sensor for the past 10 years. As a result, over 200 scenes are available for the analysis of Libya 4 providing a record that can be used to assess the atmospheric and surface properties associated with this site. Due to the hyperspectral (10 nm channel spacing) nature of the data sets, information about the surface properties can be isolated from atmospheric effects to allow development of BRDF models. Conversely, once a BRDF model has been developed, it can be used in conjunction with other wavelengths from the hyperspectral imagery to derive an atmospheric model. Using this approach, results have indicated the stability of Libya 4 at the 1% level and the ability to absolutely calibrate sensors to within the accuracies stated in the mission requirements. Details of this methodology, as well as recent updates and applications to sensors currently in orbit, will be presented