Children's Schooling in Developing-Country Slums: A Comparison of Egypt and India

This paper explores the implications of urban poverty for children’s educational attainment, a central measure of human capital that has a well-documented and pervasive influence on later-life demographic and labor force behavior. We compare levels of children’s schooling in Cairo and urban Egypt with those of Allahabad, India, a rapidly growing city of some 1.1 million persons in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, looking for poverty effects at both household and neighborhood levels.

Application of six sigma methodology to reduce defects of a grinding process

Six Sigma is a data-driven leadership approach using specific tools and methodologies that lead to fact-based decision making. This paper deals with the application of the Six Sigma methodology in reducing defects in a fine grinding process of an automotive company in India. The DMAIC (Define–Measure–Analyse–Improve–Control) approach has been followed here to solve the underlying problem of reducing process variation and improving the process yield. This paper explores how a manufacturing process can use a systematic methodology to move towards world-class quality level. The application of the Six Sigma methodology resulted in reduction of defects in the fine grinding process from 16.6 to 1.19%. The DMAIC methodology has had a significant financial impact on the profitability of the company in terms of reduction in scrap cost, man-hour saving on rework and increased output. A saving of approximately US$2.4 million per annum was reported from this project

Analysis of pooled DNA samples on high density arrays without prior knowledge of differential hybridization rates

Array based DNA pooling techniques facilitate genome-wide scale genotyping of large samples. We describe a structured analysis method for pooled data using internal replication information in large scale genotyping sets. The method takes advantage of information from single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) typed in parallel on a high density array to construct a test statistic with desirable statistical properties. We utilize a general linear model to appropriately account for the structured multiple measurements available with array data. The method does not require the use of additional arrays for the estimation of unequal hybridization rates and hence scales readily to accommodate arrays with several hundred thousand SNPs. Tests for differences between cases and controls can be conducted with very few arrays. We demonstrate the method on 384 endometriosis cases and controls, typed using Affymetrix Genechip© HindIII 50 K arrays. For a subset of this data there were accurate measures of hybridization rates available. Assuming equal hybridization rates is shown to have a negligible effect upon the results. With a total of only six arrays, the method extracted one-third of the information (in terms of equivalent sample size) available with individual genotyping (requiring 768 arrays). With 20 arrays (10 for cases, 10 for controls), over half of the information could be extracted from this sample

Restaurant Service for the 90\u27s

Much has been written about servicing the customer. In fact, every issue of Restaurants USA or Nation\u27s Restaurant News offers an article designed to help restaurateurs more successfully service their customers. While the restaurant market has carefully zeroed in on the specific products and services customers require, no one has carefully addressed the heart of the issue. The authors discuss the hospitality in restaurant service

Can Denitrification Reduce NO\u3csub\u3e3\u3c/sub\u3e in Shallow Ground Water?

Systematic sampling of springs, tiles, and wells in Kentucky, as part of a recent statewide program to assess agricultural impacts on water quality, showed that NO3 concentrations in these shallow ground water sources varied tremendously. The NO3 concentration could be correlated with flow rate; higher when ground water recharge flushed NO3 from soil in winter and spring, and lower or non detectable in summer and fall when less NO3 leaching occurred. Depending on the season, NO3 concentrations ranged from \u3c 1 to \u3e 10 ppm NO3-N in almost half of the sites. For example, the water in one site, a shallow well over a naturally occurring spring in Bourbon county, varied from 0 to 12 ppm NO3-N during the year (Figure 1 ). There is an alternative explanation for this variability, an explanation that isn\u27t based on ground water recharge events. An interaction between flow rate and biological activity could explain some of the variability of NO3 concentration in this and similar sites. Since the water percolated through a sediment layer in the Bourbon county well before it could be sampled, it seemed likely that biological denitrification (a microbial process in which bacteria convert NO3-N to N2 gas) during low flow periods might account for the low NO3 concentrations. When water flow was high, NO3 movement through the sediment layer would be too rapid for complete biological removal. We tested this idea by recreating flow-dependent NO3 concentrations in a series of laboratory studies

The effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of respite for caregivers of frail older people

The proportion of frail elderly people in the industrialized world is increasing. Respite care is a potentially important way of maintaining the quality of life for these people and their caregivers. The objective of this systematic review was to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of different models of community-based respite care for frail older people and their caregivers. To identify relevant studies, 37 databases were searched, and reference checking and citation searches were undertaken. Well-controlled effectiveness studies were eligible for inclusion, with uncontrolled studies admissible only in the absence of higher-quality evidence. Studies assessed the effect of community-based respite on caregivers of frail elderly people relative to usual care or to another support intervention. Eligible economic evaluations also addressed costs. Where appropriate, data were synthesized using standard meta-analytic techniques. Ten randomized, controlled trials, seven quasi-experimental studies and five uncontrolled studies were included in the review. For all types of respite, the effects upon caregivers were generally small, with better-controlled studies finding modest benefits only for certain subgroups, although many studies reported high levels of caregiver satisfaction. No reliable evidence was found that respite care delays entry to residential care or adversely affects frail older people. The economic evaluations all assessed day care, which tended to be associated with similar or higher costs than usual care. Given the increasing numbers of frail elderly people and the lack of up-to-date, good-quality evidence for all types of respite care, better-quality evidence is urgently needed to inform current policy and practice

Considerations of complexity in rating certainty of evidence in systematic reviews:a primer on using the GRADE approach in global health

Public health interventions and health technologies are commonly described as 'complex', as they involve multiple interacting components and outcomes, and their effects are largely influenced by contextual interactions and system-level processes. Systematic reviewers and guideline developers evaluating the effects of these complex interventions and technologies report difficulties in using existing methods and frameworks, such as the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE). As part of a special series of papers on implications of complexity in the WHO guideline development, this paper serves as a primer on how to consider sources of complexity when using the GRADE approach to rate certainty of evidence. Relevant sources of complexity in systematic reviews, health technology assessments and guidelines of public health are outlined and mapped onto the reported difficulties in rating the estimates of the effect of these interventions. Recommendations on how to address these difficulties are further outlined, and the need for an integrated use of GRADE from the beginning of the review or guideline development is emphasised. The content of this paper is informed by the existing GRADE guidance, an ongoing research project on considering sources of complexity when applying the GRADE approach to rate certainty of evidence in systematic reviews and the review authors' own experiences with using GRADE

Insights into Assessing the Genetics of Endometriosis

Endometriosis is a complex disease arising from the interplay between multiple genetic and environmental factors. The genetic variants potentially underlying the hereditary component of endometriosis have been widely investigated through hypothesis-driven candidate gene studies, an approach that generally has proven to be inherently difficult and problematic for a number of reasons. Recently, through major collaborative efforts in the endometriosis research field, hypothesis-free genome-wide approaches have started to provide new insights into potential pathways leading to development of endometriosis, as well as highlighting the phenotypic heterogeneity of the condition. This review summarizes the most recent studies investigating the genetic variation contributing to endometriosis, with a particular focus on genome-wide approaches, and discusses promising future directions of genetic research