318 research outputs found
Levels and Differentials in Maternal Mortality in Rural India:New Evidence from Sisterhood Data
The paper presents estimates of maternal mortality derived from the NCAER-HDI survey (1994) for rural areas of India by broad geographical regions and by some selected background characteristics of respondents. According to these estimates, maternal mortality was 544 deaths per one lakh births roughly 12 years before the survey. The maternal mortality ratio was more than 600 in eastern and north-central India, while it was between 300 and 400 in north-western and southern India. The survey data suggest that maternal mortality levels were higher among the scheduled tribes and scheduled castes and low among Muslims. The level of maternal mortality was strongly related to amenities and infrastructure available in the village. However, its relationship with poverty and educational levels of respondents was found to be weak perhaps because the characteristics of respondents were not the ideal surrogates for sistersâ attributes.Health CareMortality RateMaternal Mortality
Demographic transition, family size and child schooling
This paper first presents evidence to show that in recent years there has been a substantial fall in fertility among illiterate women in India. Subsequently, using the data from the Human Development Profile Survey of 1994, it shows that child schooling among illiterate parents is inversely related to family size and positively related to contraceptive use. By connecting these two pieces of evidence, the paper argues that fertility is falling and child schooling is rising among illiterate couples because of the quantity-quality trade-off. The detrimental effect of family size on child schooling is found to be more severe on female children and on the first-born of either sex. Perhaps this is because when family size is large, these children are either not sent to school at all or withdrawn early, to supplement the family income or to look after the younger siblings. Consequently, it is argued that the first female child would particularly stand to gain from declines in fertility.EducationDemographic Transition
Possible Discrimination between Gamma Rays and Hadrons using Cerenkov Photon Timing Measurements
Atmospheric \v{C}erenkov Technique is an established methodology to study
energy gamma rays. However the challenging problem has always been the
poor signal to noise ratio due to the presence of abundant cosmic rays. Several
ingenious techniques have been employed to alleviate this problem, most of
which are centred around the \v{C}erenkov image characteristics. However there
are not many techniques available for improving the signal to noise ratio of
the data from wavefront sampling observations. One such possible technique is
to use the \v{C}erenkov photon arrival times and identify the species dependent
characteristics in them. Here we carry out systematic monte carlo simulation
studies of the timing information of \v{C}erenkov photons at the observation
level. We have parameterized the shape of the \v{C}erenkov shower front as well
as the pulse shapes in terms of experimentally measurable quantities. We
demonstrate the sensitivity of the curvature of the shower front, pulse shape
parameters as well as the photon arrival time jitter to primary species and
show their efficiency in improving the signal to noise ratio. The effect of
limiting the \v{C}erenkov telescope opening angle by using a circular focal
point mask, onthe efficacy of the parameters has also been studied for each of
the parameters. Radius of the shower front, pulse decay time and photon arrival
time jitter have been found to be the most promising parameters which could be
used to discriminate ray events from the background. We also find
that the efficiency of the first two parameters increases with zenith angle and
efficiency of pulse decay time decreases with increasing altitude of
observation.Comment: 30 pages, 5 postscript figures, uses elsart.sty; To appear in
Astroparticle Physic
Simulation Studies on Arrival Time Distributions of Cherenkov Photons in Extensive Air Showers
Atmospheric Cherenkov technique is an established methodology to study TeV
energy gamma rays. Here we carry out systematic monte carlo simulation studies
of the timing information of Cherenkov photons. Extensive studies have already
been carried out in this regard. Most of these are carried out at higher
energies with the aim of studying the elemental composition of cosmic rays.
However not much attention is paid to the species dependent signatures at TeV
energies. In this work, functional fits have been carried out to the spherical
Cherenkov shower fronts and the radii of curvature have been found to be equal
to the height of shower maximum irrespective of the species or the observation
level. Functional fits have also been carried out to describe the pulse shapes
at various core distances in terms of well known probability density
distribution functions (PDF). Two types of PDF's have been tried viz. gamma
function and lognormal function. The variation of the pulse shape parameters as
a function of primary energy, observation height and incident angles have been
studied. The possibility of deriving the pulse shape parameters like the rise &
decay times, full width at half maximum from the easily measurable quantities
like the mean and RMS variation of photon arrival times offers a very important
new technique which can be easily applied in an observation.Comment: 34 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Astroparticle
Physic
Testing the Dirac equation
The dynamical equations which are basic for the description of the dynamics
of quantum felds in arbitrary space--time geometries, can be derived from the
requirements of a unique deterministic evolution of the quantum fields, the
superposition principle, a finite propagation speed, and probability
conservation. We suggest and describe observations and experiments which are
able to test the unique deterministic evolution and analyze given experimental
data from which restrictions of anomalous terms violating this basic principle
can be concluded. One important point is, that such anomalous terms are
predicted from loop gravity as well as from string theories. Most accurate data
can be obtained from future astrophysical observations. Also, laboratory tests
like spectroscopy give constraints on the anomalous terms.Comment: 11 pages. to appear in: C. L\"ammerzahl, C.W.F. Everitt, and F.W.
Hehl (eds.): Gyros, Clocks, Interferometers...: Testing Relativistic Gravity
in Space, Lecture Notes in Physics 562, Springer 200
Cerenkov Photon Density Fluctuations in Extensive Air Showers
The details of Cerenkov light produced by a gamma ray or a cosmic ray
incident at the top of the atmosphere is best studied through systematic
simulations of the extensive air showers. Recently such studies have become all
the more important in view of the various techniques resulting from such
studies, to distinguish gamma ray initiated showers from those generated by
much more abundant hadronic component of cosmic rays. We have carried out here
such systematic simulation studies using CORSIKA package in order to understand
the Cerenkov photon density fluctuations for 5 different energies at various
core distances both for gamma ray and proton primaries incident vertically at
the top of the atmosphere. Such a systematic comparison of shower to shower
density fluctuations for gamma ray and proton primaries is carried out for the
first time here. It is found that the density fluctuations are significantly
non-Poissonian. Such fluctuations are much more pronounced in the proton
primaries than gamma ray primaries at all energies. The processes that
contribute significantly to the observed fluctuations have been identified. It
has been found that significant contribution to fluctuations comes from photons
emitted after shower maximum. The electron number fluctuations and correlated
emission of Cerenkov photons are mainly responsible for the observed
fluctuations.Comment: 31 pages, latex, 16 figures in ps files, Accepted for publication in
"Astroparticle Physics
Angular Resolution of the Pachmarhi Array of Cerenkov Telescopes
The Pachmarhi Array of Cerenkov Telescopes consists of a distributed array of
25 telescopes that are used to sample the atmospheric Cerenkov Photon showers.
Each telescope consists of 7 parabolic mirrors each viewed by a single
photo-multiplier tube. Reconstruction of photon showers are carried out using
fast timing information on the arrival of pulses at each PMT. The shower front
is fitted to a plane and the direction of arrival of primary particle
initiating the shower is obtained. The error in the determination of the
arrival direction of the primary has been estimated using the {\it split} array
method. It is found to be for primaries of energy . The dependence of the angular resolution on the separation between the
telescopes and the number of detectors are also obtained from the data.Comment: 26 pages, 11 Postscript figures; uses elsart.cls. To appear in
Astroparticle Physic
Exchange, use and conservation of animal genetic resources : policy and regulatory options
The aim of this report is to support informed and evidence-based decision-making by exploring a range of policy and regulatory options related to exchange, use and conservation of AnG
Back to the future : How Scenarios of future globalisation, biotechnology, disease and climate change can inform present animal genetic resources policy development
With the aim of assessing how exchange practices regarding Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (AnGR) affect the various stakeholders in the livestock sector and to identify policies and regulatory options that could guide the global exchange, use and conservation of AnGR, an exploration of future scenarios was used as a complementary approach to reviewing the current situation, as well as to identify stakeholders’ views on AnGR policy development. Four 2050 future scenarios were developed and included:1. Globalization and regionalization.2. Biotechnology development.3. Climate change and environmental degradation.4. Diseases and disasters.Having developed the scenarios, these were then used as an input point for a wide range of stakeholder consultations. The findings show that such an approach has been a useful analytical tool. The ‘far’ future perspective appeared to make people less defensive, especially in a situation where current exchange problems were not yet particularly visible or well documented. Many interviewees broadly considered that it was not a question of ‘if’ the scenarios would happen, but rather a question of ‘when’. This implies that we might do well to consider the need to respond to future challenges through the proactive development of new policies or regulations. Such a finding is partly in contrast with the general perception of the current regulatory situation being broadly acceptable
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