Exploring the effects of health shocks on antipoverty interventions : experience of poor beneficiary households in Bangladesh

How and whether health shocks impact poverty reduction interventions remains a largely unexplored topic to which not much attention has been paid. This study explored whether and how health shocks affect anti-poverty interventions targeted to extremely poor households using data from 8 focus group discussions and 12 case studies. Those in extremely poor households mostly experienced episodes of chronic disease that incurred greater health-care costs, largely financed by the out-of-pocket payment system. The majority of those from poor households met health-care costs by selling their means of livelihood, borrowing cash, and marketing physical assets. This study argues that livelihood support alone is likely to be insufficient to reduce poverty. Health needs, subsequently, should be prioritized while designing an anti-poverty program

Electron-hole asymmetry in the phase diagram of carrier-tuned CsV3_3Sb5_5

Here we study the effect of electron doping the kagome superconductor CsV$_3$Sb$_5$. Single crystals and powders of CsV$_3$Sb$_{5-x}$Te$_x$ are synthesized and characterized via magnetic susceptibility, nuclear quadrupole resonance, and x-ray diffraction measurements, where we observe a slight suppression of the charge density wave transition temperature and superconducting temperature with the introduction of electron dopants. In contrast to hole-doping, both transitions survive relatively unperturbed up to the solubility limit of Te within the lattice. A comparison is presented between the electronic phase diagrams of electron- and hole-tuned CsV$_3$Sb$_5$.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure

Spiral surface growth without desorption

Spiral surface growth is well understood in the limit where the step motion is controlled by the local supersaturation of adatoms near the spiral ridge. In epitaxial thin-film growth, however, spirals can form in a step-flow regime where desorption of adatoms is negligible and the ridge dynamics is governed by the non-local diffusion field of adatoms on the whole surface. We investigate this limit numerically using a phase-field formulation of the Burton-Cabrera-Frank model, as well as analytically. Quantitative predictions, which differ strikingly from those of the local limit, are made for the selected step spacing as a function of the deposition flux, as well as for the dependence of the relaxation time to steady-state growth on the screw dislocation density.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, RevTe

Precision Measurement of the Radiative B\Beta Decay of the Free Neutron

The standard model predicts that, in addition to a proton, an electron, and an antineutrino, a continuous spectrum of photons is emitted in the $\beta$ decay of the free neutron. We report on the RDK II experiment which measured the photon spectrum using two different detector arrays. An annular array of bismuth germanium oxide scintillators detected photons from 14 to 782~keV. The spectral shape was consistent with theory, and we determined a branching ratio of 0.00335 $\pm$ 0.00005 [stat] $\pm$ 0.00015 [syst]. A second detector array of large area avalanche photodiodes directly detected photons from 0.4 to 14~keV. For this array, the spectral shape was consistent with theory, and the branching ratio was determined to be 0.00582 $\pm$ 0.00023 [stat] $\pm$ 0.00062 [syst]. We report the first precision test of the shape of the photon energy spectrum from neutron radiative decay and a substantially improved determination of the branching ratio over a broad range of photon energies

Annual accumulation for Greenland updated using ice core data developed during 2000-2006 and analysis of daily coastal meteorological data

An updated accumulation map for Greenland is presented on the basis of 39 new ice core estimates of accumulation, 256 ice sheet estimates from ice cores and snow pits used in previous maps, and reanalysis of time series data from 20 coastal weather stations. The period 1950-2000 is better represented by the data than are earlier periods. Ice-sheetwide accumulation was estimated based on kriging. The average accumulation (95 confidence interval, or ±2 times standard error) over the Greenland ice sheet is 30.0 ± 2.4 g cm -2 a-1, with the average accumulation above 2000-m elevation being essentially the same, 29.9 ± 2.2 g cm-2 a -1. At higher elevations the new accumulation map maintains the main features shown in previous maps. However, there are five coastal areas with obvious differences: southwest, northwest, and eastern regions, where the accumulation values are 20-50 lower than previously estimated, and southeast and northeast regions, where the accumulation values are 20-50 higher than previously estimated. These differences are almost entirely due to new coastal data. The much lower accumulation in the southwest and the much higher accumulation in the southeast indicated by the current map mean that long-term mass balance in both catchments is closer to steady state than previously estimated. However, uncertainty in these areas remains high owing to strong gradients in precipitation from the coast inland. A significant and sustained precipitation measurement program will be needed to resolve this uncertainty. Copyright 2009 by the American Geophysical Union

Diel variations of H2O2 in Greenland: A discussion of the cause and effect relationship

Atmospheric hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) measurements at Summit, Greenland, in May–June, 1993 exhibited a diel variation, with afternoon highs typically 1–2 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) and nighttime lows about 0.5 ppbv lower. This variation closely followed that for temperature; specific humidity exhibited the same general trend. During a 17-day snowfall-free period, surface snow was accumulating H2O2, apparently from nighttime cocondensation of H2O and H2O2. Previous photochemical modeling (Neftel et al., 1995) suggests that daytime H2O2 should be about 1 ppbv, significantly lower than our measured values. Previous equilibrium partitioning measurements between ice and gas phase (Conklin et al., 1993) suggest that air in equilibrium with H2O2 concentrations measured in surface snow (15–18 μM) should have an H2O2 concentration 2–3 times what we measured 0.2–3.5 m above the snow surface. A simple eddy diffusion model, with vertical eddy diffusion coefficients calculated from balloon soundings, suggested that atmospheric H2O2 concentrations should be affected by any H2O2 degassed from surface snow. However, field measurements showed the absence of either high concentrations of H2O2 or a measurable concentration gradient between inlets 0.2 and 3 m above the snow. A surface resistance to degassing, that is, slow release of H2O2 from the ice matrix, is a plausible explanation for the differences between observations and modeled atmospheric profiles. Degassing of H2O2 at a rate below our detection limit would still influence measured atmospheric concentrations and help explain the difference between measurements and photochemical modeling. The cumulative evidence suggests that surface snow adjusts slowly to drops in atmospheric H2O2 concentration, over timescales of at least weeks. The H2O2 losses previously observed in pits sampled over more than 1 year are thought to have occurred later in the summer or fall, after the May–July field season

An overview of ISCAT 2000

The Investigation of Sulfur Chemistry in the Antarctic Troposphere (ISCAT) took place over the timer period of 15 November to 31 December in the year 2000. The study location was the Amundsen Scott Station in Antarctica. ISCAT 2000 defines the second phase of a program designed to explore tropospheric chemistry in Antarctica. As in 1998, the 2000 ISCAT study revealed a strong oxidizing environment at South Pole (SP). During the 2000 investigation, however, the suite of measurements was greatly expanded. These new measurements established the recycling of reactive nitrogen as a critical component of this unique environment. This paper first presents the historical background leading up to the ISCAT 2000 observations; then it focuses on providing a summary of the year 2000 results and contrasts these with those recorded during 1998. Important developments made during the 2000 study included the recording of SP data for several species being emitted from the snowpack. These included NO, H 2O2 and CH2O. In this context, eddy-diffusion flux measurements provided the first quantitative estimates of the SP NO and NOx snow-to-atmosphere fluxes. This study also revealed that HNO 3 and HO2NO2 were major sink species for HOx and NOx radicals. And, it identified the critical factors responsible for SP NO levels exceeding those at other polar sites by nearly an order of magnitude. Finally, it reports on the levels of gas phase sulfur species and provides evidence indicating that the absence of DMS at SP is most likely due to its greatly shorten chemical lifetime in the near vicinity of the plateau. It is proposed that this is due to the influence of NO on the distribution of OH in the lower free troposphere over a region that extends well beyond the plateau itself. Details related to each of the above findings plus others can be found in the 11 accompanying Special Issue papers. © 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

Stress distribution and the fragility of supercooled melts

We formulate a minimal ansatz for local stress distribution in a solid that includes the possibility of strongly anharmonic short-length motions. We discover a broken-symmetry metastable phase that exhibits an aperiodic, frozen-in stress distribution. This aperiodic metastable phase is characterized by many distinct, nearly degenerate configurations. The activated transitions between the configurations are mapped onto the dynamics of a long range classical Heisenberg model with 6-component spins and anisotropic couplings. We argue the metastable phase corresponds to a deeply supercooled non-polymeric, non-metallic liquid, and further establish an order parameter for the glass-to-crystal transition. The spin model itself exhibits a continuous range of behaviors between two limits corresponding to frozen-in shear and uniform compression/dilation respectively. The two regimes are separated by a continuous transition controlled by the anisotropy in the spin-spin interaction, which is directly related to the Poisson ratio $\sigma$ of the material. The latter ratio and the ultra-violet cutoff of the theory determine the liquid configurational entropy. Our results suggest that liquid's fragility depends on the Poisson ratio in a non-monotonic way. The present ansatz provides a microscopic framework for computing the configurational entropy and relaxational spectrum of specific substances.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, Final version published in J Phys Chem