Looking beyond maternal mortality rates in maternal health interventions: lessons from Nepal

Nepal has long been hailed as a global success in reducing maternal mortality, but recent census data suggests there has been less progress than the international development agencies had estimated. This raises several questions: are Maternal Mortality Rates (MMRs) the best way to measure progress on maternal health? What are the consequences of the political pressure to demonstrate the impact of programmatic and technical interventions? In this brief Jeevan R. Sharma seeks to offer some preliminary answers

The 2015 earthquakes highlight that Nepal is not a passive recipient of aid, nor should it be treated as such

Case studies like Nepal offer the opportunity to reassess how individuals and communities affected by natural disasters can be better served by humanitarian efforts, writes Jeevan R Sharma. He argues the future of international assistance lies in developing constructive relationships with the state and effective partnerships with the local organisations who often end up leading the relief effort on the ground. This article forms part of our Nepal Earthquake Anniversary series. Read further posts here

Magnetism and superconductivity in Eu0.2Sr0.8(Fe0.86Co0.14)2As2 probed by 75As NMR

We report bulk superconductivity (SC) in Eu$_{0.2}$Sr$_{0.8}$(Fe$_{0.86}$Co$_{0.14}$)$_{2}$As$_{2}$ single crystals by means of electrical resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, and specific heat measurements with $T$$_{\mathrm{c}}$ $\simeq$ 20 K with an antiferromagnetic (AFM) ordering of Eu$^{2+}$ moments at $T$$_{\mathrm{N}}$ $\simeq$ 2.0 K in zero field. $^{75}$As NMR experiments have been performed in the two external field directions (H$\|ab$) and (H$\|c$). $^{75}$As-NMR spectra are analyzed in terms of first order quadrupolar interaction. Spin-lattice relaxation rates (1/$T_{1}$) follow a $T^{3}$ law in the temperature range 4.2-15 K. There is no signature of Hebel-Slichter coherence peak just below the SC transition indicating a non s-wave or s$_{\pm}$ type of superconductivity. The increase of 1/$T_{1}T$ with lowering the temperature in the range 160-18 K following $\frac{C}{T+\theta}$ law reflecting 2D AFM spin fluctuations

Application of improved you only look once model in road traffic monitoring system

The present research focuses on developing an intelligent traffic management solution for tracking the vehicles on roads. Our proposed work focuses on a much better you only look once (YOLOv4) traffic monitoring system that uses the CSPDarknet53 architecture as its foundation. Deep-sort learning methodology for vehicle multi-target detection from traffic video is also part of our research study. We have included features like the Kalman filter, which estimates unknown objects and can track moving targets. Hungarian techniques identify the correct frame for the object. We are using enhanced object detection network design and new data augmentation techniques with YOLOv4, which ultimately aids in traffic monitoring. Until recently, object identification models could either perform quickly or draw conclusions quickly. This was a big improvement, as YOLOv4 has an astoundingly good performance for a very high frames per second (FPS). The current study is focused on developing an intelligent video surveillance-based vehicle tracking system that tracks the vehicles using a neural network, image-based tracking, and YOLOv4. Real video sequences of road traffic are used to test the effectiveness of the method that has been suggested in the research. Through simulations, it is demonstrated that the suggested technique significantly increases graphics processing unit (GPU) speed and FSP as compared to baseline algorithms

Electron-phonon coupling in 122 Fe pnictides analyzed by femtosecond time-resolved photoemission

Based on results from femtosecond time-resolved photoemission, we compare three different methods for determination of the electron-phonon coupling constant {\lambda} in Eu and Ba-based 122 FeAs compounds. We find good agreement between all three methods, which reveal a small {\lambda} < 0.2. This makes simple electron-phonon mediated superconductivity unlikely in these compounds.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure