Violence as an Under-Recognized Barrier to Women’s Realization of Their Right to Adequate Food and Nutrition: Case Studies From Georgia and South Africa

This article addresses under-acknowledged barriers of structural violence and discrimination that interfere with women’s capacity to realize their human rights generally, and their right to adequate food and nutrition in particular. Case studies from Georgia and South Africa illustrate the need for a human rights–based approach to food and nutrition security that prioritizes non-discrimination, public participation, and self-determination. These principles are frustrated by different types of structural violence that, if not seriously addressed, pose multiple barriers to women’s economic, public, and social engagement. </jats:p

Can Reproductive Health Voucher Programs Improve Quality of Postnatal Care? A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of Kenya’s Safe Motherhood Voucher Scheme

This study tests the group-level causal relationship between the expansion of Kenya’s Safe Motherhood voucher program and changes in quality of postnatal care (PNC) provided at voucher-contracted facilities. We compare facilities accredited since program inception in 2006 (phase I) and facilities accredited since 2010-2011 (phase II) relative to comparable non-voucher facilities. PNC quality is assessed using observed clinical content processes, as well as client-reported outcome measures. Two-tailed unpaired t-tests are used to identify differences in mean process quality scores and client-reported outcome measures, comparing changes between intervention and comparison groups at the 2010 and 2012 data collection periods. Difference-in-differences analysis is used to estimate the reproductive health (RH) voucher program’s causal effect on quality of care by exploiting group-level differences between voucher-accredited and non-accredited facilities in 2010 and 2012. Participation in the voucher scheme since 2006 significantly improves overall quality of postnatal care by 39% (p=0.02), where quality is defined as the observable processes or components of service provision that occur during a PNC consultation. Program participation since phase I is estimated to improve the quality of observed maternal postnatal care by 86% (p=0.02), with the largest quality improvements in counselling on family planning methods (IRR 5.0; p=0.01) and return to fertility (IRR 2.6; p=0.01). Despite improvements in maternal aspects of PNC, we find a high proportion of mothers who seek PNC are not being checked by any provider after delivery. Additional strategies will be necessary to standardize provision of packaged postnatal interventions to both mother and new-born. This study addresses an important gap in the existing RH literature by using a strong evaluation design to assess RH voucher program effectiveness on quality improvement

Behavior of Female Eretmocerus sp. nr. Californicus Howard (Aphelinidae: Hymenoptera) Attacking Bemisa Argentifolii Bellows and Perring (Aleyrodidae: Homoptera) on Two Native Californian Weeds

Searching and ovipositional behaviors by female Eretmocems sp. nr. californicus Howard on Bemisia argentifolii Bellows and Perring infesting velvetleaf, Abutilon theophrasti Medic. (Malavaceae), and telegraph weed, Heterotheca grandiflora Nutt. (Asteraceae), were quantified. Adult female behaviors were described and quantified for E. sp. nr. californicus to establish a behavioral time budget analysis. Females departed from leaves of A. theophrasti in 83.3% of the trials, and of those that remained and searched for hosts, walking speeds averaged 0.29 mm/s. Females departed from the leaves of H. grandiflora in 44.4% of the trials, and those remaining readily searched for whitefly hosts with walking speeds averaging 0.26 mm/s. The duration of host assessment by antennation was related to subsequent behaviors; rejecting a host was a shorter process than accepting it for further evaluation irrespective of plant species or nymphal stage. Evidence for a behavioral preference for oviposition under early nymphal instars was documented for female E. sp. nr. californicus on both plant species. Oviposition efficiency in 1-h laboratory trials for nymphs on A. theophrasti was 30% and efficiency on H. grandiflora was 23%. Females spent 61.9 and 53.3% of their total time in searching, host assessment, probing, and oviposition while on A. theophrasti and H. grandiflora, respectively. The remainder of the time was spent grooming, resting, and host feeding, except host feeding on A. theophrasti was not observed. Implications of this study for silverleaf whitefly management through conservation and augmentation of native flora and fauna are discussed

Host-Plant Effects on the Behavior of Eretmocerus sp. nr. Californicus Females Raised from Melon

The behaviors of female Eretmocerus sp. nr. californiens raised from Bemisia argentifolii Bellows & Perring on melon, Cucumis melo L., were analysed on four different host plant species (cotton, melon, sweet potato and Abutilon theophrasti Medic). Comparison with previously published results of similarly treated females reared from sweet potato plants showed performance related differences leading to oviposition. In the present study, the generalized behavioral pathway (walking, host- encounter, antennation, probing and oviposition) did not vary among host plant species for melon- reared parasitoid females. Host assessment by antennation leading to host acceptance for probing varied from 10.5- 12.3 sec among the host plant species with no host stage- related differences in duration. Initial and repeated (multiple probes on the same host nymph) probing events varied from 52.4 to 77.3 sec among host plant species and no stage- related differences were detected. Oviposition occurred under 62 % of the nymphs on cotton, 100 % of the nymphs on melon and 51 % of the nymphs on sweet potato under which the ovipositor was exserted. On cotton, melon and sweet potato proportionally fewer first instar nymphs were encountered than present, a larger proportion of the second instars that were encountered were subsequently antennated, and a larger proportion of second instars on cotton were then subsequently probed. For cotton, melon, and sweet potato, the overall frequency of oviposition was lower than reported in previous studies. Results from these studies showed that the greatest factor in influencing overall parasitism in laboratory experiments was the propensity of females to alight and remain to search for hosts on a particular host plant. The role of “pre- conditioning” parasitoids to be better- suited to a particular host or host plant species is discussed relative to the findings herein

A q-deformed nonlinear map

A scheme of q-deformation of nonlinear maps is introduced. As a specific example, a q-deformation procedure related to the Tsallis q-exponential function is applied to the logistic map. Compared to the canonical logistic map, the resulting family of q-logistic maps is shown to have a wider spectrum of interesting behaviours, including the co-existence of attractors -- a phenomenon rare in one dimensional maps.Comment: 17 pages, 19 figure

Exploring the effectiveness of the output-based aid voucher program to increase uptake of gender-based violence recovery services in Kenya: a qualitative evaluation

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Background: Few studies in Africa have explored in detail the ability of output-based aid (OBA) voucher programs to increase access to gender-based violence recovery (GBVR) services. Methods: A qualitative study was conducted in 2010 and involved: (i) in-depth interviews (IDIs) with health managers, service providers, voucher management agency (VMA) managers and (ii) focus group discussions (FGDs) with voucher users, voucher non-users, voucher distributors and opinion leaders drawn from five program sites in Kenya. Results: The findings showed promising prospects for the uptake of OBA GBVR services among target population. However, a number of factors affect the uptake of the services. These include lack of general awareness of the GBVR services vouchers, lack of understanding of the benefit package, immediate financial needs of survivors, as well as stigma and cultural beliefs that undermine reporting of cases or seeking essential medical services. Moreover, accreditation of only hospitals to offer GBVR services undermines access to the services in rural areas. Poor responsiveness from law enforcement agencies and fear of reprisal from perpetrators also undermine treatment options and access to medical services. Low provider knowledge on GBVR services and lack of supplies also affect effective provision and management of GBVR services. Conclusions: The above findings suggest that there is a need to build the capacity of health care providers and police officers, strengthen the community strategy component of the OBA program to promote the GBVR services voucher, and conduct widespread community education programs aimed at prevention, ensuring survivors know how and where to access services and addressing stigma and cultural barriers.The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundatio

COMPARING MEASURING METHODS USING THE SENSITIVITY RATIO: AN APPLICATION TO RESISTANCE SCREENING IN SOYBEANS

When there are several methods of measuring a physical or chemical property, it is necessary to determine which method is best. If both methods are measured on the same scale, the most precise method will be preferred. However, often the methods have different scales. The sensitivity ratio allows for explicit comparison of methods with different scales. We use the sensitivity ratio to compare soybean resistance screening methods to evaluate the resistance of soybean varieties to Sclerotinia sclerotiorum. When compared to the root mean square error or the coefficient of variation, the sensitivity ratio can order methods differently both when the methods are measured on different scales and on the same scale. Our results cast doubt upon using standard precision statistics such as the root mean square error or the coefficient of variation to compare measuring methods and we suggest that the sensitivity ratio should be used instead

Antiapoptotic herpesvirus Bcl-2 homologs escape caspase-mediated conversion to proapoptotic proteins

The antiapoptotic Bcl-2 and Bcl-x(L) proteins of mammals are converted into potent proapoptotic factors when they are cleaved by caspases, a family of apoptosis-inducing proteases (E. H.-Y. Cheng, D. G. Kirsch, R. J. Clem, R. Ravi, M. B. Kastan, A. Bedi, K. Ueno, and J. M. Hardwick, Science 278:1966-1968, 1997; R. J. Clem, E. H.-Y. Cheng, C. L. Karp, D. G. Kirsch, K. Ueno, A. Takahashi, M. B. Kastan, D. E. Griffin, W. C. Earnshaw, M. A. Veliuona, and J. M. Hardwick, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:554-559, 1998). Gamma herpesviruses also encode homologs of the Bcl-2 family. All tested herpesvirus Bcl-2 homologs possess antiapoptotic activity, including the more distantly related homologs encoded by murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (gammaHV68) and bovine herpesvirus 4 (BHV4), as described here. To determine if viral Bcl-2 proteins can be converted into death factors, similar to their cellular counterparts, five herpesvirus Bcl-2 homologs from five different viruses were tested for their susceptibility to caspases. Only the viral Bcl-2 protein encoded by gammaHV68 was susceptible to caspase digestion. However, unlike the caspase cleavage products of cellular Bcl-2, Bcl-x(L), and Bid, which are potent inducers of apoptosis, the cleavage product of gammaHV68 Bcl-2 lacked proapoptotic activity. KSBcl-2, encoded by the Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, was the only viral Bcl-2 homolog that was capable of killing cells when expressed as an N-terminal truncation. However, because KSBcl-2 was not cleavable by caspases, the latent proapoptotic activity of KSBcl-2 apparently cannot be released. The Bcl-2 homologs encoded by herpesvirus saimiri, Epstein-Barr virus, and BHV4 were not cleaved by apoptotic cell extracts and did not possess latent proapoptotic activities. Thus, herpesvirus Bcl-2 homologs escape negative regulation by retaining their antiapoptotic activities and/or failing to be converted into proapoptotic proteins by caspases during programmed cell death

Defining effective voucher management information systems: A blueprint for information systems to support scalable reproductive health voucher programs, based on system evaluations with programs in Bangladesh, Cambodia, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania

This document defines the key elements of information systems to support the development of effective, scalable voucher information systems. It is based on an engagement between the Gobee Group and the Population Council to strengthen information systems of reproductive health voucher programs in five countries in 2011–12. At the time of publication of this document, the Population Council was in the midst of a multiyear evaluation of five of the biggest reproductive health programs worldwide, an effort supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. While the work supporting this report has been focused on reproductive health voucher programs—which provide subsidized reproductive health services to low‐income women using existing providers—it is fully expected that this report will have relevance to information systems issues for other types of voucher programs as well. The report is primarily intended for two audiences: 1) anyone involved in resource allocation related to current or new voucher programs; and 2) anyone operationally involved in the design, development, or improvement of voucher programs. The report assumes a basic working background of the function and purpose of voucher programs