Ethnic Group Migration Within Britain During 2000-01: A District Level Analysis

Using data from the 2001 Census Special Migration Statistics, this paper explores how migration volumes, propensities and patterns vary between ethnic groups at the local authority district level in Great Britain. Whilst ethnic minority populations show a marked urban-rural contrast, ethnic minority net migration across the country does not reflect the pattern of counterurbanisation shown by the white group. In those districts with non-white shares of population above the national norm, there is evidence of higher white internal net out-migration. However, when we decompose the net migration balances of London’s boroughs, different spatial processes occurring in inner and outer boroughs are revealed and ethnic minority groups are shown to be decentralising from centres of concentration

Internal Migration of Ethnic Groups in England and Wales by Age and District Type

This paper examines how internal migration propensities vary by age and ethnic group using data from level 1 (district) scale in England and Wales extracted from the 2001 Census Special Migration Statistics and from tables specially commissioned from the Office of National Statistics. The paper identifies age-specific variation in migration propensities by ethnic group at national level before examining the spatial patterns of age-specific inter-district migration using the family and class groupings defined in a recent area classification, demonstrating how minority ethnic group propensities and patterns compare with those of white migrants

Water management reforms in the Yellow River Basin: implications for water savings, farm incomes and poverty

River basins / Water management / Governance / Water use / Crop production / Models / Farm income / Poverty / Water users’ associations / China / Yellow River Basin

Outcome of high-volume cataract surgery at an academic hospital

Objective. This study aimed to review the results of high volume cataract surgery performed at Umtata General Hospital, an academic hospital, during an 'eye surgery camp' held over a weekend.Subjects and design. Ninety-eight cataract operations were performed over 3 days at Umtata Hospital during an eye camp to reduce backlog of cataract surgery in the Eastern Cape. After media announcement, patients were selected for cataract surgery and comprehensive pre-operative evaluation was done. Three qualified surgeons operated on the patients.Outcome measures. Patients were reviewed at day 1 and at 3- and 6-week intervals in order to study the outcome of such operations.Results. A total of 92.4% of patients achieved visual acuity of 6/ 60 or better at 6 weeks postoperatively. The surgical complication rate was minimal and overall satisfactory surgical outcome was observed in these cases.Conclusion. Teaching hospitals with dedicated ophthalmic operating facilities can be utilised for high-volume cataract surgery over designated short-term periods and can provide a good alternative to mobile eye camp surgery. Until primary and secondary care facilities are optimal for cataract screening and surgery, such camps are recommended to reduce backlog of cataract surgery in the country

Tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment practices of private physicians in Karachi, Pakistan

In a densely populated urban area of Karachi, Pakistan, a questionnaire survey was made of the knowledge and practices of 120 private general practitioners about the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis (TB). The majority knew that cough, fever and weight loss were the main symptoms of TB, but less than half knew that blood in sputum, poor appetite and chest pain were associated with the disease. Only 58.3% of physicians used sputum microscopy for diagnosing TB and 35.0% used it as a follow-up test. Only 41.7% treated TB patients themselves, the remaining referring their patients to specialists. Around 73.3% of the doctors were aware of the 4 first-line anti-TB drugs. Efforts to improve the knowledge of private practitioners, and strategies to enhance public-private collaboration forTB control in urban areas are urgently required

Is women empowerment a zero-sum game? Unintended consequences of Microfinance for women empowerment in Ghana

Purpose: Against the background of growing concerns that development interventions can sometimes be a zero sum game, the purpose of this paper is to examine the unintended consequences of microfinance for women empowerment in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach. The study employs a participatory mixed-method approach including household questionnaire surveys, focus group discussions and key informant interviews to investigate the dynamics of microfinance effects on women in communities of different vulnerability status in Ghana. Findings: The results of hierarchical regression, triadic closure and thematic analyses demonstrate that the economic benefits of microfinance for women is also directly associated with conflicts amongst spouses, girl child labour, polygyny and the neglect of perceived female domestic responsibilities due to women’s devotion to their enterprises. Originality/value. In the light of limited empirical evidence on potentially negative impacts of women empowerment interventions in Africa, this paper fills a critical gap in knowledge that will enable NGOs, policy makers and other stakeholders to design and implement more effective interventions that mitigate undesirable consequences

The impact of mucosal infections on acquisition and progression of tuberculosis

More than one-third of the world\u27s population, or over 2 billion people, are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the causative pathogen of tuberculosis in humans. Why only 10% of those infected develop active disease while the remainder harbor latent infection remains one of the greatest scientific and public health mysteries. Bacterial persistence is characterized by a dynamic state of immunological tolerance between pathogen and host. The critical role of CD4(+) T cells in defense against intracellular pathogens became evident during epidemiological studies of HIV-1 infection, which showed a clear inverse relationship between CD4(+) T-cell count in peripheral blood and increased risk of infection with M. tuberculosis, pneumocystis and Toxoplasma gondii. There is also growing evidence of a common mucosal immune system, whereby immune cells activated at one mucosal site may disseminate to remote effector sites. In this commentary, we review emerging evidence from human studies that the outcome of M. tuberculosis infection is influenced by concurrent mucosal infections, using Helicobacter pylori and geohelminths as examples. Understanding how the complexity of microbial exposures influences host immunity may have important implications for vaccine development and therapeutic interventions

Does the cost of energy matter for innovation? The effects of energy prices on SME innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa

Energy and environment has gained traction within the field of entrepreneurship literature but a comprehensive empirical study that examines the relationship between the cost of energy and small and medium sized enterprises (SME) innovation is an omission. Therefore, this novel study examines the relationship between the cost of energy and SMEs innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) by first examining the differential impact of the various generation sources on the price of electric energy. This research has enabled us to investigate and understand the transmission mechanism of increasing/decreasing electricity price on innovation decisions and activities of SMEs in SSA. Using quantitative approach, with the data from the World Bank Enterprise and Innovation Follow-up Surveys, the study utilises a Tobit model to test whether the generation mix (renewable and non-renewable generation sources) increases or decreases electricity prices and examine the impact of the cost of electric energy on SMEs innovation in Sub-Saharan Africa. The findings of this study shows that cost of electricity affect negatively on SMEs innovation decision and activities of SMEs in SSA. The impact of renewables on price of electricity has a larger magnitude relative to that of non-renewables. This finding has implications for policy makers promoting renewable energy without a policy design to tackle the unintended price effect of promoting renewable energy This is the first study to introduce cost of energy into an innovation model and to empirically examine the role of cost of energy for innovation activities of SMEs in SSA. Further, it examines the sources of generation on electricity price in SSA. The study contributes towards the empirical literature and the findings also have implication for policy makers regarding the unintended consequences of promoting the transition to low carbon electricity generation sources on SMEs via the cost of doing business implication

Knot undulator to generate linearly polarized photons with low on-axis power density

Heat load on beamline optics is a serious problem to generate pure linearly polarized photons in the third generation synchrotron radiation facilities. For permanent magnet undulators, this problem can be overcome by a figure-8 operating mode. But there is still no good method to tackle this problem for electromagnetic elliptical undulators. Here, a novel operating mode is suggested, which can generate pure linearly polarized photons with very low on-axis heat load. Also the available minimum photon energy of linearly polarized photons can be extended much by this method

Underlying Fermi surface of Sr14−x_{14-x}Cax_xCu24_{24}O41_{41} in two-dimensional momentum space observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

We have performed an angle-resolved photoemission study of the two-leg ladder system Sr$_{14-x}$Ca$_x$Cu$_{24}$O$_{41}$ with $x$= 0 and 11. "Underlying Fermi surfaces" determined from low energy spectral weight mapping indicates the quasi-one dimensional nature of the electronic structure. Energy gap caused by the charge density wave has been observed for $x$=0 and the gap tends to close with Ca substitution. The absence of a quasi-particle peak even in $x$=11 is in contrast to the two-dimensional high-$T_c$ cuprates, implying strong carrier localization related to the hole crystalization.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure