An Experiment in Incentive-Based Welfare: The Impact of PROGRESA on Health in Mexico

We investigate the impact of a unique anti-poverty program in Mexico on health outcomes. The program, PROGRESA, combines a traditional cash transfer program with financial incentives for families to invest in human capital of children. Our analysis takes advantage of a controlled randomized study design with household panel data. We find that the program significantly increased utilization of public health clinics for preventive care. The program also lowered the number of inpatient hospitalizations and visits to private providers, which is consistent with the hypothesis that PROGESA lowered the incidence of severe illness. We found a significant improvement in the health of both children and adults.anti-pverty program, child health, Mexico

Freshwater fish in the Waikato region : an evaluation of novel standardised data and drivers of fish distribution and abundance : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Ecology at Massey University Manawatū, New Zealand

Native freshwater fish populations in New Zealand are in rapid decline and continue to be affected by multiple impacts. As fish populations contract and species become rarer, monitoring and prediction of species presence and abundance throughout New Zealand becomes an increasingly important management tool. Until recently, the majority of modelling analyses in New Zealand have used small or inconsistent datasets which limit analyses to presence/absence type assessments and can make even those analyses inaccurate. Using a novel dataset that was collected using a consistent set of sampling protocols collected by Waikato Regional Council (WRC) staff in the Waikato region, New Zealand, fish presence/absence and abundance data were analysed. Models were built to predict species distributions and abundance across the region and to identify key environmental drivers determining distribution and abundance. Model performance was also assessed in comparison to a commonly used freshwater fish dataset – the New Zealand Freshwater Fish Database (NZFFDB). Drivers of the distribution and abundance of all sampled species were identified and three species were investigated in further detail: longfin eels (Anguilla dieffenbachii); shortfin eels (Anguilla australis); and redfin bullies (Gobiomorphus huttoni). Abundance and distribution predictions were mapped throughout the Waikato region River Environment Classification (REC) waterways for these three species. An analysis of population demographics for redfin bully mean length comparing the east and west coasts of the Waikato region was also undertaken. Sampling consistency (mean button time and mean area fished) within the WRC dataset was high and model performance was higher for the majority of species using the WRC dataset compared with NZFFDB data. Comparisons between reference and impact sites for the three species revealed significantly higher relative abundance of redfin bullies at reference sites, along with significantly larger longfin eels (subject to methodological bias). Shortfin eel relative abundance was significantly higher at impact sites. A greater proportion of very small and small shortfin eels were caught during sampling with longfin eels having relatively greater numbers in larger size classes. Substantial differences in the size of eels caught using different methodologies were also found with larger individuals caught using netting methods compared with electric fishing. Significant differences in mean length between years for redfin bullies were identified and a significant difference in mean length between east and west coast populations was found. This difference was also present within the NZFFDB dataset. Distribution and population characteristics for the three species were examined in reference to land use and model identified drivers of variation. Distance, elevation, temperature, and slope frequently ranked high as drivers of native fish distribution and abundance. Longfin eels and redfin bullies appear to be excluded from areas of intensive agriculture throughout the central Waikato with redfin bullies in particular predominantly limited to areas of remaining indigenous forest cover. This pattern is mirrored by shortfin eels which have high predicted presence and relative abundance values in lowland agricultural areas. Models of native richness and abundance IBI scores also show this pattern of distribution across the Waikato region. Both native richness and abundance IBI scores are higher at the coast where intensive agriculture is absent and a greater proportion of reference sites are available. Scores consistently decrease moving inland towards lowland catchments at a rate that is likely higher than innate species distributions due to diadromy alone. Predictive modelling for both abundance and presence data provided extensive mapping opportunities for waterways throughout the Waikato region in the River Environment Classification network. This tool used in conjunction with a robust dataset provided a versatile and accurate method for describing fish populations in the region. Many characteristics of the biology and life history of native species were able to be explored within this study, raising questions about recruitment and population biology of fish species, in particular redfin bullies. The importance of establishing consistent sampling protocols throughout New Zealand freshwater monitoring programmes is exemplified in the ability to uncover these characteristics accurately

Chloride waters of Great Britain revisited: from subsea formation waters to onshore geothermal fluids

It has long been known that chloride-dominated saline ground waters occur at depth in the UK, not only beneath the sea but also onshore at depths of a few hundred metres. In a few places in northern England, these saline waters discharge naturally at surface in the form of springs. In recent years, however, these saline ground waters have come to be regarded as resources: as potential geothermal fluids intercepted in deep boreholes. Comparisons of the major ions and stable isotopes (δ2H, δ18O and δ34S) of these saline ground waters with North Sea oilfield formation waters, and with brines encountered in former subsea workings of coastal collieries, reveal that they are quite distinct from those found in North Sea oilfields, in that their as δ2H/δ18O signatures are distinctly “meteoric”. δ34S data preclude a significant input from evaporite dissolution – another contrast with many North Sea brines and some colliery waters. Yet, enigmatically, their total dissolved solids contents are far higher than typical meteoric waters. It is tentatively suggested that these paradoxical hydrogeochemical properties might be explained by recharge during Cenozoic uplift episodes, with high concentrations of solutes being derived by a combination of high-temperature rock–water interaction in the radiothermal granites and/or ‘freeze out’ from overlying permafrost that surely formed in this region during cold periods. Geothermometric calculations suggest these saline waters may well be representative of potentially valuable geothermal reservoirs

Production Capabilities and Economic Potential of an Australian Redclaw Crayfish (Cherax Quadricarinatus) Hatchery in the United States.

In most of the United States, overwintering redclaw crayfish (Cherax quadricarinatus) is necessary because they cannot withstand winter temperatures. Consequently, hatcheries are required to produce juveniles for pond stocking. The objectives of this study were: (1) identify biological factors affecting production of juvenile redclaw, (2) determine production capabilities of a redclaw crayfish hatchery, and (3) determine the economic potential of redclaw hatcheries. Experiments were designed to assess fecundity and factors influencing spawning such as stocking density, male/female weight, diet, mortality, and cannibalism. Research was also conducted to determine egg development time, hatching success, and juvenile growth and survival. Pooled survival and spawning data were used to estimate total production. Production data and information available from redclaw producers were compiled to determine the economics of juvenile redclaw production. Results of these studies showed no suppression of spawning at densities up to 32 crayfish/m\sp2 (P = 0.59). Male size did not affect spawning success when males were within 25 g of each other (P = 0.39), but mixed males (small, medium and large, together) resulted in a 49% reduction in spawning (P $\u3c$ 0.05). Female size did not affect spawning activity (P = 0.57). Varying dietary protein levels from 30% to 45% and adding beef liver or soybean supplements had no effect on the number of eggs per gram of female (P = 0.42). Total broodstock mortality increased linearly with increasing stocking density (P $\u3c$ 0.05), and was lower (P $\u3c$ 0.05) in tanks containing small males (40-65 g). Cannibalism was lower when crayfish were fed a 30% protein crustacean diet with beef liver supplements (P $\u3c$ 0.05). Average number of eggs per gram of female body weight was 6.3 $\pm$ 3.8 (mean $\pm$ SD). Egg incubation took 40.9 $\pm$ 3.2 days (mean $\pm$ SD) at 28\sp\circC, from the first developmental egg stage (khaki/olive color). Egg loss through incubation was high (60.5%), partly due to handling stress. Juvenile production was 3.9 $\pm$ 0.9 juveniles per gram of female when grown to 0.5 g (mean weight). During the experiments, gravid females were encountered at a rate of 4.8% per week while total mortality (cannibalism and death) averaged 2.8% per week. Economic results indicate that raising redclaw is limited for markets in which juveniles will be sold for pond stocking. Based on production and economic data, juvenile costs are approximately $0.49 each

Utopia or elsewhere: queer modernities in small town West Bengal

Kuldova points out that, “Revealing myths as simplistic or unrealistic does not help, since it does not rob them of their effectivity. Myths, ideologies and illusions are resistant to knowledge. We cultivate them even when we know better. The important question is here: towards what kind of future is this myth pushing us?”. Taking off from this, I discuss ways in which sex/gender activists in India are simultaneously very well aware of problems with globalised liberal mythologies of ‘liberation’ and ‘sexual subjects’ and also caught up in those mythologies via engagements which are at once tactical, mediated and ultimately affective. While trying to maintain a sense of caution and a double-consciousness about what might be possible in Delhi capital or in small-town south India, still it proves impossible not to become drawn into imaginings of a different future for sex-gender dissident subjects. Against a context of decriminalisation and recriminalisation of Section 377, the rise of an emergent queer activism beyond the metropolis, and the growth of campaigns such as Pink chaddi, my (brief) discussion of the Delhi rape-murder and (lengthier) discussion of a Kerala transgender murder will think through some of the ways in which people are surprised, shocked, and wrong-footed by gendered violence. Sometimes it is analysed as unexpected throw back or exceptional spectacular tragic event; sometimes it is taken on as a banale repetition of the ‘same-old same-old’, even amidst the shiny coffee shops; more rarely is gendered and sexual violence understood as incrementally rising exactly alongside the rise of sex-gender ‘freedoms’. In this paper I will pick my way through the rise of utopias of desire, their vicious shredding, and the hesitant and wounded re-emergence of more cautious affective economies of hope and solidarity

Development, discourse and law: transgender and same-sex sexualities in Nepal

This report presents research conducted in Nepal between November 2012 and January 2013 aimed at exploring the legal, social and economic context pertaining to sexual and gender minority rights. The research explored recent legal reform in Nepal, the wider socioeconomic and social context of legal reform, and included work with sexual and gender minority persons, aimed at understanding their life experiences. Findings of the research emphasise complex connections between law, social context and sexual subjectivity. There is dissonance in Nepal between a progressive legislative environment in respect of gender and sexual minority issues and everyday sociocultural ambivalence toward such sexual and gender minority persons. Such persons may suffer from explicit prejudice, lack of economic opportunity and familial rejection. Other forms of marginalisation may be more tacit, but nonetheless profoundly significant