Child nutrition, economic growth, and the provision of health care services in Vietnam in the 1990s

Vietnam's rapid economic growth in the 1990s greatly increased the incomes of Vietnamese households, which led to a dramatic decline in poverty. Over the same period, child malnutrition rates in Vietnam, as measured by low height for age in children under 5, fell from 50 percent in 1992-93 to 34 percent in 1997-98. Disparities exist, however, between different regions, urban and rural areas, ethnicities, and income quintiles. This dramatic improvement in child nutrition during a time of high economic growth suggests that the nutritional improvements are due to higher household incomes. The authors investigate whether this causal hypothesis is true by estimating the impact of household income growth on children's nutritional status in Vietnam. Different estimation methods applied to the 1992-93 and 1997-98 Vietnam Living Standards Survey data find that growth in household expenditures accounts for only a small proportion of the improvements in children's nutritional status. The authors use data on local health facilities to investigate the role that they may have played in raising children's nutritional status in Vietnam.Public Health Promotion,Health Systems Development&Reform,Early Child and Children's Health,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Housing&Human Habitats,Early Child and Children's Health,Street Children,Youth and Governance,Poverty Lines,Health Monitoring&Evaluation

CHILD NUTRITION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN VIETNAM IN THE 1990S

Child malnutrition is pervasive in almost every developing country. Economic growth can lead to better child nutrition, but the size and nature of this effect can vary widely across countries. This first part of this paper examines the impact of increased household income on children's nutritional status on Vietnam, a country with a high rate of economic growth in the 1990s. It finds that increases in household incomes lead to statistically significant improvements in children's nutritional status, but the size of this effect explains only a small proportion of the reduction in child malnutrition in Vietnam in the 1990s. This suggests that something else occurred in Vietnam during those years that reduced child malnutrition. A preliminary analysis of data on health services in rural areas suggests that specific types of services, particularly equipment for measuring and monitoring child growth, lead to improved child nutrition.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Calibration of the ER-2 meteorological measurement system

The Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) on the high altitude ER-2 aircraft was developed specifically for atmospheric research. The MMS provides accurate measurements of pressure, temperature, wind vector, position (longitude, latitude, altitude), pitch, roll, heading, angle of attack, angle of sideslip, true airspeed, aircraft eastward velocity, northward velocity, vertical acceleration, and time, at a sample rate of 5/s. MMS data products are presented in the form of either 5 or 1 Hz time series. The 1 Hz data stream, generally used by ER-2 investigators, is obtained from the 5 Hz data stream by filtering and desampling. The method of measurement of the meteorological parameters is given and the results of their analyses are discussed

Design and implementation of an integrated surface texture information system for design, manufacture and measurement

The optimised design and reliable measurement of surface texture are essential to guarantee the functional performance of a geometric product. Current support tools are however often limited in functionality, integrity and efficiency. In this paper, an integrated surface texture information system for design, manufacture and measurement, called “CatSurf”, has been designed and developed, which aims to facilitate rapid and flexible manufacturing requirements. A category theory based knowledge acquisition and knowledge representation mechanism has been devised to retrieve and organize knowledge from various Geometrical Product Specifications (GPS) documents in surface texture. Two modules (for profile and areal surface texture) each with five components are developed in the CatSurf. It also focuses on integrating the surface texture information into a Computer-aided Technology (CAx) framework. Two test cases demonstrate design process of specifications for the profile and areal surface texture in AutoCAD and SolidWorks environments respectively

The meteorological measurement system on the NASA ER-2 aircraft

A Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) was designed for the high-altitude ER-2 aircraft (NASA 706). Through dedicated instrumentation installed on the aircraft and repeated calibrations, the MMS provides accurate in situ measurements of free-stream pressure, temperature, and the wind vector. The MMS has participated in two major high-altitude scientific expeditions, the Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange Project (STEP) based in northern Australia and the Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment (AAOE) based in southern Chile. Key MMS subsystems are described. The MMS consists of a dedicated inertial navigation system (INS), a randome differential pressure system, a data acquisition system, and air data instrumentation. The MMS incorporates a high-resolution INS (Litton LIN-72RH model), which is specially configured and is updated at 25 Hz. The differential pressure system, consisting of two sets of pressure ports and transducers, is installed in the ER-2 radome to provide sensitive measurements of the airflow angles (angle of attack and angle of sideslip). The data acquisition system was designed to meet aircraft requirements of compactness and light weight (2 cu ft 50 lb) and for MMS requirements to sample, control, process, and store 45 parameters (some redundant) at a sampling rate up to 10 Hz. The MMS data are stored both in a tape recorder (20 MB) and a hermatically-sealed winchester hard disc (10 MB). Special and redundant instrumentation for temperature and pressure measurements were also installed on the aircraft

The NASA-ER2 meteorological measurement system: Instrumentaion, calibration and intercomparison results

The NASA ER-2 aircraft is used as a platform for high altitude atmospheric missions. The Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) was designed specifically for atmospheric research to provide accurate, fast response, in situ measurements of pressure, temperature, and the three dimensional wind vector. The MMS consists of three subsystems: an air motion sensing system to measure the velocity of the air with respect to the aircraft, a high resolution Inertial Navigation System (INS) to measure the velocity of the aircraft with respect to the Earth, and a Data Acquisition System, to sample, process and record the measured quantities. Details of each of these systems are given. The location of the MMS instrumentation is illustrated. The calibration of the MMS is discussed and results on an intercomparison of MMS measurements, Vaisala radiosonde observation and radar tracking data are given. An illustration of the MMS measurement of vertical wind is given

Temperature and horizontal wind measurements on the ER-2 aircraft during the 1987 airborne Antarctic ozone experiment

The NASA ER-2 aircraft is equipped with special instrumentation to provide accurate in situ measurement of the atmospheric state variables during flight. The Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) on the ER-2 aircraft is described. Since the meteorological parameters (temperature, pressure, and wind vector) are extensively used by other ER-2 experimenters for data processing and interpretation, the accuracy and resolution of each of these parameters are assessed and discussed. During the 1987 Airborne Antarctic Ozone Experiment (AAOE) mission, the ER-2 aircraft was stationed at Punta Arenas, Chile (53 S, 72 W), and successfully flew over Antarctica on 12 occasions between August 17 and September 22, 1987. On each of the 12 flights, the ER-2 aircraft flight plan was to take off at approximately the same local time, fly southward at a near constant potential temperature surface, descend and ascend at the southernmost terminus at about 72 S over Antarctica and return northward at either the same or a different constant potential temperature surface. The measurements of the MMS experiment during the AAOE mission are presented. MMS data are organized to provide a composite view of the polar atmosphere, which is characterized by frigid temperatures and high zonal winds. Altitudinal variations of the temperature measurement (during takeoff/landing at Punta Arenas and during descent/ascent at the southern terminus) and latitudinal variations of the zonal wind (on near constant potential temperature surfaces) are emphasized and discussed

Applications of the ER-2 meteorological measurement system

The NASA ER-2 aircraft is used as a platform for high altitude atmospheric missions. The Meteorological Measurement System (MMS) was developed specifically for atmospheric research to provide accurate high resolution measurements of pressure, temperature, and the 3-D wind vector with a sampling rate of 5/s. The MMS consist of three subsystems: (1) an air motion sensing system to measure the velocity of the air with respect to the aircraft; (2) a high resolution inertial navigation system (INS) to measure the velocity of the aircraft with respect to the earth; and (3) a data acquisition system to sample, process, and record the measurement quantities. MMS data have been used extensively by ER-2 investigators in elucidating the polar ozone chemistry. Herein, applications on atmospheric dynamics are emphasized. Large scale (polar vortex, potential vorticity, model atmosphere), mesoscale (gravity waves, mountain waves) and microscale (heat fluxes) atmospheric phenomena are investigated and discussed