Trend Analysis of Las Vegas Land Cover and Temperature Using Remote Sensing

The Las Vegas urban area expanded rapidly during the last two decades. In order to understand the impacts on the environment, it is imperative that the rate and type of urban expansion is determined. Remote sensing is an efficient and effective way to study spatial change in urban areas and Spectral Mixture Analysis (SMA) is a valuable technique to retrieve subpixel landcover information from remote sensing images. In this research, urban growth trends in Las Vegas are studied over the 1990 to 2010 period using images from Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM) and National Agricultural Imagery Program (NAIP). The SMA model of TM pixels is calibrated using high resolution NAIP classified image. The trends of land cover change are related to the land surface temperature trends derived from TM thermal infrared images. The results show that the rate of change of various land covers followed a linear trend in Las Vegas. The largest increase occurred in residential buildings followed by roads and commercial buildings. Some increase in vegetation cover in the form of tree cover and open spaces (grass) is also seen and there is a gradual decrease in barren land and bladed ground. Trend analysis of temperature shows a reduction over the new development areas with increased vegetation cover especially, in the form of golf courses and parks. This research provides a useful insight about the role of vegetation in ameliorating temperature rise in arid urban areas

Linking Information with Knowledge for Enhanced Learning

Learning in classroom needs continuous engagement and triggering of curiosity. A non-stop delivery of information without context becomes “blah-blah-blah”. There is a need to create a link at every step of the way in learning.https://digitalscholarship.unlv.edu/btp_expo/1043/thumbnail.jp

The Post-2015 Development Agenda: What Are the Priorities for Africa?

As 2015 and the conclusion of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) draws near, attention has increasingly turned within the United Nations to the post-2015 development agenda. In particular, a High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons (HLP) was recently convened to advise on the global development framework beyond 2015 and construct the next development agenda. The panel was co-chaired by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Prime Minister David Cameron of the United Kingdom. The panel included leaders from civil society, the private sector and government

Does Inequality Matter for Poverty Reduction? Evidence from Pakistan’s Poverty Trends

The paper explores the linkages between poverty, growth and inequality in the context of Pakistan. Time series macro data are used for the period 1979 to 2002. Consistent poverty and inequality measures are interpolated to facilitate the estimation of poverty elasticity with respect to growth and inequality in a multivariate regression framework. The paper also attempts to find out macroeconomic and structural correlates of inequality. The empirical findings—high poverty elasticity with respect to inequality measures—confirm the importance of inequality in poverty reducing effort. Inflation, sectoral wage gap, and terms of trade in favour of manufacturing exacerbate inequality, while progressive taxation, investment and development expenditure on social services play a significant role in reducing inequality. The results also indicate a positive correlation between per capita GDP and income inequality.Pakistan, Poverty Trend, Income Distribution, Poverty Elasticity with respect to Growth and Inequality

Structural Issues and Reforms in Financial (non-bank) Market in Pakistan

A large body of research now links financial sector development, including the depth of the banking system, liquidity in capital market, and financial liberalisation to long-run growth and poverty reduction. According to a recent World Bank report,1 “As the dust settles from the great financial crises of 1997-98, the potentially disastrous consequences of weak financial markets are apparent”. The report further states that the importance of getting financial policy making right has become one of the most critical development issues in this century. In the past, there have been two extreme approaches concerning financial market regulation. One clearly supports the central role of state in the financial markets, whereas, the other sees state intervention more of a problem than as the solution. Of these two rather diverging ideologies, the International Financial Institutions (IFIs) advocate the development of market institutions, more liberalisation and lesser role of state. Pakistan has been following IFI advice in this regard. However, after the East Asian Crisis, a strong point of view has emerged that believes that in developing countries, ruling out state’s role from financial markets is unrealistic. But, the state has to play a developmental role. According to Stiglitz (1991), “governments have played a central role—whether good or ill may be debated—in the development of most of those countries which today belong among the more developed”. The financial policy focus in developing countries is quite often donor directed and is tilted towards the provision of diversified financial services. Capital market development is an important element of this policy, as it is considered as a flexible alternative to bank financing and useful in diversifying ownership of assets.

In Search of Poverty Predictors: The Case of Urban and Rural Pakistan

The main objective of this research is to provide correlates of household consumption or poverty using the latest household survey. The estimated coefficients and their weights may be used to predict poverty incidence from light monitoring survey such as Core Welfare Indicator Questionnaire (CWIQ). The CWIQ survey instrument essentially collects simple welfare indicators from a large segment of population and is not designed to measure income, consumption or expenditure. The paper estimates consumption functions separately for urban and rural areas. These functions are estimatedwith the help of non-monetary correlates of consumption and applied to predict poverty at provincial and district levels. The paper also provides the latest estimates of poverty in the country using a consistent methodology. Overall, 33 percent people were poor, according to estimates from the latest available household survey of 2001-02. Incidence, depth, and severity of poverty are high in rural areas, as compared to their urban counterpart.

NV-centers in Nanodiamonds: How good they are

This paper presents a method for determination of the size distribution for diamond nanocrystals containing luminescent nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers using the luminescence intensity only. We also revise the basic photo physical properties of NV centers and conclude that the luminescence quantum yield of such centers is significantly smaller than the frequently stated 100\%. The yield can be as low as 5\% for centers embedded in nanocrystals and depends on their shape and the refractive index of the surrounding medium. The paper also addresses the value of the absorption cross-section of NV centers

NGO field workers in Pakistan

NGOs came into the society in their present form after World War II and more precisely in 1960s. Before that also different forms of philanthropy existed. Like elsewhere in the world, in Pakistan also state and the market were the two sectors catering for different needs of the people. When foreign funding started coming into the poor countries, the channel of NGOs was considered more appropriate including the fact they had roots in the society and the benefit could reach the far flung areas. NGO field workers are the real actors in the NGOs’ activities but sadly the NGOs those raise the slogans of working for the destitute do not bother to facilitate the NGO field workers. Eventually the NGO field workers are facing problems of job insecurity, poor salary structure, unhealthy working environment and even harassment especially in case of women NGO field workers in Pakistan.Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), NGO field workers, wage level and structure, working conditions

NGOs and poverty issues in peri-urban areas

Poverty reduction is the top-most element in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set by the United Nations those have provided a broad way for the development planning professionals on the globe to assess their past performance in the important aspects of development planning as well as to plan their strategies for the design period of 2000-2015. The United Nations sees the nations as members of a global family and expects them to work for the fellow-beings setting some guidelines, for instance, ‘The millennium Development Goals can be achieved if immediate steps are taken to implement existing commitment.NGOs, poverty, peri-urban areas