The World Bank and children : a review of activities

This paper reviews Bank interventions that supported the welfare of children in the last decade. Though the Bank has always addressed children's development, and protection through its focus of broader economic development, and social protection, it has recently intensified its efforts to directly address children's issues in the context of a broader international effort to improve the general welfare of children and, more specifically, to reduce child labor. This paper focuses on Human Development projects with an objective relating to children, or that are expected to have an indirect, but non-trivial impact on children. In the last decade (FY1990-2000), the Bank financed close to 635 Human Development projects, of which 302 projects, fully or partially supported child welfare, development and protection - and the focus of these interventions is discussed in this paper.Street Children,Health Monitoring&Evaluation,Primary Education,Children and Youth,Youth and Governance

A Study of Transversely Isotropic Thermoelastic Beam with Green-Naghdi Type-II and Type-III Theories of Thermoelasticity

The present research deals with the study of transversely isotropic thermoelastic beam in the context of Green-Naghdi (GN) theory of thermoelasticity of Type-II and Type-III. The mathematical model is prepared for the thin beam in a closed form with the application of Euler Bernoulli beam theory. The Laplace Transform technique has been used to find the expressions for displacement component, lateral thermal moment, deflection and axial stress in transformed domain. The general algorithm of the inverse Laplace Transform is developed to compute the results numerically in physical domain. The effect of two theories of thermoelasticity Green-Naghdi-II and Green-Naghdi-III has been depicted on the various quantities. Some particular cases have also been deduced

The two-temperature effect on a semiconducting thermoelastic solid cylinder based on the modified Moore – Gibson – Thompson heat transfer

This study introduces a new modified Moore – Gibson – Thompson Photo-Thermal (MGTPT) theory with two temperatures for semiconductor material. The photo-thermoelastic effects has been investigated in an infinitely constrained semiconducting solid cylinder subjected to variable heat flux in the form of exponential laser pulse. The Laplace transforms were used for the solution of the mathematical model in the transformed domain. The numerical inversion was applied to obtain the displacement components, the conductive temperature, the carrier density, and the thermal stresses in the physical domain. The impact of different theories of thermoelasticity with two temperatures on the displacement, temperature, thermal stresses and carrier density were represented graphically and discussed using Matlab software

Corporate Governance, Ownership Structure and Expropriation of Rights: Case of Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises

SMEs serve as the financial backbone of the developed and developing economies, and a major contributor in many countries' GDP. A sustainable SME sector is vital for a developing country like Malaysia where SMEs represent 99.2 % of the overall business establishment and a major employment sector in the country. Although, the Malaysian SME sector faces a critical problem, which results in 50 % of SMEs collapse during the first five years of operation and a 60% rate of failure among SMEs. in addition, unauthorized use of company property, misappropriating company funds, making false statements, illegal investment schemes and many other allegations have been put on the Malaysian SME owners and directors in the past. The objective of this paper is to investigate the Malaysian SMEs structure, past allegations and the corporate governance practices in the medium sized manufacturing SMEs. This study has adopted a qualitative approach, face-to-face interviews were conducted with SME owners/directors, and regulatory body officials. The results show that the Malaysian SMEs are mainly family based and higher management positions are kept by the family. Furthermore, it was revealed that there is no corporate governance code for the SMEs.This provides room for the family to expropriate minority shareholders' rights and perform illegal activities. Hence, the results stressed on the need of the implementation of corporate governance code for Malaysian SMEs. Keywords: Corporate Governance, Ownership Structure, Family Ownership, Foreign Ownership, Expropriation of rights JEL Classifications: L25, L26, L60, M10, Y

Sulfur starvation and restoration affect nitrate uptake and assimilation in rapeseed

We analyzed the effect of omission of sulfur (S) from the nutrient solution and then restoration of S-source on the uptake and assimilation of nitrate in rapeseed. Incubation in nutrient solution without S for 1-6 days led to decline in uptake of nitrate, activities, and expression levels of nitrate reductase (NR) and glutamine synthetase (GS). The nitrite reductase (NiR) and glutamate synthase (GOGAT) activities were not considerably affected. There was significant enhancement in nitrate content and decline in sulfate content. Evaluation of amino acid profile under S-starvation conditions showed two- to fourfold enhancement in the contents of arginine, asparagine and O-acetyl-l-serine (OAS), whereas the contents of cysteine and methionine were reduced heavily. When the S-starved plants were subjected to restoration of S for 1, 3, 5, and 7 days, activities and expression levels of NR and GS recovered within the fifth and seventh days of restoration, respectively. Exogenous supply of metabolites (arginine, asparagine, cysteine, glutamine, OAS, and methionine) also affected the uptake and assimilation of nitrate, with a maximum for OAS. These results corroborate the tight interconnection of S-nutrition with nitrate assimilation and that OAS plays a major role in this regulation. The study must be helpful in developing a nutrient-management technology for optimization of crop productivity

Validity and reliability of falls screening mobile application (FallSA) to inform falls risk among Malaysian community dwelling older adults

Falls is a global health concern due to its many negative consequences in older adults. Early falls screening and prevention is important among older adults. We developed Falls Screening Mobile Application (FallSA) as a self falls screening tool among older adults. FallSA was developed using data of physical performance test, demographic information and questions to inform falls risk from a larger population based longitudinal study on neuroprotective model for healthy longevity among older adults (LRGS TUA). The aim of this study was to determine validity and reliability of FallSA as a self-screening tool to inform falls risk among Malaysian older adults. This cross sectional study was conducted among 91 community dwelling older adults aged 60 years and above. FallSA was validated against Physiological Profile Assessments (PPA), a comprehensive falls risk assessment tool. Participants used FallSA to test their falls risk by repeating the test twice between an hour. Validity and test–retest reliability of FallSA was examined by using Spearman correlation, Kappa, Sensitivity and Specificity, Intra correlation coefficient (ICC), Cronbach alpha and Bland-Altman. Concurrent validity test was significant with moderate correlation rs = 0.518, p < 0.001, moderate agreement K = 0.516, p < 0.001 and acceptable Sensitivity: 80.4% and Specificity: 71.1%. Reliability of FallSA was shown to be good (ICC: 0.948, CI: 0.921-0.966), good internal consistency α = 0.948, p < 0.001 and good agreement was indicated by small mean differences and narrow limits of agreement (LoA). The results of this study suggest that FallSA was a valid and reliable tool to inform falls risk among Malaysian older adults. Further prospective studies are required to determine the accuracy of FallSA to correctly classify older adults into fallers and non-faller groups

Co-Infection of HSV in Gonococcal Urethritis Patients

Co-infection with two different pathogens may alter the classical clinical course that manifests infection as single pathogen. In STIs, such co-infection may trigger the reactivation of a latent infection, and syndromic approach may not be insufficient to free the host of the entire gamut of infectivity agents. Present study analyzed appropriate samples for Neisseria gonorrheae and HSV from 200 patients presented to STI clinic. Gonorrhea was detected in 4% and HSV in 5% of patients. 25% of gonorrhea patients had HSV-2 co-infection with an overall 4.5% yield of subclinical HSV cases which would have been missed leading to inappropriate treatment, risk of recurrence and transmission to contacts. Awareness regarding encounter with multiple infections is necessary for effective management

Carriage Prevalence of Carbapenem Resistant Enterobacteriaceae in Stool Samples: A Surveillance Study

BackgroundWith more people being exposed to antibiotics, intestinal microflora faces constant pressure of antibiotic selection, which has resulted in the emergence of multidrug resistant strains. This may pose a severe problem as intestinal Enterobacteriaceae members are commonly implicated in human infections.   AimsThis surveillance study was undertaken to investigate the carriage of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) in the gastrointestinal tract among patients attending the outpatient clinic in a tertiary care center of East Delhi, India. MethodWe performed a prospective surveillance study to screen 242 Enterobacteriaceae isolates for carbapenemase production from the stool samples of 123 outpatients attending a tertiary care hospital in East Delhi over a four-month period. ResultsTwenty-four (9.9 per cent) isolates demonstrated carbapenemase activity among 242 screened Enterobacteriaceae isolates. Four stool samples had two isolates of different species, both eliciting this feature and therefore indicating presence of multiple carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) isolates in a single sample. ConclusionScreening for carriage of CRE in stools of patients undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal surgical procedures, with haematological malignancies taking chemotherapy, or those planned for bone marrow transplantation can guide clinicians about gut colonisation of multidrug-resistant Enterobacteriaceae as these groups of patients are at risk of possible endogenous infection.

Exploring Dynamic Nexus between Economic Growth, Environmental Degradation, and Public Health in Pakistan: A Moderated Mediation Approach

Since the start of this century, much attention has been given to economic growth and environmental changes and their effects on human beings. The present study has developed a comprehensive model to discuss the nexus between economic growth, environmental degradation, and public health. Furthermore, renewable energy consumption and public health spending are used as moderators to make the model more inclusive. The time series data from 1972 to 2020 has been used, and a regression path modeling tool SPPS-PROCESS Model 29, has been applied to carry out the results. The results showed a positive and significant effect of economic growth on environmental degradation, while renewable energy consumption reduces environmental degradation. Furthermore, environmental degradation is negatively affecting the health status in Pakistan. The results of the total effects showed that economic growth positively contributes to public health with a low coefficient. The indirect conditional impact of economic growth on human health through the mediating role of environmental degradation becomes positive from negative in the long run due to renewable energy and public spending on health. Based on the result, some policies are suggested in the last section of this study

Investment-induced displacement in central India. A study in extractive capitalism

India’s abundant natural resources are a key feature of its new found status as ‘emerging market’ that attracts foreign investments. As India’s output of these metals and their ores increases, investments pour into India to secure deals over mineral deposits and manufacturing plants. Apart from direct funding for new projects, the new investments pay for a large increase in deployment of security forces, multi-layered ‘briberization’, and ‘protection money’ funding Maoist outfits, in yet another unending war which is fundamentally a resource war around mineral and metal production – primarily steel and aluminum as well as coal and water. In this paper, we examine the mining operations in Central India where Vedanta Resources, a corporation that has become symbolic of neoliberal capitalism in India today, elicits huge new foreign investments to exploit India’s resources under the logic of emerging markets. If a quarter of postcolonial India’s Scheduled Tribe population was displaced by ‘development’ projects, this time it is foreign investments that are causing large scale displacement of indigenous populations