Intrahousehold impact of the transfer of modern agricultural technology

This study explores the intrahousehold impact of transfer of modern agricultural technology from a gender perspective. The data suggest that group-based programs targeting women have a greater potential to address gender relations within the household and society than do programs targeting women as individuals. In male-dominated societies where women have limited access to internal or external support networks, programs targeting women as individuals that do not also provide alternative sources of support are bound to fail in their gender goals.Agriculture Technology transfer. ,Gender. ,Technology transfer. ,

Worldwide Optimal PICS Search

Pseudo Invariant Calibration Sites (PICS) have proven to be a dependable calibration source for determining degradation of visible and infrared sensor response due to their temporal stability and spatial uniformity. One limit of PICS is that only a handful have been identified, primarily in desert areas of North Africa, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. A large number of PICS would not only facilitate calibration of existing and future sensors, but also provide an alternative to internal on-board calibrator data, resulting in significant cost savings and simplification in sensor design. As a result, the process to efficiently identify additional PICS is highly desirable. A relatively straightforward algorithm and processing flow to identify candidate PICS throughout the world has been developed. One goal of the algorithm is to identify PICS with reflectance levels covering more of the sensor dynamic range. As currently implemented, the algorithm makes use of Google Earth Engine to simplify the required image data pre-processing, analysis, and storage, and implements a filtering technique to enhance contiguity of pixels identified as invariant. Application of the proposed algorithm identified not only existing North Africa and Middle East sites with 2% to 2.5% temporal uncertainty, but also sites on other continents with 5% to 6% uncertainty, which can be improved with application of BRDF correction. In general, the algorithm shows potential in providing a means for automated PICS identification

Intrahousehold impact of the transfer of modern agricultural technology

This study explores the intrahousehold impact of transfer of modern agricultural technology from a gender perspective. The data suggest that group-based programs targeting women have a greater potential to address gender relations within the household and society than do programs targeting women as individuals. In male-dominated societies where women have limited access to internal or external support networks, programs targeting women as individuals that do not also provide alternative sources of support are bound to fail in their gender goals.Agriculture Technology transfer. ,Gender. ,Technology transfer. ,

Spousal Violence in Bangladesh: A Call for a Public-health Response

Spousal violence against women is a serious public-health issue. Although there is a growing body of literature on this subject, there are still many unanswered questions regarding the prevalence of this violence, the risk factors, the consequences, and how to address the issue. The purpose of this literature review is to organize and synthesize the empirical evidence on spousal violence against women in Bangladesh and to provide direction for both researchers and practitioners for future work in this area. The review suggests that spousal violence against women is high in Bangladesh. The list of correlates is long and inconclusive. Although there is evidence on adverse consequences of this violence on health of women and their children, more research is needed to explore the multifaceted consequences of violence for women, children, families, and communities. Action research is needed to develop and test preventive and curative interventions

Transition to adulthood of female factory workers: Some evidence from Bangladesh

The rapidly expanding sector of garment manufacturing for export is unusual for Bangladesh in that it employs young, unmarried women in large numbers. This paper examines data from a study on garment workers in Bangladesh to explore the implications of work for the early socialization of young women. For the first time young women are given an alternative to lives where they move directly from childhood into adulthood through early marriage and childbearing. Work creates a period of transition as contrasted with the abrupt assumption of adult roles at very young ages that marriage and childbearing mandate. It is argued that this longer transition creates a period of adolescence for young women working in the garment sector and that some aspects of adolescence have strong implications for the long-term reproductive health of these young women

Spousal Violence in Bangladesh: A Call for a Public-health Response

Spousal violence against women is a serious public-health issue. Although there is a growing body of literature on this subject, there are still many unanswered questions regarding the prevalence of this violence, the risk factors, the consequences, and how to address the issue. The purpose of this literature review is to organize and synthesize the empirical evidence on spousal violence against women in Bangladesh and to provide direction for both researchers and practitioners for future work in this area. The review suggests that spousal violence against women is high in Bangladesh. The list of correlates is long and inconclusive. Although there is evidence on adverse consequences of this violence on health of women and their children, more research is needed to explore the multifaceted consequences of violence for women, children, families, and communities. Action research is needed to develop and test preventive and curative interventions

The impact of an integrated micro-credit programme on women\u27s empowerment and fertility behavior in rural Bangladesh

This paper examines the impact of participation in women’s savings and credit groups organized by Save the Children USA on women’s empowerment, contraceptive use, and fertility in a rural area of Bangladesh. The data are drawn from a panel survey conducted in 1993, shortly before the groups were formed, and in 1995 after interventions began. This quasi-experimental design enables us to identify the characteristics of women who chose to join savings groups. The findings show that those who joined tend to more educated and more socially independent than are women who did not. Thus, to control for selection bias, preintervention measures of empowerment are taken into consideration in the analyses of the impact of savings groups on 1995 levels of empowerment and fertility behavior. The analysis shows positive impacts of the credit program on aspirations with regard to children’s education, age at marriage, and use of modern contraceptives

Multilevel Influences on Depressive Symptoms among Men in Bangladesh

Depression is a worldwide problem, and is especially prevalent in lower-income countries with insufficient resources and widespread poverty, such as Bangladesh. Yet multilevel determinants of depressive symptoms in men have not been studied in this context. We leverage a novel dataset from men in Bangladesh to determine the community- and individual-level influences of masculine dominance strain and financial strain on the frequency of married men’s depressive symptoms in Bangladesh. Data were collected between January and June, 2011, as part of the UN Multi-Country Study of Men and Violence, conducted by The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b). Masculine dominance strain at both levels was related to the frequency of depressive symptoms. Financial strain only at the individual level was related to the frequency of depressive symptoms. We conclude that community-level economic interventions may not directly influence individual-level depression; however, addressing customary conceptions of masculinity at the community and individual level and addressing individual-level financial strain are promising joint strategies to improve married men’s mental health in Bangladesh and similar settings

Multi-level analysis of the determinants of physical domestic violence against children using longitudinal data from MINIMat mother–child cohort in Bangladesh

ObjectivesDespite high levels of physical violence against children (VAC) globally (40–50%), the literature on the determinants of VAC remains inconclusive. Most of the literature on this topic is based on cross-sectional data, and the multi-level nature of the drivers of VAC is widely ignored. This leads to model specification problems and an inability to draw causal inferences. Moreover, despite the higher prevalence of VAC in low-and middle-income countries, studies from high income countries dominate the field. We examined the determinants of physical domestic VAC to address these gaps in the literature.MethodsData were collected between 2001 and 2020 from 762 mother–child dyads recruited in the Maternal and Infant Nutrition Interventions in Matlab (MINIMat) study in Bangladesh. We conducted multi-level logistic regression analyses to identify the determinants of physical domestic VAC.ResultsPrevalence of physical domestic violence against girls (69%) and boys (62%) was extremely high. Community-level prevalence of physical domestic VAC increased the likelihood of physical domestic VAC at the individual level across gender (girls - OR-5.66; 95% CI- 3.11-10.32; boys - OR-7.67; CI- 3.95-14.91). While physical domestic violence against mothers was not associated with physical domestic violence against girls, it reduced the likelihood of such violence against boys by 47%. Having 3 or more siblings predicted physical domestic violence against girls (OR-1.97; 95% CI- 1.01-3.81 for 3 siblings; OR-4.58; 95% CI- 2.12-9.90 for 4 or more siblings), but not against boys. While girls in Hindu families were more likely to experience this violence, the boys were not. Mother’s education, employment non-governmental organization (NGO) participation and, household wealth did not predict this violence against any gender.ConclusionWe contend that physical domestic violence against mothers reflects an emphasized patriarchal culture in a family where a boy is less likely to experience physical domestic violence. Social norms and social learning theories explain the greater likelihood of a child experiencing physical domestic violence in a village with a higher level of such violence. We conclude that social norms around physical domestic VAC and patriarchal culture need to be changed to effectively address this violence

Telomere length is associated with growth in children in rural Bangladesh

Background: Previously, we demonstrated that a water, sanitation, handwashing, and nutritional intervention improved linear growth and was unexpectedly associated with shortened childhood telomere length (TL) (Lin et al., 2017). Here, we assessed the association between TL and growth. Methods: We measured relative TL in whole blood from 713 children. We reported differences between the 10th percentile and 90th percentile of TL or change in TL distribution using generalized additive models, adjusted for potential confounders. Results: In cross-sectional analyses, long TL was associated with a higher length-for-age Z score at age 1 year (0.23 SD adjusted difference in length-for-age Z score (95% CI 0.05, 0.42; FDR-corrected p-value = 0.01)). TL was not associated with other outcomes. Conclusions: Consistent with the metabolic telomere attrition hypothesis, our previous trial findings support an adaptive role for telomere attrition, whereby active TL regulation is employed as a strategy to address ‘emergency states’ with increased energy requirements such as rapid growth during the first year of life. Although short periods of active telomere attrition may be essential to promote growth, this study suggests that a longer overall initial TL setting in the first two years of life could signal increased resilience against future telomere erosion events and healthy growth trajectories