Food security without food transfers?: A CGE analysis for Ethiopia of the different food security impacts of fertilizer subsidies and locally sourced food transfers

Both availability and access issues underpin Ethiopia's food security challenges. The country is mostly dependent on drought-exposed, rain fed agriculture, and high transaction costs inhibit trade in staples. Most of the population lives in rural areas where poverty is widespread and livelihoods vulnerable to shocks and poverty traps. This paper looks at different approaches to improve food security in Ethiopia. Specifically, it compares the impacts on the access and availability dimensions of policy-based fertilizer subsidies, targeting yield growth against one of additional food transfers, sourced from local markets. It also explores the possibility of combining the subsidies with a switch to local procurement of current food transfers. It first runs a micro simulation model based on empirically estimated yield functions to quantify the likely effects of additional fertilizer application on national yields, suggesting a rather modest response. It then simulates the policies of interest using the static IFPRI standard CGE model, calibrated for Ethiopia using the 2005/06 social accounting matrix of the Ethiopian Development Research Institute (EDRI). Simulation results point in two directions. First, the food transfer policy is more effective at raising consumption of staples by the targeted rural poor. Second, the moderate yield growth induced by the subsidy shows economic multipliers, stronger effects on domestic supply and welfare gains accruing to all poor through increased factor incomes and decreased staple prices. Yield growth seems a promising avenue to pursue food security and, more generally, poverty reduction goals. Nevertheless, policies focusing on one dimension of the yield function alone, such as fertilizer subsidies, are unlikely to deliver the necessary improvement in yields. Food transfers may still be the most effective short- to mid-term answer to food access insecurity when high return agricultural productivity policies are not available and when internal resources can be used to bear policy costs, avoiding the exchange rate distortions associated with foreign financial assistance.

Indian Argo Trajectories and Surface Currents

An important objective of Argo is measurement of ocean circulation. As Argo floats collect salinity/temperature profiles, they also give information on the surface and subsurface currents. Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) being a Regional Data Assembly Centre for Indian Argo has so far launched 160 floats in the Indian Ocean to develop the global ocean observation system as a part of international cooperation project and is responsible for real time generation and dissemination of this data. This work is an attempt to extract information on sea surface in application to the Lagrangian part of the Argo floats. This report constitutes two sections. The first section documents the process of operational generation and dissemination of the Argo trajectory data. The second section describes the data product, Surface Currents and its comparison with Simple Ocean Data Assimilation & Drifting buoy currents

Comparison of health care seeking behavior in rural versus urban women in Uttarakhand

Background: Epidemiologists and social scientists have devoted increasing attention to studying care seeking behavior associatedwith two leading causes of death namely acute respiratory infections and diarrhea. Objective: This study was planned to assess andcompare the health care seeking behavior of urban and rural population in two districts, one with better and other with poor healthparameters. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was planned in the state of Uttarakhand to assess the differences in careseeking behavior in its urban and rural population. Data were collected from two districts namely Dehradun and Uttarkashi. Mothers(140) having children up to 5 years of age were interviewed in both the districts and questionnaire was administered to evaluate thecare seeking behavior among mothers. Results: Children <1 year and more than 3 years were reported to fall ill more than childrenbetween 1 and 3 years in both Dehradun and Uttarakashi, with fever, cough, cold, diarrhea and vomiting, and pneumonia as the mostcommon reported diseases. The average number of symptoms care seeking pattern and hospital treatment was higher in Dehradundespite a similar level of education of mothers in both the regions. Conclusion: Dehradun, having better health facilities, could addressthe concerns in health of children

Effects of low visual acuity on neuropsychological test scores:A simulation study

Objective: To systematically examine the effect of low visual acuity (LVA) on a number of commonly used neuropsychological tests. Method: In this study, the influence of LVA on a number of commonly used neuropsychological tests was examined in 238 healthy older adults (aged 50–80) without visual or neurological impairment. LVA was simulated using simulation glasses. Results: It was found that a simulated LVA of ∼0.2 (decimal acuity; Snellen 6/30 or 20/100, LogMAR 0.7) had a negative impact on test performance for the Trail Making Test, Complex Figure of Rey (copy score), and Visual Object and Space Perception battery subtest 3, but not for the Mini Mental State Examination and Balloons test. For some tests, the negative impact of LVA increased with age. Conclusions: These results have important implications for the use of neuropsychological tests in the visually impaired population. More specifically, when administering the Trail Making Test, Complex Figure of Rey (copy score), and Visual Object and Space Perception Battery subtest 3 to older people with LVA, low test scores should be interpreted with great caution. Low test scores on the Mini Mental State Examination and Balloons Test are not likely to be caused by LVA and are more likely to reflect actual cognitive impairment. The results contribute to the validity of neuropsychological assessment of older people with visual impairment, leading to more effective and more patient-based rehabilitation

Evaluation of the Efficacy of Crude Extracts of Salix subserrata and Silene macroselen for the treatment of rabies in Ethiopia

A study was conducted between November, 2007 and April, 2008 to evaluate the anti-rabies activity of the leaf of Salix subserrata and root of Silene macroselen which are traditionally used for the treatment of rabies in Bereh-Aleltu Woreda, North Shewa, Central Ethiopia. The study involved oral administration of crude extracts of Salix subserrata and Silene macroselen to Pasteur Virus (PV) strain rabies virus infected mice which were assigned into three treatment and one negative control groups. Chloroform, methanol 80% and aqueous extracts of the study plants were prepared using maceration technique. Statistical analysis was performed by one-way analysis of variance tests coupled to least significant difference to compare result between treatment and positive control groups. Of the 6 crude extracts, chloroform and methanol 80% of Silene macroselen and chloroform and aqueous of Salix subserrata were found to increase the survival time of mice significantly (P< 0.05). Nevertheless, aqueous extract of Silene macroselen and methanol 80% extract of Salix subserrata did not exhibit a significant effect on the survival time. 1 day and 2 days treatment groups of the chloroform extract of S. macroselen indicated significant difference on the survival time from the positive control (P< 0.05). The chloroform and aqueous extracts of S. subserrata and the methanol 80 % extract of S. macroselen in their 1 day and 3 days treatment showed significant difference on survival time from the positive control group (P< 0.05). The results obtained from the present work suggest good correlation between traditional therapeutic uses and the in vivo anti-rabies activity. Further characterization of the active ingredients would reveal useful compounds. Keywords: Anti-rabies, Ethno-pharmaceutical, Mice model, PV strain, Salix subserrata, Silene macrosele

Differentiating Noninvasive Follicular Thyroid Neoplasm with Papillary-Like Nuclear Features from Classic Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma: Analysis of Cytomorphologic Descriptions Using a Novel Machine-Learning Approach.

Background:Recent studies show various cytomorphologic features that can assist in the differentiation of classic papillary thyroid carcinoma (cPTC) from noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillary-like nuclear features (NIFTP). Differentiating these two entities changes the clinical management significantly. We evaluated the performance of support vector machine (SVM), a machine learning algorithm, in differentiating cases of NIFTP and encapsulated follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma with no capsular or lymphovascular invasion (EFVPTC) from cases of cPTC with the use of microscopic descriptions. SVM is a supervised learning algorithm used in classification problems. It assigns the input data to one of two categories by building a model based on a set of training examples (learning) and then using that learned model to classify new examples. Methods:Surgical pathology cases with the diagnosis of cPTC, NIFTP, and EFVPTC, were obtained from the laboratory information system. Only cases with existing fine-needle aspiration matching the tumor and available microscopic description were included. NIFTP cases with ipsilateral micro-PTC were excluded. The final cohort consisted of 59 cases (29 cPTCs and 30 NIFTP/EFVPTCs). Results:SVM successfully differentiated cPTC from NIFTP/EFVPTC 76.05 ± 0.96% of times (above chance, P \u3c 0.05) with the sensitivity of 72.6% and specificity of 81.6% in detecting cPTC. Conclusions:This machine learning algorithm was successful in distinguishing NIFTP/EFVPTC from cPTC. Our results are compatible with the prior studies, which show cytologic features are helpful in differentiating these two entities. Furthermore, this study shows the power and potential of this approach for clinical use and in developing data-driven scoring systems, which can guide cytopathology and surgical pathology diagnosis

Economic and Social Implications and Sustainability of Call Center Jobs in India

India is an important Information Technology Enabled Services (ITES) destination and undisputed leader in the world with respect to Call Center industry. Since call center forms an important constituent of ITES, the paper presents a brief account of ITES in the first part while a detailed analysis of economic and social implications and sustainability of call center jobs have been discussed in the latter part. In spite of the hefty salary and other service benefits in the call center jobs, there exists high rate of attrition in call center industry. The study aims to understand why the call centers jobs are not sustainable and what may be the probable reasons for it. The paper is based on the perception of call center employees. For this purpose, the data was generated through a field survey which was carried out in call centers located in the National Capital Region of Delhi. The study reveals that the monotonous and stressful nature of work, disruption in social and family life and lack of career growth may be held major factors for low sustainability in call center jobs in India