Breakthroughs in Shared Measurement and Social Impact

A surprising new breakthrough is emerging in the social sector: A handful of innovative organizations have developed web-based systems for reporting the performance, measuring the outcomes, and coordinating the efforts of hundreds or even thousands of social enterprises within a field. These nascent efforts carry implications well beyond performance measurement, foreshadowing the possibility of profound changes in the vision and effectiveness of the entire nonprofit sector. This paper, based on six months of interviews and research by FSG Social Impact Advisors, examines twenty efforts to develop shared approaches to performance, outcome, or impact measurement across multiple organizations. The accompanying appendices include a short description of each system and four more in-depth case studies

Factors Affecting People’s Participation in Home Composting in Moratuwa and Kaduwela Municipalities in Western Province of Sri Lanka: A Comparative Study

Home composting is considered an effective method in solid waste management as composting reduces the amount of solid waste in the place of generation itself. However, many people are reluctant to adopt home composting for various reasons in Sri Lanka. This study examines the most significant factors influencing people's home composting based on Kaduwela and Moratuwa Municipalities (MC) of Western Province in Sri Lanka. Both Municipalities encourage composting programs in their areas. The study population was the total number of households in Moratuwa and Kaduwela Municipalities. For the sample, 2% (1808 households) of the population (households) from both Municipalities were selected randomly. The quantitative research method was used, and data were collected by using a structured close-ended questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using SPSS statistical software with descriptive and inferential statistics. Based on the analysis, the study confirmed that market opportunities for compost, social diffusion, access to the garden, higher family income level, local government intervention, and pro-environmental behavior significantly affect people's participation in home composting in both MCs. In addition to that, attitudes for gardening and general concern for the environment significantly affect Moratuwa MC, while health risks and attitudes for composting significantly affect Kaduwela MC for the people's participation in home composting. In comparatively, people's participation in home composting in Kaduwela MC relatively performs better than Moratuwa MC. Keywords: Home Composting, Municipal Solid Waste Management, Sri Lank

A missed diagnosis or a masquerading disease: back to the basics

A 23-year-old gravid Ugandan female at 26 weeks was admitted to the maternity ward with sweats, abdominal pain, feeling of apprehension and palpitations. A diagnosis of pre-eclampsia was made and treatment with magnesium sulphate initiated. She was later transferred to intensive care unit for monitoring and control of blood pressure. Due to her labile blood pressures despite intravenous hydralazine and metoprolol, the pregnancy was terminated. However, she continued to have labile blood pressures. Better control of blood pressure was achieved on oral prazocin and nifedipine. The patient was then transferred to floor and discharged home a few days later. An abdominal computed-tomography scan showed a solid lobulated right paravertebral mass superio-medial to the right kidney. An open adrenelectomy was performed and antihypertensives discontinued. Histopathology revealed a benign pheochromocytoma. The mother had good post-operative outcome; however the premature baby died 2 days later in the special care unit.Key words: Pre-eclampsia, magnesium sulphate, pheochromocytoma, blood pressure

Observations on the culture of M.leprae in medium V.

This paper reports the preliminary findings of an investigation using Medium V for culture of M. leprae. The medium was prepared adhering to the procedures adopted by Veeraraghavan. Tissues from 7 cases of lepromatous leprosy (Bacteriological Index of 3 or more) were inoculated into Medium V and incubated at 8–10°C for 72 hours. Quantitative estimation of leprosy bacilli were made employing the enumeration technique of Veeraraghavan. There was no evidence of multiplication in any of the cultures. The findings are in conformity with those of Kato (1983) and of Katoch and Desikan (1983)

Obstetric outcome study of oligohydramnios beyond 34 completed weeks of gestation

Background: Perinatal morbidity and mortality are significantly increased when oligohydramnios is present. As the amniotic fluid volume decreases, the perinatal mortality rate increases. The incidence of major congenital anomalies with IUGR also increases as the amniotic fluid volume declines. There is a close association between declining placental function in the latter part of the third trimester and amniotic fluid volume1. Thus, post term patients are at a greater risk for development of oligohydramnios. Fetal anomalies that results in oligohydramnios classically involve the urinary tract. The most frequently mentioned renal anomalies include bilateral renal agenesis, multicystic dysplastic kidneys, bladder outlet obstruction and infantile polycystic kidneys.Methods: All antenatal patients seen in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Sri Siddhartha Medical College and Research Centre between January 2015 to January 2017, who were willing to participate in the trial study were enrolled. Ultrasound GE Voulson S8-PRO equipped with 3.5 MHz transducer was used to measure the amniotic fluid index. The AFI in each group was noted and the pregnancy outcome in each group was determined. At the time of delivery following data variables were collected and compiled.Results: There were 105 women, who were divided into three groups of 35 each. Those women with AFI<5 had more chances of emergency caesarian section, the causes were fetal distress with variable and late fetal heart decelerations. The incidence of meconium stained liquor and NICU admission were more.Conclusions: The women with AFI<5 had more chances of emergency caesarian section, the causes were fetal distress with variable and late fetal heart decelerations. Amniotic Fluid Index is a valuable screening test for detecting fetuses that may have poor perinatal outcome

Web-based Text Mining

Text mining deals with retrieval of specific information provided by customer search engines. With the massive amount of information that is available on the World Wide Web, text mining provides results in the order of highest relevance to the key words in the query. Text expresses a vast, rich range of information, but encodes this information in a form that is difficult to decipher automatically. For example, it is much more difficult to graphically display textual content than quantitative data. In this paper we describe a method for choosing a subset of the Web, an approach to create a search a flexible service to adopt a new way to generate highly effective results for expert searches. Retrieval of information poses the problem of redundancy in retrieval of same data repeatedly. This paper presents an optimized solution for fast recovery of data and also finds methods for regenerating the queries from the queries posed

Interhalogens as Oxidimetric Titrants: Part VI* - Oxidimetric Determinations with Bromine Monochloride

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