Women's economic advancement through agricultural change

This paper reviews donor experience with the design of development projects that are sensitive to gender-specific constraints. The review finds that the gap between intentions and implementation as regards gender-sensitivity is larger in agriculture than in health and nutrition. One of the reasons forwarded for this gap is the dearth of quantitative studies documenting the foregone benefits in terms of agricultural productivity of not promoting the economic advancement of women in agriculture.employment ,Nutrition ,Gender ,Women Economic conditions. ,Women Employment Bangladesh. ,Women in agriculture Bangladesh. ,Gender. ,Nutrition ,

Gender and poverty

This paper presents new evidence on the association between gender and poverty based on an empirical analysis of 11 data sets from 10 developing countries. The paper computes income- and expenditure-based poverty measures and investigates their sensitivity to the use of per capita and per adult equivalent units. It also tests for differences in poverty incidence between individuals in male- and female-headed households using stochastic dominance analysis. Stochastic dominance analysis reveals that differences between male- and female-headed households among the very poor are not sufficiently large that one can conclude that one is unambiguously worse- or better-off, except for a few exceptions. When we use the method of endogenous bounds, persons in female-headed households in rural Ghana and Bangladesh are consistently worse-off, using two stochastic dominance criteria. These results suggest that, among the very poor, persons in male- and female-headed households may not differ significantly. The consistent and significant exceptions, rural Ghana and Bangladesh, suggest that cultural and institutional factors may be responsible for higher poverty among women in these countries. Our results point to the need to analyze determinants of household income and consumption using multivariate methods, and to give greater attention to the processes underlying female headship.Gender ,Household resource allocation ,Poverty ,rural population ,Developing countries ,

Are women overrepresented among the poor?

This paper presents new evidence on the proportion of women in poverty in ten developing countries. It compares poverty measures for males and females and male- and female-headed households, and investigates the sensitivity of these measures to the use of per-capita and per-adult equivalent units and different definitions of the poverty line.Gender issues ,Developing countries ,Poverty ,

Are women overrepresented among the poor?

This paper presents new evidence on the proportion of women in poverty in ten developing countries. It compares poverty measures for males and females and male- and female-headed households, and investigates the sensitivity of these measures to the use of per-capita and per-adult equivalent units and different definitions of the poverty line.Gender issues ,Developing countries ,Poverty ,

Evaluation of a Permutation-Based Evolutionary Framework for Lyndon Factorizations

String factorization is an important tool for partitioning data for parallel processing and other algorithmic techniques often found in the context of big data applications such as bioinformatics or compression. Duval’s well-known algorithm uniquely factors a string over an ordered alphabet into Lyndon words, i.e., patterned strings which arestrictly smaller than all of their cyclic rotations. While Duval’s algorithm produces a pre-determined factorization, modern applications motivate the demand for factorizations with specific properties, e.g., those that minimize the number of factors or consist of factors with similar lengths. In this paper, we consider the problem of finding an alphabet ordering that yields a Lyndon factorization with such properties. We introduce a flexible evolutionary framework and evaluate it on biological sequence data. For the minimization case, we also propose a new problem-specific heuristic, Flexi-Duval, and a problem-specific mutation operator for Lyndon factorization. Our results show that our framework is competitive with Flexi-Duval for minimization and yields high quality and robust solutions for balancing where no problem-specific algorithm is available

Ca2+ permeability of the plasma membrane induced by rotavirus infection in cultured cells is inhibited by tunicamycin and brefeldin A

AbstractRotavirus infection of cultured cells induces a progressive increase in plasma membrane permeability to Ca2+. The viral product responsible for this effect is not known. We have used tunicamycin and brefeldin A to prevent glycosylation and membrane traffic and study the involvement of viral glycoproteins, NSP4 and/or VP7, in rotavirus-infected HT29 and MA104 cells. In infected cells, we observed an increase of plasma membrane Ca2+ permeability and a progressive depletion of agonist-releasable ER pools measured with fura 2 and an enhancement of total Ca2+ content measured as 45Ca2+ uptake. Tunicamycin inhibited the increase in membrane Ca2+ permeability, induced a depletion of agonist-releasable and 45Ca2+-sequestered pools. Brefeldin A inhibited the increase of Ca2+ permeability and the increase in 45Ca2+ uptake induced by infection. We propose that the glycosylated viral product NSP4 (and/or VP7) travels to the plasma membrane to form a Ca2+ channel and hence elevate Ca2+ permeability

Teacher Voice in Global Conversations around Education Access, Equity, and Quality

Despite public commitments internationally and nationally to include the voices of all stakeholders, the voices of teachers have continued to be marginalized in the literature and in policy-making related to global educational development. The purpose of the current study is to examine the process of invoking teacher voice using a sample of international teachers participating in a US-based teacher exchange program. Toward this end, we conducted semi-structured interviews with 16 teachers from 14 countries and four continents (all participants in the Teaching Excellence and Achievement [TEA] program). Results demonstrate that teacher voice was more personal rather than systemic, narrative rather than propositional, and utilized colloquial vocabulary rather than technical jargon. Teacher voice is also not always positive, but can be biased, critical, or judgmental. Nonetheless, the interviews also illustrate the critical necessity of including teacher voice in educational planning and decision-making

Plants, people and fire: Phytolith and FTIR analyses of the post-Howiesons Poort occupations at Border Cave (KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa)

Border Cave is a well-known South African Middle and Early Later Stone Age site located in KwaZulu-Natal. The site has exceptional plant preservation, unparalleled in the African Middle Stone Age archaeological record. This study focuses on the phytolith and FTIR analysis of two Members (2 BS and 2 WA) of the under-documented post-Howiesons Poort occupations dating to ∼60 ka. These members contain complex successions of vertically overlapping, interdigitating light brown sediments, plant bedding and combustion features of various sizes. The complexity and distinctiveness of these deposits provide an excellent opportunity for the study of plant exploitation strategies and their associated human behaviour. Our taphonomic assessment inferred, through the variability of phytolith properties and minerals composing archaeological layers, that specific occupations suffered more physical weathering than others, for example in the form of trampling. The preservation of fragile and highly soluble phytoliths (eudicot leaf phytoliths) and the high frequencies of articulated phytoliths indicates that some bedding deposits experienced little disturbance after their deposition. Not all bedding layers dating to ⁓60 ka show, from a phytolith perspective, the same plant composition, which could be explained in terms of changes in human preference for the use of plants over time to construct bedding or because distinct types of living floors are represented. Finally, the systematic application of phytoliths and FTIR to the complex archaeological sequence of Border Cave confirm these analyses can be used in the future to identify bedding deposits not visible to the naked eye, and behavioural patterns obscured by diagenetic or biased processes during sampling.publishedVersio

N95 vs Half-face Respirator Wear in Surgical Trainees: Physiologic and Psychological Effects of Prolonged Use

Objectives: As specialists of the upper airway, otolaryngologists are at high risk for COVID-19 transmission. N95 and half-face respirator (HFR) masks are commonly worn, each with advantages in functionality and comfort. In this study, physiologic and psychological parameters of prolonged N95 vs HFR wear were compared. Study Design: Prospective crossover cohort study. Setting: Single academic tertiary care hospital. Methods: A prospective crossover cohort study was performed. Healthy otolaryngology trainees and medical students (N = 23) participated and wore N95 and HFR masks continuously for 3 hours each on separate days. Various measures were analyzed: vitals, spirometry variables, scores on the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and HIT-6 (Headache Impact Test–6), distress, and “difficulty being understood.” Results: The average age was 26.3 years (SD, 3.42). There were no significant differences in vital signs and spirometry variables between N95 and HFR wear. N95 wear was associated with decreases in oxygen saturation of approximately 1.09% more than with HFRs (95% CI, 0.105-2.077). State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores increased more with HFR wear when compared with mean changes with N95 wear (95% CI, 1.350-8.741). There were no significant differences in HIT-6 scores or distress levels between masks. The proportions of participants reporting difficulty being understood was significantly higher with HFRs. Conclusions: Oxygen saturation decreases with prolonged N95 wear, but anxiety and difficulty being understood are greater with HFR wear. Although HFRs have less resistance to gas exchange, N95 respirators may produce less anxiety and distress in clinical situations. Further studies are warranted to evaluate the clinical significance of these differences. Level of Evidence: 2

A high-throughput chemically induced inflammation assay in zebrafish

Artículo de publicación ISIBackground: Studies on innate immunity have benefited from the introduction of zebrafish as a model system. Transgenic fish expressing fluorescent proteins in leukocyte populations allow direct, quantitative visualization of an inflammatory response in vivo. It has been proposed that this animal model can be used for high-throughput screens aimed at the identification of novel immunomodulatory lead compounds. However, current assays require invasive manipulation of fish individually, thus preventing high-content screening. Results: Here we show that specific, noninvasive damage to lateral line neuromast cells can induce a robust acute inflammatory response. Exposure of fish larvae to sublethal concentrations of copper sulfate selectively damages the sensory hair cell population inducing infiltration of leukocytes to neuromasts within 20 minutes. Inflammation can be assayed in real time using transgenic fish expressing fluorescent proteins in leukocytes or by histochemical assays in fixed larvae. We demonstrate the usefulness of this method for chemical and genetic screens to detect the effect of immunomodulatory compounds and mutations affecting the leukocyte response. Moreover, we transformed the assay into a high-throughput screening method by using a customized automated imaging and processing system that quantifies the magnitude of the inflammatory reaction. Conclusions: This approach allows rapid screening of thousands of compounds or mutagenized zebrafish for effects on inflammation and enables the identification of novel players in the regulation of innate immunity and potential lead compounds toward new immunomodulatory therapies. We have called this method the chemically induced inflammation assay, or ChIn assay.This work was supported by grants to MA from Fondecyt (1070867), FONDAP (15090007), ICM (P06-039F), CORFO-Innova (09MCSS-6705), DFG-Conicyt 075-2009; to CD from UNAB (DI- 01-09/1) and Fondecyt (24090004); to UL from Dopaminet (EU FP7 223744); and to CG by a Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant (EU FP7; PIRG07-GA-2010-267552)