788 research outputs found
Computational tools for poverty measurement and analysis
Get PDFThis paper introduces some relatively straightforward computational tools for estimating poverty measures from the sort of data that are typically available from published sources. All that is required for using these tools is an elementary regression package. The methodology also easily lends itself to a number of poverty simulations, some of which are discussed. The paper addresses the central question: How do we construct poverty measures from grouped data on consumption and income? Two broad approaches can be identified: simple interpolation methods and methods based on parameterized Lorenz curves. The paper briefly describes the two approaches and discusses why the second may be considered preferable.Income. ,Consumption (Economic theory) ,Poverty Research Methodology. ,
Determinants of poverty in Mozambique (1996-97)
Get PDFThis report presents an analysis of the structural determinants of living standards and poverty in Mozambique, which is based on nationally-representative data from the first national household living standards survey since the end of the civil war: Poverty in Mozambique is predominantly a rural phenomenon and is pervasive, with over two-thirds of the population falling below the poverty line. The degree of regional variation of poverty within the country is striking. The policy simulations that illustrate the impact that changes in the levels of determinants of poverty have on poverty levels allow us to identify six possible elements of a prospective poverty alleviation strategy for Mozambique. These include (1) increased investment in education, (2) sustained economic growth, (3) a sectoral pattern of growth favoring faster growth in the industrial and services sectors, (4) measures to raise agricultural productivity, (5) improved rural infrastructure, and (6) reducing fertility and dependency load within households. In conclusion, any meaningful poverty reduction strategy in Mozambique must give the highest priority to rural areas and must address these macro-level and household-level determinants of poverty in its policy formulations.Economic development. ,Agricultural policies. ,Education Economic aspects. ,Living standards Mozambique. ,Poverty Mozambique. ,
Analysson rufescens Krombein 1985
No full textAnalysson rufescens Krombein, 1985 (Figs 31–40) Analysson rufescens Krombein, 1985:9, ♀, ♂. Holotype: ♀, Sri Lanka: Uva Province: Monaragala District: Angunakolapelessa (USNM). Material examined. India: Chhattisgarh, Sukma district, Konta (17° 48’ 33’’ N & 81° 23’ 04’’ E, 52 m), 1♀, 7.x.2012, Coll. Mandal & party, ZSIK Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC /IR/INV.14413. Jharkhand, Pakur district, Toray river side (24° 37’ 53’’ N & 87° 51’ 07’’ E, 32 m), 1♀, 9.xi.2009, Coll. R. Babu & party, ZSIK Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC /IR/ INV.14414. Karnataka, Kodagu district, Thondoor (12° 25’ 8.60’’ N & 75° 52’ 74.33’’ E, 884 m), 2♀, 22.xii.2019, Coll. P. Girish Kumar, ZSIK Regd. Nos. ZSI/ WGRC /IR/INV.14415 & 14416. Tamil Nadu, Coimbatore district, valley of Palamalai Hills (11° 9’ 25.01’’ N & 76° 53’ 42.22’’ E, 467 m), 1♀, 6.i.2019, Coll. P. Girish Kumar, ZSIK Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC /IR/INV.14417; Coimbatore district, Kottur near Anamalai Hills (10° 28’ 48.18’’ N & 76° 86’ 10.85’’ E, 320 m), 1♂, 2.i.2019, Coll. P. Girish Kumar, ZSIK Regd. No. ZSI/ WGRC /IR/INV.14418. Distribution. India: Chhattisgarh (new record), Jharkhand (new record), Karnataka, Tamil Nadu; Sri Lanka (Krombein, 1985) (Fig 42).Published as part of Kumar, P. Girish, Sheela, S. & Sharma, Gaurav, 2020, Additions to the knowledge of the Tribe Alyssontini (Hymenoptera: Crabronidae Bembicinae) in India with description of two new species of the genus Alysson Panzer, pp. 270-280 in Zootaxa 4861 (2) on pages 278-280, DOI: 10.11646/zootaxa.4861.2.7, http://zenodo.org/record/441625
Validity of rapid estimates of household wealth and income for health surveys in rural Africa
Get PDFDrawing data from four different integrated household surveys in rural areas of Mali, Malawi, and two national surveys in Côte d'Ivoire, this paper tests the validity of proxy measures of household wealth and income that can be readily implemented in health surveys in rural Africa. The assumptions underlying the choice of wealth proxy are described, and correlations with the true value are assessed in two different settings. The expenditure proxy is developed and then tested for replicability in two independent data sets representing the same population. The study found that in both Mali and Malawi, the wealth proxy correlated highly (r $ 0.74) with the more complex monetary value method. For rural areas of Côte d'Ivoire, it was possible to generate a list of just 10 expenditure items, the values of which, when summed, correlated highly with expenditures on all items combined (r = 0.74, development data set; r = 0.72, validation data set). Total household expenditure is an accepted alternative measure of household wealth and income in developing country settings. This paper thus shows that it can be feasible to approximate both household wealth and expenditures in rural African settings without dramatically lengthening questionnaires whose primary focus is on health.Africa Rural conditions. ,Household surveys. ,Income Rural areas Africa. ,Health surveys. ,
Nonlinear Vibration and Instability of a Randomly Distributed CNT-Reinforced Composite Plate Subjected to Localized In-plane Parametric Excitation
Get PDFThis study presents a semi-analytical formulation for the nonlinear vibration and dynamic instability of a randomly distributed carbon nanotube-reinforced composite (RD-CNTRC) plate. Three cases of localized in-plane periodic loadings are studied. The analytical stress fields within the RD-CNTRC plate for all the in-plane stress components (σij, (i, j = x, y)) are developed by solving the in-plane elastic problem using Airy's stress approach. The effective mechanical properties of the RD-CNTRC plate are evaluated by the Eshelby-Mori-Tanaka technique. The plate is modeled based on higher-order shear deformation theory (HSDT) in conjunction with the von-Kármán nonlinearity. Using Hamilton's principle, the governing partial differential equations (PDEs) are derived, whose approximate solution is sought, referring to the Galerkin method. The resulting nonlinear ODEs are solved using the Incremental Harmonic Balance (IHB) Method to compute the nonlinear vibration response of the RD-CNTRC plate. Further dropping the nonlinear terms, these ODEs are solved by Bolotin's method to trace the instability region. The proposed semi-analytical method is an effective strategy for studying the influence of different parameters such as agglomeration models, CNT mass fraction, pre-loading, and boundary conditions on the nonlinear vibration and dynamic instability characteristics of the RD-CNTRC plates. The reduced computational effort allows the design phase to be supported in selecting parameters when designing RD-CNTRC plates with stability and vibration requirements
Attrition in longitudinal household survey data
Get PDFLongitudinal household data can have considerable advantages over much more widely used cross-sectional data. The collection of longitudinal data, however, may be difficult and expensive. One problem that has concerned many analysts is that sample attrition may make the interpretation of estimates problematic. Such attrition may be particularly severe in areas where there is considerable mobility because of migration between rural and urban areas. Many analysts share the intuition that attrition is likely to be selective on characteristics such as schooling and that high attrition is likely to bias estimates made from longitudinal data. This paper considers the extent of and implications of attrition for three longitudinal household surveys from Bolivia, Kenya, and South Africa that report very high per-year attrition rates between survey rounds. Our estimates indicate that (1) the means for a number of critical outcome and family background variables differ significantly between attritors and nonattritors; (2) a number of family background variables are significant predictors of attrition; but (3) nevertheless, the coefficient estimates for “standard” family background variables in regressions and probit equations for the majority of the outcome variables considered in all three data sets are not affected significantly by attrition. Therefore, attrition apparently is not a general problem for obtaining consistent estimates of the coefficients of interest for most of these outcomes. These results, which are very similar to results for developed economies, suggest that for these outcome variables—despite suggestions of systematic attrition from univariate comparisons between attritors and nonattritors, multivariate estimates of behavioral relations of interest may not be biased due to attrition.Household surveys Methodology ,
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Physiological and genome-wide RNA-sequencing analyses identify candidate genes in a nitrogen-use efficient potato cv. Kufri Gaurav
No full textNitrogen (N) is an important nutrient for plant growth. However, its excess application leads to environmental damage. Hence, improving nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of plant is one of the plausible options to solve the problems. Aim of this study was to identify candidate genes involved in enhancing NUE in potato cv. Kufri Gaurav (N efficient). Plants were grown in aeroponic with two contrasting N regimes (low N: 0.75 mM, and high N: 7.5 mM). Higher NUE in Kufri Gaurav was observed in low N based on the parameters like NUE, NUpE (N uptake efficiency), NUtE (N utilization efficiency) and AgNUE (agronomic NUE). Further, global gene expression profiles in root, leaf and stolon tissues were analyzed by RNA-sequencing using Ion Proton™ System. Quality data (≥Q20) of 2.04–2.73 Gb per sample were mapped with the potato genome. Statistically significant (P ≤ 0.05) differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were identified such as 176 (up-regulated) and 30 (down-regulated) in leaves, 39 (up-regulated) and 105 (down-regulated) in roots, and 81 (up-regulated) and 694 (down-regulated) in stolons. The gene ontology (GO) terms like metabolic process, cellular process and catalytic activity were predominant. Our RT-qPCR analysis confirmed the gene expression profiles of RNA-seq. Overall, we identified candidate genes associated with improving NUE such as superoxide dismutase, GDSL esterase lipase, probable phosphatase 2C, high affinity nitrate transporters, sugar transporter, proline rich proteins, transcription factors (VQ motif, SPX domain, bHLH) etc. Our findings suggest that these candidate genes probably play crucial roles in enhancing NUE in potato.
•Agro-physiological study validated a nitrogen use efficient potato cv. Kufri Gaurav in aeroponic.•RNA-sequencing analysis identified candidate genes involved in nitrogen use efficiency in potato cv. Kufri Gaurav.•The candidate genes were superoxide dismutase, probable phosphatase 2C, high affinity nitrate transporters etc
Social roles, human capital, and the intrahousehold division of labor
Get PDFUsing detailed data from rural Pakistan, this paper investigates whether human capital, learning by doing, gender, and one's status within the family affect the division of labor within households. Results suggest the presence of returns to individual specialization in all farm, nonfarm, and home-based activities. The intrahousehold division of labor is influenced by comparative advantage, based on human capital and by long-lasting returns to learning by doing, but we also find evidence of a separate effect of gender and family status. Households seem to operate as hierarchies with sexually segregated spheres of activity. The head of household and his or her spouse provide most of the labor within their respective spheres of influence; other members work less. When present in the household, daughters-in-law work systematically harder than daughters of comparable age, build, and education. Other findings of interest are that there are increasing returns to scale in most household chores, that larger households work more off-farm, and that better educated individuals enjoy more leisure.employment ,Gender ,Pakistan Social conditions. ,Labor Gender issues. ,Household surveys Pakistan. ,
Intrahousehold impact of the transfer of modern agricultural technology
Get PDFThis 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. ,
Changes in intrahousehold labor allocation to environmental goods collection
Get PDFThis study explores the impact of changes in environmental conditions on intrahousehold labor allocation to the collection of environmental goods such as fuelwood and leaf fodder for a sample of rural Nepali households. Using household-level panel data collected in 1982 and 1997, the study finds that household collection time significantly increases with measures of environmental resource scarcity, and that the increase appears to come almost equally from men and women. Additionally, the results of this study indicate that household collection burdens are significantly lower in 1997 than in 1982, and that women have seen the largest decrease in their time spent collecting. The picture is not an entirely rosy one, however, as consumption of environmental goods is also significantly lower in 1997 compared to 1982. The results taken together indicate that one should not hastily attribute decreases in collection labor burdens to successful forest rehabilitation in areas managed by forest user groups. In this case it appears that lower collection times are principally due to reduced consumption and increased collection from private land.Division of labor Nepal. ,Forest management Nepal. ,Environmental impact analysis. ,
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