56 research outputs found
ASSESSMENT ON CABBAGE AND CAULIFLOWER SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN KALAW TOWNSHIP, SOUTHERN SHAN STATE
No full textIn this study, the socioeconomic characteristics, cost and benefit, factors affecting yield determinants of cabbage and cauliflower production and constraints and challenges of production and marketing were investigated. The primary data were collected by interviewing 100 non-contract farmers in Myinmahti and Heho village tracts, 30 contract farmers in Kyauthtet, Heho and Thekhaung village tracts, and 34 sample market intermediaries in Kalaw Township during October to November, 2015. Descriptive analysis, cost and return analysis, marketing cost, margin and profit, production function analysis and SWOT analysis were used. According to the findings, both non-contract and contract farmers were at the primary education level. Home assets and luxury assets of non-contract and contract farmers were not significant. Regarding, the cost and return analysis, non-contract farmers can get more benefit cost ratio of rain-fed cabbage (3.02) and rain-fed cauliflower (3.55) than winter cabbage production of non-contract farmers (2.64), contract farmers (2.38) and winter cauliflower production of non-contract farmers (3.01). There were seven marketing channels along the cabbage and cauliflower supply chain. Retailers and township wholesalers got the higher profit than village collectors and commission men. Regarding to the winter cabbage production, the significant influencing factors were household head’s farming experience, farm size, total family labor cost, total hired labor cost, total material cost and access to credit for contract farmers while total family labor cost, total hired labor cost and access to credit for non-contract farmers. The significant factors of rain-fed cabbage yield were household head’s age, household head’s farming experience, farm size and total material cost of non-contract farmers. In the cauliflower production, household head’s education, amount of seed rate, total hired labor cost and access to credit were influencing on winter cauliflower production while only one influencing factor on rain-fed cauliflower production for non-contract farmers that was the amount of seed rate. In SWOT analysis, the serious factors of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of sample farmers were price information availability by mobile asset, not resistance pest and diseases, availability of local and export market and summer drought, respectively. SWOT analysis of market participants were price information availability by mobile phone asset, poor crop quality, high demand of product and high transportation cost, respectively. According to the study, farmers who had more experience can produce more products. Therefore, technical knowledge sharing should be promoted for farmers to get higher income
Operational experiences associated with the implementation of near point-of-care early infant diagnosis of HIV in Myanmar: a qualitative study
No full textBackground: Timely diagnosis and early initiation of life-saving antiretroviral therapy are critical factors in preventing mortality among HIV-infected infants. However, resource-limited settings experience numerous challenges associated with centralised laboratory-based testing, including low rates of testing, complex sample referral pathways and unacceptably long turnaround times for results. Point-of-care (POC) HIV testing for HIVexposed infants can enable same-day communication of results and early treatment initiation for HIV-infected infants. However, complex operational issues and service integration can limit utility and must be well understood prior to implementation. We explored and documented the challenges and enabling factors in implementing the POC Xpert® HIV-1 Qual test (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA) for early infant diagnosis (EID) as part of routine services in four public hospitals in Myanmar.
Methods: This sub-study was part of a randomised controlled stepped-wedge trial (Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, number 12616000734460) designed to investigate the impact of POC testing for EID in Myanmar and Papua New Guinea. Infants recruited during the intervention phase underwent POC testing at the participating hospitals as part of routine care. Semi-structured interviews with 23 caregivers, 12 healthcare providers and 10 key informants were used to explore experiences of POC-EID testing. The research team and hospital staff documented and discussed implementation challenges throughout the study.
Results: Overall, caregivers and healthcare workers were satisfied with the short turnaround time of the POC test. Occasional delays in POC testing were mostly attributable to late receipt of samples by laboratory technicians and communication constraints among healthcare staff. Hospital staff valued technical assistance from the research group and the National Health Laboratory. Despite staff shortages and infrastructure challenges such as unreliable electricity supply and cramped space, healthcare workers and caregivers found the implementation of the POC test to be feasible at pilot sites.
Conclusions: As plans for national scale-up evolve, there needs to be a continual focus on staff training, communication pathways and infrastructure. Other models of care, such as allowing non-laboratory-trained personnel to perform POC testing, and cost effectiveness should also be evaluated
Caregiver experience and perceived acceptability of a novel near point-of-care early infant HIV diagnostic test among caregivers enrolled in the PMTCT program, Myanmar: A qualitative study
No full textBackground: The majority of HIV infection among children occurs through mother-to-child transmission. HIV exposed infants are recommended to have virological testing at birth or 4–6 weeks of age but challenges with centralized laboratory-based testing in Myanmar result in low test- ing rates and delays in result communication and treatment initiation. Decentralized point- of-care (POC) testing when integrated in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services, can be an alternative to increase coverage of early infant diagnosis (EID) and timely engagement in HIV treatment and care.
Aim: This paper aims to explore experiences of caregivers of HIV-exposed infants enrolled in the PMTCT program in Myanmar and the perceived acceptability of point-of-care EID testing compared to conventional centralised laboratory-based testing.
Methods: This is a sub-study of the cluster randomised controlled stepped-wedge trial (Trial registra- tion number: ACTRN12616000734460) that assessed the impact of near POC EID testing using Xpert HIV-1 Qual assay in four public hospitals in Myanmar. Caregivers of infants who were enrolled in the intervention phase of the main study, had been tested with both Xpert and standard of care tests and had received the results were eligible for this qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 caregivers. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English. Thematic data analysis was undertaken using NVivo 12 Software (QSR International).
Results: The majority of caregivers were satisfied with the quality of care provided by PMTCT ser- vices. However, they encountered social and financial access barriers to attend the PMTCT clinic regularly. Mothers had concerns about community stigma from the disclosure of their HIV status and the potential consequences for their infants. While medical care at the PMTCT clinics was free, caregivers sometimes experienced financial difficulties associated with out-of-pocket expenses for childbirth and transportation. Some caregivers had to choose not to attend work (impacting their income) or the adult antiretroviral clinic in order to attend the paediatric PMTCT clinic appointment. The acceptability of the Xpert testing pro- cess was high among the caregiver participants and more than half received the Xpert result on the same day as testing. Short turnaround time of the near POC EID testing enabled the caregivers to find out their infants’ HIV status quicker, thereby shortening the stressful wait- ing time for results.
Conclusion: Our study identified important access challenges facing caregivers of HIV exposed infants and high acceptability of near POC EID testing. Improving the retention rate in the PMTCT and EID programs necessitates careful attention of program managers and policy makers to these challenges, and POC EID represents a potential solution
Taiwan ling lei xian dai zhu yi yan jiu: yi Chen Yingzhen, Guo Songfen, Li Yu wei zhong xin
No full textM.Phil.The 1960s Taiwanese modernism has long been criticized in two extreme ways: the nativist party criticized the modernist party of their artistic inclination to avoid social reality as subject of their art works. Some nativists even think the modernists were political cooptated by the KMT (Kuo Min Tang). On the other hand, the modernist party emphasizes that their borrowings of western modernisms can be interpreted as a way to against the cultural policy of “anti-communist literature” （反共文學政策）. Therefore, their aesthetics was rebellious instead. Other than the political aspect, scholars always draw their focus on the writers from the foreign language department of the Taiwan University and the literary magazine “Xiandai Wenxue” （《現代文學》）edited by those writers. Scholars also analyze Taiwanese modernism from the aesthetics point of view. This thesis argues that the arguments above can neither describe the complication of Taiwanese modernism accepting western modernism in transcultural context nor the active responds to native politics and literary development.This thesis will therefore use “alternative modernisms” as the framework, taking the translations of foreign theatres and cinemas and the arguments within the members in “Juechang” （《劇場》）, a literary magazines of 1960s, as examples to illustrate the complicated relationships between Taiwanese modernisms and the western leftwing thoughts. This thesis tries to emphasize the relationship between the translations of modernisms and native politics in Taiwan, so to supplement the partial understanding to Taiwanese modernism. On top of this, this thesis will illustrate the complicated views of three left-wing writers, Chen Ying-chen(1937-2017), Guo Song-fen(1938-2005) and Li Yu(1944-2014), towards modernism. They re-interpreted the relationships between modernisms and social politics through different ways and medias.Chen Ying-chen participated in the editorial work of “Juechang” in the 1960s, which enables him to study modernism in deep. At the same time, he studies Marxist theory privately. Modernism and Marxist became both contradictory (in the sense of modernism and realism) and dialectic (in the sense of modern decay and revolutionary avant-garde) to Chen. For Guo Song-fen, he translated the works of Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) in the 1960s and Sartre’s works became left-wing enlightenment to him. After the Diaoyutai movement（釣魚台運動，1970-1972）, he evaluated left-wing and nationalism through the argument between Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus(1913-1960). With that evaluation, he pictured the difficult situation of contemporary leftist in his novel by modernism. As for Li Yu, she was once active in “Xiandai Wenxue”, but also joined the Diaoyutai movement in the 1970s. She then evaluated the relationships between modernisms and other literary inclinations and politics by art history and critics after the movement.This thesis tries to illustrate the localization of Taiwanese modernisms and the relationships between modernisms and other artistic inclination (especially Marxism) through studying literary magazines and literary works of the above writers, hoping that could supplement the previous understanding to Taiwan modernism.過去就臺灣六Ｏ年代現代主義的討論主要以臺大外文系《現代文學》為重心，強調文藝刊物文藝自主的立場，將臺灣現代主義的翻譯過程簡化成純粹的藝術現代性。這種研究進路恐怕未能全面說明六Ｏ年代臺灣現代主義在跨文化語境之下對西方文藝思潮的接受，乃至主動回應本土政治及文藝發展的複雜情況。本文取徑「另類現代主義」的思考，嘗試通過六Ｏ年代小型文藝雜誌《劇場》對現代主義影視和劇場的譯介和爭論，提出現代主義與西方左翼文藝思潮的並置和交雜，展示六Ｏ年代現代主義譯介與臺灣本土文化政治之間的關係，補充現時對於臺灣現代主義的片面理解。在這基礎之上，本文以三位左翼作家，陳映真(1937-)、郭松棻(1938-2005)和李渝(1944-2014)，對現代主義的思辯和實踐為中心展開討論。三位作家各自通過不同的形式重新審視現代主義文藝與社會政治之間的關係：陳映真在六Ｏ年代積極參與《劇場》的編務工作，大量接觸現代主義的討論，他又同時私下閱讀馬克思文藝評論，兩種思想既形成了衝突，又構成了「現代頹廢」和「革命先鋒」的辯證關係，往往或隱或現出現在他的小說創作之中；郭松棻在六Ｏ年代譯介了存在主義，成為了他的左翼啟蒙。在釣魚台運動之後，他更通過沙特和卡繆的辯論重新反思左翼政治和民族主義，並以現代主義的方式在作品中反覆叩問當代左翼知識份子的存在處境；李渝在六Ｏ年代活躍於《現代文學》，後來同樣參與釣運，她以藝術評論的方式重新思考現代主義與不同文藝思潮之間的關係，反省了現代主義文藝與政治割裂的觀點。本文期望通過文藝雜誌、文藝思潮和文學創作的分析，展示現代主義與當時臺灣不同文藝思潮之間的互動關係，展示臺灣現代主義的在地化軌跡，突破前人對現代主義的簡化理解。李豐宸.Thesis M.Phil. Chinese University of Hong Kong 2017.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 105-116).Abstracts in English and Chinese.Title from PDF title page (viewed on February 17, 2020).Li Fengchen
Caregiver experience and perceived acceptability of a novel near point-of-care early infant HIV diagnostic test among caregivers enrolled in the PMTCT program, Myanmar : a qualitative study
No full textBackground
The majority of HIV infection among children occurs through mother-to-child transmission. HIV exposed infants are recommended to have virological testing at birth or 4–6 weeks of age but challenges with centralized laboratory-based testing in Myanmar result in low testing rates and delays in result communication and treatment initiation. Decentralized point-of-care (POC) testing when integrated in prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV (PMTCT) services, can be an alternative to increase coverage of early infant diagnosis (EID) and timely engagement in HIV treatment and care.
Aim
This paper aims to explore experiences of caregivers of HIV-exposed infants enrolled in the PMTCT program in Myanmar and the perceived acceptability of point-of-care EID testing compared to conventional centralised laboratory-based testing.
Methods
This is a sub-study of the cluster randomised controlled stepped-wedge trial (Trial registration number: ACTRN12616000734460) that assessed the impact of near POC EID testing using Xpert HIV-1 Qual assay in four public hospitals in Myanmar. Caregivers of infants who were enrolled in the intervention phase of the main study, had been tested with both Xpert and standard of care tests and had received the results were eligible for this qualitative study. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 caregivers. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim and translated into English. Thematic data analysis was undertaken using NVivo 12 Software (QSR International).
Results
The majority of caregivers were satisfied with the quality of care provided by PMTCT services. However, they encountered social and financial access barriers to attend the PMTCT clinic regularly. Mothers had concerns about community stigma from the disclosure of their HIV status and the potential consequences for their infants. While medical care at the PMTCT clinics was free, caregivers sometimes experienced financial difficulties associated with out-of-pocket expenses for childbirth and transportation. Some caregivers had to choose not to attend work (impacting their income) or the adult antiretroviral clinic in order to attend the paediatric PMTCT clinic appointment. The acceptability of the Xpert testing process was high among the caregiver participants and more than half received the Xpert result on the same day as testing. Short turnaround time of the near POC EID testing enabled the caregivers to find out their infants’ HIV status quicker, thereby shortening the stressful waiting time for results.
Conclusion
Our study identified important access challenges facing caregivers of HIV exposed infants and high acceptability of near POC EID testing. Improving the retention rate in the PMTCT and EID programs necessitates careful attention of program managers and policy makers to these challenges, and POC EID represents a potential solution
CUHK electronic theses & dissertations collection
No full textBy conducting a field survey to collect and investigate the attributes and behaviour patterns of participants in the case event, the proposed model and simulation system were implemented. Three scenarios of different populations of involved agents were simulated on the finished system according to the sample data. Simulation results were analyzed and compared to the observed data. The simulation system was found to be capable of reproducing compatible dynamics of pedestrian flows.Finally the conclusions of this thesis study were presented.In order to implement the model, the layered behavioural simulation model was proposed for putting the decisions made from the behaviour model into action. By identifying the three layers sustaining the routing procedure at their respective levels, the evacuation route was finally converted to selecting stepping cells from adjacent neighbours. In this way a quick way-finding process can be achieved toward the ultimate destination, so that the global objectives are coordinated with local action decisions on the cell scale. With this simulation model, the framework of the geo-referenced agent-based system was proposed with technical details presented. This system was built directly on a GIS base and thus was able to conduct simulation in a real space environment and perform advanced GIS analysis inside the simulation.In reviewing the existing evacuation models and simulation systems, it was found that although there have been remarkable advances in reproducing and analyzing many phenomena and the dynamics of pedestrian flow in evacuations, social psychological factors were not well considered. Theories and research in the social psychological field have indicated that these factors are essential in evacuation behaviour. Therefore the author examined the socio-economic factors relating to psychological responses through a literature review and explored the potential for integrating such factors into the agent based modelling approach.Inspired by such concerns, the author proposed the individual cognitive behaviour model consisting of the Personalized Spatial Cognitive Road Network, which represents the diverse individual spatial knowledge of recognizable roads, and the Multiple Routing Strategies which incorporated individual preferences in selecting routing strategy. The proposed model follows the principle that pedestrians are considered to be composed of heterogeneous individuals, thus each pedestrian could have his or her own knowledge base and rules of behaviour. Two steps in constructing each component were presented respectively, with an integrated framework presented in the context of agent based modelling.Public safety has become more and more important nowadays as tragic incidents, such as the 9/11 World Trading Centre attack, have caused a large number of causalities. It is critical to improve the capability of the security department for safely managing the crowd in response to an emergency. Conventional techniques investigating evacuation dynamics, such as the sand-box game utilized by Hong Kong police department preparing evacuation plans for the case event, are generally inadequate for providing sufficient support to crowd management. Enhancing the management practice by computer based simulation techniques has been attracting an increasing amount of research interests recently, as it can offer timely decision making assistance in changing situations compared to the conventional approaches.Wu, Lei.Advisers: Hui Lin; Bo Huang; Yee Leung.Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 73-06, Section: A, page: .Thesis (Ph.D.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2011.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 249-273).Electronic reproduction. Hong Kong : Chinese University of Hong Kong, [2012] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.Electronic reproduction. [Ann Arbor, MI] : ProQuest Information and Learning, [201-] System requirements: Adobe Acrobat Reader. Available via World Wide Web.Abstract also in Chinese
Access to needles and syringes and methadone maintenance therapy among people who inject drugs in Yangon, Myanmar: a qualitative study
No full textBACKGROUND: Access to sterile needles, syringes and methadone maintenance therapy (MMT) is critical to reduce the prevalence of bloodborne virus infections among people who inject drugs (PWID). We aimed to explore the experiences of PWID with respect to accessing needles/syringes services and MMT in Yangon, Myanmar. METHODS: Burnet Institute implemented a community-based hepatitis C testing and treatment (CT2) program for PWID with on-site needles and syringes distribution. Separate from CT2, MMT was available at two government-run sites in Yangon. We conducted in-depth interviews with 15 PWID who received hepatitis C care in this program. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and translated into English. Thematic data analysis was performed using NVivo12 software. RESULTS: Self-reported changes to needles/syringes sharing behaviour after hepatitis C education in the CT2 program and commencement of treatment were observed. One third of participants reported they became aware of the risks of sharing and reusing needles/syringes, and consequently refrained from sharing after the CT2 program. Inadequate availability of NSPs, cost of needles/syringes, and issues maintaining privacy when accessing needles/syringes emerged as key barriers to accessibility of needles/syringes. Participants described difficulties in accessing free needles/syringes. They were not aware of other free needles/syringes services at the time of the interview. Purchasing needles/syringes from pharmacies had privacy and confidentiality concerns. Structural barriers to accessibility of MMT were identified for both MMT sites in Yangon. Of the two MMT sites in Yangon, participants reported that the Ywarthargyi center had strict eligibility criteria for take-home methadone and transportation issues as it was located in the outskirt of the town. The Thingyangyun center was in a more convenient location, but only offered daily observed doses and had a long waiting time which was burdensome for some employed participants. CONCLUSION: Expansion of free needles/syringes services and adaptations of MMT to consider the needs and individual preferences of PWID will improve their access to these services and would likely reduce injecting related harms
Feasibility of decentralised, task-shifted hepatitis C testing and treatment services in urban Myanmar: implications for scale-up
No full textOBJECTIVES: To assess the feasibility considerations for a decentralised, one-stop-shop model of care implemented in Yangon, Myanmar. SETTING: Two primary care level clinics in urban Yangon, Myanmar. DESIGN: This is a feasibility study of a highly effective care model. Using Intervention Complexity Framework by Gericke et al, we collated and analysed programmatic data and evaluation data to outline key project implementation requirements and experiences. PARTICIPANTS: Programmatic data were collected from clinical records, GeneXpert device test and maintenance reports, national guidelines, product and device instructions and site monitoring visit reports. Healthcare providers involved in delivering care model contributed interview data. RESULTS: The main feasibility considerations are appropriate storage for test kits and treatments (in response to temperature and humidity requirements), installation of a continuous stable electricity supply for the GeneXpert device, air-conditioning for the laboratory room hosting GeneXpert, access to a laboratory for pretreatment assessments and clear referral pathways for specialist consultation when required. Lessons from our project implementation experiences included the extensive time requirements for patient education, the importance of regular error monitoring and stock storage reviews and that flexible appointment scheduling and robust reminder system likely contributed to high retention in care. CONCLUSIONS: Detailed documentation and dissemination of feasibility requirements and implementation considerations is vital to assist others to successfully implement a similar model of care elsewhere. We provide 10 recommendations for successful implementation. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: The trial was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03939013 on May 6, 2019. This manuscript presents post-results data on feasibility
Econometric analysis of the performance of cooperatives and investor owned firms in the European dairy industry
No full textKeywords: Cooperatives, IOFs, European dairy industry, logistic regression, stochastic frontier analysis, inter- and intra-firm efficiency, catch-up component, data envelopment analysis, hyperbolic technical efficiency, overall efficiency, scale efficiency, bootstrapping. In this study we measure the performance of cooperatives and investor-owned firms in the European dairy processing industry. Comparing the performance between cooperatives and investor-owned firms requires accounting for differences in their mission and objectives. Traditionally, cooperatives were established by farmers to gain access to markets, balance market powers and have a secured and sustainable income. Generally, there is a consensus in the economic literature that a cooperative can be defined as a (members)user-owned and (members)user-controlled organization that aims to benefit its (members)user. Cooperatives are transaction oriented, the members provide themselves with services they could not secure otherwise. In addition member are owners and determine the mission and strategy of cooperatives equally as the owners of the cooperative enterprise. Our study takes into account the consequences of members’ strategies for the cooperatives’ organizational structure and subsequently the significance of structure on (technical and economical) efficiencies. Although the theoretical literature emphasizes the difference in economic behavior between cooperatives and IOFs, the empirical studies have failed to follow up with theoretical approaches. The failure of the empirical studies to apply the models proposed by the theoretical literature seems to be due to either the inaccessibility of data, the inability to take into account the interests of all the various types of members and stakeholders of the cooperative, or the difficulty in testing the various hypotheses in practice. An empirical analysis of differences in financial indicators between IOFs and cooperatives in six European countries shows that cooperatives are less profitable but operationally more efficient, they have higher material costs and lower debts than IOFs. Furthermore, cooperatives display a substantially greater variation in financial indicators than IOFs. Stochastic Frontier Analysis is used to measure and compare the efficiency and production technology of cooperatives and IOFs. Cooperatives are found to have a more productive technology than IOFs, but they use their production potential less efficiently. A further empirical analysis of technical efficiency using Data Envelopment Analysis shows that explicit accounting for the objectives of cooperatives generates different outcomes compared with treating cooperatives as if they were IOFs. The results of the empirical analyses in this study promote the conclusion that measuring the performance of cooperatives as if they were IOFs produces misleading insights about the cooperatives’ performance suggesting performance suggesting that cooperatives’ performance is influenced by their organizational characteristics and members objectives. <br/
Additional file 1 of Operational experiences associated with the implementation of near point-of-care early infant diagnosis of HIV in Myanmar: a qualitative study
No full textAdditional file 1. Interview guide for caregivers bringing their child for EID result
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