Developing World Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Information and communication technology can be used to improve the quality and safety of health care and to lower costs. But in both developed and developing countries, there is an inadequate supply of skilled individuals who have the technical skills to use this technology to improve health care. Some studies project workforce needs of tens of thousands in English-speaking developed countries, but it is not known what size workforce will be required in the developing world. It is important to identify and develop the skills, training, and competenciesconsistent with local cultures, languages, and health systems-that will be needed to realize the full benefits of these technologies. We present a framework for answering these questions and for developing estimates of the size and scope of the workforce that may be needed. O ne way to bring about improvements in health, health care, biomedical research, and public health across the world is to make use of knowledge and skills in the implementation and use of information and communication technology. The reach of these technologies in the developing world, via both Internet access and mobile phones, is increasing exponentially. 1 However, the size and skills of the workforce have not kept pace.When information and communication technology is used for health applications, it is called e-health. 2 Its application limited to mobile phone technology is called m-health. 3

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- Medical Informatics, Health Informatics, Health Care, Developing Countries

This paper analyzes the impact of a randomized cash transfer program on cognitive development in early childhood in rural Nicaragua. We first show that a very large sample of children in our sample are delayed along various dimensions, including language, memory, and social skills, and that these delays are related to household per capita expenditure levels. We then show that the program had significant effects on cognitive outcomes, especially language. Program impacts are larger for older pre-school aged children, who were also more likely to be delayed. We analyze how the program affected several inputs into early childhood development that have been identified as key risk factors in the literature. Households randomly assigned to receive transfers increased the consumption of nutritious foods and provided more cognitive stimulation to children than those assigned to the control group. Moreover, we show that these impacts are not due to the cash component of the program only. The expenditure patterns of beneficiary households are significantly different from those of control households, indicating that households do not spend the cash received through the program in the same way as other income. Thomas, D. 1994. "Like Father, Like Son, Like Mother, Like Daughter: Parental Resources and Child

- by Renos Vakis and +1
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- Cognitive development, Health Care, Child Development, Policy

This paper examines the impact of home country economic status on immigrant self-employment probability in the U.S. We estimate a probability model and find that, consistent across race, immigrants from developed countries are more likely to be self-employed in the U.S than are immigrants from developing countries. This result is unexpected given previous research which suggests that immigrants from countries with high levels of self-employment tend to be more involved in self-employment in the U.S. Developing countries on average have higher self-employment rates than do developed countries but our research shows that immigrants from developing countries have similar or lower self-employment probabilities relative to native born White Americans, whereas immigrant from developed countries have significantly higher self-employment probabilities relative to native born White Americans. We provide two potential explanations for this result. First, immigrants from developed countries ma...

- by Ruth Uwaifo Oyelere
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- Entrepreneurship, Developing Country, Country of Origin, Developing World

In this study, we explored the attitudes towards Medically Unexplained Symptoms (MUS) of 500 GP's in Karachi, Pakistan. Using a questionnaire previously developed by Reid et al (2001), we aimed to investigate whether GP's attitudes... more

- by Raza Rahman
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- Psychology, Pakistan, Developing Countries, Gatekeeping

When Campylobacter jejuni NCTC 11351 was grown microaerobically in rich medium at 39°C, entry into stationary phase was followed by a rapid decline in viable numbers to leave a residual population of 1% of the maximum number or less. Loss of viability was preceded by sublethal injury, which was seen as a loss of the ability to grow on media containing 0.1% sodium deoxycholate or 1% sodium chloride. Resistance of cells to mild heat stress (50°C) or aeration was greatest in exponential phase and declined during early stationary phase. These results show that C. jejuni does not mount the normal phenotypic stationary-phase response which results in enhanced stress resistance. This conclusion is consistent with the absence of rpoS homologues in the recently reported genome sequence of this species and their probable absence from strain NCTC 11351. During prolonged incubation of C. jejuni NCTC 11351 in stationary phase, an unusual pattern of decreasing and increasing heat resistance was observed that coincided with fluctuations in the viable count. During stationary phase of Campylobacter coli UA585, nonmotile variants and those with impaired ability to form coccoid cells were isolated at high frequency. Taken together, these observations suggest that stationary-phase cultures of campylobacters are dynamic populations and that this may be a strategy to promote survival in at least some strains. Investigation of two spontaneously arising variants (NM3 and SC4) of C. coli UA585 showed that a reduced ability to form coccoid cells did not affect survival under nongrowth conditions.

- by Bernard Mackey
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- Multidisciplinary, United Kingdom, High Frequency, Air

This article examines the relationship between information and communication technologies (ICTs) and regional integration as a pathway to socioeconomic development in Africa and South America. Both regions share a colonial legacy often characterized by stronger economic ties to the developed world than within the regions. In recent decades, regional organizations have been involved in efforts to strengthen the infrastructure for ICTs, as well as the enhancement of economic and political integration as strategies to achieve development. However, the literature continues to show distinct research agendas that unwittingly overlook the connections between these areas. This article proposes a theoretical framework combining research on integration, ICTs, and development. It provides a brief analysis of each region and its ICT initiatives, the potential impact on regional integration, and how this relates to development. We suggest possible applications of the framework to identify and research the processes of integration and expected outcomes of development.

There are few data on the practice of evidence based medicine in the developing world, nor on the actual sources of evidence that clinicians use in practice. To test the hypothesis that there was variation between and within developing countries in the proposed management of a patient with hospital acquired pneumonia, and that part of the variation can be explained by the sources of evidence used. Questionnaire responses to hypothetical case history. Investigators from 6 centres within the International Clinical Epidemiology Network (INCLEN) in China, Thailand, India, Egypt, and Kenya. Doctors chosen to represent primary and secondary hospital practice in the regions of the study centres. Investigations and initial treatments which would be ordered for a hypothetical 60-year-old woman who develops pneumonia 5 days after hospital admission, whether local data on antibiotic sensitivities are available and where information would be obtained to guide management. Chest x-ray and sputum gram stain/culture were consistently the most commonly ordered investigations, there being much greater variation in the initial treatment choices with either penicillin, a third-generation cephalosporin or aminoglycoside being the most popular choice. Textbooks were the commonest form of information source, and access to a library, textbooks and journals were statistically significantly associated with appropriate choice of investigations, but not treatment. Access to local antibiotic sensitivities was associated with appropriate initial treatment choice. Improving access to information in the literature and to local data may increase the practice of evidence-based medicine in the developing world.

This study measured the economic impacts of climate change on crop and livestock farming in Africa based on a cross-sectional survey of over 8000 farming households from 11 countries in east, west, north and southern Africa. The response of net revenue from crop and livestock agriculture across various farm types and systems in Africa to changes in climate normals (i.e. mean rainfall and temperature) is analysed. The analyses controlled for effects of key socioeconomic, technology, soil and hydrological factors influencing agricultural production. Results show that net farm revenues are in general negatively affected by warmer and drier climates. The small-scale mixed crop and livestock system predominantly typical in Africa is the most tolerant whereas specialized crop production is the most vulnerable to warming and lower rainfall. These results have important policy implications, especially for the suitability of the increasing tendency toward large-scale mono-cropping strategies for agricultural development in Africa and other parts of the developing world in light of expected climate changes. Mixed crop and livestock farming and irrigation offered better adaptation options for farmers against further warming and drying predicted under various future climate scenarios.

- by r hassan
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- Earth Sciences, Climate Change, Agricultural Development, Agriculture

An evolving dominance of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 subtype C (HIV-1C) in the AIDS epidemic has been associated with a high prevalence of HIV-1C infection in the southern African countries and with an expanding epidemic in India and China. Understanding the molecular phylogeny and genetic diversity of HIV-1C viruses may be important for the design and evaluation of an HIV vaccine for ultimate use in the developing world. In this study we analyzed the phylogenetic relationships (i) between 73 nonrecombinant HIV-1C near-full-length genome sequences, including 51 isolates from Botswana; (ii) between HIV-1C consensus sequences that represent different geographic subsets; and (iii) between specific isolates and consensus sequences. Based on the phylogenetic analyses of 73 near-full-length genomes, 16 "lineages" (a term that is used hereafter for discussion purposes and does not imply taxonomic standing) were identified within HIV-1C. The lineages were supported by high bootstrap values in maximum-parsimony and neighbor-joining analyses and were confirmed by the maximum-likelihood method. The nucleotide diversity between the 73 HIV-1C isolates (mean value of 8.93%; range, 2.9 to 11.7%) was significantly higher than the diversity of the samples to the consensus sequence (mean value of 4.86%; range, 3.3 to 7.2%, P < 0.0001). The translated amino acid distances to the consensus sequence were significantly lower than distances between samples within all HIV-1C proteins. The consensus sequences of HIV-1C proteins accompanied by amino acid frequencies were presented (that of Gag is presented in this work; those of Pol, Vif, Vpr, Tat, Rev, Vpu, Env, and Nef are presented elsewhere [http://www.aids.harvard.edu/lab_research/concensus_sequence.htm]). Additionally, in the promoter region three NF-B sites (GGGRNNYYCC) were identified within the consensus sequences of the entire set or any subset of HIV-1C isolates. This study suggests that the consensus sequence approach could overcome the high genetic diversity of HIV-1C and facilitate an AIDS vaccine design, particularly if the assumption that an HIV-1C antigen with a more extensive match to the circulating viruses is likely to be more efficacious is proven in efficacy trials.

- by S. Gaseitsiwe and +4
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- Immune response, Virology, Southern Africa, HIV

This article is concerned with a discussion of the plausibility of the claim that GM technology has the potential to provide the hungry with sufficient food for subsistence. Following a brief outline of the potential applications of GM in this context, a history of the green revolution and its impact will be discussed in relation to the current developing world agriculture situation. Following a contemporary analysis of malnutrition, the claim that GM technology has the potential to provide the hungry with sufficient nourishment will be discussed within the domain of moral philosophy to determine whether there exists a moral obligation to pursue this end if and only if the technology proves to be relatively safe and effective. By using Peter Singer's duty of moral rescue, I argue that we have a moral duty to assist the third world through the distribution of such GM plants. I conclude the paper by demonstrating that my argument can be supported by applying a version of the Preca...

- by Lucy Carter
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- Philosophy, Ethics, Applied Ethics, Developing Countries

Obesity has risen dramatically in the past few decades. However, the relative contribution of energy intake and energy expenditure to rising obesity is not known. Moreover, the extent to which social and economic factors tip the energy balance is not well understood. In this longitudinal analysis of developed countries, we estimate the relative contribution of increased caloric intake and reduced

- by David Cutler
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- Obesity, Physical Activity, Technological Innovation, Public Health

Malaria remains one of the greatest killers of human beings, particularly in the developing world. The World Health Organization has estimated that over one million cases of Malaria are reported each year, with more than 80% of these found in Sub-Saharan Africa. The anopheline mosquito transmits malaria, and breeds in areas of shallow surface water that are suitable to the mosquito and parasite development. These environmental factors can be detected with satellite imagery, which provide high spatial and temporal coverage of most of the earth's surface. The combined use of remote sensing and GIS provides a strong tool for monitoring environmental conditions that are conducive to malaria, and mapping the disease risk to human populations.

- by Charles Mbogo
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- Remote Sensing, Satellite remote sensing, Sea Level, Indian Ocean

A commonly stated reason for low adoption rates of precision agriculture (PA) is that its benefits are insufficient to justify the costs. Ostensibly, this seems to preclude any possibility of PA in developing countries, where profitability is much lower than in developed economies, and where there is only localised prospect of supporting high technology. We question this assertion, and postulate that the basic purpose of PA -to provide spatial information to reduce the uncertainty -far from being a luxury, could be viewed as essential to accelerate change in the developing world, even if it is used in a different form to that offered in Europe or North America.

- by Simon Cook
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- Precision Agriculture, Organizational structure, Developing Country, Profitability
- by Anna Trias-Blasi and +1
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- Botany, Multidisciplinary, Nature, Developing World

This paper reports on the results of a case study of management controls in an Indonesian family-owned University. The paper attempts to understand the nature and dynamics of management controls in the operations of the University. Data for the analyses are gathered from multiple sources including document analysis, observations and semi-structured interviews. The findings of the case study showed that culture and social relations are very instrumental in the management of the University [Ansari, S. L., & Bell, J. (1991). Symbolism, collectivism and rationality in organizational control. Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal, 4(2), 4-27]. Decisions such as recruitment, rewards, performance evaluation, and resource allocations are often made in cognizance of social and cultural factors. The strong influence of culture and social relations in the organization thus made formal management controls less relevant. These findings have implications for understanding management controls in FOBs especially in the developing world.

- by Gabriela Chaves
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- Accessibility, Treatment, Developing Countries, Brazil

Background: We planned to raise public awareness and decentralize directly observed tuberculosis treatment at village level using volunteer community members in order to reduce prolonged delays in seeking care and improve compliance to tuberculosis treatment. We do not know the magnitude of tuberculosis knowledge gap and preferred modality of tuberculosis treatment supervision among the public in Tigray. Objectives: To assess knowledge of pulmonary tuberculosis and to determine level of acceptance regarding village-based tuberculosis treatment using volunteers among the general public. Method: A cross sectional survey was conducted among 838 adults (≥15 years) in 8 districts of Tigray region. Respondents selected from 70 villages using a multistage cluster sampling technique were interviewed using a pre-tested questionnaire in July 2002. Result: The mean and median knowledge score of respondents about pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) was 5.24 and 6.67 (maximum score of 10) respectively. Female respondents (Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR)=1.86; 95% Confidence interval (CI)=1.39-2.47), illiterates (AOR=1.64; 95% CI=1.1-2.47) and rural residents (AOR=1.95; 95% CI=1.37-2.76) were more likely to have a low level of knowledge score. Among respondents who had prior knowledge of PTB (n=717), 599 (83.5%) accepted the idea of tuberculosis (TB) treatment by volunteer community members. Illiterates, rural residents, married and respondents with large family size were more likely to support supervised TB-treatment using volunteers. Respondents' preferred treatment supervisors were: volunteer community health workers (60%), public health staff (16.5%) and family members (12.7%). Conclusion: There is a wide knowledge gap among the public regarding PTB. The idea of organizing directly observed TB treatment using volunteers appears to be accepted.

- by Israel Tareke
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- Health Care, Public Health, Community Health Workers, Tuberculosis
- by Dainius Puras
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- Cognitive Science, Global Health, Developing Countries, International Cooperation

This paper compares Japan and the US as they provide different types of capital to the developing world, focusing especially on foreign aid and, to some extent, also on remittances and the role of NGOs. The main focus is on the quality of aid and on past conceptual differences and on an emerging convergence between these two major donors, with Japan having the potential advantage of being able to bring its own historical experience in development to bear.

- by Ken Togo
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- Political Science, Foreign Aid, Japan, Remittances
- by Ranjith Dayaratne
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- Multidisciplinary, Developing World, Life Expectancy

- by Alvaro Margolis and +1
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- Medical Informatics, Health Informatics, Health Care, Developing Countries
- by Tingju Zhu
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- Climate Change, Food Policy, South Asia, Food Security

By studying closed-ended technical problems, senior undergraduate and early graduate students may not appreciate critical interrelations between technical and nontechnical aspects of engineering in both the developed and developing world. To address this gap, a team of engineering and liberal arts faculty created a module on sanitation engineering for the developing world. Two different faculty teams subsequently implemented the module in two different senior/graduate level courses to test transferability. In both courses, students were assigned a semester-long design project, on which they worked in teams to design a sanitation solution for a small remote local community. In addition, students developed case studies as a means to broaden and deepen their understanding of nontechnical issues of wastewater engineering. Based on design project reports and tests administered before and after case-study development, significant increases were observed in student understanding of technic...

The Policy Research Working Paper Series disseminates the findings of work in progress to encourage the exchange of ideas about development issues. An objective of the series is to get the findings out quickly, even if the presentations are less than fully polished. The papers carry the names of the authors and should be cited accordingly. The findings, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this paper are entirely those of the authors. They do not necessarily represent the views of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development/World Bank and its affiliated organizations, or those of the Executive Directors of the World Bank or the governments they represent.

- by Rafael de Hoyos
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- Development Economics, Poverty, East Asia, South Asia

This paper sets out a modest agenda. It briefly reviews the Mainland's urban housing initiatives to date. It then questions whether these form part of a coherent and comprehensive housing strategy. While focusing on issues rather than data; it ends by stressing that planning without adequate facts is problematic. In sum, the spotlight is on questions that need yet to be answered; rather than the more ambitious task of prescribing a precise blueprint for simultaneously resolving all the issues at hand.

Few studies have examined the impact of international migration and remittances on poverty in the developing world. This paper fills this lacuna by constructing and analyzing a new data set on international migration, remittances, inequality, and poverty from 71 developing countries. The results show that both international migration and remittances significantly reduce the level, depth, and severity of poverty in the developing world. After instrumenting for the possible endogeneity of international migration, and controlling for various factors, results suggest that, on average, a 10% increase in the share of international migrants in a country's population will lead to a 2.1% decline in the share of people living on less than $1.00 per person per day. After instrumenting for the possible endogeneity of international remittances, a similar 10% increase in per capita official international remittances will lead to a 3.5% decline in the share of people living in poverty.

- by Richard Adams
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- Economics, Health Economics, Economic policy, International Migration

Background Breast cancer is the commonest cancer of women the world over, and its incidence is rising, especially in developing countries, where the disease poses a major health care challenge. This growing incidence in developing countries reflects the advanced stage at diagnosis, low levels of public awareness of the risk for the disease, and poor medical infrastructure and expertise, with the resultant poor treatment outcomes. Methods This article provides a collective edited summary of the presentations at the symposium titled “Breast Cancer Care in Developing Countries,” held as part of the Breast Surgery International program at the International Surgical week 2007, Montreal, Canada, August 2007. The aim of the presentations was to bring out the diverse clinical pathological and outcomes-related facts of breast cancer care available to women in several countries. As the incidence of breast cancer continues to rise steadily in the developing world, the lack of awareness of this disease and the absence of breast cancer screening programs make it almost certain that the majority of breast cancers are diagnosed at an advanced stage. In addition, the quality of care available for breast cancer patients varies widely according to where the patient is treated. Results Though there are some centers of excellence providing multimodality protocol-based treatment on a par with the best anywhere in the world, most breast cancer patients receive inadequate and inappropriate treatment because of a lack of high-quality infrastructure—and sometimes skills—and, above all, because of limited financial resources. Conclusions In countries where these limitations are present, there is a need to emphasize public health education, promoting early diagnosis. In addition, resources must be directed toward the creation of more public facilities for cancer treatment. As these goals are met, it is likely that there will be a much-needed improvement in breast cancer care in developing countries.

- by Carlos Basurto
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- Surgery, Epidemiology, Health Care, Cancer
- by Vid Stimac and +1
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- Economics, Health Economics, Health Care, Developing Countries

A needs assessment survey of ethics review committees (ERCs) across Africa was conducted in order to establish their major needs and areas of weaknesses in terms of ethical review capacity. The response rate was 84% (31 of 37 targeted committees), and committees surveyed were located in 18 African countries. The majority of the responding committees (61%) have been in existence between 5 and 10 years; approximately 74% of the respondents were institutional committees, with the remainder being either national (6/31) or regional (2/31).

- by Godfrey B. Tangwa
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- Philosophy, Applied Ethics, Africa, Capacity Building

Water-related diseases continue to pose major threats to children's survival and well-being in many places in the developing world. This article develops a theoretical perspective on the ways in which children's vulnerability to water-related disease hazard is produced within the everyday circumstances of livelihood and child care. Central to this analysis is the role that household resources play in mediating or shaping particular microenvironments of health risk. Further, the effects of local geographies of gender on how household resources are accessed and on how child care is structured are examined. Children's vulnerability is evaluated in a community in the District of Gilgit in northern Pakistan, a region presently undergoing tremendous social and economic transformation. The case study highlights household-level response and adaptation to child health risks associated with diarrheal disease transmission and infection in this mountain environment. The case study draws from ethnographic fieldwork involving qualitative household microstudies and interviewing to elicit mothers' resource and risk-response strategies in the context of changes in livelihood systems and household dynamics. Key Words: gender, household resources, northern Pakistan, vulnerability, waterrelated diseases.

- by Sarah Halvorson
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- Human Geography, Child health, Child Care, Health Services
- by Peter Hockey
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- International Development, Global Health, United Nations, Quality Improvement

The transport sector contributes significantly to the emission of global greenhouse gases (GHGs) resulting in a rise in global temperature and climate change. A troubling aspect of emissions from the transport sector is that they are increasing rapidly. With the ongoing rapid increase in population, expansion of middle class in developing countries, and availability of cheaper vehicles such as Tata Nano in India, the desire to own private vehicles is within reach now than ever for millions of people in the developing world. This could have a huge implication on ongoing effort towards containment of GHG emissions. We look at the role of urban design forms e settlement density e housing and employment activities and the effects they could have in reducing travel demands, motor vehicle dependency and GHG emissions. Although urban planning has a limited effect on the reduction of GHG emissions, in the short term, due to the time needed to build up the necessary infrastructures, in the long term, it can be very effective through the shift from private vehicle dependency to public and other alternative environmentally friendly modes of transports (such as walking and cycling). A mixture of high residential and employment density could influence shorter commuter journeys and a reduction in private vehicle use if it is supported by an efficient public transport system and appropriate fiscal and regulatory instruments. Among the set of available instruments to reduce GHGs from the transport sector, urban planning, may be equally important, if not more to contain emissions from the transport sector.

- by Hari Dulal
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- Human Geography, Climate Change, Public Transport, Urban Planning

- by Charles Nhemachena
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- Climate Change, Agricultural Development, Agriculture, Southern Africa

The complexities related to the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) are considered quite high and only a relatively low percentage of the existing potential has been exploited in the developing world. Israel obtains a significant unexploited potential, especially regarding Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) and Energy Efficiency (ENEF). In order to be able to identify potential CDM projects and to formulate a series of possible investment strategies with a CDM component, it is crucial to establish a clear understanding of the host country's needs and priorities, the suitable sustainable energy technologies, as well as their related potential benefits and barriers. The paper presents results obtained from an elaborated stakeholders' assessment on potential of sustainable energy technologies under the CDM conducted in Israel.

- by C. Karakosta
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- Mechanical Engineering, Renewable Energy, Methodology, Sustainable Development

Social capital is a relatively new concept which has attracted significant attention in recent years. No consensus has yet been reached on how to measure social capital, resulting in a large number of different tools available. While psychometric validation methods such as factor analysis have been used by a few studies to assess the internal validity of some tools, these techniques rely on data already collected by the tool and are therefore not capable of eliciting what the questions are actually measuring.

- by tran tuan
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- Sociology, Anthropology, Psychometrics, Trust

This study aims to identify how institutional forces, such as regulatory and stakeholder pressures, are related to proactive environmental behavior by hotel facilities participating in Certification for Sustainable Tourism, a voluntary environmental program established by the Costa Rican government. This program is among the first third-party performance-based environmental certification initiatives implemented in the developing world. Findings suggest that voluntary environmental programs that include performance-based standards and third-party monitoring may be effective in promoting beyond-compliance environmental behavior when they are complemented by isomorphic institutional pressures exerted by government environmental monitoring and trade association membership. These results are consistent with neo-institutional theory from the organizational sociology literature. Surprisingly, findings also indicate that compared to locally owned hotels, foreign-owned and multinational subsidiary facilities do not seem to be significantly correlated with higher participation and superior environmental performance in Certification for Sustainable Tourism.

- by JORGE RIVERA
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- Institutional Theory, Sustainable Tourism, Multidisciplinary, Latin America

Growth, inequality, and poverty are central elements of the development process. However the mutual effects and directions of causality have been, and remain, one of the most controversial issues. After introducing a simple theoretical framework we derive some fundamental relations between growth, inequality and poverty. In the empirical part we test for unit roots and coin- tegration and apply GMM techniques on an error correction model (ECM) to estimate the pairwise short-run and long-run dynamics for income growth and changes in inequality and poverty in a panel of 114 developing countries and six regional subpanels for 1981 to 2005. The results confirm the relations of the theoretical framework; the evidence shows that in nearly all cases the vari- ables exhibit a short-run and long-run relationship. The findings reveal positive bidirectional causality between growth and inequality as well as between in- equality and poverty, and negative bidirectional causality between growth a...

- by Margarete Redlin
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- Developing Country, Developing World, Unit Root, Development Process

Latin America is among the most urbanized regions of the world with relatively high motorization levels compared with the rest of the developing world. The automotive air pollution problem in Latin America is essentially a metropolitan problem, resulting from rapid and uncontrolled urban growth, increasing traffic congestion, inadequate urban transport infrastructure and services, and an aging and obsolete motor vehicle fleet. The problem is exacerbated by the vulnerable and sensitive physical location of the urban centers in the region. The paper discusses the size of the population in Latin America at risk, the magnitude of health costs associated with elevated levels of air pollution and the contribution of motor vehicles to the problem. The regional motorization characteristics and trends are analyzed, including certain similarities with industrialized countries. As some Latin American countries directed attention towards automotive air pollution long before other developing countries, there is a large body of practical and innovative pollution control experience in Brazil, Chile and Mexico from which other countries in the region could benefit.

- by Surhid Gautam
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- Latin American Studies, Population Health, Air pollution, Public Health

Impact of findings on practice • An understanding of the dimensions of organisational culture that improve community pharmacy effectiveness will assist the profession to deliver stakeholder expectation. • Few cultural frameworks or instruments are available to apply to pharmacy practice research. • Our paper provides a robust approach to the development of a culture survey instrument with a method which can be applied internationally within the context of community pharmacy.

- by Jeff Harrison
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- Pharmacy, Organizational Culture, Primary Health Care, Research

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can reduce poverty by improving poor people's access to education, health, government and financial services. ICT can also help small farmers and artisans by connecting them to markets. It is clear that in rural India -as well as in much of the developing world-realization of this potential is not guaranteed. This paper outlines a simple model to explain why a digital divide may exist between rich and poor. Low-cost access to information infrastructure is a necessary prerequisite for the successful use of ICT by the poor, but it is not sufficient. The implementation of ICT projects needs to be performed by organizations and individuals who have the appropriate incentives to work with marginalized groups. Furthermore, grassroots intermediaries and the involvement of the community are identified as the key factors that foster local ownership and the availability of content and services that respond to the most pressing needs of the poor.

Water is a scarce resource in many parts of the developed world. Two solutions are possible to address water scarcity: conservation of existing resources, or the further production of water from new sources e.g. through recycling of wastewater or desalination of seawater. However, the main hurdle to implementation of many of these solutions is often viewed as a lack of public willingness to adopt these alternative water behaviours. Research in this area is therefore crucial. Yet, and possibly due to the interdisciplinary nature of such research, there is currently no comprehensive overview of what has been done before. This study fills this gap by (1) choosing a general consumer behaviour perspective as a starting point, (2) developing a conceptual model of research required in the area of water-related public acceptance studies, (3) identifying eight key water-related behaviours which require future research attention, and (4) reviewing which areas of the conceptual model have been investigated in the past by conducting an extensive literature review of water-related social science research.

- by Sara Dolnicar
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- Environmental Management, Multidisciplinary, Research Agenda, Knowledge
- by Cristobal Kay
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- Property Rights, Political Science, Political Power, Developing World

A comprehensive assessment of the impacts of climate change on agro-ecosystems over this century is developed, up to 2080 and at a global level, albeit with significant regional detail. To this end an integrated ecological-economic modelling framework is employed, encompassing climate scenarios, agro-ecological zoning information, socio-economic drivers, as well as world food trade dynamics. Specifically, global simulations are performed using the FAO/IIASA agro-ecological zone model, in conjunction with IIASAs global food system model, using climate variables from five different general circulation models, under four different socio-economic scenarios from the intergovernmental panel on climate change. First, impacts of different scenarios of climate change on bio-physical soil and crop growth determinants of yield are evaluated on a 5 0 !5 0 latitude/longitude global grid; second, the extent of potential agricultural land and related potential crop production is computed. The detailed bio-physical results are then fed into an economic analysis, to assess how climate impacts may interact with alternative development pathways, and key trends expected over this century for food demand and production, and trade, as well as key composite indices such as risk of hunger and malnutrition, are computed. This modelling approach connects the relevant bio-physical and socioeconomic variables within a unified and coherent framework to produce a global assessment of food production and security under climate change. The results from the study suggest that critical impact asymmetries due to both climate and socio-economic structures may deepen current production and consumption gaps between developed and developing world; it is suggested that adaptation of agricultural techniques will be central to limit potential damages under climate change.

- by mahendra shah
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- Climate Change, Ecological Economics, Climate variability, Global Health

My research will examine the origins of the current corn crisis in Mexico. The rise in corn prices are not the result of shortages in production, but the outcome of increased demand stemming from the production of biofuels. I hypothesize that in an age of trade deregulation and food riots, food security remains a possibility for Mexico. I propose that by examining international conditions, free trade policies and the civic response to the 2007 Mexican neoliberal 1 tortilla crisis, we can understand not only the current corn crisis but also the larger crises of food entitlement currently afflicting the developing world. The goal of this study is to contribute to the evaluation of the impact of trade liberalization on corn production and Mexican food security.

- by Jazmin Sanchez
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- Food Security, Free Trade, Trade Liberalization, Developing World

In June 2002, the University of Minnesota hosted a conference to explore the implications of using genetic technologies and genealogical methods to reconstruct African identity. This paper includes transcribed remarks from that conference... more

- by annette dula
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- Philosophy, Applied Ethics, Population Genetics, Prejudice

China is home to one-fifth of the world's population and that population is increasingly urban. The landscape is also urbanizing. Although there are studies that focus on specific elements of urban growth, there is very little empirical work that incorporates feedbacks and linkages to assess the interactions between the dynamics of urban growth and their environmental impacts. In this study, we develop a system dynamics simulation model of the drivers and environmental impacts of urban growth, using Shenzhen, South China, as a case study. We identify three phases of urban growth and develop scenarios to evaluate the impact of urban growth on several environmental indicators: land use, air quality, and demand for water and energy. The results show that all developable land will be urban by 2020 and the increase in the number of vehicles will be a major source of air pollution. Demand for water and electricity will rise, and the city will become increasingly vulnerable to shortages of either. The scenarios also show that there will be improvements in local environmental quality as a result of increasing affluence and economic growth. However, the environmental impacts outside of Shenzhen may increase as demands for natural resources increase and Shenzhen pushes its manufacturing industries out of the municipality. The findings may also portend to changes other cities in China and elsewhere in the developing world may experience as they continue to industrialize.

- by Burak Güneralp
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- Air Quality, Economic Growth, Integrated assessment, System Dynamics

This paper examines the changing role of government and foreign firms in Malaysia's industrialization process. Economists have held different views of the role of government in industrialization. Some believed that the developing world was full of market failures and the only way in which poor countries could escape from their poverty traps was through the forceful government intervention. Others opposed to this view argue that the government failure was by far the bigger evil and that it should allow the market to steer the economy. Reality has been different from expectation from either side. From a country dependent on agriculture and primary commodities in the sixties, Malaysia has today become an exportdriven economy spurred by high technology, knowledge based and capital intensive industries. The market oriented economy and government policies that maintain a business environment with opportunities for growth and profits have made the country a highly competitive manufacturing and export base. Multinationals have been at the forefront in this process and working hand in hand with the government through a process known as 'hand holding'. As firms move up the value chain, their requirements change and to remain competitive in a global environment, the government has had to change its policies and approach to ensure that this objective is not compromised. Based on this evidence we conclude that for successful industrialization, developing countries will require flexible governments that facilitate the development of the private sector. This approach will generate greater benefits than would otherwise occur if developing countries were to adopt either government or market based development trajectories.

- by Bethuel Kinuthia
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- Business, Value Chain, Developing Country, Profitability
- by Tor A Benjaminsen
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- Political Science, Applied Economics, Peace, Developing World