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1 | INTRODUCTION Reproductive age is of central importance to all women, their families, communities, and the next generation of a country. (1) Although some literature suggests that maternal health [...], Objective: To determine individual- and country-level determinants of utilization of key maternal health services in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Study Setting: We used the most recent standard demographic and health survey data from the period of 2005 to 2015 for 34 SSA countries. Predictors of key maternal health service indicators were determined using a sample of 245 178 women who had at least one live birth 5 years preceding the survey. Study Design: We used a two-level hierarchical model, considering individual predictors at level one and country factors at level two of the hierarchy. Principal Findings: While the skilled birth attendance (SBA) utilization rate reached 53 percent during the study period, the recommended four or more antenatal care (ANC) coverage was commonly low with less significant differences among different groups of women and countries. Being in a middle-income country increased the individual-level association between ANC and SBA (OR = 2.34, 95% CI: 1.24, 4.44). Less privileged women with lower education level were less likely to receive maternal health services. Conclusions: This study reveals the existence of wide gaps between ANC and SBA coverage in SSA. Urgent policy attention is required to improve access, utilization, and quality of maternal health services. KEYWORDS antenatal care, multilevel analysis, skilled birth attendance, sub-Saharan Africa

Purpose The present study identified the vulnerable IPV cohorts of South Asian women, and the prevalence of and predictors of the women’s IPV acceptance.Design Cross-sectional survey - the United Nations Children’s Fund multiple index cluster survey.Setting Many South Asian women are accepting of IPV. Studies mostly focus on individual countries.Subject 103 139 ever-married women from Bangladesh, Laos and Nepal.Measures Women’s attitudes toward IPV were measured using a set of five, fixed, binary responses.Analysis Following bivariate analysis, complex survey weight adjusted logistic regression models were fitted for individual country data, and the pooled sample.Results Of the sampled South Asian women 27.8% accepted IPV, and no major variation among countries in IPV acceptance. Education was the most reliable protector against IPV acceptance whereby, higher educational attainment systematically reduced IPV acceptance (OR = .61 [.56-.83]). Other significant protective factors were being un-married (Married OR = 1.34 [1.28-1.42]), having increased wealth (OR = .71 [.56-.83]), and being over 24 years old (OR = .88 [.83-.97]).Conclusion Only education produced absolute consistency at the country and region level; there seems to be no blanket solution for regionally reducing women’s IPV acceptance rates in Southern Asia. Focus on the least educated women and making education more accessible should be prioritised. Future IPV studies can consider measurement methods for women’s direct exposure to patriarchal standards and within community interaction.

To examine the progress of and disparities in the provision of key maternal health services in the sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) region. A time-trend analysis of disparities in antenatal care (ANC) and skilled birth attendance (SBA) coverage in SSA over the last 25 years was conducted. The average values of each country’s 5-year period data were used for analysis. Absolute and relative disparities were examined by time period, economic class, geographic group and clusters. Analysis of variance was used to compare progresses in coverage across time. Regional median ANC coverage and SBA increased by 8% points and 15% points, respectively, during the 25-year period. The rank score of SBA has shown significant improvement only in the recent period. A 33.3% disparity between ANC and SBA was observed in the most recent period. The relative disparity by economic class and cluster was higher for SBA than ANC coverage. The region showed improvement in both indicators across time. Regional disparity in ANC narrowed down while that of SBA remained high. These were mainly associated with economic class and cluster of countries.

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is shown to be a future-oriented technology. In this study, short-term creep deformation of PC-ABS parts created by FDM under different fabrication conditions was investigated using a recently innovative class of experimental design − definitive screening design (DSD) − along with graphical analysis. Short-term creep experiments were conducted at prescribed combinations of FDM operating conditions, namely layer thickness, air gap, raster angle, build orientation, road width and number of contours, as per DSD matrix. The results have shown that layer thickness, number of contours, raster angle and build orientation have a major effect on the creep rate of the parts. However, road width and air gap have least impact on the creep rate of FDM processed prototypes.

Various reproductive health (RH) indicators have been formulated and used to measure RH services and status. Despite their widespread use, the measurement of these indicators has never been explored in a systematic manner. This study aimed to examine methods and methodologies in the measurement of common RH indicators in the Ethiopian context. A mixed-method design, comprising in-depth expert interviews, the abstraction of information from relevant public documents and an analysis of peer-reviewed literature, was used. Information from these three sources was then organised and synthesised using a thematic approach. Until now, routine health information system and demographic and health survey have been the primary sources for RH indicators in Ethiopia. A number of improvements have recently been made in data collection and aggregation methods; however, the focus has been more on the coverage of services than the quality of data. We noted that variations were observed in indicator definition between the two data sources and, as a consequence, in their estimates. It was found that many of the inherent limitations in the measurement of RH indicators could be addressed by making small modifications to the data sources and the reporting formats. Data quality concerns mainly occur at the point of data collection although there are also issues with data aggregation, dissemination and use. There is a gap in the measurement of the quality and continuity of RH services. Many of the limitations and data quality concerns in the measurement of RH indicators could be resolved with minimal improvements to the current health information system.

•The wear mechanism of parts processed by FDM is investigated.•The tribological behavior and part microstructure are studied.•Wear rate in FDM is affected by process parameters and worn surfaces are examined.•DSD and PLS are used to optimize the significant factors of war rate.•Optimal process condition is proposed and validated by the confirmation experiment.

Fused deposition modeling (FDM) is one of the most popular additive manufacturing technologies for various engineering applications. FDM process has been introduced commercially in early 1990s by Stratasys Inc., USA. The quality of FDM processed parts mainly depends on careful selection of process variables. Thus, identification of the FDM process parameters that significantly affect the quality of FDM processed parts is important. In recent years, researchers have explored a number of ways to improve the mechanical properties and part quality using various experimental design techniques and concepts. This article aims to review the research carried out so far in determining and optimizing the process parameters of the FDM process. Several statistical designs of experiments and optimization techniques used for the determination of optimum process parameters have been examined. The trends for future FDM research in this area are described.

In the context of a general regression model in which some regression coefficients are of interest and others are purely nuisance parameters, we define the density function of a maximal invariant statistic with the aim of testing for the inclusion of regressors (either linear or non-linear) in linear or semi-linear models. This allows the construction of the locally best invariant test, which in two important cases is equivalent to the one-sided t test for a regression coefficient in an artificial linear regression model.We consider a specific semi-linear model to apply the constructed test.