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Plants and trees make our cities more attractive and provide many ecosystem services but some of these also cost society harm in the form of pollen allergy. According to an estimate, 60-70 percent of the trees in Islamabad are of Paper mulberry. Thirty percent of the people are affected each year from pollen allergy in Islamabad. This study evaluated age and gender-wise effects of Pollen Allergy on health followed by proposing options for Paper Mulberry as an alternative. The economic and environmental costs and benefits of Paper mulberry and its alternative plants were also quantified. The annual benefits and costs of Paper Mulberry and its alternative plants were estimated through “The National Tree Benefits Calculator”. Descriptive statistics along with expert opinion method was used for the analysis of the data. The pollen allergy affects children more as compared to other age groups and more on female as compared to male. Urban respondents were affected more by pollen allergy as compared to rural respondents. Most of the respondents were found affected in the month of March. The average monthly health expenditures of the respondents from pollen as Rs. 879. Pine Rexburg and Kachnar are viable alternatives for Paper Mulberry from both economic and environmental viewpoints. Based on the findings it is concluded that Pine Rexburg and Kachnar are the best alternative for Paper Mulberry in Islamabad. The Capital Development Authority should replace Paper Mulberry with Pine Rexburg and Kachnar in the city. Besides, Government should arrange awareness program especially in the pollen month (March) and should provide free of cost treatment and preventives for the pollen patients.

Based on the analysis of written sources and results of field investigations, this article will take the custom of burning votive paper in northern Vietnam as an example to decode the motivation, origin, formation, and development of the custom of burning paper and its relationship with the economic, social, and cultural dynamics and national policies. Key words: votive paper; the custom of burning votive paper; Vietnamese; Northern Vietnam.

Societal transitions involve multiple actors, changes in institutions, values and technologies, and interactions across multiple sectors and scales. Given this complexity, this paper takes on the view that the societal transitions research field would benefit from the further maturation and broader uptake of modelling approaches. This paper shows how modelling can enhance the understanding of and support stakeholders to steer societal transitions. It discusses the benefits modelling provides for studying large societal systems and elaborates on different ways models can be used for transitions studies. Two model applications are presented in some detail to illustrate the benefits. Then, limitations of modelling societal transitions are discussed, which leads to an agenda for future activities: (1) better cooperation in the development of dynamic models, (2) stronger interaction with other transition scholars and stakeholders, and (3) use of additional modelling approaches that we think are relevant to and largely unexplored in transitions studies.

The present study was conducted in Bikaner district of Rajasthan. For selection of rural and urban respondents, two panchayat samities i.e . Bikaner and Nokha for rural and two zones i.e. east and west for urban was selected. The women above 50 years of age was selected from each village and each ward. A sample of 240 respondents comprising 120 respondents from rural area and 120 respondents from urban area were selected randomly. Further sixty literate women (30 rural + 30 urban) were selected for the effectiveness of e-booklet. The study was conducted in the four major aspect i.e. documentation of indigenous knowledge regarding home practices, expert opinion regarding documentation indigenous practices, development and standardization of e-booklet and field test of developed e-booklet. Findings shows that indigenous knowledge regarding food practices the majority of respondents were engaged in drying of clusterbeans (89.58%) in vegetable group (95.83%) were from rural area and (83.33%) were from urban area, prepared the pickle of green chilli by all rural and urban respondents with use of oil and condiments and the majority (70.83%) of urban respondents prepared Amla murabba and nimbusharbat with the use of sugar. All these practices considered logically correct by all expert. The developed e-booklet on indigenous knowledge was standardized on the basis of quality parameter was perceived quite high in terms of its content, format found reliable and applicable in the field. The readability and comprehension was also found high.

Researchers from around the world gathered at The Morton Arboretum (Lisle, Illinois, U.S.) in September 2011 to share their experiences and knowledge on the topic of urban tree growth and longevity. A roundtable discussion was held at the end of the second day’s program, during which attendees discussed the state of current research in these areas and identified needs for future research. Four distinct subgroups were identified within the broader topic of urban tree growth and longevity: tree production; site design and tree selection; tree and site management; and the need for descriptive studies. Throughout the discussion, it became clear that there must be greater collaboration among researchers investigating tree growth, increased investment in long-term studies, the development of a clearing house for information, and the fostering of productive partnerships between the governmental, industry, and academic sectors. To strengthen the impact of urban tree growth research on the tree care industry, results and conclusions must be summarized and distributed through suitable means for a variety of audiences, which might include federal, state, and local governments; property owners and consumers; nurseries and growers; tree care and other green industry professionals; and urban planners, civil engineers, and landscape architects. To this end, the Urban Tree Growth & Longevity Working Group has been established to support communication between researchers and professional practitioners, enrich scientific exchange, and enhance the quality, productivity, and timeliness of research on tree growth, longevity, and mortality.

Background: Close to half of all children younger than 5 years in the Northeast and Northwest geopolitical zones were estimated to be stunted in their growth for their age in 2013 compared to 22% of children in the rest of Nigeria. Objectives: We examine the drivers of chronic child undernutrition in northern Nigeria and how those drivers differ from other areas of the country. Methods: Both a standard child-level regression-based approach and decomposition analysis were used to address the determinants of stunting and decompose how drivers differ between northern Nigeria and other areas of the country using 2008 and 2013 Nigeria DHS data. Results: There are strong differences in the levels of the determinants of undernutrition in young children between the 2 parts of the country. However, equally important, the decomposition analysis shows that there are significant differences between northern Nigeria and other areas of Nigeria in the effect of the same determinant of nutritional status in accelerating or retarding the linear growth of young children. Conclusions: A national program to address child undernutrition must recognize this heterogeneity in its design. To impose across Nigeria, a single set of approaches to address the factors which results in stunted children is likely to fail for large numbers of children if these strong geographical differences in how these determinants operate to affect child nutritional status are not considered. Solutions need to be developed within northern Nigeria to more closely reflect the way the determinants of nutritional status operate in this area of the country.

The purpose of this thesis is to examine the determinant factors of recycling and in particular of paper recycling. The research focuses on paper recycling behavior on the part of the elderly in the Region of Attica. Primary research was based on the use of layered data. The survey data was collected through the distribution of questionnaires to senior citizens in the municipalities of Egaleo and Chaidari. The questionnaire was distributed by hand in the region’s O.C.C. (Open Care Centers) for the Elderly Staff Members during the period from November 2017 until February 2018 (11/2017-02/2018). The final sample of the survey amounted to 375 participants. Multiple logistic regressions generate useful conclusions, such as whether participants recycle paper or not appear to be linked to the educational level of the elderly. In addition, through the logistic regressions, it appears that intention to recycle affects significantly the behaviour towards, recycling, and the perceived behavioural control as well. Furthermore, including social and demographic data, it appears that the educational level, monthly family income and residential status are factors that affect whether the participants are recycling paper or not.

San Pablito Pahuatlán, an Otomí village known for its intensive production of amate paper, is at the center of a migratory corridor extending from southeastern Hidalgo to the northwestern part of the Sierra Norte de Puebla. The migration of San Pablito inhabitants first to southern Texas and then to North Carolina can be seen as a response to two local processes—the regional crisis of coffee production and the contraction of the labor market in the metropolitan area of Mexico City—and to the transnationalization of labor markets through the migration of Mexicans to the United States. This movement has had crucial effects on the division of community and family labor, separating the cost of maintaining the workforce (supported by young men subject to transnational capital) from the cost of workforce reproduction (undertaken by women as mothers, wives, and artisans). San Pablito Pahuatlán, pueblo otomí reconocido por la producción intensiva de papel amate, es en nuestros días un nodo de un corredor migratorio que se extiende en la confluencia del sureste del estado de Hidalgo y la parte noroccidental de la Sierra Norte de Puebla. La migración de los sanpablitos, primero hacia el sur de Texas y después a Carolina del Norte, es analizada en este trabajo como respuesta a dos procesos locales—la pérdida de viabilidad de la cafeticultura en la región y la contracción del mercado laboral en la Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México—y, asimismo, como expresión de la transnacionalización de los mercados laborales vía los movimientos poblacionales de mexicanos a Estados Unidos. Estas transiciones han tenido efectos cruciales en la división del trabajo comunitario y familiar, separando los costos de mantenimiento de la fuerza de trabajo (solventados por jóvenes trabajadores subordinados al capital transnacional) de los costos de reproducción de la mano de obra (llevados a cuestas por mujeres madres-esposas-artesanas).

Mitiku Haile, Diress Tsegaye, and Tegegne Teka, eds. Research and Development on Dryland Husbandry in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa: Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern African (OSSREA), 2004. Distributed by African Books Collective Ltd., Unit 13 Kings Meadow, Ferry Hinksey Rd., Oxford OX2 ODP. viii + 174 pp. Photographs. Bibliography. $19.95. Paper. EIIy N. Sabiiti and Tegegne Teka, eds. Dryland Husbandry in Uganda: Community Participation and Development. Addis Ababa: OSSREA, 2004. Distributed by African Books Collective Ltd. vii + 98 pp. Photographs. Bibliography. $19.95. Paper. Nashon K. R. Musimba, et al. Dryland Husbandry for Sustainable Development in the Southern Rangelands of Kenya. Addis Ababa: OSSREA, 2004. Distributed by African Books Collective Ltd. x + 117 pp. Photographs. Bibliography. $19.95. Paper. Muna M. M. Ahmed, Mohamed Fadl Elmoula ldris, and Tegegne Teka, eds. Dryland Husbandry in the Sudan: Grassroots Experience and Development. Addis Ababa: OSSREA, 2004. Distributed by African Books Collective Ltd. xii + 109 pp. Photographs. Bibliography. $19.95. Paper. These four volumes, published by the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern African (OSSREA) and distributed by the African Books Collective, describe four dryland husbandry projects (DHP) that ran in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, and Uganda from about 1995 to 2003. Essentially they are reports written by the professionals who designed, implemented, and evaluated the projects in the respective countries. Each volume contains a chapter that discusses organization and objectives-economic development, management of dryland ecology, improving quality of life of pastoralists-and situates these within current debates on development concepts and approaches. Then follow a number of background chapters documenting the demographic, ecological, and agricultural context of the particular regions (but with no discussion of culture or social structure of the pastoralist groups involved). These are followed by chapters reporting on project activities (e.g., reseeding of rangelands, water harvesting, or gender projects) and/or technical chapters discussing different aspects of the livestock husbandry system (e.g., rangeland conditions, water resource potential). All volumes have numerous color pictures, figures, graphs, and tables. The four projects used a similar design, which was then adapted to local circumstances. The approach is described as grassroots, bottom-up, participatory, or action-research, although the main actors seem to be extension agents, local government officials, and other experts rather than pastoralists and agropastoralists themselves. This is evident in the descriptions of three key activities of the projects-water harvesting, range improvement, and training of paravets-which were remarkably similar in design across the different national and ecological contexts (save for details such as which indigenous grasses were used for reseeding pastures). Other common themes in the projects were gender and indigenous knowledge. All projects documented women's role in the local economy and subsequently developed activities that were specifically targeted at women. …

This article examines the history of national human rights institutions (NHRIs) in general including their establishment in Africa. Using examples from three countries – Malawi, Nigeria and South Africa – it critically analyses the promotional and protective mandates of these institutions in Africa and then argues that their experience over the years in promoting human rights in their domains can similarly be useful in advancing adolescents' sexual and reproductive rights. In doing this, NHRIs may face some challenges including poor funding, undue interference from the executive, shortage of personnel and so on. Therefore some of these challenges are discussed and subsequently some suggestions for the way forward.

Using NSS data for 1993-94 and 2004-05 this paper highlights the impact of growing incomes, social and household decisions of households, and regional and ethnic factors on patterns of household level fertility in India. These have helped determine the composition of India’s young (aged 9 to 34) today. Demographic transition is well underway in India with rising incomes associated with fewer children and smaller family size. Households with more women in the age group 26-35 have more children, are more likely to have children than not having them as well as having larger family size. Average education of females lowers household size whereas (instrumented) shares of expenditure on education and health have varying effects. Muslim households have more children and are more likely to have larger family sizes. Households in BIMARU states have more children as do urban households. Thus demographic transition has occurred unevenly across various groups in India.