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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).

In response to Albrecht et al.’s (J Agric Environ Ethics 26(4):827–845, 2013) discussion on the ethics of assisted migration, we emphasize the issues of risk and scientific uncertainty as an inextricable part of a comprehensive ethical evaluation. Insisting on a separation of risk and ethical considerations, although arguably common in many policy contexts, is at best misguided and at worst damaging.

The persistent failure of contemporary policies to improve school retention rates and close the achievement gap between students from low and high socio-economic (SES) backgrounds should be a matter of grave concern. In this article, we set out to show what it means to be educated in a context of disadvantage from the perspectives of young people attending a senior secondary public school in regional Australia. Acknowledging that youth are experts in their own lives, we draw extensively on student narratives of the funds of knowledge and opportunity structures that support and/or constrain education and employment opportunities in low-income neighbourhoods. Although young peoples' stories of hope and agency go some way to undermining the deficit thinking about these students and their families, we argue that the realisation of their aspirations requires institutional support and policies that address the systemic causes of educational disadvantage.

LANDSAT images published by the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) reveal large-scale land degradation in Ghana’s forest-savanna transition zone, most of which has allegedly occurred in a prime settlement area for migrant farmers from Northwest Ghana—the “usual suspects.” Several studies attribute environmental degradation in this region to the unsustainable farm practices of immigrants, most of whom belong to the Dagaba ethnic group. This section uses several lines of evidence at different scale levels to challenge these studies. First, UNEP’s LANDSAT images overstate the extent of the degradation. Second, most land degradation took place before the arrival of migrants from northwest Ghana. Third, previous studies blaming migrants for land degradation neglect key drivers of land cover change in the region. And fourth, primary data show that migrants’ farm practices are different, but not more degrading than those of native farmers.

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. …

Despite the best efforts by the public health community, the existence of disparity in African American infant mortality appears to be insurmountable. Eliminating this disparity is the public health challenge of the next decade. The public health community has engaged in copious activity regarding the identification and analysis of the etiology of health disparities. The resulting literature is substantial, yet, despite well-meaning interventions that have had varying degrees of success, the problem is so daunting that there has been very little progress in developing a comprehensive national plan to eradicate health disparities, in general, and, African American infant-mortality disparities, in particular. The process of identifying the causal pathways and risks of adverse African American birth outcomes could potentially impact the elimination of other health disparities since infant outcomes are the foundation for adult health. Unfortunately, as a nation, we have never deliberately invested the time and resources into developing an evidence base specific to the achievement of health equity. This endeavor will require dedicated resources, creativity, and a breadth of vision to work within, and exceed, the limits of traditional epidemiological and social science theory and methods. The literature cites various causes of overall disparities, including adverse health behaviors like smoking or drug use, poor nutrition, inadequate health care, and stress, to name a few [1]. The World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health considers the major contributors to health disparities to be the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age [2]. In the United States, ethnic minorities, particularly African Americans, are more likely to be in socially and economically vulnerable positions. A number of studies have demonstrated that even while controlling for SES, racial and ethnic disparities are still found in health outcomes [3]. For example, African American women in Illinois at the highest education level have higher, i.e., worse low-birthweight rates than women of any other ethnicity at lower strata. The process that determines social stratification leading to poorer health outcomes is rooted in history, and while it is not about ‘‘race’’ as a risk factor, scientific investigation has resulted in a corpus of knowledge that places racism, perceived acts of racism, poverty, socialenvironment degradation, and violence into the etiological pathway [4–10]. These manifestations of ‘‘social ecology’’ are the type that WHO describes as resulting in unfair and avoidable differences in health status [2]. Some think that because racism is a causal factor, any quest for solutions may be doomed to failure, because, as one funding institution’s peer reviewer stated, ‘‘It is not a good investment of [our] dollars to study racism [as a cause of health disparities], because even if we fund something, there is nothing we can do about it’’ [11]. However, pre-term birth (PTB) and low birth weight (LBW) are the causes of firstyear mortality for African American infants. Therefore, understanding and eliminating the factors that cause high rates of PTB and LBW should remain at the forefront. V. K. Hogan (&) ! D. Rowley ! T. Bennett Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 425 Rosenau Hall, 421 Pittsboro Street, 135 Dauer Drive, Campus Box 7445, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USA e-mail: vhogan@email.unc.edu

Two of the five EU benchmarks for Education and Training ET2020 are central to the issue of access to education for marginalised groups and are prima facie relevant to a view of access to education being an EU strategic priority on paper. These are that (1) the share of 30–34-year-olds with tertiary educational attainment should be at least 40 % and (2) an average of at least 15 % of adults aged 25–64 should participate in lifelong learning. There is a need to place opening up barriers to access to higher education more firmly on the policy agenda at EU level and across national levels in Europe. Despite a number of commitments in EU Council and Commission documents in the past decade, it appears that the equity, social cohesion and active citizenship issue of access to higher education for lower socio-economic groups are currently falling between two stools in relation to the ET2020 targets. It is relevant on paper to both higher education and lifelong learning benchmarks but arguably being sufficiently prioritised by neither.

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.

(2002). The Papers of the “101st Senator”: Clarence Mitchell Jr. and Civil Rights. The Historian: Vol. 64, No. 3-4, pp. 623-641.

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.