The objective of this study was to determine the influence of market type and sampling time on Salmonella and Listeria prevalence and microbiological quality of 540 beef, pork, and whole chicken samples collected in 6 supermarkets (SM), 6 indoor markets (IM), and 6 open markets (OM) at opening (T0) and 4 h after the opening (T4) in Vietnam. Salmonella and Listeria prevalence ranged from 30.4 to 71.0% and 56.6 to 99.9 %, respectively, in beef, pork, and chicken in Vietnam. Aerobic bacteria counts ranged from 10.5 to 11.6 log CFU/g, whereas, E. coli and coliform counts ranged from 7.2 to 11.4 log CFU/g in beef, pork, and chicken in Vietnam. E. coli counts were influenced by the interaction of market type and sampling time in beef and pork. Market characteristic data that were considered relevant to microbiological safety of fresh meat and poultry products were collected for individual samples.

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Background. The use of mobile technology has become more prevalent within the delivery of healthcare (m-health) within the developing world. Its use is considered convenient and innovative, but little is known about its effectiveness. Although promising, there is a lack of literature pertaining to its overall effectiveness. Purpose. This study takes the perspectives of threes groups of key stakeholders to describe the m-health service and the perceived benefits of using the mobile health technology implemented by BRAC in the urban slums of Korail, within the capital city: Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methods. The study uses an exploratory descriptive case study design. The methodology includes demographic questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews. The sample included three groups: the BRAC developers, the community health workers (CHWs) and the villagers. Conclusion. This study described the perspectives of those involved with the service, defining the m-health service as well as highlighting four major themes: strengths and benefits, knowledge and awareness, challenges and barriers and areas of improvement. The emerging themes found in the study provide paradigms of what to expect when implementing pilot m-health innovation and suggests direction for growth and sustainability. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The purpose of the study is to understand the new mobile health (m-health) service started by BRAC in the urban slums of Dhaka Bangladesh. This is carried out by asking questions to the people who use the service the most: the BRAC developers, the community health workers (CHWs) and the villagers.

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The determinants of fertility behavior vary considerably from country to country. An oft-cited motivation for childbearing in developing countries is the economic returns parents expect to receive fro. their children. The demand for children as security assets is important in areas where insecurity is rife, alternative assets are risky or absent, and the support provided by children lacks market substitutes. An overlapping generations model in which fertility, children's education and migration are jointly determined by rural agricultural households is formulated. The effects on family size of changes in education costs, urban wages, child altruism towards parents, and rural living conditions are derived from the model. Same policy implications c-f the theoretical results are examined. The findings appear ta support the notion that as long as a traditional family-based system of obligations is retained and urban-rural wage differentials remain large, the security native will continue ta be significant as an explanation fer the high level of fertility in traditional rural societies. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

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Foreign aid is a relatively new form of economic exchange between nations, yet in only a few decades it has become a persistent structural element of the modern world-system. Conventional theories of economic development view foreign aid as a "flow" of financial resources into an economy and argue that it accelerates economic growth in the less developed countries by supplementing the domestic capital resources that are available for development. Dependency theory and the world-system perspective conceive of foreign aid as a "structural" feature of the recipient economy and suggest that it retards economic growth in these countries by reproducing the structural distortion of the economy that was originally established by colonialism and by systematically limiting the ability of the peripheral state to control the development of its economy. These theories suggest contradictory findings which are tested in this dissertation with multiple regression analysis. The analyses parallel the seminal research of Bornschier et al. (1978) on foreign investment and economic growth by simultaneously estimating the effects of both short-term flows and long-term stocks of foreign aid on economic growth. Using a sample of 91 Third World countries, the effects of foreign aid on economic growth are estimated both during a period of relative expansion of the world economy (1970-1978) and during a period of relative recession (1978-1986). My findings lend some support to both theoretical perspectives but the direction of the effects are opposite to those predicted by Bornschier et al. Foreign aid is found to have short-term negative effects on economic growth during both time periods but long-term positive effects on economic growth are statistically significant only for the later time period. The findings from this research clearly suggest that the dependency and world-system perspective must modify its theoretical explanations concerning the relationship between foreign capital flows and economic development to take into account the varied uses of different types of financial resources. They also highlight the importance of recognizing that different phases of the expansion and contraction of the world economy may condition the effects of specific types of core-periphery interactions.