A study on the effectiveness of sterilizations in reducing the birth rate

This study analyzed 1,081 women in Kerala State (India) who were either sterilized or were the wives of sterilized men, and by examining the fertility among a comparable group of 1,000 other women, estimated the number of prevented future births per 1,000 women in the sterilized group. The results of this estimation were then applied to project what the entire savings in births might be over a 3D-year period in the entire Kerala population if each year there were one, three, or five sterilizations performed per 1,000 of total population. The results failed to confirm the hope that the crude birth rate would be decreased by 12 per 1,000 in a decade merely by sterilization of five per 1,000 of the population per annum. The study also discusses various measures of reduction in the crude birth rate. By a reasonable measure, the reduction in the crude birth rate for Kerala from such a sterilization program is estimated as seven points after a decade or nine points after three decades, reflecting decreases of 21 and 36 per cent, respectively, in the number of births.     

Mother‐to‐Child Transmission of HIV in China and the USA: A Comparative Analysis

This paper analyzes and compares the existing policies and programs for the prevention of mother‐to‐child transmission of HIV existing in China and in the USA. The implementation of these is still imperfect and there needs to be improvements in the education (the spreading of information) and in the general health care system of China. Particular attention will be drawn to the existing barriers to the effective implementation of prevention of mother‐to‐child‐transmission. The recommendations aim to solve similar barriers in both countries and some specifically dealing with problems in China. Since HIV infection in children is caused almost entirely by prenatal transmission, it is important that the governments, in partnership with civic society organizations, make all the necessary efforts to save the lives of their newborn citizens.     

Working it: the professionalization of amateurism in digital adult entertainment

This article examines a sector of professional amateur work for women in the digital industry for adult entertainment known as “adult webcam modeling” (AWM). Through a selection of narratives, this paper explores the gendered meanings of AWM and the values women derive from their “amateur” sexual content creation. I draw particular attention to the complex union of professional and amateur roles and relations in the strategies women adopt to succeed in these spaces. On one level, they describe the technical skills and institutionalized knowledge needed to successfully perform professionalized duties of hosting and animating site users’ sexual and emotional fantasies. Still, they do not solely view their work in professional terms, highlighting the usefulness of enacting their amateurism by performing authenticity and developing ongoing friendships with site users for succeeding in this line of work. Framing this work as reliant on both “professional” and “amateur” strategies builds ambiguity into the AWM persona, which has implications for social and historical constructions of sexuality and gender. It also demands rethinking conceptual frameworks that create dualities between professional/amateur, public/private, and commercial/authentic.     

Financial Implications of the Decision to Increase Reliance on Contingent Labor*

This paper provides the first systematic examination of the financial implications associated with increased reliance on contingent (i.e., temporary/part‐time) labor. Using measures of performance from income statement and balance sheet data, and stock returns, we find that the adoption of this labor practice is associated with superior subsequent performance. Concurrently, no increase in systematic risk and standard deviation of stock returns is observed. The increase in performance with no concurrent increase in systematic risk and standard deviation of returns perhaps explains the increasing popularity of this labor practice.     

Senior grassroots organizations in India

Organizations for the elderly at the grassroots level began to function in India from the third decade of the 20th century. They belong to two major types: Pensioners' Associations (PAs) and Senior Citizens' Associations (SCAs). PAs claim a membership of approximately 13 million and are structured and vertically organized. The SCAs are loosely organized and most are unitary. They have together a membership of less than 5 million. Programs of PAs are mainly confined to members; those of SCAs are wider but mainly urban-biased and middle-class oriented. Neither of them is powerful in lobbying. Of late, Government of India's (GOI) policy on the elderly (NPOP, 2000) has given a fillip to the SCAs which are gathering strength, and some, at least, are vying for availing GOI program benefits.     

Underwriting and Calls of Convertible Bonds*

We model convertible bond calls under asymmetric information where, unlike Harris and Raviv (1985), we consider a nonzero call price and a call notice period. In the model, the use of underwriters conveys negative information. Consequently, the stock price decline is greater for underwritten calls than for nonunderwritten calls. Furthermore, underwritten calls are made earlier and when the conversion option is less deep in the money. Underwriting commissions and the stock price decline associated with a call are negatively related to the extent that the conversion option is in the money before the call. Empirical evidence in this paper and Singh, Cowan, and Nayar (1991) are consistent with the model's predictions.