Coastal settlement patterns and exposure to sea-level rise in the Jaffna Peninsula,Sri Lanka

The Jaffna Peninsula in Sri Lanka has a generally flat topography with a median elevation of 2.72 m, and thus faces a high risk from sea-level rise that has the potential to have adverse impacts on the livelihoods of coastal communities. Understanding these risks and identifying the regions that could be adversely impacted is critical for planning future settlements and developing preventative protocols where possible. The aim of this study was to analyze the exposure of coastal settlements of the Jaffna Peninsula to climate risks, particularly to sea-level rise, and to identify the areas that are likely to be impacted under different sea-level rise scenarios. Raster-based sea-level rise modeling was performed with a digital elevation model produced with topographic contours and spot heights. The spatial distribution of individual residential houses for the entire Jaffna Peninsula was obtained through manual digitization using virtual globe platforms and high-resolution satellite images, and the houses exposed to inundation under various Representative Concentration Pathways from 2025 to 2100 were identified. The results showed that a majority (55.5%) of the residential buildings in the Jaffna Peninsula are located within 3 m above sea level. Approximately 5554 (5.6%) of the houses were projected to be inundated by 2100, and this projection increased to approximately 25,074 (25.4%) under high tide scenarios. This study highlights the coastal communities with a high level of exposure to coastal inundation where adaptation planning is essential. These results provide insights for coastal managers and policy makers for future planning of new settlements and urban expansion.

     

Impact study of volatility modelling of Bangladesh stock index using non-normal density

This article examines a wide variety of popular volatility models for stock index return, including the random walk (RW), autoregressive, generalized autoregressive conditional heteroscedasticity (GARCH), and asymmetric GARCH models with normal and non-normal (Student's t and generalized error) distributional assumption. Fitting these models to the Chittagong stock index return data from the period 2 January 1999 to 29 December 2005, we found that the asymmetric GARCH/GARCH model fits better under the assumption of non-normal distribution than under normal distribution. Non-parametric specification tests show that the RW-GARCH, RW-TGARCH, RW-EGARCH, and RW-APARCH models under the Student's t-distributional assumption are significant at the 5% level. Finally, the study suggests that these four models are suitable for the Chittagong Stock Exchange of Bangladesh. We believe that this study would be of great benefit to investors and policy makers at home and abroad.     

Correlates of Susceptibility to Scams in Older Adults Without Dementia

This study examined correlates of susceptibility to scams in 639 community-dwelling older adults without dementia from a cohort study of aging. Regression models adjusted for age, sex, education, and income were used to examine associations between susceptibility to scams, measured by a five-item self-report measure, and a number of potential correlates. Susceptibility was positively associated with age and negatively associated with income, cognition, psychological well-being, social support, and literacy. Fully adjusted models indicated that older age and lower levels of cognitive function, decreased psychological well-being, and lower literacy in particular may be markers of susceptibility to financial victimization in old age.     

Crack ‘Hos and Skeezers: Traumatic experiences of women crack users

The involvement of women in crack cocaine abuse has had a severe impact on their health, the health of their children and the stability of their communities. Of particular concern has been the development of a system of barter in which crack‐for‐sex exchanges are the means through which women obtain the drug. Earlier studies have suggested that drug abuse may be related to and exacerbated by trauma. In the project described herein, we interviewed women crack users in Harlem to study the relationship between trauma, crack use, and crack‐related sexual behavior. Results suggested the existence of three types of trauma: (1) traumas that predate the respondent's onset of crack use; (2) traumas that were the direct sequelae of crack use; and (3) stigma trauma, that is, trauma that results from membership in a despised or oppressed group. We observed a complex inter‐relationship involving crack use, crack‐for‐sex transactions, and these three types of trauma. Treatment of the eventual co‐morbidity of trauma and addiction is an urgent challenge.     

Causes and Contexts of Domestic Violence: Tales of Help‐Seeking Married Women in Sylhet,Bangladesh

Domestic violence (DV) against married women is widely prevalent across Bangladesh and this merits nuanced attention. Multifarious factors are believed to perpetuate DV in different socioeconomic contexts within the country. This study aimed to understand the causes and contexts of DV in the Sylhet region (a distinct sub‐culture that carries Sylheti identity). This was a qualitative study based on the experiences of 42 victims of DV who sought help from two social welfare organizations, namely ‘Women Support Program (WSP)’ and ‘Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust (BLAST)’, both located in Sylhet. Using in‐depth interviews, we tried to interact with the victims to retrieve the causes and contexts of DV in Sylhet. Findings revealed that a number of factors led to DV. These causal and contextual factors for DV were dowry practice, illiteracy, cultural approval of wife beating, women's silence, polygyny, socioeconomic dependency of the wife, conflicts related to extra‐ and premarital affairs, poverty, stigmatization, and drug addiction of the husband. The study concluded that all these factors could be brought under the umbrella of age‐old patriarchal cultural values that continue to create the contexts where DV takes place unabated.     

Indigenous land rights and dynamics of the land market in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

This paper raises a number of important issues relating to legal and economic development concepts. It concentrates on the supply constraints affecting land development decisions of both private and public landowners in releasing land for development purposes. With reference to the indigenous land rights in Kuala Lumpur, this paper focuses on the restrictions in interest, which may limit the land from being transferred in the open market. With a limited market, the indigenous land achieves a lower value in the market place because transactions are limited within a particular group of people only. As a result, the market forces are restricted and the land development process for urban regeneration often comes to a halt. In examining the role of the indigenous land market in the redevelopment process of Kuala Lumpur, the study uses an institutional analysis to show the way in which these restrictions in interest affect landowners’ decisions and, thus, restrict the supply of land to real estate redevelopment. In conclusion, the paper shows various causes for land supply constraints and ways to improve these with the aim to undertake urban redevelopment initiatives considering pressure for more land in the market.     

Determinants of 1980 to 1990 Net Migration in Texas Counties: The Role of Sustenance Specialization and Dominance in International Ecosystems

Abstract Patterns of 1980–1990 migration differ markedly from those of the 1970s but they have received little conceptual or empirical analysis because of limited data and because their diversity has resisted theoretical generalization. An expanded human ecological perspective incorporating international dimensions is hypothesized to explain differentials in migration during the 1980s. Counties with key functions which operate in international ecosystems in which the United States is dominant are hypothesized to control more resources and to have the highest net inmigration. Hypotheses are tested using regression analyses of 1980–1990 net migration for Texas' 254 counties. The results generally confirm that key functional activities were related to migration but less so in nonmetropolitan areas. Implications for rural development and for further research are discussed.     

The Role of Financial Development and Economic Misery on Life Expectancy: Evidence from Post Financial Reforms in India

Several survey studies have found that internal migrants report lower levels of happiness than locals, even after accounting for socio-economic factors. Traditional global self-ratings reveal that the migrant–local happiness-gap is also present in the data we present. The reasons for the migrant–local happiness-gap are as yet unclear. This paper aims to open this ‘black box’ by exploring the role of daily activities among a population that has generally been overlooked despite their high migration frequency: young adults. An innovative smartphone application is used that combines two techniques for multiple moment assessment: the experience sampling method and the day reconstruction method. Based on the application data, we examine whether internal migrants spend their time differently than locals and in which situations they feel noticeably less happy than locals. The data reveal that internal migrants distribute less time to happiness-producing activities such as active leisure, social drinking/parties, and activities outside home/work/transit. Internal migrants feel less happy than locals when spending time with friends and while eating. Possible explanations focusing on the role of social capital are discussed. Further analyses reveal that daily life experiences greatly enhance the explanation of the migrant–local happiness-gap. This paper demonstrates the potential value of real-time data and phone applications in solving happiness puzzles.     

Pitman-closeness of some preliminary test and shrinkage estimators

For the model X ～ N_p: (θ,I)preliminary test estimator (PTE), shrinkage and positive-rule versions of the MLE (X) of θare mutually compared in the light of the Pitman closeness measure. The usual dominance properties of these estimators pertaining to the conventional quadratic loss criterion are shown to remain intact in the current context too. In an asymptotic setup, the conclusions hold for a much wider class of estimators pertaining to general parametric and nonparametric models.