Gender preference and birth spacing in matlab,Bangladesh

Gender preference, particularly son preference, is believed to sustain high fertility in many Asian countries, but previous research shows unclear effects. We examine and compare gender-preference effects on fertility in two otherwise comparable populations in Bangladesh that differ markedly in their access to and use of contraception. We expect, and find, stronger effects of gender preference in the population that has more access to contraception and higher levels of contraceptive use. Thus gender preference may emerge as a significant barrier to further national family planning efforts in Bangladesh. We find that if a woman has at least one daughter, the risk of a subsequent birth is related negatively to the number of sons. Women with no daughters also experience a higher risk of having a subsequent birth; this finding suggests that there is also some preference for daughters. Son preference is strong in both the early and later stages of family formation, but women also want to have at least one daughter after having several sons.     

Asymptotic estimate of variance with applications to stochastic differential equations arises in mathematical neuroscience

Matrix representation of a limit of variance for circular process is given. It is shown that the variance is asymptotically measured by the decrease in spectral energy in one step of a Markov chain. Then we apply this result to a stochastic differential equation with parametric noise (which arises in mathematical neuroscience) and demonstrate how the results can be used to analyze propagation of a signal in sound mechanism.