Enhancing agency and empowerment in agricultural development projects: A synthesis of mixed methods impact evaluations from the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2).

Development interventions increasingly include women's empowerment and gender equality among their objectives, but evaluating their impact has been stymied by the lack of measures that are comparable across interventions. This paper synthesizes the findings of 11 mixed-methods impact evaluations of agricultural development projects from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that were part of the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2). As part of GAAP2, qualitative and quantitative data were used to develop and validate the multidimensional project-level Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (pro-WEAI), which was used to assess the impact of GAAP2 projects on women's empowerment. This paper assesses the extent to which: (1) a two- to three-year agricultural development project can contribute to women's empowerment; and (2) a suite of methods comprising a standardized quantitative measure of women's empowerment and a set of qualitative protocols, can evaluate such impacts. Our synthesis finds that the most common positive significant impacts were on the instrumental and collective agency indicators that comprise pro-WEAI, owing to the group-based approaches used. We found few projects significantly improved intrinsic agency, even among those with explicitly stated objectives to change gender norms. Unsurprisingly, we find mixed, and mostly null impacts on aggregate pro-WEAI, with positive impacts more likely in the South Asian, rather than African, cases. Our results highlight the need for projects to design their strategies specifically for empowerment, rather than assume that projects aiming to reach and benefit women automatically empower them. Our study also shows the value of a suite of methods containing a common metric to compare empowerment impacts and qualitative protocols to understand and contextualize these impacts.

The economic costs of a multisectoral nutrition programme implemented through a credit platform in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh struggles with undernutrition in women and young children. Nutrition-sensitive agriculture programmes can help address rural undernutrition. However, questions remain on the costs of multisectoral programmes. This study estimates the economic costs of the Targeting and Re-aligning Agriculture to Improve Nutrition (TRAIN) programme, which integrated nutrition behaviour change and agricultural extension with a credit platform to support women's income generation. We used the Strengthening Economic Evaluation for Multisectoral Strategies for Nutrition (SEEMS-Nutrition) approach. The approach aligns costs with a multisectoral nutrition typology, identifying inputs and costs along programme impact pathways. We measure and allocate costs for activities and inputs, combining expenditures and micro-costing. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected retrospectively from implementers and beneficiaries. Expenditure data and economic costs were combined to calculate incremental economic costs. The intervention was designed around a randomised control trial. Incremental costs are presented by treatment arm. The total incremental cost was $795,040.34 for a 3.5-year period. The annual incremental costs per household were US$65.37 (Arm 2), USD$114.15 (Arm 3) and $157.11 (Arm 4). Total costs were led by nutrition counselling (37%), agriculture extension (12%), supervision (12%), training (12%), monitoring and evaluation (9%) and community events (5%). Total input costs were led by personnel (68%), travel (12%) and supplies (7%). This study presents the total incremental costs of an agriculture-nutrition intervention implemented through a microcredit platform. Costs per household compare favourably with similar interventions. Our results illustrate the value of a standardised costing approach for comparison with other multisectoral nutrition interventions.

A Quasi-Experimental Evaluation of a Nutrition Behavior Change Intervention Delivered Through Women's Self-Help Groups in Rural India: Impacts on Maternal and Young Child Diets, Anthropometry, and Intermediate Outcomes.

Background: Women's self-help groups (SHGs) have become one of the largest institutional platforms serving the poor. Nutrition behavior change communication (BCC) interventions delivered through SHGs can improve maternal and child nutrition outcomes. Objectives: The objective was to understand the effects of a nutrition BCC intervention delivered through SHGs in rural India on intermediate outcomes and nutrition outcomes. Methods: We compared 16 matched blocks where communities were supported to form SHGs and improve livelihoods; 8 blocks received a 3-y nutrition intensive (NI) intervention with nutrition BCC, and agriculture- and rights-based information, facilitated by a trained female volunteer; another 8 blocks received standard activities (STD) to support savings/livelihoods. Repeated cross-sectional surveys of mother-child pairs were conducted in 2017-2018 (n = 1609 pairs) and 2019-2020 (n = 1841 pairs). We matched treatment groups over time and applied difference-in-difference regression models to estimate impacts on intermediate outcomes (knowledge, income, agriculture/livelihoods, rights, empowerment) and nutrition outcomes (child feeding, woman's diet, woman and child anthropometry). Analyses were repeated on households with ≥1 SHG member. Results: Forty percent of women were SHG members and 50% were from households with ≥1 SHG member. Only 10% of women in NI blocks had heard of intervention content at endline. Knowledge improved in both NI and STD groups. There was a positive NI impact on knowledge of timely introduction of animal-sourced foods to children (P < 0.05) but not on other intermediate outcomes. No impacts were observed for anthropometry or diet indicators except child animal-source food consumption (P < 0.01). In households with ≥1 SHG member, there was a positive NI impact on child unhealthy food consumption (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Limited impacts could be due to limited exposure or skills of volunteers, and a concurrent national nutrition campaign. Our findings add to a growing literature on SHG-based BCC interventions and the conditions necessary for their success.

Novel Models for the Prediction of Left Atrial Appendage Thrombus in Patients with Chronic Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation.

Predicting left atrial appendage thrombus (LAAT) in chronic nonvalvular atrial fibrillation remains challenging despite the fact that several predictive models have been proposed to date. In this study, we sought to develop new and simpler models for LAAT prediction in chronic nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. The study enrolled 144 patients with chronic nonvalvular atrial fibrillation who underwent transesophageal echocardiography for LAAT detection. We examined the association of LAAT incidence with the CHA2DS2-VASc score and echocardiographic parameters pertaining to the left atrium (LA), including diameter, volume index, strain, and strain rate measured on speckle tracking echocardiography. LAAT was found in 24.3% of patients (39/144). The following parameters had good diagnostic performance for LAAT: LA volume index >57 mL (area under the curve (AUC), 0.72; sensitivity, 77.1%; specificity, 64.2%), LA positive strain ≤6.7% in the four-chamber view (AUC, 0.84; sensitivity, 77.1%; specificity, 77.1%), and LA negative strain rate >-0.73 s-1 in the four-chamber view (AUC, 0.83; sensitivity, 85.7%; specificity, 70.6%). The CHA2DS2-VASc score alone had a low predictive value for LAAT in this population (χ 2 = 3.53), whereas the combination of CHA2DS2-VASc score with LA volume index had significant association and better predictive value (χ 2 = 12.03), and the combination of CHA2DS2-VASc score with LA volume index and LA positive strain or negative strain rate in the four-chamber view had the best predictive ability for LAAT (χ 2: 33.47 and 33.48, respectively). We propose two novel and simple models for noninvasive LAAT prediction in patients with chronic nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. These models combine the CHA2DS2-VASc score with LA volume index and LA longitudinal strain parameters measured on speckle tracking echocardiography in the four-chamber view. We hope these simple models can help with decision-making in managing the antithrombotic treatment of such patients, whose risk of stroke cannot be determined solely based on the CHA2DS2-VASc score.

Embedding hexanuclear tantalum bromide cluster {Ta6Br12} into SiO2 nanoparticles by reverse microemulsion method.

Hexanuclear tantalum bromide cluster units [{Ta6Bri12}La6] (i = inner, a = apical, L = ligand OH or H2O) are embedded into SiO2 nanoparticles by a reverse microemulsion (RM) based method. [{Ta6Bri12}Bra2 (H2O)a4]·nH2O (noted TBH) and tetraethyl orthosilicate (TEOS) are used as the starting cluster compound and the precursor of SiO2, respectively. The RM system in this study consists of the n-heptane (oil phase), Brij L4 (surfactants), ethanol, TEOS, ammonia solution and TBH aqueous sol. The size and morphology of the product namely {Ta6Br12}@SiO2 nanoparticles are analyzed by HAADF-STEM and EDS mappings. The presence and integrity of {Ta6Br12} in the SiO2 nanoparticles are evidenced by EDS mapping, ICP-OES/IC and XPS analysis. The optical properties of {Ta6Br12}@SiO2 nanoparticles are analyzed by diffuse reflectance UV-vis spectroscopy, further evidencing the integrity of the embedded {Ta6Br12} and revealing their oxidation state. Both {Ta6Br12}2+ and {Ta6Br12}3+ are found in SiO2 nanoparticles, but the latter is much more stable than the former. The by-products in this RM-based synthesis, as well as their related factors, are also discussed.

Visible tunable lighting system based on polymer composites embedding ZnO and metallic clusters: from colloids to thin films.

The development of phosphor devices free of heavy metal or rare earth elements is an important issue for environmental reasons and energy efficiency. Different mixtures of ZnO nanocrystals with Cs2Mo6I8(OOC2F5)6 cluster compound (CMIF) dispersed into polyvinylpyrrolidone matrix have been prepared by very simple and low cost solution chemistry. The resulting solutions have been used to fabricate highly transparent and luminescent films by dip coating free of heavy metal or rare earth elements. The luminescence properties of solution and dip-coated films were investigated. The luminescence of such a system is strongly dependent on the ratios between ZnO and CMIF amounts, the excitation wavelength and the nature of the system. By varying these two parameters (ratio and wavelength), a large variety of colors, from blue to red as well as white, can be achieved. In addition, differences in the luminescence properties have been observed between solutions and thin films as well as changes of CMIF emission band maximum wavelength. This may suggest some possible interactions between the different luminophore centers, such as energy transfer or ligands exchange on the Mo6 clusters.

Does dexamethasone affect hepatic CYP450 system of fish? Semi-static in-vivo experiment on juvenile rainbow trout.

Effects of aquatic pollutants on fish are of increasing concern. Pharmaceutical-based contaminants are prioritized for further study in environmental risk assessment using several approaches. Dexamethasone (DEX) was one such contaminant recognised for its effect on fish health status. Thus, we carried out an in vivo experiment to identify potential effects of DEX on rainbow trout. Fish were exposed to 3, 30, 300 and 3000ngL(-1) DEX in a semi-static system over a period of 42d. The concentrations of DEX that fish were exposed to was confirmed by LC-LC-MS/MS. Using hepatic microsomes, we determined cytochrome P450 content, activities of ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase (EROD), p-nitrophenol hydroxylase (PNPH), 7-benzyloxy-4-trifluoromethylcoumarin O-debenzylase (BFCOD) and benzyloxyquinoline O-debenzylase (BQOD), as well as protein expression. Our results showed that fish do not change the catalytic activity of CYP450-mediated reactions after high DEX concentration exposure. These results disagree with mammalian studies, where DEX is a well-known inducer of CYP450. We showed a significant effect of DEX exposure on CYP450-mediated reactions (EROD, BCFOD, BQOD and PNPH) when expressed as amount of product formed per min per nmol total CYP450 at 3, 30 and 300ngL(-1) after 21d exposure. Moreover, BFCOD and BQ activities showed matching trends in all groups. Western blot analysis showed induction of CYP3A-like protein in the presence of the lowest environmentally relevant concentration of DEX. Based on these findings, continued investigation of the effect of DEX on fish using a battery of complementary biomarkers of exposure and effect is highly relevant.