The Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) is a tropical atmospheric phenomenon, associated with periods of active convection in the eastern hemisphere tropics.The MJOs temporal scale (22-90 days) coincides with a gap between weather (synoptic forecasts out to 10 days) and climate (seasonal and longer forecasts).Analysis of 35 years of daily rainfall data shows significant modulation of tropical and e...

This paper explores the relationship between credit and index insurance market development using a theoretical model in which small farm households have the option to either (i) adopt a capital-intensive technology that is risky but high-yielding, or (ii) self-insure by adopting a traditional low-input and low-yielding technology. We show that neither market is likely to develop in isolation fr...

Patients in health maintenance organizations (HMOs) often trust their physicians less than those with other forms of insurance coverage. Recent studies have reported a backlash of criticism against managed care, especially HMOs. In response to this, some have argued that managed care has become more responsive to patients’ wishes. We use data from the Community Tracking Study (CTS) Household Su...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the relationship between insurance type (Medicaid vs private insurance) and access to physician care for youth with type 2 diabetes mellitus by quantifying whether these youth saw a physician during the year before their first diabetes documentation. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective cohort study. METHODS Youth with Medicaid or private insurance aged 5 to 19 years with type 2...

introduction drought is a climatic hazard that occurs in the vast areas throughout the world. it causes physical suffering, economic losses, and environmental instability. drought is a slowly developing very which is phenomenon, and it is very difficult to determine when a dry spell becomes a drought or when a severe drought becomes an exceptional drought. it is usually starting with less drama...

to identify an appropriate index for monitoring and evaluation of drought, rainfall data obtained from meteorological stations of ilam province from 2000 to 2011 and modis satellite images with 16-day intervals were collected and processed. the standardized precipitation index (spi) was calculated based on rainfall data; therefore, the rainfall data were used for measuring spi and satellite ima...

Introduction: Rangeland ecosystems provide multiple ecosystem services, including feed resources for wild and domestic herbivores in semi-arid areas. However, under the ever increasing environmental changes, the impact of rainfall variability on the productivity and vegetation dynamics of rangelands are the great challenges that pastoral community are facing today. As a result, the potentials o...

The hydroclimatic association between the monthly Indian summer monsoon rainfall and a proposed monthly composite index (MCI) of large-scale atmospheric circulations from the Pacific Ocean and Indian Ocean regions is established. The spatial variability of this association is also checked. The predictability of the monthly Indian summer monsoon rainfall using the MCI is also investigated and is...