Universal primary education in Nepal: Fulfilling the right to education

With the net enrollment ratio in primary education in Nepal at 94%, most children are in the school system, but the system fails to ensure that all enrolled children will continue in school cycle and complete primary education of acceptable quality. Given the system’s poor internal efficiency, Nepal is not likely to achieve the MDG and EFA goals of universal primary education by 2015. This article examines the status of universal primary education in Nepal in the light of legal provisions, enrollment and completion trends, and the quality, and management, of education, including financing. It highlights progress made, issues encountered, and some key lessons learned during the past decade. It examines the efforts to make primary education inclusive in terms of social and gender equity. The review of progress toward Education for All underscores that fulfilling the right to education in terms of adequate quality of services and learning outcomes requires sustained efforts and commitment from the government and local community in several priority action areas related to policies, achieving quality with equity, and educational management.     

Wind,Water, and Wi-Fi: New Trends in Community Informatics and Disaster Management

In emergencies, information sharing among and between officials, volunteers, and citizens is essential for effective recovery and management. Recently, volunteers and others have been using community technology centers, community wireless networks, and end-user social technologies such as blogs and Wikis to prepare for emergencies and communicate and coordinate response when they happen. This article argues that there is a need for a research agenda that combines our knowledge of community informatics with the principles of disaster management to understand how social networks form and mobilize in disasters and how information and communication technologies should be designed and deployed to engage, inform, and mobilize those volunteer and citizen networks.     

Recordkeeping in the Production of Scientific Knowledge: An Ethnographic Study

Recent scholarship in archival studies has employed “non-traditional” modes of analysis to theorize the nature of the record and recordkeeping in organizational contexts. In that tradition, this paper discusses the author's use of ethnographic methodology to study recordkeeping in one academic research laboratory. The paper explores how ethnography contributes to our understanding of the laboratory as a recordkeeping organization and the intersections of scientific practice and the kinds of records scientists create and use. The paper calls for more analysis of recordkeeping as an information infrastructure and inquiry into the nature of the record in other kinds of knowledge production environments.     

Immuno-Modulatory Effect and Therapeutic Potential of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Brugia malayi</Emphasis> Cystatin in Experimentally Induced Arthritis

Helminths are known to modulate host’s immune system and understanding this modulation can help in identification of novel therapeutic agents for autoimmune diseases. In this study, we have assessed the immune-modulatory activity and the therapeutic effect of Brugia malayi recombinant cystatin (rBmCys) in methylated BSA (mBSA) induced arthritis using rodent model. Administration of rBmCys has suppressed the severity of mBSA-arthritis in mastomys by reducing paw swelling and other clinical disease parameters as evident from significantly decreased arthritic index. The anti-arthritic effect of rBmCys was also confirmed by decreased histopathological score for synovitis, bone erosion and fibrosis in the tissue sections of paws. Further, this therapeutic effect of cystatin was found to be associated with significantly decreased production of IFN-γ and TNF-α and increased release of IL-4 and IL-10 cytokines. These results implied that rBmCys treatment has alleviated mBSA-induced arthritis and thus can be a promising alternative agent for the treatment of arthritis.