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The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it estimates the sterilization coefficients for several Caribbean countries. Second, it contributes to the literature by providing a conceptual framework for understanding why regional economies with fully pegged exchange rate regimes have not allowed the money supply to be endogenous to capital flows. This paper notes that a high sterilization coefficient plus a de facto pegged exchange rate indicates the existence of dual nominal anchors.

The paper presents a simple theoretical model to explain this phenomenon. The model combines the liquidity preference of commercial banks with an augmented uncovered interest parity equation.

The econometric evidence presented shows that several Caribbean economies with fixed exchange rate regimes also possess high sterilization coefficients. Given open capital accounts in the various economies, the paper argues that this finding contravenes the money neutrality thesis, which holds that only one nominal anchor can prevail in the long term.

The model emphasizes that the interest rate formation and liquidity preference of oligopolistic commercial banks – the dominant financial institutions in a post‐liberalized setting – prevents counteracting capital movements when monetary policy changes above or along a threshold or bank mark‐up interest rate.

The monetary approach to the balance of payments accords a very important role to monetary variables in the determination of reserve flows; (see Johnson, 1977). It postulates that the reserve flows will increase (decrease) if the residents of a country desire to accumulate (deplete) money balances faster than the rate at which the money stock is growing (diminishing) as a consequence of purely domestic influences. In other words, reserve flows are the mechanism through which money demand and supply are brought into equilibrium, and the model predicts in particular that these flows are negatively related to the rate of domestic credit expansion. A most important policy implication of this approach is that the monetary authorities can influence the level of foreign reserves by acting upon the composition of the monetary base through deliberate and meaningful credit policies. Devaluation of the currency, on the other hand, will have little or no effect on the flow of these reserves; (see Frenkel and Johnson, 1976, Chapter 1).

This paper examines the impact of using the reserve requirements, combined with foreign exchange (FX) intervention, as key instruments in an inflation-targeting framework.

In the context of a dynamic stochastic general equilibrium (DSGE) framework and using Bayesian techniques, the authors estimate a model for the Indonesian economy using quarterly data spanning the period 2005Q2–2019Q4.

The reserve requirement is found to assume a complementary role to that of the interest rate policy and FX intervention when used to stabilise the macroeconomy.

This paper provides a benchmark for other emerging countries that consider adopting the inflation targeting framework and impose an FX intervention as part of their monetary policy.

Biodegradable polymers are widely used in personalized medical devices or scaffolds for tissue engineering. The manufacturing process should be finished with sterilization procedure. However, it is not clear how the different sterilization methods have an impact on the mechanical strength of the three-dimensional (3D)-printed parts, such as bone models or personalized mechanical devices. This paper aims to present the results of mechanical testing of polylactide-based bone models before and after sterilization.

Polylactide specimens prepared in fused filament fabrication technology were sterilized with different sterilization methods: ultraviolet (UV) and ethylene oxide. Mechanical properties were determined by testing tensile strength, Young’s modulus and toughness.

The tensile strength of material after sterilization was significantly higher after ethylene oxide sterilization compared to the UV sterilization, but in both sterilization methods, the specimens characterized lower tensile strength and Young’s modulus when compared to the control. In comparison of toughness results, there was no statistically significant differences. The findings are particularly significant in the perspective of using individual implants, bone grafts and dental guides.

Although fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing devices equipped with UV light sterilization options are available, experimental results of the effect of selected sterilization methods on the mechanical strength of additively manufactured parts have not been described. This paper completes the present state of the art on the problem of sterilization of FFF parts from biodegradable materials.

Data from the National Survey of Family Growth suggest that poor women and women of color are more likely than privileged women to use long-lasting contraception such as sterilization, intrauterine devices (IUD), and Depo Provera. This disparity is noteworthy because long-lasting methods can and have been used coercively. To analyze this disparity, I constructed multivariate binary logistic regression models for female sterilization, IUD, and Depo Provera using the most recent National Survey of Family Growth available (Cycle 6, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) in 2002). I examined the effect of both personal factors, including age, parity, and number of marriages, and social factors, including education and health coverage. Personal factors were strong predictors but could not explain racial and economic disparities that exist among contraceptive users. This analysis found that education and health coverage were also important variables. Even controlling for personal factors, women with less education were more likely to be sterilized or use Depo Provera than women with a bachelor's degree or more. Women covered by Medicaid or public, government, or military coverage were more likely to use Depo Provera than women with private insurance. Women covered by Medicaid were also more likely to be sterilized since 2000. And uninsured women were more likely to use an IUD than women with private health insurance. However, none of the independent variables completely erased the effect of race and income, suggesting further research is necessary to understand the disparity in use of long-lasting contraceptives.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the budget of the Indian family planning programme from a human rights perspective. Family planning services play an important role in the realisation of the reproductive rights of women. In India, the family planning programme is one of the largest in the world with thousands of patients, mostly women, accessing services every year. Although the Indian legal system guarantees the right to health, Indian women from marginalised sections of society still battle inadequate services and the absence of health care that respects their right to reproductive autonomy and choice. Therefore, the question is: in the presence of a strong legal framework, what are the factors that contribute to this phenomenon?

The authors have gathered data from the project implementation plans at the state level comparing year-wise expenditure for family planning against overall expenditure for reproductive, maternal and child health expenditure. The data are then compared to the number of women using sterilisation to suggest a relationship between both. Finally, the article relies on desk research to review scholarship on the Indian family planning programme and applicable human rights obligations.

The paper finds that social-economic rights such as the right to health are applicable to government spending and budgeting. It also finds current spending in the NHM is insufficient to guarantee women’s reproductive rights as the vast majority of resources are spend on sterilisation, thus limiting women’s ability to choose the number and spacing of children.

The data used in this research bears one limitation: the propensity of the government to change the guidelines as to how States should present their budgets in the project implementation plans. The authors have adjusted the data so that it remains comparable. However, the adjustment was not possible for all expenditure data, which is why the current study is limited to the family planning programme alone.

The paper argues that to be human rights compliant, health budgets of the NHM need to be geared towards the specific needs of women in terms of family planning. Finally, the article briefly outlines the role played by human rights and human rights litigation in impacting government budgets.

India’s family planning programme has been examined from a performance and medical standpoint, focussing on medical indicators such as total fertility rate, unmet needs for family planning, amongst others. Academic scholarship has investigated through statistical analysis patterns of contraceptive use and contraceptive mix. What is absent, however, is an assessment of the programme from a right-based perspective by looking at the human rights obligations of India and their normative implications for the Indian family programme.

Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) is a remarkable biocompatible material for bone cement and regeneration. It is also considered 3D printable but requires in-depth process–structure–properties studies. This study aims to elucidate the mechanistic effects of processing parameters and sterilization on PMMA-based implants.

The approach comprised manufacturing samples with different raster angle orientations to capitalize on the influence of the filament alignment with the loading direction. One sample set was sterilized using an autoclave, while another was kept as a reference. The samples underwent a comprehensive characterization regimen of mechanical tension, compression and flexural testing. Thermal and microscale mechanical properties were also analyzed to explore the extent of the appreciated modifications as a function of processing conditions.

Thermal and microscale mechanical properties remained almost unaltered, whereas the mesoscale mechanical behavior varied from the as-printed to the after-autoclaving specimens. Although the mechanical behavior reported a pronounced dependence on the printing orientation, sterilization had minimal effects on the properties of 3D printed PMMA structures. Nonetheless, notable changes in appearance were attributed, and heat reversed as a response to thermally driven conformational rearrangements of the molecules.

This research further deepens the viability of 3D printed PMMA for biomedical applications, contributing to the overall comprehension of the polymer and the thermal processes associated with its implementation in biomedical applications, including personalized implants.

Between 1965 and 1973 the percentage of married women practicing contraception in the United States increased from 64.2 to 69.9. This increase was accompanied by changing social values, increased information, and important technological innovations. The major technological innovations were the birth control pill and the Intrauterine Device (IUD), as well as new and safer techniques for female sterilization. The blossoming of private and public family planning programs in this period may also have been instrumental in the increased use of contraception.