Environmental Aid and Economic Development in the Third World

Climate change has a profound impact on the planet, especially on developing countries – as highlighted by the Stern Report to the British government in 2006. One solution to mitigating environmental degradation and achieving better outcomes appears to be through the provision of aid to poor countries. Using newly available data from the PLAID (Project-Level Aid) database project, we ask what determines the level of environmental aid to developing countries – and in particular whether such aid is affected by the level of economic development of the recipient country. At the same time, we investigate whether economic development is affected by the receipt of environmental aid. Implicit in the second question, of course, is the notion that, besides addressing the ecological outcomes, environmental aid may have the potential to enhance the economic prosperity of poor countries.Economic Development; Aid; Developing Countries

Interactions of short-term and chronic treadmill training with aging of the left ventricle of the heart

With aging, there is a decline in cardiac function accompanying increasing risk of arrhythmias. These effects are likely to be mechanistically associated with age-associated changes in calcium regulation within cardiac myocytes. Previous studies suggest that lifelong exercise can potentially reduce age-associated changes in the heart. Although exercise itself is associated with changes in cardiac function, little is known about the interactions of aging and exercise with respect to myocyte calcium regulation. To investigate this, adult (12 months) and old (24 months) C57/Bl6 mice were trained using moderate-intensity treadmill running. In response to 10 weeks’ training, comparable cardiac hypertrophic responses were observed, although aging independently associated with additional cardiac hypertrophy. Old animals also showed increased L- and T-type calcium channels, the sodium–calcium exchange, sarcoendoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase, and collagen (by 50%, 92%, 66%, 88%, and 113% respectively). Short-term exercise training increased D-type and T-type calcium channels in old animals only, whereas an increase in sodium–calcium exchange was seen only in adult animals. Long-term (12 months) training generally opposed the effects of aging. Significant hypertrophy remained in long-term trained old animals, but levels of sarcoendoplasmic reticulum calcium ATPase, sodium–calcium exchange, and collagen were not significantly different from those found in the adult trained animals

Study of particle suspensions in microfluidics for the development of optical devices

The vision of this PhD research project is to create a microfluidic system for controlling the locations of suspended particles in order to form three dimensional (3D) objects on demand. To realize this, the author implemented a microfluidic system that can apply suitable and desired forces on particles on demand. Particles of various refractive indices were placed close to each other in order to form a media having reconfigurable and tuneable properties. Light was coupled into such well-controlled particles in order to form dynamically tuned objects suspended in liquid such as optical waveguides. The dielectrophoretic (DEP) force was used for manipulating the locations of particles as it is capable of focusing and scattering suspended particles from pre-determined locations. Additionally, when combined with hydrodynamic forces, the DEP force was able to form densely packed areas of such particles with non-turbulent boundaries. The research was implemented in three stages. In the first stage, the author utilized a platform consisting of a microfluidic system integrated with DEP microelectrodes, microfluidics and optical peripherals for the coupling of light. Light was directly coupled into densely packed silicon dioxide (SiO2) particles with diameters of 230 and 450 nm, respectively. Light was transmitted via the closely packed 230 nm particles and in contrast was significantly scattered by the 450 nm particles. The outcomes, which were resulted from this initial stage, were the first demonstration of a dynamically tuneable optical waveguide based on the DEP focused particles in microfluidics. In the second stage of his research, the author integrated a multi mode polymeric waveguide into the microfluidic system. Tungsten trioxide (WO3) and SiO2 particles with diameters of 80 and 450 nm were investigated. The findings demonstrated that the densely packed WO3 particles were able to couple light from the polymeric waveguide, while the SiO2 particles did not affect the transmission of the optical signals significantly. The investigations of the second stage platform resulted in the first demonstration of optical waveguide tuning based on DEP focused particles. Finally, in the third stage of this research, the author implemented a quasi single mode polymeric waveguide integrated with the microfluidics. The author used WO3, zinc oxide (ZnO) and SiO2 particles with diameters of 80, 50 and 72 nm, respectively. Under the DEP force, these particles were able to interact with the optical guided modes. The results show that the WO3 particles were capable of forming layers of packed particles with anti-resonant characteristics. In particular, the fundamental mode was strongly coupled to the packed WO3 particles. However, under certain particle focusing conditions, the first order mode was anti-resonant to the closely packed WO3 particles as it was largely isolated. These findings were the first demonstration of the coupling and manipulation of optical guided modes using DEP focused particles with resonant and anti-resonant behaviors

Dielectrophoretically tuneable optical waveguides using nanoparticles in microfluidics

We present a tuneable optical waveguide using dielectrophoretically controlled nanoparticles in microfluidics. Silicon dioxide nanoparticles of different sizes in de-ionized water are channelled through a microfluidic system. An array of microelectrodes generates the dielectrophoretic force to funnel nanoparticles, forming narrowbands at the center of the microfluidics at different applied voltages and frequencies. It is observed that these narrowbands either scatter or guide the coupled light under selected conditions. The realization of such a system offers exciting possibilities for the development of a new class of optofluidics, which are tuned by the positioning of nanoparticles on demand

Human Security and Central Asian States

Since independence, Central Asian states are facing problems of security in one form or another including civil wars, ethnic and interstate conflicts, border issues as well as terrorism and extremism. Having a look at the 21 st century security threats to the region, human security challenges become prominent. There are growing activities of drug and human traffickers, child labor, corruption, growing poverty, ecological issues and climatic changes along with growing radicals and extremist elements in the states of Central Asia. Security of Central Asian states depends significantly on the human security. Lasting security and development cannot be obtained unless and until various dimensions of human security become priority of the governments in the region. The improvement in this arena requires three level strategies: national, regional and international

Fructosamine: an alternative assessment of past glycaemic control in developing countries

Fructosamine assay determines glycaemic control in diabetic patients by measuring glycosylated plasma protein. This study was done to assess the value of fructosamine as an alternative test to HbA1c as a measure of glycaemia. Sixty patients (both insulin dependent diabetes mellitus and non insulin dependent diabetes mellitus) were selected from the diabetic clinic and fasting blood samples were collected for estimation of glucose, HbA1c and fructosamine levels. The results were compared by correlation analysis and major discrepancies/discordance was detected by dividing the results into 3 clinical categories and detecting the cases in which the values fell in opposite clinical categories. Fructosamine correlated well with HbA1c (r = 0.41, p \u3c 0.01) and with fasting blood glucose (r = 0.45 p \u3c 0.01). Major discordance was detected in the results of only 7 patients which can partly be attributed to different periods over which HbA1c and fructosamine reflect average glycaemia. Fructosamine measures glycaemia over the past 2-3 weeks and HbA1c over 8 weeks. As fructosamine assay is relatively inexpensive, reliable and simple to perform; it can be used as an alternative to HbA1c and is particularly suited for developing countries