Global Water Finance: Assessment of the Funding Needed to Attain the Millennium Development Goals for Water and Sanitation

This report presents data and information to make an assessment of the funding needed to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for access to improved water and sanitation by the year 2015. Specifically, it describes current achievements of MDGs and the current funding condition. In 2002, 1.1 billion people lacked access to improved water, and 2.6 billion people lacked access to improved sanitation. To achieve the Millennium Development Goals, it is necessary to provide improved water access for additional 1.5 billion people and improved sanitation access for 2 billion people by 2015. The breakdown of funding is estimated to be 65-70 percent from domestic public sector, 5 percent from the domestic private sector, 10-15 percent from international donors, and 10-15 percent from international private companies. There is an approximately $10 billion per year shortfall between current spending for water and sanitation infrastructure and the estimated cost to achieve the MDG target. To achieve the target, in-country funding and international aid should be increased by$10 billion per year. Particularly, international aid should be doubled or increased by $3 billion per year for countries that have difficulties increasing their own in-country funding. In 2002, 42 percent of people or 300 million people in Sub-Sahara Africa lack access to improved water. According to reports of the World Bank, UNICEF and WHO, the total annual expenditure requirement for improved water and sanitation is$3.3 billion and $3.4 billion per year respectively. Despite the necessity to spend funding effectively, a case study on Ethiopia reveals that only 30 percent of the budget was used for actual infrastructure, and a large portion was impacted by corruption and mismanagement. Many efforts have been made to date to improve this condition, including prioritization, promoting equity, enhancing sector coordination, and raising capacity. Yet, those efforts have not worked effectively enough to help many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to meet the MDG target. A case study on Kenya, however, reveals its successful increase of in-country funding through charging taxes and giving the responsibility for water and sanitation provision from a local government to a private company

The Effect of Citi Bike Introduction on Injury Rates in New York City

This paper tests the hypothesis that the introduction of Citi Bike influences bicycle injuries by observing the gradual expansion of the bike share system in NYC. Data is analyzed from 2012-2018 New York Police Department (NYPD) Motor Vehicle Collisions and Citi Bike Station Feeds (NYC Open Data)

Consumer Credit,Impulse Buying and Bankruptcy Law-Time Pressure and Cognitive Dissonance Model-

The standard economic model of consumers ’ choice for personal bankruptcy has been formalized with a two-period Fisherian consumption model (for example, see Jaffee & Russell (1976), Kowalewski (1982), White (1987/88)). This standard mode

Characteristics of weak base-induced vacuoles formed around individual acidic organelles

We have previously found that the weak base 4-aminopyridine induces Brownian motion of acidic organelles around which vacuoles are formed, causing organelle traffic disorder in neurons. Our present study investigated the characteristics of vacuoles induced by weak bases (NH4Cl, aminopyridines, and chloroquine) using mouse cells. Individual vacuoles included acidic organelles identified by fluorescent protein expression. Mitochondria and actin filaments were extruded outside the vacuoles, composing the vacuole rim. Staining with amine-reactive fluorescence showed no protein/amino acid content in vacuoles. Thus, serous vacuolar contents are probably partitioned by viscous cytosol, other organelles, and cytoskeletons, but not membrane. The weak base (chloroquine) was immunochemically detected in intravacuolar organelles, but not in vacuoles. Early vacuolization was reversible, but long-term vacuolization caused cell death. The vacuolization and cell death were blocked by the vacuolar H+-ATPase inhibitor and Cl–-free medium. Staining with LysoTracker or LysoSensor indicated that intravacuolar organelles were strongly acidic and vacuoles were slightly acidic. This suggests that vacuolization is caused by accumulation of weak base and H+ in acidic organelles, driven by vacuolar H+-ATPase associated with Cl– entering, and probably by subsequent extrusion of H+ and water from organelles to the surrounding cytoplasm. (Folia Histochemica et Cytobiologica 2011; Vol. 49, No. 2, pp. 272–279

Smokers, Smoking Deprivation, and Time Discounting

This paper investigates whether smokers exhibit greater time discounting than non-smokers, and how short-term nicotine deprivation affects time discounting. A unique feature of our experiment is that our subjects receive rewards not only of money, but also of actual tobacco. This is done in order to elicit smokersf true preferences. Smokers are more impatient than non-smokers, consistent with previous studies. Additionally, nicotine deprivation makes smokers even more impatient. These results suggest that nicotine concentration has different effects on time preferences in the short and long runs.

The effect of lipopolysaccharide on lipid bilayer permeability of β-lactam antibiotics

AbstractThe lipid-bilayer permeability of cephalosporins was extensively suppressed by addition of lipopolysaccharide to liposomal membrane in proportion to the hydrophobicity of the drugs. This suggests that the polysaccharide chain layer contributes to the barrier function. The importance of the polysaccharide chain in the barrier function was also supported by the fact that the permeability to Rd-type lipopolysaccharide-containing liposomes showed essentially the same dependency on the hydrophobicity of the cephalosporins as that of the lipopolysaccharide-free liposomes. In this case the permeability of the cephalosporins was proportional to their hydrophobicity. Similar lipopolysaccharide effect was also observed in the permeation of penicillins

Early Cardiogenesis in the Newt Embryo

The migration of cardiogenic cells and the formation of a tubular heart in newt embryos were examined mainly by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Cardiogenic cells are known to localize at the border region of lateral mesoderm migrating in the space between the ectoderm and the endoderm. They initially (before stage 20 or mid-neurula) appeared to attach to the basal surface of the ectoderm, whereas later (after stage 22 or late neurula) they changed their scaffold to the endoderm. On the scaffold cell surface, very fine fibrils of extracellular matrix (ECM) were found. These fibrils were proved to be composed partly of fibronectin by the immunofluorescence method as well as by immunoSEM using latex bead-labeled antibody, suggesting their seemingly important role in migration of cardiogenic cells. At stage 26 or the early tail bud stage, when the tips of bilateral cardiogenic areas begin to fuse under the foregut, several free vasoformative cells are seen there and the mesodermal sheet itself splits into two layers to produce a coelomic cavity. The splanchnic wall of the coelomic or pericardial cavity was recognized to form a trough consisting of cobblestone-like myocardial cells not yet covered with the epicardium