Assessing the impact of mobile money on improving the financial inclusion of Nairobi women

This paper assesses to what extent, and in what ways, mobile money has affected the financial inclusion of women in Nairobi. Women in Kenya have limited property rights and continue to require approval from their husbands or male family members to conduct financial activities. Besides, most women are concentrated in the informal economy, which has exacerbated their level of financial exclusion since they struggle to provide the documentation that financial institutions require, thus making them more dependent on informal finance. This paper demonstrates how mobile money has significantly decreased the proportion of women in Nairobi excluded from using financial services. Drawing upon survey work conducted by the author across eight areas of Nairobi, this research reveals how mobile money has enabled women to benefit from instant remittance and payment services, and has offered a means of storing money safely, which is an attribute particularly valued by younger women and those with lower levels of educational attainment and income. Although mobile money does not address many of the structural drivers of gendered financial inequality, it has improved levels of financial inclusion by increasing women’s access to various financial channels from which they were previously excluded

Survivability assessment of Viton in safety-related equipment under simulated severe accident environments

To evaluate equipment survivability of the polymer Viton, used in sealing materials, the effects of its thermal degradation were investigated in severe accident (SA) environment in a nuclear power plant. Viton specimens were prepared and thermally degraded at different SA temperature profiles. Changes in mechanical properties at different temperature profiles in different SA states were investigated. The thermal lag analysis was performed at calculated convective heat transfer conditions to predict the exposure temperature of the polymer inside the safety-related equipment. The polymer that was thermally degraded at postaccident states exhibited the highest change in its mechanical properties, such as tensile strength and elongation

Relativistic Dynamics of Multi-BPS D-vortices and Straight BPS D-strings

Moduli space dynamics of multi-D-vortices from D2${\bar {\rm D}}$ (equivalently, parallel straight D-strings from D3${\bar {\rm D}}$3) is systematically studied. For the BPS D-vortices, we show through exact calculations that the classical motion of randomly-distributed $n$ D-vortices is governed by a relativistic Lagrangian of free massive point-particles. When the head-on collision of two identical BPS D-vortices of zero radius is considered, it predicts either 90${}^{\circ}$ scattering or 0${}^{\circ}$ scattering equivalent to 180${}^{\circ}$ scattering. Since the former leads to a reconnection of two identical D-strings and the latter does to a case of their passing through each other, two possibilities are consistent with the prediction of string theory. It is also shown that the force between two non-BPS vortices is repulsive. Although the obtained moduli space dynamics of multi-BPS-D-vortices is exact in classical regime, the quantum effect of an F-string pair production should be included in determining the probabilities of the reconnection and the passing through for fast-moving cosmic superstrings.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures. Changes for the analysis of scattering and minor changes have been made. 1 figure has been replace

Human Neural Stem Cells Overexpressing Choline Acetyltransferase Restore Unconditioned Fear in Rats with Amygdala Injury

Amygdala is involved in the fear memory that recognizes certain environmental cues predicting threatening events. Manipulation of neurotransmission within the amygdala affects the expression of conditioned and unconditioned emotional memories such as fear freezing behaviour. We previously demonstrated that F3.ChAT human neural stem cells (NSCs) overexpressing choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) improve cognitive function of Alzheimer’s disease model rats with hippocampal or cholinergic nerve injuries by increasing acetylcholine (ACh) level. In the present study, we examined the effect of F3.ChAT cells on the deficit of unconditioned fear freezing. Rats given N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) in their amygdala 2 weeks prior to cat odor exposure displayed very short resting (freezing) time compared to normal animals. NMDA induced neuronal degeneration in the amygdala, leading to a decreased ACh concentration in cerebrospinal fluid. However, intracerebroventricular transplantation of F3.ChAT cells attenuated amygdala lesions 4 weeks after transplantation. The transplanted cells were found in the NMDA-injury sites and produced ChAT protein. In addition, F3.ChAT-receiving rats recuperated freezing time staying remote from the cat odor source, according to the recovery of brain ACh concentration. The results indicate that human NSCs overexpressing ChAT may facilitate retrieval of unconditioned fear memory by increasing ACh level

Protective Effects of N

Objective. Since oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) are the target cells of neonatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), the present study was aimed at investigating the protective effects of N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), a well-known antioxidant and precursor of glutathione, in OPCs as well as in neonatal rats. Methods. In in vitro study, protective effects of NAC on KCN cytotoxicity in F3.Olig2 OPCs were investigated via MTT assay and apoptotic signal analysis. In in vivo study, NAC was administered to rats with HIE induced by hypoxia-ischemia surgery at postnatal day 7, and their motor functions and white matter demyelination were analyzed. Results. NAC decreased KCN cytotoxicity in F3.Olig2 cells and especially suppressed apoptosis by regulating Bcl2 and p-ERK. Administration of NAC recovered motor functions such as the using ratio of forelimb contralateral to the injured brain, locomotor activity, and rotarod performance of neonatal HIE animals. It was also confirmed that NAC attenuated demyelination in the corpus callosum, a white matter region vulnerable to HIE. Conclusion. The results indicate that NAC exerts neuroprotective effects in vitro and in vivo by preserving OPCs, via regulation of antiapoptotic signaling, and that F3.Olig2 human OPCs could be a good tool for screening of candidates for demyelinating diseases