The Applied Nutrition Project of Eastern Kenya – An Initiative for Reducing Hunger and Malnutrition

Sustainable development is the only kind of development possible for help in the third world. Due to various historical, political, geographic and climatic conditions the divergence between those countries providing and those receiving help is so vast that donations of labor an/or money is simply not enough. Rather, communities have to be taught to support and develop themselves during the receipt of aid and especially after the help pulls out. It is our goal in this article to summarize one such »sustainable development « project. As volunteers for AMREF (African Medical and Research Foundation), we worked with the remarkable Makueni Applied Nutrition Project in eastern Kenya in the summer of 2001. Our job was to visit the various locations in this semiarid and arid environment and to write a report on the situation of the diverse parts of the project. The Applied Nutrition Project (ANP) started in 1984 and serves as an excellent example of the significant help that can be provided to needy areas of the world with a multifaceted approach

Uniaxial and biaxial soft deformations of nematic elastomers

We give a geometric interpretation of the soft elastic deformation modes of nematic elastomers, with explicit examples, for both uniaxial and biaxial nematic order. We show the importance of body rotations in this non-classical elasticity and how the invariance under rotations of the reference and target states gives soft elasticity (the Golubovic and Lubensky theorem). The role of rotations makes the Polar Decomposition Theorem vital for decomposing general deformations into body rotations and symmetric strains. The role of the square roots of tensors is discussed in this context and that of finding explicit forms for soft deformations (the approach of Olmsted).Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, RevTex, AmsTe

Quantification of p38/synaptophysin in highly purified adrenal medullary chromaffin vesicles

p38/synaptophysin is a membrane protein present in clear (synaptic) vesicles of neurons and endocrine ceHs [1-4]. From the amino acid sequence deduced from cDNAs encoding p38/synaptophysin, a model with several membrane spanning polypeptide segments and a carboxy-terminal protein domain exposed to the cytoplasmic surface has been constructed [5-7]. The function of p38/synaptophysin is not known. It has been suggested to form a transmembrane channel for ions, or to interact with cytoplasmic factors via its cytoplasmic domain [7]. Since synaptophysin binds Ca2 +, it may also play a role in the release of neurotransmitters stored in clear (synaptic) vesicles [3]. Recently it has been reported [8] that p38/synaptophysin also occurs in hormone containing large dense core vesicles. This would imply that p38/synaptophysin could fulfill similar functions as described above in chromaffin and other secretory ceHs containing large dense core vesicles. In dear (synaptic) vesicles p38/synaptophysin constitutes 7.51Jfo of the vesicle membrane proteins [I]. The amount of p38/synaptophysin in large dense core vesides is not known. Here we report on the quantification of p38/synaptophysin in highly purified chromaffin secretory veside

Determination of the influence of specific building regulations in smart buildings

The automation of domestic services began to be implemented in buildings since the late nineteenth century, and today we are used to terms like ‘intelligent buildings’, ‘digital home’ or ‘domotic buildings’. These concepts tell us about constructions which integrate new technologies in order to improve comfort, optimize energy consumption or enhance the security of users. In conjunction, building regulations have been updated to suit the needs of society and to regulate these new facilities in such structures. However, we are not always sure about how far, from the quantitative or qualitative point of view, legislation should regulate certain aspects of the building activity. Consequently, content analysis is adopted in this research to determine the influence of building regulations in the implementation of new technologies in the construction process. This study includes the analysis of different European regulations, the collection and documentation of such guidelines that have been established and a study of the impact that all of these have had in the way we start thinking an architectural project. The achievements of the research could be explained in terms of the regulatory requirements that must be taken into account in order to achieve a successful implementation of a home automation system, and the key finding has been the confirmation of how the design of smart buildings may be promoted through specific regulatory requirements while other factors, such as the global economic situation, do not seem to affect directly the rate of penetration of home automation in construction

Cytoskeleton in motion: the dynamics of keratin intermediate filaments in epithelia

Epithelia are exposed to multiple forms of stress. Keratin intermediate filaments are abundant in epithelia and form cytoskeletal networks that contribute to cell type–specific functions, such as adhesion, migration, and metabolism. A perpetual keratin filament turnover cycle supports these functions. This multistep process keeps the cytoskeleton in motion, facilitating rapid and protein biosynthesis–independent network remodeling while maintaining an intact network. The current challenge is to unravel the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of the keratin cycle in relation to actin and microtubule networks and in the context of epithelial tissue function

Борьба с биообрастанием природных и сточных вод с использованием энергетических воздействий

Данная работа посвящена анализу методов очистки воды для борьбы с биологическим обрастанием технологического оборудования. Рассмотрены различные способы борьбы с биологическим обрастанием, в том числе: реагентные, безреагентные и электрические. Сформирована концепция применения способа борьбы с биологическим обрастанием технологического оборудования путем электрической обработки теплоносителя. Приведена схема установки, таблица результатов и диаграмма.This work is devoted to the analysis of methods of water purification for fight against biological fouling of processing equipment. Various ways of fight against biological fouling are considered, including: reagent, reagentless and electric. The concept of application of a way of fight against biological fouling of processing equipment by electric processing of the heat carrier is created. The scheme of installation, the table of results and the chart is provided

Icosahedral metallacarborane/carborane species derived from 1,1′-bis(o-carborane)

We thank ORSAS (GS) and the EPSRC (DE and DMcK supported by project EP/E02971X/1, WYM supported by project EP/I031545/1) for funding.Examples of singly-metallated derivatives of 1,1[prime or minute]-bis(o-carborane) have been prepared and spectroscopically and structurally characterised. Metallation of [7-(1[prime or minute]-1[prime or minute],2[prime or minute]-closo-C2B10H11)-7,8-nido-C2B9H10]2- with a {Ru(p-cymene)}2+ fragment affords both the unisomerised species [1-(1[prime or minute]-1[prime or minute],2[prime or minute]-closo-C2B10H11)-3-(p-cymene)-3,1,2-closo-RuC2B9H10] (2) and the isomerised [8-(1[prime or minute]-1[prime or minute],2[prime or minute]-closo-C2B10H11)-2-(p-cymene)-2,1,8-closo-RuC2B9H10] (3), and 2 is easily transformed into 3 with mild heating. Metallation with a preformed {CoCp}2+ fragment also affords a 3,1,2-MC2B9-1[prime or minute],2[prime or minute]-C2B10 product [1-(1[prime or minute]-1[prime or minute],2[prime or minute]-closo-C2B10H11)-3-Cp-3,1,2-closo-CoC2B9H10] (4), but if CoCl2/NaCp is used followed by oxidation the result is the 2,1,8-CoC2B9-1[prime or minute],2[prime or minute]-C2B10 species [8-(1[prime or minute]-1[prime or minute],2[prime or minute]-closo-C2B10H11)-2-Cp-2,1,8-closo-CoC2B9H10] (5). Compound 4 does not convert into 5 in refluxing toluene, but does do so if it is reduced and then reoxidised, perhaps highlighting the importance of the basicity of the metal fragment in the isomerisation of metallacarboranes. A computational study of 1,1[prime or minute]-bis(o-carborane) is in excellent agreement with a recently-determined precise crystallographic study and establishes that the {1[prime or minute],2[prime or minute]-closo-C2B10H11} fragment is electron-withdrawing compared to H.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Mechanical characteristics of the hypereutectic silumin processed by ionelectron-plasma modification

In this paper, the possibility of modifying the surface of a hypereutectic silumin (Al-(18-24) wt.%Si) is shown. Modification of the samples was carried out in two stages. At the first stage, a "film (Zr-5% Ti-5% Cu) / (Al- (18-24) wt.% Si) film system was formed by an ion-plasma method with an arc-sputtering of a Zr-5% Ti-5 cathode % Cu in the "TRIO" installation (IHCE SB RAS). In the second stage, the surface layer of the silumin of the hypereutectic composition was doped by melting the "film-substrate" system with an intense pulsed electron beam at the "SOLO" installation

Evaluation of motor transport drivers professional suitability using road traffic simulator

The article considers a method that allows to determine the degree of development of professionally important qualities of motor vehicle drivers on the basis of the developed hardware-software complex of traffic simulation. The technique of convolution of the test results on the auto-simulator and on the complex of psychological tests "Effecton" is developed. The proposed approach allows to determine the degree of correlation between the results of the developed simulation tests and existing universal psychological tests