57 research outputs found
Towards achieving the millennium development goals in water supply and sanitation in Sri Lanka
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were adopted by 189 countries at the Millennium Summit held
in September 2000, in New York and embodies a political commitment to work together to combat poverty,
hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation and discrimination against women.
The eight MDGs agreed for accelerating global and national level economic, social and environmental
development towards eradication of poverty.
Access to water supply and sanitation was considered essential and necessary pre-requisites for the above goals and so
the goals of reducing by half the proportion of people without access to safe drinking water and sanitation by 2015 were
agreed with international consensus. This Paper identifies the issues and challenges to achieve the above targets by the Sri
Lanka government in collaboration with multi and bilateral aid agencies, support organizations international and local
NGOs, community groups and the private sector
Speed Control of Parallel Connected DSIM Fed by Six Phase Inverter with IFOC Strategy Using ANFIS
This paper describe the presentation of an IM for high load and high-power applications, this kind of applications the motor have a complex coupling between the field and torque. This can be achieve with assist of Indirect Field Oriented Control (IFOC) and parallel connection of two motors. The benefit is that parallel connection can provide the decoupled control of flux and torque for each motor and their concert in different operating environments. The Speed control of two Double Star Induction Motors working in parallel configuration with IFOC using a Fuzzy Logic Controller (FLC) and Adaptive Neuro Fuzzy Inference (ANFIS) controller is investigate in different operating environments. The two motors are connected in parallel at the output of a single six-phase PWM based inverter fed from a DC source. Performance of the projected method under load disturbances is studied through simulation using a MATLAB and evaluation of speed response of two controllers is analyzed.
 
Honey health benefits and uses in medicine
The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and other free radicals during
metabolism is an essential and normal process that ideally is compensated through
the antioxidant system. However, due to many environmental, lifestyle, and pathological
situations, free radicals and oxidants can be produced in excess, resulting in
oxidative damage of biomolecules (e.g., lipids, proteins, and DNA). This plays a
major role in the development of chronic and degenerative illness such as cancer,
autoimmune disorders, aging, cataract, rheumatoid arthritis, cardiovascular, and
neurodegenerative diseases (Pham-Huy et al. 2008; Willcox et al. 2004). The human
body has several mechanisms to counteract oxidative stress by producing antioxidants, which are either naturally synthetized in situ, or externally supplied
through foods, and/or supplements (Pham-Huy et al. 2008).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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A comparison of volunteer leaders in 4-H with volunteer leaders in related urban youth group
A comparative study was performed to identify personal characteristics and motivation of volunteer leaders from two youth groups; 4-H and Campfire. Criteria under study were appraised using questionnaires. Data analysis based on the responses obtained from 64 volunteer leaders. The personal characteristics investigated included expected period of service, support and encouragement, time spent on volunteer activities, satisfaction from service rendered, enrollment of volunteer leaders children, place of residence, length of residence, educational level, employment status, age, gender, and ethnicity. Affiliation, achievement, and power motivation factors were assessed. Most of the personal characteristics investigated were determined to be similar in the two groups. Major differences were found in the place of residence and tenure period. Youth leaders in both groups responded to the motivation inventory in a similar manner, although the two groups originated in rural and urban environments. The 4-H and Campfire volunteer leaders were highly achievement and affiliation motivated
Engineering management of time extension claims for the National Water Supply and Drainage Board.
In the sphere of construction contracts where the two parties Client and Contractor are involved it is characteristic to anticipate the susceptibility of the construction projects to many variation claims which generally cover a vast scope. These claims include Increase of Cost and/or Time Extensions.
This research which has been limited to the subject of Time Extension Claims has been done with the objective of enlightening the NWS&DB Engineers with the problems associated in Time Extension Claims.
In order to achieve this target a familiarization was found necessary of the Conditions of Contract (ICTAD 1989), Government Financial Regulations (Ministry of Finance 1992) and delegation of Financial Authority (NWS&DB 1991), which have been studied in relevance.
It was found practically helpful and interesting to analyse a number of case studies from various construction contracts that were relevant to Time Extension Issues in
order to give better expression to the subject under scrutiny, thus enabling achievements of the required objectives
Correlation of abdominal adiposity with components of metabolic syndrome, anthropometric parameters and Insulin resistance, in obese and non obese, diabetics and non diabetics: A cross sectional observational study. (Mysore Visceral Adiposity in Diabetes Study)
Objectives : To measure Visceral Fat (VF) and Subcutaneous Fat (SCF) by ultrasound, in obese and non-obese diabetics and obese and non-obese non diabetics, in a South Indian (Asian Indian) Population and correlate them with Body Mass Index (BMI), Waist Circumference (WC), components of metabolic syndrome and Insulin Resistance (IR) Research Design and Methods: This was a prospective observational study, 80 diabetics (40 obese and 40 non obese) and 80 non diabetics (40 obese and 40 non obese) a total of 160 subjects were enrolled, out of whom 153 completed the study. The subjects were evaluated with respect to BMI, WC, Blood Pressure (BP); Fasting Blood Sugar (FBS) Fasting Insulin levels (FIL), HbA1C and Lipid profile.The SCF and VF were measured by Ultrasonography.The results were statistically analyzed. Results: WC correlated significantly with VF in all the groups. Diabetics had more VF compared to non-diabetics. Insulin resistance was significant in all the groups; however diabetics had greater levels of IR, BMI, WC, VF and SCF had no correlation with IR and had no significant correlation with metabolic parameters. Conclusions: In this study population, WC was found to be a useful surrogate measure of VF conforming to its well established applicability in other populations. Contrary to other studies elsewhere, SCF and VF were found to be poor indicators of Insulin Resistance. BMI, WC, VF and SCF were not useful in the prediction of metabolic syndrome. Ultrasound was found to be an easier and economic method of measuring abdominal adiposity and actual measurement of abdominal fat was more informative than anthropometric measurements
Occurrence of diabetes mellitus in obese nondiabetic patients, with correlative analysis of visceral fat, fasting insulin, and insulin resistance: A 3-year follow-up study (mysore visceral adiposity in diabetes follow-up study)
Objective: To assess the occurrence of diabetes in obese nondiabetic patients over a 3-year follow-up period with a correlative analysis of visceral fat (VF), fasting insulin levels, (FILs) and insulin resistance (IR). Material and Methods: Thirty-seven obese and nineteen nonobese nondiabetics of our previous study, Mysore Visceral Adiposity in Diabetes were followed for the next 3 years. Their blood pressure, body mass index, waist circumference (WC), fasting blood sugar (FBS), FIL, lipid profile and subcutaneous fat (SCF), and VF measurement by US method were repeated every 6 months for the next 3 years. The findings were analyzed with appropriate statistical methods. Results: Twenty-three obese and 18 nonobese nondiabetics completed the study. There were 17 dropouts. The changes in the physical and biochemical characteristics of the two groups before and after the study were not significant. SCF had no correlation with IR whereas VF correlated with FIL and IR. There were three diabetics in the obese group and two from the control group at the end of the study. There were 12 impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in the test group and 2 in the control group. Those who developed diabetes had higher VF, WC, FBS, FIL, and IR. Those who showed IGT also had these at higher levels compared to others. There was no change in the VF at the end of the study. Conclusions: This follow-up study on South Indians has shown that VF is a significant risk factor for the development of IR. IR can develop without any increase in the volume of the VF, is the essential finding of this study. SCF has not shown any significant relationship with IR. We recommend FBS and FIL in all the obese nondiabetics to calculate IR, which has given much insight in the development of IGT and diabetes. Large multicentric, longitudinal studies are required to establish the cause of IR
Environmental and Clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa Isolates with Pooled Presence of exo S, exo U, exo T and exo Y genes
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the important opportunistic pathogens causing life
threatening nosocomial infections. Both clinical and environmental isolates can be considered
potential pathogens due to the conservation of some of the virulence genes. Present study aimed
at evaluating the prevalence and diversity of some of the virulence genes among P. aeruginosa
isolates from clinical and environmental samples. In this study, 70 clinical (sputum and swab)
and 31 environmental isolates were checked for the presence of 8 different virulence genes
by PCR amplification. Genetic diversity was studied by performing Enterobacterial repetitive
intergenic consensus (ERIC) PCR followed by cluster analysis using GelCompar II software.
There was a significant difference in the number of clinical and environmental isolates
possessing virulence genes (t = 8.2, c2
= 28.257 at p ≤ 0.05). 10 clinical and 1 environmental
isolate was found to possess all four genes of the type III secretion system (exoS, exoU, exoT
and exoY). Cluster analysis revealed 3 major groups with some of the environmental isolates
clustering with the clinical ones. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to report
the presence of all four genes involved in type III secretion system in P. aeruginosa. Presence
of several virulence traits in the environmental isolates suggests the possibility of these non
clinical ones becoming a clinical pathogenic one. The similarity of three environmental isolates
with the clinical ones shows the likelihood of infection caused by them in a hospital setting
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