Market definition study of photovoltaic power for remote villages in developing countries

The potential market of photovoltaic systems in remote village applications in developing countries is assessed. It is indicated that photovoltaic technology is cost-competitive with diesel generators in many remote village applications. The major barriers to development of this market are the limited financial resources on the part of developing countries, and lack of awareness of photovoltaics as a viable option in rural electrification. A comprehensive information, education and demonstration program should be established as soon as possible to convince the potential customer countries and the various financial institutions of the viability of photovoltaics as an electricity option for developing countries

Market definition study of photovoltaic power for remote villages in the United States

A grass roots evaluation of the market potential was carried out for photovoltaic applications in remote villages in the U. S. and its possessions. An estimate of almost 14 MWp available for conversion from a potential to a real market was defined. The total power potential was based on the energy needs of almost 400 sites reported by Federal agencies and inputs from over 100 Indian tribes. The methodology used, the results achieved, and some recommendations of how to convert this domestic market potential into a real market are detailed

Uptake of purines in <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i>-infected human erythrocytes is mostly mediated by the human Equilibrative Nucleoside Transporter and the human Facilitative Nucleobase Transporter

&lt;b&gt;Background&lt;/b&gt;: Plasmodium parasites are unable to synthesize purines de novo and have to salvage them from the host. Due to this limitation in the parasite, purine transporters have been an area of focus in the search for anti-malarial drugs. Although the uptake of purines through the human equilibrative nucleoside transporter (hENT1), the human facilitative nucleobase transporter (hFNT1) and the parasite-induced new permeation pathway (NPP) has been studied, no information appears to exist on the relative contribution of these three transporters to the uptake of adenosine and hypoxanthine. Using the appropriate transporter inhibitors, the role of each of these salvage pathways to the overall purine transport in intraerythrocytic Plasmodium falciparum was systematically investigated. &lt;b&gt;Methods&lt;/b&gt;: The transport of adenosine, hypoxanthine and adenine into uninfected and P. falciparum-infected human erythrocytes was investigated in the presence or absence of classical inhibitors of the hFNT1, hENT1 and NPP. The effective inhibition of the various transporters by the classical inhibitors was verified using appropriate known substrates. The ability of high concentration of unlabelled substrates to saturate these transporters was also studied. &lt;b&gt;Results&lt;/b&gt;: Transport of exogenous purine into infected or uninfected erythrocytes occurred primarily through saturable transporters rather than through the NPP. Hypoxanthine and adenine appeared to enter erythrocytes mainly through the hFNT1 nucleobase transporter whereas adenosine entered predominantly through the hENT1 nucleoside transporter. The rate of purine uptake was approximately doubled in infected cells compared to uninfected erythrocytes. In addition, it was found that the rate of adenosine uptake was considerably higher than the rate of hypoxanthine uptake in infected human red blood cells (RBC). It was also demonstrated that furosemide inhibited the transport of purine bases through hFNT1. &lt;b&gt;Conclusion&lt;/b&gt;: Collectively, the data obtained in this study clearly show that the endogenous host erythrocyte transporters hENT1 and hFNT1, rather than the NPP, are the major route of entry of purine into parasitized RBC. Inhibitors of hENT1 and hFNT1, as well as the NPP, should be considered in the development of anti-malarials targeted to purine transport

Reconstruire une « cité métisse ». Migrations européennes, économie touristique et impasses de la valorisation culturelle du patrimoine saint-louisien (Sénégal).

A contre-courant des recherches qui analysent les mobilités internationales liées à l’Afrique à partir de flux sud-nord et sud-sud, cet article s’intéresse à une migration particulière de l’Europe vers le Sénégal, plus spécifiquement vers la ville de Saint-Louis, dont l’île historique est classée au patrimoine mondial de l’Unesco depuis 2000. L’étude s’inscrit au croisement des analyses socio-anthropologiques de la valorisation culturelle et touristique des sites urbains devenus patrimoines mondiaux en Afrique et des mobilités de privilège vers des régions post-touristiques au « Sud ». Plusieurs activités entrepreneuriales, menées par des migrants européens aux trajectoires variées, s’inscrivent dans des dynamiques socio-économiques et culturelles communes valorisant une représentation du patrimoine de Saint-Louis en tant qu’héritage euro-africain, notamment franco-sénégalais. Cependant, ce « métissage » historique et culturel, qui sous-tend l’idée d’un vivre-ensemble par-delà les frontières sociales en faveur d’un développement local, induit paradoxalement des divergences professionnelles, des clivages sociaux et des différenciations ethnoraciales. Cette promotion particulière du patrimoine de Saint-Louis oriente et sélectionne également les flux de visiteurs, contribuant à un dynamisme économique restreint. La rhétorique du tourisme culturel est ainsi mise à l’épreuve de réalités et pratiques sociales qui contredisent ses objectifs initiaux. Elle produit des modes et logiques de distinction et révèle un patrimoine en tension, dans un contexte économique urbain qui accentue les asymétries sociales racialisées.Mots clés : tourisme ; patrimoine mondial ; migrations Nord-Sud ; Saint-Louis ; Sénégal

MA

thesisMuch of the existing research on the economic assimilation of post-1965 immigrants relative to the native born has revolved around earnings. The earnings differential is a helpful measure of inequality as it indicates the amount of resources an individual or group has for socio-economic well-being, but it still limits our complete understanding of immigrants' economic incorporation and more specifically, their labor market experiences. Added to this, assimilation is not a uniform process. I evaluate one of the key assertions of segmented assimilation theory by examining national origin patterns of labor market integration, for post-1965 Latin American and Caribbean immigrants' changes in employment status over the period 1980 to 2000

L'île de Gorée, patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO : les contradictions mémorielles d'un site classé et habité

International audienceHeritage from colonial times related to transatlantic slavery gave birth to a specific cultural tourism in Sub-Saharan Africa. The Island of Gorée in Senegal, a UNESCO world heritage site since 1978, has become an essential tourist destination – the first one in the country – and a symbol with a strong postcolonial identity that drives huge media attention. As for other historical emblems in Sub-Saharan Africa, the past of the Island of Gorée has been both inherited and rebuilt, and lies at the core of many political and cultural debates. As a district Community since 1996, this memorial site is also an inhabited place which is daily used and perceived in many different ways, as various actors move, live and work on this island. Several social, economic and political issues arise from its classification: they unveil differing definitions of this world heritage site, which question its cultural and historical specificity or shape other social imaginaries. The tourist gaze can frame memorial presentations, but the way they are challenged or rejected at a local scale results in social dynamics which are essential to the political and economic analysis of multidimensional heritage.Le patrimoine de l'époque coloniale relatif à la traite des esclaves a favorisé l'émergence d'un tourisme culturel particulier sur le continent africain. L'île de Gorée au Sénégal, patrimoine mondial de l'UNESCO depuis 1978, est devenue un site touristique incontournable, et un symbole postcolonial dont la référence identitaire est très médiatisée. Comme d'autres emblèmes sur le continent africain, elle reflète un passé à la fois hérité et reconstruit, qui fait l'objet d'enjeux politiques et culturels. En tant que Commune d'arrondissement depuis 1996, ce lieu de mémoire se confond aussi avec un espace de quotidienneté, confronté à des représentations et usages extrêmement différents que suscite la présence simultanée de catégories d'acteurs hétérogènes. Le classement de ce site habité implique divers enjeux socio-économiques et politiques : ils mettent à jour des écarts de sens qui construisent ou remettent en cause sa spécificité culturelle et historique en tant que patrimoine de l'humanité. Si le regard touristique peut modeler les questions mémorielles, leur rejet ou reconstruction à l'échelle locale constituent des logiques sociales essentielles à l'analyse politique et économique des représentations plurielles du patrimoine

Relationship Between Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Severe Dengue in a Brazilian Population

Dengue virus has become one of the most important arboviral diseases of today. With nearly half of the global population at risk, this infectious disease carries great significance. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between 18 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and severe dengue in a population from Recife, Brazil. The SNPs of interest are as follows: TLR8 rs17256081, IFNG rs2069718, IFNG rs2069727, IRF1 rs2070729, OAS2 rs2072137, OAS2 rs2072138, OAS3 rs2240188, MX1 rs3737399, VEPH1 rs3911403, IRAK4 rs4251580, CLEC4C rs17199006, PLCE1 rs3740360, MRC1 rs606231248, MRC1 rs2296414, RNASEL rs486907, OASL rs3213545, MX1 rs7277299, and MICB rs3132468. A total of 450 DNA samples were pulled from two studies—a cohort study of dengue patients and a yellow fever vaccine cohort. Sample concentrations were tested using the Nanodrop 1000 Spectrometer. The concentrations of all samples were between 10-100 ng/uL, per the laboratory technician’s request. Samples were transported to the University of Pittsburgh’s Genomic Core Research Laboratory for genotyping using the iPlex MassARRAY system and results were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and R statistical software. Of the 18 SNPs, statistically significant results were observed for OAS2 rs2072137, OAS3 rs2240188, PLCE1 rs3740360, and MX1 rs7277299. For OAS2 rs2072137, the CC genotype was shown to be significantly associated with severe dengue (OR=2.10, P=0.01). The CC genotype associated with OAS3 rs2240188 also appears to influence disease severity (OR=1.96, P=0.02). For PLCE1 rs3740360, calculations reveal a significant association between the AA genotype and severe dengue (OR=2.28, P=0.03). The last notable result was found in MX1 rs7277299 (OR=5.33, P=0.02) where the CC genotype was also significantly associated with severe disease. Though this is one of the largest dengue-related gene association studies, further research is necessary to validate the findings. The increasing burden of dengue disease signifies the public health importance of this research—to contribute to the advancement of dengue research, vaccine development, therapeutic strategies, and diagnostic tools

Ernest Hemingway and Alice Walker: Branding the Great American Writer

Ernest Hemingway and Alice Walker: Branding the Great American Writer discusses how Public Relations efforts have shaped the work of 20th century authors, Alice Walker and Ernest Hemingway through their respective stories The Color Purple and The Old Man and The Sea. The tactics of this field have created two of the most prominent literary figures of our time, writers who have both produced timeless works and summoned a global audience to pay close attention to their work. Understanding how this attention is garnered is vital to recognizing the way authorship is created, shaped, and consumed by the reading public

Purine transport in plasmodium falciparum

Purine transport in malaria parasites has become an important potential drug target because the malaria parasite is unable to synthesis purine de novo and has to salvage it from the host milieu through transporter(s). Knowledge of the number, selectivity and kinetic parameters of the transporters expressed by the parasite would therefore facilitate a rational purine-based chemotherapy of malaria. The rates of transport of radiolabeled purines into Plasmodium falciparum-infected erythrocytes were measured using classical uptake techniques. We found that the uptake of purine into intact parasite-infected erythrocytes was mediated by the endogenous human erythrocyte nucleoside and nucleobase transporters (hENT1 and hFNT1) rather than the parasite-induced New Permeation Pathways (NPP). The overall rate of purine uptake was observed to be approximately doubled in parasite-infected cells compared to uninfected cells and the rate of adenosine uptake was seen to be faster than hypoxanthine in parasite-infected cells. It was observed that transport of hypoxanthine and adenine through the hFNT1 was unexpectedly inhibited by furosemide. This inhibition by furosemide of [3H]-hypoxanthine and [3H]-adenine uptake was not through inhibition of the NPP, as it was observed equally in infected and uninfected hRBC. To gain further understanding of purine transport in the malaria parasite, uptake was measured in saponin-freed P. falciparum trophozoites. Treatment of parasite infected erythrocytes with saponin render both the erythrocyte membrane and the parasitophorous vacuole membrane permeable to solutes, allowing transport to be measured across the parasite membrane. The data obtained from the uptake assays were analysed using Michaelis Menten plots to obtain the kinetic properties (Km and Vmax) of the parasite’s purine transporters. Three separate and novel transport activities were identified in saponin-freed P. falciparum trophozoites: (i) a high affinity hypoxanthine transporter with a secondary capacity for purine nucleosides, named PfNT1, (ii) a separate high affinity transporter for uptake of adenine (named PfADET1) and (iii) a low affinity/high capacity adenine carrier (denoted PfADET2). Additionally, the presence in the parasite of a low affinity adenosine transporter designated PfLAAT, with kinetic properties similar to that previously reported by other research groups was also confirmed. At room temperature, uptake of hypoxanthine through PfNT1 was observed to be 12-fold more efficient than adenosine. The gene encoding the high affinity hypoxanthine/nucleoside transporter PfNT1 was disrupted by a single crossover event and the parasite clones obtained were designated 3D7DPfNT1. The characteristics of purine uptake into parasites lacking a functional PfNT1 gene were then compared to uptake in wild-type parasites. The high affinity uptake of hypoxanthine or adenosine was completely abolished in 3D7DPfNT1, whereas uptake of 25µM [3H]-adenosine (through the low affinity transporter, PfLAAT) was similar in both 3D7DPfNT1 and wild-type P. falciparum parasites. Adenine transport was observed to increase in 3D7DPfNT1, presumably to partly compensate for the loss of the high affinity hypoxanthine transporter. An improved microfluorometric technique for determining parasite’s sensitivity to antimalarial drugs was developed and the method was used to evaluate antiplasmodial potential of a small number of purine analogues. A ‘hypoxanthine-like’ purine analogue, JA-32, was found to inhibit the uptake of hypoxanthine by PfNT1, supporting the potential of purine transporters as targets for antimalarial drug development. The findings from this study provide evidence that purine salvage in P. falciparum is predominantly based on the highly efficient uptake of hypoxanthine by PfNT1 and secondarily on the high capacity uptake of nucleosides by a lower affinity carrier. The exact contribution to the overall purine salvage in parasite by the two transporters of adenine is not clear. Indeed, the issue of whether Plasmodium can utilise adenine as a purine source is controversial. These findings re-emphasise the importance of purine transporters as targets for novel antimalarial drugs and open the gateway for a systematic purine-based chemotherapy of malaria