2,237 research outputs found
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. Particularly, international aid should be doubled or increased by 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 β 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
The effect of lipopolysaccharide on lipid bilayer permeability of Ξ²-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
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.
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
Immunocytochemical Colocalization of Fibroblast Growth Factor-1 with Neurotrophin-3 in Mouse Alveolar Macrophages
Alveolar macrophages are known to express a variety of growth factors and neurotrophins. Fibroblast growth factor-1 (FGF-1) is abundantly present in the lung and has mitogenic and neurotrophic activities similarly to neurotrophins. In order to determine whether FGF-1 associates with neurotrophins in alveolar macrophages, we investigated the immunocytochemical colocalization of FGF-1 with neurotrophins, nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), in mouse alveolar macrophages. The results showed that 34% of macrophages were immunoreactive for FGF-1, 10% for NGF, 9% for BDNF, and 17% for NT-3. Of FGF-1-immunoreactive (IR) macrophages, 16% were immunoreactive for NT-3, but only small percentages were immunoreactive for NGF (0.8%) and for BDNF (0.3%). FGF-1 and neurotrophins were all localized in the intracellular vesicles. In the vesicles, FGF-1 and NT-3 were frequently colocalized. All macrophages expressed lysosome-associated protein-2 (LAMP-2), a late endosomal and lysosomal marker, and early endosomes antigen 1 (EEA1), an early endosomal marker. FGF-1 and NT-3 were predominantly colocalized with LAMP-2 rather than with EEA1, whereas NGF and BDNF were colocalized with EEA1 rather than with LAMP-2. These results indicate that FGF-1 and NT-3 are substantially expressed in mouse alveolar macrophages and colocalized in vesicles, predominantly in late endosomes and lysosomes
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