Migration and women’s health

Women have been migrating at similar rates to men for the past 40 years, and comprised about half of all migrants in 2005. Women and children are most affected by displacement as a result of wars and human trafficking. In some cases, the health of female migrants is improved via integration into better health systems in the host country. More often, however, the health of female migrants is affected negatively. Women are doubly disadvantaged because they are discriminated against as women and as migrants. Female migrants are also highly vulnerable to acts of sexual abuse, rape, and violence. This is especially true for women in refugee camps, whose reproductive health needs are often overlooked. To improve the health of female migrants it is important to develop and implement policies that recognize and insist on the respect of the rights of migrants.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/135215/1/ijgo179.pd

Mathematical modeling of the synthane gasifier for non-caking coals

A mathematical model based on IGT kinetics has been developed to simulate the gasification of coal in the Synthane gasifier. Two computer codes have been prepared that incorporate this model. The first, called the analytical code, has been designed primarily to evaluate model parameters from runs on the 4-inch Synthane PDU gasifier. The second, called the predictive code, has been designed to predict temperatures for the zones within the model as well as the effluent products from a stipulation of run conditions. In the present report some 35 Synthane runs for the non-caking western coal Montana Rosebud have been analyzed. Parity plots have been prepared to check the efficacy of the model and of the computer codes developed

Diazotrophic community structure and function in two successional stages of biological soil crusts from the Colorado Plateau and Chihuahuan Desert

The objective of this study was to characterize the community structure and activity of N2-fixing microorganisms in mature and poorly developed biological soil crusts from both the Colorado Plateau and Chihuahuan Desert. Nitrogenase activity was approximately 10 and 2.5 times higher in mature crusts than in poorly developed crusts at the Colorado Plateau site and Chihuahuan Desert site, respectively. Analysis of nifH sequences by clone sequencing and the terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism technique indicated that the crust diazotrophic community was 80 to 90% heterocystous cyanobacteria most closely related to Nostoc spp. and that the composition of N2-fixing species did not vary significantly between the poorly developed and mature crusts at either site. In contrast, the abundance of nifH sequences was approximately 7.5 times greater (per microgram of total DNA) in mature crusts than in poorly developed crusts at a given site as measured by quantitative PCR. 16S rRNA gene clone sequencing and microscopic analysis of the cyanobacterial community within both crust types demonstrated a transition from a Microcoleus vaginatus-dominated, poorly developed crust to mature crusts harboring a greater percentage of Nostoc and Scytonema spp. We hypothesize that ecological factors, such as soil instability and water stress, may constrain the growth of N2-fixing microorganisms at our study sites and that the transition to a mature, nitrogen-producing crust initially requires bioengineering of the surface microenvironment by Microcoleus vaginatus

Three distinct clades of cultured heterocystous cyanobacteria comprise the dominant N2-fixing members of biological soil crusts of the Colorado Plateau, USA

The identity of the numerically dominant N2-fixing bacteria in biological soil crusts of the Colorado Plateau region and two outlying areas was determined using multiple approaches, to link the environmental diversity of nifH gene sequences to cultured bacterial isolates from the regions. Of the nifH sequence-types detected in soil crusts of the Colorado Plateau, 89% (421/473) were most closely related to nifH signature sequences from cyanobacteria of the order Nostocales. N2-fixing cyanobacterial strains were cultured from crusts and their morphotypes, 16S rRNA gene and nifH gene sequences were characterized. The numerically dominant diazotrophs in the Colorado Plateau crusts fell within three clades of heterocystous cyanobacteria. Two clades are well-represented by phylogenetically and morphologically coherent strains, corresponding to the descriptions of Nostoc commune and Scytonema hyalinum, which are widely recognized as important N2-fixing components of soil crusts. A third, previously-overlooked clade was represented by a phylogenetically coherent but morphologically diverse group of strains that encompass the morphogenera Tolypothrix and Spirirestis. Many of the strains in each of these groups contained at least two nifH copies that represent different clusters in the nifH environmental survey