Children’s personal exposure to air pollution in rural villages in Bhutan

Exposure assessment studies conducted in developing countries have been based on fixed-site monitoring to date. This is a major deficiency, leading to errors in estimating the actual exposures, which are a function of time spent and pollutant concentrations in different microenvironments. This study quantified school children’s daily personal exposure to ultrafine particles (UFP) using real-time monitoring, as well as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and NO2 using passive sampling in rural Bhutan in order to determine the factors driving the exposures. An activity diary was used to track children’s time activity patterns, and difference in mean exposure levels across sex and indoor/outdoor were investigated with ANOVA. 82 children, attending three primary schools participated in this study; S1 and S2 during the wet season and S3 during the dry season. Mean daily UFP exposure (cm-3) was 1.08 × 104 for children attending S1, 9.81 × 103 for S2, and 4.19 × 104 for S3. The mean daily NO2 exposure (µg m-3) was 4.27 for S1, 3.33 for S2 and 5.38 for S3 children. Likewise, children attending S3 also experienced higher daily exposure to a majority of the VOCs than those attending S1 and S2. Time-series of UFP personal exposures provided detailed information on identifying sources of these particles and quantifying their contributions to the total daily exposures for each microenvironment. The highest UFP exposure resulted from cooking/eating, contributing to 64% of the daily exposure, due to firewood combustion in houses using traditional mud cookstoves. The lowest UFP exposures were during the hours that children spent outdoors at school. The outcomes of this study highlight the significant contributions of lifestyle and socio-economic factors in personal exposures and have applications in environmental risk assessment and household air pollution mitigation in Bhutan.

Law of the Republic of Uzbekistan "On Protection of Mental Health in the Population of Uzbekistan"

The law provides rights for PWD for easy access of public goods, including education, social security, medical treatment, occupational and social rehabilitation and establishes an extent of responsibility of the government and its bodies for the creation of favourable conditions for the social adaptation of PWDs in market environment conditions.

Studies on characteristics of lightning generated currents in an interconnected lightning protection system

An in-depth knowledge about the characteristics of lightning generated currents will facilitate evaluation of the interception efficacy of lightning protection systems. In addition, it would aid in extraction of valuable statistics (from measured current data) on local lightning parameters. Incidentally, present day knowledge on characteristics of lightning induced current in typical lightning protection systems is rather limited. This is particularly true with closely interconnected protection systems, like the one employed in Indian Satellite Launch Pad-II. This system is taken as a specific example in the present study. Various aspects suggest that theoretical modelling would be the best possible approach for the intended work. From the survey of pertinent literature, it is concluded that electromagnetic modelling of lightning return-stroke with current source at the channel base is best suited for this study. Numerical electromagnetic code was used for the required electromagnetic field solution and Fourier transform techniques were employed for computing time-domain results. A validation for the numerical modelling is provided by laborator experiments on a reduced scale model of the system. Apart from ascertaining the influence of various parameters, salient characteristics of tower base currents for different kinds of events are deduced. This knowledge can be used in identifying the type of event, as well as its approximate location. A method for estimation of injected stroke current has also been proposed.

Application of Haar functions for transmission line and transformer differential protection

The development of algorithms, based on Haar functions, for extracting the desired frequency components from transient power-system relaying signals is presented. The applications of these algorithms to impedance detection in transmission line protection and to harmonic restraint in transformer differential protection are discussed. For transmission line protection, three modes of application of the Haar algorithms are described: a full-cycle window algorithm, an approximate full-cycle window algorithm, and a half-cycle window algorithm. For power transformer differential protection, the combined second and fifth harmonic magnitude of the differential current is compared with that of fundamental to arrive at a trip decision. The proposed line protection algorithms are evaluated, under different fault conditions, using realistic relaying signals obtained from transient analysis conducted on a model 400 kV, 3-phase system. The transformer differential protection algorithms are also evaluated using a variety of simulated inrush and internal fault signals.

Lähiympäristö nepalilaisessa arjessa - oppilaiden ja opettajien käsityksiä omista vaikutusmahdollisuuksistaan

Aims. Sustainable development has become the most important theme in the development co-operation in the 21st century. Sustainable development is pursued by environmental education among other things. This research rose from the discussion about the meaning of environmental education in developing countries and especially the effect it might have in the environment and society. Nepal and one of its rural private schools was selected as a research object. The themes and questions of the research are: 1. Conceptions of the immediate environment of students and teachers: What does immediate environment mean according to the students and teachers? 2. Students most important acts in the environment: What kind of effect do the students think they can have on the environment in their everyday life? 3. Teachers opinions, experiences and methods in environmental education: What do teachers think should be taught to the students in environmental education? What are the teachers actually teaching? What kind of methods are the teachers using while teaching environmental education? Researching the conceptions of immediate environment and acts in the environment gives information about the students and teachers relation with the nature in their everyday life and the baseline from which environmental education will be implemented from. Teachers opinions, experiences and methods in environmental education provide information on the current implementation of the environmental education. Methods. Ethnography was selected as a research method. Before collecting the actual data, a pre-study was conducted. The aim of the pre-study was to specify the research themes and practice the cross-cultural interview as a research method. The actual data was collected in the last week of January 2010 in Dhangadhi, Nepal. The data included twenty-two drawings and captions from the students and one group interview with the teachers. The data was analyzed with brief quantitative analysis and full analysis was done with a qualitative method called content analysis. Results and conclusions. Teachers and student s conceptions of immediate environment differ from each other. Students saw the immediate environment from the scientific approach while the teachers thought it was more social conception. The interface was found in their own personal environment. This interface is a good baseline for environmental education. The most important acts in the environment for the students were protection towards the environment. The students saw their possibilities to have an influence in the environment through the school. A connection between the school and acting in the environment was evident. In the teachers opinions and experiences of environmental education, environmental problems and the importance of teaching attitudes and values were found. No logic thematic entities were discovered but the teachers did use different kinds of methods in their teaching. Achieving the international aims for environmental education was very challenging in the research school because of the teachers lack of information and skills to teach the subject. The context where the school works was also challenging.

Potential of piperonyl butoxide-synergised pyrethrins against psocids (Psocoptera: Liposcelididae) for stored-grain protection.

BACKGROUND: Piperonyl butoxide (PB)-synergised natural pyrethrins (pyrethrin:PB ratio 1:4) were evaluated both as a grain protectant and a disinfestant against four Liposcelidid psocids: Liposcelis bostrychophila Badonnel, L. entomophila (Enderlein), L. decolor (Pearman) and L. paeta Pearman. These are key storage pests in Australia that are difficult to control with the registered grain protectants and are increasingly being reported as pests of stored products in other countries. Firstly, mortality and reproduction of adults were determined in wheat freshly treated at 0.0, 0.75, 1.5, 3 and 6 mg kg-1 of pyrethrins + PB (1:4) at 301C and 702% RH. Next, wheat treated at 0.0, 1.5, 3 and 6 mg kg-1 of pyrethrins + PB (1:4) was stored at 301C and 702% RH and mortality and reproduction of psocids were assessed after 0, 1.5, 3 and 4.5 months of storage. Finally, the potential of synergised pyrethrins as a disinfestant was assessed by establishing time to endpoint mortality for adult psocids exposed to wheat treated at 3 and 6 mg kg-1 of synergised pyrethrins after 0, 3, 6, 9 and 12 h of exposure. RESULTS: Synergised pyrethrins at 6 mg kg-1 provided 3 months of protection against all four Liposcelis spp., and at this rate complete adult mortality of these psocids can be achieved within 6 h of exposure. CONCLUSION: Piperonyl butoxide-synergised pyrethrins have excellent potential both as a grain protectant and as a disinfestant against Liposcelidid.

Classical Biological Control for the Protection of Natural Ecosystems.

Of the 70 cases of classical biological control for the protection of nature found in our review, there were fewer projects against insect targets (21) than against invasive plants (49), in part, because many insect biological control projects were carried out against agricultural pests, while nearly all projects against plants targeted invasive plants in natural ecosystems. Of 21 insect projects, 81% (17) provided benefits to protection of biodiversity, while 48% (10) protected products harvested from natural systems, and 5% (1) preserved ecosystem services, with many projects contributing to more than one goal. In contrast, of the 49 projects against invasive plants, 98% (48) provided benefits to protection of biodiversity, while 47% (23) protected products, and 25% (12) preserved ecosystem services, again with many projects contributing to several goals. We classified projects into complete control (pest generally no longer important), partial control (control in some areas but not others), and "in progress," for projects in development for which outcomes do not yet exist. For insects, of the 21 projects discussed, 59% (13) achieved complete control of the target pest, 18% (4) provided partial control, and 41% (9) are still in progress. By comparison, of the 49 invasive plant projects considered, 27% (13) achieved complete control, while 33% (16) provided partial control, and 47% (24) are still in progress. For both categories of pests, some projects' success ratings were scored twice when results varied by region. We found approximately twice as many projects directed against invasive plants than insects and that protection of biodiversity was the most frequent benefit of both insect and plant projects. Ecosystem service protection was provided in the fewest cases by either insect or plant biological control agents, but was more likely to be provided by projects directed against invasive plants, likely because of the strong effects plants exert on landscapes. Rates of complete success appeared to be higher for insect than plant targets (59% vs 27%), perhaps because most often herbivores gradually weaken, rather than outright kill, their hosts, which is not the case for natural enemies directed against pest insects. For both insect and plant biological control, nearly half of all projects reviewed were listed as currently in progress, suggesting that the use of biological control for the protection of wildlands is currently very active.

Impact of online privacy concerns and brand reputation on consumer willingness to provide personal information

The aim of this research was to identify the role of brand reputation in encouraging consumer willingness to provide personal data online, for the benefits of personalisation. This study extends on Malhotra, Kim and Agarwal’s (2004) Internet Users Information Privacy Concerns Model, and uses the theoretical underpinning of Social Contract Theory to assess how brand reputation moderates the relationship between trusting beliefs and perceived value (Privacy Calculus framework) with willingness to give personal information. The research is highly relevant as most privacy research undertaken to date focuses on consumer related concerns. Very little research exists examining the role of brand reputation and online privacy. Practical implications of this research include gaining knowledge as to how to minimise online privacy concerns; improve brand reputation; and provide insight on how to reduce consumer resistance to the collection of personal information and encourage consumer opt-in.

Protection and Switching-Aid Networks for Transistor Bridge Inverters

The present trend in the industry is towards the use of power transistors in the development of efficient Pulsewidth Modulated (PWM) inverters, because of their operation at high frequency, simplicity of turn-off, and low commutation losses compared to the technology using thyristors. But the protection of power transistors, minimization of switching power loss, and design of base drive circuit are very important for a reliable operation of the system. The requirements, analysis, and a simplified procedure for calculation of the switching-aid network components are presented. The transistor is protected against short circuit using a modified autoregulated and autoprotection drive circuit. The experimental results show that the switching power loss and voltage stress in the device can be reduced by suitable choice of the switching-aid network component values.

High-density lipoprotein 17beta-estradiol fatty acyl esters and phytoestrogens : Impact on reverse cholesterol transport and women's cardiovascular health

Reverse cholesterol transport (RCT) is an important function of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) in the protection of atherosclerosis. RCT is the process by which HDL stimulates cholesterol removal from peripheral cells and transports it to the liver for excretion. Premenopausal women have a reduced risk for atherosclerosis compared to age-matched men and there exists a positive correlation for serum 17β-estradiol (E2) and HDL levels in premenopausal women supporting the role of E2 in atherosclerosis prevention. In premenopausal women, E2 associates with HDL as E2 fatty acyl esters. Discovery of the cellular targets, metabolism, and assessment of the macrophage cholesterol efflux potential of these HDL-associated E2 fatty acyl esters were the major objectives of this thesis (study I, III, and IV). Soy phytoestrogens, which are related to E2 in both structure and function, have been proposed to be protective against atherosclerosis but the evidence to support these claims is conflicting. Therefore, another objective of this thesis was to assess the ability of serum from postmenopausal women, treated with isoflavone supplements (compared to placebo), to promote macrophage cholesterol efflux (study II). The scope of this thesis was to cover the roles that HDL-associated E2 fatty acyl esters have in the cellular aspects of RCT and to determine if soy isoflavones can also influence RCT mechanisms. SR-BI was a pivotal cellular receptor, responsible for hepatic and macrophage uptake and macrophage cholesterol efflux potential of HDL-associated E2 fatty acyl esters. Functional SR-BI was also critical for proper LCAT esterification activity which could impact HDL-associated E2 fatty acyl ester assembly and its function. In hepatic cells, LDL receptors also contributed to HDL-associated E2 fatty acyl esters uptake and in macrophage cells, estrogen receptors (ERs) were necessary for both HDL-associated E2 ester-specific uptake and cholesterol efflux potential. HDL-containing E2 fatty acyl esters (E2-FAE) stimulated enhanced cholesterol efflux compared to male HDL (which are deficient in E2) demonstrating the importance of the E2 ester in this process. To support this, premenopausal female HDL, which naturally contains E2, showed greater macrophage cholesterol efflux compared to males. Additionally, hepatic and macrophage cells hydrolyzed the HDL-associated E2 fatty acyl ester into unesterified E2. This could have important biological ramifications because E2, not the esterified form, has potent cellular effects which may influence RCT mechanisms. Lastly, soy isoflavone supplementation in postmenopausal women did not modulate ABCA1-specific macrophage cholesterol efflux but did increase production of plasma pre-β HDL levels, a subclass of HDL. Therefore, the impact of isoflavones on RCT and cardiovascular health needs to be further investigated. Taken as a whole, HDL-associated E2 fatty acyl esters from premenopausal women and soy phytoestrogen treatment in postmenopausal women may be important factors that increase the efficiency of RCT through cellular lipoprotein-related processes and may have direct implications on the cardiovascular health of women.

Heat acclimation for protection from exertional heat stress (Protocol)

This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows: To assess the effects of heat acclimation interventions aimed at protecting health and performance from exertional heat stress.