9 research outputs found
The music and politics flowing between Cuba and West Africa, 1960-1970
No full textThis article, based on archival research in Mali and Cuba, analyses the political and musical issues involved in a game of back-and-forth that was prompted by Malian and Cuban musicians’ international travel. The author measures these stakes in the Cold War context, using the yardstick of post-independence cultural exchanges between African countries and Cuba. She studies the presence of Las Maravillas de Mali in Cuba and Orquestra Aragón in West Africa to update our understanding of the many levels of music flowing through the “Black Atlantic”. In doing so, she exposes the role special, post-colonial political dynamics have played in the history of globalized transatlantic music
Representation of Women in "The silence of Mohammed" by Salim BACHI
No full text‘The Silence of Muhammad’ is a novel written by Salim BACHI, published in 2008, it is a fictionalized story based on historical facts recounting different facets of the life of the Prophet of Islam Mohammed – Peace be upon Him. He was a man like no other who began his life as a shepherd in Mecca. Then he became a successful merchant. In this novel, the author relates another aspect of the life of the Prophet according to the eyes of two of his wives, notably, Khadidja and Aicha. Hence, this paper tries to highlight the different facets of the life of the Prophet of Islam; our attempt is placed on the humanistic side of the Man before being a Prophet. Besides, attention is placed on the existence of women in the life of the Prophet through his two wives
Chemoprotective Potential of Helianthemum confertum Against the Loss of Molecular and Functional Integrity of the Liver Cell in Doxorubicin-Treated Rats
No full textThe objective of the current study was led to reveal the possible protective effects of n-butanol extract of Helianthemum
confertum (H. confertum) against doxorubicin (DOX) induced liver damage and its implication on the integrity of liver
cells. Adult male rats were randomly divided into groups treated with plant extract (50 mg/kg, 100 mg/kg) for 10 days
and/or injected with a single dose of DOX (10 mg/kg). Liver function as well as oxidative stress parameters and histological
study were estimated. DOX treated rat’s induced hepatic dysfunction revealed by a significant increase in biochemical
parameters (serum transaminases, cholesterol and triglycerides) and disturbance in oxidative stress parameters described
by an increase in malondialdehyde (MDA) levels, providing information on the loss of cellular integrity. This later elicited
histopathological changes in the liver which was confirmed on histological section chowing necrotic cells. Altghout the
DOX-treatment reduced significantly the reduced glutathione (GSH) level and the glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity.
The pretreatment of the animals with n-butanol extract of H. confertumat 50 mg/kg and 100 mg/kg counteracted almost all
adverse effects induced by DOX. The results showed a considerable decrease in serum markers of liver function and lipid
peroxides. There was significant increase in the GSH level and the activity of antioxidant enzyme (GPx), which allowed
the normalization of redox status in liver cells. Data suggest that DOX-induced an oxidative stress in rat’s liver and nbutanol
extract of H. confertum exerted antioxidant properties.</jats:p
In vitro antioxidant activities of n-butanol extract of Helianthemum confertum
No full textAntioxidants play an important role to protect damage caused by oxidative stress. Plants having phenolic contents are reported to possess antioxidant properties. The basic aim of this research was to investigate the antioxidant properties of n-butanol extract of Helianthemum confertum, Cistaceae family. The antioxidant activities and phenolic contents of n-butanol extract were evaluated in vitro using spectrophotometer methods. There antioxidant activities were determined by DPPH (1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazine) radical scavenging assay and lipid peroxidation inhibition by TBARS method. Antioxidant activities were compared to ascorbic acid. Measurement of total phenolic compounds and total flavonoids content of the n-butanol extract of Helianthemum confertum were achieved using Folin-Ciocalteau reagent and AlCl3 respectively. The results showed that this extract containing 263.33±19.85µg of gallic acid equivalents/mg extract of total phenolic and 25.35±3.15µg of quercetin equivalents/mg extract total flavonoids
Protective Effect of Green Tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) Kuntze) against Prostate Cancer: From In Vitro Data to Algerian Patients
No full textGreen tea (GT) has been studied for its effects as antioxidant and cancer-preventive agent. Epidemiological studies showed that GT consumption decreases the risk for prostate cancer (PC). To investigate whether erythrocyte oxidative stress (OS) is associated with PC and whether daily consumption of GT improves the oxidative phenotype, we performed a study in a group of Algerian PC patients, preceded by an in vitro study to characterize composition and antioxidant/antiproliferative activities of the GT used. This contained a high content of phenolic and flavonoid compounds, demonstrating in vitro antioxidant activity and significant antiproliferative effect on human prostate cancer PC-3 cell line. Seventy PC patients and 120 age-matched healthy subjects participated in the study, with glutathione (GSH), malondialdehyde (MDA), and catalase activity evaluated before and after GT consumption. The results showed a reduced GSH and catalase activity and a high level of MDA in erythrocytes from PC patients. The consumption of 2-3 cups per day of GT during 6 months significantly increased GSH concentration and catalase activity and decreased MDA concentration. In conclusion, GT significantly decreased OS in Algerian PC patients. Regular consumption of GT for a long period may prevent men from developing PC or at least delay its progression.This work was funded by FEDER Funds through the Operational Programme Competitiveness Factors-COMPETE and national funds by FCT-Foundation for Science and Technology under Project PTDC/DTP-FTO/2433/2014. It is also supported by QREN Project 4832 with Reference CENTRO-07- ST24-FEDER-002008 financed through FEDER. This work was also financed by CNEPRU Project (F00920120093) and MESRS (DGRSDT). Albert A. Rizvanov was supported by Program of Competitive Growth of Kazan Federal University and subsidy allocated to Kazan Federal University for the state assignment in the sphere of scientific activities. The funding received did not generate any conflict of interest. We are thankful to Dr. Ibrahim Demirtas, from the Plant Research Laboratory, Department of Chemistry, C¸ ankırıKaratekin University, Uluyazı Campus, C¸ ankırı, Turkey, for helping with HPLC assays
School Subsidies for the Poor: Evaluating the Mexican Progresa Poverty Program
No full textThis paper evaluates how the Progresa Program, which provides poor mothers in rural Mexico with education grants, has affected enrollment. Poor children who reside in communities randomly selected to participate in the initial phase of the Progresa are compared to those who reside in other (control) communities. Pre-program comparisons check the randomized design, and double- difference estimators of the program's effect on the treated are calculated by grade and sex. Probit models are also estimated for the probability a child is enrolled, controlling for additional characteristics of the child, their parents, local schools, and community, and for sample attrition, to evaluate the sensitivity of the program estimates. These estimates of program short-run effects on enrollment are extrapolated to the lifetime schooling and the earnings of adults to approximate the internal rate of return on the public schooling subsidies as they increase expected private wages.School Enrollment, School Subsidies, Poverty Program Evaluation, Mexico
Impacts of Household Credit on the Poor in Peri-urban Areas of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
No full textAccess to credit is universally believed to be an effective tool to help the poor out of poverty. Yet the evidence for this has not considered all settings, especially the peri-urban areas of rapidly industrialising Asian countries. In these areas human capital is the main asset of the poor, so it is important to understand the input of credit on human capital. Therefore, this thesis begins with Chapter 2 showing the importance of human capital in income generation in Vietnam during the economic transition. The thesis then examines factors affecting credit participation and credit constraints for the poor in the peri-urban areas, and investigates whether credit participation impacts the poor’s education and healthcare spending and benefits their children’s schooling. Chapter 2 employs five large datasets of Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys (VHLSS) conducted in 1998, 2002, 2004, 2006 and 2008 by Vietnam General Statistics Office (GSO) to examine the rate of return to schooling in Vietnam over the period of 1998-2008. The chapter finds that the rate of return has increased quickly during the recent economic reform and reached around 9-10 percent. The chapter clearly indicates an increasing importance of education in earnings during the later part of the economic transition in Vietnam. Therefore, human capital investment, including healthcare and education, is needed to help the poor escape poverty since they rely heavily upon labour income, especially in urban and peri-urban areas. One of the typical solutions to improve the poor’s human capital is to provide access to credit resources, however, there are many barriers blocking the poor’s access to credit. Chapter 4 uses a novel dataset collected by the author from peri-urban areas of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam in 2008 to examine how the poor use their loans, and factors affecting their credit participation and credit constraints. The chapter finds the presence of many commercial banks in the areas does not help the poor, who rely heavily on informal credit. Loans in the peri-urban areas are mainly used for non-productive purposes, which stresses the importance of consumption smoothing motives. Further, households in more rural wards have a higher probability of borrowing than more urban households, thanks to better community relationships and interpersonal trust. Competition by borrowing neighbours adversely affects the opportunity for borrowing in urban wards where the poor households’ borrowings rely more on subsidized credit funds. A closer look at specified microcredit sources reveals that household behaviours differ in each market segment. Furthermore, the poor are highly credit-constrained. Wealthier households, in terms of asset holdings and phone possession, appear less credit-constrained. However, except in the most rural part of the study area, the likelihood of credit constraints increases with distance to the nearest banks, which suggests that supply-side intervention could help in overcoming credit constraints. Overall, the poor in urban wards are more credit-constrained because of exclusion by commercial banks and weak interpersonal trust. Given that a sizeable fraction of the poor have participated in credit activities, there is a debate about whether microcredit has positive impacts on education and health for borrowing households. To provide evidence for this debate, Chapter 5 mainly uses the Propensity Score Matching (PSM) method to examine the impact of household credit on education and healthcare spending by the poor in the peri-urban areas. In addition to matching statistically identical non-borrowers with borrowers, my estimates also control for household pre-treatment income and assets, which may be associated with unobservable factors affecting both credit participation and the outcomes of interest. The PSM estimates show significant and positive impacts of borrowing on education and healthcare spending. However, multiple ordered treatment effect estimates reveal that only formal credit has significant and positive impacts, while informal credit does not have significant impacts. Whether the effects of credit are homogenous across distributions of outcome variables is another question of interest. This question asks whether the impact is the same along the outcome distribution, such as for households with already high consumption versus those with low consumption, or already high healthcare spending versus the low spenders. Chapter 6 employs a Quantile Treatment Effect estimator (QTE) and finds heterogeneity in the impacts on household budget shares for education and healthcare. Finally, household credit for the poor was examined and found to have a positive influence on current expenditure on education. However, to test whether the credit to the poor has longer term effects on education, in Chapter 7 there are results for estimating the impact of the credit on child schooling. Probit, Negative Binomial (NB) and PSM estimates roughly indicate no strong evidence of an effect, especially of informal credit, although formal credit may have a positive impact on child schooling
The Role of UI GreenMetric as a Global Sustainable Rankings for Higher Education Institutions
No full textThis
note is presented as continuance discussion in
previous edition more focus on how Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) contribute to create sustainable
universities, sustainable future. As we know that university
is an institution of higher education and research which awards academic
degrees in various academic disciplines. Generally, it provides undergraduate
education and postgraduate education involved large numbers of students,
academic and non-academic staffs also wide areas of buildings. Hence,
universities can be considered as “small cities” (Alshuwaikhat & Abubakar,
2008) whereas their massive daily activities in term of teaching, research, and
community engagement, also movement of goods and persons inside and outside
campuses have contributed greenhouse gases emission. We can see that
universities have different type, function, size and buildings complexity,
energy and electricity consumption, waste generation, water and materials
consumption, public transportation, education activities and so forth so that
obviously, they brought significant impacts on the environment within their boundaries.
In regards to these facts, since the last two decades’ discussion on campuses’
externalities on environmental quality and integrity is profound and rise the
need to consider sustainability in academic institutions.Many universities in
developed countries have aware on this environmental issue, and take a lead in initiating and implementing
policies on green and sustainability campus. For example, in US and UK where
the greatest number of universities had actively involved in all aspects of
sustainability (Puertas & Marti, 2019). Several Irish Universities set
their policies on sustainability by referring to Education for Sustainable
Development (ESD), a document produced by the Irish government that explicitly
targets as National Strategy on Education for Sustainable Development in
Ireland 2014-2020 (Shawe et al., 2019). Numbers of local and global association
that strongly commit and put serious concern in sustainability issue such as
Global Universities Partnership on Environment for Sustainability (GUPES),
Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN), International Sustainable
Campus Network (ISCN), Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in
Higher Education (AASHE), Sustainability University Network (SUN) Thailand, Campus
Sustainability Network in Japan (CAS-Net Japan) etc. have been established and
significantly growth in number of participating university. Furthermore, as the
UNDP 17 SDGs became widely global concern including the role of HEIs in
achieving SDG targets by 2030, many more universities become aware regarding
the implementation of sustainability efforts and their annual report on
sustainability which related to SDGs. To
appreciate and acknowledge universities who have strong commitment and works
hard on campus sustainable efforts, UI GreenMetric World University Rankings was
developed in 2010 as a tool to support green universities development (Suwartha
& Riri, 2013). The ranking has 6 categories to be evaluated: firstly, the
university landscape (setting and infrastructure), secondly the electricity
consumption (energy and climate change), the third is waste management, the
forth is water preservation, the fifth is green transportation for public, and
the last is education and research that related to sustainability. From these 6
categories, some goals of the 17 SDGs are relevant such as goals 9 and 11 for
category setting and infrastructure, goals 7, 12, and 13 for category energy
and climate change, goals 3, 12, and 14 for category waste management, goal 6
for category water preservation, goals 13 and 15 for category green
transportation, and goal 4 for category education and research. In 2018, 719 universities
from 81 countries have participated in the rankings and have significantly
changed their attitudes towards sustainability challenges in their own
contexts. Having this large numbers of participants in global scale, UI
GreenMetric World University Rankings Network (UIGWURN) was established in 2017
to be a platform for sharing best practices and encourage more universities to
put sustainability agenda as one of their priorities. Currently, there are 29
country-based coordinators for the UIGWURN. The network has three main thematic
priority activities: (1) Shaping Global Higher Education and Research in
Sustainability; (2) Creating Global Sustainability Leaders; and (3) Partnering
on Solutions to Sustainability Challenges.Significant impact of the UI
GreenMetric ranking shown by the increasing number of participants, covered in
dynamic regions of North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and
Australia and Oceania. Many participating universities through their website
express sincere gratitude and proud that their continuous sustainability
efforts have been acknowledged by listed in the ranking. Appreciation to UI
GreenMetric ranking also given by the International Ranking Expert Group (IREG)
as a global sustainable ranking for university. Though several authors gave
critical analysis and positive feedback for a green ranking including UI
GreenMetric (i.e. Ragazzi & Ghidini, 2017), some authors on contrary
proposed a composite indicator developed using data envelopment analysis (DEA)
and combined with UI GreenMetric that later known as the DEA-GreenMetric
ranking (Puertas & Marti, 2019).Based on the above findings, it
can be concluded that UI GreenMetric has been acknowledged globally as the only
one sustainability ranking which relevancy simple, accessible, and has
significant role as benchmark or guidance tools particularly for universities
in developing countries towards creating sustainable universities, sustainable
future. Nurturing Research and Technology DevelopmentIn order to hasten developments in all research areas, various improvement of technologies through alternative designs, methods, modeling, experiments, and observation is urgently required. In this context, this edition presents twenty
papers dedicated to promote research in engineering and
environmental that direct and indirectly contributes to sustainable development
goals. The first paper, written by M.M. Julian, A. Brenning, S. Kralisch,
and M. Fink, presents the hydrological implications of the spatial
plan 2029 and climate change. The authors argue that the
hydrological model able to explore the impacts of
land-use change and climate change, providing useful information for urban
planning, environmental decision making, and
water resources management.The
next paper, written by A.T. Juniati, D. Sutjiningsih, H. Soeryantono, and E. Kusratmoko, analyses water availability estimation using the modified
Soil Conservation Service Curve Number (SCS-CN) model. The authors argue that from
the estimation of water availability, the water availability can still meet the
water demand for current needs, but there will be
shortage for the next 20 or 30 years.The third paper, written by S.G.P. Suvvari and V.V.S. Pasalapudi, examines the performance of encased silica-manganese slag stone columns in soft
marine clay.
The authors argue that the engineering behaviour of the soil was improved
by introducing the Silica-Manganese slag than conventional stone columns and
also with encasement length. The fourth paper, written by K.S. Vali and B. Murugan, investigates the impact of nano SiO2
particles on the physical and mechanical properties of cold-bonded artificial
lightweight aggregates by the pelletization process. The
authors argue that
the results could be very useful
in the enhancement of both the physical
and mechanical properties of lightweight aggregates.The fifth paper, written by P. Sukapto, J.R. Octavia, P.A.D. Pundarikasutra, P. K. Ariningsih, and S. Susanto, evaluates occupational health and safety and in the home-based footwear industry.
As a result, the authors recommend that the workshops need to improve
their working environment, work facilities, safety climate and participatory
ergonomics of the employees.The next paper, written by I.Z. Sutalaksana, S.Z.Z. Zakiyah, and A. Widyanti, examines the link risk behavior and accident rates in military tools manufacturer. The authors argue that occupational safety
can be achieved through individual approaches based on basic human values and
risk perception.The seventh paper, written by
O. L. Driouach, K.
Zarbane, and Z. Beidouri, reviews the use of lean manufacturing in small
and medium-sized enterprises. The authors argue that the proposed alternative
model can be used to implement lean manufacturing for the specific context of very small businesses (VSBs). The eighth paper, written by M. Iman, E.M. Yuniarno, and A.G. Sooai, proposes a low-cost
system for capturing motion using stereo webcam and some daily house grade
tools that has been specifically designed for theatre.
The authors argue that the proposed system creates high accuracy and cost efficient. The
next paper, written
by T.M. Amine and A. Djebbari, proposes a method for building low-density-parity-check (LDPC)
codes. The
authors argue that the proposed codes ensure a very low encoding
complexity and reduce the stored memory of the matrix H in which this matrix
can be easily built comparing to others codes used in channel coding.The tenth paper, written by A. Khumaeni, H. Sutanto, and W.S.
Budi, examines the use of
an Nd:YAG laser operated at a low-energy of 30 mJ to produce gold nanoparticles. The authors argue that the gold nanoparticles
with narrow size distribution and high purity can be successfully produced
using the PLA technique.The eleventh paper, written by
N.R Yanti, H. Heryani, M.D. Putra, and A. Nugroho, examines the triacetin production from glycerol using heterogeneous
catalysts prepared from peat clay. The authors argue that the the
conversion of glycerol for triacetin production using such alumina and silica catalysts
yielded levels of 82.7% and 87.4% respectively. The next paper, written by M. Muslim, M.I.
Alhamid, Nasruddin, M. Yulianto, and E. Marzuki, examines the variations in heat source temperatures
for an organic rankine cycle power plant to produce electricity. The authors argue that optimum
power estimation was measured several electrical power outputs between 1.76 and 2.74
kilowatts.The thirteenth paper, written
by M. Dani, A. Dimyati, Parikin, D.R.
Adhika, A.K.
Jahja, A.
Insani, Syahbuddin and C.A. Huang, examines the microstructure and deformation of austenitic super alloy after arc plasma sintering. The authors argue that the arc
plasma sintering leads to a decrease in the area of the eutectic structure at
the inter-dendrites and forms micro straine. The fourteenth paper, written by J.F. Fatriansyah, M. Joshua,
R. Lailani and M. Chalid, presents crystallization
kinetics study of impact polypropylene copolymer with kenaf as nucleating agent
and reinforcement.
The authors argue that that better crystal growth dynamics yields
better mechanical strength in the IPC+kenaf system. The next paper, written by B. Priyono, A.Z. Syahrial, M.R.
Nugraha, D. Sepala, Faizah and A. Subhan, examines the performance optimization of
micro composites
for lithium-ion batteries. The authors argue that the compounds of micro composites were
successfully synthesized and
obtained a reasonably high surface area and minimum
aggregation.The sixteenth
paper, written
by A.S. Baskoro, R.P Kurniawan and Haikal, evaluates the 2-axis movement of a 5-axis gantry robot for
welding applications. The authors argue that the best level of robot accuracy
is 0.83% at a velocity of 2.5 mm/s, while the repeatability rate produces 96 ?m and 108 ?m on the X
and Y axis.The next paper, written by D. Suwandi, R. Aziz,
A. Sifa, E. Haris, J.
Istiyanto
and Y. Whulanza, examines the application of dry
film photoresist on printed circuit board (PCB). The authors argue that the maskless photolithography process successfully conducted using DLP Projector Infocus IN114A applied
to dry films photoresist. The eighteenth paper, written
by H. Iridiastadi, B.
Anggawisnu, F.S. Didin, and P.A.R. Yamin, presents the prediction
of dynamic axial crushing on a square tube with eight holes used as a crush initiator. The author argues that the proposed formulas can be used to predict average force, peak force and energy absorption of the
dynamic axial crushing. The nineteenth paper, written
by I. Abar and I.K.A.P. Utama, examines the effect of incline angle of propeller boss
cap fins (PBCF) on ship propeller performance. The authors argue that the PBCF convergent
hub results in increased efficiency of around 0.8%, whereas the divergent type
decreases efficiency by about 1.0%.The last paper, written by M.Z.M.A. Zubair and S.I. Latumahina, investigates
progressive collapse of the local elements and
ultimate strength of a ro-ro ship. As
a result, the authors argue
that the deformation of the local elements on the deck
and bottom parts indicate
that stress concentration appearead.We hope that this edition of IJTech conveys some
new insights in the way we conduct our research. We are pleased to accept and
respond to any comment or enquiry you may have on the direction and content of
IJTech, and we invite you to
join us in this venture by sending your work for consideration.
 
Mapping geographical inequalities in access to drinking water and sanitation facilities in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000-17
No full textBACKGROUND: Universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities is an essential human right, recognised in the Sustainable Development Goals as crucial for preventing disease and improving human wellbeing. Comprehensive, high-resolution estimates are important to inform progress towards achieving this goal. We aimed to produce high-resolution geospatial estimates of access to drinking water and sanitation facilities.METHODS: We used a Bayesian geostatistical model and data from 600 sources across more than 88 low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs) to estimate access to drinking water and sanitation facilities on continuous continent-wide surfaces from 2000 to 2017, and aggregated results to policy-relevant administrative units. We estimated mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive subcategories of facilities for drinking water (piped water on or off premises, other improved facilities, unimproved, and surface water) and sanitation facilities (septic or sewer sanitation, other improved, unimproved, and open defecation) with use of ordinal regression. We also estimated the number of diarrhoeal deaths in children younger than 5 years attributed to unsafe facilities and estimated deaths that were averted by increased access to safe facilities in 2017, and analysed geographical inequality in access within LMICs.FINDINGS: Across LMICs, access to both piped water and improved water overall increased between 2000 and 2017, with progress varying spatially. For piped water, the safest water facility type, access increased from 40·0% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 39·4-40·7) to 50·3% (50·0-50·5), but was lowest in sub-Saharan Africa, where access to piped water was mostly concentrated in urban centres. Access to both sewer or septic sanitation and improved sanitation overall also increased across all LMICs during the study period. For sewer or septic sanitation, access was 46·3% (95% UI 46·1-46·5) in 2017, compared with 28·7% (28·5-29·0) in 2000. Although some units improved access to the safest drinking water or sanitation facilities since 2000, a large absolute number of people continued to not have access in several units with high access to such facilities (>80%) in 2017. More than 253 000 people did not have access to sewer or septic sanitation facilities in the city of Harare, Zimbabwe, despite 88·6% (95% UI 87·2-89·7) access overall. Many units were able to transition from the least safe facilities in 2000 to safe facilities by 2017; for units in which populations primarily practised open defecation in 2000, 686 (95% UI 664-711) of the 1830 (1797-1863) units transitioned to the use of improved sanitation. Geographical disparities in access to improved water across units decreased in 76·1% (95% UI 71·6-80·7) of countries from 2000 to 2017, and in 53·9% (50·6-59·6) of countries for access to improved sanitation, but remained evident subnationally in most countries in 2017.INTERPRETATION: Our estimates, combined with geospatial trends in diarrhoeal burden, identify where efforts to increase access to safe drinking water and sanitation facilities are most needed. By highlighting areas with successful approaches or in need of targeted interventions, our estimates can enable precision public health to effectively progress towards universal access to safe water and sanitation.FUNDING: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
