131 research outputs found
Trade finance for sustainable development in Asia and the Pacific
No full textThis discussion paper 'Trade Finance for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific' was prepared for ESCAP by Sailendra Narain, Chairman, Centre for SME Growth and Development Finance, India.
The author would like to express his gratitude and sincere thanks to Mia Mikic, Marc Proksch, Yann L Duval, Masato Abe and Mona Narain for reviewing and editing the paper and providing comments with valuable suggestions
Glycomimetic functionalized collagen hydrogels for peripheral nerve repair
No full textDespite the innate regenerative potential of the peripheral nervous system, functional recovery is often limited. The goal of this dissertation was to develop a clinically relevant biomaterial strategy to (1) encourage the regrowth of axons and (2) direct them down their appropriate motor tracts. To this end, we use peptide mimics of two glycans, polysialic acid (PSA) and an epitope first discovered on human natural killer cells (HNK-1), to functionalize type I collagen hydrogels. Previous studies have shown that these molecules, in their glycan and glycomimetic form, are associated with acceleration of neurite outgrowth, glial cell proliferation, and motoneuron targeting. In vitro, we demonstrated the retained functionality of the peptide glycomimetics after conjugation to a type I collagen backbone. While HNK-functionalized collagen increased motor neurite outgrowth, PSA-functionalized collagen encouraged motor and sensory neurite outgrowth and Schwann cell extension and proliferation. When we introduce these glycomimetic-functionalized collagen hydrogels into a critical gap femoral nerve model, we show that both PSA and HNK-functionalized hydrogels yielded a significant increase in functional recovery when compared to saline, native and scramble-coupled hydrogels. However, there was an interesting divergence in the morphological results: PSA-functionalized hydrogels increased axon count and HNK-functionalized hydrogels increased motoneuron targeting and myelination. We believed that these differences may be attributed to distinct mechanisms by which the glycomimetics impart their benefit. Interestingly, however, we found no synergistic gain in recovery with the use of our composite hydrogels which we speculated may be due to an inadequate dose of the individual glycomimetic. To address this possibility, we show that increasing the amount of functionalized peptide functionalized in our composite hydrogels led to increases in axon count and area of regeneration, but does not affect the degree of functional recovery. Finally, in order to assess potential mechanisms by which our glycomimetics impart benefit, we describe a novel platform for studying neural cell/biomaterial interaction through the use of two types of motoneuron cultures, dissociated spinal cord neurons and organotypic spinal cord slices. We show promising evidence that this strategy can be used to probe signaling pathways potentially involved in the action of these bioactives.Ph. D.Includes bibliographical referencesIncludes vitaby Shirley Narain Masan
Institutions, technology and water control; water users associations and irrigation management reform in two large-scale systems in India
No full textFew studies of resource management have paid as much attention or intelligently surveyed the operational aspects of Water User Associations (WUAs) as Institutions, Technology and Water Control. The implementation of WUAs policies, argues this pioneering study, is shaped by the aspirations of its users and participants. Such an insight makes for a trenchant study of the implementation process of the WUAs. Relying on ethnographic research methods, Narain takes an inter-disciplinary approach to examine how institutions are shaped by technology. Calling attention to the internal organizational dynamics of the WUAs, the author argues that the emergence of institutions for collective action is shaped by technology and social relationships. The book makes a case for mainstream discussions of technology, the design of canal irrigation, and open discussions of irrigation management reform. The warabandi system of irrigation prevalent in northwestern India has a different potential for reform than does the shejpali system prevalent in western India. Vishal Narain’s account of this highly topical subject should be of interest to researcher’s and academics, NGOs, multilateral organisations and donors interested in irrigation management reform, collective action and community-based management
We are as much a place as a people: rewilding as an ecofeminist decolonizing process in global literatures
No full textIn this study of literature spanning from the late 1800’s to the present day and across the world, I argue that a vital act of decolonization for communities of color is to rewild themselves, an act that aims to re-discover their sense of self in the natural world and in history. In pointing out the historical and material consequences of Eurocentric models of knowledge from an ecofeminist, post-colonial, and anti-white supremacist model, my thesis aims to make important historical connections between seemingly separate oppressive regimes through my analysis of Anonymous’ The Woman of Colour (1808), Aimé Césaire’s A Tempest (1969), N. Scott Momaday’s The Way to Rainy Mountain (1969), and Sandra Cisneros’ “Woman Hollering Creek” (1994). This research joins the fields of ecocriticism, women of color feminisms, spatial theories, and decolonization studies. The works of Anonymous, Césaire, Momaday, and Cisneros elicit a social reassessment of the environment, feminisms, and decolonization, thus revealing how place and people are persistent preoccupations of decolonization
The effect of polymer architecture, composition, and molecular weight on the properties of glycopolymer-based non-viral gene delivery systems
No full textThe effect of molecular weight, compositions and lectin type on the properties of hyperbranched glycopolymers as non-viral gene delivery systems
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