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Housing Conditions Contribute to Underweight in Children: An Example From Rural Villages in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

  • Tasnim, Tasnim;Dasvarma, Gouranga;Mwanri, Lillian
    • Journal of Preventive Medicine and Public Health
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    • v.50 no.5
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    • pp.328-335
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    • 2017
  • Objectives: The prevalence of underweight in children under 5 years of age is anomalously high in Konawe District, Southeast Sulawesi Province, Indonesia. This state of affairs may be related to poor housing conditions, such as limited access to clean water, the absence of a sanitary latrine, and the use of poor housing materials. Therefore, this study aimed to examine the effect of housing conditions on underweight in under-5 children in Konawe District. Methods: This study was conducted in 2013 in 5 health centres in Konawe District, Southeast Sulawesi Province, and used a case-control study design. The study recruited 400 under-5 children, including 100 of whom were cases and 300 of whom were age-matched controls (1:3). Cases were underweight children, while the controls were children with a normal nutritional status. The independent variables were the availability and types of water and latrine facilities and housing materials (roof, wall, and floor). The statistical analysis used Cox regression. Results: A lack of water availability (odds ratio [OR], 5.0; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.7 to 9.5; p<0.001), a lack of latrine availability in the home (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.5 to 4.0; p<0.001), and poor-quality roofing materials (OR, 1.7; 95% CI, 1.1 to 2.7; p<0.02) significantly contributed to underweight in children. In contrast, the walls and the floors did not contribute to under-5 year children being underweight (p=0.09 and p=0.71, respectively). Conclusions: Sanitation facilities and roofing were identified as important factors to address in order to improve children's nutritional status. Children's health status was directly impacted by food intake via their nutritional status.

Development of Novel Materials for Reduction of Greenhouse Gases and Environmental Monitoring Through Interface Engineering

  • Hirano, Shin-Ichi;Gang, Seok-Jung L.;Nowotny, Janusz-Nowotny;Smart, Roger-St.C.Smart;Scrrell, Charles-C.Sorrell;Sugihara, Sunao;Taniguchi, Tomihiroi;Yamawaki, Michio;Yoo
    • Korean Journal of Materials Research
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    • v.9 no.6
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    • pp.635-653
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    • 1999
  • The present work considers work considers research strategies to address global warming. Specifically, this work considers the development of technologies of importance for the reduction of greenhouse gas emission and, especially, the materials that are critical to these technologies. It is argued that novel materials that are essential for the production of environmentally friendly energy may be developed through a special kind of engineering: interface engineering, rather than through classical bulk chemistry. Progress on the interface engineering requires to increase the present state of understanding on the local properties of materials interfaces and interfaces processes. This, consequently, requires coordinated international efforts in order to establish a strong background in the science of materials interfaces. This paper considers the impact of interfaces, such as surfaces and grain boundaries, on the functional properties of materials. This work provides evidence that interfaces exhibit outstanding properties that are not displayed by the bulk phase. It is shown that the local interface chemistry and structure and entirely different than those of the bulk phase. In consequence the transport of both charge and matter along and across interfaces, that is so important for energy conversion, is different than that in the bulk. Despite that the thickness of interfaces is of an order to a nanometer, their impact on materials properties is substantial and, in many cases, controlling. This leads to the conclusion that the development of novel materials with desired properties for specific industrial applications will be possible through controlled interface chemistry. Specifically, this will concern materials of importance for energy conversion and environmental monitoring. Therefore, there is a need to increase the present state of understanding of the local properties of materials interfaces and the relationship between interfaces and the functional properties of materials. In order to accomplish this task coordinated international efforts of specialized research centres are required. These efforts are specifically urgent regarding the development of materials of importance for the reduction of greenhouse gases. Success of research in this area depends critically on financial support that can be provided for projects on materials of importance for a sustainable environment, and these must be considered priorities for all of the global economies. The authors of the present work represent an international research group economies. The authors of the present work represent an international research group that has entered into a collaboration on the development of the materials that are critical for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

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Sintering Mixtures in the Stage of Establishing Chemical Equilibrium

  • Savitskii, A.P.
    • Proceedings of the Korean Powder Metallurgy Institute Conference
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    • 1999.04a
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    • pp.5-5
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    • 1999
  • The Principal deficiency of the existing notion about the sintering-mixtures consists in the fact that almost no attention is focused on the Phenomenon of alloy formation during sintering, its connection with dimensional changes of powder bodies, and no correct ideas on the driving force for the sintering process in the stage of establishing chemical equilibrium in a system are available as well. Another disadvantage of the classical sintering theory is an erroneous conception on the dissolution mechanism of solid in liquid. The two-particle model widely used in the literature to describe the sintering phenomenon in solid state disregards the nature of the neighbouring surrounding particles, the presence of pores between them, and the rise of so called arch effect. In this presentation, new basic scientific principles of the driving forces for the sintering process of a two-component powder body, of a diffusion mechanism of the interaction between solid and liquid phases, of stresses and deformation arising in the diffusion zone have been developed. The major driving force for sintering the mixture from components capable of forming solid solutions and intermetallic compounds is attributed to the alloy formation rather than the reduction of the free surface area until the chemical equilibrium is achieved in a system. The lecture considers a multiparticle model of the mixed powder-body and the nature of its volume changes during solid-state and liquid-phase sintering. It explains the discovered S-and V-type concentration dependencies of the change in the compact volume during solid-state sintering. It is supposed in the literature that the dissolution of solid in liquid is realised due to the removal of atoms from the surface of the solid phase into the melt and then their diffusicn transfer from the solid-liquid interface into the bulk of liquid. It has been shown in our experimental studies that the mechanism of the interaction between two components, one of them being liquid, consist in diffusion of the solvent atoms from the liquid into the solid phase until the concentration of solid solutions or an intermetallic compound in the surface layer enables them to pass into the liquid by means of melting. The lecture discusses peculimities of liquid phase formation in systems with intermediate compounds and the role of the liquid phase in bringing about the exothermic effect. At the frist stage of liquid phase sintering the diffusion of atoms from the melt into the solid causes the powder body to grow. At the second stage the diminution of particles in size as a result of their dissolution in the liquid draws their centres closer to each other and makes the compact to shrink Analytical equations were derived to describe quantitatively the porosity and volume changes of compacts as a result of alloy formation during liquid phase sinteIing. Selection criteria for an additive, its concentration and the temperature regime of sintering to control the density the structure of sintered alloys are given.

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A Study on the Stereochemistry of 1,3-Thiazolidine (1,3-티아졸리딘 술폭시드의 입체구조에 관한 연구)

  • Ma He-Duck;Park Shin-Ja;Han Hoh-Gyu
    • Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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    • v.37 no.1
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    • pp.119-130
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    • 1993
  • The stereochemistry of 1,3-thiazolidine sulfoxides 1 in which 3 chiral centres are present in a molecule was elucidated by deuterium exchange and trapping reactions. 3-Acetoxy-1,3-thiazolidines 5 was oxidized to 6 and 8, corresponding $\alpha$-cis 10, $\alpha$-trans 11, $\beta$ -cis 12, and $\beta$ -trans 13 isomers were separated from their diasteromeric mixtures. Sulfoxide 10 was isomerized to more thermodynamically stable isomer 13 under neutral conditions in refluxing benzene or toluene. The methyl hydrogens of 2-methyl group in the sulfoxide 13 and those of the sulfoxide 11 were deuterated by the deuterium incorporation reactions. The intermediate sulfenic acids 25 and 26 derived from the sulfoxides 10 and 12 via sigmatropic rearrangement were trapped by 2-mercaptobenzothiazole (2-MBT) to give disufides 27 and 28 respectively. However, the sulfoxides 11 and 13 were transformed to ring expansion product dihydro-1,4-thiazine 29 under the same reaction conditions. In the presence of acid catalyst, the sulfoxides 10, 11, and 12 were converted to dihydro-1,4-thiazine 29 through the sulfoxide 13 quantitatively. The mechanisms of isomerization of sulfoxides and the formation of 29 were also discussed.

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Some General Characteristics of the Abstracting Journals Published in Korea (한국초록집의 특성)

  • 최성진
    • Journal of the Korean BIBLIA Society for library and Information Science
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    • v.7 no.1
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    • pp.5-22
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    • 1994
  • This paper attempts to define some general characteristics of the Abstracting Journals published in Korea as evidenced in those published during last ten years. This purpose is achieved by comparing the results of the two studies conducted by the author in 1984 and in 1994. Both studies were conducted to present the state of the art in the abstracting services in Korea. The major conclusions made in this paper are summarised as follows: (1) Researchers and professionals working in a small number of subject fields are benefited by the abstracting journals, which provide current-awareness services of recent achievements in research and development in Korea. Those in most of the fields have no abstracting journals of their own, and naturally they have no substantial abstract-ing services. Even many researchers and professionals in the fields that have some abstracting journals are not informed of research results in their fields because the abstracting journals are scattered in many narrow subjects and in many cases, the abstracting journals only cover publications in some specific forms and kinds. (2) Abstracting journals that cover more than two subject fields, which are supposed to be of more or less help to the researchers and professionals in the subject fields that have no abstracting journals published in their fields, have rapidly increased in number in the past ten years. Most of suh abstracting journals carry thesis and dissertation abstracts, and the rest, those of research papers published in specific places, in specific forms, by specific institutions, and of reports of research projects sponsored by specific foundations. These abstracting journals are not of the kind that comprehensively provide researchers in related fields with current awareness of publications of research results in Korea. (3) Most of the abstracting Journals existing in Korea are Published by institutions of higher education and research institutes, and the rest, by commercial publishers, industrial firms, libraries, information centres, government agencies, research foundations, learned societies, etc. Those which publish many titles are small in number and those publish one or two titles are large in number. The former is largely made up of institutions of higher education and research institutes. (4) The abstracting journals published in Korea are classified by type into those of dissertations, research papers, journal articles, patent specifications in that descending order. The fact that Master; and doctoral dissertation abstracts ate dominating in Korea is due to the irrational practice of publishing those abstracts at many different institutions. (5) Most of the abstracting journals existing in Korea are published by national or government-supported research institutes in order to publicise their own research outputs. Their coverage of literature is normally narrow, and naturally their value to users is limited. (6) Korean is the desirable language for the abstracting journals intended to be distributed within Korea. About half of the abstracting jornals published in Korea is printed in Korean and the other half, in foreign languages, and in Korean and in foreign languages together. All the abstracting journals in foreign languages are printed in English except one, which is printed in Japanese. (7) Some twenty per cent of the abstracting journals in Korea is published monthly, bimonthly, and quarterly. The others are published annually, biannually and irregularly. The latter may not function properly as a current-awareness tool due to long intervals between their issues. It is particularly undesirable that about half of the abstracting journals in Korea is published irregularly. Most of the abstracting journals published in Korea are distributed freely to individuals and institutions selected by the publishers. (8) The abstracting journals published by the use of computers increased drastically in the past ten years. The abstracting journals produced by the conventional type-setting method will possibly disappear in Korea in another ten years to come. Automation of the production of abstracting journals does not simply mean technical, economic improvement in publishing processes but availability of machine-readable databases that can be used for many other pur-poses, including generation of other bibliographical publications and provision of machine literature searching capabilities. Necessary steps should be taken for this important development immediately.

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