This paper examined the role of microcredit in women empowerment though financial inclusion. A survey was conducted among the low profile unprivileged rural women living in southwestern part of Bangladesh. Data were collected on the usage and effectiveness of microcredit and analyzed using STATA 11. Multiple regression and descriptive statistics were used to interpret data. The study found that...

We model long-run electricity supply and demand for the western United States. We evaluate the costs of carbon-reducing and water-conserving scenarios. Carbon-reducing scenarios become cost-effective at carbon prices of $50–70 per ton CO2. Water-conserving scenarios are only cost-effective above $4000/acre-foot of water. Electricity planning is central to climate policy, but much less so to wat...

Much work now emphasizes the concept that interneuronal networks play critical roles in generating synchronized, oscillatory behavior. Experimental work has shown that functional inhibitory networks alone can produce synchronized activity, and theoretical work has demonstrated how synchrony could occur in mutually inhibitory networks. Even though gap junctions are known to exist between interne...

In recent years, there has been considerable interest in social capital theory in both research and policy arenas. Social capital has been associated with many aspects of improvements in health, environment and development. This paper assesses the theoretical support for a social capital based analysis of environment and health issues with a focus on the water-health nexus in low and middle inc...

Gap junctions are sites of intercellular communication where cells are interconnected by small aqueous channels (Figure 1b). The term is morphological, for in transmission electron micrographs of thin sections, the unit membranes of the joined cells are seen to remain separated by a gap of about 2 nm (Figure 1a, inset). The gap of gap junctions distinguishes them from tight junctions, or zonula...

Gap junctions are present between nonpigmented and pigmented epithelial cells layers, as well as between the adjacent pigmented cells, but not between the nonpigmented epithelial cells which face the posterior chamber. The unusual feature of these gap junctions is a dark banding which regularly appears every three rows of subunits. This dark band is the equivalent width of two rows of facets.

nvironmental degradation can inflict serious damage on poor people, because their livelihoods often depend on natural resource use, and their living conditions may offer little protection from pollution of the air, water and soil. At the same time, poverty-constrained options may induce the poor to deplete resources and degrade the environment at rates that are incompatible with long-term susta...

In vertebrates and invertebrates, signaling among neurons is most commonly mediated by chemical synapses. At these synapses neurotransmitter released by presynaptic neurons is detected by receptors on the postsynaptic neurons, leading to an influx of ions through the receptors themselves or through channels activated by intracellular signaling downstream of the receptors. But neurons can commun...