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Ex vivo/in vitro protective effect of myricetin bulk and nano-forms on PhIP-induced DNA damage in lymphocytes from healthy individuals and pre-cancerous MGUS patients
No full textYes2-Amino-1-methyl-6-phenylimidazo [4,5-b]pyridine (PhIP) is a central dietary mutagen, produced when proteinaceous food is heated at very high temperatures potentially causing DNA strand breaks. This study investigates the protective potential of a well-researched flavonoid, myricetin in its bulk and nano-forms against oxidative stress induced ex vivo/in vitro by PhIP in lymphocytes from pre-cancerous monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) patients and those from healthy individuals. The results from the Comet assay revealed that in the presence of myricetin bulk (10 µM) and myricetin nano (20 µM), the DNA damage caused by a high dose of PhIP (100 µM) was significantly (P < 0.001) reduced in both groups. However, nano has shown better protection in lymphocytes from pre-cancerous patients. Consistent results were obtained from the micronucleus assay where micronuclei frequency in binucleated cells significantly decreased upon supplementing PhIP with myricetin bulk (P < 0.01) and myricetin nano (P < 0.001), compared to the PhIP treatment alone. To briefly determine the cellular pathways involved in the protective role of myricetin against PhIP, we studied gene expression of P53 and ATR kinase (ATM- and Rad3-related), using the real-time PCR technique
Can dual CT with fast kV-switching determine renal stone composition accurately?
No full textNoRationale and Objectives: To determine whether a single source computed tomography (CT) system utilizing fast kV switching and low
dose settings can characterize (diameter and chemical composition) renal stones accurately when compared infrared spectroscopy.
Materials and Methods: The chemical composition of 15 renal stones was determined using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy.
The stones were inserted into a porcine kidney and placed within a water tank for CT scanning using both fast kV switching dual energy
and standard protocols. Effective atomic number of each stone was measured using scanner software. Stone diameter measurements
were repeated twice to determine intra-rater variation and compared to actual stone diameter as measured by micro CT.
Results: The chemical composition of three stones (one calcium phosphate and two carbonite apatite) could not be determined using the
scanner software. The composition of 10/12 remaining stones was correctly identified using dual energy computed tomography (83% absolute
agreement; k = 0.69). No statistical difference (p = 0.051) was noted in the mean stone diameter as measured by clinical CT and micro CT.
Conclusion: Dual energy computed tomography using fast kV switching may potentially be developed as a low dose clinical tool for identifying and classifying renal stones in vivo supporting clinical decision-making
Professionalism and Civil-Military Relations: A Case Study of the Nigerian Armed Forces
Get PDFThis study examined the relationship between military professionalism and
civil-military relations in Nigeria. Focusing on the period between 1960 and
2007, it explored the connection between understandings of professionalism
amongst members of the armed forces and the way they relate to the rest of
Nigerian society.
Prolonged military rule (1966-1999) and the military’s heavy involvement in
domestic security, resulted in increased militarization of Nigerian society and
placed considerable strain on civil-military relations. The conduct of Nigerian
military personnel in their dealings with civilians and their representatives
faced criticism by members of the Nigerian civil society and the international
community for being exploitative, heavy-handed and inconsistent with
expected standards of military professionalism. Yet, during this period the
military also increased its international profile, and came to be regarded,
especially in the area of international peacekeeping, as a significant force
within its region and beyond.
Greater accountability and stricter adherence to professional standards were
part of the democracy dividends expected by Nigerians when successful
elections were held in 1999. Yet, two decades later, the relationship between the military sphere and the civilian sphere has been fractious and
conflictual.
This thesis considers that efforts to promote military professionalism need to
engage with apparent and evidential understandings of military
professionalism held amongst military personnel themselves. On this basis,
the study has sought to introduce military voices into the discourse on
military professionalism.
The study adopted a mixed methods approach incorporating both qualitative
and quantitative methods in gathering perspectives held by members of the
Nigerian military and the civil population about military professionalism. It
found that the military’s self-image, in terms of its professionalism and values,
is markedly at odds with the way it is perceived by the civilian population
many of whom see it as a highly politicised, unethical and coercive institution.
Further, that the military identity is deeply complicated by pluralism, religious
and ethnic diversity in Nigeria with specific consequences for its
professionalism
Understanding The Lived Experiences of Being a Woman Leader in a Technology Organization
Get PDFPurpose: The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of female
senior managers in technology organizations and understand how they feel
about themselves, their roles and their technology organizations. The study
highlights the issues faced by women working in a gendered role, a
masculine industry and a non-western, strong patriarchal society.
Methodology/Design: A qualitative research methodology was adopted for
this study. Eleven semi-structured interviews were used to collect empirical
data from women senior managers in Nigerian technology organizations,
which was thematically analyzed.
Findings: The findings from this study indicate that women in technology
are no longer reluctant to progress in this gendered career. Women
technology leaders are ambitious and driven to scale the semantic barriers to top management roles. They experience workplace discrimination,
insecurities and work-family conflicts, but do not punish themselves for
sometimes dropping the ball. Rather, they show up to take on daunting
assignments that prove their competence and choose to lead assertively in
order to align their core values with the expectations of their role.
Research Implications: This thesis makes a contribution to the wider
literature on women leaders in technology by providing new insights on the
role of patriarchal institutions in technology leadership, from a developing
country in Africa.
Practical Implications: Practical contributions are to support aspiring
women in technology to fine-tune their leadership strategies in order to succeed in this gendered career and become beneficiaries of the vast
opportunities in this dynamic industry. For technology organizations, to
understand the issues faced by women leaders so that they can support
women’s career aspirations by implementing and managing policies that
support skilled and high-potential women employees to fulfill their career
aspirations, and become change agents at the top management level. These
efforts will disrupt stereotypes, change the narrative of inequalities in this
industry and improve firm performance.
Originality: This study is the first of its kind to focus on the role of patriarchal
structures on women leaders’ careers in the technology industry within the
context of an African society, which is rare in the literature on women leaders
in technology
Modelling and Simulation of Carbon Dioxide Transportation in Pipelines: Effects of Impurities
Get PDFCarbon dioxide capture, transportation, and storage has been identified as the
most promising way to reduce anthropogenic carbon dioxide (CO2) released into
the atmosphere. Efforts made to achieve this purpose include the Paris (Climate)
Accord. This agreement seeks to encourage countries to take the issue of rising
global temperatures seriously. With nearly all countries signing this agreement,
many CCTS projects are expected. Pipelines are employed in the transportation
of CO2. CO2 fluids contain impurities that affect the fluid properties and flow
dynamics, but pipelines are mostly designed assuming that the CO2 fluid is pure.
CO2 pipeline fluids contain at least 90 % CO2 with the balance made up of
impurities. The impurities include nitrogen, methane, oxygen, hydrogen, sulphur
dioxide, hydrogen sulphide, carbon monoxide, ammonia, argon, etc.
The effects of the impurities are studied using simulation software; Aspen
HYSYS, gPROMS and HydraFlash. The results show that all impurities impacted
negatively on transportation. At equal concentrations, hydrogen had the greatest
effect on fluid properties and hydrogen sulphide the least impact. At the specified
allowable concentration, nitrogen had the worst effect on pressure loss (32.1 %) in horizontal pipeline, density, and critical pressure. Carbon monoxide (with only
0.2-mol %) had the smallest effect in pressure drop (0.3 %).
Analysis of supercritical and subcritical (or liquid) CO2 fluid transportation shows
that subcritical fluids have higher densities (more volume transported) and lower
pressure losses than supercritical fluids. Subcritical fluid transportation would
therefore have lower pipeline transportation costs than supercritical fluids. Also,
soil heat conductivity has greater effect than ambient temperature in buried
pipelines. Simple equations that approximate binary CO2 fluid properties from
pure CO2 properties were developed and presented
A novel application of deep learning with image cropping: a smart cities use case for flood monitoring
Get PDFYesEvent monitoring is an essential application of Smart City platforms. Real-time monitoring of gully and drainage blockage is an important part of flood monitoring applications. Building viable IoT sensors for detecting blockage is a complex task due to the limitations of deploying such sensors in situ. Image classification with deep learning is a potential alternative solution. However, there are no image datasets of gullies and drainages. We were faced with such challenges as part of developing a flood monitoring application in a European Union-funded project. To address these issues, we propose a novel image classification approach based on deep learning with an IoT-enabled camera to monitor gullies and drainages. This approach utilises deep learning to develop an effective image classification model to classify blockage images into different class labels based on the severity. In order to handle the complexity of video-based images, and subsequent poor classification accuracy of the model, we have carried out experiments with the removal of image edges by applying image cropping. The process of cropping in our proposed experimentation is aimed to concentrate only on the regions of interest within images, hence leaving out some proportion of image edges. An image dataset from crowd-sourced publicly accessible images has been curated to train and test the proposed model. For validation, model accuracies were compared considering model with and without image cropping. The cropping-based image classification showed improvement in the classification accuracy. This paper outlines the lessons from our experimentation that have a wider impact on many similar use cases involving IoT-based cameras as part of smart city event monitoring platforms.European Regional Development Fund Interreg project Smart Cities and Open Data REuse (SCORE
Environmental Proactivity, Competitive Strategy and Market Performance: The mediating Role of Environmental Reputation
Get PDFYesThis article examines the impact of small and medium-sized enterprises’ (SMEs’) proactive environmental strategy on market performance through the mediating mechanism of environmental reputation. In addition, we investigate the potential moderating role of competitive strategies on the environmental reputation-market performance nexus. Data were collected from 223 SMEs. Using the hierarchical multiple regression analysis, the results show that a proactive environmental strategy positively enhances environmental reputation. Also, the influence of proactively environmental strategy on market performance is mediated by environmental reputation. In addition, our findings show the relationship between environmental reputation and market performance is greater for firms that adopt the differentiation strategy but not significant for firms adopting the low-cost and integrated strategies. Our study offers several theoretical and practical implications
Developing a nursing dependency scoring tool for children's palliative care: the impact on hospice care
Get PDFYesOccupancy is commonly used to measure bed management in hospices, however increasing complexity of children and young people, and technology dependence mean this is no longer effective. to develop a dependency tool that enables the hospice to safely and effectively manage the use of beds for planned short breaks (respite), preserving capacity for children requiring symptom management and end of life care. Methods: a comprehensive literature review and existing tools were used to inform the development of the Martin House Dependency Tool Framework. Training was provided to staff and the tool piloted before applying it across the hospice caseload.
Findings: The Tool has been used on 431 children (=93.1% of caseload). The Tool enabled consistency of assessment and more effective management of resources, owing to a contemporaneous understanding of the clinical needs of those on the caseload. Conclusion: The tool has enabled consistent and transparent assessment of children, improving safety, effectiveness and responsiveness, and the management of the workforce and resources
Associations of observer’s gender, Body Mass Index and internalization of societal beauty ideals to visual body processing
Get PDFYesWe examined whether visual processing mechanisms of the body of conspecifics are different in women and men and whether these rely on westernised socio-cultural ideals and body image concerns. Twenty-four women and 24 men performed a visual discrimination task of upright or inverted images of female or male bodies and faces (Experiment 1) and objects (Experiment 2). In Experiment 1, both groups of women and men showed comparable abilities in the discrimination of upright and inverted bodies and faces. However, the gender of the human stimuli yielded different effects on participants’ performance, so that female faces, and male bodies appeared to be processed less configurally than female bodies and male faces, respectively. Interestingly, the reduction of configural processing for male bodies was significantly predicted by participants’ Body Mass Index (BMI) and their level of internalization of muscularity. Our findings suggest that configural visual processing of bodies and faces in women and men may be linked to a selective attention to detail needed for discriminating salient physical (perhaps sexual) cues of conspecifics. Importantly, BMI and muscularity internalization of beauty ideals may also play a crucial role in this mechanism