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Extracellular Matrix (ECM) Mimicking Hybrid and Composite Nanofiber Materials: A General Perspective on Structural and Chemical Biomimicry and Their Role in Wound Healing and Skin Modelling
No full textThe main purpose of implementing biomaterials for regenerative medicine, e.g., in wound healing, is provision of topographical, biochemical, and biomechanical cues to regulate cell activities and to support cell attachment. In this regard, nature has already established a template, i.e., the extracellular matrix (ECM), which has been inspiring in the creation of different classes of biomaterials. Biomaterials that recapitulate the structure, composition, and dynamics of the ECM have been shown to be effective in tissue regeneration and wound healing applications. In particular, nanofiber materials that can simulate the ECM’s collagen nanofilamentous structure, in terms of topography and biochemistry, are highly attractive not only for regeneration of wounded tissue but also for modelling of human native skin to study disease, aging, and therapeutic conditions. Hybrid or composite nanofibers made of synthetic materials, natural materials or a blend of both can not only be employed as wound healing materials, but also as the basis of the epidermal and dermal layer in three-dimensional (3D) organotypic skin models, a new paradigm for modelling of human skin to identify the efficacy of therapeutics and wound healing processes. In this chapter, hybrid and composite nanofibrous materials are discussed from an ECM biomimicry standpoint (structural and biochemical biomimicry) that is crucial for their wound healing and skin modelling application. In collecting the presented information, we mainly considered the innovations carried out in the past five years to provide an updated overview on the ECM mimicking nanofibrous materials that have been applied as wound dressings, skin substitutes, and 3D skin models
The event(s) of process
No full textThere are two main readings of the term ‘event’ shaping contemporary philosophy. In the continental tradition the term usually refers to an emergence of meaning and a disruption of a given conceptual order. In this use ‘event’ is related to hierarchies, orders and structures of meaning; it is concerned with processes of meaning-making and I thus take it to be metaphysical in nature. In the analytic tradition, ‘events’ (plural) belong to the realm of category theory or ontology. They are ontological entities, bound processes or processual entities with a definite beginning and end. These events are particular, individual, ‘countable entities’ that are fundamentally temporal. What both traditions share in approaching the event/events is the insight that change, becoming, and movement are fundamental phenomena characterising our world, as well as the conviction that these phenomena need to be adequately accounted for. In what follows I will show how both analytic-ontological and continental-metaphysical approaches to event(s) can be fruitfully combined and embedded within a broadly dynamic understanding of reality, namely in an understanding of reality as process, where ‘process’ describes a general dynamicity denoting any kind of genuine movement that does not rest on or presuppose an unchanging basis
Building a balanced Tamil Corpus:EDA and Lexical Diversity Comparison with English
No full textCorpora are crucial to improve the accuracy of several Natural Language Processing tasks. Tamil is a Dravidian language and classified as a low-resource language. It is also a morphologically rich language with an agglutinative and complex inflectional structure. A balanced corpus for Tamil-TamilCorp, comprising 1.69 billion tokens across 17 genres was constructed. An exploratory data analysis (EDA) was done on the typetoken data obtained from all the 17 genres using correlation heatmaps, scatter plots and many more to understand the typetoken trends in Tamil. A uniformly random sample of about 1 million tokens (with 615 KB text per genre) was generated. The randomly sampled Tamil balanced corpus was used as the experimental dataset and compared with a similar-sized sample of corpora from other well-balanced English corpora like COCA, COHA and Brown. The analysis revealed that Tamil has much higher lexical diversity in comparison with English due to its morphologically rich and agglutinative structure. The observed differences were statistically significant (t-tests; Cohen’s d for effect size). Statistical analysis used two measures – TTR and MTLD. This experiment emphasizes the significance of understanding variation in lexical diversity across languages and contributes to the fields of NLP and corpus linguistics. The entire code for the EDA, and t-test experiments is available as a open source repository in GitHub along with the word embeddings and a Tamil dictionary of around 8 million words, obtained from TamilCorp so that it might be helpful for other researchers in the Tamil NLP community
Unearthing Lived Experiences:integrating disability, arts, and social work in Africa
No full textTraditional arts-based practices of poetry, song, dance, music, and storytelling are fundamental to African community life, to communicate, share, and celebrate life events. They are a conduit for excavating and sustaining indigenous knowledge. There are however questions over who is included and excluded within this knowledge formation and exchange. With a focus on Africa, a culturally rich continent where people with disabilities account for around 15% of the population, arts-based practices can support the rethinking and understanding of disability and inclusion. This chapter explores the role of arts-based practices in contributing to enabling previously silenced voices to be heard, for lived experiences to become visible, and to challenge narratives that stigmatise and marginalise. This experiential knowledge is presented as indigenous knowledge, as alternative epistemologies to the hegemony of the Global North. The chapter frames disability, arts, and indigenous knowledge within social work practice, and the role of the profession to empower, and achieve change in the lives of people with disabilities
Locating the learning and teaching of climate and environmental justice in the law school portfolio:‘best practice’ and logistics
No full textSupporting and ensuring effective learning and teaching depends on a range of factors from well-designed and aligned learning outcomes and assessment to student-centred study methods including active learner participation in the educational process. This chapter sets out the theoretical basis for ‘best practice’ and then applies this to the study of climate and environmental justice within and extra to the law curriculum. It includes a consideration of how such an approach might be integrated within the curriculum as a complimentary topic in its own right and/or as part of the study of other curricula subjects. The chapter ends with a consideration of practical integration at an imaginary law school
Supporting Emotional Wellbeing During Primary-Secondary School Transitions:Advice for Parents, Caregivers and Teachers
No full textPrimary-secondary school transitions mark a pivotal developmental milestone in children’s and their supporters’ lives. This accessible guide distils international research and practical insights into a reader-riendly resource focused on how parents, carers and teachers can support children’s emotional wellbeing during this significant period of change. Focussing on supporting the supporters, Supporting Emotional Wellbeing During Primary-Secondary School Transitions addresses some of the most frequently asked questions about how we can best support our children during this key transitional phase, as well as how we can help them navigate amongst other social, academic, environmental and personal transitions. Following an effective Q&A structure and a ‘dip in and out’ approach, chapters discuss topics such as puberty and related developmental aspects, support networks, the child’s voice, additional support needs and much more. This book includes illustrations and real-ife vignettes to help explain some complex concepts and scenarios. Written by two transitions experts, this essential resource is for parents looking for straightforward guidance on questions related to their child’s primary-econdary school transitions. With tips for teachers as well as parents and children, this may also be of interest to educators and school support professionals such as family liaison officers, educational psychologists and teaching assistants.</p
Building a balanced Tamil Corpus:EDA and Lexical Diversity Comparison with English
No full textCorpora are crucial to improve the accuracy of several Natural Language Processing tasks. Tamil is a Dravidian language and classified as a low-resource language. It is also a morphologically rich language with an agglutinative and complex inflectional structure. A balanced corpus for Tamil-TamilCorp, comprising 1.69 billion tokens across 17 genres was constructed. An exploratory data analysis (EDA) was done on the typetoken data obtained from all the 17 genres using correlation heatmaps, scatter plots and many more to understand the typetoken trends in Tamil. A uniformly random sample of about 1 million tokens (with 615 KB text per genre) was generated. The randomly sampled Tamil balanced corpus was used as the experimental dataset and compared with a similar-sized sample of corpora from other well-balanced English corpora like COCA, COHA and Brown. The analysis revealed that Tamil has much higher lexical diversity in comparison with English due to its morphologically rich and agglutinative structure. The observed differences were statistically significant (t-tests; Cohen’s d for effect size). Statistical analysis used two measures – TTR and MTLD. This experiment emphasizes the significance of understanding variation in lexical diversity across languages and contributes to the fields of NLP and corpus linguistics. The entire code for the EDA, and t-test experiments is available as a open source repository in GitHub along with the word embeddings and a Tamil dictionary of around 8 million words, obtained from TamilCorp so that it might be helpful for other researchers in the Tamil NLP community
Gender Diversity and Financial Risk Disclosure:Investigating the Moderating Role of CEO Narcissism
No full textThis study examines the role of gender diversity and CEO narcissism on financial risk disclosure using data from Pakistani-listed firms from 2013 to 2022. Poisson regression analysis reveals that gender diversity positively influences financial risk disclosure, supporting both resource- and agency-based reasoning. CEO narcissism moderates the relationship; however, it suggests that the agency-based viewpoint has greater empirical validity. Given the apparent importance of diversity in signaling robust attitudes to risk even in the face of CEO narcissism, the study supports regulatory reform to encourage and consolidate female participation on the board.</p
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