The Egyptian Cardiothoracic Surgeon (ECTS - E-Journal)
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Crisis in ‘a normal bad year’: Spaces of humanitarian emergency, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification scale and the Somali famine of 2011
No full textThis article takes the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) scale and its use in the declaration of famine in Somalia in July 2011 as a site for examining how the spatial imaginary and emplaced, affective registers of emergency are implicated in marking situations as spaces of humanitarian emergency, or not. The IPC scale is described and its role in removing the affective registers of crisis discussed in relation to the normalisation of the conditions constituting a classification of IPC Phase 4, 'Humanitarian Emergency', in Somalia. This is contrasted to the urgent mobilisation of humanitarian action following the reclassification of Somalia's food insecurity situation to IPC Phase 5, 'Famine'. It is argued that the IPC phase reclassification, by enacting a moment of rupture, led the normalised space of food insecurity to be seen as a space of humanitarian emergency, thereby triggering the rapid mobilisation of humanitarian action in response to crisis
The Effect of Concrete Composition on Laser Scabbling
No full textLaser concrete scabbling is the process by which the surface layer of concrete may be removed through the use of a low power density laser beam. The main aim of this investigation was to establish relationships between laser interaction time and volume removal for a wide range of material compositions, including different w/b ratios, binder compositions (OPC/PFA), aggregate/binder ratios and coarse aggregate sizes. The results show that 25% replacement of ordinary Portland cement with pulverised fuel ash and/or a reduced water/binder ratio improves the efficiency of scabbling of cement pastes. Mortars and cement pastes were seen to scabble at a constant rate, whereas concretes experienced a peak rate, after which volume removal reduced dramatically. Basalt aggregate concrete was less susceptible to laser scabbling than limestone aggregate concrete. The effects of composition on the mechanisms which drive laser scabbling are discussed. It is suggested that pore pressure spalling governs behaviour in cement pastes, and thermal stress spalling is more dominant in mortar specimens. The driving force responsible for laser scabbling of concretes is developed within the mortar
New directions of foreign direct investment and industrial development
No full textThe Routledge Handbook of Industry and Development is a global overview of industrialisation. Each chapter will provide readers with contemporary insights into this this essential aspect of economic development. Industrialisation has been at the forefront of discussion on economic development since the earliest days of development economics. But over the last fifty years, the manufacturing sectors of different countries and regions have grown at strikingly different rates. In 1960 developing countries took a very small share of global manufacturing production. Today the position had changed radically with fast growth of manufacturing in many parts of what was originally the developing world, particularly in China and the rest of East Asia. On the other hand, countries in Africa and parts of Latin America have been largely left behind by this process of industrialisation. This volume aims to illuminate this uneven development and takes stock of the current issues that hinder and support industrialisation in low and middle income economies. This Handbook is a collection of chapters on different aspects of industrialisation experience in a range of countries. Key themes include, the role of manufacturing in growth, the nature of structural change at different stages of development, the role of manufacturing in employment creation, alternative options for trade and industrial policy, the key role of technology and technical change, and the impact of globalisation and the spread of global value chains and foreign direct investment on prospects for industrialisation. Several chapters discuss individual country experiences with examples from India, Mexico, South Africa and Tanzania, as well as an overview of African industrialisation. This authoritative Handbook will be a key reference source for those studying or wishing to understand contemporary economic development. Offering inspiration and direction for future research, this landmark volume will be of crucial importance to all development economics scholars and researchers
Investigating efficiency droop in InGaN/GaN quantum well structures using ultrafast time-resolved terahertz and photoluminescence spectroscopy
No full textThe mechanisms governing efficiency droop in an In0.18Ga0.82N/GaN multiple quantum well structure were investigated using a combination of ultrafast time-resolved terahertz and photoluminescence spectroscopy. From excitation fluence dependent studies, a reduction in the room temperature photoluminescence efficiency to 3% of its maximum value was observed for an excitation fluence of 0.96 mJcm-2. A correlation was found between the onset of efficiency droop and the emergence of a peak on the high-energy side of the quantum well emission with a 1/e decay time of 19.6 ps. These characteristics were attributed to the saturation of localised states and the population of higher energy delocalised states. Time-resolved studies revealed different scaling behaviours between the terahertz and photoluminescence decay dynamics, suggesting that the saturation of localised hole states may be playing a part in the onset of efficiency droo
Modelling and forecasting interest rates during stages of the economic cycle: A knowledge-discovery approach
No full textAbstract Modelling the structure of risk-free rates and their relation to other economic and financial variables during different stages of the economic cycles has attracted much interest from both the theoretical and practical perspectives. The previous literature has emphasized the deployment of expert systems and knowledge-discovery approaches motivated by the need to address the limitations of the econometric models. However, it has failed to address the interpretability aspects and, more importantly, the need to provide methodological support that allows the deployment of such techniques in a more systematic way. This approach entails the definition of a process that includes the usual steps taken by experts to address similar problems and allows the relative merits of different techniques in relation to common goals and objectives to be gauged. This paper addresses the interpretability and the lack of methodological support by proposing a knowledge-discovery methodology that includes a minimal common number of steps to model, analyse, evaluate and deploy different non-linear techniques and models. Furthermore, the interpretability is addressed through the use of open-box techniques, such as decision trees. The proposed methodology helps to discover and describe hidden patterns, allowing for the study and characterization of economic cycles, and economic cycle stages, as well as the description of the historic relationships between interest rates and other relevant economic variables. These patterns can also be used in the forecasting of economic cycle stages, interest rates and other related variables of concern. The output of the methodology can provide actionable information for market agents, such as monetary authorities, financial institutions, and individual investors, as well as for the academic community, to increase further the knowledge and understanding of financial markets, thus enriching and complementing existing financial theories
Stochastic Mechanistic Interaction
No full textWe propose a fully probabilistic formulation of the notion of mechanistic interaction (interaction in some fundamental mechanistic sense) between the effects of putative (possibly continuous) causal factors A and B on a binary outcome variable Y indicating 'survival' vs 'failure'. We define mechanistic interaction in terms of departure from a generalized 'noisy OR' model, under which the multiplicative causal effect of A (resp., B) on the probability of failure cannot be enhanced by manipulating B (resp., A). We present conditions under which mechanistic interaction in the above sense can be assessed via simple tests on excess risk or superadditivity, in a possibly retrospective regime of observation. These conditions are defined in terms of generalized conditional independence relationships (generalised because they may involve non-stochastic 'regime indicators') that can often be checked on a graphical representation of the problem. Inference about mechanistic interaction between direct, or path-specific, causal effects can be accommodated in the proposed framework. The method is illustrated with the aid of a study in experimental psychology
Characterization of a conditional interleukin-1 receptor 1 mouse mutant using the Cre/LoxP system
No full textIL-1 is a key cytokine known to drive chronic inflammation and to regulate many physiological, immunological and neuroimmunological responses via actions on diverse cell types of the body. To determine the mechanisms of IL-1 actions as part of the inflammatory response in vivo, we generated a conditional IL-1 receptor 1 (IL-1R1) mouse mutant using the Cre/LoxP system (IL-1R1(fl/fl) ). In the mutant generated, exon 5, which encodes part of the extracellular binding region of the receptor, is flanked by LoxP sites, thereby inactivating the two previously described functional IL-1R1 gene transcripts after Cre-mediated recombination. Using keratin 14-Cre driver mice, new IL-1R1 deficient (-/-) mice were subsequently generated, in which all signaling IL-1 receptor isoforms are deleted ubiquitously. Furthermore, using vav-iCre driver mice, we deleted IL-1 receptor isoforms in the haematopoietic system. In these mice, we show that both the IL-17 and IL-22 cytokine response is reduced, when mice are challenged by the helminth Trichuris muris. We are currently crossing IL-1R1(fl/fl) mice with different Cre-expressing mice in order to study mechanisms of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Changes in patellofemoral and tibiofemoral joint cartilage damage and bone marrow lesions over 7 years: The Multicenter Osteoarthritis Study.
No full textOBJECTIVES: To investigate changes in cartilage damage and bone marrow lesions (BMLs) on MRI in the patellofemoral and tibiofemoral joints over 7 years. METHODS: The Multicenter Osteoarthritis (MOST) Study is a cohort study of persons aged 50-79 years at baseline with or at high risk for knee osteoarthritis. Knees were eligible for the current study if they had knee MRI (1.0T) assessed for cartilage damage and BMLs at the baseline and 84-month visits. Knees were categorized as having MRI-detected structural damage (cartilage and BMLs) isolated to the patellofemoral joint (PFJ), isolated to the tibiofemoral joint (TFJ), mixed or no damage at baseline and 84-months. We determined the changes in PFJ and TFJ structural damage over 7 years and used logistic regression to assess the relation of baseline compartment distribution to incident isolated PFJ, isolated TFJ and mixed damage. RESULTS: Among 339 knees that had full-thickness cartilage loss isolated to the PFJ or TFJ at baseline, only 68 (20.1%) developed full-thickness cartilage loss in the other compartment while 271 (79.9%) continued to only have the initial compartment affected. Compared to knees without full-thickness cartilage damage (n=582), those with isolated TFJ and PFJ full-thickness cartilage damage had 2.7 (1.5, 4.9) and 5.8 (3.6, 9.6) times the odds of incident mixed full-thickness cartilage damage, respectively. Similar results were seen when using other definitions of MRI-defined structural damage. CONCLUSIONS: Most knees with structural damage at baseline do not develop it in the other compartment. Knees that develop mixed structural damage are more likely to start with it isolated to the PFJ
