32970 research outputs found
Sort by
Assessing bacterial infiltration through reverse osmosis membrane
No full textThe attenuation of pathogenic microorganisms in potable water reuse is critical to
ensure recycled water safety. Thus, this study sought to identify bacterial communities capable of passing through a commercial reverse osmosis (RO) membrane as well as to characterize the passage of these bacteria through the membranes. Three-quarters of the bacteria in the RO permeate were found to belong to the Burkholderiaceae
family, although this family only accounted for 0.2% of the RO feed (i.e., ultrafiltrationtreated wastewater) bacterial composition. The infiltration routes of bacteria through the RO membranes was also evaluated using a unique approach—capturing bacteria-sized surrogates (i.e., 0.5 μm fluorescent (FL) microspheres) with a track-etched micro-filter after passing through the RO membrane. Our results demonstrated that a considerable number of FL particles passed through the membranes that were obtained from an RO membrane element. Overall, it was determined that certain bacterial families in wastewater could pass through the passage located in the entire surface of the RO membrane rather than in localized areas. Thus, this study highlights the need to reinforce RO membrane integrity in order to ensure the safety of recycled water for potable water reus
The Universal and the Language-Specific in the Construction of Gender － A Comparative Semiotic Study －
Full text linkMy paper intends to touch upon two different levels of the same subset of social phenomena. On the one hand it tries to diachronically trace back the emergence of ‘sex’ and ‘gender’ to the very inception of what came to be called ‘human civilisation’, and on the other hand - though rather perfunctorily - it synchronically lays bare the nature, structure and major shades of the institution ‘gender’ in the present-day Turkish
language and compares and contrasts these findings with the corresponding data resulting from sociological and sociolinguistic research of western provenance. In the first half of the paper a sketch of ‘humanness’ and ‘human civilisation’ in connection with and on the basis of ‘manhood’ and ‘womanhood’ is made, wherewith it is demonstrated that the civilisation of men and women is in the main founded on a phallic,
phallocentric dichotomy which underlies the rise and perpetuation of the institutions ‘man’
and ‘woman’ and wherein the parameter ‘phallus’ operates self-referentially. This line of
reasoning reveals furthermore that the supremacy of the phallus materialises not until
the ‘woman’ is constructed, that, in other words, both the ‘man’ and his ‘dominance’ are
existentially dependent on the construction and reconstruction of ‘woman’. To a certain
extent the first half is a draft of what could be called “a general semiotics of ‘gender’
embedded in a reconstructed universal history of ‘human civilisation’”. The second half could then - in connection with and in contrast to the first half - be named “a comparative local semiotics of ‘gender’ in the vernacular of modern-day Turkey”. In this section the linguistic manifestations of the basic phallic dichotomy
and its sub-types peculiar to the modern Turkish language are thrown light upon and compared with corresponding linguistic phenomena in European languages
Women's body odour during the ovulatory phase modulates testosterone and cortisol levels in men
Full text linkA growing body of evidence suggests that men may perceive women’s bodily odour to be
more attractive during the high-fertility ovulatory phase than during other phases in the menstrual cycle. In particular, women’s bodily odour may influence important aspects of male mating behaviour, but the precise nature of this phenomena remains to be elucidated.Twenty-six men and five women participated in the study. Each woman wore a cotton Tshirt during the night for 3 days during the ovulatory phase, after which the regions of the Tshirt
that had been in contact with the woman’s chest, armpits, and back, were cut out of the
garment. We evaluated the changes in testosterone and cortisol levels in the saliva of men
who smelled these cloth pieces. The odour emitted from the backs of women in the ovulatory
phase was found to increase testosterone secretion in men, whereas the odour emitted
from the chests of women in the ovulatory phase reduced cortisol secretion in men. These
results suggest that the odour of specific body parts of women modulate unconscious physiological
reactions in men
Development of Universal and Lineage-Specific Primer Sets for Rapid Detection of the Zika Virus (ZIKV) in Blood and Urine Samples Using One-Step Reverse Transcription Loop-Mediated Isothermal Amplification (RT-LAMP)
Full text linkSUMMARY: Zika is a mosquito-borne disease that has been posing a significant threat to public health in recent years. The Zika virus (ZIKV), the causative agent of this disease, is classified into 2 distinct genetic lineages, namely Asian and African. While molecular nucleic acid analysis methods have been shown to be useful for the diagnosis of ZIKV infection, the development of assays based on one-step reverse transcription loop-mediated isothermal amplification (RT-LAMP) offers several advantages, such as shorter incubation times, ease of handling, and rapid detection. In this study, a universal LAMP primer set was developed to target conserved sequences of known ZIKV lineages. Additionally, the Af7462 and As1788 primer sets were designed based on LAMP-based single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) typing for the specific detection of the African and Asian lineages. The developed RT-LAMP assays could specifically detect the African and Asian lineages of ZIKV, with a detection limit ranging from 0.17 FFU/mL to 2.3×102 FFU/mL. As ZIKV viremia ranges between 102 to 106 PFU/mL or 103 to 106 copies/mL, the data indicate that the viremia range of clinical samples is within the detection range of our assay. Due to the high specificity and sensitivity, as well as the ease of use of our assay, it could potentially be used for early clinical diagnosis applications
The prevalence of insomnia and restless legs syndrome among Japanese outpatients with rheumatic disease: A cross-sectional study
Full text linkThe prevalence of symptomatic insomnia and the prevalence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) are known to be higher among patients with rheumatic diseases compared to the general population. The prevalences of insomnia and RLS reported in a questionnaire by Japanese patients with rheumatic diseases at an outpatient clinic were analyzed herein. The association between the patients' disease activity and their sleep quality was analyzed. Of 121 rheumatic disease patients, 70 were enrolled. The median (interquartile range) age at enrollment was 62.0 (47.8-68.0) years. There were 58 women (82.9%) and 12 men (17.1%), and 43 patients (61.4%) with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), nine (12.9%) with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), and 18 (25.7%) with other rheumatic diseases. Twenty patients (28.6%) had one or more moderate-to-severe insomnia symptoms, and 10 (14.3%) were diagnosed with RLS. Among the patients with RA, the swollen joint count based on a 28-joint assessment (SJC28) was significantly higher in the insomnia group (n = 13) compared to the non-insomnia group (n = 30) (p = 0.006). A classification and regression tree (CART) analysis showed that the cut-off points of ≥3 mg/day prednisolone (PSL) treatment and <16.54% as the transferrin saturation (TSAT) value would best predict RLS in rheumatic disease. Patients with rheumatic disease had a high prevalence of symptomatic insomnia and RLS. A higher dose of PSL and lower TSAT were associated with the occurrence of RLS. Copyright
The view of nature and human view in Chinese literature by Japanese modern Chinese scholars
No full text長崎大学学位論文 学位記番号:博(水・環)甲第61号 学位授与年月日:令和2年3月19
The Formation and Realities of Chinese Community in Portugal
Full text linkThe number of Chinese migrants (Overseas Chinese) setting in Portugal has been growing since the 1990s, and more rabidly since the turn of the century. However, studies focusing on Chinese community in Portugal are still scarce and do not consider their diversity. Based on the fieldwork, the aim of this paper is to explore the historical development, diversity, economic activities, and Chinese associations of the Chinese community in Portugal
War and Statehood―What on Earth is Going on in the Middle East?―
Full text linkThis paper is a slightly modified written version of the author’s speech given on 28 May 2019 at the symposium “Future of Peace Education: Connecting Hawaii and Nagasaki”, which was held on the Bunkyo Campus of Nagasaki University. The text is comprised of four sections. In the first part, on the basis of a mental experiment, a brief radical-critical depiction of human being and human civilization is undertaken. The second part deals with the phenomenon of war in its organic and interdependent connection to state and statehood. The focus of the third section lies on the concept of peace. Embedded in the context of the history of so-called “Western Civilisation”, a small selection of prevalent philosophical, theoretical and theological approaches to ‘peace’ are critically reassessed.
What the author of the text at hand thinks about peace and the possibility of its realisation is outlined, in a rather cursory manner, in the short closing section
Subject or Citizen?: African Citizenship between Resilience and Resistance
Full text linkThis paper examines the subjectivity of African citizenship in the term of resilience, which we need to argue under the postcolonial conditions in Africa. At first, the concept of ”resilience” will be considered critically through the author’s experience in the aid work in East African regions. Secondly, the dilemma of the African citizenship is proposed by looking at Mamdani’s authentic text of “Citizen and Subject”. The colonial legacy of “Divide and Rule” has brought the condition of so-called “the bifurcated states” in African countries and still been suffered by the result of it, which are clientelism, conflicts, and, so-called the collapsed state’s condition. In that sense, African subjectivity can be both categorized as one of resilience and resistance. I would like to point out the idea of resilience, on one hand, contains the ideal notion of modern citizenship for the African Nation-States, on the other, it also introduces us to the subject of resistance under the current political environment in Africa. Although the most of cases are picked up by reviewing recent ethnographic notes in Uganda, partly I will describe the case in my research field at a slum area in Kampala,which will show us the highly flexible and plastic sense of the self, which would be the basis of the African citizenship