75,688 research outputs found
Theoretical and Textual Approaches to Contemporary Humanitarian Narrative: The Cases of Roberto Saviano’s Gomorra, Aung San Suu Kyi’s Letters from Burma, Jerry Piasecki’s Marie in the Shadow of the Lion and Nadine Gordimer’s The Ultimate Safari
No full textThe purpose of this thesis is to describe how some forms of fictional and non-fictional texts can be configured as and within the framework of humanitarian practices. In exploring the definitions and features of humanitarianism and humanitarian literature, the thesis attempts to answer the question of what purpose these texts try to serve. In examining the works Marie in the Shadow of the Lion (2000) by Jerry Piasecki, The Ultimate Safari (1989) by Nadine Gordimer, Gomorra (2006) by Roberto Saviano and Letters from Burma (1996) by Aung San Suu Kyi, we will argue that the scope of these books can be located by analogy to social and political humanitarian practices. Beyond their differences in genre, style and subject matter, these texts share a common feature: they are performative, namely they strive to do things with words. The humanitarian texts discussed in this thesis can be shown to act in the world in order to implement the values proclaimed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Benefits of Being Economics Professor A (and not Z)
No full textAlphabetic name ordering on multi-authored academic papers, which is the convention in the economics discipline and various other disciplines, is to the advantage of people whose last name initials are placed early in the alphabet. As it turns out, Professor A, who has been a first author more often than Professor Z, will have published more articles and experienced afaster growth rate over the course of her career as a result of reputation and visibility. Moreover, authors know that name ordering matters and indeed take ordering seriously: Several characteristics of an author group composition determine the decision to deviate from the default alphabetic name order to a significant extent.performance measurement, incentives, economists, name ordering
Final word on Jersey Dutch
No full textIn this article, William Z. Shetter compares and contrasts the dialects that developed between different Dutch colonies in the New World. He explores in-depth the nuances of Jersey Dutch, and provides theories to explain how Dutch and colonial languages blended. The article is reprinted from American Speech, December 1958, Volum XXXIII, No. 4
Bioactive phytochemical constituents of wild edible mushrooms from Southeast Asia
No full textMushrooms have a long history of uses for their medicinal and nutritional properties. They have been consumed by people for thousands of years. Edible mushrooms are collected in the wild or cultivated worldwide. Recently, mushroom extracts and their secondary metabolites have acquired considerable attention due to their biological effects, which include antioxidant, antimicrobial, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, anti-obesity, and immunomodulatory activities. Thus, in addition to phytochemists, nutritionists and consumers are now deeply interested in the phytochemical constituents of mushrooms, which provide beneficial effects to humans in terms of health promotion and reduction of disease-related risks. In recent years, scientific reports on the nutritional, phytochemical and pharmacological properties of mushroom have been overwhelming. However, the bioactive compounds and biological properties of wild edible mushrooms growing in Southeast Asian countries have been rarely described. In this review, the bioactive compounds isolated from 25 selected wild edible mushrooms growing in Southeast Asia have been reviewed, together with their biological activities. Phytoconstituents with antioxidant and antimicrobial activities have been highlighted. Several evidences indicate that mushrooms are good sources for natural antioxidants and antimicrobial agent
The association between native myocardial T1 relaxation times and left atrial phasic structure and function: the UK Biobank Imaging Enhancement study
No full textIntroduction
Left ventricular (LV) myocardial fibrosis is posited to result in left atrial (LA) changes via LV remodelling and diastolic dysfunction, though the association remains poorly characterised. Native myocardial T1 mapping is a non-invasive modality that quantifies diffuse myocardial fibrosis. This study examines the relationship between LV fibrosis (quantified by native T1 times) and LA function, drawing upon data from the UK Biobank.
Methods
40,818 participants underwent cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) using steady-state free precession imaging at 1.5 Tesla. Native T1-mapping was performed using the Shortened Modified Look-Locker Inversion recovery technique (ShMOLLI), with global myocardial T1 estimated by an automatic segmentation framework. Nine parameters of LA phasic function were calculated (representing global, reservoir, conduit and booster components) from normalised LA volume-time curves. LV parameters (LV Mass, end-diastolic volume and ejection fraction) were extracted by a convolutional neural network. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to assess the association between T1 (exposure) and LA function (outcome). Mediation analysis was performed to assess the role of LV parameters as a mediator for the association between T1 and LA function. Lastly, potential non-linear relationships between T1 and LA function were investigated using Restrictive Cubic Spline (RCS) modelling, with model fit assessed via the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC).
Results
Higher T1 values were positively associated with larger LA volumes, and negatively associated with markers of LA global, reservoir and booster function. In the fully adjusted model, T1 was positively associated with larger LA minimum size (Beta: +0.034 SD per T1 SD; Confidence Interval (CI): 0.024, 0.045), and negatively associated with LA emptying volume (Beta: −0.017; CI: −0.027, −0.006), LA booster volume (Beta: −0.019; CI: −0.030, −0.008), LA emptying fraction (Beta: −0.052; CI: −0.062, −0.041), and LA reservoir function (Beta: −0.028; CI: −0.039, −0.017). Though adjustment for LV parameters did not fully attenuate the above relationships, LV parameters were consistent mediators between T1 and LA function, with proportional mediative effects ranging from 15% to 75%. Lastly, there is evidence of an inverted J-shaped relationship between T1 and LA function, with the associations becoming more apparent in the upper half of T1 ranges (turning points within 925–950 ms, median T1 = 930 ms) (p<0.05).
Conclusion
This study demonstrates a consistent association between higher native T1 values (as a marker of myocardial fibrosis) and lower LA global and phasic functions. We also highlighted an interplay between T1 values, LV remodelling and LA dysfunction. These findings will facilitate our understanding of the disease processes underlying cardiac dysfunction and myocardial remodelling at an early, subclinical stage.
Funding Acknowledgement
Type of funding sources: Public hospital(s). Main funding source(s): This work was part of the portfolio of translational research of the National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at Barts and The London School of Medicine and DentistryDr Nay Aung is supported by a Wellcome Trust Research Training Fellowship (203553/Z/16/Z
Logarithmic variance profiles and the corresponding f-1 spectra of temperature fluctuations in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection
No full textWe report experimental results for the temperature variance 2(z) and the corresponding frequency spectra P(f) in turbulent Rayleigh-Bénard convection (RBC) in a cylindrical sample of aspect ratioT= D/L = 1:00 (D = 1:12 m is the diameter and L = 1:12 m the height). The measurements were conducted in the Rayleigh-number range 1011 < Ra < 1:35 1014 and Pr ' 0:8. For Ra = 1:35x1014, 2(z) could be described well by a logarithmic dependence on the vertical position z in a range of z 1 < z < z 2 with z 1 ' 70 and z 2 = 0:1L. Here L=(2Nu) is the thickness of a thin thermal sublayer adjacent to the horizontal plate where the heat flux (denoted by the Nusselt number Nu) is carried mostly by thermal diffusion. In the log layer, we found that the temperature spectra had a significant frequency range over which P(f) f with close to 1. As Ra decreased, increased so that the log layer became thinner. At Ra = 2:05 1011, z 2 < z 1 and therefore there was no range for a log layer. Correspondingly, the temperature spectrum near the horizontal plate did not have the f1 scaling form either
Statistics of the subgrid scales after the shock-turbulence interaction
No full textThe interaction of a normal shock with isotropic turbulence (IT) represents a basic problem for studying some of the phenomena associated with high speed flows, such as hypersonic flight, supersonic combustion and Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). In general, in practical applications, the shock width is much smaller than the turbulence scales and the upstream turbulent Mach number is modest. In this case, recent high resolution shock-resolved Direct Numerical Simulations (DNS) (Ryu and Livescu, J. Fluid Mech., 756, R1, 2014) show that the interaction can be described by the Linear Interaction Approximation (LIA). By using LIA to alleviate the need to solve the shock, DNS post-shock data can be generated at much higher Reynolds numbers than previously possible. Here, such results with Taylor Reynolds number around are used to investigate the properties of the subgrid scales (SGS). In particular, it is shown that the shock interaction decreases the asymmetry of the SGS dissipation PDF as the shock Mach number increases, with a significant enhancement in size of the regions and magnitude of backscatter
Transition to turbulence in a qblique shock-wave/boundary-layer interaction at M=15
No full textDirect numerical simulations are carried out for different forcing techniques to trigger transition during the interaction between an oblique shock-wave and a laminar boundary-layer at M = 1.5. Three forcing methods are used: a) forcing of oblique unstable modes, whose shape and behaviour are determined by the local linear stability theory, b) broadband free-stream acoustic disturbances, and c) a cold plasma flow control device. While the oblique-mode breakdown is dominant for low-amplitude forcing, long streaky structures drive the transition process in a high-amplitude disturbance environment. LES are also performed on the experimental setup by the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics (ITAM) from Novosibirsk State University with cold plasma actuation. As well as the disturbance type, the effect of Reynolds number and forcing amplitude will be investigated
Triangular Constellations in Flows
No full textParticles advected on the surface of a fluid can exhibit fractal clustering. The local structure of a fractal set is described by its dimension , which is the exponent of a power-law relating the mass in a ball to its radius : . It is desirable to characterise the {\em shapes} of constellations of points sampling a fractal measure, as well as their masses. The simplest example is the distribution of shapes of triangles formed by triplets of points, which we investigate for fractals generated by chaotic dynamical systems. The most significant parameter describing the triangle shape is the ratio of its area to the radius of gyration squared. We show that the probability density of has a phase transition: is independent of and approximately uniform below a critical flow compressibility , which we estimate. For the distribution appears to be described by two power laws: when , and when
Preferential concentration of particles in compressible turbulence
No full textThe behavior of particles in compressible turbulence has been seldom investigated to date despite its importance in many natural and industrial flows. Direct numerical simulations of particle-laden compressible isotropic turbulence are performed to study the preferential concentration of particles and the underling mechanisms. It turns out that heavy particles tend to concentrate in regions of low enstrophy and high fluid density (i.e, strain regions between vortex rings), especially the particles of Kolmogorov scale, which show the largest number density. Due to the compressibility, fluid particles do not distribute uniformly as in incompressible case, but show a tendency to bunch up in high density zones. The preliminary result might give some insights into compressible turbulent transport, dispersion and mixing as well as the subgrid-scale modeling for large-eddy simulation of particle-laden compressible flows
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