Arabic Codes in Hebrew Texts: On the Typology of Literary Code-switching

In the late 1950s, Iraqi Jews left or had to leave Iraq for Israel. In the course of their encounter with a new society, with Hebrew as the national language, most Iraqi Jewish authors found it impossible to continue writing in Arabic in Israel and had to face the literary challenge of switching to Hebrew. As bilinguals, Iraqi Jewish novelists have employed Arabic in some of their Hebrew literary works, including code-switching. Conversational Code-switching is traditionally divided into three types: intersentential code-switching, intrasentential code-switching and tag-switching. This paper focuses on the typology of code-switching in literary texts. It investigates Arabic codes used in three Hebrew novels written by Iraqi Jewish novelists. The paper suggests three main types of literary code-switching in view of the mutual relationship between author, text and reader. These are Hard-Access, Easy-Access and Ambiguous Access codeswitching

Contralateral paradoxical response to chemotherapy in tuberculous pleural effusion

Pleural effusions may occur as a complication of primary tuberculosis or an established pulmonary or extrapulmonary infection. New formation or expansion of a tuberculous lesion during chemotherapy is referred to as paradoxical response. Paradoxical response has been described to occur weeks or months after starting antituberculous chemotherapy for parenchymal lung disease, intracranial tuberculoma, or pleural effusion1-2. To our knowledge only one case of contralateral paradoxical effusion that occurred eight weeks after standard antituberculous chemotherapy has been reported in the literature3. In this paper, we describe a patient who developed contralateral paradoxical pleural effusion six days after standard antituberculous chemotherapy and prednisolone.Sudan Journal of Medical Sciences Vol. 3 (1) 2008: pp. 63-6

Multinational transfer pricing of intangible assets and tax audit adjustments: evidence from Indonesia

Purpose – This paper examines the challenges faced by Indonesian tax auditors in auditing multinational transfer prices of intangible assets. This study then explores the suitability of mechanisms currently used by Indonesian tax auditors to ensure appropriate tax audit adjustments. Design/Methodology/Approach – We use a qualitative research method involving semi-structured and open-ended interviews with the tax auditors in Indonesia. We also include some Indonesia court decisions pertinent to the research question above. Findings – Findings indicate that Indonesian tax auditors face a number of difficulties during the audit of transfer pricing cases derived from intangible property, including a lack of transparency in taxpayers’ bookkeeping; limited taxpayer cooperation in providing data and documents; transfer pricing regulations; and problems related to organization and human resources. The study also finds that Indonesian tax auditors and tax officials handle transfer pricing cases by using a legal basis as reference and by performing a number of activities, including among others, comparable analysis. Originality/Value – The findings of this study should assist researchers and policy makers to improve the understanding of transfer pricing audit. Also, tax auditors and account representatives who do not have enough experience in auditing transfer pricing cases derived from intangible property rights would be benefited from outcomes of this study

Fabrication and studying the dielectric properties of (polystyrene-copper oxide) nanocomposites for piezoelectric application

The preparation of (polystyrene-copper oxide) nanocomposites have been investigated for piezoelectric application. The copper oxide nanoparticles were added to polystyrene by different concentrations are (0, 4, 8 and 12) wt.%. The structural and A.C electrical properties of (PS-CuO) nanocomposites were studied.The results showed that the dielectric constant and dielectric loss of (PS-CuO) nanocomposites decrease with increase in frequency. The A.C electrical conductivity increases with increase in frequency. The dielectric constant, dielectric loss and A.C electrical conductivity of polystyrene increase with increase in copper oxide nanoparticles concentrations. The results of piezoelectric application showed that the electrical resistance of (PS-CuO) nanocomposites decreases with increase in pressure

On managing complex adaptive systems motivated by biosystems application to infections

Many attempts to control Complex adaptive systems (CAS) have failed. Here we try to learn from biosystems to derive some principles for CAS management. An application to managing infections is given

Photocatalytic Degradation of Pharmaceutical Residues from Water and Sewage Effluent Using Different TiO2 Nanomaterials.

Pharmaceuticals are widely used and often discharged without metabolism into the aquatic systems. The photocatalytic degradation of pharmaceutical compounds propranolol, mebeverine, and carbamazepine was studied using different titanium dioxide nanostructures suspended in water under UV and UV-visible irradiation. Among three different photocatalysts, the degradation was most effective by using Degussa P25 TiO2, followed by Hombikat UV100 and Aldrich TiO2. The photocatalytic performance was dependent on photocatalyst dosage, with an optimum concentration of 150 mg L-1. The natural aquatic colloids were shown to enhance the extent of photocatalysis, and the effect was correlated with their aromatic carbon content. In addition, the photocatalysis of pharmaceuticals was enhanced by the presence of nitrate, but inhibited by the presence of 2-propanol, indicating the importance of hydroxyl radicals. Under optimum conditions, the pharmaceuticals were rapidly degraded, with a half-life of 1.9 min, 2.1 min, and 3.2 min for propranolol, mebeverine, and carbamazepine, respectively. In treating sewage effluent samples, the photocatalytic rate constants for propranolol (0.28 min-1), mebeverine (0.21 min-1), and carbamazepine (0.15 min-1) were similar to those in water samples, demonstrating the potential of photocatalysis as a clean technology for the effective removal of pharmaceuticals from sewage effluent

Frequency of Gestational diabetes mellitus and impaired glucose tolerance in urban Sudanese pregnant women in the third trimester

Background: Impaired glucose tolerance may be defined as intermediate group of individuals whose carbohydrate metabolism does not constitute diabetes but is not entirely normal. It carries a higher risk of developing microvascular disease and a significant percentage of these patientseventually become diabetics.Objective: of the study was to estimate the frequency of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) and impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) in urban Sudanese pregnant women in the third trimester. The study also showed the effect of age and parity on IGT.Methodology: The study was carried out on hundred pregnant women in the third trimester.Results: The frequency of gestational diabetes was 2% and it was 6% for the IGT incidence whereas, 92% of the pregnant women revealed normal fasting plasma levels. The IGT pregnant women were older than the control pregnant women but, the age difference was not significant [28.7± 5.5 years (mean ± S.D) vs. 27.3 ± 4.8 respectively, p>0.05] . Also, the IGT pregnant women were found to have mean parity significantly greater than that of the control group [ 6.7 ± 2 (mean ± S.D.) vs. 3.9 ± 2.1 respectively , p<0.001].Conclusion: The frequency of GDM and IGT in Sudanese pregnant women is within the universal estimates and parity is an important risk factor that affects impaired glucose tolerance incidence in pregnancy.Keywords: microvascular, chemical diabetes, carbohydrate intolerance

Comparing Haemozoin count and Parasitaemia in the Prognosis of severe Plasmodium Falciparum Malaria in Children and non-immune adults in Kano-Nigeria

This study compared the value of pigment containing leucocytes (neutrophils and monocytes) counts and the malaria parasite density in the prognosis of severe malaria on four hundred and twenty (420) patients with clinical evidence of severe malaria in Kano-Nigeria. Three clinical groups comprising patients with impaired consciousness, patients with cerebral malaria and those with severe anaemia were identified. Samples were analysed for Malaria parasitemia and pigment count Giemsa’s thick and Leishman’s thin film respectively. Patients with impaired consciousness (n=217) recorded the highest malaria pigment count of 342.86 (±177.34) monocytes pigments/microliter. The highest parasite count of 234,962 (±264.5) per microliter was recorded among the cerebral malaria group. Patients with severe malaria and anaemia had the least neutrophils pigment and parasite counts of 219.0 (±140.96)/microliter and 212,232(±12.61)/microliter respectively. A linear relationship between the malaria parasite count and the Intraneutrophilic malaria pigment count in severe malaria was demonstrated. Pigment count proved a higher prognostic value in severe malaria compared to Parasitaemia.Keywords: Haemozoin, Plasmodium falciparum, Parasitaemia, Malari

Smear Layer Removal Using Two Different Ni-Ti Instruments with Two Different Irrigating Systems. An Invitro Study

Objectives: To evaluate and compare smear layer removal in root canals instrumented with two single Ni-Ti rotary instruments with two different irrigating systems. Materials and Methods: Sixty recently extracted single-rooted mandibular premolars teeth were decoronated to a standardized length of 14 mm. Roots were divided into two main groups (n=30) according to the rotary NiTi file used for instrumentation either with One Shape (OS) file or with One Curve file (OC). Each main group was subdivided into three subgroups according to the methods used to agitate the irrigating solutions either sonically or ultrasonically as following: Group A was subdivided into Subgroup A1: One Shape file and Endo Activator (EA) (n=10) Subgroup A2: One Shape file and Passive Ultrasonic irrigating (PUI) (n=10) Subgroup A3 (control group): One Shape file and passive needle irrigation (n=10) Group B was subdivided into: Subgroup B1: One Curve file and Endo Activator (EA) (n=10) Subgroup B2: One Curve file and Passive Ultrasonic Irrigation (PUI) (n=10) Subgroup B3 without activation: One Curve file and passive needle irrigation (n=10). During instrumentation: In all groups, 3 ml of freshly prepared 2.6% NaOCl irrigating solution was delivered using 30 G NaviTip closed end needle. The final irrigation protocol included 3 ml of freshly prepared 2.6% NaOCl followed by 3 ml of 17% EDTA solution then 3 ml of normal saline as final rinse. After dividing the roots in half, the specimens were analysed under SEM magnification at (X1000) to assess the smear layer and perform statistical analysis. Results: In all groups a statistically significant difference was found between (Apical) and each of (Coronal) and (Middle) groups, where apical third showed higher smear layer scores followed by middle third and the coronal third. As regards total mean scores of all canal thirds, passive needle irrigation had the highest smear scores followed by PUI then EA. OS file showed higher smear layer score than OC file and there was no statistically significant difference between them. Conclusions: Within the limitations of this study, it could be concluded that: Machine-assisted irrigant activation techniques are reliable and promising methods that improve the cleanliness of root canal. None of the techniques was able to remove smear layer completely from the root canal. Heat treatment of OS file did not have significant effect regarding the ability to remove the smear layer

Non-human tools for the evaluation of bitter taste in the design and development of medicines: a systematic review

Taste evaluation is a crucial factor for determining acceptance of medicines by patients. The human taste panel test is the main method used to establish the overall palatability and acceptability of a drug product to a patient towards the end of development. Non-human in vitro and in vivo taste-evaluation tools are very useful for pre-formulation, quality control and screening of formulations. These non-human taste-assessment tools can be used to evaluate all aspects of taste quality. The focus of this review is bitterness because it is a key aspect of taste in association with the development of medicines. In this review, recent in vitro (analytical) and in vivo (non-human) tools are described for the assessment of the bitter taste of medicines. Their correlations with human taste data are critically discussed. The potential for their use in early screening of the taste of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) to expedite paediatric formulation development is also considered