Specters of Meaning: Deconstructing Wittgenstein and Reconstructing Ethics

Crucial to the debate over the censorship of hate speech is a question of how meaning operates in language, and the political consequences thereof. I respond through an analysis of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s “meaning-as-use,” which situates language as an activity, a form of life. I argue Wittgenstein’s philosophy is a deconstruction of meaning, anticipating that of Jacques Derrida, which implies an ethical openness to the ambivalence of language. This is ostensibly contrary to the efforts of conscientious censorship. However, it is only by being open to the ambivalence of the word that we can work past hate speech and toward empowerment

Women as leaders: a historical appraisal of women efforts in conflict prevention and resolution in the Aghem Federation of Chiefdoms, Cameroon

The federation of Aghem chiefdoms was established in ca. 1800 with control over land reserved for men who dominated political power in the setup; though women were greater exploiters of the land for crop farming. In the early 20th century, the federation witnessed an incursion of Fulani graziers who occupied vast lands for grazing; a decision that was taken by the area’s leadership with no due consultation of the women who were the major land users. By the middle of the century, continuous incompatible land use strategies resulted to crop damages which provoked direct public intervention of women in land matters. This paper examined the historical bases of direct women intervention under women leadership in land related issues as provoked by the farmer-grazier conflict. It also focused on the efforts made by women in preventing the recurrence of conflicts and the challenges they face. The paper sustained that faced with inconsistency in the prevention and management of the farmer-grazier conflicts by the male dominated political hierarchy, a feminine leadership emerged to prevent and manage the farmer-grazier conflict through pacific and forceful means. It posits that the persistent pain felt by women justified direct women involvement in farmer-grazier conflict prevention and resolution under women leadership. The paper upheld that the inability of women leadership to attain greater results in the farmer-grazier conflict prevention and management is predominantly a result of male  domination and women occupation of passive positions in the different land tenure mechanisms in the area.Keywords: conflicts, domination, leadership, farmer-grazier, authorit

A study of maternal and perinatal outcome in patients of postpartum hemorrhage in a tertiary care hospital, Gujarat

Background: Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) is significant factor for maternal mortality. Prevalence of PPH is 6.0% worldwide and highest prevalence was noted in Africa which is almost 10.1%. In India, maternal hemorrhage is the very common factor for maternal mortality. The objective of the study was to understand incidence of PPH and various risk factors for it, to study maternal morbidity and mortality associated with PPH and to study the effective mode of management in PPH.Methods: This prospective study was done among 50 cases of postpartum haemorrhage out of 13,628 deliveries at civil hospital, Asarwa, Ahmedabad during November 2008 to October 2010 and analysis was done regarding patients’ socio demographic characteristics, various risk factors, causes and maternal and perinatal outcome.Results: Incidence of PPH was 0.36%. Almost >85% cases were belonged to 20-34 years age group. Highest cases (38%) seen in primigravida and 72% cases have normal vaginal delivery. Anemia noted in highest cases (22%) and 68% cases have most common etiology was atonicity. Birth weight <2.5 kg found in 36% cases. Most common maternal outcome was fever (16%) and 72% cases delivered healthy and alive birth.Conclusions: The patients were mostly primiparous. The commonest associated medical condition was anemia. The commonest underlying cause of PPH was atonicity of the uterus. Commonest maternal outcome was fever. Out of total births, 72.0% were alive and healthy babies followed by 18.0% babies were still birth

Bound states in a nonlinear Kronig-Penney model

We study the bound states of a Kronig Penney potential for a nonlinear one-dimensional Schroedinger equation. This potential consists of a large, but not necessarily infinite, number of equidistant delta-function wells. We show that the ground state can be highly degenerate. Under certain conditions furthermore, even the bound state that would normally be the highest can have almost the same energy as the ground state. This holds for simple periodic potentials as well.Comment: TeX file, figures available as postscript files upon reques

Graph complexity analysis identifies an ETV5 tumor-specific network in human and murine low-grade glioma

Conventional differential expression analyses have been successfully employed to identify genes whose levels change across experimental conditions. One limitation of this approach is the inability to discover central regulators that control gene expression networks. In addition, while methods for identifying central nodes in a network are widely implemented, the bioinformatics validation process and the theoretical error estimates that reflect the uncertainty in each step of the analysis are rarely considered. Using the betweenness centrality measure, we identified Etv5 as a potential tissue-level regulator in murine neurofibromatosis type 1 (Nf1) low-grade brain tumors (optic gliomas). As such, the expression of Etv5 and Etv5 target genes were increased in multiple independently-generated mouse optic glioma models relative to non-neoplastic (normal healthy) optic nerves, as well as in the cognate human tumors (pilocytic astrocytoma) relative to normal human brain. Importantly, differential Etv5 and Etv5 network expression was not directly the result of Nf1 gene dysfunction in specific cell types, but rather reflects a property of the tumor as an aggregate tissue. Moreover, this differential Etv5 expression was independently validated at the RNA and protein levels. Taken together, the combined use of network analysis, differential RNA expression findings, and experimental validation highlights the potential of the computational network approach to provide new insights into tumor biology

Pengendalian Kebisingan Dengan Penghalang Bising Dan Variasi Bahan Peredam Pada Proses Produksi Di Unit Laundry Di PT. Sandang Asia Maju Abadi

Noise is unwanted sound because it does not meet the contaxt of space and time so that it creates uncomfortable and bad health for people. One of the noise source's is the use of industri machines. PT. Sandang Asia Maju Abadi is a company which is using machines in the productions process so that is created the noise. The purpose of this study is to design the sound barrier with a variation of damping material such as coconut fiber, foam, and patchwork. Sound Barrier it self is made of plywood 18mm thickness. At the beggining of the meassurement conditions, the highest value of the measured noise at 83dB(A). Form the calculation of transmission loss can be reduced by noise damping materials for 22,4dB(A) coconut fibers, 17,6dB(A) foam material, and material patchwork of 19,1dB(A) each material has a thckness of 2cm, form the three damping materials, the coconut fiber material has the highest value of transmission loss

Definition of Naturally Processed Peptides Reveals Convergent Presentation of Autoantigenic Topoisomerase I Epitopes in Scleroderma.

ObjectiveAutoimmune responses to DNA topoisomerase I (topo I) are found in a subset of scleroderma patients who are at high risk for interstitial lung disease (ILD) and mortality. Anti-topo I antibodies (ATAs) are associated with specific HLA-DRB1 alleles, and the frequency of HLA-DR-restricted topo I-specific CD4+ T cells is associated with the presence, severity, and progression of ILD. Although this strongly implicates the presentation of topo I peptides by HLA-DR in scleroderma pathogenesis, the processing and presentation of topo I has not been studied.MethodsWe developed a natural antigen processing assay (NAPA) to identify putative CD4+ T cell epitopes of topo I presented by monocyte-derived dendritic cells (mo-DCs) from 6 ATA-positive patients with scleroderma. Mo-DCs were pulsed with topo I protein, HLA-DR-peptide complexes were isolated, and eluted peptides were analyzed by mass spectrometry. We then examined the ability of these naturally presented peptides to induce CD4+ T cell activation in 11 ATA-positive and 11 ATA-negative scleroderma patients.ResultsWe found that a common set of 10 topo I epitopes was presented by Mo-DCs from scleroderma patients with diverse HLA-DR variants. Sequence analysis revealed shared peptide-binding motifs within the HLA-DRβ chains of ATA-positive patients and a subset of topo I epitopes with distinct sets of anchor residues capable of binding to multiple different HLA-DR variants. The NAPA-derived epitopes elicited robust CD4+ T cell responses in 73% of ATA-positive patients (8 of 11), and the number of epitopes recognized correlated with ILD severity (P = 0.025).ConclusionThese findings mechanistically implicate the presentation of a convergent set of topo I epitopes in the development of scleroderma

What Makes Students Trust to their Lecturer ? (Indigenous Psychological Analysis)

This research explored how the trust of students against their lecturer. This research used indigenous psychology approach that used open-ended survey through a questionnaire instrument developed by Kim (2008). Question posed was "how much you trust your lecturer?" as many as 188 participants who were studying at the psychology faculty of State Islamic University of Sultan Syarif Karim Riau participated in this research. Data analysis was done by using qualitative thematic analysis by categorizing the responses of participants based on the themes that emerged in the data and cross-tabulate the gender variable. Based on the results the analysis arose that the male and female students trusted their lecturer and factors which caused the male and female students and trustedtheir greater lecturer in benevolence and competence factor. Factor of predictability and integrity became a less important factor that influenced trust of students to lecturers. Keywords: trust; benevolence; competence; predictability; integrity

Input-Dynamic Distributed Algorithms for Communication Networks

Consider a distributed task where the communication network is fixed but the local inputs given to the nodes of the distributed system may change over time. In this work, we explore the following question: if some of the local inputs change, can an existing solution be updated efficiently, in a dynamic and distributed manner? To address this question, we define the batch dynamic CONGEST model in which we are given a bandwidth-limited communication network and a dynamic edge labelling defines the problem input. The task is to maintain a solution to a graph problem on the labeled graph under batch changes. We investigate, when a batch of $\alpha$ edge label changes arrive, -- how much time as a function of $\alpha$ we need to update an existing solution, and -- how much information the nodes have to keep in local memory between batches in order to update the solution quickly. Our work lays the foundations for the theory of input-dynamic distributed network algorithms. We give a general picture of the complexity landscape in this model, design both universal algorithms and algorithms for concrete problems, and present a general framework for lower bounds. In particular, we derive non-trivial upper bounds for two selected, contrasting problems: maintaining a minimum spanning tree and detecting cliques

First impressions and perceived roles: Palestinian perceptions on foreign aid

This paper summarizes some results of a wider research on foreign aid that was conducted in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in 2010. It seeks to describe the impressions and feelings of Palestinian aid beneficiaries as well as the roles and functions they attached to foreign aid. To capture and measure local perceptions on Western assistance a series of individual in depth interviews and few focus group interviews were conducted in the Palestinian territories. The interview transcripts were processed by content analysis. As research results show — from the perspective of aid beneficiaries — foreign aid is more related to human dignity than to any economic development. All this implies that frustration with the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict inevitably embraces the donor policies and practices too