637 research outputs found

    Executive Disorder: The Muslim Ban, Emergency Advocacy, and the Fires Next Time

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    On January 27, 2017, one week into his presidency, Donald Trump enacted Executive Order No. 13769, popularly known as the “Muslim Ban.” The Order named seven Muslim-majority nations and restricted, effective immediately, the reentry into the United States of visa and green card holders from these states. With the Muslim Ban, President Trump delivered on a central campaign promise, and as a result, injected Islamophobia into American immigration law and policy. The Muslim Ban had an immediate impact on tens of thousands of Muslims, directly affecting U.S. visa and green card holders currently outside of the country, while exacerbating fear and hysteria among immigrant and citizen Muslim populations within the country. This Essay memorializes the advocacy taken by the authors in the immediate wake of the Muslim Ban, highlighting the emergency legal and grassroots work done by the authors during a moment of national disorder and disarray, and within Muslim American communities, mass confusion and fear. This Essay highlights efforts, coalition building, and the necessary resources that contributed to the effective defense and education of impacted Muslim populations. It further examines the heightened vulnerabilities of and compounded injuries to often-overlooked Muslims at the intersection of race and poverty, as a consequence of Islamophobic policies such as the Muslim Ban

    REFLECTIONS OF ARABIC LITERATURE ON ARCHITECTURAL REPRESENTATION

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    Literature and architecture have long been connected where both are forms of art; literature is a verbal form of art whereas architecture takes a social form. Both domains play a major role in heritage inheritance and representation and are immensely linked to each other; each is capable of representing and embodying the other. Gloomily, in light of digital technology, Information Age, and onslaught of globalization, the reflections of the practices of Arabic literature on architectural representations, after being practiced together since ancient periods, have retracted in recent times thus architecture in the Arab cities has started to veer far away from reflecting the Arab heritage. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is primarily to propose a number of approaches that enhance the amalgamation of both domains in order to nourish the cultural heritage through such notions and to introduce the Arabic culture to different types of users directly and indirectly. To achieve this aim, the research follows a scientific methodology that relies on deskwork, literature review, and observations making it a qualitative type of work. The research highlights previous readings that analyse the relationship between Arabic literature and architecture and then tackles the methods of reflections of literature in architectural representations. After that, recently executed case studies will be investigated in the paper which are Quranic Park by OBE Architects in Dubai, UAE and Qatar Faculty of Islamic Studies by Mangera Yvars Architects in Doha, Qatar. Finally, a field survey is carried out for the purpose of gathering further information. In conclusion, several design approaches were conducted to employ the reflections of Arabic literature in architectural representations in order to achieve the previously mentioned aim

    Application of a dislocation based model for Interstitial Free (IF) steels to Marciniak Stretch test simulations

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    With a view to environmental, economic and safety concerns, car manufacturers need to design lighter and safer vehicles in ever-shorter development times. In recent years, High Strength Steels (HSS) like Interstitial Free (IF) steels, which have ratio of yield strength to elastic modulus, are increasingly used for sheet metal parts in automotive industry to reduce mass. The Finite Element Method (FEM) is quite successful to simulate metal forming processes but accuracy depends both on the constitutive laws used and their material parameters identification. Common phenomenological models roughly consist in the fitting of functions on experimental results and do not provide any predictive character for different metals from the same grade. Therefore, the use of accurate plasticity models based on physics would increase predictive capability, reduce parameter identification cost and allow for robust and time-effective finite element simulations. For this purpose, a 3D physically-based model at large strain with dislocation density evolution approach was presented in IDDRG2009 by the authors. This approach can be decomposed as a combination of isotropic and kinematic contributions. The model enables the description of work-hardening’s behaviour for different simple loading paths (i.e. uniaxial tensile, simple shear and Bauschinger tests) taking into account several data from microstructure (i.e. grain size, texture, etc.…). The originality of this model consists in the introduction of microstructure data in a classical phenomenological model in order to achieve work-hardening’s predictive character for different metals from the same grade. Indeed, thanks to a microstructure parameter set for IF steels, it is possible to describe work-hardening’s behaviour for different steels of grain sizes varying in the 8.5-22µm value range by only changing the mean grain size and initial yield stress values. Forming Limit Diagrams (FLDs) have been empirically constructed to describe the strain states at which a highly localized zone of thinning, or necking, becomes visible on the surface of sheet metals. FLDs can be experimentally obtained through Marciniak Stretch test, which is a modified dome test. It was designed to overcome the severe strain gradients developed by the traditional dome tests using a hemispherical punch (e.g. Nakajima test). Many automotive manufacturers use Marciniak Stretch test as a validation tool before simulating real parts. The work described is an implementation of a 3D dislocation based model in ABAQUS/Explicit together with its validation on a finite element (FE) Marciniak Stretch test. In order to assess the performance and relevance of the 3D dislocation based model in the simulation of industrial forming applications, FLDs will be plotted and compared to experimental results for different IF steels.Contrat Renaul

    Measurement of the cross-section and charge asymmetry of WW bosons produced in proton-proton collisions at s=8\sqrt{s}=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector

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    This paper presents measurements of the W+μ+νW^+ \rightarrow \mu^+\nu and WμνW^- \rightarrow \mu^-\nu cross-sections and the associated charge asymmetry as a function of the absolute pseudorapidity of the decay muon. The data were collected in proton--proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the LHC and correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 20.2~\mbox{fb^{-1}}. The precision of the cross-section measurements varies between 0.8% to 1.5% as a function of the pseudorapidity, excluding the 1.9% uncertainty on the integrated luminosity. The charge asymmetry is measured with an uncertainty between 0.002 and 0.003. The results are compared with predictions based on next-to-next-to-leading-order calculations with various parton distribution functions and have the sensitivity to discriminate between them.Comment: 38 pages in total, author list starting page 22, 5 figures, 4 tables, submitted to EPJC. All figures including auxiliary figures are available at https://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/STDM-2017-13

    Search for chargino-neutralino production with mass splittings near the electroweak scale in three-lepton final states in √s=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

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    A search for supersymmetry through the pair production of electroweakinos with mass splittings near the electroweak scale and decaying via on-shell W and Z bosons is presented for a three-lepton final state. The analyzed proton-proton collision data taken at a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV were collected between 2015 and 2018 by the ATLAS experiment at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 139  fb−1. A search, emulating the recursive jigsaw reconstruction technique with easily reproducible laboratory-frame variables, is performed. The two excesses observed in the 2015–2016 data recursive jigsaw analysis in the low-mass three-lepton phase space are reproduced. Results with the full data set are in agreement with the Standard Model expectations. They are interpreted to set exclusion limits at the 95% confidence level on simplified models of chargino-neutralino pair production for masses up to 345 GeV

    Expression and Function of Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor (MIF) in Melioidosis

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    Melioidosis is a severe tropical infection caused by the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei. B. pseudomallei is the major cause of community-acquired septicemia in northeast Thailand with a mortality rate in severe cases of around 40% Little is known, however, about the mechanisms of the host defense to B. pseudomallei infection. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a proinflammatory cytokine that has emerged as an important mediator of the host defense in severe bacterial infections. In this article, we studied the expression and function of MIF both in patients with melioidosis and in mice during experimental melioidosis. We found that MIF concentrations were elevated in patients with melioidosis. Furthermore, high MIF concentrations are associated with poor outcome in patients with melioidosis. Also, in mice with experimentally induced melioidosis, we observed an upregulation of MIF concentrations. Furthermore, mice with melioidosis that were treated with a MIF blocking treatment showed lower bacterial counts in their lungs during infection. In conclusion, MIF seems to impair host defense mechanisms during melioidosis

    Burnout among surgeons before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: an international survey

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    Background: SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has had many significant impacts within the surgical realm, and surgeons have been obligated to reconsider almost every aspect of daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study reported in compliance with the CHERRIES guidelines and conducted through an online platform from June 14th to July 15th, 2020. The primary outcome was the burden of burnout during the pandemic indicated by the validated Shirom-Melamed Burnout Measure. Results: Nine hundred fifty-four surgeons completed the survey. The median length of practice was 10 years; 78.2% included were male with a median age of 37 years old, 39.5% were consultants, 68.9% were general surgeons, and 55.7% were affiliated with an academic institution. Overall, there was a significant increase in the mean burnout score during the pandemic; longer years of practice and older age were significantly associated with less burnout. There were significant reductions in the median number of outpatient visits, operated cases, on-call hours, emergency visits, and research work, so, 48.2% of respondents felt that the training resources were insufficient. The majority (81.3%) of respondents reported that their hospitals were included in the management of COVID-19, 66.5% felt their roles had been minimized; 41% were asked to assist in non-surgical medical practices, and 37.6% of respondents were included in COVID-19 management. Conclusions: There was a significant burnout among trainees. Almost all aspects of clinical and research activities were affected with a significant reduction in the volume of research, outpatient clinic visits, surgical procedures, on-call hours, and emergency cases hindering the training. Trial registration: The study was registered on clicaltrials.gov "NCT04433286" on 16/06/2020

    Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

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    Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely
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