Cultural heritage and community engagement : exploring participatory approaches in Nepal

Community engagement in Cultural Heritage Management is not a popular practice in Nepal. However, recent political transformations that emphasize inclusive participation in development projects have started to allow local communities to enter into the heritage management process. Within this new relationship, there appear to be two key concerns for local communities: the distribution of revenue generated from heritage; and an ability to participate more fully in the design and management of such enterprises. Using semi-structured interviews with community stakeholders and heritage management authorities at two case study sites in Kathmandu – Boudhanath Stupa and Rani-Pokhari – this research aims to explore whether or not decentralized grassroots engagements with cultural heritage in Nepal provides a more effective and sustainable management strategy. This research is an evaluative study of contemporary policy on cultural heritage management in Kathmandu, and ultimately aims to contribute to heritage debates by offering a new perspective on community engagement specific to the post-disaster, post-development Nepalese context

Simulation and Synthesis of Efficient Majority Logic Fault Detector Using EG-LDPC Codes to Reduce Access Time for Memory Applications

This paper presents an error-detection method for Euclidean Geometry low density parity check codes with majority logic decoding methodology in VHDL language and the output is verified with the help of Xilinx12.1. Majority logic decodable codes are suitable for memory applications due to their capability to correct a large number of errors. However, they require a large decoding time that impacts memory performance. The proposed fault-detection method significantly reduces memory access time when there is no error in the data read. The technique uses the majority logic decoder itself to detect failures, which makes the area overhead minimal and keeps the extra power consumption low. Starting from the original design of the ML decoder introduced, the proposed ML Detector/Decoder (MLDD) has been implemented using the Euclidean Geometry low density parity check codes. The proposed improved majority logic detector/decoder to perform data error correction in simple way using additional error correction technique and also reducing the delay time by detecting the errors in parallel manner. Hence the decoding process uses less number of cycles which reduces the delay

Unexpected transcellular protein crossover occurs during canonical DNA transfection.

Transfection of DNA has been invaluable for biological sciences, yet the effects upon membrane homeostasis are far from negligible. Here, we demonstrate that Neuro2A cells transfected using Lipofectamine LTX with the fluorescently coupled Botulinum serotype A holoenzyme (EGFP-LcA) cDNA express this SNAP25 protease that can, once translated, escape the transfected host cytosol and become endocytosed into untransfected cells, without its innate binding and translocation domains. Fluorescent readouts revealed moderate transfection rates (30–50%) while immunoblotting revealed a surprisingly total enzymatic cleavage of SNAP25; the transgenic protein acted beyond the confines of its host cell. Using intracellular dyes, no important cytotoxic effects were observed from reagent treatment alone, which excluded the possibility of membrane ruptures, though noticeably, intracellular acidic organelles were redistributed towards the plasma membrane. This drastic, yet frequently unobserved, change in protein permeability and endosomal trafficking following reagent treatment highlights important concerns for all studies using transient transfection

Comparative evaluation of shear bond strength of universal dental adhesives : an in vitro study

Patient demand for tooth colored restorations and desire for minimally invasive restorations have made composites an indispensable part of the restorative process. An important factor affecting the intra-oral performance of composite restorations is bonding. Ninty six freshly extracted molar teeth were collected and occlusal 3mm is removed using a diamond disc to expose dentine. Following with samples were divided in to two main groups (self-etch and total etch). Each main group is again sub divided in to three groups each according to bonding agent used (Tetric N- Bond Universal, Single Bond Universal, Tetric N Bond Total etch in total etch group and Clear Fill SE in self etch group). Following which bonding protocol is followed according to manufacture instructions, a composite buildup of 2x3 mm is done on each specimen and then specimen were subjected to shear bond test under universal testing machine. All the readings were noted and subjected to statistical analysis using One way ANOVA and Tukey?s posthoc test. It showed that there is no significant difference among the groups in both self-etch and total etch modes. It can be concluded that application of an etching step prior to Universal Adhesives significantly improves their dentine penetration pattern, although this does not affect their mean SBS. The bond strength values of the TBU regardless of application mode were comparable to SBU making them reliable for working under different clinical conditions

Prevalence of pulmonary arterial hypertension in severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients attending tertiary care centre Ernakulam

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is an irreversible bronchial inflammation of lung airways and parenchyma. Various factors play an important role in occurrence and severity of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a common in severe COPD. The objective of the study is to know the proportion of PAH in patients with severe COPD and to find the association between various factors.Methods: 180 cases of severe COPD patients admitted in Government Medical College Ernakulum from January 2019-December 2019, were enrolled into this cross-sectional descriptive study. Subject’s history, clinical examination, anthropometric measurements, vitals, Arterial Blood Gas (ABG) analysis were done.Results: Among 180 subjects, 148 (82.22%) had mild PAH, 22 (12.22%) subjects had moderate PAH and 10 (5.56%) had severe PAH. Use of accessory muscle was the most elicited sign in the study with 174 (96.67%). 170 (94.44%) had cough and 169 (93.89%) had breathlessness which were the most reported symptoms. Demographic variables and clinical features had no significant mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) association. Grade 3 PAH groups were elder than others, which was statistically significant (p<0.047). FEV1, Oxygen Saturation and ejection fraction were lowest in grade 3 PAH subjects. Respiratory rate, hemoglobin, PCV, tricuspid velocity, PaCO2 were highest in grade 3 PAH subjects being statistically significant (p<0.0001).Conclusions: In our study, majority of severe COPD patients had mild PAH.  There was an independent correlation between respiratory rate, hemoglobin, PCV, tricuspid regurgitant velocity and PaCO2 with severity of PAH

SWaP Optimised Parameter Extraction of Radar Signals for Space Electronic Intelligence Application

Space-based electronic intelligence system provides wide coverage and unrestricted access to adversary radar signals. These systems play a vital role in strategic intelligence gathering for assessing electronic order of battle. These systems need to be SWaP optimized with highly efficient algorithms to extract accurate radar parameters. The realization of such a system is a persistent challenge due to the limited availability of space graded components and associated tools. Towards this, the paper deliberates upon various signal processing algorithms to achieve highly accurate direction-of-arrival (DOA), high-frequency resolution and precise timing information for pulse width and pulse repetition frequency extraction. All the proposed algorithms have been implemented, ported and tested on Xilinx Kintex Ultra Scale FPGA KU060 and being evaluated in the radiation setups to establish the performance. High DOA accuracy and frequency accuracy of the order of 0.3 degree and 0.64 MHz respectively have been achieved

Development and validation of new analytical method for the simultaneous estimation of amitriptyline and perphenazine in bulk and pharmaceutical dosage form by RP-HPLC

A new, simple, precise, accurate and reproducible RP-HPLC method for simultaneous estimation of Amitriptyline and Perphenazine in bulk and pharmaceutical formulations was developed. Separation of Amitriptyline and Perphenazine was successfully achieved on Inertsil ODS (250x4.6mm) 5µm column in an isocratic mode utilizing Methanol: ACN: Water (50:30:20) at a flow rate of 1.0 ml/min and eluents were monitored at 253nm with a retention time of 2.440 and 5.503 minutes for Amitriptyline and Perphenazine respectively. The method was validated and it was found to be linear. The values of the correlation coefficient were found to 0.992 for Amitriptyline and 0.9992 for Perphenazine respectively. The LOD for Perphenazine and Amitriptyline were found to be and 33.8µg/ml and 4.2 µg/ml. The LOQ for Perphenazine and Amitriptyline were found to be 20.88µg/ml and 12.12µg/ml respectively. The percentage recoveries for Amitriptyline and Perphenazine were found to be within the limit indicates that the proposed method is highly accurate. The method was extensively validated according to ICH guidelines

Does influenza vaccination improve pregnancy outcome? Methodological issues and research needs

AbstractEvidence that influenza vaccination during pregnancy is safe and effective at preventing influenza disease in women and their children through the first months of life is increasing. Several reports of reduced risk of adverse outcomes associated with influenza vaccination have generated interest in its potential for improving pregnancy outcome. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, estimates maternal influenza immunization programs in low-income countries would have a relatively modest impact on mortality compared to other new or under-utilized vaccines, however the impact would be substantially greater if reported vaccine effects on improved pregnancy outcomes were accurate. Here, we examine the available evidence and methodological issues bearing on the relationship between influenza vaccination and pregnancy outcome, particularly preterm birth and fetal growth restriction, and summarize research needs. Evidence for absence of harm associated with vaccination at a point in time is not symmetric with evidence of benefit, given the scenario in which vaccination reduces risk of influenza disease and, in turn, risk of adverse pregnancy outcome. The empirical evidence for vaccination preventing influenza in pregnant women is strong, but the evidence that influenza itself causes adverse pregnancy outcomes is inconsistent and limited in quality. Studies of vaccination and pregnancy outcome have produced mixed evidence of potential benefit but are limited in terms of influenza disease assessment and control of confounding, and their analytic methods often fail to fully address the longitudinal nature of pregnancy and influenza prevalence. We recommend making full use of results of randomized trials, re-analysis of existing observational studies to account for confounding and time-related factors, and quantitative assessment of the potential benefits of vaccination in improving pregnancy outcome, all of which should be informed by the collective engagement of experts in influenza, vaccines, and perinatal health