Sexual Desire as Experienced by South Asian Women Living in British Columbia

Cultural beliefs and values play a significant role in the conceptualization, expression, and experience of sexual desire and functioning. Previous studies have found higher mainstream acculturation was associated with higher sexual desire and arousal. Many of these studies have also linked the cultural effects on sexual functioning to culture-differences in sexual conservatism. Within South Asian culture there is a propensity towards sexual conservatism, especially in relation to female sexual desire, yet research with regards to sexual desire and South Asian women is absent from the literature. Given the dearth of research related to this topic, further research in this area is warranted. This study used the Vancouver Index of Acculturation (VIA) and the Sexual Desire Inventory-2 (SDI-2) to investigate the relationship between acculturation to mainstream (Canadian) culture and sexual desire and enculturation to heritage (South Asian) culture and sexual desire in South Asian females living in BC. Results of this study found a positive relationship between acculturation to mainstream culture and sexual desire. No evidence of a significant relationship between enculturation to heritage culture and sexual desire was reported. Exploratory analysis of demographic factors found that as age increased acculturation scores decreased; parents and pregnant women reported higher enculturation and lower acculturation scores; non-parents scored higher on sexual desire; married participants reported lower acculturation scores, and participants in a relationship (but not married) reported the highest levels of sexual desire. Moreover, participants who identified as having Hindu or Islamic belief systems reported lower average solitary sexual desire scores than participants from other spirituality/religious groups. Finally, there were small positive correlations regarding those who agreed with statements related to female sexuality and their VIA and SDI-2 scores. Keeping in mind that this study was the first to explore sexual desire and South Asian women, findings from this study may further build on our understanding of South Asian female sexual desire as well as assist in supporting the sexual health of South Asian women. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA http://aura.antioch.edu/ and OhioLink ETD Center https://etd.ohiolink.edu/etd

Drop Impact on an Inclined and a Moving Surface

This thesis has made progress in two different areas related to drop impact onto a surface. Firstly, a systematic experimental study has been performed to understand asymmetric spreading of low and high surface tension liquids on a moving surface. A new time evolution model for droplet spreading on a moving surface was developed. This model regardless the value of surface tension of the liquid can predict the spreading of low viscous (1-4cSt) liquids on a moving surface. Secondly, liquids with viscosity (1-5cSt) and surface tension (17.4-72.8mNm) were used to study the drop impact on moving and inclined surface. Experiments performed with similar normal (0.9-2.9m/s) and tangential (0.8-2.9m/s) velocities on both surfaces to test our hypothesis that spreading/splashing for these two surface conditions should be same. Results indicates that our hypothesis is true, except for some special conditions when, normal and tangential velocities are greater than the range of our analysis

Services for activities in group editing 'sage'

The project described in this thesis investigates the needs of a group of people working cooperatively in an OSI environment, and recommends tools and services to meet these needs. The project looks specifically at Services for Activities in Group Editing, and is identified as the `SAGE' project. The project uses case studies to identify user requirements and to determine common functionalities for a variety of group editing activities. A prototype is implemented in an X.400 environment to help refine user requirements, as a source of new ideas and to test the proposed functionalities. The conceptual modelling follows current CCITT proposals, but a new classification of group activities is proposed: Informative, Objective and Supportive application groups. It is proposed that each of these application groups have their own Service Agent. Use of this classification allows the possibility of developing three sets of tools which will cover a wide range of group activities, rather than developing tools for individual activities. Group editing is considered to be in the Supportive application group. A set of additional services and tools to support group editing are proposed in the context of the CCITT draft on group communication, X.gc. The proposed services and tools are mapped onto the X.400 series of recommendations, with the Abstract Service Definition of the operational objects defined, along with their associated component files, by extending the X.420 protocol functionality. It is proposed that each of the Informative, Objective and Supportive application groups should be implemented as a modified X.420 inter-personal messaging system

Using peer assessments for research and higher order learning in the online learning platform: Reflections and evidence from the Pacific.

Peer assessment is a versatile teaching and learning tool that has been effectively used at different levels of education and assessment tasks with demonstrably positive effects. This study examines the differences between performance of students who participated in a voluntary peer assessment exercise prior to submitting their assignment and students who did not participate and records the benefits and challenges identified by students who engaged in the exercise. Fifty-one students from two online undergraduate research methods courses (one first and one third year course) undertook an online peer assessment exercise for a written assignment and answered open-ended post-exercise reflection questions regarding their experience. For comparison, a matching sample of 51 students was drawn randomly from a class list of students who did not participate in the study. The assignment marks of students who participated in the peer assessment exercise were substantially higher than those students who did not participate (p= 0.0005, d = 1.02). In the post-exercise reflection, students indicated that the peer assessment activity was useful in learning how to do specific aspects of the assignment, learning how to assess using rubrics, and identifying their own misconceptions and errors about assignment criteria, expectations, and performance. We conclude that online peer assessments can be effectively used in online undergraduate courses to enhance research, academic writing, and self-assessment skills, as well as assessment literacy in a Pacific context

Amniotic fluid embolism

Amniotic fluid embolism is a rare and severe problem in obstetric patients. We experienced a 21-year primigravida who underwent emergency cesarean section due to sudden collapse and fetal distress after rupture of membranes in labour. Subsequently, she developed intraoperative coagulopathy, hemorrhage, hypotension, and respiratory collapse requiring ventilation. Both maternal and neonatal lives were saved with full recovery and discharged in stable condition. The clinical diagnosis of amniotic fluid embolism (AFE) was made, which is a very rare complication of pregnancy/puerperium with varying presentation, ranging from cardiac arrest, circulatory collapse and death through mild degrees of organ system dysfunction with or without coagulopathy. AFE has no definitive test for its diagnosis; the detection of fetal elements in the maternal vasculature is non-specific. The treatment is largely supportive and there is no specific therapy. However, mortality of this condition remains high, if not timely intervened

Impacting of droplets on moving surface and inclined surfaces

Drop impact onto inclined and moving surfaces are seen in various applications, for example, inkjet printing, spray coating, or in agriculture; droplets impact on either the surface that is moving, inclined, or a combination of both. Studies in the literature have examined the phenomenon of drop impact in isolation, either for a moving surface, or an inclined surface. Therefore, we conducted a comparative study for drop impact onto moving and inclined surfaces to see if they can be considered as equivalent systems. We used high speed imaging and examined the spreading and splashing of droplet impact onto both inclined and moving surfaces, having the same normal and tangential (in-plane) velocities. Various liquids with viscosities and surface tensions in the range of 1-5 cSt 17.4-72.8 mNm, respectively, were used. We demonstrated that both systems are equivalent to one another, considering either the initial spreading behavior of droplets, or splashing. Different types of splashing seen on inclined and moving surfaces are similar regardless of system. Finally, a new type of splashing named "split splashing"was also reported. This type of splashing is seen only when the normal velocity relative to tangential velocity is very low

Is drop impact the same for both moving and inclined surfaces?

Drop impact is an important phenomenon in a wide variety of applications. Researchers have largely examined drop impact onto a moving surface, and an inclined surface separately. Given that in both systems the impact phenomenon is influenced by tangential and normal velocity components, the question remains, if these two systems are essentially equivalent or gravity and boundary layer effects are such that the outcomes will be different. Experiments have been performed by varying liquid surface tension, viscosity and both normal and tangential velocities (0.3 to 2.9 m/s). The desired velocity components were achieved by changing the height where drop is released, the surface inclination angle for inclined system, and the horizontal velocity for the moving surface. To compare the systems, spreading was analyzed by measuring the width and length of the lamella at various time intervals; for splashing, top view images were compared to see the extent of splashing at initial stage. The data suggests that, for the given velocity, neither the boundary layer differences between the two systems nor the gravity play a role on spreading and splashing of the drop, as such one system can replace the other for future studies

Can Islamic banking work in South Africa?

In little more than a decade, Islamic banking has grown into a $300 billion a year industry worldwide and is now finding its way to South Africa hence providing a wealth of opportunities to new and existing players in the South African banking industry. One of the key factors differentiating Islamic financial institutions is the need to demonstrate compliance with Shariah in all their activities. There is a lack of consensus in the industry as to whether certain transactions or activities are compliant, which can cause confusion among practitioners and customers as well as restricting the concept of Islamic finance from wider acceptance and recognition.Therefore, the purpose of this study is to test whether Islamic Banking can work in the South African market. Qualitative research was conducted to determine the South African banking environment, customer sceptism, controversies and challenges faced with regard to this growing industry. Content analysis of 16 depth interviews with banking representatives, South African Reserve Bank representative, Islamic scholars and Muslim customers revealed interesting insights that guided the research to possible outcomes. Together with presenting a model that Islamic banking can use, a number of strategic implications and limitations are discussed, and directions for future research are also addressed.Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2010.Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)unrestricte

Prevalence of malaria reported during summer and winter at a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan

This study was designed to determine the prevalence and type of malaria cases that presented throughout the year 2014 in a tertiary care hospital in Karachi, Pakistan. A total of 1099 cases, (377 females, 722 males) were reported. Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) was discovered in 93.7% cases compared to 6.3% Plasmodium falciparum (P. falciparum). Based on the highest and lowest weather temperatures, in summer (June, July and August) and in winter (December, January and February) were differentiated. The number of cases were greater during summer months compared to winter. Interestingly, the ratio of P. falciparum to P. vivax during winter was greater compared to summer. Finally, there was a strong correlation between increasing humidity and number of malaria cases. These findings show that even though the incidence of malaria is higher in summer, malaria cases are still reported in winter. Furthermore, the probability of finding P. falciparum (which causes cerebral malaria ) is higher in winter

Performance evaluation of cardiac troponin I assay: A comparison between the point-of-care testing radiometer AQT90 FLEX and the central laboratory siemens advia centaur analyzer

Background: To validate the point of care testing (POCT) Trop-I analyzer and compare it with a central laboratory-based chemiluminescence immunoassay, in order to evaluate its performance for use in critical care areas. Moreover, for clinical decision-making, it is imperative to know the extent to which patient stratification will differ based on the analytic method being used. In particular, the aim of this study was to evaluate the analytical performance of the point-of-care analyzer and demonstrate the agreement with the central laboratory measurements in patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with chest pain and suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS).Methods: This cross-sectional study was performed at the section of chemical pathology, department of pathology and laboratory medicine, the Aga Khan University (AKU), Karachi, from October to November 2017. Samples from patients and the quality control material of Trop-I were analyzed for imprecision, linearity, and method comparison on Advia Centaur (Siemens Diagnostics, CA, USA), and the AQT90 FLEX analyzer (Radiometer Medical ApS, Brønshøj, Denmark) with photometric detection at the section of chemical pathology, AKU. Statistical analysis was done using Microsoft Excel (Microsoft Corporation, Washington, United States) and EP Evaluator version 10.3.0.556 (Data Innovations, LLC, VT, US). Quantitative variables were represented in terms of mean ± SD. For precision, the computed SD was compared with allowable random error. Furthermore, Cohen’s kappa was applied to observe the agreement between the two methods.Results: The Trop-I Precision study on the POCT analyzer showed a coefficient of variation (CV) of 2.4% using a pooled patient sample with a mean Trop-I of 2.15 ± 0.05 ng/ml. Three standards ranging from 0.034 to 1.316 ng/ml were run in triplicate to verify accuracy and linearity. The allowable systematic error (SEa) was 10.0%. The maximum deviation for a mean recovery from 100% was 4.1%. All three of the mean recoveries were accurate and within the allowable error limits. The results were linear with slope 1.04, intercept 0.0. On a method comparison, Trop-I showed good agreement, yielding a kappa value of 0.95.Conclusion: This study has validated the performance of a POCT Trop-I assay against a central laboratory immunoassay and found acceptable results. POCT assays for cTnI should be implanted in emergency settings to ensure the fast triage of patients with chest pain, as well as timely diagnosis