Surface plasmon resonance imaging detection of silver nanoparticle-tagged immunoglobulin

This article is available open access through the publisher’s website at the link below. Copyright @ 2011 The Royal Society.The detection sensitivity of silver nanoparticle (AgNP)-tagged goat immunoglobulin G (gIgG) microarrays was investigated by studying surface plasmon resonance (SPR) images captured in the visible wavelength range with the help of a Kretchmann-configured optical coupling set-up. The functionalization of anti-gIgG molecules on the AgNP surface was studied using transmission electron microscopy, photon correlation measurements and UV–visible absorption spectroscopy. A value of 1.3 × 107 M−1 was obtained for the antibody–antigen binding constant by monitoring the binding events at a particular resonance wavelength. The detection limit of this SPR imaging instrument is 6.66 nM of gIgG achieved through signal enhancement by a factor of larger than 4 owing to nanoparticle tagging with the antibody.The European Commissio

Real-time risk analysis model of autonomous passenger ferry ‘Sundbåten’ case study

“Necessity is the mother of all inventions” – this famous proverbial saying (unknown author) aptly suits the maritime shipping industry in the context of autonomous ships. Though shipping industry has had highly automated systems onboard specialised ships like DP vessels, fully autonomous shipping operations has eluded it for some time until recently. The push towards increased innovation and testing of autonomous shipping has primarily begun due to the need for cutting operational costs, for increasing safety at sea, for increasing productivity and for reducing carbon-footprint to make shipping more sustainable to meet IMO’s Greenhouse gas emission targets. It has also been ably supported by the enabling environment created by government policies worldwide, research institutions, shipping companies and ship classification societies. In order to achieve fully autonomous shipping (or unmanned) operations, the ship besides replicating human senses of an onboard operator like vision, hearing and communicating – will also need to have the situational awareness and decision-making skill of humans especially expert seafarers with long experience. Hence, a risk analysis method is required which can acquire the virtue of expert seafarers and provide accurate decision-making support to the ships autonomous system enabling it to take navigational decisions of its own without human-intervention. The real-time risk analysis method looks promising in this regard. The objective of this thesis report is to establish a sound body of knowledge about real-time risk analysis, and to apply it to build a real-time risk analysis model for autonomous ships. For this purpose, the Sundbåten autonomous passenger ferry project which is currently under way is taken as a case-study. Here the mission is to develop a real-time risk model which is capable of warning the captain to take the ship’s control when its autonomous system is incapable to do so. The real-time risk analysis model developed in this thesis is capable of identifying the critical risks from marine traffic analysis and expert judgements. The framework for risk model looks promising and its modular and flexible architecture makes it adaptable for a variety of ships & regions

HOMEOPATHY IN THE TREATMENT OF RECURRENT URINARY TRACT INFECTION A CASE REPORT

Objectives: Urinary tract infection (UTI) is a leading cause of morbidity and health-care expenditures in persons of all ages. Recurrent UTI accounts a substantial portion due to its ambiguity of treatment and response. Only using palliative treatment during episodes is not enough to assure the complete resolution of the disease process. Apart from conventional medication, an alternative therapy is warranted for a better and gentle treatment regimen. Methods: This is the case of a 35-year-old female presented with the complaint of recurrent UTI for last 5 months along with some other complaints. After a thorough evaluation, we treated the case with homeopathic medicine, Lycopodium clavatum for a considerable period. The clinical assessment in different visits was done to note any improvement along with the pre-post pathological report. After complete resolution of symptoms, no further recurrence was noted in the next 6 months of follow-up. Results: A marked improvement in the clinical, as well as the pathological aspect, was observed. Conclusion: Although depending only on the observation of this case report efficacy cannot be established, it inevitably draws attention toward effective management of such recurrent UTI cases with homeopathic medication

COVID-19 and Violent Actors in the Global South: A Complex Relationship

Shortly after COVID-19 was classified as a pandemic in March 2020, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres called on violent actors to initiate ceasefires so that energy could be focused on fighting the pandemic. Resonance was low, however - violence even increased in several countries around the globe. Overall, patterns of violence since the spread of COVID-19 have varied significantly over time, between and within Global South regions, and in terms of the most dominant violent actors. The nexus of the external shock of COVID-19 and armed violence is multifaceted and its manifestation highly context-specific. Comparing pre-pandemic patterns of violence with those exhibited in 2020 and 2021 allows us to disentangle pandemic-related from other drivers of violence. Changes in violence dynamics vary across time and space. While the number and frequency of violent events increased in sub-Saharan Africa after the onset of COVID-19, Latin America and the Caribbean along with the Middle East and North Africa experienced decreases. State and non-state violent actors were affected differently, and changes in their activities were not always linked to the pandemic per se. The main consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic on violence relate to the worsening of structural drivers of violent conflict, such as increasing inequalities and the marginalisation of large segments of the population. Bilateral and multilateral cooperation should focus on policies that reduce inequality and improve the provision of public goods, especially access to food, healthcare, and education. Additionally, "building back better" must include improving political and socio-economic opportunities for women, youth, and ethnic minorities

The Global Conflict Risk Index: Artificial intelligence for conflict prevention

The Global Conflict Risk Index (GCRI), which was designed by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC), is the quantitative starting point of the EU’s conflict Early Warning System. Taking into consideration the needs of policy-makers to prioritize actions towards conflict prevention, the GCRI expresses the statistical risk of violent conflict in a given country in the upcoming one to four years. It is based on open source data and grounded in the assumption that the occurrence of conflict is linked to structural conditions, which are used to compute the probability and intensity of conflicts. While the initial GCRI model was estimated by means of linear and logistic regression models, this report presents a new GCRI model based on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) random forest (RF) approach. The models’ hyperparameters are optimized using a ten-fold cross validation. Overall, it is demonstrated that the random forest GCRI models are internally stable, not overfitting, and have a good predictive power. The precision and accuracy metrics are above 98%, both for the national power and subnational power conflict models. The AI GCRI, as a supplementary modelling method for the European conflict prevention policy agenda, is scientifically robust as a baseline quantitative evaluation of armed conflict risk additional to the linear and logistic regression GCRI.JRC.E.1-Disaster Risk Managemen

The establishment of industrial branding through dyadic logistics partnership success (LPS): The case of the Malaysian automotive and logistics industry

Logistics partnerships across dyadic and triadic relationship networks have been the basis of extensive research in the extant literature. It is well understood that competitive advantage within logistics and distribution and within supply chains are driven by value-adding aspects of not only the core competencies of each tier in the network, but also via tangential supporting factors. It is also well understood that there is a strong relationship between logistics and distribution and marketing functions, particularly in product-based organisations. In addition to deepening our understanding of how successful partnerships throughout the source-make-deliver continuum can be optimised, this research also seeks to identify how a supporting element in terms of industrial branding and marketing can lead to relational sustainability. Hence, this paper outlines the relationship between logistics partnership success (LPS) factors and the inherent link to industrial branding establishment and business sustainability within the Malaysian automotive industry (specifically, car manufacturers). Adopting a multiple case study approach, findings suggest that there is a strong association between logistics service performance (LSP) provided by the third party logistics provider (TPLP) and the development and support of a mutual brand image for both the TPLP and the car manufacturer. We contribute to the extant literature on logistics partnership and industrial branding through linking LSP with the creation and maintenance of an industrial branding strategy for both parties in the context of the Malaysian automotive industry. © 2013 Elsevier Inc

Location Based Logistics Services and Event Driven Business Process Management

Location-based Services (LBS) [1] have already started their market penetration process and several platforms capable of running LBS are available. With the number of LBS increasing, the current development is targeting consumer applications, although LBS have a high potential for enhancing business processes in companies as well. Considering business process optimization, one concept recently discussed in the field of Business Process Management (BPM) [2] is Event-Driven Business Process Management (ED-BPM) [3], which combines Business Process Management (BPM) and Complex Event Processing (CEP) [4]. This paper introduces ED-BPM for LBS in the logistics field, exemplifying its potential use with an example for a logistics order process execution

Konzepte, Strategien und Angebote des luxemburgischen Roten Kreuzes zur Förderung der Gesundheit und des Wohlbefindens von Jugendlichen

ZusammenfassungIn Luxemburg befinden sich viele Jugendliche in materieller, gesundheitlicher oder sozialer Not. Ihre Notlagen haben unterschiedliche Ursachen. Wesentliche Hürden in der Jugendphase sind die Übergänge zum eigenen Wohnen, in den Arbeitsmarkt und in die bürgerschaftliche Teilhabe. Die Jugendlichen müssen Entwicklungsaufgaben bewältigen, um diese Transitionen zu meistern. Wenn sie nicht von Haus aus ausreichend für diese Aufgaben ausgestattet sind, kann das zu Umwegen, Unterstützungsbedarf oder gar zum Scheitern führen. Personale, sozioökonomische und soziale Ausstattungsmerkmale der Jugendlichen beeinflussen das Gelingen der Transitionen. Wohlbefinden und Gesundheit sind Gelingensfaktoren und gleichzeitig Resultat einer erfolgreichen Jugendphase.Für diejenigen Jugendlichen, die Unterstützung benötigen, bietet das luxemburgische Rote Kreuz vielfältige Dienste mit unterschiedlichen Strategien an: die non-formale Bildung, die Kinder- und Familienhilfe, die Soziale Arbeit und medizinische Unterstützung. Je nach Intensität und Ursprung der Situation wird ein spezifischer Dienst tätig. Ansatzpunkte konkreter Unterstützung sind die jeweiligen Transitionen, Entwicklungsaufgaben und Gelingensfaktoren.</jats:p