Mediating Conflict: Al-Jazeera English and the Possibility of a Conciliatory Media

Based on a multi-country survey, examines the role of the satellite news channel in educating audiences and providing a forum for cross-cultural communications. Analyzes its impact on viewers' tolerance toward others and engagement with competing claims

Isolation and identification of halophilic bacteria producing exopolysaccharides from whey and milk permeate

The aim of this research was to utilization of the salt whey and milk permeate to produce exopolysaccharides (EPSs). Where cheese whey is simultaneously an effluent with nutritional value and a strong organic and saline content. However, it is drained in the sewers, the EPSs are highly heterogeneous polymers produced by different species of bacteria and have recently been attracting considerable attention from biotechnologists because of their potential applications in many fields. Thus, we have isolated some halophilic bacteria that showed the ability to produce EPS from whey and milk permeate. A total of 46 strains of moderately halophilic bacteria were isolated from two types of samples. The first type was dairy samples (Baramily cheese whey and mish cheese), while the second type was water samples (salty lake water and its sediments) of Wadi El-Natrun Valley (lakes Hamra, UmRisha, and Baida), Beheira Governorate, Egypt. From isolated strains there are twelve strains were having the ability to produce exopolysaccharides but only seven strains can produce EPS from whey and milk permeate. The growth conditions i.e. concentrations of NaCl, pH value and different incubation temperature, of isolates were determined. The effect of these conditions on the production of EPS was investigated. The obtained results indicated that the optimum conditions for the production of EPS by these strains were 10 % NaCl, pH 7 and the optimum incubation temperature was 37°C. Three strains showed the highest production of exopolysaccharides. These strains were identified using two methods the first method was biology system and the second one was 16S rRNA sequence analysis method. It could be identified as Alteribacillus bidgolensis and Bacillus licheniformis. Alteribacillus bidgolensis (strain P4B) produced the highest amount of EPS (52 g/L) from whey followed by Bacillus licheniformis (DSM 13) (42 g/L), while the highest amount of EPS produced from milk permeate was (43 g/L) by Alteribacillus bidgolensis (strain P4B) followed by Bacillus licheniformis (DSM 13) (36 g/L)

Modeling of CPM/LOB integrated Scheduling Technique for Repetitive Construction Projects: Case of Multiple-Crews with Fuzzy Time Data

Project scheduling provides a good insight for the manager to complete the project on time. Project scheduling gives complete timing analysis of activities involved and identifies the critical ones. Critical Path Method (CPM) is the most widely used in planning and scheduling method for traditional (non-repetitive) projects to determine the critical path which determines the minimum completion time of a project.Some construction projects consist of several similar or identical units, which are called repetitive projects. LOB technique has some drawbacks such inability to generate a clear critical path of the project schedule and calculating the total float because it is a graphical technique. LOB used for scheduling repetitive typical projects because this technique considered work continuity and resource availability constraints to avoid unnecessary crew idle time.Some of the previous studies have been made to combine the benefits of CPM and LOB techniques in planning and scheduling repetitive construction projects, so, there is a model that was developed for this objective (schedule repetitive projects in an easy non-graphical manner). But, in real life, more conditions contributed to varying activity duration. Thus, the duration of project activities contains some sort of uncertainty affecting the estimating of project duration. Previous studies used fuzzy set theory instead of probability theory for quantifying the uncertainty associated with the duration of project activities.In this paper, a developed integrated model of CPM and LOB with fuzzy time data for scheduling repetitive projects is presented. The developed model provides a new technique to schedule repetitive projects with fuzzy time data in an easy non-graphical manner

Reduction of chemical networks. I. The case of molecular clouds

We present a new method to analyse and reduce chemical networks and apply this technique to the chemistry in molecular clouds. Using the technique, we investigated the possibility of reducing the number of chemical reactions and species in the UMIST 95 database simultaneously. In addition, we did the same reduction but with the ``objective technique'' in order to compare both methods. We found that it is possible to compute the abundance of carbon monoxide and fractional ionisation accurately with significantly reduced chemical networks in the case of pure gas-phase chemistry. For gas-grain chemistry involving surface reactions reduction is not worthwhile. Compared to the ``objective technique'' our reduction method is more effective but more time-consuming as well.Comment: 15 pages, 7 postscript figures, accepted for publication in A&

Revisiting the association between altitude and mortality in dialysis patients.

It was recently reported that residential altitude is inversely associated with all-cause mortality among incident dialysis patients; however, no adjustment was made for key case-mix and laboratory variables. We re-examined this question in a contemporary patient database with comprehensive clinical and laboratory data. In a contemporary 8-year cohort of 144,892 maintenance dialysis patients from a large dialysis organization, we examined the relationship between residential altitude and all-cause mortality. Using data from the US Geological Survey, the average residential altitudes per approximately 43,000 US zip codes were compiled and linked to the residential zip codes of each patient. Mortality risks for these patients were estimated by Cox proportional hazard ratios. The study population's mean ± standard deviation age was 61 ± 15 years. Forty-five percent of patients were women, and 57% of patients had diabetes. In fully adjusted analysis, those residing in the highest altitude strata (≥ 6000 ft) had a lower all-cause mortality risk in fully adjusted analyses: death hazard ratio: 0.92 (95% confidence interval, 0.86-0.99), as compared with patients in the reference group (<250 ft). Residential altitude is inversely associated in all-cause mortality risk in maintenance dialysis patients notwithstanding the unknown and unmeasured confounders

Making Space, Making Place: Digital Togetherness and the Redefinition of Migrant Identities Online

Immigrants have played a fundamental role in shaping the life and form of urban public spaces for generations. Their efforts, as many scholars have observed, mostly aimed at creating places of comfort in new and sometimes hostile receiving countries. In recent years, the combined contribution of the built environment and screen-based experiences have shaped migrants’ sense of community and belonging, thus making the concept of online community central to ideas about space and public life. Drawing upon a 3-year online ethnography, the article discusses to what extent new media constitute spaces of digital togetherness, where diasporic experiences and transnational identities are constructed and negotiated. It presents a transnational model of creative media consumption, which helps give insight as to how diasporas and ethnic minorities contribute to the transformation of public space in the Digital Age

‘Mobile phones and the internet, mate’ : (Social) media, art, and revolution in Omar Robert Hamilton’s The City Always Wins

In Omar Robert Hamilton’s novel about the Arab Spring The City Always Wins (2017), readers observe that the phone charger has become as much of an essential as water to the protestors. Although the alternative media possess mass engagement, a global reach, and threaten power, over the course of his novel Hamilton traces the crushing of ‘Twitter revolution’ and the rise of a disillusionment and despair among the revolutionaries. This downward trajectory is typified both in the appellative journey from Hamilton’s non-profit media collective Mosireen – ‘those who insist’ – to the novel’s similar group, portentously named Chaos; and in the text’s tripartite reverse-chronological structure of ‘Tomorrow’, ‘Today’, and ‘Yesterday’. Hamilton’s cousin, the blogger and revolutionary activist Alaa Abd el Fattah, was arrested in March 2013 and sentenced to five years in jail in October 2014 for his role in protests. This detention on trumped-up charges inspired the hashtag #FreeAlaa and multimedia campaigns for his release, but the young man may now face a sentence extended by six months to three years due to his Facebook activity early on in the Egyptian revolution. Hamilton dedicates The City Always Wins to Alaa, writing that it ‘would have been a better book if I’d been able to talk to you’. Meanwhile, the author uses Twitter as an archive of an alternative, resistant history of revolutionary struggle; he embeds Tweets in the fabric of this experimental novel; and social media posts interrupt and punctuate the narrative as in the real life of these millennials. In this paper I explore the novel’s representations of (social) media and the impact these have both on everyday lives and modes of protest. Despite promising beginnings, the internet ultimately turns ‘toxic’ and is depicted as a Pandora’s box of dis- and misinformation, conspiracy theories, fake news, and the manipulations of state media mukhabarat. A more lasting alternative to media may be ‘creative insurgency’ (Kraidy 2016: 206−207). As such, I conclude this article by discussing what art can achieve that (citizen) journalism cannot, and how this applies to the novel’s portrayals of art, particularly music

The role of polyclonal intravenous immunoglobulin in treating HIV-infected children with severe bacterial infections: A retrospective cohort study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Mortality among HIV-infected children in developing countries remains high after serious bacterial infections despite the use of antibiotics. Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) has been used as an adjuvant therapy to treat these infections, but little data exists regarding its efficacy, and previous studies have focused on IVIG as a prophylactic agent. We examined the impact of IVIG as an adjuvant therapy in reducing mortality and length of hospital stay in HIV-infected children with serious bacterial infections.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This retrospective study focused on pediatric admissions at a large urban hospital between 2002 and 2006. Children between the ages of one month and nine years of age with laboratory confirmed HIV-status, serious bacterial infection, no prior exposure to IVIG, and a hospital length of stay of 5 days or more, were eligible for inclusion.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 140 children (median age 1.2 years) met inclusion criteria; lower respiratory tract infection was diagnosed in 94 (67%) of the children, while 74 (53%) had bacterial sepsis. Fifty-four (39%) children were receiving antiretroviral therapy and 39 (28%) were receiving tuberculosis treatment. Overall 73 (52%) were treated with IVIG, with the majority (74%) of children receiving a single dose. Thirteen (9%) died during their hospital admission. In crude analysis IVIG was significantly associated with increased mortality was (Odds Ratio (OR): 5.8; 95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.2–27.1) and this association was weakened by adjustment for other predictors of mortality (OR 4.3, 95% CI 0.7–27.9, p = 0.123). IVIG use was also associated with longer hospital stays.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Administration of one to three doses of IVIG during the acute phase of illness does not appear to reduce mortality or the length of hospital stays in HIV-infected children with serious bacterial infections. However, the retrospective nature of this study makes confounding by indication difficult to control and further studies regarding the timing, dosing, and method of administration are required. Nonetheless the routine use of IVIG in resource-limited settings should be carefully considered given its high cost.</p