Pluralities

This thesis attempts to answer the question - What does it mean to be half/plural Egyptian in Egypt? It focuses on the experiences of individuals with one Egyptian parent and one foreign parent living in Egypt. A secondary goal was to examine how individuals created niches and familiarity for themselves within a socio-cultural context marked by the upholding of rigid social boundaries. Contacts were made through existing social ties and referrals by friends and colleagues. Methodologically I conducted interviews with my interlocutors, after introductory e-mails explaining the project and requesting background information in order to ascertain participants\u27 suitability for the project. I also conducted research on the internet via keyword searches and gained access to Facebook groups which were created exclusively for \u27Half Egyptians\u27 by \u27half Egyptians\u27. Participant observation took the form of social gatherings. The majority of individuals I engaged with in this research communicated that Egyptians either categorized them as \u27Egyptian\u27 or \u27foreign\u27 making it clear that there was no category in between. A major deciding factor in this categorization was the gender of the Egyptian parent. This indicates that even though the nationality law changed in 2004 allowing women to confer citizenship, it has little effect on the production of ideas about and the social perceptions of Egyptianness. In my thesis I also examined the meanings of foreignness and Egyptianness. Based on my research it is evident that Egyptianness, though shrouded in ambiguity as to what it really means, remains a fixed category in people\u27s discourses and actions, lacking flexibility and possibilities of inclusion for those labeled as plurals or half Egyptians. The existence of such pluralities, as demonstrated in the lived experiences of participants in my study who have one foreign parent, are rejected in daily social encounters as falling under the rubric of \u27foreign\u27. This process of social marginalization does not enable a blending of social and cultural barriers

How independent living skills services affect the outcomes of emancipated foster youth in attaining self-sufficiency

The purpose of this study is to highlight the services that are beneficial and highlight additional services that are needed in order to facilitate a successful transition for emancipating foster youth. This study shows how self-sufficiency in emancipating foster youth is affected by the services provided by the Independent Living Skills (ILP) program. Face-to-face interviews were completed with ILP participants as data collected source and quantitative research was conducted using surveys and focus groups to obtain firsthand information and personal experiences from former foster youth themselves

Comportamiento mecánico ante la sobrexpansión de stents de cromo-cobalto comparados con stents de acero inoxidable, implantados en la aorta abdominal de conejos hipercolesterolémicos

Introducción: La fisiopatología de la disfunción diastólica del ventrículo izquierdo incluye alteraciones de la relajación ventricular, rigidez elástica pasiva o una combinación de ambos mecanismos. Mediante el eco-Doppler es posible evaluar parámetros relacionados con la relajación ventricular, pero no de la rigidez elástica pasiva. El estrés parietal diastólico evalúa la rigidez elástica pasiva a través de la disminución de la compresión del miocardio al final de la diástole. Objetivo: Evaluar la rigidez elástica pasiva mediante el estrés parietal diastólico en pacientes con estenosis aórtica grave con fracción de eyección preservada y su relación con la presencia de insuficiencia cardíaca grado III-IV. Material y métodos: Se estudiaron 76 pacientes (edad promedio 67 ± 11 años) portadores de estenosis aórtica grave (índice de área valvular aórtica <0,6 cm2/m2) y fracción de eyección mayor o igual al 50%. El estrés parietal diastólico fue calculado como: (espesor sistólico de pared posterior – espesor diastólico) / espesor sistólico en modo M. Se calculó por métodos no invasivos la relación E/e´, presión de fin de diástole y presión de fin de diástole / volumen de fin de diástole. Los pacientes fueron ordenados en 2 grupos: Grupo 1: insuficiencia cardíaca grado III - IV (n = 5 pacientes) y Grupo 2: sin insuficiencia cardíaca (n = 71 pacientes). Resultados: Los pacientes del grupo 1 presentaron mayor alteración de la rigidez elástica pasiva evidenciada por disminución del estrés parietal diastólico (0,23 ± 0,05 vs. 0,30 ± 0,06 p < 0,01), mayor incremento de E/e´ (20 ± 7 vs. 14 ± 8 p < 0,05), presión de fin de diástole y presión de fin de diástole / volumen de fin de diástole. Conclusión: El estrés parietal diastólico permitiría objetivar alteraciones de la rigidez elástica pasiva en pacientes con estenosis aórtica grave, fracción de eyección preservada e insuficiencia cardíaca que no pueden ser evaluadas mediante los parámetros de función diastólica habituales.Objectives: The aim of this study was to analyze the behavior to overexpansion of cobalt chromium stents compared with stainlesssteel stents.Methods: Twenty New Zealand rabbits were used, fed with a diet supplemented with 1% cholesterol. Animals were divided into twogroups. Group 1 (n=10) received 3.0 mm cobalt chromium stents overexpanded at 20 atmospheres and group 2 (n=10) 3.5 mm stentsdeployed at 10 atmospheres. These stents were compared with a previous series of 20 animals with stainless steel stents, dividedinto the same two groups. A third group with conventional diet was used as control. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) was performedto assess the degree of elastic recoil and also the degree of symmetry using ?intertrust angles?.Results: In group 1 of cobalt chromium stents, mean elastic recoil was 0.11±0.13 mm, (3.21% recoil) and in group 2 this was0.3±0.12 mm, (8.26% recoil) (p=0.002). In group 1 of stainless steel stents mean elastic recoil was 0.28±0.18 mm (8.21% recoil) andin group 2 this was 0.10±0.11 mm (2.79% recoil) (p <0.001).Conclusions: In cobalt chromium stents, elastic recoil was lower in overexpanded stents, whereas in stainless steel stents, elasticrecoil was higher in overexpanded stents. No differences in symmetry were observed between the different groups.Fil: Fernandez, Alejandro. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Mele, Esteban. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Renou, Sandra Judith. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Odontología. Cátedra de Anatomía Patológica; ArgentinaFil: Olmedo, Daniel Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Odontología. Cátedra de Anatomía Patológica; ArgentinaFil: Berrocal, Daniel. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Gelpi, Ricardo Jorge. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Odontología. Cátedra de Anatomía Patológica; Argentin

Researching Framework for Simulating/Implementating P Systems

Researching simulation/implementation of membranes systems is very recent. Present literature gathers new publications frequently about software/hardware, data structures and algorithms for implementing P system evolution. In this context, this work presents a framework which goal is to make tasks of researchers of this field easier. Hence, it establishes the set of cooperating classes that form a reusable and flexible design for the customizable evaluation with new data structures and algorithms. Moreover, it includes customizable services for correcting, monitoring and logging the evolution and edition, recovering, automatic generating, persistence and visualizing P systems

Characterization of the aerosol produced by infrared femtosecond laser ablation of polyacrylamide gels for the sensitive inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection of selenoproteins

A 2D high repetition rate femtosecondlaserablation strategy (2-mm wide lane) previously developed for the detection of selenoproteins in gel electrophoresis by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was found to increase signal sensitivity by a factor of 40 compared to conventional nanosecond ablation (0.12-mm wide lane) [G. Ballihaut, F. Claverie, C. Pécheyran, S. Mounicou, R. Grimaud and R. Lobinski, Sensitive Detection of Selenoproteins in Gel Electrophoresis by High Repetition Rate FemtosecondLaserAblation-Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry, Anal. Chem. 79 (2007) 6874–6880]. Such improvement couldn't be explained solely by the difference of amount of material ablated, and then, was attributed to the aerosol properties. In order to validate this hypothesis, the characterization of the aerosolproduced by nanosecond and high repetition rate femtosecondlaserablation of polyacrylamidegels was investigated. Our 2D high repetition rate femtosecondlaserablation strategy of 2-mm wide lane was found to produce aerosols of similar particle size distribution compared to nanosecond laserablation of 0.12-mm wide lane, with 38% mass of particles < 1 µm. However, at high repetition rate, when the ablated surface was reduced, the particle size distribution was shifted toward thinner particle diameter (up to 77% for a 0.12-mm wide lane at 285 µm depth). Meanwhile, scanning electron microscopy was employed to visualize the morphology of the aerosol. In the case of larger ablation, the fine particles ejected from the sample were found to form agglomerates due to higher ablation rate and then higher collision probability. Additionally, investigations of the plasma temperature changes during the ablation demonstrated that the introduction of such amount of polyacrylamidegel particles had very limited impact on the ICP source (ΔT~ 25 ± 5 K). This suggests that the cohesion forces between the thin particles composing these large aggregates were weak enough to have negligible impact on the ICPMS detection