Brief Note Transmission Experiments with Babesia Microti (Gray Strain) Using Dermacentor Andersoni Stiles as a Vector

Author Institution: Department of Microbiology, The Ohio State Universit

Oxygen molecule dissociation on carbon nanostructures with different types of nitrogen doping

Energy barrier of oxygen molecule dissociation on carbon nanotube or graphene with different types of nitrogen doping is investigated using density functional theory. The results show that the energy barriers can be reduced efficiently by all types of nitrogen doping in both carbon nanotubes and graphene. Graphite-like nitrogen and Stone-Wales defect nitrogen decrease the energy barrier more efficiently than pyridine-like nitrogen, and a dissociation barrier lower than 0.2 eV can be obtained. Higher nitrogen concentration reduces the energy barrier much more efficiently for graphite-like nitrogen. These observations are closely related to partial occupation of {\pi}* orbitals and change of work functions. Our results thus provide useful insights into the oxygen reduction reactions.Comment: Accepted by Nanoscal

MEDIA FREEDOM IN KENYA in 2017: A REALITY OR A MIRAGE?

Media freedom is the capacity of the media to act as a barometer to call government to account vis-à-vis the Constitution of Kenya, 2010 especially the values, spirit and ethos enshrined therein. So much so that countries which are strong democracies always have strong and free media. A free and democratic society is not possible without an independent, free and responsible media and an active civil society. Freedom House Report results from the fact that Kenya currently finds itself in a very interesting position where media freedom exists boldly on paper, but the reality on the ground is something else. The current Constitution of Kenya which came into force on 27 August 2010, has not only been hailed as reformist, but it has a new and progressive Bill of Rights requiring extensive reforms to both the media and information management frameworks. However, the government seems to have another agenda. As will be observed below, the government has introduced several laws that, on the outside appear to be progressive and in line with the new Constitution, but upon closer inspection clearly has an agenda that undermines media freedom in Kenya. In the sections which follow, this paper will analyse the legal framework and social factors relevant to media freedom in Kenya.&nbsp

THE LINK BETWEEN THE RIGHT TO LIVE INDEPENDENTLY AND TO BE INCLUDED IN THE COMMUNITY FOR PERSONS WITH PSYCHOSOCIAL DISABILITY, AND THE RIGHT TO WORK AND EMPLOYMENT: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF KENYAN LAW

The right to live independently and to be included in the community is especially important for persons with psychosocial disabilities as they often find themselves isolated from the community. This paper will delve into what the right to live independently in the community means for persons with psychosocial disabilities. Specifically, it will discuss the link between the right to work and employment, and the right to live independently and in the community. In fact, it will make the argument that if the Kenyan legal framework does not adequately protect the right of persons with psychosocial disabilities to work and employment, then it has failed to protect the right of persons with disability to live independently and to be included in the community. In order to make a determination, this paper will engage in a critical analysis of the Kenyan legal framework on the right to work

Filamin C Truncation Mutations Are Associated With Arrhythmogenic Dilated Cardiomyopathy and Changes in the Cell-Cell Adhesion Structures.

OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to assess the phenotype of Filamin C (FLNC) truncating variants in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and understand the mechanism leading to an arrhythmogenic phenotype. BACKGROUND: Mutations in FLNC are known to lead to skeletal myopathies, which may have an associated cardiac component. Recently, the clinical spectrum of FLNC mutations has been recognized to include a cardiac-restricted presentation in the absence of skeletal muscle involvement. METHODS: A population of 319 U.S. and European DCM cardiomyopathy families was evaluated using whole-exome and targeted next-generation sequencing. FLNC truncation probands were identified and evaluated by clinical examination, histology, transmission electron microscopy, and immunohistochemistry. RESULTS: A total of 13 individuals in 7 families (2.2%) were found to harbor 6 different FLNC truncation variants (2 stopgain, 1 frameshift, and 3 splicing). Of the 13 FLNC truncation carriers, 11 (85%) had either ventricular arrhythmias or sudden cardiac death, and 5 (38%) presented with evidence of right ventricular dilation. Pathology analysis of 2 explanted hearts from affected FLNC truncation carriers showed interstitial fibrosis in the right ventricle and epicardial fibrofatty infiltration in the left ventricle. Ultrastructural findings included occasional disarray of Z-discs within the sarcomere. Immunohistochemistry showed normal plakoglobin signal at cell-cell junctions, but decreased signals for desmoplakin and synapse-associated protein 97 in the myocardium and buccal mucosa. CONCLUSIONS: We found FLNC truncating variants, present in 2.2% of DCM families, to be associated with a cardiac-restricted arrhythmogenic DCM phenotype characterized by a high risk of life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias and a pathological cellular phenotype partially overlapping with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy

Intervention strategies for improving business process outcomes:A causal rule mining approach

Event logs contain a wealth of information about the execution of business process instances, called cases, and their outcomes. However, extracting actionable information from event logs is still a challenge. This paper proposes the use of causal rule mining on event logs to identify interventions for cases, targeting the improvement of the case outcomes. The mined causal rules identify from the case context both success causes of cases with desired outcomes as well as failure causes of cases with unwanted outcomes. Criteria for evaluating different interventions are developed. Next, different intervention strategies are proposed and analyzed. The intervention strategies are evaluated on several real-world event logs under different settings. The experiments show that by using intervention strategies based on causal rules, the expected outcome of business processes can be significantly improved

Automated Analysis with Event Log Enrichment of the European Public Procurement Processes

The length and extension of legal processes are two of the main problems of contemporary justice. Adopting process analysis techniques can serve to understand the course of these processes, to identify bottlenecks, and to propose improvements. This paper showcases an exploration of legal event logs using process mining techniques. First, we discuss the results obtained by applying state-of-the art process discovery techniques to data obtained from public tenders. Then, we show how to use natural language processing to automatically extract events and dates from the texts of the tenders and leverage this information for improving the results of process mining techniques. As a proof-of-concept, we propose a comparison of the French, Spanish, and Italian cases through process discovery based on calls for tenders from the European TED repository.</p

Digital Transformation: The Need for a Sustainable Green Culture in African Higher Education Institutions

Digital transformation (DT) continuously affects individuals and organisations. African Higher Education Institutions (AHEIs) must prioritise robust IT infrastructure to enhance research, modernise teaching, and improve learning experiences in the digital era. Despite policies and programs promoting digital education, AHEIs face challenges in fully implementing DT because of unimplemented policies and the persistent digital divide. DT, driven by technological progress, is crucial for achieving environmental, economic, and social sustainability goals. This includes integrating sustainability into curricula, assessing institutional leaders\u27 commitment to sustainability, and adopting eco-friendly campus practices. Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are strategic concerns affecting institutional culture, research, teaching, and policies and should be integrated into DT. This study explores the importance of DEI in DT implementation within AHEIs. It offers strategies for doing so, including developing strategic visions and plans, fostering digital leadership skills, promoting DEI initiatives in DT, establishing effective policies and frameworks to address the digital divide, mental health disorders, and learning disabilities; embracing comprehensive approaches to DT; and fostering institutional cultural and academic changes. It is crucial to consider DEI when adopting digital technologies that can drive innovation and improve service delivery in AHEIs, which is the focus of this research

On the use of hierarchical subtrace mining for efficient local process model mining

Mining local patterns of process behavior is a vital tool for the analysis of event data that originates from flexible processes, for which it is generally not possible to describe the behavior of the process in a single process model without overgeneralizing the behavior allowed by the process. Several techniques for mining such local patterns have been developed throughout the years, including Local Process Model (LPM) mining and the hierarchical mining of frequent subtraces (i.e., subprocesses). These two techniques can be considered to be orthogonal, i.e., they provide different types of insights on the behavior observed in an event log. As a consequence, it is often useful to apply both techniques to the data. However, both techniques can be computationally intensive, hindering data analysis. In this work, we explore how the output of a subtrace mining approach can be used to mine LPMs more efficiently. We show on a collection of real-life event logs that exploiting the ordering constraints extracted from subtraces lowers the computation time needed for LPM mining compared to state-of-the-art techniques, while at the same time mining higher quality LPMs. Additionally, by mining LPMs from subtraces, we can obtain a more structured and meaningful representation of subprocesses allowing for classic process-flow constructs such as parallel ordering, choices, and loops, besides the precedence relations shown by subtraces.</p