A Comparative Study of Social Enterprises: North vs. South Perspectives

Social entrepreneurship as a practice that integrates economic and social value creation has a strong global presence. This chapter capitalizes on the evolution of the concept of social enterprise in the Western literature to analyze its manifestation in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Specifically, using empirical evidence from seven Arab countries, this chapter documents the understanding and application of social enterprises in the MENA region. Through the voices of social entrepreneurs who are working across the MENA countries, we document how social enterprise is displayed in practice along with both the constraints and the opportunities facing social entrepreneurs across this region. This new context-specific approach is then used to shed light on the similarities and differences of social enterprise practices across the international scene and the MENA region. The findings presented highlight the uniqueness of social enterprise in the MENA context, combining elements of both European and American approaches, in addition to some context-specific features

Efficient two-stage cryptography scheme for secure distributed data storage in cloud computing

Cloud computing environment requires secure access for data from the cloud server, small execution time, and low time complexity. Existing traditional cryptography algorithms are not suitable for cloud storage. In this paper, an efficient two-stage cryptography scheme is proposed to access and store data into cloud safely. It comprises both user authentication and encryption processes. First, a two-factor authentication scheme one-time password is proposed. It overcomes the weaknesses in the existing authentication schemes. The proposed authentication method does not require specific extra hardware or additional processing time to identity the user. Second, the plaintext is divided into two parts which are encrypted separately using a unique key for each. This division increases the security of the proposed scheme and in addition decreases the encryption time. The keys are generated using logistic chaos model theory. Chaos equation generates different values of keys which are very sensitive to initial condition and control parameter values entered by the user. This scheme achieves high-security level by introducing different security processes with different stages. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme reduces the size of the ciphertext and both encryption and decryption times than competing schemes without adding any complexity

Reentrant ventricular arrhythmias in the late myocardial infarction period. 12. Spontaneous versus induced reentry and intramural versus epicardial circuits

One to 5 days after one-stage ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery in dogs, reentrant excitation can be induced by programmed premature stimulation in the surviving electrophysiologically abnormal, thin epicardial layer overlying the infarct. In experiments in four dogs, reentrant excitation occurred “spontaneously” during a regular sinus or atria) rhythm. A tachycardia-dependent Wenckebach conduction sequence in a potentially reentrant pathway was the initiating mechanism for spontaneous reentrant tachycardias and was the basis for both manifest and concealed reentrant extrasystolic rhythms. In all dogs showing spontaneous reentry, reentrant excitation could also be induced by premature stimulation at cycle lengths much shorter than those associated with spontaneous reentry, and induced reentrant circuits were always different from those during spontaneous reentry. In two dogs, the reentrant circuit was located intramurally in close proximity to a patchy septal infarction.The study illustrates that irrespective of the anatomic localization of reentrant circuits (epicardial or intramural), their dimension (large or small) or their mechanism of initiation (programmed premature stimulation or “spontaneous”), reentrant excitation always occurred in a figure 8 configuration (or a modification thereof). The figure 8 model, rather than the ring model or the leading circle model, may be the common model of reentry in the mammalian heart

Fluorescent reporters for functional analysis in rice leaves.

Fluorescent reporters have facilitated non-invasive imaging in multiple plant species and thus allowed the analysis of processes ranging from gene expression and protein localization to cellular patterning. However, in rice, a globally important crop and model species, there are relatively few reports of fluorescent proteins being used in leaves. Fluorescence imaging is particularly difficult in the rice leaf blade, likely due to a high degree of light scattering in this tissue. To address this, we investigated approaches to improve deep imaging in mature rice leaf blades. We found that ClearSee treatment, which has previously been used to visualize fluorescent reporters in whole tissues of plants, led to improved imaging in rice. Removing epidermal and subtending mesophyll cell layers was faster than ClearSee and also reduced light scattering such that imaging of fluorescent proteins in deeper leaf layers was possible. To expand the range of fluorescent proteins suitable for imaging in rice, we screened twelve whose spectral profiles spanned most of the visible spectrum. This identified five proteins (mTurquoise2, mNeonGreen, mClover3, mKOκ, and tdTomato) that are robustly expressed and detectable in mesophyll cells of stably transformed plants. Using microparticle bombardment, we show that mTurquoise2 and mNeonGreen can be used for simultaneous multicolor imaging of different subcellular compartments. Overall, we conclude that mTurquoise2, mNeonGreen, mClover3, mKOκ, and tdTomato are suitable for high-resolution live imaging of rice leaves, both after transient and stable transformation. Along with the rapid microparticle bombardment method, which allows transient transformation of major cell types in the leaf blade, these fluorescent reporters should greatly facilitate the analysis of gene expression and cell biology in rice

High-performance near-infrared imaging for breast cancer detection

We present a method for the noninvasive determination of the size, position, and optical properties of tumors in the human breast. The tumor is first detected by photothermal imaging. It is then sized, located, and optically characterized using designed digital image processing and edge-detection pattern recognition. The method assumes that the tumor is spherical and inhomogeneous and embedded in an otherwise homogeneous tissue. Heat energy is deposited in the tissue by absorption of near-infrared (NIR) Nd:YAG laser radiation, and its subsequent conversion to heat via vibrational relaxation causes a rise in temperature of the tissue. The tumor absorbs and scatters NIR light more strongly than the surrounding healthy tissue. Heat will diffuse through the tissue, causing a rise in temperature of the surrounding tissue. Differentiation between normal and cancerous tissues is determined using IR thermal imaging. Results are presented on a 55-year-old patient with a papillary breast cancer. We found that these results provide the clinician with more detailed information about breast lesions detected by photothermal imaging and thereby enhance its potential for specificity