Merger and Industrial Acceleration: Study at Indonesian Islamic Banking Industry

The purpose of this research tries to feed the alternatives of merger between Islamic banks which becomes a form of recommendation to optimize the merger result, so it will contribute to the development of Indonesia\u27s banking sector in particular. Methodolgy of this study is using comparison technique utilize result of calculation valuation based on valuation theory in general with method discounted cash flaw (DCF). Valuation data processing using data past performance sharia banks is to plan future financial performance. Results of valuation will be conducted both with individual banks that will be merged and alternative merger determined. These findings implied from various possibility alternative mergers between sharia banks, there are 5 alternatives that are feasible considering the internal aspect such as tendency shareholder and condition sharia bank to be merged related to internal interest and external aspect namely scale of assets from merger banks and probability success from merger process.DOI: 10.15408/sjie.v6i1.472

Self-Organisation and Dissipation in Real and Synthetic Earthquake Populations

Energy released from the Earth’s crust in the form of earthquakes commonly follows a powerlaw gamma type probability distribution. This spontaneous organisation is in apparent contradiction to the second law of thermodynamics that states that a system should naturally evolve to a state of maximum disorder or entropy. However, developments in the field of modern thermodynamics suggest that some systems can undergo organisation locally, at the expense of increasing disorganisation (or entropy) globally through a process of entropy production. The primary aim of this thesis is to investigate self-organisation in the Earth’s seismogenic lithosphere as a driven, far-from-equilibrium, self-organising ‘dissipative structure’ in a very near critical steady-state and the underlying general mechanisms involved. The secondary aim is to test in more detail the applicability of the Bak, Tang and Wiesenfeld (BTW) model of Self-Organised Criticality (SOC) in describing Earth’s seismicity. This is done by: 1. Mathematical derivation of analytical solutions for system energy and entropy using the tools of equilibrium statistical mechanics; 2. The study of conservative and non-conservative versions of the BTW numerical model and 3. Analysis of temporal and spatial properties of earthquake data from the Harvard Centroid Moment Tensor catalogue and the Global Heat Flow Database. The modified gamma distribution predicts analytically that entropy S is related to the energy probability distribution scaling exponent B and the expectation of the logarithm of seismic energy hlnEi in the form of the gamma entropy equation S » BhlnEi. This solution is con- firmed for both numerical model results and real earthquake data. Phase diagrams of B vs. hlnEi suggest that the universality in B need not be maintained for a system to remain critical provided there is a corresponding change in hlnEi and S. The power-law systems examined are different from equilibrium systems since the critical points do not occur at global maximum entropy. For the dissipative BTW model at a steady-state, the externally radiated energy follows out-of-equilibrium power-law gamma type statistics, but, the internal energy has two icharacteristics that are indicative of equilibrium systems; a Gaussian type energy probability distribution and a Brownian noise power-spectrum for the internal energy fluctuations. This suggests an observer dependency in assessing criticality. The internal and external entropies calculated for the model are negatively correlated suggesting that driven systems self-organise at the expense of increasing entropy globally through a process of dissipation. A power-law dependency of mean radiated energy hEi on dissipation 1¡® is confirmed for a locally driven dissipative system in the form hEi » (1¡®)¡0:975. The BTW model shows spatial heterogeneity whilst maintaining universality in contradiction to previous assumptions. The quantitative analysis of real data reveals that earthquakes are more predictable spatially then temporally. Regionalisation using the Flinn-Engdahl classification shows that mid-ocean ridges are more organised (lower entropy) than subduction zones. A regional study of three different scaling exponents suggests that universality in earthquake scaling is violated, in contradiction to the original model of SOC. A model of self-organised sub-criticality (SOSC) is proposed as an alternative model for Earth seismicity. Overall, the results suggest that the tools of equilibrium thermodynamics can be applied to a steady-state far-from-equilibrium system such as the Earth’s seismogenic lithosphere, and that the resulting self-organisation occurs at the expense of maximising dissipation and hence entropy production

Cellulose an ageless renewable green nanomaterial for medical applications: an overview of ionic liquids in extraction, separation and dissolution of cellulose

Cellulose is a renewable natural fiber, which has gained enormous and significant research interest and evolved as the prime and promising candidate for replacing synthetic fibers. The various sources of cellulose, which is one of the world's most ubiquitous and renewable biopolymer resources, include trees, plants, tunicate and bacteria. The renewable biomaterial in the form of nanocellulose and its composites have been included in this review having the broad range of medical applications, viz.; tissue engineering, cardiovascular surgery, dental, pharmaceuticals, veterinary, adhesion barriers and skin therapy. These grafts are being fabricated from biodegradable materials. Bacterial cellulose is also an emerging renewable biomaterial with immense potential in biomedical field. The fabrication methods, characteristic properties and various overwhelming applications of cellulosic composites are explicitly elucidated in this review. The crux of this review is to exhibit the latest state of art, development in the field of cellulosic nanocomposite science and technology research and their applications towards biomedical field. Among the fourteen principle of green chemistry the two key principles i.e. using environmentally preferable solvents and bio-renewable feed-stocks covers in dissolution of cellulose in ionic liquids (ILs). In addition, this review covers about the comprehensive extraction and dissolution of cellulose and nanocellulose using ILs.publishe

Development of a selective fluorimetric technique for rapid trace determination of zinc using 3-hydroxyflavone

AbstractA sensitive and a selective spectrofluorimetric method have been developed for the rapid determination of trace levels of zinc. The method is based on complex formation between zinc and 3-hydroxyflavone (3HF), which displays an intense emission signal around 478nm. The analytical performance of the method was examined by considering the factors that affect the complex formation such as pH, mole ratio of the metal and solvent type. The optimum conditions for the complex formation were metal to ligand stoichiometric ratio of 1:1 at pH 7.5 with 0.1M Tris buffer. Under these conditions the detection limit attained was 1.5ppb. The method was appropriately validated and yielded relative standard deviations of less than 2% (n=5), which was considered acceptable. It was successfully applied to the trace determination of zinc in drinking water, hair shampoo and pharmaceutical samples

Fistula recurrence, pregnancy, and childbirth following successful closure of female genital fistula in Guinea : a longitudinal study

Background: Female genital fistula is a devastating maternal complication of delivery in developing countries. We sought to analyse the incidence and proportion of fistula recurrence, residual urinary incontinence, and pregnancy after successful fistula closure in Guinea, and describe the delivery-associated maternal and child health outcomes. Methods: We did a longitudinal study in women discharged with a closed fistula from three repair hospitals supported by Engender Health in Guinea. We recruited women retrospectively (via medical record review) and prospectively at hospital discharge. We used Kaplan-Meier methods to analyse the cumulative incidence, incidence proportion, and incidence ratio of fistula recurrence, associated outcomes, and pregnancy after successful fistula closure. The primary outcome was recurrence of fistula following discharge from repair hospital in all eligible women who consented to inclusion and could provide follow-up data. Findings: 481 women eligible for analysis were identified retrospectively (from Jan 1, 2012, to Dec 31, 2014; 348 women) or prospectively (Jan 1 to June 20, 2015; 133 women), and followed up until June 30, 2016. Median follow-up was 28.0 months (IQR 14.6-36.6). 73 recurrent fistulas occurred, corresponding to a cumulative incidence of 71 per 1000 person-years (95% CI 56.5-89.3) and an incidence proportion of 18.4% (14.8-22.8). In 447 women who were continent at hospital discharge, we recorded 24 cases of post-repair residual urinary incontinence, equivalent to a cumulative incidence of 23.1 per 1000 person-years (14.0-36.2), and corresponding to 10.3% (5.2-19.6). In 305 women at risk of pregnancy, the cumulative incidence of pregnancy was 106.0 per 1000 person-years, corresponding to 28.4% (22.8-35.0) of these women. Of 50 women who had delivered by the time of follow-up, only nine delivered by elective caesarean section. There were 12 stillbirths, seven delivery-related fistula recurrences, and one maternal death. Interpretation: Recurrence of female genital fistula and adverse pregnancy-related maternal and child health outcomes were frequent in women after fistula repair in Guinea. Interventions are needed to safeguard the health of women after fistula repair

Expression and Differential Responsiveness of Central Nervous System Glial Cell Populations to the Acute Phase Protein Serum Amyloid A

Acute-phase response is a systemic reaction to environmental/inflammatory insults and involves hepatic production of acute-phase proteins, including serum amyloid A (SAA). Extrahepatically, SAA immunoreactivity is found in axonal myelin sheaths of cortex in Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis (MS), although its cellular origin is unclear. We examined the responses of cultured rat cortical astrocytes, microglia and oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) to master pro-inflammatory cytokine tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-\u3b1 and lipopolysaccaride (LPS). TNF-\u3b1 time-dependently increased Saa1 (but not Saa3) mRNA expression in purified microglia, enriched astrocytes, and OPCs (as did LPS for microglia and astrocytes). Astrocytes depleted of microglia were markedly less responsive to TNF-\u3b1 and LPS, even after re-addition of microglia. Microglia and enriched astrocytes showed complementary Saa1 expression profiles following TNF-\u3b1 or LPS challenge, being higher in microglia with TNF-\u3b1 and higher in astrocytes with LPS. Recombinant human apo-SAA stimulated production of both inflammatory mediators and its own mRNA in microglia and enriched, but not microglia-depleted astrocytes. Co-ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide/luteolin, an established anti-inflammatory/neuroprotective agent, reduced Saa1 expression in OPCs subjected to TNF-\u3b1 treatment. These last data, together with past findings suggest that co-ultramicronized palmitoylethanolamide/luteolin may be a novel approach in the treatment of inflammatory demyelinating disorders like MS

Serum amyloid A primes microglia for ATP-dependent interleukin-1\u3b2 release

Acute-phase response is a systemic reaction to environmental/inflammatory insults and involves production of acute-phase proteins, including serum amyloid A (SAA). Interleukin-1\u3b2 (IL-1\u3b2), a master regulator of neuroinflammation produced by activated inflammatory cells of the myeloid lineage, in particular microglia, plays a key role in the pathogenesis of acute and chronic diseases of the peripheral nervous system and CNS. IL-1\u3b2 release is promoted by ATP acting at the purinergic P2X7 receptor (P2X7R) in cells primed with toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands

GLP-1 receptor stimulation preserves primary cortical and dopaminergic neurons in cellular and rodent models of stroke and Parkinsonism

Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) is an endogenous insulinotropic peptide secreted from the gastrointestinal tract in response to food intake. It enhances pancreatic islet β-cell proliferation and glucose-dependent insulin secretion, and lowers blood glucose and food intake in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). A long-acting GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonist, exendin-4 (Ex-4), is the first of this new class of antihyperglycemia drugs approved to treat T2DM. GLP-1Rs are coupled to the cAMP second messenger pathway and, along with pancreatic cells, are expressed within the nervous system of rodents and humans, where receptor activation elicits neurotrophic actions. We detected GLP-1R mRNA expression in both cultured embryonic primary cerebral cortical and ventral mesencephalic (dopaminergic) neurons. These cells are vulnerable to hypoxia- and 6-hydroxydopamine–induced cell death, respectively. We found that GLP-1 and Ex-4 conferred protection in these cells, but not in cells from Glp1r knockout (-/-) mice. Administration of Ex-4 reduced brain damage and improved functional outcome in a transient middle cerebral artery occlusion stroke model. Ex-4 treatment also protected dopaminergic neurons against degeneration, preserved dopamine levels, and improved motor function in the 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) mouse model of Parkinson's disease (PD). Our findings demonstrate that Ex-4 can protect neurons against metabolic and oxidative insults, and they provide preclinical support for the therapeutic potential for Ex-4 in the treatment of stroke and PD

Establishment of a Transgenic Mouse Model Specifically Expressing Human Serum Amyloid A in Adipose Tissue

Obesity and obesity co-morbidities are associated with a low grade inflammation and elevated serum levels of acute phase proteins, including serum amyloid A (SAA). In the non-acute phase in humans, adipocytes are major producers of SAA but the function of adipocyte-derived SAA is unknown. To clarify the role of adipocyte-derived SAA, a transgenic mouse model expressing human SAA1 (hSAA) in adipocytes was established. hSAA expression was analysed using real-time PCR analysis. Male animals were challenged with a high fat (HF) diet. Plasma samples were subjected to fast protein liquid chromatography (FPLC) separation. hSAA, cholesterol and triglyceride content were measured in plasma and in FPLC fractions. Real-time PCR analysis confirmed an adipose tissue-specific hSAA gene expression. Moreover, the hSAA gene expression was not influenced by HF diet. However, hSAA plasma levels in HF fed animals (37.7±4.0 µg/mL, n = 7) were increased compared to those in normal chow fed animals (4.8±0.5 µg/mL, n = 10; p<0.001), and plasma levels in the two groups were in the same ranges as in obese and lean human subjects, respectively. In FPLC separated plasma samples, the concentration of hSAA peaked in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) containing fractions. In addition, cholesterol distribution over the different lipoprotein subfractions as assessed by FPLC analysis was similar within the two experimental groups. The established transgenic mouse model demonstrates that adipose tissue produced hSAA enters the circulation, resulting in elevated plasma levels of hSAA. This new model will enable further studies of metabolic effects of adipose tissue-derived SAA