1,104 research outputs found
Effects of Solute-Solute Interactions on Protein Stability Studied Using Various Counterions and Dendrimers
Much work has been performed on understanding the effects of additives on protein thermodynamics and degradation kinetics, in particular addressing the Hofmeister series and other broad empirical phenomena. Little attention, however, has been paid to the effect of additive-additive interactions on proteins. Our group and others have recently shown that such interactions can actually govern protein events, such as aggregation. Here we use dendrimers, which have the advantage that both size and surface chemical groups can be changed and therein studied independently. Dendrimers are a relatively new and broad class of materials which have been demonstrated useful in biological and therapeutic applications, such as drug delivery, perturbing amyloid formation, etc. Guanidinium modified dendrimers pose an interesting case given that guanidinium can form multiple attractive hydrogen bonds with either a protein surface or other components in solution, such as hydrogen bond accepting counterions. Here we present a study which shows that the behavior of such macromolecule species (modified PAMAM dendrimers) is governed by intra-solvent interactions. Attractive guanidinium-anion interactions seem to cause clustering in solution, which inhibits cooperative binding to the protein surface but at the same time, significantly suppresses nonnative aggregation.Singapore-MIT Allianc
Anaphors in Sanskrit
Proceedings of the Second Workshop on Anaphora Resolution
(WAR II).
Editor: Christer Johansson.
NEALT Proceedings Series, Vol. 2 (2008), 11-25.
© 2008 The editors and contributors.
Published by
Northern European Association for Language
Technology (NEALT)
http://omilia.uio.no/nealt .
Electronically published at
Tartu University Library (Estonia)
http://hdl.handle.net/10062/7129
Diversity and neocolonialism in Big Data research: Avoiding extractivism while struggling with paternalism
The extractive logic of Big Data-driven technology and knowledge production has raised serious concerns. While most criticism initially focused on the impacts on Western societies, attention is now increasingly turning to the consequences for communities in the Global South. To date, debates have focused on private-sector activities. In this article, we start from the conviction that publicly funded knowledge and technology production must also be scrutinized for their potential neocolonial entanglements. To this end, we analyze the dynamics of collaboration in an European Union-funded research project that collects data for developing a social platform focused on diversity. The project includes pilot sites in China, Denmark, the United Kingdom, India, Italy, Mexico, Mongolia, and Paraguay. We present the experience at four field sites and reflect on the project’s initial conception, our collaboration, challenges, progress, and results. We then analyze the different experiences in comparison. We conclude that while we have succeeded in finding viable strategies to avoid contributing to the dynamics of unilateral data extraction as one side of the neocolonial circle, it has been infinitely more difficult to break through the much more subtle but no less powerful mechanisms of paternalism that we find to be prevalent in data-driven North–South relations. These mechanisms, however, can be identified as the other side of the neocolonial circle.</p
Do male engagement and couples’ communication influence maternal health care-seeking? Findings from a household survey in Mozambique
Background: This study explored effects of couples’ communication and male participation in birth preparedness
and complication readiness (BPCR) on delivery in a health facility (“institutional delivery”). A cross-sectional, baseline
household survey was conducted in November 2016 prior to an integrated maternal and child health project in
Nampula and Sofala Provinces in Mozambique.
Methods: The study used the Knowledge, Practices and Coverage survey tool, a condensed version of the
Demographic and Health Survey and other tools. The sample included 1422 women. Multivariable logit regression
models tested the association of institutional delivery with couples’ communication and four elements of BPCR
both with and without male partners: 1) saving money, 2) arranging transport, 3) choosing a birth companion, and
4) choosing a delivery site; controlling for partners’ attendance in antenatal care and social and demographic
determinants (education, wealth, urban/rural location, and province).
Results: The odds that women would deliver in a health facility were 46% greater (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.46,
95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.02–2.10, p = 0.04) amongst women who discussed family planning with their
partners than those who did not. Approximately half of this effect was mediated through BPCR. When a woman
arranged transport on her own, there was no significant increase in institutional delivery, but with partner
involvement, there was a larger, significant association (aOR = 4.31, 2.64–7.02). Similarly, when a woman chose a
delivery site on her own, there was no significant association with institutional delivery (aOR 1.52,0.81–2.83), but
with her partner, there was a larger and significant association (aOR 1.98, 1.16–3.36). Neither saving money nor
choosing a birth companion showed a significant association with institutional delivery—with or without partner
involvement. The odds of delivering in a facility were 28% less amongst poor women whose partners did not
participate in BPCR than wealthy women, but when partners helped choose a place of delivery and arrange
transport, this gap was nearly eliminated.
Conclusions: Our findings add to growing global evidence that men play an important role in improving maternal
and newborn health, particularly through BPCR, and that couples’ communication is a key approach for promoting
high-impact health behaviors
Synthesis, Structural and Optical Properties of PVP Encapsulated CdS Nanoparticles
Highly monodispersed CdS nanoparticles using
polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP) as the capping agent were
synthesised by chemical coprecipitation method. The
surface‐modified cadmium sulfide nanoparticles were
found to be remarkably stable. In the presence of PVP,
cubic phase with small grain size of CdS were observed in
XRD. The peaks were identified to originate from (111),
(220) and (311) planes of CdS, respectively. The crystallite
size of the synthesised CdS nanoparticles was about 3 nm
calculated from the (111) plane of XRD pattern and it was
also confirmed through HRTEM. Morphology and
elemental mapping of the synthesised nanoparticles were
studied by SEM and EDX analyses. Increase in the band
gap with decrease in the particle size was observed from
the reflectance mode UV spectrum, which confirms the
quantum confinement effect. From the photoluminescence
studies, enhanced near‐band‐edge blue light emission and
significantly reduced defect‐related green emission were
observed. Longitudinal optical (LO) phonon modes,
corresponds to pure CdS were observed in Raman
spectrum
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