The pursuit of inevitable glory : representations of China in People’s Daily news articles

This thesis is focused on the representation of China in Chinese news media. The aim of the thesis is to investigate how China wished to be viewed by foreign audiences and how the image of China is attached to the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. National rejuvenation is a political endeavor which encompasses China’s quest to redeem itself from past humiliations and to achieve complete national unity. The data for this thesis was gathered from People’s Daily Online which is a state-affiliated Chinese news media. The reason for choosing People’s Daily for the sourcing of data is because the state-controlled nature of the media allows the research to focus on the way that the state wishes for China to be viewed. The data is comprised of news articles, which were selected to include references to the discourses of national rejuvenation as well as the centenary of the Communist Party of China. The interest of this thesis was to answer questions of how are social actors represented in these news articles and what kind of ideology is behind this representation. The methodological base for the thesis comes from the Discourse-Historical Approach which is a branch under the umbrella of Critical Discourse Analysis. This approach allows for the analysis of data to be approached multi-methodologically, and the focus of the approach is on historicality. The focus on historicality allows the deeper delving into the narrative of national rejuvenation, because this narrative is defined through historical discourse. The theoretical base for the thesis comes from a variety of different social theories that explain the role of national rejuvenation and national image in the Chinese context. The representation of China in the data focuses on legitimizing the rule of the Communist Party of China. China, the Chinese people and the Party are positively qualified, and negative qualifications of Chinese social actors are not included in the data. The Party is discursively constructed for the articles to represent its role as the leader of the Chinese nation while Xi Jinping is discursively constructed as the leader of the Party through strategies that focus on creating an illusion of total acceptance of the Party’s and Xi’s authority. The dream of national rejuvenation is used to legitimize the rule of the Party. The future glory of national rejuvenation is qualified to be of much greater importance than the problems of China’s past. The Party is argued to be a necessary part of this quest for rejuvenation. The conclusion of the thesis is that China wishes to portray itself as peaceful but powerful. People’s Daily wishes to legitimize the rule of the Communist Party to foreign audiences and create an image of the Party as a benevolent social actor that benefits the Chinese nation and doesn’t wish to cause conflict in terms of international relations, although the data includes warnings for those who wish to involve themself in China’s territorial issues. The inevitability of national rejuvenation is exaggerated, which represents the confidence of China to achieve its goal of rejuvenation. The downside that the Party might face because of such confidence is that if political rhetorics focus so largely on being able to achieve rejuvenation, the legitimacy of the Party will suffer greatly if the goals are not achieve

A hybrid system for skin lesion detection: Based on gabor wavelet and support vector machine

© 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, London. Severe melanoma is potentially life-threatening. A novel methodology for automatic feature extraction from histo-pathological images and subsequent classification is presented. The proposed automated system uses a number of features extracted from images of skin lesions through image processing techniques which consisted of a spatially winner and adaptive median filter then applied Gabor filter bank to improve diagnostic accuracy. Histogram equalization to enhance the contrast of the images prior to segmentation is used. Then, a wavelet approach is used to extract the features; more specifically Wavelet Packet Transform (WPT). This article introduces a novel melanoma detection strategy using a hybrid particle swarm - based support vector machine (SVM–WLG–PSO) technique. The extracted features are reduced by using a particle swarm optimization (PSO), this was used to optimize the SVM parameters as a feature selection and finally, the obtained statistics are fed to a support vector machine (SVM) binary classifier to diagnose skin biopsies from patients as either malignant melanoma or benign nevi. The obtained classification accuracies show better performance in comparison to similar approaches for feature extraction. The proposed system is able to achieve one of the best results with classification accuracy of 87.13%, sensitivity of 94.1% and specificity of 80.22%

Antenna with artificial magnetic conductor for wireless application

— This paper discussed the recent works on Artificial Magnetic Conductor (AMC) with the antenna. Two different application for antenna with AMC have been discussed. The first application is the antenna with AMC that has been used for RFID system to detect the metal object. Without incorporating AMC with antenna the system cannot be detected. When the AMC is attached with the RFID Tag antenna the system is back to normal where longer distance is achieved. The second application is used for flexible AMC using textile material for signal transmission enhancement. Using two antennas for on body application the system has been tested using AMC and without AMC. It shows that the transmission is better when there is an AMC attach to the body compared without AMC. Index Terms — Artificial Magnetic Conductor, high impedance surface, metamaterial, reflection phase

Sero-prevalance of anti-R7V antibody in HIV infected patients in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria

Studies in some parts of the world have shown that Anti-R7V antibodies, which neutralize 100% of the different variant’s panel (targeted against a beta2-microglobulin epitope acquired when the virus is released by budding) in vitro, are found in 30 to 50% of naïve HIV positive patients, but even more in socalled “long-term survivor’’ patients with a close to 90% correlation. The seroprevalence of Anti-R7V antibody was therefore investigated in HIV patients attending clinic within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and compared with HIV negative patients. Correlation between the presence of the antibody and the clinical status of patients was also investigated. The HIV positive patients were categorized intodrug naïve and drug experienced subjects and their Anti-R7V antibody together with CD4 counts were determined using Anti-R7V ELISA kits and BD FACS count, respectively. About 47.2% of the HIVinfected patients tested positive for the Anti-R7V antibody while 25.2% were negative for this antibody. Patients with Anti-R7V antibody had a mean CD4 count (355 ± 19.2) significantly (P < 0.05) higher than that of Anti-R7V antibody negative patients (215 ± 42.6). Also it was observed that Anti-R7V antibody was significantly (P < 0.05) lower in drug experienced patients as compared to drug naïve patients. The significance of these findings is discussed. It was concluded that Anti-R7V antibody may be a naturalimmunity against HIV-infection in drug naïve HIV patients and that the synthesis and release of this antibody may decrease with ARD treatment

The effect of experimental streptococcus infection in myocarditis on some biochemical and inflammatory markers in albino rats

Background: Myocarditis is an uncommon disease that presents with a wide range of symptoms in children and adults. It is histologically characterized by varying degrees of myocardialnecrosis, edema and cellular infiltration myocardial inflammation is a nonspecificresponse to many triggers such as bacterial infection, cardio toxic agents, ormechanical injury.Objective: This study was carried out to investigate the experimental Streptococcus faecalis induction of myocarditis and its effect on some blood parameters, inflammatory markers and histopathological changes in male albino rats.Methods: Rats were infected by intraperitoneal injection of 10 8 CFU/ ml of Streptococcus faecalis and sacrificed after one, two and seven days post infection. Biochemical analyses of blood were carried out to investigate the serum biomarkers of inflammation, liver function tests, cardiac enzymes & kidney function tests.Results: All biochemical analyses showed statistically significant increase in the measured parameters due to bacterial infections except for blood urea which appear to be normal. A significant positive correlation was observed between lactate dehydrogenase enzyme (LDH) with creatinine (r =0.778, PConclusion: Many of these biomarkers will provide important new insights into pathophysiology and aid in the diagnosis and management of cardiovascular patients.Keywords: Cardiovascular diseases, Myocarditis, Rat, Streptococcus faecalis, C-reactive proteinAfrican Health Sciences 2013; 13(4): 1062 - 107

Effects of phospholipids in the diet on biochemical factors of sturgeon fish (Huso-huso) juveniles

A study was carried out to determine the influence of dietary phospholipids biochemical factors parameters of beluga sturgeon (Huso huso) juveniles. Juveniles were fed formulated diet with four varying dietary levels of PL, that is, 0 (D1), 2 (D2), 4 (D3) and 6% (D4). At the end of the experimental period (56 days), there were no significant differences (P > 0.05) found for hepatic enzymes among treatments. The enzyme alanine aminotransferase (ALT) was highest in fish fed diet D2, while the lowest was found in fish fed diet D1 with values of 46.07 and 24.70 (IU/L), respectively. The enzyme aspartate aminotransferase (AST) was found highest in fish fed diet D3 and lowest was found in fish fed diet D2 with values 16.43 and 12.47 (IU/L), respectively. The enzyme lipase was found to be highest in fish fed diet D4, while the lowest was shown in fish fed diet D3 with values of 32.47 and 29.03 (IU/L), respectively. Among the biochemical factors, there was a significant difference (P < 0.05) observed in blood sugar, in which case, the highest reading was found in fish fed diet D3 with amount of 83 mg/dl and the lowest amount was found in fish fed diet D2 with a value of 46 mg/dl. However, the other biochemical parameters such as cholesterol and triglyceride did not showed significant differences (P > 0.05) among treatments. The triglyceride values ranged from the highest and lowest values were found in fish fed diets D4 and D2 with values of 349.33 and 263.00 (mg/dl), respectively. The cholesterol values which ranged from the highest to lowest were found in fish fed diets D4 and D2 with values of 121.67and 104.67 (mg/dl), respectively.Key words: Phospholipids, sturgeon fish, Huso huso, biochemical factors

An Integrated Model for Examining Factors that Influence Customers’ Adoption of Internet Banking Services Provided by Commercial Banks in Jordan

With the Internet revolutionising the banking industry, customers nowadays expect much more from their banks, demanding more convenient, flexible, and easy-to-use financial products and services that could not be easily offered by traditional retail banking. Consequently, several new banking applications have emerged in order to cope with this demand, Internet banking (IB), as an example of these applications, is considered to revolutionise the traditional way of thinking about banking services. Despite the potential benefits offered, Jordanian bank customers are reluctant to adopt IB services. In response to this issue, this study aims to enhance the general understanding concerning the factors that affect customers’ adoption of IB in a developing country of the Middle East, namely Jordan, where the results can be also applied to other developing countries in general. The main objective of this research was to investigate factors influencing the adoption of IB services by Jordanians. Two technology acceptance models, namely the Diffusion of Innovations Theory (DIT) developed by Rogers (1983), and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) developed by Davis (1989), were integrated with external variables in order to synthesize a new exploratory model; the synthesized model was then tested empirically for its predictive power. Two data collection phases were utilised: (1) quantitative data was collected in the first phase to test the research model and confirm related hypotheses using a survey questionnaire (463 respondents); and (2) qualitative data was gathered in the second phase via a semi-structured interview exercise (six participants). This phase was incorporated in order to explore bank customers’ perceptions of IB influencing factors identified in the first phase, and to provide further confirmation for the research model and hypotheses. Results showed that eight factors directly determine customer intentions to adopt IB services. Those factors are: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trialability, compatibility, observability-result demonstrability, innovativeness, government support, and information about Internet banking. Accessibility and perceived financial cost were found not to be direct predictors of intention; however, the latter has emerged to affect intention indirectly through perceived ease of use. While results indicated that personal innovativeness was found to be the most influential predictor of intention to use IB, both directly and indirectly through perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use, perceived financial cost was the least influential factor to affect intention since it only exhibited indirect influence through perceived ease of use. Gender, age, education, occupation, and income, all proved to be influential in determining customers’ intentions to use IB services. Moreover, results revealed that users of IB were significantly different from non-users in terms of their attitudes relating to all investigated variables. Overall, the results of the current study showed that the proposed model has a good explanatory power and is therefore robust in predicting customers’ intentions to adopt IB in the Middle East and in other developing countries in general. This research contributes to the identification theory and practice of technology acceptance for Internet banking in five ways. Filling the gap in IB adoption literature in developing countries through examining the factors that might impede or encourage the adoption of these services among customers; developing and validating an integrated technology acceptance with a good explanatory power in predicting and explaining the potential users’ behavioural intentions towards technology adoption in non-Western contexts; developing a valid and reliable instrument to measure individuals’ intentions to use IT innovations; providing valuable insights into how to enhance customers’ acceptance of IB services in a developing country context by indicating the relative importance of the identified influencing factors and providing a set of specific strategies in a form of practical recommendations designed to overcome the low adoption rate of IB in developing countries

The Effects of Mother-Plant Irrigation Schedule on the Quality Of Tomato (Lycopersicum esculentum) Seed

A study was carried out to examine the quality of seeds of two tomato cultivars (‘Ibadan Local’ and ‘Ife 1’) produced under irrigation intervals of 2, 4, 6 and 8 days at the Federal University of Technology, Minna. Fruits were harvested when fully ripe and the seed/juice mixture (pulp) was removed immediately and left to ferment for four days after which the seeds were washed under running tap water and dried at room temperature. Seeds of the two cultivars were spread in open plastic Petri dishes and stored in a growth chamber at 30oC and about 70% relative humidity to accelerate ageing for 16 weeks. Seed samples were drawn and tested for germination, seedling emergence, seedling height and number of leaves per seedling, at 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14 and 16 weeks of storage. Results showed that seeds of “Ibadan Local” were significantly heavier than those of “Ife 1” but the trait was not significantly affected by irrigation interval. Seed viability declined as storage period increased irrespective of irrigation treatment in both cultivars. There was no consistent superiority of one irrigation interval over the other in respect of seed longevity over time. A general increase in seedling height and number of leaves per seedling was recorded as storage period progressed before a decline sets in at different ages. Generally, performance was best with seeds produced under 4 and 6 days irrigation intervals in both cultivars. Keywords: Mother-plant, irrigation schedule, seed quality, tomatoJ. Appl. Sci. Environ. Manage. June, 2012, Vol. 16 (2) 185 - 18

Percutaneous transmitral balloon commissurotomy (PTMC): Procedural success and immediate results at Ahmed Gasim Cardiac Center

Background: Balloon valvuloplasty for stenosed mitral and pulmonary valves has been practiced with good results for the last two years in Ahmed Gasim Cardiac Centre, Khartoum Sudan. Objectives: The aim of this study is to audit percutaneous trans-mitral balloon commissurotomy [PTMC] in our current set up. Methods: One hundred and eight patients underwent percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy (PTMC) from April- 2004 to December-2005 in Ahmed Gasim cardiac center. Results: 67% percent of the patients were females. Age range was from 13years to 65years and the mean age was 27years. 27% were under 21 years of age and 12% had special problems. The procedural success was achieved in 94.5% patients, in two patients we failed to dilate a tough septum, in other two the balloon got stuck to the septum and failed to cross the MV, while two patients had successful emergency MVR (due to inadvertent puncture of the RA and cardiac tamponade). There was no mortality related to the procedure, significant mitral regurgitation of > grade 2 didn't occur. No patient developed systemic embolization. Optimal results were achieved in 91.6% patients and in 92% of the patients with special problems. Hemodynamic data in the Cath. Lab showed left atrial mean (±SD) pressure dropped from 32 (±3.2) mmHg to 12 (±2.4) mmHg. LA-LV gradient dropped from an average of 25 to 5 mmHg. Echocardiographic assessment showed mean (±SD) mitral valve area increased from 0.86 (±0.19) cm2 to 1.9 (±0.5) cm2 (