Intelligent Image Retrieval Techniques: A Survey

AbstractIn the current era of digital communication, the use of digital images has increased for expressing, sharing and interpreting information. While working with digital images, quite often it is necessary to search for a specific image for a particular situation based on the visual contents of the image. This task looks easy if you are dealing with tens of images but it gets more difficult when the number of images goes from tens to hundreds and thousands, and the same content-based searching task becomes extremely complex when the number of images is in the millions. To deal with the situation, some intelligent way of content-based searching is required to fulfill the searching request with right visual contents in a reasonable amount of time. There are some really smart techniques proposed by researchers for efficient and robust content-based image retrieval. In this research, the aim is to highlight the efforts of researchers who conducted some brilliant work and to provide a proof of concept for intelligent content-based image retrieval techniques

Språkutvikling i førskolealderen : hvilket språk vektlegger mødrene av minoritetsspråklige barn i utviklingen av barnets språklige ferdigheter?

SAMMENDRAG Språk er helt unikt for mennesket. Universalt og genetisk programmert, men avhengig av stimulering for å lære. I litteratur om barnets språkutvikling blir kulturelle og sosiale kontekster ansett for å ha stor betydning i utviklingen av barnets språk (Vygotsky 1979). Å utvikle språklige ferdigheter er et viktig satsingsområde i pedagogisk virksomhet. Innenfor språkvitenskapen ble det frem til midten av 1960 årene lagt vekt på å utforske den formelle siden ved barns språklige ferdigheter, der man var opptatt av lydsystemet, fonologi, ordforråd og det semantiske aspekt. Etterhvert kom den pragmatiske språkforskningen som fokuserte på barns språkutvikling i sosiale sammenhenger. En ble opptatt av hvordan barn gjennom gjensidig samspill med sine sosiale omgivelser, utvikler språklige ferdigheter (Vedeler 1987). I oppgaven refereres barnets språklige ferdigheter til både et individuelt og et sosialt nivå. Faktorer som lesing, fortelling og lek er viktige arenaer for barnets språkutvikling. Med dette perspektivet som utgangspunkt kan man bedre forstå barns individuelle og kognitive forutsetninger for å kunne gå inn i meningsfulle språklige handlinger med andre, og sammen med andre utvikle fortellinger og språklige samtaler i lek- og lese-situasjoner. Pakistan er et flerspråklig land. Urdu og punjabi er de mest brukte språkene i Pakistan. Innenfor den pakistanske befolkningen i Norge, brukes både urdu og punjabi. Urdu er skriftspråk og brukes offisielt og i skolesammenheng i Pakistan. Punjabi er et muntlig språk og brukes ikke i undervisningssammenheng. Hovedoppgaven handler om å få større innsikt i hvilket språk de pakistanske mødrene vektlegger i utviklingen av barnets språklige ferdigheter. Problemstillingen er: Hvilket språk vektlegger mødrene av minoritetsspråklige barn i utviklingen av barnets språklige ferdigheter? Det er gjennomført en spørreskjema som 10 pakistanske mødre fra bydeler i Oslo der det bor mange pakistanske familier har svart på. Mødrene har barn i førskolealder som går i norsk barnehage og har punjabi og urdu som førstespråk. Innenfor målgruppen finnes to grupper, punjabitalende og urdutalende mødre. Dataene er analysert i forhold til de punjabitalende og urdutalende mødrenes syn på lesing, fortelling og lek. Det er også foretatt relevante bakgrunnopplysninger av de punjabitalende og urdutalende mødrene. Informasjon om mødrenes bakgrunn gir forståelse for hvilket språk mødrene vektlegger i utviklingen av barnets språklige ferdigheter. Undersøkelsen viser at barna til de punjabitalende mødre ikke får noe grunnlag til å utvikle språklige ferdigheter på urdu. De punjabitalende mødrene legger ikke vekt på lesing av barnebøker på urdu. De er ikke opptatt av å leke med barna. Det legges kun vekt på muntlige fortellinger på punjabi. Motsatt viser dataene at barna til de urdutalende mødrene forventes å få et godt forhold til skriftspråket. Urdutalende mødre ser leken som positiv i utviklingen av barnas språk. Det er rimelig å si at barna til de urdutalende mødrene og barna til de punjabitalende mødrene vokser opp i to forskjellige språkmiljøer. Barn av urdutalende mødre vokser opp under gode betingelser for tilegning av en utvidet språkkode i forhold til barn av punjabitalende mødre. Det er stor sannsynlighet for at det brukes en mer begrenset språkkode hos punjabitalende mødre enn hos de urdutalende mødrene. I litteratur om barns språkutvikling vises det til at førstespråklige ferdigheter er fundamentet for å tilegne andrespråklige ferdigheter. Undersøkelsen viser at barn av urdutalende mødre sannsynligvis får utviklet dekontekstualisert språk, begrepsferdigheter og en utvidet språkkode på urdu. Det kan gjøre det lettere for dem å tilegne seg andrespråklige ferdigheter i motsetning til barn av punjabitalende mødrene, som ikke har fått samme grunnlag for utvikling av et skriftspråk. Barn av punjabitalende mødre kan få større vansker med å utvikle en utvidet språkkode og dekontekstualiserte språklige ferdigheter. Videre arbeid: Det anbefales at barnehagen og skolen kompenserer for de manglende skriftspråklige ferdighetene til barn av punjabitalende mødre. Rammeplan for barnehagen understreker barnehagens betydning for utvikling av språklige ferdigheter, og spesielt tillegges talespråket stor betydning ”…Å stimulere barns bruk av talespråket blir derfor ikke ´en blant mange viktige oppgaver, men en av de aller viktigste” (Rammeplan for barnehagen 1995: 50). Skolen bør også bidra til å utvikle språklige ferdigheter på urdu hos barn med minoritetsbakgrunn

Indian Aspiration of Permanent Membership in the UN Security Council and American Stance

India’s urge to become a major power is as old as Indian state itself. This desire is pre-dated and Indian leadership wanted to equate it with China in terms of power even before the transfer of power from the British rule. India is trying to seek an international confirmation for its status of a major power. It has strengthened its claim on the basis of its capability to take an active, decisive and even forceful role in South Asia, Middle East and Central Asia, which is vital to Indian rising power as well as for increasingly American anti-terrorism campaign and its search of energy resources. Permanent membership of the UN Security Council has traditionally been considered a key criterion for being counted as a great power. Whether India is able to become a part of the global order with American support on the basis of its potential and capabilities; to answer this question, the paper will examine the Indian claim for gaining this position and to become a global power as well as the US view point in this direction with a view of its impacts on the future world order in general and regional security system in particular

Assessment of social capital to internationalize educational institutions

Social capital promotes internationalization and competitiveness.Prevalent notions to measure Internationalization content of organizations are ill with ‘social capital’.Social capital is the core competency in knowledge-based organizations. This paper uses the Leif Edvinsson’s scheme of Intellectual Capital (IC) as the basis of analysis; because the IC causes change in the internationalization content.The particular concern of this paper is to assess and enhance the social capital in the internationalization content of the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT system), Pakistan, based on measured behavioral actions by utilizing Knowledge, Attitude, Practice, (KAP) Analysis technique.The internationalization content of CIIT system is characterized by Internationalization Academic Staff (IAS) and Non Internationalization Academic Staff (NIAS). IAS was found more responsive to the questionnaire.The results showed that IAS was having more internationalization knowledge.The attitude of both IAS and NIAS was positive and the practices were found to be more positive among IAS.The social capital exists at 65% as grand mean of the survey showed. Recommendations are offered on how the social capital can be built, thereby to enhance the CIIT system’s capacity to learn, adapt and internationalize in the marketplace

M. leprae inhibits apoptosis in THP-1 cells by downregulation of Bad and Bak and upregulation of Mcl-1 gene expression

BACKGROUND: Virulent Mycobacterium leprae interfere with host defense mechanisms such as cytokine activation and apoptosis. The mitochondrial pathway of apoptosis is regulated by the Bcl-2 family of proteins. Expression of Fas ligand and apoptotic proteins is found in leprosy lesions and M. leprae has been shown to activate pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 genes, Bak and Bax. However, the mechanism by which M. leprae modulates apoptosis is as yet unclear. We investigated expression of apoptotic genes in THP-1 monocytes in response to infection by M. leprae and non-pathogenic M. bovis BCG. RESULTS: M. leprae did not induce apoptosis in THP-1 cells, while BCG induced a significant loss of cell viability by 18 h post-infection at both (multiplicity of infection) MOI-10 and 20, with an increase by 48 h. BCG-induced cell death was accompanied by characteristic apoptotic DNA laddering in cells. Non-viable BCG had a limited effect on host cell death suggesting that BCG-induced apoptosis was a function of mycobacterial viability. M. leprae also activated lower levels of TNF-alpha secretion and TNF-alpha mRNA expression than BCG. Mycobacterium-induced activation of apoptotic gene expression was determined over a time course of infection. M. leprae reduced Bad and Bak mRNA expression by 18 h post-stimulation, with a further decrease at 48 h. Outcome of cell viability is determined by the ratio between pro- and anti-apoptotic proteins present in the cell. M. leprae infection resulted in downregulation of gene expression ratios, Bad/Bcl-2 mRNA by 39% and Bak/Bcl-2 mRNA by 23%. In contrast, live BCG increased Bad/Bcl-2 mRNA (29 %) but had a negligible effect on Bak/Bcl-2 mRNA. Heat killed BCG induced only a negligible (1–4 %) change in mRNA expression of either Bak/Bcl-2 or Bad/Bcl-2. Additionally, M. leprae upregulated the expression of anti-apoptotic gene Mcl-1 while, BCG downregulated Mcl-1 mRNA. CONCLUSION: This study proposes an association between mycobacterium-induced apoptosis in THP-1 cells and the regulation of Bcl-2 family of proteins. M. leprae restricts apoptosis in THP-1 cells by downregulation of Bad and Bak and upregulation of Mcl-1 mRNA expression

International Community on Kargil Conflict

In February 1999 Pakistan and India, through Lahore Declaration that was signed between the Prime Ministers of two countries, declared to resolve the continuing decades-long conflict between the two countries. But after some months of the Declaration both countries were involved into a horrible episode of conflict that virtually brought the world on the brink of first clash between two nuclear states. Getting control of a main route to Kargil by Kashmiri militants led to a great episode of conflict between India and Pakistan. This episode was significant because of the fact that both countries had entered into nuclear club just one year ago and this episode proved to be the first confrontation between two armies equipped with atomic arsenal. How this conflict arose and how international community saw this incident is the focus of this paper. The Paper will also examine how the external political factors played a critical role in the unfolding of the Kargil conflict. The impact of this episode on the policies of international powers will also be examined. In the light of this analysis of the events the impact of this episode in the conflict resolution in South Asia will also be observed.&nbsp

Generation of endogenous soluble PD-1 as a potential therapeutic strategy for cancer treatment

The Programmed cell death (PD-1) pathway is an immunoinhibitory T cell pathway that is involved in maintaining peripheral T cell tolerance and regulation of inflammation. PD-1 binds to its ligand, PD-L1 which is expressed normally on a variety of cells and aberrantly on cancer cells. Binding of PD-1 to PD-L1 is a dominant immune checkpoint pathway operative in the tumour microenvironment; its normal function is to control immune homeostasis but is exploited by the cancer cells to evade immune attack. Targeting this pathway by blocking antibodies (nivolumab and pembrolizumab) has given impressive anti-cancer responses in patients with a range of cancer types. Blocking of these pathways have successfully shown to restore the function of exhausted T cells. PD-1 is alternatively spliced to form two types of protein, a transmembrane signalling receptor (fl-PD-1) that mediate T cell death by binding to the ligand, PD-L1 and an alternatively spliced variant, soluble PD-1 that lacks the transmembrane domain and is secreted by the T cells and could inhibit PD-L1 from acting on the receptor. The soluble form of PD-1 is generated by skipping exon 3 from the PD-1 mRNA by alternative splicing. These splicing decisions in the cells are made by RNA binding proteins called SR Splicing Factors (SRSFs). SRSF1, among the other SRSFs, is a key player of constitutive and alternative splicing. Nuclear localisation and activation of SRSF1 for performing its role in alternative splicing requires its phosphorylation by SR protein kinases (SRPKs). The aim of this study is to understand the factors and mechanisms that are involved in the regulation of PD-1 splicing. RT-PCR analysis of Jurkat T cells showed the expression of both fl-PD-1 and sPD1. Our bioinformatics analysis indicated multiple potential binding site motifs of SRSF1 adjacent to PD-1 splicing sites. However, RNA immunoprecipitation of SRSF1 followed by RT-PCR showed pull down of only fl-PD-1 indicating the role of SRSF1 in promoting splicing of fl-PD-1. Jurkat cells transfected with the nuclear localised SRSF1 plasmid resulted in the increased expression of fl-PD-1. Site directed mutagenesis of the important SRSF1 splicing regulatory regions in the PD-1 gene resulted in reduced PD-1 expression. Furthermore, inhibition of SRPK1 by lentiviral knockdown and by small molecule inhibitor resulted in reduced mRNA expression of fl-PD-1 and increased production of IL-2 by Jurkat cells. In conclusion, switching of the splicing decision from fl-PD-1 to sPD1 by targeting SRPK1 could represents a potential novel mechanism of immune checkpoint inhibition for cancer therapy

Women’s Development Towards Inclusive Growth: A Study of Selected South Asian Women

Economic growth incorporating women\u27s participation opens many economic opportunities for women which not only upgrade women\u27s status in society but also make growth more inclusive. Improved condition and position of women in society play an important role in developing women along with enhancing their economic role. Besides explaining the significant role of women in an economy. This paper also throws some light on the need for good governance to enhance their economic role. In this context to evaluate the effect of the development of women on inclusive growth panel data models named the Fixed-Effect and Random-Effect Models have been used. Moreover, the models of White, Rogers, and Driscoll-Kraay estimators are also applied for robustness considering the three selected South Asian countries for the period between 2000-2021. The study finds that developing women play an influential role in inclusive growth and this relationship becomes more significant in the presence of good governance. Thus, it has been recommended that there should be a special focus on government policies towards women’s education, health, and political representation to make economic growth more inclusive by enhancing their economic role through their development