Fifty ways to leave …… your racism

“Racism does not stay still; it changes shape, size, contours, purpose, function…people’s attitudes don’t mean a damn to me, but it matters to me if I can’t send my child to the school I want…if I can’t get the job for which I am qualified…the acting out of prejudice is discrimination and when it becomes institutionalised in the power structure of this society, then we are dealing not with attitudes, but with power.” (Sivanandan, 1990: 65) The above is a quote from a speech given by Ambalavener Sivanandan, then director of the Institute of Race Relations, UK. The quote is from a speech given in 1983, during a period of constant racialised turmoil, discrimination and violence, and starkly renders our multi-racial, multi-ethnic, culturally syncretic UK landscape in powerful racially rendered hues. Thirty-four years after this speech, we are seeing a newly revived racialised antagonism which has been fuelled by both political machinations of old, as well as by recent national, European and global economic contexts. Our contemporary landscape is marred by increased racial violence, intensified far right and White supremacy movements which openly embrace and express anti-Black, anti-foreigner, anti-migrant and anti-refugee sentiments. In 2016, both the UK EU referendum and the US presidential elections, with unexpected outcomes, were characterised by a variety of racialising validities. The build-up to the ‘Brexit’ campaigns were punctuated by what could be seen as flashpoints where the possibility of intense racialised conflict loomed. These flashpoints related to principally ‘immigration’, and notionally the UK’s state as a ‘sovereign independent country’ and its right to more tightly protect its borders and to prevent terrorism (by ‘home-grown British Muslims’). Much has been written about this within the last year (e.g. Bhambra, 2016; Jones et al., 2017; Raja-Ranking, 2017; Virdee and McGeever, 2017; Wood and Patel, 2017), and what we are witnessing again is inexhaustible othering, dehumanising and essentially, race-making – the reproduction (and contestation) of ‘race’ and racial categories

Pre-implantation genetic testing: a retrospective observational study of 13 cases of various genetic diseases successfully detected and managed at an IVF centre

Pre-implantation genetic testing (PGT) is an advanced form of prenatal genetic testing that is done as a part of ART cycles. The purpose of PGT is to identify genetically normal embryos in a given cohort, in order to select the most desirable embryos for implantation. With the gaining popularity of day 5 trophectoderms biopsy over day 3 blastomere biopsy, the role of PGT has become more clinically significant. To report the data of 13 couples, with diagnosed genetic condition and having risk of transmitting this condition to their offspring’s, who underwent Pre-implantation genetic diagnostics (PGT M/SR). PGT was performed in 13 couples with various rare chromosomal conditions like Hereditary Inclusion body myopathy, Col4a1 gene mutation etc at our Infertility Centre from January 2016 to January 2020. The clinical data of all these patients was reviewed and is reported in our study. A total of 193 oocytes were retrieved and 158 oocytes were fertilized by ICSI. 62 blastocysts were obtained and 55 blastocysts were biopsied for analysis. Among the 35 normal embryos, 17 embryos were transferred. 11 clinical pregnancies were established resulting in 8, disease free, live births. PGT (M/SR) is an effective molecular diagnostic test, that is a ray of hope for many genetically affected couples, as its prevents the transmission of their unwanted genetic condition to their offspring’s

Fabrication of biopolymer based nanoparticles for the entrapment of chromium and iron supplements

The objective of this study was to encapsulate iron and chromium into novel nanoparticles formulated using chitosan (CS), dextran sulfate (DS) and whey protein isolate (WPI) for oral drug delivery. Empty and loaded CS-DS nanoparticles were prepared via complex coacervation whilst whey protein nanocarriers were produced by a modified thermal processing method using chitosan. The physiochemical properties of the particles were characterized to determine the effects of formulation variables, including biopolymer ratio on particle size and zeta potential. Permeability studies were also undertaken on the most stable whey protein–iron nanoparticles by measuring Caco-2 ferritin formation. A particle size analysis revealed that the majority of samples were sub-micron sized, ranging from 420–2400 nm for CS-DS particles and 220–1000 nm for WPI-CS samples. As expected, a higher chitosan concentration conferred a 17% more positive zeta potential on chromium-entrapped WPI nanoparticles, whilst a higher dextran volume decreased the size of CS-DS nanoparticles by 32%. The addition of iron also caused a significant increase in size for all samples, as seen where the loaded WPI samples were 296 nm larger than the empty particles. Caco-2 iron absorption revealed that one formulation, which had the lowest particle size (226 ± 10 nm), caused a 64% greater iron absorption compared to the ferrous sulfate standard. This study describes, for the first time, the novel design of chromium- and iron-entrapped nanoparticles, which could act as novel systems for oral drug delivery

Reduction of cogging torque of radial flux permanent magnet brushless DC motor by magnet shifting technique

  Introduction. In spite of many advantages of radial flux permanent magnet brushless DC motors it suffers from the distinct disadvantage of high cogging torque. The designer must emphasize to reduce the cogging torque during the design stage. This paper introduces magnet shifting technique to mitigate cogging torque of surface mounted radial flux brushless DC motor. Methodology. Initially 200 W, 1000 rpm surface mounted radial flux permanent magnet brushless DC motor is designed with symmetrical placement of permanent magnets with respect to each other on rotor core. Cogging torque profile of this initial motor is obtained by performing finite element modelling and analysis. Originality. This design has been improved by shifting the position of permanent magnets with respect to adjacent permanent magnets. The effect of magnet shifting on cogging torque has been analyzed by performing finite element analysis. Results. It has been examined that the peak to peak cogging torque is decreased from 1.1 N×m to 0.6 N×m with shifting of permanent magnets respectively.Вступ. Незважаючи на багато переваг безщіткових двигунів постійного струму з радіальним магнітним потоком, вони мають явний недолік, що полягає у високому крутному моменті зубчатої передачі. Проектувальник повинен зосередитись на зниженні крутного моменту зубчатої передачі на етапі проектування. У цій статті представлена методика зсуву магніту для зменшення крутного моменту зубчатої передачі безщіткового двигуна постійного струму з радіальним потоком, встановленого на поверхні. Методологія. Спочатку безщітковий двигун постійного струму з радіальним магнітним потоком потужністю 200 Вт, 1000 об/хв спроектований із симетричним розміщенням постійних магнітів відносно один одного на сердечнику ротора. Розподіл крутного моменту зубчатої передачі цього початкового двигуна отриманий шляхом аналізу методом скінчених елементів (МСЕ). Оригінальність. Ця конструкція була вдосконалена за рахунок зсуву положення постійних магнітів по відношенню до сусідніх постійних магнітів. Вплив зсуву магніту на крутний момент зубчатої передачі було проаналізовано за допомогою аналізу МСЕ. Результати. Досліджено, що піковий крутний  момент зубчатої передачі зменшився з 1,1 Н×м до 0,6 Н×м, відповідно, при зсуві постійних магнітів

Submillimeter-wave emission of three Galactic red novae: cool molecular outflows produced by stellar mergers

Red novae are optical transients erupting at luminosities typically higher than those of classical novae. Their outbursts are believed to be caused by stellar mergers. We present millimeter/submillimeter-wave observations with ALMA and SMA of the three best known Galactic red novae, V4332 Sgr, V1309 Sco, and V838 Mon. The observations were taken 22, 8, and 14 yr after their respective eruptions and reveal the presence of molecular gas at excitation temperatures of 35-200 K. The gas displays molecular emission in rotational transitions with very broad lines (full width $\sim$400 km\s). We found emission of CO, SiO, SO, SO$_2$ (in all three red novae), H$_2$S (covered only in V838 Mon) and AlO (present in V4332 Sgr and V1309 Sco). No anomalies were found in the isotopic composition of the molecular material and the chemical (molecular) compositions of the three red novae appear similar to those of oxygen-rich envelopes of classical evolved stars (RSGs, AGBs, post-AGBs). The minimum masses of the molecular material that most likely was dispersed in the red-nova eruptions are 0.1, 0.01, and 10$^{-4}$ M$_{\odot}$ for V838 Mon, V4332 Sgr, and V1309 Sco, respectively. The molecular outflows in V4332 Sgr and V1309 Sco are spatially resolved and appear bipolar. The kinematic distances to V1309 Sco and V4332 Sgr are 2.1 and 4.2 kpc, respectively. The kinetic energy stored in the ejecta of the two older red-nova remnants of V838 Mon and V4332 Sgr is of order $10^{46}$ erg, similar to values found for some post-AGB (pre-PN) objects whose bipolar ejecta were also formed in a short-duration eruption. Our observations strengthen the link between these post-AGB objects and red novae and support the hypothesis that some of the post-AGB objects were formed in a common-envelope ejection event or its most catastrophic outcome, a merger.Comment: 19 pages, 13 figures, accepted to A&

A Survey on Emulation Testbeds for Mobile Ad-hoc Networks

AbstractMobile Ad hoc Network (MANET) can be said as a collection of mobile nodes, which builds a dynamic topology and a A resource constrained network. In this paper, we present a survey of various testbeds for Mobile Ad hoc Networks. Emulator provides environment without modifications to the software and validates software solutions for ad hoc network. A field test will show rather the simulation work is going on right track or not and going from the simulator to the real thing directly to analyze the performance and compare the results of routing protocols and mobility models. Analyzing and choosing an appropriate emulator according to the given environment is a time-consuming process. We contribute a survey of emulation testbeds for the choice of appropriate research tools in the mobile ad hoc networks