Digital Resistance to Asian-American Hate during COVID-19: Study of Photography and Art on Instagram

 In this research, I study the digital resistance to Asian-American hate, isolation, alienation, and ‘othering’ visibilized during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-21 in the Global North. Specifically, I draw attention to the role of personal and artistic representations of Asian female bodies that perform both a resistance to hate, in the context of the pandemic, and an affirmation of ethnic and racial heritage and belonging of the self in North America. Through the engagement with #stopasianhate and #haterisavirus hashtags on Instagram, I uncover the rejection of historic and contemporary racial and gendered violence, harassment, xenophobia, and othering that emerges through visual activism and personal and artistic performativity online. I focus on the interplay between body politics and anti-racist feminist digital activism in order to understand how performativity of the self through photography and art can empower Asian-American female bodies. Dans cette recherche, j'étudie la résistance numérique à la haine, à l'isolement, à l'aliénation et à « l'altérité » des Asiatiques-Américains, visible pendant la pandémie de Covid-19 en 2020.21 dans le l’hémisphère nord. Plus précisément, j'attire l'attention sur le rôle des représentations personnelles et artistiques des corps féminins asiatiques qui constituent à la fois une résistance à la haine, dans le contexte de la pandémie, et une affirmation de l'héritage ethnique et racial et de l'appartenance de soi en Amérique du Nord. À travers l'engagement des hashtags #stopasianhate et #haterisavirus sur Instagram, je découvre le rejet de la violence raciale et sexiste qui est historiques et contemporaines, le harcèlement, la xénophobie et l'altérité qui émergent à travers l'activisme visuel et la performativité personnelle et artistique en ligne. Je me concentre sur l'interaction entre la politique du corps et l'activisme numérique féministe antiraciste afin de comprendre comment la performativité du soi à travers la photographie et l'art peut donner plus de pouvoir aux corps des femmes asiatiques-américaines

Automated analysis of flow cytometry using deep learning for the detection of B-cell neoplasms

B-cell neoplasms are the most prevalent type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, including a diverse and heterogenous group of entities. Immunophenotyping with a high-throughput technology like flow cytometry is a standard diagnostic procedure in evaluating B-cell neoplasms. While multi-parameter flow cytometry (FCS) has become a cornerstone in clinical decision-making for leukemia and lymphoma, the data analysis requires manual gating of cell populations, which is time-consuming, subjective, and often limited to a two-dimensional space. In recent years, machine learning has become a popular approach for automating manual gating. Many automated gating algorithms require expert supervision and cannot classify the data into diagnosis labels. Furthermore, these algorithms still limit the analysis to a two-dimensional space, leading to the loss of information in the high-dimensional FCS data. We hypothesize that the wealth of information captured in “n”-dimensional FCS data can be analyzed by current computer vision methods when represented as image data. We, therefore, transformed FCS raw data into a multicolor low-resolution image using self-organizing maps. These images are then analyzed and classified using a convolutional neural network. By this means, we built an artificial intelligence (AI) that not only can distinguish diseased from healthy samples but also differentiate seven subtypes of mature B-cell neoplasm. We trained our model with 18,274 cases, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia and its precursor monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis, marginal zone lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma, prolymphocytic leukemia, follicular lymphoma, hairy cell leukemia, lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma and achieved a weighted F1 score of 0.94 on a separate test set of 2,348 cases. Next, we extend our AI model to multiple datasets and FCS panels using transfer learning in conjunction with FCS data merging. We demonstrate how transfer learning can be applied to boost the performance of models with much smaller datasets acquired with different FCS panels. We trained a new AI for four additional datasets by transferring the features learned from our base model. Our workflow increased the model's overall performance and, more prominently, improved the learning rate for small training sizes

An Analysis in Encouraging and Promoting Women to turn into Entrepreneurs by Developing their Entrepreneurial Skills in Abu Dhabi (U.A.E)

The main aim of this study is to examine the Female entrepreneurship skills which motivate them to turn into a successful female entrepreneur. United Arab Emirates has always welcomed Women's no matter what color, religion, language sex or nationalities. Being the safest place on earth United Arab Emirates has always given special respect and place for Women in all sectors The main functions of a women entrepreneurs is to explore the prospects of starting a new venture, Undertake risks, handle the risks and economic uncertainty which happens in business, innovate new ideas and technologies, Coordinate administer, control Supervise and possess to be a good leader. At present United Arab Emirates is welcoming and opening new opportunities for Women's to explore their ideas here. United Arab Emirates is a welcoming landscape for startups. United Arab Emirates has a diverse economy which is a very huge opportunity for an entrepreneur. In Abu Dhabi, Last decade Women Entrepreneurs have been recognized as the untapped source of economic growth. However they still represent a minority of all entrepreneurs. Many authors have examined the Women entrepreneurs but up to date no studies has been conducted in Promoting Women entrepreneurship skills in United Arab Emirates. This may be because of the lack of information's. The research aims to focus in encouraging and promoting Women Entrepreneurs by developing their entrepreneurial skills which will turn them to become a successful. This research study will adopt ethnological nature of design. This study is predominantly based on primary data. This study collected information from primary data and secondary data also for the best effective way to make the study convenient personal interview or structured and unstructured interview will be framed for the collection of data from the sample women entrepreneurs. The collected data will be arranged, classified and organized as per the logic, similarities, uniqueness and methodology. The collected data will be analyzed using statistical package for social science software (SPSS). It's a software to manage the data and calculate a wide statistical data's. A pilot test will also be carried out to check the feasibility and reliability of the structured interview. The study adopted statistical tool Chi Square Test. The study also uses Correlation and ANOVA tool for analysis. The study further discusses the ways to improve the skills by Development, motivation and training programs. Women entrepreneur has been observed as a major source of knowledge about women's entrepreneurship and they are increasingly recognized as a valuable tool for its development and promotion. Women entrepreneur is related to both women's position in society and role of entrepreneurship in the same society. Women entrepreneurs must be taken seriously at individual level( the choice of becoming self-employed) and at the firm level( the performance of women owned and managed firms).The study also discussed about the training programs, in which models are considered to study into the relationship between the Women entrepreneurs, entrepreneurship skills, and the market. This study concluded that if the women is motivated more and encouraged will surely lead to become a successful women entrepreneur in United Arab Emirates, promoting the economic growth of the country and increasing employment opportunities and setting up example showing the women are no lesser than man and se. Noting is impossible for women also. The author thus submitting a theoretical study of Encouraging and promoting women entrepreneurs by developing their skills in United Arab Emirates .Only if the Entrepreneurial Skills are developed and focused on, the Women entrepreneurs can develop into a successful Entrepreneurs

Extraction and characterization of oils from selected exotic fruit seeds

A alimentação é uma das necessidades básicas da humanidade e a exigência de alimentos aumenta paralelamente com o aumento da população que dá origem a um aumento da agricultura, produção alimentar e transformação de alimentos gerando uma elevada quantidade de resíduos e sub-produtos. O aumento diário dos subprodutos alimentares tornou-se um dos principais fatores para o colapso do equilíbrio de sustentabilidade que deu origem a novas legislações de gestão de resíduos, permitindo assim encontrar novas técnicas para protocolos de gestão de resíduos rentáveis e valorizar o seu elevado potencial económico. Embora a prevenção, redução, reciclagem, recuperação e reutilização dos subprodutos alimentares seja o principal objetivo da legislação da UE em termos de resíduos e plano de ação para a economia circular, a disponibilização de valores eco-conscientes cientificamente comprovados pelos subprodutos alimentares, estes atualmente são o principal alvo da valorização nas indústrias alimentares.. Os investigadores têm-se centrado na valorização verde dos subprodutos vegetais para obter várias vantagens, como a extração de produtos dietéticos, nutricionais, farmacêuticos e industrialmente valiosos, mercados verdes com novas oportunidades de emprego, uma alternativa aos combustíveis fósseis, redução das emissões de gases com efeito de estufa e redução do fosso entre a produção e consumo de alimentos. As crescentes preocupações dos consumidores com a saúde tem provocado um aumento do consumo de frutas nas suas refeições diárias. A produção de frutas exóticas mostra um aumento contínuo com um crescimento anual previsto de 3% que será de 116 milhões de toneladas até ao ano 2024 devido às suas vantagens em termos de saúde e nutrição em relação aos frutos temperados, e os subprodutos de frutas exóticas têm sido preocupados devido à possibilidade de uma fácil recuperação de compostos bioativos benéficos, especialmente óleos saudáveis e gorduras que têm potencial a nível dietético, aplicações industriais e nutricionais, medicinais e farmacêuticas. O contributo das sementes de frutos exóticos é superior ao dos frutos produzidos em climas temperados, contendo uma grande parte significativa não utilizada que justifica o esforço de valorização. Annona, manga e papaia estão entre as frutas exóticas mais consumidas globalmente e encontram-se numa fase de crescente produção devido à preferência demonstrada pelos consumidores mundiais. A fração do peso do fruto representada pelas sementes é de 13%, 10-85%, e de 6,5 a 20% para annona, manga e papaia, respetivamente. As sementes de annona, manga e papaia são ricas em ácidos gordos insaturados, aminoácidos e minerais. O óleo de semente de annona é semi-seco à temperatura ambiente com aplicações funcionais e farmacológicas comprovadas. E é uma fonte potencial para a indústria do biodiesel. Por outro lado, o óleo de miolo de manga - um semissólido de cor amarela dourada a castanho à temperatura ambiente - é um óleo comestível com elevada estabilidade e propriedades antimicrobianas e anti-oxidantes que tem aplicações na indústria de cuidados cosméticos e de pessoal, indústria alimentar e de confeitaria, bem como na indústria de cuidados de saúde e farmacêuticos, bem como na indústria de biodiesel. Finalmente,o óleo de sementes de papaia – um cor castanho-avermelhado líquido à temperatura ambiente – é um óleo comestível com elevada palabilidade e com aplicações nas indústrias de plástico e biodiesel. A extração de óleos é uma forma corrente de valorização das sementes oleosas. A introdução de novas técnicas de extração “verde” decom abordagens de refinaria e biorefina proporciona uma recuperação fácil e valiosa de compostos funcionais. O pré-tratamento das sementes, o método utilizado e a otimização dos parâmetros associados são factores-chave do rendimento e da qualidade dos óleos extraídos. O pré-tratamento pode ser conjugado com novas técnicas de tratamento, tais como ultrassons, micro-ondas e aplicações de pressão às sementes antes do processo de extração para uma extração mais exequível e valiosa. E ultrassom, micro-ondas e pressão podem ser associados á obtenção de melhores resultados. Mas o desenvolvimento, a escala e a comercialização da combinação destes métodos para um desempenho mais elevado e melhor ainda requerem mais pesquisas a serem realizadas. No processo de extração de solventes, devem ser tomados em consideração solventes solventes orgânicos solúveis, tais como clorofórmio, benzeno, acetona, hexano e cicloxexano para romper as paredes celulares e a solubilidade, ponto de ebulição, toxicidade, disponibilidade, custo, polaridade e reutilização do solvente adequados para escolher o solvente adequado. Para impulsionar a economia circular, o conceito de desperdício zero, e o conceito eco verde, foi estudada a possibilidade de recuperar compostos bioativos através da extração de óleos de sementes de frutos exóticos selecionadas (annona, manga e papaia) com um rendimento razoável de forma rentável. Os óleos foram extraídos no aparelho Soxhlet utilizando éter de petróleo como solvente de acordo com o método AOAC 948.22 (AOAC 2000) e a extração foi efetuada durante 9 horas. Os rendimentos do óleo obtidos foram de 28,9 ± 1,6% para as sementes de annona, 5,0 ± 0,0% para as sementes de manga e 24,0% ± 0,9% para as sementes de papaia. Neste estudo, os rendimentos dos óleos das sementes de annona e papaia obtidos encontram-se na gama que foi relatado na literatura, mas o rendimento do óleo de semente de manga foi menor do que o mencionado por outros autores. Os óleos extraídos foram esterficados e os perfis de ácidos gordos (FA) foram estudados através da cromatografia gasosa-espectrometria de massa (GS-MS) equipada com uma coluna capilar. A GS-MS é uma ferramenta analítica multidimensional com elevada seletividade, sensibilidade e precisão que pode ser aplicada para analisar matrizes complexas e é amplamente utilizada na deteção e identificação de ácidos gordos. O teor total de ácidos gordos foi de 76,7%, 76,9% e 56,1% para as sementes de annona, manga e papaia, respectivamente. Os ácidos palmítico (17,68%), oleico (42,39%) e linoleico30,22%) foram os principais ácidos gordos no óleo de sementes de annona. Os ácidos linoleico (30,30%), oleico (25,00%), palmítico (22,01%) e esteleórico (14,62%) destacaram-se no óleo de manga, enquanto o ácido de oleico (66,52%) e o palmítico (15,2%) foram os ácidos gordos maioritários nas sementes de papaia. O efeito da origem geográfica dos frutos e a presumível influência do solo e das condições climáticas, bem como o impacto do pré-processamento e as condições de pós-extração no rendimento de óleo, perfil de ácidos gordos e de componentes bioativos devem ser estudados mais detalhadamente. No entanto, a comercialização, aceitação pelos consumidores, a sustentabilidade do processo e os desafios práticos no processo não foram estudados, mas devem ser analisados experimentalmente para posterior eventual comercialização destes óleos com características especiais.Food is one of the basic needs of humankind and the requirement of food increases parallelly with the increase of population, thus giving rise to an increase in agriculture, food production, and food processing generating a heap of wastes and byproducts. The daily increase of food byproducts has become one a major issue when striving for food processing sustainability, demanding “new” legislation related to wastes management as well as requiring the study and development of new or alternative techniques for costeffective waste management protocols, that recapture its economic value. To value this effort, the possibility of recapturing bioactive compounds by extraction of oils from Annona, mango, and papaya seeds at a reasonable yield level in a cost-effective manner have been studied. Oils were extracted in the Soxhlet apparatus using petroleum ether as the solvent according to AOAC 948.22 method (AOAC 2000) and extraction was carried out for 9 h. The oil yields obtained were 28.92% ± 1.6% for Annona seeds, 5.00 % ± 0.004% for mango seeds, and 24.85% ± 0.90% for papaya seeds. The oils have been esterified and fatty acid (FA) profiles have been obtained through Gas ChromatographyMass Spectrometry (GC-MS) equipped with a capillary column. The total fatty acid content was 76.67%, 76.99%, and 56.11% for Annona, mango, and papaya seeds, respectively. Palmitic (17.68%), oleic (42.39%), and linoleic (30.22%) acids were the main fatty acids in Annona seed oil. Linoleic (30.30%), oleic (25.00%), palmitic (22.01%), and stearic (14.62%) acids were prominent in mango seed oil, while oleic (66.52%), and palmitic (15.2%) acids were important in papaya seed oils. The effect of the geographical origin of the fruits, and putative influence of soil and climatic conditions as well as the impact of preprocessing extraction, and post-extraction conditions on the oil yield, fatty acids profile, and bioactive components should be studied further. Moreover, since the marketability, consumer acceptance, sustainability, and practical challenges in the process have not been studied, they should be addressed for further conclusions and eventual commercializatio

Synthesis and binding studies of peptide mimetics, anion receptors, and kinase inhibitors

A series of novel purine-based fluoroaryl triazoles were synthesized and assayed for their neuroprotective effects of hippocampal slice culture exposed to amyloid beta (Aß) oligomers. A monofluorinated triazole has been identified which has comparable neuroprotective effect as that of flavopiridol and roscovitine against the Aß induced neurotoxicity. Carnosine and histidine are biologically interesting antioxidants. In order to probe whether they exert their antioxidant effect through metal ion chelation, the Cu(ll) ion chelating abilities of these compounds were measured by UV-vis spectroscopy. Amyloid beta, the major component of senile plaques in Alzheimer\u27s disease, is known to complex transition metal ions through histidine residues. In this study, using ¹H NMR titration experiments, it was shown that histidine binds strongly to Zn(II), Cu(Il), and Fe(III) ions at a biologically relevant pH (pH 7.4), with a stoichiometry of Zn(II): histidine binding of 1:2. Fluorinated boroxines, tris(2,6-difluorophenyl)boroxin (DF), tris(2,4,6- trifluorophenyl)boroxin (TF), and tris(pentafluorophenyl)boroxin (PF) were synthesized and investigated for their fluoride anion binding affinity using multinuclear Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and tandem mass spectroscopic techniques. DFT calculations show that the fluoride ion complex of DF prefers unsymmetrical, covalently bound structure over the symmetrically bridged species by 12.5 kcal/mol --Abstract, page iii

Chapter 9 Review: Research That Inspires Creativity

In Chapter 9 “Research that inspires creativity”, Cathy N. Davidson and Christina Katopodis present their exhaustive, well-researched ideas, thoughts and recommendations on research design and methodology

Imidazolium-Based Polymeric Materials as Alkaline Anion-Exchange Fuel Cell Membranes

Polymer electrolyte membranes that conduct hydroxide ions have potential use in fuel cells. A variety of polystyrene-based quaternary ammonium hydroxides have been reported as anion exchange fuel cell membranes. However, the hydrolytic stability and conductivity of the commercially available membranes are not adequate to meet the requirements of fuel cell applications. When compared with commercially available membranes, polystyrene-imidazolium alkaline membrane electrolytes are more stable and more highly conducting. At the time of this reporting, this has been the first such usage for imidazolium-based polymeric materials for fuel cells. Imidazolium salts are known to be electrochemically stable over wide potential ranges. By controlling the relative ratio of imidazolium groups in polystyrene-imidazolium salts, their physiochemical properties could be modulated. Alkaline anion exchange membranes based on polystyrene-imidazolium hydroxide materials have been developed. The first step was to synthesize the poly(styrene-co-(1-((4-vinyl)methyl)-3- methylimidazolium) chloride through a free-radical polymerization. Casting of this material followed by in situ treatment of the membranes with sodium hydroxide solutions provided the corresponding hydroxide salts. Various ratios of the monomers 4-chloromoethylvinylbenzine (CMVB) and vinylbenzine (VB) provided various compositions of the polymer. The preferred material, due to the relative ease of casting the film, and its relatively low hygroscopic nature, was a 2:1 ratio of CMVB to VB. Testing confirmed that at room temperature, the new membranes outperformed commercially available membranes by a large margin. With fuel cells now in use at NASA and in transportation, and with defense potential, any improvement to fuel cell efficiency is a significant development