Gender Undone: Confronting Bias in the Nuclear Field

In the face of evolving security needs, diversity is critical in nonproliferation, nuclear security, and other related fields. Despite multiple studies highlighting the need for gender balance and diversity in the nuclear nonproliferation and security space and targeted recruitment and capacity-building efforts by the International Atomic Energy Agency and states, gains in the representation of women (as well as historically underrepresented groups) have been set back by the gendered effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and slow cultural change at nuclear facilities and organizations. This issue is in large part due to the inability of initiatives aimed at diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA) to deal with the structural biases of who belongsin nuclear security. Accordingly, this paper will address potential solutions and good practices for reforming organizational nuclear security culture in the United States. Integrating policies to actively confront and undo structural biases and gendered assumptions about women in nuclear security is the start of building DEIA into the broader nuclear industry and its associated organizations. Although bias is an inevitable symptom of the human condition, employers in the nuclear field can work to check biases by integrating DEIA values and assumptions that deal with gender representation into the organizational culture. This paper finds that significantly more transparency and public data reporting is needed in the sector to understand the scope of the challenge and posits the creation of a DEIA nuclear security organizational culture more reflective of DEIA values to strengthen nuclear security and improve the diversity of the nuclear field in the long term

Biologically inspired ChaosNet architecture for Hypothetical Protein Classification

ChaosNet is a type of artificial neural network framework developed for classification problems and is influenced by the chaotic property of the human brain. Each neuron of the ChaosNet architecture is the one-dimensional chaotic map called the Generalized Luroth Series (GLS). The addition of GLS as neurons in ChaosNet makes the computations straightforward while utilizing the advantageous elements of chaos. With substantially less data, ChaosNet has been demonstrated to do difficult classification problems on par with or better than traditional ANNs. In this paper, we use Chaosnet to perform a functional classification of Hypothetical proteins [HP], which is indeed a topic of great interest in bioinformatics. The results obtained with significantly lesser training data are compared with the standard machine learning techniques used in the literature

DOES PROVIDING FREE ANTI-RETROVIRAL THERAPY ENSURE OPTIMAL ADHERENCE AMONG PEOPLE LIVING WITH HIV / AIDS?

AbstractIntroduction/Back ground: Availability of Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) has revolutionalised the management of Human Immunodeficiency Virus /Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (HIV/AIDS) and improved the survival of those infected with the virus. However, adherence to therapy is a prerequisite for treatment success and preventing drug resistance. Aim: The present study was carried out with the aim of determining the level of adherence and factors affecting it among patients receiving free ART. Methods: A cross sectional study design was adopted and 320 HIV positive patients receiving free ART from a district hospital in Udupi were interviewed using a semi-structured questionnaire. Adherence to ART >95% of the prescribed medication was used as the cut off for deciding on the treatment adherence. Results: An encouragingly high 96.9% of the individuals were adherent to the medication over the past month. However, 41.8% of the participants reported to have ever missed doses of ART. On univariate analysis, having ever consumed alcohol, absence of side effects such as fatigue and tingling/numbness, having a feeling of sadness and sleep disturbances, being on Efavirenz based regimen, non-disclosure HIV status, being unsure of continuing lifelong treatment were significantly associated with non-adherence (p<0.05).Conclusion: Although non adherence was of concern among a small proportion of participants, a large number of them reported to have ever missed doses of ART.  This finding suggests that adherence rate may be lower over longer periods of time. Hence, periodic assessments may address patient specific barriers and help to improve the adherence rate among this population.Â

Physicochemical properties of various alginate-based raft-forming antacid products: a comparative study

Background: Alginate-based, raft-forming antacid products with reflux suppressant activity are complex formulations expected to achieve effective raft formation and cause elimination or displacement of the acid pocket, which is typically manifested in gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).Methods: In the present study, six alginate-based raft-forming products commercially available in the Indian market were compared in terms of their acid neutralization properties, strength, resilience and structural and thermal properties of their rafts. Percent alginate content was also determined.Results: Rafts of products containing calcium-based antacids formed voluminous, porous and floating rafts within seconds of addition to the simulated gastric fluid (SGF) compared with the products that contained aluminium and magnesium-based antacids. Marked differences were not evident in the ANC (acid neutralization capacity) values of the various products. No correlation was observed between ANC and raft-forming capacity or duration of neutralization. Raft structures affected their neutralization profiles. Rafts of porous and absorbent nature could retain their ANC probably due to release of trapped antacids. Further, raft strengths of only two products were above the British Pharmacopoeia specification of not less than 7.5 g. Sodium alginate content was within specifications (85-115%) for three of the six products.Conclusions: Raft-forming formulations with higher alginate content and calcium-based antacids have better physicochemical properties such as ANC, neutralization profiles, raft strength and raft resilience than those with lower alginate content or those containing aluminium or magnesium-based antacids

A facile one pot synthetic approach for C3N4-ZnS composite interfaces as heterojunctions for sunlight-induced multifunctional photocatalytic applications

Herein, we report a facile one pot synthetic protocol for the creation of C3N4-ZnS composite interfaces by the co-pyrolysis of a precursor mix containing zinc nitrate, melamine, and thiourea at 550°C in air. The organic-inorganic semiconductor heterojunctions thus formed displayed increased absorbance in the longer wavelength region and facilitated broad absorption of visible light compared to pure ZnS, C3N4 and conventionally synthesized hybrid samples. The decreased emission intensity, increased photocurrent generation and decreased fluorescence lifetime revealed reduced exciton recombinations in the co-pyrolysed sample containing C3N4-ZnS heterostructures. The samples displayed sunlight driven photocatalytic reduction of nitrophenol as well as hydrogen generation (4 mmol g-1 h-1) by water splitting. © The Royal Society of Chemistry 2016

COLORECTAL CANCER AND ITS RISK FACTORS AMONG PATIENTS ATTENDING A TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL IN SOUTHERN KARNATAKA, INDIA

Objective: To determine the association between certain socio-demographic and life style factors with colorectal cancer.Methods: This case-control study was conducted using a pre-designed questionnaire among 100 incident colorectal cancer patients and 200 unmatched controls attending a tertiary care hospital in southern Karnataka. Cases and the controls were interviewed and details regarding their socio-demographic factors were collected. Information on lifestyle factors such as dietary habits, physical activity levels and substance use were documented. They were also assessed for presence of existing co-morbidities and family history of colorectal and other cancers. Multivariable logistic regression was performed to determine the association between various risk factors and colorectal cancer.Results: In the present hospital based study, mean age of the participants was less than 55 years. Sixty three percent of the cases and 54.5% of the controls were males. On multivariable analysis age ≥50years (OR=1.87; 95%CI=1.02-3.45), low physical activity (OR=5.66; 95%CI=3.10-10.34) and low frequency of fruits consumption (OR=4.10; 95%CI=2.21-7.50) and hypertension (OR= 4.65; 95% CI=1.32-16.44) showed a positive association with colorectal cancer.Conclusion: Promoting healthy dietary practices and physical activity among the middle aged population appears to be significant in the context of colorectal cancer prevention in the Indian subcontinent.Keywords: Colorectal cancer, Case–control, Risk factors, Lifestyle, Comorbidities

The X-ray Point Source Population Hosted by Globular Clusters in the Elliptical Galaxy NGC 4261

Utilising archival Chandra X-ray Observatory data and Hubble Space Telescope globular cluster catalogues, we probe the time-domain properties of the low mass X-ray binary population in the elliptical galaxy NGC 4261. Of the 98 unique X-ray sources identified in this study, 62 sources are within the optical field of view and, of those, 33% are aligned with an optical cluster counterpart. We find twenty X-ray sources coincident with globular clusters; two are previously discovered ultra-luminous X-ray sources (ULXs) and eighteen are low mass X-ray binaries (GCLMXBs) with $L_X < 10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$. ULXs are a heterogeneous class of extremely bright X-ray binaries ($L_X > 10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$) and ULXs located in globular clusters (GCULXs) and may be indicators of black holes. Identifying these unusually X-ray bright sources and measuring their optical properties can provide valuable constraints on the progenitors of gravitational wave sources. We compare observations of these sources to the twenty previously-studied GCULXs from five other early-type galaxies, and find that GCULXs in NGC 4261 are of similar colour and luminosity and do not significantly deviate from the rest of the sample in terms of distance from the galaxy centre or X-ray luminosity. Both the GCULX and low mass X-ray binary (GCLMXB) populations of NGC 4261 show long term variability; the former may have implications for fast radio bursts originating in globular clusters and the latter will likely introduce additional scatter into the low mass end of GCLMXB X-ray luminosity functions.Comment: Accepted to MNRA

21.神経芽細胞腫肝転移例の1年生存(第589回千葉医学会例会・第2回千葉大学小児外科教室例会)

Additional file 2: Table S1. A list of phosphoPSMs identified by MASCOT and SEQUEST