Ethnography of Reading Comic Books

This thesis explores why adults read comic books. This research used the ethnographic method and interviewing eleven people, four women, seven male, as its primary source. Based on information and common themes gathered from interviews, I built this thesis into one introduction, three body chapters, and a conclusion. In the first chapter, I argued that comics could function the same as myths and explained this function and related examples under the “mythic effect” name. In the second chapter, I discussed how my informants use reading comics as a means to escape their everyday lives and how sometimes this escapism carries a nostalgic feeling for some of them. At the end of this chapter, I demonstrated that reading comics can be considered a stigmatized activity and how my informants react to the common stereotypes around reading comics. The third chapter is about the relationship between comics and gender. I analyzed this relationship in two parts: representation of gender in comics and reading comics as a gendered activity. I concluded that reading comics for my informants has more meanings than just entertainment. It can inspire them to make changes in the real world and alter their perspective. Also, media and the internet have significant roles in broadening comics’ audiences and challenging gender dynamics and stereotypes around reading comics

Lexical Choices and Ideology in Translation: A Case Study of 'The old Man and the Sea

The present research aims at conducting a critical study of the novel 'The Old Man and the Sea' written by Ernest Hemingway (1976) and its two translated versions in Persian; one rendered by Faramarzi (2006) the other by Shahin (1979). The researchers apply a comparative lexical analysis proposed by Newmark (1988) and Venuti (1995). An attempt has been made to reveal the ideology behind the original sample words and to show how translators and the effect thereof handle it. The data of this research consists of 10 ideological laden terms selected randomly among 45 words from the original text and the corresponding Persian translations. The results of this study suggest a significant difference between the two Persian translations and the original novel. It revealed that one of the translators has attempted to 'domesticate' his translation while another has been attentive to 'foreignize' it. As for implication, it seems necessary to note that translational decisions made by actual translators under different socio-cultural and ideological settings in real life and real situations should be considered. The perlocutionary consequences resulted from adoption of such decisions are of importance

The Effect of Implementing Different Maintenance Policies on the Production Rate of a Flexible Manufacturing Cell

Today, world-class competitiveness is a must for companies. Competitive world made the companies increase the productivity, quality of the product, lower price and better service and support with respect to safety and environment perspectives. Maintenance is one of the tools that can help the companies reach these objectives. Flexible manufacturing cells (FMCs) as a group of machines designed to produce a variety of similar products, often operate with increasing failure rate due to extensive utilization and wear-outs of equipment. While maintenance plans can eliminate wearout failures, random failures are still unavoidable. This research develops several simulation studies to compare the performance of a flexible manufacturing cell under six different maintenance polices namely: No maintenance policy, Corrective maintenance policy, Block-based policy, Age-based policy, Opportunity-triggered policy and conditional opportunity triggered policy. The simulation studies used in this thesis demonstrate production rate subject to maintenance policies under different mean time between failures. The software chosen for the simulation is Show Flow. The main focus of this work is to compare traditional corrective maintenance policies with different preventive maintenance policies that utilize real-time sensory information to assist in decisions regarding maintenance management and component replacement. It can be concluded that any FMC system under consideration must be analyzed with respect to several maintenance policies and the best policy should be selected before implementing a policy. The maintenance policy of FMC which is monitored in this research is block-based policy. Maintenance and production rate Information of this policy is used as a base to simulate for the other five policies. The analysis shows that different maintenances schedules have important effects on production rate of FMC. The best policy is Opportunity-triggered maintenance policy (OTP) with the best production rate near to fully reliable cell and the worst policy is the corrective maintenance policy (CMP) with the worst production rate in all of the MTBF to compare with other policies. From these results it could be said with a few changes in schedule time of preventive maintenance, a company can have better production rate. This research has been conducted using information obtained from Proton Company (car factory) in Malaysia but the results are not limited to this company or other car factories. It can be used for every factory that has flexible manufacturing cell

Quantum manipulation of a single trapped molecular ion

The controlled manipulation of quantum states of single trapped atomic ions forms the basis of some of the most precise measurements preformed to date with proven applications in fundamental physics, time keeping and quantum computing. In this thesis, we extend the toolbox of coherent manipulation of single trapped ions to molecular ions with potential applications including measuring a possible time variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio, $m_p/m_e$, the implementation of new frequency standards in the mid-infrared regime and the realization of noise-insensitive qubits. We describe in detail the theoretical modeling of molecular energy levels, systematic shifts and transition strengths for the identification of molecular transitions which are useful as a new clock standard and as a molecular qubit. The homonuclear diatomic molecule N$_2^+$ is found to form a noise-insensitive system with clock transitions suitable for precision measurements over a wide range of frequencies. We further describe the experimental implementation of a single-molecule trapped-ion experiment for precision measurements including the design, manufacturing and characterization of a new ion trap and the electronic circuits required for stable operation. We describe several techniques used for laser stabilization and present the techniques developed for cooling the molecular ion from an initial temperature of over 1000 K to the motional ground state of the trap below 10 µK. A new state readout technique is presented which relies on phase-sensitive forces to non-destructively read out and prepare the internal state of the molecule from a large number of possible states. The demonstration of state readout and state preparation of a single ground-state-cooled N$_2^+$ ion signifies the successful implementation of all necessary prerequisites for precision measurements and coherent manipulations of single molecular ions

Hippocampal representations of homing based on path integration

The ability to plan and execute a journey to a specific destination is essential for the survival of individuals of different species. Purposeful navigation can be achieved using landmark-based navigation and path integration. During path integration, the animal integrates self-motion information to estimate its location. Path integration is needed when external landmarks, such as visual landmarks, odour or auditory cues, are unavailable or when the animal visits unfamiliar environments. The study of the neuronal basis of path integration has been hampered by the lack of behavioural paradigm assessing path integration that allows simultaneous in vivo electrophysiological recordings in freely moving animals. Lesion studies have shown that the hippocampus and parahippocampal area are involved in path integration but the firing activity of the spatially selective cells, such as place cells, during path integration is unknown. Here, we developed a new behavioural paradigm (Automated Path Integration or AutoPI) to study homing behaviour based on path integration. In this task, a mouse finds a movable lever on the arena, presses it and returns to its home base to collect a food reward. Using the AutoPI task, we could record the firing pattern of the neurons in a large arena and investigate their spatial properties during homing behaviour. We used silicon probes to record the activity of hippocampal pyramidal cells when mice were running in AutoPI. By comparing the firing activity of neurons in the AutoPI task and during random foraging, we detected a complete reorganisation of hippocampal ensembles. We also found that several hippocampal pyramidal cells were firing when the animal was close to the lever (lever-anchored cells), independently of the lever's location on the arena. The spatial stability of lever-anchored cells was reduced during the trials with inaccurate homing. Moreover, the firing activity of lever-anchored cells also predicted the homing direction of the mice. These findings describe how hippocampal neurons with object-anchored firing fields contribute to homing behavior based on path integration

T Helper Cells Fate Mapping by Co-stimulatory Molecules and its Functions in Allograft Rejection and Tolerance

T cell differentiation is dictated by a combination of T cell receptor (TCR) interaction with an antigen-bound major histocompatibility complex (MHC), and co-stimulatory molecules signal. The co-stimulatory signal can be positive or negative, and amplifying or diminishing the initial signal. However, the secondary co-stimulatory signal is not obligatory and its necessity is dictated, in part, by the stage of T cell development. In the field of transplantation, directing the T cell differentiation process can lead to therapeutic possibilities that promote allograft tolerance, and hinder unfavorable alloimmune responses. Therefore, understanding the details of T cell differentiation process, including the influence of co-stimulatory signals, is of paramount importance. It is important to note there is functional overlap between co-stimulatory molecules. It has been observed that some co-stimulatory signals have different effects on different T cell subsets. Hence, blockade of a co-stimulatory signal pathway, as part of a therapeutic regimen in transplantation, may have far reaching effects beyond the initial therapeutic intent and inhibit co-stimulatory signals necessary for desirable regulatory responses. In this review, co-stimulatory molecules involved in the differentiation of naïve T cells into T helper 1 (Th1), T helper 2 (Th2), T helper 17 (Th17), inducible regulatory T cells (iTregs), and T helper 9 (Th9) cells and their overlap are discussed

The Role of Coinhibitory Signaling Pathways in Transplantation and Tolerance

Negative costimulatory molecules, acting through so-called inhibitory pathways, play a crucial role in the control of T cell responses. This negative “second signal” opposes T cell receptor activation and leads to downregulation of T cell proliferation and promotes antigen specific tolerance. Much interest has focused upon these pathways in recent years as a method to control detrimental alloresponses and promote allograft tolerance. However, recent experimental data highlights the complexity of negative costimulatory pathways in alloimmunity. Varying effects are observed from molecules expressed on donor and recipient tissues and also depending upon the activation status of immune cells involved. There appears to be significant overlap and redundancy within these systems, rendering this a challenging area to understand and exploit therapeutically. In this article, we will review the literature at the current time regarding the major negative costimulation pathways including CTLA-4:B7, PD-1:PD-L1/PD-L2 and PD-L1:B7-1, B7-H3, B7-H4, HVEM:BTLA/CD160, and TIM-3:Galectin-9. We aim to outline the role of these pathways in alloimmunity and discuss their potential applications for tolerance induction in transplantation

Neonatal Respiratory Distress Syndrome: Things to Consider and Ways to Manage

Involving more commonly the premature (less than 37 weeks of gestational age) infants, neonatal respiratory distress syndrome is an important clinical syndrome responsible for a high rate of mortality and morbidity. The main progress in respiratory distress syndrome (RDS) management is attributable to prescription of surfactant for fastening pulmonary maturation. Respiratory protection, such as mechanical ventilation and nasal continuous positive airway pressure, and surfactant are building blocks of disease treatment. In this chapter, we are going to have a rapid review on epidemiology, diagnosis and treatments of RDS

Towards defining criteria for metformin usage in management of Gestational Diabetes Mellitus.

This is an article in the format of Letter to the editor. Then it does not have an abstract