Assessing differentiation of self in multiple cultural contexts: Initial validation of the Multicultural Differentiation of Self Inventory (MDSI)

Researchers have shown that current instruments used to assess an individual’s level of differentiation of self or differentiation are biased towards an individualistic cultural context, therefore current instruments lack cultural validity (Alaedein, 2008; Chung & Gale, 2006, 2009; Kim et al., 2015; O’Hara & Meteyard, 2011). When counseling from Bowen’s family systems theoretical perspective, accurate assessment of an individual’s differentiation is integral for treatment planning and intervention (Bowen & Kerr, 1988). To address the existing gap in assessment of differentiation within multiple cultural contexts (i.e., individualistic, collectivistic, transcultural), the purpose of the present research was to develop the Multicultural Differentiation of Self Inventory (MDSI) and conduct initial validation. Graduate students, 22 years and older from 33 universities in southeast United States (U.S.), completed a Demographic Questionnaire (i.e., university, age, gender, socio-economic status, relationship status, race, ethnicity, country of birth, residence state in U.S., residence country/countries, current geographic location due to Covid-19 pandemic, country/countries of citizenship, language(s) spoken, immigrant generation in the U.S. from another country, cultural affiliation, current majority community cultural setting), the 36-item Multicultural Differentiation of Self Inventory (MDSI), and the 16-item Individualism-Collectivism Revised Scale (INDCOL-R; Triandis & Gelfand, 1998). Results of an exploratory factor analysis using a principle components analysis indicated that the MDSI was not a valid instrument to assess differentiation of self in the individualistic, collectivistic, and transcultural contexts. Further, validity and reliability of the INDCOL-R Scale was established. Cronbach’s alpha indicated good reliability (i.e., .70 or higher) for all four dimensions, including horizontal individualism (M = 26.78, SD = 5.92), horizontal collectivism (M = 28.21, SD = 5.09), vertical individualism (M = 17.97, SD = 6.65), and vertical collectivism (M = 23.69, SD = 6.65), as well as individualism (M = 44.75, SD = 9.85) and collectivism (M = 51.88, SD = 9.31). Using Pearson’s r and the probability cutoff value of .01 and .001, INDCOL-R Scale and dimension correlations ranged from very weak (.12, p = .01; vertical individualism and vertical collectivism) to very strong (.85, p = .001; collectivism and vertical collectivism). Also using Pearson’s r, INDCOL-R Scale and demographics correlations ranged from very weak (.12, p = .01; vertical collectivism and socio-economic status; INDCOL-R Scale and current majority community cultural setting; respectively) to weak (.21, p = .001; vertical collectivism and relationship status). Future research is needed to develop a culturally valid differentiation of self instrument

Substantial and sustained reduction in under-5 mortality, diarrhea, and pneumonia in Oshikhandass, Pakistan : Evidence from two longitudinal cohort studies 15 years apart

Funding Information: Study 1 was funded through the Applied Diarrheal Disease Research Program at Harvard Institute for International Development with a grant from USAID (Project 936–5952, Cooperative Agreement # DPE-5952-A-00-5073-00), and the Aga Khan Health Service, Northern Areas and Chitral, Pakistan. Study 2 was funded by the Pakistan US S&T Cooperative Agreement between the Pakistan Higher Education Commission (HEC) (No.4–421/PAK-US/HEC/2010/955, grant to the Karakoram International University) and US National Academies of Science (Grant Number PGA-P211012 from NAS to the Fogarty International Center). The funding bodies had no role in the design of the study, data collection, analysis, interpretation, or writing of the manuscript. Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Functionalization of surfactant templated magnetite by chitosan and PEGylated/Chitosan – In vitro studies on drug loading, release and anti-proliferative activity

Magnetite iron oxide nanoparticles (MNPs) were synthesized using micro emulsion assisted co-precipitation method. The surface functionalization of MNPs was done with chitosan and PEGylated/chitosan and three samples of each were prepared. These materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), scanning electron (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM). The Methotrexate (MTX) drug was then loaded on each functionalized MNPs as MCT-1–3 (chitosan; 0.1,0.5, and 1%) and MPCT-1–3 (PEGylated/chitosan (1% each with volume ratio 1:1, 3:1, and 1:3). Each composition showed maximum encapsulation efficiency (>95%). The pH dependent drug release studies were done under acidic (pH 5.0) and physiological (pH 7.4) conditions. These studies revealed consistent drug release and no burst release was observed from both functionalized MNPs. A comparatively delayed release from MPCTs than MCTs could be attributed to the formation of more compact sphere due to cross-linking of chitosan with PEG. The drug release was found greater at pH 5.0 for all functionalized MNPs. However, among all functionalized MNPs, maximum drug release was found to be 78.88% by MPCT-1 in acidic medium (pH 5.0). Cyclic voltametric (CV) analysis at slow scan rate (10 mV/s) further indicated controlled drug release and complimented the UV-findings. The MCF-7 (human breast cancer) cell line studies, however, indicated anticancer potential only for MPCT-1–3 with IC50 values ranging from 1.4 to 1.7 μM. Overall results pointed that methotrexate loaded PEGylated/chitosan coated magnetic nanoparticles MPCT-1 is the more compassionate material to be used as vehicle for controlled drug delivery

Borno-Net: A Real-Time Bengali Sign-Character Detection and Sentence Generation System Using Quantized Yolov4-Tiny and LSTMs

Sign language is the most commonly used form of communication for persons with disabilities who have hearing or speech difficulties. However, persons without hearing impairment cannot understand these signs in many cases. As a consequence, persons with disabilities experience difficulties while expressing their emotions or needs. Thus, a sign character detection and text generation system is necessary to mitigate this issue. In this paper, we propose an end-to-end system that can detect Bengali sign characters from input images or video frames and generate meaningful sentences. The proposed system consists of two phases. In the first phase, a quantization technique for the YoloV4-Tiny detection model is proposed for detecting 49 different sign characters, including 36 Bengali alphabet characters, 10 numeric characters, and 3 special characters. Here, the detection model localizes hand signs and predicts the corresponding character. The second phase generates text from the predicted characters by a detection model. The Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) model is utilized to generate meaningful text from the character signs detected in the previous phase. To train the proposed system, the BdSL 49 dataset is used, which has approximately 14,745 images of 49 different classes. The proposed quantized YoloV4-Tiny model achieves a mAP of 99.7%, and the proposed language model achieves an overall accuracy of 99.12%. In addition, performance analysis among YoloV4, YoloV4 Tiny, and YoloV7 models is provided in this research

Spatial distribution and source identification of heavy metal pollution in roadside surface soil: a study of Dhaka Aricha highway, Bangladesh

Introduction In this study, metal pollution and their sources in surface soils were evaluated by pollution indices and multivariate statistical techniques in association with a geographical information system (GIS). Methods Surface soil samples were collected in dry season from different locations of Dhaka Aricha highway and analyzed by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF). Results Thirteen different metals were found in the tested samples. Pollution indices are determined by enrichment factor in an order of Zr > Sn > P > Mn > Zn > Rb > Fe > Ba > Sr > Ti > K > Ca > Al. The resulting geoaccumulation index (I geo) value shows the following order: Sn > Zr > P > Mn > Zn > Rb > Fe > Ba > Ti > Sr > K > Ca > Al. Contamination factors (CFs) of the metals range from 1.422 to 3.979 (Fe); 0.213 to 1.089 (Al); 0.489 to 3.484 (Ca); 1.496 to 2.372 (K); 1.287 to 3.870 (Ti); 2.200 to 14.588 (Mn); 5.938 to 56.750 (Zr); 0.980 to 3.500 (Sr); 2.321 to 4.857 (Rb); 2.737 to 6.526 (Zn); 16.667 to 27.333 (Sn); 3.157 to 16.286 (P); and 0.741 to 3.328 (Ba). Pollution load index calculated from the CFs indicates that soils are strongly contaminated by Zr and Sn. Principal component analysis (PCA) of parameters exhibits three major components. R-mode cluster analysis reveals three distinct groups in both site and metal basis clustering that shows a similar pattern with the PCA. Conclusions These results might be helpful for future monitoring of further increase of heavy metal concentrations in surface soils along highways

Hydroxyapatite and cellulose nanocrystals loaded gelatin-chitosan based electrospun nanofibrous mats for rapid wound healing

Electrospinning of a heterogeneous solution is difficult to continue because the required process parameters are different for multiple phases. In this study, nanofibrous mats were successfully prepared from a heterogeneous blend of solid cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) and hydroxyapatite nanoparticles (HAp) in a solution mixture of chitosan and gelatin using an electrospinning technique. HAp and CNC were used as filler materials in the nanofibrous mats. Gelatin and chitosan polymer chains in the mats were crosslinked using glutaraldehyde. The fiber diameter was noticed to decrease from around 86 to 43 nm with the increase of electrical conductivity of the spinning solution from 890 to 1166 μS cm−1 and after crosslinking a significant variation in fibers’ diameter was noticed. The elemental analysis data showed that around 85% of the HAp used in the spinning solution was passed through the nozzle and the rest of the portion remained settled in the spinning syringe. In the XRD study, the crystallinity of chitosan, HAp and CNC was not observed in the non-crosslinked and crosslinked mats. The TGA analysis showed that the crosslinked mat has no weight retention at 500 °C which is due to its complete amorphous nature. The mats showed single-phase transition temperatures in DSC analysis which proves that no segregation of materials was present in the electrospun fibers. FTIR analysis of the mats showed a new peak at 1205 cm−1 which suggests the Michael addition type reactions to be happened between chitosan and gelatin. Cytotoxicity analysis of the mats on the vero-cell line showed around 95% of cell viability. The prepared mats were applied as wound dressings on a mice model experiment and 50% faster healing of wounds on the mice was noticed for the non-crosslinked mats than the control one

Assessment of roadside surface water quality of Savar, Dhaka, Bangladesh using GIS and multivariate statistical techniques

Abstract In this study, multivariate statistical techniques in collaboration with GIS are used to assess the roadside surface water quality of Savar region. Nineteen water samples were collected in dry season and 15 water quality parameters including TSS, TDS, pH, DO, BOD, Cl−, F−, NO3 2−, NO2 −, SO4 2−, Ca, Mg, K, Zn and Pb were measured. The univariate overview of water quality parameters are TSS 25.154 ± 8.674 mg/l, TDS 840.400 ± 311.081 mg/l, pH 7.574 ± 0.256 pH unit, DO 4.544 ± 0.933 mg/l, BOD 0.758 ± 0.179 mg/l, Cl− 51.494 ± 28.095 mg/l, F− 0.771 ± 0.153 mg/l, NO3 2− 2.211 ± 0.878 mg/l, NO2 − 4.692 ± 5.971 mg/l, SO4 2− 69.545 ± 53.873 mg/l, Ca 48.458 ± 22.690 mg/l, Mg 19.676 ± 7.361 mg/l, K 12.874 ± 11.382 mg/l, Zn 0.027 ± 0.029 mg/l, Pb 0.096 ± 0.154 mg/l. The water quality data were subjected to R-mode PCA which resulted in five major components. PC1 explains 28% of total variance and indicates the roadside and brick field dust settle down (TDS, TSS) in the nearby water body. PC2 explains 22.123% of total variance and indicates the agricultural influence (K, Ca, and NO2 −). PC3 describes the contribution of nonpoint pollution from agricultural and soil erosion processes (SO4 2−, Cl−, and K). PC4 depicts heavy positively loaded by vehicle emission and diffusion from battery stores (Zn, Pb). PC5 depicts strong positive loading of BOD and strong negative loading of pH. Cluster analysis represents three major clusters for both water parameters and sampling sites. The site based on cluster showed similar grouping pattern of R-mode factor score map. The present work reveals a new scope to monitor the roadside water quality for future research in Bangladesh