Why do we Need a Pacific Regional Human Rights Commission?

This article discusses the need for a Pacific regional human rights mechanism. The author favours a regional human rights commission established by a Pacific human rights charter. The article canvasses previous attempts to set up a regional mechanism and explains why these initiatives failed. Advantages of a regional mechanism are explained, with an emphasis on the Pacific region's need for a common initiative. Finally, practical challenges and strategies involved in implementing a regional human rights mechanism are explored

Casimir force in the presence of a magnetodielectric medium

In this article we investigate the Casimir effect in the presence of a medium by quantizing the Electromagnetic (EM) field in the presence of a magnetodielectric medium by using the path integral formalism. For a given medium with definite electric and magnetic susceptibilities, explicit expressions for the Casimir force are obtained which are in agree with the original Casimir force between two conducting parallel plates immersed in the quantum electromagnetic vacuum.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figur

Ethnomedicinal Orchids of Uttarakhand, Western Himalaya

Orchids have been used in the traditional system of medicine since time immemorial. The present communication is an account of 12 species of orchids which are used in traditional medicine in Uttarakhand. The work aims at presentation of this knowledge which would be valuable for the herbal drug industry and may lead to identification of new applications or resources. Given in this paper are the scientific names of the plants, local names and the parts of the plant used in medicinal preparations

Entomological Origin of Honey Discriminated by NMR Chloroform Extracts in Ecuadorian Honey

Honeys are produced by Apis mellifera and stingless bees (Meliponini) in Ecuador. We studied honey produced in beeswax combs by Apis mellifera, and honey produced in pots by Geotrigona and Scaptotrigona bees. Chloroform extracts of honey were obtained for fast NMR spectra. The 1D spectra were acquired at 298 K, with a 600 MHz NMR Bruker instrument, using a modified double pulsed field gradient spin echoes (DPFGSE) sequence. Signals of 1H NMR spectra were integrated and used as inputs for PCA, PLS-DA analysis, and labelled sets of classes were successfully identified, enhancing the separation between the three groups of honey according to the entomological origin: A. mellifera, Geotrigona and Scaptotrigona. This procedure is therefore recommended for authenticity test of honey in Ecuador

A Hydrodynamic model for a dynamical jammed-to-flowing transition in gravity driven granular media

Granular material on an inclined plane will flow like a fluid if the angle $\theta$ the plane makes with the horizontal is large enough. We employ a modification of a hydrodynamic model introduced previously to describe Couette flow experiments to describe chute flow down a plane. In this geometry, our model predicts a jammed-to-flowing transition as $\theta$ is increased even though it does not include solid friction, which might seem necessary to stabilize a state without flow. The transition is driven by coupling between mean and fluctuating velocity. In agreement with experiments and simulations, it predicts flow for layers with a thickness H larger than a critical value $H_{\rm stop}(\theta)$ and absence of flow for $H<H_{\rm stop}(\theta)$

Generalized Forward-Backward Splitting

This paper introduces the generalized forward-backward splitting algorithm for minimizing convex functions of the form $F + \sum_{i=1}^n G_i$, where $F$ has a Lipschitz-continuous gradient and the $G_i$'s are simple in the sense that their Moreau proximity operators are easy to compute. While the forward-backward algorithm cannot deal with more than $n = 1$ non-smooth function, our method generalizes it to the case of arbitrary $n$. Our method makes an explicit use of the regularity of $F$ in the forward step, and the proximity operators of the $G_i$'s are applied in parallel in the backward step. This allows the generalized forward backward to efficiently address an important class of convex problems. We prove its convergence in infinite dimension, and its robustness to errors on the computation of the proximity operators and of the gradient of $F$. Examples on inverse problems in imaging demonstrate the advantage of the proposed methods in comparison to other splitting algorithms.Comment: 24 pages, 4 figure

Investigation of particle formation of electrospray flame pyrolysis using a scanning mobility particle sizer

Die elektrohydrodynamische Zerstäubung von flüssigen Präkursoren gekoppelt mit der Flammensprühpyrolyse erlaubt die Synthese von verschiedenartigen, metalloxidischen Nanopartikel. Ein Aufbau bestehend aus einem definiert verfahrbaren Brenner und einer Probennahme in der Flamme eröffnet dabei die Möglichkeit der Erfassung von Partikelgrößenverteilungen entlang der Flammenhöhe. Die Bildung von Eisenoxid- und Siliziumdioxid-Partikel in einer Flamme konnte so mithilfe eines 1nm-SMPS-Aufbaus (Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer) auch in den Frühstadien der Partikelbildung erfasst werden. Hierbei zeigte sich, dass auch für einfache Präkursorlösungen bei hinreichend kleinen Tropfen hochwertige, homogene Nanopulver erzeugt werden können.Electrospray of liquid precursor coupled to flame spray pyrolysis allows for the synthesis of many different metal oxide nanoparticles. A setup consisting of a moveable burner and a static sampling system gives the possibility of characterizing particle size distributions across and along the flame. The particle formation of iron oxide and silica particles in a flame spray was investigated even for early stages using a 1nm scanning mobility particle sizer. Thereby it was found that even for simple precursor solutions high quality nanopowders could be produced as long as the droplet size is sufficiently small

Epidemiology of sepsis and its various characteristics in a tertiary care adult-multidisciplinary ICU in South India: a retrospective study

Background: The incidence of sepsis is increasing, especially in elderly populations with more comorbidities. It is now estimated that sepsis is a leading cause of mortality and critical illness worldwide. The Epidemiological data regarding sepsis, septic shock and organ involvement is mainly from western literature. Data from India, especially south India, are less when compared to western data. In this background authors conducted a retrospective study in tertiary care hospital in south India. Objectives of the study was epidemiology of sepsis and its various characteristics in a tertiary care adult-Multi disciplinary ICU in South India.Methods: This study was a retrospective observational study, conducted during the time period of June 2016 and May 2017. The study population was patients above 18 yrs admitted in MDICU with sepsis. The study was conducted in a tertiary care adult -Multidisciplinary ICU in South India. Various characteristics like age group, comorbidities, organ involvement, septic shock, sofa score, need for ventilatory support, RRT support and outcome data was collected.Results: In this study, 497 patients who satisfied the Surviving Sepsis Campaign guidelines were included. The majority of the patients (59.8%) were male; the majority was above 60 yr (range 18 to 92 yr). 76.3% Patients had comorbid disease. Hypertension was the most common co-morbid (62%) followed by diabetes mellitus (51.3%). Chronic Kidney Disease was found in 132 patients (26.6%) and Coronary artery disease in 121 patients (24.3%). 186 patients (46.5%) had single organ involvement 140(35%) patients had 2 organ involvement. 74(18.5%) patients had more than 2 organ involvement. Septic shock was found in 155 patients (31.2%). Renal involvement was the most common organ involvement found in 279 patients(59.9%). Most common source for sepsis was the respiratory system found in 230 patients (46.3%), followed by urinary tract infection in 117 patients (23.5%). The study shows a significant association between SOFA score and mortality (p-value 0.001) 52% of mortality happened in group of patients with SOFA score more than 15 and mortality was 28 % in group with a SOFA score of 10-15.Conclusions: In this retrospective study of sepsis, authors found that the most common source of sepsis was pneumonia (46.3%) followed by urinary tract infection (23.5%). Majority of the patients had one organ involvement (46.5%). Among the organ involvement, Acute Kidney injury was the most common organ involvement (56.1%) followed by septic shock (31.2%) and respiratory support (29.6%). Mortality in this study was higher with higher SOFA score