ON THE GRUNDY BONDAGE NUMBERS OF GRAPHS

For a graph $G=(V,E)$, a sequence $S=(v_1,\ldots,v_k)$ of distinct vertices of $G$ it is called a \emph{dominating sequence} if $N_G[v_i]\setminus \bigcup_{j=1}^{i-1}N[v_j]\neq\varnothing$. The maximum length of dominating sequences is denoted by $\gamma_{gr}(G)$. We define the Grundy bondage numbers $b_{gr}(G)$ of a graph $G$ to be the cardinality of a smallest set $E$ of edges for which $\gamma_{gr}(G-E)>\gamma_{gr}(G).$ In this paper the exact values of $b_{gr}(G)$ are determined for several classes of graphs

Comparisons of model simulations with observations of mean flow and turbulence within simple obstacle arrays

A three-dimensional numerical code with unstructured tetrahedral grids, the finite element flow solver (FEFLO), was used to simulate the mean flow and the turbulence within obstacle array configurations consisting of simple cubical elements. Model simulations were compared with observations from a hydraulic water flume at the University of Waterloo. FEFLO was run in large eddy simulation mode, using the Smagorinsky closure model, to resolve the larger scales of the flow field. There were four experiment test cases consisting of square and staggered arrays of cubical obstacles with separations of 1.5 and 0.5 obstacle heights. The mean velocity profile for the incoming neutral boundary layer was approximated by a power law, and the turbulent fluctuations in the approach flow were generated using a Monte Carlo model. The numerical simulations were able to capture, within 40% on average, the general characteristics of the mean flow and the turbulence, such as the strong mean wind shears and the maximum turbulence at the elevation of the obstacles and the nearly constant mean wind and the 50% reduction in the turbulent velocity within the obstacle canopy. As expected, the mean wind speeds were significantly decreased (by about a factor of two or three) in the array with closer obstacle packing. It was found that, a “street canyon” effect was more obvious for the square arrays, with higher flow speeds in between the obstacles, than for the staggered arrays

Application of autologous platelet-rich plasma (PRP) on wound healing after caesarean section in high-risk patients

Background: Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is ahumanplasma product enriched by platelets, growth factors, and fibrinogen with high hemostatic and healing properties. Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of autologous PRP on wound healing in high-risk women undergoing cesarean sections. Patients and Methods: In this balanced, randomized, and controlled trial, 140 patients were admitted to Arash women�s hospital, Tehran, Iran from May of 2013 to November of 2014 for elective cesarean surgery. The patients were randomly assigned into two groups. The intervention group received PRP after surgery, whereas the control group received the usual care. All patients were evaluated at baseline, five days, and eight weeks after the cesarean section. The primary endpoint used the REEDA scale for assessing the changes in wound healing. The secondary outcome measures used were the Vancouver scar scale (VSS) and the visual analog scale (VAS). All scale scores were analyzed using a repeated measures test for variance. Results: At the end of study, the PRP group showed a greater reduction in the edema ecchymosed discharge approximation (REEDA) score compared to the control group (85.5 reduction in the PRP group; 72 in the control group) (P < 0.001). Compared with the control group, the PRP group had a significantly greater reduction in the VANscore, beginning on the fifth day after the cesarean section (-0.7, 38 reduction in PRP group;-0.8, 33 in control group) (P < 0.001), and this trend was stable at the end of the eighth week (-0.6, 54 reduction in PRP group;-0.3, 18 in control group). Furthermore, patients treated with PRP experienced a 93 reduction in the VAS score at the end of follow-up, but the control group only observed a 79 reduction (P < 0.001). Conclusions: It seems that applying PRP is an effective therapeutic approach for wound healing, and faster wound healing is expected due to the presence of more platelets and growth factors. © 2016, Iranian Red Crescent Medical Journal

A Critical Approach to Developing Culturally Relevant Leadership Curricula for Muslim Students

The secular and materialistic values imported to Muslim countries through globalisation and the uncritical application of Western models and theories are changing societies from being Muslim towards a materialistic and secular one where economic value is the most critical factor that drives people’s behaviour and decisions. The real challenge for Muslim countries, then, is to develop and implement higher education curricula that reflect Islamic and cultural values while incorporating global knowledge developed by Western and other scholars. This chapter aims to achieve this balance by proposing a theoretical model that can be used for developing culturally relevant and critically reflective leadership curricula. The model is derived from Habermas’ account of critical theory and offers a critical and holistic approach to leadership teaching. It adopts an intercultural and interdisciplinary approach to learning and aims to start a dialogue between Western and indigenous sources of knowledge. The model also proposes the content and teaching practices recommended by leadership scholars and leadership development literature internationally to provide students with a balanced and pluralistic learning experience that addresses both the spiritual and the intellectual aspects of knowledge

Revolution postponed? Tracing the development and limitations of open content filmmaking

Networked information technologies have brought about extensive changes in the production and distribution of creative cultural work. Inspired by the widespread success of Free-Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS), many proponents of open access advocate reconceptualisation of existing legal protection frameworks in creative works. This paper traces the attempted appropriation of Creative Commons (CC) licences by filmmakers and the consequent formation of an Open Content Filmmaking (OCF) movement. OCF proponents articulated notions of technology-enabled transformation in content creation and distribution, similar to those that inspire the visions of FLOSS and CC advocates. It examines how these creators attempted to address the relevance of openness to their own activities and develop practical open models for filmmaking. Difficulties experienced in establishing viable livelihoods with OCF (as FLOSS developers had done), created tensions between those with a pragmatic or more ideological orientation. The initial vision of a consistent OCF movement, enabled by CC, thus became fragmented. In contrast to FLOSS, where many actors were able to find ways to develop sustainable careers within the industry while contributing to Open Source Software, such generic strategies have not readily emerged for OCF. Drawing insights from Sørensen’s (1996) Social Learning framework (Learning technology, constructing culture. Sociotechnical change as social learning: University of Trondheim, STS working paper 18/96) in this paper we untangle the elaborate but often messy strategies deployed by Open Content Filmmakers (OCFs) and trace the multiple and often partial ways they have worked out to utilise CC elements and tools in producing, monetising and distributing their films

Not Quite Right: Representations of Eastern Europeans in ECJ Discourse

Although the increasing responsiveness of the Court of Justice of the European Union (the ‘ECJ’) jurisprudence to western Member States’ concerns regarding Central and Eastern European (‘CEE’) nationals’ mobility has garnered academic attention, ECJ discourse has not been scrutinised for how it approaches the CEE region or CEE movers. Applying postcolonial theory, this article seeks to fill this gap and to explore whether there are any indications that ECJ discourse is in line with the historical western-centric inferiorisation of the CEE region. A critical discourse analysis of a set of ECJ judgments and corresponding Advocate General opinions pertaining to CEE nationals illustrates not only how the ECJ adopts numerous discursive strategies to maintain its authority, but also how it tends to prioritise values of the western Member States, while overlooking interests of CEE movers. Its one-sided approach is further reinforced by referring to irrelevant facts and negative assumptions to create an image of CEE nationals as socially and economically inferior to westerners, as not belonging to the proper EU polity and as not quite deserving of EU law’s protections. By silencing CEE nationals’ voices, while disregarding the background of east/west socio-economic and political power differentials and precariousness experienced by many CEE workers in the west, such racialising discourse normalises ethnicity- and class-based stereotypes. These findings also help to contextualise both EU and western policies targeting CEE movers and evidence of their unequal outcomes in the west, and are in line with today’s nuanced expressions of racisms. By illustrating the ECJ’s role in addressing values pertinent to mobile CEE individuals, this study facilitates a fuller appreciation of the ECJ’s power in shaping and reflecting western-centric EU identity and policies. Engaging with such issues will not only allow us to better appreciate—and question—the ECJ’s legitimacy, but might also facilitate a better understanding of power dynamics within the EU. This study also makes significant theoretical and methodological contributions. It expands (and complicates) the application of postcolonial theory to contemporary intra-EU processes, while illustrating the usefulness of applying critical discourse analysis to exploring differentiation, exclusion, subordination and power within legal language

On the metric dimension of strongly annihilating-ideal graphs of commutative rings

Let be a commutative ring with identity and () be the set of ideals with non-zero annihilator. The strongly annihilating-ideal graph of is defined as the graph SAG() with the vertex set ()* = () \{0} and two distinct vertices I and J are adjacent if and only if I ∩ Ann(J) ≠ (0) and J ∩ Ann(I) ≠ (0). In this paper, we study the metric dimension of SAG() and some metric dimension formulae for strongly annihilating-ideal graphs are given