Sexuality and south asian women: A taboo?

Despite the difficulties associated with speaking about sexuality as outlined in the statement above (which probably resonates with many), there have been developments within the South Asian diaspora and India which have attempted to normalize sexuality and to move beyond viewing the linked terms ‘Asian’ and ‘gay’ as problematic. The subjugation of sexual identities such as ‘gay’ and ‘lesbian’ has been met by resistance from a variety of organizations and individuals. Whilst this ‘road to freedom’ regarding the expression of sexuality has been bumpy and is an unfinished project, there is also a great deal to celebrate. This paper therefore traces what we mean by sexuality and the contradictory ways in which (hetero)sexuality is perceived and understood in South Asian communities. It then moves on to looking in more detail at lesbianism and the developments in recognition of alternative sexualities. It will be shown that living in the closet is preferable to ‘coming out’ for some women due to the violence of internalized oppression and reprisals within the community

A double masked randomised 4-week, placebo-controlled study in the USA, Thailand and Taiwan to compare the efficacy of oral valganciclovir and topical 2% ganciclovir in the treatment of cytomegalovirus anterior uveitis: study protocol.

IntroductionCytomegalovirus (CMV) anterior uveitis is a recognised cause of anterior uveitis in immunocompetent patients and is preventable cause of vision loss. Ocular sequelae include corneal endothelial damage which can cause corneal oedema and failure, as well as glaucoma. Recurrences of inflammation are common and therefore patients are often exposed to long-term therapy. Oral therapy is available in the form of valganciclovir, although with the caveat of systemic side effects such as bone marrow suppression and renal failure necessitating regular interval laboratory monitoring. Recent reports have demonstrated that topical 2% ganciclovir solution may offer promising treatment outcomes in patients with CMV anterior uveitis with superior safety, cost-effectiveness and convenience profiles. An investigation into the relative equipoise of these therapies is warranted for these reasons.Methods and analysisThe Systemic and Topical Control of Cytomegalovirus Anterior uveitis: Treatment Outcomes (STACCATO) trial is designed as a multicentre, block randomised by site, double-masked, placebo-controlled trial comparing the efficacy of oral valganciclovir, 2% topical ganciclovir and placebo in treating PCR-proven CMV anterior uveitis. Participant clinical evaluation will occur at three study time points by a masked study ophthalmologist over a 28-day period to assess resolution of ocular inflammation (secondary outcome). A control group will provide additional information about the possible impact that the infected host's immune response may play in controlling local viral replication. The primary analysis is an analysis of covariance (three arms) correcting for baseline to compare quantitative CMV viral load in the anterior chamber (AC) aqueous fluid before and 7 days after treatment.Ethics and disseminationThe University of California San Francisco Committee on Human Research and the Khon Kaen University Institutional Review Board have given ethical approval. The results of this trial will be presented at local and international meetings and submitted for peer-reviewed journals for publication.Trial registration numberNCT03576898

The Effect of Chemical Regulations on the Aerospace and Defence Industries

The motivation for this research stems from the author working within the Aerospace and Defence (AD) sector for nearly 19 years. It was during the development phase of IPC-1754 data exchange standard, the author, came to the firm belief, that whilst AD supply chain actors would begin to share data in a harmonised format via the IPC-1754 data exchange standard, there was a clear lack of understanding amongst several AD supply chain actors on how to collate, analyse, assess, and report internal data in a consistent manner. The main aim of this research is: To develop a conceptual framework enabling identification of articles (products) potentially at risk from chemical regulations supporting decision making processes for AD organisations

Navigating Supply Chain Multiverses: The colliding worlds of ESG and Product Compliance Reporting, implications for reporting across global supply chains

Companies that place products onto the marketplace, whether they are internally manufactured or sourced from a supply chain face ever increasing requirements to provision data, wherever the products are sourced and transported from, manufactured, and distributed at applicable local, regional, and global levels. The Product Compliance world considers product safety and regulatory compliance activities. The Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance (ESG) world considers a much broader range of sustainability and social development related activities, performed at a corporate level. ESG reporting was originally developed within the financial sector by investors to aggregate a given organization reporting against ESG related topics. The European Union (EU) has been implementing additional EU ESG reporting requirements, in the form of several directives and regulations flowing down from the EU Green Deal (EC, 2019), which aligns all it’s actions against the EU 2030 Climate Target Plan (EC, 2021a), this includes EU Capital Markets Action Plan (EC, 2020a), which includes direct intervention in the financial sector, requiring EU financial sector to adhere to the new EU ESG reporting requirements when providing financial services to industry. As a result, companies within the EU will need to adhere to these new EU ESG reporting requirements, which include reporting at economic activity and product level, to obtain investment from the EU financial sector, hence a significant additional burden of reporting will be placed against global supply chains in a significantly different manner to traditional ESG reporting, resulting in the collection of data and reporting linked to economic activities and at the product level, fusing the worlds of Product Compliance and ESG reporting. Existing systems and standards will need to be updated to reflect the granularity and accuracy of data to be reported. This paper contributes to existing literature by identifying a research gap in understanding the emerging ESG reporting requirements globally, and their resulting implications in terms of supply chain data collection and ESG reporting requirements. The outcomes of this paper support the development of organisational action plans to implement systems and solutions to enable adherence to the new requirements

Introduction

Copyright © 2016 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited. This collection contributes to a feminist scholarship that highlights a destabilising of established patterns of behaviour and gender relations. For the contributors, gender serves as an analytical framework and covers the experiences of women in different global settings related to education, political activism, corporeal violence, identity, sexuality, and poverty. The use of poetry and literature provides a powerful voice for women against exclusion and recognises their contribution to society. This collection hopes to be innovative in not only relating experiential evidence but also putting forward how women are able to challenge oppression through circumventing rules, roles, obligations and prejudice through a powerful agency

Sparsity and Incoherence in Compressive Sampling

We consider the problem of reconstructing a sparse signal $x^0\in\R^n$ from a limited number of linear measurements. Given $m$ randomly selected samples of $U x^0$, where $U$ is an orthonormal matrix, we show that $\ell_1$ minimization recovers $x^0$ exactly when the number of measurements exceeds $$m\geq \mathrm{Const}\cdot\mu^2(U)\cdot S\cdot\log n,$$ where $S$ is the number of nonzero components in $x^0$, and $\mu$ is the largest entry in $U$ properly normalized: $\mu(U) = \sqrt{n} \cdot \max_{k,j} |U_{k,j}|$. The smaller $\mu$, the fewer samples needed. The result holds for ``most'' sparse signals $x^0$ supported on a fixed (but arbitrary) set $T$. Given $T$, if the sign of $x^0$ for each nonzero entry on $T$ and the observed values of $Ux^0$ are drawn at random, the signal is recovered with overwhelming probability. Moreover, there is a sense in which this is nearly optimal since any method succeeding with the same probability would require just about this many samples

Blockchain application in supply chain chemical substance reporting

Cryptocurrencies have gained prominence in recent years due to: (1) potential large increase in values; (2) transferability between different users, and (3) security and; (4) traceability of data enabled by blockchain methods. Blockchains utilize an underlying digital ledger system which enables data to be encrypted, recorded and traced in a more efficient manner than traditional paper and electronic based systems. Chemical regulations impose the need on industry to record the use of hazardous chemicals, which can vary from: (1) simple reporting, through to; (2) permits to continue the use substances, until alternative substances are identified; or even (3) substances become restricted for use, within specific use cases, or restricted from use outright. The importance of obtaining supply chain chemical substance reporting cannot be understated, without accurate supply chain data, and concise internal product definitions, the process of identifying chemical substances: (1) where used; (2) if they appear on the finished part, or; (3) only used in the process of manufacture, or (4) used in maintenance and repair of parts. The process of collating supply chain chemical substance reporting is lengthy process as data needs to be requested, collated, checked, verified and rolled up to assess potential business continuity risks, as well as varying levels of reporting activity back to employees, consumers and chemical regulators.N/

Introduction: Nationalism’s Futures

At a time when nationalist sentiment is on the rise, this special issue takes stock of how sociology can contribute to understanding the past, present and future of nationalism. In contrast to declarations of ‘the end of history’, which was also meant to herald increasing integration due to a lowering of cultural and national barriers, nationalism never went away. The articles in this collection engage with the question of nationalism at a theoretical and empirical level and in different regional contexts, assessing how national boundaries are drawn and policed, how national identities are formed and the myriad political and everyday consequences of nationalism

Free Convection about a Vertical Wavy Surface with Prescribed Surface Heat Flux in a Micropolar Fluid

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Maximal Histalog test in control subjects and patients with gastrointestinal disease

Raynier, (1792) suggested a direct internal visualization of the healthy stomach with food in it for the most exact physiological understanding. Beaumont (1883) observed the reddening of the gastric mucosa during emotional upsets in his subject, Alexis St. Martin, who had a traumatic gastric fistula caused by a gunshot wound. Cannon (1929) postulated that the emotions of fear and anger were inhibitory to gastric function. Wolff (1947) showed hyperemia of gastric mucosa with increased acidity during aggressive emotional states and pallor and flatness of mucosa with diminished acidity during the emotions of fear and sadness. Brady (1964) showed hypersecretion in his "executive" monkeys during post-avoidance conditioning and hyposecretion in pre-avoidance conditioning. Prout (1824) identified the acid of gastric juice as hydrochloric acid. Pavlov (1902) revolutionized the field of gastric physiology by making surgical pouches and isolating psychological vs. physiological phases of gastric secretion. Even today the study of acid secretion and its regulating components represents one of the most active areas of gastrointestinal investigation. Such terms as "acid stomach" and "heartburn" have become commonplace observations with regards to the production of too much or too little acid by the stomach.illustration