The Structure of the Kurunthokai Kurinchithinai Poems on the Basis of the Thinai Theory

The form of poetry is the oldest of literary genres. This form of art, the poem, has many elements. Tolkappiyar's theory of Thinai explains these aspects. Tolkappiyar refers to the objects found in the poem in three categories, namely, the Muthal, the Karu, and the Uri. According to Tolkappiyar, all agam literature would be created into scenes using what is necessary for these materials. The agam literature of the Sangam has been developed with subtle methods of fiction. In agam literature, Thinai elements have been used for the creation of agam. It is noteworthy that all the internal songs of the Sangam are situated in this state. In the structure of Kurunthokai too, the three elements of the Muthal, the Karu, and the Uri have been used for poeticization. These elements are not always combined and poetically composed in all poems. In some of the poems, it is possible to recognize that these three elements are combined, and in some poems, the poems are constructed in conjunction with one or two elements. In compiling the Kurinji Thinai poems in the Kurunthokai, the land-based descriptions or references contained in those poems have supported the movement of the poem on many levels. In Kapilar's poems, Kurinji’s land background is more fictional. Natural themes have been highlighted at various levels in the Kurinji poems. The essentiality of themes can be inferred in places where the subject matter, the underlying theme of the poem, is presented in detail

CSR Reporting Practices: The Case of University of Bari

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is a relevant topic for researchers and practitioners, widely explored with reference to companies. However, there are still few studies that address how higher education institutions integrate CSR practices into their strategy. This represents an important limitation since the university, through academic training and research activity, is the main promoter of CSR practices among different categories of stakeholders. Given the many benefits associated with the adoption of CSR, this study aims to explore the topic of CSR in universities, as they are institutions that act in the public interest and represent the ideal context for spreading the culture of preserving environmental and social, as well as economic, sustainability. The main purpose of this study is to explore, through the methodology of case studies, the type and effectiveness of the tools used by universities, specifically the University of Bari, to disseminate and integrate CSR into corporate strategy. Furthermore, this study aims to investigate how the university ensures the involvement of stakeholders, represented in particular by professors, administrators and students (stakeholder approach), in CSR initiatives. The analysis revealed the centrality of the investigated university in promoting CSR issues and sustainable territorial development. Finally, the study provides empirical evidence of the actions and methods of integrating CSR practices into corporate strategy and the ways in which stakeholders are involved

Towards generation of as-damaged BIM models using laser-scanning and as-built BIM: First estimate of as-damaged locations of reinforced concrete frame members in masonry infill structures

After an earthquake, Terrestrial Laser Scanning (TLS) can capture point clouds of the damaged state of building facades rapidly, remotely and accurately. A long-term research effort aims to develop applications that can reconstruct ‘as-damaged’ BIM models of reinforced concrete (RC) framed buildings based on their ‘as-built’ BIM models and scans of their ‘as-damaged’ states. This paper focuses on a crucial step: generating an initial ‘best-guess’ for the new locations of the façade structural members. The output serves as the seed for a recursive process in which the location and damage to each object is refined in turn. Locating the ‘as-built’ structural members in the ‘as-damaged’ scan is challenging because each member may have different displacement and damage. An algorithm was developed and tested for the case of reinforced concrete frames with masonry infill walls. It exploits the topology of the frames to map the original structural grid onto the damaged façade. The tests used synthetic datasets prepared from records of two earthquake-damaged buildings. In both cases, the results were sufficiently accurate to allow progress to the following step, assessment of the individual structural members

A Computational Procedure for Generating Specimens of BIM and Point Cloud Data for Building Change Detection

The potential for automated construction quality inspection, construction progress tracking and post-earthquake damage assessment drives research in interpretation of remote sensing data and compilation of semantic models of buildings in different states. However, research efforts are often hampered by a lack of full-scale datasets. This is particularly the case for earthquake damage assessment research, where acquisition of scans is restricted by scarcity of access to post-earthquake sites. To solve this problem, we have developed a procedure for compiling digital specimens in both pre- and post-event states and for generating synthetic data equivalent to which would result from laser scanning in the field. The procedure is validated by comparing the physical and synthetic scans of a damaged beam. Interpretation of the beam damage from the synthetic data demonstrates the feasibility of using this procedure to replace physical specimens with digital models for experimentation and for other civil engineering applications

On The Study of Edge Monophonic Vertex Covering Number

For a connected graph G of order n ≥ 2, a set S of vertices of G is an edge monophonic vertex cover of G if S is both an edge monophonic set and a vertex covering set of G. The minimum cardinality of an edge monophonic vertex cover of G is called the edge monophonic vertex covering number of G and is denoted by . Any edge monophonic vertex cover of cardinality  is a -set of G. Some general properties satisfied by edge monophonic vertex cover are studied

Effects of selenium and vitamin E on performance, physiological response, and selenium balance in heat-stressed sheep

Forty-two 7-mo-old Australian Merino wethers were used in a 50-d trial to investigate the effects of Se and vitamin E on the performance and physiological responses of heat-stressed sheep. Sheep were exposed to thermoneutral conditions (maximum = 24°C and minimum = 20°C) for 28 d followed by heat (maximum = 38°C and minimum = 28°C) for 22 d. Hot conditions were imposed between 0700 and 1800 h. Sheep were randomly allocated to diets containing 0.8 mg/kg Se (Sel-Plex), 150 mg/kg vitamin E, or 0.8 mg/kg Se and 150 mg/kg vitamin E for either the duration of the study (50 d) or from d 1 of the hot period until the end of the study. A control group that received no supplemental Se and vitamin E for the duration of the study was included. Feed intake was measured daily and sheep were weighed weekly. Blood samples were collected from all sheep before feeding on d 1, 21, and 49 for measurement of biochemical and enzymatic variables. The concentration of Se was determined in offered and refused feed, feces, urine, water, plasma, liver, and kidneys. Exposure to heat reduced (P < 0.05) DMI by 11.9%, ADG by 198 g, serum concentration of urea nitrogen and Se by 17.8%, and plasma total antioxidant status by 26.4%. During hot conditions, sheep receiving Se and vitamin E supplements for 50 d had reduced (P < 0.05) BW loss and elevated G:F compared to control sheep. Serum Se concentration and the plasma total antioxidant status were greatest in sheep receiving Se and vitamin E supplements for 50 d (P < 0.05). These results indicate that dietary supplementation with Se and vitamin E reduces the adverse effects of a high heat load. Additional studies are warranted to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for these effects

Semantic Enrichment for Building Information Modeling: Procedure for Compiling Inference Rules and Operators for Complex Geometry

Semantic enrichment of building models adds meaningful domain-specific or application-specific information to a digital building model. It is applicable to solving interoperability problems and to compilation of models from point cloud data. The SeeBIM (Semantic Enrichment Engine for BIM) prototype software encapsulates domain expert knowledge in computer readable rules for inference of object types, identity and aggregation of systems. However, it is limited to axis-aligned bounding box geometry and the adequacy of its rule-sets cannot be guaranteed. This paper solves these drawbacks by (1) devising a new procedure for compiling inference rule sets that are known a priori to be adequate for complete and thorough classification of model objects, and (2) enhancing the operators to compute complex geometry and enable precise topological rule processing. The procedure for compiling adequate rule sets is illustrated using a synthetic concrete highway bridge model. A real-world highway bridge model, with 333 components of 13 different types and compiled from a laser scanned point cloud, is used to validate the approach and test the enhanced SeeBIM system. All of the elements are classified correctly, demonstrating the efficacy of the approach to semantic enrichment

Stress induced polarization of immune-neuroendocrine phenotypes in Gallus gallus

Immune-neuroendocrine phenotypes (INPs) stand for population subgroups differing in immune-neuroendocrine interactions. While mammalian INPs have been characterized thoroughly in rats and humans, avian INPs were only recently described in Coturnix coturnix (quail). To assess the scope of this biological phenomenon, herein we characterized INPs in Gallus gallus (a domestic hen strain submitted to a very long history of strong selective breeding pressure) and evaluated whether a social chronic stress challenge modulates the individuals’ interplay affecting the INP subsets and distribution. Evaluating plasmatic basal corticosterone, interferon-γ and interleukin-4 concentrations, innate/acquired leukocyte ratio, PHA-P skin-swelling and induced antibody responses, two opposite INP profiles were found: LEWIS-like (15% of the population) and FISCHER-like (16%) hens. After chronic stress, an increment of about 12% in each polarized INP frequency was found at expenses of a reduction in the number of birds with intermediate responses. Results show that polarized INPs are also a phenomenon occurring in hens. The observed inter-individual variation suggest that, even after a considerable selection process, the population is still well prepared to deal with a variety of immune-neuroendocrine challenges. Stress promoted disruptive effects, leading to a more balanced INPs distribution, which represents a new substrate for challenging situations.Fil: Nazar, Franco Nicolas. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; ArgentinaFil: Estevez, Inma. Centro de Investigación. Neiker - Tecnalia; EspañaFil: Correa, Silvia Graciela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Córdoba. Centro de Investigaciones en Bioquímica Clínica e Inmunología; ArgentinaFil: Marin, Raul Hector. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas y Tecnológicas; Argentin

Immune neuroendocrine phenotypes in Coturnix coturnix: Do avian species show LEWIS/FISCHER-like profiles?

Immunoneuroendocrinology studies have identified conserved communicational paths in birds and mammals, e.g. the Hypothalamus-Pituitary-Adrenal axis with anti-inflammatory activity mediated by glucocorticoids. Immune neuroendocrine phenotypes (INPs) have been proposed for mammals implying the categorization of a population in subgroups underlying divergent immune-neuroendocrine interactions. These phenotypes were studied in the context of the LEWIS/FISCHER paradigm (rats expressing high or low pro-inflammatory profiles, respectively). Although avian species have some common immunological mechanisms with mammals, they have also evolved some distinct strategies and, until now, it has not been studied whether birds may also share with mammals similar INPs. Based on corticosterone levels we determined the existence of two divergent groups in Coturnix coturnix that also differed in other immune-neuroendocrine responses. Quail with lowest corticosterone showed higher lymphoproliferative and antibody responses, interferon-γ and interleukin-1β mRNA expression levels and lower frequencies of leukocyte subpopulations distribution and interleukin-13 levels, than their higher corticosterone counterparts. Results suggest the existence of INPs in birds, comparable to mammalian LEWIS/FISCHER profiles, where basal corticosterone also underlies responses of comparable variables associated to the phenotypes. Concluding, INP may not be a mammalian distinct feature, leading to discuss whether these profiles represent a parallel phenomenon evolved in birds and mammals, or a common feature inherited from a reptilian ancestor millions of years ago