Reverberations and Post-War Trauma: the Sustained Aftermath of Aerial Strikes on Lebanon in 2006

This paper explores sound at the intersection between urban environments and conflict, specifically extracted from a particular case of aerial bombardment that occurred during the 2006 war on Lebanon. To formulate an argument on the long-lasting and traumatic sonic repercussions during military operations; sound studies and architectural environments would coalesce to unearth the unseen, yet extremely sensed assaults during this war. Here, I look at Reverberations as the product of both sound and the built surrounding, where it operates as a method to read the subtle, extended yet affective impacts of contemporary military conflict. I therefore argue that the initial impact’s sound is rather bypassed, and the auditory focus shifted on its tail as a sonic phenomenon that is amplified and channelled by the urban morphology. This research relies on multiple analytical, theoretical, and practical resources spanning from spectrograms to sonic mapping. Those means serve to illustrate the behaviour of sound during conflict in a compressed urban environment. Paired with its cognitive and visceral responses, this method offers greater accounts on the victims that weren’t directly targeted by aerial assaults

Elastohydrodynamic studies using thin film transducers

Imperial Users onl

A stylistic analysis of Libyan short stories : the connotation of adjectives

ABSTRACT Between 1969 and 2011, Libya experienced an oppressive dictatorship that paralyzed the country`s political, economical, and social growth. Libya`s literary identity was oppressed due to the policy of censorship and authors were unable to express their opinions freely. In fear of punishment, most Libyan writers criticized the regime and discussed their struggles in the society only implicitly. Censorship has led Libyan writers to adopt different literary styles to reflect on society. In this paper, I will shed light on one of the writers` techniques by examining six Libyan short stories using a stylistics analysis approach. I analyze the lexical feature of the language focusing on adjectives. I investigate how Libyan authors discuss socio-economic and political issues through the use of adjectives. I put the adjectives into different categories: adjectives of color, physical adjectives, personal adjectives, emotional adjectives, adjectives of nationality, etc. I look at how the denotative and connotative meanings of the adjectives reflect cultural concepts in Libyan society and the authors` perspectives. Data reveal that Libyan authors rely heavily on adjectives to help represent positive and negative images, as well as empowering and dis-empowering characters in the stories. Data analysis also reveals certain patterns in style such as the use of the colors black & white to create negative and positive atmospheres and to demonize and romanticize characters

Domestication and Foreignization Strategies in Translating Sinbad of The Arabian Nights

Over the centuries translation theories have provided strategies to help the translator overcome various linguistic and cultural obstacles that arise in any intercultural exchange between different languages and cultures. Idioms and culturally-bound expressions are among prominent translation problems, especially when the translation is between two completely different languages like Arabic and English which diverge both linguistically and culturally. The most debated translation strategies are Domestication and Foreignization. This research examines the use of these two strategies in four English translations of one of the world`s most famous cultural collections, The Arabian Nights. The study specifically investigates the use of domestication and foreignization in the tale of Sinbad and how the translators achieve cultural equivalence through these two methods and to what extent. The study concludes that both strategies complement each other and that a successful translation of a cultural text is achieved when both strategies are used together. Cultural equivalence is better accomplished when a translator domesticates the form and foreignizes the content in order to have a balanced outcome

Enhanced Cluster Based Routing Protocol for MANETS

Mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs) are a set of self organized wireless mobile nodes that works without any predefined infrastructure. For routing data in MANETs, the routing protocols relay on mobile wireless nodes. In general, any routing protocol performance suffers i) with resource constraints and ii) due to the mobility of the nodes. Due to existing routing challenges in MANETs clustering based protocols suffers frequently with cluster head failure problem, which degrades the cluster stability. This paper proposes, Enhanced CBRP, a schema to improve the cluster stability and in-turn improves the performance of traditional cluster based routing protocol (CBRP), by electing better cluster head using weighted clustering algorithm and considering some crucial routing challenges. Moreover, proposed protocol suggests a secondary cluster head for each cluster, to increase the stability of the cluster and implicitly the network infrastructure in case of sudden failure of cluster head.Comment: 6 page

A sociological approach to the concept of God amongst Iranian youth

One of the most fundamental concepts in Sociology of Religion, the concept of God, was emphasised in this article. Although the God concept is not the same as the transcendental existence of God, it is this concept that is the most fundamental social construct in the entire history of world religions. The aim of this article was the conceptual reconstruction of God amongst the youth of Iran, who may be free from a theological approach. This article aimed to examine the God concept in the ‘epistemological’, ‘emotional’ and ‘social action’ domains. The Iranian society is in transition, faced with delusion about the traditional and modern belief systems, and multiplicity of interpretations and new presentation of One God Allah. A spectrum of these plural presentations of God embodies micro and macro social levels. Some of the most important of these concepts are: individual and personal concept of God, the God in family, in educational system, in religious rituals, and the dominant concept in the society

Nurses' Evaluation of Their Use and Mastery in Health Assessment Skills: Selected Iran's Hospitals

Background: Health assessment skills are of the most important skills which nurses require. The more precise assessment, the better results would be obtained and the quality of patient care would be improved. However, in Iran, few studies have investigated nurses’ assessment skills. Objectives: This study was aimed to assess nurses' evaluation of the learned skills of health assessment and their use. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 200 nurses in Isfahan province hospitals. Data was collected by a questionnaire including demographic data and 120 health assessment skills. Nurses scored their frequency of using and proficiency in skills. Statistical analysis was conducted by ANOVA, Tukey test and independent sample T-tests. Results: The highest level of using and proficiency in skills was related to taking history. Nurses received 87.25% of score in this field. The lowest level of application was in assessment of the urogenital system so that nurses received 16.37% of score in this area. Also the lowest proficiency was in assessment of the nervous system and nurses received 34.58% of score in this area. Conclusions: The level of nurses' proficiency in the health assessment skills was not satisfactory. Modifying the curriculum and cooperating of nurse managers and nursing schools can help to improve the situation

Metrópolis, asociaciones vecinales y megaproyectos urbanos: el caso de Jardines del Sol y La Ciudadela en Zapopan

Mediante un estudio de caso —la construcción del megaproyecto La Ciudadela en la colonia Jardines del Sol, en Zapopan, Jalisco—, los autores ponen en evidencia la doble lógica bajo la cual se están cimentando las grandes urbes en México hoy en día: por un lado, la privatización de los beneficios o de la plusvalía que la ciudad genera y, por otro, la socialización de los costos con pocas o nulas ganancias para sus habitantes. En este sentido, esta obra aborda la interacción de los tres principales actores que participan en esta problemática: las asociaciones vecinales, las autoridades municipales y las promotoras inmobiliarias. Destaca el papel protagónico que pueden llegar a tener las asociaciones vecinales frente a las trasformaciones urbanas (en particular, el deterioro de los espacios habitacionales y la creación de megaproyectos en fraccionamientos residenciales), a las deficiencias de la planeación de las autoridades municipales y a la actuación voraz de las promotoras inmobiliarias. Este análisis riguroso e integral lleva a la reflexión sobre la sostenibilidad del estado de las cosas actual y cómo las mismas fuerzas autónomas que integran la ciudad, entre ellas las de las asociaciones vecinales, pueden revertirlo hacia un modelo más justo.ITESO, A.C

MST-312 induces G2/M cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in APL cells through inhibition of telomerase activity and suppression of NF-κB pathway

Telomerase-targeted therapy for cancer has received great attention because telomerase is expressed in almost all cancer cells but is inactive in most normal somatic cells. This study was aimed to investigate the effects of telomerase inhibitor MST-312, a chemically modified derivative of epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), on acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cells. Our results showed that MST-312 exerted a dose-dependent short-term cytotoxic effect on APL cells, with G2/M cell cycle arrest. Moreover, MST-312 induced apoptosis of APL cells in caspase-mediated manner. Telomeric repeat amplification protocol (TRAP) assay revealed significant reduction in telomerase activity of APL cells following short-term exposure to MST-312. Interestingly, MST-312-induced telomerase inhibition was coupled with suppression of NF-κB activity as evidenced by inhibition of IκBα phosphorylation and its degradation and decreased NF-κB DNA binding activity. In addition, gene expression analysis showed downregulation of genes regulated by NF-κB, such as antiapoptotic (survivin, Bcl-2, Mcl-1), proliferative (c-Myc), and telomerase-related (hTERT) genes. Importantly, MST-312 did not show any apoptotic effect in normal human peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). In conclusion, our data suggest that dual inhibition of telomerase activity and NF-κB pathway by MST-312 represents a novel treatment strategy for APL. © 2015, International Society of Oncology and BioMarkers (ISOBM)