Burmese in Hawai'i: "Voting with our Feet" and Speaking for the Silent

This journal has been published at different time periods under the following titles: Explorations: A Graduate Student Journal of Southeast Asian Studies, Explorations in Southeast Asian Studies, and The Journal of the Southeast Asian Studies Association.The Student Activities Program Fee Boar

The Response of Estrus Synchronisation of Zebu and Zebu Cross Bred Cattle with Single Treatment of PGF2a in Hadiya Zone, Southern Ethiopia

A study was conducted to test a simple hormonal oestrus synchronization regime and evaluate the response of Zebu and their cross bred to PGF2a in Hadiya zone, Ethiopia.Animals treated with single injection of PGF2a 64% (n=32) of zebu and 70% (n=35) of crossbred ones responded positively and showed standing oestrus with in the interval of 48hrs and 96hrs. The estrus response was 48 hrs (n=3), 72 hrs (n=25) and 96 hrs (n=4) in zebu cattle with mean duration 0.5452b, -0.0393a, 0.1636c and  48 hrs (n=10), 72 hrs (n=23) and 96 hrs (n=2) were 0.0000b, -0.03556a, -0.981c in cross bred cattle respectively. Parity number was found the significant factor in the study animals. Zero parity (n=17) in Zebu cattle and (n=15) in crossbred highly influenced in the response of estrus in both cattle. The result indicated that as the parity number increased the response rate was decreased in both breeds. Those animals showed standing oestrus were inseminated and 77% (24) of Zebu and 65.5% (n=23) of crossbred conceived. The pregnancy rate 48% (24/32) of Zebu and 46% (23/35) of crossbred were achieved. The conception rate after oestrus synchronistion with cloprestenol was good. Thus on the basis of present findings diagnosis of ovarian structure by means of rectal palpation must be supported by milk or plasma P4 concentration to maximize the efficiency of treatment. Further research is required to evaluate the comparative oestrus synchronization responses and cost of different regimes of Cloprestenol or other prostaglandin and/or combination of GnRH and prostaglandin treatments Keywords: cross bred cattle, estrumate, and reproducvtive performance

Mellem afrikaner og kreol : etnisk identitet og social navigation i Dansk Vestindien 1730–1770

The central question of the dissertation is whether and how African Caribbeans in the Danish West Indies identified themselves with African ethnic groups. The dissertation discusses if and how such identifications played a role in the social life of African Caribbeans and influenced how new social networks developed in the colony. The dissertation is shaped as a micro study focusing on members of the Moravian congregation. It is divided in five chapters. The first chapter argues that African ethnic designations reflect African Caribbeans' own ideas of belonging to ethnically defined groups referring to Africa. At the same time, however, it is shown how the meaning of such designations were influenced and creolized by the trans-Atlantic journey and the realities of life in the slave society. The second chapter investigates the connections between the identification by African Caribbeans with African ethnic terms and cultural traits, and the formation of social networks in the Danish West Indies through a discussion of four themes: African languages, constructed kinship relations, African religious life, and the St. John slave revolt of 1733-34. The main contribution of the chapter is to suggest new interpretations of African Caribbean cultural life and the dynamics of social networking as a consequence of the conclusions of chapter one. The third chapter situates the conclusions about the importance of African ethnic identities and network relations in a wider context of group formation in the Danish West Indian society. The chapter focuses on the plantation and the Moravian congregation as important social networks. By relating these to the existence of networks based on ethnic belonging it is suggested that individuals' and groups' participation in different networks at the same time led to an interweaving of the different networks, and subsequently to their influencing each other. Thus, it is concluded that African ethnic identity formation among African Caribbeans was a fluid, inclusive process in which ethnic designation and networks were mobilized together with Creole networks and institutions. The fourth chapter focuses on how enslaved Africans in the Danish West Indies managed to sustain a spiritual and metaphysical bond to lost kin and a lost homeland. By analyzing ideas about death and spirituality and their practical use and importance in the Caribbean context it is concluded that African belief systems and practices could be used to both sustain ties backwards and also as a way to handle creolization in its early phases. The dissertation ends with a short chapter based on an analysis of the way one woman, Madlena of Popo, named herself differently in different contexts in her Danish West Indian life. Her story symbolizes the conclusion of the dissertation: that most African Caribbeans were neither African nor Creole, but somewhere in between

Pemilihan Supplier dan Alokasi Order Asam Jawa Dengan Menggunakan Metode Fuzzy AHP Dan Goal Programing

Supplier selection process was become important consideration to improve the efficiency of procurement department because the raw material cost could reach 70% of product cost.  The supplier selection process was multi-criteria problem involving qualitative and quantitative factors. The company often experienced shortage of  good quality tamarind  with a cheap price which companies often reject order from customers. Therefore the company should make a selective supplier selection and allocation of orders for optimum results by considering both qualitative and quantitative factors that can minimize the cost of purchase, maximizing the weight of suppliers and minimize the total defect order. This research will integrate supplier weight from Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process and Goal Programming model for the final decision of supplier selection and allocation of orders. By running goal programming model give solution better than order allocation current model where it could reduce total cost of purchasing at Rp 130.000.000 to Rp 127.700.000 and reduce total of defect order at 4%  to 0,87%

Federated Online and Bandit Convex Optimization

We study the problems of distributed online and bandit convex optimization against an adaptive adversary. We aim to minimize the average regret on $M$ machines working in parallel over $T$ rounds with $R$ intermittent communications. Assuming the underlying cost functions are convex and can be generated adaptively, our results show that collaboration is not beneficial when the machines have access to the first-order gradient information at the queried points. This is in contrast to the case for stochastic functions, where each machine samples the cost functions from a fixed distribution. Furthermore, we delve into the more challenging setting of federated online optimization with bandit (zeroth-order) feedback, where the machines can only access values of the cost functions at the queried points. The key finding here is identifying the high-dimensional regime where collaboration is beneficial and may even lead to a linear speedup in the number of machines. We further illustrate our findings through federated adversarial linear bandits by developing novel distributed single and two-point feedback algorithms. Our work is the first attempt towards a systematic understanding of federated online optimization with limited feedback, and it attains tight regret bounds in the intermittent communication setting for both first and zeroth-order feedback. Our results thus bridge the gap between stochastic and adaptive settings in federated online optimization

Association between tears of the posterior root of the medial meniscus and far posterior femoral condyle osteoarthritis

PURPOSEWe aimed to evaluate whether tears of the posterior horn of the medial meniscus root ligament (PHMM RL) are associated with osteoarthritis of the far posterior femoral condyles (FPFC).METHODSRetrospective review of 1158 patients who underwent arthroscopy identified 49 patients with confirmed tears of the medial meniscus posterior root ligament attachment. Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies were reviewed to identify advanced osteoarthritis involving the medial and lateral FPFC. Control patients (n=48) had no meniscal tears confirmed by arthroscopy. Cases and controls were age- and sex-matched exactly 1:1. One case patient was excluded since there was no age- and sex-matched control available. The International Cartilage Research Society (ICRS) MRI cartilage grade was recorded for the medial and lateral FPFC. Associations were evaluated using univariate and multivariable conditional logistic regression analyses.RESULTSThere were 48 case and 48 control patients (10 men in each group, 20.8%) with median age 53 years (range, 21–67). Medial FPFC ICRS Grade 2 or higher lesions were present in 34 (70.8%) of case patients and 16 (33.3%) of control patients. Lateral FPFC ICRS Grade 2 or higher lesions were present in 24 (50%) of case patients and 14 (28.2%) of control patients. Increased body mass index (BMI) was associated with PHMM RL tears (OR=1.11, 95% CI [1.01, 1.22], P = 0.020). MRI was 81.2% (39/48) sensitive and 91.2% (44/48) specific for detection of PHMM RL tears. PHMM RL tears were associated with Grade 2 or higher medial FPFC osteoarthritis (OR=10.00, 95% CI (2.34, 42.78), P < 0.001). This association remained after adjusting for BMI (OR=11.79, 95% CI [2.46, 56.53], P = 0.002). There was also an association between PHMM RL tears and lateral FPFC osteoarthritis, which persisted after adjusting for BMI (OR =3.00, 95% CI [1.07, 8.37], P = 0.036).CONCLUSIONPHMM RL tears are associated with advanced osteoarthritis of the FPFC. Radiologists identifying FPFC osteoarthritis should look carefully for PHMM RL tears

From Enslavement to Emancipation: Naming Practices in the Danish West Indies

AbstractIn most contexts, personal names function as identifiers and as a locus for identity. Therefore, names can be used to trace patterns of kinship, ancestry, and belonging. The social power of naming, however, and its capacity to shape the life course of the person named, becomes most evident when it has the opposite intent: to sever connections and injure. Naming in slave society was primarily practical, an essential first step in commodifying human beings so they could be removed from their roots and social networks, bought, sold, mortgaged, and adjudicated. Such practices have long been integral to processes of colonization and enslavement. This paper discusses the implications of naming practices in the context of slavery, focusing on the names given to enslaved Africans and their descendants through baptism in the Lutheran and Moravian churches in the Danish West Indies. Drawing on historiographical accounts and a detailed analysis of plantation and parish records from the island of St. Croix, we outline and contextualize these patterns and practices of naming. We examine the extent to which the adoption of European and Christian names can be read as an effort toward resistance and self-determination on the part of the enslaved. Our account is illuminated by details from the lives of three former slaves from the Danish West Indies.This paper is part of a project (CitiGen) which has received generous funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program, under grant agreement No. 649307

Deep-sequencing of viral genomes from a large and diverse cohort of treatment-naive HIV-infected persons shows associations between intrahost genetic diversity and viral load.

BACKGROUND Infection with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) typically results from transmission of a small and genetically uniform viral population. Following transmission, the virus population becomes more diverse because of recombination and acquired mutations through genetic drift and selection. Viral intrahost genetic diversity remains a major obstacle to the cure the HIV; however, the association between intrahost diversity and disease progression markers has not been investigated in large and diverse cohorts for which the majority of the genome has been deep-sequenced. Viral load (VL) is a key progression marker and understanding of its relationship to viral intrahost genetic diversity could help design future strategies for HIV monitoring and treatment. METHODS We analysed deep-sequenced viral genomes from 2,650 treatment-naive HIV-infected persons to measure the intrahost genetic diversity of 2,447 genomic codon positions as calculated by Shannon entropy. We tested for associations between VL and amino acid (AA) entropy accounting for sex, age, race, duration of infection, and HIV population structure. RESULTS We confirmed that the intrahost genetic diversity is highest in the env gene. Furthermore, we showed that mean Shannon entropy is significantly associated with VL, especially in infections of >24 months duration. We identified 16 significant associations between VL (p-value<2.0x10-5) and Shannon entropy at AA positions which in our association analysis explained 13% of the variance in VL. Finally, equivalent analysis based on variation in HIV consensus sequences explained only 2% of VL variance. CONCLUSIONS Our results elucidate that viral intrahost genetic diversity is associated with VL and could be used as a better disease progression marker than HIV consensus sequence variants, especially in infections of longer duration. We emphasize that viral intrahost diversity should be considered when studying viral genomes and infection outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION Samples included in this study were derived from participants who consented in the clinical trial, START (NCT00867048) (23), run by the International Network for Strategic Initiatives in Global HIV Trials (INSIGHT). All the participant sites are listed here: http://www.insight-trials.org/start/my_phpscript/participating.php?by=site