Refusing Platform Promises : A Gendered Rewriting of Digital Imaginaries

Platforms have recently come under scrutiny, both in policy and in scholarship. Yet, there is little attention paid to the notion and materiali-ty of gendered practices. Although gender is present on these platforms, it is not necessarily endemic or critical to the analysis of these platformed practices. Platform Promises is a way by which we look at platformisation of gender, focusing on how gender politics are coded into the logic and infrastructure of these platforms. I propose that we stop thinking about platforms as technological engineering artefacts upon which conditions of gender are operationalised. This framing makes us believe that gen-dered and sexual violence online are a state of exception which can be fixed through better regulation and governance. I propose that we use gender as both a discursive and an analytic category by which to rewrite the discourse on platforms, to see the platform promises that are taken for granted and are not questioned in the dominant narratives

Memory Issues in PRET Machines

In a processor design the premier issues with memory are (1) main memory allocation and (2) interprocess communication. These two mainly affect the performance of the memory system. The goal of this paper is to formulate a deterministic model for memory systems of PRET, taking into account all the intertwined parallelism of modern memory chips. Studying existing memory models is necessary to understand the implications of these factors to realize a perfectly time predictable memory system

Really Fake

With anchors in feminist theory, queer discourse, and digital politics, Really Fake rescues "fakeness" from the morass of "fake news" and rejuvenates "fake" as a material and tactical reality. This book treats fakeness as a media object itself: "Fakes" are things that travel and circulate through our bodies, sociality, and the technologies that envelop them. Punctuated with anecdotes, experiences, poetry, stories, and a strong feminist ethic and ethos of care, intimacy, and collectivity, Really Fake offers a series of entry points into reframing the debates of fakeness beyond polarized positions of performative outrage

3D Medical Application

AbstractIn today's world, health is one of the most important aspects for people. Thus there is a need to spread awareness about the various forms of diseases and protection against them. 3D Medical is an online application that aims at accepting the symptoms of the users and providing information about the most probable diseases based on the symptoms. The additional modules include, generic medicine ordering system which will enable users to place an order for generic medicines with an available nearest store. The blood donation module will list all the donation events posted by various organizers. It also includes experimentation on WebGL for developing 3D models. The application aims to enlighten the users and socialize the medical field

Real-world observational study to capture demographic details of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus

Background: To understand the demographic profile of newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and to evaluate the glycaemic status and initial treatment choices in this subset of T2DM patients.Methods: The ROD-IT-2 study was a real-world, retrospective, cross-sectional, observational study conducted at various centres across India between April 2021 and March 2022. The study outcomes included epidemiology, comorbidities, and management strategies preferred by Indian clinicians in these patients.Results: Data from 29,550 newly diagnosed T2DM patients were analyzed. The mean age of patients was 53.3 years, and majority were males (65%). Majority of patients (63.85%) were aged 40 to 60 years. More than half (53.11%) of the patients were either overweight (36.65%) or obese (16.76%). The mean glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) was high (8.4%). Most (88.5%) patients had cardio-renal comorbidities. Hypertension was the most common comorbidity (45.7%) followed by dyslipidemia (32.1%). Chronic kidney disease (CKD) was also present in 31.2% patients. In the present study, 9.2% patients presented with microvascular complications at the time of diagnosis. Majority of newly diagnosed patients (79.7%) were treated with combination therapy. In patients who were prescribed dual drug combination therapy, metformin + dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitor (DPP4i) was the preferred combination (42.71%)  followed by metformin + sulfonylurea (31.37%).Conclusions: ROD-IT-2 study showed that mean HbA1c levels in T2DM patients still remain high in our population and cardio-renal comorbidities remain prevalent in newly diagnosed patients. Indian clinicians were found to prefer the combination therapy in newly diagnosed T2DM patients

Clinical profile of ocular trauma in a tertiary care hospital of Southern Rajasthan

Background: Ocular trauma is a major cause of preventable visual impairment and blindness leading to permanent loss of vision and deterioration of quality of life. 90% of the injuries are preventable. Aim of the current study was to study the clinical profile of patients with ocular trauma at a tertiary care hospital in Southern Rajasthan. Current study was a cross- sectional, observational study was conducted at Geetanjali medical college and hospital, Udaipur.Methods: After taking a well-informed consent a generalized detailed history of 108 cases (123 injured eyes) was obtained. Assessment of best corrected visual acuity, near vision, intraocular pressure, slit-lamp evaluation and dilated fundus examination was carried out. Then injury was classified as per BETTS classification. Patients with corneal foreign bodies and chemical injuries were recorded separately. Imaging modalities like ultrasound B-scan, CT-scan and MRI were employed wherever required. Results: Number of males (98) was much higher than females (9) in our study. Male: female ratio was found to be 10.8:1. The most commonly affected age group was 21-30 years, this highlights the alarmingly high incidence of ocular injuries in economically active young males. Farming is the primary occupation across India, hence it deserves a special mention. 22% of injury cases in our study were farm- work related injuries. Farmers need to be educated and provided eye protective equipment during high-risk activities. Laws regarding agricultural code of practice should be implemented and followed.Conclusions: In our study, not a single case out of 108 had used eye protection at the time of injury. Every effort should be made to create awareness regarding use of safety measures during driving and engaging in high-risk occupations. This will help prevent sight-threatening complications of ocular trauma and the deleterious impact on quality of life

Performance analysis of IMC based PID controller tuning on approximated process model

Classical Proportional Integral Derivative(PID) controller remains the most popular approach for industrial process control. Poor tuning of PID controller can lead to mechanical wear associated with excessive control activity, poor control performance and even poor quality products. In this paper, we design procedure for the internal model control(IMC) approach for tuning of conventional PID controller with proper tuning rules. Furthermore, with help of analytical rule of step test obtaining the effective first order time delay model of the process. A simulation example of continuous stirred tank reactor is used in which the IMC based PID tuning method implemented and the step response of the closed loop system is compared with classical tuning methods like Ziegler-Nichols and Cohen-Coon

Protective Role of Ashwagandha Leaf Extract and Its Component Withanone on Scopolamine-Induced Changes in the Brain and Brain-Derived Cells

BACKGROUND:Scopolamine is a well-known cholinergic antagonist that causes amnesia in human and animal models. Scopolamine-induced amnesia in rodent models has been widely used to understand the molecular, biochemical, behavioral changes, and to delineate therapeutic targets of memory impairment. Although this has been linked to the decrease in central cholinergic neuronal activity following the blockade of muscarinic receptors, the underlying molecular and cellular mechanism(s) particularly the effect on neuroplasticity remains elusive. In the present study, we have investigated (i) the effects of scopolamine on the molecules involved in neuronal and glial plasticity both in vivo and in vitro and (ii) their recovery by alcoholic extract of Ashwagandha leaves (i-Extract). METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS:As a drug model, scopolamine hydrobromide was administered intraperitoneally to mice and its effect on the brain function was determined by molecular analyses. The results showed that the scopolamine caused downregulation of the expression of BDNF and GFAP in dose and time dependent manner, and these effects were markedly attenuated in response to i-Extract treatment. Similar to our observations in animal model system, we found that the scopolamine induced cytotoxicity in IMR32 neuronal and C6 glioma cells. It was associated with downregulation of neuronal cell markers NF-H, MAP2, PSD-95, GAP-43 and glial cell marker GFAP and with upregulation of DNA damage--γH2AX and oxidative stress--ROS markers. Furthermore, these molecules showed recovery when cells were treated with i-Extract or its purified component, withanone. CONCLUSION:Our study suggested that besides cholinergic blockade, scopolamine-induced memory loss may be associated with oxidative stress and Ashwagandha i-Extract, and withanone may serve as potential preventive and therapeutic agents for neurodegenerative disorders and hence warrant further molecular analyses

Home‐Based Cardiac Rehabilitation Alone and Hybrid With Center‐Based Cardiac Rehabilitation in Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Background Center‐based cardiac rehabilitation (CBCR) has been shown to improve outcomes in patients with heart failure (HF). Home‐based cardiac rehabilitation (HBCR) can be an alternative to increase access for patients who cannot participate in CBCR. Hybrid cardiac rehabilitation (CR) combines short‐term CBCR with HBCR, potentially allowing both flexibility and rigor. However, recent data comparing these initiatives have not been synthesized. Methods and Results We performed a meta‐analysis to compare functional capacity and health‐related quality of life (hr‐QOL) outcomes in HF for (1) HBCR and usual care, (2) hybrid CR and usual care, and (3) HBCR and CBCR. A systematic search in 5 standard databases for randomized controlled trials was performed through January 31, 2019. Summary estimates were pooled using fixed‐ or random‐effects (when I2\u3e50%) meta‐analyses. Standardized mean differences (95% CI) were used for distinct hr‐QOL tools. We identified 31 randomized controlled trials with a total of 1791 HF participants. Among 18 studies that compared HBCR and usual care, participants in HBCR had improvement of peak oxygen uptake (2.39 mL/kg per minute; 95% CI, 0.28–4.49) and hr‐QOL (16 studies; standardized mean difference: 0.38; 95% CI, 0.19–0.57). Nine RCTs that compared hybrid CR with usual care showed that hybrid CR had greater improvements in peak oxygen uptake (9.72 mL/kg per minute; 95% CI, 5.12–14.33) but not in hr‐QOL (2 studies; standardized mean difference: 0.67; 95% CI, −0.20 to 1.54). Five studies comparing HBCR with CBCR showed similar improvements in functional capacity (0.0 mL/kg per minute; 95% CI, −1.93 to 1.92) and hr‐QOL (4 studies; standardized mean difference: 0.11; 95% CI, −0.12 to 0.34). Conclusions HBCR and hybrid CR significantly improved functional capacity, but only HBCR improved hr‐QOL over usual care. However, both are potential alternatives for patients who are not suitable for CBCR

Comparison of admission GCS score to admission GCS-P and FOUR scores for prediction of outcomes among patients with traumatic brain injury in the intensive care unit in India

Background This study aimed to determine the predictive power of the Full Outline of Unresponsiveness (FOUR) score and the Glasgow Coma Scale Pupil (GCS-P) score in determining outcomes for traumatic brain injury (TBI) patients. The Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) was used to evaluate patients at 1 month and 6 months after the injury. Methods We conducted a 15-month prospective observational study. It included 50 TBI patients admitted to the ICU who met our inclusion criteria. We used Pearson's correlation coefficient to relate coma scales and outcome measures. The predictive value of these scales was determined using the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, calculating the area under the curve with a 99% confidence interval. All hypotheses were two-tailed, and significance was defined as P<0.01. Results In the present study, the GCS-P and FOUR scores among all patients on admission as well as in the subset of patients who were mechanically ventilated were statistically significant and strongly correlated with patient outcomes. The correlation coefficient of the GCS score compared to GCS-P and FOUR scores was higher and statistically significant. The areas under the ROC curve for the GCS, GCS-P, and FOUR scores and the number of computed tomography abnormalities were 0.912, 0.905, 0.937, and 0.324, respectively. Conclusions The GCS, GCS-P, and FOUR scores are all excellent predictors with a strong positive linear correlation with final outcome prediction. In particular, the GCS score has the best correlation with final outcome