Identity and Islamic Radicalization in Western Europe

This paper argues that both socio-economic disadvantage and political factors, such as the West's foreign policy with regard to the Muslim world, along with historical grievances, play a part in the development of Islamic radicalized collective action in Western Europe. We emphasise the role of group identity based individual behaviour in organising collective action within radicalized Muslim groups. Inasmuch as culture plays any role at all in radicalization, it is because individuals feel an imperative to act on the basis of their Muslim identity, something to which different individuals will attach varying degrees of salience, depending on how they place their Muslim identity based actions in the scheme of their multiple identities. We also emphasize the role of the opportunistic politician, from the majority European community, in fomenting hatred for Muslims, which also produces a backlash from radicalized political Islam. We present comparative evidence on socio-economic, political and cultural disadvantage faced by Muslim minorities in five West European countries: Germany, the UK, France, Spain and the Netherlands.Identity, Radicalization, Clash of civilizations, Terrorism

The phasor-FLIM fingerprints reveal shifts from OXPHOS to enhanced glycolysis in Huntington Disease.

Huntington disease (HD) is an autosomal neurodegenerative disorder caused by the expansion of Polyglutamine (polyQ) in exon 1 of the Huntingtin protein. Glutamine repeats below 36 are considered normal while repeats above 40 lead to HD. Impairment in energy metabolism is a common trend in Huntington pathogenesis; however, this effect is not fully understood. Here, we used the phasor approach and Fluorescence Lifetime Imaging Microscopy (FLIM) to measure changes between free and bound fractions of NADH as a indirect measure of metabolic alteration in living cells. Using Phasor-FLIM, pixel maps of metabolic alteration in HEK293 cell lines and in transgenic Drosophila expressing expanded and unexpanded polyQ HTT exon1 in the eye disc were developed. We found a significant shift towards increased free NADH, indicating an increased glycolytic state for cells and tissues expressing the expanded polyQ compared to unexpanded control. In the nucleus, a further lifetime shift occurs towards higher free NADH suggesting a possible synergism between metabolic dysfunction and transcriptional regulation. Our results indicate that metabolic dysfunction in HD shifts to increased glycolysis leading to oxidative stress and cell death. This powerful label free method can be used to screen native HD tissue samples and for potential drug screening

Identity and Islamic Radicalization in Western Europe

This paper argues that both socio-economic disadvantage and political factors, such as the West’s foreign policy with regard to the Muslim world, along with historical grievances, play a part in the development of Islamic radicalized collective action in Western Europe. We emphasise the role of group identity based individual behaviour in organising collective action within radicalized Muslim groups. Inasmuch as culture plays any role at all in radicalization, it is because individuals feel an imperative to act on the basis of their Muslim identity, something to which different individuals will attach varying degrees of salience, depending on how they place their Muslim identity based actions in the scheme of their multiple identities. We also emphasize the role of the opportunistic politician, from the majority European community, in fomenting hatred for Muslims, which also produces a backlash from radicalized political Islam. We present comparative evidence on socio-economic, political and cultural disadvantage faced by Muslim minorities in five West European countries: Germany, the UK, France, Spain and the Netherlands

Use of business competitions to enhance student employability in Higher Education

The research exemplifies student learning and skills gained within higher education (HE), by illuminating learning patterns and motivation through competitions that gain students skills and employability prospects. Competition implies rivalry, contest and opposition. There is still some amount of controversy as to whether competitions in HE are a positive or negative. Having students learn through the style of competitions based on real life situations, they experience how to solve problems, and can learn both content and thinking strategies. It is evident through research that by allowing students to undertake project-based learning through competitions, it further enhances their engagement and increase motivation. By looking at three core aspects: Competitions, Learning Patterns and Employability’ it will showcase positive perceptions of this theory within HE institutions, and with the key emphasis and importance of identifying how psychology plays a role in increasing a student’s skill sets that employers seek in graduates. This allows students (i.e. future graduates) to improve upon time employability prospects in the future. The research aims to investigate and identify the factors towards improving the employability prospects through competition based learning. This research concentrates on the learning output and skill sets via competitions, therefore as a result gains a medium of skills for employability. Throughout this research, there will be many assessment components and methodologies discussed with the use of primary and secondary tools; whilst taking a deep look into psychology aspects of learning patterns in particular motivational modes of learning

Dengue Hemorrhagic fever complicated by intercostal artery hemorrhage.

Hemorrhagic manifestations are fairly common in Dengue hemorrhagic fever and are associated with increased mortality. During last few decades there have been increasing reports of Dengue infection with unusual manifestations. Here we present a case of dengue hemorrhagic fever complicated by spontaneous rupture of an intercostal artery leading to a large hematoma which was treated successfully with angio-embolization. To the authors\u27 knowledge this is a first case of dengue hemorrhagic fever complicated by spontaneous intercostal artery hemorrhage

A survey of islamic clergy & community leaders regarding muslim mental health first responder training

There are significant behavioral healthcare disparities for North American Muslims including limited accessibility to mental healthcare services offered with an Islamic context. Thus, American Muslims typically turn to Islamic clergy and religious community settings to address their mental health needs prior to seeking professional care. In order to improve accessibility to Islamically oriented mental health supports, the Khalil Center, an Islamically oriented Muslim mental health center, constructed an 8--hour Muslim Mental Health First Responder Training (FRT) administered across the United States and Canada to 498 community leaders and Islamic clergy. Post--training survey data found that although most of the 128 respondents were involved in settings that necessitated responding to mental health issues in their communities, 70 % had never received any previous mental health training. The overwhelming majority (80 %) of participants emphasized their appreciation of an Islamically integrated approach to the training, reporting that it changed their perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs about mental health and 92 % stated they would recommend the training to other colleagues. The majority of participants (61.7 %) in the FRT were teachers, imams/scholars, and counselors. These positions in the community have a high interpersonal impact on the community and can be considered for many people, the first line of defense against mental health-related disorders. This survey illustrated the importance of addressing mental health from a faith-based perspective in the American Muslim community and the inclusion of Islamic clergy and community leaders in order to facilitate a collaborative care approach to closing the gaps of mental health needs for the American Muslim community.Q4WOS:00061751580000

Quaternionic Channel-based Modulation For Dual-polarized Antennas

Space time block codes (STBCs) have been studied to exploit the spatial and temporal diversities in wireless systems. Orthogonal space time polarization block codes (OSTPBCs) designed using the quaternion algebra promise gains in terms of higher data rates, diversity and spectral efficiency. In this context, quaternion modulation has been proposed using the dual-polarized antennas to generate efficient selection of the polarization and optimal decoding at the receiver end. In this paper, the quaternion modulation technique has been evaluated considering the quaternionic channel using the dual-polarized antennas. The results show promising diversity gains with benefits in terms of spectral efficiency and data rates. An extension of this scheme for higher number of symbols and higher dual-polarized antenna dimensions has also been presented. The proposal includes linear decoupled decoding of the quaternion orthogonal codes (QODs) at the receiver end where the complexity stays independent of the number of transmitted symbols. The design of the quaternion modulation using the quaternionic channel fully exploits the polarization diversity in addition to unfolding its applicability for future massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) wireless systems

Les défis de l'émulation Wi-Fi à base des traces

Wi-Fi link is unpredictable and it has never been easy to measure it perfectly; there is always bound to be some bias. As wireless becomes the medium of choice, it is useful to capture Wi-Fi traces in order to evaluate, tune, and adapt the different applications and protocols. Several methods have been used for the purpose of experimenting with different wireless conditions: simulation, experimentation, and trace-driven emulation. In this paper, we argue that trace-driven emulation is the most favourable approach. In the absence of a trace-driven emulation tool for Wi-Fi, we evaluate the state-of-the-art trace driven emulation tool for Cellular networks and we identify issues for Wi-Fi: interference with concurrent traffic, interference with its own traffic if measurements are done on both uplink and downlink simultaneously , and packet loss. We provide a solid argument as to why this tool falls short from effectively capturing Wi-Fi traces. The outcome of our analysis guides us to propose a number of suggestions on how the existing tool can be tweaked to accurately capture Wi-Fi traces.La liaison Wi-Fi est imprévisible et il n'a jamais été facile de la mesurer parfaitement ; il y a toujours un risque de biais. Comme le sans fil devient le moyen de communication de choix, il est utile de capturer les traces Wi-Fi afin d'évaluer, de régler et d'adapter les différentes applications et protocoles. Plusieurs méthodes ont été utilisées pour expérimenter différentes conditions sans fil : la simulation, l'expérimentation et l'émulation de traces. Dans cet article, nous soutenons que l'émulation pilotée par les traces est l'approche la plus favorable. En l'absence d'un outil d'émulation piloté par trace pour le Wi-Fi, nous évaluons l'outil d'émulation piloté par trace de pointe pour les réseaux cellulaires et nous identifions les problèmes pour le Wi-Fi : interférence avec le trafic concurrent, interférence avec son propre trafic si les mesures sont effectuées simultanément sur la liaison montante et la liaison descendante, et perte de paquets. Nous fournissons un argument solide pour expliquer pourquoi cet outil ne parvient pas à capturer efficacement les traces Wi-Fi. Le résultat de notre analyse nous guide pour proposer un certain nombre de suggestions sur la manière dont l'outil existant peut être modifié pour capturer avec précision les traces Wi-Fi

Hair dye poisoning and rhabdomyolysis.

Hair dye ingestion is a rare cause of toxicity in Pakistan. We are presenting the case report of a 55 year old male who presented with accidental hair dye ingestion and developed laryngeal oedema requiring emergent tracheostomy. He had also developed aspiration pneumonitis and chemical oesophagitis. However, the most alarming manifestation was rhabdomyolysis. Hair dye toxicity can be fatal if not recognized early. There is no antidote available. Rhabdomyolysis is a complication and needs to be managed aggressively in order to prevent long term morbidity