Quantitative assessment of reflex blood pressure regulation using a dynamic model of the cardiovascular system

A quantitative understanding of the changes in coronary, pulmonary and systemic hemodynamic variables and their effects on the regulation mechanism is important to the better postoperative management of patients with impaired cardiac function. The arterial baroreflex plays a key role in blood pressure homeostasis, and its impairment may result in exaggerated blood pressure fluctuations and an increased risk of cardiovascular morbid events. The objective of this work was to construct a mathematical model of the cardiovascular system, which will allow us to simulate the effects of the baroreceptor reflex regulation on sudden changes in blood pressure, caused by sudden changes in one or more hemodynamic parameters. These parameters include heart rate, peripheral resistance and ventricular contractility. A comprehensive model of the baroreflexfeedback mechanism regulating the heart rate, the contractility of the ventricle and the peripheral vascular resistance is presented. The model used is a combination of several models, which have been reported in literature, along with our own modifications. The important feature of the model is that it is dynamic in nature and thus it is helpful in real time analysis. The model is also useful to conceptualize the problem and test relationships, helping researchers frame hypotheses and design experiments

Social movement against corruption: Evaluating the contribution of Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB)

Addressing corruption requires active public participation. Transparency International Bangladesh (TIB) strives to mobilize Bangladeshi citizens in an anti-corruption social movement. This research explores TIB’s activities (research, communication and engagement) and investigates their achievements. The study finds that besides building capacity among stakeholders, TIB creates a unique trustworthy brand among people. Potential issues triggered by over-expectation, discontinuity and expanding the scope of work are identified and recommendations are made to facilitate TIB’s resilience and efficiency

Comparison of 99mTc-DMSA renal scintigraphy with biochemical and histopathological findings in animal models of acute kidney injury

Biochemical and histological assays are currently used for the diagnosis and characterization of kidney injury. The purpose of this study was to compare technetium- 99m-labeled dimercaptosuccinic acid (99mTc- DMSA) renal scintigraphy, as a non-invasive method, with common biochemical and histopathological methods in two animal models of acute kidney injury. Nephrotoxicity was induced either by gentamicin (100 mg/kg/day for one week) or unilateral ureteral ligation (UUO). Renal scintigraphy was performed 1 h after intravenous injection of 99mTc-DMSA (3 mCi). Furthermore, plasma levels of blood urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, sodium, and potassium were determined using an autoanalyzer. At the end of experiments, kidneys were excised for the measurement of activity uptake (mCi/gr) using a dose calibrator as well as histopathological examinations with hematoxylin and eosin (H&E) staining. There was a significant decrease in 99mTc-DMSA uptake in both gentamicin (P value = 0.049) and UUO (P value = 0.034) groups, and it was more significant in the former. The levels of BUN and creatinine increased in both gentamicin and UUO groups, while the levels of sodium and potassium remained unchanged. Furthermore, a strong correlation was found between DMSA uptake and histopathological findings. Scintigraphy with 99mTc-DMSA is capable of detection of kidney injury in both gentamicin and UUO groups. Moreover, a significant correlation was found between scintigraphy parameters and histopathological findings. This suggests 99mTc-DMSA as a non-invasive method for the evaluation of kidney injury induced by drugs or anatomical disorders

Reply to Comments on "Overlapped Phased Array Antenna for Avalanche Radar"

In this reply, we refer to comments made by a reader on our publication “Overlapped Phased Array Antenna for Avalanche Radar”. Authors would like to thank the reader for reading the paper. In this paper authors provided detailed answers to the comments made by the reade

Oil Price Shocks and Renewable Energy Transition: Empirical evidence from net oil-importing South Asian economies

This paper makes a novel attempt to model the non-linear association between renewable energy consumption and crude oil prices across four net oil-importing South Asian economies namely Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Using annual data from 1990 to 2018, the results from the panel data regression analyses confirm the non-linear nexus and show that although rising crude oil prices do not facilitate renewable energy consumption initially, in the latter phases higher crude oil prices are associated with higher levels of renewable energy consumption. The similar non-linearity is also confirmed in the context of the renewable energy share in total final energy consumption and crude oil prices. Moreover, the nexus between renewable electricity share in aggregate electricity output and crude oil prices is also found to be non-linear in nature. However, rising crude oil prices were not found to enhance the share of renewable electricity. The causality results, overall, implicates that movements crude oil prices do influence the renewable energy transition within the concerned South Asian economies. Thus, these results impose critically important policy implications with respect to attainment of energy security and environmental sustainability across South Asia, particularly via reducing the imported crude oil-dependencies of these nations

“Exploring leadership behavior in support of gender diversity as a competitive advantage: A case study on Nordic service industry”.

This dissertation explores the leadership behavior and perspective through leadership ontologies that support gender diversity to gain competitive advantage. The present and past literature on diversity leadership is focused more on identifying to “fix” diversity with the end goal of improving the KPI of the organization. Only a few studies have demonstrated the leadership behaviors to embrace diversity as a strength, a source of value, and a competitive advantage. Therefore, this research aims to fill this gap in the literature, as it focuses on the leadership perceptions to get meaningful progress in the corporate gender diversity programs. The research questions then become: Which leadership behaviors support gender diversity to achieve competitive advantage? A study aimed to answer this question and look at all three leadership ontologies: tripod ontology, DAC, and PAC, and how they would function in the Nordic hotel and IT service sectors. Empirical data was collected through interviews of employees in the formal and informal leadership positions in 2 hotels and 1 IT company. This dissertation has the world view of interpretivism, and the analysis is qualitative content analysis. And the data reveals that there are six main themes of relevance to the problem question. The findings suggest that tripod ontology, where leadership influences most of its integration and expects followers and shared goals to follow, has adverse effects on gender diversity in the hotel and IT industry. DAC ontology which focuses on collective interest, coordination of knowledge and works and has a widespread agreement on the overall goals, mission, and vision, has limited practice. Still, it can diversely affect the integration of gender diversity in both industries. PAC ontology which defines leadership as a collective pursuit of delivering on purpose, not a privilege of the few, has a mixed findings in this research. In the hotel sector, leaders tried to implement gender equality within their organization in a way that hasn’t had known to have a business value, on the other hand, the IT sector has an excellent potential to implement PAC to integrate gender. This dissertation is based on a paradigm that allows for consistent re-evaluation of the problem question. However, the main recommendation is to develop the problem question early and review the literature at a stage where one can utilize the literature to form a problem question. In addition, this dissertation recommends the careful use of leadership definitions. Because there are so much disagreement and vagueness among scholars in this field, this thesis also suggests combining leadership studies with quantifiable data besides qualitative data

Exploring leadership behavior in support of gender diversity as a competitive advantage: A case study on Nordic service industry

This dissertation explores the leadership behavior and perspective through leadership ontologies that support gender diversity to gain competitive advantage. The present and past literature on diversity leadership is focused more on identifying to “fix” diversity with the end goal of improving the KPI of the organization. Only a few studies have demonstrated the leadership behaviors to embrace diversity as a strength, a source of value, and a competitive advantage. Therefore, this research aims to fill this gap in the literature, as it focuses on the leadership perceptions to get meaningful progress in the corporate gender diversity programs. The research questions then become: Which leadership behaviors support gender diversity to achieve competitive advantage? A study aimed to answer this question and look at all three leadership ontologies: tripod ontology, DAC, and PAC, and how they would function in the Nordic hotel and IT service sectors. Empirical data was collected through interviews of employees in the formal and informal leadership positions in 2 hotels and 1 IT company. This dissertation has the world view of interpretivism, and the analysis is qualitative content analysis. And the data reveals that there are six main themes of relevance to the problem question. The findings suggest that tripod ontology, where leadership influences most of its integration and expects followers and shared goals to follow, has adverse effects on gender diversity in the hotel and IT industry. DAC ontology which focuses on collective interest, coordination of knowledge and works and has a widespread agreement on the overall goals, mission, and vision, has limited practice. Still, it can diversely affect the integration of gender diversity in both industries. PAC ontology which defines leadership as a collective pursuit of delivering on purpose, not a privilege of the few, has a mixed findings in this research. In the hotel sector, leaders tried to implement gender equality within their organization in a way that hasn’t had known to have a business value, on the other hand, the IT sector has an excellent potential to implement PAC to integrate gender. This dissertation is based on a paradigm that allows for consistent re-evaluation of the problem question. However, the main recommendation is to develop the problem question early and review the literature at a stage where one can utilize the literature to form a problem question. In addition, this dissertation recommends the careful use of leadership definitions. Because there are so much disagreement and vagueness among scholars in this field, this thesis also suggests combining leadership studies with quantifiable data besides qualitative data