International Humanitarian Response and Militarization of Refugee and IDP Camps in Kenya and Sudan

This comparative case study examines to what extent governments attitudes toward forced migrants and the levels of international humanitarian field operations and protection services have affected the likelihood that the Dadaab refugee camp in Kenya and the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in Darfur, Sudan, are militarized. The main findings of this study are as follows. First, the level of militarization is affected by the response of the host government, as each government in Kenya and Sudan tries to securitize refugees and IDPs. Second, protracted refugee situations have not been factored into the militarization in the Dadaab area, although it made government and armed groups target the camps in Darfur to decrease the influence of armed groups or increase the negotiation leverage of armed groups. Third, humanitarian assistance and protection contribute to maintaining the humanitarian character of the Dadaab refugee camps while in Darfur, the international presence has been effective in the government-controlled area and it has been limited in the rebel-controlled area due to the restrictions imposed by the government and armed groups

International Humanitarianism and Refugee Protection: Consequences of Labeling and Politicization

This study explores the inconsistency between legal frameworks and international humanitarian operations and examines characteristics of contemporary forced migration and international humanitarian responses. Forced migration has been politicized and international humanitarian responses have changed as follows. First, the increasing number of IDPs and changing national refugee policies indicate that the international community is reluctant to host refugees. Second, refugees are likely to relocate to neighboring countries, thereby intensifying the financial burdens on host countries. Third, LDCs and developing countries are suffering from a greater burden than developed countries to support refugees and IDPs because most forced migrants stay within their countries of origin or within bordered countries. Finally, the recently increasing involvement of UNHCR to help IDPs has made it difficult for a government to deny the access of the international community to displaced people in its territory

BIM-Based Construction Information Management Framework for Site Information Management

Projects in the construction industry are becoming increasingly large and complex, with construction technologies, methods, and the like developing rapidly. Various different types of information are generated by construction projects. Especially, a construction phase requires the input of many resources and generates a diverse set of information. While a variety of IT techniques are being deployed for information management during the construction phase, measures to create databases of such information and to link these various different types of information together are still insufficient. As such, this study aims to suggest a construction information database system based on BIM technology to enable the comprehensive management of site information generated during the construction phase. This study analyzed the information generated from construction sites and proposed a categorization system for structuring the generated information, along with a database model for storing such structured information. Through such efforts, it was confirmed that such a database system can be used for accumulating and using construction information; it is believed that, in the future, the continual accumulation and management of construction information will allow for corporate-level accumulation of knowledge as opposed to the individual accumulation of know-how

Newly designed coil tube for bowel decompression in patients with small bowel obstructions

AbstractBackgroundThe purpose of this study was to clinically evaluate a coil tube that we recently designed for bowel decompression in patients with a small bowel obstruction.MethodsThe coil tube was composed of a stainless steel coil, a polyolefin tube, and a rubber adaptor. The tube was inserted under fluoroscopic guidance in 14 consecutive patients with small bowel obstructions. Technical success was defined as insertion of the distal end of the tube into at least the proximal jejunum, and clinical success was defined as intestinal decompression and relief of obstructive symptoms.ResultsThe technical success rate was 100%. Clinical success was achieved in 12 patients (86%). The clinical failures were a patient with peritoneal carcinomatosis and an ileocolic fistula, and a patient with bezoars following intestinal hemorrhage. No coil-related complications occurred.ConclusionOur newly designed coil tube was safe and effective in patients with bowel decompression associated with a small bowel obstruction. In addition, our tube has several advantages over other currently used tube types

The efficacy of preoperative PET/CT for prediction of curability in surgery for locally advanced gastric carcinoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The benefits of preoperative ¹⁸FDG-PET/CT for gastric cancer remain uncertain. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of preoperative ¹⁸FDG-PET/CT on the surgical strategy for locally advanced gastric cancer retrospectively.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>From January 2007 to November 2008, ¹⁸FDG-PET/CT was performed in 142 patients who had been diagnosed with advanced gastric cancer by computed tomography or gastrofiberscope findings.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Detection rates were 88.7% (126/142) for primary tumors and 24.6% (35/142) for local lymph nodes (LN). Nine patients with metastatic lesions underwent induction chemotherapy without operation. Of 133 patients subjected to operation, positive FDG uptake in primary tumors (<it>p </it>= 0.047) and local lymph nodes (<it>p </it>< 0.001) was related to non-curable operations. The mean standard uptake value (SUV) of primary tumors of patients who underwent non-curable operations was significantly higher than that of patients with curable operations (<it>p </it>= 0.001). When the SUV was greater than 5 and FDG uptake of LN was positive, non-curable operations were predicted with a sensitivity of 35.2%, a specificity of 91.0% and an accuracy of 76.7%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>High SUV of the primary tumor and positive FDG uptake in local lymph nodes at PET/CT could predict non-curative resection in locally advanced gastric cancer. Therefore, information from preoperative PET/CT can help physician decisions regarding other modalities without laparotomy.</p

Droplet-turbulence interactions in subcritical and supercritical evaporating sprays

The objective of this research is to obtain an improved understanding of droplet turbulence interactions in vaporizing liquid sprays under conditions typical of those encountered in liquid fueled rocket engines. The interaction between liquid droplets and the surrounding turbulent gas flow affects droplet dispersion, droplet collisions, droplet vaporization and gas-phase, fuel-oxidant mixing, and therefore has a significant effect on the engine's combustion characteristics. An example of this is the role which droplet-turbulence interactions are believed to play in combustion instabilities. Despite their importance, droplet-turbulence interactions and their effect on liquid fueled rocket engine performance are not well understood. This is particularly true under supercritical conditions, where many conventional concepts, such as surface tension, no longer apply. Our limited understanding of droplet-turbulence interactions, under both subcritical conditions, represents a major limitation in our ability to design improved liquid previously unavailable information and valuable new insights which will directly impact the design of future liquid fueled rocket engines, as well as, allow for the development of significantly improved spray combustion models, making such models useful design tools

Recombinant mussel proximal thread matrix protein promotes osteoblast cell adhesion and proliferation

BACKGROUND: von Willebrand factor (VWF) is a key load bearing domain for mamalian cell adhesion by binding various macromolecular ligands in extracellular matrix such as, collagens, elastin, and glycosaminoglycans. Interestingly, vWF like domains are also commonly found in load bearing systems of marine organisms such as in underwater adhesive of mussel and sea star, and nacre of marine abalone, and play a critical load bearing function. Recently, Proximal Thread Matrix Protein1 (PTMP1) in mussel composed of two vWF type A like domains has characterized and it is known to bind both mussel collagens and mammalian collagens. RESULTS: Here, we cloned and mass produced a recombinant PTMP1 from E. coli system after switching all the minor codons to the major codons of E. coli. Recombinant PTMP1 has an ability to enhance mouse osteoblast cell adhesion, spreading, and cell proliferation. In addition, PTMP1 showed vWF-like properties as promoting collagen expression as well as binding to collagen type I, subsequently enhanced cell viability. Consequently, we found that recombinant PTMP1 acts as a vWF domain by mediating cell adhesion, spreading, proliferation, and formation of actin cytoskeleton. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that both mammalian cell adhesion and marine underwater adhesion exploits a strong vWF-collagen interaction for successful wet adhesion. In addition, vWF like domains containing proteins including PTMP1 have a great potential for tissue engineering and the development of biomedical adhesives as a component for extra-cellular matrix