The use of embedded DAS for electronic signal measurements

Abstract: Data Acquisition Systems (DAS) are mainly used with transducers to gather changing parameters such as temperature, pressure, velocity, etc. The transducer will convert each parameter to small varying electrical signal which is then sampled and digitized by the DAS before it passes it to the host computer where it is going to be analyzed and / or stored. This paper discusses how embedded DAS can be used for measurement and generation of electronics signals, mainly for the purpose of experimenting. We will develop a prototype of embedded DAS that can generate and measure waveforms that are commonly used in the electronics field

Information and communication technology policy imperatives for rural women empowerment : focus on South Africa

Abstract: It has been established that Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are key drivers for rural development. However, while many countries such as India and South Africa have made significant investments in rural ICT infrastructure and its developmental spin-offs, rural women are still neglected when it comes to access to ICTs. This neglect is evident in the ICT policy initiatives in South Africa as an example, where the relevant policies lack any significant or direct attention to rural women’s development. If ICT policies do not address the gendered digital divide in rural areas gender inequality will be encouraged. This paper gives insights on how information exchange by means of ICTs such as Internet, mobile phones and radio could foster economic growth and empowerment of rural women in South Africa. In addition, the paper discusses the role of relevant stakeholders in ICT policy formulation for more effective and appropriate communication, and innovative ways of using ICTs for women empowerment in rural areas. The authors make recommendations for ICT policy development that would better serve the needs of rural women leading to their empowerment

Convergence opportunities and factors influencing the use of internet and telephony by rural women in South Africa and India towards empowerment

Abstract: Access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can have dramatic impact on poverty alleviation for rural women and for achieving socio economic development goals. Rural women need to treat ICTs as an empowerment tool and a means to a living. The use of mobile communication devices and internet are changing the way agricultural activities are managed by farmers nowadays. Rural women's lack of mobility and less hands-on computer experience might hinder women's welfare and empowerment. This paper analyses how use of the telephony (both cellular and land line), internet and other ICTs can benefit rural women in educational, business and economic sector. Women in rural India and rural South Africa were marginalized partly due to their lack of ability in being vocal when it comes to empowering themselves using ICTs due to cultural norms in India, and apartheid in South Africa. Over the years, unlike other developing countries, the above-mentioned countries have its unique ICT projects meant for empowering rural women. This paper is driven from the authors' commitment for rural development and rural women empowerment. It highlights different low-cost ICT initiatives and strategies taken by women's organizations, various companies and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for rural women empowerment. The paper also highlights various factors influencing use of internet and mobile phone adoption by rural women. Various bottlenecks for the community projects, factors de-motivating the use of mobile phones and internet by rural women and possible solutions for these are also mentioned

Anti-DNA autoantibodies initiate experimental lupus nephritis by binding directly to the glomerular basement membrane in mice

The strongest serological correlate for lupus nephritis is antibody to double-stranded DNA, although the mechanism by which anti-DNA antibodies initiate lupus nephritis is unresolved. Most recent reports indicate that anti-DNA must bind chromatin in the glomerular basement membrane or mesangial matrix to form glomerular deposits. Here we determined whether direct binding of anti-DNA antibody to glomerular basement membrane is critical to initiate glomerular binding of anti-DNA in experimental lupus nephritis. Mice were co-injected with IgG monoclonal antibodies or hybridomas with similar specificity for DNA and chromatin but different IgG subclass and different relative affinity for basement membrane. Only anti-DNA antibodies that bound basement membrane bound to glomeruli, activated complement, and induced proteinuria whether injected alone or co-injected with a non-basement-membrane–binding anti-DNA antibody. Basement membrane–binding anti-DNA antibodies co-localized with heparan sulfate proteoglycan in glomerular basement membrane and mesangial matrix but not with chromatin. Thus, direct binding of anti-DNA antibody to antigens in the glomerular basement membrane or mesangial matrix may be critical to initiate glomerular inflammation. This may accelerate and exacerbate glomerular immune complex formation in human and murine lupus nephritis

Early-Morning and Late-Night Maximal Runs: Metabolic and Perceived Exertion Outcomes

People may exercise at the ends of their day to fit activity into their schedule; the purpose of this investigation was to determine if metabolic or perceived exertion outcomes differed between maximal runs early in the morning and late at night. After consuming a standardized, glucose drink, thirteen recreationally active individuals completed an early-morning and a late-night run on the treadmill while researchers measured metabolic (aerobic capacity and substrate usage) and perceived exertion outcomes. Point of application #1: Aerobic capacity (maximal consumption of oxygen) and the usage of fat as a fuel to support energy production during exercise were similar between runs. Point of application #2: Maximal perceived exertion (Borg’s 6-20) was similar during early-morning and late-night runs. Point of application #3: While research indicates that people may prefer activity in the morning or evening, and this might impact metabolic responses to the exercise bout, most of our participants (n=8) identified with no preference for exercising in the early-morning or late-night. Key Words: glucose; CHO shake; VO2max; fat oxidation; effor

Histo-pathological findings in kidneys with polar artery: a demystifying endeavor

Background: The kidneys are supplied by renal arteries which enter the hilum and branch progressively from the pyramids to the cortex into lobar, interlobar, arcuate, interlobar, interlobular, and finally terminate as afferent arterioles that enter the glomeruli. Thus there is a normal pattern of blood flow towards the cortex from the pyramids when the artery enters at the hilum. The aim of the study was to explore the glomeruli pattern in kidneys with polar arteries.Methods: The study was conducted in the department of anatomy at a tertiary care referral institute. Twenty-two kidneys with polar arteries were obtained by conventional method of dissection from cadavers for the study. Sections were taken from the upper pole and lower pole in each kidney. The sections were taken perpendicular and close to the polar arteries. The sections were subjected to routine histological processing and staining as per the standard operating procedure. Histological findings were observed and documented.Results: The study found that the kidneys were histologically different with polar arteries as compared to normal kidneys. The number of glomeruli per high power field was higher nearer to the polar arteries. The glomeruli were viable and not sclerosed. An agglomeration of arterioles were present close to the polar arteries but they were distinct and did not seem to be associated with glomeruli.    Conclusions: The study found an agglomeration of arterioles, increased number of viable glomeruli and cystic changes associated with kidneys having polar artery. Thus this warrants a detailed study with special stains for research to elucidate the mechanisms of the circulation in polar arteries and correlation of the same findings with clinical conditions such as hypertension or any other diseases of the kidney

Convergence Opportunities and Factors Influencing the Use of Internet and Telephony by the Rural Women in South Africa and India towards Empowerment.

Abstract. Access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can have dramatic impact on poverty alleviation for rural women and for achieving socio economic development goals. Rural women need to treat ICTs as an empowerment tool and a means to a living. The use of mobile communication devices and internet are changing the way agricultural activities are managed by farmers nowadays. Rural women's lack of mobility and less hands-on computer experience might hinder women's welfare and empowerment. This paper analyses how use of the telephony (both cellular and land line), internet and other ICTs can benefit rural women in educational, business and economic sector. Women in rural India and rural South Africa were marginalized partly due to their lack of ability in being vocal when it comes to empowering themselves using ICTs due to cultural norms in India, and apartheid in South Africa. Over the years, unlike other developing countries, the above-mentioned countries have its unique ICT projects meant for empowering rural women. This paper is driven from the authors' commitment for rural development and rural women empowerment. It highlights different low-cost ICT initiatives and strategies taken by women's organizations, various companies and other non-governmental organizations (NGOs) for rural women empowerment. The paper also highlights various factors influencing use of internet and mobile phone adoption by rural women. Various bottlenecks for the community projects, factors de-motivating the use of mobile phones and internet by rural women and possible solutions for these are also mentioned

Informed consent in palliative care clinical trials: challenging but possible

Obtaining informed consent is a key protection that should be afforded universally to people using health services and the basis around which any participation in clinical trials is built. Randomized controlled effectiveness studies are necessary to answer key questions in hospice and palliative care, in order to help systematically improve the quality of care. In order to be properly generalizable, such trials need to have broad inclusion criteria to reflect the population most likely to be affected by the condition. The inclusion of patients who are seriously ill, and therefore potentially vulnerable, requires careful exploration of ethical and legal principles that underpin informed consent. Specific challenges in obtaining informed consent for randomised clinical trials (RCTs) in clinically unstable populations such as hospice and palliative care include higher rates of people with impaired cognitive capacity as well as interventional studies in clinical situations which may present as a sudden change in condition. None of these challenges is unique to hospice and palliative care research, but the combination and frequency with which they are encountered require systematic and considered solutions. This article outlines five different ethically valid consent approaches and discusses their applicability to hospice and palliative care research trials. These include: consent by the patient (at the time of enrolment, in advance of the study, or delayed until after the study has commenced); a proxy (or legally authorised representative); or a consent waiver. Increased use of the less traditional modes of informed consent may lead to greater participation rates in hospice and palliative care trials, thereby improving the evidence base more rapidly in part by better reflecting the population served and hence improving generalizability

Between Worlds: Securing Mixed JavaScript/ActionScript Multi-Party Web Content

Mixed Flash and JavaScript content has become increasingly prevalent; its purveyance of dynamic features unique to each platform has popularized it for myriad Web development projects. Although Flash and JavaScript security has been examined extensively, the security of untrusted content that combines both has received considerably less attention. This article considers this fusion in detail, outlining several practical scenarios that threaten the security of Web applications. The severity of these attacks warrants the development of new techniques that address the security of Flash-JavaScript content considered as a whole, in contrast to prior solutions that have examined Flash or JavaScript security individually. Toward this end, the article presents FlashJaX, a cross-platform solution that enforces fine-grained, history-based policies that span both Flash and JavaScript. Using in-lined reference monitoring, FlashJaX safely embeds untrusted JavaScript and Flash content in Web pages without modifying browser clients or using special plug-ins. The architecture of FlashJaX, its design and implementation, and a detailed security analysis are exposited. Experiments with advertisements from popular ad networks demonstrate that FlashJaX is transparent to policy-compliant advertisement content, yet blocks many common attack vectors that exploit the fusion of these Web platforms

Observation of quantum depletion in a nonequilibrium exciton-polariton condensate

The property of superfluidity, first discovered in liquid 4He, is closely related to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) of interacting bosons. However, even at zero temperature, when one would expect the whole bosonic quantum liquid to become condensed, a fraction of it is excited into higher momentum states via interparticle interactions and quantum fluctuations -- the phenomenon of quantum depletion. Quantum depletion of weakly interacting atomic BECs in thermal equilibrium is well understood theoretically but is difficult to measure. This is even more challenging in driven-dissipative systems such as exciton-polariton condensates(photons coupled to electron-hole pairs in a semiconductor), since their nonequilibrium nature is predicted to suppress quantum depletion. Here, we observe quantum depletion of an optically trapped high-density exciton-polariton condensate by directly detecting the spectral branch of elementary excitations populated by this process. Analysis of the population of this branch in momentum space shows that quantum depletion of an exciton-polariton condensate can closely follow or strongly deviate from the equilibrium Bogoliubov theory, depending on the fraction of matter (exciton) in an exciton-polariton. Our results reveal the effects of exciton-polariton interactions beyond the mean-field description and call for a deeper understanding of the relationship between equilibrium and nonequilibrium BECs.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, with supplementary informatio