Race-based mascots: Reflecting on university–community conversations

Two university art educators engaged in research to explore issues of race and representation through examining the histories of race-based mascots at their two Midwestern US universities. Collaborative inquiry allowed for reflective practice, dialogue and critical listening as part of extended conversations to examine the stereotyping of Indigenous1 culture and images with students and community members. Issues of race, representation, stereotyping and systemic racism were explored with university art education students, faculty and Myaamia citizens (Miami Tribe of Oklahoma) in a workshop setting. Conversations within the workshop aimed to extend understandings about the cultural and artistic traditions of the Miami Tribe and strengthen cross-institutional and community relationships. Post-workshop analysis of the collaborators’ correspondences was analysed to reveal three themes: relationships and voice, representation and acknowledgement. Reconciliation is discussed as ongoing and mutual effort involving a continuous process of critical reflection, listening and dialogue necessary for building relationships and to learn directly from Indigenous peoples.

Hormone-Related Cancer and Autoimmune Diseases: A Complex Interplay to be Discovered

Neoplasic transformation is a continuous process that occurs in the body. Even before clinical signs, the immune system is capable of recognizing these aberrant cells and reacting to suppress them. However, transformed cells acquire the ability to evade innate and adaptive immune defenses through the secretion of molecules that inhibit immune effector functions, resulting in tumor progression. Hormones have the ability to modulate the immune system and are involved in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases, and cancer. Hormones can control both the innate and adaptive immune systems in men and women. For example androgens reduce immunity through modulating the production of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory mediators. Women are more prone than men to suffer from autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriasis and others. This is linked to female hormones modulating the immune system. Patients with autoimmune diseases consistently have an increased risk of cancer, either as a result of underlying immune system dysregulation or as a side effect of pharmaceutical treatments. Epidemiological data on cancer incidence emphasize the link between the immune system and cancer. We outline and illustrate the occurrence of hormone-related cancer and its relationship to the immune system or autoimmune diseases in this review. It is obvious that some observations are contentious and require explanation of molecular mechanisms and validation. As a result, future research should clarify the molecular pathways involved, including any causal relationships, in order to eventually allocate information that will aid in the treatment of hormone-sensitive cancer and autoimmune illness.

Unique mobile elements and scalable gene flow at the prokaryote–eukaryote boundary revealed by circularized Asgard archaea genomes

Eukaryotic genomes are known to have garnered innovations from both archaeal and bacterial domains but the sequence of events that led to the complex gene repertoire of eukaryotes is largely unresolved. Here, through the enrichment of hydrothermal vent microorganisms, we recovered two circularized genomes of Heimdallarchaeum species that belong to an Asgard archaea clade phylogenetically closest to eukaryotes. These genomes reveal diverse mobile elements, including an integrative viral genome that bidirectionally replicates in a circular form and aloposons, transposons that encode the 5,000 amino acid-sized proteins Otus and Ephialtes. Heimdallaechaeal mobile elements have garnered various genes from bacteria and bacteriophages, likely playing a role in shuffling functions across domains. The number of archaea- and bacteria-related genes follow strikingly different scaling laws in Asgard archaea, exhibiting a genome size-dependent ratio and a functional division resembling the bacteria- and archaea-derived gene repertoire across eukaryotes. Bacterial gene import has thus likely been a continuous process unaltered by eukaryogenesis and scaled up through genome expansion. Our data further highlight the importance of viewing eukaryogenesis in a pan-Asgard context, which led to the proposal of a conceptual framework, that is, the Heimdall nucleation–decentralized innovation–hierarchical import model that accounts for the emergence of eukaryotic complexity.

The Relationship between Conflict and Social Change in the Perspective of Expert Theory: A Literature Review

Conflict and social change are a couple that influences each other. Conflict inevitably drives social change. Social changes also inevitably lead to conflict. These conditions can manifest in large or small sizes. Every society that exists on this earth in their life will certainly experience what is called changes. The existence of these changes will be known if we compare by examining society at a particular time which we then compare with the state of society in the past. Changes that occur in society are a continuous process. This situation means that every society will, in fact, experience changes. This study aims to collect argumentative views on the relationship between conflict and social change. The conclusions of this study have a significant impact in providing illustrations and projections of what social situations occur before and after conflicts or social changes occur. This research is a discourse relation analysis research. This type of research analyzes the relationship between two or more variables and then describes each contextual factor. This study concludes that the argumentative view of implying and exposing the relationship of conflict to social change is vital and sensitive.

Dynamic simulation and optimization of anaerobic digestion processes using MATLAB

Time series-based modeling provides a fundamental understanding of process fluctuations in an anaerobic digestion process. However, such models are scarce in literature. In this work, a dynamic model was developed based on modified Hill’s model using MATLAB, which can predict the biomethane production with time series. This model can predict the biomethane production for both batch and continuous process, across substrates and at diverse conditions such as total solids, loading rate, and days of operation. The deviation between literature and the developed model was less than ±7.6%, which shows the accuracy and robustness of this model. Moreover, statistical analysis showed there was no significant difference between literature and simulation, verifying the null hypothesis. Finding a steady and optimized loading rate was necessary to an industrial perspective, which usually requires an extensive experimental data. With the developed model, a stable and optimal methane yield generating loading rate could be identified at minimal input.

Continuous Encapsulation of Vitamin E Using Polycaprolactone and Tween 20 in a Micro-Channel

Encapsulation of vitamin E is the preservation of the biological activities of vitamin E for various applications. In the first part of this research, factors affecting the batch encapsulation of vitamin E, including PCL concentration, the concentration of Tween 20, and the volumetric ratio of aqueous phase to organic phase were experimentally investigated. The Box-Behnken experimental design and response surface methodology were implemented to determine the optimal operating conditions of the batch encapsulation. At the optimal conditions, the percentage of vitamin E encapsulation (%EC) was 98.69%, using the PCL concentration, the Tween 20 concentration, and the volumetric ratio of aqueous phase to organic phase of 3.6 g/L, 0.6 g/L, and 0.9 mL: 1 mL, respectively. The second part is to enhance the productivity by applying the optimized formulation of vitamin E encapsulation in a continuous process using a micro-channel encapsulator. The effect of residence time was investigated. At the residence time of 1 s, the percentage of vitamin E encapsulation of 97.28% and the productivity of 153.61 mg/(mL∙min) were achieved.

Menyerupai Allah: Manusia yang Mengaktualisasikan Diri

This paper is a study of the question of how can human beings carry out a call that 'becoming like God'? To answer this question, a construction model of ideas referred to as 'self-actualizing' is mentioned in this paper. It will be presented in two main theses. First, Aquinas's epistemology-metaphysical concept can be a solution to the unclear in understanding the idea of 'becoming like God'. Second, with the participation of Heidegger's thinking on the concept of dasein, mankind can find concrete steps in trying to become like God, namely by actualizing all the potential they have. This paper uses a literature study by examining and analyzing the literature related to the relevant topic. The conclusion in this paper is that the potential that humans have is always in a continuous process to pursue their actuality. This is similar to God Himself who is a pure act.AbstrakTulisan ini merupakan sebuah telaah atas pertanyaan bagaimana manusia dapat melaksanakan panggilan 'menyerupai Allah'? Untuk menjawab pertanyaan tersebut, sebuah model konstruksi gagasan yang disebut sebagai 'mengaktualisasikan diri' diajukan dalam tulisan ini. Hal ini akan dipaparkan dalam dua tesis utama, yaitu, pertama, bahwa konsep epistemologi-metafisika tradisi Aquinas dapat menjadi solusi atas kekaburan dalam memahami gagasan tentang 'menyerupai Tuhan'. Kedua, bahwa dengan partisipasi pemikiran Heidegger mengenai konsep dasein, maka manusia dapat menemukan langkah konkret dalam berupaya untuk Menyerupai Allah, yakni dengan mengaktualisasikan segala potensi yang ia miliki. Tulisan ini menggunakan studi pustaka dengan memeriksa dan menganalisis literatur terkait topik yang relevan. Kesimpulan dalam tulisan ini yaitu potensi yang manusia miliki selalu berada dalam sebuah proses terus-menerus untuk mengejar aktualitasnya. Hal tersebut serupa dengan Allah sendiri yang adalah pure act.

Features of clinical symptom and inflammatory marker regression in the use of thermal oxygen-helium mixture in SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia treatment

New coronavirus infection is accompanied by high mortality and socio-economic losses in the world community. Despite the continuous process of including new medication with antiviral and anti-inflammatory effects in the disease treatment, the development of complications, primarily of hypoxic origin, and mortality remain high.The aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of the use of thermal oxygen-helium mixture in the therapy on the rate of regression of clinical and laboratory signs of inflammation, as well as the length of patient hospital stay.Material and methods. 59 patient medical records with moderate and severe disease were analyzed. The article summarizes experience of patient management with COVID-19-associated pneumonia who are treated with or without the use of thermal oxygen-helium mixture in one of intensive care units in multi-filed hospital.Results and discussion. It has been proven that the use of a thermal oxygen-helium mixture in the SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia treatment is effective.

Improvement of Risk Management Process in Space Product Development Through its Continuous Integration

Relevance. Nowadays, enterprises not only have to constantly introduce new products, but also to reduce development time, reduce costs, and improve the variety and quality of their products. In the product development process, risk management is too often underutilized and relegated to the background compared to product development planning and monitoring tools. Moreover, the measurement of process performance of risk management within product development is not defined and does not allow for comparison with peers or support continuous process improvement.The purpose of the study is to provide a framework for improving the risk management process performance in space product development. So that risk managers have the proper tools to monitor and understand where resources and efforts should be directed to improve the process.Results. This article identifies how to represent risk in product development and how to measure its impact on the performance of the risk management process in product development. Through a survey of key players in the Russian space industry, the study identifies different practices and needs in risk management, product development and performance measurement of these processes.Methods. Theoretical research methods: analysis, synthesis, classification, comparison, abstraction, generalization, modeling. Empirical method — survey: questionnaire survey. The key contribution of this study (to limit the usual delays and cost overruns in the space industry) is to establish specific characteristics and methods that can serve as a reference practice and basis for the future development of a tool that will assist in the evaluation of space development projects.

Kernel Fisher Envelope Surface for Pattern Recognition

It is found that the batch process is more difficultly monitored compared with the continuous process, due to its complex features, such as nonlinearity, non-stable operation, unequal production cycles, and most variables only measured at the end of batch. Traditional methods for batch process, such as multiway FDA (Chen 2004) and multi-model FDA (He et al. 2005), cannot solve these issues well. They require complete batch data only available at the end of a batch. Therefore, the complete batch trajectory must be estimated real time, or alternatively only the measured values at the current moment are used for online diagnosis. Moreover, the above approaches do not consider the problem of inconsistent production cycles.