Dormant Areas Research Articles

Deities as the third arm of traditional Igbo government

Igbo studies, especially on political organisations, have enjoyed robust scholarly attention in historical discourse in recent times. The Igbo, unlike their immediate neighbours such as Benin (Edo) and the Igala, ran two parallel systems of government in the pre-colonial period. While some practised a centralised system of government, a reasonable number of Igbo communities contended with decentralised systems. Some reasons for the reign of peace and harmony amongst the Igbo have remained largely uninvestigated and unappreciated. The role of deities as the judicial arm of government in the defence and execution of the law in Igboland has been sketchy in the literature. This extant gap appears to have been ignored by most Igbo scholars who, having been trained in mission schools, have negatively profiled deities and their roles in the traditional Igbo political system. This Eurocentric view calls for a re-interpretation so as to broaden the frontiers of knowledge of this religio-political institution and its role in justice delivery among the Igbo in the decentralized group. This study, therefore, investigates the role of deities in the sustenance of village democracy and autonomy in Igboland. Data garnered from the above sources were organised, analysed and presented through descriptive and analytical approach. This study stirs up deeper insight into this more or less dormant area of Igbo history and also arouses scholarly attention thereto. The study found that deities in non-centralised Igbo communities substituted monarchical institutions and thus brought spiritual dimensions into the Igbo system of governance.

Recent Advancements in Contactless Anthropometry

Anthropometry is a widely used tool across scientific disciplines like, clinical nutrition for assessing growth, body composition and anticipating the health risks, and clothing industry for customized designing. The conventional tools such as the calipers and measuring taps are now being replaced by the digital devices. Among digital devices, the latest technology revolves around low cost 3-D optical imaging techniques which finds their application in all domains including clinical, research and even day-today lives. The literature survey here was carried out in SCOPUS and fifteen research articles, meeting the inclusion criteria, were selected for this review. The study indicated the propensity of the USA and image processing technologies in contactless anthropometric measurements. The consistent studies since 1996 and the domination of the application of the anthropometric data in health services and textile industry suggest necessity of this study. This study utilizes the domain of the optical imaging techniques and provide an overview of the potential applications, operational details and validation studies. The contactless anthropometry is rapidly transforming the static and dormant areas of ergonomics with numerous research opportunities and novel applications.

Yoga and Brain Wave Coherence

Background: The recent hype in yoga practice is concomitant with the fact that it helps the practitioner to achieve radiant health and serene mind. The science of yoga has also become a powerful stream of knowledge. It has increased the number of scientific studies on different yogic interventions, but has also been performed to evaluate its effects on brain wave activity, particularly in neural oscillations. Objectives: In this systematic analysis, we reviewed studies investigating the effect of integrated yoga, meditation, and pranayama on brain wave activity that affects overall cognitive functions. Methods: Broad search strategy was practiced using several online databases: PubMed, Google Scholar, Web of Science, Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, Europe PMC, Scopus, and IndMED. Studies were included in integrated yoga, meditation, and pranayama with brain wave activity, and the entire relevant articles were critically analyzed according to the nature of this study. Results: Several studies examined yogic interventions for restoring brain functions, nerve diseases, and cognitive impairment and suggested that integrated yoga, meditation, and pranayama practices improve verbal skills, reaction time, hand–eye coordination, speed accuracy, and neural activity. Yogic intervention increases overall brain wave (delta, theta, alpha, beta, and gamma) activity, which increases overall cognitive functions with greater perceived cognition, working memory, attention, better switching ability, focusing ability, positive mind, and perception. It has also been reported that yogic intervention activates dormant areas of brain while downgrading memories not of interest and upgrading useful ones. Conclusions: There is emerging evidence from randomized controlled trials to support yoga practice, which significantly improves brain wave activity resulting in better cognitive functions.

Intention Based Comparative Analysis of Human-Robot Interaction

Human-robot interaction is inevitable due to the increase of the autonomous intelligent machines in the human vicinity. The autonomous machines should synchronize with the interacting human. The key factor for synchronized Human-Robot Interaction (HRI) is a human intention. The interacting machine must have the clue about the intention of the interacting human for a useful interaction. In this review paper, recently proposed intention-based approaches for human-robot interaction are discussed. The approaches are categorized concerning different aspects, e.g., application area, specialized and generalized estimation techniques, etc. The review categorized the recently proposed approaches into five categories. The categorization is mainly based on the application areas of the intention recognition approaches. The type of approaches includes general and application-specific approaches. The application areas include synchronized physical human-assistance, human-synchronized vehicles, etc. The vehicles are synchronized with the driver and the pedestrian. The study highlighted the currently active as well as the dormant areas of the intention-based human-robot interaction and indicated new directions.

Seismicity and seismotectonics in and around Sri Lanka: a synoptic review

Seismicity and seismotectonics in and around Sri Lanka are reviewed, considering the country in both the local and regional contexts. Seismic activity reported within the country indicates a close correlation with the local geotectonic setup that comprises certain active features such as lineaments and faults, bedrock fractures, thrust/shear zones and tectonic movements of individual mini-plates. Seismicity in the regional context is discussed, evaluating identified active zones in the northern Indian Ocean surrounding the country. A large area of diffuse seismicity located south-southeast of Sri Lanka enclosing the northern part of the Ninetyeast Ridge, could be a dominant source of strong shallow intraplate earthquakes, and could render direct threats of striking large-magnitude events in close proximity to the country. The oceanic region west of Sri Lanka and continental region of southern peninsular India are not as active, more like dormant areas with sparse seismicity. However, seismogenic potential of these regions may not be completely ruled out, given evidence of previous isolated strong events.

Abstract 1754: Dormant cancer cells are resistant to conventional therapies and induce tumor vessels after chemotherapy.

Abstract Dormant cancer cells were visualized with a fluorescence ubiquitination cell cycle indicator (FUCCI). FUCCI-expressing xenografts were established from MKN45 gastric cancer cells. Within 7 days after inoculation, FUCCI-expressing nascent tumors contained a mixture of cancer cells in G0/G1 phase and in S/G2/M phases. Nascent tumors treated with cyto-toxic agents showed that cancer cells in G0/G1 phase can survive and become dormant. As tumors grew, the proliferating area was only at the surface and the dormant area predominated. Chemotherapy killed only the minority population of proliferating cancer cells at the surface and had little effect on the majority of dormant cancer cells in the tumor center. Furthermore, we investigated tumor chemoresistance using nestin-driven GFP transgenic mice that have GFP-expressing nascent tumor vessels. Chemotherapy-treated tumors had much more and deeper tumor vessels than control tumors, suggesting that dormant cancer cells may protect themselves by inducing tumor vessels. This report suggests that dormant cancer cells play a large role in drug resistance. Citation Format: Shuya Yano, Sumiyuki Mii, Yasunori Tome, Yukihiko Hiroshima, Fuminari Uehara, Shinji Miwa, Toshiyoshi Fujiwara, Robert M. Hoffman. Dormant cancer cells are resistant to conventional therapies and induce tumor vessels after chemotherapy. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 104th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2013 Apr 6-10; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2013;73(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 1754. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2013-1754

Amoebiasis as a Major Risk to Human Health: A Review

Entamoeba histolytica has diverse distribution and is a substantial risk in almost all the countries where barrier between human feces, food and water source are ordinary. There are at least 8 different amoebas that live in the human intestinal lumen however those are generally accepted as commensals except for E. histolytica . The parasite imposes a major threat to public health in most parts of world and has re-emerged in some previously dormant areas as it is categorized as second leading cause of death from parasitic disease worldwide. In most of E. histolytica infection, symptoms remain absent or very mild whereas most frequent clinical manifestation are colitis and liver abscess due to amoebic infection. Laboratory diagnosis of amoebiasis is usually made on the basis of microscopical and serological methods Nitromidazole derivatives like metronidazole, tinidazole and ornidazole are considered as foundation stone of the treatment for amoebiasis. Lack of effective vaccination is one of the major hurdles for the control of amoebiasis that may prevent transmission of the parasite and or at least progression of the infected individuals into active invasive disease. The aim of this article is to comprehensively review the epidemiology, disease pathology and treatment of this parasitic zoonotic disease.

Integrating children's services in England: national evaluation of children's trusts

Poor co-ordination of services can have severe consequences for disadvantaged children with complex needs. Since 2003 national and local governments in England embarked on sweeping reforms aimed at improving and integrating local health, education and social services for children. These were to be organized locally by children's trusts and piloted by 35 children's trust pathfinders. This study described and compared the experience of integrating children's services in all 35 children's trust pathfinders, covering 20% of children in England. It had a prospective mixed-methods design. Over 3 years we interviewed 147 managers and professionals working in the children's trusts, including 172 semi-structured interviews, carried out two questionnaire surveys of the 35 children's trusts and analysed official documents. In most areas different agencies jointly commissioned children's services, especially for mental health, disabilities and multi-purpose children's centres, and increasingly pooled finances. Provision of multi-agency and multi-professional services was increasing. Professionals generally supported these changes but found them stressful. All children's trusts appointed directors of children's services and established boards representing multiple agencies. Systems for sharing information about individual children were mostly in place but were still underused. Health services were generally less involved in joint work than were local authorities' education and social care services, with notable exceptions. Areas where local authorities and health authorities shared geographical boundaries made most progress. Some children's trusts made few changes beyond their statutory obligations. Children's trusts enabled major changes to services in areas where local actors and organizations were motivated and empowered. In other areas the remit of children's trusts was often too broad and vague to overcome entrenched organizational and professional divisions and interests. Policymakers need to balance facilitation of change in areas with dynamic change agents with methods for ensuring that dormant areas and agencies are not left behind.

Clinicopathologic analysis and genetic investigation of two families with cherubism

To study genetic feature, clinical and histopathological characteristic of two Chinese kindreds with cherubism (CBM). Two Chinese kindreds with CBM were investigated. The affected individuals of two families were analyzed with medical history, clinical manifestations, classified grading system, radiographic assessment, histopathological findings, and hereditary nature. There were 2 individuals affected with CBM in family A and 3 patients involving three generations in family B. Two probands were diagnosed aggressive form cherubism and classified as grade IV. In histopathological findings, besides varying numbers of multinucleated giant cells in a stroma of fibroblasts and the eosinophilic cuffing surrounding some vessels, actively proliferating areas with clear mitoschisis and relative dormant areas with loose fibrous tissue and bone were also presented in microscopic fields of the lesion. Cherubism is caused by autosomal dominant inheritance. The diagnosis should be based on the genetic, clinical, radiological, and pathological aspects of the disease.

A narrative and meta-analytic review of helping skills training: Time to revive a dormant area of inquiry.

The authors review previous narrative and meta-analytic reviews on the effectiveness of overall helping skills training programs. The authors then review narrative reviews and conduct a new meta-analysis of specific methods used to teach helping skills within these programs. Our meta-analysis found that, in the aggregate, training methods substantially outperformed no training conditions, and that effect sizes did not vary as a function of trainee educational level (graduate vs. undergraduate students) or the type of criterion measure (interview-based vs. analogue-based empathy measures). Direct comparison of the training methods revealed that modeling outperformed instruction and feedback, and multimethod outperformed single-method training. The authors critique the literature and suggest that the studies in the helping skills literature generally fail to meet contemporary methodological standards, thereby limiting the conclusions that can be drawn. The authors appeal for better research on helping skills training, especially as it is currently practiced. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).

On excursion sets, tube formulas and maxima of random fields

This is a rambling review of what, with a few notable and significant exceptions, has been a rather dormant area for over a decade. It concentrates on the septuagenarian problem of finding good approximations for the excursion probability $P\{sup_{t \in T}X_t \geq \lambda\}$, where $\lambda$ is large, $X$ is a Gaussian, or “Gaussian-like,” process over a region $T \subset \Re^N$, and, generally, $N > 1$. A quarter of a century ago, there was a flurry of papers out of various schools linking this problem to the geometrical properties of random field sample paths. My own papers made the link via Euler characteristics of the excursion sets $\{t \in T: X_t \geq \lambda\}$. A decade ago, Aldous popularized the Poisson clumping heuristic for computing excursion probabilities in a wide variety of scenarios, including the Gaussian. Over the past few years, Keith Worsley has been the driving force behind the computation of many new Euler characteristic functionals, primarily driven by applications in medical imaging. There has also been a parallel development of techniques in the astrophysical literature. Meanwhile, somewhat closer to home, Hotelling’s 1939 “tube formulas” have seen a renaissance as sophisticated statistical hypothesis testing problems led to their reapplication toward computing excursion probabilities, and Sun and others have shown how to apply them in a purely Gaussian setting. The aim of the present paper is to look again at many of these results and tie them together in new ways to obtain a few new results and, hopefully, considerable new insight. The “Punchline of this paper,”which relies heavily on a recent result of Piterbarg, is given in Section 6.6: “In computing excursion probabilities for smooth enough Gaussian random fields over reasonable enough regions, the expected Euler characteristic of the corresponding excursion sets gives an approximation, for large levels, that is accurate to as many terms as there are in its expansion.”

A FUNCTIONALIST PERSPECTIVE ON THE NATURE OF EMOTION

The field of emotion is changing rapidly and, in the process, shifting its philosophical orientation. The changes are surprisingly broad, ranging from new conceptualizations of how physiological systems are related to emotion to new conceptualizations of how culture is related to emotion. They bring new theoretical vigor to the field and open up previously dormant areas of study. The changes bring about new ways of measuring emotions and create the need for a new lexicon to describe the nature of emo-

Health Care Reform and the Constitutional Limits on Private Accreditation as an Alternative to Direct Government Regulation

My goals are modest. First, I will draw upon my personal experience during six-and-a-half years at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make a few cultural observations about the agency in an effort to suggest why different parts of it approach private accreditation in different ways. Second, I will discuss some of the possible limitations on the use of private accreditation in the health care area, including the private delegation doctrine, a dormant area of constitutional law so treacherous that it seems to have appeal to both former Justice Brennan and Chief Justice Rehnquist as a vehicle for judicial activism.

Unblocking brainstorms.

Brainstorming groups have consistently produced fewer ideas than have the equivalent number of individuals working by themselves. These results have been attributed to social loafing, evaluation apprehension, and production blocking in groups. In this study, a new brainstorming technique--electronic brainstorming--that may reduce both production blocking and evaluation apprehension was assessed. Electronic and nonelectronic groups and nominal and interacting groups were compared in a 2 x 2 factorial design. Electronic groups were more productive than nonelectronic groups, but the productivity of nominal and interacting groups did not differ. In contrast, interacting groups felt better about the idea-generation process than did nominal groups. Ways in which electronic brainstorming can reopen a long dormant area of research and application are discussed.

Late effects on human bone marrow after extended field radiotherapy

Thirty-two patients with lymphoma were treated by extended radiotherapy (RT) at a dose of 40 Gy and were studied by ferrokinetic studies and surface counting at various times following irradiation. Loss of hematopoietic activity in the irradiated areas is compensated by increased activity in the non-irradiated areas. Despite the return of peripheral blood counts to normal, the hyperactivity of the non-irradiated bone marrow persists over up to 13 years after RT, while the hematopoietic activity of the irradiated areas remains depressed and is only slightly higher than immediately after RT. The hypoactivity persisted even when the hemopoietic tissues had been subjected to the intense stimulation provoked by an aplasia caused by chemotherapy. However, a recovery was observed for dose of 20 Gy or lower. The hemopoietic activity of the irradiated bone marrow appears to be related to the volume of the marrow irradiated and is higher after a mantle + inverted Y field than after a mantle field. Bone marrow scintigraphies with 52Fe in 7 out of 9 patients studied revealed an extension of hematopoiesis into a normally dormant area of the marrow, such as the femora. In 2 patients an erythropoietic activity was observed in spleens which had received a dose of 40 Gy, and extra medullary erythropoiesis was found in approximately two-thirds of the patients.

The Primeval Radiation Spectrum Longward of 3 mm

Ground based measurements of the temperature of the microwave background radiation show good agreement with a (2.72 ± 0.08) K black-body spectrum for wavelengths longer than 3.3 mm. The techniques and problems associated with absolute, ground based, radiometry are reviewed, and the prospects for improvement assessed. The prospects of finding spectral distortions anticipated by theory, and new measurements of the spectrum shortward of 3.3 mm, have renewed interest in this dormant area of experimental cosmology.

Developments in Four Corners-Intermountain Area in 1965

Exploratory drilling in the Four Corners-Intermountain area decreased slightly from 1964. There were activity in all basins in the area and significant successes in New Mexico and Utah. The unnamed Gallup discovery south of New Mexico's Hospah field is indicated to be the most significant wildcat success in the area. Development drilling showed a greater decrease than exploration drilling. There were good development programs in both the San Juan and Uinta basins. Exploratory drilling should continue at a good rate through 1966. Two previously dormant areas, the Chaco slope and the north flank of the Uinta Mountains, should receive considerable attention during the year.