Sole Force Research Articles

The Ethical Framework with COVID-19 and Challenges of Bangladesh Government: A Critical Discussion

To control the spread of nCoV-2 (COVID-19), almost all countries are taking active non-therapeutic measures. COVID-19 has delivered to the fore the long-standing debates on ethics, public health ethics, and moral values. Human life is uncertain and threatened due to no medical invention generally to guard life against this dangerous virus by using social and community protection to be maintained as a safeguard. For affected individuals and fair dealings, ethics, ethical values, and morality are the sole force to dominate this case and are thought-about vital tools. Patients, their relatives, aid workers, policymakers, and the general public face ethical issues due to the pandemic. The foremost attentive ethical problems during this crisis area unit human rights, obligations for healthcare staff, and obligations of nations and intergovernmental organizations. Then, at that point, the test of moral qualities is a unit that has been addressed: the morals of segregation and social separation, the obligation of care of teammates with patients, and admittance to treatment when assets are restricted. This article will clarify the ethical framework and ethical values of the main tools in non-pharmacological and non-vaccine-related situations of this disease. It will provide a basic ethical framework to guide decision-makers at all levels in the preparation and response to COVID-19, with much attention paid to allocating scarce resources. Data was gathered and reviewed from secondary documents, observation, and previous studies such as articles and journals. Bangladesh, one of the foremost inhabited territories in this world, has an extreme challenge to implement mitigation measures for this extensive corruption and mismanagement problem. The findings of this study show that the various ethical aspects are the only power for managing COVID-19. An ethical framework that promotes trust-building and solidarity and guides decision-making can still be developed. This study will play a role in ethically combating this devastating COVID-19 pandemic and creating a model for the authority that will maintain ethical values in numerous segments of the department. This writing will also guide, by the notion of position, notions of trust, ethical behavior, and sensible decision-making and apply these ethical concerns to the present situations for the pandemic, and provide individuals ways to attach and facilitate every other.

XRF analysis of Laguna Pallcacocha sediments yields new insights into Holocene El Niño development

The laminated sedimentary sequence of Ecuador's Laguna Pallcacocha is one of the most widely cited proxy records of Holocene El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) variability. Previous efforts to reconstruct flood-driven laminae from Laguna Pallcacocha relied solely on sediment color, a useful but non-specific metric of flood events. We improved the chronology with 210Pb and additional 14C dates over the past millennium, which allows for comparison of the sedimentary record with historically documented El Niño events. Additionally, we use elemental composition derived from X-ray Fluorescence (XRF) to reconstruct flood history at Pallcacocha. A principal component analysis (PCA) of the XRF dataset identifies minerogenic flood-driven clastic laminae. The first principal component (PC1) of the XRF data and red color intensity are positively correlated over the past 7.5 kyr, but the color record fails to capture high frequency variability that is preserved in the XRF dataset during the early Holocene (approximately 7.5-11 kyr BP). The new XRF dataset indicates moderate El Niño activity during the early Holocene, suppressed El Niño activity in the middle Holocene, and enhanced El Niño activity during the late Holocene. This pattern is relatively common among other ENSO records, and has been attributed to long-term changes in tropical insolation. Some intervals-most notably between 3-2 kyr BP and during the last millennium-deviate from expected trends if insolation was the sole forcing mechanism. Previously proposed mechanisms linking ENSO to latitudinal displacement of the ITCZ and ocean-atmospheric variabilities in other ocean basins appear to play an additional role in modulating Holocene ENSO development, as demonstrated by statistically significant correlations between the revised Laguna Pallcacocha flood history and proxy records from the Atlantic.

Transforming environmental governance: critical action intellectuals and their praxis in the field

Over the past decade, widespread concern has emerged over how environmental governance can be transformed to avoid impending catastrophes such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and livelihood insecurity. A variety of approaches have emerged, focusing on either politics, technological breakthrough, social movements, or macro-economic processes as the main drivers of change. In contrast, this paper presents theoretical insights about how systemic change in environmental governance can be triggered by critical and intellectually grounded social actors in specific contexts of environment and development. Conceptualising such actors as critical action intellectuals (CAI), we analyze how CAI emerge in specific socio-environmental contexts and contribute to systemic change in governance. CAI trigger transformative change by shifting policy discourse, generating alternative evidence, and challenging dominant policy assumptions, whilst aiming to empower marginalized groups. While CAI do not work in a vacuum, nor are the sole force in transformation, we nevertheless show that the praxis of CAI within fields of environmental governance has the potential to trigger transformation. We illustrate this through three cases of natural resource governance in Nepal, Nicaragua and Guatemala, and Kenya, where the authors themselves have engaged as CAI. We contribute to theorising the ‘how’ of transformation by showing the ways CAI praxis reshape fields of governance and catalyze transformation, distinct from, and at times complementary to, other dominant drivers such as social movements, macroeconomic processes or technological breakthroughs.

Causation without correlation: parasite-mediated frequency-dependent selection and infection prevalence.

Parasite-mediated selection is thought to maintain host genetic diversity for resistance. We might thus expect to find a strong positive correlation between host genetic diversity and infection prevalence across natural populations. Here, we used computer simulations to examine host-parasite coevolution in 20 simi-isolated clonal populations across a broad range of values for both parasite virulence and parasite fecundity. We found that the correlation between host genetic diversity and infection prevalence can be significantly positive for intermediate values of parasite virulence and fecundity. But the correlation can also be weak and statistically non-significant, even when parasite-mediated frequency-dependent selection is the sole force maintaining host diversity. Hence correlational analyses of field populations, while useful, might underestimate the role of parasites in maintaining host diversity.

Stress peaks, stiffening and back-flow in bilayer poro-elastic metamaterials

In the present work, we present a linear poroelastic model for a quasi-static oscillating bilayer beam made by two thick strata in perfect bond at their interface, characterized by different elastic moduli and permeability, both directly influenced by porosity. The solution is built up by considering the structure as a three-dimensional object and is obtained analytically for the full coupling of mass balance and mechanical equations, by imposing weak boundary conditions on the sole forces emerging at the lateral outermost surfaces, neglecting the inertial effects. After verifying the accuracy of the solution by comparing theoretical outcomes and numerical results from Finite Element simulations, ad hoc sensitivity analyses were then carried out in order to investigate the effects on the stress distribution and fluid flow due to prescribed inhomogeneities related to variations of material and geometrical parameters across the beam thickness, by keeping constant the total volume of the porous solid skeleton and applying self-equilibrated and oscillating in time axial forces and bending moments at two opposite sides of the structure. Some dynamic analyses were also performed to highlight proper periods and frequencies ranges where pulse loadings ensured the quasi-static response of the system, however discussing interferences due to transient regimes for selected cases on the basis of numerical analyses. Finally, we show that, by playing with ratios between elastic moduli, thickness and porosity of the two layers, a number of counterintuitive or even non-conventional behaviors can be observed, which give rise to unexpected back-flow phenomena and anomalous fluid content distributions, as well as to stress peaks kindled by moving the layer interface and overall stiffening that could be all exploited for the design of new multi-objective poroelastic metamaterials.

Bioimpedance plethysmography with capacitive electrodes and sole force sensors: comparative trial

Foot impedance plethysmography was implemented using two types of electrodes (dry and capacitive) and sole force sensors. The latter are commonly used for assessing diabetic foot ulcers (DFU). For impedance plethysmography, a tetrapolar configuration has been used with three different plantar setups: four skin contact electrodes, four capacitive contact electrodes and two Force Sensing Resistors (FSRs). In this work, FSRs have been considered as possible capacitive electrodes because the top substrate contains interdigitating conductive electrodes and a semiconductive polymer. All the measurements have been performed using a 1 mA/10 kHz excitation current and have been tried under the feet of a standing person to detect impedance plethysmography signals. Contact electrodes allow a good cardiac pulse signal while capacitive contact through the socks features mains interferences. Force sensing resistors with their force-dependent resistance in parallel to the capacitive coupling, were not able to detect cardiac pulse. But promising results can be anticipated from these findings provided higher frequencies are used and larger sensor areas to help detect altered skin states in diabetic foot.

Why the third way of evolution is necessary.

The Third Way of Evolution was founded in 2014 to make the public aware that contemporary evolution science is not limited to the neo-Darwinian Modern Synthesis of the past century. This was important to do because evolution was challenged as incapable of explaining biological complexity by the Intelligent Design movement. Expounding biological theories like the Modern Synthesis is always subject to limited empirical evidence, fundamental concepts that inevitably change over time, and conceptual preferences that often prove to be misleading. The Modern Synthesis was based on Darwin's preference for the phyletic gradualism necessary to elevate Natural Selection as the sole force determining the direction of evolutionary change. In contradiction to this principle, agricultural crop breeding, direct observation in nature, and genomics have shown that genome change following symbiogenetic cell fusions or interspecific hybridization, not selection, are empirically the most effective methods for originating novel life forms and new species. By asserting that the accumulation of random "slight" variations was the basic mode of both short-term and long-term evolutionary change, the Modern Synthesis also ignored the distinction between (1) microevolutionary change within species by localized mutations and (2) macroevolutionary origination of new species and taxa by genome restructuring. In so doing, the Modern Synthesis failed to recognize the evolutionary importance of cellular capacities to generate large-scale genome changes. By focusing on individual protein-coding genes as the fundamental units of genetic information, the Modern Synthesis did not successfully incorporate either the full non-coding informa tion content in genomes or the major evolutionary potential of mobile DNA elements to generate multisite intragenomic networks necessary for the development of complex organisms. When all of the phenomena overlooked by the Modern Synthesis are taken into consideration, it is not difficult to answer Intelligent Design arguments and show that science is making real progress in understanding the evolution of biological complexity.

Effect of mass and center of gravity on vehicle speed and braking performance

The center of gravity (CG) of a vehicle is a key parameter that helps determine vehicle stability, braking efficiency, and safety. In a gravity vehicle, the mass of the vehicle is also an important factor in vehicle performance because it provides the sole force of propulsion. We hypothesized that if a vehicle was constructed according to mathematically-derived optimal mass and CG location, then a fast and accurate vehicle would result. To test this hypothesis, we constructed a gravity vehicle, which is a vehicle powered by its own gravity on a ramp. Mathematical calculations were used to rationalize this hypothesis. Shifting the CG rearward increased the vehicle’s effective launching height on the ramp and corresponding gravitational potential energy, resulting in greater kinetic energy and speed. However, the accuracy (m-1), defined as the reciprocal of braking distance from the target, increased initially, peaked, and then decreased as the vehicle mass increased. We performed experiments with five mass parameters and three load locations, using an unloaded vehicle as control. Speed and accuracy were then measured for 16 sets of data. Compared to front and centrally-loaded vehicles, the rear-loaded vehicles displayed the best results. As the mass increased to a medium value, both the speed and accuracy reached a maximum. The experimental results supported the hypothesis that the optimal CG position is 22 ± 1 cm rear of the front axle and the ideal mass is 867 ± 50 grams. This study highlights the significance of CG position in vehicle design.

The changing role of global value chains in CO2 emission intensity in 2000–2014

The growing and transiting global value chains (GVCs) have largely reshaped the economic landscape as well as CO2 emissions of countries. Decoupling GVCs from emissions is essential to achieving the global climate goal. A fundamental question is to understand the changing role of GVCs in global CO2 emissions. To this end, we propose a multi-region structural decomposition analysis model to quantify the impacts of GVCs on global and national emission intensities. The structural changes in GVCs are further characterized by three aspects, i.e. the GVC production linkages, regional and sectoral structures of GVC sourcing. Applying the proposed methodology to the global multi-region input-output tables for 2000–2014 shows that GVCs were much more emission intensive than domestic production during this period. Nevertheless, GVCs were the sole force improving global emission intensity, stemming mainly from contributions by emerging economies as well as service and manufacturing sectors. The sectoral structure of GVC sourcing was a main contributor to the improvement, while the regional structure of GVC sourcing and GVC production linkages hindered the procedure. Finally, GVC impacts on emission intensities varied before and after the 2008 economic crisis.

Islamic radicalism that never was: Islamic discourse as an extension of the elite’s quest for legitimation. Azerbaijan in focus

Not unlike the global dynamics and the developments in the rest of Central Eurasia, Islamic discourse in Azerbaijan over the past two decades has not reflected the micro-level shifts in the country’s social-cultural landscape. Rather, it has been formed and evolved as a collateral product of the elite’s tactical pursuit of legitimation across domestic and international planes of power. Grounded in its quest for tactical and strategic survival, the elite’s pursuit of Western (and broader international) recognition, in particular, has stood at the core of the elite’s policies toward Islam and molded the confines of state-promoted Islamic discourse. The regime’s overall strategy has been to continuously reinforce the representation of Islam as an imminent danger to the stability and secular nature of Azerbaijani statehood, while positioning itself—in the eyes of both the “liberal,” “democratic” West and the secularized population at home—as the sole force capable of staving off the Islamic threat. At that, the narrative of Islamic radicalism in Azerbaijan has centered around three principal dynamics: the regime’s anti-hijab policies, the regime’s policies toward the settlement of Nardaran in Baku’s suburbs, and the activities of the Islamic Party of Azerbaijan (IPA). This article provides a closer look at all three to expose the elite’s intention of using these as their primary trigger mechanisms and reference points in the quest for Western—and secular domestic—legitimation and, as such, the pursuit of the negative representation of Islam as a threat to secularity and modern statehood.

Impact of rocker sole footwear on plantar pressure distribution during standing and walking in adult obese women

Purpose: Obesity increases the stresses applied to the foot. Ergonomic rocker sole shoes increase energy expenditure of standing and walking in obese individuals but could potentially alter plantar pressure distribution. The aim of this study was to compare plantar pressure distribution during standing and walking between rocker sole and flat-bottomed shoes in obese subjects.Methods: Twenty adult obese women were asked to stand quietly and to walk at their preferred walking speed whilst wearing flat-bottomed or rocker sole shoes. Plantar pressure distribution was assessed using instrumented insoles.Results: During standing, toe pressure and as well as midfoot force were higher with rocker sole than with flat-bottomed shoes (p < 0.05). During walking with rocker sole shoes, mean pressure and maximal force were lower under the toes and the forefoot, but higher under the midfoot and rearfoot regions with respect to flat-bottomed shoes (p < 0.05).Conclusions: While standing with rocker sole shoes, obese subjects showed augmented pressure under the toes whereas forefoot and heel pressure had no significant difference compared to the flat-bottomed shoes. As walking with rocker sole shoes resulted in decreased forces and pressures under the forefoot but increased overload at heel and midfoot regions, obese individuals may not benefit from wearing rocker sole shoes during walking, at least from a plantar pressure distribution perspective.Implications for rehabilitationThe use of ergonomic rocker sole shoes causes a redistribution of in-shoe plantar pressures leading to potentially detrimental adjustments that fail to attenuate the obesity-related increase in midfoot pressure during standing, while accentuating this region-specific impairment in dynamic conditions.Rocker sole shoes may best be avoided for walking in obese patients with heel pain or with any midfoot/rearfoot alteration such as medial arch flattening.

Sleeping above the enemy: Sleeping site choice by black‐fronted titi monkeys (Callicebus nigrifrons)

The costs imposed by predation may result in behavioral adaptations to reduce mortality risk, including the choice and use of sleeping sites. The threat of predation, however, is rarely the sole force shaping sleeping site choice, which is likely to reflect other factors such as foraging needs as well. Here we describe the use of sleeping sites by three groups of small Neotropical monkeys, the black-fronted titi monkeys (Callicebus nigrifrons), and evaluate the role of predation pressure and foraging optimization in their choice of sleeping sites. We monitored each group for 9-20 months at two Atlantic Forest sites in southeastern Brazil. The titi monkeys used taller and larger trees to sleep than the average trees at each study site and chose branches with high vegetation coverage and located in higher forest strata than those used during diurnal activity. Sleeping sites were randomly distributed within each group's home range, and the groups avoided using the same site on consecutive nights. The characteristics of the sleeping sites and the behavior of the titi monkeys suggest that predation avoidance, especially of scansorial carnivores, is an important factor driving sleeping site choice. We conclude that titi monkeys' strategy to avoid predation while sleeping depends on the presence of a heterogeneous forest stratum with large emergent trees and liana tangles, which offer a physical barrier against predators.

The mechanics of malaria parasite invasion of the human erythrocyte - towards a reassessment of the host cell contribution.

SummaryDespite decades of research, we still know little about the mechanics of Plasmodium host cell invasion. Fundamentally, while the essential or non‐essential nature of different parasite proteins is becoming clearer, their actual function and how each comes together to govern invasion are poorly understood. Furthermore, in recent years an emerging world view is shifting focus away from the parasite actin–myosin motor being the sole force responsible for entry to an appreciation of host cell dynamics and forces and their contribution to the process. In this review, we discuss merozoite invasion of the erythrocyte, focusing on the complex set of pre‐invasion events and how these might prime the red cell to facilitate invasion. While traditionally parasite interactions at this stage have been viewed simplistically as mediating adhesion only, recent work makes it apparent that by interacting with a number of host receptors and signalling pathways, combined with secretion of parasite‐derived lipid material, that the merozoite may initiate cytoskeletal re‐arrangements and biophysical changes in the erythrocyte that greatly reduce energy barriers for entry. Seen in this light Plasmodium invasion may well turn out to be a balance between host and parasite forces, much like that of other pathogen infection mechanisms.

Study of Interaction Between Tryptophan, Tyrosine, and Phenylalanine Separately with Silver Nanoparticles by Fluorescence Quenching Method

Using the spectroscopic method, the individual interaction of the three biochemically important amino acids, which are constituents of protein, namely, tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine with biologically synthesized silver nanoparticles has been investigated. The obtained UV-Vis spectra show the formation of ground-state complexes between tryptophan, tyrosine, and phenylalanine with silver nanoparticles. Silver nanoparticles possess the ability to quench the intrinsic fluorescence of the aforesaid amino acids by a dynamic quenching process. The binding constant, number of binding sites, and corresponding thermodynamic parameters (ΔH, ΔS, and ΔG) based on the interaction system were calculated for 293, 303, and 313 K. In the case of tryptophan and phenylalanine, with increase in temperature, the binding constant K was found to decrease; conversely, it was found to increase with increase in temperature in the case of tyrosine. The thermodynamic results revealed that the binding process was spontaneous; hydrogen bonding and van der Waals interaction were the predominant forces responsible for the complex stabilization in the case of tryptophan and phenylalanine, respectively, whereas in the case of tyrosine, hydrophobic interaction was the sole force conferring stability. Moreover, the Forster non-radiation energy transfer theory has been applied to calculate the average binding distance among the above amino acids and silver nanoparticles. The results show a binding distance of <7 nm, which ensures that energy transfer does occur between the said amino acids and silver nanoparticles.

Astronomically forced variations in western African rainfall (21°N-20°S) during the Last Interglacial period

This study documents the long-term evolution of western African precipitation during the Last Interglacial (LIG). We compare geochemical records obtained on nine sediment cores from the western African margin to a transient simulation (130-115 ka) performed with an ocean-atmosphere general circulation model and insolation as sole forcing. Good agreement between proxy records and model outputs indicates that long-term changes in western African precipitation largely responded to insolation variations during most of the LIG. After an early LIG dry phase (related to high-latitude iceberg melting or dating uncertainties), boreal summer insolation controlled the intensification of the North African monsoon between 127 and 122 ka, perhaps facilitating human migrations out of Africa. Equatorial African rainfall slightly increased throughout the LIG in response to increasing annual insolation. East-west contrasting rainfall evolutions at 10-20°S illustrate the complex southern African response, in contrast to more direct responses of North and equatorial western Africa, to insolation forcing.

Molecular Population Genetics of Inversion Breakpoint Regions inDrosophila pseudoobscura

Paracentric inversions in populations can have a profound effect on the pattern and organization of nucleotide variability along a chromosome. Regions near inversion breakpoints are expected to have greater levels of differentiation because of reduced genetic exchange between different gene arrangements whereas central regions in the inverted segments are predicted to have lower levels of nucleotide differentiation due to greater levels of genetic flux among different karyotypes. We used the inversion polymorphism on the third chromosome of Drosophila pseudoobscura to test these predictions with an analysis of nucleotide diversity of 18 genetic markers near and away from inversion breakpoints. We tested hypotheses about how the presence of different chromosomal arrangements affects the pattern and organization of nucleotide variation. Overall, markers in the distal segment of the chromosome had greater levels of nucleotide heterozygosity than markers within the proximal segment of the chromosome. In addition, our results rejected the hypothesis that the breakpoints of derived inversions will have lower levels of nucleotide variability than breakpoints of ancestral inversions, even when strains with gene conversion events were removed. High levels of linkage disequilibrium were observed within all 11 breakpoint regions as well as between the ends of most proximal and distal breakpoints. The central region of the chromosome had the greatest levels of linkage disequilibrium compared with the proximal and distal regions because this is the region that experiences the highest level of recombination suppression. These data do not fully support the idea that genetic exchange is the sole force that influences genetic variation on inverted chromosomes.

2A1-E02 足底軌跡と作用力による非装着型操作インタフェースの提案(人間機械協調)

2A1-E02 足底軌跡と作用力による非装着型操作インタフェースの提案(人間機械協調)

DYNAMIC SIMULATION OF BIPED WALKING ON LOOSE SOIL

Most of the studies on biped walking on even or uneven terrain have assumed stiff ground. This paper proposes a dynamic contact model between foot and loose soil. The proposed contact model provides sinkage of the foot, slip of the sole and reactive force acting on the foot on loose soil. Sinkage of the foot and slip of the sole are calculated utilizing terramechanics model, which are important characteristics for biped robot to walk on loose soil. Reactive force acting on the foot on loose soil is calculated using spring-damper model between the foot and the deformed ground. By applying the proposed contact model to a usual dynamics simulator, dynamic sinkage and slip phenomenon during biped walking on loose soil are simulated. Additionally, in order to verify the simulation result, experiments were carried out using a humanoid robot.

Persistent influence of ice sheet melting on high northern latitude climate during the early Last Interglacial

Abstract. Although the Last Interglacial (LIG) is often considered as a possible analogue for future climate in high latitudes, its precise climate evolution and associated causes remain uncertain. Here we compile high-resolution marine sediment records from the North Atlantic, Labrador Sea, Norwegian Sea and the Southern Ocean. We document a delay in the establishment of peak interglacial conditions in the North Atlantic, Labrador and Norwegian Seas as compared to the Southern Ocean. In particular, we observe a persistent iceberg melting at high northern latitudes at the beginning of the LIG. It is associated with (1) colder and fresher surface-water conditions in the North Atlantic, Labrador and Norwegian Seas, and (2) a weaker ventilation of North Atlantic deep waters during the early LIG (129–125 ka) compared to the late LIG. Results from an ocean-atmosphere coupled model with insolation as a sole forcing for three key periods of the LIG show warmer North Atlantic surface waters and stronger Atlantic overturning during the early LIG (126 ka) than the late LIG (122 ka). Hence, insolation variations alone do not explain the delay in peak interglacial conditions observed at high northern latitudes. Additionally, we consider an idealized meltwater scenario at 126 ka where the freshwater input is interactively computed in response to the high boreal summer insolation. The model simulates colder, fresher North Atlantic surface waters and weaker Atlantic overturning during the early LIG (126 ka) compared to the late LIG (122 ka). This result suggests that both insolation and ice sheet melting have to be considered to reproduce the climatic pattern that we identify during the early LIG. Our model-data comparison also reveals a number of limitations and reinforces the need for further detailed investigations using coupled climate-ice sheet models and transient simulations.

3D thermoplastic elastomer microfluidic devices for biological probe immobilization

Microfluidics has emerged as a valuable tool for the high-resolution patterning of biological probes on solid supports. Yet, its widespread adoption as a universal biological immobilization tool is still limited by several technical challenges, particularly for the patterning of isolated spots using three-dimensional (3D) channel networks. A key limitation arises from the difficulties to adapt the techniques and materials typically used in prototyping to low-cost mass-production. In this paper, we present the fabrication of thin thermoplastic elastomer membranes with microscopic through-holes using a hot-embossing process that is compatible with high-throughput manufacturing. The membranes provide the basis for the fabrication of highly integrated 3D microfluidic devices with a footprint of only 1 × 1 cm(2). When placed on a solid support, the device allows for the immobilization of up to 96 different probes in the form of a 10 × 10 array comprising isolated spots of 50 × 50 μm(2). The design of the channel network is optimized using 3D simulations based on the Lattice-Boltzmann method to promote capillary action as the sole force distributing the liquid in the device. Finally, we demonstrate the patterning of DNA and protein arrays on hard thermoplastic substrates yielding spots of excellent definition that prove to be highly specific in subsequent hybridization experiments.