Unlimited Research Research Articles

Monopoly on doubt: Post-mortem examinations in Israel, 1950s–1980s

Abstract This article examines the durability of high postmortem examination rates in Israel between the 1950s-1980s. Previous studies overlooked the issue of medical authority and the social history of autopsy, focusing on policy, technological development, and conflict between science and religion. By contrast, our analysis brings together the medical interest in unlimited research of dead bodies and the power relations between doctors and subaltern groups in Israel. Based on the Israeli State Archives, the Hebrew University Archives, and the daily press, we argue that medical biopolitical aspirations and the public shaped the history of postmortem examinations in Israel. High rates were embedded in the medical construction of doubt regarding the cause of death that only physicians could resolve by autopsy. Civilian protests led to a temporary decrease in the 1960s, while political and medical intervention brought about a gradual resurgence in postmortem rates in the 1980s.

Jaccard Index Cat Gradient Boosting Classification for Secured Big Data Communication

Big data is observed as a novel field dealing with datasets that are too complex in providing indispensable services for daily chores and also discovering hidden patterns. Network security has become a major issue due to big data analytics, which offers unlimited research potential. More specifically, secure data communication without a third party is a major concern. Also, as large, heterogeneous, and complex data sets emerge, existing security mechanisms cannot provide or address network threats quickly or accurately. Therefore, along with the decrease in time, accuracy and error rate are other research concerns. Accordingly, an accurate and timely big data-based secure method called Jaccard Index Cat Gradient Boosting Classification-based Secured Data Communication (JICGBC-SDC) using the Internet of Things is presented. Firstly, for each cloud user, user registration is performed by acquiring information from various sensors. Second, information is collected from the registered cloud users by means of the Jaccard Index Cat Gradient Boosting Classifier algorithm. Such a proposed algorithm imposes a lower error rate and minimizes classification time, ensuring the most reliable and secured data communication between cloud users. To ensure secure data communication, weak learners' results are combined to form a strong classifier. The proposed method is implemented in Java and tested on the CloudSim simulator for classification accuracy, classification time, and error rate. The experimental results reveal the JICGBC-SDC method increases the performance of secured data communication for error rate by 77%, classification time by 79% and classification accuracy by 25% as compared to the state-of-the-art work.

Effect of weight loss, exercise and risk factor control in microvascular angina. A randomized controlled pilot trial

Abstract Background Coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) is a common cause of angina in women and associated with adverse cardiovascular prognosis. Currently, no evidence-based treatment for CMD exists. Purpose To examine whether an intervention targeting cardiovascular risk factors is feasible and improves angina symptoms and microvascular function in women with CMD and no obstructive coronary artery disease. Methods We randomized 62 women aged 40–75, with body mass index >25 kg/m2, angina symptoms monthly or more and coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) <2.5 to a 24-week intervention comprising low energy diet, exercise training, and optimized medical treatment of hypertension, dyslipidemia and diabetes or to usual care. Patients were assessed before randomization and after 24 weeks. The primary outcomes were CFVR assessed by transthoracic Doppler stress-echocardiography and angina burden measured by the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ). Secondary endpoints were exercise capacity (VO2max), body composition and glycemic control, anxiety and depression symptoms measured by the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Results Fifty-six participants (90%) completed the study. Median age was 65 years. The intervention group obtained a mean weight loss of 10 kg, mainly (9 kg) from fat tissue (all p<0.0001), increased work load (p<0.01), decreased triglycerides, low density lipoprotein and low plasma cholesterol (all p<0.006). HbA1c in non-diabetes participants also decreased (p<0.05). There was a clinically relevant improvement in all angina symptoms (9–21-point increase on all SAQ scales (all p<0.01)) as well as in depression score (p=0.008). There was no effect on CFVR or other secondary outcomes. Conclusion A major weight loss and intensified risk factor control resulted in significant improvement in angina burden but no improvement of coronary microvascular function among women with microvascular angina. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main funding source(s): Unlimited research funding sources from the Capital region of Denmark and Bispebjerg-Frederiksberg Hospital internal funding sources.

How distance learning based on inclusion led to the proposal of a distributed access research strategy (DARS)

This article presents the results from an investigation that used a qualitative perspective of a descriptive type to identify the inclusive educational processes from 707 preschool and primary education schools in Colombia, distributed around 26 territorial units out of a total of 32. To obtain all this information around the country, a data collection strategy was applied, which we named the distributed access research strategy (DARS). All the data was collected by tertiary education students from two programs of the Faculty of Education, Corporación Universitaria Iberoamericana in Colombia. The results revealed that most preschools and primary schools have documented institutional educational plans referencing diversity and inclusion for their students, but they have difficulties in establishing strategies to identify and implement curricular adaptations within their contexts, as well as with the use of tracking instruments. These results generated a reflection for reviewing the syllabus and study plans in the tertiary education programs at this university to better prepare future teachers who will face such scenarios in their locations across the country. Moreover, this new DARS data-collection strategy shows an interesting potential, which is generic enough to enable unlimited research topics to be explored within distance learning contexts.

Paving the High-Way to Sustainable, Value Adding Open-Innovation Integrating Bigger-Data Challenges: Three Examples from Bio-Ingredients to Robust Durable Applications of Electrochemical Impacts

A trilogy review, based on more than 300 references, is used to underline three challenges facing 1) the supply of sustainable, durable and protected biosourced ingredients such as lipids, 2) the accounting for valuable bio-by-products, such as whey proteins that have added-value potential removing their environmental weight and 3) the practical reliable synthetic biology and evolutionary engineering that already serve as a technology and science basis to expand from, such as for biopolymer growth. Bioresources, which are the major topic of this review, must provide answers to several major challenges related to health, food, energy or chemistry of tomorrow. They offer a wide range of ingredients which are available in trees, plants, grasses, vegetables, algae, milk, food wastes, animal manures and other organic wastes. Researches in this domain must be oriented towards a bio-sustainable-economy based on new valuations of the potential of those renewable biological resources. This will aim at the substitution of fossil raw materials with renewable raw materials to ensure the sustainability of industrial processes by providing bioproducts through innovative processes using for instance micro-organisms and enzymes (the so-called white biotechnology). The final stage objective is to manufacture high value-added products gifted with the right set of physical, chemical and biological properties leading to particularly innovative applications. In this review, three examples are considered in a green context open innovation and bigger data environment. Two of them (lipids antioxidants and milk proteins) concern food industry while the third (biomonomers and corresponding bioplastics and derivatives) relates to biomaterials industry. Lipids play a crucial role in the food industry, but they are chemically unstable and very sensitive to atmospheric oxidation which leads to the formation of numerous by-compounds which have adverse effects on lipids quality attributes and on the nutritive value of meat. To overcome this problem, natural antioxidants, with a positive impact on the safety and acceptability of the food system, have been discovered and evaluated. In the same context, milk proteins and their derivatives are of great interest. They can be modified by enzymatic means leading to the formation of by-products that are able to increase their functionality and possible applications. They can also produce bioactive peptides, a field with almost unlimited research potential. On the other hand, biosourced chemicals and materials, mainly biomonomers and biopolymers, are already produced today. Metabolic engineering tools and strategies to engineer synthetic enzyme pathways are developed to manufacture, from renewable feedstocks, with high yields, a number of monomer building-block chemicals that can be used to produce replacements to many conventional plastic materials. Through those three examples this review aims to highlight recent and important advancements in production, modification and applications of the studied bioproducts. Bigger data analysis and artificial intelligence may help reweight practical and theoretical observations and concepts in these fields; helping to cross the boarders of expert traditional exploration fields and sometime fortresses.

Price tag in nanomaterials?

With the evolution of the field of nanomaterials in the past number of years, it has become apparent that it will be key to future technological developments. However, while there are unlimited research undertakings on nanomaterials, limited research results on nanomaterial costs exist; all in spite of the generous funding that nanotechnology projects have received. There has recently been an exponential increase in the number of studies concerning health-related nanomaterials, considering the various medical applications of nanomaterials that drive medical innovation. This work aims to analyze the effect of the cost factor on acceptability of health-related nanomaterials independently or in relation to material toxicity. It appears that, from the materials studied, those used for cancer treatment applications are more expensive than the ones for drug delivery. The ability to evaluate cost implications improves the ability to undertake research mapping and develop opinions on nanomaterials that can drive innovation.

INTELLECTUAL CAPITAL VALUATION: METHODS AND THEIR CLASSIFICATION

Abstract. Currently, a more significant added value is created by intellectual rather than physical capital; yet, according to the current standards of accounting, only a minor segment of intellectual capital is presented in financial accounts of enterprises as it usually does not satisfy one of the criteria of property recognition in financial accounting, namely reliable valuation. As a result, there is an increasing demand for novel methods of valuation, enabling enterprises to establish reliably the value of intellectual capital or its specific segments of a given enterprise. A number of scholars have dealt with the methods of intellectual capital valuation. However, their works analyze and classify different methods of intellectual capital valuation, and different criteria of classification are employed; hence, there is no universally accepted opinion on the issue. That is why the aim of this research was to generalize a scheme of methods of intellectual capital valuation. The main methods applied in the present study are the synthesis and generalization of academic writings, including content analysis. The results of the research and its conclusions are based on the analysis of academic investigations conducted by various authors and the resulting publications. Results. The article generalizes the methods of intellectual capital valuation, suggested by a number of scholars, provides comparisons, reveals the multiplicity of the methods, and highlights the unlimited research of the academic field. Besides, the main classifications of methods of intellectual capital valuation are provided, and the applied criteria are defined. Conclusions. It was established that more than sixty different methods for the valuation of the intellectual capital of an enterprise are available. The results of the research show that these methods are classified according to the four following features. Correspondingly, a classification scheme of intellectual capital valuation methods has been developed. It has been established that most methods of intellectual capital valuation are based on scorecard, they assess specific components; of intellectual capital and in the process of valuation do not employ monetary units of measurement. Tis reveals a lack of the studies that focus on the financial aspect of intellectual capital valuation methods.Key words: intellectual capital, valuation, valuation methods, classification of methods

Wireless Sensor Networks:The Biggest Cross-Community Design Exercise To-Date

Abstract: Within academia, wireless sensor networks have witnessed a tremendous upsurge in the last decade, which is mainly attributed to their unprecedented operating conditions and hence unlimited research challenges. Within industry, the projected business opportunities are huge with, e.g. according to Frost & Sullivan, an expected market size of approximately $2b by 2012 at a compound annual growth rate of 41.9%, therefore causing the interest in this technology to augment dramatically. Due to the unique design constraints, however, none of the grand communities – such as computing, telecommunications, physics, biology, etc. – can make such systems work efficiently on their own. The largest cross-community design exercise to-date is hence well underway which is well reflected in the nature of the intellectual property pools created in the past years. The aim of this paper is to expose and discuss a few early milestone as well as latest IT and telecommunications patents in this vibrant area.

Lorenzo Tomatis 1929–2007

Lorenzo Tomatis 1929–2007

Teaching scientists to be citizens. It is hard to become a good scientist. It is even harder to become a good citizen.

Deep in the German forests above Heidelberg, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), in its infancy in the late 1970s, was a haven of basic research and serenity. I remember hard experimental work, intensive discussions and unexpected ideas emerging along the wooded paths. On a recent visit, I saw that the busy buzzing of EMBL has by no means receded. But I also saw that EMBL is changing. The explosive growth of the parking lots and the new buildings for commercial companies are reshaping the glade; scientists are sitting behind their computer screens most of the time; there are more females than males; last summer, the temperature broke another record high. And, probably much more important, the scientists working there are becoming aware that there is a world outside the laboratories. It started with rumours rising from the valley that first reminded us that a wider world was bubbling not far away. We were amazed at the gossip reported in the local press that clover, growing around the Laboratory, had a suspicious number of leaves because of some mysterious genetic manipulations. We were shocked when the media widely covered the claim made by an East German scientist that AIDS was a product of the US Secret Services. Nowadays, news about cloning, stem‐cell research, bioterrorism and the turbulence of the stock market is pouring in daily. Biologists know about change. For more than 3 billion years, life has undergone changes, and no one would be here to witness anything if evolution had not been hard at work. But the changes that are now occurring are different, because they are anthropogenic and because they are happening increasingly rapidly. And they are not met with enthusiasm by everyone: “Stop improving things!”, an angry hand had written on the door of the computer room. …

Old World News: The Greatest Happiness?

While Europe celebrated the millennium last year, the reason for there being one was largely forgotten. That it might be was evident years earlier, when the British government decided that its commemoration of 2000 years since the birth of Christ would be a dome with no relevance to Christianity. It is tempting to wonder whether the Millennium Dome might have been less of a disastrously expensive white elephant if it had indeed celebrated Christ and his legacy. Just as important to the future direction of some European societies has been the further derogation, in the millennial year, from the Judaeo-Christian principles that underlie, at whatever depth, legislation and public morality. In their place, utilitarian arguments have gained much ground, yet are often used crudely and ineptly. The most recent example is the debate surrounding regulations passed by the U.K. House of Commons that permit virtually unlimited research on human embryos. Research on human embryos had been legally limited to studying the causes and treatment of infertility and of congenital disorders. Now, however, research licenses may be granted to increase knowledge about the development of embryos, or about serious disease, and to enable such knowledge to be applied in developing treatments for serious diseases. The pressure for such a change came from a research community which wishes to be unfettered in its development and use of stem cells. The propaganda used was quite shameless: Mike Dexter, director of the United Kingdom's largest medical research charity, the Wellcome Trust, claimed that six million Britons (over 10 percent of the population) would benefit from stem cell research. Others talked of cures for Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's, diabetes, spinal cord injury, and cancer, within five years. Yet however outrageous the claims, government ministers and Members of Parliament alike believed them. It was frequently said that MPs should not deny the populace such enormous benefits. What they ignored was the similar hype over gene therapy just a decade earlier--a decade which saw not a single cure as a result of gene therapy. The claims of enormous potential benefits were not examined critically, nor were there questions about the costs of applying the research if it is successful. Many MPs did not even consider the status of an embryo created for research purposes, or if they did, they dismissed it as a ball of cells. The idea that it was worthy of special protection as a potential human being was largely ignored, as was the belief of some that the embryo already has full human rights. The wider risks to societal beliefs about the value of human life, if one devalues the embryo, were hardly considered. …

Do human cells have rights?

The chairman of Britain's Committee of Inquiry Into Human Fertilisation and Embryology addresses the issue of research with human embyros up to 14 days after fertilization, which the Committee recommended be allowed. Bypassing the question of the personhood of the embryo because the concept is so difficult to define, Warnock asks whether embryos have rights, specifically the right not to be used for research. Pointing out that embryos in vitro presently have no legal rights in Britain, she argues that moral, not legal, principles are involved, and that the question to be answered is how ought embryos to be treated? While a utilitarian calculus would encourage almost unlimited research, Warnock cautions that the public's moral feelings must be taken into account when government policy is formulated. A compromise must be reached, she concludes, which is what her Committee attempted to achieve in its recommendations.

Do Social Scientists Have Unlimited Research Rights?

Do Social Scientists Have Unlimited Research Rights?

Acculturative stress in modern Maori adolescence.

To anyone concerned with cross-cultural and dynamic aspects of adolescent personality development, modern Maori culture offers almost unlimited research opportunities. With the onset of adolescence in Western culture, children are expected to strive more for primary status based on their own efforts, competence, and performance ability and to strive less for derived status predicated on their personal qualities and on their dependent relationship to and intrinsic acceptance by parents, relatives, and peers. Concomitantly, in support of this shift in the relative importance and availability of primary and derived status, adolescents are expected to be less dependent than children on the approval of their elders, to play a more active role in formulating their own goals, and to relate more intimately to peers than to parents. They are also under greater pressure to persevere in goal striving despite serious setbacks, to postpone immediate hedonistic gratification in favor of achieving long range objectives, and to exercise more initiative, foresight, executive independence, responsibility, and selfdiscipline (2). But what happens to adolescent development in cultures such as the Maori where the importance of derived status is not de-emphasized to the same extent during and after adolescence as is customary in Western civi-