Self-rehabilitation based on user interactive environment

It has been reported that 53,000 stroke events annually with ongoing costs are nearly $500 million per year for physical therapy care. This paper aims to provide effective and active rehabilitation for patients suffering from upper limb that a slight or partial paralysis, using gaming based a therapy technique. By disguising the tasks into more entertaining, patients are motivated to train for longer and more frequently. The advantage of this system can be a self-managed, at-home therapy system; reducing fatigue for physical therapists, and the time required for therapist-patient sessions. The system incorporates a virtual reality (VR) environment displaying both the games and a human model as feedback of the patients' actions whilst playing the games. Two games were developed; Whack-a-Mouse, and Rolly games, each targeting improvement of muscle strength, control, accuracy and speed. The difficulty of the games can be varied to suit a number of impairments and patient progress is monitored. The games are played using a Nintendo Wii controller. The successful improvements with lower costs associated with this system, are marked improvements for patients suffering from such a debilitating condition

Pressure-induced collapsed-tetragonal phase in SrCo2As2

We present high-energy x-ray diffraction data under applied pressures up to p = 29 GPa, neutron diffraction measurements up to p = 1.1 GPa, and electrical resistance measurements up to p = 5.9 GPa, on SrCo2As2. Our x-ray diffraction data demonstrate that there is a first-order transition between the tetragonal (T) and collapsed-tetragonal (cT) phases, with an onset above approximately 6 GPa at T = 7 K. The pressure for the onset of the cT phase and the range of coexistence between the T and cT phases appears to be nearly temperature independent. The compressibility along the a-axis is the same for the T and cT phases whereas, along the c-axis, the cT phase is significantly stiffer, which may be due to the formation of an As-As bond in the cT phase. Our resistivity measurements found no evidence of superconductivity in SrCo2As2 for p <= 5.9 GPa and T >= 1.8 K. The resistivity data also show signatures consistent with a pressure-induced phase transition for p >= 5.5 GPa. Single-crystal neutron diffraction measurements performed up to 1.1 GPa in the T phase found no evidence of stripe-type or A-type antiferromagnetic ordering down to 10 K. Spin-polarized total-energy calculations demonstrate that the cT phase is the stable phase at high pressure with a c/a ratio of 2.54. Furthermore, these calculations indicate that the cT phase of SrCo2As2 should manifest either A-type antiferromagnetic or ferromagnetic order.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

Gold nanoparticles and radiofrequency in experimental models for hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most lethal and chemo-refractory cancers, clearly, alternative treatment strategies are needed. We utilized 10 nm gold nanoparticles as a scaffold to synthesize nanoconjugates bearing a targeting antibody (cetuximab, C225) and gemcitabine. Loading efficiency of gemcitabine on the gold nanoconjugates was 30%. Targeted gold nanoconjugates in combination with RF were selectively cytotoxic to EGFR expressing Hep3B and SNU449 cells when compared to isotype particles with/without RF (P < 0.05). In animal experiments, targeted gold nanoconjugates halted the growth of subcutaneous Hep3B xenografts in combination with RF exposure (P < 0.05). These xenografts also demonstrated increased apoptosis, necrosis and decreased proliferation compared to controls. Normal tissues were unharmed. We have demonstrated that non-invasive RF-induced hyperthermia when combined with targeted delivery of gemcitabine is more effective and safe at dosages ~ 275-fold lower than the current clinically-delivered systemic dose of gemcitabine

Gender and Disability Inclusion in Post-Disaster Rebuilding ‘Build Back Better’ Programmes in Sri Lanka: A Literature Review

In the last decade, many South Asian developing countries have suffered natural dis-asters. Severe disaster destruction results in an overwhelming need to rebuild hous-ing and infrastructure within a brief amount of time. United Nation Development Programme has sought to make this reconstruction program a "Build Back Better (BBB)" opportunity, hence gender inequality and marginalisation of people with disa-bilities remain a problem in many countries. Although the international community has sought to promote this resilience and inclusion, the Post-Disaster Rebuilding (PDR) process still overlooks these sectors of society and their needs. Therefore, this paper aims to bring in literature synthesis addressing gender and disability inclusion in PDR ‘BBB’ programmes in Sri Lanka. Besides, involvement in the mitigation of vulnerability and community resilience to disaster risks and relocation was found to play a significant role. Vulnerability and the risk of disasters can be dramatically re-duced by ensuring a culture of disaster prevention and resilience for all segments of populations, particularly rural areas, girls and women, and the disabled. All aspects of socially inclusive, formal, and non-formal commitments are important to take their desires and requirement into consideration

Development of a pipeline for exploratory metabolic profiling of infant urine

Numerous metabolic profiling pipelines have been developed to characterize the composition of human biofluids and tissues, the vast majority of these being for studies in adults. To accommodate limited sample volume and to take into account the compositional differences between adult and infant biofluids, we developed and optimized sample handling and analytical procedures for studying urine from newborns. A robust pipeline for metabolic profiling using NMR spectroscopy was established, encompassing sample collection, preparation, spectroscopic measurement, and computational analysis. Longitudinal samples were collected from five infants from birth until 14 months of age. Methods of extraction and effects of freezing and sample dilution were assessed, and urinary contaminants from breakdown of polymers in a range of diapers and cotton wool balls were identified and compared, including propylene glycol, acrylic acid, and tert-butanol. Finally, assessment of urinary profiles obtained over the first few weeks of life revealed a dramatic change in composition, with concentrations of phenols, amino acids, and betaine altering systematically over the first few months of life. Therefore, neonatal samples require more stringent standardization of experimental design, sample handling, and analysis compared to that of adult samples to accommodate the variability and limited sample volume

Bourdieu, Strategy, and Identity Work: A Case from a Manufacturing Organisation in Sri Lanka

This empirical study aims to discuss how organisational actors' identity work is reflected through their strategy work, from a Bourdieusian perspective. The study is a case study which followed the qualitative research approach. The participants of the study were managers representing a cross-section of a manufacturing organisation in Sri Lanka.&nbsp; Twenty-six semi-structured interviews were used for the generation of the data for thematic analysis. NVivo12 data management software was used for the data management and in initial coding. It was found that managers are engaged in different identity work for self during their strategy work, in the implementation of a new organisational strategy. Further, the behaviour and practices normalised in the selected organisation through managers' strategy work reflected their identity work for other/s in way of defining other/s. The discussion was based on the theory of practice by Pierre Bourdieu (1990). Accordingly, this research shows how the identity work of position takers (newly joined and promoted organisational actors) supports shaping the practices linked with a new strategy (strategy work). Further, their identity work reflected through strategy work is also connected with their individual dispositions (habitus). The discussion further shows how individuals’ capital—mainly their cultural capital—contribute to constructing a new strategy in the selected organisational field. As implications of this study, it highlighted the contribution of the position-takers in shaping the organisation's strategy (strategy work) while engaging in identity work for self and others. Consequently, this study illustrates how organisational actors perform different social-symbolic work (identity work and strategy work) in parallel. &nbsp;Keywords: Capital; Habitus, Identity work; Social-symbolic work; Strategy wor

Micro finance and poverty alleviation in Sri Lanka

Microfinance services in Sri Lanka have a wide geographical outreach but the extent of outreach of private operators including NGOs and commercial banks in rural areas is rather limited although the poor and the poorest groups have been reached by these Institutions. Most of people prefer the MFI rather than the banks. Because, they can easily access the loans from MFI. The objective of this research is to provide further evidence on the contribution of micro finance for poverty alleviation in Sri Lanka. In this regards, a survey was conducted among the selected micro finance beneficiaries from Polonnaruwa District of North Central Province in Sri Lanka. The collected data were analyzed using statistical software and found that the micro finance programs significantly help to poor people to uplift their live which lead for the poverty alleviation in Sri Lanka. However, microfinance facilities are no 'magic bullet‘ for poverty reduction. Many other changes are also needed. Finally, it is noted that there is a significant relationship between the micro finance and poverty alleviation in a certain level of percentage