Middle Class and Pro-Poor Growth in Egypt: The Missing Connection

Assessing whether distributional changes are “pro-poor” has become increasingly widespread in academic and policy circles. Based on the methodology of Ravallion and Chen (2003), Kakwani and Pernia (2000) and Kakwani, Khandker, and Son (2003) using grouped data, the paper generates three indices to test whether distributional changes were indeed pro-poor during the period (1990-2008). Another issue is whether pro-poor judgments should be correlative with the size of the middle class. The paper presents the evolution of middle class in Egypt using different thresholds. The middle class in Egypt has followed the path of bulging in size under a certain threshold even if growth was not pro-poor growt

Background-oriented schlieren (BOS) for scramjet inlet-isolator investigation

Background-oriented Schlieren (BOS) technique is a recently invented non-intrusive flow diagnostic method which has yet to be fully explored in its capabilities. In this paper, BOS technique has been applied for investigating the general flow field characteristics inside a generic scramjet inlet-isolator with Mach 5 flow. The difficulty in finding the delicate balance between measurement sensitivity and measurement area image focusing has been demonstrated. The differences between direct cross-correlation (DCC) and Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) raw data processing algorithm have also been demonstrated. As an exploratory study of BOS capability, this paper found that BOS is simple yet robust enough to be used to visualize complex flow in a scramjet inlet in hypersonic flow. However, in this case its quantitative data can be strongly affected by 3-dimensionality thus obscuring the density value with significant errors

Le figement dans le discours argumentatif de l'enfant

International audienceSelon Kendon 1980, les gestes iconiques et métaphoriques ont généralement trois phases - la préparation, Stroke, et la rétraction. Dans mon étude, j'ajoute deux choses : 1. La phase de préparation se divise en deux phases commençant par une phase verbale et puis une phase coverbale. 2. la phase Stroke (phase de clôture) : c'est où s'effectue le figement postural et où se trouve la combinaison entre le rhème et le growth point (le moment clé), ce que j'ai appellé : le pointage par les mots. Dans mon étude expérimentale, j'explique comment dans l'argumentation, l'enfant est sur la défensive et se voit comme informateur, pas plus, alors que dans la narration, il y a une anticipation de partage. Dans l'argumentation, l'enfant est dans son propre champ et il doit d'abord le défendre et le consolider et renforcer ses arguments, ce qui explique le Growth point et le moment où il se situe. Le figement postural effectué simultanément avec le Growth point témoigne de l'engagement de l'enfant, ce que nous pouvons appeler '' le pic argumentatif ''. Ainsi j'ai donné à ce figement postural comme nom : le pointage par les mots, car c'est au moment de ce figement postural que l'enfant veut pointer le mot clé de son énoncé et montrer ainsi ce qui l'intéresse. Mon étude expérimentale s'appuie sur le contraste comme moyen pour la description référentielle dans le discours de l'enfant. Le corpus est basé sur quatre enfants entre quatre à six ans ayant tous le français comme langue maternelle. A l'aide des vidéos et du logiciel Win pitch (analyseur de la parole en temps réel ), j'ai pu analysé la manière dont l'enfant procède pour la description référentielle des choses. Ainsi, j'ai pu tirer quelques observations générales : Dans le pointage par les mots: le phénomène Comme ça avec le pointage des mots, la plupart des gestes référentiels s'effectuent avec les deux mains avec une symétrie bien précise. quand il s'agit de valeur illustrative du geste référentiel, le plus souvent l'enfant utilise le mot Comme ça: 1. Sans comme ça: un mot est pointé 2. Avant le mot comme ça: un mot est pointé. S'il s'agit d'une vraie description avec les mains, le mot clé vient avant le mot comme ça. 3. Le mot comme ça ( seul ): c'est ce mot même Comme ça qui est pointé. 4. Après le mot comme ça : Si ce geste référentiel à valeur illustratif nécessite une onomatopée, c'est cette onomatopée même qui est pointé et elle vient toujours après le mot comme ça.. Deux fonctions vont simultanément en effectuant le geste de pointage coverbal : soit une fonction déictique et une fonction expressive et de cadrage, soit une fonction déictique et une fonction syntaxiques ou de structuration, soit une fonction déictique et une fonction interactive. Concernant le figement : - Si le regard se dirige vers l'écouteur avant le Figement Il y a discordance et rupture. - Si le regard se dirige vers l'écouteur après le Figement Il y a consensus, convergence, argumentation. - Si le regard se dirige vers l'écouteur au moment du Figement il y a différentiation et égocentrage.  Bibliographie : - David McNeill, 2005 "Gesture and thought ". Pages 31- 45 Adam Kendon 2004 " Gesture: visible action as utterance " - McNeil, D. 2000. " Language and gesture " Cambridge University Press. - Brigaudiot M. & Danon-Boileau L., 2002, La naissance du langage dans les deux premières années, Paris, PUF : 58-62. - TOMASELLO, M. 2007. " A New Look at Infant Pointing " Child development, Volume 78, Number 3, Pages 705 - 722

On the Relativistic Description of the Nucleus

We present here a formalism able to generalise to a relativistically covariant scheme the standard nuclear shell model. We show that, using some generalised nuclear Green's functions and their Lehmann representation we can define the relativistic equivalent of the non relativistic single particle wave function (not loosing, however, the physical contribution of other degrees of freedom, like mesons and antinucleons). It is shown that the mass operator associated to the nuclear Green's function can be approximated with the equivalent of a shell-model potential and that the corresponding ``single particle wave functions'' can be easily derived in a specified frame of reference and then boosted to any other system, thus fully restoring the Lorentz covarianc

Isolation of Cronobacter spp. (formerly Enterobacter sakazakii) from infant food, herbs and environmental samples and the subsequent identification and confirmation of the isolates using biochemical, chromogenic assays, PCR and 16S rRNA sequencing

BACKGROUND: Cronobacter spp. (formerly Enterobacter sakazakii), are a group of Gram-negative pathogens that have been implicated as causative agents of meningitis and necrotizing enterocolitis in infants. The pathogens are linked to infant formula; however, they have also been isolated from a wide range of foods and environmental samples. RESULTS: In this study, 233 samples of food, infant formula and environment were screened for the presence of Cronobacter spp. in an attempt to find its source. Twenty nine strains were isolated from samples of spices, herbs, infant foods, and dust obtained from household vacuum cleaners. Among the 76 samples of infant food, infant formula, milk powder and non-milk dairy products tested, only one sample of infant food contained Cronobacter spp. (1.4%). The other Cronobacter spp. isolates recovered include two from household vacuum dust, and 26 from 67 samples of herbs and spices. Among the food categories analyzed, herbs and spices harbored the highest number of isolates, indicating plants as a possible reservoir of this pathogen. Initial screening with API 20E test strips yielded 42 presumptive isolates. Further characterization using 3 chromogenic media (α-MUG, DFI and EsPM) and 8 sets of PCR primers detecting ITS (internal transcribed spacer sequences), 16S rRNA, zpx, gluA, gluB, OmpA genes followed by nucleotide sequencing of some PCR amplicons did not confirm the identity of all the isolates as none of the methods proved to be free of both false positives or false negatives. The final confirmation step was done by 16S rRNA sequence analysis identifying only 29 of the 42 isolates as Cronobacter spp. CONCLUSION: Our studies showed that Cronobacter spp. are highly diverse and share many phenotypic traits with other Enterobacteriaceae members highlighting the need to use several methods to confirm the identity of this pathogen. None of the biochemical, chromogenic or PCR primers proved to be a reliable method for confirmation of the identity of the isolates as all of them gave either false positives or false negatives or both. It is therefore concluded that 16S rRNA sequencing is pivotal to confirm the identity of the isolates

IMPACT OF DESIGN THINKING ON CONCEPTUAL DESIGN IN INTERIOR DESIGN STUDIO COURSES

Design thinking has gained prominence in teaching interior design studio courses. Exploring the applications of design thinking can help interior design students understand the complexity and importance of conceptual design, while also supporting their discovery of unique design approaches and innovative design solutions. This paper provides a review of literature on design thinking and design education, examining the factors that imply influence on design thinking application in interior design studio courses. This paper also discusses the impact of design-thinking applications on the design process, as well as its influence on conceptual design development within the context of interior design undergraduate education

Hand control of bipedal balance in quiet standing: implementations for lower extremity exoskeleton

Maintaining stable posture is important for humans, even though it is challenging because of our bipedal structure. One of the main balance related disorders is paraplegia due to spinal cord injury. People with a complete spinal cord injury have motor and sensory impairment that greatly reduces the ability to move their lower extremities. In recent years, lower extremity exoskeletons that apply torques generated by motors to the joints of the person have helped to them stand and walk. This research is a part of an extended project to build a new exoskeleton for use by individuals with paraplegia due to motor complete spinal cord injury. The goal of the project is to develop a device with an intuitive control mechanism capable of generating real time gait and balance. Commercial exoskeletons have achieved great steps regarding restoring ambulation. On the other hand, most of them do not actively support bipedal balance. In addition, commercially available exoskeletons except the REX need crutches to balance for people with motor complete paraplegia. The NJIT TREKKER, our laboratory’s research exoskeleton, suggests a novel, human-robot interface strategy that allows users to completely control and feel the trajectories of their exoskeleton-assisted feet, and be able to walk with considerably greater independence. The first study to develop TREKKER was performed before where a trekking pole was attached to each foot of a biped robot. Subjects controlled the trajectory of the foot of the biped by applying small forces to the trekking poles. The study proved that hands can produce trajectories similar to human foot trajectories when provided with haptic and visual feedback. If the hands and arms are effective surrogates for expressing ambulation, can they also be surrogates for natural balance in quiet standing? This is the main question that this dissertation answers. Importantly, this dissertation considers the ability of the arms and hands to make rapid adjustments to the center of pressure (COP) that will follow the center of mass (COM) and allow the person to retain balance to achieve this aim a perturbing system was constructed to study human body response to perturbations. Special shoes with small blocks attached to their soles were designed to study the capability of human body to adapt to base of support (BOS) reduction, and two special platforms with shoes on Pivots and two trekking poles attached to them were designed to study the effectiveness of using trekking poles. The pivots were used to eliminate the use of ankle strategy to retain balance by non-disabled subjects. In this study, subjects were asked to stand in front of the perturbing system and within the motion capture system’s field of view, then they were perturbed with at seven different forces with and without visual feedback in three different experiments: using regular shoes, the shoes with small blocks attached to their soles, and the shoes with pivots and trekking poles. Biomechanical parameters were studied to assess balance in A/P plane in each of the three experiments. The results suggest that the use of trekking poles is a viable approach to maintain balance during quiet standing. The main conclusion of this study is that using trekking poles is a good approach to maintain balance in quiet standing and as a response to small perturbations. Statistical analysis of SI, error signal peaks, and correlations comparing Pivots experiment to Regular experiment support this hypothesis. In addition, the high correlation coefficients between COM and COP of quiet standing on Pivots and in Pivots experiment with perturbations, and the high correlation coefficients of the correlation between COP and the trekking poles trajectories indicates that the trekking poles are working as a surrogate to the ankle joint. It is concluded that using the trekking poles, though the response to perturbations does not match the biological response, is good enough to maintain balance in quiet standing and perturbed quiet standing especially for small perturbations

Surface Incompressibility from Semiclassical Relativistic Mean Field Calculations

By using the scaling method and the Thomas-Fermi and Extended Thomas-Fermi approaches to Relativistic Mean Field Theory the surface contribution to the leptodermous expansion of the finite nuclei incompressibility has been self-consistently computed. The validity of the simplest expansion, which contains volume, volume-symmetry, surface and Coulomb terms, is examined by comparing it with self-consistent results of the finite nuclei incompressibility for some currently used non-linear sigma-omega parameter sets. A numerical estimate of higher-order contributions to the leptodermous expansion, namely the curvature and surface-symmetry terms, is made.Comment: 18 pages, REVTeX, 3 eps figures, changed conten