bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Animating Exclusions: Ali Kazimi’s Continuous Journey and the Virtualities of Racialized Exclusion
Authors: Hameed Ayesha , Vukov Tamara
Published: April 2018

In his 2004 documentary Continuous Journey, Ali Kazimi employs an innovative aesthetic of animated archival material to draw out the often suppressed links between the continuous-journey regulation of the 1908 Immigration Act and the Safe Third Country Agreement passed between Canada and the U.S. (2004). Tak-ing the links between these two landmark policies as its point of reference, this essay draws out both Kazimi’s provocative animation of Canadian immigration history and the virtualities of racialization and exclusion (Deleuze 1994). First, we consider the virtual aspects of the exclusions of Canadian immigration and refugee policy. Continuous Journey actualizes and reanimates the virtualized leg-acies of these exclusions in a manner that challenges Canada’s celebratory mythos of inclusivity and its denial of racialized practices. We also examine Kazimi’s inter-vention within intercultural video art and its mobilization of tactics of virtuality within discourses of anti-imperial transnationalism.
Road Kill: Commodity Fetishism and Structural Violence
Authors: Soron Dennis
Published: April 2018

The rapid proliferation of roads and vehicles in North America over the past several decades has made the problem of roadkill so acute that, setting aside the meat industry, automobile collisions now surpass hunting as the leading human cause of vertebrate mortality. Unfortunately, roadkill is still a largely overlooked problem that has not been seriously taken up by major animal-rights or environmental organizations. In the absence of any coherent moral or political discourse addressing the problem, commodity culture itself has effectively been delegated the task of reckoning with the carnage, generating a huge array of roadkill novelty goods that offer the animal’s desecrated body up for consumption as a comic spectacle of abasement and domination. Attempting to rectify this absence, this paper employs the notion of commodity fetishism to examine roadkill both as the flashpoint for collective anxieties surrounding the status of animals in consumer culture, and as a window onto broader structural problems arising from the spread of automobile-oriented transportation systems over the past century.
Honour and Identity: An Ethnographic Account of Muslim Girls in a Canadian Islamic School
Authors: Zine Jasmin
Published: April 2018

This paper explores the ways in which Muslim girls construct notions of gender and religious identity within and against the dominant patriarchal discourses promoted in Islamic schools. At the same time, the investigation locates the negotiation of school-based socialization within a larger context of Islamophobia in Canada. As such, the analysis provides an ethnographic analysis of Islamic schools as sites for the construction of gendered Islamic identities and sensibilities.
Moving Past Ressentiment: War and the State of Feminist Freedom
Authors: Georgis Dina
Published: April 2018

This paper works with Nietzsche’s concept of ressentiment because it offers important insights into the implications of anachronistic feminist epistemologies of freedom that are built on, as Wendy Brown argues, attachments to wounded identities. Injured by power, second and third-wave feminism’s response to loss is to assert the right to power and empowerment. As this strategy forecloses loss and human vulnerability, it renders feminism unable to respond adequately to war and contemporary political conflict. Drawing on postcolonial questions of loss and suffering in conversation with ressentiment, I suggest that feminism can begin to unlearn what Stuart Hall has called “our habits of mind.” To elucidate what a new feminism that is “touched by loss” might look like, I turn to Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer and post-9/11 responses to advance the politics of grief and mourning.
Bent to the Shape of Wordlessness: Home, Hogs and Community at the Limits of Discourse
Authors: Gordon Jon
Published: April 2018

What does hog production tell us about ideas surrounding community in Alberta today? The attempt by Taiwan Sugar Corporation to build a hog operation in Alberta in 1999, and the ensuing debate over this attempt, provides the occasion in this essay for reflecting on the narratives of community operating in a particular place, what those narratives share and what their limits are. The story of belonging through domination remains hegemonic on both sides of the debate examined in this article. This results from a tendency to tell the story of the successes of our attack on nature—and the promises of future successes that this narrative contains—and to cover over the initial moment of despair and the traces of homelessness which persist. Beginning with George Grant’s lament for the particular losses entailed by modern technological progress and putting this into dialogue with Ian Angus’s immanent critique of Grant as well as Jean-Luc Nancy’s unworking of the concept of community, the article suggests an alternative notion of belonging, one which always exists in relation to alienation, caught in the melee. Revealing the excess that persists in stories of community, through the examination of concrete particularities beyond this hegemonic narrative of completion, suggests a possibility for communication between the self and the Other, while disrupting such binaries.
Plugging Cultural Knowledge into the U.S. Military Machine: The Neo-Orientalist Logic of Counterinsurgency
Authors: Kienscherf Markus
Published: April 2018

In this contribution to Cultures of Militarization and the Military-Cultural Complex I wish to analyze the recent trend toward the militarization of culture; or, to be precise, the military deployment of cultural knowledge in efforts to pacify recalcitrant non-Western populations and extend stable governmental structures to spaces at the margins of Western power. I will map how cultural knowledge is currently sought to be plugged into the U.S., or more broadly Western, counterinsurgency machine and show how this weaponization of culture (re-)produces a sovereign distinction between liberal and illiberal spaces and populations.
A Corrective for Cultural Studies: Beyond the Militarization Thesis to the New Military Intelligence
Authors: Balan Neil
Published: April 2018

This paper theorizes a new military intelligence and offers a modest corrective to the orthodoxy of the militarization thesis prevalent in cultural studies and the critical human sciences. The biopolitical orientation of population-centric counterinsurgency (COIN) warfare in Afghanistan reveals the multidirectional travel of rationalities and forms of coherence between modern liberal ways of rule and Western-bloc expeditionary ways of war. Through the work of Michel Foucault, and drawing on Michael Dillon and Julian Reid’s analysis of the biopoliticization of war (2008), COIN is interrogated as a continuation of biopolitics by other means. Conceptualizing a continuum of fast and slow military violence to produce islands of security and stability, COIN generates a mix of persuasive material forces that, while not kinetic or combat-oriented, are internal to the battlespace of military warfighting. The aim of this theoretical intervention is to trouble our understanding of military violence and power. Rather than subscribe unconditionally to the idea of a domineering military contaminating domestic civilian environments, the paper establishes a different trajectory: perhaps there is always-already a spirit of counterinsurgency internal to the art of biopolitical governmentality, which in turn conjugates contemporary military ways of war.
“Come on, let us shoot!”: WikiLeaks and the Cultures of Militarization
Authors: Allan Stuart , Andén-Papadopoulos Kari
Published: April 2018

This paper explores the controversy generated by the nonprofit WikiLeaks website’s posting of a video documenting the shooting of a group of civilians by U.S. forces situated in a helicopter gunship hovering over a Baghdad neighbourhood. Sparking press attention around the world, the brutal rawness of the black and white footage—compounded by the harrowing exchanges between the air crew recorded on the audio track—proved acutely unsettling to viewers otherwise habituated to routine (effectively sanitized) renderings of the horrors of a warzone. This paper considers the video as an instance where the cultural normalization of militarization was disrupted in ideological terms, thereby threatening to unravel officially-sanctioned relations of communicative power.
The Cultural Critique of Gender Parody in Canadian Sketch Comedy
Authors: Deveau Danielle Jeanine
Published: April 2018

This article considers the performance of Canadian masculinity in sketch comedy. In particular I consider the characters Buddy Cole (The Kids in the Hall), Red Green (The Red Green Show), and Raj Binder (This Hour Has 22 Minutes). These characters offer Canadian audiences unique parodies of nostalgic conceptions of Canadian masculinity. Using camp and gender parody, the above-mentioned comedians deconstruct popular mythologies about masculinity and Canadian-ness. These portrayals are at one and the same time both critical and optimistic—a paradox that works its way through much of Canadian popular culture.
The Gori in the Story: The Shifting Dynamics of Whiteness in Bollywood Film
Authors: Gehlawat Ajay
Published: April 2018

This paper examines the evolving representations of whiteness in Bollywood film through an exploration of the figure of the gori, or white woman. Coded as both essentially Other and desirable, this figure manifests Bollywood’s ambivalent relationship with whiteness, particularly as the industry attempts to formulate a sense of Indianness for diasporic audiences whose growth, in turn, parallels the increasing Westernization of the Indian heroine. This paper analyzes the framing of whiteness in popular Indian cinema from the 1930s to the present and explores how recent renderings of the gori figure are indiciative of Bollywood’s shifting cultural politics.
Bertram Brooker and the Toronto School of Communication
Authors: Lauder Adam
Published: April 2018

As editor of Marketing magazine in the mid-1920s, the Toronto-based artist, author and advertising executive Bertram Brooker (18881955) introduced new techniques of market research to Canadian readers and elaborated innovative analyses of advertising as a synesthetic media system. Brooker’s writings on markets are explored as a possible influence on Harold Adams Innis’s research on economic staples and the social production of space as well as on Marshall McLuhan’s early writings on market research and mass affect. Brooker’s writings on radio and synesthesia are compared with McLuhan’s later writings on shifting sense ratios. Brooker is posited as a leading contributor to the sensuous media culture of Toronto circa 19211955, and an indirect influence on the Toronto School of Communication.
Flash Mobs, Spectatorship and the Collapse of Belief in the Critical Public Sphere
Authors: Sorochan Cayley
Published: April 2018

This article examines the modes of spectatorship that inhere in flash-mob activities through an analysis of online video clips in which they are represented. By including the mediated afterlife of flash mobs as a central component of the practice, it becomes possible to understand them as a manifestation of normalized networked social relations rather than as a rupture with everyday life. I argue that flash-mob videos and the corresponding practices in actual space mediate and reproduce an economy of enjoyment in which spectators gain a contradictory sense of mastery over everyday life. The lure of participatory culture fuels a growing comfort with a system of democratized surveillance that is a central feature of social relations in control society.

In flash mobs, the appropriation of public space on one hand and the use of new communication technologies on the other are seen by some to implicitly represent a contestation of power by means of democratic forms of organization. An analysis of how online technologies shape the social, cultural and political imaginary of participants, in contrast to an instrumentalist understanding of how they enable certain practices, allows a more measured assessment of the political possibilities of online communities. Rather than understand the seemingly spontaneous participation in flash mobs as subversive, I argue that the irrationality touted by flash mobbers is a symptom of a collapse of belief in the critical public sphere under late capitalism.
“Your DNA Doesn’t Need to Be Your Destiny”: Colonialism, Public Health and the Financialization of Medicine
Authors: Blacker Sarah
Published: April 2018

Health is increasingly understood as a metric of an individual’s dedication to practices of personal risk management. A cultural logic of atomistic individualism informs both the privatization of medicine in Canada and public health campaigns that address environmental determinants of health. This article contrasts the production of subjectivity in a private health clinic in Toronto to a contemporary public health campaign designed for First Nations, Inuit and Métis children. The study shows how financialization continues to operate through colonial structures today. In this comparison, the two prescribed responses to the presence of risk diverge significantly: the wealthy are interpellated as “health investors” and urged to take preventive measures against future disease, while marginalized and racialized communities are asked to take on the role of self-management to make incremental and necessarily short-term improvements to living conditions that are actually determined by the multifarious effects of colonialism. The logic informing both the personalized health industry and the personal finance industry work to obscure these determinisms, presenting a paradigm in which both genetic predisposition to disease and social class can be transcended through savvy investment, long-term planning, and pre-emptive risk management. These industries offer a vision of transformation based on the liberal fantasy of infinite mobility, claiming to provide the means through which individuals can change their social class and prevent future illness.
The Gamification of Finance
Authors: Hutton Robert
Published: April 2018

Through methods varying from complex economic theory to rants on CNBC, the world of finance has developed an image of itself through the metaphor of a game. This metaphor can be examined through an analysis of the representation of capitalism in video and board games, and the emerging theory and practice of gamification, which describes the application of game structures to everyday life. This form of gamification creates an image of the world whose focuses and exclusions reinforce and naturalize the tenets of neoliberal ideology. Gamification emphasizes the neoliberal models of rationality and systems optimization, which exclude “externalities” such as ethics and risk. In this way the game serves as a useful sustaining metaphor for financial capital.
Games and the Subjugated Knowledges of Finance: Art and Science in the Speculative Imaginary
Authors: Aitken Rob
Published: April 2018

Liberalized financial markets now seemingly shape the very contours of global political-economic life and the forms of self and citizen most common to our political present. It is in this context, however, that the culture of finance is often depicted in overly expansive, reified terms. Are there limits to finance and the “financialized imagination” as it has taken hold over the past century? Are there borders to the kind of reach and influence finance now exerts on our political economy? This paper addresses these questions by reviewing the ways in which recent public art has attempted to reclaim what, following Foucault, I refer to as the “subjugated knowledges” of finance: forms of knowledge such as gaming and game-play, which were removed from the discourse of finance when it was recast as rational and scientific over the 19th and 20th centuries. The paper considers several public art interventions that engage with gaming, game culture or game-play of various forms, in order to disrupt financial practices and abstraction. If limits are to be (re)imposed on finance, I conclude, we need critical strategies which can reclaim the subjugated knowledges of finance and which can, by extension, question the self-image of finance as a rational domain.
Dismantling Narratives: Settler Ignorance, Indigenous Literature and the Development of a Decolonizing Discourse
Authors: Hardwick Jennifer
Published: April 2018

In an article for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation, Taiaiake Alfred argues that “[t]he complete ignorance of Canadian society about the facts of their relationship with Indigenous peoples and the willful denial of historical reality by Canadians detracts from the possibility of any meaningful discussion on true reconciliation” (2009: 181). Alfred goes on: “[r]eal change will happen only when settlers are forced into a reckoning of who they are, what they have done, and what they have inherited” (184). Despite years of work by Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the reckoning Alfred speaks of seems a long way off. The majority of Canadians remain ignorant of the history of their country, and removed from colonialism’s current manifestations and long-term implications. Some scholars consider the failure to engage in decolonization an act of denial—a choice on the part of beneficiaries who are unwilling to go through the uncomfortable process of decolonization. Others acknowledge the role of widespread ignorance, noting that few Canadians are educated about the history of colonization. Despite theorizing both ignorance and denial, scholars have not explored the connection between the two; as a result, ignorance and denial are often conflated in discussions of Canadian settler culture.

In an attempt to better understand the relationship between settler ignorance and denial, this paper will explore the ways that knowledge conditioned by colonial frameworks can prevent settler Canadians from engaging in acts of decolonization. I will analyze two Ontario Ministry of Education-approved secondary-school history books in relation to a study conducted at Queen’s University in 2010 to argue that the Ontario education system strengthens settler ignorance and privileges colonial ideals. I will then analyze Thomas King’s short story “Borders” (1993) from an assimilationist perspective in order to highlight how settler ignorance can lead to a denial of colonialism and a perpetuation of colonial ideals, even in the face of decolonizing narratives.
Giving Toronto a Black Eye: Neo-Flânerie and Dionne Brand’s thirsty
Authors: Ballantyne Darcy
Published: April 2018

This essay argues that Dionne Brand employs a peripatetic approach to mapping the city of Toronto in the long poem thirsty that shares—and extends—some key qualities of flânerie. I propose that Brand’s revision of the traditional trope of city strolling, which I am calling new- or neo-flânerie, produces a way of translating the culturally, racially, ethnically and linguistically diverse city that renders its multiplicity an integral and central—rather than a marginal and vexing—aspect of the contemporary metropolis. Brand’s neo-flânerie captures and interrogates spaces and places in the city at the level of the street and through a lens that refuses to reject or render invisible those spaces, places and people that are often marginalized or erased by the gaze of the traditional white, male, bourgeois flâneur.
Remixing Return: A Tribe Called Red’s Decolonial Bounce
Authors: Levine Gabriel
Published: April 2018

In the winter of 2012-13, the music of Ottawa-based DJ collective A Tribe Called Red provided a catalyzing soundtrack for the Idle No More movement sweeping across Turtle Island. Melding samples of pow wow drum groups with electronic Afrodiasporic syncopations, the group remixes musical traditions of invention that persist in the aftermath of cultural suppression. In A Tribe Called Red’s live performances, this vibrant sound is combined with video clips lifted from the colonial archive, creating a powerfully decolonizing aesthetic. This article engages with the group’s “work of return” in sound, vision and performance, connecting its audiovisual bounce to the ongoing Indigenous cultural-political resurgence of which it is a part.
Daniels v. Canada: Racialized Legacies, Settler Self-Indigenization and the Denial of Indigenous Peoplehood
Authors: Gaudry Adam , Andersen Chris
Published: April 2018

In this commentary on Daniels v. Canada, we discuss the cultural power of legal discourse, and more specifically, we argue that the logics that various actors have drawn from Daniels work to marginalize, if not gut completely, policy logics that are based on a respect for Métis peoplehood. In doing so, we analyze one unintended yet predictable outcome of the decision: the growth of new self-declared Métis or Indian groups, such as the Mikinak Tribe of Québec, who see Daniels as an opportunity to capitalize on the perceived benefits of being Indigenous in Canada. We conclude that while Métis inclusion in s.35 of the Constitution Act, 1982 and now in s.91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867 due to the Daniels decision remains important, these developments should be understood and used, from a policy perspective, as building blocks for affirming Métis nationhood and the self-determining power of the Métis Nation.
Personality and International Politics: Insights from Existing Research and Directions for the Future
Authors: Kaarbo Juliet
Published: April 2018

This article focuses on personalities, or individual differences, of world political leaders. After arguing that international relations theory has experienced a turn toward decision makers, I briefly overview one of the dominant approaches to the study of leader personality in foreign policy: Leadership Trait Analysis. While this research includes a number of important studies that directly challenge traditional understandings of international relations and engage with international relations theory, I argue that the subfield of personality studies in foreign policy is ripe for new theoretical and methodological developments. In the final section of this article, I outline several specific areas for future research, including a connection between foreign policy-personality approaches and the growing body of work on political leadership.
Privacy-preserving verifiable elastic net among multiple institutions in the cloud
Authors: Zhang Jun , He Meiqi , Zeng Gongxian , Yiu Siu-Ming
Published: April 2018

With the popularity of cloud computing, an increasing number of institutions outsource their data to a third-party cloud system which could be untrusted. The institutions encrypt their data before outsourcing to protect data privacy. On the other hand, data mining techniques are used widely but computationally intensive, especially for large datasets. Combining data from different institutions for a big and varied training set helps enhance data mining performance. Therefore, it is important to make the cloud system which has powerful computing abilities run data mining algorithms on the encrypted data from multiple institutions. Two challenges need attention – how to compute on encrypted data under multiple keys and how to verify the correctness of the result. There are no existing methods that solve the two challenges at the same time. Elastic net is a useful linear regression tool to find genomic biomarkers. In this paper, we propose the first privacy-preserving verifiable elastic net protocol based on reduction to support vector machine using two non-colluding servers. We construct a homomorphic cryptosystem that supports one multiply operation and multiple add operations under both single key and different keys. We allow the involved institutions to verify the correctness of the final result. The collaboration between multiple institutions is made possible without jeopardizing the privacy of data records. We formally prove that our protocol is secure and implement the protocol. The experimental results show that our protocol runs reasonably fast, and thus can be applied in practice.
Concussion and the autonomic nervous system: An introduction to the field and the results of a systematic review
Authors: Pertab Jon L. , Merkley Tricia L. , Cramond Alex J. , Cramond Kelly , Paxton Holly , Wu Trevor
Published: April 2018

BACKGROUND:

Recent evidence suggests that autonomic nervous dysfunction may be one of many potential factors contributing to persisting post-concussion symptoms.

OBJECTIVE:

This is the first systematic review to explore the impact of concussion on multiple aspects of autonomic nervous system functioning.

METHODS:

The methods employed are in compliance with the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) and PRISMA standards. Embase, MEDLINE, PsychINFO, and Science Citation Index literature searches were performed using relevant indexing terms for articles published prior to the end of December 2016. Data extraction was performed by two independent groups, including study quality indicators to determine potential risk for bias according to the 4-tiered classification scheme of the AAN.

RESULTS:

Thirty-six articles qualified for inclusion in the analysis. Only three studies (one Class II and two Class IV) did not identify anomalies in measures of ANS functioning in concussed populations.

CONCLUSIONS:

The evidence supports the conclusion that it is likely that concussion causes autonomic nervous system anomalies. An awareness of this relationship increases our understanding of the physical impact of concussion, partially explains the overlap of concussion symptoms with other medical conditions, presents opportunities for further research, and has the potential to powerfully inform treatment decisions.
Impact of balance on functional independence after stroke: A cross-sectional study at rehabilitation settings in Nigeria
Authors: Vincent-Onabajo Grace , Joseph Emmanuel , Musa Hadiza Yakubu
Published: April 2018

BACKGROUND:

Functional independence is often compromised after stroke and its restoration is one of the goals of stroke rehabilitation.

OBJECTIVE:

This study assessed the impact of balance on functional independence after stroke.

METHODS:

Ninety-five stroke patients undergoing physical rehabilitation at two health institutions in Nigeria participated in the study. Balance and functional independence were respectively assessed with the Berg Balance Scale and the Barthel Index. Binary logistic regression analysis was conducted to examine the independent impact of balance on functional independence while controlling for participants’ age, sex, side of hemiparesis and post-stroke duration.

RESULTS:

Mean±SD age of the participants was 58.4±13.1 years and females were more (f = 48; %  = 50.5). The regression model from the binary regression analysis explained 73.2% (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.732) of the variance in functional independence. Good balance function was found to independently and significantly ( P <  0.01) increase the likelihood of being functionally independent after stroke (Odds ratio = 1.33; 95% CI = 1.11 to 1.58).

CONCLUSION:

The goal of attaining functional independence after stroke may depend to a significant extent on good balance function irrespective of the stroke survivor’s age, sex and post-stroke duration.
Effects of neuromuscular electrical stimulation in patients with Parkinson’s disease and dysphagia: A randomized, single-blind, placebo-controlled trial
Authors: Park Ji-Su , Oh Dong-Hwan , Hwang Na-Kyoung , Lee Jung-Hoon
Published: April 2018

BACKGROUND:

Neuromuscular electrical stimulation has been used to improve swallowing function in neurologic patients with dysphagia, but its effect on patients with dysphagia and Parkinson’s disease remains unclear.

OBJECTIVES:

This study aimed to identify the effect of effortful swallowing combined with neuromuscular electrical stimulation as a novel treatment approach in dysphagic patients with Parkinson’s disease.

METHODS:

Participants were randomly allocated to an experimental group ( n = 9) or a placebo group ( n = 9). The experimental group simultaneously received neuromuscular electrical stimulation with effortful swallowing, while the placebo group received sham neuromuscular electrical stimulation with effortful swallowing. All participants received the treatment for 30 min/day at five sessions per week for 4 weeks. Both groups also received the same conventional dysphagia therapy.

RESULTS:

The experimental group showed significant differences in horizontal movement ( p = 0.038) and vertical movement ( p = 0.042) compared to the placebo group, but showed no significant differences in the oral ( p = 0.648) or pharyngeal phase ( p = 0.329) of the Videofluoroscopic Dysphagia Scale compared to the placebo group, except for the Penetration-Aspiration Scale ( p = 0.039).

CONCLUSIONS:

We demonstrated that neuromuscular electrical stimulation applied to the infrahyoid region combined with effortful swallowing effectively increased hyoid bone movement and reduced aspiration in dysphagic patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Whole-body vibration improves ankle spasticity, balance, and walking ability in individuals with incomplete cervical spinal cord injury
Authors: In Taesung , Jung Kyoungsim , Lee Min-Goo , Cho Hwi-young
Published: April 2018

OBJECTIVES:

This study aimed to investigate the effects of whole-body vibration (WBV) training on ankle spasticity, balance, and walking ability in patients with incomplete spinal cord injury (iSCI) at cervical level.

METHODS:

Twenty-eight patients with cervical iSCI were randomly assigned to WBV ( n = 14) or control group ( n = 14). WBV group received WBV training, while control group was treated with placebo-treatment. All interventions were given for 20-min, twice a day, 5-days a week for 8-weeks. The spasticity of ankle plantar-flexors was assessed by estimating passive resistive force using a hand-held dynamometer. Balance was analyzed based on postural sway length (PSL) using a force plate. Timed-Up and Go test (TUG) and 10 m-Walk Test (10MWT) were used to assess walking ability.

RESULTS:

Both groups showed significant improvements in spasticity, balance and walking ability. Also, the significant differences between two groups were demonstrated in the outcomes of spasticity (3.0±1.7 vs 0.9±1.2), PSL (6.4±1.2 vs 3.2±0.9 with eyes-open, and 15.1±10.9 vs 7.4±4.3 with eyes-closed), TUG (2.3±1.3 vs 1.0±1.0), and 10MWT (3.5±2.3 vs 1.3±1.4).

CONCLUSIONS:

WBV may be a safe and effective intervention to improve spasticity, balance and walking ability in individuals with cervical iSCI. Thus, WBV may be used to improve these symptoms in clinics.
Usability of the Thera-Band® to improve foot drop in stroke survivors
Authors: Song SunHae , Park JungHee , Song GyuDong , Lee SeulGi , Jo YoHan , Jin MinKyung , Lee DongGeon , Jung SunHye , Hong SoungKyun , Lee SeungHoo , Pyo SeungHyeon , Lee GyuChang
Published: April 2018

BACKGROUND:

Stroke survivors show “foot drop”, dragging their toes on the ground in the swing phase of gait. Ineffective ankle dorsiflexion may result in an abnormal gait pattern.

OBJECTIVE:

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of ankle Thera-Band® use on gait patterns in stroke survivors.

METHODS:

Gait data were collected in eight subjects who had had strokes using gait analysis system, both with and without the Thera-Band®. The following dependent variables of gait parameters were analyzed: velocity, cadence, step length, stride length, single support time, and double support time.

RESULTS:

There were significant improvements in gait velocity, cadence, stride length, and double support time in those who used the Thera-Band® compared to those who did not ( p <  0.05). However, there were no significant differences in step length or single support time ( p >  0.05).

CONCLUSIONS:

The results show that ankle Thera-Band® use may have a positive effect in improving gait parameters by increasing the ankle stability in stroke survivors with foot drop. Its usefulness in the rehabilitation of foot drop in stroke survivors needs to be further investigated.
Outcome of CABG with or without Coronary Endarterectomy in Bangladesh: A Retrospective Cohort Study
Authors: Ranjan Redoy , Adhikary Dipannita , Saha Heemel , Mandal Sabita , Saha Sanjoy Kumar , Adhikary Asit Baran
Published: April 2018

Objective: In this review, we assess the outcome of surgical revascularization technique, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with or without coronary endarterectomy (CE) for patients with diffuse coronary artery disease in a single surgeon’s practice.Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 2189 patients who experienced OPCABG with or without CE between January 2009 and December 2016. The following variables were compared in this study- Intubation time, ICU stay, Postoperative MI, Arrhythmia, renal impairment, stroke and ICU mortality.Results: Of 2189 patients, 1000 patients required coronary endarterectomy in addition to OPCABG. Initially, there was a higher mortality rate and incidence of postoperative blood transfusion in the group of patients who had CE in addition to CABG, with no significant difference in other outcomes. But postoperative use of Heparin, Warfarin and Double antiplatelet agent was associated with decreased mortality significantly in our study. In comparison to other group, the patients in the combined CE with CABG group had a higher incidence of male sex, past MI, and poor left ventricular function. However,emergency CABG, renal impairment, poor left ventricular function, and also peripheral vascular disease were associated with higher mortality in both group of the patients; CE was not a predictor of postoperative mortality.Conclusions: Total surgical revascularization is attainable and accomplishes, when Coronary endarterectomy is performed in addition to Off-pump coronary artery bypass graft in patients when there is no other choice for satisfactory revascularization.Bangladesh Heart Journal 2017; 32(2) : 77-84
Prediction of Reperfusion and Infarct-Related Artery Patency after Thrombolysis in Acute Anterior Myocardial Infarction by Degree of P Wave Dispersion on ECG
Authors: Khan Md Monir Hossain , Rahman Md Afzalur , Majumder Abdullah Al Shafi , Rahman Md Toufiqur , Haque Md Monsurul , Hussain Khondker Shaheed , Mallic Golam Rahman , Siddiqui Mohammad Khalilur Rahman , Islam Md Sariful , Rahman Md Azijur
Published: April 2018

Background: The prognosis of patients with persistent occlusion of the infarct related artery (IRA), despite lytic therapy is poor. Early detection of successful reperfusion and IRA patency is of great importance in terms of prognosis and identification of candidates for rescue percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). P wave dispersion (PWD), a new parameter measured before and after fibrinolytic therapy (FT) is supposed to predict successful reperfusion in patients with anterior acute myocardial infarction (AMI).Objectives:To examine the prediction of successful reperfusion and infarct related artery (IRA) patency by measuring P wave dispersion in 12-lead surface ECG.Method:132 patients were selected and divided into two groups on the basis of ST segment resolution (STR) after 120 minutes of thrombolysis. Group I: patients with STR >70%; Group II: patients with STR < 70%. All patients underwent coronary angiography (CAG). IRA patency was considered if TIMI flow grade was >2.Results: Mean age of the successfully thrombolysed group was 49.12±9.54 and mean age of failedthrombolysis group was 52.08±8.23 years. Though higher age was associated with failed thrombolysis and it was statistically insignificant (p=0.06). Patients with higher BMI showed no significant difference in thrombolysis. It was observed that diabetes mellitus and dyslipidemia were significantly higher in group II patients (p=0.04 and p=0.03, respectively). The mean level of PWD after 120 minutes of thrombolysis (PWD120) was statistically significant (p=0.001) between two groups. After multivariate regression analysis PWD120 was found to be the significant predictor of ST segment resolution as well as IRA patency (OR = 1.101; 95% CI = 1.012 – 1.240; p = 0.01).Conclusion: P wave dispersion (PWD) in patients receiving thrombolytic therapy can be a predictor of successful reperfusion and patent infarct related artery (IRA). PWD values, in combination with other reperfusion parameters, can contribute to the identification of rescue PCI candidates.Bangladesh Heart Journal 2017; 32(2) : 100-105
Presentation, Management Practices and In-hospital Outcomes of Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome in a Tertiary Cardiac Centre in Bangladesh
Authors: Cader Fathima Aaysha , Haq M Maksumul , Nasrin Sahela , Kabir CM Shaheen
Published: April 2018

Background: There is no large-scale data on the management practices and in-hospital outcomes of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in Bangladesh. This study aimed to document the presentation characteristics, treatment practices and in-hospital outcomes of ACS patients presenting to a specialized tertiary cardiac care institute in Bangladesh.Methods: This retrospective observational study included all ACS patients presenting to Ibrahim Cardiac Hospital & Research Institute (ICHRI), Dhaka, Bangladesh, over the period of January 2013 to December 2013. Data were collected from hospital discharge records and catheterization laboratory database, and analysis was carried out using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 16.0 (Chicago, Illinois, USA).Result: A total of 1914 ACS patients were included. The mean age was 57.8 ± 12.1 years. 71.4% were male. 39.8% presented with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), 39.7% with non- ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and 20.5% presented with unstable angina (UA). 68.91% were diabetic, 74.24% hypertensive, 53.23% were dyslipidaemic, 25.75% were smokers and 20.72% had chronic kidney disease (CKD).1022 (53.4%) of all admitted ACS patients underwent coronary angiography, among whom 649 (33.9%) were advised percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and 198 (10.3%) and 207 (10.8%) were advised coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery and medical management respectively. PCI was performed in 509 patients (26.6%)during the index admission. The majority of these patients were those of STEMI (39.23%), among whom 47 (6.2%) underwent primary PCI. 146 (7.6%) of the patients presenting with ACS expired during hospital stay. Mortality was highest among STEMI (10.5%), followed by NSTEMI (8.3%) and UA (1%). 501 (26.2%) patients developed left ventricular failure, 108 (5.6%) patients developed shock and 265 (13.8%) developed acute kidney injury.Conclusion: This study represents one of the larger single-centre analyses of ACS patients in Bangladesh thus far. Our patients have high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, particularly diabetes and hypertension. There is room for further improvement in terms of guideline-directed medical and interventional treatment modalities, in order to improve outcomes.Bangladesh Heart Journal 2017; 32(2) : 106-113
Cardiac Hydatid Cyst: First Ever Documented Case in Bangladesh
Authors: Talukder Md Saiful Hoque , Mandal Subash Chandra , Islam Md Shafiqul , Hossain Md Monzur , Rony Md Mujibur Rahman , Khan Zayin Zawad , Uddin Md Mesbah , Kibria ANM , Rahim Abdur , Momen Abdul , Bhuyian Md Wahiduzzaman
Published: April 2018

Hydatid cystic disease results from infection with the larval or adult form of the Echinococcus Granulosus(tapeworm). Cardiac involvement is seen in 0.5% to 2% of patients withhydatid disease and involvement of the right atrium(RA), main pulmonary artery(MPA) and right pulmonary artery(RPA) are very rare.In this case a 22-yr-old farmer woman from Raigong, Sirajgong, Bangladesh presented to the ShahidZiaur Rahman Medical College hospital, Bogra with the complaints of breathlessness for 10 months; haemoptysis and chest pain for last 3 months.CT scan of the chest showed cystic lesion on right hilar region with right sided pulmonary inflammatory lesion. CT guided FNAC revealed benign right bronchogenic cyst. Echocardiography showed right atrial(RA) thrombus. CT angiogram report showed complete occlusion of right pulmonary artery(RPA) with thrombus, main pulmonary artery(MPA) was partially occluded with thrombus &thrombus in right atrium(RA). Under cardiopulmonary bypass, a multiloculated mass was removed from RA and a cyst like structure removed from MPA and RPA. Histopathological report of the biopsy specimen revealed hydatid cyst and presence of EchinococcusAb confirmed the diagnosis of Hydatid disease.Bangladesh Heart Journal 2017; 32(2) : 125-129
Iron and the Breastfed Infant
Authors: Friel James , Qasem Wafaa , Cai Chenxi
Published: April 2018

The first 6 months of life is a crucial time in meeting iron needs. The purpose of this review is to examine iron in mother’s milk and whether or not it meets the physiological needs of the growing infant. Key issues include iron content and iron transport from the mammary gland as well as when and what foods should be added to the solely breastfed infant. We examine these topics in light of new molecular biology findings in the mammary gland.
Ramjet Nozzle Analysis for Transport Aircraft Configuration for Sustained Hypersonic Flight
Authors: Baidya Raman , Pesyridis Apostolos , Cooper Maxim
Published: April 2018

For the past several decades, research dealing with hypersonic flight regimes has been restricted mainly to military applications. Hypersonic transportation could be a possible and affordable solution to travel in the medium term and there is renewed interest from several private organisations for commercial exploitation in this direction. Various combined cycle propulsion configurations have been proposed and the present paper deals with implications for the nozzle component of a ramjet configuration as part of one such combined cycle propulsion configuration. An investigation was undertaken for a method of turbine-based propulsion which enables the hypersonic vehicle to take off under its own power and propel the aircraft under different mission profiles into ramjet operational Mach regimes. The present study details an optimal method of ramjet exhaust expansion to produce sufficient thrust to propel the vehicle into altitudes and Mach regimes where scramjet operation can be initiated. This aspect includes a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)-based geometric study to determine the optimal configuration to provide the best thrust values. The CFD parametric analysis investigated three candidate nozzles and indicated that the dual bell nozzle design produced the highest thrust values when compared to other nozzle geometries. The altitude adaptation study also validated the effectiveness of the nozzle thrust at various altitudes without compromising its thrust-producing capabilities. Computational data were validated against published experimental data, which indicated that the computed values correlated well with the experimental data.
A 3D Printed Membrane-Based Gas Microflow Regulator for On-Chip Cell Culture
Authors: Podwin Agnieszka , Walczak Rafał , Dziuban Jan
Published: April 2018

A miniature 3D printed membrane-based gas microflow regulator which delivers gaseous media to on-chip cell cultures is presented in this paper. The device uses a polydimethylosiloxane (PDMS) membrane to act as a diffusion barrier and maintain gas flow at the desired rate. The regulator was characterized, and repeatable flow values for different membrane thicknesses and gas types in the function of pressure were obtained. As a result, a long-term on-chip culture of Euglena gracilis was achieved, this was due to constant and stable carbon dioxide release from the regulator (flow rate: 0.3 μL/min).
Analytical Solution for 2D Inter-Well Porous Flow in a Rectangular Reservoir
Authors: Ding Junfeng , Wang Shimin
Published: April 2018

Inter-well fluid flows through porous media are commonly encountered in the production of groundwater, oil, and geothermal energy. In this paper, inter-well porous flow inside a rectangular reservoir is solved based on the complex variable function theory combined with the method of mirror images. In order to derive the solution analytically, the inter-well flow is modeled as a 2D flow in a homogenous and isotropic porous medium. The resulted exact analytical solution takes the form of an infinite series, but it can be truncated to give high accuracy approximation. In terms of nine cases of inter-well porous flow associated with enhanced geothermal systems, the applications of the obtained analytical solution are demonstrated, and the convergence properties of the truncated series are investigated. It is shown that the convergent rate of the truncated series increases with the symmetric level of well distribution inside the reservoir, and the adoption of Euler transform significantly accelerates the convergence of alternating series cases associated with asymmetric well distribution. In principle, the analytical solution proposed in this paper can be applied to other scientific and engineering fields, as long as the involved problem is governed by 2D Laplace equation in a rectangular domain and subject to similar source/sink and boundary conditions, i.e., isolated point sources/sinks and uniform Dirichlet or homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions.
Advanced Paving Materials and Technologies
Authors: You Zhanping , Dai Qingli , Xiao Feipeng
Published: April 2018

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Design and Optimization of an Opened Suspended Core Fiber-Based SPR Sensor with Gold Cylinder Structures
Authors: Jiao Wentan , Liu Jinrong , Zhang Jing , Wang Guanjun , Huang Mengxing
Published: April 2018

In this study, an opened three-hole suspended core fiber surface plasmon resonance sensor structure based on the combination of photonic crystal fiber and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) mechanism was proposed and analyzed. One hole in the clad layer was exposed to the outside, and a lay of gold cylinders with the same size and gap was placed along the inside of the opened hole. The existence of the gold cylinders could stimulate the SPR effect and selecting the suitable gaps between the cylinders could enhance the SPR effect and increase its sensitivity. Then COMSOL software was used to simulate how the cylinder diameter, the gaps between the cylinders, and the fluid refractive index variation affect the sensor’s transmission loss spectrum, field enhancement effect, and the sensitivity. The optimized results show that the sensitivity of this proposed SPR sensor could be high, up to 1 × 10−5 RIU/nm, and it was much higher than the sensitivity of the existing photonic crystal fiber SPR sensor (1 × 10−4 RIU/nm), which was an order of magnitude improvement. This study could provide a reliable theoretical basis for future research and design of real-time and high-sensitivity opened fiber SPR sensors.