Manchester Metropolitan University

About: Manchester Metropolitan University is a education organization based out in Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 5435 authors who have published 16202 publications receiving 442561 citations. The organization is also known as: Manchester Polytechnic & MMU.

Antiglycation Properties of Aged Garlic Extract: Possible Role in Prevention of Diabetic Complications

Abstract: Diabetes mellitus is a common endocrine disorder characterized by hyperglycemia and long-term complications affecting the eyes, nerves, blood vessels, skin, and kidneys. Increased glycation of proteins and accumulation of advanced glycation endproducts (AGEPs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of diabetic complications. Glycation and AGEP formation are also accompanied by formation of free radicals via autoxidation of glucose and glycated proteins. Compounds with combined antiglycation and antioxidant properties may offer therapeutic potential. Recent studies suggest that aged garlic extract (AGE) inhibits formation of AGEPs in vitro and formation of glycation-derived free radicals. S-Allylcysteine, a key component of aged garlic, is a potent antioxidant and can inhibit AGEP formation. Aged garlic extract and S-allylcysteine deserve more attention and should be investigated to see whether they can reduce AGEPs in vivo.

Oral participation in retail service delivery: a comparison of the roles of contact personnel and customers

Abstract: Explores observable oral participation (OOP) of customers at the front stage of the service delivery system within a retail store setting. Spoken interactions between a customer and a sales assistant are denoted as OOP1, and those between one customer and another as OOP2. The respective front stage roles of customers and sales assistants are examined through an analysis of the content of OOP1 and OOP2 as described by a large sample of customers of a particular store. A process and structure of classification of OOP1 and OOP2 interactions is described and proposed. Results show that, while overall patterns of OOP1 and OOP2 activities are significantly different, the proportion of products‐related interactions for each is very similar. OOP2 interactions were predominantly positive and there is evidence that, for some customers, product‐related conversations with other customers replace or reinforce those with sales assistants. Discusses the actual roles enacted by persons at the front stage in the context of the management of the service encounter.

Make-Believe: Spiritual Practice, Embodiment, and Sacred Space:

Abstract: In this paper I examine different forms of spiritual practice which seek to (re)enchant the everyday and the ordinary. By considering the duality of sacred and profane as the relational outcome of both embodied action and the action of other objects or things that are nominally valued as profane, an account is sought which acknowledges the corporeal enacting and sensing of the sacred both in and of the everyday. Taking empirical examples from New Age spiritual seekers, I trace the ways in which profane spatialities and temporalities are reconfigured into sacred topologies and how these seekers realise spiritual enlightenment through a reinhabited appropriation or articulation of the world. The source of signification of this spiritual comportment lies in embodied practices of the everyday that are sensed as the spiritually ‘correct’ or ‘true’ way of doing things. New ways of thinking everyday spiritual practice are thus sought and elaborated upon.

Auditable $\sigma $ -Time Outsourced Attribute-Based Encryption for Access Control in Cloud Computing

Abstract: As a sophisticated mechanism for secure fine-grained access control over encrypted data, ciphertext-policy attribute-based encryption (CP-ABE) is one of the highly promising candidates for cloud computing applications. However, there exist two main long-lasting open problems of CP-ABE that may limit its wide deployment in commercial applications. One is that decryption yields expensive pairing cost which often grows with the increase of access policy size. The other is that one is granted access privilege for unlimited times as long as his attribute set satisfies the access policy of a given ciphertext. Such powerful access rights, which are provided by CP-ABE, may be undesirable in real-world applications (e.g., pay-as-you-use). To address the above drawbacks, in this paper, we propose a new notion called auditable $\sigma $ -time outsourced CP-ABE , which is believed to be applicable to cloud computing. In our notion, expensive pairing operation incurred by decryption is offloaded to cloud and meanwhile, the correctness of the operation can be audited efficiently. Moreover, the notion provides $\sigma $ -time fine-grained access control . The cloud service provider may limit a particular set of users to enjoy access privilege for at most $\sigma $ times within a specified period. As of independent interest, the notion also captures key-leakage resistance . The leakage of a user’s decryption key does not help a malicious third party in decrypting the ciphertexts belonging to the user. We design a concrete construction (satisfying our notion) in the key encapsulation mechanism setting based on Rouselakis and Waters (prime order) CP-ABE, and further present security and extensive experimental analysis to highlight the scalability and efficiency of our construction.