Analysis of the Airport Network of India as a complex weighted network

Transportation infrastructure of a country is one of the most important indicators of its economic growth. Here we study the Airport Network of India (ANI), which represents India's domestic civil aviation infrastructure, as a complex network. We find that ANI, a network of domestic airports connected by air links, is a small-world network characterized by a truncated power-law degree distribution, and has a signature of hierarchy. We investigate ANI as a weighted network to explore its various properties and compare them with their topological counterparts. The traffic in ANI, as in the World-wide Airport Network (WAN), is found to be accumulated on interconnected groups of airports and is concentrated between large airports. In contrast to WAN, ANI is found to be having disassortative mixing which is offset by the traffic dynamics. The analysis indicates toward possible mechanism of formation of a national transportation network, which is different from that on a global scale.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figure

A possible role for endogenous glucocorticoids in orchiectomy-induced atrophy of the rat levator ani muscle: Studies with RU38486, a potent and selective antiglucocorticoid

RU38486, a potent and selective antiglucocorticoid, was employed to study a possible role for endogenous glucocorticoids in atrophy of the levator ani muscle secondary to castration of male rats. RU38486 was shown to block (3H) triamcinolone acetonide binding to cytosol from levator ani muscle. Daily oral administration of RU38486 to castrated rats partially prevented atrophy of the levator ani muscle, as well as a decrease in RNA concentration. In a control group receiving RU38486 alone, the levator ani underwent significant (20%) hypertrophy. Administration of exogenous dexamethasone also caused pronounced atrophy of the levator ani muscle. This atrophy was prevented, to a significant degree, by simultaneous oral administration of RU38486. It is concluded that endogenous glucocorticoids, the actions of which are blocked by RU38486, may be involved in regulation of the mass of the levator ani muscle in intact rats

Safe Compositional Specification of Networking Systems: A Compositional Analysis Approach

We present a type inference algorithm, in the style of compositional analysis, for the language TRAFFIC—a specification language for flow composition applications proposed in [2]—and prove that this algorithm is correct: the typings it infers are principal typings, and the typings agree with syntax-directed type checking on closed flow specifications. This algorithm is capable of verifying partial flow specifications, which is a significant improvement over syntax-directed type checking algorithm presented in [3]. We also show that this algorithm runs efficiently, i.e., in low-degree polynomial time.National Science Foundation (ITR ANI-0205294, ANI-0095988, ANI-9986397, EIA-0202067

Nonparametric Kernel estimation of annual maximum stream flow quantiles.

A nonparametric kernel methods is proposed and evaluated performance for estimating annual maximum stream flow quantiles. The bandwidth of the estimator is estimated by using an optimal technique and a cross-validation technique. Results obtained from a limited amount of real data from Malaysia show that quantiles estimated by nonparametric method using these techniques have small root mean square error and root mean absolute error. Based on correlation coefficient test shown that the nonparametric model approach is accurate, uniform and flexible alternatives to parametric models for flood frequency analysis

Antenatal, Place of Birth and Post-natal Related to Breastfeeding Practice among Women in Peri-urban Area, Semarang

Background: Key health issues for women of reproductive age include problems concerning sexuality and reproduction. Sexuality is not merely about sex, but about the right of women to make choices and decisions related to sexual behaviour and practices, relationships, breastfeeding, contraception and abortion. This paper will examines the various health facilities, the services and treatments which are available, in particular those which influence breastfeeding practices. Methods: A combination of qualitative and quantitative data collection methods were used in this research. In the quantitative method, a questionnaire survey was conducted following preliminary analysis of the data collected through focus group discussions (FGDs). The methods employed for qualitative data collection included focus group discussions, informal and in-depth interviews and participant observation. The sample group in the peri-urban area included pregnant women, mothers with babies less than 2 years old, a few husbands and a small number of women of reproductive age. Results: This research found that there were many factors influencing the choice of birth place such as location, costs and the quality of the services provided by nurses, doctors, etc. The women in this area still preferred the services of the dukun bayi for the postnatal treatment. Conclusion: The place where the mother delivers the baby influences their motivation to breastfeed. Although the respondents mentioned that breastfeeding is a good practice for feeding baby, however, they lack of knowledge about breastfeeding. This condition is closely related to poor counselling about breastfeeding

Intercolony Comparison of Diets of Western Gulls in Central California

As human populations expand, they force free-ranging animals to adapt to an increasingly urban environment, resulting in changes in diets, reproductive success, and mortality. The diets of two western gull (Larus occidentalis) breeding populations in central California were compared. One colony, Año Nuevo Island (ANI), is 1 km from shore and within 30 km of a municipal landfill. The other colony, Southeast Farallon Island (SEFI), is located 45 km off the shore of San Francisco, CA. Given the proximity of ANI to the shore and the landfill, I predicted that gulls from ANI would have more garbage in their diets. Indeed, gulls from ANI consumed over three times more garbage. Twenty-three percent of wet diets from gulls at ANI contained garbage, whereas garbage made up only 6% of wet diets from gulls at SEFI. Despite the appearance of garbage in gull diets, birds from both colonies consumed a range of marine prey, and Clupeiformes, Euphausiacea, and Gadiformes were important to both colonies. Isotopic values (15N and 13C) measured in gull feathers were similar between colonies, suggesting that gulls from both populations consume similar prey from the marine environment during the non-breeding phase. The reliance on stable, easily accessible food from landfills during the breeding season may be an important adaptation for western gulls to cope with urbanization and declines in prey species in the California Current during the energy-intensive chick-rearing perio

The Development of the European Administration: Fundamental Concepts and Approaches

The study approaches in an unitary manner, the fundamental concepts of the theoretical and practical accomplishment of an European public administration: the European Administrative Space, the convergence and the administrative dynamics and the Europeanization. In the absence of a specific acquis communautaire, the European administration includes all the experiences and evolutions with relevant impact at national level, connected to the principles of a responsible and transparent administration, founded on the grounds of efficiency and efficacy. Particularly agreed upon within the constituent treaties of the European Union, these principles might form the general standards not only for the process of acceding to the European Union, but also for the convergence towards an European model of public administration. The efforts of analysts and specialists to describe the real evolution process of national administrations are with no doubt, extremely important, even though at some point, contradictory. The model of European administration makes use of the systemic analysis and offers the conceptual framework needed for covering the diverse problematic it encompasse

Comparisons of the LH Moments and the L Moments

This paper discusses comparisons of the LH moments method with L moments method. LH moments, a generalization of L moments, based on linear combinations of higher-order statistics was introduced for charactering the upper part of distributions and larger events in data by Wang (1997). Analysis of observed data shows that using LH moments estimates of the upper part of distribution events are expected to be more reasonable than the L moments estimates. A comparison of the LH moment diagram and the L moment diagram of the data also shows that the GEV distribution describes the LH moment ratios better than the L moments

Kecerdasan emosi dalam kalangan pelajar Diploma Pendidikan Lepasan Ijazah (DPLI) Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia

Kecerdasan emosi dapat dijadikan sebagai panduan bagi mewujudkan pendidikan yang berkualiti serta sebagai asas pemerolehan ilmu pengetahuan bagi seseorang pendidik dalam menjalankan tugasnya sebagai seorang guru. Namun begitu, adakah faktor umur dan pengalaman seseorang pendidik menjejaskan kecerdasan emosi mereka apabila meneruskan pengajian di peringkat yang lebih tinggi? Oleh itu, tujuan kajian ini dijalankan untuk mengkaji tahap kecerdasan emosi pelajar Diploma Pendidikan Lepasan Ijazah (DPLI) Universiti Tun Hussein Onn Malaysia (UTHM) dengan menggunakan soal selidik berdasarkan model Goleman iaitu kesedaran kendiri, pengawalan kendiri, motivasi kendiri, empati dan kemahiran. Kajian tinjauan secara pendekatan kuantitatif ini melibatkan seramai 210 orang pelajar DPLI yang berbeza kursus. Data yang dikumpul telah dianalisis dengan menggunakan Statistical Package for the Social Science versi 16.0 secara analisis deskriptif dan analisis inferensi. Nilai min dikira bagi menentukan tahap kecerdasan emosi dalam kalangan pelajar DPLI. Hasil dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa tahap kecerdasan emosi dalam kalangan pelajar DPLI berada pada tahap yang tinggi (4.24). Hasil dapatan dari analisis inferensi iaitu ujian parametrik ANOVA menunjukkan bahawa tidak terdapat perbezaan yang signifikan berdasarkan umur serta pengalaman mengajar pelajar terhadap kecerdasan emosi. Oleh itu, keputusan analisis menunjukkan bahawa faktor umur dan pengalaman pelajar tidak menjejaskan kecerdasan emosi mereka dan tidak menghalang pelajar tersebut untuk cemerlang dalam pengajian yang diteruskannya