Molecular characterization of nosocomial methicillin resistant staphylococci aureus by Rep-PCR.

Nosocomial methicillin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) poses problem to clinicians and hospital administrators for its management. In the present study isolation, identification molecular characterizations of methicillin-resistance Staphylococcus aureus were performed at Hospital Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia during December 2005 to April 2007. Twenty seven MRSA positive samples were identified based on cultural, biochemical and antibiotic sensitivity assay. These were, 51% from blood samples, 33.3% from tracheal aspirate and 11,1% from nasal swab and pus. Molecular method rep-PCR was used to characterize the MRSA positive strains. Results of rep-PCR showed 5 different pattern of bands based on their genomic nature. Thus, rep-PCR was proved to be potential tool to determine genomic differences of nosocomial MRSA in resource limited setting

Board diversity and total directors’ remuneration: evidence from an emerging market

This paper aims to examine the relationship between board diversity and total directors ’ remuneration in Malaysia. The authors have operationalised two variables to represent board diversity: the proportion of women directors on the board, to present gender diversity and the proportion of Bumiputras directors, to represent ethnic diversity. Design/methodology/approach – This study has used a panel least squares to test the relationship between board diversity and total directors ’ remuneration. Findings – Based on a 1,094 fi rm-year sample from 2007 to 2009, the authors found a positive and signi fi cant relationship between gender-diverse boards and remuneration, but a negative and signi fi cant relationship between ethnically diverse boards and remuneration. The interaction between gender and ethnically diverse boards results in a weaker negative relationship between ethnically diverse boards and remuneration with an increased presence of women directors. Finally, the authors found a positive and signi fi cant impact on remuneration when there are at least three women and three Bumiputras directors. The fi ndings are robust after controlling for corporate governance variables, institutional variables and fi rm characteristics. Research limitations/implications – The main implication of this fi nding is the positive effect of fi rms hiring more women in top management roles on remuneration. In addition, the negative effect of Bumiputras suggests that their role is to offer political expedience to the board and thus provide economies of scale through their status to the country. Originality/value – This study tests the effect of both gender and ethnicity simultaneously on directors ’ remuneration. Keywords Gender, Ethnicity, Corporate governance, Malaysia, Remuneration, Directors ’ remuneratio

An Analytical Two Resistance Mass Transfer Model for Dye Adsorption on Bagasse Pith

The adsorption of fOUr dyes, namely, Basic Blue 69, Basic Red 22, Acid Blue 25 and Acid Red 114, onto bagasse pith has been studied. A mass transfer model, based on external mass transport and p01-e diffusion, has been used to correlate experimental and theoretical concentration versus time data. The model is an analytical solution which may be applied to adsorption systems in which the operating line and tie lines all terminate on the saturation plateau of the equilibrium isothenn. A single external mass transfer coefficient and a single p01'e diffusion coefficient were sufficient to describe each sytem fOT several initial dye concentrations and several pith masses. The external coefficient were 9.0 x 1(F3, 8.0 x 1(F3, 1.0 x 1(F3 and 1.5 x 10J cm S·I, the pOTe diffusivities were 5.5 x 1(F", 2.5 x 1(F", 2.2 x 1(F7 and 4.5 x l(Fi cm2 S·l for Basic Blue 69, Basic Red 22, Acid Blue 25 and Acid Red 114, respectively

Hybrid Information Hiding Technique Using Parametric Spline and DFT

Information hiding is a means to conical and transmitting information usingapparently innocent carrier without depiction any suspicions. This paper presents anew means for information hiding based images by using Hybrid of ParametricSpline and DFT. A set of control points, which represents secret key, are selectsrandomly from the carrier , and a curve pass by the selected control points isimplement using B-Spline. A hiding process for the secret message bits tacksplace on the spectral real part of the intensity pixels where the B-Spline curvepasses by using LSB technique, followed by the IDFT. The paper also presents theinformation hiding features, and techniques for images, and Interpolationtechniques. The Objective fidelity criteria are depicts the improvements inalgorithm with an application example

Growth and Characterization of Doped ADP Crystal

Pure and impurity added (urea) Ammonium dihydrogen orthophosphate (ADP) single crystals were grown by the slow evaporation technique.  Crystallinity of the pure and doped crystal has been studied by XRD analysis. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) studies confirm the functional group of the crystals. Thermal studies (TG/DTA) confirm that decomposition temperatures of the doped crystals have been decreased.  Â

Growth and Characterization of Barium mixed Strontium tartrate single crystals

Single crystals of Barium mixed Strontium tartrate (SBT) were grown using silica gel as the growth medium. The crystalline nature of the grown crystal was confirmed using powder X-ray diffraction techniques. The functional groups present in the crystals were identified using Fourier Transform Infrared spectral analysis. Mechanical strength of the grown crystals was analyzed by Vicker’s microhardness test

Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP)-Based Nonlinear Auto-Regressive with Exogenous Inputs (NARX) Stock Forecasting Model

The prediction of stocks in the stock market is important in investment as it would help the investor to time buy and sell transactions to maximize profits. In this paper, a Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP)-based Nonlinear Auto-Regressive with Exogenous Inputs (NARX) model was used to predict the prices of the Apple Inc. weekly stock prices over a time horizon of 1995 to 2013. The NARX model belongs is a system identification model that constructs a mathematical model from the dynamic input/output readings of the system, and predicts the future behaviour of the system based on the constructed mathematical model. The One Step Ahead (OSA) and correlation tests were used to test validate the model. Results demonstrate the predictive ability of the model while producing Gaussian residuals (indicating the validity of the model)