Immunotherapy versus Chemotherapy: Which Treatment Offers Better Survival to Adults with Advanced Melanoma?

Background: Melanoma is the most serious type of skin cancer that can lead to metastasis. The main treatment for melanoma is surgical removal — a wide excision. Patients with advanced melanoma require further treatment such as chemotherapy or immunotherapy due to the concern of continuous spread. Purpose: Literature review of studies to examine if patients with advanced melanoma, treated with immunotherapy, enjoy better overall survival rates than patients treated with chemotherapy? Methods: A comprehensive literature review was conducted using using the search terms \u3c(advanced melanoma) AND (immunotherapy)) AND (chemotherapy)) AND (skin cancer)\u3e. Inclusion criteria were studies that were related to immunotherapy and chemotherapy among advanced melanoma patients. Exclusion criteria were studies that were completed more than five years ago, free text was available, other languages besides English, non-human species, and any patient under the age of 18 years old. Conclusions: Immunotherapy is a more sustainable option for treating patients with advanced melanoma. It has been proven that immunotherapy offers patients better outcomes versus treating advanced melanoma with chemotherapy

Water markets in Pakistan

Presented during the Third international conference on irrigation and drainage held March 30 - April 2, 2005 in San Diego, California. The theme of the conference was "Water district management and governance."Includes bibliographical references.The government of Pakistan has recently introduced reforms to reduce the financial deficit of the country's irrigation sector. Reforms are expected to grant autonomy to irrigation agencies and transfer part of the management responsibilities to water users. Water markets are already functioning in the country, but are limited to tube-well or sub-surface water in two provinces only. Although the development of water markets is described as being efficient, little is known regarding the potential feasibility for and impact of such markets on small landholders. The government's public investment in large irrigation projects has already widened the gap between large and small landholders in terms of revenues and financial assets. It is feared that reforms will further allow for arrival of powerful landholders and businessmen from other regions that will steadily displace the small local agricultural producers. Several studies have been conducted from a quantitative perspective, but no qualitative study has been conducted that may provide insight into the equity issues in regard to water markets. Therefore, a qualitative study is proposed to investigate the affects of water markets on small landholders in Pakistan and the markets' role in the distribution of the benefits of water resources among landholders across all categories.Sponsored by USCID; co-sponsored by Association of California Water Agencies and International Network for Participatory Irrigation Management

Corporate Bankruptcy Prediction In Pakistan By Employing Multiple Discriminant Analysis Technique

Aim of this paper is to focus on the utility of traditional financial ratios for predicting bankruptcy of corporate sector of Pakistan. Symptoms of bankruptcy can be judged in any firm long time before. Therefore, a number of methods were developed by researchers to predict and overcome the matter of bankruptcy. Study on Corporate sector of Pakistan was carried out for the period of 2001 to July 2015. Sixteen financial ratios covering different aspects of firms’ profitability, solvency, liquidity position and operational activity were tested as predictive variables for four operating years before bankruptcy. A total number of 38 companies were examined into two equally distributed groups (bankrupt and non-bankrupt group). Financial data were collected from official website of Karachi Stock Exchange and from balance sheets of these institutions published by State Bank of Pakistan. Variables from Altman’s (1993) revised model were taken into account for the study and weight factor is re-estimated. Simultaneously on the other hand Multiple Discriminant Analysis (MDA) techniques are employed to generate a new model for bankruptcy prediction. Altman’s (1993) re-estimated model when employed on failed and non-failed Pakistani firms proved 78.9% and a newly developed model proved 71.1% bankruptcy prediction.   Keywords: corporate sector; bankruptcy prediction; MDA; financial ratios; Altman’s (1993) model; Pakistan

Computational Fluid Dynamics study of Airflow through a Car's Radiator

Computers are now an integral part of engineering helping us achieve solutions to evermore complex tasks. This study aims to better understand computer modeling and analysis using the necessary software for Fluid Dynamics and computer modeling. The study will also help better understand the current designs of automotives andfluid mechanics in general. There are many ways that performance of a carcan be measured, by wind-tunnel testing, longer empirical studies or CFD but most of these concentrate on optimization of external fluid-flow. This study sees the relationship between airflow under and over the hood. At the end of this report, the author will conclude on the analysis and research that has been done to look at the approach of the using CFD in order to study and understand fluid flow through different circumstances and for computer modeling. Hence, better understand today's technological advances

Coupled Oxidation-Extraction Desulfurization : A Novel Evaluation for Diesel Fuel

This work was financially supported by the National Science Foundation of China (21176021, 21276020, 2187081257). We extend our appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud University for funding the work, through Research Group Project No. RG-1436-026.Peer reviewedPostprin

Computational Fluid Dynamics Study Of Airflow Throw A Car’s Radiator

Computers are now an integral part of engineering helping us achieve solutions to evermore complex tasks. This study aims to better understand computer modeling and analysis using the necessary software for Fluid Dynamics and computer modeling. The study will also help better understand the current designs of automotives and fluid mechanics in general. At the end of this report, the author will conclude on the analysis and research that has been done to look at the approach of the using CFD in order to study and understand fluid flow through different circumstances and for computer modeling. Hence, better understand today’s technological advances

Ergodic Capacity of MIMO Correlated Channels in Multipath Fading Environment with known Channel State Information

In this paper we have evaluated the performance of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) channels in fading environment. Both cases of correlated and uncorrelated MIMO channels are considered under the condition when Channel State Information (CSI) is not known at transmitter and CSI is known at receiver side. We have compared the capacity of 2x2, 3x3 and 4x4 MIMO channels and have shown that capacity increases linearly with increase in the number of antennas at transmitter and receiver side. Increase in the channel capacity is observed because of the uncorrelated channel paths Correlation among the the signals is dependent on the antenna structure and properties and number of the scatterers in the environment. Antenna structure includes the number of elements, the inter-element distance, Angle of Arrival (AOA) and Direction of Arrival (DOA). Additionaly, Correlation increases with the number of scatterers, their distribution, location and degree of movement. Signals with same spatial signature received are considered correlated which reduces the channel capacity. In sum, correlation among the sub-channels causes the degradation in the spectral efficiency of MIMO channels.DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/ijece.v2i5.151