Socialist Democracy and Software Development: The Case of Software Development in India

This study examines the situation that produced a high-tech industry (software development) despite the generally deprived conditions in the country. The authors examine the legacy of colonialism, the ensuing democracy with a socialist bent, and how the global software industry emerged. Clearly the education system and the prevailing infrastructure in a small southern region of the country were contributory factors. There are some warning signs of dangers ahead

Knowledge Work and IT Outsourcing: Is Some Work Returning to the United States?

This paper explores the relationship between Knowledge Work and IT outsourcing which gained visibility during the 2004 US Presidential election campaign. The outsourcing phenomenon is maturing and companies have learned what is appropriate to outsource and for what reasons. That is causing some tasks to return to the US. Understanding Knowledge Work will help companies make decisions regarding effective outsourcing

PERCEIVED EFFECT OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS ON THE EFFECTIVE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF ECONOMICS

The aim of the research was to find out the perceived effects of instructional materials on the effective teaching and learning of economics in some selected Senior High Schools (SHS) in the Cape Coast Metropolis. In specific terms, the study investigated the types instructional materials used in teaching and learning of Economics. The study also examined the perceived effects of instructional materials on the effective teaching and learning of economics. The study employed descriptive cross-sectional survey design. Respondents of this comprised 21 Senior High School Economics teachers and 123 Senior High School form 2 Economics students drawn from the Cape Coast Metropolis in the Central Region of Ghana. A 21-item questionnaire was used to elicit response from both teachers and students. A reliability index of .801 was obtained. The data were analyzed using frequency and percentages, mean and standard deviation. The findings of the study showed that teachers use variety of instructional materials in the teaching of economics. The study also found that majority of the Economics teachers and students agreed that instructional materials are useful in the teaching and learning of Economics.  Article visualizations

A simple and rapid method for calculating identity-by-descent matrices using multiple markers

A fast, partly recursive deterministic method for calculating Identity-by-Descent (IBD) probabilities was developed with the objective of using IBD in Quantitative Trait Locus (QTL) mapping. The method combined a recursive method for a single marker locus with a method to estimate IBD between sibs using multiple markers. Simulated data was used to compare the deterministic method developed in the present paper with a stochastic method (LOKI) for precision in estimating IBD probabilities and performance in the task of QTL detection with the variance component approach. This comparison was made in a variety of situations by varying family size and degree of polymorphism among marker loci. The following were observed for the deterministic method relative to MCMC: (i) it was an order of magnitude faster; (ii) its estimates of IBD probabilities were found to agree closely, even though it does not extract information when haplotypes are not known with certainty; (iii) the shape of the profile for the QTL test statistic as a function of location was similar, although the magnitude of the test statistic was slightly smaller; and (iv) the estimates of QTL variance was similar. It was concluded that the method proposed provided a rapid means of calculating the IBD matrix with only a small loss in precision, making it an attractive alternative to the use of stochastic MCMC methods. Furthermore, developments in marker technology providing denser maps would enhance the relative advantage of this method

ANALISIS SISTEM DINAMIK DAN KENDALI OPTIMAL PADA PENYEBARAN POPULASI ANJING RABIES DI KOTA AMBON

Rabies merupakan penyakit infeksi tingkat akut pada susunan saraf pusat yang disebabkan oleh virus rabies. Penyakit ini bersifat zoonotik, yaitu dapat ditularkan dari hewan ke manusia. Data yang diperoleh menunjukan bahwa kota Ambon terdeteksi sebagai daerah endemis rabies dengan jumlah kasus penularan rabies terbanyak di provinsi Maluku. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis titik kesetimbangan model matematika populasi anjing rabies di kota Ambon. Model yang digunakan adalah model matematika SIR (Susceptibles, Infected, Recovered). Penelitian ini juga dilakukan sebagai suatu upaya untuk mengatasi jumlah anjing yang terinfeksi rabies dengan biaya vaksinasi yang minimal. Metode yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini yaitu metode langsung dengan pendekatan pada parameter keadaan dan variabel kendali yang diselesaikan untuk menghasilkan penyelesaian masalah pemrograman nonlinier, yang selanjutnya disimulasikan dengan software MISER3. Data yang digunakan diperoleh dari Dinas Pertanian, Kehutanan dan Peternakan (Disperhutanak) Provinsi Maluku. Berdasarkan penelitian yang dilakukan diperoleh bahwa jika tidak ada pemberian vaksin maka populasi anjing yang terinfeksi rabies di kota Ambon akan endemik dengan titik kesetimbangan endemik (S,I,R) = (703,139,08). Hasil simulasi numerik menunjukkan bahwa pemberian vaksin oral secara teratur selama 20 hari pertama akan menekan jumlah anjing yang terinveksi virus rabies di kota Ambon

The Informal Logic of Mathematical Proof

Informal logic is a method of argument analysis which is complementary to that of formal logic, providing for the pragmatic treatment of features of argumentation which cannot be reduced to logical form. The central claim of this paper is that a more nuanced understanding of mathematical proof and discovery may be achieved by paying attention to the aspects of mathematical argumentation which can be captured by informal, rather than formal, logic. Two accounts of argumentation are considered: the pioneering work of Stephen Toulmin [The uses of argument, Cambridge University Press, 1958] and the more recent studies of Douglas Walton, [e.g. The new dialectic: Conversational contexts of argument, University of Toronto Press, 1998]. The focus of both of these approaches has largely been restricted to natural language argumentation. However, Walton's method in particular provides a fruitful analysis of mathematical proof. He offers a contextual account of argumentational strategies, distinguishing a variety of different types of dialogue in which arguments may occur. This analysis represents many different fallacious or otherwise illicit arguments as the deployment of strategies which are sometimes admissible in contexts in which they are inadmissible. I argue that mathematical proofs are deployed in a greater variety of types of dialogue than has commonly been assumed. I proceed to show that many of the important philosophical and pedagogical problems of mathematical proof arise from a failure to make explicit the type of dialogue in which the proof is introduced.Comment: 14 pages, 1 figure, 3 tables. Forthcoming in Perspectives on Mathematical Practices: Proceedings of the Brussels PMP2002 Conference (Logic, Epistemology and the Unity of the Sciences Series), J. P. Van Bendegem & B. Van Kerkhove, edd. (Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2004

Phenotyping EMT and Met Cellular States in Lung Cancer Patient Liquid Biopsies at a Personalized Level Using Mass Cytometry

Malignant pleural effusions (MPEs) can be utilized as liquid biopsy for phenotyping malignant cells and for precision immunotherapy, yet MPEs are inadequately studied at the single-cell proteomic level. Here we leverage mass cytometry to interrogate immune and epithelial cellular profiles of primary tumors and pleural effusions (PEs) from early and late-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients, with the goal of assessing epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and mesenchymal-epithelial transition (MET) states in patient specimens. By using the EMT-MET reference map PHENOSTAMP, we observe a variety of EMT states in cytokeratin positive (CK+) cells, and report for the first time MET-enriched CK+ cells in MPEs. We show that these states may be relevant to disease stage and therapy response. Furthermore, we found that the fraction of CD33+ myeloid cells in PEs was positively correlated to the fraction of CK+ cells. Longitudinal analysis of MPEs drawn 2 months apart from a patient undergoing therapy, revealed that CK+ cells acquired heterogeneous EMT features during treatment. We present this work as a feasibility study that justifies deeper characterization of EMT and MET states in malignant cells found in PEs as a promising clinical platform to better evaluate disease progression and treatment response at a personalized level

BLISS is a versatile and quantitative method for genome-wide profiling of DNA double-strand breaks

Precisely measuring the location and frequency of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs) along the genome is instrumental to understanding genomic fragility, but current methods are limited in versatility, sensitivity or practicality. Here we present Breaks Labeling In Situ and Sequencing (BLISS), featuring the following: (1) direct labelling of DSBs in fixed cells or tissue sections on a solid surface; (2) low-input requirement by linear amplification of tagged DSBs by in vitro transcription; (3) quantification of DSBs through unique molecular identifiers; and (4) easy scalability and multiplexing. We apply BLISS to profile endogenous and exogenous DSBs in low-input samples of cancer cells, embryonic stem cells and liver tissue. We demonstrate the sensitivity of BLISS by assessing the genome-wide off-target activity of two CRISPR-associated RNA-guided endonucleases, Cas9 and Cpf1, observing that Cpf1 has higher specificity than Cas9. Our results establish BLISS as a versatile, sensitive and efficient method for genome-wide DSB mapping in many applications.National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U.S.) (Grant T32GM007753)National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (Grant 5DP1-MH100706)National Institute of Mental Health (U.S.) (Grant 1R01-MH110049