Role of Key Stakeholders in Successful E-Governance Programs: Conceptual Framework

In recent years, a number of developing countries have launched e-government programs, and several development agencies and governments have identified e-government implementation as a key policy priority. Driven by the success of a few projects in improving delivery of services to citizens and businesses, an increasing number of governments are making ICT investments in the public sector. While there has been a lot of success in these endeavors, evidence of failed projects has drawn attention to the level of risk involved in implementation. The study on role of different stakeholders is important to understand the improvements which can be made on these critical success factors. Hence the objective of this paper is to (1) To understand the role of key stakeholders which influence the success of e-governance projects. (2) Come up with a framework considering role of all these key stakeholders. Through a conceptual analysis the we tried to examine the relationship and role among different stakeholders and how they contribute towards successful implementation of e-governance programs

Dermatofibrosarcoma Protuberans of Scalp With Cervical Lymph Node Metastasis

Dermatofibrosarcoma protuberans (DFSP) is an uncommon, slow growing and locally aggressive tumor of the skin with a high rate of recurrence even after supposedly wide excision. The reports of regional lymph node metastasis and distant metastasis are very rare. Because of the extreme rarity of these cases with metastasis, the experience with management of such patients is very limited. A case of recurrent DFSP of scalp, with metastasis to the regional lymph nodes, in a 17-year-old boy is reported here. This is the second case of DFSP involving scalp and 16th case of DFSP of all sites metastasizing to the regional lymph nodes reported in literature. The patient was treated with wide excision of the lesion and ipsilateral radical neck dissection (including excision of overlying involved skin)

Energy as the basis of harvest index

Harvest index has become a character used in plant breeding programmes and in evaluation of responses to agronomic treatments. Donald defined harvest index as the ratio between weight of grains and the weight of total dry matter, and later described it as a measure of partitioning of photo-synthates (Donald, 1968)

Comparative evaluation of short-term versus long-term post-operative antibiotic prophylaxis after mandibular fractures

Background: No consensus is present among the clinicians regarding the use of post-operative antibiotics after the open reduction and internal fixation. This study evaluates the efficacy of short-term (48 hrs) versus long-term (5 days) post-operative antibiotics in preventing infection rates after the open reduction and internal fixation in mandible fractures.Methods: A total of 80 patients of dentate mandibular fractures were divided randomly in 2 groups; Group 1 received post-operative intravenous antibiotics (amoxicillin+clavulanate 1.2 g+ metronidazole 0.5 g/100 cc) TDS for 48 hrs post-operatively Group 2 received same course for 5 post-operative days and patient were monitored for the signs of infection according to the centers for disease control and prevention criteria, rise in white blood cells counts and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels. Side effects were recorded in both groups.Results: Out of 39 patients in Group 1 two patients showed rise in CRP levels and single patient developed abscess, whereas in Group 2 wound dehiscence was noted in 2 patients and both had prolonged rise in CRP levels at the 5th day.Conclusions: No significant difference in post-operative infection rates was seen between two groups which suggests short-term post-operative antibiotic treatment is equally efficacious as long-term treatment

A Performance Verification Methodology for Resource Allocation Heuristics

Performance verification is a nascent but promising tool for understanding the performance and limitations of heuristics under realistic assumptions. Bespoke performance verification tools have already demonstrated their value in settings like congestion control and packet scheduling. In this paper, we aim to emphasize the broad applicability and utility of performance verification. To that end, we highlight the design principles of performance verification. Then, we leverage that understanding to develop a set of easy-to-follow guidelines that are applicable to a wide range of resource allocation heuristics. In particular, we introduce Virelay, a framework that enables heuristic designers to express the behavior of their algorithms and their assumptions about the system in an environment that resembles a discrete-event simulator. We demonstrate the utility and ease-of-use of Virelay by applying it to six diverse case studies. We produce bounds on the performance of classical algorithms, work stealing and SRPT scheduling, under practical assumptions. We demonstrate Virelay's expressiveness by capturing existing models for congestion control and packet scheduling, and we verify the observation that TCP unfairness can cause some ML training workloads to spontaneously converge to a state of high network utilization. Finally, we use Virelay to identify two bugs in the Linux CFS load balancer.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure

Identification and characterization of miRNAome in root, stem, leaf and tuber developmental stages of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) by high-throughput sequencing

BACKGROUND: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are ubiquitous components of endogenous plant transcriptome. miRNAs are small, single-stranded and ~21 nt long RNAs which regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level and are known to play essential roles in various aspects of plant development and growth. Previously, a number of miRNAs have been identified in potato through in silico analysis and deep sequencing approach. However, identification of miRNAs through deep sequencing approach was limited to a few tissue types and developmental stages. This study reports the identification and characterization of potato miRNAs in three different vegetative tissues and four stages of tuber development by high throughput sequencing. RESULTS: Small RNA libraries were constructed from leaf, stem, root and four early developmental stages of tuberization and subjected to deep sequencing, followed by bioinformatics analysis. A total of 89 conserved miRNAs (belonging to 33 families), 147 potato-specific miRNAs (with star sequence) and 112 candidate potato-specific miRNAs (without star sequence) were identified. The digital expression profiling based on TPM (Transcripts Per Million) and qRT-PCR analysis of conserved and potato-specific miRNAs revealed that some of the miRNAs showed tissue specific expression (leaf, stem and root) while a few demonstrated tuberization stage-specific expressions. Targets were predicted for identified conserved and potato-specific miRNAs, and predicted targets of four conserved miRNAs, miR160, miR164, miR172 and miR171, which are ARF16 (Auxin Response Factor 16), NAM (NO APICAL MERISTEM), RAP1 (Relative to APETALA2 1) and HAM (HAIRY MERISTEM) respectively, were experimentally validated using 5′ RLM-RACE (RNA ligase mediated rapid amplification of cDNA ends). Gene ontology (GO) analysis for potato-specific miRNAs was also performed to predict their potential biological functions. CONCLUSIONS: We report a comprehensive study of potato miRNAs at genome-wide level by high-throughput sequencing and demonstrate that these miRNAs have tissue and/or developmental stage-specific expression profile. Also, predicted targets of conserved miRNAs were experimentally confirmed for the first time in potato. Our findings indicate the existence of extensive and complex small RNA population in this crop and suggest their important role in pathways involved in diverse biological processes, including tuber development