Cross-country differences in ICT adoption. A consequence of Culture?

The diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) has witnessed a surge in the recent years; nevertheless, the rate of adoption across countries diverges considerably. This divergence is observed regardless of the income levels of countries. In this paper, we attempt to explain the differences in ICT adoption rates across countries using Hofstede?s cultural framework. The results suggest that national culture does influence the ICT adoption rate of a country. The results are robust even after controlling for levels of education and income.

Are patients admitted to emergency departments with regular supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) treated appropriately?

Regular supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) is frequently encountered in clinical practice. Guidelines are available from the National Service Framework (NSF) for the treatment of patients attending emergency departments (ED) with SVT. These recommend a thyroid-function test (TFT) and arrhythmia electrocardiography (ECG), and referral to a heart-rhythm specialist on discharge. Hospital admission is rarely required. In our multicentre study, we examined the implementation of these guidelines among patients attending the ED with SVT. Only 34% of patients had specialist referrals, with an average wait of 50.3 days (the majority of delays resulted from referral requests from general practitioners). A history of previous SVT, the mode of tachycardia termination, patient age and/or comorbidities were similar for the 27 (23.5%) patients who were admitted overnight. Of these, 15 (13%) of the total 115 patients who attended ED with regular SVT were referred for Holter monitoring despite having ECGs demonstrating arrhythmia. Low referral rates, unnecessary investigations and admissions indicate a need for improvement for better patient care and to minimise healthcare costs. We have formulated a standard operating procedure, which will be available via the College of Emergency Medicine website

Evaluation of electric and magnetic fields distribution and SAR induced in 3D models of water containers by radiofrequency radiation using FDTD and FEM simulation techniques

In this study, two software packages using different numerical techniques FEKO 6.3 with Finite-Element Method (FEM) and XFDTD 7 with Finite Difference Time Domain Method (FDTD) were used to assess exposure of 3D models of square, rectangular, and pyramidal shaped water containers to electromagnetic waves at 300, 900, and 2400 MHz frequencies. Using the FEM simulation technique, the peak electric field of 25, 4.5, and 2 V/m at 300 MHz and 15.75, 1.5, and 1.75 V/m at 900 MHz were observed in pyramidal, rectangular, and square shaped 3D container models, respectively. The FDTD simulation method confirmed a peak electric field of 12.782, 10.907, and 10.625 V/m at 2400 MHz in the pyramidal, square, and rectangular shaped 3D models, respectively. The study demonstrated an exceptionally high level of electric field in the water in the two identical pyramid shaped 3D models analyzed using the two different simulation techniques. Both FEM and FDTD simulation techniques indicated variations in the distribution of electric, magnetic fields, and specific absorption rate of water stored inside the 3D container models. The study successfully demonstrated that shape and dimensions of 3D models significantly influence the electric and magnetic fields inside packaged materials; thus, specific absorption rates in the stored water vary according to the shape and dimensions of the packaging materials.Comment: 22 pages, 30 figures and 2 table

Editorial note

[No abstract Available

Consistency of the Two Higgs Doublet Model and CP violation in top production at the LHC

It is important to provide guidance on whether CP violation may be measurable in top-quark production at the Large Hadron Collider. The present work extends an earlier analysis of the non-supersymmetric Two-Higgs-Doublet Model in this respect, by allowing a more general potential. Also, a more comprehensive study of theoretical and experimental constraints on the model is presented. Vacuum stability, unitarity, direct searches and electroweak precision measurements severely constrain the model. We explore, at low \tan\beta, the allowed regions in the multidimensional parameter space that give a viable physical model. This exploration is focused on the parameter space of the neutral sector rotation matrix, which is closely related to the Yukawa couplings of interest. In most of the remaining allowed regions, the model violates CP. We present a quantitative discussion of a particular CP-violating observable. This would be measurable in semileptonically decaying top and antitop quarks produced at the LHC, provided the number of available events is of the order of a million.Comment: 45 pages, 10 figures, some in (essential) colour. Figures 2, 6 and 7 are bitmapped, better quality available on request. Version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

THE EFFECT OF DRTA STRATEGY ON THE STUDENTS' READING COMPREHENSION OF WISNUWARDHANA UNIVERSITY OF MALANG, INDONESIA

The purposes of this study are (1) to examine differences in the ability of students who are taught by using DRTA strategy with students who are taught by SQ3R strategy in understanding the text, (2) to examine the effect of DRTA strategy oni the ability of students in understanding the content of the reading. The design of this study was two pertest group post-test design. In this study, the experimental group and the control group were measured before and after receiving treatment. The Data analysis by using t-test showed that (1) the results of the data analysis for posttest of DRTA and SQ3R strategy was 3.559 with a significance level of 0.001 (0.001<0.05), it can be concluded that there was significant difference between the result of post-test of DRTA strategy with the results of post-test of SQ3R strategy, (2) the results of the pretest and posttest analysis of DRTA strategy was 0.338 (0.038<0.05), it means that there was the influence of DRTA strategy on the students' reading comprehension.  Article visualizations

*-DCC: A platform to collect, annotate, and explore a large variety of sequencing experiments.

BackgroundOver the past few years the variety of experimental designs and protocols for sequencing experiments increased greatly. To ensure the wide usability of the produced data beyond an individual project, rich and systematic annotation of the underlying experiments is crucial.FindingsWe first developed an annotation structure that captures the overall experimental design as well as the relevant details of the steps from the biological sample to the library preparation, the sequencing procedure, and the sequencing and processed files. Through various design features, such as controlled vocabularies and different field requirements, we ensured a high annotation quality, comparability, and ease of annotation. The structure can be easily adapted to a large variety of species. We then implemented the annotation strategy in a user-hosted web platform with data import, query, and export functionality.ConclusionsWe present here an annotation structure and user-hosted platform for sequencing experiment data, suitable for lab-internal documentation, collaborations, and large-scale annotation efforts

The Implementation of Information Gap Activities to Improve Students\u27 Speaking and Reading Skills

This study was conducted to know whether or not the use of Information Gap Activities improves students\u27 accuracy in speaking skill that covers three elements of accuracy; vocabulary, pronunciation, and grammar; and to know whether or not the use of Information Gap Activities improves students\u27 literal comprehension in reading skill. This research applied a quasi-experimental design; the nonequivalent control group design. It used two groups; experimental groups and control group. The data obtained from the test was analyzed quantitatively and then its\u27 result was compared with t-table to know whether they were significantly different or not. The data showed students\u27 mean score of accuracy in speaking skill and literal comprehension in reading skill improved after teaching by using Information Gap Activities. In experimental class, the students\u27 accuracy of pretest was 1.55 and improved to be 3.06 in posttest, students\u27 literal comprehension of protest was 0.82 and posttest was 3.21. In control class, the students\u27 accuracy was 1.90 for pretest and 2.32 for posttest; students\u27 literal comprehension was 1.63 for pretest 2.27. These findings indicate that the mean score of pre-test was greater than pretest for that both class. However, the students\u27 mean score in experimental was greater than control class where accuracy (3.06>2.37) and literal comprehension (3.21>2.27). It meant that implementing Information Gap activities were effective to improve the students\u27 speaking and reading skills

A noninvasive molecular approach: exploiting species-locus-specific PCR primers in defeating numts and DNA cross-contamination of cercopithecidae

The lack of a standardized, noninvasive molecular approach to studying genetic aspects of primates has made it hard for primatologists to decode the evolutionary history of these species. Researchers must optimize their own techniques to fully exploit the available samples. Lack of species-locus-specific primers also contributes to difficulties in using noninvasive genetic samples. Thus, the objectives of this study were to develop a standardized technique to collecting samples noninvasively, propose newly designed species-locus-specific primers, and optimize conditions for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for Macaca fascicularis, M. nemestrina, Trachypithecus cristatus, and T. obscurus. Nine new species-locus-specific primers for three different loci of mitochondrial DNA, namely D-loop, cytochrome oxidase subunit I (COI), and cytochrome b, were successfully designed. These primers proved to be efficient in amplifying larger datasets (up to ~1,000 bp) of the targeted species in the optimized PCR conditions. The species-locus-specific primers are able to anneal to host DNA alone in highly contaminated feces of highlighted species. They can also offer alternatives measures in avoiding contamination related to nuclear insertion of mitochondrial pseudogenes (numts)