Configurational analysis of access to basic infrastructure services: evidence from Turkish provinces

In many developing countries, access to basic infrastructure services, such as sewerage and waste disposal, varies considerably across different areas. In this study, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis identifies configurations of economic and political conditions (population density, population size, income and political participation) associated with good and poor access to sewerage and waste disposal in Turkish provinces. The findings suggest that there is a core configuration of conditions associated with good access to both types of infrastructure service—high income and high political participation. A single core configuration is associated with poor access to both types of service—low population density, small population size and low political participation. Other configurations are observed relating specifically to good and poor access to sewerage and waste disposal services, respectively. We theorise the different pathways that we identify, emphasising that economic measures to support development may offer the best prospect of improving infrastructure access

Graphite core brick crack detection through automated load trace analysis

This presentation looks at graphite core brick crack detection through automated load trace analysi

Managerial networking and stakeholder support in public service organizations

Resource dependence theory suggests that to function successfully, organizations must obtain certain resources controlled by actors in their environment. To do this effectively, managers often develop networking relationships with key stakeholder groups in order to make critical resources available. Managers in public service organizations, in particular, are frequently under great pressure to network with relevant actors from stakeholder groups in order to build support for service (co)production and legitimacy for strategic and operational decisions. To identify networking strategies which are conducive to stakeholder support, we explore the networking behaviour of over 1,000 English local government managers. Fuzzy cluster analysis identifies four distinctive, though inter-related types of managerial networking: technical, reputational, political, and tokenistic. The cluster membership functions from this analysis are used to examine the relationship between types of networking and stakeholder support in depth. The results of hierarchical regression analysis suggest that technically-orientated networking is the most conducive to stakeholder support, with tokenistic networking the least conducive

Barriers to Adoption of Advanced E-business in Welsh Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

The eCommerce Innovation Centre (eCIC) at Cardiff University has a central role in Opportunity Wales, a programme providing e-business support to over 9000 Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) during the last five years. Uptake of advanced e-business adoption has been low during the programme as well as throughout Wales in general. This paper reports on the findings of a pilot study that was undertaken in the fifth year (2006) of the programme. The approach taken to identify the key barriers to adoption was through interviews with a cross section of expert delivery partners and a sample of SMEs that advanced e-business was relevant to. The key objectives were to understand the barriers to adoption in respect of the current programme as well to help planning for future support initiatives. In addition, the research would help identify and overcome certain barriers in relation to the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy. The paper concludes that varying definitions of e-business inhibit our understanding of uptake when comparing to other studies or initiatives. Also, the strategic planning of ebusiness, where relevant, will reduce barriers to advanced ebusiness adoption, as will the lessons learned from SMEs who have successfully made the transition

The eMerging Dependence of SMEs and Citizens on Broadband

In October 2006, the Broadband Wales Observatory undertook case study research into the change, impact and benefits of broadband, on a diverse selection of SMEs (including micro and SOHO businesses) and citizens from across Wales, UK. This paper explains the research approach and method, and presents an overview of the findings from 24 case study reports. It concludes that all of the cases have embraced ADSL broadband, increasing their use and dependency on Internet communication methods, and that many have also re-engineered their business processes to achieve improved operational efficiencies and productivity gains

Prolonged PR interval, first-degree heart block and adverse cardiovascular outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective: First-degree atrioventricular block is frequently encountered in clinical practice and is generally considered a benign process. However, there is emerging evidence that prolonged PR interval may be associated with adverse outcomes. This study aims to determine if prolonged PR interval is associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes and mortality. Methods: We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE for studies that evaluated clinical outcomes associated with prolonged and normal PR intervals. Relevant studies were pooled using random effects meta-analysis for risk of mortality, cardiovascular mortality, heart failure, coronary heart disease, atrial fibrillation and stroke or transient ischaemic attack (TIA). Sensitivity analyses were performed considering the population type and the use of adjustments. Results: Our search yielded 14 studies that were undertaken between 1972 and 2011 with 400 750 participants. Among the studies that adjusted for potential confounders, the pooled results suggest an increased risk of mortality with prolonged PR interval risk ratio (RR) 1.24 95% CI 1.02 to 1.51, five studies. Prolonged PR interval was associated with significant risk of heart failure or left ventricular dysfunction (RR 1.39 95% CI 1.18 to 1.65, three studies) and atrial fibrillation (RR 1.45 95% CI 1.23 to 1.71, eight studies) but not cardiovascular mortality, coronary heart disease or myocardial infarction or stroke or TIA. Similar observations were recorded when limited to studies of first-degree heart block. Conclusions: Data from observational studies suggests a possible association between prolonged PR interval and significant increases in atrial fibrillation, heart failure and mortality. Future prospective studies are needed to confirm the relationships reported, consider possible mechanisms and define the optimal monitoring strategy for such patients

Country-level investigation of innovation investment in manufacturing: Paired fsQCA of two models

Innovation plays a critical role in economic growth. This study analyzes the association between actually implementing innovation and its antecedents, considering a country-level dataset covering innovation-active manufacturing firms in 47 countries. The relationship this article considers is between different drivers of innovation and market preparation for innovation. The study investigates this relationship through fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The study examines the consideration of different sets of condition variables, identifies the importance of individual variables across causal recipes, and provides understanding of variations in the drivers towards market introduction of innovation between sets of countries. This study also provides an example of the effect on causal recipes in fsQCA when including/excluding a condition variable

The \u3ci\u3ePseudomonas syringae\u3c/i\u3e type III effector HopD1 suppresses effector-triggered immunity, localizes to the endoplasmic reticulum, and targets the Arabidopsis transcription factor NTL9

Pseudomonas syringae type III effectors are known to suppress plant immunity to promote bacterial virulence. However, the activities and targets of these effectors are not well understood. We used genetic, molecular, and cell biology methods to characterize the activities, localization, and target of the HopD1 type III effector in Arabidopsis. HopD1 contributes to P. syringae virulence in Arabidopsis and reduces effector-triggered immunity (ETI) responses but not pathogen-associated molecular pattern-triggered immunity (PTI) responses. Plants expressing HopD1 supported increased growth of ETI-inducing P. syringae strains compared with wild-type Arabidopsis. We show that HopD1 interacts with the membrane-tethered Arabidopsis transcription factor NTL9 and demonstrate that this interaction occurs at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). A P. syringae hopD1 mutant and ETI-inducing P. syringae strains exhibited enhanced growth on Arabidopsis ntl9 mutant plants. Conversely, growth of P. syringae strains was reduced in plants expressing a constitutively active NTL9 derivative, indicating that NTL9 is a positive regulator of plant immunity. Furthermore, HopD1 inhibited the induction of NTL9-regulated genes during ETI but not PTI. HopD1 contributes to P. syringae virulence in part by targeting NTL9, resulting in the suppression of ETI responses but not PTI responses and the promotion of plant pathogenicity

Asymmetric Proteome Equalization of the Skeletal Muscle Proteome Using a Combinatorial Hexapeptide Library

Immobilized combinatorial peptide libraries have been advocated as a strategy for equalization of the dynamic range of a typical proteome. The technology has been applied predominantly to blood plasma and other biological fluids such as urine, but has not been used extensively to address the issue of dynamic range in tissue samples. Here, we have applied the combinatorial library approach to the equalization of a tissue where there is also a dramatic asymmetry in the range of abundances of proteins; namely, the soluble fraction of skeletal muscle. We have applied QconCAT and label-free methodology to the quantification of the proteins that bind to the beads as the loading is progressively increased. Although some equalization is achieved, and the most abundant proteins no longer dominate the proteome analysis, at high protein loadings a new asymmetry of protein expression is reached, consistent with the formation of complex assembles of heat shock proteins, cytoskeletal elements and other proteins on the beads. Loading at different ionic strength values leads to capture of different subpopulations of proteins, but does not completely eliminate the bias in protein accumulation. These assemblies may impair the broader utility of combinatorial library approaches to the equalization of tissue proteomes. However, the asymmetry in equalization is manifest at either low and high ionic strength values but manipulation of the solvent conditions may extend the capacity of the method

How to compute the Frobenius-Schur indicator of a unipotent character of a finite Coxeter system

For each finite, irreducible Coxeter system $(W,S)$, Lusztig has associated a set of "unipotent characters" \Uch(W). There is also a notion of a "Fourier transform" on the space of functions \Uch(W) \to \RR, due to Lusztig for Weyl groups and to Brou\'e, Lusztig, and Malle in the remaining cases. This paper concerns a certain $W$-representation $\varrho_{W}$ in the vector space generated by the involutions of $W$. Our main result is to show that the irreducible multiplicities of $\varrho_W$ are given by the Fourier transform of a unique function \epsilon : \Uch(W) \to \{-1,0,1\}, which for various reasons serves naturally as a heuristic definition of the Frobenius-Schur indicator on \Uch(W). The formula we obtain for $\epsilon$ extends prior work of Casselman, Kottwitz, Lusztig, and Vogan addressing the case in which $W$ is a Weyl group. We include in addition a succinct description of the irreducible decomposition of $\varrho_W$ derived by Kottwitz when $(W,S)$ is classical, and prove that $\varrho_{W}$ defines a Gelfand model if and only if $(W,S)$ has type $A_n$, $H_3$, or $I_2(m)$ with $m$ odd. We show finally that a conjecture of Kottwitz connecting the decomposition of $\varrho_W$ to the left cells of $W$ holds in all non-crystallographic types, and observe that a weaker form of Kottwitz's conjecture holds in general. In giving these results, we carefully survey the construction and notable properties of the set \Uch(W) and its attached Fourier transform.Comment: 38 pages, 4 tables; v2, v3, v4: some corrections and additional reference