Information Technology: Market Success To Succession

Since commercial computers were first introduced in the early 1950s, their role, power, and importance has so expanded that the current period is often called The Information Age. Over the past decade, policy makers and the public have become progressively more concerned as success in information markets has lead to a concentration of market power that allows a few firms to dominate what is increasingly seen as a commodity essential to modern life. This paper argues that, in modern information markets, success allows domination but also creates the conditions that lead to succession – the giants of one micro-age tend to become commodity suppliers to the movers and shakers of the next micro-age. This study separates the first 50 years of The Information Age into the Hardware and the Software Micro-ages. It is suggested that the user-training focus, of the now dawning Wetware Micro-age, will profoundly affect information markets and practises

Holographic repulsion and confinement in gauge theory

We show that for asymptotically anti-deSitter backgrounds with negative energy, such as the AdS soliton and regulated negative mass AdS-Schwarzshild metrics, the Wilson loop expectation value in the AdS/CFT conjecture exhibits a Coulomb to confinement transition. We also show that the quark-antiquark ($q \bar q$) potential can be interpreted as affine time along null geodesics on the minimal string world sheet,and that its intrinsic curvature provides a signature of transition to confinement phase. The result demonstrates a UV/IR relation in that the boundary separation of the $q \bar{q}$ pair exhibits an inverse relationship with the radial descent of the world sheet into the bulk. Our results suggest a generic (holographic) relationship between confinement in gauge theory and repulsive gravity, which in turn is connected with singularity avoidance in quantum gravity.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figure

Perceived Work-Related Stressors and Its Relationship with the Physiological and Psychological Well Being of Nursing Faculty Members

Background: Work related stress in nursing education is gaining the attention of nurseeducators and nurse researchers as the effects of stress on learning, persistence, academic success, and student satisfaction have been recognized. Nurse educators are facing the challenge of creating new ways of teaching and facilitating enhancedlearning experiences in clinical practice environments that are inherently complex, highly demanding, and unpredictable. The literature consistently reports the negativeeffects of excess stress and unsupportive relationships on wellbeing, self-efficacy, self-esteem,learning, persistence, and success (Del Prato et. al 2011).Aim of the study: The research study was looking at exploring the perceived work-relatedstressors and its relationship with the physiological and psychological wellbeing ofnursing faculty members working at the 3colleges of nursing affiliated to the National Guard health affairs, King Saud bin AbedAL Aziz for health sciences.Methods: An exploratory correlation comparative research design was utilized and a nonprobability (convenience) sample was designed to include all nursing facultymembers from the three sister colleges. The tool of this study consists of 5 main partsincluding the sociodemographic data of the participants and the Health and SafetyExecutive Management standards indicator tool (HSE indicator Tool) developed byCousins et al., (2004), comprises 35 items within seven stressor subscales in the formof short sentences and uses a 5-point Likert response scale to explore the work relatedstressors among nursing faculty members. Results: A total of  82 faculty members currently working in the three sister nursing colleges affiliated to King Saud bin Abdul-Aziz University or Health Sciences ,more than three quarters of the participants were non Saudi (n = 67, 81.7 %) .With regard to the work-related stressors all participants in the three settings mentioned that they have to work intensively as the most reported stressor with mean scores of 1.76 + 1.13, 2 + .83 and 2.27 + .55 for Riyadh, Jeddah and Alahssa subjects respectively.Kruskal-Wallis test showed statistically significant difference between the three groups with regard to their agreement about the statement “I find my job stressful” k = 6.531, p = .048.Three major sources of stress were identified including: insufficient funding and resources; unreasonable expectations from colleagues; and “lack of promotion opportunity” Conclusion and Recommendation: Work related stressors can no longer be considered an occasional, personal problem to beremedied with palliatives. It is becoming an increasingly global phenomenon, affecting allcategories of workers, all workplaces and all countries.From the results of the current study we can conclude that the academic staffs perceived their Job as stressful besides the difference in their perception to the factors and resources causing stress. Therefore, there is a need to understand the nature ofthat problem and to better manage it as, those stressors can detrimentally influence job satisfaction, psychological well-being and physical health. Key wards: Workplace stress, physiological wellbeing, psychological wellbeing, nursing faculty members, nurse educators, health and wellbein

The efficacy of intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factor as primary treatment of retinopathy of prematurity: Experience from a tertiary hospital

Background. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a vasoproliferative disease affecting premature babies and a major cause of blindness in childhood. Appropriate screening and treatment can prevent blindness.Objective. To report on the efficacy of using antivascular endothelial growth factor (bevacizumab) as first-line therapy in ROP.Methods. This was a retrospective analysis of patients with ROP treated at St John Eye Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa, over a 3-year period. Outcome measures were the clinical response to intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) as well as the economic impact of IVB therapy.Results. Twenty-three patients were treated for active ROP or type 1 disease, in 44 eyes. Two patients required treatment in one eye only. The mean birth weight of these patients was 1 074 g (range 810 - 1 480). Response to treatment outcome was available for 22 patients (43 eyes). The mean follow-up period was 9 months (range 1 - 18). Forty-one eyes (95.3%) showed complete regression or non-progression of the disease. Two eyes (one eye each in two patients) progressed to advanced disease. There were no short-term adverse events. A cost-effective model showed that IVB treatment was much more economical than laser therapy.Conclusion. IVB is a safe and effective first-line treatment for ROP and should be considered in resource-limited centres

The efficacy of intravitreal antivascular endothelial growth factor as primary treatment of retinopathy of prematurity: Experience from a tertiary hospital

Background. Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is a vasoproliferative disease affecting premature babies and a major cause of blindness in childhood. Appropriate screening and treatment can prevent blindness.Objective. To report on the efficacy of using antivascular endothelial growth factor (bevacizumab) as first-line therapy in ROP.Methods. This was a retrospective analysis of patients with ROP treated at St John Eye Hospital, Johannesburg, South Africa, over a 3-year period. Outcome measures were the clinical response to intravitreal bevacizumab (IVB) as well as the economic impact of IVB therapy.Results. Twenty-three patients were treated for active ROP or type 1 disease, in 44 eyes. Two patients required treatment in one eye only. The mean birth weight of these patients was 1 074 g (range 810 - 1 480). Response to treatment outcome was available for 22 patients (43 eyes). The mean follow-up period was 9 months (range 1 - 18). Forty-one eyes (95.3%) showed complete regression or non-progression of the disease. Two eyes (one eye each in two patients) progressed to advanced disease. There were no short-term adverse events. A cost-effective model showed that IVB treatment was much more economical than laser therapy.Conclusion. IVB is a safe and effective first-line treatment for ROP and should be considered in resource-limited centres

Magnetic Deflection Coefficient Investigation for Low Energy Particles

In this research we solved numerically Boltzmann transport equation in order to calculate the transport parameters, such as, drift velocity, W, D/? (ratio of diffusion coefficient to the mobility) and momentum transfer collision frequency ?m, for purpose of determination of magnetic drift velocity WM and magnetic deflection coefficient ? for low energy electrons, that moves in the electric field E, crossed with magnetic field B, i.e; E×B, in the nitrogen, Argon, Helium and it's gases mixtures as a function of: E/N (ratio of electric field strength to the number density of gas), E/P300 (ratio of electric field strength to the gas pressure) and D/? which covered a different ranges for E/P300 at temperatures 300°k (Kelvin). The results showed had been tabulated and graphically represented as functions of their variables. These results a satisfactory agreement between experimental values and theoretical data given in the literature showed

Shunt Hybrid Active Power Filter Based on Two Compensation Strategies with PI and Fuzzy Logic Controllers

Industrial designs have tremendously changed within the last decade, with its time and nonlinear variation loads in power frameworks spectrum expanding widely. This revolution has resulted in increased quality control problems such as current unbalance, current and voltage harmonics, flicker and poor power factor in control frameworks. The aim of this paper is to address this problem through the development of Synchronous Reference Frame and Reactive Power (SRF and P-Q) control methods. The DC voltage was regulated to its set reference for providing the current reference using proportional-Integral (PI) and fuzzy logic controllers. From the results, Fuzzy logic control was shown to achieve an adequate DC capacitor energy storage optimization, the sinusoidal type of the current and the change of the power factor. A low Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) that met the suggestions of IEEE- 519 standard on symphonious levels was achieved with the proposed method

Dopamine signalling in pancreatic islet cells and role in adaptations to metabolic stress

Objectives Dopamine and related receptors are evidenced in pancreatic endocrine tissue, but the impact on islet β-cell stimulus-secretion as well as (patho)physiological role are unclear. Methods The present study has evaluated islet cell signalling pathways and biological effects of dopamine, as well as alterations of islet dopamine in rodent models of diabetes of different aetiology. Key findings The dopamine precursor L-DOPA partially impaired glucose tolerance in mice and attenuated glucose-, exendin-4, and alanine-induced insulin secretion. The latter effect was echoed by the attenuation of glucose-induced [Ca2+]i dynamics and elevation of ATP levels in individual mouse islet cells. L-DOPA significantly decreased β-cell proliferation rates, acting predominantly via the D2 receptor, which was most abundant at the mRNA level. The administration of streptozotocin (STZ) or high-fat diet (HFD) in mice significantly elevated numbers of dopamine-positive islet cells, with HFD also increasing colocalization of dopamine with insulin. At the same time, colocalization of dopamine with glucagon was increased in STZ-treated and pregnant mice, but unaffected by HFD. Conclusion These findings highlight a role for dopamine receptor signalling in islet cell biology adaptations to various forms of metabolic stress