Underlying Factors in International Labour Migration in Asia: Population, Employment and Productivity Trends

[Excerpt] In Asia, migration pressures are likely to remain strong for many years to come because of the diverging trajectories of growth of the working age population and the vast differences in earnings between the more developed and the poorer countries of the region. While trends in education and in employment structure are bound to modify the underlying pressures for international mobility, the conclusion that migration pressures will remain strong is no longer in doubt

Human Resources, Poverty, and Regional Development

Human development has moved to centre stage in development theory. Education makes an important contribution to economic growth, but achievement of mass education is important for a number of other reasons as well. Inequality of access to education is a serious issue everywhere, and serves to reinforce the inequality of income. Inequality is evident from the viewpoint of socio-economic background, of gender, and of regional disparities. In a poverty alleviation programme, tackling regional inequalities in education may be crucial, yet it raises many issues. Will expanding educational opportunities only result in frustration if appropriate jobs are not available? Is the key role of education in poor regions to enable educated young people to migrate elsewhere to find better jobs? In international comparisons, Pakistan appears well behind comparable countries in educational development. “Path dependency” means that the legacy of past deficiencies in expanding education will adversely affect Pakistan’s development for decades to come, and what is done now in education will affect development for half a century. A simple projection shows that even with the highly optimistic assumption that by 2030, Pakistan will reach the enrolment rates currently achieved in the United States, the proportion of the working-age population in that year with no education or only primary school education would still be as high as 35 percent. This underlines the need for a strong drive to expand educational opportunity.

Cyclic loading of tendon fascicles using a novel fatigue loading system increases interleukin-6 expression by tenocytes

Repetitive strain or ‘overuse’ is thought to be a major factor contributing to the development of tendinopathy. The aims of our study were to develop a novel cyclic loading system, and use it to investigate the effect of defined loading conditions on the mechanical properties and gene expression of isolated tendon fascicles. Tendon fascicles were dissected from bovine-foot extensors and subjected to cyclic tensile strain (1 Hz) at 30% or 60% of the strain at failure, for 0 h (control), 15 min, 30 min, 1 h, or 5 h. Post loading, a quasi-static test to failure assessed damage. Gene expression at a selected loading regime (1 h at 30% failure strain) was analyzed 6 h post loading by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. Compared with unloaded controls, loading at 30% failure strain took 5 h to lead to a significant decrease in failure stress, whereas loading to 60% led to a significant reduction after 15 min. Loading for 1 h at 30% failure strain did not create significant structural damage, but increased Collagen-1-alpha-chain-1 and interleukin-6 (IL6) expression, suggesting a role of IL6 in tendon adaptation to exercise. Correlating failure properties with fatigue damage provides a method by which changes in gene expression can be associated with different degrees of fatigue damage

The Milky Way Heart: Investigating molecular gas and gamma-ray morphologies in the Central Molecular Zone

Since the discovery of a broad distribution of very high energy (VHE; >0.1 TeV) gamma-rays in the Central Molecular Zone (CMZ) of the Galaxy in 2006 by the HESS collaboration, the correlation of this emission with the integrated intensity of the CS(1-0) molecular line emission has inferred a hadronic origin for the gamma-rays. Here we describe the beginning of our investigation into the strength of this correlation utilising new multi-line millimeter data from the Mopra CMZ and HOP surveys and multi-wavelength GBT radio continuum observations towards the CMZ and compare these in detail with the diffuse TeV gamma-ray emission from HESS. The benefit of these new data is that they allow us to simultaneously observe and analyse correlations using a large number (>10) of molecular species, some of which contain their isotopologue pairs. The use of isotopologue pairs is especially powerful, since it allows one to analyse the optical depth of a number of different molecular species, thus investigating the nature of the correlation over a range of different physical conditions. Here we begin by comparing the integrated line emission and continuum radio emission with the diffuse gamma-ray emission, and, by using isotopologue pairs such as HCN/H$^{13}$CN, obtain optical depths throughout the CMZ corresponding to regions of both strong and weak gamma-ray emission. We find that the radio continuum better matches the peak of the gamma-ray emission, which corresponds to the more compact -- compared to the relatively coarse resolution of the gamma-ray images -- sources in the CMZ. Using the isotopologue pairs, we find that the optical depth at all positions and velocities within the CMZ are about 2--4. This is similar to that found for the CS(1--0) line and would underestimate the mass of the CMZ, potentially explaining why molecular line emission peaks appear offset from the gamma-ray peaks.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Accepted to the Proceedings of the 25th Texas Symposium on Relativistic Astrophysics (Heidelberg, 2010

Distribution system operation and planning in the presence of distributed generation technology

Distributed generation (DG) is becoming an increasingly attractive power generation paradigm in the field of power engineering as economic and environmental factors drive new technologies to be more efficient and less polluting than their earlier counterparts. Although the concept of DG is not new, little research has been done on the topic and even fewer field tests have been performed. This lack of research, along with other factors, has somewhat slowed the acceptance of DG into markets, other than industrial or commercial co-generation for heat and power. This thesis attempts to examine and compare three types of DG: diesel generators, microturbines, and small wind turbines within the structure of a distribution system --Abstract, page iii

An investigation into treatment administration and survival for people with small cell lung cancer

Background Chemotherapy is the backbone of treatment for small cell lung cancer (SCLC) but this may change in the future with the emergence of immunotherapy. Current recommendations state performance status (PS) and comorbidity should be used as measures to decide whether chemotherapy is appropriate but in some circumstances this decision comes down to whether the patient is fit enough to withstand its toxicity. Thoracic radiotherapy and prophylactic cranial irradiation (PCI) are adjuncts to chemotherapy and can cause additional side effects, impacting quality of life. This is an important factor to consider as median survival is short. Furthermore, the efficacy of PCI has been questioned in extensive disease (ED-SCLC). In order to deliver effective treatment it is important that clinicians are aware of the short-term risks and long-term survival gains of these therapies so that a balanced, objective decision can be made before treatment is administered. This thesis aims to improve the patient selection process by quantifying the factors that determine: receipt of treatment, early mortality and long term survival following chemotherapy. In addition, it sets survival benchmarks following the currently used treatments so that novel therapies can be compared in the future. Methods English national lung cancer audit data (NLCA) were linked with chemotherapy (SACT) and radiotherapy (RTDS) data to develop a multivariate logistic regression model in order to quantify the factors associated with receipt of treatment, early mortality and 1-year survival. A subsequent systematic review and meta-analysis of early and late survival following platinum chemotherapy was conducted. MEDLINE, EMBASE and online libraries from major lung cancer conferences were examined to identify studies from 1946 to 2017. Pooled survival estimates were calculated at 30 and 90 days, 1 year, 2 years and 5 years along with the median survival. Results Receipt of treatment Approximately 60% of people diagnosed with SCLC received chemotherapy in the NLCA data. Receipt of treatment was independently associated with PS, age and the amount of comorbidities (P=<0.01 for all factors). There was significant variation in receipt of chemotherapy, radiotherapy and PCI by geographical location (P=<0.01 for all treatment modalities). There was no association between receiving chemotherapy and the stage of cancer. Early survival The 30-day mortality following chemotherapy for all stages of SCLC was approximately 7.8% in the NLCA data. This was associated with stage (ED-SCLC vs limited stage (LD-SCLC) adjusted OR 1.53 (95%CI 1.02-2.28)) and PS (PS2 vs PS0 adjusted OR 3.76 (95%CI 1.71-8.26)). After case-mix adjustment there was significant variation in 30-day mortality by geographical location (P=0.01). Thirty-day survival was considerably better in the meta-analysis of SCLC studies (all stages 98% (95% CI 98-99%, I266.2%, n=167)) and showed minimal variation by study factors. Neutropaenic sepsis and disease progression were the predominant causes of early death following chemotherapy. Overall ninety-day survival was 95% (95% CI 94-96%, I2=81.7%, n=166). Late survival When the NLCA data were examined there was a considerable difference in 1-year survival between LD-SCLC and ED-SCLC (approximately 60.6% and 26.2 % respectively). For individuals with LD-SCLC this was associated with PS, chemotherapy, receipt of radiotherapy (total dose ≥40Gy) and PCI. Whereas in ED-SCLC sex, PS, comorbidity, receipt of radiotherapy (total dose ≥30Gy) and PCI were associated. The odds of 1-year survival for individuals who received 6 cycles of chemotherapy, instead of 4, were not significantly different (6 cycles vs 4 LD-SCLC adjusted OR 0.97 (95%CI 0.48-1.97) and ED-SCLC adjusted OR 1.34 (95%CI 0.81-2.22)). One-year survival did not vary considerably across England, with the exception of one hospital network. This network had better survival and tended to give more radiotherapy and PCI. The meta-analysis including all stages of SCLC revealed a pooled 1-year survival of 54% (95%CI 51-57%, I2=93.3%, n=189). The reporting of 2 and 5-year survival were almost exclusive to LD-SCLC cohorts (41% (95%CI 38-44%, I2=78.9%, n=85) and 23% (95%CI 20-25%, I2=72.3%, n=48) respectively). The median survival for individuals who did not receive chemotherapy in the national audit data was 251 days (95% CI 201-284 days) for LD-SCLC and 32 days (95% CI 28-36 days) for ED-SCLC. The meta-analysis of studies that administered chemotherapy revealed a median survival of 18.0 months (95% CI 17.0-19.1 months, I2=77.3%, n=110) for LD-SCLC and 9.6 months (95%CI 8.9-10.3 months, I2=95.2%, n=103) for ED-SCLC. These figures varied substantially by the year of study, cohort ethnicity, PS, receipt of radiotherapy and PCI, with the latter two factors applying to LD-SCLC only. Conclusions This research provides robust survival benchmarks for the currently recommended treatments of SCLC. Age, PS and the number of comorbidities influenced whether a person received chemotherapy yet PS and stage were the central factors determining prognosis. These two factors, PS and stage, could be used to estimate the risk of early death following chemotherapy and guide treatment decision-making. In addition to assessing early mortality risk, thoracic radiotherapy and PCI should be encouraged in favour of prolonging chemotherapy beyond 4 cycles as this may yield better 1-year survival. Indeed, reducing the geographical inequalities in access to these treatments may also augment outcomes. Further survival advances can be achieved with the development of novel therapies, however, these will require approval by national commissioning bodies prior to use in clinical practice. The survival benchmarks identified within this thesis can be used in the appraisal process to ensure the survival gains of novel therapies are true and are worth their cost

Accumulation layer profiles at InAs polar surfaces

High resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy, dielectric theory simulations, and charge profile calculations have been used to study the accumulation layer and surface plasmon excitations at the In-terminated (001)-(4 × 1) and (111)A-(2 × 2) surfaces of InAs. For the (001) surface, the surface state density is 4.0 ± 2.0 × 1011 cm – 2, while for the (111)A surface it is 7.5 ± 2.0 × 1011 cm – 2, these values being independent of the surface preparation procedure, bulk doping level, and substrate temperature. Changes of the bulk Fermi level with temperature and bulk doping level do, however, alter the position of the surface Fermi level. Ion bombardment and annealing of the surface affect the accumulation layer only through changes in the effective bulk doping level and the bulk momentum scattering rate, with no discernible changes in the surface charge density