What’s Happening to Linux in Singapore?

This paper seeks to shed some light on the progress of Linux adoption in Singapore. The paper, based upon the opinions of industry experts and two case studies (the National Library Board of Singapore and Golden Village Multiplex Pte. Ltd), clarifies key Linuxadoption issues. It further discusses the pros and cons of Linux and the challenges facing this open source rival of Microsoft Windows. The paper concludes that while Linux is likely to co-exist with Windows, it is set to make some significant changes in future IT infrastructure

Orbit width scaling of TAE instability growth rate

The growth rate of Toroidal Alfven Eigenmodes (TAE) driven unstable by resonant coupling of energetic charged particles is evaluated in the ballooning limit over a wide range of parameters. All damping effects are ignored. Variations in orbit width, aspect ratio, and the ratio of alfven velocity to energetic particle birth velocity, are explored. The relative contribution of passing and trapped particles, and finite Larmor radius effects, are also examined. The phase space location of resonant particles with interact strongly with the modes is described. The accuracy of the analytic results with respect to growth rate magnitude and parametric dependence is investigated by comparison with numerical results

Missed opportunities in full immunization coverage:findings from low- and lower-middle-income countries

Background: An estimated 23 million infants are still not being benefitted from routine immunization services. We assessed how many children failed to be fully immunized even though they or their mothers were in contact with health services to receive other interventions. Design: Fourteen countries with Demographic and Health Surveys and Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys carried out after 2000 and with coverage for DPT (Diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis) vaccine below 70% were selected. We defined full immunization coverage (FIC) as having received one dose of BCG (bacille Calmette-Guérin), one dose of measles, three doses of polio, and three doses of DPT vaccines. We tabulated FIC against: antenatal care (ANC), skilled birth attendance (SBA), postnatal care for the mother (PNC), vitamin A supplementation (VitA) for the child, and sleeping under an insecticide-treated bed-net (ITN). Missed opportunities were defined as the percentage of children who failed to be fully immunized among those receiving one or more other interventions. Results: Children who received other health interventions were also more likely to be fully immunized. In nearly all countries, FIC was lowest among children born to mothers who failed to attend ANC, and highest when the mother had four or more ANC visits Côte d'Ivoire presented the largest difference in FIC: 54 percentage points (pp) between having four or more ANC visits and lack of ANC. SBA was also related with higher FIC. For instance, the coverage in children without SBA was 36 pp lower than for those with SBA in Nigeria. The largest absolute difference on FIC in relation to PNC was observed for Ethiopia: 31 pp between those without and with PNC. FIC was also positively related with having received VitA. The largest absolute difference was observed in DR Congo: 41 pp. The differences in FIC among whether or not children slept under ITN were much smaller than for other interventions. Haiti presented the largest absolute difference: 16 pp. Conclusions: Our results show the need to develop and implement strategies to vaccinate all children who contact health services in order to receive other interventions

Line-broadened quasilinear burst model

A quasilinear model is developed to produce realistic self-consistent saturation levels when modes do not overlap, and give self-consistent diffusion and wave evolution when modes do overlap. Both regimes give steady or pulsating behavior in weakly driven systems with classical relaxation and background dissipation present. An avalanche response is demonstrated: wave momentum release caused by the overlap of closely spaced modes can produce mode overlap of more widely spaced modes (a domino effect) or the growth of modes which would be stable in systems unaffected by the closely-spaced modes` diffusion. Detailed analysis and calculations are performed for the bump-on-tail instability, and extension of the method to more general problems is briefly discussed

Systematic child abuse incidents in a children’s residential home in Hong Kong: regulatory and criminal law reform proposals

Purpose – The paper aims to recommend legal and regulatory reforms to better prevent child abuse in childcare institutions in Hong Kong. Design/methodology/approach – A summary of investigation report and news reports are referred to in describing the abuse incidents which occurred in a children’s residential home. Routine Activity Theory (RAT) is used as the framework for identifying the causes. Local and overseas legislation, regulations, case law, and policies are analysed to provide recommendations for reforms. Findings – There are systematic failures such as workload issues, inadequate supervision, and the absence of continuing professional development (CPD) that contributed to the incidents. The regulations governing the operation of childcare centres and criminal laws against child abuse are long overdue for an update in Hong Kong. On the institutional side, this paper recommends enacting regulations that mandate CPD, lower the staff-to-child ratio, and strengthen the Social Welfare Department’s (SWD) supervisory powers over childcare centres. From the criminal law perspective, it is recommended that “reasonable chastisement” be abolished as a defence of corporal punishment, and that there be new offences for failure to report suspected child abuse incidents and causing or allowing the death/serious harm of a child. Originality/value – The child abuse incidents, occurring in a childcare institution, have drawn wide public concern. Reform is required to protect vulnerable children and regain public confidence

Aid and conflict at the subnational level - Evidence from World Bank and Chinese development projects in Africa

Using geo-referenced data on development projects by the World Bank and China, we provide a comprehensive analysis of the effect of aid on conflict using fixed effects and instrumental variables strategies. The results show that aid projects seem to reduce rather than fuel conflict, on average. Our analysis suggests that this is driven by projects in the transport and financial sectors, and through less lethal violence by governments against civilians. There are no clear differences based on ethnic fractionalization and government affiliation of a region, but some indications of spill-overs to other regions. We also find no increased likelihood of demonstrations, strikes or riots, but a higher likelihood of non-lethal government repression in areas where China is active

From semiclassical transport to quantum Hall effect under low-field Landau quantization

The crossover from the semiclassical transport to quantum Hall effect is studied by examining a two-dimensional electron system in an AlGaAs/GaAs heterostructure. By probing the magneto-oscillations, it is shown that the semiclassical Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) formulation can be valid even when the minima of the longitudinal resistivity approach zero. The extension of the applicable range of the SdH theory could be due to the damping effects resulting from disorder and temperature. Moreover, we observed plateau-plateau transition like behavior with such an extension. From our study, it is important to include the positive magnetoresistance to refine the SdH theory.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure