A concern about younger drivers in Perth

© 2015 WIT Press. This paper highlights the concerns about younger drivers in Perth. Evidence suggests that this group of drivers were speeding at different levels particularly the highly excessive. Despite 60 km/h being considered a higher speed limit than the other two limits under this study, it was found that younger drivers are speeding and taking higher risks on roads that belong to the 40 and 50 km/h speed limits. The On the spot' detection found roads, which belong to 50 km/h, were also of concern. Male drivers were dominating the speeding on roads for the three speed limits roads studied. Pedestrian crash data also supported this evidence in concluding that the leading number of drivers who hit pedestrians belongs to this younger age group. Speeding and pedestrian crashes on 40 km/h on non-school zone roads are also examined and discussed. It is recommended that along with enforcement, two levels policy need to be targeted in parallel. First, a safety audit to the 50 and 60 km/h limits as a comprehensive municipal programme that may lower the limits to a safer speed on these roads needs to be adopted. Second, authorities may focus on younger drivers' licence regulations in terms of speeding violations and accidents history and real scenario training that relates to that age group. Such policy direction may bring high returns in sustaining safer roads

The Empirical Evidence Conclusively Supports Global Investing

Although there still exits a sense of uneasiness in the stock market about global investing, the above average rate of returns and steady growth of international companies for the past ten years compels prudent investor to invest abroad. The main goal of this work is to examine the performance of foreign companies and compare their risk-adjusted returns to the returns of the US companies. In this process we selected the foreign companies that have been accepted by our financial market and traded in the US as ADR (American Depository Receipts) in NYSE or NASDAQ. Additionally, we have considered only those ADRs that had high volume and outperformed the industry index. Specifically, this study is going to address whether the performance of a global portfolio meets or surpasses the performance of a diversified domestic portfolio. More importantly the emphasis of this work is to determine whether the global portfolios consistently and significantly outperformed the US equity portfolios. The asset selection and the optimization process applied to domestic and international portfolios are identical to maintain consistency and comparability of the results. For each portfolio we used the 2003-2004 daily observations to optimize allocations and we used the 2005-2006 data to evaluate the performance of each portfolio

Priority based technique for rescheduling trains

No AbstractKeywords: rescheduling; mathematical modelling; service disruptions; priorit

Randomized controlled trial of interferon gamma versus amantadine in combination with interferon alpha and ribavirin for hepatitis C genotype 3 non-responders and relapsers

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of triple combination regimens comprising of interferon alpha-2b (IFN-alpha) and ribavirin plus either IFN-gamma or amantadine in genotype 3 patients, responders or relapsers to interferon plus ribavirin combination. METHODS: Patients were randomized to receive IFN-alpha 3MU thrice a week, ribavirin 800-1200 mg per day with either IFN-gamma 2 MU thrice a week or amantadine 100 mg twice daily. Treatment was continued for 48 weeks in patients showing complete or partial (2 log reduction) early virological response (EVR) at 12 weeks and negative PCR at 24 weeks. RESULTS: Total enrollments were 44; 25 were previously non-responders out of them 12 were in the IFN-gamma arm. Nineteen were relapsers, out of them 10 received IFN-Gamma. Overall EVR with triple regimens was 61.4% (27/44). The EVR for IFN-gamma arm was 72.7% (16/22) and for amantadine arm 50% (11/22) (p=0.089). Sustained virological response (SVR) was 50% (11/22) in the gamma arm and 27.3% (6/22) in the amantadine arm (p=0.122). This figure was 60% (6/10) and 44% (5/9) for relapsers (p=0.845), and 41.6% (5/12) and 7.7% (1/13) for non-responders (p = 0.046).Treatment was well tolerated by most of the patients in both arms. CONCLUSIONS: About one third of patients responded to the triple regimens. However IFN-gamma was a better option. Its combination with pegylated interferon and ribavirin needs further evaluation. (Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT00538811)

Reducing energy consumption of vehicle air conditioning system by an energy management system

This paper presents an energy management system to reduce the energy consumption of a vehicle when its air conditioning system is in use. The system controls the mass flow rate of the air by dynamically adjusting the blower speed and air-gates opening under various heat and loads circumstances. Simulations were conducted for a travelling vehicle operating the air conditioning system without and with the developed energy management system. The results show that the comfort temperature within the cabin room is achieved for reduced amount of energy consumption.<br /

Do Under-Managed Portfolios Outperform Over-Managed Portfolios?

How often should a portfolio be rebalanced?&nbsp; This is the question our study attempts to answer.&nbsp; The Internet stock bubble and its aftermath made portfolio mangers very sensitive to their management styles.&nbsp; Specifically, they had to reassess how often to evaluate a client&rsquo;s portfolio.&nbsp; This work examines the performance of portfolios that were aggressively managed and compares their risk-adjusted returns with those of portfolios that were managed infrequently.&nbsp; To accomplish this, we change the rebalancing frequency of a well-diversified portfolio and track its performance over time.&nbsp; This study will not only enable us to determine whether the performance of an actively-managed portfolio surpasses the performance of an under-managed or unmanaged portfolio, but it will also allow us to determine the optimal rebalancing period for maximizing risk-adjusted returns.&nbsp; The asset selection and portfolio optimization methodologies applied to the portfolios in this study are identical to maintain consistency and comparability of results.&nbsp; To evaluate the performance of each portfolio, we used daily observations from September 2000 to September 2006 and applied various rebalancing frequencies using the QuantAnalysis application at www.fundsformation.com

The Livelihood Change of Fishermen Recipient Grant Program of Coalition Party in Lubuk Puding Village Buru District of Karimun Regency of Riau Islands Province

This study was conducted in January 2016 in the village of Lubuk Puding in the District of Buru Karimun Riau Islands Province. The objective of this study was to determine the characteristics of fishing grantees, to determine changes in fishing livelihoods after receiving the grant, and to determine the relationship characteristic of changes, livelihoods and grants program. The method used in this study was survey of 160 grantees fishermen population, in which this study taken as much as 15% of the 160 populations or 24 peoples.Based on the research result, the characteristics of grant recipient are productive fishermenage, low education and the number of family member of fishermen. The livelihood of fishermen grant recipients changed from the preparatory stage to the growth stage, while in food consumption and employment on a fixed income and sanitation and hygiene unchanged. Characteristics with real changes in the livelihoods of fishermen are age which have relationship with income and with the job opportunities, the number of family member has relationship with food consumption and grant, and food consumption have relationships with the grant