A DIVERGENT PATTERN OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT REVENUES AND SPENDING IN ELECTION YEAR - A CASE OF INDONESIA

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study is to empirically examine the difference in budgeted own-source revenues and social expenditures between districts headed by incumbent candidates and non-incumbent candidates in the Indonesian head of district elections in 2015. The difference between both budgets indicates the use of public money by incumbent candidates to win the election. Methodology: This study focuses on local governments/districts in Indonesia. Using the Slovin formula, 226 observations were analysed. The sample was classified into two groups, namely 75 districts with incumbent candidates (or 66.4%) and 38 districts with non-incumbent candidates (or 33.6%). Data was compiled from the official district's budget for 2014 and 2015 (the election year) and analysed using pair t-test and independent t-test. Main Findings: This study revealed that in the budgets of incumbent candidates, own-source revenue and grant expenditures are statistically higher in the election year as compared to the pre-election year, except for the social aid fund. Additionally, local owned revenues, grant and social aid expenditures in the budgets of districts with incumbents were statistically higher than districts where there were no incumbent candidates in the general election. Applications of this study: The results of this study confirm a strong indication of the public money used by incumbent candidates for their political interest. Thus, the regulation of local government budgets, especially in the election year should be amended and tightened up. Novelty/Originality of this study: Studies on how public money is exploited by incumbent candidates are still scanty, especially in developing countries where a direct vote election system is adopted

A research on applications and problems in the processes of personnel recruitment, selection and placement in thermal hotels: The case of Afyonkarahisar

Bu araştırmanın amacı; önemli bir turizm işletmesi türü olan termal otel işletmelerinin, termal otel olmalarının getirdiği özellikler de dikkate alınarak personel bulma, seçme ve personeli işe yerleştirme süreçlerinde hangi uygulamalara başvurduklarını ortaya koyarak, konuyla ilgili sorunların belirlenmesidir. Bu çerçevede Türkiye’nin önemli bir termal turizm destinasyonu olan Afyonkarahisar’daki beş yıldızlı termal otel işletmelerinde bir araştırma gerçekleştirilmiş olup, söz konusu işletmelerin personel bulma, seçme ve personeli işe yerleştirme süreçlerinin belirlenmesinde yarı yapılandırılmış görüşme yönteminden faydalanılmıştır. Araştırma sonucunda, termal otel işletmelerinin bu süreçlere ilişkin uygulamalarında literatürdeki otel işletmeleri üzerine yapılmış araştırmaların sonuçlarına da yansıyan birtakım sorunların (nitelikli personel bulamama, turizm eğitimi almış personel adaylarına gerekli önemin verilmemesi vb.) olduğu tespit edilmiştir.The purpose of this study is to determine issues related to personnel recruitment, selection and placement processes of thermal hotels, which are among the most important types of tourism enterprises, by taking account of thermal hotels’ qualities. In this context, this study was implemented in the five-star thermal hotels in Afyonkarahisar, an important thermal tourism destination of Turkey, and a semi-structured interview method was used to determine the personnel recruitment, selection and placement processes of the thermal hotels. As a result of the research, it was found that there are some problems related to these processes (such as not being able to find qualified personnel, not giving enough importance to tourism educated personnel) as reflected in the results of the researches on the hotel enterprises in the literature

Recent Developments of Carboxymethyl Cellulose.

Carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) is one of the most promising cellulose derivatives. Due to its characteristic surface properties, mechanical strength, tunable hydrophilicity, viscous properties, availability and abundance of raw materials, low-cost synthesis process, and likewise many contrasting aspects, it is now widely used in various advanced application fields, for example, food, paper, textile, and pharmaceutical industries, biomedical engineering, wastewater treatment, energy production, and storage energy production, and storage and so on. Many research articles have been reported on CMC, depending on their sources and application fields. Thus, a comprehensive and well-organized review is in great demand that can provide an up-to-date and in-depth review on CMC. Herein, this review aims to provide compact information of the synthesis to the advanced applications of this material in various fields. Finally, this article covers the insights of future CMC research that could guide researchers working in this prominent field

Proširenost virusa virusnog proljeva u tkivima spolnog sustava goveda.

In this study, the cellular localisation and distribution of BVD viral antigens in genital system tissues were investigated in 65 non-pregnant dairy cows and in 65 bulls. For this study genital system tissue samples, taken from slaughtered bulls with no pathological lesions and from females having reproductive problems, were marked using the immunoperoxidase method on their paraffin sections. BVD viral antigens were determined in 15 of the 65 non-pregnant dairy cows (consistent with cell culture results) using the indirect immunoperoxidase method. BVD viral antigens were present in macrophage-like cells in the stroma of the ovaries and uterus. No BVD viral antigens were observed in the samples of testicles, epididymis, vesicula seminalis, or prostate in the male animals. In all animals, including BVDV-positive ones, no pathologic lesions were observed, except periodically non-specific subepithelial or stromal mononuclear cell infiltrations. Most of these cells were seen to be formed by lymphocytes and macrophages.Istražena je lokalizacija i proširenost antigena virusa virusnog proljeva goveda u tkivima spolnog sustava 65 negravidnih mliječnih krava i 65 bikova. U tu svrhu rabljen je imunoperoksidazni test na histološkim rezovima tkiva. Tom metodom pretraženi su uzorci tkiva spolnih organa uzeti od zdravih zaklanih bikova te krava s reprodukcijskim poremećajima. Virusni antigeni dokazani su u 15 od 65 krava (sukladno s uzgojem virusa na staničnoj kulturi). Antigeni su bili prisutni u makrofagima sličnim stanicama unutar strome jajnika i maternice. Virusni antigeni nisu dokazani u uzorcima tkiva testisa, epididimisa, sjemene vrećice i prostate bikova. U pretraženih životinja, uključujući i one pozitivne na virus, nisu zabilježene patološke promjene, osim povremenih nespecifičnih subepitelijalnih ili stromalnih mononuklearnih infiltracija limfocitima i makrofagima

SDSS-HET Survey of Kepler Eclipsing Binaries. Description of the Survey and First Results

The Kepler mission has provided a treasure trove of eclipsing binaries (EBs), observed at extremely high photometric precision, nearly continuously for several years. We are carrying out a survey of ~100 of these EBs to derive dynamical masses and radii with precisions of 3% or better. We use multiplexed near-infrared H-band spectroscopy from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III and -IV APOGEE instrument and optical spectroscopy from the Hobby–Eberly Telescope High-resolution Spectrograph to derive double-lined spectroscopic orbits and dynamical mass ratios (q) for the EB sample, two of which we showcase in this paper. This orbital information is combined with Kepler photometry to derive orbital inclination, dynamical masses of the system components, radii, and temperatures. These measurements are directly applicable for benchmarking stellar models that are integrating the next generation of improvements, such as the magnetic suppression of convection efficiency, updated opacity tables, and fine-tuned equations of state. We selected our EB sample to include systems with low-mass (M ≾ 0.8 M⊙) primary or secondary components, as well as many EBs expected to populate the relatively sparse parameter space below ~0.5 M⊙. In this paper, we describe our EB sample and the analytical techniques we are utilizing, and also present masses and radii for two systems that inhabit particularly underpopulated regions of mass–radius–period space: KIC 2445134 and KIC 3003991. Our joint spectroscopic and photometric analysis of KIC 2445134 (q = 0.411 ± 0.001) yields masses and radii of M_A = 1.29 ± 0.03 M⊙, M_B = 0.53 ± 0.01 M⊙, R_A = 1.42 ± 0.01 R⊙, R_B = 0.510 ± 0.004 R⊙, and a temperature ratio of T_B/T_A = 0.635 ± 0.001; our analysis of KIC 3003991 (q = 0.298 ± 0.006) yields M_A = 0.74 ± 0.04 M⊙, M_B = 0.222 ± 0.007 M⊙, R_A = 0.84 ± 0.01 R⊙, R_B = 0.250 ± 0.004 R⊙, and a temperature ratio of T_B/T_A = 0.662 ± 0.001

Rheumatoid Arthritis with Deep Venous Thrombosis (DVT): A Case Report

A 25-year-old lady presented with pain and swelling with restricted movement of right lower limb for one month. She had arthritis involving multiple large and small joints of hands and feet over the last 4 years and was diagnosed as a case of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) 2 years back. She had been taking disease modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARD) - methotrexate since then and continued it for one year. Subsequent investigations revealed that she developed deep venous thrombosis (DVT) of right posterior tibial and calf veins but no other predisposing factor was found. This case emphasize on the consideration of developing DVT in patients with Rheumatoid arthritis.  DOI: 10.3329/bsmmuj.v3i2.7063BSMMU J 2010; 3(2): 110-11

Discovery (theoretical prediction and experimental observation) of a large-gap topological-insulator class with spin-polarized single-Dirac-cone on the surface

Recent theories and experiments have suggested that strong spin-orbit coupling effects in certain band insulators can give rise to a new phase of quantum matter, the so-called topological insulator, which can show macroscopic entanglement effects. Such systems feature two-dimensional surface states whose electrodynamic properties are described not by the conventional Maxwell equations but rather by an attached axion field, originally proposed to describe strongly interacting particles. It has been proposed that a topological insulator with a single spin-textured Dirac cone interfaced with a superconductor can form the most elementary unit for performing fault-tolerant quantum computation. Here we present an angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study and first-principle theoretical calculation-predictions that reveal the first observation of such a topological state of matter featuring a single-surface-Dirac-cone realized in the naturally occurring Bi$_2$Se$_3$ class of materials. Our results, supported by our theoretical predictions and calculations, demonstrate that undoped compound of this class of materials can serve as the parent matrix compound for the long-sought topological device where in-plane surface carrier transport would have a purely quantum topological origin. Our study further suggests that the undoped compound reached via n-to-p doping should show topological transport phenomena even at room temperature.Comment: 3 Figures, 18 pages, Submitted to NATURE PHYSICS in December 200

Genetic Diversity Analysis of Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe.) Genotypes Using RAPD Markers

Ginger (Zingiber officinale Roscoe.) is an important spice crop in Bangladesh as well as in all over the world for its economical and medicinal values. A measure of the existing genetic diversity is essential for planning a meaningful breeding strategy. Moreover, assessment and characterization of genetic diversity of the available germplasm is important to know the source of gene for particular trait of interest. The present investigation was undertaken to assess the genetic diversity among eight ginger genotypes using RAPD markers. A total of 16 distinct DNA fragments ranging from 100–1000 bp were amplified by using three selected primers of which 10 (62.50%) were polymorphic. BARI ada-1 was more homogenous than others and Syedpuri was found less homogenous showing the low intra-variety similarity value (75.56). the genotype ‘Syedpuri’ was found as more diversified from the viewpoint of lowest intra-variety similarity index value, highest gene diversity, proportion of polymorphic loci and highest level of genetic variation. The cluster analysis indicated that the eight genotypes were grouped into two major clusters. ‘Indian’ alone formed the first major cluster while the second major cluster had seven genotypes and was divided into two minor clusters. China and Sherpuri genotype pair were very close to each other with the lowest genetic distance (0.03). On the other hand, Indian and Syedpuri pair was more distant to each other with the highest genetic distance (0.55). RAPD analysis revealed a considerable level of polymorphism among the studied genotypes. The genetic variation thus detected has significance for ginger improvement programs

Reduced functional measure of cardiovascular reserve predicts admission to critical care unit following kidney transplantation

Background: There is currently no effective preoperative assessment for patients undergoing kidney transplantation that is able to identify those at high perioperative risk requiring admission to critical care unit (CCU). We sought to determine if functional measures of cardiovascular reserve, in particular the anaerobic threshold (VO2AT) could identify these patients. Methods: Adult patients were assessed within 4 weeks prior to kidney transplantation in a University hospital with a 37-bed CCU, between April 2010 and June 2012. Cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), echocardiography and arterial applanation tonometry were performed. Results: There were 70 participants (age 41.7614.5 years, 60% male, 91.4% living donor kidney recipients, 23.4% were desensitized). 14 patients (20%) required escalation of care from the ward to CCU following transplantation. Reduced anaerobic threshold (VO2AT) was the most significant predictor, independently (OR = 0.43; 95% CI 0.27–0.68; p,0.001) and in the multivariate logistic regression analysis (adjusted OR = 0.26; 95% CI 0.12–0.59; p = 0.001). The area under the receiveroperating- characteristic curve was 0.93, based on a risk prediction model that incorporated VO2AT, body mass index and desensitization status. Neither echocardiographic nor measures of aortic compliance were significantly associated with CCU admission. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first prospective observational study to demonstrate the usefulness of CPET as a preoperative risk stratification tool for patients undergoing kidney transplantation. The study suggests that VO2AT has the potential to predict perioperative morbidity in kidney transplant recipients