Deployment and performance evaluation of a SNAP-based resource broker on the White Rose grid

Resource brokering is an essential component in building effective Grid systems. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the performance of a SNAP (Service Negotiation and Acquisition Protocol) based resource broker on a large distributed Grid infrastructure, the White Rose Grid. The broker uses a three-phase commit protocol to reserve resources on demand, as the traditional advance reservation facilities cannot cater for such needs due to the prior time that it requires to schedule reservations. Experiments are designed and carried out on the White Rose Grid. The experimental results show that the inclusion of the three-phase commit protocol provides a performance enhancement on a large distributed Grid Infrastructure, in terms of the time taken from submission of user requirements until a job begins execution. The results support those previously obtained through the use of mathematical modelling and simulation. The broker is a viable contender for use in future Grid resource brokering implementations

Relationship between financial literacy and financial distress among youths in Malaysia - an empirical study

This paper examines the relationship between the levels of financial literacy and financial distress among Malaysian youths. A quantitative approach was adopted to determine the relationship between variables of financial literacy and those of financial distress. Questionnaires from previous studies were used to determine the levels of financial literacy and financial distress of 430 youths. The findings show that the levels of respondents’ financial distress and financial literacy were moderate. The study also shows that there is a positive but weak relationship between financial literacy and level of financial distress. The implications of the study points to the fact that the organizations concerned would do well to invest in human resources, in particular, with respect to personal financial management for their employees as such knowledge investment would help raise the level of financial literacy among employees and achieve the organisations’ own objectives of high productivity. This is evidenced in previous studies that indicated that financial distress was one of the factors leading to reduced productivity at the workplace. As such this investment in reducing the employees’financial distress by way of enhancing their financial literacy would serve, in the long run, to improve the effectiveness of the country’s delivery system, especially in the public service

Targeted Subsidy for Malaria Control With Treated Nets Using a Discount Voucher System in Tanzania.

During the last decade insecticide-treated nets have become a key strategy for malaria control. Social marketing is an appealing tool for getting such nets to poor rural African communities who are most afflicted by malaria. This approach usually involves subsidized prices to make nets and insecticide more affordable and help establish a commercial market. We evaluated a voucher system for targeted subsidy of treated nets in young children and pregnant women in two rural districts of southern Tanzania. Qualitative work involved focus group discussions with community leaders, male and female parents of children under 5 years. In-depth interviews were held with maternal and child health clinic staff and retail agents. Quantitative data were collected through interviewing more than 750 mothers of children under 5 years during a cluster sample survey of child health. The voucher return rate was extremely high at 97% (7720/8000). However, 2 years after the start of the scheme awareness among target groups was only 43% (45/104), and only 12% of women (12/103; 95% CI 4-48%) had used a voucher towards the cost of a net. We found some evidence of increased voucher use among least poor households, compared with the poorest households. On the basis of these results we renewed our information, education and communication (IEC) campaign about vouchers. Discount vouchers are a feasible system for targeted subsidies, although a substantial amount of time and effort may be needed to achieve high awareness and uptake - by which we mean the proportion of eligible women who used the vouchers - among those targeted. Within a poor society, vouchers may not necessarily increase health equity unless they cover a high proportion of the total cost: since some cash is needed when using a voucher as part-payment, poorer women among the target group are likely to have lower uptake than richer women. The vouchers have two important additional functions: strengthening the role of public health services in the context of a social marketing programme and forming an IEC tool to demonstrate the group at most risk of severe malaria

Prevalence and knowledge, attitude and practices related to schistosomiasis among primary school children in Chaani village, North “A” District, Zanzibar

Background: Schistosomiasis is a chronic, parasitic disease caused by blood flukes (Schistosoma species). It has been for along time a neglected tropical disease in most of the sub-Saharan countries.Methods: A cross sectional descriptive study was conducted between June 2015 to July 2015 at Chaani village in North “A” District. The school children were interviewed to identify activities which expose them frequently to water contact. Study subjects were selected by using stratified random sampling technique. The selected school children were asked to collect urine sample in well-labeled container. The samples were processed in the laboratory by using standard microbiological techniques (syringe filtration then examined by microscopy) and results were recorded, the data was analyzed.Results: Out of 170 School children 62 were infected with Schistosoma haematobium which is the predominant Schistosoma species found in that area. Among the 62, 45 (57.6%) were male and 17 (42.4%) were female. The level of knowledge of respondents on Schistosomiasis transmission is that 70% of school children have high knowledge, 18% have moderate knowledge and 12% have low knowledge. Other parameters were also assessed like bathing habits and knowledge and functions of Schistosomiasis control drug.Conclusions: Males were significantly more affected by the disease than females. Provision of safe water coupled with education of the communities regarding the modes of transmission of the disease and the way to prevent oneself, as well as provision of sanitary facilities, such as latrines may decrease the disease burden. 

Implementation of DEEC Protocol Using Optimization Technique in Wireless Sensor Technology

Wireless sensor networks are employed in several applications like military, medical, household and environmental. In these applications energy factor is the determining factor in the performance of wireless sensor networks. In wireless sensor network, clustering is used as an effective technique to achieve scalability, self-organization, power saving, channel access, routing etc. Lifetime of sensor nodes determines the lifetime of the network and is crucial for the sensing capability. Clustering is the key technique used to extend the lifetime of a sensor network and also reduce energy consumption etc,. Energy-efficient clustering protocols should be designed for the characteristic of heterogeneous wireless sensor networks[1]. DEEC which is named as distributed energy efficient clustering protocol is selected as clustering protocol[1]. In DEEC, the cluster heads are elected by a probability based on the ratio between residual energy of each node and the average energy of the network. Since in DEEC, the lifetime of sensors as well as network degrades very quickly. Hence in order to increase the network lifetime a new algorithm is proposed. This technique balances the cluster by using some backup nodes. The backup high energy and high processing power nodes replace the cluster head after the cluster reaches to its threshold limit. This approach will increase the network lifetime and will provide high throughput

Relationship between Single Walled Carbon Nanotubes Individual Dispersion Behavior and Properties of Electrospun Nanofibers

The dispersion stability behavior of single walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) has important effects on morphological and mechanical properties of SWCNT/polymer composite nanofibers. The effects of SWCNTs incorporation on the morphological and structural developments and the relation between this develop-ments and mechanical properties of the polyacrylonitrile (PAN) nanofibers were demonstrated. The uni-form, stable dispersion and well oriented SWCNT within the PAN matrix were achieved through using polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) as dispersing agent. Our data indicate that with increasing the amount of SWCNT (from 0 to 2 wt %), the average nanofiber diameter was increased from 163±19 nm to 307±34 nm. The analysis of the mechanical properties of the composite nanofibers displays that they exhibit an im-provement in the tensile strength of ∼172% from 3.93±0.45 MPa to 10.74±1.03 MPa, and the elastic modu-lus was increased by ~885% from 61.39±15.58 GPa to 605.08±65.55 GPa, as compared to the pure electro-spun nanofibers. The optimal SWCNT concentration for electrospun nanofibers with better morphological and mechanical properties is ~2 wt %. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/3516

Comments on “Viscous-dissipation effects on the heat transfer in a Poiseuille flow” by O. Aydin and M. Avci

This note comments on an article by Aydin and Avci [1]; the paper treats the same problem as that studied analytically by Ou and Cheng [2] and numerically by Hwang et al. [3], namely the effects of viscous- dissipation on forced convection in a parallel plate channel

A Novel Study of Electrospun Nanofibers Morphology as a Function of Polymer Solution Properties

Electrospinning is a process of production fibers with diameters ranging from the submicron down to the nanometer size by applying a high voltage to a polymer solution. The important parameters in the morphology of electrospun polymer fibers are polymer structure, polymer solution properties, processing conditions, and ambient parameters. In the present work electrospinning of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) has been attempted to generate uniform nanofibers without beads. Electrospinning was performed at various concentrations ranging from 4 to 18 w/v%. The effects of polymer solution properties on electrospinnability of the PAN/DMF solutions have investigated. Fiber morphology was observed under a scanning electron microscopy (SEM). For the polymer electrospun from low concentration (Be4. The relationship between solution viscosity and its concentration is in the form: η 0.0205C4.16 and relation between the diameter of electro-spun the PAN nanofiber and solution concentration is in the form: d 0.0326C3.45. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/3514

Fabrication of Homogeneous Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotube/ Poly (Vinyl Alcohol) Composite Nanofibers for Microwave Absorption Application

Poly (vinyl alcohol) (PVA) / sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) / multi walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) camposite nanofibers with various MWCNT contents (up to 10 wt%) were fabricated by electrospinning process and their microwave absorption properties were evaluated by a vector network analyzer in the frequency range of 8 – 12 GHz (X-band) at room temperature. The uniform, stable dispersion and well oriented MWCNT within the PVA matrix were achieved through using SDS as dispersing agent. The SEM analysis of the nanofibers samples revealed that the deformation of the nanofibers increases with increasing MWCNT concentration. Very smooth surface of the composite electrospun nanofibers even for the nanofibers with concentration of 10 wt MWCNT have been successfully prepared because of the high stability dispersion of MWCNT. It was observed that absorption microwave properties improved with increasing in the loading levels of MWCNT. Finally, the PVA/SDS/MWCNT composite nanofibers sample with the 10 wt content of MWCNT has shown the reflection loss of 15 dB at the frequency of 8 GHz. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/3558

FISHING SKILL IN DEVELOPING COUNTRY FISHERIES: THE KEDAH, MALAYSIA TRAWL FISHERY

Fishing skill is perceived to play a crucial role in catching fish. The question arises for fishery managers as to whether or not there are observable and measurable attributes of the skipper or vessel that can be monitored and regulated to account for skipper skill and, hence, this source of fishing capacity. Equating technical efficiency with skipper skill, this paper evaluates technical efficiency and skipper skill in the Kedah, Malaysia, trawl fishery to address this issue.Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,