Aviation Law Comes Home to the Main Street Lawyer

Well controlled in length and highly aligned ZnO nanorods were grown on the gold-coated glass substrate by hydrothermal growth method. ZnO nanorods were functionalised with selective thallium (I) ion ionophore dibenzyldiaza-18-crown-6 (DBzDA18C6). The thallium ion sensor showed wide linear potentiometric response to thallium (I) ion concentrations ( M to  M) with high sensitivity of 36.87 ± 1.49 mV/decade. Moreover, thallium (I) ion demonstrated fast response time of less than 5 s, high selectivity, reproducibility, storage stability, and negligible response to common interferents. The proposed thallium (I) ion-sensor electrode was also used as an indicator electrode in the potentiometric titration, and it has shown good stoichiometric response for the determination of thallium (I) ion

Authenticating Factor Analysis of Attitude towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) in Thailand

The study examine the psychometric properties of Attitudes towards Mathematics Inventory (ATMI) in the Thai context. To achieve the objective set by the authors, 259 students from 10 different primary schools in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, Thailand were selected. Furthermore, a forty items ATMI questionnaire having four scales that is, 15 items measuring self-confidence, 10 items measuring value, 10 items measuring enjoyment, and 5 items measuring motivation from the study of Khine and Afari (2014) was adapted. The questionnaire adapted was translated to Thai language by expert English Thai lecturer. Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) measure of sampling adequacy and Bartlett’s test of sphericity were carried out to ascertain the factorability of the correlation matrix. That ATMI can be a viable scale to measure students’ attitudes toward mathematics in Thai context

Integration of entomopathogenic fungi into IPM programs: studies involving weevils (Coleoptera: Curculionoidea) affecting horticultural crops

Weevils are significant pests of horticultural crops and are largely managed with insecticides. In response to concerns about negative impacts of synthetic insecticides on humans and the environment, entomopathogenic fungi (EPF) have been developed as an alternative method of control, and as such appear to be “ready-made” components of integrated pest management (IPM) programs. As the success of pest control requires a thorough knowledge of the biology of the pests, this review summarises our current knowledge of weevil biology on nut trees, fruit crops, plant storage roots, and palm trees. In addition, three groups of life cycles are defined based on weevil developmental habitats, and together with information from studies of EPF activity on these groups, we discuss the tactics for integrating EPF into IPM programs. Finally, we highlight the gaps in the research required to optimise the performance of EPF and provide recommendations for the improvement of EPF efficacy for the management of key weevils of horticultural crops

Relationship between Conflict Management Styles and Job Satisfaction of Private Islamic Secondary School Teachers

Study aims to investigate about conflict management style and the job satisfaction among private Islamic school teachers. The data consisted of 136 samples from private secondary school teachers at Alor Setar district in Kedah. For acquiring the conflict management style, Rahim Organizational Conflict Inventory (ROCI-II) had been used and to gain the job satisfaction datum, the Teaching Satisfaction Scale (TSS) developed by Ho and Au in 2006 was used. The findings of this research revealed that style of compromising (r = 0.299, p < .01), obliging (r = 0.244, p < .05) and integrating (r = 0.208, p < .05) have a significant relationship with job satisfaction. All these styles give positive outcomes for both parties that lead to positive school outcomes and also to maintain the good relationship with the other parties. When school administrator implemented these three styles will keeps teachers happy and satisfied without any kinds of negative impact on their relations at school. Thus, school administrator must be knowledgeable and aware about the best style of conflict at school to lead more satisfaction because teachers like to be more compromise when handling conflict. This finding suggests that the conflict management affects job satisfaction but excessive and wrong in handling it is associated with diminishing job satisfaction

Experimental and computational aspects of bioactive proteins from animal venoms: an insight into pharmacological properties and drug discovery

Editoria

Solutions to the Wheeler-Dewitt Equation Inspired by the String Effective Action

The Wheeler-DeWitt equation is derived from the bosonic sector of the heterotic string effective action assuming a toroidal compactification. The spatially closed, higher dimensional Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmology is investigated and a suitable change of variables rewrites the equation in a canonical form. Real- and imaginary-phase exact solutions are found and a method of successive approximations is employed to find more general power series solutions. The quantum cosmology of the Bianchi IX universe is also investigated and a class of exact solutions is found.Comment: 21 pages of plain LaTeX, Fermilab-Pub-93/100-

Cost of dengue and other febrile illnesses to households in rural Cambodia: a prospective community-based case-control study

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The average annual reported dengue incidence in Cambodia is 3.3/1,000 among children < 15 years of age (2002–2007). To estimate the economic burden of dengue, accurate cost-of-illness data are essential. We conducted a prospective, community-based, matched case-control study to assess the cost and impact of an episode of dengue fever and other febrile illness on households in rural Cambodia.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In 2006, active fever surveillance was conducted among a cohort of 6,694 children aged ≤ 15 years in 16 villages in Kampong Cham province, Cambodia. Subsequently, a case-control study was performed by individually assigning one non-dengue febrile control from the cohort to each laboratory-confirmed dengue case. Parents of cases and controls were interviewed using a standardized questionnaire to determine household-level, illness-related expenditures for medical and non-medical costs, and estimated income loss (see Additional file <supplr sid="S1">1</supplr>). The household socio-economic status was determined and its possible association with health seeking behaviour and the ability to pay for the costs of a febrile illness.</p> <suppl id="S1"> <title> <p>Additional File 1</p> </title> <text> <p><b>2006 cost study survey questionnaire, Cambodia</b>. the questionnaire represents the data collection instrument that was developed and used during the present study.</p> </text> <file name="1471-2458-9-155-S1.pdf"> <p>Click here for file</p> </file> </suppl> <p>Results</p> <p>Between September and November 2006, a total of 60 household heads were interviewed: 30 with dengue-positive and 30 with dengue-negative febrile children. Mean total dengue-related costs did not differ from those of other febrile illnesses (31.5 vs. 27.2 US$, p = 0.44). Hospitalization almost tripled the costs of dengue (from 14.3 to 40.1 US$) and doubled the costs of other febrile illnesses (from 17.0 to 36.2 US$). To finance the cost of a febrile illness, 67$ and higher debt was associated with hospitalization compared to outpatient treatment (US$23.1 vs. US$ 4.5, p < 0.001). These costs compared to an average one-week expenditure on food of US$ 9.5 per household (range 2.5–21.3). In multivariate analysis, higher socio-economic status (odds ratio [OR] 4.4; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.4–13.2), duration of fever (OR 2.1; 95%CI 1.3–3.5), and age (OR 0.8; 95%CI 0.7–0.9) were independently associated with hospitalization.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In Cambodia, dengue and other febrile illnesses pose a financial burden to households. A possible reason for a lower rate of hospitalization among children from poor households could be the burden of higher illness-related costs and debts.</p

Cost and disease burden of Dengue in Cambodia

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dengue is endemic in Cambodia (pop. estimates 14.4 million), a country with poor health and economic indicators. Disease burden estimates help decision makers in setting priorities. Using recent estimates of dengue incidence in Cambodia, we estimated the cost of dengue and its burden using disability adjusted life years (DALYs).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Recent population-based cohort data were used to calculate direct and productive costs, and DALYs. Health seeking behaviors were taken into account in cost estimates. Specific age group incidence estimates were used in DALYs calculation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The mean cost per dengue case varied from US$36 -$75 over 2006-2008 respectively, resulting in an overall annual cost from US$3,327,284 in 2008 to US$14,429,513 during a large epidemic in 2007. Patients sustain the highest share of costs by paying an average of 78% of total costs and 63% of direct medical costs. DALY rates per 100,000 individuals ranged from 24.3 to 100.6 in 2007-2008 with 80% on average due to premature mortality.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our analysis confirmed the high societal and individual family burden of dengue. Total costs represented between 0.03 and 0.17% of Gross Domestic Product. Health seeking behavior has a major impact on costs. The more accurate estimate used in this study will better allow decision makers to account for dengue costs particularly among the poor when balancing the benefits of introducing a potentially effective dengue vaccine.</p

Direct determination of trace elements in powdered samples by in-cell isotope dilution femtosecond laser ablation ICPMS

A method has been developed for the direct and simultaneous multielement determination of Cu, Zn, Sn, and Pb in soil and sediment samples using femtosecond laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (fs-LA-ICPMS) in combination with isotope dilution mass spectrometry (IDMS). The in-cell isotope dilution fs-LA-ICPMS method proposed in this work was based on the quasi-simultaneous ablation of the natural abundance sample and the isotopically enriched solid spike, which was performed using a high repetition rate laser and a fast scanning beam device in a combined manner. Both the sample preparation procedure and the total analysis time have been drastically reduced, in comparison with previous approaches, since a unique multielement isotopically enriched solid spike was employed to analyze different powdered samples. Numerous experimental parameters were carefully selected (e.g., carrier gas flow rate, inlet diameter of the ablation cell, sample translation speed, scanner speed, etc.) in order to ensure the complete mixing between the sample and the solid spike aerosols. The proposed in-cell fs-LA-ICP-IDMS method was tested for the analysis of two soil (CRM 142R, GBW-07405) and two sediment (PACS-2, IAEA-405) reference materials, and the analysis of Cu, Zn, Sn, and Pb yielded good agreement of usually not more than 10% deviation from the certified values and precisions of less than 15% relative standard deviation. Furthermore, the concentrations were in agreement not only with the certified values but also with those obtained by ICP-IDMS after the microwave-assisted digestion of the solid samples, demonstrating therefore that in-cell fs-LA-ICP-IDMS opens the possibility for accurate and precise determinations of trace elements in powdered samples reducing the total sample preparation time to less than 5 min. Additionally, scanning electron microscope measurements showed that the aerosol generated by in-cell fs-LA-ICP-IDMS predominantly consisted of linear agglomerates of small particles (in the order of few tens of nanometers) and a few large spherical particles with diameters below 225 nm