Barriers to Open Source ERP Adoption in South Africa

Organizations in South Africa (SA) and other economically developing countries are not maximizing the use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Systems. While the costs associated with an ERP system implementation have always been a major factor to many organizations, Open Source Software (OSS) ERP systems are available offering the benefits of an ERP system at a reduced cost to organizations. This paper investigates the adoption factors of Open Source Software Enterprise Resource Planning Systems in economically developing countries by focusing on South African organizations. Using online surveys and a focus group discussion, this empirical study found that knowledge barriers, the lack of sizable providers (or vendors), and ironically low costs, are the adoption barriers that apply to OSS ERP systems for South African organizations. The research further suggests that many of the adoption barriers traditionally associated with OSS might be inherent to all software. The possibility of low costs being a barrier is a novel idea that was identified in this research, and further research to explore this idea is suggested. Understanding the dynamics of the market requirements is crucial for OSS ERP vendors to be able to develop effective strategies. OSS ERP vendors and OSS vendors in general can use this study as a starting point to question some traditionally held notions regarding the OSS business model

Electron-hole symmetry in a semiconducting carbon nanotube quantum dot

Optical and electronic phenomena in solids arise from the behaviour of electrons and holes (unoccupied states in a filled electron sea). Electron-hole symmetry can often be invoked as a simplifying description, which states that electrons with energy above the Fermi sea behave the same as holes below the Fermi energy. In semiconductors, however, electron-hole symmetry is generally absent since the energy band structure of the conduction band differs from the valence band. Here we report on measurements of the discrete, quantized-energy spectrum of electrons and holes in a semiconducting carbon nanotube. Through a gate, an individual nanotube is filled controllably with a precise number of either electrons or holes, starting from one. The discrete excitation spectrum for a nanotube with N holes is strikingly similar to the corresponding spectrum for N electrons. This observation of near perfect electron-hole symmetry demonstrates for the first time that a semiconducting nanotube can be free of charged impurities, even in the limit of few-electrons or holes. We furthermore find an anomalously small Zeeman spin splitting and an excitation spectrum indicating strong electron-electron interactions.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

The inverse autotransporter intimin exports its passenger domain via a hairpin intermediate

Autotransporter proteins comprise a large family of virulence factors that consist of a-barrel translocation unit and an extracellular effector or passenger domain. The -barrel anchors the protein to the outer membrane of Gram-negative bacteria and facilitates the transport of the passenger domain onto the cell surface. By inserting an epitope tag into the N terminus of the passenger domain of the inverse autotransporter intimin, we generated a mutant defective in autotransport. Using this stalled mutant, we could show that (i) at the time point of stalling, the -barrel appears folded; (ii) the stalled autotransporter is associated with BamA and SurA; (iii) the stalled intimin is decorated with large amounts of SurA; (iv) the stalled autotransporter is not degraded by periplasmic proteases; and (v) inverse autotransporter passenger domains are translocated by a hairpin mechanism. Our results suggest a function for the BAM complex not only in insertion and folding of the -barrel but also for passenger translocation

Anticipating pulmonary complications after thoracotomy: the FLAM Score

OBJECTIVE: Pulmonary complications after thoracotomy are the result of progressive changes in the respiratory status of the patient. A multifactorial score (FLAM score) was developed to identify postoperatively patients at higher risk for pulmonary complications at least 24 hours before the clinical diagnosis. METHODS: The FLAM score, created in 2002, is based on 7 parameters (dyspnea, chest X-ray, delivered oxygen, auscultation, cough, quality and quantity of bronchial secretions). To validate the FLAM score, we prospectively calculated scores during the first postoperative week in 300 consecutive patients submitted to posterolateral thoracotomy. RESULTS: During the study, 60 patients (20%) developed pulmonary complications during the postoperative period. The FLAM score progressively increased in complicated patients until the fourth postoperative day (mean 13.5 ± 11.9). FLAM scores in patients with complications were significantly higher (p < 0.05) at least 24 hours before the clinical diagnosis of complication, compared to FLAM scores in uncomplicated patients. ROC curves analysis showed that the cut-off value of FLAM with the best sensitivity and specificity for pulmonary complications was 9 (area under the curve 0.97). Based on the highest FLAM scores recorded, 4 risk classes were identified with increasing incidence of pulmonary complications and mortality. CONCLUSION: Changes in FLAM score were evident at least 24 hours before the clinical diagnosis of pulmonary complications. FLAM score can be used to categorize patients according to risk of respiratory morbidity and mortality and could be a useful tool in the postoperative management of patients undergoing thoracotomy

Orbital Kondo effect in carbon nanotubes

Progress in the fabrication of nanometer-scale electronic devices is opening new opportunities to uncover the deepest aspects of the Kondo effect, one of the paradigmatic phenomena in the physics of strongly correlated electrons. Artificial single-impurity Kondo systems have been realized in various nanostructures, including semiconductor quantum dots, carbon nanotubes and individual molecules. The Kondo effect is usually regarded as a spin-related phenomenon, namely the coherent exchange of the spin between a localized state and a Fermi sea of electrons. In principle, however, the role of the spin could be replaced by other degrees of freedom, such as an orbital quantum number. Here we demonstrate that the unique electronic structure of carbon nanotubes enables the observation of a purely orbital Kondo effect. We use a magnetic field to tune spin-polarized states into orbital degeneracy and conclude that the orbital quantum number is conserved during tunneling. When orbital and spin degeneracies are simultaneously present, we observe a strongly enhanced Kondo effect, with a multiple splitting of the Kondo resonance at finite field and predicted to obey a so-called SU(4) symmetry.Comment: 26 pages, including 4+2 figure

Extrapyramidal side effects and suicidal ideation under fluoxetine treatment: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>We present the case of a 52-year-old woman with depression who developed extrapyramidal symptoms (mainly parkinsonism) and suicidal ideation while on fluoxetine.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The patient underwent neurological and neuroimaging examination.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The patient's neurological and neuroimaging examinations were normal and there was no other cause of extrapyramidal symptoms. The patient showed remission of the aforementioned symptomatology when fluoxetine was discontinued.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This case shows that fluoxetine can be associated with extrapyramidal symptoms, and this may have an aggravating affect on clinical depression progress and the emergence of suicidal ideation.</p

Genotyping of Human Lice Suggests Multiple Emergences of Body Lice from Local Head Louse Populations

While being phenotypically and physiologically different, human head and body lice are indistinguishable based on mitochondrial and nuclear genes. As protein-coding genes are too conserved to provide significant genetic diversity, we performed strain-typing of a large collection of human head and body lice using variable intergenic spacer sequences. Ninety-seven human lice were classified into ninety-six genotypes based on four intergenic spacer sequences. Genotypic and phylogenetic analyses using these sequences suggested that human head and body lice are still indistinguishable. We hypothesized that the phenotypic and physiological differences between human head and body lice are controlled by very limited mutations. Under conditions of poor hygiene, head lice can propagate very quickly. Some of them will colonize clothing, producing a body louse variant (genetic or phenetic), which can lead to an epidemic. Lice collected in Rwanda and Burundi, where outbreaks of louse-borne diseases have been recently reported, are grouped tightly into a cluster and those collected from homeless people in France were also grouped into a cluster with lice collected in French non-homeless people. Our strain-typing approach based on highly variable intergenic spacers may be helpful to elucidate louse evolution and to survey louse-borne diseases

How adolescents who cut themselves differ from those who take overdoses

The aims of this study were to identify in what ways adolescents who cut themselves differ from those who take overdoses, and to investigate the role of contagion in these behaviours. Data from an anonymous self-report questionnaire survey of 6,020 adolescents in 41 schools were analysed. Comparison of 220 adolescents who reported self-cutting in the previous year with 86 who had taken overdoses in the previous year as the sole method of deliberate self-harm (DSH) showed that far more of those who cut themselves had friends who had also engaged in DSH in the same period (OR 2.84, 95% CI 1.5–5.3, P < 0.001), and fewer had sought help from friends before cutting (OR 0.5, 95% CI 0.3–0.9, P < 0.02). Self-cutting usually involved less premeditation. Analyses at both the individual and school level showed that the association between engaging in DSH and exposure to DSH amongst peers was largely confined to girls who cut themselves. There are important differences between adolescents who cut themselves and those who take overdoses. Contagion may be an important factor in DSH by adolescents, especially in girls who cut themselves. These findings are relevant to the design of prevention and treatment programmes

Clinical Relevance and Discriminatory Value of Elevated Liver Aminotransferase Levels for Dengue Severity

Dengue is a global public health problem, as the incidence of the disease has reached hyperendemic proportions in recent decades. Infection with dengue can cause acute, febrile illness or severe disease, which can lead to plasma leakage, bleeding, and organ impairment. One of the most prominent clinical characteristics of dengue patients is increased aspartate and alanine aminotransferase liver enzyme levels. The significance of this is uncertain, as it is transient in the majority of cases, and most patients recover uneventfully without liver damage. In this study, we characterized this phenomenon in the context of dengue severity and found that, although liver enzyme levels increased concurrently with dengue severity, they could not sufficiently discriminate between dengue fever and dengue hemorrhagic fever or between non-severe and severe dengue. Therefore clinicians may need to use other parameters to distinguish dengue severity in patients during early illness

Deprivation of the periplasmic chaperone SurA reduces virulence and restores antibiotic susceptibility of multidrug-resistant pseudomonas aeruginosa

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is one of the main causative agents of nosocomial infections and the spread of multidrug-resistant strains is rising. Therefore, novel strategies for therapy are urgently required. The outer membrane composition of Gram-negative pathogens and especially of Pa restricts the efficacy of antibiotic entry into the cell and determines virulence. For efficient outer membrane protein biogenesis, the β-barrel assembly machinery (BAM) complex in the outer membrane and periplasmic chaperones like Skp and SurA are crucial. Previous studies indicated that the importance of individual proteins involved in outer membrane protein biogenesis may vary between different Gram-negative species. In addition, since multidrug-resistant Pa strains pose a serious global threat, the interference with both virulence and antibiotic resistance by disturbing outer membrane protein biogenesis might be a new strategy to cope with this challenge. Therefore, deletion mutants of the non-essential BAM complex components bamB and bamC, of the skp homolog hlpA as well as a conditional mutant of surA were investigated. The most profound effects for both traits were associated with reduced levels of SurA, characterized by increased membrane permeability, enhanced sensitivity to antibiotic treatment and attenuation of virulence in a Galleria mellonella infection model. Strikingly, the depletion of SurA in a multidrug-resistant clinical bloodstream isolate re-sensitized the strain to antibiotic treatment. From our data we conclude that SurA of Pa serves as a promising target for developing a drug that shows antiinfective activity and re-sensitizes multidrug-resistant strains to antibiotics