Electronic Journal of Theoretical Physics On the Noncommutative Space-time Bianchi I Universe and Particles Pair Creation Process

Abstract: Using an approach of modified Euler-Lagrange field equations obtained from an invariant action under infinitesimal modified general coordinates, local Lorentz and U∗(1) gauge transformations together with the corresponding Seiberg-Witten maps of the dynamical fields, a generalized Dirac equation in the presence of a constant electric field and a noncommutative cosmological anisotropic Bianchi I universe is derived and the particles pair creation process is studied

Measuring and evaluating efficiency of hospitals through total quality management: A multi-criteria data envelopment analysis model

The purpose of this study is to measure and evaluate the efficiency of 12 hospitals in Turkey using a multi-criteria Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) methodology. Number of beds, number of physicians and the critical factors of total quality management in the health care sector were used as inputs of the model. The outputs used in this analysis incorporated financial and non-financial performance of hospitals, number of outpatients and number of patient days. Performance of the hospitals was measured using subjective measures based on executive's perception of how their organization performed relative to the competition. Results provide management with information regarding the relatively best practice hospitals in the observation sets and locate the relatively inefficient hospitals by comparison with the best practice ones. At last some suggestions are made for the least efficient hospital. © 2007 by The Haworth Press. All rights reserved

Behavioural and insecticidal effects of organophosphate-, carbamate- and pyrethroid-treated mosquito nets against African malaria vectors.

Three insecticides - the pyrethroid deltamethrin, the carbamate carbosulfan and the organophosphate chlorpyrifos-methyl - were tested on mosquito nets in experimental huts to determine their potential for introduction as malaria control measures. Their behavioural effects and efficacy were examined in Anopheles gambiae Giles s.s. (Diptera: Culicidae) and Anopheles funestus Giles s.s. in Muheza, Tanzania, and in Anopheles arabiensis Patton and Culex quinquefasciatus Say in Moshi, Tanzania. A standardized dosage of 25 mg/m(2) plus high dosages of carbosulfan (50 mg/m(2), 100 mg/m(2) and 200 mg/m(2)) and chlorpyrifos-methyl (100 mg/m(2)) were used to compare the three types of insecticide. At 25 mg/m(2), the rank order of the insecticides for insecticide-induced mortality in wild An. gambiae and An. funestus was, respectively, carbosulfan (88%, 86%) > deltamethrin (79%, 78%) > chlorpyrifos-methyl (35%, 53%). The rank order of the insecticides for blood-feeding inhibition (reduction in the number of blood-fed mosquitoes compared with control) in wild An. gambiae and An. funestus was deltamethrin > chlorpyrifos-methyl > carbosulfan. Carbosulfan was particularly toxic to endophilic anophelines at 200 mg/m(2), killing 100% of An. gambiae and 98% of An. funestus that entered the huts. It was less effective against the more exophilic An. arabiensis (67% mortality) and carbamate-resistant Cx quinquefasciatus (36% mortality). Carbosulfan deterred anophelines from entering huts, but did not deter carbamate-resistant Cx quinquefasciatus. Deltamethrin reduced the proportion of insects engaged in blood-feeding, probably as a consequence of contact irritancy, whereas carbosulfan seemed to provide personal protection through deterred entry or perhaps a spatial repellent action. Any deployment of carbosulfan as an individual treatment on nets should be carried out on a large scale to reduce the risk of diverting mosquitoes to unprotected individuals. Chlorpyrifos-methyl was inferior to deltamethrin in terms of mortality and blood-feeding inhibition and would be better deployed on a net in combination with a pyrethroid to control insecticide-resistant mosquitoes

Experimental hut evaluation of bednets treated with an organophosphate (chlorpyrifos-methyl) or a pyrethroid (lambdacyhalothrin) alone and in combination against insecticide-resistant Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes

BACKGROUND: Pyrethroid resistant mosquitoes are becoming increasingly common in parts of Africa. It is important to identify alternative insecticides which, if necessary, could be used to replace or supplement the pyrethroids for use on treated nets. Certain compounds of an earlier generation of insecticides, the organophosphates may have potential as net treatments. METHODS: Comparative studies of chlorpyrifos-methyl (CM), an organophosphate with low mammalian toxicity, and lambdacyhalothrin (L), a pyrethroid, were conducted in experimental huts in Côte d'Ivoire, West Africa. Anopheles gambiae and Culex quinquefasciatus mosquitoes from the area are resistant to pyrethroids and organophosphates (kdr and insensitive acetylcholinesterase Ace.1(R)). Several treatments and application rates on intact or holed nets were evaluated, including single treatments, mixtures, and differential wall/ceiling treatments. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: All of the treatments were effective in reducing blood feeding from sleepers under the nets and in killing both species of mosquito, despite the presence of the kdr and Ace.1(R )genes at high frequency. In most cases, the effects of the various treatments did not differ significantly. Five washes of the nets in soap solution did not reduce the impact of the insecticides on A. gambiae mortality, but did lead to an increase in blood feeding. The three combinations performed no differently from the single insecticide treatments, but the low dose mixture performed encouragingly well indicating that such combinations might be used for controlling insecticide resistant mosquitoes. Mortality of mosquitoes that carried both Ace.1(R )and Ace.1(S )genes did not differ significantly from mosquitoes that carried only Ace.1(S )genes on any of the treated nets, indicating that the Ace.1(R )allele does not confer effective resistance to chlorpyrifos-methyl under the realistic conditions of an experimental hut

Second-order corrections to the non-commutative Klein-Gordon equation with a Coulomb potential

We improve the previous study of the Klein-Gordon equation in a non-commutative space-time as applied to the Hydrogen atom to extract the energy levels, by considering the second-order corrections in the non-commutativity parameter. Phenomenologically we show that non-commutativity is the source of lamb shift corrections.Comment: 12 pages, no figure

Status dan Determinan Pendapatan Petani Agroforestri di Lingkungan Taman Nasional Gunung Ciremai

EnglishRural communities in Gunung Ciremai National Park (GCNP) are generally low income farmers. Farms that have long been adopted agroforestry farming systems through inter generation legacy. The existing agroforestry technology applied by the farmers remains the simple traditional technology, so that the crops yields and income are low. Understanding the determinants of farmers' income is useful in formulating the appropriate policy for increasing farmers' income. This study was aimed to analyze the level and determinants of the agroforestry farmers income in GCNP. This research was conducted in Kuningan and Majalengka Regency, West Java Province, in July to October 2017. The data was collected by interviewing 310 agroforestry farmers which were selected using the cluster random sampling technique with clusters consisted of the locations of farmer groups from agroforestry in the GCNP buffer zone. The data was analized using descriptive statistics and regression inferential statistics. The results show that the income of agroforestry farmers was low because of low agroforestry farmers' capacity, weak extension support and weak leadership role of informal leaders. Supports of the forestry extension service and informal leaders' leadership roles are needed for enhancing the agroforestry farmers' capacity in increasing their income.IndonesianMasyarakat perdesaan di lingkungan Taman Nasional Gunung Ciremai (TNGC) umumnya adalah petani kurang sejahtera yang telah lama menekuni agroforestri turun-temurun. Penerapan teknologi pada sistem USAha tani agroforestri masih sederhana sehingga produktivitas tanaman masih rendah yang berdampak pada rendahnya pendapatan. Berbagai faktor dapat memengaruhi tingkat pendapatan petani agroforestri, sehingga perlu diungkap faktor-faktor yang dapat meningkatkan atau menurunkan pendapatan petani. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis besaran dan determinan pendapatan petani agroforestri di lingkungan TNGC. Penelitian ini dilakukan di Kabupaten Kuningan dan Majalengka, Provinsi Jawa Barat pada bulan Juli sampai Oktober 2017. Data diperoleh dari 310 orang petani yang dipilih berdasarkan cluster random sampling dengan klaster lokasi kelompok tani agroforestri di desa penyangga kawasan TNGC. Data dianalisis menggunakan metode statistik deskriptif dan statistik inferensial regresi. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa pendapatan petani agroforestri di lingkungan TNGC rendah karena rendahnya kapasitas petani agroforestri, lemahnya dukungan penyuluhan kehutanan, dan lemahnya peran kepemimpinan tokoh informal. Dukungan penyuluhan kehutanan dan peran kepemimpinan tokoh informal perlu ditingkatkan agar petani agroforestri memiliki kapasitas yang memadai dalam meningkatkan pendapatan mereka

Thrombotic gene polymorphisms and postoperative outcome after coronary artery bypass graft surgery

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Emerging perioperative genomics may influence the direction of risk assessment and surgical strategies in cardiac surgery. The aim of this study was to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) affect the clinical presentation and predispose to increased risk for postoperative adverse events in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting surgery (CABG).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A total of 220 patients undergoing first-time CABG between January 2005 and May 2008 were screened for factor V gene G1691A (FVL), prothrombin/factor II G20210A (PT G20210A), angiotensin I-converting enzyme insertion/deletion (ACE-ins/del) polymorphisms by PCR and Real Time PCR. End points were defined as death, myocardial infarction, stroke, postoperative bleeding, respiratory and renal insufficiency and event-free survival. Patients were compared to assess for any independent association between genotypes for thrombosis and postoperative phenotypes.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Among 220 patients, the prevalence of the heterozygous FVL mutation was 10.9% (n = 24), and 3.6% (n = 8) were heterozygous carriers of the PT G20210A mutation. Genotype distribution of ACE-ins/del was 16.6%, 51.9%, and 31.5% in genotypes I/I, I/D, and D/D, respectively. FVL and PT G20210A mutations were associated with higher prevalence of totally occluded coronary arteries (p < 0.001). Furthermore the risk of left ventricular aneurysm formation was significantly higher in FVL heterozygote group compared to FVL G1691G (<it>p </it>= 0.002). ACE D/D genotype was associated with hypertension (<it>p </it>= 0.004), peripheral vascular disease (p = 0.006), and previous myocardial infarction (<it>p </it>= 0.007).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>FVL and PT G20210A genotypes had a higher prevalence of totally occluded vessels potentially as a result of atherothrombotic events. However, none of the genotypes investigated were independently associated with mortality.</p

Efficacy of bifenthrin-impregnated bednets against Anopheles funestus and pyrethroid-resistant Anopheles gambiae in North Cameroon

BACKGROUND: Recent field studies indicated that insecticide-treated bednets (ITNs) maintain their efficacy despite a high frequency of the knock-down resistance (kdr) gene in Anopheles gambiae populations. It was essential to evaluate ITNs efficacy in areas with metabolic-based resistance. METHODS: Bifenthrin was used in this experiment because it is considered a promising candidate for bednets impregnation. Nets were treated at 50 mg/m(2), a dose that has high insecticidal activity on kdr mosquitoes and at 5 mg/m(2), a dose that kills 95% of susceptible mosquitoes under laboratory conditions with 3 minutes exposure. Bednets were holed to mimic physical damage. The trial was conducted in three experimental huts from Pitoa, North-Cameroon where Anopheles gambiae displays metabolic resistance and cohabits with An. funestus. RESULTS: Bifenthrin at 50 mg/m(2 )significantly reduced anophelines' entry rate (>80%). This was not observed at 5 mg/m(2). Both treatments increased exophily in An. gambiae, and to a lesser extent in An. funestus. With bifenthrin at high dosage, over 60% reduction in blood feeding and 75–90% mortality rates were observed in both vectors. Despite presence of holes, only a single An. gambiae and two An. funestus females were collected inside the treated net, and all were found dead. The same trends were observed with low dosage bifenthrin though in most cases, no significant difference was found with the untreated control net. CONCLUSION: Bifenthrin-impregnated bednets at 50 mg/m(2 )were efficient in the reduction of human-vector contact in Pitoa. Considerable personal protection was gained against An. funestus and metabolic pyrethroid resistant An. gambiae populations

Strategic maintenance technique selection using combined quality function deployment, the analytic hierarchy process and the benefit of doubt approach

The business performance of manufacturing organizations depends on the reliability and productivity of equipment, machineries and entire manufacturing system. Therefore, the main role of maintenance and production managers is to keep manufacturing system always up by adopting most appropriate maintenance methods. There are alternative maintenance techniques for each machine, the selection of which depend on multiple factors. The contemporary approaches to maintenance technique selection emphasize on operational needs and economic factors only. As the reliability of production systems is the strategic intent of manufacturing organizations, maintenance technique selection must consider strategic factors of the concerned organization along with operational and economic criteria. The main aim of this research is to develop a method for selecting the most appropriate maintenance technique for manufacturing industry with the consideration of strategic, planning and operational criteria through involvement of relevant stakeholders. The proposed method combines quality function deployment (QFD), the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the benefit of doubt (BoD) approach. QFD links strategic intents of the organizations with the planning and operational needs, the AHP helps in prioritizing the criteria for selection and ranking the alternative maintenance techniques, and the BoD approach facilitates analysing robustness of the method through sensitivity analysis through setting the realistic limits for decision making. The proposed method has been applied to maintenance technique selection problems of three productive systems of a gear manufacturing organization in India to demonstrate its effectiveness