Has Kelantan grown faster than other states in Malaysia? A panel data analysis

Kelantan has been the poorest state in Malaysia for the past five decades. Despite the various Malaysian Development Plans for the past several decades, regional disparity between states remains in Malaysia. Thus, the objective of the present paper is to address the question whether Kelantan has been narrowing their income gap with other states in Malaysia. Using annual data for the period 1961 to 2003, our panel unit root test result suggest that (i) Kelantan converges towards Kedah, Negeri Sembilan, Perak, Pahang, Perlis and Selangor.; (ii) Kelantan is catching-up to Johor, Melaka, Penang, Sabah, Terengganu and Wilayah Persekutuan; and (iii) Kelantan show divergence with Sarawak. In this respect, the government has an important role to play in enhancing growth by continuously providing stable economic environment for investment and other productive economic activities. This will ensure full convergence can take place in the future.regional disparity; malaysia; panel data analysis

Can a wormhole supported by only small amounts of exotic matter really be traversable?

Recent studies have shown that (a) quantum effects may be sufficient to support a wormhole throat and (b) the total amount of "exotic matter" can be made arbitrarily small. Unfortunately, using only small amounts of exotic matter may result in a wormhole that flares out too slowly to be traversable in a reasonable length of time. Combined with the Ford-Roman constraints, the wormhole may also come close to having an event horizon at the throat. This paper examines a model that overcomes these difficulties, while satisfying the usual traversability conditions. This model also confirms that the total amount of exotic matter can indeed be made arbitrarily small.Comment: 8 pages, AMSTe

Cultural Icons and Cultural Leadership

Contributions to this book probe the contexts–both social and spiritual–from which select iconic figures emerge and discover how to present themselves as innovators and cultural leaders, as well as draw material into forms that subsequent generations consider innovative or emblematic. The overall import of the book is to locate producers of culture such as authors, poets, singers, and artists as leaders, both in their respective genres, and of culture and society more broadly through the influence exerted by their works.https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/1291/thumbnail.jp

Amiodarone-induced Hypothyroidism with EPO-resistant Anemia in a Patient with Chronic Renal Failure

The overall incidence of amiodarone-induced thyroid dysfunction ranges from 2% to 24%. One third to half of patients with hypothyroidism have anemia due to some decrease in normal red blood cell mass and erythropoietin (EPO) resistance. Therefore, for patients with chronic renal disease under medication with amiodarone, early regular thyroid function test should be checked in order to avoid amiodarone-induced hypothyroidism and EPO-resistant anemia. If amiodarone-induced hypothyroidism and EPO-resistant anemia occur in patients with chronic renal failure, early thyroxine should be given instead of waiting for spontaneous recovery by amiodarone discontinuation only. Here, we report a patient with chronic renal failure who developed EPO-resistant anemia after amiodarone treatment for arrhythmia. The hemoglobin level responded to EPO therapy rapidly after thyroxine administration and amiodarone discontinuation

Some effects of simultaneous administration of crude aqueous extracts of Mangifera indica leaves and tetracyline on the liver of adults wistar rats

This study was designed to determine the simultaneous effect of Mangifera indica crude aqueous extract and the therapeutic dose of tetracycline on some hepatic enzymes (ALT and AST) and histology of the liver of adult wistar rats. 25 wistar rats were divided into 5 groups: Group A was untreated and served as control group, group B was treated with only 2mL of mango leaves decoction, group C was treated with only 5.4mg/kg of tetracycline, group D was treated with 1mL of mango leaves decoction and 4.8mg/kg of tetracycline and group E was treated with 3mL of mango leaves decoction and 7.7mg/kg of tetracycline simultaneously. The administration period lasted for only 14 days which was given gavagely and the rats were sacrificed on the 15th day by cervical dislocation. The liver was removed, fixed in 10% formal saline and stained in H and E. The transaminase enzymes (the AST and ALT) were measured to determine possible changes in their hepatic leaves. The result shows that the crude aqueous extract of mango levels has adverse effect on the morphology and some hepatic enzyme (ALT and AST) of the liver (such as enlargement of the central vein, reduction in the size of sinusoids), the therapeutic dose of the tetracycline have no detrimental effect on the morphology and the hepatic enzymes of the liver. In conclusion, the extract of mango leaves decoction has adverse effect on the liver histology and the therapeutic dosage of tetracycline has no adverse effect on the histology of the liver.Keywords: Mango leaves, Tetracycline, Liver histology, Liver enzymes (AST and ALT

Max-weight scheduling across multiple timescales

Many systems consist of a mixture of various resource types that together support better performance relative to those with a single resource type. One important characteristic of these systems is the fact that the various comprising resource types can operate on different timescales, implying that the corresponding control decisions are not made simultaneously. To address the resulting scheduling problem, we present and analyze two variants of max-weight scheduling that are designed to deal with the different timescales of such systems

Semantic Interpretation of Mobile Laser Scanner Point Clouds in Indoor Scenes Using Trajectories

The data acquisition with Indoor Mobile Laser Scanners (IMLS) is quick, low-cost and accurate for indoor 3D modeling. Besides a point cloud, an IMLS also provides the trajectory of the mobile scanner. We analyze this trajectory jointly with the point cloud to support the labeling of noisy, highly reflected and cluttered points in indoor scenes. An adjacency-graph-based method is presented for detecting and labeling of permanent structures, such as walls, floors, ceilings, and stairs. Through occlusion reasoning and the use of the trajectory as a set of scanner positions, gaps are discriminated from real openings in the data. Furthermore, a voxel-based method is applied for labeling of navigable space and separating them from obstacles. The results show that 80% of the doors and 85% of the rooms are correctly detected, and most of the walls and openings are reconstructed. The experimental outcomes indicate that the trajectory of MLS systems plays an essential role in the understanding of indoor scene