Tamils and the nation: India and Sri Lanka compared

This dissertation examines the divergent trajectories of ethnic and national politics in the Tamil speaking regions of India and Sri Lanka. Despite comparable historical experiences and conditions, the south Indian Tamil speaking areas were peaceably accommodated within a pan-Indian framework whilst Sri Lankan politics was marked by escalating Tamil-Sinhala ethnic polarisation and violent conflict. The dissertation explains these contrasting outcomes by setting out a novel theoretical framework that draws on the work of Reinhart Koselleck and his analysis of the links between concepts and political conflict. It argues that in the era of popular sovereignty the nation and ethnicity have become central and unavoidable concepts of political order, but concepts that can be deliberately constructed through political activity in more or less inclusive ways. Setting out the conceptual connections between the nation, ethnicity and popular sovereignty, the dissertation shows how the conceptual tension between a unified national identity / interest and ethnic pluralism becomes a central and unavoidable locus of political contestation in the era of popular sovereignty. Tracing the politics of ethnicity and nationalism in India and Sri Lanka from the late nineteenth century to the late 1970’s, the analysis shows that the accommodation of Tamil identity within Indian nationalist frameworks and the escalation of Tamil – Sinhala ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka cannot be linked to differences in ethnic demography, political system, historical experiences or the structure of economic incentives. It reveals instead that these divergent outcomes are best explained as effects of contingent and competitive processes of political organisation and mobilisation through which deliberately more or less ethnically inclusive national identities are asserted, established and then contested

Corporate governance and sustainability practices: Evidence from Nigeria

This paper strives to explore the relationships between corporate governance (CG) and sustainability practices (SP): both two concepts have continued to draw attention due to their importance for the continued operation of businesses.In view of that, the paper seeks out to investigate the interrelationship between them using a sample of top oil companies in Nigeria. In-depth interviews were conducted with the management of the six oil companies in Nigeria. The interviews sought to elicit more information on corporate governance practices, ideas and opinion from the respondents on the sustainability practices.The interviews were based on both close-ended and open-ended questions and included questions about corporate governance and sustainability practices and the link between the two.The findings suggest that the popular view of the managers perceive CG as essential for sustainable development practices in businesses. The findings shows all the companies are into philanthropic social responsibility practices.The study suggests that the relationship between the two is overlapping as such there is need to exercise conscientious efforts on their agendas, though the finding is limited to a small sample size and it comes from one industr

Corporate governance and disclosure in Nigeria: An empirical study

This paper outlines a sample case study of ‘best practice’ as per the Nigerian 2011 code which can be adapted as role ‘model’.Oando PLC, one of the top 30 companies, is identified as the company which had complied with the Nigerian corporate governance code, in reference to transparency and internal control with “Excellent” performance.Similar to European codes, the Nigerian corporate governance codes are voluntary and listed companies are expected to comply with.This study explores the standard and quality of CG practices disclosed by Oando PLC, over the period 2010-2012, using the Nigerian 2011 Code as a benchmark

Plant Location-allocation Problems with Price Sensitive Stochastic Demands

This study is concerned with the transportation plant location allocation problem in the presence of price sensitive stochastic demands. The purpose of this study is to develop a quantitative model for this problem and to establish solution methodologies that can provide decisions on location and allocation. Both capacitated and uncapacitated problems are analyzed for normal and uniform distribution of demands.Industrial Engineering and Managemen

A study of some accelerator combinations in the vulcanization of rubber

Penyelidikan dan perkembangan yang berterusan terhadap pembaikan vulkanisasi belerang sejak terciptanya pada tahun 1839 telah mengakibatkan penukaran yang berfaedah saperti penggunaan aselerator tunggal dan aktivator-aktivator dalam sistem belerang biasa sistem E.V. (e£ficient vulcanization) dan applikasi kembinasi aseleratoraselerator. Penggunaan aselerator-aselerator organik dimulakan pada awal tahun 1930. Ada beberapa aselerator organik bila digunakan secara kembinasi menunjukkan kesan yang akti£ atau kesan sinergistik dalam kadar vulkanisasi dan si£at fizikal getah vulkanisa. Cara dan makenisma pergerakan aseleratoraselerator sehingga sekarang belum dapat dijelaskan dengan memuaskan, kerana itu tidak ada teori asas yang boleh menyatakan kadar yang tepat untuk kombinasikombinasi aselerator yang boleh menghasilkan kesan sinergistik maksima. Continuous research and development towards the improvement of sulphur vulcanization since its discovery in 1839, has resulted in useful modifications such as the use of single accelerator and activators in the conventional sulphur s.ystems, the E.V,. (efficient vulcanization) systems, and the applications of accelerator combinationso The use of combinations of organic accelerators started as early as 1930s. Certain organic accelerators when used in combinations were found to give boosted effects or synergistic effects in the rate of cure and physical properties of the vulcanized rubber~ The mode of their action and mechanisms have not been satisfactorily explained hitherto; and thus there is no theoretical basis available to predict the favourable ratio (of the components of any accelerator combination), which could give the maximum synergistic effects

Non-permutation flowshop scheduling in a supply chain with sequence-dependent setup times

In this paper, we consider a flowshop scheduling problem with sequence-dependent setup times and a bicriteria objective to minimize the work-in-process inventory for the producer and to maximize the customers' service level. The use of a bicriteria objective is motivated by the fact that successful companies in today's environment not only try to minimize their own cost but also try to fulfill their customers' need. Two main approaches, permutation and non-permutation schedules, are considered in finding the optimal schedule for a flowshop. In permutation schedules the sequence of jobs remains the same on all machines whereas in non-permutation schedule, jobs can have different sequence on different machines. A linear mathematical model for solving the non-permutation flowshop is developed to comply with all of the operational constraints commonly encountered in the industry, including dynamic machine availabilities, dynamic job releases, and the possibility of jobs skipping one or more machines, should their operational requirements deem that it was necessary. As the model is shown to be NP-hard, a metasearch heuristic, employing a newly developed concept known as the Tabu search with embedded progressive perturbation (TSEPP) is developed to solve, in particular, industry-size problems efficiently. The effectiveness and efficiency of the search algorithm are assessed by comparing the search algorithmic solutions with that of the optimal solutions obtained from CPLEX in solvable small problem instances.Keywords: Sequence-dependent setup time, Mixed-integer linear programming, Non-permutation scheduling, Flowshop, Tabu search with embedded progressive perturbations, Bicriteri

Sequence-dependent group scheduling problem on unrelated-parallel machines

In this research we address a sequence-dependent group scheduling problem on a set of unrelated-parallel machines where the run time of each job differs on different machines. To benefit both producer and customers we attempt to minimize a linear combination of total weighted completion time and total weighted tardiness. Since the problem is shown to be NP-hard, meta-heuristic algorithms based on tabu search are developed to find the optimal/near optimal solution. For some small size yet complex problems, the results from these algorithms are compared to the optimal solutions found by CPLEX. The result obtained in all of these problems is that the tabu search algorithms could find solutions at least as good as CPLEX but in drastically shorter computational time, thus signifying the high degree of efficiency and efficacy attained by the former.Keywords: Bi-criteria, Group scheduling, Sequence-dependent setup time, Mixed-integer linear programming, Unrelated-parallel machines, Tabu searc

The hepatoadrenal syndrome: A common yet unrecognized clinical condition

Objective: Adrenal failure is common in critically ill patients, particularly those with sepsis. As liver failure and sepsis are both associated with increased circulating levels of endotoxin and proinflammatory mediators and reduced levels of apoprotein-1/ high-density lipoprotein, we postulated that adrenal failure may be common in patients with liver disease. Design: Clinical study. Setting: Liver transplant intensive care unit. Patients: The study cohort included 340 patients with liver disease. Interventions: Based on preliminary observational data, all patients admitted to our 28-bed liver transplant intensive care unit (LTICU) undergo adrenal function testing. An honest broker system was used to extract clinical, hemodynamic, medication, and laboratory data on patients admitted to the LTICU from March 2002 to March 2004. A random (stress) cortisol level <20 μg/dL in a highly stressed patient (respiratory failure, hypotension) was used to diagnose adrenal insufficiency. In all other patients, a random cortisol level <15 μg/dL or a 30-min level <20 μg/dL post-low-dose (1 μg) cosyntropin was considered diagnostic of adrenal insufficiency. Patients were grouped as follows: a) chronic liver failure; b) fulminant hepatic failure; c) patients immediately status post-orthotopic liver transplantation receiving a steroid-free protocol of immunosuppression; and d) patients status post-remote liver transplant (≥6 months). The decision to treat patients with stress doses of hydrocortisone was at the discretion of the treating intensivist and transplant surgeon. Measurements and Main Results: Two-hundred and forty-five (72%) patients met our criteria for adrenal insufficiency (the hepatoadrenal syndrome). Eight (33%) patients with fulminant hepatic failure, 97 (66%) patients with chronic liver disease, 31(61%) patients with a remote history of liver transplantation, and 109 (92%) patients who had undergone liver transplantation under steroid-free immunosuppression were diagnosed with adrenal insufficiency. The high-density lipoprotein level at the time of adrenal testing was the only variable predictive of adrenal insufficiency (p < .0001). In vasopressor-dependent patients with adrenal insufficiency, treatment with hydrocortisone was associated with a significant reduction (p = .02) in the dose of norepinephrine at 24 hrs, whereas the dose of norepinephrine was significantly higher (p = .04) in those patients with adrenal failure not treated with hydrocortisone. In vasopressor-dependent patients without adrenal insufficiency, treatment with hydrocortisone did not affect vasopressor dose at 24 hrs. One hundred and forty-one patients (26.4%) died during their hospitalization. The baseline serum cortisol was 18.8 ± 16.2 μg/dL in the nonsurvivors compared with 13.0 ± 11.8 μg/dL in the survivors (p < .001). Of those patients with adrenal failure who were treated with glucocorticoids, the mortality rate was 26% compared with 46% (p = .002) in those who were not treated. In those patients receiving vasopressor agents at the time of adrenal testing, the baseline cortisol was 10.0 ± 4.8 μg/dL in those with adrenal insufficiency compared with 35.6 ± 21.2 μg/dL in those with normal adrenal function. Vasopressor-dependent patients who did not have adrenal failure had a mortality rate of 75%. Conclusions: Patients with liver failure and patients post-liver transplantation have an exceedingly high incidence of adrenal failure, which may be pathophysiologically related to low levels of high-density lipoprotein. Treatment of patients with adrenal failure may improve outcome. High baseline serum cortisol levels may be a maker of disease severity and portend a poor prognosis. Copyright © 2005 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Lippincott Williams & Wilkins

Oral prehabilitation for patients with head and neck cancer:getting it right - the Restorative Dentistry-UK consensus on a multidisciplinary approach to oral and dental assessment and planning prior to cancer treatment

Historically, oral and dental issues for head and neck cancer patients were often not considered until after cancer treatment was complete. As a result, outcomes for oral rehabilitation were sometimes suboptimal. Inconsistencies in service delivery models and qualification, training and experience of staff delivering dental care often compounded this problem, making research and audit almost impossible. Collaborative working by consultants in restorative dentistry from all over the UK as part of a Restorative Dentistry-UK (RD UK) subgroup, renamed more recently as the RD-UK Head and Neck Cancer Clinical Excellence Network (CEN), has re-emphasised the importance of specialist restorative dentistry intervention at the outset of the head and neck cancer pathway to optimise outcomes of patient care. The CEN has driven several initiatives, reflecting Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) principles aimed at reducing unwarranted variation. This improved consistency in approach and optimised collaborative working of the team now presents a better environment for multicentre audit and research. Ultimately, this should result in a continued improvement in patient and carer experience