Centralised Versus Market-Based Control Under Environment Uncertainty: Case of the Mobile Task Allocation Problem (MTAP)

This paper aims at comparing the centralised versus the market-based approach. This is done in the context of the mobile task allocation problem (MTAP) from the perspective of environmental uncertainty. MTAP is defined as an optimization problem for planning the assignment of service tasks to mobile workers. Environmental uncertainty is introduced through the injection of stochastic tasks and dynamic travel delays. A multi-agent simulator is employed to experiment the behaviour of each approach in reaction to different uncertainty levels. Preliminary results suggest a tentative conceptual model to evaluate the suitability of each approach to address MTAP in function of uncertainty. It is suggested that uncertainty’s effect on achieved performance is moderated by the timeliness of decision making, workers’ degree of local knowledge, and problem’s complexity and size

The emerging role of 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in neurodegenerative diseases

Copyright © 2014 Al-Mahdawi, Anjomani Virmouni and Pook. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.DNA methylation primarily occurs within human cells as a 5-methylcytosine (5mC) modification of the cytosine bases in CpG dinucleotides. 5mC has proven to be an important epigenetic mark that is involved in the control of gene transcription for processes such as development and differentiation. However, recent studies have identified an alternative modification, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC), which is formed by oxidation of 5mC by ten-eleven translocation (TET) enzymes. The overall levels of 5hmC in the mammalian genome are approximately 10% of 5mC levels, although higher levels have been detected in tissues of the central nervous system (CNS). The functions of 5hmC are not yet fully known, but evidence suggests that 5hmC may be both an intermediate product during the removal of 5mC by passive or active demethylation processes and also an epigenetic modification in its own right, regulating chromatin or transcriptional factors involved in processes such as neurodevelopment or environmental stress response. This review highlights our current understanding of the role that 5hmC plays in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome (FXTAS), Friedreich ataxia (FRDA), Huntington's disease (HD), and Parkinson's disease (PD).Sara Anjomani Virmouni was supported by funding to Mark A. Pook from the Friedreich’s Ataxia Research Alliance(FARA)

Sampling and interpolation in Hilbert spaces of entire functions

Sampling theory is the study of spaces of functions which are reconstructible from their values at certain sets of points, which gives rise to a sampling formula for the underlying space. For this, it is necessary to consider spaces of functions whose values at a set of points are well-defined. In this work we consider the sampling and interpolation problems in reproducing kernel Hilbert space of entire functions, called de Branges space. Functions in such space are square integrable on the real line with respect to some weight function, and satisfying some growth conditions. Some sampling and interpolation results in the Paley-Wiener spaces, which are a primary example of de Branges spaces, are reviewed. We develop necessary conditions for sampling and interpolating sequences which generalize some well-known sampling and interpolation results in the Paley-Wiener space. The proofs of the necessary conditions rely very much on the Homogeneous Approximation Property and the Comparison Theorem that we prove in de Branges space. We also give necessary and sufficient conditions for Plancherel-Polya sequences, and sufficient conditions for interpolation in some de Branges spaces of exponential type

Palladium(II) saccharinate complexes trans-[Pd(sac)(2)(LH)(2)] with amino- and acetylamino-pyridine co-ligands: molecular structures of trans-[PdCl2(2-ampyH)(2)].2dmf (2-ampyH=2-amino-3-methylpyridine) and trans-[Pd(kappa(2)-2-acmpy)(2)] (2-acmpyH=2-acetylamino-3-methylpyridine)

Reaction of Na2[PdCl4] with two equivalents of amino- or acetylamino-pyridines (LH) affords trans-[PdCl2-(LH)2] {LH = 2-amino-3-methylpyridine (2-ampyH), 3-aminopyridine (3-apyH), 2-acetylamino-3-methylpyridine (2-acmpyH), 3-acetylamino-pyridine (3-acpyH)}. An X-ray crystal structure of trans-[PdCl2(2-ampyH)2] shows that the 2-ampy-H ligands are coordinated in a monodentate fashion via the nitrogen atoms of the pyridine rings. Treatment of trans-[PdCl2(2-acmpyH)2] with NEt3 affords the cyclometalated complex, trans-[Pd(κ2-2-acmpy)2], the X-ray structure of which shows that the 2-acmpy ligand is coordinated to palladium in a bidentate fashion via the nitrogen atom of the pyridine ring and oxygen. Reaction of trans-[PdCl2(LH)2] with two equivalents of sodium saccharinate affords the bis(saccharinate) complexes, trans-[Pd(sac)2(LH)2], in which the saccharinate anions are coordinated via the amide nitrogen atom

Hepatic haemangioma: A Case Report and Review of Literature

No Abstract

Undispensed Prescriptions due to Drug Unavailability at a Teaching Hospital in Saudi Arabia

Purpose: To describe the extent of undispensed prescriptions as a result of drug unavailability in a tertiary health facility in Saudi Arabia Methods: This study was conducted prospectively in a large teaching hospital over a 6 months period from May to October of 2005 and tracked 14 commonly prescribed drugs. The bimonthly drug requisition forms and the amount supplied by medical supply department (MSD) were collected and reviewed. Results: Total number of prescriptions issued for the drugs under examination was 29113. 26551 prescriptions were dispensed while the remaining 2562 (9%) were undispensed due to drug unavailability. The difference between quantity of drugs requested by the pharmacy and quantity issued from MSD was 47-52%. Conclusion: Mismatch between drug demand and supply in the facility studied is the main cause of shortage.Keywords: Drug prescriptions, inventory management, hospital pharmac

Carcass characteristics of Karadi lambs as affect by different levels of dietary supplement of rumen degradable nitrogen fed with Nigella sativa

The objective of the work described here was to investigate the effect of two levels of Nigella sativa (0 and 7.5 g NS / kg DM) supplementation to rations of Karadi lambs fed three levels of rumen degradable nitrogen (1, 1.3 and 1.6 g RDN / MJ of ME) on carcass characteristics, using 2 x 3 factorial experiment. Twenty four individual Karadi male lambs were used (four lambs for each treatment). They were weighing approximately 30 kg live weight and 7 months old. The diets were formulated to be given at40% NaOH-treated barley straw DM to 60% concentrates DM. At the end of feeding trial, all the lambs were slaughtered after over night with feeding straw. Live weight gain was improved (P < 0.05) in lambs fed diets supplemented with NS as compared with those lambs fed diet without NS. However, live weight gain was not affected by levels of RDN. Changes in slaughter weight, Killing out proportion, leg cuts tissue, the wholesale cuts weight and fat-tail weight were not significantly affected by both NSsupplementation and levels of RDN. However, the heavier slaughter weights, cold carcass and fat tail weights were associated with lambs fed highest level of RDN supplemented with NS (P < 0.05). Moreover, there is a linear increase in fat-tail weight associated with lambs fed increasing levels of RDN supplemented with NS

Positions of human dwellings affect few tropical diseases near Baghdad city, Iraq

Some factors that possibly affect tropical disease distribution was investigated in about 500 randomize human dwellings. The studied factors include wild animals, domestic animals, wild plants, cultivated plants, nature of soil, nature of water, positions of human dwellings, nature of building material and position of animal shelters. The diseases that studied were malaria, Kala-azar (visceral leishmaniasis), cholera, Bilharzias (urinary schistosomiasis), diarrhea, typhoid fever, hydatid cysts, dysentery, jaundice and tuberculosis (TB). The study was conducted in the ruler area near Baghdad city in Taji, Abou- Greeb, Rhadwaniya, Rasheed, Youssifiya, Latifiya, Mahmmodiya, Madaien and Nahrwann districts. It appears that the studied factors have direct and indirect effects on distribution of the diseases.Key words: Position, human dwellings, animal shelters, Baghdad