A Characterization of the Two-weight Inequality for Riesz Potentials on Cones of Radially Decreasing Functions

We establish necessary and sufficient conditions on a weight pair $(v,w)$ governing the boundedness of the Riesz potential operator $I_{\alpha}$ defined on a homogeneous group $G$ from $L^p_{dec,r}(w, G)$ to $L^q(v, G)$, where $L^p_{dec,r}(w, G)$ is the Lebesgue space defined for non-negative radially decreasing functions on $G$. The same problem is also studied for the potential operator with product kernels $I_{\alpha_1, \alpha_2}$ defined on a product of two homogeneous groups $G_1\times G_2$. In the latter case weights, in general, are not of product type. The derived results are new even for Euclidean spaces

ISLAMIC ELEMENTS IN TRADITIONAL INDONESIAN AND MALAY THEATRE

From the earliest times, traditional theatre in Southeast Asia has been shaped by a wide range of religious and cultural influences—those deriving from animism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, as well as from Chinese and western traditions. The overwhelming influences, especially of Hinduism, have had the tendency to obscure contributions from the Middle- and Near-East. The view that Islam, with rare exceptions, prohibits performing arts has resulted in a negligence of these arts forms in Muslim societies with the possible exception of Indonesia. This paper highlights significant elements of Islamic culture that have shaped Indonesian and Malay traditional theatre through the adaptation of borrowed genres such as taziya, as well as locally created styles of shadow play (wayang kulit) and the doll-puppet theatre (wayang golek); the use of important themes from Islamic literature, in particular thosederived from Hikayat Amir Hamza; as well as esoteric interpretationsof certain episodes originally derived from pre-Islamic sources,including the Mahabharata, in terms of Sufism to make them both highly meaningful and acceptable to Muslim audiences

A microcomputer-based sensing system for measuring the erosive disposition of clay and silt sized soil particles

Accurate knowledge of particle size distribution plays an important role in controlling soil erosion from farm lands, construction sites, tropical areas, channel beds, and forest lands. The concept of the vortical particle size distribution system (VPSDS) was developed by Burcham (1989) for determining particle size and concentration in soil-water mixtures on a real-time or near real-time basis. The VPSDS has three main components; (1) the VPSDS vortex chamber and sensing zone, (2) a laser light detection system, and (3) the data acquisition and control system. Experiments were developed to determine relationships between the output of the VPSDS (voltage) and actual particle concentration in the 4 to 63 micron range using eight soils from four unified soil classifications (CL, CH, ML, MH). A modified pipette method was developed to collect soil-water mixture samples from the VPSDS sensing zone. The light blocked by soil particles in the sensing zone is detected by a logarithmic light extinction circuit, which produces voltage relative to the mass of particles blocking the laser light. The experiment compared recorded voltage with measured particle concentration at various computed particle sizes from 4 to 63 microns. A computer control and data acquisition system was developed to operate the VPSDS and record data. The control program stores the instrument\u27s voltage response, impeller speed, and elapsed time for each experiment. Results related the VPSDS voltage response to actual particle size and sample concentration for the 4 to 63 micron particle size range. Regression analyses of the data indicated a good correlation between the VPSDS voltage response and sample concentration. The mass-voltage relationship for the eight soils tested in this study was described with one equation having r2 values ranging 0.98 to 0.99. Voltage as an independent variable to predict mass was statistically significant (α = 0.01)

Safety of medical device users: A study of physiotherapists’ practices, procedures and risk perception

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.Aims: To study practices and procedures with respect to electrotherapy in physiotherapy departments and to study physiotherapists’ perception of health risk, health consequences and protection of health from different risks including electromagnetic field emissions from electrotherapy devices. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in three phases from June 2002 to December 2003. The first phase was an audit of the practices and procedures regarding electrotherapy in National Health Service physiotherapy departments (N = 46 including 7 departments in pilot study) located in 12 counties in the southeast and southwest of England including Greater London. The second phase comprised one observational visit to each of the same physiotherapy departments to characterise their occupational environment. The third phase was a questionnaire survey of 584 physiotherapists working in these departments. Variables concerned perception of health risk, health consequences and protection of health associated with different risk factors. Results: In the first two phases, the recruitment rate of the departments was 80.7% (46 out of 57) and response rate of those recruited was 100% (n=46). The response rate for the last phase of the study was 66.8% (390 out of 584). Results of the practices and procedures audit show that ultrasound was the most common form of electrotherapy while microwave diathermy was neither available nor used in these departments. Pulsed shortwave diathermy was used 4-5 days per week while continuous shortwave diathermy was used rarely. Electrotherapy was provided to up to 50% of patients per week in the departments. The observational visits to the departments revealed that there were metallic objects within close proximity of diathermy equipment and wooden treatment couches for treatment with PSWD and CSWD were rare. The risk perception survey showed that physiotherapists generally perceived a moderate health risk and health consequences (harm) from exposure to EMF emissions from electrotherapy devices. Protection from EMFs in physiotherapy departments was generally perceived as ‘usually’ possible. Conclusions: Physiotherapy departments report safe electrotherapy practices. Use of diathermy devices that use RF EMFs is declining. The key predictors of physiotherapists’ perception of health risk were perception of health consequences and vice versa. Gender was a significant predictor of the perception of health risks and health consequences. The main predictor of perception of protection against risk was the knowledge of environmental and health issues. Latent dimensions of perceptions of health risk, health consequences and protection from risk were identified and confirmed and their predictors were determined.Brunel Universit

EFFECT OF STRESS ON FEMALE TEACHERS’ PERFORMANCE IN PRIVATE SCHOOLS AT SECONDARY LEVEL

Stress can be a painful condition of a person; it may be internal or external. This paper investigates and describes the effect of stress on female teacher’s performance in private schools at secondary level. The objectives of the study were to identify the causes of stress and investigate the effect of stress on female teacher’s performance. The study was descriptive and quantitative in nature. Research based on the survey method. Population of the study was 218 private secondary schools in city Faisalabad. Using the random sampling technique, 50 schools were selected at secondary level and 400 female teachers were included in this study. Descriptive and inferential statistics were applied on the data. It was founded that the female teachers at private sector facing high level of stress. It is concluded that teachers of private secondary schools cope on their level of stress using the different stress management strategies

Returns to Education and Earning Inequality Nexus: A Micro-Econometric Analysis for Pakistan

This study investigates nexus between returns to education and earning inequality in Pakistan. The study utilizes quantile regression method to demonstrate how effect of different levels of education varies across conditional earning distribution. The results show that education plays a significant role in determination of within group earning inequality at all levels of education. Within group earning inequality is higher within the individuals having tertiary education as compared to the individuals having secondary and primary education. The earning inequality does not remain constant within the education groups during 2005-07. Moreover, education also causes earning inequality between educational groups. The findings of the study reveal that education has a positive effect on within as well as between groups earning inequality

Reproducible in vitro regeneration system for purifying sugarcane clones

Genome purification of a selected clone of sugarcane is the key to developing homogenous lines. Generally,  regenerated plants after transformation are heterogeneous at genome level, and several successive rounds of selection on antibiotic-containing medium and regeneration cycles are required to purify the genome to develop a homogenous population. Sugarcane is a vegetatively propagated plant and hence it requires to be grown in the field to harvest mature cane tops carrying meristematic tissues. In the present studies, stems of in vitro grown plants of four indigenous genotypes namely; HSF-242, US-778, HSF-243 and HSF-240, were subjected to regeneration. Five days post incubation at various levels of 2,4-D, the segments were placed on regeneration medium containing a combination of casein hydrolysate (500 mg/L), kinetin (0.5 mg/L) and benzylaminopurine (BAP, 0.5 mg/L). Response to regeneration was varied from basal to top sections. Nevertheless, more than 137 shoots were regenerated from basal segment, suggesting that the segment consisting of meristematic  tissues responded well to in vitro conditions. This procedure may be considered as one of the best ever  published report on regeneration from in vitro grown plants to purify clones without subjecting the plants to  field conditions and harvesting the mature cane. This technique was used to purify transgenic sugarcane plants carrying Bacillus thuringiensis gene.Key words: In vitro explant, basal stem segment, callus induction, proficient regeneration, Saccharum officinarum