A policy is a sequence of rules, where each rule consists of a predicate and a decision, and where each decision is either “accept” or “reject”. A policy
P
is said to accept (or reject, respectively) ...a request iff the decision of the first rule in
P
, that matches the request is “accept” (or “reject”, respectively). Examples of computing policies are firewalls, routing policies and software-defined networks in the Internet, and access control policies. In this paper, we present a generalization of policies called policy expressions. A policy expression is specified using one or more policies and the three policy operators: “not”, “and”, and “or”. We show that policy expressions can be utilized to support bottom-up methods for designing policies. We also show that each policy expression can be represented by a set of special types of policies, called slices. We present several algorithms that use the slice representation of given policy expressions to verify whether the given policy expressions satisfy logical properties such as adequacy, implication, and equivalence. Finally, we present 19 equivalence laws of policy expressions.
Background: Although oxygen is one of the oldest drugs available, it is still one of the most inappropriately administered drugs leading to over utilization of this very expensive resource. Materials ...and Methods: This prospective observational study was done in a large emergency department (ED) in India. The pattern of oxygen usage was studied before and after the strict implementation of an oxygen treatment algorithm. The algorithm was taught to all doctors and nurses and its implementation was monitored regularly. The main outcome measures were proportion of patients receiving oxygen therapy, inappropriate usage, and avoidable direct medical cost to the patient. Results: The 3-week pre-protocol observation phase in April 2016 included 3769 patients and the 3-week post-protocol observation phase in April 2017 included 4608 patients. The baseline demographic pattern was similar in both the pre-protocol and post-protocol groups. After the strict implementation of the algorithm, the number of patients receiving oxygen therapy decreased from 9.63% to 4.82%, a relative decrease of 51.4%. The average amount of total oxygen used decreased from 55.4 liters per person in pre-protocol group to 42.1 liters per person in the post-protocol group with a mean difference of 13.28 (95% CI 5.30-21.26; P = 0.001). Inappropriate oxygen usage decreased from 37.2% to 8.6%. There was a significant decrease in inappropriate oxygen use for indications like low sensorium (60.8% vs 21.7%) and trauma (88.5% vs 15.8%). The mortality rate in the pre-protocol phase was 2.7% as compared with 3.2% in the post-protocol phase. The total duration of inappropriate oxygen usage significantly decreased from 987 h to 89 h over the 21-day study period. Conclusion: The implementation of an oxygen therapy algorithm significantly reduces inappropriate oxygen use and decreases treatment cost to the patient with no additional mortality risk.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Purpose
This study aims to investigate the relationship between oil prices and stock returns of renewable energy firms in India under different market conditions.
Design/methodology/approach
The ...authors use the panel quantile framework with Fama–French–Carhart’s (1997) four-factor asset pricing model. All renewable energy firms listed in the National Stock Exchange of India are considered in this study. Three oil prices, such as West Texas Intermediate spot price, Europe Brent oil price and Indian basket oil price, are used in the regression. The analysis is done for the whole sample and its subgroups.
Findings
In the whole sample, stock returns of renewable energy firms respond positively to oil price changes in extreme market conditions only. In the subgroups of the renewable energy firms, the relationship between stock returns and oil price is positive and more robust in higher quantiles across all subgroup firms.
Originality/value
The contribution of the study is explained as follows. First, this study helps to explore the relationship between oil and stock returns of the renewable energy sector under different market conditions in the Indian context. Second, existing studies explore the effect of oil prices on stock returns of the renewable energy sector at the industry level, and most of the studies are in developed countries. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study in the context of India. Third, this is a firm-level study
Factors associated with durable remission after CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T-cell immunotherapy for aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL) have not been identified. We report ...multivariable analyses of factors affecting response and progression-free survival (PFS) in patients with aggressive NHL treated with cyclophosphamide and fludarabine lymphodepletion followed by 2 × 106 CD19-directed CAR T cells/kg. The best overall response rate was 51%, with 40% of patients achieving complete remission. The median PFS of patients with aggressive NHL who achieved complete remission was 20.0 months (median follow-up, 26.9 months). Multivariable analysis of clinical and treatment characteristics, serum biomarkers, and CAR T-cell manufacturing and pharmacokinetic data showed that a lower pre-lymphodepletion serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) level and a favorable cytokine profile, defined as serum day 0 monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) and peak interleukin-7 (IL-7) concentrations above the median, were associated with better PFS. MCP-1 and IL-7 concentrations increased after lymphodepletion, and higher intensity of cyclophosphamide and fludarabine lymphodepletion was associated with higher probability of a favorable cytokine profile. PFS was superior in patients who received high-intensity lymphodepletion and achieved a favorable cytokine profile compared with those who received the same intensity of lymphodepletion without achieving a favorable cytokine profile. Even in high-risk patients with pre-lymphodepletion serum LDH levels above normal, a favorable cytokine profile after lymphodepletion was associated with a low risk of a PFS event. Strategies to augment the cytokine response to lymphodepletion could be tested in future studies of CD19 CAR T-cell immunotherapy for aggressive B-cell NHL. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT01865617.
•LDH, MCP-1, and IL-7 are independently associated with PFS in patients with aggressive NHL after CD19 CAR T-cell immunotherapy.•Higher intensity of cyclophosphamide and fludarabine lymphodepletion is associated with higher probability of a favorable cytokine profile.
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In this paper, we investigate the dynamic relationship between different oil price shocks and Indian stock returns at firm level, using variable-structural VAR approach for the period 1995:01 to ...2018:12. We use large unbalanced panel of 1768 manufacturing energy-intensive and non-manufacturing energy-intensive firms listed in the NSE. The estimation results depict that stock returns of India deteriorate due to disruptions in oil supply. In response to aggregate demand shock, stock returns and oil price move in opposite direction, whereas for speculative demand shock, oil price and stock returns have similar reactions. We also use GMM technique since our model suffers from endogeneity, thanks to the use of panel data. Since not all oil price shocks are alike, policy makers and investors should look into all aspects and sources of oil price shocks that impact stock returns, and make appropriate policy and investment decisions. From impulse response function, the effect is again cyclical as one could witness ups and downs in stock returns. This is because domestic oil price is partially dependent upon the status of subsidiaries and taxes. Also, inflation does not depend just upon oil price shocks and its sources, but it depends on other shocks such as inflation shock as well.
Many sensor networks (especially networks of mobile sensors or networks that are deployed to monitor crisis situations) are deployed in an arbitrary and unplanned fashion. Thus, any sensor in such a ...network can end up being adjacent to any other sensor in the network. To secure the communications between every pair of adjacent sensors in such a network, each sensor x in the network needs to store n−1 symmetric keys that sensor x shares with all the other sensors, where n is an upper bound on the number of sensors in the network. This storage requirement of the keying protocol is rather severe, especially when n is large and the available storage in each sensor is modest. Earlier efforts to redesign this keying protocol and reduce the number of keys to be stored in each sensor have produced protocols that are vulnerable to impersonation, eavesdropping, and collusion attacks. In this paper, we present a fully secure keying protocol where each sensor needs to store (n+1)/2 keys, which is much less than the n−1 keys that need to be stored in each sensor in the original keying protocol. We also show that in any fully secure keying protocol, each sensor needs to store at least (n−1)/2 keys.
Aluminum-doped zinc oxide transparent conducting films are prepared by spray pyrolysis at different dopant concentrations. These films are subsequently characterized by X-ray diffractometric and ...X-ray photoelectron spectroscopic (XPS) techniques. The results are compared with those obtained from pure zinc oxide films prepared under identical conditions. X-ray diffraction measurements show an increase in lattice parameters (
c and
a) for aluminum-doped films while their ratio remains the same. This study also indicates that within the XPS detection limit the films are chemically identical to pure zinc oxide. However, a difference in the core-electron line shape of the Zn
2
p
3
2
photoelectron peaks is predicted. An asymmetry in Zn
2
p
3
2
photoelectron peaks has been observed for aluminium-doped films. The asymmetry parameters evaluated from core-electron line-shape analysis yield a value of the order of 0.04±0.01. The value is found to lie between those obtained for pure zinc oxide and has been attributed to the presence of excess zinc in the films.
A new composite polymer electrolyte (CPE) based on polyethylene oxide (PEO) and LaMnO3 as nano filler has been prepared by solution casting technique. SEM analysis clearly shows that the large ...spherulites in the crystalline domain of PEO disappear in the plasticized (PEO)-NaClO4-LaMnO3 composites and the surface morphology of SPE on plasticization becomes smoother. XRD and DSC data indicates that the amorphous nature of solid polymer electrolyte (SPE) increases with plasticizer concentration and is maximum for 30wt% poly ethylene glycol (PEG). Impedance spectra of SPEs have also been made to provide an idea about the grain boundary resistance of the polymer electrolytes. Room temperature ionic conductivity of PEO-NaClO4 increases substantially from 1.05X10-6 to 5.30X10-6Scm-1 for PEO-NaClO4-(10wt%) LaMnO3. It further increases with increasing PEG content in PEO-NaClO4-(10wt%) LaMnO3 and attains a maximum value of 2.60X10-4Scm-1 for 30wt% PEG based CPE. Arrhenius plot between logsigma versus 1000/T of CPE suggests that temperature dependent conductivity is a thermally activated process.
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the asymmetric impact of the oil price increase and decrease on stock returns at the firm level.
Design/methodology/approach
To ascertain the impact oil price can ...exert on the stock price at the firm level, this study uses panel structural vector auto regression with various linear and nonlinear measures of oil price shock on a data set, containing 1,168 firms listed in Indian stock markets. This study also considers stock index returns, Fama-French factors and inflation as control variables.
Findings
This paper finds evidence that at firm level, net oil price increase and decrease have an asymmetric impact on stock returns. Other oil price shock measures, namely, shock because of oil price increase and decrease, do not show any sign of asymmetric impact on stock returns.
Originality/value
The comparison of firm-level return on its response towards oil price fluctuation can give valuable insights into a firm’s features.
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