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Additional file 1: Annex 1. Kaplan-Meier Analysis without PCR correction.

Additional file 3. Table S3. Summary of genotyping of parasites.

Additional file 1. Table S1. Drug dosing and regimens.

Additional file 2. Table S2. Specific primers for msp1 and msp2.

Purpose Considering the importance of human capital in innovation, entrepreneurship and thus economic development, this study attempts to examine formal learning as a mechanism of human capital development in institutions of higher learning. Ironically, students in such institutions are automatically assumed to learn and accumulate pertinent capacity, which would then enable them to compete in the business world or pursue further studies in future. Consequently, lack of this cognizance culminates in little being known about how students learn to accumulate knowledge, skills and requisite competencies. Notwithstanding this, the challenges posed in the twenty-first century require well-rounded students those especially who can address the global transformations witnessed in the business arena. The purpose of this paper is an attempt to fill this gap using data from the University of Dubai (UD) to examine how formal learning takes place in an institution and what determines it. Design/methodology/approach Learning is conceptualized in terms of knowledge, skills and competencies accumulated as proxied by cumulative general point aggregate. All the data used came from the UD. In addition to in-depth descriptive analysis, the study uses limited dependent techniques to identify the most significant determinants of institutional learning. Findings The empirical results generated indicate that demographic characteristics such as age, nationality and gender had a positive effect on learning. Moreover, a student’s initial condition influenced his/her learning positively. Whereas the mode of study under personal preferences did not seem to affect learning, the number of course sections taken had a positive influence on learning. As anticipated, student transfer had a negative influence on learning. The number of credit hours accumulated affected learning positively. Research limitations/implications The main limitation of this study is that results are only applicable within a limited geographical scope, and thus they cannot be generalized for global consumption. Nonetheless, the discussion and results obtained make insights to any future-related studies. Originality/value As pointed out in the previous sections, learning will be conceptualized in the form of knowledge, skills and competency acquisition. In a school setting, knowledge, skills and competencies are better captured by the grade attained in each subject. The general student learning can, therefore, be equally captured by the cumulative grade point aggregate. The authors purport that learning can be visualized, or in other words conceptualized, as a complex process that is determined by five main factors that include demographic characteristics; student initial condition; personal preferences and choices; and time factor curriculum and anticipated future career.

Purpose Cloud computing services gained huge attention in recent years and many organizations started moving their business data traditional server to the cloud storage providers. However, increased data storage introduces challenges like inefficient usage of resources in the cloud storage, in order to meet the demands of users and maintain the service level agreement with the clients, the cloud server has to allocate the physical machine to the virtual machines as requested, but the random resource allocations procedures lead to inefficient utilization of resources. Design/methodology/approach This thesis focuses on resource allocation for reasonable utilization of resources. The overall framework comprises of cloudlets, broker, cloud information system, virtual machines, virtual machine manager, and data center. Existing first fit and best fit algorithms consider the minimization of the number of bins but do not consider leftover bins. Findings The proposed algorithm effectively utilizes the resources compared to first, best and worst fit algorithms. The effect of this utilization efficiency can be seen in metrics where central processing unit (CPU), bandwidth (BW), random access memory (RAM) and power consumption outperformed very well than other algorithms by saving 15 kHz of CPU, 92.6kbps of BW, 6GB of RAM and saved 3kW of power compared to first and best fit algorithms. Originality/value The proposed multi-objective bin packing algorithm is better for packing VMs on physical servers in order to better utilize different parameters such as memory availability, CPU speed, power and bandwidth availability in the physical machine.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze significant determinants to assess the probability of insureds’ intent to buy (ITB) insurance and willingness to pay (WTP) quantum of dollars for security benefits. Design/methodology/approach The authors use the Double Hurdle Model (DHM) and Neural Network (NN) architecture to analyze the insureds’ behavior for ITB and WTP. The authors apply these frameworks to all the 503 insureds of a branch of a leading insurer in the United Arab Emirates. Findings The DHM identified age, loans & liabilities, body mass index, travel outside the UAE, salary and country of origin (Middle Eastern and African) as significant determinants to predict WTP for social security benefits. In addition to these determinants, NN architecture identified insurance replacement, holding multiple citizenship, age of parents, mortgages, country of origin: Americas, length of travel, income of previous year and medical conditions of insured as additional important determinants to predict WTP for social security benefits; thus, NN is found to be superior to DHM due to its lowest RMSE and AIC in the holdout sample and also its flexibility and no assumptions unlike econometric models. Research limitations/implications Insureds’ data used from one UAE Branch limit the generalizability of empirical findings. Practical implications The study findings will enable the insurers to appropriately design the insurance products that match the insurers’ behavior of ITB and WTP for social security benefits. Social implications The study findings have the potential for insurance institutions to be more flexible in their insurance practices through public–private partnerships. Originality/value This is the authors’ original research work.

The study examines the factors affecting the economic and financial development by applying Zellner’s seemingly unrelated regressions (SURE) and Neural Network techniques. It applies multivariate and neural network frameworks for analysing the GDP of Dubai and rest of UAE using data for 2001–2015. The study shows that there exists positive interdependencies between Dubai and rest of UAE economies. This signifies that the core competencies across various sectors in Dubai and rest of UAE economies need to be promoted further to have overall diversified impact on UAE economy. The positive sizable impact of the finance sector in Dubai and negative sizable impact in the rest of the UAE provide many opportunities for designing diversification programs for sustained economic development of the entire UAE economy. The small sample size, non-availability of detailed sectoral data in four of the seven emirates constrained the scope of the study for generalization to other economies in the Middle East. The study findings are crucial for identifying structural reforms, to strengthen competitiveness and accelerate private sector-led job creation for nationals, potential on further opening up foreign direct investment (FDI), improving selected areas of the business environment, and easing access to finance for start-ups and SMEs in both the economies. JEL: C32, C52, D85, N15, N25

This paper analyses the strategy of All Nippon Airways, the second largest airline in Japan. The airline industry has been considered a symbol of government regulation. Competitive strategies increased through gradual deregulation in the 1980s, new entrants in the 1990s, and the expansion of Tokyo International Airport. Competition in the industry intensified when Japan Airlines (JAL), the largest airline in Japan, which rebuilt its operations using government support, re-listed. In this environment, ANA, which has been a private company since its inception and the second largest airline for many years, was the ninth largest in the world based on profits and number of passengers. We first use a cross-sectional financial analysis to confirm the positioning in Japan’s aviation industry by comparing ANA with JAL. Next, regarding ANA’s management strategy, we use Ansoff’s Product-Market Growth Matrix. Finally, regarding global strategy, we analyze ANA. Keywords: Airline; Management Strategy; Ansoff’s Matrix

The paper examines sector specific characteristics to analyse the factors affecting the sustainability of the economies of Dubai and rest of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The study applies system design to analyse the research questions. Consequently, Zellner’s seemingly unrelated regressions (SURE) technique is used to examine the relative contribution of sectors to the economies Dubai, as an individual Emirate, and the rest of UAE as a group of Emirates using time series sectoral level data for 2001–2015. The study shows that there exists positive interdependencies between Dubai and rest of UAE economies. This signifies that the core competencies across various sectors in Dubai and rest of UAE economies need to be promoted further to have overall diversified impact on UAE economy. The positive sizable impact of the finance sector in Dubai and negative sizable impact in the rest of the UAE provide many opportunities for designing diversification programs for sustained economic development of the entire UAE economy. The small sample size, non-availability of detailed sectoral data in four of the seven emirates constrained the scope of the study for generalization to other economies in the middle east. The study findings are very crucial for identifying structural reforms, to strengthen competitiveness and accelerate private sector-led job creation for nationals, potential on further opening up foreign direct investment (FDI), improving selected areas of the business environment, and easing access to finance for start-ups and SMEs in both the economies. There are very few studies, which have researched the sector specific characteristics to explain the factors affecting the sustainability of the economies of Dubai and the rest of UAE. The study provides insights to the UAE policy makers, for enhancement of policies through development of the key sectors that influence the performance of the two economies. Despite being independent entities though, the seven emirates of the UAE are economically interdependent. Studies on such interactions add unique value to the literature. Keywords: SURE, GDP, Dubai, UAE, Sectoral Evaluation, Financial development.

PurposeThis paper aims to examine house price drivers in Dubai, addressing nonlinearity and heterogeneity.Design/methodology/approachThe study applies a combination of linear and nonlinear, as well as quantile regression, specifications to address these concerns and better explain the real-world phenomenon.FindingsThe study shows the double-log quantile regression approach is an overarching description of house price drivers, confirming that not only the price of housing and its determinants are non-linearly related but also that their relationship is heterogeneous across house price quantiles. The findings reveal the prevalence of sub-market differentials in house price sensitivity to house attributes such as size (in square meters), location and type of house, as well as government laws. The study also identifies the peaks and deflation, as well as the rebounding nature of the house price bubble in Dubai.Research limitations/implicationsThe data used are limited, in that information on only a few house attributes was available. Future research should include data on other house attributes such as house quality, zip codes and composition.Practical implicationsThe findings of this study are expected to suggest results with significant ramifications for researchers, practitioners and policy makers. From a policy perspective, there is an obvious interest in understanding whether the price of housing is affected by different attributes differently along its distribution.Social implicationsThis study allows policy makers, developers and buyers of higher-priced houses to behave differently from buyers of lower-priced or medium-priced houses.Originality/valueMethodologically, it demonstrates alternative linear and nonlinear, as well as quantile regression, specifications to address two increasing concerns in the house price literature: nonlinearity and heterogeneity. Unlike most other studies, this study used a rich data (140,039 day-to-day transactions of 10 years’ pooled data). The Dubai housing market presents an interesting case. UAE (Dubai, in particular) is named as the second-hottest marketplace for global residential property investors, ahead of Singapore, the UK and Hong Kong (Savills plc, 2015).

Africa continues to be burdened by widespread poverty and endemic diseases, with huge inequity in accessing healthcare services. Health research in all its forms is essential to address the numerous health systems challenges in Africa, using complementary biomedical and social sciences approaches. There is, however, a risk of exploitation from the traditionally hierarchical, Western world-centred and -funded approach to health research in Africa. Care must therefore be taken to ensure health research, including health-related social sciences research, is ethically sound, responsive to local need and respectful of local cultures and values.

This research addresses the problem of predicting the user’s responses through multivariate choice (MVC) and neural network (NN) frameworks for predicting quality, quantity and overall User satisfaction of public water supply organization, BWSSB (Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board) in Bangalore - India for policy initiatives. The MVC study identifies statistically significant factors that explain users’ loyalty to express satisfaction and voice to express dissatisfaction. The MVC model correctly predicts 85% of satisfied customers across satisfaction dimensions. Wald test on 1940 responses confirms that there exits cross equation correlation across quality, quantity and overall Users’ satisfaction dimensions and thus appropriateness of MVC framework over traditional logit for predicting the user responses. NN framework outperforms the econometric model with 94% correct classification of user responses. The study opens up potential research opportunities for applying the advanced analytical frameworks for predicting user responses in various public and private settings for Policy initiatives so that the service providers could improve their service delivery.

Service quality, being an integral part of urban growth, has been a subject of interest to city transport planners.The provision of better quality public transport service is a challenge in the United Arab Emirates, as this countrystrives to meet the transport requirements fundamental to sustain the investment and economic as well as urbanpopulation growth exhibited over the last few years. United Arab Emirates government intervention strategiesinclude increasing share of public transportation and decreasing transport by private vehicles through betteringbus service delivery. Such shift of demand for public service requires not only understanding of people'swillingness to use and pay for improved public transport services but also market incentives to pull-downpersonal vehicle ownership demand into public transport services. This study examines the willingness of UnitedArab Emirates residents to use and pay for improved public transport services. A contingent valuation survey isconducted on 852 representative sample of cross section of United Arab Emirates residents. Probit and Orderedlogit models are used to analyze the survey data. The study has generated results with significant ramificationsfor policy. It suggests that there is the knowledge that residents, in general, are willing to use and pay higher feesfor using public bus provided its service quality is improved. This has to provide reassurance to the Roads andTransport Authority who may be interested about the potential demand for improved public bus service. In orderfor the United Arab Emirates Government to increase the share of public transportation and decrease transport byprivate vehicles, effort will have to continue to improve the public bus service quality. In particular, marketing ofsuch improved service will have to consider the residents' socioeconomic and demographic as well as sometravel attributes.

Land degradation is a major problem undermining land productivity in the highlands of Ethiopia. This paper analyses the decisions made by individual household to adopt and intensify land conservation investment. The paper used a Box-Cox Double Hurdle specification and offers the advantage of exploiting panel data collected in a household survey of 6,408 plots in Ethiopia. The results suggest that adoption and intensification decisions appear to be explained by different processes, justifying the use of Box-Cox double hurdle approach over more restrictive models. Poverty-related factors seem to have mixed effect on both adoption and intensification decisions. While farmer's adoption decision is affected by expectation of the certainty of cultivating the land for the next five years (risk for long term), intensification of land conservation investment is determined by whether or not the plot is owner-operated (risk for immediate period) and plot-home distance. A lesson for policymakers is that major changes in land conservation investments will require attention to many factors because no single factor can be used as a major policy leverage instrument. Some of these factors (such as land tenure security, plot size, and total farm holdings) can be directly influenced by government policies and programs.

Cross sectional surveys (EPI cluster survey and missed opportuni ty exit survey), interviews with health workers, focus group discussion, and observation of immunization activities, were conducted in three woredas of South Western Ethiopia to determine EPI coverage levels and to find out reasons for low coverage. The study was carried out from November 1993 to February 1994. It was found that the coverage rate was 42.1% for BCG, 24.4% for DPT3, 24.3% for OPV3, ?8.8% for measles, and 32.3% for maternal TT2. The study has indicated that religion, occupation, educational status and economic status of the parents and place of birth of the child have influence on starting or non starting of immunization of children while marital status of the mother and the number of under five children do not. Defaulting for childhood immunizations is 31.7% while it is 26.1% for maternal TT. Reasons for defaulting are: different obstacles (48.5%), lack of information (36.4%), and lack of motivation (9.2%). For maternal TT, starting of immunization was influenced by religion, occupational, educational and economic status of the couple, number of children under five and place of birth of child while it is not influenced by marital status of the mother. Missed opportuni ty exi t survey revealed that missed opportunity of immunization is 47.2% for women and 23.8% for children. Important reasons are lack of information (27.1%) and no offer from health workers (25%). vi Focus group discussion of caretakers, discussion with health workers and observation of EPI activities were undertaken by the principal investigator to clarify and strengthen the survey findings and these revealed that indeed there are problems, correction of which may lead to the intended goal of universal child immunization. Finally recommendations are made based on the study findings