Flowfield-dependent variant method for moving-boundary problems

A novel numerical scheme using the combination of flowfield-dependent variation method and arbitrary Lagrangian–Eulerian method is developed. This method is a mixed explicit–implicit numerical scheme, and its implicitness is dependent on the physical properties of the flowfield. The scheme is discretized using the finite-volume method to give flexibility in dealing with complicated geometries. The formulation itself yields a sparse matrix, which can be solved by using any iterative algorithm. Several benchmark problems in two-dimensional inviscid and viscous flow have been selected to validate the method. Good agreement with available experimental and numerical data in the literature has been obtained, thus showing its promising application in complex fluid–structure interaction problems

Job Satisfaction of the Employees in the Mobile Phone Corporates in Bangladesh: A Case Study

Optimizing employee satisfaction is a key to the success of any business that relies on a variety of organizational and psycho-economic factors. This study was conducted to identify that sort of key factors, which are responsible to influence on the overall job satisfaction in the growing mobile phone corporate in Bangladesh. The phone corporates, which are included here in the study, are Grameen Phone (GP), Bangla Link and Aktel. The factors included in the investigation as independent variables are Compensation Package, Supervision, Career Growth, Training and Development, Working atmosphere, Company Loyalty and Performance Appraisal. The result indicates that training and performance appraisal, work atmosphere, compensation package, supervision, and company loyalty are the key factors that impact on employees’ job satisfaction in these corporations. The study also finds that the employees of these three corporations possessed above of the moderate level and positive attitude towards job satisfaction, which could be nudged up to excellent status of employee satisfaction if the management takes those identified factors with a little more rigorous weight into their considerations and acts further accordingly.

Factors Affecting Volatility of Bangladesh Trade Deficit: An Econometric Analysis

Bangladesh, one of the rising member countries of South Asia, passed a severe economic hardship during its post-independence period of 1970s till 1980s. Historically, Bangladesh inherited trade deficit from Pakistan legacy. Economic scenario, however, has had a distinct turnover in 1990s when share of export earnings from traditional items dragged down dramatically and that of non-traditional items grew apace. In parallel to export earnings, the import spending has also increased observing larger pace that worsens trade deficit volume and volatility as well. This study, thus, primarily endeavors to examine the trends in the trade deficit volume and volatility and also to identify the factors responsible for influencing that pattern. In so doing, the study employs two periods and examines, based on secondary data, the mean and standard deviations of trade deficit in two periods. The findings reveal that both mean and standard deviation have been increased by many-fold during the last 26 fiscal years starting from 1983/84. Consequently, these outcomes lead the economy to uncertainties that aggravate management of the production sector and overall macroeconomic policy-planning as well. The regression model shows that there have been three significant variables that influenced the foreign trade volume and volatility. These are the GDP, population number and the excise and duties for import. The study concludes with a recommendation of two policy initiatives in order to minimize the economic uncertainties. In so doing, government budget ought to be balanced and the import sector should be restricted to squeeze the import spending

Optomechanical heat transfer between molecules in a nanoplasmonic cavity

We explore whether localized surface plasmon polariton modes can transfer heat between molecules placed in the hot spot of a nanoplasmonic cavity through optomechanical interaction with the molecular vibrations. We demonstrate that external driving of the plasmon resonance indeed induces an effective molecule-molecule interaction corresponding to a heat transfer mechanism that can even be more effective in cooling the hotter molecule than its heating due to the vibrational pumping by the plasmon. This mechanism allows us to actively control the rate of heat flow between molecules through the intensity and frequency of the driving laserThis work has been funded by the European Research Council (ERC-2016-STG-714870) and the Spanish MINECO under Contract No. MAT2014-53432-C5-5-R and the “María de Maeztu” programme for Units of Excellence in R&D (MDM-2014-0377), as well as through a Ramón y Cajal grant (JF) and support from the Iranian Ministry of Science, Research and Technology (SMA

Carbon tetrachloride-induced liver disease in rats: the potential effect of supplement oils with vitamins E and C on the nutritional status

The aim of the present investigation was to study the effects of olive oil (OO), corn oil (CO), and flaxseed oil (FO), with or without supplementation of vitamins E and C, on food intake, body weight gain %, liver weight to body weight %, total lipids, liver functions, and liver histology in male rats intoxicated with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)

Carbon tetrachloride-induced liver disease in rats: the potential effect of supplement oils with vitamins E and C on the nutritional status

The aim of the present investigation was to study the effects of olive oil (OO), corn oil (CO), and flaxseed oil (FO), with or without supplementation of vitamins E and C, on food intake, body weight gain %, liver weight to body weight %, total lipids, liver functions, and liver histology in male rats intoxicated with carbon tetrachloride (CCl4)

An ethnographic sociolinguistic study of virtual identity in Second Life

The virtual world Second Life (SL) offers its millions of users a fertile environment in which to socialise and engage in digital communication, immersed in a world where it seems like anything is possible and imagination is the only limit. To become an established resident of this virtual world is to acquire a virtual identity, which in turn requires an understanding and acquisition of phenomena such as how to dress, walk and talk. The acquisition of a SLidentity involves various linguistic acts. Users must familiarise themselves with the creative vocabulary of SL in order to reflect in-group identity. They must recognise the deictic field of the virtual environment and act accordingly through appropriate use of indexical and deictic expressions, to show awareness of the virtual surroundings. The final step towards becoming 'virtual' is recognising, acknowledging and fulfilling pragmatic acts in all of their complexity. These acts, such as those of an instructive nature, have different communicative intentions and short and long-term aims that contribute to the (co)construction of virtual identity. A SL corpus of approximately 200 thousand words and 24 hours of video data was gathered through systematic participant observation and ethnographic data collection methods. Wordsmith Tools(Scott, 2011) was used to examine the corpus observing frequencies, concordances and collocations of lexical items, leading to qualitative discussions of examples. Through the use of SLEnglish and SLArabic, reflecting in-group identity, the use of personal pronouns and place and time deictic expressions, indexing one's personal, spatial and temporal awareness in the virtual world, and through instruction and direction, a noob (Crystal, 2004) or novice can transform into a Resident (www.secondlife.com) or established user, and it is this transformation process and the linguistic (co)construction of a virtual identity that is the focus of this study

Changes in Grape Maturity Induced by Spraying Ethanol

Three different ethanol solutions were sprayed onto Cabernet Sauvignon (Vitis vinifera L.) clusters during the ripening period: 2.5, 5 and 10% by volume in water. Controls were sprayed with water alone. Three different times of spraying were also tested: 8, 10 and 13 weeks post-flowering. One of the observed changes was a lower titratable acidity in grape samples at harvest, when the clusters were sprayed with ethanol at 10 weeks, in comparison with controls. The wines made with grapes treated with ethanol after mid-veraison, had higher ODs at 520 nm than did the controls. This may due to a combined effect of red pigment levels and acidity. In addition, following malolactic fermentation, the acidity levels of wines made with ethanoltreated grapes were slightly higher than those made with the control grapes. Spraying ethanol at 13 weeks post-flowering increased the berry weight by 10% at harvest without decreasing the °Brix value. The corresponding wines had similar degrees of alcohol. This observation was made for the first time in 2001