6,046 research outputs found
Briefing paper on the status and prospects for Borama water supply Somaliland
An important centre of learning for Somaliland, over the last century Borama has grown to around
10,000 settled households today. Faced with an uncertain operating environment, keeping pace with
demand for improved water services has presented considerable challenges to Borama community and
international partners over recent years. Drawing evidence from secondary sources and a rapid
purposive research exercise, the development trend to the current status of Borama’s water supply is
described, in terms of water resources, water sources, supply engineering and management of service
delivery. Insight into recent efforts to sustainably manage ground-water resources are presented, as are
encouraging results in service development and delivery by SHABA water utility, operating through a
pilot PPP contract. Based on results and an assessment of constraints and opportunities identified by the
authors, discussion and recommendations are offered
NbS: A unique quasi one-dimensional conductor with three charge density wave transitions
Through transport, compositional and structural studies, we review the
features of the charge-density wave (CDW) conductor of NbS (phase II). We
highlight three central results: 1) In addition to the previously reported CDW
transitions at = 360\,K and = 150\,K, another CDW transition
occurs at a much higher temperature = 620-650\,K; evidence for the
non-linear conductivity of this CDW is presented. 2) We show that CDW
associated with the - transition arises from S vacancies acting as
donors. Such a CDW transition has not been observed before. 3) We show
exceptional coherence of the -CDW at room-temperature. Additionally, we
report on the effects of uniaxial strain on the CDW transition temperatures and
transport.Comment: 16 pages, 18 figure
A wideband linear tunable CDTA and its application in field programmable analogue array
This document is the Accepted Manuscript version of the following article: Hu, Z., Wang, C., Sun, J. et al. ‘A wideband linear tunable CDTA and its application in field programmable analogue array’, Analog Integrated Circuits and Signal Processing, Vol. 88 (3): 465-483, September 2016. Under embargo. Embargo end date: 6 June 2017. The final publication is available at Springer via https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10470-016-0772-7 © Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016In this paper, a NMOS-based wideband low power and linear tunable transconductance current differencing transconductance amplifier (CDTA) is presented. Based on the NMOS CDTA, a novel simple and easily reconfigurable configurable analogue block (CAB) is designed. Moreover, using the novel CAB, a simple and versatile butterfly-shaped FPAA structure is introduced. The FPAA consists of six identical CABs, and it could realize six order current-mode low pass filter, second order current-mode universal filter, current-mode quadrature oscillator, current-mode multi-phase oscillator and current-mode multiplier for analog signal processing. The Cadence IC Design Tools 5.1.41 post-layout simulation and measurement results are included to confirm the theory.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio
Combined effect of steel fibres and steel rebars on impact resistance of high performance concrete
The investigation on the impact properties of normal concrete (NC)and reinforced concrete (RC) specimens, steel fibre reinforced concrete (SFRC) specimens and RC+SFRC specimens with different steel fibres dosages were carried out with the drop-weight impact test recommended by ACI Committee 544. The results indicate that the number of blows to final failure greatly increased by addition of steel fibres. Moreover, the combination of steel fibres and steel rebars demonstrates a significant positive composite effect on the impact resistance, which results on the improvement in impact toughness of concrete specimens. In view of the variation of impact test results, the two-parameter Weibull distribution was adopted to analyze the experimental data. It is proved that the probabilistic distribution of the blows to first crack and to final failure of six types of samples are approximately two-parameter Weibull distribution.Funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (Grant No.50578026)Financial support provided by the Research Center of Mathematics of the University of Minho through the FCT Pluriannual Funding Progra
A case of probable esomeprazole-induced transient liver injury in a pregnant woman with hyperemesis.
We report a case of 22-year-old primigravida presented to Women's Hospital - Hamad Medical Corporation emergency with severe epigastric pain, nausea, and vomiting. On admission, she was dehydrated with remarkably worsening symptoms. Laboratory findings revealed significantly elevated liver enzymes with unknown etiology. Her past medical history showed an admission for nausea and vomiting 3 weeks previously and she was discharged on antiemetics, and esomeprazole for the first time. Due to the predominantly elevated liver enzymes, the clinical pharmacist discussed the possibility of esomeprazole-induced adverse effects and suggested to suspend esomeprazole based on the evidence from literature review. The liver enzymes showed a substantial improvement within days after the discontinuation of the drug; however, a rechallenge was not done since it could have adversely affected the mother or the fetus. Using the Naranjo Adverse Drug Reaction Probability scales, the adverse reaction due to esomeprazole was classified as 'probably'
Small and medium-sized enterprises in the digital business sector
The chapter is a systematic literature review of fundamental theories about small and medium business
(SME) success. The chapter examines how they specifically impact digital SMEs. The chapter examined six theories: dynamic capability view (DCV), composition-based view of firm growth (CBV), resourcebased view (RBV), resource dependence theory (RDT), upper echelon theory (UET), strategic contingency theory (SCT). The results showed that RBV, DCV, and UET become relevant in articulating the value
inherent to the internal resources in SMEs (which render their capabilities dynamic). In contrast, the SCT
framework and the RDT model show more significance in relation to uncertainty and contingency. CBV
was found to be a more pertinent framework to predict the success of SMEs. The results support CBV’s
hypothesis that SMEs (including digital SMEs) are able to be competitive without extensive resource advantage, too complicated technologies, or market power. The increased deployment of CBV can be advocated as a critical determinant of digital SME success
The systemic inflammatory response, performance status and survival in patients undergoing alpha-interferon treatment for advanced renal cancer
Genome-wide pleiotropy and shared biological pathways for resistance to bovine pathogens
<div><p>Host genetic architecture is a major factor in resistance to pathogens and parasites. The collection and analysis of sufficient data on both disease resistance and host genetics has, however, been a major obstacle to dissection the genetics of resistance to single or multiple pathogens. A severe challenge in the estimation of heritabilities and genetic correlations from pedigree-based studies has been the confounding effects of the common environment shared among relatives which are difficult to model in pedigree analyses, especially for health traits with low incidence rates. To circumvent this problem we used genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism data and implemented the Genomic-Restricted Maximum Likelihood (G-REML) method to estimate the heritabilities and genetic correlations for resistance to 23 different infectious pathogens in calves and cows in populations undergoing natural pathogen challenge. Furthermore, we conducted gene-based analysis and generalized gene-set analysis to understand the biological background of resistance to infectious diseases. The results showed relatively higher heritabilities of resistance in calves than in cows and significant pleiotropy (both positive and negative) among some calf and cow resistance traits. We also found significant pleiotropy between resistance and performance in both calves and cows. Finally, we confirmed the role of the B-lymphocyte pathway as one of the most important biological pathways associated with resistance to all pathogens. These results both illustrate the potential power of these approaches to illuminate the genetics of pathogen resistance in cattle and provide foundational information for future genomic selection aimed at improving the overall production fitness of cattle.</p></div
Space charge in drift chambers operated with the Xe,CO2(15%) mixture
Using prototype modules of the ALICE Transition Radiation Detector we
investigate space charge effects and the dependence of the pion rejection
performance on the incident angle of the ionizing particle. The average pulse
height distributions in the drift chambers operated with the Xe,CO2(15%)
mixture provide quantitative information on the gas gain reduction due to space
charge accumulating during the drift of the primary ionization. Our results
demonstrate that the pion rejection performance of a TRD is better for tracks
which are not at normal incidence to the anode wires. We present detailed
simulations of detector signals, which reproduce the measurements and lend
strong support to our interpretation of the measurements in terms of space
charge effects.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in Nucl.Instrum.Meth.
A. Data files available at http://www-alice.gsi.de/tr
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