Wind Flow Induced Vibrations of Tapered Masts

Structural dynamic analyses of elongated masts subjected to various wind speeds are presented in this work. The masts are modeled as vertically supported cantilever beams,with one end fixed to the ground, and the other end free. The external excitation forces acting of the masts are the results of vortex shedding represented by a sinusoidal time dependent functions. The frequencies of these sinusoidal functions are dictated by the Strouhal numbers associated of the flow regimes crossing over the masts. To enhance the vibratory behavior of a typical mast, under the influence of flow induced vibrations,three different mass distributions along the length of the mast were considered. The different mass distributions were achieved by tapering the mast along its length,allocating more of the mass at its fixed end, and gradually decreasing it toward its free end. Three different tapering angles were considered for these studies. All results were compared with the results obtained for a straight circular cross-section cylindrical mast having the same overall length and mass. For a mast length of 25 meters and a total mass of 1782.74 kg, three tapered angles of 0.229, 0.458 , and 0.596 degrees, were considered. These analyses show that the first natural frequencies of the tapered masts increases from that of the straight mast. The first natural frequency of the straight mass was determined to be 0.2845 Hrz. The corresponding first natural frequencies for the masts with tapered angle of 0.229, 0.458, and 0.596 became 0.417, 0.5911, and 0.7435Hrz. respectively. In addition to the natural frequency analyses, dynamic responses analyses of these masts were determined under the influence of the harmonic excitations resulting from the vortex shedding cause by the wind flow. For the tapered angles chosen in these studies the maximum displacement of the free ends of these masts were determined. For a wind speed of 10 m/s the free-end displacements of the tapered masts were determined to be (500, 1000, 1300)* 10⁻⁶ meter

Resource Integration Mechanisms in Self-Service Business Analytic

In a typical SSBA environment, the technical department provides data, tools and technologies specifically optimised to lower the operational complexity of processing data into information. As a result, the employees become more autonomous in fulfilling their own information needs enabling technical department to focus on more strategic tasks. In such scenario, the value of SSBA is co-created between the different actors (which is in this case business and technical employees). Co-creation occurs mainly as a result of the integration of the employee’s competencies (such as knowledge, experience and technical capabilities) with the previously mentions environment resources enabled and maintained by the technical department. As such, resource integration is considered a central activity in SSBA environment causing value generation or in other words processing data to generate business insights. Thus, through a qualitative approach, this paper aims at addressing the following research question “what mechanisms enable and facilitate resource integration in a SSBA environment”. Understanding these issues is important as more knowledge about what drives resources integration would be highly valuable for managers and IT professionals confronted by the complexity of enabling such an autonomous environment of insight generation

Effects of Carboxylated Nanodiamonds on Macrophages During and After Differentiation

Nanodiamonds (ND) are a carbon-based nanomaterial that are increasingly being proposed for developing novel imaging techniques, as carriers of biomolecules and therapeutic drugs, as coatings for implants, and for other biomedical applications. The exceptional chemical, mechanical, and optical properties of ND make this material suitable in a wide range of fields. The application of ND in the biomedical field is attractive but requires more in-depth investigation into the safety of ND and its interactions with different cells and systems. The effects of ND on the immune system are not fully understood or investigated and there are several controverting reports regarding ND biocompatibility. Macrophages are found in almost all tissues of the body and are key players in the vertebrate immune system, maintaining homeostasis and initiating immune response to a wide range of pathogens and foreign or host mediators. I hypothesized that ND can affect macrophages and interfere with their functions, and aimed to study interactions of ND with these cells to better understand the potential impact of ND on the immune system. My studies included monitoring both cultured and bone-marrow-derived macrophages in vitro after different exposure conditions and assessment of their effects on cellular processes using molecular laboratory techniques. Results showed that these particles do not significantly increase cell death or changes in cell morphology. These macrophages internalized ND via phagocytic and clathrin-dependent endocytosis in a time- and dose-dependent manner. The internalized ND localized to the cytoplasm without eliciting an inflammatory response in macrophages. Investigations on the macrophage functions showed that treatment of macrophages with ND did not affect their ability to respond to lipopolysaccharides. On the other hand, their endocytic activity was reduced significantly, irrespective of ND dose. Exposure of bone marrow cells to ND early during their differentiation did not affect their morphology or reduce the percent of cells expressing macrophage surface markers. Nonetheless, ND exposure reduced the number of surface markers expressed on each cell. My findings suggest that ND are not cytotoxic to macrophages at the tested concentrations, but they can interfere with macrophage functions and differentiation. Further studies are needed to explore the mechanisms by which ND suppress macrophages endocytic activity and expression of surface markers and the downstream impact of these suppressed immune functions. In addition, the effects of ND on other cells’ immune functions and expression of other immune mediators yet to be studied before concluding the immunotoxicity or compatibility of ND

Semen Quality and Chemical Oxidative Stress; Quantification and Remediation

The necessary multi-step process to prepare human semen for assisted reproduction (AR) such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) is known to induce oxidative stress in human spermatozoa and subsequent damage to the integrity of their cell components and, thus, to their function. Literature reports have viewed this as a potential link with the high frequency of birth defects among the IVF babies. In this work, we studied the effect of incubation and centrifugation on human sperm quality using established AR protocols. We found that in vitro incubation and centrifugation (20 min at 220g) of sperm generally degrade sperm quality in terms of motility and DNA oxidation. The total antioxidant capacity of the semen significantly decreased upon raising the centrifugation force from 220g to 400g. We then studied the efficacy of supplements such as L-carnitine (LC) on remediating the oxidative stress. We found that supplementation with LC counteracts the overall damage of quality brought by the multi-step method of sperm processing. We determined the LC concentration range (0.1-1.0 mg/mL) with optimum oxidative stress remediation and which enhances qualities such as motility. Among the various oxidative stress species, we particularly focused on nitric oxide as a species with known dual functional and cytotoxic properties. We have demonstrated a method to monitor its dynamic concentrations in spermatozoa. The method enabled us to establish a link between motility and nitric oxide levels in spermatozoa. The method also allowed us to establish that the LC-induced enhancement of human sperm motility is also accompanied with a simultaneous increase in NO productio

ERP system implementation in UK Joinery SMEs

The capabilities of an Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to integrate all necessary business functions into a single system with a shared database efficiently and effectively has persuaded organisations to adopt them. Research shows that ERP implementation in both large and small to medium enterprises has been a difficult challenge for organisations throughout the years. Despite the many advantages of ERP systems, there isn t a clear and easy way of implementing them in Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The motivation for the research is to investigate the barriers to ERP software system implementation in an SME using a case study approach, and to identify the steps to overcome these barriers and investigate the claim of ERP vendors that their ERP solutions improve the performance of their customers, the profitability and efficiency of work processes. This research identifies the barriers to ERP implementation in an SME, provides an overview of the traditional and current approaches of ERP implementation and discusses the effects of adopting an ERP system on the company s overall performance. The research uses a mix of methods including case study research and action research. Un-structured interviews and semi structured interviews approaches with negotiation and change management techniques were also used in order to generate knowledge concerning the problems at the case study. The case study has determined reasons for failed implementations, unlike previous research which suggests education level impact upon the implementation of the ERP system, the study demonstrates that an insufficient education level is not a necessary condition for resistance to change. It has also been shown in this research that high level management can have a direct influence on the ERP implementation in SMEs. This research suggests that SMEs need to standardize processes into business routines which will influence the introduction of a different knowledge store that helps the development of the new system; however employee s resistance to change, lack of trust of the new system and lack of knowledge has limited the implementation process by increasing mistakes and duplication of data. The ERP system has been evaluated by the end users at the case study organisation, and the results suggests that the implementation of an ERP system has improved the overall business and has increased the performance, the profitability and the efficiency of work processes. This research adds to the overall knowledge of ERP implementation in SMEs by deriving a better understanding of the problem in the body of knowledge and identifying the barriers to ERP implementation in SMEs. It provides recommendations that have been tested in the case study organisation for overcoming ERP implementation barriers in SMEs, and a financial model of the implementation costs and benefits. Finally, the recommendations presented in this thesis and suggested areas for further research set out the potential way forward to advance knowledge in this area

Secure and Strong Mobile cloud Authentication

Mobile cloud computing has dual benefits that include cloud computing and mobile computing. In mobile cloud computing data storage and data processing take place outside the mobile device. As a result, there is a high chance of a security attack. The attacker may easily get access to our sensitive data. Due to this the malicious user may see or modify our data. To overcome this problem, we need to store our data in the cloud where it will be secured. In this paper, we propose a secure and strong authentication (SSA) process that stores the key at different cloud servers. This process provides strong authentication. Greencloud is used to validate the process. The results confirm that our proposed SSA protects the mobile cloud computing from malicious activities

Assessment of Jordanian High School Students Performances in Computer Subject: Inclusion for Measurements and Evaluation of Learning

Nowadays, every student is able to use technology in school or at home. Computers have become a necessary part in schools for the sake of well teaching style. The low levels of students’ achievement and their computer subject skills weaknesses at the public examinations in Jordan have continued to draw major stakeholders' attention in education. This study examined Jordanian high school students' academic achievement in computer subject, also gender difference in students’ achievement was examined. An ex-post-facto design of descriptive research was adopted for the study. A preform was used to collect data from a sample of (200) students who have been selected using a stratified random sampling procedure from the secondary schools in Jordan/Irbid. The data, which was collected, is the students’ performances in computer subject achievement tests. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and an independent-sample t-test. Results showed that the test internal consistency reliability is low; the students performed below average (M=47.02, SD=16.493 (47%)

Impact of soft drinks to health and economy: a critical review

Aims To provide information regarding the different types of soft drinks and critically reviewing their risk on the dental and general health of children and adolescents, as well as the cost associated with such drinks. Methods The literature was reviewed using electronic databases, Medline, Embase, Cochrane library, and was complemented by cross-referencing using published references list from reviewed articles. Search words; soft drinks, juices, carbonated drinks, sports and energy drinks, soft drink and dental diseases, soft drink and health, cost of soft drinks, soft drink advertising, sugar tax on soft drinks were used for this review. In total, 104 papers were reviewed by both authors; of these, 62 papers were found to have relevant information. Results The consumption of soft drinks was found to have increased dramatically over the past several decades. The greatest increase in soft drink consumption has been among children and adolescents. Some commercial soft drinks are high in sugar content and acidity. In addition, they supply energy only and are of little nutritional benefit and lack micro-nutrients, vitamins and minerals. Soft drink consumption can contribute to detrimental oral and general health. Efforts have been made by manufacturers and government agencies to reduce the potential harmful effects of sugar-containing soft drinks on teeth and general health. These include banning the sale of soft drinks in schools, restricting soft drinks advertising, modifying the composition of soft drinks and introducing tax on sugar-containing soft drinks. Conclusions The consumption of soft drinks with high sugar content and acidity can contribute to detrimental oral health and may also affect general health. Therefore, it is necessary to educate patients about the harmful effects of different types of soft drinks as it is not always easy for individuals to identify from drink labelling the ingredients which they contain

SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS: APPLICATION CASE FROM THE MIDDLE EAST

Universities represent a vital body part of any societies. Universities nowadays are faced with new environment and challenges that necessitate the need to be independent from governmental and state support. The changing environment in which universities function and the challenges that higher education has been facing were identified as: mass expansion of higher education; decrease of state expenditure and support for universities; diversification of financial resources; internationalization; commercialization; changes brought by IC&T development, the adaptation of curricula to accommodate and capitalize on labour market requirements. These changes and challenges will have their impact on the quality of education, university autonomy, academic freedom, its changing focus and responsibilities towards society. This highlight that universities are moving toward corporatization which calls for them to be a good corporate citizen and the best approach for universities to achieve that is by adapting the concept of Social Responsibility. This paper aims to discuss how universities could achieve development, sustainability, and competitiveness through applying University social Responsibility USR concepts. Also this paper will present the case of The Hashemite University as a socially responsible university. In conclusion applying social responsibility to universities will help them facing the rapidly changing environment and challenges. University social responsibility can be used effectively by universities as presented in the case of Hashemite University to ensure development and sustainability for the university and society

Polyolefin plastomers in composites for flooring applications

For flooring applications, calcium carbonate-filled poly(vinyl chloride), PVC, has long been the material of choice for both flexible sheeting and tile products. However, PVC-based formulations must be processed with plasticizers, which have recently raised some concerns from a sustainability point of view. In the research work reported here, calcium carbonate-filled formulations based on polyolefin plastomers, POP, are prepared in a laboratory-scale mixer, and their mechanical properties are studied for flooring applications. Plastomers are olefin copolymers synthesized using new metallocene catalyst technologies. The POP plastomer used in this research is Affinity 1140 a copolymer of ethylene and octene, and does not require any plasticizers for processing. The key mechanical properties of the calcium carbonate-filled POP, which include tensile strength, elongation and impact strength, are found to compare very favourably to those of PVC formulations at filler loadings of 200 phr. In addition, the filled POP formulations are able to incorporate a significant amount of post-consumer polyethylene(PC-PE) while maintaining adequate physical properties. Two types of PC-PE are tested in this research work: the first one is a linear low density polyethylene (LLDPE), and the second is a high density polyethylene (HDPE). The DSC analysis technique is used to study the difference in behavior between the two recycled resins. Dimensional stability tests are also reported, indicating that POP composites contract slightly more than the PVC-based ones. Overall, this study shows that calcium carbonate-filled POP should be studied further as a more sustainable alternative to filled PVC for flooring applications