Construction and Testing of Broadband High Impedance Ground Planes (HIGPS) for Surface Mount Antennas

The purpose of this research was to design and build appropriate broadband high impedance ground planes for surface mount antennas. Broadband, low-profile antennas, such as spirals, log-periodics, and bow-ties, suffer substantially in gain and bandwidth performance when they are brought close to a conducting surface. Thus, when standard broadband antenna designs are conformally placed on vehicle bodies, they can no longer achieve the high data rates required by modern communication. A simple remedy for this has been to place an absorber lined cavity behind the antenna to preserve some bandwidth, at the expense of reduced gain. However, recently introduced high impedance ground planes have novel electromagnetic features that have been shown to improve conformal antenna performance without the detrimental effects of absorber losses. In this research, first, square patch ground planes for narrowband antennas were built and analyzed. Second, a log-periodic broadband antenna was analyzed with square and circular patch ground planes. Finally, two novel triangular-patch high impedance ground plane designs as a meta-substrate for a broadband bow-tie antenna were presented. Consequently, the high impedance ground plane provided a suitable platform for the bow-tie with removing the undesired effects of a regular metallic ground plane. Results indicated that the novel designs have better gain than the bow-tie in free space, and the bow-tie over a metallic surface

The effectiveness of teamwork for military teams with shared leadership

Despite historical studies of leadership in military teams, few studies have focused on military team factors that could be linked to shared leadership in an international military staff. The focal point of shared leadership is the interaction of team members so as to lead collectively by sharing leadership tasks, rather than the role of an individual leader. This dissertation aims to shed light on the critical question: What is the relation of shared leadership with effectiveness in military teams? The objective of the qualitative study (Study 1) is to explore the military team members’ (mid-senior multinational officers’) perceptions of shared leadership and to analyze the facilitation of shared leadership in military teams. The aim of the quantitative study (Study 2) is to identify shared leadership predictors and whether shared leadership is a mediator of team effectiveness through self-management. The qualitative study revealed that driving forces of change constituted the primary factor affecting shared leadership in military project teams, and the operational environment was the most important hindrance to shared leadership in military operational teams. With the quantitative study, we proposed that complexity is the critical predictor dimension of shared leadership, and shared leadership is positively related to team effectiveness through self-management in a military context. When self-management is low in military teams, trust compensates in increasing the perceived effectiveness. The findings will contribute to the literature by serving to integrate the field of shared leadership research and identify the implementation of shared leadership in some military teams, using the framework of Leadership Change Context for Military Teams.Apesar dos estudos históricos de liderança em equipas militares, poucos estudos se concentraram em fatores da equipa militar que poderiam estar ligados à liderança partilhada numa equipa militar internacional. O ponto focal da liderança partilhada é a interação dos membros da equipa, de modo a conduzir-la coletivamente, partilhando tarefas de liderança, ao invés do papel de um líder individual. Esta dissertação visa esclarecer a questão crítica: qual a relação da liderança partilhada com a eficácia dasequipas militares? O objetivo do estudo qualitativo (Estudo 1) é explorar as percepções dos membros da equipa militar (oficiais multinacionais de nível médio) sobre liderança partilhada e esclarecer a facilitação da liderança compartilhada em equipes militares. O objetivo do estudo quantitativo (Estudo 2) é identificar preditores da liderança partilhada e se a liderança partilhada promove a eficácia da equipa atavés da auto-gestão. O estudo qualitativo revelou que forças motrizes de mudança constituíam o fator primário que afetava a liderança partilhada em equipes de projeto militares, e o ambiente operacional como obstáculo mais importante para a liderança partilhada em equipas operacionais militares. Com o estudo quantitativo, propusemos a complexidade como a dimensão preditora crítica da liderança partilhada, e a liderança partilhada como positivamente relacionada com eficácia da equipa através da auto-gestão em contexto militar. Os resultados contribuem para a literatura, no âmbito da liderança partilhada e para identificar a implementação da liderança partilhada em algumas equipas militares, usando a estrutura do contexto de mudança de liderança para as equipas militares

Design of a Web-Based Educational Interface for Wireless sensor Networks

Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) become a very popular topic in both academic and industrial areas such as remote monitoring, tele medicine, military surveillance, and smart office applications. These applications can involve many design phases along with expertise knowledge. The researchers or students studying on WSNs must complete these phases to develop a WSN application. In this study, we focus on facilitating one of the application phases of WSNs and wehave designed a web-based visualization interface for educational purpose. By using the designed interface, the users are able to remotely monitor the deployed WSN, too bserve the sensed data coming from the sensor nodes in real-time manner, to createthe various charts from sensed data, to check the performance of the sensor nodes,and to analyze the topological changes of the network without writing any code viaa PDA or a computer connected to internet. The designed web interface simplifies such a tedious and difficult phase; as a result, the users can save time, and can befocus on other difficult WSNs' phases

How do mid-senior multinational officers perceive shared leadership for military teams? A qualitative study

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the military team members’ (mid-senior multinational officers’) perceptions of shared leadership and analyze the facilitation of shared leadership in military teams. Design/methodology/approach – The sample size was 20 interviewees that participants must hold leadership positions at the mid-senior management level and from NATO member countries. To analyze the data, the authors used Gioia’s thematic analysis methodology (Gioia et al., 2013) and manual coding rather than computer usage for the analysis, due to the small data pool and their proficiency in literature. Findings – Complexity and the new information era force military organizations toward the change and that with shared leadership they can even change the organization’s culture. The final framework highlights five main dimensions that emerged from mid-multinational military officers’ experience: driving forces of change, triggers to shared leadership, specific cases shared leadership, operational team environment and operational team characteristics. Results of the study supported that driving forces of change comprised the primary factor affecting shared leadership in military project teams. Practical implications – The Headquarter environment (strategic and operational planning) and planning were critical factors for the successful implementation and development of shared leadership in military project teams. Thus, military organizations could easily implement the shared leadership approach in the military research teams and planning teams. Originality/value – The authors present a framework of leadership change context for military teams, which depicts how shared leadership could be implemented differently in military teams.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Integration of Real-Time Clock Unit into Reconfigurable 8051 IP-core

This paper presents an implementation of Real-Time Clock (RTC) unit integratedwithin the 8051 microcontroller by means of a hardware description language. Theverification of the RTC has been done by using a commercial Field Programmable GateArray (FPGA) development environment deployed with a simulator and a synthesizer.Throughout the modelling procedures, the authentication of the 8051 architecture ispreserved as much as possible

Backmasking in the yeast genome: encoding overlapping information for protein-coding and RNA degradation

Backmasking is a recording technique used to hide a sound or message in a music track in reverse, meaning that it is only audible when the record is played backwards. Analogously, the compact yeast genome encodes for diverse sources of information such as overlapping coding and non-coding transcripts, and protein-binding sites on the two complementary DNA strands. Examples are the consensus binding site sequences of the RNA-binding proteins Nrd1 and Nab3 that target non-coding transcripts for degradation. Here, by examining the overlap of stable (SUTs, stable unannotated transcripts) and unstable (CUTs, cryptic unstable transcripts) transcripts with protein-coding genes, we show that the predicted Nrd1 and Nab3-binding site sequences occur at differing frequencies. They are always depleted in the sense direction of protein-coding genes, thus avoiding degradation of the transcript. However in the antisense direction, predicted binding sites occur at high frequencies in genes with overlapping unstable ncRNAs (CUTs), so limiting the availability of non-functional transcripts. In contrast they are depleted in genes with overlapping stable ncRNAs (SUTs), presumably to avoid degrading the non-coding transcript. The protein-coding genes maintain similar amino-acid contents, but they display distinct codon usages so that Nrd1 and Nab3-binding sites can arise at differing frequencies in antisense depending on the overlapping transcript type. Our study demonstrates how yeast has evolved to encode multiple layers of information—protein-coding genes in one strand and the relative chance of degrading antisense RNA in the other strand—in the same regions of a compact genome

Utjecaj parametara CNC obrade na kvalitetu površine drvnih ploča koje se upotrebljavaju u industriji namještaja

The processing of wood-based panels such as plywood, particleboard and fiberboard, which are widely used in the furniture industry, with CNC (Computer Numerical Control) milling machines has been increasing recently. Even though CNC milling machines have many advantages for furniture producers, it is difficult to set process parameters to obtain the desired surface quality of the material. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the most suitable of these parameters for the surface quality of each wood-based panel. This study aimed to determine the effects of processing parameters on the surface quality of plywood, particleboard and medium density fiberboard (MDF) panels processed in CNC milling machines. Furthermore, the average surface roughness values of these panels were compared after CNC processing. Three spindle rotational frequencies (10.000, 14.000 and 18.000 rpm), three feed rates (5, 7, and 9 m/min) and two cutting tool diameters (2 and 5 mm) were selected as CNC processing parameters. To determine the surface quality of wood-based panels, the surface roughness measurements were performed according to DIN 4768 standard and three surface roughness parameters (Ra, Rmax and Rz) were determined. According to the results of this study, it can be concluded that the surface roughness values of wood-based panels decreased with increasing spindle rotational frequency and feed rate, while they increased with increasing cutting tool diameter. Among the wood-based panels used in this study, the lowest average roughness values were obtained for plywood samples.Za obradu ploča na bazi drva kao što su furnirske ploče, iverice i vlaknatice, koje imaju široku primjenu u industriji namještaja, u posljednje se vrijeme sve češće primjenjuju CNC (Computer Numerical Control) glodalice. Iako CNC glodalice imaju mnoge prednosti za proizvođače namještaja, teško je odrediti parametre procesa za postizanje željene kvalitete površine obrađivanog materijala. Stoga je potrebno odrediti najprikladnije parametre obrade za svaku vrstu ploče na bazi drva. Cilj ovog istraživanja bio je utvrditi utjecaj parametara obrade CNC glodalicama na kvalitetu površine furnirske ploče, iverice i ploče vlaknatice srednje gustoće (MDF ploče). Nadalje, uspoređene su srednje vrijednosti hrapavosti površine tih ploča nakon CNC obrade. Kao parametri CNC obrade odabrane su tri frekvencije vrtnje vretena (10 000, 14 000 i 18 000 okr./min), tri posmične brzine (5, 7 i 9 m/min) te dva promjera reznog alata (2 i 5 mm). Za određivanje kvalitete površine ploča na bazi drva provedena su mjerenja hrapavosti površine prema normi DIN 4768, a hrapavost je iskazana trima parametrima hrapavosti površine (Ra, Rmax i Rz). Prema rezultatima ovog istraživanja može se zaključiti da su se vrijednosti hrapavosti površine ploča na bazi drva smanjivale s povećanjem frekvencije vrtnje vretena i posmične brzine, dok su se povećavale s povećanjem promjera reznog alata. Među pločama na bazi drva na kojima je provedeno ovo istraživanje najniže srednje vrijednosti hrapavosti dobivene su za uzorke furnirske ploče