A study on energy harvesting through the use of electromagnetic dampers in motion control schemes

Thesis (M. Eng.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 2010.Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 29).In recent years, there is a trend in most fields toward more environmentally friendly products and processes. This trend toward sustainable living is often dubbed the "Green Revolution". Because the Green Revolution is concerned with environmentally friendly ways of energy production, and structural engineering often has the task of controlling and dissipating energy, the logical step would be to unite the two concepts. This study investigates the use of the electromagnetic damper as an energy harvesting device in multiple damping schemes. It is shown that the use of the electromagnetic damper in a tuned mass damper scheme produces the most available energy to be harvested.by Geoffrey Bomarito.M.Eng

Strategies for Providing Access to Information No Matter the Location, Technological Access, and Patron: A case for Malawi

Malawi has a number of researchers located in various scientific institutions throughout the country who use information available in different formats. Apart from these researchers, the country has also scholars, policy makers, teachers, extension workers and farmers who seek information for various usages. Some of the uses of the information are literature review, teaching and learning, extension, planning, decision making, access to markets for farm produces and community education. Providing access to relevant information involve a number of players such as librarians, communication and information experts and broadcasters. Access to the information must be timely and in the right format considering that there is now advanced technology. The paper therefore talks of the various ways of accessing relevant information in Malawi, taking into consideration the available technology and the location of the information users. The paper also outlines the challenges faced by those involved in providing the needed information

Logic and reality in the philosophy of John Stuart Mill

This study of the leading principles of Mill's empiricist metaphysics and philosophy of logic aims to provide accurate (and often revisionary) exegesis and criticism of his theories, and to show their pertinence to current philosophical debates. Mill's views on the attainment of knowledge by inference, the problems of suasive syllogisms, and the possibility of inductive inference are first discussed, and it is argued that his philosophy of logic is informed by a realist theory of error. Subsequently, attention is paid to his uncompromising rejection of a priori avenues to knowledge about objective reality, and his allegiance to a radical empiricist principle that all knowledge is of phenomena alone. A scrutiny of Mill's theories of the experienced world and of the experiencing self: brings the discussion; to the point at which it emerges clearly that there is a deep tension within his thought between a form of empiricism which approximates to a variety of scientific realism, and another which leans towards sensationalistic reductionism

Let\u27s Think About Hog Supplies and Prices!

It still looks as if we\u27re headed for hog price and production troubles in the next few years. If so, the time to think and plan is now-ahead of time. Here are some alternatives you may want to think about and discuss

Reference intervals for thyroid stimulating hormone and free thyroxine derived from neonates undergoing routine screening for congenital hypothyroidism at a university teaching hospital in Nairobi, Kenya: a cross sectional study

Background: In order to accurately interpret neonatal thyroid function tests (TFTs), it is necessary to have population specific reference intervals (RIs) as there is significant variation across different populations possibly due to genetic, environmental or analytical issues. Despite the importance of RIs, globally there are very few publications on RIs for neonatal TFTs primarily due to ethical and technical issues surrounding recruitment of neonates for a prospective study. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report from Africa on neonatal RIs for TFTs. Methods: We used hospital based data largely derived from neonates attending the wellness clinic at the Aga Khan University Hospital Nairobi (AKUHN) where screening for congenital hypothyroidism is routinely done. Specifically we derived age and gender stratified RIs for free thyroxine (fT4) and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) which had been analyzed on a Roche e601 analyzer from 2011 to 2013. Determination of reference intervals was done using a non-parametric method. Results: A total of 1639 and 1329 non duplicate TSH and fT4 values respectively were used to derive RIs. There was a decline in TSH and fT4 levels with increase in age. Compared to the Roche RIs, the derived RIs for TSH in neonates aged 0–6 days and those aged 7–30 days had lower upper limits and narrower RIs. The fT4 lower limits for neonates less than 7 days and those aged 7–30 days were higher than those proposed by Roche. There was a significant difference in TSH RIs between male and female neonates aged less than 15 days. No gender differences were seen for all other age stratifications for both TSH and fT4. Appropriate age and gender specific RIs were subsequently determined. Conclusion: The AKUHN derived RIs for fT4 and TSH revealed similar age related trends to what has been published. However, the differences seen in upper and lower limits across different age stratifications when compared to the Roche RIs highlight the need for population specific RIs for TFTs especially when setting up a screening programme for congenital hypothyroidism. We subsequently recommend the adoption of the derived RIs by the AKUHN laboratory and hope that the RIs obtained can serve as a reference for the African population

Storage and Supports Have Worked, But...

Storage and supports have worked, but what would have happened without them in the 1952-58 period? Farm p rices and incomes would have dropped, say these authors. Withholding grain did have the effect of raising prices and incomes in this period. But is it possible we\u27ve only borrowed this increase from the future

APPLICATION OF ANIMAL-FREE RECOMBINANT BIOACTIVE PROTEIN SUPPLEMENTS TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF CELL-BASED VIRAL VACCINE PRODUCTION

Animal cell culture for the production of viral vaccines has been performed for more than 50 years, and currently this technology is expanding rapidly to meet present and future demands of the health sector. The development and regulatory approval of continuous cell lines for manufacturing viral vaccines has brought numerous benefits to production processes. However, greater advances in the last decade have been achieved in mammalian cell production of biological therapeutics, including monoclonal antibodies, hormones, growth factors, cytokines and clotting factors. We and others have contributed to these upstream advances by improving cell culture media with the development of animal-free and chemically-defined recombinant protein supplements. The supplements we have developed include recombinant insulin-like growth factor-I (LONG®R3IGF-I), epidermal growth factor (LONG®EGF), transforming growth factor-á (LONG®TGF-á), transferrin (CellPrime™ rTransferrin AF), and albumin (CellPrime™ rAlbumin AF-G or -S). Extensive literature on the action of these bioactive proteins on the cell types relevant to viral vaccine production, including Vero, MDCK, PerC6 ®, and HEK293 cells, strongly supports extending their use to media design for these cell lines. In this report we present our initial results evaluating the effect of protein supplements on cell growth in several of these cell types. Vero, MDCK or HEK293 cells were seeded into a 96-well, scaled-down, cell growth assay system under serum-free conditions. LONG®R3IGF-I, LONG®EGF, CellPrime™ rTransferrin AF, and CellPrime™ rAlbumin AF-G or -S were added either alone or in various combinations and growth over 6 days was measured with a CYQUANT DNA cell-proliferation assay. Results indicated that individual supplements enhanced the growth of some cell types up to 150%; moreover, various combinations of the supplements stimulated growth to a greater extent: Vero (300-500%), MDCK (60-100%), and HEK293 cells (200-240%) above control culture growth. The conclusion is that these animal-free recombinant bioactive protein supplements have the potential to improve dramatically the growth performance of cell culture media in the absence of serum for cell types important in viral vaccine production. Further investigation is required to identify the impact these bioactive proteins may have on viral titres from microcarrier and suspension cultures