Wind and solar powered turbine

A power generating station having a generator driven by solar heat assisted ambient wind is described. A first plurality of radially extendng air passages direct ambient wind to a radial flow wind turbine disposed in a centrally located opening in a substantially disc-shaped structure. A solar radiation collecting surface having black bodies is disposed above the fist plurality of air passages and in communication with a second plurality of radial air passages. A cover plate enclosing the second plurality of radial air passages is transparent so as to permit solar radiation to effectively reach the black bodies. The second plurality of air passages direct ambient wind and thermal updrafts generated by the black bodies to an axial flow turbine. The rotating shaft of the turbines drive the generator. The solar and wind drien power generating system operates in electrical cogeneration mode with a fuel powered prime mover

The Profiles of Software Pirates among Tertiary Institutions in Singapore

The study seeks to examine the perception of software piracy as well as to discover its underlying factors among Singapore’s three university communities. Some five hundred responses were gathered from students and staff. By means of cluster analysis and factor analysis, the results identify three clusters of pirate profiles as influenced by factors such as attitudes towards software publishers, general acceptance, convenience, and ethics. The decision tree method links each pirate profile to demographic and computer-related variables. It shows that while age is negatively related to software piracy, computer experience and computer usage demonstrates an ambiguous relationship to software piracy respectively. Further, the undergraduate students tend to be pirates more often than university employees, and the Malays tend to be less frequent pirates as compared to other races. It is hoped that the study will help the relevant policy makers to develop better strategies to protect and to enforce the intellectual property rights among the universities as well as in an increasingly knowledge-based economy such as Singapore.Software Piracy; Software Policy; Protection and Enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights; Cluster Analysis; Factor Analysis.

Profiles, Use, and Perceptions of Singapore Multiple Credit Cardholders

This study analyzes Singapore’s diverse cardholders in search of variations among demographic groups, credit card profiles, and their perceptions with regards to credit card ownership and use, it then discusses possible reasons governing Singaporeans’ credit card ownership and use. A survey was conducted (n = 636), decision trees were then constructed using Chi-square automatic interaction detection algorithm (CHAID) and SPSS software AnswerTree to examine the association between the number of credit cards (target variable) and the demographic characteristics, perceptions and other credit card related variables. The number of credit cards was found to be significantly influenced by income and gender as well as perceptions that include “credit card leads to overspending”, “savings as payment source”, “unreasonable interest rates”, “credit card as status symbol”. The number of credit cards was also affected by credit card related variables such as missing payments sometimes, frequency of use, entertainment expenditures, and petrol purchase. This research provides an in-depth understanding of Singaporean multiple cardholders, thus it is useful in designing marketing strategies for card-issuers as well as anti-debt strategies for policy-makers in Singapore. Despite the importance of consumer credit, virtually no literature or research exists on the ownership and use of credit cards in Singapore, so this paper intends to close this gap. Further, by combining the demographics, cardholders’ profiles and usage patterns with the respondents’ perceptions concerning credit card ownership and use, our study offers a richer analysis to explain consumer behavior than previous literatures.Credit card ownership, credit card use, credit revolving, credit debts, decision tree, Singapore

Characterisation of subtype C HIV-I envelope glycoproteins and their recognition by llama antibody fragments

Subtype C HIV-1 is currently responsible for the majority of new infections in the world, particularly in parts of Africa where the adult prevalence rate is as high as 15%. In the absence of a viable vaccine in the near future, the study of new neutralising antibodies that can inhibit virus entry is urgently needed. To understand the subtype C HIV-1 envelopes, the env gene was cloned directly from 15 patient plasma samples obtained from a few countries in Africa and in the UK, and 18 replication-competent chimeric viruses were created. These envelopes were then characterised and compared with other envelopes in standard reference panels. We then exploited the unique properties of llama heavy-chain antibodies to create antibody fragments (VHH) that can recognise HIV-1 envelopes and prevent infection. Four VHH that recognise a conformation dependent epitope on gp41 were isolated from a llama that was immunised with recombinant gp140 derived from a subtype B’/C isolate after panning of the phage libraries on recombinant gp41. These VHH were more potent in neutralising subtype C isolates than subtype B isolates. Based on the success of an earlier study on VHH that recognise an epitope overlapping the CD4 binding site on gp120, a novel strategy was used to isolate variants of the VHH to create a family-specific VHH library. Thirty-one new VHH were characterised and grouped according to their neutralisation breadth against 3 subtype C viruses. The neutralisation breadth of the VHH correlated with its dissociation rate with gp120, and was found to be dependent on 3 amino acid residues in the third complementarity determining region of the VHH. These VHH may have further use in applications such as HIV-1 microbicides development and immunogen design through reverse immunology

Fundamental study of transpiration cooling

Isothermal and non-isothermal pressure drop data and heat transfer data generated on porous 304L stainless steel wire forms, sintered spherical stainless steel powder, and sintered spherical OFHC copper powder are reported and correlated. Pressure drop data was collected over a temperature range from 500 R to 2000 R and heat transfer data collected over a heat flux range from 5 to 15 BTU/in2/sec. It was found that flow data could be correlated independently of transpirant temperature and type (i.e., H2, N2). It was also found that no simple relation between heat transfer coefficient and specimen porosity was obtainable

Embracing noise to improve cross-batch prediction accuracy

10.1186/1752-0509-6-S2-S3BMC Systems Biology6SUPPL.2

Voices and visions in global perspective: Selected papers from the second college-wide conference for students in languages, linguistics and literatures

Selected papers from the second annual college-wide conference for students in languages, linguistics & literature, at the University of Hawai`i at MānoaSelected papers from the second annual college-wide conference for students in languages, linguistics & literature, at the University of Hawai`i at MānoaSupport for the conference was provided by the UH College of Language, Linguistics & Literature; the National Foreign Language Resource Center; and the Center for Interpretation and Translation Studies