Review of the windpower activities at the Brace Research Institute

A chronology of windpower studies at the experimental station on Barbados is presented that includes the various development activities on wheeling windmills whose power output is utilized through electrical and electronic systems. A list of institute publications on windpower is included

The cost-effectiveness of an additional surgical scrub in reducing prosthetic joint infections in total hip and knee arthroplasty

Background: Surgical skin preparation prior to total knee and hip arthroplasty is an important step in infection prevention. Compared to a single application, repeat skin preparation after draping demonstrates greater efficacy in reducing the overall occurrence of surgical site infections in total joint arthroplasty. We sought to find if the addition of an extra surgical scrub after draping is a cost-effective means of decreasing prosthetic joint infection (PJI), and if so, under what conditions it would be most cost-effective. Methods: We employed a model to assess the cost-effectiveness of repeat skin preparation in total knee and hip arthroplasty. This model determines a threshold at which the expenses associated with a new intervention is offset by its ability to reduce overall costs. Literature review and records from our institution were used to draw average expenses for treatment of PJI, as well as surgical prep scrubs, to evaluate at their cost-effectiveness. We also compared against hypothetical higher and lower costs and infection rates to gain further information on the additional surgical prep’s cost-effectiveness. Results: Each of the surgical scrubs is cost-effective at our institution's cost when an absolute risk reduction (ARR) of 0.01% is achieved. The cost-effectiveness was also noted with hypothetically higher infection rates and scrub cost prices. Lower potential two-stage revision costs make the additional surgical scrub less cost-effective.  Conclusions: Our findings demonstrate that an extra surgical scrub can be cost-effective way of decreasing PJI across a variety of different surgical scrub prices, arthroplasty revision costs, and PJI rates

Preventing Conflict: China’s claim to the South China Sea and Mechanisms for Peace.

This paper examines China’s claim to the South China Sea, focusing on how to maintain peace in a region with competing claims through codified law or external mechanisms. The first part of the paper examines the different levels of China’s claim to ninety percent of the South China Sea, starting from its historical claim to its territorial claim. Additionally, an in-depth look is given to the provisions of the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Seas, and how China’s claim conflicts with these provisions. The second part of the paper goes through the section of the dispute settlement provisions of the Convention, addressing the general provisions, procedures, and limitations concerning dispute resolution. The critiques of the dispute settlement provisions are addressed, alongside the lack of an enforcing body. Lastly, the external mechanisms that State parties can take to maintain peace with the region are analyzed, from other conventions to commercial responses.

Research Paper On Artificial Intelligence And It’s Applications

In the future, intelligent machines will replace or enhance human capabilities in many areas. Artificial intelligence is the intelligence exhibited by machines or software. It is the subfield of computer science. Artificial intelligence is becoming a popular field in computer science as it has enhanced the human life in many areas. Artificial intelligence in the last two decades has greatly improved performance of the manufacturing, service sector and so in the field of education. Study in the field of artificial intelligence has given rise to the rapidly growing technology known as expert system. Application areas of artificial intelligence is heaving a huge impact on various fields of life as expert system is widely used in these days to solve the complex problems in various areas as education, engineering, business, medicine, weather forecasting etc. The areas employing the technology of artificial intelligence have seen an increase in the quality and efficiency. This paper gives an overview of this technology and the scope of artificial intelligence in different areas with special reference to the use of this technology in the field of education along with its meaning, searching techniques, inventions and future

Opportunities for Practicing Sustainable Building Construction in Kurdistan Region, Iraq

The construction sector of the Kurdistan region of the Republic of Iraq has witnessed a huge development in the construction sector last ten years. However, there is a lack of awareness and legislation regarding sustainable construction in the buildings sector. The aim of the paper is to find the required mechanism to introduce sustainable practice and implement sustainable construction in the buildings construction sector in Northern Iraq. The main objectives of this study are identifying the barriers in sustainable construction in Northern Iraq and investigate the law and regulations in dealing with these barriers

Use of a Thermodynamic Engine Cycle Simulation to Study a Turbocharged Spark-ignition Engine

The second law analysis is a powerful tool for assessing the performance of engines and has been employed for few decades now. Turbocharged diesel engines have been explored in much detail with the help of second law analyses. There is also a need to examine the turbocharged spark-ignition engines in greater detail using second law analyses as they are gaining popularity in high performance and conventional automobiles as well. A thermodynamic simulation was developed in order to investigate the effects of turbocharging on spark-ignition engines from second law perspective. The exergy values associated with the components of the turbocharger along with the engine components were quantified as a percentage of fuel exergy. The exergy balance values indicated that turbocharger does not add considerably to the overall irreversibilities and combustion irreversibility is still the major source of exergy destruction. A comprehensive parametric investigation was also performed to investigate the effects of compression ratio, intercooler effectiveness, etc. for the turbocharged spark-ignition engine over the entire load and speed range. The simulation studies helped in understanding the behavior of turbocharged sparkignition engine with these parameters. A simulation study was also performed to compare the turbocharged engine with the naturally aspirated spark-ignition engine. This study examined the engines for operating parameters like bmep and bsfc over the entire speed range and revealed that turbocharging offers higher bmep and lower bsfc values for most of the operating range. In an additional study, these engines were analyzed for the brake thermal efficiency values at part load. The results indicated that turbocharging offers marginally higher brake thermal efficiency at part loads

Development of Formulation, Optimization and Evaluation of Floating Drug Delivery System in Olmesarten Medoxomil

INTRODUCTION: Historically, the oral route of administration has been used the most for both conventional and novel drug delivery system. These systems have the obvious advantages of ease of administration and patient acceptance, least sterility constraints and flexibility in the design of dosage form. One would always like to have an ideal drug delivery system that will possess two main properties: 1. It will be a single dose for the whole duration of treatment. 2. It will deliver the active drug directly at the site of action. Unfortunately, such ideal systems are not available. Thus scientists try to develop systems that can be as close to an ideal system as possible. More than 50% of drugs, available in the market are meant for oral administration. The conventional drug therapy results in fluctuation of drug concentration in systemic circulation, causing either toxic effect or no therapeutic effect. AIM AND OBJECTIVE: Aim of present research is development of formulation, optimization and evaluation of gastro retentive floating drug delivery system of olmesarten medxomil. The objective of the present study was to develop an optimized gastroretentive floating drug delivery system of Olmesartan Medoxomil and investigate the effect of hydrophilic retardant on invitro release by using 32 full factorial design. Floating tablets of olmesartan medoxomil were prepared by direct compression method using effervescent technique by employing two different grades of HPMC. (HPMC K4M and HPMC K100M). Sodium bicarbonate was incorporated as gas generating agent. The concentration of HPMC K4M (X1) and concentration of HPMC K100M (X2) were selected as independent variables. The floating lag time, total floating time and t ime taken to 80 % drug release were selected as dependent variables. Targets were defined for each response so as to select the optimam formula using numerical optimization. All the floating matrix tablets formulations were subjected to precompression and post-compression parameter evaluation. CONCLUSION:In the present work floating tablets of Olmesartan Medoxomil were prepared by direct compression. All the tablets were subjected to weight variation, hardness, friability, dissolution, swelling index, drug excipient interaction studies. The tablets were found to be good in their integrity without any chipping, capping and sticking. Formulation F9 showed good result than rest of the formulations according to targets obtained. IR-spectroscopic studies indicated that there are no drug–excipients interactions. Formulation F9 showed best result with required floating lag time of 55 secs, total floating time of 14 hrs and T80 of18 hrs. drug release was decreased with increased concentration of polymers. IR spectroscopic studies indicated that there was no drug excipient interactions. Kinetic studies for optimized formulation F9 follows zero order and Higuchi model release systems. Zero order release describes the system where the drug release rate is independent of its concentration of dissolved substance

Dynamic lifecycle cost modeling for adaptable design optimization of additively remanufactured aeroengine components

Additive manufacturing (AM) is being used increasingly for repair and remanufacturing of aeroengine components. This enables the consideration of a design margin approach to satisfy changing requirements, in which component lifespan can be optimized for different lifecycle scenarios. This paradigm requires lifecycle cost (LCC) modeling; however, the LCC models available in the literature consider mostly the manufacturing of a component, not its repair or remanufacturing. There is thus a need for an LCC model that can consider AM for repair/remanufacturing to quantify corresponding costs and benefits. This paper presents a dynamic LCC model that estimates cumulative costs over the in-service phase and a nested design optimization problem formulation that determines the optimal component lifespan range to minimize overall cost while maximizing performance. The developed methodology is demonstrated by means of an aeroengine turbine rear structure

Opportunities for Practicing Sustainable Building Construction in Kurdistan Region, Iraq

Construction sector of Kurdistan region of Republic of Iraq has witnessed a huge development in construction sector last ten years. However, there are lack of awareness and legislation regarding the sustainable construction in buildings sector. The aim of the paper is to find the required mechanism to introduce sustainable practice and implement sustainable construction in the buildings construction sector at Northern Iraq. The main objectives in this study are identifying the barriers in sustainable construction at Northern Iraq and investigate the law and regulations in dealing with these barriers

A lifecycle cost-driven system dynamics approach for considering additive re-manufacturing or repair in aero-engine component design

Aero-engine component design decisions should consider re-manufacturing and/or repair strategies and their impact on lifecycle cost. Existing design approaches do not account for alternative production technologies such as the use of additive manufacturing in life extension processes. This paper presents a modeling and optimization methodology for examining the impact of design decisions in the early development stage on component lifecycle cost during the in-service phase while considering the potential use of additive manufacturing in life extension strategies. Specifically, a system dynamics model is developed to assess different end-of-life scenarios. Finally, an optimization problem is formulated and solved to minimize lifecycle cost with respect to design variables related to remanufacturing