812 research outputs found
Deposit Rate and Lending Rate in Jordan, Which leads Which? A Cointegration Analysis
This study intends to investigate empirically the long-run relationship between deposit and
lending rates in Jordan by utilizing quarterly data over the period (1994-2010). Empirically,
we search to identify the dominant interest rate; either deposit rate or lending rate. To
achieve the current study goals, we employ the error correction model technique and the
asymmetric short-run dynamic model. The empirical evidence of the Jordanian economy
illustrates deposit and lending rates have a long-run relationship. Deposit rate leads lending
rate. As a result, the short-run lending rate adjustment for the deviation from the long-run
equilibrium by about 22 percent in the current period. In the long-run, lending rate adjusts
by 90 percent for a change in deposit rate
Liver-specific knockout of arginase-1 leads to a profound phenotype similar to inducible whole body arginase-1 deficiency
Arginase-1 (Arg1) converts arginine to urea and ornithine in the distal step of the urea cycle in liver. We previously generated a tamoxifen-inducible Arg1 deficient mouse model (Arg1-Cre) that disrupts Arg1 expression throughout the whole body and leads to lethality ≈ 2 weeks after gene disruption. Here, we evaluate if liver-selective Arg1 loss is sufficient to recapitulate the phenotype observed in global Arg1 knockout mice, as well as to gauge the effectiveness of gene delivery or hepatocyte transplantation to rescue the phenotype. Liver-selective Arg1 deletion was induced by using an adeno-associated viral (AAV)-thyroxine binding globulin (TBG) promoter-Cre recombinase vector administered to Arg1 "floxed" mice; Arg1(fl/fl) ). An AAV vector expressing an Arg1-enhanced green fluorescent protein (Arg1-eGFP) transgene was used for gene delivery, while intrasplenic injection of wild-type (WT) C57BL/6 hepatocytes after partial hepatectomy was used for cell delivery to "rescue" tamoxifen-treated Arg1-Cre mice. The results indicate that liver-selective loss of Arg1 (> 90% deficient) leads to a phenotype resembling the whole body knockout of Arg1 with lethality ≈ 3 weeks after Cre-induced gene disruption. Delivery of Arg1-eGFP AAV rescues more than half of Arg1 global knockout male mice (survival > 4 months) but a significant proportion still succumb to the enzyme deficiency even though liver expression and enzyme activity of the fusion protein reach levels observed in WT animals. Significant Arg1 enzyme activity from engrafted WT hepatocytes into knockout livers can be achieved but not sufficient for rescuing the lethal phenotype. This raises a conundrum relating to liver-specific expression of Arg1. On the one hand, loss of expression in this organ appears to be both necessary and sufficient to explain the lethal phenotype of the genetic disorder in mice. On the other hand, gene and cell-directed therapies suggest that rescue of extra-hepatic Arg1 expression may also be necessary for disease correction. Further studies are needed in order to illuminate the detailed mechanisms for pathogenesis of Arg1-deficiency
Connectivity analysis for mmWave V2V networks : exploring critical distance and beam misalignment
In this paper, we investigate the analytical connectivity performance of Vehicle-to-Vehicle communications when
using millimeter wave carrier frequencies, by taking into account
its challenges of high path loss and beam misalignment. The
connectivity analysis is carried out in two dimensions; first, an
analytical and parametric critical transmission range is developed, based on system parameters such as vehicle density and
Signal-to-Interference-Plus-Noise ratio threshold, and second,
the beam misalignment probability caused by the in-lane lateral
displacement of vehicles is determined. The analysis is carried
out for antennas with half power beamwidths of 3◦, 6◦, 10◦, 20◦
and 45◦, resulting in different beamwidth regimes depending
upon road curvature and vehicle density. For low/medium vehicle
density on low-curvature roads, the sensitivity of the network
connectivity to the beamwidth is relatively small. On the other
hand, the narrowest beamwidth is the best performer in terms of
maximizing connectivity in low/medium vehicle density scenarios
on high-curvature roads, and the wider beamwidth is the best
performer for high vehicle density on low-curvature roads
Effect of plowing depths and type of transmission system on the performance of agricultural tractors under clay soil condition
The study was conducted at the Experimental Farm of the University of Gedarif during summer season of 2016 at a soil moisture content of 7.24% and bulk density of 1.4 g/cm3. Three types of tractors with different transmission systems were used in this study, the transmission systems were conventional, powershift and combination of conventional and powershift. The tested parameters were drawbar power, fuel consumption, wheel slip and field capacity. To evaluate the tested parameters, three different depths were used, namely, 15, 20 and 25 cm. A completely randomized block design with four replications was used to execute the experiment. The statistical analysis indicated that there was no significant difference (p ≥0.05) between the tractors in drawbar power for the plowing depths of 15 and 20 cm, while there was a significant difference (p ≥0.05) between conventional and the other two tractors for the depth of 25cm; it produced the least power
Inertial amplification of continuous structures: Large band gaps from small masses
Wave motion in a continuous elastic rod with a periodically attached
inertial-amplification mechanism is investigated. The mechanism has properties
similar to an "inerter" typically used in vehicle suspensions, however here it
is constructed and utilized in a manner that alters the intrinsic properties of
a continuous structure. The elastodynamic band structure of the hybrid
rod-mechanism structure yields band gaps that are exceedingly wide and deep
when compared to what can be obtained using standard local resonators, while
still being low in frequency. With this concept, a large band gap may be
realized with as much as twenty times less added mass compared to what is
needed in a standard local resonator configuration. The emerging inertially
enhanced continuous structure also exhibits unique qualitative features in its
dispersion curves. These include the existence of a characteristic double-peak
in the attenuation constant profile within gaps and the possibility of
coalescence of two neighbouring gaps creating a large contiguous gap.Comment: Manuscript is under review for journal publicatio
Intrinsically Polar Elastic Metamaterials
In many applications, one needs to combine materials with varying properties to achieve certain functionalities. For example, the inner layer of a helmet should be soft for cushioning while the outer shell should be rigid to provide protection. Over time, these combined materials either separate or wear and tear, risking the exposure of an undesired material property. This work presents a design principle for a material that gains unique properties from its 3D microstructure, consisting of repeating basic building blocks, rather than its material composition. The 3D printed specimens show, at two of its opposing faces along the same axis, different stiffness (i.e., soft on one face and hard on the other). The realized material is protected by design (i.e., topology) against cuts and tears: No matter how material is removed, either layer by layer, or in arbitrary cuts through the repeating building blocks, two opposing faces remain largely different in their mechanical response
Gunrock: GPU Graph Analytics
For large-scale graph analytics on the GPU, the irregularity of data access
and control flow, and the complexity of programming GPUs, have presented two
significant challenges to developing a programmable high-performance graph
library. "Gunrock", our graph-processing system designed specifically for the
GPU, uses a high-level, bulk-synchronous, data-centric abstraction focused on
operations on a vertex or edge frontier. Gunrock achieves a balance between
performance and expressiveness by coupling high performance GPU computing
primitives and optimization strategies with a high-level programming model that
allows programmers to quickly develop new graph primitives with small code size
and minimal GPU programming knowledge. We characterize the performance of
various optimization strategies and evaluate Gunrock's overall performance on
different GPU architectures on a wide range of graph primitives that span from
traversal-based algorithms and ranking algorithms, to triangle counting and
bipartite-graph-based algorithms. The results show that on a single GPU,
Gunrock has on average at least an order of magnitude speedup over Boost and
PowerGraph, comparable performance to the fastest GPU hardwired primitives and
CPU shared-memory graph libraries such as Ligra and Galois, and better
performance than any other GPU high-level graph library.Comment: 52 pages, invited paper to ACM Transactions on Parallel Computing
(TOPC), an extended version of PPoPP'16 paper "Gunrock: A High-Performance
Graph Processing Library on the GPU
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