Experimental investigation on cold-formed steel beams under pure bending

This paper presents the flexural behaviour of cold-formed double lipped channels beams under pure bending action. Two channel sections are bolted back-to-back to form an I-shape structural beam member. A series of six experiment tests were carried out on beam specimens DC200 and DC250, each with 200 mm depth and 250 mm depth respectively. The thickness of beam section is 2 mm and the design yield strength is 350 N/mm2. All beams failed at local buckling at top-flange due to lateral instability of the cold-formed steel structural members. The moment resistance for DC200 is 17.87 kNm and DC250 is 31.53 kNm. The experimental results are compared to theoretical resistance prediction based on British Standard and Eurocode. The comparison showed that the experimental moment capacity is lower than the theoretical bending moment resistance but higher than theoretical buckling moment resistance from Eurocode. This showed that a better agreement is achieved between experimental data and Eurocode buckling moment resistance for cold-formed steel beam under pure bending

Auditors switching in the relationship between corporate governance and financial performances - evidence from Malaysian Public Listed Companies (PLCs)

Due to the corporate scandals in the business world, corporate governance is big concern and becomes an alarming issue. Bursa Malaysia required all PLCs to have corporate disclosures in order to cultivate sound corporate governance, meanwhile auditors act as watchdogs in ensuring the disclosures. However, auditor switching is evident and disorder of auditor switching often takes place in Malaysia. Thus, this paper seeks to empirically investigate the association between corporate governance, auditor switching, and financial performance of Malaysian PLCs. Secondary data on a total number of 100 PLCs from years 2009 to 2013 are used. The results reveal that separation of position for BOD chairman and CEO as well as large board size lead to better overseeing of the management on behalf of shareholders, which drives the firm performance. Surprisingly, independent directors do not definitely lead to good firm performance, especially when they do not play their role properly. When there is CEO/chairman duality, tendency of auditor switching is low due to a long-tenure relationship with auditor. A high powered structure in Malaysia that concentrates on top-down relationship prompts no objection from board members and independent directors when a less crucial decision such as auditor switching decision is made. Auditors as the mediator play significant roles between corporate governance and financial performance since they provide creditability and greater assurance to investors. Therefore, this paper has vital implications and gives insight for government to emphasize the auditors’ roles as agents for ensuring impacts on the association between corporate governance and financial performance

Characterisation of human coronavirus-NL63 nucleocapsid protein

Coronavirus N is a multifunctional protein that plays an essential role in enhancing the efficiency of virus transcription and assembly. This manuscript reports the analysis of HCoV-NL63 N protein by comparing the amino acid sequences of coronavirus N-homologues. A ~50 kDa protein was expressed in both a mammalian cell and bacterial cell system that is similar in size to the predicted ~42.6 kDa HCoV-NL63 N protein. PSORTII identified two putative nuclear localisations signals and PONDR identified one disordered region in HCoV-NL63 N. The reported protein analysis serves as a prelude to laboratory analysis to understand the processing of HCoV-NL63 N.Web of Scienc

State-of-the-art review and critical success factors for mobile business intelligence

Due to ubiquitous information requirements, market interest in mobile business intelligence (BI) has grown markedly. However, mobile BI market is a relatively new area that has been driven primarily by the IT industry. Yet, there is a lack of systematic study on the critical success factors for mobile BI. This research reviews the state-of-the-art of mobile BI, and explores the critical success factors based on a rigorous examination of the academic and practitioner literature. The study reveals that critical success factors of mobile BI generally fall into four key dimensions, namely security, mobile technology, system content and quality, and organisational support perspectives. The various research findings will be useful to organisations which are considering or undertaking mobile business intelligence initiatives

Design improvement of automatic transmission system for remote controlled car

Remote controlled cars currently in the market only offer one transmission mode. They are less efficient in acceleration while the torque cannot be increase during the low speed. Although improvement has been made by upgrading to two speed transmissions, but the gearing system is still not sufficient to maximize the speed of nitro engine. With a third gear, the car has the potential to increase its velocity and fully utilize its engine power. This paper focus on the transmission system model for 1/10th scale nitro engine which can produce up to 30,000 rpm. The third gears has shown significant improvement of the car theoretical speed up to 210 km/h

Characterisation of human coronavirus-NL63 nucleocapsid protein

Coronavirus N is a multifunctional protein that plays an essential role in enhancing the efficiency of virus transcription and assembly. This manuscript reports the analysis of HCoV-NL63 N protein by comparing the amino acid sequences of coronavirus N-homologues. A ~50 kDa protein was expressed in both a mammalian cell and bacterial cell system that is similar in size to the predicted ~42.6 kDa HCoV-NL63 N protein. PSORTII identified two putative nuclear localisations signals and PONDR identified one disordered region in HCoV-NL63 N. The reported protein analysis serves as a prelude to laboratory analysis to understand the processing of HCoV-NL63 N.Keywords: HCoV-NL63, nucleocapsid protein, protein analysis, nuclear localisation signals, protein ordered/disordered region

Splitting Tensile Strength of Lightweight Foamed Concrete with Polypropylene Fiber

This paper presents the design mix of foamed concrete and split tensile strength of lightweight foamed concrete with the addition of polypropylene fiber. The design mix of the foamed concrete was targeted to achieve a density of 1500 kg/m3. Six different water-cement ratios (w/c) range from 0.30 to 0.40 were taken into consideration. Three different group of LFC with 0% PP, 0.25% PP and 0.40% PP are prepared. The optimum w/c was determined by comparing the compressive test result of different percentage polypropylene fiber. By using the LFC with optimum w/c ratio and designated amount of PP of 3:1 c/s ratios, the concrete specimens were tested with splitting tensile test to determine the effects of PP to the tensile strength of the lightweight foamed concrete. From the result, it is found that by using 2:1 c/s ratio, the optimum w/c of mix with 0% PP, 0.25% PP and 0.40% PP are 0.36, 0.34 and 0.32 respectively, while for c/s equals to 3:1, the optimum w/c are 0.34, 0.32 and 0.32 respectively. From the splitting tensile result, under a controlled density of 1500 ± 50 kg/m3, the tensile strength range of 0.991-2.138 MPa were observed. From the result, it can be concluded that, the addition of polypropylene fiber to the lightweight foamed concrete does affect the tensile strength of the foamed concrete. However further addition of PP will not cause any positive and significant effect to the tensile strength of lightweight foamed concrete

Immunolocalisation of phosphorylated STAT3, interleukin 11 and leukaemia inhibitory factor in endometrium of women with unexplained infertility during the implantation window.

BACKGROUND: Uterine receptivity and embryo implantation are critical in the establishment of pregnancy. The diagnosis of endometrial fertility requires more precise measurements of endometrial receptivity. Interleukin (IL-11) and leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) are essential for murine implantation and signal via intracellular phosphorylation (p) of STAT3 in the endometrium. Both cytokines are present in the endometrium of women duiring the receptive window. Endometrial IL-11, IL-11 receptor alpha (IL-11Ralpha), LIF and pSTAT3 in women with primary unexplained infertility was compared to normal fertile women during the implantation window. METHODS: LH timed endometrial biopsies (LH+6 to LH+10) were collected from women with unexplained infertility and normal fertility. pSTAT3, IL-11, IL-11Ralpha and LIF production was determined by immunohistochemistry. Staining intensity was determoned by two independent observers blind to the fertility status of the patient from whom the biopsy was taken. Staining intensity and heterogeneity in each of the endometrial compartments (epithelium; stroma, including decidualized stromal cells; and vasculature) was assessed. The Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze IL-11, pSTAT3, IL-11Ralpha and LIF immunostaining intensities in the samples. RESULTS: IL-11, IL-11Ralpha and LIF were present predominantly in glandular epithelium, whilst luminal epithelium showed patchy staining. pSTAT3 was present in both glandular epithelium and stroma. IL-11 and pSTAT3 immunostaining was significantly lower in glandular epithelium in infertile women compared to controls (P < 0.05) whilst IL-11Ralpha and LIF staining did not differ. CONCLUSION: This is the first demonstration of reduced endometrial pSTAT3 and IL-11 in some women with unexplained infertility. This suggests IL-11 and pSTAT3 may be involved in the secretory transformation of glandular epithelium during receptivity. Reduced IL-11 production and STAT3 phosphorylation may contribute to unexplained infertility in some women.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Bacterial diversity and community structure of banana rhizosphere in Orang Asli fields and commercial plantations

Bacteria play an important roles in the soil ecosystem and in the rhizosphere, they are intricately linked to nutrient content and its accessibility to plants, plant protection and sometimes pathogenicity. Banana grows well in the tropics and it is popularly grown in Orang Asli (OA) (indigenous people) settlements. Banana is also grown in commercial plantations. In traditional planting practices, the OA do not add pesticide nor fertilizer to their crops which are planted for selfsustenance mainly. On the other hand, fertilizer and pesticide are added to commercial banana plantations to maximise yield. Rhizosphere bacteria from the banana plant, Pisang Nipah, grown in OA fields and commercial plantations were identified by clone library construction of the 16S rRNA gene. This was to determine whether farming practices influenced the bacterial community in the banana plant rhizosphere. Acidobacteria, Proteobacteria and Actinobacteria were found in all the soil. Other common phyla found in some soil (but not all) were Nitrospirae, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Chloroflexi, Verrumicrobia, Gemmatimonadetes and Cyanobacteria. The bacterial diversity was a little more diverse in the OA fields than the commercial plantations. The latter had higher contents of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. These could have exerted selective pressure to reduce the bacterial diversity in the commercial plantations