Existence results to a nonlinear p(k)-Laplacian difference equation

In the present paper, by using variational method, the existence of non-trivial solutions to an anisotropic discrete non-linear problem involving p(k)-Laplacian operator with Dirichlet boundary condition is investigated. The main technical tools applied here are the two local minimum theorems for differentiable functionals given by Bonanno.Comment: The final version of this paper will be published in Journal of Difference Equations and Applications in 201

Performance Enhancement of Multiuser Time Reversal UWB Communication System

UWB communication is a recent research area for indoor propagation channels. Time Reversal (TR) communication in UWB has shown promising results for improving the system performance. In multiuser environment, the system performance is significantly degraded due to the interference among different users. TR reduces the interference caused by multiusers due to its spatial focusing property. The performance of a multiuser TR communication system is further improved if the TR filter is modified. In this paper, multiuser TR in UWB communication is investigated using simple TR filter and a modified TR filter with circular shift operation. The concept of circular shift in TR is analytically studied. Thereafter, the channel impulse responses (CIR) of a typical indoor laboratory environment are measured. The measured CIRs are used to analyze the received signal peak power and signal to interference ratio (SIR) with and without performing the circular shift operation in a multiuser environment

Body Image, Fear of Fat, and Attentional Bias for Thin and Non-thin Bodies

The study examined the impact of Attentional Bias Modification (ABM) on body image and fear of fat in college women. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: an ABM condition or a non-ABM placebo condition in viewing a series of thin and non-thin body stimuli. Extending previous work documenting associations between attentional biases and body dissatisfaction and the effects of ABM on body dissatisfaction, we hypothesized that effects of an ABM task designed to direct attention toward non-thin bodies would: (a) decrease body dissatisfaction, (b) increase body appreciation, and (c) decrease fear of fat. There were no significant differences across experimental conditions on body dissatisfaction, body appreciation, and fear of fat. This was the case for both in-laboratory difference scores and follow-up difference scores. These findings are a conceptual replication of previous work (Loughnan et al., 2015). Methodological explanations are offered with respect to improving the future tests of ABM on attentional biases for thin and non-thin body images

Reusable Medical Equipment Inventory Assessment At A Detroit Medical Center

In recent years an outstanding growth has been observed in utilizing various medical devices due to growing demand. When both the quantity and quality into account, the price of medical devices becomes a critical factor to maintain cost/profit balances in financial systems. As a result healthcare systems should put more emphasis on how many of the trays they buy and store as their inventory due to high costs. Adequate levels of reusable medical equipment (RME) inventory is crucial for many healthcare systems due to the RME equipment being expensive. On the other, the RME availability for vital departments such as surgery, emergency, and ICU/PACU cannot be decreased despite the holding costs. For the healthcare delivery systems such as VA, any shortage of RME is not acceptable at all. In order to avoid this issue, in this study we developed a simulation based methodology to evaluate the RME inventory levels. First we deploy an inventory management method to perform brief analysis on data of RME inventory to check both the current utilization levels of RME inventory and minimum level of RME inventory, demanded daily by surgical department in the hospital, by a heuristic approach for adjusting inventory counts of RME trays. This analysis is performed under two assumptions, i.e., one-day and twoday SPS turnaround assumptions. The RME tray inventory level is adjusted in this stage and further used to run the simulation with modified inventory to precisely locate the delays and shortages. We use discrete event simulation model with multi functions, one with SPS RME sequencing by prioritization of the trays and the other one with FIFO system for sequencing RME trays in sterilization department. By running both models we report on the required outputs and analyze RME sterilization process influence on delays and number of trays shortages. The proposed methodology of using simulation methodology proves to be an effective method in assessing the inventory levels in healthcare delivery systems

Miniaturized embedded stereo vision system (MESVS)

Stereo vision is one of the fundamental problems of computer vision. It is also one of the oldest and heavily investigated areas of 3D vision. Recent advances of stereo matching methodologies and availability of high performance and efficient algorithms along with availability of fast and affordable hardware technology, have allowed researchers to develop several stereo vision systems capable of operating at real-time. Although a multitude of such systems exist in the literature, the majority of them concentrates only on raw performance and quality rather than factors such as dimension, and power requirement, which are of significant importance in the embedded settings. In this thesis a new miniaturized embedded stereo vision system (MESVS) is presented, which is miniaturized to fit within a package of 5x5cm, is power efficient, and cost-effective. Furthermore, through application of embedded programming techniques and careful optimization, MESVS achieves the real-time performance of 20 frames per second. This work discusses the various challenges involved regarding design and implementation of this system and the measures taken to tackle them

INVESTIGATION OF SITUATIONAL - PEDAGOGICAL FACTORS AFFECTING SPEAKING RELUCTANCE AMONG UNIVERSITY EFL STUDENTS

In second and foreign language acquisition, a number of factors appear to contribute to predisposing one learner to seek and another learner to avoid L2 communication. It is also believed that speaking as a means of oral participation in university EFL classrooms is an anxiety-provoking phenomenon. Some factors make students be reluctant to use L2 in speaking settings. It may be regarded as the most challenging concern that instructors are recently facing in EFL classes. Consequently, this study was conducted to investigate the underlying factors affecting speaking reluctance among university students and to suggest solutions to this problematic issue. Data were gathered through an informal 12-items Likert-scale questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The results indicated that several situational factors (instructors’ behavior, class atmosphere and topic selection) and pedagogical factor (teaching style, instructor-student relationship,­ course materials, educational system and low English proficiency) cause students’ speaking reluctance in academic EFL settings.   

Dual Band Meander Line Antenna for Wireless LAN Communication

International audienceA printed meander line antenna is described with a shaped ground plane and a back coupled rectangular patch. The prototype is proposed for wireless local-area network (WLAN) applications in the 2.4-2.48GHz and 5.15-5.35 GHz frequency range. Dual-band operation, resonance impedance matching, and wide impedance bandwidth are the characteristics of the antenna. The antenna impedance matching for the first-resonance is provided by applying a shaped ground plane. The second even-mode resonance is generated by adding a rectangular patch at the back of the meander antenna. The impedance bandwidth for a return-loss less than -10 dB is 11% and 6% for the first- and the second-resonance, respectively. Furthermore, the second-resonance frequency can be tuned by the length of the rectangular patch and it meets the requirements for the IEEE 802.11a WLAN (5.15-5.35 GHz and 5.470-5.725 GHz or 5.725-5.825GHz). In fact, the second-resonance frequency can be continuously adjusted between 5.2 and 7 GHz with a little effect on the first-resonance