Capital Accumulation, State Intervention and Privatisation

This paper covers how the state can play a part in privatisation by ensuring that resources are allocated efficiently, not just to the best candidates but also to the most productive sectors. That is to say, privatisation can be undertaken as part of a state's development strategy and can be an important part of a development process

Performance Evaluation of Hollow Fiber Membrane for Carbon Dioxide Separation: An Experimental Approach

This report outlines the background of the project "Perfonnance Evaluation of Hollow Fiber Membrane for Carbon Dioxide Separation: An Experimental Approach". Due to the fact that carbon dioxide ( C02) is present in all natural gas sources worldwide, there is much attention placed on the efficiency in separating C02 from natural gas. Recent developments have discovered the benefits of utilizing membrane for this purpose. The scope of this study is on the performance of hollow fiber in removing carbon dioxide with respect to the variations in pressure, composition, feed gas flow and membrane area or better represented as number of hollow fibers used in a membrane module. The procedures are conducted in the Research Centre for Carbon Dioxide Capture (RCC02C) with the Carbon Dioxide Separation Membrane Unit (COzSMU). The perfonnance is evaluated based on experimental approach and the results are to be analyzed and discussed with reference to previous works as well as separation theories and principles. In the first chapter, a general introduction is given on the separation techniques available in the current market which is followed by the problem statement on the drawbacks of the conventional separation techniques, of which supports the use of membrane for C02 capture. Next, the objectives and the scope of this study are defined. In the following chapter, literature review is conducted to find out on membrane separation technology including general principles, key characteristics of membrane, its classifications, separation theories and principles, as well as the benefits of membrane for separation processes. In Chapter 3, the general approach on the conduct of this study is illustrated, which generally summarizes the scope of work for this project. Also, the experimental procedures are illustrated in a detailed manner to ensure that the steps are that required to obtain satisfacatory results. Besides, all the chemicals required are also listed while each the equipments in the setup are defined for its function and purpose. Next, reports on the findings of the experiments are illustrated. The experimental parameters conducted in the study includes pressure, feed composition, feed gas flow as well as membrane area. It was found that the stage cut and the selectivity of the membrane increases with pressure and feed composition while these two parameters shows a decrease when the feed gas flow rate is increased. Generally, the number of fibers used does not affect the selectivity of the membrane but the stage cut of the membrane is largely increased when the number of fibers used is increased. In terms of permeance, it was found that the gas permeance increases with increasing feed composition, feed gas flow rate as well as number of fibers or membrane area but decreases with increasing feed pressure. Last but not least, the conclusion of this report summarizes the document as a whole together with the obtained results of this experimental work, in terms of the focus of this study, which is the effect of pressure, feed gas flow, COz composition, and unmber of fibers in a module on the performance of the hollow fiber membrane

The ethics of Confucius and Aristotle

Thesis (M.A.)--Boston Universit

The role of osteopontin in liver fibrosis

150 p.Osteopontin (OPN) is a cytokine and matrix molecule that is upregulated in human and mouse models of chronic liver injury and directly promotes liver fibrogenesis by activating hepatic stellate cells (HSC) and liver progenitors (LPC). OPN is secreted by multiple cell types including HSC, LPC, as well as recruited immune cells such as natural killer T (NKT) cells, which amplify the fibrogenic response. In vivo, OPN neutralization abrogates the LPC response, inhibits HSC activation, and reduces liver fibrosis, thus demonstrating that targeting OPN is a potentially attractive anti-fibrotic strategy

Ontological Meta-Analysis and Synthesis

We present ontological meta-analysis and synthesis as a method for reviewing, mapping, and visualizing the research literature in a domain cumulatively, logically, systematically, and systemically. The method will highlight the domain’s bright spots which are heavily emphasized, the light spots which are lightly emphasized, the blank spots which are not emphasized, and the blind spots which have been overlooked. It will highlight the biases and asymmetries in the domain’s research; the research can then be realigned to make it stronger and more effective. We illustrate the method using the emerging domain of Public Health Informatics (PHI). We present an ontological framework for the domain, map the literature onto the framework, and highlight its bright, light, and blank/blind spots. We conclude with a discussion of how (a) the results can be used to realign PHI research, and (b) the method can be used in other information systems domains

An Ontology of Megaprojects

Megaprojects are symbolic milestones of human history. From the Great Pyramid of Giza and the Great Wall of China to the Hoover Dam and the Manhattan Project, history is marked by an array of megaprojects. Some megaprojects are born out of necessity while others showcase power and status of individuals, groups, or countries. Most megaprojects are one-of-a-kind endeavors to which traditional project management principles are neither applicable nor suitable, rendering the holistic study of megaprojects especially difficult. Regardless of the recent uptick in research on megaprojects there is no systemic framework that can help systematically assess and guide megaprojects and megaproject research. In the absence of such a framework there is a significant risk of bias in planning the projects and the topics researched. In this paper, we present an ontology of megaprojects and discuss how it can help analyze individual megaprojects and synthesize the corpus of megaproject research

Evaluating Morphological Computation in Muscle and DC-motor Driven Models of Human Hopping

In the context of embodied artificial intelligence, morphological computation refers to processes which are conducted by the body (and environment) that otherwise would have to be performed by the brain. Exploiting environmental and morphological properties is an important feature of embodied systems. The main reason is that it allows to significantly reduce the controller complexity. An important aspect of morphological computation is that it cannot be assigned to an embodied system per se, but that it is, as we show, behavior- and state-dependent. In this work, we evaluate two different measures of morphological computation that can be applied in robotic systems and in computer simulations of biological movement. As an example, these measures were evaluated on muscle and DC-motor driven hopping models. We show that a state-dependent analysis of the hopping behaviors provides additional insights that cannot be gained from the averaged measures alone. This work includes algorithms and computer code for the measures.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, 5 algorithm

EXTERNAL A/D CONVERTER USING THE UNIVERSAL SERIAL BUS (USB)

A versatile low cost analog to digital conversion unit built from commercially available components that connects to a standard PC or Notebook via the Universal Serial Bus was developed. With a sampling rate of 10kHz, 8 bit resolution and the potential for a large number of channels the system can be used for analog data acquisition in research, classroom and field environments. The A/D converter has been successfully used for the testing of gymnastics landing sunaces

Ontological Meta-Analysis and Synthesis

We present ontological meta-analysis and synthesis as a method for reviewing, mapping, and visualizing the research literature in a domain cumulatively, logically, systematically, and systemically. The method highlights a domain’s bright spots that have been heavily studied, the light spots that have been lightly studied, the blind spots that have been overlooked, and the blank spots that have not been studied. It highlights the biases in a domain’s research; the research can then be realigned to make it stronger and more effective. We illustrate the method using the emerging domain of public health informatics (PHI). We present an ontological framework for the domain, map the literature onto the framework, and highlight its bright, light, and blind/blank spots. We also present detailed analyses using the ontological maps of dyads and triads. We conclude by discussing how (a) the results can be used to realign PHI research, and (b) the method can be used in other information systems domains