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Corruption, lending and bank performance
No full textThis paper uses a sample of 7235 banks from 160 countries between 2000 and 2016 to investigate the link between corruption, lending and bank performance. It considers both country- and bank-level corruption. The study finds that while corruption increases bank lending, it has an adverse impact on bank profits and risks (credit, solvency and distance to default). Corporate lending is found to be most influenced by corruption. Bank-level corruption influences bank performance in both developed and developing countries as whereas country-level corruption has a lesser effect on lending in developing countries. The study also finds that greater bank competition, market concentration and improved regulatory environments reduce the effect of corruption on bank lending and performance. Policy makers should focus on enhancing regulatory rules and institutions in order to deal with the adverse impact of corruption on bank performance
Up-to-date earthquake and focal mechanism solutions datasets for the assessment of seismic hazard in the vicinity of the United Arab Emirates
No full textThis article presents updated and unified Poissonian earthquake and focal mechanism catalogs for the United Arab Emirates and its surroundings. Data were compiled from different local, regional, and international sources. Several magnitude-conversion relationships have been applied to obtain the unified moment magnitude estimates for the final datasets. Dependent earthquakes were identified and removed from the compiled data via a declustering process to ensure a time independent Poissonian distribution of seismicity. The final compiled earthquake catalog is comprised of 1464 mainshocks, which span the time period of 658–2019 [1]. The range of their spatial region is 21°–31°N on the latitude and 47° to 66°E on the longitude. Additionally, an overall number of 583 focal mechanism solutions spanning the time period of 1923–2015 were acquired [1]. Such datasets are compatible with other published catalogs from across the globe which provide a basis for the estimation of seismic hazard and risk, as well as, the establishment of a unified seismic action representation in the building codes for the United Arab Emirates. This paper and its dataset are a companion for a published article in the Journal of Asian Earth Sciences under the title “A State-Of-The-Art Seismic Source Model for the United Arab Emirates” [2]
Bingham Fluid Flow in the Entrance Region of a Pipe
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Chemical Engineering by Basma Mokhtar Hussein Mohamed Baioumy entitled, “Bingham Fluid Flow in the Entrance Region of a Pipe”, submitted in May 2019. Thesis advisor is Dr. Rachid Chebbi and thesis co-advisor is Dr. Nabil Abdel Jabbar. Soft and hard copy available.The isothermal laminar flow of a Bingham fluid in the entrance region of a circular pipe has been studied previously by many authors using different approaches. As current research stands, the momentum integral approach provides analytical results that do not match the boundary-layer thickness experimental data for Newtonian fluid flow. No experimental data is currently available for the velocity profiles in the entrance region for Bingham fluids. The objective of this investigation is to determine the entrance region length in addition to the velocity and pressure profiles in the entrance region using a modified momentum integral method that improves the previously published boundary-layer model. The present work results reach asymptotically the fully developed values and show good agreement with published experimental data for pressure drop in the entrance region. The results are also in good agreement with the boundary-layer thickness experimental data for Newtonian fluid flow.College of EngineeringDepartment of Chemical EngineeringMaster of Science in Chemical Engineering (MSChE
Multi-Model Investigation and Adaptive Estimation of the Acoustic Release of a Model Drug From Liposomes
No full textThis paper researches a suitable mathematical model that can reliably predict the release of a model drug (namely calcein) from biologically targeted liposomal nanocarriers triggered by ultrasound. Using mathematical models, curve fitting is performed on a set of five experimental acoustic drug release runs from Albumin-, Estrone-, and RGD-based Drug Delivery Systems (DDS). The three moieties were chosen to target specific cancers using receptor-mediated endocytosis. The best-fitting mathematical model is then enhanced using a Kalman filtering (KF) algorithm to account for the statistics of the dynamic and measurements noise sequences in predicted drug release. Unbiased drug-release estimates are realized by implementing an online noise identification algorithm. The algorithm is first deployed in a simulated environment in which it was rigorously tested and compared with the correct solution. Then, the algorithm was used to process the five experimental datasets. The results suggest that the Adaptive Kalman Filter (AKF) is exceptionally good at handling drug release estimation problems with a priori unknown or with changing noise covariances. In comparison with the KF, the AKF approach exhibited as low as a 69% reduction in the level of error in estimating the drug release state. Finally, the proposed algorithm is not computationally demanding and is capable of online estimation tasks
Hyperloops: The Future of Transport
No full textA poster submitted in ENG 207 taught by Dr. Philip McCarthy for the Spring 2019 semester.Hyperloops are floating pods enclosed within vacuum tubes. Current modes of transportation need to be optimized due to transit time, environmental issues, and safety concerns. Advantages of hyperloops: can revolutionize mass transit, low pressure environment -> high speeds, attains speeds up to 1220 km/h
The mediating role of artifacts in position practice at work: Examples from a project-based context
No full textDrawing on examples from a case study of a global product technology company, we discuss the mediating role of artifacts in position practice in project-based contexts. Findings revealed three types of mediation – professionalization, integration, and collaboration – and pointed out the key role of organizational remembering and forgetting in these mediation processes. These findings extend our understandings of how artifacts contribute to organizational practices. We discuss implications for theory and practice, and offer directions for future research
Numerical Analysis of Film Cooling Shield Formed by Confined Jet Discharging on a Flat Plate
No full textThe effects of centrifugal force and thermal conductivity on the effectiveness of a film cooling shield are investigated in this study. A confined jet with 90 degree angle is used, to inject cooling fluid into hot steam, to form a film cooling shield that protect a flat plate. Film cooling is modelled in 2D using ANSYS Fluent commercial computation fluid dynamic tool. The RNG k-ε turbulence model with enhanced wall function (EWF) is selected to capture the low-Reynolds number effects near the wall. The selected turbulence model has showed better prediction of the adiabatic film cooling effectiveness accuracy (AFCE) compared to other turbulence models. The results show that centrifugal force alters the flow field and affects the film cooling shield attachment to the flat plate. A clear drop in the AFCE is observed when positive centrifugal force acts perpendicular on the confined jet, which causes overheating in the vicinity of the jet. The effect of wall thermal conductivity on film cooling effectiveness FCE is reported using different thermal conductivity ratios between wall and fluid; mainly, 1,10, 100, 1,000 and 10,000. The results show that thermal conductivity ratios less than 1 have almost no effect on FCE while high thermal conductivity ratios deteriorate the FCE in the vicinity of the jet
On 1-Absorbing Primary Ideal Of A Commutative Ring (Correction To Theorem 18 Is Added)
No full textLet R be a commutative ring with nonzero identity. In this paper, we introduce the concept of 1-absorbing primary ideals in commutative rings. A proper ideal I of R is called a 1-absorbing primary ideal of R if whenever nonunit elements a,b,c ∈ R and abc ∈ I, then ab ∈ I or c ∈ √I. Some properties of 1-absorbing primary ideals are investigated. For example, we show that if R admits a 1-absorbing primary ideal that is not a primary ideal, then R is a quasilocal ring. We give an example of a 1-absorbing primary ideal of R that is not a primary ideal of R. We show that if a ring R is not a quasilocal, then a proper ideal I of R is a 1-absorbing primary ideal of R if and only if I is a primary ideal. We show that if R is a Noetherian domain, then R is a Dedekind domain if and only if every nonzero proper 1-absorbing primary ideal of R is of the form Pn for some nonzero prime ideal P of R and a positive integer n ≥ 1. We show that a proper ideal I of R is a 1-absorbing primary ideal of R if and only if whenever I1I2I3 ⊆ I for some proper ideals I1, I2, I3 of R, then I1I2 ⊆ I or I3 ⊆ √I
The effect of pegylation and targeting moieties on the ultrasound-mediated drug release from liposomes
No full textThe use of targeted liposomes encapsulating chemotherapy drugs enhances the specific targeting of cancer cells, thus, reducing the side effects of these agents and providing a more patient-friendly treatment. Targeted pegylated (stealth) liposomes have the ability to safely deliver their loaded drugs to the cancer cells by targeting specific receptors overly expressed on the surface of these cells. Applying ultrasound as an external stimulus will safely trigger drug release from these liposomes in a controlled manner. In this study, we investigated the release kinetics of the model drug “calcein” from targeted liposomes sonicated with low-frequency ultrasound (20-kHz). Our results showed that pegylated liposomes were more sonosensitive compared to non-pegylated liposomes. A comparison of the effect of three targeting moieties conjugated to the surface of pegylated liposomes, namely human serum albumin (HSA), transferrin (Tf) and arginylglycylaspartic acid (RGD), on calcein release kinetics was conducted. The fluorescence results showed that HSA-PEG and Tf-PEG liposomes were more sonosensitive (showing higher calcein release following the exposure to pulsed LFUS) compared to the control pegylated liposomes. Thus, adding more acoustic benefits to their targeting efficacy
Medical Equipment Efficient Failure Management in IoT Environment
No full textA Master of Science thesis in Biomedical Engineering by Jumana Mazen Farhat entitled, “Medical Equipment Efficient Failure Management in IoT Environment”, submitted in July 2019. Thesis advisor is Dr. Abdulrahim Shamayleh and thesis co-advisor Dr. Mahmoud Awad. Soft and hard copy available.Technological advancements are the main drivers of the healthcare industry as it has a high impact on delivering the best patient care. Recent years witnessed unprecedented growth in the number of medical equipment manufactured to aid high-quality patient care at a fast pace. With this growth of medical equipment, hospitals need to adopt optimal maintenance strategies that enhance the performance of their equipment and attempt to reduce their maintenance cost and effort. In this work, we are proposing a Predictive Maintenance (PdM) strategy that relies on real-time data by using the Internet of Things (IoT) technology to help in the diagnosis of the failure. The proposed approach involves maintenance logs analysis, criticality assessment, failure modes analysis, feature selection, and machine learning implementation. The proposed approach has to be economically feasible and efficient in terms of selecting and monitoring the right parameters that reflect the health of the equipment. The approach was demonstrated using a case study from a local hospital- Sharjah, where critical equipment of Vitros immunoassay was analyzed. The maintenance strategy was changed from corrective to predictive using wireless sensors that monitors vibration signals. Features extracted and selected are analyzed using Support Vector Machine (SVM) to detect the faulty condition. In terms of economics, our approach proved to provide significant cost savings that can reach up to 25% which is worth investing in. The approach is scalable and can be used across medical equipment in large medical centers.College of EngineeringMultidisciplinary ProgramsMaster of Science in Biomedical Engineering (MSBME