1522 research outputs found
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Understanding the effect of stress on fibres
Get PDFAramid fibres are used as reinforcements in high
performance composites, e.g. in aerospace applications, but
they are also used extensively as reinforcements for rubber, tyres, plastics and concrete. Aramid fibres offer good mechanical properties at low density with the added advantage of toughness or damage/impact resistance. Weight reduction is a key requirement for cost and energy savings, while not impacting on design or performance. Employing aramid fibres as reinforcements has been limited by poor fibre-matrix interfacial adhesion because of the difficulties associated with the aramid fibre surface having insufficient reactive functional groups for covalent bonding with the matrix resin
Enhancing end-user satisfaction in the post-implementation phase of ISD: an exploratory study of a large multinational company.
Get PDFThis thesis presents a theoretical framework for enhancing user satisfaction for recently implemented large-scale information systems and attempts to bridge a significant gap in information systems development (ISD) research. ISD methodologies concern themselves primarily with pre-implementation activities, rather than the post-implementation period, and ignore the processes by which people learn to use information systems effectively after they have gone live. Continually organisations ignore this critical phase in the system development life cycle and seldom evaluate the system once it has gone live. When this occurs poor interfacing, for example, can go undetected until eventually the end-users stop using the system, which renders the system an expensive failure. A poorly designed system interface becomes a barrier for users and they will become more reluctant to tolerate it. If users resist working with the technology, the potential for the system to generate significant organisational performance gains may be lost, rendering the introduced system a costly mistake. This thesis attempts to reframe usability beyond just human-computer interaction (HCI). It introduces the Post-Implementation Usability Synergy (PIUS) framework. The PIUS framework focuses upon six different elements, including: Support and Training, Work Practices/Functionality, Working Environment, System Reliability and User Interfacing, all centred around the actual Users of the system. The aim of the PIUS framework is to ensure user satisfaction towards the new system and ensure a happy, productive, and satisfied employee. The PIUS framework should be incorporated into a post-implementation evaluation of the new large-scale information system. A well-planned and executed post implementation evaluation should assist organisations to identify needed changes in the system structure. This can help the user realise the full potential of the system, by correcting any errors that may have gone unnoticed in the development stage
An investigation into the overland flow and yield factors of an organic phosphate fertilizer on grassland under an intensive and a sustainable nitrogen fertilizer programme
Get PDFA comparison was made of the overland flow of P between an organic granule fertilizer Duofos (Guano; 22% P2O5) and Triple Superphosphate (38% P2O5) on a seven year-old pasture (Lolium perenne L.) with a gentle slope (1:20) using two ‘drip-type’ rainfall simulators during July 2004 and March 2005. Despite very dry weather conditions during the first half of July 2004 and a major soil moisture deficit, there was significantly lower overland flow in the case of Duofos compared with TSP. An additional very important advantage of Duofos was demonstrated following a 48 hour period of rainfall. Significantly higher concentrations of DRP, acid-hydrolyzable P and total P were recorded in the case of TSP after this rain. Duofos had a much higher organic matter content (86g/kg) compared with TSP (5.6g/kg) which would be expected to reduce P overland flow due to the additional sorption capacity of the organic matter in the granule. The higher concentration of Al and Fe complexes present in Duofos is also expected to have a significant effect on the solubility of P in the formulation. These effects may explain the slow release characteristics of Duofos compared with TSP. This is a key environmental advantage for Duofos especially following rainfall events. There were no significant differences in dry matter yield, soil P concentrations, plant leaf tissue or soil pH between Duofos and TSP at any of the treatment rates under either an intensive nitrogen (250 kg/ha N) or sustainable nitrogen (25 kg/ha N) regime.
Duofos may be recommended to reduce P concentrations in overland flow in grassland pastures and may have a particularly important environmental advantage in the period immediately following rainfall or during high rainfall periods
Kramers' law for a bistable system with time-delayed noise
Get PDFWe demonstrate that the classical Kramers' escape problem can be extended to describe a bistable system under the influence of noise consisting of the superposition of a white Gaussian noise with the same noise delayed by time tau. The distribution of times between two consecutive switches decays piecewise exponentially, and the switching rates for 0 < t <tau and tau < t < 2 tau are calculated analytically using the Langevin equation. These rates are different since, for the particles remaining in one well for longer than tau, the delayed noise acquires a nonzero mean value and becomes negatively autocorrelated. To account for these effects we define an effective potential and an effective diffusion coefficient of the delayed noise
Phase dynamics of InAs/GaAs quantum dot semiconductor optical amplifiers
Get PDFThe gain and phase dynamics of InAs/GaAs quantum dot amplifiers are studied using single and two-color heterodyne pump probe spectroscopy. The relaxation of the wetting layer carrier density is shown to have a strong effect on the phase dynamics of both ground and excited state transients, while having a much weaker effect on the gain dynamics. In addition, the dynamical alpha factor may also display a constant value after an initial transient. Such behavior is strongly encouraging for reduced pattern effect operation in high speed optical networks. (c) 2007 American Institute of Physics
Daidalos Framework for Successful Testbed Integration
Get PDFDaidalos Testbed integration framework required detailed planning and implementation, constantly adapting to the demanding changes of a research project as it advances from development phase to integration phase.
This paper describes the various integration and validaton efforts required to deploy an operational Daidalos Testbed infrastructure, demonstrating the effort required to achieve a successful overall integration process. With such a large scale project as Daidalos with a consortium of 49 partners, the Testbed deployment, operation and management was indeed an immense task having to create and enforce Testbed processes suitable for the efficient and effective operation of the Daidalos system during integration and validation
New Web Site, New Opportunities: Enforcing Standards Compliance within a Content Management System
Get PDFThis is an account of a library project undertaken by the web team at Waterford Institute of Technology Libraries in Summer 2005.
The project involved the redeployment and re-design of the library web site on web content management software. The sets out the context for the project, first by explaining what a content management system is and does and second, by outlining prevailing trends in the wider world towards both standards-compliant code and web accessibility/usability.
This paper shows how a content management system can help a library to reach the goals of good accessibility and web standards compliance
The Divan Club, 1744-46
Get PDFThis monograph examines Al-Koran as an important, if little-known, document pertaining to the popular subject of eighteenth-century travel and travellers, particularly the remarkable individuals whose Grand Tours were extended to the Ottoman Empire. With this in mind, this study considers the manuscript against the background of its wider historical and social context. The introductory chapter ('Eighteenth-Century Travel to Turkey') examines the circumstances under which eighteenth-century travellers visited the Ottoman Empire (including Lady Mary Wortley Montagu). Chapter 1 ('The Influence on the Divan of Similar Clubs in Contemporary Georgian England') looks at other London dining clubs with oriental themes, in particular the Egyptian Society, which had strong links with the Divan Club. Chapter 2 ('The Laws and Orders of the Divan Club') outlines the main objectives and regulations of the Divan Club, as can be deduced from the only surviving record. And the final chapter ('The Composition of the Divan Club') gives biographical accounts of its members, with particular reference to the most important eastern travellers (Lord Sandwich, Admiral George Anson, Dr. Richard Pococke and Robert Wood) in terms of their experiences in the east, and their contribution both to travel writing and to oriental/Greek scholarship and taste. The study is illustrated with portraits of several members, some of whom are in oriental dress