5,551 research outputs found
Hydraulic simulations to evaluate and predict design and operation of the Chashma Right Bank Canal
Full text linkIrrigation systems / Irrigation canals / Flow control / Velocity / Canal regulation techniques / Hydraulics / Simulation models / Design / Operations / Crop-based irrigation / Distributary canals / Water delivery / Policy / Protective irrigation / Water allocation / Water requirements / Sedimentation / Water distribution / Equity / Water conveyance / Pakistan / Chashma Right Bank Canal
Interview with Ruba Salih, by Nadeem Karkabi and Sonia Boulos
No full textOn the occasion of publishing a special issue of Palestine/
Israel Review (PIR) on the decolonization of the city of Haifa, PIR interviewed Ruba Salih, a professor of anthropology at the Department of
Arts, University of Bologna. Salih’s research focuses on transnational
migration and diasporas across Europe, the Middle East, and North
Africa; Islam and gender; the Palestine question and refugees; and
trauma and conflict in the Middle East. She is the author of numerous academic works, including the book Gender in Transnationalism:
Home, Longing and Belonging among Moroccan (Routledge, 2003), and
the article “Bodies That Walk, Bodies That Talk, Bodies That Love: Palestinian Women Refugees, Affectivity, and the Politics of the Ordinary” (Antipode, 2017). Currently, she is working on a book on waiting and the politics of return among Palestinian refugees (Cambridge University Press). Ruba herself is the daughter of a Palestinian refugee from
Haifa, and her mother was born in Yafa/Jaffa. PIR held an interview
with her to talk about her work and her own experience of refuge as a
descendant of Palestinian refugees from Haifa. Nadeem Karkabi and
Sonia Boulos conducted the interview for PIR
Awake the Sleeper Within: Releasing the Energy of Stifled Domestic Commerce!
Full text linkPolicy in Pakistan has been fairly path-dependant, placing a higher weight on export promotion and domestic industrialisation development than on domestic commerce. Yet domestic commerce is growing rapidly, and quite possibly is the largest sector in the economy. This paper argues that a more holistic policy, with no favourites, that allows for all sectors to grow leads to better long-term economic results. A vibrant domestic commerce sector is the core of the economy facilitating intermediation between supply and demand, entrepreneurial development, risk-taking, innovation, and competitive markets. Such an economy moves beyond commodity exports to brand name, process, and capital exports, all of which command a higher rate of return. Pakistan could therefore achieve a higher and a more sustainable growth rate by adopting a more balanced growth strategyCommercial policy
Awake the Sleeper Within : Releasing the Energy of Stifled Domestic Commerce!
Full text linkPolicy in Pakistan has been fairly path-dependant, placing a higher weight on export promotion and domestic industrialisation development than on domestic commerce. Yet domestic commerce is growing rapidly, and quite possibly is the largest sector in the economy. This paper argues that a more holistic policy, with no favourites, that allows for all sectors to grow leads to better long-term economic results. A vibrant domestic commerce sector is the core of the economy facilitating intermediation between supply and demand, entrepreneurial development, risk-taking, innovation, and competitive markets. Such an economy moves beyond commodity exports to brand name, process, and capital exports, all of which command a higher rate of return. Pakistan could therefore achieve a higher and a more sustainable growth rate by adopting a more balanced growth strategy.domestic commerce, policy
Studying Glutamatergic Gliotransmission as a Functional Model to Assess Physio-Pathological Conditions and Receptor Cross-Talk
No full textSUMMARY
This thesis is divided into two parts; in the first part, we characterized the effect of acute stress on the astrocytic glutamate release in the prefrontal cortex of rat brain. In the second part, we evaluate the interaction of the Oxytocin receptor (OXTR) with both Adenosine receptor A2A and Dopamine D2 receptors in the brain striatum of male rats.
First Part:
Stress is known to disturb the physiological homeostasis of the body (McEwen et al., 2000). The number of studies demonstrated that stress leads to damage the prefrontal cortex the brain and results in the modulation in the secretion of various neurotransmitters (Karats Oreos and McEwen, 2011, Sousa and Almeida, 2012). Stress was recognized as a predominant risk factor for many diseases, together with cardiovascular, metabolic, and neuropsychiatric diseases. Among the latter, stress interacts with the variable genetic background of vulnerability in the pathogenesis of mood anxiety disorder (Laura et al., 2010). It may be acute or chronic, can involve neuropsychiatric components such as stress, depression, mood, and anxiety (Laura et al., 207) and produces many behavioral and neurochemical changes, as determined in human (De Kloet et al., 2005, Kim & Diamond 2002). Studies in the literature truly indicated that acute stress have an effect on glutamatergic neurotransmission in the prefrontal cortex, inducing changes in glutamate release, receptor and glutamate clearance and metabolism (Popoli et al., 2012: Licznerski and Duman 3013). The effects of acute footshock stress on glutamate release and transmission were still unknown. In this study, we investigated the release of glutamate from astrocytes. The analyses have been performed in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) at different time intervals straight away after 40 min of stress and 6 and 24 hours after stress start, to monitor the early and delayed effects of acute stress on glutamate release. After the acute stress, animals were subjected to sucrose test to distinguish vulnerable and resilient rats.
Second Part:
There has been a growing interest in the investigation of the role of astrocytes in neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric diseases and their complex neuron-astrocytes network function. The receptor–receptor interactions (RRI) can have an important function in the signalling transduction pathways. A previous well established study evaluate the interactions between the G-protein coupled receptors of adenosine A2A receptors (A2A) and dopamine D2 receptors (D2) in several experimental models (Ferré et al., 2008), while it’s barely investigated in astrocytes. Growing evidence shows that adult striatal astrocytes largely express both D2 and A2A receptors (Cervetto et at., 2017). Moreover, the presence of A2A-D2 heteroreceptor complexes has led to a new perspective of molecular mechanisms involved in Parkinson’s disease (PD), providing novel drug targets. Therefore in the present study, we investigate the physical and functional interactions of A2A and D2 with another G protein-coupled receptors i.e. OXTR in astrocytes processes from adult rat striatum. We also evaluate the effect of this interaction on the astrocytic glutamate release in rat striatum
Simulation and microfabrication of MEMS vacuum electronic devices for terahertz technology
No full textNumerous applications explore the scarcely used terahertz (THz) band in the electromagnetic spectrum. However, widespread utilization of the THz band is technically challenging, due to the lack of power sources. The power level of the signal generators drastically drops as the frequency approaches the THz frequencies. Moreover, at this frequency range, the attenuation level of electromagnetic waves in the earth atmosphere increases. In vacuum electronics family, traveling wave tube (TWT) has gained particular interest for millimetre-wave and THz signal amplification for high-power and wideband applications. The characteristics of the TWT are mainly represented by the performance of a slow-wave structure (SWS). The SWS in TWT is used to facilitate the input THz signal which gets amplified by the process of the beam-wave interaction. Therefore, an efficient and reliable SWS is an essential aspect of a powerful TWT design.
This thesis proposes a novel SWS, which consists of metal corrugations in the Hplane and E-plane of the rectangular waveguide operated in the fundamental mode. The concept of H-plane and E-plane load shows potential benefits to the THz TWTs, such as excellent linear characteristics, an increased interaction impedance, ultrawide bandwidth, and high-power output. Furthermore, the geometry of the SWS made the fabrication easier by using the available microfabrication techniques. The thesis involves all elements of development from device design, simulations, through material growth and interactive device fabrication to extensive characterization, along with the prototype cold-testing of the scaled-up device.
The proposed SWS is investigated for TWT working at 400 GHz central frequency. The design and simulation of TWT involve three stages, which are high frequency electromagnetic study of a unit cell of the SWS using Eigenmode simulations, scattering parameters or S-parameters analysis of coupler design with the SWS usingtime-domain transient simulations, and beam-wave interaction study using particlein- cell (PiC). The PiC simulations found that this tube can produce an excess of 25 dB small-signal gain with 60 GHz 3-dB bandwidth at 400 GHz central frequency. The LIGA technique was employed to fabricate the 400-GHz E-plane and H-plane loaded SWS. In particular, the KMPR negative tone photoresist was used in the fabrication process. The KMPR mold produced the nearly perfect features of the mask designs, tolerance within the ±2.5 μm of the lateral features and maximum deviation of 20 in the vertical profiles. The experiments for surface roughness study revealed that the interior sidewall roughness of the LIGA-fabricated metal parts was achieved about 20 nm. A diffusion bonding method was employed to attach the two LIGA-fabricated copper parts of the SWS, producing a bonding strength of 25 MPa at 400 0C bonding temperature and with a void-free bonding interface.
A scale-up model of the H-plane and E-plane SWS together with input and output couplers at W-band (85-110 GHz) was designed, manufactured using CNC milling, and verified the electromagnetic characteristics experimentally. The test results of S-parameters agreed with the simulations, S11<-15 dB over a frequency range of 85 GHz - 98 GHz. PiC simulations were also performed to the 93.5-mm length SWS, demonstrating a gain about 24 dB over 89 GHz – 101 GHz. To mitigate the diocotron instability in the sheet-beam transmission, a modified geometry of the sheet beam was employed and analysed through PiC simulations. The robust design and high performance from the H-plane and E-plane loaded SWS suggests that this is a promising candidate for high-power and wideband TWT development in the millimetre and THz frequency ranges
Geographical Variations in Implementing Result-Based Management to School Improvement Plans in Punjab's Public Secondary Schools
No full text<p>This research examines geographical variations in the implementation of School Improvement Plans (SIPs) utilizing a Results-Based Management (RBM) approach in public secondary schools across Punjab. The study aims to identify differences among districts, focusing on the practices and perceptions of head teachers and senior school teachers regarding the use of RBM in SIPs. Data was collected through surveys, employing a descriptive research methodology. The findings reveal significant success in central Punjab, where schools' physical and co-curricular environments have benefitted markedly from the application of RBM, fostering a positive perception of SIP achievements among educators. The study suggests enhancing alignment between RBM and SIP indicators and improving communication among schools, communities, and stakeholders, advocating the use of ICT technologies to facilitate these improvements.</p>
If You Can Measure It, You Can Manage It: A Case of Intellectual Capital
No full textDespite the great importance attributed to intellectual capital (IC) in the past two decades or so, its measurement
and management have remained elusive, mainly because of inappropriate prior models of IC measurement.
The purpose of this study is, therefore, to make adjustments to an existing model, the Value Added Intellectual
Coefficient (VAIC), and to present an adjusted-VAIC model to measure IC. We tested our new model on data
from 10 emerging and developed world markets and obtained more consistent results than prior studies. Our
results indicate a significant positive relationship between IC and its components (human, innovation and
physical capitals) and firm performance. Therefore, the adjusted-VAIC model can be used with confidence to
measure IC.Our study has important implications for both academia and industry concerning the measurement
of IC
CCDC 2043113: Experimental Crystal Structure Determination
No full textRelated Article: Muhammad Nadeem Akhtar, Murad A. AlDamen, Colin D. McMillen, Albert Escuer, Júlia Mayans|2021|Inorg.Chem.|60|9302|doi:10.1021/acs.inorgchem.0c0368
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