36 research outputs found
A study of institutional, contextual and socioeconomic factors affecting county e-government:
No full textGovernments at all levels in the United States are rapidly transforming to Internet to provide public services and public administrators are increasingly implementing various strategies to enable this transformation. Scholars and academicians have researched the growth of this phenomenon in recent decades, including the factors associated with the adoption of e-government at the state and municipals levels. E-Government literature however provides little information related specifically to counties' adoption of e-government in the United States. Research on county e-government has tended to focus primarily on socioeconomic factors. Although some researchers have studied the effect of institutional and contextual factors on county e-government in particular states, none have studied their influence on counties across the United States.Based on a survey of county administrators who are primarily responsible for e-government services, this research attempts to capture the role played by institutional, contextual and socioeconomic factors on e-government adoption at the county level all over the United States. The institutional variables consist of size and structure of the county government, budget resources, technical capacity, stakeholder support, contracting and presence of an IT champion. The contextual variables consist of the measure of the county's professional networking, external collaboration, regional pressure and business demand in the county. Additionally, certain socio-economic variables are considered, such as population, education and income level of the county residents. These factors are tested based on an evaluation of county websites using a conceptual framework consisting of three e-government dimensions: e-information, e-transaction and e-participation. These dimensions are operationalized based on the Rutgers E-Governance Index and validated by an expert review process. Literature also suggests an evolutionary approach to e-government growth - in terms of stages ranging from webpage development to full service integration and the involvement of all sections of society. Accordingly, the research also tests the stages of development of e-government among counties by assessing their status in each dimension and determining if the proposed dimensions follow a staged pattern.Ph.D.Includes bibliographical references (p. 137-143)by Aroon P. Manohara
Epidural Needle Insertion Simulator: A device for training resident anaesthesiologists
No full textEpidural anaesthesia is a pain relief technique commonly performed on patients in labor. It requires insertion of a needle into patients back into the epidural space of the spine and inject anaesthetic. It is a blind procedure and anaesthesiologists rely only on the forces felt during needle insertion to determine the position of the needle tip. It is a complex procedure that requires training. However, in a majority of hospitals the residents are trained on patiets. In this thesis development and validation of a new epidural needle insertion simulator with haptic feedback is discussed. . The simulator has 1DOF for needle insertion and 1DOF for needle orientation. The simulator uses a cable-pulley mechanism to transmit forces to the needle. The simulator provides active force-feedback by means of a motor in the needle insertion direction and passive force-feedback by means of a brake in the needle orientation direction. The simulator simulates needle-tissue and needle-bone interaction forces. It also incorporates simulation of different virtual patients, which can be selected from the graphical user interface. The real-time position of the needle can be seen in the graphical user interface. The simulator is validated through experiments by expert anaesthesiologists and novices. The simulator is validated for face and constuct validity. The results were promising showing high acceptance rate with addition of some features. Moreover, difference in performance between experts and novices was found and thus evaluating similarity to a real scenario.BioMechanical EngineeringMechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineerin
de-VAP - (Decentralized desiccant enhanced evaporative cooling integrated facade)
No full textThe objective of the thesis is to reduce the cooling load of the offices in Delhi, India by integrating passive strategies and low-ex cooling (evaporative) technology through facades as a decentralized ventilation system. The cooling demand in India is going to increase up to 8 folds by 2030. Almost 50% of the energy is spent on space cooling for offices in Indian climatic conditions. In order to reduce the cooling demand alternative low ex cooling technologies are being researched and implemented. In this thesis, various types of evaporative cooling and their various properties and its application on Delhi’s climatic scenario and its limitations were studied as one of the low-ex techs. The study concludes by choosing Dew-point indirect evaporative cooler because of its high wet bulb effectiveness with no addition of humidity. For continuous operation, the humidity in the air needs to removed before supplying it to the cooler. So, the design involves a combination of Dew-point Indirect evaporative cooler (D-IEC) coupled with Desiccant coated heat exchanger (DCHE). The system also requires a source for heating and cooling down the water for Regeneration cycle and Dehumidification cycle, evaporative cooler respectively. The cooling demand of the building needs to be addressed by multiple devices in a decentralized ventilation system. The total number of devices required determines the cost of installation and ease of maintenance over the years and it depends on the cooling load. So, it is necessary to reduce the cooling demand of the building using passive strategies before integrating the evaporative cooler. The building’s cooling load has been reduced to 50W/m2 by adapting suitable passive strategies like shading systems, reducing U values of walls, glazing and roof, reducing infiltration and the internal heat gain. The above-mentioned strategies result in 146.41kWh/m2/yr with a water-based chiller (CENTRALIZED), and it is efficient when compared to the recommended national figure of 180 kWh/m2/yr. But using the De-VAP systems (DECENTRALIZED) cuts down the energy by even much further to up to 40% (92.26kWh/m2) in which almost 1/3rd of the energy can be generated by installing PV on the roof. This design takes us further one step closer to the NET ZERO building.COOL FacadeArchitecture, Urbanism and Building Sciences | Building Technology | Sustainable Desig
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Periyar’s Political Atheism
No full textIntervening in contemporary debates around secularism, this article describes the tension between New Atheism and religious extremism as a “false conflict”. The author argues that political atheism—drawn from his engagement with the works of Periyar E.V. Ramasamy—offers “a radical alternative rooted in a broader critique of hierarchical power”
Difficult Fraternities
No full textThis is a book review of Rajmohan Gandhi\u27s Fraternity: Constitutional Norm and Human Need (Speaking Tiger, 2024). The author appreciates Gandhi\u27s utilization of different perspectives to defend the idea of fraternity, while also considering the various difficulties for the norm to be put into practice
Periyar’s Political Atheism
No full textIntervening in contemporary debates around secularism, this article describes the tension between New Atheism and religious extremism as a “false conflict”. The author argues that political atheism—drawn from his engagement with the works of Periyar E.V. Ramasamy—offers “a radical alternative rooted in a broader critique of hierarchical power”
Implementation of a generalised timetabling package
No full textThis thesis was scanned from the print manuscript for digital preservation and is copyright the author.
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The Case “Manoharan et al. v. Rajapaksa” and Immunity of Heads of State from Foreign Jurisdiction
No full textThe author explores legal prospects of a civil complaint filed in January 2011 in the U.S. district court for the District of Columbia against the incumbent President of Sri-Lanka. Plaintiffs accuse Percy Mahendra Rajapaksa of sanctioning extrajudicial killings of their relatives during the civil war with Tamil separatists. In this connection, the author examines current international law and legal writings relating to the personal immunities of incumbent heads of state from foreign criminal and civil jurisdiction, as well as practice of U.S. courts in this field. She describes the history and contents of a U.S. common-law doctrine of head-of-state immunity. Special attention is given to the question whether senior State officials preserve their immunities ratione personae when they commit such serious international crimes, as torture and extrajudicial killings
Evaluation of the Traffic Speed Deflectometer Data Using Simplified Deflection Model
No full textAbstractFalling Weight Deflectometer (FWD) has been used by many road agencies worldwide for structural evaluation of both flexible and concrete pavements since the 1980s. With the development of Traffic Speed Deflectometer (TSD), the laser-based deflectograph is increasing used to perform continuous bearing capacity measurement at a range of driving speeds. The two main advantages of the TSD technology are; its ability to carry out continuous deflection measurements rather than at discrete points and the tests can be carried out at traffic speed without the need for lane closure in the case a stationary device such as the FWD. The objective of this paper is to study the deflection basins generated by TSD on flexible pavements using Simplified Deflection Model (SDM). The study shows that TSD data can be modelled accurately using SDM that can be represented in a mathematical form of Y = K1 exp (-r/K2). K1 is equal to deflection at D0 in micron and K2 is the structural parameter at the respective sensor location r. It is observed that the majority of the pavement sections possess nonlinear subgrade behaviour in the TSD deflection data. The dynamic effects generated by the TSD axle load are likely to be the reason for the pavements to exhibit subgrade nonlinearity. A comparison between the FWD and TSD data shows a high level of correlation and a mathematical model has been established for estimation of FWD deflections using the TSD data. The study also shows that he theoretical deflections generated by the SDM are in good agreement with the actual deflection data obtained from FWD test. Statistical analysis confirms that the SDM generated D0 deflections are not significantly different from the D0 deflections recorded by FWD device
