Valence-tautomeric RbMnFe Prussian blue analogues:composition and time stability investigation

Three different stoichiometric forms of RbMn[Fe(CN) ]y·zHO [x = 0.96, y = 0.98, z = 0.75 (1); x = 0.94, y = 0.88, z = 2.17 (2); x = 0.61, y = 0.86, z = 2.71 (3)] Prussian blue analogues were synthesized and investigated by magnetic, calorimetric, Raman spectroscopic, X-ray diffraction, and Fe Mössbauer spectroscopic methods. Compounds 1 and 2 show a hysteresis loop between the high-temperature (HT) Fe(S = 1/2)-CN-Mn(S = 5/2) and the low-temperature (LT) Fe(S = 0)-CN-Mn(S = 2) forms of 61 and 135 K width centered at 273 and 215 K, respectively, whereas the third compound remains in the HT phase down to 5 K. The splitting of the quadrupolar doublets in the Fe Mössbauer spectra reveal the electron-transfer-active centers. Refinement of the X-ray powder diffraction profiles shows that electron-transfer-active materials have the majority of the Rb ions on only one of the two possible interstitial sites, whereas nonelectron-transfer-active materials have the Rb ions equally distributed. Moreover, the stability of the compounds with time and following heat treatment is also discussed. © Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 2009.

Cost and time control of construction project: inhibiting factors and mitigating measures in practice

Despite the availability of various control techniques and project control software many construction projects still do not achieve their cost and time objectives. Research in this area so far has mainly been devoted to identifying causes of cost and time overruns. There is limited research geared towards studying factors inhibiting the ability of practitioners to effectively control their projects. To fill this gap, a survey was conducted on 250 construction project organizations in the UK, which was followed by face-to-face interviews with experienced practitioners from 15 of these organizations. The common factors that inhibit both time and cost control during construction projects were first identified. Subsequently 90 mitigating measures have been developed for the top five leading inhibiting factors—design changes, risks/uncertainties, inaccurate evaluation of project time/duration, complexities and non-performance of subcontractors were recommended. These mitigating measures were classified as: preventive, predictive, corrective and organizational measures. They can be used as a checklist of good practice and help project managers to improve the effectiveness of control of their projects.

Cost and time control of construction projects: a survey of contractors and consultants in the UK

Numerous techniques have been developed to control cost and time of construction projects. However, there is limited research on issues surrounding the practical usage of these techniques. To address this, a survey was conducted on the top 150 construction companies and 100 construction consultancies in the UK aimed at identifying common project control practices and factors inhibiting effective project control in practice. It found that despite the vast application of control techniques a high proportion of respondents still experienced cost and time overruns on a significant proportion of their projects. Analysis of the survey results concluded that more effort should be geared at the management of the identified top project control inhibiting factors. This paper has outlined some measures for mitigating these inhibiting factors so that the outcome of project time and cost control can be improved in practice.

Space and time modelling of clouds

DUE TO COPYRIGHT RESTRICTIONS ONLY AVAILABLE FOR CONSULTATION AT ASTON UNIVERSITY LIBRARY AND INFORMATION SERVICES WITH PRIOR ARRANGEMENT

A hybrid molecular dynamics/fluctuating hydrodynamics method for modelling liquids at multiple scales in space and time

A new 3D implementation of a hybrid model based on the analogy with two-phase hydrodynamics has been developed for the simulation of liquids at microscale. The idea of the method is to smoothly combine the atomistic description in the molecular dynamics zone with the Landau-Lifshitz fluctuating hydrodynamics representation in the rest of the system in the framework of macroscopic conservation laws through the use of a single "zoom-in" user-defined function s that has the meaning of a partial concentration in the two-phase analogy model. In comparison with our previous works, the implementation has been extended to full 3D simulations for a range of atomistic models in GROMACS from argon to water in equilibrium conditions with a constant or a spatially variable function s. Preliminary results of simulating the diffusion of a small peptide in water are also reported.

Encouraging the intellectual craft of living research:tattoos, theory and time

This chapter contributes to the anthology on learning to research - researching to learn because it emphases a need to design curricula that enables living research, and on-going researcher development, rather than one that restricts student and staff activities, within a marketised approach towards time. In recent decades higher education (HE) has come to be valued for its contribution to the global economy. Referred to as the neo-liberal university, a strong prioritisation has been placed on meeting the needs of industry by providing a better workforce. This perspective emphasises the role of a degree in HE to secure future material affluence, rather than to study as an on-going investment in the self (Molesworth , Nixon & Scullion, 2009: 280). Students are treated primarily as consumers in this model, where through their tuition fees they purchase a product, rather than benefit from the transformative potential university education offers for the whole of life.Given that HE is now measured by the numbers of students it attracts, and later places into well-paid jobs, there is an intense pressure on time, which has led to a method where the learning experiences of students are broken down into discrete modules. Whilst this provides consistency, students can come to view research processes in a fragmented way within the modular system. Topics are presented chronologically, week-by-week and students simply complete a set of tasks to ‘have a degree’, rather than to ‘be learners’ (Molesworth , Nixon & Scullion, 2009: 277) who are living their research, in relation to their own past, present and future. The idea of living research in this context is my own adaptation of an approach suggested by C. Wright Mills (1959) in The Sociological Imagination. Mills advises that successful scholars do not split their work from the rest of their lives, but treat scholarship as a choice of how to live, as well as a choice of career. The marketised slant in HE thus creates a tension firstly, for students who are learning to research. Mills would encourage them to be creative, not instrumental, in their use of time, yet they are journeying through a system that is structured for a swift progression towards a high paid job, rather than crafted for reflexive inquiry, that transforms their understanding throughout life. Many universities are placing a strong focus on discrete skills for student employability, but I suggest that embedding the transformative skills emphasised by Mills empowers students and builds their confidence to help them make connections that aid their employability. Secondly, the marketised approach creates a problem for staff designing the curriculum, if students do not easily make links across time over their years of study and whole programmes. By researching to learn, staff can discover new methods to apply in their design of the curriculum, to help students make important and creative connections across their programmes of study.

Self-adaptive volunteered services composition through stimulus-and time-awareness

Volunteered Service Composition (VSC) refers to the process of composing volunteered services and resources. These services are typically published to a pool of voluntary resources. Selection and composition decisions tend to encounter numerous uncertainties: service consumers and applications have little control of these services and tend to be uncertain about their level of support for the desired functionalities and non-functionalities. In this paper, we contribute to a self-awareness framework that implements two levels of awareness, Stimulus-awareness and Time-awareness. The former responds to basic changes in the environment while the latter takes into consideration the historical performance of the services. We have used volunteer service computing as an example to demonstrate the benefits that self-awareness can introduce to self-adaptation. We have compared the Stimulus-and Time-awareness approaches with a recent Ranking approach from the literature. The results show that the Time-awareness level has the advantage of satisfying higher number of requests with lower time cost.

Global variations and time trends in the prevalence of childhood myopia, a systematic review and quantitative meta-analysis:implications for aetiology and early prevention

The aim of this review was to quantify the global variation in childhood myopia prevalence over time taking account of demographic and study design factors. A systematic review identified population-based surveys with estimates of childhood myopia prevalence published by February 2015. Multilevel binomial logistic regression of log odds of myopia was used to examine the association with age, gender, urban versus rural setting and survey year, among populations of different ethnic origins, adjusting for study design factors. 143 published articles (42 countries, 374 349 subjects aged 1- 18 years, 74 847 myopia cases) were included. Increase in myopia prevalence with age varied by ethnicity. East Asians showed the highest prevalence, reaching 69% (95% credible intervals (CrI) 61% to 77%) at 15 years of age (86% among Singaporean-Chinese). Blacks in Africa had the lowest prevalence; 5.5% at 15 years (95% CrI 3% to 9%). Time trends in myopia prevalence over the last decade were small in whites, increased by 23% in East Asians, with a weaker increase among South Asians. Children from urban environments have 2.6 times the odds of myopia compared with those from rural environments. In whites and East Asians sex differences emerge at about 9 years of age; by late adolescence girls are twice as likely as boys to be myopic. Marked ethnic differences in age-specific prevalence of myopia exist. Rapid increases in myopia prevalence over time, particularly in East Asians, combined with a universally higher risk of myopia in urban settings, suggest that environmental factors play an important role in myopia development, which may offer scope for prevention.

Radio frequency identification and time-driven activity based costing:RFID-TDABC application in warehousing

Purpose: This paper extends the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) data for accounting of warehouse costs and services. Time Driven Activity Based Costing (TDABC) methodology is enhanced with the real-time collected RFID data about duration of warehouse activities. This allows warehouse managers to have accurate and instant calculations of costs. The RFID enhanced TDABC (RFID-TDABC) is proposed as a novel application of the RFID technology. Research Approach: Application of RFID-TDABC in a warehouse is implemented on warehouse processes of a case study company. Implementation covers receiving, put-away, order picking, and despatching. Findings and Originality: RFID technology is commonly used for the identification and tracking items. The use of the RFID generated information with the TDABC can be successfully extended to the area of costing. This RFID-TDABC costing model will benefit warehouse managers with accurate and instant calculations of costs. Research Impact: There are still unexplored benefits to RFID technology in its applications in warehousing and the wider supply chain. A multi-disciplinary research approach led to combining RFID technology and TDABC accounting method in order to propose RFID-TDABC. Combining methods and theories from different fields with RFID, may lead researchers to develop new techniques such as RFID-TDABC presented in this paper. Practical Impact: RFID-TDABC concept will be of value to practitioners by showing how warehouse costs can be accurately measured by using this approach. Providing better understanding of incurred costs may result in a further optimisation of warehousing operations, lowering costs of activities, and thus provide competitive pricing to customers. RFID-TDABC can be applied in a wider supply chain.

Three-factor models versus time series models:quantifying time-dependencies of interactions between stimuli in cell biology and psychobiology for short longitudinal data

Signal integration determines cell fate on the cellular level, affects cognitive processes and affective responses on the behavioural level, and is likely to be involved in psychoneurobiological processes underlying mood disorders. Interactions between stimuli may subjected to time effects. Time-dependencies of interactions between stimuli typically lead to complex cell responses and complex responses on the behavioural level. We show that both three-factor models and time series models can be used to uncover such time-dependencies. However, we argue that for short longitudinal data the three factor modelling approach is more suitable. In order to illustrate both approaches, we re-analysed previously published short longitudinal data sets. We found that in human embryonic kidney 293 cells cells the interaction effect in the regulation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1 signalling activation by insulin and epidermal growth factor is subjected to a time effect and dramatically decays at peak values of ERK activation. In contrast, we found that the interaction effect induced by hypoxia and tumour necrosis factor-alpha for the transcriptional activity of the human cyclo-oxygenase-2 promoter in HEK293 cells is time invariant at least in the first 12-h time window after stimulation. Furthermore, we applied the three-factor model to previously reported animal studies. In these studies, memory storage was found to be subjected to an interaction effect of the beta-adrenoceptor agonist clenbuterol and certain antagonists acting on the alpha-1-adrenoceptor / glucocorticoid-receptor system. Our model-based analysis suggests that only if the antagonist drug is administer in a critical time window, then the interaction effect is relevant.

Predicting general well-being from emotional intelligence and three broad personality traits

This paper examined the joint predictive effects of trait emotional intelligence (trait-EI), Extraversion, Conscientiousness, and Neuroticism on 2 facets of general well-being and job satisfaction. An employed community sample of 123 individuals from the Indian subcontinent participated in the study, and completed measures of the five-factor model of personality, trait-EI, job satisfaction, and general well-being facets worn-out and up-tight. Trait-EI was related but distinct from the 3 personality variables. Trait-EI demonstrated the strongest correlation with job satisfaction, but predicted general well-being no better than Neuroticism. In regression analyses, trait-EI predicted between 6% and 9% additional variance in the well-being criteria, beyond the 3 personality traits. It was concluded that trait-EI may be useful in examining dispositional influences on psychological well-being.

Advances in femtosecond micromachining and inscription of micro and nano photonic devices

This thesis has focused on three key areas of interest for femtosecond micromachining and inscription. The first area is micromachining where the work has focused on the ability to process highly repeatable, high precision machining with often extremely complex geometrical structures with little or no damage. High aspect ratio features have been demonstrated in transparent materials, metals and ceramics. Etch depth control was demonstrated especially in the work on phase mask fabrication. Practical chemical sensing and microfluidic devices were also fabricated to demonstrate the capability of the techniques developed during this work. The second area is femtosecond inscription. Here, the work has utilised the non-linear absorption mechanisms associated with femtosecond pulse-material interactions to create highly localised refractive index changes in transparent materials to create complex 3D structures. The techniques employed were then utilised in the fabrication of Phase masks and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) phantom calibration artefacts both of which show the potential to fill voids in the development of the fields. This especially the case for the OCT phantoms where there exists no previous artefacts of known shape, allowing for the initial specification of parameters associated with the quality of OCT machines that are being taken up across the world in industry and research. Finally the third area of focus was the combination of all of the techniques developed through work in planar samples to create a range of artefacts in optical fibres. The development of techniques and methods for compensating for the geometrical complexities associated with working with the cylindrical samples with varying refractive indices allowed for fundamental inscription parameters to be examined, structures for use as power monitors and polarisers with the optical fibres and finally the combination of femtosecond inscription and ablation techniques to create a magnetic field sensor with an optical fibre coated in Terfenol-D with directional capability. Through the development of understanding, practical techniques and equipment the work presented here demonstrates several novel pieces of research in the field of femtosecond micromachining and inscription that has provided a broad range of related fields with practical devices that were previously unavailable or that would take great cost and time to facilitate.