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Important Criterion (important + criterion)
Selected AbstractsTests on the vibro-acoustic behaviour of a brushless DC-motorEUROPEAN TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTRICAL POWER, Issue 5 2000W. Heylen In the design of rotating electrical machines, the vibro-acoustic behaviour becomes an important criterion. In an electrical machine, electromagnetically induced forces may cause vibrations of, for instance, the stator. These vibrations may radiate annoying acoustic energy, especially at resonances of the stator assembly. This paper describes some techniques to analyse the vibro-acoustic behaviour of a (brushless DC-) motor. However, the technique is quite general and can be used for all types of electrical machines. The "inverse-frequency-response-function" technique (I FRF) allows the identification of the actual vibration behaviour of the motor frame from the measurement of the acoustic field around the motor. Experimental modal analysis yields the resonant behaviour of the motor. A combination of both techniques indicates the critical resonances, causing the undesired acoustic emissions. This may lead to an improved, quieter design of the electrical motor. [source] Integrating physiology and life history to improve fisheries management and conservationFISH AND FISHERIES, Issue 4 2006Jeffery L. Young Abstract Knowledge of life-history traits is increasingly recognized as an important criterion for effective management and conservation. Understanding the link between physiology and life history is an important component of this knowledge and in our view is particularly relevant to understanding marine and freshwater fishes. Such linkages (i.e. the life-history/physiology nexus) have been recently advocated for avian systems and here we explore this concept for fish. This paper highlights the gap in fisheries literature with regard to understanding the relationship between physiology and life history, and proposes ways in which this integration could improve fisheries management and conservation. We use three case studies on different fishes (i.e. the Pacific salmon, the grouper complex and tuna) to explore these issues. The physiological structure and function of fish plays a central role in determining stock response to exploitation and changes in the environment. Physiological measures can provide simple indicators necessary for cost-effective monitoring in the evaluation of fisheries sustainability. The declining state of world fisheries and the need to develop and implement restoration strategies, such as hatchery production or protected areas, provides strong incentive to better understand the influence of physiology on population and reproductive dynamics and early life history. Physiology influences key population-level processes, particularly those dealing with reproduction, which must be incorporated into the design and successful implementation of specific and broadscale initiatives (e.g. aquatic protected areas and bycatch reduction). Suggestions are made for how to encourage wider application of the physiology/life-history link, in fisheries management and conservation, as well as more broadly in education and research. [source] The Role and Functions of Audit Committees in the Indian Corporate Governance: Empirical FindingsINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF AUDITING, Issue 1 2004Jawaher Al-Mudhaki This paper examines the composition, focus and functions of audit committees (ACs), the effects of meetings and the criteria used in the selection of members by Indian listed companies from 73 questionnaire responses. The survey was carried out during February,March, 2002. The study reveals that so far only 56.2% of companies have established an AC despite the fact that it is now mandatory. Of those companies which have ACs, 68.3% have between three and six members on ACs. However, only 14.6% of companies have independent non-executive directors on the committee, while 90.2% have non-executive directors. This shows a lack of independent representation on the committees. The functions of ACs are quite diverse and are classified in three areas: financial statements and reporting, audit planning, and internal control and evaluation. The review of annual audited financial statements, discussion and recommendations of audit fees and review of the effectiveness of internal control were rated very highly by the respondents. The review of note disclosure and scope of external audit work are other important functions performed by ACs. The most important areas for focus are compliance with the standards and regulatory bodies, probing material items and undisclosed liabilities. However, there are statistical differences between medium and large sized companies in the performance of their role. The main criteria used for membership of an AC are: experience and knowledge of business, experience of holding similar positions and accounting and finance expertise. Ownership in the company was not perceived as an important criterion. The majority of companies' AC meetings are held monthly or quarterly. MANOVA analysis reveals that the frequency of AC meetings has an effect on the internal control functions. The study concludes that the concept of an AC is not new in India but their formation is slow and their composition lacks independence. AC functions are still concentrated in the traditional areas of accounting and their role is not changing fast enough to make the corporate governance more effective. [source] A study of methods for evaluating the integrity of plate type heat exchangers used in the dairy industryINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF DAIRY TECHNOLOGY, Issue 1 2000A A DOWMAN An overview of leak testing methods for heat exchangers is presented. The problems associated with the presence of residual liquid during testing were assessed as it was shown experimentally that complete drainage of plate type heat exchangers is very difficult. A theoretical modelling of small leaks in heat exchanger plates was combined with laboratory experiments. The strengths and weaknesses of electrolytic differential analysis and helium leak detection methods are presented. The electrolytic differential analysis method is capable of detecting smaller leak volumes than the helium leak detection method, in the presence of water, assuming , 0.5 ,S/cm and 0.1 ppm helium detection limit for the former and latter cases respectively. The test pressure was shown to be a significant factor in the detection of very small holes; this was a particularly important criterion for gas based hole detection methods in the presence of water. [source] Fuzzy multicriteria selection of alternatives: The worst-case methodINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTELLIGENT SYSTEMS, Issue 9 2010Alexander Rotshtein In this article, we propose the method of the multicriteria alternative selection under uncertainty. The basis of the method is the principle of the Bellman,Zadeh fuzzy measures intersection and nine-point linguistic rating scale of Saaty. The novelty of the method presented here consists of the fact that it does not require labor-intensive procedures, requiring arraying and array processing of paired comparisons matrix. Instead, special correlations are used, which are based on the comparison with the worst alternative and the least important criterion. As an example for the utilization of our method, we use the problem for choosing cars. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] MONETARY POLICY AND BEHAVIOURAL FINANCEJOURNAL OF ECONOMIC SURVEYS, Issue 5 2007K. Cuthbertson Abstract There have been major advances in both theory and econometric techniques in mainstream macro-models and parallel advances in knowledge of the monetary transmission mechanism acting via asset prices. At the same time, behavioural finance has provided evidence that not all actors in the economy are ,fully rational' and this has influenced models of asset pricing on which part of the monetary policy transmission mechanism depends. Such uncertainty about the behaviour of asset prices has in part stimulated a move towards ,robustness', as an important criterion for guiding monetary policy. We argue that although we have discovered much, including ,what not to do', nevertheless our knowledge of the transmission mechanism is very incomplete. This is because, in spite of all the theoretical advances that have been made, there is still considerable uncertainty over the behaviour of agents, which has been reinforced by insights from behavioural finance. [source] OCCURRENCE OF LISTERIA SPECIES IN THE PROCESSING STAGES OF FROZEN PEPPERJOURNAL OF FOOD SAFETY, Issue 2 2007SOLMAZ LEE ABSTRACT The occurrence of Listeria monocytogenes and other Listeria spp. in a frozen vegetable processing factory was investigated. From May to October 2002, four separate visits were made to the plant and during all of these visits, a total of 216 samples were collected at different stages of the cube and strip pepper processing line. Additionally, 28 swabs were taken from equipment and food-related contact surfaces. The cube and strip pepper processing lines include raw materials, washing, conveyor belt, scalding, cutting, sieving (drying), and the interior sieve of individually quick frozen (IQF), IQF and finished products. Swab samples were taken from the scalding tank, cooling tank, conveyor belt to IQF, interior part of IQF, mixing shovel of IQF, transport saddles and packaging materials. No Listeria spp. were isolated from the strip pepper processing stages, however, 26 out of 108 (24.1%) samples taken from the cube pepper processing stages were found to be contaminated with Listeria spp. Among these isolates, L. monocytogenes was not identified; however, Listeria welshimeri, Listeria innocua and Listeria ivanovii species were identified in 15, 6 and 5 of the tested samples, respectively. L. welshimeri and L. ivanovii were also isolated from three swab samples. These indicate that even though L. monocytogenes was not isolated, the presence of other Listeria species, particularly L. innocua, in the processing line would be an important criterion for eventual L. monocytogenes contaminations. Thus, periodic controls and application of general hygiene and sanitation principles are necessary in the prevention of possible contaminations. [source] Capability as Opportunity: How Amartya Sen Revises Equal OpportunityJOURNAL OF RELIGIOUS ETHICS, Issue 1 2002Harlan Beckley Although the concept of equal opportunity has received scant attention from theological ethics, it attracts widespread approval in the U.S. popular culture and has been examined extensively by contemporary moral philosophy. Amartya Sen's conception of capabilities as "freedom" or "real opportunity" corrects deficiencies in both popular and philosophical conceptions of equal opportunity that ignore interpersonal variations in mental, physical, and psychological abilities beyond agents' control. Recent theologically informed conceptions of love and common grace affirm and revise Sen's conception of equal capability as equal opportunity. The resulting understanding of equal opportunity is quite different from some uses of this concept and could be an important criterion for a just society. [source] Comparison of desipramine and citalopram treatments for depression in Parkinson's disease: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled studyMOVEMENT DISORDERS, Issue 6 2008David Devos MD Abstract Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disturbances in Parkinson's disease (PD). Recent reviews have highlighted the lack of controlled trials and the ensuing difficulty in formulating recommendations for antidepressant use in PD. We sought to establish whether antidepressants provide real benefits and whether tricyclic and selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants differ in their short-term efficacy, because the time to onset of therapeutic benefit remains an important criterion in depression. The short-term efficacy (after 14 and 30 days) of two antidepressants (desipramine, a predominantly noradrenergic reuptake inhibitor tricyclic and citalopram, a SSRI) was assessed in a double-blind, randomized, placebo- controlled study of 48 nondemented PD patients suffering from major depression. After 14 days, desipramine prompted an improvement in the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) score, compared with citalopram and placebo. Both antidepressants produced significant improvements in the MADRS score after 30 days. Mild adverse events were twice as frequent in the desipramine group as in the other groups. A predominantly noradrenergic tricyclic antidepressant induced a more intense short-term effect on parkinsonian depression than did an SSRI. However, desipramine's lower tolerability may outweigh its slight short-term clinical advantage. © 2008 Movement Disorder Society [source] Ultra scale-down studies of the effect of flow and impact conditions during E. coli cell processingBIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 4 2006G. Chan Abstract The ability to recover cells from a fermentation broth in an intact form can be an important criterion for determining the overall performance of a recovery and purification sequence. Disruption of the cells can lead to undesired contamination of an extracellular product with intracellular components and vice versa loss of intracellular products may occur. In particular, the value of directed location of a product in the periplasmic space of say Escherichia coli (E. coli) would be diminished by such premature non-selective cell disruption. Several options exist for cell recovery/removal; namely centrifugation, in batch or continuous configuration, filtration or membrane operations, and in selected cases expanded beds. The choice of operation is dependant on many variables including the impact on the overall process sequence. In all cases, the cells are exposed to shear stresses of varying levels and times and additionally such environments exist in ancillary operations such as pumping, pipe flow, and control valves. In this study, a small-scale device has been designed to expose cells to controlled levels of shear, time and impact in a way that seeks to mimic those effects that may occur during full-scale processes. The extent of cell breakage was found to be proportional to shear stress. An additional level of breakage occurred due to the jet impacting on the collecting surface. Here it was possible to correlate the additional breakage with the impact velocity, which is a function of the distance that the jet travels before meeting the collection surface and the initial jet velocity. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source] A new approach for modelling simultaneous storage and growth processes for activated sludge systems under aerobic conditionsBIOTECHNOLOGY & BIOENGINEERING, Issue 5 2005Gürkan Sin Abstract By critically evaluating previous models, a new mechanistic model is developed to describe simultaneous storage and growth processes occurring in activated sludge systems under aerobic conditions. Identifiability was considered an important criterion during the model development since it among others helps to increase the realiability and applicability of models to full-scale WWTPs. A second order model was proposed for description of the degradation of the storage products under famine conditions. The model is successfully calibrated by only using OUR data obtained from batch experiments. Calibrations were performed with biomass from full-scale WWTPs in Belgium and Spain. Predictions of the calibrated model were successfully confirmed using off-line PHB measurements, supporting the validity of the model. An iterative experimental design procedure was successfully applied and found to remarkably improve the parameter estimation accuracy for the growth on storage parameters K1 and K2, which used to have large confidence intervals when using standard experiments. The estimated biomass growth yield on substrate (0.58 mgCOD/mgCOD) is quite close to the theoretically expected range for heterotrophic growth. This became possible by properly accounting for the storage process. Moreover, the maximum growth rate was predicted in the range 0.7,1.3 per day. This range, albeit quite lower than the values reported for the growth-based ASM models, is believed to be more realistic. Finally, the new model is expected to better and more mechanistically describe simultaneous storage and growth activities of activated sludge systems and as such could contribute to improved design, operation and control of those systems. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, inc. [source] | |||||||||||||