Funding strategy has often been the determinant factor in the level of success for social entrepreneurships. The strategy could be a preference for internally generated revenue, externally generated revenue or a combination of the two. Interestingly, scarcity of resources has always been ‘a clog in the wheel’ of meaningful execution of projects irrespective of the funding model a social entrepreneur chooses. Through a review of existing literatures, this paper weighs the implications of choosing either externally generated revenue or internally generated revenue; specifically contextualizing the study to US. More so, it attempts to find out which of the two models would ensure optimum productivity, given that scarcity of resources would hamper the chances of effectively running the two models simultaneously. To arrive at a ‘plausible’ response, principles of resource valuation become vital in determining the costs and benefits associated with each model of funding. Consequently, the findings show that though both internally and externally generated revenue are sine qua non to an effective and efficient production of social values, internally generated revenue ensures better optimum production than externally generated revenue.

The design and implementation of self-powered, low power implant microcontroller, with wireless data transmitter system that captures data as subcutaneous bio-sensing platform has been achieved with glucose fuel cell (GFC) energy harvesting power solution. Data transfer is unidirectional, implant to reader and is initiated by a single transmission from the external reader. The implant's memory contents are transmitted as a stream of wireless pulses to the reader. This work explored two different approaches on current technologies used for designing self-powered bio medical devices (BMDs) and active implantable medical devices (IMDs), their processing, sampling data, transmission of data and energy hasting powering techniques with a view to identifying state-of-the art technologies and methods to improve the long-term powering and recharging of IMDs via a highly safe, efficient and convenient way. The designed low power implant microcontroller, with wireless data transmitter system combines glucose energy harvesting technique by using materials with efficient catalyst capabilities based on platinum nanoparticles supported on Vulcan carbon cloth (PtVCC) as a cathode electrode for GFC configuration, while plain Platinum (Pt) mesh/sheet acted as anode. The PtVCC and Pt electro-reaction, catalytic activities and stability resulted in a design of a direct GFC with high output voltage and current, >0.4V and >300μA respectively per cell, and increased this voltage to value >4V, to power the implant system, by using a voltage booster; direct current to direct current (DC-DC) converter circuit, and a rechargeable battery. The innovative self-powered bio-sensing platform integrating GFC design, meets the self-powered IMDs expectations in terms of simplified fabrication and materials that allows one-compartment design that can directly be placed on the surface of medical implant to provide sufficient output power boosted by DC-DC converter to produced higher output voltage ten times greater than the input value, enough to power most efficient electronic devices. This research therefore proposes the practicability and potential of designing and implementing a wireless bio sensor system powered by an energy harvesting solution, based on GFC to produce a proof-of-concept design system and integration, including power management and data communication (sampling and transmission) platform suitable for self-low-powered periodically-activated IMD.

<p>The essay discusses a process of change at probationservice office. The purpose of the change was to decrease specialisation and increase flexibility of the probation officers. The change encountered several problems where the correctional supervisor was percieved to act unsurely and indecisively whilst parts of the staff constructed and implimented several courses of action to prevent the process of change.</p> / <p>Uppsatsen behandlar en förändringsprocess på ett frivårdskontor. Förändringen syftade till att minska specialiseringen och öka flexibiliteten hos frivårdsinspektörerna. Förändringsprocessen stötte på flera problem där kriminalvårdsinspektören upplevdes agera osäkert och veligt samtidigt som delar av personalgruppen konstruerade och använde sig av flertalet handlingsstrategier för att motverka förändringen.</p>

The essay discusses a process of change at probationservice office. The purpose of the change was to decrease specialisation and increase flexibility of the probation officers. The change encountered several problems where the correctional supervisor was percieved to act unsurely and indecisively whilst parts of the staff constructed and implimented several courses of action to prevent the process of change. / Uppsatsen behandlar en förändringsprocess på ett frivårdskontor. Förändringen syftade till att minska specialiseringen och öka flexibiliteten hos frivårdsinspektörerna. Förändringsprocessen stötte på flera problem där kriminalvårdsinspektören upplevdes agera osäkert och veligt samtidigt som delar av personalgruppen konstruerade och använde sig av flertalet handlingsstrategier för att motverka förändringen.

Aging bridges in the United States demand effective, efficient, and economical strengthening techniques to meet future traffic requirements. One such technique is to bond steel or fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) plates to the tension faces of reinforced concrete bridge beams with adhesives to strengthen them in flexure. However, beams that have been flexurally strengthened in this manner often fail prematurely, in particular by plate end peeling. The benefits of flexural strengthening by externally bonded reinforcement can only be fully realized by preventing premature failure modes so as to allow the development of composite action between the beam and the external reinforcement. With this goal in mind, several critical limit states of externally reinforced beams are examined in this thesis. Models developed by Roberts (1989) and by Colotti, Spadea, and Swamy (2004) that predict premature plate end debonding are examined in depth using data from previously conducted experimental programs that employed both steel and FRP external reinforcement. In addition, various parameters of the concrete beam, adhesive, and external reinforcement are analyzed in each model to determine the role of each parameter in failure prediction. A critical appraisal of the performance of the models using existing experimental data leads to the selection of the Roberts (1989) model. This model is used to develop recommended design guidelines for flexurally strengthening reinforced concrete bridge beams with externally bonded FRP plates and for preventing premature plate peeling.

No description available.

<div> <p>Due to harsh environmental conditions, the deterioration of prestressed concrete bridge girders is a commonly observed phenomenon in Indiana and much of the Midwest. Concordantly, one widely observed damage scenario is deteriorated end regions of prestressed concrete girders. Damaged or failed expansion joints expose prestressed concrete girder end regions to chloride-laden water, resulting in a corrosive environment in which reinforcement section loss and concrete spalling can occur. For bridges experiencing this type of deterioration, action is needed to ensure the structure remains safe and serviceable. As such, an experimental program was developed to investigate the effectiveness of three repair techniques in restoring the structural behavior of prestressed concrete bridge girders with end region deterioration. The three examined repair techniques are (i) an externally bonded fiber reinforced polymer (FRP) system, (ii) a near-surface-mounted (NSM) FRP system, and (iii) a concrete supplemental diaphragm. Additionally, installation procedures for the three end region repair techniques were developed. Results, conclusions, and recommendations from the experimental program are presented to help advise best practices for implementing end region repair techniques in the field. </p> </div> <br>

No description available.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / This thesis concentrates on the study of hybrid gas journal bearings (bearings with externally pressurized mass addition). It differs from most work in that it goes back to “basics” to explore the hydrodynamic phenomena in the bearing gap. The thesis compares geometrically identical bearings with 2 configurations of external pressurization, porous liners where mass-addition compensation is varied by varying the liner’s permeability, and bushings with 2 rows of 6 feedholes where the mass-addition compensation is varied by the feedhole diameter. Experimentally, prototype bearings with mass-addition compensation that spans 2 orders of magnitude with differing clearances are built and their aerostatic properties and mass addition characteristics are thoroughly tested. The fundamental equations for compressible, laminar, Poiseuille flow are used to suggest how the mass flow “compensation” should be mathematically modeled. This is back-checked against the experimental mass flow measurements and is used to determine a mass-addition compensation parameter (called Kmeas) for each prototype bushing. In so doing, the methodology of modeling and measuring the mass addition in a hybrid gas bearing is re-examined and an innovative, practical, and simple method is found that makes it possible to make an “apples-to-apples” comparison between different configurations of external pressurization. This mass addition model is used in conjunction with the Reynolds equation to perform theory-based numerical analysis of virtual hybrid gas journal bearings (CFD experiments). The first CFD experiments performed use virtual bearings modeled to be identical to the experimental prototypes and replicate the experimental work. The results are compared and the CFD model is validated. The ontological significance of appropriate dimensionless similitude parameters is re-examined and a, previously lacking, complete set of similitude factors is found for hybrid bearings. A new practical method is developed to study in unprecedented detail the aerostatic component of the hybrid bearings. It is used to definitively compare the feedhole bearings to the porous liner bearings. The hydrostatic bearing efficiency (HBE) is defined and it is determined that the maximum achievable hydrostatic bearing efficiency (MAHBE) is determined solely by the bearing’s mass addition configuration. The MAHBE of the porous liner bearings is determined to be over 5 times that of the feedhole bearings. The method also presents a means to tune the Kmeas to the clearance to achieve the MAHBE as well as giving a complete mapping of the hitherto misunderstood complex shapes of aerostatic load versus radial deflection curves. This method also rediscovers the obscure phenomenon of static instability which is called in this thesis the “near surface effect” and appears to be the first work to present a practical method to predict the range of static instability and quantify its resultant stiffness fall-off. It determines that porous liner type bearings are not subject to the phenomenon which appears for feedhole type bearings when the clearance exceeds a critical value relative to its mass-addition compensation. The standing pressure waves of hydrostatic and hybrid bearings with the 2 configurations of external pressurization as well as a geometrically identical hydrodynamic bearing are studied in detail under the methodology of the “CFD microscope”. This method is used to characterize and identify the development, growth, and movement of the pressure wave extrema with increased hydrodynamic action (either increasing speed or increasing eccentricity). This method is also used to determine the “cause” of the “near surface effect”. A gedanken experiment is performed based on these results which indicates that a bearing with a “stronger aerostatic strength” component should be more stable than one with a low aerostatic strength component. Numerical instability “speed limits” are found that are also related to the hydrostatic strength of the bearing. The local conditions in the standing waves are characterized in terms of their local Mach number, Knudsen number, Reynolds number, and Taylor Number. It is concluded that low eccentricity bearing whirl can be attributed to the off load-line orientation of the bearing load force caused by the overlay of the hydrodynamic bearing standing wave onto the hydrostatic bearing wave of the hybrid bearing, whereas it is hypothesized that aperiodic and random self-excited vibration which occurs at high eccentricity, as reported in the literature, is probably due to shock waves, turbulence, near surface effect, and slip at local areas of the standing wave.

For the transport of their spacecraft from the vehicle assembly building to the launch pads at Kennedy Space Centre, Florida, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is using two special crawler transporters since 1965. First developed for the Saturn V rocket the crawler transporters have been sufficient for all following generations of space ships so far. But for the new generation of Orionspacecraft which is under development now, a load capacity increase for the crawler transporter of plus 50% was necessary. For this task Hunger Hydraulik did develop new jacking, equalizing and levelling (JEL) cylinders with sufficient load capacity but also with some new features to improve the availability, reliability and safety of this system. After design approval and manufacture of the cylinders they have been tested in a special developed one-to-one scale dynamic test rig and after passing this the cylinders had to prove their performance in the crawler transporter itself. This article describes the general application and introduces the technical requirements of this project as well as the realized solution.