Bridging Concept Research Articles

New analysis method to reduce the industrial energy requirements by heat-exchanger network retrofit: Part 2 – Stepwise and graphical approach

In the first part of this paper, concepts supporting a new analysis method to reduce energy consumption by heat-exchanger network (HEN) retrofit were presented. These include the definition of necessary conditions to achieve heat savings, which are expressed in the formulation of the bridge concept, the use of the Energy Transfer Diagram (ETD) to identify bridges, and a procedure to enumerate and evaluate these. In this second part, a graphical approach for the identification of exchanger configurations is presented, which can be used for modifications to the HEN to save energy or to reduce investment costs. A stepwise procedure for HEN retrofit is described; it includes identification of bridges, of actual modifications in the network to reduce the energy consumption, and of modifications to reduce the investment costs. Modifications to reduce the investment costs are classified by main categories. Examples are presented to illustrate each category and cover a broad spectrum of situations. The method has been applied for retrofitting the HEN of a kraft pulp mill, and it is found that the proposed approach has directly identified all possible heat-savings projects known in this industry. The method is practical, visual and user-friendly, and its principles can be used in optimization-based approaches.

Adaptive strategies in designing the simultaneous global drug development program

ABSTRACTMany methods have been proposed to account for the potential impact of ethnic/regional factors when extrapolating results from multiregional clinical trials (MRCTs) to targeted ethnic (TE) patients, i.e., “bridging.” Most of them either focused on TE patients in the MRCT (i.e., internal bridging) or a separate local clinical trial (LCT) (i.e., external bridging). Huang et al. (2012) integrated both bridging concepts in their method for the Simultaneous Global Drug Development Program (SGDDP) which designs both the MRCT and the LCT prospectively and combines patients in both trials by ethnic origin, i.e., TE vs. non-TE (NTE). The weighted Z test was used to combine information from TE and NTE patients to test with statistical rigor whether a new treatment is effective in the TE population. Practically, the MRCT is often completed before the LCT. Thus to increase the power for the SGDDP and/or obtain more informative data in TE patients, we may use the final results from the MRCT to re-evaluate initial assumptions (e.g., effect sizes, variances, weight), and modify the LCT accordingly. We discuss various adaptive strategies for the LCT such as sample size reassessment, population enrichment, endpoint change, and dose adjustment. As an example, we extend a popular adaptive design method to re-estimate the sample size for the LCT, and illustrate it for a normally distributed endpoint.

Flexural strengths and fibre efficiency of steel-fibre-reinforced, roller-compacted, polymer modified concrete

A new material suitable for the structural repair of concrete pavements has been developed at Coventry University exhibiting high flexural, shear and bond strengths and high resistance to reflection cracking, demonstrating also unique placeability and compactability properties.This article deals with the standard equivalent flexural strengths evaluated using the identical fibre bridging concept and the size effect. Correlation of flexural strengths for beams of different sizes was achieved and the efficiency of fibre in the mix was scrutinised. It was concluded that the efficiency was much higher in the new steel-fibre reinforced, roller compacted, polymer modified concrete (SFR–RC–PMC) mix than in conventional concrete. The high efficiency revealed by the fibre bridging law is mainly attributed to a lower water to cement ratio. It was also found that the fibre aspect ratio influences significantly the flexural performance of the new material. The very high flexural strength extracted from the SFR–RC–PMC, compared to conventional steel-fibre reinforced concrete is very favourable to worn concrete pavement rehabilitation.

A Three-Arm Current Comparator Bridge for Impedance Comparisons Over the Complex Plane

We present here the concept of three-arm current comparator impedance bridge, which allows one to perform comparisons among three unlike impedances. Its purpose is the calibration of impedances having arbitrary phase angles against calibrated nearly pure impedances. An analysis of the bridge optimal setting and proper operation is presented. To test the concept, a two-terminal-pair digitally assisted bridge has been realized; preliminary measurements of an air-core inductor and of an <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$RC$ </tex-math></inline-formula> network versus decadic resistance and capacitance standards, at kilohertz frequency, have been performed. The bridge measurements are compatible with previous knowledge of the standard values with relative deviations of parts in <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$10^{-5}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> .

A Place for Existential Ontology?: Emblems of Being and Implicit World-Projection

Abstract: Heidegger’s existential ontology has greatly influenced existential psychiatry and psychotherapy, yet opinions about the psychotherapeutic utility of an ontological perspective remain divided, especially in light of Heidegger’s negative reactions to misappropriation of his ontological analysis. The present discussion questions the universality of existential ontology, not to do away with it, but, rather, to ‘rehabilitate’ Binswanger’s purported ‘mistaken’ take on ontology and his much critiqued notion of “world-design” with Merleau-Ponty’s ideas of the ontological relevance of “emblems of Being.” The concept of world-design is considered here as a clinically illuminating notion that warrants revision and expansion, which I attempt with the concept of implicit world-projection and its relation to emblems of Being. This reformulation is intended to capture the ontologically world-defining meaning horizon and its relationship to the varying degrees of ontological security and insecurity, ontological robustness, sensitivity, and oversensitivity. This revised notion of emblematic implicit world-projection reaches beyond the confines of the pathological and can be situated within the larger context of relational theorizing. It can also serve as a bridging concept to contemporary reformulations of the unconscious as the “implicit.”

Developing and Marketing New Products in the Multicultural Global Environment:Recognizing and Managing Risks

The goal of this study is to help a multidisciplinary audience – product designers, engineers, business managers, marketers, etc. - better understand why the culture factor plays such an important role in contemporary marketing and why a development process of every new product – tangible or intangible – has to include cultural analysis of future customers. The paper reviews extant literature, discusses various concepts of cross-cultural research and bridges them with processes of development and marketing of innovative products. Analyses and research propositions consider sources of business risks and socio-economic costs of new product development and introduction to global markets. The study focuses on the challenges presented by the multicultural global environment related to differences in business ethics; negotiation styles; power of personal networks; and diversity of consumer needs and wants. Analysis of B2B, B2G and B2C markets is illustrated by examples from high tech and consumer goods industries.

A novel composite bridge for emergency disaster relief: Concept and verification

Owing to recent extreme climates, typhoons, floods, and earthquakes have become large natural disaster threats in Taiwan over the years. Such natural disasters have caused damage to some bridges, consequently isolating residential communities located on mountains, and hampering the ability to delivery emergency relief supplies to those communities. In order to provide quick emergency relief, the simple construction of a temporary bridge becomes critical for the transportation of food and medical supplies into the emergency disaster areas. While composite materials for footbridges and vehicular traffic applications have been widely used overseas, they are not suitable for disaster relief applications. The objective of this paper is to present a novel bridge structure for a portable, reusable, and lightweight bridge. This paper focuses on the design concept and experimental verification of a temporary composite bridge for disaster relief. Ultimately, it advocates composite bridges for disaster relief applications.

CT-guided Interstitial Brachytherapy of Hepatocellular Carcinoma before Liver Transplantation: an Equivalent Alternative to Transarterial Chemoembolization?

Transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is established as bridging therapy of HCC listed for transplantation (LT). CT-guided brachytherapy (CTB) has not been evaluated as a bridging concept. We compared CTB and TACE for bridging before LT in HCC patients. Twelve patients with HCC received LT after CTB (minimal tumour dose, 15-20Gy). Patients were matched (CTB:TACE, 1:2) by sex, age, number and size of lesions, and underlying liver disease with patients who received TACE before transplantation. Study endpoints were extent of necrosis at histopathology and recurrence rate after OLT. There were no significant differences between the CTB and TACE groups regarding Child-Pugh category (p = 0.732), AFP (0.765), time on waiting list (p = 0.659), number (p = 0.698) and size (p = 0.853) of HCC lesions, fulfilment of Milan-criteria (p = 0.638), or previous liver-specific treatments. CTB achieved higher tumour necrosis rates than TACE (p = 0.018). The 1- and 3-year recurrence rate in the CTB group was 10 and 10% vs. TACE, 14 and 30% (p = 0.292). Our data show comparable or even better response and post-LT recurrence rates of CTB compared to TACE for treating HCC in patients prior to LT. CTB should be further evaluated as an alternative bridging modality, especially for patients not suited for TACE. • CT-guided interstitial brachytherapy (CTB) is a promising alternative to transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). • CTB instead of TACE is possible for bridging to liver transplantation in HCC patients. • HCC recurrence was not associated with CTB despite potential tumour seeding.

Exploring Ambivalence in Family Ties: Progress and Prospects

The 2002 exchange on ambivalence in the Journal of Marriage and Family (Vol. 64, No. 3), published under the editorship of Alexis Walker, prompted an impressive array of research on family ties, in particular intergenerational relationships. Following a discussion of the concept's theoretical underpinnings, the author argues that advancing the concept of ambivalence rests on realizing its multilevel potential by addressing the interplay of shifting contradictions experienced by individuals and in relationships and embedded in social institutions and in macro‐level arrangements and processes. She considers progress and limitations in a critical review of predominant applications of ambivalence and then investigates research that advances ambivalence as a bridging concept across multiple levels of analysis. Work on atypical family ties, dependency, contradictory cultural expectations due to migration and social change, families and the welfare state, and on climate change and disability promotes the multilevel potential of ambivalence and points to ways to advance its promise in theory and practice.

Effect of Temperature Variation and Type of Embankment Soil on Integral Abutment Bridges in Sudan

The Integral-Abutment Bridge (IAB) concept was developed at least as far back as the 1930s to solve longterm structural problems that can occur with conventional bridge designs. Due to limited funding sources for bridge maintenance, it is desirable to establish strategies for eliminating joints as much as possible and converting/retrofitting bridges with troublesome joints to jointless design. IABs or jointless bridges have many advantages over full height abutment or stub abutment bridges. They eliminate expansion joints in bridge superstructures. They also simplify design, detailing, and construction. In spite of many of these recognized benefits, the behavior of such structures is not yet fully understood, and nationally adopted design criteria are still lacking. This paper presents results of finite element analysis of four IABs at Kassala State (Sudan), the four bridges are considered one of the first fully integral bridges designed and constructed in Sudan. The structural system adopted for these bridges is: RC walls on single row of piles at abutments and piers; hollow-core RC slab at deck. The temperature change is varied between 10°C and 50°C and three types of locally available soil are applied behind the abutments. The effects of varying temperature and embankment soil type in the deflection, maximum bending moments, and maximum shear forces are presented and discussed. The effect of temperature change and bridge length in the bridge forces is also presented; Useful comments on the optimum IAB length to be locally adopted are suggested.

Getting into the Pipeline: Summer Bridge as a Pathway to College Success

INTRODUCTIONLeading thinkers and most everyone else agree that education beyond high school is a necessity for today's youth, which translates into a duty to ensure not only a passageway to college but one that leads to success upon arrival. As Hoffman, Vargas, and Santos (2008) asserted, If everyone needs an education through two years of college or the equivalent, then the nation has an obligation to provide a far more certain pathway for postsecondary success than it does now. While all postsecondary institutions should assume this charge, Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) face more specifically challenging circumstances. HBCUs face increasing challenges to one of their core missions of serving a population of students that includes a significant number who are underprepared-academically and otherwise-for the challenges of college life and academic success. Concomitant with the reality that an ever-changing society has dismantled what one university describes as the HBCU's monopoly on Black talent exists the realization that students will enter the university at various stages of preparedness. This same university suggests that the prevailing notion of academic under-preparedness as an obstacle to success should be re-focused as strategic interventions that will diminish impediments to academic achievement (Winston-Salem State University, 2010). The comprehensive summer bridge concept is one of those interventions.Transition programs in their various forms are nothing new to higher education and are recognized as one of the oldest forms of channeling at-risk, under-prepared, and under-represented students toward college success. Also referred to as pipeline summer bridge programs range in form from early intervention models to comprehensive summer programs designed to bridge the high school to college gap (Strayhorn, 2011). While strengthening academic success is nearly always a primary goal with bridge programs, especially programs offered the summer prior to the freshman year, comprehensive programs also focus heavily on affective factors and development of soft skills such as time management often associated with college success (Zhang & Smith, 2011). Whether such initiatives take the form of the brief pre-matriculation activity aimed at introducing students to the college environment or the comprehensive, residential program with college courses as the center, the summer bridge program is gaining much attention as a tool to address college readiness. As an illustration of this heightened focus, in its strategic plan through 2018, the University of North Carolina General Administration (UNCGA, 2013a) lists the expansion of summer bridge programs among its strategies to increase its percentage of college-educated citizens in the state. Specifically, the plan acknowledges the effectiveness of well-designed and implemented summer bridge programs as a retention strategy. Proposed additional program investments would increase annual participation from 300 to 1,600 participants with a projected 3,000 additional graduates over 10 years (UNCGA, 2013b).North Carolina's university system specifically points to the success of long-standing bridge programs, such as the one operated at Fayetteville State University, a University of North Carolina (UNC) constituent institution, for its track record of improving retention from 6 to 13 percentage points in the at-risk population it serves (UNCGA, 2013b). In 2008, UNCGA launched an initiative referred to as the UNC Academic Summer Bridge and Retention Program, with the summer of 2012 marking the fifth consecutive year of the program. The overall goal of Summer Bridge is to provide an intensive and rigorous summer residential program specifically designed for first-generation students and students requiring additional academic preparation in order to successfully transition from high school to the university setting. The program design and guidelines were established at the UNC system level. …

The Community Story, Relationality and Process: Bridging Tools for Researching Local Knowledge in a Peri‐urban Township

AbstractIn intervening in social challenges impacting local communities, Western forms of dispute/conflict resolution have been critiqued for imparting norms, values and practices that marginalise worldviews of indigenous people. From a decolonizing stance, indigenous scholars have emphasised the need for recovery of ‘lost’ values, beliefs and practices to advance indigenous knowledge. We highlight some of the conceptual challenges associated with applying ‘indigenous knowledge’ and culture‐specific ‘indigenous methodologies’ to a marginalised peri‐urban, ethnically plural township community situated on the outskirts of Johannesburg, South Africa. In embracing the mutuality of indigenous and Western knowledge forms, we explore three elements: the community story, relationality and process in relation to initial engagements with our study community. We attempt to transcend the dualism between ‘Western’ epistemologies and ‘indigenous knowledge’ through these ‘bridging concepts’. What is offered is not a formula or model but an orientation that aims to foster mutual learning through collaborative partnerships within and between communities and researchers with a view to inspiring possibilities for creative and meaningful solutions for violence prevention and dispute/conflict resolution. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley &amp; Sons, Ltd.

Beyond virtuality: from engagement platforms to engagement ecosystems

Purpose– Understanding the role and implications of information and communication technology (ICT) in service is the key research priority for service science and the management of service quality. The purpose of this paper is to address this priority by providing insights into the role of “engagement platforms” (EPs), physical or virtual customer touch points where actors exchange resources and co-create value. Despite an emerging body of literature that emphasizes the fit between engagement and technology-enabled service contexts, EPs remain ill-defined. Specifically, little is known about the particular types of EPs, their characteristics, and implications for the performance of service ecosystems and managing service quality.Design/methodology/approach– By drawing on two illustrative case studies, the authors investigate and theorize about the characteristics and dynamics of EPs in virtual/physical contexts, and identify if, how and to what extent configurations of EPs may enhance resource exchange within and across service ecosystems.Findings– By building on emerging research at the service/engagement interface, the paper introduces the notion of the “engagement ecosystem,” as a configuration of individual, mutually dependent EPs that represent specific interactivity-facilitative loci. The paper explicates the relevance of the model and highlight opportunities for future research in this emerging field of inquiry.Research limitations/implications– The work addresses the call for research at the intersection of ICT and service science through development and application of the engagement ecosystem concept. The theorizing process draws on two illustrative case studies, and thereby provides a theoretical contribution and foundation for future research in this emerging area.Practical implications– The authors guide managerial decision-making regarding the implementation, adoption, and utilization of engagement ecosystems. Furthermore, the nature of “engagement” as a bridging concept implies that the work can help managers to operationalize service-centric thinking.Originality/value– By showing how individual EPs form engagement ecosystems, the paper bridges theory and practice, and offers new insight in the realm of practical application of the S-D logic.

The Historical Narration of Rights in South Africa: Past, Present, and Future Tense

Human rights and cultural heritage emerge within different contexts of national, cosmopolitan, and local practice. The Liberation Heritage Route in South Africa is proposed at the cosmopolitan level, enacted at the national level, and contested at the informal, urban level. The concept of liberation bridges these different contexts for human rights in cultural heritage, illustrating different concepts of freedom and rights at play within heritage. Development and new social movements in particular demonstrate diverging contexts for imaging heritage as a site of socio-economic capacitation or recognition. The example of the Liberation Heritage Route underscores the importance of specifying what the concept of cultural rights actually capacitates in terms of concrete delivery. Because the discourse of human rights tends to exceed the mechanisms of its implementation, a heritage of human rights should start from a critical awareness of how the recognition of rights practices resonates with local communities.

Technology, Learning, and Innovation in Textile Arts: Integrating Archaeological and Ethnographic Perspectives

Extensive archaeological basketry and textile assemblages recovered from throughout western North America have facilitated development of some of the longest and most well-dated chronologies for these crafts in the world. This situation provides a unique opportunity to study continuity and change in these dynamic but highly perishable craft traditions over many millennia. Drawing on the archaeological database and ethnographic literature, this contribution considers factors that affect the spread of, and innovation in, textile techniques and forms through time and space. Social learning emerges as an important concept that allows us to contextualize craft conservatism and change, and also provides a key bridging concept for the study of past social boundaries and identities. Improving our knowledge of the social learning context of textile production will be crucial to future research, but enhancing this understanding will require directed technological, experimental, and ethnoarchaeological research.

Evaluation of the recombinant tissue plasminogen activator pretreatment in acute stroke patients with large vessel occlusions treated with the direct bridging approach. Is it worth the effort?

The direct bridging concept in acute stroke treatment combines intravenous thrombolysis (IVT) and endovascular treatment (EVT). The frequency and extent of reperfusion obtained already due to IVT were evaluated. Additionally undesired events and the clinical outcome were analysed. Fifty-seven acute stroke patients treated with direct bridging were analysed for this study. The response to IVT was evaluated according to the modified Thrombolysis in Cerebral Infarction scale (m-TICI). IVT responders (m-TICI ≥2B in digital subtraction angiography) were compared with IVT non-responders (m-TICI <2B in digital subtraction angiography) with respect to clinical outcome and occurrence of undesired events. Fourteen patients (25%) got a change from TICI 0 to ≥2B due to IVT alone. There were otherwise no differences between the IVT responders and IVT non-responders. Intravenous thrombolysis pretreatment in the context of the bridging approach contributes substantially to revascularization.

On possible applications of smart structures controlled by self-stress

Civil Engineering (CE) is one of the many fields of possible implementation of smart or intelligent technologies. The present paper is an attempt to specify and estimate problems and areas of CE suitable for the application of such technologies, with the focus on Bridge Engineering (BE). Precise definitions, explanations and classifications of terms used in smart technique are introduced and components of smart systems are defined. Analogies between smart systems and biological ones are indicated. The paper presents some of the research projects carried out in the field of CE, according to the current state-of-the-art. Concepts of smart bridges are proposed and several examples of structural control performed on space trusses and tensegrity structures with self-stress are introduced.Examples of structural control presented in the paper show that characteristic displacements of the analysed structures may be reduced by changing the prestressing force applied to the single modules, which are a part of the structure. Results of the performed analysis indicate that tensegrity structures are much more prone to the changes in the value of prestressing force than truss structures, which makes them a promising solution as far as structural control is concerned.

The Development Status of Bridge without Expansion Joint

This paper introduces the concept of jointless bridge, classification, characteristics and use of the existing problems, and seamless bridge between home and abroad in the course of development and the current situation, Summary analysis of its technical difficulties and influencing factors.

Value-in-Context of Healthcare: What Human Factors Differentiate Quality of Nursing Services?

With social issues such as an aging society and the sustainability of health service systems becoming of greater concern, decision makers in health service sectors need to identify the human factors that differentiate the performance of health service professionals such as nurses. However, the fact remains that a nursing shortage has hindered such efforts in many countries. What brings about value in nursing services? How is value cocreated in clinical settings by nurses, patients, and other agents? Given that service is the application of competencies for the benefit of another entity, this work is an attempt to identify the typology of competencies as operant resources where value is idiosyncratic, experiential, contextual, and meaning-laden. In so doing, this paper explores meaningful relations among service quality, human competency, and contextualization. Therefore, the objective of this study, conducted in one of the leading university hospitals that employs 1,448 nurses, and with the support of the Japanese government, was to identify the characteristics of human activity systems, focusing on the relationships between service quality, human competency, and value-in-context. This work used the original transcript text obtained by combining the critical incident technique and behavioral event interview approaches. After collecting qualitative data, text coding was performed on the interview transcripts. The findings of the present work contribute to practitioners and theoreticians by providing a bridging concept between human resources management and service systems management. First, our ethnographical research reveals that nurses in different role groups applied different sets of competencies in their diverse job contexts, where there exist commonly applied differentiating competencies as well as other threshold competencies. Second, in an attempt to explore the features of value cocreation, this paper explores the relationship between competencies in action and dynamic contexts translation. Third, to address value cocreation systems in value-in-contexts focusing on nursing and caring services, this paper proposes a meta value-in-context translational model.

The evolution of human nature and its implications for politics: a critique

This paper examines the tradition of attempts to support particular political or social views by referring to biological knowledge about human nature. It is argued that such arguments involve two steps, an argument from biological knowledge to general claims about human nature, and a normative argument from such general claims to the desirability of a particular social order. The concept of human nature serves as a bridge concept connecting these argumentative steps. Furthermore it is argued that both argumentative steps face serious problems, as the first argument stands on a weak biological basis and the second argument is unable to arbitrate between competing political or social positions. By examining four examples of arguments that attempt to connect biological knowledge to political/social views (by Peter Kropotkin, Peter Singer, Richard Alexander and Larry Arnhart) it is shown what such arguments can achieve, and what not. It is concluded that the proper role of arguments from biology to society is to serve as compatibility checks on our political, economic, and societal views, but not to provide actual support for some political/social views over competing ones.