Flexible Rate Research Articles

Aging Characteristics of Plant Hot-Mix Recycled Asphalt and Its Induced Aging on New Asphalt

In order to explore the aging process and mechanism of new and old asphalt in plant hot-mix recycled asphalt mixture during the mixing and use process, the liquid viscosity test and low-temperature bending creep test are carried out to test the dynamic viscosity, stiffness modulus, creep rate, and low-temperature flexibility of the matrix asphalt, recycled asphalt, and old and new asphalt after rolling thin film oven test (RTFOT) aging and pressurized aging vessel (PAV) aging. The macroscopic performance attenuation law of new and old asphalt during the aging process in thermal regeneration is compared and analyzed. After that, the aging process and mechanism of new and old asphalt are explored by infrared spectroscopy and differential calorimetric analysis scanning. The results show that RTFOT aging and PAV aging make the viscosity of recycled asphalt rise significantly and the low temperature performance decline rapidly. After RTFOT aging and PAV aging of new and old asphalt, the dynamic viscosity and low-temperature performance change range is much higher than that of the matrix asphalt. Some technical indicators are even closer to the recycled asphalt after aging, which proves that its aging speed is faster than that of the matrix asphalt. Meanwhile, the results of infrared spectroscopy and differential scanning calorimetry analysis show that in addition to the independent aging of new asphalt and recycled asphalt, there is also a chemical effect between them–that is, some active groups in recycled asphalt have a more obvious promotion effect on the aging process of new asphalt, here called “induced aging”. This induced aging changes the aging mechanism of the matrix asphalt by changing the aging process of it, which greatly limits the popularization and application of thermal regeneration technology.

TREATMENT OF NON-SPECIFIC CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN: RESISTANCE TRAINING WITH OR WITHOUT USING WEIGHTS?

ABSTRACT Introduction: Dysfunction of the core muscles contributes to the persistence of pain in patients with chronic low back pain. Evidence shows that the active approach is beneficial in the rehabilitation of these patients. However, there is uncertainty as to the most effective methods or form of exercise, as the literature offers little guidance in this regard. Objective: To analyze and compare the impact on quality of life, function, flexibility, abdominal strength and abdominal fat rate in patients with non-specific chronic low back pain after a program of resistance training using two different forms of exercise. Methods: Thirty individuals, aged between 18 and 65 years, participated in the study. Twenty performed physical training program twice a week for eight weeks, and ten did not perform any physical exercises, but received guidance and pain relief. The physically active individuals were randomly divided in two groups and received similar resistance training, focusing on the same muscle groups. Ten performed training with dumbbells and bodybuilding machines (TRCP) and ten did not use this equipment (TRSP). All were assessed before and after the intervention, through questionnaires on quality of life and function, and tests for flexibility, abdominal strength and measurement of the abdominal fat rate. Results: In the intra-group comparison (initial vs eight weeks), there were no significant differences in quality of life in any of the groups. However, regarding function, the three groups showed significant improvement, with TRSP showing the best evolution. For flexibility and abdominal strength gain, TRCP showed the best evolution in both instruments. For decrease in abdominal fat rate, only TRCP showed significant differences. In the intergroup comparison, there were no significant differences for any of the evaluated outcomes. Conclusion: The two exercise programs were effective in improving function, flexibility and abdominal strength in patients with chronic, non-specific low back pain. However, there were no statistically significant differences in any of the outcomes in the comparison between groups. Level evidence II, Comparative prospective study.

Performance measurement of Tempeh crackers supply chain management using Halal criteria on SCOR Model

Currently, the Indonesian business world is still dominated by Small and Medium Enterprises (SME). The number of SME has reached more than 26 million businesses, with Sumatera Utara being the province with the fourth largest number of SME in Indonesia. Every SME that produces halal products needs to measure its production performance by considering halal criteria to find out and measure the implementation of Islamic principles in product processing. There are 15 Key Performance Indicators used in measuring performance with SCOR Model and 6 of them are related to halal, namely Halal MUI label, Halal raw material, Order received damage free, Accuracy payment to suppliers, Appropriate in paying salaries, and number of defective products. Final performance of Tempeh SME is 45.94; which shows the performance of SME is still in a marginal condition. Based on the identification with the traffic light system, out of 15 KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) there are 7 KPIs that have a red color which indicates that repairing efforts are needed, namely: meetings with customers, MUI halal labels, number of defective products, flexibility in product manufacturing, equipment life, complain rate, and product replacement time.

Flexible Multilevel Coding with Concatenated Polar-Staircase Codes for M-QAM

In this work, a multilevel coding (MLC) based coded modulation scheme with two degrees of freedom in rate flexibility is proposed and compared with a bit-interleaved coded modulation (BICM) scheme from a performance versus complexity perspective. The proposed MLC scheme is based on a rate flexible inner soft-decision polar code and utilizes an outer hard-decision staircase code structure as in the 400ZR concatenated forward error-correcting code. The performance of the MLC scheme is investigated for a range of inner code lengths, inner decoder list sizes, and signaling with 16 and 64 quadrature amplitude modulation, respectively. The MLC is designed such that a portion of the staircase encoded bits can bypass the inner code. The number of required inner soft-decision decoders can thus be reduced, thereby saving computational complexity. The proposed MLC scheme simultaneously offers up to a 53.7% reduction in the number of inner decoders and up to 0.55 dB of performance improvement when compared with the similar BICM approach.

An Analysis of the fastest growing Indian economy facing the situation of unemployment-A Dichotomy

Classical economist believed that full employment was a normal situation in the economy- in other words all those persons, who are qualified to work, willing to work and able to work at the current wage rate, get the job without any considerable delay. Supply could create its own demand, hence there was no need for any kind of Govt. Intervention in the economic affairs of any economy (Production Arises Due to Joint Actions of all the factors of Production but labour is the most important) If disequilibrium exists between the forces of demand and supply conditions of labour, commodity and savings, it could be automatically adjusted with the flexibility of wage rate, price and interest rate. The real wage rate is determined at a point where the demand of labour is equal to supply of labour. According to Pigou, decline in Money wages increases the volume of employment through reduction in cost and prices of Goods, (Since prices do not respond in the same proportion, therefore real wage also declines with the fall in nominal wage rate) During the great depression of thirties, workers were willing to accept a nominal wage cut but volume of employment was constantly declining Keynes came on this juncture and gave his macro-economic analysis wages are not only a part of the cost of production but also the income of the workers. This reduces the level of aggregate demand and hence volume of employment. Psychologically nobody wants money wage to be cut (neither it is theoretically sound, nor practically possible). In almost all countries laws have been formulated for minimum wages, unemployment insurance, sickness, maternity benefits and a number of other social security measures (Transfer payments). UN report (2010 to 2019) shows that working population (population between the age 15-64) is 67% percent and on the other side, India has become a fastest growing economy in the world, but jobs are not increasing Fundamentally when an economy grows it means output and employment both the variables respond in the positive direction An attempt has been made to examine this mismatch /dichotomy in this research paper.

3D anisotropic modeling and identification for airborne EM systems based on the spectral-element method

The airborne electromagnetic (AEM) method has a high sampling rate and survey flexibility. However, traditional numerical modeling approaches must use high-resolution physical grids to guarantee modeling accuracy, especially for complex geological structures such as anisotropic earth. This can lead to huge computational costs. To solve this problem, we propose a spectral-element (SE) method for 3D AEM anisotropic modeling, which combines the advantages of spectral and finite-element methods. Thus, the SE method has accuracy as high as that of the spectral method and the ability to model complex geology inherited from the finite-element method. The SE method can improve the modeling accuracy within discrete grids and reduce the dependence of modeling results on the grids. This helps achieve high-accuracy anisotropic AEM modeling. We first introduced a rotating tensor of anisotropic conductivity to Maxwell’s equations and described the electrical field via SE basis functions based on GLL interpolation polynomials. We used the Galerkin weighted residual method to establish the linear equation system for the SE method, and we took a vertical magnetic dipole as the transmission source for our AEM modeling. We then applied fourth-order SE calculations with coarse physical grids to check the accuracy of our modeling results against a 1D semi-analytical solution for an anisotropic half-space model and verified the high accuracy of the SE. Moreover, we conducted AEM modeling for different anisotropic 3D abnormal bodies using two physical grid scales and three orders of SE to obtain the convergence conditions for different anisotropic abnormal bodies. Finally, we studied the identification of anisotropy for single anisotropic abnormal bodies, anisotropic surrounding rock, and single anisotropic abnormal body embedded in an anisotropic surrounding rock. This approach will play a key role in the inversion and interpretation of AEM data collected in regions with anisotropic geology.

Solar Radiation during Rewarming from Torpor in Elephant Shrews: Supplementation or Substitution of Endogenous Heat Production?

Many small mammals bask in the sun during rewarming from heterothermy, but the implications of this behaviour for their energy balance remain little understood. Specifically, it remains unclear whether solar radiation supplements endogenous metabolic thermogenesis (i.e., rewarming occurs through the additive effects of internally-produced and external heat), or whether solar radiation reduces the energy required to rewarm by substituting (i.e, replacing) metabolic heat production. To address this question, we examined patterns of torpor and rewarming rates in eastern rock elephant shrews (Elephantulus myurus) housed in outdoor cages with access to either natural levels of solar radiation or levels that were experimentally reduced by means of shade cloth. We also tested whether acclimation to solar radiation availability was manifested via phenotypic flexibility in basal metabolic rate (BMR), non-shivering thermogenesis (NST) capacity and/or summit metabolism (Msum). Rewarming rates varied significantly among treatments, with elephant shrews experiencing natural solar radiation levels rewarming faster than conspecifics experiencing solar radiation levels equivalent to approximately 20% or 40% of natural levels. BMR differed significantly between individuals experiencing natural levels of solar radiation and conspecifics experiencing approximately 20% of natural levels, but no between-treatment difference was evident for NST capacity or Msum. The positive relationship between solar radiation availability and rewarming rate, together with the absence of acclimation in maximum non-shivering and total heat production capacities, suggests that under the conditions of this study solar radiation supplemented rather than substituted metabolic thermogenesis as a source of heat during rewarming from heterothermy.

Exercise, Immune System and Circadian Rhythm

Copyright: © 2015 Boukelia B. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Abnormal circadian rhythms have been linked to illnesses such as diabetes, depression [1], bipolar disorder [2], seasonal affective disorder (SAD) [3] and even obesity [4]. Furthermore, circadian rhythms can affect body function and health due to sleep-wake cycles, body temperature [5], hormone release [6], and other important body functions. More recent studies have investigated other performance parameters that have also been found to possess a circadian rhythmicity, such as, stroke volume, cardiac output, blood pressure, vascular blood flow, metabolic rate, sweat rate and trunk flexibility [7].

Performance of RAKE-LMMSE Receivers in Wideband Communication Systems

High speed multimedia services with flexible data rate are main cause of popularity of 3 G WCDMA. WCDMA air interface of UMTS has the bandwidth of 5 MHz and chip rate of 3.84 Mcps. The flexibility in data rate is achieved by varying the length of its spreading code. WCDMA supports seamless connections of dynamic data rate ranging from 15 Kbps to 1 Mbps and respective spreading factors are 256 and 4 respectively for indoor and outdoor applications. The conventional RAKE receiver is near far and interference limited. Its performance at high data is limited due to short spreading factor of a code. A simple MIMO receiver structure of LMMSE in downlink asynchronous direct-sequence code division multiple access is proposed in this paper. This paper investigates RAKE receiver characteristics and does the analysis of zero forcing and LMMSE equalizer for MIMO channels.

Optical networking and technology innovation

Optical networking technologies have evolved significantly over the last few years: 100G coherent has been commercialized; flexibility in data rate, frequency grid and modulation format is a hotly debated topic; energy efficiency is becoming even more important, and tighter integration of the packet and circuit switched world continues to be of highest interest. Since the last Bell Labs Technical Journal (BLTJ) issue devoted to optical systems and networking was published in winter 2010, it seems timely to address these developments in a new BLTJ issue on Optical networking and technology innovation.

Optimal Operating Policies for a Multinational Company under Varying Market Economics

This paper proposes a mathematical programming model for Multi-National Corporations (MNCs) by considering both the flexibility of exchange rate and market price uncertainties. The results show that the factory in a host country should supply the products demanded by the home country for the next period when exchange rate decreases. The quantity of products being produced and shipped should be adjusted according to the variation of market-price. Conversely, a MNC in the host country should produce products ahead of time when exchange rate increases and must adjust quantity of production and inventories according to the variation of market-price.

Economic impact of trade openness and exchange rate regimes: evidence from developing Asia

With rapid globalisation, examining the economic impact of exchange rate flexibility as well as its volatility becomes imperative. In this context, our paper examines whether a country’s degree of openness matters in choosing how flexible an exchange rate system should be if the objective is to improve per capita GDP or its growth. Based on a sample data set for 18 Asian countries, our econometric results (based on 2SLS, fixed effect estimation model, covering the period since 1961) indicate that both trade openness and exchange rate flexibility (de facto) impact GDP favourably. However, significant and robust evidence also shows that for more open economies, greater flexibility of de facto exchange rates is not desirable. Results also indicate that the economic impact of volatility is rather weak, though where significant, remains positive. Further, as expected, the economic impact of greater volatility is negative for Asian countries that are more open.

Underground Gas Storage: Worldwide Experiences and Future Development in the UK and Europe

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Comparison of health-related measures of two groups of adolescents in a rural southeastern county in the United States

Objective The purpose of this study was to establish baseline values on physiological parameters for 7—11 graders ( n = 146) in a rural area of Alabama and to examine whether differences existed among the adolescents in the county. Design Descriptive. Setting Many adolescents in the southern portion of the United States suffer disproportionately from diseases clearly linked to lifestyle choices (i.e. diabetes, coronary heart disease, hypertension, etc.). Method Health assessments were measured during physical education classes at two independent high schools. The measures taken included: blood pressure, recovery heart rate, upper and lower body flexibility, percentage of body fat, BMI-for-age, height, weight, and muscular strength and endurance. Results Results indicated significant differences between two school populations for cardiovascular fitness, hamstring flexibility, and shoulder flexibility. In addition, there were significant differences between genders with respect to recovery heart rate, systolic blood pressure, height, weight, and percentage of body fat. Conclusion Thus, this research shows differences between similar populations in the same county and these differences must be explored further.

On the flexibility of demand and production rate

In the manufacturing practice, cycle time is usually optimized in order to plan the batch size, and production time among other parameters. In certain situations, the production rate is decreased in order to have lower inventory levels or to deal with a shelf life constraint. This technical note examines the increase/decrease in the demand level along with a discussion concerning flexibility of the production rate. A generalized problem is also formulated in the context of the costs that are incurred in order to maintain certain demand level.

Federal Pipeline Rate Making: Alternative Approaches of the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

This article provides an overview of the alternative rate making methodologies adopted by the United States Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in itsregulation of transportation rates for oil and natural gas pipelines. In 1997, authority over rate making for interstate oil and natural gas pipelines was transferred to the newly created FERC. This article describes the history of interstate pipeline rate making and the transfer of rate making authority to the FERC.The author looks at the innovative pipeline rate making methodologies implemented by the FERC in its regulation of transportation rates for both oil andnatural gas pipelines. The article describes the adoption by FERC of market based rates and a generally applicable indexed rate cap methodology for oil pipelinerate setting. In respect of natural gas pipelines, the legislative requirements and practical realities associated with cost-of-service rate making by FERC aredescribed and FERC’s policies permitting selective discounting, shipper-specific negotiated rates, and market based rates for natural gas pipelines arereviewed.The Commission’s adoption of the alternative rate making methodologies has taken the emphasis off of general rate case litigation as a means of establishingjust and reasonable rates for interstate oil and natural gas pipelines and related facilities. The alternative rate making methodologies also represent a significantdeparture from cost-of-service rate making, with increasing focus on rate flexibility and competition as a means of generating efficiencies for customers of interstate oil and natural gas pipelines.

Traction Versus Supine Side-bending Radiographs in Determining Flexibility

Prospective clinical, radiologic study of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS). We evaluated a Cobb angle in standing position, patient age, the level of the apex, and the number of involved vertebrae in patients with AIS to determine whether the corrective ability of traction or side-bending radiographs was superior. Side-bending and traction radiographs are used to evaluate curve flexibility during corrective surgery for AIS despite notable differences in the flexibilities of identical curves. Thus, interpretation for the differences among these techniques should be investigated. A total of 229 consecutive patients with AIS who were surgically treated were evaluated. Standing, supine side-bending, and traction radiographs were obtained before surgery. Curves were divided into main thoracic (MT) or thoracolumbar/lumbar (TL/L) curves, and proximal thoracic (PT) curves. We evaluated the Cobb angle in standing position, the level of the apex, the number of involved vertebrae, kyphosis angle of main thoracic curve, and patient age in patients with AIS to determine whether the corrective ability of traction or side-bending radiographs was superior. A total of 219 curves were observed in MT lesions. The traction flexibility rate (FR) was higher than the side-bending FR at angle of > or = 60 degrees (P = 0.02), in patients younger than 15 years (P = 0.02), in curves whose apex was located at T4-T8/T9 (P = 0.01), in curves whose involved vertebrae were 6 or 7 (P = 0.02), and at kyphosis angle between 10 degrees and 39 degrees (P = 0.02). In 96 TL/L curves, side-bending FR was higher at angle of < 60 degrees (P < 0.01). In 163 PT curves, traction FR was higher at angles of > or = 40 degrees (P = 0.02). In addition to a Cobb angle, patient age, the level of the apex, and the number of involved vertebrae also influence the conditions under which the corrective ability of traction radiographs is superior to that of side-bending radiographs.

Structured IRA Codes: Performance Analysis and Construction

In this letter, we present design techniques for structured irregular repeat-accumulate (S-IRA) codes with low error-rate floors. These S-IRA codes need not be quasi-cyclic, permitting flexibility in code dimension, length, and rate. We present a simple ensemble estimate of the level of the error-rate floor of finite-length IRA codes on the additive white Gaussian noise channel. This performance estimate provides guidance on the choice of IRA code column weights which yield low floors. We also present two design algorithms for S-IRA codes accompanied by software- and hardware-based performance results which demonstrate their low floors. Lastly, we present two design algorithms for multirate S-IRA code families implementable by a single encoder/decoder

A modification for the carrying cost estimation with respect to the flexibility in production rate

In recent relevant research on manufacturing systems, the production rate has been varied in order to achieve certain benefits or to deal with a specific problem. However the basic model and its extensions used for the purpose are more suitable when the production rate is constant particularly in the context of an estimation of carrying cost with respect to single/multi-item manufacture. Attention is drawn towards the error in carrying cost estimation with respect to the flexibility/variation in production rates. Accordingly the model, along with the extensions, is adjusted to suit this situation, and these are proposed for implementation wherever the production rate is intended to be varied either independently or along with some other parameters.

Performance comparisons for adaptive LEO satellite links

This paper considers the potential to achieve improved throughput in time-varying satellite links which have flexibility in information bit rate and/or transmit power. We assume that other parameters of the link budget such as antenna gains and operating frequency are fixed. Simple results are derived, which illustrate what improvements in data throughput or power consumption are possible under two low-earth orbit scenarios: inter-satellite links and satellite to ground communications. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.