Largest Demand Research Articles

Canadian Medical Imaging Inventory 2022–2023: CT

CT is an imaging technique that uses X-rays, sensitive radiation detectors, and computer analysis to produce cross-sectional images to detect abnormalities in areas of the body. CT was reported to have the largest demand in oncology (24%), followed by neurology (16.5%) and hepatobiliary (14%) use. Applications for CT continue to expand to new clinical indications and therapeutic areas. Five hundred and sixty CT units were identified by the CMII in its 2022–2023 national survey, with all provinces and territories reporting CT capacity. Most sites are publicly funded hospitals located in urban settings. Canada has an average of 14 CT units per million people. The greatest density of units per million people is in Newfoundland and Labrador, New Brunswick, Yukon, Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Canada is positioned in the bottom 15% of OECD countries in units per million population and the top 45% of OECD countries for average volume of publicly funded CT exams per1,000 population. Approximately 6.4 million publicly funded CT examinations were performed in the 2022–2023 fiscal year. This represents a national average of 160.2 exams per 1,000 people, an increase of 9% since 2015. The average age of CT equipment in Canada is 8.2 years; 29.8% of CT units are 5 years old or newer, 36.7% are 6 to 10 years old, and 33.4% are more than 10 years old. The adoption and use of radiation safety strategies are increasing in Canada. An increasing number of CT units are now equipped with dose-management controls and patient dose recording features. Approximately 30% of CT units are reported to have dual-target imaging. CT units operate an average of 14 hours per day. Approximately 80% of sites reported CT operation on weekends and 40% of sites reported CT operation 24 hours a day.

Canadian Medical Imaging Inventory 2022–2023: PET-CT and PET-MRI

PET-CT Imaging PET-CT is an advanced imaging technique that combines PET with CT to measure metabolic or biochemical activity in the human body. Sixty PET-CT units in 9 provinces were identified by the Canadian Medical Imaging Inventory (CMII) in its 2022–2023 national survey. All units are located in urban centres. Canada has 1.5 PET-CT units per million people. The greatest density of units per million people is in Quebec, New Brunswick, and Newfoundland and Labrador. Approximately 156,320 publicly funded PET-CT examinations were performed in the 2022–2023 fiscal year. This represents a national average of 3.9 exams per 1,000 people, an increase of 18.2% since 2019– PET-CT was reported to have the largest demand in oncology (66.1%), followed by cardiology (13.2%) and neurology (10.1%). Applications for PET-CT continue to expand to new clinical indications and therapeutic areas. The upfront capital and ongoing operational costs of PET-CT units, as well as the costs of radiopharmaceutical products and equipment, may act as barriers to the rapid adoption of this technology. Canada is positioned in the bottom 25% of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries in units per million population and the bottom 50% of OECD countries for average volume of publicly funded PET-CT exams per 1,000 population. The average age of PET-CT equipment in Canada is 7.2 years; 51.5% of PET-CT units are 5 years old or newer, 21.2% are 6 to 10 years old, and 27.3% are more than 10 years old. Radiotracers are essential in PET imaging. The most commonly used PET-CT radiotracers are for oncology: 91% of sites reported using fluorodeoxyglucose F18 and 31.8% of sites reported using gallium-68 DOTA-TATE. The production of most radiotracers requires the use of a cyclotron.1 Overall, 21.7% of PET-CT sites reported local proximity to a cyclotron, reflecting a disparity in the access to and growing demand for radiotracer supply. PET-MRI Imaging PET-MRI is a technique that combines PET with MRI to produce highly detailed imaging of soft tissues in the human body. PET-MRI is almost exclusively used for research purposes in Canada; therefore, data are limited for this modality. Six PET-MRI units were identified in Canada across 3 provinces, representing a national average of 0.2 units per million people. The average age of PET-MRI equipment in Canada is 6.7 years; 2 units are 6 to 10 years old, and 1 unit is 5 years old.

Seismic response of shallow circular openings to Rayleigh waves

Closed-form solutions are presented for an unsupported shallow circular opening subjected to Rayleigh waves. It is assumed that the ground is homogeneous and elastic, that the wave motion is perpendicular to the tunnel axis, with motions on the plane of the cross section of the tunnel. Thus, plane strain conditions apply. A quasi-static analysis is taken because Rayleigh waves have a large wavelength, arguably of the order of kilometers and velocities about 10% smaller than that of shear waves. Complex variable theory and conformal mapping are used to reach the solution, which is given as a system of equations that provides the parameters of the complex analytic functions needed to compute stresses and displacements. Solutions are found for drained and undrained loading conditions. For the latter, the principle of effective stresses is assumed, which requires no volume change of the ground during the passage of the Rayleigh wave. Because the vertical and horizontal free-field motions of the Rayleigh waves are out of phase, the stresses and displacements induced are also out of phase and cannot be superimposed. Thus, stresses and displacements obtained from the free-field motions are also out of phase, uncoupled and treated separately. The results show that the normal stress terms induced by the free-field motions dominate the response of shallow tunnels and that stresses and tunnel distortions decrease with tunnel depth. An additional solution for a deep circular tunnel subjected to Rayleigh waves is also proposed. A comparison between stresses and displacements obtained with the assumption of shallow or deep tunnel suggests that the largest demand on the tunnel can be approximated with the solution for a deep tunnel, for tunnels at depths larger than about five to six times their radius.

Preface

The 2022 5th International Conference on Power Electronics and Control Engineering (ICPECE 2022) was successfully held in Changchun, China on August 19-21, 2022. ICPECE 2022 promoted the research and developmental activities in “Power Electronics and Control Engineering” as well as scientific information interchange among researchers, engineers, and practitioners working all over the world.We had the honor of having invited Prof. Huamin Yang from Changchun University of Science and Technology, China to serve as our Conference Chair. The conference was composed of keynote speeches and oral presentations, attracting 200 individuals. Firstly, keynote speakers were each allocated 30-45 minutes to hold their speeches. Then in the oral presentations, the excellent papers selected were presented by their authors one by one.During the conference, 15 distinguished professors were invited to address their keynote speeches. Among them, Prof. Yinquan Yu from East China Jiaotong University, China performed a thought-provoking speech on the Advantages of Permanent Magnet Synchronous Traction Motors for High-speed EMUs and Challenges of Intelligent Operation and Maintenance. This research included using multi-type sensor information fusion and artificial intelligent technologies to conduct online healthy monitoring and to reveal faulty mechanism of high-speed EMU traction. Moreover, Prof. Ruqiang Yan from Xi’an Jiaotong University, China addressed a speech on the title AI-Powered Aero-engine Fault Diagnosis. He briefly overviewed deep learning, discussed about the applications of some typical deep network models in intelligent diagnosis and prognosis and a newly designed wavelet kernel deep neural network for aero-engine fault diagnosis. Last but not least, Prof. Yuanchang Zhong from Chongqing University, China made a report on Research on the Regulating Method of Electric Gas Pressure Regulator and Its Remote Monitoring and Controlling System. On the basis of a full study on the existing gas pressure regulating technology and control theory, adopting the building-type gas regulator with the largest demand as research object, this paper put forward a kind of RBF-PID compound control algorithm based on the improved particle swarm optimization algorithm, and designed a electric gas regulating device and its remote monitoring and controlling system. Their brilliant speeches had triggered heated discussion. And every participant praised this conference for disseminating useful and insightful knowledge.The proceedings of ICPECE 2022 are a compilation of the accepted papers and represent an interesting outcome of the conference. These papers feature but are not limited to the following topics: Power Electronics, Control Engineering, Precision Manufacturing and Testing, Smart Manufacturing, Optical Mechatronics, etc. All the papers have been checked through rigorous review and processes to meet the requirements of publication.We would like to express our sincere gratitude to all the keynote speakers, peer reviewers, and all the participants who supported and contributed to ICPECE 2022. Particularly, our special thanks go to the Journal of Physics: Conference Series, for all the efforts of its colleague in publishing this paper volume. We firmly believe that all the attendees have had fruitful discussions and gained valuable knowledge, and will enjoy the opportunity for future collaborations.The Committee of ICPECE 2022List of Committee member is available in the pdf.

我国农业环境损害鉴定评估标准体系研究

标准化是解决环境损害"鉴定难"问题的关键措施，更是环境损害鉴定评估走向独立化的重要标志。农业环境损害鉴定评估作为起步最早、需求量最大、成长较快的分支，已经具备标准体系的雏形。通过国内外标准比较与需求分析，提出了标准化建设的原则和定位，构建了标准体系框架。研究认为，我国农业环境损害鉴定评估标准体系应：（1）以损害受体和技术流程为纵向横向坐标；（2）围绕损害确认、因果关系判定以及损失评估，以规范农产品、农业环境要素以及生态系统的损害识别、症状诊断、损害溯源、监测检测方法、损失量化等技术要求为主要内容；（3）是一个由基础标准、技术导则、技术规范、技术指南组成的有机整体。;Standardization is the key measure to solve the difficult identification for environmental damage, and an important sign that environmental damage identification and assessment is becoming independent. The assessment of agricultural environmental damage, which is the earliest start, the largest demand and faster growth branch of standard system, has stepped into the rudiment stage. This paper puts forward the principles and positions of standardization construction, and constructs a standard system framework based on the comparison of national and international standards and demand analysis. We propose that the standard system of agricultural environmental damage appraisal in China should:(1) Taking the damage receptors as the ordinate and the technical processes as the abscissa; (2) Centering on the damage identification, causality determination and loss assessment, the main content should involve the following technical requirements, i.e., the damage identification, symptom diagnosis, damage traceability, monitoring and detection methods, loss quantification of ecosystem, and the norms of agricultural products and agricultural environmental elements; (3) Being a system composed of basic standards, technical guidelines, technical specifications, and technical manuals.

Prediction of Extreme Conditional Quantiles of Electricity Demand: An Application Using South African Data

It is important to predict extreme electricity demand in power utilities as the uncertainties in the future of electricity demand distribution have to be taken into consideration to achieve the desired goals. The study focused on the prediction of extremely high conditional quantiles (between 0.95 and 0.9999) and extremely low quantiles (between 0.001 and 0.05) of electricity demand using South African data. The paper discusses a comparative analysis of the additive quantile regression model with an extremal mixture model and a nonlinear quantile regression model. The estimated quantiles at each level were then combined using the median approach. The comparisons were carried out using daily peak electricity demand data ranging from January 1997 to May 2014. Proper scoring rules were used to compare the three models, and the model with the smallest score was preferred. The results could be useful to system operators including decision-makers in power utility companies by giving insights and guidance for future electricity demand patterns. The prediction of extremely high quantiles of daily peak electricity demand could help system operators know the possible largest demand that will enable them to supply adequate electricity to consumers and shift demand to off-peak periods. The prediction of extreme conditional quantiles of daily peak electricity demand in the context of South Africa using additive quantile regression, nonlinear quantile regression, and extremal mixture models has not been performed previously to the best of our knowledge.

Investigation and Analysis of the Logistics Personnel’s Working Condition in the Post-COVID-19 Era — An Example of a Top Three Hospital in Shanghai

The aim of this work is to explore the working conditions of logistics personnel in hospital and provide a new approach for improving the service quality of them in the post-COVID-19 era. Eighty-four logistics personnel in an upper first-class hospital were included in the study, and their working conditions were investigated and analyzed via self-designed questionnaire. 73.8% of all respondents think their work is significantly important to the brand building of the hospital, and 67.9% of them think they are closely related to a harmonious doctor–patient relationship. The compliant rate is higher in security personnel when compared with other personnel and the difference was statistically significant ([Formula: see text]). 94% of the logistics personnel indicate a higher intensity in their work, 39.3% of them constantly face the working pressure and 57.1% come from the risk of infection which accounts for the largest. The largest demand comes for the protective equipment, which is from 69 workers. It would be better for us to pay attention to the hospital culture training and strengthen the sense of identity among logistics personnel of the hospital continuously. Meanwhile we need to enrich the connotation of professional style construction in hospital and promote the efficiency of logistics service. Targeted training is necessary to improve the service capabilities of the security personnel since they receive more complaints. Diversified and personalized support to the logistics personnel based on the grasp of their special demand is also important.

Establishment of Industrial Energy Benchmarking in Malaysian Downstream Palm Oil Industry

The second largest energy demand in Malaysia comes from industrial sector (28 % of the total demand) and one of the main industries in Malaysia is palm oil industry. The energy consumption in Malaysian palm oil industry must be reduced in order to reduce the environmental impact (GHG emission). The main objective of this research is to establish energy benchmarking in Malaysian downstream palm oil industry using product-based energy benchmarking. The method for energy benchmarking consists of four main steps, which is data collection, data analysis, set-up baseline SEC and establishment of industrial energy benchmarking. The data used in this research was obtained from Malaysian Green Technology Corporation. An equation to estimate baseline SEC value has been obtained and energy benchmarking in this industry has been successfully established. Data analysis revealed that the average SEC for this industry is determine to be 2.59 GJ/t and the lowest SEC (0.04 GJ/t) was obtained by Company D while the highest SEC (5.99 GJ/t) is obtained by Company C. Apart from that, the recommendation of no cost, low cost, medium cost and high cost energy saving measures for this industry has been done. Finally, the best practice in this industry has been determined as maximizing the plant utilization rate and implementing ESMs.

Judicialização da política de assistência farmacêutica e seu impacto no município de Natal/RN

A presente investigação objetiva analisar o impacto da judicialização da política de assistência farmacêutica no município de Natal/RN. De natureza descritiva, essa pesquisa coletou dados por meio de entrevistas semi-estruturadas junto a três servidores do Núcleo de Demandas Judiciais (NDJ) da Secretaria Municipal de Saúde. Os dados foram analisados por meio da análise de conteúdo, conforme proposta de Bardin (2011). Verificou-se que houve impacto da judicialização no orçamento público municipal representado pela necessidade de realizar licitações específicas para cumprimento de demanda, o que foge ao fazer administrativo natural, pois esse recurso será custeado por alguma fonte não prevista inicialmente. Todavia, em termos gerais, a maior demanda de judicialização não se refere à aquisição de medicamentos. Recebido: 25/03/2020Aceito: 25/09/2020

Hybrid Synthesis Method for Multi-period Heat Exchanger Networks

Developing a flexible heat exchanger network, that will remain operable in the face of potential variations in stream parameters, or variables, around some nominal values, especially for large problems, are difficult to solve simultaneously. A hybrid synthesis approach that systematically combines sequential and mathematical programming techniques may be more suitable to adopt. The proposed method presented in this paper entails firstly generating two representative single period networks using the Pinch Technology Stream Temperature versus Enthalpy Plot (STEP) approach and the multi-period stage-wise superstructure model for heat exchanger network synthesis. Streams for the representative network are obtained using the largest stream heat demand as criteria. The second stage of the proposed method entails generating a reduced multi-period stage-wise superstructure, using a combination of the matches obtained in the single period representative networks of the first step as initialising matches. The solution of the reduced superstructure of the second step, which is solved as a Mixed Integer Non-Linear Programming (MINLP) model, is then selected as the best multi-period network. The newly developed method of this paper is tested using an example from the literature. One of the solutions obtained is only 0.9 % higher, in terms of total annual cost, than the best solution presented in the literature but has the benefit of a fewer number of units.

Integrator’s Coordination on Technological Innovation Performance in China: The Dual Moderating Role of Environmental Dynamism

As the backbone of national strategic development, Complex Product Systems (CoPS) have made great achievements in China, the world’s largest demand market and second largest economy. However, their further development is challenged by the dynamic environment, including the ongoing Sino-US trade friction, for example. The aim of this research is to investigate the influence of the dynamic external environment on CoPS innovation. Based on contingency theory, this study identifies and investigates the moderating effects of technological and market dynamism on the relationship between the integrator’s coordination and its technological innovation performance. Using survey data from 209 CoPS integrator enterprises in China, the findings show that (1) the positive effect of an integrator’s coordination on technological innovation performance is strengthened by technological dynamism, while (2) weakened by market dynamism. In addition, (3) the technological dynamism acts as a higher-order moderating role in inhibiting the negative moderating effect of market dynamism on the main effect in general. Furthermore, (4) an unexpected but inspiring finding shows that the integrator’s coordination facilitates innovation most when both the technology and market dimensions are highly dynamic. This study may indicate that managerial recognition may have significant influence on enterprise’s behavior.

Orientation Optimization for Full-View Coverage Using Rotatable Camera Sensors

Recently, full-view coverage has been introduced to capture intruders from multiple directions in the camera sensor networks. It is more efficient than traditional coverage in identifying the intruders. However, full-view coverage typically calls for a large number of camera sensors. Hence, we exploit limited mobility or orientation to improve the performance of full-view coverage since camera sensors typically can rotate to cover more areas without being relocated after installation. Observing that target points may not be full-view covered constantly due to the sensor rotation, we emphasize the importance of the fairness-based coverage maximization problem, i.e., how to schedule the orientations of camera sensors to maximize the minimum cumulative full-view coverage time of target points. To solve this issue, we first try to reduce the dimension space of orientations by dividing the orientation space into a set of discrete directions. We then study how to select the minimum number of sensing regions that camera sensors should rotate to cover in order to ensure the full-view coverage of all target points. Next, we unveil the relationship between the full-view coverage and target points, which are spatially correlated. Based on these results, we devise a centralized algorithm to solve the problem based on “largest demand first serve” principle, by which the target points with less cumulative full-view coverage time will be preferentially selected to be full-view covered with a higher probability. We further design a distributed solution as a counterpart of the centralized algorithm. Extensive simulations are presented to show the performances of the proposed algorithms. Results show that exploiting limited mobility of sensor rotation has good potential in promoting the efficiency and reducing the cost of ensuring full-view coverage.

A comparative analysis of marketing promotions and implications for data analytics

Retailers use many different marketing promotions to increase sales and profits. These promotions include price reductions, coupons, cash mail-in rebates, free gift cards, and buy-one-get-one (BOGO) discounts. The type of promotion used results in different outcomes for demand, profit, average price, consumer surplus, and sales taxes collected. We perform comparative analysis of these five promotions and their outcomes. We show that for the same discount amount, price reductions result in the lowest average price. For products with weakly diminishing consumer utility and low consumer stockpiling, BOGO promotions result in the largest demand, profit, consumer surplus, and taxes collected. Cash mail-in rebates may result in large profit and taxes collected, but they perform poorly in terms of average price paid and consumer surplus. We also find that a retailer offering a delayed incentive (i.e. gift cards and mail-in rebates) offers a larger reward but provides lower consumer surplus than when offering an immediate incentive (i.e. price reduction and BOGO). In a segmented market with a price-insensitive consumer segment, immediate incentives have the disadvantage of allowing price-insensitive consumers arriving during the promotion to obtain the discount, which reduces the discount effectiveness. The addition of more retailer objectives to maximizing profit, such as demand maximization or consumer surplus, increases the effectiveness of immediate incentives. We also provide a framework for estimating the important parameters for evaluating promotion effectiveness using readily available transactional data and examine its accuracy using a simulation experiment.

확장된 목표지향행동 모델을 적용한 중국 소비자의 명품구매의도에 관한 연구: 소비가치의 조절효과 중심으로

As the luxury goods market of China is continuously expanding, the consumption of luxury goods is expected to become even more active due to the income level increases of Chinese consumers. Also, the main consumer class of the luxury goods market is changing recently from the high-salary class of the past to consumers in their twenties and thirties. Therefore, there is significance in analyzing the luxury goods purchase intentions of consumers in their twenties and thirties who are the main consumer class of the luxury goods market of China which currently has the largest demand. With the growth of the luxury goods market of China, numerous studies related to luxury goods have been conducted focusing on Chinese consumers. Of these, there have been some studies that apply theories that have been verified with regard to luxury goods purchasing behavior. However, there is a limited number of studies analyzing the luxury goods purchase intentions of Chinese consumers in their twenties and thirties applying a model of goal-directed behavior so this study attempts to conduct a study applying a model of goal-directed behavior. First, it analyzed the effects that variables related to the model of goal-directed behavior, luxury goods reliability, and self-congruity variables have on luxury goods purchase desires. Also, it figured out the moderating effect of consumption value as pursued by consumers in the relationship between luxury goods purchase desires and luxury goods purchase intentions. This study will provide understanding of behavior related to the luxury goods purchasing of consumers and it will serve as base material for the establishment of marketing strategies for luxury goods consumption and it will aid in the marketing strategy establishment of businesses that want to advance into the luxury goods market of China in the future. Main research results showed that first, positive anticipated emotion and self-congruity have a positive effect on luxury goods purchase desire. Second, the luxury goods purchase desires of consumers have a positive effect on purchase intentions. Third, hedonic values have a significantly moderating effect in the relationship between luxury goods purchase desire and luxury goods purchase intentions and stronger hedonic values have a positive effect in connecting luxury goods purchase desire with luxury goods purchase intentions. On the other hand, it was shown that practical value has no moderating effect between luxury goods purchase desire and purchase intentions. Like this, results showed that the significance of moderating effects between purchase desires and purchase intentions differ according to consumption value types and understanding of the consumer values of consumers will allow the actual purchasing behaviors of consumers to be accurately predicted. On one hand, there is a need to educate consumers that considerations of the value of practical aspects such as durability and function are also important elements in luxury goods purchasing decision making.

Extraction of non-edible oil from Catharanthus roseus seeds and kinetics on oil extraction

ABSTRACTToday most of the countries in the world are the importers of energies. The largest demand occurred in the energy system, especially for petroleum and its products. Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly, renewable source, non-toxic and biodegradable matter. It contains monoalkyl esters of long chain fatty matters, and it is collected from vegetable oil, animal fats, algae, and non-edible oils. In this work, bio oil was extracted from Catharanthus roseus seed using Soxhlet apparatus. During the study of extraction, a better yield of bio oil 31.50% was obtained from a polar solvent like Methanol at 65°C, with the time of 3 h. The fuel parameters such as flash and fire point, cloud and pour point, and carbon residue 0.1% were studied. The parameters of physico-chemical properties and fuel properties are analyzed by AOCS and ASTM standard methods.

Analytical investigation on the minimum traffic delay at a three-phase signalized T-type intersection

The traffic delay at intersections is crucial for the performance of urban traffic system. This paper analytically investigated the minimum traffic delay at a three-phase T-type intersection. We firstly demonstrate that the minimum traffic delay must be achieved on the surface of the 3D space constituted by the three constraints. Next, we prove that the minimum traffic delay must be achieved on the three borderlines of the surface. Finally, we show that the minimum delay is achieved either on one specific borderline or at the vertex of the surface. In the former case, extra green time is needed for the stream with largest demand, while no extra green time should be assigned to any stream in the latter case.

Clinical use and the Italian demand for prothrombin complex concentrates.

Clinical use and the Italian demand for prothrombin complex concentrates.

Atomistic Monte Carlo and molecular dynamics simulation of the bulk phase self-assembly of semifluorinated alkanes

Results are presented for the conformational, thermodynamic, structural and solid-state chain organization properties of the semifluorinated alkane F(CF2)12(CH2)12H (termed perfluorododecyldodecane and abbreviated as F12H12) from detailed, atomistic-level Molecular Dynamics and Monte Carlo simulations in the isothermal–isobaric ensemble using large simulation cells containing up to 144,000 atomistic units. To cope with the large requirements in CPU time accompanying the use of super-cells in our simulations, we identified the Monte Carlo subroutines with the largest demand in computational resources and took advantage of parallelization by multithreading on NVIDIA graphics processing units (GPUs) to improve code performance by almost one order of magnitude. Consistent simulation results for the most important properties of the system have been obtained from the two methods, especially at the higher temperatures where their predictions for the density, average square chain-end-to-end distance and dihedral angle distributions are indistinguishable (practically identical). Driven by experimental data that provide evidence for two first-order phase transitions in F12H12, we have further investigated its bulk-phase assembly by carrying out gradual cooling runs from an initial configuration of randomly distributed chains. For both methods, the study of the average-squared end-to-end molecular distance indicates that F12H12 molecules prefer to be aligned in ordered zones (lamellae), whereas the dihedral distributions exhibit a favorable trans state with decreasing temperature and/or increasing pressure, verifying the tendency of perfluorododecyldodecane to undergo a structural transition at these conditions. Our simulations support a spontaneous transition of F12H12 from an isotropic phase to a smectic-like phase at a low enough temperature (close to T=315K based on cooling experiments), at a pressure P=100atm. Intermolecular pair distribution functions and atomistic configurational snapshots show that the simulated smectic phase consists of bilayer lamellae with a variety of directions, involving tilted and non-interdigitated chains. Experimentally, two solid phases are proposed for F12H12: a high-temperature one consisting of monolayer lamellae and a low temperature one consisting of bilayer lamellae with interdigitated hydrocarbon and fluorocarbon blocks. Despite that our simulations cannot unambiguously predict a second (solid-solid) phase transition, they provide convincing evidence for the co-existence of many ordered lamellae in F12H12 below its melting point Tm both in monolayer and bilayer arrangements, with the relative population of bilayer ones increasing with decreasing temperature.

Key Development Needs of South Asia and Priority Sectors of Korean ODA

South Asia is a region with the largest demand for development cooperation in the world, and its importance as a development cooperation partner for Korea and other aid donors is increasing. Accordingly, South Asia’s proportion in the worldwide ODA (Official Development Assistance) is on the rise, from 10.9% in 2006 to 15.8% in 2010. Korea is also increasing the proportion of its ODA for South Asia and is seeking effective development assistance policies. In response to this state of affairs, this study quantifies the development demand, by country, in South Asia and Korea’s aid capacity in order to determine the focal areas for cooperation. This study also presents suggestions for effective ODA policies in South Asia.

Unidades de construcción de acero intermodal como alternativa para la construcción de viviendas de bajos ingresos en Puerto Rico

Puerto Rico currently has an excess of high-priced housing units, partly because of the recession that has been affecting the Island since 2006; on the other hand, state-subsidized housing has the largest demand, but high construction costs and government-imposed price caps have kept developers from pursuing these types of projects. The demand for subsidized housing units has been estimated at 22,000 for years 2012 thru 2016. Other jurisdictions, mainly in Europe, have adopted maritime cargo containers (technically known as Inter-Modal Steel Building Units, “ISBUs”, when used for construction) as structural building blocks for a variety of edifices. ISBU-based housing provides an environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional construction that uses surplus maritime cargo containers, thereby reusing a valuable material that would otherwise become a disposal problem. ISBUs have performance specs that surpass those of traditional concrete construction used in Puerto Rico, at a considerable cost reduction of approximately 60%. Once common prejudices regarding the safety, longevity, and quality of ISBU-based construction are overcome, this type of construction could be an innovative solution to a long debated problem that affects many stakeholders. The key to providing safe, modern housing to the poorest in our society may well come from thinking “inside the box”.