• Asian Journal of Business Environment
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• v.3 no.2
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• pp.5-15
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• 2013

Purpose - This pilot study explores the gap between venture capitalists and young business graduates in Pakistan. Though the young graduates remain enthusiastic about choosing entrepreneurship as a profession, their success is subject to financial constraints. Research design, data, methodology - We administered a Likert-scale based questionnaire to 200 business graduates from June to July 2012, and interviewed ten venture capitalists from Islamabad and Lahore-two highly business oriented cities of Pakistan-to collect the data. The survey participation was on a voluntary basis without any financial sponsorship. Findings- There is a communication gap between the two parties (venture capitalists and business graduates), and a lack of trust in the entrepreneurial education and training offered in the educational institutions in Pakistan. The study, however, reveals the leading role of the Government in reducing this gap through certain measures. Conclusions - Some measures that can reduce the gap between venture capitalists and young graduates are: association of business schools with industry; financial institutions'initiatives to financially support the small and medium level projects of the economics and business students during their studies; establishment of placement bureaus in the business schools; and organization of regular open houses in the universities.

• Industrial Engineering and Management Systems
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.324-334
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• 2016

Manufacturers and retailers are interested in how prices, promotions, discounts and other marketing variables can influence the sales and shares of the products that they produce or sell. Therefore, many models have been developed to predict the brand share. Since the customer choice models are usually used to predict the market share, here we use hybrid model of Probabilistic Neural Network and Artificial Bee colony Algorithm (PNN-ABC) that we have introduced to model consumer choice to predict brand share. The evaluation process is carried out using the same data set that we have used for modeling individual consumer choices in a retail coffee market. Then, to show good performance of this model we compare it with Artificial Neural Network with one hidden layer, Artificial Neural Network with two hidden layer, Artificial Neural Network trained with genetic algorithms (ANN-GA), and Probabilistic Neural Network. The evaluated results show that the offered model is outperforms better than other previous models, so it can be use as an effective tool for modeling consumer choice and predicting market share.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.69-85
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• 2013

With the sustainability movement, vegetated building envelopes are gaining more popularity. This requires special wind effect investigations, both from sustainability and resiliency perspectives. The current paper focuses on wind load estimation on small- and full-scale trees used as part of green roofs and balconies. Small-scale wind load assessment was carried out using a wind tunnel testing in a global-effect study to understand the interference effects from surrounding structures. Full-scale trees were investigated at a large open-jet facility in a local-effect study to account for the wind-tree interaction. The effect of Reynolds number combined with shape change on the overall loads measured at the base of the trees (near the roots) has been investigated by testing at different model-scales and wind speeds. In addition, high-speed tests were conducted to examine the security of the trees in soil and to assess the effectiveness of a proposed structural mitigation system. Results of the current research show that at relatively high wind speeds the load coefficients tend to be reduced, limiting the wind loads on trees. No resonance or vortex shedding was visually observed.

• Bulletin of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.33 no.12
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• pp.3957-3962
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• 2012

Iron-oxide nanoparticles (IONs) with biocompatible coatings are the only nanostructural materials which have been approved by the FDA for clinical use. Common biocompatible coatings such as hydrocarbons, polymers, and silica have profound influences on critical characteristics of IONs. Recently, amino acids were introduced as a novel biocompatible coating. In the present study, the effects of amino acids on IONs synthesis and characteristics have been evaluated. Magnetite nanoparticles with L-arginine and L-lysine coatings were synthesised by a coprecipitation reaction in aqueous solvent and their characteristics were compared with naked magnetite nanoparticles. The results showed that amino acids can be a perfect coating for IONs and would increase particle stability without any significant effects on the critical properties of nanoparticles such as particle size and magnetization saturation value.

• Journal of the Korean Chemical Society
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• v.57 no.3
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• pp.322-328
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• 2013

Copper iodide was employed as a modifier for preparation of a new carbon ceramic electrode. For the first time, the catalytic oxidation of amoxicillin (AMX) was demonstrated by cyclic voltammetry, chronoamperometry and amperometry methods at the surface of this modified carbon ceramic electrode. The copper iodide modified sol-gel derived carbon ceramic (CIM-SGD-CC) electrode has very high catalytic ability for electrooxidation of amoxicillin. The catalytic oxidation peak current was linearly dependent on the amoxicillin concentration and the linearity range obtained was 100 to 1000 ${\mu}mol\;L^{-1}$ with a detection limit of 0.53 ${\mu}mol\;L^{-1}$. The diffusion coefficient ($D=(1.67{\pm}0.102){\times}10^{-3}\;cm^2\;s^{-1}$), and the kinetic parameter such as the electron transfer coefficient (${\alpha}$) and exchange current density ($j_0$) for the modified electrode were calculated. The advantages of the modified CCE are its good stability and reproducibility of surface renewal by simple polishing, excellent catalytic activity and simplicity of preparation.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.56 no.1
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• pp.14-23
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• 2018

The effect of dodecylbenzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) with different addition amount of DBSA ($M_{DBSA}$), temperatures and solvent-to-oil ratio (SOR, v/v) on asphaltene aggregation in a solvent deasphalting system was investigated. Increasing the $M_{DBSA}$ at SOR 10 and $55^{\circ}C$ caused the asphaltene removal ratio (ARR) to increase first, then maximize at 1 wt% of $M_{DBSA}$ and then decrease continuously. Based on the SARA (saturate, aromatic, resin, asphaltene) composition, the adsorption amount of DBSA on the asphaltene surface and the self-aggregation of the DBSA, the reason for the change in ARR with $M_{DBSA}$ was found due to the adsorption mechanism. In addition, the asphaltene-resin-DBSA colloidal size confirmed the change of adsorption behavior between the asphaltene and DBSA. Based on the results of this study, a hypothetical adsorption mechanism of DBSA on asphaltene aggregation in the solvent deasphalting system was conceived of and proposed.

• Journal of Korean Medicine Rehabilitation
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.103-112
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• 2018

Pathological laughing and crying (PLC) is a condition defined by relatively uncontrollable episodes of laughter, crying or both. PLC is an uncommon symptom usually caused by cerebral lesions. Midbrain involvement causing PLC is extremely unusual and the exact mechanism by which this condition develops is poorly understood. We recently experienced a 51-year-old woman who were diagnosed as PLC after midbrain infarction. She was treated by acupuncture, pulsed electromagnetic therapy (PEMT). After 6 weeks treatment, Pathological Laughter and Crying Scale (PLACS), Korean version of the Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (K-SARA) are decreased and Korean version of Modified Barthel Index (K-MBI) is increased. Treatment of traditional Korean Medicine could be effective for stoke rehabilitation including post-stroke PLC. And we have considered mechanism of PLC associated with midbrain lesion, dysfunction of cortex-thalamus-hypothalamus-basal ganglia-mesencephalon and faciorespiratory nuclei pathways, cerebro-ponto-cerebellar pathways and damaged serotonergic neurotransmission can cause this based on recent neurobiology of emotion. To define exact mechanism and find effective treatment, further studies are needed.

• Journal of Power Electronics
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• v.14 no.4
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• pp.671-677
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• 2014

In this paper, a new basic unit is proposed. Then, a cascaded multilevel inverter basded on the series connection of n number of these new basic units is proposed. In order to generate all of the voltage levels (even and odd) at the output, three different algorithms to determine the magnitude of the dc voltage source are proposed. Reductions in the number of power switches, driver circuits and dc voltage sources in addition to increases in the numbr of output voltage levels are some of the advantages of the proposed cascaded multilevel inverter. These results are obtained through a comparison of the proposed inverter and its algorithms with an H-bridge cascaded multilevel inverter from the point of view of the number of power electronic devices. Finally, the capability of the proposed topology with its proposed algorithms in generating all of the voltage levels is verified through experimental results on a laboratorary prototype of a 49-level inverter.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.45 no.4
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• pp.295-299
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• 2007

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether sporulated Neospora caninum oocysts, which had been stored for 46 mo in a 2% sulfuric acid solution at $4^{\circ}C$, remain morphologically viable and infective to gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus). Six gerbils were orally inoculated with doses of 400 or 1,200 oocysts. Two mo after inoculation, the animals did not show any clinical signs, had no histological lesions, and were seronegative for N. caninum at 1:50 in an immunofluorescent antibody test. PCR using the brain from each gerbil did not reveal N. caninum specific DNA. We conclude that oocysts preserved for 46 mo are not infective, despite being morphologically intact.

• Smart Structures and Systems
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.111-125
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• 2019

Metallic shape memory alloys present fascinating physical properties such as their super-elastic behavior in austenite phase, which can be exploited for providing a structure with both a self-centering capability and an increased ductility. More or less accurate numerical models have been introduced to model their behavior along the last 25 years. This is the reason for which the literature is rich of suggestions/proposals on how to implement this material in devices for passive and semi-active control. Nevertheless, the thermo-mechanical coupling characterizing the first-order martensite phase transformation process results in several macroscopic features affecting the alloy performance. In particular, the effects of day-night and winter-summer temperature excursions require special attention. This aspect might imply that the deployment of some devices should be restricted to indoor solutions. A further aspect is the dependence of the behavior from the geometry one adopts. Two fundamental lacks of symmetry should also be carefully considered when implementing a SMA-based application: the behavior in tension is different from that in compression, and the heating is easy and fast whereas the cooling is not. This manuscript focuses on the passive devices recently proposed in the literature for civil engineering applications. Based on the challenges above identified, their actual feasibility is investigated in detail and their long term performance is discussed with reference to their fatigue life. A few available semi-active solutions are also considered.