The analytic hierarchy process of the decision-making factors of African students in obtaining higher education in the United Arab Emirates

The mobility of African students beyond national territories has become common worldwide. However, the underlying reasons motivating students to leave their countries of origin in pursuit of higher education in other developing nations and why these factors are important have not been fully explored. This study attempts to explore why and how African students travel to the United Arab Emirates for higher education. A push-pull factor theory of the international student’s choice of destination is developed to identify factors influencing the choices made by these students. The analytic hierarchy process is used to examine the relative importance of these factors. The findings of this quantitative study indicate that learning environment and geographic proximity are the two most important factors for African students, while other factors have a moderate impact. The findings contribute to a deeper and more comprehensive understanding of the needs and choices of existing and potential students from this continent, with a view to applying a segmentation approach to attract these students.     

The T-class of time-frequency distributions: Time-only kernels with amplitude estimation

This paper presents a class of time-frequency distributions (TFDs) characterized by time-lag kernels which are functions of time only. If the parameters of the time-only kernels are properly chosen, their corresponding TFDs, the T-distributions, are more efficient than their two-dimensional counterparts in terms of cross-terms suppression while keeping a high-energy concentration (resolution) around the IF law of non-stationary signals. The proposed class is a subclass of Cohen's Class of quadratic TFDs. We have shown that separable time-lag kernels should be lag-independent (or time-only) for best resolution. In addition, non-parametric amplitude estimation is possible directly from the T-distributions in case of FM signals, a property that is not verified by other TFDs. Two examples of the T-distributions are given and their performance is compared to other TFDs with numerical examples using synthetic and real-life signals.     

Sensitized Up—Conversion Luminescence of Ho^3＋ in Nd^3＋—Yb^3＋—Ho^3＋ Co—doped ZrF4—Based Glass

Up-conversion processes for the blue, green and red emissions were found two-photon phenomenon, known as the cooperative phenomenon. This phenomenon was assisted by Nd³⁺ → Yb³⁺ → Ho³⁺ energy transfer. The strong green emission due to the Ho³⁺ : (⁵F₄, ⁵S₂)→ ⁵I₈ transitions was observed in Nd³⁺-Ho³⁺ co-doped ZrF₄-based fluoride glasses under 800 nm excitation. As an attempt to enhance Ho³⁺ up-conversion luminescences in the Nd³⁺ – Ho³⁺ co-doped ZrF₄-based glasses, Yb³⁺ ions were added to the glasses. As a result it was found that, in 800 nm excitation of 60 ZrF₄. 30BaF2. (8-x)LaF₃. lNdF₃. xYbF₃. 1HoF₃ glasses (x=0 to 7), sensitized up-conversion luminescences are observed at around 490 nm (blue), 545 nm (green), and 650 nm (red), which correspond to the Ho³⁺ : ⁵F₃ → ⁵I₈, ( ⁵F₄, ⁵S₂)→⁵I₈ and ⁵F₅→ ⁵I₈ transitions respectively. The intensities of the green and red emissions in a 3 mol % YbF₃-containing glass were about 50 times stronger than those glasses without YbF₃. This is based on sensitization due to Yb³⁺ ions. In particular, the green emission was extremely strong and the Nd³⁺-Yb³⁺-Ho³⁺ co-doped ZrF₄-based glasses have a high possibility of realizing a green up-conversion laser glass. In this paper the up-conversion mechanism in the glasses is discussed in detail.     

Quantitation of endogenous inhibitor of milli-CANP in Duchenne muscular dystrophy platelets and lymphocytes: Its implication in regulation

With a view to gain an insight into the regulation of calcium activated neutral protease by its endogenous inhibitor, the inhibitor was quantitated in platelets and lymphocytes of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients and controls by dot immunoblot procedure using polyclonal antibodies against the inhibitor. A two fold increase in inhibitor levels was observed in lymphocytes but no significant increase in inhibitor levels in platelets from Duchenne muscular dystrophy. These results suggest that different regulatory mechanisms of modulation of CANP operate in these two cell types in Duchenne muscular dystrophy.     

Analysis of Bcl I and Xba I polymorphism in factor VIII gene to detect carriers of haemophilia a in Andhra Pradesh

The efficacy of two intragenic polymorphic markers of factor VIII gene has been examined in Andhra Pradesh population with a view to confirm/revise the strategy for carrier detection that would be precise and economical. The haemophilia A carrier was detected using Bcl I and Xba I polymorphic sites in intron 18 and 22 respectively. The cumulative efficiency of these two sites for detection of carriers is 100% since all 15 families tested were informative for one of these polymorphisms, thus confirming their usefulness for factor VIII gene mutations found in Andhra Pradesh.     

Flutter analysis of an articulated high aspect ratio wing in subsonic airflow

We present a methodology for calculating flutter speeds of a high aspect ratio flying wing articulated with point masses in inviscid air flow. This highly flexible wing configuration typically models a HALE (High Altitude Long Endurance) UAV (Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) type aircraft. To demonstrate the procedure, we perform flutter analysis on an actual articulated wing model and we investigate the dependence of the flutter speed on the number of loads mounted onto the structure and the number of panels comprising the flying wing for both varying and constant span. The results show that the flutter speed decreases as more panels and point masses are incorporated into the flying wing. On the other hand, the number of point masses mounted onto the structure has a small effect on the flutter speed if the wing span is kept constant.     

Immunogenicity of formaldehyde and binary ethylenimine inactivated infectious bursal disease virus in broiler chicks

Infectious bursal disease virus （IBDV） was inactivated by two different chemicals-formaldehyde and binary ethylenimine （BEI）. Formaldehyde was used at 0. 1% and 0.2%, while BEI was used at concentrations of 0.001 and 0.002 mol/L. These four vaccines were tested for their efficiency in generating humoral immune response in different groups of broiler chicks. Both BEI-inactivated vaccines gave relatively higher antibody titers and were almost twice as efficient as formaldehyde-inactivated ones.