Comparison of vertical handover decision-based techniques in heterogeneous networks

Industry leaders are currently setting out standards for 5G Networks projected for 2020 or even sooner. Future generation networks will be heterogeneous in nature because no single network type is capable of optimally meeting all the rapid changes in customer demands. Heterogeneous networks are typically characterized by some network architecture, base stations of varying transmission power, transmission solutions and the deployment of a mix of technologies (multiple radio access technologies). In heterogeneous networks, the processes involved when a mobile node successfully switches from one radio access technology to the other for the purpose of quality of service continuity is termed vertical handover or vertical handoff. Active calls that get dropped, or cases where there is discontinuity of service experienced by mobile users can be attributed to the phenomenon of delayed handover or an outright case of an unsuccessful handover procedure. This dissertation analyses the performance of a fuzzy-based VHO algorithm scheme in a Wi-Fi, WiMAX, UMTS and LTE integrated network using the OMNeT++ discrete event simulator. The loose coupling type network architecture is adopted and results of the simulation are analysed and compared for the two major categories of handover basis; multiple and single criteria based handover methods. The key performance indices from the simulations showed better overall throughput, better call dropped rate and shorter handover time duration for the multiple criteria based decision method compared to the single criteria based technique. This work also touches on current trends, challenges in area of seamless handover and initiatives for future Networks (Next Generation Heterogeneous Networks)

Strategiauudistuksen vaikutukset finanssialan myyntityön näkökulmasta

Tämän opinnäytetyön tarkoituksena on perehtyä finanssialan yrityksen strategiseen uudistumiseen ja uudistuksen aiheuttamiin muutoksiin yrityksen henkilöstön näkemyksissä. Työn tavoitteena on löytää mahdollisia eroja ja yhtäläisyyksiä työntekijäryhmien välillä sekä niiden sisällä. Opinnäytetyö koostuu teoriaosiosta ja empiirisestä osiosta. Teoriaosuus on jaettu kahteen osaan; ensimmäinen osa käsittelee strategian toimeenpanoa ja toinen osa strategian näkymistä myyntityössä. Teoriaosuuden on tarkoitus selventää strategian viemistä teoriasta käytäntöön sekä käsitellä strategian toimeenpanoa myyntityössä. Opinnäytetyön empiirinen osio toteutettiin kvalitatiivisena eli laadullisena tutkimuksena. Se käsittelee toimeksiantajayrityksen strategisesta uudistumisesta aiheutuvia mielipiteitä ja näkemyksiä. Empiirinen osio on jaettu kahteen osaan; teemahaastatteluina toteutettuihin esimiesten haastatteluihin sekä myyjien kyselyyn. Tutkimus osoittaa strategisen uudistumisen aiheuttavan erilaisia näkemyksiä niin eri työntekijäryhmien välillä kuin työntekijäryhmien sisällä. Yrityksen strateginen uudistus ei kuitenkaan tutkimuksen mukaan aiheuta äärimmäisiä reaktioita, vaikkakin hajontaa löytyy. Tutkimuksen mukaan yhdeksi merkittävimmäksi näkemyseroksi esimiesten ja myyjien välillä osoittautui strategialinjausten eroava tärkeysjärjestys. Esimiehet korostivat vahvasti yhtä linjausta, kun taas myyjien kesken mielipiteet motivoivimmasta linjauksesta hajautuivat.The purpose of this thesis is to analyse the renewal of a company’s strategy operating in the financial sector and to analyse the viewpoints of the personnel. The goal of this thesis is to find possible differences and similarities among members. This thesis is divided into theory and empirical sections. There are two theory parts; the first is about the implementation of strategy and the second is about strategy in sales work. The theoretical part clarifies how the often abstract strategy is implemented and how the strategy affects sales work. The empirical section of this thesis was carried out as a qualitative research. It is about company’s strategic renewal. There are two parts in this section; the interview with the supervisors and the enquiry of the sales personnel. The interviews with supervisors were conducted as theme interviews. The research shows that the strategic renewal divides the opinions of the personnel. However, the renewal doesn’t raise radical views. Nevertheless there is still dispersion among personnel groups. One of the most significant differences between supervisors and sales personnel was the prioritization of strategic alignments. Supervisors emphasized one of the four strategic alignments while the sales personnel’s opinions were divided into several views

Islam’s Market Ideology: A Brief Outline

Many of the studies on the Islamic market doctrine have failed to integrate the idea within the broad social objective of its Islamic doctrinal origin. Consequently, the outcomes of such studies have only partially explicated the Islamic market theory. This brief study attempts to contextualize the Islamic market ideology within the broad social goal of the Islamic Shari’ah (law), in order to give it a more complete understanding. Using an interpretative approach that attempts to integrate market moral injunctions, pricing and profit, and price control, among others into the broader social doctrine of Islam, we established that the Islamic market ideology, broadly, seeks to promote the overall economic well-being of the members of society through creating fair opportunities for economic gains, enforcing the right to private property, and curbing exploitative tendencies of economic agents towards one another, among other things. Consequently, the Islamic market ideology is founded on the ideals of economic justice, which, generally, emphasize fairness as a moral duty enforceable by the state. It is further established that the individual has the right to engage in exchange activities and earn fair rewards, and this must not, ordinarily, be interfered with. However, when, in the course of exercising this right, the individual’s pursuit of self-interest puts the overall public welfare into jeopardy, the state is obliged to give public welfare precedence over individual self-interests. Thus, there is room for the state to intervene even in pricing; though, under normal circumstances, prices in the market should depend on the prevailing market conditions

Optical manipulation of sphingolipid biosynthesis using photoswitchable ceramides

Ceramides are central intermediates of sphingolipid metabolism that also function as potent messengers in stress signaling and apoptosis. Progress in understanding how ceramides execute their biological roles is hampered by a lack of methods to manipulate their cellular levels and metabolic fate with appropriate spatiotemporal precision. Here, we report on clickable, azobenzene-containing ceramides, caCers, as photoswitchable metabolic substrates to exert optical control over sphingolipid production in cells. Combining atomic force microscopy on model bilayers with metabolic tracing studies in cells, we demonstrate that light-induced alterations in the lateral packing of caCers lead to marked differences in their metabolic conversion by sphingomyelin synthase and glucosylceramide synthase. These changes in metabolic rates are instant and reversible over several cycles of photoswitching. Our findings disclose new opportunities to probe the causal roles of ceramides and their metabolic derivatives in a wide array of sphingolipid-dependent cellular processes with the spatiotemporal precision of light

The Role and Regulation of Sphingosine Kinases in Cancer Biology

Sphingolipids have emerged as bioactive constituents of eukaryotic cells. The bioactive sphingolipid ceramide mediates cellular senescence, apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Acted upon by ceramidase, it is transformed to sphingosine that in turn gets phosphorylated by sphingosine kinases (SK1 and SK2) to generate sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P). This lipid, on the contrary, mediates cellular proliferation, mitogenesis, inflammation, angiogenesis, and cancer metastasis through its actions on specific G-protein coupled receptors (S1PR1-5). ERM (ezrin, radixin, and moesin) proteins are a group of adaptor molecules linking the cortical actin cytoskeleton to the plasma membrane, and are emerging as critical regulators of cancer metastasis and progression via regulation of cell morphology and motility. Recently, we have identified S1P as an acute and potent ERM activator (via phosphorylation) through its action on its receptor S1PR2. We have also demonstrated that S1P-mediated filopodia formation, a first step in cell invasion, is through ERM activation. Growth factors are known activators of ERM proteins; however, it is not known if it involves the newly described S1P/S1PR2 axis, as well as upstream metabolites of the sphingolipid pathway. We demonstrate that SK2, and not SK1, is essential and sufficient in EGF-mediated ERM phosphorylation. Surprisingly, and for the first time, we prove that this event, although strictly dependent on S1PR2 activation, does not require extracellular S1P secretion; therefore introducing a potential novel model of autocrine/intracrine action of S1P that still involves its GPCR receptors. We also establish Spns2 as an essential S1P transporter that is required for S1PR2 activation and subsequent ERM phosphorylation. In addition, we rule out the role of previously established ezrin kinases, and involve the checkpoint kinases, CHK1 and CHK2, as novel mediators of ERM activation downstream of S1PR2; therefore, emphasizing the newly emerging concept stating that a cell need to stop proliferation for it to invade. Finally, we identify SK2, S1PR2 and CHKs as new and potent targets in the pathway of EGF-driven invasion. In fact, inhibiting SK2, S1PR2 or CHKs eradicates EGF-mediated lamellipodia formation, adhesion and extracellular matrix invasion. In conclusion, this body of work uncovers new mechanistic insights for EGF-mediated invasion. More importantly, it sets the stage for novel alternative therapeutic targets that could be of utmost importance especially in patients that become resistant to current EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors. | 284 page

Un rendez-vous avec l'administration ottomane : le mode de fonctionnement du tribunal char'i de Beyrouth au XIXe siècle

Depuis que les archives du gouvernement ottoman central à Istanbul furent ouvertes au public, il y a environ quarante ans, un nombre incalculable de recherches sur l'Empire ottoman a été effectué et publié à travers le monde. Il s'agit de travaux historiques inédits et aussi divers que seule l'exploitation de ce genre de source primaire permet de réaliser. Les archives permettent entre autres d'appréhender le mode de fonctionnement de l'administration impériale dans son ensemble, puisqu 'elles existent aussi bien à Istanbul que dans toutes les provinces impériales et couvrent non seulement les régions arabes de la Méditerranée orientale et de l' Afrique du Nord, mais également de vastes territoires en Europe de I 'Est. Cet article s' intéresse au mode de fonctionnement des tribunaux religieux durant le XIXe siècle, spécifiquement à celui de la ville de Beyrouth où est conservée une série de vieux registres datés de 1843 à 1929 (Adada 2009). Son objectif est de montrer la réalité concrète de cette institution, son mode d'organisation et son évolution durant la période des Tanzimats

Les fondatrices de waqf à Beyrouth entre 1843 et 1909

Le waqfest une institution sociale gérée par la jurisprudence musulmane, oufìqh en arabe. II permet à un individu, homme ou femme, de mobiliser en donation pieuse et à longue durée une propriété lui appartenant, un mulk, nommant par la même procédure le futur administrateur de la propriété cédée et, le cas échéant, le bénéficiaire qui recevrait des parts des revenus qu'elle produit. Les biens dévolus sont mobiles ou immobiles et de finalité économique, publique ou sociale : numéraire, boutique, habitation, terrain, boulangerie, bain public, atelier, etc. Les bénéficiaires du waqfpeuvent être des membres de la famille ou même des amis du fondateur ou de la fondatrice : il s'agit alors d'un waqffamilial. Mais quand les bénéfices vont à la gestion et à l'entretien d'édifices religieux ou publics (églises, mosquées, écoles), le waqfest dit charitable. Enfin, le waqfpeut être à la fois familial et charitable. On déduit qu'il est mixte. Nous aurons à y revenir. Les actes de waqfsont consignés dans les registres ottomans entreposés au tribunal char 'î de Beyrouth. Cet article s'intéresse uniquement aux fondatrices de waqffamilial de cette ville. Partant des données de ces registres, il décrit la manière dont les femmes beyrouthines de toutes les communautés religieuses, y compris les étrangères telles que les directrices des missions religieuses françaises et anglaises, fondaient des waqfs. La période étudiée va de 1843 à 1909. Ces deux dates sont déterminées par les registres disponibles. Elles sont néanmoins assez éloignées dans le temps pour nous permettre de constituer une banque de données fournie et effectuer des analyses inscrites dans la longue durée

Avaliação das condições estruturais e funcionais de pavimentos de concreto de cimento portland: estudo de caso

Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Centro Tecnológico. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Engenharia Civil.Levantamentos de condição de superfície têm sido largamente utilizados como alternativa da determinação do desempenho, manutenção e reabilitação de pavimentos de concreto. Dentre estes levantamentos destacam-se os levantamentos de defeitos, de deflexões e de aderência. Com o objetivo de verificar a condição funcional e estrutural dos pavimentos de concreto através dos levantamentos realizados, foram analisadas as condições de superfície através da determinação do Índice de Condição do Pavimento, das condições de derrapagem através dos resultados do equipamento Griptester, da macrotextura através dos ensaios de mancha de areia e drenabilidade, bem como, da condição estrutural através de métodos não destrutivos com a utilização do equipamento do tipo Falling Weight Deflectometer. Foram realizadas as análises dos procedimentos dos levantamentos mencionados e do resultado dessas avaliações determinou-se o comportamento das estruturas. Por último, com base em critérios técnicos foi elaborado um fluxograma para tomada de decisão para seleção de serviços adequados de manutenção e/ou reabilitação de pavimentos de concreto viários

Determinants of Export Survival:The Case of Ghanaian Manufacturers

In this study, we sought to investigate the factors that affect the export survival of Ghanaian manufacturing firms, using the survival (or duration) analysis technique. The study used a panel dataset (of Ghanaian manufacturing firms) spanning from 1991 to 1998, obtained from the regional program for enterprise development (RPED)/Ghana Manufacturing Enterprise surveys, which was jointly conducted by the Centre for the Study of African Economies (CSAE), the University of Oxford, the University of Ghana (Legon), and the Ghana Statistical Office. Our findings suggest that median duration of Ghanaian manufacturers in export markets is 5-6 years. The study also reveals that the longer a firm remains exporting, the greater the likelihood of survival in exporting. Other factors including firm age, size and export intensity each enhance the probability of firms’ survival in exporting while exporting a final product reduces the probability of survival