This paper is concerned with the directional stability of racing wheelchairs on crown roads. Three types of crown compensators are described and evaluated: the push-pull, the push-push, and the pull-pull. It was found that the push-push and the push-pull types of compensators have the most desirable characteristics, and were, in general, safer than the pull-pull type. In addition, the equations...

The lack of functional ankle musculature in lower limb amputees contributes to the reduced prosthetic ankle push-off, compensations at other joints and more energetically costly gait commonly observed in comparison to non-amputees. A variety of energy storing and return prosthetic feet have been developed to address these issues but have not been shown to sufficiently improve amputee biomechani...

The scaling push-relabel method is an important theoretical development in the area of minimum-cost ow algorithms. We study practical implementations of this method. We are especially interested in heuristics which improve real-life performance of the method. Our implementation works very well over a wide range of problem classes. In our experiments, it was always competitive with the establish...

The banks’ response to their changes in leverage ratios is examined and evaluated in this paper. This reaction can be interpreted as if the coefficient of total debts to equity (lev1) and total assets to equity (lev2) are positive as anticipated in the banking network of Iran. The paper uses data from 31 Iranian banks’ annual databases during the course of 2006-13 in order to estimate an empiri...

This paper studies robust Ramsey policy problems in a general discrete-time linearquadratic framework when the Ramsey planner faces three types of ambiguity. This framework includes both exogenous and endogenous state variables. In addition, the equilibrium system from the private sector contains both backward-looking and forward-looking dynamics. We provide recursive characterizations and algo...

A case study approach was used to explore the adoption of an RFID-based garment manufacturing information system in a garment factory in China. The findings indicate that both the technology push factors and need pull factors influence the intention of the garment factory to adopt RFID technology. Technology push factors include relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, extendibility, and ...

Recent work on monetary policy has focused on the trade-o¤ between output volatility and in‡ation volatility. This literature is based largely on models of closed economies. Three conclusions about optimal policy characterize these models. First, the central bank faces an in‡ation-output gap volatility trade-o¤ only in the presence of cost-push shocks. Second, aggregate demand shocks should be ...

This paper investigates the optimal monetary policy response to a shock to collateral when policymakers act under discretion and face model uncertainty. The analysis is based on a New Keynesian model where banks supply loans to transaction constrained consumers. Our results confirm the literature on model uncertainty with respect to a cost-push shock. Insuring against model misspecification lea...

Recent work on monetary policy has focused on the trade-off between output volatility and inflation volatility. This literature is based largely on models of closed economies. Three conclusions about optimal policy characterize these models. First, the central bank faces an inflation-output gap volatility trade-off only in the presence of cost-push shocks. Second, aggregate demand shocks should...

BACKGROUND The treatment of pressure ulcers is complicated, given the various wound dressing products available. The cost of different treatments varies and the cost-effectiveness of each product has not been thoroughly evaluated. We compare two wound dressing protocols-alginate silver dressing (AlSD) and silver zinc sulfadiazine cream (AgZnSD) with regard to wound healing and cost-effectivenes...