Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

About: Technion – Israel Institute of Technology is a education organization based out in Haifa, Israel. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Nonlinear system. The organization has 31714 authors who have published 79377 publications receiving 2603976 citations. The organization is also known as: Technion Israel Institute of Technology & Ṭekhniyon, Makhon ṭekhnologi le-Yiśraʼel.

Port performance comparison applying data envelopment analysis (DEA)

Abstract: The large variety of factors that influence port performance complicates the determination of port efficiency. This paper presents a new approach to the measurement of efficiency. Data envelopment analysis (DEA), as a it is called, has particular applicability in the service sector. Applying mathematical programming techniques. DEA enables relative efficiency ratings ti be derived within a set of analysed units. Thus it does not require the developmentof ‘standards’ against which efficiency is measured, although such standards can be incorporated in the DEA analysis. The efficiency of units is compared with an ‘efficiency envelope’ that contains the most efficient units in the group. The DEA approach will be demonstrated by a hypothetical numerical example where the performance of 20 ports are compared. The DEA efficiency ratings can be useful tool for port managers and for researchers, providing a deeper insight into port performance. Weaknesses can be detected, leadungs the way to potential improvements.

Charge Transport in Disordered Organic Materials and Its Relevance to Thin‐Film Devices: A Tutorial Review

Abstract: Semiconducting polymers and small molecules form an extremely flexible class of amorphous materials that can be used in a wide range of applications, some of which are display, radio-frequency tags, and solar cells. The rapid progress towards functional devices is occurring despite the lack of sufficient understanding of the physical processes and very little experience in device engineering. This tutorial review aims to provide sufficient intuitive background to draw more researchers to look into the fundamental aspects of device physics and engineering.

Working memory deficit as a core neuropsychological dysfunction in schizophrenia.

Abstract: Objective: This study tested the hypothesis that impaired working memory is a core deficit underlying multiple neuropsychological deficits in schizophrenia patients. Method: The subjects were 27 men with stable chronic schizophrenia treated with atypical antipsychotics and 38 normal participants. They were assessed with a battery of neuropsychological tests. Verbal working memory was measured with the WAIS digit span tests, and the Dot Test was used to test spatial working memory. Results: In the patients, verbal working memory showed significant correlations with visual retention, visual orientation, simple motor function, visuomotor coordination, and executive function but not with memory for objects, memory for faces, recognition of facial emotions, or attention. Spatial working memory showed significant correlations with visual retention, visual orientation, memory for objects, memory for faces, and simple motor function but not attention, executive function, or visuomotor coordination. In the comparison group, no correlations between working memory and other neuropsychological functions were found. Conclusions: These findings support the hypothesis that working memory is a core deficit in schizophrenia. The authors postulate that the lower capacity for verbal and spatial “on-line storage” is rate limiting in the performance of other cognitive functions. Executive functions rely critically on the phonetic loop, complex visual functions such as object and face memory rely on the spatial on-line storage system (visuospatial scratch pad), while other functions such as visual orientation depend critically on both capacities.

Recent developments in modeling heat transfer in blood perfused tissues

Abstract: Successful hyperthermia treatment of tumors requires understanding the attendant thermal processes in both diseased and healthy tissue. Accordingly, it is essential for developers and users of hyperthermia equipment to predict, measure and interpret correctly the tissue thermal and vascular response to heating. Modeling of heat transfer in living tissues is a means towards this end. Due to the complex morphology of living tissues, such modeling is a difficult task and some simplifying assumptions are needed. Some investigators have recently argued that Pennes' interpretation of the vascular contribution to heat transfer in perfused tissues fails to account for the actual thermal equilibration process between the flowing blood and the surrounding tissue and proposed new models, presumably based on a more realistic anatomy of the perfused tissue. The present review compares and contrasts several of the new bio-heat transfer models, emphasizing the problematics of their experimental validation, in the absence of measuring equipment capable of reliable evaluation of tissue properties and their variations that occur in the spatial scale of blood vessels with diameters less than about 0.2 mm. For the most part, the new models still lack sound experimental grounding, and in view of their inherent complexity, the best practical approach for modeling bio-heat transfer during hyperthermia may still be the Pennes model, providing its use is based on some insights gained from the studies described here. In such cases, these models should yield a more realistic description of tissue locations and/or thermal conditions for which the Pennes model might not apply. >