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According to relevant research, non-uniform speed has a significant impact on the vehicle-track systems. Up to now, research work on it is still very limited. In this paper, the PEM is adopted to further transform it into a deterministic process to solve the vehicle’s problem of running at a non-uniform speed.

The multi-body vehicle model has 10 degrees of freedom and the track is regarded as a finite long beam supported by lumped sleepers and ballast blocks. They are connected via linear Hertz springs. The vertical track irregularity is a Gaussian stationary process in the space domain. It is transformed into a uniformly modulated nonstationary random process in the time domain with respect to the non-uniform vehicle speed. By solving the equation of motion of the coupled vehicle-track system with the pseudo-excitation method, the pseudo-response and consequently the power spectral density and the standard deviation of the structural response can be obtained.

Two kinds of vehicle braking programs are taken in the numerical example and some beneficial conclusions are drawn.

The pseudo-excitation method (PEM) was used to perform the random vibration analysis of a coupled non-uniform speed vehicle-track system. Transforming the track irregularity into a uniformly modulated nonstationary random process in time domain with respect to the non-uniform vehicle speed was undertaken. The pseudo-response of the coupled system is solved by applying the Newmark algorithm with constant space integral steps. The random vibration transfer mechanism of the coupled system is fully discussed.

In the past decade, the biopolymeric properties of chitosan (CH) have been largely exploited for various applications. This paper aims to study the use of CH in its nanoform, i.e. as nanofibers blended with polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) for various antimicrobial applications in detail. In particular, their ability toward bacterial growth inhibition, in vitro drug release and their biocompatibility toward tissue growth have been investigated in detail.

Electrospinning technique was adapted for depositing CH/PVA blended nanofilms on the silver foil under optimized conditions of high voltage. Three different concentrations of blended nanofiber samples were prepared and their antimicrobial properties were studied.

The bead diameter and average diameter of blended nanofibers increase with CH concentration. Antibacterial activity increases as CH concentration increases. Increased hydrophilicity in CH-enriched samples contributes to a higher drug release profile.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, chick chorioallantoic membrane assay analysis has been carried out for the first time for CH/PVA films which shows that CH/PVA blends are biocompatible. CH after being converted as nanoparticles exhibits higher drug release rate by in vitro method.

This chapter proposes a sustainable trajectory for leadership and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) organizational change in higher education. Leadership practices and strategies necessary to construct and implement change and cultivate diverse, equitable, and inclusive educational environments are deliberated, with particular emphasis on transformational leadership theories and practices. These types of organization development practices produce concrete transformation in institutions that have long-established, inert, and deeply entrenched cultures in which discriminatory or even racist practices have been deeply embedded and accepted over time. The complex dynamics of transformation in higher education, brought on, in part, by the rigidity of its organizational structure coupled with its history and foundation in racism and racist practices, makes achieving sustainable change difficult in higher education. Transformational change requires the creation of new mental models through meaning making and perspective sharing that allow individuals in higher education to think differently about how higher education institutions should operate given the rapid shifts in our society. Organizational change leaders must engage in deep, purposeful, and critical reflection and examination of the organization's culture to lay the groundwork for significant change. The chapter explores topics such as leading change through transformational leadership and the styles, practices, and capabilities associated with it, leadership development, strategic diversity leadership, and the Chief Diversity Officer (CDO) as change leader in higher education. The internal and external environmental trends demanding substantive change in higher education continue to intensify over time. The demand for pervasive transformation in higher education is resounding, and institutional leaders must be open to and even drive new and innovative approaches to shifting its very core – its DNA, its culture – to meet those demands.

The protective aspects of relationships for health have been extensively studied. Here, we assess whether different dimensions of partnership status at the time of a child’s birth are associated with better self-assessed health later in mid-life. Data are from three countries with different social welfare policies relating to union status and parenting: the US, the UK, and Norway. Results indicate that women who were partnered at first birth had better health at midlife in all three countries than women who were unpartnered. The analysis indicates no differences in the mid-life health of Norwegian women who were married or cohabiting at birth, whereas for US and UK women, being married at the birth of a first child is more beneficial for mid-life health than bearing the child in a cohabiting union. In the US, women who are least likely to marry do not demonstrate better mid-life health if they had wed relative to cohabiting. In the UK, in contrast, the women least likely to be married at the birth experience better returns if they marry. These findings highlight the importance of paying closer attention to heterogeneous treatment effects as they relate to childbearing, relationship status, and mid-life health.

This study attempts to identify and explicate the unique segmentation of the increasingly growing virtual reality (VR) user market based on the user experience. Consequently, it collects five hundred forty-five online survey questionnaires through the Prolific platform and deploys cluster analysis to identify mutually exclusive groups of VR users. The research variable, user experience, contains 16 indicators explained by four dimensions. As a result, this study is able to unveil three mutually exclusive markets which are labeled as (1) beginner, (2) aficionado, and (3) utilitarian. The unique features of these three groups are further compared based on their VR tour behaviors. In the conclusion section, it offers managerial implications for devising novel marketing strategies.