Search results for: Social Network Analysis.

Authors: Abhishek Swaroop, Awadhesh Kumar Singh

Abstract:

The group mutual exclusion (GME) problem is an interesting generalization of the mutual exclusion problem. Several solutions of the GME problem have been proposed for message passing distributed systems. However, none of these solutions is suitable for real time distributed systems. In this paper, we propose a token-based distributed algorithms for the GME problem in soft real time distributed systems. The algorithm uses the concepts of priority queue, dynamic request set and the process state. The algorithm uses first come first serve approach in selecting the next session type between the same priority levels and satisfies the concurrent occupancy property. The algorithm allows all n processors to be inside their CS provided they request for the same session. The performance analysis and correctness proof of the algorithm has also been included in the paper.

Keywords: Concurrency, Group mutual exclusion, Priority, Request set, Token.

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Authors: M. Alassim, M. Alfayad, E. Abbott-Halpin

Abstract:

The purpose of this paper is to explore the organizational factors influencing the implementation of the e-government project within the public sector in Saudi Arabia. This project (also known as the Yesser programme) was established in Saudi Arabia in 2005 to control the e-government transformation process. The aims of the project are to provide a collaborative environment for government organizations to implement e-government and increase effectiveness and efficiency within the public sector. This paper sheds light on the organizational factors that have delayed implementation and achievement of the government’s vision and plans for Yesser. A qualitative approach was employed to understand those factors, by conducting a series of interviews with government officials for the data collection required. The analysis of the data uncovered seven organizational factors that are needed to advance implementation of the e-government project in Saudi Arabia and other similar states.

Keywords: E-government, e-transformation, ICT, Saudi Arabia, Yesser.

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Authors: M. M. Isa, R. Abd-Rahman, H. H. Goh

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A compound parabolic concentrator (CPC) is a wellknown non-imaging concentrator that will concentrate the solar radiation onto receiver (PV cell). One of disadvantage of CPC is has tall and narrow height compared to its diameter entry aperture area. Therefore, for economic reason, a truncation had been done by removed from the top of the full height CPC. This also will lead to the decreases of concentration ratio but it will be negligible. In this paper, the flux distribution of untruncated and truncated 2-D hollow compound parabolic trough concentrator (hCPTC) design is presented. The untruncated design has initial height H=193.4mm with concentration ratio C_(2-D)=4. This paper presents the optical simulation of compound parabolic trough concentrator using raytracing software TracePro. Results showed that, after the truncation, the height of CPC reduced 45% from initial height with the geometrical concentration ratio only decrease 10%. Thus, the cost of reflector and material dielectric usage can be saved especially at manufacturing site.

Keywords: Compound parabolic trough concentrator, optical modelling, ray-tracing analysis.

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Authors: M. Ghazy, T. Dockhorn, N. Dichtl

Abstract:

The present disposal routes of sewage sludge represent a critical environmental issue in Egypt. Recently, there has been an increasing concern about sewage sludge management due to the environmental risks, which resulted from the fast expansion of wastewater treatment plants without equal attention in dealing with the produced sludge. This paper discusses the current situation of sewage sludge management in Egypt presenting a brief overview of the existing wastewater treatment plants, sludge production and characteristics as well as options of beneficial use and potential demand of sewage sludge under Egyptian conditions. The characteristics of sewage sludge are discussed considering the results of own sampling and analysis as well as previous studies. Furthermore, alternative treatment scenarios for sewage sludge, which have been recently developed in Egypt, are discussed and perspectives for a sustainable agricultural use are outlined.

Keywords: Beneficial use, Egypt, Monetary value, Stabilization processes, Sewage sludge, Sludge management

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Authors: J. Y. Lee, H. S. Lim, S. H. Yoon

Abstract:

This paper presents an analysis of the diagonal crack widths of RC members with various types of materials by simulating a compatibility-aided truss model. The analytical results indicated that the diagonal crack width was influenced by not only the shear reinforcement ratio but also the yield strength of shear reinforcement and the compressive strength of concrete. The yield strength of shear reinforcement and the compressive strength of concrete decreased the diagonal shear crack width of RC members for the same shear force because of the change of shear failure modes. However, regarding the maximum shear crack width at shear failure, the shear crack width of the beam with high strength materials was greater than that of the beam with normal strength materials.

Keywords: Diagonal crack width, high strength stirrups, high strength concrete, RC members, shear behavior.

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Authors: D. R. Ambika, K. R. Radhika, D. Seshachalam

Abstract:

Unconstrained authentication is an important component for personal automated systems and human-computer interfaces. Existing solutions mostly use face as the primary object of analysis. The performance of face-based systems is largely determined by the extent of deformation caused in the facial region and amount of useful information available in occluded face images. Periocular region is a useful portion of face with discriminative ability coupled with resistance to deformation. A reliable portion of periocular area is available for occluded images. The present work demonstrates that joint representation of periocular texture and periocular structure provides an effective expression and poses invariant representation. The proposed methodology provides an effective and compact description of periocular texture and shape. The method is tested over four benchmark datasets exhibiting varied acquisition conditions.

Keywords: Periocular authentication, Zernike moments, LBPV, shape and texture fusion.

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Authors: Prateep Wajeetongratana

Abstract:

The purpose of this research was to study the influence of learning efficiency on local accountants’ job performance effectiveness. This paper drew upon the survey data collected from 335 local accountants survey conducted at Nakhon Ratchasima province, Thailand. The statistics utilized in this paper included percentage, mean, standard deviation, and regression analysis. The findings revealed that the majority of samples were between 31-40 years old, married, held an undergraduate degree, and had an average income between 10,000-15,000 baht. The majority of respondents had less than five years of accounting experience and worked for local administrations. The overall learning efficiency score was in the highest level while the local accountants’ job performance effectiveness score was also in the high level. The hypothesis testing’s result disclosed that learning efficiency factors which were knowledge, Skill, and Attitude had an influence on local accountants’ job the performance effectiveness.

Keywords: Accountants, Leaning Efficiency, Performance Effectiveness.

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Authors: Jochen Nelles, Susanne Kohns, Julia Spies, Friederike Schmitz-Buhl, Roland Thietje, Christopher Brandl, Alexander Mertens, Christopher M. Schlick

Abstract:

Industrial robots as part of highly automated manufacturing are recently developed to cooperative (light-weight) robots. This offers the opportunity of using them as assistance robots and to improve the participation in professional life of disabled or handicapped people such as tetraplegics. Robots under development are located within a cooperation area together with the working person at the same workplace. This cooperation area is an area where the robot and the working person can perform tasks at the same time. Thus, working people and robots are operating in the immediate proximity. Considering the physical restrictions and the limited mobility of tetraplegics, a hands-free robot control could be an appropriate approach for a cooperative assistance robot. To meet these requirements, the research project MeRoSy (human-robot synergy) develops methods for cooperative assistance robots based on the measurement of head movements of the working person. One research objective is to improve the participation in professional life of people with disabilities and, in particular, mobility impaired persons (e.g. wheelchair users or tetraplegics), whose participation in a self-determined working life is denied. This raises the research question, how a human-robot cooperation workplace can be designed for hands-free robot control. Here, the example of a library scenario is demonstrated. In this paper, an empirical study that focuses on the impact of head movement related stress is presented. 12 test subjects with tetraplegia participated in the study. Tetraplegia also known as quadriplegia is the worst type of spinal cord injury. In the experiment, three various basic head movements were examined. Data of the head posture were collected by a motion capture system; muscle activity was measured via surface electromyography and the subjective mental stress was assessed via a mental effort questionnaire. The muscle activity was measured for the sternocleidomastoid (SCM), the upper trapezius (UT) or trapezius pars descendens, and the splenius capitis (SPL) muscle. For this purpose, six non-invasive surface electromyography sensors were mounted on the head and neck area. An analysis of variance shows differentiated muscular strains depending on the type of head movement. Systematically investigating the influence of different basic head movements on the resulting strain is an important issue to relate the research results to other scenarios. At the end of this paper, a conclusion will be drawn and an outlook of future work will be presented.

Keywords: Assistance robot, human-robot-interaction, motion capture, stress-strain-concept, surface electromyography, tetraplegia.

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Authors: Patrick T. I. Lam, Wenjing Yang

Abstract:

A smart city project embraces benefits and costs which can be classified under direct and indirect categories. Externalities come into the picture, but they are often difficult to quantify. Despite this barrier, policy makers need to carry out cost-benefit analysis to justify the huge investments needed to make a city smart. The recent trend is towards the engagement of the private sector to utilize their resources and expertise, especially in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) areas, where innovations blossom. This study focuses on the identification of costs (on a life cycle basis) and benefits associated with smart city project developments based on a comprehensive literature review and case studies, where public-private partnerships would warrant consideration, the related costs and benefits are highlighted. The findings will be useful for policy makers of cities.

Keywords: Costs and benefits, identification, public-private partnerships, smart city projects.

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Authors: Jyoti Narayan, S. Choudhary

Abstract:

Nanowire arrays of copper with uniform diameters have been synthesized by potentiostatic electrochemical metal deposition (EMD) of copper sulphate and potassium chloride solution within the nano-channels of porous Indium-Tin Oxide (ITO), also known as Tin doped Indium Oxide templates. The nanowires developed were fairly continuous with diameters ranging from 110-140 nm along the entire length. Single as well as poly-crystalline copper wires have been prepared by application of appropriate potential during the EMD process. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), small angle electron diffraction (SAED) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) were used to characterize the synthesized nano wires at room temperature. The electrochemical response of synthesized products was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry while surface energy analysis was carried out using a Goniometer.

Keywords: Electro-deposition, Metallic nano-wires, Nanomaterials, Template synthesis

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Authors: Eduardo C. Guardia, Jose W. M. Lima, Afonso H. M. Santos

Abstract:

This paper presents a nonparametric method to obtain the hazard rate “Bathtub curve” for power system components. The model is a mixture of the three known phases of a component life, the decreasing failure rate (DFR), the constant failure rate (CFR) and the increasing failure rate (IFR) represented by three parametric Weibull models. The parameters are obtained from a simultaneous fitting process of the model to the Kernel nonparametric hazard rate curve. From the Weibull parameters and failure rate curves the useful lifetime and the characteristic lifetime were defined. To demonstrate the model the historic time-to-failure of distribution transformers were used as an example. The resulted “Bathtub curve” shows the failure rate for the equipment lifetime which can be applied in economic and replacement decision models.

Keywords: Bathtub curve, failure analysis, lifetime estimation, parameter estimation, Weibull distribution.

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Authors: Mitra Bahri, Jean Leopold Kabambi, Jacqueline Yakobi-Hancock, William Render, Stephanie So

Abstract:

Reducing formaldehyde concentration in residential buildings is an important challenge, especially during the summer. In this study, a ceiling tile was used as a sorptive passive panel for formaldehyde removal. The performance of this passive panel was evaluated under different environmental conditions. The results demonstrated that the removal efficiency is comprised between 40% and 71%. Change in the level of relative humidity (30%, 50%, and 75%) had a slight positive effect on the sorption capacity. However, increase in temperature from 21 °C to 26 °C led to approximately 7% decrease in the average formaldehyde removal performance. GC/MS and HPLC analysis revealed the formation of different by-products at low concentrations under extreme environmental conditions. These findings suggest that the passive panel selected for this study holds the potential to be used for formaldehyde removal under various conditions.

Keywords: Formaldehyde, indoor air quality, passive panel, removal efficiency, sorption.

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Authors: Pil Un Kim, Yunjung Lee, Gihyoun Lee, Jin Ho Cho, Myoung Nam Kim

Abstract:

In this paper, the vessel inscribed trigonometry (VITM) for the vessel progression orientation (VPO) is proposed in the two-dimensional fundus image. The VPO is a major factor in the optic disc (OD) detection which is a basic process in the retina analysis. To measure the VPO, skeletons of vessel are used. First, the vessels are classified into three classes as vessel end, vessel branch and vessel stem. And the chain code maps of VS are generated. Next, two farthest neighborhoods of each point on VS are searched by the proposed angle restriction. Lastly, a gradient of the straight line between two farthest neighborhoods is estimated to measure the VPO. VITM is validated by comparing with manual results and 2D Gaussian templates. It is confirmed that VPO of the proposed mensuration is correct enough to detect OD from the results of experiment which applied VITM to detect OD in fundus images.

Keywords: Angle measurement, Optic disc, Retina vessel, Vessel progression orientation.

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Authors: Peter A. Bibby

Abstract:

Research has suggested that implicit learning tasks may rely on episodic processing to generate above chance performance on the standard classification tasks. The current research examines the invariant features task (McGeorge and Burton, 1990) and argues that such episodic processing is indeed important. The results of the experiment suggest that both rejection and similarity strategies are used by participants in this task to simultaneously reject unfamiliar items and to accept (falsely) familiar items. Primarily these decisions are based on the presence of low or high frequency goal based features of the stimuli presented in the incidental learning phase. It is proposed that a goal based analysis of the incidental learning task provides a simple step in understanding which features of the episodic processing are most important for explaining the match between incidental, implicit learning and test performance.

Keywords: Episodic processing, incidental learning, implicitlearning, invariant learning.

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Authors: M. A. Torkamani, S. Mahmoodzadeh, S. Pourroostaei, C. Lucas

Abstract:

Daily production of information and importance of the sequence of produced data in forecasting future performance of market causes analysis of data behavior to become a problem of analyzing time series. But time series that are very complicated, usually are random and as a result their changes considered being unpredictable. While these series might be products of a deterministic dynamical and nonlinear process (chaotic) and as a result be predictable. Point of Chaotic theory view, complicated systems have only chaotically face and as a result they seem to be unregulated and random, but it is possible that they abide by a specified math formula. In this article, with regard to test of strange attractor and biggest Lyapunov exponent probability of chaos on several foreign exchange rates vs. IRR (Iranian Rial) has been investigated. Results show that data in this market have complex chaotic behavior with big degree of freedom.

Keywords: Chaos, Exchange Rate, Nonlinear Models.

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Authors: Azwadi Ali

Abstract:

The survival of publicly listed companies largely depends on their stocks being liquidly traded. This goal can be achieved when new investors are attracted to invest on companies- stocks. Among different groups of investors, individual investors are generally less able to objectively evaluate companies- risks and returns, and tend to be emotionally biased in their investing decisions. Therefore their decisions may be formed as a result of perceived risks and returns, and influenced by companies- images. This study finds that perceived risk, perceived returns and trust directly affect individual investors- trading decisions while attitude towards brand partially mediates the relationships. This finding suggests that, in courting individual investors, companies still need to perform financially while building a good image can result in their stocks being accepted quicker than the stocks of good performing companies with hidden images.

Keywords: Behavioral Finance, Investment, Attitude towardsBrand, Partial Least Squares

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Authors: T. Hirata, G. H. Yokoyama, L. H. M. Duque

Abstract:

The posteroanterior manipulation technique is usually include in the procedure of the lumbar spine to evaluate the intervertebral motion according to mechanical resistance. The mechanical device with visual feedback was proposed that allows one to analysis the lumbar segments mobility “in vivo" facilitating for the therapist to take its treatment evolution. The measuring system uses load cell and displacement sensor to estimate spine stiffness. In this work, the device was tested by 2 therapists, female, applying posteroanterior force techniques to 5 volunteers, female, with frequency of approximately 1.2-1.8 Hz. A test-retest procedure was used for 2 periods of day. The visual feedback results small variation of forces and cycle time during 6 cycles rhythmic application. The stiffness values showed good agreement between test-retest procedures when used same order of maximum forces.

Keywords: Biomechanics, lumber spine stiffness, intervertebral manipulation device, visual feedback

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Authors: M. M. Doustdar , M. Mojtahedpoor

Abstract:

This paper addresses one important aspect of combustion system analysis, the spray evaporation and dispersion modeling. In this study we assume an empty cylinder which is as a simulator for a ramjet engine and the cylinder has been studied by cold flow. Four nozzles have the duties of injection which are located in the entrance of cylinder. The air flow comes into the cylinder from one side and injection operation will be done. By changing injection velocity and entrance air flow velocity, we have studied droplet sizing and efficient mass fraction of fuel vapor near and at the exit area. We named the mass of fuel vapor inside the flammability limit as the efficient mass fraction. Further, we decreased the initial temperature of fuel droplets and we have repeated the investigating again. To fulfill the calculation we used a modified version of KIVA-3V.

Keywords: Ramjet, droplet sizing, injection velocity, air flow velocity, efficient mass fraction.

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Authors: Ishan Arora, Anurag S. Rathore

Abstract:

The primary objective of this work was to study the effect of resin chemistry, pH and molarity of binding and elution buffer on aggregate removal using Cation Exchange Chromatography and find the optimum conditions which can give efficient aggregate removal with minimum loss of yield. Four different resins were used for carrying out the experiments: Fractogel EMD SO3 -(S), Fractogel EMD COO-(M), Capto SP ImpRes and S Ceramic HyperD. Runs were carried out on the AKTA Avant system. Design of Experiments (DOE) was used for analysis using the JMP software. The dependence of the yield obtained using different resins on the operating conditions was studied. Success has been achieved in obtaining yield greater than 90% using Capto SP ImpRes and Fractogel EMD COO-(M) resins. It has also been found that a change in the operating conditions generally has different effects on the yields obtained using different resins.

Keywords: Aggregates, cation exchange chromatography, design of experiments, monoclonal antibodies.

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Authors: Gurjit Kaur, Neena Gupta

Abstract:

In this paper, we have analyzed and compared the performance of various coding schemes. The basic ID prime sequence codes are unique in only dimension, i.e. time slots, whereas 2D coding techniques are not unique by their time slots but with their wavelengths also. In this research, we have evaluated and compared the performance of 1D and 2D coding techniques constructed using prime sequence coding pattern for Optical Code Division Multiple Access (OCDMA) system on a single platform. Analysis shows that 2D prime code supports lesser number of active users than 1D codes, but they are having large code family and are the most secure codes compared to other codes. The performance of all these codes is analyzed on basis of number of active users supported at a Bit Error Rate (BER) of 10-9.

Keywords: CDMA, OCDMA, BER, OOC, PC, EPC, MPC, 2-D PC/PC, λc, λa.

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Authors: Jungbhin You, Taekyun Kim, Jongho Park, Sungnam Hong, Sun-Kyu Park

Abstract:

Reinforced concrete has been mainly used in construction field because of excellent durability. However, it may lead to reduction of durability and safety due to corrosion of reinforcement steels according to damage of concrete surface. Recently, research of textile is ongoing to complement weakness of reinforced concrete. In previous research, only experiment of longitudinal length were performed. Therefore, in order to investigate the adhesion performance according to the lattice shape and the embedded length, the pull-out test was performed on the roving with parameter of the number of lateral reinforcement, the lateral reinforcement length and the lateral reinforcement spacing. As a result, the number of lateral reinforcement and the lateral reinforcement length did not significantly affect the load variation depending on the adhesion performance, and only the load analysis results according to the reinforcement spacing are affected.

Keywords: Adhesion performance, lateral reinforcement, pull-out test, textile.

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Authors: Eun-JungKo, Bur-Deul Yoon, Sung-Won Choi, Hong-Kyu Kim

Abstract:

Jacobs, A.B. (1993) stated that "When I think of a city, the first thing that comes to mind is the street. If the street is interesting, the rest of the city is interesting. If the street is mundane, the city is also mundane." In this statement, he expresses the importance of the streetscape and the street environment. The objective of this paper is to analyze the spatial relationships of the streetscape that affect the general public's preference of the cityscape. Furthermore, this research focuses on the important role that streetscape plays in public perception of the city by the pedestrians who experience it daily. The subject of this paper is eight of the "Design Seoul Street."The analysis and survey results show the preference criteria that affect the streetscape and ultimately the cityscape. This research endeavor shows that differences in physical form, shape, size, color, locations, and context are important.

Keywords: Cityscape, Design Seoul Street, street, streetscape.

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Authors: Haytham Yassine

Abstract:

This article mainly aims to detect and understand how money laundering activities are executed by transport of cash, identifying the underlying factors and separating legitimate from illegitimate usage of cash and how it is being used. This research provides academics with additional literature and provides bank supervisors and practitioners with a better understanding of sources and uses of cash in criminal activities and how cash is used in the laundering mechanism. Data are gathered through survey in the Middle East and North Africa region and review of the available research. The results of the analysis will help distinguish the factors affecting preference for cash rather other payment instruments in the region, identify what causes the tendency to launder illegal proceeds through cash transportation and how illegal cash is being laundered and moved. On the other hand, this paper sheds the light on major cash generating criminal activities, its sources and main destinations.

Keywords: Illegitimate activities, cash, money laundering, terrorism financing.

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Authors: F. Nazem, M. Mozaiini, A. Seifi

Abstract:

The purpose of the present study was to provide a structural model of knowledge management in universities based on organizational climate. The population of the research included all employees of Islamic Azad University (IAU). The sample consisted of 1590 employees selected using stratified and cluster random sampling method. The research instruments were two questionnaires which were administered in 78 IAU branches and education centers: Sallis and Jones’s (2002) Knowledge Management Questionnaire (α= 0.97); and Latwin & Stringer’s (1968) Organizational Climate Questionnaire (α= 0.83). The results of path analysis using LISREL software indicated that dimensions of organizational climate had a direct effect on knowledge management with the indices of 0.94. The model also showed that the factor of support in organizational climate had the highest direct effect on the knowledge management.

Keywords: Knowledge management, Organizational climate, Structural model, Universities.

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Authors: X. Gumara Rigol, I. Martínez de Apellaniz Anzuola, A. Garcia Serrano, A. Franzi Cros, O. Vidal Calbet, A. Al Maruf

Abstract:

Traditional federated architectures for data warehousing work well when corporations have existing regional data warehouses and there is a need to aggregate data at a global level. Schibsted Media Group has been maturing from a decentralised organisation into a more globalised one and needed to build both some of the regional data warehouses for some brands at the same time as the global one. In this paper, we present the architectural alternatives studied and why a custom federated approach was the notable recommendation to go further with the implementation. Although the data warehouses are logically federated, the implementation uses a single database system which presented many advantages like: cost reduction and improved data access to global users allowing consumers of the data to have a common data model for detailed analysis across different geographies and a flexible layer for local specific needs in the same place.

Keywords: Data integration, data warehousing, federated architecture, online analytical processing.

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Authors: Ying Wang

Abstract:

Service trade is an important force of influencing economic development. A review on the related literatures is done firstly. Then through the construction of a Diamond Model, the main factors which influence the competitiveness of Chinese service trade are determined. With three competitiveness indexes served as the reference series respectively, the influencing factors served as the comparable series, three grey incidence models are then built up to conduct an empirical analysis on the main factors influencing the competitiveness of service trade after China entering WTO. The result indicates that urbanization level, open degree of service industry and foreign direct investment have larger impacts on Chinese service trade competitiveness, followed in turn by GDP in service industry and human capital, while commodity trade has the minimum impact. Further discussion provides train of thought for the upgrade of Chinese service trade competitiveness.

Keywords: Service Trade, Competitiveness, Diamond Model, Grey Incidence Model.

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Authors: André Smith, Amr Abdel-Dayem

Abstract:

The stereo matching problem, while having been present for several decades, continues to be an active area of research. The goal of this research is to find correspondences between elements found in a set of stereoscopic images. With these pairings, it is possible to infer the distance of objects within a scene, relative to the observer. Advancements in this field have led to experimentations with various techniques, from graph-cut energy minimization to artificial neural networks. At the basis of these techniques is a cost function, which is used to evaluate the likelihood of a particular match between points in each image. While at its core, the cost is based on comparing the image pixel data; there is a general lack of consistency as to what image data representation to use. This paper presents an experimental analysis to compare the effectiveness of more common image data representations. The goal is to determine the effectiveness of these data representations to reduce the cost for the correct correspondence relative to other possible matches.

Keywords: Colour data, local stereo matching, stereo correspondence, disparity map.

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Authors: Inta Volodko, Valentina Koliskina

Abstract:

Linear stability of wake-shear layers in two-phase shallow flows is analyzed in the present paper. Stability analysis is based on two-dimensional shallow water equations. It is assumed that the fluid contains uniformly distributed solid particles. No dynamic interaction between the carrier fluid and particles is expected in the initial moment. Linear stability curves are obtained for different values of the particle loading parameter, the velocity ratio and the velocity deficit. It is shown that the increase in the velocity ratio destabilizes the flow. The particle loading parameter has a stabilizing effect on the flow. The role of the velocity deficit is also destabilizing: the increase of the velocity deficit leads to less stable flow.

Keywords: Linear stability, Shallow flows, Wake-shear flows.

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Authors: Jackeline Kafie-Martinez, Peter B. Keating

Abstract:

A three-dimensional finite element model is developed to capture the stress field generated in connected plates during the installation of hot-driven rivets. Clamping stress is generated when a steel rivet heated to approximately 1000 °C comes in contact with the material to be fastened at ambient temperature. As the rivet cools, thermal contraction subjects the rivet into tensile stress, while the material being fastened is subjected to compressive stress. Model characteristics and assumptions, as well as steel properties variation with respect to temperature are discussed. The thermal stresses developed around the rivet hole are assessed and reported. Results from the analysis are utilized to detect possible regions for fatigue crack propagation under cyclic loads.

Keywords: Jackeline Kafie-Martinez, Peter B. Keating.

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Authors: Omar Qasaimeh

Abstract:

The effect of the number of quantum dot (QD) layers on the saturated gain of doped QD semiconductor optical amplifiers (SOAs) has been studied using multi-population coupled rate equations. The developed model takes into account the effect of carrier coupling between adjacent layers. It has been found that increasing the number of QD layers (K) increases the unsaturated optical gain for K<8 and approximately has no effect on the unsaturated gain for K ≥ 8. Our analysis shows that the optimum ptype concentration that maximizes the unsaturated optical gain of the ground state is NA Ôëê 0.75 ×1018cm-3 . On the other hand, it has been found that the saturated optical gain for both the ground state and the excited state are strong function of both the doping concentration and K where we find that it is required to dope the dots with n-type concentration for very large K at high photon energy.

Keywords: doping, multilayer, quantum dot optical amplifier, saturated gain.

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