Technological Environment - International Marketing Strategy Relationship

International trade involves both large and small firms engaged in business overseas. Possible drivers that force companies to enter international markets include increasing competition at the domestic market, maturing domestic markets, and limited domestic market opportunities. Technology is an important driving factor in shaping international marketing strategy as well as in driving force towards a more global marketplace, especially technology in communication. It includes telephones, the internet, computer systems and e-mail. There are three main marketing strategy choices, namely standardization approach, adaptation approach and middleof- the-road approach that companies implement to overseas markets. The decision depends on situations and factors facing the companies in the international markets. In this paper, the contingency concept is considered that no single strategy can be effective in all contexts. The effect of strategy on performance depends on specific situational variables. Strategic fit is employed to investigate export marketing strategy adaptation under certain environmental conditions, which in turn can lead to superior performance.

Periodic Solutions in a Delayed Competitive System with the Effect of Toxic Substances on Time Scales

In this paper, the existence of periodic solutions of a delayed competitive system with the effect of toxic substances is investigated by using the Gaines and Mawhin,s continuation theorem of coincidence degree theory on time scales. New sufficient conditions are obtained for the existence of periodic solutions. The approach is unified to provide the existence of the desired solutions for the continuous differential equations and discrete difference equations. Moreover, The approach has been widely applied to study existence of periodic solutions in differential equations and difference equations.

Distributed Load Flow Analysis using Graph Theory

In today scenario, to meet enhanced demand imposed by domestic, commercial and industrial consumers, various operational & control activities of Radial Distribution Network (RDN) requires a focused attention. Irrespective of sub-domains research aspects of RDN like network reconfiguration, reactive power compensation and economic load scheduling etc, network performance parameters are usually estimated by an iterative process and is commonly known as load (power) flow algorithm. In this paper, a simple mechanism is presented to implement the load flow analysis (LFA) algorithm. The reported algorithm utilizes graph theory principles and is tested on a 69- bus RDN.

Design of an Ultra Low Power Low Phase Noise CMOS LC Oscillator

In this paper we introduce an ultra low power CMOS LC oscillator and analyze a method to design a low power low phase noise complementary CMOS LC oscillator. A 1.8GHz oscillator is designed based on this analysis. The circuit has power supply equal to 1.1 V and dissipates 0.17 mW power. The oscillator is also optimized for low phase noise behavior. The oscillator phase noise is -126.2 dBc/Hz and -144.4 dBc/Hz at 1 MHz and 8 MHz offset respectively.

A Numerical Investigation on the Dynamic Stall of a Wind Turbine Section Using Different Turbulent Models

In this article, the flow behavior around a NACA 0012 airfoil which is oscillating with different Reynolds numbers and in various amplitudes has been investigated numerically. Numerical simulations have been performed with ANSYS software. First, the 2- D geometry has been studied in different Reynolds numbers and angles of attack with various numerical methods in its static condition. This analysis was to choose the best turbulent model and comparing the grids to have the optimum one for dynamic simulations. Because the analysis was to study the blades of wind turbines, the Reynolds numbers were not arbitrary. They were in the range of 9.71e5 to 22.65e5. The angle of attack was in the range of -41.81° to 41.81°. By choosing the forward wind speed as the independent parameter, the others like Reynolds and the amplitude of the oscillation would be known automatically. The results show that the SST turbulent model is the best choice that leads the least numerical error with respect the experimental ones. Also, a dynamic stall phenomenon is more probable at lower wind speeds in which the lift force is less.

Development of Motor and Controller for VVA Module of Gasoline Vehicle

Due to environmental concerns, the recent regulation on automobile fuel economy has been strengthened. The market demand for efficient vehicles is growing and automakers to improve engine fuel efficiency in the industry have been paying a lot of effort. To improve the fuel efficiency, it is necessary to reduce losses or to improve combustion efficiency of the engine. VVA (Variable Valve Actuation) technology enhances the engine's intake air flow, reduce pumping losses and mechanical friction losses. And also, VVA technology is the engine's low speed and high speed operation to implement each of appropriate valve lift. It improves the performance of engine in the entire operating range. This paper presents a design procedure of DC motor and drive for VVA system and shows the validity of the design result by experimental result with prototype.

A Trace of Islamic Art in Thai Mosques

The mosques have been appearance in Thailand since Ayutthaya Kingdom (1350 to 1767 A.D.) Until today, more than 400 years later; there are many styles of art form behind their structure. This research intended to identify Islamic Art in Thai mosques. A framework was applied using qualitative research methods; Thai Muslims with dynamic roles in Islamic culture were interviewed. In addition, a field survey of 40 selected mosques from 175 Thai mosques was studied. Data analysis will be according to the pattern of each period. The identification of Islamic Art in Thai Mosques are 1) the image of Thai identity: with Thai traditional art style and Government policy. 2) The image of the Ethnological identity: with the traditional culture of Asian Muslims in Thailand. 3) The image of the Nostalgia identity: with Islamic and Arabian conservative style. 4) The image of the Neo Classic identity: with Neo – Classic and Contemporary art. 5) The image of the new identity: with Post Modern and Deconstruction art.

Experimental teaching, Perceived usefulness, Ease of use, Learning Interest and Science Achievement of Taiwan 8th Graders in TIMSS 2007 Database

the data of Taiwanese 8th grader in the 4th cycle of Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) are analyzed to examine the influence of the science teachers- preference in experimental teaching on the relationships between the affective variables ( the perceived usefulness of science, ease of using science and science learning interest) and the academic achievement in science. After dealing with the missing data, 3711 students and 145 science teacher-s data were analyzed through a Hierarchical Linear Modeling technique. The major objective of this study was to determine the role of the experimental teaching moderates the relationship between perceived usefulness and achievement.

Swarm Intelligence based Optimal Linear Phase FIR High Pass Filter Design using Particle Swarm Optimization with Constriction Factor and Inertia Weight Approach

In this paper, an optimal design of linear phase digital high pass finite impulse response (FIR) filter using Particle Swarm Optimization with Constriction Factor and Inertia Weight Approach (PSO-CFIWA) has been presented. In the design process, the filter length, pass band and stop band frequencies, feasible pass band and stop band ripple sizes are specified. FIR filter design is a multi-modal optimization problem. The conventional gradient based optimization techniques are not efficient for digital filter design. Given the filter specifications to be realized, the PSO-CFIWA algorithm generates a set of optimal filter coefficients and tries to meet the ideal frequency response characteristic. In this paper, for the given problem, the designs of the optimal FIR high pass filters of different orders have been performed. The simulation results have been compared to those obtained by the well accepted algorithms such as Parks and McClellan algorithm (PM), genetic algorithm (GA). The results justify that the proposed optimal filter design approach using PSOCFIWA outperforms PM and GA, not only in the accuracy of the designed filter but also in the convergence speed and solution quality.

Effect of Non-Newtonian Behaviour of Blood on Pulsatile Flows in Stenotic Arteries

In this paper, we study the pulsatile flow of blood through stenotic arteries. The inner layer of arterial walls is modeled as a porous medium and human blood is assumed as an incompressible fluid. A numerical algorithm based on the finite element method is developed to simulate the blood flow through both the lumen region and the porous wall. The algorithm is then applied to study the flow behaviour and to investigate the significance of the non-Newtonian effect.

Multi-matrix Real-coded Genetic Algorithm for Minimising Total Costs in Logistics Chain Network

The importance of supply chain and logistics management has been widely recognised. Effective management of the supply chain can reduce costs and lead times and improve responsiveness to changing customer demands. This paper proposes a multi-matrix real-coded Generic Algorithm (MRGA) based optimisation tool that minimises total costs associated within supply chain logistics. According to finite capacity constraints of all parties within the chain, Genetic Algorithm (GA) often produces infeasible chromosomes during initialisation and evolution processes. In the proposed algorithm, chromosome initialisation procedure, crossover and mutation operations that always guarantee feasible solutions were embedded. The proposed algorithm was tested using three sizes of benchmarking dataset of logistic chain network, which are typical of those faced by most global manufacturing companies. A half fractional factorial design was carried out to investigate the influence of alternative crossover and mutation operators by varying GA parameters. The analysis of experimental results suggested that the quality of solutions obtained is sensitive to the ways in which the genetic parameters and operators are set.

Quality Fed-Batch Bioprocess Control A Case Study

Bioprocesses are appreciated as difficult to control because their dynamic behavior is highly nonlinear and time varying, in particular, when they are operating in fed batch mode. The research objective of this study was to develop an appropriate control method for a complex bioprocess and to implement it on a laboratory plant. Hence, an intelligent control structure has been designed in order to produce biomass and to maximize the specific growth rate.

Knowledge Based Wear Particle Analysis

The paper describes a knowledge based system for analysis of microscopic wear particles. Wear particles contained in lubricating oil carry important information concerning machine condition, in particular the state of wear. Experts (Tribologists) in the field extract this information to monitor the operation of the machine and ensure safety, efficiency, quality, productivity, and economy of operation. This procedure is not always objective and it can also be expensive. The aim is to classify these particles according to their morphological attributes of size, shape, edge detail, thickness ratio, color, and texture, and by using this classification thereby predict wear failure modes in engines and other machinery. The attribute knowledge links human expertise to the devised Knowledge Based Wear Particle Analysis System (KBWPAS). The system provides an automated and systematic approach to wear particle identification which is linked directly to wear processes and modes that occur in machinery. This brings consistency in wear judgment prediction which leads to standardization and also less dependence on Tribologists.

Dynamically Monitoring Production Methods for Identifying Structural Changes relevant to Logistics

Due to the growing dynamic and complexity within the market environment production enterprises in particular are faced with new logistic challenges. Moreover, it is here in this dynamic environment that the Logistic Operating Curve Theory also reaches its limits as a method for describing the correlations between the logistic objectives. In order to convert this theory into a method for dynamically monitoring productions this paper will introduce methods for reliably and quickly identifying structural changes relevant to logistics.

Novel Rao-Blackwellized Particle Filter for Mobile Robot SLAM Using Monocular Vision

This paper presents the novel Rao-Blackwellised particle filter (RBPF) for mobile robot simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM) using monocular vision. The particle filter is combined with unscented Kalman filter (UKF) to extending the path posterior by sampling new poses that integrate the current observation which drastically reduces the uncertainty about the robot pose. The landmark position estimation and update is also implemented through UKF. Furthermore, the number of resampling steps is determined adaptively, which seriously reduces the particle depletion problem, and introducing the evolution strategies (ES) for avoiding particle impoverishment. The 3D natural point landmarks are structured with matching Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) feature pairs. The matching for multi-dimension SIFT features is implemented with a KD-Tree in the time cost of O(log2 N). Experiment results on real robot in our indoor environment show the advantages of our methods over previous approaches.

A Chaotic Study on Tremor Behavior of Parkinsonian Patients under Deep Brain Stimulation

Deep Brain Stimulation or DBS is a surgical treatment for Parkinson-s Disease with three stimulation parameters: frequency, pulse width, and voltage. The parameters should be selected appropriately to achieve effective treatment. This selection now, performs clinically. The aim of this research is to study chaotic behavior of recorded tremor of patients under DBS in order to present a computational method to recognize stimulation optimum voltage. We obtained some chaotic features of tremor signal, and discovered embedding space of it has an attractor, and its largest Lyapunov exponent is positive, which show tremor signal has chaotic behavior, also we found out, in optimal voltage, entropy and embedding space variance of tremor signal have minimum values in comparison with other voltages. These differences can help neurologists recognize optimal voltage numerically, which leads to reduce patients' role and discomfort in optimizing stimulation parameters and to do treatment with high accuracy.

Secure Data Aggregation Using Clusters in Sensor Networks

Wireless sensor network can be applied to both abominable and military environments. A primary goal in the design of wireless sensor networks is lifetime maximization, constrained by the energy capacity of batteries. One well-known method to reduce energy consumption in such networks is data aggregation. Providing efcient data aggregation while preserving data privacy is a challenging problem in wireless sensor networks research. In this paper, we present privacy-preserving data aggregation scheme for additive aggregation functions. The Cluster-based Private Data Aggregation (CPDA)leverages clustering protocol and algebraic properties of polynomials. It has the advantage of incurring less communication overhead. The goal of our work is to bridge the gap between collaborative data collection by wireless sensor networks and data privacy. We present simulation results of our schemes and compare their performance to a typical data aggregation scheme TAG, where no data privacy protection is provided. Results show the efficacy and efficiency of our schemes.

Cultural Aspects Analyses in Sustainable Architecture

Social ideology, cultural values and principles shaping environment are inferred by environment and structural characteristics of construction site. In other words, this inference manifestation also indicates ideology and culture of its foundation and also applies its principles and values and somehow plays an important role in Cultural Revolution. All human behaviors and artifacts are affected and being influenced by culture. Culture is not abstract concept, it is a spiritual domain that an individual and society grow and develop in it. Social behaviors are affected by environmental comprehension, so the architecture work influences on its audience and it is the environment that fosters social behaviors. Indeed, sustainable architecture should be considered as background of culture for establishing optimal sustainable culture. Since unidentified architecture roots in cultural non identity and abnormalities, so the society possesses identity characteristics and life and as a consequence, the society and architecture are changed by transformation of life style. This article aims to investigate the interaction of architecture, society, environment and sustainable architecture formation in its cultural basis and analyzes the results approaching behavior and sustainable culture in recent era.

Avoiding Catastrophic Forgetting by a Dual-Network Memory Model Using a Chaotic Neural Network

In neural networks, when new patterns are learned by a network, the new information radically interferes with previously stored patterns. This drawback is called catastrophic forgetting or catastrophic interference. In this paper, we propose a biologically inspired neural network model which overcomes this problem. The proposed model consists of two distinct networks: one is a Hopfield type of chaotic associative memory and the other is a multilayer neural network. We consider that these networks correspond to the hippocampus and the neocortex of the brain, respectively. Information given is firstly stored in the hippocampal network with fast learning algorithm. Then the stored information is recalled by chaotic behavior of each neuron in the hippocampal network. Finally, it is consolidated in the neocortical network by using pseudopatterns. Computer simulation results show that the proposed model has much better ability to avoid catastrophic forgetting in comparison with conventional models.

A method for Music Classification Based On Perceived Mood Detection for Indian Bollywood Music

A lot of research has been done in the past decade in the field of audio content analysis for extracting various information from audio signal. One such significant information is the "perceived mood" or the "emotions" related to a music or audio clip. This information is extremely useful in applications like creating or adapting the play-list based on the mood of the listener. This information could also be helpful in better classification of the music database. In this paper we have presented a method to classify music not just based on the meta-data of the audio clip but also include the "mood" factor to help improve the music classification. We propose an automated and efficient way of classifying music samples based on the mood detection from the audio data. We in particular try to classify the music based on mood for Indian bollywood music. The proposed method tries to address the following problem statement: Genre information (usually part of the audio meta-data) alone does not help in better music classification. For example the acoustic version of the song "nothing else matters by Metallica" can be classified as melody music and thereby a person in relaxing or chill out mood might want to listen to this track. But more often than not this track is associated with metal / heavy rock genre and if a listener classified his play-list based on the genre information alone for his current mood, the user shall miss out on listening to this track. Currently methods exist to detect mood in western or similar kind of music. Our paper tries to solve the issue for Indian bollywood music from an Indian cultural context