Competitive Approach Research Articles

Comparative Study of Classification Algorithms for Quality Assessment of Resistance Spot Welding Joints From Pre- and Post-Welding Inputs

Resistance spot welding (RSW) is a widespread manufacturing process in the automotive industry. There are different approaches for assessing the quality level of RSW joints. Multi-input-single-output methods, which take as inputs either the intrinsic parameters of the welding process or ultrasonic nondestructive testing variables, are commonly used. This work demonstrates that the combined use of both types of inputs can significantly improve the already competitive approach based exclusively on ultrasonic analyses. The use of stacking of tree ensemble models as classifiers dominates the classification results in terms of accuracy, F-measure and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve metrics. Through variable importance analyses, the results show that although the welding process parameters are less relevant than the ultrasonic testing variables, some of the former provide marginal information not fully captured by the latter.

Perfection of the opop in the basis of a competitive approach within the framework of a priority project "Personnel for the digital economy"

Perfection of the opop in the basis of a competitive approach within the framework of a priority project "Personnel for the digital economy"

Faster, Competitive Approaches for the Job Sequencing and Tool Switching Problem

Faster, Competitive Approaches for the Job Sequencing and Tool Switching Problem

Review: Biofortification of Cereals with Zinc through Agronomic practices

In the developing world, Zinc deficiency is a bigger most socio-economic concern for the human and constraints for crop production. The deficiency of micronutrients in humans is generally overlapped with the deficiency in the soil. Mostly zinc deficiency is prevalent due to the consumption of cereals because their grains are genetically low in zinc concentration. The zinc deficiency is mostly occurred in soil due to cropping intensification. Intensification of zinc deficiency in humans mainly occurred due to the regular consumption of cereals as a staple food. Zn plays a key role to regulate the different functions in plants, animals, and humans. In humans, especially zinc is required for the immunity boost up. Therefore, a rapid and complementary approach is required for the biofortification of cereal crops to control zinc deficiency in the developing world. In this scenario, the breeding strategy is cost-effective, competent, and requires a lot of time to biofortified the cereals; but, on the other hand, agronomic biofortification is one of the most competitive approaches and rapid strategies. In the agronomic strategies of biofortification, (I) the priming of cereal seeds increases the germination ability and their strength/resistance against biotic & abiotic stressors (II) Soil and foliar application of zinc fertilizer (ZnSO4) greatly increase the zinc concentration in grain cereals. Generally, soil with foliar application increases the zinc concentration in grains many folds. Chelation-based strategies play a key role in zinc uptake and remobilization. So, agronomic strategies with chelation help to increase zinc content many folds in cereal grains.

The architecture of competencies for managing costs and results of physical culture and wellness activities

Relevance. The work – both theoretical and practical – systematically outlines the current trends of the competence approach. Using the example of a physical, cultural and recreational organization specializing in working with children with Down syndrome, the issues of cost management and the results of the activities carried out by this organization are investigated.Purpose. To determine effective means and methods of physical culture and sports for the social adaptation of 5-7-year-old children with Down syndrome.Methods and organization of research. The basis of the developed health-oriented concept of pedagogical management of social adaptation, which is developing in the health and educational institution of the individual, is revealed.The results of the research. They are determined primarily by the justification of the classification of competencies and prospects for the formation of a competitive approach in the field of physical culture and recreation activities with children with Down syndrome.Conclusions. The competence-based approach in the presentation of academic science and higher education presupposes knowledge of terminology and methodology for managing costs and results of physical culture and recreation activities, as well as knowledge of the system relationships operating in this area (from the standpoint of their axiomatic limits).

Competitive Activity of Weightlifters at the XXXII Olympic Games 2020 in Tokyo: Results and Prospects

Purpose: to study the indicators of the competitive activity of the strongest weightlifters in the world at the Games of the XXXII Olympiad 2020 and to identify trends for further increasing their sports results, taking into account weight categories and gender differences.
 Material and methods. By studying scientific literature, Internet resources, competition protocols, pedagogical observations, video recordings of competitions, we analyzed the achievements of 140 weightlifters who took part in the Games of the XXXII Olympiad 2020 in Tokyo and the number of countries they represented. All indicators of competitive activity and age characteristics were grouped according to the following principle: among the top 10 weightlifters in each weight category, as well as separately among the prize-winners of competitions among men and women.
 Results. The sports results of the top 10 weightlifters of each weight category among men and women who took part in competitions, age characteristics, the rate of achievements in a sports career, the level of approaches implementation and international competition were analyzed.
 Conclusions. Based on the analysis of the number of countries and licenses received by the athletes of these countries, world and Olympic records, the effectiveness of the performances of the world's leading weightlifters at the Olympic Games is shown. The optimal age for achieving the highest results, the age of the beginning of the sport for the prize-winners of the competition, the rate of achieving maximum results in a sports career, sports results, the level of implementation of competitive approaches, the rate of increase in achievements in competitive exercises, the value of starting results, the level of international competition in each weight category in men and women, the characteristics of the dynamics of the results of the most titled athletes during their sports career, who took part in the Olympic Games, are given.

Robust voice user interface for internet-of-things

Internet of things (IoT) plays significant role in the fourth industrial revolution and attracts an increasing interest due to the rapid development of smart devices. IoT comprises factors of twofold. Firstly, a set of things (i.e., appliances, devices, vehicles, etc.) connected together via network. Secondly, human-device interaction to communicate with these things. Speech is the most natural methodology of interaction that can enrich user experience. In this paper, we propose a novel and effective approach for building customized voice interaction for controlling smart devices in IoT environments (i.e., Smart home). The proposed approach is based on extracting customized tiny decoding graph from a large graph constructed using weighted finite sates transducers. Experimental results showed that tiny decoding graphs are very efficient in terms of computational resources and recognition accuracy in clean and noisy conditions. To emphasize the effectiveness of the proposed approach, the standard Resources Management (RM1) dataset was employed and promising results were achieved when compared with four competitive approaches.

A Bibliometric Analysis and Benchmark of Machine Learning and AutoML in Crash Severity Prediction: The Case Study of Three Colombian Cities.

Traffic accidents are of worldwide concern, as they are one of the leading causes of death globally. One policy designed to cope with them is the design and deployment of road safety systems. These aim to predict crashes based on historical records, provided by new Internet of Things (IoT) technologies, to enhance traffic flow management and promote safer roads. Increasing data availability has helped machine learning (ML) to address the prediction of crashes and their severity. The literature reports numerous contributions regarding survey papers, experimental comparisons of various techniques, and the design of new methods at the point where crash severity prediction (CSP) and ML converge. Despite such progress, and as far as we know, there are no comprehensive research articles that theoretically and practically approach the model selection problem (MSP) in CSP. Thus, this paper introduces a bibliometric analysis and experimental benchmark of ML and automated machine learning (AutoML) as a suitable approach to automatically address the MSP in CSP. Firstly, 2318 bibliographic references were consulted to identify relevant authors, trending topics, keywords evolution, and the most common ML methods used in related-case studies, which revealed an opportunity for the use AutoML in the transportation field. Then, we compared AutoML (AutoGluon, Auto-sklearn, TPOT) and ML (CatBoost, Decision Tree, Extra Trees, Gradient Boosting, Gaussian Naive Bayes, Light Gradient Boosting Machine, Random Forest) methods in three case studies using open data portals belonging to the cities of Medellín, Bogotá, and Bucaramanga in Colombia. Our experimentation reveals that AutoGluon and CatBoost are competitive and robust ML approaches to deal with various CSP problems. In addition, we concluded that general-purpose AutoML effectively supports the MSP in CSP without developing domain-focused AutoML methods for this supervised learning problem. Finally, based on the results obtained, we introduce challenges and research opportunities that the community should explore to enhance the contributions that ML and AutoML can bring to CSP and other transportation areas.

Noise-immune image blur detection via sequency spectrum truncation

Blur detection is aimed to differentiate the blurry and sharp regions from a given image. This task has attracted much attention in recent years due to its importance in computer vision with the integration of image processing and artificial intelligence. However, blur detection still suffers from problems such as the oversensitivity to image noise and the difficulty in cost–benefit balance. To deal with these issues, we propose an accurate and efficient blur detection method, which is concise in architecture and robust against noise. First, we develop a sequency spectrum-based blur metric to estimate the blurriness of each pixel by integrating a re-blur scheme and the Walsh transform. Meanwhile, to eliminate the noise interference, we propose an adaptive sequency spectrum truncation strategy by which we can obtain an accurate blur map even in noise-polluted cases. Finally, a multi-scale fusion segmentation framework is designed to extract the blur region based on the clustering-guided region growth. Experimental results on benchmark datasets demonstrate that the proposed method achieves state-of-the-art performance and the best balance between cost and benefit. It offers an average F1 score of 0.887, MAE of 0.101, detecting time of 0.7 s, and training time of 0.5 s. Especially for noise-polluted blurry images, the proposed method achieves the F1 score of 0.887 and MAE of 0.101, which significantly surpasses other competitive approaches. Our method yields a cost–benefit advantage and noise immunity that has great application prospect in complex sensing environment.

Analisis Strategi Pemasaran Usaha Mikro Kecil dan Menengah (UMKM) pada Era Digital di Kota Medan

Because of the rise of technology and increased business competition, SMEs must have a strong and well-defined marketing plan in order to succeed. The goal of this study is to look at how marketing strategies are implemented in SMEs in order to compete in the digital age. The researchers used a qualitative technique in this study, conducting structured interviews with the owners or top management of SMEs, with a total sample size of 31 respondents. The findings of this study revealed that the culinary, fashion, and tour and travel industries use added value and differentiation strategies for their products and services, as well as a competitive pricing approach. In the trading industry, on the other hand, they are more likely to employ a price strategy to compete in the market and to select a niche market to develop their target market.
 Keywoard : Marketing Strategy, Marketing Mix, SMEs, Medan

Morphological, electronic, and magnetic properties of multicomponent cobalt oxide nanoparticles synthesized by high temperature arc plasma

Many technological applications demand large amount of nanoparticles with well-defined properties, which is feasible only by using large-scale production methods. In this framework, we have performed structural and local geometric investigations of cobalt oxide nanoparticles synthesized by high temperature arc plasma route in helium and in air atmosphere with different arc currents, a competitive and low cost technological approach to synthesize large quantity of different types of nanoparticles. The complex scenario of phase fraction, shape, size distribution and hysteresis loop features of high temperature arc plasma synthesis of nanoparticles can be determined by the arc current and the selected gas. X-ray diffraction patterns reveal a multicomponent phase formation containing cubic cobaltous oxide (CoO), cobaltic oxide (Co3O4) and metallic cobalt phases. The synthesis of different phases is confirmed by x-ray absorption spectroscopy measurements at the Co K-edge. Both extended x-ray absorption fine structure and x-ray absorption near edge structure analyses show the presence of metallic nanoparticles in He ambient at high arc current. Moreover, high-resolution transmission electron microscopy images and magnetic hysteresis loop measurements show that the mean particle size increases and the coercivity decreases with increasing arc current in air ambient due to the intense particle–particle interaction. At variance, in He ambient synthesized samples due to the high quenching rate and the high thermal conductivity, a multi-domain formation in which the nanoparticles’ crystalline fraction decreases and a fluctuating coercivity due to core–shell structure is observed.

Redundancy-based approach for optimal number and location of power quality monitors in distribution systems with binary imperialist competitive approach

This article deals with optimal employment of power quality monitors (PQMs) in distribution networks on the basis of the idea of monitor reach area. The proposed model uses binary string, representing the installation mode of PQMs (Yes or No) in each bus of the network. In the current article, the binary version of the imperialist competitive algorithm (BICA) is used. Because it has the ability of enhancing the search potential with a rapid and secure convergence rate in the optimization process. The concept of redundancy is considered in this study. The overall cost function is formulated to optimize the two indices. The first one is the index of monitoring overlap, and the second one is the index of sag severity. Among the solutions that yield a full reachable power network and the objective function experiments the minimum value, the final optimal answer will be extracted through evaluating the redundancy. With an excellent redundancy with respect to other solutions, the buses of the system faced with faults are monitored more times, on an average. In the current research, DIGSILENT software is used in short-circuit analysis, whereas the BICA manages the optimization process. Simulation and comparison are performed on the 69-bus distribution system.

Rethinking the role of team mindfulness in team relationship conflict: A conflict management perspective

SummaryWhy and when does team mindfulness help to reduce team relationship conflict? To answer this question, we develop and test a theoretical model that builds on Deutsch's theory of cooperation and competition. A two‐wave time‐lagged survey was conducted with 68 teams in an airline food service company located in China. The results showed that team mindfulness was negatively related to team relationship conflict via an increased cooperative conflict approach and a decreased competitive conflict approach. Further, high team job demands were shown to weaken the positive direct effect of team mindfulness on a cooperative conflict approach, as well as the indirect effect of team mindfulness on team relationship conflict via a cooperative approach. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.

Social Cleavages and Armed Group Consolidation: The Case of Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces

In Libya’s fragmented military landscape, Khalifa Haftar’s Libyan Arab Armed Forces stands out as the only armed group that concentrated power over entire regions. The interplay of relative power and social cleavages conditioned Haftar’s choices of consolidation strategies. As Haftar grew stronger, he progressively moved from cooperative and competitive approaches toward coercion. Social cleavages wrought by conflict – as opposed to seemingly objective group boundaries – contributed to shaping Haftar’s choices between coercive and cooperative strategies. The significance of these cleavages depended on how violence had shaped local social cohesion and armed groups’ links with communities.

From Defensive toward Offensive Realism: Strategic Competition and Continuities in the United States’ China Policy

ABSTRACT This study dispels the common view that the Trump administration has fundamentally reoriented the United States’ China policy by emphasizing strategic competition. Instead, the study argues that the Obama administration’s pivot initiative began the shift of the United States’ China policy from a defensive realist posture toward an offensive realist posture. The Biden administration’s China policy inherits the strategic competition approach. This study suggests that the competitive logic of the anarchic international system underlies all three administrations’ competition-oriented China policies. Therefore, while there are differences in the China policies of the three administrations, their commonalities and continuities are salient. Structural realism, especially offensive realism and dynamic neorealism, thus offers important insights into the future direction of Sino-US relations.

Shared seagull optimization algorithm with mutation operators for global optimization

Seagull optimization algorithm (SOA) has the disadvantages of low convergence accuracy, weak population diversity, and tendency to fall into local optimum, especially for high dimensional and multimodal problems. To overcome these shortcomings, initially, in this study, a shared SOA (SSOA) is proposed based on the combination of a sharing multi-leader strategy with a self-adaptive mutation operator. In addition, seven new variants of the SSOA algorithm are proposed employing the Gaussian mutation operator, Cauchy mutation operator, Lévy flights mutation operator, improved Tent chaos mutation operator, neighborhood centroid opposition-based learning mutation operator, elite opposition-based learning mutation operator, and simulated annealing algorithm combined with other mutation operators, namely, GSSOA, CSSOA, LFSSOA, ITSSOA, ESSOA, NSSOA, and CMSSOA, respectively. Then, the performance of these variants was evaluated on 23 benchmark functions, and the various performances of the best variant were evaluated on a comprehensive set of 43 benchmark problems and three real-world problems compared to other optimizers. Experimental and statistical results demonstrate that the proposed CMSSOA algorithm outperforms other variants of the SSOA algorithm and competitor approaches.

Is the Market Efficiency Hypothesis Applicable in the Czech Republic – FOREX Case

The Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) is the generalization of the so called perfect competition for the financial markets. Sometimes the financial markets are assumed to be the markets most similar to the perfect competition. So, every test of the EMH theory is the test about the perfect competition approach and then its conclusions are about the market mechanisms and potential regulation and policy. Even though, discussions about the financial capital regulations, free movements of financial capital and taxing are widespread, not only in economic theory scientific conferences, but anywhere. The FOREX market is the financial market, in which there is the highest amount of trading, so that we assume the feature analyzed be the most visible. More in the Czech Republic there is permanent question about the pros and cons of the national currency. The EHM theory concluded remarks also influence the discussion. The problem is not so simple. The conclusion is not about the purity of the efficient or inefficient financial markets. The conclusion must be about the level of the market efficiency, which is moreover variable in the different time periods. More we analyzed the effects of the great financial crisis in 2008.

Business Negotiation Approach Model and Strategy for Community Leaders in Resolving Land Dispute Conflicts in Maluku Province

This study was written with the aim of knowing and describing how the Model Approach and Negotiation Strategy of Community Leaders in Resolving Land Dispute Conflicts in Marafenfen Village, Aru Islands, Maluku Province Community leaders are parties who have advantages over the general public and play an important role in making decisions. Land dispute conflicts that occurred in the village of Marafenfen are social conflicts that often occur considering the people who do not really understand the rights to the land they want to own. This article is an article that uses a qualitative descriptive method, namely research that seeks to describe or describe the object under study based on the facts in the field. then the data analysis technique used in this study is qualitative data analysis, The results of the research obtained by the author can be concluded that in resolving land disputes, community leaders use Competitive Approach Model but some community leaders do not understand the Negotiation processes so they still have not found an agreement.

Mitigating Risk Selection in Healthcare Entitlement Programs: A Beneficiary-Level Competitive Bidding Approach

Many developed countries rely, to varying degrees, on competition among private health plans to obtain affordable and high-quality health insurance for their residents. Incorporating beneficiary-level competitive bidding into these healthcare systems can better align the incentives of these health plans, increase their willingness to enroll, and serve the sickest and most vulnerable patients while keeping costs manageable. We identify two digitally enabled program designs that allow private insurance plans to competitively bid to enroll individual beneficiaries. Compared with those used in existing entitlement programs, these designs always make a larger share of the beneficiary population profitable to enroll, thereby increasing willingness of the plans to enroll the most costly beneficiaries and improving access to care. On simulating the conditions of existing real-word healthcare entitlement programs, we found that these new designs actually tend to lower the tax burden in up to 83% of simulations. The research findings suggest that these new designs hold great promise in achieving the dual aim of improved access and lower costs. We believe that findings from this research can guide policymakers implement policies that will enroll more beneficiaries and cost the taxpayers less.

Synthesis, in vitro, and in silico studies of fisetin and quercetin and their metal complexes as inhibitors of α-glucosidase and thrombin

In this work, the inhibition mechanism of α-glucosidase and thrombin activity by fisetin and quercetin in coordination with metals (Fe and Zn) was investigated. Initially, the reactions between fisetin and quercetin with Fe(II) and Zn(II) and the resulting products were studied by UV–visible spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Flavonoid − Fe/Zn complexes with a stoichiometry of 2:1 were successfully synthesized, and it was found that the apparent reaction constants of Fe(II) were larger than those of Zn(II), which was accompanied by the autoxidation of Fe(II) to Fe(III). Moreover, the fisetin/quercetin − Fe/Zn complexes inhibited α-glucosidase and thrombin activities by a mixed competitive approach. Among them, the quercetin − Fe complex showed the strongest inhibitory ability, with an IC50 of 0.08 ± 0.01 mM for α-glucosidase and 0.22 ± 0.04 mM for thrombin. Molecular simulations indicated that the fisetin/quercetin − Fe/Zn complexes could bind tightly to the active site and allosteric sites of α-glucosidase and thrombin. Van der Waals forces and hydrogen bonding were the major forces involved in the binding of the complexes to the enzymes. Metal coordination also had a crucial influence on the exertion of the inhibitory effect of flavonoids, especially the chelation of iron, which enhanced the electrostatic interaction of the fisetin/quercetin complexes with the enzyme.