De Facto Industry Standard Research Articles

Differentiated Pricing of Shared Mobility Systems Considering Network Effects

Over the last decades, shared mobility systems have become an integral part of inner-city mobility. Modern systems allow one-way rentals, that is, customers can drop off the vehicle at a different location to where they began their trip. A prominent example is car sharing. Indeed, this work was motivated by the insight we gained in collaborating closely with Europe’s largest car sharing provider, Share Now. In car sharing, as well as in shared mobility systems in general, pricing optimization has turned out to be a promising means of increasing profit while challenged by limited vehicle supply and asymmetric demand across time and space. Thus, in practice, providers increasingly use minute pricing that is differentiated according to where a rental originates, that is, considering its location and the time of day. In research, however, such approaches have not been considered yet. In this paper, we therefore introduce the corresponding origin-based differentiated, profit-maximizing pricing problem for shared mobility systems. The problem is to determine spatially and temporally differentiated minute prices, taking network effects on the supply side and several practice relevant aspects into account. Based on a deterministic network flow model, we formulate the problem as a mixed-integer linear program and prove that it is NP-hard. For its solution, we propose a temporal decomposition approach based on approximate dynamic programming. The approach integrates a value function approximation to incorporate future profits and account for network effects. Extensive computational experiments demonstrate the benefits of capturing such effects in pricing generally, as well as showing our value function approximation’s ability to anticipate them precisely. Furthermore, in a case study based on Share Now data from Florence in Italy, we observe profit increases of around 9% compared with constant uniform minute prices, which are still the de facto industry standard.

Novel Method to Drive New High Temp FDM Hotend

In recent years, some FDM 3D printer manufacturing companies succeeded in going beyond hotend temperature of 400°C to take advantage of new highly durable materials known as “super engineering plastic”. To accomplish the high temperature operation, the de facto industry standard is to employ the high-powered heater and liquid cooling system for their machines.A new high temperature hotend was developed based on completely different concept has been developed which does not require conventional cooling system to achieve 500°C level temperature. However, it is almost at the high end of the FDM processing temperature limit and extreme care was taken to develop the compact, self-contained, and eco-friendly and heating-on-demand hotend. We had high hopes for the new hotend not only from the industry viewpoint, but also from contribution to minimize global warming.However, we found a product life issue intermittently with the newly developed hotend. This report is on a novel approach to remedy the problem to extend the new hotend life longer, contributing to longevity of the high temperatures and stable operation with high reliability for 3D printing.

A Comparative Analysis of Cyber-Threat Intelligence Sources, Formats and Languages

The sharing of cyber-threat intelligence is an essential part of multi-layered tools used to protect systems and organisations from various threats. Structured standards, such as STIX, TAXII and CybOX, were introduced to provide a common means of sharing cyber-threat intelligence and have been subsequently much-heralded as the de facto industry standards. In this paper, we investigate the landscape of the available formats and languages, along with the publicly available sources of threat feeds, how these are implemented and their suitability for providing rich cyber-threat intelligence. We also analyse at a sample of cyber-threat intelligence feeds, the type of data they provide and the issues found in aggregating and sharing the data. Moreover, the type of data supported by various formats and languages is correlated with the data needs for several use cases related to typical security operations. The main conclusions drawn by our analysis suggest that many of the standards have a poor level of adoption and implementation, with providers opting for custom or traditional simple formats.

Static Pricing Optimization in Shared Mobility Systems Under the Consideration of Network Effects

Over the last decades, shared mobility systems have become an integral part of the inner-city mobility offer – a prominent example is car sharing. In fact, this work has been motivated by the insights we gained in close collaboration with Share Now, Europe's largest car sharing provider. In car sharing as well as in shared mobility systems in general, pricing optimization has turned out to be a promising means of controlling the complex interactions between demand and supply in order to increase profitability. Practice mostly applies static price differentiation according to a rental's spatial origin and the time of day. In research, however, such approaches have not been considered in detail yet. In this paper, we consider the static origin-based, profit-maximizing pricing problem for shared mobility systems. The problem is characterized by the determination of spatially and temporally differentiated minute prices, by the prevalence of spatio-temporal network effects, and by other practice-relevant aspects, such as a limited fleet size. Based on a deterministic network flow model, we formulate the problem as a mixed-integer linear program and prove it to be NP-hard. We propose a scalable heuristic solution approach that combines the computational benefits of problem decomposition in a rolling horizon fashion with a value function approximation technique adapted from approximate dynamic programming in order to incorporate future spatio-temporal network effects. An extensive computational study demonstrates the benefits of capturing such effects in pricing in general, as well as our value function approximation's ability to anticipate them precisely. Moreover, in a case study based on Share Now data from Florence in Italy, we demonstrate potential profit increases of around 9% compared to the de facto industry standard of constant uniform minute prices.

ACR guidance document on MR safe practices: Updates and critical information 2019.

The need for a guidance document on MR safe practices arose from a growing awareness of the MR environment's potential risks and adverse event reports involving patients, equipment, and personnel. Initially published in 2002, the American College of Radiology White Paper on MR Safety established de facto industry standards for safe and responsible practices in clinical and research MR environments. The most recent version addresses new sources of risk of adverse events, increases awareness of dynamic MR environments, and recommends that those responsible for MR medical director safety undergo annual MR safety training. With regular updates to these guidelines, the latest MR safety concerns can be accounted for to ensure a safer MR environment where dangers are minimized. Level of Evidence: 1 Technical Efficacy Stage: 5 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2020;51:331-338.

‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030': a new global industry standard

The World Bank-introduced ‘Zero Routine Flaring by 2030’ (ZRF) Initiative is well on its way to establishing a new global industry standard; one that is very important if governments and industry are to make significant strides to help mitigate climate change. Launched in 2015 by the UN Secretary-General and World Bank President, ZRF commits governments and oil companies to (a) not routinely flare associated gas in new oil field developments, and (b) to end routine flaring at existing (legacy) fields by 2030. (Routine flaring is defined as flaring during normal oil production operations in the absence of sufficient facilities or amenable geology to re-inject the produced gas, utilise it on-site, or dispatch it to a market. The ZRF Initiative clearly states that venting is also not an acceptable substitute for flaring.) A review of the governments and companies that have already endorsed ZRF reveals that many of the major producers recognise the value of making a public commitment and working to end a 150-year-old industry practice. There are now over 70 endorsers, but more governments and companies must join the global effort if there is to be real progress and establishment of a de facto industry standard. Those that have endorsed the ZRF Initiative say it has other tangible benefits. For example, the many international oil companies that already have a no-flaring policy for new oil field developments consider the Initiative a positive contribution because it will level the playing field – other companies would adopt the same good practice and governments would require it. So, the Initiative also reduces regulatory uncertainty and risk. To achieve ZRF on a global scale, collaborative action such as through the Global Gas Flaring Reduction Partnership (GGFR) – a public-private initiative comprising international and national oil companies, national and regional governments, and international institutions – will be required. GGFR is focused on increasing the use of natural gas associated with oil production by helping remove technical and regulatory barriers to flaring reduction, conducting research, disseminating best practices, and developing country-specific gas flaring reduction programs. GGFR is also focused on helping develop financing tools for flare-out projects, such as a new program with the Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) to fund feasibility studies of solutions to monetize flared or vented gas from onshore and offshore oil production facilities.

Data locality in MapReduce: A network perspective

Data locality, a critical consideration for the performance of task scheduling in MapReduce, has been addressed in the literature by increasing the number of locally processed tasks. In this paper, we view the data locality problem from a network perspective. The key observation is that if we make appropriate use of the network to route the data chunk to the machine where it will be processed in advance, then processing a remote task is the same as processing a local task. However, to benefit from such a strategy, we must (i) balance the tasks assigned to local machines and those assigned to remote machines, and (ii) design the routing algorithm to avoid network congestion. Taking these challenges into consideration, we propose a scheduling/routing algorithm, named the Joint Scheduler, which utilizes both the computing resources and the communication network efficiently. We prove that the Joint Scheduler is throughput optimal; i.e., it supports any load that is supportable by any other algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate that with popularity skew, the Joint Scheduler improves the throughput and delay performance significantly compared to the Hadoop Fair Scheduler with delay scheduling, which is the de facto industry standard.

안전중시 시스템의 설계프로세스 구축에서 SysML 모델의 활용에 관한 연구

The recent trend in modern systems development can be characterized by the increasing complexity in terms of both the functionality and HW/SW scale that seems to be accelerated by the growing user requirements and the rapid advancement of technology. Among the issues of complexity, the one related to systems safety has attracted great deal of attention lately in the development of the products ranging from mass-transportation systems to defence weapon systems. As such, the incorporation of safety requirements in systems development is becoming more important. Note, however, that since such safety-critical systems are usually complex to develop, a lot of organizations and thus, engineers should participate in the development. In general, there seems to be a variety of differences in both the breadth and depth of the technical background they own. To address the problems, at first this paper presents an effective design process for safety-critical systems, which is intended to meet both the systems design and safety requirements. The result is then advanced to obtain the models utilizing the systems modeling language (SysML) that is a de facto industry standard. The use of SysML can facilitate the construction of the integrated process and also foster active communication among many participants of diverse technical backgrounds. As a case study, the model-based development of high-speed trains is discussed.

Automatic network intrusion detection: Current techniques and open issues

Automatic network intrusion detection has been an important research topic for the last 20years. In that time, approaches based on signatures describing intrusive behavior have become the de-facto industry standard. Alternatively, other novel techniques have been used for improving automation of the intrusion detection process. In this regard, statistical methods, machine learning and data mining techniques have been proposed arguing higher automation capabilities than signature-based approaches. However, the majority of these novel techniques have never been deployed on real-life scenarios. The fact is that signature-based still is the most widely used strategy for automatic intrusion detection. In the present article we survey the most relevant works in the field of automatic network intrusion detection. In contrast to previous surveys, our analysis considers several features required for truly deploying each one of the reviewed approaches. This wider perspective can help us to identify the possible causes behind the lack of acceptance of novel techniques by network security experts.

Trade matching in the traditional and alternative markets

Pressures from investors and regulators are accelerating the pace of convergence in traditional and alternative asset management organisations and improving standards of practice. At present, in the traditional investment management arena, managers’ and brokers’ records are generally compared on a trade-by-trade basis and custodians are authorised by the managers to settle matched transactions. In the hedge fund world, prime brokers, often serving as both trading counterparty and custodian, either settle trades without any affirmation or issue the affirmation on behalf of the manager. After tracing the historical development of these two de facto industry standards, the author comments on the role of the administrator, illustrates how the absence of trade matching increases hedge fund managers’ costs, explores why the hedge fund industry has accepted an error-prone process, and outlines a resolution.

Performance Modeling of an EPC Information Service System

To obtain visible and traceable information from the supply chain, HW/SW standards for the EPC global network, which process electronic product code (EPC) data read from Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags, are regarded as the de facto industry standard. Supply chain participants install information service systems and provide logistics information to partners by following the EPCglobal architecture framework. Although quality of service (QoS) is essential for providing dependable and scalable services as pointed out by Auto-ID Lab, only a few models for the performance analysis of QoS-related work have been developed in the context of EPC information service systems. Specifically, doing so allows alternative design choices to be tested in an easy and cost-effective manner and can highlight potential performance problems in designs long before any construction costs are incurred. Thus, in this study we construct a model of an EPC information service system for the purposes of performance analysis and designing a dependable system. We also develop a set of building blocks for analytical performance models. To illustrate how the model works, we determine the characteristics of an EPC information service system and then select a combination of these proven modeling concepts. We construct a performance model that considers the response time and shows how to derive meaningful performance values. Finally, we compare the analytical results to measurements of the EPC information service system.

A secure and flexible authentication system for digital images

Authentication of image data is a challenging task. Unlike data authentication systems that detect a single bit change in the data, image authentication systems must remain tolerant to changes resulting from acceptable image processing or compression algorithms while detecting malicious tampering with the image. Tolerance to the changes due to lossy compression systems is particularly important because in the majority of cases images are stored and transmitted in compressed form, and so it is important for verification to succeed if the compression is within the allowable range. In this paper we consider an image authentication system that generates an authentication tag that can be appended to an image to allow the verifier to verify the authenticity of the image. We propose a secure, flexible, and efficeint image authentication algorithm that is tolerant to image degradation due to JPEG lossy compression within designed levels. (JPEG is the most widely used image compression system and is the de facto industry standard.) By secure we mean that the cost of the best known attack againt the system is high, by flexible we mean that the level of protection can be adjusted so that higher security can be obtained with increased length of the authentication tag, and by efficient we mean that the computation can be performed largely as part of the JPEG compression, allowing the generation of the authentication tag to be efficiently integrated into the compression system. The authentication tag consists of a number of feature codes that can be computed in parallel, and thus computing the tag is effectively equivalent to computing a single feature code. We prove the soundness of the algorithm and show the security of the system. Finally, we give the results of our experiments.

Multivariate data analysis: quo vadis?

AbstractIndustry and academe are characterized by steadily increasing huge amounts of data with very different data structures. Both static and dynamic data contexts need to be addressed. A new generic, flexible and comprehensive general data‐modelling concept is needed to cope with these demands. During the past 20 years, object‐oriented programming (OOP) has become a de facto industry standard of how programming tasks should be defined and carried out in the context of deterministic data modelling. We present here a first framework of analogous ideas for multivariate data analysis. A new strategy, object‐oriented data modelling (OODM), is proposed which is invariant with respect to the specific data structures and the practical data context. We present a first delineation of meta‐principles, ideas and stimulants for tomorrow's possible development paths of modelling, in which the fundamental data analysis unit is the generalized ‘PLS object’ in the OOP sense. The key novel aspect concerns inter‐object information transfer, facilitated by ‘root‐sum‐of‐squares averaging’ (RSSA), which uses w loading weights as between‐object transfer agents. These features allow a powerful generalization beyond multiblock as well as hierarchical bilinear modelling to be laid out. The present part I outlines a first framework for the new data‐modelling approach, while part II forms a complementing catalogue of specific options and possibilities when implementing the new principles. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A simple and unambiguous definition of threshold voltage and its implications in deep-submicron MOS device modeling

A new definition of MOSFET threshold voltage is proposed, namely, the "critical-current at linear-threshold" method, which has a unique solution and is very simple to measure. This definition gives consistent values of threshold voltage for different regions of operation at long channel, and contains the information on short-channel effects at short channel, which is very useful for deep-submicron MOS device characterization and modeling. The proposed method effectively removes ambiguity of de facto industry standard of the constant-current method for MOS threshold voltage.

An architecture for distributed visualization of technical processes

The goal of the work presented here was to create the prototype of a graphical user interface for process visualization which requires only a fraction of the memory and processing power needed by today's de-facto industry standards for graphical user interfaces. As a result, an application framework for distributed process visualization called ‘Vision’ was developed. This paper describes the architecture of ‘Vision’, which achieved our goals by the consequent use of object-oriented design in the components of the user interface. The system offers a fully functional GUI as a basis, with special capabilities for fail-safe distribution of process-related events within a network of visualization stations. Several basic classes for visualizing process data are included.

Implementing reusable, instrument independent test programs in the factory

Development of computer programs that control test sequences on Automatic Test Equipment (ATE) is costly and time consuming. Test Programs are usually written by specifying the instruments to be used in the ATE and the sequence of the setup and measurement parameters for these instruments. Reuse of test program software on other ATE is usually not possible without rewriting, revalidating and re-releasing the programs. This paper describes an implementation of a test program software development system and a standard of software runtime architecture used in our factories. The object-oriented development environment and its associated class libraries allow test programs to be written without knowledge of the ATE on which they will be run. Two main principles guided the design: the software architecture was based on recognized formal and industry standards; and our implementation used commercial off-the-shelf software products when possible. Emerging standards such as the IEEE-1226 (ABBET) as well as defacto industry standards including VXI Plug and Play have made our implementation possible. The current draft of the ABBET and P&P standards do not promote this instrument independence, but it is hoped that this will be added as the standards mature. Three immediate benefits are: cost savings that result from reusing validated test programs; cycle time reductions that result from concurrently developing test program software and ATE; and software defect reductions that result from using proven software.

JavaGL-a 3D graphics library in Java for Internet browsers

Presents a 3D graphics library written in Java, called JavaGL (Java Graphics Library), to provide 3D graphics capabilities over a network. To make the 3D graphics library easy to learn and use, we define the application programming interface (API) in a manner quite similar to that of OpenGL, since OpenGL is a de facto industry standard. Furthermore, we have also developed a network library called JavaNL (Java Network Library) and combined it into JavaGL so that a programmer can develop multi-participant 3D graphics applications more easily using JavaGL and JavaNL. Implementation issues and performance evaluations are addressed.

The History of the ICC

In recent years hopes of resolving the chaos of color reproduction in open systems and the World Wide Web have slowly become focused on de facto industry standards. Apple Computer led an initiative starting in the spring of 1993, known as the ColorSync™ Consortium, to resolve this chaos. Over the next eighteen months, this initiative produced an open, cross-platform device color characterization profile format specification based on the Apple ColorSync™ profile format and set the groundwork for unambiguous interaction among color devices and vendors in open systems. The following year was spent transforming this informal consortium into the International Color Consortium (ICC), a formal, non-profit organization. The next eighteen months were spent establishing clear goals for the consortium and struggling with intellectual property issues. Following this effort, the last six months have seen the genesis of new work to inventory all known problems with the ICC specification, create a set of reference implementation and establish guidelines for conformance testing. If these initiatives are successful, it appears that the ICC might finally meet many of its ambitious initial goals.As founding chairperson of the ColorSync™ Consortium, color architect for ColorSync™ 2 and recent past chairperson of the ICC, I have been intimately involved in all of the developments described above. I have also been involved in other related open color standards activities. This paper represents my personal viewpoint on these developments and the ICC in general. It does not necessarily represent the official position of the International Color Consortium, Apple Computer or Hewlett-Packard Company.

The Role of HO2− in SC-1 Cleaning Solutions

The RCA Standard Clean, developed by W. Kern and D. Puotinen in 1965 and disclosed in 1970 [1] is extremely effective at removing contamination from silicon surfaces and is the defacto industry standard.[2]. The RCA clean consists of two sequential steps: the Standard Clean 1 (SC-1) followed by the Standard Clean 2 (SC-2). The SC-1 solution, consisting of a mixture of ammonium-hydroxide, hydrogen-peroxide, and water, is the most efficient particle removing agent found to date. This mixture is also referred to as the Ammonium- Hydroxide/Hydrogen-Peroxide Mixture (APM). In the past, SC-1 solutions had the tendency to deposit metals on the surface of the wafers, and consequently treatment with the SC-2 mixture was necessary to remove metals. Ultra-clean chemicals minimize the need for SC-2 processing. SC-I solutions facilitate particle removal by etching the wafer underneath the particles; thereby loosening the particles, so that mechanical forces can readily remove the particles from the wafer surface. The ammonium hydroxide in the solution steadily etches silicon dioxide at the boundary between the oxide and the aqueous solution (i.e., the wafer surface). The hydrogen peroxide in SC-I serves to protect the surface from attack by OH" by re-growing a protective oxide directly on the silicon surface (i.e., at the silicon/oxide interface). If sufficient hydrogen peroxide is not present in the solution, the silicon will be aniostropically etched and surface roughening will quickly occur. On the other hand, hydrogen peroxide readily dissociates and forms water and oxygen. If the concentration of the resulting oxygen is too high, bubbles will appear in the solution. The gas liquid interfaces that result from the bubble formation act as a “getter” for particles that can re-deposit on the wafer surface if a bubble comes in contact with the wafer.

Indirect field-oriented control of induction motors is robustly globally stable

Field orientation, in one of its many forms, is an established control method for high dynamic performance AC drives. In particular, for induction motors, indirect fieldoriented control is a simple and highly reliable scheme which has become the de facto industry standard. In spite of its widespread popularity no rigorous stability proof for this controller was available in the literature. In a recent paper (Ortega et al, 1995) [Ortega, R., D. Taoutaou, R. Rabinovici and J. P. Vilain (1995). On field oriented and passivity-based control of induction motors: downward compatibility. In Proc. IFAC NOLCOS Conf., Tahoe City, CA.] we have shown that, in speed regulation tasks with constant load torque and current-fed machines, indirect field-oriented control is globally asymptotically stable provided the motor rotor resistance is exactly known. It is well known that this parameter is subject to significant changes during the machine operation, hence the question of the robustness of this stability result remained to be established. In this paper we provide some answers to this question. First, we use basic input-output theory to derive sufficient conditions on the motor and controller parameters for global boundedness of all solutions. Then, we give necessary and sufficient conditions for the uniqueness of the equilibrium point of the (nonlinear) closed loop, which interestingly enough allows for a 200% error in the rotor resistance estimate. Finally, we give conditions on the motor and controller parameters, and the speed and rotor flux norm reference values that insure (global or local) asymptotic stability or instability of the equilibrium. This analysis is based on a nonlinear change of coordinates and classical Lyapunov stability theory.