Forward Integration Research Articles

A New Trajectory Tracking Algorithm for Autonomous Vehicles Based on Model Predictive Control.

Trajectory tracking is a key technology for precisely controlling autonomous vehicles. In this paper, we propose a trajectory-tracking method based on model predictive control. Instead of using the forward Euler integration method, the backward Euler integration method is used to establish the predictive model. To meet the real-time requirement, a constraint is imposed on the control law and the warm-start technique is employed. The MPC-based controller is proved to be stable. The simulation results demonstrate that, at the cost of no or a little increase in computational time, the tracking performance of the controller is much better than that of controllers using the forward Euler method. The maximum lateral errors are reduced by 69.09%, 47.89% and 78.66%. The real-time performance of the MPC controller is good. The calculation time is below 0.0203 s, which is shorter than the control period.

Integration Strategy and Performance of Commercial Banks in Nairobi City County, Kenya

This study’s purpose was to examine whether forward integration strategy has an influence on performance of commercial banks in Nairobi city county Kenya. The study conceptualized forward integration strategy as a synergy of acquiring banking agents, adoption of mobile banking and acquiring new banking outlets. The study was principally anchored on the value chain analysis theory. The study’s target population included 44 accredited commercial banks domiciled and providing services within Nairobi City County. The study’s sample size was 120 heads of departments in the forty-four commercial banks. Primary data was collected using open-ended questionnaires and secondary data was obtained through reviewing online documents such as the annual report from the Central Bank of Kenya. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and regression analysis. The study revealed that forward integration strategy had an unequivocal and noteworthy influence on commercial bank’s annual revenue, labour turnover, operating efficiencies, market confidence, asset value and productivity. The research study recommends that banks should adopt forward integration strategy through increasing their banking agents and mobile banking penetration. Moreover, banks should also increase their number of banking outlets to tap to the subsequent increased rich customer base and deposits.

Anisotropic constitutive model coupled with damage for Sn-rich solder: Application to SnAgCuSb solder under tensile conditions

With the rapid development of microelectronics and nanoelectronics, Moore law has significantly slowed down and More than Moore based system in packaging (SiP) is expected to be more and more important, at least for next one to two decades. Mechanical behaviors of interconnect materials such as solders are critical for yield in processes and reliability in testing and operation. Based on the framework of crystal plastic theory and continuum damage mechanics, an anisotropic constitutive model coupled with damage was developed to describe the deformation behaviors of Sn-rich solder. In the proposed model, the inelastic shear rate function was presented by hyperbolic sinusoidal form and power law form. For the damage evolution law, the total shear strain was chosen as the damage function variable. The proposed model was implemented into the general finite element software ABAQUS by forward Euler integration procedure. Some simulation examples were performed to verify the proposed model by comparing the simulation results with the experiments at uniaxial tensile conditions with SnAgCuSb solder chosen as the Sn-rich solder. The tensile stress-strain curves of the simulation results agreed well with the experiments at small strain under different temperatures and strain rates. The simulated stress-rupture stages showed reasonable accuracy with the experiments under four representative tensile conditions. Different tensile stress-strain curves of single grains with orientation of (0-0-0)°, (0-45-0)°, and (0-90-0)° were obtained under the same loading conditions, with an inverse relationship between the tensile strength and elongation. This relationship was in accordance with a referable literature. All these results indicate that the proposed model can describe the deformation behaviors of SnAgCuSb solder well under the tensile conditions in consideration of the mechanical anisotropy and the damage evolution.

Uporaba variacij pospeška zaradi vpliva Lune in Sonca pri izračunu tirnic satelitov GLONASS

In the differential equation system describes the motion of GLONASS satellites (rus. Globalnaya Navigazionnaya Sputnikovaya Sistema, or Global Navigation Satellite System ), the acceleration caused by the luni-solar traction is often taken as a constant during the period of the integration. In this work-study, we assume that the acceleration due to the luni-solar traction is not constant but varies linearly during the period of integration following this assumption; the linear functions in the three axes of the luni-solar acceleration are computed for an interval of 30 min and then implemented into the differential equations. The use of the numerical integration of Runge-Kutta fourth-order is recommended in the GLONASS-ICD (Interface Control Document) to solve for the differential equation system in order to get an orbit solution. The computation of the position and velocity of a GLONASS satellite in this study is performed by using the Runge-Kutta fourth-order method in forward and backward integration, with initial conditions provided in the broadcast ephemerides file.

Strategic Response to a Powerful Downstream Retailer: Difference-Setting Wholesale Pricing Contract and Partial Forward Integration

Strategic Response to a Powerful Downstream Retailer: Difference-Setting Wholesale Pricing Contract and Partial Forward Integration

STRATEGI HOME INDUSTRI KONVEKSI DALAM MENINGKATKAN PENDAPATAN RUMAH TANGGA MASYARAKAT KOTA BINJAI (STUDI KASUS ABU BAKAR KONVEKSI MENCIRIM BINJAI TIMUR)

This study aims to determine how the potential and empowerment role of the convection home industry in increasing community household income, and to determine the SWOT analysis of strategies used to increase household income in Binjai city. The background of this research is that in the 2020-2024 RPJMN, one of the macro targets is to improve the processing industry, one of the agendas is to strengthen quality economic defense by encouraging MSMEs. This research method is descriptive qualitative accompanied by a SWOT analysis. The analysis technique used is descriptive method and SWOT analysis, the formulation of a strategy that is processed from the weight of the identification results of the SWOT factor. The results of the calculation of the SWOT analysis of the total IFAS are higher than the total EFAS. The strategy to increase the business of the research object is in cell I Growth is namely the Backward integration or Forward integration strategy. In order to increase its business strength or competitive position, Burn Ash Convection must make efforts to minimize costs and inefficient operations to control the quality and distribution of products.

Propagation of rays in corrugated waveguides

We describe the functionality and impact of the software used to compute the stability analysis of the reflection map for a corrugated 2D and 3D waveguide recently presented in Gradoni et al., (2021). The stability analysis is based on the Lyapunov errors (LE) and reversibility errors (RE, REM) indicators. Those indicators are the kernel of our software. The LE indicator is based on the linear response to small random displacements of the initial condition, the RE is based on the evolution of a small additive noise, while the REM indicator is based on the evolution of round-off after a forward and backward integration of the reflection map. • Chaos indicators. LE independent on initial vector, RE related to LE by recurrence. • Corrugated waveguides. 4D ray map exhibits transition from regular to chaotic motion. • Channel capacity. Its variation with the corrugation amplitude is computed.

Home-Grown Recipe for Fast-Tracking Sustainable Development in Nigeria

In spite of Nigeria’s rich human and natural resources endowment, endemic corruption has constituted a serious impediment to sustainable development. Nigeria was ranked 148 out of 180 countries in 2017 by the Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index, which shows that the country is very corrupt. The application of false paradigm model of faulty and inappropriate advice provided by well-meaning but often uninformed and biased international expert advisers has also exacerbated Nigeria’s underdevelopment. This paper reviews some theories of growth and development and identifies corruption as a bane of sustainable development in Nigeria. It also postulates a home-grown recipe for accelerating sustainable development in Nigeria to include: forward integration of primary industries and backward integration of manufacturing industries, economic diversification, zero tolerance for and stiffer penalty against corruption at the household, firm and government levels. Therefore, a strict execution of the above would go a long way in fast-tracking sustainable development in Nigeria and thereby make the country one of the most desirable destinations in the world. Keywords: Corruption, Recipe, Growth and development theories, Sustainable development, Nigeria DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-16-03 Publication date: August 31 st 2021

Analysis and Strategy for Heavy Equipment Rental Business Development

Heavy equipment in construction projects, mining industry, agriculture are loaders, wheel loaders, piles, cranes, forklifts, dump trucks, excavators, dozers, boom lifts, truck-mounted cranes (TMC)/hyap cranes, soil compactors such as rollers and compactors, and others. This study aims to identify and evaluate the factors included in the company's internal and external environment as well as analyze and formulate a priority strategy for the development of the heavy equipment rental business in the services division of PT Kawasan Industri Makasasar (Persero)(KIMA). The research method used is a case study. The samples used are 10 samples consisting of 2 commissioners, 1 director, 3 division heads, 4 department heads. Data was collected using questionnaires and interviews, which are then analyzed using the matrix of IFE, EFE, TOWS, IE. The generating strategies from the matrixes are then evaluated using Quantitative Strategic Matrix Planning (QSPM) to provide a priority strategy for the company to grow in the coming future. Evaluation conducted from the matrix indicates that that the current company’s position is the cell of growth and build. In that cell, there are some intensive strategy options available that are market penetration, market development, product development. It also generates integrative-strategy options that are backward integration, forward integration, and horizontal integration. When evaluated the strategy choices using the QSPM matrix, the priority strategy obtained is to carry out an employee capacity development program, especially to operators in the form of service excellence training for customers and knowledge of the importance of occupational safety and health (K3) while at work field (STAS 6.74).

Currency Unions and Global Value Chains: The Impact of the Euro on the Italian Value Added Exports

Many estimates of the effect of the common currency on trade have been made, although a clear answer has yet to be given. This work analyses the trade effect of the euro by providing a twofold contribution. First, one of the main stylised facts that has emerged from the recent literature is that trade flows in gross terms can differ substantially from those measured in value added terms. Accordingly, we focus on the structure of global value chains rather than conventional gross trade. To this aim, we provide an estimate of the value added trade flows that would have existed between Italy and its main trading partners if Italy had not joined the monetary union and show how, and to what extent, international production sharing has been affected. Second, we use a methodology that is different from traditional, parametric ones. Specifically, we apply the synthetic control method to construct appropriate counterfactuals and estimate the causal impact of the euro. Our empirical analysis provides a relevant case for considering value added in addition to gross trade since it shows that the euro facilitated the forward integration of Italian exports, whereas it slowed down backward integration. Overall, these results suggest that the euro had an impact on Italian global value chain participation by altering value added flows across member as well as non-member states, with great heterogeneity in the results across value added trade components and sectors.

Competitiveness of Export-Based Competitiveness of Export-Based Small and Medium Industries (IKM): Case Study of Creative in DKI Jakarta

Ministry of Industry assesses that the processing industry is still consistently contributing the most to the achievement of export value national. There are manufacturing industry sectors that have achieved low scores on the contribution of export value. Namely the apparel industry, wood industry, and industrial furniture. There are obstacles and problems for the three industries to increase export value. The problem is the low competitiveness of the three industries in exporting. This study aims to analyze and see the condition of the competitiveness of the Small and Medium Creative Industry in the KI Jakarta based on exports from the supply-side analysis. This research is qualitative research using interview and survey methods. The samples of this research were Furniture / Furniture IKM, Batik IKM, and Handicraft IKM which succeeded in contributing the export contribution value to IKM. The results of this study indicate that the conditions of the three creative SMIs in Jakarta have different capabilities and strategies in contributing to export value. Based on the results of the SWOT and SPACE matrix analysis, a special strategy is needed to increase competitiveness. Among them, the right strategies are Furniture IKM and Handicraft IKM located in the quadrant size “aggressive” which indicates that the Furniture IKM in DKI Jakarta is in a very good position in using its internal strength. Therefore, the strategies suitable for use by IKM Furniture in DKI Jakarta include market penetration strategy, market development, product development, backward integration, forward integration, horizontal integration, or diversification. Meanwhile, IKM Batik is in the quadrant position “Conservative” which indicates that IKM Batik is in a low or weak competitive position and must improve the company's strategic position to have strong competitiveness

Global Production Networks and the lithium industry: A Bolivian perspective

This article provides the first detailed analysis within economic geography of the GPN of lithium and of the Bolivian strategy of brine industrialization. Considering extractive and manufacturing chains of the lithium industry, it demonstrates how the production networks’ organizational structures and practices are shaped by interconnected relations of cooperation and competition. Specifically the article targets two key points in the GPN literature: i) how the multi-scalar competitive and/or cooperative strategies and practices of forward and backward integrations create and sustain the production networks and their evolution; ii) a combined analysis of the GPN approach with a placed-based interpretation of the political economy of the lithium industry focusing on the central role of states as inter-scalar mediators in strategic coupling relations for the insertion of national economic actors and assets to global markets. We then propose a new interpretation of the global reconfiguration of the extractive chain and its spatial forms.

SealFS: Storage-based tamper-evident logging

Log analysis is essential for a forensic investigation. Upon intrusion, log files are usually forged in order to hide or fake evidence. If the system is completely compromised, malicious code can be executed in kernel or hypervisor mode making even signed log files vulnerable. As a countermeasure, some systems archive the log files on another system through the network. This solution is not always suitable or desirable and it just shifts the problem elsewhere. The log files need to be preserved on another networked machine which may itself be attacked. In this paper, we present a simple scheme to authenticate local log files based on a forward integrity model. The scheme is based on a realistic assumption: nowadays, storage is very cheap. We can authenticate the logged data generated, starting from boot time to the instant that the malicious code elevates privileges. This tamper-evident scheme does not depend on special security hardware or securing a distributed system. We also present a prototype implementation of this scheme, SealFS. Our implementation, which showcases this approach, is a novel stackable file system for Linux. It enables tamper-evident logging to all existing applications, provides backwards compatibility and instant deployability. Last, we present a performance evaluation of this prototype that shows the viability of this approach.

A learning portal model of emerging markets multinationals

AbstractResearch SummaryThe purpose of the article is to explain the mechanisms underlying the internationalization springboard strategies of China's emerging multinationals in the automobile industry. Using a unique combination of location bound (country‐specific) and non‐location bound (firm‐specific) advantages, companies in this industry have overcome their latecomer disadvantages by exploring knowledge from mature markets through backward and forward integration of the value chain, and exploiting this knowledge to enhance their competitive position, first at home, then in emerging markets and later in developed countries. We test and refine springboarding theory and propose the learning portal model. The learning portal model can be used as a new theory of emerging markets multinationals beyond China and the automobile industry.Management SummaryThe globalization of Chinese enterprises is upon us. Chinese enterprises have not only successfully internationalized to other emerging markets, but also to advanced economies. To do so, these firms used springboard strategies to leapfrog certain technological development stages and accelerate their catch‐up trajectory with incumbent firms from the advanced economies. This article investigates the catch‐up strategies of China's leading automotive companies. We find that Chinese enterprises establish learning portals in mature markets to acquire knowledge and assets, which they first exploit in their home market, before seeking to expand their market share in other emerging markets and finally advanced economies.

Vertical and Horizontal Integration in the Profitability of Malaysian Broiler Firms

Vertical integration has been widely promoted for offering production, transaction, and market benefits in the poultry industry. These benefits must be translated into profitability – a proxy of competitive advantage. This study aimed to identify the financial effect underlying the degree of backward, forward, and horizontal integration, alongside the financial strength and management capability of broiler firms. We used random-effects general least squares to analyze a panel dataset of broiler firms that publicly listed in Kuala Lumpur Stock Exchange Malaysia for the 2006-2018 period. Support is found for the hypothesis that forward integration enhanced profitability. In comparison, the operating margin had a greater influence on broiler firms’ financial performance. Notwithstanding value chain development, the relative findings suggest that efficiency remains a priority in a commodity-based broiler market. It is thus recommended that management capability be emphasized.

SADAFCO: The Food Basket of GCC

Saudia Dairy and Foodstuff Company as popularly known the SADAFCO [1], is one of the leading companies in the Gulf region and professionally managed supply chain management to ensure food for all. In terms of quality assurance, it obtained International Standard Organisation’s (ISO22000:2005) certificate and enjoyed a competitive advantage in diary industry and milk based products in serving approximately 32000 customers across the GCC region. It also enjoyed a network of distributors without any forward or backward integration strategy to cater the need of the vast markets it serves in UAE, Kuwait, and Bahrain in GCC including Jordon. SADAFCO has about 45 years of rich experience in the industry and started all commercial activities ranging from manufacturing, storage, distribution to other logistics management after being established in 1976. SADAFCO is a Saudi brand name to be reckoned with that offered kitchen and dining table items and a wider range of products across several product lines including Milk, Tomato Paste, Ketchup, Snacks, Ice Cream, Cheese, Instant Milk Powder, Creamy Products, Fruit Nectars, Butter and French Fries to mention a few. Henceforth SADAFCO is a leading and world-class company in the GCC region. The company has good financial position over the given period of time. The challenges brought forward by the Covid-19 is not an exception to this global economic challenge has yet to be seen depending upon the financial performance of year 2020. Historically this Saudi dairy and Foodstuff Company expanded its capacity of manufacturing and distribution after being merged with two other dairy companies and ownership was transferred to make it as holding company to be listed in home and GCC in 2005. Eventually it was listed on the Saudi Arabian stock exchange TADAWUL [2] while majority shareholding with the new entity goes to Qurain Petrochemicals Industries (QPIC). Today’s SADAFCO is a brand power and well sought after share in the securities market of the Kingdom.

Higher order Hamiltonian Monte Carlo sampling for cosmological large-scale structure analysis

ABSTRACT We investigate higher order symplectic integration strategies within Bayesian cosmic density field reconstruction methods. In particular, we study the fourth-order discretization of Hamiltonian equations of motion (EoM). This is achieved by recursively applying the basic second-order leap-frog scheme (considering the single evaluation of the EoM) in a combination of even numbers of forward time integration steps with a single intermediate backward step. This largely reduces the number of evaluations and random gradient computations, as required in the usual second-order case for high-dimensional cases. We restrict this study to the lognormal-Poisson model, applied to a full volume halo catalogue in real space on a cubical mesh of 1250 h−1 Mpc side and 2563 cells. Hence, we neglect selection effects, redshift space distortions, and displacements. We note that those observational and cosmic evolution effects can be accounted for in subsequent Gibbs-sampling steps within the COSMIC BIRTH algorithm. We find that going from the usual second to fourth order in the leap-frog scheme shortens the burn-in phase by a factor of at least ∼30. This implies that 75–90 independent samples are obtained while the fastest second-order method converges. After convergence, the correlation lengths indicate an improvement factor of about 3.0 fewer gradient computations for meshes of 2563 cells. In the considered cosmological scenario, the traditional leap-frog scheme turns out to outperform higher order integration schemes only when considering lower dimensional problems, e.g. meshes with 643 cells. This gain in computational efficiency can help to go towards a full Bayesian analysis of the cosmological large-scale structure for upcoming galaxy surveys.

Ex-ante impact of on-farm diversification and forward integration on agricultural value chain resilience: A system dynamics approach

ObjectiveThis paper examines the ex-ante impacts of on-farm diversification and forward integration strategies on agricultural value chain resilience, with an empirical focus on Ghana’s cocoa value chain. MethodSystem dynamics modelling was used to explore five scenarios involving variable-input on-farm diversification pursued by cocoa farmers in Ghana and the simultaneous adoption of forward integration strategies by Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire. Results and ConclusionsAn adaptive strategy involving the simultaneous pursuit of variable-input on-farm diversification and a cooperative forward integration strategy by both Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire was found to result in the highest level of resilience. Under such an adaptive strategy, in-country processors will be the most impacted when the level of safety stocks are below 25% of the average stock level during the period of losses in raw material production. SignificanceThe findings suggest that a policy direction that supports on-farm diversification and in-country processing enhances the aggregate resilience of the cocoa value chain, irrespective of the forward integration strategy adopted by Cote d’Ivoire.

Frost: a momentum-conserving CUDA implementation of a hierarchical fourth-order forward symplectic integrator

ABSTRACTWe present a novel hierarchical formulation of the fourth-order forward symplectic integrator and its numerical implementation in the GPU-accelerated direct-summation N-body code frost. The new integrator is especially suitable for simulations with a large dynamical range due to its hierarchical nature. The strictly positive integrator sub-steps in a fourth-order symplectic integrator are made possible by computing an additional gradient term in addition to the Newtonian accelerations. All force calculations and kick operations are synchronous so the integration algorithm is manifestly momentum-conserving. We also employ a time-step symmetrization procedure to approximately restore the time-reversibility with adaptive individual time-steps. We demonstrate in a series of binary, few-body and million-body simulations that frost conserves energy to a level of |ΔE/E| ∼ 10−10 while errors in linear and angular momentum are practically negligible. For typical star cluster simulations, we find that frost scales well up to $N_\mathrm{GPU}^\mathrm{max}\sim 4\times N/10^5$ GPUs, making direct-summation N-body simulations beyond N = 106 particles possible on systems with several hundred and more GPUs. Due to the nature of hierarchical integration, the inclusion of a Kepler solver or a regularized integrator with post-Newtonian corrections for close encounters and binaries in the code is straightforward.

Backward Versus Forward Integration of Firms in Global Value Chains

Production processes are increasingly organized in international value-chain networks. The involved firms can be operating at arm’s length or be vertically integrated. Both the incidence and the direction of integration (backward or forward in the value chain) depend on specific characteristics of the firms and their economic environment. We propose a simple model of vertical integration in a supplier-producer relationship that is rooted in the property-rights theory to learn about the determinants of forward versus backward integrations. Generally, the profitability and direction of integration depend on the relative investment intensity of the producer and the supplier so as to align investment incentives and maximize joint surplus. Moreover, the organizational form depends on the fixed costs of firm integration and the market environment in the input market as well as the relative importance of the specific input for the final output. These results are strongly confirmed in a large panel of worldwide directed ownership linkages.