Local Criteria Research Articles

Local fracture criterion for quasi-cleavage hydrogen-assisted cracking of tempered martensitic steels

Electrochemical permeation cell built on a Instron tensile testing machine allows fracturing notched specimens under hydrogen flux while monitoring simultaneously the flow stress and the permeation anodic current. Analysis of the fracture surfaces reveals that cracking initiates at the hydrogen-entry surfaces as quasi-cleavage regions followed by ductile propagation. Quasi-cleavage zones were fully developed at the maximum engineering stress and often initiate around inclusions for unnotched specimens. The observation of multiple cracks at the hydrogen-entry surfaces and correlations between quasi-cleavage features and martensitic boundaries suggest that cracking is related to decohesion of cropping out and inner boundaries. The local mechanical states and diffusible hydrogen concentration and flux at quasi-cleavage failure were calculated by finite element method (FEM). The results predict local failure criteria in terms of decrease of local maximum principal stress and equivalent plastic strain with local diffusible hydrogen concentration, revealing that the inclusion of hydrogen-mechanical-structural interactions at the charging surfaces is necessary to complete fracture analysis.

Service Area Network Analysis for Location Planning of Microbusiness and Local Franchise in Urban Area: A Case Study in Malang City, East Java Provence, Indonesia

Malang city is supported by the informal sector, represented by 50.41% informal employees; 17.80% are street food vendors located by collector, neighborhood, local, and alongside footpaths. Those highly potential business opportunities are equipped by high-rate competitors that would be a failure factor. One of the most contributive factors of 50–60% of business failures is rough location planning without an effective solution. The purpose of this research is to analyze strategic selling locations for microbusiness and local franchises in Malang City. A quantitative approach was used to analyze numeric calculation while a geography information system (GIS) was used as the analysis method. Additionally, service area network analysis (SANA) as a GIS tool was used for counting the threshold of spatial factor. Both SANA and GIS integrate with mobile applications, which are called by LOLAKU (location = LO, or location to accelerate salability = LAKU). After analyzing the strategic location factor, these application are tested toward microbusinesses and local franchises around the study area. Respondents are involved in testing sessions after interview for microbusiness and local franchise criteria. The research showed that strategic locations for microbussiness and franchise local listed up to three rental points, there are: point 6 (112°36′44,571″ E–7°57′25,556″ S), point 9 (112°36′37,116″ E–7°57′28,496″ S), and point 21 (112°36′49,114″ E–7°57′48,281″ S). After comparing with respondents’ business criteria, point 6 is the most suitable one, which is located on alongside local roads, and traffic counted 37.8 unit/min on weekdays and 32.0 unit/min on weekends. LOLAKU received good responses from 36 respondents who took part in the criteria business determining and trial test sessions. We hope this application development will support and provide factual benefits for microbusinesses and local franchise actors in the future.

Remarks on local regularity of axisymmetric solutions to the 3D Navier–Stokes equations

In this article, a new local regularity criterion for the axisymmetric solutions to the 3D Navier–Stokes equations is investigated. It is slightly supercritical and implies an upper bound for the oscillation of for any there exists a constant c > 0,

Device-free indoor localization based on sparse coding with nonconvex regularization and adaptive relaxation localization criteria

Device-free indoor localization based on sparse coding with nonconvex regularization and adaptive relaxation localization criteria

THE DEVELOPMENT OF LOCAL ECOLOGICAL CRITERIA FOR SUSTAINABLE OIL PALM PLANTATION IN BELITUNG ISLAND (A CASE STUDY IN NYURUK AND TANJUNG RUSA)

The Development of palm oil in Indonesia has been associated with its environmental impact. Concerns such as deforestation, biodiversity, and greenhouse gas emission which will lead to climate change had triggered the stakeholders' urgency in initiating the sustainable palm oil certification scheme, namely RSPO (Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil). This certification scheme included numerous criteria that have to be fulfilled by the palm oil companies. However, the scheme is not incorporating the local ecological concerns as part of the assessment criteria, whereas, if they are applied, will contribute to better monitoring process towards the sustainability. In order to cover this issue, it is necessary to characterize the criteria based on each plantation site's characteristics. Using the ecosystem approach principle, this case study emphasizes the prioritization of the ecological criteria. The case study was conducted in Nyuruk and Tanjung Rusa, Belitung. The High Conservation Value (HCV) criteria have been used as guidance in formulizing the proposed ecological criteria based on ecological condition of Belitung. Afterwards, the perception of palm oil stakeholders gathered to mediate the prioritization of the criteria. As results, the conservation of water resources and forest; the wildlife conservation and firing prevention; and endangered ecosystem conservation, key habitat, and ecological corridor for the species were considered as having high priority. Moreover, both the landscape and topography considerations; and the flood prevention in the plantation area were considered as having low priority. To conclude, we recommend incorporating the reviewed local ecological criteria in the existing sustainable palm oil certification scheme.

Mathematical models of a multi-criteria problem of reengineering topological structures of ecological monitoring networks

The article deals with the theoretical aspects of the problem of reengineering the topological structures of terrestrial ecological monitoring networks. As a result of the analysis of the current state of the problem, it was revealed the need to changethe network of monitoring points, to increaserequirements for the efficiency and accuracy of observations, as well as to do the more advanced technologies for collecting,processing, storing and transmitting information. All this is possible due to reengineering of existing monitoring networks. This requires the improvement of network system optimization technologies and their software in terms oftaking into account the features of the reengineering problem, as well as the mathematical models and methods used for this. To solve the problem of reengineering of terrestrial monitoring networks, an aggregative-decomposition approach is proposed. The approach is divided into a set of tasks considering their interconnections in terms of input and output data. This made it possible to define a set of tasks that form the basis of reengineering procedures. To increase the efficiency of technologies for computer-aided design and reengineering of networks, a set of mathematical models is proposed that covers the main stages of their life cycles. The article discusses: a systemological model of iterative technology for obtaining design solutions; analytical models for evaluating the properties of network reengineering options in terms of efficiency, reliability, survivability and costs; models for identifyingeffective options for network reengineering based on Karlin and Germeier theorems; a model for evaluating the local properties of options in the form of a utility function of local criteria; model of scalar multicriteria estimation of network reengineering options based on utility theory. The utility function makes it possible to implement both linear and non-linear (including Z-andS-shaped) dependencies on their values. For the practical implementation of modelsof multicriteria problems of reengineering of topological structures of networks, it is proposed to use the method of generation of effective design solutions in parallel with the generation and the method of comparator parametric synthesis of the scalar multicriteria estimation function. The performance and efficiencyof the proposed mathematical models and methods are demonstrated by examples of solving the problems of subset selection of Pareto-optimal options for building networks and parametric synthesis of the scalar multicriteria estimation function. The application in practice of the proposed set of models and methods will increase the degree of automation of network reengineering processes, reduce the time for solving the problem of multi-criteria choice due to the reduction in the time complexity of the analysis procedures, and increase the stability of the decisions made by compromising their choice only from a subset of effective ones.

Performance measurement of construction suppliers under localization, agility, and digitalization criteria: Fuzzy Ordinal Priority Approach.

The suppliers’ performance plays a vital role, with a domino effect, in project success, organizational competitiveness, protecting supply chain and construction industry from disruptions and PESTEL risks (political, economic, social, technological, environmental, and legal). Therefore, measuring the performance of the construction suppliers has become the primary focus of project-oriented organizations and the core of business decision-making, especially during global megatrends. The question that may arise here is, “How can the performance of the construction suppliers be determined under uncertainties considering the post-COVID-19 era?” Organizations need eligible suppliers for the rapid recovery of the supply chain and construction sector at this critical stage. Given the importance of the issue, this study aims to propose a novel approach for measuring the performance of construction suppliers using the fuzzy ordinal priority approach (OPA-F). OPA-F is a recent development in multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) that can determine the criteria weights for performance measurement using fuzzy linguistic variables. We do not always have access to a complete data set in real-world situations and business environments. Nevertheless, OPA-F can handle this dilemma, even with incomplete input data. This research intends to consider three main aspects of the construction suppliers, known as (L-A-D) capabilities, including localization, agility, and digitalization. In this regard, we bring up a case study from the construction industry to demonstrate the application of the proposed framework. The findings show that the most critical criterion is “digitalization” for the case study. This criterion covers “supply chain automation” and “virtualization and dematerialization” of services/products. The proposed approach is practical and straightforward, particularly for academicians and decision-makers; it can also incorporate uncertainties.

Методы оптимизации в многокритериальных задачах с использованием локальной качественной важности критериев

This article describes the research of the applicability of using the local importance of criteria in multi-criteria optimization problems. The theory of the global qualitative importance of criteria is currently well developed, there are many works on this topic. Moreover, numerous computer decision support systems (DSS) using global importance exist. However, the local importance of criteria is investigated very weak - there is no even mathematical definition for it. Authors have not been able to find in the public domain optimization algorithms and DSS using local importance. The authors start by formulating a mathematical definition for local criteria importance by adding specific limitations to the existing definition for global criteria importance. The next step is creating an iterative optimization algorithm that works with local importance criteria too. However, it is needed to check the applicability of this algorithm that is why authors create a DSS that realizes it. After a series of experiments, the authors conclude that the algorithm is applicable for real optimization problems.

Efficacy and safety of tenofovir alafenamide versus tenofovir disoproxil fumarate in treatment‐naïve chronic hepatitis B

We used real-world data to evaluate the efficacy and safety of tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) compared with tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) in treatment-naïve patients with CHB. We analysed 2747 patients with CHB under TAF (n=502) or TDF (n=2245) treatments. Virological responses (VR: HBV DNA <15 IU/ml), on-treatment ALT normalization, the incidence of HCC, renal function and lipid profiles were compared between these groups. Propensity score matching of 495 pairs was conducted for these comparisons. The mean age of the total cohort was 48.6 years and 58.2% of the subjects were male. Cirrhosis had a 33.3% prevalence in the population. VRs at 12, 24 and 36months were achieved in 70.3%, 81.2% and 83.3% of the TAF and 67.9%, 84.3% and 86.1% in the TDF cases respectively (p > 0.05 for all). Normalized ALT, as determined by local laboratory criteria (<40 U/L), occurred in 79.7%, 90.6% and 86.2% of TAF the group and 78.2%, 85.8% and 85.7% of the TDF group at 12, 24 and 36months respectively (p > 0.05 for all). The HCC risk did not statistically differ across the entire cohort or in the PS-matched cohort. The TAF group showed a lower median increase in serum creatinine from baseline during the early study period. Compared with the TAF, the TDF group showed significant decreases in total cholesterol, triglyceride and HDL, but not in LDL. Real-word data indicate that TAF has comparable efficacies to TDF in terms of VR and ALT normalization, with no higher risk of HCC.

Progressive Hybrid Classifier Ensemble for Imbalanced Data

The class imbalance problem has posed a leading challenge in real-world applications. Traditional methods focus on either the data level or algorithm level to solve the binary classification problem on imbalanced data, and seldom consider searching an effective transformation for classification. Besides, the undersampling process adopted in them is always subjective and unilateral. To address the above issues, we first propose a hybrid classifier ensemble (HCE) framework to conduct binary imbalanced data classification, which mainly includes a metric-based data space transformation (MDST) and an adaptive two-stage undersampling process (ATUP). The MDST aims to find a more appropriate embedding space for original imbalance data sets, and the ATUP considers both informative and representative samples to generate balanced data sets. Furthermore, we design a progressive HCE (PHCE) framework to improve the performance of HCE by utilizing a progressive mechanism with local and global evaluation criteria to select ensemble members. Extensive comparative experiments conducted on 28 real-world data sets exhibit that our method PHCE outperforms the majority of imbalance ensemble classification approaches.

Improving species-based area protection in Antarctica.

Area protection is a major mechanism deployed for environmental conservation in Antarctica. Yet, the Antarctic protected areas network is widely acknowledged as inadequate, in part because the criteria for area protection south of 60°S are not fully applied. The most poorly explored of these criteria is the type locality of species, which provides the primary legal means for Antarctic species-based area protection and a method for conserving species even if little is known about their habitat or distribution. The type locality criterion has not been systematically assessed since its incorporation into the Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty in 1991, so the extent to which the criterion is being met or might be useful for area protection is largely unknown. To address the matter, we created and analyzed a comprehensive database of Antarctic type localities of terrestrial and lacustrine lichens, plants, and animals. We compiled the database via a literature search of key taxonomic and geographic terms and then analyzed the distance between type localities identifiable to a ≤ 25km2 resolution and current Antarctic Specially Protected Areas (ASPAs) and human infrastructure. We used a distance-clustering approach for localities outside current ASPAs to determine candidate protected areas that could contain these unprotected localities. Of the 386 type localities analyzed, 108 were within or overlapped current ASPAs. Inclusion of the remaining 278 type localities in the ASPA network would require the designation of a further 105 protected areas. Twenty-four of these areas included human infrastructure disturbance. Given the slow rate of ASPA designation, growing pace of human impacts on the continent, and the management burden associated with ASPAs, we propose ways in which the type locality criterion might best be deployed. These include a comprehensive, systematic conservation planning approach and an alternative emphasis on the habitat of species, rather than on a single locality.

Assessing Physico-Chemical Parameters of Drinking Water in Majkhola, Tansen, Palpa

Water is an important component of the ecosystem that sustains life on the planet since water provides vital components for human health. To gain a precise picture of water quality, studies of the components found in the water are critical. Three physical and six chemical criteria were examined to assess the quality assurance of drinking water of Majkhola. All tests were carried out according to the protocols outlined in the standard methodology. For this investigation, four water samples were collected in the morning from different areas of Majhkhola throughout three months, from December 2018 to February 2019. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the water quality parameters. pH (6.85 – 8.5), Conductivity (72.3 – 79.9 µm/s), Alkalinity (37.84 – 39.27 mg/L), Chloride (2.509 – 3.76 mg/L), Dissolves Oxygen (DO) (0.8 – 1.3 mg/L), Hardness (60 – 72 mg/L) and Total Dissolved Solids (100 – 150 mg/L) of water samples values lay within the permissible guideline values as prescribed by WHO and national standard but temperature (18 – 21°C) of water samples crossed the WHO permissible value and there is no prescribed limit of free CO2 (2 – 4) mg/L) in WHO. These metrics' values in the research area suggest that water samples are within normal or acceptable limits. As a result, water is safe to drink and meets local and international physical and chemical criteria to preserve excellent health. Based on the findings, it was concluded that the current study's findings are highly encouraging and reflect the health status of Majkhola's water area.&#x0D; Int. J. Appl. Sci. Biotechnol. Vol 10(1): 60-70.

Instability in charged Gauss–Bonnet–de Sitter black holes

We study the instability of the charged Gauss-Bonnet de Sitter black holes under gravito-electromagnetic perturbations. We adopt two criteria to search for an instability of the scalar type perturbations, including the local instability criterion based on the $AdS_2$ Breitenl\"{o}hner-Freedman (BF) bound at extremality and the dynamical instability via quasinormal modes by full numerical analysis. We uncover the gravitational instability in five spacetime dimensions and above, and construct the complete parameter space in terms of the ratio of event and cosmological horizons and the Gauss-Bonnet coupling. We show that the BF bound violation is a sufficient but not necessary condition for the presence of dynamical instability. While the physical origin of the instability without the Gauss-Bonnet term has been argued to be from the $AdS_2$ BF bound violation, our analysis suggests that the BF bound violation can not account for all physical origin of the instability for the charged Gauss-Bonnet black holes.

Diagnostic Significance of Schneiderian First Rank Symptoms

Schizophrenia is considered to be the heartland of psychiatry and core of its clinical practice. There have been disagreements regarding its diagnostic criteria. Schneiderian first rank symptoms have been given much importance ill international classification systems. Prevalence of first rank symptoms has been reported to be from 28% to 73%. This study was done to estimate the prevalence of first rank symptoms in schizophrenia in patients presenting in outpatients departments of Mayo hospital Lahore and Institute of mental health Lahore. 168 patients were studied. Fifty patients were suffering from schizophrenia. Twenty-live patients each were suffering from mania and psychotic depression. Fifty patients had neurotic (disorders and 18 patients were suffering from drug-induced psychosis. ICD-10 was used as diagnostic criteria and Mellor’s definitions of first rank symptoms were used. Prevalence of first rank symptoms in schizophrenia was found to be 56%. Very few patients from other diagnostic categories had first rank symptoms. Prevalence of first rank symptoms in schizophrenia is lower than reported from studies done in the West. Local criteria and instruments should be developed for use in our own population.&#x0D;

RVLSM: Robust variational level set method for image segmentation with intensity inhomogeneity and high noise

Intensity inhomogeneity and high noise are two common but challenging issues in image segmentation and is particularly pronounced when the two issues simultaneously appear in one image. As a result, most existing level set methods yield poor performance when applied to these images. To address this issue, this paper proposes a robust variational level set method (RVLSM) based on adaptive diffusion mechanism and local cluster criterion, which can not only correct the severe inhomogeneous intensity but also denoise in segmentation. Specifically, we first define an adaptive-scale representation term using the proposed adaptive diffusion mechanism to transform the image data towards diffusion-induced space, which successfully restrains different types/levels of noise while enhancing image details. Then, a new bias field correction term is constructed via estimating the bias in transformed domain to better correct the severe inhomogeneous intensity while segmentation. Finally, an enhanced fourth-order piecewise polynomial penalty term is designed to eradicate numerical calculation instability and tedious re-initialization during the evolution of the level set. The experimental results on synthetic and real images with severe intensity inhomogeneity and high noise demonstrate the superiority of the proposed method over most existing methods in both accuracy and robustness.

Vehicle-based secure location clustering for IoT-equipped building and facility management in smart city

Vehicles equipped with various sensing devices have the strong ability to generate location information, which is beneficial to a lot of applications in smart city. In special, it is important to take full advantage of the traffic information to manage the buildings and facilities with special services, including charging/gas stations, car parks and leisure centers. However, location data are outsourced to the third party (e.g., vehicles and the vehicular cloud), which causes high security risks. In this paper, we first define a personalized local differential privacy criterion for location data, which offers a strong private guarantee to drivers. Then, we propose a density-based location clustering mechanism, i.e., PLPP-CLIQUE, which not only satisfies the proposed privacy criterion but also maximizes the utility of vehicles for location-based services. Moreover, we design a more efficient mechanism, i.e., Improved-PLPP-CLIQUE, to increase the utility of location clustering for vehicular clouds under the same privacy requirement. We demonstrate that our mechanisms satisfy the privacy criterion and have the high utility by theoretical analysis. Finally, we perform extensive experiments to show the good capability of our mechanisms.

Public servants working from home: Exploring managers’ changing allowance decisions in a COVID-19 context

Before the COVID-19 pandemic forced large sections of the workforce to work from home, the uptake of working from home in the public sector had been limited and subject to the discretion or ‘allowance decisions’ of individual managers. Allowance decisions are influenced by factors at the organisational, group and individual levels. This research examines managers’ allowance decisions on working from home at each of these levels. It compares two qualitative datasets: one exploring managerial attitudes to working from home in 2018 and another dataset collected in mid-2020, as Australia transitioned out of the initial pandemic lockdown. The findings suggest a change in the factors influencing managers’ allowance decisions. We have identified a new factor at the organisational level, in the form of local organisational criteria. At the group level, previous concerns about employee productivity largely vanished, and managers experienced an epiphany that working from home could be productive. At the individual level, a new form of managerial discretion emerged as managers attempted to reassert authority over employees working remotely. These levels intersect, and we conclude that allowance decisions are fluid and not made solely by managers but are the result of the interactions between the organisational, group and individual levels.JEL Codes J81, J32

A computational homogenization framework with enhanced localization criterion for macroscopic cohesive failure in heterogeneous materials

Computational homogenization allows to let the macroscopic constitutive behavior of materials emerge from microscale simulations without loss of generality with respect to microstructure and microscale constitutive response. Although computationally demanding, computational homogenization works very well for the hardening response of materials where the macroscopic stress and strain fields are smooth. However, in case of softening materials, when localization of deformation takes place, special care is needed to ensure objectivity of the method. In this paper, a generic multiscale computational homogenization approach for modeling onset and propagation of cracks in heterogeneous materials that is capable of considering various microscale mechanisms is presented. The common acoustic tensor bifurcation criterion is reinforced by an additional condition to help detect the localization mode more robustly. After the onset of macroscale localization, a key scale transition parameter is needed to translate the macroscopic displacement jump to an averaged strain over the micromodel domain. Then the macroscale crack is governed by a homogenized traction-separation relation evaluated from the underlying micromodel in which micro-failure accumulates. The scale transition parameter is studied for a range of different scenarios and endowed with a geometrical interpretation. Various numerical tests have been performed to confirm the objectivity and validity of the framework. The framework is generic in the sense that no assumptions on the microscale constitutive or kinematic representation of material failure are made in the scale transition. The framework is also highly compatible with the first order computational homogenization, which minimizes the additional complexity of adding macroscopic crack growth to the computational implementation.

On the effectiveness of local vortex identification criteria in the vortex representation of wall-bounded turbulence

On the effectiveness of local vortex identification criteria in the vortex representation of wall-bounded turbulence

State and output feedback local control schemes for nonlinear discrete-time 2-D Roesser systems under saturation, quantization and slope restricted input

Control theory of one dimensional (1-D) systems is not directly applicable to two dimensional (2-D) systems due to involvement of complex dynamics in space and time. This paper deals with the control of nonlinear Roesser systems by employing feedback strategies with multiple constraints on the input signal. The input constraints are slope restriction, quantization, and generalized nonlinearities related to actuator overflow. Modeling deficiencies are also handled with the generalized actuator nonlinearities in a robust fashion. Novel results for state and output feedback topologies are furnished. Local stability criteria are developed for both feedback topologies by considering intrinsic nonlinearity as one-sided Lipschitz and generalized nonlinearity in a bounded sector. To the best of our knowledge, the outcomes of present paper are novel for nonlinear Roesser discrete-time systems while considering such nested restrictions on input signal. The results are verified by applying the proposed method on different 2-D practical systems.