Small Domains Research Articles

Estimation of the Departmental Female Employment Rate: Towards a New Strategy Based on Combining Spatial and Non-spatial Small Area Estimators

Abstract Local statistics are in high demand in almost all countries due to their relevance for public policy monitoring and evaluation, decision-making, and strategic planning. However, traditional sources of local statistics, such as general censuses, administrative statistics, and national and local surveys, have limitations. This has led to the development of several techniques for estimating parameters over small areas. In this article, we use both spatial and non-spatial estimators for small domains to estimate the local employment rate of women in Algeria. We find that the empirical spatial estimator is the most appropriate and efficient estimator as more spatial correlations are considered. We also find that an approach based on the combination of spatial and non-spatial small area estimators is very beneficial because it allows for obtaining efficient estimates with lower Root Mean Squared Errors (RMSEs). This finding is significant for Algeria and similar countries, where traditional sources of local statistics are limited. The combination of spatial and non-spatial estimators can provide more accurate and reliable estimates of local statistics, which can be used to inform public policy and decision-making.

A rapid method for computing 3-D high-resolution vegetative canopy winds in weakly complex terrain

To determine near-surface winds within and above vegetation canopies for operational environmental applications, a wind model must run at high-resolution (O(1–10 m)), in a few minutes, using limited input information, and requiring minimal computing resources (e.g., personal computers). Current research models simulate large domains at coarse resolution or small domains at fine scale, but canopy simulations can take days. Fast-modeling approaches are used to solve large complex wind fields, but they oversimplify the roughness elements’ distribution impact on momentum exchanges. To overcome these deficits, the fast-running wind model QUIC-URB (Quick Urban and Industrial Complex) was augmented with a high-resolution canopy wind solver. The wind model includes a non-local factor that describes how momentum propagates through the canopy and how sub-canopy jets appear under certain conditions. QUIC-URB was also coupled with the mesoscale WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting) model to downscale wind fields from a few kilometers to a meter. The new QUIC Canopy Model resolves 3-D wind fields over hundreds of millions of cells in less than 30 s per time step on a personal computer. It was compared to two canopy models for real quasi-homogeneous and heterogeneous canopies. An error analysis shows that the model was relatively accurate with a normalized root-mean-square error of about 0.2 m s−1 in the quasi-homogeneous canopy, and a mean absolute error of 0.3 m s−1. The new model is suitable for coupling with pollution dispersion, wildfire spread, and numerical weather prediction models over weakly complex terrain, defined here as a mildly undulating environment with gradual changes in elevation and a heterogeneous distribution of plants.

Estimates on the velocity of a rigid body moving in a fluid

We obtain estimates of all components of the velocity of a 3D rigid body moving in a viscous incompressible fluid without any symmetry restriction on the shape of the rigid body or the container. The estimates are in terms of suitable norms of the velocity field in a small domain of the fluid only, provided the distance h between the rigid body and the container is small. As a consequence we obtain suitable differential inequalities that control the distance h. The results are obtained using the fact that the vector field under investigation belongs to suitable function spaces, without any use of hydrodynamic equations.

Ethics of Studying Illiberalism in a Hyperconnected, Polycrisis-defined Era: An Introduction to the Special Issue

As of April 2024, at the time of composing this introductory note, research on the challenges faced by liberal democracies—whether established or aspiring—appears to be in continuously high demand. One needs only to focus on a small domain, election results, to realize the scope and intensity of those threats to the existing order. While elections of last year in Poland brought some hope for the pro-EU, left-wing opposition in Europe, populist far-right parties have secured a victory in the Netherlands, further fueling fears of a significant shift to the right in the upcoming European Parliament elections. The recent casting-of-ballots in Russia has ensured incumbent Vladimir Putin's presidency for another six years, while the fall 2024 elections in the US, with Donald Trump as the primary Republican candidate, promise to be a tough race for the Democrats. In India, Hindu nationalist Narendra Modi will run for a third term, competing against a broad alliance of opposition parties that are struggling to catch up.

Learning to Discover Knowledge: A Weakly-Supervised Partial Domain Adaptation Approach.

Domain adaptation has shown appealing performance by leveraging knowledge from a source domain with rich annotations. However, for a specific target task, it is cumbersome to collect related and high-quality source domains. In real-world scenarios, large-scale datasets corrupted with noisy labels are easy to collect, stimulating a great demand for automatic recognition in a generalized setting, i.e., weakly-supervised partial domain adaptation (WS-PDA), which transfers a classifier from a large source domain with noises in labels to a small unlabeled target domain. As such, the key issues of WS-PDA are: 1) how to sufficiently discover the knowledge from the noisy labeled source domain and the unlabeled target domain, and 2) how to successfully adapt the knowledge across domains. In this paper, we propose a simple yet effective domain adaptation approach, termed as self-paced transfer classifier learning (SP-TCL), to address the above issues, which could be regarded as a well-performing baseline for several generalized domain adaptation tasks. The proposed model is established upon the self-paced learning scheme, seeking a preferable classifier for the target domain. Specifically, SP-TCL learns to discover faithful knowledge via a carefully designed prudent loss function and simultaneously adapts the learned knowledge to the target domain by iteratively excluding source examples from training under the self-paced fashion. Extensive evaluations on several benchmark datasets demonstrate that SP-TCL significantly outperforms state-of-the-art approaches on several generalized domain adaptation tasks. Code is available at https://github.com/mc-lan/SP-TCL.

2T3C apparatus and DIC technology to investigate the thermomechanical behaviour of the interface between bituminous layers

The bonding at the interface is seen in most road structure design methods as perfectly bonded and this ideal condition is supposed to last during the whole service life. However, the real working capacity at the interface is complex and gradually degrades because of repeated traffic load and weather conditions. A new apparatus called 2T3C (“Torsion, Traction, Compression sur Cylindre Creux” in French, or “Torsion, Tension, Compression on Hollow Cylinder” in English) was developed at the ENTPE/University of Lyon to investigate the thermomechanical behaviour of the interface between bituminous layers. The sample has two layers of similar or different materials. It has a total height of 125 mm and a wall thickness of the 25mm. The thickness was chosen small enough in order to validate the assumption of quasihomogenous stress and strain fields between inner and outer surface. The DIC technology is performed considering the three listed elements: (1) two couple of cameras are situated on two opposite sides of the sample (4 cameras in total) to take 3D images; (2) a software is employed to calculate the displacements in 3 dimensions of all points in the area of interest; and (3) the strain fields in the 2 layers and the displacement gap at the interface are computed using a method developed at the University of Lyon/ENTPE. In this paper, a focus is proposed on the viscoelastic and fatigue behaviours of the two bituminous layers and of the interface. Small and large numbers of loading cycles are successively considered in the small strain domain.

The interrelation between cerebral small vessel disease and domains of functioning in an older memory clinic population: a holistic overview through network analysis

The interrelation between cerebral small vessel disease and domains of functioning in an older memory clinic population: a holistic overview through network analysis

CuXCMP: CUDA-Accelerated Private Comparison Based on Homomorphic Encryption

Private comparison schemes constructed on homomorphic encryption offer the noninteractive and parallelizable features, and have advantages in communication bandwidth and performance. In this work, we propose cuXCMP, an extension of the privacy comparison scheme XCMP (AsiaCCS 2018). We address the relatively small input domain and the incompletely expressible output of XCMP, by modifying the encoding method and devising a constant term extraction (CTX) approach. Then, we describe a method for constructing privacy-preserving decision tree (PPDT) using this scheme. Considering the high computational overhead of CTX, we exploit the massive parallelism of the GPU to accelerate this function. Based on the results of the kernel profiling, we utilize several optimization techniques to improve the performance, including using multiple CUDA streams, reducing the grid dimension, kernel fusion, etc. By accelerating this function, we boost the execution time of the scheme and demonstrate 130× and 1.9× speedups for CTX and cuXCMP, respectively, as well as a 35% reduction in the evaluation time of PPDT.

Synthesis of small protein domains by automated flow chemistry

The smart peptide chemistry in flow method, or SPF for short, has been fine-tuned to enable the efficient, rapid, cost-effective and more environmentally friendly synthesis of small domain proteins, each representing a basic fold type.

A dimeric holin/antiholin complex controls lysis by phage T4.

Lytic phages control the timepoint of host cell lysis by timing the holin-mediated release of cell wall-degrading endolysins. In phage T4, the antiholin RI inhibits the holin T, thereby preventing the early release of the T4 endolysin and lysis. The antiholin achieves lysis inhibition (LIN) in response to phage superinfections, thereby increasing the chance for lysis in an environment with a lower phage concentration. The holin T consists of a small N-terminal cytoplasmic domain, a transmembrane helix, and a periplasmic C-terminal domain. The antiholin is targeted to the periplasm by a cleavable signal peptide. Recently, the periplasmic soluble domains of the holin and the antiholin were found to form T2/RI2 tetramers in crystals. To investigate the functional relevance of this complex, we reconstituted LIN in a phage-free system, using only RI, T, and endolysin, and combined targeted mutagenesis with functional analyses. Inactivation of the RI signal peptide cleavage site did not abolish LIN, indicating that RI can function in a membrane-bound state, which argued against the tetramer. This led to analyses showing that only one of the two T/RI interfaces in the tetramer is physiologically relevant, which is also the only interaction site predicted by AlphaFold2. Some holin mutations at this interaction site prevented lysis, suggesting that the RI interaction likely acts by blocking the holin oligomerization required for hole formation. We conclude that LIN is mediated by a dimeric T/RI complex that, unlike the tetramer, can be easily formed when both partners are membrane-anchored.

Bayesian dual systems population estimation for small domains

Bayesian dual systems population estimation for small domains

Well-balanced performance achieved in PZT piezoceramics via a multiscale regulation strategy.

Emerging high-power piezoelectric applications demand the development of piezoelectric materials featuring both a high mechanical quality factor (Qm) and a large piezoelectric coefficient (d33). However, it is widely accepted that an increase in d33 is usually accompanied with a decrease in Qm, and vice versa. Herein, a multiscale regulation strategy is proposed to improve Qm and d33 simultaneously from the perspectives of phase structure, ferroelectric domains, and lattice defects. A well-balanced combination of electromechanical performances with Qm = 726, d33 = 502 pC N-1, kp = 0.69, tan δ = 0.0024, and TC = 267 °C was obtained. Through structural characterization, it was observed that the morphotropic phase boundary and enhanced dispersion behavior lead to a lowered energy barrier, which contributes to polarization rotation and enhances piezoelectric performance. At the same time, the excellent piezoelectric performances also benefit from the highly oriented domain structure and small domain size after high-temperature poling. Furthermore, the segregation of Ba2+ causes A-site defects in the crystal lattice, accompanied with an increase in oxygen vacancies, which maintains the hardening effect of the ceramics. This study proposes a multiscale regulation strategy, providing insights for the design of high-power piezoelectric ceramics with high d33 and Qm.

Lifelong-MonoDepth: Lifelong Learning for Multidomain Monocular Metric Depth Estimation.

With the rapid advancements in autonomous driving and robot navigation, there is a growing demand for lifelong learning (LL) models capable of estimating metric (absolute) depth. LL approaches potentially offer significant cost savings in terms of model training, data storage, and collection. However, the quality of RGB images and depth maps is sensor-dependent, and depth maps in the real world exhibit domain-specific characteristics, leading to variations in depth ranges. These challenges limit existing methods to LL scenarios with small domain gaps and relative depth map estimation. To facilitate lifelong metric depth learning, we identify three crucial technical challenges that require attention: 1) developing a model capable of addressing the depth scale variation through scale-aware depth learning; 2) devising an effective learning strategy to handle significant domain gaps; and 3) creating an automated solution for domain-aware depth inference in practical applications. Based on the aforementioned considerations, in this article, we present 1) a lightweight multihead framework that effectively tackles the depth scale imbalance; 2) an uncertainty-aware LL solution that adeptly handles significant domain gaps; and 3) an online domain-specific predictor selection method for real-time inference. Through extensive numerical studies, we show that the proposed method can achieve good efficiency, stability, and plasticity, leading the benchmarks by 8%-15%. The code is available at https://github.com/FreeformRobotics/Lifelong-MonoDepth.

Self‐Assembled Multistable Scattering Mode for Versatile Energy‐Saving Smart Windows

AbstractSmart windows are crucial to dynamic control over light transmission to fulfill various demands in energy saving, privacy, and information display; however, most present technologies still perform a single function (often tint or haze adjustment) and require continuous electricity for operation. In this study, novel self‐assembled ionic liquid crystals (ILCs) doped with negative cholesteric liquid crystals (CLCs) to offer electrically switchable and stable scattering‐mode light modulators are presented. The novel smectic A phase based on the ILCs exhibits high solubility in the adopted nematics, enhancing the LC device's performance in several ways, including improved homogeneity, stable alignment quality, prolonged stability, and simplified fabrication. The LC device can potentially offer a dynamically rapid switching function between stable transparent (imperfect fingerprint textures) states and stable scattering (focal conic textures with small domains) states by using external stimuli and highly maintained multistable states for prolonged periods, even when the external stimuli are removed. The LC device also offers polarization‐independent scattering and transparent‐mode LC light modulators, low operating voltage, excellent contrast, and broad viewing angles. Its versatility and outstanding field‐off stability make it ideal for various applications such as smart lighting, building climate control, energy‐saving displays, and augmented reality (AR) glasses.

Exploring Contributions of J. G. Carrasco Ramirez

J.G.Carrasco Ramirez, an international lawyer specializing in Strategic Planning, AI, Information Architectures, and Machine Learning, has made notable contributions to academic research, particularly in management and small business domains. Based in the USA, Carrasco Ramirez's work has been featured in esteemed academic journals, with a recent focus on analyzing the CR model from a planning perspective. This paper aims to provide an extensive overview of Carrasco Ramirez's academic endeavors, with a primary emphasis on his latest research from 2023, offering insights into the impact of his work on strategic planning. Over the past five years, Carrasco Ramirez has published extensively in renowned international journals, covering topics such as Information Architecture, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and applications in various sectors, including healthcare and small business management. Carrasco Ramirez's diverse research interests demonstrate his commitment to exploring cutting-edge topics and their practical implications.

Validation of Business Model Innovation for Digitized Product and Service-Based Activities in the Core Business (A Case Study in the Microenterprise ‘Buwah’)

The contemporary beverage sector within the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) domain is currently a favored industry among millennial entrepreneurs. According to the Indonesian Creative Economy Agency, the creative industry sector has the potential to contribute to national growth for business players in Indonesia. The issue faced by Buwah SMEs is a drastic decrease in revenue over the past two months, despite the promising start of their sales outlet openings.The primary objective of this research endeavor is to elucidate the business model of Buwah SMEs through the utilization of the business model validation methodology. This research seeks to delineate and validate the assumptions underpinning the innovation of product and service business models of Buwah SMEs, prioritizing those requiring immediate validation. Furthermore, the research aims to delineate strategies for business expansion predicated on digitalization, particularly in the core activities of Buwah SMEs. This research adheres to a descriptive approach with a qualitative orientation. Data collection methodologies encompass three core techniques: observation, interviews, and documentation. The research findings reveal the validation of four (4) specific blocks within the Business Model Canvas. These validations encompass hypothesis 1 within the customer segment block, hypotheses 2 and 3 within the Value Propositions block, hypothesis 5 within the customer relationship block, and hypothesis 9 within the revenue streams block. Future research recommendations include a comprehensive exploration of the Business Model Canvas blocks that have not been examined in this study, as this research only focuses on four blocks. Based on the research findings, practical recommendations have been formulated, which Buwah may judiciously consider for prospective business development endeavors.

On the domains of convergence of the branched continued fraction expansion of ratio $H_4(a,d+1;c,d;\mathbf{z})/H_4(a,d+2;c,d+1;\mathbf{z})$

The paper considers the problem of establishing the convergence criteria of the branched continued fraction expansion of the ratio of Horn's hypergeometric functions $H_4$. To solve it, the technique of expanding the domain of convergence of the branched continued fraction from the known small domain of convergence to a wider domain of convergence is used. For the real and complex parameters of the Horn hypergeometric function $H_4$, a number of convergence criteria of the branched continued fraction expansion under certain conditions to its coefficients in various unbounded domains of the space have been established.

Investigation of Transition Metal Oxides & Phosphates for Zn-Ion/Zn-Air Batteries

Being a champion in a portable electronics world, lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are irreplaceable, but the scarcity of Li, high cost, and the inclusion of non-aqueous electrolytes make them relatively perilous and inefficient for grid-scale energy storage. Recently, the blooming aqueous Zn-ion batteries (ZIBs) have emerged as one of the pioneer candidates featuring the inherently safe nature of metallic Zn anode and its unique properties.[1] Vanadium-based compounds show fast ion diffusion and excellent reversible capacity because of their rich valence state of vanadium, facile distortion of V-O polyhedrons, and tuneable composition, which offers an excellent treasure house. Moreover, the different oxidation states of vanadium allow a higher degree of structural change and greater functional flexibility while incorporating multivalent cations into vanadium-based compounds. [2] The present work focuses on one V-based oxide cathode. The cathode, ZnV2O4, synthesized by a simple solid-state route, showed a reversible capacity of around 200 mAh/g at a current density of 500 mA/g. Ex-situ XAS suggested that there is a drastic change in V and Zn local environment, confirming that there is a structural transformation taking place. Further, we have pursued ex-situ TEM where segregation of the conversion product phases was seen, confirmed by the small crystalline domains present at the nanoscale regime. A detailed analysis will be discussed to verify that a phase transformation is happening and is getting amorphized in subsequent cycles using ex-situ TEM and XAS.Also, metal-air batteries are widely discussed and studied because of their high energy density. In this pursuit, highly efficient bifunctional electrocatalysts, non-noble such as Co metal-based phosphates/oxides, have been studied vividly.[3,4] Herein, we present a thorough study of three-dimensional ZnCo2(PO4)2 (ZCP), which showed excellent bifunctional activity compared to the benchmark catalysts, denoting the presence of many catalytically active Co sites in ZCP. The presence of asymmetric edge-sharing CoO5/CoO6 polyhedra enhances the net catalytic activity.[5] ZCP exhibited robust oxygen reduction and evolution (ORR and OER) activity with the onset of 0.87 and 1.50 V vs. RHE for ORR and OER, respectively. The ORR saturated current density for ZCP was 6.38 mA/cm2, close to the 20% Pt/C catalyst benchmark. It also showed an OER exchange current density of 16.7 mA/cm2, closer to RuO2 ( j= 17.6 mA/cm2). This bifunctional electrocatalytic activity will be elaborated using analytical tools and DFT, along with the demonstration of Zn-air batteries. A detailed structural characterization using synchrotron refinement, TEM analysis, magnetic studies, and electrocatalysis performance will be discussed. Reference s : [1] M. Song et al., Adv. Funct. Mater. 2018, 28, 1802564.[2] Yao. Zhang et al., Chem. Front. 2021, 5 744-762.[3] J. L. Jung et al., Energy Environ. Sci. 2016, 9176-183.[4] W. Liu et al., Acc. Chem. Res . 2018,51,1858.[5] A. Baby et al., Chem. Comm. 2020, 56, 8400-8403.

Three-Dimensional Microstructure-Based Deformation Predictions in Battery Electrodes

To give insight on the deformation behavior of the porous electrodes for a lithium-ion battery induced by mechanical stresses, a three-dimensional microstructure-based modeling method (3DMS) is developed [1,2]. The 3DMS simulation applies a Finite Element Analysis (FEA) based solid-stress model to track the composite (active material (AM) and binder) porous electrodes response to compression (external forces), reversible expansion (intercalation dependent), and irreversible expansion (aging dependent).The microstructures used for the electrodes were generated using a modified version of the opensource program MATBOX, developed by NREL, in conjunction with in-house code to create a cutout section of a representative lithium-ion cell. Both anode and cathode structures are stochastically generated and applied with an advanced volume element generation technique to resolve small interface and boundary domains created by binder generation. The applied solid-stress model couples different stresses from local mechanical behavior for the different materials present in the system, considering the individual materials respective mechanical properties. The coupled stresses are used to predict deformation in the microstructure domain. Further analysis on the behavior of the deformation is enacted to gain insights on the design of the porous electrodes.Predictions of the electrodes’ deformation will be validated using experimental work at various length scales and compared to continuum porous electrode models from previous works. Furthermore, development of techniques using the FEA solid stress-model platform will be implemented to predict full cell-level deformation for various macro cell designs including jell-roll, pouch cells, and full module assemblies [3-8]. Ultimately, insights gained from the simulations will be used to understand irreversible deformation in electrodes after cycling and inform microstructure design- particularly for automotive-relevant applications [9]. J. S. Lopata, T. R. Garrick, F. Wang, H. Zhang, Y. Zeng and S. Shimpalee, ECSarXiv (2022).J. S. Lopata, T. R. Garrick, F. Wang, H. Zhang, Y. Zeng and S. Shimpalee, J Electrochem Soc, 170, 020530 (2023).D. J. Pereira, J. W. Weidner and T. R. Garrick, J Electrochem Soc, 166, A1251 (2019).D. J. Pereira, M. A. Fernandez, K. C. Streng, X. X. Hou, X. Gao, J. W. Weidner and T. R. Garrick, J Electrochem Soc, 167, 080515 (2020).D. J. Pereira, A. M. Aleman, J. W. Weidner and T. R. Garrick, J Electrochem Soc, 169, 020577 (2022).T. R. Garrick, K. Kanneganti, X. Y. Huang and J. W. Weidner, J Electrochem Soc, 161, E3297 (2014).T. R. Garrick, K. Higa, S.-L. Wu, Y. Dai, X. Huang, V. Srinivasan and J. W. Weidner, J Electrochem Soc, 164, E3592 (2017).T. R. Garrick, X. Huang, V. Srinivasan and J. W. Weidner, J Electrochem Soc, 164, E3552 (2017).T. R. Garrick and J. W. Weidner, in Electrochemical Society Meeting s 233, p. 1345 (2018).

Exploring the intellectual and conceptual structure of small retail research through a bibliometric analysis

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to consolidate the existing literature on small retail and develop a conceptual framework using thematic analysis.Design/methodology/approachThe relevant set of 224 articles has been obtained from the Scopus database by applying the PRISMA framework. Bibliometric analysis has been performed using Biblioshiny in Bibliometrix and VOSviewer.FindingsFour major themes have been identified within the conceptual structure of the small retail domain, and a conceptual framework has been developed using the interlinkages within the themes. The intellectual structure of the domain has been explored using citation analysis, co-citation analysis and bibliographic coupling. Future research directions are also identified and documented based on the thematic analysis and overall consolidation of the literature.Originality/valueThis is perhaps one of the first attempts to consolidate the published literature on small retail using bibliometric analysis.