Technological Superiority Research Articles

Realizing smart meter connectivity: Analyzing the competing technologies Power line communication, mobile telephony, and radio frequency using the best worst method

The world is faced with various societal challenges related to e.g. climate change and energy scarcity. To address these issues, complex innovative systems may be developed such as smart grids. When these systems are realized challenges pertaining to renewable energy and sustainability may, in part, be solved. To implement them, generally accepted common standards should be developed and used by firms and society so that the technological components can be connected and quality and safety requirements of smart grids and their governance can be guaranteed. This paper studies a subcomponent of the smart grid. Specifically, the paper studies competing technologies for a standard means of interface between the smart meter and the concentration point for collecting meter data. Three types of communication technologies for the interface are currently battling for standard dominance: Power line communication, Mobile telephony, and Radio frequency. Nine relevant standard dominance factors were found: operational supremacy, technological superiority, compatibility, flexibility, pricing strategy, timing of entry, current installed base, regulator, and suppliers. The Best-Worst Method was applied to calculate the factors’ relative weights. The results show that experts believe that Power line communication has a high chance of becoming dominant and that the most important factor affecting standard success is technological superiority. The relative weights per factor are explained and theoretical and practical contributions, limitations, and areas for further research are discussed.

The USSR on the Special Session of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance and the World Conference of Communist and Workers Parties, Moscow, 1969.

In 1969 the USSR hosted the XXIII CMEA session and the world Conference of Communist and Workers Parties. The special format of the economic meeting, which decided to develop a program of socialist integration, was induced by a complex of Soviet internal and external causes. Primarily, by the need to offer a constructive economic alternative to forceful methods of maintaining the unity of the European socialist countries after the military action in Czechoslovakia, moving away from Soviet-style socialism of China, Albania, Yugoslavia, disagreements with Romania, as well as by difficulties in the Soviet economy. By ensuring the loyalty of the European allies, the session helped to solve one of the main foreign policy tasks of the USSR in the struggle for global economic and technological superiority, derived from the confrontation of the two opposing systems — the preservation of unity and primacy in the world communist and labor movement. The Soviet stance, presented at the session by A.N. Kosygin, was characterized by lack of ideological invectives, was marked by pragmatism, focused on integration into the world market, and appealed to universal commodity-money instruments. The Conference compensated the weak ideological component of the session by establishing, due to the nature of the Soviet state, the class boundaries of the development of the socialist system as the leading force of the world revolutionary process, the main combat detachment in the struggle against imperialism. The interconnection of the session and the meeting highlighted the contradictory tendency in the USSR’s complex foreign policy configuration at the turn of the 1960s and 1970s, — the shift in subordination of Soviet economic interests to the political class motives, which would only increase in future.

Recent progress of ion migration in organometal halide perovskite

In recent years, metal halide perovskite solar cells have attracted widespread attention due to their unique technological superiority. Remarkable progress of device performance has been achieved in last few years. The certified efficiency has reached 24.2%, which is close to the efficiency of the commercial crystalline silicon solar cells. Halide perovskite is a kind of semiconductor and ionic conductor material, which not only has the ability to transfer charges, but also exhibits the phenomenon of ion migration under an external electric field. Ion migration can directly change the local chemical ratio of perovskite crystals, and can also greatly affect the electrical properties of materials and the working mechanisms of corresponding devices. In this review, the formation mechanism, basic characteristics and effects of ion migration on the working mechanism of the device (such as giant switchable photovoltaic phenomenon, current hysteresis, etc.) are summarized, and then some recent advances in the suppression of ion migration are introduced. Since there exist still many doubts about ion migration in perovskite materials, it is very important to understand the phenomenon of ion migration in perovskite materials in order to promote the development and application of perovskite solar cells.

Andrew Mayos Human Capital Approach Model in the Management of More Productive Human Resources in Private Islamic Higher Education

This research is intended to identify Andrew Mayo's More Productive Human Resource Approach Model in private Islamic higher institutions in the area of the Coordinator of Private Islamic Region Region II Colleges of West Java and Banten. This research uses a qualitative method with descriptive research type. Based on Andrew Mayo's human capital approach, to develop a sustainable and competitive organizational climate, five main components of Mayo must be implemented, namely; individuals who have the ability, motivation, organizational climate, work group effectiveness, and leadership. Realizing the importance of the role of human resources in the activities of Islamic religious higher education institutions must be able to manage human resources as well as possible, because the key to the success of an organization or institution is not only in terms of technological superiority and availability of funds, but also needs to pay attention to human factors. Based on observations, the results of this study indicate that: there are still many private Islamic tertiary educational institutions in the Kopertais Region II area of West Java and Banten that have not implemented an optimal human resource approach, as suggested by Mayo, especially in aspects of individual capabilities and individual motivation.

Spatially Differentiated Trends between Forest Pest-Induced Losses and Measures for Their Control in China

Historically, China has exhibited spatial differentiation in issues ranging from population distribution to ecological or economic development; forest pest-control work exemplifies this tendency. In recent times, global warming, man-made monoculture tree-plantations, increasing human population density, and intensified international trade aggravate forest pest outbreaks. Although the Chinese government has complied with internationally recommended practices, some aspects of pest management remain unaddressed due to existing differential regional imbalance in forest pest distribution and control capacities. Evidence shows that the high-income provinces in the south have taken advantage of economic and technological superiority, resulting in the adoption of more efficient pest-control measures. In contrast, the economically underdeveloped provinces of the northwest continue to experience a paucity of financial support that has led to serious threats of pest damage that almost mirror the demarcations of the Hu Huanyong Line. In this paper, we propose the introduction of a Public–Private–Partnership (PPP) model into forest pest control and the combination of the national strategies to enact regional prevention measures to break away from current spatially differentiated trends in China.

High-Performance Adaptive Pressure Control in the Presence of Time Delays: Pressure Control for Use in Variable-Thrust Rocket Development

Smart defense systems using missiles that can fine-tune their velocity profiles have significant technological superiority over their conventional counterparts. This tuning is possible, in part, due to the deployment of advanced sensing, actuation, and computation capabilities and sophisticated guidance, navigation, and control algorithms. The capability to alter velocity during operation helps sustain optimum performance for different flight conditions. In addition, it makes it possible to slow down while turning and then speed up along a straight path, rendering the maneuvers more efficient. This ability to modify velocity (known as throttleability) is also known to increase a missile's no-escape zone, which is the maximum range that the missile can outrun its target [1]. As presented in Summary, this article discusses the advanced control technologies needed to obtain throttleability.

Cyberbullying: concepts, dynamics, characters and health implications.

The study aimed to conduct a critical review of a set of bibliographical reviews to identify how the scientific community understands cyberbullying, how the phenomenon has been conceptualized, how its dynamics have been described, what characters are identified and what associations are related to the health of intimidated persons and perpetrators. The literature has shown that there is no consensus on the concept of cyberbullying, but there are arguments that advocate its specificity and differentiation vis-à-vis bullying, (it can occur at any moment and without a physically demarcated space; it can be disseminated globally, the length of permanence of the offensive posts is undetermined). As for the gender issue associated with this practice, a reductionist bias was observed in the debate, indicating differences based on an alleged technological superiority of boys. The reviewed studies show that both victims and those who practice cyberbullying undergo negative experiences in their psychological and behavioral health, where school dropout may also occur, along with social isolation, depression, suicidal ideation and suicide. However, there is hardly any questioning about cyberculture and how it establishes new socialities - knowledge and debate crucial to understanding the phenomenon.

Short-term hydro generation operation of cascade hydropower stations in Han River, China

Hydropower is a natural renewable energy with outstanding technological superiority in short-term operation. Short-term hydro generation operation (SHGO) requires not only lord dispatch in single station, but also the coordination of hydraulic and electric connection for different stations. In this paper, a coordinated peak shaving operation method of cascade hydropower stations is proposed. Firstly, regular pattern of peak load regulation is analyzed using the load characteristics of power grid. The daily power output of cascade hydropower stations should meet the needs of typical load pattern. In order to satisfy comprehensive utilizations of water resources, the outflow of each reservoir should be no less than the demand of water supply or irrigation. To verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method, an application of Pankou and Xiaoxuan cascade hydropower stations, located in Hanjiang River in China, is presented in this paper. Simulation results indicate that the proposed method can obtain the maximum peak shaving amplitudes and suggested peak shaving amplitudes at the same time, which satisfies different operation demands of cascade hydropower stations.

Studying the impact of using E-HRM on the effectiveness of HRM practices: An exploratory study for the internet service providers (ISP) in Egypt

Many historians suggest that technology is the driving force in history. Technological superiority is what allows certain groups to beat or subjugate others, and so expand their influence. For organizations, technology is considered as a strategic weapon which can help improving business processes and enhancing its competitive position in the market. Human resource management (HRM) has always played a major role in improving the performance of an organization. There exists a strong impact of the use of HR technology and HRM effectiveness. For the past two decades, many researchers have contributed to understand the growing impact of E-HRM on HRM effectiveness. Although being topic of interest for many researchers and academician, many core questions related to E-HRM role and its evidence of effectiveness on the HRM practices have remained unanswered. It has been a major challenge for HR professionals to prove the impact of E-HR on the HRM practices and what forms the basis of their relationship.

Reaping the Rewards of Co-Operation. Franco-British Intelligence Sharing during the Gas War, 1915-1918

<em>Based on British and French archive material, this paper seeks to contribute to the limited “coalition warfare historiography” by exploring a neglected but revealing aspect of Franco-British chemical warfare between 1915-1918: Intelligence sharing. A contextual overview of the two allied intelligence services prior to and following the outbreak of war highlights their complementary strength and global reach. The tactical and strategic significance of French and British intelligence failures at the time of the first German poison gas attacks in April 1915 is examined and contrasted with subsequent allied experience. The discussion focuses upon the two most productive sources of allied intelligence information, mainly reports from secret agents and enemy prisoner of war interview digests. The volume, quality and detail of this material, and its importance to the Franco-British gas war effort are underlined. The article demonstrates how closely and effectively the two allies co-operated by exploiting their shared intelligence data to successfully anticipate German initiatives and to mitigate the searching battlefield challenge posed by an enemy whose technological superiority and resource advantages were evident especially during the earlier periods of the gas war on the Western Front.</em>

Geostationary Belt – State’s Territory or Province of Mankind?

Abstract The geostationary orbit is a special area in outer space. Because of its distinctive characteristics, it has constantly been the subject of economic and political desirability. Space powers, taking advantage of their technological superiority and rules applied by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) retained a privileged position. Developing countries, responding to this state of affairs, have taken a number of measures to improve their positions. Some of them posed a challenge to the main regulation of space law (Bogota declaration was an attempt to exercise a national sovereignty over the segments of the geostationary orbit), some are based on the use of the legal gaps in ITU regulations. Given these circumstances, the specific case of geostationary belt contributes to the debate on the regulations governing space exploration.

High Risk or Low Cost – Dichotomous Choices of R&D Strategy by Startups in Markets for Technology

Incumbent firms often acquire startups in pursuit of new technologies. While much attention is focused on startups producing radical innovations, in reality incumbent firms purchase technologies that range from the radical to the incremental. What explains this diversity? We build a model of R&D competition between an incumbent and a startup that incorporates a firm’s choice of both investment level and of success probability (risk) of a project. Once project success is revealed, the incumbent commercializes the most valuable project, and, where necessary, acquires the startup. We find that two locally optimal strategies for the startup can exist, characterized by higher risk or lower cost relative to the incumbent’s strategy. Depending on the R&D technology, either may be the startup’s globally optimal strategy. Extending the model to two startups, numerical analysis shows that either both pursue a high risk strategy, both pursue a low cost strategy, or each picks a different type of strategy. The intuition behind our results is that a startup pursuing a high risk strategy aims for technological superiority, while one following a low cost strategy banks on having the only successful R&D project. Our model thus suggests a dichotomy of innovation strategy choice by startups that seek to be acquired.

The Competitive Advantage of Shimadzu in the Japanese X-ray Device Industry before World War II

Although the German multinational enterprise Siemens dominated the global market of X-ray devices during the first half of the twentieth century, it was unable to maintain its advantage against Shimadzu in Japan, despite the technological superiority of its products. This article analyses hence the sources of Shimadzu's competitiveness.

Steamboats on the Indus: The Limits of Western Technological Superiority in South Asia, by Clive Dewey

Steamboats on the Indus: The Limits of Western Technological Superiority in South Asia, by Clive Dewey

The Battle between Battery and Fuel Cell Powered Electric Vehicles: A BWM Approach

The transition to a more sustainable personal transportation sector requires the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. However, a dominant design has not yet emerged and a standards battle is being fought between battery and hydrogen fuel cell powered electric vehicles. The aim of this paper is to analyze which factors are most likely to influence the outcome of this battle, thereby reducing the uncertainty in the industry regarding investment decisions in either of these technologies. We examine the relevant factors for standard dominance and apply a multi-criteria decision-making method, best worst method, to determine the relative importance of these factors. The results indicate that the key factors include technological superiority, compatibility, and brand reputation and credibility. Our findings show that battery powered electric vehicles have a greater chance of winning the standards battle. This study contributes to theory by providing further empirical evidence that the outcome of standards battles can be explained and predicted by applying factors for standard success. We conclude that technology dominance in the automotive industry is mostly driven by technological characteristics and characteristics of the format supporter.

Selection of biomass thermochemical conversion technology in the Netherlands: A best worst method approach

This paper studies the technology battle for biomass conversion in the Netherlands. Three types of technologies are currently fighting the battle for standard dominance: combustion, pyrolysis, and gasification. Twelve relevant factors for standard dominance were found: ‘financial strength’, ‘operational supremacy’, ‘learning orientation’, ‘technological superiority’, ‘compatibility’, ‘flexibility’, ‘pricing strategy’, ‘distribution strategy’, ‘previous installed base’, ‘regulator’, ‘effectiveness of the format development process’, and ‘network of stakeholders’. Applying expert opinions and the Best-Worst Method (BWM), the relative importance (weights) of these factors were calculated. The weights were then used to evaluate and rank the technologies. The results show that biomass gasification has the highest chance of achieving standard dominance and that technological superiority is the most important factor affecting standard success. The weights per factor were explained and theoretical contributions and areas for future research were discussed.

Present and Futuristic Trends in Weapon System

The basic principle of war is based on protection, mobility and firepower. The present scenario of omni-directional and multidisciplinary threats and decreasing response time has made intelligence inevitable for the system to survive and win the war. The intelligence of the system calls for interface of refined logic with systems without compromising any parameters of the gun. However, much of the efforts and funds are directed towards developing the newer technologies to enhance the performance of weapon system in terms of accuracy, consistency, range (stand-off), lethality and transportability. The efforts are also directed towards making smart weapons controlled distantly and cost effective. The future battlefields are going to be dominated by the technological advancements taking place and thus, the technological superiority (i.e. systems with high degree of intelligence) over the adversaries will be the deciding factor to win the war.

Douglas R. Burgess Jr. Engines of Empire: Steamships and the Victorian Imagination.

When Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s massive iron-hulled, five-funneled Great Eastern steamship was launched in 1858, with thousands of spectators looking on, the ship traveled a mere one hundred feet before grinding to a halt, not to move again for over a year. It was the largest vessel ever built, a technological triumph, and an engineering marvel. It was also “more spectacle than ship” (118), a phrase that succinctly encapsulates one of the themes of this insightful, richly textured transnational history of the cultural meanings of steamships and steamship travel in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Following in the footsteps of Wolfgang Schivelbusch’s The Railway Journey: The Industrialization of Time and Space in the Nineteenth Century (1977), Douglas R. Burgess Jr.’s Engines of Empire: Steamships and the Victorian Imagination excavates the complex relationship between Victorians—not only in Britain, but also in the U.S. and Germany—and their steamships. Drawing on the observations of famous travelers such as Charles Dickens, Jules Verne, and Mark Twain, as well as ordinary voyagers, both male and female, Burgess explores the many and varied meanings of steamships and steamship travel for “spectators,” “tourists,” and “imperials.” This is not a history of steamships, but of how they were experienced and understood as “spectacles,” “solipsistic void[s]” (12), “avatars of statehood” (14), “bastions of Britishness” (16), “simulacrum[s] of rage” (23), “harbinger[s] of civilization” (224), “imperial avatar[s]” (250), and above all, “floating allegories” that represented “national pride, international amity, technological superiority . . . the march of civilization, or all of the above” (119).

When technological superiority is not enough: The struggle to impose the SIM card as the NFC Secure Element for mobile payment platforms

Mobile network operators have long played an essential role in the Near Field Communication (NFC) mobile payment ecosystem. In most implementations, the SIM card has been the main technical component to secure payments. Currently, mobile payment providers are increasingly planning to place the Secure Element (SE) for authentication in the handset or cloud, rather than on the SIM card. This paper unveils factors that influence stakeholder preferences for the SE location. To structure the analysis, we use a multi-level framework based on concepts borrowed from multi-sided platform theory. Using interviews with stakeholders, we elicit themes and preferences for each level of the framework (provider, technology, and user). Our findings explain why mobile network operators, despite their superior technology, will likely lose the battle for control in the mobile payment ecosystem.

Performing Colonial Modernity

Late-colonial Indonesia witnessed the proliferation of annual fairs and exhibitions that attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors from all ethnic backgrounds and walks of life. This article argues that the Dutch colonizers organized these fairs as part of a larger hegemonic attempt to legitimize colonial authority. At the fairgrounds special exhibits demonstrated the benevolence of colonial governance, while modernity was displayed to emphasize the alleged cultural, technological, and scientific superiority of the West. Moreover, visitors were enticed to consume Western products and the lifestyles and world views associated with them. These fairs were mainly aimed at, and were constitutive of, the nascent Indonesian middle classes that became increasingly central to the maintenance of colonial rule. It is demonstrated that fairs were sites of interaction and discursive spaces where the middle classes not only bought into colonial discourse, but negotiated and challenged Western modernity to create a distinct, Indonesian middle-class lifestyle and culture.