Some Facts About Outward Foreign Direct Investment from China

According to the“2014 Statistical Bulletin of China’s Outward Foreign Direct Investment”, 2014 saw another episode of difficult and complicated recovery of global economy with a decline in global foreign direct investment. Facing the complex and volatile international situation, the Chinese government proactively promoted the establishment of “The Belt and Road Initiative”, and continuously sped up the facilitation to outward foreign investment, increasing the inner motivation of Chinese enterprises to “go global”. In 2014, with its outward foreign direct investment (FDI) reaching a historical record of $123.12 billion, China achieved the balance between outward and inward direct investment for the first time. 2014 saw another episode of difficult and complicated recovery of global economy with a decline in global foreign direct investment

Analysis of IPv6 through Implementation of Transition Technologies and Security attacks

IPv6 provides more address space, improved address design, and greater security than IPv4. Different transition mechanisms can be used to migrate from IPv4 to IPv6 which includes dual stack networks, tunnels and translation technologies. Within all of this, network security is an essential element and therefore requires special attention. This paper analyses two transition technologies which are dual stack and tunnel. Both technologies are implemented using Cisco Packet Tracer and GNS3. This work will also analyse the security issues of IPv6 to outline the most common vulnerabilities and security issues during the transition. Finally, the authors will design and implement the dual stack, automatic and manual tunnelling transition mechanisms using Riverbed Modeler simulation tool to analyse the performance and compare with the native IPv4 and IPv6 networks

Prediction Limits for Poisson INAR(1) Process

We discuss the problem of deriving an estimative prediction limit as well as a simulation-based improved prediction limit for a future realization from the stationary, first-order Poisson INAR(1) process. An assessment of these limits was carried out by calculating their coverage probability, conditional on the last observation. It was found that while an estimative prediction limit may always be calculated, an improved prediction limit may not be obtained due to its discreteness and expectation to obtain a coherent prediction

Elliptical symmetry and exchangeability with characterizations

AbstractWe establish certain general characterization results on elliptically symmetric distributions and exchangeable random variables. These results yield, in particular, the results given earlier by Maxwell, Bartlett, Kingman, Ali, Smith, Arnold and Lynch, and several others

Enhancing Total Hip Replacement Complications Diagnosis: A Deep Learning Approach with Clinical Knowledge Integration

The increased rate of Total Hip Replacement (THR) for relieving hip pain and improving the quality of life has been accompanied by a rise in associated post-operative complications, which are evaluated and monitored mainly through clinical assessment of the X-ray images. The current clinical practice depends on the manual identification of important regions and the analysis of different features in arthroplasty X-ray images which can lead to subjectivity, prone to human error and delay diagnosis. Deep Learning (DL) based techniques showed outstanding outcomes across various image analysis tasks. However, the success of these networks is subjected to the availability of a very large, accurately annotated and well-balanced dataset - a constraint that is considered a main challenge for many medical image analysis tasks including THR. This thesis focuses on automating the analysis of THR X-ray images to aid in the diagnosis and treatment planning of various THR complications. THR X-ray images including post-operation images and after Peri-Prosthetic Femur Fracture (PFF) images of a wide range of implants and various positioning and orientations, are collected to this end. Different Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) architectures are explored for PFF classification to observe how these networks perform in the presence of class imbalance and a limited number of data and with complex image patterns, either using full X-ray images or Region of Interest (ROI) images. This demonstrates that typical CNN-based methods succeeded in detecting PFF with DenseNet achieving an F1 score of 95%, while exhibiting low performance in the classification of PFF types, achieving an F1 score of 54% with GoogleNet, Resnet and DenseNet. This lower performance is attributed to the increased complexity of the task and the imbalanced distribution of the classes. To this end, the incorporation of THR medical knowledge with DL model is investigated. The segmentation of the femoral implant component and the detection of important landmarks are formulated as simultaneous tasks within multi-task CNN that combines segmentation maps of implant with the regression of shape parameters derived from the Statistical Shape Model (SSM). Compared to the state-of-the-art, this integrated approach improves the estimation of the implant shape by a 6% dice score, making the segmentation realistic and allowing automatic detection of the important landmarks which can help in detecting many THR complications. For PFF diagnosis, the incorporation of the clinical process of interpreting THR X-ray images with CNN is developed. For this purpose, the process of clinical interpretation of PFF X-ray images is defined and the method is designed accordingly. Four feature extraction components are trained to construct features from distinctive regions of the X-ray image that are defined automatically. The extracted features are fused to classify the X-ray image into a specific fracture type. The developed approach improved PFF diagnosis by approximately 8% AUC score compared to state-of-the-art methods, signifying notable clinical advancement. Finally, the virtual pre-operative planning of bone fracture reduction surgery is explored which is important to reduce surgery time and minimize potential risks. The main obstacle toward the planning task is to define the matching between fragments. Therefore, 3D puzzle-solving method is formulated by introducing a new fragment representation and feature extraction method that improves the matching between fragments. The initial evaluation of the method demonstrates promising performance for the virtual reassembly of broken objects

How Reviewers’ Identity Disclosure and Expertise Affect Consumer Responses: The Mediating Role of Perceived Deception

Deceptive reviews which include posts by businesses (or individuals) to promote their own products/services or denounce their competitors are increasingly being used to mislead those making purchase decisions. Mass media globally and online review websites have acknowledged the existence of deceptive reviews that can undermine trust in online review websites. However, the challenges faced by both online review websites and businesses whose products and services are being reviewed extend beyond the existence of actual deceptive reviews. Another significant problem is related the issue of perceived deception (what consumers perceive is a deceptive review regardless of whether the review is deceptive or not), which is the focus of this thesis. A systematic review of literature regarding online reviews suggests that consumers’ perceived credibility and trustworthiness can be influenced by various factors related to reviews, reviewers, online review websites, and consumers’ characteristics, either independently or interactively. In turn, perceived credibility and trustworthiness play a role in influencing consumers’ responses. However, there is a lack of academic knowledge regarding the antecedents and consequences of perceived deception in online reviews that this thesis seeks to address. Building on two well-known theories (social information processing theory (SIPT) and the persuasion knowledge model (PKM)) and supplementing them with existing online review literature, a conceptual framework is developed and tested. The framework assesses how reviewers’ profile cues (reviewer’s identity disclosure and reviewer’s expertise), influence perceived deception. In addition, consumers’ responses to online reviews that they perceive to be deceptive, such as reduced booking intention, negative emotion, warning other consumers by sharing negative word of mouth (NWOM), or experiencing reduced trust towards a hotel are explored. The role of online review scepticism on the relationship between reviewers’ profile cues and perceived deception is also investigated. An online experiment (pre-test 1: n = 93; pre-test 2: n = 82; main study: n = 321) using a 2 (reviewer’s identity disclosure: high, low) x 2 (reviewer’s expertise: high, low) between-subject design was used to explore how a reviewer’s profile cues influence perceived deception and ultimately consumer responses. The results reveal the significant effects that reviewer’s identity disclosure and expertise have on perceived deception, particularly when online review scepticism is high. These cues also influence booking intention, NWOM, and negative emotion through perceived deception. Drawing on SIPT and PKM, the thesis extends online review literature by developing and testing a conceptual framework which shows how reviewers’ profile cues (i.e., low identity disclosure and low expertise) impact perceived deception and, in turn, subsequent consumer responses. The conceptual framework also shows the moderation effect of online review scepticism on the relationship between reviewer’s profile cues and perceived deception. Practically, this thesis validates a model that identifies the causes and negative effects of perceived deception. The model is designed to assist online review websites and hotels understand the importance of ensuring that genuine reviews (non-deceptive reviews) are not mistakenly perceived to be deceptive. Online review websites and hotels might achieve this by foregrounding reviewer's profile information (i.e., reviewer's identity disclosure and reviewer's expertise level)

Experimental and numerical investigation of air distribution in a large air-conditioned space building

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonVentilation of large spaces in buildings differs from spaces with a small volume, because of the additional air that needs treating while the majority of it is above the occupied area. An enclosure is considered to be large when the floor-to-ceiling height is more than 5 meters or the volume of the occupied zone is generally small compared to the entire volume. The thermal comfort and indoor air quality, which have a direct impact on occupants’ productivity and health, are crucially influenced by the building layout and volume and the design of the air distribution system. Many studies have been carried out to test these two factors, i.e. thermal comfort and indoor air quality, separately in evaluating the performance of ventilation systems. The Air distribution Index ADI combines the evaluation of thermal comfort and indoor air quality and has been used in spaces with standard floor-to-ceiling height. The aim of this study is to test the Air Distribution Index which combines several parameters, such as overall ventilation effectiveness for removing pollutants and for temperature distribution ̅, ̅ percentage of dissatisfied PD and predicted percentage of dissatisfied PPD, to assess the performance of ventilation systems in large spaces. The research involved measurements in an occupied large open plan office (floor-to-ceiling height > 5m), and its occupied zone volume is small compared to the total volume fitted with mixing ventilation MV system to establish its performance characteristics and ability to provide the required conditions for both thermal comfort and air quality. The results from this investigation were used to develop a 3-D CFD model and evaluated it for air temperature, air velocity and CO2 concentration predictions for this large space. The 3-D CFD model was used to compare the performance of two different ventilation systems (Impinging jet IJV and mixing) numerically. The comparison was conducted using two different occupancy capacity loads for summer and winter conditions. The IJV system was found to be better in providing a satisfactory indoor environment at all conditions that have been considered as it showed higher ADI values. Based on these findings, it is concluded that using ADI to assess the effectiveness of different ventilation systems in large enclosures can provide useful information that combines both indoor air quality and thermal comfort. Also, the IJV can be a beneficial air distribution system for use in a large enclosure for achieving thermal comfort and good air quality in the occupied zone and reducing energy consumption.King Faisal Air Academ

Metabolic Depression in Cunner (Tautogolabrus adspersus) Is Influenced by Ontogeny, and Enhances Thermal Tolerance

To examine the effect of ontogeny on metabolic depression in the cunner (Tautogolabrus adspersus), and to understand how ontogeny and the ability to metabolically depress influence this species' upper thermal tolerance: 1) the metabolic rate of 9°C-acclimated cunner of three size classes [0.2–0.5 g, young of the year (YOY); 3–6 g, small; and 80–120 g, large (adult)] was measured during a 2°C per day decrease in temperature; and 2) the metabolic response of the same three size classes of cunner to an acute thermal challenge [2°C h−1 from 10°C until Critical Thermal Maximum, CTMax] was examined, and compared to that of the Atlantic cod (Gadus morhua). The onset-temperature for metabolic depression in cunner increased with body size, i.e. from 5°C in YOY cunner to 7°C in adults. In contrast, the extent of metabolic depression was ∼80% (Q10 = ∼15) for YOY fish, ∼65% (Q10 = ∼8) for small fish and ∼55% (Q10 = ∼5) for adults, and this resulted in the metabolic scaling exponent (b) gradually increasing from 0.84 to 0.92 between 9°C to 1°C. All size classes of cunner had significantly (approximately 60%) lower routine metabolic rates at 10°C than Atlantic cod. However, there was no species' difference in the temperature-induced maximum metabolic rate, and this resulted in factorial metabolic scope values that were more than two-fold greater for cunner, and CTMax values that were 6–9°C higher (∼21 vs. 28°C). These results: 1) show that ontogeny influences the temperature of initiation and the extent of metabolic depression in cunner, but not O2 consumption when in a hypometabolic state; and 2) suggest that the evolution of cold-induced metabolic depression in this northern wrasse species has not resulted in a trade-off with upper thermal tolerance, but instead, an enhancement of this species' metabolic plasticity

Melanin-concentrating hormone in peripheral circulation in the human

Melanin-concentrating hormone (MCH) is a hypothalamic neuropeptide with a well-characterised role in energy homeostasis and emergent roles in diverse physiologic functions such as arousal, mood and reproduction. Work to date has predominantly focused on its hypothalamic functions using animal models; however, little attention has been paid to its role in circulation in humans. The aims of this study were to (a) develop a radioimmunoassay for the detection of MCH in human plasma; (b) establish reference ranges for circulating MCH and (c) characterise the pattern of expression of circulating MCH in humans. A sensitive and specific RIA was developed and cross-validated by RP-HPLC and MS. The effective range was 19.5–1248 pg MCH/mL. Blood samples from 231 subjects were taken to establish a reference range of 19.5–55.4 pg/mL for fasting MCH concentrations. There were no significant differences between male and female fasting MCH concentrations; however, there were correlations between MCH concentrations and BMI in males and females with excess fat (P < 0.001 and P = 0.020) and between MCH concentrations and fat mass in females with excess fat (P = 0.038). Plasma MCH concentrations rose significantly after feeding in a group of older individuals (n = 50, males P = 0.006, females P = 0.023). There were no robust significant correlations between fasting or post-prandial MCH and resting metabolic rate, plasma glucose, insulin or leptin concentrations although there were correlations between circulating MCH and leptin concentrations in older individuals (P = 0.029). These results indicate that the role of circulating MCH may not be reflective of its regulatory hypothalamic role