884 research outputs found
Impact of Employee Management on Hospitality Innovation Success
The author report on a survey of 185 hospitality manager to examine which employee management practices are associated with success in hospitality innovations. The result suggest that successful new hospitality projects are guided by a strategic human resource management approach, have higher level of training, implement behavior- bared evaluation of their front-line staff and empower their employees
Water quality in Princess Charlotte Bay flood plumes and eastern Cape York Peninsula flood plume exposure: 2012-2014
The Marine Monitoring Program (MMP) undertaken in the Great Barrier Reef lagoon assesses the long-term effectiveness of the Australian and Queensland Government’s Reef Water Quality Protection Plan and the Australian Government Reef Rescue initiative. The MMP was established in 2005 to help assess the long-term status and health of Reef ecosystems and is a critical component in the assessment of regional water quality as land management practices are improved across Reef catchments. The program forms an integral part of the Reef Plan Paddock to Reef Integrated Monitoring, Modelling and Reporting Program supported through Reef Plan and Reef Rescue initiatives. This report details the sampling that has taken place under the Marine Monitoring Program in Cape Yor
The SPLASH Survey: Kinematics of Andromeda's Inner Spheroid
The combination of large size, high stellar density, high metallicity, and
Sersic surface brightness profile of the spheroidal component of the Andromeda
galaxy (M31) within R_proj ~ 20 kpc suggest that it is unlike any subcomponent
of the Milky Way. In this work we capitalize on our proximity to and external
view of M31 to probe the kinematical properties of this "inner spheroid." We
employ a Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis of resolved stellar
kinematics from Keck/DEIMOS spectra of 5651 red giant branch stars to
disentangle M31's inner spheroid from its stellar disk. We measure the mean
velocity and dispersion of the spheroid in each of five spatial bins after
accounting for a locally cold stellar disk as well as the Giant Southern Stream
and associated tidal debris. For the first time, we detect significant spheroid
rotation (v_rot ~ 50 km/s) beyond R_proj ~ 5 kpc. The velocity dispersion
decreases from about 140 km/s at R_proj = 7 kpc to 120 km/s at R_proj = 14 kpc,
consistent to 2 sigma with existing measurements and models. We calculate the
probability that a given star is a member of the spheroid and find that the
spheroid has a significant presence throughout the spatial extent of our
sample. Lastly, we show that the flattening of the spheroid is due to velocity
anisotropy in addition to rotation. Though this suggests that the inner
spheroid of M31 more closely resembles an elliptical galaxy than a typical
spiral galaxy bulge, it should be cautioned that our measurements are much
farther out (2 - 14 r_eff) than for the comparison samples.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Coastal Ice-Core Record of Recent Northwest Greenland Temperature and Sea-Ice Concentration
Coastal ice cores provide an opportunity to investigate regional climate and sea-ice variability in the past to complement hemispheric-scale climate reconstructions from ice-sheet-interior ice cores. Here we describe robust proxies of Baffin Bay temperature and sea-ice concentration from the coastal 2Barrel ice core collected in the Thule region of northwest Greenland. Over the 1990–2010 record, 2Barrel annually averaged methanesulfonic acid (MSA) concentrations are significantly correlated with May–June Baffin Bay sea-ice concentrations and summer temperatures. Higher MSA is observed during warmer years with less sea ice, indicative of enhanced primary productivity in Baffin Bay. Similarly, 2Barrel annually averaged deuterium excess (d-excess) values are significantly correlated with annual Baffin Bay sea-ice concentrations and summer and annual temperatures. Warm (cool) years with anomalously low (high) sea-ice concentration are associated with proportionally more (less) low-d-excess Baffin Bay moisture at the ice-core site. Multilinear regression models incorporating 2Barrel MSA, d-excess and snow accumulation account for 38–51% of the Baffin Bay sea-ice and temperature variance. The annual temperature model is significantly correlated with temperatures throughout most of Greenland and eastern Arctic Canada due to the strong influence of the North Atlantic Oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation
Coast-to-Interior Gradient in Recent Northwest Greenland Precipitation Trends (1952–2012)
The spatial and temporal variability of precipitation on the Greenland ice sheet is an essential component of surface mass balance, which has been declining in recent years with rising temperatures. We present an analysis of precipitation trends in northwest (NW) Greenland (1952–2012) using instrumental (coastal meteorological station) and proxy records (snow pits and ice cores) to characterize the precipitation gradient from the coast to the ice sheet interior. Snow-pit-derived precipitation near the coast (1950–2000) has increased (~7% decade−1, p \u3c 0.01) whereas there is no significant change observed in interior snow pits. This trend holds for 1981–2012, where calculated precipitation changes decrease in magnitude with increasing distance from the coast: 13% decade−1 (2.4 mm water equivalent (w.e.) decade−2) at coastal Thule air base (AB), 8.6% decade−1 (4.7 mm w.e. decade−2) at the 2Barrel ice core site 150 km from Thule AB, −5.2% decade−1 (1.7 mm w.e. decade−2) at Camp Century located 205 km from Thule AB, and 4.4% decade−1 (1.0 mm w.e. decade−2) at B26 located 500 km from Thule AB. In general, annually averaged precipitation and annually and seasonally averaged mean air temperatures observed at Thule AB follow trends observed in composite coastal Greenland time series, with both notably indicating winter as the fastest warming season in recent periods (1981–2012). Trends (1961–2012) in seasonal precipitation differ, specifically with NW Greenland summer precipitation increasing (~0.6 mm w.e. decade−2) in contrast with decreasing summer precipitation in the coastal composite time series (3.8 mm w.e. decade−2). Differences in precipitation trends between NW Greenland and coastal composite Greenland underscore the heterogeneity in climate influences affecting precipitation. In particular, recent (1981–2012) changes in NW Greenland annual precipitation are likely a response to a weakening North Atlantic oscillation
Internal Stellar Kinematics of M32 from the SPLASH Survey: Dark Halo Constraints
As part of the SPLASH survey of the Andromeda (M31) system, we have obtained Keck/DEIMOS spectra of the compact elliptical (cE) satellite M32. This is the first resolved-star kinematical study of any cE galaxy. In contrast to most previous kinematical studies that extended out to r≾30" ~ 1 r^(eff) I ~ 100 pc, we measure the rotation curve and velocity dispersion profile out to r ~ 250" and higher order Gauss-Hermite moments out to r ~ 70". We achieve this by combining integrated-light spectroscopy at small radii (where crowding/blending are severe) with resolved stellar spectroscopy at larger radii, using spatial and kinematical information to account statistically for M31 contamination. The rotation curve and velocity dispersion profile extend well beyond the radius (r ~ 150") where the isophotes are distorted. Unlike NGC 205, another close dwarf companion of M31, M32's kinematics appear regular and symmetric and do not show obvious sharp gradients across the region of isophotal elongation and twists. We interpret M31's kinematics using three-integral axisymmetric dynamical equilibrium models constructed using Schwarzschild's orbit superposition technique. Models with a constant mass-to-light ratio can fit the data remarkably well. However, since such a model requires an increasing tangential anisotropy with radius, invoking the presence of an extended dark halo may be more plausible. Such an extended dark halo is definitely required to bind a half-dozen fast-moving stars observed at the largest radii, but these stars may not be an equilibrium component of M32
Kinematic parameters and membership probabilities of open clusters in the Bordeaux PM2000 catalogue
We derive lists of proper-motions and kinematic membership probabilities for
49 open clusters and possible open clusters in the zone of the Bordeaux PM2000
proper motion catalogue (). We test
different parametrisations of the proper motion and position distribution
functions and select the most successful one. In the light of those results, we
analyse some objects individually. The segregation between cluster and field
member stars, and the assignment of membership probabilities, is accomplished
by applying a new and fully automated method based on both parametrisations of
the proper motion and position distribution functions, and genetic algorithm
optimization heuristics associated with a derivative-based hill climbing
algorithm for the likelihood optimization. We present a catalogue comprising
kinematic parameters and associated membership probability lists for 49 open
clusters and possible open clusters in the Bordeaux PM2000 catalogue region. We
note that this is the first determination of proper motions for five open
clusters. We confirm the non-existence of two kinematic populations in the
region of 15 previously suspected non-existent objects.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy
& Astrophysic
Accelerated Particle Swarm Optimization and Support Vector Machine for Business Optimization and Applications
Business optimization is becoming increasingly important because all business
activities aim to maximize the profit and performance of products and services,
under limited resources and appropriate constraints. Recent developments in
support vector machine and metaheuristics show many advantages of these
techniques. In particular, particle swarm optimization is now widely used in
solving tough optimization problems. In this paper, we use a combination of a
recently developed Accelerated PSO and a nonlinear support vector machine to
form a framework for solving business optimization problems. We first apply the
proposed APSO-SVM to production optimization, and then use it for income
prediction and project scheduling. We also carry out some parametric studies
and discuss the advantages of the proposed metaheuristic SVM.Comment: 12 page
TOWARDS A FORMAT REGISTRY FOR ENGINEERING DATA
ABSTRACT There has been a great deal of interest recently in the problem of long term archiving of digital data. This is especially so in engineering design, where the CAD software tools evolve rapidly but the manufactured products themselves have much longer lifetimes whose support requires archived design data in a usable form. The ISO Open Archival Information Systems (OAIS) Reference Model is a widely used standard for digital archiving, with an essential piece of this model being a file format registry. A file format registry is a system for housing information about file formats that allows for correct interpretation, rendering, storage, and translation of digital files. Currently there exists no file format registry specifically for CAD file formats. This paper explains the purpose of a file format registry for CAD in the greater context of digital archiving, and then presents our approach to creating a CAD file format registry using the Resource Description Framework (RDF) language of the Semantic Web. By creating our file format registry in RDF, we allow archival systems to perform automated reasoning on the stored files. We hope that this paper will increase awareness of this element of engineering design repositories in the research community of this conference
The Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury I: Bright UV Stars in the Bulge of M31
As part of the Panchromatic Hubble Andromeda Treasury (PHAT) multi-cycle
program, we observed a 12' \times 6.5' area of the bulge of M31 with the
WFC3/UVIS filters F275W and F336W. From these data we have assembled a sample
of \sim4000 UV-bright, old stars, vastly larger than previously available. We
use updated Padova stellar evolutionary tracks to classify these hot stars into
three classes: Post-AGB stars (P-AGB), Post-Early AGB (PE-AGB) stars and
AGB-manqu\'e stars. P-AGB stars are the end result of the asymptotic giant
branch (AGB) phase and are expected in a wide range of stellar populations,
whereas PE-AGB and AGB-manqu\'e (together referred to as the hot
post-horizontal branch; HP-HB) stars are the result of insufficient envelope
masses to allow a full AGB phase, and are expected to be particularly prominent
at high helium or {\alpha} abundances when the mass loss on the RGB is high.
Our data support previous claims that most UV-bright sources in the bulge are
likely hot (extreme) horizontal branch stars (EHB) and their progeny. We
construct the first radial profiles of these stellar populations, and show that
they are highly centrally concentrated, even more so than the integrated UV or
optical light. However, we find that this UV-bright population does not
dominate the total UV luminosity at any radius, as we are detecting only the
progeny of the EHB stars that are the likely source of the UVX. We calculate
that only a few percent of MS stars in the central bulge can have gone through
the HP-HB phase and that this percentage decreases strongly with distance from
the center. We also find that the surface density of hot UV-bright stars has
the same radial variation as that of low-mass X-ray binaries. We discuss age,
metallicity, and abundance variations as possible explanations for the observed
radial variation in the UV-bright population.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
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