3,790 research outputs found
Periodic and Chaotic Flapping of Insectile Wings
Insects use flight muscles attached at the base of the wings to produce
impressive wing flapping frequencies. The maximum power output of these flight
muscles is insufficient to maintain such wing oscillations unless there is good
elastic storage of energy in the insect flight system. Here, we explore the
intrinsic self-oscillatory behavior of an insectile wing model, consisting of
two rigid wings connected at their base by an elastic torsional spring. We
study the wings behavior as a function of the total energy and spring
stiffness. Three types of behavior are identified: end-over-end rotation,
chaotic motion, and periodic flapping. Interestingly, the region of periodic
flapping decreases as energy increases but is favored as stiffness increases.
These findings are consistent with the fact that insect wings and flight
muscles are stiff. They further imply that, by adjusting their muscle stiffness
to the desired energy level, insects can maintain periodic flapping
mechanically for a range of operating conditions
Contributing to the Individual Income Tax Reform Debate in China: Is Family Based Filing of Individual Income Tax Returns a Feasible Solution to the Social Problems Arising from the Increasing Family Income Inequality in China?
Chinaâs new wave of Individual Income Tax Reform is currently hotly debated. The Finance Minister, Lou Jiwei was reported to say that the relevant government departments in China â the State Council, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Administration of Finance had worked out a reform plan together in 2015. One goal of this plan is to move Chinaâs scheduler individual income tax to a global structure, and to put in place policies that contribute to income redistribution that takes into consideration family related expenditure, such as looking after the elderly and childcare.A review of the literature shows that Chinese scholars and commentators suggest that China could learn directly from the US, adopt their global income tax system and allow family based filing of individual income tax returns. The literature does not provide reasons for this suggestion.This paper performs a feasibility study to assess whether China could adopt the suggestions proposed by the prevailing literature. The study is performed based on a ârevenue neutralityâ analysis that compares projected revenue from existing policies, and that collectable if China allows family based individual income tax filing.Results from a pilot study reports that the projected revenue from allowing family based individual income tax filing would be at a level that is closer to 40% of revenue collectable if China does not allow family based individual income tax filing. This result suggests that policy makers in China need to take careful considerations of costings before proceeding with thereform
Fiscal Considerations for Sustainable Public Funding of Urban Old-Age Pensions in the Peopleâs Republic of China
China has well-established Old-age Pensions policies for the different segments of its population, both as part of the current welfare policies framework as well as continuing a long established tradition of care for the elderly. Urban Old-Age Pensions policies play an increasingly important role in the increasingly urbanised economy of the Peopleâs Republic of China (PRC). The PRC government continued with tradition in the policies that led to the enactment of the Social Insurance Law of the Peopleâs Republic of China[1], and promised to fully fund Urban Old-Age Pensions. A common theme reported in the prevailing literature is that the PRC government does not have the ability to sustainably fund Urban Old-Age Pensions, citing both substantive and administrative causes of the short fall, and calling for changes to the Social Insurance Contributions policies to make the Urban Old-age Pension schemes more sustainable. The prevailing literature, however, neglected the Chinese tradition that includes government policies to look after the elderly, and misconstrued the Social Insurance Contributions as insurance premiums. This thesis investigated whether changes to funding policies are needed in order to meet the stated obligation of fully funding Urban Old-Age Pensions. The thesis investigated the sources of funding by collating all sources of fiscal revenue and then calculating whether this sum collected would successfully fund the required level of disbursed Urban Old-Age Pensions. This thesis concludes that at current Urban Old-age Pension replacement rates[2], the PRCâs fiscal structure can adequately fund Urban Old-Age Pensions at present benefit levels. Current studies on the sustainability of funding need to consider the data gathered and arguments made in this thesis and to incorporate all sources of funding before stating that short falls in funding and lack of funding sustainability exist, or suggesting reform proposals. [1] Above note 2. [2] The Old-age Pension replacement rate is taken to be the rate Old-age Pensions is paid at as a percentage of National Average Wages Levels
Environmental correlates of sedentary behaviors and physical activity in Chinese preschool children:A cross-sectional study
Objective: This cross-sectional study examined environmental correlates of sedentary behavior (SB) and physical activity (PA) in preschool children in the urban area of Tianjin, China. Methods: Data were collected from the Physical Activity and Health in Tianjin Chinese Children study, involving healthy children 3â6 years old and their families. In all children (n = 980), leisure-time SB (LTSB) and leisure-time PA (LTPA) were reported in min/day by parents. In a subgroup (n = 134), overall sedentary time, light PA, and moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) were objectively measured using ActiGraph accelerometry (âĽ3 days, âĽ10 h/day). Environmental correlates were collected using a questionnaire that included home and neighborhood characteristics (e.g., traffic safety, presence of physical activity facilities) and children's behaviors. Potential correlates were identified using linear regression analysis. Results: Multiple linear regression analysis showed that âhaving grandparents as primary caregiversâ (βs and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) for overall sedentary time: 29.7 (2.1â57.2); LTSB (ln): 0.19 (0.11â0.28)) and âhaving a television (for LTSB (ln): 0.13 (0.00â0.25)) or computer (for LTSB (ln): 0.13 (0.03â0.23)) in the child's bedroomâ were both associated with higher SB. Furthermore, âhaving grandparents as primary caregiversâ was associated with less MVPA (β (95%CI): â7.6 (â14.1 to â1.2)), and âactive commuting to school by walkingâ correlated with more MVPA (β (95%CI): 9.8 (2.2â17.4)). The path model showed that âmore neighborhood PA facilities close to homeâ was indirectly related to higher LTPA (ln), which was partly mediated by âoutdoor playâ (path coefficients (95%CI): 0.005 (0.002â0.008)) and âgoing to these facilities more oftenâ (path coefficients (95%CI): 0.013 (0.008â0.018)). Traffic safety was not a correlate. Conclusion: Family structure and media exposure in the home maybe important factors in shaping preschoolersâ PA patterns. Built environmental correlates could indirectly influence preschoolersâ LTPA through parental help with engaging in active behaviors
Pulse Compression Probing for Tracking Distribution Feeder Models
A Pulse-Compression Probing (PCP) method is applied in time-domain to
identify an equivalent circuit model of a distribution network as seen from the
transmission grid. A Pseudo-Random Binary Pulse Train (PRBPT) is injected as a
voltage signal at the input of the feeder and processed to recover the impulse
response. A transfer function and circuit model is fitted to the response,
allowing the feeder to be modeled as a quasi-steady-state sinusoidal (QSSS)
source behind a network. The method is verified on the IEEE 13-Node
Distribution Test System, identifying a second order circuit model with less
than seven cycles latency and a signal to noise ratio of 15.07 dB in the input
feeder current.Comment: 5 Pages, 6 Figures, Pending Publication at IEEE PESGM 202
Joint modeling of wind speed and wind direction through a conditional approach
Atmospheric near surface wind speed and wind direction play an important role
in many applications, ranging from air quality modeling, building design, wind
turbine placement to climate change research. It is therefore crucial to
accurately estimate the joint probability distribution of wind speed and
direction. In this work we develop a conditional approach to model these two
variables, where the joint distribution is decomposed into the product of the
marginal distribution of wind direction and the conditional distribution of
wind speed given wind direction. To accommodate the circular nature of wind
direction a von Mises mixture model is used; the conditional wind speed
distribution is modeled as a directional dependent Weibull distribution via a
two-stage estimation procedure, consisting of a directional binned Weibull
parameter estimation, followed by a harmonic regression to estimate the
dependence of the Weibull parameters on wind direction. A Monte Carlo
simulation study indicates that our method outperforms an alternative method
that uses periodic spline quantile regression in terms of estimation
efficiency. We illustrate our method by using the output from a regional
climate model to investigate how the joint distribution of wind speed and
direction may change under some future climate scenarios.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figure
Making the Invisible Visible:Documentaries chronicling the lives of Palestinians in and outside the Middle East
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