1,038 research outputs found
Modelling the critical challenges of quality assurance of cross-border construction logistics and supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic
Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the construction industry, yet still, it is unclear from existing studies about the critical challenges imposed on quality assurance (QA), particularly Cross-border Construction Logistics and Supply Chain (Cb-CLSC). Thus, this study aims to identify and examine the critical challenges of QA of Cb-CLSC during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methodology: The aim is achieved via an embedded mixed-method approach pragmatically involving a desk literature review and engaging 150 experts across the globe using expert surveys, and results confirmed by semi-structured interviews. The approach is based on Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) as its foundation.
Findings: The study revealed ten critical challenges of QA, with the top four including “the shortage of raw construction material (C7)”, “design changes (C6)”, “collaboration and communication difficulties (C1)” and “changes in work practices (C10)”. However, examining the interrelationships among the critical challenges using ISM confirmed C7 and C10 as the most critical challenges. The study again revealed that the critical challenges are sensitive and capable of affecting themselves due to the nature of their interrelationship based on MICMAC analysis. Hence, being consistent with why all the challenges were considered critical amid the pandemic. Sentiment analysis revealed that the critical challenges have not been entirely negative but also positive by creating three areas of opportunities for improvement: technology adoption, worker management, and work process management. However, four areas of challenges in the QA include cost, raw material, time, and work process, including inspection, testing, auditing, communication, etc.
Practical implication: The finding provides a convenient point of reference to researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and decision-makers on formulating policies to enhance the effectiveness of construction QA during the pandemic through to the post-pandemic era.
Originality: The study enriches the extant literature on QA, Cb-CLSC, and the COVID-19 pandemic in the construction industry by identifying the critical challenges and examining the interrelationships among them. This provides a better understanding of how the construction QA has been affected by the pandemic and the opportunities created
An explicit formula for the Berezin star product
We prove an explicit formula of the Berezin star product on Kaehler
manifolds. The formula is expressed as a summation over certain strongly
connected digraphs. The proof relies on a combinatorial interpretation of
Englis' work on the asymptotic expansion of the Laplace integral.Comment: 19 pages, to appear in Lett. Math. Phy
Bergman Kernel from Path Integral
We rederive the expansion of the Bergman kernel on Kahler manifolds developed
by Tian, Yau, Zelditch, Lu and Catlin, using path integral and perturbation
theory, and generalize it to supersymmetric quantum mechanics. One physics
interpretation of this result is as an expansion of the projector of wave
functions on the lowest Landau level, in the special case that the magnetic
field is proportional to the Kahler form. This is relevant for the quantum Hall
effect in curved space, and for its higher dimensional generalizations. Other
applications include the theory of coherent states, the study of balanced
metrics, noncommutative field theory, and a conjecture on metrics in black hole
backgrounds. We give a short overview of these various topics. From a
conceptual point of view, this expansion is noteworthy as it is a geometric
expansion, somewhat similar to the DeWitt-Seeley-Gilkey et al short time
expansion for the heat kernel, but in this case describing the long time limit,
without depending on supersymmetry.Comment: 27 page
On Four-Point Functions of Half-BPS Operators in General Dimensions
We study four-point correlation functions of half-BPS operators of arbitrary
weight for all dimensions d=3,4,5,6 where superconformal theories exist. Using
harmonic superspace techniques, we derive the superconformal Ward identities
for these correlators and present them in a universal form. We then solve these
identities, employing Jack polynomial expansions. We show that the general
solution is parameterized by a set of arbitrary two-variable functions, with
the exception of the case d=4, where in addition functions of a single variable
appear. We also discuss the operator product expansion using recent results on
conformal partial wave amplitudes in arbitrary dimension.Comment: The discussion of the case d=6 expanded; references added/correcte
Electroluminescence enhancement in mid-infrared InAsSb resonant cavity light emitting diodes for CO 2 detection
In this work, we demonstrated a mid-infrared resonant cavity light emitting diode (RCLED) operating near 4.2 μm at room temperature, grown lattice-matched on a GaSb substrate by molecular beam epitaxy, suitable for CO 2 gas detection. The device consists of a 1 λ-thick microcavity containing an InAs 0.90 Sb 0.1 active region sandwiched between two high contrast, lattice-matched AlAs 0.08 Sb 0.92 /GaSb distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirrors. The electroluminescence emission spectra of the RCLED were recorded over the temperature range from 20 to 300 K and compared with a reference LED without DBR mirrors. The RCLED exhibits a strong emission enhancement due to resonant cavity effects. At room temperature, the peak emission and the integrated peak emission were found to be increased by a factor of ∼ 70 and ∼ 11, respectively, while the total integrated emission enhancement was ∼ × 33. This is the highest resonant cavity enhancement ever reported for a mid-infrared LED operating at this wavelength. Furthermore, the RCLED also exhibits a superior temperature stability of ∼ 0.35 nm/K and a significantly narrower (10×) spectral linewidth. High spectral brightness and temperature stable emission entirely within the fundamental absorption band are attractive characteristics for the development of next generation CO 2 gas sensor instrumentation. © 2019 Author(s)
More on quantum groups from the the quantization point of view
Star products on the classical double group of a simple Lie group and on
corresponding symplectic grupoids are given so that the quantum double and the
"quantized tangent bundle" are obtained in the deformation description.
"Complex" quantum groups and bicovariant quantum Lie algebras are discused from
this point of view. Further we discuss the quantization of the Poisson
structure on symmetric algebra leading to the quantized enveloping
algebra as an example of biquantization in the sense of Turaev.
Description of in terms of the generators of the bicovariant
differential calculus on is very convenient for this purpose. Finally
we interpret in the deformation framework some well known properties of compact
quantum groups as simple consequences of corresponding properties of classical
compact Lie groups. An analogue of the classical Kirillov's universal character
formula is given for the unitary irreducible representation in the compact
case.Comment: 18 page
Branes, Anti-Branes and Brauer Algebras in Gauge-Gravity duality
We propose gauge theory operators built using a complex Matrix scalar which
are dual to brane-anti-brane systems in , in the zero
coupling limit of the dual Yang-Mills. The branes involved are half-BPS giant
gravitons. The proposed operators dual to giant-anti-giant configurations
satisfy the appropriate orthogonality properties. Projection operators in
Brauer algebras are used to construct the relevant multi-trace Matrix
operators. These are related to the ``coupled representations'' which appear in
2D Yang-Mills theory. We discuss the implications of these results for the
quantum mechanics of a complex matrix model, the counting of non-supersymmetric
operators and the physics of brane-anti-brane systems. The stringy exclusion
principle known from the properties of half-BPS giant gravitons, has a new
incarnation in this context. It involves a qualitative change in the map
between brane-anti-brane states to gauge theory operators. In the case of a
pair of sphere giant and anti-giant this change occurs when the sum of the
magnitudes of their angular momenta reaches .Comment: 52 pages, 10 figure
Coherent States for Quantum Compact Groups
Coherent states are introduced and their properties are discussed for all
simple quantum compact groups. The multiplicative form of the canonical element
for the quantum double is used to introduce the holomorphic coordinates on a
general quantum dressing orbit and interpret the coherent state as a
holomorphic function on this orbit with values in the carrier Hilbert space of
an irreducible representation of the corresponding quantized enveloping
algebra. Using Gauss decomposition, the commutation relations for the
holomorphic coordinates on the dressing orbit are derived explicitly and given
in a compact R--matrix formulation (generalizing this way the --deformed
Grassmann and flag manifolds). The antiholomorphic realization of the
irreducible representations of a compact quantum group (the analogue of the
Borel--Weil construction) are described using the concept of coherent state.
The relation between representation theory and non--commutative differential
geometry is suggested.}Comment: 25 page
Restructuring of colloidal aggregates in shear flow: Coupling interparticle contact models with Stokesian dynamics
A method to couple interparticle contact models with Stokesian dynamics (SD)
is introduced to simulate colloidal aggregates under flow conditions. The
contact model mimics both the elastic and plastic behavior of the cohesive
connections between particles within clusters. Owing to this, clusters can
maintain their structures under low stress while restructuring or even breakage
may occur under sufficiently high stress conditions. SD is an efficient method
to deal with the long-ranged and many-body nature of hydrodynamic interactions
for low Reynolds number flows. By using such a coupled model, the restructuring
of colloidal aggregates under stepwise increasing shear flows was studied.
Irreversible compaction occurs due to the increase of hydrodynamic stress on
clusters. Results show that the greater part of the fractal clusters are
compacted to rod-shaped packed structures, while the others show isotropic
compaction.Comment: A simulation movie be found at
http://www-levich.engr.ccny.cuny.edu/~seto/sites/colloidal_aggregates_shearflow.htm
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