Intelligent Product Brokering for E-Commerce: An Incremental Approach to Unaccounted Attribute Detection

This research concentrates on designing generic product-brokering agent to understand user preference towards a product category and recommends a list of products to the user according to the preference captured by the agent. The proposed solution is able to detect both quantifiable and non-quantifiable attributes through a user feedback system. Unlike previous approaches, this research allows the detection of unaccounted attributes that are not within the ontology of the system. No tedious change of the algorithm, database, or ontology is required when a new product attribute is introduced. This approach only requires the attribute to be within the description field of the product. The system analyzes the general product descriptions field and creates a list of candidate attributes affecting the user’s preference. A genetic algorithm verifies these candidate attributes and excess attributes are identified and filtered off. A prototype has been created and our results show positive results in the detection of unaccounted attributes affecting a user

Sub-band common spatial pattern (SBCSP) for brain-computer interface

Brain-computer interface (BCI) is a system to translate humans thoughts into commands. For electroencephalography (EEG) based BCI, motor imagery is considered as one of the most effective ways. Different imagery activities can be classified based on the changes in mu and/or beta rhythms and their spatial distributions. However, the change in these rhythmic patterns varies from one subject to another. This causes an unavoidable time-consuming fine-tuning process in building a BCI for every subject. To address this issue, we propose a new method called sub-band common spatial pattern (SBCSP) to solve the problem. First, we decompose the EEG signals into sub-bands using a filter bank. Subsequently, we apply a discriminative analysis to extract SBCSP features. The SBCSP features are then fed into linear discriminant analyzers (LDA) to obtain scores which reflect the classification capability of each frequency band. Finally, the scores are fused to make decision. We evaluate two fusion methods: recursive band elimination (RBE) and meta-classifier (MC). We assess our approaches on a standard database from BCI Competition III. We also compare our method with two other approaches that address the same issue. The results show that our method outperforms the other two approaches and achieves similar result as compared to the best one in the literature which was obtained by a time-consuming fine-tuning process

The Design and Implementation of “Four-in-One” Blended Learning Model in Digital Media Technology Classroom

 In a digitally driven world, many educators are using face-to-face and online methods to improve teaching and learning because of blendedlearning’s availability and convenience. This study serves two purposes. The main purpose of this research was to identify the academic achievement difference between students who studied through “Four-in-One” blended learning model (official website, WeChat official account platform, official Weibo, and cloud database) and students who studied through traditional learning. And second, to investigate the opinions and feedbacks about “Fourin-One” blended learning model. The mixed methods both qualitative and quantitative methods including quasi-experimental research, direct observation and semi-structured interview were applied. The participants were 88 undergraduate students (67 males and 21 females) from a Chinese Computer Application Technology Department. The subjects were selected by purposive sampling and separated into a control group and an experimental group. The data were analyzed by using mean, standard deviation, dependent t-test, and independent t-test. The outcomes of research showed that the experimental group had higher academic achievement scores than the control group. The results of research also revealed that blended learning outcomes related to tailored teaching, technology readiness level, scaffolding learning, and self-regulated learning

Visualisation of J-type counter-current chromatography: A route to understand hydrodynamic phase distribution and retention

This article can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2012 Elsevier. The article was made available through open access by the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.This paper has addressed decade sought-after questions on phase bilateral distribution and stationary phase retention in any J-type high-speed counter-current chromatographic (CCC) centrifuge. Using a 2-D spiral column operated on such a CCC device and an aqueous two-phase system, this work systematically observed the phase interaction during transitional period and at dynamic equilibration under stroboscopic illumination. The experimental results thus obtained were used to examine the effects of the liquid–solid friction force, tangential centrifugal force, and physical properties of the two-phase system on hydrodynamic phase behaviour. We identified that (a) density difference between lower and upper phases is the critical factor to cause unusual phase bilateral distribution in the 2-D spiral column and (b) interfacial tension (manifested primarily as phase settling time) of any two-phase system is the critical factor in explaining inability to retain stationary phase in 3-D helical column and, for certain flow modes, in the 2-D spiral column. This work thus has extended or modified the well-established rule-of-thumb for operating J-type CCC devices and our conclusions can accommodate virtually all the anomalies concerning both hydrophobic and hydrophilic phase systems. To this end, this work has not only documented valuable experimental evidences for directly observing phase behaviour in a CCC column, but also finally resolved fundamentally vital issues on bilateral phase distribution orientation and stationary phase retention in 2-D spiral and 3-D helical CCC columns. Revised recommendations to end users of this technology could thus be derived out of the essence of the present work presumably following further experimental validation and a consensus in the CCC R&D and manufacturing circle.This work is funded by the BBSRC (UK) grant BB/C5063341/1, by MoST (China) as a Major State Basic Research Development Programme grant 2007CB714303 (973 Programme), by M & G Trading, and by Shanghai Science and Technology Board grant 11DZ2292700

Stommel’s box model of thermohaline circulation revisited - the role of mechanical energy supporting mixing and the wind-driven gyration

Author Posting. © American Meteorological Society, 2008. This article is posted here by permission of American Meteorological Society for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Physical Oceanography 38 (2008): 909–917, doi:10.1175/2007JPO3535.1.The classical two-box model of Stommel is extended in two directions: replacing the buoyancy constraint with an energy constraint and including the wind-driven gyre. Stommel postulated a buoyancy constraint for the thermohaline circulation, and his basic idea has evolved into the dominating theory of thermohaline circulation; however, recently, it is argued that the thermohaline circulation is maintained by mechanical energy from wind stress and tides. The major difference between these two types of models is the bifurcation structure: the Stommel-like model has two thermal modes (one stable and another one unstable) and one stable haline mode, whereas the energy-constraint model has one stable thermal mode and two saline modes (one stable and another one unstable). Adding the wind-driven gyre changes the threshold value of thermohaline bifurcation greatly; thus, the inclusion of the wind-driven gyre is a vital step in completely modeling the physical processes related to thermohaline circulation.YPG was supported by the National Science Foundation of China (NSFC, 40676022), the National Basic Research Program of China (2006CB403605), and the Guangdong Natural Science Foundation (5003672). RXH was supported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration through CICOR Cooperative Agreement NA17RJ1223 to the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Incentive Mechanisms of Altruistic Behavior With Social Preference Introduced and the Effects Comparison

Under the assumption of rational person, the provision of altruistic behavior will eventually be exhausted. However, in reality, some people still would rather sacrifice their own interests to help others. This paper introduces altruistic social preference into utility function, researches on how to push the upgrade of altruistic behavior in the society through designing the incentive mechanism while realizing the maximum of individual interest and social welfare. This paper divides the individuals into individuals with high, middle and low altruistic levels and analyzes the effects of different incentive mechanisms on these three kinds of individuals. Finally, this paper comes to the comparative analysis on the policy effects by combining the effects of the proportion of the individuals with different altruistic levels in the group on the aggregate provision of altruistic behavior

Dynamic Labor Demand in China: Public and Private Objectives

This paper studies dynamic labor demand by private and public manufacturing plants in China. It contributes along two dimensions. First, it uncovers the objectives of public enterprises and compares them to private enterprises. Second, it estimates adjustment costs of these plants and thus their (dynamic) labor demand. One of our principal findings is that public plants maximize the discounted present value of profits without a soft-budget constraint. There is strong evidence of both quadratic and linear firing costs at the plant level. Costs of adjusting hours are small and lower for private compared to public plants. The private plants operate with considerably lower quadratic adjustment costs. The higher quadratic adjustment costs of the public plants may reflect their internalization of social costs of employment adjustment. Domestic private plants and collective plants have about the same discount factor, much lower than state controlled plants.