An On-Line Personalized Promotion Decision Support System for Electronic Commerce

With the development of the Internet and Electronic Commerce (EC), enterprises have overcome the space and time barriers and are now capable of serving customers electronically. However, it is a great challenge to attract and retain the customers over Internet. One approach is to provide the responsive personalized service to satisfy the customer demand and promote sales at the first time. Hence, in this paper, we propose a decision support system which develops best promotion products based on combinations of different marketing strategies, pricing strategies, and customer behaviors evaluated in terms of multiple criteria. Data mining techniques are utilized to help the business discover patterns to develop on-line sales promotion products for each customer for enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. The proposed system consists of four components: (1) establishing marketing strategies, (2) promotion pattern model, (3) personalized promotion products, and (4) on-line transaction model. A simple example is given to illustrate the implementation and application of proposed decision support system

POE Lubricant Candidates For Low GWP Refrigerants

Several series of polyol ester (POE) refrigeration lubricants have been investigated for low GWP refrigerant R32 (R-410A replacement) and HFO-1234ze (R-134a replacement). The main problem of R32/HFO refrigeration lubricant development can be summarized as balancing between miscibility, solubility and lubricity. Generally speaking, refrigerant-lubricant mixture with highly miscible property in low temperature evaporator will lead to more soluble phenomenon in high temperature compressor. Therefore, when refrigerant is well miscible with refrigeration lubricant, dissolved refrigerant will reduce working viscosity of refrigerant-oil mixture in compressor, and thus results in lower lubricity, wear of sliding parts, and compressor durability shortage. In our studies, the key factor which result in aforementioned phenomenon was found, and can be controlled independently by using optimized chemical structure. For R32 compressor system, we have successfully developed a series of POE refrigeration lubricant, with viscosities ranging from 32cSt to 90cSt at 40°C, and with a wide range of miscibility (20% oil) from -40℃ to 2℃. From results of PVT experiments and lubricity tests (Falex P/V and four ball), it demonstrated to be possible to develop a POE oil with high miscibility, low solubility and high working viscosity. All results in R32 system were better than traditional refrigeration lubricant in R410A system. Meanwhile, we also were able to identify the relationship between surface tension of chemical structure and lubricity. For HFO-1234ze compressor system, incumbent refrigeration lubricants suitable for R134a are almost fully miscible in HFO-1234ze, which could lead to severe refrigerant dilution of lubricant viscosity and poor lubricity due to high solubility. Through studies of chemical structure of refrigeration lubricants, reliable experimental tests and rigorous thermodynamic calculation, we created a range of POE lubricants (ISO68 to ISO220) with miscibility (20% oil) from -33℃ to -13℃, all the while, maintaining solubility and working viscosity on par with the common POE refrigeration lubricants currently used in R-134a system

GMC collisions as triggers of star formation – VIII. The core mass function

Compression in giant molecular cloud (GMC) collisions is a promising mechanism to trigger the formation of massive star clusters and OB associations. We simulate colliding and non-colliding magnetized GMCs and examine the properties of pre-stellar cores, selected from projected mass surface density maps, including after synthetic ALMA observations. We then examine core properties, including mass, size, density, velocity, velocity dispersion, temperature, and magnetic field strength. After 4 Myr, ∼1000 cores have formed in the GMC collision, and the high-mass end of the core mass function (CMF) can be fit by a power-law dN/dlogM ∝ M-α with α ≃ 0.7, i.e. relatively top heavy compared to a Salpeter mass function. Depending on how cores are identified, a break in the power law can appear around a few 710 M☉. The non-colliding GMCs form fewer cores with a CMF with α ≃ 0.8–1.2, i.e. closer to the Salpeter index. We compare the properties of these CMFs to those of several observed samples of cores. Considering other properties, cores formed from colliding clouds are typically warmer, have more disturbed internal kinematics, and are more likely to be gravitational unbound, than cores formed from non-colliding GMCs. The dynamical state of the protocluster of cores formed in the GMC–GMC collision is intrinsically subvirial but can appear to be supervirial if the total mass measurement is affected by observations that miss mass on large scales or at low densities

The Influence of Lubricant in HFC & HFO Blend Refrigeration system

Although HFO refrigerants are considered the low GWP solutions to the global warming problem, some properties of HFO refrigerants prohibited the direct drop in replacement application in the refrigeration system. As a result, to replace the high GWP HFC refrigerants, HFC & HFO refrigerants are blended to combine their properties to become a workable solution. Both HFC and HFO refrigerants have similar basic properties; however, one of the HFO refrigerants properties is good miscibility to incumbent refrigeration lubricants, especially HFO-1234ze. Generally speaking, refrigerant-oil mixture with highly miscible property in low temperature evaporator will lead to more soluble phenomenon in high temperature compressor. Therefore, when refrigerant is well miscible with refrigeration oil, the dissolved refrigerant will reduce working viscosity of refrigerant-oil mixture in compressor, which could results in lower lubricity, increase wear of sliding parts, and shorter compressor durability. In our studies, we discuss the influence of lubricant in HFC & HFO blend refrigeration system, such as R513A or R450A. Compared to the lubricant performance in HFO refrigerants, the same lubricant in the HFC & HFO blend refrigerants do not lead to severe refrigerants dilution of lubricant viscosity, which causes poor lubricity due to high solubility. According to our previous study, we know the better miscibility brings the better solubility in R1234ze system. We also developed lubricants with different miscibility properties in HFC & HFO blend refrigerants in order to investigate the miscibility, solubility and lubricity performance in the HFC & HFO refrigeration systems

Debris Flow Risk Assessment and Land-Use Planning – A Case Study of Jhonglun Hot Spring Area

The Jhonglun Scenic Area in Chiayi County, is famous for its hot spring, the region was hit by debris flow with tremendous losses and resulted with dramatic change of the landscape during Typhoon Morakot in 2009. The most effective strategy for reducing natural hazard risks is through land-use planning. Following the concept of Risk=Hazard*Exposure*Vulnerability, this study conducted risk identification through the collection of landslide inventory and history debris flow hazard mapping of Chiayi DF051 potential debris flow torrent. Together with elements at risk information from field investigations, the risk analysis was conducted with several return periods debris flow simulation to recognize the possible economic losses and fatalities by debris flow. The identified high risk areas in Jhonglun Scenic Area were compared to the current special district planning to understand the spatial distribution of high risk areas. The result shows that some of the designated zones were among the areas with high debris flow risks, which further indicates that land-use planning should consider the consequences of natural hazards. The result of this study provides one of the first steps for land use planning restrictions within the potential debris flow region

The Adaptor Protein SH2B3 (Lnk) Negatively Regulates Neurite Outgrowth of PC12 Cells and Cortical Neurons

SH2B adaptor protein family members (SH2B1-3) regulate various physiological responses through affecting signaling, gene expression, and cell adhesion. SH2B1 and SH2B2 were reported to enhance nerve growth factor (NGF)-induced neuronal differentiation in PC12 cells, a well-established neuronal model system. In contrast, SH2B3 was reported to inhibit cell proliferation during the development of immune system. No study so far addresses the role of SH2B3 in the nervous system. In this study, we provide evidence suggesting that SH2B3 is expressed in the cortex of embryonic rat brain. Overexpression of SH2B3 not only inhibits NGF-induced differentiation of PC12 cells but also reduces neurite outgrowth of primary cortical neurons. SH2B3 does so by repressing NGF-induced activation of PLCγ, MEK-ERK1/2 and PI3K-AKT pathways and the expression of Egr-1. SH2B3 is capable of binding to phosphorylated NGF receptor, TrkA, as well as SH2B1β. Our data further demonstrate that overexpression of SH2B3 reduces the interaction between SH2B1β and TrkA. Consistent with this finding, overexpressing the SH2 domain of SH2B3 is sufficient to inhibit NGF-induced neurite outgrowth. Together, our data demonstrate that SH2B3, unlike the other two family members, inhibits neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells and primary cortical neurons. Its inhibitory mechanism is likely through the competition of TrkA binding with the positive-acting SH2B1 and SH2B2