DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE REVIEW TO CLASSIFY AND ANALYZE GROWTH OF CHINESE FIRMS FROM 1990’s UNTIL 2018

This paper presents an understanding of the economic situation of the Chinese firms and their growth model, using a descriptive research model with an extensive literature review of factors argued to be generating growth and persistent high-growth in China. The selection of reviewed and embedded papers included several quantitative, as well as qualitative papers for analysis from the 1990s until 2018. Thus, the descriptive literature review was used as the methodology by which researchers present the history of the firm’s development and discuss the work of others using scientific arguments and comments. The examination has revealed that numerous factors discussed in this paper affect growth. However, there is no specific structural characteristics or performance of promising persistent-high-growth. Finally, there is a paucity of existing literature focusing on sustainable high-growth dynamics. Studies do not delve into details on this subject; accordingly, it is suggested that the lack of review articles has been hindering the progress of this area, thus, more investigations are requested from future researchers with attention to the use of a plurality of methods

EXTENSIVE DESCRIPTIVE LITERATURE REVIEW REVEALING THE IMPACT OF BANKING SECRECY ON MONEY LAUNDERING: PROMINENCE ON THE LEBANESE BANKING SECTOR

Worldwide financial institutions face complexity in balancing between business ethical standards on one hand, and the act of competitiveness on the other hand. Thus, while selecting their customers they seek customers that lead them to the optimum position of competitiveness in the market, taking into consideration the act of financial investigation to avoid money launderer customers. Money launderer customers seek to deal with financial institutions to proceed with operating their financial crimes. Therefore, this paper spots the light on “money laundering” alongside with the impact of banking secrecy on money laundering with prominence on the Lebanese banking sector. Thus, in this paper, researchers present an extensive descriptive literature review that discuss in depth prior fundamental studies published since 1970 when banking secrecy was introduced until year 2018. Research limitations and future recommendations are provided at the end of this paper

Data Management Challenges in Cloud Environments

Recently the cloud computing paradigm has been receiving special excitement and attention in the new researches. Cloud computing has the potential to change a large part of the IT activity, making software even more interesting as a service and shaping the way IT hardware is proposed and purchased. Developers with novel ideas for new Internet services no longer require the large capital outlays in hardware to present their service or the human expense to do it. These cloud applications apply large data centers and powerful servers that host Web applications and Web services. This report presents an overview of what cloud computing means, its history along with the advantages and disadvantages. In this paper we describe the problems and opportunities of deploying data management issues on these emerging cloud computing platforms. We study that large scale data analysis jobs, decision support systems, and application specific data marts are more likely to take benefit of cloud computing platforms than operational, transactional database systems. &nbsp

Effectiveness of Subliminal Messages and Their Influence on People’s Choices

This article provides definitions for the conscious and subconscious minds, and shows their relation with the subliminal messages which are also defined. The subliminal CD’s, the way they function, and how they are recorded are explained in details. In addition, an interview with an expert in subliminal messages was conducted to enrich the article with more technical details. Moreover, the main objective of the research study was to show the effectiveness of the subliminal messages, and therefore to prove the influence they have on people’s choices in the auditory system. For this purpose, two experiments were carried out. The results proved that the experimental hypothesis is true: subliminal messages affect and influence the participants’ choice

Evaluation of Reliability-based Fatigue Strain Data Analysis for an Automobile Suspension Under Various Road Condition

This work aimed to analyse fatigue-based reliability for automobile suspension on the basis of the strain load signal from an automobile under operating conditions. Fatigue life was used to ensure the aging of the component, and it was suitable for use for longer than the standard age given. The damage behaviour patterns for each retained edited signal from 100% to 85% were used to predict the fatigue durability of the suspension with a sampling frequency of 500 Hz for various road conditions. The extended global statistics were computed to determine the behaviour of the signal. Accelerated durability analysis was used to remove the low-amplitude cycles, which contributed minimally toward the total damage, by considering the effects of mean stresses. The reliability assessment, hazard rate function and mean time-to-failure (MTTF) based on the retention signal were predicted through fatigue strain data analysis. Changes were observed from a range of below 15% and above 60% of the length of the actual original signals due to the low amplitude. Extended global statistics showed scale parameter of 75 and 94 with an MTTF of 1.25×103 and 1.27×103 cycles. The retention signal loads provide an accurate signal editing technique for predicting fatigue life with good reliability characteristic understanding for the suspension part

Global Positioning System measurements of strain accumulation and slip transfer through the restraining bend along the Dead Sea fault system in Lebanon

Approximately 4 yr of campaign and continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements across the Dead Sea fault system (DSFS) in Lebanon provide direct measurements of interseismic strain accumulation along a 200-km-long restraining bend in this continental transform fault. Late Cenozoic transpression within this restraining bend has maintained more than 3000 m of topography in the Mount Lebanon and Anti-Lebanon ranges. The GPS velocity field indicates 4-5 mm yr-1 of relative plate motion is transferred through the restraining bend to the northern continuation of the DSFS in northwestern Syria. Near-field GPS velocities are generally parallel to the major, left-lateral strike-slip faults, suggesting that much of the expected convergence across the restraining bend is likely accommodated by different structures beyond the aperture of the GPS network (e.g. offshore Lebanon and, possibly, the Palmyride fold belt in SW Syria). Hence, these geodetic results suggest a partitioning of crustal deformation involving strike-slip displacements in the interior of the restraining bend, and crustal shortening in the outer part of the restraining bend. Within the uncertainties, the GPS-based rates of fault slip compare well with Holocene-averaged estimates of slip along the two principal strike-slip faults: the Yammouneh and Serghaya faults. Of these two faults, more slip occurs on the Yammouneh fault, which constitutes the primary plate boundary structure between the Arabia and Sinai plates. Hence, the Yammouneh fault is the structural linkage that transfers slip to the northern part of the transform in northwestern Syria. From the perspective of the regional earthquake hazard, the Yammouneh fault is presently locked and accumulating interseismic strain

Mudflats to marvel: soil health of a successfully restored mangrove coastline in Sungai Besar, Selangor

Mangrove forest plays an important part in our ecosystems. Mangroves functions include coastline protection, marine produce, firewood, charcoal production and for the conservation of floral and faunal species. This unique ecosystem is under tremendous stress due to erosion, excessive anthropogenic activities and natural disasters such as tsunamis. The coastlines of Malaysia have witnessed drastic decline in the recent years whereby 29% of the Malaysian coastal areas were reported to be vulnerable to serious erosion (Wan Rasidah et al., 2015). In order to restore this vulnerable ecosystem, efforts have been undertaken by replanting of mangrove seedlings and placing geotubes to control soil erosion and accretion. Geotubes are intended to slow erosion along coast line, breakwater and to provide some protection to mangrove seedlings. It consists of permeable geotextile fabric folded and sewn together and hydraulically filled with dredged sand (Shin et al., 2002). Since the installation of geotubes, we monitored the soil physical and chemical properties of an old growth mangrove forest and a newly regenerating mangrove stands over the years. This paper highlights the important changes that took place from 2007 to 2017 in an established mangrove and a newly regenerating mangrove plots which have been restored

Probabilistic-Based Analysis for Damaging Features of Fatigue Strain Loadings

This paper presents the behaviour of fatigue damage extraction in fatigue strain histories of automotive components using the probabilistic approach. This is a consideration for the evaluation of fatigue damage extraction in automotive components under service loading that is vital in a reliability analysis. For the purpose of research work, two strain signals data are collected from a car coil spring during a road test. The fatigue strain signals are then extracted using the wavelet transform in order to extract the high amplitude segments that contribute to the fatigue damage. At this stage, the low amplitude segments are removed because of their minimal contribution to the fatigue damage. The fatigue damage based on all extracted segments is calculated using some significant strain-life models. Subsequently, the statistics-based Weibull distribution is applied to evaluate the fatigue damage extraction. It has been found that about 70% of the probability of failure occurs in the 1.0 x 10-5 to 1.0 x 10-4 damage range for both signals, while 90% of the probability of failure occurs in the 1.0 x 10-4 to 1.0 x 10-3 damage range. Lastly, it is suggested that the fatigue damage can be determined by the Weibull distribution analysi

A Novel Classification of 3D Rib Cage Deformity in Subjects With Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis

Study Design: This was a multicentric cross-sectional descriptive study. Objective: To analyze patterns of 3D rib cage deformity in subjects with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) and their relationship with the spinal deformity. Summary of Background Data: Subjects with AIS present with rib cage deformity that can affect respiratory functions. The 3D rib cage deformities in AIS and their relationship to the spinal deformity are still unelucidated. Methods: A total of 200 AIS and 71 controls underwent low-dose biplanar x-rays and had their spine and rib cage reconstructed in 3-dimensional (D). Classic spinopelvic parameters were calculated in 3D and: rib cage gibbosity, thickness, width, volume and volumetric spinal penetration index (VSPI). Subjects with AIS were classified as: group I with mild rib cage deformity (n=88), group II with severe rib cage deformity (n=112) subgrouped into IIa (high gibbosity, n=48), IIb (high VSPI, n=48), and IIc (both high gibbosity and VSPI, n=16). Results: Groups IIa and IIb had a higher Cobb angle (33 vs. 54 degrees and 46 degrees, respectively) and torsion index (11 vs. 14 degrees and 13 degrees, respectively) than group I. Group IIb showed more severe hypokyphosis (IIb=21 degrees; IIa=33 degrees; I=36 degrees; control=42 degrees) with a reduced rib cage volume (IIb=4731 cm3; IIa=4985 cm3; I=5257 cm3; control=5254 cm3) and thickness (IIb=135 mm; IIa=148 mm; I=144 mm; control=144 mm). Group IIa showed an increasingly large local gibbosity descending from proximal to distal levels and did not follow the axial rotation of the spine. Group IIc showed characteristics of both groups IIa and IIb. Conclusions: This new classification of 3D rib cage deformity in AIS shows that the management of cases with high VSPI (groups IIb and IIc) should focus on restoring as much kyphosis as possible to avoid respiratory repercussions. Treatment indications in groups I and IIa would follow the consensual basic principles reported in the literature regarding bracing and surgery

Development of Ni- and Fe- based catalysts with different metal particle sizes for the production of carbon nanotubes and hydrogen from thermo-chemical conversion of waste plastics

Co-production of valuable hydrogen and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) has obtained growing interest for the management of waste plastics through thermo-chemical conversion technology. Catalyst development is one of the key factors for this process to improve hydrogen production and the quality of CNTs. In this work, Ni/SiO2 and Fe/SiO2 catalysts with different metal particle sizes were investigated in relation to their performance on the production of hydrogen and CNTs from catalytic gasification of waste polypropylene, using a two-stage fixed-bed reaction system. The influences of the type of metals and the crystal size of metal particles on product yields and the production of CNTs in terms of morphology have been studied using a range of techniques; gas chromatography (GC); X-ray diffraction (XRD); temperature programme oxidation (TPO); scanning electron microscopy (SEM); transmission electron microscopy (TEM) etc. The results show that the Fe-based catalysts, in particular with large particle size (∼80 nm), produced the highest yield of hydrogen (∼25.60 mmol H2 g−1 plastic) and the highest yield of carbons (29 wt.%), as well as the largest fraction of graphite carbons (as obtained from TPO analysis of the reacted catalyst). Both Fe- and Ni-based catalysts with larger metal particles produced higher yield of hydrogen compared with the catalysts with smaller metal particles, respectively. Furthermore, the CNTs formed using the Ni/SiO2-S catalyst (with the smallest metal particles around 8 nm) produced large amount of amorphous carbons, which are undesirable for the process of CNTs production