Rates of convergence for Renyi entropy in extreme value theory

Max stable laws are limit laws of linearly normalized partial maxima of independent identically distributed random variables. Saeb (2014) proves that the Renyi entropy of order b (b > 1) of linear normalized maximum of iid random variables with continuous differentiable density is convergent to the Renyi entropy of order b of the max stable laws. In this paper, we study the rate of convergence result for Renyi entropy for linearly normalized partial maxima.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1402.094

The impact on organizational performance of contextual factors, strategy and management control systems

This dissertation examined antecedents of the use of contemporary management control systems (MCS) by testing the alignment of strategic and contextual variables with variables of contemporary systems of control in the organization. The study further explored the performance consequences of the implementation of these control systems, and the manner in which strategy can influence the organization’s control culture and management accounting practices. The impact of contextual factors, notably size and structural arrangements, such as decentralization and diversification, on management\u27s choice of control systems were also examined. Hence, the study addressed the need for a better understanding of the association between variables across the four organizational areas of context, strategy, control and performance and attempted to bridge existing gaps in the body of knowledge in relation to the nature of the relationship between variables in these areas. Contributions of this study to existing knowledge include the integration of different relationships, across the study variables, that were separately tested in previous research, the validation of a multi-dimensional model, suggested by Langfield-Smith (1997), to measure organizational strategic orientation, the use of several theories from different disciplines to predict the different relationships included in the study model and the investigation of relationships that have been little documented or not specifically explored. Twenty seven research hypotheses were developed and tested: the first six hypotheses concerned predicted causal relationships between the organizational strategic orientation (i.e., entrepreneurial vs. conservative) and management control systems, notably, participative budgeting, activity based costing (ABC), total quality management (TQM), just in time (JIT), innovation, and the balanced scorecard (BSC). A further fifteen hypotheses explored the effect of the organizational contextual variables of size, decentralization, and diversification on the use of these control systems. Finally, the remaining six hypotheses tested the relationship between organizational performance and the adoption of the specified MCS in the organization. The hypotheses were tested on a randomly selected sample of Australian manufacturing organizations through a questionnaire survey addressed to the senior management of each organization. A correlation matrix for the study constructs followed by a structural equation modeling approach was conducted to test the relationships between the variables of the study. The results of the study generated a number of highly significant correlations in support of the hypotheses. Participative budgeting and innovation proved to be more likely associated with entrepreneurial strategies, rather than conservative strategies; ABC was found to be positively associated with the size of the organization, TQM was found to be associated with decentralized structural arrangements, while BSC was positively associated with firm diversification. Both innovation and BSC were found to have significant positive effects on organizational performance. The study is expected to benefit recent and future MCS implementers by directing their attention to appropriate use of these initiatives when certain contexts and strategic priorities are in place. The findings are also expected to advance the developed theory and add significantly to our knowledge of the inter-relationships between context, strategy, control systems and performance in manufacturing organizations

FRACTIONAL DERIVATIVE-BASED ANALYSIS OF THE HEAT TRANSFER PROPERTIES OF FLUID FLOW OVER A CONTRACTING PERMEABLE INFINITE-LENGTH CYLINDER

Understanding the complex interplay between the contracting behavior of the cylinder and the fluid flow dynamics has implications for the design of porous structures for heat exchange and filtration systems. In this study, we investigate the dynamics and thermal behavior of fluid flow past a contracting permeable infinite cylinder. First, we developed a mathematical model based on the Navier-Stokes equations to describe the fluid dynamics around the contracting permeable infinite cylinder. A new simple well-behaved definition of fractional derivative called conformable fractional derivative introduced by authors Khalil et al. is employed to generalize the PDE’s of momentum and energy. The similarity transformation technique is utilized to transform the proposed mathematical problem into a non-linear ODE’s. Then, we utilized Iterative Power Series (IPS) technique to numerically solve the governing equations and obtain detailed insights into the flow patterns and thermal characteristics. We observed significant changes in the flow velocity and temperature distribution as the cylinder contracted, highlighting the intricate thermal behavior of the system. Additionally, the changes in the fraction order was found to have a notable impact on the overall flow patterns and heat transfer processes

Processing and structure-property relationships of natural rubber/wheat bran biocomposites

In this work, wheat bran was used as cellulosic filler in biocomposites based on natural rubber. The impact of wheat bran content [ranging from 10 to 50 parts per hundred rubber (phr)] on processing, structure, dynamic mechanical properties, thermal properties, physico-mechanical properties and morphology of resulting biocomposites was investigated. For better characterization of interfacial interactions between natural rubber and wheat bran, achieved results were compared with properties of biocomposites filled with commercially available cellulosic fillers—wood flour and microcellulose. It was observed that wheat bran, unlike commercial cellulosic fillers, contains high amount of proteins, which act like plasticizers having profitable impact on processing, physical, thermo-mechanical and morphological properties of biocomposites. This is due to better dispersion and distribution of wheat bran particles in natural rubber, which results in reduction of stiffness and porosity of the biocomposites. Regardless of cellulosic filler type, Wolff activity coefficient was positive for all studied biocomposites implying reinforcing effect of the applied fillers, while tensile strength and elongation at break decreased with increasing filler content. This phenomenon is related to restricted strain-induced crystallization of NR matrix due to limited mobility of polymer chains in the biocomposites. Furthermore, this explains negligible impact of particle size distribution, chemical composition and crystallinity degree of applied cellulosic filler on static mechanical properties of highly-filled NR biocomposites. The conducted investigations show that wheat bran presents interesting alternative for commercially available cellulosic fillers and could be successfully applied as a low-cost filler in polymer compositesPostprint (author's final draft