Identifying the Service Quality for a B2B Cross-Border E-Commerce Platform

The global cross-border e-commerce (CBEC) transactions is experiencing a fast development in recent years. However, the academic research is still rare. In addition, service quality of the CBEC platforms have been identified as the important factors of the success of CBEC but there is a lack of empirical work to identify the service quality of the business to business (B2B) CBEC platforms are rare. To fulfill this gap, this study intends to identify the critical service quality of the B2B CBEC platform. Based on the service quality model, we will identify the critical service quality of the B2B CBEC platform. We will conduct a modified Delphi method to collect data with the experts and suppliers in the platform. Our research findings will contribute to the academia by creating a service quality model of B2B CBEC platform. The results will provide practical insights for the platform design of B2B CBEC platform

Outsourcing Tools for IT

Department of ComputingRefereed conference pape

Fever Screening at Airports and Imported Dengue

Airport fever screening in Taiwan, July 2003–June 2004, identified 40 confirmed dengue cases. Results obtained by capture immunoglobulin (Ig) M and IgG enzyme-linked immunoassay, real time 1-step polymerase chain reaction, and virus isolation showed that 33 (82.5%) of 40 patients were viremic. Airport fever screening can thus quickly identify imported dengue cases

Editorial: Special issue on the challenges in environmental science and engineering: CESE-2012 9-13 September 2012, RACV City Club, Melbourne, Australia

This special issue carries selected peer-reviewed manuscripts based on the presentations made at CESE-2012, the Fifth Annual International Conference on Challenges in Environmental Science & Engineering , CESE Conference Series that was held from the 9th to the 13th of September 2012 at the RACV City Club in Melbourne, Australia

The effect of particle sizes of steel slag as cement replacement in high strength concrete under elevated temperatures

This study investigates the impact of utilizing steel slag (SS) as a partial substitute for cement in high strength concrete (HSC) under high temperatures covering a range from 200 °C to 800 °C over a duration of 2 h. Two particle sizes of SS: 75 µm and 150 µm, were utilized as fine steel slag (FSS) and coarse steel slag (CSS). This study evaluates several physicochemical and compressive strengths of the HSC. After conducting the compressive strength, both residual compressive strength (RCS) and relative residual compressive strength (RRCS) were calculated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) analysis were carried out to analyze the physicochemical properties of HSC before and after subjected to elevated temperatures. The findings indicate an increase in the RCS of all specimens up to 400 °C. The replacement of FSS for cement enhances the compressive strength of HSC at ambient temperature, and FSS performs better than CSS up to 200 °C. However, beyond 400 °C, CSS exhibits a superior RRCS compared to FSS. XRD analysis confirms mineralogical changes in the HSC after exposure to fire, including the decomposition of C-S-H gel and the conversion of calcium hydroxide into calcium carbonate. The present study suggests that incorporating CSS in HSC has the potential to enhance its performance under high temperature conditions

Durability properties of mortar containing steel slag as supplementary cementitious material

The use of steel slag (SS) as supplementary cementitious material (SCM) is promising from the perspective of environmental protection and resource utilization. Previous studies have shown that using 20% SS replacement tends to decrease the strength of concrete. However, few studies have investigated the effect of SS on the durability properties of concrete, such as resistance to ammonium nitrate attack and resistance to sulfate attack. In this study, SS powder has been used as SCM with replacement ratio of 0, 10%, 20%, 30% and 40% to manufacture mortar. Compressive strength test, ammonium nitrate attack test and sulfate attack test have been conducted to investigate the properties of hardened mortar specimens. From this study, it is concluded that the increase in SS replacement ratio caused the decrease in mortar strength, the exposure to sulfate solution could increase the strength of mortar, and the exposure to ammonium nitrate solution led to the decrease in strength of mortar

Prognostic implications of surrogate markers of atherosclerosis in low to intermediate risk patients with type 2 diabetes.

published_or_final_versio

Episodic Random Accretion and the Cosmological Evolution of Supermassive Black Hole Spins

The growth of supermassive black holes (BHs) located at the centers of their host galaxies comes mainly from accretion of gas, but how to fuel them remains an outstanding unsolved problem in quasar evolution. This issue can be elucidated by quantifying the radiative efficiency parameter ($\eta$) as a function of redshift, which also provides constraints on the average spin of the BHs and its possible evolution with time. We derive a formalism to link $\eta$ with the luminosity density, BH mass density, and duty cycle of quasars, quantities we can estimate from existing quasar and galaxy survey data. We find that $\eta$ has a strong cosmological evolution: at z~2, $\eta \approx 0.3$, and by $z\approx 0$ it has decreased by an order of magnitude, to $\eta\approx 0.03$. We interpret this trend as evolution in BH spin, and we appeal to episodic, random accretion as the mechanism for reducing the spin. The observation that the fraction of radio-loud quasars decreases with increasing redshift is inconsistent with the popular notion that BH spin is a critical factor for generating strong radio jets. In agreement with previous studies, we show that the derived history of BH accretion closely follows the cosmic history of star formation, consistent with other evidence that BHs and their host galaxies coevolve.Comment: 4 page, 2 color figures. Accepted by ApJ

A deterministic approach for the estimation of mutation rates in cultured mammalian cells

Unequal growth rates between mutant and wild-type cells in a large population constitute a problem for the estimation of mutation rate. Over a period of cell growth, a selective advantage of one cell type over the other might lead to considerable error in the estimation of mutation rate if equal growth rates are assumed. In this study, we propose a formula and apply it to the estimation of spontaneous mutation rate in a growing population of Chinese hamster V79 cells in which ouabain-resistant mutant cells exhibit a slower growth rate than the wild-type cells. The formula is a generalization of that previously presented by Armitage (1953), and this is the first attempt to apply the deterministic approach for mutation rate estimation to cultured mammalian cells. The value of the estimated rate is compred with that derived from a parallel experiment using the fluctuation test of Luria and Delbruck (1943). The limitations and advantages of taking the deterministic approach to mutation rate estimation in mammalian cell systems are discussed.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/25744/1/0000304.pd