Exploring an Objective Weighting System for Travel & Tourism Pillars

AbstractThe World Economic Forum employs Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Indexes (TTCI) to measure the travel & tourism (T&T) global competitiveness of a country. The TTCI overall scores are calculated with an arithmetic mean aggregation from the scores of the fourteen composite pillars with a subjective assumption of all the pillars having the same weights. This paper attempts to release such a subjective assumption by proposing a new solution framework to explore an objective weighting system for the pillars. The proposed solution framework employs the Expectation Maximization (EM) clustering algorithm to group the 139 ranked countries into three classes and then performs the Artificial Neural Network (ANN) analysis to explore the objective weighting system for the fourteen pillars. The results show that tourism infrastructure, ground transport infrastructure, air transport infrastructure, cultural resources, health and hygiene, and ICT infrastructure are the six most critical pillars contributing to the TTCI overall scores. Accordingly, the policy makers should allocate limited resources with priority to improve these six pillars to frog leap the T&T global competitiveness

Analysis on Effect Decomposition of Industrial COD Emission

AbstractIn this paper, which is based on the effect decomposition model of the emission of pollutants, the change of the industrial COD emission is researched, and a quantitative analysis is carried out for the scale effect, structure effect and technology effect of the industrial COD emission change. The driving factors and causes for this kind of change are identified and the contribution of the three kinds of effects on the pollution reduction is analyzed. The results show that the gradually increasing scale effect is a major factor causing increasing stress on the pollution reduction. The structure effect which is overall low indicates that the activities of optimization and adjustment for the industrial structure have no significant effect. The increment of the generalized technology effect is a main reason for the reduction of the pollution emission. Wherein, the upgrading of industrial technology and the development of scale economy make a great contribution to reduction of pollution. It is an important way to realize the target of pollution reduction by using clean technology effect to offset the new emission and reducing the stock with pollution control effect

A Three-Dimensional Position Architecture Using Digital TDE Receiver and Cylindrical Array Antenna

AbstractThe robust three-dimensional position architecture is proposed in the paper, where the hybrid time difference of arrival (TDOA) and direction of arrival (DOA) position system was designed to backup the four-station TDOA position system. The digital time delay estimation (TDE) receiver is used for TDOA measurement and the cylindrical array antenna is used for DOA measurement. The general formula of linear phase compensation for cylindrical array antenna in horizontal plane is derived. The detection probability of the TDE receiver and the circular error probability (CEP) of the position systems over Rayleigh fading channel were numerically computed in three-dimensional space. Simulations indicate that the position accuracy of the four-station TDOA position system is degraded but the location function can be retained by the hybrid TDOA and DOA position system when any one of four-stations is out of work

Interpolation in non-positively curved K\"ahler manifolds

We extend to any simply connected K\"ahler manifold with non-positive sectional curvature some conditions for interpolation in $\mathbb{C}$ and in the unit disk given by Berndtsson, Ortega-Cerd\`a and Seip. The main tool is a comparison theorem for the Hessian in K\"ahler geometry due to Greene, Wu and Siu, Yau.Comment: 9 pages, Late

Finite Element Analysis of the Displacement Adjustment Scheme for Column Bases of a 10000 m3 Spherical Tank During Whole-body Heat Treatment

AbstractThe stress of spherical tank and displacement of column bases were calculated by finite element method, considering the uneven gravity loads on support columns which was caused by manufacturing and setting errors. The preliminary displacement adjustment scheme for column bases was made, according to the safety range of column bases displacement which was determined by the maximum stress restricted by allowable stress at the set heat treatment temperatures. The final scheme was made after checking the preliminary scheme. The method of making adjustment scheme of column bases for a 10000m3 spherical tank during the whole-body heat treatment may provide a reference for other large spherical tank

A reduction of unilateral ureteral obstruction-induced renal fibrosis by a therapy combining valsartan with aliskiren

Wu WP, Chang CH, Chiu YT, Ku CL, Wen MC, Shu KH, Wu MJ. A reduction of unilateral ureteral obstruction-induced renal fibrosis by a therapy combining valsartan with aliskiren. Am J Physiol Renal Physiol 299: F929-F941, 2010. First published August 4, 2010; doi:10.1152/ajprenal.00192.2010.-The protective effect of combination therapy with valsartan and aliskiren against renal fibrosis remains to be defined. This study was undertaken to examine the protective effects of the combination of valsartan and aliskiren against renal fibrosis induced by unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO). Combination therapy with valsartan (15 mg . kg(-1) . day(-1)) and aliskiren (10 mg . kg(-1) . day(-1)), valsartan monotherapy (30 mg . kg(-1) . day(-1)), and aliskiren monotherapy (20 mg . kg(-1) . day(-1)) all significantly ameliorated the increase in blood urea nitrogen and the degree of hydronephrosis determined by the increase in weight and length of the obstructed kidney. The dose titration study and blood pressure measurement confirmed that the combination therapy provided a greater benefit independent of the vasodilatory effect. There were no significant changes in serum levels of creatinine, sodium, and potassium in UUO rats and any treatment groups. Combination therapy also attenuated UUO-related increases in the scores of tubular dilatation, interstitial volume, interstitial collagen deposition, alpha-smooth muscle actin, the activation of ERK 1/2, the infiltration of monocytes/macrophages, the mRNA expression of snail-1, and transforming growth factor-beta 1 to a greater extent compared with aliskiren or valsartan used alone. The mRNA expression of renin and the (pro) renin receptor significantly increased after UUO. Combination therapy and monotherapy of valsartan and aliskiren had a comparable enhancing effect on the mRNA expression of renin, whereas all these treatments did not affect the expression of the (pro) renin receptor. In conclusion, a direct renin inhibitor in conjunction with an angiotensin II receptor blocker exerts increased renal protection against renal fibrosis and inflammation during obstruction over either agent alone