259 research outputs found
A study on RFID adoption for vehicle tracking in container terminal
Purpose: Numerous studies discuss that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology can provide better container handling efficiency; however, relative lack of research concerns the tracking and monitoring the movement of vehicle in the container terminal environment. Thus, this study aims at discussing the feasibility of applying RFID for vehicle tracking purpose in a container terminal.
Design/methodology/approach: This study makes use of a series of experiments in a container terminal to discuss the factors that affect the use of RFID in the terminal. The possibility and accuracy of using RFID in such challenging environment is also investigated. These propositions are investigated by a case study.
Findings: The experimental results indicate that the RFID communication is good at the containers area which occupies nearly all the area in the container terminal. However, in other area such as sea side and free area, the performance is not good and 100% readability only achieved in 5m and 10m in free area and sea side respectively.
Originality/value: The container terminal environment, which consists of different transport vehicles for onward transportation, will affect the performance of RFID readability. Poor setup of the RFID reader and tag will lower the feasibility of RFID adoption as well as increase the cost. In order to address the challenges of implementing RFID in the container terminal environment, this paper provides a series of real site testing experiments to study the RFID performance in the container terminal environment. This represents an original contribution of value to future research and practice in the RFID adoptions in container terminal environmentPeer Reviewe
A Framework for the Implementation of RFID Systems
There are an increasing number of organizations planning to implement Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) systems to enhance their competitiveness. Due to the novelty of the technology, many managerial challenges exist in determining and planning for the implementation of such systems. These challenges often lead to wasted efforts and resources, as well as to failed implementations. This paper presents a systematic and holistic RFID implementation framework which has been validated by both users and experts. The framework outlines the important tasks to be performed in each step of the implementation process. To enable practitioners to make informed go/no‐go decisions, essential considerations of implementation are also discussed in this paper. Furthermore, the critical success factors for the deployment of such systems are also elaborated
A Financial Data Mining Model for Extracting Customer Behavior
Facing the problem of variation and chaotic
behavior of customers, the lack of sufficient information
is a challenge to many business organizations. Human
analysts lacking an understanding of the hidden patterns
in business data, thus, can miss corporate business
opportunities. In order to embrace all business
opportunities, enhance the competitiveness, discovery of
hidden knowledge, unexpected patterns and useful rules
from large databases have provided a feasible solution for
several decades. While there is a wide range of financial
analysis products existing in the financial market, how to
customize the investment portfolio for the customer is
still a challenge to many financial institutions. This paper
aims at developing an intelligent Financial Data Mining
Model (FDMM) for extracting customer behavior in the
financial industry, so as to increase the availability of
decision support data and hence increase customer
satisfaction. The proposed financial model first clusters
the customers into several sectors, and then finds the
correlation among these sectors. It is noted that better
customer segmentation can increase the ability to identify
targeted customers, therefore extracting useful rules for
specific clusters can provide an insight into customers’
buying behavior and marketing implications. To validate
the feasibility of the proposed model, a simple dataset is
collected from a financial company in Hong Kong. The
simulation experiments show that the proposed method
not only can improve the workflow of a financial
company, but also deepen understanding of investment
behavior. Thus, a corporation is able to customize the
most suitable products and services for customers on the
basis of the rules extracted
Respiratory symptoms of Swiss people with primary ciliary dyskinesia.
Background
Mostly derived from chart reviews, where symptoms are recorded in a nonstandardised manner, clinical data about primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) are inconsistent, which leads to missing and unreliable information. We assessed the prevalence and frequency of respiratory and ear symptoms and studied differences by age and sex among an unselected population of Swiss people with PCD.
Methods
We sent a questionnaire that included items from the FOLLOW-PCD standardised questionnaire to all Swiss PCD registry participants.
Results
We received questionnaires from 74 (86%) out of 86 invited persons or their caregivers (median age 23 years, range 3-73 years), including 68% adults (≥18 years) and 51% females. Among participants, 70 (94%) reported chronic nasal symptoms; most frequently runny nose (65%), blocked nose (55%) or anosmia (38%). Ear pain and hearing problems were reported by 58% of the participants. Almost all (99%) reported cough and sputum production. The most common chronic cough complications were gastro-oesophageal reflux (n=11; 15%), vomiting (n=8; 11%) and urinary incontinence (n=6; 8%). Only nine (12%) participants reported frequent wheeze, which occurred mainly during infection or exercise, while 49 (66%) reported shortness of breath, and 9% even at rest or during daily activities. Older patients reported more frequent nasal symptoms and shortness of breath. We found no difference by sex or ultrastructural ciliary defect.
Conclusion
This is the first study to describe patient-reported PCD symptoms. The consistent collection of standardised clinical data will allow us to better characterise the phenotypic variability of the disease and study disease course and prognosis
Arp2/3 Complex Is Required for Macrophage Integrin Functions but Is Dispensable for FcR Phagocytosis and In Vivo Motility
The Arp2/3 complex nucleates branched actin, forming networks involved in lamellipodial protrusion, phagocytosis, and cell adhesion. We derived primary bone marrow macrophages lacking Arp2/3 complex (Arpc2−/−) and directly tested its role in macrophage functions. Despite protrusion and actin assembly defects, Arpc2−/− macrophages competently phagocytose via FcR and chemotax toward CSF and CX3CL1. However, CR3 phagocytosis and fibronectin haptotaxis, both integrin-dependent processes, are disrupted. Integrin-responsive actin assembly and αM/β2 integrin localization are compromised in Arpc2−/− cells. Using an in vivo system to observe endogenous monocytes migrating toward full-thickness ear wounds we found that Arpc2−/− monocytes maintain cell speeds and directionality similar to control. Our work reveals that the Arp2/3 complex is not a general requirement for phagocytosis or chemotaxis but is a critical driver of integrin-dependent processes. We demonstrate further that cells lacking Arp2/3 complex function in vivo remain capable of executing important physiological responses that require rapid directional motility. Using a combination of cell culture-based and in vivo mouse experiments, Rotty et al. demonstrate that the actin-nucleating Arp2/3 complex is not absolutely required for macrophage FcR phagocytosis, chemotaxis, or in vivo monocyte directional motility. Rather, the complex has a critical role in regulating integrin-dependent macrophage processes
Social and Big Data Computing for Knowledge Management
The proceedings from the eighth KMO conference represent the findings of this international meeting which brought together researchers and developers from industry and the academic world to report on the latest scientific and technical advances on knowledge management in organizations. This conference provided an international forum for authors to present and discuss research focused on the role of knowledge management for innovative services in industries, to shed light on recent advances in social and big data computing for KM as well as to identify future directions for researching the role of knowledge management in service innovation and how cloud computing can be used to address many of the issues currently facing KM in academia and industrial sectors
A transcribed enhancer dictates mesendoderm specification in pluripotency.
Enhancers and long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are key determinants of lineage specification during development. Here, we evaluate remodeling of the enhancer landscape and modulation of the lncRNA transcriptome during mesendoderm specification. We sort mesendodermal progenitors from differentiating embryonic stem cells (ESCs) according to Eomes expression, and find that enhancer usage is coordinated with mesendoderm-specific expression of key lineage-determining transcription factors. Many of these enhancers are associated with the expression of lncRNAs. Examination of ESC-specific enhancers interacting in three-dimensional space with mesendoderm-specifying transcription factor loci identifies MesEndoderm Transcriptional Enhancer Organizing Region (Meteor). Genetic and epigenetic manipulation of the Meteor enhancer reveal its indispensable role during mesendoderm specification and subsequent cardiogenic differentiation via transcription-independent and -dependent mechanisms. Interestingly, Meteor-deleted ESCs are epigenetically redirected towards neuroectodermal lineages. Loci, topologically associating a transcribed enhancer and its cognate protein coding gene, appear to represent therefore a class of genomic elements controlling developmental competence in pluripotency
Polariton propagation in weak confinement quantum wells
Exciton-polariton propagation in a quantum well, under centre-of-mass
quantization, is computed by a variational self-consistent microscopic theory.
The Wannier exciton envelope functions basis set is given by the simple
analytical model of ref. [1], based on pure states of the centre-of-mass wave
vector, free from fitting parameters and "ad hoc" (the so called additional
boundary conditions-ABCs) assumptions. In the present paper, the former
analytical model is implemented in order to reproduce the centre-of-mass
quantization in a large range of quantum well thicknesses (5a_B < L < inf.).
The role of the dynamical transition layer at the well/barrier interfaces is
discussed at variance of the classical Pekar's dead-layer and ABCs. The Wannier
exciton eigenstates are computed, and compared with various theoretical models
with different degrees of accuracy. Exciton-polariton transmission spectra in
large quantum wells (L>> a_B) are computed and compared with experimental
results of Schneider et al.\cite{Schneider} in high quality GaAs samples. The
sound agreement between theory and experiment allows to unambiguously assign
the exciton-polariton dips of the transmission spectrum to the pure states of
the Wannier exciton center-of-mass quantization.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures; will appear in Phys.Rev.
Spin-Charge Separation in the Model: Magnetic and Transport Anomalies
A real spin-charge separation scheme is found based on a saddle-point state
of the model. In the one-dimensional (1D) case, such a saddle-point
reproduces the correct asymptotic correlations at the strong-coupling
fixed-point of the model. In the two-dimensional (2D) case, the transverse
gauge field confining spinon and holon is shown to be gapped at {\em finite
doping} so that a spin-charge deconfinement is obtained for its first time in
2D. The gap in the gauge fluctuation disappears at half-filling limit, where a
long-range antiferromagnetic order is recovered at zero temperature and spinons
become confined. The most interesting features of spin dynamics and transport
are exhibited at finite doping where exotic {\em residual} couplings between
spin and charge degrees of freedom lead to systematic anomalies with regard to
a Fermi-liquid system. In spin dynamics, a commensurate antiferromagnetic
fluctuation with a small, doping-dependent energy scale is found, which is
characterized in momentum space by a Gaussian peak at (, ) with
a doping-dependent width (, is the doping
concentration). This commensurate magnetic fluctuation contributes a
non-Korringa behavior for the NMR spin-lattice relaxation rate. There also
exits a characteristic temperature scale below which a pseudogap behavior
appears in the spin dynamics. Furthermore, an incommensurate magnetic
fluctuation is also obtained at a {\em finite} energy regime. In transport, a
strong short-range phase interference leads to an effective holon Lagrangian
which can give rise to a series of interesting phenomena including linear-
resistivity and Hall-angle. We discuss the striking similarities of these
theoretical features with those found in the high- cuprates and give aComment: 70 pages, RevTex, hard copies of 7 figures available upon request;
minor revisions in the text and references have been made; To be published in
July 1 issue of Phys. Rev. B52, (1995
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