Signal processing methods for EEG data classification

Imperial Users onl

Efficiency, Profitability and Quality of Banking Services

This paper develops a general framework for combining strategic benchmarking with efficiency benchmarking of the services offered by bank branches. In particular, the service-profit chain is cast as a cascade of efficiency benchmarking models. Three models-based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)-are developed in order to implement the framework in the practical setting of a bank's branches: an operational efficiency mode, a quality efficiency model and a profitability efficiency model. The use of the models is illustrated using data for the branches of a commercial Bank. Empirical results indicate that superior insights can be obtained by analyzing operations, service quality, and profitability simultaneously than the information obtained from benchmarking studies of these three dimensions separately. Some relations between operational efficiency and profitability, and between operational efficiency and service quality are investigated. This paper was presented at the Financial Institutions Center's conference on Performance of Financial Institutions, May 8-10, 1997.

Disentangling Within- and Between-Country Efficiency Differences of Bank Branches

In this paper we propose a framework to assess the efficiency of bank branch networks operating in different financial environments. The framework can be used to disentangle within- from between-country performance differences. The framework is constructive in that it identifies operational aspects responsible for superior performance and suggests guidelines for branch improvement. We report results from three bank branch networks in the U.K., Greece and Cyprus, and demonstrate how branch networks can benefit from such international comparisons.Bank Branch Efficiency, International Benchmarks, Data Envelopment Analysis.

Mapping of cavitating flow regimes in injectors for medium-/heavy-duty diesel engines

Reducing the sac volume size of medium-/heavy-duty diesel engine injector nozzles can minimise the fuel dripping into the combustion chamber at the end of injection events, which has been linked to reduced engine-out emissions. This study demonstrates the effect of reduction in the sac volume of diesel fuel injectors utilised in medium-/heavy-duty applications on the internal nozzle flow. This is realised by comparison of two heavy-duty diesel nozzles that feature a large difference in sac volume size of almost three times. For visualisation purposes, the nozzles have been enlarged by six times, and replicas were manufactured from a transparent material. High-speed digital imaging was used to capture the instantaneous spatial and temporal characteristics of geometric as well as dynamic vortex cavitation structures. The investigation was conducted in a steady-state flow test rig for three different needle valve lifts. For all tested conditions, the flow behaviour was analysed at three distinct areas of the nozzle, these being the needle seat, the sac volume and the injection hole. Interpretation of experimental observations was supported by parallel computational fluid dynamics simulations of the exact conditions measured during the experiments. Post-processing of the captured images has revealed the ensemble – average cavitation location, its standard deviation and the cavitation structures life – time inside the sac volume. Results showed a significant dependency of the internal nozzle flow on the sac volume size and identified clear differences in the structure of the cavitation pockets inside the sac volume under certain operating conditions

A Probabilistic Spatial Distribution Model for Wire Faults in Parallel Network-on-Chip Links

High-performance chip multiprocessors contain numerous parallel-processing cores where a fabric devised as a network-on-chip (NoC) efficiently handles their escalating intertile communication demands. Unfortunately, prolonged operational stresses cause accelerated physically induced wearout leading to permanent metal wire faults in links. Where only a subset of wires may malfunction, enduring healthy wires are leveraged to sustain connectivity when a partially faulty link recovery mechanism is utilized, where its data recovery latency overhead is proportional to the number of consecutive faulty wires. With NoC link failure models being ultimately important, albeit being absent from existing literature, the construction of a mathematical model towards the understanding of the distribution of wire faults in parallel on-chip links is very critical. This paper steps in such a direction, where the objective is to find the probability of having a “fault segment” consisting of a certain number of consecutive “faulty” wires in a parallel NoC link. First, it is shown how the given problem can be reduced to an equivalent combinatorial problem through partitions and necklaces. Then the proposed algorithm counts certain classes of necklaces by making a separation between periodic and aperiodic cases. Finally, the resulting analytical model is tested successfully against a far more costly brute-force algorithm

Searching for the Value of Quality in Financial Services

In this paper we report results from a study, which explores the impact of quality on performance in the financial services industry. Although some disagreement exists, the operations management, economics and marketing literatures advocate a positive relationship between quality and financial performance. Recent strong evidence suggests that in order to be meaningful, such studies must focus on individual industries. Our study focuses on the financial services industry and provides new insights on the relationship between quality and financial performance in this important service sector. Stock performance information is used to further explore this relationship. Through the results reported here, we also identify the weaknesses inherent in existing stock-performance studies on the impact of quality, and identify the methodological approaches that should be pursued in order to avoid such weaknessses.

Cavafy's influence on W.H. Auden

Mémoire numérisé par la Direction des bibliothèques de l'Université de Montréal

Los sueños, la agencia y el juicio

De acuerdo con Sosa, Descartes es un epistemólogo de virtudes, y podemos entender el proyecto epistemológico de Descartes sólo como un proyecto de segundo orden que concuerda con esta manera de entender su epistemología. Mi objetivo en este artículo es el de ahondar en esta comparación con la epistemología de Descartes, principalmente mediante la exploración de una manera en la que uno podría añadir ciertos detalles suplementarios a la postura general de Sosa, con la finalidad de que ésta concuerde de mejor manera con la postura de Descartes, o al menos con la que yo considero que es la postura de DescartesPalabras clave: Ernest Sosa, Descartes, conocimiento animal, conocimiento reflexivo, cognitio, scientia.AbstractAccording to Sosa, Descartes is a virtue epistemologist, and we can make sense of Descartes’ epistemological project only as a second-order project that fits with this view of his epistemology. My aim in this paper is to pursue this comparison with Descartes’ epistemology—principally through exploring a way in which one might add certain supplementary details to Sosa’s general approach, in order to bring it into closer alignment with Descartes’ view, or at least what I take to be Descartes’ view Keywords: Ernest Sosa, Descartes, animal knowledge, reflective knowledge, cognitio, scientia.&nbsp

Initial findings of an investigation on the removal of the cavitation erosion risk in a prototype control orifice inside a diesel injector

A CFD investigation is in progress to study the cavitation characteristics and potential erosion risks of a control orifice in a prototype injector. An early design of the orifice resulted in cavitation erosion after endurance testing. A design modification eliminated the erosion and subsequent prototypes were free from damage. Initial results for the two designs using different simulation methods are discussed, along with the effects of different rates of evaporating and condensing mass transfer. Preliminary findings on possible erosion risk indicators comparing the eroding with the non-eroding design are presented