Returns Policies and Retail Price Competition

We show that returns policies do increase manufacturer profitability by attenuating price competition between retailers. This effect holds only in the presence of end-user demand uncertainty. The conditions under which a returns policy raises the manufacturer's profit are weaker when retailing is a duopoly than when retailing is a monopoly. This suggests that returns policies serve both to dampen competition and resolve demand uncertainty.channels, competition, returns, pricing

Determination of Elevator and Rudder Hinge Forces on the Learjet Model 55 Aircraft

The empennage structure on the Learjet 55 aircraft was quite similar to the empennage structure on earlier Learjet models. However, due to an important structural change in the vertical fin along with the new loads environment on the 50 series aircraft, a structural test was required on the vertical fin, but the horizontal tail was substantiated by a comparative analysis with previous tests. NASTRAN analysis was used to investigate empennage deflections, stress levels, and control surface hinge forces. The hinge force calculations were made with the control surfaces in the deflected as well as undeflected configurations. A skin panel buckling analysis was also performed, and the non-linear effects of buckling were simulated in the NASTRAN model to more accurately define internal loads and stress levels. Comparisons were then made between the Model 55 and the Model 35/36 stresses and internal forces to determine which components were qualified by previous tests. Some of the methods and techniques used in this analysis are described

Probabilistic Color Image Classifier Based on Volumetric Robust Features

Need of more sophisticated methods to handle color images becomes higher due to the usage size and volume of images To retrieve and index the color images there must be a proper and efficient indexing and classification method to reduce the processing time false indexing and increase the efficiency of classification and grouping We propose a new probabilistic model for the classification of color images using volumetric robust features which represents the color and intensity values of an region The image has been split into number of images using box methods to generate integral image The generated integral image is used to compute the interest point and the interest point represent the volumetric feature of an integral image With the set of interest points computed for a source image we compute the probability value of other set of interest points trained for each class to come up with the higher probability to identify the class of the input image The proposed method has higher efficiency and evaluated with 2000 images as data set where 70 has been used for training and 30 as test se

Scalar Field Dark Energy Perturbations and their Scale Dependence

We estimate the amplitude of perturbation in dark energy at different length scales for a quintessence model with an exponential potential. It is shown that on length scales much smaller than hubble radius, perturbation in dark energy is negligible in comparison to that in in dark matter. However, on scales comparable to the hubble radius ($\lambda_{p}>1000\mathrm{Mpc}$) the perturbation in dark energy in general cannot be neglected. As compared to the $\Lambda$CDM model, large scale matter power spectrum is suppressed in a generic quintessence dark energy model. We show that on scales $\lambda_{p} < 1000\mathrm{Mpc}$, this suppression is primarily due to different background evolution compared to $\Lambda$CDM model. However, on much larger scales perturbation in dark energy can effect matter power spectrum significantly. Hence this analysis can act as a discriminator between $\Lambda$CDM model and other generic dark energy models with $w_{de} \neq -1$.Comment: 12 pages, 13 figures, added new section, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Hypothesis of path integral duality: Applications to QED

We use the modified propagator for quantum field based on a ``principle of path integral duality" proposed earlier in a paper by Padmanabhan to investigate several results in QED. This procedure modifies the Feynman propagator by the introduction of a fundamental length scale. We use this modified propagator for the Dirac particles to evaluate the first order radiative corrections in QED. We find that the extra factor of the modified propagator acts like a regulator at the Planck scales thereby removing the divergences that otherwise appear in the conventional radiative correction calculations of QED. We find that:(i) all the three renormalisation factors $Z_1$, $Z_2$, and $Z_3$ pick up finite corrections and (ii) the modified propagator breaks the gauge invariance at a very small level of ${\mathcal{O}}(10^{-45})$. The implications of this result to generation of the primordial seed magnetic fields are discussed.Comment: 15 pages, LaTeX2e (uses ijmpd.sty); To appear in IJMP-D; References adde

Anisotropic fluid inside a relativistic star

An anisotropic fluid with variable energy density and negative pressure is proposed, both outside and inside stars. The gravitational field is constant everywhere in free space (if we neglect the local contributions) and its value is of the order of $g = 10^{-8} cm/s^{2}$, in accordance with MOND model. With $\rho,~ p \propto 1/r$, the acceleration is also constant inside stars but the value is different from one star to another and depends on their mass $M$ and radius $R$. In spite of the fact that the spacetime is of Rindler type and curved even far from a local mass, the active gravitational energy on the horizon is $-1/4g$, as for the flat Rindler space, excepting the negative sign.Comment: 9 pages, refs added, new chapter added, no figure

Dark Energy and Gravity

I review the problem of dark energy focusing on the cosmological constant as the candidate and discuss its implications for the nature of gravity. Part 1 briefly overviews the currently popular `concordance cosmology' and summarises the evidence for dark energy. It also provides the observational and theoretical arguments in favour of the cosmological constant as the candidate and emphasises why no other approach really solves the conceptual problems usually attributed to the cosmological constant. Part 2 describes some of the approaches to understand the nature of the cosmological constant and attempts to extract the key ingredients which must be present in any viable solution. I argue that (i)the cosmological constant problem cannot be satisfactorily solved until gravitational action is made invariant under the shift of the matter lagrangian by a constant and (ii) this cannot happen if the metric is the dynamical variable. Hence the cosmological constant problem essentially has to do with our (mis)understanding of the nature of gravity. Part 3 discusses an alternative perspective on gravity in which the action is explicitly invariant under the above transformation. Extremizing this action leads to an equation determining the background geometry which gives Einstein's theory at the lowest order with Lanczos-Lovelock type corrections. (Condensed abstract).Comment: Invited Review for a special Gen.Rel.Grav. issue on Dark Energy, edited by G.F.R.Ellis, R.Maartens and H.Nicolai; revtex; 22 pages; 2 figure

Thermodynamic Interpretation of Field Equations at Horizon of BTZ Black Hole

A spacetime horizon comprising with a black hole singularity acts like a boundary of a thermal system associated with the notions of temperature and entropy. In case of static metric of BTZ black hole, the field equations near horizon boundary can be expressed as a thermal identity $dE = TdS + P_{r}dA$, where $E = M$ is the mass of BTZ black hole, $dA$ is the change in the area of the black hole horizon when the horizon is displaced infinitesimally small, $P_{r}$ is the radial pressure provided by the source of Einstein equations, $S= 4\pi a$ is the entropy and $T = \kappa / 2\pi$ is the Hawking temperature associated with the horizon. This approach is studied further to generalize it for non-static BTZ black hole and show that it is also possible to interpret the field equation near horizon as a thermodynamic identity $dE = TdS + P_{r}dA + \Omega_{+} dJ$, where $\Omega_{+}$ is the angular velocity and $J$ is the angular momentum of BTZ black hole. These results indicate that the field equations for BTZ black hole possess intrinsic thermodynamic properties near horizon.Comment: 8 page

Evolving Newton's Constant, Extended Gravity Theories and SnIa Data Analysis

If Newton's constant G evolves on cosmological timescales as predicted by extended gravity theories then Type Ia supernovae (SnIa) can not be treated as standard candles. The magnitude-redshift datasets however can still be useful. They can be used to simultaneously fit for both H(z) and G(z) (so that local G(z) constraints are also satisfied) in the context of appropriate parametrizations. Here we demonstrate how can this analysis be done by applying it to the Gold SnIa dataset. We compare the derived effective equation of state parameter w(z) at best fit with the corresponding result obtained by neglecting the evolution G(z). We show that even though the results clearly differ from each other, in both cases the best fit w(z) crosses the phantom divide w=-1. We then attempt to reconstruct a scalar tensor theory that predicts the derived best fit forms of H(z) and G(z). Since the best fit G(z) fixes the scalar tensor potential evolution F(z), there is no ambiguity in the reconstruction and the potential U(z) can be derived uniquely. The particular reconstructed scalar tensor theory however, involves a change of sign of the kinetic term $\Phi'(z)^2$ as in the minimally coupled case.Comment: Minor changes. Accepted in Phys. Rev. D. 7 revtex pages, 5 figures. The mathematica file with the numerical analysis of the paper is available at http://leandros.physics.uoi.gr/snevol.ht