On Measuring the Criticality of Various Variables and Processes in Organization Information Systems: Proposed Methodological Procedure

This paper proposes methodological procedures to be used by the accounting, organizational and managerial researchers and executives to ascertain the criticality of the variables and the processes in the measurement of management control system. We have restricted the validation of proposed methods to the extraction of critical success factors (CSF) in this study. We have also provided a numerical illustration and tested our methodological procedures using a dataset of an empirical study conducted for the purpose of ascertaining the CSFs. The proposed methods can be used by the researchers in accounting, organizational information systems, economics, and business and also in other relevant disciplines of organizational sciences. The main contribution of this paper is the extension of Rockart’s work [33] on critical success factors. We have extended the theory of CSF beyond the initially suggested domain of information into management control system decision making. The methodological procedures developed by us are expected to enrich the literature of analytical and empirical studies in accounting and organizational areas where it can prove helpful in understanding the criticality of individual variables, processes, methods or success factors.Success Factors, Criticality Analysis, Perceptual Criticality, Critical Success Factors

Estimation of parameters in the growth curve model via an outer product least squares approach for covariance

AbstractIn this paper, we propose a framework of outer product least squares for covariance (COPLS) to directly estimate covariance in the growth curve model based on an analogy, between the outer product of a data vector and covariance of a random vector, and the ordinary least squares technique. The COPLS estimator of covariance has an explicit expression and is shown to have the following properties: (1) following a linear transformation of two independent Wishart distribution for a normal error matrix; (2) having asymptotic normality for a nonnormal error matrix; and (3) having unbiasedness and invariance under a linear transformation group. And, a corresponding two-stage generalized least squares (GLS) estimator for the regression coefficient matrix in the model is obtained and its asymptotic normality is investigated. Simulation studies confirm that the COPLS estimator and the two-stage GLS estimator of the regression coefficient matrix are satisfying competitors with some evident merits to the existing maximum likelihood estimator in finite samples

Tumor Growth Rate Approximation-Assisted Estimation

From tumor to tumor, there is a great variation in the proportion of cancer cells growing and making daughter cells that ultimately metastasize. The differential growth within a single tumor, however, has not been studied extensively and this may be helpful in predicting the aggressiveness of a particular cancer type. The estimation problem of tumor growth rates from several populations is studied. The baseline growth rate estimator is based on a family of interacting particle system models which generalize the linear birth process as models of tumor growth. These interacting models incorporate the spatial structure of the tumor in such a way that growth slows down in a crowded system. Approximation-assisted estimation strategy is proposed when initial values of rates are known from the previous study. Some alternative estimators are suggested and the relative dominance picture of the proposed estimator to the benchmark estimator is investigated. An over-riding theme of this article is that the suggested estimation method extends its traditional counterpart to non-normal populations and to more realistic cases

Persistency of Chlorpyrifos and Termiban (Imidacloprid) in soil against subterranean termites

Subterranean termites are considered to be one of the most destructive termites in urban areas in Pakistan. Different types of insecticides have been used to control subterranean termites. The present studies were conducted to evaluate the comparative persistency and effectiveness of Termiban (imidacloprid 5 SC) and Chlorpyrifos (40 EC) against subterranean termites in the three type of soils (sand, silt and clay) at different time interval. Two different concentrations (100 and 200 ppm) of selected insecticides were prepared and applied to soil in petri plates and termite were released at different time interval to record mortality. Results showed that at each time interval and concentration, mortality of termite was non-significantly different for both insecticides. When persistency of insecticides was tested under closed condition, results showed that lowest weight loss (8.60%) of wood was observed in Termiban treated soil at 200 ppm which was significant different from rest of the treatments. Similarly, under open conditions, at each time interval, there was significant more mortality of termites in soil treated with Termiban compared to Chlorpyrifos

A novel framework for software defined wireless sensor networks

© 2017 IEEE. A novel framework for software defined Wireless Sensor Networks (SDWSNs) is presented that draws on Software Defined Networking (SDN) concepts and capabilities to enhance control, management, and security, whilst reducing device complexity. These inherent complexities pose significant challenges toward the advancement of ubiquitous sensing and sensory data access through Sensing-as-a-Service (S2aaS) model. Therefore, it is advantageous to utilize SDN to decouple the control and the data forwarding planes and incorporate greater control over dynamic virtualization and approaches to improve the quality of experience. Enhanced algorithms can be applied on improved knowledge of the network conditions that is attainable when SDN is employed. We run simulations based on sensor flow model and provide a comprehensive analysis of the SDWSN framework, architecture and implementation constraints

Asymmetric Turbo Code for Coded-Cooperative Wireless Communication Based on Matched Interleaver with Channel Estimation and Multi-Receive Antennas at the Destination

This paper investigates the multiple relay coded-cooperation scheme based on asymmetric turbo code (ATC) with multiple receive antennas over Rayleigh block fading channels. An encoding scheme based on ATC is proposed for coded-cooperation i.e. distributed asymmetric turbo code (DATC). The code matched interleaver (CMI) is selected by a rigorous comparison with a uniform-random interleaver (URI). This optimum choice of interleaver at the relay nodes provides maximum benefit from DATC coded-cooperation scheme. Practically in any wireless communication system, the channel side information (CSI) is usually unknown at the receiver. Therefore, spatial normalized least mean square (NLMS) adaptive transversal filters are employed to estimate the CSI at the destination node. Moreover, in coded-cooperation scheme, the effectiveness and validation of spatial NLMS adaptive transversal filters is also verified by simulation results. Quadrature phase shift keying (QPSK) is used in coded-cooperation scheme and corresponding soft-demodulators are employed along with joint iterative soft-input soft-output (SISO) decoder at the destination node. Monte Carlo simulations shows that the proposed scheme incorporates coding gain, diversity gain and cooperation gain successfully, which eventually results in net gain of 2.7 to 3.5 dBs over non-cooperation ATC counterpart

Low Resistance Polycrystalline Diamond Thin Films Deposited by Hot Filament Chemical Vapour Deposition

Polycrystalline diamond thin films with outgrowing diamond (OGD) grains were deposited onto silicon wafers using a hydrocarbon gas (CH4) highly diluted with H2 at low pressure in a hot filament chemical vapour deposition (HFCVD) reactor with a range of gas flow rates. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SEM showed polycrystalline diamond structure with a random orientation. Polycrystalline diamond films with various textures were grown and (111) facets were dominant with sharp grain boundaries. Outgrowth was observed in flowerish character at high gas flow rates. Isolated single crystals with little openings appeared at various stages at low gas flow rates. Thus, changing gas flow rates had a beneficial influence on the grain size, growth rate and electrical resistivity. CVD diamond films gave an excellent performance for medium film thickness with relatively low electrical resistivity and making them potentially useful in many industrial applications