15,559 research outputs found

    Net profitability of airline alliances, an empirical study

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    This study examines the net return for airlines before and after joining an alliance. The research database was compiled from ICAOData, and comprised 15 international airlines as subjects and their net financial results for a period of 11 years as primary research variables. Two variables, the averages of five and three years net performance before joining an alliance, were tested against another variable, the average net performance five years after joining the alliance. Results show a deterioration of net profits after joining an alliance, although this trend was only significant when comparing performance over the short-term. However, the performance of American airlines accounted for most of this trend, which may have being partly affected by the consequences of September 11 2001

    Voice-mediated text messaging service: a possiblity to enhance current text messaging service

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    As a Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design practice, this paper first drew on several scenarios for Short-text Messaging Services (SMS) on a mobile telephone technology. And a new prototype for SMS was given to participants. While the participants were using the prototype, the initial scenarios were extended by the participants’ recognition of the new prototype, resulting in new scenarios for the future system development. This lightweight design practice was intended to educate HCI practitioners, in order to show the practicality of the HCI design process – task-artefact cycle framework

    Discrete-time variance tracking with application to speech processing

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    Two new discrete-time algorithms are presented for tracking variance and reciprocal variance. The closed loop nature of the solutions to these problems makes this approach highly accurate and can be used recursively in real time. Since the Least-Mean Squares (LMS) method of parameter estimation requires an estimate of variance to compute the step size, this technique is well suited to applications such as speech processing and adaptive filtering

    The life of Gotthold Ferdinand Eisenstein

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    Gotthold Ferdinand Eisenstein (1823-1852) was one of the brilliant mathematicians of the nineteenth century. The main goal of this article is to give a translation – from German into English – of a Curriculum Vita that he wrote at age twenty, as part of his application for the Examination of General Maturity for University Entrance (Abitur). This has often been referred to as his autobiography. Some additional biographical information is also given, with the aim of providing some further insights into his life and character in general

    Methane emission by alpaca and sheep fed on lucerne hay or grazed on pastures of perennial ryegrass/white clover or birdsfoot trefoil

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    Based on the knowledge that alpaca (Lama pacos) have a lower fractional outflow rate of feed particles (particulate FOR) from their forestomach than sheep (San Martin 1987), the current study measured methane (CH4) production and other digestion parameters in these species in three successive experiments (1, 2 and 3): Experiment 1, lucerne hay fed indoors; Experiment 2, grazed on perennial ryegrass/white clover pasture (PRG/WC); and Experiment 3, grazed on birdsfoot trefoil (Lotus corniculatits) pasture (Lotus). Six male alpaca and six castrated Romney sheep were simultaneously and successively fed on the forages either ad libitium or at generous herbage allowances (grazing). CH4 production (g/day) (using the sulphur hexafluoride tracer technique), voluntary feed intake (VFI), diet quality, and protozoa counts and volatile fatty acid concentrations in samples of forestomach contents were determined. In addition, feed digestibility, energy and nitrogen (N) balances and microbial N supply from the forestomach (using purine derivatives excretion) were measured in Experiment 1. Diets selected by alpaca were of lower quality than those selected by sheep, and the voluntary gross energy intakes (GEI, MJ) per kg of liveweight(0.75) were consistently lower (P0.05) in their CH4 yields (% GEI) when fed on lucerne hay (5.1 v. 4.7), but alpaca had a higher CH4 yield when fed on PRG/WC (9.4 v. 7.5, P0.05) in diet N partition or microbial N yield, but alpaca had higher (P<0.05) neutral detergent fibre digestibility (0.478 v. 0.461) and lower (P<0.01) urinary energy losses (5.2 v. 5.8 % GEI) than sheep. It is suggested that differences between these species in forestomach particulate FOR might have been the underlying physiological mechanism responsible for the differences in CH4 yield, although the between-species differences in VFI and diet quality also had a major effect on it

    Young people facing housing deprivation in Palmerston North: a crisis?

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    If you are a young person tonight, or any other night, living in Palmerston North, you will need to hope that you have somewhere to sleep, as currently the city provides no safe and secure emergency housing for young people. If, for a range of reasons, a young person is not able to, or chooses not to stay with their immediate or extended family, the social services in the city are forced to ask that young person to consider sleeping on friends’ couches or to seek other equally inadequate housing options in the absence of a service that could meet their housing needs.[From Executive Summary

    The application of economic instruments to the management of threatened species : a fisheries case study in the Galápagos Islands : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Applied Science (Natural Resource Economics), Massey University,

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    Under open access conditions fisheries tend to suffer from overexploitation and rent dissipation. This situation makes regulation necessary to achieve sustainability. In the Galápagos Marine Reserve, ineffective fisheries management has created a 'regulated' open access situation. The major fisheries, sea cucumber and spiny lobster, have been exploited beyond sustainable levels and catches have decreased significantly. Given the state of the resources, fisheries management in Galápagos needs to effectively limit catch and effort to sustainable levels. This research analyses the feasibility of an individual transferable quota (ITQ) scheme in Galápagos, evaluating the suitability of the context and assessing the expected economic benefits and equity implications from such a regulatory instrument. The spiny lobster fishery is considered to be suitable for an ITQ scheme while the sea cucumber fishery is not, given that the resource is on the verge of commercial extinction, the difficulties in monitoring exports and the variability of prices. The optimal management scenario for the spiny lobster fishery, of those evaluated in this study, is an ITQ scheme where the total allowable catch is set at the maximum economic yield. This scenario resulted in the largest economic benefit and efficiency gains. Major equity implications are expected from an ITQ scheme in this fishery also. These, however, are consistent with the amount of catch that needs to be reduced in order for the fishery to operate sustainably. With this in mind, it is concluded that the Galápagos National Park Service and other stakeholders that participate in fisheries management in the archipelago should consider the adoption of an ITQ scheme to manage the spiny lobster fishery. The sea cucumber fishery on the other hand, needs to remain closed until the stock recovers. Current challenges to more effective fisheries management are limited monitoring and enforcement and weaknesses within fishing cooperatives. An enhancement of the monitoring and enforcement component, and a strengthening of fishing cooperatives through more meaningful grassroots participation in fisheries management are necessary to improve the current situation. Complementary restrictions and policies to achieve particular socio-economic and environmental objectives will also be necessary in order to reduce potential negative impacts from an ITQ scheme

    Growth studies with hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Horticultural Science at Massey University

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    The effect of latitude, sowing date and density on yield, height and growing time were studied by sowing two varieties of hemp for seed at three sites in New Zealand. Predation and poor germination hampered results. Latitude effects on height could not be confirmed but Anka, unlike Finola, suffered a reduction in height with later sowing. Anka was the larger plant with higher seed yield, but the dwarfed Finola gave a higher harvest index. Thus seed yield for later sowing is reduced for cv Anka, unchanged for cv Finola. Plant density data allowed estimated yields at 30, 60 and 90 plants.m-2 to be determined. At 30 plants.m-2, seed yield in both varieties was reduced with later sowing, and confirmed Anka with the greater gross yield against Finola having the higher harvest index. At 60 and 90 plt.m-2, the results confirmed only that Anka is the bigger plant. Earlier sowing than the 1st sowing in our trial (October) could be an advantage. Higher sowing rates than 40-50 plt.m-2 would be of little advantage for Anka, but rates higher than 90 plt.m-2 should be explored for Finola. The asymptotic yield maximum for Anka falls dramatically with later sowing, whereas Finola does not. This suggests double cropping might be explored, with an early sowing of Anka followed by Finola. Growing time data indicated the lower latitude site had longer growing times overall. Day length sensitivity (shorter growing time with later sowing) was confirmed for Anka, but Finola was unaffected. This suggests Finola is a day-length neutral plant. Leaf production in both varieties was higher at higher latitudes, and was reduced by later sowing date. A second experiment examined the nitrogen and phosphorus uptake of a fibre hemp cultivar (EIL1) with respect to three sowing dates and two latitudes. Harvests were taken monthly to establish growth trends. From biomass figures, equations were established for leaf/stem relationships. Uptake values (on a dry matter basis) tended to stabilize as the plant matured at: N(stem) 3.04%, N(leaf) 4.5%, p(stem) 0.26% and P(leaf) 0.45%. High initial concentration of both N and P fell rapidly. For maximum uptake seed should be sown early (October or earlier) and plants grown as long as possible (5 months or more)

    Evolution of the discrete transform using genetic programming : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master in Computer Science at Massey University, Albany

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    Image compression is an important method in image transmission, storage and manipulation. There are many successful techniques which have been developed. Most of these methods are based on some type of rule based algorithm. The cosine transform plays a very important role in image compression. It is a standard transform used by the widely used JPEG standard. Through the use of genetic programming, we successfully evolved a programmatic cosine transform based on genetic programming. The cosine transform has been heavily researched and many efficient methods have been determined and successfully applied in practice. Here, we only suggest 'another' method to do the same work. Due to the limited power of our resources, we restricted our work to a 4 point cosine transform. As a result, an approximation to the transform is evolved by the genetic programming paradigm. In theory, the 8 point cosine transform can be evolved using a similar technique
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