Efficiency evaluation of healthcare services in China based on stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis and directional distance function

Evaluating the efficiency of healthcare services accurately can help in analyzing the rationality of inputs and outputs in such services. Considering the consistency and equity of assessment criteria, this study conducts the stochastic multicriteria acceptability analysis (SMAA-2) with a directional distance function to evaluate the efficiency of healthcare services in 31 provincial administrative regions of mainland China, as observed in 2018. We use SMAA-DDF to explore all the projection directions to the efficient frontier instead of a certain projection direction. We measure the maximum and average efficiencies for each of the 31 provincial healthcare services. Our empirical findings show that only seven provinces achieve optimal healthcare service efficiency; the eastern area performed the best, followed by the central, western, and northeast areas. Furthermore, the path along the projection directions is provided to help inefficient provinces improve their efficiency and obtain the best possible positions.     

Improved photoluminescence and multi-mode optical thermometry of Er3+/Yb3+ co-doped (Ba,Sr)3Lu4O9 phosphors

Contactless optical thermometers have attracted extensive attentions for applications in scientific research and technological fields due to their apparent advantages. Herein, a novel sequence of Ba_3-xSr_xLu₄O₉ (B_3-xS_xLO):Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ phosphors were successfully prepared to investigate the temperature sensing property. By establishing energy transfer from Yb³⁺ to Er³⁺ and regulating the local lattice environment, up-conversion luminescence of Er³⁺ is dramatically improved when excited by 980 nm laser. This can effectively promote signal-noise ratio and reduce the errors in temperature detection. Furthermore, a multi-mode optical thermometry, which includes the fluorescence intensity ratio (FIR) from two thermally coupled levels of ²H_11/2/⁴S_3/2, FIR based on non-thermally coupled system of ²H_11/2/⁴F_9/2 and fluorescence lifetime of ⁴S_3/2 state of Er³⁺, was explored systematically. The fabricated samples exhibit the superior temperature measurement performances containing wide temperature-sensing range, superior signal discriminability, high sensitivity and favorable repeatability, indicative of the enormous utilization prospects of B_3-xS_xLO:Er³⁺/Yb³⁺ for thermometry.     

Bearing capacity of horizontally layered geosynthetic reinforced stone columns

In very soft soils, the bearing capacity of stone columns may not improve significantly due to very low confinement of the surrounding soil. Therefore, they may be reinforced with geosynthetics by using vertical encasement or horizontal layers. Very limited studies exist on horizontally reinforced stone columns (HRSCs). In this research, some large body laboratory tests have been performed on horizontally reinforced stone columns with diameters of 60, 80, and 100?mm and groups of stone columns with 60?mm diameter. Results show that the bearing capacity of stone columns increases by using horizontally reinforcing layers. Also, they reduce lateral bulging of stone columns by their frictional and interlocking effects with stone column aggregates. Finally, numerical analyses were carried out to study main affecting parameters on the bearing capacity of HRSCs. Numerical analysis results show that the bearing capacity increases considerably with increasing the number of horizontal layers and decreasing space between layers.     

Effects of fibers and conventional reinforcement contents on fibers scaterring in prismatic bars

This paper presents results from a second stage of an experimental study of the dependence of steel fibers distribution along RFC prismatic specimens on the conventional reinforcement ratio and on the total amount of fibers in the concrete mix. The experimental program included two types of prismatic specimens with 30- and 60- kg/m³ of hooked-end steel fibers. Each specimen was sawed into equal segments and the numbers of fibers appearing at the cross-sections were counted and used for a further statistical analysis. This analysis comprised calculations of the average value and standard deviation of a non-dimensional variable, which represents the distribution of the total steel along the specimen. They were used to calibrate a theoretical model, which had been previously proposed by the authors. The test results showed reasonable to good agreement with the theoretical model. A comparison between the results of the 30- and 60-kg/m³ fibers shows that as the conventional reinforcement ratio increases, the standard deviations for the different mixtures approach each other.     

振动监测系统的可调增益技术与实现

文章设计了一种具有可调增益功能的振动监测系统。首先从监测层和测量层两个方面提出了振动监测系统的整体框架,之后给出了硬件系统和软件系统的设计方法及软件实现代码,利用控制芯片和可调增益放大器,在监测系统中整合了一套可根据采集信号幅值大小调整增益的数据采集装置;利用模拟信号发生器对不加增益和设置可调增益之后的两种信号进行了对比分析,并在汽轮发电机组实际工况下进行了振动信号采集。结果表明,具备可调增益功能的振动监测系统可有效提高采集信号的信噪比,提高汽轮发电机组的振动监测能力。     

Nature inspired 21 branches sneezewort/Achillea ptarmica plant growth pattern–shaped antenna for Ku‐band applications

This reported paper presents the design and analysis of wideband nature inspired planar antenna of 46 × 18 × 1.6 mm³ size, designed using FR4 (Flame Retardant) substrate. The antenna patch is delineated from the growth pattern of sneezewort plant with supplementary notion of golden ratio in branching and branch width. The total number of branches in each stage follows the Fibonacci series and the branch width is calculated from the golden ratio concept. Starting from one feed line and two branches, the maximum numbers of branches are increased to 20. There has been significant enhancement in the radiation performance of proposed geometry by increasing the number of branches to 21 and by modifying ground with T‐shaped slot. The antenna covers wide impedance bandwidth of 8.2 to 16.5 GHz by possessing stable radiation characteristics.     

A hidden Markov model to detect regime changes in cryptoasset markets

The objective of this work is to understand the dynamics of cryptocurrency prices. Specifically, how prices switch between different regimes, going from “bull” to “stable” and “bear” times. For this purpose, we propose a hidden Markov model that aims at explaining the evolution of Bitcoin prices through different, unobserved states. The implementation of the proposed model includes a likelihood ratio test that allows to compare models with different states and with different covariance structures. Our empirical findings show that the time movements of Bitcoin prices across different exchange markets are well-described by the proposed model. In particular, a parsimonious model with a diagonal covariance matrix leads to better predictions, compared with a model with a full covariance matrix.     

How does a bank's involvement interplay with a firm's capacity investment? An analysis and comparison of different consortium structures

As nonrecourse project finance (rather than financing on a sovereign basis) is becoming more prevalent worldwide, financing institutions have to collaborate more closely with firms to optimize capacity‐investment and financing decisions. Under this background, this paper presents a stylized Stackelberg games model, taking into account the firm's capacity investment as well as the bank's interest rate and funding ratio decisions. Consortium structures between bank and firm are formalized into five modes based on industry practice, namely, the integrated consortium, pure shareholder funding, bank as leader, full coordination, and bank as follower. The optimality and equilibrium of each of the five modes are analytically derived, and their existence and uniqueness are demonstrated. Valuable economic insights are obtained through both modeling analysis and numerical experiments, with the main findings including the following: (i) a lack of bank financing leads to insufficient capacity investment and poor consortium performance; (ii) interest rate and funding ratio play important but different roles in the bank's risk management; (iii) the bank's proactivity in leading and coordinating the consortium is critical for the two parties’ overall performance; and (iv) if the bank is the follower, the firm's capacity decision is irrelevant to the bank's loan contract, and the consortium cannot be coordinated to the first‐best level of performance.     

Simulation of producer gas flameless combustion with fresh reactant diluted by hot flue gas

Flameless combustion is considered as a flexible and efficient combustion process for low heating value gas fuel. This paper presents numerical simulations of premixed flameless combustion using producer gas as a fuel. Different initial conditions of the premixed fresh reactant (air/fuel mixture) and dilution levels are taken into account for the investigation. The numerical simulations were investigated using a network of chemical reactor models with the detailed reaction mechanism of GRI‐Mech 3.0. A threshold dilution level for flameless combustion fuelled by producer gas was determined. The numerical results show that dilution of the fresh reactant with hot combustion products and initial fresh reactant temperature play important roles in flameless combustion formation and its auto‐ignition behaviour, rather than equivalence ratio of the fresh reactant. In the flameless combustion regime, temperature and chemical concentrations were reduced while chemical kinetics process was decelerated, resulting in delay of the auto‐ignition process.     

Effect of clad ratio on interfacial microstructure and properties of cladding billets via direct-chill casting process

Numerical simulation and experiments were introduced to develop AA4045/AA3003 cladding billets with different clad-ratios. The temperature fields, microstructures and mechanical properties near interface were investigated in detail. The results show that cladding billets with different clad-ratios were fabricated successfully. Si and Mn elements diffused across the bonding interface and formed diffusion layer. With the increase of clad-layer thickness, the interfacial region transforms from semisolid–solid state to liquid–solid state and the diffusion layer increased from 10 to 25 μm. The hardness at interface is higher than that of AA3003 side but lower than that of the other side. The bonding strength increased with the clad-layer thickness, attributing to solution strengthening due to elements diffusion. The cladding billets were extruded into clad pipe by indirect extrusion process after homogenization. The clad pipe remained the interfacial characteristics of as-cast cladding billet and the heredity of clad-ratio during deformation was testified.