Do IT freelancers increase their entrepreneurial behavior and performance by using IT self-efficacy and social capital? Evidence from Bangladesh

This study applies entrepreneurship theory and social capital perspective to IT freelancing to facilitate a better understanding of it. Our model hypothesizes that both IT self-efficacy and social capital obtained through social media interactions contribute to IT freelancers’ entrepreneurial behavior and then this entrepreneurial behavior influences their performance. We collected primary data from one of the leading online freelancing marketplaces, oDesk.com (currently Upwork.com). Our empirical findings confirm the core assertion of our research model. The implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed. Directions for future research are also provided.     

海绵城市建设PPP项目委托代理契约分析

针对海绵城市PPP(Public-Private Partnership)项目建设、运营管理问题,为了降低由于项目参与的各方掌握信息、地位的不对称而产生的道德风险、维护各参与方的合法权益,基于一定的前提假设,构建海绵城市建设PPP项目契约模型,利用优化理论分别从代理企业和政府方两个主体的效用对模型的各个参数相关关系进行了分析,并利用数值模拟讨论了监控机制各参数对政府方监控意愿的影响。最后,结合常德市海绵城市PPP项目建设的案例,分别分析在当前考核机制下项目在建设、运营期可能存在的问题,并提出了相应的对策以解决这些问题。结果表明:代理企业的监控和激励措施具有互补性,海绵工程项目风险来源广泛,企业为规避风险会偏好零风险的固定收益,设定监控机制能激励企业更加努力的工作。     

On‐site wastewater treatment using reactive filter media

The aim of this study is to reduce the phosphate concentration in treated wastewater using a small amount of the reactive filter media, Filtralite P. Biologically treated wastewater was passed through a filter with 215 g of Filtralite P. In the laboratory, the phosphate removal efficiency was 51% at a flow speed of 0.87 m/h. Under real conditions, in an experimental stand filled with 0.5 m³ of Filtralite P, the phosphate removal efficiency was 85% and the removal efficiency of total suspended solids was 57% after a 5‐month period. The residual phosphate concentration in the filtrate from the experimental stand was 1 mg/L of PO₄‐P after the 5‐month period. The experimental filtration plant was buried in the ground, and it did not freeze and worked well under winter conditions. The results of this study can be useful in the design and development of tertiary wastewater treatment plants in view of their sustainability potential.     

A side-sensitive synthetic coefficient of variation chart

Control charts for monitoring the coefficient of variation (γ) are useful for processes with an inconsistent mean (μ) and a standard deviation (σ) which changes with μ, by monitoring the consistency in the ratio σ over μ. The synthetic-γ chart is one of the charts proposed to monitor γ, and its attractiveness lie in waiting until a second point to fall outside the control limits before a decision is made. However, existing synthetic-γ charts do not differentiate between the points falling outside the upper control limit (UCL) and lower control limit (LCL). Hence, this paper proposes a side-sensitive synthetic-γ chart, where successive nonconforming samples must either fall above the UCL or below the LCL. Formulae to compute the average run length (ARL), the standard deviation of the run length (SDRL) and expected average run length (EARL) are derived using the Markov chain approach, and the algorithms to obtain the optimal charting parameters are proposed. Subsequently, the optimal charting parameters, ARL, SDRL and EARL values for various numerical examples are shown. Comparisons show that the side-sensitive synthetic-γ chart consistently outperforms the existing synthetic-γ chart, especially for small shifts. The proposed chart also consistently outperforms the Shewhart-γ chart, while showing comparable or better performance than the Exponentially Weighted Moving Average (EWMA) chart for most shift sizes, except for very small shifts. Finally, this paper shows the implementation of the proposed chart on an industrial example.     

深圳抽水蓄能电站监控新技术应用研究与实践

通过对安防、工业电视和门禁等新技术的研究,设计了一套先进的监控系统,包括硬件平台、系统管理、应用软件,利用深圳抽水蓄能电站已形成的光纤网络通道把分布在方圆10 km范围内多个站端设备以环路的方式连接起来,把可靠成熟的新技术融合到整个平台。自首台机组成功投运,监控系统为电站正常运行保驾护航,高清摄像机、视觉识别、行为分析、边界防护等新技术的应用为工程项目增添了亮点,使电站现场管理更加智能化、规范化。     

热烧结矿竖式冷却过程传热特性

 与传统环冷相比，烧结竖冷拥有漏风率低、换热效率高的优势。为此利用竖冷试验装置，在某烧结厂取热风与热烧结矿研究了竖式冷却过程气固对流换热特性。研究表明，烧结矿竖式冷却过程中影响传热特性的主要因素为冷却风的流量及温度。烧结矿和冷却风对流换热系数随着烧结矿温度的升高而增大，且随着冷却风流量的增大以及冷却风温度的降低，对流换热系数也随之增大。基于白金汉定理，结合试验数据拟合得出了描述烧结矿与冷却风传热特性的准数关联式，其模拟性较好且平均相对误差为7.25%。     

Impact of Divalent Ions on Heavy Oil Recovery by in situ Emulsification

Many reservoir formation brines are characterized by high salinity and contain high concentrations of divalent ions such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. These challenging conditions can render the surfactants ineffective during chemical flooding for enhanced heavy oil recovery. Various brine types can have an impact on the stability of emulsions generated with chemicals as chemicals have various resistant levels toward hard divalent ions and salinities. To investigate the impact of brine hardness on heavy oil-in-water emulsion stability, glass tube experiments, microscopic visualization and sandpack flooding experiments, and Hele-Shaw visualization experiments were conducted in this study under low-salinity/hard-brine, high-salinity/hard-brine conditions using commercial chemicals, which are designed for specific reservoir brine conditions. Recovery results demonstrated that complex colloidal solution introduced in the previous study with silica and Dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB) along with screened chemicals from glass tube tests in this study can enhance heavy oil recovery significantly with an addition of low concentration of xanthan gum (Lee and Babadagli 2018). The results confirmed the robustness of the complex colloidal solution formula to enhance oil recovery with low concentration of polymer under any reservoir brine conditions. The study also demonstrates the potential of polymer as an emulsion stabilization additive for enhanced heavy oil recovery by in situ emulsion generation. Polymer effects seemed to be particularly dominant under the low-salinity conditions than high-salinity conditions.     

基于PMU的电力系统监控体系结构优化设计

文中提出了一种利用有限数量的相量测量单元(PMU)和相量数据集中器(PDC)设计最优监控结构的方法。通过在大量的设定值场景下,使电力系统可观测性曲线的期望值最大化,同时使通信基础设施成本最小化,最终确定PMU和PDC的最佳位置。提出了一种非线性动态扩展卡尔曼滤波(EFK)状态观测器。这种状态观测器可以将暂态行为转换为由代数微分方程描述的广域电力系统,而无需非线性反演技术。最后以IEEE-5电力系统为例,说明了该方法的有效性。     

Fake news and COVID-19: modelling the predictors of fake news sharing among social media users

Fake news dissemination on COVID-19 has increased in recent months, and the factors that lead to the sharing of this misinformation is less well studied. Therefore, this paper describes the result of a Nigerian sample (n = 385) regarding the proliferation of fake news on COVID-19. The fake news phenomenon was studied using the Uses and Gratification framework, which was extended by an “altruism” motivation. The data were analysed with Partial Least Squares (PLS) to determine the effects of six variables on the outcome of fake news sharing. Our results showed that altruism was the most significant factor that predicted fake news sharing of COVID-19. We also found that social media users’ motivations for information sharing, socialisation, information seeking and pass time predicted the sharing of false information about COVID-19. In contrast, no significant association was found for entertainment motivation. We concluded with some theoretical and practical implications.