Formation energies of CdSe wurtzoid and diamondoid clusters formed from Cd and Se atomic clusters

Cadmium Selenide thermodynamic formation energies at the molecular and nanoscale range are investigated using density functional theory. The investigation is performed using wurtzoid and diamondoid clusters that represent the wurtzite and zincblende structures at the molecular and nanoscale size range for a cluster number of atoms n ≤ 26. Cd and Se atomic clusters are optimized and used to provide component atomic cluster energies. Although both Cd and Se clusters at the nanoscale have different phases than bulk, the results show that Gibbs free energy, enthalpy, and entropy of formation of CdSe are close to their experimental bulk energies of formation within errors of experimental measurements. CdSe wurtzoids generally have higher absolute (more negative) Gibbs free energy of formation than CdSe diamondoids indicating more stable wurtzoid molecules which is also the case at bulk. The absolute Gibbs free energy of wurtzoids is also higher than experimental value (more negative) because of surface effects at the nanoscale. Enthalpy of formation indicates an exothermic reaction of Cd and Se clusters as is the case at bulk. The entropy of formation of all clusters is size-sensitive and converges towards bulk experimental measurements. Both wurtzoids and diamondoids members contain Cd₁₃Se₁₃ cluster which is the most investigated magic CdSe cluster.     

基于博弈分析的流域水资源配置

针对传统规划方法难以体现水资源配置过程中多种复杂因素的问题,基于博弈理论建立宏观调控和市场经济相结合的水资源配置动态博弈模型,求解其子博弈精炼纳什均衡下各博弈参与人的策略,并运用改进量子遗传算法求解该博弈模型。对A河流域水资源配置结果表明,在保证流域公共生态用水2.0×10~8 m~3的基础上,各用水子区自发约束自身的取水量,达到均衡时,社会总收益为11.27亿元,相比自由取水模型,社会总收益增加了0.95亿元,增幅为9.2%。     

Chest X-ray enhancement to interpret pneumonia malformation based on fuzzy soft set and Dempster–Shafer theory of evidence

Image enhancement algorithms are commonly used to increase the contrast and visual quality of low-dose x-ray images. This paper proposes an automated enhancement method using soft fuzzy sets with a new decision-making scheme based on Dempster-Shafer theory of evidence for the visual interpretation of pneumonia malformation in low-dose x-ray images, called as XEFSDS. The XEFSDS model first generates an original source x-ray image into a complementary image, then each original and complement image is applied to the characterized image object and background areas of fuzzy space. The S-function is utilized to define fuzzy soft sets for the classification of gray level ambiguity in both images, and hence a decision criterion via Dempster-Shafer approach and fuzzy interval has been adapted to discriminate uncertainties on the pixel intensity and the spatial information. Modified membership grade operations have been performed on each object/background area, and Werner’s AND/OR operator (an aggregation operator) has been utilized to build a new membership function from two modified membership functions. Finally, an enhanced image is obtained from the new membership function via defuzzification. Experiments on different pneumonia X-ray images demonstrate that the XEFSDS scheme produces better results than the existing methods. To show the advantages of the XEFSDS scheme, we have executed a segmentation based examination on enhanced image for the detection of pneumonia malformation as well as abnormal lobe (lobar pneumonia) or bronchopneumonia.     

Loadbearing capacity of infill masonry walls considering the deformation‐based membrane effect

According to currently valid codes, it is not possible to determine the loadbearing capacity of unreinforced infill walls considering the deformation‐based membrane effect by incorporating the exact support conditions. One reason for this is the lack of a validated calculation procedure, which in addition to the equilibrium conditions also realistically represents the compatibility conditions of these systems. In the present paper, therefore, a new non‐linear analytical calculation procedure is presented. The main focus of the analysis of walls subject to area loading is the incorporation of the support conditions and thus the consideration of the deformation‐based membrane compressive force. Through generalised formulation and a standardised notation of the determination equations, different material behaviours and various support conditions can be taken into account with few parameters. On the action side, both lighter loading like wind loads and heavier loading like explosion loads can be considered. Through the implementation of the partial factor concept, it is possible to comply with the requirements of European codes and thus ensure the applicability of the analysis model.     

Mitigating the harmful effects of technostress: inducing chaos theory in an experimental setting

ABSTRACT

This research investigates the role of users’ proactive personality when they mitigate the adverse impacts of ICT's (information and communication technologies’) technostress in an experimental setting. Further, this study examines genuinely two types of individuals’ proactive personality, i.e. confront and transform. Both types can handle ICT's technostress creators by different attitudes and behaviours. This article contributes to a novelty by inducing chaos theory. This inducement laid in the experimental setting that the users had been in a chaotic situation. Results of this research show that users’ proactive personality mitigates the negative impact of ICT's technostress on their performance and satisfaction. This study found that the user's proactive personality, rested in a chaotic situation, does mitigate greatly. This research finds that users’ performance and satisfaction are higher to the proactive personality verging to the transform than that of confront. It implies that information system managers should consider the ICT user's characteristics. Besides, it means that ICT's developer should make users do their innovativeness.     

Uncertain location–allocation decisions for a bi-objective two-stage supply chain network design problem with environmental impacts

In the cases that the historical data of an uncertain event is not available, belief degree-based uncertainty theory is a useful tool to reflect such uncertainty. This study focuses on uncertain bi-objective supply chain network design problem with cost and environmental impacts under uncertainty. As such network may be designed for the first time in a geographical region, this problem is modelled by the concepts of belief degree-based uncertainty theory. This article is almost the first study on belief degree-based uncertain supply chain network design problem with environmental impacts. Two approaches such as expected value model and chance-constrained model are applied to convert the proposed uncertain problem to its crisp form. The obtained crisp forms are solved by some multi-objective optimization approaches of the literature such as TH, Niroomand, MMNV. A deep computational study with several test problems are performed to study the performance of the crisp models and the solution approaches. According to the results, the obtained crisp formulations are highly sensitive to the changes in the value of the cost parameters. On the other hand, Niroomand and MMNV solution approaches perform better than other solution approaches from the solution quality point of view.     

Translating moral orders: putting moral conflict theory in conversation with actor–network theory

Moral conflict theory explains deep moral differences and patterns of communication commonly associated with such conflicts. Moral conflict is defined as a struggle between humans, but we argue that the objects of contention in such intractable conflicts, including texts, physical objects, and places, assume a force of their own. We use actor–network theory to help explain this eventuality and to expand our understanding of moral conflict. Combining actor–network theory literature with moral conflict theory literature helps us understand the complexity of moral orders and the networks of actors involved in the construction of moral conflict. This expansion of literature also allows us to conceive of more possibilities for transcendent discourse.     

Distributed ledger technology in supply chains: a transaction cost perspective

With the emergence of distributed ledger technology (DLT), numerous practitioners and researchers have proclaimed its beneficial impact on supply chain transactions in the future. However, the vast majority of DLT initiatives are discontinued after a short period. With the full potential of DLT laying far down the road, especially managers in supply chain management (SCM) seek for short-term cost-saving effects of DLT in order to achieve long-term benefits of DLT in the future. However, the extant research has bypassed grounding long-term as well as short-term effects of DLT on supply chain transaction with empirical data. We address this shortcoming, following an abductive research approach and combining empirical data from a multiple case study design with the corresponding literature. Our study reveals that the effects of DLT on supply chain transactions are two-sided. We found six effects of DLT solutions that have a cost-reducing or cost avoidance impact on supply chain transactions. In addition, we found two effects that change the power distribution between buyers and suppliers in transactions and a single effect that reduces the dependency of supply chain transactions on third parties. While cost-reducing and avoidance as well as dependency-reducing effects are positive effects, the change in power distribution might come with disadvantages. With these findings, the paper provides the first empirical evidence of the impact of DLT on supply chain transactions, which will enable managers to improve their assessment of DLT usage in supply chains.     

弹性地基处周期性圆形钢筋混凝土管道振动特性分析

针对弹性地基处周期性钢筋混凝土管道的波动特性,基于声子晶体理论和Flugge壳体理论,建立了圆形管道环径向轴对称波动微分方程,利用传递矩阵法建立了相邻胞元间的传递矩阵,数值分析了周期性管道结构的能带特性。结果表明,振动波在传播过程中存在禁带域和通带域,弹性地基对弯曲波在特定频率范围内的传播具有抑制作用,长度比的变化对周期性圆形混凝土管道禁带的幅值、宽度和个数影响显著,因此可通过调整结构尺寸参数改变结构中波的传播特性。     

Two‐sided matching framework for optimal user association in 5G multi‐RAT UDNs

Recently, academic and industrial research communities are paying more explicit attention to the 5G multiple radio access technology ultra‐dense networks (5G multi‐RAT UDNs) for boosting network capacity, especially in UD urban zones. To this aim, in this paper, we intend to tackle the user association problem in 5G multi‐RAT UDNs. By considering the decoupled uplink/downlink access (DUDA), we divide our user association problem into two distinct subproblems representing, respectively, the uplink and the downlink channels. Next, we formulated each one as a nonlinear optimization problem with binary variables. Then, to solve them, we were restricted by the hard complexity, as well as the hard feasibility of centralized user association schemes. Thus, to resolve our user association problem in a reasonable time and distributed manner, we formulated each subproblem as a many‐to‐one matching game based on matching theory. Next, we provide two fully distributed association algorithms to compute the uplink and downlink stable matching among user equipments (UEs) and base stations (BSs). Simulation results corroborate our theoretical model and show the effectiveness and improvement of our achieved results in terms of the overall network performance, quality of service (QoS), and energy efficiency (EE) of UEs.