Is the Leading Role Desirable?: A Simulation Analysis of the Stackelberg Behavior in World Petroleum Market

This article explores extraction profiles in the Stackelberg equilibrium of exhaustible resource industry. Calibrated with real data of world petroleum market, the Stackelberg and Cournot–Nash equilibriums are solved numerically. The properties of the Stackelberg equilibrium are compared and contrasted with the benchmark open-loop Cournot–Nash equilibrium. Simulation results indicate that the leader’s gains are limited in the Stackelberg strategic setting. Methodologically, this article pioneers solving the Stackelberg game numerically in a dynamic and empirical model.     

A Mechanism Supporting the Client/Server Relationship in the Operating System of Distributed System “THUDS”

This paper presents a distributed operating system modeled as an abstract machine that provides all the distributed processes with the same set of services.The kernel of our operating system supports services which are achieved by a remote procedure call on requests by parallel processes.Therefore,a scheme for solving the client-server relationship is required.In our system there are more than one clients and,at least,a receive would be required for each.Similarly,there are more than one servers such that the send in a client should produce a message that can be received by every server.Consequently,a mechanism well suited for programming multiple-clients/single-server and single-client/multiple-servers interactions is proposed.     

Scholarly Communication in the Sciences—A Third World Perspective

ABSTRACT

A study was undertaken to assess the impact of the Internet on scientific communication among a group of scientists and information professionals from leading research institutions in India. The object of the study was to understand the information-seeking behavior of Indian scientists and information professionals and the use of the Internet in their work. In order to determine subject specific differences in Internet use, participants included physicists, mathematicians, chemists, biomedical scientists, and information professionals. This article also examines the perceptions of scientists on recent developments in scholarly communication and explores the role of Indian librarians and information professionals in the electronic environment.     

A hierarchical—multilevel approach to the development and ranking of systems in the tanning industry

Large-scale, complex systems arise in the design, modeling and planning of many resource allocation problems in the areas of water resources management, energy production and distribution, industrial production, health delivery and landscaping of new cities, to mention a few. This paper applies a hierarchical—multilevel approach to the design and modeling of plant operations in the tanning industry; the decomposition of the overall system into “independent” subsystems that address plant operations, hide collection itineraries, and waste water treatment options; the development of alternative regional plant systems and the selection of a preferred system. Each system is evaluated with regards to specified multiple criteria and compared with the other candidate systems as the preferences of a decision-maker are brought into the analysis.     

Understanding the new digital divide—A typology of Internet users in Europe

The purpose of this study is to better understand the digital divide by identifying the variety of ways in which people in Europe use the Internet. First, by using cluster analysis on survey data (N=12,666/age: 16–74 years) from Eurostat on Internet usage in Norway, Sweden, Austria, the UK, and Spain, we identified five user types: Non-Users (42%), Sporadic Users (18%), Instrumental Users (18%), Entertainment Users (10%), and Advanced Users (12%). These user types differ in their distributions over country, age, access, household members, and gender. An alarming finding is that 60% of the population was found to be either Non-Users or Sporadic Users, which reflects a large digital divide in Europe. Second, we conducted a logistic regression to identify the predictors for different user types. We found on a cross-national level that age and Internet access are the most salient predictors, whereas gender and household seems to be less relevant. However, the amount of variance explained differs between countries. We also suggested a future increase in the digital divide between the identified user types—a user type divide. The user typology and the identified predictors might help researchers, practitioners, and decision makers to better understand Internet users and the multi-complex variations among individuals and countries. This knowledge will also serve as a means to understand the digital divide by providing a more nuanced perspective on Europeans' unequal usage of the Internet and participation in an increasingly digital society.     

Application of advanced control methods in the pulp and paper industry — A survey

Digital computers have been used for process control in the pulp and paper industry for more than 20 years. This paper reviews the applications of advanced control methods to pulp and paper unit process control reported during the last decade. Modern control theory and adaptive control theory are most often applied to paper machine and headboxes. However a large number of reports deal only with simulated or laboratory scale processes. Indeed very few industrial applications are reported. Some of the reasons for this are analyzed and future trends briefly discussed.     

Information technology and accounting in the accomplishment of public policy — A cautionary tale

Information and accounting technologies are increasingly being applied in public policy practice. In American health care organizations, for instance, millions have been spent on new automated information systems that track resource usage, output levels, assign costs to Diagnosis-Related-Groups and calculate profitability and productivity. It is not obvious, however, that such use of these technologies will necessarily lead to “better” health outcomes. The health sector has historically entrenched concepts of disease and the roles of the doctor, hospital and state in health provision. This agenda has, in turn, influenced the rules for the compilation of records that are the primary input into information systems. In the absence of a fundamental restructuring of this agenda, it is likely that information and accounting technologies will not solve problems, merely rearrange and manage them within pre-existing parameters.     

Design science research contribution to business intelligence in the cloud — A systematic literature review

Business intelligence (BI) helps managers make informed decisions. In the age of big data, BI technology provides essential support for decision making. Cloud computing also attracts many organizations because of its potential: ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g. networks, servers, storage, applications, and services). This paper focuses on the deployment of BI in the cloud, from the vantage point of design science research (DSR). We produce a state of the art of research pertaining to BI in the cloud, following the methodology of systematic literature review. This literature review especially exhibits the different artifacts proposed by design science researchers regarding BI in the cloud. To structure the literature review, we propose a framework composed of two dimensions: artifact type and BI step. In particular, we propose a typology of artifact types, refining the coarse-grained typology commonly used in DSR. We use the two-dimensional framework both to map the current state of DSR regarding BI in the cloud, and to elicit future research avenues in terms of design science artifacts for BI in the cloud. The contribution is threefold: the literature review may help DSR researchers get an overview of this active research domain; the two-dimensional framework facilitates the understanding of different research streams; finally, the proposed future topics may guide researchers in identifying promising research avenues.     

The Alexander Method — A technique for the processing of recursive axioms in deductive databases

We propose a technique for handling recursive axioms in deductive databases. More precisely, we solve the following problem: Given a relational query including virtual relations defined from axioms (Horn clauses, with variables in the conclusion predefined in the hypotheses), which can be recursive, how to translate this query into arelational program, i. e. a set of relational operations concerning only real relations (not virtual). Our solution has the following properties:

? the program to evaluate the query always terminates,

? the relational program is produced by a pure compilation of a source query and of the axioms, and is independent of the data values (there is no run-time),

? the relational operations are optimized: theyfocus towards the computation of the query, without needless computations.

As far as we know, the Alexander Method is the first solution exhibiting all these properties. This work is partly funded by Esprit Project 112 (KIMS).     

MASAS—A user-friendly simulation tool for modeling the fate of anthropogenic substances in lakes

MASAS is a computer simulation tool to investigate anthropogenic organic compounds in lakes. Models included are based on a dynamic one-dimensional vertical lake model describing the time-dependent concentration of a compound in the water column and in the sediment. Provision of data is ensured by library files. Interactive specification of transport and transformation processes yields models of different complexity, suitable for the initial assessment of chemicals and for chemodynamic studies. A hypothetical spill of an insecticide (disulfoton) serves as an illustration. Aspects relevant to the development of user-friendly software in the environmental sciences are discussed. User-friendliness is found to depend more on program concepts than on a particular user interface. The management of data sets on lakes and compounds, and the implementation of transport and transformation processes in MASAS exemplify the significance of modularization, program data structures, the use of metaphors, and the distinction between automatic and user-controlled program functions.     

THE REMOTE SENSING IN COAL GEOLOGY——A study on detection of coal spontanous burning by remote sensing in the coal fields in the north of China

The spontaneous burning has been lasting for thousands of years in the coal fields in the north of China. It spreads from the west (Tianshan coal field) to the east (Huolinhe coal field). Its E-W extension is up to 3750km, concentrating in N35°toN45°, its vertical depth up to 260m, and the surface temprature locally up to 270℃. Annually, it burns out 0, 250-300 million tones of coal, causing economic loss equivalent to 2-3 billion R.M.B. Yuan.It destroies coal resources and causes hazards in coal mines. In order to locate the extent and the direction in coal burning areas, the remote sensing technique has heen used and has produced an obvious benefit.     

Barriers to plant transparency,barriers to plant rigidity — A sketch of the problems posed by the radical changes in work forms in the machine-building industry

This article deals with the contradiction which became prominent with new market requirements for more flexibility and qualified products, on the one hand, and increased automatisation and informatisation of production and work processes, on the other. The new situation forces companies, especially small batch production, machine factories with their still qualified work and organisation, to build up more flexibility to stabilize and reinforce their market power. But their very technical answer shows that this management-strategy can, and in many cases will, lead to the opposite: growing inflexibility. Regarding this problem from a political-theoretical perspective and less from an economic-emperical one, the extending technical autonomy of the production process makes feasible extensive technical control by management over the working process and over the workers, too. But unlimited use of technical control by the computer-systems will not lead to more flexibility, on the contrary it hinders it and in addition to this it will be confronted with a barrier of productive innovation coming from the shop floor. Considering this, the author ventures the thesis that: as long as human work is needed in production processes, self regulation and control can be taken out of the qualification of the workers and be moved out of the organisation only at the risk of inflexibility and at the price of loss of social productivity and innovation. In order to prevent this, more care must be taken by using and designing technology for the interfaces between man-machine-system: differentiate the differences among them and do not mix or even convert them. A productive system also controlled by the workers who work in and with the system, and not only by management, shows that the question of more flexibility, productivity and innovation is tightly woven with the internal power structure in the organisation.     

Effect of global position information in unknown world exploration — A case study using the Teleworkbench

This paper presents empirical results of the effect of the global position information on the performance of the modified local navigation algorithm (MLNA) for unknown world exploration. The results show that global position information enables the algorithm to maintain 100% success rate irrespective of initial robot position, movement speed, and environment complexity. Most mobile robot systems accrue an odometry error while moving, and hence need to use external sensors to recalibrate their position on an ongoing basis. We deal with position calibration to compensate the odometry error using the global position information provided by the Teleworkbench, which is a teleoperated platform and test bed for managing experiments using mini-robots. In this paper we demonstrate how we incorporate the global position information during and after the experiments.     

Postfix — a secure alternative to Sendmail: A new frontier in the reaim of free mailers

It is now widely recognized that Sendmail, the most widely used UNIX mailer, has certain security gaps, many of which are discovered and reported on a daily basis by researchers and users. One such researcher is Wietse Venema. Venema is a programmer and inventor of numerous irreplaceable tools for UNIX administrators. Examples include SATAN (created together with the equally well known researcher, Dan Farmer) and TCPWrappers, of note recently for allegedly having been illicitly distributed with a Trojan horse inside by a group of malicious hackers. For some time now, Venema has been pointing out to the scientific community just why Sendmail will never be completely secure. Naturally, criticism of a product should be accompanied by suggestions — or better yet — alternatives. Thus, Venema, during his time with the T.J. Watson research laboratories, was driven to launch the Postfix project (a.k.a. Vmailer or Secure Mailer) under the auspices of IBM. As Venema says, there is a dual objective: to give the user an alternate Mail Transfer Agent (MTA) to Sendmail while creating a secure mailer like the well-known Qmail, another program in this category, created by Dan Bernstein.     

Identifying organizational barriers—A case study of usability work when developing software in the automation industry

This study investigates connections between usability efforts and organizational factors. This is an important field of research which so far appears to be insufficiently studied and discussed. It illustrates problems when working with software engineering tasks and usability requirements. It deals with a large company that manufactures industrial robots with an advanced user interface, which wanted to introduce usability KPIs, to improve product quality. The situation in the company makes this difficult, due to a combination of organizational and behavioural factors that led to a “wicked problem” that caused conflicts, breakdowns and barriers. Addressing these problems requires a holistic view that places context in the foreground and technological solutions in the background. Developing the right product requires communication and collaboration between multiple stakeholders. The inclusion of end users, who fully understand their own work context, is vital. Achieving this is dependent on organizational change, and management commitment. One step to beginning this change process may be through studying ways to introduce user-centred design processes.     

A Controlled Experiment Comparing the Maintainability of Programs Designed with and without Design Patterns—A Replication in a Real Programming Environment

Software design patterns seek to package proven solutions to design problems in a form that makes it possible to find, adapt and reuse them. To support the industrial use of design patterns, this research investigates when, and how, using patterns is beneficial, and whether some patterns are more difficult to use than others. This paper describes a replication of an earlier controlled experiment on design patterns in maintenance, with major extensions. Experimental realism was increased by using a real programming environment instead of pen and paper, and paid professionals from multiple major consultancy companies as subjects. Measurements of elapsed time and correctness were analyzed using regression models and an estimation method that took into account the correlations present in the raw data. Together with on-line logging of the subjects work, this made possible a better qualitative understanding of the results. The results indicate quite strongly that some patterns are much easier to understand and use than others. In particular, the Visitor pattern caused much confusion. Conversely, the patterns Observer and, to a certain extent, Decorator were grasped and used intuitively, even by subjects with little or no knowledge of patterns. The implication is that design patterns are not universally good or bad, but must be used in a way that matches the problem and the people. When approaching a program with documented design patterns, even basic training can improve both the speed and quality of maintenance activities.     

Modelling the impacts of crowds on occupants in the built environment—A static,rule-based approach to human perception and movement

A building occupant’s experiences are not passive responses to environmental stimuli, but are the results of multifaceted, prolonged interactions between people and space. We present a framework and prototype software tool for logically reasoning about occupant perception and behaviour in the context of dynamic aspects of buildings in operation, based on qualitative deductive rules. In particular, we focus on the co-presence of different user groups and the resulting impact on perceptual and functional affordances of spatial layouts by utilising the concept of spatial artefacts. As a first proof of concept of our approach, we have implemented a prototype crowd analysis software tool in our new system ASP4BIM, developed specifically to support architectural design reasoning in the context of public-facing buildings with complex signage systems and diverse intended user groups. We evaluate our prototype on the Urban Sciences Building at Newcastle University, a large, state-of-the-art living laboratory and multipurpose academic building. Our findings are that the ASP4BIM-based prototype supports a range of novel query services for formally analysing the impacts of crowds on pedestrians that are logically derived through the use of qualitative deductive rules, that complements other powerful crowd analysis approaches such as agent-based simulation.