The Influence of Competitiveness on SMEs Internationalization Effectiveness. Online Versus Offline Business Networking

ABSTRACT

The article aims to analyze the importance of reinforcing the relational capital of the small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the context of a globalized market. It elaborates on the influences of competitiveness on online versus offline business networking with a view to achieve effectiveness in the European steel pipe SMEs internationalization process. The results indicate that internationalization effectiveness is indirectly influenced by competitiveness, with online and offline networking mediating the relationship between the two variables.     

Solution validation technique for optimal shakedown design problems

Modern computer technology allows conjoining shakedown theory, optimization and ever stricter standardized design requirements in a single mathematical problem formulation. However it raises a question of reliability: easily achieved solution should not be taken for granted but should be adequately assessed. This paper focuses on the physical validation technique for optimal shakedown design problem solution in the aspect of Melan theorem (statics) and residual deformation compatibility (kinematics). For that purpose Rosen gradient projection method is used. Optimization problem of bending circular, symmetric plate at shakedown, which is subjected by a variable repeated load, is considered for illustration of the validation technique.     

Predicting the occurrence of adverse events using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) approach with the help of ANFIS input selection

This study presents an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) approach performed to estimate the number of adverse events where the dependent variables are adverse events leading to four types of variables: number of people killed, wounded, hijacked and total number of adverse events. Fourteen infrastructure development projects were selected based on allocated budgets values at different time periods, population density, and previous month adverse event numbers selected as independent variables. Firstly, number of independent variables was reduced by using ANFIS input selection approach. Then, several ANFIS models were performed and investigated for Afghanistan and the whole country divided into seven regions for analysis purposes. Performances of models were assessed and compared based on the mean absolute errors. The difference between observed and estimated value was also calculated within \({\pm }1\) range with values around 90 %. We included multiple linear regression (MLR) model results to assess the predictive power of the ANFIS approach, in comparison to a traditional statistical approach. When the model accuracy was calculated according to the performance metrics, ANFIS showed greater predictive accuracy than MLR analysis, as indicated by experimental results. As a result of this study, we conclude that ANFIS is able to estimate the occurrence of adverse events according to economical infrastructure development project data.     

Pervaho: A specialized middleware for mobile context-aware applications

The concept of context-awareness offers a great potential for the future of mobile applications. In order to be developed in an optimal way, mobile context-aware applications need appropriate middleware services. This paper introduces Pervaho, an integrated middleware aimed specifically at supporting the development and testing of mobile context-aware applications. To illustrate the use of Pervaho, we walk through the development of a concrete mobile application and show how it can be built on top of Pervaho’s location-based publish/subscribe service. We also illustrate how a specialized mobility testing tool significantly simplifies the process of testing proximity-based semantics. We then present the implementation of Pervaho, which is based on a set of communication protocols geared at mesh networks. Finally, we provide a performance analysis of our implementation.     

Numerical study of liquid inclusion oscillations inside a closed 1D microchannel filled with gas

The motion of a liquid inclusion inside a 1D microchannel filled with gas and externally heated is simulated. An incompressible formulation is used for the liquid, while a low Mach approximation is considered for the gas flow. Gas–liquid interfaces are captured using an Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian method. The whole liquid–gas system is shown to behave as a damped oscillator. Natural frequency of the linearized system and associated eigenmodes are first identified. Forced oscillations are investigated for different heating conditions (temperature or heat flux) at the microchannel ends. Detailed analyses are performed which reveal the main thermo-mechanical effects involved in the oscillations. The relevant parameters governing the dynamics are found out through a dimensionless analysis. Finally, heating conditions leading to non decaying oscillations of the liquid inclusion are proposed.     

Hands-free interaction with a computer and other technologies

Hands-free interaction with technology is a dream for any person with limitations in the use of his/her arms and hands. This paper describes two new original low-cost hands-free computer peripheries—I4Control^® and Magic Key, which use movements of the user’s eye or nose as an actuator of a computer cursor. Both systems emulate the PC mouse and thereby mediate direct access to any mouse-controlled computer application. Functionality of the presented systems is compared to that of PC mouse using one of the usability tests recommended by the ISO 9241 methodology. The data obtained as a result of testing a group of ten unimpaired novice users indicated that the users’ performance improves over time of usage of the system, but the process is rather slow. The paper describes several easy to use toy-applications intended to improve the user’s confidence in working with the considered devices. One of these applications demonstrates that I4Control^® can be employed to control home appliances or a wheelchair.     

Visual-model-based,real-time 3D pose tracking for autonomous navigation: methodology and experiments

This paper presents a novel 3D-model-based computer-vision method for tracking the full six degree-of-freedom (dof) pose (position and orientation) of a rigid body, in real-time. The methodology has been targeted for autonomous navigation tasks, such as interception of or rendezvous with mobile targets. Tracking an object’s complete six-dof pose makes the proposed algorithm useful even when targets are not restricted to planar motion (e.g., flying or rough-terrain navigation). Tracking is achieved via a combination of textured model projection and optical flow. The main contribution of our work is the novel combination of optical flow with z-buffer depth information that is produced during model projection. This allows us to achieve six-dof tracking with a single camera. A localized illumination normalization filter also has been developed in order to improve robustness to shading. Real-time operation is achieved using GPU-based filters and a new data-reduction algorithm based on colour-gradient redundancy, which was developed within the framework of our project. Colour-gradient redundancy is an important property of colour images, namely, that the gradients of all colour channels are generally aligned. Exploiting this property provides a threefold increase in speed. A processing rate of approximately 80 to 100 fps has been obtained in our work when utilizing synthetic and real target-motion sequences. Sub-pixel accuracies were obtained in tests performed under different lighting conditions.

Efficient symbolic computation of process expressions

This paper describes three optimization techniques for the eb³ process algebra. The optimizations are expressed in a new deterministic operational semantics which is shown to be trace-equivalent to a traditional non-deterministic operational semantics. Internal action transitions are eliminated by an efficient preruntime analysis of the structure of a process expression. Execution environments are used to optimize variable instantiation using lazy evaluation. Non-determinism is eliminated by returning a choice between possible transitions. This new operational semantics is implemented in the eb³pai process algebra interpreter to support the eb³ method. The goal of this method is to automate the development of information systems using, among other mechanisms, efficient symbolic computation of process expressions.     

Sand automata as cellular automata

In this paper, we exhibit a strong relation between the sand automata configuration space and the cellular automata configuration space. This relation induces a compact topology for sand automata, and a new context in which sand automata are homeomorphic to cellular automata acting on a specific subshift. We show that the existing topological results for sand automata, including the Hedlund-like representation theorem, still hold. In this context, we give a characterization of cellular automata which are sand automata, and study some dynamical behaviors such as equicontinuity. Furthermore, we deal with simple sand automata. We show that the classical definition of nilpotency is not meaningful for sand automata. Then, we introduce the suitable new notion of flattening sand automata. Finally, we prove that this simple dynamical behavior is undecidable.