A strategy for integrating product conceptualization and bid preparation

Collaboration with other members of the supply chain is one means by which small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) can compete in today’s global business environment. Thus, early stages of the new product development process involve both technical activities, e.g., product platform definition, and commercial activities, e.g., bidding for contracts. This paper introduces an integrated collaborative bidding and design system (CBDS) to help SMEs coordinate the two aspects. General sorting was employed for initial requirements acquisition and platform definition; while a self-organizing map (SOM) neural network was combined with a concurrent cost-schedule estimation strategy for refinement of design options and bid evaluation/preparation. A case study on cellular phone design was then applied for illustrating the proposed prototype system.     

A Review of Wavelets for Digital Wireless Communication

Wavelets have been favorably applied in almost all aspects of digital wireless communication systems including data compression, source and channel coding, signal denoising, channel modeling and design of transceivers. The main property of wavelets in these applications is in their flexibility and ability to characterize signals accurately. In this paper recent trends and developments in the use of wavelets in wireless communications are reviewed. Major applications of wavelets in wireless channel modeling, interference mitigation, denoising, OFDM modulation, multiple access, Ultra Wideband communications, cognitive radio and wireless networks are surveyed. The confluence of information and communication technologies and the possibility of ubiquitous connectivity have posed a challenge to developing technologies and architectures capable of handling large volumes of data under severe resource constraints such as power and bandwidth. Wavelets are uniquely qualified to address this challenge. The flexibility and adaptation provided by wavelets have made wavelet technology a strong candidate for future wireless communication. Madan Kumar Lakshmanan was born in Chennai, India, in 1979. He received the B.E. (with distinction) in electrical engineering from the University of Madras, Chennai, India, in 2000. He joined the Indian Software firm, Polaris Software Labs Ltd., in 2000 where he wrote software for Telecommunication applications. At Polaris, he was awarded the “On The Spot Of Excellence Award” for his efforts. In 2003, he moved to the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, to develop and establish a wireless communications network for rural connectivity. In 2004, he was awarded the Royal Dutch/Shell Chevning scholarship to pursue a Master degree in Telecommunications at the Delft University of Technology (TUDelft). At TUDelft he is affiliated to the International Research Center for Telecommunications-Transmission and Radar (IRCTR) where he is undertaking research in the field of wavelets applications in Wireless Communications. Homayoun Nikookar received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Delft University of Technology (TUDelft), The Netherlands, in 1995. From 1995 to 1998 he was a postdoc researcher at the International Research Center for Telecommunications-Transmission and Radar, TUDelft, where since 1999 he has been an Assistant Professor. Dr. Nikookar has done research on different areas of wireless communications, including wireless channel modeling, UWB, MIMO, multicarrier transmission, Wavelet-based OFDM and CDMA. He is a senior member of the IEEE.     

Self-efficacy and work-related performance: The integral role of individual differences.

The present study estimated the unique contribution of self-efficacy to work-related performance controlling for personality (the Big 5 traits), intelligence or general mental ability, and job or task experience. Results, based on a meta-analysis of the relevant literatures, revealed that overall, across all studies and moderator conditions, the contribution of self-efficacy relative to purportedly more distal variables is relatively small. Within moderator categories, there were several cases in which self-efficacy made unique contributions to work-related performance. For example, self-efficacy predicted performance in jobs or tasks of low complexity but not those of medium or high complexity, and self-efficacy predicted performance for task but not job performance. Overall, results suggest that the predictive validity of self-efficacy is attenuated in the presence of individual differences, though this attenuation does depend on the context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Enhancing cognitive radio systems with robust reasoning

Cognitive radio systems dynamically reconfigure the algorithms and parameters they use, in order to adapt to the changing environment conditions. However, reaching proper reconfiguration decisions presupposes a way of knowing, with high enough assurance, the capabilities of the alternate configurations, especially in terms of achievable transmission capacity and coverage. The present paper addresses this problem, firstly, by specifying a complete process for extracting estimations of the capabilities of candidate configurations, in terms of transmission capacity and coverage, and, secondly, by enhancing these estimations with the employment of a machine learning technique. The technique is based on the use of Bayesian Networks, in conjunction with an effective learning and adaptation strategy, and aims at extracting and exploiting knowledge and experience, in order to reach robust (i.e. stable and reliable) estimations of the configurations' capabilities. Comprehensive results of the proposed method are presented, in order to validate its functionality. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The benefits and costs of repeated memory tests for young and older adults.

Repeated and prolonged searches of memory can lead to an increase in how much is recalled, but they can also lead to memory errors. These 3 experiments addressed the costs and benefits of repeated and prolonged memory tests for both young and older adults. Participants saw and imagined pictures of objects, some of which were physically or conceptually similar, and then took a series of repeated or prolonged recall tests. Both young and older adults recalled more on later tests than on earlier ones, though the increase was less marked for older adults. In addition, despite recalling less than did young adults, older adults made more similarity-based source misattributions (i.e., claiming an imagined item was seen if it was physically or conceptually similar to a seen item). Similar patterns of fewer benefits and more costs for older adults were seen on both free and forced recall tests and on timed and self-paced tests. Findings are interpreted in terms of age-related differences in binding processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Determinants of health knowledge: An investigation of age, gender, abilities, personality, and interests.

Ten areas of health knowledge were investigated in 2 studies, 1 of college students (N=169) and 1 of adults from the community (ages 19-70; N=176). Measures assessed knowledge of aging, orthopedic/ dermatological concerns, common illnesses, childhood/early life, serious illnesses, mental health, nutrition, reproduction, safety, and treatment of illness/disease. Significant gender differences favoring women were found for most areas of health knowledge, especially reproduction and early life. Results showed that cognitive ability accounted for the most variance in health knowledge with nonability (personality and interest traits) and demographic variables accounting for smaller but significant amounts of variance across most knowledge domains. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Obituaries: Martin Deutsch (1926-2002).

Reports the death of Martin Deutsch (1926-2002) and notes his contributions to the field of developmental psychology. Deutsch believed that environmental influences were critical for cognitive development during children's early years and that it was possible to design programs that would provide some of those experiences for children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

常速度梯度射线追踪与二维层速度反演

速度问题是勘探地震学的核心 ,可以借助常速度梯度射线追踪方法 ,从反演的角度探讨速度建模问题。在射线追踪方面 ,从程函方程出发 ,将复杂的速度场剖分成小的矩形单元 ,并假设在每个矩形单元内速度具有常速度梯度 ,由此导出的一组常速度梯度射线追踪公式 ,可实现非均匀介质的射线追踪 ,具有适应性强、精度高和快速的优点。在层速度反演方面 ,采用相干速度反演的思想 ,根据各向同性介质中 ,零偏移距射线在界面处是法向入射的原理 ,建立了合成共中心点道集与射线深度偏移的正反演关系 ,由此利用合成共中心点道集与观测的共中心点道集逼近 ,采用层剥离方法进行层速度反演。通过理论推导与模型试算得到如下的认识与结论 :常速度梯度射线追踪具有较高的计算精度与效率 ,公式采用向量形式很容易推广到三维 ;确定层速度采用的是正反演相结合的方法 ,可得到稳定的速度场 ;该方法屏弃了基于双曲时矩关系确定层速度场的假设 ,使其能适应任意的速度分布。     

A Broad View of Intelligence: The Theory of Successful Intelligence.

This article reviews the theory of successful intelligence and attempts to construct-validate the theory of successful intelligence. It describes 4 distinct converging operations that have been used in these attempts. Two sets involve internal validation of the structure of the theory and 2 sets external validation of the theory with outside criteria. The internal validation operations involve information-processing (componential) analyses and both exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. The external validation operations involve correlational analysis and analyses of instructional interventions based on the theory. The results are generally supportive of the theory and suggest that conventional conceptions of intelligence may be too narrow. The theory is of use in consulting because it broadens the scope of skills one looks for in seeking "intelligent" people for hiring, retention, and promotion and in assessing a person's ability to do his or her current job. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)