Consumer preference not to choose: Methodological and policy implications

Residential consumers remain reluctant to choose new electricity suppliers. Even the most successful jurisdictions, four US states and other countries, have had to adopt extensive consumer education procedures that serve largely to confirm that choosing electricity suppliers is daunting. Electricity is not unique in this respect; numerous studies find that consumers are generally reluctant to switch brands, even when they are well-informed about product characteristics. If consumers prefer not to choose, opening regulated markets can reduce welfare, even for some consumers who do switch, as the incumbent can exploit this preference by raising price above the formerly regulated level. Policies to open markets might be successful even if limited to industrial and commercial customers, with residential prices based on those in nominally competitive wholesale markets.     

Effects of the International Temperature Scale of 1990 (ITS-90) on CIE Documentary Standards for Radiometry,Photometry, and Colorimetry

The differences between ITS-90 and IPTS-68 above 1235 K are described. It is shown that none of the following CIE definitions or recommendations require revision because of the introduction of the ITS-90: International Lighting Vocabulary definitions; CIE Standard Illuminants A, D₆₅, other illuminants; and sources for realizing CIE Illuminants. The effect of the ITS-90 on previously calibrated sources for realizing CIE illuminants is negligibly small.²     

Evaluating the 1931 CIE color‐matching functions

The use of colorimetry within industry has grown extensively in the last few decades. Central to many of today's instruments is the CIE system, established in 1931. Many have questioned the validity of the assumptions made by Wright¹ and Guild,² some suggesting that the 1931 color‐matching functions are not the best representation of the human visual system's cone responses. A computational analysis was performed using metameric data to evaluate the CIE 1931 color‐matching functions as compared to with other responsivity functions. The underlying assumption was that an optimal set of responsivity functions would yield minimal color‐difference error between pairs of visually matched metamers. The difference of average color differences found in the six chosen sets of responsivity functions was small. The CIE 1931 2° color‐matching functions on average yielded the largest color difference, 4.56 ΔE. The best performance came from the CIE 1964 10° color‐matching functions, which yielded an average color difference of 4.02 ΔE. An optimization was then performed to derive a new set of color‐matching functions that were visually matched using metameric pairs of spectral data. If all pairs were to be optimized to globally minimize the average color difference, it is expected that this would produce an optimal set of responsivity functions. The optimum solution was to use a weighted combination of each set of responsivity functions. The optimized set, called the Shaw and Fairchild responsivity functions, was able to reduce the average color difference to 3.92 ΔE. In the final part of this study a computer‐based simulation of the color differences between the sets of responsivity functions was built. This simulation allowed a user to load a spectral radiance or a spectral reflectance data file and display the tristimulus match predicted by each of the seven sets of responsivity functions. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Col Res Appl, 27, 316–329, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/col.10077     

NaxSr1-2xMoO4∶Eux^3＋的制备及其发光性能的研究

采用高温固相法结合电荷补偿方式2Sr2＋→Eu3＋＋Na＋,合成了适合白光LED的红色荧光材料NaxSr1-2xMoO4∶Eux^3＋（x=0.1、0.15、0.2,0.25、0.3）系列样品.对样品分别进行了X射线衍射（XRD）分析和荧光光谱的测定.测试结果表明,NaxSr1-2xMoO4∶Eu3x＋荧光粉可以被近紫外光（UV）（393 nm）和蓝光（463 nm）有效激发.通过探讨Na＋和Eu3＋的掺杂浓度对发光强度的影响,得出NaxSr1-2xMoO4∶Eux3＋系列样品的发光强度比SrMoO4：Eu3＋明显增加,且当掺杂量x=0.2时,NaxSr1-2xMoO4∶Eux3＋系列样品在616 nm处的发光强度最大.分析了NaxSr1-2xMoO4∶Eux3＋系列样品在380 nm紫外光激发下的色坐标,当Na＋和Eu3＋的掺杂量x=0.15时,样品的红色显色最强.     

基于规则引擎的智能决策支持系统开发

提出了解决基于规则专家系统的规则冲突的方法。构建了使用Eclipse和Drools的集成开发环境。     

Controller certification

A modern problem from aerospace control involves the certification of a large set of potential controllers with either a single plant or a fleet of potential plant systems, with both plants and controllers being MIMO and, for the moment, linear. Experiments on a limited number of controller/plant pairs should establish the stability and a certain level of margin of the complete set. We consider this certification problem for a set of controllers and provide algorithms for selecting an efficient subset for testing. This is done for a finite set of candidate controllers and, at least for SISO plants, for compact infinite set. In doing this, the ν-gap metric will be the main tool. Computational examples are given, including one of certification of an aircraft engine controller. The overarching aim is to introduce truly MIMO margin calculations and to understand their efficacy in certifying stability over a set of controllers and in replacing legacy single-loop gain and phase margin calculations.     

Real-time approximation of molecular interaction interfaces based on hierarchical space decomposition

The interaction interface between two molecules can be represented as a bisector surface equidistant from the two sets of spheres of varying radii representing atoms. We recursively divide a box containing both sphere-sets into uniform pairs of sub-boxes. The distance from each new box to each sphere-set is conservatively approximated by an interval, and the number of sphere-box computations is greatly reduced by pre-partitioning each sphere-set using a kd-tree. The subdivision terminates at a specified resolution, creating a box partition (BP) tree. A piecewise linear approximation of the bisector surface is then obtained by traversing the leaves of the BP tree and connecting points equidistant from the sphere-sets. In 124 experiments with up to 16,728 spheres, a bisector surface with a resolution of 1/2⁴ of the original bounding box was obtained in 28.8 ms on average.     

A characterization of span program size and improved lower bounds for monotone span programs

We give a characterization of span program size by a combinatorial-algebraic measure. The measure we consider is a generalization of a measure on covers which has been used to prove lower bounds on formula size and has also been studied with respect to communication complexity.?In the monotone case our new methods yield lower bounds for the monotone span program complexity of explicit Boolean functions in n variables over arbitrary fields, improving the previous lower bounds on monotone span program size. Our characterization of span program size implies that any matrix with superpolynomial separation between its rank and cover number can be used to obtain superpolynomial lower bounds on monotone span program size. We also identify a property of bipartite graphs that is suficient for constructing Boolean functions with large monotone span program complexity. Received: September 30, 2000.     

A New Well-Solvable Class of PNS Problems

A manufacturing system consists of operating units which convert their input materials into their output materials. In the problem of designing a process network, we have to find a suitable network of operating units which produces the desired products from the given raw materials. If we consider this process network design problem from a structural point of view, then we obtain a combinatorial optimization problem called the Process Network Synthesis or (PNS) problem. It is known that the PNS problem is NP-complete. Here, a new method is presented to reduce the solution of some more difficult PNS problems to the solution of simpler ones, and using this method, a new well-solvable class of PNS problems is established. Received February 12, 1999; revised October 24, 2000     

Fe-(Co6Ag94)颗粒膜磁光芯片的制备及研究

采用二分掩膜技术向溅射沉积的(Co6Ag94)薄膜中组合注入Fe离子，制备成具有不同Fe含量的16单元Fe-(Co6Ag94)颗粒膜磁光芯片。对制备态和退火态的Fe-(Co6Ag94)颗粒膜的物相进行了XRD研究。不同退火温度下，物相的演变反映出了退火过程中Co、Fe相和FeCo相纳米微晶的析出长大过程。采用原子力显微镜(AFM)对薄膜表面的研究结果表明，在退火过程中形成了嵌于基底中的纳米颗粒相。对制备态和不同温度退火后芯片各单元的磁光性能进行了测量，结果表明极向Kerr旋转角晚随着注入Fe含量的增加而增大，这可归因于颗粒膜中铁磁相的增多。在500℃以下，随着退火温度的增加，Fe-(Co6Ag94)颗粒膜的克尔磁光效应增加。对不同温度退火的样品进行穆斯堡尔谱测量，结果证明一定尺寸纳米Fe微晶颗粒的出现是磁光效应提高的主要原因之一。