Search results

This paper aims to analyze the application of remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) for remote oil spill sensing.

This paper is an analysis of RPA strong points.

To increase the accuracy and eliminate potentially false contamination detection, which can be caused by external factors, an oil thickness measurement algorithm is used with the help of the multispectral imaging that provides high accuracy and is versatile for any areas of water and various meteorological and atmospheric conditions.

SWOT analysis of implementation of RPA for remote sensing of oil spills.

The use of RPA will improve the remote sensing of oil spills.

The concept of oil spills monitoring needs to be developed for quality data collection, oil pollution control and emergency response.

The research covers the development of a method and design of a device intended for taking samples and determining the presence of oil contamination in an aquatorium area; the procedure includes taking a sample from the water surface, preparing it for transportation and delivering the sample to a designated location by using the RPA. The objective is to carry out the analysis of remote oil spill sensing using RPA. The RPA provides a reliable sensing of oil pollution with significant advantages over other existing methods. The objective is to analyze the use of RPA employing all of their strong points. In this paper, technical aspects of sensors are analyzed, as well as their advantages and limitations.

At airport security checkpoints, baggage screening is aimed to prevent transportation of prohibited and potentially dangerous items. Observing the projection images generated by X-rays scanner is a critical method. However, when multiple objects are stacked on top of each other, distinguishing objects only by a two-dimensional picture is difficult, which prompts the demand for more precise imaging technology to be investigated for use. Reconstructing from 2D X-ray images to 3D-computed tomography (CT) volumes is a reliable solution.

To more accurately distinguish the specific contour shape of items when stacked, multi-information fusion network (MFCT-GAN) based on generative adversarial network (GAN) and U-like network (U-NET) is proposed to reconstruct from two biplanar orthogonal X-ray projections into 3D CT volumes. The authors use three modules to enhance the reconstruction qualitative and quantitative effects, compared with the original network. The skip connection modification (SCM) and multi-channels residual dense block (MRDB) enable the network to extract more feature information and learn deeper with high efficiency; the introduction of subjective loss enables the network to focus on the structural similarity (SSIM) of images during training.

On account of the fusion of multiple information, MFCT-GAN can significantly improve the value of quantitative indexes and distinguish contour explicitly between different targets. In particular, SCM enables features more reasonable and accurate when expanded into three dimensions. The appliance of MRDB can alleviate problem of slow optimization during the late training period, as well as reduce the computational cost. The introduction of subjective loss guides network to retain more high-frequency information, which makes the rendered CT volumes clearer in details.

The authors' proposed MFCT-GAN is able to restore the 3D shapes of different objects greatly based on biplanar projections. This is helpful in security check places, where X-ray images of stacked objects need to be distinguished from the presence of prohibited objects. The authors adopt three new modules, SCM, MRDB and subjective loss, as well as analyze the role the modules play in 3D reconstruction. Results show a significant improvement on the reconstruction both in objective and subjective effects.

Total factor productivity (TFP) has become a prominent concept in agriculture economics and policy over the last three decades. The main aim of this paper is to obtain a detailed picture of the field via bibliometric analysis to identify research streams and future research agenda.

The data sample consists of 472 papers in several bibliometric exercises. Citation and collaboration structure analyses are employed to identify most important authors and journals and track the interconnections between main authors and institutions. Next, content analysis based on bibliographic coupling is conducted to identify main research streams in TFP.

Three research streams in agricultural TFP research were distinguished: TFP growth in developing countries in the context of policy reforms (1), TFP in the context of new challenges in agriculture (2) and finally, non-parametric TFP decomposition based on secondary data (3).

This research indicates agenda of future TFP research, in particular broadening the concept of TFP to the problems of policy, environment and technology in emerging countries. It provides description of the current state of the art in the agricultural TFP literature and can serve as a “guide” to the field.

This paper aims to explore the relationship between top management team bricolage and performance and also examines unit ambidexterity's mediating role. More essentially, to understand the black box of organizational knowledge dynamism, a multilevel moderated mediating model is established by exploring the effects of two firm-level moderators, namely, potential absorptive capacity and realized absorptive capacity.

To test the cross-level moderated mediation model, this study used multisource data from 90 R&D units in 45 Taiwanese manufacturing firms through two-wave surveys and retrieving the archival data for assessing unit performance.

This study’s evidence revealed that unit-level ambidexterity mediates the effect between firm-level top management teams’ (TMT) bricolage and unit-level performance. This study also found that firm-level potential absorptive capacity positively moderates the effect between firm-level TMT bricolage and unit-level ambidexterity. Moreover, firm-level realized absorptive capacity strengthens the indirect relationships between firm-level TMT bricolage and unit-level performance via unit-level ambidexterity. The findings shed light on how and why TMT bricolage influences unit ambidexterity and performance in knowledge-intensive sectors.

This paper adds to the existing knowledge-based theory literature by disentangling the association between top management team bricolage and unit performance and identifying the pivotal role of absorptive capacity at both the firm and unit levels.

In 2022, the International Network for Quality Assurance (QA) Agencies in Higher Education (INQAAHE) published the new guidelines by adding three QA modules in response to the changing higher education landscape. The paper aims to investigate the transformative focus of quality assurance in higher education globally as well as Asian response to three new QA modules according to the INQAAHE ISGs.

The research conducted a quantitative approach for data collection. An on-line survey was conducted to perceive QA practices, perceptions toward new emerging QA modules and challenges encountered. In total, there were 26 responses from 18 territories with 22 QA agencies. A total of 13 out of them have a national qualifications framework in place.

Three are three major findings in the study. First, national policy and criteria and standards in distance education have been developed in the majority of Asian nations. Second, non-signatories of the Tokyo Convention had a higher proportion of having related policies, regulations and criteria in CBHE and distance education. Third, national policies and regulations; and lack of professional staff are two common challenges implementing QA in new types of providers.

The findings are of value for policymakers, QA agencies and universities to advocate the new QA model as a systematic approach in response to changing higher education landscape in the post pandemic era.

Against the background of the popularity of social media and heritage tourism, this study aims to focus on world heritage sites, proposing a method to examine and compare the digital spatial footprints left by tourists using geographic information systems.

By analyzing user-generated content from social media, this research explores how digital data shapes the destination image of WHS and the spatial relationships between the components of this destination image. Drawing on the cognitive-affective model (CAM), it investigates through an analysis of integrated data with more than 20,000 reviews and 2,000 photos.

The creativity of this research lies in the creation of a comprehensive method that combines text and image analytics with machine learning and GIS to examine spatial relationships within the CAM framework in a visual manner.

The results reveal tourists' perceptions, emotions, and attitudes towards George Town and Malacca in Malaysia, highlighting several key cognitive impressions, such as history, museums, churches, sea, and food, as well as the primary emotions expressed. Their distributions and relationships are also illustrated on maps.

Tourism practitioners, government officials, and residents can gain valuable insights from this study. The proposed methodology provides a valuable reference for future tourism studies and help to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage for other heritage destinations.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate three issues: how does an innovative search (local search and boundary-spanning search) impact firm innovation performance of latecomers; how does capability reconfiguration (capability evolution and capability substitution) mediates the relationship between innovative search and firm innovation performance; and how does the technological leapfrogging process (initial stage, following stage, synchronization stage and leading stage) moderate the relationship between capability reconfiguration and firm innovation performance.

A “resource-capability-performance” theoretical framework was developed to explore the relationships between local/boundary-spanning search, capability reconfiguration and firm innovation performance. The data were collected by sending out surveys to managers and employees in various industries in mainland China. These hypotheses were tested using structural equation models and hierarchical regressions.

The results showed that: innovative search has a direct causal relationship to capability reconfiguration; local search and boundary-spanning search are conducive to improve the innovation performance of latecomers; the impact of local search and boundary-spanning search on innovation performance is realized through the completion of mediating role of capability reconfiguration; there are differences in the path of local search and boundary-spanning search affecting the capability reconfiguration of enterprise innovation performance; and the relationship between innovative search, capability reconfiguration and enterprise innovation performance evolves with the enterprise in different stages of technological leapfrogging.

This study explores the relationship and the path of innovative search to firm innovation performance and analyzes the path difference between local search and boundary-spinning search, which enriches the research of organizational search and enterprise innovation. This paper reveals the whole path of innovative search affecting innovation performance, discusses the important role of capability reconfiguration and makes incremental contributions to dynamic capability theory. It studies the evolution of innovative search on innovation performance under the background of technological leapfrogging, which provides a new perspective for the study of organizational search and capability-based theory.

The purposes of this paper are 1) to develop model of long term financial health for logistics companies in Thailand 2) to identify factors that determine long term financial stability. Many researchers currently provide factors affecting financial health. Most factors refer to financial ratios, not many non-financial ratios such as age and size have been mentioned. This paper considers both financial and non-financial ratios that affect financial performance of Logistics companies in Thailand. The study has covered some interesting non-financial ratios such as Nationality of Shareholders, type of network in Logistics Company, growth rate (consisted of sales growth rate/profit growth rate/asset growth rate / Liability growth rate) and variable of growth rates. The target group is 110 logistics companies in Thailand enlisted from Department of International Trade Promotion Ministry of Commerce, Royal Thai Government. The group is divided into three categories according to financial health of company; Healthy financial, Unhealthy (Distress) and normal situation. The Multidiscriminant Analysis (MDA) is applied to analyze the differentiations among the three categories. Significant variables from MDA will be used as the independent variables for Multimonial Logistic Regression Analysis (MLRA) to identify factors that determine long terms financial stability. This paper find CF/D, RE/TA, BE/TL, Size, Age, Type of network, Nationality of Shareholders and Number of Shareholders are significant factors determine long term financial stability of Logistics company in Thailand.

The electrical properties of piezoelectric vibrators have a crucial influence on the operating state of ultrasonic motors. In order to solve the problem that the current piezoelectric vibrator generates a large amount of heat during vibration to degrade its performance, which in turn affects the normal operation of ultrasonic motors, this paper prepares a novel piezoelectric vibrator and tests its maximum vibration velocity under the working condition, which is more than twice as much as that of the current commercial PZT-8.

The crystal structures of the samples were analyzed by using an X-ray diffractometer. For microstructure observation, samples were observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The quasi-static piezoelectric coefficient meter (ZJ-3AN) was used for piezoelectric measurement. Dielectric properties were measured by utilizing an impedance analyzer (Agilent 4294A) with a laboratory heating unit. Ferroelectric hysteresis loops were obtained using a ferroelectric analyzer (Radiant, Multiferroic 100). A Doppler laser vibrometer (Polytec PSV-300F, Germany) and a power amplifier were used for piezoelectric vibration measurements, during which the temperature rise was determined by an infrared radiation thermometer (Victor 303, China).

The ceramics exhibit enhanced piezoelectric performance at 0.1–0.4 mol% of Yb doping contents. The ceramic of 0.4 mol% Yb reaches the maximal internal bias field and presents a larger mechanical quality factor of 1,692 compared with that of 0.2 mol% Yb-doped ceramic, in spite of a slightly decreased dielectric constant of 439 pC/N, the unit of the piezoelectric constant, which is the ratio of the local charge (pC) to the frontal force (N) and electromechanical coupling coefficient of 0.63. The vibrator with this large mechanical quality factor ceramic displays a vibration velocity of up to 0.81 m/s under the constraint of 20 °C temperature rising, which is much higher than commercial high-power piezoelectric ceramics PZT-8.

The enhanced high-power properties of the piezoelectric vibrator by Yb doping may provide a potential application for the high-performance USM and offer the possibility of long-term stable operation under high power for special equipment like USM. In the subsequent phase of research, the novel PZT-based high-power piezoelectric vibrator can be utilized in the USM, and the motor's performance will be evaluated under aerospace conditions to objectively assess the reliability of the piezoelectric vibrator.