Search results

The emergence of the Software-as-a-service (SaaS) licensing model dramatically changes how enterprise software is released. Especially, it is favored by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) because of the cost-friendly feature. In contrast, many large enterprises (LEs) own relatively abundant budgets and prefer the on-premise software to fulfill demands through customization. Considering the differentiated cost-acceptance level among customers, this study aims to address the versioning problem of the enterprise software faced by software firms.

A two-point distribution model is formulated to calculate the maximal profits software firm earned from both LEs and SMEs under three strategies (On-premise, SaaS and Hybrid). Then through profit comparison, this paper obtains the optimal versioning strategy and corresponding feasible conditions. Finally, the optimal solutions are derived concerning social welfare.

A significant finding is that moving to SaaS becomes necessary for the software firms in product releases since the on-premise strategy will not be optimal. Based on this, this paper discovers that when LEs own a cost-acceptance level close to that of SMEs, the hybrid strategy is the only optimal choice. When LEs become less sensitive to costs, the hybrid strategy is suggested if the customization cost falls below the threshold. Otherwise, the SaaS strategy becomes the optimal option. The conclusions explain why some software vendors transit to “cloud companies” thoroughly and provide practical insights for software firms’ future decisions.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first information economics study to consider consumer cost sensitivity in discussing enterprise software versioning. The differentiated cost-acceptance level is introduced to describe the customer utilities, and the results uncover the necessity of moving to SaaS under diversified customer composition. This work provides significant theoretical value and practical insights.

This paper aims to study the electrochemical corrosion performance of ultrafine-grained (UFG) Cu bulk in 0.5 M NaCl solution.

UFG Cu bulk were prepared by impacting at −196°C and following heat treatment. The electrochemical corrosion behaviors of coarse-grained (CG), impacted and subsequently annealed at 190°C Cu bulks were studied.

All the bulks displayed typical active-passive-transpassive behaviors (dual passive films without stable passive regions). The resistance to corrosion of impacted Cu bulk was notably superior to that of CG Cu bulk, and subsequently annealing further improved its corrosion resistance.

Except for mechanical properties, corrosion performance has been considered to be one of the most important aspects in bulk UFG metallic materials research for the prospective engineering applications.

Cryogenic impacting could effectively reduce grain size of CG Cu bulk to UFG scale and induce high density dislocation. Subsequent annealing resulted in a further decrease of grain size even to nanoscale, as well as nanometer twins. The grain refinement, high density dislocation and annealing twins effectively enhance the passivation capability, resulting in an increase in the corrosion resistance.

This paper aims to study the relationship between leakage flux coefficient and the coreless axial magnetic field permanent magnet synchronous generator (AFPMSG) size and obtain the expressions of leakage flux coefficient.

In this paper, a magnetic circuit model of coreless AFPMSG is proposed. Four kinds of leakage permeances of permanent magnet (PM) are considered, and the expression of no-load leakage flux coefficient is obtained. Solving the integral region of leakage permeances by generator size, which improves the accuracy of the solution.

Finite element method and magnetic circuit method are used to obtain the no-load leakage flux coefficient and its variation trend charts with the change of pole arc coefficient, air gap length and PM thickness. The average errors of the two methods are 2.835%, 0.84% and 1.347%, respectively. At the same time, the results of single-phase electromotive force obtained by magnetic circuit method, three dimensional finite element method and prototype experiments are 19.36 V, 18.82 V and 19.09 V, respectively. The results show that the magnetic circuit method is correct in calculating the no-load leakage flux coefficient.

The special structure of the coreless AFPMSG is considered in the presented equivalent magnetic circuit and equations, and the equations in this paper can be applied for leakage flux evaluating purposes and initial parameter selection of the coreless AFPMSG.

Product variant design process consists of a series of asynchronous activities. These activities and the logic relations among them are important in constructing general logic workflow structure, which is the foundation of deriving an activity path for variant design business. Traditional process modeling approaches have not defined activities for product variant design and cannot describe the complex relations among these activities because of the lack of logic express elements. Thus, logic workflow structure modeling method is anticipated to meet the requirements of logic description and path generation in product variant design application. This paper aims to address these issues.

The paper identifies the variant design modes of different types of parts and defines their variant design activities. The procedure of constructing general logic workflow structure of product variant design is proposed. Simultaneously, the principles of inferring logic relations among activities are put forward based on their adjacency information and connectivity probability. A general logic workflow structure of product variant design is constructed. Based on this, activity path corresponding to a variant design business can be generated. The algorithm of generating activity path is designed as well. In addition, Boolean vectors of activity path, based on the functional contour matrix of polychromatic set theory, can be inferred, which denotes the functional character of activity path.

A general logic workflow structure for product variant design has been established, which comprises variant design activities and basic process logic nodes. The logic relations among activities can be inferred based on their in-degree/out-degree and connectivity probability. The function character of activity path can also be expressed based on the polychromatic set theory.

The combination of variant design activity and basic process logic node makes diverse variant design business descriptions possible in a general workflow structure. The proposed approach provides evidences for designer to plan and develop product variant design system effectively.

This paper develops a research model to examine the relationship among e‐service quality dimensions and overall service quality, customer satisfaction and purchase intentions.

Data from a survey of 297 online consumers were used to test the research model. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to examine the reliability and validity of the measurement model, and the structural equation modelling technique was used to test the research model.

The analytical results showed that the dimensions of web site design, reliability, responsiveness, and trust affect overall service quality and customer satisfaction. Moreover, the latter in turn are significantly related to customer purchase intentions. However, the personalization dimension is not significantly related to overall service quality and customer satisfaction.

Future research can use different methodologies, such as longitudinal studies, focus groups and interviews, to examine the relationship between service quality and customer purchase behaviour in online shopping contexts.

This study suggests that to enhance customer purchase intentions, online stores should develop marketing strategies to better address the trustworthiness, reliability, and responsiveness of web‐based services. Online stores can devote valuable corporate resources to the important e‐service quality attributes identified by this study.

This study developed the instrument dimensions of e‐service quality by modifying the SERVQUAL model to consider online shopping context. Moreover, the results of this study provide a valuable reference for managers of online stores, as well as for researchers interested in internet marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a physically plausible solution based on hybrid bounding volume (BV) hierarchy for real‐time collision detection (CD) and response between a deformable and a rigid object.

Hybrid BV can be used to build BV hierarchy for the deformable object. The overlapping tests based on separating axis theorem (SAT) can be used to deal with CD. The physics conception of restitution coefficient and other important forces can be used to more real collision response.

Many methods focus on a specific application, but none of them gives an approach to physically plausible, real‐time simulation of CD and response up to 10,000 of deforming primitives. The paper finds that hybrid BV AABB‐Sphere for deformable object could increase the efficiency for CD, and restitution coefficient and other important physical concepts could provide more real collision response.

The paper does not deal with all types of CD, such as CD for two deformable objects.

Using AABB‐Sphere hybrid BV to build hierarchical BV tree for deformable object, and OBB‐Sphere hybrid BV for rigid object. Owing to the variety of hybrid BV structures, during different phases of CD, different overlapping tests are used to accelerate CD effectively. Using important physics conceptions provides a good solution to simulate more real collision response.

Online aggression represents a serious, and regularly occurring, social problem. In this piece the authors consider derogatory, harmful messages on the social media platform, Twitter, that target one of three groups of women, Asians, Blacks, and Latinx. The research focuses on messages that include one of the most common female slurs, “b!tch.” The findings of this chapter reveal that aggressive messages oriented toward women of color can be vicious and easily accessible (located in fewer than 30 seconds). Using an intersectional approach, the authors note the distinctive experiences of online harassment for women of color. The findings highlight the manner in which detrimental stereotypes are reinforced, including that of the “eroticized and obedient Asian woman,” the “angry Black woman,” and the “poor Latinx woman.” In some exceptions, women use the term “b!tch” in a positive and empowering manner, likely in an attempt to “reclaim” one of the common words used to attack females. Applying a social network perspective, we illustrate the tendency of typically hostile tweets to develop into interactive network conversations, where the original message spreads beyond the victim, and in the case of public individuals, quite widely. This research contributes to a deeper understanding of the processes that lead to online harassment, including the fortification of typical norms and social dominance. Finally, the authors find that messages that use the word “b!tch” to insult Asian, Black, and Latinx women are particularly damaging in that they reinforce traditional stereotypes of women and ethno-racial minorities, and these messages possess the ability to extend to wider audiences.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze and estimate the stray current corrosion hazard of a buried metallic pipeline using a predictive model for stray current density.

A predictive model for stray current density of the buried metallic pipeline was built, using a back propagation (BP) neural network method and experimental data. The accuracy of the model was tested using test samples. The single sensitivity analysis predictive method was used to establish the relationship between stray current density with the soil resistivity. The effects of buried depth and the pipe‐to‐ground voltage offset were researched using this network model.

The feasibility of the BP neural network to forecast stray current effects from the buried metallic pipeline was confirmed.

The paper provides a new method to analyze and estimate the stray current corrosion hazard of buried metallic pipelines.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a situation evaluation model of the robot and ball in SimuroSot5vs5 platforms and enhance the strength of the team in a SimuroSot5vs5.

This paper presents a mathematical model based on situation evaluations which can improve the strength of the team in SimuroSot5vs5. The situation evaluation focus on four aspects includes scores of both sides, possession of teams on ground, ball strategy, and treat. The statistical analysis of the score can verify validity and stability of current strategy in confrontation. To evaluate the situation more effectively without blindness, possession on both teams is, respectively, evaluated. Ball strategy analyzes coordinate transformation to the ball on the ground and illustrates the circumstance of both teams on the offensive position accurately in length and breadth. To know the circumstance on the field more completely and synthetically, a threat situation evaluation model is built. An effective and practical algorithm for comprehensive situation evaluation is successfully finished. The experiments prove validity and performance of the proposed situation evaluation model.

A mathematical model is designed to achieve situation evaluation, and the strategy can change in accordance with different situations on the ground.

The system is specifically applied to SimuroSot5vs5 platform. The extensibility of the system is limited.

When the robot and ball is in high speed movement, a large calculated amount will slow the speed of the system.

The paper shows that situation evaluation in SimuroSot decision support systems will enhance the battle effectiveness of the soccer team.

The purpose of this paper is to aggregate different preference information in group decision‐making process such as interval preference order, interval utility value, interval number reciprocal comparison matrix, and interval number complementary comparison matrix.

First, the consistency definitions of four kinds of uncertain preference information are defined. Then, the upper‐ and low errors are introduced to solve the inconsistent decision‐making case. Following that, the weight model for each uncertain preference is proposed, respectively.

The aggregation approach based on minimal group deviation errors is suggested in order to obtain the utmost consistent opinion. In addition, the consistency judgment level and consistency extent are defined owing to the aggregation result.

The calculation scale is large, if many decision makers will attend group decision‐making process.

A very useful approach for aggregation of the different preference in group decision‐making case.

Because of differences in knowledge structure, judgment level, and individual preference, decision makers express their judgment preferences via differently structured decision‐making processes. Owing to the complexity and uncertainty of decision‐making problems and the fuzziness of human thought, it is unrealistic to depict complex problems in the certain preference style. For decision‐making preference structures, group decision‐making aggregation approaches include the aggregation on the same kind of preference structure and the different kinds of preference structures. The study on the aggregation of the same kind of preference structure has received a deal of attention, but study into the aggregation of the different kinds of uncertainty preference structures is still a new field.