Michael Mace, Ravi Vaidyanathan, Shouyan Wang and Lalit Gupta
In this paper we describe a novel human machine interface system aimed primarily at those who have experienced loss of extremity motor function. The system enables the control of…
Abstract
In this paper we describe a novel human machine interface system aimed primarily at those who have experienced loss of extremity motor function. The system enables the control of a wide range of assistive technologies such as wheelchairs, prosthetics, computers and general electrical goods at the ‘flick of a tongue’. This system could benefit a huge sector of people including those who have suffered a spinal cord injury, stroke or quadriplegia.The technology focuses on a unique hands‐free interface whereby users can issue commands simply by performing subtle tongue movements; these tongue motions are continually monitored by a small microphone positioned comfortably within the ear canal. Due to the physiological connections between these regions and the distinctive nature of the signals, these commands can be detected and distinguished allowing a control signal to be issued.This inexpensive device offers significant advantages over existing technologies by providing unobtrusive, hygienic control through natural tongue motion. New software has been implemented, achieving over 97% correct classification across four different tongue movements for seven test subjects. Feasibility of the system as an interface for a variety of devices is demonstrated through simulation studies including controlling a prosthetic manipulator and power wheelchair.
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D. Murugan and R. Sekar
The effect of magnetic field dependent (MFD) viscosity on the onset of convection in a ferromagnetic fluid layer heated from below saturating rotating porous medium in the…
Abstract
Purpose
The effect of magnetic field dependent (MFD) viscosity on the onset of convection in a ferromagnetic fluid layer heated from below saturating rotating porous medium in the presence of vertical magnetic field is investigated theoretically by using Darcy model. The resulting eigen value problem is solved using the regular perturbation technique. Both stationary and oscillatory instabilities have been obtained. It is found that increase in MFD viscosity and increase in magnetic Rayleigh number is to delay the onset of ferroconvection, while the nonlinearity of fluid magnetization has no influence on the stability of the system.
Design/methodology/approach
The thermal perturbation method is employed for analytical solution. A theory of linear stability analysis and normal mode technique have been carried out to analyze the onset of convection for a fluid layer contained between two impermeable boundaries for which an exact solution is obtained.
Findings
The conditions for the system to stabilize both by stationary and oscillatory modes are studied. Even for the oscillatory system of particular frequency dictated by physical conditions, the critical Rayleigh numbers for oscillatory mode of the system were found to be greater than for the stationary mode. The system gets destabilized for various physical parameters only through stationary mode. Hence, the analysis is restricted to the stationary mode. To the Coriolis force, the Taylor number Ta is calculated to discuss the results. It is found that the system stabilizes through stationary mode for values of and for oscillatory instability is favored for Ta > 104. Therefore the Taylor number Ta leads to stability of the system. For larger rotation, magnetization leads to destabilization of the system. The MFD viscosity is found to stabilize the system.
Originality/value
This research paper is new and original.
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Akanksha Jalan and R. Vaidyanathan
This paper is an effort to demystify tax havens – what they mean, what they offer and why they are harmful. It offers a detailed analysis of abusive tax planning by multinational…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper is an effort to demystify tax havens – what they mean, what they offer and why they are harmful. It offers a detailed analysis of abusive tax planning by multinational corporations, involving the use of tax havens, shedding light on how corporations use “egregious” tax-sheltering techniques right from their incorporation to avoid payment of income taxes. The paper also discusses global efforts against the phenomenon and policy recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper brings together definitions from various sources to accurately define and identify tax haven economies. The key contribution of the paper is to diagrammatically explain the use of tax havens by MNCs right from the time they are incorporated. It explains how every big and small corporate decision is motivated by the desire to save taxes and how tax havens come in handy for such corporations.
Findings
This paper finds that base erosion and profit shifting (BEPS) is a pervasive phenomenon, largely due to the suppliers of tax haven operations. Here, corporate decisions are divided into strategic and operational and further subdivided into investing, operating and financing activities, and provide real-life corporate examples of how tax havens fit into almost every corporate decision. This is the key contribution of the paper.
Research limitations/implications
This is a review paper that sums up knowledge about tax havens and their use by MNCs. It does not, however, use empirical data to corroborate its findings. It would be interesting to see empirically whether MNCs with greater tax haven operations actually have lower effective tax rates.
Practical implications
The paper can provide a framework for designing tax policies in a manner that geographical arbitrage can be minimized. It can enable formulation of the necessary incentive structures in the form of penalties, rewards and the like for both the users and providers of tax haven services to curb massive base and profit shifting out of high-tax countries.
Social implications
The paper is one small step in the direction of bringing about equality in tax payments, i.e. to align real tax systems with the canon of equality that Adam Smith once dreamt of. Taxes should be progressive in nature, implying that the amount of taxes paid should increase with one’s income. However, with the advent of offshore financial centres and egregious tax planning techniques, only the smaller corporations and middle-class individuals end up paying taxes, while the rich and bigger corporations get away easily.
Originality/value
The paper explores in detail the manner in which MNCs use, rather exploit, regulatory loopholes in tax systems of different countries to save on tax payments. By shifting their tax base from one country to another, MNCs not only hamper Treasury collections but also breed disrespect for the global tax system. The paper can help in designing tax laws in tune with such corporate motives.
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Veena Mani and Mathangi Krishnamurthy
This chapter is a collation and review of literature that can be considered to form the terrain of sports studies in India. It attempts two broad tasks: firstly, to aggregate…
Abstract
This chapter is a collation and review of literature that can be considered to form the terrain of sports studies in India. It attempts two broad tasks: firstly, to aggregate these studies, and secondly, to predict the very possibility of a sociology of sport in India. To this end, this chapter is classified into three separate yet intertwined themes: modernity and nationalism; sub-nationalisms or regional nationalisms; and gender, masculinities, and culture. The first section looks at questions of modernity and nationalism within the Indian context through a close reading of studies on sports like field hockey and cricket. The second section is a critical look at the role of sub-nationalisms in complicating the notion of a singular nationalism, as played out in the domain of football in India. Lastly, the chapter examines questions of gender, especially masculinities, as a consistent yet plural presence in all of these literatures. These themes are neither exclusive nor all encompassing, and the chapter produces them in continuity as well as in rupture with one another. It concludes by speculating upon the possibilities and challenges for a sociology of sport in India, with suggestions for possible methodological interventions.
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R. Sekar, D. Murugan and K. Raju
The study of ferrothermohaline convection, double diffusive convection with Soret and Dufour effects have drawn the attention of researchers for the past four decades due to their…
Abstract
The study of ferrothermohaline convection, double diffusive convection with Soret and Dufour effects have drawn the attention of researchers for the past four decades due to their remarkable applications. The Soret-driven ferrothermoconvective instability in a porous medium heated from below and salted from above has been analyzed using Darcy model for various values of parameters. A small thermal perturbation is applied to the basic state and linear stability analysis is used for which normal mode technique is applied. It is found that the presence of porous medium favours the onset of convection. The present work has been carried out both for oscillatory as well as stationary modes with graphical representation.
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Edwina Pio and Neil Haigh
This paper seeks to present a rationale for a learning and assessment activity involving students in the construction of inspirational parables for diversity management within a…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper seeks to present a rationale for a learning and assessment activity involving students in the construction of inspirational parables for diversity management within a university business studies programme. The paper reviews processes from teacher and student perspectives, describes initial outcomes and foreshadows further exploration and research.
Design/methodology/approach
In small groups, students prepared a booklet that included their inspirational parables on ethnic minority migrant women in the workplace, justifications for the parables and a bibliography of related diversity management literature. A group presentation on the booklet was also required. Assessment criteria related to parable content, references, booklet and oral presentation and represented 30 percent of the overall course assessment.
Findings
Students' informal feedback and the teacher's observations indicate an overall positive response, with students highlighting surprise at their own creativity and the time they readily invested in the task, the enjoyment it gave them and their view that the task merited more weighting. Issues arising from the teacher's observations include group and self‐assessment options, time allocation and the possible influence on students of the teacher's ethnicity.
Originality/value
While there is increasing interest in the use of stories for teaching and learning purposes, most attention has focused on teacher rather than student story telling. Story writing by students to help them develop and demonstrate understandings, has received much less attention and there are few precedents for the parable story form being used for these two purposes in a university education context.
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Thermoconvective instability with Soret effect in multi-component fluids has wide range of applications in heat and mass transfer. This work deals with the theoretical…
Abstract
Thermoconvective instability with Soret effect in multi-component fluids has wide range of applications in heat and mass transfer. This work deals with the theoretical investigation of the effect of magnetic field dependent (MFD) viscosity on Soret-driven ferrothermohaline convection heated and salted from below in an anisotropic porous medium subjected to a transverse uniform magnetic field. The resulting eigen value problem is solved using Brinkman model. An exact solution is obtained for the case of two free boundaries and the stationary and oscillatory instabilities are investigated by using linear stability analysis and normal mode technique for the vertical of anisotropic porous medium. The analysis has been made for different parameters like porosity, anisotropy, ratio of heat transport to mass transport, buoyancy magnetization, non-buoyancy magnetization, Soret parameter and Salinity Rayleigh number. The effect of MFD viscosity is assumed to be isotropy. It is found that the presence of MFD viscosity has a stabilizing effect, whereas magnetization has a destabilizing effect.
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Youcheng Zhou, Bin Zhong, Tao Fang, Jiming Liu, Xiaonong Zhou and Shiwu Zhang
This paper aims to construct a central pattern generator (CPG) network that comprises coupled nonlinear oscillators to implement diversified locomotion gaits of robot AmphiHex-I…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to construct a central pattern generator (CPG) network that comprises coupled nonlinear oscillators to implement diversified locomotion gaits of robot AmphiHex-I. With the gaits, AmphiHex-I will have a strong locomotion ability in an amphibious environment, which is motivated by a novel public health application to detect the amphibious snail, Oncomelania hupensis, the snail intermediate host of Schistosoma japonicum, as an amphibious robot-based tool for schistosomiasis surveillance and response in the future.
Design/methodology/approach
First, the basis neural network was built by adopting six Hopf nonlinear oscillators which corresponded to six legs. Then, the correlation between the self-excited harmonic output signals generated from CPGs and various gaits was established. In view of requirements on its field application, the authors added a telecontrol system and an on-board battery to support the real-life remote control and a high-definition camera and a global positioning system module to acquire images and position information. Finally, the authors conducted the testing experiments on several tasks, e.g. detecting the distribution of Oncomelania hupensis snails.
Findings
The results demonstrate that the CPG is effective in controlling the robot’s diversified locomotion gaits. In addition, the robot is capable of fulfilling several testing tasks in the experiments.
Originality/value
The research provides a method based on CPG to control a hexapod robot with multiple motion patterns, which can effectively overcome the difficulty of motion control simply by changing certain mathematical parameters of a nonlinear equation, such as frequency, phase difference and offset angle, so as to realize the gait transitions. Also, using such a robot to probe the distribution of snails offers another way to tackle this laborious job, especially in some odious terrains, which will hence broaden the application of AmphiHex-I to vector surveillance in the fields of public health.
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Abdurra’uf M. Gora, Jayaprakash Jaganathan, M.P. Anwar and H.Y. Leung
Advanced fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been increasingly used over the past two decades for strengthening, upgrading and restoring degraded civil engineering…
Abstract
Purpose
Advanced fibre-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites have been increasingly used over the past two decades for strengthening, upgrading and restoring degraded civil engineering infrastructure. Substantial experimental investigations have been conducted in recent years to understand the compressive behaviour of FRP-confined concrete columns. A considerable number of confinement models to predict the compressive behaviour of FRP-strengthened concrete columns have been developed from the results of these experimental investigations. The purpose of this paper is to present a comprehensive review of experimental investigations and theoretical models of circular and non-circular concrete columns confined with FRP reinforcement.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper reviews previous experimental test results on circular and non-circular concrete columns confined with FRP reinforcement under concentric and eccentric loading conditions and highlights the behaviour and mechanics of FRP confinement in these columns. The paper also reviews existing confinement models for concrete columns confined with FRP composites in both circular and non-circular sections.
Findings
This paper demonstrates that the performance and effectiveness of FRP confinement in concrete columns have been extensively investigated and proven effective in enhancing the structural performance and ductility of strengthened columns. The strength and ductility enhancement depend on the number of FRP layers, concrete compressive strength, corner radius for non-circular columns and intensity of load eccentricity for eccentrically loaded columns. The impact of existing theoretical models and directions for future research are also presented.
Originality/value
Potential researchers will gain insight into existing experimental and theoretical studies and future research directions.
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The purpose of this paper is to study the use of online recommendation systems on e‐commerce sites is which becoming more common as marketers recognize their potential to improve…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to study the use of online recommendation systems on e‐commerce sites is which becoming more common as marketers recognize their potential to improve their own operations as well as consumers' shopping experiences. Since some consumers question the credibility of these systems, this study compares responses to such systems (classified based on their source into seller and third party systems) with responses to recommendations coming directly from other consumers. The latter may also be better suited for consumers today since many of them utilize direct information from social media on a daily basis. Past research indicates that reactions to such recommendations may depend on the types of goods they describe and therefore this study also tests whether consumer responses vary with types of goods. The study examines consumer reactions to recommendations designed for search, experience, and credence goods. Finally, this study also explores the most desired features of recommendations to help marketers come up with the most effective recommendations that help facilitate purchasing decisions.
Design/methodology/approach
The study surveys a convenience sample of 202 undergraduate students to test these objectives. It was a 3 (product types) by 3 (recommendation types) factorial design with multiple dependent variables and three covariates.
Findings
The study reveals that, irrespective of the product type, consumers react differently to the three types of recommendations that are tested. This study shows that consumers have the most positive attitudes and most frequently utilize recommendations coming directly from other consumer. This suggests that more attention should be directed to these recommendations in marketing theory and practice. Consumers also hold more positive attitudes towards third‐party recommendation systems than recommendation systems coming from the seller. They also have more positive reactions toward recommendations designed for search and experience goods rather than credence products. Finally, the study also examines the usefulness of different characteristics of these recommendations to help online managers develop most effective recommendations online and finds that it varies with different types of recommendations and products for which recommendations are used.
Originality/value
In addition to the recommendation systems that have been explored in the past (seller and third party systems), the study examines reactions to recommendations coming directly from other consumers, as these recommendations may be better suited for today's audiences. The study shows which recommendation type is best received and most frequently used online. It also tests reactions to recommendations designed for different types of goods. This study includes credence goods, in addition to search and experience products, since consumer reactions to recommendations designed for credence goods have not been yet explored in the past research. It also found that recommendations are better received for goods with a higher number of search features. Finally, the study explores the specific features of different recommendation types and based on the findings proposes how these online recommendations should be structured to be most effective.