Penalty guided genetic search for redundancy optimization in multi-state series-parallel power system

This paper presents a genetic algorithm (GA) for parallel redundancy optimization in series-parallel power systems exhibiting multi-state behavior, optimizing the reliability subject to constraints. The components are binary and chosen from a list of products available in the market, and are being characterized by their feeding capacity, reliability, cost and weight. System reliability is defined as the ability to satisfy consumer demand and is presented as a piecewise cumulative load curve. In GA, to handle infeasible solutions penalty strategies are used. Penalty technique keep a certain amount of infeasible solutions in each generation so as to enforce genetic search towards an optimal solution from sides of, both, feasible and infeasible regions. We here present a dynamic adaptive penalty function which helps the algorithm to search efficiently for optimal/near optimal solution. To evaluate system reliability, a fast procedure, based on universal generating function, is used. An example considering a multi-state series-parallel power system is solved considering both homogeneous and heterogeneous types of redundancy. Also an example considering price discounts is solved. The effectiveness of the penalty function and the proposed algorithm is studied and shown graphically.     

Effects of Firm-specific and Country-specific Advantages on Relative Acquisition Size in Service Sector Cross-Border Acquisitions: An Empirical Examination

Using a sample of 348 service sector cross-border acquisitions by U.S. firms in 44 countries during 1990–2006, our study seeks to identify factors that influence relative acquisition size (acquisition transaction value as a percentage of acquiring firm's asset value). Our findings indicate that firm-specific advantages (FSAs) in the form of available financial slack and target industry knowledge were positively associated with relative acquisition size. However, contrary to expectations, we observed a negative relationship between cross-border acquisition experience and relative acquisition size. In addition, our results suggest that country-specific advantages (CSAs) associated with higher market potential, lower political risk, and greater cultural similarity contributed to increased relative acquisition size in service industry cross-border acquisitions. Finally, our analysis reveals that the relationship between available financial slack and relative acquisition size is contingent on cultural similarity with the relationship being more pronounced when cultural similarity is high.     

Hometown associations and the micropolitics of transnational community development

This article argues that a closer inspection of the historical trajectories and the evolving micropolitics of hometown associations (HTAs) expands our understanding of how community development is practised across borders. Drawing from six years of ethnographic, multi-sited fieldwork carried out in the Dominican Republic and the United States, focusing on the experience of three Dominican HTAs, the evidence presented demonstrates how working dynamics and decision-making responsibilities between internal, international, and non-migrant HTA members shift over time, and identifies the organisational strategies employed to achieve transnational cooperation for community development. The ethnographic data also highlight and explain how communal legacies based on home country agrarian traditions laid the groundwork for future transnational development practices.     

Virtual reality based therapy for post operative rehabilitation of children with cerebral palsy

Virtual reality is the use of interactive replication created with computer hardware and software to impart users with opportunities to engage in environments that appear to feel similar to real world objects and events. The commonest rehabilitation program of cerebral palsy children involves stretching, strengthening, mobilization and various other activities, whereas the use of virtual reality based training (VRBT) for rehabilitation of cerebral palsy is not common. To understand the effect of VRBT a study was formulated. Twenty nine subjects participated (study group--14 and control group--15). Outcome measures were MACS, PBS, level of participation, motivation, cooperation and satisfaction of the child. Results revealed that balance and manual ability were significantly improved in both the groups (Balance: study: t-2.28, p<0.05; control: t-3.5, p<0.01; Manual ability: study: t-5.58, p<0.001; control: t-7.06, p<0.001). PBS had significantly greater improvement in the study group (t-t-2.02, p<0.05). Level of participation, motivation, cooperation and satisfaction of the child were also reported to be significantly higher among the study group as compared with control group. To the author's best knowledge, this is the first study on using the VR-based therapy for the postoperative rehabilitation of children with CP which need further elaboration with larger sample size.     

Consumer bankruptcy and default: The role of individual social capital

In this paper, we empirically assess the role of individual social capital on personal bankruptcy and default outcomes in the consumer credit market. After controlling for a borrower’s risk score, debt, income, wealth, and legal and economic environments, we find that default/bankruptcy risk rises and then falls over the lifecycle, while a borrower who owns a home or is married has a lower risk of default/bankruptcy. Moreover, a borrower who migrates 190 miles from his “state of birth” is 17% more likely to default and 15% more likely to file for bankruptcy, while a borrower who continues to live in his state of birth is 14% and 10% less likely to default and file for bankruptcy, respectively. A borrower who moves to a rural area is 9% and 7% less likely to default and declare bankruptcy, respectively. We also find that measures of social networks, norms, and cooperation and trust (i.e., aggregate social capital) are inversely related to consumer bankruptcy.     

Smallholder Preferences for Agri‐environmental Change at the Bhoj Wetland,India

Incentive‐based approaches have gained policy interest in linking change in agricultural land management with environmental conservation. This article investigates how scheme design influences smallholder farmers' decisions to switch to organic farming to reduce water pollution, drawing on a study at a Ramsar wetland site providing water for the city of Bhopal. Results from a choice experiment suggest that transitional payments are necessary to overcome farmer constraints to adopt organic farming, and that effective land certification has the potential to act as a self‐enforcing mechanism linking farmer incomes with wetland conservation benefits.     

Slice sampling for simulation based fitting of spatial data models

An auxiliary variable method based on a slice sampler is shown to provide an attractive simulation-based model fitting strategy for fitting Bayesian models under proper priors. Though broadly applicable, we illustrate in the context of fitting spatial models for geo-referenced or point source data. Spatial modeling within a Bayesian framework offers inferential advantages and the slice sampler provides an algorithm which is essentially off the shelf. Further potential advantages over importance sampling approaches and Metropolis approaches are noted and illustrative examples are supplied.     

Testing a main effect in a three factor mixed model

In the present paper, the author has considered and compared the power of three test procedures, based on two preliminary tests of significance (PTS), for testing a main effect in a three factor factorial experiment. Davenport and Webster (1973) type test statistics are used in the final test. Recommendation for a suitable size of PTS has been made so that the power of a test procedure is adequately high.     

The Role of Innovation Characteristics and Perceived Voluntariness in the Acceptance of Information Technologies

The often paradoxical relationship between investment in information technology and gains in productivity has recently been attributed to a lack of user acceptance of information technology innovations. Diverse streams of research have attempted to explain and predict user acceptance of new information technologies. A common theme underlying these various research streams is the inclusion of the perceived characteristics of an innovation as key independent variables. Furthermore, prior research has utilized different outcomes to represent user acceptance behavior. In this paper we focus on individual's perceptions about the characteristics of the target technology as explanatory and predictive variables for acceptance behavior, and present an empirical study examining the effects of these perceptions on two frequently used outcomes in the context of the innovation represented by the World Wide Web. The two outcomes examined are initial use of an innovation and intentions to continue such use in the future, that is, to routinize technology use. Two research questions motivated and guided the study. First, are the perceptions that predict initial use the same as those that predict future use intentions? Our results confirm, as hypothesized by prior research, that innovation characteristics do explain acceptance behavior. The results further reveal that the specific characteristics that are relevant for each acceptance outcome are different. The second research question asks if perceived voluntariness plays a role in technology acceptance. Results show that external pressure has an impact on adopters' acceptance behavior. Theoretical and practical implications that follow are presented.