Search results
1 – 10 of 23Kuok King Kuok, Chiu Po Chan and Sobri Harun
Rainfall–runoff relationship is one of the most complex hydrological phenomena. A conventional neural network (NN) with backpropagation algorithm has successfully modelled various…
Abstract
Rainfall–runoff relationship is one of the most complex hydrological phenomena. A conventional neural network (NN) with backpropagation algorithm has successfully modelled various non-linear hydrological processes in recent years. However, the convergence rate of the backpropagation NN is relatively slow, and solutions may trap at local minima. Therefore, a new metaheuristic algorithm named as cuckoo search optimisation was proposed to combine with the NN to model the daily rainfall–runoff relationship at Sungai Bedup Basin, Sarawak, Malaysia. Two-year rainfall–runoff data from 1997 to 1998 had been used for model training, while one-year data in 1999 was used for model validation. Input data used are current rainfall, antecedent rainfall and antecedent runoff, while the targeted output is current runoff. This novel NN model is evaluated with the coefficient of correlation (R) and the Nash–Sutcliffe coefficient (E2). Results show that cuckoo search optimisation neural network (CSONN) is able to yield R and E2 to 0.99 and 0.94, respectively, for model validation with the optimal configuration of number of nests (n) = 20, initial discovery rate of alien eggs (
Details
Keywords
There is an evolving literature on criminal entrepreneurship which situates it as a sub-topic of the organised crime literature and either mythologies and elevates the criminal…
Abstract
There is an evolving literature on criminal entrepreneurship which situates it as a sub-topic of the organised crime literature and either mythologies and elevates the criminal entrepreneur to Mafioso status or ascribes it to being an activity carried out by criminal cartels; or else it trivialises and minimises it as being ‘White-Collar Criminality’. In reality, entrepreneurship pervades everyday criminal life as it pervades the everyday practices of policing. In this chapter, the author acknowledges the existence of a ‘Crimino-Entrepreneurial Interface’ populated by a cast of criminal actors including the ubiquitous ‘Businessman Gangster’. These criminally entrepreneurial actors operate within a specific milieu or ‘Enterprise Model of Crime’ and operate alongside the legitimate ‘Entrepreneurial Business Community’. Within the two conjoined systems, there is a routine exchange of interactions either parasitical or symbiotic and these coalesce to form an ecosystem of enterprise crime in which it is not only the ubiquitous criminal entrepreneur who is present but a veritable cast of entrepreneurially motivated criminal actors. As well as the established business community there is a parallel, alternative community which is situated in the so-called ‘Criminal Areas’ where the traditional criminal fraternity carry out their nefarious entrepreneurial activities. Within such areas, an underclass exists which provides the criminal workforce for organised crime. The traditional criminal ecosystem is the natural habitat for the police, and it is around this activity that police are traditionally organised. A perpetual cycle of crime is set up which requires policing, but this leaves an unpoliced void which the entrepreneurial criminals exploit. It is necessary to understand the criminal places and spaces exploited by Organised Crime and what roles other criminal actors and facilitators play in the enterprise model. It is also necessary to understand the so-called ‘Perverse Model of Policing’ which distorts and magnifies the true scale of the problem and to appreciate how Serious and Organised Crime corrupt and infiltrate the legitimate ‘upperworld’ before one can understand the true scale of entrepreneurialism in policing and criminal contexts.
Details
Keywords
Des Quinn, Vaughan Ellis and James Richards
Fewer than half of UK start-up businesses survive beyond five years (ONS, 2020). The Scottish Small Business Survey of 2019 found competition in the market and uncertainty as to…
Abstract
Fewer than half of UK start-up businesses survive beyond five years (ONS, 2020). The Scottish Small Business Survey of 2019 found competition in the market and uncertainty as to how to face it were considered the most significant barrier to success by almost half of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) (Scottish Government, 2020). This chapter considers how four Scottish breweries have formulated start-up strategies to respond to competition in an ever-increasingly crowded marketplace in order to maximise their likelihood of survival. The findings from each of these case studies are presented in an accessible format, and indicate that a variety of approaches to the development of the businesses can be adopted, albeit planned approaches dominate. Drawing on real life experiences of four successful businesses, the practical choices they took provide guidance and inspiration for other aspiring craft beer entrepreneurs in selecting an appropriate approach to and content of their founding strategy.
Details
Keywords