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1 – 10 of over 8000Xinjie Zhang, Fansen Kong, Zhiyuan Gu and Xiao Shen
FOV splicing optical remote sensing instruments have a strict requirement for the focal length consistency of the lens. In conventional optical-mechanical structure design, each…
Abstract
Purpose
FOV splicing optical remote sensing instruments have a strict requirement for the focal length consistency of the lens. In conventional optical-mechanical structure design, each optical element is equally distributed with high accuracy and everyone must have a high machining and assembly accuracy. For optical remote sensors with a large number of optical elements, this design brings great difficulties to lens manufacture and alignment.
Design/methodology/approach
Taking the relay lens in an optical remote sensing instrument with the field of view splicing as an example, errors of the system are redistributed to optical elements. Two optical elements, which have the greatest influence on modulation transfer function (MTF) of the system are mounted with high accuracy centering and the other elements are fixed by gland ring with common machining accuracy. The reduction ratio consistency difference among lenses is compensated by adjusting the optical spacing between the two elements.
Findings
Based on optical system simulation analysis, the optimized structure can compensate for the difference of reduction ratio among lens by grinding the washer thickness in the range of ±0.37 mm. The test data for the image quality of the lens show that the MTF value declined 0.043 within ±0.4 mm of space change between two barrels. The results indicate that the reduction ratio can be corrected by adjusting the washer thickness and the image quality will not obviously decline.
Originality/value
This paper confirms that this work is original and has not been published elsewhere nor is it currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. In this paper, the optimum structural design of the reduction relay lens for the field of view stitching applications is reported. The method of adjusting washer thickness is applied to compensate for the reduction ratio consistency difference of lenses. The optimized structure also greatly reduces the difficulty of lenses manufacture, alignment and improves the efficiency of assembly.
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The purpose of this paper is to research attribute reduction and decision making by gray dual‐information, taking into account the attribute reduction of attribute decision…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to research attribute reduction and decision making by gray dual‐information, taking into account the attribute reduction of attribute decision unknown for the interval gray numbers.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors obtain the attribute weights considering the consistency of experts’ judgment matrixes and the decision matrixes with gray information. They propose some experts’ attribute reduction ideas based on interval gray numbers of rough set. With the help of experts’ decision information, they consider attribute uncertainty ratio and attribute value ratio to reduce attribute. Finally, a numerical example shows its feasibility.
Findings
Some experts’ attribute reduction ideas are proposed based on interval gray numbers of rough set. With the help of experts’ decision information, attribute uncertainty ratio and attribute value ratio to reduce attribute can be considered.
Originality/value
Attribute reduction is keeping classified information systems under the same conditions and deleting redundant and irrelevant or unimportant attributes in order to solve the problem of decision making. This paper considers the attribute reduction based on gray dual‐information.
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Shaojun Fan, Juan Chen and Hong Han
The authors expand the connotation of the research on the accounting information quality characteristics, provide empirical evidence for the factors of consistency and also help…
Abstract
Purpose
The authors expand the connotation of the research on the accounting information quality characteristics, provide empirical evidence for the factors of consistency and also help to deepen further their understanding of the economic consequences of ownership concentration and other ownership structures.
Design/methodology/approach
Using financial data of Chinese listed companies as samples, coupled with a method to calculate the consistency of the sample enterprises on the corporate level in the 2007–2019 period, the authors studied its impact of ownership concentration on consistency.
Findings
The study finds that after controlling other factors, ownership concentration could significantly reduce accounting information consistency. Further research finds that when the executives' shareholding is higher, the reduction effect of ownership concentration on consistency is weaker. After the robustness test, the conclusion remains basically unchanged.
Research limitations/implications
First, maybe there is a limitation of De Franco et al. (2011) method the authors use in China. As some scholars pointed out, the systematic component of returns variation is large in emerging markets (Morck et al., 2000), so it is hard to determine to what extent market stock returns will capture the net effect of earnings. As is mentioned above, there are multiple methods for measuring comparability and consistency, but it is not easy to judge which way is the best. Maybe the authors will have a perfect process in the future. Second, in addition to the factors mentioned in this study's hypotheses, there should be other factors (these include internal factors and external factors) that play moderating role in the impact of ownership concentration on accounting information consistency. The authors have not thoroughly studied the effect of those factors. These limitations all need to be further explored in the future.
Originality/value
The study finds that after controlling other factors, ownership concentration could significantly reduce accounting information consistency, but the reduction will be affected by some other factors related to corporate governance. The new insights from these advances are that the conclusions provide a technical path for management of companies to improve corporate governance efficiency and the quality of accounting information, and also provide more reference and empirical evidence for information users to identify the company's accounting information quality, which contributes to creating a prerequisite for the usefulness of accounting information.
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Gabriella Marcarelli and Andrea Nappi
This paper aims to show how the proposed approach (two analytic hierarchy process [AHP] models) may allow dealing with the best tender selection process in an organic and simple…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to show how the proposed approach (two analytic hierarchy process [AHP] models) may allow dealing with the best tender selection process in an organic and simple way and ensure the consistency check of the judgements, the necessary step for having reliable results. At first, this paper highlights some critical issues regarding the weighted sum model (WSM) and the algorithms frequently used to evaluate the most economic advantageous tender. Then, it proposes to extend the AHP approach to the evaluation of both the qualitative and quantitative components of a public procurement award. Finally, the WSM and the AHP are applied to the same case study to show, step by step, some criticisms of the former and some advantages of the latter.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper proposes to apply two AHP models to evaluate both qualitative and quantitative components of a public tender. The quality and cost models allow to identify and select the tender associated with the highest quality/cost ratio.
Findings
The assessment of the WSM and the AHP models, and some differences between them, build upon their application as an example of public procurement. A case study is used as a teaching device (Yin, 2003) to highlight why the AHP may provide different results. In particular, an important issue concerning the evaluation of qualitative requirements is explored: the consistency of judgements expressed by the committee members.
Social implications
This approach provides analytical tools for public management that allow appropriate implementation of their management function and allow a realisation of the strategic objectives of European Union law and Italian legislation on public procurement. It would help managers to prioritise their goals and criteria and evaluate them in a scientific way. The model integrates multiple qualitative and quantitative criteria, simplifies the selection process, achieves optimal use of funds and leads to cost savings. It allows to reduce the discretional power of both the contracting issuer, in the choice of the formula to adopt for calculating the coefficients, and the committee members, allowing tender evaluation to have more trust and ensure the fairness of public procurement matters and quality of the object purchased.
Originality/value
This paper proposes the use of two hierarchical models to evaluate qualitative and quantitative requirements and provide the ranking among several tenders.
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Means, medians and SD for available socio‐economic status (SES) black‐white differences are here substituted for those of IQ in a between‐groups model published by the author over…
Abstract
Means, medians and SD for available socio‐economic status (SES) black‐white differences are here substituted for those of IQ in a between‐groups model published by the author over a decade ago. The goodness of fit of the SES variables used is compared with that for the earlier IQ data. Even when SES variables are relatively successful this can be viewed as additional evidence of the importance of IQ differences to black‐white differences in delinquency.
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Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured…
Abstract
Contemporary literature reveals that, to date, the poultry livestock sector has not received sufficient research attention. This particular industry suffers from unstructured supply chain practices, lack of awareness of the implications of the sustainability concept and failure to recycle poultry wastes. The current research thus attempts to develop an integrated supply chain model in the context of poultry industry in Bangladesh. The study considers both sustainability and supply chain issues in order to incorporate them in the poultry supply chain. By placing the forward and reverse supply chains in a single framework, existing problems can be resolved to gain economic, social and environmental benefits, which will be more sustainable than the present practices.
The theoretical underpinning of this research is ‘sustainability’ and the ‘supply chain processes’ in order to examine possible improvements in the poultry production process along with waste management. The research adopts the positivist paradigm and ‘design science’ methods with the support of system dynamics (SD) and the case study methods. Initially, a mental model is developed followed by the causal loop diagram based on in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and observation techniques. The causal model helps to understand the linkages between the associated variables for each issue. Finally, the causal loop diagram is transformed into a stock and flow (quantitative) model, which is a prerequisite for SD-based simulation modelling. A decision support system (DSS) is then developed to analyse the complex decision-making process along the supply chains.
The findings reveal that integration of the supply chain can bring economic, social and environmental sustainability along with a structured production process. It is also observed that the poultry industry can apply the model outcomes in the real-life practices with minor adjustments. This present research has both theoretical and practical implications. The proposed model’s unique characteristics in mitigating the existing problems are supported by the sustainability and supply chain theories. As for practical implications, the poultry industry in Bangladesh can follow the proposed supply chain structure (as par the research model) and test various policies via simulation prior to its application. Positive outcomes of the simulation study may provide enough confidence to implement the desired changes within the industry and their supply chain networks.
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Stelios Grafakos, Alexandros Flamos, Vlasis Oikonomou and Dimitrios Zevgolis
Evaluation of energy and climate policy interactions is a complex issue, whereas stakeholders' preferences incorporation has not been addressed systematically. The purpose of this…
Abstract
Purpose
Evaluation of energy and climate policy interactions is a complex issue, whereas stakeholders' preferences incorporation has not been addressed systematically. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated weighting methodology that has been developed in order to incorporate weighting preferences into an ex ante evaluation of climate and energy policy interactions.
Design/methodology/approach
A multi‐criteria analysis (MCA) weighting methodology which combines pair‐wise comparisons and ratio importance weighting methods has been elaborated. It initially introduces the users to the evaluation process through a warming up holistic approach for an initial rank of the criteria and then facilitates them to express their ratio relative importance in pair‐wise comparisons of criteria by providing them an interactive mean with verbal, numerical and visual representation of their preferences. Moreover, it provides a ranking consistency test where users can see the degree of (in)consistency of their preferences.
Findings
Stakeholders and experts in the energy policy field who tested the methodology stated their approval and satisfaction for the combination of both ranking and pair‐wise comparison techniques, since it allows the gradual approach to the evaluation problem. In addition, main difficulties in MCA weights elicitation processes were overcome.
Research limitations/implications
The methodology is tested by a small sample of stakeholders, whereas a larger sample, a broader range of stakeholders and applications on different climate policy evaluation cases merit further research.
Originality/value
The novel aspect of the developed methodology consists of the combination of ranking and pair‐wise comparison techniques for the elicitation of stakeholders' preferences.
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Songhee Kim, Jaeuk Khil and Yu Kyung Lee
This paper aims to investigate the impact of corporate dividend policy on the capital structure in the Korean stock market. To distinctly discern the voluntariness of changes in…
Abstract
This paper aims to investigate the impact of corporate dividend policy on the capital structure in the Korean stock market. To distinctly discern the voluntariness of changes in corporate dividend policy, we analyze companies that, following a substantial increase, do not reduce dividends for the subsequent two years or, after a significant decrease, do not raise dividends for the following two years. Our empirical findings indicate that companies that increase dividends experience a significant decrease in both book and market leverage, even after controlling for variables such as target leverage ratios. This result suggests that a large increase in dividends can effectively reduce information asymmetry, leading to a lower cost of equity. On the contrary, after a decrease in dividends, both book leverage and market leverage significantly increase, revealing a symmetric relationship between dividend policy and capital structure. In conclusion, large dividend increases in Korean companies not only reduce information asymmetry but also lower the cost of equity capital, resulting in observable changes in the leverage ratio.
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A systems perspective of waste management allows an integratedapproach not only to the five basic functional elements of wastemanagement itself (generation, reduction, collection…
Abstract
A systems perspective of waste management allows an integrated approach not only to the five basic functional elements of waste management itself (generation, reduction, collection, recycling, disposal), but to the problems arising at the interfaces with the management of energy, nature conservation, environmental protection, economic factors like unemployment and productivity, etc. This monograph separately describes present practices and the problems to be solved in each of the functional areas of waste management and at the important interfaces. Strategies for more efficient control are then proposed from a systems perspective. Systematic and objective means of solving problems become possible leading to optimal management and a positive contribution to economic development, not least through resource conservation. India is the particular context within which waste generation and management are discussed. In considering waste disposal techniques, special attention is given to sewage and radioactive wastes.
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