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Showing papers by "University of Macau published in 2011"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the differences among 4-, 5-, 6-, and 11-point Likert scales with a sample of 1,217 students in Macau, using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale as the measuring instrument.
Abstract: The Likert scale is very popular, but the question as to the number of scale points is still controversial. This article studies the differences among 4-, 5-, 6-, and 11-point Likert scales with a sample of 1,217 students in Macau, using the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale as the measuring instrument. There is no major difference in internal structure in terms of means, standard deviations, item–item correlations, item–total correlations, Cronbach's alpha, or factor loadings. Findings indicate that having more scale points seems to reduce skewness, and the 11-point scale, ranging from 0 to 10, has the smallest kurtosis and is closest to normal. Only the 6- and 11-point scales follow normal distributions from Kolmogorov–Smirnov and Shapiro–Wilk statistics. Results on predictive validity are inconclusive. This article discusses future applications and suggests the use of an 11-point scale as it increases sensitivity and is closer to interval level of scaling and normality. Recommendations for social wo...

454 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: By using Lyapunov analysis, it is proven that all the signals in the closed-loop system is the semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded and the output errors converge to a compact set.
Abstract: This brief studies an adaptive neural output feedback tracking control of uncertain nonlinear multi-input-multi-output (MIMO) systems in the discrete-time form. The considered MIMO systems are composed of n subsystems with the couplings of inputs and states among subsystems. In order to solve the noncausal problem and decouple the couplings, it needs to transform the systems into a predictor form. The higher order neural networks are utilized to approximate the desired controllers. By using Lyapunov analysis, it is proven that all the signals in the closed-loop system is the semi-globally uniformly ultimately bounded and the output errors converge to a compact set. In contrast to the existing results, the advantage of the scheme is that the number of the adjustable parameters is highly reduced. The effectiveness of the scheme is verified by a simulation example.

346 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Recent advances in in vitro and invivo research on the anti-cancer effects and related mechanisms of some promising natural products isolated from Chinese medicinal herbs are summarized.
Abstract: In recent years, a number of natural products isolated from Chinese herbs have been found to inhibit proliferation, induce apoptosis, suppress angiogenesis, retard metastasis and enhance chemotherapy, exhibiting anti-cancer potential both in vitro and in vivo. This article summarizes recent advances in in vitro and in vivo research on the anti-cancer effects and related mechanisms of some promising natural products. These natural products are also reviewed for their therapeutic potentials, including flavonoids (gambogic acid, curcumin, wogonin and silibinin), alkaloids (berberine), terpenes (artemisinin, β-elemene, oridonin, triptolide, and ursolic acid), quinones (shikonin and emodin) and saponins (ginsenoside Rg3), which are isolated from Chinese medicinal herbs. In particular, the discovery of the new use of artemisinin derivatives as excellent anti-cancer drugs is also reviewed.

338 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper examines the potential role of G. lucidum polysaccharide (GLPS) in tumor therapy and the possible mechanisms involved and suggests that the anti-tumor activities of GLPS are mediated by its immunomodulatory, anti-angiogenic, and cytotoxic effects.
Abstract: Ganoderma lucidum (G. lucidum), a basidiomycete white rot fungus, has long been prescribed to prevent and treat various human diseases, particularly in China, Japan, and Korea. Several classes of bioactive substances have been isolated and identified from G. lucidum, such as triterpenoids, polysaccharides, nucleosides, sterols, and alkaloids, among others. This paper examines the potential role of G. lucidum polysaccharide (GLPS) in tumor therapy and the possible mechanisms involved. Both in vitro and in vivo studies suggested that the anti-tumor activities of GLPS are mediated by its immunomodulatory, anti-angiogenic, and cytotoxic effects. GLPS affects immune cells and immune-related cells including B lymphocytes, T lymphocytes, dendritic cells, macrophages, and natural killer cells. In addition, recent data also suggest that GLPS suppresses tumorigenesis or inhibits tumor growth through direct cytotoxic effect and anti-angiogenic actions. However, many questions still need to be answered before both G. lucidum and GLPS can be widely accepted and used as anti-tumor agents.

260 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In the root, the active ingredients have been found to “detoxify” blood in terms of TCM and promote blood circulation to the skin surface, improving the skin quality/ texture and curing skin diseases like eczema.
Abstract: Arctium lappa, commonly known as burdock, is being promoted/recommended as a healthy and nutritive food in Chinese societies. Burdock has been used therapeutically in Europe, North America and Asia for hundreds of years. The roots, seeds and leaves of burdock have been investigated in view of its popular uses in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In this review, the reported therapeutic effects of the active compounds present in the different botanical parts of burdock are summarized. In the root, the active ingredients have been found to “detoxify” blood in terms of TCM and promote blood circulation to the skin surface, improving the skin quality/texture and curing skin diseases like eczema. Antioxidants and antidiabetic compounds have also been found in the root. In the seeds, some active compounds possess anti-inflammatory effects and potent inhibitory effects on the growth of tumors such as pancreatic carcinoma. In the leaf extract, the active compounds isolated can inhibit the growth of micro-organisms in the oral cavity. The medicinal uses of burdock in treating chronic diseases such as cancers, diabetes and AIDS have been reported. However, it is also essential to be aware of the side effects of burdock including contact dermatitis and other allergic/inflammatory responses that might be evoked by burdock.

246 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Oct 2011
TL;DR: The proposed MKFCM algorithm provides a new flexible vehicle to fuse different pixel information in image-segmentation problems and is shown that two successful enhanced KFCM-based image- Segmentation algorithms are special cases ofMKFCM.
Abstract: In this paper, a generalized multiple-kernel fuzzy C-means (FCM) (MKFCM) methodology is introduced as a framework for image-segmentation problems. In the framework, aside from the fact that the composite kernels are used in the kernel FCM (KFCM), a linear combination of multiple kernels is proposed and the updating rules for the linear coefficients of the composite kernel are derived as well. The proposed MKFCM algorithm provides us a new flexible vehicle to fuse different pixel information in image-segmentation problems. That is, different pixel information represented by different kernels is combined in the kernel space to produce a new kernel. It is shown that two successful enhanced KFCM-based image-segmentation algorithms are special cases of MKFCM. Several new segmentation algorithms are also derived from the proposed MKFCM framework. Simulations on the segmentation of synthetic and medical images demonstrate the flexibility and advantages of MKFCM-based approaches.

244 citations


Book ChapterDOI
11 Jul 2011
TL;DR: In this article, a combination of a recently developed Accelerated PSO and a nonlinear support vector machine (SVM) is used for solving business optimization problems, and the proposed SVM is applied to production optimization, and then used for income prediction and project scheduling.
Abstract: Business optimization is becoming increasingly important because all business activities aim to maximize the profit and performance of products and services, under limited resources and appropriate constraints. Recent developments in support vector machine and metaheuristics show many advantages of these techniques. In particular, particle swarm optimization is now widely used in solving tough optimization problems. In this paper, we use a combination of a recently developed Accelerated PSO and a nonlinear support vector machine to form a framework for solving business optimization problems. We first apply the proposed APSO-SVM to production optimization, and then use it for income prediction and project scheduling. We also carry out some parametric studies and discuss the advantages of the proposed metaheuristic SVM.

209 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: An adaptive output feedback controller is constructively developed for uncertain nonlinear single-input-single-output systems with partial unmeasured states by employing radial basis function neural networks and incorporating the ROO into a new backstepping design.
Abstract: An adaptive output feedback control is studied for uncertain nonlinear single-input-single-output systems with partial unmeasured states. In the scheme, a reduced-order observer (ROO) is designed to estimate those unmeasured states. By employing radial basis function neural networks and incorporating the ROO into a new backstepping design, an adaptive output feedback controller is constructively developed. A prominent advantage is its ability to balance the control action between the state feedback and the output feedback. In addition, the scheme can be still implemented when all the states are not available. The stability of the closed-loop system is guaranteed in the sense that all the signals are semiglobal uniformly ultimately bounded and the system output tracks the reference signal to a bounded compact set. A simulation example is given to validate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme.

208 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a flexure-based compound bridge-type (CBT) displacement amplifier for piezoelectric drives is investigated, and the derived models are utilized to optimize the amplifier structure through particle swarm optimization (PSO).

206 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Experimental results reveal that a submicron accuracy 1-D and 3-D positioning can be achieved by the system, which confirms the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism and controller design as well.
Abstract: This paper reports the design and development processes of a totally decoupled flexure-based XYZ parallel-kinematics micropositioning stage with piezoelectric actuation. The uniqueness of the proposed XYZ stage lies in that it possesses both input and output decoupling properties with integrated displacement amplifiers. The input decoupling is realized by actuation isolation using double compound parallelogram flexures with large transverse stiffness, and the output decoupling is implemented by employing two-dimensional (2-D) compound parallelogram flexures. By simplifying each flexure hinge as a two-degree-of-freedom (2-DOF) compliant joint, analytical models of kinematics, statics, and dynamics of the XYZ stage are established and then validated with finite-element analysis (FEA). The derived models are further adopted for optimal design of the stage through particle swarm optimization (PSO), and a prototype of XYZ stage is fabricated for performance tests. The nonsymmetric hysteresis behavior of the piezo-stage is identified with the modified Prandtl-Ishlinskii (MPI) model, and a control scheme combining the inverse model-based feedforward with feedback control is constructed to compensate the plant nonlinearity and uncertainty. Experimental results reveal that a submicron accuracy 1-D and 3-D positioning can be achieved by the system, which confirms the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism and controller design as well.

199 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
01 Nov 2011
TL;DR: The comparison and evaluation of enhancement performance demonstrate that the NLUM can improve the disease diagnosis by enhancing the fine details in mammograms with no a priori knowledge of the image contents.
Abstract: This paper introduces a new unsharp masking (UM) scheme, called nonlinear UM (NLUM), for mammogram enhancement. The NLUM offers users the flexibility 1) to embed different types of filters into the nonlinear filtering operator; 2) to choose different linear or nonlinear operations for the fusion processes that combines the enhanced filtered portion of the mammogram with the original mammogram; and 3) to allow the NLUM parameter selection to be performed manually or by using a quantitative enhancement measure to obtain the optimal enhancement parameters. We also introduce a new enhancement measure approach, called the second-derivative-like measure of enhancement, which is shown to have better performance than other measures in evaluating the visual quality of image enhancement. The comparison and evaluation of enhancement performance demonstrate that the NLUM can improve the disease diagnosis by enhancing the fine details in mammograms with no a priori knowledge of the image contents. The human-visual-system-based image decomposition is used for analysis and visualization of mammogram enhancement.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: With the LS-SVMAF, the least squares support vector machines adaptive filter, this paper can model and predict the hand tremor more effectively and improve the precision and reliability in the master–slave robotic system for microsurgery.
Abstract: One of the main problems for effective control of a minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is the imprecision that caused by hand tremor. In this paper, a novel adaptive filter, the least squares support vector machines adaptive filter (LS-SVMAF), is proposed to overcome this problem. Compared with traditional methods like multi layer perceptron (MLP), LS-SVM shows a superior performance of nonlinear modeling with small scale of data set or high dimensional input space. With the LS-SVMAF, we can model and predict the hand tremor more effectively and improve the precision and reliability in the master–slave robotic system for microsurgery. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed filter and its superior performance over its competing rivals.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explored how dimensions of servicescape influence customer satisfaction and behavioral intentions in the casino environment and proposed that gaming customer satisfaction would affect their desire to stay and intention to revisit.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Under the proposed procedure functions are decomposed into their intrinsic components of successively increasing non-negative analytic instantaneous frequencies, whilst fast convergence is resumed.
Abstract: We study decomposition of functions in the Hardy space $H^2(\mathbb{D} )$ into linear combinations of the basic functions (modified Blaschke products) in the system 1 $$\label{Walsh like} {B}_n(z)= \frac{\sqrt{1-|a_n|^2}}{1-\overline{a}_{n}z}\prod\limits_{k=1}^{n-1}\frac{z-a_k}{1-\overline{a}_{k}z}, \quad n=1,2,..., $$ where the points a n 's in the unit disc $\mathbb{D}$ are adaptively chosen in relation to the function to be decomposed. The chosen points a n 's do not necessarily satisfy the usually assumed hyperbolic non-separability condition 2 $$\label{condition} \sum\limits_{k=1}^\infty (1-|a_k|)=\infty $$ in the traditional studies of the system. Under the proposed procedure functions are decomposed into their intrinsic components of successively increasing non-negative analytic instantaneous frequencies, whilst fast convergence is resumed. The algorithm is considered as a variation and realization of greedy algorithm.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Berberine hydrochloride is likely to become a natural component of the nanoparticulate delivery systems used for cancer therapy, and the known mechanisms of berberine Hydrochloride, such as decreased multidrug resistance and enhanced sensitivity of chemotherapeutic drugs, could also provide new insights into cancer cell metabolism and nanopartICulate delivery preparation.
Abstract: Background Berberine hydrochloride is a conventional component in Chinese medicine, and is characterized by a diversity of pharmacological effects. However, due to its hydrophobic properties, along with poor stability and bioavailability, the application of berberine hydrochloride was hampered for a long time. In recent years, the pharmaceutical preparation of berberine hydrochloride has improved to achieve good prospects for clinical application, especially for novel nanoparticulate delivery systems. Moreover, anticancer activity and novel mechanisms have been explored, the chance of regulating glucose and lipid metabolism in cancer cells showing more potential than ever. Therefore, it is expected that appropriate pharmaceutical procedures could be applied to the enormous potential for anticancer efficacy, to give some new insights into anticancer drug preparation in Chinese medicine.

Journal ArticleDOI
Jie Wu1
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper investigated the asymmetric roles of business ties and political ties in innovation processes and found that business ties strengthen organizational competence and enhance the environmental fit, while political ties increase the environment fit but ossify organizational internal routines.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Experimental results reveal that a submicrometer accuracy single-axis motion tracking and biaxial contouring can be achieved by the micropositioning system, which validate the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism and controller designs.
Abstract: This paper presents the design and manufacturing processes of a new piezoactuated XY stage with integrated parallel, decoupled, and stacked kinematics structure for micro-/nanopositioning application. The flexure-based XY stage is composed of two decoupled prismatic-prismatic limbs which are constructed by compound parallelogram flexures and compound bridge-type displacement amplifiers. The two limbs are assembled in a parallel and stacked manner to achieve a compact stage with the merits of parallel kinematics. Analytical models for the mechanical performance assessment of the stage in terms of kinematics, statics, stiffness, load capacity, and dynamics are derived and verified with finite element analysis. A prototype of the XY stage is then fabricated, and its decoupling property is tested. Moreover, the Bouc-Wen hysteresis model of the system is identified by resorting to particle swarm optimization, and a control scheme combining the inverse hysteresis model-based feedforward with feedback control is employed to compensate for the plant nonlinearity and uncertainty. Experimental results reveal that a submicrometer accuracy single-axis motion tracking and biaxial contouring can be achieved by the micropositioning system, which validate the effectiveness of the proposed mechanism and controller designs as well.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper argues that there is a set of basic principles and minimal requirements that should form the basis for every responsible gambling program and proposes gambling-related initiatives aimed at government, industry, and individuals to promote responsible gambling and consumer protection.
Abstract: Many international jurisdictions have introduced responsible gambling programs. These programs intend to minimize negative consequences of excessive gambling, but vary considerably in their aims, focus, and content. Many responsible gambling programs lack a conceptual framework and, in the absence of empirical data, their components are based only on general considerations and impressions. This paper outlines the consensus viewpoint of an international group of researchers suggesting fundamental responsible gambling principles, roles of key stakeholders, and minimal requirements that stakeholders can use to frame and inform responsible gambling programs across jurisdictions. Such a framework does not purport to offer value statements regarding the legal status of gambling or its expansion. Rather, it proposes gambling-related initiatives aimed at government, industry, and individuals to promote responsible gambling and consumer protection. This paper argues that there is a set of basic principles and minimal requirements that should form the basis for every responsible gambling program.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The Bayesian time-domain approach, Bayesian spectral density approach and Bayesian fast Fourier transform approach will be introduced and an application of a 22-story building that was recorded during a severe typhoon to identify the fundamental frequency of the building is presented.
Abstract: Model updating of dynamical systems has been attracting much attention because it has a very wide range of applications in aerospace, civil, and mechanical engineering, etc. Many methods were developed and there has been substantial development in Bayesian methods for this purpose in the recent decade. This article introduces some state-of-the-art work. It consists of two main streams of model updating, namely model updating using response time history and model updating using modal measurements. The former one utilizes directly response time histories for the identification of uncertain parameters. In particular, the Bayesian time-domain approach, Bayesian spectral density approach and Bayesian fast Fourier transform approach will be introduced. The latter stream utilizes modal measurements of a dynamical system. The method introduced here does not require a mode matching process that is common in other existing methods. Afterwards, discussion will be given about the relationship among model complexity, data fitting capability and robustness. An application of a 22-story building will be presented. Its acceleration response time histories were recorded during a severe typhoon and they are utilized to identify the fundamental frequency of the building. Furthermore, three methods are used for analysis on this same set of measurements and comparison will be made.

Proceedings ArticleDOI
10 Apr 2011
TL;DR: A novel query-perturbation-based scheme that protects query privacy in continuous LBS even when user-identities are revealed, and unlike most exiting works, this scheme does not require the presence of a trusted third party.
Abstract: Location-based services (LBS) have become an immensely valuable source of real-time information and guidance. Nonetheless, the potential abuse of users' sensitive personal data by an LBS server is evolving into a serious concern. Privacy concerns in LBS exist on two fronts: location privacy and query privacy. In this paper we investigate issues related to query privacy. In particular, we aim to prevent the LBS server from correlating the service attribute, e.g., bar/tavern, in the query to the user's real-world identity. Location obfuscation using spatial generalization aided by anonymization of LBS queries is a conventional means to this end. However, effectiveness of this technique would abate in continuous LBS scenarios, i.e., where users are moving and recurrently requesting for LBS. In this paper, we present a novel query-perturbation-based scheme that protects query privacy in continuous LBS even when user-identities are revealed. Unlike most exiting works, our scheme does not require the presence of a trusted third party.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The objective of this study was to provide a scientific rationale for the clinical use of quercetin, leading to its development as an effective therapeutic agent for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.
Abstract: Flavonoids have been reported to be potent antioxidants and beneficial in the treatment of oxidative stress-related diseases. Quercetin, a major flavonoid naturally occurring in plants, deserves attention because of its beneficial effects observed in various in vitro and in vivo neural damage models; however, the actions of quercetin are paradoxical. In an effort to confirm the neuroprotective effect of quercetin and to elucidate its mechanism of action, the neuroprotective effects of quercetin in PC12 cells and in zebrafish models were investigated. In this study, the selective dopaminergic neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA), was used to induce neural damage in PC12 cells and zebrafish models. Pretreatment with quercetin offered neuroprotection against 6-OHDA-induced PC12 cell death. Moreover, quercetin could prevent 6-OHDA-induced PC12 cell apoptosis and 6-OHDA-stimulated dopaminergic neuron loss in zebrafish. Interestingly, quercetin was able to protect, but not rescue the dopaminergic neuron damage when zebrafish were treated with quercetin at different maturation stages of the blood brain barrier. A mechanistic study showed that quercetin could inhibit NO over-production and iNOS over-expression in PC12 cells and could down-regulate the over-expression of pro-inflammatory genes (e.g. IL-1s, TNF-α and COX-2) in zebrafish, suggesting that these genes play a role in the neuroprotective effect of quercetin. The objective of this study was to provide a scientific rationale for the clinical use of quercetin, leading to its development as an effective therapeutic agent for the treatment of Parkinson's disease.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The strategies for quantification, related to the markers, reference compounds and approaches, in quality control of CM were reviewed and discussed and the valid method for quantitatively evaluating the quality of CM is poor.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Li et al. as discussed by the authors investigated the relationship among leader-member exchange (LMX), perceived job security, and employee performance and found that LMX was positively related to employee altruism and work performance.
Abstract: This study investigated the relationships among leader–member exchange (LMX), perceived job security, and employee performance. Drawing on the job demands–resources model and conservation of resources theory, we expected both LMX and perceived job security would affect employee altruism and work performance in a positive manner. In addition, LMX and perceived job security were expected to interact to predict the two outcome variables. The hypotheses were tested with a sample of 184 employees in a state-owned enterprise in China. Our results showed that LMX, but not perceived job security, was positively related to employee altruism and work performance. Additionally, the effect of LMX on altruism was stronger for employees perceiving less job security. The findings indicated that LMX as a job resource becomes more impactful to altruistic performance when employees feel less secure at work.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the role of liquidity in pricing stock returns in the Hong Kong stock market was investigated and the results showed that liquidity is an important factor for pricing returns in Hong Kong after taking well-documented asset pricing factors into consideration.
Abstract: This study investigates the role of liquidity in pricing stock returns in the Hong Kong stock market. Our results show that liquidity is an important factor for pricing returns in Hong Kong after taking well-documented asset pricing factors into consideration. The results are robust to adding portfolio residuals and higher moment factor in the factor models. The results are also robust to seasonality, and conditional-market tests. We also compare alternative factor models and find that the liquidity four-factor model (market excess return, size, book-to-market ratio, and liquidity) is the best model to explain stock returns in the Hong Kong stock market, while the momentum factor is not found to be priced.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Scherngell et al. as mentioned in this paper investigated collaborative knowledge production in China from a regional perspective, and found that technological proximity was more important than geography, while economic effects only played a minor role.
Abstract: Scherngell T. and Hu Y. Collaborative knowledge production in China: regional evidence from a gravity model approach, Regional Studies. This study investigates collaborative knowledge production in China from a regional perspective. The objective is to illustrate spatial patterns of research collaborations between thirty-one Chinese regions, and to estimate the impact of geographical, technological, and economic factors on the variation of cross-region collaboration activities within a negative binomial gravity model framework. Data are used on Chinese scientific publications from 2007 with multiple author addresses coming from the China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI) database. The results provide evidence that geographical space impedes cross-region research collaborations in China. Technological proximity matters more than geography, while economic effects only play a minor role. Scherngell T. et Hu Y. La production en collaboration de la connaissance en Chine; des preuves regionales provenant...

Posted Content
TL;DR: Li et al. as mentioned in this paper explored how two types of guanxi (with business partners and with government officials) affect corporate capabilities differently, and examined their contingent value, and found that the two types differ in the extent to which they contribute to corporate resource-bridging and adaptive capabilities.
Abstract: Drawing on social capital theory, this study explores how two types of guanxi – with business partners and with government officials – affect corporate capabilities differently, and examines their contingent value. The results from a survey of 409 firms in China indicate that the two guanxi types differ in the extent to which they contribute to corporate resource-bridging and adaptive capabilities. Specifically, guanxi with government officials is positively associated with resource-bridging capability but not with adaptive capability,whereas guanxi with business partners contributes to both resource-bridging capability and adaptive capability. We also find that technological turbulence weakens the impact of guanxi with government officials on capability building, but strengthens the effect of guanxi with business partners on the establishment of corporate capabilities. In addition, the two types of guanxi are mutually reinforcing in their impacts on respective capability building.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: A ZigBee-based wireless sensor network node for the ultraviolet (UV) detection of flame and the performance of a prototype sensor node was verified when the luminous flame was imaged onto the sensor node with different angles and distances enabling effective fire safety applications.
Abstract: This paper describes a ZigBee-based wireless sensor network node for the ultraviolet (UV) detection of flame. The sensor node is composed of a ZnSSe UV photodetector, a current-sensitive front end including a high-gain current-to-voltage amplifier with 120 dB and a logarithm converter, and a transceiver operated at a 2.4-GHz industrial, scientific, and medical band. A passive photodetector is designed to have a cutoff at 360 nm and convert the UV emission of flame into picoamperes. Including mixed signal processing and ZigBee transmission, the speed of flame detection is as fast as 70 ms. The sensor node consumes only an average of 2.3 mW from a 3.3-V supply. The performance of a prototype sensor node was verified when the luminous flame was imaged onto the sensor node with different angles ranging from -30° to 30° and distances of 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3 m enabling effective fire safety applications.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined hiring managers' attitudes regarding selection methods, vital skills sought in new employees, and why their employees quit, concluding that human relation skills are the most important skills employers seek.
Abstract: Through this study the authors examine hiring managers’ attitudes regarding selection methods, vital skills sought in new employees, and why their employees quit. Completed questionnaires were collected from 135 employers. Applicants’ resumes and interviews are the most frequently used selection methods. Consistent with literature, human relation skills are the most important skills employers seek. A major reason for employee turnover is due to salary. The findings suggest the need for discussion on creative human resource approaches and a program to increase employee commitment. Implications for management are included.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Li et al. as discussed by the authors explored how two types of guanxi, with business partners and with government officials, affect corporate capabilities and examined their contingent value in a survey of 409 firms in China.