EXPRESS: Geometrical Measurement of Cultural Differences

Differences and similarities between countries, regions, and cultures lie at the core of international business, and they are often measured in the form of a distance index originally proposed by Kogut and Singh. Because research results using this index are ambivalent, critical observers have challenged the concept, and proposed partial remedies in the form of a standardized Euclidean or Mahalanobis distance measure. This article suggests a different avenue, construes culture as a weight vector based on Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, and specifies a geometrical difference measurement using the angle of heterogeneity between two such vectors. Its performance is assessed using a mathematical simulation and an empirical example from the field of export marketing, which considers the effect of culture on bilateral export flows.

N-Heterocyclic Germylenes: Structural Characterisation of Some Heavy Analogues of the Ubiquitous N-Heterocyclic Carbenes

The X-ray crystal structures of three N-heterocyclic germylenes (NHGes) have been elucidated including the previously unknown 1,3-bis(2,6-dimethylphenyl)diazagermol-2-ylidene (1). In addition, the X-ray crystal structures of the previously synthesised 1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)diazagermol-2-ylidene (2) and 1,3-bis(2,6-diisopropylphenyl)diazagermol-2-ylidene (3) are also reported. The discrete molecular structures of compounds 1 to 3 are comparable, with Ge-N bond lengths in the range 1.835-1.875 Å, while the N-Ge-N bond angles range between 83.6 and 85.2°. Compound 2 was compared to the analogous N-heterocyclic carbene species, 1,3-bis(2,4,6-trimethylphenyl)imidazol-2-ylidene (IMes). The major geometrical difference observed, as expected, was the bond angle around the divalent group 14 atom. The N-Ge-N bond angle was 83.6° for compound 2 versus the N-C-N bond angle of 101.4° for IMes. The Sn equivalent of (1), 1,3-bis(2,6-dimethylphenyl)diazastannol-2-ylidene (4), has also been synthesised and its crystal structure is reported here. In order to test their suitability as ligands, compounds 1 to 3 were reacted with a wide range of transition metal complexes. No NHGes containing metal complexes were observed. In all cases the NHGe either degraded or gave no reaction.

Design of an integrated optics for transglutaminase conformational change

A detailed theoretical research on a novel integrated optics with surface plasmon resonance (SPR)-based waveguide is presented. An SPR multilayer section is designed by introducing intermediate layers to support fundamental mode and stronger electromagnetic field. Most current techniques excited with a single optical mode are “blind” to the conformational change of bound molecules. The greatest strength of such technique lies in monitoring protein conformational change. The Mach-Zehnder interferometry architecture is adopted to maximize sensor sensitivity and prevent unspecific binding from biological material and error from geometrical difference. A proof-of-concept is conducted on the integrated optics by detecting protein transglutaminase (tTG) specifically binding calcium ion (Ca2+) via the finite-element method. The minimum decrease of biolayer thickness (δa=0.5 nm) caused by tTG-Ca2+ interaction is much smaller than a single protein molecule (normally 1–100 nm). Associated with biolayer thickness and density, a thin dense layer is formed as Ca2+ binds to the tTG protein. Thus, the tTG protein undergoing conformational change on binding Ca2+ is traced and verified as molecular interaction occurs.

Cogging Torque Reduction Technique on E-Core Hybrid Flux Switching Motor by Notching and Pole Pairing

<span>In the past, 4S-10P E-Core Hybrid Flux Switching Motor (HFSM) had been studied. However, the motor suffers high cogging torque but it has high performance in terms of high power and high torque at high speed. Therefore, this paper is proposing the cogging torque reduction techniques to minimize the cogging torque. The high cogging torque gave an undesirable effect during low operating speed of the motor. In order to tackle the issue, the cogging torque mechanism in equation is laid out as a form of reference. Then the reduction techniques employed on the designs and analyzed with Finite Element analysis (FEA) in JMAG. The results show the cogging torque of the optimized design is 44.45% of the motor torque. Besides, the techniques employed to identify which techniques gave the most cogging torque reduction and analyzed the geometrical difference using the cogging torque mechanism. Finally, the analysis is discussed based on the modified geometrics.</span>

Geometrical Comparison between Chinese and European-American Cervical Vertebrae

Neck finite element models have been extensively applied to design and validate the artificial biomaterials. To date, many finite element models of European-American neck have been proposed. However, the issue that using the geometrical scaling to convert a western model into a Chinese neck model is highly controversial. A Chinese neck model, based on MRI/CT scan images and frozen slice images from a 35-year old male cadaver, was established in this paper to examine the geometrical difference between Chinese and European-American cervical vertebrae. Results showed that at every level of all cervical vertebrae except C2, a significant difference between the geometrical model of the Chinese and European-American cervical vertebrae was revealed. The authors suggested that there might be a significant difference between the Chinese and European-American cervical vertebrae.

Asymmetric travelling waves in a square duct

Two types of asymmetric solutions are found numerically in square-duct flow. They emerge through a symmetry-breaking bifurcation from the mirror-symmetric solutions discovered by Okino et al. (J. Fluid Mech., vol. 657, 2010, pp. 413–429). One of them is characterized by a pair of streamwise vortices and a low-speed streak localized near one of the sidewalls and retains the shift-and-reflect symmetry. The bifurcation nature as well as the flow structure of the solution show striking resemblance to those of the asymmetric solution in pipe flow found by Pringle & Kerswell (Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 99, 2007, A074502), despite the geometrical difference between their cross-sections. The solution seems to be embedded in the edge state of square-duct flow identified by Biau & Bottaro (Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. A, vol. 367, 2009, pp. 529–544). The other solution deviates slightly from the mirror-symmetric solution from which it bifurcates: the shift-and-rotate symmetry is retained but the mirror symmetry is broken.

Evaluation of Fatigue Characteristic of a Real Waterworks Pipe

The fatigue characteristic of a material or a structure is derived from fatigue tests of standard specimens. However, many researches have reported that test results of standard specimens are very different from those of real structures or components. One reason for this difference is the constraint effects according to the geometrical difference. Therefore, to calculate more accurate fatigue life, the constraint effect must be considered by comparing test results of standard specimens with those of real structures or components. Another reason for this difference is the surface condition. All surfaces of a standard specimen are polished to obtain similar conditions in a fatigue test. However, in a piping system, surface conditions of components are different from each other and very different from that of a standard specimen. Because fatigue life is effected by a surface condition, to evaluate the fatigue life of a piping system, fatigue tests must be conducted with a specimen extracted from a pipe with the same surface condition. The objective of this paper is to evaluate the fatigue characteristic of a real waterworks pipe by conducting fatigue tests with standard specimens and non-standard specimens of base metal and weld metal. Standard fatigue specimens and non-standard specimens were extracted from a steel pipe used in waterworks. Also, fatigue tests of pipes used in water service were carried out and then compared with those of standard specimens and non-standard specimens. From these results the relation between the S-N diagram of a specimen and that of a pipe specimen was evaluated.

Drag Prediction for Blades at High Angle of Attack Using CFD

In the present paper it is first demonstrated that state of the art 3D CFD codes are capable of predicting the correct dependency of the integrated drag of a flat plate placed perpendicular to the flow. This is in strong contrast to previous 2D investigations of infinite plates, where computations are known to severely overpredict drag. We then demonstrate that the computed drag distribution along the plate span deviate from the general expectation of 2D behavior at the central part of the plate, an important finding in connection with the theoretical estimation of drag behavior on wind turbine blades. The computations additionally indicate that a “tip effect” is present that produces increased drag near the end of the plate, which is opposite of the assumptions generally used in drag estimation for blades. Following this several wind turbine blades are analyzed, ranging from older blades of approximately 10 meter length (LM 8.2) over more recent blades (LM 19.1) around 20 meters to two modern blades suited for megawatt size turbines. Due to the geometrical difference between the four blades, the simple dependency on aspect ratio observed for the plates are not recovered in this analysis. The turbine blades behave qualitatively very similar to the flat plates and the spanwise drag distributions show similar “tip effects.” For the turbine blades this effect is even more pronounced, because the tapering of the blades makes the tip effect spread to a larger part of the blades. The findings are supported by visualizations of the wake patterns behind the blades.