The rise of time-sensitive applications with broad geographical scope drives the development of time-sensitive networking(TSN)from intra-domain to inter-domain to ensure overall end-to-end connectivity requirements in...The rise of time-sensitive applications with broad geographical scope drives the development of time-sensitive networking(TSN)from intra-domain to inter-domain to ensure overall end-to-end connectivity requirements in heterogeneous deployments.When multiple TSN networks interconnect over non-TSN networks,all devices in the network need to be syn-chronized by sharing a uniform time reference.How-ever,most non-TSN networks are best-effort.Path delay asymmetry and random noise accumulation can introduce unpredictable time errors during end-to-end time synchronization.These factors can degrade syn-chronization performance.Therefore,cross-domain time synchronization becomes a challenging issue for multiple TSN networks interconnected by non-TSN networks.This paper presents a cross-domain time synchronization scheme that follows the software-defined TSN(SD-TSN)paradigm.It utilizes a com-bined control plane constructed by a coordinate con-troller and a domain controller for centralized control and management of cross-domain time synchroniza-tion.The general operation flow of the cross-domain time synchronization process is designed.The mecha-nism of cross-domain time synchronization is revealed by introducing a synchronization model and an error compensation method.A TSN cross-domain proto-type testbed is constructed for verification.Results show that the scheme can achieve end-to-end high-precision time synchronization with accuracy and sta-bility.展开更多
Time synchronization is a prerequisite for ensuring determinism in time-sensitive networking(TSN).While time synchronization errors cannot be overlooked,pursuing minimal time errors may incur unnecessary costs.Using c...Time synchronization is a prerequisite for ensuring determinism in time-sensitive networking(TSN).While time synchronization errors cannot be overlooked,pursuing minimal time errors may incur unnecessary costs.Using complex network theory,this study proposes a hierarchy for TSN and introduces the concept of bounded time error.A coupling model between traffic scheduling and time synchronization is established,deriving functional relationships among end-to-end delay,delay jitter,gate window,and time error.These relationships illustrate that time errors can trigger jumps in delay and delay jitter.To evaluate different time errors impact on traffic scheduling performance,an end-to-end transmission experiment scheme is designed,along with the construction of a TSN test platform implementing two representative cases.Case A is a closed TSN domain scenario with pure TSN switches emulating closed factory floor network.Case B depicts remote factory interconnection where TSN domains link via non-TSN domains composed of OpenFlow switches.Results from Case A show that delay and delay jitter on a single node are most significantly affected by time errors,up to one gating cycle.End-to-end delay jitter tends to increase with the number of hops.When the ratio of time error bound to window exceeds 10%,the number of schedulable traffic flows decreases rapidly.Case B reveals that when time error is below 1μs,the number of schedulable traffic flows begins to increase significantly,approaching full schedulability at errors below 0.6μs.展开更多
Overviewing the air pollution situation in Hong Kong,energy generation and transportation are part of the contribution to the carbon emissions.Electric vehicles do not have engines and no air pollutants emissions.The ...Overviewing the air pollution situation in Hong Kong,energy generation and transportation are part of the contribution to the carbon emissions.Electric vehicles do not have engines and no air pollutants emissions.The promotion of electric vehicles serves as an important strategy to Hong Kong's goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.This paper illustrated the financial incentives the Hong Kong Government has launched,including First Registration Tax concessions,profits tax deduction,One-for-One Scheme,lower license fee,subsidy support for e-buses and e-taxis,free charging services at government car parks,EV-charging at home Subsidy Scheme,etc.By comparing the cost of purchasing and owning vehicles with the cost of purchasing and owning electric vehicles as well as the market performance of electric vehicles to examine whether the financial incentives in Hong Kong can promote electric vehicles and serve as a prerequisite to low carbon transition.The results show that under government support and promotion associated with preferential policy,electric vehicles will become the future trend in Hong Kong with the advantage of lower emissions,energy saving,and environmental protection.展开更多
This essay evaluates the behavioural dynamics generated by profit incentives and compares them with those in government-owned and charitable enterprises.Drawing on neoclassical microeconomics,agency theory,and institu...This essay evaluates the behavioural dynamics generated by profit incentives and compares them with those in government-owned and charitable enterprises.Drawing on neoclassical microeconomics,agency theory,and institutional economics,it shows how the profit motive drives cost minimization,allocative efficiency,innovation,and consumer responsiveness.Profit expectations,formalized in endogenous growth models,act as catalysts for technological progress and dynamic efficiency,while agency-theoretic governance mechanisms align managerial incentives with shareholder interests.In contrast,government-owned enterprises operate under multi-objective welfare functions,often constrained by soft budget expectations,political interference,and X-inefficiencies that dilute efficiency.Charitable organizations,structured by the non-distribution constraint,emphasize social trust,equity,and mission fulfilment,supported by warm-glow altruism but constrained by free-rider problems and underfunding.A comparative evaluation suggests that profit-driven firms outperform in competitive markets producing private goods,whereas government and charitable forms play essential roles in addressing market failures and providing public or credence goods.The analysis affirms the institutionalist principle that ownership and governance structures must be aligned with the nature of the goods or services delivered.展开更多
Accurate time synchronization is fundamental to the correct and efficient operation of Wireless Sensor Networks(WSNs),especially in security-critical,time-sensitive applications.However,most existing protocols degrade...Accurate time synchronization is fundamental to the correct and efficient operation of Wireless Sensor Networks(WSNs),especially in security-critical,time-sensitive applications.However,most existing protocols degrade substantially under malicious interference.We introduce iSTSP,an Intelligent and Secure Time Synchronization Protocol that implements a four-stage defense pipeline to ensure robust,precise synchronization even in hostile environments:(1)trust preprocessing that filters node participation using behavioral trust scoring;(2)anomaly isolation employing a lightweight autoencoder to detect and excise malicious nodes in real time;(3)reliability-weighted consensus that prioritizes high-trust nodes during time aggregation;and(4)convergence-optimized synchronization that dynamically adjusts parameters using theoretical stability bounds.We provide rigorous convergence analysis including a closed-form expression for convergence time,and validate the protocol through both simulations and realworld experiments on a controlled 16-node testbed.Under Sybil attacks with five malicious nodes within this testbed,iSTSP maintains synchronization error increases under 12%and achieves a rapid convergence.Compared to state-ofthe-art protocols like TPSN,SE-FTSP,and MMAR-CTS,iSTSP offers 60%faster detection,broader threat coverage,and more than 7 times lower synchronization error,with a modest 9.3%energy overhead over 8 h.We argue this is an acceptable trade-off for mission-critical deployments requiring guaranteed security.These findings demonstrate iSTSP’s potential as a reliable solution for secure WSN synchronization and motivate future work on large-scale IoT deployments and integration with energy-efficient communication protocols.展开更多
AIM:To study the acceptability of incentives for behavior changes in individuals with diabetes,comparing financial incentives to self-rewards and non-financial incentives.METHODS:A national online survey of United Sta...AIM:To study the acceptability of incentives for behavior changes in individuals with diabetes,comparing financial incentives to self-rewards and non-financial incentives.METHODS:A national online survey of United States adults with diabetes was conducted in March 2013(n = 153).This survey was designed for this study,with iterative testing and modifications in a pilot population.We measured the demographics of individuals,their interest in incentives,as well as the perceived challenge of diabetes self-management tasks,and expectations of incentives to improve diabetes self-management(financial,non-financial and self-rewards).Using an ordered logistic regression model,we assessed the association between a 32-point score of the perceived challenge of the self-management tasks and the three types of rewards.RESULTS:Ninety-six percent of individuals were interested in financial incentives,60% in non-financial incentives and 72% in self-rewards.Patients were less likely to use financial incentives when they perceived the behavior to be more challenging(odds ratio of using financial incentives of 0.82(95%CI:0.72-0.93) for each point of the behavior score).While the effectiveness of incentives may vary according to the perceived level of challenge of each behavior,participants did not expect to need large amounts to motivate them to modify their behavior.The expected average amounts needed to motivate a 5 lb weight loss in our population and to maintain this weight change for a year was $258(interquartile range of $10-100) and $713(interquartile range of $25-250) for a 15 lb weight loss.The difference in mean amount estimates for 5 lb and 15 lb weight loss was significant(P < 0.001).CONCLUSION:Individuals with diabetes are willing to consider financial incentives to improve diabetes selfmanagement.Future studies are needed to explore incentive programs and their effectiveness for diabetes.展开更多
In the upcoming sixth-generation(6G)era,the demand for constructing a wide-area time-sensitive Internet of Things(IoT)continues to increase.As conventional cellular technologies are difficult to directly use for wide-...In the upcoming sixth-generation(6G)era,the demand for constructing a wide-area time-sensitive Internet of Things(IoT)continues to increase.As conventional cellular technologies are difficult to directly use for wide-area time-sensitive IoT,it is beneficial to use non-terrestrial infrastructures,including satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs).Thus,we can build a non-terrestrial network(NTN)using a cell-free architecture.Driven by the time-sensitive requirements and uneven distribution of IoT devices,the NTN must be empowered using mobile edge computing(MEC)while providing oasisoriented on-demand coverage for devices.Nevertheless,communication and MEC systems are coupled with each other under the influence of a complex propagation environment in the MEC-empowered NTN,which makes it difficult to coordinate the resources.In this study,we propose a process-oriented framework to design communication and MEC systems in a time-division manner.In this framework,large-scale channel state information(CSI)is used to characterize the complex propagation environment at an affordable cost,where a nonconvex latency minimization problem is formulated.Subsequently,the approximated problem is provided,and it can be decomposed into sub-problems.These sub-problems are then solved iteratively.The simulation results demonstrated the superiority of the proposed process-oriented scheme over other algorithms,implied that the payload deployments of UAVs should be appropriately predesigned to improve the efficiency of using resources,and confirmed that it is advantageous to integrate NTN with MEC for wide-area time-sensitive IoT.展开更多
To improve the effect of destroying time-sensitive target （TST）, a method of operational effectiveness evaluation is presented and some influential factors are analyzed based on the combat flow of system for destroy...To improve the effect of destroying time-sensitive target （TST）, a method of operational effectiveness evaluation is presented and some influential factors are analyzed based on the combat flow of system for destroying TST. Considering the possible operation modes of the system, a waved operation mode and a continuous operation mode are put forward at first. At the same time, some relative formulas are modified. In examples, the influential factors and operation modes are analyzed based on the system effectiveness. From simulation results, some design and operation strategies of the system for destroying time sensitive targets are concluded, which benefit to the improvement of the system effectiveness.展开更多
Objectives: While the value of glycemic control to minimize adverse health outcomes among patients with diabetes is clear, achieving hemoglobin A1c (A1c) goals remain a challenge. We evaluated the use of financial inc...Objectives: While the value of glycemic control to minimize adverse health outcomes among patients with diabetes is clear, achieving hemoglobin A1c (A1c) goals remain a challenge. We evaluated the use of financial incentives to increase enrollment and improve glycemic control among patients invited to participate in a monthly diabetes group appointment (DGA) as part of their enrollment in DaVita HealthCare Partners, a large southern California managed care organization. Methods: Adult diabetes patients (≥18 years) with a currently uncontrolled hemoglobin A1c level (>8.0% if 9.0% if ≥ 65 years) were randomized to 1) no DGA, 2) DGA with no financial incentives (non-incentive DGA) or 3) DGA with financial incentives (incentive DGA). Results: Nine sites among four regions of the greater Los Angeles area participated. Each site offered one non-incentive DGA and one incentive DGA. Over 1500 patients were identified for recruitment and at the peak of enrollment, 299 patients were enrolled in 18 DGAs. On average, hemoglobin A1c values dropped more for patients participating in the incentive DGA (9.9% to 8.7%, -1.2%) versus non-incentive DGA (9.7% to 9.0%, -0.7%) versus no DGA group (9.1% to 8.7%, -0.4%). Several unexpected implementation challenges arose which complicated evaluation but provide important learning lessons. Conclusions: Management of chronic diseases like diabetes is challenging for patients and the primary care system alike. Continuing to implement and evaluate programs under “real-world” conditions can provide further insight into how best to support patients with diabetes and their primary care teams in order to achieve glycemic control and avoid preventable complications.展开更多
Time-Sensitive Network(TSN)with deterministic transmission capability is increasingly used in many emerging fields.It mainly guarantees the Quality of Service(QoS)of applications with strict requirements on time and s...Time-Sensitive Network(TSN)with deterministic transmission capability is increasingly used in many emerging fields.It mainly guarantees the Quality of Service(QoS)of applications with strict requirements on time and security.One of the core features of TSN is traffic scheduling with bounded low delay in the network.However,traffic scheduling schemes in TSN are usually synthesized offline and lack dynamism.To implement incremental scheduling of newly arrived traffic in TSN,we propose a Dynamic Response Incremental Scheduling(DR-IS)method for time-sensitive traffic and deploy it on a software-defined time-sensitive network architecture.Under the premise of meeting the traffic scheduling requirements,we adopt two modes,traffic shift and traffic exchange,to dynamically adjust the time slot injection position of the traffic in the original scheme,and determine the sending offset time of the new timesensitive traffic to minimize the global traffic transmission jitter.The evaluation results show that DRIS method can effectively control the large increase of traffic transmission jitter in incremental scheduling without affecting the transmission delay,thus realizing the dynamic incremental scheduling of time-sensitive traffic in TSN.展开更多
Considering the widening of the peak-valley difference in the power grid and the difficulty of the existing fixed time-of-use electricity price mechanism in meeting the energy demand of heterogeneous users at various ...Considering the widening of the peak-valley difference in the power grid and the difficulty of the existing fixed time-of-use electricity price mechanism in meeting the energy demand of heterogeneous users at various moments or motivating users,the design of a reasonable dynamic pricing mechanism to actively engage users in demand response becomes imperative for power grid companies.For this purpose,a power grid-flexible load bilevel model is constructed based on dynamic pricing,where the leader is the dispatching center and the lower-level flexible load acts as the follower.Initially,an upper-level day-ahead dispatching model for the power grid is established,considering the lowest power grid dispatching cost as the objective function and incorporating the power grid-side constraints.Then,the lower level comprehensively considers the load characteristics of industrial load,energy storage,and data centers,and then establishes a lower-level flexible load operation model with the lowest user power-consuming cost as the objective function.Finally,the proposed method is validated using the IEEE-118 system,and the findings indicate that the dynamic pricing mechanism for peaking shaving and valley filling can effectively guide users to respond actively,thereby reducing the peak-valley difference and decreasing users’purchasing costs.展开更多
This paper focuses on the relationship between firm risk profile, agency incentives and corporate performance using correlation study and cross-sectional approach. We conceptualise firm risk profile using the balanced...This paper focuses on the relationship between firm risk profile, agency incentives and corporate performance using correlation study and cross-sectional approach. We conceptualise firm risk profile using the balanced score card and differ from previous studies, on the above variables, by capturing the perceptual sets of strategic leadership of Ugandan firms who are members of corporate governance of Uganda. We post a significant negative relationship between firm risk profile and corporate performance, a significant negative relationship between firm risk profile and agency incentives and a positive relationship between agency incentives and corporate performance By employing Joseph and Scott （2006）＇s utilization of the balanced score card to identify the four forms of firm risk （namely, financial, customer, internal and learning and growth risks）, our results support the application of agency theory as a relevant theoretical framework for dealing with managers who are risk averse.展开更多
The use of managed lanes to control and maximize freeway throughput is increasing. One way of encouraging more managed lane use is through the implementation of incentives. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a managed lan...The use of managed lanes to control and maximize freeway throughput is increasing. One way of encouraging more managed lane use is through the implementation of incentives. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a managed lane is being added to the I-30 (Tom Landry freeway) and incentives to maximize the use of this lane were planned. Since the managed lanes were not yet open and the incentives were hypothetical, a stated preference survey was used to gauge the potential impact of the incentives on traveler behavior. The stated preference questions were designed using Db-efficient and random adaptive designs. The incentives were chosen by looking at other programs around the country and through discussion with transportation experts. Once ready, the survey was administered online to travelers in the area and a total of 898 usable responses were gathered. From the responses, a mixed-logit model was developed to describe and predict traveler behavior. From the model, elasticities were calculated to predict the impact of the incentives on mode choice. The model found that incentives with discounts and free trips (a transit fare discount, express bus service to downtown, a free trip for every X number of paid trips, and a discount offered to select businesses) were more effective at encouraging managed lane use. The other incentives (gift card worth $5 for every X number of trips and $5 in credit for every X number of trips taken by transit) had less of an impact.展开更多
The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of motivation factors that actively induce construction workers participate in safety prevention activities and to investigate the effect of incentive program as ...The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of motivation factors that actively induce construction workers participate in safety prevention activities and to investigate the effect of incentive program as motivation factor by conducting questionnaire survey. The survey was conducted for construction workers from September, 2017 to October, 2018, and the number of respondents was 256. The results of this study are that the factor of the greatest role in encouraging workers to voluntarily participate in accident prevention activities is management factors and that the introduction of new management methods such as safety incentives to reduce safety accidents is necessary. These results indicate that the accident prevention facilities and safety education and training have their limitations. Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly reconsider what has already been done, and to find more innovative methods to reduce construction accidents.展开更多
The role played by Payments for ecosystem services (PES) in promoting land use interventions is increasingly being recognized as an important instrument for changing land use management worldwide. Despite the increase...The role played by Payments for ecosystem services (PES) in promoting land use interventions is increasingly being recognized as an important instrument for changing land use management worldwide. Despite the increase, adoption of land use interventions promoted by PES and factors influencing it are not well understood. This study was carried out to assess the adoption of land use interventions promoted by PES scheme four years after its implementation in the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania. The specific objectives of this study were to assess the adoption and factors that influenced it. The study employed questionnaire survey method to collect data from 219 households selected randomly. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were also conducted to complement information obtained through questionnaire surveys. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were employed. Binary logistic regression was used to analyse quantitative data obtained, while content analysis was applied to qualitative data. Results revealed that during the project implementation, 40% of the households did not adopt any of the promoted interventions. Unexpectedly, four years after the project ended, every household sampled had adopted the interventions. Households headed by younger heads and those with land ownership, households which received PES incentives and lived for a long time in the same area and those with more labour force and access to extension services were found to have adopted more interventions (p ≤ 0.05). Thus, the study concludes that socioeconomic characteristics, agricultural extension services and incentives initially provided to farmers are key factors influencing the adoption of land use interventions. Therefore, it is recommended to the government that it should support farmers to get land tenure and to provide them with more incentives to improve their farms through adopting technologies.展开更多
Background:Researchers have a higher risk of anxiety and depression than the general population,so it is important to promote researchers’mental health.Method:Based on the data from 3210 global researchers surveyed b...Background:Researchers have a higher risk of anxiety and depression than the general population,so it is important to promote researchers’mental health.Method:Based on the data from 3210 global researchers surveyed by the journal Nature in 2021,confirmatory factor analysis,OLS regression and other regressions were used to explore the research incentive dimensions and their effects on researchers’mental health.Results:(1)Material incentive factors,work-family life balance factors,good organizational environment and spiritual motivation had significant positive effects on researchers’mental health.(2)The spiritual motivation could better promote researchers’mental health than the other factors.(3)Heterogeneity analysis showed that material incentive factors and spiritual motivation created more significant stimulating effects on the mental health of humanities and social sciences researchers.Work-family life balance factors were more effective in promoting the mental health of the mid-career group and the overtime group.Conclusion:Application of the four research incentives resulted in lower likelihood of anxiety or depression among researchers,and special attention should be paid to the role of the spiritual motivation.In order to promote researchers’mental health,different incentives should be applied to different researcher groups to better improve researchers’mental health.展开更多
This paper investigates the incentives of invest in improving quality （as opposed to investments in new activities） in the telecommunications industry, based on the example of wireless markets. What is the impact of...This paper investigates the incentives of invest in improving quality （as opposed to investments in new activities） in the telecommunications industry, based on the example of wireless markets. What is the impact of competition on incentives to invest, and on capacities to invest？ What is the role of the rate of penetration and technical progress？ This paper highlights the fact that investment incentives are positively related to potential for technical progress. Investment incentives also depend on market structure, competition intensity, and penetration rate, but not monotonically. This paper consists of a theoretical part which, under assumptions of full market coverage and market share symmetry, shows that for each national market, there is a target level of investment which companies strive to achieve but had not exceeded, and an empirical part that confirms the findings of the theoretical part and explains the differences with the theoretical part by relaxing the assumptions of full coverage and market share symmetry. This target level on the one hand depends on the potential for technical progress and on the other hand, depends on the rate of penetration. From a social perspective, this target level is the best amount that companies are encouraged to invest. Non-achievement of the target level entails underinvestment and a decrease in consumer surplus and welfare and may slow down technical progress. A data set covering 30 countries over a period of eight years is used to empirically prove the existence of a change in investment behavior depending on whether or not the target level is achieved. A low margin per user may hamper achievement of the target level. As a result, maximum consumer surplus and welfare occur under imperfect competition but not under perfect competition.展开更多
Time-sensitive networking(TSN)is an important research area for updating the infrastructure of industrial Internet of Things.As a product of the integration of the operation technology(OT)and the information technolog...Time-sensitive networking(TSN)is an important research area for updating the infrastructure of industrial Internet of Things.As a product of the integration of the operation technology(OT)and the information technology(IT),it meets the real-time and deterministic nature of industrial control and is compatible with Ethernet to support the mixed transmission of industrial control data and Ethernet data.This paper systematically summarizes and analyzes the shortcomings of the current mixed transmission technologies of the bursty flows and the periodic flows.To conquer these shortages,we propose a predictive mixed-transmission scheme of the bursty flows and the periodic flows.The core idea is to use the predictability of timetriggered transmission of TSN to further reduce bandwidth loss of the previous mixed-transmission methods.This paper formalizes the probabilistic model of the predictive mixed transmission mechanism and proves that the proposed mecha⁃nism can effectively reduce the loss of bandwidth.Finally,based on the formalized probabilistic model,we simulate the bandwidth loss of the proposed mechanism.The results demonstrate that compared with the previous mixed-transmission method,the bandwidth loss of the pro⁃posed mechanism achieves a 79.48%reduction on average.展开更多
This study aims to contribute to the growing literature on issues of tax incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs）. Through comprehensive exploration of data, the study investigates factors leading to...This study aims to contribute to the growing literature on issues of tax incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs）. Through comprehensive exploration of data, the study investigates factors leading to successful and unsuccessful utilization of tax incentives among SMEs. Financial ratios were calculated based on the information retrieved from the companies＇ annual financial statement. Apparently, these financial ratios are evidence of how successful the companies are in utilizing the tax incentives. In this study, 129 small companies and 71 medium-sized companies were selected as samples for the period of 2003-2007. The result indicates that financial structure such as retained earnings, tax burden, cash flow, and inventory level determined the ability of companies to utilize tax incentives; hence leading to higher earnings generated from the business operation. The age of the companies affects the utilization of tax incentives and this denotes that older companies are more capable of generating higher earnings. Hence, a thorough analysis of the data allows us not only to determine the success of the company in utilizing tax incentives but also to identify the determinants that impact their performance.展开更多
基金supported in part by National Key R&D Program of China(Grant No.2022YFC3803700)in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.92067102)in part by the project of Beijing Laboratory of Advanced Information Networks.
文摘The rise of time-sensitive applications with broad geographical scope drives the development of time-sensitive networking(TSN)from intra-domain to inter-domain to ensure overall end-to-end connectivity requirements in heterogeneous deployments.When multiple TSN networks interconnect over non-TSN networks,all devices in the network need to be syn-chronized by sharing a uniform time reference.How-ever,most non-TSN networks are best-effort.Path delay asymmetry and random noise accumulation can introduce unpredictable time errors during end-to-end time synchronization.These factors can degrade syn-chronization performance.Therefore,cross-domain time synchronization becomes a challenging issue for multiple TSN networks interconnected by non-TSN networks.This paper presents a cross-domain time synchronization scheme that follows the software-defined TSN(SD-TSN)paradigm.It utilizes a com-bined control plane constructed by a coordinate con-troller and a domain controller for centralized control and management of cross-domain time synchroniza-tion.The general operation flow of the cross-domain time synchronization process is designed.The mecha-nism of cross-domain time synchronization is revealed by introducing a synchronization model and an error compensation method.A TSN cross-domain proto-type testbed is constructed for verification.Results show that the scheme can achieve end-to-end high-precision time synchronization with accuracy and sta-bility.
基金supported in part by the Science and Technology Research and Development Foundation of China Academy of Railway Sciences Corporation Limited(Grant No.2023YJ364)in part by National Key R&D Program of China(Grant No.2022YFC3803700)in part by the project of Beijing Laboratory of Advanced Information Networks.
文摘Time synchronization is a prerequisite for ensuring determinism in time-sensitive networking(TSN).While time synchronization errors cannot be overlooked,pursuing minimal time errors may incur unnecessary costs.Using complex network theory,this study proposes a hierarchy for TSN and introduces the concept of bounded time error.A coupling model between traffic scheduling and time synchronization is established,deriving functional relationships among end-to-end delay,delay jitter,gate window,and time error.These relationships illustrate that time errors can trigger jumps in delay and delay jitter.To evaluate different time errors impact on traffic scheduling performance,an end-to-end transmission experiment scheme is designed,along with the construction of a TSN test platform implementing two representative cases.Case A is a closed TSN domain scenario with pure TSN switches emulating closed factory floor network.Case B depicts remote factory interconnection where TSN domains link via non-TSN domains composed of OpenFlow switches.Results from Case A show that delay and delay jitter on a single node are most significantly affected by time errors,up to one gating cycle.End-to-end delay jitter tends to increase with the number of hops.When the ratio of time error bound to window exceeds 10%,the number of schedulable traffic flows decreases rapidly.Case B reveals that when time error is below 1μs,the number of schedulable traffic flows begins to increase significantly,approaching full schedulability at errors below 0.6μs.
文摘Overviewing the air pollution situation in Hong Kong,energy generation and transportation are part of the contribution to the carbon emissions.Electric vehicles do not have engines and no air pollutants emissions.The promotion of electric vehicles serves as an important strategy to Hong Kong's goal to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.This paper illustrated the financial incentives the Hong Kong Government has launched,including First Registration Tax concessions,profits tax deduction,One-for-One Scheme,lower license fee,subsidy support for e-buses and e-taxis,free charging services at government car parks,EV-charging at home Subsidy Scheme,etc.By comparing the cost of purchasing and owning vehicles with the cost of purchasing and owning electric vehicles as well as the market performance of electric vehicles to examine whether the financial incentives in Hong Kong can promote electric vehicles and serve as a prerequisite to low carbon transition.The results show that under government support and promotion associated with preferential policy,electric vehicles will become the future trend in Hong Kong with the advantage of lower emissions,energy saving,and environmental protection.
文摘This essay evaluates the behavioural dynamics generated by profit incentives and compares them with those in government-owned and charitable enterprises.Drawing on neoclassical microeconomics,agency theory,and institutional economics,it shows how the profit motive drives cost minimization,allocative efficiency,innovation,and consumer responsiveness.Profit expectations,formalized in endogenous growth models,act as catalysts for technological progress and dynamic efficiency,while agency-theoretic governance mechanisms align managerial incentives with shareholder interests.In contrast,government-owned enterprises operate under multi-objective welfare functions,often constrained by soft budget expectations,political interference,and X-inefficiencies that dilute efficiency.Charitable organizations,structured by the non-distribution constraint,emphasize social trust,equity,and mission fulfilment,supported by warm-glow altruism but constrained by free-rider problems and underfunding.A comparative evaluation suggests that profit-driven firms outperform in competitive markets producing private goods,whereas government and charitable forms play essential roles in addressing market failures and providing public or credence goods.The analysis affirms the institutionalist principle that ownership and governance structures must be aligned with the nature of the goods or services delivered.
基金this project under Geran Putra Inisiatif(GPI)with reference of GP-GPI/2023/976210。
文摘Accurate time synchronization is fundamental to the correct and efficient operation of Wireless Sensor Networks(WSNs),especially in security-critical,time-sensitive applications.However,most existing protocols degrade substantially under malicious interference.We introduce iSTSP,an Intelligent and Secure Time Synchronization Protocol that implements a four-stage defense pipeline to ensure robust,precise synchronization even in hostile environments:(1)trust preprocessing that filters node participation using behavioral trust scoring;(2)anomaly isolation employing a lightweight autoencoder to detect and excise malicious nodes in real time;(3)reliability-weighted consensus that prioritizes high-trust nodes during time aggregation;and(4)convergence-optimized synchronization that dynamically adjusts parameters using theoretical stability bounds.We provide rigorous convergence analysis including a closed-form expression for convergence time,and validate the protocol through both simulations and realworld experiments on a controlled 16-node testbed.Under Sybil attacks with five malicious nodes within this testbed,iSTSP maintains synchronization error increases under 12%and achieves a rapid convergence.Compared to state-ofthe-art protocols like TPSN,SE-FTSP,and MMAR-CTS,iSTSP offers 60%faster detection,broader threat coverage,and more than 7 times lower synchronization error,with a modest 9.3%energy overhead over 8 h.We argue this is an acceptable trade-off for mission-critical deployments requiring guaranteed security.These findings demonstrate iSTSP’s potential as a reliable solution for secure WSN synchronization and motivate future work on large-scale IoT deployments and integration with energy-efficient communication protocols.
文摘AIM:To study the acceptability of incentives for behavior changes in individuals with diabetes,comparing financial incentives to self-rewards and non-financial incentives.METHODS:A national online survey of United States adults with diabetes was conducted in March 2013(n = 153).This survey was designed for this study,with iterative testing and modifications in a pilot population.We measured the demographics of individuals,their interest in incentives,as well as the perceived challenge of diabetes self-management tasks,and expectations of incentives to improve diabetes self-management(financial,non-financial and self-rewards).Using an ordered logistic regression model,we assessed the association between a 32-point score of the perceived challenge of the self-management tasks and the three types of rewards.RESULTS:Ninety-six percent of individuals were interested in financial incentives,60% in non-financial incentives and 72% in self-rewards.Patients were less likely to use financial incentives when they perceived the behavior to be more challenging(odds ratio of using financial incentives of 0.82(95%CI:0.72-0.93) for each point of the behavior score).While the effectiveness of incentives may vary according to the perceived level of challenge of each behavior,participants did not expect to need large amounts to motivate them to modify their behavior.The expected average amounts needed to motivate a 5 lb weight loss in our population and to maintain this weight change for a year was $258(interquartile range of $10-100) and $713(interquartile range of $25-250) for a 15 lb weight loss.The difference in mean amount estimates for 5 lb and 15 lb weight loss was significant(P < 0.001).CONCLUSION:Individuals with diabetes are willing to consider financial incentives to improve diabetes selfmanagement.Future studies are needed to explore incentive programs and their effectiveness for diabetes.
基金the National Key R&D Program of China(2018YFA0701601 and 2020YFA0711301)the National Natural Science Foundation of China(61771286,61941104,and 61922049)the Tsinghua University-China Mobile Communications Group Co.,Ltd.Joint Institute.
文摘In the upcoming sixth-generation(6G)era,the demand for constructing a wide-area time-sensitive Internet of Things(IoT)continues to increase.As conventional cellular technologies are difficult to directly use for wide-area time-sensitive IoT,it is beneficial to use non-terrestrial infrastructures,including satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles(UAVs).Thus,we can build a non-terrestrial network(NTN)using a cell-free architecture.Driven by the time-sensitive requirements and uneven distribution of IoT devices,the NTN must be empowered using mobile edge computing(MEC)while providing oasisoriented on-demand coverage for devices.Nevertheless,communication and MEC systems are coupled with each other under the influence of a complex propagation environment in the MEC-empowered NTN,which makes it difficult to coordinate the resources.In this study,we propose a process-oriented framework to design communication and MEC systems in a time-division manner.In this framework,large-scale channel state information(CSI)is used to characterize the complex propagation environment at an affordable cost,where a nonconvex latency minimization problem is formulated.Subsequently,the approximated problem is provided,and it can be decomposed into sub-problems.These sub-problems are then solved iteratively.The simulation results demonstrated the superiority of the proposed process-oriented scheme over other algorithms,implied that the payload deployments of UAVs should be appropriately predesigned to improve the efficiency of using resources,and confirmed that it is advantageous to integrate NTN with MEC for wide-area time-sensitive IoT.
基金supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (60774064)the Aerospace Science Foundation (05D53022)the Youth for NPU Teachers Scientific and Technological Innovation Foundation (W016210)
文摘To improve the effect of destroying time-sensitive target （TST）, a method of operational effectiveness evaluation is presented and some influential factors are analyzed based on the combat flow of system for destroying TST. Considering the possible operation modes of the system, a waved operation mode and a continuous operation mode are put forward at first. At the same time, some relative formulas are modified. In examples, the influential factors and operation modes are analyzed based on the system effectiveness. From simulation results, some design and operation strategies of the system for destroying time sensitive targets are concluded, which benefit to the improvement of the system effectiveness.
文摘Objectives: While the value of glycemic control to minimize adverse health outcomes among patients with diabetes is clear, achieving hemoglobin A1c (A1c) goals remain a challenge. We evaluated the use of financial incentives to increase enrollment and improve glycemic control among patients invited to participate in a monthly diabetes group appointment (DGA) as part of their enrollment in DaVita HealthCare Partners, a large southern California managed care organization. Methods: Adult diabetes patients (≥18 years) with a currently uncontrolled hemoglobin A1c level (>8.0% if 9.0% if ≥ 65 years) were randomized to 1) no DGA, 2) DGA with no financial incentives (non-incentive DGA) or 3) DGA with financial incentives (incentive DGA). Results: Nine sites among four regions of the greater Los Angeles area participated. Each site offered one non-incentive DGA and one incentive DGA. Over 1500 patients were identified for recruitment and at the peak of enrollment, 299 patients were enrolled in 18 DGAs. On average, hemoglobin A1c values dropped more for patients participating in the incentive DGA (9.9% to 8.7%, -1.2%) versus non-incentive DGA (9.7% to 9.0%, -0.7%) versus no DGA group (9.1% to 8.7%, -0.4%). Several unexpected implementation challenges arose which complicated evaluation but provide important learning lessons. Conclusions: Management of chronic diseases like diabetes is challenging for patients and the primary care system alike. Continuing to implement and evaluate programs under “real-world” conditions can provide further insight into how best to support patients with diabetes and their primary care teams in order to achieve glycemic control and avoid preventable complications.
基金supported by the Innovation Scientists and Technicians Troop Construction Projects of Henan Province(224000510002)。
文摘Time-Sensitive Network(TSN)with deterministic transmission capability is increasingly used in many emerging fields.It mainly guarantees the Quality of Service(QoS)of applications with strict requirements on time and security.One of the core features of TSN is traffic scheduling with bounded low delay in the network.However,traffic scheduling schemes in TSN are usually synthesized offline and lack dynamism.To implement incremental scheduling of newly arrived traffic in TSN,we propose a Dynamic Response Incremental Scheduling(DR-IS)method for time-sensitive traffic and deploy it on a software-defined time-sensitive network architecture.Under the premise of meeting the traffic scheduling requirements,we adopt two modes,traffic shift and traffic exchange,to dynamically adjust the time slot injection position of the traffic in the original scheme,and determine the sending offset time of the new timesensitive traffic to minimize the global traffic transmission jitter.The evaluation results show that DRIS method can effectively control the large increase of traffic transmission jitter in incremental scheduling without affecting the transmission delay,thus realizing the dynamic incremental scheduling of time-sensitive traffic in TSN.
基金supported in part by Technology Project of State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power Co.,Ltd.,China,under Grant J2022011.
文摘Considering the widening of the peak-valley difference in the power grid and the difficulty of the existing fixed time-of-use electricity price mechanism in meeting the energy demand of heterogeneous users at various moments or motivating users,the design of a reasonable dynamic pricing mechanism to actively engage users in demand response becomes imperative for power grid companies.For this purpose,a power grid-flexible load bilevel model is constructed based on dynamic pricing,where the leader is the dispatching center and the lower-level flexible load acts as the follower.Initially,an upper-level day-ahead dispatching model for the power grid is established,considering the lowest power grid dispatching cost as the objective function and incorporating the power grid-side constraints.Then,the lower level comprehensively considers the load characteristics of industrial load,energy storage,and data centers,and then establishes a lower-level flexible load operation model with the lowest user power-consuming cost as the objective function.Finally,the proposed method is validated using the IEEE-118 system,and the findings indicate that the dynamic pricing mechanism for peaking shaving and valley filling can effectively guide users to respond actively,thereby reducing the peak-valley difference and decreasing users’purchasing costs.
文摘This paper focuses on the relationship between firm risk profile, agency incentives and corporate performance using correlation study and cross-sectional approach. We conceptualise firm risk profile using the balanced score card and differ from previous studies, on the above variables, by capturing the perceptual sets of strategic leadership of Ugandan firms who are members of corporate governance of Uganda. We post a significant negative relationship between firm risk profile and corporate performance, a significant negative relationship between firm risk profile and agency incentives and a positive relationship between agency incentives and corporate performance By employing Joseph and Scott （2006）＇s utilization of the balanced score card to identify the four forms of firm risk （namely, financial, customer, internal and learning and growth risks）, our results support the application of agency theory as a relevant theoretical framework for dealing with managers who are risk averse.
文摘The use of managed lanes to control and maximize freeway throughput is increasing. One way of encouraging more managed lane use is through the implementation of incentives. In the Dallas-Fort Worth area, a managed lane is being added to the I-30 (Tom Landry freeway) and incentives to maximize the use of this lane were planned. Since the managed lanes were not yet open and the incentives were hypothetical, a stated preference survey was used to gauge the potential impact of the incentives on traveler behavior. The stated preference questions were designed using Db-efficient and random adaptive designs. The incentives were chosen by looking at other programs around the country and through discussion with transportation experts. Once ready, the survey was administered online to travelers in the area and a total of 898 usable responses were gathered. From the responses, a mixed-logit model was developed to describe and predict traveler behavior. From the model, elasticities were calculated to predict the impact of the incentives on mode choice. The model found that incentives with discounts and free trips (a transit fare discount, express bus service to downtown, a free trip for every X number of paid trips, and a discount offered to select businesses) were more effective at encouraging managed lane use. The other incentives (gift card worth $5 for every X number of trips and $5 in credit for every X number of trips taken by transit) had less of an impact.
文摘The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of motivation factors that actively induce construction workers participate in safety prevention activities and to investigate the effect of incentive program as motivation factor by conducting questionnaire survey. The survey was conducted for construction workers from September, 2017 to October, 2018, and the number of respondents was 256. The results of this study are that the factor of the greatest role in encouraging workers to voluntarily participate in accident prevention activities is management factors and that the introduction of new management methods such as safety incentives to reduce safety accidents is necessary. These results indicate that the accident prevention facilities and safety education and training have their limitations. Therefore, it is necessary to thoroughly reconsider what has already been done, and to find more innovative methods to reduce construction accidents.
文摘The role played by Payments for ecosystem services (PES) in promoting land use interventions is increasingly being recognized as an important instrument for changing land use management worldwide. Despite the increase, adoption of land use interventions promoted by PES and factors influencing it are not well understood. This study was carried out to assess the adoption of land use interventions promoted by PES scheme four years after its implementation in the Uluguru Mountains, Tanzania. The specific objectives of this study were to assess the adoption and factors that influenced it. The study employed questionnaire survey method to collect data from 219 households selected randomly. Focus group discussions and key informant interviews were also conducted to complement information obtained through questionnaire surveys. Descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were employed. Binary logistic regression was used to analyse quantitative data obtained, while content analysis was applied to qualitative data. Results revealed that during the project implementation, 40% of the households did not adopt any of the promoted interventions. Unexpectedly, four years after the project ended, every household sampled had adopted the interventions. Households headed by younger heads and those with land ownership, households which received PES incentives and lived for a long time in the same area and those with more labour force and access to extension services were found to have adopted more interventions (p ≤ 0.05). Thus, the study concludes that socioeconomic characteristics, agricultural extension services and incentives initially provided to farmers are key factors influencing the adoption of land use interventions. Therefore, it is recommended to the government that it should support farmers to get land tenure and to provide them with more incentives to improve their farms through adopting technologies.
文摘Background:Researchers have a higher risk of anxiety and depression than the general population,so it is important to promote researchers’mental health.Method:Based on the data from 3210 global researchers surveyed by the journal Nature in 2021,confirmatory factor analysis,OLS regression and other regressions were used to explore the research incentive dimensions and their effects on researchers’mental health.Results:(1)Material incentive factors,work-family life balance factors,good organizational environment and spiritual motivation had significant positive effects on researchers’mental health.(2)The spiritual motivation could better promote researchers’mental health than the other factors.(3)Heterogeneity analysis showed that material incentive factors and spiritual motivation created more significant stimulating effects on the mental health of humanities and social sciences researchers.Work-family life balance factors were more effective in promoting the mental health of the mid-career group and the overtime group.Conclusion:Application of the four research incentives resulted in lower likelihood of anxiety or depression among researchers,and special attention should be paid to the role of the spiritual motivation.In order to promote researchers’mental health,different incentives should be applied to different researcher groups to better improve researchers’mental health.
文摘This paper investigates the incentives of invest in improving quality （as opposed to investments in new activities） in the telecommunications industry, based on the example of wireless markets. What is the impact of competition on incentives to invest, and on capacities to invest？ What is the role of the rate of penetration and technical progress？ This paper highlights the fact that investment incentives are positively related to potential for technical progress. Investment incentives also depend on market structure, competition intensity, and penetration rate, but not monotonically. This paper consists of a theoretical part which, under assumptions of full market coverage and market share symmetry, shows that for each national market, there is a target level of investment which companies strive to achieve but had not exceeded, and an empirical part that confirms the findings of the theoretical part and explains the differences with the theoretical part by relaxing the assumptions of full coverage and market share symmetry. This target level on the one hand depends on the potential for technical progress and on the other hand, depends on the rate of penetration. From a social perspective, this target level is the best amount that companies are encouraged to invest. Non-achievement of the target level entails underinvestment and a decrease in consumer surplus and welfare and may slow down technical progress. A data set covering 30 countries over a period of eight years is used to empirically prove the existence of a change in investment behavior depending on whether or not the target level is achieved. A low margin per user may hamper achievement of the target level. As a result, maximum consumer surplus and welfare occur under imperfect competition but not under perfect competition.
基金sponsored in part by the National Key Research and Development Project under Grants Nos. 2018YFB1308601 and 2017YFE0119300the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 62002013+1 种基金the Project funded by China Postdoctoral Science Foundation Grants Nos. 2019M660439 and 2020T130049the Industry-University-Research Cooperation Fund of ZTE Corporation.
文摘Time-sensitive networking(TSN)is an important research area for updating the infrastructure of industrial Internet of Things.As a product of the integration of the operation technology(OT)and the information technology(IT),it meets the real-time and deterministic nature of industrial control and is compatible with Ethernet to support the mixed transmission of industrial control data and Ethernet data.This paper systematically summarizes and analyzes the shortcomings of the current mixed transmission technologies of the bursty flows and the periodic flows.To conquer these shortages,we propose a predictive mixed-transmission scheme of the bursty flows and the periodic flows.The core idea is to use the predictability of timetriggered transmission of TSN to further reduce bandwidth loss of the previous mixed-transmission methods.This paper formalizes the probabilistic model of the predictive mixed transmission mechanism and proves that the proposed mecha⁃nism can effectively reduce the loss of bandwidth.Finally,based on the formalized probabilistic model,we simulate the bandwidth loss of the proposed mechanism.The results demonstrate that compared with the previous mixed-transmission method,the bandwidth loss of the pro⁃posed mechanism achieves a 79.48%reduction on average.
文摘This study aims to contribute to the growing literature on issues of tax incentives for small and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs）. Through comprehensive exploration of data, the study investigates factors leading to successful and unsuccessful utilization of tax incentives among SMEs. Financial ratios were calculated based on the information retrieved from the companies＇ annual financial statement. Apparently, these financial ratios are evidence of how successful the companies are in utilizing the tax incentives. In this study, 129 small companies and 71 medium-sized companies were selected as samples for the period of 2003-2007. The result indicates that financial structure such as retained earnings, tax burden, cash flow, and inventory level determined the ability of companies to utilize tax incentives; hence leading to higher earnings generated from the business operation. The age of the companies affects the utilization of tax incentives and this denotes that older companies are more capable of generating higher earnings. Hence, a thorough analysis of the data allows us not only to determine the success of the company in utilizing tax incentives but also to identify the determinants that impact their performance.
