Evaluating the impact of PSC inspectors’ professional profile: a case study of the Spanish Maritime Administration

Full-scale globalisation of trade has been accompanied by a progressive liberalisation of maritime transport. The proliferation of open registries has created a situation in which Port State Control (PSC) has become much more effective than the feeble or non-existent control exercised by those States. This study has been conducted on the influence of the professional profile of inspectors on inspection results. The objective of our paper was to evaluate the impact of PSC inspectors’ professional profile by conducting a case study of the Spanish Maritime Administration. The paper concludes with a discussion of the correlation between deficiencies detected and professional profiles.     

Method for workspace calculation of 6R serial manipulator based on surface enveloping and overlaying

Aiming at the workspace calculation problem of multi-joint serial manipulators, a surface enveloping and overlaying (SEO) method is presented to identify and visualize the manipulator workspace. The SEO method is composed of two stages: the first stage is to choose reference points of the manipulator and calculate their boundary surfaces using the nth enveloping method; the second stage is to overlay these boundary surfaces to identify the final workspace. The SEO method is basically a combination of the analytic method and the numerical method. By delineating the graphic representation of the workspace step by step, the SEO method is easy to analyze the existence and the shape of voids and holes. The basic theory of the SEO method and formulas for workspace calculation are presented based on a 6R serial manipulator. By showing the workspace calculation results, the SEO method is proved working correctly.     

Fuzzy optimization of storage space allocation in a container terminal

A fuzzy optimization model of storage space allocation is proposed, and a rolling-planning method is derived. The model takes the uncertainty of departure time of import containers and arrival time of export containers into account. For each planning horizon, the problem is decomposed into two levels: the first level minimizes the unbalanced workloads among blocks using hybrid intelligence algorithm; based on block workloads allocated in the above level, the second level minimizes the number of blocks to which the same group of import containers are split. Numerical results show that the model reduces workload imbalance, and speeds up the vessel loading and discharging process.     

Transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion for traumatic lumbar spondylolisthesis

To evaluate the clinical outcome, effectiveness and safety of the surgical management of traumatic lumbar spondylolisthesis with transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) with short segmental instrumentation fixation. A retrospective review of a consecutive series of 24 patients with traumatic lumbar spondylolisthesis treated with TLIF procedure was carried out. Intraoperative spinal cord monitoring was used to confirm the peripheral neural function intact during the reduction of the spondylolisthesis. Preoperative clinical and radiographic evaluation of all cases were originally collected prospectively. Data regarding blood loss, operative time, duration of hospital stay, radiographic fusion, instrumentation failure and clinical result were collected and observed at regular follow-up periods. All patients were engaged in high-energy accidents in the lower back and 16 patients had concomitant injuries. The mean operative time was 124 min, mean blood loss was 350 mL, and mean hospital stay was 6.5 days. There were no complications such as incision infection, cerebrospinal fluide (CSF) leakage and nerve root injury and so on. All patients demonstrated a solid lumbar interbody fusion within 4 months, and no evidence of spondylolisthesis correction loss, instrumentation failure and loosing. They all were completely asymptomatic, with normal neurologic findings, and had resumed their previous level of physical activities on the final follow-up. Meticulous clinical examination and careful imaging assessment could assist an early diagonosis in cases of traumatic lumbar spondylolisthesis. Performing open reduction and the TLIF procedure as soon as possible could restore segmental stability and painless function. The TLIF procedure was a safe, effective technique to treat traumatic lumbar spondylolisthesis.     

Nonlinear analyses of exchange rates of six emerging markets

This paper presents some empirical evidences on the presence of nonlinearity of exchange rates of six emerging markets by using Brock-Dechert-Scheinkman (BDS) test and Volterra-Wiener-Korenberg (VWK) model, respectively. The nonlinear dependences are found in the exchange rates of six emerging markets. Furthermore, this paper applies the VWK model with surrogate data method to detect if their nonlinear dependences are deterministic or not. The results show that the above exchange rates are deterministic and nonlinear time series. These imply that the exchange rate markets do not conform to the requirements of the random walk hypothesis. Therefore, the nonlinear dynamic model should be used to analyze the exchange rates.     

Image fusion scheme based on nonsubsampled contourlet and block-based cosine transform

A kind of nonsubsampled contourlet and block-based cosine transform (NSCBCT) is developed, and its application in image fusion is studied in this paper. The construction of filtering banks is based on the nonsubsampled contourlet transform (NSCT) and block-based discrete cosine transform (B-DCT). We combine NSCT and B-DCT to design filters that lead to NSCBCT with better singularity representation than either of them in isolation. A design framework based on the hybrid approach is proposed, which allows for the fast implementation based on NSCT and B-DCT respectively. In addition, a new image fusion scheme based on NSCBCT for multispectral and panchromatic satellite images is proposed. Firstly, because it adopts NSCT, the fused satellite images have higher spatial resolution than those based on wavelets. Secondly, based on the localized high frequency information provided by B-DCT, the proposed fusion scheme can reduce the spectral distortion of the fused image further. Experimental results show that the proposed fusion method is able to increase the spatial resolution and reduce the spectral distortion of the fused image at the same time.     

Grafting watermelon seedling production management system based on process control strategy

Greenhouse environmental management, seedling bed scheduling, and fertilizer and water management are the core technologies of seedling nursery. Precision management and control of the whole production process guarantees high grated seedling quality. In order to improve management efficiency of grafted watermelon seedling production and seedling quality, this paper designs and develops a grafted watermelon seedling production management system based on process control methods by process control strategy, seedling bed planning design, and handheld device technology.     

Personalization method of e-catalog based on user interesting degree

The user interesting degree evaluation index is designed to fulfill the users’ real needs, which includes the user’ attention degree of commodity, hot commodity and preferential commodity. User interesting degree model (UIDM) is constructed to justify the value of user interesting degree; the personalization approach is presented; operations of add and delete nodes (branches) are covered in this paper. The improved e-catalog is more satisfied to users’ needs and wants than the former e-catalog which stands for enterprises, and the improved one can complete the recommendation of related products of enterprises.     

A relaxed-PPA contraction method for sparse signal recovery

Sparse signal recovery is a topic of considerable interest, and the literature in this field is already quite immense. Many problems that arise in sparse signal recovery can be generalized as a convex programming with linear conic constraints. In this paper, we present a new proximal point algorithm (PPA) termed as relaxed-PPA (RPPA) contraction method, for solving this common convex programming. More precisely, we first reformulate the convex programming into an equivalent variational inequality (VI), and then efficiently explore its inner structure. In each step, our method relaxes the VI-subproblem to a tractable one, which can be solved much more efficiently than the original VI. Under mild conditions, the convergence of the proposed method is proved. Experiments with l ₁ analysis show that RPPA is a computationally efficient algorithm and compares favorably with the recently proposed state-of-the-art algorithms.     

Review of managing the risks of offshore banking and its implications for the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone

As more and more Chinese and foreign-funded banks settle in the China (Shanghai) Pilot Free Trade Zone (CSPFTZ), it has become an imperative to enhance risk management of offshore banking. At the international level, the regulatory effort for offshore banking mainly focuses on tax evasion and money laundering. Existing regulatory frameworks have established standards to identify countries providing facilities for money laundering and developed punitive measures. In terms of strategy, it is suggested that, firstly, relevant regulatory measures should be improved in the short term, and it is necessary to define the scope of offshore banking and regulatory measures for Chinese banks and foreign-funded banks under a suitable legal framework. Secondly, it is necessary to establish risk exposure mechanism and risk evaluation system for the offshore banking in the CSPFTZ, while risk management measures are implemented based on on-site supervision. Thirdly, in the medium and long term, it is necessary to enhance management of potential risks which can be created by offshore banking due to deregulation. Fourthly, on the one hand, specific regulations should be formulated to provide a regulatory basis for taxation; on the other hand, tax informational exchange agreements (TIEAs) may be used as a reference for achieving effective tax regulation.