A study on RFID adoption for vehicle tracking in container terminal

Purpose: Numerous studies discuss that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology can provide better container handling efficiency; however, relative lack of research concerns the tracking and monitoring the movement of vehicle in the container terminal environment. Thus, this study aims at discussing the feasibility of applying RFID for vehicle tracking purpose in a container terminal. Design/methodology/approach: This study makes use of a series of experiments in a container terminal to discuss the factors that affect the use of RFID in the terminal. The possibility and accuracy of using RFID in such challenging environment is also investigated. These propositions are investigated by a case study. Findings: The experimental results indicate that the RFID communication is good at the containers area which occupies nearly all the area in the container terminal. However, in other area such as sea side and free area, the performance is not good and 100% readability only achieved in 5m and 10m in free area and sea side respectively. Originality/value: The container terminal environment, which consists of different transport vehicles for onward transportation, will affect the performance of RFID readability. Poor setup of the RFID reader and tag will lower the feasibility of RFID adoption as well as increase the cost. In order to address the challenges of implementing RFID in the container terminal environment, this paper provides a series of real site testing experiments to study the RFID performance in the container terminal environment. This represents an original contribution of value to future research and practice in the RFID adoptions in container terminal environmentPeer Reviewe

Reinforcement of natural rubber with core-shell structure silica-poly(Methyl Methacrylate) nanoparticles

A highly performing natural rubber/silica (NR/SiO2) nanocomposite with a SiO2 loading of 2 wt% was prepared by combining similar dissolve mutually theory with latex compounding techniques. Before polymerization, double bonds were introduced onto the surface of the SiO2 particles with the silane-coupling agent. The core-shell structure silica-poly(methyl methacrylate), SiO2-PMMA, nanoparticles were formed by grafting polymerization of MMA on the surface of the modified SiO2 particles via in situ emulsion, and then NR/SiO2 nanocomposite was prepared by blending SiO2-PMMA and PMMA-modified NR (NR-PMMA). The Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy results show that PMMA has been successfully introduced onto the surface of SiO2, which can be well dispersed in NR matrix and present good interfacial adhesion with NR phase. Compared with those of pure NR, the thermal resistance and tensile properties of NR/SiO2 nanocomposite are significantly improved

High quality GaMnAs films grown with As dimers

We demonstrate that GaMnAs films grown with As2 have excellent structural, electrical and magnetic properties, comparable or better than similar films grown with As4. Using As2, a Curie temperature of 112K has been achieved, which is slightly higher than the best reported to date. More significantly, films showing metallic conduction have been obtained over a much wider range of Mn concentrations (from 1.5% to 8%) than has been reported for films grown with As4. The improved properties of the films grown with As2 are related to the lower concentration of antisite defects at the low growth temperatures employed.Comment: 8 pages, accepted for publication in J. Crystal Growt

Crystal Structure, Infrared Spectra, and Microwave Dielectric Properties of Temperature-Stable Zircon-Type (Y,Bi)VO<inf>4</inf> Solid-Solution Ceramics

A series of (Bi 1-x Y x )VO 4 (0.4 ≤ x ≤ 1.0) ceramics were synthesized using the traditional solid-state reaction method. In the composition range of 0.4 ≤ x ≤ 1.0, a zircon-type solid solution was formed between 900 and 1550 °C. Combined with our previous work (scheelite monoclinic and zircon-type phases coexist in the range of x < 0.40), a pseudobinary phase diagram of BiVO 4 -YVO 4 is presented. As x decreased from 1.0 to 0.40, the microwave permittivity (ϵ r ) of (Bi 1-x Y x )VO 4 ceramics increased linearly from 11.03 to 30.9, coincident with an increase in the temperature coefficient of resonant frequency (TCF) from -61.3 to +103 ppm/°C. Excellent microwave dielectric properties were obtained for (Bi 0.3 Y 0.7 )VO 4 sintered at 1025 °C and (Bi 0.2 Y 0.8 )VO 4 sintered at 1075 °C with ϵ r ∼ 19.35, microwave quality factor (Qf) ∼ 25 760 GHz, and TCF ∼ +17.8 ppm/°C and ϵ r ∼ 16.3, Qf ∼ 31 100 GHz, and TCF ∼ -11.9 ppm/°C, respectively. Raman spectra, Shannon's additive rule, a classical oscillator model, and far-infrared spectra were employed to study the structure-property relations in detail. All evidence supported the premise that Bi-based vibrations dominate the dielectric permittivity in the microwave region

Dispersion of the dielectric function of a charge-transfer insulator

We study the problem of dielectric response in the strong coupling regime of a charge transfer insulator. The frequency and wave number dependence of the dielectric function $\epsilon ({\bf q},\omega)$ and its inverse $\epsilon ^{-1}({\bf q},\omega)$ is the main object of consideration. We show that the problem, in general, cannot be reduced to a calculation within the Hubbard model, which takes into account only a restricted number of electronic states near the Fermi energy. The contribution of the rest of the system to the longitudinal response (i.e. to $\epsilon ^{-1}({\bf q},\omega)$) is essential for the whole frequency range. With the use of the spectral representation of the two-particle Green's function we show that the problem may be divided into two parts: into the contributions of the weakly correlated and the Hubbard subsystems. For the latter we propose an approach that starts from the correlated paramagnetic ground state with strong antiferromagnetic fluctuations. We obtain a set of coupled equations of motion for the two-particle Green's function that may be solved by means of the projection technique. The solution is expressed by a two particle basis that includes the excitonic states with electron and hole separated at various distances. We apply our method to the multiband Hubbard (Emery) model that describes layered cuprates. We show that strongly dispersive branches exist in the excitonic spectrum of the 'minimal' Emery model ($1/U_d=U_p=t_{pp}=0$) and consider the dependence of the spectrum on finite oxygen hopping $t_{pp}$ and on-site repulsion $U_p$. The relationship of our calculations to electron energy loss spectroscopy is discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figure

Observational Constraints to Ricci Dark Energy Model by Using: SN, BAO, OHD, fgas Data Sets

In this paper, we perform a global constraint on the Ricci dark energy model with both the flat case and the non-flat case, using the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method and the combined observational data from the cluster X-ray gas mass fraction, Supernovae of type Ia (397), baryon acoustic oscillations, current Cosmic Microwave Background, and the observational Hubble function. In the flat model, we obtain the best fit values of the parameters in $1\sigma, 2\sigma$ regions: $\Omega_{m0}=0.2927^{+0.0420 +0.0542}_{-0.0323 -0.0388}$, $\alpha=0.3823^{+0.0331 +0.0415}_{-0.0418 -0.0541}$, $Age/Gyr=13.48^{+0.13 +0.17}_{-0.16 -0.21}$, $H_0=69.09^{+2.56 +3.09}_{-2.37 -3.39}$. In the non-flat model, the best fit parameters are found in $1\sigma, 2\sigma$ regions:$\Omega_{m0}=0.3003^{+0.0367 +0.0429}_{-0.0371 -0.0423}$, $\alpha=0.3845^{+0.0386 +0.0521}_{-0.0474 -0.0523}$, $\Omega_k=0.0240^{+0.0109 +0.0133}_{-0.0130 -0.0153}$, $Age/Gyr=12.54^{+0.51 +0.65}_{-0.37 -0.49}$, $H_0=72.89^{+3.31 +3.88}_{-3.05 -3.72}$. Compared to the constraint results in the $\Lambda \textmd{CDM}$ model by using the same datasets, it is shown that the current combined datasets prefer the $\Lambda \textmd{CDM}$ model to the Ricci dark energy model.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figure

Cosmological constraints on the generalized holographic dark energy

We use the Markov ChainMonte Carlo method to investigate global constraints on the generalized holographic (GH) dark energy with flat and non-flat universe from the current observed data: the Union2 dataset of type supernovae Ia (SNIa), high-redshift Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs), the observational Hubble data (OHD), the cluster X-ray gas mass fraction, the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. The most stringent constraints on the GH model parameter are obtained. In addition, it is found that the equation of state for this generalized holographic dark energy can cross over the phantom boundary wde =-1.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures. arXiv admin note: significant text overlap with arXiv:1105.186

Optical absorption spectra of finite systems from a conserving Bethe-Salpeter equation approach

We present a method for computing optical absorption spectra by means of a Bethe-Salpeter equation approach, which is based on a conserving linear response calculation for electron-hole coherences in the presence of an external electromagnetic field. This procedure allows, in principle, for the determination of the electron-hole correlation function self-consistently with the corresponding single-particle Green function. We analyze the general approach for a "one-shot" calculation of the photoabsorption cross section of finite systems, and discuss the importance of scattering and dephasing contributions in this approach. We apply the method to the closed-shell clusters Na_4, Na^+_9 and Na^+_(21), treating one active electron per Na atom.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Observational constraint on generalized Chaplygin gas model

We investigate observational constraints on the generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG) model as the unification of dark matter and dark energy from the latest observational data: the Union SNe Ia data, the observational Hubble data, the SDSS baryon acoustic peak and the five-year WMAP shift parameter. It is obtained that the best fit values of the GCG model parameters with their confidence level are $A_{s}=0.73^{+0.06}_{-0.06}$ ($1\sigma$) $^{+0.09}_{-0.09}$ $(2\sigma)$, $\alpha=-0.09^{+0.15}_{-0.12}$ ($1\sigma$) $^{+0.26}_{-0.19}$ $(2\sigma)$. Furthermore in this model, we can see that the evolution of equation of state (EOS) for dark energy is similar to quiessence, and its current best-fit value is $w_{0de}=-0.96$ with the $1\sigma$ confidence level $-0.91\geq w_{0de}\geq-1.00$.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure