Mass production of high-quality carbon nanotubes (CNTs) remains a challenge, requiring the development of new wetimpregnated catalyst suitable for the catalytic chemical vapor deposition (CCVD) of CNTs in a fluidized bed reactor. For the successful development of a new catalyst, a highly robust system to synthesize CNTs must be established. Here, we systematically investigated the robustness of CNT synthesis by CCVD using a wet-impregnated catalyst. We statistically tested four factors that could potentially affect the robustness of CNT synthesis system, focusing on carbon yield and IG/ID. First, we tested the effect of vacuum baking before CNT growth. F test and CV equality test concluded that vacuum baking recipe did not significantly reduce the variability of the CNT synthesis. Second, we tested the batch-to-batch variation of catalysts. The results of t test and one-way analysis of variance indicate that there is significant difference in carbon yield and IG/ID among catalysts from different batches. Third, we confirmed that there is spatial non-uniformity of wet-impregnated catalysts within a batch when they are produced in large scale. Finally, we developed a multi-step heating recipe to mitigate the temperature overshooting during the CNT synthesis. The multi-step recipe increased the mean of carbon yield, but did not influence the variability of CNT synthesis. We believe that our research can contribute to the establishment of a robust CNT synthesis system and development of new wet-impregnated catalysts.

Logistics project scheduling problem in indeterminate environment is gaining more and more attention in recent years. One effective way to cope with indeterminacy is to develop robust baseline schedule. There exist many related researches on building robust schedule in stochastic environment, where historical data is sufficient to learn probability distributions. However, when historical data is not enough, precise estimation on variables may be impossible. This kind of indeterminate environment can be described by uncertainty according to uncertainty theory. Related researches in uncertain environment are sparse. In this paper, our aim is to solve robust project scheduling in uncertain environment. The specific problem is to develop robust schedule with uncertain activity durations for logistics project. To solve the problem, an uncertain model is built and an intelligent algorithm based on simulated annealing is designed. Moreover, we consider a logistics project as a numerical example and illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed model and algorithm.

MIRIS, Multi-purpose Infra-Red Imaging System, is the main payload of STSAT-3 (Korea Science & Technology Satellite 3), which will be launched in the end of 2012 (the exact date to be determined) by a Russian Dnepr rocket. MIRIS consists of two camera systems, SOC (Space Observation Camera) and EOC (Earth Observation Camera). During a shock test for the flight model stability in the launching environment, some lenses of SOC EQM (Engineering Qualification Model) were broken. In order to resolve the lens failure, analyses for cause were performed with visual inspections for lenses and opto-mechanical parts. After modifications of SOC opto-mechanical parts, the shock test was performed again and passed. In this paper, we introduce the solution for lens safety and report the test results.

  Exact solutions for practical-size problems in job shop will be highly inefficient. Scheduling heuristics, therefore, are typically found in the literature. If we consider real-life situations such as machine breakdowns, the existing scheduling methods

최적제어이론은 -6유에서 무한대까지의 게인여유와 60˚의 위상여유, 그리고 원조건(Circle Condition)에 의해 보증되는 감도감소 등과 같은 로바스트성에 대한 긍정적인 면들을 가지고 있다. 이러한 결과는 전상태 피드백 경우일 때는 타당하지만, 실현문제에 있어, 관측기나 칼만필터가 사용되어질 경우에는 위의 조건이 완전히 만족하지 않는다. 본 논문에서는 관측기를 이용하여 다변수 제어계를 설계할 경우, 입「출력부분에서 안정여유가 회복될 수 있도록 하는 하나의 방법을 제안했다. 플랜트 입력과 출력에서 LQ가 보증하는 최소안정여유는 K=1의 경우에서도 회복될 수 있음을 보였다. 로바스트성 회복을 위해 본 논문에서는 종래의 방법(K=∞의 조건)과는 달리 유한값으로 하중행렬이 주어질 수 있으므로 본 방법은 하나의 명료한 로바스트성 회복법이라 할 수 있다. F=MC(or K=BM)를 만족하는 행렬 M이 존재하지 않을 경우, 그 해는 얻어질 수 없다. 그러나 K를 유한값으로 취했을 경우, 이 방법 이외의 또 다른 방법으로서는 입력과 출력에서 로바스트성 회복을 가지게 할 수 없을 것으로 생각된다.

For the vast majority of geostationary satellites currently in orbit, station keeping activities including orbit determination and maneuver planning and execution are ground-directed and dependent on the availability of ground-based satellite control personnel and facilities. However, a requirement linked to satellite autonomy and survivability in cases of interrupted ground support is often one of the stipulated provisions on the satellite platform design. It is especially important for a geostationary military-purposed satellite to remain within its designated orbital window, in order to provide reliable uninterrupted telecommunications services, in the absence of ground-based resources due to warfare or other disasters. In this paper we investigate factors affecting the robustness of a geostationary satellite’s orbit in terms of the maximum duration the satellite’s station keeping window can be maintained without ground intervention. By comparing simulations of orbit evolution, given different initial conditions and operations strategies, a variation of parameters study has been performed and we have analyzed which factors the duration is most sensitive to. This also provides valuable insights into which factors may be worth controlling by a military or civilian geostationary satellite operator. Our simulations show that the most beneficial factor for maximizing the time a satellite will remain in the station keeping window is the operational practice of pre-emptively loading East-West station keeping maneuvers for automatic execution on board the satellite should ground control capability be lost. The second most beneficial factor is using short station keeping maneuver cycle durations.

This study examines the different roles of cash flow in assessing investment returns in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The analysis covers over 900 listed firms across Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand for the period post the Asian financial crisis of 2001-2017. Firm-level panel data analysis shows that cash flow factors are important in all contexts of cash return on assets, earnings quality and market value multiple across the region even after controlling for typical measures of profitability. The results suggest that firms should manage cash flow prudently in considerations of firm value from the shareholder’s perspective, measured directly using stock return. Cash profitability on assets should become an important firm performance indicator, whilst higher cash component over reported earnings is preferred. The market also tends to respond favourably to cash flow yield as a price multiple in valuation, outpacing the role of earnings yield. Such findings are robust across the pre and post subprime crisis periods, across estimation methods pertaining to finance panel standard errors, as well as across static and dynamic considerations of returns. It is hence sensible to consider cash flow factors in the research pertaining to asset pricing and factor investing in the ASEAN region.