Conference Papers

Anatomical Loading on a UWB Antenna for Shoe Toe Box

Domenico Gaetano et al. — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:50:37 PDT

A UWB 6.0-8.5 GHz monopole antenna for mounting on the toebox area of footwear is designed using a detailed model of a running shoe and a foot-shaped phantom. Variation of anatomical features between individual people gives rise to different proximity and permittivity loads on the antenna. To take account of environment, the antenna design optimization considers different proximity distances for impact on the reflection coefficient and on the radiation efficiency.

Omnidirectional Circularly Polarized Patch Antenna with Post Manufacture Characteristic Refinement

Adam Narbudowicz et al. — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 07:45:39 PDT

We propose an omnidirectional circularly polarised planar microstrip patch antenna, in which both impedance bandwidth and circular polarization properties can be adjusted after antenna manufacture. This is done by appropriately tuning four adjustable capacitors, incorporated into the patches. To demonstrate the properties, the proposed antenna is tuned to the GPS L1 band and then re-tuned for Beidou/Galileo E2 band by only changing capacitors values. Design guidelines for such retuning are provided.

A Compact Shorted Printed Monopole Antenna for TV White Space Trials

Matthias John et al. — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 06:15:30 PDT

This paper presents a compact shorted printed monopole antenna for machine-to-machine, remote sensing and rural wireless applications in the TV whitespace band from 470 MHz to 862 MHz. The antennas performance in this operating band is demonstrated.

Integration of Inverted-F Antenna with Solar Cell Substitute

Oisin O’Conchubhair et al. — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:10:25 PST

A study into the effect of a solar cell lattice on the performance of an Inverted-F antenna is presented. An FR-4 substrate with a lattice of copper electrodes printed on one side and a solid copper ground plane on the other is used to represent a polycrystalline solar cell. The effect of the lattice orientation on the performance of the Inverted-F antenna is discussed.

Circularly Polarized Terminal Antennas for Emerging Wireless Systems

Max Ammann et al. — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:05:30 PST

Several types of omni-directional Circularly Polarized (CP) antennas are presented, which are employed by three different types of feedlines: Coplanar Waveguide (CPW) fed, Microstrip fed, and Differential-fed, to achieve omni-directional CP performances. The Dual-frequency Omni-directional CP antenna is proposed by using slot and inductor embedded into radiated patches. These omnidirectional CP antennas have potential application on GPS, WLAN and RFID systems.

A 2.45/5.8 GHz Folded Monopole Antenna for WLAN Applications

Matthias John et al. — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 07:00:36 PST

A probe-fed printed folded monopole antenna for WLAN applications is presented. The antenna operates at 2.45 GHz and 5.8 GHz, is compact and has omni-directional characteristics in both bands. A parametric study of key geometrical parameters is reported.

Vivaldi Array for Generation of UWB Circular Polarization

Adam Narbudowicz et al. — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 06:55:22 PST

A two antenna array is proposed for generating circular polarization for an ultra-wideband system. It consists of two orthogonal antipodal vivaldi antennas and a feed network which provides the appropriate phase and amplitude over the band of interest. The proposed structure is low cost and easy to manufacture, offering an axial-ratio bandwidth of 74%.

An Enhanced Method to Measure Pulse Dispersion in UWB Antennas

Antoine Dumoulin et al. — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 06:50:24 PST

This paper will demonstrate a method to remove the dispersive effects of antennas and measurement equipment from a real time-domain measurement setup. By isolating the AUT transfer function, more accurate time-domain measurements can be achieved and agreement to simulation improved.

Optimised Tapered-Slot Antenna for Real Time Location Systems

Antoine Dumoulin et al. — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 05:39:07 PST

The design of a directional UWB tapered slot antenna for use within an asset tracking system is reported. The spline-based geometry was refined with a local optimization algorithm and a square root raised cosine pulse. The time-domain performance of the antenna is dependent on the optimisation method.

Developing Strategy from the Middle:Subsidiary Strategy and the Role of the Subsidiary General Manager

Donal O'Brien — Fri, 07 Dec 2012 06:50:23 PST

The multinational subsidiary is a unique context to study management processes relating to strategy but so far, there has not been a coherent approach identifiable in the literature. It is recognised that subsidiaries evolve over time and through their own actions and initiatives have the potential to modify the power structures of the Multinational Enterprise (MNE) but little is known about the role of the subsidiary manager in this process. We
suggest that the tensions between the headquarters perspective and the subsidiary perspective have resulted in the application of inappropriate frameworks to the study of subsidiary managers. This proposal presents an ongoing
empirical study, which addresses previous issues, by testing an organising framework to study strategy development at the subsidiary level of the Multinational Enterprise (MNE).

Subsidiaries as Learning Engines: Understanding Middle Managers’ Searching for Knowledge as Micro-Foundation

Esther Tippmann et al. — Thu, 31 May 2012 07:23:41 PDT

A lot of research on MNC knowledge flows has concentrated on the organizational conditions that promote learning outcomes through a more efficient reuse of existing knowledge (cf. Gupta and Govindarajan 2000). Departing from this predominant research stream and recognising the increasingly important role of middle managers in large, distributed organizations, we investigated how subsidiary middle managers actually search for knowledge when dealing with non-routine problems and evaluated the solution outcomes in terms of generating organizational adaptation. By doing so, we contribute to several calls for more micro-level research of organizational learning processes (Felin and Foss 2005, 2009, Felin and Hesterly 2007, Friedman 2001) and shed light on the black-box of knowledge inflows.

Three interpretative case-studies of ICT subsidiaries, and resulting 33 knowledge search processes were chosen for in-depth analysis. Triangulating data from archival sources, interviews with middle managers and senior managers revealed their actual knowledge searching activities.

We uncovered the constituting activities of the knowledge search process and aggregated these into three phases: preparing for search, establishing the link, and accessing knowledge, and a fourth set of activities – modes for accessing knowledge - that characterised each knowledge source targeted. Further, we link the different knowledge searching activities to the heterogeneity in the level of organizational adaptation generated by the knowledge search processes.

Our study suggests that the activity ‘using own experience’ and withdrawal from knowledge searching challenges, reflected in the activities ‘accepting longer learning process’ and ‘siloed problem-solving’, impede broad searching and integration of different knowledge sources. In contrast, other activities signified more intense and repeated searching despite the challenges imposed by the geographic dispersion of knowledge. While previous research has shown that geographic distance impedes knowledge inflows (Ambos and Ambos 2009, Hansen and Løvås 2004, Monteiro et al. 2008), portraying the subsidiary as an entity that accepts passively geographic dispersion, our findings suggest that individuals’ active responses to this challenge can remedy potentially negative effects.

Further, if middle managers searched for knowledge ingredients and mastered the solution development process, then they become solution creators. These searching activities – ‘via discussing’ are more flexible to an accessing mode ‘via asking’ - because in a bi-directional conversation to search for knowledge, the context of the non-routine problem as well as the context of the knowledge searched remain present. Knowledge is adapted and dynamically integrated to suit the specific, novel context, often creating new solutions that became part of the organizational memory.

Above all, the findings suggest the contribution that middle managers’ knowledge searching activities and solutions developed can make to achieving subsidiary learning. Our results emphasize individuals’ searching engagements over MNC structure implications, representing a novel way of studying the black box of subsidiary knowledge inflows.

Novel Techniques for the Integration of Antennas and Photovoltaic Cells

Maria Roo Ons et al. — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 03:09:06 PDT

Various novel approaches to the integration of antenna and photovoltaic technologies are proposed. These include the use of polycrystalline solar cells as groundplane for microstrip patch antennas as well as for reflectors of half-wave dipole antennas. Transparent materials were also evaluated as antenna radiating elements, allowing greater solar efficiency. A novel technique illustrating how emitter-wrap-through rear contact solar cells can be used as a folded-dipole antenna, which is located in the focal line of a parabolic solar concentrator, to provide high solar efficiency as well as high antenna gain, is presented.

Safety and/or Hazard Near Miss Reporting in an International Energy Company

Paul Clancy et al. — Mon, 27 Jun 2011 08:17:14 PDT

This paper presents the preliminary progress of an industry driven programme to improve the data monitoring of safety/hazard near miss reporting from front line staff of a branch of a multinational energy supply company in Ireland. The paper discusses the main factors that emerged as possible causes for underreporting and the course of action selected for addressing them. The initiative, which is only in operation for 4 months has already led to an increase in reporting of “near misses” by a factor of nine. Furthermore, the level and detail of the reports is far greater than had previously being received.

Radio-Frequency Breast Cancer Imaging Results for a Simplified Cylindrical Phantom

Giuseppe Ruvio et al. — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 02:34:50 PDT

Microwave imaging is a pervasive research field and
is useful in numerous applicative diagnostic noninvasive contexts. This paper focuses on two aspects. First, we perform a numerical investigation to assess the role played by fundamental parameters (i.e. number of sensors, operating frequency bandwidth) on cancer detection. To this end, a simplified cylindrical phantom probed by ideal two-dimensional dipoles (i.e. infinitely long along the axis of invariance) is considered. Second, in order to focus on the role of the antennas, we analyze, still by numerical simulations and for a simplified breast model, how performances vary when a realistic antenna is adopted.

An Event-Driven Approach to Computerizing Clinical Guidelines Using XML

Bing Wu et al. — Thu, 20 Jan 2011 05:28:20 PST

Clinical events form the basis of patient care practice. Their computerization is an important aid to the work of clinicians. Clinical guidelines or protocols direct clinicians and patients on when and how to handle clinical problems. Thus, clinical guidelines are an encapsulation of clinical events. Hence, an event-driven approach to computerizing the management of clinical guidelines is worthy of investigation. In our framework, called SpEM, the main clinical guideline management dimensions are specification, execution, and manipulation. This paper presents an event-driven approach, within the context of the SpEM framework, to manage clinical guidelines. The event-driven approach is based on the event-condition-action (ECA) rule paradigm in which the ECA rules are specified using an XML-based language over an electronic healthcare record (EHCR) implemented using an XML-enabled DBMS. This approach facilitates the easy querying, operations and execution replay for clinical guidelines. The approach provides a ready solution to the problem of the integration of clinical guideline management systems (CGMS) and the EHCR. This creates an “active EHCR” in which reactivity is defined by the medical logic in the clinical guideline. The paper practices the approach presented here by using a simplified clinical guideline/protocol from the domain of clinical laboratory investigation for microalbuminuria screening.

A Pattern Reconfigurable Slot Antenna with Hybrid Feed

Matthias John et al. — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 06:39:41 PDT

In this paper we investigate the design and operating principle of a pattern reconfigurable multi-mode slot antenna with a hybrid feed. The slot antenna is excited by an orthogonal arrangement of a co-planar waveguide (CPW) fed circular disc and a microstrip fed square patch. The design objective is to be able to change the direction of the main lobe by feeding the two orthogonal elements with different phases.

Performance Evaluation of Antennas for UWB Radar and Positioning Systems

Antoine Dumoulin et al. — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 06:39:41 PDT

This paper presents a study of the performance of three antennas for ultra wideband radio ranging systems. By using different pulse types, the performance of the antennas is measured and quantified by using the Fidelity Factor.

Compact Spiral Loaded Printed Monopole Antenna

Xiulong Bao et al. — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 06:39:39 PDT

A novel miniaturized printed monopole structure is proposed. The antenna comprises a printed monopole strip which is loaded by a spiral located on the rearside connected by a via. The inductive loading provided by the spiral enables considerable miniaturization of antenna. A parametric study of key dimensional parameters and groundplane are discussed.