["Great jobs"-also in psychiatry?].

Science.gov (United States)

Spiessl, H; Hübner-Liebermann, B

2003-09-01

Against the background of a beginning shortage of psychiatrists, results from interviews with 112 employees of an automotive company with the topic "Great Job" are presented to discuss their relevance to psychiatry. The interviews were analysed by means of a qualitative content analysis. Most employees assigned importance to great pay, constructive collaboration with colleagues, and work appealing to personal interests. Further statements particularly relevant to psychiatry were: successful career, flexible working hours, manageable job, work-life balance, well-founded training, no bureaucracy within the company, and personal status in society. The well-known economic restrictions in health care and the still negative attitude towards psychiatry currently reduce the attraction of psychiatry as a profession. From the viewpoint of personnel management, the attractors of a great job revealed in this study are proposed as important clues for the recruitment of medical students for psychiatry and the development of psychiatric staff.

Government Debt and Long-Term Interest Rates

OpenAIRE

Noriaki Kinoshita

2006-01-01

This paper examines the relationship between government debt and long-term interest rates. A dynamic general equilibrium model that incorporates debt nonneutrality is specified and solved, and numerical simulations using the model are undertaken. In addition, empirical evidence using panel data for 19 industrial countries is examined. The estimation provides some evidence supporting the theoretical predictions: the paper finds that the simulated and estimated interest rate effects of governme...

Theoretical stellar luminosity functions and globular cluster ages and compositions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ratcliff, S.J.

1985-01-01

The ages and chemical compositions of the stars in globular clusters are of great interest, particularly because age estimates from the well-known exercise of fitting observed color-magnitude diagrams to theoretical predictions tend to yield ages in excess of the Hubble time (an estimate to the age of the Universe) in standard cosmological models, for currently proposed high values of Hubble's constant (VandenBerg 1983). Relatively little use has been made of stellar luminosity functions of the globular clusters, for which reliable observations are now becoming available, to constrain the ages or compositions. The comparison of observed luminosity functions to theoretical ones allows one to take advantage of information not usually used, and has the advantage of being relatively insensitive to our lack of knowledge of the detailed structure of stellar envelopes and atmospheres. A computer program was developed to apply standard stellar evolutionary theory, using the most recently available input physics (opacities, nuclear reaction rates), to the calculation of the evolution of low-mass Population II stars. An algorithm for computing luminosity functions from the evolutionary tracks was applied to sets of tracks covering a broad range of chemical compositions and ages, such as may be expected for globular clusters

A theoretical model for estimating the vacancies produced in graphene by irradiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Codorniu Pujals, Daniel; Aguilera Corrales, Yuri

2011-01-01

The award of the Nobel Prize of Physics 2010 to the scientists that isolated graphene is a clear evidence of the great interest that this system has raised among the physicists. This quasi-two-dimensional material, whose electrons behave as massless Dirac particles, presents sui generis properties that seem very promising for diverse practical applications. At the same time, the system poses new theoretical challenges for the scientists of very different branches, from Material Science to Relativistic Quantum Mechanics. A topic of great actuality in graphene researches is the search of ways to control the number and distribution of the defects in its crystal lattice, in order to achieve certain physical properties. One of these ways can be the irradiation with different kind of particles. However, the irradiation processes in two-dimensional systems have been insufficiently studied. The classic models of interaction of the radiation with solids are based on three-dimensional structures, for what they should be modified to apply them to graphene. In the present work we discuss, from the theoretical point of view, the features of the processes that happen in the two-dimensional structure of monolayer graphene under irradiation with different kinds of particles. In that context, some mathematical expressions that allow to estimate the concentration of the vacancies created during these processes are presented. We also discuss the possible use of the information obtained from the model to design structures of topological defects with certain elastic deformation fields, as well as their influence in the electronic properties. (Author)

The myth of financial innovation and the great moderation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

den Haan, W.; Sterk, V.

2009-01-01

Financial innovation is widely believed to be at least partly responsible for the recent financial crisis. At the same time, there are empirical and theoretical arguments that support the view that changes in financial markets played a role in the "great moderation". If both are true, then the price

Revisiting the Seeming Unanimous Verdict on the Great Debate on ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The great debate on African Philosophy refers to the debate as to whether African Philosophy does exist or not. The debate aroused great interest among Philosophy scholars who were predominantly polarized into two opposing positions - those who denied the existence of African Philosophy and those who insisted on the ...

Interest Groups and Trade Reform in Mexico

OpenAIRE

Luis Sanchez-Mier

2005-01-01

Mexico experienced widespread economic reform in the last two decades. From being a protectionist economy with a policy of import substitution, it has turned into an export-oriented open economy. Why was protectionism a stable policy, and how was it overturned by a reform that went against entrenched interests? I apply a game theoretic model of political influence and economic reform to answer these questions using data to calculate the payoffs for the relevant interest groups. In the underly...

A New Keynesian Perspective on the Great Recession

OpenAIRE

Peter N. Ireland

2010-01-01

With an estimated New Keynesian model, this paper compares the "Great Recession" of 2007-09 to its two immediate predecessors in 1990-91 and 2001. The model attributes all three downturns to a similar mix of aggregate demand and supply disturbances. The most recent series of adverse shocks lasted longer and became more severe, however, prolonging and deepening the Great Recession. In addition, the zero lower bound on the nominal interest rate prevented monetary policy from stabilizing the US ...

[Conflict of interest and bioethics].

Science.gov (United States)

Kemelmajer De Carlucci, Aida

2014-06-01

"Conflicts of interests" is a multi-meaning expression. To give a juridical concept is not easy because this concept is applied in public and private law. Maybe this is the reason of not having a law giving a valid definition in any case In health area, a conflict of interests is present many times, i.e. at the beginning of a research, when informing its results, etc. This conflict of interests may affect different aspects of the research work, economic or not; sometimes totally or partially. The economic resources is one of the most common reasons of the conflict of interests. The mass media often cause conflicts of interests informing the general public about new scientific discovery in a simple way to be understood but without been quite assertive. Other times, great enterprises hide information about new and better medicines due to the fact that they have many old medicines that should be sold before introducing in the market the new ones. From the academic point of view, conflicts may arise when the public funds are wrongly used to support unworthy researches.

Positive Psychology and old age Psychology. Theoretical Intersections

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Enrique Lombardo

2015-07-01

Full Text Available This article is a theoretical review of developments and research of the posi- tive psychology and of the psychology of aging. Some concepts that are in that intersection are: psychic capital, strengths, psychological wellbeing and emo- tional regulation. In all the cases they are positive psychic factors associated to the successful aging. Since the end of the 20th century, within the psychology of aging has been developing and achieved fundamental transformations in term of theoretical bases in which it leans on. One of these transformations arises of its encounter with the positive Psychology, of recent appearance too. The theoretical work in this field is of interest because from a classic perspec- tive, from a biological view, aging is regarded as the decline in physical and psychic strengths and, therefore, the loss of those features and positive qualities that were fundamental during the youthful and mature life. Old age would be marked by a deterioration, fragility and loss of progressive selfregulation of the individual person. This view lead to ignoring clearly positive aspects of old the age such as the gathering experience or the greater availability of free time that would allow elderly people to search for ways of personal realization, among others. Of the journey for the different concepts in those that positive psychology and gerontology go being defined a group of characteristic of what we can call the psychic aging. In the first place a change appears in the perspective about what this process implies. Aging is not seen as a relentless and universal process of decline, but rather besides a great variability, it presents different aspects in those that we see the development of potentialities and resources that were not present in other ages. 

improving utilization of conceptual and theoretical framework

African Journals Online (AJOL)

DR. MRS. AKPABIO

KEYWORDS: Conceptual, Framework, Nursing, Research, Theoretical. INTRODUCTION ... frameworks, define the concepts in the framework and apply them .... abstraction; clinical utility and perspective on the issues of interest. Thus, before ...

High-throughput theoretical design of lithium battery materials

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ling Shi-Gang; Gao Jian; Xiao Rui-Juan; Chen Li-Quan

2016-01-01

The rapid evolution of high-throughput theoretical design schemes to discover new lithium battery materials is reviewed, including high-capacity cathodes, low-strain cathodes, anodes, solid state electrolytes, and electrolyte additives. With the development of efficient theoretical methods and inexpensive computers, high-throughput theoretical calculations have played an increasingly important role in the discovery of new materials. With the help of automatic simulation flow, many types of materials can be screened, optimized and designed from a structural database according to specific search criteria. In advanced cell technology, new materials for next generation lithium batteries are of great significance to achieve performance, and some representative criteria are: higher energy density, better safety, and faster charge/discharge speed. (topical review)

Ordinal Position Research Related to Vocational Interest

Science.gov (United States)

Gandy, Gerald L.

1974-01-01

Birth order studies directly related to vocational interest were reviewed to discern support for certain theoretical susumptions: firstborns are more directing, controlling, and organizing than later borns and later borns are more sociable, empathic, and sympathetic than firstborns. The research was inconsistent, contradictory, and speculative.…

Theoretical Status of the RHIC Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jalilian-Marian, Jamal

2006-01-01

Since the beginning of its operation, the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the Brookhaven National Lab has produced a wealth of exciting and interesting results. I give a brief overview of the theoretical aspects of the main results from the RHIC program

Vocational Interests and Performance: A Quantitative Summary of Over 60 Years of Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Nye, Christopher D; Su, Rong; Rounds, James; Drasgow, Fritz

2012-07-01

Despite early claims that vocational interests could be used to distinguish successful workers and superior students from their peers, interest measures are generally ignored in the employee selection literature. Nevertheless, theoretical descriptions of vocational interests from vocational and educational psychology have proposed that interest constructs should be related to performance and persistence in work and academic settings. Moreover, on the basis of Holland's (1959, 1997) theoretical predictions, congruence indices, which quantify the degree of similarity or person-environment fit between individuals and their occupations, should be more strongly related to performance than interest scores alone. Using a comprehensive review of the interest literature that spans more than 60 years of research, a meta-analysis was conducted to examine the veracity of these claims. A literature search identified 60 studies and approximately 568 correlations that addressed the relationship between interests and performance. Results showed that interests are indeed related to performance and persistence in work and academic contexts. In addition, the correlations between congruence indices and performance were stronger than for interest scores alone. Thus, consistent with interest theory, the fit between individuals and their environment was more predictive of performance than interest alone. © The Author(s) 2012.

A theoretical and experimental evaluation of the microangiographic fluoroscope: A high-resolution region-of-interest x-ray imager

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jain, Amit; Bednarek, D. R.; Ionita, Ciprian; Rudin, S.

2011-01-01

Purpose: The increasing need for better image quality and high spatial resolution for successful endovascular image-guided interventions (EIGIs) and the inherent limitations of the state-of-the-art detectors provide motivation to develop a detector system tailored to the specific, demanding requirements of neurointerventional applications.Method: A microangiographic fluoroscope (MAF) was developed to serve as a high-resolution, region-of-interest (ROI) x-ray imaging detector in conjunction with large lower-resolution full field-of-view (FOV) state-of-the-art x-ray detectors. The newly developed MAF is an indirect x-ray imaging detector capable of providing real-time images (30 frames per second) with high-resolution, high sensitivity, no lag and low instrumentation noise. It consists of a CCD camera coupled to a Gen 2 dual-stage microchannel plate light image intensifier (LII) through a fiber-optic taper. A 300 μm thick CsI(Tl) phosphor serving as the front end is coupled to the LII. The LII is the key component of the MAF and the large variable gain provided by it enables the MAF to operate as a quantum-noise-limited detector for both fluoroscopy and angiography. Results: The linear cascade model was used to predict the theoretical performance of the MAF, and the theoretical prediction showed close agreement with experimental findings. Linear system metrics such as MTF and DQE were used to gauge the detector performance up to 10 cycles/mm. The measured zero frequency DQE(0) was 0.55 for an RQA5 spectrum. A total of 21 stages were identified for the whole imaging chain and each stage was characterized individually. Conclusions: The linear cascade model analysis provides insight into the imaging chain and may be useful for further development of the MAF detector. The preclinical testing of the prototype detector in animal procedures is showing encouraging results and points to the potential for significant impact on EIGIs when used in conjunction with a state

Gene therapy: theoretical and bioethical concepts.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Kevin R

2003-01-01

Gene therapy holds great promise. Somatic gene therapy has the potential to treat a wide range of disorders, including inherited conditions, cancers, and infectious diseases. Early progress has already been made in the treatment of a range of disorders. Ethical issues surrounding somatic gene therapy are primarily those concerned with safety. Germline gene therapy is theoretically possible but raises serious ethical concerns concerning future generations.

Exploring Stakeholder Values and Interests in Evaluation

Science.gov (United States)

Orr, Shannon K.

2010-01-01

One of the challenges facing program evaluation education is how to bridge the need to train students in theoretical and methodological foundations, and also prepare them for the unpredictability and complex environment outside the classroom. This issue is particularly challenging in terms of understanding stakeholder values and interests. The…

Experimental observations and theoretical models for beam-beam phenomena

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kheifets, S.

1981-03-01

The beam-beam interaction in storage rings exhibits all the characteristics of nonintegrable dynamical systems. Here one finds all kinds of resonances, closed orbits, stable and unstable fixed points, stochastic layers, chaotic behavior, diffusion, etc. The storage ring itself being an expensive device nevertheless while constructed and put into operation presents a good opportunity of experimentally studying the long-time behavior of both conservative (proton machines) and nonconservative (electron machines) dynamical systems - the number of bunch-bunch interactions routinely reaches values of 10/sup 10/-10/sup 11/ and could be increased by decreasing the beam current. At the same time the beam-beam interaction puts practical limits for the yield of the storage ring. This phenomenon not only determines the design value of main storage ring parameters (luminosity, space charge parameters, beam current), but also in fact prevents many of the existing storage rings from achieving design parameters. Hence, the problem has great practical importance along with its enormous theoretical interest. A brief overview of the problem is presented.

Experimental observations and theoretical models for beam-beam phenomena

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kheifets, S.

1981-03-01

The beam-beam interaction in storage rings exhibits all the characteristics of nonintegrable dynamical systems. Here one finds all kinds of resonances, closed orbits, stable and unstable fixed points, stochastic layers, chaotic behavior, diffusion, etc. The storage ring itself being an expensive device nevertheless while constructed and put into operation presents a good opportunity of experimentally studying the long-time behavior of both conservative (proton machines) and nonconservative (electron machines) dynamical systems - the number of bunch-bunch interactions routinely reaches values of 10 10 -10 11 and could be increased by decreasing the beam current. At the same time the beam-beam interaction puts practical limits for the yield of the storage ring. This phenomenon not only determines the design value of main storage ring parameters (luminosity, space charge parameters, beam current), but also in fact prevents many of the existing storage rings from achieving design parameters. Hence, the problem has great practical importance along with its enormous theoretical interest. A brief overview of the problem is presented

"Most brilliant in judgment": Alexander the Great and Aristotle.

Science.gov (United States)

Lainas, Panagiotis; Panutsopulos, Dimitrios; Skandalakis, Panagiotis N; Zoras, Odysseas; Skandalakis, John E

2005-03-01

From historical sources, it is evident that Alexander the Great was indebted to one of his teachers, Aristotle of Stagira. It was the teaching of Aristotle that evoked all the nascent talents of young Alexander and turned him into a great man. Alexander was extremely interested in the secrets of medicine and considered it an art. The medical knowledge he acquired from Aristotle may have saved his life and the lives of his troops on many occasions. If Alexander did not possess medical knowledge and if his everyday life had not been so greatly influenced by medicine, he might never have been able to create his empire.

Public interest group involvement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shelley, P.

1986-01-01

Including public interest groups in the siting process for nuclear waste disposal facilities is of great importance. Controversial sitings often result in litigation, but involving public interest groups early in the process will lessen the change of this. They act as surrogates for the general public and should be considered as members of the team. It is important to remember though, that all public interest groups are different. In choosing public panels such as public advisory committees, members should not be chosen on the basis of some quota. Opposition groups should not be excluded. Also, it is important to put the right person in charge of the committee. The goal of public involvement is to identify the conflicts. This must be done during the decision process, because conflicts must be known before they can be eliminated. Regarding litigation, it is important to ease through and around legal battles. If the siting process has integrity and a good faith effort has been shown, the court should uphold the effort. In addition, it is important to be negotiable and to eliminate shortcuts

Using Achievement Goals and Interest to Predict Learning in Physical Education

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Bo; Chen, Ang; Guan, Jianmin

2007-01-01

On the basis of an integrated theoretical approach to achievement motivation, the authors designed this study to investigate the potential influence of mastery goal, performance-approach and avoidance-approach goals, individual interest, and situational interest on students' learning in a physical education softball unit. The authors collected and…

Individual Educational Paths in the Universities of Russia and Great Britain (Theoretical Aspects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalya Yu. Shaposhnikova

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The author highlights the necessity for higher education institutions to form and realize students' individual educational paths in the learning process, which is stated in the Federal Law on Education and FSES HPE of the third generation. The article presents an overview of the different approaches to the definition of the term «individual educational path» (IEP. It also gives a brief overview of the existing terms in the Russian terminological system, which are close in meaning to the term above. The author formulates her own tentative definition of the term «IEP» which is based on the analysis made. The article further addresses the solution to the problem of the individualization of higher education learning process in Great Britain, which is described through the term «Personal Development Planning». The meaning of the term is shown through the set of actions: planning, doing things, recording of the self experience, reviewing and evaluating, using the personal knowledge derived from reflection and self understanding as well as own learning abilities to plan future actions. In conclusion, the meanings of the terms «IEP» and «PDP» are compared. The author emphasires the importance of studying Great Britain's experience - the practice of solving problems connected with the individualization of the university learning process and the possibilities to use it to facilitate the implementation of students' individual educational paths in Russian higher education institutions.

Great Lakes

Science.gov (United States)

Edsall, Thomas A.; Mac, Michael J.; Opler, Paul A.; Puckett Haecker, Catherine E.; Doran, Peter D.

1998-01-01

population.The wild plants and animals and the natural systems that support them in the Great Lakes region are valuable resources of considerable local, regional, and national interest. They are also, in part, transboundary resources that we share with our Canadian neighbors to the north. The way these resources are changing over time is inadequately known and is a cause for concern for resource users and for those charged with managing and protecting these unique and valuable resources. This chapter describes the wild plants and animals and the systems that support them in the Great Lakes region; addresses their condition; and points out the gaps in our knowledge about them that, if filled, would aid in their conservation and appropriate use.

Theoretical Division annual report, FY 1975

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carruthers, P.A.

1976-02-01

This report presents an overview of the activities in the Theoretical Division and a summary of research highlights during FY 1975. It is intended to inform a wide audience about the theoretical work of the LASL and, therefore, contains introductory material which places recent advances in a broader context. The report is organized into two special interest reports: reactor safety research and the Advanced Research Committee, and 11 reports from the T-Division group leaders on the work of their respective groups. Main interests and responsibilities are outlined including the relationship of the group's work to the work of other T-Division groups and other divisions at the Laboratory. The description of research highlights for FY 1975 explains in a fairly simple, straightforward manner the major recent advances and their significance. Each group report is followed by a publication list for FY 1975 (330 references) and a list of talks given outside the Laboratory (140 references). 29 figures

Theoretical atomic physics

CERN Document Server

Friedrich, Harald

2017-01-01

This expanded and updated well-established textbook contains an advanced presentation of quantum mechanics adapted to the requirements of modern atomic physics. It includes topics of current interest such as semiclassical theory, chaos, atom optics and Bose-Einstein condensation in atomic gases. In order to facilitate the consolidation of the material covered, various problems are included, together with complete solutions. The emphasis on theory enables the reader to appreciate the fundamental assumptions underlying standard theoretical constructs and to embark on independent research projects. The fourth edition of Theoretical Atomic Physics contains an updated treatment of the sections involving scattering theory and near-threshold phenomena manifest in the behaviour of cold atoms (and molecules). Special attention is given to the quantization of weakly bound states just below the continuum threshold and to low-energy scattering and quantum reflection just above. Particular emphasis is laid on the fundamen...

Enhancing Students’ Interest through Mathematics Learning

Science.gov (United States)

Azmidar, A.; Darhim, D.; Dahlan, J. A.

2017-09-01

A number of previous researchers indicated that students’ mathematics interest still low because most of them have perceived that mathematics is very difficult, boring, not very practical, and have many abstract theorems that were very hard to understand. Another cause is the teaching and learning process used, which is mechanistic without considering students’ needs. Learning is more known as the process of transferring the knowledge to the students. Let students construct their own knowledge with the physical and mental reflection that is done by activity in the new knowledge. This article is literature study. The purpose of this article is to examine the Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract approach in theoretically to improve students’ mathematics interest. The conclusion of this literature study is the Concrete-Pictorial-Abstract approach can be used as an alternative to improve students’ mathematics interest.

Special interest in decision making in entrepreneurship policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bager, Torben; Klyver, Kim; Schou Nielsen, Pia

2015-01-01

The study investigates the role of the special interests of key decision makers in entrepreneurship policy formation at the national level. An ethnographic method is applied to analyse in depth the 2005 decision by the Danish Government to shift from volume oriented to growth oriented...... entrepreneurship policy. The theoretical value of this paper is its challenge to the widespread rationality view in the entrepreneurship field and a deepened understanding of how the pursuit of special interests is related to ambiguous evidence and system-level rationality....

American undergraduate students' value development during the Great Recession.

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Heejung; Twenge, Jean M; Greenfield, Patricia M

2017-02-01

The Great Recession's influence on American undergraduate students' values was examined, testing Greenfield's and Kasser's theories concerning value development during economic downturns. Study 1 utilised aggregate-level data to investigate (a) population-level value changes between the pre-recession (2004-2006: n = 824,603) and recession freshman cohort (2008-2010: n = 662,262) and (b) overall associations of population-level values with national economic climates over long-term periods by correlating unemployment rates and concurrent aggregate-level values across 1966-2015 (n = 10 million). Study 2 examined individual-level longitudinal value development from freshman to senior year, and whether the developmental trajectories differed between those who completed undergraduate education before the Great Recession (freshmen in 2002, n = 12,792) versus those who encountered the Great Recession during undergraduate years (freshmen in 2006, n = 13,358). Results suggest American undergraduate students' increased communitarianism (supporting Greenfield) and materialism (supporting Kasser) during the Great Recession. The recession also appears to have slowed university students' development of positive self-views. Results contribute to the limited literature on the Great Recession's influence on young people's values. They also offer theoretical and practical implications, as values of this privileged group of young adults are important shapers of societal values, decisions, and policies. © 2016 International Union of Psychological Science.

The second physicist on the history of theoretical physics in germany

CERN Document Server

Jungnickel, Christa

2017-01-01

This book explores the rise of theoretical physics in 19th century Germany. The authors show how the junior second physicist in German universities over time became the theoretical physicist, of equal standing to the experimental physicist. Gustav Kirchhoff, Hermann von Helmholtz, and Max Planck are among the great German theoretical physicists whose work and career are examined in this book. Physics was then the only natural science in which theoretical work developed into a major teaching and research specialty in its own right. Readers will discover how German physicists arrived at a well-defined field of theoretical physics with well understood and generally accepted goals and needs. The authors explain the nature of the work of theoretical physics with many examples, taking care always to locate the research within the workplace. The book is a revised and shortened version of Intellectual Mastery of Nature: Theoretical Physics from Ohm to Einstein, a two-volume work by the same authors. This new edition ...

Theoretical frameworks for the learning of geometrical reasoning

OpenAIRE

Jones, Keith

1998-01-01

With the growth in interest in geometrical ideas it is important to be clear about the nature of geometrical reasoning and how it develops. This paper provides an overview of three theoretical frameworks for the learning of geometrical reasoning: the van Hiele model of thinking in geometry, Fischbein’s theory of figural concepts, and Duval’s cognitive model of geometrical reasoning. Each of these frameworks provides theoretical resources to support research into the development of geometrical...

Teachers’ knowledge for teaching compound interest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Craig Pournara

2013-11-01

Full Text Available There is increasing acknowledgement that teachers’ knowledge for teaching mathematics is multifaceted and topic specific. Given the paucity of research on the teaching and learning of financial mathematics in general, little can be known about teachers’ knowledge for teaching compound interest. However, since financial mathematics is a component of the school curriculum in South Africa, and an important element of financial literacy more broadly, attention needs to be given to knowledge for teaching financial mathematics, and compound interest in particular. Drawing from a larger study in which the author taught a financial mathematics course to pre-service secondary mathematics teachers, a theoretical elaboration is provided of the underlying mathematics of compound interest, and connections with the world of banking. Based on findings from the study, two key student errors are identified: the over-generalisation of linear thinking in multiplicative scenarios, and the over-generalisation of reversible operations in percentage-change scenarios. Taken together, teachers’ knowledge of relevant mathematics, of the banking context and of learners’ conceptions will contribute to building a knowledge-base for teachers’ knowledge for teaching compound interest.

Habermasian knowledge interests: epistemological implications for health sciences.

Science.gov (United States)

Granero-Molina, José; Fernández-Sola, Cayetano; Muñoz Terrón, José María; Aranda Torres, Cayetano

2015-04-01

The Habermasian concept of 'interest' has had a profound effect on the characterization of scientific disciplines. Going beyond issues unrelated to the theory itself, intra-theoretical interest characterizes the specific ways of approaching any science-related discipline, defining research topics and methodologies. This approach was developed by Jürgen Habermas in relation to empirical-analytical sciences, historical-hermeneutics sciences, and critical sciences; however, he did not make any specific references to health sciences. This article aims to contribute to shaping a general epistemological framework for health sciences, as well as its specific implications for the medical and nursing areas, via an analysis of the basic knowledge interests developed by Habermas. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

The Brazilian experience in managing interest-exchange rate nexus

OpenAIRE

Ricardo Carneiro; Pedro Rossi

2013-01-01

This paper addresses four main questions: firstly, it discusses some theoretical background related to the interest-exchange rate nexus; secondly, it makes an attempt to explain why the interest rate in Brazil is so high, examining briefly the main explanations for it; thirdly, it describes Brazil’s foreign exchange markets, their size and hierarchy; and lastly, it explains the carry trade dynamics considering the institutionalism of the Brazilian foreign exchange market and also the govern...

What killed Alexander the Great?

Science.gov (United States)

Battersby, Cameron

2007-01-01

The cause of the death of the Macedonian King, Alexander the Great, at Babylon in 323 BC has excited interest and conjecture throughout the ages. The information available in the surviving ancient sources, none of which is contemporaneous, has been reviewed and compared with modern knowledge as set out in several well-known recent surgical texts. The ancient sources record epic drinking by the Macedonian nobility since at least the time of Phillip II, Alexander's father. Alexander's sudden illness and death is likely to have resulted from a surgical complication of acute alcoholic excess.

Credit risk exposure with interest and currency swaps

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Coppes, R.C.; Stokking, E.J.

1996-01-01

The increased use of financial derivatives like interest rate and currency swap contracts has drawn much attention, as it exposes banks to non-performance by their counterparts. This credit risk exposure is of great concern to monetary authorities, e.g. the Bank for International Settlements. Ln

A better-response strategy for self-interested planning agents

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jordan Prunera, J.M.; Torreño, Alejandro; de Weerdt, M.M.; Onaindia, Eva

2018-01-01

When self-interested agents plan individually, interactions that prevent them from executing their actions as planned may arise. In these coordination problems, game-theoretic planning can be used to enhance the agents’ strategic behavior considering the interactions as part of the agents’

Theoretical Division annual report, FY 1975. [LASL

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carruthers, P.A.

1976-02-01

This report presents an overview of the activities in the Theoretical Division and a summary of research highlights during FY 1975. It is intended to inform a wide audience about the theoretical work of the LASL and, therefore, contains introductory material which places recent advances in a broader context. The report is organized into two special interest reports: reactor safety research and the Advanced Research Committee, and 11 reports from the T-Division group leaders on the work of their respective groups. Main interests and responsibilities are outlined including the relationship of the group's work to the work of other T-Division groups and other divisions at the Laboratory. The description of research highlights for FY 1975 explains in a fairly simple, straightforward manner the major recent advances and their significance. Each group report is followed by a publication list for FY 1975 (330 references) and a list of talks given outside the Laboratory (140 references). 29 figures. (auth)

Why are there no great women chefs?

Science.gov (United States)

Druckman, Charlotte

2010-01-01

This article applies the rhetorical and deliberately provocative approach of the watershed essay art historian Linda Nochlin wrote in 1971—“Why Have there Been No Great Women Artists?”—to today's culinary industry. Nochlin used the question her title posed as a theoretical trap that would draw attention not only to the inherent sexism or prejudice that pervades the way the public perceives art, but also to those same issues' existence within and impact on academia and the other cultural institutions responsible for posing these sorts of questions. Nochlin bypassed the obvious and irrelevant debate over women's being less or differently talented and, in so doing, exposed that debate for being a distraction from the heart of the matter: how, sociologically (media) or institutionally (museums, foundations, etc.), people define a “great artist.” Although it's 40 years later, the polemic is as effective when used to understand the gender divide in the food world.

Theoretical interest in B-Meson physics at the B factories, Tevatron and the LHC

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ali, A.

2007-12-01

We review the salient features of B-meson physics, with particular emphasis on the measurements carried out at the B-factories and Tevatron, theoretical progress in understanding these measurements in the context of the standard model, and anticipation at the LHC. Topics discussed specifically are the current status of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix, the CP-violating phases, rare radiative and semileptonic decays, and some selected non-leptonic two-body decays of the B mesons. (orig.)

Theoretical interest in B-Meson physics at the B factories, Tevatron and the LHC

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ali, A.

2007-12-15

We review the salient features of B-meson physics, with particular emphasis on the measurements carried out at the B-factories and Tevatron, theoretical progress in understanding these measurements in the context of the standard model, and anticipation at the LHC. Topics discussed specifically are the current status of the Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix, the CP-violating phases, rare radiative and semileptonic decays, and some selected non-leptonic two-body decays of the B mesons. (orig.)

Interesting Interest Points

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Aanæs, Henrik; Dahl, Anders Lindbjerg; Pedersen, Kim Steenstrup

2012-01-01

on spatial invariance of interest points under changing acquisition parameters by measuring the spatial recall rate. The scope of this paper is to investigate the performance of a number of existing well-established interest point detection methods. Automatic performance evaluation of interest points is hard......Not all interest points are equally interesting. The most valuable interest points lead to optimal performance of the computer vision method in which they are employed. But a measure of this kind will be dependent on the chosen vision application. We propose a more general performance measure based...... position. The LED illumination provides the option for artificially relighting the scene from a range of light directions. This data set has given us the ability to systematically evaluate the performance of a number of interest point detectors. The highlights of the conclusions are that the fixed scale...

Deviation from Covered Interest Rate Parity in Korea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Seungho Lee

2003-06-01

Full Text Available This paper tested the factors which cause deviation from covered interest rate parity (CIRP in Korea, using regression and VAR models. The empirical evidence indicates that the difference between the swap rate and interest rate differential exists and is greatly affected by variables which represent the currency liquidity situation of foreign exchange banks. In other words, the deviation from CIRP can easily occur due to the lack of foreign exchange liquidity of banks in a thin market, despite few capital constraints, small transaction costs, and trivial default risk in Korea.

Did Alexander the Great die of acute pancreatitis?

Science.gov (United States)

Sbarounis, C N

1997-06-01

I propose that Alexander the Great died of acute pancreatitis secondary to heavy alcohol consumption and a very rich meal. The cause of death of prominent historic or artistic figures attracts considerable interest of historians and researchers. This is especially the case for Alexander the Great. More than 20,000 publications, books, or monographs on the life and work of Alexander the Great have been published. There are several theories and hypotheses regarding the cause of his death, that are based on historic descriptions, diaries, notations, and interpretations of events. It is inevitable that history and myth intermingle in any investigative approach, no matter how scholarly. In this article, on the basis of several historic sources. I have made an effort to reconstruct the final 14 days of his life and record the course of medical events that preceded his death with the formulation of a plausible diagnosis.

The Great Recession was not so Great

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Ours, J.C.

2015-01-01

The Great Recession is characterized by a GDP-decline that was unprecedented in the past decades. This paper discusses the implications of the Great Recession analyzing labor market data from 20 OECD countries. Comparing the Great Recession with the 1980s recession it is concluded that there is a

Climate Change and National Self-Interest

OpenAIRE

Nordgren, Anders

2016-01-01

Mitigation of climate change is often described as a tragedy of the commons. According to this theoretical framework, it is collectively rational for present-generation countries to mitigate climate change, but not individually rational to do so. It is rather in national self-interest to ‘free-ride’ on the mitigation actions of other countries. In this paper, I discuss two arguments criticizing this view. According to these arguments, it is in most cases individually rational for present-gene...

Public Interest, Procedural and Discursive Limitations

OpenAIRE

Xenia Negrea

2015-01-01

We discuss in this paper the ambiguity of the journalistic key-concept, "public interest". We present a few scientifically approaches and we analyse the very comfortable misunderstanding cultivated not only by the press, but also by politicians and other social actors. This theoretical concept is in relation with another key-concept, "the state secret" and this is the most frequent and abusive, answer that the politician use for reject the press questions. As case study, we analyse the relati...

Gender-related academic and occupational interests and goals.

Science.gov (United States)

Petersen, Jennifer; Hyde, Janet Shibley

2014-01-01

This chapter reviews the theories and empirical evidence concerning whether gender differences in academic and occupational goals and interests exist, and if so, why those differences may be present. Expectancy-value theory, stereotype threat, sociocultural theory, and the gender similarities hypothesis lay the theoretical framework for this chapter. Following a brief review of these theories, we describe the evidence for gender differences in academic ability and occupational interests and goals, using meta-analytic reviews wherever possible. Although there are few gender differences in academic ability, some gender differences in occupational goals and interests persist, particularly in science and mathematics. These gender differences may be due to parental or cultural expectations, changes in developmental trends, stereotypes and discrimination, or gendered-expectations to achieve work-family balance. Overall, the pathways to adult occupations are complex, involving many factors that affect occupational goals, interests, and self-concept.

The Creation of Myth: Starting the First "Great Debate" in International Relations Theory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tatiana Aleksandrovna Alekseeva

2015-01-01

Full Text Available From one textbook to another wanders the story about three (sometimes - four Great debates, which formed the canonical history of the theory of international relations. In reality everything was much more complicated, and the theoretical richness much wider than many times repeated antinomic pairs - realism vs. idealism, traditionalism vs. modernism, rationalism vs. reflectivism The author regards the discussions between different trends of the political thought in the interwar period, which were later called the First "Great Debates", which, according to the author's view were pre-paradigmal.

Curiosity, Interest and Engagement in Technology-Pervasive Learning Environments: A New Research Agenda

Science.gov (United States)

Arnone, Marilyn P.; Small, Ruth V.; Chauncey, Sarah A.; McKenna, H. Patricia

2011-01-01

This paper identifies the need for developing new ways to study curiosity in the context of today's pervasive technologies and unprecedented information access. Curiosity is defined in this paper in a way which incorporates the concomitant constructs of interest and engagement. A theoretical model for curiosity, interest and engagement in new…

Volatility co-movement and the great moderation: An empirical analysis

OpenAIRE

Mumtaz, Haroon; Theodoridis, Konstantinos

2016-01-01

We propose an extended time-varying parameter Vector Autoregression that allows for an evolving relationship between the variances of the shocks. Using this model, we show that the relationship between the conditional variance of GDP growth and the long-term interest rate has become weaker over time in the US. Similarly, the co-movement between the variance of the long-term interest rate across the US and the UK declined over the 'Great Moderation' period. In contrast, the volatility of US an...

Competitive Analysis for Online Leasing Problem with Compound Interest Rate

OpenAIRE

Yang, Xingyu; Zhang, Weiguo; Xu, Weijun; Zhang, Yong

2011-01-01

We introduce the compound interest rate into the continuous version of the online leasing problem and discuss the generalized model by competitive analysis. On the one hand, the optimal deterministic strategy and its competitive ratio are obtained; on the other hand, a nearly optimal randomized strategy is constructed and a lower bound for the randomized competitive ratios is proved by Yao's principle. With the help of numerical examples, the theoretical results show that the interest rate pu...

Notes on the Altazor case (preceded by a theoretical drifting

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel Glaydson Ribeiro

2012-06-01

Full Text Available Precede by a brief theoretical drifting about the great poet and the conditions of its appearance (mythic and/or mythological - and also a differential hypothesis about the lyric and the epic -, this is an essay engaged in comprehending the narrative entitled Altazor, eighty years after its publication.

Testing Vocational Interests and Personality as Predictors of Person-Vocation and Person-Job Fit

Science.gov (United States)

Ehrhart, Karen Holcombe; Makransky, Guido

2007-01-01

The fit between individuals and their work environments has received decades of theoretical and empirical attention. This study investigated two antecedents to individuals' perceptions of fit: vocational interests and personality. More specifically, the authors hypothesized that vocational interests assessed in terms of the Career Occupational…

Information theoretic preattentive saliency

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Loog, Marco

2011-01-01

Employing an information theoretic operational definition of bottom-up attention from the field of computational visual perception a very general expression for saliency is provided. As opposed to many of the current approaches to determining a saliency map there is no need for an explicit data...... of which features, image information is described. We illustrate our result by determining a few specific saliency maps based on particular choices of features. One of them makes the link with the mapping underlying well-known Harris interest points, which is a result recently obtained in isolation...

Theoretical study on device efficiency of pulsed liquid jet pump

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gao Chuanchang; Lu Hongqi; Wang Shicheng; Cheng Mingchuan

2001-01-01

The influence of the main factors on device efficiency of pulsed liquid jet pump with gas-liquid piston is analysed, the theoretical equation and its time-averaged solution of pulsed liquid jet pump device efficiency are derived. The theoretical and experimental results show that the efficiency of transmission of energy and mass to use pulsed jet is greatly raised, compared with steady jet, in the same device of liquid jet pump. The calculating results of time-averaged efficiency of pulsed liquid jet pump are approximately in agreement with the experimental results in our and foreign countries

A study of brain networks associated with swallowing using graph-theoretical approaches.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Luan

Full Text Available Functional connectivity between brain regions during swallowing tasks is still not well understood. Understanding these complex interactions is of great interest from both a scientific and a clinical perspective. In this study, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI was utilized to study brain functional networks during voluntary saliva swallowing in twenty-two adult healthy subjects (all females, [Formula: see text] years of age. To construct these functional connections, we computed mean partial correlation matrices over ninety brain regions for each participant. Two regions were determined to be functionally connected if their correlation was above a certain threshold. These correlation matrices were then analyzed using graph-theoretical approaches. In particular, we considered several network measures for the whole brain and for swallowing-related brain regions. The results have shown that significant pairwise functional connections were, mostly, either local and intra-hemispheric or symmetrically inter-hemispheric. Furthermore, we showed that all human brain functional network, although varying in some degree, had typical small-world properties as compared to regular networks and random networks. These properties allow information transfer within the network at a relatively high efficiency. Swallowing-related brain regions also had higher values for some of the network measures in comparison to when these measures were calculated for the whole brain. The current results warrant further investigation of graph-theoretical approaches as a potential tool for understanding the neural basis of dysphagia.

Testing Local Adaptation in a Natural Great Tit-Malaria System: An Experimental Approach.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tania Jenkins

Full Text Available Finding out whether Plasmodium spp. are coevolving with their vertebrate hosts is of both theoretical and applied interest and can influence our understanding of the effects and dynamics of malaria infection. In this study, we tested for local adaptation as a signature of coevolution between malaria blood parasites, Plasmodium spp. and its host, the great tit, Parus major. We conducted a reciprocal transplant experiment of birds in the field, where we exposed birds from two populations to Plasmodium parasites. This experimental set-up also provided a unique opportunity to study the natural history of malaria infection in the wild and to assess the effects of primary malaria infection on juvenile birds. We present three main findings: i there was no support for local adaptation; ii there was a male-biased infection rate; iii infection occurred towards the end of the summer and differed between sites. There were also site-specific effects of malaria infection on the hosts. Taken together, we present one of the few experimental studies of parasite-host local adaptation in a natural malaria system, and our results shed light on the effects of avian malaria infection in the wild.

River basin management and estuarine needs: the Great Brak case study

CSIR Research Space (South Africa)

Huizinga, P

1995-01-01

Full Text Available The study of the effect of the Wolwedans Dam on the Great Brak Estuary and the development of the management plan to maintain a healthy environment yielded many interesting results. The general conclusion is that developments in a catchment...

Discourses and Theoretical Assumptions in IT Project Portfolio Management

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Lars Kristian; Kræmmergaard, Pernille

2014-01-01

DISCOURSES AND THEORETICAL ASSUMPTIONS IN IT PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT: A REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE These years increasing interest is put on IT project portfolio management (IT PPM). Considering IT PPM an interdisciplinary practice, we conduct a concept-based literature review of relevant...

Pricing real estate index options under stochastic interest rates

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Pu; Dai, Jun

2017-08-01

Real estate derivatives as new financial instruments are not merely risk management tools but also provide a novel way to gain exposure to real estate assets without buying or selling the physical assets. Although real estate derivatives market has exhibited a rapid development in recent years, the valuation challenge of real estate derivatives remains a great obstacle for further development in this market. In this paper, we derive a partial differential equation contingent on a real estate index in a stochastic interest rate environment and propose a modified finite difference method that adopts the non-uniform grids to solve this problem. Numerical results confirm the efficiency of the method and indicate that constant interest rate models lead to the mispricing of options and the effects of stochastic interest rates on option prices depend on whether the term structure of interest rates is rising or falling. Finally, we have investigated and compared the different effects of stochastic interest rates on European and American option prices.

Exchange and Interest Rates prior to EMU: The Case of Greece

OpenAIRE

Antzoulatos, Angelos A.; Wilfling, Bernd

2003-01-01

Recently a variety of exchange and interest rate models capturing the dynamics during the transition from an exchange rate arrangement of floating rates into a currency union have been derived. While these stochastic equilibrium models in continous time are theoretically rigorous, a systematic and extensive empirical validation is still lacking. Using exchange and interest rate data collected prior to the Greek EMU-entrance on 1 January 2001 this paper tries to fill the gap between theory and...

On high interest rates in Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Francisco Lafaiete Lopes

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This article examines the question of why interest rates are so high in Brazil as compared to the international average. It looks at theoretical arguments based on excessive government deficits, structural lack of private savings, inflation bias, excessive investment demand and fear of floating. An informal look at the evidence does not strongly corroborate any of these arguments. Hence a wise central bank should consider "testing" the market to make sure it is not dealing with an extreme equilibrium configuration or a long standing disequilibrium.

Public Interest, Procedural and Discursive Limitations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xenia Negrea

2015-08-01

Full Text Available We discuss in this paper the ambiguity of the journalistic key-concept, "public interest". We present a few scientifically approaches and we analyse the very comfortable misunderstanding cultivated not only by the press, but also by politicians and other social actors. This theoretical concept is in relation with another key-concept, "the state secret" and this is the most frequent and abusive, answer that the politician use for reject the press questions. As case study, we analyse the relation between Romanian president and prime-minister with the media.

Stochastic Interest Model Based on Compound Poisson Process and Applications in Actuarial Science

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shilong Li

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Considering stochastic behavior of interest rates in financial market, we construct a new class of interest models based on compound Poisson process. Different from the references, this paper describes the randomness of interest rates by modeling the force of interest with Poisson random jumps directly. To solve the problem in calculation of accumulated interest force function, one important integral technique is employed. And a conception called the critical value is introduced to investigate the validity condition of this new model. We also discuss actuarial present values of several life annuities under this new interest model. Simulations are done to illustrate the theoretical results and the effect of parameters in interest model on actuarial present values is also analyzed.

Competitive Analysis for Online Leasing Problem with Compound Interest Rate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xingyu Yang

2011-01-01

Full Text Available We introduce the compound interest rate into the continuous version of the online leasing problem and discuss the generalized model by competitive analysis. On the one hand, the optimal deterministic strategy and its competitive ratio are obtained; on the other hand, a nearly optimal randomized strategy is constructed and a lower bound for the randomized competitive ratios is proved by Yao's principle. With the help of numerical examples, the theoretical results show that the interest rate puts off the purchase date and diminishes the uncertainty involved in the decision making.

A review of theoretical study of graphene chemical vapor deposition synthesis on metals: nucleation, growth, and the role of hydrogen and oxygen

Science.gov (United States)

Rezwan Habib, Mohammad; Liang, Tao; Yu, Xuegong; Pi, Xiaodong; Liu, Yingchun; Xu, Mingsheng

2018-03-01

Graphene has attracted intense research interest due to its extraordinary properties and great application potential. Various methods have been proposed for the synthesis of graphene, among which chemical vapor deposition has drawn a great deal of attention for synthesizing large-area and high-quality graphene. Theoretical understanding of the synthesis mechanism is crucial for optimizing the experimental design for desired graphene production. In this review, we discuss the three fundamental steps of graphene synthesis in details, i.e. (1) decomposition of carbon feedstocks and formation of various active carbon species, (2) nucleation, and (3) attachment and extension. We provide a complete scenario of graphene synthesis on metal surfaces at atomistic level by means of density functional theory, molecular dynamics (MD), Monte Carlo (MC) and their combination and interface with other simulation methods such as quantum mechanical molecular dynamics, density functional tight binding molecular dynamics, and combination of MD and MC. We also address the latest investigation of the influences of the hydrogen and oxygen on the synthesis and the quality of the synthesized graphene.

Freedom of research and public interest

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jonas, H.

1988-01-01

The author is a philosopher concerned with responsibility. He argues that the pretext of 'purely theoretical interest of science' is no longer valid for some modern key sciences and, on the contrary, science has entered the field of social action where each prepetrator vouch for his deeds. His critical opinion on nuclear energy is expressed not in the main text but in figures showing nuclear power plants and lengthly legends attached to them. He does not make the common distinction between science and technology. Thus nuclear energy is for him a piece of science done in the world-as-a-laboratory and is moreover a technology 'which presumably will never get rid of its experimental nature'. Therefore the Freedom of Research must be cancelled by the state in the public interest. Even more horrifying than nuclear energy is to the author however gene technology. (qui)

Theoretical Relevance of Neuropsychological Data for Connectionist Modelling

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mauricio Iza

2011-05-01

Full Text Available The symbolic information-processing paradigm in cognitive psychology has met a growing challenge from neural network models over the past two decades. While neuropsychological
evidence has been of great utility to theories concerned with information processing, the real question is, whether the less rigid connectionist models provide valid, or enough, information
concerning complex cognitive structures. In this work, we will discuss the theoretical implications that neuropsychological data posits for modelling cognitive systems.

Booklet on the history of handball in Pinar del Río, content for theoretical preparation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yarisel Quiñones Rodríguez

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The sport since its evolution, has marked transcendental events in the history of nations, events that when written, become invaluable heritage. Handball preserves and enriches its history at an international level. Many authors have given their versions on the introduction and development of handball in Cuba; this history has been enriched with the valuable written works of some provinces. Pinar del Río has been a power of this sport at national level, contributing great figures who have represented Cuba in international events, but it does not have a written history, which limits the integral formation of the athletes of the sport and the graduates of the race Physical Culture. During the investigation, theoretical, empirical and statistical methods were used, emphasizing by their relevance the logical historical method and the testimony. The results were presented in a brochure structured with a cover, introduction, development, Bibliography and Annexes, reflecting the introduction of the sport, the names of the first atheists, coaches, referees, managers, athletes and coaches that comprised the national team, among other aspects of interest. These results are of significant importance in the training of the athletes and allow to be approached as content of the theoretical preparation, besides that it enriches the local history and the history of the sport of Pinar del Rio.

A Model of Target Changes and the Term Structure of Interest Rates

OpenAIRE

Pierluigi Balduzzi; Giuseppe Bertola; Silverio Foresi

1993-01-01

We explore the effects of official targeting policy on the term-structure of nominal interest rates, adapting relevant insights from theoretical work on "peso problems" to account for realistic infrequency of target changes. Our analysis of daily U.S. interest rates and newly available historical targets provides an interpretation for persistent spreads between short-term money-market rates and overnight fed-funds targets, and for the poor performance of expectations-hypothesis tests: it is t...

Great Tits (Parus major) reduce caterpillar damage in commercial apple orchards

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mols, C.M.M.; Visser, M.E.

2007-01-01

Alternative ways to control caterpillar pests and reduce the use of pesticides in apple orchards are in the interest of the environment, farmers and the public. Great tits have already been shown to reduce damage under high caterpillar density when breeding in nest boxes in an experimental apple

MICRO- AND NANOENCAPSULATION VIA ELECTRO-HYDRODYNAMIC PROCESSING OF INTEREST IN FOOD APPLICATIONS

OpenAIRE

PÉREZ MASIÁ, ROCÍO

2016-01-01

Micro- and nanoencapsulation have generated great interest over the last years in multiple fields. Particularly in the food industry, this technology presents potential applications for the development of smart packaging structures, as well as for the protection of sensitive ingredients and the production of novel healthy foods. Therefore, in this thesis, the development of different encapsulation structures of interest in the food area was carried out. Specifically, c...

Theoretical studies of combustion dynamics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bowman, J.M. [Emory Univ., Atlanta, GA (United States)

1993-12-01

The basic objectives of this research program are to develop and apply theoretical techniques to fundamental dynamical processes of importance in gas-phase combustion. There are two major areas currently supported by this grant. One is reactive scattering of diatom-diatom systems, and the other is the dynamics of complex formation and decay based on L{sup 2} methods. In all of these studies, the authors focus on systems that are of interest experimentally, and for which potential energy surfaces based, at least in part, on ab initio calculations are available.

The economics interests In Football

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raúl Fustes-Ross

2012-09-01

Full Text Available The football is the most popular sport in the Word and the economics interests have been fundamentals in his increase and expansion; this idea is confirmed by the numerous competitions for even sexes with categories from National Championships to regional events, continentals, intercontinental, Olympic Games and World Cup from majors, the most important event where showed the most expensive and important merchandise: the players. All this sport mechanism is capitalized by the owners clubs, business trade associations and greats corporations in the host cities, the nations participating also those without participation but with many fans. Each and every one are customers, is a chance for increase the sales.

Theoretical Studies of the Electronic Structure of the Compounds of the Actinide Elements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaltsoyannis, Nikolas; Hay, P.J.; Li, Jun; Blaudeau, Jean-Philippe; Bursten, Bruce E.

2006-01-01

In this chapter, we will present an overview of the theoretical and computational developments that have increased our understanding of the electronic structure of actinide-containing molecules and ions. The application of modern electronic structure methodologies to actinide systems remains one of the great challenges in quantum chemistry; indeed, as will be discussed below, there is no other portion of the periodic table that leads to the confluence of complexity with respect to the calculation of ground- and excited-state energies, bonding descriptions, and molecular properties. But there is also no place in the periodic table in which effective computational modeling of electronic structure can be more useful. The difficulties in creating, isolating, and handling many of the actinide elements provide an opportunity for computational chemistry to be an unusually important partner in developing the chemistry of these elements. The importance of actinide electronic structure begins with the earliest studies of uranium chemistry and predates the discovery of quantum mechanics. The fluorescence of uranyl compounds was observed as early as 1833, a presage of the development of actinometry as a tool for measuring photochemical quantum yields. Interest in nuclear fuels has stimulated tremendous interest in understanding the properties, including electronic properties, of small actinide-containing molecules and ions, especially the oxides and halides of uranium and plutonium. The synthesis of uranocene in 1968 led to the flurry of activity in the organometallic chemistry of the actinides that continues today. Actinide organometallics (or organoactinides) are nearly always molecular systems and are often volatile, which makes them amenable to an arsenal of experimental probes of molecular and electronic structure (Marks and Fischer, 1979). Theoretical and computational studies of the electronic structure of actinide systems have developed in concert with the experimental

“Democratic Government”, Interest Groups and American Trade Politics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhanyu Dong

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The study of American trade politics is of great significance when interpreting U.S.A. trade policies and understanding China-U.S.A. trade relations. In order to explain the mechanism of American trade politics, this paper constructs a new analytical framework of “democratic government-interest groups”, which argues that U.S.A. trade policies are not only the choices made by the democratic government between state interests and political private benefits, but also the outcomes of interaction between the U.S.A. government and interest groups. The case study of the U.S.A. trade policies toward China since the new century also demonstrates how the interaction between the government and interest groups ultimately shapes trade policies. Therefore, we need to understand the logic of American trade politics, generate more mutual benefits for our two countries, and work together to promote the bilateral free trade as well as the bilateral relations between China and the U.S.A.

A Note on the Field-Theoretical Description of Superfluids

CERN Document Server

Andrianopoli, L; Grassi, P A; Trigiante, M

2014-01-01

Recently, a Lagrangian description of superfluids attracted some interest from the fluid/gravity-correspondence viewpoint. In this respect, the work of Dubovksy et al. has proposed a new field theoretical description of fluids, which has several interesting aspects. On another side, we have provided in arXiv:1304.2206 a supersymmetric extension of the original works. In the analysis of the Lagrangian structures a new invariant appeared which, although related to known invariants, provides, in our opinion, a better parametrisation of the fluid dynamics in order to describe the fluid/superfluid phases.

Studies in Theoretical and Applied Statistics

CERN Document Server

Pratesi, Monica; Ruiz-Gazen, Anne

2018-01-01

This book includes a wide selection of the papers presented at the 48th Scientific Meeting of the Italian Statistical Society (SIS2016), held in Salerno on 8-10 June 2016. Covering a wide variety of topics ranging from modern data sources and survey design issues to measuring sustainable development, it provides a comprehensive overview of the current Italian scientific research in the fields of open data and big data in public administration and official statistics, survey sampling, ordinal and symbolic data, statistical models and methods for network data, time series forecasting, spatial analysis, environmental statistics, economic and financial data analysis, statistics in the education system, and sustainable development. Intended for researchers interested in theoretical and empirical issues, this volume provides interesting starting points for further research.

The Model of Unification and the Model of Diversification of Public School Teachers' Continuing Professional Development in Great Britain, Canada and the USA

Science.gov (United States)

Mukan, Nataliya; Myskiv, Iryna; Kravets, Svitlana

2016-01-01

In the article the theoretical framework of public school teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) in Great Britain, Canada and the USA has been presented. The main objectives have been defined as theoretical analysis of scientific and pedagogical literature, which highlights different aspects of the problem under research; presentation…

Stock Market Capitalisation and Interest Rate in Nigeria: A Time ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Obviously for the Nigerian capital market to enhance economic growth and development and compare favourably with those of developed market economies, investors will need to be abreast with the happenings and great benefits of the stock market. In this case a lot depends on considerable control of the interest rate, the ...

The great battles of the energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chevalier, J.M.

2004-10-01

This book presents an introduction to the great world energy challenges. The first part of this book, is devoted to the energy sources history with a special interest for the petroleum. The advantages and disadvantages of the energy sources as the natural gas, the coal, the nuclear power and the renewable energies, are also discussed. Two chapters are devoted to the analysis of the energy sectors deregulation in Europe, in particular the electric power market. The last part proposes to discuss on the twenty century challenge: how to reconcile the energy demand, the environment protection and the developing countries economic development? (A.L.B.)

Measuring health lifestyles in a comparative analysis: theoretical issues and empirical findings.

Science.gov (United States)

Abel, T

1991-01-01

The concept of lifestyle bears great potential for research in medical sociology. Yet, weaknesses in current methods have restrained lifestyle research from realizing its full potentials. The present focus is on the links between theoretical conceptions and their empirical application. The paper divides into two parts. The first part provides a discussion of basic theoretical and methodological issues. In particular selected lines of thought from Max Weber are presented and their usefulness in providing a theoretical frame of reference for health lifestyle research is outlined. Next, a theory guided definition of the subject matter is introduced and basic problems in empirical applications of theoretical lifestyle concepts are discussed. In its second part the paper presents findings from comparative lifestyle analyses. Data from the U.S. and West Germany are utilized to explore issues of measurement equivalence and theoretical validity. Factor analyses indicate high conceptual equivalence for new measures of health lifestyle dimensions in both the U.S. and West Germany. Divisive cluster analyses detect three distinct lifestyle groups in both nations. Implications for future lifestyle research are discussed.

Environmental Resource Management in Borderlands: Evolution from Competing Interests to Common Aversions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Patrick Henry Buckley

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Great enthusiasm is attached to the emergence of cross-border regions (CBRs as a new institutional arrangement for dealing with local cross-border environmental resource management and other issues that remain too distant from national capitals and/or too expensive to be addressed in the traditional topocratic manner requiring instead local adhocratic methods. This study briefly discusses the perceived value of CBRs and necessary and sufficient conditions for the successful and sustainable development of such places. Then, assuming that necessary conditions can be met, the study investigates an intriguing hypothesis concerning the catalyzing of sustainable consensus for cross-border resource management based on a game theoretical approach that employs the use of dilemma of common aversion rather than the more traditional dilemma of competing common interests. Using this lens to investigate a series of events on the Pacific northwestern Canadian-American border in a part of the Fraser Lowland, we look for evidence of the emergence of an active and sustainable CBR to address local trans-border resource management issues. Although our micro-level scale fails to conclusively demonstrate such evidence, it does demonstrate the value of using this approach and suggests a number of avenues for further research.

The Components of Great Sex: Sexuality Education for People Who Desire to Scale the Heights of Optimal Sexuality

Science.gov (United States)

Wampold, Charles H.

2014-01-01

Ubiquitous "sex tips" in popular media evidence an unquenchable public interest in learning how to experience "great sex," and studies confirm that a great sexual relationship correlates to general relationship satisfaction, which in turn correlates to overall happiness. However, sexologists have paid scant attention to…

Theoretical and experimental study of actinide complexes with monoamides and organophosphorus ligands in solution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ribokaite, Kristina

2013-01-01

Monoamides and organophosphate are of great interest for the nuclear fuel cycle. Such ligands can selectively extract actinides in liquid-liquid extraction processes. The structure of the extractant (its functional group and its alkyl substituents) has a predominant role in the selective separation of actinides. This thesis concerns the theoretical and experimental studies of model systems in the aim of better understanding of the effect on molecular structures of the complexes. Structures of actinides complexes formed with model ligands in simple media (water or methanol in the presence of nitrate ions) have been characterized. At first, the complexation of uranyl by monoamide and phosphine oxide was studied in water and methanol. Molecular Dynamics simulations and DFT calculations were used to quantify the stability of uranyl complexes with those ligands, and to determine their structural properties. The theoretical results were then compared with experimental results obtained by UV-visible, infrared, Raman and EXAFS on the same chemical systems. The results were used to highlight the greater stability of uranyl complexes with phosphine oxide and monoamides. Further spectroscopic measurements combined with molecular modeling were used to gain a better understanding of the coordination mode of nitrate ion around the uranyl in both water and methanol. Finally, DFT calculations were used to study the influence of the structure of the monoamide or organophosphorus ligand and their interaction with the actinides (IV, VI) including steric effects in the first coordination sphere. (author) [fr

Psychological aspects of the concept “the interests of the child”

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S.A. Terekhina

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Based on the legal aspects, the author analyzes the psychological content of the concept “the interests of the child”, involving theoretical and conceptual framework of modern developmental psychology. Following the main provisions of child psychology, the author stresses the importance of a differentiated examination of the category “interests of the child”, depending on his age characteristics. The article describes the main problems and contradictions of modern approaches to the standards of children's development, the ratio of general and individual variations in normal development, as well as deviations from the norm, which hinder the development of the psychological component of the concept “the interests of the child”.

Theoretical aspects of double beta decay

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haxton, W.C.

1984-01-01

Considerable effort has been expended recently in theoretical studies of double beta decay. Much of this work has focussed on the constraints this process places on gauge theories of the weak interaction, in general, and on the neutrino mass matrix, in particular. In addition, interesting nuclear structure questions have arisen in studies of double beta decay matrix elements. After briefly reviewing the theory of double beta decay, some of the progress that has been made in these areas is summarized. 25 references

Theoretical Foundations of Pastoral Care in Christian Tradition

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zuhal Agılkaya-Sahin

2016-02-01

Full Text Available The growing academic and institutional interest in pastoral care and counseling raises attention day by day. However there is no institutionally established concept and practice of pastoral care in Turkey’s prevalent Islamic tradition. Therefore there is a lack of theoretical foundation for this service that wants to be developed and established in Turkey. In fact pastoral care services are quite well developed in Christian tradition. Especially in Germany pastoral care and counseling has a deep-rooted history and professional practice. Thus in this paper in order to give an insight into theoretical foundations of German pastoral care and counseling the concept is illustrated in terms of definition, characteristics, subjects, objects, aims, tasks and theology.

Theoretical study of reaction dynamics in radiation chemistry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tachiya, Masanori

2008-01-01

The period from late 1950's to early 1970's was golden age of radiation chemistry. During this period the hydrated electron was discovered, various new phenomena were found in ionic processes in liquid hydrocarbons, and the trapped electron and electron tunneling were discovered in organic glasses. In those days radiation chemistry was a vast treasure-house of theoretical problems. We could find not only problems special to radiation chemistry but also many problems interesting as general physical chemistry. In this review I explain how some theoretical problems discovered in the field of radiation chemistry have evolved into those of general physical chemistry, with special emphasis on my own work. (author)

Proximate and ultimate aspects of phenotypic plasticity in timing of great tit breeding in a heterogeneous environment

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nager, R.G.; Van Noordwijk, A.J.

1995-01-01

Using the theoretical framework of phenotypic plasticity, we studied the timing of breeding in great tits (Parus major), combining proximate questions about its physiological causation and ultimate questions about its fitness consequences. The plasticity observed in the timing of breeding can be

Congress and National Security: Interest, Influence and Speed

Science.gov (United States)

2010-03-01

but instead a quick response in a period of already great distrust of the executive branch in the aftermath of Vietnam and Watergate . Congress had...Option,” Foreign Policy 39 (1980): 143–153. 22 continue to dominate the debate through the Iran-Contra scandal .49 Loch Johnson concludes, “the...Princeton University Press, 2007), 48–49. 23 Lindsay cites the Iran-Contra scandal as another interesting oversight dilemma. Although the

International Politics of the Reincarnation of the Dalai Lama

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Sarlagtay, Mashbat O

2007-01-01

.... Theoretical considerations regarding the rational behavior of small powers suggest that Mongolia would likely seek to maximize its interest by manipulating the interests of great powers to balance against...

Great Expectations: The Persistent Effect of Institutions on Culture

OpenAIRE

Litina, Anastasia

2014-01-01

This research exploits the event of immigration to establish that institutions have a persistent effect on culture. It is argued that immigrants coming from corrupt countries, tend to overtrust the institutions at the host country. This inflated trust of immigrants is documented as the Great Expectations effect. This result is interesting and intriguing for several reasons. First, it highlights the persistent effect of institutions (at the origin coun- try) on the cultural attitudes of immigr...

Game Theoretical Approach to Supply Chain Microfinance

OpenAIRE

Sim , Jaehun; Prabhu , Vittaldas ,

2013-01-01

Part 1: Sustainable Production; International audience; This paper considers a supply chain microfinance model in which a manufacturer acts as a lender and a raw material supplier as a borrower. Using a game theoretical analysis, the study investigates how investment levels, raw material prices, and profit margins are influenced by loan interest rates under two types of decentralized channel policies: manufacturer Stackelberg and vertical Nash game. In addition, the study shows how the profit...

Theoretical Orientation and Psychotherapy Integration: Comment on Poznanski and McLennan.

Science.gov (United States)

Arnkoff, Diane B.

1995-01-01

Considers Poznanski and McLennan's (1995) discussion and proposals for measurement of theoretical orientation in light of recent interest in psychotherapy integration. Presents suggestions to allow better assessment of the orientation of counselors who espouse integrative theories or technical eclecticism. (JPS)

Reflections Regarding the Concept of Local Interest within Public Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dana Georgeta ALEXANDRU

2013-08-01

Full Text Available Through this study we aim at performing an analysis of the concept of local interest, having as prerequisites the doctrinal debates regarding the general interest. The examination of this concept occurs in relation with the new trends, as concerns the exercise of competences at local level, respectively with the elements that define the interest of the community and its means of application within the life of the local community. Our research aims to establish theoretically the notion of local interest, an approach that we carry out within a difficult environment, whereas the notion of interest is fluctuating, being constantly modified under the pressure of the evolutions of social and economic needs. The results and the essential contribution of the material consist in the establishment of a framework that would offer to local authorities the practical possibilities for identifying the landmarks that surround this concept and that has to be harmonised with the values of modernity in order to respond better to the needs that are expressed.

Elucidating Grinding Mechanism by Theoretical and Experimental Investigations.

Science.gov (United States)

Ullah, Amm Sharif; Caggiano, Alessandra; Kubo, Akihiko; Chowdhury, M A K

2018-02-09

Grinding is one of the essential manufacturing processes for producing brittle or hard materials-based precision parts (e.g., optical lenses). In grinding, a grinding wheel removes the desired amount of material by passing the same area on the workpiece surface multiple times. How the topography of a workpiece surface evolves with these passes is thus an important research issue, which has not yet been addressed elaborately. The present paper tackles this issue from both the theoretical and the experimental points of view. In particular, this paper presents the results of experimental and theoretical investigations on the multi-pass surface grinding operations where the workpiece surface is made of glass and the grinding wheel consists of cBN abrasive grains. Both investigations confirm that a great deal of stochasticity is involved in the grinding mechanism, and the complexity of the workpiece surface gradually increases along with the number of passes.

Theoretical aspects of lepton-hadron scattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drell, S.D.

1992-01-01

In this paper, I will emphasize two points on Theoretical Aspects of Lepton-Hadron Scattering: (1) The crucial importance of testing the ''exact'' sum rules as tests of the local current algebra. Discrepancies, if found, between experiment and theory cannot be ''interpreted away'' in terms of more complex parton wave functions for the hadronic ground state. The three sum rules of interest are those of Adler, Bjorken, and Gross and Llewellyn-Smith. (2) An understanding of the corrections to scaling in QCD and what they teach us

China in search of 'legitimate' great power intervention

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Camilla T. N.

2016-01-01

Thanks to Beijing’s expanding global role and interests, it is no longer possible for China to follow its traditional ‘lay low’ [tao guang yang hui] strategy and the traditionally rather strict interpretation of the principle of non-intervention. Consequently, among Chinese International Relations...... (IR) scholars there is an intense debate on how China can protect and promote its global presence and interests while at the same time continuing to ‘stay within’ the principle of non-intervention. New concepts and approaches are developing as the debate progresses. Current Chinese foreign...... and security policy reflects a more flexible and pragmatic Chinese interpretation – and implementation – of the principle of non-intervention. This chapter examines the search for ‘legitimate’ great-power intervention that characterizes both the debate among Chinese IR scholars and current Chinese foreign...

BANKING WITHOUT INTEREST

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jana Ilieva

2017-06-01

Full Text Available In recent years, there has been increased global awareness of Islamic finance. This topic is mainly opened with respect to the great financial crisis that mostly hit the banking system and the financial markets and caused many bank bankruptcies and state interventions. This paper analyzes the basic principles of Islamic banking. The absolute prohibition of receiving and giving interest (Riba and profit-and-loss sharing (PLS paradigms are elaborated in detail; they are primarily based on mudarabah (profit-sharing and musyarakah (joint venture concepts which nowadays are becoming an accepted way of doing business in several Western multinational banks. An overall comparison of the advantages of Islamic vs. conventional banking is also given. Islamic finance technology solutions have matured and they will face various challenges in the following decades, due to conventional banks offering, increasingly, Islamic products. The need for a more comprehensive environment and regulatory framework is emphasized, so that Islamic banking development can be ensured.

Theoretical perspectives on strange physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ellis, J.

1983-04-01

Kaons are heavy enough to have an interesting range of decay modes available to them, and light enough to be produced in sufficient numbers to explore rare modes with satisfying statistics. Kaons and their decays have provided at least two major breakthroughs in our knowledge of fundamental physics. They have revealed to us CP violation, and their lack of flavor-changing neutral interactions warned us to expect charm. In addition, K 0 -anti K 0 mixing has provided us with one of our most elegant and sensitive laboratories for testing quantum mechanics. There is every reason to expect that future generations of kaon experiments with intense sources would add further to our knowledge of fundamental physics. This talk attempts to set future kaon experiments in a general theoretical context, and indicate how they may bear upon fundamental theoretical issues. A survey of different experiments which would be done with an Intense Medium Energy Source of Strangeness, including rare K decays, probes of the nature of CP isolation, μ decays, hyperon decays and neutrino physics is given

Vested interests, energy efficiency and renewables in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moe, Espen

2012-01-01

This paper sets out to analyze Japanese renewable energy policy. A default expectation is that countries with unsolved energy problems will have more ambitious renewable energy policies (including energy efficiency). The Japanese case only partially conforms. The theoretical proposition made here is that it is essential to analyze a country's vested interest structure before we can make any inferences about its renewable energy policies. The vested interest perspective – derived from a combination of Joseph Schumpeter and Mancur Olson, and focusing on structural economic change – both complements and rivals the default expectation. Structural economic change, like the rise of renewables, typically leads to resistance from the existing vested interest structure, which feels that it stands to lose from the rise of new industries. The position of a new industry vis-à-vis the existing vested interest structure is thus crucial. In the Japanese case, the solar industry has been far more on the inside of this structure than wind. This has made it far harder for the wind industry to rise than for solar. Energy efficiency is however the ultimate insider approach to energy policy, not challenging any vested interest structures, and has been the favored approach for over three decades. - Highlights: ► The importance of vested interest structures in understanding Japanese energy policy. ► Explaining why energy efficiency, solar and wind have fared so differently in Japan. ► Explaining why an energy-scarce country does not have more ambitious renewable energy policies.

On a Corporate Bond Pricing Model with Credit Rating Migration Risksand Stochastic Interest Rate

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jin Liang

2017-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper we study a corporate bond-pricing model with credit rating migration and astochastic interest rate. The volatility of bond price in the model strongly depends on potential creditrating migration and stochastic change of the interest rate. This new model improves the previousexisting models in which the interest rate is considered to be a constant. The existence, uniquenessand regularity of the solution for the model are established. Moreover, some properties includingthe smoothness of the free boundary are obtained. Furthermore, some numerical computations arepresented to illustrate the theoretical results.

The Characteristics of the Systems of Continuing Pedagogical Education in Great Britain, Canada and the USA

Science.gov (United States)

Mukan, Nataliya; Myskiv, Iryna; Kravets, Svitlana

2016-01-01

In the article the systems of continuing pedagogical education in Great Britain, Canada and the USA have been characterized. The main objectives are defined as the theoretical analysis of scientific-pedagogical literature, which highlights different aspects of the problem under research; identification of the common and distinctive features of the…

A theoretical and numerical study of the flow of granular materials down an inclined plane. [Quarterly progress report, January--March 1995

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rajagopal, K.R.

1995-09-01

The mechanics of the flowing granular materials such as coal, agricultural products, fertilizers, dry chemicals, metal ores, etc. have received a great deal of attention as it has relevance to several important technological problems. Despite wide interest and more than five decades of experimental and theoretical investigations, most aspects of the behavior of flowing granular materials are still not well understood. So Experiments have to be devised which quantify and describe the non-linear behavior of the granular materials, and theories developed which can explain the experimentally observed facts. Here we carry out a systematic numerical study of the flow of granular materials down an inclined plane using the models that stem from both the continuum theory approach and the kinetic theory approach. We also look at the existence of solutions, multiplicity and stability of solutions to the governing equations.

Impact of Total, Internal and External Government Debt on Interest Rate in Pakistan

OpenAIRE

Perveen, Asma; Munir, Kashif

2017-01-01

The objective of the study is to examine impact of total, internal and external government debt on nominal interest rate in Pakistan. To attain these objectives, the study used annual time series data from 1973 to 2016. The study used loanable fund theory as theoretical model and ARDL bound testing approach for cointegration and Granger causality test to estimate the results. The results of the study found negative relation between total government debt, external debt and nominal interest rat...

Vocational interests of adolescents: relationships between self-esteem and locus of control.

Science.gov (United States)

Mullis, A K; Mullis, R L

1997-12-01

The purpose of this study was to examine relationships among scores on vocational interests, self-esteem, and locus of control for high school students. Grade and sex differences were also examined. 1364 high school students ranging in age from 14 to 19 years of age were administered the Coopersmith Self-esteem Inventory, Nowicki-Strickland Locus of Control Scale for Children, and the Strong-Campbell Interest Inventory. High school students with higher scores on self-esteem and showing an orientation toward internal locus of control expressed more interests in a variety of vocational themes than adolescents with lower scores on self-esteem and scores for external locus of control. Sex and grade differences in vocational interests of adolescents were also noted. The findings were discussed in light of theoretical and practical considerations.

A theoretical model for predicting neutron fluxes for cyclic Neutron ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

A theoretical model has been developed for prediction of thermal neutron fluxes required for cyclic irradiations of a sample to obtain the same activity previously used for the detection of any radionuclide of interest. The model is suitable for radiotracer production or for long-lived neutron activation products where the ...

Weblog patterns and human dynamics with decreasing interest

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, J.-L.; Fan, C.; Guo, Z.-H.

2011-06-01

In order to describe the phenomenon that people's interest in doing something always keep high in the beginning while gradually decreases until reaching the balance, a model which describes the attenuation of interest is proposed to reflect the fact that people's interest becomes more stable after a long time. We give a rigorous analysis on this model by non-homogeneous Poisson processes. Our analysis indicates that the interval distribution of arrival-time is a mixed distribution with exponential and power-law feature, which is a power law with an exponential cutoff. After that, we collect blogs in ScienceNet.cn and carry on empirical study on the interarrival time distribution. The empirical results agree well with the theoretical analysis, obeying a special power law with the exponential cutoff, that is, a special kind of Gamma distribution. These empirical results verify the model by providing an evidence for a new class of phenomena in human dynamics. It can be concluded that besides power-law distributions, there are other distributions in human dynamics. These findings demonstrate the variety of human behavior dynamics.

Learning by statistical cooperation of self-interested neuron-like computing elements.

Science.gov (United States)

Barto, A G

1985-01-01

Since the usual approaches to cooperative computation in networks of neuron-like computating elements do not assume that network components have any "preferences", they do not make substantive contact with game theoretic concepts, despite their use of some of the same terminology. In the approach presented here, however, each network component, or adaptive element, is a self-interested agent that prefers some inputs over others and "works" toward obtaining the most highly preferred inputs. Here we describe an adaptive element that is robust enough to learn to cooperate with other elements like itself in order to further its self-interests. It is argued that some of the longstanding problems concerning adaptation and learning by networks might be solvable by this form of cooperativity, and computer simulation experiments are described that show how networks of self-interested components that are sufficiently robust can solve rather difficult learning problems. We then place the approach in its proper historical and theoretical perspective through comparison with a number of related algorithms. A secondary aim of this article is to suggest that beyond what is explicitly illustrated here, there is a wealth of ideas from game theory and allied disciplines such as mathematical economics that can be of use in thinking about cooperative computation in both nervous systems and man-made systems.

Elucidating Grinding Mechanism by Theoretical and Experimental Investigations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

AMM Sharif Ullah

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Grinding is one of the essential manufacturing processes for producing brittle or hard materials-based precision parts (e.g., optical lenses. In grinding, a grinding wheel removes the desired amount of material by passing the same area on the workpiece surface multiple times. How the topography of a workpiece surface evolves with these passes is thus an important research issue, which has not yet been addressed elaborately. The present paper tackles this issue from both the theoretical and the experimental points of view. In particular, this paper presents the results of experimental and theoretical investigations on the multi-pass surface grinding operations where the workpiece surface is made of glass and the grinding wheel consists of cBN abrasive grains. Both investigations confirm that a great deal of stochasticity is involved in the grinding mechanism, and the complexity of the workpiece surface gradually increases along with the number of passes.

Great Apes

Science.gov (United States)

Sleeman, Jonathan M.; Cerveny, Shannon

2014-01-01

Anesthesia of great apes is often necessary to conduct diagnostic analysis, provide therapeutics, facilitate surgical procedures, and enable transport and translocation for conservation purposes. Due to the stress of remote delivery injection of anesthetic agents, recent studies have focused on oral delivery and/or transmucosal absorption of preanesthetic and anesthetic agents. Maintenance of the airway and provision of oxygen is an important aspect of anesthesia in great ape species. The provision of analgesia is an important aspect of the anesthesia protocol for any procedure involving painful stimuli. Opioids and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are often administered alone, or in combination to provide multi-modal analgesia. There is increasing conservation management of in situ great ape populations, which has resulted in the development of field anesthesia techniques for free-living great apes for the purposes of translocation, reintroduction into the wild, and clinical interventions.

Lobbying friends and foes in climate policy: The case of business and environmental interest groups in the European Union

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gullberg, Anne Therese

2008-01-01

Drawing on two conflicting hypotheses from the theoretical literature on lobbying, I consider the strategies applied by interest groups lobbying to influence climate policy in the European Union (EU). The first hypothesis claims that interest groups lobby their 'friends', decision-makers with positions similar to their own. The second claims that interest groups lobby their 'foes', decision-makers with positions opposed to their own. Using interviews with lobbyists and decision-makers, I demonstrate that in the field of climate policy, interest groups in the EU lobby both friends and foes, but under different conditions. Moreover, I find that the interest groups' motives are not always in line with the theoretical hypotheses. Interest groups lobby their friends on single policy decisions to exchange information, to further a common cause and to exert pressure, and their foes because a foe on one issue might prove to be a friend on another issue. Interest groups direct general lobbying towards both friends and foes. This paper provides a new empirical contribution to a literature that has so far been heavily dominated by studies focusing on lobbying in the US

Modeling theoretical uncertainties in phenomenological analyses for particle physics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Charles, Jerome [CNRS, Aix-Marseille Univ, Universite de Toulon, CPT UMR 7332, Marseille Cedex 9 (France); Descotes-Genon, Sebastien [CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, Universite Paris-Saclay, Laboratoire de Physique Theorique (UMR 8627), Orsay Cedex (France); Niess, Valentin [CNRS/IN2P3, UMR 6533, Laboratoire de Physique Corpusculaire, Aubiere Cedex (France); Silva, Luiz Vale [CNRS, Univ. Paris-Sud, Universite Paris-Saclay, Laboratoire de Physique Theorique (UMR 8627), Orsay Cedex (France); Univ. Paris-Sud, CNRS/IN2P3, Universite Paris-Saclay, Groupe de Physique Theorique, Institut de Physique Nucleaire, Orsay Cedex (France); J. Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, P. O. Box 3000, Ljubljana (Slovenia)

2017-04-15

The determination of the fundamental parameters of the Standard Model (and its extensions) is often limited by the presence of statistical and theoretical uncertainties. We present several models for the latter uncertainties (random, nuisance, external) in the frequentist framework, and we derive the corresponding p values. In the case of the nuisance approach where theoretical uncertainties are modeled as biases, we highlight the important, but arbitrary, issue of the range of variation chosen for the bias parameters. We introduce the concept of adaptive p value, which is obtained by adjusting the range of variation for the bias according to the significance considered, and which allows us to tackle metrology and exclusion tests with a single and well-defined unified tool, which exhibits interesting frequentist properties. We discuss how the determination of fundamental parameters is impacted by the model chosen for theoretical uncertainties, illustrating several issues with examples from quark flavor physics. (orig.)

Recent Progresses in Ab-Initio Studies of Low-Energy Few-Nucleon Reactions of Astrophysical Interest

Science.gov (United States)

Marcucci, Laura E.

2017-03-01

We review the most recent theoretical studies of nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest involving few-nucleon systems. In particular, we focus on the radiative capture of protons by deuterons in the energy range of interest for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. Related to this, we will discuss also the most recent calculation of tritium β -decay. Two frameworks will be considered, the conventional and the chiral effective field theory approach.

Vocational Interests in China: An Evaluation of the Personal Globe Inventory-Short

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yu; Kube, Erin; Wang, Yuzhong; Tracey, Terence J. G.

2013-01-01

A diverse Chinese sample of 2567 high school and college students was utilized to examine the structural validity of the PGI-S (Tracey, 2010) with respect to the fit to the circumplex structure, the theoretical model underlying the RIASEC types and the eight PGI (Tracey, 2002) interest types. The randomization test of hypothesized order relations…

Changing Investment in Activities and Interests in Elders' Lives: Theory and Measurement

Science.gov (United States)

Adams, Kathryn Betts

2004-01-01

Socioemotional selectivity and gerotranscendence, newer theories with roots in the disengagement theory of aging, provided the theoretical framework for a new measure of perceived change in investment in a variety of pursuits. The 30-item Change in Activity and Interest Index (CAII) was given to a sample of 327 outpatients aged 65-94. Items with…

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Great Lakes Mussel Watch(2009-2014)

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Following the inception of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI) to address the significant environmental issues plaguing the Great Lakes region, the...

Methodology of Comparative Analysis of Public School Teachers' Continuing Professional Development in Great Britain, Canada and the USA

Science.gov (United States)

Mukan, Nataliya; Kravets, Svitlana

2015-01-01

In the article the methodology of comparative analysis of public school teachers' continuing professional development (CPD) in Great Britain, Canada and the USA has been presented. The main objectives are defined as theoretical analysis of scientific and pedagogical literature, which highlights different aspects of the problem under research;…

Recent progress in ab-initio studies of nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest with A ≤ 3

Science.gov (United States)

Marcucci, Laura E.

2018-03-01

We review the most recent theoretical studies of nuclear reactions of astrophysical interest involving few-nucleon systems. In particular, we focus on the consequences for the solar neutrino fluxes of the recent determination for the astrophysical S-factor of the proton weak capture by proton, and on the radiative capture of protons by deuterons in the energy range of interest for Big Bang Nucleosynthesis.

A "New Type of Great Power Relationship" and Governance in the International System of the 21st

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhongying Pang

2013-12-01

Full Text Available In the early decades of the 21st century, the real world of powers is neither the so-called unipolarity of the United States of America as the sole superpower, nor the trans-Atlantic domination of the joint Western hegemony. Things are no longer that simple. A fundamental fact of the contemporary international system is that several great powers co-exist – a great powers system has emerged. Clearly, the emergence of the great powers system is a major global challenge. Unfortunately, there are still no effective solutions to the challenge posed by the great powers system. However, China’s proposal a “new type of great power relationship” touches on the issue of the management of the 21st century’s great powers system. The concept of a “new type of great power relationship” still needs time to be further developed theoretically. The management of the great powers system could be the main aim of the concept. In order for 2 America to maintain its dominant position, America turns towards Asia. However, this may help consolidate American hegemony for a short time but it cannot manage the great powers system on a long-term basis. This article argues that China’s “new type of great power relationship” can be seen as a foreign policy innovation in managing the great powers system. It notices that, like China’s new proposal, similar arguments on how to deal with the global challenge posed by a great powers system are emerging in Europe and the Asia Pacific.

Neutronic evolution of SENA reactor during the first and second cycles. Comparison between the experimental power distributions obtained from the in-core instrumentation evaluation code CIRCE and the theoretical power values computed with the two-dimensional diffusion-evolution code EVOE

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrieux, Chantal

1976-03-01

The neutronic evolution of the reacteur Sena during the first and second cycles is presented. The experimental power distributions, obtained from the in-core instrumentation evaluation code CIRCE are compared with the theoretical powers calculated with the two-dimensional diffusion-evolution code EVOE. The CIRCE code allows: the study of the evolution of the principal parameters of the core, the comparison of the results of measured and theoretical estimates. Therefore this study has a great interest for the knowledge of the neutronic evolution of the core, as well as the validation of the refinement of theoretical estimation methods. The core calculation methods and requisite data for the evaluation of the measurements are presented after a brief description of the SENA core and its inner instrumentation. The principle of the in-core instrumentation evaluation code CIRCE, and calculation of the experimental power distributions and nuclear core parameters are then exposed. The results of the evaluation are discussed, with a comparison of the theoretical and experimental results. Taking account of the approximations used, these results, as far as the first and second cycles at SENA are concerned, are satisfactory, the deviations between theoretical and experimental power distributions being lower than 3% at the middle of the reactor and 9% at the periphery [fr

A history of the ideas of theoretical physics essays on the nineteenth and twentieth century physics

CERN Document Server

D’Agostino, Salvo

2000-01-01

This book presents a perspective on the history of theoretical physics over the past two hundreds years. It comprises essays on the history of pre-Maxwellian electrodynamics, of Maxwell's and Hertz's field theories, and of the present century's relativity and quantum physics. A common thread across the essays is the search for and the exploration of themes that influenced significant con­ ceptual changes in the great movement of ideas and experiments which heralded the emergence of theoretical physics (hereafter: TP). The fun. damental change involved the recognition of the scien­ tific validity of theoretical physics. In the second half of the nine­ teenth century, it was not easy for many physicists to understand the nature and scope of theoretical physics and of its adept, the theoreti­ cal physicist. A physicist like Ludwig Boltzmann, one of the eminent contributors to the new discipline, confessed in 1895 that, "even the formulation of this concept [of a theoretical physicist] is not entirely without...

Nanoscale thermal transport: Theoretical method and application

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Yu-Jia; Liu, Yue-Yang; Zhou, Wu-Xing; Chen, Ke-Qiu

2018-03-01

With the size reduction of nanoscale electronic devices, the heat generated by the unit area in integrated circuits will be increasing exponentially, and consequently the thermal management in these devices is a very important issue. In addition, the heat generated by the electronic devices mostly diffuses to the air in the form of waste heat, which makes the thermoelectric energy conversion also an important issue for nowadays. In recent years, the thermal transport properties in nanoscale systems have attracted increasing attention in both experiments and theoretical calculations. In this review, we will discuss various theoretical simulation methods for investigating thermal transport properties and take a glance at several interesting thermal transport phenomena in nanoscale systems. Our emphasizes will lie on the advantage and limitation of calculational method, and the application of nanoscale thermal transport and thermoelectric property. Project supported by the Nation Key Research and Development Program of China (Grant No. 2017YFB0701602) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 11674092).

THE POSITION OF INTEREST IN SPORTS AND RECREATION OF 7th GRADE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN THE FACTOR ANALYSIS OF DIFFERENT INTEREST

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladimir Milošević

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Personal interests carry a great potential and are usually a drive to act. Therefore they usually point towards the activity of an individual in his interest area. An insight into the position of the interest in sports and recreation among other interests can be obtained by inspecting the interests of 7th grade elementary school students from Sremska Mitrovica and Jagodina. The sample consisted of 736 7th grade elementary school students of both genders. A non-experimental study of the students’ interests was done using a questionnaire that consisted of 5 interest indicators: job preference, self-estimation of affinity, use of free time, direct self-estimation of interests and reaction to key words-stimuli. Each indicator had 30 items that asses 30 interests. A t test was used to inspect the level of interest in sports and recreation. Also, factor analysis was done for each indicator separately. The reason for this approach is that there is no real confirmation that these 5 indicators are well suited for assessing the interests of young persons in the time we live in. Students’ interest in sports and recreation is about 4 on the scale of 1 to 5, on each of the indicators. The data shows that the interest of 7th grade elementary school students in sports and recreation is closely linked to interest in military, these two interests belong to the same factor regardless of the way the interests are assessed, that is, they belong to the same factor on each of the 5 indicators. The interest in adventure belongs to the same factor as the interest in sports and recreation on 4 out of 5 indicators, and interest in humor, interest in travel and hedonistic interest on 3 out of 5 indicators. These results might indicate that the motives for engaging in sports and recreation are unstable, because this composition of relatedness of the interests can be interpreted as the factor of fun. If that is so, these findings alert to the importance of building a

Experimental and theoretical advances in fluid dynamics

CERN Document Server

Klapp, Jaime; Fuentes, Oscar Velasco

2011-01-01

The book is comprised of lectures and selected contributions presented at the Enzo Levi and XVI Annual Meeting of the Fluid Dynamic Division of the Mexican Physical Society in 2010. It is aimed at fourth year undergraduate and graduate students, as well as scientists in the fields of physics, engineering and chemistry with an interest in fluid dynamics from the experimental and theoretical point of view. The lectures are introductory and avoid the use of complicated mathematics. The other selected contributions are also geared to fourth year undergraduate and graduate students. The fluid dynam

Creating a tsunami disaster archive of the Great Northeastern Japan earthquake using images uploaded to the internet

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Endo, N; Takehara, A

2014-01-01

We think that the that the experiences from the disaster caused by the Great Northeastern Earthquake in Japan must be of great interest to people not only in the stricken areas but in the whole of Japan and the whole world. Accordingly, we tried to create a method to preserve the digital images of Great Northeastern Earthquake for the next generation. The Creative Commons License may be one of the most useful solutions to avoid complicated processes when a person other than authors would like to build a disaster archive using images uploaded to the Internet

PREFACE: 12th Conference on ''Theoretical Nuclear Physics in Italy''

Science.gov (United States)

Bombaci, I.; Covello, A.; Marcucci, L. E.; Rosati, S.

2009-07-01

These Proceedings contain the invited and contributed papers presented at the 12th Conference on Theoretical Nuclear Physics in Italy held in Cortona, Italy, from 8-10 October 2008. As usual, the meeting was held at il Palazzone, a 16th century castle owned by the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. The aim of this biennal conference is to bring together Italian theorists working in various fields of Nuclear Physics to discuss their latest results and confront their points of view in a lively and informal way. This offers the opportunity to promote collaborations between different groups. There were about 50 participants at the conference, coming from 14 Italian Universities (Cagliari, Catania, Ferrara, Firenze, Genova, Lecce, Milano, Napoli, Padova, Pavia, Pisa, Roma, Trento, Trieste). The program of the conference, prepared by the Organizing Committee (Ignazio Bombaci, Aldo Covello, Laura Elisa Marcucci and Sergio Rosati) focused on six main topics: Few-Nucleon Systems, Nuclear Matter and Nuclear Dynamics, Nuclear Astrophysics, Structure of Hadrons and Hadronic Matter, Nuclear Structure, Nuclear Physics with Electroweak Probes. Winfried Leidemann, Maria Colonna, Marcello Lissia, Elena Santopinto, Silvia Lenzi and Omar Benhar took the burden of giving general talks on these topics and reviewing the research activities of the various Italian groups. In addition, 19 contributed papers were presented, most of them by young participants. In the last session of the Conference there were two invited talks related to experimental activities of great current interest. Gianfranco Prete from the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro spoke about the Italian radioactive ion beam facility SPES and the status of the European project EURISOL, while Nicola Colonna from the INFN, Bari, gave an overview of the perspectives of development of fourth-generation nuclear reactors. We would like to thank the authors of the general reports for their hard work in reviewing the main achievements in

Advances in neural networks computational and theoretical issues

CERN Document Server

Esposito, Anna; Morabito, Francesco

2015-01-01

This book collects research works that exploit neural networks and machine learning techniques from a multidisciplinary perspective. Subjects covered include theoretical, methodological and computational topics which are grouped together into chapters devoted to the discussion of novelties and innovations related to the field of Artificial Neural Networks as well as the use of neural networks for applications, pattern recognition, signal processing, and special topics such as the detection and recognition of multimodal emotional expressions and daily cognitive functions, and  bio-inspired memristor-based networks.  Providing insights into the latest research interest from a pool of international experts coming from different research fields, the volume becomes valuable to all those with any interest in a holistic approach to implement believable, autonomous, adaptive, and context-aware Information Communication Technologies.

The person-oriented approach: A short theoretical and practical guide

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lars R. Bergman

2014-05-01

Full Text Available A short overview of the person-oriented approach is given as a guide to the researcher interested in carrying out person-oriented research. Theoretical, methodological, and practical considerations of the approach are discussed. First, some historical roots are traced, followed by a description of the holisticinteractionistic research paradigm, which provided the general framework for the development of the modern person-oriented approach. The approach has both a theoretical and a methodological facet and after presenting its key theoretical tenets, an overview is given of some common person-oriented methods. Central to the person-oriented approach is a system view with its components together forming a pattern regarded as indivisible. This pattern should be understood and studied as a whole, not broken up into pieces (variables that are studied as separate entities. Hence, usually methodological tools are used by which whole patterns are analysed (e.g. cluster analysis. An empirical example is given where the pattern development of school grades is studied.

Effect of Heterogeneous Interest Similarity on the Spread of Information in Mobile Social Networks

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Narisa; Sui, Guoqin; Yang, Fan

2018-06-01

Mobile social networks (MSNs) are important platforms for spreading news. The fact that individuals usually forward information aligned with their own interests inevitably changes the dynamics of information spread. Thereby, first we present a theoretical model based on the discrete Markov chain and mean field theory to evaluate the effect of interest similarity on the information spread in MSNs. Meanwhile, individuals' interests are heterogeneous and vary with time. These two features result in interest shift behavior, and both features are considered in our model. A leveraging simulation demonstrates the accuracy of our model. Moreover, the basic reproduction number R0 is determined. Further extensive numerical analyses based on the model indicate that interest similarity has a critical impact on information spread at the early spreading stage. Specifically, the information always spreads more quickly and widely if the interest similarity between an individual and the information is higher. Finally, five actual data sets from Sina Weibo illustrate the validity of the model.

The Special Interest Tourism Development and the Small Regions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Drita Kruja

2011-04-01

Full Text Available It is easy to attract visitors when you have plenty of resources, nice accommodations, powerful selling techniques, many supporting sectors and of course reliable government support. The challenge starts when you lack most of the above and what you have is only a handful of beautiful natural resources, breathtaking sceneries, goodwill and a great desire and pride to show those visitors what your country is made of. How can we generate income using what we have? The answer is simple. You target that group of customers whom are specifically interested in what you have, beautiful views, heartfelt welcome, home like accommodations and very warm people. These customers do not look for fancy, expensive, overcrowded hotels; they are in search of real beauty and nature. They have special interests and would like to fulfill them toward a reasonable price. Hence starts the development of what is widely known as the special interest tourism whose analysis as a potential tool for the improvement of tourism in the region of Shkodra is the main purpose of this paper.

Hydrocarbon assessment summary report of Buffalo Lake area of interest

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lemieux, Y. [Northwest Territories Geoscience Office, Yellowknife, NT (Canada)

2007-07-01

The Northwest Territories (NWT) Protected Areas Strategy (PAS) is a process to identify the known cultural, ecological and economic values of areas in the NWT. This report presented a hydrocarbon resource potential assessment of Buffalo Lake area of interest located in the Great Slave Plain region. It covers an area greater than 2100 square km. The region is almost entirely covered by a thick mantle of glacial deposits. It is underlain by a southwest-dipping, relatively undisturbed succession dominated by Paleozoic carbonate rocks and Cretaceous clastic rocks. Six exploration wells have been drilled within, or near the outer limit of Buffalo Lake area of interest. Suitable source and reservoir rocks are present within Buffalo Lake area of interest, but the potential of significant petroleum discoveries is likely very low. Most of the prospective intervals are either shallow or exposed at surface. Other exploration risks, such as discontinuous distribution and isolation from source rocks, are also anticipated for some of the plays. 17 refs., 2 tabs., 6 figs.

Theoretical study of elastic, mechanical and thermodynamic properties of MgRh intermetallic compound

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Boucetta

2014-03-01

Full Text Available In the last years, Magnesium alloys are known to be of great technological importance and high scientific interest. In this work, density functional theory plane-wave pseudo potential method, with local density approximation (LDA and generalized gradient approximation (GGA are used to perform first-principles quantum mechanics calculations in order to investigate the structural, elastic and mechanical properties of the intermetallic compound MgRh with a CsCl-type structure. Comparison of the calculated equilibrium lattice constant and experimental data shows good agreement. The elastic constants were determined from a linear fit of the calculated stress–strain function according to Hooke's law. From the elastic constants, the bulk modulus B, shear modulus G, Young's modulus E, Poisson's ratio σ, anisotropy factor A and the ratio B/G for MgRh compound are obtained. The sound velocities and Debye temperature are also predicted from elastic constants. Finally, the linear response method has been used to calculate the thermodynamic properties. The temperature dependence of the enthalpy H, free energy F, entropy S, and heat capacity at constant volume Cv of MgRh crystal in a quasi-harmonic approximation have been obtained from phonon density of states and discussed for the first report. This is the first quantitative theoretical prediction of these properties.

Forensic case formulation: theoretical, ethical and practical issues.

Science.gov (United States)

Davies, Jason; Black, Susie; Bentley, Natalie; Nagi, Claire

2013-10-01

Forensic case formulation, of increasing interest to practitioners and researchers raises many ethical, theoretical and practical issues for them. Systemic, contextual and individual factors which need to be considered include the multitude of staff often involved with any one individual, the pressure to 'get it right' because of the range of risk implications that are associated with individuals within forensic mental health settings, and individual parameters, for example reluctance to be engaged with services. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Interest Groups and Strategic Constructivism: Business Actors and Border Security Policies in the European Union

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Baird, T.E.

Evidence suggests that business lobbying shapes European Union (EU) border security policies, but there has been no detailed empirical and theoretical work detailing how interest groups exert influence in this domain. Building on strategic constructivist accounts of policy-making, the article argues

Great Lakes Literacy Principles

Science.gov (United States)

Fortner, Rosanne W.; Manzo, Lyndsey

2011-03-01

Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, Ontario, and Erie together form North America's Great Lakes, a region that contains 20% of the world's fresh surface water and is home to roughly one quarter of the U.S. population (Figure 1). Supporting a $4 billion sport fishing industry, plus $16 billion annually in boating, 1.5 million U.S. jobs, and $62 billion in annual wages directly, the Great Lakes form the backbone of a regional economy that is vital to the United States as a whole (see http://www.miseagrant.umich.edu/downloads/economy/11-708-Great-Lakes-Jobs.pdf). Yet the grandeur and importance of this freshwater resource are little understood, not only by people in the rest of the country but also by many in the region itself. To help address this lack of knowledge, the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) Great Lakes, supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, developed literacy principles for the Great Lakes to serve as a guide for education of students and the public. These “Great Lakes Literacy Principles” represent an understanding of the Great Lakes' influences on society and society's influences on the Great Lakes.

Root growth during molar eruption in extant great apes.

Science.gov (United States)

Kelley, Jay; Dean, Christopher; Ross, Sasha

2009-01-01

While there is gradually accumulating knowledge about molar crown formation and the timing of molar eruption in extant great apes, very little is known about root formation during the eruption process. We measured mandibular first and second molar root lengths in extant great ape osteological specimens that died while either the first or second molars were in the process of erupting. For most specimens, teeth were removed so that root lengths could be measured directly. When this was not possible, roots were measured radiographically. We were particularly interested in the variation in the lengths of first molar roots near the point of gingival emergence, so specimens were divided into early, middle and late phases of eruption based on the number of cusps that showed protein staining, with one or two cusps stained equated with immediate post-gingival emergence. For first molars at this stage, Gorilla has the longest roots, followed by Pongo and Pan. Variation in first molar mesial root lengths at this stage in Gorilla and Pan, which comprise the largest samples, is relatively low and represents no more than a few months of growth in both taxa. Knowledge of root length at first molar emergence permits an assessment of the contribution of root growth toward differences between great apes and humans in the age at first molar emergence. Root growth makes up a greater percentage of the time between birth and first molar emergence in humans than it does in any of the great apes. Copyright (c) 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel.

Equivalent uniform dose concept evaluated by theoretical dose volume histograms for thoracic irradiation.

Science.gov (United States)

Dumas, J L; Lorchel, F; Perrot, Y; Aletti, P; Noel, A; Wolf, D; Courvoisier, P; Bosset, J F

2007-03-01

The goal of our study was to quantify the limits of the EUD models for use in score functions in inverse planning software, and for clinical application. We focused on oesophagus cancer irradiation. Our evaluation was based on theoretical dose volume histograms (DVH), and we analyzed them using volumetric and linear quadratic EUD models, average and maximum dose concepts, the linear quadratic model and the differential area between each DVH. We evaluated our models using theoretical and more complex DVHs for the above regions of interest. We studied three types of DVH for the target volume: the first followed the ICRU dose homogeneity recommendations; the second was built out of the first requirements and the same average dose was built in for all cases; the third was truncated by a small dose hole. We also built theoretical DVHs for the organs at risk, in order to evaluate the limits of, and the ways to use both EUD(1) and EUD/LQ models, comparing them to the traditional ways of scoring a treatment plan. For each volume of interest we built theoretical treatment plans with differences in the fractionation. We concluded that both volumetric and linear quadratic EUDs should be used. Volumetric EUD(1) takes into account neither hot-cold spot compensation nor the differences in fractionation, but it is more sensitive to the increase of the irradiated volume. With linear quadratic EUD/LQ, a volumetric analysis of fractionation variation effort can be performed.

Identifying and Assessing Interesting Subgroups in a Heterogeneous Population.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Woojoo; Alexeyenko, Andrey; Pernemalm, Maria; Guegan, Justine; Dessen, Philippe; Lazar, Vladimir; Lehtiö, Janne; Pawitan, Yudi

2015-01-01

Biological heterogeneity is common in many diseases and it is often the reason for therapeutic failures. Thus, there is great interest in classifying a disease into subtypes that have clinical significance in terms of prognosis or therapy response. One of the most popular methods to uncover unrecognized subtypes is cluster analysis. However, classical clustering methods such as k-means clustering or hierarchical clustering are not guaranteed to produce clinically interesting subtypes. This could be because the main statistical variability--the basis of cluster generation--is dominated by genes not associated with the clinical phenotype of interest. Furthermore, a strong prognostic factor might be relevant for a certain subgroup but not for the whole population; thus an analysis of the whole sample may not reveal this prognostic factor. To address these problems we investigate methods to identify and assess clinically interesting subgroups in a heterogeneous population. The identification step uses a clustering algorithm and to assess significance we use a false discovery rate- (FDR-) based measure. Under the heterogeneity condition the standard FDR estimate is shown to overestimate the true FDR value, but this is remedied by an improved FDR estimation procedure. As illustrations, two real data examples from gene expression studies of lung cancer are provided.

Theoretical Study of Indium Compounds of Interest for Organometallic Chemical Vapor Deposition

Science.gov (United States)

Cardelino, B. H.; Moore, C. E.; Cardelino, C. A.; Frazier, D. O.; Backmann, K. J.

2000-01-01

The structural. electronic and therinochemical properties of indium compounds which are of interest in halide transport and organometallic chemical vapor deposition processes have been studied by ab initio and statistical mechanics methods. The compounds reported include: indium halides and hydrides (InF, InCl, InCl3, InH, InH2, InH3); indium clusters (In2, In3); methylindium, dimethylindium, and their hydrogen derivatives [In(CH3), In(CH3)H, In(CH3)H2, In(CH3)2, In(CH3)2H]; dimethyl-indium dimer [In2(CH3)4], trimethyl-indium [In(CH3)3]; dehydrogenated methyl, dimethyl and trimethylindium [In(CH3)2CH2, In(CH3)CH2, In(CH2)], trimethylindium adducts with ammonia, trimethylamine and hydrazine [(CH3)3In:NH3, (CH3)3In:N(CH3)3, (CH3)3In:N(H2)N(H2)]; dimethylamino-indium and methylimino-indium [In(CH3)2(NH2), In(CH3)(NH)]; indium nitride and indium nitride dimer (InN, In2N2), indium phosphide, arsenide and antimonide ([InP, InAs, InSb). The predicted electronic properties are based on density functional theory calculations; the calculated thermodynamic properties are reported following the format of the JANAF (Joint Army, Navy, NASA, Air Force) Tables. Equilibrium compositions at two temperatures (298 and 1000 K) have been analyzed for groups of competing simultaneous reactions.

Theoretical Division progress report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cooper, N.G.

1979-04-01

This report presents highlights of activities in the Theoretical (T) Division from October 1976-January 1979. The report is divided into three parts. Part I presents an overview of the Division: its unique function at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) and within the scientific community as a whole; the organization of personnel; the main areas of research; and a survey of recent T-Division initiatives. This overview is followed by a survey of the 13 groups within the Division, their main responsibilities, interests, and expertise, consulting activities, and recent scientific accomplisments. The remainder of the report, Parts II and III, is devoted to articles on selected research activities. Recent efforts on topics of immediate interest to energy and weapons programs at LASL and elsewhere are described in Part II, Major National Programs. Separate articles present T-Divison contributions to weapons research, reactor safety and reactor physics research, fusion research, laser isotope separation, and other energy research. Each article is a compilation of independent projects within T Division, all related to but addressing different aspects of the major program. Part III is organized by subject discipline, and describes recent scientific advances of fundamental interest. An introduction, defining the scope and general nature of T-Division efforts within a given discipline, is followed by articles on the research topics selected. The reporting is done by the scientists involved in the research, and an attempt is made to communicate to a general audience. Some data are given incidentally; more technical presentations of the research accomplished may be found among the 47 pages of references. 110 figures, 5 tables

Theoretical Perspectives on Sibling Relationships

Science.gov (United States)

Whiteman, Shawn D.; McHale, Susan M.; Soli, Anna

2011-01-01

Although siblings are a fixture of family life, research on sibling relationships lags behind that on other family relationships. To stimulate interest in sibling research and to serve as a guide for future investigations by family scholars, we review four theoretical psychologically oriented perspectives—(a) psychoanalytic-evolutionary, (b) social psychological, (c) social learning, and (d) family-ecological systems—that can inform research on sibling relationships, including perspectives on the nature and influences on developmental, individual, and group differences in sibling relationships. Given that most research on siblings has focused on childhood and adolescence, our review highlights these developmental periods, but we also incorporate the limited research on adult sibling relationships, including in formulating suggestions for future research on this fundamental family relationship. PMID:21731581

Breaking the theoretical scaling limit for predicting quasiparticle energies: the stochastic GW approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Neuhauser, Daniel; Gao, Yi; Arntsen, Christopher; Karshenas, Cyrus; Rabani, Eran; Baer, Roi

2014-08-15

We develop a formalism to calculate the quasiparticle energy within the GW many-body perturbation correction to the density functional theory. The occupied and virtual orbitals of the Kohn-Sham Hamiltonian are replaced by stochastic orbitals used to evaluate the Green function G, the polarization potential W, and, thereby, the GW self-energy. The stochastic GW (sGW) formalism relies on novel theoretical concepts such as stochastic time-dependent Hartree propagation, stochastic matrix compression, and spatial or temporal stochastic decoupling techniques. Beyond the theoretical interest, the formalism enables linear scaling GW calculations breaking the theoretical scaling limit for GW as well as circumventing the need for energy cutoff approximations. We illustrate the method for silicon nanocrystals of varying sizes with N_{e}>3000 electrons.

The functions of atrial strands interdigitating with and penetrating into sinoatrial node: a theoretical study of the problem.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaodong Huang

Full Text Available The sinoatrial node (SAN-atrium system is closely involved with the activity of heart beating. The impulse propagation and phase-locking behaviors of this system are of theoretical interest. Some experiments have revealed that atrial strands (ASs interdigitate with and penetrate into the SAN, whereby the SAN-atrium system works as a complex network. In this study, the functions of ASs are numerically investigated using realistic cardiac models. The results indicate that the ASs penetrating into the central region of the SAN play a major role in propagating excitation into the atrium. This is because the threshold SAN-AS coupling for an AS to function as an alternative path for propagation is lower at the center than at the periphery. However, ASs penetrating into the peripheral region have a great effect in terms of enlarging the 1:1 entrainment range of the SAN because the automaticity of the SAN is evidently reduced by ASs. Moreover, an analytical formula for approximating the enlargement of the 1:1 range is derived.

Interest Matters: The Importance of Promoting Interest in Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Harackiewicz, Judith M; Smith, Jessi L; Priniski, Stacy J

2016-10-01

Interest is a powerful motivational process that energizes learning, guides academic and career trajectories, and is essential to academic success. Interest is both a psychological state of attention and affect toward a particular object or topic, and an enduring predisposition to reengage over time. Integrating these two definitions, the four-phase model of interest development guides interventions that promote interest and capitalize on existing interests. Four interest-enhancing interventions seem useful: attention-getting settings, contexts evoking prior individual interest, problem-based learning, and enhancing utility value. Promoting interest can contribute to a more engaged, motivated, learning experience for students.

Media in a Crisis Situation Involving National Interest:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Xigen, Li; Lindsay, Laura; Mogensen, Kirsten

A content analysis of coverage of 9/11 incident during the first eight hours examined how five television networks framed the news coverage as events unfolded. Media performed their function in a crisis basically as they were expected and coverage and issues do not vary significantly among...... the networks. This study found that a variety of sources was used, and the influence of government officials was not as great as in the coverage of a crisis with less involvement of U.S. national interest. Media primarily serve as the sources of accurate information instead of guidance and consolation...

Theoretical study on the photoionization of metanal and fluoromethane

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Helder Kenji; Silveira, Tiago Rodrigues; Nascimento, Edmar Moraes do

2011-01-01

Full text. The photoionization study of biological interest molecules has increased last few years due to the basic interest in the fundamental nature of electronic structures and scattering molecular processes. It was considered to this study hypothesis in that simple molecules would give birth to more complex molecules through photochemical reactions induced by interstellar radiation. This paper shows a theoretical study over photoionization of the valence shells of some biological interest molecules. Cross sections and parameters of asymmetry are set due to ab initio, using the continued fractions method to determine the scattering matrix and wave functions of the continuum. Results will be presented to the valence shell photoionization of formaldehyde (CH 2 O) and fluoromethane (CH 3 F). This work is part of a larger project to study of biological interest molecules, motivated by the hypothesis that based on these simple molecules, physicochemical processes may have given origin to more complex molecules responsible for the production of terrestrial life. The formamide, for example, has been subject of interest between researchers as a possible material from which can be created RNA bases. In this case has been studied the production of guanine from the formamide heated while irradiated by ultraviolet radiation

Rationality and self-interest as economic-exchange strategy in borderline personality disorder: Game theory, social preferences, and interpersonal behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Jeung, Haang; Schwieren, Christiane; Herpertz, Sabine C

2016-12-01

Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is characterized by severe and persistent impairments in interpersonal functioning. Given the complexity of social interactions, studying the interactive behavior of BPD patients is challenging. One way to implement both tight experimental control and realistic, externally valid settings is to use game-theoretical experiments. This review discusses findings from economic exchange studies in BPD against the background of game-theoretical literature. BPD patients do not seem to derive utility from mutual cooperation with others and appear not to "forgive" a partner's unfairness. By pursuing a strategy of negative reciprocity, BPD patients seem to act mostly "rationally" and in their own self-interest. Their "grim trigger strategy" resembles the theoretical ideal of the rational and self-interested agent homo economicus. Finally, we summarize how research findings from economics and clinical psychiatry may be mutually enriching and propose new research ideas in this fascinating field. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structure of halo nuclei - overview of theoretical status

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Khalili, J.S.

2003-01-01

The past decade has seen an explosion of theoretical interest in the structure and dynamics of halo nuclei. Their basic defining features of weak binding and large radial extent due to the extended tail in their densities is now well-described within few-body models. This has led to impressive advances in few-body reaction theories which crucially take into account this few-body nature. This paper will review some of the recent advances in both structure and reaction studies, and will focus on the issues currently of interest along with possible directions for future advances. On the structure side, improvements to few-body models are being explored to take into account the role of antisymmetrization more accurately and the importance of core polarization and excitation. The successes of fully microscopic approaches will also be reviewed. (orig.)

NASA-ESA Joint Mission to Explore Two Worlds of Great Astrobiological Interest - Titan and Enceladus

Science.gov (United States)

Reh, K.; Coustenis, A.; Lunine, J.; Matson, D.; Lebreton, J.-P.; Erd, C.; Beauchamp, P.

2009-04-01

Rugged shorelines, laced with canyons, leading to ethane/methane seas glimpsed through an organic haze, vast fields of dunes shaped by alien sciroccos… An icy moon festooned with plumes of water-ice and organics, whose warm watery source might be glimpsed through surface cracks that glow in the infrared… The revelations by Cassini-Huygens about Saturn's crown jewels, Titan and Enceladus, have rocked the public with glimpses of new worlds unimagined a decade before. The time is at hand to capitalize on those discoveries with a broad mission of exploration that combines the widest range of planetary science disciplines—Geology, Geophysics, Atmospheres, Astrobiology,Chemistry, Magnetospheres—in a single NASA/ESA collaboration. The Titan Saturn System Mission will explore these exciting new environments, flying through Enceladus' plumes and plunging deep into Titan's atmosphere with instruments tuned to find what Cassini could only hint at. Exploring Titan with an international fleet of vehicles; from orbit, from the surface of a great polar sea, and from the air with the first hot air balloon to ride an extraterrestrial breeze, TSSM will turn our snapshot gaze of these worlds into an epic film. This paper will describe a collaborative NASA-ESA Titan Saturn System Mission that will open a new phase of planetary exploration by projecting robotic presence on the land, on the sea, and in the air of an active, organic-rich world.

The 'horns' of a medical dilemma: Alexander the Great.

Science.gov (United States)

Russell, Gül A

2004-06-01

Retrospective 'diagnosis' of clinical disorders of famous historical figures has been of medical interest. In the absence of a patient's 'body', the validity of 'physical symptoms' and their interpretation by contemporary diagnostic criteria are questionable. When the symptoms have been gleaned from the patients's effigy which, as in the case of Alexander the Great, is submerged in legend, the enterprise becomes inherently hazardous. In the present paper, some of the conceptual problems underlying retrospective diagnoses will be identified. Then the use of iconographic records, such as numismatics and sculpture, to provide evidence of clinical symptoms will be shown to be highly misleading.

A New Great Game: US-China Competition in Guam and the CNMI

Science.gov (United States)

2017-06-01

media . It would appear the US in Guam and the CNMI is playing the role of the metaphorical frog being slowly boiled to death in a Chinese pot...nonimmigrant worker and tourism policy which greatly aid an aggressive Chinese intelligence collection posture. Finally, Chapter 5 will provide...island chain. This intersection of interest extends beyond physical geography. While the US has most significantly impacted the social geographies of

Adolescents' Motivation to Select an Academic Science-Related Career: The Role of School Factors, Individual Interest, and Science Self-Concept

Science.gov (United States)

Taskinen, Päivi H.; Schütte, Kerstin; Prenzel, Manfred

2013-01-01

Many researchers consider a lacking interest in science and the students' belief that science is too demanding as major reasons why young people do not strive for science-related careers. In this article, we first delineated a theoretical framework to investigate the importance of interest, self-concept, and school factors regarding students'…

Strongly Correlated Systems Theoretical Methods

CERN Document Server

Avella, Adolfo

2012-01-01

The volume presents, for the very first time, an exhaustive collection of those modern theoretical methods specifically tailored for the analysis of Strongly Correlated Systems. Many novel materials, with functional properties emerging from macroscopic quantum behaviors at the frontier of modern research in physics, chemistry and materials science, belong to this class of systems. Any technique is presented in great detail by its own inventor or by one of the world-wide recognized main contributors. The exposition has a clear pedagogical cut and fully reports on the most relevant case study where the specific technique showed to be very successful in describing and enlightening the puzzling physics of a particular strongly correlated system. The book is intended for advanced graduate students and post-docs in the field as textbook and/or main reference, but also for other researchers in the field who appreciates consulting a single, but comprehensive, source or wishes to get acquainted, in a as painless as po...

Theoretical Investigation of Trust in Small and Medium Sized Enterprises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valentinas Navickas

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The hectic pace of competition pushes the sector of small and medium enterprise to adopt sophisticated marketing ideas. In this context, customers are becoming more and more selective. However, expansion possibilities are burdened by the great variety of limitations. The current study paper aims to investigate the academic perception of trust which is treated as competitive advantage for small and medium enterprises. The object of the article is trust in small and medium enterprises. It has three objectives: to analyse small and medium enterprise characteristics through the academic perspective; to consider trust from the theoretical point of view; and to present the models that centre their attention on the trust as a construct that enhances customer satisfaction. Regarding the novelty of the current study, it brings a novel approach on a great variety of collected understandings of trust and puts an important foundation for future theory and practice investigations.

Public healthcare interests require strict competition enforcement.

Science.gov (United States)

Loozen, Edith M H

2015-07-01

Several countries have introduced competition in their health systems in order to maintain the supply of high quality health care in a cost-effective manner. The introduction of competition triggers competition enforcement. Since healthcare is characterized by specific market failures, many favor healthcare-specific competition enforcement in order not only to account for the competition interest, but also for the healthcare interests. The question is whether healthcare systems based on competition can succeed when competition enforcement deviates from standard practice. This paper analyzes whether healthcare-specific competition enforcement is theoretically sound and practically effective. This is exemplified by the Dutch system that is based on regulated competition and thus crucially depends on getting competition enforcement right. Governments are responsible for correcting market failures. Markets are responsible for maximizing the public healthcare interests. By securing sufficient competitive pressure, competition enforcement makes sure they do. When interpreted according to welfare-economics, competition law takes into account both costs and benefits specific market behavior may have for healthcare. Competition agencies and judiciary are not legitimized to deviate from standard evidentiary requirements. Dutch case law shows that healthcare-specific enforcement favors the healthcare undertakings concerned, but to the detriment of public health care. Healthcare-specific competition enforcement is conceptually flawed and counterproductive. In order for healthcare systems based on competition to succeed, competition enforcement should be strict. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Risky forward interest rates and swaptions: Quantum finance model and empirical results

Science.gov (United States)

Baaquie, Belal Ehsan; Yu, Miao; Bhanap, Jitendra

2018-02-01

Risk free forward interest rates (Diebold and Li, 2006 [1]; Jamshidian, 1991 [2 ]) - and their realization by US Treasury bonds as the leading exemplar - have been studied extensively. In Baaquie (2010), models of risk free bonds and their forward interest rates based on the quantum field theoretic formulation of the risk free forward interest rates have been discussed, including the empirical evidence supporting these models. The quantum finance formulation of risk free forward interest rates is extended to the case of risky forward interest rates. The examples of the Singapore and Malaysian forward interest rates are used as specific cases. The main feature of the quantum finance model is that the risky forward interest rates are modeled both a) as a stand-alone case as well as b) being driven by the US forward interest rates plus a spread - having its own term structure -above the US forward interest rates. Both the US forward interest rates and the term structure for the spread are modeled by a two dimensional Euclidean quantum field. As a precursor to the evaluation of put option of the Singapore coupon bond, the quantum finance model for swaptions is tested using empirical study of swaptions for the US Dollar -showing that the model is quite accurate. A prediction for the market price of the put option for the Singapore coupon bonds is obtained. The quantum finance model is generalized to study the Malaysian case and the Malaysian forward interest rates are shown to have anomalies absent for the US and Singapore case. The model's prediction for a Malaysian interest rate swap is obtained.

Individual behavioral phenotypes: an integrative meta-theoretical framework. Why "behavioral syndromes" are not analogs of "personality".

Science.gov (United States)

Uher, Jana

2011-09-01

Animal researchers are increasingly interested in individual differences in behavior. Their interpretation as meaningful differences in behavioral strategies stable over time and across contexts, adaptive, heritable, and acted upon by natural selection has triggered new theoretical developments. However, the analytical approaches used to explore behavioral data still address population-level phenomena, and statistical methods suitable to analyze individual behavior are rarely applied. I discuss fundamental investigative principles and analytical approaches to explore whether, in what ways, and under which conditions individual behavioral differences are actually meaningful. I elaborate the meta-theoretical ideas underlying common theoretical concepts and integrate them into an overarching meta-theoretical and methodological framework. This unravels commonalities and differences, and shows that assumptions of analogy to concepts of human personality are not always warranted and that some theoretical developments may be based on methodological artifacts. Yet, my results also highlight possible directions for new theoretical developments in animal behavior research. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Tectonic setting of the Great Dyke, Chembadzi, Chewore and Atchiza layered complexes in Zimbabwe and Mozambique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Master, S.

1990-01-01

The Great Dyke of Zimbabwe is one of the largest ultramafic-mafic layered igneous complexexs in the world. Because of the economic importance of large layered intrusions like the Great Dyke, their tectonic setting is of great interest. The Chembadzi complex is a 14 km long, dyke-like layered intrusion up to 800m wide. The Chewore complex, which was thought to have the structure of an irregular lopolith, outcrops over an area of about 200 km in horst blocks in the lower Zambezi Valley in northern Zimbabwe. The Atchiza complex is situated just north of the Cahora Bassa lake and the Zambezi River valley in Mozambique. In considering the tectonic setting of the Great Dyke and its correlatives, most attention has been focussed on events in the Limpopo Mobile Belt, which were responsible for producing the fractures in the Zimbabwe craton that is occupied by the intrusives. 39 refs

Enactivism as a Powerful Theoretical Framework for Research and Tool to Reflect on My Own Role as a Supervisor

Science.gov (United States)

Schäfer, Marc

2016-01-01

Enactivism, as an interesting and useful theoretical underpinning is gaining traction in Mathematics Education research. It forms the central theme of this paper whose aim is two-fold: first to describe and engage with how elements of enactivism informed a PhD study, both on a theoretical and analytical level, and second to reflect on the enacted…

Moral Enhancement Should Target Self-Interest and Cognitive Capacity.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahlskog, Rafael

2017-01-01

Current suggestions for capacities that should be targeted for moral enhancement has centered on traits like empathy, fairness or aggression. The literature, however, lacks a proper model for understanding the interplay and complexity of moral capacities, which limits the practicability of proposed interventions. In this paper, I integrate some existing knowledge on the nature of human moral behavior and present a formal model of prosocial motivation. The model provides two important results regarding the most friction-free route to moral enhancement. First, we should consider decreasing self-interested motivation rather than increasing prosociality directly. Second, this should be complemented with cognitive enhancement. These suggestions are tested against existing and emerging evidence on cognitive capacity, mindfulness meditation and the effects of psychedelic drugs and are found to have sufficient grounding for further theoretical and empirical exploration. Furthermore, moral effects of the latter two are hypothesized to result from a diminished sense of self with subsequent reductions in self-interest.

An in-depth analysis of theoretical frameworks for the study of care coordination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabine Van Houdt

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Complex chronic conditions often require long-term care from various healthcare professionals. Thus, maintaining quality care requires care coordination. Concepts for the study of care coordination require clarification to develop, study and evaluate coordination strategies. In 2007, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality defined care coordination and proposed five theoretical frameworks for exploring care coordination. This study aimed to update current theoretical frameworks and clarify key concepts related to care coordination. Methods: We performed a literature review to update existing theoretical frameworks. An in-depth analysis of these theoretical frameworks was conducted to formulate key concepts related to care coordination.Results: Our literature review found seven previously unidentified theoretical frameworks for studying care coordination. The in-depth analysis identified fourteen key concepts that the theoretical frameworks addressed. These were ‘external factors’, ‘structure’, ‘tasks characteristics’, ‘cultural factors’, ‘knowledge and technology’, ‘need for coordination’, ‘administrative operational processes’, ‘exchange of information’, ‘goals’, ‘roles’, ‘quality of relationship’, ‘patient outcome’, ‘team outcome’, and ‘(interorganizational outcome’.Conclusion: These 14 interrelated key concepts provide a base to develop or choose a framework for studying care coordination. The relational coordination theory and the multi-level framework are interesting as these are the most comprehensive.

The Analysis of Content and Operational Components of Public School Teachers' Continuing Professional Development in Great Britain, Canada and the USA

Science.gov (United States)

Mukan, Nataliya; Kravets, Svitlana; Khamulyak, Nataliya

2016-01-01

In the article the content and operational components of continuing professional development of public school teachers in Great Britain, Canada, the USA have been characterized. The main objectives are defined as the theoretical analysis of scientific-pedagogical literature, which highlights different aspects of the problem under research;…

个人信息人格利益与财产利益理论分析%An Theoretical Analysis of the Personality Interests and Property Interests of Personal Information

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

高志明

2018-01-01

个人信息既具有人格利益又包含财产利益.个人信息人格利益理论强调确定个人信息自决权、通过法律全面保护个人信息人格利益;个人信息连带关系理论、社会主义信息法学思想可以阐释网络社会的个人信息互联关系;个人信息财产利益理论涉及功利主义、隐私经济学和个人信息商品化理论,注重个人信息所蕴含的经济价值、注重商业利用个人信息以发挥其最大效用.%Personal information has both personality and property interests.Personality interests theory empha-sizes of the self determination right of personal information and the comprehensive protection of personality in-terests;Personal information joint relation theory and the socialist information legal thoughts can interpret the interconnection of personal information in a network society;Personal information property interest theory in-volves utilitarianism,privacy economics theory,personal information commercialization theory,and pays atten-tion to the personal information economic value and the commercial use of personal information to maximize its impact.

The sterile-male-release technique in Great Lakes sea lamprey management

Science.gov (United States)

Twohey, Michael B.; Heinrich, John W.; Seelye, James G.; Fredricks, Kim T.; Bergstedt, Roger A.; Kaye, Cheryl A.; Scholefield, Ron J.; McDonald, Rodney B.; Christie, Gavin C.

2003-01-01

The implementation of a sterile-male-release technique from 1991 through 1999 and evaluation of its effectiveness in the Great Lakes sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) management program is reviewed. Male sea lampreys were injected with the chemosterilant bisazir (P,P-bis(1-aziridinyl)-N-methylphosphinothioic amide) using a robotic device. Quality assurance testing indicated the device delivered a consistent and effective dose of bisazir. Viability of embryos in an untreated control group was 64% compared to 1% in a treatment group. A task force developed nine hypotheses to guide implementation and evaluation of the technique. An annual average of 26,000 male sea lampreys was harvested from as many as 17 Great Lakes tributaries for use in the technique. An annual average of 16,100 sterilized males was released into 33 tributaries of Lake Superior to achieve a theoretical 59% reduction in larval production during 1991 to 1996. The average number of sterile males released in the St. Marys River increased from 4,000 during 1991 to 1996 to 20,100 during 1997 to 1999. The theoretical reduc-stertion in reproduction when combined with trapping was 57% during 1991 to 1996 and 86% during 1997 to 1999. Evaluation studies demonstrated that sterilized males were competitive and reduced production of larvae in streams. Field studies and simulation models suggest reductions in reproduction will result in fewer recruits, but there is risk of periodic high recruitment events independent of sterile-male release. Strategies to reduce reproduction will be most reliable when low densities of reproducing females are achieved. Expansion of the technique is limited by access to additional males for sterilization. Sterile-male release and other alternative controls are important in delivering integrated pest management and in reducing reliance on pesticides.

Great Powers, National Interests, and Australian Grand Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

2013-06-01

merchandise from both countries.90 In response to Australia’s implementation of the Imperial Preference system—in the form of the 1936 Trade...connected cyber domain. While Australia’s physical territory may remain secure, its digital landscape remains vulnerable. The government’s roll-out of a...a key to the protect Australia from the threat to its digital networks.61 While digital attacks pose a novel threat to the international order, the

Aperture Array Photonic Metamaterials: Theoretical approaches, numerical techniques and a novel application

Science.gov (United States)

Lansey, Eli

Optical or photonic metamaterials that operate in the infrared and visible frequency regimes show tremendous promise for solving problems in renewable energy, infrared imaging, and telecommunications. However, many of the theoretical and simulation techniques used at lower frequencies are not applicable to this higher-frequency regime. Furthermore, technological and financial limitations of photonic metamaterial fabrication increases the importance of reliable theoretical models and computational techniques for predicting the optical response of photonic metamaterials. This thesis focuses on aperture array metamaterials. That is, a rectangular, circular, or other shaped cavity or hole embedded in, or penetrating through a metal film. The research in the first portion of this dissertation reflects our interest in developing a fundamental, theoretical understanding of the behavior of light's interaction with these aperture arrays, specifically regarding enhanced optical transmission. We develop an approximate boundary condition for metals at optical frequencies, and a comprehensive, analytical explanation of the physics underlying this effect. These theoretical analyses are augmented by computational techniques in the second portion of this thesis, used both for verification of the theoretical work, and solving more complicated structures. Finally, the last portion of this thesis discusses the results from designing, fabricating and characterizing a light-splitting metamaterial.

Great Lakes Science Center

Data.gov (United States)

Federal Laboratory Consortium — Since 1927, Great Lakes Science Center (GLSC) research has provided critical information for the sound management of Great Lakes fish populations and other important...

Islamic Microfinance: an Interest free Microfinance Model for Poverty Alleviation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amit Kumar Chakrabarty

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This theoretical paper deals with Islamic microfinance and its rationality in Indian context as a panacea of Muslim poverty. Conventional microfinance system is very effective to alleviate poverty of developing countries. But it could not touch all community of people because of ‘interest’ component in debt and high degree of interest. Muslims dislike that microfinance which is based on ‘interest’ as it is strictly prohibited in Islam. Therefore the motto of financial inclusion is out of reach through conventional microfinance. An alternative interest free microfinance model has been developed in some part of world to include all Muslim poor people within the banking system. India is yet to adopt Islamic microfinance though 20% of total population is Muslim. The author strongly opines that India should adopt Islamic microfinance as a tool for poverty alleviation of Muslims as well as other communities.

Theoretical aspects of electroweak and other interactions in medium energy nuclear physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mukhopadhyay, N.C.

1989-01-01

In the project year 1989--1990, progress has been made towards the theoretical modeling of the photoproduction of eta mesons off nucleons and in complex nuclei. Exploration of hadron models has produced interesting perspectives on the violation of gauge invariance due to truncation of the quark model space. New projects in perturbative quantum chromodynamics and spectrum generating algebras for hadrons have been started

A study on the complexity of a business cycle model with great excitements in non-resonant condition

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Junhai; Cui Yaqiang; Liulixia

2009-01-01

Based on the researches of Szydlowski and Krawiec, we studied the inherent complexity of a chaotic business cycle with great excitements in non-resonant condition. First, we got the first-order and second-order approximate solutions of the system by using multiple scale method. Then deduced the formulation reflecting the complex relations between vibration, phase, bifurcation parameter μ and excite frequency Ω of first-order solution. As the great excitement F varied, the global changes of the system solutions were analyzed. We also explored the different paths leading the systems with different parameter combinations into catastrophe region, fuzzy region or chaos region. Finally, we discussed the evolution trends of business cycle models under the above-mentioned conditions. Hence, this paper has some theoretical and practical significance.

Financial Strain and Mental Health Among Older Adults During the Great Recession.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilkinson, Lindsay R

2016-07-01

The economic recession has garnered the interest of many scholars, with much attention being drawn to how the recession has affected labor force participation, household wealth, and even retirement decisions. Certainly, the Great Recession has influenced the financial well-being of older adults, but has it had discernible effects on mental health? This study draws on 5,366 respondents from the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2010) to examine objective and subjective measures of financial well-being in the period surrounding the Great Recession. Guided by cumulative inequality theory, this research investigates whether the economic downturn contributed to worsening anxiety and depressive symptoms over a 4-year period. Results from linear fixed effects models reveal that decreases in objective financial resources were associated with increased financial strain during the Great Recession. Unlike the objective indicators, however, financial strain was a strong and robust predictor of worsening mental health between 2006 and 2010. Building on prior research, this study elucidates the factors that shape financial strain and provides evidence that the Great Recession not only affected the financial well-being of older adults but also had adverse effects on mental health. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Atomic and electronic structure of surfaces theoretical foundations

CERN Document Server

Lannoo, Michel

1991-01-01

Surfaces and interfaces play an increasingly important role in today's solid state devices. In this book the reader is introduced, in a didactic manner, to the essential theoretical aspects of the atomic and electronic structure of surfaces and interfaces. The book does not pretend to give a complete overview of contemporary problems and methods. Instead, the authors strive to provide simple but qualitatively useful arguments that apply to a wide variety of cases. The emphasis of the book is on semiconductor surfaces and interfaces but it also includes a thorough treatment of transition metals, a general discussion of phonon dispersion curves, and examples of large computational calculations. The exercises accompanying every chapter will be of great benefit to the student.

Theoretical Investigations of Novel Materials for Nitrogen Fixation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Howalt, Jakob Geelmuyden

This thesis is dedicated to the investigation and design of new catalyst materials for electrochemical ammonia production and especially the properties of the under-coordinated reaction sites on nanoparticles has been studied in great detail. Additionally, a universal transition state relation...... choice of reference systems the transition state scaling relations form a universality class that can be approximated with one single linear relation describing the entire range of reactions over all types of surfaces and nanoclusters. Theoretical studies of producing ammonia electrochemically at ambient...... hydrogen and nitrogen. These scaling relations and free energy corrections are used to establish volcanoes describing the onset potential for electrochemical ammonia production and hence describe the potential determining steps for the electrochemical ammonia production. The competing hydrogen evolution...

Microanalysis in Music Therapy: Introduction and Theoretical basis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wosch, Thomas; Wigram, Tony

2007-01-01

In the context of music therapy, microanalysis is the detailed analysis of that short period of time during a music therapy session during which some kind of significant change takes place. These moments are crucial to the therapeutic process, and there is increasing interest amongst music therap...... provides a wealth of important theoretical and practical information for music therapy clinicians, educators and students.......In the context of music therapy, microanalysis is the detailed analysis of that short period of time during a music therapy session during which some kind of significant change takes place. These moments are crucial to the therapeutic process, and there is increasing interest amongst music...... therapists in understanding how they come about and whether there are ways of initiating them. The contributors to this groundbreaking book look at methods of micro process analyses used in a variety of music therapy contexts, both clinical and research-based. They outline their methods, which include using...

Theoretical-research summer: For a new generation of experts on high energy physics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ramos-Sánchez, Saúl

2016-01-01

Motivated by the need to strengthen the comprehensive training of young Mexican physicists interested in theoretical high energy physics, the Theoretical-research summer on high energy physics program was conceived. This program, that celebrates its sixth anniversary, consists in a yearly, nationwide challenging contest in which a board of experts identify the best undergraduate contestants to support them during short research stays in high-energy- theory groups of prestigious international institutions. Out of 80 contestants, the eight awarded students have demonstrated their skills, producing highly advanced (and publicly available) reviews on particle physics, field theory, cosmology and string theory, and a published paper. (paper)

Interest in science: a RIASEC-based analysis of students' interests

Science.gov (United States)

Dierks, Pay O.; Höffler, Tim N.; Blankenburg, Janet S.; Peters, Heide; Parchmann, Ilka

2016-01-01

Considering the reported lack of interest in the STEM-domain and the consequential difficulties in recruiting talented and interested young academics, the development of effective enrichment measures is indispensable. This requires a precise picture of students' interests. The paper presents an approach to characterize interest profiles in explicitly science-related activities. Adapting Holland's RIASEC-model, an instrument was developed and tested which allows the description of interest in activities along Holland's dimensions (and a seventh dimension networking) within the confined science domain. The findings of a study with N = 247 students (age cohorts 12-19 years) uncovered interest differences for the environments school, enrichment, and (prospective) vocation. The mutual importance of the performed activity and the environment the activity is performed in is confirmed by a cross-classified model. Contrasting different subgroups revealed multiple results, e.g., girls showed more interest in artistic and social activities within the science domain. High achieving students showed more interest in science-related activities in all dimensions. In conclusion, using our adapted model, students' interest structure can be described in a differentiated manner. This could lay the foundation for further analyses of students' interest profiles and thereby contribute to future development of effective and congruent enrichment measures, thus enhancing interest in science.

Theoretical justification of space-mapping-based modeling utilizing a database and on-demand parameter extraction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Koziel, Slawomir; Bandler, John W.; Madsen, Kaj

2006-01-01

the surrogate, we perform parameter extraction with weighting coefficients dependent on the distance between the point of interest and base points. We provide theoretical results showing that the new methodology can assure any accuracy that is required (provided the base set is dense enough), which...

Experimental and theoretical studies of manganite and magnetite compounds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Srinitiwarawong, Chatchai

2002-01-01

In the recent years interest in the transition oxide compounds has renewed among researchers in the field of condensed matter physics. This thesis presents the studies of the two families of the transition oxides, the manganite and magnetite compounds. Manganite has regained the interest since the discovery of the large magnetoresistance around its Curie temperature in 1990s. Magnetite on the other hand is the oldest magnetic material known to man however some of its physical properties are still controversial. The experimental works address some basic properties of these compounds when fabricated in the form of thin films. These include the resistivity measurements and magnetic measurements as well as the Hall effect. The various models of transport mechanism have been compared. The magnetic field and the temperature dependence of magnetoresistance have also been studied. Simple devices such as an artificial grain boundary and bilayers thin film have been investigated. The second part of this thesis concentrates on the theoretical aspects of the fundamental physics behind these two compounds. The problem of electrons tunnelling between the magnetite electrodes has been addressed taking into account the surface effect with distortion. The last chapter presents a theoretical study of the spinless-Hubbard model which is the simplest approximation of the conduction electrons in magnetite and manganite. The results are obtained from the Hartree-Fock and the Hubbard-I approximations as well as the exact diagonalisation method. (author)

Great tits (Parus major reduce caterpillar damage in commercial apple orchards.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Christel M M Mols

Full Text Available Alternative ways to control caterpillar pests and reduce the use of pesticides in apple orchards are in the interest of the environment, farmers and the public. Great tits have already been shown to reduce damage under high caterpillar density when breeding in nest boxes in an experimental apple orchard. We tested whether this reduction also occurs under practical conditions of Integrated Pest Management (IPM, as well as Organic Farming (OF, by setting up an area with nest boxes while leaving a comparable area as a control within 12 commercial orchards. We showed that in IPM orchards, but not in OF orchards, in the areas with breeding great tits, apples had 50% of the caterpillar damage of the control areas. Offering nest boxes to attract insectivorous passerines in orchards can thus lead to more limited pesticide use, thereby adding to the natural biological diversity in an agricultural landscape, while also being economically profitable to the fruit growers.

Great tits (Parus major) reduce caterpillar damage in commercial apple orchards.

Science.gov (United States)

Mols, Christel M M; Visser, Marcel E

2007-02-07

Alternative ways to control caterpillar pests and reduce the use of pesticides in apple orchards are in the interest of the environment, farmers and the public. Great tits have already been shown to reduce damage under high caterpillar density when breeding in nest boxes in an experimental apple orchard. We tested whether this reduction also occurs under practical conditions of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), as well as Organic Farming (OF), by setting up an area with nest boxes while leaving a comparable area as a control within 12 commercial orchards. We showed that in IPM orchards, but not in OF orchards, in the areas with breeding great tits, apples had 50% of the caterpillar damage of the control areas. Offering nest boxes to attract insectivorous passerines in orchards can thus lead to more limited pesticide use, thereby adding to the natural biological diversity in an agricultural landscape, while also being economically profitable to the fruit growers.

Public opinion on environmental and energy issues. Result of the census after 3 years of the Great East Japan Earthquake

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kosugi, Motoko

2014-01-01

The public opinion on the energy and environmental issues has changed greatly in Japan through experiences in and along the Great East Japan Earthquake. We conducted a social survey in order to grasp public opinions for environment and energy issues in March, 2014, which obtained 2313 valid responses (response rate was 64.3%). For the energy and environmental issues, while respondents show high interests in matters related to the Fukushima accident and nuclear power generation as well as electricity prices, they show relatively low interest in every other aspect. With regard to Japan's energy policy in the future, as expectations for renewable and natural sources of energy are large, about 60% of respondents have negative attitude in restart of nuclear power. For nuclear power, as compared to the previous survey conducted in August 2008, evaluation of 'control-ability of environmental impacts' and 'the power companies' risk management ability' was greatly reduced in particular. These results suggest the importance of provoke interest in the energy issues in general, as a premise to seek an understanding of the activities of the government and power companies. Furthermore, in order for the power companies to restore trust from the public, it is important to sympathize to public's anticipations of impacts on the health and environment through uses of nuclear power in the future. (author)

Theoretical and experimental studies on critical heat flux in subcooled boiling and vertical flow geometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Staron, E.

1996-01-01

Critical Heat Flux is a very important subject of interest due to design, operation and safety analysis of nuclear power plants. Every new design of the core must be thoroughly checked. Experimental studies have been performed using freon as a working fluid. The possibility of transferring of results into water equivalents has been proved. The experimental study covers vertical flow, annular geometry over a wide range of pressure, mass flow and temperature at inlet of test section. Theoretical models of Critical Heat Flux have been presented but only those which cover DNB. Computer programs allowing for numerical calculations using theoretical models have been developed. A validation of the theoretical models has been performed in accordance with experimental results. (author). 83 refs, 32 figs, 4 tabs

Vanadium supersaturated silicon system: a theoretical and experimental approach

Science.gov (United States)

Garcia-Hemme, Eric; García, Gregorio; Palacios, Pablo; Montero, Daniel; García-Hernansanz, Rodrigo; Gonzalez-Diaz, Germán; Wahnon, Perla

2017-12-01

The effect of high dose vanadium ion implantation and pulsed laser annealing on the crystal structure and sub-bandgap optical absorption features of V-supersaturated silicon samples has been studied through the combination of experimental and theoretical approaches. Interest in V-supersaturated Si focusses on its potential as a material having a new band within the Si bandgap. Rutherford backscattering spectrometry measurements and formation energies computed through quantum calculations provide evidence that V atoms are mainly located at interstitial positions. The response of sub-bandgap spectral photoconductance is extended far into the infrared region of the spectrum. Theoretical simulations (based on density functional theory and many-body perturbation in GW approximation) bring to light that, in addition to V atoms at interstitial positions, Si defects should also be taken into account in explaining the experimental profile of the spectral photoconductance. The combination of experimental and theoretical methods provides evidence that the improved spectral photoconductance up to 6.2 µm (0.2 eV) is due to new sub-bandgap transitions, for which the new band due to V atoms within the Si bandgap plays an essential role. This enables the use of V-supersaturated silicon in the third generation of photovoltaic devices.

A theoretical and numerical study of the flow of granular materials down an inclined plane. Final report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rajagopal, K.R.

1995-12-31

The mechanics of the flowing granular materials such as coal, agricultural products, at deal of attention as it has fertilizers, dry chemicals, metal ores, etc. have received a great deal of attention as it has relevance to several important technological problems. Despite wide interest and more than five decades of experimental and theoretical investigations, most aspects of the behavior of flowing granular materials are still not well understood. So Experiments have to be devised which quantify and describe the non-linear behavior of the modular materials, and theories developed which can explain the experimentally observed facts. As many models have been suggested for describing the behavior of granular materials, from both continuum and kinetic theory viewpoints, we proposed to investigate the validity and usefulness of representative models from both the continuum and kinetic theory points of view, by determining the prediction of such a theory, in a representative flow, with respect to existence, non-existence, multiplicity and stability of solutions. The continuum model to be investigated is an outgrowth of a model due to Goodman and Cowin (1971, 1972) and the kinetic theory models being those due to Jenkins and Richman (1985) and Boyle and Massoudi (1989). In this report we present detailed results regarding the same. Interestingly, we find that the predictions of all the theories, in certain parameter space associated with these models, are qualitatively similar. This ofcourse depends on the values assumed for various material parameters in the models, which as yet are unknown, as reliable experiments have not been carried out as yet for their determination.

A review of theoretical ideas on the EMC effect

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krzywicki, A.

1985-01-01

This paper is a shortened version of a review presented at a nuclear physics conference held in Paris in July 1985. The author concentrates on a sample of representative theoretical ideas. The old dogma, claiming the identity of the structure functions of bound and free nucleons respectively, has been abandoned. Contemplating the plethora of models proposed to explain the EMC effect, the author realizes how unfounded the old dogma has been. However, considerable experimental uncertainties persist (low x region, sea vs. valence, gluon distribution). Also, the predictive power of theoretical models is poor. The author does not see any contradiction between the data and the calculations based on conventional nuclear theory. In this sense, the future theory of the EMC effect will perhaps resemble the rescaling models but, of course, with an improved justification. In any case, it is both important and interesting to achieve a better understanding of the role of QCD degrees of freedom in nuclei

Towards a theoretical framework for analyzing complex linguistic networks

CERN Document Server

Lücking, Andy; Banisch, Sven; Blanchard, Philippe; Job, Barbara

2016-01-01

The aim of this book is to advocate and promote network models of linguistic systems that are both based on thorough mathematical models and substantiated in terms of linguistics. In this way, the book contributes first steps towards establishing a statistical network theory as a theoretical basis of linguistic network analysis the boarder of the natural sciences and the humanities.This book addresses researchers who want to get familiar with theoretical developments, computational models and their empirical evaluation in the field of complex linguistic networks. It is intended to all those who are interested in statisticalmodels of linguistic systems from the point of view of network research. This includes all relevant areas of linguistics ranging from phonological, morphological and lexical networks on the one hand and syntactic, semantic and pragmatic networks on the other. In this sense, the volume concerns readers from many disciplines such as physics, linguistics, computer science and information scien...

Modeling the Interest Rate Term Structure: Derivatives Contracts Dynamics and Evaluation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pedro L. Valls Pereira

2005-06-01

Full Text Available This article deals with a model for the term structure of interest rates and the valuation of derivative contracts directly dependent on it. The work is of a theoretical nature and deals, exclusively, with continuous time models, making ample use of stochastic calculus results and presents original contributions that we consider relevant to the development of the fixed income market modeling. We develop a new multifactorial model of the term structure of interest rates. The model is based on the decomposition of the yield curve into the factors level, slope, curvature, and the treatment of their collective dynamics. We show that this model may be applied to serve various objectives: analysis of bond price dynamics, valuation of derivative contracts and also market risk management and formulation of operational strategies which is presented in another article.

The Persian Gulf Region as a Field of China’s Geopolitical Interests

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M F Ilminskaya

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article analyzes the political situation in the Gulf region in the light of China’s vital interests. Particular attention is paid to Chinese energy diplomacy, mechanisms for bilateral and multilateral cooperation, the Chinese project that is expected to revive the «Great Silk Road» and the priority areas of Chinese energy security. The author considers China as the largest world energy consumer whose economy is directly dependent on oil supplies, primarily from the Persian Gulf region. The article also analyzes the reasons of acute energy shortages in China and its growing interest in the Gulf region. The author reveals strategic significance of such important water transport arteries, as Straits of Hormuz and Malacca, touches on the issue of global players’ competition over ownership and control of hydrocarbons. The article focuses on flexibility of Chinese diplomacy and foreign policy maneuvering techniques in the region, successfully applied by Beijing to maximize the benefits for the implementation of its own national interests.

Concordance of Interests in Dynamic Models of Social Partnership in the System of Continuing Professional Education

Science.gov (United States)

Tarasenko, Larissa V.; Ougolnitsky, Guennady A.; Usov, Anatoly B.; Vaskov, Maksim A.; Kirik, Vladimir A.; Astoyanz, Margarita S.; Angel, Olga Y.

2016-01-01

A dynamic game theoretic model of concordance of interests in the process of social partnership in the system of continuing professional education is proposed. Non-cooperative, cooperative, and hierarchical setups are examined. Analytical solution for a linear state version of the model is provided. Nash equilibrium algorithms (for non-cooperative…

Interest Rate Policy Of Selected Central Banks In Central And Eastern Europe

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

GRABIA TOMASZ

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The aim of this article is to present and evaluate interest rate policies of three selected central banks in Central and Eastern Europe (Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary from 2001 to 2013. The study consists of an introduction (Section 1 and three main parts. The introduction contains a theoretical description of the role of interest rate policy, the dilemmas connected with it, as well as an analysis of the strategies and goals of monetary policies of the National Bank of Poland (NBP, the Czech National Bank (CzNB, and the National Bank of Hungary (NBH in the context of existing legal and institutional conditions. In turn, the first empirical part (Section 2 examines how the analysed central banks responded to changes in inflation, unemployment, and economic growth rates. The tools of the analysis are the nominal and real interest rates of those banks. The subsequent research part (Section 3 attempts to evaluate the degree of the contractionary nature of interest rate policies in specific countries in the context of the Taylor rule. The text ends with a summary (Section 4 encompassing concise conclusions drawn from the earlier analyses.

Interest Rate Fluctuation Effect on Commercial Bank's Fixed Fund Deposit in Nigeria

OpenAIRE

Okolo Chimaobi Valentine

2015-01-01

Commercial banks in Nigeria adopted many strategies to attract fresh deposits including the use of high deposit rate. However, pricing of banking services moved in favor of the banks at the expense of customers, resulting in their seeking other investment alternatives rather than saving their money in the bank. Both deposit and lending rates were greatly influenced by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) decision on interest rate. Therefore, commercial bank effort to attract...

XXIII SERC School in Theoretical High Energy Physics (SERC THEP)

CERN Document Server

2013-01-01

The recent discovery at the Large Hadron Collider, of what is very likely the Higgs particle, has given a fillip to research in High Energy physics. These experiments hold the promise of a glimpse of physics beyond the Standard Model, which while having been verified to great accuracy, cannot be the final theory. Uncomfortable gaps -both theoretical and experimental- remain in our understanding. Lecture notes from the SERC School in Theoretical High Energy Physics held at IIT Bombay in February 2008 are contained in this volume. Topics that were covered then are of continuing importance, more so in the light of the ongoing LHC experiment. The various chapters in the book include an extensive survey of LHC physics that together with formal aspects and models of supersymmetry, review the state of the art in our understanding of the Standard Model and beyond. The article on B Physics and CP violations add to this, while the chapter on thermal field theory reviews the formalism necessary to understand the early u...

A Method of Vector Map Multi-scale Representation Considering User Interest on Subdivision Gird

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

YU Tong

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Compared with the traditional spatial data model and method, global subdivision grid show a great advantage in the organization and expression of massive spatial data. In view of this, a method of vector map multi-scale representation considering user interest on subdivision gird is proposed. First, the spatial interest field is built using a large number POI data to describe the spatial distribution of the user interest in geographic information. Second, spatial factor is classified and graded, and its representation scale range can be determined. Finally, different levels of subdivision surfaces are divided based on GeoSOT subdivision theory, and the corresponding relation of subdivision level and scale is established. According to the user interest of subdivision surfaces, the spatial feature can be expressed in different degree of detail. It can realize multi-scale representation of spatial data based on user interest. The experimental results show that this method can not only satisfy general-to-detail and important-to-secondary space cognitive demands of users, but also achieve better multi-scale representation effect.

Credit spread variability in U.S. business cycles: the Great Moderation versus the Great Recession

OpenAIRE

Hylton Hollander; Guangling Liu

2014-01-01

This paper establishes the prevailing financial factors that influence credit spread variability, and its impact on the U.S. business cycle over the Great Moderation and Great Recession periods. To do so, we develop a dynamic general equilibrium framework with a central role of financial intermediation and equity assets. Over the Great Moderation and Great Recession periods, we find an important role for bank market power (sticky rate adjustments and loan rate markups) on credit spread variab...

Credit spread variability in U.S. business cycles: The Great Moderation versus the Great Recession

OpenAIRE

Hylton Hollander and Guangling Liu

2014-01-01

This paper establishes the prevailing financial factors that influence credit spread variability, and its impact on the U.S. business cycle over the Great Moderation and Great Recession periods. To do so, we develop a dynamic general equilibrium framework with a central role of financial intermediation and equity assets. Over the Great Moderation and Great Recession periods, we find an important role for bank market power (sticky rate adjustments and loan rate markups) on credit spread variab...

Innovative analytical tools to characterize prebiotic carbohydrates of functional food interest.

Science.gov (United States)

Corradini, Claudio; Lantano, Claudia; Cavazza, Antonella

2013-05-01

Functional foods are one of the most interesting areas of research and innovation in the food industry. A functional food or functional ingredient is considered to be any food or food component that provides health benefits beyond basic nutrition. Recently, consumers have shown interest in natural bioactive compounds as functional ingredients in the diet owing to their various beneficial effects for health. Water-soluble fibers and nondigestible oligosaccharides and polysaccharides can be defined as functional food ingredients. Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) and inulin are resistant to direct metabolism by the host and reach the caecocolon, where they are used by selected groups of beneficial bacteria. Furthermore, they are able to improve physical and structural properties of food, such as hydration, oil-holding capacity, viscosity, texture, sensory characteristics, and shelf-life. This article reviews major innovative analytical developments to screen and identify FOS, inulins, and the most employed nonstarch carbohydrates added or naturally present in functional food formulations. High-performance anion-exchange chromatography with pulsed electrochemical detection (HPAEC-PED) is one of the most employed analytical techniques for the characterization of those molecules. Mass spectrometry is also of great help, in particularly matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS), which is able to provide extensive information regarding the molecular weight and length profiles of oligosaccharides and polysaccharides. Moreover, MALDI-TOF-MS in combination with HPAEC-PED has been shown to be of great value for the complementary information it can provide. Some other techniques, such as NMR spectroscopy, are also discussed, with relevant examples of recent applications. A number of articles have appeared in the literature in recent years regarding the analysis of inulin, FOS, and other carbohydrates of interest in the field and

Theoretical studies of growth processes and electronic properties of nanostructures on surfaces

Science.gov (United States)

Mo, Yina

Low dimensional nanostructures have been of particular interest because of their potential applications in both theoretical studies and industrial use. Although great efforts have been put into obtaining better understanding of the formation and properties of these materials, many questions still remain unanswered. This thesis work has focused on theoretical studies of (1) the growth processes of magnetic nanowires on transition-metal surfaces, (2) the dynamics of pentacene thin-film growth and island structures on inert surfaces, and (3) our proposal of a new type of semiconducting nanotube. In the first study, we elucidated a novel and intriguing kinetic pathway for the formation of Fe nanowires on the upper edge of a monatomic-layer-high step on Cu(111) using first-principles calculations. The identification of a hidden fundamental Fe basal line within the Cu steps prior to the formation of the apparent upper step edge Fe wire produces a totally different view of step-decorating wire structures and offers new possibilities for the study of the properties of these wires. Subsequent experiments with scanning tunneling microscopy unambiguously established the essential role of embedded Fe atoms as precursors to monatomic wire growth. A more general study of adatom behavior near transition-metal step edges illustrated a systematic trend in the adatom energetics and kinetics, resulted from the electronic interactions between the adatom and the surfaces. This work opens the possibility of controlled manufacturing of one-dimensional nanowires. In the second study, we investigated pentacene thin-films on H-diamond, H-silica and OH-silica surfaces via force field molecular dynamics simulations. Pentacene island structures on these surfaces were identified and found to have a 90-degree rotation relative to the structure proposed by some experimental groups. Our work may facilitate the design and control of experimental pentacene thin-film growth, and thus the development

To what extent does wind power deployment affect vested interests? A case study of the Northeast China Grid

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhao, Xiaoli; Zhang, Sufang; Zou, Yasheng; Yao, Jin

2013-01-01

China's wind power is in an embarrassing state. Along with its dramatic development since 2005, its curtailment ratio has been rising. Although this could be attributed to both physical and institutional factors, it is the institutional obstacles, mainly resulting from the adjustment difficulties of interests distribution, that have exercised a greater impact. The stakeholders relating to wind power integration are thermal power companies, grid companies and local governments. The extent to which wind power deployment affects these vested interests determines the core institutional obstacles to be addressed. Mainly based on quantitative and case analyses, we argue that currently wind deployment in China has a little impact on the interests of thermal companies, moderate impact on the interests of grid companies and great impact on local governments. We recommend that it is crucial to elevate the role of environmental protection and renewable energy increase while de-emphasize the role of economic growth in the evaluation of local governments’ performance, as well as provide incentives for grid companies to attend more to their social responsibilities rather than their scale expansion and revenue growth. - highlights: • China's wind deployment has little impact on the interests of thermal plants. • Wind deployment has limited impact on the interests of grid companies. • The taxation per year from a thermal plant is higher than from a wind farm. • Local economic growth is comparatively greatly affected by wind power. • It is crucial to induce local governments to be concerned about renewable energy increase

Visual summation in night-flying sweat bees: a theoretical study.

Science.gov (United States)

Theobald, Jamie Carroll; Greiner, Birgit; Wcislo, William T; Warrant, Eric J

2006-07-01

Bees are predominantly diurnal; only a few groups fly at night. An evolutionary limitation that bees must overcome to inhabit dim environments is their eye type: bees possess apposition compound eyes, which are poorly suited to vision in dim light. Here, we theoretically examine how nocturnal bees Megalopta genalis fly at light levels usually reserved for insects bearing more sensitive superposition eyes. We find that neural summation should greatly increase M. genalis's visual reliability. Predicted spatial summation closely matches the morphology of laminal neurons believed to mediate such summation. Improved reliability costs acuity, but dark adapted bees already suffer optical blurring, and summation further degrades vision only slightly.

[The transformation of Friedrich the Great. A psychoanalytic study].

Science.gov (United States)

Lewy, E

1995-08-01

The transformation of Frederick the Great. A psychoanalytic study.--As a child and young man, Prince Frederick Hohenzollern, later King Frederick II of Prussia, flatly rejected his father's militaristic, Teutonic code of behaviour with its emphasis on dutiful service, self-abnegation and obedience. Instead he indulged his more "effeminate" leanings, taking an interest in literature, music and the unsoldierly delights provided by the courtly life of the age, and was encouraged in this by both his mother and his sister. This refusal to espouse the manly, paternal principle drove the crown prince into an increasingly vehement conflict with his father, who observed his son's indifference to all things military with growing bitterness, and finally led to a catastrophe in the course of which Frederick's closest friend was executed and he himself only just escaped his father's deadly vengeance. After this crisis, Frederick conformed more and more closely to his father's expectations and instructions and after the latter's death in 1740 developed into a ruler who enhanced Prussia's military and political glory and established a paternalistic principle that not only equalled but indeed exceeded everything that his father had stood for. The author traces in detail Frederick's astounding transformation into the "Frederick the Great" familiar to us from history books, analysing it both psychodynamically and in terms of identity theory. His conclusion is that it was the strength of Frederick's ego--itself the very prerequisite of "greatness"--that saved him from coming to grief over this conflict of identity.

REPROBATION AND LACK OF INTEREST IN MECHATRONICS ENGINEERING STUDENTS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

César Humberto Guzmán Valdivia

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Engineering education in mechatronics is an attractive field of research because it is a new multidisciplinary career. However, a potential problem is the reprobation rate. In the period from January to April 2012 at the Universidad Politécnica de Zacatecas a 53% regular students of a total of 197 were registered. To find the causes of this problem, a survey was conducted to determine the causes of reprobation, lack of motivation and interest to a population of 96 students, of which 40 were the first training cycle, 32 the second and 24 the third. The surveys yielded three main results. The first indicates that the lack of interest is proportional to the time spent in college. The second shows that the reprobation rate is linked to the laziness and the excess of courses. And the last shows a lack of motivation and low expectations of student due to the monotony of the theoretical courses. In conclusion, more research is needed to have a motivated student in an engineering career in mechatronics.

Great cormorants (Phalacrocorax carbo) can detect auditory cues while diving

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hansen, Kirstin Anderson; Maxwell, Alyssa; Siebert, Ursula

2017-01-01

In-air hearing in birds has been thoroughly investigated. Sound provides birds with auditory information for species and individual recognition from their complex vocalizations, as well as cues while foraging and for avoiding predators. Some 10% of existing species of birds obtain their food under...... the water surface. Whether some of these birds make use of acoustic cues while underwater is unknown. An interesting species in this respect is the great cormorant (Phalacrocorax carbo), being one of the most effective marine predators and relying on the aquatic environment for food year round. Here, its...... underwater hearing abilities were investigated using psychophysics, where the bird learned to detect the presence or absence of a tone while submerged. The greatest sensitivity was found at 2 kHz, with an underwater hearing threshold of 71 dB re 1 μPa rms. The great cormorant is better at hearing underwater...

Theoretical models for development competence of health protection and promotion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cesnaviciene J.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The competence of health protection and promotion are mentioned in various legislative documents that regulate areas of education and health policy. The researches on health conditions of Lithuania Country's population disclosed the deteriorating health status of the society, even of the children. It has also been found that the focus on health education is not adequate. The number of National and International health programmes have been realized and educational methodological tools prepared in Lithuania, however the insufficient attention to the health promotion models is been noticed. The objectiveof this article is to discuss the theoretical models used in health education field. The questions to be answered: what theoretical models are used in order to development competence of health protection and promotion? Who does employ particular models? What are the advantages of various models? What conceptions unite and characterize theoretical models? The analysis of scientific literature revealed the number of diverse health promotion model; however none of them is dominant. Some of the models focus on intrapersonal, others on interpersonal or community level but in general they can be distinguished as cognitive – behavioural models which are characterized by three main conceptions: 1 the healthy living is determined by the perceived health related knowledge: what is known and understood would influence the behaviour; 2 the knowledge in healthy living field is essential but insufficient condition for behaviour change; 3 the great influence to healthy living life style is done by perception, motivation, skills and habits as well as social environment. These are the components that are typical to all theoretical models and that reflect the hole of the conditions influencing healthy living.

Charge state distribution of 16O from the 4He(12C,16O)γ reaction of astrophysical interest studied both experimentally and theoretically

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu, Shengjin; Sakurai, Makoto; Sagara, Kenshi; Teranishi, Takashi; Fujita, Kunihiro; Yamaguchi, Hiroyuki; Matsuda, Sayaka; Mitsuzumi, Tatsuki; Iwazaki, Makoto; Rosary, Mariya T.; Kato, Daiji; Tolstikhina, I.Yu.

2014-01-01

In astrophysics, 4 He( 12 C, 16 O)γ reaction places an important role. At Kyushu University Tandem accelerator Laboratory (KUTL), the measurement of 4 He( 12 C, 16 O)γ cross section is in progress in the energy range of astrophysical nuclear reaction. Since the charge state of product 16 O ions after passing through the gas target is spread and only one charge state can be measured at terminal detector, it is necessary to know the charge state distribution of 16 O ions passing through the He gas target precisely. Here, we report the charge state distribution of the 16 O recoils both experimentally and theoretically. Experimentally, we measured the equilibrium charge state distribution of 16 O ions in the windowless helium gas target with the beam energy of primary 16 O ions at 7.2, 4.5, and 3.45 MeV at KUTL. The measured results showed a Gaussian distribution for the charge state fraction. Theoretically, we proposed a framework for the charge state distribution study. Charge state distribution was computed by solving a set of differential equations including a series of charge exchange cross sections. For the ionization cross section, plane-wave Born approximation was applied and modified by taking target atomic screening as a function of momentum transfer into account. For the capture cross section, continuum distorted wave approximation was applied and the influence of the gas target density was taken into account in the process of electron capture. Using above charge exchange cross sections, the charge state evolution was simulated. According to the equilibrium distribution, we compared the theoretical calculation to the experimental data. After taking into account the density effects in the charge exchange process, the theoretical charge state distributions shows a good agreement with the experimental data. Both experimental and theoretical results are useful to understand the charge fraction of recoil oxygen created via 4 He( 12 C, 16 O)γ reaction

Google it! Using the Google Trends tool to understand the Algarve Tourist destination public interest

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G. Dinis

2015-11-01

Full Text Available In a sector strongly dependent on information as is the case of tourism, the timely knowledge of consumer behaviour enables making well-considered decisions and less uncertainty. Nowadays, the act of searching on the Internet about a particular subject before decision-making is part of the individuals’ daily lives. The Google Trends tool provides real time aggregated data on the online individuals’ interest based on the carried out search queries on Google. The objective of this paper is to show that Google Trends can provide comparative information about the individuals’ interest in relation to Portugal tourism regional areas and in particular, on the tourist destination "Algarve", and also between its competing tourist destinations. The results show that the tool can contribute to the knowledge of the individuals’ interests in relation to regional tourist destinations, information considered of great interest for Destination Management Organizations.

What Makes a Great Journal Great in Economics? The Singer Not the Song.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

C-L. Chang (Chia-Lin); M.J. McAleer (Michael); L. Oxley (Les)

2010-01-01

textabstractThe paper is concerned with analysing what makes a great journal great in economics, based on quantifiable measures. Alternative Research Assessment Measures (RAM) are discussed, with an emphasis on the Thomson Reuters ISI Web of Science database (hereafter ISI). The various ISI RAM that

Great Basin Experimental Range: Annotated bibliography

Science.gov (United States)

E. Durant McArthur; Bryce A. Richardson; Stanley G. Kitchen

2013-01-01

This annotated bibliography documents the research that has been conducted on the Great Basin Experimental Range (GBER, also known as the Utah Experiment Station, Great Basin Station, the Great Basin Branch Experiment Station, Great Basin Experimental Center, and other similar name variants) over the 102 years of its existence. Entries were drawn from the original...

The Theoretical Research Article as a Reflection of Disciplinary Practices: The Case of Pure Mathematics

Science.gov (United States)

Kuteeva, Maria; McGrath, Lisa

2015-01-01

Recent years have seen an interest in the generic structure of empirical research articles across a variety of disciplines. However, significantly less attention has been given to theoretical articles. This study aims to begin to address this imbalance by presenting the results of an investigation into the organizational and rhetorical structure…

The GREAT3 challenge

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Miyatake, H; Mandelbaum, R; Rowe, B

2014-01-01

The GRavitational lEnsing Accuracy Testing 3 (GREAT3) challenge is an image analysis competition that aims to test algorithms to measure weak gravitational lensing from astronomical images. The challenge started in October 2013 and ends 30 April 2014. The challenge focuses on testing the impact on weak lensing measurements of realistically complex galaxy morphologies, realistic point spread function, and combination of multiple different exposures. It includes simulated ground- and space-based data. The details of the challenge are described in [1], and the challenge website and its leader board can be found at http://great3challenge.info and http://great3.projects.phys.ucl.ac.uk/leaderboard/, respectively

Using Graph and Vertex Entropy to Compare Empirical Graphs with Theoretical Graph Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomasz Kajdanowicz

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Over the years, several theoretical graph generation models have been proposed. Among the most prominent are: the Erdős–Renyi random graph model, Watts–Strogatz small world model, Albert–Barabási preferential attachment model, Price citation model, and many more. Often, researchers working with real-world data are interested in understanding the generative phenomena underlying their empirical graphs. They want to know which of the theoretical graph generation models would most probably generate a particular empirical graph. In other words, they expect some similarity assessment between the empirical graph and graphs artificially created from theoretical graph generation models. Usually, in order to assess the similarity of two graphs, centrality measure distributions are compared. For a theoretical graph model this means comparing the empirical graph to a single realization of a theoretical graph model, where the realization is generated from the given model using an arbitrary set of parameters. The similarity between centrality measure distributions can be measured using standard statistical tests, e.g., the Kolmogorov–Smirnov test of distances between cumulative distributions. However, this approach is both error-prone and leads to incorrect conclusions, as we show in our experiments. Therefore, we propose a new method for graph comparison and type classification by comparing the entropies of centrality measure distributions (degree centrality, betweenness centrality, closeness centrality. We demonstrate that our approach can help assign the empirical graph to the most similar theoretical model using a simple unsupervised learning method.

PREFACE: XIV Conference on Theoretical Nuclear Physics in Italy

Science.gov (United States)

Bombaci, I.; Covello, A.; Marcucci, L. E.; Rosati, S.

2014-07-01

This volume contains the invited and contributed papers presented at the 14th Conference on Theoretical Nuclear Physics in Italy held in Cortona, Italy, from 29-31 October, 2013. The meeting was held at the Palazzone, an elegant Renaissance Villa, commissioned by the Cardinal Silvio Passerini (1469-1529), Bishop of Cortona, and presently owned by the Scuola Normale Superiore di Pisa. The aim of this biennial Conference is to bring together Italian theorists working in various fields of nuclear physics to discuss their latest results and confront their points of view in a lively and informal way. This offers the opportunity to stimulate new ideas and promote collaborations between different research groups. The Conference was attended by 46 participants, coming from 13 Italian Universities and 11 Laboratories and Sezioni of the Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare - INFN. The program of the conference, prepared by the Organizing Committee (Ignazio Bombaci, Aldo Covello, Laura Elisa Marcucci and Sergio Rosati) focused on the following main topics: Few-Nucleon Systems Nuclear Structure Nuclear Matter and Nuclear Dynamics Relativistic Heavy Ion Collisions and Quark-Gluon Plasma Nuclear Astrophysics Nuclear Physics with Electroweak Probes Structure of Hadrons and Hadronic Matter. In the last session of the Conference there were two invited review talks related to experimental activities of great current interest. Giacomo De Angelis from the Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro spoke about the INFN SPES radioactive ion beam project. Sara Pirrone, INFN Sezione di Catania, gave a talk on the symmetry energy and isospin physics with the CHIMERA detector. Finally, Mauro Taiuti (Università di Genova), National Coordinator of the INFN-CSN3 (Nuclear Physics Experiments), reported on the present status and future challenges of experimental nuclear physics in Italy. We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of INFN who helped make the conference possible. I Bombaci, A Covello

An Analysis of Disillusionment of American Dream in The Great Gatsby

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

李成烨

2015-01-01

American dream has always been a hot topic in the study and research of the American literature.And this topic has been researched deeply by many scholars and those who are interested in the field of literature.But the study or analysis of the disillusionment of American dream keeps updating from different angles by people from different fields,for the success of American dream isn’t easy to achieve by people.While this paper is going to illustrate the disillusionment of American dream of Gatsby and explain the reason that Gatsby failed but made him Great.

Information theoretic bounds for compressed sensing in SAR imaging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jingxiong, Zhang; Ke, Yang; Jianzhong, Guo

2014-01-01

Compressed sensing (CS) is a new framework for sampling and reconstructing sparse signals from measurements significantly fewer than those prescribed by Nyquist rate in the Shannon sampling theorem. This new strategy, applied in various application areas including synthetic aperture radar (SAR), relies on two principles: sparsity, which is related to the signals of interest, and incoherence, which refers to the sensing modality. An important question in CS-based SAR system design concerns sampling rate necessary and sufficient for exact or approximate recovery of sparse signals. In the literature, bounds of measurements (or sampling rate) in CS have been proposed from the perspective of information theory. However, these information-theoretic bounds need to be reviewed and, if necessary, validated for CS-based SAR imaging, as there are various assumptions made in the derivations of lower and upper bounds on sub-Nyquist sampling rates, which may not hold true in CS-based SAR imaging. In this paper, information-theoretic bounds of sampling rate will be analyzed. For this, the SAR measurement system is modeled as an information channel, with channel capacity and rate-distortion characteristics evaluated to enable the determination of sampling rates required for recovery of sparse scenes. Experiments based on simulated data will be undertaken to test the theoretic bounds against empirical results about sampling rates required to achieve certain detection error probabilities

75 FR 6354 - NOAA Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Program Project Grants under the Great Lakes Restoration...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-02-09

...-04] RIN 0648-ZC10 NOAA Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Program Project Grants under the Great Lakes... Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Department of Commerce. ACTION: Notice of funding availability; Date... on January 19, 2010. That notice announced the NOAA Great Lakes Habitat Restoration Program Project...

The Next Great Generation?

Science.gov (United States)

Brownstein, Andrew

2000-01-01

Discusses ideas from a new book, "Millennials Rising: The Next Great Generation," (by Neil Howe and William Strauss) suggesting that youth culture is on the cusp of a radical shift with the generation beginning with this year's college freshmen who are typically team oriented, optimistic, and poised for greatness on a global scale. Includes a…

Theoretical Investigation of Subwavelength Gratings and Vertical Cavity Lasers Employing Grating Structures

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Taghizadeh, Alireza

This thesis deals with theoretical investigations of a newly proposed grating structure, referred to as hybrid grating (HG) as well as vertical cavity lasers based on the grating reflectors. The HG consists of a near-subwavelength grating layer and an unpatterned high-refractive-index cap layer...... directions, which is analogous to electronic quantum wells in conduction or valence bands. Several interesting configurations of heterostructures have been investigated and their potential in fundamental physics study and applications are discussed. For numerical and theoretical studies, a three...... feasibility than the HCG-based ones. Furthermore, the concept of cavity dispersion in vertical cavities is introduced and its importance in the modal properties is numerically investigated. The dispersion curvature of a cavity mode is interpreted as the effective photon mass of the cavity mode. In a vertical...

[An interesting experience on the use of information and population data bases].

Science.gov (United States)

Expósito, J; Johnson, A P

2012-01-01

In order to support decisions and analyze outcomes, the Spanish Health System has shown a great interest in developing data bases and high quality information systems. Nevertheless the use of these data bases are limited, not very systematized and, some times, their accessibility may be difficult. We describe in this review the experience in using the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Science (ICES, Ontario, Canada) as an efficient model to improve the usefulness of these data bases. Under restrictive conditions of confidentiality and privacy, the ICES has the legal capacity to use several population based data bases, for research projects and reports. ICES's functional structure (with an administrative and scientific level) is an interesting framework since it guarantees its independent and economic assessment. To date, its scientific production has been high in many areas of knowledge and open to those interested, with points of view of many health care professionals (including management), for whom the quality of research is of the ultimate importance, to be able to access these resources. Copyright © 2011 SECA. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

The functional-cognitive meta-theoretical framework: Reflections, possible clarifications and how to move forward.

Science.gov (United States)

Barnes-Holmes, Dermot; Hussey, Ian

2016-02-01

The functional-cognitive meta-theoretical framework has been offered as a conceptual basis for facilitating greater communication and cooperation between the functional/behavioural and cognitive traditions within psychology, thus leading to benefits for both scientific communities. The current article is written from the perspective of two functional researchers, who are also proponents of the functional-cognitive framework, and attended the "Building Bridges between the Functional and Cognitive Traditions" meeting at Ghent University in the summer of 2014. The article commences with a brief summary of the functional approach to theory, followed by our reflections upon the functional-cognitive framework in light of that meeting. In doing so, we offer three ways in which the framework could be clarified: (a) effective communication between the two traditions is likely to be found at the level of behavioural observations rather than effects or theory, (b) not all behavioural observations will be deemed to be of mutual interest to both traditions, and (c) observations of mutual interest will be those that serve to elaborate and extend existing theorising in the functional and/or cognitive traditions. The article concludes with a summary of what we perceive to be the strengths and weaknesses of the framework, and a suggestion that there is a need to determine if the framework is meta-theoretical or is in fact a third theoretical approach to doing psychological science. © 2015 International Union of Psychological Science.

Essays in theoretical physics in honour of Dirk Ter Haar

CERN Document Server

Parry, W E

2013-01-01

Essays in Theoretical Physics: In Honour of Dirk ter Haar is devoted to Dirk ter Haar, detailing the breadth of Dirk's interest in physics. The book contains 15 chapters, with some chapters elucidating stellar dynamics with non-classical integrals; a mean-field treatment of charge density waves in a strong magnetic field; electrodynamics of two-dimensional (surface) superconductors; and the Bethe Ansatz and exact solutions of the Kondo and related magnetic impurity models. Other chapters focus on probing the interiors of neutron stars; macroscopic quantum tunneling; unitary transformation meth

Similarities of theoretical and practical reasoning processes : behavioral and brain imaging evidences

OpenAIRE

Wiedenmann, Patrick

2009-01-01

For hundreds of years, philosophers explored how humans reason and what reasoning abilities humans possess. They were also interested at how these reasoning abilities could and should be applied to reach a peaceful and flourishing coexistence. The two sub-disciplines investigating these issues are theoretical and practical philosophy. Epistemology is the main research domain of the former, whereas morals and ethics represent the main research field of the latter. Philosophers like Kant often ...

Interest rate derivatives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Svenstrup, Mikkel

This Ph.D. thesis consists of four self-contained essays on valuation of interest rate derivatives. In particular derivatives related to management of interest rate risk care are considered.......This Ph.D. thesis consists of four self-contained essays on valuation of interest rate derivatives. In particular derivatives related to management of interest rate risk care are considered....

Interest-free and Interest-bearing Money Demand: Policy Invariance and Stability

OpenAIRE

Amir Kia

2001-01-01

This paper, using quarterly Iranian data for the period of 1966-1998, extends the literature by investigating the stability of the interest-free money demand function. The study also examines the stability of economic agents' behavior in demanding interest-bearing and interest-free money. It was found, contrary to interest-bearing demand or money, both short- and long-run demand for interest-free money functions are stable and their coefficients are invariant with respect to policy and other ...

Implicit User Interest Profile

CERN Document Server

Chan, K

2002-01-01

User interest profile presents items that the users are interested in. Typically those items can be listed or grouped. Listing is good but it does not possess interests at different abstraction levels - the higher-level interests are more general, while the lower-level ones are more specific. Furthermore, more general interests, in some sense, correspond to longer-term interests, while more specific interests correspond to shorter-term interests. This hierarchical user interest profile has obvious advantages: specifying user's specific interests and general interests and representing their relationships. Current user interest profile structures mostly do not use implicit method, nor use an appropriate clustering algorithm especially for conceptually hierarchical structures. This research studies building a hierarchical user interest profile (HUIP) and the hierarchical divisive algorithm (HDC). Several users visit hundreds of web pages and each page is recorded in each users profile. These web pages are used t...

Theoretical nuclear physics

CERN Document Server

Blatt, John M

1979-01-01

A classic work by two leading physicists and scientific educators endures as an uncommonly clear and cogent investigation and correlation of key aspects of theoretical nuclear physics. It is probably the most widely adopted book on the subject. The authors approach the subject as ""the theoretical concepts, methods, and considerations which have been devised in order to interpret the experimental material and to advance our ability to predict and control nuclear phenomena.""The present volume does not pretend to cover all aspects of theoretical nuclear physics. Its coverage is restricted to

Theoretical investigation of performance of armchair graphene nanoribbon field effect transistors

Science.gov (United States)

Hur, Ji-Hyun; Kim, Deok-Kee

2018-05-01

In this paper, we theoretically investigate the highest possible expected performance for graphene nanoribbon field effect transistors (GNRFETs) for a wide range of operation voltages and device structure parameters, such as the width of the graphene nanoribbon and gate length. We formulated a self-consistent, non-equilibrium Green’s function method in conjunction with the Poisson equation and modeled the operation of nanometer sized GNRFETs, of which GNR channels have finite bandgaps so that the GNRFET can operate as a switch. We propose a metric for competing with the current silicon CMOS high performance or low power devices and explain that this can vary greatly depending on the GNRFET structure parameters.

Theoretical chemistry in Belgium a topical collection from theoretical chemistry accounts

CERN Document Server

Champagne, Benoît; De Proft, Frank; Leyssens, Tom

2014-01-01

Readers of this volume can take a tour around the research locations in Belgium which are active in theoretical and computational chemistry. Selected researchers from Belgium present research highlights of their work. Originally published in the journal Theoretical Chemistry Accounts, these outstanding contributions are now available in a hardcover print format. This volume will be of benefit in particular to those research groups and libraries that have chosen to have only electronic access to the journal. It also provides valuable content for all researchers in theoretical chemistry.

Theoretical framework and methodological development of common subjective health outcome measures in osteoarthritis: a critical review

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Johnston Marie

2007-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Subjective measures involving clinician ratings or patient self-assessments have become recognised as an important tool for the assessment of health outcome. The value of a health outcome measure is usually assessed by a psychometric evaluation of its reliability, validity and responsiveness. However, psychometric testing involves an accumulation of evidence and has recognised limitations. It has been suggested that an evaluation of how well a measure has been developed would be a useful additional criteria in assessing the value of a measure. This paper explored the theoretical background and methodological development of subjective health status measures commonly used in osteoarthritis research. Fourteen subjective health outcome measures commonly used in osteoarthritis research were examined. Each measure was explored on the basis of their i theoretical framework (was there a definition of what was being assessed and was it part of a theoretical model? and ii methodological development (what was the scaling strategy, how were the items generated and reduced, what was the response format and what was the scoring method?. Only the AIMS, SF-36 and WHOQOL defined what they were assessing (i.e. the construct of interest and no measure assessed was part of a theoretical model. None of the clinician report measures appeared to have implemented a scaling procedure or described the rationale for the items selected or scoring system. Of the patient self-report measures, the AIMS, MPQ, OXFORD, SF-36, WHOQOL and WOMAC appeared to follow a standard psychometric scaling method. The DRP and EuroQol used alternative scaling methods. The review highlighted the general lack of theoretical framework for both clinician report and patient self-report measures. This review also drew attention to the wide variation in the methodological development of commonly used measures in OA. While, in general the patient self-report measures had good methodological

Ettore Majorana unpublished research notes on theoretical physics

CERN Document Server

Recami, E; Van der Merwe, A; Battiston, R

2009-01-01

The editors of this volume bring to life a major part of Ettore Majorana’s work that up to now was not accessible to the general audience. These are the contents of the Quaderni (notebooks) of Ettore Majorana, edited and translated in English. Ettore Majorana had an astounding talent for Physics that made an impression on all the colleagues who had the opportunity to know him. Enrico Fermi, who took him in his group when he was a student, ranked him with Galilei and Newton. Ettore Majorana’s career was cut short in 1938, as he mysteriously disappeared at the age of 32, leaving many unpublished works. This book reveals an interesting perspective over the points of view, the interests, the approach to physical problems of this great physicist and it shows that he had advanced his comprehension of physics to levels that were only reached by other physicists ten years after, or even later. The editors have inserted minimal text, in order to leave the original calculations by Majorana intact, and at the same t...

Great Lakes Environmental Database (GLENDA)

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — The Great Lakes Environmental Database (GLENDA) houses environmental data on a wide variety of constituents in water, biota, sediment, and air in the Great Lakes area.

Self-interest without selfishness: the hedonic benefit of imposed self-interest.

Science.gov (United States)

Berman, Jonathan Z; Small, Deborah A

2012-10-01

Despite commonsense appeal, the link between self-interest and happiness remains elusive. One reason why individuals may not feel satisfied with self-interest is that they feel uneasy about sacrificing the needs of others for their own gain. We propose that externally imposing self-interest allows individuals to enjoy self-benefiting outcomes that are untainted by self-reproach for failing to help others. Study 1 demonstrated that an imposed self-interested option (a reward) leads to greater happiness than does choosing between a self-interested option and a prosocial option (a charity donation). Study 2 demonstrated that this effect is not driven by choice in general; rather, it is the specific trade-off between benefiting the self and benefiting others that inhibits happiness gained from self-interest. We theorize that the agency inherent in choice reduces the hedonic value of self-interest. Results of Study 3 find support for this mechanism.

From Special Relativity to Feynman Diagrams A Course of Theoretical Particle Physics for Beginners

CERN Document Server

D'Auria, Riccardo

2012-01-01

This books aims at filling a gap between the basics courses of classical and quantum mechanics and advanced courses of (relativistic) quantum mechanics and field theory. Particular emphasis is given to the role of symmetry in modern theoretical physics. For this reason this book is particularly suited to those students who are interested in a deeper knowledge of modern developments in elementary particle physics and relativity, even if they choose not to specialize in this branch of research. This target of readers includes, besides experimental and applied physicists, also those engineers who need advanced notions of theoretical high energy physics, in view of future research activity in the field theory approach to condensed matter, in accelerator physics and in all those modern technology sectors which require a more advanced and sophisticated theoretical physics background. Courses motivated by these objectives are present in several polytechnic institutes around the world. The last chapters of this book,...

Modified theoretical minimum emittance lattice for an electron storage ring with extreme-low emittance

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Yi Jiao

2011-05-01

Full Text Available In the continuing efforts to reduce the beam emittance of an electron storage ring composed of theoretical minimum emittance (TME lattice, down to a level of several tens of picometers, nonlinear dynamics grows to be a great challenge to the performance of the storage ring because of the strong sextupoles needed to compensate for its large global natural chomaticities coupled with its small average dispersion function. To help in dealing with the challenge of nonlinear optimization, we propose a novel variation of theoretical minimum emittance (TME lattice, named as “modified-TME” lattice, with minimal emittance about 3 times of the exact theoretical minimum, while with more compact layout, lower phase advance per cell, smaller natural chromaticities, and more relaxed optical functions than that in a TME cell, by using horizontally defocusing quadrupole closer to the dipole or simply combined-function dipole with horizontally defocusing gradient. We present approximate scaling formulas to describe the relationships of the design parameters in a modified-TME cell. The applications of modified-TME lattice in the PEP-X storage ring design are illustrated and the proposed lattice appears a good candidate for synchrotron radiation light source with extremely low emittance.

How do STEM-interested students pursue multiple interests in their higher educational choice?

Science.gov (United States)

Vulperhorst, Jonne Pieter; Wessels, Koen Rens; Bakker, Arthur; Akkerman, Sanne Floor

2018-05-01

Interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) has lately received attention in research due to a gap between the number of STEM students and the needs of the labour market. As interest seems to be one of the most important factors in deciding what to study, we focus in the present study on how STEM-interested students weigh multiple interests in making educational choices. A questionnaire with both open-ended and closed-ended items was administered to 91 STEM-interested students enrolled in a STEM programme of a Dutch University for secondary school students. Results indicate that students find it important that a study programme allows them to pursue multiple interests. Some students pursued multiple interests by choosing to enrol in two programmes at the same time. Most students chose one programme that enabled them to combine multiple interests. Combinations of pursued interests were dependent on the disciplinary range of interests of students. Students who were interested in diverse domains combined interests in an educational programme across academic and non-academic domains, whilst students who were mainly interested in STEM combined only STEM-focused interests. Together these findings stress the importance of taking a multiple interest perspective on interest development and educational choice.

Theoretical treatments of stimulated Raman scattering

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Uehara, Youichi; Sasaki, Wataru

1981-01-01

Stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is a phenomenon, in which the coherent light (Stokes emission) with a shifted wavelength specific to a kind of material mixes in scattered monochromatic light, when the intense monochromatic light (laser light) is scattered by projecting it to the above material. According to the theoretical researches together with the experiments on SRS, it is qualitatively understood to be the phenomenon, in which laser energy is transferred to Stokes emission by the interaction through the optical non-linearity of a material between incident laser beam and the Stokes emission generated by spontaneous emission. The authors have been interested in the application of SRS to plasma diagnostics, and have studied it theoretically for the purpose of investigating its feasibility. Here, the theories reported so far are introduced arranging them. First, the derivation of SRS fundamental equations is explained, though it is limited to the SRS theory for ultrashort pulse laser (TSRS), and Raman media were assumed to be gas or liquid phase. Next, the solution of the equations and the basic properties of TSRS are described. Then, the extension of the TSRS to the cases when the several assumptions, which were set in the solution of the equations, were removed is explained. The extension includes the cases for phase fluctuation, dispersion, existence of anti-Stokes emission, and the presence of laser beam attenuation. Finally, the SRS by the broad band laser is introduced. (Wakatsuki, Y.)

Information-theoretic signatures of biodiversity in the barcoding gene.

Science.gov (United States)

Barbosa, Valmir C

2018-08-14

Analyzing the information content of DNA, though holding the promise to help quantify how the processes of evolution have led to information gain throughout the ages, has remained an elusive goal. Paradoxically, one of the main reasons for this has been precisely the great diversity of life on the planet: if on the one hand this diversity is a rich source of data for information-content analysis, on the other hand there is so much variation as to make the task unmanageable. During the past decade or so, however, succinct fragments of the COI mitochondrial gene, which is present in all animal phyla and in a few others, have been shown to be useful for species identification through DNA barcoding. A few million such fragments are now publicly available through the BOLD systems initiative, thus providing an unprecedented opportunity for relatively comprehensive information-theoretic analyses of DNA to be attempted. Here we show how a generalized form of total correlation can yield distinctive information-theoretic descriptors of the phyla represented in those fragments. In order to illustrate the potential of this analysis to provide new insight into the evolution of species, we performed principal component analysis on standardized versions of the said descriptors for 23 phyla. Surprisingly, we found that, though based solely on the species represented in the data, the first principal component correlates strongly with the natural logarithm of the number of all known living species for those phyla. The new descriptors thus constitute clear information-theoretic signatures of the processes whereby evolution has given rise to current biodiversity, which suggests their potential usefulness in further related studies. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

33 CFR 100.124 - Maggie Fischer Memorial Great South Bay Cross Bay Swim, Great South Bay, New York.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-07-01

... 33 Navigation and Navigable Waters 1 2010-07-01 2010-07-01 false Maggie Fischer Memorial Great South Bay Cross Bay Swim, Great South Bay, New York. 100.124 Section 100.124 Navigation and Navigable... NAVIGABLE WATERS § 100.124 Maggie Fischer Memorial Great South Bay Cross Bay Swim, Great South Bay, New York...

THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF STATE REGULATION OF NATIONAL MACROECONOMIC ENVIRONMENT

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Yevgen Maslennikov

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The question of the economic role of the state was put up for a long time and until now every state solves this problem in different ways and only for itself, on the basis of the accumulated experience taking into account its customs and traditions. The objective need to include the state in the economic process is determined by such factors as: the need to ensure public reproduction on an extended scale, ensuring the long-term interests of the population, maintaining the balance of socio-economic interests of different population groups in the country, ensuring the unity and integrity of the country's territorial space. For this reason, the purpose of the paper is to examine the main theoretical aspects of state regulation of the economy in historical retrospect and at the present stage of the development of society. Methodology. Methodological and informational basis of the investigation are scientific articles, materials of periodicals, resources of the Internet. To achieve the goal set, the following general scientific and special methods were used: morphological analysis, system and structural-logical analysis, formalization, analogy, comparison and integration, tabular method. Results. As a result of the research, scientific and theoretical grounds for state regulation of national macroeconomic environment were presented; forms and methods of state regulation, programming as a form of perspective state regulation and principles of economic planning were considered in more detail. Practical implications. The considered forms of state regulation are relevant in the current conditions of management and can be applied by states in accordance with the level of economic development. Value/originality. The authors presented innovative forms of state regulation methods, and analyzed their effectiveness.

Theoretical Analysis of Moving Reference Planes Associated with Unit Cells of Nonreciprocal Lossy Periodic Transmission-Line Structures

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S. Lamultree

2017-04-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a theoretical analysis of moving reference planes associated with unit cells of nonreciprocal lossy periodic transmission-line structures (NRLSPTLSs by the equivalent bi-characteristic-impedance transmission line (BCITL model. Applying the BCITL theory, only the equivalent BCITL parameters (characteristic impedances for waves propagating in forward and reverse directions and associated complex propagation constants are of interest. An infinite NRLSPTLS is considered first by shifting a reference position of unit cells along TLs of interest. Then, a semi-infinite terminated NRLSPTLS is investigated in terms of associated load reflection coefficients. It is found that the equivalent BCITL characteristic impedances of the original and shifted unit cells are mathematically related by the bilinear transformation. In addition, the associated load reflection coefficients of both unit cells are mathematically related by the bilinear transformation. However, the equivalent BCITL complex propagation constants remain unchanged. Numerical results are provided to show the validity of the proposed theoretical analysis.

Understanding employee motivation and organizational performance: Arguments for a set-theoretic approach

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Michael T. Lee

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Empirical evidence demonstrates that motivated employees mean better organizational performance. The objective of this conceptual paper is to articulate the progress that has been made in understanding employee motivation and organizational performance, and to suggest how the theory concerning employee motivation and organizational performance may be advanced. We acknowledge the existing limitations of theory development and suggest an alternative research approach. Current motivation theory development is based on conventional quantitative analysis (e.g., multiple regression analysis, structural equation modeling. Since researchers are interested in context and understanding of this social phenomena holistically, they think in terms of combinations and configurations of a set of pertinent variables. We suggest that researchers take a set-theoretic approach to complement existing conventional quantitative analysis. To advance current thinking, we propose a set-theoretic approach to leverage employee motivation for organizational performance.

The N2HDM under theoretical and experimental scrutiny

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mühlleitner, Margarete [Institute for Theoretical Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128 Karlsruhe (Germany); Sampaio, Marco O.P. [Departamento de Física, Universidade de Aveiro and CIDMA, Campus de Santiago, 3810-183 Aveiro (Portugal); Santos, Rui [ISEL - Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Instituto Politécnico de Lisboa, 1959-007 Lisboa (Portugal); Centro de Física Teórica e Computacional, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Campo Grande, Edifício C8, 1749-016 Lisboa (Portugal); Wittbrodt, Jonas [Institute for Theoretical Physics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, 76128 Karlsruhe (Germany); Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Notkestraße 85, D-22607 Hamburg (Germany)

2017-03-17

The N2HDM is based on the CP-conserving 2HDM extended by a real scalar singlet field. Its enlarged parameter space and its fewer symmetry conditions as compared to supersymmetric models allow for an interesting phenomenology compatible with current experimental constraints, while adding to the 2HDM sector the possibility of Higgs-to-Higgs decays with three different Higgs bosons. In this paper the N2HDM is subjected to detailed scrutiny. Regarding the theoretical constraints we implement tests of tree-level perturbativity and vacuum stability. Moreover, we present, for the first time, a thorough analysis of the global minimum of the N2HDM. The model and the theoretical constraints have been implemented in ScannerS, and we provide N2HDECAY, a code based on HDECAY, for the computation of the N2HDM branching ratios and total widths including the state-of-the-art higher order QCD corrections and off-shell decays. We then perform an extensive parameter scan in the N2HDM parameter space, with all theoretical and experimental constraints applied, and analyse its allowed regions. We find that large singlet admixtures are still compatible with the Higgs data and investigate which observables will allow to restrict the singlet nature most effectively in the next runs of the LHC. Similarly to the 2HDM, the N2HDM exhibits a wrong-sign parameter regime, which will be constrained by future Higgs precision measurements.

The N2HDM under theoretical and experimental scrutiny

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mühlleitner, Margarete; Sampaio, Marco O.P.; Santos, Rui; Wittbrodt, Jonas

2017-01-01

The N2HDM is based on the CP-conserving 2HDM extended by a real scalar singlet field. Its enlarged parameter space and its fewer symmetry conditions as compared to supersymmetric models allow for an interesting phenomenology compatible with current experimental constraints, while adding to the 2HDM sector the possibility of Higgs-to-Higgs decays with three different Higgs bosons. In this paper the N2HDM is subjected to detailed scrutiny. Regarding the theoretical constraints we implement tests of tree-level perturbativity and vacuum stability. Moreover, we present, for the first time, a thorough analysis of the global minimum of the N2HDM. The model and the theoretical constraints have been implemented in ScannerS, and we provide N2HDECAY, a code based on HDECAY, for the computation of the N2HDM branching ratios and total widths including the state-of-the-art higher order QCD corrections and off-shell decays. We then perform an extensive parameter scan in the N2HDM parameter space, with all theoretical and experimental constraints applied, and analyse its allowed regions. We find that large singlet admixtures are still compatible with the Higgs data and investigate which observables will allow to restrict the singlet nature most effectively in the next runs of the LHC. Similarly to the 2HDM, the N2HDM exhibits a wrong-sign parameter regime, which will be constrained by future Higgs precision measurements.

Game theoretical framework in determining house prices

Science.gov (United States)

Saiddin, Nor Syuhadah; Zaibidi, Nerda Zura; Sulaiman, Nor Intan Saniah; Abidin, Norhaslinda Zainal

2017-11-01

Housing is a vital component in world's economic development as it provides big contribution of the wealth. The issue of high house prices, worrying several parties, especially middle income buyers in Malaysia. Basically, in housing, there are three main parties involved; buyer, property developer and government. Interaction between those parties will give an impact to the housing market, specifically house prices. The complexity of the interaction has increased due to the differences in each party's preferences and interest. In this research, the main objective is to develop the framework of the interactions among those parties using game theoretical approach. To do so, the preferences and target of each party are investigated and their constraints are established. From the framework, it offers some ideas on how the interaction occurs and how it affect the house prices.

Theoretical and methodological approaches in discourse analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevenson, Chris

2004-01-01

Discourse analysis (DA) embodies two main approaches: Foucauldian DA and radical social constructionist DA. Both are underpinned by social constructionism to a lesser or greater extent. Social constructionism has contested areas in relation to power, embodiment, and materialism, although Foucauldian DA does focus on the issue of power Embodiment and materialism may be especially relevant for researchers of nursing where the physical body is prominent. However, the contested nature of social constructionism allows a fusion of theoretical and methodological approaches tailored to a specific research interest. In this paper, Chris Stevenson suggests a framework for working out and declaring the DA approach to be taken in relation to a research area, as well as to aid anticipating methodological critique. Method, validity, reliability and scholarship are discussed from within a discourse analytic frame of reference.

Theoretical and methodological approaches in discourse analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevenson, Chris

2004-10-01

Discourse analysis (DA) embodies two main approaches: Foucauldian DA and radical social constructionist DA. Both are underpinned by social constructionism to a lesser or greater extent. Social constructionism has contested areas in relation to power, embodiment, and materialism, although Foucauldian DA does focus on the issue of power. Embodiment and materialism may be especially relevant for researchers of nursing where the physical body is prominent. However, the contested nature of social constructionism allows a fusion of theoretical and methodological approaches tailored to a specific research interest. In this paper, Chris Stevenson suggests a frame- work for working out and declaring the DA approach to be taken in relation to a research area, as well as to aid anticipating methodological critique. Method, validity, reliability and scholarship are discussed from within a discourse analytic frame of reference.

The odderon: theoretical status and experimental tests

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ewerz, C. [Milano Univ., Dipt. di Fisica, and INFN (Italy); ECT, Trento (Italy)

2005-07-01

In QCD the odderon can be formed by 3 gluons in a symmetric color state. According to our understanding of high energy scattering based on the picture of gluon exchanges, the existence of the odderon is very likely. Surprisingly through, the experimental evidence for it is rather weak. Especially exclusive reactions that can be caused only by the odderon offer good chances to finally establish its existence. In perturbative QCD the odderon is under rather good control. It is already by itself a very interesting object from a theoretical point of view. It further is an important ingredient in effective theories of high energy scattering that are currently discussed. New insight into the behaviour of the non-perturbative odderon can be expected from lattice studies of glueball trajectories.

The impact of classification of interest on predictive toxicogenomics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pierre R. Bushel

2012-02-01

Full Text Available The era of toxicogenomics has introduced a new way of monitoring the effect of environmental stressors and toxicants on biological systems via quantification of changes in gene expression. Because the liver is one of the major organs for synthesis and secretion of substances which metabolize endogenous and exogenous materials, there has been a great deal of interest in elucidating predictive and mechanistic genomic markers of hepatotoxicity. This mini-review will bring context to a limited number of toxicogenomics studies which used genomics to evaluate the transcriptional changes in blood and liver in response to acetaminophen (APAP or other liver toxicants, but differed according to the classification of interest (COI, i.e. the partitioning of the samples a priori according to a common toxicological characteristic. The toxicogenomics studies highlighted are characterized by a classification of either no/low vs. high APAP dose exposure, none vs. observed necrosis, and severity of necrosis. The overlap or lack thereof between the gene classifiers and the modulated biological processes that are elucidated will be discussed to enhance the understanding of the effect of the particular COI model and experimental design used for prediction.

At the Head of Theoretical Disciplines, Rhetoric Besieges Advertising

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Costin Popescu

2011-05-01

Full Text Available Advertising is a field of human activity whose components are studied by numerous disciplines. There is a risk, then, to see the theoretical interest for this field crumble; in order to acquire a general view of it, we need – above researches conducted with the support of conceptual apparatuses of disciplines as sociology, mythology, psychology, ethology, visual communication, etc. – unifying points of view, offered by formal disciplines as rhetoric, semiotics, etc. The study of specific advertising messages will help us catch a glimpse of both proportions and stakes of the matter; leading the interdisciplinar approach, rhetoric can hope to “tame” the complexity of the advertising discourse.

Glial cell biology in the Great Lakes region.

Science.gov (United States)

Feinstein, Douglas L; Skoff, Robert P

2016-03-31

We report on the tenth bi-annual Great Lakes Glial meeting, held in Traverse City, Michigan, USA, September 27-29 2015. The GLG meeting is a small conference that focuses on current research in glial cell biology. The array of functions that glial cells (astrocytes, microglia, oligodendrocytes, Schwann cells) play in health and disease is constantly increasing. Despite this diversity, GLG meetings bring together scientists with common interests, leading to a better understanding of these cells. This year's meeting included two keynote speakers who presented talks on the regulation of CNS myelination and the consequences of stress on Schwann cell biology. Twenty-two other talks were presented along with two poster sessions. Sessions covered recent findings in the areas of microglial and astrocyte activation; age-dependent changes to glial cells, Schwann cell development and pathology, and the role of stem cells in glioma and neural regeneration.

Differences in the Effects of the Great Recession on Health Outcomes among Minority Working-Age Adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Towne, Samuel D; Probst, Janice C; Hardin, James W; Bell, Bethany A; Glover, Saundra

2015-03-01

We examined the effects of the Great Recession (December 2007-June 2009) among vulnerable adults who may be at high risk of poor health and low access to health care. Our primary outcomes of interest were self-reported health status (fair/poor versus good/very good/excellent), and foregoing needed health care due to cost in the past 12 months. Racial and ethnic minorities, except Asians, experienced higher rates of poor/fair health and higher rates of forgone medical care than did White adults. Hispanic and AIAN adults experienced differential effects of the Great Recession, as compared to White adults. Understanding how vulnerable populations react in times of economic flux will enable policy makers to identify strategies/policies to lessen the burden experienced by vulnerable adults.

Great Expectations

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Dickens, Charles

2005-01-01

One of Dickens's most renowned and enjoyable novels, Great Expectations tells the story of Pip, an orphan boy who wishes to transcend his humble origins and finds himself unexpectedly given the opportunity to live a life of wealth and respectability. Over the course of the tale, in which Pip

THE CRIMINAL OFFENCE OF MONEY LAUNDERING – A SERIES OF THEORETICAL AND PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constantin NEDELCU

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The paper at hand addresses the extremely complex and sensitive matter relating to one of the most controversial offences in the criminal laws of Romania – in particular, the criminal offence of money laundering. This paper bears both theoretical and practical interest, in that it points out specific instances of court case-law which were given different constructions by various judiciary authorities.

Binary Tree Pricing to Convertible Bonds with Credit Risk under Stochastic Interest Rates

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Jianbo Huang

2013-01-01

Full Text Available The convertible bonds usually have multiple additional provisions that make their pricing problem more difficult than straight bonds and options. This paper uses the binary tree method to model the finance market. As the underlying stock prices and the interest rates are important to the convertible bonds, we describe their dynamic processes by different binary tree. Moreover, we consider the influence of the credit risks on the convertible bonds that is described by the default rate and the recovery rate; then the two-factor binary tree model involving the credit risk is established. On the basis of the theoretical analysis, we make numerical simulation and get the pricing results when the stock prices are CRR model and the interest rates follow the constant volatility and the time-varying volatility, respectively. This model can be extended to other financial derivative instruments.

Horticulture in Argentina: a productive alternative with great potential

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Ana Maria Castagnino

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Horticulture in Argentina is an activity with great potential whose history has mainly been driven by Italian immigrants who arrived during the last two centuries. It is a valuable complement for traditional primary productions on which the country is focused with more than 30 millions of cultivated hectares and different agro-climatic conditions that characterize the different horticultural regions distributed throughout the country. The aim of this article is to give a panorama of the history, reality and perspectives in Argentina of an activity that is an opportunity for producers and entrepreneurs interested in it. Due to its characteristics, horticulture generates and dynamizes employment with great importance for regional economies. The proportion between vegetables and fruit produced and commercialized in Argentina is 63 and 34% respectively. Horticultural products for exportation largely are garlic, onion and beans. Concerning the most commercialized vegetables in Argentina, potato, tomato, onion, squash, lettuce, pepper, marrow and sweet potato stand out, whereas orange, tangerine, apple, banana, lemon, pear, grape and grapefruit may be highlighted among fruit. At present, the main challenge of the Argentinian horticultural sector is given not only by the possibilities of productive diversification and the expansion of the productive area but also of the technological level optimization, the application of quality norms and the agro-industry growth.

Dual-Mode Measurement and Theoretical Analysis of Evaporation Kinetics of Binary Mixtures

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Hanyu; He, Chi-Ruei; Basdeo, Carl; Li, Ji-Qin; Ye, Dezhuang; Kalonia, Devendra; Li, Si-Yu; Fan, Tai-Hsi

Theoretical and experimental investigations are presented for the precision measurement of evaporation kinetics of binary mixtures using a quartz crystal resonator. A thin layer of light alcohol mixture including a volatile (methanol) and a much less volatile (1-butanol) components is deployed on top of the resonator. The normal or acoustic mode is to detect the moving liquid-vapor interface due to evaporation with a great spatial precision on the order of microns, and simultaneously the shear mode is used for in-situ detection of point viscosity or concentration of the mixture near the resonator. A one-dimensional theoretical model is developed to describe the underlying mass transfer and interfacial transport phenomena. Along with the modeling results, the transient evaporation kinetics, moving interface, and the stratification of viscosity of the liquid mixture during evaporation are simultaneously measured by the impedance response of the shear and longitudinal waves emitted from the resonator. The system can be used to characterize complicated evaporation kinetics involving multi-component fuels. American Chemical Society Petroleum Research Fund, NSF CMMI-0952646.

The great intimidators.

Science.gov (United States)

Kramer, Roderick M

2006-02-01

After Disney's Michael Eisner, Miramax's Harvey Weinstein, and Hewlett-Packard's Carly Fiorina fell from their heights of power, the business media quickly proclaimed thatthe reign of abrasive, intimidating leaders was over. However, it's premature to proclaim their extinction. Many great intimidators have done fine for a long time and continue to thrive. Their modus operandi runs counter to a lot of preconceptions about what it takes to be a good leader. They're rough, loud, and in your face. Their tactics include invading others' personal space, staging tantrums, keeping people guessing, and possessing an indisputable command of facts. But make no mistake--great intimidators are not your typical bullies. They're driven by vision, not by sheer ego or malice. Beneath their tough exteriors and sharp edges are some genuine, deep insights into human motivation and organizational behavior. Indeed, these leaders possess political intelligence, which can make the difference between paralysis and successful--if sometimes wrenching--organizational change. Like socially intelligent leaders, politically intelligent leaders are adept at sizing up others, but they notice different things. Those with social intelligence assess people's strengths and figure out how to leverage them; those with political intelligence exploit people's weaknesses and insecurities. Despite all the obvious drawbacks of working under them, great intimidators often attract the best and brightest. And their appeal goes beyond their ability to inspire high performance. Many accomplished professionals who gravitate toward these leaders want to cultivate a little "inner intimidator" of their own. In the author's research, quite a few individuals reported having positive relationships with intimidating leaders. In fact, some described these relationships as profoundly educational and even transformational. So before we throw out all the great intimidators, the author argues, we should stop to consider what

Filtered region of interest cone-beam rotational angiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schafer, Sebastian; Noeel, Peter B.; Walczak, Alan M.; Hoffmann, Kenneth R.

2010-01-01

Purpose: Cone-beam rotational angiography (CBRA) is widely used in the modern clinical settings. In a number of procedures, the area of interest is often considerably smaller than the field of view (FOV) of the detector, subjecting the patient to potentially unnecessary x-ray dose. The authors therefore propose a filter-based method to reduce the dose in the regions of low interest, while supplying high image quality in the region of interest (ROI). Methods: For such procedures, the authors propose a method of filtered region of interest (FROI)-CBRA. In the authors' approach, a gadolinium filter with a circular central opening is placed into the x-ray beam during image acquisition. The central region is imaged with high contrast, while peripheral regions are subjected to a substantial lower intensity and dose through beam filtering. The resulting images contain a high contrast/intensity ROI, as well as a low contrast/intensity peripheral region, and a transition region in between. To equalize the two regions' intensities, the first projection of the acquisition is performed with and without the filter in place. The equalization relationship, based on Beer's law, is established through linear regression using corresponding filtered and nonfiltered data. The transition region is equalized based on radial profiles. Results: Evaluations in 2D and 3D show no visible difference between conventional FROI-CBRA projection images and reconstructions in the ROI. CNR evaluations show similar image quality in the ROI, with a reduced CNR in the reconstructed peripheral region. In all filtered projection images, the scatter fraction inside the ROI was reduced. Theoretical and experimental dose evaluations show a considerable dose reduction; using a ROI half the original FOV reduces the dose by 60% for the filter thickness of 1.29 mm. Conclusions: These results indicate the potential of FROI-CBRA to reduce the dose to the patient while supplying the physician with the desired

Filtered region of interest cone-beam rotational angiography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schafer, Sebastian; Noeel, Peter B.; Walczak, Alan M.; Hoffmann, Kenneth R. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States) and Toshiba Stroke Research Center, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Computer Science, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States) and Toshiba Stroke Research Center, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 and Toshiba Stroke Research Center, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Mechanical Engineering, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Neurosurgery, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States); Department of Computer Science, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States) and Toshiba Stroke Research Center, SUNY at Buffalo, 3435 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14214 (United States)

2010-02-15

Purpose: Cone-beam rotational angiography (CBRA) is widely used in the modern clinical settings. In a number of procedures, the area of interest is often considerably smaller than the field of view (FOV) of the detector, subjecting the patient to potentially unnecessary x-ray dose. The authors therefore propose a filter-based method to reduce the dose in the regions of low interest, while supplying high image quality in the region of interest (ROI). Methods: For such procedures, the authors propose a method of filtered region of interest (FROI)-CBRA. In the authors' approach, a gadolinium filter with a circular central opening is placed into the x-ray beam during image acquisition. The central region is imaged with high contrast, while peripheral regions are subjected to a substantial lower intensity and dose through beam filtering. The resulting images contain a high contrast/intensity ROI, as well as a low contrast/intensity peripheral region, and a transition region in between. To equalize the two regions' intensities, the first projection of the acquisition is performed with and without the filter in place. The equalization relationship, based on Beer's law, is established through linear regression using corresponding filtered and nonfiltered data. The transition region is equalized based on radial profiles. Results: Evaluations in 2D and 3D show no visible difference between conventional FROI-CBRA projection images and reconstructions in the ROI. CNR evaluations show similar image quality in the ROI, with a reduced CNR in the reconstructed peripheral region. In all filtered projection images, the scatter fraction inside the ROI was reduced. Theoretical and experimental dose evaluations show a considerable dose reduction; using a ROI half the original FOV reduces the dose by 60% for the filter thickness of 1.29 mm. Conclusions: These results indicate the potential of FROI-CBRA to reduce the dose to the patient while supplying the physician with

Interest rates mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Kanevski, M.; Maignan, M.; Pozdnoukhov, A.; Timonin, V.

2008-06-01

The present study deals with the analysis and mapping of Swiss franc interest rates. Interest rates depend on time and maturity, defining term structure of the interest rate curves (IRC). In the present study IRC are considered in a two-dimensional feature space-time and maturity. Exploratory data analysis includes a variety of tools widely used in econophysics and geostatistics. Geostatistical models and machine learning algorithms (multilayer perceptron and Support Vector Machines) were applied to produce interest rate maps. IR maps can be used for the visualisation and pattern perception purposes, to develop and to explore economical hypotheses, to produce dynamic asset-liability simulations and for financial risk assessments. The feasibility of an application of interest rates mapping approach for the IRC forecasting is considered as well.

Value-based management: Theoretical base, shareholders' request and the concept

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kaličanin Đorđe M.

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The pressure of financial markets, which is a consequence of shareholder revolution, directly affects the solution to the following dilemma: is the mission of corporations to maximize shareholders' wealth or to satisfy interests of other stakeholders? The domination of shareholder theory has caused the appearance of the valuebased management concept. Value-based management is a relevant concept and a process of management in modern environment. The importance of shareholder value requires transformation of traditional enterprise into value driven enterprise. This paper addresses theoretical base, shareholder revolution and the main characteristics of value-based management.

Integrating Cross-Case Analyses and Process Tracing in Set-Theoretic Research: Strategies and Parameters of Debate

Science.gov (United States)

Beach, Derek; Rohlfing, Ingo

2018-01-01

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the combination of two methods on the basis of set theory. In our introduction and this special issue, we focus on two variants of cross-case set-theoretic methods--"qualitative comparative analysis" (QCA) and typological theory (TT)--and their combination with process tracing (PT).…

Intellect: a theoretical framework for personality traits related to intellectual achievements.

Science.gov (United States)

Mussel, Patrick

2013-05-01

The present article develops a theoretical framework for the structure of personality traits related to intellectual achievements. We postulate a 2-dimensional model, differentiating between 2 processes (Seek and Conquer) and 3 operations (Think, Learn, and Create). The framework was operationalized by a newly developed measure, which was validated based on 2 samples. Subsequently, in 3 studies (overall N = 1,478), the 2-dimensional structure of the Intellect framework was generally supported. Additionally, subdimensions of the Intellect framework specifically predicted conceptually related criteria, including scholastic performance, vocational interest, and leisure activities. Furthermore, results from multidimensional scaling and higher order confirmatory factor analyses show that the framework allows for the incorporation of several constructs that have been proposed on different theoretical backgrounds, such as need for cognition, typical intellectual engagement, curiosity, intrinsic motivation, goal orientation, and openness to ideas. It is concluded that based on the Intellect framework, these constructs, which have been researched separately in the literature, can be meaningfully integrated.

ECO-Report - Great issues, great diversions

Science.gov (United States)

Janie Canton-Thompson; Jim Saveland; Sharon Ritter; Yvette K Ortega; Dean F. Pearson; Mick Harrington; Elaine Kennedy Sutherland; Clint Cook; Greg Jones

2004-01-01

ECO-Report is an annual Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) publication which contains a set of articles showcasing the Bitterroot Ecosystem Management Research Project (BEMRP) research projects and activities. The articles are concise, user-friendly, and designed to inform a broad range of audiences interested in ecosystem management. Articles featured in...

Making the news interesting : Understanding the relationship between familiarity and interest

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sluis, F. van der; Glassey, R.J.; Broek, E.L. van den

2012-01-01

News feeds are an important element of information encountering, feeding our (new) interests but also leading to a state of information overload. Current solutions often select information similar to the user's interests. However, long-term interest in one topic, and being highly familiar with that

Great cormorants ( Phalacrocorax carbo) can detect auditory cues while diving

Science.gov (United States)

Hansen, Kirstin Anderson; Maxwell, Alyssa; Siebert, Ursula; Larsen, Ole Næsbye; Wahlberg, Magnus

2017-06-01

In-air hearing in birds has been thoroughly investigated. Sound provides birds with auditory information for species and individual recognition from their complex vocalizations, as well as cues while foraging and for avoiding predators. Some 10% of existing species of birds obtain their food under the water surface. Whether some of these birds make use of acoustic cues while underwater is unknown. An interesting species in this respect is the great cormorant ( Phalacrocorax carbo), being one of the most effective marine predators and relying on the aquatic environment for food year round. Here, its underwater hearing abilities were investigated using psychophysics, where the bird learned to detect the presence or absence of a tone while submerged. The greatest sensitivity was found at 2 kHz, with an underwater hearing threshold of 71 dB re 1 μPa rms. The great cormorant is better at hearing underwater than expected, and the hearing thresholds are comparable to seals and toothed whales in the frequency band 1-4 kHz. This opens up the possibility of cormorants and other aquatic birds having special adaptations for underwater hearing and making use of underwater acoustic cues from, e.g., conspecifics, their surroundings, as well as prey and predators.

Interest in Use of Technology for Healthcare Among Veterans Receiving Treatment for Mental Health.

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Christopher J; McInnes, D Keith; Stolzmann, Kelly; Bauer, Mark S

2016-10-01

There is great interest in leveraging technology, including cell phones and computers, to improve healthcare. A range of e-health applications pertaining to mental health such as messaging for prescription refill or mobile device videoconferencing are becoming more available, but little is known about the mental health patient's interest in using these newer applications. We mailed a survey to 300 patients seen in the general mental health clinic of a local Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Survey questions focused on interest in use of cell phones, tablets, and other computers in patients' interactions with the healthcare system. A total of 74 patients, primarily treated for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, or anxiety disorders, returned completed surveys. Nearly all reported having a cell phone (72/74, 97%), but fewer than half reported having a smartphone (35/74, 47%). Overall, a substantial majority (64/74, 86%) had access to an Internet-capable device (smartphone or computer, including tablets). Respondents appeared to prefer computers to cell phones for some health-related communications, but did not express differential interest for other tasks (such as receiving appointment reminders). Interest in use was higher among younger veterans. Most veterans with a mental health diagnosis have access to technology (including cell phones and computers) and are interested in using that technology for some types of healthcare-related communications. While there is capacity to utilize information technology for healthcare purposes in this population, interests vary widely, and a substantial minority does not have access to relevant devices. Although interest in using computers for health-related communication was higher than interest in using cell phones, single-platform technology-based interventions may nonetheless exclude crucial segments of the population.

What great managers do.

Science.gov (United States)

Buckingham, Marcus

2005-03-01

Much has been written about the qualities that make a great manager, but most of the literature overlooks a fundamental question: What does a great manager actually do? While there are countless management styles, one thing underpins the behavior of all great managers. Above all, an exceptional manager comes to know and value the particular quirks and abilities of her employees. She figures out how to capitalize on her staffers' strengths and tweaks her environment to meet her larger goals. Such a specialized approach may seem like a lot of work. But in fact, capitalizing on each person's uniqueness can save time. Rather than encourage employees to conform to strict job descriptions that may include tasks they don't enjoy and aren't good at, a manager who develops positions for his staff members based on their unique abilities will be rewarded with behaviors that are far more efficient and effective than they would be otherwise. This focus on individuals also makes employees more accountable. Because staffers are evaluated on their particular strengths and weaknesses, they are challenged to take responsibility for their abilities and to hone them. Capitalizing on a person's uniqueness also builds a stronger sense of team. By taking the time to understand what makes each employee tick, a great manager shows that he sees his people for who they are. This personal investment not only motivates individuals but also galvanizes the entire team. Finally, this approach shakes up existing hierarchies, which leads to more creative thinking. To take great managing from theory to practice, the author says, you must know three things about a person: her strengths, the triggers that activate those strengths, and how she learns. By asking the right questions, squeezing the right triggers, and becoming aware of your employees' learning styles, you will discover what motivates each person to excel.

Determination of the Optimal Exchange Rate Via Control of the Domestic Interest Rate in Nigeria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Virtue U. Ekhosuehi

2014-01-01

Full Text Available An economic scenario has been considered where the government seeks to achieve a favourable balance-of-payments over a fixed planning horizon through exchange rate policy and control of the domestic interest rate. The dynamics of such an economy was considered in terms of a bounded optimal control problem where the exchange rate is the state variable and the domestic interest rate is the control variable. The idea of balance-of-payments was used as a theoretical underpinning to specify the objective function. By assuming that, changes in exchange rates were induced by two effects: the impact of the domestic interest rate on the exchange rate and the exchange rate system adopted by the government. Instances for both fixed and flexible optimal exchange rate regimes have been determined. The use of the approach has been illustrated employing data obtained from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN statistical bulletin. (original abstract

A Matter of Interest

Science.gov (United States)

Scott, Paul

2009-01-01

In these days of financial turmoil, there is greater interest in depositing one's money in the bank--at least one might hope for greater interest. Banks and various trusts pay compound interest at regular intervals: this means that interest is paid not only on the original sum deposited, but also on previous interest payments. This article…

Non-controlling interests, financial performance and the equity of groups. An empirical study of groups listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radosław Ignatowski

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to (a analyze IFRS requirements for the recognition and presentation of non-controlling (minority interests in consolidated financial statements in relation to theoretical concepts of consolidation of financial statements, and (b assess the share and importance of non-controlling inter-ests in financial performance and the equity of the groups of companies in practice.For the purpose of the article, selected scientific methods have been used, including: descriptive and analytical ones (for analyzing the theoretical concepts and IFRS requirements, critical analysis, especial-ly used for the literature review, and for the assessment of practice: primary empirical research methods, and quantitative methods, including descriptive statistics, nonparametric tests and correlation analysis. The empirical material collected was used to verify several hypotheses related to non-controlling interests of the groups whose parents are registered in Poland and whose securities are traded on a regulated, Polish capital market (Warsaw Stock Exchange. The empirical evidence is that non-controlling interests represent a very small part of group’s equity (taking the mean of about 3.5%, but the median below 1% and obviously, they are significantly lower than the share of majority interests. Their deviation among the different classes of companies (big, small and banks is negligible. Slightly higher is the share of minority interests in the group’s net profit and total comprehensive income. However, no significant difference is to be found between the shares of non-controlling interests in the group’s equity, net profit and total comprehensive income. Overall, shares of majority (minority interests in a group’s income are in line with their shares in the group’s equity. The hypothesis on comparable returns on non-controlling and majority interests (in terms of ROE cannot be rejected if both net profit and losses are considered

Factors affecting fledgling output of great tits, Parus major, in the long term

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rodríguez, S

2016-06-01

Full Text Available Fledgling production has often been used as an estimator of avian reproductive success, and it is conditioned by factors affecting offspring development and/or survival during the nesting period. We aimed to determine which predictors influenced fledgling output among a set of basic breeding parameters and local temperature data collected over 25 years in a Mediterranean great tit, Parus major, population, using an information–theoretic approach for model selection. Of the studied variables, the number of hatchlings per nest was the single–most important predictor influencing fledgling production, with larger broods eventually yielding more fledglings, although mass prior to fledging may have been compromised. This result suggests an overall good adjustment between brood size and resource availability in the studied population.

Factors affecting fledgling output of great tits, Parus major, in the long term

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rodriguez, S.; Alvarez, E.; Barba, E.

2016-07-01

Fledgling production has often been used as an estimator of avian reproductive success, and it is conditioned by factors affecting offspring development and/or survival during the nesting period. We aimed to determine which predictors influenced fledgling output among a set of basic breeding parameters and local temperature data collected over 25 years in a Mediterranean great tit, Parus major, population, using an information–theoretic approach for model selection. Of the studied variables, the number of hatchlings per nest was the single–most important predictor influencing fledgling production, with larger broods eventually yielding more fledglings, although mass prior to fledging may have been compromised. This result suggests an overall good adjustment between brood size and resource availability in the studied population. (Author)

Towards A Theoretical Biology: Reminiscences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

engaged in since the start of my career at the University of Chicago. Theoretical biology was ... research on theoretical problems in biology. Waddington, an ... aimed at stimulating the development of such a theoretical biology. The role the ...

Great Ellipse Route Planning Based on Space Vector

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

LIU Wenchao

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Aiming at the problem of navigation error caused by unified earth model in great circle route planning using sphere model and modern navigation equipment using ellipsoid mode, a method of great ellipse route planning based on space vector is studied. By using space vector algebra method, the vertex of great ellipse is solved directly, and description of great ellipse based on major-axis vector and minor-axis vector is presented. Then calculation formulas of great ellipse azimuth and distance are deduced using two basic vectors. Finally, algorithms of great ellipse route planning are studied, especially equal distance route planning algorithm based on Newton-Raphson(N-R method. Comparative examples show that the difference of route planning between great circle and great ellipse is significant, using algorithms of great ellipse route planning can eliminate the navigation error caused by the great circle route planning, and effectively improve the accuracy of navigation calculation.

Theoretical Physics Division

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This report is a survey of the studies done in the Theoretical Physics Division of the Nuclear Physics Institute; the subjects studied in theoretical nuclear physics were the few-nucleon problem, nuclear structure, nuclear reactions, weak interactions, intermediate energy and high energy physics. In this last field, the subjects studied were field theory, group theory, symmetry and strong interactions [fr

Integrating cross-case analyses and process tracing in set-theoretic research: Strategies and parameters of debate

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Beach, Derek; Rohlfing, Ingo

2018-01-01

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the combination of two methods on the basis of set theory. In our introduction and this special issue, we focus on two variants of cross-case set-theoretic methods - Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) and typological theory...... – and their combination with process tracing. Our goal is to broaden and deepen set-theoretic empirical research and equip scholars with guidance on how to implement it in multi-method research (MMR). At first glance, set-theoretic cross-case methods and process tracing seem to be highly compatible when causal...... relationships are conceptualized in terms of set-theory. However, multiple issues have not so far been thoroughly addressed. Our paper builds on the emerging MMR literature and seeks to enhance it in four ways. First, we offer a comprehensive and coherent elaboration of the two sequences in which case studies...

Nothing Great Is Easy

OpenAIRE

Stansbie, Lisa

2014-01-01

A solo exhibition of 13 pieces of art work.\\ud \\ud Nothing Great is Easy is an exhibition of sculpture, film, drawing and photography that proposes reconstructed narratives using the sport of swimming and in particular the collective interaction and identity of the channel swimmer. The work utilises the processes, rituals/rules, language and the apparatus of sport.\\ud \\ud “Nothing great is easy” are the words on the memorial to Captain Matthew Webb who was the first man to swim the English ch...

Imagining the Great Lakes Region: discourses and practices of civil society regional approaches for peacebuilding in Rwanda, Burundi and DR Congo

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Leeuwen, van M.

2008-01-01

The idea has gained ground in recent years that, as conflicts in the countries of the Great Lakes Region are strongly interlinked, regional approaches are necessary to resolve them. This interest in regional dimensions of conflict and peacebuilding also gains currency in other parts of the world.

Theoretical approach on microscopic bases of stochastic functional self-organization: quantitative measures of the organizational degree of the environment

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Oprisan, Sorinel Adrian [Department of Psychology, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, LA (United States)]. E-mail: soprisan@uno.edu

2001-11-30

There has been increased theoretical and experimental research interest in autonomous mobile robots exhibiting cooperative behaviour. This paper provides consistent quantitative measures of organizational degree of a two-dimensional environment. We proved, by the way of numerical simulations, that the theoretically derived values of the feature are reliable measures of aggregation degree. The slope of the feature's dependence on memory radius leads to an optimization criterion for stochastic functional self-organization. We also described the intellectual heritages that have guided our research, as well as possible future developments. (author)

Afghanistan’s significance for Russia in the 21st Century: Interests, Perceptions and Perspectives

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sangar Kaneshko

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Since President Barack Obama set the end of 2014 as the deadline to complete the planned troop withdrawal from Afghanistan, numerous commentators have sought to assess Russia’s Afghan policy since September 11, 2001 and anticipate Moscow’s strategy in ‘post-2014’ Afghanistan. This paper maintains that an assessment/evaluation of Afghanistan’s significance for Russia in the current system of international relations is needed to understand Moscow’s current and future Afghan strategy. Hence, the aim of this study is to identify and analyse the major factors, which lead to a conceptualization of Russia’s interests in Afghanistan. When assessing Russia’s interests in Afghanistan, one must take into account a plethora of significant issues, including Putin’s ‘great-power’ rhetoric; geopolitical, geostrategic, and geo-economic rivalries in the wider region; security threats such as the illegal narcotics emanating from Afghanistan and global terrorism and Islamic fundamentalism; the rivalry and competition for energy resources; and control over pipeline routes and energy corridors. The analysis of these substantiating factors demonstrate why in the 21st century the Afghan problem remains a significant challenge to Russia’s ‘great power’ identity, to its international strategy abroad, to its strategically important ‘near abroad,’ and to the country’s domestic socio-economic policy

Exploring SiSn as a performance enhancing semiconductor: A theoretical and experimental approach

KAUST Repository

Hussain, Aftab M.

2014-12-14

We present a novel semiconducting alloy, silicon-tin (SiSn), as channel material for complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) circuit applications. The material has been studied theoretically using first principles analysis as well as experimentally by fabricating MOSFETs. Our study suggests that the alloy offers interesting possibilities in the realm of silicon band gap tuning. We have explored diffusion of tin (Sn) into the industry\\'s most widely used substrate, silicon (100), as it is the most cost effective, scalable and CMOS compatible way of obtaining SiSn. Our theoretical model predicts a higher mobility for p-channel SiSn MOSFETs, due to a lower effective mass of the holes, which has been experimentally validated using the fabricated MOSFETs. We report an increase of 13.6% in the average field effect hole mobility for SiSn devices compared to silicon control devices.

Utility of Web search query data in testing theoretical assumptions about mephedrone.

Science.gov (United States)

Kapitány-Fövény, Máté; Demetrovics, Zsolt

2017-05-01

With growing access to the Internet, people who use drugs and traffickers started to obtain information about novel psychoactive substances (NPS) via online platforms. This paper aims to analyze whether a decreasing Web interest in formerly banned substances-cocaine, heroin, and MDMA-and the legislative status of mephedrone predict Web interest about this NPS. Google Trends was used to measure changes of Web interest on cocaine, heroin, MDMA, and mephedrone. Google search results for mephedrone within the same time frame were analyzed and categorized. Web interest about classic drugs found to be more persistent. Regarding geographical distribution, location of Web searches for heroin and cocaine was less centralized. Illicit status of mephedrone was a negative predictor of its Web search query rates. The connection between mephedrone-related Web search rates and legislative status of this substance was significantly mediated by ecstasy-related Web search queries, the number of documentaries, and forum/blog entries about mephedrone. The results might provide support for the hypothesis that mephedrone's popularity was highly correlated with its legal status as well as it functioned as a potential substitute for MDMA. Google Trends was found to be a useful tool for testing theoretical assumptions about NPS. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Theoretical study of hydrogen adsorption of graphene and carbon nanotubes decorated with palladium

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lopez Corral, Ignacio; German, Estefania; Volpe, Maria A; Brizuela, Graciela; Juan, Alfredo

2008-01-01

Since their discovery in 1991, carbon nanotubes (CNT) have awakened great interest in materials science thanks to their extraordinary structural, electronic and mechanical properties which facilitate their application in many different areas. One of the most promising applications is the possibility of using CNT to store hydrogen for use in small scale fuel cells. Unfortunately, experimental studies performed some years ago have often led to controversial conclusions, causing a continuing debate that has still not been resolved. The most recent work suggests that the storage of hydrogen for practical purposes can be achieved with CNT decorated with transition metals, for example Pd. In this context, theoretical modeling methods have to be used for a detailed understanding of the influence and scope of this type of modification in the interaction of the nanotubes with atomic or molecular hydrogen. This work studied hydrogen adsorption in single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) doped with Pd atoms, using density functional theory (DFT) and semi-empirical methods. As a preliminary approximation to the system a graphene sheet was used, modeled with a 190 atom cluster of C in a hexagonal arrangement, on which a single Pd atom was placed in adsorption sites. Then C 190 clusters were used to simulate two different types of SWCNT: the zigzag SWCNT of quirality (10.0) and the armchair SWCNT of quirality (5.5), both decorated similarly on the graphene. Geometric optimization procedures for the system's different components were carried out with these models, and then the changes produced during the adsorption process in the electronic occupation of atomic orbitals and unions, for which crystal orbital overlap population (COOP) curves and overlap population (OP) values were evaluated. The results obtained with the graphene and nanotube approximations are in agreement and show that the SWCNT modified with Pd have more capacity to trap hydrogen than the non doped SWCNT. The

Climate variability and Great Plains agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rosenberg, N.J.; Katz, L.A.

1991-01-01

The ways in which inhabitants of the Great Plains, including Indians, early settlers, and 20th century farmers, have adapted to climate changes on the Great Plains are explored. The climate of the Great Plains, because of its variability and extremes, can be very stressful to plants, animals and people. It is suggested that agriculture and society on the Great Plains have, during the last century, become less vulnerable to the stresses imposed by climate. Opinions as to the sustainability of agriculture on the Great Plains vary substantially. Lockeretz (1981) suggests that large scale, high cost technologies have stressed farmers by creating surpluses and by requiring large investments. Opie (1989) sees irrigation as a climate substitute, however he stresses that the Ogallala aquifer must inevitably become depleted. Deborah and Frank Popper (1987) believe that farming on the Plains is unsustainable, and destruction of shelterbelts, out-migration of the rural population and environmental problems will lead to total collapse. With global warming, water in the Great Plains is expected to become scarcer, and although improvements in irrigation efficiency may slow depletion of the Ogallala aquifer, ultimately the acreage under irrigation must decrease to levels that can be sustained by natural recharge and reliable surface flows. 23 refs., 2 figs

Great Basin land managers provide detailed feedback about usefulness of two climate information web applications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chad Zanocco

Full Text Available Land managers in the Great Basin are working to maintain or restore sagebrush ecosystems as climate change exacerbates existing threats. Web applications delivering climate change and climate impacts information have the potential to assist their efforts. Although many web applications containing climate information currently exist, few have been co-produced with land managers or have incorporated information specifically focused on land managers’ needs. Through surveys and interviews, we gathered detailed feedback from federal, state, and tribal sagebrush land managers in the Great Basin on climate information web applications targeting land management. We found that a managers are searching for weather and climate information they can incorporate into their current management strategies and plans; b they are willing to be educated on how to find and understand climate related web applications; c both field and administrative-type managers want data for timescales ranging from seasonal to decadal; d managers want multiple levels of climate information, from simple summaries, to detailed descriptions accessible through the application; and e managers are interested in applications that evaluate uncertainty and provide projected climate impacts. Keywords: Great Basin, Sagebrush, Land management, Climate change, Web application, Co-production

INTEGRATING GEOPHYSICS, GEOLOGY, AND HYDROLOGY TO DETERMINE BEDROCK GEOMETRY CONTROLS ON THE ORIGIN OF ISOLATED MEADOW COMPLEXES WITHIN THE CENTRAL GREAT BASIN, NEVADA

Science.gov (United States)

Riparian meadow complexes found in mountain ranges of the Central Great Basin physiographic region (western United States) are of interest to researchers as they contain significant biodiversity relative to the surrounding basin areas. These meadow complexes are currently degradi...

The great moderation of inflation: a structural analysis of recent U.S. monetary business cycles

OpenAIRE

Casares Polo, Miguel; Vázquez, Jesús

2012-01-01

U.S. inflation has experienced a great moderation in the last two decades. This paper examines the factors behind this and other stylized facts, such as the weaker correlation of inflation and nominal interest rate (Gibson paradox). Our findings point at lower exogenous variability of supply-side shocks and, to a lower extent, structural changes in money demand, monetary policy, and firms’ sticky pricing behavior as the main driving forces of the changes observed in recent U.S. business cycle...

Large Hadron Collider (LHC) phenomenology, operational challenges and theoretical predictions

CERN Document Server

Gilles, Abelin R

2013-01-01

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) is the highest-energy particle collider ever constructed and is considered "one of the great engineering milestones of mankind." It was built by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) from 1998 to 2008, with the aim of allowing physicists to test the predictions of different theories of particle physics and high-energy physics, and particularly prove or disprove the existence of the theorized Higgs boson and of the large family of new particles predicted by supersymmetric theories. In this book, the authors study the phenomenology, operational challenges and theoretical predictions of LHC. Topics discussed include neutral and charged black hole remnants at the LHC; the modified statistics approach for the thermodynamical model of multiparticle production; and astroparticle physics and cosmology in the LHC era.

Theoretical considerations around teaching vocational reaffirmation in the context of Santiago de Cuba centers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Silally Betancourt-Rodríguez

2016-11-01

Full Text Available It is worrying that teachers in training who are inserted into teaching units to complete their work and research component not feel fully identified with the teaching profession, or are in their tutors assistance conscious and needed to successfully develop its work and reaffirm thus their interest in the race, this reveals shortcomings from the motivational point of view presented during the initial training process thereof, particularly those of mathematics career - Physical and lack of commitment of managers and staff with training from the teaching units. The aim is to reflect in relation to some theoretical considerations for developing teaching vocational reaffirmation of teachers in training this race in the context of the teaching unit. the theoretical analysis synthesis method was used during the investigation

Why do policies change? Institutions, interests, ideas and networks in three cases of policy reform.

Science.gov (United States)

Shearer, Jessica C; Abelson, Julia; Kouyaté, Bocar; Lavis, John N; Walt, Gill

2016-11-01

Policy researchers have used various categories of variables to explain why policies change, including those related to institutions, interests and ideas. Recent research has paid growing attention to the role of policy networks-the actors involved in policy-making, their relationships with each other, and the structure formed by those relationships-in policy reform across settings and issues; however, this literature has largely ignored the theoretical integration of networks with other policy theories, including the '3Is' of institutions, interests and ideas. This article proposes a conceptual framework integrating these variables and tests it on three cases of policy change in Burkina Faso, addressing the need for theoretical integration with networks as well as the broader aim of theory-driven health policy analysis research in low- and middle-income countries. We use historical process tracing, a type of comparative case study, to interpret and compare documents and in-depth interview data within and between cases. We found that while network changes were indeed associated with policy reform, this relationship was mediated by one or more of institutions, interests and ideas. In a context of high donor dependency, new donor rules affected the composition and structure of actors in the networks, which enabled the entry and dissemination of new ideas and shifts in the overall balance of interest power ultimately leading to policy change. The case of strategic networking occurred in only one case, by civil society actors, suggesting that network change is rarely the spark that initiates the process towards policy change. This analysis highlights the important role of changes in institutions and ideas to drive policymaking, but hints that network change is a necessary intermediate step in these processes. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press in association with The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. All rights reserved. For

Non-controlling interests, financial performance and the equity of groups. An empirical study of groups listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange 

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Radosław Ignatowski

2015-11-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this article is to (a analyze IFRS requirements for the recognition and presentation of non-controlling (minority interests in consolidated financial statements in relation to theoretical concepts of consolidation of financial statements, and (b assess the share and importance of non-controlling inter-ests in financial performance and the equity of the groups of companies in practice. For the purpose of the article, selected scientific methods have been used, including: descriptive and analytical ones (for analyzing the theoretical concepts and IFRS requirements, critical analysis, especial-ly used for the literature review, and for the assessment of practice: primary empirical research methods, and quantitative methods, including descriptive statistics, nonparametric tests and correlation analysis. The empirical material collected was used to verify several hypotheses related to non-controlling interests of the groups whose parents are registered in Poland and whose securities are traded on a regulated, Polish capital market (Warsaw Stock Exchange. The empirical evidence is that non-controlling interests represent a very small part of group’s equity (taking the mean of about 3.5%, but the median below 1% and obviously, they are significantly lower than the share of majority interests. Their deviation among the different classes of companies (big, small and banks is negligible. Slightly higher is the share of minority interests in the group’s net profit and total comprehensive income. However, no significant difference is to be found between the shares of non-controlling interests in the group’s equity, net profit and total comprehensive income. Overall, shares of majority (minority interests in a group’s income are in line with their shares in the group’s equity. The hypothesis on comparable returns on non-controlling and majority interests (in terms of ROE cannot be rejected if both net profit and losses are considered

Understanding Interest Rate Volatility

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Volker, Desi

This thesis is the result of my Ph.D. studies at the Department of Finance of the Copenhagen Business School. It consists of three essays covering topics related to the term structure of interest rates, monetary policy and interest rate volatility. The rst essay, \\Monetary Policy Uncertainty...... and Interest Rates", examines the role of monetary policy uncertainty on the term structure of interest rates. The second essay, \\A Regime-Switching A ne Term Structure Model with Stochastic Volatility" (co-authored with Sebastian Fux), investigates the ability of the class of regime switching models...... with and without stochastic volatility to capture the main stylized features of U.S. interest rates. The third essay, \\Variance Risk Premia in the Interest Rate Swap Market", investigates the time-series and cross-sectional properties of the compensation demanded for holding interest rate variance risk. The essays...

A theoretical formulation of the electrophysiological inverse problem on the sphere.

Science.gov (United States)

Riera, Jorge J; Valdés, Pedro A; Tanabe, Kunio; Kawashima, Ryuta

2006-04-07

The construction of three-dimensional images of the primary current density (PCD) produced by neuronal activity is a problem of great current interest in the neuroimaging community, though being initially formulated in the 1970s. There exist even now enthusiastic debates about the authenticity of most of the inverse solutions proposed in the literature, in which low resolution electrical tomography (LORETA) is a focus of attention. However, in our opinion, the capabilities and limitations of the electro and magneto encephalographic techniques to determine PCD configurations have not been extensively explored from a theoretical framework, even for simple volume conductor models of the head. In this paper, the electrophysiological inverse problem for the spherical head model is cast in terms of reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces (RKHS) formalism, which allows us to identify the null spaces of the implicated linear integral operators and also to define their representers. The PCD are described in terms of a continuous basis for the RKHS, which explicitly separates the harmonic and non-harmonic components. The RKHS concept permits us to bring LORETA into the scope of the general smoothing splines theory. A particular way of calculating the general smoothing splines is illustrated, avoiding a brute force discretization prematurely. The Bayes information criterion is used to handle dissimilarities in the signal/noise ratios and physical dimensions of the measurement modalities, which could affect the estimation of the amount of smoothness required for that class of inverse solution to be well specified. In order to validate the proposed method, we have estimated the 3D spherical smoothing splines from two data sets: electric potentials obtained from a skull phantom and magnetic fields recorded from subjects performing an experiment of human faces recognition.

The Maxwell-Lorentz Model for optical Pulses

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Mads Peter; Brio, Moysey

2007-01-01

Dynamics of optical pulses, especially of ultra short femtosecond pulses, are of great technological and theoretical interest. The dynamics of optical pulses is usually studied using the nonlinear Schrodinger (NLS) equation model. While such approach works surprisingly well for description of pulse...

Theoretical and historical process of teaching vocational guidance towards career fundamentals of Physics in high school

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yamila García-Carrión

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this paper was to reflex towards the foundations theoretical and historical of the professional pedagogical orientation process for the career physics from the senior high school, through which it has permitted to address the creation of practical proposals. For the transformation of the educative reality in the senior high school from the convergence of the professionals needs in this specialty in the territory and the needs and interest of the students in this educational level. From the theoretical point of view, we have awareness of the conception of the class as an interactive space for the mediatization of the relation of the students with the pedagogical profession.

Der Einfluss von personeller Einkommensverteilung auf die „Great Depression“ und die „Great Recession“

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Stefan Trappl

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Der Einfluss gestiegener Einkommensungleichheit auf die „Great Depression“ und die „Great Recession“ wurde mehrfach postuliert (Galbraith 1954/2009; Eccles 1951; Rajan 2010; Stiglitz 2012; Piketty 2014. Konkrete empirische Arbeiten zum Zusammenhang zwischen Einkommensverteilung und dem Entstehen von Wirtschaftskrisen gibt es aber bislang wenige. Kumhof/Ranciere (2010 überprüften die von Rajan (2010 aufgestellte Hypothese, die einen entsprechenden Zusammenhang postuliert, mittels Modellrechnung. Bordo/Meissner (2012 und darauf aufbauend Gu/Huang (2014 verwendeten unterschiedliche Regressionsmodelle in Bezug auf einen entsprechenden Zusammenhang, ohne jedoch eindeutige Ergebnisse zu liefern. Die vorliegende Arbeit schließt an diese Arbeiten an, beschränkt die Untersuchung allerdings auf Staaten, für die Daten für die letzten hundert Jahre verfügbar sind, und untersucht zudem explizit die Zeiträume um die beiden größten Krisen der letzten hundert Jahre, die „Great Depression“ und die „Great Recession“. Die Auswertungen zeigen, dass die personelle Einkommensverteilung ein guter Prädiktor für die Kriseneintrittswahrscheinlichkeit ist.

26 CFR 1.265-3 - Nondeductibility of interest relating to exempt-interest dividends.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... interest relating to exempt-interest dividends. (a) In general. No deduction is allowed to a shareholder of... dividends distributed by the company to the shareholder during the shareholder's taxable year. (b) Interest... amount of exempt-interest dividends received by the shareholder. The denominator of the fraction is the...

Regional economic integration in Great East Asia: determinants and barriers

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Volodymyr Korol

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The article studies both general trends and peculiar characteristics of processes of economic integration in the Great East Asia, which plays the role of one of the major centers of contemporary global development. The basic determinants and barriers for implementation of regional strategies by China, Japan, ASEAN that will influence the geo-economic policy of Ukraine not only in East Asian, but also European and Eurasian areas. Attention is focused on the basic principles of realized and potential future integration models in the "ASEAN+" format with variable composition of member states that correspond to different extents to strategic objectives of both specified key actors in the region and extra-regional states that have global and transnational interests. Extrapolation of dominant trends in the nature and dynamics of transformation processes of East Asian economic regionalization allowed forming a forecast for the longterm conservation of importance of free trade agreements in the absence of preconditions to create customs unions. At the same time it was stressed out that proper assurance of national interests of international economic relations will be based on contractual instruments at the international level, without creating institutional and legal superstructure similar to the European Union or the Eurasian Economic Union as supranational law and supranational bodies.

Great Lakes Bathymetry

Data.gov (United States)

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce — Bathymetry of Lakes Michigan, Erie, Saint Clair, Ontario and Huron has been compiled as a component of a NOAA project to rescue Great Lakes lake floor geological and...

Theoretical information measurement in nonrelativistic time-dependent approach

Science.gov (United States)

Najafizade, S. A.; Hassanabadi, H.; Zarrinkamar, S.

2018-02-01

The information-theoretic measures of time-dependent Schrödinger equation are investigated via the Shannon information entropy, variance and local Fisher quantities. In our calculations, we consider the two first states n = 0,1 and obtain the position Sx (t) and momentum Sp (t) Shannon entropies as well as Fisher information Ix (t) in position and momentum Ip (t) spaces. Using the Fourier transformed wave function, we obtain the results in momentum space. Some interesting features of the information entropy densities ρs (x,t) and γs (p,t), as well as the probability densities ρ (x,t) and γ (p,t) for time-dependent states are demonstrated. We establish a general relation between variance and Fisher's information. The Bialynicki-Birula-Mycielski inequality is tested and verified for the states n = 0,1.

What Caused the Great Depression?

Science.gov (United States)

Caldwell, Jean; O'Driscoll, Timothy G.

2007-01-01

Economists and historians have struggled for almost 80 years to account for the American Great Depression, which began in 1929 and lasted until the early years of World War II. In this article, the authors discuss three major schools of thought on the causes of the Great Depression and the long failure of the American economy to return to full…

The Sixth Great Mass Extinction

Science.gov (United States)

Wagler, Ron

2012-01-01

Five past great mass extinctions have occurred during Earth's history. Humanity is currently in the midst of a sixth, human-induced great mass extinction of plant and animal life (e.g., Alroy 2008; Jackson 2008; Lewis 2006; McDaniel and Borton 2002; Rockstrom et al. 2009; Rohr et al. 2008; Steffen, Crutzen, and McNeill 2007; Thomas et al. 2004;…

The value of private patient information in the physician-patient relationship: a game-theoretic account.

Science.gov (United States)

De Jaegher, Kris

2012-01-01

This paper presents a game-theoretical model of the physician-patient relationship. There is a conflict of interests between physician and patient, in that the physician prefers the patient to always obtain a particular treatment, even if the patient would not consider this treatment in his interest. The patient obtains imperfect cues of whether or not he needs the treatment. The effect of an increase in the quality of the patient's private information is studied, in the form of an improvement in the quality of his cues. It is shown that when the patient's information improves in this sense, he may either become better off or worse off. The precise circumstances under which either result is obtained are derived.

Great magnetic storms

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tsurutani, B.T.; Yen Te Lee; Tang, F.; Gonzalez, W.D.

1992-01-01

The five largest magnetic storms that occurred between 1971 and 1986 are studied to determine their solar and interplanetary causes. All of the events are found to be associated with high speed solar wind streams led by collisionless shocks. The high speed streams are clearly related to identifiable solar flares. It is found that (1) it is the extreme values of the southward interplanetary magnetic fields rather than solar wind speeds that are the primary causes of great magnetic storms, (2) shocked and draped sheath fields preceding the driver gas (magnetic cloud) are at least as effective in causing the onset of great magnetic storms (3 of 5 events ) as the strong fields within the driver gas itself, and (3) precursor southward fields ahead of the high speed streams allow the shock compression mechanism (item 2) to be particularly geoeffective

IDENTITY AND INTERESTS IN EUROPEAN INTEGRATION THEORY: THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF THE CFSP

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

HORIA BARBULESCU

2011-04-01

Full Text Available The paper aims to analyze the evolution of the Common Foreign and Security Policy from the stand point of two competing approaches: the intergovernmentalist theory, based on rational institutionalism, and the constructivist theories in integration studies. I also attempt an evaluation of their analytical importance inside the theoretical research concerning CFSP. The contribution of this paper lies in emphasizing that even if interests, material and negotiation power and asymmetrical interdependence are useful starting points in analyzing the potential influence of states on early institutional evolution, power alone does not explain the final outcomes of this evolution or of the policies pursued inside the CFSP.

Revisiting The Concepts of Money, Profit and Interest from The Perspective of Value and Diminishing Marginal Utility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahamed Kameel Mydin Meera

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This article is a theoretical article that attempts to clarify the inherent meanings of the concepts of profit and interest, i.e. two important concepts in finance, particularly Islamic Finance. These are age-old concepts in economics that still draw confusion among people. Profit comes from trade and interest comes from lending and borrowing activities. While the former is much encouraged in Islam, the latter is strongly forbidden. Nonetheless, in today’s monetary and financial circumstances, the market interest rate is being used as a benchmark for the Islamic profit rate, drawing criticisms from many quarters that both are indeed one and the same. Using the fundamental economic concept of marginal utility, this paper attempts to clarify the fundamental difference in these two concepts and their implications for modern finance, particularly Islamic finance. Indirectly in the process, the paper also clarifies the concepts of money and riba.

Theoretical study of the self-assembly of Janus Bottlebrush Polymers from A-Branch-B Diblock Macromonomers

Science.gov (United States)

Gadelrab, Karim; Alexander-Katz, Alfredo; LaboratoryTheoretical Soft Materials Team

The self-assembly of block copolymers BCP has provided an impressive control over the nanoscale structure of soft matter. While the main focus of the research in the field has been directed towards simple linear diblocks, the development of advanced polymer architecture provided improved performance and access to new structures. In particular, bottlebrush BCPs (BBCPs) have interesting characteristics due to their dense functionality, high molecular weight, low levels of entanglement, and tendency to efficiently undergo rapid bulk phase separation. In this work, we are interested in theoretically studying the self-assembly of Janus-type ``A-branch-B'' BBCPs where A and B blocks can phase separate with the bottlebrush polymer backbone serving as the interface between the two blocks. Hence, the polymer backbone adds an extra constraint on the equilibrium spacing between neighboring linear diblock chains. In this regard, the segment length of the backbone separating the AB junctions has a direct effect of the observed domain spacing and effective segregation strength of the AB blocks. We employ self-consistent field theoretic SCFT simulations to capture the effect of volume fraction of different constituents and construct a phase diagram of the accessible morphologies of these BBCPs.

Theoretical Investigation of Dynamic Properties of Magnetic Molecule Systems as Probed by NMR and Pulsed Fields Experiments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rousochatzakis, Ioannis [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

2005-12-17

The field of molecular magnetism[l-6] has become a subject of intense theoretical and experimental interest and has rapidly evolved during the last years. This inter-disciplinary field concerns magnetic systems at the molecular or "nanoscopic" level, whose realization has become feasible due to recent advances in the field of chemical synthesis. The present theoretical work provides a first step towards exploiting the possibilities that are offered by probing magnetic molecules using external magnetic fields with high sweep rates. These probes, apart for providing information specific to magnetic molecules, offer the possibility of conducting a detailed study of the relaxational behavior of interacting spin systems as a result of their coupling with a "heat bath" and in particular the excitations of the host lattice. Development of a broad theoretical framework for dealing with relaxational phenomena induced by dynamical magnetic fields is indeed a worthy goal.

Is holography ready for yet another life? or make holography great again

Science.gov (United States)

Trolinger, James D.

2016-08-01

Holographic metrology, unlike most other applications of holography, has always thrived and continues to thrive by continuously incorporating new supporting technologies that make it more powerful and useful. Successes, failures, lives, and deaths are examined and recognized as evolutionary steps that position the field where opportunities are as great and as many as ever. This is a story of that evolution. Comparisons and analogies with other applications of holography such as data storage, archiving, the arts, entertainment, advertising, and security and their evolution are interesting. Critical events, successes, mistakes, and coincidences represent milestones of abandonment or failure to deliver in many holography communities that followed a different evolutionary path. Events and new technical developments continue to emerge in supporting fields that can revive and expand all holography applications. New opportunities are described with encouragement to act on them and take some risks. Don't wait until all of the required technology and hardware are available, because good scientists always act before then. The paper is about "making holography great again" and your opportunity to be a part of the upcoming revolution. Although the discussion focuses on holographic metrology, the same principles should apply to other holography communities.

Phil Wallace and Theoretical Physics at McGill in the 1950's: A Personal Perspective

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jackson, John David

2010-01-01

In 1946 Philip (Phil) Russell Wallace joined the Mathematics Department of McGill University as an Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics, apparently because A. H. S. Gillson, Dean of Arts and Science, wanted theoretical physicists to be in the Mathematics Department. He came with the dream of creating a theoretical physics group at McGill. By the spring of 1949, Phil was authorized to recruit two junior faculty in Mathematics. He hired Theodore (Ted) F. Morris from U. Toronto, who joined in September 1949, and me, who came in January 1950. The group had begun. Phil Wallace was born in Toronto in 1915 and grew up there. He entered the University of Toronto in 1933, earned a B.A. in mathematics in 1937, a M.A. in 1938, and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 1940 under Leopold Infeld. His Ph.D. thesis in general relativity was entitled 'On the relativistic equations of motion in electromagnetic theory.' In 1940 World War II had engulfed Europe and was having its effect on Canada, but the US was still at peace. L. J. Synge, Head of the Applied Mathematics Department at Toronto, told Wallace that people such as he would be needed in war work, but things were not ready quite yet. Hold yourself ready. Phil took a two-year position as lecturer in mathematics at the University of Cincinnati (1940-42); in the fall of 1942 he became a lecturer in mathematics at M.I.T. It was from there that he was recruited by Synge to join the war effort from 1943 to 1946 at N.R.C.'s Montreal Laboratory, the genesis of the Canadian Atomic Energy Project. Phil has described those heady wartime years in these pages. Much of the effort of the theoretical physicists was on nuclear reactor theory and the properties of relevant materials, such as graphite, under long and intense neutron bombardment. In late 1945 Phil was sent for four months to Bristol to learn about the properties of graphite from the esteemed N. F. Mott. This exposure led Phil to a life-long interest in graphite and in

Monitoring the environment and human sentiment on the Great Barrier Reef: Assessing the potential of collective sensing.

Science.gov (United States)

Becken, Susanne; Stantic, Bela; Chen, Jinyan; Alaei, Ali Reza; Connolly, Rod M

2017-12-01

With the growth of smartphone usage the number of social media posts has significantly increased and represents potentially valuable information for management, including of natural resources and the environment. Already, evidence of using 'human sensor' in crises management suggests that collective knowledge could be used to complement traditional monitoring. This research uses Twitter data posted from the Great Barrier Reef region, Australia, to assess whether the extent and type of data could be used to Great Barrier Reef organisations as part of their monitoring program. The analysis reveals that large amounts of tweets, covering the geographic area of interest, are available and that the pool of information providers is greatly enhanced by the large number of tourists to this region. A keyword and sentiment analysis demonstrates the usefulness of the Twitter data, but also highlights that the actual number of Reef-related tweets is comparatively small and lacks specificity. Suggestions for further steps towards the development of an integrative data platform that incorporates social media are provided. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

'Great Power Style' in China's Economic Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jiang, Yang

2011-01-01

China’s ascendance attracts concern, even though Beijing claims to be a responsible great power and tries to demonstrate its ‘great power style’ in economic diplomacy. This article therefore discusses the following questions: to what extent does the current notion and practice of Chinese ‘great...... power style’ in economic diplomacy comply with, or differ from, the criteria of benign hegemony; and what are the major constraining factors? Conceptually, China’s ‘great power style’ is rooted in ancient Chinese political philosophy and institution, but it highly resembles the Western notion of benign...

A dual-process perspective on fluency-based aesthetics: the pleasure-interest model of aesthetic liking.

Science.gov (United States)

Graf, Laura K M; Landwehr, Jan R

2015-11-01

In this article, we develop an account of how aesthetic preferences can be formed as a result of two hierarchical, fluency-based processes. Our model suggests that processing performed immediately upon encountering an aesthetic object is stimulus driven, and aesthetic preferences that accrue from this processing reflect aesthetic evaluations of pleasure or displeasure. When sufficient processing motivation is provided by a perceiver's need for cognitive enrichment and/or the stimulus' processing affordance, elaborate perceiver-driven processing can emerge, which gives rise to fluency-based aesthetic evaluations of interest, boredom, or confusion. Because the positive outcomes in our model are pleasure and interest, we call it the Pleasure-Interest Model of Aesthetic Liking (PIA Model). Theoretically, this model integrates a dual-process perspective and ideas from lay epistemology into processing fluency theory, and it provides a parsimonious framework to embed and unite a wealth of aesthetic phenomena, including contradictory preference patterns for easy versus difficult-to-process aesthetic stimuli. © 2015 by the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, Inc.

Supply chain collaboration: A Game-theoretic approach to profit allocation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ponte, B.; Fernández, I.; Rosillo, R.; Parreño, J.; García, N.

2016-07-01

Purpose: This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework for profit allocation, as a mechanism for aligning incentives, in collaborative supply chains. Design/methodology/approach: The issue of profit distribution is approached from a game-theoretic perspective. We use the nucleolus concept. The framework is illustrated through a numerical example based on the Beer Game scenario. Findings: The nucleolus offers a powerful perspective to tackle this problem, as it takes into consideration the bargaining power of the different echelons. We show that this framework outperforms classical alternatives. Research limitations/implications: The allocation of the overall supply chain profit is analyzed from a static perspective. Considering the dynamic nature of the problem would be an interesting next step. Practical implications: We provide evidence of drawbacks derived from classical solutions to the profit allocation problem. Real-world collaborative supply chains need of robust mechanisms like the one tackled in this work to align incentives from the various actors. Originality/value: Adopting an efficient collaborative solution is a major challenge for supply chains, since it is a wide and complex process that requires an appropriate scheme. Within this framework, profit allocation is essential.

Theoretical investigation of the secondary ionization in krypton and xenon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saffo, M.E.

1986-01-01

A theoretical investigation of the secondary ionization processes that responsible for the pre-breakdown ionization current growth in a uniform electric field was studied in krypton and xenon gases, especially at low values of E/P 0 which is corresponding to high values of pressure, since there are a number of possible secondary ionization processes. It is interesting to carry out a quantitative analysis for the generalized secondary ionization coefficient obtained previously by many workers in terms of the production of excited states and their diffusion to the cathode and their destruction rate in the gas body. From energy balance equation for the electrons in the discharge, the fractional percentage energy losses of ionization, excitation, and elastic collisions to the total energy gained by the electron from the field has been calculated for krypton and xenon, as a result of such calculations; the conclusion drawn is that at low values of E/P 0 the main energy loss of electrons are in excited collision. Therefore, we are adopting a theoretical calculation for W/α under the assumption that the photo-electron emission at the cathode is the predominated secondary ionization process. 14 tabs.; 12 figs.; 64 refs

Supply chain collaboration: A Game-theoretic approach to profit allocation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ponte, B.; Fernández, I.; Rosillo, R.; Parreño, J.; García, N.

2016-01-01

Purpose: This paper aims to develop a theoretical framework for profit allocation, as a mechanism for aligning incentives, in collaborative supply chains. Design/methodology/approach: The issue of profit distribution is approached from a game-theoretic perspective. We use the nucleolus concept. The framework is illustrated through a numerical example based on the Beer Game scenario. Findings: The nucleolus offers a powerful perspective to tackle this problem, as it takes into consideration the bargaining power of the different echelons. We show that this framework outperforms classical alternatives. Research limitations/implications: The allocation of the overall supply chain profit is analyzed from a static perspective. Considering the dynamic nature of the problem would be an interesting next step. Practical implications: We provide evidence of drawbacks derived from classical solutions to the profit allocation problem. Real-world collaborative supply chains need of robust mechanisms like the one tackled in this work to align incentives from the various actors. Originality/value: Adopting an efficient collaborative solution is a major challenge for supply chains, since it is a wide and complex process that requires an appropriate scheme. Within this framework, profit allocation is essential.

The Paranormal is (Still) Normal: The Sociological Implications of a Survey of Paranormal Experiences in Great Britain

OpenAIRE

Castro, MA; Burrows, R; Wooffitt, R

2014-01-01

Historically, there has been limited sociological interest in the paranormal and no systematic study of reported paranormal experiences. There are also few medium-to-large-scale survey results with nationally representative populations focusing on paranormal experiences. This paper provides details of an exploratory survey conducted in 2009 with a nationally representative sample of 4,096 adults aged 16 years and over across Great Britain . Our findings show that 37 per cent of British adults...

Experimental and theoretical investigation on photocatalytic activities of 1D Ag/Ag2WO4 nanostructures

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Danqing; Huang, Weicheng; Li, Long; Liu, Lu; Sun, Xiaojun; Liu, Bo; Yang, Bin; Guo, Chongshen

2017-09-01

Ag2WO4 is a significant photocatalyst that responds to UV light irradiation only, which greatly hinders it for further practical application for solar light. To address this problem, herein, 1D plasmonic Ag/Ag2WO4 photocatalysts have been fabricated by a successive process including hydrothermal synthesis to obtain Ag2WO4 followed by an additional in situ chemical-reduction process for Ag decoration. Then, the structural features, optical properties, and electronic structures of Ag2WO4 and Ag/Ag2WO4 nanowires were systematically investigated via a combination of theoretical calculations and experimental evidence. The plasmon-enhanced Ag/Ag2WO4 nanowires exhibited higher visible-light-driven photocatalytic activity, which performed a desired photodestruction ratio of 91.2% on methylene blue within 60 min and good stability in five cycles. The Ag decoration greatly facilitates visible-light harvesting and thus promotes photogenerated radical oxidation to dye, which is evidenced by the higher hydroxyl radical level of Ag/Ag2WO4 detected in the ESR test during the photocatalytic process. The theoretical calculation based on density functional theory indicates that Ag nanoparticles formed on the surface of Ag2WO4 could narrow the band gap of Ag2WO4. In addition, the surface plasmon resonance absorption effect and fast charge transfer effect in the metal-semiconductor system contribute to the photocatalytic performance of Ag/Ag2WO4.

The Impact of the Great Recession on Monetary and Fiscal Policy in Developed Market Economies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Šehović Damir

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Background: With the occurrence of the crisis in 2007, which caused the largest economic contraction since the Great Depression in the thirties, it has become evident that the previous understanding of strategies, effects and roles of monetary and fiscal policy should be redefined. Objectives: The aim of this paper is to illustrate a possible expected change in monetary and fiscal policy in developed market economies that could occur as a consequence of the Great Recession. Methods/Approach: The paper provides a comparative analysis of various primary economic variables related to the developed OECD countries, as well as the empirical testing of the selected theoretical assumptions. Results: The changes in monetary policy refer to the question of raising target inflation, considering a possible use of aggregate price level targeting and paying attention to the role of central banks in suppressing the formation of an asset bubble. The success of fiscal policy in attaining stabilization depends on the size of possible fiscal measures and creation of automatic stabilizers. Conclusions: For the most part, monetary and fiscal policies will still stay unchanged, although some segments of these policies need to be improved.

A Comparative Study of Theoretical Graph Models for Characterizing Structural Networks of Human Brain

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaojin Li

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Previous studies have investigated both structural and functional brain networks via graph-theoretical methods. However, there is an important issue that has not been adequately discussed before: what is the optimal theoretical graph model for describing the structural networks of human brain? In this paper, we perform a comparative study to address this problem. Firstly, large-scale cortical regions of interest (ROIs are localized by recently developed and validated brain reference system named Dense Individualized Common Connectivity-based Cortical Landmarks (DICCCOL to address the limitations in the identification of the brain network ROIs in previous studies. Then, we construct structural brain networks based on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI data. Afterwards, the global and local graph properties of the constructed structural brain networks are measured using the state-of-the-art graph analysis algorithms and tools and are further compared with seven popular theoretical graph models. In addition, we compare the topological properties between two graph models, namely, stickiness-index-based model (STICKY and scale-free gene duplication model (SF-GD, that have higher similarity with the real structural brain networks in terms of global and local graph properties. Our experimental results suggest that among the seven theoretical graph models compared in this study, STICKY and SF-GD models have better performances in characterizing the structural human brain network.

Theoretical model for cavitation erosion prediction in centrifugal pump impeller

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rayan, M.A.; Mahgob, M.M.; Mostafa, N.H.

1990-01-01

Cavitation is known to have great effects on pump hydraulic and mechanical characteristics. These effects are mainly described by deviation in pump performance, increasing vibration and noise level as well as erosion of blade and casing materials. In the present work, only the hydrodynamic aspect of cavitation was considered. The efforts were directed toward the study of cavitation inception, cavity mechanics and material erosion in order to clarify the macrohydrodynamic aspects of cavitation erosive wear in real machines. As a result of this study, it was found that cavitation damage can be predicted from model data. The obtained theoretical results show good agreement with the experimental results obtained in this investigation and with results of some other investigations. The application of the findings of this work will help the design engineer in predicting the erosion rate, according to the different operating conditions. (author)

Road Surfaces And Earthquake Engineering: A Theoretical And Experimental Study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pratico, Filippo Giammaria

2008-01-01

As is well known, road surfaces greatly affect vehicle-road interaction. As a consequence, road surfaces have a paramount influence on road safety and pavement management systems. On the other hand, earthquakes produce deformations able to modify road surface structure, properties and performance. In the light of these facts, the main goal of this paper has been confined into the modelling of road surface before, during and after the seismic event. The fundamentals of road surface texture theory have been stated in a general formulation. Models in the field of road profile generation and theoretical properties, before, during and after the earthquake, have been formulated and discussed. Practical applications can be hypothesised in the field of vehicle-road interaction as a result of road surface texture derived from deformations and accelerations caused by seismic or similar events

Understanding Interest Rate Volatility

OpenAIRE

Volker, Desi

2016-01-01

This thesis is the result of my Ph.D. studies at the Department of Finance of the Copenhagen Business School. It consists of three essays covering topics related to the term structure of interest rates, monetary policy and interest rate volatility. The rst essay, \\Monetary Policy Uncertainty and Interest Rates", examines the role of monetary policy uncertainty on the term structure of interest rates. The second essay, \\A Regime-Switching A ne Term Structure Model with Stochast...

Annual report on theoretical work of the S.T.G.I. (Section de theorie des gaz ionises)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1984-01-01

This report presents in a detailed form the theoretical work of the STGI (Section Theorie des Gaz Ionises). It is thus hoped that the present report will be useful for physicists interested in additional information. Works an plasma equilibrium and its evolution are shortly presented together with works on plasma heating and current drive. Kinetic theory and spectroscopy are not forgotten

Resistance and Renewal in Theoretical Psychology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

psychology, resistance and renewal, form the overall theme for a selection of theoretical papers that is framed — in this iteration of the International Society for Theoretical Psychology's (ISTP) proceedings — by reflections on the 30 year history of the ISTP as well as by considerations of the future....... The diversity and creativity of the work undertaken within theoretical psychology is further exemplified by papers on the history of the ISTP and theoretical psychology, a new paradigm for functional disorders, experimental introspection and techniques of self, the performativity of psychological science......Theoretical psychologists continue to challenge psychology, related disciplines and the work of other theoretical psychologists through a wide variety of activities that include conceptual clarification and creative theorizing. In many cases, these activities are experienced by the relevant...

Human uniqueness-self-interest and social cooperation.

Science.gov (United States)

Okada, Daijiro; Bingham, Paul M

2008-07-21

Humans are unique among all species of terrestrial history in both ecological dominance and individual properties. Many, or perhaps all, of the unique elements of this nonpareil status can be plausibly interpreted as evolutionary and strategic elements and consequences of the unprecedented intensity and scale of our social cooperation. Convincing explanation of this unique human social adaptation remains a central, unmet challenge to the scientific enterprise. We develop a hypothesis for the ancestral origin of expanded cooperative social behavior. Specifically, we present a game theoretic analysis demonstrating that a specific pattern of expanded social cooperation between conspecific individuals with conflicts of interest (including non-kin) can be strategically viable, but only in animals that possess a highly unusual capacity for conspecific violence (credible threat) having very specific properties that dramatically reduce the costs of coercive violence. The resulting reduced costs allow preemptive or compensated coercion to be an instantaneously self-interested behavior under diverse circumstances rather than in rare, idiosyncratic circumstances as in actors (animals) who do not have access to inexpensive coercive threat. Humans are apparently unique among terrestrial organisms in having evolved conspecific coercive capabilities that fulfill these stringent requirements. Thus, our results support the proposal that access to a novel capacity for projection of coercive threat might represent the essential initiating event for the evolution of a human-like pattern of social cooperation and the subsequent evolution of the diverse features of human uniqueness. Empirical evidence indicates that these constraints were, in fact, met only in our evolutionary lineage. The logic for the emergence of uniquely human cooperation suggested by our analysis apparently accounts simply for the human fossil record.

Halomonas maura is a physiologically versatile bacterium of both ecological and biotechnological interest.

Science.gov (United States)

Llamas, Inmaculada; del Moral, Ana; Martínez-Checa, Fernando; Arco, Yolanda; Arias, Soledad; Quesada, Emilia

2006-01-01

Halomonas maura is a bacterium of great metabolic versatility. We summarise in this work some of the properties that make it a very interesting microorganism both from an ecological and biotechnological point of view. It plays an active role in the nitrogen cycle, is capable of anaerobic respiration in the presence of nitrate and has recently been identified as a diazotrophic bacterium. Of equal interest is mauran, the exopolysaccharide produced by H. maura, which contributes to the formation of biofilms and thus affords the bacterium advantages in the colonisation of its saline niches. Mauran is highly viscous, shows thixotropic and pseudoplastic behaviour, has the capacity to capture heavy metals and exerts a certain immunomodulator effect in medicine. All these attributes have prompted us to make further investigations into its molecular characteristics. To date we have described 15 open reading frames (ORF's) related to exopolysaccharide production, nitrogen fixation and nitrate reductase activity among others.

Alternative sources of power generation, incentives and regulatory mandates: a theoretical approach to the Colombian case

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zapata, Carlos M; Zuluaga Monica M; Dyner, Isaac

2005-01-01

Alternative Energy Generation Sources are turning relevant in several countries worldwide because of technology improvement and the environmental treatment. In this paper, the most common problems of renewable energy sources are accomplished, different incentives and regulatory mandates from several countries are exposed, and a first theoretical approach to a renewable energies incentive system in Colombia is discussed. The paper is fundamentally in theoretical aspects and international experience in renewable energies incentives to accelerate their diffusion; features are analyzed towards a special incentive system for renewable energies in Colombia. As a conclusion, in Colombia will be apply indirect incentives like low interest rate, taxes exemptions and so on. But these incentives are applied to limit the support of electricity productivity in generating organizations.

Edaiila area of interest non-renewable resource assessment (phase 1) Great Bear Lake area, Northwest Territories Parts of NTS 86 K, 86 L, 86 M, 86 N and 96 I

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gebert, J.S.; Jackson, J.E.; O' Neil, C.E. [AMEC Americas Ltd., Calgary, AB (Canada). Earth and Environment Division

2007-07-01

The Edaiila study area of interest is located in the Deline District of the Sahtu Settlement area in the Northwest Territories. It lies in the Proterozoic Bear geologic province of the Canadian Shield. The area is currently covered by prospecting claims and is likely undergoing exploration for uranium, precious metals, base metals and diamonds. This document presented a Phase 1 non-renewable resource assessment (NRA) of the area that was completed as part of the Northwest Territories Protect Area Strategy (PAS). It presented compiled historical information, provided a preliminary resource assessment and made recommendations for further Phase 2 studies. This region is within the continuous permafrost zone and is characterized by a high subarctic climate. The study area straddles the tree line and contains vegetation typical of taiga and tundra regions. The bedrock covering the flat to gently rolling topography is covered by undulating glacial drift, raised beaches and outwash deposits. About 25 per cent of the area is covered by wetlands. The Bear province is subdivided into two major domains, the Wopmay orogen and the Coppermine homocline. In the eastern portion of the study area, basement rocks are part of the Great Bear magmatic zone and are locally exposed in the Fault River area. Although basement rocks in the western portion of the study area are not exposed, they are assumed to be composed of the Hottah terrane. 86 refs., 14 tabs., 7 figs., 4 appendices.

Towards a theoretical model on medicines as a health need.

Science.gov (United States)

Vargas-Peláez, Claudia Marcela; Soares, Luciano; Rover, Marina Raijche Mattozo; Blatt, Carine Raquel; Mantel-Teeuwisse, Aukje; Rossi Buenaventura, Francisco Augusto; Restrepo, Luis Guillermo; Latorre, María Cristina; López, José Julián; Bürgin, María Teresa; Silva, Consuelo; Leite, Silvana Nair; Mareni Rocha, Farias

2017-04-01

Medicines are considered one of the main tools of western medicine to resolve health problems. Currently, medicines represent an important share of the countries' healthcare budget. In the Latin America region, access to essential medicines is still a challenge, although countries have established some measures in the last years in order to guarantee equitable access to medicines. A theoretical model is proposed for analysing the social, political, and economic factors that modulate the role of medicines as a health need and their influence on the accessibility and access to medicines. The model was built based on a narrative review about health needs, and followed the conceptual modelling methodology for theory-building. The theoretical model considers elements (stakeholders, policies) that modulate the perception towards medicines as a health need from two perspectives - health and market - at three levels: international, national and local levels. The perception towards medicines as a health need is described according to Bradshaw's categories: felt need, normative need, comparative need and expressed need. When those different categories applied to medicines coincide, the patients get access to the medicines they perceive as a need, but when the categories do not coincide, barriers to access to medicines are created. Our theoretical model, which holds a broader view about the access to medicines, emphasises how power structures, interests, interdependencies, values and principles of the stakeholders could influence the perception towards medicines as a health need and the access to medicines in Latin American countries. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Formation of Virtual Organizations in Grids: A Game-Theoretic Approach

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Thomas E.; Grosu, Daniel

The execution of large scale grid applications requires the use of several computational resources owned by various Grid Service Providers (GSPs). GSPs must form Virtual Organizations (VOs) to be able to provide the composite resource to these applications. We consider grids as self-organizing systems composed of autonomous, self-interested GSPs that will organize themselves into VOs with every GSP having the objective of maximizing its profit. We formulate the resource composition among GSPs as a coalition formation problem and propose a game-theoretic framework based on cooperation structures to model it. Using this framework, we design a resource management system that supports the VO formation among GSPs in a grid computing system.

Professional medical associations and their relationships with industry: a proposal for controlling conflict of interest.

Science.gov (United States)

Rothman, David J; McDonald, Walter J; Berkowitz, Carol D; Chimonas, Susan C; DeAngelis, Catherine D; Hale, Ralph W; Nissen, Steven E; Osborn, June E; Scully, James H; Thomson, Gerald E; Wofsy, David

2009-04-01

Professional medical associations (PMAs) play an essential role in defining and advancing health care standards. Their conferences, continuing medical education courses, practice guidelines, definitions of ethical norms, and public advocacy positions carry great weight with physicians and the public. Because many PMAs receive extensive funding from pharmaceutical and device companies, it is crucial that their guidelines manage both real and perceived conflict of interests. Any threat to the integrity of PMAs must be thoroughly and effectively resolved. Current PMA policies, however, are not uniform and often lack stringency. To address this situation, the authors first identified and analyzed conflicts of interest that may affect the activities, leadership, and members of PMAs. The authors then went on to formulate guidelines, both short-term and long-term, to prevent the appearance or reality of undue industry influence. The recommendations are rigorous and would require many PMAs to transform their mode of operation and perhaps, to forgo valuable activities. To maintain integrity, sacrifice may be required. Nevertheless, these changes are in the best interest of the PMAs, the profession, their members, and the larger society.

REVISITING THE CONCEPTS OF MONEY, PROFIT AND INTEREST FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF VALUE AND DIMINISHING MARGINAL UTILITY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahamed Kameel Mydin Meera

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This article is a theoretical article that attempts to clarify the inherent meanings of the concepts of profit and interest, i.e. two important concepts in finance, particularly Islamic Finance. These are age-old concepts in economics that still draw confusion among people. Profit comes from trade and interest comes from lending and borrowing activities. While the former is much encouraged in Islam, the latter is strongly forbidden. Nonetheless, in today’s monetary and financial circumstances, the market interest rate is being used as a benchmark for the Islamic profit rate, drawing criticisms from many quarters that both are indeed one and the same. Using the fundamental economic concept of marginal utility, this paper attempts to clarify the fundamental difference in these two concepts and their implications for modern finance, particularly Islamic finance. Indirectly in the process, the paper also clarifies the concepts of money and riba. Keywords: Money, marginal utility, monetary system JEL Classification: D11, E40, E50, E60

Interest organizations across economic sectors : explaining interest group density in the European Union

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkhout, Joost; Carroll, Brendan J.; Braun, Caelesta; Chalmers, Adam W.; Destrooper, Tine; Lowery, David; Otjes, Simon; Rasmussen, Anne

2015-01-01

The number of interest organizations (density) varies across policy domains, political issues and economic sectors. This shapes the nature and outcomes of interest representation. In this contribution, we explain the density of interest organizations per economic sector in the European Union on the

Interest organizations across economic sectors: explaining interest group density in the European Union

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Berkhout, Joost; Carroll, Brendan; Braun, Caelesta; Chalmers, Adam; De Strooper, Tine; Lowery, David; Otjes, Simon; Rasmussen, Anne

2015-01-01

The number of interest organizations (density) varies across policy domains, political issues and economic sectors. This shapes the nature and outcomes of interest representation. In this contribution, we explain the density of interest organizations per economic sector in the European Union on the

Theoretical Division progress report. [October 1976-January 1979

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cooper, N.G. (comp.)

1979-04-01

This report presents highlights of activities in the Theoretical (T) Division from October 1976-January 1979. The report is divided into three parts. Part I presents an overview of the Division: its unique function at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory (LASL) and within the scientific community as a whole; the organization of personnel; the main areas of research; and a survey of recent T-Division initiatives. This overview is followed by a survey of the 13 groups within the Division, their main responsibilities, interests, and expertise, consulting activities, and recent scientific accomplisments. The remainder of the report, Parts II and III, is devoted to articles on selected research activities. Recent efforts on topics of immediate interest to energy and weapons programs at LASL and elsewhere are described in Part II, Major National Programs. Separate articles present T-Divison contributions to weapons research, reactor safety and reactor physics research, fusion research, laser isotope separation, and other energy research. Each article is a compilation of independent projects within T Division, all related to but addressing different aspects of the major program. Part III is organized by subject discipline, and describes recent scientific advances of fundamental interest. An introduction, defining the scope and general nature of T-Division efforts within a given discipline, is followed by articles on the research topics selected. The reporting is done by the scientists involved in the research, and an attempt is made to communicate to a general audience. Some data are given incidentally; more technical presentations of the research accomplished may be found among the 47 pages of references. 110 figures, 5 tables.

Activity – based costing in sport organizations:Theoretical background & future prospects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

PANAGIOTIS E. DIMITROPOULOS

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Costing systems in recent years have shown a significantdevelopment and activity-based costing (ABC specificallyhas been considered as a major contribution to cost management, particularly in service businesses. The sport sector is composed to a great extent of service functions, yet considerably less have been reported of the use of activity based costing to support cost management in sport organizations. Since the power of information becomes continuously crucial for the implementation of effective business administration, the traditional methods of cost measurementproved insufficient on this issue, leading to the invention ofABC. The aim of this paper is twofold. First of all we wantto present the main theoretical background of ABC and itssubstantiated benefits, and secondly to present some practical steps for the implementation of ABC in sport organizations.

Internal combustion engine exhaust pipe flow simulation. Part I: theoretical aspects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Juan Miguel Mantilla

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Unsteady gas flow theory can be used for simulating a spark ignition internal combustion engine’s exhaust system, using pressure waves. The method explained here is based on the discretization of interpolated spaces (called meshes which are located throughout the whole length of the exhaust pipe, irrespective of its form or size. The most important aspects of this theory are theoretically explored, such as pressure wave movement and shock and their application to cases found in real engines’ exhaust pipes. This work also considers how the simulation must be made, based on the previous exploration. The results (presented as e- quations in this first paper show the great influence exerted by pressure wave movement on flow through the engine and there- fore on its final performance.

Recensie "The Great Reset" : Richard Florida

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roy van Dalm

2010-01-01

Like the Great Depression and the Long Depression before it, experts have viewed prolonged economic downturns as crises. In The Great Reset , bestselling author Richard Florida argues that we should instead see the recent recession as an opportunity to create entirely new ways of working and living

Update on protein structure prediction: results of the 1995 IRBM workshop

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hubbard, Tim; Tramontano, Anna; Hansen, Jan

1996-01-01

Computational tools for protein structure prediction are of great interest to molecular, structural and theoretical biologists due to a rapidly increasing number of protein sequences with no known structure. In October 1995, a workshop was held at IRBM to predict as much as possible about a numbe...

Danto, history, and the tragedy of human existence

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ankersmit, FR

2003-01-01

Philosophy of history is the Cinderella of contemporary philosophy. Philosophers rarely believe that the issues dealt with by philosophers of history are matters of any great theoretical interest or urgency. In their view philosophy of history rarely goes beyond the question of how results that have

Update on protein structure prediction: results of the 1995 IRBM workshop

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hubbard, Tim; Tramontano, Anna; Hansen, Jan

1996-01-01

Computational tools for protein structure prediction are of great interest to molecular, structural and theoretical biologists due to a rapidly increasing number of protein sequences with no known structure. In October 1995, a workshop was held at IRBM to predict as much as possible about a number...

Representing general theoretical concepts in structural equation models: The role of composite variables

Science.gov (United States)

Grace, J.B.; Bollen, K.A.

2008-01-01

Structural equation modeling (SEM) holds the promise of providing natural scientists the capacity to evaluate complex multivariate hypotheses about ecological systems. Building on its predecessors, path analysis and factor analysis, SEM allows for the incorporation of both observed and unobserved (latent) variables into theoretically-based probabilistic models. In this paper we discuss the interface between theory and data in SEM and the use of an additional variable type, the composite. In simple terms, composite variables specify the influences of collections of other variables and can be helpful in modeling heterogeneous concepts of the sort commonly of interest to ecologists. While long recognized as a potentially important element of SEM, composite variables have received very limited use, in part because of a lack of theoretical consideration, but also because of difficulties that arise in parameter estimation when using conventional solution procedures. In this paper we present a framework for discussing composites and demonstrate how the use of partially-reduced-form models can help to overcome some of the parameter estimation and evaluation problems associated with models containing composites. Diagnostic procedures for evaluating the most appropriate and effective use of composites are illustrated with an example from the ecological literature. It is argued that an ability to incorporate composite variables into structural equation models may be particularly valuable in the study of natural systems, where concepts are frequently multifaceted and the influence of suites of variables are often of interest. ?? Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007.

The Accounting Profession: Serving the Public Interest or Capital Interest?

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mary A Kaidonis

2008-12-01

Full Text Available As an integral facet of society, the accounting profession has a role in the State and thecorporate sector, and is also expected to serve the public interest. The capacity for theAustralian accounting profession to serve the public interest is considered in the context oflegislation and the accounting standard setting process. Specific reference is made to theCLERP Act 1999 and ASIC Act 2001. It is argued that the combined effect of these Acts is tolegislate bias so that accounting standards privilege the specific needs of holders of capital,that is capital interest. The assumption that capital markets are surrogate for the publicinterest is contested. Accordingly, if the accounting profession follows national objectives tosupport capital markets, it may undermine its role in serving society.

Thirty years of great ape gestures.

Science.gov (United States)

Tomasello, Michael; Call, Josep

2018-02-21

We and our colleagues have been doing studies of great ape gestural communication for more than 30 years. Here we attempt to spell out what we have learned. Some aspects of the process have been reliably established by multiple researchers, for example, its intentional structure and its sensitivity to the attentional state of the recipient. Other aspects are more controversial. We argue here that it is a mistake to assimilate great ape gestures to the species-typical displays of other mammals by claiming that they are fixed action patterns, as there are many differences, including the use of attention-getters. It is also a mistake, we argue, to assimilate great ape gestures to human gestures by claiming that they are used referentially and declaratively in a human-like manner, as apes' "pointing" gesture has many limitations and they do not gesture iconically. Great ape gestures constitute a unique form of primate communication with their own unique qualities.

THE LEGAL INDEBTEDNESS CAPACITY OF ROMANIAN LOCAL GOVERNMENTS - THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCES

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bilan Irina

2011-12-01

Full Text Available The factual, not only formal capacity of local governments to appeal to borrowed resources is, considering the current conditions, a prerequisite for ensuring economic and social development of local communities. In this paper we intend to position the main theoretical and empirical evidences on local governments indebtedness capacity, mainly focusing on its sizing according to Romanian regulatory framework. With respect to previous research, the issue approached is one of great interest as it has not been, in the Romanian literature on local public finances, subject to a separate analysis of proportions. The undertaken analysis comprises a quantitative dimension, based on processed data from the consolidated general budget of Romanian local governments for 2007-2009, in permanent conjunction with monitoring and analysis of the involved qualitative aspects. To ensure the relevance of the research results, the analysis undertaken refers to the legal framework in function throughout the considered period of time, without involving the legislative changes operated in mid-2010. The main conclusions drawn from our analysis indicate that, considering the current Romanian socio-economic environment, under the impact of specific factors of different nature, the legal indebtedness capacity is far from being well valued, thus bringing its benefits to local communities development. This conclusion is valid from a global perspective as well as for different types of local communities. This appears to be inconsistent with the permanently claimed need to fund important local public investments, mainly in infrastructure, indicating, despite the high legal indebtedness capacity, the lack of factual access to borrowed resources. We suggest, therefore, to introduce the concept of effective indebtedness capacity, the result of a particularized correlation for different local governments between legal indebtedness capacity and the manifestation of several factors

Comparisons of theoretically predicted transport from ion temperature gradient instabilities to L-mode tokamak experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kotschenreuther, M.; Wong, H.V.; Lyster, P.L.; Berk, H.L.; Denton, R.; Miner, W.H.; Valanju, P.

1991-12-01

The theoretical transport from kinetic micro-instabilities driven by ion temperature gradients is a sheared slab is compared to experimentally inferred transport in L-mode tokamaks. Low noise gyrokinetic simulation techniques are used to obtain the ion thermal transport coefficient X. This X is much smaller than in experiments, and so cannot explain L-mode confinement. Previous predictions based on fluid models gave much greater X than experiments. Linear and nonlinear comparisons with the fluid model show that it greatly overestimates transport for experimental parameters. In addition, disagreements among previous analytic and simulation calculations of X in the fluid model are reconciled

Wireless Information-Theoretic Security in an Outdoor Topology with Obstacles: Theoretical Analysis and Experimental Measurements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dagiuklas Tasos

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a Wireless Information-Theoretic Security (WITS scheme, which has been recently introduced as a robust physical layer-based security solution, especially for infrastructureless networks. An autonomic network of moving users was implemented via 802.11n nodes of an ad hoc network for an outdoor topology with obstacles. Obstructed-Line-of-Sight (OLOS and Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS propagation scenarios were examined. Low-speed user movement was considered, so that Doppler spread could be discarded. A transmitter and a legitimate receiver exchanged information in the presence of a moving eavesdropper. Average Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR values were acquired for both the main and the wiretap channel, and the Probability of Nonzero Secrecy Capacity was calculated based on theoretical formula. Experimental results validate theoretical findings stressing the importance of user location and mobility schemes on the robustness of Wireless Information-Theoretic Security and call for further theoretical analysis.

Theoretical Characterizaiton of Visual Signatures (Muzzle Flash)

Science.gov (United States)

Kashinski, D. O.; Scales, A. N.; Vanderley, D. L.; Chase, G. M.; di Nallo, O. E.; Byrd, E. F. C.

2014-05-01

We are investigating the accuracy of theoretical models used to predict the visible, ultraviolet and infrared spectra of product materials ejected from the muzzle of currently fielded systems. Recent advances in solid propellants has made the management of muzzle signature (flash) a principle issue in weapons development across the calibers. A priori prediction of the electromagnetic spectra of formulations will allow researchers to tailor blends that yield desired signatures and determine spectrographic detection ranges. We are currently employing quantum chemistry methods at various levels of sophistication to optimize molecular geometries, compute vibrational frequencies, and determine the optical spectra of specific gas-phase molecules and radicals of interest. Electronic excitations are being computed using Time Dependent Density Functional Theory (TD-DFT). A comparison of computational results to experimental values found in the literature is used to assess the affect of basis set and functional choice on calculation accuracy. The current status of this work will be presented at the conference. Work supported by the ARL, and USMA.

FORMATION OF SCHOOL MANAGERS: THEORETICAL-PRACTICAL CONTRIBUTIONS OF HISTORICAL-CULTURAL PSYCHOLOGY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Larissa Figueiredo Salmen Seixlack Bulhões

2017-12-01

Full Text Available This work reports the experience of training school managers based on the theoretical assumptions of historical-cultural psychology. The intervention took place as one of the actions of the Project Education Without Borders (PESF - a partnership between the Municipal Secretary of Education and the psychology department of a state University of São Paulo in assisting schools that have low IDEB (Basic Education Development Index. Study meetings were held monthly with the managers of the six participating schools and with representatives of the pedagogical department of the Municipal Secretary of Education. The themes of the meetings were established based on the demand of the group, which chose as study goals: 1. understanding the production of motives and interests for the students' learning and 2. understanding how the study activity is formed and developed as a main activity at school age. As a strategy of theoretical-practical articulation, the proposition of study tasks on the themes discussed in each meeting was adopted. As a reference, the concept of study task of Davydov and Markova (1987 was used. The results point out that the application of the theoretical assumptions of historical-cultural psychology to the concrete demands of the organization of teaching in the daily school life makes it possible to overcome the traditional dichotomy between theory and practice in teacher education and promotes the construction of new guidelines for pedagogical practice.

INTERPERSONAL COMMUNICATION AND INTERSUBJECTIVE COMMUNICATION. SOME THEORETICAL AND CONCEPTUAL KEYS FOR ITS UNDERSTANDING

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marta Rizo Garcia

2014-09-01

Full Text Available In spite of the proliferation of digital communication forms, is urgent for communication research to strengthen the works around the interpersonal dimension of communicative processes. To do so, communication field needs to extend the boarding spectrum of interpersonal communication, an object that has been relegated to a secondary plane by the predominance of mass media research. This work is based on the need to distinguish intersubjective communication from interpersonal communication, two terms that are often conceived as synonymous. Even though both share the same empirical referents, their theoretical foundations are different. This essay presents three theoretical perspectives to define intersubjective communication –symbolic interactionism, phenomenological sociology and the Theory of Communicative Action– that share an interest beyond the situations of face to face interaction in which all subjects are daily immersed. A documentary and interpretive methodology is used in this work, because it's an argumentative essay that tries to outline some theoretical and conceptual guidelines to think –and make complex– interpersonal and intersubjective communication. It is relevant the approach of both communication types from different fields aside the strictly communicational; for that reason, in this essay are emphasized contributions made from other areas such as philosophy and social psychology.

Pacific salmonines in the Great Lakes Basin

Science.gov (United States)

Claramunt, Randall M.; Madenjian, Charles P.; Clapp, David; Taylor, William W.; Lynch, Abigail J.; Léonard, Nancy J.

2012-01-01

Pacific salmon (genus Oncorhynchus) are a valuable resource, both within their native range in the North Pacific rim and in the Great Lakes basin. Understanding their value from a biological and economic perspective in the Great Lakes, however, requires an understanding of changes in the ecosystem and of management actions that have been taken to promote system stability, integrity, and sustainable fisheries. Pacific salmonine introductions to the Great Lakes are comprised mainly of Chinook salmon, coho salmon, and steelhead and have accounted for 421, 177, and 247 million fish, respectively, stocked during 1966-2007. Stocking of Pacific salmonines has been effective in substantially reducing exotic prey fish abundances in several of the Great Lakes (e.g., lakes Michigan, Huron, and Ontario). The goal of our evaluation was to highlight differences in management strategies and perspectives across the basin, and to evaluate policies for Pacific salmonine management in the Great Lakes. Currently, a potential conflict exists between Pacific salmonine management and native fish rehabilitation goals because of the desire to sustain recreational fisheries and to develop self-sustaining populations of stocked Pacific salmonines in the Great Lakes. We provide evidence that suggests Pacific salmonines have not only become naturalized to the food webs of the Great Lakes, but that their populations (specifically Chinook salmon) may be fluctuating in concert with specific prey (i.e., alewives) whose populations are changing relative to environmental conditions and ecosystem disturbances. Remaining questions, however, are whether or not “natural” fluctuations in predator and prey provide enough “stability” in the Great Lakes food webs, and even more importantly, would a choice by managers to attempt to reduce the severity of predator-prey oscillations be antagonistic to native fish restoration efforts. We argue that, on each of the Great Lakes, managers are pursuing

The Great Firewall of China: A Critical Analysis

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Whiting, Michael D

2008-01-01

Censorship has a great impact on society as we enter the cyber environment. The Chinese "Great Firewall", as it is commonly called, brings great attention to China as they enter into the global economy...

An Examination of Visitors’ Interest in Tourist Cards and Cultural Routes in the Case of a Romanian Destination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ana ISPAS

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Although tourist cards and cultural routes have been interesting innovations when they were launched on the international tourism market, they are rarely implemented in Romanian tourism destinations, especially in an integrated manner. This paper presents a theoretical model regarding the integration of tourist cards in cultural routes, based on the assumption that tourists who are interested in both products have similar demographic and travel characteristics. The research results outline only the infl uence of tourists’ travel characteristics on their interest to buy cultural routes and tourist cards. Leisure travelers should be the main targeted segment, as their probability to buy such products is higher than in the case of business or VFR (visit friends and relatives tourists. These results can assist the Destination Management Organizations (DMOs regarding the choice of marketing strategies aimed at integrating cultural routes in a tourist card.

Phil Wallace and Theoretical Physics at McGill in the 1950's: A Personal Perspective

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jackson, John David

2010-11-18

In 1946 Philip (Phil) Russell Wallace joined the Mathematics Department of McGill University as an Associate Professor of Applied Mathematics, apparently because A. H. S. Gillson, Dean of Arts and Science, wanted theoretical physicists to be in the Mathematics Department. He came with the dream of creating a theoretical physics group at McGill. By the spring of 1949, Phil was authorized to recruit two junior faculty in Mathematics. He hired Theodore (Ted) F. Morris from U. Toronto, who joined in September 1949, and me, who came in January 1950. The group had begun. Phil Wallace was born in Toronto in 1915 and grew up there. He entered the University of Toronto in 1933, earned a B.A. in mathematics in 1937, a M.A. in 1938, and a Ph.D. in applied mathematics in 1940 under Leopold Infeld. His Ph.D. thesis in general relativity was entitled 'On the relativistic equations of motion in electromagnetic theory.' In 1940 World War II had engulfed Europe and was having its effect on Canada, but the US was still at peace. L. J. Synge, Head of the Applied Mathematics Department at Toronto, told Wallace that people such as he would be needed in war work, but things were not ready quite yet. Hold yourself ready. Phil took a two-year position as lecturer in mathematics at the University of Cincinnati (1940-42); in the fall of 1942 he became a lecturer in mathematics at M.I.T. It was from there that he was recruited by Synge to join the war effort from 1943 to 1946 at N.R.C.'s Montreal Laboratory, the genesis of the Canadian Atomic Energy Project. Phil has described those heady wartime years in these pages. Much of the effort of the theoretical physicists was on nuclear reactor theory and the properties of relevant materials, such as graphite, under long and intense neutron bombardment. In late 1945 Phil was sent for four months to Bristol to learn about the properties of graphite from the esteemed N. F. Mott. This exposure led Phil to a life-long interest in

Great Lakes rivermouths: a primer for managers

Science.gov (United States)

Pebbles, Victoria; Larson, James; Seelbach, Paul; Pebbles, Victoria; Larson, James; Seelbach, Paul

2013-01-01

Between the North American Great Lakes and their tributaries are the places where the confluence of river and lake waters creates a distinct ecosystem: the rivermouth ecosystem. Human development has often centered around these rivermouths, in part, because they provide a rich array of ecosystem services. Not surprisingly, centuries of intense human activity have led to substantial pressures on, and alterations to, these ecosystems, often diminishing or degrading their ecological functions and associated ecological services. Many Great Lakes rivermouths are the focus of intense restoration efforts. For example, 36 of the active Great Lakes Areas of Concern (AOCs) are rivermouths or areas that include one or more rivermouths. Historically, research of rivermouth ecosystems has been piecemeal, focused on the Great Lakes proper or on the upper reaches of tributaries, with little direct study of the rivermouth itself. Researchers have been divided among disciplines, agencies and institutions; and they often work independently and use disparate venues to communicate their work. Management has also been fragmented with a focus on smaller, localized, sub-habitat units and socio-political or economic elements, rather than system-level consideration. This Primer presents the case for a more holistic approach to rivermouth science and management that can enable restoration of ecosystem services with multiple benefits to humans and the Great Lakes ecosystem. A conceptual model is presented with supporting text that describes the structures and processes common to all rivermouths, substantiating the case for treating these ecosystems as an identifiable class.1 Ecological services provided by rivermouths and changes in how humans value those services over time are illustrated through case studies of two Great Lakes rivermouths—the St. Louis River and the Maumee River. Specific ecosystem services are identified in italics throughout this Primer and follow definitions described

Hash functions and information theoretic security

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bagheri, Nasoor; Knudsen, Lars Ramkilde; Naderi, Majid

2009-01-01

Information theoretic security is an important security notion in cryptography as it provides a true lower bound for attack complexities. However, in practice attacks often have a higher cost than the information theoretic bound. In this paper we study the relationship between information theoretic...

Whooping crane stopover site use intensity within the Great Plains

Science.gov (United States)

Pearse, Aaron T.; Brandt, David A.; Harrell, Wade C.; Metzger, Kristine L.; Baasch, David M.; Hefley, Trevor J.

2015-09-23

Whooping cranes (Grus americana) of the Aransas-Wood Buffalo population migrate twice each year through the Great Plains in North America. Recovery activities for this endangered species include providing adequate places to stop and rest during migration, which are generally referred to as stopover sites. To assist in recovery efforts, initial estimates of stopover site use intensity are presented, which provide opportunity to identify areas across the migration range used more intensively by whooping cranes. We used location data acquired from 58 unique individuals fitted with platform transmitting terminals that collected global position system locations. Radio-tagged birds provided 2,158 stopover sites over 10 migrations and 5 years (2010–14). Using a grid-based approach, we identified 1,095 20-square-kilometer grid cells that contained stopover sites. We categorized occupied grid cells based on density of stopover sites and the amount of time cranes spent in the area. This assessment resulted in four categories of stopover site use: unoccupied, low intensity, core intensity, and extended-use core intensity. Although provisional, this evaluation of stopover site use intensity offers the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and partners a tool to identify landscapes that may be of greater conservation significance to migrating whooping cranes. Initially, the tool will be used by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and other interested parties in evaluating the Great Plains Wind Energy Habitat Conservation Plan.

An Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of a Micromirror Under Mixed-Frequency Excitation

KAUST Repository

Ilyas, Saad; Ramini, Abdallah; Carreno, Armando Arpys Arevalo; Younis, Mohammad I.

2015-01-01

We present an experimental and theoretical investigation of a micromachined mirror under a mixed-frequency signal composed of two harmonic ac sources. The micromirror is made of polyimide as the main structural layer. The experimental and theoretical dynamics are explored via frequency sweeps in the desired neighborhoods. One frequency is fixed while the other frequency is swept through a wide range to study the dynamic responses. To simulate the behavior of the micromirror, it is modeled as a single degree of freedom system, where the parameters of the model are extracted experimentally. A good agreement is reported among the simulation results and the experimental data. These responses are studied under different frequencies and input voltages. The results show interesting dynamics, where the system exhibits primary resonance and combination resonances of additive and subtractive type. The mixed excitation is demonstrated as a way to increase the bandwidth of the resonator near primary resonance, which can be promising for resonant sensing applications in the effort to increase the signal-noise ratio over extended frequency range.

An Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of a Micromirror Under Mixed-Frequency Excitation

KAUST Repository

Ilyas, Saad

2015-01-12

We present an experimental and theoretical investigation of a micromachined mirror under a mixed-frequency signal composed of two harmonic ac sources. The micromirror is made of polyimide as the main structural layer. The experimental and theoretical dynamics are explored via frequency sweeps in the desired neighborhoods. One frequency is fixed while the other frequency is swept through a wide range to study the dynamic responses. To simulate the behavior of the micromirror, it is modeled as a single degree of freedom system, where the parameters of the model are extracted experimentally. A good agreement is reported among the simulation results and the experimental data. These responses are studied under different frequencies and input voltages. The results show interesting dynamics, where the system exhibits primary resonance and combination resonances of additive and subtractive type. The mixed excitation is demonstrated as a way to increase the bandwidth of the resonator near primary resonance, which can be promising for resonant sensing applications in the effort to increase the signal-noise ratio over extended frequency range.

Radiation damage to multi-walled carbon nanotubes and their ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Since their discovery in 1991 by Iijima, carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been of great interest, both from a fundamental point of view and for future applications. As recent experimental and theoretical studies demonstrate, irradiation of CNTs with energetic particles can successfully be used for nano-engineering, e.g., ...

Experimental and theoretical aspects of the growth and equilibrium morphology of NaNO{sub 3}

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benages Vilau, R.; Cuevas-Diarte, M.A.; Calvet i Pallas, T. [Dept. Cristallografia, Mineralogia i Diposits Minerals, Facultat de Geologia, Universitat de Barcelona (Spain); Costa, E.; Bruno, M.; Aquilano, D. [Dipartimento di Scienze Mineralogiche e Petrologiche, Torino Univ. (Italy)

2011-08-15

Sodium nitrate (mineral nitratine, NaNO{sub 3}, space group R anti 3c at room temperature) is a material used in a great variety of fields, such as the molten salt technology. It is also of very interest from a crystallographic point of view, being iso-structural with calcite (CaCO{sub 3}). We performed several growth experiments in aqueous solution, near-equilibrium, with the aim of finding the ideal conditions for investigating both face-by-face growth kinetics and surface characterization, as well as the influence of K{sup +} and Li{sup +} ions on the growth morphology. Single {l_brace}10.4{r_brace} rhombohedral crystals have been systematically grown from pure aqueous solution, while {l_brace}00.1{r_brace} truncated rhombohedra were obtained in the presence of K{sup +} and Li{sup +} ions in the mother solution. When determining the theoretical equilibrium morphology of NaNO{sub 3} crystals, the {l_brace}00.1{r_brace} and {l_brace}10.4{r_brace} surfaces were studied by using the 2D-slab model and relaxed and athermal surface energies (surfaces energies at T = 0 K) were evaluated at DFT level (B3LYP Hamiltonian) by using the CRYSTAL06 package. The {l_brace}00.1{r_brace} dipolar surfaces were reconstructed by the octopolar Hartman-Lacmann's model, already proposed for NaCl-like lattices. This type of reconstruction is the only one which respects the bulk symmetry of the crystal. The octopolar Na{sup +} terminated {l_brace}00.1{r_brace} form resulted to be more stable than the NO{sub 3}{sup -} terminated one. However, the {l_brace}00.1{r_brace} form does not enter the theoretical athermal equilibrium shape of nitratine crystals, being {gamma}{sub (10.4)Na}=160, {gamma}{sub (00.1)Na}= 695 and {gamma}{sub (00.1)NO3}=1535 erg/cm{sup 2}. Finally, a simple 2D-epitaxy model is proposed to explain the appearance of NaNO{sub 3}{l_brace}00.1{r_brace} truncated rhombohedra in the presence of K{sup +} and Li{sup +} ions. (copyright 2011 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGa

The Great London Smog of 1952.

Science.gov (United States)

Polivka, Barbara J

2018-04-01

: The Great London Smog of December 1952 lasted five days and killed up to 12,000 people. The smog developed primarily because of extensive burning of high-sulfur coal. The health effects were both immediate and long lasting, with a recent study revealing an increased likelihood of childhood asthma development in those exposed to the Great Smog while in utero or during their first year of life. Subsequent pollution legislation-including the U.S. Clean Air Act and its amendments-have demonstrably reduced air pollution and positively impacted health outcomes. With poor air quality events like the Great Smog continuing to occur today, nurses need to be aware of the impact such environmental disasters can have on human health.

Member Heterogeneity in Agricultural Cooperatives: A Systems-Theoretic Perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Constantine Iliopoulos

2018-04-01

Full Text Available All over the globe, cooperatives are plagued by pervasive member heterogeneity problems that are induced by the radical and dynamic changes in the business environment. Most current solutions to these problems emphasize strengthening member loyalty and commitment. Yet, many of these solutions are symptomatic rather than fundamental. Searching for fundamental solutions, this paper draws on the Luhmannian system-environment paradigm. Bringing this paradigm to bear on the cooperative scholarship, the paper views cooperatives as operationally closed systems maintaining a precarious relationship to their outer environment, which includes cooperative members. In view of their operational closure, cooperatives tend to overstrain the carrying capacity of their environment by being active in the areas marked by a limited extent of the true commonness of member interests. This overstraining results in a host of problems associated with member heterogeneity. The fundamental solutions following from the system-environment paradigm require the adjustment of cooperative boundaries and goals in light of the evolving range of the true common interests of members. In terms of methodology, we review the extant literature, synthesize the main elements of the system-environment approach and conduct a meta-analysis of case studies and other empirical research to highlight our theoretical arguments.

Theoretical chemistry advances and perspectives

CERN Document Server

Eyring, Henry

1980-01-01

Theoretical Chemistry: Advances and Perspectives, Volume 5 covers articles concerning all aspects of theoretical chemistry. The book discusses the mean spherical approximation for simple electrolyte solutions; the representation of lattice sums as Mellin-transformed products of theta functions; and the evaluation of two-dimensional lattice sums by number theoretic means. The text also describes an application of contour integration; a lattice model of quantum fluid; as well as the computational aspects of chemical equilibrium in complex systems. Chemists and physicists will find the book usef

Theoretical Propositions for the Citizen Formation Mediated by Technology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tania Margarita Martínez de Padrón

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The research presented emerges from the connotations concerning the formation of the citizenship by the information technology and communication. Be part of the conception of the current citizen and the influence that has emerged through the utility of the various social networks, as well as Canaima education project and the guidance provided to schoolchildren in this sense. The general objective was to generate propositions theoretical that guide the formation of citizenship mediated by ICT in the primary schools of Santa Teresa del Tuy. The methodology used was the qualitative paradigm, based on the interpretative phenomenological approach of Heidegger, which is interested in discovering and understanding the meanings, habits and practices of the human being. Castle (2000: 5. The researcher approached the field object of study to observe, describe and interpret a reality. As an instrument used the interview in depth. The information obtained was recorded in pictures which allowed to comply with the development of specific objectives through triangulation. On whose findings prevailed deviating from the use of technological tools and how these have formed the formation of citizenship in school children in their behavior and actions. At the same time, allowed know from educational technological approach, that sparing the teacher provides guidance that redirect the formation of citizenship. Also was the stated objective as it was the theoretical propositions that guide the formation of citizens ICT-mediated.

New flags, upward forces and sheltered harbours: The new ‘Great Game’ in the Pacific Islands region

OpenAIRE

Kowasch, Matthias; Lindenmann, Peter

2014-01-01

The centre of the global economy and the US-geostrategic focus seem to be shifting to the Asia-Pacific region. The present paper deals with the role of Pacific Island states in this new ‘Great Game’ between China and Western powers. Pacific Island states have a long tradition in building non-confrontational and open ties with rival powers. While only four countries in the Pacific have known mineral resources, others depend mainly on tourism, fisheries and remittances. China is interested in t...

Great Expectations for Middle School Counselors

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Robert J.

2012-01-01

During the Great Recession, 2008 to 2010, school systems scrambled to balance budgets, and the ratio of counselors to students became even larger. To make matters worse, the Great Recession had a major impact on cuts in educational funding. Budget cutbacks tend to occur where the public will be least likely to notice. The loss of teachers and the…

20 CFR 725.608 - Interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... simple annual interest, computed from the date on which the benefits were due. The interest shall be... payment of retroactive benefits, the beneficiary shall also be entitled to simple annual interest on such... entitled to simple annual interest computed from the date upon which the beneficiary's right to additional...

Evaluating Interest in Acids-Bases: Development of an Acid-Base Interest Scale (ABIS) and Assessment of Pre-Service Science Teachers' Interest

Science.gov (United States)

Çiçek, Ö.; Ilhan, N.

2017-01-01

Students are more likely to be successful in topics they are interested in than others. This study aims to develop an Acid-Base Interest Scale (ABIS) and subsequently evaluate the interest of pre-service science teachers in acids-bases according to gender, years at the university, type of high school the pre-service science teachers attended, and…

Oil and the geopolitics of Central Asia: A "new 'great game'"?

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Sati, Saud M.

The nineteenth century rivalry between the Russian Empire and Great Britain over Central Asia, known as the "great game," was triggered by the quest for power and dominance. This study revisits Sir Halford Mackinder's thesis, which viewed the "heartland," consisting of Russia and Central Asia, as being crucial for international politics. It also discusses the influence of Mackinder's ideas on twentieth century geopolitical thinking. The study also examines the common assumption that the new "great game" in Central Asia is evolving around the exploitation of energy resources, and analyzes the consequences of this new factor for the geopolitical significance of the region. The landlocked nature of the Central Asian countries makes it necessary for them to rely on their neighbors for the export of oil and gas to international markets. Thus, the political and economic interests of Russia, Iran, and Turkey motivate them to compete with each other for export routes through their territories. This study also shows that the estimates of Central Asian proven oil reserves are characterized by considerable ambiguity. Estimates vary from seven to twenty-two billion barrels. Despite the fact that these proven oil reserves are limited compared to those of other regions, such as the Middle East, continued exploration is compatible with the Western strategy of energy resource diversification. Another primary aim of American involvement is to prevent the reintegration of Central Asia into the Russian federation and to block Chinese influence in Central Asia. This study reveals that realities in today's Central Asia are different from those of the nineteenth century. Central Asia now consists of independent countries; the competing powers have changed, with the exception of Russia; and oil has emerged as a new factor. However, the perpetual quest for power and dominance that marked the historical "great game" is still at work in the last decade of the twentieth century. Finally, the

Polynomial Chaos Expansion Approach to Interest Rate Models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luca Di Persio

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The Polynomial Chaos Expansion (PCE technique allows us to recover a finite second-order random variable exploiting suitable linear combinations of orthogonal polynomials which are functions of a given stochastic quantity ξ, hence acting as a kind of random basis. The PCE methodology has been developed as a mathematically rigorous Uncertainty Quantification (UQ method which aims at providing reliable numerical estimates for some uncertain physical quantities defining the dynamic of certain engineering models and their related simulations. In the present paper, we use the PCE approach in order to analyze some equity and interest rate models. In particular, we take into consideration those models which are based on, for example, the Geometric Brownian Motion, the Vasicek model, and the CIR model. We present theoretical as well as related concrete numerical approximation results considering, without loss of generality, the one-dimensional case. We also provide both an efficiency study and an accuracy study of our approach by comparing its outputs with the ones obtained adopting the Monte Carlo approach, both in its standard and its enhanced version.

Tourism Management and Industrial Ecology: A Theoretical Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Claudia Lucchetti

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Industrial Ecology (IE is based on the relation between the natural ecosystem and economic ecosystem. The concept refers to the metaphorical relation between the natural and industrial ecosystems as a model for transforming unsustainable industrial systems. Several tools and strategies are particularly significant for the IE development. In other words, the primary purpose of industrial ecology is to assess and reduce the impact economic activities on the environment. Tourism, as an economic activity, resulting in a full range of environmental impacts, should be treated like any other industry. This paper propose uses a theoretical review focused on IE for to investigate what is the best way to implement industrial ecology in the tourism activities. It seemed interesting to search within the IE concept for a model for the tourism sector, one of the fields with the greatest environmental interaction and economic implications.

Recent theoretical, neural, and clinical advances in sustained attention research

Science.gov (United States)

Fortenbaugh, Francesca C.; DeGutis, Joseph; Esterman, Michael

2017-01-01

Models of attention often distinguish between attention subtypes, with classic models separating orienting, switching, and sustaining functions. Compared to other forms of attention, the neurophysiological basis of sustaining attention has received far less attention yet it is known that momentary failures of sustained attention can have far ranging negative impacts in healthy individuals and lasting sustained attention deficits are pervasive in clinical populations. In recent years, however, there has been increased interest in characterizing moment-to-moment fluctuations in sustained attention in addition to the overall vigilance decrement and understanding how these neurocognitive systems change over the lifespan and across various clinical populations. The use of novel neuroimaging paradigms and statistical approaches has allowed for better characterization of the neural networks supporting sustained attention, and highlighted dynamic interactions within and across multiple distributed networks that predict behavioral performance. These advances have also provided potential biomarkers to identify individuals with sustained attention deficits. These findings have led to new theoretical models of why sustaining focused attention is a challenge for individuals and form the basis for the next generation of sustained attention research, which seeks to accurately diagnose and develop theoretically-driven treatments for sustained attention deficits that affect a variety of clinical populations. PMID:28260249

Recent theoretical, neural, and clinical advances in sustained attention research.

Science.gov (United States)

Fortenbaugh, Francesca C; DeGutis, Joseph; Esterman, Michael

2017-05-01

Models of attention often distinguish among attention subtypes, with classic models separating orienting, switching, and sustaining functions. Compared with other forms of attention, the neurophysiological basis of sustaining attention has received far less notice, yet it is known that momentary failures of sustained attention can have far-ranging negative effects in healthy individuals, and lasting sustained attention deficits are pervasive in clinical populations. In recent years, however, there has been increased interest in characterizing moment-to-moment fluctuations in sustained attention, in addition to the overall vigilance decrement, and understanding how these neurocognitive systems change over the life span and across various clinical populations. The use of novel neuroimaging paradigms and statistical approaches has allowed for better characterization of the neural networks supporting sustained attention and has highlighted dynamic interactions within and across multiple distributed networks that predict behavioral performance. These advances have also provided potential biomarkers to identify individuals with sustained attention deficits. These findings have led to new theoretical models explaining why sustaining focused attention is a challenge for individuals and form the basis for the next generation of sustained attention research, which seeks to accurately diagnose and develop theoretically driven treatments for sustained attention deficits that affect a variety of clinical populations. © 2017 New York Academy of Sciences.

12 CFR 7.4001 - Charging interest at rates permitted competing institutions; charging interest to corporate...

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... institutions; charging interest to corporate borrowers. 7.4001 Section 7.4001 Banks and Banking COMPTROLLER OF... interest at rates permitted competing institutions; charging interest to corporate borrowers. (a... the law of that state. If state law permits different interest charges on specified classes of loans...

Department of Theoretical Physics - Overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwiecinski, J.

2002-01-01

Full text: Research activity of the Department of Theoretical Physics concerns theoretical high energy and elementary particle physics, intermediate energy particle physics, theoretical nuclear physics, theory of nuclear matter, theory of quark-gluon plasma and of relativistic heavy ion collisions, theoretical astrophysics and general physics. There is some emphasis on the phenomenological applications of the theoretical research yet the more formal problems are also considered. The detailed summary of the research projects and of the results obtained in various fields is given in the abstracts. Our Department successfully collaborates with other Departments of the Institute as well as with several scientific institutions both in Poland and abroad. In particular, members of our Department participate in the EC network which allows for the mobility of researchers. Several members of our Department have also participated in the research projects funded by the State Committee for Scientific Research. Besides pure research, members of our Department are also involved in graduate and undergraduate teaching activity both at our Institute and at other academic institutions in Cracow. At present, eight students are working towards their Ph.D. degrees under the supervision of senior members of the Department. (author)

Department of Theoretical Physics - Overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwiecinski, J.

2001-01-01

Full text: Research activity of the Department of Theoretical Physics concerns theoretical high-energy and elementary particle physics, intermediate energy particle physics, theoretical nuclear physics, theory of nuclear matter, theory of quark-gluon plasma and relativistic heavy-ion collisions, theoretical astrophysics and general physics. There is some emphasis on the phenomenological applications of the theoretical research yet more formal problems are also considered. A detailed summary of the research projects and of the results obtained in various field is given in the abstracts. Our Department actively collaborates with other Departments of the Institute as well as with several scientific institutions both in Poland and abroad. In particular, members of our Department participate in the EC network, which stimulates the mobility of researchers. Several members of our Department also participated in the research projects funded by the Polish Committee for Scientific Research (KBN). Besides pure research, members of our Department are also involved in graduate and up graduate teaching activity at our Institute as well as at other academic institution in Cracow. At present nine students are working on their Ph.D. degrees under the supervision of senior members of the Department. (author)

Data Mining Foundations and Intelligent Paradigms Volume 2 Statistical, Bayesian, Time Series and other Theoretical Aspects

CERN Document Server

Jain, Lakhmi

2012-01-01

Data mining is one of the most rapidly growing research areas in computer science and statistics. In Volume 2 of this three volume series, we have brought together contributions from some of the most prestigious researchers in theoretical data mining. Each of the chapters is self contained. Statisticians and applied scientists/ engineers will find this volume valuable. Additionally, it provides a sourcebook for graduate students interested in the current direction of research in data mining.

Whose interests and under whose control?: Interest convergence in science-focused school-community collaborations

Science.gov (United States)

Morrison, Deb

2018-03-01

In this dialogue with Monica Ridgeway and Randy Yerrick's Whose banner are we waving?: exploring STEM partnerships for marginalized urban youth, I engage the critical race theory (CRT) tenet of interest convergence. I first expand Derrick Bell's (1980) initial statement of interest convergence with subsequent scholarly work in this area. I then explore ways CRT in general and interest convergence specifically have been applied in the field of education. Using this framing, I examine how interest convergence may be shed new insights into Monica Ridgeway and Randy Yerrick's study. For example, the tenet of interest convergence is used to frame why it was beneficial for the White artist, Jacob, and the Achievement Scholars to collaborate in the service-learning mural. Then the idea of interest divergence is brought into explore the ways in which Jacob benefitted from his participation in the service learning project while the Achievement Scholars were left with an unfinished project which they had to problem solve. To conclude, I provide future directions for the application of interest convergence and divergence to issues facing science education.

Great Indoors Awards 2007

Index Scriptorium Estoniae

2007-01-01

Hollandis Maastrichtis jagati 17. XI esimest korda rahvusvahelist auhinda The Great Indoors Award. Aasta sisekujundusfirmaks valiti Masamichi Katayama asutatud Wonderwall. Auhinna said veel Zaha Hadid, Heatherwick Studio, Ryui Nakamura Architects ja Item Idem

Energy and water in the Great Lakes.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tidwell, Vincent Carroll

2011-11-01

The nexus between thermoelectric power production and water use is not uniform across the U.S., but rather differs according to regional physiography, demography, power plant fleet composition, and the transmission network. That is, in some regions water demand for thermoelectric production is relatively small while in other regions it represents the dominate use. The later is the case for the Great Lakes region, which has important implications for the water resources and aquatic ecology of the Great Lakes watershed. This is today, but what about the future? Projected demographic trends, shifting lifestyles, and economic growth coupled with the threat of global climate change and mounting pressure for greater U.S. energy security could have profound effects on the region's energy future. Planning for such an uncertain future is further complicated by the fact that energy and environmental planning and regulatory decisionmaking is largely bifurcated in the region, with environmental and water resource concerns generally taken into account after new energy facilities and technologies have been proposed, or practices are already in place. Based on these confounding needs, the objective of this effort is to develop Great Lakes-specific methods and tools to integrate energy and water resource planning and thereby support the dual goals of smarter energy planning and development, and protection of Great Lakes water resources. Guiding policies for this planning are the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River Basin Water Resources Compact and the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. The desired outcome of integrated energy-water-aquatic resource planning is a more sustainable regional energy mix for the Great Lakes basin ecosystem.

A game-theoretic formulation of the homogeneous self-reconfiguration problem

KAUST Repository

Pickem, Daniel; Egerstedt, Magnus; Shamma, Jeff S.

2015-01-01

In this paper we formulate the homogeneous two- and three-dimensional self-reconfiguration problem over discrete grids as a constrained potential game. We develop a game-theoretic learning algorithm based on the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm that solves the self-reconfiguration problem in a globally optimal fashion. Both a centralized and a fully decentralized algorithm are presented and we show that the only stochastically stable state is the potential function maximizer, i.e. the desired target configuration. These algorithms compute transition probabilities in such a way that even though each agent acts in a self-interested way, the overall collective goal of self-reconfiguration is achieved. Simulation results confirm the feasibility of our approach and show convergence to desired target configurations.

A game-theoretic formulation of the homogeneous self-reconfiguration problem

KAUST Repository

Pickem, Daniel

2015-12-15

In this paper we formulate the homogeneous two- and three-dimensional self-reconfiguration problem over discrete grids as a constrained potential game. We develop a game-theoretic learning algorithm based on the Metropolis-Hastings algorithm that solves the self-reconfiguration problem in a globally optimal fashion. Both a centralized and a fully decentralized algorithm are presented and we show that the only stochastically stable state is the potential function maximizer, i.e. the desired target configuration. These algorithms compute transition probabilities in such a way that even though each agent acts in a self-interested way, the overall collective goal of self-reconfiguration is achieved. Simulation results confirm the feasibility of our approach and show convergence to desired target configurations.

Digital Geometry Algorithms Theoretical Foundations and Applications to Computational Imaging

CERN Document Server

Barneva, Reneta

2012-01-01

Digital geometry emerged as an independent discipline in the second half of the last century. It deals with geometric properties of digital objects and is developed with the unambiguous goal to provide rigorous theoretical foundations for devising new advanced approaches and algorithms for various problems of visual computing. Different aspects of digital geometry have been addressed in the literature. This book is the first one that explicitly focuses on the presentation of the most important digital geometry algorithms. Each chapter provides a brief survey on a major research area related to the general volume theme, description and analysis of related fundamental algorithms, as well as new original contributions by the authors. Every chapter contains a section in which interesting open problems are addressed.

A psychoanalytic study of Alexander the Great.

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, K R

1995-12-01

The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate how Freudian concepts such as the Oedipus complex, castration anxiety, fear of loss of love, the psychosexual stages of development, and the tripartite structure of personality can be used to understand the life and achievements of Alexander the Great. To accomplish this purpose, specific incidents, myths, and relationships in Alexander's life were analyzed from a Freudian psychoanalytic perspective. Green (1991), in his recent biography of Alexander, has questioned the merit of using Freudian concepts to understand Alexander's character. In fact, he stated specifically: If he (Alexander) had any kind of Oedipus complex it came in a poor second to the burning dynastic ambition which Olympias so sedulously fostered in him; those who insist on his psychological motivation would do better to take Adler as their mentor than Freud (p.56). Later, in the concluding section of his book, Green (1991, pp. 486-487) discounted Freudian interpretations of Alexander's distaste for sex, the rumors of his homosexual liaisons, his partiality for middle-aged or elderly ladies, and the systematic domination of his early years by Olympias as little more than the projected fears and desires of the interpreters. And again, an Adlerian power-complex paradigm was suggested as the preferable theoretical framework to use. Green's argument was based primarily on an exchange, reported originally by Plutarch, which took place between Alexander and Philip prior to Alexander's tutorship with Aristotle. Purportedly, Philip enjoined his son to study hard and pay close attention to all Aristotle said "so that you may not do a great many things of the sort that I am sorry I have done." At this point, Alexander "somewhat pertly" took Philip to task "because he was having children by other women besides his wife." Philip's reply was: "Well then, if you have many competitors for the kingdom, prove yourself honorable and good, so that you may obtain the

The Optimal Interest Rates and the Current Interest Rate System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ioannis N. Kallianiotis

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The paper discusses the current target interest rate, which is closed to zero with the new experiment of quantitative easing since 2009 and has reduced the rate of return and the income and has made the real savings rate negative. This target rate has not reduced unemployment and has not improved growth (it is not optimal, but has increased the debt of individuals and the low taxes on businesses have magnified the budget deficits and the national debt. People were borrowing the present value of their uncertain future wealth and their high debt and low income raise the risk and this high risk premium heighten the interest rate on loans, especially on credit cards. The current monetary system needs to be changed and an interest rate floor on deposits (savings and an interest rate ceiling on individuals‟ loans (borrowings is necessary to improve social welfare, fairness, and justice in our society and not to support only disintermediation (financial markets. The middle class cannot work only to pay taxes and interest on its debt (redistribution of their wealth to government and banks or worse to be in chronic unemployment. Many home owners defaulted on their loans payments and their homes are foreclosed. They will end up without property (real assets. The unconcern towards the middle class will affect negatively the entire socio-economic structure of the nation and after losing its productive power, it will start declining, as history has shown to us with so many empires that do not exist anymore. We hope the leaders (the democratic governments to improve public policies, to regulate the financial market and institutions, and to satisfy their policy ultimate objective, which is citizens‟ perfection and the nation‟s highest point of prosperity.

A Narrative Approach to Both Teaching and Learning About Democracy with Young Children: A Theoretical Exploration

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

maila dinia husni rahim

2016-03-01

Full Text Available As adults, we often believe that children are only interested with games and children’s ‘stuff’. However research has shown that children do indeed show a greater interest in the world around them, including about politics, elections, and democracy. If we need to teach children about democracy, what are the best methods of teaching democracy to young children? Narrative is considered as an effective medium to convey messages to children and discuss hard subjects. This paper is a theoretical exploration that looks at the narrative approach to teaching and learning about democracy with young children. The researchers has used a literature review to look at why narratives should be used, what narratives should be used and how to use narratives.

INTEREST AND READING MOTIVATION

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Alhamdu Alhamdu

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between interest and reading motivation based on literature review. The concept of the interest portrayed as a psychological state that occurs during interaction between individual and specific topic, object or activity including process of willingness, increased attention, concentration and positive feeling to the topic, object or activity. Meanwhile reading motivation emphasized to mental readiness, willingness and refers to beliefs and perception of individual to engage in reading activity. Some researchers were identified factors that influenced reading motivation such as intrinsic and extrinsic factors, self-concept and value of reading, and interest. In general, the literature review described that have positive relationship between interest and reading motivation.

The History of Research and Development Islands Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aleksandr B. Kosolapov

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The article discusses the history of the discovery, research and development of the islands of Russian pioneers in Peter the Great Bay, Sea of Japan from the middle of the XIX century. The paper used in scientific papers and journalistic materials researchers Islands Peter the Great Bay, unpublished sources: Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East, Primorsky Region State Archives, Archives of Primorsky regional department of the All-Russian public organization "Russian Geographical Society" Society for the Study of the Amur region. The methodological basis of the work was the principle of historicism and objectivity, allowed to consider the issue of research and development of the islands of the Gulf of Peter the Great on a broad documentary basis in the process of development in the specific historical conditions. The history of hydrographic discoveries of natural and geographical studies. It touches upon the issues concerning the construction of Vladivostok fortress. In the periodical press materials recreated pages agricultural and industrial development of the islands. Examples of business entrepreneurs first edge (A.D. Startsev, M.I. Jankowski, O.V. Lindgolm. The Toponymic notes link the island territories with the names of their discoverers, explorers, industrialists. The authors conclude that the historical conditionality of development of the islands is linked mainly with the military interests of Russia on its southeastern edge, using the resources of the sea and the unique natural conditions suitable for the development of agricultural, industrial, recreation and tourism.

Towards Patient-Centered Conflicts of Interest Policy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Peter D. Young

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Financial conflicts of interest exist between industry and physicians, and these relationships have the power to influence physicians’ medical practice. Transparency about conflicts matters for ensuring adequate informed consent, controlling healthcare expenditure, and encouraging physicians’ reflection on professionalism. The US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS launched the Open Payments Program (OPP to publicly disclose and bring transparency to the relationships between industry and physicians in the United States. We set out to explore user awareness of the database and the ease of accessibility to disclosed information, however, as we show, both awareness and actual use are very low. Two practical policies can greatly enhance its intended function and help alleviate ethical tension. The first is to provide data for individual physicians not merely in absolute terms, but in meaningful context, that is, in relation to the zip code, city, and state averages. The second increases access to the OPP dataset by adding hyperlinks from physicians’ professional websites directly to their Open Payments disclosure pages. These changes considerably improve transparency and the utility of available data, and can furthermore enhance professionalism and accountability by encouraging physicians to reflect more actively on their own practices.

Evaluating the Theoretic Adequacy and Applied Potential of Computational Models of the Spacing Effect.

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, Matthew M; Gluck, Kevin A; Gunzelmann, Glenn; Jastrzembski, Tiffany; Krusmark, Michael

2018-03-02

The spacing effect is among the most widely replicated empirical phenomena in the learning sciences, and its relevance to education and training is readily apparent. Yet successful applications of spacing effect research to education and training is rare. Computational modeling can provide the crucial link between a century of accumulated experimental data on the spacing effect and the emerging interest in using that research to enable adaptive instruction. In this paper, we review relevant literature and identify 10 criteria for rigorously evaluating computational models of the spacing effect. Five relate to evaluating the theoretic adequacy of a model, and five relate to evaluating its application potential. We use these criteria to evaluate a novel computational model of the spacing effect called the Predictive Performance Equation (PPE). Predictive Performance Equation combines elements of earlier models of learning and memory including the General Performance Equation, Adaptive Control of Thought-Rational, and the New Theory of Disuse, giving rise to a novel computational account of the spacing effect that performs favorably across the complete sets of theoretic and applied criteria. We implemented two other previously published computational models of the spacing effect and compare them to PPE using the theoretic and applied criteria as guides. © 2018 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

How loan interest rate liberalization affects firms'loan maturity structure Evidence from listed manufacturing companies in China

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Jianfang Zhou; Jingjing Wang; Jianping Ding

2014-01-01

Purpose-After loan interest rate upper limit deregulation in October 2004,the financing environment in China changed dramatically,and the banks were eligible for risk compensation.The purpose of this paper is to focus on the influence of the loan interest rate librealization on firms' loan maturity structure.Design/methodology/approach-Based on Rajan's (1992) model the authors constructed a tradeoff model of how the banks choose long-term and short-term loans scales,and further analyzed banks' loan term decisions under the loan interest rate upper limit deregulation or collateral cases.Then the authors used an unbalanced panel data set of 586 Chinese listed manufacturing companies and 9,376 observations during the period 1996-2011 to testify the theoretical conclusion.Furthermore,the authors studied the effect on firms with different characteristics of ownership or scale.Findings-The results show that the loan interest rate liberalization significantly decreases the private companies' reliance on short-term loans and increases sensitivity to interest rates of stateowned companies' long-term loans.But the results also show that the companies' ownership still plays a key role on the long-term loans availability.When monetary policy tightened,small companies still have to borrow short-term loans for long-term purposes.As the bank industry is still dominated by state-owned banks and the deposit interest rate has upper limits,the effect of the loan interest rate liberalization on easing long-term credit constraints is limited.Originality/value-From a new perspective,the content and findings of this paper contribute to the study of the effect of the interest rate liberalization on China economy.

Set-theoretic methods in control

CERN Document Server

Blanchini, Franco

2015-01-01

The second edition of this monograph describes the set-theoretic approach for the control and analysis of dynamic systems, both from a theoretical and practical standpoint.  This approach is linked to fundamental control problems, such as Lyapunov stability analysis and stabilization, optimal control, control under constraints, persistent disturbance rejection, and uncertain systems analysis and synthesis.  Completely self-contained, this book provides a solid foundation of mathematical techniques and applications, extensive references to the relevant literature, and numerous avenues for further theoretical study. All the material from the first edition has been updated to reflect the most recent developments in the field, and a new chapter on switching systems has been added.  Each chapter contains examples, case studies, and exercises to allow for a better understanding of theoretical concepts by practical application. The mathematical language is kept to the minimum level necessary for the adequate for...

General Relativity During the Great War

Science.gov (United States)

Trimble, Virginia L.

2016-01-01

Einstein's (and Hilbert's) equations saw light of day in the darkness of Berlin 1915, as is well known. Moving from this highlight to less conspicuous topics, we find Karl Schwarzschild's solution of those equations (1916) followed shortly by his death. On the observational and American front, Slipher's assemblage of galaxy radial velocities, begun in 1912 with M31, continued apace. Shapley was busily moving us out of the galactic center. Also at Mt. Wilson, Charles St. John looked for gravitational redshift in the solar spectrum in 1917 without firmly detecting it. Adams demonstrated the very low luminosities of Sirius B and 40 Eri B in 1914 (but his attempt at a redshift for the former came only in 1923). Perhaps least well known is that a handful of additional critical theoretical papers date from the war years and describe the Lense-Thirring effect, the Reissner-Nordstrom solution, and a charged solution with a cosmological constant (due to the even more obscure Friedrich Kottler). Some of these came out of neutral Holland, but Kottler served both at Ypres and on the Galician front. Interesting mixes of military service and relativistic contributions are also associated with the names of Friedmann, Le Lemaître, Weyl (of the tensor), Minkowski, Hubble, Flamm, Droste, and Kretschmann. Astronomers in neutral Denmark, Holland and (until 1917) the USA facilitated transmittal of astronomical observations and other news across the battle lines so that Schwarzschild received an obituary in Nature and Moseley one in Naturwissenschaften.

U.S. Geological Survey Karst Interest Group Proceedings, Bowling Green, Kentucky, May 27-29, 2008

Science.gov (United States)

Kuniansky, Eve L.

2008-01-01

*INTRODUCTION AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS* Karst aquifer systems are present throughout parts of the United States and some of its territories. The complex depositional environments that form carbonate rocks combined with post-depositional tectonic events and the diverse climatic regimes under which these rocks were formed result in unique hydrologic systems. The dissolution of calcium carbonate and the subsequent development of distinct and beautiful landscapes, caverns, and springs have resulted in some karst areas of the United States being designated as national or state parks and commercial caverns. Karst aquifers and landscapes that form in tropical areas, such as the north coast of Puerto Rico, differ greatly from karst areas in more arid climates, such as central Texas or western South Dakota. Many of these public and private lands contain unique flora and fauna associated with the hydrologic systems in these karst areas. As a result, multiple Federal, State, and local agencies have an interest in the study of karst terrains. Carbonate sediments and rocks (limestone and dolomite) are composed of greater than 50 percent carbonate minerals and the predominant carbonate mineral is calcium carbonate or limestone (CaCO3). Unlike terrigenous clastic sedimentation, the depositional processes that produce carbonate rocks are complex, involving both biological and physical processes. These depositional processes impact greatly the development of permeability of the sediments. Carbonate minerals readily dissolve or precipitate depending on the chemistry of the water flowing through the rock, thus the study of both marine and meteoric diagenesis of carbonate sediments is multidisciplinary. Even with a better understanding of the depositional environment and subsequent diagenesis, the dual porosity nature of karst aquifers presents challenges to scientists attempting to study ground-water flow and contaminant transport. Many of the major springs and aquifers in the United

On the meaning of Ribā [interest] and its effect on the Nigerian economy

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Muritala K. Kareem

2017-09-01

Full Text Available The role of financial intermediation in a modern capitalist system hinges mainly on the taking and charging interest. While some Islamic scholars consider interest to be lawful for Muslims to take or charge on their transactions, many Islamic scholars consider charging or taking interest to be non-shari’ah compliant. It is against this backdrop that the paper sets out to provide a correct articulation of the meaning of ribā [interest/usury], which is the foundation stone on which the conventional financial institutions are based and examines its effects on the Nigerian economy. Using information about the forms and structure of socio-economic transactions during al-Jahiliyyah (pre-Islamic period in Makkah and during the Prophet’s time in Makkah and Madinah, we found that interest of all kinds is prohibited. The practice of interest payment in a modern capitalist economy is against the dictates of the Shari’ah. The article finds that debt servicing has badly affected the economic growth development of Nigeria. The article reveals a sharp increase in the amounts used to finance the country’s debt obligation. The debt servicing as a percentage of the capital expenditure has been increasing greatly since 2011 to till date. The percentage of debt servicing to capital expenditure in Nigeria from 1981 to 2015 has been very high for the country, with an average of over 59.0% under the 35 years considered in this study. In some years, this ratio was over 100.0% reaching its peak at 150.4% in 2003. In 2015, the ratio stood at 129.57%. This could account for low level of development in the country. The negative impact of debt servicing on the economy serves as a barrier to poverty alleviation, economic growth and development.

27 CFR 70.93 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 27 Alcohol, Tobacco Products and Firearms 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Interest rate. 70.93... Excise and Special (Occupational) Tax Interest § 70.93 Interest rate. (a) In general. The interest rate... annual percentage rate of interest will exceed the prescribed rate of interest. (b) Applicability of...

The Great War and German Memory

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Leese, Peter

2012-01-01

Review essay on Jason Crouthamel, The Great War and German Memory. Society, Politics and Psychological Trauma, 1914-18 (2009) and Anton Kaes, Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War (2009)......Review essay on Jason Crouthamel, The Great War and German Memory. Society, Politics and Psychological Trauma, 1914-18 (2009) and Anton Kaes, Shell Shock Cinema: Weimar Culture and the Wounds of War (2009)...

Using natural range of variation to set decision thresholds: a case study for great plains grasslands

Science.gov (United States)

Symstad, Amy J.; Jonas, Jayne L.; Edited by Guntenspergen, Glenn R.

2014-01-01

Natural range of variation (NRV) may be used to establish decision thresholds or action assessment points when ecological thresholds are either unknown or do not exist for attributes of interest in a managed ecosystem. The process for estimating NRV involves identifying spatial and temporal scales that adequately capture the heterogeneity of the ecosystem; compiling data for the attributes of interest via study of historic records, analysis and interpretation of proxy records, modeling, space-for-time substitutions, or analysis of long-term monitoring data; and quantifying the NRV from those data. At least 19 National Park Service (NPS) units in North America’s Great Plains are monitoring plant species richness and evenness as indicators of vegetation integrity in native grasslands, but little information on natural, temporal variability of these indicators is available. In this case study, we use six long-term vegetation monitoring datasets to quantify the temporal variability of these attributes in reference conditions for a variety of Great Plains grassland types, and then illustrate the implications of using different NRVs based on these quantities for setting management decision thresholds. Temporal variability of richness (as measured by the coefficient of variation, CV) is fairly consistent across the wide variety of conditions occurring in Colorado shortgrass prairie to Minnesota tallgrass sand savanna (CV 0.20–0.45) and generally less than that of production at the same sites. Temporal variability of evenness spans a greater range of CV than richness, and it is greater than that of production in some sites but less in other sites. This natural temporal variability may mask undesirable changes in Great Plains grasslands vegetation. Consequently, we suggest that managers consider using a relatively narrow NRV (interquartile range of all richness or evenness values observed in reference conditions) for designating a surveillance threshold, at which

Sermaye Hesabı Liberalizasyonu : Teorik Bir İnceleme = Capital Account Liberalization : a Theoretical Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Turgut Türsoy

2008-06-01

Full Text Available This paper surveys the theoretical principals of the capital account liberalization and evaluate the literature on the effects of capital account openness on economic growth. Following the evaluation of literature, various measurements of capital account liberalization are discussed. After reviewing various measurements it can be seen that most countries have, to a great extend, opened their accounts to capital flows. But this paper shows that the empirical studies failed to provide evidence that there is a strong and prominent effect of capital account liberalization on economic growth. Despite the empirical studies, experimental studies analyzing the developments after liberalization in countries found that opening the capital account has an important effect on GDP.

Theoretical interpretation of a case study: Acoustic resonance in an archaeological site

Science.gov (United States)

Carrera, Jorge; Beristain, Sergio

2002-11-01

It is well-known that the stairways of some Mexican archaeological sites, like Chichen-Itza or Teotihuacan, present an interesting sound reflection and resonance phenomenon which causes a special audible effect. In this paper, mathematical modeling of this situation is presented, and the practical phenomenon is discussed from a theoretical standpoint. More than an end in itself, the idea is, once this validated model is obtained, to use the results for the analysis of a more extensive architectural environment in order to establish whether this kind of phenomenon would have been purposely introduced in the design of the site. This will be presented in future publications.

A Review of Conflict of Interest, Competing Interest, and Bias for Toxicologists

Science.gov (United States)

One of the issues often associated with scientific misconduct is conflict of interest (CoI). Although there is a lack of uniformity in the definition of CoI, many express concerns that competing interests may bias research methods and the interpretation of data and conclusions. ...

Software for energy modelling: a theoretical basis for improvements in the user interface

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Siu, Y.L.

1989-09-01

A philosophical critique of the relationships between theory, knowledge and practice for a range of existing energy modelling styles is presented. In particular, Habermas's ideas are invoked regarding the three spheres of cognitive interest (i.e. technical, practical and emancipatory) and three levels of understanding of knowledge, the construction of an 'ideal speech situation', and the theory of communicative competence and action. These are adopted as a basis for revealing shortcomings of a representative selection of existing computer-based energy modelling styles, and as a springboard for constructing a new theoretical approach. (author).

Points of Interest: What Determines Interest Rates?

Science.gov (United States)

Schilling, Tim

Interest rates can significantly influence people's behavior. When rates decline, homeowners rush to buy new homes and refinance old mortgages; automobile buyers scramble to buy new cars; the stock market soars, and people tend to feel more optimistic about the future. But even though individuals respond to changes in rates, they may not fully…

Information-Theoretic Inference of Common Ancestors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bastian Steudel

2015-04-01

Full Text Available A directed acyclic graph (DAG partially represents the conditional independence structure among observations of a system if the local Markov condition holds, that is if every variable is independent of its non-descendants given its parents. In general, there is a whole class of DAGs that represents a given set of conditional independence relations. We are interested in properties of this class that can be derived from observations of a subsystem only. To this end, we prove an information-theoretic inequality that allows for the inference of common ancestors of observed parts in any DAG representing some unknown larger system. More explicitly, we show that a large amount of dependence in terms of mutual information among the observations implies the existence of a common ancestor that distributes this information. Within the causal interpretation of DAGs, our result can be seen as a quantitative extension of Reichenbach’s principle of common cause to more than two variables. Our conclusions are valid also for non-probabilistic observations, such as binary strings, since we state the proof for an axiomatized notion of “mutual information” that includes the stochastic as well as the algorithmic version.

Interest Rates and Inflation

OpenAIRE

Coopersmith, Michael; Gambardella, Pascal J.

2016-01-01

This article is an extension of the work of one of us (Coopersmith, 2011) in deriving the relationship between certain interest rates and the inflation rate of a two component economic system. We use the well-known Fisher relation between the difference of the nominal interest rate and its inflation adjusted value to eliminate the inflation rate and obtain a delay differential equation. We provide computer simulated solutions for this equation over regimes of interest. This paper could be of ...

Time-Space Trade-Offs

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pagter, Jakob Illeborg

. The area of time-space trade-offs deals with both upper and lower bounds and both are interesting, theoretically as well as practically. The viewpoint of this dissertation is theoretical, but we believe that some of our results can find applications in practice as well. The last four years has witnessed...... perspective hierarchical memory layout models are the most interesting. Such models are called external memory models, in contrast to the internal memory models discussed above. Despite the fact that space might be of great relevance when solving practical problems on real computers, no theoretical model...... capturing space (and time simultaneously) has been defined. We introduce such a model and use it to prove so-called IOspace trade-offs for Sorting. Building on the abovementioned techniques for time-space efficient internal memory Sorting, we develop the first IO-space efficient external memory Sorting...

Theoretical nuclear fission: The evolution of the first fifty years

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Griffin, J.J.

1989-01-01

The evolution of the dynamical theory of nuclear fission is reviewed through four recognizable major phases. Its conceptual structure was from the outset shaped by the Bohr-Wheeler idea of the nucleus as a liquid drop. On the other hand, today's nuclear drop is a system which has under study repeatedly revealed remarkable and unexpected properties, especially with respect to the dependence of its energy upon its shape. Although some of these special properties arise from quantal effects, the theory of fission is still expressed largely in terms of classical dynamics. This situation leaves open the question whether our theoretical success flows entirely from physical truth or in part from the great phenomenological flexibility of the drop model. It leads one also to wonder whether in the next phase connections with the quantal many-body dynamics might finally find a firm place in the theory, and tie its predictions quantitatively to the deeper microscopic reality

Great ape genetic diversity and population history

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Prado-Martinez, Javier; Sudmant, Peter H; Kidd, Jeffrey M

2013-01-01

Most great ape genetic variation remains uncharacterized; however, its study is critical for understanding population history, recombination, selection and susceptibility to disease. Here we sequence to high coverage a total of 79 wild- and captive-born individuals representing all six great ape...

Scientism, conflicts of interest, and the marginalization of ethics in medical education.

Science.gov (United States)

Mayes, Christopher; Williams, Jane; Kerridge, Ian; Lipworth, Wendy

2017-11-03

This paper reports on the findings from 6 focus groups conducted with Australian medical students. The focus groups sought students' perspectives on how the influence of commercial interests on medical practice and education could be managed. We conducted 6 focus groups with medical students in New South Wales, Australia. Participants were recruited via student-run medical society and faculty e-mail lists. Forty-nine students from 6 medical schools in New South Wales participated. The research team reflected on the extent to which students uncritically appealed to science in the abstract as a management solution for conflicts of interest. Data analysis was largely inductive, looking for uses of scientific terminology, EBM, and appeals to "science" in the management of COI and applied theoretical analyses of scientism. The students in our study suggested that science and evidence-based medicine, rather than ethics or professionalism, were the best tools to deal with undue influence and bias. This paper uses philosophy of science literature to critically examine these scientistic appeals to science and EBM as a means of managing the influence of pharmaceutical reps and commercial interests. We argue that a scientistic style of reasoning is reinforced through medical curricula and that students need to be made aware of the epistemological assumptions that underpin science, medicine, and EBM to address the ethical challenges associated with commercialised health care. More work is needed to structure medical curricula to reflect the complexities of practice and realities of science. However, curricula change alone will not sufficiently address issues associated with commercial interests in medicine. For real change to occur, there needs to be a broader social and professional debate about the ways in which medicine and industry interact, and structural changes that restrict or mitigate commercial influences in educational, research, and policy settings. © 2017 John

GREAT: a web portal for Genome Regulatory Architecture Tools.

Science.gov (United States)

Bouyioukos, Costas; Bucchini, François; Elati, Mohamed; Képès, François

2016-07-08

GREAT (Genome REgulatory Architecture Tools) is a novel web portal for tools designed to generate user-friendly and biologically useful analysis of genome architecture and regulation. The online tools of GREAT are freely accessible and compatible with essentially any operating system which runs a modern browser. GREAT is based on the analysis of genome layout -defined as the respective positioning of co-functional genes- and its relation with chromosome architecture and gene expression. GREAT tools allow users to systematically detect regular patterns along co-functional genomic features in an automatic way consisting of three individual steps and respective interactive visualizations. In addition to the complete analysis of regularities, GREAT tools enable the use of periodicity and position information for improving the prediction of transcription factor binding sites using a multi-view machine learning approach. The outcome of this integrative approach features a multivariate analysis of the interplay between the location of a gene and its regulatory sequence. GREAT results are plotted in web interactive graphs and are available for download either as individual plots, self-contained interactive pages or as machine readable tables for downstream analysis. The GREAT portal can be reached at the following URL https://absynth.issb.genopole.fr/GREAT and each individual GREAT tool is available for downloading. © The Author(s) 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Nucleic Acids Research.

Thermoelectric Generation Of Current - Theoretical And Experimental Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Ruciński, Adam; Rusowicz, Artur

2017-12-01

This paper provides some information about thermoelectric technology. Some new materials with improved figures of merit are presented. These materials in Peltier modules make it possible to generate electric current thanks to a temperature difference. The paper indicates possible applications of thermoelectric modules as interesting tools for using various waste heat sources. Some zero-dimensional equations describing the conditions of electric power generation are given. Also, operating parameters of Peltier modules, such as voltage and electric current, are analyzed. The paper shows chosen characteristics of power generation parameters. Then, an experimental stand for ongoing research and experimental measurements are described. The authors consider the resistance of a receiver placed in the electric circuit with thermoelectric elements. Finally, both the analysis of experimental results and conclusions drawn from theoretical findings are presented. Voltage generation of about 1.5 to 2.5 V for the temperature difference from 65 to 85 K was observed when a bismuth telluride thermoelectric couple (traditionally used in cooling technology) was used.

27 CFR 6.32 - Indirect interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... OF THE TREASURY LIQUORS âTIED-HOUSEâ Unlawful Inducements Interest in Retail Property § 6.32 Indirect interest. Industry member interest in retail property includes any interest acquired by corporate officials, partners, employees or other representatives of the industry member. Any interest in retail property...

Development of theoretical methodology for large molecules

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maggiora, G.M.; Christoffersen, R.E.; Yoffe, J.A.; Petke, J.D.

1981-01-01

A major advantage of the use of floating spherical Gaussian or vitals (FSGO) is the extreme rapidity with which the necessary quantum mechanical integrals can be evaluated. This advantage has been exploited in several quantum mechanical procedures for molecular electronic structure calculations, as described below. Several other properties of these functions have also been exploited, and have led to the development of semiclassical point charge and harmonic oscillator models capable of describing first and second order electromagnetic properties and intermolecular forces with reasonable accuracy in all cases and with considerably better accuracy than much more elaborate theoretical procedures in some cases. These applications are also described below. The primary intent of the current paper is to present an overview of some of the uses of FSGOs in the study of molecular electronic structure and properties and to indicate possible directions for future applications. No attempt will be made to include all possible applications. Rather, those applications of interest to the authors have been stressed. Hopefully, this paper will further stimulate the development of additional uses of these remarkable functions

Essays on the Intellect.

Science.gov (United States)

Link, Frances R., Ed.

There has been a flood of publications concerned with the teaching of thinking and problem solving, a great many exploring definitions and approaches to instruction. This book explores the implications of recent theoretical positions as in the work of Elliott Jaques, Joseph Walters, and Howard Gardner; examines the long interest and study of…

The Great Himalayan Game

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Schmidt, Johannes Dragsbæk; Thapa, Manish

The aim of this paper is to explore the rivalry between India and China and how it impacts Nepal in geo-strategic and geo-political terms both theoretically, conceptually and empirically. The foreign policy rivalry between India and China appears not only to influence investment and trade decisions...

27 CFR 6.26 - Indirect interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... OF THE TREASURY LIQUORS âTIED-HOUSEâ Unlawful Inducements Interest in Retail License § 6.26 Indirect interest. Industry member interest in retail licenses includes any interest acquired by corporate officials, partners, employees or other representatives of the industry member. Any interest in a retail license...

Effects of Gas Dynamics on Rapidly Collapsing Bubbles

OpenAIRE

Bauman, Spenser; Fomitchev-Zamilov, Max

2013-01-01

The dynamics of rapidly collapsing bubbles are of great interest due to the high degree of energy focusing that occurs withing the bubble. Molecular dynamics provides a way to model the interior of the bubble and couple the gas dynamics with the equations governing the bubble wall. While much theoretical work has been done to understand how a bubble will respond to an external force, the internal dynamics of the gas system are usually simplified greatly in such treatments. This paper shows ho...

Absorption of negative pions resting on nuclei of the 1p layer. Theoretical and experimental aspects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coupat, Bernard

1981-01-01

As the probability of capture of π- resting on 12 C with emission of a single proton which has been measured on the Saclay Linear Accelerator (ALS), is relatively high, it was obvious that this reaction type was based on a mechanism involving two nucleons. Due to the lack of theoretical interpretation for the emission of a single nucleon, a model has been developed in which the pion is absorbed by a correlated proton-proton pair, only one of these both protons being emitted. The first part of this research thesis addresses the calculation of absorption on a pair of nucleons with emission of these nucleons. It comprises the detailed presentation of the theoretical model, its comparison with other published calculations, and the comparison with results obtained by experiments of emission of nucleon pairs from carbon and oxygen. The second part proposes an overview of the great number of experimental results obtained by capture of π- resting on carbon. It reports the measurement of the emission of a single nucleon, the presentation of the elaborated theoretical model which has been developed to interpret this measurement. The author also compares the results of his calculation with the experimentally measured probability for the (π - p) process and the results published on the measurement of the (π - n).reaction [fr

α decay and cluster radioactivity of nuclei of interest to the synthesis of Z =119 , 120 isotopes

Science.gov (United States)

Poenaru, D. N.; Gherghescu, R. A.

2018-04-01

Super-heavy nuclei of interest for the forthcoming synthesis of the isotopes with Z =119 , 120 are investigated. One of the very interesting latest experiments was performed at the velocity filter SHIP (GSI Darmstadt) trying to produce 299120 in a fusion reaction 248Cm(54Cr,3 n )299120 . We report calculations of α -decay half-lives using four models: AKRA (Akrawy), ASAF (analytical superasymmetric fission), UNIV (universal formula), and semFIS (semi-empirical formula based on fission theory). The released energy, Q , is calculated using the theoretical model of atomic masses, WS4. For Sr,9492 cluster radioactivity of 120,302300 we predict a branching ratio relative to α decay of -0.10 and 0.49, respectively, meaning that it is worth trying to detect such kinds of decay modes in competition with α decay.

Upper secondary students’ situational interest:

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dohn, Niels Bonderup

2013-01-01

’ interest was investigated by a descriptive interpretive approach, based on data from classroom and field trip observations, video recording, and interviews. The findings provided evidence that substantial situational interest can be generated during a fieldtrip to a zoo. Students’ interest was triggered...

Investigation of photonic band gaps with special emphasis on hyperuniform structures

OpenAIRE

Siedentop, Lukas

2016-01-01

A toolbox of considerable size was collected within the course of this work that enables the study of photonic meta materials. It is now possible to successfully simulate, fabricate and moreover characterise meta materials with a photonic band gap. This is of great interest for applications, where waveguides are one possible object of interest, as well as fundamental theoretical investigations, namely identify the properties a pattern needs to posses to form such a photonic band gap, for exam...

The Importance of Multi-level Theoretical Integration in Biopsychosocial Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniel J. Kruger

2007-12-01

Full Text Available There is a growing interest in the unification of health research in a biopsychosocial framework. However, increasing specialization and advancement in instrumentation makes it more difficult to bridge understanding across areas. It would be very useful to ground biopsychosocial research in the most powerful explanatory framework in the life sciences, evolution by natural and sexual selection. This would require and explanation of the functional significance of the phenomena related to the area of study, in addition to descriptions of the mechanism. The application of an integrative evolutionary framework will be illustrated with the example of sex differences in human mortality rates, which are related to endocrine, psychological, and socio-environmental factors. The integrative evolutionary model will be contrasted with a theoretical model that acknowledges physiological and social influences, but artificially separates them.

24 CFR 206.21 - Interest rate.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... 24 Housing and Urban Development 2 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Interest rate. 206.21 Section 206... CONVERSION MORTGAGE INSURANCE Eligibility; Endorsement Eligible Mortgages § 206.21 Interest rate. (a) Fixed interest rate. A fixed interest rate is agreed upon by the mortgagor and mortgagee. (b) Adjustable interest...

5 CFR 550.806 - Interest computations.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

... agency shall compound interest by dividing the applicable interest rate (expressed as a decimal) by 365... 5 Administrative Personnel 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Interest computations. 550.806 Section... ADMINISTRATION (GENERAL) Back Pay § 550.806 Interest computations. (a)(1) Interest begins to accrue on the date...

Interest Organisations and European Integration

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, Ove K.

This paper examines the influence of European integration on the relationship between state administration and private interests in the four Nordic countries - Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland. By private interests I mean interest organizations, private corporations and independent experts....... The paper focuses exclusively on the national policy processes that are involved with managing European Union (EU) issues. More specifically, this paper discusses two aspects of multi-level governance. First is the important role of private interests in the coordination of decision making at the national...... level preceding their government's representation of national interests in the European Council of Ministers and other EU organizations. Second is the effect of all this on national democratic systems....

Universe in the theoretical model «Evolving matter»

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bazaluk Oleg

2013-04-01

Full Text Available The article critically examines modern model of the Universe evolution constructed by efforts of a group of scientists (mathematicians, physicists and cosmologists from the world's leading universities (Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Yale, Columbia, New York, Rutgers and the UC Santa Cruz. The author notes its strengths, but also points to shortcomings. Author believes that this model does not take into account the most important achievements in the field of biochemistry and biology (molecular, physical, developmental, etc., as well as neuroscience and psychology. Author believes that in the construction of model of the Universe evolution, scientists must take into account (with great reservations the impact of living and intelligent matter on space processes. As an example, the author gives his theoretical model "Evolving matter". In this model, he shows not only the general dependence of the interaction of cosmic processes with inert, living and intelligent matter, but also he attempts to show the direct influence of systems of living and intelligent matter on the acceleration of the Universe's expansion.

A Systematic Review of Surgical Randomized Controlled Trials: Part 2. Funding Source, Conflict of Interest, and Sample Size in Plastic Surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Voineskos, Sophocles H; Coroneos, Christopher J; Ziolkowski, Natalia I; Kaur, Manraj N; Banfield, Laura; Meade, Maureen O; Chung, Kevin C; Thoma, Achilleas; Bhandari, Mohit

2016-02-01

The authors examined industry support, conflict of interest, and sample size in plastic surgery randomized controlled trials that compared surgical interventions. They hypothesized that industry-funded trials demonstrate statistically significant outcomes more often, and randomized controlled trials with small sample sizes report statistically significant results more frequently. An electronic search identified randomized controlled trials published between 2000 and 2013. Independent reviewers assessed manuscripts and performed data extraction. Funding source, conflict of interest, primary outcome direction, and sample size were examined. Chi-squared and independent-samples t tests were used in the analysis. The search identified 173 randomized controlled trials, of which 100 (58 percent) did not acknowledge funding status. A relationship between funding source and trial outcome direction was not observed. Both funding status and conflict of interest reporting improved over time. Only 24 percent (six of 25) of industry-funded randomized controlled trials reported authors to have independent control of data and manuscript contents. The mean number of patients randomized was 73 per trial (median, 43, minimum, 3, maximum, 936). Small trials were not found to be positive more often than large trials (p = 0.87). Randomized controlled trials with small sample size were common; however, this provides great opportunity for the field to engage in further collaboration and produce larger, more definitive trials. Reporting of trial funding and conflict of interest is historically poor, but it greatly improved over the study period. Underreporting at author and journal levels remains a limitation when assessing the relationship between funding source and trial outcomes. Improved reporting and manuscript control should be goals that both authors and journals can actively achieve.

Theoretical studies of oxides relevant to the combustion of fossil fuels

Science.gov (United States)

Hicks, Jason Michael

Anthropogenic pollution has greatly increased since the industrial revolution and continues to increase as more of the world becomes dependent upon fossil fuels for important applications like transportation and power production. In a general case, whenever a fossil fuel is consumed, a primary product of a complete combustion reaction is carbon dioxide. In a more specific case, the collection, processing and combustion of coal for power production are one of the primary ways by which trace elements, such as arsenic and selenium, are released into the environment. All of these pollutants are known to have harmful effects, whether on the environment, human health or power production itself. Because of this there has been an increasing interest in studies related to combating these pollutants. Concerning CO2 emissions, recently there has been a significant amount of work related to CO2 capture. A promising method involves the encapsulation of CO2 into isoreticular metal-organic frameworks (IRMOFs). The effectiveness of IMROFs greatly depends on the choice of both metal and organic parts. Molecular simulations have been used in the past to aid in the design and characterization of new MOFs, in particular by generating an adsorption isotherm. However, these traditional simulation methods have several drawbacks. The method used in this thesis, namely expanded Wang-Landau, not only overcomes these drawbacks but provides access to all the thermodynamic properties relevant to the adsorption process through a solution thermodynamics approach. This is greatly beneficial, since an excellent way to characterize the performance of various MOFs is by comparing their desorption free energy, i.e., the energy it takes to regenerate a saturated MOF to prepare it for the next adsorption cycle. Expanded WL was used in the study of CO 2 adsorption into IRMOF-1, 8 and 10 at eight temperatures, spanning both the subcritical and supercritical regimes and the following were obtained

A Game-theoretic Framework for Network Coding Based Device-to-Device Communications

KAUST Repository

Douik, Ahmed S.; Sorour, Sameh; Tembine, Hamidou; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2016-01-01

This paper investigates the delay minimization problem for instantly decodable network coding (IDNC) based deviceto- device (D2D) communications. In D2D enabled systems, users cooperate to recover all their missing packets. The paper proposes a game theoretic framework as a tool for improving the distributed solution by overcoming the need for a central controller or additional signaling in the system. The session is modeled by self-interested players in a non-cooperative potential game. The utility functions are designed so as increasing individual payoff results in a collective behavior achieving both a desirable system performance in a shared network environment and the Nash equilibrium. Three games are developed whose first reduces the completion time, the second the maximum decoding delay and the third the sum decoding delay. The paper, further, improves the formulations by including a punishment policy upon collision occurrence so as to achieve the Nash bargaining solution. Learning algorithms are proposed for systems with complete and incomplete information, and for the imperfect feedback scenario. Numerical results suggest that the proposed game-theoretical formulation provides appreciable performance gain against the conventional point-to-multipoint (PMP), especially for reliable user-to-user channels.

A Game-theoretic Framework for Network Coding Based Device-to-Device Communications

KAUST Repository

Douik, Ahmed

2016-06-29

This paper investigates the delay minimization problem for instantly decodable network coding (IDNC) based deviceto- device (D2D) communications. In D2D enabled systems, users cooperate to recover all their missing packets. The paper proposes a game theoretic framework as a tool for improving the distributed solution by overcoming the need for a central controller or additional signaling in the system. The session is modeled by self-interested players in a non-cooperative potential game. The utility functions are designed so as increasing individual payoff results in a collective behavior achieving both a desirable system performance in a shared network environment and the Nash equilibrium. Three games are developed whose first reduces the completion time, the second the maximum decoding delay and the third the sum decoding delay. The paper, further, improves the formulations by including a punishment policy upon collision occurrence so as to achieve the Nash bargaining solution. Learning algorithms are proposed for systems with complete and incomplete information, and for the imperfect feedback scenario. Numerical results suggest that the proposed game-theoretical formulation provides appreciable performance gain against the conventional point-to-multipoint (PMP), especially for reliable user-to-user channels.

MUSEUM META-NARRATIVES AND MICRO-STORIES OF THE GREAT RUSSIAN REVOLUTION (TO THE 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE REVOLUTION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chuvilova Irina

2018-02-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to an overview and analysis of Museum projects dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Great Russian revolution. Preparing for the anniversary initiated a return to the difficult topic, the desire to relate modern historical knowledge of the Museum and of a concept of Russian history on the whole space of the country. The author selects two main groups of Museum projects with meta-and microhistory, which are disclosed through the regional aspects of the event, the individual aspects, the monologue of a single event or a single artifact, cultural theoretical reflection, personal understanding of our contemporaries.

Integration of Interests at University

Science.gov (United States)

Koshkin, Andrey; Yablochkina, Irina; Kornilova, Irina; Novikov, Andrey

2017-01-01

University students and instructors constantly correlate their personal interests with generally accepted interests and corporate norms. The process of assimilating organizational norms is not always characterized by the optimum dynamics and focus among all the students and even instructors. Students' and instructors' personal interests often do…

“An Arctic Great Power”? Recent Developments in Danish Arctic Policy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rahbek-Clemmensen, Jon

2016-01-01

Denmark has been a firm advocate for Arctic cooperation in the recent decade, most importantly as the initiator of the 2008 Ilulissat meeting. Two new strategic publications – a foreign policy report (Danish Diplomacy and Defence in a Time of Change) and a defense report (The Ministry of Defence......’s Future Activities in the Arctic), which were published in May and June 2016 –highlight the Kingdom of Denmark’s status as “an Arctic great power” and the importance of pursuing Danish interests, which could indicate a shift away from a cooperation-oriented policy. This article investigates whether...... the documents represent a break in Danish Arctic policy. It argues that the two documents represent continuation, rather than change. They show that the High North continues to become steadily more important on the Danish foreign policy agenda, although the region remains just one of several regional priorities...

Theoretical clarity is not “Manicheanism”

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hjørland, Birger

2011-01-01

It is argued that in order to establish a new theoretical approach to information science it is necessary to express disagreement with some established views. The “social turn” in information science is not just exemplified in relation to the works of Marcia Bates but in relation to many different...... researchers in the field. Therefore it should not be taken personally, and the debate should focus on the substance. Marcia Bates has contributed considerably to information science. In spite of this some of her theoretical points of departure may be challenged. It is important to seek theoretical clarity...... and this may involve a degree of schematic confrontation that should not be confused with theoretical one-sidedness, “Manicheanism” or lack of respect....

Set-Theoretic Approach to Maturity Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lasrado, Lester Allan

Despite being widely accepted and applied, maturity models in Information Systems (IS) have been criticized for the lack of theoretical grounding, methodological rigor, empirical validations, and ignorance of multiple and non-linear paths to maturity. This PhD thesis focuses on addressing...... these criticisms by incorporating recent developments in configuration theory, in particular application of set-theoretic approaches. The aim is to show the potential of employing a set-theoretic approach for maturity model research and empirically demonstrating equifinal paths to maturity. Specifically...... methodological guidelines consisting of detailed procedures to systematically apply set theoretic approaches for maturity model research and provides demonstrations of it application on three datasets. The thesis is a collection of six research papers that are written in a sequential manner. The first paper...

Urbanization Is Associated with Divergence in Pace-of-Life in Great Tits

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anne Charmantier

2017-05-01

Full Text Available As an extension of the classic life history theory, the recently highlighted pace-of-life syndrome hypothesis predicts the coevolution of behavioral, physiological and life-history traits. For instance, bolder and shyer individuals do not only differ in personality profiles, but also in neuro-endocrinology and breeding patterns. While theory predicts that bolder (i.e., proactive, more aggressive individuals should colonize more rapidly urbanized habitats than shyer (i.e., reactive, less aggressive individuals, it is also predicted that across generations, adaptive selection processes could favor shyer individuals that are more sensitive to novel environmental cues. Here we compared two personality traits (handling aggression, exploration score in a novel environment, one physiological trait related to stress response (breath rate and four breeding traits (lay date, clutch size, hatching success and fledging success in a rural and an urban study population of Mediterranean great tits Parus major. Mixed models revealed strong phenotypic divergence between forest and city in most traits explored, in particular in personality, whereby urban great tits were more reactive to stress and faster explorers compared to rural birds (yet not more aggressive. Urban birds also laid smaller broods earlier in spring compared to their rural conspecifics, and city broods resulted in lower hatching success yet interestingly fledging success was similar. Nest-box centered measures of anthropogenic (artificial light, pedestrians, and cars perturbation and resource abundance allowed us to go beyond the classical forest/city comparison by exploring the phenotypic variation across an urbanization gradient. This revealed that high urbanization in nest-box surroundings was associated overall with earlier breeding and smaller clutches, but also with faster breath rate, although these trends showed strong annual variation. Ongoing rapid urbanization and non-random gene flow

Deep Learning Methods for Quantifying Invasive Benthic Species in the Great Lakes

Science.gov (United States)

Billings, G.; Skinner, K.; Johnson-Roberson, M.

2017-12-01

In recent decades, invasive species such as the round goby and dreissenid mussels have greatly impacted the Great Lakes ecosystem. It is critical to monitor these species, model their distribution, and quantify the impacts on the native fisheries and surrounding ecosystem in order to develop an effective management response. However, data collection in underwater environments is challenging and expensive. Furthermore, the round goby is typically found in rocky habitats, which are inaccessible to standard survey techniques such as bottom trawling. In this work we propose a robotic system for visual data collection to automatically detect and quantify invasive round gobies and mussels in the Great Lakes. Robotic platforms equipped with cameras can perform efficient, cost-effective, low-bias benthic surveys. This data collection can be further optimized through automatic detection and annotation of the target species. Deep learning methods have shown success in image recognition tasks. However, these methods often rely on a labelled training dataset, with up to millions of labelled images. Hand labeling large numbers of images is expensive and often impracticable. Furthermore, data collected in the field may be sparse when only considering images that contain the objects of interest. It is easier to collect dense, clean data in controlled lab settings, but this data is not a realistic representation of real field environments. In this work, we propose a deep learning approach to generate a large set of labelled training data realistic of underwater environments in the field. To generate these images, first we draw random sample images of individual fish and mussels from a library of images captured in a controlled lab environment. Next, these randomly drawn samples will be automatically merged into natural background images. Finally, we will use a generative adversarial network (GAN) that incorporates constraints of the physical model of underwater light propagation

76 FR 77581 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2011-12-13

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

77 FR 76586 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2012-12-28

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

76 FR 18821 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-05

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

78 FR 18664 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2013-03-27

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

75 FR 81326 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2010-12-27

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

77 FR 39560 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2012-07-03

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

75 FR 37872 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2010-06-30

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

77 FR 20476 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-04

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

76 FR 38717 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2011-07-01

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This [[Page...

75 FR 60152 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2010-09-29

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

77 FR 59447 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2012-09-27

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

78 FR 62932 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2013-10-22

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

78 FR 39434 - Interest Rates

Science.gov (United States)

2013-07-01

... SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION Interest Rates The Small Business Administration publishes an interest rate called the optional ``peg'' rate (13 CFR 120.214) on a quarterly basis. This rate is a.... This rate may be used as a base rate for guaranteed fluctuating interest rate SBA loans. This rate will...

Management of interest rate risk

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Šabović Šerif

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Interest rate risk is one of the biggest and most dangerous risks that a bank is exposed to. When a change of interest rates occurs, the incomes of a bank based on credits and securities endure significant changes. Banks resources also endure some changes. The change of interest rates changes the value of the assets and liabilities of the bank and it's net and investment worth . The change of interest rates also affects bank's balance sheet, income sheet statement and bank's share capital.

Contaminants of emerging concern in tributaries to the Laurentian Great Lakes: I. Patterns of occurrence

Science.gov (United States)

Elliott, Sarah M.; Brigham, Mark E.; Lee, Kathy E.; Banda, Jo A.; Choy, Steven J.; Gefell, Daniel J.; Minarik, Thomas A.; Moore, Jeremy N.; Jorgenson, Zachary G.

2017-01-01

Human activities introduce a variety of chemicals to the Laurentian Great Lakes including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, flame retardants, plasticizers, and solvents (collectively referred to as contaminants of emerging concern or CECs) potentially threatening the vitality of these valuable ecosystems. We conducted a basin-wide study to identify the presence of CECs and other chemicals of interest in 12 U.S. tributaries to the Laurentian Great Lakes during 2013 and 2014. A total of 292 surface-water and 80 sediment samples were collected and analyzed for approximately 200 chemicals. A total of 32 and 28 chemicals were detected in at least 30% of water and sediment samples, respectively. Concentrations ranged from 0.0284 (indole) to 72.2 (cholesterol) μg/L in water and 1.75 (diphenhydramine) to 20,800 μg/kg (fluoranthene) in sediment. Cluster analyses revealed chemicals that frequently co-occurred such as pharmaceuticals and flame retardants at sites receiving similar inputs such as wastewater treatment plant effluent. Comparison of environmental concentrations to water and sediment-quality benchmarks revealed that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon concentrations often exceeded benchmarks in both water and sediment. Additionally, bis(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate and dichlorvos concentrations exceeded water-quality benchmarks in several rivers. Results from this study can be used to understand organism exposure, prioritize river basins for future management efforts, and guide detailed assessments of factors influencing transport and fate of CECs in the Great Lakes Basin.

The power of theoretical knowledge.

Science.gov (United States)

Alligood, Martha Raile

2011-10-01

Nursing theoretical knowledge has demonstrated powerful contributions to education, research, administration and professional practice for guiding nursing thought and action. That knowledge has shifted the primary focus of the nurse from nursing functions to the person. Theoretical views of the person raise new questions, create new approaches and instruments for nursing research, and expand nursing scholarship throughout the world.

Marañón and historical social psychology: some theoretical questions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Almagro González, Andrés

2008-11-01

Full Text Available If one takes a multidisciplinary, integrative perspective on historical social psychology, one sees that it is a vital thread not only in the theoretical weave of social psychology as such, but in any social science which studies the social being. The multidisciplinary character of historical social psychology is friendly to authors and ideas from other domains of knowledge. Marañón's insights suggest interesting ways of answering the main questions that arise in historical social psychology. The application of his method, as I shall try to show, can orient to us towards a social psychology concerned not only with the here and now of its object of study, but also with the way in which it has evolved through history.

Teaching pattern diversification for optics course: motivate interest, open minds and apply flexibly

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yunxin; Wang, Dayong; Rong, Lu; Zhao, Jie

2015-10-01

Optics is one of the most important basic courses for college students majoring in Applied Physics in university, which can supply the essential theoretical foundation for the subsequent courses such as Information Optics and Electrodynamics etc.. So Optics course plays a supporting effect in the knowledge frame of the college students. Optics course has its own feature, for one thing, many optical contents cannot be understood directly and easily, for another the optical phenomenon or experiments are interesting and can be displayed intuitively. Considering the above feature, the diversiform teaching patterns are developed to improve the teaching effect. To motivate their interest, students have the chance to visit optical laboratory for both teaching demonstration and science research, and voluntary demonstration of teaching apparatus in class are another approach. Furthermore, digital simulation and experimental design according to the classical knowledge are introduced to the optics course, so students can comprehend and verify the optical principle. Students are encouraged to propose new ideas, and these ideas can be achieved with the help of teachers and the funds support from our university. Besides, some talent students will be invited to join a research group composing by graduate students and teachers. In this group, the students have the chance to touch frontier topics in optics. The diversification of teaching patterns can supply a developing space with the rising gradient for students, which can inspire the interest, open their minds and make them apply flexibly by the participatory and inquiry.

Pre-college Science Experiences; Timing and Causes of Gender Influence Science Interest Levels

Science.gov (United States)

Kaplita, E.; Reed, D. E.; McKenzie, D. A.; Jones, R.; May, L. W.

2015-12-01

It is known that female students tend to turn away from science during their pre-college years. Experiences during this time are not limited to the classroom, as cultural influences extend beyond K-12 science education and lead to the widely studied reduction in females in STEM fields. This has a large impact on climate science because currently relatively little effort is put into K-12 climate education, yet this is when college attitudes towards science are formed. To help quantify these changes, 400 surveys were collected from 4 different colleges in Oklahoma. Student responses were compared by gender against student experiences (positive and negative), and interest in science. Results of our work show that females tend to have their first positive experience with science at a younger age with friends, family and in the classroom, and have more of an interest in science when they are younger. Males in general like experiencing science more on their own, and surpass the interest levels of females late in high school and during college. While in college, males are more comfortable with science content than females, and males enjoy math and statistics more while those aspects of science were the largest areas of dislike in females. Understanding how to keep students (particularly female) interested in science as they enter their teen years is extremely important in preventing climate misconceptions in the adult population. Potential small changes such as hosting K-12 climate outreach events and including parents, as opposed to just inviting students, could greatly improve student experiences with science and hence, their understanding of climate science. Importantly, a greater focus on female students is warranted.

Department of Theoretical Physics - Overview

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kwiecinski, J.

2000-01-01

Full text: Research activity of the Department of Theoretical Physics concerns theoretical high-energy and elementary particle physics, intermediate energy particle physics, theoretical nuclear physics, theory of nuclear matter, theory of quark-gluon plasma and of relativistic heavy-ion collisions, theoretical astrophysics and general physics. There is some emphasis on the phenomenological applications of the theoretical research, yet the more formal problems are also considered. The detailed summary of the research projects and of the results obtained in various fields is given in the abstracts. Our Department actively collaborates with other Departments of the Institute as well as with several scientific institutions both in Poland and abroad. In particular members of our Department participate in the EC network which allows mobility of researchers. Several members of our Department have also participated in the research projects funded by the Polish Committee for Scientific Research (KBN). The complete list of grants is listed separately. Besides pure research, members of our Department are also involved in graduate and undergraduate teaching activity both at our Institute as well as at other academic institutions in Cracow. At present five students are working for their Ph.D. or MSc degrees under supervision of the senior members from the Department. We continue our participation at the EC SOCRATES-ERASMUS educational programme which allows exchange of graduate students between our Department and the Department of Physics of the University of Durham in the UK. (author)

Non-commutative cryptography and complexity of group-theoretic problems

CERN Document Server

Myasnikov, Alexei; Ushakov, Alexander

2011-01-01

This book is about relations between three different areas of mathematics and theoretical computer science: combinatorial group theory, cryptography, and complexity theory. It explores how non-commutative (infinite) groups, which are typically studied in combinatorial group theory, can be used in public-key cryptography. It also shows that there is remarkable feedback from cryptography to combinatorial group theory because some of the problems motivated by cryptography appear to be new to group theory, and they open many interesting research avenues within group theory. In particular, a lot of emphasis in the book is put on studying search problems, as compared to decision problems traditionally studied in combinatorial group theory. Then, complexity theory, notably generic-case complexity of algorithms, is employed for cryptanalysis of various cryptographic protocols based on infinite groups, and the ideas and machinery from the theory of generic-case complexity are used to study asymptotically dominant prop...

Experimental and Theoretical Methods in Algebra, Geometry and Topology

CERN Document Server

Veys, Willem; Bridging Algebra, Geometry, and Topology

2014-01-01

Algebra, geometry and topology cover a variety of different, but intimately related research fields in modern mathematics. This book focuses on specific aspects of this interaction. The present volume contains refereed papers which were presented at the International Conference “Experimental and Theoretical Methods in Algebra, Geometry and Topology”, held in Eforie Nord (near Constanta), Romania, during 20-25 June 2013. The conference was devoted to the 60th anniversary of the distinguished Romanian mathematicians Alexandru Dimca and Ştefan Papadima. The selected papers consist of original research work and a survey paper. They are intended for a large audience, including researchers and graduate students interested in algebraic geometry, combinatorics, topology, hyperplane arrangements and commutative algebra. The papers are written by well-known experts from different fields of mathematics, affiliated to universities from all over the word, they cover a broad range of topics and explore the research f...

26 CFR 509.109 - Interest.

Science.gov (United States)

2010-04-01

... SWITZERLAND General Income Tax § 509.109 Interest. The rate of United States tax imposed by the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 upon interest on bonds, securities, notes, debentures, or on any other form of... 26 Internal Revenue 19 2010-04-01 2010-04-01 false Interest. 509.109 Section 509.109 Internal...

Vocational interest evaluation of TMR adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Becker, R L; Schull, C; Cambell, K

1981-01-01

Fifty TMR adults participated in a three-stage job-training and placement program over a 5-year period. Vocational inventoried interest and expressed interest were correlated, as were relationships between inventoried interest and such variables as CA and IQ. The results showed that (a) TMR adults can discriminate between occupational likes and dislikes when using pictorial inventoried interest assessment techniques, (b) a positive relationship exists between expressed and inventoried interest, (c) inventoried interest is independent of CA and IQ, (d) there was a general consistency in inventoried occupational choice over a 6-month interval, and (e) the Reading-Free Vocational Interest Inventory has predictive and status validity, as evidenced by job incumbents' success and their inventory cluster profiles.

Marea guvernare liberală: independenţa României şi proclamarea Regatului (The Great Liberal Government: the Romanian Independence and the Monarchy

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Dan CARBARĂU

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The study below is putting together, in a historical view, important events for the Romanian history. Brief, the research is related to the period between 1876 and 1888, also called by historians “The Great liberal government”, when the national ideals were made real. The study tells about the State Independence (1877, the Constitution revision (1879 and finally, the transition to monarchy (1881. By putting together, the study shares how the National Liberal Party and its past leaders were able to put above the party interests and national interests, leaving the individualism behind.

Theoretical Mathematics

Science.gov (United States)

Stöltzner, Michael

Answering to the double-faced influence of string theory on mathematical practice and rigour, the mathematical physicists Arthur Jaffe and Frank Quinn have contemplated the idea that there exists a `theoretical' mathematics (alongside `theoretical' physics) whose basic structures and results still require independent corroboration by mathematical proof. In this paper, I shall take the Jaffe-Quinn debate mainly as a problem of mathematical ontology and analyse it against the backdrop of two philosophical views that are appreciative towards informal mathematical development and conjectural results: Lakatos's methodology of proofs and refutations and John von Neumann's opportunistic reading of Hilbert's axiomatic method. The comparison of both approaches shows that mitigating Lakatos's falsificationism makes his insights about mathematical quasi-ontology more relevant to 20th century mathematics in which new structures are introduced by axiomatisation and not necessarily motivated by informal ancestors. The final section discusses the consequences of string theorists' claim to finality for the theory's mathematical make-up. I argue that ontological reductionism as advocated by particle physicists and the quest for mathematically deeper axioms do not necessarily lead to identical results.

Defining and Classifying Interest Groups

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baroni, Laura; Carroll, Brendan; Chalmers, Adam

2014-01-01

The interest group concept is defined in many different ways in the existing literature and a range of different classification schemes are employed. This complicates comparisons between different studies and their findings. One of the important tasks faced by interest group scholars engaged...... in large-N studies is therefore to define the concept of an interest group and to determine which classification scheme to use for different group types. After reviewing the existing literature, this article sets out to compare different approaches to defining and classifying interest groups with a sample...... in the organizational attributes of specific interest group types. As expected, our comparison of coding schemes reveals a closer link between group attributes and group type in narrower classification schemes based on group organizational characteristics than those based on a behavioral definition of lobbying....

Aspects and interest of MRI in the diagnosis and the follow-up of infectious non-tuberculous spondylitis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Korvin, B. de; Provensol, T.; Le Dantec, P.; Gautier, C.; Rolland, Y.; Arvieux, C.; Duvauferrier, R.; Devillers, A.

1994-01-01

This work is about 25 patients clinically and biologically suspected of spondylodiscitis (27 levels). All of them had a MRI exam before discovertebral needle biopsy and treatment. The results are compared to those of literature. Each infectious spondylitis case (19 cases) had a new MRI exam each three months. This study concludes to the great sensibility of MRI (89%) in the diagnosis of infectious spondylitis and to the limited interest of it in the follow-up of spondylodiscitis. (authors). 23 refs., 3 tabs., 5 figs

Great Basin geologic framework and uranium favorability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Larson, L.T.; Beal, L.H.

1978-01-01

Work on this report has been done by a team of seven investigators assisted over the project span by twenty-three undergraduate and graduate students from May 18, 1976 to August 19, 1977. The report is presented in one volume of text, one volume or Folio of Maps, and two volumes of bibliography. The bibliography contains approximately 5300 references on geologic subjects pertinent to the search for uranium in the Great Basin. Volume I of the bibliography lists articles by author alphabetically and Volume II cross-indexes these articles by location and key word. Chapters I through IV of the Text volume and accompanying Folio Map Sets 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, discuss the relationship of uranium to rock and structural environments which dominate the Great Basin. Chapter 5 and Map Sets 6 and 7 provide a geochemical association/metallogenic grouping of mineral occurrences in the Great Basin along with information on rock types hosting uranium. Chapter VI summarizes the results of a court house claim record search for 'new' claiming areas for uranium, and Chapter VII along with Folio Map Set 8 gives all published geochronological data available through April 1, 1977 on rocks of the Great Basin. Chapter VIII provides an introduction to a computer analysis of characteristics of certain major uranium deposits in crystalline rocks (worldwide) and is offered as a suggestion of what might be done with uranium in all geologic environments. We believe such analysis will assist materially in constructing exploration models. Chapter IX summarizes criteria used and conclusions reached as to the favorability of uranium environments which we believe to exist in the Great Basin and concludes with recommendations for both exploration and future research. A general summary conclusion is that there are several geologic environments within the Great Basin which have considerable potential and that few, if any, have been sufficiently tested

Great Books. What Works Clearinghouse Intervention Report

Science.gov (United States)

What Works Clearinghouse, 2011

2011-01-01

"Great Books" is a program that aims to improve the reading, writing, and critical thinking skills of students in kindergarten through high school. The program is implemented as a core or complementary curriculum and is based on the Shared Inquiry[TM] method of learning. The purpose of "Great Books" is to engage students in…

Libraries Achieving Greatness: Technology at the Helm

Science.gov (United States)

Muir, Scott P.

2009-01-01

Libraries have been around for thousands of years. Many of them are considered great because of their magnificent architecture or because of the size of their collections. This paper offers ten case studies of libraries that have used technology to achieve greatness. Because almost any library can implement technology, a library does not have to…

Theoretical model for the evolution of the activity of the liquid waste containers from iodine metabolic therapy practice. Comparison with the real data from our hospital

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos-Rubio, A.; Luis-Simon Florencio, Javier; Sanchez-Carmona, G.; Herrador-Cordoba, M.; Gonzalez-Torres, I.

2006-01-01

Therapy with radiopharmaceuticals has evolved in such a way that it has reached to also have a great weight within the techniques of handling of the diseases not only thyroid diseases but also in the treatment of the pain, or in cases of metastasis. The therapy with I 131 continues being the one of greater importance. The spill and evacuation of the remainders produced by the patients are a question of great impact to environment and the public health. For that reason the detailed study of this problem, increased with the introduction of new isotopes (Sm 153), is of great interest for the radiological safety. (authors)

Theoretical model for the evolution of the activity of the liquid waste containers from iodine metabolic therapy practice. Comparison with the real data from our hospital

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santos-Rubio, A.; Luis-Simon Florencio, Javier; Sanchez-Carmona, G.; Herrador-Cordoba, M.; Gonzalez-Torres, I. [Hospital Virgen del Rocio, Sevilla (Spain)

2006-07-01

Therapy with radiopharmaceuticals has evolved in such a way that it has reached to also have a great weight within the techniques of handling of the diseases not only thyroid diseases but also in the treatment of the pain, or in cases of metastasis. The therapy with I 131 continues being the one of greater importance. The spill and evacuation of the remainders produced by the patients are a question of great impact to environment and the public health. For that reason the detailed study of this problem, increased with the introduction of new isotopes (Sm 153), is of great interest for the radiological safety. (authors)

Theoretical physics division

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1980-01-01

Research activities of the theoretical physics division for 1979 are described. Short summaries are given of specific research work in the following fields: nuclear structure, nuclear reactions, intermediate energy physics, elementary particles [fr

DFT theoretical investigations of π-conjugated molecules based on thienopyrazine and different acceptor moieties for organic photovoltaic cells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammed Bourass

2016-09-01

Full Text Available In this work, theoretical study by using the DFT method on eleven conjugated compounds based on thienopyrazine is reported. Different electron side groups were introduced to investigate their effects on the electronic structure; The HOMO, LUMO and Gap energy of these compounds have been calculated and reported in this paper. A systematic theoretical study of such compound has not been reported as we know. Thus, our aim is first, to explore their electronic and spectroscopic properties on the basis of the DFT quantum chemical calculations. Second, we are interested to elucidate the parameters that influence the photovoltaic efficiency toward better understanding of the structure–property relationships. The study of structural, electronic and optical properties for these compounds could help to design more efficient functional photovoltaic organic materials.

The great debate series: surgical treatment of aortic valve abnormalities in children.

Science.gov (United States)

d'Udekem, Yves; Tweddell, James S; Karl, Tom R

2018-05-01

This article is the latest in an EJCTS series entitled 'The Great Debates'. We have chosen the topic of aortic valve (AoV) surgery in children, with a focus on infants and neonates. The topic was selected due to the significant challenges that AoV problems in the young may present to the surgical team. There are many areas of active controversy, despite the vast accumulated world experience. We have tried to incorporate many of these issues in the questions posed, not claiming to be all-inclusive. The individuals invited to this debate are experts in paediatric valve surgery, with broad and successful clinical experiences on multiple continents. We hope that the facts and opinions presented in this debate will generate interest and discussion and perhaps prove useful in decision-making for future complex valve cases.

Robust recognition via information theoretic learning

CERN Document Server

He, Ran; Yuan, Xiaotong; Wang, Liang

2014-01-01

This Springer Brief represents a comprehensive review of information theoretic methods for robust recognition. A variety of information theoretic methods have been proffered in the past decade, in a large variety of computer vision applications; this work brings them together, attempts to impart the theory, optimization and usage of information entropy.The?authors?resort to a new information theoretic concept, correntropy, as a robust measure and apply it to solve robust face recognition and object recognition problems. For computational efficiency,?the brief?introduces the additive and multip

78 FR 1222 - Quarterly IRS Interest Rates Used in Calculating Interest on Overdue Accounts and Refunds on...

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-08

... DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY U.S. Customs and Border Protection Quarterly IRS Interest Rates... the public of the quarterly Internal Revenue Service interest rates used to calculate interest on... beginning January 1, 2013, the interest rates for [[Page 1223