Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
An Examination of the Implementation of Risk Based Approaches in Military Operations

Abstract Today several nations utilise risk based approaches in military planning. However, the discussion on limitations with the approaches in regard to aspects such as uncertainties, the nature of the threat and risk to civilians is limited. The aim of this work is to identify important challenges when applying risk based approaches to military activity. This article discusses risk based approaches in general and their military applications. Five generic quality requirements on risk analysis are presented from research in risk philosophy. Two military application areas for risk analysis: military intelligence, and risk management in legal assessments are analysed in relation to the presented quality requirements on risk analysis. From the analysis it is clear that risk analysis is an integral part of the decision-making analysis and cannot be separated in time, space or organisationally from the decision-making process in general. Defining the scenario to analyse, including the time span, is a central task in risk analysis and will affect every aspect of the risk estimation. Therefore, the principles for scenario definition must be communicated and continuously updated throughout the organisation. Handling the uncertainties throughout the process is also important, especially if the aim is a resilient military system.
Optimization of Calcium Alginate Preparation in Aqueous by Response Surface Methodology

In this study, a statistical software package and design of experiment were applied for the preparation of calcium alginate in aqueous. Alginate which is originates from polysaccharide brown algae with different type of uranic and manuronic chains were used as an intermediate, blended with calcium carbonate powder for macro size adsorbent preparation. Though adsorption has been an ideal choice in waste water purification, the needs to find an alternative source of adsorbent has received considerable interests recently. In this study, a central composite design was used to develop a model to predict and optimize the preparation condition of calcium alginate. Mathematical model equations were obtained from simulation programming. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) for viscosity and pH (responses) indicated that the model was adequate to fit the experimental data (p values, lack of fit, R2 adj). From the statistical parameters, it showed that the quadratic effects for both calcium carbonate and alginate powder were the most significant. Meanwhile, the correlation coefficient, R2 for both independent variables (calcium carbonate and alginate) of 0.9974 and 0.9008 implied that the developed models wereadequate to navigate the design space. The optimum preparation condition was carried out by compromising the independent factors and responses at different criteria. Finally, the optimum preparation condition for calcium alginate was obtained with 2.00 g of calcium carbonate and 10 % (w/v) that result in 38 cP of viscosity at pH 10, respectively.
A New Clustering Scheme for Crisp Data Based on a Membership Function and OWA Operator

Clustering is a very important tool which is applied in several areas, ranging from pattern recognition and marketing to chemistry. A major- ity of the clustering algorithms classify observations based on distance measures. According to the literature, if the units of measurement of the variables are different, then the result of the clustering is said to be unreliable. Even sometimes, distance based clustering shows contra- dictory results when measurement units are closely related. Therefore, a new clustering scheme is proposed in this paper based on combining the membership function and OWA operator when classic clustering seems to have failed. For this purpose, a real data set from chemistry with ten variables are used to exemplify the new clustering scheme.
A constructive technology assessment of stationary energy storage systems: prospective life cycle orientated analysis

Environmental concerns over the use of fossil fuels and their resource constraints have increased the interest in generating electric energy from renewable energy sources (RES) to provide a sustainable electricity supply. A main problem of those technologies (wind or solar power generation) is that they are not constant and reliable sources of power. This results inter alia in an increased demand of energy storage technologies. Related stake holders show a big interest in the technical, economic and ecologic aspects of new emerging energy storage systems. This comes especially true for electrochemical energy storage systems as different Li-Ion batteries, Sodium Sulfur or Redox Flow batteries which can be utilized in all grid voltage levels, a wide range of grid applications as well as end user groups (e.g. private households, industry). A prospective and active Constructive Technology Assessment (CTA) can help to minimize potential mismatches, wrong investments, possible social conflicts, and environmental impacts of new energy storage technologies in an early development stage. It is insufficient to exclusively look at the operation phase to assess a technology. Such an approach can lead to misleading interpretations and can furthermore disregard social or ecological impact factors over the whole life cycle. Different energy storage technologies have to be evaluated in a prospective manner with a full integrated sustainability and life cycle approach to form a base for decision making and to support technology developers in order to allow distinctions between more or less sustainable battery technology variations. Therefore CTA is used as a scientific approach using several “neighbouring” engineering orientated disciplines e.g. Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) or Life Cycle Costs (LCC) and their methodologies which were initially developed for other purposes.The aim of the presented PhD Thesis is to make an economic, technological and ecological comparison of Energy storage technologies based on a life cycle sustainability Analysis (LCSA), multi criteria Analysis (or evaluation) (MCA) and to develop a suitable LCSA-MCA model through a new combined highly interdisciplinary approach in frame of CTA.
Preference or Aversion? Exploring Fertility Desires among China's Young Urban Elite

The best would be to have a boy and a girl, because I think a child growing up alone is too lonely. You need a companion. An older brother and a younger sister would be best. This is because an older brother would care for the sister from young age. He would feel very responsible. Like a real man. And the sister could rely on her older brother, and grow up like a little princess. Yamei, singleton woman
The existence and uniqueness of a power price equilibrium

We propose a term structure power price model that, in contrast to widely accepted no-arbitrage based approaches, accounts for the non-storable nature of power. It belongs to a class of equilibrium game theoretic models with players divided into producers and consumers. The consumers' goal is to maximize a mean-variance utility function subject to satisfying an inelastic demand of their own clients (e.g. households, businesses etc.) to whom they sell the power. The producers, who own a portfolio of power plants each defined by a running fuel (e.g. gas, coal, oil.) and physical characteristics (e.g. efficiency, capacity, ramp up/down times.), similarly, seek to maximise a mean-variance utility function consisting of power, fuel, and emission prices subject to production constraints. Our goal is to determine the term structure of the power price at which production matches consumption. In this paper we show that in such a setting the equilibrium price exists and also discuss the conditions for its uniqueness.
A Practical Approach to Business Transformation: The Case of the Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago

This article outlines a novel, practical, and comprehensive business transformation model using a continuous life-cycle approach applied to three dimensions of a business (processes, people, and technology). It was used in the successful business transformation of the Telecommunication Services of Trinidad and Tobago (TSTT). During the implementation, the three business dimensions were decomposed into manageable changeover steps to achieve the desired improvements. For alignment, a business strategy model that takes into account the realities and constraints of the firm is included, followed by a transformation plan with the required governance and relevant steps needed for an operational business transformation. A goal-oriented recomposition process, utilized after pruning the decision tree of process leading indicators, is used by the business architects to map the strategy onto the desired business processes, incorporating the required empowerment and IT capabilities to sustain it. Throughout the transformation, a performance management review process was integrated to emphasize the learning and renewal capabilities associated with the life cycle.
Son Preference in India: Shedding Light on the North-South Gradient

Son preference is widespread in India and deep-rooted in its history. It is a matter of concern because it produces an imbalanced juvenile sex ratio. There are far fewer girls than boys. The figures vary greatly among the Indian states suggesting a major north-south gradient in son preference accompanied by a minor west-east gradient. The aim of this paper is to explain the regional pattern. We provide an application of the value of children-approach according to which the decision to have children is made on the calculus of benefits and costs related to children. In the light of the socioeconomic and sociocultural background in India, we propose that (potential) parents’ expectations of benefits and costs are biased in favour of sons. This is suggested, therefore, as the key motivation for the preference for male offspring. However, region-specifics in the level of affluence, the educational level, the mode of production, the meaning and importance of religion, and the kinship regime are assumed to produce stronger son preference in north India compared to south India. This mediation-model is tested using the Indian sub-sample of the international Value of Children-study. Data were collected in Uttar Pradesh (north-central India) and Puducherry (south-east India). Mothers aged 16 to 65 were interviewed in 2002 and 2010. Based on 1,173 respondents, a structural equation model was carried out to test the hypothesised composition effects related to the region and the mediating position of sex-specific benefits and costs. Initial findings confirm that the national son preference pattern is more likely to be found among north Indian mothers than south Indian mothers. As assumed, the sex-specific balance of benefits and costs contributes to the explanation of son preference. However, there is little evidence that the benefits and costs mediate between the region-specific socioeconomic and sociocultural profiles and son preference. Son preference is most pronounced among mothers of the north-urban sample after controlling for region-specific distributions of socioeconomic and sociocultural background variables. Variations in son preference across the regional sub-samples are partly explained by the respective background variables and the benefit and cost-structure. But independent regional effects continue to be significant and thus, a considerable part of the north-south gradient remains unclear.
A 75-dB � 10Gb / s Transimpedance Amplifier in 0 . 18-� m CMOS Technology

A six-stage transimpedance amplifier (TIA) was realized in a 0.18m complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor process. By adopting an effective gain-bandwidth product (GBW) enhancement technique, -type inductor peaking, the measured , transimpedance gain, and bandwidth are 41 dB, 75 dB , and 7.2 GHz, respectively, in the presence of an on-chip photodiode capacitance of 450 fF at the input. The 10-Gb/s TIA can operate under a maximum output swing of 800 mV and achieve a recorded GBW per DC power of 441.1 GHz mW.
Why a Good Communication of Monetary Policy is Important? A Case of Heterogeneous Expectations and Adaptive Learning ⁄

We reassess the role of monetary policy in a standard New Keynesian business cycle model which we adjust for imperfect, heterogenous knowledge and adaptive learning. The policy, represented by a forward-looking Taylor rule, is driven by central bank’s own internal forecasts, whereas the core economic dynamics is driven by private agents’ expectations. We study the implications of disagreement between those two. We find that if there is expectations heterogeneity, monetary policy should be less active in its actions in order to be short-run stability improving. This is in contrast to the standard, homogenous imperfect knowledge literature which predicts the opposite. Abstrakt
Acoustic and audience response analyses of eleven Venetian churches

A research project has been carried out by the University of Cambridge (UK), Arup Acoustics (Cambridge, UK) and the Fondazione Scuola di San Giorgio‐CNR (Venice, Italy) with the purpose of investigating the relationship between music and the architectural spaces within which it was performed in the context of Venetian vocal polyphony during the 16th century. The most representative churches (San Marco, Parish churches, hospitals and monasteries) were selected for this study and the music was performed within them by the Choir of St John's College of Cambridge University. Members of the audience completed questionnaires assessing the acoustic qualities of the spaces. The results of the audience and expert scores were then statistically analyzed and correlated with a set of room acoustic indices which had been measured in the same locations. In the present paper technical aspects of the experiments and the data analysis will be illustrated. The principal conclusions were as follows: 1. There is a strong cor.
A Mobile Cloud Computing Framework Integrating Multilevel Encoding for Performance Monitoring in Telerehabilitation

Recent years have witnessed a surge in telerehabilitation and remote healthcare systems blessed by the emerging low-cost wearable devices to monitor biological and biokinematic aspects of human beings. Although such telerehabilitation systems utilise cloud computing features and provide automatic biofeedback and performance evaluation, there are demands for overall optimisation to enable these systems to operate with low battery consumption and low computational power and even with weak or no network connections. This paper proposes a novel multilevel data encoding scheme satisfying these requirements in mobile cloud computing applications, particularly in the field of telerehabilitation. We introduce architecture for telerehabilitation platform utilising the proposed encoding scheme integrated with various types of sensors. The platform is usable not only for patients to experience telerehabilitation services but also for therapists to acquire essential support from analysis oriented decision support system (AODSS) for more thorough analysis and making further decisions on treatment.
Clinical profile of patients presenting with acute myocardial infarction

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of death globally. Cardiovascular diseases have emerged as a major health burden in developing countries. Myocardial infarction (MI) is defined by the demonstration of myocardial cell necrosis due to significant and sustained ischaemia. Author attempted to study the risk factors and clinical profile of patients with MI admitted in Cardiology Department of tertiary care center, Chitwan, Nepal.Methods: This descriptive retrospective study was conducted in College of Medical Sciences Teaching Hospital (CMS-TH), Chitwan, Nepal, from January 2016 to November 2017. Demographic features, cardiovascular risk factors, clinical presentation, Electrocardiogram (ECG) findings, regions of infarction and rhythm disturbances were studied and documented.Results: A total of 132 patients diagnosed with MI were studied. Most of the patients (90.15%) had ST-elevation MI (STEMI). The patients were predominantly male (87%). The majority of patients lied in the age group of 61-70 yrs (29.54%). The most common presenting symptom was chest pain (86.36%) followed by shortness of breath (42.42%) and vomiting (12.87%). Tobacco smoking/chewing (62.87%) was the major risk factor followed by hypertension (43.18%) and diabetes (34.09%). Majority of infarction occurred on anterior wall (52.94%). Most of the patients (90.90%) had normal sinus rhythm on ECG. On arrival to emergency department eight (6.06%) patients had cardiogenic shock and only one had congestive cardiac failure.Conclusions: STEMI was most common type of MI presenting to CMS-TH. Most of the patients were male and the most common risk factor contributing to MI was cigarette smoking. Most of the patients arrived more than 24 hours after onset of symptom.
Computer assisted dynamic adaptive policy design for sustainable water management in river deltas in a changing environment

Sustainable water management in a changing environment full of uncertainty is a profound challenge. To deal with uncertainties, dynamic adaptive policies can be used. Such policies can change over time in response to how the future unfolds, to what we learn about the system, to changes in environment, and to changes in societal preferences. This paper presents a model driven approach that supports the development of dynamic adaptive policies, and illustrates the approach using a hypothetical case. The key idea of the approach is that the dynamic behavior of a fast and simple Integrated Assessment Meta Model (IAMM) is explored across a wide variety of uncertainties. Next, the performance of a set of candidate policy actions is assessed across these uncertainties. This provides insight into the sell-by date of the various actions, and thus when to modify or replace the action. From this, we deduce a logical sequencing of actions, constituting potential pathways. The performance of these pathways is in turn assessed, and iteratively improved. The hypothetical case is inspired by a river reach in the Rhine delta of the Netherlands. Like in the real world, this case is characterized by uncertainties about the future (e.g. climate change, socioeconomic developments, and natural variability), uncertainties about the system (e.g. chance on dike failure in relation to high water levels), and uncertainties about societal preferences (e.g. weight society gives to nature). Using a rule induction algorithm, we identify the vulnerabilities and opportunities presented by each pathway. We modify the pathways to address these opportunities and vulnerabilities through capitalizing and defensive actions. With the results it is possible to make an informed decision on a dynamic adaptive policy in a changing environment that is able to achieve the intended objectives despite the multitude of uncertainties present.
Optimal traffic assignment in a SS/TDMA frame : a new approach by set covering and column generation

On s'interesse au probleme d'affecter une matrice de trafic donnee dans une trame satellite AMRT (acces multiple a repartition dans le temps) lorsque le fractionnement du trafic n'est pas autorise. Apres avoir reformule le probleme comme un probleme de recouvrement de grande dimension, on montre qu'en depit du tres grand nombre de colonnes, la relaxation continue peut etre resolue de facon exacte par programmation lineaire generalisee (generation des colonnes)
LC-Sim: a simulation framework for evaluating location consistency based cache protocols

New high-performance processors tend to shift from multi to many cores. Moreover, shared memory has turned to dominant paradigm for mainstream multicore processors. As memory wall issue loomed over architecture design, most modern computer systems have several layers in their memory hierarchy. Among many, caches has become everlasting components of memory hierarchies as they significantly reduce access time by taking the advantage of locality. Major processor vendors usually rely on cache coherence, and implement a variant of MESI, e.g., MOESI for AMD, to help reduce inter-chip traffic on the fast interconnection network. Supposedly, maintaining coherence should help with keeping parallel and concurrent programmers happy, all the while providing them with a wellknown cache behavior for shared memory. This thesis challenge the assumption that Coherence is well-suited for large-scale many core processors. Seeking an alternative for coherence, LC cache protocol is extensively investigated. LC-Cache is a cache protocol weaker than Coherence, but which preserves causality. It relies on the Location Consistency (LC) model. The basic philosophy behind LC is to maintain a unique view of memory only if there is a reason to. Other ordinary memory accesses may be observed in any order by the other processors of the computer system. The motivation to stand against cache coherence, relies on underestimated limitations implied on system design by coherence. Observations presented in this thesis, demonstrates that coherence eliminates the possibility of having a directory based protocol in practice since size of such directory grows linearly with number of cores. In addition, coherence adds implicit latency in many cases to the protocol.
Do federal deficits motivate regional fiscal (im)balances?: evidence for the Spanish case

espanolEl presente trabajo analiza las interacciones verticales y horizontales entre niveles de gobierno en cuanto al deficit publico se refiere. Para ello, se estima una funcion de reaccion fiscal para las Comunidades Autonomas en el periodo 1995-2010, prestando especial atencion al impacto de los desequilibrios fiscales del gobierno central en las finanzas publicas regionales. Nuestros resultados senalan que las cuentas publicas de las autonomias se ven afectadas negativamente cuando el gobierno central incurre en mayores deficits. Como novedad, esta interaccion vertical se interpreta en el contexto de los modelos de competencia vertical (yardstick competition). Asimismo, nuestros resultados indican que los deficits de las comunidades vecinas tambien deterioran los saldos presupuestarios regionales. EnglishThis paper studies the vertical and horizontal interactions existing between federal and state governments in terms of public deficits. We estimate a fiscal reaction function for the Spanish regions over the period 1995-2010 paying special attention to the impact of federal fiscal stance on the state fiscal imbalances. Our results indicate that higher public deficits of the central government encourage bigger fiscal imbalances at state level. This vertical interaction is interpreted in the context of yardstick competition models. We also find a significant impact of fiscal decisions taken by governments at the same tier of decision on a specific state.
The Audit Committee Characteristics and Earnings Quality: Evidence from Jordan

The aim of the paper is to investigate the relationship between audit committee characteristics and earnings management. Samples in the study included 50 industrial companies listed on the Amman Stock Exchange ASE. Two models were used to measure earnings quality: one which depends on earnings continuity as an indication of quality, and one which depends on the decrease of discretionary accruals of quality, using pooled data regression for the two tests (Ordinary Least Squares OLS and Binary Logit). The study found that there was an influence of some standard characteristics of the audit committee on earnings quality.