9,217 research outputs found
Spatial adaptive settlement systems in archaeology. Modelling long-term settlement formation from spatial micro interactions
Despite research history spanning more than a century, settlement patterns still hold a promise to contribute to the theories of large-scale processes in human history. Mostly they have been presented as passive imprints of past human activities and spatial interactions they shape have not been studied as the driving force of historical processes. While archaeological knowledge has been used to construct geographical theories of evolution of settlement there still exist gaps in this knowledge. Currently no theoretical framework has been adopted to explore them as spatial systems emerging from micro-choices of small population units.
The goal of this thesis is to propose a conceptual model of adaptive settlement systems based on complex adaptive systems framework. The model frames settlement system formation processes as an adaptive system containing spatial features, information flows, decision making population units (agents) and forming cross scale feedback loops between location choices of individuals and space modified by their aggregated choices. The goal of the model is to find new ways of interpretation of archaeological locational data as well as closer theoretical integration of micro-level choices and meso-level settlement structures.
The thesis is divided into five chapters, the first chapter is dedicated to conceptualisation of the general model based on existing literature and shows that settlement systems are inherently complex adaptive systems and therefore require tools of complexity science for causal explanations. The following chapters explore both empirical and theoretical simulated settlement patterns based dedicated to studying selected information flows and feedbacks in the context of the whole system.
Second and third chapters explore the case study of the Stone Age settlement in Estonia comparing residential location choice principles of different periods. In chapter 2 the relation between environmental conditions and residential choice is explored statistically. The results confirm that the relation is significant but varies between different archaeological phenomena. In the third chapter hunter-fisher-gatherer and early agrarian Corded Ware settlement systems were compared spatially using inductive models. The results indicated a large difference in their perception of landscape regarding suitability for habitation. It led to conclusions that early agrarian land use significantly extended land use potential and provided a competitive spatial benefit. In addition to spatial differences, model performance was compared and the difference was discussed in the context of proposed adaptive settlement system model. Last two chapters present theoretical agent-based simulation experiments intended to study effects discussed in relation to environmental model performance and environmental determinism in general. In the fourth chapter the central place foragingmodel was embedded in the proposed model and resource depletion, as an environmental modification mechanism, was explored. The study excluded the possibility that mobility itself would lead to modelling effects discussed in the previous chapter.
The purpose of the last chapter is the disentanglement of the complex relations between social versus human-environment interactions. The study exposed non-linear spatial effects expected population density can have on the system and the general robustness of environmental inductive models in archaeology to randomness and social effect. The model indicates that social interactions between individuals lead to formation of a group agency which is determined by the environment even if individual cognitions consider the environment insignificant. It also indicates that spatial configuration of the environment has a certain influence towards population clustering therefore providing a potential pathway to population aggregation. Those empirical and theoretical results showed the new insights provided by the complex adaptive systems framework. Some of the results, including the explanation of empirical results, required the conceptual model to provide a framework of interpretation
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The impact of employees' working relations in creating and retaining trust: the case of the Bahrain Olympic Committee
Introduction: This thesis investigates the impact of employees’ working relations in creating, maintaining and retaining trust in the Bahrain Olympic Committee (BOC).
Aim: The main aim of this thesis is to determine how the three groups of Organisational Trust variables, namely Social System Elements (SSE), Factors of Trustworthiness (FoT) and Third-Party Gossip (TPG), affect employees’ Organisational Trust (OTR) in the BOC and promote Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB). To answer this main aim, a conceptual framework was created that focused on exploring the following research aims: (1) the interrelationship between SSE and FoT, (2) the effect of SSE on OTR, (3) the impact of TPG on OTR and (4) the effect of OTR on overall OCB.
Methodology: The study uses a mixed-method case study research style that included in-depth semi-structured interviews with 17 managers, an online questionnaire survey with 320 employees of the BOC and an analysis of the BOC’s Annual Reports from 2015 to 2018.
Results: The qualitative and quantitative findings indicate, firstly, that there is a significant interrelationship between SSE and FoT, establishing that SSE’s perception of organisational justice (OJ), including that FoTs benevolence and integrity as the most important factors in yielding employees’ trust in the BOC. Secondly, it has been established that SSEs have significant direct and indirect effects on OTR. Thirdly, negative and positive TPG concurrently occurred in the BOC and the prevalence of negative TPG poses more impact on OTR. Finally, this study’s findings demonstrated OTR’s effect in generating OCB, including that Civic Virtue was rated as the most preferred of the five OCB themes; this indicates the managers’ and the employees’ strong emotional attachment and support of the activities taking place at the BOC.
Contributions: Overall, this thesis substantially contributes to OTR literature, particularly in the context of the Middle East. It also proposes several insightful recommendations for future research and practical implications for practitioners in the field of Organisational Trust
Complexity and Multi-boundary Wormholes
Three dimensional wormholes are global solutions of Einstein-Hilbert action.
These space-times which are quotients of a part of global AdS have
multiple asymptotic regions, each with conformal boundary
, and separated from each other by horizons. Each outer
region is isometric to BTZ black hole, and behind the horizons, there is a
complicated topology. The main virtue of these geometries is that they are dual
to known CFT states. In this paper, we evaluate the full time dependence of
holographic complexity for the simplest case of dimensional Lorentzian
wormhole spacetime, which has three asymptotic AdS boundaries, using the
complexity equals volume (CV) conjecture. We conclude that the growth of
complexity is non-linear and saturates at late times.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure
The best approximation of a given function in -norm by Lipschitz functions with gradient constraint
The starting point of this paper is the study of the asymptotic behavior, as
, of the following minimization problem We show that the limit problem provides the best
approximation, in the -norm, of the datum among all Lipschitz
functions with Lipschitz constant less or equal than one. Moreover such
approximation verifies a suitable PDE in the viscosity sense. After the
analysis of the model problem above, we consider the asymptotic behavior of a
related family of nonvariational equations and, finally, we also deal with some
functionals involving the -Hausdorff measure of the jump set of the
function
Wasserstein Generative Regression
In this paper, we propose a new and unified approach for nonparametric
regression and conditional distribution learning. Our approach simultaneously
estimates a regression function and a conditional generator using a generative
learning framework, where a conditional generator is a function that can
generate samples from a conditional distribution. The main idea is to estimate
a conditional generator that satisfies the constraint that it produces a good
regression function estimator. We use deep neural networks to model the
conditional generator. Our approach can handle problems with multivariate
outcomes and covariates, and can be used to construct prediction intervals. We
provide theoretical guarantees by deriving non-asymptotic error bounds and the
distributional consistency of our approach under suitable assumptions. We also
perform numerical experiments with simulated and real data to demonstrate the
effectiveness and superiority of our approach over some existing approaches in
various scenarios.Comment: 50 pages, including appendix. 5 figures and 6 tables in the main
text. 1 figure and 7 tables in the appendi
2023-2024 Boise State University Undergraduate Catalog
This catalog is primarily for and directed at students. However, it serves many audiences, such as high school counselors, academic advisors, and the public. In this catalog you will find an overview of Boise State University and information on admission, registration, grades, tuition and fees, financial aid, housing, student services, and other important policies and procedures. However, most of this catalog is devoted to describing the various programs and courses offered at Boise State
Emerging Power Electronics Technologies for Sustainable Energy Conversion
This Special Issue summarizes, in a single reference, timely emerging topics related to power electronics for sustainable energy conversion. Furthermore, at the same time, it provides the reader with valuable information related to open research opportunity niches
High-order renormalization of scalar quantum fields
Thema dieser Dissertation ist die Renormierung von perturbativer skalarer Quantenfeldtheorie bei großer Schleifenzahl. Der Hauptteil der Arbeit ist dem Einfluss von Renormierungsbedingungen auf renormierte Greenfunktionen gewidmet.
Zunächst studieren wir Dyson-Schwinger-Gleichungen und die Renormierungsgruppe, inklusive der Gegenterme in dimensionaler Regularisierung. Anhand zahlreicher Beispiele illustrieren wir die verschiedenen Größen.
Alsdann diskutieren wir, welche Freiheitsgrade ein Renormierungsschema hat und wie diese mit den Gegentermen und den renormierten Greenfunktionen zusammenhängen. Für ungekoppelte Dyson-Schwinger-Gleichungen stellen wir fest, dass alle Renormierungsschemata bis auf eine Verschiebung des Renormierungspunktes äquivalent sind. Die Verschiebung zwischen kinematischer Renormierung und Minimaler Subtraktion ist eine Funktion der Kopplung und des Regularisierungsparameters. Wir leiten eine neuartige Formel für den Fall einer linearen Dyson-Schwinger Gleichung vom Propagatortyp her, um die Verschiebung direkt aus der Mellintransformation des Integrationskerns zu berechnen. Schließlich berechnen wir obige Verschiebung störungstheoretisch für drei beispielhafte nichtlineare Dyson-Schwinger-Gleichungen und untersuchen das asymptotische Verhalten der Reihenkoeffizienten.
Ein zweites Thema der vorliegenden Arbeit sind Diffeomorphismen der Feldvariable in einer Quantenfeldtheorie. Wir präsentieren eine Störungstheorie des Diffeomorphismusfeldes im Impulsraum und verifizieren, dass der Diffeomorphismus keinen Einfluss auf messbare Größen hat. Weiterhin untersuchen wir die Divergenzen des Diffeomorphismusfeldes und stellen fest, dass die Divergenzen Wardidentitäten erfüllen, die die Abwesenheit dieser Terme von der S-Matrix ausdrücken. Trotz der Wardidentitäten bleiben unendlich viele Divergenzen unbestimmt.
Den Abschluss bildet ein Kommentar über die numerische Quadratur von Periodenintegralen.This thesis concerns the renormalization of perturbative quantum field theory. More precisely, we examine scalar quantum fields at high loop order. The bulk of the thesis is devoted to the influence of renormalization conditions on the renormalized Green functions. Firstly, we perform a detailed review of Dyson-Schwinger equations and the renormalization group, including the counterterms in dimensional regularization. Using numerous examples, we illustrate how the various quantities are computable in a concrete case and which relations they satisfy.
Secondly, we discuss which degrees of freedom are present in a renormalization scheme, and how they are related to counterterms and renormalized Green functions. We establish that, in the case of an un-coupled Dyson-Schwinger equation, all renormalization schemes are equivalent up to a shift in the renormalization point. The shift between kinematic renormalization and Minimal Subtraction is a function of the coupling and the regularization parameter. We derive a novel formula for the case of a linear propagator-type Dyson-Schwinger equation to compute the shift directly from the Mellin transform of the kernel. Thirdly, we compute the shift perturbatively for three examples of non-linear Dyson-Schwinger equations and examine the asymptotic growth of series coefficients.
A second, smaller topic of the present thesis are diffeomorphisms of the field variable in a quantum field theory. We present the perturbation theory of the diffeomorphism field in momentum space and find that the diffeomorphism has no influence on measurable quantities. Moreover, we study the divergences in the diffeomorphism field and establish that they satisfy Ward identities, which ensure their absence from the S-matrix. Nevertheless, the Ward identities leave infinitely many divergences unspecified and the diffeomorphism theory is perturbatively unrenormalizable.
Finally, we remark on a third topic, the numerical quadrature of Feynman periods
Advances in the understanding of Kohn-Sham DFT via the optimised effective potential method
Kohn-Sham (KS) density functional theory (DFT) has paved its way to becoming the most widely used method for performing electronic structure calculations. Its major success relies heavily on the underlying approximations that are employed to describe the exchange-correlation (xc) energy functional; hence understanding these approximations proves to be of vital importance.
The main goal of this thesis is to explore and develop a deeper understanding of approximations made within DFT; with a focus on systematically improving existing (semi-)local density functional approximations (DFAs). To do so, we build upon the existing constrained minimisation method, which requires the optimised effective potential (OEP) scheme, improving its implementation and removing one of its major computational bottlenecks.
This thesis also addresses a long-standing question in the field as to why the KS equations of spin-DFT do not reduce to those of DFT in the limit of zero applied magnetic field. A new OEP scheme is derived to construct DFT approximations that yield near spin-DFT accuracy and correct for a systematic error in the exchange energy for open-shell systems. This work is then extended to ensemble systems of varying electron number, where it is shown that (semi-)local approximations can yield non-zero xc derivative discontinuities; an exotic, non-analytic feature of the exact KS potential.
Building on these new OEP formulations, a novel new method for decomposing the molecular screening density into screening densities localised on individual atoms is introduced. This method is shown to yield the predicted but elusive steps in the xc potential as a diatomic dissociates; a very exciting result given that these steps cannot be captured at all from any DFT so far, let alone a (semi-)local DFA
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