Active Virtual Network Management Prediction: Complexity as a Framework for Prediction, Optimization, and Assurance

Research into active networking has provided the incentive to re-visit what has traditionally been classified as distinct properties and characteristics of information transfer such as protocol versus service; at a more fundamental level this paper considers the blending of computation and communication by means of complexity. The specific service examined in this paper is network self-prediction enabled by Active Virtual Network Management Prediction. Computation/communication is analyzed via Kolmogorov Complexity. The result is a mechanism to understand and improve the performance of active networking and Active Virtual Network Management Prediction in particular. The Active Virtual Network Management Prediction mechanism allows information, in various states of algorithmic and static form, to be transported in the service of prediction for network management. The results are generally applicable to algorithmic transmission of information. Kolmogorov Complexity is used and experimentally validated as a theory describing the relationship among algorithmic compression, complexity, and prediction accuracy within an active network. Finally, the paper concludes with a complexity-based framework for Information Assurance that attempts to take a holistic view of vulnerability analysis

Armed violence and poverty in Northern Kenya: a mini case study for the Armed Violence and Poverty Initiative

YesThis report on Northern Kenya is one of 13 case studies (all of which can be found at www.bradford.ac.uk/cics). This research draws upon secondary data sources including existing research studies, reports and evaluations commissioned by operational agencies, and early warning and survey data where this has been available. These secondary sources have been complemented by interviews with government officers, aid policymakers and practitioners, researchers and members of the local population. The authors would like to thank Patta Scott-Villiers for comments on an earlier draft. The analysis and opinions expressed in this report are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or policy of DFID or the UK government

Organizational Communication and Burnout Symptoms

Job burnout is a psychological response to work stress. Many studies have been conducted measuring burnout and its causes and consequences. The research into causes of burnout brings up various communication-related constructs, but the relationships with feedback employees receive and communication climate is underexposed. This study investigates these relationships. Data for the current study were collected through a web-based questionnaire held among employees of a Dutch subsidiary of an international financial consultancy firm. The questionnaire included the following clusters of independent variables: (a) background variables, (b) work characteristics, (c) communication, and (d) organizational engagement. Of the four clusters of variables, the organizational engagement variables appeared to be the strongest predictors of job burnout. Still, the communication variables also made an important contribution. Particularly the communication climate and the co-worker social support appeared to be important antecedents of job burnout

Exogenous sources of food insecurity in an open developing country

The vagaries of nature and of world grain markets, causing domestic food production and food import prices to fluctuate, are commonly considered the major external sources of food insecurity in developing countries. The need for steady domestic food production, and for stable world grain prices or international assistance in meeting a fluctuating grain import bill, are accordingly emphasized by the authors. Food self-sufficiency and commodity reserves are also stressed, given barriers to trade. Recent events in Latin American and African countries seem to suggest that erratic capital flows and export earnings, supposedly caused by instabilities of world financial and world primary commodity markets, can be just as detrimental to the maintenance of appropriate food consumption levels. If these claims of additional exogenous sources are subtantiated, the priorities of a food security strategy might need to be reconsidered.

Dynamics of Phosphorus Fertilization and Liming Under Land Tenure Insecurity

This article solves and characterizes optimal decision rules to invest in irreversible land improvements conditional on land tenure insecurity. Economic model is a normative dynamic programming model with known parameter for the one period returns and transition equations. The decision rules are solved numerically conditional on alternative scenarios on the likelihood that the lease contract and, thus, farmer access to land is either renewed or expires. The model parameters represent Finnish soil quality and production conditions. The results suggest that irreversible land improvements decrease quickly and the yields decline gradually when the farmer is confronted with land tenure insecurity caused by uncertain renewal of the lease contract.agriculture, dynamic programming, Land Economics/Use, Q15, Q21,

Perceived job insecurity, unemployment risk and international trade: A micro-level analysis of employees in German service industries

The present paper investigates the impact of international trade on individual labour market outcomes in the German service sector for the period 1995-2006. Combining micro-level data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) and industry-level trade data from inputoutput tables, we examine the impacts of international trade on (1) the individually reported fear of job loss and (2) job-to-unemployment transitions. We therefore apply both a subjective and a more objective measure of job insecurity. Our results indicate that international trade does indeed affect labour market outcomes in German service industries. Employees in trading service sectors face both a higher subjective and objective unemployment risk, regardless of their skill level. Moreover, growth in real net exports is positively correlated with perceived job insecurity and individual unemployment risk. --International trade,perceived job insecurity,employment status

EFFECTS OF FOOD AND HEALTH SPENDING PATTERNS ON THE HEALTH OF THE ELDERLY

Examines linkages between food and health spending patterns, income, and health status of the elderly. Links these relationships to food insecurity and expenditures on nutraceuticals. Methodology includes simultaneous estimation of expenditure systems and health production functions. Preliminary results indicate simultaneity between health production function and spending patterns throughout the life cycle.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Health Economics and Policy,

The Coase Theorem and Western US Appropriative Water Rights

The Article analyzes the prior appropriation system in the Western U.S. as a compelling application of the Coase Theorem. In the overall prior appropriation system, few statutory transfers occur, but there are thriving transfer markets in the smaller-scale context of water districts. This suggests that the system at large is not at Coase Equilibrium, but that Equilibrium does prevail inside the water institutions. Institutions facilitate low transaction costs and secure property rights, and catalyze an iterative process that tends toward Coase Equilibrium. The Article makes policy recommendations regarding the formation of larger-scale water institutions to reduce deadweight losses by expanding the scope of Coase Equilibrium within the prior appropriation system