Formal design specification of a Processor Interface Unit

This report describes work to formally specify the requirements and design of a processor interface unit (PIU), a single-chip subsystem providing memory-interface bus-interface, and additional support services for a commercial microprocessor within a fault-tolerant computer system. This system, the Fault-Tolerant Embedded Processor (FTEP), is targeted towards applications in avionics and space requiring extremely high levels of mission reliability, extended maintenance-free operation, or both. The need for high-quality design assurance in such applications is an undisputed fact, given the disastrous consequences that even a single design flaw can produce. Thus, the further development and application of formal methods to fault-tolerant systems is of critical importance as these systems see increasing use in modern society

Joint Bandwidth and Power Allocation with Admission Control in Wireless Multi-User Networks With and Without Relaying

Equal allocation of bandwidth and/or power may not be efficient for wireless multi-user networks with limited bandwidth and power resources. Joint bandwidth and power allocation strategies for wireless multi-user networks with and without relaying are proposed in this paper for (i) the maximization of the sum capacity of all users; (ii) the maximization of the worst user capacity; and (iii) the minimization of the total power consumption of all users. It is shown that the proposed allocation problems are convex and, therefore, can be solved efficiently. Moreover, the admission control based joint bandwidth and power allocation is considered. A suboptimal greedy search algorithm is developed to solve the admission control problem efficiently. The conditions under which the greedy search is optimal are derived and shown to be mild. The performance improvements offered by the proposed joint bandwidth and power allocation are demonstrated by simulations. The advantages of the suboptimal greedy search algorithm for admission control are also shown.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, submitted to IEEE Trans. Signal Processing in June 201

Practical application of a model for assessing the criticality of railway infrastructure elements

Rail transport is an important sub-sector of transport infrastructure. Disruption of its operation due to emergencies can result in a reduction in functional parameters of provided services with consequent impacts on society. Identifi cation of critical elements of this system enables its timely and effective protection. On that ground, the article presents a draft model for assessing the criticality of railway infrastructure elements. This model uses a systems approach and multicriteria semi-quantitative analysis with weighted criteria for calculating the criticality of individual elements of the railway infrastructure. In the conclusion, it presents a practical application of the proposed model including the discussion of results

Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure and Firm Financial Performance in Mining and Natural Resources Industry

Business operations nowadays should not only pursue profits, but also contribute positively to the society as well as environment. This is because people currently have become more critical to the need of social control over the business. Business then has to respond this through the implementation of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and disclose the activities related to it into the form of CSR disclosure. In line with this phenomenon, the purpose of this research is to examine the influence of CSR disclosure to firm financial performance. The legitimacy theory, the stakeholder theory as well as the agency theory are used in building the research framework in relation to CSR disclosure and its effect to firm financial performance. The study is conducted quantitatively by using natural resources and mining corporations listed in the Indonesian Stock Exchange from 2010-2012 as the samples. Meanwhile, the independent variable is CSR disclosure proxied by Corporate Social Disclosure Index (CSDI) and the control variables are firm financial performance represented by Return on Equity (ROE) and Cumulative Abnormal Return (CAR). Leverage, growth opportunities, firm size, and stock beta are used as control variables. To find out the relationship between the variables, the multiple regression test was applied. Finally, the results indicate that the sign of the relationships are positive but not significant. This means that although the perspective that socially responsible firm may be associated with a set of economic benefits, it is now still emerging but now yet settled in the Indonesian context

Expanding the Supply of High Quality Public Schools

Two levers that play critically important roles in determining how quickly and consistently successful schools and design models can be replicated. One is the degree of managerial responsibility, support, and control the organization chooses to exercise. The other is related to specificity of school design.This paper examines the school development landscape in the context of these levers, with examples of organizations that have chosen different paths with different tradeoffs and outcomes

Sustainability performance measurement : a preliminary classification framework of models and indicators

In this position paper we focus on the diversity of sustainability measurements. Based on existing research on performance measurement, we propose a preliminary classification framework summarizing sustainability models and indicators. By describing illustrative examples, we claim that several models and indicators can be distinguished with their own peculiarities. Having such a framework is interesting for both academia and business to structure the range of models and indicators and to ultimately select the appropriate sustainability measurement approach. The proposed framework should be validated by further research

Pengaruh Corporate Social Responsibility dan Kepemilikan Asing terhadap Kinerja Perusahaan (Studi Empiris pada Perusahaan Manufaktur yang Terdaftar di Bursa Efek Indonesia)

The purpose of this research is to test the effect of CSR and foreign ownership on financial performance. Data collecting is using of purposive sampling method for manufactur companies listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange in. A total of 66 manufactur companies are used as a sample. The method of analysis of this study use multiple regression. The results of this research indicate that the CSR and foreign ownership have a significant effect on firm performance

STORIA HIC ET NUNC. La formazione dello storico del design in Italia e all’estero

Qual è il ruolo della storia nei corsi di studi in design? Come si forma lo storico del design in Italia e all’estero? Come mai si registra un calo, sempre maggiore, dell’interesse verso le discipline umanistiche in generale e della storia in particolare? A queste e ad altre domande rispondono i membri dell’Ais/Design, l’Associazione Italiana degli Storici del Design, riunitisi il 28 e il 29 novembre 2013 in occasione del secondo convegno nazionale dell’associazione intitolato «Storia del design: una disciplina in formazione»

Long-term changes in extreme temperatures and precipitation in Spain

La creació de les bases de dades de temperatura i precipitació diàries anomenades, respectivament, Spanish Daily Adjusted Temperature Series (SDATS) i Spanish Daily Adjusted Precipitation Series (SDAPS), en el marc del projecte finançat per la Comissió Europea EMULATE (European and North Atlantic daily to MULtidecadal climATE variability), ha permès als autors analitzar el canvi a llarg termini que s'ha produït en el comportament anual dels extrems climàtics a l'Espanya peninsular durant el període 1901-2005. El conjunt de procediments desenvolupats pels autors per tal de crear registres homogenis de la temperatura i de la precipitació diàries són descrits de manera breu abans d'analitzar els canvis observats en l'ocurrència d'extrems climàtics. S'han utilitzat els indicadors se - güents per a dur a terme aquest estudi: excedències dels percentils inferiors i superiors de les temperatures màximes (Tmax) i mínimes (Tmin) diàries, excedències de la precipitació diària per sobre dels percentils 95è i 99è, l'índex simple d'intensitat diària (SDII) i els indicadors d'1 i 5 dies amb la precipitació més alta de l'any. Tant l'anàlisi dels percentils superiors de les temperatures com la dels inferiors mostren que s'ha produït un escalfament important sobre l'Espanya peninsular al llarg del segle XX, i que aquest ha estat més important en les temperatures màximes que en les temperatures mínimes. No obstant això, aquest patró presenta un lleuger canvi en el període més recent d'escalfament, en el qual la tendència d'ambdues variables presenta valors similars. Els canvis en els indicadors pluviomètrics no són tan clars com els estimats per la temperatura, però s'ha detectat una tendència cap a l'ocurrència de pluges més intenses.The development of the Spanish daily adjusted temperature series (SDATS) and the Spanish daily adjusted precipitation series (SDAPS) datasets in the framework of the European Community (EC)-funded project EMULATE (European and North Atlantic daily to MULtidecadal climATE variability) enabled the assessment of long-term annual changes of extreme temperature and precipitation indices over peninsular Spain for the period 1901–2005. Within this framework, a set of procedures was developed to generate long-term (1850–2005) daily adjusted temperature and precipitation series and to use them to assess changes in climatic extremes. The present report describes details of the data employed to analyze the behavior of Spanish climate extremes and discusses the results of investigations into the annual changes in selected indices that occurred during the 20th century: exceedances of upper and lower percentiles of daily maximum (Tmax) and minimum (Tmin) temperatures, cold-spell duration index (CSDI), warm-spell duration index (WSDI), daily rainfall (R) exceeding the 95th and 99th percentiles, simple daily intensity index (SDII), and greatest 1- and 5-day total precipitation. Upper and lower temperature percentiles increased during the 20th century over mainland Spain, but changes in daytime extreme temperatures were larger than changes in night-time extreme temperatures. This pattern, however, shifted slightly in the recent period of strong warming, with more similar rates of change among daytime and night-time extreme temperatures. Changes in extreme precipitation indices were not as evident as those in extremetemperature indices, but there was a tendency towards heavier precipitation