The Conditional Strong Matching Preclusion of Augmented Cubes

The strong matching preclusion is a measure for the robustness of interconnection networks in the presence of node and/or link failures. However, in the case of random link and/or node failures, it is unlikely to find all the faults incident and/or adjacent to the same vertex. This motivates Park et al. to introduce the conditional strong matching preclusion of a graph. In this paper we consider the conditional strong matching preclusion problem of the augmented cube $AQ_n$, which is a variation of the hypercube $Q_n$ that possesses favorable properties

Fractional matching preclusion for butterfly derived networks

The matching preclusion number of a graph is the minimum number of edges whose deletion results in a graph that has neither perfect matchings nor almost perfect matchings. As a generalization, Liu and Liu [18] recently introduced the concept of fractional matching preclusion number. The fractional matching preclusion number (FMP number) of G, denoted by fmp(G), is the minimum number of edges whose deletion leaves the resulting graph without a fractional perfect matching. The fractional strong matching preclusion number (FSMP number) of G, denoted by fsmp(G), is the minimum number of vertices and edges whose deletion leaves the resulting graph without a fractional perfect matching. In this paper, we study the fractional matching preclusion number and the fractional strong matching preclusion number for butterfly network, augmented butterfly network and enhanced butterfly network

Information enforcement in learning with graphics : improving syllogistic reasoning skills

This thesis is an investigation into the factors that contribute to good choices among graphical systems used in teaching, and the feasibility of implementing teaching software that uses this knowledge.The thesis describes a mathematical metric derived from a cognitive theory of human diagram processing. The theory characterises differences among representations by their ability to express information. The theory provides the factors and relationships needed to build the metric. It says that good representations are easily processed because they are more vivid, more tractable and less expressive, than poor representations.The metric is applied to abstract systems for teaching and learning syllogistic reasoning, TARSKI'S WORLD, EULER CIRCLES, VENN DIAGRAMS and CARROLL'S GAME OF LOGIC. A rank ordering reflects the value of each system predicted by the theory and the metric. The theory, the metric and the systems are then tested in empirical studies. Five studies involving sixty-eight learners, examined the benefit of software based on these abstract systems.Studies showed the theory correctly predicted learners' success with the circle systems and poorer performance with TARSKI'S WORLD. The metric showed small but clear differences in expressivity between the circle systems. Differences between results of the learners using the circle systems contradicted the predictions of the metric.Learners with mathematical training were better equipped and more successful at learning syllogistic reasoning with the systems. Performance of learners without mathematical training declined after using the software systems. Diagrams drawn by learners together with video footage collected during problem solving, led to a catalogue of errors, misconceptions and some helpful strategies for learning from graphical systems.A cognitive style test investigated the poor performance of non-mathematically trained learners. Learners with mathematics training showed serialist and versatile learning styles while learners without this training showed a holist learning style. This is consistent with the hypothesis that non-mathematically trained learners emphasise the use of semantic cues during learning and problem solving.A card-sorting task investigated learners' preferences for parts of the graphical lexicon used in the diagram systems. Preferences for the EULER lexicon increased difficulty in explaining the system's poor results in earlier studies. Video footage of learners using the systems in the final study illustrated useful learning strategies and improved performance with EULER while individual instruction was available.Further work describes a preliminary design for an adaptive syllogism tutor and other related work

Listening to the inner child in social cognition: the ontogeny of the dual architecture of social information processing

Studies conducted with children may be highly valuable for the advancement of social cognitive theory testing and building, beyond a strictly developmental scope, and particularly under the framework of the dual-architecture of social information processing. The arguments favouring this thesis are presented through the implementation of 7 studies, grouped in 2 sets. The first set of studies illustrates how research with differently-aged participants (preschoolers to ninth-graders) is useful for testing and informing dual-process theories, such as the three-stage model of person perception (Gilbert, Pelham, & Krull, 1988). Studies 1 and 2 tested, and corroborated, the ontogenetic prediction derived from the model that the situational correction process has a later ontogenetic onset than the dispositional characterization process. Study 3 examined the impact of prior expectancies on the dispositional characterization process, and the ways the obtained results inform the threestage model were discussed. The second set of studies illustrates how research with children is valuable for gathering knowledge about the operation of the more automatic processes, such as the ones involved in incongruency processing in impression formation settings. Studies 4 and 5 investigated participants’ willingness to know more about either a congruently or an incongruently described target-person. Study 6 examined whether participants conceived of a target-person described in incongruent terms as a real person. Finally, Study 7 tested differential recall of expectancy-congruent and incongruent information in 4- to 10-years-old children. Based on these results, hypotheses were generated about the more automatic processing of incongruent information, namely of incongruencyneglect and avoidance.Estudos com crianças podem ser valiosos para o teste e construção de teorias sóciocognitivas, para além dum âmbito estritamente desenvolvimentista, particularmente sob o enquadramento da arquitectura dualista do processamento de informação social. Sete estudos, agrupados em 2 conjuntos, servem a apresentação de argumentos a favor desta tese. O primeiro conjunto ilustra a utilidade de investigação com participantes de diferentes idades (pré-escolar até 9º ano) para testar e informar teorias de processamento dualista, como o modelo das três-etapas da percepção social (Gilbert, Pelham, & Krull, 1988). Os Estudos 1 e 2 testaram, e corroboraram, a predição ontogenética derivada do modelo de que a correcção situacional é um processo ontogeneticamente mais tardio do que a caracterização disposicional. O Estudo 3 examinou o impacto das expectativas prévias na caracterização disposicional e discutiu-se o modo como os resultados informam o modelo. O segundo conjunto de estudos ilustra o valor de investigação com crianças na acumulação de conhecimento sobre processos mais automáticos, tais como os envolvidos no processamento de incongruência em contextos de formação de impressões. Os Estudos 4 e 5 investigaram a preferência dos participantes por saber mais sobre uma pessoa-alvo congruente ou incongruentemente descrita. O Estudo 6 examinou se os participantes concebiam como real uma pessoa-alvo descrita de forma incongruente. Finalmente, o Estudo 7 testou a recordação diferencial de informação congruente e incongruente com expectativas em crianças de 4 a 10 anos. Com base nestes resultados geraram-se hipóteses sobre o processamento mais automático de informação incongruente, nomeadamente sobre negligência e evitação de incongruência

Essays on Islamic Finance and Banking

Islamic banking and finance have received a considerable attention from academics and practitioners after the global financial crisis. Drawing insights from the theoretical and empirical studies about the resilience and the relative stability of Islamic financing alternatives - compared to their conventional peers- during turbulent economic and market conditions, I found that Islamic alternatives are not as less risky and stable as previously presented. This thesis makes a contribution to the asset management literature by examining whether Shari‘ah compliant exchange traded funds (ETFs) have potential diversification benefits to a volatile portfolio of investments in emerging markets. The portfolio consists of three asset classes: conventional and fixed-income securities in emerging markets and Shari‘ah compliant equity. I utilise a dynamic optimisation strategy to capture the time-variability in correlations between Islamic ETFs and other ETFs and find the optimal portfolios accord-ingly. I back test the results by using a static optimisation strategy and estimating optimal portfolios over two sample periods. The results are new to the literature, since previous empirical evidence is either comparing Islamic and conventional equity or Islamic and conventional bonds using static asset allocation strategies. Furthermore, this thesis contributes to the literature by taking a holistic approach and analyses the role of Islamic banks on both the micro and macro levels. I examine the effect of Islamic banks‘ financial distress on other financial institutions and the financial system in 10 Muslim majority countries. The research sample comprises 352 conventional and Islamic financial institutions. I do not consider only Islamic banks‘ specific characteristics and macroeconomic variables, but I also take in consideration the financial linkages and the spillover effects of financial institutions‘ distress. This research is pivotal, because it fills a research gap when it comes to identifying the systemic relevance and role of Islamic banks in financial systems. Previous research has adopted a top down approach and has identified the effect of the system on Islamic banks. Given the liter-ature about increasing business risks in the Islamic banking sector, I hypothesise that Islamic banks contribute to systemic risk. In addition, I identify whether the effect of Islamic banks‘ distress on the system is due to the change in their business risks over time. The findings of this thesis are new to the literature and provide implications of great importance. Institutional investors should consider the religion effect when they manage their assets, given the evidence regarding the outperformance of Shari‘ah compliant equity relative to their conventional peers. They should also be cautious when using dynamic strategies, because they can be more costly to apply specially in volatile markets such as emerging markets and during crisis periods. For central banks and regulator, they should consider Islamic banks as genetically modified conventional banks). If Islamic banks and financial authorities did not address the routes of inefficiency, insolvency risk, and withdrawal risk in Islamic banks, they will continue to contribute to financial systems‘ distress

Proceedings of the 10th International Conference on NDE in Relation to Structural Integrity for Nuclear and Pressurized Components

This conference, the tenth in a series on NDE in relation to structural integrity for nuclear and pressurized components, was held from 1st October to 3 October 2013, in Cannes, France. The scientific programme was co-produced by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre, Institute for Energy and Transport (EC-JRC/IET). The Conference has been coordinated by the Confédération Française pour les Essais Non Destructifs (COFREND). The first conference, under the sole responsibility of EC-JRC was held in Amsterdam, 20-22 October 1998. The second conference was locally organized by the EPRI NDE Center in New Orleans, 24-26 May 2000, the third one by Tecnatom in Seville, 14-16 November 2001, the fourth one by the British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing in London, 6-8 December 2004, the fifth by EPRI in San Diego, 10-12 May 2006, the sixth by Marovisz in Budapest, 8-10 October 2007, the seventh by the University of Tokyo and JAPEIC in Yokohama, the eight by DGZfP, 29 September to 1st October 2010, the ninth by Epri NDE Center, 22-24 May 2012 in Seattle. The theme of this conference series is to provide the link between the information originated by NDE and the use made of this information in assessing structural integrity. In this context, there is often a need to determine NDE performance against structural integrity requirements through a process of qualification or performance demonstration. There is also a need to develop NDE to address shortcomings revealed by such performance demonstration or otherwise. Finally, the links between NDE and structural integrity require strengthening in many areas so that NDE is focussed on the components at greatest risk and provides the precise information required for assessment of integrity. These were the issues addressed by the papers selected for the conference.JRC.F.5-Nuclear Reactor Safety Assessmen