Reducing Internet Latency : A Survey of Techniques and their Merit

Bob Briscoe, Anna Brunstrom, Andreas Petlund, David Hayes, David Ros, Ing-Jyh Tsang, Stein Gjessing, Gorry Fairhurst, Carsten Griwodz, Michael WelzlPeer reviewedPreprin

Analyzing Granger causality in climate data with time series classification methods

Attribution studies in climate science aim for scientifically ascertaining the influence of climatic variations on natural or anthropogenic factors. Many of those studies adopt the concept of Granger causality to infer statistical cause-effect relationships, while utilizing traditional autoregressive models. In this article, we investigate the potential of state-of-the-art time series classification techniques to enhance causal inference in climate science. We conduct a comparative experimental study of different types of algorithms on a large test suite that comprises a unique collection of datasets from the area of climate-vegetation dynamics. The results indicate that specialized time series classification methods are able to improve existing inference procedures. Substantial differences are observed among the methods that were tested

Bloc party: investigating the strategies of AILAC in the UNFCCC

As climate change has become a pressing global political issue, academic interest in the negotiations within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) has grown. However, whilst the outcomes, and levels of parties’ influence, have produced much scholarship, a lacuna remains on parties’ strategies. Specifically, strategies used by coalitions have been understudied. This thesis contributes with an investigation of strategies used by AILAC, a group of Latin American states co-operating to advance ambitious global climate action, between 2013 and 2018. As a relatively new coalition, AILAC has received little scholarly attention, with limited study assessing its positions and contributions towards the Paris Agreement. This thesis examines AILAC’s strategy choices and the reasoning behind them through a governmentality theoretical lens. Primarily a theory of power, it sees relations between actors as processes, questioning how actors interact with each other, making it a natural fit for the study of strategies and an attractive alternative to rational choice theories overlooking processes. To determine AILAC’s strategy use, the thesis employs Critical Discourse Analysis. CDA uncovers evidence of strategies within AILAC’s UNFCCC submission texts and interviews with AILAC delegates, providing insights into influences on AILAC’s strategic decision-making. It finds AILAC overwhelmingly preferred less aggressive strategies such as constructive proposals, persuasion, and coalition-building over more aggressive strategies like exerting moral pressure, demands, and threats. This primarily resulted from power relations between AILAC and its negotiating partners; while AILAC is resourcepoor vis-à-vis material power, it is rich in power/knowledge, allowing it to use less aggressive strategies with a reasonable expectation of success where more aggressive strategies reliant on material power would likely fail. The thesis also finds influence on AILAC strategies from various other factors; e.g. AILAC’s bridge-building identity reinforces the attractiveness of less aggressive strategies, while its delegation dynamics drive use of informal spaces

Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering

This open access book constitutes the proceedings of the 24th International Conference on Fundamental Approaches to Software Engineering, FASE 2021, which took place during March 27–April 1, 2021, and was held as part of the Joint Conferences on Theory and Practice of Software, ETAPS 2021. The conference was planned to take place in Luxembourg but changed to an online format due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 16 full papers presented in this volume were carefully reviewed and selected from 52 submissions. The book also contains 4 Test-Comp contributions

Wireless Sensor Networks

The aim of this book is to present few important issues of WSNs, from the application, design and technology points of view. The book highlights power efficient design issues related to wireless sensor networks, the existing WSN applications, and discusses the research efforts being undertaken in this field which put the reader in good pace to be able to understand more advanced research and make a contribution in this field for themselves. It is believed that this book serves as a comprehensive reference for graduate and undergraduate senior students who seek to learn latest development in wireless sensor networks

The Political Economy and Coalitions in Botswana’s Water Sector Reform 2009-13: to what extent can the process of reform be understood?

This thesis examines the process of water sector reform in Botswana, focusing on barriers to effective delivery of clean water and improved sanitation services (WSS) to all, and water resource management (WRM), in a water insecure country, dependent for surface water on international river basin organisations. The study provides a crtitical analysis of policy change in progress. The impact of the water reforms on the poor and the process of centralising control of WSS, from both tribal and local authorities and the problems encountered are addressed. This study first reviews Botswana’s historical and recent performance on WRM and WSS and examines the underlying drivers and early outcomes of the recent major reform process. Advocacy Coalition Theory (Weible et al 2009, 2008; Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith 1999, 1993) provides the theoretical basis to give insights into the processes of policy reform. The research uses documents and observations of government policy planning and implementation processes from 2010 to 2013. Insights are also drawn from key informant interviews and focus groups from village to national level. The results show the relevance of Advocacy Coalition Theory to Botswana’s history of water sector reform; a struggle between a pre-2009 hydro-mission coalition comprised of an elite, grown successful on mining revenues and the culture of cattle; to a post-2009 coalition formed broadly around concern about water availability and an ecological culture that harks back to the past. Changes include new tariff reform policies, which could be seen as running counter to Water Demand Management (WDM), as they are mitigated within the Government’s policies of poverty eradication. The centralisation of WSS provision under a Parastatal, the Water Utilities Corporation, has been completed. A new Water Policy and Regulator, set to be established, appears to reflect the gradual success of the more environmentally focused coalition, seeking stronger water secure independent IWRM and WDM policies. This process is still in play and it will require strong political will to complete Botswana’s transition to a sustainable water-based political economy. Lessons about surmounting the barriers to effective IWRM and National WRM and delivery of WSS elsewhere in developing countries could be learned from the policy processes in this geographically large, water constrained African country

GEO-6 assessment for the pan-European region

Through this assessment, the authors and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) secretariat are providing an objective evaluation and analysis of the pan-European environment designed to support environmental decision-making at multiple scales. In this assessment, the judgement of experts is applied to existing knowledge to provide scientifically credible answers to policy-relevant questions. These questions include, but are not limited to the following:• What is happening to the environment in the pan-European region and why?• What are the consequences for the environment and the human population in the pan-European region?• What is being done and how effective is it?• What are the prospects for the environment in the future?• What actions could be taken to achieve a more sustainable future?<br/

Level-­linkage in European Union – Brazil relations: an analysis of cooperation on climate change, trade, and human rights

This thesis explores EU-Brazil relations and answers the question of why these two actors have failed to use the bilateral level of their cooperation as a platform to enhance their coordination in multilateral arenas. The thesis develops a framework to explain the linkage between levels of cooperation within a particular bilateral relationship that focuses on both agents and issues. The argument of “level-linkage” is empirically tested in three case-studies: climate change, trade, and human rights. The thesis finds that the greater the openness of a regime to influences from other levels of cooperation, the more likely level-linkage is to occur. However, level-linkage is restricted to where the approaches of the two partners towards multilateralism are compatible. Preferences for partners were also not the main constraint to the promotion of an EU-Brazil strategic partnership in multilateral arenas. Instead, as this thesis reveals, the degree of coordination in national foreign policy-making institutions is the key determinant of level-linkage. These findings support the argument that the dynamics between agents and the specificities of issues do matter in explaining the relation between bilateral and multilateral levels of cooperation. In this light, this thesis contributes to the analysis of bilateral relationships within a multi-level structure, ultimately advancing academic research in international cooperation. It also contributes to the literature on foreign policy analysis and to an emerging body of scholarship in EU-Brazil relations