8,182 research outputs found
Evidence of State-Level Variability in the Economic and Demographic Well-Being of People with Disabilities in India
Among countries with comparable levels of income, India has one of the more progressive disability policy frameworks; however, people with disabilities in India are subject to multiple disadvantages. This paper focuses on state-level variations in outcomes for people with disabilities to provide one explanation for the stark contrast between the liberal laws on paper and the challenges faced by people with disabilities in practice. Using a random coefficients model that allows for state-level differences, we find that households with members with disabilities have 4.2 percent lower marriage rates, monthly per capita expenditure that is lower by 176 Indian Rupees (19 percent of overall average per capita expenditure), and about a 5 percent lower level of completed formal schooling as compared to households without disabled individuals. Tests of parameter constancy across states are almost uniformly rejected indicating the presence of substantial state-level heterogeneity across all models in the outcomes examined.disability, India, economic well-being, state variations, people with disabilities
Application and flight test of linearizing transformations using measurement feedback to the nonlinear control problem
The design of nonlinear controllers has relied on the use of detailed aerodynamic and engine models that must be associated with the control law in the flight system implementation. Many of these controllers were applied to vehicle flight path control problems and have attempted to combine both inner- and outer-loop control functions in a single controller. An approach to the nonlinear trajectory control problem is presented. This approach uses linearizing transformations with measurement feedback to eliminate the need for detailed aircraft models in outer-loop control applications. By applying this approach and separating the inner-loop and outer-loop functions two things were achieved: (1) the need for incorporating detailed aerodynamic models in the controller is obviated; and (2) the controller is more easily incorporated into existing aircraft flight control systems. An implementation of the controller is discussed, and this controller is tested on a six degree-of-freedom F-15 simulation and in flight on an F-15 aircraft. Simulation data are presented which validates this approach over a large portion of the F-15 flight envelope. Proof of this concept is provided by flight-test data that closely matches simulation results. Flight-test data are also presented
Certifying and removing disparate impact
What does it mean for an algorithm to be biased? In U.S. law, unintentional
bias is encoded via disparate impact, which occurs when a selection process has
widely different outcomes for different groups, even as it appears to be
neutral. This legal determination hinges on a definition of a protected class
(ethnicity, gender, religious practice) and an explicit description of the
process.
When the process is implemented using computers, determining disparate impact
(and hence bias) is harder. It might not be possible to disclose the process.
In addition, even if the process is open, it might be hard to elucidate in a
legal setting how the algorithm makes its decisions. Instead of requiring
access to the algorithm, we propose making inferences based on the data the
algorithm uses.
We make four contributions to this problem. First, we link the legal notion
of disparate impact to a measure of classification accuracy that while known,
has received relatively little attention. Second, we propose a test for
disparate impact based on analyzing the information leakage of the protected
class from the other data attributes. Third, we describe methods by which data
might be made unbiased. Finally, we present empirical evidence supporting the
effectiveness of our test for disparate impact and our approach for both
masking bias and preserving relevant information in the data. Interestingly,
our approach resembles some actual selection practices that have recently
received legal scrutiny.Comment: Extended version of paper accepted at 2015 ACM SIGKDD Conference on
Knowledge Discovery and Data Minin
DEVELOPMENT OF A PERFORMANCE MONITORING SYSTEM TO OPTIMIZE PV BASED SOLAR ELECTRICITY GENERATION
Demand for electricity in Malaysia has seen a substantial hike in light of the nation’s rapid
economic development in pursuit of achieving Vision 2020. The current method of
generating electricity is through the use of conventional energy sources such as fossil fuels.
However, consistent usage of fossil fuels has resulted in detrimental effects towards the
environment besides the dampening amount of natural resources available globally. An
alternative energy source that is capable of sustaining the demand is needed to ensure a
sustainable future. Since its implementation through the Sustainable Energy Development
Authority (SEDA), the Feed-in-Tariff (FiT) mechanism has established a total installed
Photovoltaic (PV) capacity of 192 MW from 655 projects that are currently operational from
the overall of 2628 approved projects in Malaysia
Nonequilibrium steady states in a vibrated-rod monolayer: tetratic, nematic and smectic correlations
We study experimentally the nonequilibrium phase behaviour of a horizontal
monolayer of macroscopic rods. The motion of the rods in two dimensions is
driven by vibrations in the vertical direction. Aside from the control
variables of packing fraction and aspect ratio that are typically explored in
molecular liquid crystalline systems, due to the macroscopic size of the
particles we are also able to investigate the effect of the precise shape of
the particle on the steady states of this driven system. We find that the shape
plays an important role in determining the nature of the orientational ordering
at high packing fraction. Cylindrical particles show substantial tetratic
correlations over a range of aspect ratios where spherocylinders have
previously been shown by Bates et al (JCP 112, 10034 (2000)) to undergo
transitions between isotropic and nematic phases. Particles that are thinner at
the ends (rolling pins or bails) show nematic ordering over the same range of
aspect ratios, with a well-established nematic phase at large aspect ratio and
a defect-ridden nematic state with large-scale swirling motion at small aspect
ratios. Finally, long-grain, basmati rice, whose geometry is intermediate
between the two shapes above, shows phases with strong indications of smectic
order.Comment: 18 pages and 13 eps figures, references adde
Large magnetoresistance at room-temperature in semiconducting polymer sandwich devices
We report on the discovery of a large, room temperature magnetoresistance
(MR) effect in polyfluorene sandwich devices in weak magnetic fields. We
characterize this effect and discuss its dependence on voltage, temperature,
film thickness, electrode materials, and (unintentional) impurity
concentration. We usually observed negative MR, but positive MR can also be
achieved under high applied electric fields. The MR effect reaches up to 10% at
fields of 10mT at room temperature. The effect shows only a weak temperature
dependence and is independent of the sign and direction of the magnetic field.
We find that the effect is related to the hole current in the devices.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figure
Cerebral oxygen vasoreactivity and cerebral tissue oxygen reactivity†
There has long been an appreciation that cerebral blood flow is modulated to ensure adequate cerebral oxygen delivery in the face of systemic hypoxaemia. There is increasing appreciation of the modulatory role of hyperoxia in the cerebral circulation and a consideration of the effects of such modulation on the maintenance of cerebral tissue oxygen concentration. These newer findings are particularly important in view of the fact that cerebrovascular and tissue oxygen responses to hyperoxia may change in disease. Such alterations provide important insights into pathophysiological mechanisms and may provide novel targets for therapy. However, before the modulatory effects of hyperoxia can be used for diagnosis, to predict prognosis or to direct therapy, a more detailed analysis and understanding of the physiological concepts behind this modulation are required, as are the limitations of the measurement tools used to define the modulation. This overview summarizes the available information in this area and suggests some avenues for further research. Br J Anaesth 2003; 90: 774-8
Online Estimation and Optimization of Utility-Based Shortfall Risk
Utility-Based Shortfall Risk (UBSR) is a risk metric that is increasingly
popular in financial applications, owing to certain desirable properties that
it enjoys. We consider the problem of estimating UBSR in a recursive setting,
where samples from the underlying loss distribution are available
one-at-a-time. We cast the UBSR estimation problem as a root finding problem,
and propose stochastic approximation-based estimations schemes. We derive
non-asymptotic bounds on the estimation error in the number of samples. We also
consider the problem of UBSR optimization within a parameterized class of
random variables. We propose a stochastic gradient descent based algorithm for
UBSR optimization, and derive non-asymptotic bounds on its convergence
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