A Nash-Hormander iteration and boundary elements for the Molodensky problem

We investigate the numerical approximation of the nonlinear Molodensky problem, which reconstructs the surface of the earth from the gravitational potential and the gravity vector. The method, based on a smoothed Nash-Hormander iteration, solves a sequence of exterior oblique Robin problems and uses a regularization based on a higher-order heat equation to overcome the loss of derivatives in the surface update. In particular, we obtain a quantitative a priori estimate for the error after m steps, justify the use of smoothing operators based on the heat equation, and comment on the accurate evaluation of the Hessian of the gravitational potential on the surface, using a representation in terms of a hypersingular integral. A boundary element method is used to solve the exterior problem. Numerical results compare the error between the approximation and the exact solution in a model problem.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures, to appear in Numerische Mathemati

A Neuro-Classification Model for Socio-Technical Systems

This paper presents an original classifier model based on an artificial neural network (ANN) architecture that is able to learn a specific human behavior and can be used in different socio-economic systems. After a training process, the system can identify and classify a human subject using a list of parameters. The model can be further used to analyze and build a safe socio-technical system (STS). A new technique is applied to find an optimal architecture of the neural network. The system shows a good accuracy of the classifications even for a relatively small amount of training data. Starting from a previous result on adaptive forecasting, the model is enhanced by using the retraining technique for an enlarged data set.artificial neural network, training process, classification, socio-technical system

(Re)defining the complementary institution of Conditional release in Romania (2000-2019)

This article aims to investigate the legal and political evolution of the institution of Conditional release in Romania between 2000 and 2019 with a special focus on the abrupt changes during the mentioned period. The aim of this research consists in bringing together the redefining of the regulatory framework of Conditional release in relation to the dynamic political context and personal strategies used by the right-holder of individual liberation. Two important episodes need to be recalled for the redefinition of this concept: the establishment of the National Anticorruption Directorate; and the reform of criminal legislation, after Romania’s accession to the European Union. The general objective is to explain and understand the different stages in which liberation committees and courts of law have made use of the prerogative of dispensing conditional release, given the social role that the complementary institution of Conditional release within the institutional, territorial and functional scheme of the rule of law. I will show that amendments to criminal law, along with changes in court practice, have led to a reduction in the level of consistency between the decisions of the liberation committees and courts of law. Different legitimating strategies used by right holders are the main unexpected result of this research, as restrictive legal provisions apply to both decision levels

Color Image Scrambling Technique Based on Transposition of Pixels between RGB Channels Using Knight’s Moving Rules and Digital Chaotic Map

Nowadays, increasingly, it seems that the use of rule sets of the most popular games, particularly in new images’ encryption algorithms designing branch, leads to the crystallization of a new paradigm in the field of cryptography. Thus, motivated by this, the present paper aims to study a newly designed digital image scrambler (as part of the two fundamental techniques used to encrypt a block of pixels, i.e., the permutation stage) that uses knight’s moving rules (i.e., from the game of chess), in conjunction with a chaos-based pseudorandom bit generator, abbreviated PRBG, in order to transpose original image’s pixels between RGB channels. Theoretical and practical arguments, rounded by good numerical results on scrambler’s performances analysis (i.e., under various investigation methods, including visual inspection, adjacent pixels’ correlation coefficients’ computation, key’s space and sensitivity assessment, etc.) confirm viability of the proposed method (i.e., it ensures the coveted confusion factor) recommending its usage within cryptographic applications

A GAMES THEORY PERCPTION ON INTERSTATE COOPERATION: TRADE INCENTIVES IN THE BLACK SEA REGION AND THE IMPLICATIONS FOR ROMANIA

The international economic and political environment is constantly influenced by a wide and dynamic set of factors which constrain and preoccupy policymakers. The various interdependencies that potentially exist between certain business activities and state decisions are difficult to assess in the complexity that characterizes the real world. Thus, great efforts have been made in trying to create models that reduce the variety and dynamic of certain observations in order to grasp the evolutions and connections between individual factors. The relation that exists between the activity of trade and the probability of engaging in a conflicting situation has long been addressed and accepted as consistent, though sometimes with paradoxical outcomes. This article follows these previous notions and by using games theory principles and methods it illustrates the situation existing in the Black Sea region by trying to create a model or, in this case a game, that identifies the possible outcomes in relation to certain economic incentives.games theory, economic incentives, interstate conflict, static game, complete information game

Numerical simulations of the nonlinear Molodensky problem

We present a boundary element method to compute numerical approximations to the non-linear Molodensky problem, which reconstructs the surface of the earth from the gravitational potential and the gravity vector. Our solution procedure solves a sequence of exterior oblique Robin problems and is based on a Nash-H\"{o}rmander iteration. We apply smoothing with the heat equation to overcome a loss of derivatives in the surface update. Numerical results compare the error between the approximation and the exact solution in a model problem.Comment: 13 pages, submitted to the proceedings of the European Geosciences Union General Assembly 2013 / Studia geophysica et geodaetic

Evaluative conditioning of artificial grammars: evidence that subjectively-unconscious structures bias affective evaluations of novel stimuli

Evaluative conditioning (EC) refers to the acquisition of emotional valence by an initially-neutral stimulus (conditioned stimulus; CS), after being paired with an emotional stimulus (unconditioned stimulus; US). An important issue regards whether, when participants are unaware of the CS-US contingency, the affective valence can generalize to new stimuli that share similarities with the CS. Previous studies have shown that generalization of EC ef-fects appears only when participants are aware of the contingencies, but we suggest that this is because (a) the contingencies typically used in these studies are salient and easy to detect consciously, and (b) the performance-based measures of awareness (so-called “ob-jective measures”), typically used in these studies, tend to overestimate the amount of available conscious knowledge. We report a preregistered study in which participants (N = 217) were exposed to letter strings generated from two complex artificial grammars that are difficult to decipher consciously. Stimuli from one grammar were paired with positive USs, while those from the other grammar were paired with negative USs. Subsequently, partici-pants evaluated new, previously-unseen, stimuli from the positively-conditioned grammar more positively than new stimuli from the negatively-conditioned grammar. Importantly, this effect appeared even when trial-by-trial subjective measures indicated lack of relevant conscious knowledge. We provide evidence for the generalization of EC effects even with-out subjective awareness of the structures that enable those generalizations

DEVELOPING A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE BY IDENTIFYING AND UNDERSTANDING THE LIMITATIONS OF THE PAST. A REVIEW OF “DEBUNKING ECONOMICS: THE NAKED EMPEROR OF THE SOCIAL SCIENCES” BY STEVE KEEN

One of the first arguments presented in the start of the book and extensively discussed latter on, is the impossibility of providing a generalization of human behaviour. The pattern of behaviour is central in the economic theory, as all phenomena are illustrated and modelled using this starting point. While actions and preferences can be rigorously modelled at microeconomic level, in most situations, when depicting the society as a whole, further conditions or hypothesis are required.The author sheds light on the improbable or even unrealistic character of such hypothesis, that fail to hold true when confronted with the real world market. From the notion of utility, initially laid down by Bentham, to the development of indifference curves and aggregate consumption patterns, expanding the theoretical work from an individual scope to a wider, community level, requires the adoption of less than logical assumptions such as that all participants have the same preferences and, if obtaining an increase in revenues, they would continue to express the same needs and expectations

Advances on how to strengthen the peace within the Black Sea Region

The reason/motivation for addressing issues related to the Black Sea region is multifaceted and requires adequate explanations which will be refereed to here from Romania’s perspective as, a Black Sea area country by geography, historical background, cultural and social characteristics, is the bridge of economic and cultural changes, peace stability and military safety. Its economy and standard of life is sensible to the various factors and trends originating in the region.This paper aims to offer new perspectives in sustaining the idea of a valuable contribution of whom/what at the regional stability

Mathematical modelling and numerical simulations in physical geodesy

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