Reliability analysis of dynamic systems by translating temporal fault trees into Bayesian networks

Classical combinatorial fault trees can be used to assess combinations of failures but are unable to capture sequences of faults, which are important in complex dynamic systems. A number of proposed techniques extend fault tree analysis for dynamic systems. One of such technique, Pandora, introduces temporal gates to capture the sequencing of events and allows qualitative analysis of temporal fault trees. Pandora can be easily integrated in model-based design and analysis techniques. It is, therefore, useful to explore the possible avenues for quantitative analysis of Pandora temporal fault trees, and we identify Bayesian Networks as a possible framework for such analysis. We describe how Pandora fault trees can be translated to Bayesian Networks for dynamic dependability analysis and demonstrate the process on a simplified fuel system model. The conversion facilitates predictive reliability analysis of Pandora fault trees, but also opens the way for post-hoc diagnostic analysis of failures

Spin-Electromagnetic Hydrodynamics and Magnetization Induced by Spin-Magnetic Interaction

The hydrodynamic model including the spin degree of freedom and the electromagnetic field was discussed. In this derivation, we applied electromagnetism for macroscopic medium proposed by Minkowski. For the equation of motion of spin, we assumed that the hydrodynamic representation of the Pauli equation is reproduced when the many-body effect is neglected. Then the spin-magnetic interaction in the Pauli equation was converted to a part of the magnetization. The fluid and spin stress tensors induced by the many-body effect were obtained by employing the algebraic positivity of the entropy production in the framework of the linear irreversible thermodynamics, including the mixing effect of the irreversible currents. We further constructed the constitutive equation of the polarization and the magnetization. Our polarization equation is more reasonable compared to another result obtained using electromagnetism for macroscopic medium proposed by de Groot-Mazur.Comment: 24 pages, no figure, the discussion for the modifed thermodynamic relation is added, several errors are corrected, accepted for publication in PR

The Cross-Cultural Invariance of the Servant Leadership Survey: A Comparative Study across Eight Countries

This paper tests and confirms the cross-cultural equivalence of the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS) in eight countries and languages: The Netherlands, Portugal, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Spain, Turkey and Finland. A composite sample consisting of 5201 respondents from eight countries that all filled out the SLS was used. A three-step approach was adopted to test configural invariance, measurement equivalence, and structural equivalence. For the full 30-item version of the SLS, configural invariance and partial measurement equivalence were confirmed. Implications of these results for the use of the SLS within cross-cultural studies are discussed

The invisible power of fairness. How machine learning shapes democracy

Many machine learning systems make extensive use of large amounts of data regarding human behaviors. Several researchers have found various discriminatory practices related to the use of human-related machine learning systems, for example in the field of criminal justice, credit scoring and advertising. Fair machine learning is therefore emerging as a new field of study to mitigate biases that are inadvertently incorporated into algorithms. Data scientists and computer engineers are making various efforts to provide definitions of fairness. In this paper, we provide an overview of the most widespread definitions of fairness in the field of machine learning, arguing that the ideas highlighting each formalization are closely related to different ideas of justice and to different interpretations of democracy embedded in our culture. This work intends to analyze the definitions of fairness that have been proposed to date to interpret the underlying criteria and to relate them to different ideas of democracy.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, preprint version, submitted to The 32nd Canadian Conference on Artificial Intelligence that will take place in Kingston, Ontario, May 28 to May 31, 201

Farming in the cities: planning strategies to implement agricolture in the urban pattern

Il saggio analizza comparativamente esperienze e strategie di ibridazione tra urbano e rurale attraverso l'inserimento in tessuti urbani e di riqualificazione di attività produttive agricol

ANALISIS INTERDEPENDENSI FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT (FDI) DENGAN VARIABEL MAKRO EKONOMI

ABSTRAK Tujuan utama dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menganalisis interdependensi antara FDI dengan beberapa variabel yang lain, seperti PDB, Trade, Nilai Tukar, dan Tingkat bunga. Model VAR digunakan untuk menunjukkan pandangan yang komprehensif dari interdependensi ini. Hasil empiris menunjukkan bahwa melalui model VAR, interdependensi antara variabel FDI, PDB, Trade, Nilai Output Industri, Nilai Tukar dan Tingkat Suku Bunga telah diteliti dalam hubungan jangka panjang melalui kointegrasi vektor dan jangka pendek yang berdampak pada model VAR. Korelasi dinamis variabel telah diperoleh dengan analisis varian dan analisis respon impuls. Beberapa implikasi besar muncul dari hasil penelitian. Jika pemerintah Indonesia berkeinginan mendorong FDI dan pertumbuhan ekonomi, hal ini dapat dilakukan dengan output dan nilai tukar. Dalam jangka pendek maupun jangka panjang, keduanya sangat penting untuk stabilitas ekonomi. Kata Kunci : FDI, Pertumbuhan ekonomi, variabel makro dan model VARBanda Ace

Designing effective public participation

This paper reviews the various connections that can exist between the design of participatory processes and the different kind of results that they can entail. It details how effective participatory processes can be designed, whatever are the results that participation is deemed to elicit. It shows the main trends pertaining to design choicesand considers how to classify different arrangements in order to choose from among them. Then the paper deals with the main dilemmas that tend to arise when designing participatory processes. Thanks to this review, the paper argues that participatory processes tend to display a certain degree of ambivalence that cannot be completely overcome through the design choices

Trouble in Paradise - A disabled person's right to the satisfaction of a self-defined need:Some conceptual and practical problems

This paper questions the usefulness of the rights-based approach to ameliorating the social situation of disabled people in Britain and advances two criticisms. First, that rights and self-de? ned needs have been under-theorised by disability theorists to the extent that they have insuf? ciently appreciated the problems that these approaches pose. The paper suggests that rights to appropriate resources to satisfy self-de? ned needs will generate vast numbers of competing rights claims and that the resulting tendency of rights to con? ict has been under-appreciated. Secondly, that there has been little consideration of how these con? icts might be reconciled. The ? rst two sections of the paper look at the concepts of ascribed and self-de? ned needs, respectively, whilst the ? nal one looks at some of the problems of the rights approach and some of the dif? culties of making self-de? ned need the basis of rights claims

Does the revised cardiac risk index predict cardiac complications following elective lung resection?

Background: Revised Cardiac Risk Index (RCRI) score and Thoracic Revised Cardiac Risk Index (ThRCRI) score were developed to predict the risks of postoperative major cardiac complications in generic surgical population and thoracic surgery respectively. This study aims to determine the accuracy of these scores in predicting the risk of developing cardiac complications including atrial arrhythmias after lung resection surgery in adults. Methods: We studied 703 patients undergoing lung resection surgery in a tertiary thoracic surgery centre. Observed outcome measures of postoperative cardiac morbidity and mortality were compared against those predicted by risk. Results: Postoperative major cardiac complications and supraventricular arrhythmias occurred in 4.8% of patients. Both index scores had poor discriminative ability for predicting postoperative cardiac complications with an area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve of 0.59 (95% CI 0.51-0.67) for the RCRI score and 0.57 (95% CI 0.49-0.66) for the ThRCRI score. Conclusions: In our cohort, RCRI and ThRCRI scores failed to accurately predict the risk of cardiac complications in patients undergoing elective resection of lung cancer. The British Thoracic Society (BTS) recommendation to seek a cardiology referral for all asymptomatic pre-operative lung resection patients with > 3 RCRI risk factors is thus unlikely to be of clinical benefit

An advanced seismic network in the Southern Apennines (Italy) for seismicity investigations and experimentation with earthquake early warning.

The last strong earthquake that occurred in the southern Apennines, the Irpinia earthquake on 23 November 1980 (M 6.9), was characterized by a complex rupture mechanism that ruptured three different faults (Bernard and Zollo 1989). This earthquake was well studied, and the quantity of data available has allowed a very detailed definition of the geometry and mechanisms of faults activated during this seismic event (Westaway and Jackson 1987; Pantosti and Valensise 1990). Even more than 20 years after the main event, the seismotectonic environment that contains the fault system on which the 1980 earthquake occurred shows continued background seismic activity including moderate-sized events such as the 1996 (M 5.1), 1991 (M 5.1) and 1990 (M 5.4) events. Moreover, the locations of the microearthquakes (taken from the database of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, INGV) define an epicentral area with a geometry and extent surprisingly similar to that of the 1980 earthquake and its aftershocks (figure 1A). These simple observations suggest that it may be possible to study the preparation cycles of strong earthquakes on active faults by studying the microseismicity between seismic events. With this in mind, a seismic network of large dynamic range was planned and is now in an advanced phase of completion in the southern Apennines. Called ISNet (Irpinia Seismic Network), it is equipped with sensors that can record high-quality seismic signals from both small-magnitude and strong earthquakes, from which it will be possible to retrieve information about the rupture process and try to understand the scaling relationships between small and large events. Due to its high density, wide dynamic range, and advanced data-acquisition and data-transmission technologies, the network is being upgraded to become the core infrastructure of a prototype system for seismic early warning and rapid post-event ground-shaking evaluation in the Campania region, which has seismic hazard that ranks among the highest in Italy (Cinti et al. 2004). ISNet will be devoted to real-time estimation of earthquake location and magnitude and to measuring peak ground-motion parameters so as to provide rapid ground-shaking maps for the whole of the Campania region. The information provided by ISNet during the first seconds of a potentially damaging seismic event can be used to activate several types of security measures, such as the shutdown of critical systems and lifelines (Iervolino et al. 2006). The implementation of a modern seismic network involves many different research and technological aspects related to the development of sophisticated data management and processing. The communication systems need to rapidly generate useful, robust, and secure alert notifications. Here we provide a general technical and seismological overview of ISNet's complex architecture and implementation.Published622-6344.1. Metodologie sismologiche per l'ingegneria sismicaJCR Journalreserve