Faulhaber's Theorem on Power Sums

We observe that the classical Faulhaber's theorem on sums of odd powers also holds for an arbitrary arithmetic progression, namely, the odd power sums of any arithmetic progression $a+b, a+2b, ..., a+nb$ is a polynomial in $na+n(n+1)b/2$. While this assertion can be deduced from the original Fauhalber's theorem, we give an alternative formula in terms of the Bernoulli polynomials. Moreover, by utilizing the central factorial numbers as in the approach of Knuth, we derive formulas for $r$-fold sums of powers without resorting to the notion of $r$-reflexive functions. We also provide formulas for the $r$-fold alternating sums of powers in terms of Euler polynomials.Comment: 12 pages, revised version, to appear in Discrete Mathematic

Kinetic-Energy Density-Functional Theory on a Lattice

We present a kinetic-energy density-functional theory and the corresponding kinetic-energy Kohn-Sham (keKS) scheme on a lattice and show that by including more observables explicitly in a density-functional approach already simple approximation strategies lead to very accurate results. Here we promote the kinetic-energy density to a fundamental variable along side the density and show for specific cases (analytically and numerically) that there is a one-to-one correspondence between the external pair of on-site potential and site-dependent hopping and the internal pair of density and kinetic-energy density. Based on this mapping we establish two unknown effective fields, the mean-field exchange-correlation potential and the mean-field exchange-correlation hopping, that force the keKS system to generate the same kinetic-energy density and density as the fully interacting one. We show, by a decomposition based on the equations of motions for the density and the kinetic-energy density, that we can construct simple orbital-dependent functionals that outperform the corresponding exact-exchange Kohn-Sham (KS) approximation of standard density-functional theory. We do so by considering the exact KS and keKS systems and compare the unknown correlation contributions as well as by comparing self-consistent calculations based on the mean-field exchange for the keKS and the exact-exchange for the KS system, respectively

Practical security bounds against the Trojan-horse attack in quantum key distribution

In the quantum version of a Trojan-horse attack, photons are injected into the optical modules of a quantum key distribution system in an attempt to read information direct from the encoding devices. To stop the Trojan photons, the use of passive optical components has been suggested. However, to date, there is no quantitative bound that specifies such components in relation to the security of the system. Here, we turn the Trojan-horse attack into an information leakage problem. This allows us quantify the system security and relate it to the specification of the optical elements. The analysis is supported by the experimental characterization, within the operation regime, of reflectivity and transmission of the optical components most relevant to security.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures. Some typos correcte

Stickstoffflüsse in verschiedenen Fruchtfolgen des ökologischen Landbaus – Ergebnisse aus dem CONBALE-Projekt Lindhof

Problemstellung/Ziele: Stickstoff (N) stellt bei ökologischer Bewirtschaftung von viehlosen Betrieben den ertragsbegrenzenden Faktor dar. Der N-Versorgungsgrad eines Betriebes wird im wesentlichen durch den Leguminosenanteil in der Fruchtfolge bestimmt. Hierbei beeinflusst vor allem die Nutzung der Leguminosen (als Gründüngung, Silagegewinnung, Körnerleguminose oder Zwischenfrucht) den N-Input. Die Optimierung der N2-Fixierungsleistung der Leguminosen und ein möglichst geschlossener N-Kreislauf im Betrieb bilden die Grundlage des N-Managements. N-Verluste in Form von Nitratauswaschung führen neben dem Verlust des wichtigsten Produktionsfaktors (Stickstoff)auch zu einer Belastung des Grundwassers bzw. anderer Ökosysteme. Ziel dieses Projektes ist daher die Quantifizierung der wesentlichen N-Flüsse eines ökologisch wirtschaftenden Betriebes wie N-Fixierung, N-Exporte, Wirtschaftsdüngereinsatz und N-Auswaschung sowohl auf Einzelschlag- wie auch auf Betriebsniveau, um daraus möglichst N-effiziente Fruchtfolgesysteme bzw. Bewirtschaftungsmaßnahmen abzuleiten

School timetabling problem under disturbances

School timetables are one or multiple times per year generated to assign class-teacher combinations to class rooms and timeslots. Post-publication disturbances such as absence of teachers typically pose a need for schedulers to rapidly implement some minor changes to avoid empty periods in the timetable. In this paper our aim is to define methods to efficiently solve the school timetabling problem under disturbances. We present three types of solution methods, namely a simple rule-of-thumb, a heuristic and an optimization approach. Exhaustive numerical experiments have been performed with data from five high schools in The Netherlands, each with their unique characteristics in number of classes, number of teachers and number of daily meetings. For each of the three methods we show advantages and disadvantages as well as the effects of resulting changes in the schedules.<br/

O modo subjuntivo no português do Brasil e no alemão

For the learners of Portuguese and German as foreign languages the subjunctive mood represents a learning problem. Based on syntactic and pragmatic categories, the subjunctive is classified in a way that describes its use and permits the comparison between the Portuguese subjuntivo and the German Konjunktiv.Für Lernende des Portugiesischen bzw. des Deutschen als Fremdsprache stellt der Konjunktiv eine Lernschwierigkeit dar. Ausgehend von syntaktischen und pragmatischen Kategorien wird hier versucht, eine Klassifikation des Konjunktivs durchzuführen, die seinen Gebrauch beschreibt und einen Vergleich des portugiesischen subjuntivo mit dem deutschen Konjunktiv ermöglicht

SUPPORTED BUILD OPERATE TRANSFER EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS TO IMPROVE FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY OF TOLL ROADS IN INDONESIA

Abstract This paper is aimed to analyze Supported Build Operate Transfer as an alternative toll road development financing scheme in the Public Private Partnership framework. Support alternatives analyzed include construction grant, operation grant, tax holiday, and soft loan. The adopted approach consists of classifying groups of non-financially feasible toll roads based on the main causes, analyzing effective support alternative for each group, and performing sensitivity analysis to measure the relationship between the condition of financial infeasibility and the extent of the needed support. Analysis results show that the most effective support is construction grant (investment cost) and operation grant (revenue improvement) while supports in form of tax reduction or decrease of discount rate are very marginal. The analysis also indicate that Supported Build Operate Transfer is effective to be granted to toll roads that need relatively high investment cost but have low revenue. Meanwhile, for toll roads that need high investment cost and have high revenue, it is not suggested to apply Supported Build Operate Transfer. For toll roads with low investment cost and low revenue, the government has to get involved by applying Availability Based Payment scheme as in this case, besides support at initial phase, support during operation phase would also be needed. Keywords: toll road, Public Private Partnership, Supported Build Operate Transfer, Availability Based Payment  Abstrak Makalah ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis Supported Build Operate Transfer sebagai alternatif skema pembiayaan pembangunan jalan tol dalam kerangka Kerjasama Pemerintah dan Badan Usaha. Dukungan alternatif yang dianalisis meliputi hibah konstruksi, hibah operasi, tax holiday, dan soft loan. Pendekatan yang diadopsi terdiri atas penggolongan kelompok jalan tol yang tidak layak secara finansial berdasarkan penyebab utamanya, menganalisis alternatif dukungan yang efektif untuk masing-masing kelompok, dan melakukan analisis sensitivitas untuk mengukur hubungan antara kondisi ketidakseimbangan keuangan dan tingkat dukungan yang dibutuhkan. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa dukungan yang paling efektif adalah hibah konstruksi (investment cost) dan hibah operasi (revenue improvement) sementara dukungan dalam bentuk pengurangan pajak atau penurunan tingkat diskonto sangat marjinal. Analisis juga menunjukkan bahwa Supported Build Operate Transfer efektif untuk diberikan pada jalan tol yang membutuhkan biaya investasi yang relatif tinggi namun memiliki pendapatan rendah. Sedangkan untuk jalan tol yang mem-butuhkan biaya investasi tinggi dan memiliki pendapatan tinggi, tidak disarankan untuk menerapkan Supported Build Operate Transfer. Untuk jalan tol dengan biaya investasi rendah dan pendapatan rendah, pemerintah harus terlibat dengan menerapkan skema Available Based Payment, seperti pada kasus ini, selain dukungan pada tahap awal, dukungan selama tahap operasi juga akan dibutuhkan. Kata-kata kunci: jalan tol, Kerjasama Pemerintah dan Badan Usaha, Supported Build Operate Transfer, Availability Based Paymen

SUPPORTED BUILD OPERATE TRANSFER EFFECTIVENESS ANALYSIS TO IMPROVE FINANCIAL FEASIBILITY OF TOLL ROADS IN INDONESIA

Abstract This paper is aimed to analyze Supported Build Operate Transfer as an alternative toll road development financing scheme in the Public Private Partnership framework. Support alternatives analyzed include construction grant, operation grant, tax holiday, and soft loan. The adopted approach consists of classifying groups of non-financially feasible toll roads based on the main causes, analyzing effective support alternative for each group, and performing sensitivity analysis to measure the relationship between the condition of financial infeasibility and the extent of the needed support. Analysis results show that the most effective support is construction grant (investment cost) and operation grant (revenue improvement) while supports in form of tax reduction or decrease of discount rate are very marginal. The analysis also indicate that Supported Build Operate Transfer is effective to be granted to toll roads that need relatively high investment cost but have low revenue. Meanwhile, for toll roads that need high investment cost and have high revenue, it is not suggested to apply Supported Build Operate Transfer. For toll roads with low investment cost and low revenue, the government has to get involved by applying Availability Based Payment scheme as in this case, besides support at initial phase, support during operation phase would also be needed. Keywords: toll road, Public Private Partnership, Supported Build Operate Transfer, Availability Based Payment  Abstrak Makalah ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis Supported Build Operate Transfer sebagai alternatif skema pembiayaan pembangunan jalan tol dalam kerangka Kerjasama Pemerintah dan Badan Usaha. Dukungan alternatif yang dianalisis meliputi hibah konstruksi, hibah operasi, tax holiday, dan soft loan. Pendekatan yang diadopsi terdiri atas penggolongan kelompok jalan tol yang tidak layak secara finansial berdasarkan penyebab utamanya, menganalisis alternatif dukungan yang efektif untuk masing-masing kelompok, dan melakukan analisis sensitivitas untuk mengukur hubungan antara kondisi ketidakseimbangan keuangan dan tingkat dukungan yang dibutuhkan. Hasil analisis menunjukkan bahwa dukungan yang paling efektif adalah hibah konstruksi (investment cost) dan hibah operasi (revenue improvement) sementara dukungan dalam bentuk pengurangan pajak atau penurunan tingkat diskonto sangat marjinal. Analisis juga menunjukkan bahwa Supported Build Operate Transfer efektif untuk diberikan pada jalan tol yang membutuhkan biaya investasi yang relatif tinggi namun memiliki pendapatan rendah. Sedangkan untuk jalan tol yang mem-butuhkan biaya investasi tinggi dan memiliki pendapatan tinggi, tidak disarankan untuk menerapkan Supported Build Operate Transfer. Untuk jalan tol dengan biaya investasi rendah dan pendapatan rendah, pemerintah harus terlibat dengan menerapkan skema Available Based Payment, seperti pada kasus ini, selain dukungan pada tahap awal, dukungan selama tahap operasi juga akan dibutuhkan. Kata-kata kunci: jalan tol, Kerjasama Pemerintah dan Badan Usaha, Supported Build Operate Transfer, Availability Based Paymen

The Right to Mental Health in the Digital Era

People with mental illness usually experience higher rates of disability and mortality. Often, health care systems do not adequately respond to the burden of mental disorders worldwide. The number of health care providers dealing with mental health care is insufficient in many countries. Equal access to necessary health services should be granted to mentally ill people without any discrimination. E-mental health is expected to enhance the quality of care as well as accessibility, availability and affordability of services. This paper examines under what conditions e-mental health can contribute to realising the right to health by using the avail- ability, accessibility, acceptability and quality (AAAQ) framework that is developed by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Research shows e-mental health facilitates dissemination of information, remote consultation and patient monitoring and might increase access to mental health care. Furthermore, patient participation might increase, and stigma and discrimination might be reduced by the use of e-mental health. However, e-mental health 146 might not increase the access to health care for everyone, such as the digitally illiterate or those who do not have access to the Internet. The affordability of this service, when it is not covered by insurance, can be a barrier to access to this service. In addition, not all e-mental health services are acceptable and of good quality. Policy makers should adopt new legal policies to respond to the present and future developments of modern technologies in health, as well as e-Mental health. To analyse the impact of e-mental health on the right to health, additional research is necessary