Pest control in commercial fruit plantings

Cover title

Validation of Ultrahigh Dependability for Software-Based Systems

Modern society depends on computers for a number of critical tasks in which failure can have very high costs. As a consequence, high levels of dependability (reliability, safety, etc.) are required from such computers, including their software. Whenever a quantitative approach to risk is adopted, these requirements must be stated in quantitative terms, and a rigorous demonstration of their being attained is necessary. For software used in the most critical roles, such demonstrations are not usually supplied. The fact is that the dependability requirements often lie near the limit of the current state of the art, or beyond, in terms not only of the ability to satisfy them, but also, and more often, of the ability to demonstrate that they are satisfied in the individual operational products (validation). We discuss reasons why such demonstrations cannot usually be provided with the means available: reliability growth models, testing with stable reliability, structural dependability modelling, as well as more informal arguments based on good engineering practice. We state some rigorous arguments about the limits of what can be validated with each of such means. Combining evidence from these different sources would seem to raise the levels that can be validated; yet this improvement is not such as to solve the problem. It appears that engineering practice must take into account the fact that no solution exists, at present, for the validation of ultra-high dependability in systems relying on complex software

Pest control in commercial fruit plantings

In cooperation with Illinois State Natural History Survey.Cover title

Global Standards in Action: Insights from Anti-Money Laundering Regulation

As organizations have come under the increasing influence of global rules of all sorts, organization scholars have started studying the dynamics of global regulation. The purpose of this article is to identify and evaluate the contribution to this interdisciplinary field by the ‘Stockholm Centre for Organisational Research’. The latter’s key proposition is that while global regulation often consists of voluntary best practice rules it can nevertheless become highly influential under certain conditions. We assess how innovative this approach is using as a benchmark the state of the art in another field of relevance to the study of global regulation, i.e. ‘International Relations’. Our discussion is primarily theoretical but we draw on the case of global anti-money laundering regulation to illustrate our arguments and for inspirations of how to further elaborate the approach

Investigation of the23Na(p, γ)24Mg and 23Na(p, α)20Ne reactions via (3He,d) spectroscopy

States near the 23Na+p threshold in 24Mg were investigated using the 23Na(3He,d)24Mg reaction over the angular range of 5° ≤ θlab ≤ 35° at E(3He)=20 MeV. Spectroscopic factors were extracted for states corresponding to resonances in the 23Na(p, γ) 24Mg and 23Na(p, α)20Ne reactions. We find that one state, corresponding to a previously unobserved resonance at Ec.m.= 138 keV, may make a significant contribution to the rates of both reactions at low temperatures. Another state, corresponding to a possible resonance at Ec.m.=37 keV may make a small contribution to the 23Na(p, α)20Ne reaction. New rates for the 23Na(p, γ)24Mg and 23Na(p, α) 20Ne reactions are presented and the astrophysical implications are discussed

Investigation of the 22Ne(p,y)23Na reaction via a (3He,d) spectroscopy

States near the [Formula Presented] threshold in [Formula Presented] were investigated using the [Formula Presented] reaction over the angular range of [Formula Presented] at [Formula Presented] Spectroscopic factors were extracted for states corresponding to resonances in the [Formula Presented] reaction. Two previously suggested resonances at [Formula Presented] and 100 keV were not observed at any angle. A new rate for the [Formula Presented] reaction has been calculated and its implications are discussed

Guidelines for training in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR)

These "Guidelines for training in Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance" were developed by the Certification Committee of the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) and approved by the SCMR Board of Trustees

An Experimental Investigation of Colonel Blotto Games

"This article examines behavior in the two-player, constant-sum Colonel Blotto game with asymmetric resources in which players maximize the expected number of battlefields won. The experimental results support all major theoretical predictions. In the auction treatment, where winning a battlefield is deterministic, disadvantaged players use a 'guerilla warfare' strategy which stochastically allocates zero resources to a subset of battlefields. Advantaged players employ a 'stochastic complete coverage' strategy, allocating random, but positive, resource levels across the battlefields. In the lottery treatment, where winning a battlefield is probabilistic, both players divide their resources equally across all battlefields." (author's abstract)"Dieser Artikel untersucht das Verhalten von Individuen in einem 'constant-sum Colonel Blotto'-Spiel zwischen zwei Spielern, bei dem die Spieler mit unterschiedlichen Ressourcen ausgestattet sind und die erwartete Anzahl gewonnener Schlachtfelder maximieren. Die experimentellen Ergebnisse bestätigen alle wichtigen theoretischen Vorhersagen. Im Durchgang, in dem wie in einer Auktion der Sieg in einem Schlachtfeld deterministisch ist, wenden die Spieler, die sich im Nachteil befinden, eine 'Guerillataktik' an, und verteilen ihre Ressourcen stochastisch auf eine Teilmenge der Schlachtfelder. Spieler mit einem Vorteil verwenden eine Strategie der 'stochastischen vollständigen Abdeckung', indem sie zufällig eine positive Ressourcenmenge auf allen Schlachtfeldern positionieren. Im Durchgang, in dem sich der Gewinn eines Schlachtfeldes probabilistisch wie in einer Lotterie bestimmt, teilen beide Spieler ihre Ressourcen gleichmäßig auf alle Schlachtfelder auf." (Autorenreferat