The Role Model Estimator Revisited

We re-visit the role model strategy introduced in an earlier paper, which allows one to train an estimator for degraded observations by imitating a reference estimator that has access to superior observations. We show that, while it is true and surprising that this strategy yields the optimal Bayesian estimator for the degraded observations, it in fact reduces to a much simpler form in the non-parametric case, which corresponds to a type of Monte Carlo integration. We then show an example for which only parametric estimation can be implemented and discuss further applications for discrete parametric estimation where the role model strategy does have its uses, although it loses claim to optimality in this context.Funded in part by the European Research Council under ERC grant agreement 259663 and by the FP7 Network of Excellence NEWCOM# under grant agreement 318306.Published by the IEEE where the final published version can be viewed: http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ISIT.2014.687511

Managing human resource management tensions in project‐based organisations: Evidence from Bangalore

We examine human resource management (HRM) in a large Bangalore project-based software company. Diverse adaptations of organisation-level HRM exist in projects, generating heterogeneous HRM practices across the organisation, resulting in management–employee tensions. Paradoxes are managed through a comprehensive, detailed and complementary set of structural and relational coping mechanisms, designed to promote employee commitment. These mechanisms were only partially successful, largely because of ongoing client interventions in project management. The motivations for and directions of client interventions are closely linked to the type of work undertaken in projects. Service market imperatives limit managers' scope to negotiate such interventions

Gender Differences in Clothing Worn in Current Popular Comic Books

This study looked at how males and females were portrayed, based on the amount of skin shown in the clothing worn.  A Content analysis was performed on a sample of 20 randomly selected popular comics from the last 3 years.  Both male and female characters were rated on how much skin they showed in three clothing categories; neck line, sleeve length, and lower body.  Results showed that in all 3 categories, women consistently wore more revealing clothing.  The findings demonstraetd that the comic book industry is comparable to other forms of media, in the sexualization of female characters, by having them wear more revealing clothing

The sources and consequences of economic instability in Africa

In terms of a more recent history instability in Africa is represented by the strife in the Congo from the early 1960s; the civil war in Nigeria, numerous military coups d'etat and political assassinations, the civil war in Chad, the energy/ fuel crisis, the World inflationary spiral, bureaucratic and political corruption, disappointing progress in the economic field, famine and drought and most recently the near collapse of the O.A.U. But these instances have their origin or their roots in earlier developments

Density evolution for SUDOKU codes on the erasure channel

Codes based on SUDOKU puzzles are discussed, and belief propagation decoding introduced for the erasure channel. Despite the non-linearity of the code constraints, it is argued that density evolution can be used to analyse code performance due to the invariance of the code under alphabet permutation. The belief propagation decoder for erasure channels operates by exchanging messages containing sets of possible values. Accordingly, density evolution tracks the probability mass functions of the set cardinalities. The equations governing the mapping of those probability mass functions are derived and calculated for variable and constraint nodes, and decoding thresholds are computed for long SUDOKU codes with random interleavers.Funded in part by the European Research Council under ERC grant agreement 259663 and by the FP7 Network of Excellence NEWCOM# under grant agreement 318306.This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE at http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/ISTC.2014.6955120