Supporting Students with Psychiatric Disabilities in Postsecondary Education: Important Knowledge, Skills, and Attitudes

Students with psychiatric disabilities are the largest subgroup of students with disabilities enrolled in postsecondary education. However, their high enrollment rate does not equate to a high retention rate. Approximately 86 percent of students with psychiatric disabilities withdraw prior to degree completion. As a result, calls for improved disability services in postsecondary education have been plentiful. In an effort to take a step toward answering these calls, the current study began the exploratory process of identifying knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are important for disability service professionals to possess in order to provide beneficial services to students with psychiatric disabilities in postsecondary education. The current study began with the developing of a survey instrument using (a) a three-round Delphi survey with expert panels consisting of disability service professionals and students with psychiatric disabilities and (b) a pilot group of disability service professionals. The final instrument with 54 knowledge, skills, and attitudes was rated by a sample of 402 disability service professionals who were members of the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD). A principal components analysis was used to analyze the data. Five factors emerged: (a) Ethical and Legal Considerations, (b) Accommodations and Supports, (c) Disability Aspects, (d) Community Resources, and (e) Campus Considerations. A post-hoc analysis with a MANOVA and descriptive statistics was also conducted. Each factor was explored within the context of the literature. Further, differences between professional and student perceptions were highlighted. Lastly, implications, assumptions, limitations, and recommendations for future research were discussed

New results on pushdown module checking with imperfect information

Model checking of open pushdown systems (OPD) w.r.t. standard branching temporal logics (pushdown module checking or PMC) has been recently investigated in the literature, both in the context of environments with perfect and imperfect information about the system (in the last case, the environment has only a partial view of the system's control states and stack content). For standard CTL, PMC with imperfect information is known to be undecidable. If the stack content is assumed to be visible, then the problem is decidable and 2EXPTIME-complete (matching the complexity of PMC with perfect information against CTL). The decidability status of PMC with imperfect information against CTL restricted to the case where the depth of the stack content is visible is open. In this paper, we show that with this restriction, PMC with imperfect information against CTL remains undecidable. On the other hand, we individuate an interesting subclass of OPDS with visible stack content depth such that PMC with imperfect information against the existential fragment of CTL is decidable and in 2EXPTIME. Moreover, we show that the program complexity of PMC with imperfect information and visible stack content against CTL is 2EXPTIME-complete (hence, exponentially harder than the program complexity of PMC with perfect information, which is known to be EXPTIME-complete).Comment: In Proceedings GandALF 2011, arXiv:1106.081

Базовый алгоритм действия системы поддержки принятия решений

We consider two-player parity games played on transition graphs of higher order pushdown automata. They are ``game-equivalent'' to a kind of model-checking game played on graphs of the infinite hierarchy introduced recently by Caucal. Then in this hierarchy we show how to reduce a game to a graph of lower level. This leads to an effective solution and a construction of the winning strategies

Evaluation of the Multiplane Method for Efficient Simulations of Reaction Networks

Reaction networks in the bulk and on surfaces are widespread in physical, chemical and biological systems. In macroscopic systems, which include large populations of reactive species, stochastic fluctuations are negligible and the reaction rates can be evaluated using rate equations. However, many physical systems are partitioned into microscopic domains, where the number of molecules in each domain is small and fluctuations are strong. Under these conditions, the simulation of reaction networks requires stochastic methods such as direct integration of the master equation. However, direct integration of the master equation is infeasible for complex networks, because the number of equations proliferates as the number of reactive species increases. Recently, the multiplane method, which provides a dramatic reduction in the number of equations, was introduced [A. Lipshtat and O. Biham, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 170601 (2004)]. The reduction is achieved by breaking the network into a set of maximal fully connected sub-networks (maximal cliques). Lower-dimensional master equations are constructed for the marginal probability distributions associated with the cliques, with suitable couplings between them. In this paper we test the multiplane method and examine its applicability. We show that the method is accurate in the limit of small domains, where fluctuations are strong. It thus provides an efficient framework for the stochastic simulation of complex reaction networks with strong fluctuations, for which rate equations fail and direct integration of the master equation is infeasible. The method also applies in the case of large domains, where it converges to the rate equation results

Метод расчета теплообмена излучением в топке осесимметричной конфигурации на основе уравнений для компонент суммарного вектора потока лучистой энергии. Инженерная методика

На основе системы уравнений первой части статьи, получены разностные уравнения квазиодномерного метода расчета теплообмена излучением в топке котла осесимметричной конфигурации. Записаны уравнения и разностные формулы метода инженерного расчета теплообмена излучением при наличии экранной сетки около поверхности горелки. Методика пригодна для использования в инженерных расчетах при определении оптимальной конфигурации топки и определении оптимального расстояния экранной сетки до поверхности горелки

Analysis, Design and Implementation of an End-to-End QKD Link

This manuscript discusses the most relevant aspects of the practical implementation of a long-range Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) link with trusted nodes, achieving the highest possible secret key rate generation within the security and system level constraints. To this purpose, we report on recent pilot studies for the measurements of detection efficiency and source photon statistics for validating the calibration facilities (i) at telecom wavelength for realistic quantum backbone implementation through standard telecommunications grade optical fiber, and (ii) for the telecom and VIS-NIR regime. In addition, since there are circumstances when a fiber optical link may not be available, we will also discuss the characterization of a Free Space Optics (FSO) QKD link. Finally, the manuscript also discusses the problem of information reconciliation in Continuous Variable QKD (CV-QKD) scenarios

Linear Stability Analysis for Plane-Poiseuille Flow of an Elastoviscoplastic fluid with internal microstructure

We study the linear stability of Plane Poiseuille flow of an elastoviscoplastic fluid using a revised version of the model proposed by Putz and Burghelea (Rheol. Acta (2009)48:673-689). The evolution of the microstructure upon a gradual increase of the external forcing is governed by a structural variable (the concentration of solid material elements) which decays smoothly from unity to zero as the stresses are gradually increased beyond the yield point. Stability results are in close conformity with the ones of a pseudo-plastic fluid. Destabilizing effects are related to the presence of an intermediate transition zone where elastic solid elements coexist with fluid elements. This region brings an elastic contribution which does modify the stability of the flow

On the Relative Succinctness of Nondeterministic Büchi and co-Büchi Word Automata

Abstract. The practical importance of automata on infinite objects has motivated a re-examination of the complexity of automata-theoretic constructions. One such construction is the translation, when possible, of nondeterministic Büchi word automata (NBW) to nondeterministic co-Büchi word automata (NCW). Among other applications, it is used in the translation (when possible) of LTL to the alternation-free µ-calculus. The best known upper bound for the translation of NBW to NCW is exponential (given an NBW with n states, the best translation yields an equivalent NCW with 2 O(n log n) states). On the other hand, the best known lower bound is trivial (no NBW with n states whose equivalent NCW requires even n+1 states is known). In fact, only recently was it shown that there is an NBW whose equivalent NCW requires a different structure. In this paper we improve the lower bound by showing that for every integer k ≥ 1 there is a language Lk over a two-letter alphabet, such that Lk can be recognized by an NBW with 2k+1 states, whereas the minimal NCW that recognizes Lk has 3k states. Even though this gap is not asymptotically very significant, it nonetheless demonstrates for the first time that NBWs are more succinct than NCWs. In addition, our proof points to a conceptual advantage of the Büchi condition: an NBW can abstract precise counting by counting to infinity with two states. To complete the picture, we consider also the reverse NCW to NBW translation, and show that the known upper bound, which duplicates the state space, is tight.

Labour Market and Social Policy in Italy: Challenges and Changes. Bertelsmann Policy Brief #2016/02

vEight years after the outbreak of the financial crisis, Italy has still to cope with and overcome a plethora of economic and social challenges. On top of this, it faces an unfavourable demographic structure and severe disparities between its northern and southern regions. Some promising reforms have recently been enacted, specifically targeting poverty and social exclusion. However, much more remains to be done on the way towards greater economic stability and widely shared prosperity