5,986 research outputs found
A comparison of loan loss allowance practices in Asia
This Asia Focus provides a brief background on loan loss allowance and the associated supervisory guidance in the United States and compares different applications of loan loss allowance regulatory and accounting standards in some Asian economies. The report also highlights proposed alternatives for reconciling the varying goals of loan loss allowance practices and provides a brief assessment of their potential impact on Asia.
The broadband debate: A documentary research on the broadband policy in Australia
Against a current trend of investing in the next generation networks (NGNs) by using public funds, the Australian government has recently initiated a so-called National Broadband Networks (NBN) project to invest up to AUD$36 billion tax payer's money on building a national wide fibre broadband network aiming to cover 93 per cent Australian by 2020. As being the most costly infrastructure-building project in Australian history, the NBN project will use a public-private-partnership as the instrument to deliver super-fast broadband services, create jobs and promote the country's economy at large. This article will critically analyse the NBN project in Australia and highlight the challenges that are coming alone at this early stage of the deployment, so the Australia's experience of pubic investment in broadband networks can be shared and lessons can be learned. --
PieceTimer: A Holistic Timing Analysis Framework Considering Setup/Hold Time Interdependency Using A Piecewise Model
In static timing analysis, clock-to-q delays of flip-flops are considered as
constants. Setup times and hold times are characterized separately and also
used as constants. The characterized delays, setup times and hold times, are
ap- plied in timing analysis independently to verify the perfor- mance of
circuits. In reality, however, clock-to-q delays of flip-flops depend on both
setup and hold times. Instead of being constants, these delays change with
respect to different setup/hold time combinations. Consequently, the simple ab-
straction of setup/hold times and constant clock-to-q delays introduces
inaccuracy in timing analysis. In this paper, we propose a holistic method to
consider the relation between clock-to-q delays and setup/hold time
combinations with a piecewise linear model. The result is more accurate than
that of traditional timing analysis, and the incorporation of the
interdependency between clock-to-q delays, setup times and hold times may also
improve circuit performance.Comment: IEEE/ACM International Conference on Computer-Aided Design (ICCAD),
November 201
Sampling-based Buffer Insertion for Post-Silicon Yield Improvement under Process Variability
At submicron manufacturing technology nodes process variations affect circuit
performance significantly. This trend leads to a large timing margin and thus
overdesign to maintain yield. To combat this pessimism, post-silicon clock
tuning buffers can be inserted into circuits to balance timing budgets of
critical paths with their neighbors. After manufacturing, these clock buffers
can be configured for each chip individually so that chips with timing failures
may be rescued to improve yield. In this paper, we propose a sampling-based
method to determine the proper locations of these buffers. The goal of this
buffer insertion is to reduce the number of buffers and their ranges, while
still maintaining a good yield improvement. Experimental results demonstrate
that our algorithm can achieve a significant yield improvement (up to 35%) with
only a small number of buffers.Comment: Design, Automation and Test in Europe (DATE), 201
Conditional Screening for Ultra-high Dimensional Covariates with Survival Outcomes
Identifying important biomarkers that are predictive for cancer patients'
prognosis is key in gaining better insights into the biological influences on
the disease and has become a critical component of precision medicine. The
emergence of large-scale biomedical survival studies, which typically involve
excessive number of biomarkers, has brought high demand in designing efficient
screening tools for selecting predictive biomarkers. The vast amount of
biomarkers defies any existing variable selection methods via regularization.
The recently developed variable screening methods, though powerful in many
practical setting, fail to incorporate prior information on the importance of
each biomarker and are less powerful in detecting marginally weak while jointly
important signals. We propose a new conditional screening method for survival
outcome data by computing the marginal contribution of each biomarker given
priorly known biological information. This is based on the premise that some
biomarkers are known to be associated with disease outcomes a priori. Our
method possesses sure screening properties and a vanishing false selection
rate. The utility of the proposal is further confirmed with extensive
simulation studies and analysis of a Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)
dataset.Comment: 34 pages, 3 figure
Selection of Statistical Software for Solving Big Data Problems for Teaching
The need for analysts with expertise in big data software is becoming more apparent in 4 today’s society. Unfortunately, the demand for these analysts far exceeds the number 5 available. A potential way to combat this shortage is to identify the software sought by 6 employers and to align this with the software taught by universities. This paper will 7 examine multiple data analysis software – Excel add-ins, SPSS, SAS, Minitab, and R – and 8 it will outline the cost, training, statistical methods/tests/uses, and specific uses within 9 industry for each of these software. It will further explain implications for universities and 10 students (PDF
Associations in Prison
Incarcerated people create, lead, and participate in a variety of associations in prison. These associations educate and advocate for members, serve the broader prison population, cultivate social bonds, and promote the individual growth that happens in relationship with others. The associations do so in the face of byzantine regulations that burden their formation, membership, and operations. These rules go unchecked because the constitutional right of association is under protected in prisons. The deferential Turner v. Safley test for rights violations in prison prizes ease of prison administration over rights protection. Thus, though the right of association is a fundamental constitutional right, in prison it does not enjoy the level of protection of a fundamental right.
This Article builds a conceptual framework of associations in prison. It provides a typology of the organizations that exist in prisons today. Most of these operate as they would on the outside, as part of civil society, which fills gaps in government provision. The Article also explores the kinds of effects the associations have on members, which are democracyenhancing in nature as well as communitarian and liberal. The Article then maps the types of limitations imposed on the groups by regulations and rules. By examining the unique challenges produced by and faced by these associations, the Article shows that broader associational jurisprudence can better protect fundamental aspects of associations by grappling with issues that arise in the unique context of incarceration
Evaluating Daylight Lighting Appearances in Virtual Reality Environments
This paper focuses on evaluating the displays of lighting in built environments within virtual reality systems. Two approaches for simulating daylighting in VR are presented: (1) a 360º panorama view of the space at a particular point and then generating renderings from multiple different locations in the scene vs (2) a free roam approach in which a texture is created for each polygon face in the scene. A user study is conducted to quantify user presence, perceptual impressions, and physical symptoms of users in the different daylighting display approaches being contrasted. The results from the user study indicate there is no significant difference in physical symptoms or in the usefulness of one approach over the other in terms of evaluating daylighting. One aspect of the study did find a stronger sense of spatial awareness in the free-roam environment. The presented results can lead to additional research in using virtual reality to simulate real environments when investigating the impacts of daylighting in spaces
Single Particle Transport in Two-dimensional Heterojunction Interlayer Tunneling Field Effect Transistor
The single particle tunneling in a vertical stack consisting of monolayers of
two-dimensional semiconductors is studied theoretically and its application to
a novel Two-dimensional Heterojunction Interlayer Tunneling Field Effect
Transistor (Thin-TFET) is proposed and described. The tunneling current is
calculated by using a formalism based on the Bardeen's transfer Hamiltonian,
and including a semi-classical treatment of scattering and energy broadening
effects. The misalignment between the two 2D materials is also studied and
found to influence the magnitude of the tunneling current, but have a modest
impact on its gate voltage dependence. Our simulation results suggest that the
Thin-TFETs can achieve very steep subthreshold swing, whose lower limit is
ultimately set by the band tails in the energy gaps of the 2D materials
produced by energy broadening. The Thin-TFET is thus very promising as a low
voltage, low energy solid state electronic switch
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