Asynchronous Gossip for Averaging and Spectral Ranking

We consider two variants of the classical gossip algorithm. The first variant is a version of asynchronous stochastic approximation. We highlight a fundamental difficulty associated with the classical asynchronous gossip scheme, viz., that it may not converge to a desired average, and suggest an alternative scheme based on reinforcement learning that has guaranteed convergence to the desired average. We then discuss a potential application to a wireless network setting with simultaneous link activation constraints. The second variant is a gossip algorithm for distributed computation of the Perron-Frobenius eigenvector of a nonnegative matrix. While the first variant draws upon a reinforcement learning algorithm for an average cost controlled Markov decision problem, the second variant draws upon a reinforcement learning algorithm for risk-sensitive control. We then discuss potential applications of the second variant to ranking schemes, reputation networks, and principal component analysis.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Minor revisio

SLIDES: Draft Power in Developing Country Agriculture--South Asia

Presenter: Dr. Arjun Makhijani, President, Institute for Energy and Environmental Research (IEER) 13 slide

Examination of the Relationship between User Participation and Technology Acceptance in Post-Implementation

Implementing information technology (IT) systems to support organizational effectiveness and enhance efficiencies is increasingly costly, challenging, and has a low success rate. Many researchers have explored user technology acceptance as a key to successful implementation of IT systems. Research on characteristics inherent to the implementation process can aid interventions designed to enhance user technology acceptance. User participation is a process characteristic that has been linked to IT system success and user satisfaction before and during implementation. Using data from 131 survey respondents, the current study investigated the relationship between user participation and technology acceptance in the post-implementation phase of an IT system. Analysis showed that user participation via hands-on learning activities and relationship with information systems (IS) staff had a positive impact on user affective and cognitive technology acceptance. Results suggest that the more users maintain a relationship with IS staff and take part in hands-on learning activities related to an IT system, the more they will like the IT system and perceive benefits of using the particular system. Findings and directions for future research and intervention development are discussed

Shifting Radioactivity Risks: A Case Study of the K-65 Silos and Silo 3 Remediation and Waste Management at the Fernald Nuclear Weapons Site

The Feed Materials Production Center near Cincinnati, Ohio, often called the Fernald Plant or simply Fernald, was the largest producer of uranium metal for the nuclear weapons complex during the Cold War. Its processes for uranium production ranged from ore processing, to conversion of uranium into various chemical forms, to scrap recovery, to machining of uranium metal. Fernald also processed thorium-232, but in much smaller amounts. A large volume of radioactive waste was created at Fernald. Fernald also received radioactive wastes dating from the World War II Manhattan Project, which created the bombs that were used to destroy Hiroshima and Nagasaki. These wastes resulted from the processing of very high grade uranium ore from the Belgian Congo, called pitchblende, at the Mallinckrodt Chemical Works in St. Louis, Missouri. Fernald also processed some Belgian Congo pitchblende. Since pitchblende had very high uranium content, it also had a high concentration of the decay products of uranium-238 and uranium-235. The decay products include thorium-230 and radium-226 from the U-238 decay-chain and protactinium-231 and actinium-227 from the U-235 decay chain. Some other high grade ores were also processed at Fernald. The wastes from processing of high grade ores were called K-65 residues and were stored in two silos at Fernald, called Silos 1 and 2. These silos contained most of the radioactivity in the waste at Fernald, at concentrations that far exceed those found at mill tailings sites across the United States.\u27The waste from processing uranium ore concentrates was known as “cold metal oxide” waste. It was relatively low in radium-226 but had high thorium-230 content. It was stored in Silo 3. The wastes in these three silos are very long-lived (thorium-230 has a half life of about 75,000 years). Given the high concentration of thorium-230 in all three silos, as well as the large volume of the wastes, the wastes presented rather unique challenges for processing and off site disposal as well as for the long-term stewardship of the disposal sites. This report provides a case study of the emptying of the K-65 silos of their waste, the processing of those wastes for long-term storage or disposal, and the long-term radiological consequences of how the Department of Energy (DOE) has approached those responsibilities. This research was completed money allocated during Round 5 of the Citizens’ Monitoring and Technical Assessment Fund (MTA Fund). Clark University was named conservator of these works. If you have any questions or concerns please contact us at [email protected]://commons.clarku.edu/ieer/1000/thumbnail.jp

A Systematic Study on The Reasons for Young People's Preference For Bpo Jobs in Mumbai

Jobs in business process outsourcing are those that provide young, talented people the chance to work and facilitate consumers looking for solutions to a variety of difficulties. Excellent verbal and written communication skills are necessary for these positions. Customers may contact staff members through calls, chats, emails, etc. with questions. They must routinely present information to clients and respond to various concerns about the goods and services they receive. A business process representative directs customers to information-rich web pages on the client website. These representatives must put in a lot of effort to meet SLAs based on process requirements and quality standards while managing several jobs at once. Typically, businesses hire recent graduates or young college graduates for the Telle-caller positions or back-office tasks. This paper examines the use of primary data analysis in SPSS software to ascertain the reasons behind young people's interest in BPO careers and the association between different variables

Thermodynamic Functions & Stability Constants of Some Rare Earths with Phloroglucinol

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Go With The Flow

This Final Design Review (FDR) report outlines the Fuel System Flow Analysis senior project completed by the presenters listed. Included is research about Solar Turbines’ needs, and objectives for our project, our design decision process and final design, manufacturing, design verification report, final results, and suggestions moving forward with this experiment. The goal of the project is to identify stable pressure fields throughout the Solar Turbines fuel delivery system. Specifically, the optimal placement for taking measurements downstream of the main and pilot fuel control valves. The data is used to validate the accuracy of computational fluid dynamic (CFD) models that the team created. It was determined that the pipe segments upstream of the main and pilot ball valves were stable along the length of each upstream pipe and there is no significant pressure drop after the tee joint under both flow conditions tested. Therefore, it is recommended to take pressure upstream of the tee joint and downstream of each ball valve resulting in three pressure devices instead of the four that Solar currently uses, two on the main and two on the pilot. Downstream of the ball valves the vortex length, where the flow has not recovered from the disturbance, was determined to be about 10-11.5 inches. The 2D CFD predicted a 3.5-5.2% difference from experimental values. Published research predicts a vortex length of 9 inches for similar flow conditions. The experimental data collected provides insight into the flow field and vortex length, and should be used to tune CFD models for making accurate flow predictions