804 research outputs found
Datenschutz und Verbraucherschutz bei BonitĂ€tsprĂŒfungen durch Wirtschaftsauskunfteien mittels Scoring
Die Nachfrage nach Finanzierungen steigt im Verbraucher- wie im UnternehmensgeschĂ€ft. BonitĂ€tsprĂŒfungen dienen Kreditinstituten und anderen Unternehmen mit Vorleistungspflicht zur RisikoeinschĂ€tzung. Scoring ist das Mittel, mit dem Wirtschaftsauskunfteien anhand von Algorithmen die zukĂŒnftige LeistungsfĂ€higkeit und -bereitschaft eines Kunden vorhersagen. Die Vorhersage beruht auf Daten aus der Vergangenheit. Folgenschwere Probleme entstehen, wenn diese Daten unrichtig oder nicht mehr aktuell sind. Die Arbeit beleuchtet die Interessen der am Scoring beteiligten Akteure, skizziert die Rechtsgrundlagen im Datenschutzrecht und geht der Frage nach, ob und inwieweit eine Anpassung erforderlich ist, um richtige und aussagekrĂ€ftige Scorewerte zu gewĂ€hrleisten. Hierzu diskutiert die Verfasserin praktische Lösungsmöglichkeiten und erörtert das Erfordernis eines Einschreitens durch den Gesetzgeber. Ferner setzt sie sich mit der Einflussnahme des Verbraucherschutzrechts auf das Datenschutzrecht auseinander und gibt einen Ausblick auf die zukĂŒnftige Rechtslage unter Geltung der europĂ€ischen Datenschutzgrundverordnung
Enhanced structural correlations accelerate diffusion in charge-stabilized colloidal suspensions
Theoretical calculations for colloidal charge-stabilized and hard sphere
suspensions show that hydrodynamic interactions yield a qualitatively different
particle concentration dependence of the short-time self-diffusion coefficient.
The effect, however, is numerically small and hardly accessible by conventional
light scattering experiments. Applying multiple-scattering decorrelation
equipment and a careful data analysis we show that the theoretical prediction
for charged particles is in agreement with our experimental results from
aqueous polystyrene latex suspensions.Comment: 1 ps-file (MS-Word), 14 page
Long-term survival and interruption of HAART in HIV-related pulmonary hypertension
Reported here is a case of a patient with pulmonary arterial hypertension related to HIV (PAHRH) in which lipodystrophy necessitated interruption of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) and long-term survival was the outcome. Although previous studies have suggested antiretroviral therapy may benefit patients with this rare complication of HIV infection, no worsening of PAHRH was observed when HAART was interrupted. Clinical and echocardiographic parameters remained stable during 7 months of follow up. In cases in which HAART is associated with relevant toxicity, interruption of HAART in patients with PAHRH can be considered, but should be used only if no alternatives are available. Close follow-up is warrante
Infinite-dimensional diffusions as limits of random walks on partitions
The present paper originated from our previous study of the problem of
harmonic analysis on the infinite symmetric group. This problem leads to a
family {P_z} of probability measures, the z-measures, which depend on the
complex parameter z. The z-measures live on the Thoma simplex, an
infinite-dimensional compact space which is a kind of dual object to the
infinite symmetric group. The aim of the paper is to introduce stochastic
dynamics related to the z-measures. Namely, we construct a family of diffusion
processes in the Toma simplex indexed by the same parameter z. Our diffusions
are obtained from certain Markov chains on partitions of natural numbers n in a
scaling limit as n goes to infinity. These Markov chains arise in a natural
way, due to the approximation of the infinite symmetric group by the increasing
chain of the finite symmetric groups. Each z-measure P_z serves as a unique
invariant distribution for the corresponding diffusion process, and the process
is ergodic with respect to P_z. Moreover, P_z is a symmetrizing measure, so
that the process is reversible. We describe the spectrum of its generator and
compute the associated (pre)Dirichlet form.Comment: AMSTex, 33 pages. Version 2: minor changes, typos corrected, to
appear in Prob. Theor. Rel. Field
Coherent Versus Incoherent Ladar Detection at 2.09 ÎŒm
A 2.09-ÎŒm ladar system is built to compare coherent to incoherent detection. The 2.09-ÎŒm wavelength is of interest because of its high atmospheric transmission and because it is eyesafe. The 2.09-ÎŒm system presented is capable of either a coherent or incoherent operational mode, is tunable in a small region around 2.09 ÎŒm, and is being used to look at the statistical nature of the ladar return pulses for typical glint and speckle targets. To compare coherent to incoherent detection the probability of detection is investigated as the primary performance criterion of interest. The probability of detection is dependent on both the probability of false alarm and the probability density function, representing the signal current output from the detector. These probability distributions are different for each detection technique and for each type of target. Furthermore, the probability of detection and the probability of false alarm are both functions of the dominating noise source(s) in the system. A description of the theoretical expectations of this system along with the setup of the ladar system and how it is being used to collect data for both coherent and incoherent detection is presented
Phase Behaviour of Amphiphilic Monolayers: Theory and Simulation
Coarse grained models of monolayers of amphiphiles (Langmuir monolayers) have
been studied theoretically and by computer simulations. We discuss some of the
insights obtained with this approach, and present new simulation results which
show that idealised models can successfully reproduce essential aspects of the
generic phase behaviour of Langmuir monolayers.Comment: To appear in J. Phys.: Cond. Matte
Small seed bank in grasslands and tree plantations in former grassland sites in the South Brazilian highlands
The soil seed bank can be an important source for vegetation regeneration, and data on the similarity between aboveground vegetation and the seed bank can provide information about successional pathways after disturbances or landâuse change. We conducted this study in natural grasslands in the subtropical highland region in southern Brazil. We evaluated the effect of silviculture on richness, density, and composition of the seed bank at former grassland sites converted to pine plantations 25 years ago. We worked at six grassland sites and three pine plantation sites and used the seedling emergence method. Seed bank density and richness in grasslands were lower than those reported in similar environments in other regions. Species richness and density varied considerably within each vegetation type; therefore, richness and density were not statistically significant, while composition varied among vegetation types. In terms of species, the pine plantation seed bank was a small subset of the grassland seed bank. Seeds of typical grassland species were missing in the pine plantation, but also had only low abundances in the grassland, and similarity of seed bank and vegetation were low (less than 20%). The low seed density found in this study, including in grasslands areas, indicates that regeneration of species from the soil seed bank likely is of a limited role for the maintenance of plant populations after disturbances in this system. Our data further suggest that natural regeneration after tree planting in grasslands is reduced due to seed limitation
Image-Based Scene Representations for Head-Motion Parallax in 360° Panoramas
Creation and delivery of âRealVRâ experiences essentially consists of the following four main steps: capture, processing, representation and rendering. In this chapter, we present, compare, and discuss two recent end-to-end approaches, Parallax360 by Luo et al. [9] and MegaParallax by Bertel et al. [3]. Both propose complete pipelines for RealVR content generation and novel-view synthesis with head-motion parallax for 360° environments.Parallax360 uses a robotic arm for capturing thousands of input views on the surface of a sphere. Based on precomputed disparity motion fields and pairwise optical flow, novel viewpoints are synthesized on the fly using flow-based blending of the nearest two to three input views which provides compelling head-motion parallax.MegaParallax proposes a pipeline for RealVR content generation and rendering that emphasizes casual, hand-held capturing. The approach introduces view-dependent flow-based blending to enable novel-view synthesis with head-motion parallax within a viewing area determined by the field of view of the input cameras and the capturing radius.We describe both methods and discuss their similarities and differences in corresponding steps in the RealVR pipeline and show selected results. The chapter ends by discussing advantages and disadvantages as well as outlining the most important limitations and future work.This project has received funding from the European Unionâs Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie SkĆodowska-Curie grant agreement No 66599
Common variants in FOXP1 are associated with generalized vitiligo
In a recent genome-wide association study of generalized vitiligo, we identified ten confirmed susceptibility loci. By testing additional loci that showed suggestive association in the genome-wide study, using two replication cohorts of European descent, we observed replicated association of generalized vitiligo with variants at 3p13 encompassing FOXP1 (rs17008723, combined P = 1.04 Ă 10â8) and with variants at 6q27 encompassing CCR6 (rs6902119, combined P = 3.94 Ă 10â7)
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