Accelerating MCMC via Parallel Predictive Prefetching

We present a general framework for accelerating a large class of widely used Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithms. Our approach exploits fast, iterative approximations to the target density to speculatively evaluate many potential future steps of the chain in parallel. The approach can accelerate computation of the target distribution of a Bayesian inference problem, without compromising exactness, by exploiting subsets of data. It takes advantage of whatever parallel resources are available, but produces results exactly equivalent to standard serial execution. In the initial burn-in phase of chain evaluation, it achieves speedup over serial evaluation that is close to linear in the number of available cores

THE 2002 SUPERMARKET PANEL ANNUAL REPORT

The Supermarket Panel collects data annually from individual supermarkets on store characteristics, operations, and performance. It was established in 1998 by the Food Industry Center as the basis for ongoing study of the supermarket industry. The Panel is unique because the unit of analysis is the individual store and the same stores are tracked over time. This makes it possible to analyze the processes by which new technologies, business practices, and competitive forces are changing the industry. The 2002 Supermarket Panel consists of 866 stores selected at random from the nearly 32,000 supermarkets in the U.S. or invited to participate through their affiliation with cooperating retail companies or IGA. These 866 stores are located in forty-nine states. They are a representative cross section of the industry, including stores from all formats that belong to ownership groups ranging from single stores to the countrys largest chains.Industrial Organization, Marketing,

THE SUPERMARKET INDUSTRY AT THE START OF THE 21st CENTURY: KEY FINDINGS FROM THE 2000 SUPERMARKET PANEL

The 2000 Supermarket Panel gathered data on store characteristics, management practices, and operating performance from a representative, nation-wide sample of supermarkets. The Panel is unique because the unit of analysis is the individual store, and the same stores will be surveyed over time. Linking information on management practices and store and market characteristics with measures for key performance measures provides useful information for both strategic and tactical decisions. Descriptive findings are presented for stores groups by ownership group size and format. Results from a multivariate analysis of relationships between store performance and key performance drivers also are presented.Agribusiness,

THE 2000 SUPERMARKET PANEL ANNUAL REPORT

The Retail Food Industry Center established the Supermarket Panel in 1998 as the basis for ongoing study of the supermarket industry. The Panel is comprised of individual stores that provide information annually on store characteristics, operations, and performance. The Panel has two overall objectives: 1. Provide timely, useful information for the industry through benchmark reports and annual summaries. 2. Be a ready source of longitudinal, cross-section data for research on current and emerging issues. The Panel is unique because the unit of analysis is the individual store and the same stores are tracked over time. This makes it possible to trace the impacts of new technologies and business practices as they are adopted. The 2000 Panel consists of 344 stores selected at random from the nearly 32,000 supermarkets in the U.S. It is a representative cross-section of the industry. The information these stores have provided is the basis for the in-depth view of the industry presented here. Key findings are summarized in the margins of each section in this report. In general, these findings highlight significant correlations among store characteristics, business practices, and performance. They should not be interpreted as cause and effect relationships. The remainder of this report begins with a brief description of the data collection procedures for the 2000 Supermarket Panel and a descriptive profile of the participating stores, with breakdowns by size of store group, format, and location.Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Marketing,

Food Insecurity and Nutrition in Franklinton

In this report, Fit For Franklinton documents the problem of food insecurity in Franklinton, suggests ways to alleviate the problem, and calls for people to get involved in implementing those solutions

Acting together: ensemble as a democratic process in art and life

Traditionally drama in schools has been seen either as a learning medium with a wide range of curricular uses or as a subject in its own right. This paper argues that the importance of drama in schools is in the processes of social and artistic engagement and experiencing of drama rather than in its outcomes. The paper contrasts the pro-social emphasis in the ensemble model of drama with the pro-technical and limited range of learning in subject-based approaches which foreground technical knowledge of periods, plays, styles and genres. The ensemble-based approach is positioned in the context of professional theatre understandings of ensemble artistry and in the context of revolutionary shifts from the pro-technical to the pro-social in educational and cultural policy making in England. Using ideas drawn from McGrath and Castoriadis, the paper claims that the ensemble approach provides young people with a model of democratic living

Measurement of air and nitrogen fluorescence light yields induced by electron beam for UHECR experiments

Most of the Ultra High Energy Cosmic Ray (UHECR) experiments and projects (HiRes, AUGER, TA, EUSO, TUS,...) use air fluorescence to detect and measure extensive air showers (EAS). The precise knowledge of the Fluorescence Light Yield (FLY) is of paramount importance for the reconstruction of UHECR. The MACFLY - Measurement of Air Cherenkov and Fluorescence Light Yield - experiment has been designed to perform such FLY measurements. In this paper we will present the results of FLY in the 290-440 nm wavelength range for dry air and pure nitrogen, both excited by electrons with energy of 1.5 MeV, 20 GeV and 50 GeV. The experiment uses a 90Sr radioactive source for low energy measurement and a CERN SPS electron beam for high energy. We find that the FLY is proportional to the deposited energy (E_d) in the gas and we show that the air fluorescence properties remain constant independently of the electron energy. At the reference point: atmospheric dry air at 1013 hPa and 23C, the ratio FLY/E_d=17.6 photon/MeV with a systematic error of 13.2%.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in Astroparticle Physic