Estimating Nonresponse Bias in Mail Surveys

Valid predictions for the direction of nonresponse bias were obtained from subjective estimates and extrapolations in an analysis of mail survey data from published studies. For estimates of the magnitude of bias, the use of extrapolations led to substantial improvements over a strategy of not using extrapolations

Propositional Dynamic Logic for Message-Passing Systems

We examine a bidirectional propositional dynamic logic (PDL) for finite and infinite message sequence charts (MSCs) extending LTL and TLC-. By this kind of multi-modal logic we can express properties both in the entire future and in the past of an event. Path expressions strengthen the classical until operator of temporal logic. For every formula defining an MSC language, we construct a communicating finite-state machine (CFM) accepting the same language. The CFM obtained has size exponential in the size of the formula. This synthesis problem is solved in full generality, i.e., also for MSCs with unbounded channels. The model checking problem for CFMs and HMSCs turns out to be in PSPACE for existentially bounded MSCs. Finally, we show that, for PDL with intersection, the semantics of a formula cannot be captured by a CFM anymore

Indicators of regional financial integration

This book chapter provides for a review of quantity-based and price-based indicators of regional financial integration. These measures should be easy to construct and interpret, based on publicly available data, and available for many countries and regions over time. The chapter discusses the underlying datasets in great detail and explains the construction of various indicators. Several applications, mostly using the process of European integration as a case study, show that regional financial integration has increased over the last decades, in particular in Europe after the introduction of the euro. However, there has been a parallel process of financial integration at the global level.

Reactive oxygen species induced by water containing nano-bubbles and its role in the improvement of barley seed germination

This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.The study of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation caused by nano-bubbles (NBs) is of great importance for its application in both physiological activity promotion aspect and sterilization aspect. In this paper, Aminophenyl Fluorescein (APF) was used as a fluorescent reagent for the detection of ROS generation by NBs. The NBs scattering could cause the decrease of fluorescence intensity. Meanwhile, the quenching effect of oxygen could also cause the decrease of fluorescence intensity. Although the above two factors masked the fluorescence intensity generation by ROS, the fluorescence intensity of the water containing NBs still increased with NBs generation time, which proved that oxygen NBs could generate ROS. Moreover, the endogenous ROS in the barley seed cells were measured in the seed that germinated in the water containing NBs and the distilled water respectively. According to the results of seed staining experiments, both the microscope images and the absorbance at 560nm proved that the seeds dipped in the water containing NBs could generate more ROS compared to those in the distilled water. These findings greatly increase the NBs potential use both in agricultural field and environmental field

Information Search Strategies Among Theological Faculty Members in Tamil Nadu

This research article studies the information seeking search strategies used by theological faculty members in Tamil Nadu. It is based on a structured questionnaire sent to 120 select faculty members, of which 101 questionnaires were returned, achieving a response rate of 84%. Major findings of this study contribute to understanding the awareness and use of search options among respondents. Basic and keyword search options are commonly used by respondents in online sources while preferences for references from books and journals are more popular among faculty members to locate bibliographic information in print sources. This study further noted that faculty members are generally seeking information for preparing class lectures and preaching sermons and respondents indicated that Google searching is highly used by them for locating online information. The respondents expressed that borrowing books and using reference books and journals are the most compelling reasons for visiting libraries. Reading table of contents and reading specific articles are common strategies used by faculty members while looking for information in print resources. The non-availability of full-text articles, lack of scholarly national publications and retrieving irrelevant articles are problems faculty members commonly face while searching online resources. The findings of this study have impact on library instruction, and for improving library services and collections in theological institutions in Tamil Nadu

Finitely generated free Heyting algebras via Birkhoff duality and coalgebra

Algebras axiomatized entirely by rank 1 axioms are algebras for a functor and thus the free algebras can be obtained by a direct limit process. Dually, the final coalgebras can be obtained by an inverse limit process. In order to explore the limits of this method we look at Heyting algebras which have mixed rank 0-1 axiomatizations. We will see that Heyting algebras are special in that they are almost rank 1 axiomatized and can be handled by a slight variant of the rank 1 coalgebraic methods

Modal Logics of Topological Relations

Logical formalisms for reasoning about relations between spatial regions play a fundamental role in geographical information systems, spatial and constraint databases, and spatial reasoning in AI. In analogy with Halpern and Shoham's modal logic of time intervals based on the Allen relations, we introduce a family of modal logics equipped with eight modal operators that are interpreted by the Egenhofer-Franzosa (or RCC8) relations between regions in topological spaces such as the real plane. We investigate the expressive power and computational complexity of logics obtained in this way. It turns out that our modal logics have the same expressive power as the two-variable fragment of first-order logic, but are exponentially less succinct. The complexity ranges from (undecidable and) recursively enumerable to highly undecidable, where the recursively enumerable logics are obtained by considering substructures of structures induced by topological spaces. As our undecidability results also capture logics based on the real line, they improve upon undecidability results for interval temporal logics by Halpern and Shoham. We also analyze modal logics based on the five RCC5 relations, with similar results regarding the expressive power, but weaker results regarding the complexity