STRATEGIC INTERACTION AND CATCHING UP

In this study, we prove that the strategic interaction among agents differing in initial wealth levels leads the poor to be able to catch up with the rich, which is not the case for the standard Ramsey model where the initial wealth differences perpetuate. Extending the analysis to account for relative wealth concern and the adjustment cost of consumption, the strategic interaction among agents is shown to affect not only the distribution of wealth in the long run but also the transitional dynamics substantially. In particular, we show that structurally very simple frameworks may lead to limit cycles thanks to the strategic interaction among agents in the economy. © 2015 Board of Trustees of the Bulletin of Economic Research and John Wiley & Sons Ltd

BASIC APPLICATIONS OF THE q-DERIVATIVE FOR A GENERAL SUBFAMILY OF ANALYTIC FUNCTIONS SUBORDINATE TO k-JACOBSTHAL NUMBERS

This research paper deals with some radius problems, the basic geometricproperties, general coecient and inclusion relations that are established for functionsin a general subfamily of analytic functions subordinate to k-Jacobsthal numbers

An Investigation into the Sensitivity of Personal Information and Implications for Disclosure: A UK Perspective

The perceived sensitivity of information is a crucial factor in both security and privacy concerns and the behaviours of individuals. Furthermore, such perceptions motivate how people disclose and share information with others. We study this topic by using an online questionnaire where a representative sample of 491 British citizens rated the sensitivity of different data items in a variety of scenarios. The sensitivity evaluations revealed in this study are compared to prior results from the US, Brazil and Germany, allowing us to examine the impact of culture. In addition to discovering similarities across cultures, we also identify new factors overlooked in the current research, including concerns about reactions from others, personal safety or mental health and finally, consequences of disclosure on others. We also highlight a difference between the regulatory perspective and the citizen perspective on information sensitivity. We then operationalised this understanding within several example use-cases exploring disclosures in the healthcare and finance industry, two areas where security is paramount. We explored the disclosures being made through two different interaction means: directly to a human or chatbot mediated (given that an increasing amount of personal data is shared with these agents in industry). We also explored the effect of anonymity in these contexts. Participants showed a significant reluctance to disclose information they considered `irrelevant' or `out of context' information disregarding other factors such as interaction means or anonymity. We also observed that chatbots proved detrimental to eliciting sensitive disclosures in the healthcare domain; however, within the finance domain, there was less effect. This article's findings provide new insights for those developing online systems intended to elicit sensitive personal information from users

Privacy Concerns in Chatbot Interactions: When to Trust and When to Worry

Through advances in their conversational abilities, chatbots have started to request and process an increasing variety of sensitive personal information. The accurate disclosure of sensitive information is essential where it is used to provide advice and support to users in the healthcare and finance sectors. In this study, we explore users' concerns regarding factors associated with the use of sensitive data by chatbot providers. We surveyed a representative sample of 491 British citizens. Our results show that the user concerns focus on deleting personal information and concerns about their data's inappropriate use. We also identified that individuals were concerned about losing control over their data after a conversation with conversational agents. We found no effect from a user's gender or education but did find an effect from the user's age, with those over 45 being more concerned than those under 45. We also considered the factors that engender trust in a chatbot. Our respondents' primary focus was on the chatbot's technical elements, with factors such as the response quality being identified as the most critical factor. We again found no effect from the user's gender or education level; however, when we considered some social factors (e.g. avatars or perceived `friendliness'), we found those under 45 years old rated these as more important than those over 45. The paper concludes with a discussion of these results within the context of designing inclusive, digital systems that support a wide range of users

Relation for the nonequilibrium population of the interface states: effects on the bias dependence of the ideality factors

By an analysis of the exchange of carriers through a semiconductor junction, a general relationship for the nonequilibrium population of the interface states in Schottky barrier diodes has been derived. Based on this relationship, an analytical expression for the ideality factor valid in the whole range of applied bias has been given. This quantity exhibits two different behaviours depending on the value of the applied bias with respect to a critical voltage. This voltage, which depends on the properties of the interfacial layer, constitutes a new parameter to complete the characterization of these junctions. A simple interpretation of the different behaviours of the ideality factor has been given in terms of the nonequilibrium charging properties of interface states, which in turn explains why apparently different approaches have given rise to similar results. Finally, the relevance of our results has been considered on the determination of the density of interface states from nonideal current-voltage characteristics and in the evaluation of the effects of the interfacial layer thickness in metal-insulator-semiconductor tunnelling diodes

Sharing Secrets with Agents: Improving Sensitive Disclosures using Chatbots

There is an increasing shift towards the use of conversational agents, or chatbots, thanks to their inclusion in consumer hardware (e.g. Alexa, Siri and Google Assistant) and the growing number of essential services moving online. A chatbot allows an organisation to deal with a large volume of user queries with minimal overheads, which in turn allows human operators to deal with more complex issues. In this paper we present our work on maximising responsible, sensitive disclosures to chatbots. The paper focuses on two key studies, the first of which surveyed participants to establish the relative sensitivity of a range of disclosures. From this, we found that participants were equally comfortable making financial disclosures to a chatbot as to a human. The second study looked to support the dynamic personalisation of the chatbot in order to improve the disclosures. This was achieved by exploiting behavioural biometrics (keystroke and mouse dynamics) to identify demographic information about anonymous users. The research highlighted that a fusion approach, combining both keyboard and mouse dynamics, was the most reliable predictor of these biographic characteristics

Turner syndrome and associated problems in turkish children: A multicenter study

Objective: Turner syndrome (TS) is a chromosomal disorder caused by complete or partial X chromosome monosomy that manifests various clinical features depending on the karyotype and on the genetic background of affected girls. This study aimed to systematically investigate the key clinical features of TS in relationship to karyotype in a large pediatric Turkish patient population. Methods: Our retrospective study included 842 karyotype-proven TS patients aged 0-18 years who were evaluated in 35 different centers in Turkey in the years 2013-2014. Results: The most common karyotype was 45,X (50.7%), followed by 45,X/46,XX (10.8%), 46,X,i(Xq) (10.1%) and 45,X/46,X,i(Xq) (9.5%). Mean age at diagnosis was 10.2±4.4 years. The most common presenting complaints were short stature and delayed puberty. Among patients diagnosed before age one year, the ratio of karyotype 45,X was significantly higher than that of other karyotype groups. Cardiac defects (bicuspid aortic valve, coarctation of the aorta and aortic stenosi) were the most common congenital anomalies, occurring in 25% of the TS cases. This was followed by urinary system anomalies (horseshoe kidney, double collector duct system and renal rotation) detected in 16.3%. Hashimoto’s thyroiditis was found in 11.1% of patients, gastrointestinal abnormalities in 8.9%, ear nose and throat problems in 22.6%, dermatologic problems in 21.8% and osteoporosis in 15.3%. Learning difficulties and/or psychosocial problems were encountered in 39.1%. Insulin resistance and impaired fasting glucose were detected in 3.4% and 2.2%, respectively. Dyslipidemia prevalence was 11.4%. Conclusion: This comprehensive study systematically evaluated the largest group of karyotype-proven TS girls to date. The karyotype distribution, congenital anomaly and comorbidity profile closely parallel that from other countries and support the need for close medical surveillance of these complex patients throughout their lifespan. © Journal of Clinical Research in Pediatric Endocrinology

Convex Hull Abstraction in Specialisation of CLP Programs

We introduce an abstract domain consisting of atomic formulas constrained by linear arithmetic constraints (or convex hulls). This domain is used in an algorithm for specialization of constraint logic programs. The algorithm incorporates in a single phase both top-down goal directed propagation and bottom-up answer propagation, and uses a widening on the convex hull domain to ensure termination. We give examples to show the precision gained by this approach over other methods in the literature for specializing constraint logic programs. The specialization method can also be used for ordinary logic programs containing arithmetic, as well as constraint logic programs. Assignments, inequalities and equalities with arithmetic expressions can be interpreted as constraints during specialization, thus increasing the amount of specialization that can be achieved.We introduce an abstract domain consisting of atomic formulas constrained by linear arithmetic constraints (or convex hulls). This domain is used in an algorithm for specialization of constraint logic programs. The algorithm incorporates in a single phase both top-down goal directed propagation and bottom-up answer propagation, and uses a widening on the convex hull domain to ensure termination. We give examples to show the precision gained by this approach over other methods in the literature for specializing constraint logic programs. The specialization method can also be used for ordinary logic programs containing arithmetic, as well as constraint logic programs. Assignments, inequalities and equalities with arithmetic expressions can be interpreted as constraints during specialization, thus increasing the amount of specialization that can be achieved.</p

Computer misuse as a facilitator of Domestic Abuse

This project report explored how computer misuse act (CMA) offences facilitate domestic abuse and the relationship between technology and abuse to assess how the link between CMA and domestic abuse can be formally evaluated. The study involved the following methods: media case analysis, a technology review, and interviews with domestic service providers

Classification of the Mediterranean lowland to submontane pine forest vegetation

Vegetation SurveyAim: Vegetation types of Mediterranean thermophilous pine forests dominated by Pinus brutia, Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinaster and Pinus pinea were studied in various areas. However, a comprehensive formal vegetation classification of these forests based on a detailed data analysis has never been developed. Our aim is to provide the first broad-scale classification of these pine forests based on a large data set of vegetation plots. Location: Southern Europe, North Africa, Levant, Anatolia, Crimea and the Caucasus. Methods: We prepared a data set of European and Mediterranean pine forest vegetation plots. We selected 7,277 plots dominated by the cold-sensitive Mediterranean pine species Pinus brutia, Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinaster and Pinus pinea. We classified these plots using TWINSPAN, interpreted the ecologically and biogeographically homogeneous TWINSPAN clusters as alliances, and developed an expert system for automatic vegetation classification at the class, order and alliance levels. Results: We described Pinetea halepensis as a new class for the Mediterranean lowland to submontane pine forests, included in the existing Pinetalia halepensis order, and distinguished 12 alliances of native thermophilous pine forests, including four newly described and three informal groups merging supposedly native stands and old-established plantations. The main gradients in species composition reflect elevational vegetation belts and the west–east, and partly north–south, biogeographical differences. Both temperature and precipitation seasonality co-vary with these gradients. Conclusions: We provide the first formal classification at the order and alliance levels for all the Mediterranean thermophilous pine forests based on vegetation-plot data. This classification includes traditional syntaxa, which have been critically revised, and a new class and four new alliances. We also outline a methodological workflow that might be useful for other vegetation classification syntheses. The expert system, which is jointly based on pine dominance and species composition, is a tool for applying this classification in research and nature conservation survey, monitoring and managementinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio