Discrete Simulation of Behavioural Hybrid Process Calculus

Hybrid systems combine continuous-time and discrete behaviours. Simulation is one of the tools to obtain insight in dynamical systems behaviour. Simulation results provide information on performance of system and are helpful in detecting potential weaknesses and errors. Moreover, the results are handy in choosing adequate control strategies and parameters. In our contribution we report a work in progress, a technique for simulation of Behavioural Hybrid Process Calculus, an extension of process algebra that is suitable for the modelling and analysis of hybrid systems

Keeping Livestock Out of Streams in Georgia

Regulatory and incentive methods for requiring or encouraging the fencing of streams to exclude livestock. Animal waste is a major cause of water pollution in Georgia

What's next? : operational support for business process execution

In the last decade flexibility has become an increasingly important in the area of business process management. Information systems that support the execution of the process are required to work in a dynamic environment that imposes changing demands on the execution of the process. In academia and industry a variety of paradigms and implementations has been developed to support flexibility. While on the one hand these approaches address the industry demands in flexibility, on the other hand, they result in confronting the user with many choices between different alternatives. As a consequence, methods to support users in selecting the best alternative during execution have become essential. In this thesis we introduce a formal framework for providing support to users based on historical evidence available in the execution log of the process. This thesis focuses on support by means of (1) recommendations that provide the user an ordered list of execution alternatives based on estimated utilities and (2) predictions that provide the user general statistics for each execution alternative. Typically, estimations are not an average over all observations, but they are based on observations for "similar" situations. The main question is what similarity means in the context of business process execution. We introduce abstractions on execution traces to capture similarity between execution traces in the log. A trace abstraction considers some trace characteristics rather than the exact trace. Traces that have identical abstraction values are said to be similar. The challenge is to determine those abstractions (characteristics) that are good predictors for the parameter to be estimated in the recommendation or prediction. We analyse the dependency between values of an abstraction and the mean of the parameter to be estimated by means of regression analysis. With regression we obtain a set of abstractions that explain the parameter to be estimated. Dependencies do not only play a role in providing predictions and recommendations to instances at run-time, but they are also essential for simulating the effect of changes in the environment on the processes, both locally and globally. We use stochastic simulation models to simulate the effect of changes in the environment, in particular changed probability distribution caused by recommendations. The novelty of these models is that they include dependencies between abstraction values and simulation parameters, which are estimated from log data. We demonstrate that these models give better approximations of reality than traditional models. A framework for offering operational support has been implemented in the context of the process mining framework ProM

Twenty Years In the Making: Transitioning Patented Seed Traits Into the Generic Market

Since the introduction of genetically modified seeds into the global market during the 1990s, there has been little need to prepare for the expiration of the patents related to the technologies. That is, until the expiration of the pioneer Roundup Ready seed-trait patent drew near. Now that Monsanto’s Roundup Ready seed-trait patent is nearing expiration, seed-producing competitors, farmers, and the global food market have raised questions regarding how Monsanto will handle the unprecedented transition into a generic seed market. In response, Monsanto and other agricultural-biotechnology companies have created the Accord, comprised of two contractual agreements, which attempts to regulate the transition. However, this private-sector solution fails to address the needs of all interested parties in the same way that the Hatch- Waxman Act provides for the various parties in the pharmaceutical industry. For this reason, the legislature should act to provide a regime for the transition that ensures that the genetic traits with expiring patents stay available for public use and that crops grown with these seeds may continue to be exported. This Comment suggests a legislative solution that would meet these needs by delegating the regulation of the transition into the generic market to an administrative agency. The solution proposed in this Comment would provide for a regime similar to one enacted through the Hatch-Waxman Act that allows for competitors to develop products using the patented genetic trait prior to patent expiration to prepare for the generic market. At the same time, it provides a scheme to ensure the maintenance of the international regulation authorizations that are necessary for seeds and crops containing genetic modifications to be exported

Statistical process control techniques for the telecommunications systems manager

The purpose of this thesis is to provide personnel, who are undergoing Total Quality Leadership (TQL) implementation at their telecommunications-related command, an understanding of Statistical Process Controls (SPCs) and their potential application to telecommunications issues. Basic SPC tools common to most Total Quality programs are discussed. Advanced SPC methods including Analysis of Means (ANOM), Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), Weibull analysis and Taguchi Methods are also presented. Selected SPC training plans for both naval telecommunication commands and commercial telecommunication industry are examined. Finally, a case study of a telecommunications-related issue is provided to demonstrate an integrated approach to the use of SPCs.http://archive.org/details/statisticalproce1094538538Lieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release; distribution is unlimited

Effective-range dependence of two-dimensional Fermi gases

The Feshbach resonance provides precise control over the scattering length and effective range of interactions between ultracold atoms. We propose the ultratransferable pseudopotential to model effective interaction ranges -1.5≤kF2Reff2≤0, where Reff is the effective range and kF is the Fermi wave vector, describing narrow to broad Feshbach resonances. We develop a mean-field treatment and exploit the pseudopotential to perform a variational and diffusion Monte Carlo study of the ground state of the two-dimensional Fermi gas, reporting on the ground-state energy, contact, condensate fraction, momentum distribution, and pair-correlation functions as a function of the effective interaction range across the BEC-BCS crossover. The limit kF2Reff2→- is a gas of bosons with zero binding energy, whereas ln(kFa)→- corresponds to noninteracting bosons with infinite binding energy.The authors acknowledge the financial support of the EPSRC Grant no. [EP/J017639/1], L.M.S. acknowledges financial support from the Cambridge European Trust, Cambridge Philosophical Society, VSB Fonds, and the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds, and G.J.C. acknowledges the financial support of the Royal Society and Gonville & Caius College. Computational facilities were provided by the University of Cambridge High Performance Computing Service

An examination of the manpower and billet characteristics of the Acquisition/Contract Management community of the U.S. Navy Supply Corps.

http://archive.org/details/examinationofman00sch