Computing one-dimensional stable manifolds of planar maps without the inverse

We present an algorithm to compute the one-dimensional stable manifold of a saddle point for a planar map. In contrast to current standard techniques, here it is not necessary to know the inverse or approximate it, for example, by using Newton's method. Rather than using the inverse, the manifold is grown starting from the linear eigenspace near the saddle point by adding a point that maps back onto an earlier segment of the stable manifold. The performance of the algorithm is compared to other methods using an example in which the inverse map is known explicitly. The strength of our method is illustrated with examples of noninvertible maps, where the stable set may consist of many different pieces, and with a piecewise-smooth model of an interrupted cutting process. The algorithm has been implemented for use in the DsTool environment and is available for download with this paper

Incorporation of article 5, 12 and 13 of UN Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities into notariate law of the Republic of Latvia

United Nations (hereafter – UN) adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Persons with Disabilities (hereafter – CRPD) on 13 December 2006, and this is the first international human rights treaty which EU joined as a party (in 2010), according to Article 37 of Treaty on European Union. CRPD gives the rights and voice to persons with disabilities in all areas of life, therefore setting the obligation for CRPD States to provide possibility for persons with disabilities to use their rights. As CRPD is relatively new treaty, there are not enough scholarly articles, especially on the Notariate law of Republic of Latvia in the relationship with the CRPD. The lack of consistent research results in lack of consistent rights of persons with disabilities. Therefore more researches are needed. The research aim is to investigate whether the Articles 86 (rights to be witnesses) and 94 (rights to be a party) of Latvian law fulfill the rights of persons with disabilities set in Articles 5, 12 and 13 of CRPD. There are four research methods used in the research: grammatical method; systematical method; historical method; theological method. In order to inquire how the practical implementation is made, the interviews with representatives of Baltic notary systems were made. Additionally comparative approach was used to compare Notariate laws of all three Baltic States. During the analyses of Notariate law of the Republic of Latvia it was concluded that the current version of Notariate law does not reflect equality principle of CRPD as unequal attitude is stipulated between persons with mental/ sensor disabilities and persons without disabilities and persons with other type disabilities regarding the rights to be witnesses and rights to be parties. Additionally the terminology used in Notariate law regarding persons with sensor/ mental disability is insulting and thus does not reflect CRPD terminology. The rights of persons with mental disabilities are limited the most, also in other procedural laws – Civil procedure law and Administrative procedure law of the Republic of Latvia – when active legal capacity can be deprived regarding the rights to be witnesses in proceedings. Therefore it is possible to agree with UN that Article 12 of CRPD is the most challenging. Thus it is necessary to make amendments in Notariate law of the Republic of Latvia to reflect better CRPD principles, especially equality principle which is one of the cornerstones of the European Union.http://www.ester.ee/record=b4578773*es

A general dissipativity constraint for feedback system design, with emphasis on MPC

A ‘General Dissipativity Constraint’ (GDC) is introduced to facilitate the design of stable feedback systems. A primary application is to MPC controllers when it is preferred to avoid the use of ‘stabilising ingredients’ such as terminal constraint sets or long prediction horizons. Some very general convergence results are proved under mild conditions. The use of quadratic functions, replacing GDC by ‘Quadratic Dissipation Constraint’ (QDC), is introduced to allow implementation using linear matrix inequalities. The use of QDC is illustrated for several scenarios: state feedback for a linear time-invariant system, MPC of a linear system, MPC of an input-affine system, and MPC with persistent disturbances. The stability that is guaranteed by GDC is weaker than Lyapunov stability, being ‘Lagrange stability plus convergence’. Input-to-state stability is obtained if the control law is continuous in the state. An example involving an open-loop unstable helicopter illustrates the efficacy of the approach in practice.National Research Foundation Singapor

The outsourcing of social care in Britain : what does it mean for voluntary sector workers?

While recent decades have witnessed a growth in the outsourcing of public services in Britain, the post-1997 UK Labour governments have sought to put in place mechanisms aimed at encouraging long-term collaborative contracting relationships marked by less reliance on cost-based competition. This article explores empirically how far these mechanisms have achieved their aims and thereby acted to protect the employment conditions of staff, and links this exploration to debates concerning the employment implications of organizational reforms within public sectors internationally. It concludes that in terms of bringing income security to the voluntary sector and stability to employment terms and conditions these efforts have been unsuccessful, and consequently casts doubts on more optimistic interpretations of the employment effects of organizational restructuring in the British public sector

Computing two-dimensional global invariant manifolds in slow-fast systems

We present the GLOBALIZEBVP algorithm for the computation of two-dimensional stable and unstable manifolds of a vector field. Specifically, we use the collocation routines of AUTO to solve boundary problems that are used during the computation to find the next approximate geodesic level set on the manifold. The resulting implementation is numerically very stable and well suited for systems with multiple time scales. This is illustrated with the test-case examples of the Lorenz and Chua systems, and with a slow-fast model of a somatotroph cell

Accounting for refrigeration heat exchange in energy performance simulations of large food retail buildings

Heat exchange between chilled food storage and conditioned spaces in large food retail stores is not currently required as part of design stage regulatory compliance energy performance models. Existing work has identified that this exchange has a significant impact on store energy demand and subsequently leads to unrealistic assessment of building performance. Research presented in this article uses whole building dynamic thermal simulation models that are calibrated against real store performance data, quantifying the impact of the refrigeration driven heat exchange. Proxy refrigerated units are used to simulate the impact of these units for the sales floor areas. A methodology is presented that allows these models to be simplified with the aim of calculating a realistic process heat exchange for refrigeration and including this in thermal simulation models; a protocol for the measurement of chilled sales areas and their inclusion in the building models is also proposed. It is intended that this modelling approach and the calculated process heat exchange inputs can be used to improve the dynamic thermal simulation of large food retail stores, reduce gaps between predicted and actual performance and provide more representative inputs for design stage and regulatory compliance energy calculations

All-Versus-Nothing Proof of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Steering

Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen steering is a form of quantum nonlocality intermediate between entanglement and Bell nonlocality. Although Schr\"odinger already mooted the idea in 1935, steering still defies a complete understanding. In analogy to "all-versus-nothing" proofs of Bell nonlocality, here we present a proof of steering without inequalities rendering the detection of correlations leading to a violation of steering inequalities unnecessary. We show that, given any two-qubit entangled state, the existence of certain projective measurement by Alice so that Bob's normalized conditional states can be regarded as two different pure states provides a criterion for Alice-to-Bob steerability. A steering inequality equivalent to the all-versus-nothing proof is also obtained. Our result clearly demonstrates that there exist many quantum states which do not violate any previously known steering inequality but are indeed steerable. Our method offers advantages over the existing methods for experimentally testing steerability, and sheds new light on the asymmetric steering problem.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures. Accepted in Sci. Re

Criteria for the use of omics-based predictors in clinical trials.

The US National Cancer Institute (NCI), in collaboration with scientists representing multiple areas of expertise relevant to 'omics'-based test development, has developed a checklist of criteria that can be used to determine the readiness of omics-based tests for guiding patient care in clinical trials. The checklist criteria cover issues relating to specimens, assays, mathematical modelling, clinical trial design, and ethical, legal and regulatory aspects. Funding bodies and journals are encouraged to consider the checklist, which they may find useful for assessing study quality and evidence strength. The checklist will be used to evaluate proposals for NCI-sponsored clinical trials in which omics tests will be used to guide therapy

Climate change and health effects in Northwest Alaska

This article provides examples of adverse health effects, including weather-related injury, food insecurity, mental health issues, and water infrastructure damage, and the responses to these effects that are currently being applied in two Northwest Alaska communities