Fundamental Limits on Data Acquisition: Trade-offs between Sample Complexity and Query Difficulty

We consider query-based data acquisition and the corresponding information recovery problem, where the goal is to recover $k$ binary variables (information bits) from parity measurements of those variables. The queries and the corresponding parity measurements are designed using the encoding rule of Fountain codes. By using Fountain codes, we can design potentially limitless number of queries, and corresponding parity measurements, and guarantee that the original $k$ information bits can be recovered with high probability from any sufficiently large set of measurements of size $n$. In the query design, the average number of information bits that is associated with one parity measurement is called query difficulty ($\bar{d}$) and the minimum number of measurements required to recover the $k$ information bits for a fixed $\bar{d}$ is called sample complexity ($n$). We analyze the fundamental trade-offs between the query difficulty and the sample complexity, and show that the sample complexity of $n=c\max\{k,(k\log k)/\bar{d}\}$ for some constant $c>0$ is necessary and sufficient to recover $k$ information bits with high probability as $k\to\infty$

What most Matters in Strengthening Educational Competitiveness?: An Application of FS/QCA Method

AbstractThis study was conducted in order to investigate the relationships between different factors affecting educational competitiveness, which is crucial to enhancing national competitiveness in every country, and to put forward policy implications whereby each country may raise the level of its educational competitiveness. PISA score was selected as an indicator representing the educational competitiveness of 22 OECD countries, and this included some independent variables, such as per capita GDP, total public expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP, and total per capita public expenditure on education (US dollars), affecting educational competitiveness. We employed the fuzzy set analysis method (FS/QCA) to analyze the complex causal relationships among the factors affecting educational competitiveness. The research results show that there are three significant combinations of variables affecting educational competitiveness (PISA score). Model 1 is a configuration of four variables (high total expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP, high total per capita expenditure on education, high ratio of private-source expenditure on education to GDP, and high GDP), and includes Netherlands, Finland, Australia, and Ireland. Model 2 is a configuration of five variables (low total expenditure on education, low total per capita expenditure on education, low ration of students to teaching staff, low private-source expenditure on education, and low GDP, and includes Poland. Model 3 is a configuration of five variables (low total expenditure on education, low total per capita expenditure on education, high private-source expenditure on education, high ratio of students to teaching staff, and high GDP), and includes Japan. Finally, the study suggests that each country should endeavour to enhance its own educational competitiveness, considering how the factors associated with this relate to each other

A Combination of Japanese Traditional Aesthetics and Western Music: Toru Takemitsu's Rain Tree Sketch and Rain Tree Sketch II

The music of Toru Takemitsu (1930 – 1996) is often described as an integration of Japanese traditions and Western music. He learned the works of various composers from the West, such as Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern, John Cage, and most significantly Claude Debussy and Oliver Messiaen, who influenced his use of colorful timbre, sense of time, and the use of modes. Additionally, he studied the unique aspects of sound, silence, and forces of nature from Japanese traditional music. Rain Tree Sketch (1982) and Rain Tree Sketch II (1992) belong to Takemitsu’s nature works, specifically to his “waterscape” series. The Rain Tree Sketches integrate techniques of Western music such as regular and irregular rhythmic gesture, motives and pitch collections, and a simple ternary form with the silence effects of Japanese music. The purpose of this study is to examine how Takemitsu combined Japanese traditional aesthetics and Western music in his piano music. This study contains Takemitsu’s biographical information, solo piano music, and the influences of Japan and the West, especially Messiaen in Rain Tree Sketch and Rain Tree Sketch II

a key condition for economic convergence among middle income countries in Latin America

Thesis(Master) --KDI School:Master of Public Policy,2014masterpublishedJi-Hye Lee