Qubit versus bit for measuring an integral of a classical field

Methods for measuring an integral of a classical field via local interaction of classical bits or local interaction of qubits passing through the field one at a time are analyzed. A quantum method, which has an exponentially better precision than any classical method we could see, is described.Comment: Significantly revised, to be published in PR

Evidence from the United Nations General Assembly

The idea that states can hold common values and standards of conduct as well as some capacity to act in the international arena in collective manners for collective goals is epitomized in the concept of international community. Although the term is widely used by scholars, practitioners, and international political leaders and is an integral part of the common international vocabulary, only few have sought to define it, identify its members, and characterize its ways of actions and sources of legitimacy. This paper asks: Who is the international community? Taking a socio-discursive approach, I argue that the international community is essentially a construct that does not exist beyond the discursive level, namely that it materializes only when political agents talk about it, refer to it, and attribute to it certain values, rules, and virtues. I present here the findings of an automated text analysis of 4264 states’ speeches at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that point to the prevalence of the international community in the international discourse and reveal the main topics that are associated with it. These findings illuminate salience patterns in the discursive construction of the international community and shed light on its function as a legitimacy framework for international actio

Evidence from the United Nations General Assembly

The idea that states can hold common values and standards of conduct as well as some capacity to act in the international arena in collective manners for collective goals is epitomized in the concept of international community. Although the term is widely used by scholars, practitioners, and international political leaders and is an integral part of the common international vocabulary, only few have sought to define it, identify its members, and characterize its ways of actions and sources of legitimacy. This paper asks: Who is the international community? Taking a socio-discursive approach, I argue that the international community is essentially a construct that does not exist beyond the discursive level, namely that it materializes only when political agents talk about it, refer to it, and attribute to it certain values, rules, and virtues. I present here the findings of an automated text analysis of 4264 states’ speeches at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that point to the prevalence of the international community in the international discourse and reveal the main topics that are associated with it. These findings illuminate salience patterns in the discursive construction of the international community and shed light on its function as a legitimacy framework for international actio

A descriptive study of the nature of mothers' involvement in a parent-infant home visiting programme

Includes bibliographical references.In this qualitative study mothers’ perceptions of their experience of a local parent-infant home visiting programme were described. Research has shown positive results for home visiting programmes which are being implemented increasingly throughout the world. International and local research on home visiting programmes, psychodynamic theory including attachment theory, and systems theory underpin this research

The Discursive Construction of the International Community: Evidence from the United Nations General Assembly

The idea that states can hold common values and standards of conduct as well as some capacity to act in the international arena in collective manners for collective goals is epitomized in the concept of international community. Although the term is widely used by scholars, practitioners, and international political leaders and is an integral part of the common international vocabulary, only few have sought to define it, identify its members, and characterize its ways of actions and sources of legitimacy. This paper asks: Who is the international community? Taking a socio-discursive approach, I argue that the international community is essentially a construct that does not exist beyond the discursive level, namely that it materializes only when political agents talk about it, refer to it, and attribute to it certain values, rules, and virtues. I present here the findings of an automated text analysis of 4264 states’ speeches at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that point to the prevalence of the international community in the international discourse and reveal the main topics that are associated with it. These findings illuminate salience patterns in the discursive construction of the international community and shed light on its function as a legitimacy framework for international action

Viability study of the state-of-the-art hydrogen electrolyser technologies

This paper provides a comprehensive evaluation of four hydrogen electrolysis technologies: alkaline, PEM, SOEC, and AEM. The assessment of their economic viability, and technical capabilities lead to the following conclusions. Alkaline electrolysis is identified as the most mature, cost optimal, and reliable technology among the four. It offers high durability and gas purity, and its implementation is straightforward. PEM electrolysis is considered an upgrade over alkaline electrolysis, as it achieves higher current densities, leading to increased electrical efficiencies. It also produces a highly pure and compressed hydrogen output, to the cost of being more expensive. SOEC electrolysis demonstrates even higher electrical efficiency than PEM electrolysis and allows for significant heat integration. However, it is still in the demonstration stage and faces challenges related to intermittent power supplies and high heat requirements. AEM electrolysis’ main advantage is the use of a non-noble metal catalyst, reducing costs compared to SOEC electrolysis. It also offers a compact format, high purity and pressure output, and relative scalability. Alkaline and PEM are already reliable hydrogen producers and they can be chosen in function of the buyers priorities (profitability or sustainability, respectively). AEM and SOEC technologies are still at an early stage of development, but with the ongoing research that is being done they are expected to become more cost effective than their commercialized peer

An Ounce of Prevention: Probabilistic Loss Estimation for Performance-Based Earthquake Engineering

Performance-based earthquake engineering (PBEE) is a methodology that incorporates desired performance levels into the design process. Performance in PBEE can be expressed in economic terms, or as elapsed downtime, or in terms of life and building safety objectives. These performance objectives are relevant to various types of stakeholders. They should be addressed in building loss estimation procedures because after an earthquake, the repair cost will not be the only "loss" suffered by building stakeholders. In a sizeable earthquake, there will likely also be some losses due to business interruption during the repair effort, building closure taken as a post-earthquake safety precaution, and human casualties caused by building failures during the seismic event. An analytical approach for PBEE is developed and implemented to evaluate the performance of a new reinforced-concrete moment-frame office building. The PBEE approach used is consistent with the Pacific Earthquake Engineering Research (PEER) center's modular framework, which is divided into four core analytical stages: hazard analysis, structural analysis, damage analysis, and loss analysis. Future losses of the building are uncertain because they depend on uncertain quantities, such as the shaking intensity of the earthquake, the mechanical properties of the facility, and the uncertain damageability and unit repair costs of the facility. An analytical approach is developed to propagate these uncertainties. This work presents the mathematical foundation for the damage and loss analyses, and a description of its implementation into software. The results from running this software on multiple design variants of the building are presented, viii including seismic vulnerabilities as a function of shaking intensity and corresponding expected annual losses. The methodology developed and implemented in this work estimates the direct economic losses due to repair costs as well as two types of indirect economic losses, those produced by building downtime and by human fatalities. A procedure for a virtual inspection is used to assess the safety of buildings, based on current damage assessment guidelines. Additionally, a model is established to estimate human fatalities caused by the partial and global collapse of buildings, using probabilities of fatality based on relevant empirical data and the results of the virtual inspection process. A simplified methodology is presented for estimating building downtime after seismic events, including mobilization delays before construction begins and the elapsed time needed to repair damaged building components. The losses due to downtime and human fatalities are then added to the building repair cost in order to estimate the total building loss, which is then used to perform a benefit-cost analysis of the benchmark building. The work presented, is to our knowledge, the most faithful attempt to estimate the main decision variables (termed the 3 Ds-dollars, deaths, and downtime), proposed by PEER and the ATC-58 Project for performance assessment of structures