The Representation of the Poor in American Society: A Subjective Estimate of the Prospects of Democracy

In this paper we investigate stability and inter-action measures for interconnected systems that have beenproduced by decomposing a large-scale linear system into aset of lower order subsystems connected in feedback. We beginby analyzing the requirements for asymptotic stability throughgeneralized dissipation inequalities and storage functions. Usingthis insight we then describe various metrics based on a system’senergy dissipation to determine how strongly the subsystemsinteract with each other. From these metrics a decompositionalgorithm is described.QC 20120206</p

Corporate Risk-Taking and the Decline of Personal Blame

The ability to maintain state awareness in the face of unexpected and unmodeled errors and threats is a defining feature of a resilient control system. Therefore, in this paper, we study the problem of distributed fault detection and isolation (FDI) in large networked systems with uncertain system models. The linear networked system is composed of interconnected subsystems and may be represented as a graph. The subsystems are represented by nodes, while the edges correspond to the interconnections between subsystems. Considering faults that may occur on the interconnections and subsystems, as our first contribution, we propose a distributed scheme to jointly detect and isolate faults occurring in nodes and edges of the system. As our second contribution, we analyze the behavior of the proposed scheme under model uncertainties caused by the addition or removal of edges. Additionally, we propose a novel distributed FDI scheme based on local models and measurements that is resilient to changes outside of the local subsystem and achieves FDI. Our third contribution addresses the complexity reduction of the distributed FDI method, by characterizing the minimum amount of model information and measurements needed to achieve FDI and by reducing the number of monitoring nodes. The proposed methods can be fused to design a scalable and resilient distributed FDI architecture that achieves local FDI despite unknown changes outside the local subsystem. The proposed approach is illustrated by numerical experiments on the IEEE 118-bus power network benchmark.QC 20141114</p

The usefulness of State trade missions for the internationalization of firms: an econometric analysis

Empirical studies on the usefulness of official visits (OVs) as a way to promote the internationalization of firms are scarce and it is often assumed from the political point of view that such visits have impacts that are as positive as they are immensurable. This study is centred on a relatively unexplored case (Portugal), in which OVs have become more and more visible to firms and to the public in general. By applying an econometric model, we seek to evaluate the importance regarding the structural characteristics of firms versus the characteristics of OVs, as to the way participants perceive the usefulness of official visits for promoting their firms and business in the markets visited. Based on 136 participations in 12 official visits which took place between 2005 and 2008, results indicate that the size of firms, foreign capital, export intensity, innovation intensity and experience in the market visited are statistically relevant variables in the assessment of the results and objectives of OVsTState trade missions; usefulness; determinants; firms’ perceptions

Gold nanoprobes for molecular detection of SNPs related to lactose intolerance

Lactose intolerance is a condition that affects millions of people around the world. The current diagnosis methods have shortcomings, namely high costs and long processing times. As such, innovative detection mechanisms should be developed to allow fast, reliable, and inexpensive diagnosis in a point-of-care format. The utilization of gold nanoparticles could overcome these limitations due to their aggregation-dependent colorimetric properties. The developed work focused on their use for the diagnostic of lactose intolerance through the single nucleotide polymorphism associated with European populations (C/T -13910 LCT). Gold nanoparticles with different diameters (15 or 40 nm) were synthesized, characterized and functionalized (salt-aging or pH method). The functionalization was performed using a 5’ or 3’ thiol-modified oligonucleotide. The salt-aging method yielded better results for 15 nm gold nanoparticles, while the pH method worked better for 40 nm gold nanoparticles. The evaluation of several DNA targets through non-cross-linking method showed that anti-parallel hybridization resulted in DNA duplexes with greater stability and stronger colorimetric distinction, when compared to parallel hybridization. Cross-linking and non-cross-linking methodologies were then applied to the optimized conditions. The cross-linking method revealed that nanoprobes obtained using the 3’ thiol-modified oligonucleotide had problems with hybridization, requiring further optimization. From the non-cross-linking method, it was possible to conclude that the 40 nm nanoprobes led to better colorimetric distinction between the complementary and mutated samples (upwards of 60%) and improved statistical significance in comparison to 15 nm nanoprobes. For the tested conditions, smaller DNA targets (40 b.p.) resulted in better colorimetric distinction compared to larger DNA targets (120 b.p.). The differences seen also improved with the increase of DNA target concentration (from 0.25 up to 100 ng/μL). These results demonstrate the capabilities of 40 nm nanoprobes for detection of lactose intolerance and highlight the importance of optimizing the length and concentration of the DNA target.A intolerância à lactose é uma condição que afeta milhões de pessoas em todo o mundo. Os mecanismos de deteção utilizados possuem alguns aspetos que devem ser melhorados, como custos elevados e longo tempo de processamento. Assim sendo, mecanismos de deteção inovativos devem ser desenvolvidos para possibilitar um diagnóstico rápido, reprodutível e barato num formato point-of-care. A utilização de nanopartículas de ouro pode colmatar estas limitações devido às suas propriedades colorimétricas dependentes da agregação. O trabalho desenvolvido focou-se no seu uso para o diagnóstico de intolerância à lactose através do polimorfismo de base única associado a populações Europeias (C/T -13910 LCT). Nanopartículas de ouro com diferentes diâmetros (15 ou 40 nm) foram sintetizadas, caracterizadas e funcionalizadas (método salt-aging ou pH). A funcionalização foi realizada utilizando oligonucleótidos modificados com um grupo tiol a 5’ ou 3’. O método de salt-aging produziu melhores resultados para nanopartículas de ouro de 15 nm, enquanto o método de pH funcionou melhor para nanopartículas de ouro de 40 nm. A testagem de diversos alvos de DNA através do método de non-cross-linking demonstrou que hibridização antiparalela resulta em duplexes de DNA mais estáveis e com melhor distinção colorimétrica, quando comparado com hibridização paralela. Os métodos de cross-linking e non-cross-linking foram de seguida aplicadas às condições otimizadas. Os ensaios de cross-linking revelaram que as nanosondas obtidas através do oligonucleótido modificado com grupo tiol a 3’ tinha problemas com hibridização, requerendo mais otimização. Através do método non-cross-linking foi possível concluir que as nanosondas de 40 nm levaram a uma melhor distinção colorimétrica entre amostras com DNA complementar e DNA mutado (até 60 %) e uma significância estatística melhorada, quando comparado com as nanosondas de 15 nm. Para as condições testadas, alvos de DNA curtos (40 p.b.) resultaram numa distinção colorimétrica superior, quando comparado com os alvos de DNA longos (120 p.b.). As diferenças visualizadas também melhoraram com o aumento da concentração do DNA alvo (de 0.25 até 100 ng/μL). Estes resultados demonstram as capacidades das nanosondas de 40 nm para a deteção de intolerância à lactose e realçam a importância da otimização do tamanho e concentração do DNA alvo

Moving from a Sales Led to a Product Led Business: Evaluation and value delivery in SaaS products self-service

Dissertation presented as the partial requirement for obtaining a Master's degree in Data Driven Marketing, specialization in Digital Marketing and AnalyticsSaaS companies are transforming their traditional sales processes by taking advantage of their products as the main vehicle to acquire, activate, and retain customers. We focused on the SaaS software evaluation process and value delivery to examine how SaaS products that can be evaluated in self-service, by the users, deliver value along the customer journey. For this, we conducted qualitative research through in-depth interviews with senior executives from companies in different growth stages and geographies and observations to explore the strategies and organizational initiatives to seize the opportunities associated with product-led business models. Our findings evidence two main categories - evaluation and value. Evaluations start top-down, driven by a clear strategic direction from the management team or to address a pressing need that is hindering the business from moving forward, or bottom-up, started by the users with a clear use case, and connected to an urgent, often daily, need. Value, in the product-led model, is now delivered sooner on the customer journey creating a shift to the left in value delivered, now closer to the start of an evaluation, and value captured is going right, now after value is delivered and the product is started to be adopted. A discussion on how sales-led and product-led evaluation and value delivery, across the customer journey, differ is presented. Finally, we offer recommendations to business leaders wanting to move to product-led growth

Optimal scaling of the ADMM algorithm for distributed quadratic programming

This paper presents optimal scaling of the alternating directions method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm for a class of distributed quadratic programming problems. The scaling corresponds to the ADMM step-size and relaxation parameter, as well as the edge-weights of the underlying communication graph. We optimize these parameters to yield the smallest convergence factor of the algorithm. Explicit expressions are derived for the step-size and relaxation parameter, as well as for the corresponding convergence factor. Numerical simulations justify our results and highlight the benefits of optimally scaling the ADMM algorithm.Comment: Submitted to the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing. Prior work was presented at the 52nd IEEE Conference on Decision and Control, 201