Exponential integrators for the stochastic Manakov equation

This article presents and analyses an exponential integrator for the stochastic Manakov equation, a system arising in the study of pulse propagation in randomly birefringent optical fibers. We first prove that the strong order of the numerical approximation is $1/2$ if the nonlinear term in the system is globally Lipschitz-continuous. Then, we use this fact to prove that the exponential integrator has convergence order $1/2$ in probability and almost sure order $1/2$, in the case of the cubic nonlinear coupling which is relevant in optical fibers. Finally, we present several numerical experiments in order to support our theoretical findings and to illustrate the efficiency of the exponential integrator as well as a modified version of it

Forsvarets beredskapsavdelinger i Oslo etter 22. juli 2011. Håndhevelsesbistand og samarbeid med Oslo Politidistrikt

Denne studiens hensikt er å undersøke om Garden og HV-02 sin evne til å yte håndhevelsesbistand til Oslo Politidistrikt er endret som følge av terrorangrepet 22. juli 2011. Denne hendelsen avdekket store mangler innen samfunnets evne til å håndtere alvorlige og særlig skadevoldende hendelser. 22.juli-kommisjonen kritiserte det tverrsektorielle samarbeidet mellom politiet og Forsvaret, herunder evnen til å koordinere og samhandle, og evnen til å erkjenne risiko og til å ta lærdom av øvelser. Når Forsvaret skal støtte politiet i fredstid med vakthold og sikring, reguleres dette i skrivende stund som håndhevelsesbistand gjennom Bistandsinstruksen. Rammevilkårene for det lokale samarbeidet mellom politiet og Forsvaret etableres både på et juridisk og et operativt grunnlag. Således er både hjemmelsgrunnlaget for håndhevelsesbistand og utviklingen på det overordnete nivå undersøkt, i tillegg til utviklingen på det lokale nivået. Kildegrunnlaget har vært ugraderte offentlige rapporter, stortingsmeldinger og proposisjoner, samt forskningsbasert litteratur og kvalitative dybdeintervjuer. I den hensikt å få frem flest mulig nyanser rundt den overordnede problemstillingen, går denne oppgaven i dybden av de tre studieobjektene. For å muliggjøre «måling» og gi et helhetlig bilde er studieobjektene undersøkt gjennom seks utledete forskningsspørsmål. Disse spørsmålene undersøker endringer på overordnet nivå, samt kommunikasjon og tillitt, relasjoner, øvelser og trening, kompetanse og responsevne på taktisk nivå. Med basis i analysen og denne oppgavens funn kan det stadfestes at kvalitet og hastighet i prosessen rundt bistandsanmodninger i stor grad er bedret de siste årene. Særskilt gjelder dette forhåndsdelegert myndighet til det operasjonelle nivå og det juridiske grunnlaget for Forsvarets bistand til politiet. Denne endringen synes å være en utvikling over tid heller enn en direkte følge av 22. juli 2011 – selv om også denne hendelsen har påvirket utviklingen. Garden sin evne til å yte håndhevelsesbistand er i liten grad endret, men den er tydeliggjort gjennom Prop. 73S. Avdelingen viste god responsevne i 2011, og denne antas å være minst like god i dag. HV-02 sin evne til å yte håndhevelsesbistand er i noen grad endret, særskilt gjelder dette for Innsatstyrke Derby. Dette er en direkte følge av 22. juli 2011. Relasjonene mellom de militære avdelingene er i stor grad forbedret som en direkte følge av terroren i 2011. Samarbeidet mellom Garden og HV-02 på den ene siden, og OPD på den andre er i liten grad endret. Det var bra før 2011, og er fortsatt bra

Creation of a Robust Company: A case-study of the Face2Face group

Gjennom denne oppgaven ønsker jeg å belyse muligheter for selskaper å forberede seg på utfordringer tilknyttet nødvendige organisatoriske endringer som en følge av vekst. Når et selskap vokser vil også de administrative behovene vokse. I tjenesteytende selskaper er antall ansatte ofte tett knyttet sammen med selskapets omsetning. Det er selskapets ansatte som står for tjenestene som leveres, dermed er det også disse ansatte som står for generering av inntekter i selskapet. Et tjenesteytende selskap som vokser vil ofte være et selskap som opplever en økt mengde ansatte, samtidig som de opplever en økning i omsetningen. Profittgraden i selskapet er derimot helt avhengig av hvor effektivt selskapet klarer å håndtere denne veksten. Flere ansatte og høyere omsetning betyr ikke automatisk et resultat som viser høyere lønnsomhet. Funnene jeg har gjort i denne oppgaven viser en situasjon i et selskap som ser ut til å ha større fokus på nettopp økt omsetning sammenlignet med lønnsomheten. Kanskje det er feil å si at fokuset ikke er på lønnsomheten, men det virker å være tydelig at selskapets fokus på omsetning og øvrige forhold er i ubalanse. Forhold som ansattes tillitt til ledelse, forståelse for sammenhenger mellom avdelinger, ledelsens syn på behov for kompetanseutvikling internt og mer, kan antyde forhold med rom for vesentlig forbedring. Dette viser flere teorier til at er forhold som kan påvirke effektiviteten i en organisasjon negativt. Spesielt ettersom en organisasjon vokser seg større, der behovet for en mer strukturert og profesjonell linje også vokser seg større. Jeg ønsker å bruke aktuell teori opp mot eksempler fra Face2Face konsernets utvikling, for å få innblikk i utfordringer skapt av vekst og hvordan disse utfordringene kan håndteres eller om mulig unngås. Mine funn i denne avhandlingen indikerer at mange av disse utfordringene kan håndteres ved å endre mentaliteten hos selskapets ansatte og ledere. Det er personene et selskap består av, som utgjør selskapet som en organisasjon og ikke omvendt. Jeg vil forsøke å vise hvordan et selskap kan organisere seg slik at de kan møte enhver utfordring forberedt ved å praktisere Peter M. Senges ”fem disipliner”.With this paper, I wish to highlight possibilities for companies to prepare for the challenges associated with the necessary organizational changes as a result of growth. When a company grows, then the administrative needs also grows. In service-companies the number of employees are often closely linked with the company's revenue. The company's employees are responsible for deliverance of the services the company offers, thus it is also those employees that are creating the revenue in the company. A service company that is growing will often be a company that is experiencing an increasing amount of employees, while also experiencing an increase in turnover with employees. The profit-ratio of the company however, is entirely dependent on how effectively the company is able to handle growth. More staff and higher revenue does not automatically mean higher profitability. My findings in this study shows a situation with a company that seems to have a greater focus on increased sales compared to profitability. Perhaps it is wrong to say that the focus on profitability is absent, but it seems to be clear that the company's focus on sales and other factors are out of balance. Factors like employee-confidence in management, understanding between departments, the management's perception of the need for developing skills internally and more, shows signs of circumstances where there is room for substantial improvement. Several theories refer to factors that may affect the effectiveness of an organization negatively. Especially as an organization grows larger, where the need for a more structured and professional line also grows larger. I want to use current theory in the examples from Face2Face Group's development, to gain insight into the challenges created by growth and how these challenges can be managed or avoided if possible. My findings in this thesis indicate that many of these challenges can be met by changing the mentality of the company's employees and managers. It is the people in a company that makes the company an organization, not vice versa. I will attempt to show how a company can organize themselves to a degree were they are prepared to meet any challenge, this by practicing Peter M. Senges' “five disciplines”.M-E

Ecology of the African maize stalk borer, Bussolea fusca (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) with special reference to insect-plant interactions

Busseola fusca (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an important pest of maize and sorghum in sub-Saharan Africa. One century after its first description by Fuller in 1901, inaccurate information based on earlier reports are still propagated on its distribution (e.g., absent from the lower altitudes in East Africa) and host plant range (e.g., feeding on a large range of wild grass species). This review provides updated information on the biology, distribution and genetics of B. fusca with emphasis on insect-plant interactions. Related to this, new avenues of stem borer management are proposed

On the Existence and Uniqueness of Equilibrium in the Bottleneck Model with Atomic Users

This paper investigates the existence and uniqueness of equilibrium in the Vickrey bottleneck model when each user controls a positive fraction of total traffic. Users simultaneously choose departure schedules for their vehicle fleets. Each user internalizes the congestion cost that each of its vehicles imposes on other vehicles in its fleet. We establish three results. First, a pure strategy Nash equilibrium (PSNE) may not exist. Second, if a PSNE does exist, identical users may incur appreciably different equilibrium costs. Finally, a multiplicity of PSNE can exist in which no queuing occurs but departures begin earlier or later than in the system optimum. The order in which users depart can be suboptimal as well. Nevertheless, by internalizing self-imposed congestion costs individual users can realize much, and possibly all, of the potential cost savings from either centralized traffic control or time-varying congestion tolls

A Dicke Type Model for Equilibrium BEC Superradiance

We study the effect of electromagnetic radiation on the condensate of a Bose gas. In an earlier paper we considered the problem for two simple models showing the cooperative effect between Bose-Einstein condensation and superradiance. In this paper we formalise the model suggested by Ketterle et al in which the Bose condensate particles have a two level structure. We present a soluble microscopic Dicke type model describing a thermodynamically stable system. We find the equilibrium states of the system and compute the thermodynamic functions giving explicit formulae expressing the cooperative effect between Bose-Einstein condensation and superradiance

Influence of temperature on intra- and interspecific resource utilization within a community of lepidopteran maize stemborers

Competition or facilitation characterises intra-and interspecific interactions within communities of species that utilize the same resources. Temperature is an important factor influencing those interactions and eventual outcomes. The noctuid stemborers, Busseola fusca and Sesamia calamistis and the crambid Chilo partellus attack maize in sub-Saharan Africa. They often occur as a community of interacting species in the same field and plant at all elevations. The influence of temperature on the intra-and interspecific interactions among larvae of these species, was studied using potted maize plants exposed to varying temperatures in a greenhouse and artificial stems kept at different constant temperatures (15 degrees C, 20 degrees C, 25 degrees C and 30 degrees C) in an incubator. The experiments involved single-and multispecies infestation treatments. Survival and relative growth rates of each species were assessed. Both intra-and interspecific competitions were observed among all three species. Interspecific competition was stronger between the noctuids and the crambid than between the two noctuids. Temperature affected both survival and relative growth rates of the three species. Particularly at high temperatures, C. partellus was superior in interspecific interactions shown by higher larval survival and relative growth rates. In contrast, low temperatures favoured survival of B. fusca and S. calamistis but affected the relative growth rates of all three species. Survival and relative growth rates of B. fusca and S. calamistis in interspecific interactions did not differ significantly across temperatures. Temperature increase caused by future climate change is likely to confer an advantage on C. partellus over the noctuids in the utilization of resources (crops)

Lie-Trotter Splitting for the Nonlinear Stochastic Manakov System

This article analyses the convergence of the Lie-Trotter splitting scheme for the stochastic Manakov equation, a system arising in the study of pulse propagation in randomly birefringent optical fibers. First, we prove that the strong order of the numerical approximation is 1/2 if the nonlinear term in the system is globally Lipschitz. Then, we show that the splitting scheme has convergence order 1/2 in probability and almost sure order 1/2- in the case of a cubic nonlinearity. We provide several numerical experiments illustrating the aforementioned results and the efficiency of the Lie-Trotter splitting scheme. Finally, we numerically investigate the possible blowup of solutions for some power-law nonlinearities

CFT/CFT interpolating RG flows and the holographic c-function

We consider holographic RG flows which interpolate between non-trivial ultra-violet (UV) and infra-red (IR) conformal fixed points. We study the ``superpotentials'' which characterize different flows and discuss their expansions near the fixed points. Then we focus on the holographic $c$-function as defined from the two-point function of the stress-energy tensor. We point out that the equation for the metric fluctuations in the background flow is equivalent to a scattering problem and we use this to obtain an expression for the $c$-function in terms of the associated Jost functions. We propose two explicit models that realize UV-IR flows. In the first example we consider a thin wall separating two AdS spaces with different radii, while in the second one the UV region is replaced with an asymptotically AdS space. We find that the holographic $c$-function obeys the expected properties. In particular it reduces to the correct -- nonzero -- central charge in the IR limit.Comment: 20 pages, discussion at the end of sec. 3 and sec. 4.1 change

Reduction of airspace after lung resection through controlled paralysis of the diaphragm

Objectives: Residual airspace following thoracic resections is a common clinical problem. Persistent air leak, prolonged drainage time, and reduced hemostasis extend hospital stay and morbidity. We report a trial of pharmacologic-induced diaphragmatic paralysis through continuous paraphrenic injection of lidocaine to reduced residual airspace. The objectives were confirmation of diaphragmatic paralysis and possible procedure related complications. Methods: Six eligible patients undergoing resectional surgery (lobectomy or bilobectomy) were included. Inclusion criteria consisted of: postoperative predicted FEV1 greater than 1300ml, right-sided resection, absence of parenchymal lung disease, no class III antiarrhythmic therapy, absence of hypersensitivity reactions to lidocaine, no signs of infection, and informed consent. Upon completion of resection an epidural catheter was attached in the periphrenic tissue on the proximal pericardial surface, externalized through a separate parasternal incision, and connected to a perfusing system injecting lidocaine 1% at a rate of 3ml/h (30mg/h). Postoperative ICU surveillance for 24h and daily measurement of vital signs, drainage output, and bedside spirometry were performed. Within 48h fluoroscopic confirmation of diaphragmatic paralysis was obtained. The catheter removal coincided with the chest tube removal when no procedural related complications occurred. Results: None of the patients reported respiratory impairment. Diaphragmatic paralysis was documented in all patients. Upon removal of catheter or discontinuation of lidocaine prompt return of diaphragmatic motility was noticed. Two patients showed postoperative hemodynamic irrelevant atrial fibrillation. Conclusion: Postoperative paraphrenic catheter administration of lidocaine to ensure reversible diaphragmatic paralysis is safe and reproducible. Further studies have to assess a benefit in terms of reduction in morbidity, drainage time, and hospital stay, and determine the patients who will profi