A simplified general circulation model for a baroclinic ocean with topography. Part I: Theory, waves and wind-driven circulations

A new type of ocean circulation model is described and tested for various simplewind-driven circulation problems. The model resides on the vorticity balance ofthe depth averaged velocity and a hierarchy of balance equations for thevertical moments of baroclinic velocity and density, the lowest density momentbeing the baroclinic potential energy. The latter is the most importantdynamical link between the barotropic and the baroclinic motion in the presenceof a sloping topography. We derive a coupled hierarchy of tendency equations forthe potential energy and higher order density moments which, together withmoments for the baroclinic velocities and an appropriate truncation and thebarotropic vorticity balance yields in a simplified set of vertical integratedequations describing the BARotropic-Baroclinic-Interaction (BARBI) of motions inthe ocean. Using a numerical implementation of BARBI, idealized companionexperiments with a full primitive equation model (MOM) show that wavepropagation properties and baroclinic adjustments are correctly represented inBARBI in mid latitudes as well as in equatorial latitudes. Furthermore, a set ofexperiments with a realistic application to the Atlantic/Southern Ocean systemreadily reveals important aspects which have been previously reported by studiesof gyre circulations and circumpolar currents using full primitive equationmodels

Approximately Counting Triangles in Sublinear Time

We consider the problem of estimating the number of triangles in a graph. This problem has been extensively studied in both theory and practice, but all existing algorithms read the entire graph. In this work we design a {\em sublinear-time\/} algorithm for approximating the number of triangles in a graph, where the algorithm is given query access to the graph. The allowed queries are degree queries, vertex-pair queries and neighbor queries. We show that for any given approximation parameter $0<\epsilon<1$, the algorithm provides an estimate $\widehat{t}$ such that with high constant probability, $(1-\epsilon)\cdot t< \widehat{t}<(1+\epsilon)\cdot t$, where $t$ is the number of triangles in the graph $G$. The expected query complexity of the algorithm is $\!\left(\frac{n}{t^{1/3}} + \min\left\{m, \frac{m^{3/2}}{t}\right\}\right)\cdot {\rm poly}(\log n, 1/\epsilon)$, where $n$ is the number of vertices in the graph and $m$ is the number of edges, and the expected running time is $\!\left(\frac{n}{t^{1/3}} + \frac{m^{3/2}}{t}\right)\cdot {\rm poly}(\log n, 1/\epsilon)$. We also prove that $\Omega\!\left(\frac{n}{t^{1/3}} + \min\left\{m, \frac{m^{3/2}}{t}\right\}\right)$ queries are necessary, thus establishing that the query complexity of this algorithm is optimal up to polylogarithmic factors in $n$ (and the dependence on $1/\epsilon$).Comment: To appear in the 56th Annual IEEE Symposium on Foundations of Computer Science (FOCS 2015

The Impact of Fiscal Restraint on Budgetary Allocations for Women's Programs

How did the fiscal restraints exercised during the time of fiscal difficulties in 1997-2003 affect the gender/women-targeted programs of the Philippine government? What does a close scrutiny of the government budget reveal regarding the implicit gender implications of such restraints? Manasan and Villanueva disclose some of their findings.budget analysis, gender analysis, women's programs

Looking Closely on Who Benefits from Public Subsidies in Health Care: a Gender Perspective

Do men benefit more than women from government expenditures in health care? Or do women have the upper hand? Using a sex-differentiated incidence analysis of the various Department of Health program expenditures, this Notes' authors assess who indeed benefits from such expenditures in terms of gender. And why.gender, benefit incidence analysis, gender analysis, public spending in health, sex-differentiated incidence analysis

Negotiation in strategy making teams : group support systems and the process of cognitive change

This paper reports on the use of a Group Support System (GSS) to explore at a micro level some of the processes manifested when a group is negotiating strategy-processes of social and psychological negotiation. It is based on data from a series of interventions with senior management teams of three operating companies comprising a multi-national organization, and with a joint meeting subsequently involving all of the previous participants. The meetings were concerned with negotiating a new strategy for the global organization. The research involved the analysis of detailed time series data logs that exist as a result of using a GSS that is a reflection of cognitive theory

Integrating modes of policy analysis and strategic management practice : requisite elements and dilemmas

There is a need to bring methods to bear on public problems that are inclusive, analytic, and quick. This paper describes the efforts of three pairs of academics working from three different though complementary theoretical foundations and intervention backgrounds (i.e., ways of working) who set out together to meet this challenge. Each of the three pairs had conducted dozens of interventions that had been regarded as successful or very successful by the client groups in dealing with complex policy and strategic problems. One approach focused on leadership issues and stakeholders, another on negotiating competitive strategic intent with attention to stakeholder responses, and the third on analysis of feedback ramifications in developing policies. This paper describes the 10 year longitudinal research project designed to address the above challenge. The important outcomes are reported: the requisite elements of a general integrated approach and the enduring puzzles and tensions that arose from seeking to design a wide-ranging multi-method approach

Provable and practical approximations for the degree distribution using sublinear graph samples

The degree distribution is one of the most fundamental properties used in the analysis of massive graphs. There is a large literature on graph sampling, where the goal is to estimate properties (especially the degree distribution) of a large graph through a small, random sample. The degree distribution estimation poses a significant challenge, due to its heavy-tailed nature and the large variance in degrees. We design a new algorithm, SADDLES, for this problem, using recent mathematical techniques from the field of sublinear algorithms. The SADDLES algorithm gives provably accurate outputs for all values of the degree distribution. For the analysis, we define two fatness measures of the degree distribution, called the $h$-index and the $z$-index. We prove that SADDLES is sublinear in the graph size when these indices are large. A corollary of this result is a provably sublinear algorithm for any degree distribution bounded below by a power law. We deploy our new algorithm on a variety of real datasets and demonstrate its excellent empirical behavior. In all instances, we get extremely accurate approximations for all values in the degree distribution by observing at most $1\%$ of the vertices. This is a major improvement over the state-of-the-art sampling algorithms, which typically sample more than $10\%$ of the vertices to give comparable results. We also observe that the $h$ and $z$-indices of real graphs are large, validating our theoretical analysis.Comment: Longer version of the WWW 2018 submissio