Approximating Holant problems by winding

We give an FPRAS for Holant problems with parity constraints and not-all-equal constraints, a generalisation of the problem of counting sink-free-orientations. The approach combines a sampler for near-assignments of "windable" functions -- using the cycle-unwinding canonical paths technique of Jerrum and Sinclair -- with a bound on the weight of near-assignments. The proof generalises to a larger class of Holant problems; we characterise this class and show that it cannot be extended by expressibility reductions. We then ask whether windability is equivalent to expressibility by matchings circuits (an analogue of matchgates), and give a positive answer for functions of arity three

UCL (University College London) Libraries Masterplan: Masterplanning Report

BDP were appointed to undertake a Masterplan for the UCL Main Library and the UCL Science Library and to identify how these buildings could be re-ordered to significantly improve the quality of the library environment and to facilitate the delivery of library services. An initial brief was agreed with UCL’s Estates Management Committee and a Masterplan Steering Group established including academic representatives, library staff and design consultants. To inform the development of this brief, UCL Library Services undertook a number of consultation exercises with users of the Library; students, academic staff and external users, together with Library staff. A number of visits to exemplar library buildings in the UK and continental Europe were also undertaken to inform the development of options for the buildings. Following the development and review of initial options for both the Main Library and Science Library, it was agreed a further, hypothetical New Build Central Library Option should be reviewed, to accommodate a relocated and consolidated library service encompassing 7 of the 16 existing libraries currently distributed across the UCL Estate

Inverkip power station

Architectural review of Inverkip Power Station. Inverkip power station is an oil-fired power station located on the eastern shore of the Firth of Clyde on the west coast of Scotland - between Inverkip and Wemyss Bay in Inverclyde. The coastal location meant the station could draw its cooling water from the sea, obviating the need for the large parabolic towers normally associated with such installations. Resultantly, the most imposing feature of the station is its 778 foot (236 m) high chimney - the third tallest chimney in the UK, and Scotland's tallest freestanding structure

Building the foundations of professional expertise: creating a dialectic between work and formal learning

Recent critiques of management and teacher education curricula and teaching pay particular attention to the disconnection between the de-contextualised, formal knowledge and analytical techniques conveyed in university programs and the messy, ill-structured nature of practice. At the same time research into professional expertise suggests that its development requires bringing together different forms of knowledge and the integration of formal and non-formal learning with the development of cognitive flexibility. Such complex learning outcomes are unlikely to be achieved through a 'knowledge transmission' approach to curriculum design. In this article we argue that in many ways current higher education practices create barriers to developing ways of knowing which can underpin the formation of expertise. Using examples from two practice-focused distance learning courses, we explore the role of distance learning in enabling a dialogue between academic and workplace learning and the use of 'practice dialogues' among course participants to enable integration of learning experiences. Finally, we argue that we need to find ways in higher education of enabling students to engage in relevant communities of expertise, rather than drawing them principally into a community of academic discourse which is not well aligned with practice

A colour-based building recognition using support vector machine

Many applications apply the concept of image recognition to help human in recognising objects simply by just using digital images. A content-based building recognition system could solve the problem of using just text as search input. In this paper, a building recognition system using colour histogram is proposed for recognising buildings in Ipoh city, Perak, Malaysia. The colour features of each building image will be extracted. A feature vector combining the mean, standard deviation, variance, skewness and kurtosis of gray level will be formed to represent each building image. These feature values are later used to train the system using supervised learning algorithm, which is Support Vector Machine (SVM). Lastly, the accuracy of the recognition system is evaluated using 10-fold cross validation. The evaluation results show that the building recognition system is well trained and able to effectively recognise the building images with low misclassification rate

BRB Newsletter, Fall 2013

This issue features: Updates - Featured Story: Our New Home, American Society of Biomechanics Meting, Nonlinear Workshop 2013, European Nonlinear Workshop, and Staff Updates; Projects - VA Peripheral Arterial Disease, Motor Development, Optical Topography System, Effects of Virtual Reality, Virtual Reality, Robotic Surgery, Sports Medicine, Amputee, Proof of Concept Grant, Lateral Stepping, The Marriage of Music and Math, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, Balance, NASA Grant, Back Pain Research, and Faculty Research International Grants. Other Content - Other Visitors/Tours, Student Awards, Travels, and Campaign for Nebraska.https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/nbcfnewsletter/1010/thumbnail.jp

Biomechanics Annual Report, Fall 2014

This annual report features: Letter from the Directer; COBRE Grant Press Release Updates - Our New Building; Visitors; Moving on Up; Why Choose BRB as a Student?; Where Are They Now?; From the Bench to the Market Projects - Neuroscience; NASA: Stimulation of the Sensory System; Motor Development; Variability Studies; Path Integration; Peripheral Artery Disease and Aging Other Content - Beyond our Borders; Journal Club; Awards; Faculty Travels; Conferences; NE Science Fest; Campaign for Nebraskahttps://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/nbcfnewsletter/1011/thumbnail.jp

Long Term Mitigation Scenarios: Strategic Options for South Africa

The focus of this document is mitigation: if South Africa takes the decision to mitigate, then this document addresses how to determine the options, the emissions reductions achieved by these options, and the attendant costs of each option. How, then, is South Africa to grow and develop in order to reduce poverty, while at the same time retooling its economy in order to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions

Building a Cleaner World

Korupsi dalam artian luas telah menembus semua zona dan lapisan hidup sosialmasyarakat. Suburnya korupsi mencerminkan lemahnya suatu sistem pemerintahan yangmemungkinkan tindakan koruptif yang merugikan banyak orang. Ketidakadilan dalamdunia hukum memperlebar peluang untuk berkorupsi. Apakah korupsi memasukilembaga-lembaga keagamaan? Apakah mereka yang terjun dalam dunia keagamaan(departemen pemerintah dan non-pemerintah) juga terlibat dalam dunia korupsi? Tulisanini berusaha menggali Kenyataan dalam dunia keagamaan