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In this paper, we study the efficacy of several mathematical programming formulations for the single-source shortest path problem, the negative cost cycle detection problem, and the shortest negative cost cycle problem in arc-dependent networks. In an arc-dependent network, the cost of an arc a depends upon the arc preceding a. These networks differ from traditional networks in which the cost associated with an arc is a fixed constant and part of the input. Arc-dependent networks are useful for modeling a number of real-world problems, such as the turn-penalty shortest path problem, which cannot be captured in the traditional network setting. We present new integer and non-linear programming formulations for each problem. We also perform the first known empirical study for arc-dependent networks to contrast the execution times of the two formulations on a set of graphs with varying families and sizes. Our experiments indicate that although non-linear programming formulations are more compact, integer programming formulations are more efficient for the problems studied in this paper. Additionally, we introduce a number of cuts for each integer programming formulation and examine their effectiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immersive technology plays an increasingly important role in design education, supporting digital literacy and experiential learning in higher education, particularly in the post-COVID-19 context. Many design disciplines, such as Architecture and Landscape Design, which used to rely heavily on physical field trips, and dialogic studios as signature pedagogies, had to adapt to the proliferation of innovative educational technologies due to the suspension of face-to-face teaching and learning. Augmented reality and virtual reality are now extensively used in technology and design education to support a more interactive, collaborative, and student-centred approach to learning. This paper expands on a pilot research study on the transition from traditional signature pedagogies of studio-based design education to technology-enhanced collaborative learning to support experiential learning. Based on Kolb's experiential learning framework concerning four learning modes, namely, concrete experience (CE), reflective observation (RO), abstract conceptualisation (AC), and active experimentation (AE), this paper analyses data from 75 undergraduate students across four cohorts in three different higher education institutions in Hong Kong. They were surveyed on their experiences of synchronous hybrid virtual experiential learning with design and technology curricula. Furthermore, six students were interviewed about their experiences. The research findings confirm two research hypotheses showing that immersive experiential learning could constructively align RO and AE, thus bringing an overall positive impact on the experiential learning process, but shows no conclusive influence on promoting CE, especially AC. The quantitative findings and qualitative results gave new insights into the discussion of the theoretical and practical implications of the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the impact of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) on China's political influence in international affairs, as mediated by Chinese economic integration with the BRI countries. We propose that the BRI plays a role in influencing partner countries to support China's presence in the international community, and the economic integration of the BRI positively mediates the willingness of partner countries to align with China in international affairs. This paper uses panel data from 147 BRI countries collected between 2009 and 2020, and the difference-in-differences method, to estimate the political influence of the BRI. The results suggest that the BRI motivates partner countries to support the growth of China's influence in international affairs. The results of the causal mechanism analysis indicate that a significant and positive association between the implementation of the BRI and China's influence is mediated by promoting Chinese contracts, trade overseas, and outward FDI. The examinations of heterogeneity demonstrate that BRI countries that are developing, non-landlocked, non-neighboring, having signed the memorandum of understanding or cooperation memorandum of understanding, or lacking a Chinese investment guide are more likely to support China's political presence. This paper concludes with insights into how China implements the BRI to enhance its political ascent in the global order by facilitating economic integration of the BRI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The integration of normative analysis with empirical data often remains unclear despite the availability of many empirical bioethics methodologies. This paper sought bioethics scholars' experiences and reflections of doing empirical bioethics research to feed these practical insights into the debate on methods. We interviewed twenty-six participants who revealed their process of integrating the normative and the empirical. From the analysis of the data, we first used the themes to identify the methodological content. That is, we show participants' use of familiar methods explained as "back-and-forth" methods (reflective equilibrium), followed by dialogical methods where collaboration was seen as a better way of doing integration. Thereafter, we highlight methods that were deemed as inherent integration approaches, where the normative and the empirical were intertwined from the start of the research project. Second, we used the themes to express not only how we interpreted what was said but also how things were said. In this, we describe an air of uncertainty and overall vagueness that surrounded the above methods. We conclude that the indeterminacy of integration methods is a double-edged sword. It allows for flexibility but also risks obscuring a lack of understanding of the theoretical-methodological underpinnings of empirical bioethics research methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past decade, Convergence Research has increasingly gained prominence as a research, development, and innovation (RDI) strategy to address grand societal challenges. However, a dearth of research-based evidence is available to aid researchers, research teams, and institutions with navigating the complexities attendant to the specifics of Convergence Research. This paper presents a multilevel research agenda that accounts for an integral understanding of Convergence Research as a complex adaptive system. Furthermore, by developing a framework that accounts for ancillary, yet essential, systems associated with Convergence Research, we enrich the agenda with a literature-steeped discussion that considers how systems-based practices of collaboration, inquiry, and context interact with the processes and products of Convergence Research. Finally, we synthesize and apply insights from the reviewed literature by providing paths for empirical exploration emphasizing systems-based practices. In so doing, we delineate an extended boundary for a research stream that both clarifies and enlarges our understanding of Convergence Research as a 'system-of-systems'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Burden is one of the major influencing blast design parameters which should be optimised for the extraction of narrow vein ore bodies. Numerical simulation-based approach has been used for the optimisation of burden in this paper. Different models were prepared under varying parametric conditions including width of the vein, blasthole diameter and burden. The RHT concrete constitutive model was used for the analysis of damage contour. The volume of the excavated rock along the free face (EV) was quantified from the model output in all the scenario. The study showed that EV initially increases with the increase in burden for a particular width of vein. Furthermore, EV starts decreasing after a point termed as pivot point. The value of burden at this pivot point was considered as optimal in this study. The best fit curve between EV and burden for three blasthole diameter and seven different width of vein were plotted. In all instances, the outputs of the model followed the second-degree polynomial equation. The study also suggests that the optimum burden reduces with the increase in the width of the vein. It has also been found that the optimum burden follows power trend with the increase in width of the ore body irrespective of blasthole diameter. Based on the optimum burden obtained from the output of simulation along with different blasthole diameter and width of the ore body, an empirical relationship has been established. The developed empirical relationship has a good agreement with the experimental trial data. Highlights: Numerical simulation technique has been used in this paper for the optimisation of burden while extraction of narrow vein stopes. The study suggest that the relation of volume of the excavated rock along the free face and burden is second-degree polynomial in nature. It has been found that the optimum burden for narrow vein is higher as compared to wider width ore body. Study also suggest that optimum burden follows power trend with the increase in width of ore body. The influence of width of the ore body in the selection of burden vanishes after certain width of ore body as per the observation of model output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: In this paper we review the current literature on the clinical problem that some patients do not achieve response after adequately conducted psychotherapy. We explicate our understanding of nonresponse and treatment resistance including the operational definitions, summarize the theoretical explanations and empirical studies and put forward possible study designs and treatment options. Methods: Literature search using PubMed and Web of Science. Results: For the domain of psychotherapy, the term treatment resistance does not seem appropriate; instead, we use the more descriptive terms nonresponse and recurrent nonresponse. Generally, this topic is far less represented in psychotherapy than in pharmacotherapy. Controlled switching studies with a switch from pharmacotherapy to psychotherapy are rare and those switching from one psychotherapeutic approach to another are nearly nonexistent. Building on clinical considerations, we propose a flow-chart for clinical decision making after nonresponse in psychotherapy. Discussion: Learning from errors is highly beneficial. This principle should be more consistently followed up in psychotherapy research as well as in supervision and training. Guidelines should include consensual and evidence-based advice on how to deal with nonresponse and recurring nonresponse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within the burgeoning doctoral mobility scholarship, inhabiting an entwined international and doctoral student status has been argued to render the PhD enterprise peculiarly challenging for candidates. Nonetheless, recognizing that this academic population has a relatively higher level of maturity and sophistication, research has increasingly turned attention to their agency exercised in navigating the international PhD experience. Notwithstanding the surge of research adopting this agential lens, a clear and integrated knowledge of what precisely constitutes agency has yet to surface. To address this concern, we systematically reviewed 28 papers wherein references to the agency of international doctoral students have been explicitly present. The results reveal that agency has more often appeared as an epiphenomenal phenomenon than being prioritized as a focal research object across the literature. For this reason, the characterization of agency as a static human property has been found to take dominance and evidence to the varying individual and structural influences over students' agentic actions are largely bereft of theoretical underpinnings. Furthermore, while enacting agency has been substantively cited to induce individuals' development and change, there are few testimonies to the difference it makes on social and cultural structures that have commonly transpired as constraints. Informed by the findings, we outline a research agenda serving to promote the central empirical investigation and the fluid conceptualization of student agency in the international academic mobility context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a novel approach to formulate efficient ratio estimator of the population variance using a transformed auxiliary variable. The impact of transformation on auxiliary information has also been discussed. It is observed that incorporating a transformed auxiliary variable result in a high gain in efficiency. Theoretical properties of the newly developed estimators have been derived. The empirical and simulation studies show that the suggested estimators outperformed the existing estimators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All-optical plasmonic switches (AOPSs) utilizing surface plasmon polaritons are well-suited for integration into photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and play a crucial role in advancing all-optical signal processing. The current AOPS design methods still rely on trial-and-error or empirical approaches. In contrast, recent deep learning (DL) advances have proven highly effective as computational tools, offering an alternative means to accelerate nanophotonics simulations. This paper proposes an innovative approach utilizing DL for spectrum prediction and inverse design of AOPS. The switches employ circular nonlinear plasmonic ring resonators (NPRRs) composed of interconnected metal–insulator–metal waveguides with a ring resonator. The NPRR switching performance is shown using the nonlinear Kerr effect. The forward model presented in this study demonstrates superior computational efficiency when compared to the finite-difference time-domain method. The model analyzes various structural parameters to predict transmission spectra with a distinctive dip. Inverse modeling enables the prediction of design parameters for desired transmission spectra. This model provides a rapid estimation of design parameters, offering a clear advantage over time-intensive conventional optimization approaches. The loss of prediction for both the forward and inverse models, when compared to simulations, is exceedingly low and on the order of 10−4. The results confirm the suitability of employing DL for forward and inverse design of AOPSs in PICs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A systematic correlation is established between the axial load-carrying capacity of the socketed piles and empirical methods. The axial load-carrying capabilities were calculated with the help of pile load tests for ten single piles in Navi Mumbai, India. Pile load tests were carried out to evaluate the skin friction and base resistance in overlying soil and rock. The test results of axially loaded bored piles socketed into the rock are mentioned in this paper. The pile socket involved rocks of various strengths such as gypsum, limestone, and basalt. In reality, axial capacity is calculated from skin friction of the pile, which occurs owing to a very small settlement in the rock socket. The unconfined compressive strength of the rock is collected from the laboratory test. The load-bearing capability of the socketed piles is determined using several empirical methods, which are usually evaluated by a back-assessment of the in-situ pile load test. However, the significant load-carrying capacity values derived from empirical correlations are found to be reasonably good compared with those estimated from pile load tests. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

IRTree models have been receiving increasing attention. However, to date, there are limited sources that provide a systematic introduction to Bayesian modeling techniques using modern probabilistic programming frameworks for the implementation of IRTree models. To facilitate the research and application of IRTree models, this paper introduces how to perform two families of Bayesian IRTree models (i.e., response tree models and latent tree models) in Stan and how to extend them in an explanatory way. Some suggestions on executing Stan codes and checking convergence are also provided. An empirical study based on the Oxford Achieving Resilience during COVID-19 data was conducted as an example to further illustrate how to apply Bayesian IRTree models to address research questions. Finally, strengths and future directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We propose a novel approach to retirement risk and its measurement. We define retirement risk as a shortfall of financial resources to meet the needs of a retiree's household, which is different from the inability to maintain a standard of living in retirement. Taking a subjective approach to risk, we operationalise it using the Leyden approach to estimate the minimum satisfactory income for a retiree household and compare it to the pension value. Using a logistic regression model, we estimate the effect of pension value and household and reference person characteristics. The retirement risk level strongly depends on the pension value, household composition, and the reference person's education attainment level, which also moderates the impact of the pension. This paper contributes to the literature by proposing a subjective retirement risk measurement method and offering a methodological tool that can be used with similar data from other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although initially plausible, the view that moral education should aim at the transmission of moral knowledge has been subject to severe criticism. In this context, one particularly prominent line of argumentation rests on the empirical observation that moral questions are subject to widespread and robust disagreement. In this paper, I would like to discuss the implications of moral disagreement for the goals of moral education in more detail. I will start by laying out the empirical and philosophical assumptions behind the idea that widespread and robust moral disagreement undermines the prospects of transmitting moral knowledge in educational settings. Having thus provided a specific interpretation of the epistemic dynamics behind this so-called 'challenge of disagreement', I will proceed by discussing its didactical implications. More specifically, I will defend two claims: first, I will argue that the challenge of disagreement is not an effective challenge, because it undermines the possibility of knowledge transfer only with respect to a limited set of moral propositions. Second, I will argue that the challenge of disagreement is not a specific challenge, because the epistemically destructive effects of moral disagreement also pose a challenge for other prominent accounts of moral education that were originally proposed as promising alternatives to knowledge transmission accounts. If convincing, my arguments show that knowledge transmission accounts of moral education are in a much better position than is usually expected to incorporate the fact that moral questions are notoriously controversial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of reasoning skills is often regarded as a central goal of ethics and philosophy classes in school education. In light of recent studies from the field of moral psychology, however, it could be objected that the promotion of such skills might fail to meet another important objective, namely the moral education of students. In this paper, I will argue against such pessimism by suggesting that the fostering of reasoning skills can still contribute to the aims of moral education. To do so, I will engage with the concept of moral education, point out different ways in which reasoning skills play an essential role in it, and support these considerations by appealing to further empirical studies. My conclusion will be that the promotion of ethical reasoning skills fulfils two important aims of moral education: First, it enables students to critically reflect on their ethical beliefs. Second, it allows them to explore ethical questions in a joint conversation with others. Lastly, I will refer to education in the field of sustainable development in order to exemplify the importance of these abilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A plausible view about the epistemic condition of blameworthiness holds the following. Reasonable Expectation (RE): S's state of ignorance excuses iff S could not have been reasonably expected to have corrected or avoided the ignorance. An important, yet underexplored issue for RE concerns cases where an agent had the capacities and opportunities to have corrected or avoided the state of ignorance yet failed to do because of the difficulty involved. When does the fact that it was difficult for the agent to have corrected or avoided the ignorance make an expectation to have done so an unreasonable expectation? Addressing this question is important for understanding what RE implies for a broad range of interesting cases where non-ideal agents out in the real world are ignorant because of commonplace difficulties (e.g., cognitive biases, complexity of large bodies of evidence, and misinformation). Whether commonplace difficulties excuse is an interesting and important topic that a satisfactory account of the epistemic condition needs to address. This paper proposes and defends an irreducibly normative account of when difficulty precludes a reasonable expectation to know better. The paper then shows how this account can be used alongside empirical research to reveal what RE implies for important cases of ignorance had by real non-ideal agents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Compensation mechanisms and multiplier effects may affect productivity losses due to illness, disability, or premature death of individuals. Hence, they are important in estimating productivity losses and productivity costs in the context of economic evaluations of health interventions. This paper presents a systematic literature review of papers focusing on compensation mechanisms and multiplier effects, as well as whether and how they are included in health economic evaluations. Methods: The systematic literature search was performed covering EconLit and PubMed. A data-extraction form was developed focusing on compensation mechanisms and multiplier effects. Results: A total of 26 studies were included. Of these, 15 were empirical studies, three studies were methodological studies, two studies combined methodological research with empirical research, four were critical reviews, one study was a critical review combined with methodological research, and one study was a cost–benefit analysis. No uniform definition of compensation mechanisms and multiplier effects was identified. The terminology used to describe compensation mechanisms and multiplier effects varied as well. While the included studies suggest that both multipliers as well as compensation mechanisms substantially impact productivity cost estimates, the available evidence is scarce. Moreover, the generalizability as well as validity of assumptions underlying the calculations are unclear. Available measurement methods for compensation mechanisms and multiplier effects differ in approaches and are hardly validated. Conclusion: While our review suggests that compensation mechanisms and multiplier effects may have a significant impact on productivity losses and costs, much remains unclear about their features, valid measurement, and correct valuation. This hampers their current inclusion in economic evaluation, and therefore, more research into both phenomena remains warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Various philosophers authors have argued—on the basis of powerful examples—that we can have compelling moral or practical reasons to believe, even when the evidence suggests otherwise. This paper explores an alternative story, which still aims to respect widely shared intuitions about the motivating examples. Specifically, the paper proposes that what is at stake in these cases is not belief, but rather acceptance—an attitude classically characterized as taking a proposition as a premise in practical deliberation and action. I suggest that acceptance's theoretical usefulness in the ethics of belief has been hidden by its psychological obscurity. I thus aim to develop an empirically adequate and mechanistically specific psychological profile of acceptance. I characterize acceptance as centrally involving a cognitive gating function, in which we prevent a target belief state from having its characteristic downstream effects on reasoning, cognition, and action, and restructure those downstream processes. I then argue that there is substantial empirical support for the existence of the cognitive mechanisms needed to instantiate this view, coming from the science of emotion regulation. I argue that acceptance involves deploying the same mechanisms used in emotional response modulation to belief states: acceptance is doxastic response modulation. I then propose that having a better understanding of the psychological profile of acceptance leaves us better positioned to appreciate its potential usefulness for making progress on various puzzles within the ethics of belief. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the open-source runtime verification tool MESA (MEssage-based System Analysis), implemented in Scala, which supports concurrent monitors using the Actor model. Furthermore, the tool supports indexing (slicing) on the data values occurring in data-carrying events, for each individual monitor. The tool is generic in the sense that any monitoring system can be used for creating monitors. In this paper, we use the internal Scala DSL Daut for programming such data-parameterized state machines and temporal logic. To illustrate MESA/Daut, we present a case study that monitors flights from live U.S. airspace data streams, verifying that they conform to planned routes. With base in the case study, we then perform an extensive empirical study of the potential benefits from monitoring slices of a single property in concurrently executing actors. Due to the overhead of scheduling "small" actors (one for each slice or a small number of slices), it is not obvious that concurrent execution of such is beneficial. However, as a main result, we demonstrate that concurrent monitoring of slices to handle data-carrying events can provide considerable speed gains. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid development of mobile intelligence and wearable computing promotes the rise of quantified-self. Users quantify themselves and realize self-tracking and self-cognition through the connection between mobile phone terminals and wearable computing devices. The characteristics of immersive quantified information design in the convergence mode of mobile intelligence and wearable computing attract many users to immerse into it. Based on the stimulus-body-response (S-O-R) model, this paper constructs an influence mechanism model that affects the immersive experience of quantified-self and adopts empirical research methods. This paper analyzes the influence of the information platform and content characteristics (interaction, ease of use, usefulness, entertainment) of the convergence of mobile intelligence and wearable computing on users' immersive experience of quantified-self and the moderating effect of privacy concern and potential affordance on immersive experience and continuous participation. The results show that interaction, ease of use, usefulness, and entertainment all have a significant impact on users' quantified-self immersive experience, and the influence is in the order of usefulness>ease of use>entertainment>interaction. Potential affordance and privacy concerns play a significant role in regulating the state of immersion and continuous participation. The conclusion of this study not only analyzes the influencing factors of users' immersive experience of quantified-self from the characteristics of the convergence of mobile intelligence and wearable computing but also analyzes the relationship between users' immersive experience of quantified-self and continuous participation from the perspective of potential affordance and privacy concerns. It provides opinions and suggestions for the interaction design and user information management of the convergence of mobile intelligence and wearable computing and has practical reference significance for related enterprises to improve user stickiness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Model-driven engineering (MDE) uses models as first-class artefacts during the software development lifecycle. MDE often relies on domain-specific languages (DSLs) to develop complex systems. The construction of a new DSL implies a deep understanding of a domain, whose relevant knowledge may be scattered in heterogeneous artefacts, like XML documents, (meta-)models, and ontologies, among others. This heterogeneity hampers their reuse during (meta-)modelling processes. Under the hypothesis that reusing heterogeneous knowledge helps in building more accurate models, more efficiently, in previous works we built a (meta-)modelling assistant called Extremo. Extremo represents heterogeneous information sources with a common data model, supports its uniform querying and reusing information chunks for building (meta-)models. To understand how and whether modelling assistants—like Extremo—help in designing a new DSL, we conducted an empirical study, which we report in this paper. In the study, participants had to build a meta-model, and we measured the accuracy of the artefacts, the perceived usability and utility and the time to completion of the task. Interestingly, our results show that using assistance did not lead to faster completion times. However, participants using Extremo were more effective and efficient, produced meta-models with higher levels of completeness and correctness, and overall perceived the assistant as useful. The results are not only relevant to Extremo, but we discuss their implications for future modelling assistants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International higher education branch campuses (IBCs) in China and elsewhere possess dual identity. There are stakeholders on both the home and host sides. While international branch campuses receive scholarly attention, there has been little study of their research and the role of institutional dual identity in research capacity building. This paper develops a conceptual framework that brings the conditions, practices, and outcomes of research together with dual institutional identity, to study research capacity building at NYU Shanghai. Data from 16 semi-structured interviews with academics, administrators, and university leaders indicate that institutional dual identity is central to what the institution has achieved in building research, influencing every aspect of the process. NYU Shanghai's American identity has shaped academic practices and workloads, and NYU's multi-site structure provides significant networks and resources, yet the institution has also adapted to its Chinese identity and local stakeholders. Dual identity has generated policy conflicts and logistical hurdles yet has also opened institutional and academic opportunities unavailable to other US institutions. While every IBC is embedded in a complex and partly unique context, this study suggests a reflexive understanding of research capacity building in such settings, and contributes to empirical knowledge of cross-border institutions, especially in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the national and international geographic mobility paths of young graduates in Italy and their educational and professional trajectories. By departing from the research fields of youth studies, mobility studies and higher education studies, we aim to highlight the multiple meanings and effects that mobility experiences may have in structuring graduates' future projects and/or desires. On the other hand, we argue that their expectations for both their mobility experiences and careers are also shaped by family socialisation, considering furthermore that the building of embodied and scholastic cultural capitals is spatially differentiated depending on the places where they grow up. The empirical research is based on two rounds of semi-narrative interviews conducted with 51 Italian graduates between 2020 and 2021. For the analysis, we have outlined four types of mobility paths. For each type, we focus on how socio-structural and cultural variables influence the ways the interviewees framed their mobility and professional experiences, desires and projects, focusing furthermore on how the Covid-19 pandemic differently affected their objective possibilities and strategies of mobility between the first and second waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have spent decades arguing that policy entrepreneurs, change agents who work individually and in groups to influence the policy process, can be crucial in introducing policy innovation and spurring policy change. How to identify policy entrepreneurs empirically has received less attention. This oversight is consequential because scholars trying to understand when policy entrepreneurs emerge, and why, and what makes them more or less successful, need to be able to identify these change agents reliably and accurately. This paper explores the ways policy entrepreneurs are currently identified and highlights issues with current approaches. We introduce a new technique for eliciting and distinguishing policy entrepreneurs, coupling automated and manual analysis of local news media and a survey of policy entrepreneur candidates. We apply this technique to the empirical case of unconventional oil and gas drilling in Pennsylvania and derive some tentative results concerning factors which increase entrepreneurial efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Archaeologists have explored a wide range of topics regarding archaeological stone tools and their connection to past human lifeways through experimentation. Controlled experimentation systematically quantifies the empirical relationships among different flaking variables under a controlled and reproducible setting. This approach offers a platform to generate and test hypotheses about the technological decisions of past knappers from the perspective of basic flaking mechanics. Over the past decade, Harold Dibble and colleagues conducted a set of controlled flaking experiments to better understand flake variability using mechanical flaking apparatuses and standardized cores. Results of their studies underscore the dominant impact of exterior platform angle and platform depth on flake size and shape and have led to the synthesis of a flake formation model, namely the EPA-PD model. However, the results also illustrate the complexity of the flake formation process through the influence of other parameters such as core surface morphology and force application. Here we review the work of Dibble and colleagues on controlled flaking experiments by summarizing their findings to date. Our goal is to synthesize what was learned about flake variability from these controlled experiments to better understand the flake formation process. With this paper, we are including all of the data produced by these prior experiments and an explanation of the data in the Supplementary Information. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noncoaxiality is critical for predicting accurately the constitutive relationships of soils. Although the noncoaxiality of sand and clay has been studied extensively, such information for residual soil is far from sufficient. The mechanical behavior of residual soil differs from that of sedimentary soil, thus the applicability of the existing results is yet to be confirmed. This paper reports systematic undrained hollow-cylinder torsional shear tests performed on specimens of natural granite residual soil (GRS). The tests involve shear paths of monotonic shear with fixed principal-stress direction (fixed-α) as well as rotation of the principal-stress direction at constant deviator stress (α-rotation). The results show that the noncoaxial behavior of GRS depends on the principal-stress direction as well as the deviator stress. In the fixed-α tests, the soil tends to become more coaxial when approaching an ultimate state. The higher deviator stress during the α-rotation tests results in reduced noncoaxiality, but no obvious reduction in noncoaxiality is induced by α-rotation. This paper correlates soil's inherent anisotropy with its noncoaxial behavior. For sand, the initial and maximum noncoaxiality degree correlate well with the initial anisotropy, and two corresponding empirical relationships are proposed. However, they do not apply to natural GRS and soft clay. The ultimate noncoaxiality degree correlates poorly with the inherent anisotropy because of the damage to the latter. For GRS, the inherent anisotropy declines when soil particles rearrange during shear, which damages the bridge-form iron-bearing minerals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

High-performance computing systems conduct extensive logging of resource usage data and system logs, and parsing these data is an often advocated basis for failure diagnosis. Major page faults are known to be one of the most common cause of performance problems in large cluster systems. We conduct an empirical study of major page faults on two large cluster systems. We set up three regression algorithms including the LASSO, Ridge and Elastic Net regression techniques. To the best of our knowledge, there is no work that studied different regression models to diagnose major page faults in a large cluster system. In this paper, we (a) propose an approach for diagnosing major page faults, and (b) evaluate the LASSO, Ridge and Elastic Net regression algorithms on real resource use data and system logs. As part of our contributions, we (a) compare the accuracy of the three regression algorithms, (b) identify the resource use counters which are correlated to major page faults and the system events which are correlated to page fault events, and (c) provide insights into major page faults and page fault events. Our work highlights empirical observations that could facilitate better handling of node failures in cluster systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the article Quenched large deviation principle for words in a letter sequence, Probab. Theory Relat. Fields 148, no. 3/4 (2010), 403–456 we derived a quenched large deviation principle for the empirical process of words obtained by cutting an i.i.d. sequence of letters according to an independent renewal process. We derived a representation of the associated rate function for stationary word processes in terms of certain specific relative entropies. Our proof of this representation is correct when the mean word length is finite, but is flawed when the mean word length is infinite. In this paper we fix the flaw in the proof. Along the way we derive new representations of the rate function that are interesting in their own right. A key ingredient in the proof is the observation that if the rate function in the annealed large deviation principle is finite at a stationary word process, then the letters in the tail of the long words in this process are typical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conceptual design synthesis, which focuses on generating solution alternatives, has a significant impact on the cost and quality of the final product. The development of radically new and significantly better solutions requires generation and exploration of a large solution space. Most of the existing literature on conceptual design synthesis of mechanical devices: (1) is on synthesising device concepts for a single relation of 'converting one input set to another output set'—this is called single-state design synthesis (SSDS); and (2) primarily employs 'composition of building blocks' as the approach for the synthesis of concepts. Multiple-state design synthesis (MSDS), on the other hand, refers to synthesising device concepts for more than one relation between an input set and an output set. Since not much literature is available on studies of MSDS, it is essential to understand how and how well designers currently carry out MSDS. This knowledge can be used as a benchmark and a source of knowledge for developing a prescriptive support to improve MSDS. Therefore, the objective of the work presented in this paper is to obtain a better understanding of this process by carrying out empirical studies on multiple-state synthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Bronze Age Mediterranean, trade was a key mechanism that defined the era's political, social, and economic dynamism. This paper reviews recent methodological and empirical developments in the study of trade in the Bronze Age eastern Mediterranean, with a focus on the Late Bronze Age. The complexity of the relevant evidence presents nontrivial interpretative challenges, and a variety of schools of thought concerning the methods and approaches best suited for enlightening economic exchange through the study of archaeological remains co-exist. New insights based on empirical study of archaeological evidence have primarily coalesced around topics that have long been central to the study of trade, especially the sources and destinations of metal resources and the distribution of ceramic containers and their contents. Developing areas of emphasis, such as the roles of merchants and traders, have simultaneously emerged. Both novel methods and recent empirical insights highlight the difficulty inherent in attempts to relate artifacts to commercial exchange due to the variety of human and material mobilities apparent in the archaeological record. The path forward for understanding Bronze Age trade economies will require carefully tailoring research questions that may be answered in concrete ways with the evidence available and developing interpretative frameworks that can accommodate both bottom-up views emphasizing individual agency and generalizing models that facilitate comparison through space and time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In massive and rapid graph streams, a useful and important task is to summarize the structure of graph streams in order to enable efficient and effective graph query processing. Although this task has been extensively studied in the literature, we observe that the existing solutions for graph sketches can only answer queries about the current status of the graph stream. In this paper, we aim at designing persistent graph sketches to support graph queries in any given time range in the past. To this end, we first introduce a baseline method by extending an existing graph summarization method. However, our empirical study suggests that the accuracy performance of the baseline method is unsatisfactory, especially when the query time interval is large. To tackle this issue, we propose a new method PGSS-BDH, which stores the streaming edges using a set of hierarchically organized hashmaps. When a query arrives, we divide the query time interval into a set of disjoint sub-intervals and return the sum of query results on all sub-intervals as the overall query answer. Observing that PGSS-BDH bears a linear space cost to the graph stream size, we further propose an advance method PGSS-MDC by using a set of fixed-size hierarchical counters to store the weight of edges, where the query processing is similar to PGSS-BDH. We theoretically analyze the accuracy performance of PGSS-BDH and PGSS-MDC. The experiment results on real-life datasets demonstrate that PGSS-MDC can return much more accurate answers than the competitors by consuming comparable query time and much less memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is aimed at constructing Rjb for PESMOS and COSMOS database representing the earthquakes triggered in Indian sub-continent. Rjb, by definition, is the shortest distance from the site to the horizontal projection of rupture plane and that can be constructed using simple geometry provided the required information is available. In practice, the uncertainty associated with this information offers several challenges which are addressed in this paper. First, a vector algebra-based approach is proposed for estimating epicentral distance and azimuth. Second, a set of empirical relationships is proposed to estimate the rupture plane from the moment magnitude using a dataset of 354 earthquakes based on tectonic settings and focal mechanisms. Third, a step-by-step process of computing Rjb is developed considering the uncertainty in the location of hypocenter on the rupture plane. Two approaches are considered for this purpose, namely, (i) areal grid representation and (ii) hypocenter distribution model. While the former assumes equally likely hypocenter over the rupture plane, the latter requires construction of hypocenter distribution model from the prior database. Fourth, the process is extended to account for the uncertainty in available information of strike and/or dip. The proposed framework is assessed against a total of 4247 records from PEER database with Rjb reported based on geometry and location of rupture plane. The framework is finally applied to compute Rjb associated with PESMOS (474 records) and COSMOS (148 records) database, and the results are expected to serve as a valuable resource while constructing GMPEs of shallow focused earthquakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elite donors are a crucial and sought-after source of funding for many nonprofit organisations, but there is a dearth of substantive empirical studies presenting primary data on such donors' motivations, experiences and perspectives. There are challenges for social scientists in conducting interviews with elites, notably: gaining access to elite donors; developing sufficient rapport to discuss a topic that involves money and morals; and making sense of data without being dazzled by striking surface differences between elites and non-elites. These barriers have resulted in a long-standing over-reliance on secondary sources and on interviews with proxies such as foundation staff and wealth advisers. This paper reviews the small body of work that presents findings from interviews with elite donors and draws on my experience of conducting interviews with 46 wealthy UK donors, in order to critically analyse the implementation of this research design. This paper adds to the literature by extending understanding of elite donors' reasons for agreeing to be interviewed and contributes to advancing third sector research by highlighting strategies to overcome challenges in conducting elite interviews in order to gain a less mediated understanding of the contexts, cultures and subjectivities of their focus of study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the technical dimension of policy goals or their structural properties. The paper challenges the idea that policy goals can be conceptualized within a unidimensional hierarchy. It aims to contribute to policy theory by classifying goals based on systematic empirical research. Qualitative content analysis of 11 governmental strategies was conducted by focusing on the overlap of six technical features of policy goals: level of specification, mode of accomplishment, presence of time frames, quantifiable indicators, beneficiaries, and responsible actors. Based on the analysis, the paper distinguishes seven technical types of policy goals: broad, mode-centered, direction-centered, beneficiary-centered, actor-centered, semi-structured, and structured. Technical types of policy goals do not form a hierarchy with clear-cut levels, but can be placed on a continuum, from broad to structured, with the mixed types in between. This insight could enhance policy design theory by introducing a more sophisticated tuning of policy goals, potentially leading to better advice for practical policy planning and, in turn, to more successful policy implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a novel pitch detection algorithm (PDA) is proposed. Actually, pitch detection is a classical problem that has been investigated since the very beginning of speech processing. However, the novelty of the proposed method consists in establishing an empirical relationship between fundamental frequency ( f 0 ) and instantaneous frequency ( f i ), which serves as a basis to develop the proposed PDA. Even though f 0 and f i are defined as attributes of two different transforms, i.e., the Fourier transform and the Hilbert transform, respectively, the relationship proposed in this paper shows some interaction between both of them, at least empirically. The first step of this work consists in validating the proposed relationship on a large set of speech signals. Then, it is leveraged to develop an algorithm capable to (a) detect voiced/unvoiced parts of speech and (b) extract f 0 contour from f i values in the voiced parts. For evaluation purposes, the yielding f 0 contour is compared to some well-rated state-of-the-art PDA's. The main findings show that the quality of pitch detection obtained by the proposed technique is as satisfactory as some of top PDA's, either in clean or in simulated noisy speech. In addition, one of the main advantages consists in bypassing the traditional short-time analysis required to assume local stationarity in speech signal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Algorithm recommendation based on meta-learning was studied previously. The research on the meta-features extraction, which is a key for the success of recommendation, is lacking for multi-objective optimization problems (MOPs). This paper proposes four sets of meta-features to characterize MOPs. In addition, the algorithm recommendation model based on meta-learning is extended to the field of multi-objective optimization. To evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of the extracted meta-features, 29 MOPs benchmark functions with different dimensions and two real-world MOPs are employed for comprehensive comparison. Experimental results show that the proposed meta-features in this paper can fully characterize MOPs and are empirically efficient for algorithm recommendation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contains a large-scale seismic assessment of the downtown area of Skikda city in Algeria. This area was identified for the present work based on its importance regarding size and the legacy of older buildings for which information was available. Moreover, seismic microzonation studies for the city of Skikda based on the simulation of local effects are available. This paper aims to evaluate the seismic risk in the old part of Skikda using the Risk-UE LM1 methodology, namely, the empirical method LM1 based on an in situ survey. Damage probability matrices have been obtained for the deterministic (historical events) and probabilistic earthquake scenarios (i.e., characterized by a return period), in accordance with the city's microzoning study. The results of the seismic risk assessment in the city are represented by damage to buildings. Thus, physical damage was also used as a hazard-related variable to predict economic and human losses, and other quantities, such as restoration cost and quantities of debris, were studied. Despite the moderate seismic risk in Skikda, the results show a high risk due to the high exposure and vulnerability of the buildings, which are generally made up of buildings in unreinforced masonry. Important social and economic losses are expected in these areas as well. The seismic risk of Skikda was estimated as moderate with a predicted number of 83 million USD global economic impacts, including economic losses and restoration costs for a seismic intensity scenario of VII. To better manage and analyze the human and economic exposure. The seismic risk maps was elaborated to be used as a guide to decision-making to prepare emergency plans for earthquake risk mitigation in Skikda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nonconvex penalties are utilized for regularization in high-dimensional statistical learning algorithms primarily because they yield unbiased or nearly unbiased estimators for the parameters in the model. Nonconvex penalties existing in the literature such as SCAD, MCP, Laplace and arctan have a singularity at origin which makes them useful also for variable selection. However, in several high-dimensional frameworks such as deep learning, variable selection is less of a concern. In this paper, we present a nonconvex penalty which is smooth at origin. The paper includes asymptotic results for ordinary least squares estimators regularized with the new penalty function, showing asymptotic bias that vanishes exponentially fast. We also conducted simulations to better understand the finite sample properties and conducted an empirical study employing deep neural network architecture on three datasets and convolutional neural network on four datasets. The empirical study based on artificial neural networks showed better performance for the new regularization approach in five out of the seven datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fracture connectivity refers to the degree to which fractures within a rock mass are spatially arranged and interconnected. As a result, fracture connectivity can affect the pattern and magnitude of deformations, and induced brittle damage in response to external forces. Traditionally, fracture intensity has been a standard metric for characterising rock mass quality. This paper explains why fracture connectivity should be included in addition to fracture intensity as a characterisation parameter. Fracture intensity alone cannot capture the complex interactions and pathways that fractures create within the rock mass. On the other hand, fracture connectivity offers a more comprehensive view of how fractures propagate and interact, enabling a deeper understanding of stress transfer and deformation patterns. This paper reviews the Network Connectivity Index (NCI) and its applications in rock engineering design. It is discussed that NCI, considering both fracture intensity and fracture connectivity, serves as a more objective measurement to reduce the degree of subjectivity of many empirical methods. Furthermore, an extensive set of DFN models suggests that NCI correlates better with block sizes and can serve as a more representative parameter than P32\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$${P}_{32}$$\end{document} for fragmentation assessment in cave mine design.Fracture connectivity can affect the pattern and magnitude of deformations and induce brittle damage in response to external forces.Fracture intensity has limitations in capturing the complex interactions and pathways that fractures create within the rock mass.Fracture connectivity offers additional information as to how fractures propagate and interact.The Network Connectivity Index (NCI) is a novel and objective measurement that can be easily extracted from discrete fracture network models.NCI correlates better with block sizes and can serve as a more representative parameter than P32 for fragmentation assessment in cave mine design.Fracture connectivity can affect the pattern and magnitude of deformations and induce brittle damage in response to external forces.Fracture intensity has limitations in capturing the complex interactions and pathways that fractures create within the rock mass.Fracture connectivity offers additional information as to how fractures propagate and interact.The Network Connectivity Index (NCI) is a novel and objective measurement that can be easily extracted from discrete fracture network models.NCI correlates better with block sizes and can serve as a more representative parameter than P32 for fragmentation assessment in cave mine design.Highlights: Fracture connectivity refers to the degree to which fractures within a rock mass are spatially arranged and interconnected. As a result, fracture connectivity can affect the pattern and magnitude of deformations, and induced brittle damage in response to external forces. Traditionally, fracture intensity has been a standard metric for characterising rock mass quality. This paper explains why fracture connectivity should be included in addition to fracture intensity as a characterisation parameter. Fracture intensity alone cannot capture the complex interactions and pathways that fractures create within the rock mass. On the other hand, fracture connectivity offers a more comprehensive view of how fractures propagate and interact, enabling a deeper understanding of stress transfer and deformation patterns. This paper reviews the Network Connectivity Index (NCI) and its applications in rock engineering design. It is discussed that NCI, considering both fracture intensity and fracture connectivity, serves as a more objective measurement to reduce the degree of subjectivity of many empirical methods. Furthermore, an extensive set of DFN models suggests that NCI correlates better with block sizes and can serve as a more representative parameter than P32\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}\usepackage{amsmath}\usepackage{wasysym}\usepackage{amsfonts}\usepackage{amssymb}\usepackage{amsbsy}\usepackage{mathrsfs}\usepackage{upgreek}\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}\begin{document}$${P}_{32}$$\end{document} for fragmentation assessment in cave mine design.Fracture connectivity can affect the pattern and magnitude of deformations and induce brittle damage in response to external forces.Fracture intensity has limitations in capturing the complex interactions and pathways that fractures create within the rock mass.Fracture connectivity offers additional information as to how fractures propagate and interact.The Network Connectivity Index (NCI) is a novel and objective measurement that can be easily extracted from discrete fracture network models.NCI correlates better with block sizes and can serve as a more representative parameter than P32 for fragmentation assessment in cave mine design.Fracture connectivity can affect the pattern and magnitude of deformations and induce brittle damage in response to external forces.Fracture intensity has limitations in capturing the complex interactions and pathways that fractures create within the rock mass.Fracture connectivity offers additional information as to how fractures propagate and interact.The Network Connectivity Index (NCI) is a novel and objective measurement that can be easily extracted from discrete fracture network models.NCI correlates better with block sizes and can serve as a more representative parameter than P32 for fragmentation assessment in cave mine design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the scenario of growing polarization of promises and dangers that surround artificial intelligence (AI), how to introduce responsible AI and robotics in healthcare? In this paper, we develop an ethical–political approach to introduce democratic mechanisms to technological development, what we call "Caring in the In-Between". Focusing on the multiple possibilities for action that emerge in the realm of uncertainty, we propose an ethical and responsible framework focused on care actions in between fears and hopes. Using the theoretical perspective of Science and Technology Studies and empirical research, "Caring in the In-Between" is based on three movements: the first is a change of focus from the world of promises and dangers to the world of uncertainties; the second is a conceptual shift from assuming a relationship with robotics based on a Human–Robot Interaction to another focused on the network in which the robot is embedded (the "Robot Embedded in a Network"); and the last is an ethical shift from a general normative framework to a discussion on the context of use. Based on these suggestions, "Caring in the In-Between" implies institutional challenges, as well as new practices in healthcare systems. It is articulated around three simultaneous processes, each of them related to practical actions in the "in-between" dimensions considered: monitoring relations and caring processes, through public engagement and institutional changes; including concerns and priorities of stakeholders, with the organization of participatory processes and alternative forms of representation; and making fears and hopes commensurable, through the choice of progressive and reversible actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Additive manufacturing (AM) is one of the most sustainable manufacturing processes since it could build parts directly from a computer-aided design (CAD) model simplifying the production of complex geometries, and they are generally more environmentally friendly using only the exact amount of material. Despite this qualitative consideration, the quantitative convenience in terms of energy consumption has not yet been extensively investigated. In the present paper, a model is proposed to improve understanding of AM energy use by applying a novel classification system for machine components, generating, as a result, the characteristic parameters specific for each material and useful for estimating energy consumption providing a simple tool for the companies that would evaluate the technology convenience considering also the energetical component. The main outcome is represented by the characteristics parameters for the main materials used in the material extrusion process and an approach for evaluating the energy consumption a priori with a prevision error of less than 10%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, we study the small ball probabilities in L2-norm for a family of finite-dimensional perturbations of Gaussian functions. We define three types of perturbations: noncritical, partially critical and critical; and derive small ball asymptotics for the perturbated process in terms of the small ball asymptotics for the original process. The natural examples of such perturbations appear in statistics in the study of empirical processes with estimated parameters (the so-called Durbin's processes). We show that the Durbin's processes are critical perturbations of the Brownian bridge. Under some additional assumptions, general results can be simplified. As an example, we find the exact L2-small ball asymptotics for critical perturbations of the Green processes (the processes whose covariance function is the Green function of the ordinary differential operator). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent advances in quantized compressed sensing and high-dimensional estimation have shown that signal recovery is even feasible under strong nonlinear distortions in the observation process. An important characteristic of associated guarantees is uniformity, i.e., recovery succeeds for an entire class of structured signals with a fixed measurement ensemble. However, despite significant results in various special cases, a general understanding of uniform recovery from nonlinear observations is still missing. This paper develops a unified approach to this problem under the assumption of i.i.d. sub-Gaussian measurement vectors. Our main result shows that a simple least-squares estimator with any convex constraint can serve as a universal recovery strategy, which is outlier robust and does not require explicit knowledge of the underlying nonlinearity. Based on empirical process theory, a key technical novelty is an approximative increment condition that can be implemented for all common types of nonlinear models. This flexibility allows us to apply our approach to a variety of problems in nonlinear compressed sensing and high-dimensional statistics, leading to several new and improved guarantees. Each of these applications is accompanied by a conceptually simple and systematic proof, which does not rely on any deeper properties of the observation model. On the other hand, known local stability properties can be incorporated into our framework in a plug-and-play manner, thereby implying near-optimal error bounds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on trauma- and stressor-related disorders has recently expanded to consider moral injury, or the harmful psychological impact of profound moral transgressions, betrayals, and acts of perpetration. Largely studied among military populations, this construct has rarely been empirically extended to children and adolescents despite its relevance in the early years, as well as youths' potentially heightened susceptibility to moral injury due to ongoing moral development and limited social resources relative to adults. Application of the construct to young persons, however, requires theoretical reconceptualization from a developmental perspective. The present paper brings together theory and research on developmentally-oriented constructs involving morally injurious events, including attachment trauma, betrayal trauma, and perpetration-induced traumatic stress, and describes how they may be integrated and extended to inform a developmentally-informed model of moral injury. Features of such a model include identification of potentially morally injurious events, maladaptive developmental meaning-making processes that underlie moral injury, as well as behavioral and emotional indicators of moral injury among youth. Thus, this review summarizes the currently available developmental literatures, identifies the major implications of each to a developmentally-informed construct of moral injury, and presents a conceptual developmental model of moral injury for children and adolescents to guide future empirical research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is an increasing awareness that replication should become common practice in empirical studies. However, study results might fail to replicate for various reasons. The robustness of published study results can be assessed using the relatively new multiverse-analysis methodology, in which the robustness of the effect estimates against data analytical decisions is assessed. However, the uptake of multiverse analysis in empirical studies remains low, which might be due to the scarcity of guidance available on performing multiverse analysis. Researchers might experience difficulties in identifying data analytical decisions and in summarizing the large number of effect estimates yielded by a multiverse analysis. These difficulties are amplified when applying multiverse analysis to assess the robustness of the effect estimates from a mediation analysis, as a mediation analysis involves more data analytical decisions than a bivariate analysis. The aim of this paper is to provide an overview and worked example of the use of multiverse analysis to assess the robustness of the effect estimates from a mediation analysis. We showed that the number of data analytical decisions in a mediation analysis is larger than in a bivariate analysis. By using a real-life data example from the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam, we demonstrated the application of multiverse analysis to a mediation analysis. This included the use of specification curves to determine the impact of data analytical decisions on the magnitude and statistical significance of the direct, indirect, and total effect estimates. Although the multiverse analysis methodology is still relatively new and future research is needed to further advance this methodology, this paper shows that multiverse analysis is a useful method for the assessment of the robustness of the direct, indirect, and total effect estimates in a mediation analysis and thereby to inform replication studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the perspective of IT process and the theory of IT absorptive capacity, this paper mainly verifies the positive impact of different stages of e-commerce absorptive of agricultural products on the income-increasing effect. This paper introduces IT absorptive theory, tentatively puts forward the concept of e-commerce absorptive of agricultural products, divides the process of new agricultural business entities' adoption of e-commerce of agricultural products into three dimensions of low, middle and high levels according to three functional dimensions that information publication, online purchase and whole process integration, and makes an empirical analysis of the relationship between the absorption degree of adoption of e-commerce of agricultural products of new agricultural business entities and income-increasing effect. It verifies that the degree of e-commerce absorptive of agricultural products has a positive effect on income-increasing effect and also clarifies the intensity of the role of resource allocation at various stages in income-increasing effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality requirements deal with how well a product should perform the intended functionality, such as start-up time and learnability. Researchers argue they are important and at the same time studies indicate there are deficiencies in practice. Our goal is to review the state of evidence for quality requirements. We want to understand the empirical research on quality requirements topics as well as evaluations of quality requirements solutions. We used a hybrid method for our systematic literature review. We defined a start set based on two literature reviews combined with a keyword-based search from selected publication venues. We snowballed based on the start set. We screened 530 papers and included 84 papers in our review. Case study method is the most common (43), followed by surveys (15) and tests (13). We found no replication studies. The two most commonly studied themes are (1) differentiating characteristics of quality requirements compared to other types of requirements, (2) the importance and prevalence of quality requirements. Quality models, QUPER, and the NFR method are evaluated in several studies, with positive indications. Goal modeling is the only modeling approach evaluated. However, all studies are small scale and long-term costs and impact are not studied. We conclude that more research is needed as empirical research on quality requirements is not increasing at the same rate as software engineering research in general. We see a gap between research and practice. The solutions proposed are usually evaluated in an academic context and surveys on quality requirements in industry indicate unsystematic handling of quality requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workarounds, or practices that deviate from the official pathway to a target, are frequent phenomena in the organisational context. With respect to collaboration, they highlight an area of mismatch between normative versus lived work practices, and therefore depict a relevant research area deeply rooted in computer supported cooperative work (CSCW). Building on the theory of hierarchical opposition by Louis Dumont and empirical data collected through ethnographic research at a company classified as a small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME) in the German metal industry, this paper addresses the emergence of workarounds in collaborative work processes by setting them into the wider organisational context. The organisational layer of analysis reveals that workarounds emerge to cater for inversed information power relations and information asymmetries in the shop floor setting, which require communication to flow against the hierarchical slope between planning and execution functions. By applying an organisational lens to the concept of workarounds, this paper contributes a novel empirical analysis that confirms the value of workarounds as a source of insight into collaborative practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surveys are a fundamental tool of empirical research, but they suffer from errors: in particular, respondents can have difficulties recalling information of interest to researchers. Recent technological developments offer new opportunities to collect data passively (i.e., without participant's intervention), avoiding recall errors. One of these opportunities is registering online behaviors (e.g., visited URLs) through tracking software ("meter") voluntarily installed by a sample of individuals on their browsing devices. Nevertheless, metered data are also affected by errors and only cover part of the objective information, while subjective information is not directly observable. Asking participants about such missing information by means of web surveys conducted in the moment an event of interest is detected by the meter has the potential to fill the gap. However, this method requires participants to be willing to participate. This paper explores the willingness to participate in in-the-moment web surveys triggered by online activities recorded by a participant-installed meter. A conjoint experiment implemented in an opt-in metered panel in Spain reveals overall high levels of willingness to participate among panelists already sharing metered data, ranging from 69% to 95%. The main aspects affecting this willingness are related to the incentive levels offered. Limited differences across participants are observed, except for household size and education. Answers to open questions also confirm that the incentive is the key driver of the decision to participate, whereas other potential problematic aspects such as the limited time to participate, privacy concerns, and discomfort caused by being interrupted play a limited role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we focus on partially linear varying coefficient quantile regression with observations missing at random, which allows the responses or responses and covariates simultaneously missing. By means of empirical likelihood method, we construct posterior distributions of the parameter in the model, and investigate their large sample properties under fixed prior. Meanwhile, we use a Bayesian hierarchical model based on empirical likelihood, spike and slab Gaussian priors to discuss variable selection. By using MCMC algorithm, finite sample performance of the proposed methods is investigated via simulations, and real data analysis is discussed too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]