A query-basis approach to parametrizing novelty-biased cumulative gain

Novelty-biased cumulative gain (α-NDCG) has become the de facto measure within the information retrieval (IR) community for evaluating retrieval systems in the context of sub-topic retrieval. Setting the incorrect value of parameter α in α-NDCG prevents the measure from behaving as desired in particular circumstances. In fact, when α is set according to common practice (i.e. α = 0.5), the measure favours systems that promote redundant relevant sub-topics rather than provide novel relevant ones. Recognising this characteristic of the measure is important because it affects the comparison and the ranking of retrieval systems. We propose an approach to overcome this problem by defining a safe threshold for the value of α on a query basis. Moreover, we study its impact on system rankings through a comprehensive simulation.

Using the Gini coefficient with BIOLOG substrate utilisation data to provide an alternative quantitative measure for comparing bacterial soil communities

A measure quantifying unequal use of carbon sources, the Gini coefficient (G), has been developed to allow comparisons of the observed functional diversity of bacterial soil communities. This approach was applied to the analysis of substrate utilisation data obtained from using BIOLOG microtiter plates in a study which compared decomposition processes in two contrasting plant substrates in two different soils. The relevance of applying the Gini coefficient as a measure of observed functional diversity, for soil bacterial communities is evaluated against the Shannon index (H) and average well colour development (AWCD), a measure of the total microbial activity. Correlation analysis and analysis of variance of the experimental data show that the Gini coefficient, the Shannon index and AWCD provided similar information when used in isolation. However, analyses based on the Gini coefficient and the Shannon index, when total activity on the microtiter plates was maintained constant (i.e. AWCD as a covariate), indicate that additional information about the distribution of carbon sources being utilised can be obtained. We demonstrate that the Lorenz curve and its measure of inequality, the Gini coefficient, provides not only comparable information to AWCD and the Shannon index but when used together with AWCD encompasses measures of total microbial activity and absorbance inequality across all the carbon sources. This information is especially relevant for comparing the observed functional diversity of soil microbial communities.

Your Loss is Our Gain

2 x 2.5 metre text based wall painting with a hidden automatic air freshener timed to spray every 60 seconds. The work formed part of a group exhibition that dealt with Humour,Politics and Art. It was part of a series of ongoing works made under the pseudonym Eve Roleston. Roleston is part of a trio of pseudonyms I use, the others being Ernesto Love, and Ernest Olove, to explore the research potential of the fictocritical in a visual arts practice.This forms part of an ongoing body of practice-led research undertaken in my PhD dealing with reconfiguring the relationship between art and politics.

An accuracy assessment of ASTER stereo images-derived digital elevation model by using rational polynomial coefficient model

The along-track stereo images of Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) sensor with 15 m resolution were used to generate Digital Elevation Model (DEM) on an area with low and near Mean Sea Level (MSL) elevation in Johor, Malaysia. The absolute DEM was generated by using the Rational Polynomial Coefficient (RPC) model which was run on ENVI 4.8 software. In order to generate the absolute DEM, 60 Ground Control Pointes (GCPs) with almost vertical accuracy less than 10 meter extracted from topographic map of the study area. The assessment was carried out on uncorrected and corrected DEM by utilizing dozens of Independent Check Points (ICPs). Consequently, the uncorrected DEM showed the RMSEz of ± 26.43 meter which was decreased to the RMSEz of ± 16.49 meter for the corrected DEM after post-processing. Overall, the corrected DEM of ASTER stereo images met the expectations.

Gain's in knowledge, attitude and skills of counselors across three trainings programs

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) sponsored by the G20 nations has helped fund the development of training programs for HIV/AIDS counselors in India. To date no study has examined the effectiveness of these training programs. This study, therefore, aimed to examine the impact of a 12 training program in improving the knowledge of new HIV/AIDS counselors in West Bengal and compare benefits of three training programs. Pre and post measures were taken from 87 counsellors attending three training programs organized by the GFATM-7 team of the Department of Applied Psychology, University of Calcutta. Overall pre and post training scores of three training programs together show significant improvements in knowledge. The findings from this study provide confidence that the 12 day training program can be effectively implemented among West Bengal HIV/AIDS counsellors.

Stochastic analysis of transit route segments' passenger load variation for capacity and quality of service assessment

This paper investigates stochastic analysis of transit segment hourly passenger load factor variation for transit capacity and quality of service (QoS) analysis using Automatic Fare Collection data for a premium radial bus route in Brisbane, Australia. It compares stochastic analysis to traditional peak hour factor (PHF) analysis to gain further insight into variability of transit route segments’ passenger loading during a study hour. It demonstrates that hourly design load factor is a useful method of modeling a route segment’s capacity and QoS time history across the study weekday. This analysis method is readily adaptable to different passenger load standards by adjusting design percentile, reflecting either a more relaxed or more stringent condition. This paper also considers hourly coefficient of variation of load factor as a capacity and QoS assessment measure, in particular through its relationships with hourly average and design load factors. Smaller value reflects uniform passenger loading, which is generally indicative of well dispersed passenger boarding demands and good schedule maintenance. Conversely, higher value may be indicative of pulsed or uneven passenger boarding demands, poor schedule maintenance, and/or bus bunching. An assessment table based on hourly coefficient of variation of load factor is developed and applied to this case study. Inferences are drawn for a selection of study hours across the weekday studied.

Knowledge gain or system benefit in environmental decision making?

The quality of environmental decisions are gauged according to the management objectives of a conservation project. Management objectives are generally about maximising some quantifiable measure of system benefit, for instance population growth rate. They can also be defined in terms of learning about the system in question, in such a case actions would be chosen that maximise knowledge gain, for instance in experimental management sites. Learning about a system can also take place when managing practically. The adaptive management framework (Walters 1986) formally acknowledges this fact by evaluating learning in terms of how it will improve management of the system and therefore future system benefit. This is taken into account when ranking actions using stochastic dynamic programming (SDP). However, the benefits of any management action lie on a spectrum from pure system benefit, when there is nothing to be learned about the system, to pure knowledge gain. The current adaptive management framework does not permit management objectives to evaluate actions over the full range of this spectrum. By evaluating knowledge gain in units distinct to future system benefit this whole spectrum of management objectives can be unlocked. This paper outlines six decision making policies that differ across the spectrum of pure system benefit through to pure learning. The extensions to adaptive management presented allow specification of the relative importance of learning compared to system benefit in management objectives. Such an extension means practitioners can be more specific in the construction of conservation project objectives and be able to create policies for experimental management sites in the same framework as practical management sites.

Household carbon emission research: An analytical review of measurement, influencing factors and mitigation prospects

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are simultaneously exhausting the world's supply of fossil fuels and threatening the global climate. In many developing countries, significant improvement in living standards in recent years due to the accelerating development of their economies has resulted in a disproportionate increase in household energy consumption. Therefore, a major reduction in household carbon emissions (HCEs) is essential if global carbon reduction targets are to be met. To do this, major Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states have already implemented policies to alleviate the negative environmental effects of household behaviors and less carbon-intensive technologies are also proposed to promote energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions. However, before any further remedial actions can be contemplated, though, it is important to fully understand the actual causes of such large HCEs and help researchers both gain deep insights into the development of the research domain and identify valuable research topics for future study. This paper reviews existing literature focusing on the domain of HCEs. This critical review provides a systematic understanding of current work in the field, describing the factors influencing HCEs under the themes of household income, household size, age, education level, location, gender and rebound effects. The main quantification methodologies of input–output models, life cycle assessment and emission coefficient methods are also presented, and the proposed measures to mitigate HCEs at the policy, technology and consumer levels. Finally, the limitations of work done to date and further research directions are identified for the benefit of future studies.

Energy gap in the aetiology of body weight gain and obesity: A challenging concept with a complex evaluation and pitfalls

The concept of energy gap(s) is useful for understanding the consequence of a small daily, weekly, or monthly positive energy balance and the inconspicuous shift in weight gain ultimately leading to overweight and obesity. Energy gap is a dynamic concept: an initial positive energy gap incurred via an increase in energy intake (or a decrease in physical activity) is not constant, may fade out with time if the initial conditions are maintained, and depends on the 'efficiency' with which the readjustment of the energy imbalance gap occurs with time. The metabolic response to an energy imbalance gap and the magnitude of the energy gap(s) can be estimated by at least two methods, i.e. i) assessment by longitudinal overfeeding studies, imposing (by design) an initial positive energy imbalance gap; ii) retrospective assessment based on epidemiological surveys, whereby the accumulated endogenous energy storage per unit of time is calculated from the change in body weight and body composition. In order to illustrate the difficulty of accurately assessing an energy gap we have used, as an illustrative example, a recent epidemiological study which tracked changes in total energy intake (estimated by gross food availability) and body weight over 3 decades in the US, combined with total energy expenditure prediction from body weight using doubly labelled water data. At the population level, the study attempted to assess the cause of the energy gap purported to be entirely due to increased food intake. Based on an estimate of change in energy intake judged to be more reliable (i.e. in the same study population) and together with calculations of simple energetic indices, our analysis suggests that conclusions about the fundamental causes of obesity development in a population (excess intake vs. low physical activity or both) is clouded by a high level of uncertainty.

Atomic resolution of dielectric with low temperature coefficient

Ba(6-3x)Nd(8+2x)Ti(18)O(54) (BNTl14) is a high permittivity dielectric with low temperature coefficient (Tcf). Low coefficient of change of dielectric permittivity with temperature (Tcf) is an unusual materials property. The research is aimed at discovering how atomic structure relates to temperature coefficient. Sub-Ångström scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) is used to measure mixed occupancy of Nd and Ba in atomic columns. It was expected that phase separation would occur to accommodate mixing of dissimilar ions. However no evidence of phase separation was found. There is a good image match between experiment and high angle annular dark field (HAADF) simulation. Vacancies and excess Ba ions appear to be randomly arranged on the available sites which would result in distortion of TiO6 octahedra. The low Tcf may arise from TiO6 distortion.

Determination of coefficient of consolidation from early stage of log t plot

The standard curve-fitting methods, Casagrande's log t method and Taylor's root t method, for the determination of the coefficient of consolidation use the later part of the consolidation curve and are influenced by secondary compression effects. Literature shows that secondary compression is concurrent with primary consolidation and that its effect is to decrease the value of the coefficient of consolidation. If the early part of the time-compression data is used, the values obtained will be less influenced by secondary compression effects. A method that uses the early part of the log t plot is proposed in this technical note. As the influence of secondary compression is reduced, the value obtained by this method is greater than that yielded by both the standard methods. The permeability values computed from C-v (obtained from the proposed method) rue more in agreement with the measured values than the standard methods showing that the effects of secondary compression are minimized. Time-compression data for a shorter duration is sufficient for the determination of C-v if the coefficient of secondary compression is not required.

Implications of gain functions in fisheries management

The appealing concept of optimal harvesting is often used in fisheries to obtain new management strategies. However, optimality depends on the objective function, which often varies, reflecting the interests of different groups of people. The aim of maximum sustainable yield is to extract the greatest amount of food from replenishable resources in a sustainable way. Maximum sustainable yield may not be desirable from an economic point of view. Maximum economic yield that maximizes the profit of fishing fleets (harvesting sector) but ignores socio-economic benefits such as employment and other positive externalities. It may be more appropriate to use the maximum economic yield that which is based on the value chain of the overall fishing sector, to reflect better society's interests. How to make more efficient use of a fishery for society rather than fishing operators depends critically on the gain function parameters including multiplier effects and inclusion or exclusion of certain costs. In particular, the optimal effort level based on the overall value chain moves closer to the optimal effort for the maximum sustainable yield because of the multiplier effect. These issues are illustrated using the Australian Northern Prawn Fishery.

Analytical studies of gain optimization in CO2-N2 gasdynamic lasers employing two-dimensional wedge nozzles

An analytical method has been proposed to optimise the small-signaloptical gain of CO2-N2 gasdynamic lasers (gdl) employing two-dimensional (2D) wedge nozzles. Following our earlier work the equations governing the steady, inviscid, quasi-one-dimensional flow in the wedge nozzle of thegdl are reduced to a universal form so that their solutions depend on a single unifying parameter. These equations are solved numerically to obtain similar solutions for the various flow quantities, which variables are subsequently used to optimize the small-signal-gain. The corresponding optimum values like reservoir pressure and temperature and 2D nozzle area ratio also have been predicted and graphed for a wide range of laser gas compositions, with either H2O or He as the catalyst. A large number of graphs are presented which may be used to obtain the optimum values of small signal gain for a wide range of laser compositions without further computations.

A maximum-likelihood method for estimating natural mortality and catchability coefficient from catch-and-effort data

A simple stochastic model of a fish population subject to natural and fishing mortalities is described. The fishing effort is assumed to vary over different periods but to be constant within each period. A maximum-likelihood approach is developed for estimating natural mortality (M) and the catchability coefficient (q) simultaneously from catch-and-effort data. If there is not enough contrast in the data to provide reliable estimates of both M and q, as is often the case in practice, the method can be used to obtain the best possible values of q for a range of possible values of M. These techniques are illustrated with tiger prawn (Penaeus semisulcatus) data from the Northern Prawn Fishery of Australia.