Towards the 2021 UK Census imputation strategy: Response mode as a matching variable in a donor-based approach?

Since July 2014, the Office for National Statistics has committed to a predominantly online 2021 UK Census. Item-level imputation will play an important role in adjusting the 2021 Census database. Research indicates that the internet may yield cleaner data than paper based capture and attract people with particular characteristics. Here, we provide preliminary results from research directed at understanding how we might manage these features in a 2021 UK Census imputation strategy. Our findings suggest that if using a donor-based imputation method, it may need to consider including response mode as a matching variable in the underlying imputation model.

Convex Quadratic Programming Approach to the Maximum Matching Problem

The problem of determining a maximum matching or whether there exists a perfect matching, is very common in a large variety of applications and as been extensively studied in graph theory. In this paper we start to introduce a characterisation of a family of graphs for which its stability number is determined by convex quadratic programming. The main results connected with the recognition of this family of graphs are also introduced. It follows a necessary and sufficient condition which characterise a graph with a perfect matching and an algorithmic strategy, based on the determination of the stability number of line graphs, by convex quadratic programming, applied to the determination of a perfect matching. A numerical example for the recognition of graphs with a perfect matching is described. Finally, the above algorithmic strategy is extended to the determination of a maximum matching of an arbitrary graph and some related results are presented.

Advanced energy efficient coordinated multi-point transmission for OFDMA

The ever-growing energy consumption in mobile networks stimulated by the expected growth in data tra ffic has provided the impetus for mobile operators to refocus network design, planning and deployment towards reducing the cost per bit, whilst at the same time providing a signifi cant step towards reducing their operational expenditure. As a step towards incorporating cost-eff ective mobile system, 3GPP LTE-Advanced has adopted the coordinated multi-point (CoMP) transmission technique due to its ability to mitigate and manage inter-cell interference (ICI). Using CoMP the cell average and cell edge throughput are boosted. However, there is room for reducing energy consumption further by exploiting the inherent exibility of dynamic resource allocation protocols. To this end packet scheduler plays the central role in determining the overall performance of the 3GPP longterm evolution (LTE) based on packet-switching operation and provide a potential research playground for optimizing energy consumption in future networks. In this thesis we investigate the baseline performance for down link CoMP using traditional scheduling approaches, and subsequently go beyond and propose novel energy e fficient scheduling (EES) strategies that can achieve power-e fficient transmission to the UEs whilst enabling both system energy effi ciency gain and fairness improvement. However, ICI can still be prominent when multiple nodes use common resources with di fferent power levels inside the cell, as in the so called heterogeneous networks (Het- Net) environment. HetNets are comprised of two or more tiers of cells. The rst, or higher tier, is a traditional deployment of cell sites, often referred to in this context as macrocells. The lower tiers are termed small cells, and can appear as microcell, picocells or femtocells. The HetNet has attracted signiffi cant interest by key manufacturers as one of the enablers for high speed data at low cost. Research until now has revealed several key hurdles that must be overcome before HetNets can achieve their full potential: bottlenecks in the backhaul must be alleviated, as well as their seamless interworking with CoMP. In this thesis we explore exactly the latter hurdle, and present innovative ideas on advancing CoMP to work in synergy with HetNet deployment, complemented by a novel resource allocation policy for HetNet tighter interference management. As system level simulator has been used to analyze the proposed algorithm/protocols, and results have concluded that up to 20% energy gain can be observed.

Face matching impairment in developmental prosopagnosia

Developmental prosopagnosia (DP) is commonly referred to as ‘face blindness’, a term that implies a perceptual basis to the condition. However, DP presents as a deficit in face recognition and is diagnosed using memory-based tasks. Here, we test face identification ability in six people with DP, who are severely impaired on face memory tasks, using tasks that do not rely on memory. First, we compared DP to control participants on a standardised test of unfamiliar face matching using facial images taken on the same day and under standardised studio conditions (Glasgow Face Matching Test; GFMT). DP participants did not differ from normative accuracy scores on the GFMT. Second, we tested face matching performance on a test created using images that were sourced from the Internet and so vary substantially due to changes in viewing conditions and in a person’s appearance (Local Heroes Test; LHT). DP participants show significantly poorer matching accuracy on the LHT relative to control participants, for both unfamiliar and familiar face matching. Interestingly, this deficit is specific to ‘match’ trials, suggesting that people with DP may have particular difficulty in matching images of the same person that contain natural day-to-day variations in appearance. We discuss these results in the broader context of individual differences in face matching ability.

Les meilleures pratiques en prévention de la toxicomanie point de vue des adolcescents(es)

Au cours des dix dernières années, la proportion d'adolescents consommateurs de psychotropes a diminué (Institut National de Santé Publique du Québec (INSPQ), 2009). Bien que cette proportion ait diminué, il demeure évident que le nombre de jeunes consommateurs demeure préoccupant (INSPQ, 2009), et ce, malgré tous les efforts des gouvernements pour prévenir l'usage et l'abus de psychotropes. Or, tous les programmes de prévention ne se valent pas. Ce projet de recherche de type exploratoire permettra d'identifier les critères des activités de prévention en toxicomanie qui (1) ont influencé leur perception de la toxicomanie et (2) ont influencé leur propre consommation de psychotropes (soit à la hausse ou à la baisse), et ce, par la consultation d'adolescents. Les données résultent d'entrevues semi-structurées réalisées à partir d'un échantillon composé de 12 adolescents(es). Plusieurs critères ont été abordés lors des discussions soient les approches utilisées, les médiums utilisés, la nature du message, le niveau d'exposition, la nature de l'intervention, la nature des animateurs, les stratégies pédagogiques, les jeunes ciblés et enfin, le niveau d'implication des jeunes. Ce présent projet de mémoire présente donc la prise de position que les jeunes ont émise quant à ces critères.

Face recogniton based on the optimal combination of neural networks, eigenfaces and least squares matching methods

Report of a research project of the Fachhochschule Hannover, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Department of Information Technologies. Automatic face recognition increases the security standards at public places and border checkpoints. The picture inside the identification documents could widely differ from the face, that is scanned under random lighting conditions and for unknown poses. The paper describes an optimal combination of three key algorithms of object recognition, that are able to perform in real time. The camera scan is processed by a recurrent neural network, by a Eigenfaces (PCA) method and by a least squares matching algorithm. Several examples demonstrate the achieved robustness and high recognition rate.

Last End Point / Pinckney Island PSG - R036/R037

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources provides maps to recreational and state shellfish grounds, available to the public for recreational harvesting or to commercial harvest. This map shows the location of Last End Point / Pinckney Island PSG - R036/R0378 Recreational Shellfish Ground in Beaufort County.

Chechessee Point PSG - R061

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources provides maps to recreational and state shellfish grounds, available to the public for recreational harvesting or to commercial harvest. This map shows the location of Chechessee Point PSG - R061 Recreational Shellfish Ground in Beaufort County.

Haig Point S005

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources provides maps to recreational and state shellfish grounds, available to the public for recreational harvesting or to commercial harvest. This map shows the location of Haig Point S005 Recreational Shellfish Ground in Beaufort County.

Coffin Point S127

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources provides maps to recreational and state shellfish grounds, available to the public for recreational harvesting or to commercial harvest. This map shows the location of Coffin Point S127 Recreational Shellfish Ground in Beaufort County.

Santee Point S340

The South Carolina Department of Natural Resources provides maps to recreational and state shellfish grounds, available to the public for recreational harvesting or to commercial harvest. This map shows the location of Santee Point S340 Recreational Shellfish Ground in Georgetown County.

Reconhecimento, validação e certificação de competências em adultos : dificuldades e aprendizagens na área de linguagem e comunicação

Trabalho de projecto de mestrado, Ciências da Educação (Formação de Adultos), Universidade de Lisboa, Instituto de Educação, 2010

The Point teen health centers

This is a poster in both Spanish and English advertising The Point, a teen health center in Spartanburg S.C.