A systematic approach for improving the quality of official statistics: Case of Korean information and telecommunication industry

With the rapid growth of information and communication technology (ICT) in Korea, there was a need to improve the quality of official ICT statistics. In order to do this, various factors had to be considered, such as the quality of surveying, processing, and output as well as the reputation of the statistical agency. We used PLS estimation to determine how these factors might influence customer satisfaction. Furthermore, through a comparison of associated satisfaction indices, we provided feedback to the responsible statistics agency. It appears that our model can be used as a tool for improving the quality of official ICT statistics. © 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

On equations for regular languages, finite automata, and sequential networks

We consider systems of equations of the form where A is the underlying alphabet, the Xi are variables, the Pi,a are boolean functions in the variables Xi, and each δi is either the empty word or the empty set. The symbols υ and denote concatenation and union of languages over A. We show that any such system has a unique solution which, moreover, is regular. These equations correspond to a type of automation, called boolean automation, which is a generalization of a nondeterministic automation. The equations are then used to determine the language accepted by a sequential network; they are obtainable directly from the network.

practical type checking of functions defined on context-free languages

A type checking method for the functional language LFC is presented. A distinct feature of LFC is that it uses Context-Free (CF) languages as data types to represent compound data structures. This makes LFC a dynamically typed language. To improve efficiency, a practical type checking method is presented, which consists of both static and dynamic type checking. Although the inclusion relation of CF.languages is not decidable,a special subset of the relation is decidable, i.e., the sentential form relation, which can be statically checked.Moreover, most of the expressions in actual LFC programs appear to satisfy this relation according to the statistic data of experiments. So, despite that the static type checking is not complete, it undertakes most of the type checking task. Consequently the run-time efficiency is effectively improved. Another feature of the type checking is that it converts the expressions with implicit structures to structured representation. Structure reconstruction technique is presented.

pattern matching compilation of functions defined in context-free languages

LFC is a functional language based on recursive functions defined in context-free languages. In this paper, a new pattern matching algorithm for LFC is presented, which can represent a sequence of patterns as an integer by an encoding method. It is a rather simple method and produces efficient case-expressions for pattern matching definitions of LFC. The algorithm can also be used for other functional languages, but for nested patterns it may become complicated and further studies are needed.

facilitating formal specification acquisition by using recursive functions on context-free languages

Although formal specification techniques are very useful in software development, the acquisition of formal specifications is a difficult task. This paper presents the formal specification language LFC, which is designed to facilitate the acquisition and validation of formal specifications. LFC uses context-free languages for syntactic aspect and relies on a new kind of recursive functions, i.e. recursive functions on context-free languages, for semantic aspect of specifications. Construction and validation of LFC specifications are machine-aided. The basic ideas behind LFC, the main aspects of LFC, and the use of LFC and illustrative examples are described.

on string languages generated by spiking neural p systems

We continue the study of spiking neural P systems by considering these computing devices as binary string generators: the set of spike trains of halting computations of a given system constitutes the language generated by that system. Although the "direct" generative capacity of spiking neural P systems is rather restricted (some very simple languages cannot be generated in this framework), regular languages are inverse-morphic images of languages of finite spiking neural P systems, and recursively enumerable languages are projections of inverse-morphic images of languages generated by spiking neural P systems.

A Note of Zipf's Law, Natural Languages, and Noncoding DNA Regions

In Phys. Rev. Letters (73:2), Mantegna et al. conclude on the basis of Zipf rank frequency data that noncoding DNA sequence regions are more like natural languages than coding regions. We argue on the contrary that an empirical fit to Zipf"s "law" cannot be used as a criterion for similarity to natural languages. Although DNA is a presumably "organized system of signs" in Mandelbrot"s (1961) sense, and observation of statistical featurs of the sort presented in the Mantegna et al. paper does not shed light on the similarity between DNA's "gramar" and natural language grammars, just as the observation of exact Zipf-like behavior cannot distinguish between the underlying processes of tossing an M-sided die or a finite-state branching process.

Supporting Dynamic Languages on the Java Virtual Machine

In this note, I propose two extensions to the Java virtual machine (or VM) to allow dynamic languages such as Dylan, Scheme and Smalltalk to be efficiently implemented on the VM. These extensions do not affect the performance of pure Java programs on the machine. The first extension allows for efficient encoding of dynamic data; the second allows for efficient encoding of language-specific computational elements.

Internal War, International Mediation and Non-Official Diplomacy: Lessons from Mozambique

Jackson, R. (2005). Internal War, International Mediation and Non-Official Diplomacy: Lessons from Mozambique. Journal of Conflict Studies. 25(1), pp.153-76 RAE2008

Studies on Celtic Languages before the Year 1000

Sims-Williams, Patrick, Studies on Celtic Languages before the Year 1000 (Aberystwyth, CMCS Publications, 2007) RAE2008

Teaching Crossroads: 11th IPB Erasmus Week

In the wake of the latest news regarding IPB’s award for best Polytechnic Institute in Portugal, we would like to congratulate the IPB community who has always striven for the quality of the institution within the national and international academic milieu. We are, undoubtedly, bowled over by the 1st place in the national context (out of the 27 national institutions under evaluation) and the 7th position in the international scope. In fact, it is worth mentioning that the IPB has won this award, three years in a row, being in a leading position in the ranking promoted and sponsored by the European Union. This year’s edition has selected and evaluated over 1300 world higher education institutions. Teaching Crossroads intends thus to give a watershed contribution to the IPB’s successful and most valued pathway. Numbers indicate that Teaching Crossroads has had over 2550 downloads since it first came out. But let’s cut to the chase. Once again, we are delighted to present the 5th number of Teaching Crossroads. This wholly calculated and well-sustained editorial adventure started in 2012 when the first number of Teaching Crossroads first saw the light. This year’s publication includes the areas of Human Geography/anthropology, Information Technology and Forensics and Language and culture, focusing on minority languages. Alongside this, as in the two last previous numbers, we’ve included the specific area for International mobility, Intensive Programmes and Erasmus+ Mobility of Individuals, being the latter financed by the European Union within the Erasmus+ Programme, whereas the former is sponsored uniquely by the foreign partner institution, in this case, Lillebaelt Academy in Denmark. These types of programmes convey very positive and overarching ideas, resonant in cross-cultural and educational benefits, valuable for all the involved partners. We would very kindheartedly like to thank the authors for having contributed with much enlightening and serious articles on a wide array of areas. Pablo M. Orduna Pórtus’s article focuses on border culture and heritage management. The author’s study is placed on two borderlands of the Iberian Peninsula: Roncal Valley (Navarre) and Riverbanks of Douro. Going beyond the linear or physical conception of the border, the author centres his study on the metaphysical and symbolic ideas of the frontier that sustain his anthropological analysis. Michal Popdora manages to find evidence for his proposal of a new conception of teaching Image Processing, based on the student-centered approach. A hands-on experience on a Project-based Learning methodology sustains the teaching project. Grounded on “a forensic-flavored style”, using the author’s own words, he shows how students can become engaged in a highly effective learning process. Cláudia Martins is already a confirmed habitué of this publication, as in every Erasmus Week she delivers a lecture on Portuguese language and culture to visiting teaching and non-teaching staff. This time, the author decided to delve into a Portugal’s official language, Mirandese, spoken in a small designated area in the northeastern part of Portugal, Miranda do Douro and its surrounding area. The author gives account of some thought-provoking facts about the language, from the origin and the survival of the language, however still a minority language, up to the moment when it was acknowledged Portugal’s second official language, together with the challenges that nowadays faces. Luís Frölen Ribeiro, João Eduardo Ribeiro, Carlos Casimiro Costa, António Duarte, Carlos Andrade from the Polytechnic Institute and Arne Svinth, John Madsen, Morten Thomsen, Kent Smidstrup, Carsten John Jacobsen from the Lillebaelt Academy, in Denmark, participate in a joint project which they describe, outlining the main goals and gains of the project. To overcome teaching difficulties regarding the engineering degrees, a 12-ECTS joint course from Lillebaelt Academy and Polytechnic Institute of Bragança was created based on the Danish model. The course Product Development and Industrial Processing was hence created. Rui Pedro Lopes presents an insightful and acute account of the Internationalization programmes in Higher Education in Europe. At one go, the author describes his own experience as a visiting lecturer, within the Erasmus+ programme, to Università Politecnica delle Marche in Ancona, Italy, in a Master’s degree in computer science, bringing to light a personal reflection on the goals and benefits of the mobility for both students and teachers. Finally, the author puts forth some suggestions that would improve the whole mobility process. We sincerely hope to have stimulated you to keep on reading, upholding the belief that these texts can represent valuable sources for both teachers and students in their research work.

StaXML: Static Typing of XML Document Fragments for Imperative Web Scripting Languages

We present a type system, StaXML, which employs the stacked type syntax to represent essential aspects of the potential roles of XML fragments to the structure of complete XML documents. The simplest application of this system is to enforce well-formedness upon the construction of XML documents without requiring the use of templates or balanced "gap plugging" operators; this allows it to be applied to programs written according to common imperative web scripting idioms, particularly the echoing of unbalanced XML fragments to an output buffer. The system can be extended to verify particular XML applications such as XHTML and identifying individual XML tags constructed from their lexical components. We also present StaXML for PHP, a prototype precompiler for the PHP4 scripting language which infers StaXML types for expressions without assistance from the programmer.

Challengers to provisional republicanism: the official republican movement, people’s democracy and the Irish republican socialist party, 1968–98

The Provisional IRA and its political wing Sinn Féin have attracted by far the greatest scholarly interest of all the players in the Northern Irish conflict. This emphasis is perfectly legitimate, given the centrality of the Provos to so many turning-points in the conflict, from the collapse of Stormont in the early 1970s to the hunger strikes of the following decade and the ceasefires which were followed by the Belfast Agreement. My project, however, looks at political groups that at one time or another challenged the Provos for leadership of the militant, anti-state constituency in Northern Ireland (chiefly based in the Catholic working class). Although never as large or influential as the Provisional republicans, groups such as the Official IRA and the Irish Republican Socialist Party sometimes had a discernible impact on the course of events which is overlooked by most studies, and often pioneered ideas and tactics that were later adopted by the Provos themselves. The idea that republicans should embrace political action and work in broad campaigning alliances was promoted by the IRSP and socialist groups such as People’s Democracy before it was taken up by Gerry Adams and his allies, while the Official IRA supported the principle of a settlement based on democratization of the Northern Irish state, which was later accepted by Sinn Féin in the form of the Belfast Agreement. The goal of my research is to provide a novel perspective on the conflict in Northern Ireland, while engaging with theoretical debates about its character.