Freshwater scarcity, interdependence and institutionalism in Jordanian foreign policy: towards conflict or cooperation?

Freshwater scarcity is an increasingly important aspect of the international relations of the Middle East and North Africa, and is magnified when sources are shared between states. In the Jordanian, Israeli and Syrian cases, most of their freshwater sources are shared. At the same time, cooperation between these states has emerged. This paper examines inter-state cooperation by considering freshwater scarcity issues in Jordanian-Israeli-Syrian relations. This study argues that three factors help determine whether freshwater scarcity leads to conflict or cooperation between riparian states: the nature and intensity of the scarcity, the level of interdependence between the actors sharing this resource, and their level of engagement in international institutions. It concludes that cooperation is possible between states (even those with difficulties in other areas of their relationship) when the scarcity experienced is intense, they are interdependent in this and other spheres, and they engage with each other through international institutions

Numerical Computation for Backward Doubly SDEs with random terminal time

In this article, we are interested in solving numerically backward doubly stochastic differential equations (BDSDEs) with random terminal time tau. The main motivations are giving a probabilistic representation of the Sobolev's solution of Dirichlet problem for semilinear SPDEs and providing the numerical scheme for such SPDEs. Thus, we study the strong approximation of this class of BDSDEs when tau is the first exit time of a forward SDE from a cylindrical domain. Euler schemes and bounds for the discrete-time approximation error are provided.Comment: 38, Monte Carlo Methods and Applications (MCMA) 201

Nonlinear Channel Estimation for OFDM System by Complex LS-SVM under High Mobility Conditions

A nonlinear channel estimator using complex Least Square Support Vector Machines (LS-SVM) is proposed for pilot-aided OFDM system and applied to Long Term Evolution (LTE) downlink under high mobility conditions. The estimation algorithm makes use of the reference signals to estimate the total frequency response of the highly selective multipath channel in the presence of non-Gaussian impulse noise interfering with pilot signals. Thus, the algorithm maps trained data into a high dimensional feature space and uses the structural risk minimization (SRM) principle to carry out the regression estimation for the frequency response function of the highly selective channel. The simulations show the effectiveness of the proposed method which has good performance and high precision to track the variations of the fading channels compared to the conventional LS method and it is robust at high speed mobility.Comment: 11 page

Physical Cranial Characters of Wajak Man

Human fossils from Wajak, or better known as Wajak Man which is noted as Wajak 1, have been discovered by von Rietschoten in 1888 during exploration prospecting activities at the marble mine area in Tulungagung. The Wajak 1 found in cave sediments during disorganized excavation, therefore the stratigraphic position of the fossil was uncertain. Until this time, since the discovery of the fossil, not many study and publications have been performed on the fossil of Wajak 1. For this reason, this research attempted to compare Wajak 1 with Homo erectus fossils from Ngandong, Sambungmacan, and Sangiran to understand the presence of a linearity pattern based on anatomy of the physical cranial characters. The research was conducted through qualitative analysis by comparing the anatomy of all samples, and quantitative analysis by measuring some biometric parameters of cranium which then processed by statistical methods. Based on PCA analysis, the fossils of Ng 9, Ng 10, Ng 11, Sm 1, Sm 3, Sm 4, Sn 17, Ngawi 1, and Wajak 1 have some kinship based on two principal components as a variable that mostly contributed. Particularly, the specimen of Wajak 1 has the furthermost kinship with other fossils based on maximum cranial length and minimum frontal breadth. Based on these parameters, the Wajak 1 has the largest size in comparison with other fossil samples. The fossil Ngawi 1 and Sm 3 have a close relationship because both of the samples have a smallest size among others, as indicated by their maximum cranial length, minimum frontal breadth, parietal chord, and occipital chord. The specimens of Ng 9, Ng 10, Ng 11 closed to one another and formed in one group, while Sm 1 and Sm 4 close to Sn 17 and form another group. Ng 9, Ng 10, and Ng 11 have a greater values on four parameters compared to the specimens Sm 1, Sm 4, and Sn 17. The result of cluster analysis shows the cluster pattern similar to PCA as shown in the dendrogram. Based on comparative anatomy, the Wajak 1 has most rounded shape and largest cranium. Another different could be seen visibly in the supraorbital torus which is thin and curve tends to follow the shape of orbital. A prominent supraorbital torus is a character belongs to Homo erectus was observed in the specimens Sm 1, Sm 4, Sn 17, Ng 9, Ng 10, Ng 11, Sm 3, and Ngawi 1, but it was not observed in Wajak 1. So, it could be concluded that Wajak 1 is belongs to Homo sapiens which has a characters no prominent supraorbital torus, most rounded form and largest size among other specimens. Keywords: Wajak Man/Wajak 1, comparative anatomy, Principal Component Analysis (PCA