FUNCTIONAL PEARL : lazy wheel sieves and spirals of primes

The popular method of enumerating the primes is the Sieve of Eratosthenes. It can be programmed very neatly in a lazy functional language, but runs rather slowly. A little-known alternative method is the Wheel Sieve, originally formulated as a fast imperative algorithm for obtaining all primes up to a given limit, assuming destructive access to a bit-array. This article describes functional variants of the wheel sieve that enumerate all primes as a lazy list

Inductive benchmarking for purely functional data structures

Every designer of a new data structure wants to know how well it performs in comparison with others. But finding, coding and testing applications as benchmarks can be tedious and time-consuming. Besides, how a benchmark uses a data structure may considerably affect its apparent efficiency, so the choice of applications may bias the results. We address these problems by developing a tool for inductive benchmarking. This tool, Auburn, can generate benchmarks across a wide distribution of uses. We precisely define 'the use of a data structure', upon which we build the core algorithms of Auburn: how to generate a benchmark from a description of use, and how to extract a description of use from an application. We then apply inductive classification techniques to obtain decision trees for the choice between competing data structures. We test Auburn by benchmarking several implementations of three common data structures: queues, random-access lists and heaps. These and other results show Auburn to be a useful and accurate tool, but they also reveal some limitations of the approach

Detecting anomalous energy consumption in android applications

The use of powerful mobile devices, like smartphones, tablets and laptops, are changing the way programmers develop software. While in the past the primary goal to optimize software was the run time optimization, nowadays there is a growing awareness of the need to reduce energy consumption. This paper presents a technique and a tool to detect anomalous energy consumption in Android applications, and to relate it directly with the source code of the application. We propose a dynamically calibrated model for energy consumption for the Android ecosystem, and that supports different devices. The model is then used as an API to monitor the application execution: first, we instrument the application source code so that we can relate energy consumption to the application source code; second, we use a statistical approach, based on fault-localization techniques, to localize abnormal energy consumption in the source code

What unites Europe and what divides it? Solidarity and the European heritage reconsidered

Despite the on-set on new divisions, there is a strong case to be made for the view that ultimately Europe is more united than divided. There is still significant continuity with the post-war project of reconstruction and peace and that this common ground that constitutes the European heritage needs to be given greater recognition. One of the defining features of European self-understanding is opposition to war

Who is to blame? The relationship between ingroup identification and relative deprivation is moderated by ingroup attributions

Contradictory evidence can be found in the literature about whether ingroup identification and perceived relative deprivation are positively or negatively related. Indeed, theoretical arguments can be made for both effects. It was proposed that the contradictory findings can be explained by considering a hitherto unstudied moderator: The extent to which deprivation is attributed to the ingroup. It was hypothesised that identification would only have a negative impact on deprivation, and that deprivation would only have a negative impact on identification, if ingroup attributions are high. To test this, attributions to the ingroup were experimentally manipulated among British student participants (N = 189) who were asked about their perceived deprivation vis-à-vis German students, yield ing support for the hypotheses

Challenging workplace inequality : precarious workers’ institutional and associational power in Gauteng, South Africa

Abstract: The world of work has been reorganised, the numbers of workers employed through the standard employment relationship has declined and there has been an increase in non-standard employment: labour broking, outsourcing and other forms of precarious and temporary work. This has created highly unequal workplaces where atypical workers perform the same work as permanent workers for often half the wages of what a permanent worker receives. This article considers how precarious workers are organising, outside of trade unions, to fight against workplace inequality to gain rights to permanent work. This article develops the power resource approach (PRA) as a lens through which to explore how labour broker workers are organising in Gauteng. Through the analysis of two workplace case studies, the article examines how amendments to the Labour Relations Act (LRA) in 2015 provided new rights and a new avenue through which precarious workers could organise. The case studies illustrate the dynamic interactions between institutional and associational power, an often overlooked relationship , and demonstrate the multiple avenues through which precarious workers mobilise their power to fight against inequality

Forage shrubs and grasses for revegetating saltland

Salt tolerant shrubs and grasses are used for forage production from salt-affected farmland. This Bulletin is designed to assist in recognition of the important species in Western Australia and to provide information on their use. The species listed have more forage value than some natural indicators and colonizers of saltland, such as Mediterranean barley grass (Hordeum geniculatum), ice plant (Mesembryanthemum spp.), mallee lovegrass (Eragrostisdielsii), salt spurry (Spergularia spp.), curly ryegrass (Parapholis incurva) and beard grass (Polypogon monspeliensis). Some of the plants are also useful for rehabilitating degraded rangeland and mine dumps in arid areas.https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1100/thumbnail.jp

A discursive approach to narrative accounts of hearing voices and recovery

Substantive objective: To research the range of discursive constructions ‘recovered’ voice hearers employ to describe hearing voices and the implications for positioning and subjectivity (what can be thought and felt) using each construction. Methodological objective and method: To explore a ‘sympathetic’ application of Foucauldian discourse analysis, adapting Willig’s (2008 Willig, C. 2008. Introducing Qualitative Research in Psychology, Maidenhead: Open University Press. ) method, analysing two published accounts. Results and conclusions: Heterogeneous discursive constructions for talking about hearing voices were identified, including: ‘many-’selves’’, ‘taking-the-lead-in-your-own-recovery’, ‘voices-as-an-’imagined-world’’ and ‘voices-as-a-coping-strategy-for-dealing-with-trauma’. The discourse of the biomedical model was not prominent, suggesting alternate discursive constructions may create subjects with a greater capacity for ‘living with voices’ and create a subjectivity from which vantage point the experience holds meaning and value and can be integrated into life experiences. This research may have useful clinical applications for mental health services aiming to collaboratively explore service users’ ways of understanding hearing voices

Consumption caught in the cash nexus.

During the last thirty years, ‘consumption’ has become a major topic in the study of contemporary culture within anthropology, psychology and sociology. For many authors it has become central to understanding the nature of material culture in the modern world but this paper argues that the concept is, in British writing at least, too concerned with its economic origins in the selling and buying of consumer goods or commodities. It is argued that to understand material culture as determined through the monetary exchange for things - the cash nexus - leads to an inadequate sociological understanding of the social relations with objects. The work of Jean Baudrillard is used both to critique the concept of consumption as it leads to a focus on advertising, choice, money and shopping and to point to a more sociologically adequate approach to material culture that explores objects in a system of models and series, ‘atmosphere’, functionality, biography, interaction and mediation

Effects of Hydrogen on the Phases and Transition Temperatures of NiTi

Austenitic (B2) NiTi samples were cathodically charged with various amounts of hydrogen. Trends are tracked based on temperature, time and voltage throughout the process to establish consistent and predictive hydrogen charging procedures. The effect of hydrogen on the austenitic structure and the formation of hydrides are studied with x-ray diffraction (XRD). An increase in the austenite lattice parameter with increased hydrogen content is observed up to a hydrogen solubility limit of approximately 85 wppm. At greater hydrogen concentrations, additional XRD peaks appear, suggesting possible hydride formation. Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) results show a decrease in both the austenitic and martensitic transition temperatures with increased atomic hydrogen content and increased hydride phase. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to reveal the hydride phase. The effect of atomic hydrogen on NiTi and the structure of the hydride phase are compared with previous hydrogen studies