Математическое моделирование процесса набрызга бетонной смеси с помощью метода дискретных элементов

Представлені результати комп’ютерного моделювання процесу набризкування бетонної суміші з використанням Методу дискретних елементів (МДЕ). Програма реалізована в програмному пакеті Матлаб. На основі результатів моделювання виконано аналіз втрат суміші, що уходять у відскік, а також факторів, що впливають на величину відскоку.Results of computer simulation of spraying the concrete mix with use of discrete elements method (MDE). Program is realized in software product Matlab. On the basis of simulation results the analysis of mixture loss and factors, influencing on size of mixture loss are fulfilled

The Geneva Minimalistic Acoustic Parameter Set (GeMAPS) for Voice Research and Affective Computing

Work on voice sciences over recent decades has led to a proliferation of acoustic parameters that are used quite selectively and are not always extracted in a similar fashion. With many independent teams working in different research areas, shared standards become an essential safeguard to ensure compliance with state-of-the-art methods allowing appropriate comparison of results across studies and potential integration and combination of extraction and recognition systems. In this paper we propose a basic standard acoustic parameter set for various areas of automatic voice analysis, such as paralinguistic or clinical speech analysis. In contrast to a large brute-force parameter set, we present a minimalistic set of voice parameters here. These were selected based on a) their potential to index affective physiological changes in voice production, b) their proven value in former studies as well as their automatic extractability, and c) their theoretical significance. The set is intended to provide a common baseline for evaluation of future research and eliminate differences caused by varying parameter sets or even different implementations of the same parameters. Our implementation is publicly available with the openSMILE toolkit. Comparative evaluations of the proposed feature set and large baseline feature sets of INTERSPEECH challenges show a high performance of the proposed set in relation to its size

Supporting Inclusive and Democratic Ownership. A 'How to Note' for Donors

Even in stable democracies broad-based, inclusive policy ownership is rare. It is even more unlikely in country contexts that are more institutionally and socially complex and experiencing rapid economic and social change. With an aid effectiveness agenda that promotes ownership and accountability in partner countries this means looking critically at how 'ownership' is constructed in the policy process and the role of donors in support. Policy is never just technical. It involves politics and power. Donors have to understand how policy works in practice (as distinct from theory) in any particular country context. It requires undertaking power analyses with themselves factored in - as organisations and individuals - who can make a positive or negative contribution. They need to be self-aware to avoid disempowering others in the policy process. At the same time, they should engage with a wide and diverse group of policy actors in state, civil society and the private sector and whenever possible support debate and locally driven independent research. While taking a back seat in providing policy advice, they should seek out and support pro-poor reform policy networks, particularly those straddling state-society divisions. Supporting the realisation of human rights for all and facilitating poor people's empowerment in all the programmes they support are two key measures that donors can employ for long term strengthening of inclusive and democratic country ownership. Following a brief discussion of context and challenges, this 'how to note' is drafted in the form of some 'frequently (donor) asked questions': How can donors support pro-poor policy change? Why do donors have to do power analyses? How can donors avoid interfering politically? With whom should donors engage? How should donors work with civil society for inclusive and democratic ownership? Is supporting the realisation of human rights a violation of inclusive country ownership? How can donors facilitate poor people's empowerment for more inclusive and democratic ownership?Swiss Agency for Development Co-operation (SDC

Hovering on the Threshold

This is my principal methodological paper about the challenges of researching aid donors, one that positions the anthropologist as a reflexive auto-ethnographer, retaining empathy for the insider’s position while sufficiently distanced to cultivate a critical faculty

The rise of rights: rights-based approaches to international development

International development agencies are increasingly using rights-based language. But how can their policy and practice support people’s own efforts to turn their rights into reality