Robust state estimation using mixed integer programming

This letter describes a robust state estimator based on the solution of a mixed integer program. A tolerance range is associated with each measurement and an estimate is chosen to maximize the number of estimated measurements that remain within tolerance (or equivalently minimize the number of measurements out of tolerance). Some small-scale examples are given which suggest that this approach is robust in the presence of gross errors, is not susceptible to leverage points, and can solve some pathological cases that have previously caused problems for robust estimation algorithms

Meeting the housing-related support needs of homeless people in the North East

The Policy and Representation Partnership is led by Voluntary Organisations’ Network North East(VONNE) and funded by the Big Lottery. The Partnership aims to help the voluntary and communitysector (VCS) increase its influence on public policy through quarterly policy forum events, trainingsessions, researching policy areas and sharing information. In July 2011, the Partnershipcommissioned the Cyrenians and Northumbria University to undertake a project, entitled ‘Meeting theHousing-Related Support Needs of Homeless People in the North East, to help increase the VCS’sinfluence on policy and practice in relation to ‘homelessness’. The project aimed to:- Improve the sector’s awareness of the national and local picture of homelessness.- Identify the impacts of public sector funding cuts on the capacity of local authorities (LAs) and VCSorganisations in the North East to meet the needs of homeless people.- Provide an opportunity for stakeholders to think collectively about how to continue to meet needsat a time of new challenges and opportunities, through critical discussion and the sharing of goodpractice.To achieve this, the project team undertook a review of national and local policy documents andresearch reports; interviews with strategic leads and service commissioners in eight LAs across theNorth East; developed a survey which was completed by 35 VCS organisations; and ran two regionalworkshops, attended by approximately 80 individuals from across the North East.In order to incorporate the views of service users into the project, Northumbria University undertook arelated piece of research, which – using the Cyrenians as a case study – aimed to assess the value ofhousing-related support services and identity ‘what works’ in supporting service users to achieveindependence. The team analysed 238 short-term client outcomes records, completed 19 interviewswith staff and service users and calculated the ‘social return on investment’ of services.The following report summarises the key findings and policy messages emerging from both pieces ofwork

Copts, Islamists and Jews:Gender, minorities, hybridity (and its limits) in two novellas by Bahaa Abdelmegid

Bahaa Abdelmegid's novellas Saint Theresa and Sleeping with Strangers feature a range of intertwined relations: sexual, commercial, as neighbours, and as colleagues between Jews, Christians and Muslims in Egyptian society since 1967. This paper explores the implications of Abdelmegid's portrayal of Egyptian society, in which he celebrates its internal diversity whilst simultaneously warning of the dangers and disruptions of 'too much' hybridity and of over-familiarity with the 'Other'. I argue that Abdelmegid's Egyptian masculine is fragile, brittle, and under threat from a dissolute West and an extremist and inauthentic Islam. Abdelmegid articulates a modern warning to this frail masculinity, as well as to a more stable and worldly-wise feminine, about the dangers of undisciplined relationships with both Western culture and religious fundamentalism, both of which stray away from a real Egypt he constructs.

The stable roommates problem with ties

We study the variant of the well-known stable roommates problem in which participants are permitted to express ties in their preference lists. In this setting, more than one definition of stability is possible. Here we consider two of these stability criteria, so-called super-stability and weak stability. We present a linear–time algorithm for finding a super-stable matching if one exists, given a stable roommates instance with ties. This contrasts with the known NP-hardness of the analogous problem under weak stability. We also extend our algorithm to cope with preference lists that are incomplete and/or partially ordered. On the other hand, for a given stable roommates instance with ties and incomplete lists, we show that the weakly stable matchings may be of different sizes and the problem of finding a maximum cardinality weakly stable matching is NP-hard, though approximable within a factor of 2

Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task : an experimental investigation : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Psychology at Massey University

This study investigated the effects of seven independent variables upon a Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (PASAT; Gronwall & Sampson, 1974). The main effects found were that arithmetic ability and a short-term memory measure were related to performance on this task. Interactive effects were found for measures of anxiety, sex and the strategy used in performing the PASAT. Theories considered included those of Broadbent (1977), Neisser (1976), Kerr (1973), Kahneman (1973) and Broadbent (1971) with emphasis on the latter two. The findings are most easily interpreted in terms of Kahneman's (1973) theory. Broadbent's (1971) model could not account for the effects of environmental and task conditions upon information-processing capacity. Further research is needed to examine the effects of individual abilities and biases in selective attention. Also it is suggested that perception and the allocation of effort policy (Kahneman, 1973) be studied further from Broadbent's (1977) perspective of global and local analysis of information. Clinical implications for the interpretation of the PASAT are discussed. It is suggested that this test could be used more widely as a measure of selective attention. More specifically it is suggested that the administration instructions could be simplified where necessary; and error scores considered together with rate of performance. These measures give an indication of performance effectiveness

Robust algorithm for generalized state estimation

This letter introduces a robust generalized state estimator which is able to detect and reject gross measurement errors, parameter errors, and topology errors simultaneously. The solution is based on finding a consistent estimate which minimizes the total number of hypothesized gross errors. The problem is formulated as a mixed integer nonlinear program. A small-scale ac estimation example is given which illustrates some of the properties of the method