Persistent Contextual Values as Inter-Process Layers

Mobile applications today often fail to be context aware when they also need to be customizable and efficient at run-time. Context-oriented programming allows programmers to develop applications that are more context aware. Its central construct, the so-called layer, however, is not customizable. We propose to use novel persistent contextual values for mobile development. Persistent contextual values automatically adapt their value to the context. Furthermore they provide access without overhead. Key-value configuration files contain the specification of contextual values and the persisted contextual values themselves. By modifying the configuration files, the contextual values can easily be customized for every context. From the specification, we generate code to simplify development. Our implementation, called Elektra, permits development in several languages including C++ and Java. In a benchmark we compare layer activations between threads and between applications. In a case study involving a web-server on a mobile embedded device the performance overhead is minimal, even with many context switches.Comment: 8 pages Mobile! 16, October 31, 2016, Amsterdam, Netherland

Cournot Competition between Teams: An Experimental Study

In the economic literature on market competition, firms are often modeled as single decision makers and the internal organization of the firm is neglected (unitary player assumption). However, as the literature on strategic delegation suggests, one can not generally expect that the behavior of teams is equivalent to the behavior of individuals in Cournot competition. Nevertheless, there are models of team-organization such that teams and individuals are behaviorally equivalent providing a theoretical foundation for the unitary player assumption in Cournot competition. We show that this assumption is robust in experiments in contrast to analog experimental results on price-competition in the literature.unitary player assumption, experiments, group behavior, theory of the firm

The Polarized Two-Loop Massive Pure Singlet Wilson Coefficient for Deep-Inelastic Scattering

We calculate the polarized massive two--loop pure singlet Wilson coefficient contributing to the structure functions $g_1(x,Q^2)$ analytically in the whole kinematic region. The Wilson coefficient contains Kummer--elliptic integrals. We derive the representation in the asymptotic region $Q^2 \gg m^2$, retaining power corrections, and in the threshold region. The massless Wilson coefficient is recalculated. The corresponding twist--2 corrections to the structure function $g_2(x,Q^2)$ are obtained by the Wandzura--Wilczek relation. Numerical results are presented.Comment: 22 pages Latex, 8 Figure

Vaporization and decomposition kinetics of candidate re-entry blackout suppressants in low-pressure flames

Measurement of thermal accommodation coefficients between liquids and high temperature gases in low pressure reentry communications blackout interval

On the origin dependence of multipole moments in electromagnetism

The standard description of material media in electromagnetism is based on multipoles. It is well known that these moments depend on the point of reference chosen, except for the lowest order. It is shown that this "origin dependence" is not unphysical as has been claimed in the literature but forms only part of the effect of moving the point of reference. When also the complementary part is taken into account then different points of reference lead to different but equivalent descriptions of the same physical reality. This is shown at the microscopic as well as at the macroscopic level. A similar interpretation is valid regarding the "origin dependence" of the reflection coefficients for reflection on a semi infinite medium. We show that the "transformation theory" which has been proposed to remedy this situation (and which is thus not needed) is unphysical since the transformation considered does not leave the boundary conditions invariant.Comment: 14 pages, 0 figure

Cournot Competition between Teams: An Experimental Study

In the economic literature on market competition, firms are often modelled as single decision makers and the internal organization of the firm is neglected (unitary player assumption). However, as the literature on strategic delegation suggests, one can not generally expect that the behavior of teams is equivalent to the behavior of individuals in Cournot competition. Nevertheless, there are models of team-organization such that team-firms and individual firms are behaviorally equivalent. This provides a theoretical foundation for the unitary player assumption in Cournot competition. We show that this assumption is robust in experiments, which is in contrast to experimental results on price competition.Unitary player assumption, Group behavior, Experiments, Theory of the firm.

The unpolarized two-loop massive pure singlet Wilson coefficients for deep-inelastic scattering

We calculate the massive two--loop pure singlet Wilson coefficients for heavy quark production in the unpolarized case analytically in the whole kinematic region and derive the threshold and asymptotic expansions. We also recalculate the corresponding massless two--loop Wilson coefficients. The complete expressions contain iterated integrals with elliptic letters. The contributing alphabets enlarge the Kummer-Poincar\'e letters by a series of square-root valued letters. A new class of iterated integrals, the Kummer-elliptic integrals, are introduced. For the structure functions $F_2$ and $F_L$ we also derive improved asymptotic representations adding power corrections. Numerical results are presented.Comment: 42, pages Latex, 8 Figure

Impact of a theoretically based sex education programme (SHARE) delivered by teachers on NHS registered conceptions and terminations: final results of cluster randomised trial

<b>Objective</b>: To assess the impact of a theoretically based sex education programme (SHARE) delivered by teachers compared with conventional education in terms of conceptions and terminations registered by the NHS. Design Follow-up of cluster randomised trial 4.5 years after intervention. <b>Setting</b>: NHS records of women who had attended 25 secondary schools in east Scotland. <b>Participants</b>: 4196 women (99.5% of those eligible). <b>Intervention</b>: SHARE programme (intervention group) v existing sex education (control group). <b>Main outcome measure</b>: NHS recorded conceptions and terminations for the achieved sample linked at age 20. <b>Results</b>: In an "intention to treat" analysis there were no significant differences between the groups in registered conceptions per 1000 pupils (300 SHARE v 274 control; difference 26, 95% confidence interval –33 to 86) and terminations per 1000 pupils (127 v 112; difference 15, –13 to 42) between ages 16 and 20. <b>Conclusions</b>: This specially designed sex education programme did not reduce conceptions or terminations by age 20 compared with conventional provision. The lack of effect was not due to quality of delivery. Enhancing teacher led school sex education beyond conventional provision in eastern Scotland is unlikely to reduce terminations in teenagers

Extent of regretted sexual intercourse among young teenagers in Scotland: a cross sectional survey

No abstract available

Tumbleweeds and airborne gravitational noise sources for LIGO

Gravitational-wave detectors are sensitive not only to astrophysical gravitational waves, but also to the fluctuating Newtonian gravitational forces of moving masses in the ground and air around the detector. This paper studies the gravitational effects of density perturbations in the atmosphere, and from massive airborne objects near the detector. These effects were previously considered by Saulson; in this paper I revisit these phenomena, considering transient atmospheric shocks, and the effects of sound waves or objects colliding with the ground or buildings around the test masses. I also consider temperature perturbations advected past the detector as a source of gravitational noise. I find that the gravitational noise background is below the expected noise floor even of advanced interferometric detectors, although only by an order of magnitude for temperature perturbations carried along turbulent streamlines. I also find that transient shockwaves in the atmosphere could potentially produce large spurious signals, with signal-to-noise ratios in the hundreds in an advanced interferometric detector. These signals could be vetoed by means of acoustic sensors outside of the buildings. Massive wind-borne objects such as tumbleweeds could also produce gravitational signals with signal-to-noise ratios in the hundreds if they collide with the interferometer buildings, so it may be necessary to build fences preventing such objects from approaching within about 30m of the test masses.Comment: 15 pages, 10 PostScript figures, uses REVTeX4.cls and epsfig.st