Decomposition models with integer variables usually decompose into a master problem that comprises all the integer variables and subproblems, which evaluate the remaining variables. Subproblems with integer variables introduce additional difficulties and require the use of nonlinear duality theory. In this paper we address the solution of a mixed integer hydrothermal coordination problem combin...

In an effort to develop occupant protection standards for future crewed spacecraft, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has been investigating the test device for human occupant restraint (THOR) dummy in relevant impact test scenarios. In this study, the biofidelity of THOR and total human model for safety (THUMS) finite element (FE) models were evaluated against a series o...

This paper studies a new paradigm for improving the attention span of workers in tasks that heavily rely on user’s attention to the occurrence of rare events. Such tasks are highly common, ranging from crime monitoring to controlling autonomous complex machines, and many of them are ideal for crowdsourcing. The underlying idea in our approach is to dynamically augment the task with some dummy (...

Lloyd J. Edwards. Errors in Variables and Properties of Statistical Inference (under the direction of Dr. P. K. Sen.) The objective here is to investigate the effects errors in variables have on tests of separate families of linear hypotheses (Le., non-nested linear hypotheses) using the methodology introduced by D. R. Cox (1961, 1962). Two hypotheses are called separate if an arbitrary simple ...

In this paper, we present a new method to protect software against illegal acts of hacking. The key idea is to add a mechanism of self-modifying codes to the original program, so that the original program becomes hard to be analyzed. In the binary program obtained by the proposed method, the original code fragments we want to protect are camouflaged by dummy instructions. Then, the binary progr...

Loop structures in software code may reveal essential information about implemented algorithms and their parameters, even if the observer has no knowledge about which instructions are executed. Regular patterns can for instance be observed in power consumption, instruction fetches in external memory, or radiated EM energy. This paper addresses the use of dummy operations to obscure the details ...

This paper presents methods for improving the attention span of workers in tasks that heavily rely on their attention to the occurrence of rare events. The underlying idea in our approach is to dynamically augment the task with some dummy (artificial) events at different times throughout the task, rewarding the worker upon identifying and reporting them. The proposed approach is an alternative ...

This paper focuses on the choice between aggregate and disaggregate models, consisting in both univariate and multivariate specifications, in predicting aggregate variables. Here, we suggest a formal hypothesis testing procedure for in-sample model selection. The empirical size and power of the test are investigated via the use of Monte Carlo simulations. Empirical results show that the test ha...

OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of artificial teats (bottle and dummy) and cups on breast feeding in preterm infants. DESIGN Randomised controlled trial. SETTING Two large tertiary hospitals, 54 peripheral hospitals. PARTICIPANTS 319 preterm infants (born at 23-33 weeks' gestation) randomly assigned to one of four groups: cup/no dummy (n = 89), cup/dummy (n = 72), bottle/no dummy (n = 7...