A gauge function f(.) is a nonnegative convex function that is positively homogeneous and satisfies f(O)=O. Norms and pseudonorms are specific instances of a gauge function. This paper presents a gauge duality theory for a gauge program, which is the problem of minimizing the value of a gauge function f(.) over a convex set. The gauge dual program is also a gauge program, unlike the standard La...

Teacher education programs can play a principal role in helping prospective teachers to acquire requisite knowledge and skills. Vital to the issue of teacher education is the efficient evaluation of such programs in promoting prospective teachers’ knowledge base. However, the literature contains very few reports of the evaluation of the Iranian EFL preservice teacher education program, which is...

We consider semi-infinite linear programs with countably many constraints indexed by the natural numbers. When the constraint space is the vector space of all real valued sequences, we show that the finite support (Haar) dual is equivalent to the algebraic Lagrangian dual of the linear program. This settles a question left open by Anderson and Nash [2]. This result implies that if there is a du...

In order to make software components more flexible and reusable it is desirable to provide business users with facilities to assemble and control them, but without first being converted into programmers. We present our fully-functional prototype middleware system where variability is externalized so that core applications need not be altered for anticipated changes. Application behavior modific...

In January 2001 the Pew Environmental Health Commission called for the creation of a coordinated public health system to prevent disease in the United States by tracking and combating environmental health threats. In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention initiated the Environmental Public Health Tracking (EPHT) Program to integrate three distinct components of hazard monitori...

T he results of the 2001 National Internship and Residency Matching Program for general surgery raised alarms for every surgeon and surgical organization involved in resident education, but it was especially concerning to surgical program directors. In the 2001 match, there were 68 unfilled postgraduate year 1 (PGY-1) categorical surgical positions and 425 unfilled PGY-1 preliminary positions. ...

In iterative schemes of identification and control one of the particular and important choices to make is the choice for a model uncertainty structure, capturing the uncertainty concerning the estimated plant model. This is typically done in some normbounded form, in order to guarantee robust stability and/or robust performance when redesigning the controller. Structures that are used in the re...

quality and safety of patient care remarkably depend on the competency of healthcare providers. as predominant caregivers, nurses crucially influence the quality of patient care (1). on the other hand, as major educational organizations, nursing schools must offer competent expertise to the students in order to warrant high-quality patient care. in this regard, finding efficient methods to grad...