Matching

1] The global oceans serve as the largest sustained natural sink for increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) concentrations. As this CO 2 is absorbed by seawater, it not only reacts causing a reduction in seawater pH (or acidification) but also decreases the carbonate mineral saturation state (W), which plays an important role in calcification for many marine organisms. Ocean acidification could affect some of the most fundamental biological and geochemical processes of the sea in coming decades. Observations obtained in situ from Volunteer Observing Ships and multiple geochemical surveys have been extended using satellite remote sensing and modeled environmental parameters to derive estimates of sea-surface alkalinity (A T ) and carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO 2,sw ). Pairing estimates of A T and pCO 2,sw have permitted characterization of the changes in sea-surface W, which have transpired over the past decade throughout the Greater Caribbean Region as a consequence of ocean acidification. The results reveal considerable spatial and temporal variability throughout the region. Despite this variability, we observed a strong secular decrease in aragonite saturation state (W arg ) at a rate of approximately À0.012 ± 0.001 W arg yr À1 (r 2 = 0.97, P < 0.001).

A transmission line based transformer (TLBT) is described. It is shown that some topologies of transmission line elements imply transformer-like behaviour of the total arrangement. The expected application of the TLBT is in systems in which matching is required, for high frequency waveforms or for narrow pulse applications.

This article surveys deformable models, a promising and vigorously researched computer-assisted medical image analysis technique. Among model-based techniques, deformable models offer a unique and powerful approach to image analysis that combines geometry, physics, and approximation theory. They have proven to be effective in segmenting, matching, and tracking anatomic structures by exploiting (bottom-up) constraints derived from the image data together with (top-down) a priori knowledge about ...

For the many-to-one matching model in which firms have substitutable and quota q−separable preferences over subsets of workers we show that the workers-optimal stable mechanism is group strategy-proof for the workers. Therefore, in centralized markets like entry-level professional labor markets if the proposed matching is the workers-optimal stable matching then, no group of workers can never benefit by reporting untruthfully their preference relations. We exhibit an example showing that this property fails if the preferences of firms are substitutable but not quota q−separable.

The low noise amplifier is one of the basic functional blocks in communication systems. The main interest of the LNA at the input of the analog processing chain is to amplify the signal without adding significant noise. In this work, we have modeled a LNA for radar reception systems operating around 11 GHz, using the technique of impedance transformations with Smith chart utility. The type of transistor used is: the transistor HEMT AFP02N2-00 of Alpha Industries®. The results show that the modeled amplifier has a gain greater than 20 dB, a noise figure less than 2 dB, input and output reflection coefficients lower than-20 dB and unconditional stability. Keyword: Gain Low noise amplifier (LNA) Matching Noise figure Stability

Exogenous shocks are said to play a key role in the breakdown of authoritarian regimes. This paper sheds light on the conditions under which crisis management play out to the advantage of authoritarian leaders, or not. By chance, a national probability survey of the Chinese population was conducted before and after the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. Based on a quasi-experimental design that allows us to match pre-and post-quake respondents, we find that citizens were highly responsive to media content. In the short run, a more open information policy helped shore up support for a government that exhibited a high degree of responsiveness to the crisis. We find, however, that this approach may have undermined the regime's legitimacy. Whereas in the immediate aftermath of the quake the Chinese media emphasized political unity and harmony, over time increasing and unusual media criticisms of local governments in the media eroded public confidence.

Identifying suspects based on impressions of fingers lifted from crime scenes (latent prints) is a routine procedure that is extremely important to forensics and law enforcement agencies. Latents are partial fingerprints that are usually smudgy, with small area and containing large distortion. Due to these characteristics, latents have a significantly smaller number of minutiae points compared to full (rolled or plain) fingerprints. The small number of minutiae and the noise characteristic of latents make it extremely difficult to automatically match latents to their mated full prints that are stored in law enforcement databases. Although a number of algorithms for matching full-to-full fingerprints have been published in the literature, they do not perform well on the latent-tofull matching problem. Further, they often rely on features that are not easy to extract from poor quality latents. In this paper, we propose a new fingerprint matching algorithm which is especially designed for matching latents. The proposed algorithm uses a robust alignment algorithm (descriptor-based Hough transform) to align fingerprints and measures similarity between fingerprints by considering both minutiae and orientation field information. To be consistent with the common practice in latent matching (i.e., only minutiae are marked by latent examiners), the orientation field is reconstructed from minutiae. Since the proposed algorithm relies only on manually marked minutiae, it can be easily used in law enforcement applications. Experimental results on two different latent databases (NIST SD27 and WVU latent databases) show that the proposed algorithm outperforms two well optimized commercial fingerprint matchers. Further, a fusion of the proposed algorithm and commercial fingerprint matchers leads to improved matching accuracy.

For a fixed family ¡ of graphs, an ¡ -packing of a graph ¢ is a set of pairwise vertex-disjoint (or edge-disjoint) subgraphs of ¢ , each isomorphic to an element of ¡ . We focus on the algorithmic aspects of the problem of finding an ¡ -packing that maximizes the number of covered edges. We present results for

The concept of IT alignment has been discussed in the literature, but almost always in the context of large firms. Similarly, attempts to measure alignment and relate it to performance have been made, but primarily based on work in larger firms. This study focused on measuring the alignment of business strategy and IT strategy (ITS) among small UK manufacturing firms and then investigated the link between alignment and performance. The method built on prior studies, developing approaches to alignment used with larger firms and integrating other concepts and measures from the small firm literature. Using a mail questionnaire, data from 250 firms was collected on nine strategy areas so that business and ITS responses could be compared. IT alignment was explored using both the matching and moderation approaches. The moderation approach appeared more effective in identifying IT alignment. The results indicated that a significant proportion of small firms had achieved high IT alignment. Furthermore, the group of small firms with high IT alignment had achieved better organisational performance than firms with low IT alignment. This is consistent with findings in large firms and opens up possibilities for further study of IT alignment in small firms. q

Forensic dentistry involves the identiÿcation of people based on their dental records, mainly available as radiograph images. Our goal is to automate this process using image processing and pattern recognition techniques. Given a postmortem radiograph, we search a database of antemortem radiographs in order to retrieve the closest match with respect to some salient features. In this paper, we use the contours of the teeth as the feature for matching. A semi-automatic contour extraction method is used to address the problem of fuzzy tooth contours caused by the poor image quality. The proposed method involves three stages: radiograph segmentation, pixel classiÿcation and contour matching. A probabilistic model is used to describe the distribution of object pixels in the image. Results of retrievals on a database of over 100 images are encouraging.

This paper presents a novel electronically tunable slot antenna. The design is based on a resonant slot structure loaded with a series of PIN diode switches. The tuning of the operating frequency is realized by varying the electrical length of the antenna, which is controlled by the DC bias voltages of the switches. The fabricated antenna is capable of resonating at four different frequencies ranging from 550 to 900 MHz. Very good matching is achieved for all resonant frequencies without the need for any special matching network. Additionally, it is demonstrated that the radiation pattern, efficiency and polarization remain essentially unaffected by the frequency tuning.

Entrepreneurs and investors face challenges in the 'thin market' for early stage entrepreneurial finance. Improving this situation has been a priority of policy makers for at least a decade, however, the challenges in this matching process are still poorly understood. Theory suggests that matching problems may originate in different perceptions in areas such as evaluation criteria, risk and risk management by investors and entrepreneurs. To find a good match it seems essential to understand what is important to your counterpart. Based on a mixed methods approach using data collected in semi-structured interviews and a survey with both entrepreneurs and investors mostly active in green tech innovation, this study systematically analyses where their perceptions deviate and where frictions in the matching process may occur. We find that a mismatch exists in the perception of risk, the importance attached to risk, the search channels used to find a potential partner and the evaluation criteria applied in evaluating a proposition (i.e., exit, innovativeness, capabilities of teams). This paper suggests that increasing market transparency and creating a mutual understanding of the investment process will prevent potentially damaging perception misalignment from arising in the first place.

Performance limitations on current-steering digital-to-analog converters (DACs) are due to finite output impedances, nonideal switches, parasitic capacitances, matching, etc. In this work we present a dynamic state-space model of a 14-bit current-steering DAC which includes dynamic nonidealities. Simulation results are presented and compared to measurement results. The model can be used for fast performance estimation of D/A converters

Latent fingerprint identification is of critical importance to law enforcement agencies in identifying suspects: Latent fingerprints are inadvertent impressions left by fingers on surfaces of objects. While tremendous progress has been made in plain and rolled fingerprint matching, latent fingerprint matching continues to be a difficult problem. Poor quality of ridge impressions, small finger area, and large nonlinear distortion are the main difficulties in latent fingerprint matching compared to plain or rolled fingerprint matching. We propose a system for matching latent fingerprints found at crime scenes to rolled fingerprints enrolled in law enforcement databases. In addition to minutiae, we also use extended features, including singularity, ridge quality map, ridge flow map, ridge wavelength map, and skeleton. We tested our system by matching 258 latents in the NIST SD27 database against a background database of 29,257 rolled fingerprints obtained by combining the NIST SD4, SD14, and SD27 databases. The minutiae-based baseline rank-1 identification rate of 34.9 percent was improved to 74 percent when extended features were used. In order to evaluate the relative importance of each extended feature, these features were incrementally used in the order of their cost in marking by latent experts. The experimental results indicate that singularity, ridge quality map, and ridge flow map are the most effective features in improving the matching accuracy.

Ontology matching 1 is a key interoperability enabler for the Semantic Web, as well as a useful tactic in some classical data integration tasks. It takes the ontologies as input and determines as output an alignment, that is, a set of correspondences between the semantically related entities of those ontologies. These correspondences can be used for various tasks, such as ontology merging and data translation. Thus, matching ontologies enables the knowledge and data expressed in the matched ontologies to interoperate.

The Takab area, located in north-west Iran, is an important gold mineralized region with a long history of gold mining. The gold is associated with toxic metals/metalloids. In this study, Advanced Space Borne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer data are evaluated for mapping gold and base-metal mineralization through alteration mapping. Two different methods are used for argillic and silicic alteration mapping: selective principal-component analysis and matched filter processing (MF). Running a selective principal-component analysis using the main spectral characteristics of key alteration minerals enhanced the altered areas in PC2. MF using spectral library and laboratory spectra of the study area samples gave similar results. However, MF, using the image reference spectra from principal component (PC) images, produced the best results and indicated the advantage of using image spectra rather than library spectra in spectral mapping techniques. It seems that argillic alteration is more effective than silicic alteration for exploration purposes. It is suggested that alteration mapping can also be used to delineate areas contaminated by potentially toxic metals.

Dijkstra defined a distributed system to be self-stabilizing if, regardless of the initial state, the system is guaranteed to reach a legitimate (correct) state in a finite time. Even though the concept of selfstabilization received little attention when it was introduced, it has become one of the most popular fault tolerance approaches. On the other hand, graph algorithms form the basis of many network protocols. They are used in routing, clustering, multicasting and many other tasks. The objective of this paper is to survey the self-stabilizing algorithms for dominating and independent set problems, colorings, and matchings. These graph theoretic problems are well studied in the context of self-stabilization and a large number of algorithms have been proposed for them.

Over the past several years, researchers within the ONR-sponsored Adaptive Architectures for Command and Control (A2C2) research program have been investigating the concept of organizational &quot;congruence.&quot; These model-based theories loosely state that the better an organization is matched structurally to the overall mission (as measured using a multi-variant set of workload/congruence metrics) the better will that organization perform, and that mismatches are potential drivers for the adaptation of organization structure. To test the congruence theories and their corollaries in a laboratory experiment, the authors&#39; approach was to seek two sufficiently disparate organizational structures and then design two missions (or scenarios) that would exploit the differences in these two structures. One scenario would be &quot;tuned&quot; to organization 1 to exhibit a high degree of congruence, but at the same time it would be &quot;mismatched&quot; (i.e., exhibit low congruence...

The article focuses on the problem of the implementation of labor demand market standards in higher education system in Armenia. The new jobs require new qualifications which should be developed via transdisciplinary academic curricula. The labor market has set up new demands for the language proficiency for the new jobs. The flexibility as well as the orientation to European standards will provide the economic system of the country with the possibility to better use the human resources and decrease the unemployment rates. The input and the output of the use of new generic and specific competences should be targeted at providing the labor market with highly qualified specialists.

Equilibrium labor market theory suggests that unemployment benefit extensions affect unemployment by impacting both job search decisions by the unemployed and job creation decisions by employers. The existing empirical literature focused on the former effect only. We develop a new methodology necessary to incorporate the measurement of the latter effect. Implementing this methodology in the data, we find that benefit extensions raise equilibrium wages and lead to a sharp contraction in vacancy creation, employment, and a rise in unemployment.

Machine Translation (MT) has progressed in parallel with idiom research throughout the years, since they are both interdisciplinary fields. However, most researchers and MT systems regard idioms as a thorn in MT's flesh. When it comes to idiom translation, it becomes really a difficult task for human translators, let alone for MT systems. The construction of an idiom database is complex and time-consuming, since there are not idiom corpora widely available and must be either manually constructed or consist of real examples carefully filtered. We incorporated both cases into our data sets and proved that idiom processing based on syntactic patterns of the topological field model is thoroughly feasible.

The Stable Matching problem was introduced by Gale and Shapley in 1962. The input for the stable matching problem is a complete bipartite K n,n graph together with a ranking for each node. Its output is a matching that does not contain a blocking pair, where a blocking pair is a pair of elements that are not matched together but rank each other higher than they rank their current mates. In this work we study the Distributed Weighted Stable Matching problem. The input to the Weighted Stable Matching problem is a complete bipartite K n,n graph and a weight function W. The ranking of each node is determined by W, i.e. node v prefers node u 1 over node u 2 if W((v,u 1)) > W((v, u 2)). Using this ranking we can solve the original Stable Matching problem. We consider two different communication models: the billboard model and the full distributed model. In the billboard model, we assume that there is a public billboard and each participant can write one message on it in each time step. In the distributed model, we assume that each node can send O(logn) bits on each edge of the K n,n . In the billboard model we prove a somewhat surprising tight bound: any algorithm that solves the Stable Matching problem requires at least n − 1 rounds. We provide an algorithm that meets this bound. In the distributed communication model we provide an algorithm named intermediation agencies algorithm, in short (IAA), that solves the Distributed Weighted Stable Marriage problem in $O(\sqrt{n})$ rounds. This is the first sub-linear distributed algorithm that solves some subcase of the general Stable Marriage problem.

We introduce a novel fingerprint representation scheme that relies on describing the orientation field of the fingerprint pattern with respect to each minutia detail. This representation allows the derivation of a similarity function between minutiae that is used to identify corresponding features and evaluate the resemblance between two fingerprint impressions. A fingerprint matching algorithm, based on the proposed representation, is developed and tested with a series of experiments conducted on two public domain collections of fingerprint images. The results reveal that our method can achieve good performance on these data collections and that it outperforms other alternative approaches implemented for comparison.

This paper argues that the economics of the family can be much enriched by incorporating recent developments in evolutionary biology, animal behavior studies, cultural evolution, anthropology, and game theory. Evolutionary foundations of sympathy between relatives are explored. Applications of the theory of cultural evolution to the demographic transition and to wealth transfers between generations are investigated. The economics of marital institutions such as polygyny, polyandry, and matriarchy are discussed, as well as recent work by economists on non-monogamous mating arrangements in our own society. Applications of recent developments in non-cooperative bargaining theory and matching theory to the theory of marriage are presented.

Solar elevation is an important factor in passive, airborne data collection. The minimum solar elevation allowed in missions for topographic mapping is typically 30°from the horizon. A general hypothesis is that the new, high dynamic range, digital large-format photogrammetric sensors allow for high data quality, even with lower solar elevations, which would improve the feasibility and cost-efficiency of photogrammetric technology in various applications. Objectives of this study were to investigate theoretically and empirically the impacts of solar elevation in modern photogrammetric processes. Two cutting-edge aspects of novel photogrammetric technology were considered: point cloud creation by automatic image matching and reflectance calibration of image data. For the empirical study, we used image data collected by a large-format photogrammetric camera, Intergraph DMC, with low (25-28°) and medium (44-48°) solar elevations from 2, 3 and 4 km heights. We did not detect negative influences of decreasing solar elevation during our general evaluations: an analysis of image histograms showed that the ranges of digital numbers could be tuned to similar levels with exposure settings, and evaluations of density and the accuracy of point clouds did not show any reduction of quality. We carried out detailed evaluations in forests, roads and fields. Our results did not indicate deterioration of the quality in sun-illuminated areas with decreasing solar elevation. In shadowed areas, we observed that the variation of image signal was reduced in comparison to sun-illuminated areas and emphasized the issue of complication of reflectance calibration. Artefacts appeared in automatically generated point clouds in areas shadowed by trees, which we observed in flat objects as up to 3 times increased random height variation and decreased success in measuring the terrain surface. Our results also showed that the overall performance of point cloud generation was high. Typically, point clouds could be derived even from a single stereo model with the point density corresponding to the GSD, but some expected and unexpected failures also appeared. The height accuracy was dependent on the object properties and the intersection geometry; the height accuracy was 0.5-2 times GSD at well defined objects. Our conclusions were that in the future it is of increasing importance to quantify the sensitivity of different methods on the radiometric properties of the image data. It is also important to develop interpretation methods that are not sensitive to shadows, in order to enable optimal use of photogrammetric technology in normal to rapid response applications. Ó

With increasingly low-cost and power-efficient RF electronics being demanded by today's wireless communication systems, it is essential to keep up to speed with new developments. This book presents key advances in the field that you need to know about and emerging patterns in large-signal measurement techniques, modeling, and nonlinear circuit design theory supported by practical examples. Topics covered include: • novel large-signal measurement techniques that have become available with the introduction of nonlinear vector network analyzers (NVNAs), such as the LSNA, PNA-X, and SWAP • direct extraction of device models from large-signal RF dynamic loadlines • characterization of memory effects (self-heating, traps) with pulsed RF measurements • interactive design of power-efficient amplifiers (PAs) and oscillators using ultra-fast multi-harmonic active load-pull • Volterra and poly-harmonic distortion (X-parameters) behavioral modeling • oscillator phase noise theory • balancing, modeling, and poly-harmonic linearization of broadband RFIC modulators • development of a frequency-selective predistorter to linearize PAs

ISO has recently published Part 7 of the ISO/IEC 15504 standard, with the aim of determining the extent to which an organization consistently implements processes that contribute to achievement of its business goals. This new Part 7 of ISO/IEC 15504 has addressed issues related to the assessment of organizational maturity, as the CMMI-DEV model also does. Recently, growing interest has been shown towards the need to harmonize different improvement models or standards, thereby presenting an integrated vision about them. All this being so and in an effort to offer information on how the maturity levels described in these two models are related, we have carried out the harmonization of these two models. It is based, firstly, on a mapping between processes of ISO 12207:08 and process areas of CMMI-DEV, and in second place, on a matching between processes of ISO 12207:08 and ISO 15504-5. For this work, we have taken into account the latest versions of the models, and defined a suitable process to carry out the mapping in a systematic way. We established differences and similarities between the maturity levels (and their processes) described in these models, our goal being to support organizations which are interested in tackling organizational maturity. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

We present in this paper, an automatic query translation system in cross-language information retrieval (Arabic-French). For the lexical disambiguation, our system combines between two resources: a bilingual dictionary and a parallel corpus. To select the best translation, our method is based on a correspondence measure between two semantic networks. The first one represents the senses of ambiguous terms of the query. The second one is a semantic network contextually enriched, representing the collection of sentences responding to the query. This collection forms the knowledge base of our disambiguation method and it is obtained by alignment with the relevant sentences in Arabic. The evaluation of the proposed system shows the advantage of the contextual enrichment on the quality of the translation. We obtained a high precision, relatively proportional to the precision provided by the used alignment. Finally, our translation demonstrates its potential by comparing its Bleu score with that of Google translate.

Analogical reasoning involves the identification and transfer of an explanatory structure from a known system (the source) to a new and relatively unknown system (the target). Analogical reasoning can take place between two systems that belong to fundamentally different domains, or between two systems that belong to the same or similar domains. An analogy can be identified when the underlying structural similarity between two analogs is recognized. However, the productive use of an analogy, that is, the use of analogical reasoning to produce a new understanding of the explanatory structure of a target system, is often based on the recognition of some similarity in salient properties of the two systems, and not on similarity in their structure, because the explanatory structure of the target system is not known.

In this paper, a neural network based optimization method is described in order to solve the problem of stereo matching for a set of primitives extracted from a stereoscopic pair of images. The neural network used is the 2D Hopfield network. The matching problem amounts to the minimization of an energy function involving specified stereoscopic constraints. This function reaches its minimum when these constraints are satisfied. The network converges to its stable state when the minimum is reached. In the initial step, the primitives to match are extracted from the stereoscopic pair of images. The primitives we use are specific points of interest. The feature extraction technique is the one developed by Moravec, and called the interest operator. Its output comprises mostly corners or feature points with high variance. The Hopfield network is represented as a N l × N r matrix of neurons, where N l is the number of features in the left image and N r the number of features in the right one. An update of the state of each neuron is done in order to perform the network evolution and then allowing it to settle down into a stable state. In the stable state, each neuron represents a possible match between a left candidate and a right one.

The representation of physics problems in relation to the organization of physics knowledge is investigated in experts and novices. Four experiments examine {a~ the existence of problem categories as a basis for representation; (b) differences in the categories used by experts and novices; (c) differences in the knowledge associated with the categories; and (d) features in the problems that contribute to problem categorization and representation. Results from sorting tasks and protocols reveal that experts and novices begin their problem representations with specifiably different problem categories, and completion of the representations depends on the knowledge associated with the categories. For, the experts initially abstract physics principles to approach and solve a problem representation, whereas novices base their representation and approaches on the problem's literal features.

This paper presents a compact model for MOS transistor mismatch. The mismatch model uses the carrier number fluctuation theory to account for the effects of local doping fluctuations along with an accurate and compact dc MOSFET model. The resulting matching model is valid for any operation condition, from weak to strong inversion, from the linear to the saturation region, and allows the assessment of mismatch from process and geometric parameters. Experimental results from a set of transistors integrated on a 0.35 m technology confirm the accuracy of our mismatch model under various bias conditions. Index Terms-MOSFET, analog design, matching, mismatch, compact models.

Matching individuals to jobs is a fundamental problem in any labour market. This paper focuses on job characteristics, such as wages, job quality, and distance from the current place of residence, and the impact of these characteristics on the willingness of employed and unemployed individuals to accept new job offers. Using an experimental factorial survey module (FSM) implemented in the fifth wave of a large population survey (Panel Study Labour Market and Social Security), the willingness of employed and unemployed labour market participants to accept new job offers was compared while considering job characteristics like gain of income or commuting distance. In this study, unemployed and employed individuals received the same set of hypothetical job offers. Consistent with theoretical arguments, the about 20,000 evaluations provided by about 4,000 respondents showed that unemployed participants generally exhibit a greater willingness to accept new job offers than employed ones. Moreover, unemployed individuals were likely to make more concessions than employed individuals with respect to job quality, such as accepting fixed-term job offers. Interestingly, little evidence for different decisionmaking or weightings of mobility costs was found, which enables us to conclude that interregional unemployment disparities can scarcely be explained by unemployed individuals lacking the willingness to work or relocate.

Generalized inversion of the S-wave amplitude spectra from the strong-motion network data in the East-Central Iran has been used to estimate simultaneously source parameters, site response and the S-wave attenuation (Q s ). In this regard, 190 three-component records were used corresponded to 40 earthquakes with the magnitudes M3.5-M7.3. These earthquakes were recorded at 42 stations in the hypocentral distance range from 9 to 200 km. The inverse problem was solved in 20 logarithmically equally spaced points in the frequency band from 0.4 to 15 Hz. The frequency-dependent site amplification was imposed, as a constraint, on two reference site responses in order to remove the undetermined degree of freedom in the inversion and obtain a unique inverse solution. Also, a geometrical spreading factor was assumed for removing the trade-off between geometrical spreading and anelastic attenuation. Different source parameters, such as seismic moment (M 0 ), seismic energy (E s ), corner frequency (f c ) and Brune stress drop (Ds), were estimated for each event by fitting an o 2 model to the spectra obtained from the inversion. The stress drop values of earthquakes, obtained in this research, are in good agreement with those of other studies. Also average site response values were correlated to the average shear wave velocities in the uppermost 30 m, in high and low frequency bands. The peak frequencies of site amplifications, estimated by the generalized inversion method, where in good agreement with those of horizontal to vertical (H/V) spectral ratios for the S-wave portion of records. However, no perfect matching in amplitude was obtained due to the deficiencies of the H/V ratio technique. By supposing a free shape for Q factor, a frequency dependent function was found, the logarithm of which could be approximated by a linear function, Q(f)¼ 151f 0.75 . The uncertainties of model parameters have been evaluated by covariance matrix of least-square fit. The residuals were also analyzed in order to assess the validity of the model. The analysis of residuals with respect to magnitude and distance indicates that they are distributed normally with approximately zero mean. The robustness of the results has been studied concerning their sensitivities to the omission of different datasets, selected randomly from original database. The results obtained here can be used in predicting ground-motion parameters applying stochastic methods.

Thanks to the advances in integrating photogrammetry and computer vision, as well as in some numeric algorithms and methods, it is possible to aspire to turn 2D (images) into 3D (point clouds) in an automatic, flexible and good-quality way. This article presents a new method through the development of PW (Photogrammetry Workbench) (and how this could be useful for architectural modeling). This tool enables the user to turn images into scale 3D point cloud models, which have a better quality than those of laser systems. Moreover, the point clouds may include the respective orthophotos with photographic texture. The method allows the study of the typology of architecture and has been successfully tested on a sample of ten religious buildings located in the region of Aliste, Zamora (Spain).

Digital Logic: Logic functions, Minimization, Design and synthesis of combinational and sequential circuits; Number representation and computer arithmetic (fixed and floating point). Computer Organization and Architecture: Machine instructions and addressing modes, ALU and data-path, CPU control design, Memory interface, I/O interface (Interrupt and DMA mode), Instruction pipelining, Cache and main memory, Secondary storage.

This paper investigates the employment effects of foreign acquisitions in acquired firms in Swedish manufacturing during the 1990s; a period characterized by a dramatic increase in foreign ownership. We find some evidence of positive employment effects in acquired firms and it seems that the employment of skilled labor increases more than that of less-skilled labor.