4,463 research outputs found
Track wear-and-tear cost by traffic class: Functional form, zero output levels and marginal cost pricing recovery on the French rail network
No full textWe address the issue of the allocation of railway track maintenance (wear-and-tear) costs to traffic output classes and consider a very general function relating maintenance cost C to a set of technical production characteristics K used to produce traffic output vector T. We neglect other rail cost categories, such as traffic control and track renewal. The data base pertains to over 1500 sections of the French rail infrastructure in 1999, representing about 90% of the total network of 30000 km of lines in regular service. In addition to the maintenance cost C, it provides by track section 15 technical characteristics (both state S and quality Q) and 4 train traffic outputs T. Input prices, assumed to be uniform in space, disappear from the analysis, as in other national cross-sectional cases. With database subsets of approximately 1000 observations, several functional forms are tested: Linear, Log-Log, trans-Log and generalized Box-Cox. All are embedded in an unrestricted extension (U-GBC) of Khaled's seminal restricted generalized Box-Cox (R-GBC) functional specification. The U-GBC architecture, compared with its 4 principal nested variants, turns out to be by far the most appropriate, in particular when some observed zero traffic sample values are included - an issue rather neglected previously in the literature. It appears that several technical characteristics, such as maximum allowed speed and number of switches, are highly significant maintenance cost factors, which gives a hint that derived marginal costs are short term; also, the relation between maintenance costs and traffic is non linear and differs significantly by train category. Implications of different specifications for marginal infrastructure cost charges by traffic type are outlined.rail track wear-and-tear ; cost function ; CES ; trans-Log ; generalized Box-Cox ; zero sample values ; maintenance cost allocation by traffic class ; marginal cost by traffic class ; power axle weight damage laws ; cross-sectional data ; rail line sections ; France ; marginal cost pricing
Medullary thyroid cancer patient’s assessment of quality of life tools: results from the QaLM study
No full textBackground: medullary thyroid cancer (MTC) is a neuroendocrine tumour and a rare variant of thyroid cancer with different aetiology, presentation and treatment to differentiated thyroid cancer. Currently available thyroid cancer-specific quality of life (QoL) tools focus on issues and treatments more relevant to patients with differentiated thyroid cancer and therefore may not address issues specific to a MTC diagnosis and cancer journey. Method: this prospective multicentre randomised study involved 204 MTC patients completing four quality of life questionnaires (QOLQ) and stating their most and least preferred. The questionnaires were a general instrument, the EORTC QLQ-C30, two disease-specific tools, the MD Anderson Symptom Inventory (MDASI) thyroid module and the City of Hope Quality of Life Scale/THYROID (amended) and the neuroendocrine questionnaire, EORTC QLQ-GINET21. Patients were randomised to complete the four questionnaires in one of 24 possible orders and then answered questions about which tool they preferred. The primary outcome measure was patients’ preferred QoL instrument for describing their concerns and for facilitating communication with their healthcare professional. Secondary analyses looked at differences between preferred QOLQs amongst patient subgroups (WHO performance status [0 and 1+], disease stage: early [T1–3, N0 or N1A], metastatic [T4, any T N1b] and advanced [any T any N M1], and type of MTC [sporadic and inherited]), identification of MTC patients’ least preferred questionnaire and clinicians’ views on the QoL tools in terms of their ability to highlight problems not otherwise ascertained by a standard clinical review. Results: no evidence of a difference was observed for most preferred QOLQ (p = 0.650). There was however evidence of a difference in least preferred questionnaire in the cohort of 128 patients who stated their least preferred questionnaire (p = 0.042), with 36% (46/128) of patients choosing the EORTC QLQ-GI.NET21 questionnaire. Subgroup analyses showed that there was no evidence of a difference in patients’ most preferred questionnaire in sporadic MTC patients (p = 0.637), patients with WHO PS 0 or 1+ (p = 0.844 and p = 0.423) nor when comparing patients with early, advanced local or metastatic disease (p = 0.132, p = 0.463 and p = 0.506, respectively). Similarly, subgroup analyses on patients’ least preferred questionnaires showed no evidence of differences in sporadic MTC patients (p = 0.092), patients with WHO PS 0 or 1+ (p = 0.423 and p = 0.276), nor in early or metastatic disease patients (p = 0.682 and p = 0.345, respectively). There was however some evidence to suggest a difference in least preferred questionnaire in patients with advanced local stage disease (p = 0.059), with 43% (16/37) of these patients choosing the EORTC QLQ-GI.NET21 questionnaire. Conclusions: MTC patients regardless of their performance status, disease aetiology and disease burden did not express a preference for any one particular questionnaire suggesting any of the tools studied could be utilized in this patient cohort. The least preferred questionnaire being a gastrointestinal NET specific tool suggests that diarrhoea was not a significant symptom and concern for the population studied
Interview with Mark Cox
No full textMark Cox is a professor of Creative Writing at UNCW, and has served as Chair of the department. He is the author of three full-length poetry collections: Smoulder, Thirty-Seven Years from the Stone, and Natural Causes
On Campus Video, featuring Abilene (TX) businessman and author Jack Cox.
No full textA videorecording of an interview with Abilene (TX) businessman and author Jack Cox, conducted by Dr. Gary McCaleb of Abilene Christian University
Concentration in Knowledge Output: A case of Economics Journals
No full textThis paper assesses the degree of author concentration in seven economics journals, which were published in India during 1990-2002. To measure the degree of author concentration, Lotka's Law was used. Moreover, we also make an exploratory analysis of the geographic, economics subfield and institutional concentration in 704 economics journals. An important finding of this paper is that specialized journals in the sample report the highest degree of author concentration. This result is quite similar to the findings by Cox and Chung (1991). Furthermore, there are several instances showing that the journals lean towards certain norms; this may affect the flow of innovative ideas into economics. We conclude that a knowledge activity, involving the high degree of concentration and a biased publication process, may affect the flow of new ideas into the discipline.Concentration, Lotka's Law
Mary Ann Cox Index: Royal Society Collection
No full textBurton-Wood: in a series of letters, by a lady (Mrs. - Cox nee Wight), London (printed for the author by H.D.Steel) 1783, vol.11
(octovo vol, leather bound)
Enclosed: note The book Burtonwood was written by the mother of
Mary Ann Cox who ran the first coach from Hobart to Launceston.
It was passed on to me by her grand-daughter Miss Dora Clerk of Malahide.
I also am a grand-daughter of Mrs. Cox. Joan Harvey
(John Edward Cox m. Mary Ann Halls
V.D.L. 1821 J.E.C. started Hobart-Launceston coach) - (note - Mrs.
Harvey's identification of the author of the volume was based on family
tradition although not confirmed - no details are known of John Edward
Cox's parents)
Poems by C(harles) Best c 1847 - 1849
Includes poems to Miss Wilmot (Georgiana Wilmot, - Mrs. C. Butler)
and Mary Wilmot.
Enclosed: note by Joan Harvey
Article on Mrs. Mary Ann Cox 1950.
A pioneer career woman (on coach service between Hobart - Launceston)
from "Woman's Day" Aug. 21, 1950 (news clipping)
R.S. 14
Tomographic inversion of focusing operators
No full textSeismic images of the structure of the earth are a prerequisite for finding new hydrocarbon reservoirs. The quality of a seismic images is highly dependent on the accuracy of the velocity model of the subsurface. Conventional imaging consists of an iterative process between obtaining the image using a velocity model, and updating this model by investigating the properties of the image. The Common Focal Point (CFP) method makes it possible to analyze and treat seismic data in a fundamentally different way as it uses a two-step approach: 1) two-way reflection data are transformed into one-way data by estimating focusing operators, and 2) these focusing operators are used to estimate the velocity model by tomographic inversion. This second step, the tomographic inversion of focusing operators, is the subject of this thesis. This research contains two important new aspects. First, the use of focusing operators in (3D) velocity model estimation. Second the data-driven approach of the method. Some additional concepts like the inclusion of a priori information, the joint inversion of P and S-wave operators, and the new concept of the focal point clouds, by which the adequacy of the velocity model can be analyzed, are also addressed. After evaluation of the method of tomographic inversion of focusing operators on both synthetic and real data it can be concluded that the method results in accurate velocity models and is capable of dealing with complex subsurface models.Applied Science
Agonies of empire: American power from Clinton to Biden by Michael Cox
No full textProfessor Michael Cox discusses his new book, Agonies of Empire: American Power from Clinton to Biden, which explores how five very different American Presidents have addressed US foreign policy since the end of the Cold War. In so doing, the book examines the deep sources of American power, the crisis many claim the US is now facing and how this may relate to the current war in Ukraine. If you are interested in this book review, you watch a video or listen to a podcast of author Professor Michael Cox discussing Agonies of Empire at an LSE public event, recorded on 24 March 2022. Agonies of Empire: American Power from Clinton to Biden. Michael Cox. Bristol University Press. 2022
Letter from John R. Cox to Hayao (Sam) and Toshiko Chuman
No full textA letter to Hayao (Sam) Chuman and Toshiko Chuman (nee Nakamura) from John R. Cox, Major, Infantry Commanding with the Army's 7th Psychological Operations Battalion. The letter regards Hayao and Toshiko's son's appointment to the Battalion in Vietnam, and what that appointment entails.The Chuman (Hayao "Sam" and Toshiko) Papers documents the World War II experiences of Hayao "Sam" and Toshiko Chuman, who were Kibei Nisei born in the United States but grew up and completed school in Japan, and then returned to the U.S. prior to the war. It chronicles the Chuman's incarceration from the Santa Anita Assembly Center, through Jerome, Rohwer, Tule Lake camps, and the Santa Fe and Crystal City internment camps as well as their struggle for restoring their U.S. citizenships in the 1960s. The digital collection consists of mostly textual material, including correspondence, affidavits, incarceration camp records, lease agreements, financial documents, receipts, pamphlets, and booklets
High-Level Approaches to Confidence Estimation in Speech Recognition
No full textWe describe some high-level approaches to estimating confidence scores for the words output by a speech recognizer. By "high-level" we mean that the proposed measures do not rely on decoder specific "side information" and so should find more general applicability than measures that have been developed for specific recognizers. Our main approach is to attempt to decouple the language modeling and acoustic modeling in the recognizer in order to generate independent information from these two sources that can then be used for estimation of confidence. We isolate these two information sources by using a phone recognizer working in parallel with the word recognizer. A set of techniques for estimating confidence measures using the phone recognizer output in conjunction with the word recognizer output is described. The most effective of these techniques is based on the construction of "metamodels," which generate alternative word hypotheses for an utterance. An alternative approach requires no other recognizers or extra information for confidence estimation and is based on the notion that a word that is semantically "distant" from the other decoded words in the utterance is likely to be incorrect. We describe a method for constructing "semantic similarities" between words and hence estimating a confidence. Results using the U.K. version of the Wall Street Journal are given for each technique
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