Consider a multilayer perceptron (MLP) with d inputs, a single hidden sigmoidal layer and a linear output. By adding an additional d inputs to the network with values set to the square of the rst d inputs, properties reminiscent of higher-order neural networks and radial basis function networks (RBFN) are added to the architecture with little added expense in terms of weight requirements. Of pa...

This paper compares retrospective and prospective analyses of the effect of flip charts on test scores in rural Kenyan schools. Retrospective estimates suggest that flip charts raise test scores by up to 20% of a standard deviation. Yet prospective estimators based on a randomized trial provide no evidence that flip charts increase test scores. One interpretation is that the retrospective resul...

Improperly bounded program inputs present a major class of program defects. In secure applications, these bugs can be exploited by malicious users, allowing them to overwrite buffers and execute harmful code. In this paper, we present a high coverage dynamic technique for detecting software faults caused by improperly bounded program inputs. Our approach is novel in that it retains the advantag...

Evaluation of performance and productivity is among the fundamental concepts inmanagement. In order to achieve their goals, organizations must evaluate theirperformance. One of the important stages of performance appraisal is evaluation oforganization’s efficiency. Banks, financial and credit institutions are among the mostimportant organizations of every economic system, because every activity...

Classical methods of calibration usually imply the minimisation an objective function with respect to some control parameters. This measures error between observations and results obtained by a numerical model. In presence uncontrollable additional parameters that we model as random inputs, becomes variable, notions robustness have be introduced for such optimisation problem. this paper, are go...