title
stringlengths 8
300
| abstract
stringlengths 0
10k
|
|---|---|
The winner decision model of tic tac toe game by using multi-tape turing machine | The Tic tac toe is very popular game having a 3 × 3 grid board and 2 players. A Special Symbol (X or O) is assigned to each player to indicate the slot is covered by the respective player. The winner of the game is the player who first cover a horizontal, vertical and diagonal row of the board having only player's own symbols. This paper presents the design model of Tic tac toe Game using Multi-Tape Turing Machine in which both player choose input randomly and result of the game is declared. The computational Model of Tic tac toe is used to describe it in a formal manner. |
Chinese Textual Sentiment Analysis: Datasets, Resources and Tools | The rapid accumulation of data in social media (in million and billion scales) has imposed great challenges in information extraction, knowledge discovery, and data mining, and texts bearing sentiment and opinions are one of the major categories of user generated data in social media. Sentiment analysis is the main technology to quickly capture what people think from these text data, and is a research direction with immediate practical value in big data era. Learning such techniques will allow data miners to perform advanced mining tasks considering real sentiment and opinions expressed by users in additional to the statistics calculated from the physical actions (such as viewing or purchasing records) user perform, which facilitates the development of real-world applications. However, the situation that most tools are limited to the English language might stop academic or industrial people from doing research or products which cover a wider scope of data, retrieving information from people who speak different languages, or developing applications for worldwide users. More specifically, sentiment analysis determines the polarities and strength of the sentiment-bearing expressions, and it has been an important and attractive research area. In the past decade, resources and tools have been developed for sentiment analysis in order to provide subsequent vital applications, such as product reviews, reputation management, call center robots, automatic public survey, etc. However, most of these resources are for the English language. Being the key to the understanding of business and government issues, sentiment analysis resources and tools are required for other major languages, e.g., Chinese. In this tutorial, audience can learn the skills for retrieving sentiment from texts in another major language, Chinese, to overcome this obstacle. The goal of this tutorial is to introduce the proposed sentiment analysis technologies and datasets in the literature, and give the audience the opportunities to use resources and tools to process Chinese texts from the very basic preprocessing, i.e., word segmentation and part of speech tagging, to sentiment analysis, i.e., applying sentiment dictionaries and obtaining sentiment scores, through step-by-step instructions and a hand-on practice. The basic processing tools are from CKIP Participants can download these resources, use them and solve the problems they encounter in this tutorial. This tutorial will begin from some background knowledge of sentiment analysis, such as how sentiment are categorized, where to find available corpora and which models are commonly applied, especially for the Chinese language. Then a set of basic Chinese text processing tools for word segmentation, tagging and parsing will be introduced for the preparation of mining sentiment and opinions. After bringing the idea of how to pre-process the Chinese language to the audience, I will describe our work on compositional Chinese sentiment analysis from words to sentences, and an application on social media text (Facebook) as an example. All our involved and recently developed related resources, including Chinese Morphological Dataset, Augmented NTU Sentiment Dictionary (ANTUSD), E-hownet with sentiment information, Chinese Opinion Treebank, and the CopeOpi Sentiment Scorer, will also be introduced and distributed in this tutorial. The tutorial will end by a hands-on session of how to use these materials and tools to process Chinese sentiment. |
Ohtaekwangia koreensis gen. nov., sp. nov. and Ohtaekwangia kribbensis sp. nov., isolated from marine sand, deep-branching members of the phylum Bacteroidetes. | Two Gram-stain-negative, non-motile, non-spore-forming, rod-shaped bacterial strains, designated 3B-2(T) and 10AO(T), were isolated from a sand sample collected from the west coast of the Korean peninsula by using low-nutrient media, and their taxonomic positions were investigated in a polyphasic study. The strains did not grow on marine agar. They grew optimally at 30 °C and pH 6.5-7.5. Strains 3B-2(T) and 10AO(T) shared 97.5 % 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity and mean level of DNA-DNA relatedness of 12 %. In phylogenetic trees based on 16S rRNA gene sequences, strains 3B-2(T) and 10AO(T), together with several uncultured bacterial clones, formed independent lineages within the evolutionary radiation encompassed by the phylum Bacteroidetes. Strains 3B-2(T) and 10AO(T) contained MK-7 as the predominant menaquinone and iso-C(15 : 0) and C(16 : 1)ω5c as the major fatty acids. The DNA G+C contents of strains 3B-2(T) and 10AO(T) were 42.8 and 44.6 mol%, respectively. Strains 3B-2(T) and 10AO(T) exhibited very low levels of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarity (<85.0 %) to the type strains of recognized bacterial species. These data were sufficient to support the proposal that the novel strains should be differentiated from previously known genera of the phylum Bacteroidetes. On the basis of the data presented, we suggest that strains 3B-2(T) and 10AO(T) represent two distinct novel species of a new genus, for which the names Ohtaekwangia koreensis gen. nov., sp. nov. (the type species; type strain 3B-2(T) = KCTC 23018(T) = CCUG 58939(T)) and Ohtaekwangia kribbensis sp. nov. (type strain 10AO(T) = KCTC 23019(T) = CCUG 58938(T)) are proposed. |
Minimum Error Rate Training in Statistical Machine Translation | Often, the training procedure for statistical machine translation models is based on maximum likelihood or related criteria. A general problem of this approach is that there is only a loose relation to the final translation quality on unseen text. In this paper, we analyze various training criteria which directly optimize translation quality. These training criteria make use of recently proposed automatic evaluation metrics. We describe a new algorithm for efficient training an unsmoothed error count. We show that significantly better results can often be obtained if the final evaluation criterion is taken directly into account as part of the training procedure. |
A superblock-based flash translation layer for NAND flash memory | In NAND flash-based storage systems, an intermediate software layer called a flash translation layer (FTL)is usually employed to hide the erase-before-write characteristics of NAND flash memory. This paper proposes a novel superblockbased FTL scheme, which combines a set of adjacent logical blocks into a superblock. In the proposed FTL scheme, superblocks are mapped at coarse granularity,while pages inside the superblock are mapped freely at fine granularity to any location in several physical blocks. To reduce extra storage and flash memory operations, the fine-grain mapping information is stored in the spare area of NAND flash memory. This hybrid mapping technique has the flexibility provided by fine-grain address translation, while reducing the memory overhead to the level of coarse-grain address translation. Our experimental results show that the proposed FTL scheme decreases the garbage collection overhead up to 40% compared to previous FTL schemes. |
Prostate cancer screening using risk stratification based on a multi-state model of genetic variants. | BACKGROUND
Risk-stratified screening for prostate cancer (PCa) with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) testing incorporating genetic variants has received some attention but has been scarcely investigated. We developed a model to stratify the Finnish population by different risk profiles related to genetic variants to optimize the screening policy.
METHODS
Data from the Finnish randomized controlled trial on screening for PCa with PSA testing were used to estimate a six-state Markov model of disease progression. Blood samples from Finnish men were used to assess the risk of PCa related to three genetic variants (rs4242382, rs138213197, and rs200331695). A risk score-based approach combined with a series of computer simulation models was applied to optimize individual screening policies.
RESULTS
The 10-year risk of having progressive prostate cancer detected ranged from 43% in the top 5% risk group to approximately 11% in the bottom half of the population. Using the median group, with screening every four years beginning at 55 years-old, as the reference group, the recommended age beginning screening was approximately 47 years-old for the top 5% risk group and 55 years-old for those in the lower 60% risk group. The recommended interscreening interval has been shortened for individuals in the high risk group. The increased availability of genomic information allows the proposed multistate model to be more discriminating with respect to risk stratification and the suggested screening policy, particularly for the lowest risk groups-. --
CONCLUSIONS
A multi-state genetic variant-based model was developed for further application to population risk stratification to optimize the interscreening interval and the age at which to begin screening for PSA. A small sub-group of the population is likely to benefit from more intensive screening with early start and short interval, while half of the population is unlikely to benefit from such protocol (compared with four-year interval after age 55 years). |
Natural selection on ecophysiological traits of a fern species in a temperate rainforest | Unlike other species of the genus Blechnum, the fern Blechnum chilense occurs in a wide range of habitats in Chilean temperate rainforest, from shaded forest understories to abandoned clearings and large gaps. We asked if contrasting light environments can exert differential selection on ecophysiological traits of B. chilense. We measured phenotypic selection on functional traits related to carbon gain: photosynthetic capacity (A max), dark respiration rate (R d), water use efficiency (WUE), leaf size and leaf thickness in populations growing in gaps and understorey environments. We assessed survival until reproductive stage and fecundity (sporangia production) as fitness components. In order to determine the potential evolutionary response of traits under selection, we estimated the genetic variation of these traits from clonally propagated individuals in common garden experiments. In gaps, survival of B. chilense was positively correlated with WUE and negatively correlated with leaf size. In contrast, survival in shaded understories was positively correlated with leaf size. We found positive directional fecundity selection on WUE in gaps population. In understories, ferns of lower R d and greater leaf size showed greater fecundity. Thus, whereas control of water loss was optimized in gaps, light capture and net carbon balance were optimized in shaded understories. We found a significant genetic component of variation in WUE, R d and leaf size. This study shows the potential for evolutionary responses to heterogeneous light environments in functional traits of B. chilense, a unique fern species able to occupy a broad successional niche in Chilean temperate rainforest. |
A 0.5-V 25-MHz 1-mW 256-kb MTCMOS/SOI SRAM for solar-power-operated portable personal digital equipment - sure write operation by using step-down negatively overdriven bitline scheme | Multithreshold-voltage CMOS (MTCMOS) technology has a great advantage in that it provides high-speed operation with low supply voltages of less than 1 V. A logic gate with low-V/sub th/ MOSFETs has a high operating speed, while a low-leakage power switch with a high-V/sub th/ MOSFET eliminates the off-leakage current during sleep time. By using MTCMOS circuits and silicon-on-insulator (SOI) devices, the authors have developed a 256-kb SRAM for solar-power-operated digital equipment. A double-threshold-voltage MOSFET (DTMOS) is adopted for the power switch to further reduce the off leakage. As regards the SRAM core design, we consider a hybrid configuration consisting of high-V/sub th/ and low-V/sub th/ MOSFETs (that is, multi-V/sub th/ CMOS). A new memory cell with a separate read-data path provides a larger readout current without degrading the static noise margin. A negatively overdriven bitline scheme guarantees sure write operation at ultralow supply voltages close to 0.5 V. In addition, a charge-transfer amplifier integrated with a selector and data latches for intrabus circuitry are installed to enhance the operating speed and/or reduce power dissipation. A 32K-word /spl times/ 8-bit SRAM chip, fabricated with the 0.35-/spl mu/m multi-V/sub th/ CMOS/SOI process, has successfully operated at 25 MHz under typical conditions with 0.5-V (SRAM core) and 1-V (I/O buffers) power supplies. The power dissipation during sleep time is less than 0.4 /spl mu/W and that for 25-MHz operation is 1 mW, excluding that of the I/O buffers. |
Germline KRAS mutations cause Noonan syndrome | Noonan syndrome (MIM 163950) is characterized by short stature, facial dysmorphism and cardiac defects. Heterozygous mutations in PTPN11, which encodes SHP-2, cause ∼50% of cases of Noonan syndrome. The SHP-2 phosphatase relays signals from activated receptor complexes to downstream effectors, including Ras. We discovered de novo germline KRAS mutations that introduce V14I, T58I or D153V amino acid substitutions in five individuals with Noonan syndrome and a P34R alteration in a individual with cardio-facio-cutaneous syndrome (MIM 115150), which has overlapping features with Noonan syndrome. Recombinant V14I and T58I K-Ras proteins show defective intrinsic GTP hydrolysis and impaired responsiveness to GTPase activating proteins, render primary hematopoietic progenitors hypersensitive to growth factors and deregulate signal transduction in a cell lineage–specific manner. These studies establish germline KRAS mutations as a cause of human disease and infer that the constellation of developmental abnormalities seen in Noonan syndrome spectrum is, in large part, due to hyperactive Ras. |
Agricultural land use changes - a scenario-based sustainability impact assessment for Brandenburg, Germany | Decisions for agricultural management are taken at farm scale. However, such decisionsmaywell impact upon regional sustainability. Two of the likely agricultural management responses to future challenges are extended use of irrigation and increased production of energy crops. The drivers for these are high commodity prices and subsidy policies for renewable energy. However, the impacts of these responses upon regional sustainability are unknown. Thus, we conducted integrated impact assessments for agricultural intensification scenarios in the federal state of Brandenburg, Germany, for 2025. One Irrigation scenario and one Energy scenario were contrasted with the Business As Usual (BAU) scenario. We applied nine indicators to analyze the economic, social and environmental effects at the regional, in this case district scale, which is the smallest administrative unit in Brandenburg. Assessment resultswere discussed in a stakeholder workshop involving 16 experts from the state government. The simulated area shares of silage maize for fodder and energy were 29%, 37% and 49% for the BAU, Irrigation, and Energy scenarios, respectively. The Energy scenario increased bio-electricity production to 41% of the demand of Brandenburg, and it resulted in CO2 savings of up to 3.5million tons. However, it resulted in loss of biodiversity, loss of landscape scenery, increased soil erosion risk, and increased area demand forwater protection requirements. The Irrigation scenario led to yield increases of 7% (rapeseed), 18% (wheat, sugar beet), and 40% (maize) compared to the BAU scenario. It also reduced the year-to-year yield variability. Water demand for irrigationwas found to be in conflict with other water uses for two of the 14 districts. Spatial differentiation of scenario impacts showed that districts with medium to low yield potentials were more affected by negative impacts than districts with high yield potentials. In this first comprehensive sustainability impact assessment of agricultural intensification scenarios at regional level, we showed that a considerable potential for agricultural intensification exists. The intensification is accompanied by adverse environmental and socio-economic impacts. The novelty lies in themultiscale integration of comprehensive, agriculturalmanagement simulations with regional level impact assessment, which was achieved with the adequate use of indicators. It provided relevant evidence for policy decision making. Stakeholders appreciated the integrative approach of the assessment, which substantiated ongoing discussions among the government bodies. The assessment approach and the Brandenburg case study may stay exemplary for other regions in the world where similar economic and policy driving forces are likely to lead to agricultural intensification. ã 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/). |
Active Transfer Learning for Cross-System Recommendation | Recommender systems, especially the newly launched ones, have to deal with the data-sparsity issue, where little existing rating information is available. Recently, transfer learning has been proposed to address this problem by leveraging the knowledge from related recommender systems where rich collaborative data are available. However, most previous transfer learning models assume that entity-correspondences across different systems are given as input, which means that for any entity (e.g., a user or an item) in a target system, its corresponding entity in a source system is known. This assumption can hardly be satisfied in real-world scenarios where entity-correspondences across systems are usually unknown, and the cost of identifying them can be expensive. For example, it is extremely difficult to identify whether a user A from Facebook and a user B from Twitter are the same person. In this paper, we propose a framework to construct entity correspondence with limited budget by using active learning to facilitate knowledge transfer across recommender systems. Specifically, for the purpose of maximizing knowledge transfer, we first iteratively select entities in the target system based on our proposed criterion to query their correspondences in the source system. We then plug the actively constructed entity-correspondence mapping into a general transferred collaborative-filtering model to improve recommendation quality. We perform extensive experiments on real world datasets to verify the effectiveness of our proposed framework for this crosssystem recommendation problem. |
Towards Materials for Computational Heirlooms: Blockchains and Wristwatches | This paper explores the contrasting notions of "permanance and disposability," "the digital and the physical," and "symbolism and function" in the context of interaction design. Drawing from diverse streams of knowledge, we describe a novel design direction for enduring computational heirlooms based on the marriage of decentralized, trustless software and durable mobile hardware. To justify this concept, we review prior research; attempt to redefine the notion of "material;" propose blockchain-based software as a particular digital material to serve as a substrate for computational heirlooms; and argue for the use of mobile artifacts, informed in terms of their materials and formgiving practices by mechanical wristwatches, as its physical embodiment and functional counterpart. This integration is meant to enable mobile and ubiquitous interactive systems for the storing, experiencing, and exchanging value throughout multiple human lifetimes; showcasing the feats of computational sciences and crafts; and enabling novel user experiences. |
Representation Benefits of Deep Feedforward Networks | This note provides a family of classification problems, indexed by a positive integer k, where all shallow networks with fewer than exponentially (in k) many nodes exhibit error at least 1/3, whereas a deep network with 2 nodes in each of 2k layers achieves zero error, as does a recurrent network with 3 distinct nodes iterated k times. The proof is elementary, and the networks are standard feedforward networks with ReLU (Rectified Linear Unit) nonlinearities. |
Concurrent Composition of Secure Protocols in the Timing Model | In the setting of secure multiparty computation, a set of mutually distrustful parties wish to securely compute some joint function of their inputs. In the stand-alone case it has been shown that every efficient function can be securely computed. However, in the setting of concurrent composition, broad impossibility results have been proven for the case of no honest majority and no trusted setup phase. These results hold both for the case of general composition (where a secure protocol is run many times concurrently with arbitrary other protocols) and self-composition (where a single secure protocol is run many times concurrently). In this paper we investigate the feasibility of obtaining security in the concurrent setting, assuming that each party has a local clock and that these clocks proceed at approximately the same rate. We show that under this mild timing assumption, it is possible to securely compute any multiparty functionality under concurrent self-composition. Loosely speaking, we also show that it is possible to securely compute any multiparty functionality under concurrent general composition, as long as the secure protocol is run only with protocols whose messages are delayed by a specified amount of time. On the negative side, we show that it is impossible to achieve security under concurrent general composition with no restrictions whatsoever on the network (like the aforementioned delays), even in the timing model. |
Chapter 6using environmental niche modeling to study the late devonian biodiversity crisis | Geographic ranges are estimated for brachiopod and bivalve species during the late Middle (mid-Givetian) to the middle Late (terminal Frasnian) Devonian to investigate range changes during the time leading up to and including the Late Devonian biodiversity crisis. Species ranges were predicted using GARP (Genetic Algorithm using Rule-set Prediction), a modeling program developed to predict fundamental niches of modern species. This method was applied to fossil species to examine changing ranges during a critical period of Earth’s history. Comparisons of GARP species distribution predictions with historical understanding of species occurrences indicate that GARP models predict accurately the presence of common species in some depositional settings. In addition, comparison of GARP distribution predictions with species-range reconstructions from geographic information systems (GIS) analysis suggests that GARP modeling has the potential to predict species ranges more completely and tailor ranges more specifically to environmental parameters than GIS methods alone. Thus, GARP modeling is a potentially useful tool for predicting fossil species ranges and can be used to address a wide array of palaeontological problems. The use of GARP models allows a statistical examination of the relationship of geographic range size with species survival during the Late Devonian. Large geographic range was statistically associated with species survivorship across the crisis interval for species examined in the linguiformis Zone but not for species modeled in the preceding Lower varcus or punctata zones. The enhanced survival benefit of having a large geographic range, therefore, appears to be restricted to the biodiversity crisis interval. |
Against the New Economic Imperialism Some Reflections | Classical political economy recognised that what needed analysing, explaining, and acting on was an economic system inextricably linked to the wider political and social systems. Smith and Ricardo, as well as Marx, saw class and the distribution of income as key. Neoclassical economics replaced these social and collective categories with the individual consumer and the marginal product of labour as the fundamental analytical categories-the "political" having been discarded. Yet even one of the founders of neoclassical economics, Alfred Marshall, would barely recognise nor accept what is today presented as economic analysis, ignoring as it does the key industrial and organisational detail underlying production. The "new political economy" claims to incorporate insights from other disciplines. But far from enriching economic analysis, these new strands of theory simply impose the assumptions and methods of neoclassical economics. We argue that this new economic imperialism needs to be replaced with a genuinely multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach to analysing economic issues. Copyright 2002 The American Journal of Economics and Sociology. |
The Effect of Electrical Deformation Forces on the Electropermeabilization of Erythrocyte Membranes in Low- and High-Conductivity Media | Electrical breakdown of erythrocytes induces hemoglobin release which increases markedly with decreasing conductivity of the pulse medium. This effect presumably results from the transient, conductivity-dependent deformation forces (elongation or compression) on the cell caused by Maxwell stress. The deformation force is exerted on the plasma membrane of the cell, which can be viewed as a transient dipole induced by an applied DC electric field pulse. The induced dipole arises from the free charges that accumulate at the cell interfaces via the Maxwell-Wagner polarization mechanism. The polarization response of erythrocytes to a DC field pulse was estimated from the experimental data obtained by using two complementary frequency-domain techniques. The response is very rapid, due to the highly conductive cytosol. Measurements of the electrorotation and electrodeformation spectra over a wide conductivity range yielded the information and data required for the calculation of the deformation force as a function of frequency and external conductivity and for the calculation of the transient development of the deformation forces during the application of a DC-field pulse. These calculations showed that (i) electric force precedes and accompanies membrane charging (up to the breakdown voltage) and (ii) that under low-conductivity conditions, the electric stretching force contributes significantly to the enlargement of ``electroleaks'' in the plasma membrane generated by electric breakdown. |
Estimation of glomerular filtration rate in paediatric cancer patients using 51CR-EDTA population pharmacokinetics | Estimation of glomerular filtration rate (GFR) using the clearance of chromium 51 EDTA (51Cr-EDTA) (or other radiolabelled isotopes) is reliable, but invasive and not always practicable. Mathematical models have been devised for estimating GFR using readily obtainable patient characteristics. Unfortunately, these models were developed using various patient populations and may not provide the optimal prediction of GFR in children with cancer. The current study uses population pharmacokinetics to determine the relationship between 51Cr-EDTA clearance, and patient covariates in 50 paediatric cancer patients. These models were validated using a separate group of 43 children and were compared with previously published models of renal function. Body size was the major determinant of 51Cr-EDTA clearance and inclusion of weight or surface area reduced the residual variability between individuals (coefficient of variation) from 61 to 32%. Serum creatinine was the only other parameter that significantly improved the model. Mean percentage error values of –5.0 and –1.1% were observed for models including weight alone or weight and creatinine, respectively, with precision estimates of 21.7 and 20.0%. These simple additive models provide a more rationale approach than the use of complex formulae, involving additional parameters, to predict renal function. |
A population based study of outcomes after evacuation of primary supratentorial intracerebral hemorrhage | BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE
The role of surgery after primary intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is controversial. To explore whether hematoma evacuation after ICH had improved short-term survival or functional outcome we conducted a retrospective observational population-based study.
METHODS
We identified all subjects with primary ICH between 1993 and 2008 among the population of Northern Ostrobothnia, Finland. Hematoma evacuation was carried out by using standard craniotomy or through a burr hole. We compared mortality rates and functional outcomes of patients with hematoma evacuation with those treated conservatively.
RESULTS
Of 982 patients with verified ICH during the study period, 127 (13%) underwent hematoma evacuation. Surgically treated patients were significantly younger (mean±SD, 63±11 vs. 70±12 years; p<0.001), had larger hematomas (66±36 vs. 28±40 ml; p<0.001), lower Glasgow Coma Scale scores (median, 11 vs. 14; p<0.001) and more frequently subcortical hematomas (68% vs. 24%; p<0.001) than those treated conservatively. In multivariable analysis, hematoma evacuation independently lowered 3-month mortality (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 0.62; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.43-0.88; p<0.03), particularly among patients aged≤70 years with ≥30 ml supratentorial hematomas (adjusted HR, 0.26; 95% CI, 0.14-0.49; p<0.001). However, poor outcome was not improved by surgery (adjusted odds ratio 0.71; 95% CI 0.29-1.70).
CONCLUSIONS
Improved 3-month survival was observed in patients who had undergone hematoma evacuation relative to patients not undergoing evacuation particularly in the subgroup of patients aged≤70 years with ≥30 ml supratentorial hematomas. Surgery might improve outcome if cases could be selected more precisely and if performed before deterioration. |
Applying Vector Space Model (VSM) Techniques in Information Retrieval for Arabic Language | i Acknowledgments vi |
Easy Freshness with Pequod Cache Joins | This thesis presents the design of Pequod, a distributed, application-levelWeb cache.Web developers store data in application-level caches to avoid expensive operations on persistent storage.While useful for reducing the latency of data access, an application-level cache adds complexity to the application. The developer is responsible for keeping the cached data consistent with persistent storage. This consistency task can be difficult and costly, especially when the cached data represent the derived output of a computation. Pequod improves on the state-of-the-art by introducing an abstraction, the cache join, that caches derived datawithout requiring extensive consistency-related applicationmaintenance. Cache joins provide a mechanism for filtering, joining, and aggregating cached data. Pequod assumes the responsibility for maintaining cache freshness by automatically applying updates to derived data as inputs change over time. This thesis describes how cache joins are defined using a declarative syntax to overlay a relational data model on a key-value store, how cache data are generated on demand and kept fresh with a combination of eager and lazy incremental updates, howPequod uses the memory and computational resources of multiple machines to grow the cache, and how the correctness of derived data is maintained in the face of eviction. We show through experimentation that cache joins can be used to improve the performance ofWeb applications that cache derived data.We find that moving computation and maintenance tasks into the cache, where they can often be performed more efficiently, accounts for the majority of the improvement. |
The Categorical and the Everyday: On Coetzee, Murdoch, and Cavell and the Presence of Philosophy in Novels | This paper explores a categorical dimension of morality that is part of our everyday lives. Through a reading of Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians , I argue that the philosophical importance of literature cannot be reduced to the ways in which it illustrates philosophical views. Borrowing thrust from Iris Murdoch and Stanley Cavell, I contend that the deeper significance of literature is not dependent upon the presence of “philosophy” in novels. Literature can help us see how moral lives take shape in language, and enable us to gain an understanding of how philosophical problems often arise by means of philosophical abstractions. |
Prototyping nfv-based multi-access edge computing in 5G ready networks with open baton | With the increasing acceptance of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) and Software Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, a radical transformation is currently occurring inside network providers infrastructures. The trend of Software-based networks foreseen with the 5th Generation of Mobile Network (5G) is drastically changing requirements in terms of how networks are deployed and managed. One of the major changes requires the transaction towards a distributed infrastructure, in which nodes are built with standard commodity hardware. This rapid deployment of datacenters is paving the way towards a different type of environment in which the computational resources are deployed up to the edge of the network, referred to as Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) nodes. However, MEC nodes do not usually provide enough resources for executing standard virtualization technologies typically used in large datacenters. For this reason, software containerization represents a lightweight and viable virtualization alternative for such scenarios. This paper presents an architecture based on the Open Baton Management and Orchestration (MANO) framework combining different infrastructural technologies supporting the deployment of container-based network services even at the edge of the network. |
Synovial fluid and plasma selenium, copper, zinc, and iron concentrations in patients with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis | In recent years, a great number of studies have investigated the possible role of trace elements in the etiology and pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoartritis (OA). We studied synovial fluid and plasma concentrations of selenium (Se), zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), and iron (Fe) in patients with RA and OA and compared them with sex- and age-matched healthy subjects. Plasma albumin levels were measured as an index of nutritional status. Plasma Se, Cu, and Zn concentrations were determined by atomic absorption spectrophotometry and Fe concentrations were determined by the colorimetric method. Although plasma and synovial fluid Se concentration were found to be significantly lower (p<0.05, and p<0.05, respectively), Cu concentrations were significantly higher in patients with RA than those of healthy subjects and OA (p<0.05 and p<0.05, respectively). There were no significant differences in plasma and synovial fluid Zn concentrations and albumin levels among three groups (p>0.05). On the other hand, synovial fluid Cu and Fe concentrations were significantly higher in patients with OA than those of healthy subjects (p<0.05). There was a significantly positive correlation between synovial fluid Se−Cu values and Zn−Fe values in patients with RA. Our results showed that synovial fluid and plasma trace element concentrations, excluding Zn, change in inflammatory RA, but not in OA. These alterations in trace element concentrations in inflammatory Ra might be a result on the changes of the immunoregulatory cytokines. |
Minimal difference between aerobic and progressive resistance exercise on metabolic profile and fitness in older adults with diabetes mellitus: a randomised trial. | QUESTION
Is progressive resistance training as effective as aerobic training of similar duration in sedentary older adults with diabetes mellitus?
DESIGN
A randomised trial with concealed allocation, assessor blinding and intention-to-treat analysis.
PARTICIPANTS
Sixty people with Type 2 diabetes mellitus with glycosylated haemoglobin (HbA1c) between 8% and 10% in the past month.
INTERVENTION
One group undertook progressive resistance exercise and the other group undertook aerobic exercise. Both groups completed 18 sessions over 8 weeks. In each session, the progressive resistance exercise group did nine resistive exercises while the aerobic exercise group did 50 minutes of aerobic exercise.
OUTCOME MEASURES
HbA1c, blood glucose, lipid profile (total, high- and low-density cholesterol and triglycerides), weight, body mass index, body fat, waist circumference, waist:hip ratio, blood pressure, and peak oxygen consumption.
RESULTS
Forty-nine (82%) participants completed the intervention. HbA1c reduced by a similar amount in both groups (MD 0.1%, 95% CI -0.3 to 0.5). However, significant between-group differences occurred in change in waist circumference in favour of progressive resistance exercise (MD -1.8 cm, 95% CI -0.5 to -3.1), and in change in peak oxygen consumption in favour of aerobic exercise (MD 5.2 ml/kg, 95% CI 0.0 to 10.4).
CONCLUSIONS
Progressive resistance exercise has similar effects to aerobic exercise and therefore offers a useful alternative for patients unable to participate in aerobic exercise.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
NCT01000519. |
Evaluation of Prognostic Significance of Circulating Tumor Cells Detection in Rectal Cancer Patients Treated with Preoperative Radiotherapy: Prospectively Collected Material Data | The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of circulating tumor cells (CTC) in nonmetastatic rectal cancer patients treated with short-term preoperative radiotherapy. In this single-center trial, 162 patients with rectal cancer after preoperative short-term radiotherapy (5 × 5 Gy) were recruited from January, 2008 to September, 2011. Clearance of CTC was determined in 91 patients enrolled in the molecular analysis. CTC presence was evaluated with real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction assay (qPCR) based on the expression of three tumor genetic markers: carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), cytokeratin 20 (CK20), and/or cancer stem cells marker CD133 (CEA/CK20/CD133). We found that CTC detection 7 days after surgery was of prognostic significance for the local recurrence (P value = 0.006). CTC detected preoperatively and 24 hours after resection had no prognostic value in cancer recurrence; however, there was a significant relationship between CTC prevalence 24 hours after surgery and lymph node metastasis (pN1-2). We also confirmed a significant clearance of CTC in peripheral blood (PB) 24 hours after surgery. Preoperative sampling is not significant for prognosis in rectal cancer patients treated with short-term radiotherapy. Detection of CTC in PB 7 days after surgery is an independent factor predicting local recurrence in this group of patients. |
Comparison of Bayley-2 and Bayley-3 scores at 18 months in term infants following neonatal encephalopathy and therapeutic hypothermia | AIM
Neuroprotection trials for neonatal encephalopathy use moderate or severe disability as an outcome, with the Bayley Scales of Infant Development, Second Edition (Bayley-2) Index scores of <70 as part of the criteria. The Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler, 3rd Development, Third Edition (Bayley-3) have superseded Bayley-2 and yield higher than expected scores in typically developing and high-risk infants. The aim of this study, therefore, was to compare Bayley-2 scores and Bayley-3 scores in term-born infants surviving neonatal encephalopathy treated with hypothermia.
METHOD
Sixty-one term-born infants (37 males, 24 females; median gestational age at birth 40 wks, range 36-42 wks; median birthweight 3280 g, range 2295-5050) following neonatal encephalopathy and hypothermia had contemporaneous assessment at 18 months using the Bayley-2 and Bayley-3.
RESULTS
The median Bayley-3 Cognitive Composite score was 7 points higher than the median Bayley-2 Mental Developmental Index (MDI) score and the median Bayley-3 Motor Composite score was 18 points higher than the median Bayley-2 Psychomotor Developmental Index (PDI) score. Ten children had a Bayley-2 MDI of <70; only three children had Bayley-3 combined Cognitive/Language scores of <70. Eleven children had Bayley-2 PDI scores of <70 and four had modified Bayley-3 Motor Composite scores of <70. Applying regression equations to Bayley-3 scores adjusted rates of severe delay to similar proportions found using Bayley-2 scores.
INTERPRETATION
Fewer children were classified with severe delay using the Bayley-3 than the Bayley-2, which prohibits direct comparison of scores. Increased Bayley-3 cut-off thresholds for classifying severe disability are recommended when comparing studies in this clinical group using Bayley-2 scores. |
Group I mGluRs and Long-Term Depression: Potential Roles in Addiction? | Addiction is an enormous societal problem. A number of recent studies have focused on adaptations at glutamatergic synapses that may play a role in the behavioral responses to drugs of abuse. These studies have largely focused on NMDA receptor-dependent forms of synaptic plasticity such as NMDA receptor-dependent long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). A growing body of evidence, however, suggests that metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs) also play important roles in the behavioral responses to drugs of abuse and participate in producing synaptic plasticity at glutamate synapses. In this review, we focus first on the evidence supporting a role for mGluRs in addiction and then on the properties of mGluR-dependent forms of synaptic plasticity, focusing in particular on Gq-linked receptor-induced LTD. |
Color in the Cortex: single- and double-opponent cells | This is a review of the research during the past 25years on cortical processing of color signals. At the beginning of the period the modular view of cortical processing predominated. However, at present an alternative view, that color and form are linked inextricably in visual cortical processing, is more persuasive than it seemed in 1985. Also, the role of the primary visual cortex, V1, in color processing now seems much larger than it did in 1985. The re-evaluation of the important role of V1 in color vision was caused in part by investigations of human V1 responses to color, measured with functional magnetic resonance imaging, fMRI, and in part by the results of numerous studies of single-unit neurophysiology in non-human primates. The neurophysiological results have highlighted the importance of double-opponent cells in V1. Another new concept is population coding of hue, saturation, and brightness in cortical neuronal population activity. |
Cytosolic DNA Sensing Promotes Macrophage Transformation and Governs Myocardial Ischemic Injury. | BACKGROUND
Myocardium irreversibly injured by ischemic stress must be efficiently repaired to maintain tissue integrity and contractile performance. Macrophages play critical roles in this process. These cells transform across a spectrum of phenotypes to accomplish diverse functions ranging from mediating the initial inflammatory responses that clear damaged tissue to subsequent reparative functions that help rebuild replacement tissue. Although macrophage transformation is crucial to myocardial repair, events governing this transformation are poorly understood.
METHODS
Here, we set out to determine whether innate immune responses triggered by cytoplasmic DNA play a role.
RESULTS
We report that ischemic myocardial injury, along with the resulting release of nucleic acids, activates the recently described cyclic GMP-AMP synthase-stimulator of interferon genes pathway. Animals lacking cyclic GMP-AMP synthase display significantly improved early survival after myocardial infarction and diminished pathological remodeling, including ventricular rupture, enhanced angiogenesis, and preserved ventricular contractile function. Furthermore, cyclic GMP-AMP synthase loss of function abolishes the induction of key inflammatory programs such as inducible nitric oxide synthase and promotes the transformation of macrophages to a reparative phenotype, which results in enhanced repair and improved hemodynamic performance.
CONCLUSIONS
These results reveal, for the first time, that the cytosolic DNA receptor cyclic GMP-AMP synthase functions during cardiac ischemia as a pattern recognition receptor in the sterile immune response. Furthermore, we report that this pathway governs macrophage transformation, thereby regulating postinjury cardiac repair. Because modulators of this pathway are currently in clinical use, our findings raise the prospect of new treatment options to combat ischemic heart disease and its progression to heart failure. |
Municipal Solid Waste Management Problems in Nigeria : Evolving Knowledge Management Solution | The paper attempts a synthesis of problems relating to municipal waste management in Nigeria and proposes a conceptual knowledge management approach for tackling municipal waste problems in cities across Nigeria. The application of knowledge management approach and strategy is crucial for inculcating a change of attitude towards improving the management of waste. The paper is a review of existing literatures, information, policies and data on municipal waste management in Nigeria. The inefficient management of waste by individuals, households, consumers and waste management companies can be attributed to inadequate information on waste management benefits, lack of producers’ involvement in waste management as well as poor implementation of government policies. The paper presents an alternative approach providing solutions promoting efficient municipal waste management. Keywords—Environment, Knowledge management, Municipal waste management, Nigeria. |
PUSHOVER ANALYSIS OF UNREINFORCED MASONRY STRUCTURES BY FIBER FINITE ELEMENT METHOD | Finite element analysis A 2D finite element analysis for the numerical prediction of capacity curve of unreinforced masonry (URM) walls is conducted. The studied model is based on the fiber finite element approach. The emphasis of this paper will be on the errors obtained from fiber finite element analysis of URM structures under pushover analysis. The masonry material is modeled by different constitutive stress-strain model in compression and tension. OpenSees software is employed to analysis the URM walls. Comparison of numerical predictions with experimental data, it is shown that the fiber model employed in OpenSees cannot properly predict the behavior of URM walls with balance between accuracy and low computational efforts. Additionally, the finite element analyses results show appropriate predictions of some experimental data when the real tensile strength of masonry material is changed. Hence, from the viewpoint of this result, it is concluded that obtained results from fiber finite element analyses employed in OpenSees are unreliable because the exact behavior of masonry material is different from the adopted masonry material models used in modeling process. |
The Relationship between Traditional Ecological Knowledge, Evolving Cultures, and Wilderness Protection in the Circumpolar North | There are many unique issues associated with natural resource management in the far north as a result of legislative direction, historic settlement and occupation patterns, northern cultural traditions, ecotourism, economic depression, pressures for energy development, and globalization and modernization effects. Wilderness designation in Canada, the USA, and Finland is aimed at preserving and restoring many human and ecological values, as are the long-established, strictly enforced, nature reserves in Russia. In Alaska and Finland, and in some provinces of Canada, there is a variety of values associated with protecting relatively intact relationships between indigenous people and relatively pristine, vast ecosystems. These values are often described as “traditional means of livelihood,” “traditional means of access,” “traditional relationships with nature,” or “traditional lifestyles.” Traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) forms part of these relationships and has been acknowledged as a contributor to understanding the effects of management decisions and human-use impacts on long-term ecological composition, structure, and function. Wilderness protection can help maintain opportunities to continue traditional relationships with nature. As cultures continue to evolve in customs, attitudes, knowledge, and technological uses, values associated with both TEK and relationships with relatively pristine ecosystems will also evolve. Understanding these relationships and how to consider them in wilderness protection and restoration decision making is potentially one of the most contentious, widespread natural resource management issues in the circumpolar north. |
A Miniaturized Hexagonal-Triangular Fractal Antenna for Wide-Band Applications [Antenna Applications Corner] | Defense and aerospace communication systems need compact wide-band antennas suitable for multiple-frequency-band operation. In this article, a miniaturized hexagonaltriangular fractal antenna is examined for wide-band applications. The iterations are made from hexagonal rings, where the sides of the rings are connected by triangular elements inside a hexagonal metal patch. Transmissionline-feed technique is used to feed the signal. A triangular slotted symmetrical defective ground structure (DGS) with a rectangular slit at the center is used to obtain a bandwidth ratio of 8.4:1 with an operating bandwidth ranging from 3 to 25.2 GHz. The percentage of impedance bandwidth and gain of the proposed antenna are much superior to the recently reported wide-band antennas, which makes it suitable for numerous wireless applications, such as wireless local area networks, Wi-Fi, ultrawideband (UWB), X band, and Ku band. The performance of the antenna is analyzed by various parametric studies and field and current distribution analysis. The corresponding design details and comparison of simulated and practical results are presented. |
Combined Automatic Lane-Keeping and Driver's Steering Through a 2-DOF Control Strategy | In this paper, we address the problem of combining automatic lane-keeping and driver's steering for either obstacle avoidance or lane-change maneuvers for passing purposes or any other desired maneuvers, through a closed-loop control strategy. The automatic lane-keeping control loop is never opened, and no on/off switching strategy is used. During the driver's maneuver, the vehicle lateral dynamics are controlled by the driver himself through the vehicle steering system. When there is no driver's steering action, the vehicle center of gravity tracks the center of the traveling lane thanks to the automatic lane-keeping system. At the beginning (end) of the maneuver, the lane-keeping task is released (resumed) safely and smoothly. The performance of the proposed closed-loop structure is shown both by means of simulations and through experimental results obtained along Italian highways. |
Learning robust failure response for autonomous vision based flight | The ability of autonomous mobile robots to react to and recover from potential failures of on-board systems is an important area of ongoing robotics research. With increasing emphasis on robust systems and long-term autonomy, mobile robots must be able to respond safely and intelligently to dangerous situations. Recent developments in computer vision have made autonomous vision based navigation possible. However, vision systems are known to be imperfect and prone to failure due to variable lighting, terrain changes, and other environmental variables. We describe a system for learning simple failure recovery maneuvers based on experience. This involves both recognizing when the vision system is prone to failure, and associating failures with appropriate responses that will most likely help the robot recover. We implement this system on an autonomous quadrotor and demonstrate that behaviors learned with our system are effective in recovering from situational perception failure, thereby improving reliability in cluttered and uncertain environments. |
Review on simulating uncertainties in construction projects | Conference on Advances in Civil Engineering 2018 (CACE-2018) |Thakur College of Engineering and Technology, Thakur |
Planar Printed Multi-Resonant Antenna for Octa-Band WWAN/LTE Mobile Handset | In this letter, a planar printed multiple-band antenna is proposed for mobile handset applications. The antenna consists of a driven monopole with multiple branches, and a parasitic ground strip with an open slot. By properly tuning the dimensions and positions of each part of the proposed antenna, octa-band operation is achieved with good radiation efficiency. For lower frequency, the LTE700, GSM850, and GSM900 bands are provided by the λ/4 modes of the driven monopole and the parasitic ground strip. For upper frequency, the DCS, PCS, UMTS, LTE2300 and LTE2500 bands are covered by the higher order modes of the driven monopole and the parasitic ground strip. The open slot and the shorter driven branch are utilized to widen the bandwidth in the upper frequency. All the mentioned operating bands are achieved in a small area of 15 ×60 mm2. The measured -6-dB reflection coefficient bandwidth is 405 MHz ( 660 ~ 1065 MHz) in the lower band and ranges from 1665 MHz to more than 3000 MHz in the upper band. |
Bilocal Dynamics in Quantum Field Theory | An essential aspect of noncommutative field theories is their bilocal nature. This feature, and its role in the IR/UV mixing, are discussed using a canonical quantization procedure developed recently. |
Nearest-neighbour classifiers in natural scene analysis | It is now well-established that k nearest-neighbour classi"ers o!er a quick and reliable method of data classi"cation. In this paper we extend the basic de"nition of the standard k nearest-neighbour algorithm to include the ability to resolve con#icts when the highest number of nearest neighbours are found for more than one training class (model-1). We also propose model-2 of nearest-neighbour algorithm that is based on "nding the nearest average distance rather than nearest maximum number of neighbours. These new models are explored using image understanding data. The models are evaluated on pattern recognition accuracy for correctly recognising image texture data of "ve natural classes: grass, trees, sky, river re#ecting sky and river re#ecting trees. On noise contaminated test data, the new nearest neighbour models show very promising results for further studies. We evaluate their performance with increasing values of neighbours (k) and discuss their future in scene analysis research. CrownCopyright 2001 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. on behalf of Pattern Recognition Society. All rights reserved. |
Daily electronic monitoring of subjective and objective measures of illness activity in bipolar disorder using smartphones– the MONARCA II trial protocol: a randomized controlled single-blind parallel-group trial | BACKGROUND
Patients with bipolar disorder often show decreased adherence with mood stabilizers and frequently interventions on prodromal depressive and manic symptoms are delayed. Recently, the MONARCA I randomized controlled trial investigated the effect of electronic self-monitoring using smartphones on depressive and manic symptoms. The findings suggested that patients using the MONARCA system had more sustained depressive symptoms than patients using a smartphone for normal communicative purposes, but had fewer manic symptoms during the trial. It is likely that the ability of these self-monitored measures to detect prodromal symptoms of depression and mania may be insufficient compared to automatically generated objective data on measures of illness activity such as phone usage, social activity, physical activity, and mobility. The Monsenso system, for smartphones integrating subjective and objective measures of illness activity was developed and will be tested in the present trial.
METHODS
The MONARCA II trial uses a randomized controlled single-blind parallel-group design. Patients with bipolar disorder according to ICD-10 who previously have been treated at the Copenhagen Clinic for Affective Disorder, Denmark are included and randomized to either daily use of the Monsenso system including an feedback loop between patients and clinicians (the intervention group) or to the use of a smartphone for normal communicative purposes (the control group) for a 9-month trial period. The trial was started in September 2014 and recruitment is ongoing. The outcomes are: differences in depressive and manic symptoms; rate of depressive and manic episodes (primary); automatically generated objective data on measures of illness activity; number of days hospitalized; psychosocial functioning (secondary); perceived stress; quality of life; self-rated depressive symptoms; self-rated manic symptoms; recovery; empowerment and adherence to medication (tertiary) between the intervention group and the control group during the trial. Ethical permission has been obtained. Positive, neutral and negative findings will be published.
DISCUSSION
If the system is effective in reducing depressive and/or manic symptoms (and other symptoms of bipolar disorder) and the rate of episodes, there will be basis for extending the use to the treatment of bipolar disorder in general and in larger scale.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02221336. Registered 26th of September 2014. |
A prospective examination of children's time spent outdoors, objectively measured physical activity and overweight | Objective: This study aimed to determine whether time spent outdoors was associated with objectively measured physical activity, body mass index (BMI) z-score and overweight in elementary-school aged children, cross-sectionally and prospectively over 3 years.Methods: Three-year cohort study with data collected during 2001 and 2004. Nineteen randomly selected state elementary schools across Melbourne, Australia. One hundred and eighty eight 5–6-year-old and 360 10–12-year-old children. Baseline parent reports of children's time spent outdoors during warmer and cooler months, on weekdays and weekends. At baseline and follow-up, children's moderate and vigorous physical activity (MVPA) was objectively assessed by accelerometry, and BMI z-score and overweight was calculated from measured height and weight.Results: Cross-sectionally, each additional hour outdoors on weekdays and weekend days during the cooler months was associated with an extra 27 min week−1 MVPA among older girls, and with an extra 20 min week−1 MVPA among older boys. Longitudinally, more time outdoors on weekends predicted higher MVPA on weekends among older girls and boys (5 min week−1). The prevalence of overweight among older children at follow-up was 27–41% lower among those spending more time outdoors at baseline.Conclusion: Encouraging 10–12-year-old children to spend more time outdoors may be an effective strategy for increasing physical activity and preventing increases in overweight and obesity. Intervention research investigating the effect of increasing time outdoors on children's physical activity and overweight is warranted. |
Ventispheres: granule-pebble spheres of eolian origin in lower cretaceous and recent rocks of Israel | Abstract Spherical sandstone fragments which are neither concretions nor water-worn pebbles were found in the sandstone beds near the base of the Hathira Formation in the lower Cretaceous section of the Maktesh Gadol outcrops, in Southern Israel. Similar sandstone spheres which were found in the area were in the process of being formed by wind action in a serir environment. Both the ancient and the Recent spheres are referred to as “Ventispheres”. Their presence in the lower Cretaceous rocks shows that the non-marine interval between the first and the second marine transgressions recorded in this area included eolian events, at least in a local serir environment. |
Surface electromyographic analysis of exercises for the trapezius and serratus anterior muscles. | STUDY DESIGN
This study used a prospective, single-group repeated-measures design to analyze differences between the electromyographic (EMG) amplitudes produced by exercises for the trapezius and serratus anterior muscles.
OBJECTIVE
To identify high-intensity exercises that elicit the greatest level of EMG activity in the trapezius and serratus anterior muscles.
BACKGROUND
The trapezius and serratus anterior muscles are considered to be the only upward rotators of the scapula and are important for normal shoulder function. Electromyographic studies have been performed for these muscles during active and low-intensity exercises, but they have not been analyzed during high intensity exercises.
METHODS AND MEASURES
Surface electrodes recorded EMG activity of the upper, middle, and lower trapezius and serratus anterior muscles during 10 exercises in 30 healthy subjects.
RESULTS
The unilateral shoulder shrug exercise was found to produce the greatest EMG activity in the upper trapezius. For the middle trapezius, the greatest EMG amplitudes were generated with 2 exercises: shoulder horizontal extension with external rotation and the overhead arm raise in line with the lower trapezius muscle in the prone position. The arm raise overhead exercise in the prone position produced the maximum EMG activity in the lower trapezius. The serratus anterior was activated maximally with exercises requiring a great amount of upward rotation of the scapula. The exercises were shoulder abduction in the plane of the scapula above 120 degrees and a diagonal exercise with a combination of shoulder flexion, horizontal flexion, and external rotation.
CONCLUSION
This study identified exercises that maximally activate the trapezius and serratus anterior muscles. This information may be helpful for clinicians in developing exercise programs for these muscles. |
Directional Fano resonance in a silicon nanosphere dimer. | Fano resonance arising from the interaction between a broad "bright" mode and a narrow "dark" mode has been widely investigated in symmetry-breaking structures made of noble metals such as plasmonic asymmetric oligomers or other well-designed nanostructures. However, Fano resonance in nanoscale all-dielectric dimers has not been experimentally demonstrated so far. We report the first experimental observation of directional Fano resonance in silicon nanosphere dimers (both homodimer and heterodimer) and clarify that the coupling between magnetic and electric dipole modes can easily generate Fano resonance in all-dielectric oligomers, distinctly differing from conventional Fano resonances based on electric responses or artificial optical magnetism. A silicon nanosphere dimer, exhibiting a strong magnetic response inside and an electric enhancement in the gap, is an excellent structure to support magnetic-based Fano scattering. Interactions between magnetic and electric dipoles can suppress backward scattering and enhance forward scattering at Fano wavelengths. This directional scattering is much more prominent than that from a single silicon sphere and shows promising applications in areas such as directional nanoantenna or optical switching, opening up avenues for developing all-dielectric low-loss metamaterials or nanophotonic devices at visible wavelengths. |
Fast Ionic Diffusion-Enabled Nanoflake Electrode by Spontaneous Electrochemical Pre-Intercalation for High-Performance Supercapacitor | Layered intercalation compounds NaxMnO2 (x 5 0.7 and 0.91) nanoflakes have been prepared directly through wet electrochemical process with Na ions intercalated into MnO2 interlayers spontaneously. The as-prepared NaxMnO2 nanoflake based supercapacitors exhibit faster ionic diffusion with enhanced redox peaks, tenfold-higher energy densities up to 110 Wh?kg and higher capacitances over 1000 F?g in aqueous sodium system compared with traditional MnO2 supercapacitors. Due to the free-standing electrode structure and suitable crystal structure, NaxMnO2 nanoflake electrodes also maintain outstanding electrochemical stability with capacitance retention up to 99.9% after 1000 cycles. Besides, pre-intercalation effect is further studied to explain this enhanced electrochemical performance. This study indicates that the suitable pre-intercalation is effective to improve the diffusion of electrolyte cations and other electrochemical performance for layered oxides, and suggests that the as-obtained nanoflakes are promising materials to achieve the hybridization of both high energy and power density for advanced supercapacitors. |
The Sartre‐Heidegger Controversy on Humanism and the Concept of Man in Education | Jean‐Paul Sartre claims in his 1945 lecture ‘Existentialism is a Humanism’ that there are two kinds of existentialism: that of Christians like Karl Jaspers, and atheistic like Martin Heidegger. Sartre's ‘spiritual master’ Heidegger had no problem with Sartre defining him as an atheist, but he had serious problems with Sartre's concept of humanism and existentialism. Heidegger claims that the essence of humanism lies in the essence of the human being. After the Enlightenment, the Western concept of man has been presented in education in the form of Kantian humanistic essentialism. At least in the Finnish educational system, Kantian humanism is almost an official ideological background of all national curriculums. Is such a kind of essentialism and metaphysics plausible in our modern or postmodern times? We examine the Sartre‐Heidegger controversy on humanism and the concept of man in education using Freire's humanism and Gelassenheit education as exemplars. |
A Learning-based Neural Network Model for the Detection and Classification of SQL Injection Attacks | StructuredQueryLanguage injection (SQLi) attack is a code injection techniquewherehackers injectSQLcommandsintoadatabaseviaavulnerablewebapplication.InjectedSQLcommandscan modifytheback-endSQLdatabaseandthuscompromisethesecurityofawebapplication.Inthe previouspublications,theauthorhasproposedaNeuralNetwork(NN)-basedmodelfordetections andclassificationsof theSQLiattacks.Theproposedmodelwasbuiltfromthreeelements:1)a UniformResourceLocator(URL)generator,2)aURLclassifier,and3)aNNmodel.Theproposed modelwas successful to:1)detect eachgeneratedURLaseitherabenignURLoramalicious, and2)identifythetypeofSQLiattackforeachmaliciousURL.Thepublishedresultsprovedthe effectivenessoftheproposal.Inthispaper,theauthorre-evaluatestheperformanceoftheproposal throughtwoscenariosusingcontroversialdatasets.Theresultsoftheexperimentsarepresentedin ordertodemonstratetheeffectivenessoftheproposedmodelintermsofaccuracy,true-positiverate aswellasfalse-positiverate. KeyWoRDS Artificial Intelligence, Databases, Intrusion Detection, Machine Learning, Neural Networks, SQL Injection Attacks, Web Attacks |
Effects of Risedronate Treatment on Bone Density and Vertebral Fracture in Patients on Corticosteroid Therapy | Men and women (n = 518) receiving moderate-to-high doses of corticosteroids were enrolled in two studies with similar protocols and randomly assigned to receive either placebo or risedronate (2.5 or 5 mg) for 1 year. All patients received daily calcium supplementation (500–1000 mg), and most also received supplemental vitamin D (400 IU). The primary endpoint was the difference between the placebo and active groups in lumbar spine bone mineral density (BMD) at 1 year; changes in BMD at other sites, biochemical markers of bone turnover, and the incidence of vertebral fractures were also assessed. In the overall population, the mean (SE) lumbar spine BMD increased 1.9 ± 0.38% from baseline in the risedronate 5 mg group (P < 0.001) and decreased 1.0 ± 0.4% in the placebo group (P= 0.005). BMD at the femoral neck, trochanter, and distal radius increased or was maintained with risedronate 5 mg treatment, but decreased in the placebo group. Midshaft radius BMD did not change significantly in either treatment group. The difference in BMD between the risedronate 5 mg and placebo groups was significant at all skeletal sites (P < 0.05) except the midshaft radius at 1 year. The 2.5 mg dose also had a positive effect on BMD, although of a lesser magnitude than that seen with risedronate 5 mg. A significant reduction of 70% in vertebral fracture risk was observed in the risedronate 5 mg group compared with the placebo group (P= 0.01). Risedronate was efficacious in both men and women, irrespective of underlying disease and duration of corticosteroid therapy, and had a favorable safety profile, with a similar incidence of upper gastrointestinal adverse events in the placebo and active treatment groups. Daily treatment with risedronate 5 mg significantly increases BMD and decreases vertebral fracture risk in patients receiving moderate-to-high doses of corticosteroid therapy. |
A Statistical Nonparametric Approach of Face Recognition: Combination of Eigenface & Modified k-Means Clustering | Keywords: Eigenface, face Recognition, k-means clustering, principle component analysis (PCA) |
To Plan or not to Plan? Discourse Planning in Slot-Value Informed Sequence to Sequence Models for Language Generation | Natural language generation for task-oriented dialogue systems aims to effectively realize system dialogue actions. All natural language generators (NLGs) must realize grammatical, natural and appropriate output, but in addition, generators for taskoriented dialogue must faithfully perform a specific dialogue act that conveys specific semantic information, as dictated by the dialogue policy of the system dialogue manager. Most previous work on deep learning methods for task-oriented NLG assumes that generation output can be an utterance skeleton. Utterances are delexicalized, with variable names for slots, which are then replaced with actual values as part of post-processing. However, the value of slots do, in fact, influence the lexical selection in the surrounding context as well as the overall sentence plan. To model this effect, we investigate sequence-to-sequence (seq2seq) models in which slot values are included as part of the input sequence and the output surface form. Furthermore, we study whether a separate sentence planning module that decides on grouping of slot value mentions as input to the seq2seq model results in more natural sentences than a seq2seq model that aims to jointly learn the plan and the surface realization. |
ETHEREUM: A SECURE DECENTRALISED GENERALISED TRANSACTION LEDGER | The blockchain paradigm when coupled with cryptographically-secured transactions has demonstrated its utility through a number of projects, with Bitcoin being one of the most notable ones. Each such project can be seen as a simple application on a decentralised, but singleton, compute resource. We can call this paradigm a transactional singleton machine with shared-state. Ethereum implements this paradigm in a generalised manner. Furthermore it provides a plurality of such resources, each with a distinct state and operating code but able to interact through a message-passing framework with others. We discuss its design, implementation issues, the opportunities it provides and the future hurdles we envisage. |
Boltzmann Games | A Boltzmann game is an n-player repeated game, in which Boltzmann machines are employed by players to choose their optimal strategy for each round of the game. Players only have knowledge about the machine they have selected and their own strategy set. Information about other the players and the game’s pay-off function are concealed from all players. Players therefore select their strategies independent of the choices made by their opponents. A player’s pay-off, on the other hand, will be affected by the choices made by other players playing the game. As an example of this game, we play a repeated zero-sum matrix game between two Boltzmann machines. We show that a saddle point will exist for this type of Boltzmann game. |
Fake Faces Identification via Convolutional Neural Network | Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) is a prominent generative model that are widely used in various applications. Recent studies have indicated that it is possible to obtain fake face images with a high visual quality based on this novel model. If those fake faces are abused in image tampering, it would cause some potential moral, ethical and legal problems. In this paper, therefore, we first propose a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) based method to identify fake face images generated by the current best method [20], and provide experimental evidences to show that the proposed method can achieve satisfactory results with an average accuracy over 99.4%. In addition, we provide comparative results evaluated on some variants of the proposed CNN architecture, including the high pass filter, the number of the layer groups and the activation function, to further verify the rationality of our method. |
A 60 GHz 64-element phased-array beam-pointing communication system for 5G 100 meter links up to 2 Gbps | This paper presents a 60 GHz communication link system and measurements using a 64-element phased array transmitter. The transmit array includes high-efficiency on-wafer antennas, 3-bits amplitude and 5-bits phase control on each element, a measured saturated EIRP of 38 dBm at 60 GHz and scans to +/- 55° in the E- and H-planes with near-ideal patterns and low sidelobes. The phased-array transmitter is used in a 60 GHz communication link with an external up-conversion mixers and a Keysight 802.11ad waveform generator. A standard gain horn with a gain of 20 dB is used as the receiver, coupled to a Keysight high-speed digital demodulation scope. The communication link achieves a 16-QAM modulation with 3.85 Gbps at 4 m (full 802.11ad channel) and a QPSK modulation with 1.54 GBps over 100 m while scanning to +/-45° in both planes. |
Who should I cite: learning literature search models from citation behavior | Scientists depend on literature search to find prior work that is relevant to their research ideas. We introduce a retrieval model for literature search that incorporates a wide variety of factors important to researchers, and learns the weights of each of these factors by observing citation patterns. We introduce features like topical similarity and author behavioral patterns, and combine these with features from related work like citation count and recency of publication. We present an iterative process for learning weights for these features that alternates between retrieving articles with the current retrieval model, and updating model weights by training a supervised classifier on these articles. We propose a new task for evaluating the resulting retrieval models, where the retrieval system takes only an abstract as its input and must produce as output the list of references at the end of the abstract's article. We evaluate our model on a collection of journal, conference and workshop articles from the ACL Anthology Reference Corpus. Our model achieves a mean average precision of 28.7, a 12.8 point improvement over a term similarity baseline, and a significant improvement both over models using only features from related work and over models without our iterative learning. |
Cryptanalysis of a Symmetric Fully Homomorphic Encryption Scheme | Fully homomorphic encryption supports meaningful computations on encrypted data, and hence, is widely used in cloud computing and big data environments. Recently, Li et al. constructed an efficient symmetric fully homomorphic encryption scheme and utilized it to design a privacy-preserving-outsourced association rule mining scheme. Their proposal allows multiple data owners to jointly mine some association rules without sacrificing the data privacy. The security of the homomorphic encryption scheme against the known-plaintext attacks was established by examining the hardness of solving nonlinear systems. However, in this paper, we illustrate that the security of Li et al.’s homomorphic encryption is overvalued. First, we show that we can recover the first part of the secret key from several known plaintext/ciphertext pairs with the continued fraction algorithm. Second, we find that we can retrieve the second part of the secret key through the Euclidean algorithm for the greatest common divisor problem. Experiments on the suggested parameters demonstrate that in case of more than two homomorphic multiplications, all the secret keys of the randomly instantiated Li et al.’s encryption schemes can be very efficiently recovered, and the success probability is at least 98% for one homomorphic multiplication. |
Pulse pressure is an independent predictor for the progression of aortic wall calcification in patients with controlled hyperlipidemia. | Recent epidemiological studies suggested that calcifications of the aorta and the coronary arteries are important predictors for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. However, the relation between blood pressure components and the progression of vascular wall calcification has remained unclear. We quantified calcium deposits in the abdominal aorta as the percentage of aortic calcification volume (%ACV) using computed tomography in patients with hyperlipidemia. Those who had aortic calcification were treated with lipid-lowering agents and followed-up for >2 years (6.3+/-3.2 years). The relationship between the components of blood pressure and the increase in %ACV per year (Delta%ACV/year) was assessed in subjects in whom serum lipid levels were well controlled during the follow-up periods. An age- and sex-adjusted correlation analysis showed that Delta%ACV/year was significantly correlated to body mass index (r=0.229, P=0.015), systolic blood pressure (r=0.244, P=0.009), and pulse pressure (r=0.359, P<0.001). A multivariate regression analysis revealed that pulse pressure is an independent and the most sensitive predictor for Delta%ACV/year (beta=0.389, P<0.001) among the blood pressure components. These results suggested that increase in pulse pressure promotes the progression of vascular calcification. |
High-$Q$ Tunable Dielectric Resonator Filters Using MEMS Technology | This paper presents the design and implementation of a new class of high-Q tunable dielectric resonator (DR) filters based on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) technology. The use of MEMS tuning elements results in the compact implementation of the proposed filters with high-Q and near to zero dc power consumption. The proposed filters consist of disk-shaped dielectric resonators with circular holes created in the center of each resonator. Three different filters are designed and measured based on different tuning elements. The first filter operates in TME mode at a center frequency of 4.72 GHz with a bandwidth of 21 MHz. MEMS contact-type switches are used as tuning elements for this filter. Measurement results demonstrate a tuning range of 160 MHz while the quality factor is above 510 (1200-510 over the tuning range). The other two implementations employ GaAs and MEMS varactors for tuning. The tunable filter with GaAs varactor has a continuous tuning range from 4.97 to 4.87 GHz with 65-MHz bandwidth and a Q value from 660 to 170. The MEMS varactor-tuned filter has a better tuning performance from 5.20 to 5.02 GHz with higher Q value from 800 to 550 over the tuning range. The proposed tuning approach is applicable to other modes at other frequencies of DR filters. |
Heterogeneous Risk Preferences and the Welfare Cost of Business Cycles. | I study the welfare cost of business cycles in a complete-markets economy where some people are more risk averse than others. Relatively more risk-averse people buy insurance against aggregate risk, and relatively less risk-averse people sell insurance. These trades reduce the welfare cost of business cycles for everyone. Indeed, the least risk-averse people benefit from business cycles. Moreover, even infinitely risk-averse people suffer only finite and, in my empirical estimates, very small welfare losses. In other words, when there are complete insurance markets, aggregate fluctuations in consumption are essentially irrelevant not just for the average person - the surprising finding of Lucas (1987) - but for everyone in the economy, no matter how risk averse they are. If business cycles matter, it is because they affect productivity or interact with uninsured idiosyncratic risk, not because aggregate risk per se reduces welfare. |
Is albumin administration in the acutely ill associated with increased mortality? Results of the SOAP study | INTRODUCTION
Albumin administration in the critically ill has been the subject of some controversy. We investigated the use of albumin solutions in European intensive care units (ICUs) and its relationship to outcome.
METHODS
In a cohort, multicenter, observational study, all patients admitted to one of the participating ICUs between 1 May and 15 May 2002 were followed up until death, hospital discharge, or for 60 days. Patients were classified according to whether or not they received albumin at any time during their ICU stay.
RESULTS
Of 3,147 admitted patients, 354 (11.2%) received albumin and 2,793 (88.8%) did not. Patients who received albumin were more likely to have cancer or liver cirrhosis, to be surgical admissions, and to have sepsis. They had a longer length of ICU stay and a higher mortality rate, but were also more severely ill, as manifested by higher simplified acute physiology score (SAPS) II and sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) scores than the other patients. A Cox proportional hazard model indicated that albumin administration was significantly associated with decreased 30-day survival. Moreover, in 339 pairs matched according to a propensity score, ICU and hospital mortality rates were higher in the patients who had received albumin than in those who had not (34.8 versus 20.9% and 41.3 versus 27.7%, respectively, both p < 0.001).
CONCLUSION
Albumin administration was associated with decreased survival in this population of acutely ill patients. Further prospective randomized controlled trials are needed to examine the effects of albumin administration in sub-groups of acutely ill patients. |
Subjective well-being. The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index. | One area of positive psychology analyzes subjective well-being (SWB), people's cognitive and affective evaluations of their lives. Progress has been made in understanding the components of SWB, the importance of adaptation and goals to feelings of well-being, the temperament underpinnings of SWB, and the cultural influences on well-being. Representative selection of respondents, naturalistic experience sampling measures, and other methodological refinements are now used to study SWB and could be used to produce national indicators of happiness. |
Privacy protection based access control scheme in cloud-based services | With the rapid development of the computer technology, cloud-based services have become a hot topic. Cloud-based services not only provide users with convenience, but also bring many security issues. Therefore, the study of access control scheme to protect users' privacy in cloud environment is of great significance. In this paper, we present an access control system with privilege separation based on privacy protection (PS-ACS). In the PS-ACS scheme, we divide the users into personal domain (PSD) and public domain (PUD) logically. In the PSD, we set read and write access permissions for users respectively. The Key-Aggregate Encryption (KAE) is exploited to implement the read access permission which improves the access efficiency. A high degree of patient privacy is guaranteed simultaneously by exploiting an Improved Attribute-based Signature (IABS) which can determine the users' write access. For the users of PUD, a hierarchical attribute-based encryption (HABE) is applied to avoid the issues of single point of failure and complicated key distribution. Function and performance testing result shows that the PS-ACS scheme can achieve privacy protection in cloud-based services. |
Improved Function and Reduced Pain after Swimming and Cycling Training in Patients with Osteoarthritis. | OBJECTIVE
Arthritis and its associated joint pain act as significant barriers for adults attempting to perform land-based physical activity. Swimming can be an ideal form of exercise for patients with arthritis. Yet there is no information on the efficacy of regular swimming exercise involving patients with arthritis. The effect of a swimming exercise intervention on joint pain, stiffness, and physical function was evaluated in patients with osteoarthritis (OA).
METHODS
Using a randomized study design, 48 sedentary middle-aged and older adults with OA underwent 3 months of either swimming or cycling exercise training. Supervised exercise training was performed for 45 min/day, 3 days/week at 60-70% heart rate reserve for 12 weeks. The Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index was used to measure joint pain, stiffness, and physical limitation.
RESULTS
After the exercise interventions, there were significant reductions in joint pain, stiffness, and physical limitation accompanied by increases in quality of life in both groups (all p < 0.05). Functional capacity as assessed by maximal handgrip strength, isokinetic knee extension and flexion power (15-30% increases), and the distance covered in the 6-min walk test increased (all p < 0.05) in both exercise groups. No differences were observed in the magnitude of improvements between swimming and cycling training.
CONCLUSION
Regular swimming exercise reduced joint pain and stiffness associated with OA and improved muscle strength and functional capacity in middle-aged and older adults with OA. Additionally, the benefits of swimming exercise were similar to the more frequently prescribed land-based cycling training.
TRIAL REGISTRATION
clinicaltrials.gov NCT01836380. |
Modified GDI Technique-A Power Efficient Method For Digital Circuit Design | This paper presents logic style compariso ns based on different logic functions and claimed m odified Gate Diffusion Input logic (Mod-GDI) to be much more power-efficient than Gate Diffusion Input logic (GDI) and complementary CMOS logic design. However, DC and Tr ansient analysis performed on more efficient modifi ed Gate Diffusion Input logic (Mod-GDI) circuit realization s and a wider range of different logic cells, as we ll as the use of practical circuit arrangements reveal Mod-GDI to be superior to GDI and CMOS in the majority cases wit h respect to speed, area, power dissipation, and power-delay pro ducts. This manuscript shows that Mod-GDI is the logic style of preference for the realization of arbitrary combinational circuits, if low voltage, low power, and small power-delay products are of concern. All Simulations are perfor med through PSPICE based on 0.18 μm CMOS technology, and results show power characteristics of Mod-GDI technique of low power digital circuit design. Simulation results shows up to 45% reduction in power-delay product in Mod-GDI. Mod-GDI approach allows realization of a broad variety of multifaceted logic functions by means of only two transistors. T his technique is appropriate for designing of fast, low power circuits, using reduced number of transistor (as compared to CMOS techniques), while improving power characteris tics. |
Genetic Disorders in the United Arab Emirates , Bahrain , and Oman : Lessons Learned | Ever since its initiation, the Catalogue for Transmission Genetics in Arabs (CTGA) database has endeavored to index reports of genetic disorders among Arab patients. This is a daunting task, compounded by the fact that the Arabs not only constitute a huge population of close to 340 million people, but are also spread over 23 countries covering 14 million square km in two continents within their homeland itself. Add to this the Arab diaspora spread around the world, and a picture of truly massive proportions emerges. The CTGA Database Development Team realized earlier on that this enormous undertaking would need to be managed in a systematic manner. To this end, the Team works on the database in a targeted fashion, focusing on a single Arab country at a time. This strategy, initiated with the United Arab Emirates, has enabled the complete coverage of genetic disorders in two more countries (Kingdom of Bahrain and Sultanate of Oman), while maintaining a basal amount of information in the remaining Arab countries. |
Lyapunov-based control for switched power converters | The fundamental properties, such as passivity or incremental passivity, of the network elements making up a switched power converter are examined. The nominal open-loop operation of a broad class of such converters is shown to be stable in the large via a Lyapunov argument. The obtained Lyapunov function is then shown to be useful for designing globally stabilizing controls that include adaptive schemes for handling uncertain nominal parameters. Numerical simulations illustrate the application of this control approach in DC-DC converters.<<ETX>> |
Shape Modeling with Front Propagation: A Level Set Approach | Shape modeling is an important constituent of computer vision as well as computer graphics research. Shape models aid the tasks of object representation and recognition. This paper presents a new approach to shape modeling which retains some of the attractive features of existing methods, and overcomes some of their limitations. Our techniques can be applied to model arbitrarily complex shapes, which include shapes with significant protrusions, and to situations where no a priori assumption about the object's topology is made. A single instance of our model, when presented with an image having more than one object of interest, has the ability to split freely to represent each object. This method is based on the ideas developed by Osher and Sethian to model propagating solid/liquid interfaces with curvature-dependent speeds. The interface (front) is a closed, nonintersecting, hypersurface flowing along its gradient field with constant speed or a speed that depends on the curvature. It is moved by solving a "Hamilton-Jacobi" type equation written for a function in which the interface is a particular level set. A speed term synthesized from the image is used to stop the interface in the vicinity of object boundaries. The resulting equation of motion is solved by employing entropy-satisfying upwind finite difference schemes. We present a variety of ways of computing evolving front, including narrow bands, reinitializations, and different stopping criteria. The efficacy of the scheme is demonstrated with numerical experiments on some synthesized images and some low contrast medical images. * 1 Supported in part by the Applied Mathematical Sciences Subprogram of the Office of Energy Research, U.S. Dept. of Energy under Contract DE-ACD3-76SD00098 and by the NSF ARPA under grant DMS-8919074. 2 Supported in part by NSF grant ECS-9210648. |
Greater endogenous estrogen exposure is associated with longer telomeres in postmenopausal women at risk for cognitive decline | Longer duration of reproductive years of life and thus greater exposure to endogenous estrogen may be associated with a lower risk of age-related diseases in women. The present study examined the relationship between estimated endogenous estrogen exposure and telomere length (TL) and telomerase activity, two biomarkers of cellular aging, in a sample of postmenopausal women at risk for cognitive decline. Telomere length was measured using a quantitative PCR method and telomerase activity by TRAP (Telomere-Repeats Amplification Protocol) assay in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Study subjects were 53 postmenopausal women (35 with natural and 18 with surgical menopause) receiving hormone therapy (HT) for at least one year or longer. Length of reproductive years of life, computed as the difference between age at menopause and age at menarche, was used as a proxy of duration of exposure to endogenous estrogen. Length of time on HT was the measure used for duration of exogenous estrogen exposure. We found that longer endogenous estrogen exposure was associated with greater TL (standardized β=0.06, Wald χ(2)=3.7, p=0.04) and with lower telomerase activity (standardized β=-0.09, Wald χ(2)=5.0, p=0.03). Length of reproductive years was also inversely associated with the combination of short TL and high telomerase (OR=0.78, 95% CI: 0.63, 0.97, p=0.02). Length of HT use was not associated with TL or telomerase activity in this study. The results suggest that the endogenous estrogens may be associated with deceleration of cellular aging. This is the first study to examine associations between endogenous estrogens, telomere length and telomerase activity. |
Did Securitization Affect the Cost of Corporate Debt | This paper investigates whether the securitization of corporate bank loans had an impact on the price of corporate debt. Our results suggest that loans that are subsequently securitized are associated with a lower spread of 10-17 basis points relative to loans that are not subsequently securitized. To identify the particular role of securitization, we employ a difference in difference approach and consider loan characteristics that are associated with securitization such as the payoff structure and the identity of the originating bank. Spreads on “securitization-friendly” Term Loan B facilities relative to either Term Loan A facilities or revolvers decline with the 2004-2007 Securitization Boom. This decline is driven almost completely by loans originated by banks active in CLO origination. The results are consistent with the view that securitization caused a reduction in the cost of capital. * Contact information: Taylor Nadauld, Department of Finance, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah: email: [email protected]; Michael S. Weisbach, Department of Finance, Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, email: [email protected]. We would like to thank Murillo Campello, Isil Erel, and participants in seminars at Brigham Young University and Ohio State University for helpful suggestions. |
An architecture for building self-configurable systems | Developing wireless sensor networks can enable information gathering, information processing and reliable monitoring of a variety of environments for both civil and military applications. It is however necessary to agree upon a basic architecture for building sensor network applications. This paper presents a general classification of sensor network applications based on their network configurations and discusses some of their architectural requirements. We propose a generic architecture for a specific subclass of sensor applications which we define as self-configurable systems where a large number of sensors coordinate amongst themselves to achieve a large sensing task. Throughout this paper we assume a certain subset of the sensors to be immobile. This paper lists the general architectural and infra-structural components necessary for building this class of sensor applications. Given the various architectural components, we present an algorithm that self-organizes the sensors into a network in a transparent manner. Some of the basic goals of our algorithm include minimizing power utilization, localizing operations and tolerating node and link failures. |
Expert Systems and Probabilistic Network Models | Follow up what we will offer in this article about expert systems and probabilistic network models. You know really that this book is coming as the best seller book today. So, when you are really a good reader or you're fans of the author, it does will be funny if you don't have this book. It means that you have to get this book. For you who are starting to learn about something new and feel curious about this book, it's easy then. Just get this book and feel how this book will give you more exciting lessons. |
Clustering feature decision trees for semi-supervised classification from high-speed data streams | Most stream data classification algorithms apply the supervised learning strategy which requires massive labeled data. Such approaches are impractical since labeled data are usually hard to obtain in reality. In this paper, we build a clustering feature decision tree model, CFDT, from data streams having both unlabeled and a small number of labeled examples. CFDT applies a micro-clustering algorithm that scans the data only once to provide the statistical summaries of the data for incremental decision tree induction. Micro-clusters also serve as classifiers in tree leaves to improve classification accuracy and reinforce the any-time property. Our experiments on synthetic and real-world datasets show that CFDT is highly scalable for data streams while generating high classification accuracy with high speed. |
Topic Models Conditioned on Arbitrary Features with Dirichlet-multinomial Regression | Although fully generative models have been successfully used to model the contents of text documents, they are often awkward to apply to combinations of text data and document metadata. In this paper we propose a Dirichlet-multinomial regression (DMR) topic model that includes a log-linear prior on document-topic distributions that is a function of observed features of the document, such as author, publication venue, references, and dates. We show that by selecting appropriate features, DMR topic models can meet or exceed the performance of several previously published topic models designed for specific data. |
Optimizing orthodontic treatment in patients taking bisphosphonates for osteoporosis. | Bisphosphonates have unique pharmacological characteristics unlike those of any other drug group. Millions of adults take oral bisphosphonates for long-term treatment of osteoporosis and osteopenia; some of these people will most likely also seek orthodontic treatment. Adverse dental effects from bisphosphonates have been reported, including decreased tooth movement, impaired bone healing, and osteonecrosis in the mandible and the maxilla. Osteonecrosis has been rarely observed after bisphosphonate use for osteoporosis. However, adverse drug effects might occur more frequently in orthodontic patients, and they would probably be noted before the end-stage pathology of osteonecrosis. Adverse effects during orthodontic treatment, including decreased tooth movement, could last for years after the drug therapy is stopped. Successful orthodontic treatment requires optimal bone healing to prevent excessive tooth mobility. Bisphosphonates appear to have 2 bone elimination rates--a fast elimination of weeks from the bone surface and a slow elimination of years after incorporation into the bone structure. This article presents methods to clinically and radiographically monitor orthodontic patients who are taking oral bisphosphonates. Efforts to minimize adverse effects and optimize orthodontic procedures with physician-approved drug holidays are discussed. The orthodontic treatment results of 3 patients who received bisphosphonate therapy are reported. |
Error-repair Dependency Parsing for Ungrammatical Texts | We propose a new dependency parsing scheme which jointly parses a sentence and repairs grammatical errors by extending the non-directional transitionbased formalism of Goldberg and Elhadad (2010) with three additional actions: SUBSTITUTE, DELETE, INSERT. Because these actions may cause an infinite loop in derivation, we also introduce simple constraints that ensure the parser termination. We evaluate our model with respect to dependency accuracy and grammaticality improvements for ungrammatical sentences, demonstrating the robustness and applicability of our scheme. |
METHONTOLOGY: From Ontological Art Towards Ontological Engineering | Abstact This paper does not pretend either to transform completely the ontological art in engineering or to enumerate xhaustively the complete set of works that has been reported in this area. Its goal is to clarify to readers interested in building ontologies from scratch, the activities they should perform and in which order, as well as the set of techniques to be used in each phase of the methodology. This paper only presents a set of activities that conform the ontology development process, a life cycle to build ontologies based in evolving prototypes, and METHONTOLOGY, a well-structured methodology used to build ontologies from scratch. This paper gathers the experience of the authors on building an ontology in the domain of chemicals. |
Is There a Cost to Privacy Breaches? An Event Study | While the literature on information security economics has begun to investigate the stock market impact of security breaches and vulnerability announcements, little more than anecdotal evidence exists on the effects of privacy breaches. In this paper we present the first comprehensive analysis of the impact of a company’s privacy incidents on its market value. We compile a broad data set of instances of exposure of personal information due to failures of some security mechanism (hacking, stolen or lost equipment, poor data handling processes, and others) and we present the results of various empirical analyses, including event study analysis. We show that there exists a negative and statistically significant impact of data breaches on a company’s market value on the announcement day for the breach. The cumulative effect increases in magnitudes over the day following the breach announcement, but then decreases and loses statistical significance. We also present regression analyses that aim at disentangling the eff ects of a number of factors on abnormal stock returns due to reported breaches. Finally, we comment on the differences between the impact of the security breaches already described in the literature, and the privacy breaches described here. |
Back to Basics: The Role of Agile Principles in Success with an Distributed Scrum Team | Agile processes rely on feedback and communication to work and they often work best with co-located teams for this reason. Sometimes agile makes sense because of project requirements and a distributed team makes sense because of resource constraints. A distributed team can be productive and fun to work on if the team takes an active role in overcoming the barriers that distribution causes. This is the story of how one product team used creativity, communications tools, and basic good engineering practices to build a successful product. |
Magnetic resonance imaging parameters for assessing risk of recurrent hamstring injuries in elite athletes. | BACKGROUND
Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has established its usefulness in diagnosing hamstring muscle strain and identifying features correlating with the duration of rehabilitation in athletes; however, data are currently lacking that may predict which imaging parameters may be predictive of a repeat strain.
PURPOSE
This study was conducted to identify whether any MR imaging-identifiable parameters are predictive of athletes at risk of sustaining a recurrent hamstring strain in the same playing season.
STUDY DESIGN
Cohort study; Level of evidence, 3.
METHODS
Forty-one players of the Australian Football League who sustained a hamstring injury underwent MR examination within 3 days of injury between February and August 2002. The imaging parameters measured were the length of injury, cross-sectional area, the specific muscle involved, and the location of the injury within the muscle-tendon unit. Players who suffered a repeat injury during the same season were reimaged, and baseline and repeat injury measurements were compared. Comparison was also made between this group and those who sustained a single strain.
RESULTS
Forty-one players sustained hamstring strains that were positive on MR imaging, with 31 injured once and 10 suffering a second injury. The mean length of hamstring muscle injury for the isolated group was 83.4 mm, compared with 98.7 mm for the reinjury group (P = .35). In the reinjury group, the second strain was also of greater length than the original (mean, 107.5 mm; P = .07). Ninety percent of players sustaining a repeat injury demonstrated an injury length greater than 60 mm, compared with only 58% in the single strain group (P = .01). Only 7% of players (1 of 14) with a strain <60 mm suffered a repeat injury. Of the 27 players sustaining a hamstring strain >60 mm, 33% (9 of 27) suffered a repeat injury. Of all the parameters assessed, only a history of anterior cruciate ligament sprain was a statistically significant predictor for suffering a second strain during the same season of competition.
CONCLUSION
A history of anterior cruciate ligament injury was the only statistically significant risk factor for a recurrent hamstring strain in our study. Of the imaging parameters, the MR length of a strain had the strongest correlation association with a repeat hamstring strain and therefore may assist in identifying which athletes are more likely to suffer further reinjury. |
Cognitive training for Hong Kong Chinese with schizophrenia in vocational rehabilitation. | Key Messages 1. A randomised controlled trial was conducted to determine the effectiveness of a computerised, errorless, learning-based, training programme to enhance schizophrenic patients’ cognitive functions and vocational outcomes. 2. A total of 80 Chinese with schizophrenia were randomly assigned to a 4-week, computerassisted, errorless-learning (CAEL) group, a therapistadministered (TA) group, or a control group. 3. Participants were assessed pretest, post-test, and at the 3-month follow-up. Cognitive, emotional, and vocational outcomes were measured using standardised validated instruments. 4. Participants in the CAEL and TA groups performed better than controls with respect to certain aspects of neurocognition. The CAEL group also had better selfefficacy (social skills and personal appearance) in work training and positive affect than the control group. The effectiveness of the intervention in the TA and CAEL groups was not similar. Vocational outcome after training was best predicted by both cognitive and emotional factors. 5. Combined use of an errorless learning and a computerised approach may be effective in enhancing the cognitive functioning and thus vocational outcome of Chinese patients with schizophrenia. |
Self-reported financial burden and satisfaction with care among patients with cancer. | BACKGROUND
Health care-related costs and satisfaction are compelling targets for quality improvement in cancer care delivery; however, little is known about how financial burden affects patient satisfaction.
METHODS
This was an observational, cross-sectional, survey-based study assessing patient-reported financial burden (FB). Eligible patients were ≥ 21 years with solid tumor malignancy and were receiving chemotherapy or hormonal therapy for ≥ 1 month. The Patient Satisfaction Questionnaire Short-Form assessed patient satisfaction with health care. Subjective FB related to cancer treatment was measured on a 5-point Likert scale.
RESULTS
Of 174 participants (32% response rate), 47% reported significant/catastrophic FB. Participants reported highest satisfaction with interpersonal manner and lowest satisfaction with financial aspects of care. In adjusted analysis, high FB was negatively associated with general satisfaction (coefficient: -.29), satisfaction with technical quality (coefficient: -.26), and satisfaction with financial aspects of care (coefficient: -.62). Older age was associated with higher scores in all satisfaction subscales except patient-physician communication and financial aspects. Annual household income of <$20,000 was associated with lower satisfaction scores in all subscales except time spent with doctor. High FB was not associated with patient satisfaction scores for accessibility and convenience, communication, interpersonal manner, or time spent with doctor.
CONCLUSION
FB is a potentially modifiable correlate of poor satisfaction with cancer care including general satisfaction and satisfaction with the technical quality of care. Addressing cancer-associated FB may lead to improved satisfaction, which in turn can influence adherence, outcomes, and quality of life. |
Citizen Perspective E-Governance Model for Developing Countries: Bangladesh Context | E-governance can play a vital role in socio-economic development of a country by reducing corruption and strengthening democracy. Developing countries like are facing a lot of challenges to establish good governance. E-governance could be a good solution through which government can facilitate an efficient, speedy and transparent process for performing government administrative activities and delivery of services to the citizen and other agencies. This research aims to assess the potentialities, issues and challenges of implementing E-governance in the developing countries. The study has been conducted in context of , a most densely populated developing country in the world where good governance is badly needed. Considering the expectations of the citizens, a model for implementing a successful E-governance system has been proposed in this paper. |
Detection of cancer tumors in mammography images using support vector machine and mixed gravitational search algorithm | In this paper, support vector machine (SVM) and mixed gravitational search algorithm (MGSA) are utilized to detect the breast cancer tumors in mammography images. Sech template matching method is used to segment images and extract the regions of interest (ROIs). Gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) is used to extract features. The mixed GSA is used for optimization of the classifier parameters and selecting salient features. The main goal of using MGSA-SVM is to decrease the number of features and to improve the SVM classification accuracy. Finally, the selected features and the tuned SVM classifier are used for detecting tumors. The experimental results show that the proposed method is able to optimize both feature selection and the SVM parameters for the breast cancer tumor detection. |
Beyond Bitcoin: The Rise of Blockchain World | Bitcoin—a cryptocurrency built on blockchain technology—was the first currency not controlled by a single entity.1 Initially known to a few nerds and criminals,2 bitcoin is now involved in hundreds of thousands of transactions daily. Bitcoin has achieved values of more than US$15,000 per coin (at the end of 2017), and this rising value has attracted attention. For some, bitcoin is digital fool’s gold. For others, its underlying blockchain technology heralds the dawn of a new digital era. Both views could be right. The fortunes of cryptocurrencies don’t define blockchain. Indeed, the biggest effects of blockchain might lie beyond bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, or even the economy. Of course, the technical questions about blockchain have not all been answered. We still struggle to overcome the high levels of processing intensity and energy use. These questions will no doubt be confronted over time. If the technology fails, the future of blockchain will be different. In this article, I’ll assume technical challenges will be solved, and although I’ll cover some technical issues, these aren’t the main focus of this paper. In a 2015 article, “The Trust Machine,” it was argued that the biggest effects of blockchain are on trust.1 The article referred to public trust in economic institutions, that is, that such organizations and intermediaries will act as expected. When they don’t, trust deteriorates. Trust in economic institutions hasn’t recovered from the recession of 2008.3 Technology can exacerbate distrust: online trades with distant counterparties can make it hard to settle disputes face to face. Trusted intermediaries can be hard to find, and that’s where blockchain can play a part. Permanent record-keeping that can be sequentially updated but not erased creates visible footprints of all activities conducted on the chain. This reduces the uncertainty of alternative facts or truths, thus creating the “trust machine” The Economist describes. As trust changes, so too does governance.4 Vitalik Buterin of the Ethereum blockchain platform calls blockchain “a magic computer” to which anyone can upload self-executing programs.5 All states of every Beyond Bitcoin: The Rise of Blockchain World |
Designing the input vector to ANN-based models for short-term load forecast in electricity distribution systems | The present trend to electricity market restructuring increases the need for reliable short-term load forecast (STLF) algorithms, in order to assist electric utilities in activities such as planning, operating and controlling electric energy systems. Methodologies such as artificial neural networks (ANN) have been widely used in the next hour load forecast horizon with satisfactory results. However, this type of approach has had some shortcomings. Usually, the input vector (IV) is defined in a arbitrary way, mainly based on experience, on engineering judgment criteria and on concern about the ANN dimension, always taking into consideration the apparent correlations within the available endogenous and exogenous data. In this paper, a proposal is made of an approach to define the IV composition, with the main focus on reducing the influence of trial-and-error and common sense judgments, which usually are not based on sufficient evidence of comparative advantages over previous alternatives. The proposal includes the assessment of the strictly necessary instances of the endogenous variable, both from the point of view of the contiguous values prior to the forecast to be made, and of the past values representing the trend of consumption at homologous time intervals of the past. It also assesses the influence of exogenous variables, again limiting its presence at the IV to the indispensible minimum. A comparison is made with two alternative IV structures previously proposed in the literature, also applied to the distribution sector. The paper is supported by a real case study at the distribution sector. |
An O (log2 k )-Competitive Algorithm for Metric Bipartite Matching | We consider the online metric matching problem. In this prob lem, we are given a graph with edge weights satisfying the triangl e inequality, andk vertices that are designated as the right side of the matchin g. Over time up tok requests arrive at an arbitrary subset of vertices in the gra ph and each vertex must be matched to a right side vertex immediately upon arrival. A vertex cannot be rematched to another vertex once it is matched. The goal is to minimize the total weight of the matching. We give aO(log k) competitive randomized algorithm for the problem. This improves upon the best known guarantee of O(log k) due to Meyerson, Nanavati and Poplawski [19]. It is well known that no deterministic al gorithm can have a competitive less than 2k − 1, and that no randomized algorithm can have a competitive ratio of less than l k. |
Evaluation of Resource-Based App Repackaging Detection in Android | Android app repackaging threatens the health of application markets, as repackaged apps, besides stealing revenue for honest developers, are also a source of malware distribution. Techniques that rely on visual similarity of Android apps recently emerged as a way to tackle the repackaging detection problem, as code-based detection techniques often fail in terms of efficiency, and effectiveness when obfuscation is applied [19,21]. Among such techniques, the resource-based repackaging detection approach that compares sets of files included in apks has arguably the best performance [20,17,10]. Yet, this approach has not been previously validated on a dataset of repackaged apps. In this paper we report on our evaluation of the approach, and present substantial improvements to it. Our experiments show that the stateof-art tools applying this technique rely on too restrictive thresholds. Indeed, we demonstrate that a very low proportion of identical resource files in two apps is a reliable evidence for repackaging. Furthermore, we have shown that the Overlap similarity score performs better than the Jaccard similarity coefficient used in previous works. By applying machine learning techniques, we give evidence that considering separately the included resource file types significantly improves the detection accuracy of the method. Experimenting with a balanced dataset of more than 2700 app pairs, we show that with our enhancements it is possible to achieve the F-measure of 0.9919. |
Design and Implementation of Real-Time Software Radio for Anti-Interference GPS/WAAS Sensors | Adaptive antenna array processing is widely known to provide significant anti-interference capabilities within a Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) receiver. A main challenge in the quest for such receiver architecture has always been the computational/processing requirements. Even more demanding would be to try and incorporate the flexibility of the Software-Defined Radio (SDR) design philosophy in such an implementation. This paper documents a feasible approach to a real-time SDR implementation of a beam-steered GNSS receiver and validates its performance. This research implements a real-time software receiver on a widely-available x86-based multi-core microprocessor to process four-element antenna array data streams sampled with 16-bit resolution. The software receiver is capable of 12 channels all-in-view Controlled Reception Pattern Antenna (CRPA) array processing capable of rejecting multiple interferers. Single Instruction Multiple Data (SIMD) instructions assembly coding and multithreaded programming, the key to such an implementation to reduce computational complexity, are fully documented within the paper. In conventional antenna array systems, receivers use the geometry of antennas and cable lengths known in advance. The documented CRPA implementation is architected to operate without extensive set-up and pre-calibration and leverages Space-Time Adaptive Processing (STAP) to provide adaptation in both the frequency and space domains. The validation component of the paper demonstrates that the developed software receiver operates in real time with live Global Positioning System (GPS) and Wide Area Augmentation System (WAAS) L1 C/A code signal. Further, interference rejection capabilities of the implementation are also demonstrated using multiple synthetic interferers which are added to the live data stream. |
$RFI$ mitigation methods in radio astronomy | Various methods of radio frequency interference (RFI) mitigation methods at radio astronomy telescopes are being considered. Special attention is given to real-time processing algorithms. Computer simulations and observational results are used to describe the applicability of these methods. Best results can be achieved when the RFI mitigation procedures are adapted to the particular radio telescope, the type of observations, and the peculiarities of the RFI environment. A combination of different linear and non-linear methods in the temporal and frequency domains, with and without the use of reference antennas, may give considerable suppression of strong RFI. |
Significance driven hybrid 8T-6T SRAM for energy-efficient synaptic storage in artificial neural networks | Multilayered artificial neural networks have found widespread utility in classification and recognition applications. The scale and complexity of such networks together with the inadequacies of general purpose computing platforms have led to a significant interest in the development of efficient hardware implementations. In this work, we focus on designing energy-efficient on-chip storage for the synaptic weights, motivated primarily by the observation that the number of synapses is orders of magnitude larger than the number of neurons. Typical digital CMOS implementations of such large-scale networks are power hungry. In order to minimize the power consumption, the digital neurons could be operated reliably at scaled voltages by reducing the clock frequency. On the contrary, the on-chip synaptic storage designed using a conventional 6T SRAM is susceptible to bitcell failures at reduced voltages. However, the intrinsic error resiliency of neural networks to small synaptic weight perturbations enables us to scale the operating voltage of the 6T SRAM. Our analysis on a widely used digit recognition dataset indicates that the voltage can be scaled by 200 mV from the nominal operating voltage (950 mV) for practically no loss (less than 0.5%) in accuracy (22 nm predictive technology). Scaling beyond that causes substantial performance degradation owing to increased probability of failures in the MSBs of the synaptic weights. We, therefore propose a significance driven hybrid 8T-6T SRAM, wherein the sensitive MSBs are stored in 8T bitcells that are robust at scaled voltages due to decoupled read and write paths. In an effort to further minimize the area penalty, we present a synaptic-sensitivity driven hybrid memory architecture consisting of multiple 8T-6T SRAM banks. Our circuit to system-level simulation framework shows that the proposed synaptic-sensitivity driven architecture provides a 30.91% reduction in the memory access power with a 10.41% area overhead, for less than 1% loss in the classification accuracy. |
Anatomy of Ag/Hafnia-Based Selectors with 1010 Nonlinearity. | A novel Ag/oxide-based threshold switching device with attractive features including ≈1010 nonlinearity is developed. High-resolution transmission electron microscopic analysis of the nanoscale crosspoint device suggests that elongation of an Ag nanoparticle under voltage bias followed by spontaneous reformation of a more spherical shape after power off is responsible for the observed threshold switching. |
Cumulative dose-response study comparing terbutaline pressurized aerosol administered via a pearshaped spacer and terbutaline in a nebulized solution | The bronchodilator effects of cumulative doses of terbutaline 0.125 mg, 0.125 mg and 0.250 mg administered as a pressurized aerosol via a pearshaped spacer were compared with those of terbutaline 1.25 mg, 1.25 mg and 2.50 mg administered as a nebulized solution via a PARI-inhaler Boy. FEV1.0 and flow-volume curves in 13 patients were measured. Initial placebo treatment of both groups resulted in a significant increase in FEV1.0, especially when it was given in nebulized form. The increase after active drug was significant after 15 min, with only minor changes during the rest of the trial. The log-dose/increase in FEV1.0 showed that equipotent doses of pressurized and nebulized terbutaline were in the ratio 1 to 4. Administration by nebulization offered no clear advantage over use of a pressurized aerosol with a pearshaped spacer. |
Theory of mind and moral cognition: exploring the connections | It is widely recognized that people sometimes use theory-of-mind judgments in moral cognition. A series of recent studies shows that the connection can also work in the opposite direction: moral judgments can sometimes be used in theory-of-mind cognition. Thus, there appear to be cases in which people's moral judgments actually serve as input to the process underlying their application of theory-of-mind concepts. |
Making friends on the fly: Cooperating with new teammates | Robots are being deployed in an increasing variety of environments for longer periods of time. As the number of robots grows, they will increasingly need to interact with other robots. Additionally, the number of companies and research laboratories producing these robots is increasing, leading to the situation where these robots may not share a common communication or coordination protocol. While standards for coordination and communication may be created, we expect that robots will need to additionally reason intelligently about their teammates with limited information. This problem motivates the area of ad hoc teamwork in which an agent may potentially cooperate with a variety of teammates in order to achieve a shared goal. This article focuses on a limited version of the ad hoc teamwork problem in which an agent knows the environmental dynamics and has had past experiences with other teammates, though these experiences may not be representative of the current teammates. To tackle this problem, this article introduces a new general-purpose algorithm, PLASTIC, that reuses knowledge learned from previous teammates or provided by experts to quickly adapt to new teammates. This algorithm is instantiated in two forms: 1) PLASTIC–Model – which builds models of previous teammates’ behaviors and plans behaviors online using these models and 2) PLASTIC–Policy – which learns policies for cooperating with previous teammates and selects among these policies online. We evaluate PLASTIC on two benchmark tasks: the pursuit domain and robot soccer in the RoboCup 2D simulation domain. Recognizing that a key requirement of ad hoc teamwork is adaptability to previously unseen agents, the tests use more than 40 previously unknown teams on the first task and 7 previously unknown teams on the second. While PLASTIC assumes that there is some degree of similarity between the current and past teammates’ behaviors, no steps are taken in the experimental setup to make sure this assumption holds. The teammates ✩This article contains material from 4 prior conference papers [11–14]. Email addresses: [email protected] (Samuel Barrett), [email protected] (Avi Rosenfeld), [email protected] (Sarit Kraus), [email protected] (Peter Stone) 1This work was performed while Samuel Barrett was a graduate student at the University of Texas at Austin. 2Corresponding author. Preprint submitted to Elsevier October 30, 2016 To appear in http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.artint.2016.10.005 Artificial Intelligence (AIJ) |
A Method of Logic-Based Smart Contracts for Blockchain System | Recently, blockchain systems have attracted intensive attentions from academia, industrial circles and governments, which make smart contract a hit since it is an important research topic for blockchain system. We propose a logic-based smart contract model Logic-SC for blockchain system based on semantics and syntax of Active-U-Datalog with some temporal extensions. Logic-SC model owns a triggering mechanism by temporal active rules, which can satisfy the expressiveness and flexibility of the smart contracts for blockchain system. The paper introduces the rules, structure of contracts and implementation of the model. Finally, an application is exampled to show the effectiveness of the model. |
Link prediction in multi-relational collaboration networks | Traditional link prediction techniques primarily focus on the effect of potential linkages on the local network neighborhood or the paths between nodes. In this paper, we study the problem of link prediction in networks where instances can simultaneously belong to multiple communities, engendering different types of collaborations. Links in these networks arise from heterogeneous causes, limiting the performance of predictors that treat all links homogeneously. To solve this problem, we introduce a new link prediction framework, Link Prediction using Social Features (LPSF), which weights the network using a similarity function based on features extracted from patterns of prominent interactions across the network. |
Bullying, cyberbullying, and mental health in young people. | OBJECTIVE
To investigate the factors associated with exposure to in-real-life (IRL) bullying, cyberbullying, and both IRL and cyberbullying and to explore the relationship between these types of bullying and mental health among 13-16-year-old Swedish boys and girls.
METHODS
Data was derived from a cross-sectional web-based study of 13-16-year-old students in northern Sweden (n=1214, response rate 81.9%).
RESULTS
The combination of IRL- and cyberbullying was the most common type of bullying. A non-supportive school environment and poor body image were related to exposure to bullying for both genders but the relationship was more distinct in girls. All types of bullying were associated with depressive symptoms in both boys and girls and all forms of bullying increased the likelihood of psychosomatic problems in girls.
CONCLUSIONS
Cyberbullying can be seen as an extension of IRL bullying. A combination of IRL- and cyberbullying seems to be particularly negative for mental health. Interventions should focus on improved school environment and body image as well as anti-violence programmes. Gender aspects of bullying need to be acknowledged. |
Trends, Tips, Tolls: A Longitudinal Study of Bitcoin Transaction Fees | The Bitcoin protocol supports optional direct payments from transaction partners to miners. These “fees” are supposed to substitute miners’ minting rewards in the long run. Acknowledging their role for the stability of the system, the right level of transaction fees is a hot topic of normative debates. This paper contributes empirical evidence from a historical analysis of agents’ revealed behavior concerning their payment of transaction fees. We identify several regime shifts, which can be largely explained by changes in the default client software or actions of big intermediaries in the ecosystem. Overall, it seems that rules dominate ratio, a state that is sustainable only if fees remain negligible. |
TextRank: Bringing Order Into Texts | In this paper, we introduce TextRank – a graph-based ranking model for text processing, and show how this model can be successfully used in natural language applications. In particular, we propose two innovative unsupervised methods for keyword and sentence extraction, and show that the results obtained compare favorably with previously published results on established benchmarks. |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.