A procedure for searching the equilibrium core of a research reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bakri Arbie; Liem Peng Hong; Prayoto

1996-01-01

A procedure for searching the equilibrium core of a research reactor has been proposed. The searching procedure is based on the relaxation method and has been implemented in Batan-EQUIL-2D in-core fuel management code. The few-group neutron diffusion theory in 2-D, X-Y, and R-Z reactor geometries are adopted as the framework of the code. The successful applicability of the procedure for obtaining the new RSG-GAS (MPR-30) silicide equilibrium core was shown. (author)

Further investigation on adaptive search

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming Hong Pi

2014-05-01

Full Text Available Adaptive search is one of the fastest fractal compression algorithms and has gained great success in many industrial applications. By substituting the luminance offset by the range block mean, the authors create a completely new version for both the encoding and decoding algorithms. In this paper, theoretically, they prove that the proposed decoding algorithm converges at least as fast as the existing decoding algorithms using the luminance offset. In addition, they prove that the attractor of the decoding algorithm can be represented by a linear combination of range-averaged images. These theorems are very important contributions to the theory and applications of fractal image compression. As a result, the decoding image can be represented as the sum of the DC and AC component images, which is similar with discrete cosine transform or wavelet transform. To further speed up this algorithm and reduce the complexity of range and domain blocks matching, they propose two improvements in this paper, that is, employing the post-quantisation and geometric neighbouring local search to replace the currently used pre-quantisation and the global search, respectively. The corresponding experimental results show the proposed encoding and decoding algorithms can provide a better performance compared with the existing algorithms.

Mixture-based gatekeeping procedures in adaptive clinical trials.

Science.gov (United States)

Kordzakhia, George; Dmitrienko, Alex; Ishida, Eiji

2018-01-01

Clinical trials with data-driven decision rules often pursue multiple clinical objectives such as the evaluation of several endpoints or several doses of an experimental treatment. These complex analysis strategies give rise to "multivariate" multiplicity problems with several components or sources of multiplicity. A general framework for defining gatekeeping procedures in clinical trials with adaptive multistage designs is proposed in this paper. The mixture method is applied to build a gatekeeping procedure at each stage and inferences at each decision point (interim or final analysis) are performed using the combination function approach. An advantage of utilizing the mixture method is that it enables powerful gatekeeping procedures applicable to a broad class of settings with complex logical relationships among the hypotheses of interest. Further, the combination function approach supports flexible data-driven decisions such as a decision to increase the sample size or remove a treatment arm. The paper concludes with a clinical trial example that illustrates the methodology by applying it to develop an adaptive two-stage design with a mixture-based gatekeeping procedure.

A Pareto-Based Adaptive Variable Neighborhood Search for Biobjective Hybrid Flow Shop Scheduling Problem with Sequence-Dependent Setup Time

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Huixin Tian

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Different from most researches focused on the single objective hybrid flowshop scheduling (HFS problem, this paper investigates a biobjective HFS problem with sequence dependent setup time. The two objectives are the minimization of total weighted tardiness and the total setup time. To efficiently solve this problem, a Pareto-based adaptive biobjective variable neighborhood search (PABOVNS is developed. In the proposed PABOVNS, a solution is denoted as a sequence of all jobs and a decoding procedure is presented to obtain the corresponding complete schedule. In addition, the proposed PABOVNS has three major features that can guarantee a good balance of exploration and exploitation. First, an adaptive selection strategy of neighborhoods is proposed to automatically select the most promising neighborhood instead of the sequential selection strategy of canonical VNS. Second, a two phase multiobjective local search based on neighborhood search and path relinking is designed for each selected neighborhood. Third, an external archive with diversity maintenance is adopted to store the nondominated solutions and at the same time provide initial solutions for the local search. Computational results based on randomly generated instances show that the PABOVNS is efficient and even superior to some other powerful multiobjective algorithms in the literature.

Creating Online Training for Procedures in Global Health with PEARLS (Procedural Education for Adaptation to Resource-Limited Settings).

Science.gov (United States)

Bensman, Rachel S; Slusher, Tina M; Butteris, Sabrina M; Pitt, Michael B; On Behalf Of The Sugar Pearls Investigators; Becker, Amanda; Desai, Brinda; George, Alisha; Hagen, Scott; Kiragu, Andrew; Johannsen, Ron; Miller, Kathleen; Rule, Amy; Webber, Sarah

2017-11-01

The authors describe a multiinstitutional collaborative project to address a gap in global health training by creating a free online platform to share a curriculum for performing procedures in resource-limited settings. This curriculum called PEARLS (Procedural Education for Adaptation to Resource-Limited Settings) consists of peer-reviewed instructional and demonstration videos describing modifications for performing common pediatric procedures in resource-limited settings. Adaptations range from the creation of a low-cost spacer for inhaled medications to a suction chamber for continued evacuation of a chest tube. By describing the collaborative process, we provide a model for educators in other fields to collate and disseminate procedural modifications adapted for their own specialty and location, ideally expanding this crowd-sourced curriculum to reach a wide audience of trainees and providers in global health.

MuZeeker - Adapting a music search engine for mobile phones

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Jakob Eg; Halling, Søren Christian; Sigurdsson, Magnus Kristinn

2010-01-01

We describe MuZeeker, a search engine with domain knowledge based on Wikipedia. MuZeeker enables the user to refine a search in multiple steps by means of category selection. In the present version we focus on multimedia search related to music and we present two prototype search applications (web......-based and mobile) and discuss the issues involved in adapting the search engine for mobile phones. A category based filtering approach enables the user to refine a search through relevance feedback by category selection instead of typing additional text, which is hypothesized to be an advantage in the mobile Mu......Zeeker application. We report from two usability experiments using the think aloud protocol, in which N=20 participants performed tasks using MuZeeker and a customized Google search engine. In both experiments web-based and mobile user interfaces were used. The experiment shows that participants are capable...

Advancing Continence in Typically Developing Children: Adapting the Procedures of Foxx and Azrin for Primary Care.

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Warzak, William J; Forcino, Stacy S; Sanberg, Sela Ann; Gross, Amy C

2016-01-01

To (1) identify and summarize procedures of Foxx and Azrin's classic toilet training protocol that continue to be used in training typically developing children and (2) adapt recent findings with the original Foxx and Azrin procedures to inform practical suggestions for the rapid toilet training of typically developing children in the primary care setting. Literature searches of PsychINFO and MEDLINE databases used the search terms "(toilet* OR potty* AND train*)." Selection criteria were only peer-reviewed experimental articles that evaluated intensive toilet training with typically developing children. Exclusion criteria were (1) nonpeer reviewed research, (2) studies addressing encopresis and/or enuresis, (3) studies excluding typically developing children, and (4) studies evaluating toilet training during infancy. In addition to the study of Foxx and Azrin, only 4 publications met the above criteria. Toilet training procedures from each article were reviewed to determine which toilet training methods were similar to components described by Foxx and Azrin. Common training elements include increasing the frequency of learning opportunities through fluid loading and having differential consequences for being dry versus being wet and for voiding in the toilet versus elsewhere. There is little research on intensive toilet training of typically developing children. Practice sits and positive reinforcement for voids in the toilet are commonplace, consistent with the Foxx and Azrin protocol, whereas positive practice as a corrective procedure for wetting accidents often is omitted. Fluid loading and differential consequences for being dry versus being wet and for voiding in the toilet also are suggested procedures, consistent with the Foxx and Azrin protocol.

Introducing an on-line adaptive procedure for prostate image guided intensity modulate proton therapy.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, M; Westerly, D C; Mackie, T R

2011-08-07

With on-line image guidance (IG), prostate shifts relative to the bony anatomy can be corrected by realigning the patient with respect to the treatment fields. In image guided intensity modulated proton therapy (IG-IMPT), because the proton range is more sensitive to the material it travels through, the realignment may introduce large dose variations. This effect is studied in this work and an on-line adaptive procedure is proposed to restore the planned dose to the target. A 2D anthropomorphic phantom was constructed from a real prostate patient's CT image. Two-field laterally opposing spot 3D-modulation and 24-field full arc distal edge tracking (DET) plans were generated with a prescription of 70 Gy to the planning target volume. For the simulated delivery, we considered two types of procedures: the non-adaptive procedure and the on-line adaptive procedure. In the non-adaptive procedure, only patient realignment to match the prostate location in the planning CT was performed. In the on-line adaptive procedure, on top of the patient realignment, the kinetic energy for each individual proton pencil beam was re-determined from the on-line CT image acquired after the realignment and subsequently used for delivery. Dose distributions were re-calculated for individual fractions for different plans and different delivery procedures. The results show, without adaptive, that both the 3D-modulation and the DET plans experienced delivered dose degradation by having large cold or hot spots in the prostate. The DET plan had worse dose degradation than the 3D-modulation plan. The adaptive procedure effectively restored the planned dose distribution in the DET plan, with delivered prostate D(98%), D(50%) and D(2%) values less than 1% from the prescription. In the 3D-modulation plan, in certain cases the adaptive procedure was not effective to reduce the delivered dose degradation and yield similar results as the non-adaptive procedure. In conclusion, based on this 2D phantom

An adaptive random search for short term generation scheduling with network constraints.

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J A Marmolejo

Full Text Available This paper presents an adaptive random search approach to address a short term generation scheduling with network constraints, which determines the startup and shutdown schedules of thermal units over a given planning horizon. In this model, we consider the transmission network through capacity limits and line losses. The mathematical model is stated in the form of a Mixed Integer Non Linear Problem with binary variables. The proposed heuristic is a population-based method that generates a set of new potential solutions via a random search strategy. The random search is based on the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method. The main key of the proposed method is that the noise level of the random search is adaptively controlled in order to exploring and exploiting the entire search space. In order to improve the solutions, we consider coupling a local search into random search process. Several test systems are presented to evaluate the performance of the proposed heuristic. We use a commercial optimizer to compare the quality of the solutions provided by the proposed method. The solution of the proposed algorithm showed a significant reduction in computational effort with respect to the full-scale outer approximation commercial solver. Numerical results show the potential and robustness of our approach.

Parameter estimation for chaotic systems using a hybrid adaptive cuckoo search with simulated annealing algorithm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sheng, Zheng, E-mail: 19994035@sina.com [College of Meteorology and Oceanography, PLA University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 211101 (China); Wang, Jun; Zhou, Bihua [National Defense Key Laboratory on Lightning Protection and Electromagnetic Camouflage, PLA University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 210007 (China); Zhou, Shudao [College of Meteorology and Oceanography, PLA University of Science and Technology, Nanjing 211101 (China); Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044 (China)

2014-03-15

This paper introduces a novel hybrid optimization algorithm to establish the parameters of chaotic systems. In order to deal with the weaknesses of the traditional cuckoo search algorithm, the proposed adaptive cuckoo search with simulated annealing algorithm is presented, which incorporates the adaptive parameters adjusting operation and the simulated annealing operation in the cuckoo search algorithm. Normally, the parameters of the cuckoo search algorithm are kept constant that may result in decreasing the efficiency of the algorithm. For the purpose of balancing and enhancing the accuracy and convergence rate of the cuckoo search algorithm, the adaptive operation is presented to tune the parameters properly. Besides, the local search capability of cuckoo search algorithm is relatively weak that may decrease the quality of optimization. So the simulated annealing operation is merged into the cuckoo search algorithm to enhance the local search ability and improve the accuracy and reliability of the results. The functionality of the proposed hybrid algorithm is investigated through the Lorenz chaotic system under the noiseless and noise condition, respectively. The numerical results demonstrate that the method can estimate parameters efficiently and accurately in the noiseless and noise condition. Finally, the results are compared with the traditional cuckoo search algorithm, genetic algorithm, and particle swarm optimization algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and superior performance of the proposed algorithm.

Parameter estimation for chaotic systems using a hybrid adaptive cuckoo search with simulated annealing algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheng, Zheng; Wang, Jun; Zhou, Bihua; Zhou, Shudao

2014-01-01

This paper introduces a novel hybrid optimization algorithm to establish the parameters of chaotic systems. In order to deal with the weaknesses of the traditional cuckoo search algorithm, the proposed adaptive cuckoo search with simulated annealing algorithm is presented, which incorporates the adaptive parameters adjusting operation and the simulated annealing operation in the cuckoo search algorithm. Normally, the parameters of the cuckoo search algorithm are kept constant that may result in decreasing the efficiency of the algorithm. For the purpose of balancing and enhancing the accuracy and convergence rate of the cuckoo search algorithm, the adaptive operation is presented to tune the parameters properly. Besides, the local search capability of cuckoo search algorithm is relatively weak that may decrease the quality of optimization. So the simulated annealing operation is merged into the cuckoo search algorithm to enhance the local search ability and improve the accuracy and reliability of the results. The functionality of the proposed hybrid algorithm is investigated through the Lorenz chaotic system under the noiseless and noise condition, respectively. The numerical results demonstrate that the method can estimate parameters efficiently and accurately in the noiseless and noise condition. Finally, the results are compared with the traditional cuckoo search algorithm, genetic algorithm, and particle swarm optimization algorithm. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness and superior performance of the proposed algorithm

Face adaptation does not improve performance on search or discrimination tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Ng, Minna; Boynton, Geoffrey M; Fine, Ione

2008-01-04

The face adaptation effect, as described by M. A. Webster and O. H. MacLin (1999), is a robust perceptual shift in the appearance of faces after a brief adaptation period. For example, prolonged exposure to Asian faces causes a Eurasian face to appear distinctly Caucasian. This adaptation effect has been documented for general configural effects, as well as for the facial properties of gender, ethnicity, expression, and identity. We began by replicating the finding that adaptation to ethnicity, gender, and a combination of both features induces selective shifts in category appearance. We then investigated whether this adaptation has perceptual consequences beyond a shift in the perceived category boundary by measuring the effects of adaptation on RSVP, spatial search, and discrimination tasks. Adaptation had no discernable effect on performance for any of these tasks.

Translation and adaptation procedures for music therapy outcome instruments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ridder, Hanne Mette Ochsner; McDermott, Orii; Orrell, Martin

2017-01-01

With increasing occurrence of international multicentre studies, there is a need for music therapy outcome measures to become more widely available across countries. For countries where English is not the first language, translation and cross-cultural adaptation of outcome measures may be necessa...... procedural steps for the translation and adaptation of music therapy outcome instruments. OBS: 50 free online copies to share: http://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/d8TPZbkVMjzgKg7DjcmT/full......With increasing occurrence of international multicentre studies, there is a need for music therapy outcome measures to become more widely available across countries. For countries where English is not the first language, translation and cross-cultural adaptation of outcome measures may be necessary....... A literature review identified a knowledge gap regarding translation procedures of outcome measures used in music therapy research. However, a large body of translation guidelines is available in other health professions. We used the guidelines from these related fields to identify guidelines and outline...

Procedures for Selecting Items for Computerized Adaptive Tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Kingsbury, G. Gage; Zara, Anthony R.

1989-01-01

Several classical approaches and alternative approaches to item selection for computerized adaptive testing (CAT) are reviewed and compared. The study also describes procedures for constrained CAT that may be added to classical item selection approaches to allow them to be used for applied testing. (TJH)

International Timetabling Competition 2011: An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Matias; Kristiansen, Simon; Stidsen, Thomas Riis

2012-01-01

An algorithm based on Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS) for solving the generalized High School Timetabling problem in XHSTT-format (Post et al (2012a)) is presented. This algorithm was among the nalists of round 2 of the International Timetabling Competition 2011 (ITC2011). For problem...

An adaptive bin framework search method for a beta-sheet protein homopolymer model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hoos Holger H

2007-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The problem of protein structure prediction consists of predicting the functional or native structure of a protein given its linear sequence of amino acids. This problem has played a prominent role in the fields of biomolecular physics and algorithm design for over 50 years. Additionally, its importance increases continually as a result of an exponential growth over time in the number of known protein sequences in contrast to a linear increase in the number of determined structures. Our work focuses on the problem of searching an exponentially large space of possible conformations as efficiently as possible, with the goal of finding a global optimum with respect to a given energy function. This problem plays an important role in the analysis of systems with complex search landscapes, and particularly in the context of ab initio protein structure prediction. Results In this work, we introduce a novel approach for solving this conformation search problem based on the use of a bin framework for adaptively storing and retrieving promising locally optimal solutions. Our approach provides a rich and general framework within which a broad range of adaptive or reactive search strategies can be realized. Here, we introduce adaptive mechanisms for choosing which conformations should be stored, based on the set of conformations already stored in memory, and for biasing choices when retrieving conformations from memory in order to overcome search stagnation. Conclusion We show that our bin framework combined with a widely used optimization method, Monte Carlo search, achieves significantly better performance than state-of-the-art generalized ensemble methods for a well-known protein-like homopolymer model on the face-centered cubic lattice.

An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Algorithm for the Resource-constrained Project Scheduling Problem

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Muller, Laurent Flindt

2009-01-01

We present an application of an Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS) algorithm to the Resource-constrained Project Scheduling Problem (RCPSP). The ALNS framework was first proposed by Pisinger and Røpke [19] and can be described as a large neighborhood search algorithm with an adaptive layer......, where a set of destroy/repair neighborhoods compete to modify the current solution in each iteration of the algorithm. Experiments are performed on the wellknown J30, J60 and J120 benchmark instances, which show that the proposed algorithm is competitive and confirms the strength of the ALNS framework...

Harmony Search Based Parameter Ensemble Adaptation for Differential Evolution

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Rammohan Mallipeddi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available In differential evolution (DE algorithm, depending on the characteristics of the problem at hand and the available computational resources, different strategies combined with a different set of parameters may be effective. In addition, a single, well-tuned combination of strategies and parameters may not guarantee optimal performance because different strategies combined with different parameter settings can be appropriate during different stages of the evolution. Therefore, various adaptive/self-adaptive techniques have been proposed to adapt the DE strategies and parameters during the course of evolution. In this paper, we propose a new parameter adaptation technique for DE based on ensemble approach and harmony search algorithm (HS. In the proposed method, an ensemble of parameters is randomly sampled which form the initial harmony memory. The parameter ensemble evolves during the course of the optimization process by HS algorithm. Each parameter combination in the harmony memory is evaluated by testing them on the DE population. The performance of the proposed adaptation method is evaluated using two recently proposed strategies (DE/current-to-pbest/bin and DE/current-to-gr_best/bin as basic DE frameworks. Numerical results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed adaptation technique compared to the state-of-the-art DE based algorithms on a set of challenging test problems (CEC 2005.

HIERARCHICAL ADAPTIVE ROOD PATTERN SEARCH FOR MOTION ESTIMATION AT VIDEO SEQUENCE ANALYSIS

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V. T. Nguyen

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Subject of Research.The paper deals with the motion estimation algorithms for the analysis of video sequences in compression standards MPEG-4 Visual and H.264. Anew algorithm has been offered based on the analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of existing algorithms. Method. Thealgorithm is called hierarchical adaptive rood pattern search (Hierarchical ARPS, HARPS. This new algorithm includes the classic adaptive rood pattern search ARPS and hierarchical search MP (Hierarchical search or Mean pyramid. All motion estimation algorithms have been implemented using MATLAB package and tested with several video sequences. Main Results. The criteria for evaluating the algorithms were: speed, peak signal to noise ratio, mean square error and mean absolute deviation. The proposed method showed a much better performance at a comparable error and deviation. The peak signal to noise ratio in different video sequences shows better and worse results than characteristics of known algorithms so it requires further investigation. Practical Relevance. Application of this algorithm in MPEG-4 and H.264 codecs instead of the standard can significantly reduce compression time. This feature enables to recommend it in telecommunication systems for multimedia data storing, transmission and processing.

Improving GPU-accelerated adaptive IDW interpolation algorithm using fast kNN search.

Science.gov (United States)

Mei, Gang; Xu, Nengxiong; Xu, Liangliang

2016-01-01

This paper presents an efficient parallel Adaptive Inverse Distance Weighting (AIDW) interpolation algorithm on modern Graphics Processing Unit (GPU). The presented algorithm is an improvement of our previous GPU-accelerated AIDW algorithm by adopting fast k-nearest neighbors (kNN) search. In AIDW, it needs to find several nearest neighboring data points for each interpolated point to adaptively determine the power parameter; and then the desired prediction value of the interpolated point is obtained by weighted interpolating using the power parameter. In this work, we develop a fast kNN search approach based on the space-partitioning data structure, even grid, to improve the previous GPU-accelerated AIDW algorithm. The improved algorithm is composed of the stages of kNN search and weighted interpolating. To evaluate the performance of the improved algorithm, we perform five groups of experimental tests. The experimental results indicate: (1) the improved algorithm can achieve a speedup of up to 1017 over the corresponding serial algorithm; (2) the improved algorithm is at least two times faster than our previous GPU-accelerated AIDW algorithm; and (3) the utilization of fast kNN search can significantly improve the computational efficiency of the entire GPU-accelerated AIDW algorithm.

Adaptive order search and tangent-weighted trade-off for motion estimation in H.264

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Srinivas Bachu

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Motion estimation and compensation play a major role in video compression to reduce the temporal redundancies of the input videos. A variety of block search patterns have been developed for matching the blocks with reduced computational complexity, without affecting the visual quality. In this paper, block motion estimation is achieved through integrating the square as well as the hexagonal search patterns with adaptive order. The proposed algorithm is called, AOSH (Adaptive Order Square Hexagonal Search algorithm, and it finds the best matching block with a reduced number of search points. The searching function is formulated as a trade-off criterion here. Hence, the tangent-weighted function is newly developed to evaluate the matching point. The proposed AOSH search algorithm and the tangent-weighted trade-off criterion are effectively applied to the block estimation process to enhance the visual quality and the compression performance. The proposed method is validated using three videos namely, football, garden and tennis. The quantitative performance of the proposed method and the existing methods is analysed using the Structural SImilarity Index (SSIM and the Peak Signal to Noise Ratio (PSNR. The results prove that the proposed method offers good visual quality than the existing methods. Keywords: Block motion estimation, Square search, Hexagon search, H.264, Video coding

An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search Algorithm for the Multi-mode RCPSP

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Muller, Laurent Flindt

We present an Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search algorithm for the Multi-mode Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem (MRCPSP). We incorporate techniques for deriving additional precedence relations and propose a new method, so-called mode-diminution, for removing modes during execution...

Colleagues and Competitors: How Internal Social Comparisons Shape Organizational Search and Adaptation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Baumann, Oliver; Eggers, JP; Stieglitz, Nils

2018-01-01

Intra-organizational comparisons—managers and units benchmarking their performance against each other—can turn colleagues into competitors. To better understand when organizations should allow or even encourage internal social comparisons, we study their implications for organizational adaptation....... We highlight empirical implications and discuss theoretical links to work on intra-organizational competition, social comparisons and aspiration-driven search, diversification and performance, and the adaptation of multi-business firms....

Adaptive symbiotic organisms search (SOS algorithm for structural design optimization

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Ghanshyam G. Tejani

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The symbiotic organisms search (SOS algorithm is an effective metaheuristic developed in 2014, which mimics the symbiotic relationship among the living beings, such as mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism, to survive in the ecosystem. In this study, three modified versions of the SOS algorithm are proposed by introducing adaptive benefit factors in the basic SOS algorithm to improve its efficiency. The basic SOS algorithm only considers benefit factors, whereas the proposed variants of the SOS algorithm, consider effective combinations of adaptive benefit factors and benefit factors to study their competence to lay down a good balance between exploration and exploitation of the search space. The proposed algorithms are tested to suit its applications to the engineering structures subjected to dynamic excitation, which may lead to undesirable vibrations. Structure optimization problems become more challenging if the shape and size variables are taken into account along with the frequency. To check the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed algorithms, six different planar and space trusses are subjected to experimental analysis. The results obtained using the proposed methods are compared with those obtained using other optimization methods well established in the literature. The results reveal that the adaptive SOS algorithm is more reliable and efficient than the basic SOS algorithm and other state-of-the-art algorithms.

How to adapt broad-band gravitational-wave searches for r-modes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Owen, Benjamin J.

2010-01-01

Up to now there has been no search for gravitational waves from the r-modes of neutron stars in spite of the theoretical interest in the subject. Several oddities of r-modes must be addressed to obtain an observational result: The gravitational radiation field is dominated by the mass current (gravitomagnetic) quadrupole rather than the usual mass quadrupole, and the consequent difference in polarization affects detection statistics and parameter estimation. To astrophysically interpret a detection or upper limit it is necessary to convert the gravitational-wave amplitude to an r-mode amplitude. Also, it is helpful to know indirect limits on gravitational-wave emission to gauge the interest of various searches. Here I address these issues, thereby providing the ingredients to adapt broad-band searches for continuous gravitational waves to obtain r-mode results. I also show that searches of existing data can already have interesting sensitivities to r-modes.

An adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic for the Electric Vehicle Scheduling Problem

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wen, M.; Linde, Esben; Røpke, Stefan

2016-01-01

to minimizing the total deadheading distance. A mixed integer programming formulation as well as an Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS) heuristic for the E-VSP are presented. ALNS is tested on newly generated E-VSP benchmark instances. Result shows that the proposed heuristic can provide good solutions...

Intermediate view reconstruction using adaptive disparity search algorithm for real-time 3D processing

Science.gov (United States)

Bae, Kyung-hoon; Park, Changhan; Kim, Eun-soo

2008-03-01

In this paper, intermediate view reconstruction (IVR) using adaptive disparity search algorithm (ASDA) is for realtime 3-dimensional (3D) processing proposed. The proposed algorithm can reduce processing time of disparity estimation by selecting adaptive disparity search range. Also, the proposed algorithm can increase the quality of the 3D imaging. That is, by adaptively predicting the mutual correlation between stereo images pair using the proposed algorithm, the bandwidth of stereo input images pair can be compressed to the level of a conventional 2D image and a predicted image also can be effectively reconstructed using a reference image and disparity vectors. From some experiments, stereo sequences of 'Pot Plant' and 'IVO', it is shown that the proposed algorithm improves the PSNRs of a reconstructed image to about 4.8 dB by comparing with that of conventional algorithms, and reduces the Synthesizing time of a reconstructed image to about 7.02 sec by comparing with that of conventional algorithms.

Identifying complications of interventional procedures from UK routine healthcare databases: a systematic search for methods using clinical codes.

Science.gov (United States)

Keltie, Kim; Cole, Helen; Arber, Mick; Patrick, Hannah; Powell, John; Campbell, Bruce; Sims, Andrew

2014-11-28

Several authors have developed and applied methods to routine data sets to identify the nature and rate of complications following interventional procedures. But, to date, there has been no systematic search for such methods. The objective of this article was to find, classify and appraise published methods, based on analysis of clinical codes, which used routine healthcare databases in a United Kingdom setting to identify complications resulting from interventional procedures. A literature search strategy was developed to identify published studies that referred, in the title or abstract, to the name or acronym of a known routine healthcare database and to complications from procedures or devices. The following data sources were searched in February and March 2013: Cochrane Methods Register, Conference Proceedings Citation Index - Science, Econlit, EMBASE, Health Management Information Consortium, Health Technology Assessment database, MathSciNet, MEDLINE, MEDLINE in-process, OAIster, OpenGrey, Science Citation Index Expanded and ScienceDirect. Of the eligible papers, those which reported methods using clinical coding were classified and summarised in tabular form using the following headings: routine healthcare database; medical speciality; method for identifying complications; length of follow-up; method of recording comorbidity. The benefits and limitations of each approach were assessed. From 3688 papers identified from the literature search, 44 reported the use of clinical codes to identify complications, from which four distinct methods were identified: 1) searching the index admission for specified clinical codes, 2) searching a sequence of admissions for specified clinical codes, 3) searching for specified clinical codes for complications from procedures and devices within the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD-10) coding scheme which is the methodology recommended by NHS Classification Service, and 4) conducting manual clinical

DMM assessments of attachment and adaptation: Procedures, validity and utility.

Science.gov (United States)

Farnfield, Steve; Hautamäki, Airi; Nørbech, Peder; Sahhar, Nicola

2010-07-01

This article gives a brief over view of the Dynamic-Maturational Model of attachment and adaptation (DMM; Crittenden, 2008) together with the various DMM assessments of attachment that have been developed for specific stages of development. Each assessment is discussed in terms of procedure, outcomes, validity, advantages and limitations, comparable procedures and areas for further research and validation. The aims are twofold: to provide an introduction to DMM theory and its application that underlie the articles in this issue of CCPP; and to provide researchers and clinicians with a guide to DMM assessments.

An Innovative Adaptive Pushover Procedure Based on Storey Shear

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shakeri, Kazem; Shayanfar, Mohsen A.

2008-01-01

Since the conventional pushover analyses are unable to consider the effect of the higher modes and progressive variation in dynamic properties, recent years have witnessed the development of some advanced adaptive pushover methods. However in these methods, using the quadratic combination rules to combine the modal forces result in a positive value in load pattern at all storeys and the reversal sign of the modes is removed; consequently these methods do not have a major advantage over their non-adaptive counterparts. Herein an innovative adaptive pushover method based on storey shear is proposed which can take into account the reversal signs in higher modes. In each storey the applied load pattern is derived from the storey shear profile; consequently, the sign of the applied loads in consecutive steps could be changed. Accuracy of the proposed procedure is examined by applying it to a 20-storey steel building. It illustrates a good estimation of the peak response in inelastic phase

Does prism adaptation affect visual search in spatial neglect patients: A systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

De Wit, Liselotte; Ten Brink, Antonia F; Visser-Meily, Johanna M A; Nijboer, Tanja C W

2018-03-01

Prism adaptation (PA) is a widely used intervention for (visuo-)spatial neglect. PA-induced improvements can be assessed by visual search tasks. It remains unclear which outcome measures are the most sensitive for the effects of PA in neglect. In this review, we aimed to evaluate PA effects on visual search measures. A systematic literature search was completed regarding PA intervention studies focusing on patients with neglect using visual search tasks. Information about study content and effectiveness was extracted. Out of 403 identified studies, 30 met the inclusion criteria. The quality of the studies was evaluated: Rankings were moderate-to-high for 7, and low for 23 studies. As feature search was only performed by five studies, low-to-moderate ranking, we were limited in drawing firm conclusions about the PA effect on feature search. All moderate-to-high-ranking studies investigated cancellation by measuring only omissions or hits. These studies found an overall improvement after PA. Measuring perseverations and total task duration provides more specific information about visual search. The two (low ranking) studies that measured this found an improvement after PA on perseverations and duration (while accuracy improved for one study and remained the same for the other). This review suggests there is an overall effect of PA on visual search, although complex visual search tasks and specific visual search measures are lacking. Suggestions for search measures that give insight in subcomponents of visual search are provided for future studies, such as perseverations, search path intersections, search consistency and using a speed-accuracy trade-off. © 2016 The British Psychological Society.

Self-adaptive global best harmony search algorithm applied to reactor core fuel management optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Poursalehi, N.; Zolfaghari, A.; Minuchehr, A.; Valavi, K.

2013-01-01

Highlights: • SGHS enhanced the convergence rate of LPO using some improvements in comparison to basic HS and GHS. • SGHS optimization algorithm obtained averagely better fitness relative to basic HS and GHS algorithms. • Upshot of the SGHS implementation in the LPO reveals its flexibility, efficiency and reliability. - Abstract: The aim of this work is to apply the new developed optimization algorithm, Self-adaptive Global best Harmony Search (SGHS), for PWRs fuel management optimization. SGHS algorithm has some modifications in comparison with basic Harmony Search (HS) and Global-best Harmony Search (GHS) algorithms such as dynamically change of parameters. For the demonstration of SGHS ability to find an optimal configuration of fuel assemblies, basic Harmony Search (HS) and Global-best Harmony Search (GHS) algorithms also have been developed and investigated. For this purpose, Self-adaptive Global best Harmony Search Nodal Expansion package (SGHSNE) has been developed implementing HS, GHS and SGHS optimization algorithms for the fuel management operation of nuclear reactor cores. This package uses developed average current nodal expansion code which solves the multi group diffusion equation by employment of first and second orders of Nodal Expansion Method (NEM) for two dimensional, hexagonal and rectangular geometries, respectively, by one node per a FA. Loading pattern optimization was performed using SGHSNE package for some test cases to present the SGHS algorithm capability in converging to near optimal loading pattern. Results indicate that the convergence rate and reliability of the SGHS method are quite promising and practically, SGHS improves the quality of loading pattern optimization results relative to HS and GHS algorithms. As a result, it has the potential to be used in the other nuclear engineering optimization problems

A New Fuzzy Harmony Search Algorithm Using Fuzzy Logic for Dynamic Parameter Adaptation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cinthia Peraza

2016-10-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a new fuzzy harmony search algorithm (FHS for solving optimization problems is presented. FHS is based on a recent method using fuzzy logic for dynamic adaptation of the harmony memory accepting (HMR and pitch adjustment (PArate parameters that improve the convergence rate of traditional harmony search algorithm (HS. The objective of the method is to dynamically adjust the parameters in the range from 0.7 to 1. The impact of using fixed parameters in the harmony search algorithm is discussed and a strategy for efficiently tuning these parameters using fuzzy logic is presented. The FHS algorithm was successfully applied to different benchmarking optimization problems. The results of simulation and comparison studies demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed approach.

GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedures) applied to optimization of petroleum products distribution in pipeline networks; GRASP (Greedy Randomized Adaptative Search Procedures) aplicado ao 'scheduling' de redes de distribuicao de petroleo e derivados

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Conte, Viviane Cristhyne Bini; Arruda, Lucia Valeria Ramos de; Yamamoto, Lia [Universidade Tecnologica Federal do Parana (UTFPR), Curitiba, PR (Brazil)

2008-07-01

Planning and scheduling of the pipeline network operations aim the most efficient use of the resources resulting in a better performance of the network. A petroleum distribution pipeline network is composed by refineries, sources and/or storage parks, connected by a set of pipelines, which operate the transportation of petroleum and derivatives among adjacent areas. In real scenes, this problem is considered a combinatorial problem, which has difficult solution, which makes necessary methodologies of the resolution that present low computational time. This work aims to get solutions that attempt the demands and minimize the number of batch fragmentations on the sent operations of products for the pipelines in a simplified model of a real network, through by application of the local search metaheuristic GRASP. GRASP does not depend of solutions of previous iterations and works in a random way so it allows the search for the solution in an ampler and diversified search space. GRASP utilization does not demand complex calculation, even the construction stage that requires more computational effort, which provides relative rapidity in the attainment of good solutions. GRASP application on the scheduling of the operations of this network presented feasible solutions in a low computational time. (author)

A practical optimization procedure for radial BWR fuel lattice design using tabu search with a multiobjective function

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Francois, J.L.; Martin-del-Campo, C.; Francois, R.; Morales, L.B.

2003-01-01

An optimization procedure based on the tabu search (TS) method was developed for the design of radial enrichment and gadolinia distributions for boiling water reactor (BWR) fuel lattices. The procedure was coded in a computing system in which the optimization code uses the tabu search method to select potential solutions and the HELIOS code to evaluate them. The goal of the procedure is to search for an optimal fuel utilization, looking for a lattice with minimum average enrichment, with minimum deviation of reactivity targets and with a local power peaking factor (PPF) lower than a limit value. Time-dependent-depletion (TDD) effects were considered in the optimization process. The additive utility function method was used to convert the multiobjective optimization problem into a single objective problem. A strategy to reduce the computing time employed by the optimization was developed and is explained in this paper. An example is presented for a 10x10 fuel lattice with 10 different fuel compositions. The main contribution of this study is the development of a practical TDD optimization procedure for BWR fuel lattice design, using TS with a multiobjective function, and a strategy to economize computing time

Inversion for Refractivity Parameters Using a Dynamic Adaptive Cuckoo Search with Crossover Operator Algorithm.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Zhihua; Sheng, Zheng; Shi, Hanqing; Fan, Zhiqiang

2016-01-01

Using the RFC technique to estimate refractivity parameters is a complex nonlinear optimization problem. In this paper, an improved cuckoo search (CS) algorithm is proposed to deal with this problem. To enhance the performance of the CS algorithm, a parameter dynamic adaptive operation and crossover operation were integrated into the standard CS (DACS-CO). Rechenberg's 1/5 criteria combined with learning factor were used to control the parameter dynamic adaptive adjusting process. The crossover operation of genetic algorithm was utilized to guarantee the population diversity. The new hybrid algorithm has better local search ability and contributes to superior performance. To verify the ability of the DACS-CO algorithm to estimate atmospheric refractivity parameters, the simulation data and real radar clutter data are both implemented. The numerical experiments demonstrate that the DACS-CO algorithm can provide an effective method for near-real-time estimation of the atmospheric refractivity profile from radar clutter.

Adaptive Lévy processes and area-restricted search in human foraging.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thomas T Hills

Full Text Available A considerable amount of research has claimed that animals' foraging behaviors display movement lengths with power-law distributed tails, characteristic of Lévy flights and Lévy walks. Though these claims have recently come into question, the proposal that many animals forage using Lévy processes nonetheless remains. A Lévy process does not consider when or where resources are encountered, and samples movement lengths independently of past experience. However, Lévy processes too have come into question based on the observation that in patchy resource environments resource-sensitive foraging strategies, like area-restricted search, perform better than Lévy flights yet can still generate heavy-tailed distributions of movement lengths. To investigate these questions further, we tracked humans as they searched for hidden resources in an open-field virtual environment, with either patchy or dispersed resource distributions. Supporting previous research, for both conditions logarithmic binning methods were consistent with Lévy flights and rank-frequency methods-comparing alternative distributions using maximum likelihood methods-showed the strongest support for bounded power-law distributions (truncated Lévy flights. However, goodness-of-fit tests found that even bounded power-law distributions only accurately characterized movement behavior for 4 (out of 32 participants. Moreover, paths in the patchy environment (but not the dispersed environment showed a transition to intensive search following resource encounters, characteristic of area-restricted search. Transferring paths between environments revealed that paths generated in the patchy environment were adapted to that environment. Our results suggest that though power-law distributions do not accurately reflect human search, Lévy processes may still describe movement in dispersed environments, but not in patchy environments-where search was area-restricted. Furthermore, our results

Persistence and Adaptation in Immunity: T Cells Balance the Extent and Thoroughness of Search.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

G Matthew Fricke

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Effective search strategies have evolved in many biological systems, including the immune system. T cells are key effectors of the immune response, required for clearance of pathogenic infection. T cell activation requires that T cells encounter antigen-bearing dendritic cells within lymph nodes, thus, T cell search patterns within lymph nodes may be a crucial determinant of how quickly a T cell immune response can be initiated. Previous work suggests that T cell motion in the lymph node is similar to a Brownian random walk, however, no detailed analysis has definitively shown whether T cell movement is consistent with Brownian motion. Here, we provide a precise description of T cell motility in lymph nodes and a computational model that demonstrates how motility impacts T cell search efficiency. We find that both Brownian and Lévy walks fail to capture the complexity of T cell motion. Instead, T cell movement is better described as a correlated random walk with a heavy-tailed distribution of step lengths. Using computer simulations, we identify three distinct factors that contribute to increasing T cell search efficiency: 1 a lognormal distribution of step lengths, 2 motion that is directionally persistent over short time scales, and 3 heterogeneity in movement patterns. Furthermore, we show that T cells move differently in specific frequently visited locations that we call "hotspots" within lymph nodes, suggesting that T cells change their movement in response to the lymph node environment. Our results show that like foraging animals, T cells adapt to environmental cues, suggesting that adaption is a fundamental feature of biological search.

Persistence and Adaptation in Immunity: T Cells Balance the Extent and Thoroughness of Search

Science.gov (United States)

Fricke, G. Matthew; Letendre, Kenneth A.; Moses, Melanie E.; Cannon, Judy L.

2016-01-01

Effective search strategies have evolved in many biological systems, including the immune system. T cells are key effectors of the immune response, required for clearance of pathogenic infection. T cell activation requires that T cells encounter antigen-bearing dendritic cells within lymph nodes, thus, T cell search patterns within lymph nodes may be a crucial determinant of how quickly a T cell immune response can be initiated. Previous work suggests that T cell motion in the lymph node is similar to a Brownian random walk, however, no detailed analysis has definitively shown whether T cell movement is consistent with Brownian motion. Here, we provide a precise description of T cell motility in lymph nodes and a computational model that demonstrates how motility impacts T cell search efficiency. We find that both Brownian and Lévy walks fail to capture the complexity of T cell motion. Instead, T cell movement is better described as a correlated random walk with a heavy-tailed distribution of step lengths. Using computer simulations, we identify three distinct factors that contribute to increasing T cell search efficiency: 1) a lognormal distribution of step lengths, 2) motion that is directionally persistent over short time scales, and 3) heterogeneity in movement patterns. Furthermore, we show that T cells move differently in specific frequently visited locations that we call “hotspots” within lymph nodes, suggesting that T cells change their movement in response to the lymph node environment. Our results show that like foraging animals, T cells adapt to environmental cues, suggesting that adaption is a fundamental feature of biological search. PMID:26990103

Inversion for Refractivity Parameters Using a Dynamic Adaptive Cuckoo Search with Crossover Operator Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhihua Zhang

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Using the RFC technique to estimate refractivity parameters is a complex nonlinear optimization problem. In this paper, an improved cuckoo search (CS algorithm is proposed to deal with this problem. To enhance the performance of the CS algorithm, a parameter dynamic adaptive operation and crossover operation were integrated into the standard CS (DACS-CO. Rechenberg’s 1/5 criteria combined with learning factor were used to control the parameter dynamic adaptive adjusting process. The crossover operation of genetic algorithm was utilized to guarantee the population diversity. The new hybrid algorithm has better local search ability and contributes to superior performance. To verify the ability of the DACS-CO algorithm to estimate atmospheric refractivity parameters, the simulation data and real radar clutter data are both implemented. The numerical experiments demonstrate that the DACS-CO algorithm can provide an effective method for near-real-time estimation of the atmospheric refractivity profile from radar clutter.

Procedures for Computing Transonic Flows for Control of Adaptive Wind Tunnels. Ph.D. Thesis - Technische Univ., Berlin, Mar. 1986

Science.gov (United States)

Rebstock, Rainer

1987-01-01

Numerical methods are developed for control of three dimensional adaptive test sections. The physical properties of the design problem occurring in the external field computation are analyzed, and a design procedure suited for solution of the problem is worked out. To do this, the desired wall shape is determined by stepwise modification of an initial contour. The necessary changes in geometry are determined with the aid of a panel procedure, or, with incident flow near the sonic range, with a transonic small perturbation (TSP) procedure. The designed wall shape, together with the wall deflections set during the tunnel run, are the input to a newly derived one-step formula which immediately yields the adapted wall contour. This is particularly important since the classical iterative adaptation scheme is shown to converge poorly for 3D flows. Experimental results obtained in the adaptive test section with eight flexible walls are presented to demonstrate the potential of the procedure. Finally, a method is described to minimize wall interference in 3D flows by adapting only the top and bottom wind tunnel walls.

Anatomy of Student Models in Adaptive Learning Systems: A Systematic Literature Review of Individual Differences from 2001 to 2013

Science.gov (United States)

Nakic, Jelena; Granic, Andrina; Glavinic, Vlado

2015-01-01

This study brings an evidence-based review of user individual characteristics employed as sources of adaptation in recent adaptive learning systems. Twenty-two user individual characteristics were explored in a systematically designed search procedure, while 17 of them were identified as sources of adaptation in final selection. The content…

Age and self-relevance effects on information search during decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

Hess, Thomas M; Queen, Tara L; Ennis, Gilda E

2013-09-01

We investigated how information search strategies used to support decision making were influenced by self-related implications of the task to the individual. Consistent with the notion of selective engagement, we hypothesized that increased self-relevance would result in more adaptive search behaviors and that this effect would be stronger in older adults than in younger adults. We examined search behaviors in 79 younger and 81 older adults using a process-tracing procedure with 2 different decision tasks. The impact of motivation (i.e., self-related task implications) was examined by manipulating social accountability and the age-related relevance of the task. Although age differences in search strategies were not great, older adults were more likely than younger adults to use simpler strategies in contexts with minimal self-implications. Contrary to expectations, young and old alike were more likely to use noncompensatory than compensatory strategies, even when engaged in systematic search, with education being the most important determinant of search behavior. The results support the notion that older adults are adaptive decision makers and that factors other than age may be more important determinants of performance in situations where knowledge can be used to support performance.

Adaptation and innovation: a grounded theory study of procedural variation in the academic surgical workplace.

Science.gov (United States)

Apramian, Tavis; Watling, Christopher; Lingard, Lorelei; Cristancho, Sayra

2015-10-01

Surgical research struggles to describe the relationship between procedural variations in daily practice and traditional conceptualizations of evidence. The problem has resisted simple solutions, in part, because we lack a solid understanding of how surgeons conceptualize and interact around variation, adaptation, innovation, and evidence in daily practice. This grounded theory study aims to describe the social processes that influence how procedural variation is conceptualized in the surgical workplace. Using the constructivist grounded theory methodology, semi-structured interviews with surgeons (n = 19) from four North American academic centres were collected and analysed. Purposive sampling targeted surgeons with experiential knowledge of the role of variations in the workplace. Theoretical sampling was conducted until a theoretical framework representing key processes was conceptually saturated. Surgical procedural variation was influenced by three key processes. Seeking improvement was shaped by having unsolved procedural problems, adapting in the moment, and pursuing personal opportunities. Orienting self and others to variations consisted of sharing stories of variations with others, taking stock of how a variation promoted personal interests, and placing trust in peers. Acting under cultural and material conditions was characterized by being wary, positioning personal image, showing the logic of a variation, and making use of academic resources to do so. Our findings include social processes that influence how adaptations are incubated in surgical practice and mature into innovations. This study offers a language for conceptualizing the sociocultural influences on procedural variations in surgery. Interventions to change how surgeons interact with variations on a day-to-day basis should consider these social processes in their design. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A DE-Based Scatter Search for Global Optimization Problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kun Li

2015-01-01

Full Text Available This paper proposes a hybrid scatter search (SS algorithm for continuous global optimization problems by incorporating the evolution mechanism of differential evolution (DE into the reference set updated procedure of SS to act as the new solution generation method. This hybrid algorithm is called a DE-based SS (SSDE algorithm. Since different kinds of mutation operators of DE have been proposed in the literature and they have shown different search abilities for different kinds of problems, four traditional mutation operators are adopted in the hybrid SSDE algorithm. To adaptively select the mutation operator that is most appropriate to the current problem, an adaptive mechanism for the candidate mutation operators is developed. In addition, to enhance the exploration ability of SSDE, a reinitialization method is adopted to create a new population and subsequently construct a new reference set whenever the search process of SSDE is trapped in local optimum. Computational experiments on benchmark problems show that the proposed SSDE is competitive or superior to some state-of-the-art algorithms in the literature.

A Multimode Adaptive Pushover Procedure for Seismic Assessment of Integral Bridges

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ehsan Mohtashami

2013-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a new adaptive pushover procedure to account for the effect of higher modes in order to accurately estimate the seismic response of bridges. The effect of higher modes is considered by introducing a minimum value for the total effective modal mass. The proposed method employs enough number of modes to ensure that the defined total effective modal mass participates in all increments of the pushover loading. An adaptive demand curve is also developed for assessment of the seismic demand. The efficiency and robustness of the proposed method are demonstrated by conducting a parametric study. The analysis includes 18 four-span integral bridges with various heights of piers. The inelastic response history analysis is employed as reference solution in this study. Numerical results indicate excellent accuracy of the proposed method in assessment of the seismic response. For most bridges investigated in this study, the difference between the estimated response of the proposed method and the inelastic response history analysis is less than 25% for displacements and 10% for internal forces. This indicates a very good accuracy compared to available pushover procedures in the literature. The proposed method is therefore recommended to be applied to the seismic performance evaluation of integral bridges for engineering applications.

New procedure for criticality search using coarse mesh nodal methods

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pereira, Wanderson F.; Silva, Fernando C. da; Martinez, Aquilino S.

2011-01-01

The coarse mesh nodal methods have as their primary goal to calculate the neutron flux inside the reactor core. Many computer systems use a specific form of calculation, which is called nodal method. In classical computing systems that use the criticality search is made after the complete convergence of the iterative process of calculating the neutron flux. In this paper, we proposed a new method for the calculation of criticality, condition which will be over very iterative process of calculating the neutron flux. Thus, the processing time for calculating the neutron flux was reduced by half compared with the procedure developed by the Nuclear Engineering Program of COPPE/UFRJ (PEN/COPPE/UFRJ). (author)

New procedure for criticality search using coarse mesh nodal methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pereira, Wanderson F.; Silva, Fernando C. da; Martinez, Aquilino S., E-mail: wneto@con.ufrj.b, E-mail: fernando@con.ufrj.b, E-mail: Aquilino@lmp.ufrj.b [Coordenacao dos Programas de Pos-Graduacao de Engenharia (PEN/COPPE/UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Programa de Engenharia Nuclear

2011-07-01

The coarse mesh nodal methods have as their primary goal to calculate the neutron flux inside the reactor core. Many computer systems use a specific form of calculation, which is called nodal method. In classical computing systems that use the criticality search is made after the complete convergence of the iterative process of calculating the neutron flux. In this paper, we proposed a new method for the calculation of criticality, condition which will be over very iterative process of calculating the neutron flux. Thus, the processing time for calculating the neutron flux was reduced by half compared with the procedure developed by the Nuclear Engineering Program of COPPE/UFRJ (PEN/COPPE/UFRJ). (author)

Comparing adaptive procedures for estimating the psychometric function for an auditory gap detection task.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Yi

2013-05-01

A subject's sensitivity to a stimulus variation can be studied by estimating the psychometric function. Generally speaking, three parameters of the psychometric function are of interest: the performance threshold, the slope of the function, and the rate at which attention lapses occur. In the present study, three psychophysical procedures were used to estimate the three-parameter psychometric function for an auditory gap detection task. These were an up-down staircase (up-down) procedure, an entropy-based Bayesian (entropy) procedure, and an updated maximum-likelihood (UML) procedure. Data collected from four young, normal-hearing listeners showed that while all three procedures provided similar estimates of the threshold parameter, the up-down procedure performed slightly better in estimating the slope and lapse rate for 200 trials of data collection. When the lapse rate was increased by mixing in random responses for the three adaptive procedures, the larger lapse rate was especially detrimental to the efficiency of the up-down procedure, and the UML procedure provided better estimates of the threshold and slope than did the other two procedures.

An adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic for Two-Echelon Vehicle Routing Problems arising in city logistics

Science.gov (United States)

Hemmelmayr, Vera C.; Cordeau, Jean-François; Crainic, Teodor Gabriel

2012-01-01

In this paper, we propose an adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic for the Two-Echelon Vehicle Routing Problem (2E-VRP) and the Location Routing Problem (LRP). The 2E-VRP arises in two-level transportation systems such as those encountered in the context of city logistics. In such systems, freight arrives at a major terminal and is shipped through intermediate satellite facilities to the final customers. The LRP can be seen as a special case of the 2E-VRP in which vehicle routing is performed only at the second level. We have developed new neighborhood search operators by exploiting the structure of the two problem classes considered and have also adapted existing operators from the literature. The operators are used in a hierarchical scheme reflecting the multi-level nature of the problem. Computational experiments conducted on several sets of instances from the literature show that our algorithm outperforms existing solution methods for the 2E-VRP and achieves excellent results on the LRP. PMID:23483764

An adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic for Two-Echelon Vehicle Routing Problems arising in city logistics.

Science.gov (United States)

Hemmelmayr, Vera C; Cordeau, Jean-François; Crainic, Teodor Gabriel

2012-12-01

In this paper, we propose an adaptive large neighborhood search heuristic for the Two-Echelon Vehicle Routing Problem (2E-VRP) and the Location Routing Problem (LRP). The 2E-VRP arises in two-level transportation systems such as those encountered in the context of city logistics. In such systems, freight arrives at a major terminal and is shipped through intermediate satellite facilities to the final customers. The LRP can be seen as a special case of the 2E-VRP in which vehicle routing is performed only at the second level. We have developed new neighborhood search operators by exploiting the structure of the two problem classes considered and have also adapted existing operators from the literature. The operators are used in a hierarchical scheme reflecting the multi-level nature of the problem. Computational experiments conducted on several sets of instances from the literature show that our algorithm outperforms existing solution methods for the 2E-VRP and achieves excellent results on the LRP.

A Comparison of Procedures for Content-Sensitive Item Selection in Computerized Adaptive Tests.

Science.gov (United States)

Kingsbury, G. Gage; Zara, Anthony R.

1991-01-01

This simulation investigated two procedures that reduce differences between paper-and-pencil testing and computerized adaptive testing (CAT) by making CAT content sensitive. Results indicate that the price in terms of additional test items of using constrained CAT for content balancing is much smaller than that of using testlets. (SLD)

Simple and effective procedure for conformational search of macromolecules. Application to Met- and Leu-Enkephalin

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Meirovitch, H.; Meirovitch, E. (Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States)); Michel, A.G. (Institut de Recherches Serrier, Suresnes (France)); Vasquez, M. (Protein Design Lab., Mountain View, CA (United States))

1994-06-23

A simple and efficient method for searching the conformational space of macromolecules is presented. With this method an initial set of relatively low-energy structures is generated, and their energies are further minimized with a procedure that enables escaping from local energy minima. Illustrative calculations are described for Met- and Leu-enkephalin. 37 refs., 1 tab.

An Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search-based Three-Stage Matheuristic for the Vehicle Routing Problem with Time Windows

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Jonas Mark; Røpke, Stefan

that serves all the customers. The second stage usesan Adaptive Large Neighborhood Search (ALNS) algorithm to minimise the travel distance, during the second phase all of the generated routes are considered by solving a set cover problem. The ALNS algorithm uses 4 destroy operators, 2 repair operators...

An Adaptive Off-Line Procedure for Radiotherapy of Prostate Cancer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nuver, Tonnis T.; Hoogeman, Mischa S.; Remeijer, Peter; Herk, Marcel van; Lebesque, Joos V.

2007-01-01

Purpose: To determine the planning target volume (PTV) margin for an adaptive radiotherapy procedure that uses five computed tomography (CT) scans to calculate an average prostate position and rectum shape. To evaluate alternative methods to determine an average rectum based on a single delineation. Methods and Materials: Repeat CT scans (8-13) of 19 patients were used. The contoured prostates of the first four scans were matched on the planning CT (pCT) prostate contours. With the resulting translations and rotations the average prostate position was determined. An average rectum was obtained by either averaging the coordinates of corresponding points on the rectal walls or by selecting the 'best' rectum or transforming the pCT rectum. Dose distributions were calculated for various expanded average prostates. The remaining CT scans were used to determine the dose received by prostate and rectum during treatment. Results: For the prostate of the pCT scan and a 10-mm margin, all patients received more than 95% of the prescribed dose to 95% of the prostate. For the average prostate, a margin of 7 mm was needed to obtain a similar result (average PTV reduction 30%). The average rectum overestimated the mean dose to the rectum by 0.4 ± 1.6 Gy, which was better than the pCT rectum (2.1 ± 3.0 Gy) and the alternative average rectums (1.0 ± 2.6 Gy and 1.4 ± 3.2 Gy). Conclusions: Our adaptive procedure allows for reduction of the PTV margin to 7 mm without decreasing prostate coverage during treatment. For accurate estimation of the rectum dose, rectums need to be delineated and averaged over multiple scans

Guided Text Search Using Adaptive Visual Analytics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steed, Chad A [ORNL; Symons, Christopher T [ORNL; Senter, James K [ORNL; DeNap, Frank A [ORNL

2012-10-01

This research demonstrates the promise of augmenting interactive visualizations with semi- supervised machine learning techniques to improve the discovery of significant associations and insights in the search and analysis of textual information. More specifically, we have developed a system called Gryffin that hosts a unique collection of techniques that facilitate individualized investigative search pertaining to an ever-changing set of analytical questions over an indexed collection of open-source documents related to critical national infrastructure. The Gryffin client hosts dynamic displays of the search results via focus+context record listings, temporal timelines, term-frequency views, and multiple coordinate views. Furthermore, as the analyst interacts with the display, the interactions are recorded and used to label the search records. These labeled records are then used to drive semi-supervised machine learning algorithms that re-rank the unlabeled search records such that potentially relevant records are moved to the top of the record listing. Gryffin is described in the context of the daily tasks encountered at the US Department of Homeland Security s Fusion Center, with whom we are collaborating in its development. The resulting system is capable of addressing the analysts information overload that can be directly attributed to the deluge of information that must be addressed in the search and investigative analysis of textual information.

When do Indians feel hot? Internet searches indicate seasonality suppresses adaptation to heat

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Tanya; Siderius, Christian; Van der Velde, Ype

2018-05-01

In a warming world an increasing number of people are being exposed to heat, making a comfortable thermal environment an important need. This study explores the potential of using Regional Internet Search Frequencies (RISF) for air conditioning devices as an indicator for thermal discomfort (i.e. dissatisfaction with the thermal environment) with the aim to quantify the adaptation potential of individuals living across different climate zones and at the high end of the temperature range, in India, where access to health data is limited. We related RISF for the years 2011–2015 to daily daytime outdoor temperature in 17 states and determined at which temperature RISF for air conditioning starts to peak, i.e. crosses a ‘heat threshold’, in each state. Using the spatial variation in heat thresholds, we explored whether people continuously exposed to higher temperatures show a lower response to heat extremes through adaptation (e.g. physiological, behavioural or psychological). State-level heat thresholds ranged from 25.9 °C in Madhya Pradesh to 31.0 °C in Orissa. Local adaptation was found to occur at state level: the higher the average temperature in a state, the higher the heat threshold; and the higher the intra-annual temperature range (warmest minus coldest month) the lower the heat threshold. These results indicate there is potential within India to adapt to warmer temperatures, but that a large intra-annual temperature variability attenuates this potential to adapt to extreme heat. This winter ‘reset’ mechanism should be taken into account when assessing the impact of global warming, with changes in minimum temperatures being an important factor in addition to the change in maximum temperatures itself. Our findings contribute to a better understanding of local heat thresholds and people’s adaptive capacity, which can support the design of local thermal comfort standards and early heat warning systems.

Auto-adaptive averaging: Detecting artifacts in event-related potential data using a fully automated procedure

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Talsma, D.

2008-01-01

The auto-adaptive averaging procedure proposed here classifies artifacts in event-related potential data by optimizing the signal-to-noise ratio. This method rank orders single trials according to the impact of each trial on the ERP average. Then, the minimum residual background noise level in the

Auto-adaptive averaging: Detecting artifacts in event-related potential data using a fully automated procedure.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Talsma, D.

2008-01-01

The auto-adaptive averaging procedure proposed here classifies artifacts in event-related potential data by optimizing the signal-to-noise ratio. This method rank orders single trials according to the impact of each trial on the ERP average. Then, the minimum residual background noise level in the

Using Direct Policy Search to Identify Robust Strategies in Adapting to Uncertain Sea Level Rise and Storm Surge

Science.gov (United States)

Garner, G. G.; Keller, K.

2017-12-01

Sea-level rise poses considerable risks to coastal communities, ecosystems, and infrastructure. Decision makers are faced with deeply uncertain sea-level projections when designing a strategy for coastal adaptation. The traditional methods have provided tremendous insight into this decision problem, but are often silent on tradeoffs as well as the effects of tail-area events and of potential future learning. Here we reformulate a simple sea-level rise adaptation model to address these concerns. We show that Direct Policy Search yields improved solution quality, with respect to Pareto-dominance in the objectives, over the traditional approach under uncertain sea-level rise projections and storm surge. Additionally, the new formulation produces high quality solutions with less computational demands than the traditional approach. Our results illustrate the utility of multi-objective adaptive formulations for the example of coastal adaptation, the value of information provided by observations, and point to wider-ranging application in climate change adaptation decision problems.

An adaptive staircase procedure for the E-Prime programming environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Hairston, W David; Maldjian, Joseph A

2009-01-01

Many studies need to determine a subject's threshold for a given task. This can be achieved efficiently using an adaptive staircase procedure. While the logic and algorithms for staircases have been well established, the few pre-programmed routines currently available to researchers require at least moderate programming experience to integrate into new paradigms and experimental settings. Here, we describe a freely distributed routine developed for the E-Prime programming environment that can be easily integrated into any experimental protocol with only a basic understanding of E-Prime. An example experiment (visual temporal-order-judgment task) where subjects report the order of occurrence of two circles illustrates the behavior and consistency of the routine.

Large Neighborhood Search

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pisinger, David; Røpke, Stefan

2010-01-01

Heuristics based on large neighborhood search have recently shown outstanding results in solving various transportation and scheduling problems. Large neighborhood search methods explore a complex neighborhood by use of heuristics. Using large neighborhoods makes it possible to find better...... candidate solutions in each iteration and hence traverse a more promising search path. Starting from the large neighborhood search method,we give an overview of very large scale neighborhood search methods and discuss recent variants and extensions like variable depth search and adaptive large neighborhood...

Multiobjective Variable Neighborhood Search algorithm for scheduling independent jobs on computational grid

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

S. Selvi

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Grid computing solves high performance and high-throughput computing problems through sharing resources ranging from personal computers to super computers distributed around the world. As the grid environments facilitate distributed computation, the scheduling of grid jobs has become an important issue. In this paper, an investigation on implementing Multiobjective Variable Neighborhood Search (MVNS algorithm for scheduling independent jobs on computational grid is carried out. The performance of the proposed algorithm has been evaluated with Min–Min algorithm, Simulated Annealing (SA and Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP algorithm. Simulation results show that MVNS algorithm generally performs better than other metaheuristics methods.

Perspectives on Adaptivity in Information Retrieval Interaction (PAIRI)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ingwersen, Peter; Larsen, Birger; Kelly, Diane

2010-01-01

Adaptivity in IR interactions requires the IR systems adapting to users’ situations and the users adapting to the systems. System adaption entails dynamic user modeling, effective information architecture and enhanced search features such as search integration and relevance feedback; user adaptat...

Standardization of Keyword Search Mode

Science.gov (United States)

Su, Di

2010-01-01

In spite of its popularity, keyword search mode has not been standardized. Though information professionals are quick to adapt to various presentations of keyword search mode, novice end-users may find keyword search confusing. This article compares keyword search mode in some major reference databases and calls for standardization. (Contains 3…

qPR: An adaptive partial-report procedure based on Bayesian inference.

Science.gov (United States)

Baek, Jongsoo; Lesmes, Luis Andres; Lu, Zhong-Lin

2016-08-01

Iconic memory is best assessed with the partial report procedure in which an array of letters appears briefly on the screen and a poststimulus cue directs the observer to report the identity of the cued letter(s). Typically, 6-8 cue delays or 600-800 trials are tested to measure the iconic memory decay function. Here we develop a quick partial report, or qPR, procedure based on a Bayesian adaptive framework to estimate the iconic memory decay function with much reduced testing time. The iconic memory decay function is characterized by an exponential function and a joint probability distribution of its three parameters. Starting with a prior of the parameters, the method selects the stimulus to maximize the expected information gain in the next test trial. It then updates the posterior probability distribution of the parameters based on the observer's response using Bayesian inference. The procedure is reiterated until either the total number of trials or the precision of the parameter estimates reaches a certain criterion. Simulation studies showed that only 100 trials were necessary to reach an average absolute bias of 0.026 and a precision of 0.070 (both in terms of probability correct). A psychophysical validation experiment showed that estimates of the iconic memory decay function obtained with 100 qPR trials exhibited good precision (the half width of the 68.2% credible interval = 0.055) and excellent agreement with those obtained with 1,600 trials of the conventional method of constant stimuli procedure (RMSE = 0.063). Quick partial-report relieves the data collection burden in characterizing iconic memory and makes it possible to assess iconic memory in clinical populations.

Optimal Semi-Adaptive Search With False Targets

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-01

Kress, K. Y. Lin, and R. Szechtman, “Optimal discrete search with imperfect specificity,” Math Meth Oper Res, vol. 68, pp. 539–549, 2008. [16] L. D...constraints on employment of physical search assets will involve discrete approximations to the continuous solutions given by these techniques. These...model assumes. We optimize in the continuous case, to be able then to make the best possible discrete approximations if needed, given the constraints of a

Comparison and extension of a direct model reference adaptive control procedure

Science.gov (United States)

Neat, Gregory W.; Kaufman, Howard; Steinvorth, Rodrigo

1992-01-01

This paper analyzes and extends an easily implemented direct model reference adaptive control procedure. The paper focuses on the major limitation of this control approach which is the satisfaction of a strictly positive real sufficiency condition in order to guarantee asymptotic tracking. Attempts, to date, to address this problem have been unable to relax simultaneously the stringent condition and maintain asymptotic tracking capabilities. Three different modifications to existing versions of this algorithm are presented which substantially relax the stringent sufficiency condition while providing asymptotic tracking. These three modifications achieve this goal by imposing slight adjustments to existing sufficiency conditions. A simulation example demonstrates that the modifications eliminate the steady error inherent in the existing methods.

A learning heuristic for space mapping and searching self-organizing systems using adaptive mesh refinement

Science.gov (United States)

Phillips, Carolyn L.

2014-09-01

In a complex self-organizing system, small changes in the interactions between the system's components can result in different emergent macrostructures or macrobehavior. In chemical engineering and material science, such spontaneously self-assembling systems, using polymers, nanoscale or colloidal-scale particles, DNA, or other precursors, are an attractive way to create materials that are precisely engineered at a fine scale. Changes to the interactions can often be described by a set of parameters. Different contiguous regions in this parameter space correspond to different ordered states. Since these ordered states are emergent, often experiment, not analysis, is necessary to create a diagram of ordered states over the parameter space. By issuing queries to points in the parameter space (e.g., performing a computational or physical experiment), ordered states can be discovered and mapped. Queries can be costly in terms of resources or time, however. In general, one would like to learn the most information using the fewest queries. Here we introduce a learning heuristic for issuing queries to map and search a two-dimensional parameter space. Using a method inspired by adaptive mesh refinement, the heuristic iteratively issues batches of queries to be executed in parallel based on past information. By adjusting the search criteria, different types of searches (for example, a uniform search, exploring boundaries, sampling all regions equally) can be flexibly implemented. We show that this method will densely search the space, while preferentially targeting certain features. Using numerical examples, including a study simulating the self-assembly of complex crystals, we show how this heuristic can discover new regions and map boundaries more accurately than a uniformly distributed set of queries.

Bomb Threats and Bomb Search Techniques.

Science.gov (United States)

Department of the Treasury, Washington, DC.

This pamphlet explains how to be prepared and plan for bomb threats and describes procedures to follow once a call has been received. The content covers (1) preparation for bomb threats, (2) evacuation procedures, (3) room search methods, (4) procedures to follow once a bomb has been located, and (5) typical problems that search teams will…

Adaptive feature selection using v-shaped binary particle swarm optimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Teng, Xuyang; Dong, Hongbin; Zhou, Xiurong

2017-01-01

Feature selection is an important preprocessing method in machine learning and data mining. This process can be used not only to reduce the amount of data to be analyzed but also to build models with stronger interpretability based on fewer features. Traditional feature selection methods evaluate the dependency and redundancy of features separately, which leads to a lack of measurement of their combined effect. Moreover, a greedy search considers only the optimization of the current round and thus cannot be a global search. To evaluate the combined effect of different subsets in the entire feature space, an adaptive feature selection method based on V-shaped binary particle swarm optimization is proposed. In this method, the fitness function is constructed using the correlation information entropy. Feature subsets are regarded as individuals in a population, and the feature space is searched using V-shaped binary particle swarm optimization. The above procedure overcomes the hard constraint on the number of features, enables the combined evaluation of each subset as a whole, and improves the search ability of conventional binary particle swarm optimization. The proposed algorithm is an adaptive method with respect to the number of feature subsets. The experimental results show the advantages of optimizing the feature subsets using the V-shaped transfer function and confirm the effectiveness and efficiency of the feature subsets obtained under different classifiers.

Search on Rugged Landscapes

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Billinger, Stephan; Stieglitz, Nils; Schumacher, Terry

2014-01-01

This paper presents findings from a laboratory experiment on human decision-making in a complex combinatorial task. We find strong evidence for a behavioral model of adaptive search. Success narrows down search to the neighborhood of the status quo, while failure promotes gradually more explorative...... for local improvements too early. We derive stylized decision rules that generate the search behavior observed in the experiment and discuss the implications of our findings for individual decision-making and organizational search....

Adaptation to a simulated central scotoma during visual search training.

Science.gov (United States)

Walsh, David V; Liu, Lei

2014-03-01

Patients with a central scotoma usually use a preferred retinal locus (PRL) consistently in daily activities. The selection process and time course of the PRL development are not well understood. We used a gaze-contingent display to simulate an isotropic central scotoma in normal subjects while they were practicing a difficult visual search task. As compared to foveal search, initial exposure to the simulated scotoma resulted in prolonged search reaction time, many more fixations and unorganized eye movements during search. By the end of a 1782-trial training with the simulated scotoma, the search performance improved to within 25% of normal foveal search. Accompanying the performance improvement, there were also fewer fixations, fewer repeated fixations in the same area of the search stimulus and a clear tendency of using one area near the border of the scotoma to identify the search target. The results were discussed in relation to natural development of PRL in central scotoma patients and potential visual training protocols to facilitate PRL development. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Designing experimental setup and procedures for studying alpha-particle-induced adaptive response in zebrafish embryos in vivo

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choi, V.W.Y.; Lam, R.K.K.; Chong, E.Y.W. [Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong (Hong Kong); Cheng, S.H. [Department of Biology and Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong (Hong Kong); Yu, K.N., E-mail: peter.yu@cityu.edu.h [Department of Physics and Materials Science, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong (Hong Kong)

2010-03-15

The present work was devoted to designing the experimental setup and the associated procedures for alpha-particle-induced adaptive response in zebrafish embryos in vivo. Thin PADC films with a thickness of 16 mum were fabricated and employed as support substrates for holding dechorionated zebrafish embryos for alpha-particle irradiation from the bottom through the films. Embryos were collected within 15 min when the light photoperiod began, which were then incubated and dechorionated at 4 h post fertilization (hpf). They were then irradiated at 5 hpf by alpha particles using a planar {sup 241}Am source with an activity of 0.1151 muCi for 24 s (priming dose), and subsequently at 10 hpf using the same source for 240 s (challenging dose). The levels of apoptosis in irradiated zebrafish embryos at 24 hpf were quantified through staining with the vital dye acridine orange, followed by counting the stained cells under a florescent microscope. The results revealed the presence of the adaptive response in zebrafish embryos in vivo, and demonstrated the feasibility of the adopted experimental setup and procedures.

"They Have to Adapt to Learn": Surgeons' Perspectives on the Role of Procedural Variation in Surgical Education.

Science.gov (United States)

Apramian, Tavis; Cristancho, Sayra; Watling, Chris; Ott, Michael; Lingard, Lorelei

2016-01-01

Clinical research increasingly acknowledges the existence of significant procedural variation in surgical practice. This study explored surgeons' perspectives regarding the influence of intersurgeon procedural variation on the teaching and learning of surgical residents. This qualitative study used a grounded theory-based analysis of observational and interview data. Observational data were collected in 3 tertiary care teaching hospitals in Ontario, Canada. Semistructured interviews explored potential procedural variations arising during the observations and prompts from an iteratively refined guide. Ongoing data analysis refined the theoretical framework and informed data collection strategies, as prescribed by the iterative nature of grounded theory research. Our sample included 99 hours of observation across 45 cases with 14 surgeons. Semistructured, audio-recorded interviews (n = 14) occurred immediately following observational periods. Surgeons endorsed the use of intersurgeon procedural variations to teach residents about adapting to the complexity of surgical practice and the norms of surgical culture. Surgeons suggested that residents' efforts to identify thresholds of principle and preference are crucial to professional development. Principles that emerged from the study included the following: (1) knowing what comes next, (2) choosing the right plane, (3) handling tissue appropriately, (4) recognizing the abnormal, and (5) making safe progress. Surgeons suggested that learning to follow these principles while maintaining key aspects of surgical culture, like autonomy and individuality, are important social processes in surgical education. Acknowledging intersurgeon variation has important implications for curriculum development and workplace-based assessment in surgical education. Adapting to intersurgeon procedural variations may foster versatility in surgical residents. However, the existence of procedural variations and their active use in surgeons

Non-tables look-up search algorithm for efficient H.264/AVC context-based adaptive variable length coding decoding

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Yishi; Luo, Zhixiao; Wang, Jianhua; Min, Zhixuan; Qin, Xinyu; Sun, Yunlong

2014-09-01

In general, context-based adaptive variable length coding (CAVLC) decoding in H.264/AVC standard requires frequent access to the unstructured variable length coding tables (VLCTs) and significant memory accesses are consumed. Heavy memory accesses will cause high power consumption and time delays, which are serious problems for applications in portable multimedia devices. We propose a method for high-efficiency CAVLC decoding by using a program instead of all the VLCTs. The decoded codeword from VLCTs can be obtained without any table look-up and memory access. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm achieves 100% memory access saving and 40% decoding time saving without degrading video quality. Additionally, the proposed algorithm shows a better performance compared with conventional CAVLC decoding, such as table look-up by sequential search, table look-up by binary search, Moon's method, and Kim's method.

APPLICATION OF RESTART COVARIANCE MATRIX ADAPTATION EVOLUTION STRATEGY (RCMA-ES TO GENERATION EXPANSION PLANNING PROBLEM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Karthikeyan

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the application of an evolutionary algorithm, Restart Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (RCMA-ES to the Generation Expansion Planning (GEP problem. RCMA-ES is a class of continuous Evolutionary Algorithm (EA derived from the concept of self-adaptation in evolution strategies, which adapts the covariance matrix of a multivariate normal search distribution. The original GEP problem is modified by incorporating Virtual Mapping Procedure (VMP. The GEP problem of a synthetic test systems for 6-year, 14-year and 24-year planning horizons having five types of candidate units is considered. Two different constraint-handling methods are incorporated and impact of each method has been compared. In addition, comparison and validation has also made with dynamic programming method.

An objective procedure for evaluation of adaptive antifeedback algorithms in hearing aids.

Science.gov (United States)

Freed, Daniel J; Soli, Sigfrid D

2006-08-01

This study evaluated the performance of nine adaptive antifeedback algorithms. There were two goals: first, to identify objective procedures that are useful for evaluating these algorithms, and second, to identify strengths and weaknesses of existing algorithms. The algorithms were evaluated in behind-the-ear implementations on the Knowles Electronics Manikin for Acoustic Research (KEMAR). Different acoustic conditions were created by placing a telephone handset or a hat on KEMAR. Electroacoustic techniques were devised to measure the following performance aspects of each algorithm: (1) additional gain made available before oscillation, (2) gain lost in specific frequency regions, (3) reduction of suboscillatory peaks in the frequency response, (4) speed of adaptation to changing acoustic conditions, and (5) robustness in the presence of tonal input signals. For each measurement, performance varied widely across algorithms. No single algorithm was clearly superior or inferior to the others. Generally, the feedback cancellation algorithms were less likely to sacrifice gain in specific frequency regions and better at reducing suboscillatory peaks, whereas the algorithms that used noncancellation techniques were more tolerant of tonal input signals. For those algorithms equipped with special operational modes intended for music listening, the music mode improved the response to tonal inputs but sometimes sacrificed other performance aspects. Algorithms that required an acoustic measurement for initialization purposes tended to perform poorly in acoustic conditions dissimilar to the condition in which initialization was performed. The objective methods devised for this study appear useful for evaluating the performance of adaptive antifeedback algorithms. Currently available algorithms demonstrate a wide range of performance, and further research is required to develop new algorithms that combine the best features of existing algorithms.

An Adaptive Landscape Classification Procedure using Geoinformatics and Artificial Neural Networks

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coleman, Andre Michael [Vrije Univ., Amsterdam (Netherlands)

2008-06-01

The Adaptive Landscape Classification Procedure (ALCP), which links the advanced geospatial analysis capabilities of Geographic Information Systems (GISs) and Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) and particularly Self-Organizing Maps (SOMs), is proposed as a method for establishing and reducing complex data relationships. Its adaptive and evolutionary capability is evaluated for situations where varying types of data can be combined to address different prediction and/or management needs such as hydrologic response, water quality, aquatic habitat, groundwater recharge, land use, instrumentation placement, and forecast scenarios. The research presented here documents and presents favorable results of a procedure that aims to be a powerful and flexible spatial data classifier that fuses the strengths of geoinformatics and the intelligence of SOMs to provide data patterns and spatial information for environmental managers and researchers. This research shows how evaluation and analysis of spatial and/or temporal patterns in the landscape can provide insight into complex ecological, hydrological, climatic, and other natural and anthropogenic-influenced processes. Certainly, environmental management and research within heterogeneous watersheds provide challenges for consistent evaluation and understanding of system functions. For instance, watersheds over a range of scales are likely to exhibit varying levels of diversity in their characteristics of climate, hydrology, physiography, ecology, and anthropogenic influence. Furthermore, it has become evident that understanding and analyzing these diverse systems can be difficult not only because of varying natural characteristics, but also because of the availability, quality, and variability of spatial and temporal data. Developments in geospatial technologies, however, are providing a wide range of relevant data, and in many cases, at a high temporal and spatial resolution. Such data resources can take the form of high

Core design optimization by integration of a fast 3-D nodal code in a heuristic search procedure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Geemert, R. van; Leege, P.F.A. de; Hoogenboom, J.E.; Quist, A.J. [Delft University of Technology, NL-2629 JB Delft (Netherlands)

1998-07-01

An automated design tool is being developed for the Hoger Onderwijs Reactor (HOR) in Delft, the Netherlands, which is a 2 MWth swimming-pool type research reactor. As a black box evaluator, the 3-D nodal code SILWER, which up to now has been used only for evaluation of predetermined core designs, is integrated in the core optimization procedure. SILWER is a part of PSl's ELCOS package and features optional additional thermal-hydraulic, control rods and xenon poisoning calculations. This allows for fast and accurate evaluation of different core designs during the optimization search. Special attention is paid to handling the in- and output files for SILWER such that no adjustment of the code itself is required for its integration in the optimization programme. The optimization objective, the safety and operation constraints, as well as the optimization procedure, are discussed. (author)

Core design optimization by integration of a fast 3-D nodal code in a heuristic search procedure

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Geemert, R. van; Leege, P.F.A. de; Hoogenboom, J.E.; Quist, A.J.

1998-01-01

An automated design tool is being developed for the Hoger Onderwijs Reactor (HOR) in Delft, the Netherlands, which is a 2 MWth swimming-pool type research reactor. As a black box evaluator, the 3-D nodal code SILWER, which up to now has been used only for evaluation of predetermined core designs, is integrated in the core optimization procedure. SILWER is a part of PSl's ELCOS package and features optional additional thermal-hydraulic, control rods and xenon poisoning calculations. This allows for fast and accurate evaluation of different core designs during the optimization search. Special attention is paid to handling the in- and output files for SILWER such that no adjustment of the code itself is required for its integration in the optimization programme. The optimization objective, the safety and operation constraints, as well as the optimization procedure, are discussed. (author)

Adaptive algebraic reconstruction technique

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lu Wenkai; Yin Fangfang

2004-01-01

Algebraic reconstruction techniques (ART) are iterative procedures for reconstructing objects from their projections. It is proven that ART can be computationally efficient by carefully arranging the order in which the collected data are accessed during the reconstruction procedure and adaptively adjusting the relaxation parameters. In this paper, an adaptive algebraic reconstruction technique (AART), which adopts the same projection access scheme in multilevel scheme algebraic reconstruction technique (MLS-ART), is proposed. By introducing adaptive adjustment of the relaxation parameters during the reconstruction procedure, one-iteration AART can produce reconstructions with better quality, in comparison with one-iteration MLS-ART. Furthermore, AART outperforms MLS-ART with improved computational efficiency

Preanalytical errors in primary healthcare: a questionnaire study of information search procedures, test request management and test tube labelling.

Science.gov (United States)

Söderberg, Johan; Brulin, Christine; Grankvist, Kjell; Wallin, Olof

2009-01-01

Most errors in laboratory medicine occur in the preanalytical phase and are the result of human mistakes. This study investigated information search procedures, test request management and test tube labelling in primary healthcare compared to the same procedures amongst clinical laboratory staff. A questionnaire was completed by 317 venous blood sampling staff in 70 primary healthcare centres and in two clinical laboratories (response rate = 94%). Correct procedures were not always followed. Only 60% of the primary healthcare staff reported that they always sought information in the updated, online laboratory manual. Only 12% reported that they always labelled the test tubes prior to drawing blood samples. No major differences between primary healthcare centres and clinical laboratories were found, except for test tube labelling, whereby the laboratory staff reported better practices. Re-education and access to documented routines were not clearly associated with better practices. The preanalytical procedure in the surveyed primary healthcare centres was associated with a risk of errors which could affect patient safety. To improve patient safety in laboratory testing, all healthcare providers should survey their preanalytical procedures and improve the total testing process with a systems perspective.

Applying Knowledge of Species-Typical Scavenging Behavior to the Search and Recovery of Mammalian Skeletal Remains.

Science.gov (United States)

Young, Alexandria; Stillman, Richard; Smith, Martin J; Korstjens, Amanda H

2016-03-01

Forensic investigations involving animal scavenging of human remains require a physical search of the scene and surrounding areas. However, there is currently no standard procedure in the U.K. for physical searches of scavenged human remains. The Winthrop and grid search methods used by police specialist searchers for scavenged remains were examined through the use of mock red fox (Vulpes vulpes) scatter scenes. Forty-two police specialist searchers from two different regions within the U.K. were divided between those briefed and not briefed with fox-typical scavenging information. Briefing searchers with scavenging information significantly affected the recovery of scattered bones (χ(2) = 11.45, df = 1, p = 0.001). Searchers briefed with scavenging information were 2.05 times more likely to recover bones. Adaptions to search methods used by searchers were evident on a regional level, such that searchers more accustom to a peri-urban to rural region recovered a higher percentage of scattered bones (58.33%, n = 84). © 2015 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Adaptive optics imaging of the retina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rajani Battu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Adaptive optics is a relatively new tool that is available to ophthalmologists for study of cellular level details. In addition to the axial resolution provided by the spectral-domain optical coherence tomography, adaptive optics provides an excellent lateral resolution, enabling visualization of the photoreceptors, blood vessels and details of the optic nerve head. We attempt a mini review of the current role of adaptive optics in retinal imaging. PubMed search was performed with key words Adaptive optics OR Retina OR Retinal imaging. Conference abstracts were searched from the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO and American Academy of Ophthalmology (AAO meetings. In total, 261 relevant publications and 389 conference abstracts were identified.

Optimized Aircraft Electric Control System Based on Adaptive Tabu Search Algorithm and Fuzzy Logic Control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saifullah Khalid

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Three conventional control constant instantaneous power control, sinusoidal current control, and synchronous reference frame techniques for extracting reference currents for shunt active power filters have been optimized using Fuzzy Logic control and Adaptive Tabu search Algorithm and their performances have been compared. Critical analysis of Comparison of the compensation ability of different control strategies based on THD and speed will be done, and suggestions will be given for the selection of technique to be used. The simulated results using MATLAB model are presented, and they will clearly prove the value of the proposed control method of aircraft shunt APF. The waveforms observed after the application of filter will be having the harmonics within the limits and the power quality will be improved.

Search of computers for discovery of electronic evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pisarić Milana M.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available In order to address the specific nature of criminal activities committed using computer networks and systems, the efforts of states to adapt or complement the existing criminal law with purposeful provisions is understandable. To create an appropriate legal framework for supressing cybercrime, except the rules of substantive criminal law predict certain behavior as criminal offenses against the confidentiality, integrity and availability of computer data, computer systems and networks, it is essential that the provisions of the criminal procedure law contain adequate powers of competent authorities for detecting sources of illegal activities, or the collection of data on the committed criminal offense and offender, which can be used as evidence in criminal proceedings, taking into account the specificities of cyber crime and the environment within which the illegal activity is undertaken. Accordingly, the provisions of the criminal procedural law should be designed to be able to overcome certain challenges in discovering and proving high technology crime, and the provisions governing search of computer for discovery of electronic evidence is of special importance.

Robust object tacking based on self-adaptive search area

Science.gov (United States)

Dong, Taihang; Zhong, Sheng

2018-02-01

Discriminative correlation filter (DCF) based trackers have recently achieved excellent performance with great computational efficiency. However, DCF based trackers suffer boundary effects, which result in the unstable performance in challenging situations exhibiting fast motion. In this paper, we propose a novel method to mitigate this side-effect in DCF based trackers. We change the search area according to the prediction of target motion. When the object moves fast, broad search area could alleviate boundary effects and reserve the probability of locating object. When the object moves slowly, narrow search area could prevent effect of useless background information and improve computational efficiency to attain real-time performance. This strategy can impressively soothe boundary effects in situations exhibiting fast motion and motion blur, and it can be used in almost all DCF based trackers. The experiments on OTB benchmark show that the proposed framework improves the performance compared with the baseline trackers.

Information-Fusion Methods Based Simultaneous Localization and Mapping for Robot Adapting to Search and Rescue Postdisaster Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongling Wang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The first application of utilizing unique information-fusion SLAM (IF-SLAM methods is developed for mobile robots performing simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM adapting to search and rescue (SAR environments in this paper. Several fusion approaches, parallel measurements filtering, exploration trajectories fusing, and combination sensors’ measurements and mobile robots’ trajectories, are proposed. The novel integration particle filter (IPF and optimal improved EKF (IEKF algorithms are derived for information-fusion systems to perform SLAM task in SAR scenarios. The information-fusion architecture consists of multirobots and multisensors (MAM; multiple robots mount on-board laser range finder (LRF sensors, localization sonars, gyro odometry, Kinect-sensor, RGB-D camera, and other proprioceptive sensors. This information-fusion SLAM (IF-SLAM is compared with conventional methods, which indicates that fusion trajectory is more consistent with estimated trajectories and real observation trajectories. The simulations and experiments of SLAM process are conducted in both cluttered indoor environment and outdoor collapsed unstructured scenario, and experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed information-fusion methods in improving SLAM performances adapting to SAR scenarios.

Appraising Adaptive Management

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai N. Lee

1999-12-01

Full Text Available Adaptive management is appraised as a policy implementation approach by examining its conceptual, technical, equity, and practical strengths and limitations. Three conclusions are drawn: (1 Adaptive management has been more influential, so far, as an idea than as a practical means of gaining insight into the behavior of ecosystems utilized and inhabited by humans. (2 Adaptive management should be used only after disputing parties have agreed to an agenda of questions to be answered using the adaptive approach; this is not how the approach has been used. (3 Efficient, effective social learning, of the kind facilitated by adaptive management, is likely to be of strategic importance in governing ecosystems as humanity searches for a sustainable economy.

Adaptive Engineering of an Embedded System, Engineered for use by Search and Rescue Canines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cristina Ribeiro

2011-06-01

Full Text Available In Urban Search and Rescue (US&R operations, canine teams are deployed to find live patients, and save lives. US&R may benefit from increased levels of situational awareness, through information made available through the use of embedded systems attached to the dogs. One of these is the Canine Pose Estimation (CPE system. There are many challenges faced with such embedded systems including the engineering of such devices for use in disaster environments. Durability and wireless connectivity in areas with materials that inhibit wireless communications, the safety of the dog wearing the devices, and form factor must be accommodated. All of these factors must be weighed without compromising the accuracy of the application and the timely delivery of its data. This paper discusses the adaptive engineering process and how each of the unique challenges of emergency response embedded systems can be defined and overcome through effective design methods.

An Improved Fuzzy Logic Controller Design for PV Inverters Utilizing Differential Search Optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ammar Hussein Mutlag

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents an adaptive fuzzy logic controller (FLC design technique for photovoltaic (PV inverters using differential search algorithm (DSA. This technique avoids the exhaustive traditional trial and error procedure in obtaining membership functions (MFs used in conventional FLCs. This technique is implemented during the inverter design phase by generating adaptive MFs based on the evaluation results of the objective function formulated by the DSA. In this work, the mean square error (MSE of the inverter output voltage is used as an objective function. The DSA optimizes the MFs such that the inverter provides the lowest MSE for output voltage and improves the performance of the PV inverter output in terms of amplitude and frequency. The design procedure and accuracy of the optimum FLC are illustrated and investigated using simulations conducted for a 3 kW three-phase inverter in a MATLAB/Simulink environment. Results show that the proposed controller can successfully obtain the desired output when different linear and nonlinear loads are connected to the system. Furthermore, the inverter has reasonably low steady state error and fast response to reference variation.

Search algorithms, hidden labour and information control

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paško Bilić

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The paper examines some of the processes of the closely knit relationship between Google’s ideologies of neutrality and objectivity and global market dominance. Neutrality construction comprises an important element sustaining the company’s economic position and is reflected in constant updates, estimates and changes to utility and relevance of search results. Providing a purely technical solution to these issues proves to be increasingly difficult without a human hand in steering algorithmic solutions. Search relevance fluctuates and shifts through continuous tinkering and tweaking of the search algorithm. The company also uses third parties to hire human raters for performing quality assessments of algorithmic updates and adaptations in linguistically and culturally diverse global markets. The adaptation process contradicts the technical foundations of the company and calculations based on the initial Page Rank algorithm. Annual market reports, Google’s Search Quality Rating Guidelines, and reports from media specialising in search engine optimisation business are analysed. The Search Quality Rating Guidelines document provides a rare glimpse into the internal architecture of search algorithms and the notions of utility and relevance which are presented and structured as neutral and objective. Intertwined layers of ideology, hidden labour of human raters, advertising revenues, market dominance and control are discussed throughout the paper.

Licensee Event Report sequence coding and search procedure workshop

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cottrell, W.B.; Gallaher, R.B.

1981-01-01

Since mid-1980, the Office for Analysis and Evaluation of Operational Data (AEOD) of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) has been developing procedures for the systematic review and analysis of Licensee Event Reports (LERs). These procedures generally address several areas of concern, including identification of significant trends and patterns, event sequence of occurrences, component failures, and system and plant effects. The AEOD and NSIC conducted a workshop on the new coding procedure at the American Museum of Science and Energy in Oak Ridge, TN, on November 24, 1980

Adaptive Order Cross–Square–Hexagonal search and fuzzy ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

BACHU SRINIVAS

2018-03-10

Mar 10, 2018 ... motion is known, the square search pattern resumes the job of motion estimation. ..... ference on Information Processing and Management of. Uncertainty in ... [32] Wang Z, Bovik A C, Sheikh H R and Simoncelli E P 2004.

System modelling and online optimal management of MicroGrid using Mesh Adaptive Direct Search

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mohamed, Faisal A. [Department of Electrical Engineering, Omar Al-Mukhtar University, P.O. Box 919, El-Bieda (Libya); Koivo, Heikki N. [Department of Automation and Systems Technology, Helsinki University of Technology, P.O. Box 5500, FIN-02015 HUT (Finland)

2010-06-15

This paper presents a generalized formulation to determine the optimal operating strategy and cost optimization scheme for a MicroGrid. Prior to the optimization of the MicroGrid itself, models for the system components are determined using real data. The proposed cost function takes into consideration the costs of the emissions, NO{sub x}, SO{sub 2}, and CO{sub 2}, start-up costs, as well as the operation and maintenance costs. A daily income and outgo from sold or purchased power is also added. The MicroGrid considered in this paper consists of a wind turbine, a micro turbine, a diesel generator, a photovoltaic array, a fuel cell, and a battery storage. In this work, the Mesh Adaptive Direct Search (MADS) algorithm is used to minimize the cost function of the system while constraining it to meet the customer demand and safety of the system. In comparison with previously proposed techniques, a significant reduction is obtained. (author)

An adaptive immune optimization algorithm with dynamic lattice searching operation for fast optimization of atomic clusters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wu, Xia; Wu, Genhua

2014-01-01

Highlights: • A high efficient method for optimization of atomic clusters is developed. • Its performance is studied by optimizing Lennard-Jones clusters and Ag clusters. • The method is proved to be quite efficient. • A new Ag 61 cluster with stacking-fault face-centered cubic motif is found. - Abstract: Geometrical optimization of atomic clusters is performed by a development of adaptive immune optimization algorithm (AIOA) with dynamic lattice searching (DLS) operation (AIOA-DLS method). By a cycle of construction and searching of the dynamic lattice (DL), DLS algorithm rapidly makes the clusters more regular and greatly reduces the potential energy. DLS can thus be used as an operation acting on the new individuals after mutation operation in AIOA to improve the performance of the AIOA. The AIOA-DLS method combines the merit of evolutionary algorithm and idea of dynamic lattice. The performance of the proposed method is investigated in the optimization of Lennard-Jones clusters within 250 atoms and silver clusters described by many-body Gupta potential within 150 atoms. Results reported in the literature are reproduced, and the motif of Ag 61 cluster is found to be stacking-fault face-centered cubic, whose energy is lower than that of previously obtained icosahedron

Searches at LEP

CERN Document Server

Junk, Tom

2000-01-01

Searches have been conducted for a broad range of new phenomena by the four experiments ALEPH, DELPHI, L3, and OPAL, at LEP2. Each experiment contributes approximately 150 pb-1 of e+e- annihilation data with a mean sqrt(s) of 205.9 GeV in 2000 to these searches (data prepared for the September 5 LEPC meeting). The statistical procedure for setting limits and evaluating the significance of excesses observed in the data is reviewed. Search results are presented for the Standard Model Higgs boson, the neutral Higgs bosons in the MSSM, charged Higgs bosons, invisibly decaying Higgs bosons produced by Higgs-strahlung, and fermiophobic Higgs bosons. Search results are briefly summarized for gauginos, stops, and staus. The photon recoil spectrum is checked for hints of new physics.

The constitutional validity of search and seizure powers in South ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The Criminal Procedure Act1 had long provided the only legal basis for obtaining warrants to search and seize or to perform such actions without warrant in certain circumstances. The Criminal Procedure Act embodies the general provisions with regard to searching. Specific provisions are contained in many other Acts.

Generalizing Backtrack-Free Search: A Framework for Search-Free Constraint Satisfaction

Science.gov (United States)

Jonsson, Ari K.; Frank, Jeremy

2000-01-01

Tractable classes of constraint satisfaction problems are of great importance in artificial intelligence. Identifying and taking advantage of such classes can significantly speed up constraint problem solving. In addition, tractable classes are utilized in applications where strict worst-case performance guarantees are required, such as constraint-based plan execution. In this work, we present a formal framework for search-free (backtrack-free) constraint satisfaction. The framework is based on general procedures, rather than specific propagation techniques, and thus generalizes existing techniques in this area. We also relate search-free problem solving to the notion of decision sets and use the result to provide a constructive criterion that is sufficient to guarantee search-free problem solving.

VLSI implementation of MIMO detection for 802.11n using a novel adaptive tree search algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yao Heng; Jian Haifang; Zhou Liguo; Shi Yin

2013-01-01

A 4×4 64-QAM multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) detector is presented for the application of an IEEE 802.11n wireless local area network. The detectoris the implementation of a novel adaptive tree search(ATS) algorithm, and multiple ATS cores need to be instantiated to achieve the wideband requirement in the 802.11n standard. Both the ATS algorithm and the architectural considerations are explained. The latency of the detector is 0.75 μs, and the detector has a gate count of 848 k with a total of 19 parallel ATS cores. Each ATS core runs at 67 MHz. Measurement results show that compared with the floating-point ATS algorithm, the fixed-point implementation achieves a loss of 0.9 dB at a BER of 10 −3 . (semiconductor integrated circuits)

Adaptive techniques for diagnostics of vibrating structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Skormin, V.A.; Sankar, S.

1983-01-01

An adaptive diagnostic procedure for vibrating structures based on correspondence between current estimates of stiffness matrix and structure status is proposed. Procedure employs adaptive mathematical description of the vibrating structure in frequency domain, statistical techniques for detection and location of changes of structure properties, 'recognition' and prediction of defects. (orig.)

Adaptive and Adaptable Automation Design: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommendations for Future Research

Science.gov (United States)

Prinzel, Lawrence J., III; Kaber, David B.

2006-01-01

This report presents a review of literature on approaches to adaptive and adaptable task/function allocation and adaptive interface technologies for effective human management of complex systems that are likely to be issues for the Next Generation Air Transportation System, and a focus of research under the Aviation Safety Program, Integrated Intelligent Flight Deck Project. Contemporary literature retrieved from an online database search is summarized and integrated. The major topics include the effects of delegation-type, adaptable automation on human performance, workload and situation awareness, the effectiveness of various automation invocation philosophies and strategies to function allocation in adaptive systems, and the role of user modeling in adaptive interface design and the performance implications of adaptive interface technology.

A hybridised variable neighbourhood tabu search heuristic to increase security in a utility network

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Janssens, Jochen; Talarico, Luca; Sörensen, Kenneth

2016-01-01

We propose a decision model aimed at increasing security in a utility network (e.g., electricity, gas, water or communication network). The network is modelled as a graph, the edges of which are unreliable. We assume that all edges (e.g., pipes, cables) have a certain, not necessarily equal, probability of failure, which can be reduced by selecting edge-specific security strategies. We develop a mathematical programming model and a metaheuristic approach that uses a greedy random adaptive search procedure to find an initial solution and uses tabu search hybridised with iterated local search and a variable neighbourhood descend heuristic to improve this solution. The main goal is to reduce the risk of service failure between an origin and a destination node by selecting the right combination of security measures for each network edge given a limited security budget. - Highlights: • A decision model aimed at increasing security in a utility network is proposed. • The goal is to reduce the risk of service failure given a limited security budget. • An exact approach and a variable neighbourhood tabu search heuristic are developed. • A generator for realistic networks is built and used to test the solution methods. • The hybridised heuristic reduces the total risk on average with 32%.

Procedure generation and verification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sheely, W.F.

1986-01-01

The Department of Energy has used Artificial Intelligence of ''AI'' concepts to develop two powerful new computer-based techniques to enhance safety in nuclear applications. The Procedure Generation System, and the Procedure Verification System, can be adapted to other commercial applications, such as a manufacturing plant. The Procedure Generation System can create a procedure to deal with the off-normal condition. The operator can then take correct actions on the system in minimal time. The Verification System evaluates the logic of the Procedure Generator's conclusions. This evaluation uses logic techniques totally independent of the Procedure Generator. The rapid, accurate generation and verification of corrective procedures can greatly reduce the human error, possible in a complex (stressful/high stress) situation

A fully adaptive hybrid optimization of aircraft engine blades

Science.gov (United States)

Dumas, L.; Druez, B.; Lecerf, N.

2009-10-01

A new fully adaptive hybrid optimization method (AHM) has been developed and applied to an industrial problem in the field of the aircraft engine industry. The adaptivity of the coupling between a global search by a population-based method (Genetic Algorithms or Evolution Strategies) and the local search by a descent method has been particularly emphasized. On various analytical test cases, the AHM method overperforms the original global search method in terms of computational time and accuracy. The results obtained on the industrial case have also confirmed the interest of AHM for the design of new and original solutions in an affordable time.

Antecedents of job search self-efficacy of Syrian refugees in Greece and the Netherlands.

Science.gov (United States)

Pajic, Sofija; Ulceluse, Magdalena; Kismihók, Gábor; Mol, Stefan T; den Hartog, Deanne N

2018-04-01

The goal of the current study was to investigate the relationships among psychological resources, career barriers, and job search self-efficacy in a sample of post-2014 Syrian refugees. Participants included 330 refugees in Greece and the Netherlands. Data were obtained using paper-based surveys, with all measures translated into Arabic. Drawing from career construction theory (Savickas, 2005), we hypothesized that adaptive readiness, operationalized in terms of psychological capital, would be positively related to job search self-efficacy through career adaptability. In addition, social and administrative career barriers were hypothesized to moderate the first stage of the indirect effect between psychological capital and job search self-efficacy, such that this relationship is weaker when refugees experience higher career barriers. Results indicated that individuals with higher psychological capital more confidently engaged in job search behavior in the destination country, mostly due to their enhanced career adaptability. However, this relationship weakened when participants experienced higher social barriers and strengthened when they experienced higher administrative barriers. The findings provide further support for the career construction model of adaptation (Savickas & Porfeli, 2012) and pinpoint career adapt-ability resources as critical self-regulatory strengths that help individuals in this particularly vulnerable group adapt to occupational transitions. Moreover, the results highlight the potentially detrimental role of social barriers in this process. Based on the results, we offer implications for formulating training and career construction theory-based career counseling focused on enhancing career adaptability and psychological capital.

PubData: search engine for bioinformatics databases worldwide

OpenAIRE

Vand, Kasra; Wahlestedt, Thor; Khomtchouk, Kelly; Sayed, Mohammed; Wahlestedt, Claes; Khomtchouk, Bohdan

2016-01-01

We propose a search engine and file retrieval system for all bioinformatics databases worldwide. PubData searches biomedical data in a user-friendly fashion similar to how PubMed searches biomedical literature. PubData is built on novel network programming, natural language processing, and artificial intelligence algorithms that can patch into the file transfer protocol servers of any user-specified bioinformatics database, query its contents, retrieve files for download, and adapt to the use...

Parameter identification of PEMFC model based on hybrid adaptive differential evolution algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sun, Zhe; Wang, Ning; Bi, Yunrui; Srinivasan, Dipti

2015-01-01

In this paper, a HADE (hybrid adaptive differential evolution) algorithm is proposed for the identification problem of PEMFC (proton exchange membrane fuel cell). Inspired by biological genetic strategy, a novel adaptive scaling factor and a dynamic crossover probability are presented to improve the adaptive and dynamic performance of differential evolution algorithm. Moreover, two kinds of neighborhood search operations based on the bee colony foraging mechanism are introduced for enhancing local search efficiency. Through testing the benchmark functions, the proposed algorithm exhibits better performance in convergent accuracy and speed. Finally, the HADE algorithm is applied to identify the nonlinear parameters of PEMFC stack model. Through experimental comparison with other identified methods, the PEMFC model based on the HADE algorithm shows better performance. - Highlights: • We propose a hybrid adaptive differential evolution algorithm (HADE). • The search efficiency is enhanced in low and high dimension search space. • The effectiveness is confirmed by testing benchmark functions. • The identification of the PEMFC model is conducted by adopting HADE.

Supplementary searches of PubMed to improve currency of MEDLINE and MEDLINE In-Process searches via Ovid.

Science.gov (United States)

Duffy, Steven; de Kock, Shelley; Misso, Kate; Noake, Caro; Ross, Janine; Stirk, Lisa

2016-10-01

The research investigated whether conducting a supplementary search of PubMed in addition to the main MEDLINE (Ovid) search for a systematic review is worthwhile and to ascertain whether this PubMed search can be conducted quickly and if it retrieves unique, recently published, and ahead-of-print studies that are subsequently considered for inclusion in the final systematic review. Searches of PubMed were conducted after MEDLINE (Ovid) and MEDLINE In-Process (Ovid) searches had been completed for seven recent reviews. The searches were limited to records not in MEDLINE or MEDLINE In-Process (Ovid). Additional unique records were identified for all of the investigated reviews. Search strategies were adapted quickly to run in PubMed, and reviewer screening of the results was not time consuming. For each of the investigated reviews, studies were ordered for full screening; in six cases, studies retrieved from the supplementary PubMed searches were included in the final systematic review. Supplementary searching of PubMed for studies unavailable elsewhere is worthwhile and improves the currency of the systematic reviews.

Support patient search on pathology reports with interactive online learning based data extraction.

Science.gov (United States)

Zheng, Shuai; Lu, James J; Appin, Christina; Brat, Daniel; Wang, Fusheng

2015-01-01

Structural reporting enables semantic understanding and prompt retrieval of clinical findings about patients. While synoptic pathology reporting provides templates for data entries, information in pathology reports remains primarily in narrative free text form. Extracting data of interest from narrative pathology reports could significantly improve the representation of the information and enable complex structured queries. However, manual extraction is tedious and error-prone, and automated tools are often constructed with a fixed training dataset and not easily adaptable. Our goal is to extract data from pathology reports to support advanced patient search with a highly adaptable semi-automated data extraction system, which can adjust and self-improve by learning from a user's interaction with minimal human effort. We have developed an online machine learning based information extraction system called IDEAL-X. With its graphical user interface, the system's data extraction engine automatically annotates values for users to review upon loading each report text. The system analyzes users' corrections regarding these annotations with online machine learning, and incrementally enhances and refines the learning model as reports are processed. The system also takes advantage of customized controlled vocabularies, which can be adaptively refined during the online learning process to further assist the data extraction. As the accuracy of automatic annotation improves overtime, the effort of human annotation is gradually reduced. After all reports are processed, a built-in query engine can be applied to conveniently define queries based on extracted structured data. We have evaluated the system with a dataset of anatomic pathology reports from 50 patients. Extracted data elements include demographical data, diagnosis, genetic marker, and procedure. The system achieves F-1 scores of around 95% for the majority of tests. Extracting data from pathology reports could enable

'Alive' searches as complementing death searches in the epidemiological follow-up of Ontario miners

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fair, M.E.; Newcombe, H.B.; Lalonde, P.; Poliquin, C.

1988-02-01

'Alive' searches have been used to complement the 'death' searches, in a study of the mortality experience of a cohort of Ontario miners. The purpose has been to develop a way of distinguishing between those cohort members who are 'confirmed' alive at a given time, and those who are 'lost to follow-up'. A total of 30,000 Workers' Compensation Board (WCB) records with valid Social Insurance Numbers (SIN) were used to search the income tax files by computer over two consecutive years (1977 and 1978) representing nearly 27 million tax returns. These tax file searches using SIN numbers have provided information on the procedures to be used in, and likely success of, the corresponding searches of the tax files that could be carried out where the SIN number is not available on the work records. The latter kind of search would have to be based on names, birth dates and such, and would be probabilistic in nature. The results of the study were as follows: After the initial death search, it was found that 7.5% of the cohort had died in Canada and their records were found on the Mortality Data Base. The remaining 92.5% has been 'assumed alive' in the earlier analysis. After the 'alive' follow-up using the income tax file, one was able to confirm that 89.1% of the 'assumed alive' had filed an income tax after the study period. Thus only 3.4% of the cohort remained untraced. Among those there could be an admixture of deaths outside of Canada, persons who have moved outside of Canada and are still alive, and/or persons alive within Canada, but who have not filed an income tax return. This study has indicated that the procedures developed are useful for purposes of 'alive' follow-up, for evaluation of the quality of the Mortality Data Base-cohort death file searches, for improving the accuracy of analytical results of epidemiological studies, and for reducing the cost and labour of resolving doubtful death searches

Information retrieval for children based on the aggregated search paradigm

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Duarte Torres, Sergio

This report presents research to develop information services for children by expanding and adapting current Information retrieval technologies according to the search characteristics and needs of children. Concretely, we will employ the aggregated search paradigm as theoretical framework. The

METHOD OF ADAPTIVE MAGNETOTHERAPY

OpenAIRE

Rudyk, Valentine Yu.; Tereshchenko, Mykola F.; Rudyk, Tatiana A.

2016-01-01

Practical realization of adaptive control in magnetotherapy apparatus acquires an actual importance on the modern stage of development of magnetotherapy.The structural scheme of method of adaptive impulsive magnetotherapy and algorithm of adaptive control of feed-back signal during procedure of magnetotherapy is represented.A feed-back in magnetotherapy complex will be realized with control of magnetic induction and analysis of man's physiological indexes (temperature, pulse, blood prassure, ...

Active Path Planning for Drones in Object Search

OpenAIRE

Wang, Zeyangyi

2017-01-01

Object searching is one of the most popular applications of unmanned aerial vehicles. Low cost small drones are particularly suited for surveying tasks in difficult conditions. With their limited on-board processing power and battery life, there is a need for more efficient search algorithm. The proposed path planning algorithm utilizes AZ-net, a deep learning network to process images captured on drones for adaptive flight path planning. Search simulation based on videos and actual experimen...

Search for a transport method for the calculation of the PWR control and safety clusters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruna, G.B.; Van Frank, C.; Vergain, M.L.; Chauvin, J.P.; Palmiotti, G.; Nobile, M.

1990-01-01

The project studies of power reactors rely mainly on diffusion calculations, but transport ones are often needed for assessing fine effects, intimately linked to geometry and spectrum heterogeneities. Accurate transport computations are necessary, in particular, for shielded cross section generation, and when homogenization and dishomogenization processes are involved. The transport codes, generally, offer the user a variety of computational options, related to different approximation levels. In every case, it is obviously desirable to be able to choose the reliable degree of approximation to be accepted in any particular computational circumstance of the project. The search for such adapted procedures is to be made on the basis of critical experiments. In our studies, this task was made possible by the availability of suitable results of the CAMELEON critical experiment, carried on in the EOLE facility at CEA's Center of Cadarache. In this paper, we summarize some of the work in progress at FRAMATOME on the definition of an assembly based transport calculation scheme to be used for PWR control and safety cluster computations. Two main items, devoted to the search of the optimum computational procedures, are presented here: - a parametrical study on computational options, made in an infinite medium assembly geometry, - a series of comparisons between calculated and experimental values of pin power distribution

The golden 35 min of stroke intervention with ADAPT: effect of thrombectomy procedural time in acute ischemic stroke on outcome.

Science.gov (United States)

Alawieh, Ali; Pierce, Alyssa K; Vargas, Jan; Turk, Aquilla S; Turner, Raymond D; Chaudry, M Imran; Spiotta, Alejandro M

2018-03-01

In acute ischemic stroke (AIS), extending mechanical thrombectomy procedural times beyond 60 min has previously been associated with an increased complication rate and poorer outcomes. After improvements in thrombectomy methods, to reassess whether this relationship holds true with a more contemporary thrombectomy approach: a direct aspiration first pass technique (ADAPT). We retrospectively studied a database of patients with AIS who underwent ADAPT thrombectomy for large vessel occlusions. Patients were dichotomized into two groups: 'early recan', in which recanalization (recan) was achieved in ≤35 min, and 'late recan', in which procedures extended beyond 35 min. 197 patients (47.7% women, mean age 66.3 years) were identified. We determined that after 35 min, a poor outcome was more likely than a good (modified Rankin Scale (mRS) score 0-2) outcome. The baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) score was similar between 'early recan' (n=122) (14.7±6.9) and 'late recan' patients (n=75) (15.9±7.2). Among 'early recan' patients, recanalization was achieved in 17.8±8.8 min compared with 70±39.8 min in 'late recan' patients. The likelihood of achieving a good outcome was higher in the 'early recan' group (65.2%) than in the 'late recan' group (38.2%; p<0.001). Patients in the 'late recan' group had a higher likelihood of postprocedural hemorrhage, specifically parenchymal hematoma type 2, than those in the 'early recan' group. Logistic regression analysis showed that baseline NIHSS, recanalization time, and atrial fibrillation had a significant impact on 90-day outcomes. Our findings suggest that extending ADAPT thrombectomy procedure times beyond 35 min increases the likelihood of complications such as intracerebral hemorrhage while reducing the likelihood of a good outcome. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/.

Hybridization of Sensing Methods of the Search Domain and Adaptive Weighted Sum in the Pareto Approximation Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. P. Karpenko

2015-01-01

Full Text Available We consider the relatively new and rapidly developing class of methods to solve a problem of multi-objective optimization, based on the preliminary built finite-dimensional approximation of the set, and thereby, the Pareto front of this problem as well. The work investigates the efficiency of several modifications of the method of adaptive weighted sum (AWS. This method proposed in the paper of Ryu and Kim Van (JH. Ryu, S. Kim, H. Wan is intended to build Pareto approximation of the multi-objective optimization problem.The AWS method uses quadratic approximation of the objective functions in the current sub-domain of the search space (the area of trust based on the gradient and Hessian matrix of the objective functions. To build the (quadratic meta objective functions this work uses methods of the experimental design theory, which involves calculating the values of these functions in the grid nodes covering the area of trust (a sensing method of the search domain. There are two groups of the sensing methods under consideration: hypercube- and hyper-sphere-based methods. For each of these groups, a number of test multi-objective optimization tasks has been used to study the efficiency of the following grids: "Latin Hypercube"; grid, which is uniformly random for each measurement; grid, based on the LP  sequences.

Developing Competency in Payroll Procedures

Science.gov (United States)

Jackson, Allen L.

1975-01-01

The author describes a sequence of units that provides for competency in payroll procedures. The units could be the basis for a four to six week minicourse and are adaptable, so that the student, upon completion, will be able to apply his learning to any payroll procedures system. (Author/AJ)

Qualification procedure of the electromagnetic calorimeter of the ATLAS detector; Conception et mise au point de la procedure de qualification du calorimetre electromagnetique a argon liquide du detecteur ATLAS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Massol, N

2000-04-19

LHC is the next collider based at CERN in Europe. The purpose of this machine is the Higgs boson and SUSY particles search. The detectors must have an excellent electromagnetic calorimetry to measure electron and photon energy. To maximize the signal to noise ratio for a low mass Higgs, it is fundamental to obtain a constant term as small as possible. LAPP is participating in the construction of the liquid argon electromagnetic calorimeter of the ATLAS collaboration. This technology is well adapted to the LHC experimental conditions. A systematic procedure to qualify the modules of this detector is an essential step to guarantee a 0,7% constant term, which is the collaboration objective. The procedure detailed in this thesis consists of quality monitoring during mechanical assembly and of a set of electrical tests such as electrical continuity, cell and cross-talk capacitance measurement, and high-voltage behaviour. For the whole test, it has been necessary to develop dedicated electronic cards, to develop measurement methods, and the whole operation software. Making the procedure automatic will guarantee the quality of each module during assembly, cabling, and test in liquid argon. (author)

An Efficient Binary Differential Evolution with Parameter Adaptation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dongli Jia

2013-04-01

Full Text Available Differential Evolution (DE has been applied to many scientific and engineering problems for its simplicity and efficiency. However, the standard DE cannot be used in a binary search space directly. This paper proposes an adaptive binary Differential Evolution algorithm, or ABDE, that has a similar framework as the standard DE but with an improved binary mutation strategy in which the best individual participates. To further enhance the search ability, the parameters of the ABDE are slightly disturbed in an adaptive manner. Experiments have been carried out by comparing ABDE with two binary DE variants, normDE and BDE, and the most used binary search technique, GA, on a set of 13 selected benchmark functions and the classical 0-1 knapsack problem. Results show that the ABDE performs better than, or at least comparable to, the other algorithms in terms of search ability, convergence speed, and solution accuracy.

A proposal for amending administrative law to facilitate adaptive management

Science.gov (United States)

Craig, Robin K.; Ruhl, J.B.; Brown, Eleanor D.; Williams, Byron K.

2017-01-01

In this article we examine how federal agencies use adaptive management. In order for federal agencies to implement adaptive management more successfully, administrative law must adapt to adaptive management, and we propose changes in administrative law that will help to steer the current process out of a dead end. Adaptive management is a form of structured decision making that is widely used in natural resources management. It involves specific steps integrated in an iterative process for adjusting management actions as new information becomes available. Theoretical requirements for adaptive management notwithstanding, federal agency decision making is subject to the requirements of the federal Administrative Procedure Act, and state agencies are subject to the states' parallel statutes. We argue that conventional administrative law has unnecessarily shackled effective use of adaptive management. We show that through a specialized 'adaptive management track' of administrative procedures, the core values of administrative law—especially public participation, judicial review, and finality— can be implemented in ways that allow for more effective adaptive management. We present and explain draft model legislation (the Model Adaptive Management Procedure Act) that would create such a track for the specific types of agency decision making that could benefit from adaptive management.

Adapting models of visual aesthetics for personalized content creation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liapis, Antonios; Yannakakis, Georgios N.; Togelius, Julian

2012-01-01

This paper introduces a search-based approach to personalized content generation with respect to visual aesthetics. The approach is based on a two-step adaptation procedure where (1) the evaluation function that characterizes the content is adjusted to match the visual aesthetics of users and (2......) the content itself is optimized based on the personalized evaluation function. To test the efficacy of the approach we design fitness functions based on universal properties of visual perception, inspired by psychological and neurobiological research. Using these visual properties we generate aesthetically...... spaceships according to their visual taste: the impact of the various visual properties is adjusted based on player preferences and new content is generated online based on the updated computational model of visual aesthetics of the player. Results are presented which show the potential of the approach...

XML Syntax for Clinical Laboratory Procedure Manuals

OpenAIRE

Saadawi, Gilan; Harrison, James H.

2003-01-01

We have developed a document type description (DTD) in Extensable Markup Language (XML)1 for clinical laboratory procedures. Our XML syntax can adequately structure a variety of procedure types across different laboratories and is compatible with current procedure standards. The combination of this format with an XML content management system and appropriate style sheets will allow efficient procedure maintenance, distributed access, customized display and effective searching across a large b...

Adaptive building skin structures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Del Grosso, A E; Basso, P

2010-01-01

The concept of adaptive and morphing structures has gained considerable attention in the recent years in many fields of engineering. In civil engineering very few practical applications are reported to date however. Non-conventional structural concepts like deployable, inflatable and morphing structures may indeed provide innovative solutions to some of the problems that the construction industry is being called to face. To give some examples, searches for low-energy consumption or even energy-harvesting green buildings are amongst such problems. This paper first presents a review of the above problems and technologies, which shows how the solution to these problems requires a multidisciplinary approach, involving the integration of architectural and engineering disciplines. The discussion continues with the presentation of a possible application of two adaptive and dynamically morphing structures which are proposed for the realization of an acoustic envelope. The core of the two applications is the use of a novel optimization process which leads the search for optimal solutions by means of an evolutionary technique while the compatibility of the resulting configurations of the adaptive envelope is ensured by the virtual force density method

Competing intelligent search agents in global optimization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Streltsov, S.; Vakili, P. [Boston Univ., MA (United States); Muchnik, I. [Rutgers Univ., Piscataway, NJ (United States)

1996-12-31

In this paper we present a new search methodology that we view as a development of intelligent agent approach to the analysis of complex system. The main idea is to consider search process as a competition mechanism between concurrent adaptive intelligent agents. Agents cooperate in achieving a common search goal and at the same time compete with each other for computational resources. We propose a statistical selection approach to resource allocation between agents that leads to simple and efficient on average index allocation policies. We use global optimization as the most general setting that encompasses many types of search problems, and show how proposed selection policies can be used to improve and combine various global optimization methods.

Hybridisations of Variable Neighbourhood Search and Modified Simplex Elements to Harmony Search and Shuffled Frog Leaping Algorithms for Process Optimisations

Science.gov (United States)

Aungkulanon, P.; Luangpaiboon, P.

2010-10-01

Nowadays, the engineering problem systems are large and complicated. An effective finite sequence of instructions for solving these problems can be categorised into optimisation and meta-heuristic algorithms. Though the best decision variable levels from some sets of available alternatives cannot be done, meta-heuristics is an alternative for experience-based techniques that rapidly help in problem solving, learning and discovery in the hope of obtaining a more efficient or more robust procedure. All meta-heuristics provide auxiliary procedures in terms of their own tooled box functions. It has been shown that the effectiveness of all meta-heuristics depends almost exclusively on these auxiliary functions. In fact, the auxiliary procedure from one can be implemented into other meta-heuristics. Well-known meta-heuristics of harmony search (HSA) and shuffled frog-leaping algorithms (SFLA) are compared with their hybridisations. HSA is used to produce a near optimal solution under a consideration of the perfect state of harmony of the improvisation process of musicians. A meta-heuristic of the SFLA, based on a population, is a cooperative search metaphor inspired by natural memetics. It includes elements of local search and global information exchange. This study presents solution procedures via constrained and unconstrained problems with different natures of single and multi peak surfaces including a curved ridge surface. Both meta-heuristics are modified via variable neighbourhood search method (VNSM) philosophy including a modified simplex method (MSM). The basic idea is the change of neighbourhoods during searching for a better solution. The hybridisations proceed by a descent method to a local minimum exploring then, systematically or at random, increasingly distant neighbourhoods of this local solution. The results show that the variant of HSA with VNSM and MSM seems to be better in terms of the mean and variance of design points and yields.

An Adaptive Motion Estimation Scheme for Video Coding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pengyu Liu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The unsymmetrical-cross multihexagon-grid search (UMHexagonS is one of the best fast Motion Estimation (ME algorithms in video encoding software. It achieves an excellent coding performance by using hybrid block matching search pattern and multiple initial search point predictors at the cost of the computational complexity of ME increased. Reducing time consuming of ME is one of the key factors to improve video coding efficiency. In this paper, we propose an adaptive motion estimation scheme to further reduce the calculation redundancy of UMHexagonS. Firstly, new motion estimation search patterns have been designed according to the statistical results of motion vector (MV distribution information. Then, design a MV distribution prediction method, including prediction of the size of MV and the direction of MV. At last, according to the MV distribution prediction results, achieve self-adaptive subregional searching by the new estimation search patterns. Experimental results show that more than 50% of total search points are dramatically reduced compared to the UMHexagonS algorithm in JM 18.4 of H.264/AVC. As a result, the proposed algorithm scheme can save the ME time up to 20.86% while the rate-distortion performance is not compromised.

When is a search not a search? A comparison of searching the AMED complementary health database via EBSCOhost, OVID and DIALOG.

Science.gov (United States)

Younger, Paula; Boddy, Kate

2009-06-01

The researchers involved in this study work at Exeter Health library and at the Complementary Medicine Unit, Peninsula School of Medicine and Dentistry (PCMD). Within this collaborative environment it is possible to access the electronic resources of three institutions. This includes access to AMED and other databases using different interfaces. The aim of this study was to investigate whether searching different interfaces to the AMED allied health and complementary medicine database produced the same results when using identical search terms. The following Internet-based AMED interfaces were searched: DIALOG DataStar; EBSCOhost and OVID SP_UI01.00.02. Search results from all three databases were saved in an endnote database to facilitate analysis. A checklist was also compiled comparing interface features. In our initial search, DIALOG returned 29 hits, OVID 14 and Ebsco 8. If we assume that DIALOG returned 100% of potential hits, OVID initially returned only 48% of hits and EBSCOhost only 28%. In our search, a researcher using the Ebsco interface to carry out a simple search on AMED would miss over 70% of possible search hits. Subsequent EBSCOhost searches on different subjects failed to find between 21 and 86% of the hits retrieved using the same keywords via DIALOG DataStar. In two cases, the simple EBSCOhost search failed to find any of the results found via DIALOG DataStar. Depending on the interface, the number of hits retrieved from the same database with the same simple search can vary dramatically. Some simple searches fail to retrieve a substantial percentage of citations. This may result in an uninformed literature review, research funding application or treatment intervention. In addition to ensuring that keywords, spelling and medical subject headings (MeSH) accurately reflect the nature of the search, database users should include wildcards and truncation and adapt their search strategy substantially to retrieve the maximum number of appropriate

Obstacles to prior art searching by the trilateral patent offices: empirical evidence from International Search Reports

OpenAIRE

Wada, Tetsuo

2016-01-01

Despite many empirical studies having been carried out on examiner patent citations, few have scrutinized the obstacles to prior art searching when adding patent citations during patent prosecution at patent offices. This analysis takes advantage of the longitudinal gap between an International Search Report (ISR) as required by the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and subsequent national examination procedures. We investigate whether several kinds of distance actually affect the probability t...

Hyper-heuristics with low level parameter adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ren, Zhilei; Jiang, He; Xuan, Jifeng; Luo, Zhongxuan

2012-01-01

Recent years have witnessed the great success of hyper-heuristics applying to numerous real-world applications. Hyper-heuristics raise the generality of search methodologies by manipulating a set of low level heuristics (LLHs) to solve problems, and aim to automate the algorithm design process. However, those LLHs are usually parameterized, which may contradict the domain independent motivation of hyper-heuristics. In this paper, we show how to automatically maintain low level parameters (LLPs) using a hyper-heuristic with LLP adaptation (AD-HH), and exemplify the feasibility of AD-HH by adaptively maintaining the LLPs for two hyper-heuristic models. Furthermore, aiming at tackling the search space expansion due to the LLP adaptation, we apply a heuristic space reduction (SAR) mechanism to improve the AD-HH framework. The integration of the LLP adaptation and the SAR mechanism is able to explore the heuristic space more effectively and efficiently. To evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithms, we choose the p-median problem as a case study. The empirical results show that with the adaptation of the LLPs and the SAR mechanism, the proposed algorithms are able to achieve competitive results over the three heterogeneous classes of benchmark instances.

Adaptive Augmented Reality enabled electronic Procedure Toolset, Phase I

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National Aeronautics and Space Administration — The proposed research is aimed at investigating the feasibility to provide an integrated tool suite for development of Adaptive user interfaces for Augmented Reality...

Automated Image-Based Procedures for Adaptive Radiotherapy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bjerre, Troels

be employed for contour propagation in adaptive radiotherapy. - MRI-radiotherapy devices have the potential to offer near real-time intrafraction imaging without any additional ionising radiation. It is detailed how the use of multiple, orthogonal slices can form the basis for reliable 3D soft tissue tracking.......-based treatment replanning and real-time intrafraction guidance techniques. The selected contributions detail a number of findings and techniques, in particular: - For ten head & neck cancer patients, changes in tumour density were well described by linear functions with patient-specific slope and intercept...

Children's sequential information search is sensitive to environmental probabilities.

Science.gov (United States)

Nelson, Jonathan D; Divjak, Bojana; Gudmundsdottir, Gudny; Martignon, Laura F; Meder, Björn

2014-01-01

We investigated 4th-grade children's search strategies on sequential search tasks in which the goal is to identify an unknown target object by asking yes-no questions about its features. We used exhaustive search to identify the most efficient question strategies and evaluated the usefulness of children's questions accordingly. Results show that children have good intuitions regarding questions' usefulness and search adaptively, relative to the statistical structure of the task environment. Search was especially efficient in a task environment that was representative of real-world experiences. This suggests that children may use their knowledge of real-world environmental statistics to guide their search behavior. We also compared different related search tasks. We found positive transfer effects from first doing a number search task on a later person search task. Copyright © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A local search heuristic for the Multi-Commodity k-splittable Maximum Flow Problem

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gamst, Mette

2014-01-01

, a local search heuristic for solving the problem is proposed. The heuristic is an iterative shortest path procedure on a reduced graph combined with a local search procedure to modify certain path flows and prioritize the different commodities. The heuristic is tested on benchmark instances from...

A proposal for amending administrative law to facilitate adaptive management

Science.gov (United States)

Craig, Robin K.; Ruhl, J. B.; Brown, Eleanor D.; Williams, Byron K.

2017-07-01

In this article we examine how federal agencies use adaptive management. In order for federal agencies to implement adaptive management more successfully, administrative law must adapt to adaptive management, and we propose changes in administrative law that will help to steer the current process out of a dead end. Adaptive management is a form of structured decision making that is widely used in natural resources management. It involves specific steps integrated in an iterative process for adjusting management actions as new information becomes available. Theoretical requirements for adaptive management notwithstanding, federal agency decision making is subject to the requirements of the federal Administrative Procedure Act, and state agencies are subject to the states’ parallel statutes. We argue that conventional administrative law has unnecessarily shackled effective use of adaptive management. We show that through a specialized ‘adaptive management track’ of administrative procedures, the core values of administrative law—especially public participation, judicial review, and finality— can be implemented in ways that allow for more effective adaptive management. We present and explain draft model legislation (the Model Adaptive Management Procedure Act) that would create such a track for the specific types of agency decision making that could benefit from adaptive management.

Putting Continuous Metaheuristics to Work in Binary Search Spaces

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Broderick Crawford

2017-01-01

Full Text Available In the real world, there are a number of optimization problems whose search space is restricted to take binary values; however, there are many continuous metaheuristics with good results in continuous search spaces. These algorithms must be adapted to solve binary problems. This paper surveys articles focused on the binarization of metaheuristics designed for continuous optimization.

Inhibitory guidance in visual search: the case of movement-form conjunctions.

Science.gov (United States)

Dent, Kevin; Allen, Harriet A; Braithwaite, Jason J; Humphreys, Glyn W

2012-02-01

We used a probe-dot procedure to examine the roles of excitatory attentional guidance and distractor suppression in search for movement-form conjunctions. Participants in Experiment 1 completed a conjunction (moving X amongst moving Os and static Xs) and two single-feature (moving X amongst moving Os, and static X amongst static Os) conditions. "Active" participants searched for the target, whereas "passive" participants viewed the displays without responding. Subsequently, both groups located (left or right) a probe dot appearing in either an occupied or an unoccupied location. In the conjunction condition, the active group located probes presented on static distractors more slowly than probes presented on moving distractors, reversing the direction of the difference found within the passive group. This disadvantage for probes on static items was much stronger in conjunction than in single-feature search. The same pattern of results was replicated in Experiment 2, which used a go/no-go procedure. Experiment 3 extended the go/no-go procedure to the case of search for a static target and revealed increased probe localisation times as a consequence of active search, primarily for probes on moving distractor items. The results demonstrated attentional guidance by inhibition of distractors in conjunction search.

Computer Use of a Medical Dictionary to Select Search Words.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Connor, John

1986-01-01

Explains an experiment in text-searching retrieval for cancer questions which developed and used computer procedures (via human simulation) to select search words from medical dictionaries. This study is based on an earlier one in which search words were humanly selected, and the recall results of the two studies are compared. (Author/LRW)

The influence of artificial scotomas on eye movements during visual search

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Cornelissen, FW; Bruin, KJ; Kooijman, AC

Purpose. Fixation durations are normally adapted to the difficulty of the foveal analysis task. We examine to what extent artificial central and peripheral visual field defects interfere with this adaptation process. Methods. Subjects performed a visual search task while their eye movements were

Hybrid Feature Selection Approach Based on GRASP for Cancer Microarray Data

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Arpita Nagpal

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Microarray data usually contain a large number of genes, but a small number of samples. Feature subset selection for microarray data aims at reducing the number of genes so that useful information can be extracted from the samples. Reducing the dimension of data sets further helps in improving the computational efficiency of the learning model. In this paper, we propose a modified algorithm based on the tabu search as local search procedures to a Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure (GRASP for high dimensional microarray data sets. The proposed Tabu based Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure algorithm is named as TGRASP. In TGRASP, a new parameter has been introduced named as Tabu Tenure and the existing parameters, NumIter and size have been modified. We observed that different parameter settings affect the quality of the optimum. The second proposed algorithm known as FFGRASP (Firefly Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure uses a firefly optimization algorithm in the local search optimzation phase of the greedy randomized adaptive search procedure (GRASP. Firefly algorithm is one of the powerful algorithms for optimization of multimodal applications. Experimental results show that the proposed TGRASP and FFGRASP algorithms are much better than existing algorithm with respect to three performance parameters viz. accuracy, run time, number of a selected subset of features. We have also compared both the approaches with a unified metric (Extended Adjusted Ratio of Ratios which has shown that TGRASP approach outperforms existing approach for six out of nine cancer microarray datasets and FFGRASP performs better on seven out of nine datasets.

Adaptive Functioning in Williams Syndrome: A Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Brawn, Gabrielle; Porter, Melanie

2018-01-01

Literature on the level of adaptive functioning and relative strengths and weaknesses in functioning of individuals with Williams syndrome (WS) was reviewed. The electronic databases PsycINFO, PubMed, Expanded Academic, Web of Science, Scopus and ProQuest were searched electronically for relevant articles and dissertations using the search terms…

STEPS: a grid search methodology for optimized peptide identification filtering of MS/MS database search results.

Science.gov (United States)

Piehowski, Paul D; Petyuk, Vladislav A; Sandoval, John D; Burnum, Kristin E; Kiebel, Gary R; Monroe, Matthew E; Anderson, Gordon A; Camp, David G; Smith, Richard D

2013-03-01

For bottom-up proteomics, there are wide variety of database-searching algorithms in use for matching peptide sequences to tandem MS spectra. Likewise, there are numerous strategies being employed to produce a confident list of peptide identifications from the different search algorithm outputs. Here we introduce a grid-search approach for determining optimal database filtering criteria in shotgun proteomics data analyses that is easily adaptable to any search. Systematic Trial and Error Parameter Selection--referred to as STEPS--utilizes user-defined parameter ranges to test a wide array of parameter combinations to arrive at an optimal "parameter set" for data filtering, thus maximizing confident identifications. The benefits of this approach in terms of numbers of true-positive identifications are demonstrated using datasets derived from immunoaffinity-depleted blood serum and a bacterial cell lysate, two common proteomics sample types. © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Adaptive search and detection of laser radiation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Efendiev, F.A.; Kasimova, F.I.

2008-01-01

Formation of cosmic optical line connected with the solving of difficult problems, among which stand out spatial search task, detection and target tracking. Indeed, the main advantage of systems of the optical diapason, high radiation direction leads to a challenging task of entering in communication, consisting in mutual targeting antenna receiving and transmitting systems. Algorithm detection, obtained by solving the corresponding statistical optimal detection test synthesis tasks detector determines the structure and quality of his work which depend on the average characteristics of the signal and the background radiation of the thermal noise require full priori certainty about the conditions of observation. Algorithm of the optimal detector of laser light modulated on a sub carrier frequency of intensity assumes a priori known intensity and efficiency background radiation and internal noise power photo detector

Enhancing Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm with Self-Adaptive Searching Strategy and Artificial Immune Network Operators for Global Optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tinggui Chen

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Artificial bee colony (ABC algorithm, inspired by the intelligent foraging behavior of honey bees, was proposed by Karaboga. It has been shown to be superior to some conventional intelligent algorithms such as genetic algorithm (GA, artificial colony optimization (ACO, and particle swarm optimization (PSO. However, the ABC still has some limitations. For example, ABC can easily get trapped in the local optimum when handing in functions that have a narrow curving valley, a high eccentric ellipse, or complex multimodal functions. As a result, we proposed an enhanced ABC algorithm called EABC by introducing self-adaptive searching strategy and artificial immune network operators to improve the exploitation and exploration. The simulation results tested on a suite of unimodal or multimodal benchmark functions illustrate that the EABC algorithm outperforms ACO, PSO, and the basic ABC in most of the experiments.

Top-k Based Adaptive Enumeration in Constraint Programming

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ricardo Soto

2015-01-01

order for variables and values is employed along the search. In this paper, we present a new and more lightweight approach for performing adaptive enumeration. We incorporate a powerful classification technique named Top-k in order to adaptively select strategies along the resolution. We report results on a set of well-known benchmarks where the proposed approach noticeably competes with classical and modern adaptive enumeration methods for constraint satisfaction.

Evaluation of cross-cultural adaptation and measurement properties of breast cancer-specific quality-of-life questionnaires: a systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, Indiara Soares; da Cunha Menezes Costa, Lucíola; Fagundes, Felipe Ribeiro Cabral; Cabral, Cristina Maria Nunes

2015-05-01

To assess the procedures of translation, cross-cultural adaptation, and measurement properties of breast cancer-specific quality-of-life questionnaires. Searches were conducted in the databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, and SciELO using the keywords: "Questionnaires," "Quality of life," and "Breast cancer." The studies were analyzed in terms of methodological quality according to the guidelines for the procedure of cross-cultural adaptation and the quality criteria for measurement properties of questionnaires. We found 24 eligible studies. Most of the articles assessed the translation and measurement properties of the instrument EORTC QLQ-BR23. Description about translation and cross-cultural adaptation was incomplete in 11 studies. Translation and back translation were the most tested phases, and synthesis of the translation was the most omitted phase in the articles. Information on assessing measurement properties was provided incompletely in 23 articles. Internal consistency was the most tested property in all of the eligible articles, but none of them provided information on agreement. Construct validity was adequately tested in only three studies that used the FACT-B and QLQ-BR23. Eight articles provided information on reliability; however, only four found positive classification. Responsiveness was tested in four articles, and ceiling and floor effects were tested in only three articles. None of the instruments showed fully adequate quality. There is limited evidence on cross-cultural adaptations and measurement properties; therefore, it is recommended that caution be exercised when using breast cancer-specific quality-of-life questionnaires that have been translated, adapted, and tested.

Green Software Engineering Adaption In Requirement Elicitation Process

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Umma Khatuna Jannat

2015-08-01

Full Text Available A recent technology investigates the role of concern in the environment software that is green software system. Now it is widely accepted that the green software can fit all process of software development. It is also suitable for the requirement elicitation process. Now a days software companies have used requirements elicitation techniques in an enormous majority. Because this process plays more and more important roles in software development. At the present time most of the requirements elicitation process is improved by using some techniques and tools. So that the intention of this research suggests to adapt green software engineering for the intention of existing elicitation technique and recommend suitable actions for improvement. This research being involved qualitative data. I used few keywords in my searching procedure then searched IEEE ACM Springer Elsevier Google scholar Scopus and Wiley. Find out articles which published in 2010 until 2016. Finding from the literature review Identify 15 traditional requirement elicitations factors and 23 improvement techniques to convert green engineering. Lastly The paper includes a squat review of the literature a description of the grounded theory and some of the identity issues related finding of the necessity for requirements elicitation improvement techniques.

Support patient search on pathology reports with interactive online learning based data extraction

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shuai Zheng

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Background: Structural reporting enables semantic understanding and prompt retrieval of clinical findings about patients. While synoptic pathology reporting provides templates for data entries, information in pathology reports remains primarily in narrative free text form. Extracting data of interest from narrative pathology reports could significantly improve the representation of the information and enable complex structured queries. However, manual extraction is tedious and error-prone, and automated tools are often constructed with a fixed training dataset and not easily adaptable. Our goal is to extract data from pathology reports to support advanced patient search with a highly adaptable semi-automated data extraction system, which can adjust and self-improve by learning from a user′s interaction with minimal human effort. Methods : We have developed an online machine learning based information extraction system called IDEAL-X. With its graphical user interface, the system′s data extraction engine automatically annotates values for users to review upon loading each report text. The system analyzes users′ corrections regarding these annotations with online machine learning, and incrementally enhances and refines the learning model as reports are processed. The system also takes advantage of customized controlled vocabularies, which can be adaptively refined during the online learning process to further assist the data extraction. As the accuracy of automatic annotation improves overtime, the effort of human annotation is gradually reduced. After all reports are processed, a built-in query engine can be applied to conveniently define queries based on extracted structured data. Results: We have evaluated the system with a dataset of anatomic pathology reports from 50 patients. Extracted data elements include demographical data, diagnosis, genetic marker, and procedure. The system achieves F-1 scores of around 95% for the majority of

A methodological survey identified eight proposed frameworks for the adaptation of health related guidelines.

Science.gov (United States)

Darzi, Andrea; Abou-Jaoude, Elias A; Agarwal, Arnav; Lakis, Chantal; Wiercioch, Wojtek; Santesso, Nancy; Brax, Hneine; El-Jardali, Fadi; Schünemann, Holger J; Akl, Elie A

2017-06-01

Our objective was to identify and describe published frameworks for adaptation of clinical, public health, and health services guidelines. We included reports describing methods of adaptation of guidelines in sufficient detail to allow its reproducibility. We searched Medline and EMBASE databases. We also searched personal files, as well manuals and handbooks of organizations and professional societies that proposed methods of adaptation and adoption of guidelines. We followed standard systematic review methodology. Our search captured 12,021 citations, out of which we identified eight proposed methods of guidelines adaptation: ADAPTE, Adapted ADAPTE, Alberta Ambassador Program adaptation phase, GRADE-ADOLOPMENT, MAGIC, RAPADAPTE, Royal College of Nursing (RCN), and Systematic Guideline Review (SGR). The ADAPTE framework consists of a 24-step process to adapt guidelines to a local context taking into consideration the needs, priorities, legislation, policies, and resources. The Alexandria Center for Evidence-Based Clinical Practice Guidelines updated one of ADAPTE's tools, modified three tools, and added three new ones. In addition, they proposed optionally using three other tools. The Alberta Ambassador Program adaptation phase consists of 11 steps and focused on adapting good-quality guidelines for nonspecific low back pain into local context. GRADE-ADOLOPMENT is an eight-step process based on the GRADE Working Group's Evidence to Decision frameworks and applied in 22 guidelines in the context of national guideline development program. The MAGIC research program developed a five-step adaptation process, informed by ADAPTE and the GRADE approach in the context of adapting thrombosis guidelines. The RAPADAPTE framework consists of 12 steps based on ADAPTE and using synthesized evidence databases, retrospectively derived from the experience of producing a high-quality guideline for the treatment of breast cancer with limited resources in Costa Rica. The RCN outlines

Web Content Search and Adaptation for IDTV: One Step Forward in the Mediamorphosis Process toward Personal-TV

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stefano Ferretti

2007-01-01

Full Text Available We are on the threshold of a mediamorphosis that will revolutionize the way we interact with our TV sets. The combination between interactive digital TV (IDTV and the Web fosters the development of new interactive multimedia services enjoyable even through a TV screen and a remote control. Yet, several design constraints complicate the deployment of this new pattern of services. Prominent unresolved issues involve macro-problems such as collecting information on the Web based on users' preferences and appropriately presenting retrieved Web contents on the TV screen. To this aim, we propose a system able to dynamically convey contents from the Web to IDTV systems. Our system presents solutions both for personalized Web content search and automatic TV-format adaptation of retrieved documents. As we demonstrate through two case study applications, our system merges the best of IDTV and Web domains spinning the TV mediamorphosis toward the creation of the personal-TV concept.

Teaching AI Search Algorithms in a Web-Based Educational System

Science.gov (United States)

Grivokostopoulou, Foteini; Hatzilygeroudis, Ioannis

2013-01-01

In this paper, we present a way of teaching AI search algorithms in a web-based adaptive educational system. Teaching is based on interactive examples and exercises. Interactive examples, which use visualized animations to present AI search algorithms in a step-by-step way with explanations, are used to make learning more attractive. Practice…

Searching for evidence or approval? A commentary on database search in systematic reviews and alternative information retrieval methodologies.

Science.gov (United States)

Delaney, Aogán; Tamás, Peter A

2018-03-01

Despite recognition that database search alone is inadequate even within the health sciences, it appears that reviewers in fields that have adopted systematic review are choosing to rely primarily, or only, on database search for information retrieval. This commentary reminds readers of factors that call into question the appropriateness of default reliance on database searches particularly as systematic review is adapted for use in new and lower consensus fields. It then discusses alternative methods for information retrieval that require development, formalisation, and evaluation. Our goals are to encourage reviewers to reflect critically and transparently on their choice of information retrieval methods and to encourage investment in research on alternatives. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Engineering Design of an Adaptive Leg Prosthesis Using Biological Principles

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lenau, Torben Anker; Dentel, Andy; Invarsdottir, Thorunn

2010-01-01

The biomimetic design process is explored through a design case: An adaptive leg prosthesis. The aim is to investigate if the biomimetic design process can be carried out with a minimum of biological knowledge and without using advanced design methods. In the design case biomimetic design was suc...... was successfully carried out using library search resulting in 14 biological analogies for the design problem 'shape adaption'. It is proposed that search results are handled using special cards describing the biological phenomena and the functional principles....

Curating the Web: Building a Google Custom Search Engine for the Arts

Science.gov (United States)

Hennesy, Cody; Bowman, John

2008-01-01

Google's first foray onto the web made search simple and results relevant. With its Co-op platform, Google has taken another step toward dramatically increasing the relevancy of search results, further adapting the World Wide Web to local needs. Google Custom Search Engine, a tool on the Co-op platform, puts one in control of his or her own search…

Reforming Scottish Criminal Procedure: In Search of Process Values

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pamela R. Ferguson

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Recent proposals to reform Scottish criminal procedure are motivated by considerations of efficiency and accurate fact-finding, and there is little attempt to offer a normative account. This paper describes these proposals and contends that their emphasis on finding ‘the truth’ is misplaced on two distinct bases: (1 it equates erroneous acquittals to wrongful convictions, thus fails to uphold a fundamental tenet of criminal procedure, namely the particular importance of protecting the innocent against wrongful conviction; and (2 it fails to recognise the importance of non-instrumental process values which are at the heart of the adversarial criminal trial.  The paper suggests that it is only by adhering to these process values that the state maintains – and demonstrates that it maintains – its moral authority to condemn and punish offenders. Key notes: Return Directive, entry ban, illegal migrant, criminal law sanctions, crimmigration, expulsion.

A procedure for empirical initialization of adaptive testing algorithms

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Linden, Willem J.

1997-01-01

In constrained adaptive testing, the numbers of constraints needed to control the content of the tests can easily run into the hundreds. Proper initialization of the algorithm becomes a requirement because the presence of large numbers of constraints slows down the convergence of the ability

Development of unauthorized airborne emission source identification procedure

Science.gov (United States)

Shtripling, L. O.; Bazhenov, V. V.; Varakina, N. S.; Kupriyanova, N. P.

2018-01-01

The paper presents the procedure for searching sources of unauthorized airborne emissions. To make reasonable regulation decisions on airborne pollutant emissions and to ensure the environmental safety of population, the procedure provides for the determination of a pollutant mass emission value from the source being the cause of high pollution level and the search of a previously unrecognized contamination source in a specified area. To determine the true value of mass emission from the source, the minimum of the mean-root-square mismatch criterion between the computed and measured pollutant concentration in the given location is used.

The provision of aids and adaptations, risk assessments, and incident reporting and recording procedures in relation to injury prevention for adults with intellectual disabilities: cohort study.

Science.gov (United States)

Finlayson, J; Jackson, A; Mantry, D; Morrison, J; Cooper, S-A

2015-06-01

Adults with intellectual disabilities (IDs) experience a higher incidence of injury, compared with the general population. The aim of this study was to investigate the provision of aids and adaptations, residential service providers' individual risk assessments and training in these, and injury incident recording and reporting procedures, in relation to injury prevention. Interviews were conducted with a community-based cohort of adults with IDs (n = 511) who live in Greater Glasgow, Scotland, UK and their key carer (n = 446). They were asked about their aids and adaptations at home, and paid carers (n = 228) were asked about individual risk assessments, their training, and incident recording and reporting procedures. Four hundred and twelve (80.6%) of the adults with IDs had at least one aid or adaptation at home to help prevent injury. However, a proportion who might benefit, were not in receipt of them, and surprisingly few had temperature controlled hot water or a bath thermometer in place to help prevent burns/scalds, or kitchen safety equipment to prevent burns/scalds from electric kettles or irons. Fifty-four (23.7%) of the paid carers were not aware of the adult they supported having had any risk assessments, and only 142 (57.9%) had received any training on risk assessments. Considerable variation in incident recording and reporting procedures was evident. More work is needed to better understand, and more fully incorporate, best practice injury prevention measures into routine support planning for adults with IDs within a positive risk-taking and risk reduction framework. © 2014 MENCAP and International Association of the Scientific Study of Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Fast Search and Adaptive Resolution for Complex Particle Kinetics

Science.gov (United States)

Larson, David J.

2005-10-01

A new plasma simulation algorithm, intended to bridge the gap between Eulerian fluid and kinetic regimes, is now being used for a variety of applications in ICF and weapon effects. The CPK method (Complex Particle Kinetic) concept [1] uses an ensemble of macro-particles with a Gaussian spatial profile and a Mawellian velocity distribution to represent particle distributions in phase space. Time evolution is modeled by a combination of Lagrangian motion and internal evolution within each individual macro-particle. Collisional particle-particle interactions [2] are facilitated by sorting particles into bins depending of the particle size. Different bin levels are connected by a linked list. Searching for neighboring particles is highly efficient because the search is limited to particles in neighboring bins with the possibility of interaction. The bin structure also allows the computation of various spatial moments at different resolutions. Combining the results of the moment calculations yields information on where and when increased resolution is necessary. We will present details of the particle binning process along with progress towards our goal of simulating the transition from continuum to fully kinetic physics. [1] D. W. Hewett, J. Comp. Phys. 189 (2003). [2] D. J. Larson, J. Comp. Phys. 188 (2003).

Probabilistic energy management of a renewable microgrid with hydrogen storage using self-adaptive charge search algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niknam, Taher; Golestaneh, Faranak; Shafiei, Mehdi

2013-01-01

Micro Grids (MGs) are clusters of the DER (Distributed Energy Resource) units and loads which can operate in both grid-connected and island modes. This paper addresses a probabilistic cost optimization scheme under uncertain environment for the MGs with several multiple Distributed Generation (DG) units. The purpose of the proposed approach is to make decisions regarding to optimizing the production of the DG units and power exchange with the upstream network for a Combined Heat and Power (CHP) system. A PEMFCPP (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel cell power plant) is considered as a prime mover of the CHP system. An electrochemical model for representation and performance of the PEMFC is applied. In order to best use of the FCPP, hydrogen production and storage management are carried out. An economic model is organized to calculate the operation cost of the MG based on the electrochemical model of the PEMFC and hydrogen storage. The proposed optimization scheme comprises a self-adaptive Charged System Search (CSS) linked to the 2m + 1 point estimate method. The 2m + 1 point estimate method is employed to cover the uncertainty in the following data: the hourly market tariffs, electrical and thermal load demands, available output power of the PhotoVoltaic (PV) and Wind Turbines (WT) units, fuel prices, hydrogen selling price, operation temperature of the FC and pressure of the reactant gases of FC. The Self-adaptive CSS (SCSS) is organized based on the CSS algorithm and is upgraded by some modification approaches, mainly a self-adaptive reformation approach. In the proposed reformation method, two updating approaches are considered. Each particle based on the ability of those approaches to find optimal solutions in the past iterations, chooses one of them to improve its solution. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is verified on a multiple-DG MG in the grid-connected mode. -- Highlights: ► Consider the effect of Hydrogen produced by PEMFC on MGs. ► Combines

Mental Procedures in Real-Life Tasks: A Case of Electronic Trouble Shooting

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Jens; Jensen, A.

1974-01-01

be broken down into a sequence of recurrent search routines. Basically different typos of such routines are found with great differences in respect to the number of observations needed and the complexity of the mental data processing involved. They also differ greatly with respect to the depth of knowledge......The mental procedures used by skilled electronics repair men in their normal working environment have been studied by analysis of verbal protocols. The procedures found are organized as a search through a system which is viewed as a hierarchy of subunits. The general structure of the search can...... less of whether observations are informationally redundant or not. Seen from the viewpoint of information economy, the procedures are inefficient, but if the men are supposed to minimize the time spent ill the task and the mental load involved, the procedures are very rational. The records indicate...

Local search heuristics for the probabilistic dial-a-ride problem

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ho, Sin C.; Haugland, Dag

2011-01-01

evaluation procedure in a pure local search heuristic and in a tabu search heuristic. The quality of the solutions obtained by the two heuristics have been compared experimentally. Computational results confirm that our neighborhood evaluation technique is much faster than the straightforward one...

ARSTEC, Nonlinear Optimization Program Using Random Search Method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rasmuson, D. M.; Marshall, N. H.

1979-01-01

1 - Description of problem or function: The ARSTEC program was written to solve nonlinear, mixed integer, optimization problems. An example of such a problem in the nuclear industry is the allocation of redundant parts in the design of a nuclear power plant to minimize plant unavailability. 2 - Method of solution: The technique used in ARSTEC is the adaptive random search method. The search is started from an arbitrary point in the search region and every time a point that improves the objective function is found, the search region is centered at that new point. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: Presently, the maximum number of independent variables allowed is 10. This can be changed by increasing the dimension of the arrays

Human factoring administrative procedures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Grider, D.A.; Sturdivant, M.H.

1991-01-01

In nonnuclear business, administrative procedures bring to mind such mundane topics as filing correspondence and scheduling vacation time. In the nuclear industry, on the other hand, administrative procedures play a vital role in assuring the safe operation of a facility. For some time now, industry focus has been on improving technical procedures. Significant efforts are under way to produce technical procedure requires that a validated technical, regulatory, and administrative basis be developed and that the technical process be established for each procedure. Producing usable technical procedures requires that procedure presentation be engineered to the same human factors principles used in control room design. The vital safety role of administrative procedures requires that they be just as sound, just a rigorously formulated, and documented as technical procedures. Procedure programs at the Tennessee Valley Authority and at Boston Edison's Pilgrim Station demonstrate that human factors engineering techniques can be applied effectively to technical procedures. With a few modifications, those same techniques can be used to produce more effective administrative procedures. Efforts are under way at the US Department of Energy Nuclear Weapons Complex and at some utilities (Boston Edison, for instance) to apply human factors engineering to administrative procedures: The techniques being adapted include the following

A Systematic Review of Cross-cultural Adaptation of the Oswestry Disability Index.

Science.gov (United States)

Yao, Min; Wang, Qiong; Li, Zun; Yang, Long; Huang, Pin-Xian; Sun, Yue-Li; Wang, Jing; Wang, Yong-Jun; Cui, Xue-Jun

2016-12-15

Systematic review of cross-cultural adaptation of the Oswestry Disability Index (ODI). The aim of this study was to evaluate the translation procedures for and measurement properties of cross-cultural adaptations of the ODI. The ODI is the most commonly used questionnaire to determine the outcome of low back pain, and has been translated into many other languages, such as Danish, Greek, and Korean, and adapted for use in different countries. PubMed, the Cochrane Library, Medline, and EMBASE were searched from the time they were established to January 2015. Studies related to cross-cultural adaptation of the ODI in a specific language/culture were included. Guidelines for the Process of Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Self-Report Measures and Quality Criteria for Psychometric Properties of Health Status Questionnaire were used for assessment. This study included 27 versions of ODI adaptations in 24 different languages/cultures. Only the Danish-Danish adaptation employed all six of the cross-cultural adaptation processes. Expert committee review (three of 27), back translation (eight of 27), and pretesting (nine of 27) were conducted in very few studies. The Polish-Polish (two) adaptation reported all (nine of nine) the measurement properties, whereas the Traditional Chinese-Taiwan and Hungarian-Hungarian adaptations reported six of them. Content validity (16/27), construct validity (17/27), and reliability (22/27) were determined in a relatively high number of studies, whereas agreement (three of 27), responsiveness (12/27), floor and ceiling effects (six of 27), and interpretability (one of 27) were only determined in some studies. We recommend the Traditional Chinese-Taiwan, Simplified Chinese-Mandarin Chinese, Danish-Danish, German-Swiss, Hungarian-Hungarian, Italian-Italian, and Polish-Polish (two) versions for application, but Traditional Chinese-Hong Kong, French-Swiss, Japanese-Japanese (two), Polish-Polish (two), Tamil-Indian, and Thai-Thai versions may need

Electronic Procedures for Medical Operations

Science.gov (United States)

2015-01-01

Electronic procedures are replacing text-based documents for recording the steps in performing medical operations aboard the International Space Station. S&K Aerospace, LLC, has developed a content-based electronic system-based on the Extensible Markup Language (XML) standard-that separates text from formatting standards and tags items contained in procedures so they can be recognized by other electronic systems. For example, to change a standard format, electronic procedures are changed in a single batch process, and the entire body of procedures will have the new format. Procedures can be quickly searched to determine which are affected by software and hardware changes. Similarly, procedures are easily shared with other electronic systems. The system also enables real-time data capture and automatic bookmarking of current procedure steps. In Phase II of the project, S&K Aerospace developed a Procedure Representation Language (PRL) and tools to support the creation and maintenance of electronic procedures for medical operations. The goal is to develop these tools in such a way that new advances can be inserted easily, leading to an eventual medical decision support system.

Minimalist instruction for learning to search the World Wide Web

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lazonder, Adrianus W.

2001-01-01

This study examined the efficacy of minimalist instruction to develop self-regulatory skills involved in Web searching. Two versions of minimalist self-regulatory skill instruction were compared to a control group that was merely taught procedural skills to operate the search engine. Acquired skills

Pipeline Implementation of Polyphase PSO for Adaptive Beamforming Algorithm

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shaobing Huang

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Adaptive beamforming is a powerful technique for anti-interference, where searching and tracking optimal solutions are a great challenge. In this paper, a partial Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO algorithm is proposed to track the optimal solution of an adaptive beamformer due to its great global searching character. Also, due to its naturally parallel searching capabilities, a novel Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA pipeline architecture using polyphase filter bank structure is designed. In order to perform computations with large dynamic range and high precision, the proposed implementation algorithm uses an efficient user-defined floating-point arithmetic. In addition, a polyphase architecture is proposed to achieve full pipeline implementation. In the case of PSO with large population, the polyphase architecture can significantly save hardware resources while achieving high performance. Finally, the simulation results are presented by cosimulation with ModelSim and SIMULINK.

An Iterated Tabu Search Approach for the Clique Partitioning Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gintaras Palubeckis

2014-01-01

all cliques induced by the subsets is as small as possible. We develop an iterated tabu search (ITS algorithm for solving this problem. The proposed algorithm incorporates tabu search, local search, and solution perturbation procedures. We report computational results on CPP instances of size up to 2000 vertices. Performance comparisons of ITS against state-of-the-art methods from the literature demonstrate the competitiveness of our approach.

In vitro Evaluation of the Marginal Fit and Internal Adaptation of Zirconia and Lithium Disilicate Single Crowns: Micro-CT Comparison Between Different Manufacturing Procedures.

Science.gov (United States)

Riccitiello, Francesco; Amato, Massimo; Leone, Renato; Spagnuolo, Gianrico; Sorrentino, Roberto

2018-01-01

Prosthetic precision can be affected by several variables, such as restorative materials, manufacturing procedures, framework design, cementation techniques and aging. Marginal adaptation is critical for long-term longevity and clinical success of dental restorations. Marginal misfit may lead to cement exposure to oral fluids, resulting in microleakage and cement dissolution. As a consequence, marginal discrepancies enhance percolation of bacteria, food and oral debris, potentially causing secondary caries, endodontic inflammation and periodontal disease. The aim of the present in vitro study was to evaluate the marginal and internal adaptation of zirconia and lithium disilicate single crowns, produced with different manufacturing procedures. Forty-five intact human maxillary premolars were prepared for single crowns by means of standardized preparations. All-ceramic crowns were fabricated with either CAD-CAM or heat-pressing procedures (CAD-CAM zirconia, CAD-CAM lithium disilicate, heat-pressed lithium disilicate) and cemented onto the teeth with a universal resin cement. Non-destructive micro-CT scanning was used to achieve the marginal and internal gaps in the coronal and sagittal planes; then, precision of fit measurements were calculated in a dedicated software and the results were statistically analyzed. The heat-pressed lithium disilicate crowns were significantly less accurate at the prosthetic margins (p0.05); nevertheless CAD-CAM zirconia copings presented the best marginal fit among the experimental groups. As to the thickness of the cement layer, reduced amounts of luting agent were noticed at the finishing line, whereas a thicker layer was reported at the occlusal level. Within the limitations of the present in vitro investigation, the following conclusions can be drawn: the recorded marginal gaps were within the clinical acceptability irrespective of both the restorative material and the manufacturing procedures; the CAD-CAM processing techniques for

Basic principles, mosaic of knowledges and adaptive silviculture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Borghetti M

2012-07-01

Full Text Available Achievements of ecological science and direct experience are of great help for the interpretation of forest ecosystem dynamics and the definition of adaptive procedures for forest manipulation, i.e. adaptive silviculture.

Constraint-Checking Editor for Procedure Tracking (ConCEPT), Phase II

Data.gov (United States)

National Aeronautics and Space Administration — Constructing, maintaining, and adapting operational procedures for manned space operations is a complex task, requiring the procedure author to satisfy constraints...

Robots that can adapt like animals.

Science.gov (United States)

Cully, Antoine; Clune, Jeff; Tarapore, Danesh; Mouret, Jean-Baptiste

2015-05-28

Robots have transformed many industries, most notably manufacturing, and have the power to deliver tremendous benefits to society, such as in search and rescue, disaster response, health care and transportation. They are also invaluable tools for scientific exploration in environments inaccessible to humans, from distant planets to deep oceans. A major obstacle to their widespread adoption in more complex environments outside factories is their fragility. Whereas animals can quickly adapt to injuries, current robots cannot 'think outside the box' to find a compensatory behaviour when they are damaged: they are limited to their pre-specified self-sensing abilities, can diagnose only anticipated failure modes, and require a pre-programmed contingency plan for every type of potential damage, an impracticality for complex robots. A promising approach to reducing robot fragility involves having robots learn appropriate behaviours in response to damage, but current techniques are slow even with small, constrained search spaces. Here we introduce an intelligent trial-and-error algorithm that allows robots to adapt to damage in less than two minutes in large search spaces without requiring self-diagnosis or pre-specified contingency plans. Before the robot is deployed, it uses a novel technique to create a detailed map of the space of high-performing behaviours. This map represents the robot's prior knowledge about what behaviours it can perform and their value. When the robot is damaged, it uses this prior knowledge to guide a trial-and-error learning algorithm that conducts intelligent experiments to rapidly discover a behaviour that compensates for the damage. Experiments reveal successful adaptations for a legged robot injured in five different ways, including damaged, broken, and missing legs, and for a robotic arm with joints broken in 14 different ways. This new algorithm will enable more robust, effective, autonomous robots, and may shed light on the principles

Solid-phase extraction procedures in systematic toxicological analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Franke, J.P.; de Zeeuw, R.A

1998-01-01

In systematic toxicological analysis (STA) the substance(s) present is (are) not known at the start of the analysis. in such an undirected search the extraction procedure cannot be directed to a given substance but must be a general procedure where a compromise must be reached in that the substances

The "new normal": Adapting doctoral trainee career preparation for broad career paths in science.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebekah St Clair

Full Text Available Doctoral recipients in the biomedical sciences and STEM fields are showing increased interest in career opportunities beyond academic positions. While recent research has addressed the interests and preferences of doctoral trainees for non-academic careers, the strategies and resources that trainees use to prepare for a broad job market (non-academic are poorly understood. The recent adaptation of the Social Cognitive Career Theory to explicitly highlight the interplay of contextual support mechanisms, individual career search efficacy, and self-adaptation of job search processes underscores the value of attention to this explicit career phase. Our research addresses the factors that affect the career search confidence and job search strategies of doctoral trainees with non-academic career interests and is based on nearly 900 respondents from an NIH-funded survey of doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows in the biomedical sciences at two U.S. universities. Using structural equation modeling, we find that trainees pursuing non-academic careers, and/or with low perceived program support for career goals, have lower career development and search process efficacy (CDSE, and receive different levels of support from their advisors/supervisors. We also find evidence of trainee adaptation driven by their career search efficacy, and not by career interests.

Bayesian item selection criteria for adaptive testing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Linden, Willem J.

1996-01-01

R.J. Owen (1975) proposed an approximate empirical Bayes procedure for item selection in adaptive testing. The procedure replaces the true posterior by a normal approximation with closed-form expressions for its first two moments. This approximation was necessary to minimize the computational

Pain Management for Gynecologic Procedures in the Office.

Science.gov (United States)

Ireland, Luu Doan; Allen, Rebecca H

2016-02-01

Satisfactory pain control for women undergoing office gynecologic procedures is critical for both patient comfort and procedure success. Therefore, it is important for clinicians to be aware of the safety and efficacy of different pain control regimens. This article aimed to review the literature regarding pain control regimens for procedures such as endometrial biopsy, intrauterine device insertion, colposcopy and loop electrosurgical excisional procedure, uterine aspiration, and hysteroscopy. A search of published literature using PubMed was conducted using the following keywords: "pain" or "anesthesia." These terms were paired with the following keywords: "intrauterine device" or "IUD," "endometrial biopsy," "uterine aspiration" or "abortion," "colposcopy" or "loop electrosurgical excisional procedure" or "LEEP," "hysteroscopy" or "hysteroscopic sterilization." The search was conducted through July 2015. Articles were hand reviewed and selected by the authors for study quality. Meta-analyses and randomized controlled trials were prioritized. Although local anesthesia is commonly used for gynecologic procedures, a multimodal approach may be more effective including oral medication, a dedicated emotional support person, and visual or auditory distraction. Women who are nulliparous, are postmenopausal, have a history of dysmenorrhea, or suffer from anxiety are more likely to experience greater pain with gynecologic procedures. Evidence for some interventions exists; however, the interpretation of intervention comparisons is limited by the use of different regimens, pain measurement scales, patient populations, and procedure techniques. There are many options for pain management for office gynecologic procedures, and depending on the procedure, different modalities may work best. The importance of patient counseling and selection cannot be overstated.

Partial update least-square adaptive filtering

CERN Document Server

Xie, Bei

2014-01-01

Adaptive filters play an important role in the fields related to digital signal processing and communication, such as system identification, noise cancellation, channel equalization, and beamforming. In practical applications, the computational complexity of an adaptive filter is an important consideration. The Least Mean Square (LMS) algorithm is widely used because of its low computational complexity (O(N)) and simplicity in implementation. The least squares algorithms, such as Recursive Least Squares (RLS), Conjugate Gradient (CG), and Euclidean Direction Search (EDS), can converge faster a

Network measures for characterising team adaptation processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Barth, S.K.; Schraagen, J.M.C.; Schmettow, M.

2015-01-01

The aim of this study was to advance the conceptualisation of team adaptation by applying social network analysis (SNA) measures in a field study of a paediatric cardiac surgical team adapting to changes in task complexity and ongoing dynamic complexity. Forty surgical procedures were observed by

Adaptive design methods in clinical trials – a review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chang Mark

2008-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract In recent years, the use of adaptive design methods in clinical research and development based on accrued data has become very popular due to its flexibility and efficiency. Based on adaptations applied, adaptive designs can be classified into three categories: prospective, concurrent (ad hoc, and retrospective adaptive designs. An adaptive design allows modifications made to trial and/or statistical procedures of ongoing clinical trials. However, it is a concern that the actual patient population after the adaptations could deviate from the originally target patient population and consequently the overall type I error (to erroneously claim efficacy for an infective drug rate may not be controlled. In addition, major adaptations of trial and/or statistical procedures of on-going trials may result in a totally different trial that is unable to address the scientific/medical questions the trial intends to answer. In this article, several commonly considered adaptive designs in clinical trials are reviewed. Impacts of ad hoc adaptations (protocol amendments, challenges in by design (prospective adaptations, and obstacles of retrospective adaptations are described. Strategies for the use of adaptive design in clinical development of rare diseases are discussed. Some examples concerning the development of Velcade intended for multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin's lymphoma are given. Practical issues that are commonly encountered when implementing adaptive design methods in clinical trials are also discussed.

Electronic procedure distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Slone, B.J. III; Richardson, C.E.

1993-01-01

Printed procedures can offer a mix of text and graphic information that improves readability and increases understanding. A typical procedure uses illustrations and graphics to clarify concepts, a variety of type styles and weights to make it easier to find different topics and sections, white space to improve readability, and familiar navigational clues such as page numbers and topic headers. Initially, electronic procedure systems had limited typeface options, often only a single typeface, with no capability for enhancing readability by varying type size bolding, italicizing, or underlining, and no ability to include graphics. Even recently, many text-only electronic procedures were originally created in a modern What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSI-WYG) document authoring system, only to be converted to pages and pages of plain type for electronic distribution. Given the choice of paper or on-line producers, most users have chosen paper for its readability. But current-generation electronic document systems that use formatted text and embedded graphics offer users vastly improved readability. Further, they are offering ever-better search tools to enable rapid location of material of interest

Time analysis in astronomy: Tools for periodicity searches

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Buccheri, R.; Sacco, B.

1985-01-01

The authors discuss periodicity searches in radio and gamma-ray astronomy with special considerations for pulsar searches. The basic methodologies of fast Fourier transform, Rayleigh test, and epoch folding are reviewed with the main objective to compare cost and sensitivities in different applications. It is found that FFT procedures are convenient in unbiased searches for periodicity in radio astronomy, while in spark chamber gamma-ray astronomy, where the measurements are spread over a long integration time, unbiased searches are very difficult with the existing computing facilities and analyses with a-priori knowledge on the period values to look for are better done using the Rayleigh test with harmonics folding (Z /sub n/ test)

Transvaginal mesh procedures for pelvic organ prolapse.

Science.gov (United States)

Walter, Jens-Erik

2011-02-01

To provide an update on transvaginal mesh procedures, newly available minimally invasive surgical techniques for pelvic floor repair. The discussion is limited to minimally invasive transvaginal mesh procedures. PubMed and Medline were searched for articles published in English, using the key words "pelvic organ prolapse," transvaginal mesh," and "minimally invasive surgery." Results were restricted to systematic reviews, randomized control trials/controlled clinical trials, and observational studies. Searches were updated on a regular basis, and articles were incorporated in the guideline to May 2010. Grey (unpublished) literature was identified through searching the websites of health technology assessment and health technology assessment-related agencies, clinical practice guideline collections, clinical trial registries, and national and international medical specialty societies. The quality of evidence was rated using the criteria described in the Report of the Canadian Task Force on the Preventive Health Care. Recommendations for practice were ranked according to the method described in that report (Table 1). Counselling for the surgical treatment of pelvic organ prolapse should consider all benefits, harms, and costs of the surgical procedure, with particular emphasis on the use of mesh. 1. Patients should be counselled that transvaginal mesh procedures are considered novel techniques for pelvic floor repair that demonstrate high rates of anatomical cure in uncontrolled short-term case series. (II-2B) 2. Patients should be informed of the range of success rates until stronger evidence of superiority is published. (II-2B) 3. Training specific to transvaginal mesh procedures should be undertaken before procedures are performed. (III-C) 4. Patients should undergo thorough preoperative counselling regarding (a) the potential serious adverse sequelae of transvaginal mesh repairs, including mesh exposure, pain, and dyspareunia; and (b) the limited data available

Efficient Greedy Randomized Adaptive Search Procedure for the Generalized Regenerator Location Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.D. Quintana

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Over the years, there has been an evolution in the manner in which we perform traditional tasks. Nowadays, almost every simple action that we can think about involves the connection among two or more devices. It is desirable to have a high quality connection among devices, by using electronic or optical signals. Therefore, it is really important to have a reliable connection among terminals in the network. However, the transmission of the signal deteriorates when increasing the distance among devices. There exists a special piece of equipment that we can deploy in a network, called regenerator, which is able to restore the signal transmitted through it, in order to maintain its quality. Deploying a regenerator in a network is generally expensive, so it is important to minimize the number of regenerators used. In this paper we focus on the Generalized Regenerator Location Problem (GRLP, which tries to innd the minimum number of regenerators that must be deployed in a network in order to have a reliable communication without loss of quality. We present a GRASP metaheuristic in order to innd good solutions for the GRLP. The results obtained by the proposal are compared with the best previous methods for this problem. We conduct an extensive computational experience with 60 large and challenging instances, emerging the proposed method as the best performing one. This fact is innally supported by non-parametric statistical tests.

"Research protocol: a synthesis of qualitative studies on the process of adaptation to dependency in elderly persons and their families"

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

Background Dealing with dependency in the elderly and their families leads us to explore the life experience of those involved together with the processes of adaptation to this condition. A number of original studies have been published which, following a qualitative methodology, have dealt with both dimensions. Methods/Design Objectives: 1) To present a synthesis of the qualitative evidence available on the process of adaptation to dependency in elderly persons and their families; 2) to conduct an in-depth study into the experiences and strategies developed by both to optimise their living conditions; 3) to enable standards of action/intervention to be developed in the caregiving environment. A synthesis of qualitative studies is projected with an extensive and inclusive bibliography search strategy. The primary search will focus on the major databases (CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycInfo, PSICODOC, Cochrane Library, JBI, EMBASE, LILACS, CUIDEN, CUIDEN qualitative, CUIDATGE, British Nursing Index, SSCI). The secondary search will be conducted in articles taken from the references to studies identified in the articles and reports and the manual search in congresses and foundation papers. Article quality will be assessed by the guide proposed by Sandelowski & Barroso and data extraction done using the QARI data extraction form proposed by the Joanna Briggs Institute for Evidence-Based Practice. The synthesis of the findings will be based on the principles and procedures of grounded theory: coding, identification and relationship between categories, and synthesis using constant comparison as a strategy. Discussion This synthesis of qualitative evidence will enable us to detect health needs as perceived by the receivers in their own interaction contexts. PMID:20738846

Rapid, generalized adaptation to asynchronous audiovisual speech.

Science.gov (United States)

Van der Burg, Erik; Goodbourn, Patrick T

2015-04-07

The brain is adaptive. The speed of propagation through air, and of low-level sensory processing, differs markedly between auditory and visual stimuli; yet the brain can adapt to compensate for the resulting cross-modal delays. Studies investigating temporal recalibration to audiovisual speech have used prolonged adaptation procedures, suggesting that adaptation is sluggish. Here, we show that adaptation to asynchronous audiovisual speech occurs rapidly. Participants viewed a brief clip of an actor pronouncing a single syllable. The voice was either advanced or delayed relative to the corresponding lip movements, and participants were asked to make a synchrony judgement. Although we did not use an explicit adaptation procedure, we demonstrate rapid recalibration based on a single audiovisual event. We find that the point of subjective simultaneity on each trial is highly contingent upon the modality order of the preceding trial. We find compelling evidence that rapid recalibration generalizes across different stimuli, and different actors. Finally, we demonstrate that rapid recalibration occurs even when auditory and visual events clearly belong to different actors. These results suggest that rapid temporal recalibration to audiovisual speech is primarily mediated by basic temporal factors, rather than higher-order factors such as perceived simultaneity and source identity. © 2015 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.

Searching the PASCAL database - A user's perspective

Science.gov (United States)

Jack, Robert F.

1989-01-01

The operation of PASCAL, a bibliographic data base covering broad subject areas in science and technology, is discussed. The data base includes information from about 1973 to the present, including topics in engineering, chemistry, physics, earth science, environmental science, biology, psychology, and medicine. Data from 1986 to the present may be searched using DIALOG. The procedures and classification codes for searching PASCAL are presented. Examples of citations retrieved from the data base are given and suggestions are made concerning when to use PASCAL.

On the general procedure for modelling complex ecological systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

He Shanyu.

1987-12-01

In this paper, the principle of a general procedure for modelling complex ecological systems, i.e. the Adaptive Superposition Procedure (ASP) is shortly stated. The result of application of ASP in a national project for ecological regionalization is also described. (author). 3 refs

Object-oriented philosophy in designing adaptive finite-element package for 3D elliptic deferential equations

Science.gov (United States)

Zhengyong, R.; Jingtian, T.; Changsheng, L.; Xiao, X.

2007-12-01

Although adaptive finite-element (AFE) analysis is becoming more and more focused in scientific and engineering fields, its efficient implementations are remain to be a discussed problem as its more complex procedures. In this paper, we propose a clear C++ framework implementation to show the powerful properties of Object-oriented philosophy (OOP) in designing such complex adaptive procedure. In terms of the modal functions of OOP language, the whole adaptive system is divided into several separate parts such as the mesh generation or refinement, a-posterior error estimator, adaptive strategy and the final post processing. After proper designs are locally performed on these separate modals, a connected framework of adaptive procedure is formed finally. Based on the general elliptic deferential equation, little efforts should be added in the adaptive framework to do practical simulations. To show the preferable properties of OOP adaptive designing, two numerical examples are tested. The first one is the 3D direct current resistivity problem in which the powerful framework is efficiently shown as only little divisions are added. And then, in the second induced polarization£¨IP£©exploration case, new adaptive procedure is easily added which adequately shows the strong extendibility and re-usage of OOP language. Finally we believe based on the modal framework adaptive implementation by OOP methodology, more advanced adaptive analysis system will be available in future.

An Adaptive Reordered Method for Computing PageRank

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yi-Ming Bu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We propose an adaptive reordered method to deal with the PageRank problem. It has been shown that one can reorder the hyperlink matrix of PageRank problem to calculate a reduced system and get the full PageRank vector through forward substitutions. This method can provide a speedup for calculating the PageRank vector. We observe that in the existing reordered method, the cost of the recursively reordering procedure could offset the computational reduction brought by minimizing the dimension of linear system. With this observation, we introduce an adaptive reordered method to accelerate the total calculation, in which we terminate the reordering procedure appropriately instead of reordering to the end. Numerical experiments show the effectiveness of this adaptive reordered method.

Petalz: Search-based Procedural Content Generation for the Casual Gamer

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Risi, S.; Lehman, J.; D'Ambrosio, D.B

2015-01-01

The impact of game content on the player experience is potentially more critical in casual games than in competitive games because of the diminished role of strategic or tactical diversions. Interestingly, until now procedural content generation (PCG) has nevertheless been investigated almost exc...

Adapt

Science.gov (United States)

Bargatze, L. F.

2015-12-01

Active Data Archive Product Tracking (ADAPT) is a collection of software routines that permits one to generate XML metadata files to describe and register data products in support of the NASA Heliophysics Virtual Observatory VxO effort. ADAPT is also a philosophy. The ADAPT concept is to use any and all available metadata associated with scientific data to produce XML metadata descriptions in a consistent, uniform, and organized fashion to provide blanket access to the full complement of data stored on a targeted data server. In this poster, we present an application of ADAPT to describe all of the data products that are stored by using the Common Data File (CDF) format served out by the CDAWEB and SPDF data servers hosted at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. These data servers are the primary repositories for NASA Heliophysics data. For this purpose, the ADAPT routines have been used to generate data resource descriptions by using an XML schema named Space Physics Archive, Search, and Extract (SPASE). SPASE is the designated standard for documenting Heliophysics data products, as adopted by the Heliophysics Data and Model Consortium. The set of SPASE XML resource descriptions produced by ADAPT includes high-level descriptions of numerical data products, display data products, or catalogs and also includes low-level "Granule" descriptions. A SPASE Granule is effectively a universal access metadata resource; a Granule associates an individual data file (e.g. a CDF file) with a "parent" high-level data resource description, assigns a resource identifier to the file, and lists the corresponding assess URL(s). The CDAWEB and SPDF file systems were queried to provide the input required by the ADAPT software to create an initial set of SPASE metadata resource descriptions. Then, the CDAWEB and SPDF data repositories were queried subsequently on a nightly basis and the CDF file lists were checked for any changes such as the occurrence of new, modified, or deleted

A novel directional asymmetric sampling search algorithm for fast block-matching motion estimation

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yue-e.; Wang, Qiang

2011-11-01

This paper proposes a novel directional asymmetric sampling search (DASS) algorithm for video compression. Making full use of the error information (block distortions) of the search patterns, eight different direction search patterns are designed for various situations. The strategy of local sampling search is employed for the search of big-motion vector. In order to further speed up the search, early termination strategy is adopted in procedure of DASS. Compared to conventional fast algorithms, the proposed method has the most satisfactory PSNR values for all test sequences.

Respiratory syncytial virus tracking using internet search engine data.

Science.gov (United States)

Oren, Eyal; Frere, Justin; Yom-Tov, Eran; Yom-Tov, Elad

2018-04-03

Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) is the leading cause of hospitalization in children less than 1 year of age in the United States. Internet search engine queries may provide high resolution temporal and spatial data to estimate and predict disease activity. After filtering an initial list of 613 symptoms using high-resolution Bing search logs, we used Google Trends data between 2004 and 2016 for a smaller list of 50 terms to build predictive models of RSV incidence for five states where long-term surveillance data was available. We then used domain adaptation to model RSV incidence for the 45 remaining US states. Surveillance data sources (hospitalization and laboratory reports) were highly correlated, as were laboratory reports with search engine data. The four terms which were most often statistically significantly correlated as time series with the surveillance data in the five state models were RSV, flu, pneumonia, and bronchiolitis. Using our models, we tracked the spread of RSV by observing the time of peak use of the search term in different states. In general, the RSV peak moved from south-east (Florida) to the north-west US. Our study represents the first time that RSV has been tracked using Internet data results and highlights successful use of search filters and domain adaptation techniques, using data at multiple resolutions. Our approach may assist in identifying spread of both local and more widespread RSV transmission and may be applicable to other seasonal conditions where comprehensive epidemiological data is difficult to collect or obtain.

Adapting the Accreditation Procedures to a New Educational Technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cojocaru, Dorian; Tudor Tanasie, Razvan; Friesel, Anna

2017-01-01

, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) topics, including: technology solutions, infrastructure, activities, assessment, curricula, and classroom furniture and environment designs. The project addresses three different learning contexts (post-secondary design studios, post-secondary engineering sciences...... classrooms, and secondary-level high school STEM learning environments) across four national settings in the EU. In the upper defined context, this paper deals with the problem of adapting the accreditation of the engineering programs to the new educational technologies....

Adapting the Accreditation Procedures to a New Educational Technology

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cojocaru, Dorian; Tudor Tanasie, Razvan; Friesel, Anna

2016-01-01

, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) topics, including: technology solutions, infrastructure, activities, assessment, curricula, and classroom furniture and environment designs. The project addresses three different learning contexts (post-secondary design studios, post-secondary engineering sciences...... classrooms, and secondary-level high school STEM learning environments) across four national settings in the EU. In the upper defined context, this paper deals with the problem of adapting the accreditation of the engineering programs to the new educational technologies....

Genetic Algorithms for Case Adaptation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Salem, A M [Computer Science Dept, Faculty of Computer and Information Sciences, Ain Shams University, Cairo (Egypt); Mohamed, A H [Solid State Dept., (NCRRT), Cairo (Egypt)

2008-07-01

Case based reasoning (CBR) paradigm has been widely used to provide computer support for recalling and adapting known cases to novel situations. Case adaptation algorithms generally rely on knowledge based and heuristics in order to change the past solutions to solve new problems. However, case adaptation has always been a difficult process to engineers within (CBR) cycle. Its difficulties can be referred to its domain dependency; and computational cost. In an effort to solve this problem, this research explores a general-purpose method that applying a genetic algorithm (GA) to CBR adaptation. Therefore, it can decrease the computational complexity of the search space in the problems having a great dependency on their domain knowledge. The proposed model can be used to perform a variety of design tasks on a broad set of application domains. However, it has been implemented for the tablet formulation as a domain of application. The proposed system has improved the performance of the CBR design systems.

Genetic Algorithms for Case Adaptation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salem, A.M.; Mohamed, A.H.

2008-01-01

Case based reasoning (CBR) paradigm has been widely used to provide computer support for recalling and adapting known cases to novel situations. Case adaptation algorithms generally rely on knowledge based and heuristics in order to change the past solutions to solve new problems. However, case adaptation has always been a difficult process to engineers within (CBR) cycle. Its difficulties can be referred to its domain dependency; and computational cost. In an effort to solve this problem, this research explores a general-purpose method that applying a genetic algorithm (GA) to CBR adaptation. Therefore, it can decrease the computational complexity of the search space in the problems having a great dependency on their domain knowledge. The proposed model can be used to perform a variety of design tasks on a broad set of application domains. However, it has been implemented for the tablet formulation as a domain of application. The proposed system has improved the performance of the CBR design systems

Cooperative parallel adaptive neighbourhood search for the disjunctively constrained knapsack problem

Science.gov (United States)

Quan, Zhe; Wu, Lei

2017-09-01

This article investigates the use of parallel computing for solving the disjunctively constrained knapsack problem. The proposed parallel computing model can be viewed as a cooperative algorithm based on a multi-neighbourhood search. The cooperation system is composed of a team manager and a crowd of team members. The team members aim at applying their own search strategies to explore the solution space. The team manager collects the solutions from the members and shares the best one with them. The performance of the proposed method is evaluated on a group of benchmark data sets. The results obtained are compared to those reached by the best methods from the literature. The results show that the proposed method is able to provide the best solutions in most cases. In order to highlight the robustness of the proposed parallel computing model, a new set of large-scale instances is introduced. Encouraging results have been obtained.

Kernel Clustering with a Differential Harmony Search Algorithm for Scheme Classification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu Feng

2017-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a kernel fuzzy clustering with a novel differential harmony search algorithm to coordinate with the diversion scheduling scheme classification. First, we employed a self-adaptive solution generation strategy and differential evolution-based population update strategy to improve the classical harmony search. Second, we applied the differential harmony search algorithm to the kernel fuzzy clustering to help the clustering method obtain better solutions. Finally, the combination of the kernel fuzzy clustering and the differential harmony search is applied for water diversion scheduling in East Lake. A comparison of the proposed method with other methods has been carried out. The results show that the kernel clustering with the differential harmony search algorithm has good performance to cooperate with the water diversion scheduling problems.

Adaptive Distributed Data Structure Management for Parallel CFD Applications

KAUST Repository

Frisch, Jerome; Mundani, Ralf-Peter; Rank, Ernst

2013-01-01

is growing rather fast if a certain small resolution is physically required. This can be remedied by applying adaptively refined grids. Unfortunately, due to the adaptive refinement procedures, errors are introduced which have to be taken into account

ADAPT(tm trocar use for laparoscopic procedures in equidea

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P.P.M. Teixeira

2016-02-01

Full Text Available O objetivo deste trabalho é descrever o uso do trocater modelo Adapt(tm no acesso laparoscópico em animais da família dos equídeos. O procedimento cirúrgico foi realizado em 15 equídeos (quatro jumentas, seis cavalos e cinco éguas, com peso médio de 320kg (290kg e 450kg, pesos máximo e mínimo, respectivamente. Os pacientes foram mantidos em posição quadrupedal, sob sedação e bloqueio local. Primeiramente, realizou-se o preparo asséptico, e o acesso foi feito pelo flanco direito ou pelo esquerdo, dependendo da estrutura a ser visualizada. Em todos os procedimentos, foi utilizado o trocater modelo Seal AdaptTM Ports (Teleflex Medical Introduces TautTM, USA, com diâmetro de 12mm. Inicialmente se fez uma incisão de pele de aproximadamente 15mm para inserção da ponta do trocater. Este foi inserido na ferida cirúrgica, realizando-se movimentos de 180º em sentido horário e anti-horário, até atingir a cavidade abdominal. Após esta etapa, o obturador do trocater foi retirado, e a ótica inserida para confirmar o acesso à cavidade abdominal. A síntese das camadas superficiais da muscular foi realizada com fio nylon nº 0, em um padrão Sultan, e posteriormente a dermorrafia, também com nylon nº 0, no padrão de Wolf. O equipamento apresentou eficiência nos procedimentos de dissecação das camadas subcutânea, musculares e peritônio, não ocorrendo significativa hemorragia nessas camadas. Em um paciente muar, ocorreu afastamento do peritônio parietal, e em alguns casos (40% ocorreu pequeno enfisema subcutâneo no pós-cirúrgico. Todos os pacientes apresentaram boa cicatrização da ferida cirúrgica. O trocater modelo AdaptTM mostrou-se eficiente na abordagem laparoscópica em equinos, apresentando segurança em se estabelecer o acesso e versatilidade no emprego de diversos instrumentais.

Validation of an online replanning technique for prostate adaptive radiotherapy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peng Cheng; Chen Guangpei; Ahunbay, Ergun; Wang Dian; Lawton, Colleen; Li, X Allen, E-mail: ali@mcw.edu [Department of Radiation Oncology, Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI (United States)

2011-06-21

We have previously developed an online adaptive replanning technique to rapidly adapt the original plan according to daily CT. This paper reports the quality assurance (QA) developments in its clinical implementation for prostate cancer patients. A series of pre-clinical validation tests were carried out to verify the overall accuracy and consistency of the online replanning procedure. These tests include (a) phantom measurements of 22 individual patient adaptive plans to verify their accuracy and deliverability and (b) efficiency and applicability of the online replanning process. A four-step QA procedure was established to ensure the safe and accurate delivery of an adaptive plan, including (1) offline phantom measurement of the original plan, (2) online independent monitor unit (MU) calculation for a redundancy check, (3) online verification of plan-data transfer using an in-house software and (4) offline validation of actually delivered beam parameters. The pre-clinical validations demonstrate that the newly implemented online replanning technique is dosimetrically accurate and practically efficient. The four-step QA procedure is capable of identifying possible errors in the process of online adaptive radiotherapy and to ensure the safe and accurate delivery of the adaptive plans. Based on the success of this work, the online replanning technique has been used in the clinic to correct for interfractional changes during the prostate radiation therapy.

Validation of an online replanning technique for prostate adaptive radiotherapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peng Cheng; Chen Guangpei; Ahunbay, Ergun; Wang Dian; Lawton, Colleen; Li, X Allen

2011-01-01

We have previously developed an online adaptive replanning technique to rapidly adapt the original plan according to daily CT. This paper reports the quality assurance (QA) developments in its clinical implementation for prostate cancer patients. A series of pre-clinical validation tests were carried out to verify the overall accuracy and consistency of the online replanning procedure. These tests include (a) phantom measurements of 22 individual patient adaptive plans to verify their accuracy and deliverability and (b) efficiency and applicability of the online replanning process. A four-step QA procedure was established to ensure the safe and accurate delivery of an adaptive plan, including (1) offline phantom measurement of the original plan, (2) online independent monitor unit (MU) calculation for a redundancy check, (3) online verification of plan-data transfer using an in-house software and (4) offline validation of actually delivered beam parameters. The pre-clinical validations demonstrate that the newly implemented online replanning technique is dosimetrically accurate and practically efficient. The four-step QA procedure is capable of identifying possible errors in the process of online adaptive radiotherapy and to ensure the safe and accurate delivery of the adaptive plans. Based on the success of this work, the online replanning technique has been used in the clinic to correct for interfractional changes during the prostate radiation therapy.

An Enhanced Differential Evolution with Elite Chaotic Local Search

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhaolu Guo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Differential evolution (DE is a simple yet efficient evolutionary algorithm for real-world engineering problems. However, its search ability should be further enhanced to obtain better solutions when DE is applied to solve complex optimization problems. This paper presents an enhanced differential evolution with elite chaotic local search (DEECL. In DEECL, it utilizes a chaotic search strategy based on the heuristic information from the elite individuals to promote the exploitation power. Moreover, DEECL employs a simple and effective parameter adaptation mechanism to enhance the robustness. Experiments are conducted on a set of classical test functions. The experimental results show that DEECL is very competitive on the majority of the test functions.

Autonomous change of behavior for environmental context: An intermittent search model with misunderstanding search pattern

Science.gov (United States)

Murakami, Hisashi; Gunji, Yukio-Pegio

2017-07-01

Although foraging patterns have long been predicted to optimally adapt to environmental conditions, empirical evidence has been found in recent years. This evidence suggests that the search strategy of animals is open to change so that animals can flexibly respond to their environment. In this study, we began with a simple computational model that possesses the principal features of an intermittent strategy, i.e., careful local searches separated by longer steps, as a mechanism for relocation, where an agent in the model follows a rule to switch between two phases, but it could misunderstand this rule, i.e., the agent follows an ambiguous switching rule. Thanks to this ambiguity, the agent's foraging strategy can continuously change. First, we demonstrate that our model can exhibit an optimal change of strategy from Brownian-type to Lévy-type depending on the prey density, and we investigate the distribution of time intervals for switching between the phases. Moreover, we show that the model can display higher search efficiency than a correlated random walk.

Time-adaptive quantile regression

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Møller, Jan Kloppenborg; Nielsen, Henrik Aalborg; Madsen, Henrik

2008-01-01

and an updating procedure are combined into a new algorithm for time-adaptive quantile regression, which generates new solutions on the basis of the old solution, leading to savings in computation time. The suggested algorithm is tested against a static quantile regression model on a data set with wind power......An algorithm for time-adaptive quantile regression is presented. The algorithm is based on the simplex algorithm, and the linear optimization formulation of the quantile regression problem is given. The observations have been split to allow a direct use of the simplex algorithm. The simplex method...... production, where the models combine splines and quantile regression. The comparison indicates superior performance for the time-adaptive quantile regression in all the performance parameters considered....

Institutional Embeddedness of Search Strategies and the Implications for Innovation Performance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grimpe, Christoph; Sofka, Wolfgang

2013-01-01

to experience the negative performance effects of oversearch. Based on a comprehensive sample of almost 8,000 firms from ten European countries, we find that institutions matter considerably for firms’ search activity. Higher market orientation of institutions increases the effectiveness of firms’ search...... ignored the institutional context that provides or denies access to external knowledge at the country level. Combining institutional and knowledge search theory, we suggest that the market orientation of the institutional environment and the magnitude of institutional change influence when firms begin...... for external knowledge while higher magnitudes of institutional change decrease it. Our results provide important insights for management on how to adapt search strategies to the institutional context....

Large Neighborhood Search and Adaptive Randomized Decompositions for Flexible Jobshop Scheduling

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pacino, Dario; Van Hentenryck, Pascal

2011-01-01

This paper considers a constraint-based scheduling approach to the flexible jobshop, a generalization of the traditional jobshop scheduling where activities have a choice of machines. It studies both large neighborhood (LNS) and adaptive randomized de- composition (ARD) schemes, using random...

Adaptive nonparametric Bayesian inference using location-scale mixture priors

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jonge, de R.; Zanten, van J.H.

2010-01-01

We study location-scale mixture priors for nonparametric statistical problems, including multivariate regression, density estimation and classification. We show that a rate-adaptive procedure can be obtained if the prior is properly constructed. In particular, we show that adaptation is achieved if

Aggressiveness, social support and school experiences as dimensions differentiating negative and positive adaptation among adolescents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marzanna Agnieszka Farnicka

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Background The study results presented below lie within a field of study which seeks to identify appropriate risk indicators for risky behaviours in the group of adolescents. The study drew on the tenets of developmental psychopathology. Adaptation assessment was performed on the basis of an objective indicator which comprised adolescents’ problems with social functioning. Participants and procedure The main determinants of the observed changes in behaviour and the development of adaptation pathways during the period of adolescence were considered to include bio-psycho-social temperamental factors (Buss & Plomin, 1984, attachment patterns (Armsden & Greenberg, 1987, trait of aggressiveness (Buss & Perry, 1992, conditions created by the environment (support of family members, peers and teachers [Malecki & Demaray, 2002] as well as previous experiences such as being a victim of violence (Osterman & Bjorqvist, 2008 or the level of school success. The final study group comprised a total of 140 positively and 140 negatively adapted teenagers (N = 280 between the ages of 12 and 19. The study was carried out in Poland. Results The study confirmed the gender effect, demonstrating a higher frequency of involvement in risky behaviours among boys. The results from searching for differences between positively and negatively adapted teens showed that in the negatively adapted group there were lower grades at school and more frequent aggressive behaviour. Conclusions The main conclusion that can be drawn from the study is that the potential prophylactic and therapeutic interventions require consideration of factors such as age, educational success, aggressiveness and social support.

Strategies to optimize MEDLINE and EMBASE search strategies for anesthesiology systematic reviews. An experimental study.

Science.gov (United States)

Volpato, Enilze de Souza Nogueira; Betini, Marluci; Puga, Maria Eduarda; Agarwal, Arnav; Cataneo, Antônio José Maria; Oliveira, Luciane Dias de; Bazan, Rodrigo; Braz, Leandro Gobbo; Pereira, José Eduardo Guimarães; El Dib, Regina

2018-01-15

A high-quality electronic search is essential for ensuring accuracy and comprehensiveness among the records retrieved when conducting systematic reviews. Therefore, we aimed to identify the most efficient method for searching in both MEDLINE (through PubMed) and EMBASE, covering search terms with variant spellings, direct and indirect orders, and associations with MeSH and EMTREE terms (or lack thereof). Experimental study. UNESP, Brazil. We selected and analyzed 37 search strategies that had specifically been developed for the field of anesthesiology. These search strategies were adapted in order to cover all potentially relevant search terms, with regard to variant spellings and direct and indirect orders, in the most efficient manner. When the strategies included variant spellings and direct and indirect orders, these adapted versions of the search strategies selected retrieved the same number of search results in MEDLINE (mean of 61.3%) and a higher number in EMBASE (mean of 63.9%) in the sample analyzed. The numbers of results retrieved through the searches analyzed here were not identical with and without associated use of MeSH and EMTREE terms. However, association of these terms from both controlled vocabularies retrieved a larger number of records than did the use of either one of them. In view of these results, we recommend that the search terms used should include both preferred and non-preferred terms (i.e. variant spellings and direct/indirect order of the same term) and associated MeSH and EMTREE terms, in order to develop highly-sensitive search strategies for systematic reviews.

A FLOW-THROUGH TESTING PROCEDURE WITH DUCKWEED (LEMNA MINOR L.)

Science.gov (United States)

Lemna minor is one of the smallest flowering plants. Because of its floating habit, ease of culture, and small size it is well adapted for laboratory investigations. Procedures for flow-through tests were developed. Testing procedures were developed with this apparatus. By using ...

Sleep-effects on implicit and explicit memory in repeated visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Geyer, Thomas; Mueller, Hermann J; Assumpcao, Leonardo; Gais, Steffen

2013-01-01

In repeated visual search tasks, facilitation of reaction times (RTs) due to repetition of the spatial arrangement of items occurs independently of RT facilitation due to improvements in general task performance. Whereas the latter represents typical procedural learning, the former is a kind of implicit memory that depends on the medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system and is impaired in patients with amnesia. A third type of memory that develops during visual search is the observers' explicit knowledge of repeated displays. Here, we used a visual search task to investigate whether procedural memory, implicit contextual cueing, and explicit knowledge of repeated configurations, which all arise independently from the same set of stimuli, are influenced by sleep. Observers participated in two experimental sessions, separated by either a nap or a controlled rest period. In each of the two sessions, they performed a visual search task in combination with an explicit recognition task. We found that (1) across sessions, MTL-independent procedural learning was more pronounced for the nap than rest group. This confirms earlier findings, albeit from different motor and perceptual tasks, showing that procedural memory can benefit from sleep. (2) Likewise, the sleep group compared with the rest group showed enhanced context-dependent configural learning in the second session. This is a novel finding, indicating that the MTL-dependent, implicit memory underlying contextual cueing is also sleep-dependent. (3) By contrast, sleep and wake groups displayed equivalent improvements in explicit recognition memory in the second session. Overall, the current study shows that sleep affects MTL-dependent as well as MTL-independent memory, but it affects different, albeit simultaneously acquired, forms of MTL-dependent memory differentially.

Search Strategy of Focused Crawler Based on Adaptive Immune Evolutionary Algorithm%基于自适应免疫进化算法的聚焦爬虫搜索策略

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

刘丽杰; 许楠; 李盼池

2012-01-01

聚焦爬虫是主题搜索引擎的核心部件。针对目前聚焦爬虫搜索策略的不足,提出基于主题相关度和页面重要性相结合的综合相关度来判别页面主题相关性,并采用自适应免疫进化算法这种搜索策略指导聚焦爬虫的爬行,实验结果证明,该算法下载的主题相关网页数所占比例明显高于最佳搜索和广度优先搜索算法的比例,具有更高的搜索效率。%Focused crawler was a core component of the topic search engine.To overcome the deficiency of focused crawler search strategy,a comprehensive value based on theme relevance and importance of page was proposed to determine the topic relevant of the page,and the adaptive immune evolutionary algorithm of this search strategy was used to guide the crawling strategy of focused crawler.The experiment results showed that the algorithm download the proportion to the number of webpage related to the themes was higher significantly than the best search and breadth first search algorithm and had higher searching efficiency.

Controlling the local false discovery rate in the adaptive Lasso

KAUST Repository

Sampson, J. N.

2013-04-09

The Lasso shrinkage procedure achieved its popularity, in part, by its tendency to shrink estimated coefficients to zero, and its ability to serve as a variable selection procedure. Using data-adaptive weights, the adaptive Lasso modified the original procedure to increase the penalty terms for those variables estimated to be less important by ordinary least squares. Although this modified procedure attained the oracle properties, the resulting models tend to include a large number of "false positives" in practice. Here, we adapt the concept of local false discovery rates (lFDRs) so that it applies to the sequence, λn, of smoothing parameters for the adaptive Lasso. We define the lFDR for a given λn to be the probability that the variable added to the model by decreasing λn to λn-δ is not associated with the outcome, where δ is a small value. We derive the relationship between the lFDR and λn, show lFDR =1 for traditional smoothing parameters, and show how to select λn so as to achieve a desired lFDR. We compare the smoothing parameters chosen to achieve a specified lFDR and those chosen to achieve the oracle properties, as well as their resulting estimates for model coefficients, with both simulation and an example from a genetic study of prostate specific antigen.

Confidence Level Computation for Combining Searches with Small Statistics

OpenAIRE

Junk, Thomas

1999-01-01

This article describes an efficient procedure for computing approximate confidence levels for searches for new particles where the expected signal and background levels are small enough to require the use of Poisson statistics. The results of many independent searches for the same particle may be combined easily, regardless of the discriminating variables which may be measured for the candidate events. The effects of systematic uncertainty in the signal and background models are incorporated ...

Obstacles to prior art searching by the trilateral patent offices: empirical evidence from International Search Reports.

Science.gov (United States)

Wada, Tetsuo

Despite many empirical studies having been carried out on examiner patent citations, few have scrutinized the obstacles to prior art searching when adding patent citations during patent prosecution at patent offices. This analysis takes advantage of the longitudinal gap between an International Search Report (ISR) as required by the Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) and subsequent national examination procedures. We investigate whether several kinds of distance actually affect the probability that prior art is detected at the time of an ISR; this occurs much earlier than in national phase examinations. Based on triadic PCT applications between 2002 and 2005 for the trilateral patent offices (the European Patent Office, the US Patent and Trademark Office, and the Japan Patent Office) and their family-level citations made by the trilateral offices, we find evidence that geographical distance negatively affects the probability of capture of prior patents in an ISR. In addition, the technological complexity of an application negatively affects the probability of capture, whereas the volume of forward citations of prior art affects it positively. These results demonstrate the presence of obstacles to searching at patent offices, and suggest ways to design work sharing by patent offices, such that the duplication of search costs arises only when patent office search horizons overlap.

On the q-Weibull distribution for reliability applications: An adaptive hybrid artificial bee colony algorithm for parameter estimation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu, Meng; Droguett, Enrique López; Lins, Isis Didier; Chagas Moura, Márcio das

2017-01-01

The q-Weibull model is based on the Tsallis non-extensive entropy and is able to model various behaviors of the hazard rate function, including bathtub curves, by using a single set of parameters. Despite its flexibility, the q-Weibull has not been widely used in reliability applications partly because of the complicated parameters estimation. In this work, the parameters of the q-Weibull are estimated by the maximum likelihood (ML) method. Due to the intricate system of nonlinear equations, derivative-based optimization methods may fail to converge. Thus, the heuristic optimization method of artificial bee colony (ABC) is used instead. To deal with the slow convergence of ABC, it is proposed an adaptive hybrid ABC (AHABC) algorithm that dynamically combines Nelder-Mead simplex search method with ABC for the ML estimation of the q-Weibull parameters. Interval estimates for the q-Weibull parameters, including confidence intervals based on the ML asymptotic theory and on bootstrap methods, are also developed. The AHABC is validated via numerical experiments involving the q-Weibull ML for reliability applications and results show that it produces faster and more accurate convergence when compared to ABC and similar approaches. The estimation procedure is applied to real reliability failure data characterized by a bathtub-shaped hazard rate. - Highlights: • Development of an Adaptive Hybrid ABC (AHABC) algorithm for q-Weibull distribution. • AHABC combines local Nelder-Mead simplex method with ABC to enhance local search. • AHABC efficiently finds the optimal solution for the q-Weibull ML problem. • AHABC outperforms ABC and self-adaptive hybrid ABC in accuracy and convergence speed. • Useful model for reliability data with non-monotonic hazard rate.

Multipass Target Search in Natural Environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Kuhlman, Michael J; Otte, Michael W; Sofge, Donald; Gupta, Satyandra K

2017-11-02

Consider a disaster scenario where search and rescue workers must search difficult to access buildings during an earthquake or flood. Often, finding survivors a few hours sooner results in a dramatic increase in saved lives, suggesting the use of drones for expedient rescue operations. Entropy can be used to quantify the generation and resolution of uncertainty. When searching for targets, maximizing mutual information of future sensor observations will minimize expected target location uncertainty by minimizing the entropy of the future estimate. Motion planning for multi-target autonomous search requires planning over an area with an imperfect sensor and may require multiple passes, which is hindered by the submodularity property of mutual information. Further, mission duration constraints must be handled accordingly, requiring consideration of the vehicle's dynamics to generate feasible trajectories and must plan trajectories spanning the entire mission duration, something which most information gathering algorithms are incapable of doing. If unanticipated changes occur in an uncertain environment, new plans must be generated quickly. In addition, planning multipass trajectories requires evaluating path dependent rewards, requiring planning in the space of all previously selected actions, compounding the problem. We present an anytime algorithm for autonomous multipass target search in natural environments. The algorithm is capable of generating long duration dynamically feasible multipass coverage plans that maximize mutual information using a variety of techniques such as ϵ -admissible heuristics to speed up the search. To the authors' knowledge this is the first attempt at efficiently solving multipass target search problems of such long duration. The proposed algorithm is based on best first branch and bound and is benchmarked against state of the art algorithms adapted to the problem in natural Simplex environments, gathering the most information in the

Quantifying environmental adaptation of metabolic pathways in metagenomics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gianoulis, Tara A; Raes, Jeroen; Patel, Prianka V

2009-01-01

of particular pathways and subnetworks reflects the adaptation of microbial communities across environments and habitats-i.e., how network dynamics relates to environmental features. Previous research has treated environments as discrete, somewhat simplified classes (e.g., terrestrial vs. marine), and searched...... multiple, continuously varying factors defining an environment to the extent of particular microbial pathways present in a geographic site. Moreover, rather than looking only at individual correlations (one-to-one), we adapted canonical correlation analysis and related techniques to define an ensemble...

The Spanish national health care-associated infection surveillance network (INCLIMECC): data summary January 1997 through December 2006 adapted to the new National Healthcare Safety Network Procedure-associated module codes.

Science.gov (United States)

Pérez, Cristina Díaz-Agero; Rodela, Ana Robustillo; Monge Jodrá, Vincente

2009-12-01

In 1997, a national standardized surveillance system (designated INCLIMECC [Indicadores Clínicos de Mejora Continua de la Calidad]) was established in Spain for health care-associated infection (HAI) in surgery patients, based on the National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance (NNIS) system. In 2005, in its procedure-associated module, the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) inherited the NNIS program for surveillance of HAI in surgery patients and reorganized all surgical procedures. INCLIMECC actively monitors all patients referred to the surgical ward of each participating hospital. We present a summary of the data collected from January 1997 to December 2006 adapted to the new NHSN procedures. Surgical site infection (SSI) rates are provided by operative procedure and NNIS risk index category. Further quality indicators reported are surgical complications, length of stay, antimicrobial prophylaxis, mortality, readmission because of infection or other complication, and revision surgery. Because the ICD-9-CM surgery procedure code is included in each patient's record, we were able to reorganize our database avoiding the loss of extensive information, as has occurred with other systems.

Climate Change: Resilience and Adaptation in New England (RAINE)

Science.gov (United States)

This database catalogs vulnerability, resilience and adaptation reports, plans and webpages at the state, regional and community level. It provides links, maps and reports for basic and advanced searches. It includes a comment box for more information.

Adaptive Assessment of Young Children with Visual Impairment

Science.gov (United States)

Ruiter, Selma; Nakken, Han; Janssen, Marleen; Van Der Meulen, Bieuwe; Looijestijn, Paul

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of adaptations for children with low vision of the Bayley Scales, a standardized developmental instrument widely used to assess development in young children. Low vision adaptations were made to the procedures, item instructions and play material of the Dutch version of the Bayley Scales of Infant…

Definition of an XML markup language for clinical laboratory procedures and comparison with generic XML markup.

Science.gov (United States)

Saadawi, Gilan M; Harrison, James H

2006-10-01

Clinical laboratory procedure manuals are typically maintained as word processor files and are inefficient to store and search, require substantial effort for review and updating, and integrate poorly with other laboratory information. Electronic document management systems could improve procedure management and utility. As a first step toward building such systems, we have developed a prototype electronic format for laboratory procedures using Extensible Markup Language (XML). Representative laboratory procedures were analyzed to identify document structure and data elements. This information was used to create a markup vocabulary, CLP-ML, expressed as an XML Document Type Definition (DTD). To determine whether this markup provided advantages over generic markup, we compared procedures structured with CLP-ML or with the vocabulary of the Health Level Seven, Inc. (HL7) Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) narrative block. CLP-ML includes 124 XML tags and supports a variety of procedure types across different laboratory sections. When compared with a general-purpose markup vocabulary (CDA narrative block), CLP-ML documents were easier to edit and read, less complex structurally, and simpler to traverse for searching and retrieval. In combination with appropriate software, CLP-ML is designed to support electronic authoring, reviewing, distributing, and searching of clinical laboratory procedures from a central repository, decreasing procedure maintenance effort and increasing the utility of procedure information. A standard electronic procedure format could also allow laboratories and vendors to share procedures and procedure layouts, minimizing duplicative word processor editing. Our results suggest that laboratory-specific markup such as CLP-ML will provide greater benefit for such systems than generic markup.

Safety and application of procedures or: how do ''they'' have to use operating procedures in nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dien, Y.

1993-03-01

Emergency procedures are inescapable aspects of safety. They can be seen as the laws to be respected in an accident situation. But as for all laws, there remains the problem of their application: should strict adherence to the procedure be imposed under all circumstances. Is this possible. Are there any potential risks with such a requirement. Or, on the contrary, should application be more ''open'', more flexible, allowing for adaptation to the actual situation. But what are the potential risks involved in this approach. Are these two approaches to the application of procedures mutually exclusive, or are they complementary. This paper analyzes the nature of the problem of application of procedures and proposes orientations for further thought on the matter. (author). 11 refs

A chaos wolf optimization algorithm with self-adaptive variable step-size

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Yong; Jiang, Wanlu; Kong, Xiangdong; Quan, Lingxiao; Zhang, Yongshun

2017-10-01

To explore the problem of parameter optimization for complex nonlinear function, a chaos wolf optimization algorithm (CWOA) with self-adaptive variable step-size was proposed. The algorithm was based on the swarm intelligence of wolf pack, which fully simulated the predation behavior and prey distribution way of wolves. It possessed three intelligent behaviors such as migration, summons and siege. And the competition rule as "winner-take-all" and the update mechanism as "survival of the fittest" were also the characteristics of the algorithm. Moreover, it combined the strategies of self-adaptive variable step-size search and chaos optimization. The CWOA was utilized in parameter optimization of twelve typical and complex nonlinear functions. And the obtained results were compared with many existing algorithms, including the classical genetic algorithm, the particle swarm optimization algorithm and the leader wolf pack search algorithm. The investigation results indicate that CWOA possess preferable optimization ability. There are advantages in optimization accuracy and convergence rate. Furthermore, it demonstrates high robustness and global searching ability.

An Adaptive Multiobjective Particle Swarm Optimization Based on Multiple Adaptive Methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Honggui; Lu, Wei; Qiao, Junfei

2017-09-01

Multiobjective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithms have attracted much attention for their promising performance in solving multiobjective optimization problems (MOPs). In this paper, an adaptive MOPSO (AMOPSO) algorithm, based on a hybrid framework of the solution distribution entropy and population spacing (SP) information, is developed to improve the search performance in terms of convergent speed and precision. First, an adaptive global best (gBest) selection mechanism, based on the solution distribution entropy, is introduced to analyze the evolutionary tendency and balance the diversity and convergence of nondominated solutions in the archive. Second, an adaptive flight parameter adjustment mechanism, using the population SP information, is proposed to obtain the distribution of particles with suitable diversity and convergence, which can balance the global exploration and local exploitation abilities of the particles. Third, based on the gBest selection mechanism and the adaptive flight parameter mechanism, this proposed AMOPSO algorithm not only has high accuracy, but also attain a set of optimal solutions with better diversity. Finally, the performance of the proposed AMOPSO algorithm is validated and compared with other five state-of-the-art algorithms on a number of benchmark problems and water distribution system. The experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed AMOPSO algorithm, as well as demonstrate that AMOPSO outperforms other MOPSO algorithms in solving MOPs.

Searching methods for biometric identification systems: Fundamental limits

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Willems, F.M.J.

2009-01-01

We study two-stage search procedures for biometric identification systems in an information-theoretical setting. Our main conclusion is that clustering based on vector-quantization achieves the optimum trade-off between the number of clusters (cluster rate) and the number of individuals within a

Adaptive striping watershed segmentation method for processing microscopic images of overlapping irregular-shaped and multicentre particles.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, X; Bai, B; Xu, N; Wu, K

2015-04-01

Oversegmentation is a major drawback of the morphological watershed algorithm. Here, we study and reveal that the oversegmentation is not only because of the irregular shapes of the particle images, which people are familiar with, but also because of some particles, such as ellipses, with more than one centre. A new parameter, the striping level, is introduced and the criterion for striping parameter is built to help find the right markers prior to segmentation. An adaptive striping watershed algorithm is established by applying a procedure, called the marker searching algorithm, to find the markers, which can effectively suppress the oversegmentation. The effectiveness of the proposed method is validated by analysing some typical particle images including the images of gold nanorod ensembles. © 2014 The Authors Journal of Microscopy © 2014 Royal Microscopical Society.

A Novel Quantum-Behaved Lightning Search Algorithm Approach to Improve the Fuzzy Logic Speed Controller for an Induction Motor Drive

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jamal Abd Ali

2015-11-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a novel lightning search algorithm (LSA using quantum mechanics theories to generate a quantum-inspired LSA (QLSA. The QLSA improves the searching of each step leader to obtain the best position for a projectile. To evaluate the reliability and efficiency of the proposed algorithm, the QLSA is tested using eighteen benchmark functions with various characteristics. The QLSA is applied to improve the design of the fuzzy logic controller (FLC for controlling the speed response of the induction motor drive. The proposed algorithm avoids the exhaustive conventional trial-and-error procedure for obtaining membership functions (MFs. The generated adaptive input and output MFs are implemented in the fuzzy speed controller design to formulate the objective functions. Mean absolute error (MAE of the rotor speed is the objective function of optimization controller. An optimal QLSA-based FLC (QLSAF optimization controller is employed to tune and minimize the MAE, thereby improving the performance of the induction motor with the change in speed and mechanical load. To validate the performance of the developed controller, the results obtained with the QLSAF are compared to the results obtained with LSA, the backtracking search algorithm (BSA, the gravitational search algorithm (GSA, the particle swarm optimization (PSO and the proportional integral derivative controllers (PID, respectively. Results show that the QLASF outperforms the other control methods in all of the tested cases in terms of damping capability and transient response under different mechanical loads and speeds.

Neural basis of feature-based contextual effects on visual search behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kelly eShen

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Searching for a visual object is known to be adaptable to context, and it is thought to result from the selection of neural representations distributed on a visual salience map, wherein stimulus-driven and goal-directed signals are combined. Here we investigated the neural basis of this adaptability by recording superior colliculus (SC neurons while three female rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta searched with saccadic eye movements for a target presented in an array of visual stimuli whose feature composition varied from trial to trial. We found that sensory-motor activity associated with distracters was enhanced or suppressed depending on the search array composition and that it corresponded to the monkey's search strategy, as assessed by the distribution of the occasional errant saccades. This feature-related modulation occurred independently from the saccade goal and facilitated the process of saccade target selection. We also observed feature-related enhancement in the activity associated with distracters that had been the search target during the previous session. Consistent with recurrent processing, both feature-related neuronal modulations occurred more than 60 ms after the onset of the visually evoked responses, and their near coincidence with the time of saccade target selection suggests that they are integral to this process. These results suggest that SC neuronal activity is shaped by the visual context as dictated by both stimulus-driven and goal-directed signals. Given the close proximity of the SC to the motor circuit, our findings suggest a direct link between perception and action and no need for distinct salience and motor maps.

The necessity to rationalize library procedures and activities

OpenAIRE

Matjaž Žaucer

2007-01-01

The necessity of the rationalization of work and procedures in libraries due to the altered requirements and needs of users and due to the expected aggravated demands of the environment are displayed in the article. The causes for the changes in the librarianship and the causes for the changes in the environment are stated. The article analyzes the searching procedure in the Slovenian union bibliographic and catalogue database using the UDC. Upon a practical experiment it was established that...

Adaptive Trajectory Tracking Control using Reinforcement Learning for Quadrotor

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wenjie Lou

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Inaccurate system parameters and unpredicted external disturbances affect the performance of non-linear controllers. In this paper, a new adaptive control algorithm under the reinforcement framework is proposed to stabilize a quadrotor helicopter. Based on a command-filtered non-linear control algorithm, adaptive elements are added and learned by policy-search methods. To predict the inaccurate system parameters, a new kernel-based regression learning method is provided. In addition, Policy learning by Weighting Exploration with the Returns (PoWER and Return Weighted Regression (RWR are utilized to learn the appropriate parameters for adaptive elements in order to cancel the effect of external disturbance. Furthermore, numerical simulations under several conditions are performed, and the ability of adaptive trajectory-tracking control with reinforcement learning are demonstrated.

Model-free adaptive control optimization using a chaotic particle swarm approach

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santos Coelho, Leandro dos [Industrial and Systems Engineering Graduate Program, LAS/PPGEPS, Pontifical Catholic University of Parana, PUCPR, Imaculada Conceicao, 1155, 80215-901 Curitiba, Parana (Brazil)], E-mail: leandro.coelho@pucpr.br; Rodrigues Coelho, Antonio Augusto [Department of Automation and Systems, Federal University of Santa Catarina, Box 476, 88040-900 Florianopolis, Santa Catarina (Brazil)], E-mail: aarc@das.ufsc.br

2009-08-30

It is well known that conventional control theories are widely suited for applications where the processes can be reasonably described in advance. However, when the plant's dynamics are hard to characterize precisely or are subject to environmental uncertainties, one may encounter difficulties in applying the conventional controller design methodologies. Despite the difficulty in achieving high control performance, the fine tuning of controller parameters is a tedious task that always requires experts with knowledge in both control theory and process information. Nowadays, more and more studies have focused on the development of adaptive control algorithms that can be directly applied to complex processes whose dynamics are poorly modeled and/or have severe nonlinearities. In this context, the design of a Model-Free Learning Adaptive Control (MFLAC) based on pseudo-gradient concepts and optimization procedure by a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) approach using constriction coefficient and Henon chaotic sequences (CPSOH) is presented in this paper. PSO is a stochastic global optimization technique inspired by social behavior of bird flocking. The PSO models the exploration of a problem space by a population of particles. Each particle in PSO has a randomized velocity associated to it, which moves through the space of the problem. Since chaotic mapping enjoys certainty, ergodicity and the stochastic property, the proposed CPSOH introduces chaos mapping which introduces some flexibility in particle movements in each iteration. The chaotic sequences allow also explorations at early stages and exploitations at later stages during the search procedure of CPSOH. Motivation for application of CPSOH approach is to overcome the limitation of the conventional MFLAC design, which cannot guarantee satisfactory control performance when the plant has different gains for the operational range when designed by trial-and-error by user. Numerical results of the MFLAC with

Model-free adaptive control optimization using a chaotic particle swarm approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Santos Coelho, Leandro dos; Rodrigues Coelho, Antonio Augusto

2009-01-01

It is well known that conventional control theories are widely suited for applications where the processes can be reasonably described in advance. However, when the plant's dynamics are hard to characterize precisely or are subject to environmental uncertainties, one may encounter difficulties in applying the conventional controller design methodologies. Despite the difficulty in achieving high control performance, the fine tuning of controller parameters is a tedious task that always requires experts with knowledge in both control theory and process information. Nowadays, more and more studies have focused on the development of adaptive control algorithms that can be directly applied to complex processes whose dynamics are poorly modeled and/or have severe nonlinearities. In this context, the design of a Model-Free Learning Adaptive Control (MFLAC) based on pseudo-gradient concepts and optimization procedure by a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) approach using constriction coefficient and Henon chaotic sequences (CPSOH) is presented in this paper. PSO is a stochastic global optimization technique inspired by social behavior of bird flocking. The PSO models the exploration of a problem space by a population of particles. Each particle in PSO has a randomized velocity associated to it, which moves through the space of the problem. Since chaotic mapping enjoys certainty, ergodicity and the stochastic property, the proposed CPSOH introduces chaos mapping which introduces some flexibility in particle movements in each iteration. The chaotic sequences allow also explorations at early stages and exploitations at later stages during the search procedure of CPSOH. Motivation for application of CPSOH approach is to overcome the limitation of the conventional MFLAC design, which cannot guarantee satisfactory control performance when the plant has different gains for the operational range when designed by trial-and-error by user. Numerical results of the MFLAC with CPSOH

Direct aperture optimization for online adaptive radiation therapy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mestrovic, Ante; Milette, Marie-Pierre; Nichol, Alan; Clark, Brenda G.; Otto, Karl

2007-01-01

This paper is the first investigation of using direct aperture optimization (DAO) for online adaptive radiation therapy (ART). A geometrical model representing the anatomy of a typical prostate case was created. To simulate interfractional deformations, four different anatomical deformations were created by systematically deforming the original anatomy by various amounts (0.25, 0.50, 0.75, and 1.00 cm). We describe a series of techniques where the original treatment plan was adapted in order to correct for the deterioration of dose distribution quality caused by the anatomical deformations. We found that the average time needed to adapt the original plan to arrive at a clinically acceptable plan is roughly half of the time needed for a complete plan regeneration, for all four anatomical deformations. Furthermore, through modification of the DAO algorithm the optimization search space was reduced and the plan adaptation was significantly accelerated. For the first anatomical deformation (0.25 cm), the plan adaptation was six times more efficient than the complete plan regeneration. For the 0.50 and 0.75 cm deformations, the optimization efficiency was increased by a factor of roughly 3 compared to the complete plan regeneration. However, for the anatomical deformation of 1.00 cm, the reduction of the optimization search space during plan adaptation did not result in any efficiency improvement over the original (nonmodified) plan adaptation. The anatomical deformation of 1.00 cm demonstrates the limit of this approach. We propose an innovative approach to online ART in which the plan adaptation and radiation delivery are merged together and performed concurrently--adaptive radiation delivery (ARD). A fundamental advantage of ARD is the fact that radiation delivery can start almost immediately after image acquisition and evaluation. Most of the original plan adaptation is done during the radiation delivery, so the time spent adapting the original plan does not

Solving a large-scale precedence constrained scheduling problem with elastic jobs using tabu search

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, C.R.; Rasmussen, R.V.; Andersen, Kim Allan

2007-01-01

This paper presents a solution method for minimizing makespan of a practical large-scale scheduling problem with elastic jobs. The jobs are processed on three servers and restricted by precedence constraints, time windows and capacity limitations. We derive a new method for approximating the server...... exploitation of the elastic jobs and solve the problem using a tabu search procedure. Finding an initial feasible solution is in general -complete, but the tabu search procedure includes a specialized heuristic for solving this problem. The solution method has proven to be very efficient and leads...

Choosing colors for map display icons using models of visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Shive, Joshua; Francis, Gregory

2013-04-01

We show how to choose colors for icons on maps to minimize search time using predictions of a model of visual search. The model analyzes digital images of a search target (an icon on a map) and a search display (the map containing the icon) and predicts search time as a function of target-distractor color distinctiveness and target eccentricity. We parameterized the model using data from a visual search task and performed a series of optimization tasks to test the model's ability to choose colors for icons to minimize search time across icons. Map display designs made by this procedure were tested experimentally. In a follow-up experiment, we examined the model's flexibility to assign colors in novel search situations. The model fits human performance, performs well on the optimization tasks, and can choose colors for icons on maps with novel stimuli to minimize search time without requiring additional model parameter fitting. Models of visual search can suggest color choices that produce search time reductions for display icons. Designers should consider constructing visual search models as a low-cost method of evaluating color assignments.

Maximum type 1 error rate inflation in multiarmed clinical trials with adaptive interim sample size modifications.

Science.gov (United States)

Graf, Alexandra C; Bauer, Peter; Glimm, Ekkehard; Koenig, Franz

2014-07-01

Sample size modifications in the interim analyses of an adaptive design can inflate the type 1 error rate, if test statistics and critical boundaries are used in the final analysis as if no modification had been made. While this is already true for designs with an overall change of the sample size in a balanced treatment-control comparison, the inflation can be much larger if in addition a modification of allocation ratios is allowed as well. In this paper, we investigate adaptive designs with several treatment arms compared to a single common control group. Regarding modifications, we consider treatment arm selection as well as modifications of overall sample size and allocation ratios. The inflation is quantified for two approaches: a naive procedure that ignores not only all modifications, but also the multiplicity issue arising from the many-to-one comparison, and a Dunnett procedure that ignores modifications, but adjusts for the initially started multiple treatments. The maximum inflation of the type 1 error rate for such types of design can be calculated by searching for the "worst case" scenarios, that are sample size adaptation rules in the interim analysis that lead to the largest conditional type 1 error rate in any point of the sample space. To show the most extreme inflation, we initially assume unconstrained second stage sample size modifications leading to a large inflation of the type 1 error rate. Furthermore, we investigate the inflation when putting constraints on the second stage sample sizes. It turns out that, for example fixing the sample size of the control group, leads to designs controlling the type 1 error rate. © 2014 The Author. Biometrical Journal published by WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Adaptive Motion Estimation Processor for Autonomous Video Devices

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dias T

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Motion estimation is the most demanding operation of a video encoder, corresponding to at least 80% of the overall computational cost. As a consequence, with the proliferation of autonomous and portable handheld devices that support digital video coding, data-adaptive motion estimation algorithms have been required to dynamically configure the search pattern not only to avoid unnecessary computations and memory accesses but also to save energy. This paper proposes an application-specific instruction set processor (ASIP to implement data-adaptive motion estimation algorithms that is characterized by a specialized datapath and a minimum and optimized instruction set. Due to its low-power nature, this architecture is highly suitable to develop motion estimators for portable, mobile, and battery-supplied devices. Based on the proposed architecture and the considered adaptive algorithms, several motion estimators were synthesized both for a Virtex-II Pro XC2VP30 FPGA from Xilinx, integrated within an ML310 development platform, and using a StdCell library based on a 0.18 μm CMOS process. Experimental results show that the proposed architecture is able to estimate motion vectors in real time for QCIF and CIF video sequences with a very low-power consumption. Moreover, it is also able to adapt the operation to the available energy level in runtime. By adjusting the search pattern and setting up a more convenient operating frequency, it can change the power consumption in the interval between 1.6 mW and 15 mW.

Adaptive finite element analysis of incompressible viscous flow using posteriori error estimation and control of node density distribution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yashiki, Taturou; Yagawa, Genki; Okuda, Hiroshi

1995-01-01

The adaptive finite element method based on an 'a posteriori error estimation' is known to be a powerful technique for analyzing the engineering practical problems, since it excludes the instinctive aspect of the mesh subdivision and gives high accuracy with relatively low computational cost. In the adaptive procedure, both the error estimation and the mesh generation according to the error estimator are essential. In this paper, the adaptive procedure is realized by the automatic mesh generation based on the control of node density distribution, which is decided according to the error estimator. The global percentage error, CPU time, the degrees of freedom and the accuracy of the solution of the adaptive procedure are compared with those of the conventional method using regular meshes. Such numerical examples as the driven cavity flows of various Reynolds numbers and the flows around a cylinder have shown the very high performance of the proposed adaptive procedure. (author)

Solving a chemical batch scheduling problem by local search

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Brucker, P.; Hurink, Johann L.

1999-01-01

A chemical batch scheduling problem is modelled in two different ways as a discrete optimization problem. Both models are used to solve the batch scheduling problem in a two-phase tabu search procedure. The method is tested on real-world data.

Inference in models with adaptive learning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chevillon, G.; Massmann, M.; Mavroeidis, S.

2010-01-01

Identification of structural parameters in models with adaptive learning can be weak, causing standard inference procedures to become unreliable. Learning also induces persistent dynamics, and this makes the distribution of estimators and test statistics non-standard. Valid inference can be

Weighted overlap dominance – a procedure for interactive selection on multidimensional interval data

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hougaard, Jens Leth; Nielsen, Kurt

2011-01-01

We present an outranking procedure that supports selection of alternatives represented by multiple attributes with interval valued data. The procedure is interactive in the sense that the decision maker directs the search for preferred alternatives by providing weights of the different attributes...

Search strategies in practice: Influence of information and task constraints.

Science.gov (United States)

Pacheco, Matheus M; Newell, Karl M

2018-01-01

The practice of a motor task has been conceptualized as a process of search through a perceptual-motor workspace. The present study investigated the influence of information and task constraints on the search strategy as reflected in the sequential relations of the outcome in a discrete movement virtual projectile task. The results showed that the relation between the changes of trial-to-trial movement outcome to performance level was dependent on the landscape of the task dynamics and the influence of inherent variability. Furthermore, the search was in a constrained parameter region of the perceptual-motor workspace that depended on the task constraints. These findings show that there is not a single function of trial-to-trial change over practice but rather that local search strategies (proportional, discontinuous, constant) adapt to the level of performance and the confluence of constraints to action. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Adaptation improves face trustworthiness discrimination

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bruce D Keefe

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Adaptation to facial characteristics, such as gender and viewpoint, has been shown to both bias our perception of faces and improve facial discrimination. In this study, we examined whether adapting to two levels of face trustworthiness improved sensitivity around the adapted level. Facial trustworthiness was manipulated by morphing between trustworthy and untrustworthy prototypes, each generated by morphing eight trustworthy and eight untrustworthy faces respectively. In the first experiment, just-noticeable differences (JNDs were calculated for an untrustworthy face after participants adapted to an untrustworthy face, a trustworthy face, or did not adapt. In the second experiment, the three conditions were identical, except that JNDs were calculated for a trustworthy face. In the third experiment we examined whether adapting to an untrustworthy male face improved discrimination to an untrustworthy female face. In all experiments, participants completed a two-interval forced-choice adaptive staircase procedure, in which they judged which face was more untrustworthy. JNDs were derived from a psychometric function fitted to the data. Adaptation improved sensitivity to faces conveying the same level of trustworthiness when compared to no adaptation. When adapting to and discriminating around a different level of face trustworthiness there was no improvement in sensitivity and JNDs were equivalent to those in the no adaptation condition. The improvement in sensitivity was found to occur even when adapting to a face with different gender and identity. These results suggest that adaptation to facial trustworthiness can selectively enhance mechanisms underlying the coding of facial trustworthiness to improve perceptual sensitivity. These findings have implications for the role of our visual experience in the decisions we make about the trustworthiness of other individuals.

Nature-inspired novel Cuckoo Search Algorithm for genome ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

compared their results with other methods such as the genetic algorithm. ... It is a population-based search procedure used as an optimization tool, in ... In this section, the problem formulation, fitness evaluation, flowchart and implementation of the ..... Machine Learning 21: 11–33 ... Numerical Optimization 1: 330–343.

Thick-film analysis: literature search and bibliography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gehman, R.W.

1981-09-01

A literature search was conducted to support development of in-house diagnostic testing of thick film materials for hybrid microcircuits. A background literature review covered thick film formulation, processing, structure, and performance. Important material properties and tests were identified and several test procedures were obtained. Several tests were selected for thick film diagnosis at Bendix Kansas City. 126 references

Density-dependent selection on mate search and evolution of Allee effects.

Science.gov (United States)

Berec, Luděk; Kramer, Andrew M; Bernhauerová, Veronika; Drake, John M

2018-01-01

Sexually reproducing organisms require males and females to find each other. Increased difficulty of females finding mates as male density declines is the most frequently reported mechanism of Allee effects in animals. Evolving more effective mate search may alleviate Allee effects, but may depend on density regimes a population experiences. In particular, high-density populations may evolve mechanisms that induce Allee effects which become detrimental when populations are reduced and maintained at a low density. We develop an individual-based, eco-genetic model to study how mating systems and fitness trade-offs interact with changes in population density to drive evolution of the rate at which males or females search for mates. Finite mate search rate triggers Allee effects in our model and we explore how these Allee effects respond to such evolution. We allow a population to adapt to several population density regimes and examine whether high-density populations are likely to reverse adaptations attained at low densities. We find density-dependent selection in most of scenarios, leading to search rates that result in lower Allee thresholds in populations kept at lower densities. This mainly occurs when fecundity costs are imposed on mate search, and provides an explanation for why Allee effects are often observed in anthropogenically rare species. Optimizing selection, where the attained trait value minimizes the Allee threshold independent of population density, depended on the trade-off between search and survival, combined with monogamy when females were searching. Other scenarios led to runaway selection on the mate search rate, including evolutionary suicide. Trade-offs involved in mate search may thus be crucial to determining how density influences the evolution of Allee effects. Previous studies did not examine evolution of a trait related to the strength of Allee effects under density variation. We emphasize the crucial role that mating systems, fitness

The film adaptation as an intersemiotic translation procedure: the "Budapeste" case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Janaína Guedes Milanez

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Based on the semiotic theories of American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, this article analyzes Walter Carvalho and Rita Buzzar’s film adaptation of the novel Budapeste, by Chico Buarque (2003. According to Peirce, a sign is anything that can take the place of something else in any situation — in this sense, in a representation context. If the sign is a representation device, we use it to make translation processes, that is, we put a sign in place of another sign so that we are able to relate to reality through language. An important issue, from this theoretical point of view, is to question how film adaptations, translations of translations, are related to literary texts. For the reading that we propose, from a semiotic perspective, we shall apply the most famous Peircean classes of signs (icon, index and symbol, considering their functionality, but we shall mainly use the icon category, because of its property of representing based on similarity relations between signs and their objects. The hypothesis we are considering initially is that, in both narratives in issue (the literary and the film one, the mirror metaphor, or the duplication metaphor, can be self-referential ones, taking part in a labyrinthine game of digressions and interruptions in the plot, which is an attempt to deconstruct the verisimilitude and so is also an icon of the fictional subject. In order to explore the analytical potential of the Peircean categories, we shall discuss the film adaptation as an intersemiotic process, trying to find out which interpretation of the novel is in the filmmaker’s reading, following the clues of this translation process and considering the implications of Peirce typology to a theoretical-critical appreciation of the film.

A Hybrid Symbiotic Organisms Search Algorithm with Variable Neighbourhood Search for Solving Symmetric and Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem

Science.gov (United States)

Umam, M. I. H.; Santosa, B.

2018-04-01

Combinatorial optimization has been frequently used to solve both problems in science, engineering, and commercial applications. One combinatorial problems in the field of transportation is to find a shortest travel route that can be taken from the initial point of departure to point of destination, as well as minimizing travel costs and travel time. When the distance from one (initial) node to another (destination) node is the same with the distance to travel back from destination to initial, this problems known to the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), otherwise it call as an Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problem (ATSP). The most recent optimization techniques is Symbiotic Organisms Search (SOS). This paper discuss how to hybrid the SOS algorithm with variable neighborhoods search (SOS-VNS) that can be applied to solve the ATSP problem. The proposed mechanism to add the variable neighborhoods search as a local search is to generate the better initial solution and then we modify the phase of parasites with adapting mechanism of mutation. After modification, the performance of the algorithm SOS-VNS is evaluated with several data sets and then the results is compared with the best known solution and some algorithm such PSO algorithm and SOS original algorithm. The SOS-VNS algorithm shows better results based on convergence, divergence and computing time.

Adaptive Synchronization of Memristor-based Chaotic Neural Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaofang Hu

2014-11-01

Full Text Available Chaotic neural networks consisting of a great number of chaotic neurons are able to reproduce the rich dynamics observed in biological nervous systems. In recent years, the memristor has attracted much interest in the efficient implementation of artificial synapses and neurons. This work addresses adaptive synchronization of a class of memristor-based neural chaotic systems using a novel adaptive backstepping approach. A systematic design procedure is presented. Simulation results have demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed adaptive synchronization method and its potential in practical application of memristive chaotic oscillators in secure communication.

Sampling procedures for inventory of commercial volume tree species in Amazon Forest.

Science.gov (United States)

Netto, Sylvio P; Pelissari, Allan L; Cysneiros, Vinicius C; Bonazza, Marcelo; Sanquetta, Carlos R

2017-01-01

The spatial distribution of tropical tree species can affect the consistency of the estimators in commercial forest inventories, therefore, appropriate sampling procedures are required to survey species with different spatial patterns in the Amazon Forest. For this, the present study aims to evaluate the conventional sampling procedures and introduce the adaptive cluster sampling for volumetric inventories of Amazonian tree species, considering the hypotheses that the density, the spatial distribution and the zero-plots affect the consistency of the estimators, and that the adaptive cluster sampling allows to obtain more accurate volumetric estimation. We use data from a census carried out in Jamari National Forest, Brazil, where trees with diameters equal to or higher than 40 cm were measured in 1,355 plots. Species with different spatial patterns were selected and sampled with simple random sampling, systematic sampling, linear cluster sampling and adaptive cluster sampling, whereby the accuracy of the volumetric estimation and presence of zero-plots were evaluated. The sampling procedures applied to species were affected by the low density of trees and the large number of zero-plots, wherein the adaptive clusters allowed concentrating the sampling effort in plots with trees and, thus, agglutinating more representative samples to estimate the commercial volume.

Adaptivni digitalni filtri / Adaptive digital filters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dragan Petković

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Rad opisuje osnove funkcionisanja adaptivnih filtara. U uvodnim razmatranjima obra-đene su osnove matematičke obrade diskretnih signala i z-transformacije kod adaptivnih filtara. Izložen je Wienerov problem filtracije. Predstavljeni su CCL petlja i Widrow-Hoffov LMS algoritam i razmotrena brzina konvergencije adaptivnih filtara. Praktično je realizova-na CCL petlja sa osvrtom na brzinu konvergencije. / The paper describes the basis of adaptive filter functioning. The first considerations deal with the mathematical processing of discrete signals and the Z-transform in adaptive filters. The Wieners filter processing problem was exposed. The Correlation Canceler Loop (CCL was presented as well as the Widrow-Hoffs adaptive Least Mean Squares (LMS step-by-step procedure. The convergence rate of adaptive filters was considered as well. The CCL simulations were obtained pointing out the convergence rate.

Salt taste adaptation: the psychophysical effects of adapting solutions and residual stimuli from prior tastings on the taste of sodium chloride.

Science.gov (United States)

O'Mahony, M

1979-01-01

The paper reviews how adaptation to sodium chloride, changing in concentration as a result of various experimental procedures, affects measurements of the sensitivity, intensity, and quality of the salt taste. The development of and evidence for the current model that the salt taste depends on an adaptation level (taste zero) determined by the sodium cation concentration is examined and found to be generally supported, despite great methodological complications. It would seem that lower adaptation levels elicit lower thresholds, higher intensity estimates, and altered quality descriptions with predictable effects on psychophysical measures.

Search for minimal paths in modified networks

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yeh, W.-C.

2002-01-01

The problem of searching for all minimal paths (MPs) in a network obtained by modifying the original network, e.g. for network expansion or reinforcement, is discussed and solved in this study. The existing best-known method to solve this problem was a straightforward approach. It needed extensive comparison and verification, and failed to solve some special but important cases. Therefore, a more efficient, intuitive and generalized method to search for all MPs without an extensive research procedure is proposed. In this presentation, first we develop an intuitive algorithm based upon the reformation of all MPs in the original network to search for all MPs in a modified network. Next, the computational complexity of the proposed algorithm is analyzed and compared with the existing methods. Finally, examples illustrate how all MPs are generated in a modified network based upon the reformation of all of the MPs in the corresponding original network

Google search behavior for status epilepticus.

Science.gov (United States)

Brigo, Francesco; Trinka, Eugen

2015-08-01

Millions of people surf the Internet every day as a source of health-care information looking for materials about symptoms, diagnosis, treatments and their possible adverse effects, or diagnostic procedures. Google is the most popular search engine and is used by patients and physicians to search for online health-related information. This study aimed to evaluate changes in Google search behavior occurring in English-speaking countries over time for the term "status epilepticus" (SE). Using Google Trends, data on global search queries for the term SE between the 1st of January 2004 and 31st of December 2014 were analyzed. Search volume numbers over time (downloaded as CSV datasets) were analyzed by applying the "health" category filter. The research trends for the term SE remained fairly constant over time. The greatest search volume for the term SE was reported in the United States, followed by India, Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Thailand, and Germany. Most terms associated with the search queries were related to SE definition, symptoms, subtypes, and treatment. The volume of searches for some queries (nonconvulsive, focal, and refractory SE; SE definition; SE guidelines; SE symptoms; SE management; SE treatment) was enormously increased over time (search popularity has exceeded a 5000% growth since 2004). Most people use search engines to look for the term SE to obtain information on its definition, subtypes, and management. The greatest search volume occurred not only in developed countries but also in developing countries where raising awareness about SE still remains a challenging task and where there is reduced public knowledge of epilepsy. Health information seeking (the extent to which people search for health information online) reflects the health-related information needs of Internet users for a specific disease. Google Trends shows that Internet users have a great demand for information concerning some aspects of SE

Estimating meme fitness in adaptive memetic algorithms for combinatorial problems.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, J E

2012-01-01

Among the most promising and active research areas in heuristic optimisation is the field of adaptive memetic algorithms (AMAs). These gain much of their reported robustness by adapting the probability with which each of a set of local improvement operators is applied, according to an estimate of their current value to the search process. This paper addresses the issue of how the current value should be estimated. Assuming the estimate occurs over several applications of a meme, we consider whether the extreme or mean improvements should be used, and whether this aggregation should be global, or local to some part of the solution space. To investigate these issues, we use the well-established COMA framework that coevolves the specification of a population of memes (representing different local search algorithms) alongside a population of candidate solutions to the problem at hand. Two very different memetic algorithms are considered: the first using adaptive operator pursuit to adjust the probabilities of applying a fixed set of memes, and a second which applies genetic operators to dynamically adapt and create memes and their functional definitions. For the latter, especially on combinatorial problems, credit assignment mechanisms based on historical records, or on notions of landscape locality, will have limited application, and it is necessary to estimate the value of a meme via some form of sampling. The results on a set of binary encoded combinatorial problems show that both methods are very effective, and that for some problems it is necessary to use thousands of variables in order to tease apart the differences between different reward schemes. However, for both memetic algorithms, a significant pattern emerges that reward based on mean improvement is better than that based on extreme improvement. This contradicts recent findings from adapting the parameters of operators involved in global evolutionary search. The results also show that local reward schemes

Modified Parameters of Harmony Search Algorithm for Better Searching

Science.gov (United States)

Farraliza Mansor, Nur; Abal Abas, Zuraida; Samad Shibghatullah, Abdul; Rahman, Ahmad Fadzli Nizam Abdul

2017-08-01

The scheduling and rostering problems are deliberated as integrated due to they depend on each other whereby the input of rostering problems is a scheduling problems. In this research, the integrated scheduling and rostering bus driver problems are defined as maximising the balance of the assignment of tasks in term of distribution of shifts and routes. It is essential to achieve is fairer among driver because this can bring to increase in driver levels of satisfaction. The latest approaches still unable to address the fairness problem that has emerged, thus this research proposes a strategy to adopt an amendment of a harmony search algorithm in order to address the fairness issue and thus the level of fairness will be escalate. The harmony search algorithm is classified as a meta-heuristics algorithm that is capable of solving hard and combinatorial or discrete optimisation problems. In this respect, the three main operators in HS, namely the Harmony Memory Consideration Rate (HMCR), Pitch Adjustment Rate (PAR) and Bandwidth (BW) play a vital role in balancing local exploitation and global exploration. These parameters influence the overall performance of the HS algorithm, and therefore it is crucial to fine-tune them. The contributions to this research are the HMCR parameter using step function while the fret spacing concept on guitars that is associated with mathematical formulae is also applied in the BW parameter. The model of constant step function is introduced in the alteration of HMCR parameter. The experimental results revealed that our proposed approach is superior than parameter adaptive harmony search algorithm. In conclusion, this proposed approach managed to generate a fairer roster and was thus capable of maximising the balancing distribution of shifts and routes among drivers, which contributed to the lowering of illness, incidents, absenteeism and accidents.

Enhancements to Constrained Novelty Search: Two-Population Novelty Search for Generating Game Content

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liapis, Antonios; Yannakakis, Georgios N.; Togelius, Julian

2013-01-01

pop genetic algorithm. These algorithms are applied to the problem of creating diverse and feasible game levels, representative of a large class of important problems in procedural content generation for games. Results show that the new algorithms under certain conditions can produce larger and more...... diverse sets of feasible strategy game maps than existing algorithms. However, the best algorithm is contingent on the particularities of the search space and the genetic operators used. It is also shown that the proposed enhancement of offspring boosting increases performance in all cases....

A chaos wolf optimization algorithm with self-adaptive variable step-size

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong Zhu

2017-10-01

Full Text Available To explore the problem of parameter optimization for complex nonlinear function, a chaos wolf optimization algorithm (CWOA with self-adaptive variable step-size was proposed. The algorithm was based on the swarm intelligence of wolf pack, which fully simulated the predation behavior and prey distribution way of wolves. It possessed three intelligent behaviors such as migration, summons and siege. And the competition rule as “winner-take-all” and the update mechanism as “survival of the fittest” were also the characteristics of the algorithm. Moreover, it combined the strategies of self-adaptive variable step-size search and chaos optimization. The CWOA was utilized in parameter optimization of twelve typical and complex nonlinear functions. And the obtained results were compared with many existing algorithms, including the classical genetic algorithm, the particle swarm optimization algorithm and the leader wolf pack search algorithm. The investigation results indicate that CWOA possess preferable optimization ability. There are advantages in optimization accuracy and convergence rate. Furthermore, it demonstrates high robustness and global searching ability.

Research on the User Interest Modeling of Personalized Search Engine

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

LI Zhengwei; XIA Shixiong; NIU Qiang; XIA Zhanguo

2007-01-01

At present, how to enable Search Engine to construct user personal interest model initially, master user's personalized information timely and provide personalized services accurately have become the hotspot in the research of Search Engine area.Aiming at the problems of user model's construction and combining techniques of manual customization modeling and automatic analytical modeling, a User Interest Model (UIM) is proposed in the paper. On the basis of it, the corresponding establishment and update algorithms of User Interest Profile (UIP) are presented subsequently. Simulation tests proved that the UIM proposed and corresponding algorithms could enhance the retrieval precision effectively and have superior adaptability.

Adaptive training of neural networks for control of autonomous mobile robots

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Steur, E.; Vromen, T.; Nijmeijer, H.; Fossen, T.I.; Nijmeijer, H.; Pettersen, K.Y.

2017-01-01

We present an adaptive training procedure for a spiking neural network, which is used for control of a mobile robot. Because of manufacturing tolerances, any hardware implementation of a spiking neural network has non-identical nodes, which limit the performance of the controller. The adaptive

A adaptação como procedimento técnico de tradução: uma leitura descritiva do Hamlet em quadrinhos brasileiro Adaptation as a technical procedure of translation: a descriptive reading of Hamlet in a Brazilian comic book

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marcel Alvaro de Amorim

2013-03-01

Full Text Available Os procedimentos técnicos da tradução foram identificados pela primeira vez no trabalho de Vinay e Darbelnet ([1958] 1977. Dentre esses procedimentos, o da adaptação foi então descrito, de forma local, como a adequação cultural ou situacional do texto da língua de partida no texto da língua de chegada. Na atualidade, mais que um procedimento local, teóricos como Bastin ([1998] 2011 consideram a prática da adaptação como um procedimento global, que envolve diversos outros procedimentos secundários de tradução. Sendo assim, os objetivos principais deste trabalho foram sistematizar uma categorização dos procedimentos secundários do processo de adaptação e aplicar tal categorização à análise de uma tradução/adaptação da peça Hamlet, de William Shakespeare, para o português brasileiro realizada por Bruno S. R. e ilustrada por Sam Hart, cotejando a com outras traduções estabelecidas da peça sempre que necessário.The technical procedures of translation were first identified in the work of Vinay and Darbelnet ([1958] 1977. Among these procedures, the adaptation was described, locally, as cultural or situational adequacy of the source text in the target culture and language. Currently, more than a local procedure, researchers as Bastin ([1998] 2011 have been considering adaptation as a global one that involves several other secondary procedures in the translation process. Therefore, the main objectives of this study were to categorize the secondary procedures of the adaptation process and apply this categorization to the analysis of a translation/adaptation of the play Hamlet, by William Shakespeare, written by Bruno S. R. and illustrated by Sam Hart, comparing it with other traditional translations of the play whenever necessary.

A Dynamically Adaptable Impedance-Matching System for Midrange Wireless Power Transfer with Misalignment

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Thuc Phi Duong

2015-07-01

Full Text Available To enable the geometrical freedom envisioned for wireless power transfer (WPT, fast dynamic adaptation to unpredictable changes in receiver position is needed. In this paper, we propose an adaptive impedance-searching system that achieves good impedance matching quickly. For fast and robust operation, the proposed method consists of three steps: system calibration, coarse search, and fine search. The proposed WPT system is characterized using distance variation and lateral and angular misalignment between coils. The measured results indicate that the proposed method significantly reduces searching time from a few minutes to approximately one second. Furthermore, the proposed system achieves impedance matching with good accuracy. The robust impedance-searching capability of the proposed system significantly improves power transfer efficiency. At 6.78 MHz, we achieve a maximum efficiency of 89.7% and a high efficiency of >80% up to a distance of 50 cm. When the center-to-center misalignment is 35 cm, the efficiency is improved from 48.4% to 74.1% with the proposed method. At a distance of 40 cm, the efficiency is higher than 74% for up to 60° of angular rotation. These results agree well with the simulated results obtained using a lumped-element circuit model.

Efficient Dynamic Adaptation Strategies for Object Tracking Tree in Wireless Sensor Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

CHEN, M.

2012-12-01

Full Text Available Most object tracking trees are established using the predefined mobility profile. However, when the real object's movement behaviors and query rates are different from the predefined mobility profile and query rates, the update cost and query cost of object tracking tree may increase. To upgrade the object tracking tree, the sink needs to send very large messages to collect the real movement information from the network, introducing a very large message overhead, which is referred to as adaptation cost. The Sub Root Message-Tree Adaptive procedure was proposed to dynamically collect the real movement information under the sub-tree and reconstruct the sub-tree to provide good performance based on the collected information. The simulation results indicates that the Sub Root Message-Tree Adaptive procedure is sufficient to achieve good total cost and lower adaptation cost.

Adaptive Behavior for Mobile Robots

Science.gov (United States)

Huntsberger, Terrance

2009-01-01

The term "System for Mobility and Access to Rough Terrain" (SMART) denotes a theoretical framework, a control architecture, and an algorithm that implements the framework and architecture, for enabling a land-mobile robot to adapt to changing conditions. SMART is intended to enable the robot to recognize adverse terrain conditions beyond its optimal operational envelope, and, in response, to intelligently reconfigure itself (e.g., adjust suspension heights or baseline distances between suspension points) or adapt its driving techniques (e.g., engage in a crabbing motion as a switchback technique for ascending steep terrain). Conceived for original application aboard Mars rovers and similar autonomous or semi-autonomous mobile robots used in exploration of remote planets, SMART could also be applied to autonomous terrestrial vehicles to be used for search, rescue, and/or exploration on rough terrain.

Procedural Formalism and Social Networks in the Housing Market

OpenAIRE

Bonleu, Antoine

2014-01-01

Why do some OECD countries have high levels of procedural formalism (PF) in the housing market? We provide an explanation based upon complementarities between the strength of social networks and the stringency of procedural formalism. The interest of social networks is that conflict resolution is independent of the law. When local people belong to social networks whereas foreigners do not, PF may facilitate housing search for locals at the expense of foreigners. To illustrate this mechanism w...

Glocal routes in British Asian drama: Between adaptation and tradaptation

OpenAIRE

Buonanno, Giovanna; Sams, Victoria; Schlote, Christiane

2011-01-01

In the context of British Asian theatre and the search for a diasporic theatre aesthetics the practice of adaptation has emerged as a recurring feature. Over the last decades, British Asian theatre has sought to create a language of the theatre that can reflect the cultural heritage of Asians in Britain; this search has taken different directions testified also by the plurality of voices that today make up British Asian theatre and has responded to the need to challenge the conceptual binary ...

Reactive searching and infotaxis in odor source localization.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nicole Voges

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Male moths aiming to locate pheromone-releasing females rely on stimulus-adapted search maneuvers complicated by a discontinuous distribution of pheromone patches. They alternate sequences of upwind surge when perceiving the pheromone and cross- or downwind casting when the odor is lost. We compare four search strategies: three reactive versus one cognitive. The former consist of pre-programmed movement sequences triggered by pheromone detections while the latter uses Bayesian inference to build spatial probability maps. Based on the analysis of triphasic responses of antennal lobe neurons (On, inhibition, Off, we propose three reactive strategies. One combines upwind surge (representing the On response to a pheromone detection and spiral casting, only. The other two additionally include crosswind (zigzag casting representing the Off phase. As cognitive strategy we use the infotaxis algorithm which was developed for searching in a turbulent medium. Detection events in the electroantennogram of a moth attached to a robot indirectly control this cyborg, depending on the strategy in use. The recorded trajectories are analyzed with regard to success rates, efficiency, and other features. In addition, we qualitatively compare our robotic trajectories to behavioral search paths. Reactive searching is more efficient (yielding shorter trajectories for higher pheromone doses whereas cognitive searching works better for lower doses. With respect to our experimental conditions (2 m from starting position to pheromone source, reactive searching with crosswind zigzag yields the shortest trajectories (for comparable success rates. Assuming that the neuronal Off response represents a short-term memory, zigzagging is an efficient movement to relocate a recently lost pheromone plume. Accordingly, such reactive strategies offer an interesting alternative to complex cognitive searching.

Reactive searching and infotaxis in odor source localization.

Science.gov (United States)

Voges, Nicole; Chaffiol, Antoine; Lucas, Philippe; Martinez, Dominique

2014-10-01

Male moths aiming to locate pheromone-releasing females rely on stimulus-adapted search maneuvers complicated by a discontinuous distribution of pheromone patches. They alternate sequences of upwind surge when perceiving the pheromone and cross- or downwind casting when the odor is lost. We compare four search strategies: three reactive versus one cognitive. The former consist of pre-programmed movement sequences triggered by pheromone detections while the latter uses Bayesian inference to build spatial probability maps. Based on the analysis of triphasic responses of antennal lobe neurons (On, inhibition, Off), we propose three reactive strategies. One combines upwind surge (representing the On response to a pheromone detection) and spiral casting, only. The other two additionally include crosswind (zigzag) casting representing the Off phase. As cognitive strategy we use the infotaxis algorithm which was developed for searching in a turbulent medium. Detection events in the electroantennogram of a moth attached to a robot indirectly control this cyborg, depending on the strategy in use. The recorded trajectories are analyzed with regard to success rates, efficiency, and other features. In addition, we qualitatively compare our robotic trajectories to behavioral search paths. Reactive searching is more efficient (yielding shorter trajectories) for higher pheromone doses whereas cognitive searching works better for lower doses. With respect to our experimental conditions (2 m from starting position to pheromone source), reactive searching with crosswind zigzag yields the shortest trajectories (for comparable success rates). Assuming that the neuronal Off response represents a short-term memory, zigzagging is an efficient movement to relocate a recently lost pheromone plume. Accordingly, such reactive strategies offer an interesting alternative to complex cognitive searching.

Optimal search filters for renal information in EMBASE.

Science.gov (United States)

Iansavichus, Arthur V; Haynes, R Brian; Shariff, Salimah Z; Weir, Matthew; Wilczynski, Nancy L; McKibbon, Ann; Rehman, Faisal; Garg, Amit X

2010-07-01

EMBASE is a popular database used to retrieve biomedical information. Our objective was to develop and test search filters to help clinicians and researchers efficiently retrieve articles with renal information in EMBASE. We used a diagnostic test assessment framework because filters operate similarly to screening tests. We divided a sample of 5,302 articles from 39 journals into development and validation sets of articles. Information retrieval properties were assessed by treating each search filter as a "diagnostic test" or screening procedure for the detection of relevant articles. We tested the performance of 1,936,799 search filters made of unique renal terms and their combinations. REFERENCE STANDARD & OUTCOME: The reference standard was manual review of each article. We calculated the sensitivity and specificity of each filter to identify articles with renal information. The best renal filters consisted of multiple search terms, such as "renal replacement therapy," "renal," "kidney disease," and "proteinuria," and the truncated terms "kidney," "dialy," "neph," "glomerul," and "hemodial." These filters achieved peak sensitivities of 98.7% (95% CI, 97.9-99.6) and specificities of 98.5% (95% CI, 98.0-99.0). The retrieval performance of these filters remained excellent in the validation set of independent articles. The retrieval performance of any search will vary depending on the quality of all search concepts used, not just renal terms. We empirically developed and validated high-performance renal search filters for EMBASE. These filters can be programmed into the search engine or used on their own to improve the efficiency of searching.

Fast clustering using adaptive density peak detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xiao-Feng; Xu, Yifan

2017-12-01

Common limitations of clustering methods include the slow algorithm convergence, the instability of the pre-specification on a number of intrinsic parameters, and the lack of robustness to outliers. A recent clustering approach proposed a fast search algorithm of cluster centers based on their local densities. However, the selection of the key intrinsic parameters in the algorithm was not systematically investigated. It is relatively difficult to estimate the "optimal" parameters since the original definition of the local density in the algorithm is based on a truncated counting measure. In this paper, we propose a clustering procedure with adaptive density peak detection, where the local density is estimated through the nonparametric multivariate kernel estimation. The model parameter is then able to be calculated from the equations with statistical theoretical justification. We also develop an automatic cluster centroid selection method through maximizing an average silhouette index. The advantage and flexibility of the proposed method are demonstrated through simulation studies and the analysis of a few benchmark gene expression data sets. The method only needs to perform in one single step without any iteration and thus is fast and has a great potential to apply on big data analysis. A user-friendly R package ADPclust is developed for public use.

An Improved Cuckoo Search for a Patient Transportation Problem with Consideration of Reducing Transport Emissions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liyang Xiao

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Many government agencies and business organizations have realized that it is necessary to consider not only the economic cost but also the road transport emissions when they determine the transport policies and operations. In this study, a patient transportation problem with the aim of reducing transport emissions has been formulated by implementing CVRP model. In order to determine the routes of patient transportation with optimized emissions for targeted hospital, an improved Cuckoo Search (ICS algorithm is proposed. In this study, a ‘split’ procedure has been implemented to simplify the individual’s representation. A new category of cuckoos has been introduced to improve the ICS’s search ability. Two heuristics have been applied to improve the quality of initial population. A local search mechanism has been embedded in the search procedure to improve the quality of solutions obtained at the end of each iteration. The computational results were encouraging and demonstrated the effectiveness of the proposed solution method.

Algebraic and adaptive learning in neural control systems

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrari, Silvia

A systematic approach is developed for designing adaptive and reconfigurable nonlinear control systems that are applicable to plants modeled by ordinary differential equations. The nonlinear controller comprising a network of neural networks is taught using a two-phase learning procedure realized through novel techniques for initialization, on-line training, and adaptive critic design. A critical observation is that the gradients of the functions defined by the neural networks must equal corresponding linear gain matrices at chosen operating points. On-line training is based on a dual heuristic adaptive critic architecture that improves control for large, coupled motions by accounting for actual plant dynamics and nonlinear effects. An action network computes the optimal control law; a critic network predicts the derivative of the cost-to-go with respect to the state. Both networks are algebraically initialized based on prior knowledge of satisfactory pointwise linear controllers and continue to adapt on line during full-scale simulations of the plant. On-line training takes place sequentially over discrete periods of time and involves several numerical procedures. A backpropagating algorithm called Resilient Backpropagation is modified and successfully implemented to meet these objectives, without excessive computational expense. This adaptive controller is as conservative as the linear designs and as effective as a global nonlinear controller. The method is successfully implemented for the full-envelope control of a six-degree-of-freedom aircraft simulation. The results show that the on-line adaptation brings about improved performance with respect to the initialization phase during aircraft maneuvers that involve large-angle and coupled dynamics, and parameter variations.

Gaussian variable neighborhood search for the file transfer scheduling problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dražić Zorica

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents new modifications of Variable Neighborhood Search approach for solving the file transfer scheduling problem. To obtain better solutions in a small neighborhood of a current solution, we implement two new local search procedures. As Gaussian Variable Neighborhood Search showed promising results when solving continuous optimization problems, its implementation in solving the discrete file transfer scheduling problem is also presented. In order to apply this continuous optimization method to solve the discrete problem, mapping of uncountable set of feasible solutions into a finite set is performed. Both local search modifications gave better results for the large size instances, as well as better average performance for medium and large size instances. One local search modification achieved significant acceleration of the algorithm. The numerical experiments showed that the results obtained by Gaussian modifications are comparable with the results obtained by standard VNS based algorithms, developed for combinatorial optimization. In some cases Gaussian modifications gave even better results. [Projekat Ministarstava nauke Republike Srbije, br. 174010

Network module detection: Affinity search technique with the multi-node topological overlap measure.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Ai; Horvath, Steve

2009-07-20

Many clustering procedures only allow the user to input a pairwise dissimilarity or distance measure between objects. We propose a clustering method that can input a multi-point dissimilarity measure d(i1, i2, ..., iP) where the number of points P can be larger than 2. The work is motivated by gene network analysis where clusters correspond to modules of highly interconnected nodes. Here, we define modules as clusters of network nodes with high multi-node topological overlap. The topological overlap measure is a robust measure of interconnectedness which is based on shared network neighbors. In previous work, we have shown that the multi-node topological overlap measure yields biologically meaningful results when used as input of network neighborhood analysis. We adapt network neighborhood analysis for the use of module detection. We propose the Module Affinity Search Technique (MAST), which is a generalized version of the Cluster Affinity Search Technique (CAST). MAST can accommodate a multi-node dissimilarity measure. Clusters grow around user-defined or automatically chosen seeds (e.g. hub nodes). We propose both local and global cluster growth stopping rules. We use several simulations and a gene co-expression network application to argue that the MAST approach leads to biologically meaningful results. We compare MAST with hierarchical clustering and partitioning around medoid clustering. Our flexible module detection method is implemented in the MTOM software which can be downloaded from the following webpage: http://www.genetics.ucla.edu/labs/horvath/MTOM/

Core Competencies or a Competent Core? A Scoping Review and Realist Synthesis of Invasive Bedside Procedural Skills Training in Internal Medicine.

Science.gov (United States)

Brydges, Ryan; Stroud, Lynfa; Wong, Brian M; Holmboe, Eric S; Imrie, Kevin; Hatala, Rose

2017-11-01

Invasive bedside procedures are core competencies for internal medicine, yet no formal training guidelines exist. The authors conducted a scoping review and realist synthesis to characterize current training for lumbar puncture, arthrocentesis, paracentesis, thoracentesis, and central venous catheterization. They aimed to collate how educators justify using specific interventions, establish which interventions have the best evidence, and offer directions for future research and training. The authors systematically searched Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and ERIC through April 2015. Studies were screened in three phases; all reviews were performed independently and in duplicate. The authors extracted information on learner and patient demographics, study design and methodological quality, and details of training interventions and measured outcomes. A three-step realist synthesis was performed to synthesize findings on each study's context, mechanism, and outcome, and to identify a foundational training model. From an initial 6,671 studies, 149 studies were further reduced to 67 (45%) reporting sufficient information for realist synthesis. Analysis yielded four types of procedural skills training interventions. There was relative consistency across contexts and significant differences in mechanisms and outcomes across the four intervention types. The medical procedural service was identified as an adaptable foundational training model. The observed heterogeneity in procedural skills training implies that programs are not consistently developing residents who are competent in core procedures. The findings suggest that researchers in education and quality improvement will need to collaborate to design training that develops a "competent core" of proceduralists using simulation and clinical rotations.

Navigating the black hole: explicating layers of job search context and adaptational responses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wanberg, C.; Basbug, G.; van Hooft, E.A.J.; Samtani, A.

2012-01-01

Via a qualitative study, we introduce and elucidate 5 layers of context-related job search demands (omnibus, organizational, social, task, and personal) that are encountered by both employed and unemployed job seekers. We develop a process model to portray the mechanisms (managing mood and

Effects of absolute luminance and luminance contrast on visual search in low mesopic environments.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, Mathew; Godde, Ben; Olk, Bettina

2018-03-26

Diverse adaptive visual processing mechanisms allow us to complete visual search tasks in a wide visual photopic range (>0.6 cd/m 2 ). Whether search strategies or mechanisms known from this range extend below, in the mesopic and scotopic luminance spectra (search in more complex-feature and conjunction-search paradigms. The results verify the previously reported deficiency windows defined by an interaction of base luminance and luminance contrast for more complex visual-search tasks. Based on significant regression analyses, a more precise definition of the magnitude of contribution of different contrast parameters. Characterized feature search patterns had approximately a 2.5:1 ratio of contribution from the Michelson contrast property relative to Weber contrast, whereas the ratio was approximately 1:1 in a serial-search condition. The results implicate near-complete magnocellular isolation in a visual-search paradigm that has yet to be demonstrated. Our analyses provide a new method of characterizing visual search and the first insight in its underlying mechanisms in luminance environments in the low mesopic and scotopic spectra.

Migration Adapter Development for SaaS Applications

OpenAIRE

Šemrov, Sandi

2013-01-01

This thesis presents methods and procedures for migration and applications integration, with the main focus on applications that are offered as a service – SaaS (Software-as-a-Service). At the level of data integration we analyze approaches for data migration between different types of SaaS applications. We design a framework for executing migration adapters and show an example of data migration between two SaaS applications. We then describe the development of adapters for two specific SaaS ...

Supporting inter-topic entity search for biomedical Linked Data based on heterogeneous relationships.

Science.gov (United States)

Zong, Nansu; Lee, Sungin; Ahn, Jinhyun; Kim, Hong-Gee

2017-08-01

The keyword-based entity search restricts search space based on the preference of search. When given keywords and preferences are not related to the same biomedical topic, existing biomedical Linked Data search engines fail to deliver satisfactory results. This research aims to tackle this issue by supporting an inter-topic search-improving search with inputs, keywords and preferences, under different topics. This study developed an effective algorithm in which the relations between biomedical entities were used in tandem with a keyword-based entity search, Siren. The algorithm, PERank, which is an adaptation of Personalized PageRank (PPR), uses a pair of input: (1) search preferences, and (2) entities from a keyword-based entity search with a keyword query, to formalize the search results on-the-fly based on the index of the precomputed Individual Personalized PageRank Vectors (IPPVs). Our experiments were performed over ten linked life datasets for two query sets, one with keyword-preference topic correspondence (intra-topic search), and the other without (inter-topic search). The experiments showed that the proposed method achieved better search results, for example a 14% increase in precision for the inter-topic search than the baseline keyword-based search engine. The proposed method improved the keyword-based biomedical entity search by supporting the inter-topic search without affecting the intra-topic search based on the relations between different entities. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Searching for highly entangled multi-qubit states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brown, Iain D K; Stepney, Susan; Sudbery, Anthony; Braunstein, Samuel L

2005-01-01

We present a simple numerical optimization procedure to search for highly entangled states of 2, 3, 4 and 5 qubits. We develop a computationally tractable entanglement measure based on the negative partial transpose criterion, which can be applied to quantum systems of an arbitrary number of qubits. The search algorithm attempts to optimize this entanglement cost function to find the maximal entanglement in a quantum system. We present highly entangled 4-qubit and 5-qubit states discovered by this search. We show that the 4-qubit state is not quite as entangled, according to two separate measures, as the conjectured maximally entangled Higuchi-Sudbery state. Using this measure, these states are more highly entangled than the 4-qubit and 5-qubit GHZ states. We also present a conjecture about the NPT measure, inspired by some of our numerical results, that the single-qubit reduced states of maximally entangled states are all totally mixed

Impact of Glaucoma and Dry Eye on Text-Based Searching

Science.gov (United States)

Sun, Michelle J.; Rubin, Gary S.; Akpek, Esen K.; Ramulu, Pradeep Y.

2017-01-01

Purpose We determine if visual field loss from glaucoma and/or measures of dry eye severity are associated with difficulty searching, as judged by slower search times on a text-based search task. Methods Glaucoma patients with bilateral visual field (VF) loss, patients with clinically significant dry eye, and normally-sighted controls were enrolled from the Wilmer Eye Institute clinics. Subjects searched three Yellow Pages excerpts for a specific phone number, and search time was recorded. Results A total of 50 glaucoma subjects, 40 dry eye subjects, and 45 controls completed study procedures. On average, glaucoma patients exhibited 57% longer search times compared to controls (95% confidence interval [CI], 26%–96%, P Dry eye subjects demonstrated similar search times compared to controls, though worse Ocular Surface Disease Index (OSDI) vision-related subscores were associated with longer search times (P dry eye (P > 0.08 for Schirmer's testing without anesthesia, corneal fluorescein staining, and tear film breakup time). Conclusions Text-based visual search is slower for glaucoma patients with greater levels of VF loss and dry eye patients with greater self-reported visual difficulty, and these difficulties may contribute to decreased quality of life in these groups. Translational Relevance Visual search is impaired in glaucoma and dry eye groups compared to controls, highlighting the need for compensatory strategies and tools to assist individuals in overcoming their deficiencies. PMID:28670502

Adaptive aspirations and performance heterogeneity : Attention allocation among multiple reference points

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Blettner, D.P.; He, Z.; Hu, S.; Bettis, R.

Organizations learn and adapt their aspiration levels based on reference points (prior aspiration, prior performance, and prior performance of reference groups). The relative attention that organizations allocate to these reference points impacts organizational search and strategic decisions.

A robust adaptive load frequency control for micro-grids

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Khooban, Mohammad Hassan; Niknam, Taher; Blaabjerg, Frede

2016-01-01

micro-grid (MG) is introduced that can consider electric vehicles׳ (EV(s)) effect. Moreover, in this paper, a new combination of the General Type II Fuzzy Logic Sets (GT2FLS) and the Modified Harmony Search Algorithm (MHSA) technique is applied for adaptive tuning of proportional-integral (PI...

Variable Neighbourhood Search and Mathematical Programming for Just-in-Time Job-Shop Scheduling Problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sunxin Wang

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a combination of variable neighbourhood search and mathematical programming to minimize the sum of earliness and tardiness penalty costs of all operations for just-in-time job-shop scheduling problem (JITJSSP. Unlike classical E/T scheduling problem with each job having its earliness or tardiness penalty cost, each operation in this paper has its earliness and tardiness penalties, which are paid if the operation is completed before or after its due date. Our hybrid algorithm combines (i a variable neighbourhood search procedure to explore the huge feasible solution spaces efficiently by alternating the swap and insertion neighbourhood structures and (ii a mathematical programming model to optimize the completion times of the operations for a given solution in each iteration procedure. Additionally, a threshold accepting mechanism is proposed to diversify the local search of variable neighbourhood search. Computational results on the 72 benchmark instances show that our algorithm can obtain the best known solution for 40 problems, and the best known solutions for 33 problems are updated.

An Efficient VQ Codebook Search Algorithm Applied to AMR-WB Speech Coding

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Cheng-Yu Yeh

2017-04-01

Full Text Available The adaptive multi-rate wideband (AMR-WB speech codec is widely used in modern mobile communication systems for high speech quality in handheld devices. Nonetheless, a major disadvantage is that vector quantization (VQ of immittance spectral frequency (ISF coefficients takes a considerable computational load in the AMR-WB coding. Accordingly, a binary search space-structured VQ (BSS-VQ algorithm is adopted to efficiently reduce the complexity of ISF quantization in AMR-WB. This search algorithm is done through a fast locating technique combined with lookup tables, such that an input vector is efficiently assigned to a subspace where relatively few codeword searches are required to be executed. In terms of overall search performance, this work is experimentally validated as a superior search algorithm relative to a multiple triangular inequality elimination (MTIE, a TIE with dynamic and intersection mechanisms (DI-TIE, and an equal-average equal-variance equal-norm nearest neighbor search (EEENNS approach. With a full search algorithm as a benchmark for overall search load comparison, this work provides an 87% search load reduction at a threshold of quantization accuracy of 0.96, a figure far beyond 55% in the MTIE, 76% in the EEENNS approach, and 83% in the DI-TIE approach.

Procedure for hazards analysis of plutonium gloveboxes used in analytical chemistry operations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delvin, W.L.

1977-06-01

A procedure is presented to identify and assess hazards associated with gloveboxes used for analytical chemistry operations involving plutonium. This procedure is based upon analytic tree methodology and it has been adapted from the US Energy Research and Development Administration's safety program, the Management Oversight and Risk Tree

Design of Immune-Algorithm-Based Adaptive Fuzzy Controllers for Active Suspension Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ming-Yuan Shieh

2014-04-01

Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to integrate the artificial immune systems and adaptive fuzzy control for the automobile suspension system, which is regarded as a multiobjective optimization problem. Moreover, the fuzzy control rules and membership controls are then introduced for identification and memorization. It leads fast convergence in the search process. Afterwards, by using the diversity of the antibody group, trapping into local optimum can be avoided, and the system possesses a global search capacity and a faster local search for finding a global optimal solution. Experimental results show that the artificial immune system with the recognition and memory functions allows the system to rapidly converge and search for the global optimal approximate solutions.

Design of uav robust autopilot based on adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohand Achour Touat

2008-04-01

Full Text Available  This paper is devoted to the application of adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference systems to the robust control of the UAV longitudinal motion. The adaptive neore-fuzzy inference system model needs to be trained by input/output data. This data were obtained from the modeling of a ”crisp” robust control system. The synthesis of this system is based on the separation theorem, which defines the structure and parameters of LQG-optimal controller, and further - robust optimization of this controller, based on the genetic algorithm. Such design procedure can define the rule base and parameters of fuzzyfication and defuzzyfication algorithms of the adaptive neore-fuzzy inference system controller, which ensure the robust properties of the control system. Simulation of the closed loop control system of UAV longitudinal motion with adaptive neore-fuzzy inference system controller demonstrates high efficiency of proposed design procedure.

Thermal Adaptation Methods of Urban Plaza Users in Asia's Hot-Humid Regions: A Taiwan Case Study.

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Chen-Fa; Hsieh, Yen-Fen; Ou, Sheng-Jung

2015-10-27

Thermal adaptation studies provide researchers great insight to help understand how people respond to thermal discomfort. This research aims to assess outdoor urban plaza conditions in hot and humid regions of Asia by conducting an evaluation of thermal adaptation. We also propose that questionnaire items are appropriate for determining thermal adaptation strategies adopted by urban plaza users. A literature review was conducted and first hand data collected by field observations and interviews used to collect information on thermal adaptation strategies. Item analysis--Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)--were applied to refine the questionnaire items and determine the reliability of the questionnaire evaluation procedure. The reliability and validity of items and constructing process were also analyzed. Then, researchers facilitated an evaluation procedure for assessing the thermal adaptation strategies of urban plaza users in hot and humid regions of Asia and formulated a questionnaire survey that was distributed in Taichung's Municipal Plaza in Taiwan. Results showed that most users responded with behavioral adaptation when experiencing thermal discomfort. However, if the thermal discomfort could not be alleviated, they then adopted psychological strategies. In conclusion, the evaluation procedure for assessing thermal adaptation strategies and the questionnaire developed in this study can be applied to future research on thermal adaptation strategies adopted by urban plaza users in hot and humid regions of Asia.

The smart cluster method. Adaptive earthquake cluster identification and analysis in strong seismic regions

Science.gov (United States)

Schaefer, Andreas M.; Daniell, James E.; Wenzel, Friedemann

2017-07-01

Earthquake clustering is an essential part of almost any statistical analysis of spatial and temporal properties of seismic activity. The nature of earthquake clusters and subsequent declustering of earthquake catalogues plays a crucial role in determining the magnitude-dependent earthquake return period and its respective spatial variation for probabilistic seismic hazard assessment. This study introduces the Smart Cluster Method (SCM), a new methodology to identify earthquake clusters, which uses an adaptive point process for spatio-temporal cluster identification. It utilises the magnitude-dependent spatio-temporal earthquake density to adjust the search properties, subsequently analyses the identified clusters to determine directional variation and adjusts its search space with respect to directional properties. In the case of rapid subsequent ruptures like the 1992 Landers sequence or the 2010-2011 Darfield-Christchurch sequence, a reclassification procedure is applied to disassemble subsequent ruptures using near-field searches, nearest neighbour classification and temporal splitting. The method is capable of identifying and classifying earthquake clusters in space and time. It has been tested and validated using earthquake data from California and New Zealand. A total of more than 1500 clusters have been found in both regions since 1980 with M m i n = 2.0. Utilising the knowledge of cluster classification, the method has been adjusted to provide an earthquake declustering algorithm, which has been compared to existing methods. Its performance is comparable to established methodologies. The analysis of earthquake clustering statistics lead to various new and updated correlation functions, e.g. for ratios between mainshock and strongest aftershock and general aftershock activity metrics.

Adaptive and non-adaptive data hiding methods for grayscale images based on modulus function

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Najme Maleki

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This paper presents two adaptive and non-adaptive data hiding methods for grayscale images based on modulus function. Our adaptive scheme is based on the concept of human vision sensitivity, so the pixels in edge areas than to smooth areas can tolerate much more changes without making visible distortion for human eyes. In our adaptive scheme, the average differencing value of four neighborhood pixels into a block via a threshold secret key determines whether current block is located in edge or smooth area. Pixels in the edge areas are embedded by Q-bit of secret data with a larger value of Q than that of pixels placed in smooth areas. Also in this scholar, we represent one non-adaptive data hiding algorithm. Our non-adaptive scheme, via an error reduction procedure, produces a high visual quality for stego-image. The proposed schemes present several advantages. 1-of aspects the embedding capacity and visual quality of stego-image are scalable. In other words, the embedding rate as well as the image quality can be scaled for practical applications 2-the high embedding capacity with minimal visual distortion can be achieved, 3-our methods require little memory space for secret data embedding and extracting phases, 4-secret keys have used to protect of the embedded secret data. Thus, level of security is high, 5-the problem of overflow or underflow does not occur. Experimental results indicated that the proposed adaptive scheme significantly is superior to the currently existing scheme, in terms of stego-image visual quality, embedding capacity and level of security and also our non-adaptive method is better than other non-adaptive methods, in view of stego-image quality. Results show which our adaptive algorithm can resist against the RS steganalysis attack.

The Temporal Dynamics of Visual Search: Evidence for Parallel Processing in Feature and Conjunction Searches

Science.gov (United States)

McElree, Brian; Carrasco, Marisa

2012-01-01

Feature and conjunction searches have been argued to delineate parallel and serial operations in visual processing. The authors evaluated this claim by examining the temporal dynamics of the detection of features and conjunctions. The 1st experiment used a reaction time (RT) task to replicate standard mean RT patterns and to examine the shapes of the RT distributions. The 2nd experiment used the response-signal speed–accuracy trade-off (SAT) procedure to measure discrimination (asymptotic detection accuracy) and detection speed (processing dynamics). Set size affected discrimination in both feature and conjunction searches but affected detection speed only in the latter. Fits of models to the SAT data that included a serial component overpredicted the magnitude of the observed dynamics differences. The authors concluded that both features and conjunctions are detected in parallel. Implications for the role of attention in visual processing are discussed. PMID:10641310

Cost reduction improvement for power generation system integrating WECS using harmony search algorithm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ngonkham, S. [Khonkaen Univ., Amphur Muang (Thailand). Dept. of Electrical Engineering; Buasri, P. [Khonkaen Univ., Amphur Muang (Thailand). Embed System Research Group

2009-03-11

A harmony search (HS) algorithm was used to optimize economic dispatch (ED) in a wind energy conversion system (WECS) for power system integration. The HS algorithm was based on a stochastic random search method. System costs for the WECS system were estimated in relation to average wind speeds. The HS algorithm was implemented to optimize the ED with a simple programming procedure. The study showed that the initial parameters must be carefully selected to ensure the accuracy of the HS algorithm. The algorithm demonstrated that total costs of the WECS system were higher than costs associated with energy efficiency procedures that reduced the same amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 7 refs,. 10 tabs., 16 figs.

ClinicalKey: a point-of-care search engine.

Science.gov (United States)

Vardell, Emily

2013-01-01

ClinicalKey is a new point-of-care resource for health care professionals. Through controlled vocabulary, ClinicalKey offers a cross section of resources on diseases and procedures, from journals to e-books and practice guidelines to patient education. A sample search was conducted to demonstrate the features of the database, and a comparison with similar tools is presented.

A minimax sequential procedure in the context of computerized adaptive mastery testing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vos, Hendrik J.

1997-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to derive optimal rules for variable-length mastery tests in case three mastery classification decisions (nonmastery, partial mastery, and mastery) are distinguished. In a variable-length or adaptive mastery test, the decision is to classify a subject as a master, a

Implementation of procedures to NPP Krsko INTRANEK

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gradisar, D.; Krajnc, M.; Kocnar, R.; Spiler, J.

1999-01-01

Part of NEK documentation has already been presented on NEK Intranet such as USAR, Technical Specifications, QA Plan as well as some frequently used series of drawings. At the time being the process of presentation of all procedures (thereinafter INTRANEK procedures) is in progress. The purpose of this project is the presentation of 1600 procedures with average size of 30 pages what is more than 48000 pages altogether. ADOBE PDF (Portable Document Format) has been chosen as the most suitable format for the presentation of procedures on INTRANEK. PDF format meets the following criteria: the outlook of a document page is always the same as an original one and cannot be changed without control. In addition to this, full text search is available as well as easy jump from procedure to procedure. Some changes of working process on internal procedures have to be made before the project start, which determine the responsibility of individual users in the process. The work flow, which enables easy daily maintenance, has been prepared, the rules of both procedure numbering as well as folder contents/name have been set and the server selected. The project was managed and implemented with the extensive use of compute-aided management, document distribution and control, databases, electronics mail and Intranet tools. The results of practical implementation of NEK procedures and our experience with INTRANEK are presented in this paper.(author)

Dissociating proportion congruent and conflict adaptation effects in a Simon-Stroop procedure.

Science.gov (United States)

Torres-Quesada, Maryem; Funes, Maria Jesús; Lupiáñez, Juan

2013-02-01

Proportion congruent and conflict adaptation are two well known effects associated with cognitive control. A critical open question is whether they reflect the same or separate cognitive control mechanisms. In this experiment, in a training phase we introduced a proportion congruency manipulation for one conflict type (i.e. Simon), whereas in pre-training and post-training phases two conflict types (e.g. Simon and Spatial Stroop) were displayed with the same incongruent-to-congruent ratio. The results supported the sustained nature of the proportion congruent effect, as it transferred from the training to the post-training phase. Furthermore, this transfer generalized to both conflict types. By contrast, the conflict adaptation effect was specific to conflict type, as it was only observed when the same conflict type (either Simon or Stroop) was presented on two consecutive trials (no effect was observed on conflict type alternation trials). Results are interpreted as supporting the reactive and proactive control mechanisms distinction. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Solving a large-scale precedence constrained scheduling problem with elastic jobs using tabu search

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pedersen, C.R.; Rasmussen, R.V.; Andersen, Kim Allan

2007-01-01

exploitation of the elastic jobs and solve the problem using a tabu search procedure. Finding an initial feasible solution is in general -complete, but the tabu search procedure includes a specialized heuristic for solving this problem. The solution method has proven to be very efficient and leads......This paper presents a solution method for minimizing makespan of a practical large-scale scheduling problem with elastic jobs. The jobs are processed on three servers and restricted by precedence constraints, time windows and capacity limitations. We derive a new method for approximating the server...... to a significant decrease in makespan compared to the strategy currently implemented....

Design of a Model Reference Adaptive Controller for an Unmanned Air Vehicle

Science.gov (United States)

Crespo, Luis G.; Matsutani, Megumi; Annaswamy, Anuradha M.

2010-01-01

This paper presents the "Adaptive Control Technology for Safe Flight (ACTS)" architecture, which consists of a non-adaptive controller that provides satisfactory performance under nominal flying conditions, and an adaptive controller that provides robustness under off nominal ones. The design and implementation procedures of both controllers are presented. The aim of these procedures, which encompass both theoretical and practical considerations, is to develop a controller suitable for flight. The ACTS architecture is applied to the Generic Transport Model developed by NASA-Langley Research Center. The GTM is a dynamically scaled test model of a transport aircraft for which a flight-test article and a high-fidelity simulation are available. The nominal controller at the core of the ACTS architecture has a multivariable LQR-PI structure while the adaptive one has a direct, model reference structure. The main control surfaces as well as the throttles are used as control inputs. The inclusion of the latter alleviates the pilot s workload by eliminating the need for cancelling the pitch coupling generated by changes in thrust. Furthermore, the independent usage of the throttles by the adaptive controller enables their use for attitude control. Advantages and potential drawbacks of adaptation are demonstrated by performing high fidelity simulations of a flight-validated controller and of its adaptive augmentation.

Methods used in adaptation of health-related guidelines: A systematic survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdul-Khalek, Rima A; Darzi, Andrea J; Godah, Mohammad W; Kilzar, Lama; Lakis, Chantal; Agarwal, Arnav; Abou-Jaoude, Elias; Meerpohl, Joerg J; Wiercioch, Wojtek; Santesso, Nancy; Brax, Hneine; Schünemann, Holger; Akl, Elie A

2017-12-01

Adaptation refers to the systematic approach for considering the endorsement or modification of recommendations produced in one setting for application in another as an alternative to de novo development. To describe and assess the methods used for adapting health-related guidelines published in peer-reviewed journals, and to assess the quality of the resulting adapted guidelines. We searched Medline and Embase up to June 2015. We assessed the method of adaptation, and the quality of included guidelines. Seventy-two papers were eligible. Most adapted guidelines and their source guidelines were published by professional societies (71% and 68% respectively), and in high-income countries (83% and 85% respectively). Of the 57 adapted guidelines that reported any detail about adaptation method, 34 (60%) did not use a published adaptation method. The number (and percentage) of adapted guidelines fulfilling each of the ADAPTE steps ranged between 2 (4%) and 57 (100%). The quality of adapted guidelines was highest for the "scope and purpose" domain and lowest for the "editorial independence" domain (respective mean percentages of the maximum possible scores were 93% and 43%). The mean score for "rigor of development" was 57%. Most adapted guidelines published in peer-reviewed journals do not report using a published adaptation method, and their adaptation quality was variable.

The use of conflicts in searching Bayesian networks

OpenAIRE

Poole, David L.

2013-01-01

This paper discusses how conflicts (as used by the consistency-based diagnosis community) can be adapted to be used in a search-based algorithm for computing prior and posterior probabilities in discrete Bayesian Networks. This is an "anytime" algorithm, that at any stage can estimate the probabilities and give an error bound. Whereas the most popular Bayesian net algorithms exploit the structure of the network for efficiency, we exploit probability distributions for efficiency; this algorith...

Application of self-adaptive procedure to the thermal problems analysis under steady-state and transient regimens; Aplicacao de procedimento auto-adaptativo na analise de problemas termicos no regime permanente e transiente

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lyra, Paulo Roberto Maciel [Pernambuco Univ., Recife, PE (Brazil). Dept. de Engenharia Civil

1991-12-31

This work describes a procedure for the adaptive time dependent Finite Element Method using an automatic mesh refinement (H-Version) that efficiently reduces estimated errors ( a posteriori) below pre-assigned limits. Classical model problem for steady-state heat transfer are investigated, and the results are compared with the analytical solution. Then some typical time-dependent problem are qualitatively analysed. (author) 10 refs., 7 figs.

Chaotic Planning Solutions in the Textbook Model of Labor Market Search and Matching

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bhattacharya, J.; Bunzel, H.

2003-01-01

This paper demonstrates that cyclical and chaotic planning solutions are possible in the standard textbook model of search and matching in labor markets. More specifically, it takes a discretetime adaptation of the continuous-time matching economy described in Pissarides (1990, 2001), and computes

Search techniques in intelligent classification systems

CERN Document Server

Savchenko, Andrey V

2016-01-01

A unified methodology for categorizing various complex objects is presented in this book. Through probability theory, novel asymptotically minimax criteria suitable for practical applications in imaging and data analysis are examined including the special cases such as the Jensen-Shannon divergence and the probabilistic neural network. An optimal approximate nearest neighbor search algorithm, which allows faster classification of databases is featured. Rough set theory, sequential analysis and granular computing are used to improve performance of the hierarchical classifiers. Practical examples in face identification (including deep neural networks), isolated commands recognition in voice control system and classification of visemes captured by the Kinect depth camera are included. This approach creates fast and accurate search procedures by using exact probability densities of applied dissimilarity measures. This book can be used as a guide for independent study and as supplementary material for a technicall...

Male psychological adaptation to unsuccessful medically assisted reproduction treatments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Martins, Mariana Veloso; Basto-Pereira, Miguel; Pedro, Juliana

2016-01-01

BACKGROUND: Similarly to women, men suffer from engaging in fertility treatments, both physically and psychologically. Although there is a vast body of evidence on the emotional adjustment of women to infertility, there are no systematic reviews focusing on men's psychological adaptation...... for psychological maladaptation?' SEARCH METHODS: A literature search was conducted from inception to September 2015 on five databases using combinations of MeSH terms and keywords. Eligible studies had to present quantitative prospective designs and samples including men who did not achieve pregnancy or parenthood...... at follow-up. A narrative synthesis approach was used to conduct the review. OUTCOMES: Twelve studies from three continents were eligible from 2534 records identified in the search. The results revealed that psychological symptoms of maladjustment significantly increased in men 1 year after the first...

Parents of children with cerebral palsy : a review of factors related to the process of adaptation

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rentinck, I. C. M.; Ketelaar, M.; Jongmans, M. J.; Gorter, J. W.

Background Little is known about the way parents adapt to the situation when their child is diagnosed with cerebral palsy. Methods A literature search was performed to gain a deeper insight in the process of adaptation of parents with a child with cerebral palsy and on factors related to this

Analysis and Design of a Context Adaptable SAD/MSE Architecture

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arvind Sudarsanam

2009-01-01

Full Text Available Design of flexible multimedia accelerators that can cater to multiple algorithms is being aggressively pursued in the media processors community. Such an approach is justified in the era of sub-45 nm technology where an increasingly dominating leakage power component is forcing designers to make the best possible use of on-chip resources. In this paper we present an analysis of two commonly used window-based operations (sum of absolute differences and mean squared error across a variety of search patterns and block sizes (2×3, 5×5, etc.. We propose a context adaptable architecture that has (i configurable 2D systolic array and (ii 2D Configurable Register Array (CRA. CRA can cater to variable pixel access patterns while reusing fetched pixels across search windows. Benefits of proposed architecture when compared to 15 other published architectures are adaptability, high throughput, and low latency at a cost of increased footprint, when ported on a Xilinx FPGA.

Effective Image Database Search via Dimensionality Reduction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dahl, Anders Bjorholm; Aanæs, Henrik

2008-01-01

Image search using the bag-of-words image representation is investigated further in this paper. This approach has shown promising results for large scale image collections making it relevant for Internet applications. The steps involved in the bag-of-words approach are feature extraction, vocabul......Image search using the bag-of-words image representation is investigated further in this paper. This approach has shown promising results for large scale image collections making it relevant for Internet applications. The steps involved in the bag-of-words approach are feature extraction......, vocabulary building, and searching with a query image. It is important to keep the computational cost low through all steps. In this paper we focus on the efficiency of the technique. To do that we substantially reduce the dimensionality of the features by the use of PCA and addition of color. Building...... of the visual vocabulary is typically done using k-means. We investigate a clustering algorithm based on the leader follower principle (LF-clustering), in which the number of clusters is not fixed. The adaptive nature of LF-clustering is shown to improve the quality of the visual vocabulary using this...

Antibiotic prophylaxis in obstetric procedures.

Science.gov (United States)

van Schalkwyk, Julie; Van Eyk, Nancy

2010-09-01

To review the evidence and provide recommendations on antibiotic prophylaxis for obstetrical procedures. Outcomes evaluated include need and effectiveness of antibiotics to prevent infections in obstetrical procedures. Published literature was retrieved through searches of Medline and The Cochrane Library on the topic of antibiotic prophylaxis in obstetrical procedures. Results were restricted to systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials/controlled clinical trials, and observational studies. Searches were updated on a regular basis and articles published from January 1978 to June 2009 were incorporated in the guideline. Current guidelines published by the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology were also incorporated. Grey (unpublished) literature was identified through searching the websites of health technology assessment and health technology assessment-related agencies, clinical practice guideline collections, clinical trial registries, and national and international medical specialty societies. The evidence obtained was reviewed and evaluated by the Infectious Diseases Committee of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada under the leadership of the principal authors, and recommendations were made according to guidelines developed by the Canadian Task Force on Preventive Health Care (Table 1). Implementation of this guideline should reduce the cost and harm resulting from the administration of antibiotics when they are not required and the harm resulting from failure to administer antibiotics when they would be beneficial. SUMMARY STATEMENTS: 1. Available evidence does not support the use of prophylactic antibiotics to reduce infectious morbidity following operative vaginal delivery. (II-1) 2. There is insufficient evidence to argue for or against the use of prophylactic antibiotics to reduce infectious morbidity for manual removal of the placenta. (III) 3. There is insufficient evidence to argue for or against the use of

A GIS-based Quantitative Approach for the Search of Clandestine Graves, Italy.

Science.gov (United States)

Somma, Roberta; Cascio, Maria; Silvestro, Massimiliano; Torre, Eliana

2018-05-01

Previous research on the RAG color-coded prioritization systems for the discovery of clandestine graves has not considered all the factors influencing the burial site choice within a GIS project. The goal of this technical note was to discuss a GIS-based quantitative approach for the search of clandestine graves. The method is based on cross-referenced RAG maps with cumulative suitability factors to host a burial, leading to the editing of different search scenarios for ground searches showing high-(Red), medium-(Amber), and low-(Green) priority areas. The application of this procedure allowed several outcomes to be determined: If the concealment occurs at night, then the "search scenario without the visibility" will be the most effective one; if the concealment occurs in daylight, then the "search scenario with the DSM-based visibility" will be most appropriate; the different search scenarios may be cross-referenced with offender's confessions and eyewitnesses' testimonies to verify the veracity of their statements. © 2017 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Warning: safety risk with some Apple AC Wall Plug Adapters

CERN Multimedia

CERN IT department

2016-01-01

Dear Mac and iOS Users, Apple has determined that some of its two prong Apple AC wall plug adapters may break and create a risk of electrical shock.   CERN users can now exchange their affected Apple wall plug adapters at the Service Desk. To find out if your adapter is affected and for any further information concerning the procedure to follow to exchange it, please check the following URL: https://cern.service-now.com/service-portal/view-outage.do?n=OTG0028639.

Searching for qualitative research for inclusion in systematic reviews: a structured methodological review.

Science.gov (United States)

Booth, Andrew

2016-05-04

Qualitative systematic reviews or qualitative evidence syntheses (QES) are increasingly recognised as a way to enhance the value of systematic reviews (SRs) of clinical trials. They can explain the mechanisms by which interventions, evaluated within trials, might achieve their effect. They can investigate differences in effects between different population groups. They can identify which outcomes are most important to patients, carers, health professionals and other stakeholders. QES can explore the impact of acceptance, feasibility, meaningfulness and implementation-related factors within a real world setting and thus contribute to the design and further refinement of future interventions. To produce valid, reliable and meaningful QES requires systematic identification of relevant qualitative evidence. Although the methodologies of QES, including methods for information retrieval, are well-documented, little empirical evidence exists to inform their conduct and reporting. This structured methodological overview examines papers on searching for qualitative research identified from the Cochrane Qualitative and Implementation Methods Group Methodology Register and from citation searches of 15 key papers. A single reviewer reviewed 1299 references. Papers reporting methodological guidance, use of innovative methodologies or empirical studies of retrieval methods were categorised under eight topical headings: overviews and methodological guidance, sampling, sources, structured questions, search procedures, search strategies and filters, supplementary strategies and standards. This structured overview presents a contemporaneous view of information retrieval for qualitative research and identifies a future research agenda. This review concludes that poor empirical evidence underpins current information practice in information retrieval of qualitative research. A trend towards improved transparency of search methods and further evaluation of key search procedures offers

Breaking chaotic shift key communication via adaptive key identification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ren Haipeng; Han Chongzhao; Liu Ding

2008-01-01

This paper proposes an adaptive parameter identification method for breaking chaotic shift key communication from the transmitted signal in public channel. The sensitive dependence property of chaos on parameter mismatch is used for chaos adaptive synchronization and parameter identification. An index function about the synchronization error is defined and conjugate gradient method is used to minimize the index function and to search the transmitter's parameter (key). By using proposed method, secure key is recovered from transmitted signal generated by low dimensional chaos and hyper chaos switching communication. Multi-parameters can also be identified from the transmitted signal with noise

Women's role in adapting to climate change and variability

Science.gov (United States)

Carvajal-Escobar, Y.; Quintero-Angel, M.; García-Vargas, M.

2008-04-01

Given that women are engaged in more climate-related change activities than what is recognized and valued in the community, this article highlights their important role in the adaptation and search for safer communities, which leads them to understand better the causes and consequences of changes in climatic conditions. It is concluded that women have important knowledge and skills for orienting the adaptation processes, a product of their roles in society (productive, reproductive and community); and the importance of gender equity in these processes is recognized. The relationship among climate change, climate variability and the accomplishment of the Millennium Development Goals is considered.

A Comparison of Error-Correction Procedures on Skill Acquisition during Discrete-Trial Instruction

Science.gov (United States)

Carroll, Regina A.; Joachim, Brad T.; St. Peter, Claire C.; Robinson, Nicole

2015-01-01

Previous research supports the use of a variety of error-correction procedures to facilitate skill acquisition during discrete-trial instruction. We used an adapted alternating treatments design to compare the effects of 4 commonly used error-correction procedures on skill acquisition for 2 children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder…

IdentiPy: an extensible search engine for protein identification in shotgun proteomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Levitsky, Lev I; Ivanov, Mark V; Lobas, Anna A; Bubis, Julia A; Tarasova, Irina A; Solovyeva, Elizaveta M; Pridatchenko, Marina L; Gorshkov, Mikhail V

2018-04-23

We present an open-source, extensible search engine for shotgun proteomics. Implemented in Python programming language, IdentiPy shows competitive processing speed and sensitivity compared with the state-of-the-art search engines. It is equipped with a user-friendly web interface, IdentiPy Server, enabling the use of a single server installation accessed from multiple workstations. Using a simplified version of X!Tandem scoring algorithm and its novel ``auto-tune'' feature, IdentiPy outperforms the popular alternatives on high-resolution data sets. Auto-tune adjusts the search parameters for the particular data set, resulting in improved search efficiency and simplifying the user experience. IdentiPy with the auto-tune feature shows higher sensitivity compared with the evaluated search engines. IdentiPy Server has built-in post-processing and protein inference procedures and provides graphic visualization of the statistical properties of the data set and the search results. It is open-source and can be freely extended to use third-party scoring functions or processing algorithms, and allows customization of the search workflow for specialized applications.

Cultural adaptation in translational research: field experiences.

Science.gov (United States)

Dévieux, Jessy G; Malow, Robert M; Rosenberg, Rhonda; Jean-Gilles, Michèle; Samuels, Deanne; Ergon-Pérez, Emma; Jacobs, Robin

2005-06-01

The increase in the incidence of HIV/AIDS among minorities in the United States and in certain developing nations has prompted new intervention priorities, stressing the adaptation of efficacious interventions for diverse and marginalized groups. The experiences of Florida International University's AIDS Prevention Program in translating HIV primary and secondary prevention interventions among these multicultural populations provide insight into the process of cultural adaptations and address the new scientific emphasis on ecological validity. An iterative process involving forward and backward translation, a cultural linguistic committee, focus group discussions, documentation of project procedures, and consultations with other researchers in the field was used to modify interventions. This article presents strategies used to ensure fidelity in implementing the efficacious core components of evidence-based interventions for reducing HIV transmission and drug use behaviors and the challenges posed by making cultural adaptation for participants with low literacy. This experience demonstrates the importance of integrating culturally relevant material in the translation process with intense focus on language and nuance. The process must ensure that the level of intervention is appropriate for the educational level of participants. Furthermore, the rights of participants must be protected during consenting procedures by instituting policies that recognize the socioeconomic, educational, and systemic pressures to participate in research.

Occupational Adaptation as a Construct: A Scoping Review of Literature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lenin Grajo

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Background: This study integrates research on practice applications of the construct of occupational adaptation with occupational therapy and occupational science literature. Method: Using Arksey and O’Malley’s 5-step Scoping Study Framework (2005, we conducted a scoping review of 74 articles from five online databases and literature hand-searching and performed quantitative and thematic analyses. Results: The Occupational Adaptation model (Schkade & Schultz, 1992; n = 74 and the Model of Human Occupation (Kielhofner, 2008; n = 37 were the most frequently cited literature influences. Occupational adaptation has been defined as a process (n = 49, an outcome (n = 37 and both a process and outcome (n = 12 of occupational participation. Four qualitative themes emerged to support the definitions of occupational adaptation from the literature. Occupational adaptation was defined as (a a product of engagement in occupation, (b a transaction in the environment, (c a response to change and life transitions; and (d a formation of a desired sense of self. Discussion: Evidence of occupational adaptation as a viable construct warrants further research to operationalize practice and outcomes.

A multistage framework for reliability-based distribution expansion planning considering distributed generations by a self-adaptive global-based harmony search algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shivaie, Mojtaba; Ameli, Mohammad T.; Sepasian, Mohammad S.; Weinsier, Philip D.; Vahidinasab, Vahid

2015-01-01

In this paper, the authors present a new multistage framework for reliability-based Distribution Expansion Planning (DEP) in which expansion options are a reinforcement and/or installation of substations, feeders, and Distributed Generations (DGs). The proposed framework takes into account not only costs associated with investment, maintenance, and operation, but also expected customer interruption cost in the optimization as four problem objectives. At the same time, operational restrictions, Kirchhoff's laws, radial structure limitation, voltage limits, and capital expenditure budget restriction are considered as problem constraints. The proposed model is a non-convex optimization problem having a non-linear, mixed-integer nature. Hence, a hybrid Self-adaptive Global-based Harmony Search Algorithm (SGHSA) and Optimal Power Flow (OPF) were used and followed by a fuzzy satisfying method in order to obtain the final optimal solution. The SGHSA is a recently developed optimization algorithm which imitates the music improvisation process. In this process, the harmonists improvise their instrument pitches, searching for the perfect state of harmony. The planning methodology was demonstrated on the 27-node, 13.8-kV test system in order to demonstrate the feasibility and capability of the proposed model. Simulation results illustrated the sufficiency and profitableness of the newly developed framework, when compared with other methods. - Highlights: • A new multistage framework is presented for reliability-based DEP problem. • In this paper, DGs are considered as an expansion option to increase the flexibility of the proposed model. • In this paper, effective factors of DEP problem are incorporated as a multi-objective model. • In this paper, three new algorithms HSA, IHSA and SGHSA are proposed. • Results obtained by the proposed SGHSA algorithm are better than others

Routine development of objectively derived search strategies

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hausner Elke

2012-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Over the past few years, information retrieval has become more and more professionalized, and information specialists are considered full members of a research team conducting systematic reviews. Research groups preparing systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines have been the driving force in the development of search strategies, but open questions remain regarding the transparency of the development process and the available resources. An empirically guided approach to the development of a search strategy provides a way to increase transparency and efficiency. Methods Our aim in this paper is to describe the empirically guided development process for search strategies as applied by the German Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care (Institut für Qualität und Wirtschaftlichkeit im Gesundheitswesen, or "IQWiG". This strategy consists of the following steps: generation of a test set, as well as the development, validation and standardized documentation of the search strategy. Results We illustrate our approach by means of an example, that is, a search for literature on brachytherapy in patients with prostate cancer. For this purpose, a test set was generated, including a total of 38 references from 3 systematic reviews. The development set for the generation of the strategy included 25 references. After application of textual analytic procedures, a strategy was developed that included all references in the development set. To test the search strategy on an independent set of references, the remaining 13 references in the test set (the validation set were used. The validation set was also completely identified. Discussion Our conclusion is that an objectively derived approach similar to that used in search filter development is a feasible way to develop and validate reliable search strategies. Besides creating high-quality strategies, the widespread application of this approach will result in a

Application of fast orthogonal search to linear and nonlinear stochastic systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chon, K H; Korenberg, M J; Holstein-Rathlou, N H

1997-01-01

Standard deterministic autoregressive moving average (ARMA) models consider prediction errors to be unexplainable noise sources. The accuracy of the estimated ARMA model parameters depends on producing minimum prediction errors. In this study, an accurate algorithm is developed for estimating...... linear and nonlinear stochastic ARMA model parameters by using a method known as fast orthogonal search, with an extended model containing prediction errors as part of the model estimation process. The extended algorithm uses fast orthogonal search in a two-step procedure in which deterministic terms...

A Novel Adaptive Elite-Based Particle Swarm Optimization Applied to VAR Optimization in Electric Power Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ying-Yi Hong

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Particle swarm optimization (PSO has been successfully applied to solve many practical engineering problems. However, more efficient strategies are needed to coordinate global and local searches in the solution space when the studied problem is extremely nonlinear and highly dimensional. This work proposes a novel adaptive elite-based PSO approach. The adaptive elite strategies involve the following two tasks: (1 appending the mean search to the original approach and (2 pruning/cloning particles. The mean search, leading to stable convergence, helps the iterative process coordinate between the global and local searches. The mean of the particles and standard deviation of the distances between pairs of particles are utilized to prune distant particles. The best particle is cloned and it replaces the pruned distant particles in the elite strategy. To evaluate the performance and generality of the proposed method, four benchmark functions were tested by traditional PSO, chaotic PSO, differential evolution, and genetic algorithm. Finally, a realistic loss minimization problem in an electric power system is studied to show the robustness of the proposed method.

Genetic Local Search for Optimum Multiuser Detection Problem in DS-CDMA Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shaowei; Ji, Xiaoyong

Optimum multiuser detection (OMD) in direct-sequence code-division multiple access (DS-CDMA) systems is an NP-complete problem. In this paper, we present a genetic local search algorithm, which consists of an evolution strategy framework and a local improvement procedure. The evolution strategy searches the space of feasible, locally optimal solutions only. A fast iterated local search algorithm, which employs the proprietary characteristics of the OMD problem, produces local optima with great efficiency. Computer simulations show the bit error rate (BER) performance of the GLS outperforms other multiuser detectors in all cases discussed. The computation time is polynomial complexity in the number of users.

The Accelerated Procedure for Electrical Work (TPA)

CERN Document Server

Coelingh, G J

2000-01-01

The accelerated procedure for electrical work [in French: Travaux électriques selon Procédure Accélérée (TPA)] was introduced in October 1996. It allows the contractor to carry out minor electrical installation jobs (about 350 a year) independently. The special features of the TPA are that the number of hours to be worked is limited to 16 and the cost to less than 1000 CHF. This procedure has substantial advantages for both the requesters and ST division. Firstly, the requester benefits from direct contact with the contractor, prompt action and simplified invoicing. In addition, ST division, relieved of ordinary minor work, can concentrate on larger-scale projects and can take advantage of a simplified system of administration. The author sets out the course of the procedure, its advantages and drawbacks, the statistics and the results of a satisfaction questionnaire. This procedure could be adapted and extended to other operations linked to future contracts.

Dexmedetomidine as a procedural sedative for percutaneous tracheotomy: case report and systematic literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Perrott, Jerrold L; Co, Michelle T; Reynolds, Steven C; Gunning, Derek J R

2012-01-01

Purpose. To describe the successful use of dexmedetomidine as the primary procedural sedative for a percutaneous tracheotomy procedure and to systematically present the supporting literature. Materials and Methods. A Case report of our experience and systematic literature search. PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched without restriction using the key words dexmedetomidine, percutaneous tracheotomy, and tracheotomy procedure. All relevant published references were retrieved irrespective of their methodological quality. Results. In total, only 3 relevant references were found. These include one small placebo controlled randomized trial and 2 case reports. The randomized, placebo controlled trial enrolled patients already sedated on midazolam and included 64 total patients. The 2 other case reports both described the use of dexmedetomidine as the primary procedural sedative. All of the cases reported the successful completion of the percutaneous tracheotomy without any major complication, but none reported the subjective patient experience. Conclusion. Based on the available published literature and our experience, we suggest that dexmedetomidine be considered for use as the primary procedural sedative for percutaneous tracheotomy procedure. Dexmedetomidine's ability to provide adequate sedation and amnesia, without blunting the respiratory drive and protective reflexes of the patient, may make it an optimal agent in specific cases.

Dexmedetomidine as a Procedural Sedative for Percutaneous Tracheotomy: Case Report and Systematic Literature Review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jerrold L. Perrott

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Purpose. To describe the successful use of dexmedetomidine as the primary procedural sedative for a percutaneous tracheotomy procedure and to systematically present the supporting literature. Materials and Methods. A Case report of our experience and systematic literature search. PubMed, Embase, and Google Scholar were searched without restriction using the key words dexmedetomidine, percutaneous tracheotomy, and tracheotomy procedure. All relevant published references were retrieved irrespective of their methodological quality. Results. In total, only 3 relevant references were found. These include one small placebo controlled randomized trial and 2 case reports. The randomized, placebo controlled trial enrolled patients already sedated on midazolam and included 64 total patients. The 2 other case reports both described the use of dexmedetomidine as the primary procedural sedative. All of the cases reported the successful completion of the percutaneous tracheotomy without any major complication, but none reported the subjective patient experience. Conclusion. Based on the available published literature and our experience, we suggest that dexmedetomidine be considered for use as the primary procedural sedative for percutaneous tracheotomy procedure. Dexmedetomidine’s ability to provide adequate sedation and amnesia, without blunting the respiratory drive and protective reflexes of the patient, may make it an optimal agent in specific cases.

An improved exploratory search technique for pure integer linear programming problems

Science.gov (United States)

Fogle, F. R.

1990-01-01

The development is documented of a heuristic method for the solution of pure integer linear programming problems. The procedure draws its methodology from the ideas of Hooke and Jeeves type 1 and 2 exploratory searches, greedy procedures, and neighborhood searches. It uses an efficient rounding method to obtain its first feasible integer point from the optimal continuous solution obtained via the simplex method. Since this method is based entirely on simple addition or subtraction of one to each variable of a point in n-space and the subsequent comparison of candidate solutions to a given set of constraints, it facilitates significant complexity improvements over existing techniques. It also obtains the same optimal solution found by the branch-and-bound technique in 44 of 45 small to moderate size test problems. Two example problems are worked in detail to show the inner workings of the method. Furthermore, using an established weighted scheme for comparing computational effort involved in an algorithm, a comparison of this algorithm is made to the more established and rigorous branch-and-bound method. A computer implementation of the procedure, in PC compatible Pascal, is also presented and discussed.

Computer Algorithms in the Search for Unrelated Stem Cell Donors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David Steiner

2012-01-01

Full Text Available Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT is a medical procedure in the field of hematology and oncology, most often performed for patients with certain cancers of the blood or bone marrow. A lot of patients have no suitable HLA-matched donor within their family, so physicians must activate a “donor search process” by interacting with national and international donor registries who will search their databases for adult unrelated donors or cord blood units (CBU. Information and communication technologies play a key role in the donor search process in donor registries both nationally and internationaly. One of the major challenges for donor registry computer systems is the development of a reliable search algorithm. This work discusses the top-down design of such algorithms and current practice. Based on our experience with systems used by several stem cell donor registries, we highlight typical pitfalls in the implementation of an algorithm and underlying data structure.

Search for technetium in natural tin metallurgical residues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Parker, C.W.

1996-07-01

Possible instability of baryons inside the nuclei might result in accumulation of rare isotopes in natural ores. In this respect, isotopes of technetium have certain advantages that can be useful in the search for technetium in nonradioactive ores by chemical methods. In this paper, we review the history of technetium research and discuss a new approach to the search for natural technetium associated with tin ores which appears to offer a rare possibility of discovering a smelting operation by-product such as flue dust, in which the volatile technetium heptoxide (Tc{sub 2}O{sub 7}), like rhenium heptoxide (Re{sub 2}O{sub 7}), would be expected to concentrate. Our concept of a search for technetium in these materials would be based on the assumption that traces of rhenium could occur in the ore and could be traced most easily by neutron activation of small samples. Such a procedure would confirm that an enrichment from the ore to the flue dust actually occurs with the rhenium and therefore should occur with technetium. Furthermore, this occurrence should identify the best location to search for technetium.

Engineering Bacteria to Search for Specific Concentrations of Molecules by a Systematic Synthetic Biology Design Method.

Science.gov (United States)

Tien, Shin-Ming; Hsu, Chih-Yuan; Chen, Bor-Sen

2016-01-01

Bacteria navigate environments full of various chemicals to seek favorable places for survival by controlling the flagella's rotation using a complicated signal transduction pathway. By influencing the pathway, bacteria can be engineered to search for specific molecules, which has great potential for application to biomedicine and bioremediation. In this study, genetic circuits were constructed to make bacteria search for a specific molecule at particular concentrations in their environment through a synthetic biology method. In addition, by replacing the "brake component" in the synthetic circuit with some specific sensitivities, the bacteria can be engineered to locate areas containing specific concentrations of the molecule. Measured by the swarm assay qualitatively and microfluidic techniques quantitatively, the characteristics of each "brake component" were identified and represented by a mathematical model. Furthermore, we established another mathematical model to anticipate the characteristics of the "brake component". Based on this model, an abundant component library can be established to provide adequate component selection for different searching conditions without identifying all components individually. Finally, a systematic design procedure was proposed. Following this systematic procedure, one can design a genetic circuit for bacteria to rapidly search for and locate different concentrations of particular molecules by selecting the most adequate "brake component" in the library. Moreover, following simple procedures, one can also establish an exclusive component library suitable for other cultivated environments, promoter systems, or bacterial strains.

Engineering Bacteria to Search for Specific Concentrations of Molecules by a Systematic Synthetic Biology Design Method.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shin-Ming Tien

Full Text Available Bacteria navigate environments full of various chemicals to seek favorable places for survival by controlling the flagella's rotation using a complicated signal transduction pathway. By influencing the pathway, bacteria can be engineered to search for specific molecules, which has great potential for application to biomedicine and bioremediation. In this study, genetic circuits were constructed to make bacteria search for a specific molecule at particular concentrations in their environment through a synthetic biology method. In addition, by replacing the "brake component" in the synthetic circuit with some specific sensitivities, the bacteria can be engineered to locate areas containing specific concentrations of the molecule. Measured by the swarm assay qualitatively and microfluidic techniques quantitatively, the characteristics of each "brake component" were identified and represented by a mathematical model. Furthermore, we established another mathematical model to anticipate the characteristics of the "brake component". Based on this model, an abundant component library can be established to provide adequate component selection for different searching conditions without identifying all components individually. Finally, a systematic design procedure was proposed. Following this systematic procedure, one can design a genetic circuit for bacteria to rapidly search for and locate different concentrations of particular molecules by selecting the most adequate "brake component" in the library. Moreover, following simple procedures, one can also establish an exclusive component library suitable for other cultivated environments, promoter systems, or bacterial strains.

The Search Performance Evaluation and Prediction in Exploratory Search

OpenAIRE

LIU, FEI

2016-01-01

The exploratory search for complex search tasks requires an effective search behavior model to evaluate and predict user search performance. Few studies have investigated the relationship between user search behavior and search performance in exploratory search. This research adopts a mixed approach combining search system development, user search experiment, search query log analysis, and multivariate regression analysis to resolve the knowledge gap. Through this study, it is shown that expl...

Automation of procedure writing for the RLWTF

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Farnham, M.; MacDonald, A.

1998-01-01

In August of 1997, the Radioactive Liquid Waste Treatment Facility (RLWTF) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) recognized the need to re-engineer document management business process. All nuclear facilities at LANL are required to ensure that both the latest approved revision of controlled documents and any changes to those documents are available to operating personnel at all times. The Nuclear Materials Technology (NMT) Division was also re-engineering its document management business processes and searching for a solution. Both groups contacted several internal and external organizations in search of potential software solutions in use that would meet requirements. This report describes the objectives and features required by the software package, the choice of Procedure Design as the software package, and its implementation

An Adaptive Cultural Algorithm with Improved Quantum-behaved Particle Swarm Optimization for Sonar Image Detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Xingmei; Hao, Wenqian; Li, Qiming

2017-12-18

This paper proposes an adaptive cultural algorithm with improved quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization (ACA-IQPSO) to detect the underwater sonar image. In the population space, to improve searching ability of particles, iterative times and the fitness value of particles are regarded as factors to adaptively adjust the contraction-expansion coefficient of the quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization algorithm (QPSO). The improved quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization algorithm (IQPSO) can make particles adjust their behaviours according to their quality. In the belief space, a new update strategy is adopted to update cultural individuals according to the idea of the update strategy in shuffled frog leaping algorithm (SFLA). Moreover, to enhance the utilization of information in the population space and belief space, accept function and influence function are redesigned in the new communication protocol. The experimental results show that ACA-IQPSO can obtain good clustering centres according to the grey distribution information of underwater sonar images, and accurately complete underwater objects detection. Compared with other algorithms, the proposed ACA-IQPSO has good effectiveness, excellent adaptability, a powerful searching ability and high convergence efficiency. Meanwhile, the experimental results of the benchmark functions can further demonstrate that the proposed ACA-IQPSO has better searching ability, convergence efficiency and stability.

Lateral Augmentation Procedures in Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction: Anatomic, Biomechanical, Imaging, and Clinical Evidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Weber, Alexander E; Zuke, William; Mayer, Erik N; Forsythe, Brian; Getgood, Alan; Verma, Nikhil N; Bach, Bernard R; Bedi, Asheesh; Cole, Brian J

2018-02-01

There has been an increasing interest in lateral-based soft tissue reconstructive techniques as augments to anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR). The objective of these procedures is to minimize anterolateral rotational instability of the knee after surgery. Despite the relatively rapid increase in surgical application of these techniques, many clinical questions remain. To provide a comprehensive update on the current state of these lateral-based augmentation procedures by reviewing the origins of the surgical techniques, the biomechanical data to support their use, and the clinical results to date. Systematic review. A systematic search of the literature was conducted via the Medline, EMBASE, Scopus, SportDiscus, and CINAHL databases. The search was designed to encompass the literature on lateral extra-articular tenodesis (LET) procedures and the anterolateral ligament (ALL) reconstruction. Titles and abstracts were reviewed for relevance and sorted into the following categories: anatomy, biomechanics, imaging/diagnostics, surgical techniques, and clinical outcomes. The search identified 4016 articles. After review for relevance, 31, 53, 27, 35, 45, and 78 articles described the anatomy, biomechanics, imaging/diagnostics, surgical techniques, and clinical outcomes of either LET procedures or the ALL reconstruction, respectively. A multitude of investigations were available, revealing controversy in addition to consensus in several categories. The level of evidence obtained from this search was not adequate for systematic review or meta-analysis; thus, a current concepts review of the anatomy, biomechanics, imaging, surgical techniques, and clinical outcomes was performed. Histologically, the ALL appears to be a distinct structure that can be identified with advanced imaging techniques. Biomechanical evidence suggests that the anterolateral structures of the knee, including the ALL, contribute to minimizing anterolateral rotational instability

One visual search, many memory searches: An eye-tracking investigation of hybrid search.

Science.gov (United States)

Drew, Trafton; Boettcher, Sage E P; Wolfe, Jeremy M

2017-09-01

Suppose you go to the supermarket with a shopping list of 10 items held in memory. Your shopping expedition can be seen as a combination of visual search and memory search. This is known as "hybrid search." There is a growing interest in understanding how hybrid search tasks are accomplished. We used eye tracking to examine how manipulating the number of possible targets (the memory set size [MSS]) changes how observers (Os) search. We found that dwell time on each distractor increased with MSS, suggesting a memory search was being executed each time a new distractor was fixated. Meanwhile, although the rate of refixation increased with MSS, it was not nearly enough to suggest a strategy that involves repeatedly searching visual space for subgroups of the target set. These data provide a clear demonstration that hybrid search tasks are carried out via a "one visual search, many memory searches" heuristic in which Os examine items in the visual array once with a very low rate of refixations. For each item selected, Os activate a memory search that produces logarithmic response time increases with increased MSS. Furthermore, the percentage of distractors fixated was strongly modulated by the MSS: More items in the MSS led to a higher percentage of fixated distractors. Searching for more potential targets appears to significantly alter how Os approach the task, ultimately resulting in more eye movements and longer response times.

Information search and decision making: effects of age and complexity on strategy use.

Science.gov (United States)

Queen, Tara L; Hess, Thomas M; Ennis, Gilda E; Dowd, Keith; Grühn, Daniel

2012-12-01

The impact of task complexity on information search strategy and decision quality was examined in a sample of 135 young, middle-aged, and older adults. We were particularly interested in the competing roles of fluid cognitive ability and domain knowledge and experience, with the former being a negative influence and the latter being a positive influence on older adults' performance. Participants utilized 2 decision matrices, which varied in complexity, regarding a consumer purchase. Using process tracing software and an algorithm developed to assess decision strategy, we recorded search behavior, strategy selection, and final decision. Contrary to expectations, older adults were not more likely than the younger age groups to engage in information-minimizing search behaviors in response to increases in task complexity. Similarly, adults of all ages used comparable decision strategies and adapted their strategies to the demands of the task. We also examined decision outcomes in relation to participants' preferences. Overall, it seems that older adults utilize simpler sets of information primarily reflecting the most valued attributes in making their choice. The results of this study suggest that older adults are adaptive in their approach to decision making and that this ability may benefit from accrued knowledge and experience. 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Multi-Robot, Multi-Target Particle Swarm Optimization Search in Noisy Wireless Environments

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kurt Derr; Milos Manic

2009-05-01

Multiple small robots (swarms) can work together using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to perform tasks that are difficult or impossible for a single robot to accomplish. The problem considered in this paper is exploration of an unknown environment with the goal of finding a target(s) at an unknown location(s) using multiple small mobile robots. This work demonstrates the use of a distributed PSO algorithm with a novel adaptive RSS weighting factor to guide robots for locating target(s) in high risk environments. The approach was developed and analyzed on multiple robot single and multiple target search. The approach was further enhanced by the multi-robot-multi-target search in noisy environments. The experimental results demonstrated how the availability of radio frequency signal can significantly affect robot search time to reach a target.

Adaptive feedback linearization applied to steering of ships

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thor I. Fossen

1993-10-01

Full Text Available This paper describes the application of feedback linearization to automatic steering of ships. The flexibility of the design procedure allows the autopilot to be optimized for both course-keeping and course-changing manoeuvres. Direct adaptive versions of both the course-keeping and turning controller are derived. The advantages of the adaptive controllers are improved performance and reduced fuel consumption. The application of nonlinear control theory also allows the designer in a systematic manner to compensate for nonlinearities in the control design.

Procedural Pain: Systematic Review of Parent Experiences and Information Needs.

Science.gov (United States)

Gates, Allison; Shave, Kassi; Featherstone, Robin; Buckreus, Kelli; Ali, Samina; Scott, Shannon D; Hartling, Lisa

2018-06-01

Parents wish to reduce their child's pain during medical procedures but may not know how to do so. We systematically reviewed the literature on parents' experiences and information needs related to managing their child's pain for common medical procedures. Of 2678 records retrieved through database searching, 5 were included. Three additional records were identified by scanning reference lists. Five studies were qualitative, and 3 were quantitative. Most took place in North America or Europe (n = 7) and described neonatal intensive care unit experiences (n = 5). Procedures included needle-related medical procedures (eg, venipuncture, phlebotomy, intravenous insertion), sutures, and wound repair and treatment, among others. Generally, parents desired being present during procedures, wanted to remain stoic for their child, and thought that information would be empowering and relieve stress but felt unsupported in taking an active role. Supporting and educating parents may empower them to lessen pain for their children while undergoing medical procedures.

Group of Hexagonal Search Patterns for Motion Estimation and Object Tracking

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elazm, A.A.; Mahmoud, I.I; Hashima, S.M.

2010-01-01

This paper presents a group of fast block matching algorithms based on the hexagon pattern search .A new predicted one point hexagon (POPHEX) algorithm is proposed and compared with other well known algorithms. The comparison of these algorithms and our proposed one is performed for both motion estimation and object tracking. Test video sequences are used to demonstrate the behavior of studied algorithms. All algorithms are implemented in MATLAB environment .Experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm posses less number of search points however its computational overhead is little increased due to prediction procedure.

PROCEDURES OF TRANSLATION ON MALIN KUNDANG’S FOLKTALE FROM WEST SUMATRA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ni Made Arnita Yanti

2014-05-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study was to examine the procedures of translation on the Malin Kundang folktale translated into English. The data was collected in several steps, the first step was note taking, the further step was identifying the data and the last step was arranging the data and classifying it in the table. The analyzing method of the data through documentation method and it was randomly selected in the discussion session. Result for the procedures in the folktale revealed based on the procedures in translation, only five out of seven procedures were obtained from the text such as Literal Translation, Transposition, Modulation, Equivalence, and Adaptation.

An Adaptive Evolutionary Algorithm for Traveling Salesman Problem with Precedence Constraints

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Jinmo Sung

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Traveling sales man problem with precedence constraints is one of the most notorious problems in terms of the efficiency of its solution approach, even though it has very wide range of industrial applications. We propose a new evolutionary algorithm to efficiently obtain good solutions by improving the search process. Our genetic operators guarantee the feasibility of solutions over the generations of population, which significantly improves the computational efficiency even when it is combined with our flexible adaptive searching strategy. The efficiency of the algorithm is investigated by computational experiments.

SearchResultFinder: federated search made easy

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Trieschnigg, Rudolf Berend; Tjin-Kam-Jet, Kien; Hiemstra, Djoerd

Building a federated search engine based on a large number existing web search engines is a challenge: implementing the programming interface (API) for each search engine is an exacting and time-consuming job. In this demonstration we present SearchResultFinder, a browser plugin which speeds up

Improvement of gamma calibration procedures with commercial management software

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lucena, Rodrigo F.; Potiens, Maria da Penha A.; Santos, Gelson P.; Vivolo, Vitor

2007-01-01

In this work, the gamma calibration procedure of the Instruments Calibration Laboratory (LCI) of the IPEN-CNEN-SP was improved with the use of the commercial management software Autolab TM from Automa Company. That software was adapted for our specific use in the calibration procedures. The evaluation of the uncertainties in gamma calibration protocol was improved by the LCI staff and yet the all worksheets and final calibration report lay-out was developed in commercial software like Excell TM and Word TM from Microsft TM . (author)

Dissemination of Periodontal Pathogens in the Bloodstream after Periodontal Procedures: A Systematic Review

Science.gov (United States)

Horliana, Anna Carolina Ratto Tempestini; Chambrone, Leandro; Foz, Adriana Moura; Artese, Hilana Paula Carillo; Rabelo, Mariana de Sousa; Pannuti, Cláudio Mendes; Romito, Giuseppe Alexandre

2014-01-01

Background To date, there is no compilation of evidence-based information associating bacteremia and periodontal procedures. This systematic review aims to assess magnitude, duration, prevalence and nature of bacteremia caused by periodontal procedures. Study Design Systematic Review Types of Studies Reviewed MEDLINE, EMBASE and LILACS databases were searched in duplicate through August, 2013 without language restriction. Observational studies were included if blood samples were collected before, during or after periodontal procedures of patients with periodontitis. The methodological quality was assessed in duplicate using the modified Newcastle-Ottawa scale (NOS). Results Search strategy identified 509 potentially eligible articles and nine were included. Only four studies demonstrated high methodological quality, whereas five were of medium or low methodological quality. The study characteristics were considered too heterogeneous to conduct a meta-analysis. Among 219 analyzed patients, 106 (49.4%) had positive bacteremia. More frequent bacteria were S. viridans, A. actinomycetemcomitans P. gingivalis, M. micros and species Streptococcus and Actinomyces, although identification methods of microbiologic assays were different among studies. Clinical Implications Although half of the patients presented positive bacteremia after periodontal procedures, accurate results regarding the magnitude, duration and nature of bacteremia could not be confidentially assessed. PMID:24870125

Adaptation of Agile Project Management Methodology for Project Team

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rasnacis Arturs

2015-12-01

Full Text Available A project management methodology that defines basic processes, tools, techniques, methods, resources and procedures used to manage a project is necessary for effective and successful IT project management. Each company needs to define its own methodology or adapt some of the existing ones. The purpose of the research is to evaluate the possibilities of adapting IT project development methodology according to the company, company employee characteristics and their mutual relations. The adaptation process will be illustrated with a case study at an IT company in Latvia where the developed methodology is based on Agile Scrum, one of the most widespread Agile methods.

Participatory plant breeding: a way to arrive at better adapted onions varieties

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tiemens-Hulscher, M.; Lammerts Van Bueren, E.; Osman, A.M.; Jeuken, J.; Groenen, R.; Heer, de R.

2006-01-01

The search for varieties that are better adapted to organic farming is a current topic in the organic sector. Breeding programmes specific for organic agriculture should solve this problem. Collaborating with organic farmers in such programmes, particularly in the selection process, can potentially

Automatic feature design for optical character recognition using an evolutionary search procedure.

Science.gov (United States)

Stentiford, F W

1985-03-01

An automatic evolutionary search is applied to the problem of feature extraction in an OCR application. A performance measure based on feature independence is used to generate features which do not appear to suffer from peaking effects [17]. Features are extracted from a training set of 30 600 machine printed 34 class alphanumeric characters derived from British mail. Classification results on the training set and a test set of 10 200 characters are reported for an increasing number of features. A 1.01 percent forced decision error rate is obtained on the test data using 316 features. The hardware implementation should be cheap and fast to operate. The performance compares favorably with current low cost OCR page readers.

Adaptive hybrid optimal quantum control for imprecisely characterized systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Egger, D J; Wilhelm, F K

2014-06-20

Optimal quantum control theory carries a huge promise for quantum technology. Its experimental application, however, is often hindered by imprecise knowledge of the input variables, the quantum system's parameters. We show how to overcome this by adaptive hybrid optimal control, using a protocol named Ad-HOC. This protocol combines open- and closed-loop optimal control by first performing a gradient search towards a near-optimal control pulse and then an experimental fidelity estimation with a gradient-free method. For typical settings in solid-state quantum information processing, adaptive hybrid optimal control enhances gate fidelities by an order of magnitude, making optimal control theory applicable and useful.

RARtool: A MATLAB Software Package for Designing Response-Adaptive Randomized Clinical Trials with Time-to-Event Outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ryeznik, Yevgen; Sverdlov, Oleksandr; Wong, Weng Kee

2015-08-01

Response-adaptive randomization designs are becoming increasingly popular in clinical trial practice. In this paper, we present RARtool , a user interface software developed in MATLAB for designing response-adaptive randomized comparative clinical trials with censored time-to-event outcomes. The RARtool software can compute different types of optimal treatment allocation designs, and it can simulate response-adaptive randomization procedures targeting selected optimal allocations. Through simulations, an investigator can assess design characteristics under a variety of experimental scenarios and select the best procedure for practical implementation. We illustrate the utility of our RARtool software by redesigning a survival trial from the literature.

Comparison of genetic algorithm and harmony search for generator maintenance scheduling

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khan, L.; Mumtaz, S.; Khattak, A.

2012-01-01

GMS (Generator Maintenance Scheduling) ranks very high in decision making of power generation management. Generators maintenance schedule decides the time period of maintenance tasks and a reliable reserve margin is also maintained during this time period. In this paper, a comparison of GA (Genetic Algorithm) and US (Harmony Search) algorithm is presented to solve generators maintenance scheduling problem for WAPDA (Water And Power Development Authority) Pakistan. GA is a search procedure, which is used in search problems to compute exact and optimized solution. GA is considered as global search heuristic technique. HS algorithm is quite efficient, because the convergence rate of this algorithm is very fast. HS algorithm is based on the concept of music improvisation process of searching for a perfect state of harmony. The two algorithms generate feasible and optimal solutions and overcome the limitations of the conventional methods including extensive computational effort, which increases exponentially as the size of the problem increases. The proposed methods are tested, validated and compared on the WAPDA electric system. (author)

Adaptive Distributed Data Structure Management for Parallel CFD Applications

KAUST Repository

Frisch, Jerome

2013-09-01

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations require a lot of computing resources in terms of CPU time and memory in order to compute with a reasonable physical accuracy. If only uniformly refined domains are applied, the amount of computing cells is growing rather fast if a certain small resolution is physically required. This can be remedied by applying adaptively refined grids. Unfortunately, due to the adaptive refinement procedures, errors are introduced which have to be taken into account. This paper is focussing on implementation details of the applied adaptive data structure management and a qualitative analysis of the introduced errors by analysing a Poisson problem on the given data structure, which has to be solved in every time step of a CFD analysis. Furthermore an adaptive CFD benchmark example is computed, showing the benefits of an adaptive refinement as well as measurements of parallel data distribution and performance. © 2013 IEEE.

Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change in OECD Countries.

Science.gov (United States)

Austin, Stephanie E; Biesbroek, Robbert; Berrang-Ford, Lea; Ford, James D; Parker, Stephen; Fleury, Manon D

2016-09-07

Climate change is a major challenge facing public health. National governments play a key role in public health adaptation to climate change, but there are competing views on what responsibilities and obligations this will-or should-include in different nations. This study aims to: (1) examine how national-level public health adaptation is occurring in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries; (2) examine the roles national governments are taking in public health adaptation; and (3) critically appraise three key governance dimensions of national-level health adaptation-cross-sectoral collaboration, vertical coordination and national health adaptation planning-and identify practical examples suited to different contexts. We systematically reviewed publicly available public health adaptation to climate change documents and webpages by national governments in ten OECD countries using systematic web searches, assessment of self-reporting, and content analysis. Our findings suggest national governments are primarily addressing infectious disease and heat-related risks posed by climate change, typically emphasizing capacity building or information-based groundwork initiatives. We find national governments are taking a variety of approaches to public health adaptation to climate change that do not follow expected convergence and divergence by governance structure. We discuss practical options for incorporating cross-sectoral collaboration, vertical coordination and national health adaptation planning into a variety of contexts and identify leaders national governments can look to to inform their public health adaptation planning. Following the adoption of the Paris Agreement and subsequent increased momentum for adaptation, research tracking adaptation is needed to define what health adaptation looks like in practice, reveal insights that can be taken up across states and sectors, and ensure policy orientated learning.

Adaptation Becoming Business as Usual: A Framework for Climate-Change-Ready Transport Infrastructure

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrew D. Quinn

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Extreme weather damages and disrupts transport infrastructure in a multitude of ways. Heavy rainfall and ensuing landslides or flooding may lead to road or rail closures; extreme heat can damage road surfaces, or cause tracks, signalling or electronic equipment to overheat, or thermal discomfort for passengers. As extreme weather is expected to occur more frequently in the future, transport infrastructure owners and operators must increase their preparedness in order to reduce weather-related service disruption and the associated financial costs. This article presents a two-sided framework for use by any organisation to develop climate-change-ready transport infrastructure, regardless of their current level of knowledge or preparedness for climate change. The framework is composed of an adaptation strategy and an implementation plan, and has the overarching ambition to embed climate change adaptation within organisational procedures so it becomes a normal function of business. It advocates adaptation pathways, i.e., sequential adaptive actions that do not compromise future actions. The circular, iterative structure ensures new knowledge, or socio-economic changes may be incorporated, and that previous adaptations are evaluated. Moreover, the framework aligns with existing asset management procedures (e.g., ISO standards or governmental or organisational approaches to climate change adaptation. By adopting this framework, organisations can self-identify their own level of adaptation readiness and seek to enhance it.

Incremental Embodied Chaotic Exploration of Self Organised Motor Behaviours with Proprioceptor Adaptation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Phil eHusbands

2015-03-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a general and fully dynamic embodied neural system, which incrementallyexplores and learns motor behaviours through an integrated combination of chaotic search andreflex learning. The former uses adaptive bifurcation to exploit the intrinsic chaotic dynamicsarising from neuro-body-environment interactions, while the latter is based around proprioceptoradaptation. The architecture developed here allows realtime goal-directed exploration andlearning of the possible motor patterns (e.g. for locomotion of embodied systems of arbitrarymorphology. Examples of its successful application to a simple biomechanical model and asimulated 3D swimming robot are given. The tractability of the biomechanical systems allowsdetailed analysis of the overall dynamics of the search process. This analysis points out strongparallels with evolutionary search.

In search of an adaptive social-ecological approach to understanding a tropical city

Science.gov (United States)

A.E. Lugo; C.M. Concepcion; L.E. Santiago-Acevedo; T.A. Munoz-Erickson; J.C. Verdejo Ortiz; R. Santiago-Bartolomei; J. Forero-Montana; C.J. Nytch; H. Manrique; W. Colon-Cortes

2012-01-01

This essay describes our effort to develop a practical approach to the integration of the social and ecological sciences in the context of a Latin-American city such as San Juan, Puerto Rico. We describe our adaptive social-ecological approach in the historical context of the developing paradigms of the Anthropocene, new integrative social and ecological sciences, and...

Criticality and axial offset searches based on the integrated neutron balance approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dall'Osso, A.; Van Geemert, R.

2013-01-01

Criticality and axial offset (AO) searches are key features in the simulation of plant operation procedures. Typically, the dedicated algorithms consist of either a Newton method or a secant method that features the successive computation of difference quotients to be used as derivatives. Within this context, computational robustness and efficiency are of paramount importance. This applies in particular to when the variations imposed during the search are spatially heterogeneous, such as in the case of tuning control rod positions for achieving target AO. In order to optimize this kind of search capability in AREVA NP's reactor code ARTEMIS in accordance with this design principle, a generalized approach has been implemented that harmonizes very well numerically with the overall multi-physics iterative solution process. As embedded in the latter, the new neutronic integral re-balancing approach is defined through periodic whole-core space-energy integrations of the principal terms in the core-integrated process-rate balance terms (i.e. neutron absorption, production and leakage). This procedure yields sequences of single zero-dimensional equations from which the chosen tuning parameters can be solved directly in dependence of the imposed (and systematically fixed) values for the response quantities k eff and/or AO. The converged result of the iteration sequence of successively obtained search parameter values is final in terms of being fully consistent with the entire set of multi-physics equations while enabling the accurate fulfillment of the target response value. The k etc and AO searches can be pursued simultaneously. Judging from the results of pursued verifications, the neutronic integral re-balancing approach fulfils the above-mentioned expectations convincingly. Specific verification examples are presented, such as the determination of the insertion depth of a critical control bank, a double search on target criticality and target AO by adjusting the boron

Supervised learning of tools for content-based search of image databases

Science.gov (United States)

Delanoy, Richard L.

1996-03-01

A computer environment, called the Toolkit for Image Mining (TIM), is being developed with the goal of enabling users with diverse interests and varied computer skills to create search tools for content-based image retrieval and other pattern matching tasks. Search tools are generated using a simple paradigm of supervised learning that is based on the user pointing at mistakes of classification made by the current search tool. As mistakes are identified, a learning algorithm uses the identified mistakes to build up a model of the user's intentions, construct a new search tool, apply the search tool to a test image, display the match results as feedback to the user, and accept new inputs from the user. Search tools are constructed in the form of functional templates, which are generalized matched filters capable of knowledge- based image processing. The ability of this system to learn the user's intentions from experience contrasts with other existing approaches to content-based image retrieval that base searches on the characteristics of a single input example or on a predefined and semantically- constrained textual query. Currently, TIM is capable of learning spectral and textural patterns, but should be adaptable to the learning of shapes, as well. Possible applications of TIM include not only content-based image retrieval, but also quantitative image analysis, the generation of metadata for annotating images, data prioritization or data reduction in bandwidth-limited situations, and the construction of components for larger, more complex computer vision algorithms.

Direct versus indirect revascularization procedures for moyamoya disease: a comparative effectiveness study.

Science.gov (United States)

Macyszyn, Luke; Attiah, Mark; Ma, Tracy S; Ali, Zarina; Faught, Ryan; Hossain, Alisha; Man, Karen; Patel, Hiren; Sobota, Rosanna; Zager, Eric L; Stein, Sherman C

2017-05-01

OBJECTIVE Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a chronic cerebrovascular disease that can lead to devastating neurological outcomes. Surgical intervention is the definitive treatment, with direct, indirect, and combined revascularization procedures currently employed by surgeons. The optimal surgical approach, however, remains unclear. In this decision analysis, the authors compared the effectiveness of revascularization procedures in both adult and pediatric patients with MMD. METHODS A comprehensive literature search was performed for studies of MMD. Using complication and success rates from the literature, the authors constructed a decision analysis model for treatment using a direct and indirect revascularization technique. Utility values for the various outcomes and complications were extracted from the literature examining preferences in similar clinical conditions. Sensitivity analysis was performed. RESULTS A structured literature search yielded 33 studies involving 4197 cases. Cases were divided into adult and pediatric populations. These were further subdivided into 3 different treatment groups: indirect, direct, and combined revascularization procedures. In the pediatric population at 5- and 10-year follow-up, there was no significant difference between indirect and combination procedures, but both were superior to direct revascularization. In adults at 4-year follow-up, indirect was superior to direct revascularization. CONCLUSIONS In the absence of factors that dictate a specific approach, the present decision analysis suggests that direct revascularization procedures are inferior in terms of quality-adjusted life years in both adults at 4 years and children at 5 and 10 years postoperatively, respectively. These findings were statistically significant (p indirect and combination procedures may offer optimal results at long-term follow-up.

Open meta-search with OpenSearch: a case study

OpenAIRE

O'Riordan, Adrian P.

2007-01-01

The goal of this project was to demonstrate the possibilities of open source search engine and aggregation technology in a Web environment by building a meta-search engine which employs free open search engines and open protocols. In contrast many meta-search engines on the Internet use proprietary search systems. The search engines employed in this case study are all based on the OpenSearch protocol. OpenSearch-compliant systems support XML technologies such as RSS and Atom for aggregation a...

Adaptive sliding mode control of tri-layer conjugated polymer actuators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wang, Xiangjiang; Alici, Gursel; Nguyen, Chuc Huu

2013-01-01

This paper proposes an adaptive sliding mode control methodology to enhance the positioning ability of conducting polymer actuators typified by tri-layer conjugated polymer actuators. This is motivated by the search for an effective control strategy to command such actuators to a desired configuration in the presence of parametric uncertainties and unmodeled disturbances. After analyzing the stability of the adaptive sliding mode control system, experiments were conducted to demonstrate its satisfactory tracking ability, based on a series of experimental results. Implementation of the control law requires a valid model of the conducting polymer actuator and boundaries of the uncertainties and disturbances. Based on the theoretical and experimental results presented, the adaptive sliding mode control methodology is very attractive in the field of smart actuators which contain significant uncertainties and disturbances. (paper)

Adaptive Vocational Personality Questionnaire Development and Validation of an adaptive personality questionnaire to analyze the vocational behavior of university students

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amparo Gómez-Artiga

2013-05-01

Full Text Available This study presents a personality evaluation instrument adapted to the vocational setting: the Adaptive Vocational Personality Questionnaire (AVPQ. The questionnaire was developed and tested in a sample of 2160 university students in the final years of their degree programs. The purpose of the study is to validate the questionnaire, providing evidence about its internal structure and its usefulness for predicting scores on a criterion scale. A confirmatory factor analysis combined with a cross-validation design was used: the exploratory sample (n = 879 helped to identify the model with the factorial structure that best fit the relations among the items. As expected, this model had two related but clearly separate factors: Adaptive Personality Characteristics (AC with 9 items and Non-Adaptive Personality Characteristics (NAC with 11 items. The validation sample (n =932 was used to test the generalization capacity of this model, which was satisfactory and showed a good reliability index. Regarding its usefulness in predicting proactive job-search behaviors, the results were also satisfactory. The questionnaire and keys are provided, as well as the criteria for calculating the scores on each scale and on the entire questionnaire.

Implementation of Treatment Integrity Procedures An Analysis of Outcome Studies of Youth Interventions Targeting Externalizing Behavioral Problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Goense, Pauline; Boendermaker, Leonieke; van Yperen, Tom; Stams, Geert-Jan; van Laar, Jose

2014-01-01

This systematic review evaluates the implementation of treatment integrity procedures in outcome studies of youth interventions targeting behavioral problems. The Implementation of Treatment Integrity Procedures Scale (ITIPS), developed by Perepletchikova, Treat, and Kazdin (2007), was adapted

Quality based approach for adaptive face recognition

Science.gov (United States)

Abboud, Ali J.; Sellahewa, Harin; Jassim, Sabah A.

2009-05-01

Recent advances in biometric technology have pushed towards more robust and reliable systems. We aim to build systems that have low recognition errors and are less affected by variation in recording conditions. Recognition errors are often attributed to the usage of low quality biometric samples. Hence, there is a need to develop new intelligent techniques and strategies to automatically measure/quantify the quality of biometric image samples and if necessary restore image quality according to the need of the intended application. In this paper, we present no-reference image quality measures in the spatial domain that have impact on face recognition. The first is called symmetrical adaptive local quality index (SALQI) and the second is called middle halve (MH). Also, an adaptive strategy has been developed to select the best way to restore the image quality, called symmetrical adaptive histogram equalization (SAHE). The main benefits of using quality measures for adaptive strategy are: (1) avoidance of excessive unnecessary enhancement procedures that may cause undesired artifacts, and (2) reduced computational complexity which is essential for real time applications. We test the success of the proposed measures and adaptive approach for a wavelet-based face recognition system that uses the nearest neighborhood classifier. We shall demonstrate noticeable improvements in the performance of adaptive face recognition system over the corresponding non-adaptive scheme.

A new hybrid evolutionary algorithm based on new fuzzy adaptive PSO and NM algorithms for Distribution Feeder Reconfiguration

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Niknam, Taher; Azadfarsani, Ehsan; Jabbari, Masoud

2012-01-01

Highlights: ► Network reconfiguration is a very important way to save the electrical energy. ► This paper proposes a new algorithm to solve the DFR. ► The algorithm combines NFAPSO with NM. ► The proposed algorithm is tested on two distribution test feeders. - Abstract: Network reconfiguration for loss reduction in distribution system is a very important way to save the electrical energy. This paper proposes a new hybrid evolutionary algorithm to solve the Distribution Feeder Reconfiguration problem (DFR). The algorithm is based on combination of a New Fuzzy Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization (NFAPSO) and Nelder–Mead simplex search method (NM) called NFAPSO–NM. In the proposed algorithm, a new fuzzy adaptive particle swarm optimization includes two parts. The first part is Fuzzy Adaptive Binary Particle Swarm Optimization (FABPSO) that determines the status of tie switches (open or close) and second part is Fuzzy Adaptive Discrete Particle Swarm Optimization (FADPSO) that determines the sectionalizing switch number. In other side, due to the results of binary PSO(BPSO) and discrete PSO(DPSO) algorithms highly depends on the values of their parameters such as the inertia weight and learning factors, a fuzzy system is employed to adaptively adjust the parameters during the search process. Moreover, the Nelder–Mead simplex search method is combined with the NFAPSO algorithm to improve its performance. Finally, the proposed algorithm is tested on two distribution test feeders. The results of simulation show that the proposed method is very powerful and guarantees to obtain the global optimization.

A Stepwise Fitting Procedure for automated fitting of Ecopath with Ecosim models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Erin Scott

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The Stepwise Fitting Procedure automates testing of alternative hypotheses used for fitting Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE models to observation reference data (Mackinson et al. 2009. The calibration of EwE model predictions to observed data is important to evaluate any model that will be used for ecosystem based management. Thus far, the model fitting procedure in EwE has been carried out manually: a repetitive task involving setting >1000 specific individual searches to find the statistically ‘best fit’ model. The novel fitting procedure automates the manual procedure therefore producing accurate results and lets the modeller concentrate on investigating the ‘best fit’ model for ecological accuracy.

Job task characteristics of Australian emergency services volunteers during search and rescue operations.

Science.gov (United States)

Silk, Aaron; Lenton, Gavin; Savage, Robbie; Aisbett, Brad

2018-02-01

Search and rescue operations are necessary in locating, assisting and recovering individuals lost or in distress. In Australia, land-based search and rescue roles require a range of physically demanding tasks undertaken in dynamic and challenging environments. The aim of the current research was to identify and characterise the physically demanding tasks inherent to search and rescue operation personnel within Australia. These aims were met through a subjective job task analysis approach. In total, 11 criterion tasks were identified by personnel. These tasks were the most physically demanding, frequently occurring and operationally important tasks to these specialist roles. Muscular strength was the dominant fitness component for 7 of the 11 tasks. In addition to the discrete criterion tasks, an operational scenario was established. With the tasks and operational scenario identified, objective task analysis procedures can be undertaken so that practitioners can implement evidence-based strategies, such as physical selection procedures and task-based physical training programs, commensurate with the physical demands of search and rescue job roles. Practitioner Summary: The identification of physically demanding tasks amongst specialist emergency service roles predicates health and safety strategies which can be incorporated into organisations. Knowledge of physical task parameters allows employers to mitigate injury risk through the implementation of strategies modelled on the precise physical demands of the role.

Characterization of the non-uniqueness of used nuclear fuel burnup signatures through a Mesh-Adaptive Direct Search

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Skutnik, Steven E., E-mail: sskutnik@utk.edu; Davis, David R.

2016-05-01

The use of passive gamma and neutron signatures from fission indicators is a common means of estimating used fuel burnup, enrichment, and cooling time. However, while characteristic fission product signatures such as {sup 134}Cs, {sup 137}Cs, {sup 154}Eu, and others are generally reliable estimators for used fuel burnup within the context where the assembly initial enrichment and the discharge time are known, in the absence of initial enrichment and/or cooling time information (such as when applying NDA measurements in a safeguards/verification context), these fission product indicators no longer yield a unique solution for assembly enrichment, burnup, and cooling time after discharge. Through the use of a new Mesh-Adaptive Direct Search (MADS) algorithm, it is possible to directly probe the shape of this “degeneracy space” characteristic of individual nuclides (and combinations thereof), both as a function of constrained parameters (such as the assembly irradiation history) and unconstrained parameters (e.g., the cooling time before measurement and the measurement precision for particular indicator nuclides). In doing so, this affords the identification of potential means of narrowing the uncertainty space of potential assembly enrichment, burnup, and cooling time combinations, thereby bounding estimates of assembly plutonium content. In particular, combinations of gamma-emitting nuclides with distinct half-lives (e.g., {sup 134}Cs with {sup 137}Cs and {sup 154}Eu) in conjunction with gross neutron counting (via {sup 244}Cm) are able to reasonably constrain the degeneracy space of possible solutions to a space small enough to perform useful discrimination and verification of fuel assemblies based on their irradiation history.

Natural language generation of surgical procedures.

Science.gov (United States)

Wagner, J C; Rogers, J E; Baud, R H; Scherrer, J R

1999-01-01

A number of compositional Medical Concept Representation systems are being developed. Although these provide for a detailed conceptual representation of the underlying information, they have to be translated back to natural language for used by end-users and applications. The GALEN programme has been developing one such representation and we report here on a tool developed to generate natural language phrases from the GALEN conceptual representations. This tool can be adapted to different source modelling schemes and to different destination languages or sublanguages of a domain. It is based on a multilingual approach to natural language generation, realised through a clean separation of the domain model from the linguistic model and their link by well defined structures. Specific knowledge structures and operations have been developed for bridging between the modelling 'style' of the conceptual representation and natural language. Using the example of the scheme developed for modelling surgical operative procedures within the GALEN-IN-USE project, we show how the generator is adapted to such a scheme. The basic characteristics of the surgical procedures scheme are presented together with the basic principles of the generation tool. Using worked examples, we discuss the transformation operations which change the initial source representation into a form which can more directly be translated to a given natural language. In particular, the linguistic knowledge which has to be introduced--such as definitions of concepts and relationships is described. We explain the overall generator strategy and how particular transformation operations are triggered by language-dependent and conceptual parameters. Results are shown for generated French phrases corresponding to surgical procedures from the urology domain.

Public Health Adaptation to Climate Change in OECD Countries

Science.gov (United States)

Austin, Stephanie E.; Biesbroek, Robbert; Berrang-Ford, Lea; Ford, James D.; Parker, Stephen; Fleury, Manon D.

2016-01-01

Climate change is a major challenge facing public health. National governments play a key role in public health adaptation to climate change, but there are competing views on what responsibilities and obligations this will—or should—include in different nations. This study aims to: (1) examine how national-level public health adaptation is occurring in Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries; (2) examine the roles national governments are taking in public health adaptation; and (3) critically appraise three key governance dimensions of national-level health adaptation—cross-sectoral collaboration, vertical coordination and national health adaptation planning—and identify practical examples suited to different contexts. We systematically reviewed publicly available public health adaptation to climate change documents and webpages by national governments in ten OECD countries using systematic web searches, assessment of self-reporting, and content analysis. Our findings suggest national governments are primarily addressing infectious disease and heat-related risks posed by climate change, typically emphasizing capacity building or information-based groundwork initiatives. We find national governments are taking a variety of approaches to public health adaptation to climate change that do not follow expected convergence and divergence by governance structure. We discuss practical options for incorporating cross-sectoral collaboration, vertical coordination and national health adaptation planning into a variety of contexts and identify leaders national governments can look to to inform their public health adaptation planning. Following the adoption of the Paris Agreement and subsequent increased momentum for adaptation, research tracking adaptation is needed to define what health adaptation looks like in practice, reveal insights that can be taken up across states and sectors, and ensure policy orientated learning. PMID:27618074

Health related quality of life measures in Arabic speaking populations: a systematic review on cross-cultural adaptation and measurement properties.

Science.gov (United States)

Al Sayah, Fatima; Ishaque, Sana; Lau, Darren; Johnson, Jeffrey A

2013-02-01

This systematic review was conducted to identify generic health related quality of life (HRQL) measures translated into Arabic, and evaluate their cross-cultural adaptation and measurement properties. Six databases were searched, relevant journals were hand searched, and reference lists of included studies were reviewed. Previously established criteria were used to evaluate the cross-cultural adaptation of the identified instruments and their measurement properties. Twenty studies that reported the Arabic translations and adaptations of HRQL measures and/or their measurement properties were included in this review. The identified instruments were SF-36, RAND-36, WHOQOL-Bref, COOP/WONCA charts, EQ-5D, and QLI. Cross-cultural adaptations of all measures were of moderate to good quality, and evaluation of measurement properties was limited due to insufficiency of evidence. Based on cross-cultural adaptation evaluation, each instrument is more applicable to the population for whom it was adapted, and to other Arabic populations of similar culture and language specific idioms. This review facilitates the selection among existing Arabic versions of generic HRQL for use in particular Arabic countries. However, each of the translated versions requires further investigation of measurement properties before more concrete recommendations could be made.

Optimization of boiling water reactor control rod patterns using linear search

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kiguchi, T.; Doi, K.; Fikuzaki, T.; Frogner, B.; Lin, C.; Long, A.B.

1984-01-01

A computer program for searching the optimal control rod pattern has been developed. The program is able to find a control rod pattern where the resulting power distribution is optimal in the sense that it is the closest to the desired power distribution, and it satisfies all operational constraints. The search procedure consists of iterative uses of two steps: sensitivity analyses of local power and thermal margins using a three-dimensional reactor simulator for a simplified prediction model; linear search for the optimal control rod pattern with the simplified model. The optimal control rod pattern is found along the direction where the performance index gradient is the steepest. This program has been verified to find the optimal control rod pattern through simulations using operational data from the Oyster Creek Reactor

Near-Body Grid Adaption for Overset Grids

Science.gov (United States)

Buning, Pieter G.; Pulliam, Thomas H.

2016-01-01

A solution adaption capability for curvilinear near-body grids has been implemented in the OVERFLOW overset grid computational fluid dynamics code. The approach follows closely that used for the Cartesian off-body grids, but inserts refined grids in the computational space of original near-body grids. Refined curvilinear grids are generated using parametric cubic interpolation, with one-sided biasing based on curvature and stretching ratio of the original grid. Sensor functions, grid marking, and solution interpolation tasks are implemented in the same fashion as for off-body grids. A goal-oriented procedure, based on largest error first, is included for controlling growth rate and maximum size of the adapted grid system. The adaption process is almost entirely parallelized using MPI, resulting in a capability suitable for viscous, moving body simulations. Two- and three-dimensional examples are presented.

A qualitative review of immigrant women's experiences of maternal adaptation in South Korea.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Ju-Eun; Ahn, Jeong-Ah; Kim, Tiffany; Roh, Eun Ha

2016-08-01

to synthesise the evidence of immigrant women's experiences of maternal adaptation in Korea. eligible studies were identified by searching MEDLINE, CINAHL, and the Korean electronic databases. Qualitative research studies, published in English and Korean addressing maternal adaptation experiences of immigrant women by marriage in Korea, were considered in the review. The suitability of the quality of articles was evaluated using the Joanna Briggs Institute's Critical Appraisal Checklist. Fifteen studies met the inclusion criteria for data analysis. Authors, purpose of the study, study design, theoretical framework, population (nationality and sample size), data collection (setting and method), and main study findings were extracted and summarised in a data extraction form for further narrative analysis and synthesis. A qualitative systematic review was performed by means of thematic synthesis. the literature search identified 7,628 articles, of which 15 studies, published between 2009 and 2014, were evaluated in the systematic review. Two overarching categories including five themes were identified in the qualitative studies related to maternal adaptation experiences; 'Experiences of motherhood transition' and 'Experiences of child-rearing'. these findings demonstrate the importance of understanding and improving maternal adaptation of immigrant women living in Korea. This can be achieved by enhancing social support, providing culturally sensitive maternal healthcare services, and expanding opportunities for immigrant women in education, job training, and economic independence. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Critical Assessment of Search Strategies in Systematic Reviews in Endodontics.

Science.gov (United States)

Yaylali, Ibrahim Ethem; Alaçam, Tayfun

2016-06-01

The aim of this study was to perform an overview of literature search strategies in systematic reviews (SRs) published in 2 endodontic journals, Journal of Endodontics and International Endodontic Journal. A search was done by using the MEDLINE (PubMed interface) database to retrieve the articles published between January 1, 2000 and December 31, 2015. The last search was on January 10, 2016. All the SRs published in the 2 journals were retrieved and screened. Eligible SRs were assessed by using 11 questions about search strategies in the SRs that were adapted from 2 guidelines (ie, AMSTAR checklist and the Cochrane Handbook). A total of 83 SRs were retrieved by electronic search. Of these, 55 were from the Journal of Endodontics, and 28 were from the International Endodontic Journal. After screening, 2 SRs were excluded, and 81 SRs were included in the study. Some issues, such as search of grey literature and contact with study authors, were not fully reported (30% and 25%, respectively). On the other hand, some issues, such as the use of index terms and key words and search in at least 2 databases, were reported in most of the SRs (97% and 95%, respectively). The overall quality of the search strategy in both journals was 61%. No significant difference was found between the 2 journals in terms of evaluation criteria (P > .05). There exist areas for improving the quality of reporting of search strategies in SRs; for example, grey literature should be searched for unpublished studies, no language limitation should be applied to databases, and authors should make an attempt to contact the authors of included studies to obtain further relevant information. Copyright © 2016 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Countermeasures to Enhance Sensorimotor Adaptability

Science.gov (United States)

Bloomberg, J. J.; Peters, B. T.; Mulavara, A. P.; Brady, R. A.; Batson, C. C.; Miller, C. A.; Cohen, H. S.

2011-01-01

adaptability. These results indicate that SA training techniques can be added to existing treadmill exercise equipment and procedures to produce a single integrated countermeasure system to improve performance of astro/cosmonauts during prolonged exploratory space missions.

Selection on male size, leg length and condition during mate search in a sexually highly dimorphic orb-weaving spider.

Science.gov (United States)

Foellmer, Matthias W; Fairbairn, Daphne J

2005-02-01

Mate search plays a central role in hypotheses for the adaptive significance of extreme female-biased sexual size dimorphism (SSD) in animals. Spiders (Araneae) are the only free-living terrestrial taxon where extreme SSD is common. The "gravity hypothesis" states that small body size in males is favoured during mate search in species where males have to climb to reach females, because body length is inversely proportional to achievable speed on vertical structures. However, locomotive performance of males may also depend on relative leg length. Here we examine selection on male body size and leg length during mate search in the highly dimorphic orb-weaving spider Argiope aurantia, using a multivariate approach to distinguish selection targeted at different components of size. Further, we investigate the scaling relationships between male size and energy reserves, and the differential loss of reserves. Adult males do not feed while roving, and a size-dependent differential energy storage capacity may thus affect male performance during mate search. Contrary to predictions, large body size was favoured in one of two populations, and this was due to selection for longer legs. Male size was not under selection in the second population, but we detected direct selection for longer third legs. Males lost energy reserves during mate search, but this was independent of male size and storage capacity scaled isometrically with size. Thus, mate search is unlikely to lead to selection for small male size, but the hypothesis that relatively longer legs in male spiders reflect a search-adapted morphology is supported.

Neural Adaptation Effects in Conceptual Processing

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Barbara F. M. Marino

2015-07-01

Full Text Available We investigated the conceptual processing of nouns referring to objects characterized by a highly typical color and orientation. We used a go/no-go task in which we asked participants to categorize each noun as referring or not to natural entities (e.g., animals after a selective adaptation of color-edge neurons in the posterior LV4 region of the visual cortex was induced by means of a McCollough effect procedure. This manipulation affected categorization: the green-vertical adaptation led to slower responses than the green-horizontal adaptation, regardless of the specific color and orientation of the to-be-categorized noun. This result suggests that the conceptual processing of natural entities may entail the activation of modality-specific neural channels with weights proportional to the reliability of the signals produced by these channels during actual perception. This finding is discussed with reference to the debate about the grounded cognition view.

Adapting a Markov Monte Carlo simulation model for forecasting the number of Coronary Artery Revascularisation Procedures in an era of rapidly changing technology and policy

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Knuiman Matthew

2008-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Treatments for coronary heart disease (CHD have evolved rapidly over the last 15 years with considerable change in the number and effectiveness of both medical and surgical treatments. This period has seen the rapid development and uptake of statin drugs and coronary artery revascularization procedures (CARPs that include Coronary Artery Bypass Graft procedures (CABGs and Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCIs. It is difficult in an era of such rapid change to accurately forecast requirements for treatment services such as CARPs. In a previous paper we have described and outlined the use of a Markov Monte Carlo simulation model for analyzing and predicting the requirements for CARPs for the population of Western Australia (Mannan et al, 2007. In this paper, we expand on the use of this model for forecasting CARPs in Western Australia with a focus on the lack of adequate performance of the (standard model for forecasting CARPs in a period during the mid 1990s when there were considerable changes to CARP technology and implementation policy and an exploration and demonstration of how the standard model may be adapted to achieve better performance. Methods Selected key CARP event model probabilities are modified based on information relating to changes in the effectiveness of CARPs from clinical trial evidence and an awareness of trends in policy and practice of CARPs. These modified model probabilities and the ones obtained by standard methods are used as inputs in our Markov simulation model. Results The projected numbers of CARPs in the population of Western Australia over 1995–99 only improve marginally when modifications to model probabilities are made to incorporate an increase in effectiveness of PCI procedures. However, the projected numbers improve substantially when, in addition, further modifications are incorporated that relate to the increased probability of a PCI procedure and the reduced probability of a CABG

Adapting a Markov Monte Carlo simulation model for forecasting the number of coronary artery revascularisation procedures in an era of rapidly changing technology and policy.

Science.gov (United States)

Mannan, Haider R; Knuiman, Matthew; Hobbs, Michael

2008-06-25

Treatments for coronary heart disease (CHD) have evolved rapidly over the last 15 years with considerable change in the number and effectiveness of both medical and surgical treatments. This period has seen the rapid development and uptake of statin drugs and coronary artery revascularization procedures (CARPs) that include Coronary Artery Bypass Graft procedures (CABGs) and Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCIs). It is difficult in an era of such rapid change to accurately forecast requirements for treatment services such as CARPs. In a previous paper we have described and outlined the use of a Markov Monte Carlo simulation model for analyzing and predicting the requirements for CARPs for the population of Western Australia (Mannan et al, 2007). In this paper, we expand on the use of this model for forecasting CARPs in Western Australia with a focus on the lack of adequate performance of the (standard) model for forecasting CARPs in a period during the mid 1990s when there were considerable changes to CARP technology and implementation policy and an exploration and demonstration of how the standard model may be adapted to achieve better performance. Selected key CARP event model probabilities are modified based on information relating to changes in the effectiveness of CARPs from clinical trial evidence and an awareness of trends in policy and practice of CARPs. These modified model probabilities and the ones obtained by standard methods are used as inputs in our Markov simulation model. The projected numbers of CARPs in the population of Western Australia over 1995-99 only improve marginally when modifications to model probabilities are made to incorporate an increase in effectiveness of PCI procedures. However, the projected numbers improve substantially when, in addition, further modifications are incorporated that relate to the increased probability of a PCI procedure and the reduced probability of a CABG procedure stemming from changed CARP preference

Construct validation of teacher portfolio assessment : Procedures for improving teacher competence assessment illustrated by teaching students research skills

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaaf, M.F. van der

2005-01-01

The study aims to design and test procedures for teacher portfolio assessments. What are suitable procedures to assess teachers' competencies in developing students' research skills? We first searched into the tasks teachers have in teaching students research skills and the competencies needed to

Academic self-efficacy for high school scale: search for psychometrics evidence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soely Polydoro

2015-05-01

Full Text Available This article aims to present the adaptation and the search for psychometrics evidence of an academic self-efficacy scale. High school students (N = 453 participated of the research (mean age 15.93; SD 1.2. The Academic Self-efficacy Scale for High School is an adapted scale composed of 16 items and organized into three factors: self-efficacy for learning, self-efficacy to act in school life, and self-efficacy for the career decision. Through exploratory factor analysis, a KMO = 0.90 was verified, and 56.57% of the variance was explained. The internal consistency was 0.88. The scale demonstrated good conditions to identify academic self-efficacy of high school students.

Kepler AutoRegressive Planet Search

Science.gov (United States)

Caceres, Gabriel Antonio; Feigelson, Eric

2016-01-01

The Kepler AutoRegressive Planet Search (KARPS) project uses statistical methodology associated with autoregressive (AR) processes to model Kepler lightcurves in order to improve exoplanet transit detection in systems with high stellar variability. We also introduce a planet-search algorithm to detect transits in time-series residuals after application of the AR models. One of the main obstacles in detecting faint planetary transits is the intrinsic stellar variability of the host star. The variability displayed by many stars may have autoregressive properties, wherein later flux values are correlated with previous ones in some manner. Our analysis procedure consisting of three steps: pre-processing of the data to remove discontinuities, gaps and outliers; AR-type model selection and fitting; and transit signal search of the residuals using a new Transit Comb Filter (TCF) that replaces traditional box-finding algorithms. The analysis procedures of the project are applied to a portion of the publicly available Kepler light curve data for the full 4-year mission duration. Tests of the methods have been made on a subset of Kepler Objects of Interest (KOI) systems, classified both as planetary `candidates' and `false positives' by the Kepler Team, as well as a random sample of unclassified systems. We find that the ARMA-type modeling successfully reduces the stellar variability, by a factor of 10 or more in active stars and by smaller factors in more quiescent stars. A typical quiescent Kepler star has an interquartile range (IQR) of ~10 e-/sec, which may improve slightly after modeling, while those with IQR ranging from 20 to 50 e-/sec, have improvements from 20% up to 70%. High activity stars (IQR exceeding 100) markedly improve. A periodogram based on the TCF is constructed to concentrate the signal of these periodic spikes. When a periodic transit is found, the model is displayed on a standard period-folded averaged light curve. Our findings to date on real

Parameters identification of hydraulic turbine governing system using improved gravitational search algorithm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chaoshun Li; Jianzhong Zhou [College of Hydroelectric Digitization Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)

2011-01-15

Parameter identification of hydraulic turbine governing system (HTGS) is crucial in precise modeling of hydropower plant and provides support for the analysis of stability of power system. In this paper, a newly developed optimization algorithm, called gravitational search algorithm (GSA), is introduced and applied in parameter identification of HTGS, and the GSA is improved by combination of the search strategy of particle swarm optimization. Furthermore, a new weighted objective function is proposed in the identification frame. The improved gravitational search algorithm (IGSA), together with genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization and GSA, is employed in parameter identification experiments and the procedure is validated by comparing experimental and simulated results. Consequently, IGSA is shown to locate more precise parameter values than the compared methods with higher efficiency. (author)

Parameters identification of hydraulic turbine governing system using improved gravitational search algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Chaoshun; Zhou Jianzhong

2011-01-01

Parameter identification of hydraulic turbine governing system (HTGS) is crucial in precise modeling of hydropower plant and provides support for the analysis of stability of power system. In this paper, a newly developed optimization algorithm, called gravitational search algorithm (GSA), is introduced and applied in parameter identification of HTGS, and the GSA is improved by combination of the search strategy of particle swarm optimization. Furthermore, a new weighted objective function is proposed in the identification frame. The improved gravitational search algorithm (IGSA), together with genetic algorithm, particle swarm optimization and GSA, is employed in parameter identification experiments and the procedure is validated by comparing experimental and simulated results. Consequently, IGSA is shown to locate more precise parameter values than the compared methods with higher efficiency.

Adaptive Optics Photometry and Astrometry of Binary Stars. III. A Faint Companion Search of O-Star Systems

Science.gov (United States)

2008-08-01

Mason et al. (1998) survey. 3.3. 2MASS Data Mining Confirmations Searches were made for Two Micron All Sky Survey ( 2MASS ) (Cutri et al. 2003...the separation/m limits of 2MASS , the point-source catalog was searched for sources in the magnitude range 5.5 J 8.0, corresponding to the...approximate 2MASS J -magnitude range for the AO targets in this project. This yielded 99,656 sources. All sources within 10′′ of these “primaries” were then

[Adaptation of the picture exchange communication system in a school context].

Science.gov (United States)

Almeida, Maria Amélia; Piza, Maria Helena Machado; Lamônica, Dionísa Aparecida Cusin

2005-01-01

Alternative communication. To evaluate the efficacy of the adapted Pecs and Picture Communication Symbols (PCS) in the communication of a child with cerebral palsy. The participant of this study was a 9 year and 10 months old girl, with athetoid quadriplegia. All stages of the adapted Pecs were applied (Walter, 2000), using the PCS pictures (Johnson, 1998), associated with the functional curriculum proposed by LeBlanc (1991). An experimental AB Design was used in order to test the procedures. The subject was able to pass through all of the adapted Pecs phases and to use her communication board in school activities. The adapted Pecs proved to be effective in improving the subject's communication abilities.

Stochastic Template Bank for Gravitational Wave Searches for Precessing Neutron Star-Black Hole Coalescence Events

Science.gov (United States)

Indik, Nathaniel; Haris, K.; Dal Canton, Tito; Fehrmann, Henning; Krishnan, Badri; Lundgren, Andrew; Nielsen, Alex B.; Pai, Archana

2017-01-01

Gravitational wave searches to date have largely focused on non-precessing systems. Including precession effects greatly increases the number of templates to be searched over. This leads to a corresponding increase in the computational cost and can increase the false alarm rate of a realistic search. On the other hand, there might be astrophysical systems that are entirely missed by non-precessing searches. In this paper we consider the problem of constructing a template bank using stochastic methods for neutron star-black hole binaries allowing for precession, but with the restrictions that the total angular momentum of the binary is pointing toward the detector and that the neutron star spin is negligible relative to that of the black hole. We quantify the number of templates required for the search, and we explicitly construct the template bank. We show that despite the large number of templates, stochastic methods can be adapted to solve the problem. We quantify the parameter space region over which the non-precessing search might miss signals.

Use of an augmented-vision device for visual search by patients with tunnel vision.

Science.gov (United States)

Luo, Gang; Peli, Eli

2006-09-01

To study the effect of an augmented-vision device that superimposes minified contour images over natural vision on visual search performance of patients with tunnel vision. Twelve subjects with tunnel vision searched for targets presented outside their visual fields (VFs) on a blank background under three cue conditions (with contour cues provided by the device, with auditory cues, and without cues). Three subjects (VF, 8 degrees -11 degrees wide) carried out the search over a 90 degrees x 74 degrees area, and nine subjects (VF, 7 degrees -16 degrees wide) carried out the search over a 66 degrees x 52 degrees area. Eye and head movements were recorded for performance analyses that included directness of search path, search time, and gaze speed. Directness of the search path was greatly and significantly improved when the contour or auditory cues were provided in the larger and the smaller area searches. When using the device, a significant reduction in search time (28% approximately 74%) was demonstrated by all three subjects in the larger area search and by subjects with VFs wider than 10 degrees in the smaller area search (average, 22%). Directness and gaze speed accounted for 90% of the variability of search time. Although performance improvement with the device for the larger search area was obvious, whether it was helpful for the smaller search area depended on VF and gaze speed. Because improvement in directness was demonstrated, increased gaze speed, which could result from further training and adaptation to the device, might enable patients with small VFs to benefit from the device for visual search tasks.

Integration of association statistics over genomic regions using Bayesian adaptive regression splines

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhang Xiaohua

2003-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract In the search for genetic determinants of complex disease, two approaches to association analysis are most often employed, testing single loci or testing a small group of loci jointly via haplotypes for their relationship to disease status. It is still debatable which of these approaches is more favourable, and under what conditions. The former has the advantage of simplicity but suffers severely when alleles at the tested loci are not in linkage disequilibrium (LD with liability alleles; the latter should capture more of the signal encoded in LD, but is far from simple. The complexity of haplotype analysis could be especially troublesome for association scans over large genomic regions, which, in fact, is becoming the standard design. For these reasons, the authors have been evaluating statistical methods that bridge the gap between single-locus and haplotype-based tests. In this article, they present one such method, which uses non-parametric regression techniques embodied by Bayesian adaptive regression splines (BARS. For a set of markers falling within a common genomic region and a corresponding set of single-locus association statistics, the BARS procedure integrates these results into a single test by examining the class of smooth curves consistent with the data. The non-parametric BARS procedure generally finds no signal when no liability allele exists in the tested region (ie it achieves the specified size of the test and it is sensitive enough to pick up signals when a liability allele is present. The BARS procedure provides a robust and potentially powerful alternative to classical tests of association, diminishes the multiple testing problem inherent in those tests and can be applied to a wide range of data types, including genotype frequencies estimated from pooled samples.

On the search for extant life on Mars

Science.gov (United States)

Klein, H. P.

1996-01-01

Proposals for continuing the search for extant life on Mars are primarily predicated on the assumption that specialized environmental niches that could support a biota may exist on the planet. Before attempting any critical tests for extant organisms, either in situ or on returned samples, it is imperative to determine whether any such sites actually exist. If, through remote sensing and landed instrumentation, sites of potential biological interest are discovered and characterized, biological tests can then more effectively be planned to elicit the presence of organisms that are adapted to living in these particular environments.

Modified Cuckoo Search Algorithm for Solving Nonconvex Economic Load Dispatch Problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Thang Trung Nguyen

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the application of modified cuckoo search algorithm (MCSA for solving economic load dispatch (ELD problems. The MCSA method is developed to improve the search ability and solution quality of the conventional CSA method. In the MCSA, the evaluation of eggs has divided the initial eggs into two groups, the top egg group with good quality and the abandoned group with worse quality. Moreover, the value of the updated step size in MCSA is adapted as generating a new solution for the abandoned group and the top group via the Levy flights so that a large zone is searched at the beginning and a local zone is foraged as the maximum number of iterations is nearly reached. The MCSA method has been tested on different systems with different characteristics of thermal units and constraints. The result comparison with other methods in the literature has indicated that the MCSA method can be a powerful method for solving the ELD.

A Novel Adaptive Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm with Foraging Behavior in Optimization Design

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liu Yan

2018-01-01

Full Text Available The method of repeated trial and proofreading is generally used to the convention reducer design, but these methods is low efficiency and the size of the reducer is often large. Aiming the problems, this paper presents an adaptive particle swarm optimization algorithm with foraging behavior, in this method, the bacterial foraging process is introduced into the adaptive particle swarm optimization algorithm, which can provide the function of particle chemotaxis, swarming, reproduction, elimination and dispersal, to improve the ability of local search and avoid premature behavior. By test verification through typical function and the application of the optimization design in the structure of the reducer with discrete and continuous variables, the results are shown that the new algorithm has the advantages of good reliability, strong searching ability and high accuracy. It can be used in engineering design, and has a strong applicability.

Search Patterns

CERN Document Server

Morville, Peter

2010-01-01

What people are saying about Search Patterns "Search Patterns is a delight to read -- very thoughtful and thought provoking. It's the most comprehensive survey of designing effective search experiences I've seen." --Irene Au, Director of User Experience, Google "I love this book! Thanks to Peter and Jeffery, I now know that search (yes, boring old yucky who cares search) is one of the coolest ways around of looking at the world." --Dan Roam, author, The Back of the Napkin (Portfolio Hardcover) "Search Patterns is a playful guide to the practical concerns of search interface design. It cont

Personalized Search

CERN Document Server

AUTHOR|(SzGeCERN)749939

2015-01-01

As the volume of electronically available information grows, relevant items become harder to find. This work presents an approach to personalizing search results in scientific publication databases. This work focuses on re-ranking search results from existing search engines like Solr or ElasticSearch. This work also includes the development of Obelix, a new recommendation system used to re-rank search results. The project was proposed and performed at CERN, using the scientific publications available on the CERN Document Server (CDS). This work experiments with re-ranking using offline and online evaluation of users and documents in CDS. The experiments conclude that the personalized search result outperform both latest first and word similarity in terms of click position in the search result for global search in CDS.

Mastering Search Analytics Measuring SEO, SEM and Site Search

CERN Document Server

Chaters, Brent

2011-01-01

Many companies still approach Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and paid search as separate initiatives. This in-depth guide shows you how to use these programs as part of a comprehensive strategy-not just to improve your site's search rankings, but to attract the right people and increase your conversion rate. Learn how to measure, test, analyze, and interpret all of your search data with a wide array of analytic tools. Gain the knowledge you need to determine the strategy's return on investment. Ideal for search specialists, webmasters, and search marketing managers, Mastering Search Analyt

Cohabitants' perspective on housing adaptations: a piece of the puzzle.

Science.gov (United States)

Granbom, Marianne; Taei, Afsaneh; Ekstam, Lisa

2017-12-01

As part of the Swedish state-funded healthcare system, housing adaptations are used to promote safe and independent living for disabled people in ordinary housing through the elimination of physical environmental barriers in the home. The aim of this study was to describe the cohabitants' expectations and experiences of how a housing adaptation, intended for the partner, would impact their everyday life. In-depth interviews were conducted with cohabitants of nine people applying for a housing adaptation, initially at the time of the application and then again 3 months after the housing adaptation was installed. A longitudinal analysis was performed including analysis procedures from Grounded Theory. The findings revealed the expectations and experiences in four categories: partners' activities and independence; cohabitants' everyday activities and caregiving; couples' shared recreational/leisure activities; and housing decisions. A core category putting the intervention into perspective was called 'Housing adaptations - A piece of the puzzle'. From the cohabitants' perspective, new insights on housing adaptations emerged, which are important to consider when planning and carrying out successful housing adaptations. © 2017 Nordic College of Caring Science.

DIEP breast reconstruction following multiple abdominal liposuction procedures

OpenAIRE

Farid, Mohammed; Nicholson, Simon; Kotwal, Ashutosh; Akali, Augustine

2014-01-01

Objective: Previous abdominal wall surgery is viewed as a contraindication to abdominal free tissue transfer. We present two patients who underwent multiple abdominal liposuction procedures, followed by successful free deep inferior epigastric artery perforator flap. We review the literature pertaining to reliability of abdominal free flaps in those with previous abdominal surgery. Methods: Review of case notes and radiological investigations of two patients, and a PubMed search using the ter...

Improved Multiobjective Harmony Search Algorithm with Application to Placement and Sizing of Distributed Generation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wanxing Sheng

2014-01-01

Full Text Available To solve the comprehensive multiobjective optimization problem, this study proposes an improved metaheuristic searching algorithm with combination of harmony search and the fast nondominated sorting approach. This is a kind of the novel intelligent optimization algorithm for multiobjective harmony search (MOHS. The detailed description and the algorithm formulating are discussed. Taking the optimal placement and sizing issue of distributed generation (DG in distributed power system as one example, the solving procedure of the proposed method is given. Simulation result on modified IEEE 33-bus test system and comparison with NSGA-II algorithm has proved that the proposed MOHS can get promising results for engineering application.

Protocol adaptations to conduct Systematic Literature Reviews in Software Engineering: a chronological study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Samuel Sepúlveda

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Systematic literature reviews (SLR have reached a considerable level of adoption in Software Engineering (SE, how-ever protocol adaptations for its implementation remain tangentially addressed. This work provides a chronological framework for the use and adaptation of the SLR protocol, including its current status. A systematic literature search was performed, reviewing a set of twelve articles being selected in accordance with the inclusion and exclusion criteria between 2004 and 2013, using digital data sources recognized by the SE community. A chronological framework is provided that includes the current state of the protocol adaptations to conduct SLR in SE. The results indicate areas where the quantity and quality of investigations needs to be increased and the identi- fication of the main proposals providing adaptations for the protocol conducting SLR in SE.

Parameters identification of photovoltaic models using self-adaptive teaching-learning-based optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yu, Kunjie; Chen, Xu; Wang, Xin; Wang, Zhenlei

2017-01-01

Highlights: • SATLBO is proposed to identify the PV model parameters efficiently. • In SATLBO, the learners self-adaptively select different learning phases. • An elite learning is developed in teacher phase to perform local searching. • A diversity learning is proposed in learner phase to maintain population diversity. • SATLBO achieves the first in ranking on overall performance among nine algorithms. - Abstract: Parameters identification of photovoltaic (PV) model based on measured current-voltage characteristic curves plays an important role in the simulation and evaluation of PV systems. To accurately and reliably identify the PV model parameters, a self-adaptive teaching-learning-based optimization (SATLBO) is proposed in this paper. In SATLBO, the learners can self-adaptively select different learning phases based on their knowledge level. The better learners are more likely to choose the learner phase for improving the population diversity, while the worse learners tend to choose the teacher phase to enhance the convergence rate. Thus, learners at different levels focus on different searching abilities to efficiently enhance the performance of algorithm. In addition, to improve the searching ability of different learning phases, an elite learning strategy and a diversity learning method are introduced into the teacher phase and learner phase, respectively. The performance of SATLBO is firstly evaluated on 34 benchmark functions, and experimental results show that SATLBO achieves the first in ranking on the overall performance among nine algorithms. Then, SATLBO is employed to identify parameters of different PV models, i.e., single diode, double diode, and PV module. Experimental results indicate that SATLBO exhibits high accuracy and reliability compared with other parameter extraction methods.

Coupling internal cerebellar models enhances online adaptation and supports offline consolidation in sensorimotor tasks.

Science.gov (United States)

Passot, Jean-Baptiste; Luque, Niceto R; Arleo, Angelo

2013-01-01

The cerebellum is thought to mediate sensorimotor adaptation through the acquisition of internal models of the body-environment interaction. These representations can be of two types, identified as forward and inverse models. The first predicts the sensory consequences of actions, while the second provides the correct commands to achieve desired state transitions. In this paper, we propose a composite architecture consisting of multiple cerebellar internal models to account for the adaptation performance of humans during sensorimotor learning. The proposed model takes inspiration from the cerebellar microcomplex circuit, and employs spiking neurons to process information. We investigate the intrinsic properties of the cerebellar circuitry subserving efficient adaptation properties, and we assess the complementary contributions of internal representations by simulating our model in a procedural adaptation task. Our simulation results suggest that the coupling of internal models enhances learning performance significantly (compared with independent forward and inverse models), and it allows for the reproduction of human adaptation capabilities. Furthermore, we provide a computational explanation for the performance improvement observed after one night of sleep in a wide range of sensorimotor tasks. We predict that internal model coupling is a necessary condition for the offline consolidation of procedural memories.

Coupling internal cerebellar models enhances online adaptation and supports offline consolidation in sensorimotor tasks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jean-Baptiste ePassot

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The cerebellum is thought to mediate sensorimotor adaptation through the acquisition of internal models of the body–environment interaction. These representations can be of two types, identified as forward and inverse models. The first predicts the sensory consequences of actions, while the second provides the correct commands to achieve desired state transitions. In this paper, we propose a composite architecture consisting of multiple cerebellar internal models to account for the adaptation performance of humans during sensorimotor learning. The proposed model takes inspiration from the cerebellar microcomplex circuit, and employs spiking neurons to process information. We investigate the intrinsic properties of the cerebellar circuitry subserving efficient adaptation properties, and we assess the complementary contributions of internal representations by simulating our model in a procedural adaptation task. Our simulation results suggest that the coupling of internal models enhances learning performance significantly (compared with independent forward and inverse models, and it allows for the reproduction of human adaptation capabilities. Furthermore, we provide a computational explanation for the performance improvement observed after one night of sleep in a wide range of sensorimotor tasks. We predict that internal model coupling is a necessary condition for the offline consolidation of procedural memories.

Search Help

Science.gov (United States)

Guidance and search help resource listing examples of common queries that can be used in the Google Search Appliance search request, including examples of special characters, or query term seperators that Google Search Appliance recognizes.

VisualRank: applying PageRank to large-scale image search.

Science.gov (United States)

Jing, Yushi; Baluja, Shumeet

2008-11-01

Because of the relative ease in understanding and processing text, commercial image-search systems often rely on techniques that are largely indistinguishable from text-search. Recently, academic studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of employing image-based features to provide alternative or additional signals. However, it remains uncertain whether such techniques will generalize to a large number of popular web queries, and whether the potential improvement to search quality warrants the additional computational cost. In this work, we cast the image-ranking problem into the task of identifying "authority" nodes on an inferred visual similarity graph and propose VisualRank to analyze the visual link structures among images. The images found to be "authorities" are chosen as those that answer the image-queries well. To understand the performance of such an approach in a real system, we conducted a series of large-scale experiments based on the task of retrieving images for 2000 of the most popular products queries. Our experimental results show significant improvement, in terms of user satisfaction and relevancy, in comparison to the most recent Google Image Search results. Maintaining modest computational cost is vital to ensuring that this procedure can be used in practice; we describe the techniques required to make this system practical for large scale deployment in commercial search engines.

Effects of consumer motives on search behavior using internet advertising.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Kenneth C C

2004-08-01

Past studies on uses and gratifications theory suggested that consumer motives affect how they will use media and media contents. Recent advertising research has extended the theory to study the use of Internet advertising. The current study explores the effects of consumer motives on their search behavior using Internet advertising. The study employed a 2 by 2 between-subjects factorial experiment design. A total of 120 subjects were assigned to an experiment condition that contains an Internet advertisement varying by advertising appeals (i.e., rational vs. emotional) and product involvement levels (high vs. low). Consumer search behavior (measured by the depth, breadth, total amount of search), demographics, and motives were collected by post-experiment questionnaires. Because all three dependent variables measuring search behavior were conceptually related to each other, MANCOVA procedures were employed to examine the moderating effects of consumer motives on the dependent variables in four product involvement-advertising appeal conditions. Results indicated that main effects for product involvements and advertising appeals were statistically significant. Univariate ANOVA also showed that advertising appeals and product involvement levels influenced the total amount of search. Three-way interactions among advertising appeals, product involvement levels, and information motive were also statistically significant. Implications and future research directions are discussed.

A hybrid guided neighborhood search for the disjunctively constrained knapsack problem

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mhand Hifi

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, we investigate the use of a hybrid guided neighborhood search for solving the disjunctively constrained knapsack problem. The studied problem may be viewed as a combination of two NP-hard combinatorial optimization problems: the weighted-independent set and the classical binary knapsack. The proposed algorithm is a hybrid approach that combines both deterministic and random local searches. The deterministic local search is based on a descent method, where both building and exploring procedures are alternatively used for improving the solution at hand. In order to escape from a local optima, a random local search strategy is introduced which is based on a modified ant colony optimization system. During the search process, the ant colony optimization system tries to diversify and to enhance the solutions using some informations collected from the previous iterations. Finally, the proposed algorithm is computationally analyzed on a set of benchmark instances available in the literature. The provided results are compared to those realized by both the Cplex solver and a recent algorithm of the literature. The computational part shows that the obtained results improve most existing solution values.

Automatic guidance of attention during real-world visual search.

Science.gov (United States)

Seidl-Rathkopf, Katharina N; Turk-Browne, Nicholas B; Kastner, Sabine

2015-08-01

Looking for objects in cluttered natural environments is a frequent task in everyday life. This process can be difficult, because the features, locations, and times of appearance of relevant objects often are not known in advance. Thus, a mechanism by which attention is automatically biased toward information that is potentially relevant may be helpful. We tested for such a mechanism across five experiments by engaging participants in real-world visual search and then assessing attentional capture for information that was related to the search set but was otherwise irrelevant. Isolated objects captured attention while preparing to search for objects from the same category embedded in a scene, as revealed by lower detection performance (Experiment 1A). This capture effect was driven by a central processing bottleneck rather than the withdrawal of spatial attention (Experiment 1B), occurred automatically even in a secondary task (Experiment 2A), and reflected enhancement of matching information rather than suppression of nonmatching information (Experiment 2B). Finally, attentional capture extended to objects that were semantically associated with the target category (Experiment 3). We conclude that attention is efficiently drawn towards a wide range of information that may be relevant for an upcoming real-world visual search. This mechanism may be adaptive, allowing us to find information useful for our behavioral goals in the face of uncertainty.

Automatic guidance of attention during real-world visual search

Science.gov (United States)

Seidl-Rathkopf, Katharina N.; Turk-Browne, Nicholas B.; Kastner, Sabine

2015-01-01

Looking for objects in cluttered natural environments is a frequent task in everyday life. This process can be difficult, as the features, locations, and times of appearance of relevant objects are often not known in advance. A mechanism by which attention is automatically biased toward information that is potentially relevant may thus be helpful. Here we tested for such a mechanism across five experiments by engaging participants in real-world visual search and then assessing attentional capture for information that was related to the search set but was otherwise irrelevant. Isolated objects captured attention while preparing to search for objects from the same category embedded in a scene, as revealed by lower detection performance (Experiment 1A). This capture effect was driven by a central processing bottleneck rather than the withdrawal of spatial attention (Experiment 1B), occurred automatically even in a secondary task (Experiment 2A), and reflected enhancement of matching information rather than suppression of non-matching information (Experiment 2B). Finally, attentional capture extended to objects that were semantically associated with the target category (Experiment 3). We conclude that attention is efficiently drawn towards a wide range of information that may be relevant for an upcoming real-world visual search. This mechanism may be adaptive, allowing us to find information useful for our behavioral goals in the face of uncertainty. PMID:25898897

Tales from the Field: Search Strategies Applied in Web Searching

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Soohyung Joo

2010-08-01

Full Text Available In their web search processes users apply multiple types of search strategies, which consist of different search tactics. This paper identifies eight types of information search strategies with associated cases based on sequences of search tactics during the information search process. Thirty-one participants representing the general public were recruited for this study. Search logs and verbal protocols offered rich data for the identification of different types of search strategies. Based on the findings, the authors further discuss how to enhance web-based information retrieval (IR systems to support each type of search strategy.

Adaptive method of lines

CERN Document Server

Saucez, Ph

2001-01-01

The general Method of Lines (MOL) procedure provides a flexible format for the solution of all the major classes of partial differential equations (PDEs) and is particularly well suited to evolutionary, nonlinear wave PDEs. Despite its utility, however, there are relatively few texts that explore it at a more advanced level and reflect the method''s current state of development.Written by distinguished researchers in the field, Adaptive Method of Lines reflects the diversity of techniques and applications related to the MOL. Most of its chapters focus on a particular application but also provide a discussion of underlying philosophy and technique. Particular attention is paid to the concept of both temporal and spatial adaptivity in solving time-dependent PDEs. Many important ideas and methods are introduced, including moving grids and grid refinement, static and dynamic gridding, the equidistribution principle and the concept of a monitor function, the minimization of a functional, and the moving finite elem...

Robust Adaptive Thresholder For Document Scanning Applications

Science.gov (United States)

Hsing, To R.

1982-12-01

In document scanning applications, thresholding is used to obtain binary data from a scanner. However, due to: (1) a wide range of different color backgrounds; (2) density variations of printed text information; and (3) the shading effect caused by the optical systems, the use of adaptive thresholding to enhance the useful information is highly desired. This paper describes a new robust adaptive thresholder for obtaining valid binary images. It is basically a memory type algorithm which can dynamically update the black and white reference level to optimize a local adaptive threshold function. The results of high image quality from different types of simulate test patterns can be obtained by this algorithm. The software algorithm is described and experiment results are present to describe the procedures. Results also show that the techniques described here can be used for real-time signal processing in the varied applications.

Search for free quarks in multihadronic decays of the Z0

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Thomas, J.

1993-03-01

Procedures for a search for free quarks in multihadronic decays of the Z 0 collected with the OPAL detector at LEP are investigated. The distinctive signal of a free quark is considered to be a low specific energy loss dE/dx measured in the OPAL tracking chamber. Detailed studies of the detector response to tracks with low ionization are carried out. On this basis a method for the search can be defined. In a first step particles identified by dE/dx and momentum measurements as electrons, positrons, pions, kaons or (anti-)protons are rejected. Of the remaining tracks most are due to electronic noise, failures in the track reconstruction, and systematic shifts of the charge measurement. Each of these effects is studied carefully. The potential and the limitations of a search are shown. (orig.) [de

Internet Search Engines

OpenAIRE

Fatmaa El Zahraa Mohamed Abdou

2004-01-01

A general study about the internet search engines, the study deals main 7 points; the differance between search engines and search directories, components of search engines, the percentage of sites covered by search engines, cataloging of sites, the needed time for sites appearance in search engines, search capabilities, and types of search engines.

Multi-user cognitive radio network resource allocation based on the adaptive niche immune genetic algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zu Yun-Xiao; Zhou Jie

2012-01-01

Multi-user cognitive radio network resource allocation based on the adaptive niche immune genetic algorithm is proposed, and a fitness function is provided. Simulations are conducted using the adaptive niche immune genetic algorithm, the simulated annealing algorithm, the quantum genetic algorithm and the simple genetic algorithm, respectively. The results show that the adaptive niche immune genetic algorithm performs better than the other three algorithms in terms of the multi-user cognitive radio network resource allocation, and has quick convergence speed and strong global searching capability, which effectively reduces the system power consumption and bit error rate. (geophysics, astronomy, and astrophysics)

Search-based model identification of smart-structure damage

Science.gov (United States)

Glass, B. J.; Macalou, A.

1991-01-01

This paper describes the use of a combined model and parameter identification approach, based on modal analysis and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, for identifying damage or flaws in a rotating truss structure incorporating embedded piezoceramic sensors. This smart structure example is representative of a class of structures commonly found in aerospace systems and next generation space structures. Artificial intelligence techniques of classification, heuristic search, and an object-oriented knowledge base are used in an AI-based model identification approach. A finite model space is classified into a search tree, over which a variant of best-first search is used to identify the model whose stored response most closely matches that of the input. Newly-encountered models can be incorporated into the model space. This adaptativeness demonstrates the potential for learning control. Following this output-error model identification, numerical parameter identification is used to further refine the identified model. Given the rotating truss example in this paper, noisy data corresponding to various damage configurations are input to both this approach and a conventional parameter identification method. The combination of the AI-based model identification with parameter identification is shown to lead to smaller parameter corrections than required by the use of parameter identification alone.

Recent developments in MrBUMP: better search-model preparation, graphical interaction with search models, and solution improvement and assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Keegan, Ronan M; McNicholas, Stuart J; Thomas, Jens M H; Simpkin, Adam J; Simkovic, Felix; Uski, Ville; Ballard, Charles C; Winn, Martyn D; Wilson, Keith S; Rigden, Daniel J

2018-03-01

Increasing sophistication in molecular-replacement (MR) software and the rapid expansion of the PDB in recent years have allowed the technique to become the dominant method for determining the phases of a target structure in macromolecular X-ray crystallography. In addition, improvements in bioinformatic techniques for finding suitable homologous structures for use as MR search models, combined with developments in refinement and model-building techniques, have pushed the applicability of MR to lower sequence identities and made weak MR solutions more amenable to refinement and improvement. MrBUMP is a CCP4 pipeline which automates all stages of the MR procedure. Its scope covers everything from the sourcing and preparation of suitable search models right through to rebuilding of the positioned search model. Recent improvements to the pipeline include the adoption of more sensitive bioinformatic tools for sourcing search models, enhanced model-preparation techniques including better ensembling of homologues, and the use of phase improvement and model building on the resulting solution. The pipeline has also been deployed as an online service through CCP4 online, which allows its users to exploit large bioinformatic databases and coarse-grained parallelism to speed up the determination of a possible solution. Finally, the molecular-graphics application CCP4mg has been combined with MrBUMP to provide an interactive visual aid to the user during the process of selecting and manipulating search models for use in MR. Here, these developments in MrBUMP are described with a case study to explore how some of the enhancements to the pipeline and to CCP4mg can help to solve a difficult case.

University Students' Online Information Searching Strategies in Different Search Contexts

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Meng-Jung; Liang, Jyh-Chong; Hou, Huei-Tse; Tsai, Chin-Chung

2012-01-01

This study investigates the role of search context played in university students' online information searching strategies. A total of 304 university students in Taiwan were surveyed with questionnaires in which two search contexts were defined as searching for learning, and searching for daily life information. Students' online search strategies…

Procedures for the salvage and necropsy of the dugong (Dugong dugon)

Science.gov (United States)

Eros, Carole; Marsh, Helene; Bonde, Robert K.; O'Shea, Thomas A.; Beck, Cathy A.; Recchia, Cheri; Dobbs, Kirstin; Turner, Malcolm; Lemm, Stephanie; Pears, Rachel; Bowater, Rachel

2007-01-01

Data and specimens collected from dugong carcasses and live stranded individuals provide vital information for research and management agencies. The ability to assign a cause of death (natural and/or human induced) to a carcass assists managers to identify major threats to a population in certain areas and to evaluate and adapt management measures. Data collectedfrom dugong carcasses have contributed to research in areas such as life history, feeding biology, investigating the stock structure/genetics of dugongs, contaminants studies, heavy metal analyses, parasitology, and the effects of habitat change. Adapted from the 'Manual of Procedures for the Salvage and Necropsy of Carcasses of the West Indian Manatee (Trichechus manatus),' this manual provides a detailed guide for dugong (Dugong dugon) carcass handling and necropsy procedures. It is intended to be used as a resource and training guide for anyone involved in dugong incidents who may lack dugong expertise.

Adaptive management for a turbulent future