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Sample records for selection index theory

  1. Research on the Selection Strategy of Green Building Parts Supplier Based on the Catastrophe Theory and Kent Index Method

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    Zhenhua Luo

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available At present, the green building and housing industrialization are two mainstream directions in the real estate industry. The production of green building parts which combines green building and housing industrialization, two concepts, is to be vigorously developed. The key of quality assurance in the assembly project is choosing reliable and proper green building parts suppliers. This paper analyzes the inherent requirements of the green building, combined with the characteristics of the housing industrialization, and puts forward an evaluation index system of supplier selection for green building parts, which includes product index, enterprise index, green development index, and cooperation ability index. To reduce the influence of subjective factors, the improved method which merges Kent index method and catastrophe theory is applied to the green building parts supplier selection and evaluation. This paper takes the selection of the unit bathroom suppliers as an example, uses the improved model to calculate and analyze the data of each supplier, and finally selects the optimal supplier. With combination of the Kent index and the catastrophe theory, the result shows that it can effectively reduce the subjectivity of the evaluation and provide a basis for the selection of the green building parts suppliers.

  2. Index Selection in Relational Databases

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Choenni, R.S.; Blanken, Henk; Chang, S.C.

    Intending to develop a tool which aims to support the physical design of relational databases can not be done without considering the problem of index selection. Generally the problem is split into a primary and secondary index selection problem and the selection is done per table. Whereas much

  3. Economic Selection Theory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Knudsen, Thorbjørn

    2003-01-01

    principles of variation, continuity and selection, it is argued that economic selection theory should mimic the causal structure of neo-Darwinian theory. Two of the most influential explanations of economic evolution, Alchian's and Nelson and Winter's, are used to illustrate how this could be achieved.......The present article provides a minimal description of the causal structure of economic selection theory and outlines how the internal selection dynamics of business organisations can be reconciled with selection in competitive markets. In addition to generic similarity in terms of the Darwinian...

  4. Index Theory with Applications to Mathematics and Physics

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Booss-Bavnbek, Bernhelm; Bleecker, David

    Index Theory with Applications to Mathematics and Physics describes, explains, and explores the Index Theorem of Atiyah and Singer, one of the truly great accomplishments of twentieth-century mathematics whose influence continues to grow, fifty years after its discovery. The Index Theorem has giv...... birth to many mathematical research areas and exposed profound connections between analysis, geometry, topology, algebra, and mathematical physics. Hardly any topic of modern mathematics stands independent of its influence.......Index Theory with Applications to Mathematics and Physics describes, explains, and explores the Index Theorem of Atiyah and Singer, one of the truly great accomplishments of twentieth-century mathematics whose influence continues to grow, fifty years after its discovery. The Index Theorem has given...

  5. ABOUT INDEX EVALUATION OF MATERIAL RESOURCE SUPPLIER SELECTION

    OpenAIRE

    V. A. Skochinskaya

    2008-01-01

    The paper analyzes existing methods for evaluation of material resource supplier selection. It shows advantages and shortcomings of the present evaluation systems. The necessity for application of an index evaluation is justified in the paper. The paper contains rating (index) evaluation for material resource supplier selection which is based on the application of quantitative (index) tool instead of an expert (numerical) evaluation. 

  6. Genetic gains in physic nut using selection indexes

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    Leonardo Lopes Bhering

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this work was to estimate genetic gains in physic nut (Jatropha curcas using selection indexes and to establish the best selection strategy for the species. Direct and indirect selection was carried out using different selection indexes, totalizing 14 strategies. One hundred and seventy five families from the active germplasm bank of Embrapa Agroenergy, Brasília, Brazil, were analyzed in a randomized complete block design with two replicates. The evaluated traits were: grain yield; seeds per fruit; endosperm/seed ratio; seed weight, length, width, and thickness; branches per plant at 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 m; plant height; stem diameter; canopy projection on rows and between lines; canopy volume; juvenility (days to the first flowering; and height of the first inflorescence. Evaluations were done during the second year of cultivation. The use of selection indexes is relevant to maximize the genetic gains in physic nut, favoring a better distribution of desirable traits. The multiplicative and restrictive indexes are considered the most promising for selection.

  7. ABOUT INDEX EVALUATION OF MATERIAL RESOURCE SUPPLIER SELECTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V. A. Skochinskaya

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available The paper analyzes existing methods for evaluation of material resource supplier selection. It shows advantages and shortcomings of the present evaluation systems. The necessity for application of an index evaluation is justified in the paper. The paper contains rating (index evaluation for material resource supplier selection which is based on the application of quantitative (index tool instead of an expert (numerical evaluation. 

  8. Selection of an evaluation index for water ecological civilizations of water-shortage cities based on the grey rough set

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, X. Y.; Zhu, J. W.; Xie, J. C.; Liu, J. L.; Jiang, R. G.

    2017-08-01

    According to the characteristics and existing problems of water ecological civilization of water-shortage cities, the evaluation index system of water ecological civilization was established using a grey rough set. From six aspects of water resources, water security, water environment, water ecology, water culture and water management, this study established the prime frame of the evaluation system, including 28 items, and used rough set theory to undertake optimal selection of the index system. Grey correlation theory then was used for weightings in order that the integrated evaluation index system for water ecology civilization of water-shortage cities could be constituted. Xi’an City was taken as an example, for which the results showed that 20 evaluation indexes could be obtained after optimal selection of the preliminary framework of evaluation index. The most influential indices were the water-resource category index and water environment category index. The leakage rate of the public water supply pipe network, as well as the disposal, treatment and usage rate of polluted water, urban water surface area ratio, the water quality of the main rivers, and so on also are important. It was demonstrated that the evaluation index could provide an objectively reflection of regional features and key points for the development of water ecology civilization for cities with scarce water resources. It is considered that the application example has universal applicability.

  9. Computing a ground appropriateness index for route selection in permafrost regions

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    Chi Zhang

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available The reasonable calculation of ground appropriateness index in permafrost region is the precondition of highway route design in permafrost region. The theory of knowledge base and fuzzy mathematics are applied, and the damage effect of permafrost is considered in the paper. Based on the idea of protecting permafrost the calculation method of ground appropriateness index is put forward. Firstly, based on the actual environment conditions, the paper determines the factors affecting the road layout in permafrost areas by qualitative and quantitative analysis, including the annual slope, the average annual ground temperature of permafrost, the amount of ice in frozen soil, and the interference engineering. Secondly, based on the knowledge base theory and the use of Delphi method, the paper establishes the knowledge base, the rule base of the permafrost region and inference mechanism. The method of selecting the road in permafrost region is completed and realized by using the software platform. Thirdly, taking the Tuotuo River to Kaixin Mountain section of permafrost region as an example, the application of the method is studied by using an ArcGIS platform. Results show that the route plan determined by the method of selecting the road in permafrost region can avoid the high temperature and high ice content area, conform the terrain changes and evade the heat disturbance among the existing projects. A reasonable route plan can be achieved, and it can provide the basis for the next engineering construction.

  10. Precise iteration formulae of the Maslov-type index theory for symplectic paths

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yiming Long

    1998-10-01

    In this paper, using homotopy components of symplectic matrices, and basic properties of the Maslov-type index theory, we establish precise iteration formulae of the Maslov-type index theory for any path in the symplectic group starting from the identity. (author)

  11. Age-Related Differences in Goals: Testing Predictions from Selection, Optimization, and Compensation Theory and Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Penningroth, Suzanna L.; Scott, Walter D.

    2012-01-01

    Two prominent theories of lifespan development, socioemotional selectivity theory and selection, optimization, and compensation theory, make similar predictions for differences in the goal representations of younger and older adults. Our purpose was to test whether the goals of younger and older adults differed in ways predicted by these two…

  12. Connecting fast-slow systems and Conley Index theory via transversality

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    Christian Kuehn

    2010-08-01

    Full Text Available Geometric Singular Perturbation Theory (GSPT and Conley Index Theory are two powerful techniques to analyze dynamical systems. Conley already realized that using his index is easier for singular perturbation problems. In this paper, we will revisit Conley's results and prove that the GSPT technique of Fenichel Normal Form can be used to simplify the application of Conley index techniques even further. We also hope that our results provide a better bridge between the different fields. Furthermore we show how to interpret Conley's conditions in terms of averaging. The result are illustrated by the two-dimensional van der Pol equation and by a three-dimensional Morris-Lecar model.

  13. Evaluation of genomic selection for replacement strategies using selection index theory.

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    Calus, M P L; Bijma, P; Veerkamp, R F

    2015-09-01

    Our objective was to investigate the economic effect of prioritizing heifers for replacement at the herd level based on genomic estimated breeding values, and to compute break-even genotyping costs across a wide range of scenarios. Specifically, we aimed to determine the optimal proportion of preselection based on parent average information for all scenarios considered. Considered replacement strategies include a range of different selection intensities by considering different numbers of heifers available for replacement (15-45 in a herd with 100 dairy cows) as well as different replacement rates (15-40%). Use of conventional versus sexed semen was considered, where the latter resulted in having twice as many heifers available for replacement. The baseline scenario relies on prioritization of replacement heifers based on parent average. The first alternative scenario involved genomic selection of heifers, considering that all heifers were genotyped. The benefits of genomic selection in this scenario were computed using a simple formula that only requires the number of lactating animals, the difference in accuracy between parent average and genomic selection (GS), and the selection intensity as input. When all heifers were genotyped, using GS for replacement of heifers was beneficial in most scenarios for current genotyping prices, provided some room exists for selection, in the sense that at least 2 more heifers are available than needed for replacement. In those scenarios, minimum break-even genotyping costs were equal to half the economic value of a standard deviation of the breeding goal. The second alternative scenario involved a preselection based on parent average, followed by GS among all the preselected heifers. It was in almost all cases beneficial to genotype all heifers when conventional semen was used (i.e., to do no preselection). The optimal proportion of preselection based on parent average was at least 0.63 when sexed semen was used. Use of sexed

  14. Theory of mind selectively predicts preschoolers' knowledge-based selective word learning.

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    Brosseau-Liard, Patricia; Penney, Danielle; Poulin-Dubois, Diane

    2015-11-01

    Children can selectively attend to various attributes of a model, such as past accuracy or physical strength, to guide their social learning. There is a debate regarding whether a relation exists between theory-of-mind skills and selective learning. We hypothesized that high performance on theory-of-mind tasks would predict preference for learning new words from accurate informants (an epistemic attribute), but not from physically strong informants (a non-epistemic attribute). Three- and 4-year-olds (N = 65) completed two selective learning tasks, and their theory-of-mind abilities were assessed. As expected, performance on a theory-of-mind battery predicted children's preference to learn from more accurate informants but not from physically stronger informants. Results thus suggest that preschoolers with more advanced theory of mind have a better understanding of knowledge and apply that understanding to guide their selection of informants. This work has important implications for research on children's developing social cognition and early learning. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

  15. Theory of mind selectively predicts preschoolers’ knowledge-based selective word learning

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brosseau-Liard, Patricia; Penney, Danielle; Poulin-Dubois, Diane

    2015-01-01

    Children can selectively attend to various attributes of a model, such as past accuracy or physical strength, to guide their social learning. There is a debate regarding whether a relation exists between theory-of-mind skills and selective learning. We hypothesized that high performance on theory-of-mind tasks would predict preference for learning new words from accurate informants (an epistemic attribute), but not from physically strong informants (a non-epistemic attribute). Three- and 4-year-olds (N = 65) completed two selective learning tasks, and their theory of mind abilities were assessed. As expected, performance on a theory-of-mind battery predicted children’s preference to learn from more accurate informants but not from physically stronger informants. Results thus suggest that preschoolers with more advanced theory of mind have a better understanding of knowledge and apply that understanding to guide their selection of informants. This work has important implications for research on children’s developing social cognition and early learning. PMID:26211504

  16. Natural selection. VII. History and interpretation of kin selection theory.

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    Frank, S A

    2013-06-01

    Kin selection theory is a kind of causal analysis. The initial form of kin selection ascribed cause to costs, benefits and genetic relatedness. The theory then slowly developed a deeper and more sophisticated approach to partitioning the causes of social evolution. Controversy followed because causal analysis inevitably attracts opposing views. It is always possible to separate total effects into different component causes. Alternative causal schemes emphasize different aspects of a problem, reflecting the distinct goals, interests and biases of different perspectives. For example, group selection is a particular causal scheme with certain advantages and significant limitations. Ultimately, to use kin selection theory to analyse natural patterns and to understand the history of debates over different approaches, one must follow the underlying history of causal analysis. This article describes the history of kin selection theory, with emphasis on how the causal perspective improved through the study of key patterns of natural history, such as dispersal and sex ratio, and through a unified approach to demographic and social processes. Independent historical developments in the multivariate analysis of quantitative traits merged with the causal analysis of social evolution by kin selection. © 2013 The Author. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2013 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

  17. Witten index calculation in supersymmetric gauge theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Smilga, A.V.

    1984-01-01

    Direct calculation of the Witten index Isub(W) in the SU(2) SUSY Yang-Mills theiory is performed using the periodic boundary conditions. Our result is Isub(W)--1 which disagrees with the Witten's result: Isub(W)=N for the SU(N) gauge group. The principle physical conclusion of SUSY unbreaking in this theory remains intact

  18. Near the sill of the conformal window: Gauge theories with fermions in two-index representations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    DeGrand, Thomas; Shamir, Yigal; Svetitsky, Benjamin

    2013-09-16

    We apply Schroedinger functional methods to two gauge theories with fermions in two-index representations: the SU(3) theory with Nf=2 adjoint fermions, and the SU(4) theory with Nf=6 fermions in the two-index antisymmetric representation. Each theory is believed to lie near the bottom of the conformal window for its respective representation. In the SU(3) theory we find a small beta function in strong coupling but we cannot confirm or rule out an infrared fixed point. In the SU(4) theory we find a hint of walking - a beta function that approaches the axis and then turns away from it. In both theories the mass anomalous dimension remains small even at the strongest couplings, much like the theories with fermions in the two-index symmetric representation investigated earlier.

  19. Toward a New Theory for Selecting Instructional Visuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Croft, Richard S.; Burton, John K.

    This paper provides a rationale for the selection of illustrations and visual aids for the classroom. The theories that describe the processing of visuals are dual coding theory and cue summation theory. Concept attainment theory offers a basis for selecting which cues are relevant for any learning task which includes a component of identification…

  20. A Risk-Free Protection Index Model for Portfolio Selection with Entropy Constraint under an Uncertainty Framework

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    Jianwei Gao

    2017-02-01

    Full Text Available This paper aims to develop a risk-free protection index model for portfolio selection based on the uncertain theory. First, the returns of risk assets are assumed as uncertain variables and subject to reputable experts’ evaluations. Second, under this assumption, combining with the risk-free interest rate we define a risk-free protection index (RFPI, which can measure the protection degree when the loss of risk assets happens. Third, note that the proportion entropy serves as a complementary means to reduce the risk by the preset diversification requirement. We put forward a risk-free protection index model with an entropy constraint under an uncertainty framework by applying the RFPI, Huang’s risk index model (RIM, and mean-variance-entropy model (MVEM. Furthermore, to solve our portfolio model, an algorithm is given to estimate the uncertain expected return and standard deviation of different risk assets by applying the Delphi method. Finally, an example is provided to show that the risk-free protection index model performs better than the traditional MVEM and RIM.

  1. Index Fund Selections with GAs and Classifications Based on Turnover

    Science.gov (United States)

    Orito, Yukiko; Motoyama, Takaaki; Yamazaki, Genji

    It is well known that index fund selections are important for the risk hedge of investment in a stock market. The`selection’means that for`stock index futures’, n companies of all ones in the market are selected. For index fund selections, Orito et al.(6) proposed a method consisting of the following two steps : Step 1 is to select N companies in the market with a heuristic rule based on the coefficient of determination between the return rate of each company in the market and the increasing rate of the stock price index. Step 2 is to construct a group of n companies by applying genetic algorithms to the set of N companies. We note that the rule of Step 1 is not unique. The accuracy of the results using their method depends on the length of time data (price data) in the experiments. The main purpose of this paper is to introduce a more`effective rule’for Step 1. The rule is based on turnover. The method consisting of Step 1 based on turnover and Step 2 is examined with numerical experiments for the 1st Section of Tokyo Stock Exchange. The results show that with our method, it is possible to construct the more effective index fund than the results of Orito et al.(6). The accuracy of the results using our method depends little on the length of time data (turnover data). The method especially works well when the increasing rate of the stock price index over a period can be viewed as a linear time series data.

  2. A topologically twisted index for three-dimensional supersymmetric theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Benini, Francesco; Zaffaroni, Alberto

    2015-01-01

    We provide a general formula for the partition function of three-dimensional N=2 gauge theories placed on S 2 ×S 1 with a topological twist along S 2 , which can be interpreted as an index for chiral states of the theories immersed in background magnetic fields. The result is expressed as a sum over magnetic fluxes of the residues of a meromorphic form which is a function of the scalar zero-modes. The partition function depends on a collection of background magnetic fluxes and fugacities for the global symmetries. We illustrate our formula in many examples of 3d Yang-Mills-Chern-Simons theories with matter, including Aharony and Giveon-Kutasov dualities. Finally, our formula generalizes to Ω-backgrounds, as well as two-dimensional theories on S 2 and four-dimensional theories on S 2 ×T 2 . In particular this provides an alternative way to compute genus-zero A-model topological amplitudes and Gromov-Witten invariants.

  3. The Properties of Model Selection when Retaining Theory Variables

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hendry, David F.; Johansen, Søren

    Economic theories are often fitted directly to data to avoid possible model selection biases. We show that embedding a theory model that specifies the correct set of m relevant exogenous variables, x{t}, within the larger set of m+k candidate variables, (x{t},w{t}), then selection over the second...... set by their statistical significance can be undertaken without affecting the estimator distribution of the theory parameters. This strategy returns the theory-parameter estimates when the theory is correct, yet protects against the theory being under-specified because some w{t} are relevant....

  4. Selective Collection Quality Index for Municipal Solid Waste Management

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    Elena Cristina Rada

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Trentino (an Italian Province located in the northern part of the country is equipped with a management system of municipal solid waste collection at the forefront. Among the most positive aspects, there is a great ability for waste separation at the source and a consequent low production of residual municipal solid waste for disposal. Latest data show a gross efficiency of selective collection that has recently reached 80%, one of the highest values in Italy. This study analyzed the “Trentino system” to identify the main elements that have been at the base of the current efficient model. This provided an opportunity to propose a selective collection quality index (SCQI, including collection efficiency for each fraction, method of collection, quality of the collected materials, presence of the punctual tariff and tourist incidence. A period relevant for the transition of the collection system to the recent one was chosen for the demonstrative adoption of the proposed indicators in order to determine the potential of the index adoption. Results of the analysis of this case study were obtained in a quantitative form thanks to the sub-parameters that characterize the proposed index. This allowed selected collection decision makers to focus intently on a territory to find criticalities to be solved. For instance, the use of the index and its sub-indicators in the case of Trentino identified and comparatively quantified the local problems resulting from the presence of a large museum in a small town, tourism peaks in some valleys, and a delay in the punctual tariff adoption. The index has been proposed with the aim to make available an integrated tool to analyze other areas in Italy and abroad.

  5. Missing concepts in natural selection theory reconstructions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ginnobili, Santiago

    2016-09-01

    The concept of fitness has generated a lot of discussion in philosophy of biology. There is, however, relative agreement about the need to distinguish at least two uses of the term: ecological fitness on the one hand, and population genetics fitness on the other. The goal of this paper is to give an explication of the concept of ecological fitness by providing a reconstruction of the theory of natural selection in which this concept was framed, that is, based on the way the theory was put to use in Darwin's main texts. I will contend that this reconstruction enables us to account for the current use of the theory of natural selection. The framework presupposed in the analysis will be that of metatheoretical structuralism. This framework will provide both a better understanding of the nature of ecological fitness and a more complete reconstruction of the theory. In particular, it will provide what I think is a better way of understanding how the concept of fitness is applied through heterogeneous cases. One of the major advantages of my way of thinking about natural selection theory is that it would not have the peculiar metatheoretical status that it has in other available views. I will argue that in order to achieve these goals it is necessary to make several concepts explicit, concepts that are frequently omitted in usual reconstructions.

  6. Breeding common bean populations for traits using selection index

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    Dayane Cristina Lima

    2015-02-01

    Full Text Available A common bean (Phaseolus vulgarisL. cultivar must combine desirable genotypes for several traits in order to be accepted by producers and consumers. This study aimed to evaluate selection efficiency when segregating bean populations for traits, by means of a selection index, in order to obtain superior progenies for traits considered. A total of 16 populations from the F4 and F5generations were evaluated in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The traits evaluated were plant architecture, plant disease, grain type and yield. Using standard scores (Z, the sum of the four traits (∑Z was obtained and, based on this information, the best populations were identified. The evaluation of selection effectiveness was performed on 31 progenies from each population. The 496 progenies plus eight controls were evaluated in the F5:6and F5:7 generations for the same traits in July and November 2012, respectively. The selection, using the index based on the sum of standardized variables (∑Z, was efficient for identifying populations with superior progenies for all the traits considered.

  7. Genomic prediction for Nordic Red Cattle using one-step and selection index blending

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Guosheng, Su; Madsen, Per; Nielsen, Ulrik Sander

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated the accuracy of direct genomic breeding values (DGV) using a genomic BLUP model, genomic enhanced breeding values (GEBV) using a one-step blending approach, and GEBV using a selection index blending approach for 15 traits of Nordic Red Cattle. The data comprised 6,631 bulls...... genotyped and nongenotyped bulls for one-step blending, and to scale DGV and its expected reliability in the selection index blending. Weighting (scaling) factors had a small influence on reliabilities of GEBV, but a large influence on the variation of GEBV. Based on the validation analyses, averaged over...... the 15 traits, the reliability of DGV for bulls without daughter records was 11.0 percentage points higher than the reliability of conventional pedigree index. Further gain of 0.9 percentage points was achieved by combining information from conventional pedigree index using the selection index blending...

  8. Coexistence of an unstirred chemostat model with B-D functional response by fixed point index theory

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    Xiao-zhou Feng

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract This paper deals with an unstirred chemostat model with the Beddington-DeAngelis functional response. First, some prior estimates for positive solutions are proved by the maximum principle and the method of upper and lower solutions. Second, the calculation on the fixed point index of chemostat model is obtained by degree theory and the homotopy invariance theorem. Finally, some sufficient condition on the existence of positive steady-state solutions is established by fixed point index theory and bifurcation theory.

  9. Evaluation and selection of energy technologies using an integrated graph theory and analytic hierarchy process methods

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    P. B. Lanjewar

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available The evaluation and selection of energy technologies involve a large number of attributes whose selection and weighting is decided in accordance with the social, environmental, technical and economic framework. In the present work an integrated multiple attribute decision making methodology is developed by combining graph theory and analytic hierarchy process methods to deal with the evaluation and selection of energy technologies. The energy technology selection attributes digraph enables a quick visual appraisal of the energy technology selection attributes and their interrelationships. The preference index provides a total objective score for comparison of energy technologies alternatives. Application of matrix permanent offers a better appreciation of the considered attributes and helps to analyze the different alternatives from combinatorial viewpoint. The AHP is used to assign relative weights to the attributes. Four examples of evaluation and selection of energy technologies are considered in order to demonstrate and validate the proposed method.

  10. The issue of interactional hypothesis in self-determination theory: a proposal of a new motivation quality index

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    José Martín-Albo

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The postulates of self-determination theory have been frequently gauged by a measure of motivation quality called self-determination index (SDI. This index relies on an interactional hypothesis. According to this hypothesis, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation are not independent constructs; on the contrary, when one increases the other decreases. However, the literature on the subiect has revealed that these constructs are orthogonal and thus SDI presents measurement problems. Considering these limitations, the obiective of this research was to propose and test the effectiveness of a new way to calculate a motivation quality index (PMI: positive motivation index. Two athletes' samples were used. Results of the two studies carried out showed that PMI fit better the self-determination theory postulates than SDI did. Positive correlations were found between the satisfaction of basic psychological needs and PMI, and between PMI and positive emotions. Finally, results provided preliminary support for the use of the new motivation quality index proposed from the framework of self-determination theory.

  11. Criteria for selecting implementation science theories and frameworks: results from an international survey

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    Sarah A. Birken

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Theories provide a synthesizing architecture for implementation science. The underuse, superficial use, and misuse of theories pose a substantial scientific challenge for implementation science and may relate to challenges in selecting from the many theories in the field. Implementation scientists may benefit from guidance for selecting a theory for a specific study or project. Understanding how implementation scientists select theories will help inform efforts to develop such guidance. Our objective was to identify which theories implementation scientists use, how they use theories, and the criteria used to select theories. Methods We identified initial lists of uses and criteria for selecting implementation theories based on seminal articles and an iterative consensus process. We incorporated these lists into a self-administered survey for completion by self-identified implementation scientists. We recruited potential respondents at the 8th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health and via several international email lists. We used frequencies and percentages to report results. Results Two hundred twenty-three implementation scientists from 12 countries responded to the survey. They reported using more than 100 different theories spanning several disciplines. Respondents reported using theories primarily to identify implementation determinants, inform data collection, enhance conceptual clarity, and guide implementation planning. Of the 19 criteria presented in the survey, the criteria used by the most respondents to select theory included analytic level (58%, logical consistency/plausibility (56%, empirical support (53%, and description of a change process (54%. The criteria used by the fewest respondents included fecundity (10%, uniqueness (12%, and falsifiability (15%. Conclusions Implementation scientists use a large number of criteria to select theories, but there is little

  12. Criteria for selecting implementation science theories and frameworks: results from an international survey.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Birken, Sarah A; Powell, Byron J; Shea, Christopher M; Haines, Emily R; Alexis Kirk, M; Leeman, Jennifer; Rohweder, Catherine; Damschroder, Laura; Presseau, Justin

    2017-10-30

    Theories provide a synthesizing architecture for implementation science. The underuse, superficial use, and misuse of theories pose a substantial scientific challenge for implementation science and may relate to challenges in selecting from the many theories in the field. Implementation scientists may benefit from guidance for selecting a theory for a specific study or project. Understanding how implementation scientists select theories will help inform efforts to develop such guidance. Our objective was to identify which theories implementation scientists use, how they use theories, and the criteria used to select theories. We identified initial lists of uses and criteria for selecting implementation theories based on seminal articles and an iterative consensus process. We incorporated these lists into a self-administered survey for completion by self-identified implementation scientists. We recruited potential respondents at the 8th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation in Health and via several international email lists. We used frequencies and percentages to report results. Two hundred twenty-three implementation scientists from 12 countries responded to the survey. They reported using more than 100 different theories spanning several disciplines. Respondents reported using theories primarily to identify implementation determinants, inform data collection, enhance conceptual clarity, and guide implementation planning. Of the 19 criteria presented in the survey, the criteria used by the most respondents to select theory included analytic level (58%), logical consistency/plausibility (56%), empirical support (53%), and description of a change process (54%). The criteria used by the fewest respondents included fecundity (10%), uniqueness (12%), and falsifiability (15%). Implementation scientists use a large number of criteria to select theories, but there is little consensus on which are most important. Our results suggest that the

  13. Psychometric properties of the neck disability index amongst patients with chronic neck pain using item response theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saltychev, Mikhail; Mattie, Ryan; McCormick, Zachary; Laimi, Katri

    2017-05-13

    The Neck Disability Index (NDI) is commonly used for clinical and research assessment for chronic neck pain, yet the original version of this tool has not undergone significant validity testing, and in particular, there has been minimal assessment using Item Response Theory. The goal of the present study was to investigate the psychometric properties of the original version of the NDI in a large sample of individuals with chronic neck pain by defining its internal consistency, construct structure and validity, and its ability to discriminate between different degrees of functional limitation. This is a cross-sectional cohort study of 585 consecutive patients with chronic neck pain seen in a university hospital rehabilitation clinic. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha, construct structure was evaluated by exploratory factor analysis, and discrimination ability was determined by Item Response Theory. The NDI demonstrated good internal consistency assessed by Cronbach's alpha (0.87). The exploratory factor analysis identified only one factor with eigenvalue considered significant (cutoff 1.0). When analyzed by Item Response Theory, eight out of 10 items demonstrated almost ideal difficulty parameter estimates. In addition, eight out of 10 items showed high to perfect estimates of discrimination ability (overall range 0.8 to 2.9). Amongst patients with chronic neck pain, the NDI was found to have good internal consistency, have unidimensional properties, and an excellent ability to distinguish patients with different levels of perceived disability. Implications for Rehabilitation The Neck Disability Index has good internal consistency, unidimensional properties, and an excellent ability to distinguish patients with different levels of perceived disability. The Neck Disability Index is recommended for use when selecting patients for rehabilitation, setting rehabilitation goals, and measuring the outcome of intervention.

  14. Control configuration selection for bilinear systems via generalised Hankel interaction index array

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Shaker, Hamid Reza; Tahavori, Maryamsadat

    2015-01-01

    configuration selection. It is well known that a suitable control configuration selection is an important prerequisite for a successful industrial control. In this paper the problem of control configuration selection for multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) bilinear processes is addressed. First...... way, an iterative method for solving the generalised Sylvester equation is proposed. The generalised cross-gramian is used to form the generalised Hankel interaction index array. The generalised Hankel interaction index array is used for control configuration selection of MIMO bilinear processes. Most......Decentralised and partially decentralised control strategies are very popular in practice. To come up with a suitable decentralised or partially decentralised control structure, it is important to select the appropriate input and output pairs for control design. This procedure is called control...

  15. R3 Index for Four-Dimensional N =2 Field Theories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexandrov, Sergei; Moore, Gregory W.; Neitzke, Andrew; Pioline, Boris

    2015-03-01

    In theories with N =2 supersymmetry on R3 ,1, supersymmetric bound states can decay across walls of marginal stability in the space of Coulomb branch parameters, leading to discontinuities in the BPS indices Ω (γ ,u ) . We consider a supersymmetric index I which receives contributions from 1 /2 -BPS states, generalizing the familiar Witten index Tr (-1 )Fe-β H . We expect I to be smooth away from loci where massless particles appear, thanks to contributions from the continuum of multiparticle states. Taking inspiration from a similar phenomenon in the hypermultiplet moduli space of N =2 string vacua, we conjecture a formula expressing I in terms of the BPS indices Ω (γ ,u ), which is continuous across the walls and exhibits the expected contributions from single particle states at large β . This gives a universal prediction for the contributions of multiparticle states to the index I . This index is naturally a function on the moduli space after reduction on a circle, closely related to the canonical hyperkähler metric and hyperholomorphic connection on this space.

  16. R^{3} index for four-dimensional (N)=2 field theories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alexandrov, Sergei; Moore, Gregory W; Neitzke, Andrew; Pioline, Boris

    2015-03-27

    In theories with N=2 supersymmetry on R^{3,1}, supersymmetric bound states can decay across walls of marginal stability in the space of Coulomb branch parameters, leading to discontinuities in the BPS indices Ω(γ,u). We consider a supersymmetric index I which receives contributions from 1/2-BPS states, generalizing the familiar Witten index Tr(-1)^{F}e^{-βH}. We expect I to be smooth away from loci where massless particles appear, thanks to contributions from the continuum of multiparticle states. Taking inspiration from a similar phenomenon in the hypermultiplet moduli space of N=2 string vacua, we conjecture a formula expressing I in terms of the BPS indices Ω(γ,u), which is continuous across the walls and exhibits the expected contributions from single particle states at large β. This gives a universal prediction for the contributions of multiparticle states to the index I. This index is naturally a function on the moduli space after reduction on a circle, closely related to the canonical hyperkähler metric and hyperholomorphic connection on this space.

  17. Medical student selection and society: Lessons we learned from sociological theories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yaghmaei, Minoo; Yazdani, Shahram; Ahmady, Soleiman

    2016-01-01

    The aim of this study was to show the interaction between the society, applicants and medical schools in terms of medical student selection. In this study, the trends to implement social factors in the selection process were highlighted. These social factors were explored through functionalism and conflict theories, each focusing on different categories of social factors. While functionalist theorists pay attention to diversity in the selection process, conflict theorists highlight the importance of socio-economic class. Although both theories believe in sorting, their different views are reflected in their sorting strategies. Both theories emphasize the importance of the person-society relationship in motivation to enter university. Furthermore, the impacts of social goals on the selection policies are derived from both theories. Theories in the sociology of education offer an approach to student selection that acknowledges and supports complexity, plurality of approaches and innovative means of selection. Medical student selection does not solely focus on the individual assessment and qualification, but it focuses on a social and collective process, which includes all the influences and interactions between the medical schools and the society. Sociological perspective of medical student selection proposes a model that envelops the individual and the society. In this model, the selection methods should meet the criteria of merit at the individual level, while the selection policies should aim at the society goals at the institutional level.

  18. Sexual Selection Revisited ? Towards a Gender-Neutral Theory and Practice

    OpenAIRE

    2007-01-01

    Abstract In a recent issue of this journal, Vandermassen suggested that feminists should include sexual selection theory and evolutionary psychology in a unifying theory of human nature. In response, this article aims to offer some insight into the development of sexual selection theory, to caution against Vandermassen's unreserved assimilation and to promote the opposite ongoing integration ? an inclusion of gender perspectives into evolutionary biology. In society today, opinions...

  19. Dual-Coding Theory and Connectionist Lexical Selection

    OpenAIRE

    Wang, Ye-Yi

    1994-01-01

    We introduce the bilingual dual-coding theory as a model for bilingual mental representation. Based on this model, lexical selection neural networks are implemented for a connectionist transfer project in machine translation. This lexical selection approach has two advantages. First, it is learnable. Little human effort on knowledge engineering is required. Secondly, it is psycholinguistically well-founded.

  20. A novel evaluation method for building construction project based on integrated information entropy with reliability theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bai, Xiao-ping; Zhang, Xi-wei

    2013-01-01

    Selecting construction schemes of the building engineering project is a complex multiobjective optimization decision process, in which many indexes need to be selected to find the optimum scheme. Aiming at this problem, this paper selects cost, progress, quality, and safety as the four first-order evaluation indexes, uses the quantitative method for the cost index, uses integrated qualitative and quantitative methodologies for progress, quality, and safety indexes, and integrates engineering economics, reliability theories, and information entropy theory to present a new evaluation method for building construction project. Combined with a practical case, this paper also presents detailed computing processes and steps, including selecting all order indexes, establishing the index matrix, computing score values of all order indexes, computing the synthesis score, sorting all selected schemes, and making analysis and decision. Presented method can offer valuable references for risk computing of building construction projects.

  1. Economic selection indexes for Hereford and Braford cattle raised in southern Brazil.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costa, R F; Teixeira, B B M; Yokoo, M J; Cardoso, F F

    2017-07-01

    Economic selection indexes (EI) are considered the best way to select the most profitable animals for specific production systems. Nevertheless, in Brazil, few genetic evaluation programs deliver such indexes to their breeders. The aims of this study were to determine the breeding goals (BG) and economic values (EV, in US$) for typical beef cattle production systems in southern Brazil, to propose EI aimed to maximize profitability, and to compare the proposed EI with the currently used empirical index. Bioeconomic models were developed to characterize 3 typical production systems, identifying traits of economic impact and their respective EV. The first was called the calf-crop system and included the birth rate (BR), direct weaning weight (WWd), and mature cow weight (MCW) as selection goals. The second system was called the full-cycle system, and its breeding goals were BR, WWd, MCW, and carcass weight (CW). Finally, the third was called the stocking and finishing system, which had WWd and CW as breeding goals. To generate the EI, we adopted the selection criteria currently measured and used in the empirical index of PampaPlus, which is the genetic evaluation program of the Brazilian Hereford and Braford Association. The comparison between the EI and the current PampaPlus index was made by the aggregated genetic-economic gain per generation (Δ). Therefore, for each production system an index was developed using the derived economic weights, and it was compared with the current empirical index. The relative importance (RI) for BR, WWd, and MCW for the calf-crop system was 68.03%, 19.35%, and 12.62%, respectively. For the full-cycle system, the RI for BR, WWd, MCW, and CW were 69.63%, 7.31%, 5.01%, and 18.06%, respectively. For the stocking and finishing production system, the RI for WWd and CW was 34.20% and 65.80%, respectively. The Δ for the calf-crop system were US$6.12 and US$4.36, using the proposed economic and empirical indexes, respectively. Respective

  2. An Associative Index Model for the Results List Based on Vannevar Bush's Selection Concept

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cole, Charles; Julien, Charles-Antoine; Leide, John E.

    2010-01-01

    Introduction: We define the results list problem in information search and suggest the "associative index model", an ad-hoc, user-derived indexing solution based on Vannevar Bush's description of an associative indexing approach for his memex machine. We further define what selection means in indexing terms with reference to Charles…

  3. A Novel Evaluation Method for Building Construction Project Based on Integrated Information Entropy with Reliability Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiao-ping Bai

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Selecting construction schemes of the building engineering project is a complex multiobjective optimization decision process, in which many indexes need to be selected to find the optimum scheme. Aiming at this problem, this paper selects cost, progress, quality, and safety as the four first-order evaluation indexes, uses the quantitative method for the cost index, uses integrated qualitative and quantitative methodologies for progress, quality, and safety indexes, and integrates engineering economics, reliability theories, and information entropy theory to present a new evaluation method for building construction project. Combined with a practical case, this paper also presents detailed computing processes and steps, including selecting all order indexes, establishing the index matrix, computing score values of all order indexes, computing the synthesis score, sorting all selected schemes, and making analysis and decision. Presented method can offer valuable references for risk computing of building construction projects.

  4. Geometric variations in high index-contrast waveguides, coupled mode theory in curvilinear coordinates.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skorobogatiy, Maksim; Jacobs, Steven; Johnson, Steven; Fink, Yoel

    2002-10-21

    Perturbation theory formulation of Maxwell's equations gives a theoretically elegant and computationally efficient way of describing small imperfections and weak interactions in electro-magnetic systems. It is generally appreciated that due to the discontinuous field boundary conditions in the systems employing high dielectric contrast profiles standard perturbation formulations fail when applied to the problem of shifted material boundaries. In this paper we developed a novel coupled mode and perturbation theory formulations for treating generic non-uniform (varying along the direction of propagation) perturbations of a waveguide cross-section based on Hamiltonian formulation of Maxwell equations in curvilinear coordinates. We show that our formulation is accurate and rapidly converges to an exact result when used in a coupled mode theory framework even for the high index-contrast discontinuous dielectric profiles. Among others, our formulation allows for an efficient numerical evaluation of induced PMD due to a generic distortion of a waveguide profile, analysis of mode filters, mode converters and other optical elements such as strong Bragg gratings, tapers, bends etc., and arbitrary combinations of thereof. To our knowledge, this is the first time perturbation and coupled mode theories are developed to deal with arbitrary non-uniform profile variations in high index-contrast waveguides.

  5. MySQL based selection of appropriate indexing technique in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper deals with selection of appropriate indexing technique applied on MySQL Database for a health care system and related performance issues using multiclass support vector machine (SVM). The patient database is generally huge and contains lot of variations. For the quick search or fast retrieval of the desired ...

  6. Mate Selection in Contemporary America: An Exchange Theory Perspective

    OpenAIRE

    Young, Margaret H.

    1989-01-01

    The use of exchange theory as it applies to human relations has escalated dramatically in the past 20 years. The present study applies exchange theory as the basis of mate selection in contemporary society. Whereas an actual barter system was used in the past and families played a major role in choosing prospective mates, participants in the mate selection process are not virtually on their own and must rely upon their own bargaining skills to present their assets on the marriage market. A...

  7. A proposed selection index for feedlot profitability based on estimated breeding values.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van der Westhuizen, R R; van der Westhuizen, J

    2009-04-22

    It is generally accepted that feed intake and growth (gain) are the most important economic components when calculating profitability in a growth test or feedlot. We developed a single post-weaning growth (feedlot) index based on the economic values of different components. Variance components, heritabilities and genetic correlations for and between initial weight (IW), final weight (FW), feed intake (FI), and shoulder height (SHD) were estimated by multitrait restricted maximum likelihood procedures. The estimated breeding values (EBVs) and the economic values for IW, FW and FI were used in a selection index to estimate a post-weaning or feedlot profitability value. Heritabilities for IW, FW, FI, and SHD were 0.41, 0.40, 0.33, and 0.51, respectively. The highest genetic correlations were 0.78 (between IW and FW) and 0.70 (between FI and FW). EBVs were used in a selection index to calculate a single economical value for each animal. This economic value is an indication of the gross profitability value or the gross test value (GTV) of the animal in a post-weaning growth test. GTVs varied between -R192.17 and R231.38 with an average of R9.31 and a standard deviation of R39.96. The Pearson correlations between EBVs (for production and efficiency traits) and GTV ranged from -0.51 to 0.68. The lowest correlation (closest to zero) was 0.26 between the Kleiber ratio and GTV. Correlations of 0.68 and -0.51 were estimated between average daily gain and GTV and feed conversion ratio and GTV, respectively. These results showed that it is possible to select for GTV. The selection index can benefit feedlotting in selecting offspring of bulls with high GTVs to maximize profitability.

  8. Stock portfolio selection using Dempster–Shafer evidence theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gour Sundar Mitra Thakur

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Markowitz’s return–risk model for stock portfolio selection is based on the historical return data of assets. In addition to the effect of historical return, there are many other critical factors which directly or indirectly influence the stock market. We use the fuzzy Delphi method to identify the critical factors initially. Factors having lower correlation coefficients are finally considered for further consideration. The critical factors and historical data are used to apply Dempster–Shafer evidence theory to rank the stocks. Then, a portfolio selection model that prefers stocks with higher rank is proposed. Illustration is done using stocks under Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE. Simulation is done by Ant Colony Optimization. The performance of the outcome is found satisfactory when compared with recent performance of the assets. Keywords: Stock portfolio selection, Ranking, Dempster–Shafer evidence theory, Ant Colony Optimization, Fuzzy Delphi method

  9. Portfolio selection theory and wildlife management | Hearne | ORiON

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Portfolio selection theory and wildlife management. ... Abstract. With a strong commercial incentive driving the increase in game ranching in Southern Africa the need has come for more advanced management tools. ... Keywords: Portfolio selection, multi-objective optimisation, game ranching, wildlife management.

  10. Index selection of beef cattle for growth and milk production using ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Index selection of beef cattle for growth and milk production using computer simulation modelling. ... South African Journal of Animal Science ... into the model allowed for the introduction of variation between individuals and generations.

  11. Applied group theory selected readings in physics

    CERN Document Server

    Cracknell, Arthur P

    1968-01-01

    Selected Readings in Physics: Applied Group Theory provides information pertinent to the fundamental aspects of applied group theory. This book discusses the properties of symmetry of a system in quantum mechanics.Organized into two parts encompassing nine chapters, this book begins with an overview of the problem of elastic vibrations of a symmetric structure. This text then examines the numbers, degeneracies, and symmetries of the normal modes of vibration. Other chapters consider the conditions under which a polyatomic molecule can have a stable equilibrium configuration when its electronic

  12. Manifolds with cusps of rank one spectral theory and L2-index theorem

    CERN Document Server

    Müller, Werner

    1987-01-01

    The manifolds investigated in this monograph are generalizations of (Mathematical Physics and Mathematics)-rank one locally symmetric spaces. In the first part of the book the author develops spectral theory for the differential Laplacian operator associated to the so-called generalized Dirac operators on manifolds with cusps of rank one. This includes the case of spinor Laplacians on (Mathematical Physics and Mathematics)-rank one locally symmetric spaces. The time-dependent approach to scattering theory is taken to derive the main results about the spectral resolution of these operators. The second part of the book deals with the derivation of an index formula for generalized Dirac operators on manifolds with cusps of rank one. This index formula is used to prove a conjecture of Hirzebruch concerning the relation of signature defects of cusps of Hilbert modular varieties and special values of L-series. This book is intended for readers working in the field of automorphic forms and analysis on non-compact Ri...

  13. Rational Density Functional Selection Using Game Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McAnanama-Brereton, Suzanne; Waller, Mark P

    2018-01-22

    Theoretical chemistry has a paradox of choice due to the availability of a myriad of density functionals and basis sets. Traditionally, a particular density functional is chosen on the basis of the level of user expertise (i.e., subjective experiences). Herein we circumvent the user-centric selection procedure by describing a novel approach for objectively selecting a particular functional for a given application. We achieve this by employing game theory to identify optimal functional/basis set combinations. A three-player (accuracy, complexity, and similarity) game is devised, through which Nash equilibrium solutions can be obtained. This approach has the advantage that results can be systematically improved by enlarging the underlying knowledge base, and the deterministic selection procedure mathematically justifies the density functional and basis set selections.

  14. A practitioner's guide to interpersonal communication theory: an overview and exploration of selected theories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bylund, Carma L; Peterson, Emily B; Cameron, Kenzie A

    2012-06-01

    To provide a brief overview of selected interpersonal theories and models, and to present examples of their use in healthcare communication research. Nine interpersonal communication theories and their application to healthcare communication are discussed. As healthcare communication interactions often occur at an interpersonal level, familiarity with theories of interpersonal communication may reinforce existing best practices and lead to the development of novel communication approaches with patients. This article serves as an introductory primer to theories of interpersonal communication that have been or could be applied to healthcare communication research. Understanding key constructs and general formulations of these theories may provide practitioners with additional theoretical frameworks to use when interacting with patients. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. The Contribution of the Human Development Index Literacy Theory to the Debate on Literacy and Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Biao, Idowu; Mogotsi, Kebadire; Maruatona, Tonic; Raditloaneng, Wapula; Tladi, Flora; Chawawa, Morgan; Kheru, Obakeng

    2014-01-01

    The Human Development Index Literacy (HDIL) theory was developed in 2011 to eliminate or minimise the negative impact of issues underlying the failure of previous literacy programmes in promoting socio-economic development. This theory was tested for the first time between July 2013 and February 2014 in two rural communities of Botswana. A…

  16. Optimised Selection of Stroke Biomarker Based on Svm and Information Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wang Xiang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available With the development of molecular biology and gene-engineering technology, gene diagnosis has been an emerging approach for modern life sciences. Biological marker, recognized as the hot topic in the molecular and gene fields, has important values in early diagnosis, malignant tumor stage, treatment and therapeutic efficacy evaluation. So far, the researcher has not found any effective way to predict and distinguish different type of stroke. In this paper, we aim to optimize stroke biomarker and figure out effective stroke detection index based on SVM (support vector machine and information theory. Through mutual information analysis and principal component analysis to complete the selection of biomarkers and then we use SVM to verify our model. According to the testing data of patients provided by Xuanwu Hospital, we explore the significant markers of the stroke through data analysis. Our model can predict stroke well. Then discuss the effects of each biomarker on the incidence of stroke.

  17. The cluster index of regularly varying sequences with applications to limit theory for functions of multivariate Markov chains

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Mikosch, Thomas Valentin; Wintenberger, Olivier

    2014-01-01

    We introduce the cluster index of a multivariate stationary sequence and characterize the index in terms of the spectral tail process. This index plays a major role in limit theory for partial sums of sequences. We illustrate the use of the cluster index by characterizing infinite variance stable...... limit distributions and precise large deviation results for sums of multivariate functions acting on a stationary Markov chain under a drift condition....

  18. Louis Boutet de Monvel, selected works

    CERN Document Server

    Sjöstrand, Johannes

    2017-01-01

    This book features a selection of articles by Louis Boutet de Monvel and presents his contributions to the theory of partial differential equations and analysis. The works selected here reveal his central role in the development of his field, including three cornerstones: firstly, analytic pseudodifferential operators, which have become a fundamental aspect of analytic microlocal analysis, and secondly the Boutet de Monvel calculus for boundary problems for elliptic partial differential operators, which is still an important tool also in index theory. Thirdly, Boutet de Monvel was one of the first people to recognize the importance of the existence of generalized functions, whose singularities are concentrated on a single ray in phase space, which led him to make essential contributions to hypoelliptic operators and to a very successful and influential calculus of Toeplitz operators with applications to spectral and index theory. Other topics treated here include microlocal analysis, star products and deforma...

  19. arXiv $\\mathbb R^3$ Index for Four-Dimensional $N=2$ Field Theories

    CERN Document Server

    Alexandrov, Sergei; Neitzke, Andrew; Pioline, Boris

    2015-01-01

    In theories with $N=2$ supersymmetry on $R^{3,1}$, BPS bound states can decay across walls of marginal stability in the space of Coulomb branch parameters, leading to discontinuities in the BPS indices $\\Omega(\\gamma,u)$. We consider a supersymmetric index $I$ which receives contributions from 1/2-BPS states, generalizing the familiar Witten index $Tr (-1)^F e^{-\\beta H}$. We expect $I$ to be smooth away from loci where massless particles appear, thanks to contributions from the continuum of multi-particle states. Taking inspiration from a similar phenomenon in the hypermultiplet moduli space of $N=2$ string vacua, we conjecture a formula expressing $I$ in terms of the BPS indices $\\Omega(\\gamma,u)$, which is continuous across the walls and exhibits the expected contributions from single particle states at large $\\beta$. This gives a universal prediction for the contributions of multi-particle states to the index $I$. This index is naturally a function on the moduli space after reduction on a circle, closely ...

  20. Economic values and selection index in different Angus-Nellore cross-bred production systems.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fernandes, G M; Savegnago, R P; El Faro, L; Mosaquatro Roso, V; de Paz, C C P

    2018-06-01

    Bioeconomic models were developed to calculate economic values (EV) for economically important traits in beef cattle, to evaluate the impact of these traits on production profitability, to assess possible market changes with a payment system and to develop economic selection indexes for Angus cattle for two production systems. Two beef cattle production systems were simulated as follows: a cow-calf cycle (CC) and a complete cycle (CoC). Following selection, positive changes in the EV were observed. In the CC, each 1.0% increment in weaning weight (WW), weaning rate (WR) and pregnancy rate (PR) resulted in increases in US$ 1.30, US$ 3.68 and US$ 3.55 per cow/year in profit, respectively. In the CoC, EV of US$ 1.01, US$ 1.79, US$ 1.19, US$ 1.34, US$ 6.84 and US$ 7.86 per cow/year were obtained for WW, year weight, yearling weight, final weight, WR and PR, respectively. The payment system for carcass quality showed that the scenario considering that 100% of the animals displayed uniform carcasses exhibited the highest EV and was considered optimal. Considering the sensitivity analysis, the price paid per animal was the factor that most affected the EV in both systems. The selection indexes obtained may be used in similar production systems, and the use of EV and selection indexes are important tools for any production system with positive change in profit after selection. © 2018 Blackwell Verlag GmbH.

  1. A practitioner’s guide to interpersonal communication theory: An overview and exploration of selected theories

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bylund, Carma L.; Peterson, Emily B.; Cameron, Kenzie A.

    2011-01-01

    Objective To provide a brief overview of selected interpersonal theories and models, and to present examples of their use in healthcare communication research. Results Nine interpersonal communication theories and their application to healthcare communication are discussed. Conclusion As healthcare communication interactions often occur at an interpersonal level, familiarity with theories of interpersonal communication may reinforce existing best practices and lead to the development of novel communication approaches with patients. Practice Implications This article serves as an introductory primer to theories of interpersonal communication that have been or could be applied to healthcare communication research. Understanding key constructs and general formulations of these theories may provide practitioners with additional theoretical frameworks to use when interacting with patients. PMID:22112396

  2. Satisfaction with social networks: an examination of socioemotional selectivity theory across cohorts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lansford, J E; Sherman, A M; Antonucci, T C

    1998-12-01

    This study examines L. L. Carstensen's (1993, 1995) socioemotional selectivity theory within and across three cohorts spanning 4 decades. Socioemotional selectivity theory predicts that as individuals age, they narrow their social networks to devote more emotional resources to fewer relationships with close friends and family. Data from 3 cohorts of nationally representative samples were analyzed to determine whether respondents' satisfaction with the size of their social networks differed by age, cohort, or both. Results support socioemotional selectivity theory: More older adults than younger adults were satisfied with the current size of their social networks rather than wanting larger networks. These findings are consistent across all cohorts. Results are discussed with respect to social relationships across the life course.

  3. An Attentional Application of Socioemotional Selectivity Theory in College Students

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pruzan, Katherine; Isaacowitz, Derek M.

    2006-01-01

    Socioemotional selectivity theory posits that emotions become increasingly salient as individuals approach endings. Recent findings have linked the theory with biases in information processing in the context of aging. However, these studies all confounded advancing age and the motivational impact of endings. This study represented an attempt to…

  4. Selective evolutionary generation systems: Theory and applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menezes, Amor A.

    This dissertation is devoted to the problem of behavior design, which is a generalization of the standard global optimization problem: instead of generating the optimizer, the generalization produces, on the space of candidate optimizers, a probability density function referred to as the behavior. The generalization depends on a parameter, the level of selectivity, such that as this parameter tends to infinity, the behavior becomes a delta function at the location of the global optimizer. The motivation for this generalization is that traditional off-line global optimization is non-resilient and non-opportunistic. That is, traditional global optimization is unresponsive to perturbations of the objective function. On-line optimization methods that are more resilient and opportunistic than their off-line counterparts typically consist of the computationally expensive sequential repetition of off-line techniques. A novel approach to inexpensive resilience and opportunism is to utilize the theory of Selective Evolutionary Generation Systems (SECS), which sequentially and probabilistically selects a candidate optimizer based on the ratio of the fitness values of two candidates and the level of selectivity. Using time-homogeneous, irreducible, ergodic Markov chains to model a sequence of local, and hence inexpensive, dynamic transitions, this dissertation proves that such transitions result in behavior that is called rational; such behavior is desirable because it can lead to both efficient search for an optimizer as well as resilient and opportunistic behavior. The dissertation also identifies system-theoretic properties of the proposed scheme, including equilibria, their stability and their optimality. Moreover, this dissertation demonstrates that the canonical genetic algorithm with fitness proportional selection and the (1+1) evolutionary strategy are particular cases of the scheme. Applications in three areas illustrate the versatility of the SECS theory: flight

  5. The relation between flexibility of human resources and performance indexes of selected hospitals of Tehran Medical Sciences University

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Noushin Alibakhshi

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Today, flexibility has turned to one of important issues in management theories and policies and most current discussions about flexibility patterns focus on management policies, so that these patterns are one of important aspects of human resources strategic management. This study was performed with the aim of assessing the flexibility rate of human resources and performance indexes of Tehran Medical Sciences University hospitals and determining the possible relation between these variables. The present study is descriptive – analytical which was conducted in cross-sectional form in 2015. The statistical population was selected by stratifies random sampling method as 317 persons from nursing, administrative and financial personnel of 5 hospitals of Tehran Medical Sciences University. Data collecting toll was hospitals performance indexes form and Wright & Snell flexibility questionnaire of human resources. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 18 software and with the aid of descriptive statistical indexes and linear regression analysis. The results showed that personnel ( human resources had high flexibility = 4.16.\tthere was a significant relation between total flexibility and the index of bed circulation so that by one unit increase in bed circulation space, normally, the average of total flexibility decreased 0.64 units ( p-value<0.05. The results showed that human resources of Tehran Medical Sciences University hospitals have high flexibility, so authorities and policy makers are suggested to adopt policies of human resources management for creating flexibility in human resources and improving hospitals performance and amending hospitals status.

  6. Economic selection index development for Beefmaster cattle II: General-purpose breeding objective.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ochsner, K P; MacNeil, M D; Lewis, R M; Spangler, M L

    2017-05-01

    An economic selection index was developed for Beefmaster cattle in a general-purpose production system in which bulls are mated to a combination of heifers and mature cows, with resulting progeny retained as replacements or sold at weaning. National average prices from 2010 to 2014 were used to establish income and expenses for the system. Genetic parameters were obtained from the literature. Economic values were estimated by simulating 100,000 animals and approximating the partial derivatives of the profit function by perturbing traits 1 at a time, by 1 unit, while holding the other traits constant at their respective means. Relative economic values for the objective traits calving difficultly direct (CDd), calving difficulty maternal (CDm), weaning weight direct (WWd), weaning weight maternal (WWm), mature cow weight (MW), and heifer pregnancy (HP) were -2.11, -1.53, 18.49, 11.28, -33.46, and 1.19, respectively. Consequently, under the scenario assumed herein, the greatest improvements in profitability could be made by decreasing maintenance energy costs associated with MW followed by improvements in weaning weight. The accuracy of the index lies between 0.218 (phenotypic-based index selection) and 0.428 (breeding values known without error). Implementation of this index would facilitate genetic improvement and increase profitability of Beefmaster cattle operations with a general-purpose breeding objective when replacement females are retained and with weaned calves as the sale end point.

  7. The evolution of sexes: A specific test of the disruptive selection theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    da Silva, Jack

    2018-01-01

    The disruptive selection theory of the evolution of anisogamy posits that the evolution of a larger body or greater organismal complexity selects for a larger zygote, which in turn selects for larger gametes. This may provide the opportunity for one mating type to produce more numerous, small gametes, forcing the other mating type to produce fewer, large gametes. Predictions common to this and related theories have been partially upheld. Here, a prediction specific to the disruptive selection theory is derived from a previously published game-theoretic model that represents the most complete description of the theory. The prediction, that the ratio of macrogamete to microgamete size should be above three for anisogamous species, is supported for the volvocine algae. A fully population genetic implementation of the model, involving mutation, genetic drift, and selection, is used to verify the game-theoretic approach and accurately simulates the evolution of gamete sizes in anisogamous species. This model was extended to include a locus for gamete motility and shows that oogamy should evolve whenever there is costly motility. The classic twofold cost of sex may be derived from the fitness functions of these models, showing that this cost is ultimately due to genetic conflict.

  8. Taking time seriously. A theory of socioemotional selectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carstensen, L L; Isaacowitz, D M; Charles, S T

    1999-03-01

    Socioemotional selectivity theory claims that the perception of time plays a fundamental role in the selection and pursuit of social goals. According to the theory, social motives fall into 1 of 2 general categories--those related to the acquisition of knowledge and those related to the regulation of emotion. When time is perceived as open-ended, knowledge-related goals are prioritized. In contrast, when time is perceived as limited, emotional goals assume primacy. The inextricable association between time left in life and chronological age ensures age-related differences in social goals. Nonetheless, the authors show that the perception of time is malleable, and social goals change in both younger and older people when time constraints are imposed. The authors argue that time perception is integral to human motivation and suggest potential implications for multiple subdisciplines and research interests in social, developmental, cultural, cognitive, and clinical psychology.

  9. Nursing intellectual capital theory: testing selected propositions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Covell, Christine L; Sidani, Souraya

    2013-11-01

    To test the selected propositions of the middle-range theory of nursing intellectual capital. The nursing intellectual capital theory conceptualizes nursing knowledge's influence on patient and organizational outcomes. The theory proposes nursing human capital, nurses' knowledge, skills and experience, is related to the quality of patient care and nurse recruitment and retention of an inpatient care unit. Two factors in the work environment, nurse staffing and employer support for nurse continuing professional development, are proposed to influence nursing human capital's association with patient and organizational outcomes. A cross-sectional survey design. The study took place in 2008 in six Canadian acute care hospitals. Financial, human resource and risk data were collected from hospital departments and unit managers. Clearly specified empirical indicators quantified the study variables. The propositions of the theory were tested with data from 91 inpatient care units using structural equation modelling. The propositions associated with the nursing human capital concept were supported. The propositions associated with the employer support for nurse continuing professional development concept were not. The proposition that nurse staffing's influences on patient outcomes was mediated by the nursing human capital of an inpatient unit, was partially supported. Some of the theory's propositions were empirically validated. Additional theoretical work is needed to refine the operationalization and measurement of some of the theory's concepts. Further research with larger samples of data from different geographical settings and types of hospitals is required to determine if the theory can withstand empirical scrutiny. © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

  10. Nonperturbative theory of weak pre- and post-selected measurements

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kofman, Abraham G., E-mail: kofmana@gmail.com; Ashhab, Sahel; Nori, Franco

    2012-11-01

    This paper starts with a brief review of the topic of strong and weak pre- and post-selected (PPS) quantum measurements, as well as weak values, and afterwards presents original work. In particular, we develop a nonperturbative theory of weak PPS measurements of an arbitrary system with an arbitrary meter, for arbitrary initial states of the system and the meter. New and simple analytical formulas are obtained for the average and the distribution of the meter pointer variable. These formulas hold to all orders in the weak value. In the case of a mixed preselected state, in addition to the standard weak value, an associated weak value is required to describe weak PPS measurements. In the linear regime, the theory provides the generalized Aharonov–Albert–Vaidman formula. Moreover, we reveal two new regimes of weak PPS measurements: the strongly-nonlinear regime and the inverted region (the regime with a very large weak value), where the system-dependent contribution to the pointer deflection decreases with increasing the measurement strength. The optimal conditions for weak PPS measurements are obtained in the strongly-nonlinear regime, where the magnitude of the average pointer deflection is equal or close to the maximum. This maximum is independent of the measurement strength, being typically of the order of the pointer uncertainty. In the optimal regime, the small parameter of the theory is comparable to the overlap of the pre- and post-selected states. We show that the amplification coefficient in the weak PPS measurements is generally a product of two qualitatively different factors. The effects of the free system and meter Hamiltonians are discussed. We also estimate the size of the ensemble required for a measurement and identify optimal and efficient meters for weak measurements. Exact solutions are obtained for a certain class of the measured observables. These solutions are used for numerical calculations, the results of which agree with the theory

  11. Nonperturbative theory of weak pre- and post-selected measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kofman, Abraham G.; Ashhab, Sahel; Nori, Franco

    2012-01-01

    This paper starts with a brief review of the topic of strong and weak pre- and post-selected (PPS) quantum measurements, as well as weak values, and afterwards presents original work. In particular, we develop a nonperturbative theory of weak PPS measurements of an arbitrary system with an arbitrary meter, for arbitrary initial states of the system and the meter. New and simple analytical formulas are obtained for the average and the distribution of the meter pointer variable. These formulas hold to all orders in the weak value. In the case of a mixed preselected state, in addition to the standard weak value, an associated weak value is required to describe weak PPS measurements. In the linear regime, the theory provides the generalized Aharonov–Albert–Vaidman formula. Moreover, we reveal two new regimes of weak PPS measurements: the strongly-nonlinear regime and the inverted region (the regime with a very large weak value), where the system-dependent contribution to the pointer deflection decreases with increasing the measurement strength. The optimal conditions for weak PPS measurements are obtained in the strongly-nonlinear regime, where the magnitude of the average pointer deflection is equal or close to the maximum. This maximum is independent of the measurement strength, being typically of the order of the pointer uncertainty. In the optimal regime, the small parameter of the theory is comparable to the overlap of the pre- and post-selected states. We show that the amplification coefficient in the weak PPS measurements is generally a product of two qualitatively different factors. The effects of the free system and meter Hamiltonians are discussed. We also estimate the size of the ensemble required for a measurement and identify optimal and efficient meters for weak measurements. Exact solutions are obtained for a certain class of the measured observables. These solutions are used for numerical calculations, the results of which agree with the theory

  12. The Current Evidence for Hayek’s Cultural Group Selection Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brad Lowell Stone

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available In this article I summarize Friedrich Hayek’s cultural group selection theory and describe the evidence gathered by current cultural group selection theorists within the behavioral and social sciences supporting Hayek’s main assertions. I conclude with a few comments on Hayek and libertarianism.

  13. Using Fit Indexes to Select a Covariance Model for Longitudinal Data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Siwei; Rovine, Michael J.; Molenaar, Peter C. M.

    2012-01-01

    This study investigated the performance of fit indexes in selecting a covariance structure for longitudinal data. Data were simulated to follow a compound symmetry, first-order autoregressive, first-order moving average, or random-coefficients covariance structure. We examined the ability of the likelihood ratio test (LRT), root mean square error…

  14. Designing an early selection morphological linear traits index for dressage in the Pura Raza Español horse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sánchez-Guerrero, M J; Cervantes, I; Molina, A; Gutiérrez, J P; Valera, M

    2017-06-01

    Making a morphological pre-selection of Pura Raza Español horses (PRE) for dressage is a challenging task within its current breeding program. The aim of our research was to design an early genetic selection morphological linear traits index to improve dressage performance, using 26 morphological linear traits and six dressage traits (walk, trot, canter, submission, general impression - partial scores - and total score) as selection criteria. The data set included morphological linear traits of 10 127 PRE (4159 males and 5968 females) collected between 2008 and 2013 (one record per horse) and 19 095 dressage traits of 1545 PRE (1476 males and 69 females; 12.4 records of average) collected between 2004 and 2014. A univariate animal model was applied to predict the breeding values (PBV). A partial least squares regression analysis was used to select the most predictive morphological linear traits PBV on the dressage traits PBV. According to the Wold Criterion, the 13 morphological linear traits (width of head, head-neck junction, upper neck line, neck-body junction, width of chest, angle of shoulder, lateral angle of knee, frontal angle of knee, cannon bone perimeter, length of croup, angle of croup, ischium-stifle distance and lateral hock angle) most closely related to total score PBV, partial scores PBV and gait scores PBV (walk, trot and canter) were selected. A multivariate genetic analysis was performed among the 13 morphological linear traits selected and the six dressage traits to estimate the genetic parameters. After it, the selection index theory was used to compute the expected genetic response using different strategies. The expected genetic response of total score PBV (0.76), partial scores PBV (0.04) and gait scores PBV (0.03) as selection objectives using morphological linear traits PBV as criteria selection were positive, but lower than that obtained using dressage traits PBV (1.80, 0.16 and 0.14 for total score PBV, partial scores PBV and gait

  15. Design, building and use of a selective pyranometer for the definition and measurement of the lighting index

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Guicherd, Roger.

    1976-03-01

    The design, building, testing, calibration and operation of a selective pyranometer intended for the definition and measurement of the lighting index are described; with this original apparatus the energetic lighting at ground level is measured selectively and continuously. The measurement head has three transducers equipped with hollow hemispherical filters measuring energy in the ultraviolet, visible and infrared range respectively. In conclusion, a definition of the lighting index obtained with this thermally compensated, selective pyranometer P.S. is proposed [fr

  16. Portfolio selection theory and wildlife management

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    JW Hearne

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available With a strong commercial incentive driving the increase in game ranching in Southern Africa the need has come for more advanced management tools. In this paper the potential of Portfolio Selection Theory to determine the optimal mix of species on game ranches is explored. Land, or the food it produces, is a resource available to invest. We consider species as investment choices. Each species has its own return and risk profile. The question arises as to what proportion of the resource available should be invested in each species. We show that if the objective is to minimise risk for a given return, then the problem is analogous to the Portfolio Selection Problem. The method is then implemented for a typical game ranch. We show that besides risk and return objectives, it is necessary to include an additional objective so as to ensure sufficient species to maintain the character of a game ranch. Some other points of difference from the classical Portfolio Selection problem are also highlighted and discussed.

  17. Generating Vegetation Leaf Area Index Earth System Data Record from Multiple Sensors. Part 1; Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ganguly, Sangram; Schull, Mitchell A.; Samanta, Arindam; Shabanov, Nikolay V.; Milesi, Cristina; Nemani, Ramakrishna R.; Knyazikhin, Yuri; Myneni, Ranga B.

    2008-01-01

    The generation of multi-decade long Earth System Data Records (ESDRs) of Leaf Area Index (LAI) and Fraction of Photosynthetically Active Radiation absorbed by vegetation (FPAR) from remote sensing measurements of multiple sensors is key to monitoring long-term changes in vegetation due to natural and anthropogenic influences. Challenges in developing such ESDRs include problems in remote sensing science (modeling of variability in global vegetation, scaling, atmospheric correction) and sensor hardware (differences in spatial resolution, spectral bands, calibration, and information content). In this paper, we develop a physically based approach for deriving LAI and FPAR products from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) data that are of comparable quality to the Moderate resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) LAI and FPAR products, thus realizing the objective of producing a long (multi-decadal) time series of these products. The approach is based on the radiative transfer theory of canopy spectral invariants which facilitates parameterization of the canopy spectral bidirectional reflectance factor (BRF). The methodology permits decoupling of the structural and radiometric components and obeys the energy conservation law. The approach is applicable to any optical sensor, however, it requires selection of sensor-specific values of configurable parameters, namely, the single scattering albedo and data uncertainty. According to the theory of spectral invariants, the single scattering albedo is a function of the spatial scale, and thus, accounts for the variation in BRF with sensor spatial resolution. Likewise, the single scattering albedo accounts for the variation in spectral BRF with sensor bandwidths. The second adjustable parameter is data uncertainty, which accounts for varying information content of the remote sensing measurements, i.e., Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI, low information content), vs. spectral BRF (higher

  18. A competitive interaction theory of attentional selection and decision making in brief, multielement displays.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Philip L; Sewell, David K

    2013-07-01

    We generalize the integrated system model of Smith and Ratcliff (2009) to obtain a new theory of attentional selection in brief, multielement visual displays. The theory proposes that attentional selection occurs via competitive interactions among detectors that signal the presence of task-relevant features at particular display locations. The outcome of the competition, together with attention, determines which stimuli are selected into visual short-term memory (VSTM). Decisions about the contents of VSTM are made by a diffusion-process decision stage. The selection process is modeled by coupled systems of shunting equations, which perform gated where-on-what pathway VSTM selection. The theory provides a computational account of key findings from attention tasks with near-threshold stimuli. These are (a) the success of the MAX model of visual search and spatial cuing, (b) the distractor homogeneity effect, (c) the double-target detection deficit, (d) redundancy costs in the post-stimulus probe task, (e) the joint item and information capacity limits of VSTM, and (f) the object-based nature of attentional selection. We argue that these phenomena are all manifestations of an underlying competitive VSTM selection process, which arise as a natural consequence of our theory. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

  19. Evaluating candidate reactions to selection practices using organisational justice theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patterson, Fiona; Zibarras, Lara; Carr, Victoria; Irish, Bill; Gregory, Simon

    2011-03-01

    This study aimed to examine candidate reactions to selection practices in postgraduate medical training using organisational justice theory. We carried out three independent cross-sectional studies using samples from three consecutive annual recruitment rounds. Data were gathered from candidates applying for entry into UK general practice (GP) training during 2007, 2008 and 2009. Participants completed an evaluation questionnaire immediately after the short-listing stage and after the selection centre (interview) stage. Participants were doctors applying for GP training in the UK. Main outcome measures were participants' evaluations of the selection methods and perceptions of the overall fairness of each selection stage (short-listing and selection centre). A total of 23,855 evaluation questionnaires were completed (6893 in 2007, 10,497 in 2008 and 6465 in 2009). Absolute levels of perceptions of fairness of all the selection methods at both the short-listing and selection centre stages were consistently high over the 3years. Similarly, all selection methods were considered to be job-related by candidates. However, in general, candidates considered the selection centre stage to be significantly fairer than the short-listing stage. Of all the selection methods, the simulated patient consultation completed at the selection centre stage was rated as the most job-relevant. This is the first study to use a model of organisational justice theory to evaluate candidate reactions during selection into postgraduate specialty training. The high-fidelity selection methods are consistently viewed as more job-relevant and fairer by candidates. This has important implications for the design of recruitment systems for all specialties and, potentially, for medical school admissions. Using this approach, recruiters can systematically compare perceptions of the fairness and job relevance of various selection methods. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2011.

  20. Development of a seaweed species-selection index for successful culture in a seaweed-based integrated aquaculture system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Yun Hee; Hwang, Jae Ran; Chung, Ik Kyo; Park, Sang Rul

    2013-03-01

    Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture (IMTA) has been proposed as a concept that combines the cultivation of fed aquaculture species ( e.g., finfish/shrimp) with extractive aquaculture species ( e.g., shellfish/seaweed). In seaweed-based integrated aquaculture, seaweeds have the capacity to reduce the environmental impact of nitrogen-rich effluents on coastal ecosystems. Thus, selection of optimal species for such aquaculture is of great importance. The present study aimed to develop a seaweed species-selection index for selecting suitable species in seaweed-based integrated aquaculture system. The index was synthesized using available literature-based information, reference data, and physiological seaweed experiments to identify and prioritize the desired species. Undaria pinnatifida, Porphyra yezoensis and Ulva compressa scored the highest according to a seaweed-based integrated aquaculture suitability index (SASI). Seaweed species with the highest scores were adjudged to fit the integrated aquaculture systems. Despite the application of this model limited by local aquaculture environment, it is considered to be a useful tool for selecting seaweed species in IMTA.

  1. 2d index and surface operators

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gadde, Abhijit; Gukov, Sergei

    2014-01-01

    In this paper we compute the superconformal index of 2d (2,2) supersymmetric gauge theories. The 2d superconformal index, a.k.a. flavored elliptic genus, is computed by a unitary matrix integral much like the matrix integral that computes the 4d superconformal index. We compute the 2d index explicitly for a number of examples. In the case of abelian gauge theories we see that the index is invariant under flop transition and under CY-LG correspondence. The index also provides a powerful check of the Seiberg-type duality for non-abelian gauge theories discovered by Hori and Tong. In the later half of the paper, we study half-BPS surface operators in N=2 superconformal gauge theories. They are engineered by coupling the 2d (2,2) supersymmetric gauge theory living on the support of the surface operator to the 4d N=2 theory, so that different realizations of the same surface operator with a given Levi type are related by a 2d analogue of the Seiberg duality. The index of this coupled system is computed by using the tools developed in the first half of the paper. The superconformal index in the presence of surface defect is expected to be invariant under generalized S-duality. We demonstrate that it is indeed the case. In doing so the Seiberg-type duality of the 2d theory plays an important role

  2. Challenges in Selecting an Appropriate Heat Stress Index to Protect Workers in Hot and Humid Underground Mines

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pedram Roghanchi

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Background: A detailed evaluation of the underground mine climate requires extensive measurements to be performed coupled to climatic modeling work. This can be labor-intensive and time-consuming, and consequently impractical for daily work comfort assessments. Therefore, a simple indicator like a heat stress index is needed to enable a quick, valid, and acceptable evaluation of underground climatic conditions on a regular basis. This can be explained by the unending quest to develop a “universal index,” which has led to the proliferation of many proposed heat stress indices. Methods: The aim of this research study is to discuss the challenges in identifying and selecting an appropriate heat stress index for thermal planning and management purposes in underground mines. A method is proposed coupled to a defined strategy for selecting and recommending heat stress indices to be used in underground metal mines in the United States and worldwide based on a thermal comfort model. Results: The performance of current heat stress indices used in underground mines varies based on the climatic conditions and the level of activities. Therefore, carefully selecting or establishing an appropriate heat stress index is of paramount importance to ensure the safety, health, and increasing productivity of the underground workers. Conclusion: This method presents an important tool to assess and select the most appropriate index for certain climatic conditions to protect the underground workers from heat-related illnesses. Although complex, the method presents results that are easy to interpret and understand than any of the currently available evaluation methods. Keywords: climatic conditions, heat stress index, thermal comfort, underground mining

  3. A new supersymmetric index

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cecotti, S.; Fendley, P.; Intriligator, K.; Vafa, C.

    1992-01-01

    We show that Tr(-1) F F e -βH is an index for N = 2 supersymmetric theories in two dimensions, in the sense that it is independent of almost all deformations of the theory. This index is related to the geometry of the vacua (Berry's curvature) and satisfies an exact differential equation as a function of β. For integrable theories we can also compute the index thermodynamically, using the exact S-matrix. The equivalence of these two results implies a highly non-trivial equivalence of a set of coupled integral equations with these differential equations, among them Painleve III and the affine Toda equations. (orig.)

  4. Index theory for locally compact noncommutative geometries

    CERN Document Server

    Carey, A L; Rennie, A; Sukochev, F A

    2014-01-01

    Spectral triples for nonunital algebras model locally compact spaces in noncommutative geometry. In the present text, the authors prove the local index formula for spectral triples over nonunital algebras, without the assumption of local units in our algebra. This formula has been successfully used to calculate index pairings in numerous noncommutative examples. The absence of any other effective method of investigating index problems in geometries that are genuinely noncommutative, particularly in the nonunital situation, was a primary motivation for this study and the authors illustrate this point with two examples in the text. In order to understand what is new in their approach in the commutative setting the authors prove an analogue of the Gromov-Lawson relative index formula (for Dirac type operators) for even dimensional manifolds with bounded geometry, without invoking compact supports. For odd dimensional manifolds their index formula appears to be completely new.

  5. Quality indexes for selecting control materials of the nuclear reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Martinez-Val, J.M.; Pena, J.; Esteban Naudin, A.

    1981-01-01

    Quality indexes are established and valued for selecting control materials, The requirements for accomplishing such purposes are explained with detailed analysis: absortion cross section must be as high as possible, adequate reactivity evolution versus depletion, good resistance to radiation, appropiate thermal stability, mechanical resistance and ductility, chemical compatibility with the environment, good heat transfer properties, abundant in the nature and low costs. At present Westinghouse desire to commercialize hafnium as control material shows the exciting task of looking for new materials controlling nuclear reactors. (auth.)

  6. Sexual selection and hermaphroditic organisms: Testing theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Janet L. LEONARD

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Sexual selection is widespread if not ubiquitous in hermaphroditic organisms. Although many phenomena that have been described as sexual selection in gonochores, (e.g. harem polygamy, multiple mating, elaborate courtship, even secondary sexual characters can be found in some hermaphrodites, what is more interesting is the ways in which sexual selection in hermaphrodites may differ from dioecious taxa. In hermaphrodites, an individual’s mating success includes its success from both sexual roles. Secondly, in many simultaneously hermaphroditic taxa there is strong evidence of sexual selection and yet the ope­rational sex ratio is 1:1, by definition. Many simultaneous hermaphrodites have elaborate courtship and genital anatomy, suggesting sexual selection plays an important role in reproductive success. Sperm competition and cryptic female choice mean that the number of mates acquired is not necessarily a predictor of reproductive success. Even in simultaneous hermaphrodites with reciprocal mating, variance in reproductive success through the male role and through the female role may differ in a population. Moreover hermaphrodites may choose to emphasize one sexual role over the other. Data suggest that the preferred role varies in hermaphrodites, which creates an opportunity to test fundamental predictions and assumptions of sexual selection theory. Hermaphrodites may vary their emphasis on one sexual role over the other either developmentally or behaviorally in response to environmental or social parameters. How they use this capability in acquiring more or higher quality mates still requires study [Current Zoology 59 (4: 579–588, 2013].

  7. Interpreting multiple dualities conjectured from superconformal index identities

    CERN Document Server

    Khmelnitsky, A

    2010-01-01

    We consider field theory side of new multiple Seiberg dualities conjectured within superconformal index matching approach. We study the case of SU(2) supersymmetric QCD and find that the numerous conjectured duals are different faces of handful of master theories. These different faces are inequivalent to each other in a very peculiar sense. Some master theories are fully known; we construct superpotentials for others. We confirm that all index identities correspond to theories flowing to one and the same theory in the infrared, thus supporting the conjecture of index matching for Seiberg dual theories. However, none of the index identities considered in this paper actually implies an entirely new, unknown duality.

  8. Automatic Trading Agent. RMT Based Portfolio Theory and Portfolio Selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Snarska, M.; Krzych, J.

    2006-11-01

    Portfolio theory is a very powerful tool in the modern investment theory. It is helpful in estimating risk of an investor's portfolio, arosen from lack of information, uncertainty and incomplete knowledge of reality, which forbids a perfect prediction of future price changes. Despite of many advantages this tool is not known and not widely used among investors on Warsaw Stock Exchange. The main reason for abandoning this method is a high level of complexity and immense calculations. The aim of this paper is to introduce an automatic decision-making system, which allows a single investor to use complex methods of Modern Portfolio Theory (MPT). The key tool in MPT is an analysis of an empirical covariance matrix. This matrix, obtained from historical data, biased by such a high amount of statistical uncertainty, that it can be seen as random. By bringing into practice the ideas of Random Matrix Theory (RMT), the noise is removed or significantly reduced, so the future risk and return are better estimated and controlled. These concepts are applied to the Warsaw Stock Exchange Simulator {http://gra.onet.pl}. The result of the simulation is 18% level of gains in comparison with respective 10% loss of the Warsaw Stock Exchange main index WIG.

  9. Theory-practice integration in selected clinical situations

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M Davhana-Maselesele

    2001-09-01

    Full Text Available The current changes in health care systems challenge knowledgeable, mature and independent practitioners to integrate theoretical content with practice. The aim of this study was to investigate the problems of integrating theory with practice in selected clinical nursing situations. The study focused on rendering of family planning services to clients as a component of Community Nursing Science. Structured observation schedules were used to observe the theoretical content of the curriculum as well as the practical application of what has been taught in the clinical area. The findings of the study revealed that there was a need for an integrated holistic curriculum, which would address the needs of the community. It was concluded that a problem-based and community-based curriculum, intersectoral collaboration between college and hospital managements and student involvement in all processes of teaching and learning would improve the integration of theory and practice. There also appeared to be a need for tutors to be more involved in clinical teaching and accompaniment.

  10. The Harary index of a graph

    CERN Document Server

    Xu, Kexiang; Trinajstić, Nenad

    2015-01-01

    This is the first book to focus on the topological index, the Harary index, of a graph, including its mathematical properties, chemical applications and some related and attractive open problems. This book is dedicated to Professor Frank Harary (1921—2005), the grandmaster of graph theory and its applications. It has be written by experts in the field of graph theory and its applications. For a connected graph G, as an important distance-based topological index, the Harary index H(G) is defined as the sum of the reciprocals of the distance between any two unordered vertices of the graph G. In this book, the authors report on the newest results on the Harary index of a graph. These results mainly concern external graphs with respect to the Harary index; the relations to other topological indices; its properties and applications to pure graph theory and chemical graph theory; and two significant variants, i.e., additively and multiplicatively weighted Harary indices. In the last chapter, we present a number o...

  11. Method for selection of optimal road safety composite index with examples from DEA and TOPSIS method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosić, Miroslav; Pešić, Dalibor; Kukić, Dragoslav; Antić, Boris; Božović, Milan

    2017-01-01

    Concept of composite road safety index is a popular and relatively new concept among road safety experts around the world. As there is a constant need for comparison among different units (countries, municipalities, roads, etc.) there is need to choose an adequate method which will make comparison fair to all compared units. Usually comparisons using one specific indicator (parameter which describes safety or unsafety) can end up with totally different ranking of compared units which is quite complicated for decision maker to determine "real best performers". Need for composite road safety index is becoming dominant since road safety presents a complex system where more and more indicators are constantly being developed to describe it. Among wide variety of models and developed composite indexes, a decision maker can come to even bigger dilemma than choosing one adequate risk measure. As DEA and TOPSIS are well-known mathematical models and have recently been increasingly used for risk evaluation in road safety, we used efficiencies (composite indexes) obtained by different models, based on DEA and TOPSIS, to present PROMETHEE-RS model for selection of optimal method for composite index. Method for selection of optimal composite index is based on three parameters (average correlation, average rank variation and average cluster variation) inserted into a PROMETHEE MCDM method in order to choose the optimal one. The model is tested by comparing 27 police departments in Serbia. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Changing Investment in Activities and Interests in Elders' Lives: Theory and Measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Adams, Kathryn Betts

    2004-01-01

    Socioemotional selectivity and gerotranscendence, newer theories with roots in the disengagement theory of aging, provided the theoretical framework for a new measure of perceived change in investment in a variety of pursuits. The 30-item Change in Activity and Interest Index (CAII) was given to a sample of 327 outpatients aged 65-94. Items with…

  13. Analytic theory for the selection of 2-D needle crystal at arbitrary Peclet number

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanveer, Saleh

    1989-01-01

    An accurate analytic theory is presented for the velocity selection of a two-dimensional needle crystal for arbitrary Peclet number for small values of the surface tension parameter. The velocity selection is caused by the effect of transcendentally small terms which are determined by analytic continuation to the complex plane and analysis of nonlinear equations. The work supports the general conclusion of previous small Peclet number analytical results of other investigators, though there are some discrepancies in details. It also addresses questions raised on the validity of selection theory owing to assumptions made on shape corrections at large distances from the tip.

  14. Multispectral iris recognition based on group selection and game theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmad, Foysal; Roy, Kaushik

    2017-05-01

    A commercially available iris recognition system uses only a narrow band of the near infrared spectrum (700-900 nm) while iris images captured in the wide range of 405 nm to 1550 nm offer potential benefits to enhance recognition performance of an iris biometric system. The novelty of this research is that a group selection algorithm based on coalition game theory is explored to select the best patch subsets. In this algorithm, patches are divided into several groups based on their maximum contribution in different groups. Shapley values are used to evaluate the contribution of patches in different groups. Results show that this group selection based iris recognition

  15. Theory of many-electron atoms. Selected papers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jucys, A.P.

    1978-01-01

    Selected papers of the founder of contemporary theoretical physics in Lithuania Adolfas Jucys on the theory of many-electron atoms and their spectra are presented, as well as a complete bibliography of his scientific works, a brief biographical essay and description of his scientific and social activities, reminiscences of other scientists about him. In these papers such questions are considered: Fock's self-consistent field in different approximations, various problems of the many-configurational approximation, incomplete separation of variables, expanded calculation method, application of nonorthogonal radial orbitals, method of irreducible tensor operators, graphical representation of the matrix elements and a number of other problems

  16. The evolution of trade-offs under directional and correlational selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roff, Derek A; Fairbairn, Daphne J

    2012-08-01

    Using quantitative genetic theory, we develop predictions for the evolution of trade-offs in response to directional and correlational selection. We predict that directional selection favoring an increase in one trait in a trade-off will result in change in the intercept but not the slope of the trade-off function, with the mean value of the selected trait increasing and that of the correlated trait decreasing. Natural selection will generally favor an increase in some combination of trait values, which can be represented as directional selection on an index value. Such selection induces both directional and correlational selection on the component traits. Theory predicts that selection on an index value will also change the intercept but not the slope of the trade-off function but because of correlational selection, the direction of change in component traits may be in the same or opposite directions. We test these predictions using artificial selection on the well-established trade-off between fecundity and flight capability in the cricket, Gryllus firmus and compare the empirical results with a priori predictions made using genetic parameters from a separate half-sibling experiment. Our results support the predictions and illustrate the complexity of trade-off evolution when component traits are subject to both directional and correlational selection. © 2012 The Author(s). Evolution© 2012 The Society for the Study of Evolution.

  17. Intra- Versus Intersex Aggression: Testing Theories of Sex Differences Using Aggression Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wölfer, Ralf; Hewstone, Miles

    2015-08-01

    Two theories offer competing explanations of sex differences in aggressive behavior: sexual-selection theory and social-role theory. While each theory has specific strengths and limitations depending on the victim's sex, research hardly differentiates between intrasex and intersex aggression. In the present study, 11,307 students (mean age = 14.96 years; 50% girls, 50% boys) from 597 school classes provided social-network data (aggression and friendship networks) as well as physical (body mass index) and psychosocial (gender and masculinity norms) information. Aggression networks were used to disentangle intra- and intersex aggression, whereas their class-aggregated sex differences were analyzed using contextual predictors derived from sexual-selection and social-role theories. As expected, results revealed that sexual-selection theory predicted male-biased sex differences in intrasex aggression, whereas social-role theory predicted male-biased sex differences in intersex aggression. Findings suggest the value of explaining sex differences separately for intra- and intersex aggression with a dual-theory framework covering both evolutionary and normative components. © The Author(s) 2015.

  18. The iteration formula of the Maslov-type index theory with applications to nonlinear Hamiltonian systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Dong; Yiming Long.

    1994-10-01

    In this paper, the iteration formula of the Maslov-type index theory for linear Hamiltonian systems with continuous periodic and symmetric coefficients is established. This formula yields a new method to determine the minimality of the period for solutions of nonlinear autonomous Hamiltonian systems via their Maslov-type indices. Applications of this formula give new results on the existence of periodic solutions with prescribed minimal period for such systems. (author). 40 refs

  19. Documentary Realism, Sampling Theory and Peircean Semiotics: electronic audiovisual signs (analog or digital as indexes of reality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hélio Godoy

    2007-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper addresses Documentary Realism, focusing on thephysical phenomena of transduction that take place in analog and digital audiovisual systems, herein analyzed in the light of the Sampling Theory, within the framework of Shannon and Weaver’s Information Theory. Transduction is a process by which one type of energy is transformed into another, or by which information is transcodified. Within the scope of Documentary Realism, it cannotbe claimed that electronic audiovisual signs, because of their technical digital features lead to a rupture with reality. Rather, the digital documentary, based on electronic digital cinematography, is still an index of reality.

  20. Reconsideration of r/K Selection Theory Using Stochastic Control Theory and Nonlinear Structured Population Models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oizumi, Ryo; Kuniya, Toshikazu; Enatsu, Yoichi

    2016-01-01

    Despite the fact that density effects and individual differences in life history are considered to be important for evolution, these factors lead to several difficulties in understanding the evolution of life history, especially when population sizes reach the carrying capacity. r/K selection theory explains what types of life strategies evolve in the presence of density effects and individual differences. However, the relationship between the life schedules of individuals and population size is still unclear, even if the theory can classify life strategies appropriately. To address this issue, we propose a few equations on adaptive life strategies in r/K selection where density effects are absent or present. The equations detail not only the adaptive life history but also the population dynamics. Furthermore, the equations can incorporate temporal individual differences, which are referred to as internal stochasticity. Our framework reveals that maximizing density effects is an evolutionarily stable strategy related to the carrying capacity. A significant consequence of our analysis is that adaptive strategies in both selections maximize an identical function, providing both population growth rate and carrying capacity. We apply our method to an optimal foraging problem in a semelparous species model and demonstrate that the adaptive strategy yields a lower intrinsic growth rate as well as a lower basic reproductive number than those obtained with other strategies. This study proposes that the diversity of life strategies arises due to the effects of density and internal stochasticity.

  1. Reconsideration of r/K Selection Theory Using Stochastic Control Theory and Nonlinear Structured Population Models.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ryo Oizumi

    Full Text Available Despite the fact that density effects and individual differences in life history are considered to be important for evolution, these factors lead to several difficulties in understanding the evolution of life history, especially when population sizes reach the carrying capacity. r/K selection theory explains what types of life strategies evolve in the presence of density effects and individual differences. However, the relationship between the life schedules of individuals and population size is still unclear, even if the theory can classify life strategies appropriately. To address this issue, we propose a few equations on adaptive life strategies in r/K selection where density effects are absent or present. The equations detail not only the adaptive life history but also the population dynamics. Furthermore, the equations can incorporate temporal individual differences, which are referred to as internal stochasticity. Our framework reveals that maximizing density effects is an evolutionarily stable strategy related to the carrying capacity. A significant consequence of our analysis is that adaptive strategies in both selections maximize an identical function, providing both population growth rate and carrying capacity. We apply our method to an optimal foraging problem in a semelparous species model and demonstrate that the adaptive strategy yields a lower intrinsic growth rate as well as a lower basic reproductive number than those obtained with other strategies. This study proposes that the diversity of life strategies arises due to the effects of density and internal stochasticity.

  2. Modeling the Severity of Drinking Consequences in First-Year College Women: An Item Response Theory Analysis of the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cohn, Amy M.; Hagman, Brett T.; Graff, Fiona S.; Noel, Nora E.

    2011-01-01

    Objective: The present study examined the latent continuum of alcohol-related negative consequences among first-year college women using methods from item response theory and classical test theory. Method: Participants (N = 315) were college women in their freshman year who reported consuming any alcohol in the past 90 days and who completed assessments of alcohol consumption and alcohol-related negative consequences using the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index. Results: Item response theory analyses showed poor model fit for five items identified in the Rutgers Alcohol Problem Index. Two-parameter item response theory logistic models were applied to the remaining 18 items to examine estimates of item difficulty (i.e., severity) and discrimination parameters. The item difficulty parameters ranged from 0.591 to 2.031, and the discrimination parameters ranged from 0.321 to 2.371. Classical test theory analyses indicated that the omission of the five misfit items did not significantly alter the psychometric properties of the construct. Conclusions: Findings suggest that those consequences that had greater severity and discrimination parameters may be used as screening items to identify female problem drinkers at risk for an alcohol use disorder. PMID:22051212

  3. Analytic theory for the selection of a two-dimensional needle crystal at arbitrary Peclet number

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanveer, S.

    1989-01-01

    An accurate analytic theory is presented for the velocity selection of a two-dimensional needle crystal for arbitrary Peclet number for small values of the surface tension parameter. The velocity selection is caused by the effect of transcendentally small terms which are determined by analytic continuation to the complex plane and analysis of nonlinear equations. The work supports the general conclusion of previous small Peclet number analytical results of other investigators, though there are some discrepancies in details. It also addresses questions raised on the validity of selection theory owing to assumptions made on shape corrections at large distances from the tip.

  4. Theory of Nonlinear Dispersive Waves and Selection of the Ground State

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Soffer, A.; Weinstein, M.I.

    2005-01-01

    A theory of time-dependent nonlinear dispersive equations of the Schroedinger or Gross-Pitaevskii and Hartree type is developed. The short, intermediate and large time behavior is found, by deriving nonlinear master equations (NLME), governing the evolution of the mode powers, and by a novel multitime scale analysis of these equations. The scattering theory is developed and coherent resonance phenomena and associated lifetimes are derived. Applications include Bose-Einstein condensate large time dynamics and nonlinear optical systems. The theory reveals a nonlinear transition phenomenon, 'selection of the ground state', and NLME predicts the decay of excited state, with half its energy transferred to the ground state and half to radiation modes. Our results predict the recent experimental observations of Mandelik et al. in nonlinear optical waveguides

  5. Functional region prediction with a set of appropriate homologous sequences-an index for sequence selection by integrating structure and sequence information with spatial statistics

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-01-01

    Background The detection of conserved residue clusters on a protein structure is one of the effective strategies for the prediction of functional protein regions. Various methods, such as Evolutionary Trace, have been developed based on this strategy. In such approaches, the conserved residues are identified through comparisons of homologous amino acid sequences. Therefore, the selection of homologous sequences is a critical step. It is empirically known that a certain degree of sequence divergence in the set of homologous sequences is required for the identification of conserved residues. However, the development of a method to select homologous sequences appropriate for the identification of conserved residues has not been sufficiently addressed. An objective and general method to select appropriate homologous sequences is desired for the efficient prediction of functional regions. Results We have developed a novel index to select the sequences appropriate for the identification of conserved residues, and implemented the index within our method to predict the functional regions of a protein. The implementation of the index improved the performance of the functional region prediction. The index represents the degree of conserved residue clustering on the tertiary structure of the protein. For this purpose, the structure and sequence information were integrated within the index by the application of spatial statistics. Spatial statistics is a field of statistics in which not only the attributes but also the geometrical coordinates of the data are considered simultaneously. Higher degrees of clustering generate larger index scores. We adopted the set of homologous sequences with the highest index score, under the assumption that the best prediction accuracy is obtained when the degree of clustering is the maximum. The set of sequences selected by the index led to higher functional region prediction performance than the sets of sequences selected by other sequence

  6. Differential modal delay measurements in a graded-index multimode fibre waveguide, using a single-mode fibre pro mode selection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sunak, H.R.D.; Soares, S.M.

    1981-01-01

    Differential model delay (DMD) measurements in graded-index multimode optical fibre waveguides, which are very promising for many types of communication system were carried out. These DMD measurements give a direct indication of the deviation of the refractive index profile, from the optimum value, at a given wavelength. For the first time, by using a single-mode fibre, a few guided modes in the graded-index fibre were selected, in two different ways: launching a few modes at the input end or selecting a few modes at the output end. By doing so important features of propagation in the fibre were revealed, especially the intermodal coupling that may exist. The importance of this determination of intermodal coupling or mode mixing, particularly when many fibres are joined together in a link, and the merits of DMD measurements in general and their importance for the production of high bandwidth graded-index fibres are discussed. (Author) [pt

  7. Thinking about a limited future enhances the positivity of younger and older adults' recall: Support for socioemotional selectivity theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barber, Sarah J; Opitz, Philipp C; Martins, Bruna; Sakaki, Michiko; Mather, Mara

    2016-08-01

    Compared with younger adults, older adults have a relative preference to attend to and remember positive over negative information. This is known as the "positivity effect," and researchers have typically evoked socioemotional selectivity theory to explain it. According to socioemotional selectivity theory, as people get older they begin to perceive their time left in life as more limited. These reduced time horizons prompt older adults to prioritize achieving emotional gratification and thus exhibit increased positivity in attention and recall. Although this is the most commonly cited explanation of the positivity effect, there is currently a lack of clear experimental evidence demonstrating a link between time horizons and positivity. The goal of the current research was to address this issue. In two separate experiments, we asked participants to complete a writing activity, which directed them to think of time as being either limited or expansive (Experiments 1 and 2) or did not orient them to think about time in a particular manner (Experiment 2). Participants were then shown a series of emotional pictures, which they subsequently tried to recall. Results from both studies showed that regardless of chronological age, thinking about a limited future enhanced the relative positivity of participants' recall. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 2 showed that this effect was not driven by changes in mood. Thus, the fact that older adults' recall is typically more positive than younger adults' recall may index naturally shifting time horizons and goals with age.

  8. Thinking about a Limited Future Enhances the Positivity of Younger and Older Adults’ Recall: Support for Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barber, Sarah J.; Opitz, Philipp C.; Martins, Bruna; Sakaki, Michiko; Mather, Mara

    2016-01-01

    Compared with younger adults, older adults have a relative preference to attend to and remember positive over negative information. This is known as the “positivity effect,” and researchers have typically evoked socioemotional selectivity theory to explain it. According to socioemotional selectivity theory, as people get older they begin to perceive their time left in life as more limited. These reduced time horizons prompt older adults to prioritize achieving emotional gratification and thus exhibit increased positivity in attention and recall. Although this is the most commonly cited explanation of the positivity effect, there is currently a lack of clear experimental evidence demonstrating a link between time horizons and positivity. The goal of the current research was to address this issue. In two separate experiments, we asked participants to complete a writing activity, which directed them to think of time as being either limited or expansive (Experiments 1 and 2) or did not orient them to think about time in a particular manner (Experiment 2). Participants were then shown a series of emotional pictures, which they subsequently tried to recall. Results from both studies showed that regardless of chronological age, thinking about a limited future enhanced the relative positivity of participants’ recall. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 2 showed that this effect was not driven by changes in mood. Thus, the fact that older adults’ recall is typically more positive than younger adults’ recall may index naturally shifting time horizons and goals with age. PMID:27112461

  9. The effectiveness of group selection theory on the quality of drug addicted life

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M Sodani

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Backgrounds and aim: Increase in addiction in the community and the plight of its people demand for improving the problems of addicts, indicate a need for individuals to interventions and training expertise. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of group selection theory on the quality of drug addicted life.  .  Methods: This study is an quasi-experimental design with pretest-posttest and follow up with the control group. The study population included: all addicted people who referred to ahvaz addiction treatment center in 2015. 50 addicts were selected by using of  available sampling and randomly divided into  two experimental group (number=25 and control group (number=25. The participants were completed the quality of life inventory in three stages (pre-test, post-test and follow-up after 60 days. The experimental group was received group training of the concepts of selection theory of 10 sessions of 90 minutes per week.Statistical data were analyzed  using of covariance(ANCOVA analysis. Results: Group training theory led to a significant difference among pretest, posttest, and follow-up of quality of addicted people life (p <0.001. In this case, the post-test and follow-up, after controlling of pre-test score, the experimental group compared to the control group higher quality of life was reported. Conclusion: Group training of selected theory about the role of choosing a behavior, five senses  the importance of self control, the role of effective behavior, the way of need fulfilment, responsibility, self worth, Quality world, seven destructive behavior, seven caring behavior, faiure identification and success identification can result in increasing the quality of life for addicted people.

  10. Application of a modified selection index for honey bees (Hymenoptera: Apidae).

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Engelsdorp, D; Otis, G W

    2000-12-01

    Nine different genetic families of honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) were compared using summed z-scores (phenotypic values) and a modified selection index (Imod). Imod values incorporated both the phenotypic scores of the different traits and the economic weightings of these traits, as determined by a survey of commercial Ontario beekeepers. Largely because of the high weight all beekeepers place on honey production, a distinct difference between line rankings based on phenotypic scores and Imod scores was apparent, thereby emphasizing the need to properly weight the traits being evaluated to select bee stocks most valuable for beekeepers. Furthermore, when beekeepers who made >10% of their income from queen and nucleus colony sales assigned relative values to the traits used in the Imod calculations, the results differed from those based on weightings assigned by honey producers. Our results underscore the difficulties the North American beekeeping industry must overcome to devise effective methods of evaluating colonies for breeding purposes.

  11. A practitioner's guide to persuasion: an overview of 15 selected persuasion theories, models and frameworks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cameron, Kenzie A

    2009-03-01

    To provide a brief overview of 15 selected persuasion theories and models, and to present examples of their use in health communication research. The theories are categorized as message effects models, attitude-behavior approaches, cognitive processing theories and models, consistency theories, inoculation theory, and functional approaches. As it is often the intent of a practitioner to shape, reinforce, or change a patient's behavior, familiarity with theories of persuasion may lead to the development of novel communication approaches with existing patients. This article serves as an introductory primer to theories of persuasion with applications to health communication research. Understanding key constructs and general formulations of persuasive theories may allow practitioners to employ useful theoretical frameworks when interacting with patients.

  12. Evaluating the sustainable mining contractor selection problems: An imprecise last aggregation preference selection index method

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohammad Panahi Borujeni

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The increasing complexity surrounding decision-making situations has made it inevitable for practitioners to apply ideas from a group of experts or decision makers (DMs instead of individuals. In a large proportion of recent studies, not enough attention has been paid to considering uncertainty in practical ways. In this paper, a hesitant fuzzy preference selection index (HFPSI method is proposed based on a new soft computing approach with risk preferences of DMs to deal with imprecise multi-criteria decision-making problems. Meanwhile, qualitative assessing criteria are considered in the process of the proposed method to help the DMs by providing suitable expressions of membership degrees for an element under a set. Moreover, the best alternative is selected based on considering the concepts of preference relation and hesitant fuzzy sets, simultaneously. Therefore, DMs' weights are determined according to the proposed hesitant fuzzy compromise solution technique to prevent judgment errors. Moreover, the proposed method has been extended based on the last aggregation method by aggregating the DMs' opinions during the last stage to avoid data loss. In this respect, a real case study about the mining contractor selection problem is provided to represent the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed HFPSI method in practice. Then, a comparative analysis is performed to show the feasibility of the presented approach. Finally, sensitivity analysis is carried out to show the effect of considering the DMs' weights and last aggregation approach in a dispersion of the alternatives’ ranking values.

  13. Willingness to Share Knowledge Compared with Selected Social Psychology Theories

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ewa Krok

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Knowledge is one of the key determinants in the growth and competitiveness of modern enterprises. Hence, it is essential to analyse the factors that induce employees to exchange knowledge. The problem of sharing an intangible asset — in this case, the knowledge of individuals — can be viewed from many perspectives: psychological, economic, organisational, sociological and technological. The aim of this article is to explore selected social psychology theories and to analyse the incentives for people to share knowledge. The article attempts to interpret the willingness to share knowledge through the Social Exchange Theory, the Social Impact Theory, the Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of Planned Behaviour. This analysis leads to the following conclusions: •we share our knowledge and expect a return; •we share our knowledge when we believe that the benefits of this action outweigh the costs; •we are pushed to share knowledge by the power of empathy; •workers’ willingness to share knowledge is influenced by three social processes: subordination, identification and internalisation; •the decision to share knowledge is preceded by an intention formed under the influence of an individual attitude towards that behaviour, subjective norms and perceived behavioural control; and •the decision to share knowledge is also influenced by additional components, including the knowledge and skills to implement this behaviour, environmental limitations, behavioural emphasis and habits.

  14. Non-perturbative selection rules in F-theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martucci, Luca [Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia ‘Galileo Galilei’, Università di Padova, and I.N.F.N. Sezione di Padova, via Marzolo 8, Padova, I-35131 (Italy); Weigand, Timo [Institut für Theoretische Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Philosophenweg 19, Heidelberg, 69120 (Germany)

    2015-09-29

    We discuss the structure of charged matter couplings in 4-dimensional F-theory compactifications. Charged matter is known to arise from M2-branes wrapping fibral curves on an elliptic or genus-one fibration Y. If a set of fibral curves satisfies a homological relation in the fibre homology, a coupling involving the states can arise without exponential volume suppression due to a splitting and joining of the M2-branes. If the fibral curves only sum to zero in the integral homology of the full fibration, no such coupling is possible. In this case an M2-instanton wrapping a 3-chain bounded by the fibral matter curves can induce a D-term which is volume suppressed. We elucidate the consequences of this pattern for the appearance of massive U(1) symmetries in F-theory and analyse the structure of discrete selection rules in the coupling sector. The weakly coupled analogue of said M2-instantons is worked out to be given by D1-F1 instantons. The generation of an exponentially suppressed F-term requires the formation of half-BPS bound states of M2 and M5-instantons. This effect and its description in terms of fluxed M5-instantons is discussed in a companion paper.

  15. Thoughts Toward a Theory of Natural Selection: The Importance of Microbial Experimental Evolution.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dykhuizen, Daniel

    2016-01-08

    Natural selection should no longer be thought of simply as a primitive (magical) concept that can be used to support all kinds of evolutionary theorizing. We need to develop causal theories of natural selection; how it arises. Because the factors contributing to the creation of natural selection are expected to be complex and intertwined, theories explaining the causes of natural selection can only be developed through the experimental method. Microbial experimental evolution provides many benefits that using other organisms does not. Microorganisms are small, so millions can be housed in a test tube; they have short generation times, so evolution over hundreds of generations can be easily studied; they can grow in chemically defined media, so the environment can be precisely defined; and they can be frozen, so the fitness of strains or populations can be directly compared across time. Microbial evolution experiments can be divided into two types. The first is to measure the selection coefficient of two known strains over the first 50 or so generations, before advantageous mutations rise to high frequency. This type of experiment can be used to directly test hypotheses. The second is to allow microbial cultures to evolve over many hundreds or thousands of generations and follow the genetic changes, to infer what phenotypes are selected. In the last section of this article, I propose that selection coefficients are not constant, but change as the population becomes fitter, introducing the idea of the selection space. Copyright © 2016 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press; all rights reserved.

  16. Theories that narrate the world: Ronald A. Fisher's mass selection and Sewall Wright's shifting balance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rosales, Alirio

    2017-04-01

    Theories are composed of multiple interacting components. I argue that some theories have narratives as essential components, and that narratives function as integrative devices of the mathematical components of theories. Narratives represent complex processes unfolding in time as a sequence of stages, and hold the mathematical elements together as pieces in the investigation of a given process. I present two case studies from population genetics: R. A. Fisher's "mas selection" theory, and Sewall Wright's shifting balance theory. I apply my analysis to an early episode of the "R. A. Fisher - Sewall Wright controversy." Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Reverse Transcriptase Mechanism of Somatic Hypermutation: 60 Years of Clonal Selection Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Edward J. Steele

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available The evidence for the reverse transcriptase mechanism of somatic hypermutation is substantial and multifactorial. In this 60th anniversary year of the publication of Sir MacFarlane Burnet’s Clonal Selection Theory, the evidence is briefly reviewed and updated.

  18. Living With Limited Time: Socioemotional Selectivity Theory in the Context of Health Adversity

    OpenAIRE

    Sullivan-Singh, Sarah J.; Stanton, Annette L.; Low, Carissa A.

    2015-01-01

    The current research was designed to test the applicability of socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006), a life span theory that posits that perceived time remaining in life (time perspective) is a critical determinant of motivation, to individuals who face foreshortened futures (limited time perspective) due to life-limiting medical illness. In Study 1, we investigated whether life goals and biases in attention and memory for valenced emotional stimuli differed between women...

  19. In vitro application of integrated selection index for screening drought tolerant genotypes in common wheat

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ezatollah FARSHADFAR

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available This experiment was conducted on 20 wheat genotypes during 2010-2011 growing season at the Razi University, Kermanshah, Iran. A completely randomized design with six replications was used for callus induction and a 20 × 2 factorial experiment with three replications was used for response of genotypes to in vitro drought stress. ANOVA exhibited highly significant differences among the genotypes for callus growth rate, relative fresh mass growth, relative growth rate, callus water content, percent of callus chlorosis and proline content under stress condition (15 % PEG. PCA showed that the integrated selection index was correlated with callus growth index, relative fresh mass growth, relative growth rate and proline content indicating that these screening techniques can be useful for selecting drought tolerant genotypes. Screening drought tolerant genotypes and in vitro indicators of drought tolerance using mean rank, standard deviation of ranks and biplot analysis, discriminated genotypes 2, 18 and 10 as the most drought tolerant. Therefore they are recommended to be used as parents for genetic analysis, gene mapping and improvement of drought tolerance.

  20. Ca/Na selectivity coefficients from the Poisson-Boltzmann theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hedstroem, Magnus; Karnland, Ola

    2010-01-01

    Document available in extended abstract form only. A possible scenario in the post-glacial evolution of the bentonite buffer used in a KBS-3 repository for spent nuclear fuel is that parts of the buffer may erode due to sol formation caused by the extensive swelling of, in particular, Na-montmorillonite in water of low ionic strength. Presence of calcium in the interlayer has been shown to promote gel formation even in electrolytes with ionic strengths in the vicinity of those in glacial melt waters. In order to estimate the amount of calcium in the clay at the onset of glaciation one needs information of the selectivity coefficient for Ca/Na exchange. Hitherto, most experimental data for evaluating the Gaines-Thomas selectivity coefficient, K GT have been obtained in batch experiments, i.e. at high water-to-solid ratios. The conditions in highly compacted bentonite are, however, radically different in many respects, e.g. the interlayer space is on the nanometre scale and the concentration of counterions is in molar range. Therefore we would like to theoretically investigate the transferability of the selectivity coefficients, determined in batch experiments, to compacted conditions. We solve the Poisson-Boltzmann (PB) equation for two parallel charged surfaces in equilibrium with an external NaCl/CaCl 2 mixed solution. Integration of the ion concentration profiles obtained from the PB equation gives the occupancy of Na + and Ca 2+ in the clay. That information together with the composition of the external electrolyte is all that is needed for the calculation of K GT . With a surface layer-charge density of one charge per 145 A 2 , which is close to the value for Wyoming montmorillonite, we find a variation of the selectivity coefficient from about 4 M in batch to 8 M for compacted montmorillonite with dry density 1700 kg/m 3 . The significance as well as the physics behind these results will be presented in detail. The predictions, based on the PB theory, will

  1. The director task: A test of Theory-of-Mind use or selective attention?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rubio-Fernández, Paula

    2017-08-01

    Over two decades, the director task has increasingly been employed as a test of the use of Theory of Mind in communication, first in psycholinguistics and more recently in social cognition research. A new version of this task was designed to test two independent hypotheses. First, optimal performance in the director task, as established by the standard metrics of interference, is possible by using selective attention alone, and not necessarily Theory of Mind. Second, pragmatic measures of Theory-of-Mind use can reveal that people actively represent the director's mental states, contrary to recent claims that they only use domain-general cognitive processes to perform this task. The results of this study support both hypotheses and provide a new interactive paradigm to reliably test Theory-of-Mind use in referential communication.

  2. Orientation of rod molecules in selective slits: a density functional theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xu Xiaofei; Cao Dapeng; Wang Wenchuan

    2008-01-01

    A density functional theory (DFT) is used to investigate molecular orientation of rod fluids in selective slits. The DFT approach combines a modified fundamental measure theory (MFMT) for excluded-volume effect, the first-order thermodynamics perturbation theory for chain connectivity and the mean-field approximation for van der Waals (vdW) attraction. To study the molecular orientation, the intramolecular bonding orientation function is introduced into the DFT. First, we investigate the orientation of the surfactant-like rod molecule of AB 6 (i.e. ABBBBBB) in a nanoslit of H 20σ, where the walls selectively adsorb segment 'A'. It is observed that, with the increase of the surface energy of the wall to head segment (i.e. 'A' segment) of the rod molecule, the rod molecules adsorbed on the wall present the perpendicular orientation gradually, and assemble into a smectic-A-like monolayer finally. In addition, we also explore the molecular orientation of the rods with both end segments preferring to the wall, i.e. AB 8 A and AB 7 A, in a nanoslit of H = 10σ. Interestingly, the AB 8 A rod monolayer is compatible with either a smectic-A-like or a smectic-C-like organization, but AB 7 A rod molecules exhibit the smectic-A-like organization. The orientation factor of the AB 7 A rod molecule reaches 1, suggesting that AB 7 A rod molecules self-assemble into an ordered structure with perfectly perpendicular orientation to the wall.

  3. Three-Index Symmetric Matter Representations of SU(2) in F-Theory from Non-Tate Form Weierstrass Models

    CERN Document Server

    Klevers, Denis

    2016-01-01

    We give an explicit construction of a class of F-theory models with matter in the three-index symmetric (4) representation of SU(2). This matter is realized at codimension two loci in the F-theory base where the divisor carrying the gauge group is singular; the associated Weierstrass model does not have the form associated with a generic SU(2) Tate model. For 6D theories, the matter is localized at a triple point singularity of arithmetic genus g=3 in the curve supporting the SU(2) group. This is the first explicit realization of matter in F-theory in a representation corresponding to a genus contribution greater than one. The construction is realized by "unHiggsing" a model with a U(1) gauge factor under which there is matter with charge q=3. The resulting SU(2) models can be further unHiggsed to realize non-Abelian G_2xSU(2) models with more conventional matter content or SU(2)^3 models with trifundamental matter. The U(1) models used as the basis for this construction do not seem to have a Weierstrass real...

  4. 4D and 2D superconformal index with surface operator

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakayama, Yu

    2011-08-01

    We study the superconformal index of the mathcal{N} = 4 super-Yang-Milles theory on S 3 × S 1 with the half BPS superconformal surface operator (defect) inserted at the great circle of S 3. The half BPS superconformal surface operators preserve the same supersymmetry as well as the symmetry of the chemical potential used in the definition of the superconformal index, so the structure and the parameterization of the superconformal index remain unaffected by the presence of the surface operator. On the surface defect, a two-dimensional (4, 4) superconformal field theory resides, and the four-dimensional super-conformal index may be regarded as a superconformal index of the two-dimensional (4, 4) superconformal field theory coupled with the four-dimensional bulk system. We construct the matrix model that computes the superconformal index with the surface operator when it couples with the bulk mathcal{N} = 4 super-Yang-Milles theory through the defect hypermultiplets on it.

  5. The Selective Cue Integration Framework: A Theory of Postidentification Witness Confidence Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Charman, Steve D.; Carlucci, Marianna; Vallano, Jon; Gregory, Amy Hyman

    2010-01-01

    The current manuscript proposes a theory of how witnesses assess their confidence following a lineup identification, called the selective cue integration framework (SCIF). Drawing from past research on the postidentification feedback effect, the SCIF details a three-stage process of confidence assessment that is based largely on a…

  6. Hyperspectral band selection based on consistency-measure of neighborhood rough set theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Yao; Xie, Hong; Wang, Liguo; Tan, Kezhu; Chen, Yuehua; Xu, Zhen

    2016-01-01

    Band selection is a well-known approach for reducing dimensionality in hyperspectral imaging. In this paper, a band selection method based on consistency-measure of neighborhood rough set theory (CMNRS) was proposed to select informative bands from hyperspectral images. A decision-making information system was established by the reflection spectrum of soybeans’ hyperspectral data between 400 nm and 1000 nm wavelengths. The neighborhood consistency-measure, which reflects not only the size of the decision positive region, but also the sample distribution in the boundary region, was used as the evaluation function of band significance. The optimal band subset was selected by a forward greedy search algorithm. A post-pruning strategy was employed to overcome the over-fitting problem and find the minimum subset. To assess the effectiveness of the proposed band selection technique, two classification models (extreme learning machine (ELM) and random forests (RF)) were built. The experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm can effectively select key bands and obtain satisfactory classification accuracy. (paper)

  7. Blind Measurement Selection: A Random Matrix Theory Approach

    KAUST Repository

    Elkhalil, Khalil

    2016-12-14

    This paper considers the problem of selecting a set of $k$ measurements from $n$ available sensor observations. The selected measurements should minimize a certain error function assessing the error in estimating a certain $m$ dimensional parameter vector. The exhaustive search inspecting each of the $n\\\\choose k$ possible choices would require a very high computational complexity and as such is not practical for large $n$ and $k$. Alternative methods with low complexity have recently been investigated but their main drawbacks are that 1) they require perfect knowledge of the measurement matrix and 2) they need to be applied at the pace of change of the measurement matrix. To overcome these issues, we consider the asymptotic regime in which $k$, $n$ and $m$ grow large at the same pace. Tools from random matrix theory are then used to approximate in closed-form the most important error measures that are commonly used. The asymptotic approximations are then leveraged to select properly $k$ measurements exhibiting low values for the asymptotic error measures. Two heuristic algorithms are proposed: the first one merely consists in applying the convex optimization artifice to the asymptotic error measure. The second algorithm is a low-complexity greedy algorithm that attempts to look for a sufficiently good solution for the original minimization problem. The greedy algorithm can be applied to both the exact and the asymptotic error measures and can be thus implemented in blind and channel-aware fashions. We present two potential applications where the proposed algorithms can be used, namely antenna selection for uplink transmissions in large scale multi-user systems and sensor selection for wireless sensor networks. Numerical results are also presented and sustain the efficiency of the proposed blind methods in reaching the performances of channel-aware algorithms.

  8. Application of Fault Management Theory to the Quantitative Selection of a Launch Vehicle Abort Trigger Suite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lo, Yunnhon; Johnson, Stephen B.; Breckenridge, Jonathan T.

    2014-01-01

    This paper describes the quantitative application of the theory of System Health Management and its operational subset, Fault Management, to the selection of Abort Triggers for a human-rated launch vehicle, the United States' National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Space Launch System (SLS). The results demonstrate the efficacy of the theory to assess the effectiveness of candidate failure detection and response mechanisms to protect humans from time-critical and severe hazards. The quantitative method was successfully used on the SLS to aid selection of its suite of Abort Triggers.

  9. Correlation Feature Selection and Mutual Information Theory Based Quantitative Research on Meteorological Impact Factors of Module Temperature for Solar Photovoltaic Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yujing Sun

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The module temperature is the most important parameter influencing the output power of solar photovoltaic (PV systems, aside from solar irradiance. In this paper, we focus on the interdisciplinary research that combines the correlation analysis, mutual information (MI and heat transfer theory, which aims to figure out the correlative relations between different meteorological impact factors (MIFs and PV module temperature from both quality and quantitative aspects. The identification and confirmation of primary MIFs of PV module temperature are investigated as the first step of this research from the perspective of physical meaning and mathematical analysis about electrical performance and thermal characteristic of PV modules based on PV effect and heat transfer theory. Furthermore, the quantitative description of the MIFs influence on PV module temperature is mathematically formulated as several indexes using correlation-based feature selection (CFS and MI theory to explore the specific impact degrees under four different typical weather statuses named general weather classes (GWCs. Case studies for the proposed methods were conducted using actual measurement data of a 500 kW grid-connected solar PV plant in China. The results not only verified the knowledge about the main MIFs of PV module temperatures, more importantly, but also provide the specific ratio of quantitative impact degrees of these three MIFs respectively through CFS and MI based measures under four different GWCs.

  10. Macdonald index and chiral algebra

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Jaewon

    2017-08-01

    For any 4d N = 2 SCFT, there is a subsector described by a 2d chiral algebra. The vacuum character of the chiral algebra reproduces the Schur index of the corresponding 4d theory. The Macdonald index counts the same set of operators as the Schur index, but the former has one more fugacity than the latter. We conjecture a prescription to obtain the Macdonald index from the chiral algebra. The vacuum module admits a filtration, from which we construct an associated graded vector space. From this grading, we conjecture a notion of refined character for the vacuum module of a chiral algebra, which reproduces the Macdonald index. We test this prescription for the Argyres-Douglas theories of type ( A 1 , A 2 n ) and ( A 1 , D 2 n+1) where the chiral algebras are given by Virasoro and \\widehat{su}(2) affine Kac-Moody algebra. When the chiral algebra has more than one family of generators, our prescription requires a knowledge of the generators from the 4d.

  11. Witten index for noncompact dynamics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lee, Seung-Joo [Department of Physics, Robeson Hall, Virginia Tech,Robeson Hall, 0435, 850 West Campus Drive, Blacksburg, VA 24061 (United States); Yi, Piljin [School of Physics and Quantum Universe Center, Korea Institute for Advanced Study,85 Hoegi-ro, Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul 02455 (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-06-16

    Among gauged dynamics motivated by string theory, we find many with gapless asymptotic directions. Although the natural boundary condition for ground states is L{sup 2}, one often turns on chemical potentials or supersymmetric mass terms to regulate the infrared issues, instead, and computes the twisted partition function. We point out how this procedure generically fails to capture physical L{sup 2} Witten index with often misleading results. We also explore how, nevertheless, the Witten index is sometimes intricately embedded in such twisted partition functions. For d=1 theories with gapless continuum sector from gauge multiplets, such as non-primitive quivers and pure Yang-Mills, a further subtlety exists, leading to fractional expressions. Quite unexpectedly, however, the integral L{sup 2} Witten index can be extracted directly and easily from the twisted partition function of such theories. This phenomenon is tied to the notion of the rational invariant that appears naturally in the wall-crossing formulae, and offers a general mechanism of reading off Witten index directly from the twisted partition function. Along the way, we correct early numerical results for some of N=4,8,16 pure Yang-Mills quantum mechanics, and count threshold bound states for general gauge groups beyond SU(N).

  12. Witten index for noncompact dynamics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Seung-Joo; Yi, Piljin

    2016-06-01

    Among gauged dynamics motivated by string theory, we find many with gapless asymptotic directions. Although the natural boundary condition for ground states is L 2, one often turns on chemical potentials or supersymmetric mass terms to regulate the infrared issues, instead, and computes the twisted partition function. We point out how this procedure generically fails to capture physical L 2 Witten index with often misleading results. We also explore how, nevertheless, the Witten index is sometimes intricately embedded in such twisted partition functions. For d = 1 theories with gapless continuum sector from gauge multiplets, such as non-primitive quivers and pure Yang-Mills, a further subtlety exists, leading to fractional expressions. Quite unexpectedly, however, the integral L 2 Witten index can be extracted directly and easily from the twisted partition function of such theories. This phenomenon is tied to the notion of the rational invariant that appears naturally in the wall-crossing formulae, and offers a general mechanism of reading off Witten index directly from the twisted partition function. Along the way, we correct early numerical results for some of mathcal{N} = 4 , 8 , 16 pure Yang-Mills quantum mechanics, and count threshold bound states for general gauge groups beyond SU( N ).

  13. Witten index for noncompact dynamics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Seung-Joo; Yi, Piljin

    2016-01-01

    Among gauged dynamics motivated by string theory, we find many with gapless asymptotic directions. Although the natural boundary condition for ground states is L"2, one often turns on chemical potentials or supersymmetric mass terms to regulate the infrared issues, instead, and computes the twisted partition function. We point out how this procedure generically fails to capture physical L"2 Witten index with often misleading results. We also explore how, nevertheless, the Witten index is sometimes intricately embedded in such twisted partition functions. For d=1 theories with gapless continuum sector from gauge multiplets, such as non-primitive quivers and pure Yang-Mills, a further subtlety exists, leading to fractional expressions. Quite unexpectedly, however, the integral L"2 Witten index can be extracted directly and easily from the twisted partition function of such theories. This phenomenon is tied to the notion of the rational invariant that appears naturally in the wall-crossing formulae, and offers a general mechanism of reading off Witten index directly from the twisted partition function. Along the way, we correct early numerical results for some of N=4,8,16 pure Yang-Mills quantum mechanics, and count threshold bound states for general gauge groups beyond SU(N).

  14. Generalizability theory and item response theory

    OpenAIRE

    Glas, Cornelis A.W.; Eggen, T.J.H.M.; Veldkamp, B.P.

    2012-01-01

    Item response theory is usually applied to items with a selected-response format, such as multiple choice items, whereas generalizability theory is usually applied to constructed-response tasks assessed by raters. However, in many situations, raters may use rating scales consisting of items with a selected-response format. This chapter presents a short overview of how item response theory and generalizability theory were integrated to model such assessments. Further, the precision of the esti...

  15. Determination of Selection Index of Cocoa (Theobroma Cacao L.) Yield Traits Using Regression Methods

    OpenAIRE

    Setyawan, Bayu; Taryono; Mitrowihardjo, Suyadi

    2016-01-01

    The increasing chocolate consumption has not been followed by growing production of dry cocoa beans. In order to support the increase in cocoa production, planting materials with high yield are needed. The objective of this research was to determine the components of cocoa traits affecting weight of dry cocoa beans, and set a selection index for superior cocoa trees. The experiment material were four cocoa hybrid populations of which their family ancestry were unknown, and were planted on Sam...

  16. BIBLIOGRAPHY ON DEAFNESS, A SELECTED INDEX.

    Science.gov (United States)

    FELLENDORF, GEORGE W.; AND OTHERS

    APPROXIMATELY 3,200 REFERENCES ARE LISTED BY AUTHOR AND GROUPED ACCORDING TO SUBJECT. ALL REFERENCES ARE ARTICLES FROM "THE VOLTA REVIEW," 1899 TO 1965, OR "THE AMERICAN ANNALS OF THE DEAF," 1847 TO 1965. AN AUTHOR INDEX IS INCLUDED. THIS DOCUMENT WAS PUBLISHED BY THE ALEXANDER GRAHAM BELL ASSOCIATION FOR THE DEAF, INC., THE…

  17. Socioemotional selectivity theory, aging, and health: the increasingly delicate balance between regulating emotions and making tough choices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Löckenhoff, Corinna E; Carstensen, Laura L

    2004-12-01

    After providing an introductory overview of socioemotional selectivity theory, we review empirical evidence for its basic postulates and consider the implications of the predicted cognitive and behavioral changes for physical health. The main assertion of socioemotional selectivity theory is that when boundaries on time are perceived, present-oriented goals related to emotional meaning are prioritized over future-oriented goals aimed at acquiring information and expanding horizons. Such motivational changes, which are strongly correlated with chronological age, systematically influence social preferences, social network composition, emotion regulation, and cognitive processing. On the one hand, there is considerable reason to believe that such changes are good for well-being and social adjustment. On the other hand, the very same motivational changes may limit health-related information-seeking and influence attention, memory, and decision-making such that positive material is favored over negative information. Grounding our arguments in socioemotional selectivity theory, we consider possible ways to tailor contexts such that disadvantages are avoided.

  18. The selection of construction sub-contractors using the fuzzy sets theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Krzemiński, Michał

    2015-01-01

    The paper presents the algorithm for the selection of sub-contractors. Main area of author’s interest is scheduling flow models. The ranking task aims at execution time as short as possible Brigades downtime should also be as small as possible. These targets are exposed to significant obsolescence. The criteria for selection of subcontractors will not be therefore time and cost, it is assumed that all those criteria be meet by sub-contractors. The decision should be made in regard to factors difficult to measure, to assess which is the perfect application of fuzzy sets theory. The paper will present a set of evaluation criteria, the part of the knowledge base and a description of the output variable

  19. Selection theory of free dendritic growth in a potential flow.

    Science.gov (United States)

    von Kurnatowski, Martin; Grillenbeck, Thomas; Kassner, Klaus

    2013-04-01

    The Kruskal-Segur approach to selection theory in diffusion-limited or Laplacian growth is extended via combination with the Zauderer decomposition scheme. This way nonlinear bulk equations become tractable. To demonstrate the method, we apply it to two-dimensional crystal growth in a potential flow. We omit the simplifying approximations used in a preliminary calculation for the same system [Fischaleck, Kassner, Europhys. Lett. 81, 54004 (2008)], thus exhibiting the capability of the method to extend mathematical rigor to more complex problems than hitherto accessible.

  20. Browse Title Index

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Items 151 - 200 of 879 ... South African Journal of Higher Education. ... Browse Title Index ... in a USA school setting: Merging transition theory with a narrative approach, Abstract ... Citation analysis of theses and dissertations submitted at the ...

  1. Hybrid Multicriteria Group Decision Making Method for Information System Project Selection Based on Intuitionistic Fuzzy Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jian Guo

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Information system (IS project selection is of critical importance to every organization in dynamic competing environment. The aim of this paper is to develop a hybrid multicriteria group decision making approach based on intuitionistic fuzzy theory for IS project selection. The decision makers’ assessment information can be expressed in the form of real numbers, interval-valued numbers, linguistic variables, and intuitionistic fuzzy numbers (IFNs. All these evaluation pieces of information can be transformed to the form of IFNs. Intuitionistic fuzzy weighted averaging (IFWA operator is utilized to aggregate individual opinions of decision makers into a group opinion. Intuitionistic fuzzy entropy is used to obtain the entropy weights of the criteria. TOPSIS method combined with intuitionistic fuzzy set is proposed to select appropriate IS project in group decision making environment. Finally, a numerical example for information system projects selection is given to illustrate application of hybrid multi-criteria group decision making (MCGDM method based on intuitionistic fuzzy theory and TOPSIS method.

  2. Economic values and expected effect of selection index for pathogen-specific mastitis under Danish conditions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Sørensen, Lars Peter; Mark, Thomas; Sørensen, M.K.

    2010-01-01

    The objectives of this study were 1) to estimate costs related to 5 different pathogen-specific mastitis traits (susceptibility to different pathogens causing mastitis in dairy cattle) and unspecific mastitis, and 2) to compare selection differentials for an udder health index consisting of 5...... different pathogen-specific mastitis traits and lactation average somatic cell count from 5 to 170 d after first calving (LASCC170) with another index consisting of 1 unspecific mastitis trait and LASCC170. Economic values were estimated for mastitis caused by Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus...... dysgalactiae, Escherichia coli, coagulase-negative staphylococci, and Streptococcus uberis using a stochastic simulation model (SimHerd IV). Mastitis incidences for SimHerd IV were from incidences of mastitis treatments in primiparous Danish Holstein cows calving in 2007. Estimated costs ranged from 149 euro...

  3. Filter indexing for spectrophotometer system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chamran, M.M.; Scott, L.B.; Williams, P.B.

    1982-01-01

    A spectrophotometer system has an optical system for transmitting a beam from a source at select wavelengths onto a detector. A plurality of filters are positioned in a tray. A stepper mechanism indexes the tray along a path. A microcomputer controls the stepper mechanism and the optical system. The wavelength is successively changed over a range, the tray is indexed to move a select filter into the beam at a predetermined wavelength and the changing is discontinued during indexing

  4. The pathogen transmission avoidance theory of sexual selection

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Loehle, C.

    1997-08-01

    The current theory that sexual selection results from female preference for males with good genes suffers from several problems. An alternative explanation, the pathogen transmission avoidance hypothesis, argues that the primary function of showy traits is to provide a reliable signal of current disease status, so that sick individuals can be avoided during mating. This study shows that a significant risk of pathogen transmission occurs during mating and that showy traits are reliable indicators of current disease status. The origin of female choosiness is argued to lie in a general tendency to avoid sick individuals, even in the absence of showy traits, which originate as exaggerations of normal traits that are indicative of good health (bright feathers, vigorous movement, large size). Thus, in this new model the origins of both showy traits and female choosiness are not problematic and there is no threshold effect. This model predicts that when the possession of male showy traits does not help to reduce disease in the female, showy traits are unlikely to occur. This case corresponds to thorough exposure of every animal to all group pathogens, on average, in large groups. Such species are shown with a large data set on birds to be less likely to exhibit showy traits. The good-genes model does not make this prediction. The pathogen transmission avoidance model can also lead to the evolution of showy traits even when selection is not effective against a given pathogen (e.g., when there is no heritable variation for resistance), but can result in selection for resistance if such genes are present. Monogamy is argued to reduce selection pressures for showy traits; data show monogamous species to be both less parasitized and less showy. In the context of reduction of pathogen transmission rates in showy populations, selection pressure becomes inversely frequency-dependent, which makes showy traits likely to be self-limiting rather than runaway.

  5. Browse Title Index

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Items 601 - 650 of 879 ... South African Journal of Higher Education. ... Browse Title Index .... The challenge of thesis supervision in an art university, Abstract ... No 2 (2004), Robert Sternberg's mental self-government theory and its contribution to ...

  6. INTEGRATING VISUALIZATION AND MULTI-ATTRIBUTE UTILITY THEORY FOR ONLINE PRODUCT SELECTION

    OpenAIRE

    CHUREE THEETRANONT; PETER HADDAWY; DONYAPRUETH KRAIRIT

    2007-01-01

    Effectively selling products online is a challenging task. Today's product domains often contain a dizzying variety of brands and models with highly complex sets of characteristics. This paper addresses the problem of supporting product search and selection in domains containing large numbers of alternatives with complex sets of features. A number of online shopping websites provide product choice assistance by making direct use of Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (MAUT). While the MAUT approac...

  7. Where neuroscience and dynamic system theory meet autonomous robotics: a contracting basal ganglia model for action selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Girard, B; Tabareau, N; Pham, Q C; Berthoz, A; Slotine, J-J

    2008-05-01

    Action selection, the problem of choosing what to do next, is central to any autonomous agent architecture. We use here a multi-disciplinary approach at the convergence of neuroscience, dynamical system theory and autonomous robotics, in order to propose an efficient action selection mechanism based on a new model of the basal ganglia. We first describe new developments of contraction theory regarding locally projected dynamical systems. We exploit these results to design a stable computational model of the cortico-baso-thalamo-cortical loops. Based on recent anatomical data, we include usually neglected neural projections, which participate in performing accurate selection. Finally, the efficiency of this model as an autonomous robot action selection mechanism is assessed in a standard survival task. The model exhibits valuable dithering avoidance and energy-saving properties, when compared with a simple if-then-else decision rule.

  8. Spectral optical properties of selected photosynthetic microalgae producing biofuels

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Euntaek; Heng, Ri-Liang; Pilon, Laurent

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents the spectral complex index of refraction of biofuel producing photosynthetic microalgae between 400 and 750 nm. They were retrieved from their experimentally measured average absorption and scattering cross-sections. The microalgae were treated as homogeneous polydisperse spheres with equivalent diameter such that their surface area was identical to that of their actual spheroidal shape. An inverse method was developed combining Lorentz–Mie theory as the forward method and genetic algorithm. The unicellular green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strain CC125 and its truncated chlorophyll antenna transformants tla1, tlaX, and tla1-CW + as well as Botryococcus braunii, Chlorella sp., and Chlorococcum littorale were investigated. These species were selected for their ability to produce either hydrogen gas or lipids for liquid fuel production. Their retrieved real and imaginary parts of the complex index of refraction were continuous functions of wavelength with absorption peaks corresponding to those of in vivo Chlorophylls a and b. The T-matrix method was also found to accurately predict the experimental measurements by treating the microalgae as axisymmetric spheroids with the experimentally measured major and minor diameter distributions and the retrieved spectral complex index of refraction. Finally, pigment mass fractions were also estimated from the retrieved absorption index. The method and/or the reported optical properties can be used in various applications from ocean remote sensing, carbon cycle study, as well as photobiological carbon dioxide mitigation and biofuel production. -- Highlights: ► Retrieval of optical properties from average absorption and scattering cross-sections. ► Inverse method based on Lorentz–Mie theory and genetic algorithm. ► Refraction and absorption indices of selected microalgae between 400 and 750 nm. ► Determination of pigment concentrations from absorption index. ► Good agreement between T

  9. Three-index symmetric matter representations of SU(2) in F-theory from non-Tate form Weierstrass models

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Klevers, Denis [Theoretical Physics Department, CERN,CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland); Taylor, Washington [Center for Theoretical Physics, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,77 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02139 (United States)

    2016-06-29

    We give an explicit construction of a class of F-theory models with matter in the three-index symmetric (4) representation of SU(2). This matter is realized at codimension two loci in the F-theory base where the divisor carrying the gauge group is singular; the associated Weierstrass model does not have the form associated with a generic SU(2) Tate model. For 6D theories, the matter is localized at a triple point singularity of arithmetic genus g=3 in the curve supporting the SU(2) group. This is the first explicit realization of matter in F-theory in a representation corresponding to a genus contribution greater than one. The construction is realized by “unHiggsing” a model with a U(1) gauge factor under which there is matter with charge q=3. The resulting SU(2) models can be further unHiggsed to realize non-Abelian G{sub 2}×SU(2) models with more conventional matter content or SU(2){sup 3} models with trifundamental matter. The U(1) models used as the basis for this construction do not seem to have a Weierstrass realization in the general form found by Morrison-Park, suggesting that a generalization of that form may be needed to incorporate models with arbitrary matter representations and gauge groups localized on singular divisors.

  10. A general theory of multimetric indices and their properties

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schoolmaster, Donald R.; Grace, James B.; Schweiger, E. William

    2012-01-01

    1. Stewardship of biological and ecological resources requires the ability to make integrative assessments of ecological integrity. One of the emerging methods for making such integrative assessments is multimetric indices (MMIs). These indices synthesize data, often from multiple levels of biological organization, with the goal of deriving a single index that reflects the overall effects of human disturbance. Despite the widespread use of MMIs, there is uncertainty about why this approach can be effective. An understanding of MMIs requires a quantitative theory that illustrates how the properties of candidate metrics relates to MMIs generated from those metrics. 2. We present the initial basis for such a theory by deriving the general mathematical characteristics of MMIs assembled from metrics. We then use the theory to derive quantitative answers to the following questions: Is there an optimal number of metrics to comprise an index? How does covariance among metrics affect the performance of the index derived from those metrics? And what are the criteria to decide whether a given metric will improve the performance of an index? 3. We find that the optimal number of metrics to be included in an index depends on the theoretical distribution of signal of the disturbance gradient contained in each metric. For example, if the rank-ordered parameters of a metric-disturbance regression can be described by a monotonically decreasing function, then an optimum number of metrics exists and can often be derived analytically. We derive the conditions by which adding a given metric can be expected to improve an index. 4. We find that the criterion defining such conditions depends nonlinearly of the signal of the disturbance gradient, the noise (error) of the metric and the correlation of the metric errors. Importantly, we find that correlation among metric errors increases the signal required for the metric to improve the index. 5. The theoretical framework presented in this

  11. Index summation in real time statistical field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carrington, M.E.; Fugleberg, T.; Irvine, D.S.; Pickering, D.

    2007-01-01

    We have written a Mathematica program that calculates the integrand corresponding to any amplitude in the closed-time-path formulation of real time statistical field theory. The program is designed so that it can be used by someone with no previous experience with Mathematica. It performs the contractions over the tensor indices that appear in real time statistical field theory and gives the result in the 1-2, Keldysh or RA basis. The program treats all fields as scalars, but the result can be applied to theories with dirac and lorentz structure by making simple adjustments. As an example, we have used the program to calculate the ward identity for the QED 3-point function, the QED 4-point function for two photons and two fermions, and the QED 5-point function for three photons and two fermions. In real time statistical field theory, there are seven 3-point functions, 15 4-point functions and 31 5-point functions. We produce a table that gives the results for all of these functions. In addition, we give a simple general expression for the KMS conditions between n-point green functions and vertex functions, in both the Keldysh and RA bases. (orig.)

  12. Lectures on K-theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karoubi, M.

    2003-01-01

    This opening contribution consists of a comprehensive survey of developments in K-theory in the last forty-five years, and covers a very broad spectrum of the subject, including Topological K-theory, Atiyah-Singer index theorem, K-theory of Banach algebras, Higher Algebraic K-theory and Cyclic Homology

  13. Statistical Decision Theory Estimation, Testing, and Selection

    CERN Document Server

    Liese, Friedrich

    2008-01-01

    Suitable for advanced graduate students and researchers in mathematical statistics and decision theory, this title presents an account of the concepts and a treatment of the major results of classical finite sample size decision theory and modern asymptotic decision theory

  14. Thinking about a Limited Future Enhances the Positivity of Younger and Older Adults’ Recall: Support for Socioemotional Selectivity Theory

    OpenAIRE

    Barber, Sarah J.; Opitz, Philipp C.; Martins, Bruna; Sakaki, Michiko; Mather, Mara

    2016-01-01

    Compared with younger adults, older adults have a relative preference to attend to and remember positive over negative information. This is known as the “positivity effect,” and researchers have typically evoked socioemotional selectivity theory to explain it. According to socioemotional selectivity theory, as people get older they begin to perceive their time left in life as more limited. These reduced time horizons prompt older adults to prioritize achieving emotional gratification and thus...

  15. Social and emotional patterns in adulthood: support for socioemotional selectivity theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carstensen, L L

    1992-09-01

    This investigation explored 2 hypotheses derived from socioemotional selectivity theory: (a) Selective reductions in social interaction begin in early adulthood and (b) emotional closeness to significant others increases rather than decreases in adulthood even when rate reductions occur. Transcribed interviews with 28 women and 22 men from the Child Guidance Study, conducted over 34 years, were reviewed and rated for frequency of interaction, satisfaction with the relationship, and degree of emotional closeness in 6 types of relationships. Interaction frequency with acquaintances and close friends declined from early adulthood on. Interaction frequency with spouses and siblings increased across the same time period and emotional closeness increased throughout adulthood in relationships with relatives and close friends. Findings suggest that individuals begin narrowing their range of social partners long before old age.

  16. Retrieving Leaf Area Index (LAI) Using Remote Sensing: Theories, Methods and Sensors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Guang; Moskal, L Monika

    2009-01-01

    The ability to accurately and rapidly acquire leaf area index (LAI) is an indispensable component of process-based ecological research facilitating the understanding of gas-vegetation exchange phenomenon at an array of spatial scales from the leaf to the landscape. However, LAI is difficult to directly acquire for large spatial extents due to its time consuming and work intensive nature. Such efforts have been significantly improved by the emergence of optical and active remote sensing techniques. This paper reviews the definitions and theories of LAI measurement with respect to direct and indirect methods. Then, the methodologies for LAI retrieval with regard to the characteristics of a range of remotely sensed datasets are discussed. Remote sensing indirect methods are subdivided into two categories of passive and active remote sensing, which are further categorized as terrestrial, aerial and satellite-born platforms. Due to a wide variety in spatial resolution of remotely sensed data and the requirements of ecological modeling, the scaling issue of LAI is discussed and special consideration is given to extrapolation of measurement to landscape and regional levels.

  17. APPLICATION OF THE PERFORMANCE SELECTION INDEX METHOD FOR SOLVING MACHINING MCDM PROBLEMS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dušan Petković

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available Complex nature of machining processes requires the use of different methods and techniques for process optimization. Over the past few years a number of different optimization methods have been proposed for solving continuous machining optimization problems. In manufacturing environment, engineers are also facing a number of discrete machining optimization problems. In order to help decision makers in solving this type of optimization problems a number of multi criteria decision making (MCDM methods have been proposed. This paper introduces the use of an almost unexplored MCDM method, i.e. performance selection index (PSI method for solving machining MCDM problems. The main motivation for using the PSI method is that it is not necessary to determine criteria weights as in other MCDM methods. Applicability and effectiveness of the PSI method have been demonstrated while solving two case studies dealing with machinability of materials and selection of the most suitable cutting fluid for the given machining application. The obtained rankings have good correlation with those derived by the past researchers using other MCDM methods which validate the usefulness of this method for solving machining MCDM problems.

  18. The local index formula in noncommutative geometry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Higson, N.

    2003-01-01

    These notes present a partial account of the local index theorem in non-commutative geometry discovered by Alain Connes and Henri Moscovici. It includes Elliptic partial differential operators, cyclic homology theory, Chern characters, homotopy invariants and the index formulas

  19. Passive harmonic mode locking by mode selection in Fabry-Perot diode lasers with patterned effective index.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bitauld, David; Osborne, Simon; O'Brien, Stephen

    2010-07-01

    We demonstrate passive harmonic mode locking of a quantum-well laser diode designed to support a discrete comb of Fabry-Perot modes. Spectral filtering of the mode spectrum was achieved using a nonperiodic patterning of the cavity effective index. By selecting six modes spaced at twice the fundamental mode spacing, near-transform-limited pulsed output with 2 ps pulse duration was obtained at a repetition rate of 100 GHz.

  20. Argumentation Theory. [A Selected Annotated Bibliography].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benoit, William L.

    Materials dealing with aspects of argumentation theory are cited in this annotated bibliography. The 50 citations are organized by topic as follows: (1) argumentation; (2) the nature of argument; (3) traditional perspectives on argument; (4) argument diagrams; (5) Chaim Perelman's theory of rhetoric; (6) the evaluation of argument; (7) argument…

  1. Selected Topics in Nuclear Theory. Lectures Given at the International Summer School on Selected Topics in Nuclear Theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Janouch, F. [ed.

    1963-01-15

    An International Summer School on Selected Topics in Nuclear Theory was held during the period 20 August to 9 September 1962 in the Low Tatra Mountains, Czechoslovakia, under the auspices of the Nuclear Research Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, with financial support from the International Atomic Energy Agency. In view of the wide interest of the seven topics considered there and of the speed with which the field of theoretical physics is developing, the Agency decided to make available its facilities for rapid publication and to publish the lectures under its own imprint; however, all editorial and composition work has been performed under the supervision of the general editor. Dr. F. Janouch of the Nuclear Research Institute of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences. The problem of keeping in touch with the rapidly changing but fundamental field of theoretical physics is a difficult one, particularly for scientists in the developing countries. It is hoped that such publications as the present one and the companion volume containing the lectures presented at the Agency's Seminar on Theoretical Physics at Trieste w ill help, at least in a modest fashion, to overcome these difficulties.

  2. Fundamentals of negative refractive index optical trapping: forces and radiation pressures exerted by focused Gaussian beams using the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ambrosio, Leonardo A; Hernández-Figueroa, Hugo E

    2010-11-04

    Based on the generalized Lorenz-Mie theory (GLMT), this paper reveals, for the first time in the literature, the principal characteristics of the optical forces and radiation pressure cross-sections exerted on homogeneous, linear, isotropic and spherical hypothetical negative refractive index (NRI) particles under the influence of focused Gaussian beams in the Mie regime. Starting with ray optics considerations, the analysis is then extended through calculating the Mie coefficients and the beam-shape coefficients for incident focused Gaussian beams. Results reveal new and interesting trapping properties which are not observed for commonly positive refractive index particles and, in this way, new potential applications in biomedical optics can be devised.

  3. Topics in string theory and quantum gravity

    CERN Document Server

    Alvarez-Gaume, Luis

    1992-01-01

    These are the lecture notes for the Les Houches Summer School on Quantum Gravity held in July 1992. The notes present some general critical assessment of other (non-string) approaches to quantum gravity, and a selected set of topics concerning what we have learned so far about the subject from string theory. Since these lectures are long (133 A4 pages), we include in this abstract the table of contents, which should help the user of the bulletin board in deciding whether to latex and print the full file. 1-FIELD THEORETICAL APPROACH TO QUANTUM GRAVITY: Linearized gravity; Supergravity; Kaluza-Klein theories; Quantum field theory and classical gravity; Euclidean approach to Quantum Gravity; Canonical quantization of gravity; Gravitational Instantons. 2-CONSISTENCY CONDITIONS: ANOMALIES: Generalities about anomalies; Spinors in 2n dimensions; When can we expect to find anomalies?; The Atiyah-Singer Index Theorem and the computation of anomalies; Examples: Green-Schwarz cancellation mechanism and Witten's SU(2) ...

  4. Beverage Selections and Impact on Healthy Eating Index Scores in Elementary Children's Lunches from School and from Home

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bergman, Ethan A.; Englund, Tim; Ogan, Dana; Watkins, Tracee; Barbee, Mary; Rushing, Keith

    2016-01-01

    Purpose/Objectives: The purposes of this study were to: 1) analyze beverage selections of elementary students consuming National School Lunch Program meals (NSLP) and lunches brought from home (LBFH), 2) compare overall meal quality (MQ) of NSLP and LBFH by food components using Healthy Eating Index 2010 (HEI-2010), and 3) investigate the impact…

  5. [The best noise index combined with ASIR weighting selection in low-dose chest scanning].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xiao, Huijuan; Hou, Ping; Liu, Jie; Gao, Jianbo; Tan, Hongna; Liang, Pan; Pu, Shi

    2015-10-06

    To discuss the best noise index combined with ASIR weighting selection in low-dose chest scanning based on BMI. 200 patients collected from May to December 2014 underwent non-contrast chest CT examinations, they were randomly assigned into standard dose group (Group A, NI15 combined with 30% ASIR) and low-dose groups (Group B, NI25 combined with 40% ASIR, Group C, NI30 combined with 50% ASIR, Group D, NI35 combined with 60% ASIR), 50 cases in each group; the patients were assigned into three groups based on BMI (kg/m2): BMI25. Signal-to-nosie ratio (SNR), contrast-to noise ratio (CNR), CT dose index volume (CTDIvol), dose-length product (DLP), effective dose (ED) and subjective scoring between the standard and low-dose groups were compared and analyzed statistically. Differences of SNR, CNR, CTDIvol, DLP and ED among groups were determined with ANOVA analysis and the consistency of diagnosis with Kappa test. SNR, CTDIvol, DLP and ED reduced with the increase of nosie index, the differences among the groups were statistically significant (P25 kg/m2 group. NI35 combined with 60% ASIR in BMIASIR in 18.5 kg/m2≤BMI≤25 kg/m2 group; NI25 combined with 40% ASIR in 18.5 kg/m2≤BMI≤25 kg/m2 group were the best parameters combination which both can significantly reduce the radiation dose and ensure the image quality.

  6. Factorization of the 3d superconformal index with an adjoint matter

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hwang, Chiung [Department of Physics, POSTECH,Pohang 790-784 (Korea, Republic of); Park, Jaemo [Department of Physics, POSTECH,Pohang 790-784 (Korea, Republic of); Postech Center for Theoretical Physics (PCTP), POSTECH,Pohang 790-784 (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-11-05

    We work out the factorization of the 3d superconformal index for N=2U(N{sub c}) gauge theory with one adjoint chiral multiplet as well as N{sub f} fundamental, N{sub a} anti-fundamental chiral multiplets. Using the factorization, one can prove the Seiberg-like duality for N=4U(N{sub c}) theory with N{sub f} hypermultiplets at the index level. We explicitly show that monopole operators violating unitarity bound in a bad theory are mapped to free hypermultiplets in the dual side. For N=2U(N{sub c}) theory with one adjoint matter X, N{sub f} fundamental, N{sub a} anti-fundamental chiral multiplets with superpotential W=trX{sup n+1}, we work out Seiberg-like duality for this theory. The index computation provides combinatorial identities for a dual pair, which we carry out intensive numerical checks.

  7. The limits of weak selection and large population size in evolutionary game theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sample, Christine; Allen, Benjamin

    2017-11-01

    Evolutionary game theory is a mathematical approach to studying how social behaviors evolve. In many recent works, evolutionary competition between strategies is modeled as a stochastic process in a finite population. In this context, two limits are both mathematically convenient and biologically relevant: weak selection and large population size. These limits can be combined in different ways, leading to potentially different results. We consider two orderings: the [Formula: see text] limit, in which weak selection is applied before the large population limit, and the [Formula: see text] limit, in which the order is reversed. Formal mathematical definitions of the [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] limits are provided. Applying these definitions to the Moran process of evolutionary game theory, we obtain asymptotic expressions for fixation probability and conditions for success in these limits. We find that the asymptotic expressions for fixation probability, and the conditions for a strategy to be favored over a neutral mutation, are different in the [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] limits. However, the ordering of limits does not affect the conditions for one strategy to be favored over another.

  8. Reconceptualization of the Diffusion Process: An Application of Selected Principles from Modern Systems Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silver, Wayne

    A description of the communication behaviors in high innovation societies depends on the application of selected principles from modern systems theory. The first is the principle of equifinality which explains the activities of open systems. If the researcher views society as an open system, he frees himself from the client approach since society…

  9. Tracking Theory Building and Use Trends in Selected LIS Journals: More Research is Needed. A review of: Kim, Sung‐Jin, and Dong Y. Jeong. “An Analysis of the Development and Use of Theory in Library and Information Science Research Articles.” Library & Information Science Research 28.4 (Sept. 2006: 548‐62.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carol Perryman

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available Objective ‐ The authors measure theory incidents occurring in four LIS journals between 1984‐2003 in order to examine their number and quality and to analyze them by topic. A third objective, only identified later in the text of the study, was to compare theory development and use between Korean and international journals. Research questions asked include whether LIS has its own theoretical base as a discipline, and what characteristics the theoretical framework has.Design – Bibliometric study.Setting – Journal issues selected from four LIS journals for the time span from 1984 ‐ 2003.Subjects – Two international journals, Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology (JASIST and Library and Information Science Research (LISR were selected based on their high ranking in the Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI impact factors. Two Korean journals, Journal of the Korean Society for Information Management (JKSIM and Journal of the Korean Society for Library and Information Science (JKSLIS were selected.Methods ‐ After having determined a definition of theory, and identifying different levels of theory, the authors set up rules for the identification of theory incidents, which are defined as “events in which the author contributed to the development or the use of theory in his/her own paper” (550. Content analysis of 1661 research articles was performed to measure theory incidents according to working definitions. Interrater reliability was ensured by conducting independent coding for “subfield classification, identification of theory incidents, and quality measurement” (555,using a sample of 199 articles (random selection not specified, achieving 94‐97% interrater reliability. Incidents, once identified, were evaluated for quality using Dubin’s “efficiency of law” criteria, involving measures of relatedness, directionality, co‐variation, rate of change, and “profundity,” defined as the

  10. Critical Dispersion-Theory Tests of Silicon's IR Refractive Index

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karstens, William; Smith, D. Y.

    Silicon strongly absorbs both visible and UV light, but is highly transparent in the IR. Hence, it is a common choice for infrared windows and lenses. However, optical design is hindered by literature index values that disagree by up to 1%. In contrast optical-glass indices are known to 0.01% or better. The most widely available silicon IR indices are based on bulk measurements using either Snell's-Law refraction by a prism or channel-spectra interference of front- and backsurface reflections from a planar sample. To test the physical acceptability of these data, we have developed criteria based on a Taylor expansion of the Kramers-Kronig relation for the index at energies below strong inter-band transitions. These tests require that the coefficients of the series in powers of energy squared must be positive within the region of transparency. This is satisfied by essentially all prism measurements; their small scatter arises primarily from impurities and doping. In contrast, channel-spectra data fail in the second and third coefficients. A review of the experimental analysis indicates three problems besides purity: incorrect channel number arising from a channel-spectra model that neglects spectrum distortion by the weak lattice absorption; use of a series expansion of mixed parity in photon energy to describe the even-parity index; and use of an incorrect absorption energy in the Li-Sellmeier dispersion formula. Recommendations for IR index values for pure silicon will be discussed. Supported in part by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Nuclear Physics under contract DE-AC02-06CH11357.

  11. Clustering of financial time series with application to index and enhanced index tracking portfolio

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dose, Christian; Cincotti, Silvano

    2005-09-01

    A stochastic-optimization technique based on time series cluster analysis is described for index tracking and enhanced index tracking problems. Our methodology solves the problem in two steps, i.e., by first selecting a subset of stocks and then setting the weight of each stock as a result of an optimization process (asset allocation). Present formulation takes into account constraints on the number of stocks and on the fraction of capital invested in each of them, whilst not including transaction costs. Computational results based on clustering selection are compared to those of random techniques and show the importance of clustering in noise reduction and robust forecasting applications, in particular for enhanced index tracking.

  12. Integration of genomic information into sport horse breeding programs for optimization of accuracy of selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Haberland, A M; König von Borstel, U; Simianer, H; König, S

    2012-09-01

    Reliable selection criteria are required for young riding horses to increase genetic gain by increasing accuracy of selection and decreasing generation intervals. In this study, selection strategies incorporating genomic breeding values (GEBVs) were evaluated. Relevant stages of selection in sport horse breeding programs were analyzed by applying selection index theory. Results in terms of accuracies of indices (r(TI) ) and relative selection response indicated that information on single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) genotypes considerably increases the accuracy of breeding values estimated for young horses without own or progeny performance. In a first scenario, the correlation between the breeding value estimated from the SNP genotype and the true breeding value (= accuracy of GEBV) was fixed to a relatively low value of r(mg) = 0.5. For a low heritability trait (h(2) = 0.15), and an index for a young horse based only on information from both parents, additional genomic information doubles r(TI) from 0.27 to 0.54. Including the conventional information source 'own performance' into the before mentioned index, additional SNP information increases r(TI) by 40%. Thus, particularly with regard to traits of low heritability, genomic information can provide a tool for well-founded selection decisions early in life. In a further approach, different sources of breeding values (e.g. GEBV and estimated breeding values (EBVs) from different countries) were combined into an overall index when altering accuracies of EBVs and correlations between traits. In summary, we showed that genomic selection strategies have the potential to contribute to a substantial reduction in generation intervals in horse breeding programs.

  13. A direct-gradient multivariate index of biotic condition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miranda, Leandro E.; Aycock, J.N.; Killgore, K. J.

    2012-01-01

    Multimetric indexes constructed by summing metric scores have been criticized despite many of their merits. A leading criticism is the potential for investigator bias involved in metric selection and scoring. Often there is a large number of competing metrics equally well correlated with environmental stressors, requiring a judgment call by the investigator to select the most suitable metrics to include in the index and how to score them. Data-driven procedures for multimetric index formulation published during the last decade have reduced this limitation, yet apprehension remains. Multivariate approaches that select metrics with statistical algorithms may reduce the level of investigator bias and alleviate a weakness of multimetric indexes. We investigated the suitability of a direct-gradient multivariate procedure to derive an index of biotic condition for fish assemblages in oxbow lakes in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley. Although this multivariate procedure also requires that the investigator identify a set of suitable metrics potentially associated with a set of environmental stressors, it is different from multimetric procedures because it limits investigator judgment in selecting a subset of biotic metrics to include in the index and because it produces metric weights suitable for computation of index scores. The procedure, applied to a sample of 35 competing biotic metrics measured at 50 oxbow lakes distributed over a wide geographical region in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, selected 11 metrics that adequately indexed the biotic condition of five test lakes. Because the multivariate index includes only metrics that explain the maximum variability in the stressor variables rather than a balanced set of metrics chosen to reflect various fish assemblage attributes, it is fundamentally different from multimetric indexes of biotic integrity with advantages and disadvantages. As such, it provides an alternative to multimetric procedures.

  14. Estimation of Physiological Cost Index as an Energy Expenditure Index using MacGregor’s Equation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Binaya SJB Rana

    2015-09-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Physical activity and energy expenditure can be quantified by measuring heart rate, oxygen uptake and respiratory quotient. The Physiological Cost Index (PCI proposed by MacGregor is a simple and straightforward method to estimate the energy expenditure index. Here, we aim to estimate the energy expenditure among young Asian population using MacGregor’s equation. Methods: A total of 50 young randomly selected healthy females performed 50m, 100m and 150m walking test at their self-selected preferred speed. The physiological cost index values for 100 m walk at speeds slower and faster than the preferred speed were also obtained. The physiological cost index during exercise was calculated using MacGregor’s equation considering heart rate and speed of walking over the varying distances. Results: The PCI values on three different distances are consistent during self selected preferred speed. The PCI estimation on second and third tests for all three distances walked consistently reproducible. However for each distance walked, the first test the PCI was significantly higher than the second and third test values. The PCI values increased significantly when subjects walked either slower (p = 0.02 or faster (p = 0.001 than their normal preferred speed. Conclusion: The physiological cost index values were similar for varying distances walks. The PCI was the least at the preferred speed of walking and increased when the subjects either walked slower or faster than the preferred speed. The first estimation was higher than subsequent estimations. Keywords: energy expenditure index; exercise; physiological cost index. | PubMed

  15. Index to conference titles: selected conferences cited in the Energy Data Base 1977-1982

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vannoy, D.M.

    1982-05-01

    This publication cites energy-related conferences, meetings, symposia, and congresses within the programmatic interests of the US Department of Energy. It supplements Index to Conference Titles: Selected Conferences Cited in the ERDA Data Base 1972-1977, TIC-4045-S1, August 1977, and includes conferences held since January 1, 1977, which have been assigned a number in the CONF- report number series. The CONF- number is a six- or seven-digit code. The first two digits represent the years in which the conference was held; the next two represent the month; and the remaining digits are the accession number assigned by the DOE Technical Information Center

  16. Experimental comparison between speech transmission index, rapid speech transmission index, and speech intelligibility index.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Larm, Petra; Hongisto, Valtteri

    2006-02-01

    During the acoustical design of, e.g., auditoria or open-plan offices, it is important to know how speech can be perceived in various parts of the room. Different objective methods have been developed to measure and predict speech intelligibility, and these have been extensively used in various spaces. In this study, two such methods were compared, the speech transmission index (STI) and the speech intelligibility index (SII). Also the simplification of the STI, the room acoustics speech transmission index (RASTI), was considered. These quantities are all based on determining an apparent speech-to-noise ratio on selected frequency bands and summing them using a specific weighting. For comparison, some data were needed on the possible differences of these methods resulting from the calculation scheme and also measuring equipment. Their prediction accuracy was also of interest. Measurements were made in a laboratory having adjustable noise level and absorption, and in a real auditorium. It was found that the measurement equipment, especially the selection of the loudspeaker, can greatly affect the accuracy of the results. The prediction accuracy of the RASTI was found acceptable, if the input values for the prediction are accurately known, even though the studied space was not ideally diffuse.

  17. Evidence-based selection of theories for designing behaviour change interventions: using methods based on theoretical construct domains to understand clinicians' blood transfusion behaviour.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Francis, Jill J; Stockton, Charlotte; Eccles, Martin P; Johnston, Marie; Cuthbertson, Brian H; Grimshaw, Jeremy M; Hyde, Chris; Tinmouth, Alan; Stanworth, Simon J

    2009-11-01

    Many theories of behaviour are potentially relevant to predictive and intervention studies but most studies investigate a narrow range of theories. Michie et al. (2005) agreed 12 'theoretical domains' from 33 theories that explain behaviour change. They developed a 'Theoretical Domains Interview' (TDI) for identifying relevant domains for specific clinical behaviours, but the framework has not been used for selecting theories for predictive studies. It was used here to investigate clinicians' transfusion behaviour in intensive care units (ICU). Evidence suggests that red blood cells transfusion could be reduced for some patients without reducing quality of care. (1) To identify the domains relevant to transfusion practice in ICUs and neonatal intensive care units (NICUs), using the TDI. (2) To use the identified domains to select appropriate theories for a study predicting transfusion behaviour. An adapted TDI about managing a patient with borderline haemoglobin by watching and waiting instead of transfusing red blood cells was used to conduct semi-structured, one-to-one interviews with 18 intensive care consultants and neonatologists across the UK. Relevant theoretical domains were: knowledge, beliefs about capabilities, beliefs about consequences, social influences, behavioural regulation. Further analysis at the construct level resulted in selection of seven theoretical approaches relevant to this context: Knowledge-Attitude-Behaviour Model, Theory of Planned Behaviour, Social Cognitive Theory, Operant Learning Theory, Control Theory, Normative Model of Work Team Effectiveness and Action Planning Approaches. This study illustrated, the use of the TDI to identify relevant domains in a complex area of inpatient care. This approach is potentially valuable for selecting theories relevant to predictive studies and resulted in greater breadth of potential explanations than would be achieved if a single theoretical model had been adopted.

  18. On the Selection of Optimal Index Configuration in OO Databases

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Choenni, R.S.; Bertino, E.; Blanken, Henk; Chang, S.C.

    An operation in object-oriented databases gives rise to the processing of a path. Several database operations may result into the same path. The authors address the problem of optimal index configuration for a single path. As it is shown an optimal index configuration for a path can be achieved by

  19. Opportunity for natural selection among some selected population groups of Northeast India.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Das, Farida Ahmed; Mithun, Sikdar

    2010-05-01

    Selection potential based on differential fertility and mortality has been computed for seven population groups inhabiting different geographical locations of Northeast India. Crow's as well as Johnston and Kensinger's index have been used for the present purpose. Irrespective of the methodology, the total index of selection was found to be highest among the Deoris followed by the Kaibartas. The lowest selection index was found among the Oraon population. If the relative contribution of fertility and mortality components to the total index is considered to be multiplicative, it is observed that in all these communities the fertility component exceeds that of mortality component, which may indicate initiation of demographic transitional phase in the selected populations with the betterment of healthcare and socioeconomic condition within the last few decades.

  20. The normative background of empirical-ethical research: first steps towards a transparent and reasoned approach in the selection of an ethical theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salloch, Sabine; Wäscher, Sebastian; Vollmann, Jochen; Schildmann, Jan

    2015-04-04

    Empirical-ethical research constitutes a relatively new field which integrates socio-empirical research and normative analysis. As direct inferences from descriptive data to normative conclusions are problematic, an ethical framework is needed to determine the relevance of the empirical data for normative argument. While issues of normative-empirical collaboration and questions of empirical methodology have been widely discussed in the literature, the normative methodology of empirical-ethical research has seldom been addressed. Based on our own research experience, we discuss one aspect of this normative methodology, namely the selection of an ethical theory serving as a background for empirical-ethical research. Whereas criteria for a good ethical theory in philosophical ethics are usually related to inherent aspects, such as the theory's clarity or coherence, additional points have to be considered in the field of empirical-ethical research. Three of these additional criteria will be discussed in the article: (a) the adequacy of the ethical theory for the issue at stake, (b) the theory's suitability for the purposes and design of the empirical-ethical research project, and (c) the interrelation between the ethical theory selected and the theoretical backgrounds of the socio-empirical research. Using the example of our own study on the development of interventions which support clinical decision-making in oncology, we will show how the selection of an ethical theory as a normative background for empirical-ethical research can proceed. We will also discuss the limitations of the procedures chosen in our project. The article stresses that a systematic and reasoned approach towards theory selection in empirical-ethical research should be given priority rather than an accidental or implicit way of choosing the normative framework for one's own research. It furthermore shows that the overall design of an empirical-ethical study is a multi-faceted endeavor which has to

  1. Weak Quantum Theory: Formal Framework and Selected Applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Atmanspacher, Harald; Filk, Thomas; Roemer, Hartmann

    2006-01-01

    Two key concepts of quantum theory, complementarity and entanglement, are considered with respect to their significance in and beyond physics. An axiomatically formalized, weak version of quantum theory, more general than the ordinary quantum theory of physical systems, is described. Its mathematical structure generalizes the algebraic approach to ordinary quantum theory. The crucial formal feature leading to complementarity and entanglement is the non-commutativity of observables.The ordinary Hilbert space quantum mechanics can be recovered by stepwise adding the necessary features. This provides a hierarchy of formal frameworks of decreasing generality and increasing specificity. Two concrete applications, more specific than weak quantum theory and more general than ordinary quantum theory, are discussed: (i) complementarity and entanglement in classical dynamical systems, and (ii) complementarity and entanglement in the bistable perception of ambiguous stimuli

  2. Research on the selection of innovation compound using Possibility Construction Space Theory and fuzzy pattern recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xie, Songhua; Li, Dehua; Nie, Hui

    2009-10-01

    There are a large number of fuzzy concepts and fuzzy phenomena in traditional Chinese medicine, which have led to great difficulties for study of traditional Chinese medicine. In this paper, the mathematical methods are used to quantify fuzzy concepts of drugs and prescription. We put forward the process of innovation formulations and selection method in Chinese medicine based on the Possibility Construction Space Theory (PCST) and fuzzy pattern recognition. Experimental results show that the method of selecting medicines from a number of characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine is consistent with the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine. The results also reflect the integrated effects of the innovation compound. Through the use of the innovation formulations system, we expect to provide software tools for developing new traditional Chinese medicine and to inspire traditional Chinese medicine researchers to develop novel drugs.

  3. Schur indices, BPS particles, and Argyres-Douglas theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Córdova, Clay; Shao, Shu-Heng

    2016-01-01

    We conjecture a precise relationship between the Schur limit of the superconformal index of four-dimensional N=2 field theories, which counts local operators, and the spectrum of BPS particles on the Coulomb branch. We verify this conjecture for the special case of free field theories, N=2 QED, and SU(2) gauge theory coupled to fundamental matter. Assuming the validity of our proposal, we compute the Schur index of all Argyres-Douglas theories. Our answers match expectations from the connection of Schur operators with two-dimensional chiral algebras. Based on our results we propose that the chiral algebra of the generalized Argyres-Douglas theory (A_k_−_1,A_N_−_1) with k and N coprime, is the vacuum sector of the (k,k+N)W_k minimal model, and that the Schur index is the associated vacuum character.

  4. Bureau of Radiological Health publications index

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1979-08-01

    The Key Word in Context (KWIC) index to the publications of the Bureau of Radiological Health was prepared to aid in the retrieval and identification of publications originated or authored by Bureau staff or published by the Bureau. These publications include journal articles, government publications and technical reports, selected staff papers, and Bureau news releases issued by HEW. For convenience, the document is divided into four sections, KWIC Index, Author Index, Bibliography Index, and BRH Publications Subject Index

  5. Opportunity for natural selection among some selected population groups of Northeast India

    Science.gov (United States)

    Das, Farida Ahmed; Mithun, Sikdar

    2010-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Selection potential based on differential fertility and mortality has been computed for seven population groups inhabiting different geographical locations of Northeast India. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Crow’s as well as Johnston and Kensinger’s index have been used for the present purpose. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: Irrespective of the methodology, the total index of selection was found to be highest among the Deoris followed by the Kaibartas. The lowest selection index was found among the Oraon population. If the relative contribution of fertility and mortality components to the total index is considered to be multiplicative, it is observed that in all these communities the fertility component exceeds that of mortality component, which may indicate initiation of demographic transitional phase in the selected populations with the betterment of healthcare and socioeconomic condition within the last few decades. PMID:21031053

  6. [Hyperspectral remote sensing image classification based on SVM optimized by clonal selection].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Qing-Jie; Jing, Lin-Hai; Wang, Meng-Fei; Lin, Qi-Zhong

    2013-03-01

    Model selection for support vector machine (SVM) involving kernel and the margin parameter values selection is usually time-consuming, impacts training efficiency of SVM model and final classification accuracies of SVM hyperspectral remote sensing image classifier greatly. Firstly, based on combinatorial optimization theory and cross-validation method, artificial immune clonal selection algorithm is introduced to the optimal selection of SVM (CSSVM) kernel parameter a and margin parameter C to improve the training efficiency of SVM model. Then an experiment of classifying AVIRIS in India Pine site of USA was performed for testing the novel CSSVM, as well as a traditional SVM classifier with general Grid Searching cross-validation method (GSSVM) for comparison. And then, evaluation indexes including SVM model training time, classification overall accuracy (OA) and Kappa index of both CSSVM and GSSVM were all analyzed quantitatively. It is demonstrated that OA of CSSVM on test samples and whole image are 85.1% and 81.58, the differences from that of GSSVM are both within 0.08% respectively; And Kappa indexes reach 0.8213 and 0.7728, the differences from that of GSSVM are both within 0.001; While the ratio of model training time of CSSVM and GSSVM is between 1/6 and 1/10. Therefore, CSSVM is fast and accurate algorithm for hyperspectral image classification and is superior to GSSVM.

  7. Factors influencing the selected body parameters and hippometric indexes in donkey’s population

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martina Kosťuková

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The main focus of our work was to collect basic body measurements of donkey population in Czech republic and determine the factors that influence these body measurements and hipometric indexes. The following measurements were recorded: height at withers, chest circumference and metacarpus interference. Based on the collected data, we were able to calculate the hipometric indexes: index of boniness, skeleton strength index, body mass index and coup height index. From a total of 331 individuals of donkey species living in Czech republic we managed to collect 50 samples. These were subjected to a general linear model (GLM and multiplex comparison statistical analysis. We managed to prove a statistically significant difference between donkeys born in Czech republic and the ones born abroad for all the measurements. Specifically the metacarpus circumference the gender dependency was also proved, having its impact on the hipometric indexes as well; the boniness index and skeleton strength index were also proved to be gender – dependent.

  8. Sustainability index approach as a selection criteria for energy storage system of an intermittent renewable energy source

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Raza, Syed Shabbar; Janajreh, Isam; Ghenai, Chaouki

    2014-01-01

    Highlights: • Three renewable energy storage options considered: lead acid and lithium polymer batteries and fuel cell. • Hydrogen fuel cell system is the most feasible energy storage option for the long term energy storage. • Sustainability index approach is a novel method used to quantify the qualitative properties of the system. - Abstract: The sustainability index is an adaptive, multicriteria and novel technique that is used to compare different energy storage systems for their sustainability. This innovative concept utilizes both qualitative and quantitative results to measure sustainability through an index based approach. This report aims to compare three different energy storage options for an intermittent renewable energy source. The three energy storage options are lead acid batteries, lithium polymer batteries and fuel cell systems, that are selected due to their availability and the geographical constrain of using other energy storage options. The renewable energy source used is solar photovoltaic (PV). Several technical, economic and environmental factors have been discussed elaborately which would help us to evaluate the merits of the energy storage system for long term storage. Finally, a novel sustainability index has been proposed which quantifies the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the factors discussed, and thus helps us choose the ideal energy storage system for our scenario. A weighted sum approach is used to quantify each factor according to their importance. After a detailed analysis of the three energy storage systems through the sustainability index approach, the most feasible energy storage option was found to be fuel cell systems which can provide a long term energy storage option and also environmental friendly

  9. Exploring QSAR with E-state index: selectivity requirements for COX-2 versus COX-1 binding of terphenyl methyl sulfones and sulfonamides.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakraborty, Santanu; Sengupta, Chandana; Roy, Kunal

    2004-09-20

    An attempt has been made to explore selectivity requirements for cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) versus cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) binding of terphenyl methyl sulfones and sulfonamides using electrotopological state (E-state) index and suitable indicator parameters. Multiple linear regression analyses produced statistically acceptable equations: the best relation based on 'all-possible-subsets regression' for COX-1 binding (n=18) showed predicted variance and explained variance of 0.675 and 0.777, respectively, while in case of the best equation for COX-2 binding (n=38), these values rose to 0.842 and 0.874, respectively. For the selectivity relation (n=17), predicted variance and explained variance values were 0.601 and 0.687, respectively. Based on the results of the analyses, three important sites have been suggested: sites A (methylsulfonyl or aminosulfonyl moiety), B (central phenyl ring), and C (terminal phenyl ring containing different substituents). All three sites are important for COX-2 binding while sites B and C are important for COX-1 binding. For COX-2 selectivity, only site C plays an important role. The study shows the utility of E-state index in developing statistically acceptable model having direct physicochemical significance.

  10. The grazing index method of range condition assessment | du Toit ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Owing to the difficulty of examining succession theory in the Karoo, it is suggested the ecological index method (EIM), be replaced by the grazing index method (GIM), through the introduction of grazing index values (GIV) for Karoo plant species. The GIM may provide more acceptable range condition scores and more ...

  11. Inflation and the Indexation of Personal Income Taxes in Theory and Practice

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vito Tanzi

    1976-09-01

    Full Text Available The impact of inflation on taxpayers’ liabilities can be measured in at least two different and often contrasting ways. On the one hand, it can be measured by the percentage increases in the average tax rates. On the other hand, it can be measured by the percentage points, that is the absolute increases in those rates. Although the former has attracted more attention, it is the latter that is more significant in regards to the effects on disposable incomes and after-tax income distribution. Much of the controversy regarding indexation has revolved around the issue of stabilization. Some have argued that indexation poses real dangers to stability while others have pointed to its positive potential. The author looks at analytical adjustment schemes and analyses practical applications of indexation, arguing that the case for or against indexation of the personal income tax cannot be made in abstract as the consequences of indexing differ among countries.

  12. Derivative Trade Optimizing Model Utilizing GP Based on Behavioral Finance Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsumura, Koki; Kawamoto, Masaru

    This paper proposed a new technique which makes the strategy trees for the derivative (option) trading investment decision based on the behavioral finance theory and optimizes it using evolutionary computation, in order to achieve high profitability. The strategy tree uses a technical analysis based on a statistical, experienced technique for the investment decision. The trading model is represented by various technical indexes, and the strategy tree is optimized by the genetic programming(GP) which is one of the evolutionary computations. Moreover, this paper proposed a method using the prospect theory based on the behavioral finance theory to set psychological bias for profit and deficit and attempted to select the appropriate strike price of option for the higher investment efficiency. As a result, this technique produced a good result and found the effectiveness of this trading model by the optimized dealings strategy.

  13. Structure stability index allocation theory and measurement of laser prototype facility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Junwei; China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang; Zhou Hai; Feng Bin; Lin Donghui; Jing Feng; Zhou Yi; Wang Shilong

    2008-01-01

    Structure stability is an important design index of ICF driver. Based on laser prototype facility(TIL) design characteristic of multi-pass amplifier and frame structure, the optical matrix is used to analyze the single optical element influence on the beam drift and get the mathematic model. Considering all the optical elements influence on the beam drift, the mathematic model of the optical element stability index allocation is built, the parameter relation of the mathematic model is defined according to the structure characteristic of TIL, the stability index of each optical element is got as the support structure design index. Charge-coupled device(CCD) detect technology is used to measure the general beam stability of TIL. The root mean square beam drift in x and y direction are 2.78 μm, the difference between peak and valley values are 14.4 μm and 15.60 μm, respectively. The result indicates that the stability drift of the prototype facility can satisfy the design requirement, the way of the stability allocation is reasonable. (authors)

  14. When familiar social partners are selected in open-ended situations: further tests of the socioemotional selectivity theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dudley, Nikki M; Multhaup, Kristi S

    2005-01-01

    Socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 1995, Current Directions in Psychological Science, 4, 151-156) predicts that novel social partners are preferred in open-ended situations, whereas familiar social partners are preferred in future-limited situations. The authors attempted to generalize past research to new familiar and novel partner options. Studies 1 (N=144; undergraduates, community-dwelling adults ages 65 to 95) and 2 (N=336 community-dwelling participants ages 11 to 89) indicated that young and older participants in a future-limited situation preferred familiar partners. However, with different social partner options than have been used in previous research, young participants in an open-ended situation also preferred a familiar partner, contrary to the predictions of SST.

  15. Varying levels of difficulty index of skills-test items randomly selected by examinees on the Korean emergency medical technician licensing examination.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koh, Bongyeun; Hong, Sunggi; Kim, Soon-Sim; Hyun, Jin-Sook; Baek, Milye; Moon, Jundong; Kwon, Hayran; Kim, Gyoungyong; Min, Seonggi; Kang, Gu-Hyun

    2016-01-01

    The goal of this study was to characterize the difficulty index of the items in the skills test components of the class I and II Korean emergency medical technician licensing examination (KEMTLE), which requires examinees to select items randomly. The results of 1,309 class I KEMTLE examinations and 1,801 class II KEMTLE examinations in 2013 were subjected to analysis. Items from the basic and advanced skills test sections of the KEMTLE were compared to determine whether some were significantly more difficult than others. In the class I KEMTLE, all 4 of the items on the basic skills test showed significant variation in difficulty index (P<0.01), as well as 4 of the 5 items on the advanced skills test (P<0.05). In the class II KEMTLE, 4 of the 5 items on the basic skills test showed significantly different difficulty index (P<0.01), as well as all 3 of the advanced skills test items (P<0.01). In the skills test components of the class I and II KEMTLE, the procedure in which examinees randomly select questions should be revised to require examinees to respond to a set of fixed items in order to improve the reliability of the national licensing examination.

  16. Varying levels of difficulty index of skills-test items randomly selected by examinees on the Korean emergency medical technician licensing examination

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bongyeun Koh

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: The goal of this study was to characterize the difficulty index of the items in the skills test components of the class I and II Korean emergency medical technician licensing examination (KEMTLE, which requires examinees to select items randomly. Methods: The results of 1,309 class I KEMTLE examinations and 1,801 class II KEMTLE examinations in 2013 were subjected to analysis. Items from the basic and advanced skills test sections of the KEMTLE were compared to determine whether some were significantly more difficult than others. Results: In the class I KEMTLE, all 4 of the items on the basic skills test showed significant variation in difficulty index (P<0.01, as well as 4 of the 5 items on the advanced skills test (P<0.05. In the class II KEMTLE, 4 of the 5 items on the basic skills test showed significantly different difficulty index (P<0.01, as well as all 3 of the advanced skills test items (P<0.01. Conclusion: In the skills test components of the class I and II KEMTLE, the procedure in which examinees randomly select questions should be revised to require examinees to respond to a set of fixed items in order to improve the reliability of the national licensing examination.

  17. USING INFORMATION THEORY TO DEFINE A SUSTAINABILITY INDEX

    Science.gov (United States)

    Information theory has many applications in Ecology and Environmental science, such as a biodiversity indicator, as a measure of evolution, a measure of distance from thermodynamic equilibrium, and as a measure of system organization. Fisher Information, in particular, provides a...

  18. Neutral Theory: From Complex Population History to Natural Selection and Sociocultural Phenomena in Human Populations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Austerlitz, Frédéric; Heyer, Evelyne

    2018-06-01

    Here, we present a synthetic view on how Kimura's Neutral theory has helped us gaining insight on the different evolutionary forces that shape human evolution. We put this perspective in the frame of recent emerging challenges: the use of whole genome data for reconstructing population histories, natural selection on complex polygenic traits, and integrating cultural processes in human evolution.

  19. Extreme value theory in emerging markets

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Anđelić Goran

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper investigates the performance of extreme value theory (EVT with the daily stock index returns of four different emerging markets. The research covers the sample representing the Serbian (BELEXline, Croatian (CROBEX, Slovenian (SBI20, and Hungarian (BUX stock indexes using the data from January 2006 - September 2009. In the paper a performance test was carried out for the success of application of the extreme value theory in estimating and forecasting of the tails of daily return distribution of the analyzed stock indexes. Therefore the main goal is to determine whether EVT adequately estimates and forecasts the tails (2.5% and 5% at the tail of daily stock index return distribution in the emerging markets of Serbia, Croatia, Slovenia, and Hungary. The applied methodology during the research includes analysis, synthesis and statistical/mathematical methods. Research results according to estimated Generalized Pareto Distribution (GPD parameters indicate the necessity of applying market risk estimation methods, i.e. extreme value theory (EVT in the framework of a broader analysis of investment processes in emerging markets.

  20. Browse Title Index

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Items 101 - 150 of 414 ... Journal Home > Advanced Search > Browse Title Index. Log in or ... of an algebraic function for the permutation of truth table columns, Abstract ... appraisal and productivity levels in selected Nigerian universities, Abstract.

  1. Nonperturbative results for two-index conformal windows

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bergner, Georg [Albert Einstein Center for Fundamental Physics,Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of Bern,Sidlerstrasse 5, CH-3012 Bern (Switzerland); Ryttov, Thomas A.; Sannino, Francesco [CP-Origins and the Danish IAS, University of Southern Denmark,5230 Odense M (Denmark)

    2015-12-10

    Via large and small N{sub c} relations we derive nonperturbative results about the conformal window of two-index theories. Using Schwinger-Dyson methods as well as four-loops results we estimate subleading corrections and show that naive large number of colors extrapolations are unreliable when N{sub c} is less than about six. Nevertheless useful nonperturbative inequalities for the size of the conformal windows, for any number of colors, can be derived. By further observing that the adjoint conformal window is independent of the number of colors we argue, among other things, that: the large N{sub c} two-index conformal window is twice the conformal window of the adjoint representation (which can be determined at small N{sub c}) expressed in terms of Dirac fermions; lattice results for adjoint matter can be used to provide independent information on the conformal dynamics of two-index theories such as SU(N{sub c}) with two and four symmetric Dirac flavors.

  2. Nonperturbative results for two-index conformal windows

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bergner, Georg; Ryttov, Thomas A.; Sannino, Francesco

    2015-01-01

    Via large and small N c relations we derive nonperturbative results about the conformal window of two-index theories. Using Schwinger-Dyson methods as well as four-loops results we estimate subleading corrections and show that naive large number of colors extrapolations are unreliable when N c is less than about six. Nevertheless useful nonperturbative inequalities for the size of the conformal windows, for any number of colors, can be derived. By further observing that the adjoint conformal window is independent of the number of colors we argue, among other things, that: the large N c two-index conformal window is twice the conformal window of the adjoint representation (which can be determined at small N c ) expressed in terms of Dirac fermions; lattice results for adjoint matter can be used to provide independent information on the conformal dynamics of two-index theories such as SU(N c ) with two and four symmetric Dirac flavors.

  3. Event Index - a LHCb Event Search System

    CERN Document Server

    INSPIRE-00392208; Kazeev, Nikita; Redkin, Artem

    2015-12-23

    LHC experiments generate up to $10^{12}$ events per year. This paper describes Event Index - an event search system. Event Index's primary function is quickly selecting subsets of events from a combination of conditions, such as the estimated decay channel or stripping lines output. Event Index is essentially Apache Lucene optimized for read-only indexes distributed over independent shards on independent nodes.

  4. Ring Theory

    CERN Document Server

    Jara, Pascual; Torrecillas, Blas

    1988-01-01

    The papers in this proceedings volume are selected research papers in different areas of ring theory, including graded rings, differential operator rings, K-theory of noetherian rings, torsion theory, regular rings, cohomology of algebras, local cohomology of noncommutative rings. The book will be important for mathematicians active in research in ring theory.

  5. Supplement: Commodity Index Report

    Data.gov (United States)

    Commodity Futures Trading Commission — Shows index traders in selected agricultural markets. These traders are drawn from the noncommercial and commercial categories. The noncommercial category includes...

  6. Characteristics of Criteria for Selecting Investment Projects under Uncertainty

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Adrian ENCIU

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available Within financial theory and practice, there are used five main criteria for selecting investment projects: the net present value (NPV criterion, the internal rate of return (IRR criterion, the return term (RT criterion, the profitability ratio (PR criterion and the supplementary return (SR criterion. The assay will emphasize several new properties of said indexes for investment assessment, having as starting point the hypotheses of (approximately normal repartition of cash-flows generated by an investment project. The obtained results point to the fact that the NPV indexes (the analysis of this criterion was carried out in the article “The NPV Criterion for Valuing Investments under Uncertainty”, Daniel Armeanu, Leonard Lache, Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research no. 4/2009, pp. 133-143, IRR, PR, RT and SR register normal repartitions, therefore simplifying the investment analysis under economic uncertainty, by the capacity of building confidence intervals and assessing probabilities for the inferior limits of said investment assessment indexes.

  7. Generalizability theory and item response theory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Glas, Cornelis A.W.; Eggen, T.J.H.M.; Veldkamp, B.P.

    2012-01-01

    Item response theory is usually applied to items with a selected-response format, such as multiple choice items, whereas generalizability theory is usually applied to constructed-response tasks assessed by raters. However, in many situations, raters may use rating scales consisting of items with a

  8. Measurement of intra-industry trade (ITT) of Iran with ten selective major trading partners using Grubel-Lloyd Index

    OpenAIRE

    Muhammad Emadi

    2016-01-01

    This paper was conducted to measure intra-industry trade of Iran with ten selective major trading partners including the United Arab Emirates, Germany, China, Republic of Korea, Italy, India, Japan, Turkey, Spain, and Singapore using Grubel-Lloyd index. Due to the development of cross-border economic relationships, these countries try to find and present an appropriate model for production, import, and export of goods and identification of business opportunities and comparative advantages. Th...

  9. The transverse index theorem for proper cocompact actions of Lie groupoids

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Pflaum, M.J.; Posthuma, H.; Tang, X.

    2015-01-01

    Given a proper, cocompact action of a Lie groupoid, we define a higher index pairing between invariant elliptic differential operators and smooth groupoid cohomology classes. We prove a cohomological index formula for this pairing by applying the van Est map and algebraic index theory. Finally we

  10. Theory of many-electron atoms. Selected papers. Teoriya mnogoehlektronnykh atomov. Izbrannye trudy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jucys, A P

    1978-01-01

    Selected papers of the founder of contemporary theoretical physics in Lithuania Adolfas Jucys on the theory of many-electron atoms and their spectra are presented, as well as a complete bibliography of his scientific works, a brief biographical essay and description of his scientific and social activities, reminiscences of other scientists about him. In these papers such questions are considered: Fock's self-consistent field in different approximations, various problems of the many-configurational approximation, incomplete separation of variables, expanded calculation method, application of nonorthogonal radial orbitals, method of irreducible tensor operators, graphical representation of the matrix elements and a number of other problems.

  11. Robust Feature Selection from Microarray Data Based on Cooperative Game Theory and Qualitative Mutual Information

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Atiyeh Mortazavi

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available High dimensionality of microarray data sets may lead to low efficiency and overfitting. In this paper, a multiphase cooperative game theoretic feature selection approach is proposed for microarray data classification. In the first phase, due to high dimension of microarray data sets, the features are reduced using one of the two filter-based feature selection methods, namely, mutual information and Fisher ratio. In the second phase, Shapley index is used to evaluate the power of each feature. The main innovation of the proposed approach is to employ Qualitative Mutual Information (QMI for this purpose. The idea of Qualitative Mutual Information causes the selected features to have more stability and this stability helps to deal with the problem of data imbalance and scarcity. In the third phase, a forward selection scheme is applied which uses a scoring function to weight each feature. The performance of the proposed method is compared with other popular feature selection algorithms such as Fisher ratio, minimum redundancy maximum relevance, and previous works on cooperative game based feature selection. The average classification accuracy on eleven microarray data sets shows that the proposed method improves both average accuracy and average stability compared to other approaches.

  12. Perceptual load manipulation reveals sensitivity of the face-selective N170 to attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohamed, Tarik N; Neumann, Markus F; Schweinberger, Stefan R

    2009-05-27

    It has been controversial whether the face-sensitive N170 is affected by selective attention. We manipulated attention sensu Lavie's perceptual load theory to short (200 ms) presentations of task-irrelevant unfamiliar faces or houses, while participants identified superimposed target letters 'X' versus 'N'. These targets were strings of either six identical (low load) or six different letters (high load). Under low load, we found a prominent face-selective N170 response. Under high load, however, we not only observed a dramatic reduction of the face N170 but also an unexpected enhancement of the house N170, such that face selectivity was almost completely lost. We conclude that the early stages of face processing indexed by the N170 strongly depend on selective attention.

  13. Proceedings of the international conference on selected topics in quantum field theory and mathematical physics

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Niederle, J; Bednar, M; Bicak, J

    1987-01-01

    The conference, the fourth in the series of conferences on this subject, was held at the Bechyne castle (Czechoslovakia) on June 23-27, 1986, and was attended by about 100 theoreticians from 15 countries. The conference was organized by the Institute of Physics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague together with the Faculties of Mathematics and Physics of the Charles University, Prague, and of the Comenius University, Bratislava, the Faculty of Nuclear Science and Physical Engineering of the Czech Techical University, Prague, with the Institute of Physics of the Electro-Physical Research Centre of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, and the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Rez. It was sponsored by the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics, the International Association of Mathematical Physics and the Physical Scientific Section of the Union of Czechoslovak Mathematicians and Physicists. The main subjects discussed at the conference were: supersymmetries, supergravity and superstring theories; quantum field theory and in particular gauge theories, theories on lattices, renormalization; selected topics in non-linear equations, scattering theory and quantization. Details are given in the attached program. The proceedings include invited talks and contributions presented respectively at the morning and afternoon sessions of the conference. The main part of the proceedings will be published in the Czechoslovak Journal of Physics v. 37(1987), nos. 3,4 and 9.

  14. Proceedings of the international conference on selected topics in quantum field theory and mathematical physics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niederle, J.; Bednar, M.; Bicak, J.

    1987-01-01

    The conference, the fourth in the series of conferences on this subject, was held at the Bechyne castle (Czechoslovakia) on June 23-27, 1986, and was attended by about 100 theoreticians from 15 countries. The conference was organized by the Institute of Physics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Prague together with the Faculties of Mathematics and Physics of the Charles University, Prague, and of the Comenius University, Bratislava, the Faculty of Nuclear Science and Physical Engineering of the Czech Techical University, Prague, with the Institute of Physics of the Electro-Physical Research Centre of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, Bratislava, and the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences in Rez. It was sponsored by the International Union for Pure and Applied Physics, the International Association of Mathematical Physics and the Physical Scientific Section of the Union of Czechoslovak Mathematicians and Physicists. The main subjects discussed at the conference were: supersymmetries, supergravity and superstring theories; quantum field theory and in particular gauge theories, theories on lattices, renormalization; selected topics in non-linear equations, scattering theory and quantization. Details are given in the attached program. The proceedings include invited talks and contributions presented respectively at the morning and afternoon sessions of the conference. The main part of the proceedings will be published in the Czechoslovak Journal of Physics v. 37(1987), nos. 3,4 and 9. (author)

  15. Near field intensity pattern at the output of silica-based graded-index multimode fibers under selective excitation with a single-mode fiber

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tsekrekos, C.P.; Smink, R.W.; Hon, de B.P.; Tijhuis, A.G.; Koonen, A.M.J.

    2007-01-01

    Abstract: Selective excitation of graded-index multimode fibers (GIMMFs) with a single-mode fiber (SMF) has gained increased interest for telecommunication applications. It has been proposed as a way to enhance the transmission bandwidth of GI-MMF links and/or create parallel communication channels

  16. Cancel and rethink in the Wason selection task: further evidence for the heuristic-analytic dual process theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wada, Kazushige; Nittono, Hiroshi

    2004-06-01

    The reasoning process in the Wason selection task was examined by measuring card inspection times in the letter-number and drinking-age problems. 24 students were asked to solve the problems presented on a computer screen. Only the card touched with a mouse pointer was visible, and the total exposure time of each card was measured. Participants were allowed to cancel their previous selections at any time. Although rethinking was encouraged, the cards once selected were rarely cancelled (10% of the total selections). Moreover, most of the cancelled cards were reselected (89% of the total cancellations). Consistent with previous findings, inspection times were longer for selected cards than for nonselected cards. These results suggest that card selections are determined largely by initial heuristic processes and rarely reversed by subsequent analytic processes. The present study gives further support for the heuristic-analytic dual process theory.

  17. Selection of Grounded Theory as an Appropriate Research Methodology for a Dissertation: One Student’s Perspective

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    James W. Jones, Ed.D.

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Doctoral students wanting to use grounded theory as a methodological approach for their dissertation often face multiple challenges gaining acceptance of their approach by their committee. This paper presents the case that the author used to overcome these challenges through the process of eliminating other methodologies, leaving grounded theory as the preferred method for the desired research issue. Through examining the approach used successfully by the author, other doctoral students will be able to frame similar arguments justifying the use of grounded theory in their dissertations and seeing the use of the method continue to spread into new fields and applications. This paper examines the case built for selecting grounded theory as a defensible dissertation approach. The basic research issue that I wanted to investigate was how practitioners in an applied field sought information in their work; in other words, how they researched. I further narrowed the investigation down to a more specific field, but the paper presented here is left in broader form so that other students can see the approach in more general terms.

  18. Argyres-Douglas theories, the Macdonald index, and an RG inequality

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Buican, Matthew [NHETC and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University,Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States); Enrico Fermi Institute and Department of Physics, The University of Chicago,Chicago, IL 60637 (United States); Nishinaka, Takahiro [NHETC and Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers University,Piscataway, NJ 08854 (United States); Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University,Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan)

    2016-02-24

    We conjecture closed-form expressions for the Macdonald limits of the superconformal indices of the (A{sub 1},A{sub 2n−3}) and (A{sub 1},D{sub 2n}) Argyres-Douglas (AD) theories in terms of certain simple deformations of Macdonald polynomials. As checks of our conjectures, we demonstrate compatibility with two S-dualities, we show symmetry enhancement for special values of n, and we argue that our expressions encode a non-trivial set of renormalization group flows. Moreover, we demonstrate that, for certain values of n, our conjectures imply simple operator relations involving composites built out of the SU(2){sub R} currents and flavor symmetry moment maps, and we find a consistent picture in which these relations give rise to certain null states in the corresponding chiral algebras. In addition, we show that the Hall-Littlewood limits of our indices are equivalent to the corresponding Higgs branch Hilbert series. We explain this fact by considering the S{sup 1} reductions of our theories and showing that the equivalence follows from an inequality on monopole quantum numbers whose coefficients are fixed by data of the four-dimensional parent theories. Finally, we comment on the implications of our work for more general N=2 superconformal field theories.

  19. Argyres-Douglas theories, the Macdonald index, and an RG inequality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Buican, Matthew; Nishinaka, Takahiro

    2016-02-01

    We conjecture closed-form expressions for the Macdonald limits of the super-conformal indices of the ( A 1 , A 2 n - 3) and ( A 1 , D 2 n ) Argyres-Douglas (AD) theories in terms of certain simple deformations of Macdonald polynomials. As checks of our conjectures, we demonstrate compatibility with two S-dualities, we show symmetry enhancement for special values of n, and we argue that our expressions encode a non-trivial set of renormalization group flows. Moreover, we demonstrate that, for certain values of n, our conjectures imply simple operator relations involving composites built out of the SU(2) R currents and flavor symmetry moment maps, and we find a consistent picture in which these relations give rise to certain null states in the corresponding chiral algebras. In addition, we show that the Hall-Littlewood limits of our indices are equivalent to the corresponding Higgs branch Hilbert series. We explain this fact by considering the S 1 reductions of our theories and showing that the equivalence follows from an inequality on monopole quantum numbers whose coefficients are fixed by data of the four-dimensional parent theories. Finally, we comment on the implications of our work for more general {N}=2 superconformal field theories.

  20. Argyres-Douglas theories, the Macdonald index, and an RG inequality

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Buican, Matthew; Nishinaka, Takahiro

    2016-01-01

    We conjecture closed-form expressions for the Macdonald limits of the superconformal indices of the (A 1 ,A 2n−3 ) and (A 1 ,D 2n ) Argyres-Douglas (AD) theories in terms of certain simple deformations of Macdonald polynomials. As checks of our conjectures, we demonstrate compatibility with two S-dualities, we show symmetry enhancement for special values of n, and we argue that our expressions encode a non-trivial set of renormalization group flows. Moreover, we demonstrate that, for certain values of n, our conjectures imply simple operator relations involving composites built out of the SU(2) R currents and flavor symmetry moment maps, and we find a consistent picture in which these relations give rise to certain null states in the corresponding chiral algebras. In addition, we show that the Hall-Littlewood limits of our indices are equivalent to the corresponding Higgs branch Hilbert series. We explain this fact by considering the S 1 reductions of our theories and showing that the equivalence follows from an inequality on monopole quantum numbers whose coefficients are fixed by data of the four-dimensional parent theories. Finally, we comment on the implications of our work for more general N=2 superconformal field theories.

  1. Motivational changes in response to blocked goals and foreshortened time: testing alternatives to socioemotional selectivity theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fung, Helene H; Carstensen, Laura L

    2004-03-01

    Socioemotional selectivity theory contends that when people perceive time as limited, they prioritize emotionally meaningful goals. Although empirical support for the theory has been found in several studies, 2 alternative explanations for the pattern of findings remain: (a) emotional goals are pursued by default because nonemotional goals are blocked, and (b) emotional goals are pursued in search of emotional support rather than emotional meaning. This study tested these alternatives by examining social goals in response to blocked goals and foreshortened time. Findings reveal distinct motivational patterns, as reflected in social preferences and self-reported social goals, in response to the 2 types of constraints.

  2. CLUSTERING OF THE COUNTRIES ACCORDING TO CONSUMER CONFIDENCE INDEX AND EVALUATING WITH HUMAN DEVELOPMENT INDEX

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Seda BAĞDATLI KALKAN

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Consumer confidence index is a national indicator that suggest about current and future expectations of the economic conditions. With consumer confidence index, it is aimed to determine the trends and expectations of consumers according to their general economic situation, employment opportunities, their financial situations and developments in the markets. Another parameter is also the Human Development Index (HDI. This index is an indicator that examines the development of countries both economically and socially. Countries are sorted by these two indices and are considered as basic parameters in international platforms. The purpose of this study is to group the selected countries according to the consumer confidence index and reveal the features of the groups and then determine the position of the grouped countries with the Human Development Index. According to the results of cluster analysis, it is shown that India, China, Sweden and USA have the highest total consumer confidence index, employment, expectation and investment index

  3. Differences in game reading between selected and non-selected youth soccer players.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Den Hartigh, Ruud J R; Van Der Steen, Steffie; Hakvoort, Bas; Frencken, Wouter G P; Lemmink, Koen A P M

    2018-02-01

    Applying an established theory of cognitive development-Skill Theory-the current study compares the game-reading skills of youth players selected for a soccer school of a professional soccer club (n = 49) and their non-selected peers (n = 38). Participants described the actions taking place in videos of soccer game plays, and their verbalisations were coded using Skill Theory. Compared to the non-selected players, the selected players generally demonstrated higher levels of complexity in their game-reading, and structured the information of game elements-primarily the player, teammate and field-at higher complexity levels. These results demonstrate how Skill Theory can be used to assess, and distinguish game-reading of youth players with different expertise, a skill important for soccer, but also for other sports.

  4. MySQL based selection of appropriate indexing technique in ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Administrator

    Keywords: B-tree indexing, MySQL, Support vector machine, Smart card. 1. ..... SVM are strong classifiers in the field of machine learning and we will be using ..... We acknowledge Mr. Abhishek Roy, student of NIT Surathkal for his help in the ...

  5. The Witten index for the supermembrane

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pope, C.N.; Stelle, K.S.

    1988-01-01

    The perturbative spectrum of the supermembrane in eleven-dimensional spacetime contains massless states as a consequence of the spacetime supersymmetry of the theory. We show, by defining a Witten index that has strictly positive value that supersymmetry remains unbroken non-perturbatively. 14 refs

  6. Contemporary developments in algebraic K-theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Karoubi, M.; Kuku, A.O.; Pedrini, C.

    2003-01-01

    The School and Conference on Algebraic K-theory which took place at ICTP July 8-26, 2002 was a follow-up to the earlier one in 1997, and like its predecessor, the 2002 meeting endeavoured to emphasise the multidisciplinary aspects of the subject. However, one special feature of the 2002 School and Conference is that the whole activity was dedicated to H. Bass, one of the founders of Algebraic K-theory, on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. The School during the first two weeks, July 8 to 19 was devoted to expository lectures meant to explore and highlight connections between K-theory and several other areas of mathematics - Algebraic Topology, Number theory, Algebraic Geometry, Representation theory, and Non-commutative Geometry. This volume, constituting the Proceedings of the School, is dedicated to H. Bass. The Proceedings of the Conference during the last week July 22 - 26, which will appear in Special issues of K-theory, is also dedicated to H. Bass. The opening contribution by M. Karoubi to this volume consists of a comprehensive survey of developments in K-theory in the last forty-five years, and covers a very broad spectrum of the subject, including Topological K-theory, Atiyah-Singer index theorem, K-theory of Banach algebras, Higher Algebraic K-theory, Cyclic Homology etc. J. Berrick's contribution on 'Algebraic K-theory and Algebraic Topology' treats the various topological constructions of Algebraic K-theory together with the underlying homotopy theory. Topics covered include the plus construction together with its various ramifications and applications, Topological Hochschild and Cyclic Homology as well as K-theory of the ring of integers. The contributions by M. Kolster titled 'K-theory and Arithmetics' includes such topics as values of zeta functions and relations to K-theory, K-theory of integers in number fields and associated conjectures, Etale cohomology, Iwasawa theory etc. A.O. Kuku's contributions on 'K-theory and Representation theory

  7. Contemporary developments in algebraic K-theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Karoubi, M [Univ. Paris (France); Kuku, A O [Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste (Italy); Pedrini, C [Univ. Genova (Italy)

    2003-09-15

    The School and Conference on Algebraic K-theory which took place at ICTP July 8-26, 2002 was a follow-up to the earlier one in 1997, and like its predecessor, the 2002 meeting endeavoured to emphasise the multidisciplinary aspects of the subject. However, one special feature of the 2002 School and Conference is that the whole activity was dedicated to H. Bass, one of the founders of Algebraic K-theory, on the occasion of his seventieth birthday. The School during the first two weeks, July 8 to 19 was devoted to expository lectures meant to explore and highlight connections between K-theory and several other areas of mathematics - Algebraic Topology, Number theory, Algebraic Geometry, Representation theory, and Non-commutative Geometry. This volume, constituting the Proceedings of the School, is dedicated to H. Bass. The Proceedings of the Conference during the last week July 22 - 26, which will appear in Special issues of K-theory, is also dedicated to H. Bass. The opening contribution by M. Karoubi to this volume consists of a comprehensive survey of developments in K-theory in the last forty-five years, and covers a very broad spectrum of the subject, including Topological K-theory, Atiyah-Singer index theorem, K-theory of Banach algebras, Higher Algebraic K-theory, Cyclic Homology etc. J. Berrick's contribution on 'Algebraic K-theory and Algebraic Topology' treats the various topological constructions of Algebraic K-theory together with the underlying homotopy theory. Topics covered include the plus construction together with its various ramifications and applications, Topological Hochschild and Cyclic Homology as well as K-theory of the ring of integers. The contributions by M. Kolster titled 'K-theory and Arithmetics' includes such topics as values of zeta functions and relations to K-theory, K-theory of integers in number fields and associated conjectures, Etale cohomology, Iwasawa theory etc. A.O. Kuku's contributions on 'K-theory and Representation theory

  8. On the effective refractive index of blood

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nahmad-Rohen, Alexander; Contreras-Tello, Humberto; Morales-Luna, Gesuri; García-Valenzuela, Augusto

    2016-01-01

    We calculated the real and imaginary parts of the effective refractive index {n}{eff} of blood as functions of wavelength from 400 to 800 nm; we employed van de Hulst’s theory, together with the anomalous diffraction approximation, for the calculation. We modelled blood as a mixture of plasma and erythrocytes. Our results indicate that erythrocyte orientation has a strong effect on {n}{eff}, making blood an optically anisotropic medium except when the erythrocytes are randomly oriented. In the case in which their symmetry axis is perpendicular to the wave vector, {n}{eff} equals the refractive index of plasma at certain wavelengths. Furthermore, the erythrocytes’ shape affects their contribution to {n}{eff} in an important way, implying that studies on the effective refractive index of blood should avoid approximating them as spheres or spheroids. Finally, the effective refractive index of blood predicted by van de Hulst’s theory is different from what would be obtained by averaging the refractive indices of its constituents weighted by volume; such a volume-weighted average is appropriate only for haemolysed blood. We then measured the real part of the refractive index of various blood solutions using two different experimental setups. One of the most important results of our expriment is that {n}{eff} is measurable to a good degree of precision even for undiluted blood, although not all measuring apparatuses are appropriate. The experimental data is self-consistent and in reasonable agreement with our theoretical calculations.

  9. Data structures theory and practice

    CERN Document Server

    Berztiss, A T

    1971-01-01

    Computer Science and Applied Mathematics: Data Structures: Theory and Practice focuses on the processes, methodologies, principles, and approaches involved in data structures, including algorithms, decision trees, Boolean functions, lattices, and matrices. The book first offers information on set theory, functions, and relations, and graph theory. Discussions focus on linear formulas of digraphs, isomorphism of digraphs, basic definitions in the theory of digraphs, Boolean functions and forms, lattices, indexed sets, algebra of sets, and order pair and related concepts. The text then examines

  10. Selection indices for yield and quality traits in sweet corn

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Asghar, M.J.; Mehdi, S.S.

    2010-01-01

    The efficiency of three selection indices, viz., Smith-Hazel index (SHI), Desired gain index (DGI) and Base Index (BI) was compared for the improvement of an open pollinated sweet corn (Zea mays L. Saccharata) population. The data of genetic studies on various yield and quality traits among S1 families were used to construct these selection indices. Smith-Hazel index was found to be the most efficient in improving the aggregate genotype of yield traits for most of the selection strategies. Base index proved to be more efficient as compared to Smith-Hazel index in the improvement of aggregate genotype for five out of six selection strategies of quality traits. Both smith-hazel and Base indices were found useful for the improvement of sweetness and sweet flavour for all the selection strategies. When selection was confined to eight yield and four quality traits simultaneously, Base index proved to be more efficient as compared to Smith-Hazel index and desired gain index in improving the aggregate genotype for almost all the selection strategies. (author)

  11. A quantitative quasispecies theory-based model of virus escape mutation under immune selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Woo, Hyung-June; Reifman, Jaques

    2012-08-07

    Viral infections involve a complex interplay of the immune response and escape mutation of the virus quasispecies inside a single host. Although fundamental aspects of such a balance of mutation and selection pressure have been established by the quasispecies theory decades ago, its implications have largely remained qualitative. Here, we present a quantitative approach to model the virus evolution under cytotoxic T-lymphocyte immune response. The virus quasispecies dynamics are explicitly represented by mutations in the combined sequence space of a set of epitopes within the viral genome. We stochastically simulated the growth of a viral population originating from a single wild-type founder virus and its recognition and clearance by the immune response, as well as the expansion of its genetic diversity. Applied to the immune escape of a simian immunodeficiency virus epitope, model predictions were quantitatively comparable to the experimental data. Within the model parameter space, we found two qualitatively different regimes of infectious disease pathogenesis, each representing alternative fates of the immune response: It can clear the infection in finite time or eventually be overwhelmed by viral growth and escape mutation. The latter regime exhibits the characteristic disease progression pattern of human immunodeficiency virus, while the former is bounded by maximum mutation rates that can be suppressed by the immune response. Our results demonstrate that, by explicitly representing epitope mutations and thus providing a genotype-phenotype map, the quasispecies theory can form the basis of a detailed sequence-specific model of real-world viral pathogens evolving under immune selection.

  12. Optimal Portfolio Selection in Ex Ante Stock Price Bubble and Furthermore Bubble Burst Scenario from Dhaka Stock Exchange with Relevance to Sharpe’s Single Index Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Javed Bin Kamal

    2012-09-01

    Full Text Available The paper aims at constructing an optimal portfolio by applying Sharpe’s single index model of capital asset pricing in different scenarios, one is ex ante stock price bubble scenario and stock price bubble and bubble burst is second scenario. Here we considered beginning of year 2010 as rise of stock price bubble in Dhaka Stock Exchange. Hence period from 2005 -2009 is considered as ex ante stock price bubble period. Using DSI (All share price index in Dhaka Stock Exchange as market index and considering daily indices for the March 2005 to December 2009 period, the proposed method formulates a unique cut off point (cut off rate of return and selects stocks having excess of their expected return over risk-free rate of return surpassing this cut-off point. Here, risk free rate considered to be 8.5% per annum (Treasury bill rate in 2009. Percentage of an investment in each of the selected stocks is then decided on the basis of respective weights assigned to each stock depending on respective ‘β’ value, stock movement variance representing unsystematic risk, return on stock and risk free return vis-à-vis the cut off rate of return. Interestingly, most of the stocks selected turned out to be bank stocks. Again we went for single index model applied to same stocks those made to the optimum portfolio in ex ante stock price bubble scenario considering data for the period of January 2010 to June 2012. We found that all stocks failed to make the pass Single Index Model criteria i.e. excess return over beta must be higher than the risk free rate. Here for the period of 2010 to 2012, the risk free rate considered to be 11.5 % per annum (Treasury bill rate during 2012.

  13. Vertex operator algebras of Argyres-Douglas theories from M5-branes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Song, Jaewon; Xie, Dan; Yan, Wenbin

    2017-12-01

    We study aspects of the vertex operator algebra (VOA) corresponding to Argyres-Douglas (AD) theories engineered using the 6d N=(2, 0) theory of type J on a punctured sphere. We denote the AD theories as ( J b [ k], Y), where J b [ k] and Y represent an irregular and a regular singularity respectively. We restrict to the `minimal' case where J b [ k] has no associated mass parameters, and the theory does not admit any exactly marginal deformations. The VOA corresponding to the AD theory is conjectured to be the W-algebra W^{k_{2d}}(J, Y ) , where {k}_{2d}=-h+b/b+k with h being the dual Coxeter number of J. We verify this conjecture by showing that the Schur index of the AD theory is identical to the vacuum character of the corresponding VOA, and the Hall-Littlewood index computes the Hilbert series of the Higgs branch. We also find that the Schur and Hall-Littlewood index for the AD theory can be written in a simple closed form for b = h. We also test the conjecture that the associated variety of such VOA is identical to the Higgs branch. The M5-brane construction of these theories and the corresponding TQFT structure of the index play a crucial role in our computations.

  14. Slippage theory and the flanker paradigm: an early-selection account of selective attention failures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaspelin, Nicholas; Ruthruff, Eric; Jung, Kyunghun

    2014-06-01

    In the flanker paradigm, participants identify a target letter while attempting to ignore an irrelevant flanker. When the identity of this flanker mismatches the target, target identification is slowed (called the flanker compatibility effect). Interestingly, reducing the array set size greatly increases flanker compatibility effects. This finding inspired 2 prominent explanations: perceptual load (mandatory capacity spillover) and dilution (visual interference). However, an alternative explanation, based on early selection theory and attention capture research, can also explain the data pattern. According to this "slippage" account, observers sometimes accidentally allocate spatial attention to the flanker (see Lachter, Forster, & Ruthruff, 2004), especially when the flanker has the property used to find the target (cf. contingent capture). In Experiments 1 through 4, deterring slippage to the flanker nearly eliminated flanker compatibility effects, even at the low set size. In Experiment 5, promoting slippage to the flanker dramatically enhanced compatibility effects, even at the high set size. Thus, slippage strongly modulates flanker effects and can, by itself, readily explain the impact of set size. The perceptual load and dilution accounts are, at best, incomplete, and, at worst, not needed. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

  15. The Foundations of Einstein's Theory of Gravitation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freundlich, Erwin; Brose, Translated by Henry L.; Einstein, Preface by Albert; Turner, Introduction by H. H.

    2011-06-01

    Introduction; 1. The special theory of relativity as a stepping-stone to the general theory of relativity; 2. Two fundamental postulates in the mathematical formulation of physical laws; 3. Concerning the fulfilment of the two postulates; 4. The difficulties in the principles of classical mechanics; 5. Einstein's theory of gravitation; 6. The verification of the new theory by actual experience; Appendix; Index.

  16. Hidden QCD in Chiral Gauge Theories

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ryttov, Thomas; Sannino, Francesco

    2005-01-01

    The 't Hooft and Corrigan-Ramond limits of massless one-flavor QCD consider the two Weyl fermions to be respectively in the fundamental representation or the two index antisymmetric representation of the gauge group. We introduce a limit in which one of the two Weyl fermions is in the fundamental...... representation and the other in the two index antisymmetric representation of a generic SU(N) gauge group. This theory is chiral and to avoid gauge anomalies a more complicated chiral theory is needed. This is the generalized Georgi-Glashow model with one vector like fermion. We show that there is an interesting...... phase in which the considered chiral gauge theory, for any N, Higgses via a bilinear condensate: The gauge interactions break spontaneously to ordinary massless one-flavor SU(3) QCD. The additional elementary fermionic matter is uncharged under this SU(3) gauge theory. It is also seen that when...

  17. The Big Mac Index 21 Years On: An Evaluation of Burgereconomics

    OpenAIRE

    Kenneth W. Clements; Yihui Lan; Shi Pei Seah

    2007-01-01

    The Big Mac Index, introduced by The Economist magazine 21 years ago, claims to provide the “true value” of a large number of currencies. This paper assesses the economic value of this index. We show that (i) the index suffers from a substantial bias; (ii) once the bias is allowed for, the index tracks exchange rates reasonably well over the medium to longer term in accordance with relative purchasing power parity theory; (iii) the index is at least as good as the industry standard, the rando...

  18. Beyond statistical inference: a decision theory for science.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Killeen, Peter R

    2006-08-01

    Traditional null hypothesis significance testing does not yield the probability of the null or its alternative and, therefore, cannot logically ground scientific decisions. The decision theory proposed here calculates the expected utility of an effect on the basis of (1) the probability of replicating it and (2) a utility function on its size. It takes significance tests--which place all value on the replicability of an effect and none on its magnitude--as a special case, one in which the cost of a false positive is revealed to be an order of magnitude greater than the value of a true positive. More realistic utility functions credit both replicability and effect size, integrating them for a single index of merit. The analysis incorporates opportunity cost and is consistent with alternate measures of effect size, such as r2 and information transmission, and with Bayesian model selection criteria. An alternate formulation is functionally equivalent to the formal theory, transparent, and easy to compute.

  19. Application of Generalized Student’s T-Distribution In Modeling The Distribution of Empirical Return Rates on Selected Stock Exchange Indexes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Purczyńskiz Jan

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the application of the so called generalized Student’s t-distribution in modeling the distribution of empirical return rates on selected Warsaw stock exchange indexes. It deals with distribution parameters by means of the method of logarithmic moments, the maximum likelihood method and the method of moments. Generalized Student’s t-distribution ensures better fitting to empirical data than the classical Student’s t-distribution.

  20. Scattering theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sitenko, A.

    1991-01-01

    This book emerged out of graduate lectures given by the author at the University of Kiev and is intended as a graduate text. The fundamentals of non-relativistic quantum scattering theory are covered, including some topics, such as the phase-function formalism, separable potentials, and inverse scattering, which are not always coverded in textbooks on scattering theory. Criticisms of the text are minor, but the reviewer feels an inadequate index is provided and the citing of references in the Russian language is a hindrance in a graduate text

  1. Quantum Theory and Beyond

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bastin, Ted

    2009-07-01

    . Pattee; 24. Discussion: phenomena and sense data in quantum theory D. S. Linney and C. F. von Weizsäcker; Index of persons; Index of subjects.

  2. An index of financial safety of China

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaojun Jia

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available Purpose: This paper combines a synthetic index system by the variables and evaluates China’s financial safety through the change of indexes in a comprehensive way. First of all, it builds the financial industry evaluation index system composed of 25indicators in terms of the operation of the financial industry and external economic environment and particularly takes into consideration factors which might trigger liquidity risks such as off-balance-sheet business, interbank business and shadow banking; then it selects 10 indicators to conduct empirical analysis and identifies the indicator weight through principal component analysis; finally it combines the financial safety indexes through the linear weighted comprehensive evaluation model.Design/methodology/approach: Synthesis of indexes is made by constructing a proper comprehensive evaluation mathematical model, integrating a number of evaluation indexes into one comprehensive evaluation index and then obtaining corresponding comprehensive evaluation results. In this paper, it selects 10 indexes to conduct empirical analysis and identifies the index weight through principal component analysis; finally it combines the financial safety indexes through the linear weighted comprehensive evaluation model. Principal component analysis (PCA is a statistical procedure that uses an orthogonal transformation to convert a set of observations of possibly correlated variables into a set of values of linearly uncorrelated variables called principal components. PCA was invented in 1901 and was later independently developed (and named by Harold Hotelling in the 1930s.Findings: From 2003 to 2013 China’s financial safety indexes fluctuated. From 2003 to 2007 indexes rose, which indicates China’s financial safety status gradually improved; from 2007 to 2009 indexes declined, which indicates due to the impact of subprime crisis, China’s financial safety status took a turn for the worse; from 2009 to 2012

  3. Application of GRA method, dynamic analysis and fuzzy set theory in evaluation and selection of emergency treatment technology for large scale phenol spill incidents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Jingjing; Yu, Lean; Li, Lian

    2017-05-01

    Select an appropriate technology in an emergency response is a very important issue with various kinds of chemical contingency spills frequently taking place. Due to the complexity, fuzziness and uncertainties of the chemical contingency spills, the theory of GRA method, dynamic analysis combined with fuzzy set theory will be appropriately applied to selection and evaluation of emergency treatment technology. Finally, a emergency phenol spill accidence occurred in highway is provided to illustrate the applicability and feasibility of the proposed methods.

  4. On low rank classical groups in string theory, gauge theory and matrix models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Intriligator, Ken; Kraus, Per; Ryzhov, Anton V.; Shigemori, Masaki; Vafa, Cumrun

    2004-01-01

    We consider N=1 supersymmetric U(N), SO(N), and Sp(N) gauge theories, with two-index tensor matter and added tree-level superpotential, for general breaking patterns of the gauge group. By considering the string theory realization and geometric transitions, we clarify when glueball superfields should be included and extremized, or rather set to zero; this issue arises for unbroken group factors of low rank. The string theory results, which are equivalent to those of the matrix model, refer to a particular UV completion of the gauge theory, which could differ from conventional gauge theory results by residual instanton effects. Often, however, these effects exhibit miraculous cancellations, and the string theory or matrix model results end up agreeing with standard gauge theory. In particular, these string theory considerations explain and remove some apparent discrepancies between gauge theories and matrix models in the literature

  5. Classical field theory on electrodynamics, non-Abelian gauge theories and gravitation

    CERN Document Server

    Scheck, Florian

    2012-01-01

    The book describes Maxwell's equations first in their integral, directly testable form, then moves on to their local formulation. The first two chapters cover all essential properties of Maxwell's equations, including their symmetries and their covariance in a modern notation. Chapter 3 is devoted to Maxwell theory as a classical field theory and to solutions of the wave equation. Chapter 4 deals with important applications of Maxwell theory. It includes topical subjects such as metamaterials with negative refraction index and solutions of Helmholtz' equation in paraxial approximation relevant for the description of laser beams. Chapter 5 describes non-Abelian gauge theories from a classical, geometric point of view, in analogy to Maxwell theory as a prototype, and culminates in an application to the U(2) theory relevant for electroweak interactions. The last chapter 6 gives a concise summary of semi-Riemannian geometry as the framework for the classical field theory of gravitation. The chapter concludes wit...

  6. Data Citation Index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Laura L. Pavlech

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduced by Thomson Reuters in 2012 as a, ‘‘Single point of access to quality research data from repositories across disciplines and around the world’’ [1], the Data Citation Index (DCI is a searchable collection of data sets and data studies from a select list of repositories.

  7. A Grounded Theory of Behavior Management Strategy Selection, Implementation, and Perceived Effectiveness Reported by First-Year Elementary Teachers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smart, Julie B.; Igo, L. Brent

    2010-01-01

    In this grounded theory study, 19 teachers were interviewed and then, in constant comparative fashion, the interview data were analyzed. The theoretical model that emerged from the data describes novice teachers' tendencies to select and implement differing strategies related to the severity of student behavior. When confronting mild student…

  8. Affine field theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cadavid, A.C.

    1989-01-01

    The author constructs a non-Abelian field theory by gauging a Kac-Moody algebra, obtaining an infinite tower of interacting vector fields and associated ghosts, that obey slightly modified Feynman rules. She discusses the spontaneous symmetry breaking of such theory via the Higgs mechanism. If the Higgs particle lies in the Cartan subalgebra of the Kac-Moody algebra, the previously massless vectors acquire a mass spectrum that is linear in the Kac-Moody index and has additional fine structure depending on the associated Lie algebra. She proceeds to show that there is no obstacle in implementing the affine extension of supersymmetric Yang-Mills theories. The result is valid in four, six and ten space-time dimensions. Then the affine extension of supergravity is investigated. She discusses only the loop algebra since the affine extension of the super-Poincare algebra appears inconsistent. The construction of the affine supergravity theory is carried out by the group manifold method and leads to an action describing infinite towers of spin 2 and spin 3/2 fields that interact subject to the symmetries of the loop algebra. The equations of motion satisfy the usual consistency check. Finally, she postulates a theory in which both the vector and scalar fields lie in the loop algebra of SO(3). This theory has an expanded soliton sector, and corresponding to the original 't Hooft-Polyakov solitonic solutions she now finds an infinite family of exact, special solutions of the new equations. She also proposes a perturbation method for obtaining an arbitrary solution of those equations for each level of the affine index

  9. Equivariant Verlinde Algebra from Superconformal Index and Argyres-Seiberg Duality

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gukov, Sergei; Pei, Du; Yan, Wenbin; Ye, Ke

    2018-02-01

    In this paper, we show the equivalence between two seemingly distinct 2d TQFTs: one comes from the "Coulomb branch index" of the class S theory {T[Σ,G]} on {L(k,1) × S^1}, the other is the {^L G} "equivariant Verlinde formula", or equivalently partition function of {^L G_C} complex Chern-Simons theory on {Σ× S^1}. We first derive this equivalence using the M-theory geometry and show that the gauge groups appearing on the two sides are naturally G and its Langlands dual {^L G}. When G is not simply-connected, we provide a recipe of computing the index of {T[Σ,G]} as summation over the indices of T[Σ,\\tilde{G}] with non-trivial background 't Hooft fluxes, where \\tilde{G} is the universal cover of G. Then we check explicitly this relation between the Coulomb index and the equivariant Verlinde formula for {G=SU(2)} or SO(3). In the end, as an application of this newly found relation, we consider the more general case where G is SU( N) or PSU( N) and show that equivariant Verlinde algebra can be derived using field theory via (generalized) Argyres-Seiberg duality. We also attach a Mathematica notebook that can be used to compute the SU(3) equivariant Verlinde coefficients.

  10. Is the Carli index flawed?: assessing the case for the new retail price index RPIJ.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Levell, Peter

    2015-02-01

    The paper discusses the recent decision of the UK's Office for National Statistics to replace the controversial Carli index with the Jevons index in a new version of the retail price index-RPIJ. In doing so we make three contributions to the way that price indices should be selected for measures of consumer price inflation when quantity information is not available (i.e. at the 'elementary' level). Firstly, we introduce a new price bouncing test under the test approach for choosing index numbers. Secondly, we provide empirical evidence on the performance of the Carli and Jevons indices in different contexts under the statistical approach. Thirdly, applying something analogous to the principle of insufficient reason, we argue contrary to received wisdom in the literature, that the economic approach can be used to choose indices at the elementary level, and moreover that it favours the use of the Jevons index. Overall, we conclude that there is a case against the Carli index and that the Jevons index is to be preferred.

  11. Z/NZ conformal field theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Degiovanni, P.

    1990-01-01

    We compute the modular properties of the possible genus-one characters of some Rational Conformal Field Theories starting from their fusion rules. We show that the possible choices of S matrices are indexed by some automorphisms of the fusion algebra. We also classify the modular invariant partition functions of these theories. This gives the complete list of modular invariant partition functions of Rational Conformal Field Theories with respect to the A N (1) level one algebra. (orig.)

  12. The Relationship between Macroeconomic Variables and ISE Industry Index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmet Ozcan

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available In this study, the relationship between macroeconomic variables and Istanbul Stock Exchange (ISE industry index is examined. Over the past years, numerous studies have analyzed these relationships and the different results obtained from these studies have motivated further research. The relationship between stock exchange index and macroeconomic variables has been well documented for the developed markets. However, there are few studies regarding the relationship between macroeconomic variables and stock exchange index for the developing markets. Thus, this paper seeks to address the question of whether macroeconomic variables have a significant relationship with ISE industry index using monthly data for the period from 2003 to 2010. The selected macroeconomic variables for the study include interest rates, consumer price index, money supply, exchange rate, gold prices, oil prices, current account deficit and export volume. The Johansen’s cointegration test is utilized to determine the impact of selected macroeconomic variables on ISE industry index. The result of the Johansen’s cointegration shows that macroeconomic variables exhibit a long run equilibrium relationship with the ISE industry index.

  13. On indexes and subject matter of “global competitiveness”

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. V. Korotkov

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The aim of the research is to analyze the subject matter of a country’s competitiveness and to characterize statistical indexes of competitiveness known in the international practice from the perspective of a more elaborated theory of market competition. This aim follows from the identified problems. First, there are no generally accepted interpretation and joint understanding of competition and competitiveness at country level. Even the international organizations giving estimations of global competitiveness disagree on definitions of competitiveness. Secondly, there is no relation to the theory of market competition in the available source materials on competitiveness of the country without original methodology. Thirdly, well-known statistical indexes of global competitiveness do not have enough theoretical justification and differ in sets of factors. All this highlights the incompleteness of the methodology and methodological support of studying competitiveness at country level.Materials and methods. The research is based on the methodology of statistics, economic theory and marketing. The authors followed the basic principle of statistical methodology – requirement of continuous combination of qualitative and quantitative analysis, when the research begins and ends with qualitative analysis. A most important section of statistical methodology is widely used – construction of statistical indexes. In the course of the analysis, a method of statistical classifications is applied. A significant role in the present research is given to the method of generalizing and analogue method, realizing that related terms should mean similar and almost similar contents. Modeling of competition and competitiveness is widely used in the present research, which made it possible to develop a logical model of competition following from the competition theory.Results. Based on the definitions’ survey the analysis of the subject matter of global

  14. Using an index of habitat patch proximity for landscape design

    Science.gov (United States)

    Eric J. Gustafson; George R. Parker

    1994-01-01

    A proximity index (PX) inspired by island biogeography theory is described which quantifies the spatial context of a habitat patch in relation to its neighbors. The index distinguishes sparse distributions of small habitat patches from clusters of large patches. An evaluation of the relationship between PX and variation in the spatial characteristics of clusters of...

  15. Age and motives for volunteering: testing hypotheses derived from socioemotional selectivity theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Okun, Morris A; Schultz, Amy

    2003-06-01

    Following a meta-analysis of the relations between age and volunteer motives (career, understanding, enhancement, protective, making friends, social, and values), the authors tested hypotheses derived from socioemotional selectivity theory regarding the effects of age on these volunteer motives. The Volunteer Functions Inventory was completed by 523 volunteers from 2 affiliates of the International Habitat for Humanity. Multiple regression analyses revealed, as predicted, that as age increases, career and understanding volunteer motivation decrease and social volunteer motivation increases. Contrary to expectations, age did not contribute to the prediction of enhancement, protective, and values volunteer motivations and the relation between age and making friends volunteer motivation was nonlinear. The results were discussed in the context of age-differential and age-similarity perspectives on volunteer motivation.

  16. Development of the Canadian Marginalization Index: a new tool for the study of inequality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matheson, Flora I; Dunn, James R; Smith, Katherine L W; Moineddin, Rahim; Glazier, Richard H

    2012-04-30

    Area-based measures of socio-economic status are increasingly used in population health research. Based on previous research and theory, the Canadian Marginalization Index (CAN-Marg) was created to reflect four dimensions of marginalization: residential instability, material deprivation, dependency and ethnic concentration. The objective of this paper was threefold: to describe CAN-Marg; to illustrate its stability across geographic area and time; and to describe its association with health and behavioural problems. CAN-Marg was created at the dissemination area (DA) and census tract level for census years 2001 and 2006, using factor analysis. Descriptions of 18 health and behavioural problems were selected using individual-level data from the Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) 3.1 and 2007/08. CAN-Marg quintiles created at the DA level (2006) were assigned to individual CCHS records. Multilevel logistic regression modeling was conducted to examine associations between marginalization and CCHS health and behavioural problems. The index demonstrated marked stability across time and geographic area. Each of the four dimensions showed strong and significant associations with the selected health and behavioural problems, and these associations differed depending on which of the dimensions of marginalization was examined. CAN-Marg is a census-based, empirically derived and theoretically informed tool designed to reflect a broader conceptualization of Canadian marginalization.

  17. Thomson Reuters to release Book Citation Index later this year

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aldred, Maxine

    2011-08-01

    Thomson Reuters will launch its new Book Citation Index later this year. Projected to include 25,000 volumes from major publishers and university presses in science, social science, and the humanities, the Book Citation Index will cover scholarly books (both series and nonseries) that present original research or literature reviews. The current effort regarding the science section is focused on books published from 2005 to the present. AGU has sent copies of its catalog for inclusion in the Book Citation Index, but the final selection will be made by Thomson Reuters, using its internal selection criteria, which may be found at http://wokinfo.com/wok/media/pdf/BKCI-SelectionEssay_web.pdf.

  18. English Language, Linguistics and Literature. : Selected Readings of Classical Writings for Linguistic Theory, Literature History, and Applications of the English Language.

    OpenAIRE

    Haase, Fee

    2009-01-01

    This collection contains selected readings of Ccassical writings for linguistic theory, literature history, and applications of the English language in documents from the early beginnings to the 20th century.

  19. Diagrammatics lectures on selected problems in condensed matter theory

    CERN Document Server

    Sadovskii, Michael V

    2006-01-01

    The introduction of quantum field theory methods has led to a kind of "revolution" in condensed matter theory. This resulted in the increased importance of Feynman diagrams or diagram technique. It has now become imperative for professionals in condensed matter theory to have a thorough knowledge of this method.There are many good books that cover the general aspects of diagrammatic methods. At the same time, there has been a rising need for books that describe calculations and methodical "know how" of specific problems for beginners in graduate and postgraduate courses. This unique collection

  20. Hidden selection rules, M5-instantons and fluxes in F-theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Martucci, Luca [Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia ‘Galileo Galilei’, Università di Padova, & I.N.F.N. Sezione di Padova, via Marzolo 8, I-35131 Padova (Italy); Weigand, Timo [Institut für Theoretische Physik, Ruprecht-Karls-Universität, Philosophenweg 19, 69120 Heidelberg (Germany)

    2015-10-21

    We introduce a new approach to investigate the selection rules governing the contributions of fluxed M5-instantons to the F-theory four-dimensional effective action, with emphasis on the generation of charged matter F-terms. The structure of such couplings is unraveled by exploiting the perturbative and non-perturbative homological relations, introduced in our companion paper http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/JHEP09(2015)198, which encode the interplay between the self-dual 3-form flux on the M5-brane, the background 4-form flux and certain fibral curves. The latter are wrapped by time-like M2-branes representing matter insertions in the instanton path integral. In particular, we clarify how fluxed M5-instantons detect the presence of geometrically massive U(1)s which are responsible for ‘hidden’ selection rules. We discuss how for non-generic embeddings the M5-instanton can probe ‘locally massless’ U(1) symmetries if the rank of its Mordell-Weil group is enhanced compared to that of the bulk. As a phenomenological off-spring we propose a new type of non-perturbative corrections to Yukawa couplings which may change the rank of the Yukawa matrix. Along the way, we also gain new insights into the structure of massive U(1) gauge fluxes in the stable degeneration limit.

  1. Regularization theory for ill-posed problems selected topics

    CERN Document Server

    Lu, Shuai

    2013-01-01

    Thismonograph is a valuable contribution to thehighly topical and extremly productive field ofregularisationmethods for inverse and ill-posed problems. The author is an internationally outstanding and acceptedmathematicianin this field. In his book he offers a well-balanced mixtureof basic and innovative aspects.He demonstrates new,differentiatedviewpoints, and important examples for applications. The bookdemontrates thecurrent developments inthe field of regularization theory,such as multiparameter regularization and regularization in learning theory. The book is written for graduate and PhDs

  2. Population thinking and natural selection in dual-inheritance theory

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Houkes, W.N.

    2012-01-01

    A deflationary perspective on theories of cultural evolution, in particular dual-inheritance theory, has recently been proposed by Lewens. On this ‘pop-culture’ analysis, dual-inheritance theorists apply population thinking to cultural phenomena, without claiming that cultural items evolve by

  3. Young Children's Near and Far Transfer of the Basic Theory of Natural Selection: An Analogical Storybook Intervention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Emmons, Natalie; Lees, Kristin; Kelemen, Deborah

    2018-01-01

    Misconceptions about adaptation by natural selection are widespread among adults and likely stem, in part, from cognitive biases and intuitive theories observable in early childhood. Current educational guidelines that recommend delaying comprehensive instruction on the topic of adaptation until adolescence, therefore, raise concerns because…

  4. Classical field theory on electrodynamics, non-abelian gauge theories and gravitation

    CERN Document Server

    Scheck, Florian

    2018-01-01

    Scheck’s successful textbook presents a comprehensive treatment, ideally suited for a one-semester course. The textbook describes Maxwell's equations first in their integral, directly testable form, then moves on to their local formulation. The first two chapters cover all essential properties of Maxwell's equations, including their symmetries and their covariance in a modern notation. Chapter 3 is devoted to Maxwell's theory as a classical field theory and to solutions of the wave equation. Chapter 4 deals with important applications of Maxwell's theory. It includes topical subjects such as metamaterials with negative refraction index and solutions of Helmholtz' equation in paraxial approximation relevant for the description of laser beams. Chapter 5 describes non-Abelian gauge theories from a classical, geometric point of view, in analogy to Maxwell's theory as a prototype, and culminates in an application to the U(2) theory relevant for electroweak interactions. The last chapter 6 gives a concise summary...

  5. Quality index tables for some eastern hardwood species

    Science.gov (United States)

    Joseph J. Mendel; William H. Smith; William H. Smith

    1970-01-01

    This paper briefly reviews the quality-index concept, presents log-quality index tables for a selected group of eastern hardwood tree species, and explains how timber operators can use Q.I. for evaluating the lumber that can be sawed from logs and trees.

  6. Determination of laser cutting process conditions using the preference selection index method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Madić, Miloš; Antucheviciene, Jurgita; Radovanović, Miroslav; Petković, Dušan

    2017-03-01

    Determination of adequate parameter settings for improvement of multiple quality and productivity characteristics at the same time is of great practical importance in laser cutting. This paper discusses the application of the preference selection index (PSI) method for discrete optimization of the CO2 laser cutting of stainless steel. The main motivation for application of the PSI method is that it represents an almost unexplored multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) method, and moreover, this method does not require assessment of the considered criteria relative significances. After reviewing and comparing the existing approaches for determination of laser cutting parameter settings, the application of the PSI method was explained in detail. Experiment realization was conducted by using Taguchi's L27 orthogonal array. Roughness of the cut surface, heat affected zone (HAZ), kerf width and material removal rate (MRR) were considered as optimization criteria. The proposed methodology is found to be very useful in real manufacturing environment since it involves simple calculations which are easy to understand and implement. However, while applying the PSI method it was observed that it can not be useful in situations where there exist a large number of alternatives which have attribute values (performances) very close to those which are preferred.

  7. Chiral algebras for trinion theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lemos, Madalena; Peelaers, Wolfger

    2015-01-01

    It was recently understood that one can identify a chiral algebra in any four-dimensional N=2 superconformal theory. In this note, we conjecture the full set of generators of the chiral algebras associated with the T n theories. The conjecture is motivated by making manifest the critical affine module structure in the graded partition function of the chiral algebras, which is computed by the Schur limit of the superconformal index for T n theories. We also explicitly construct the chiral algebra arising from the T 4 theory. Its null relations give rise to new T 4 Higgs branch chiral ring relations.

  8. The substitution bias of the consumer price index

    OpenAIRE

    Frenger, Petter

    2006-01-01

    Abstract: The paper uses elementary consumer theory to propose an inflation independent ratio definition of the substitution bias of the Laspeyres consumer price index, and derives an approximate substitution bias which depends on the size of the price change as measured by a norm in the Laspeyres plane and on the elasticity of substitution in the direction of the price change. This norm or distance measure can be interpreted as a price substitution index which yields useful in...

  9. A risk index for multicriterial selection of a logging system with low environmental impact

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Horodnic, Sergiu Andrei, E-mail: horodnic@usv.ro

    2015-02-15

    Setting up the working stages in forest operations is conditioned by environmental protection and forest health requirements. This paper exposes a method for improving the decision-making process by choosing the most environmentally effective logging systems according to terrain configuration and stand characteristics. Such a methodology for selecting machines or logging systems accounting for environment, safety as well as economics, becomes mandatory in the context of sustainable management of forest with multiple functions. Based on analytic hierarchy process analysis the following classification of the environmental performance for four considered alternatives was obtained: skyline system (42.43%), forwarder system (20.22%), skidder system (19.92%) and horse logging system (17.43%). Further, an environmental risk matrix for the most important 28 risk factors specific to any work equipment used in forest operations was produced. In the end, a multicriterial analysis generated a risk index RI ranging between 1.0 and 3.5, which could help choosing the optimal combination of logging system and logging equipment with low environmental impact. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed approach, a simple application in specific conditions of a harvesting site is presented. - Highlights: • We propose a decision-making algorithm to select eco-friendly logging systems. • Analytic hierarchy process was applied for ranking 4 types of logging systems. • An environmental risk matrix with 28 risk factors in forest operations was made up.

  10. A risk index for multicriterial selection of a logging system with low environmental impact

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horodnic, Sergiu Andrei

    2015-01-01

    Setting up the working stages in forest operations is conditioned by environmental protection and forest health requirements. This paper exposes a method for improving the decision-making process by choosing the most environmentally effective logging systems according to terrain configuration and stand characteristics. Such a methodology for selecting machines or logging systems accounting for environment, safety as well as economics, becomes mandatory in the context of sustainable management of forest with multiple functions. Based on analytic hierarchy process analysis the following classification of the environmental performance for four considered alternatives was obtained: skyline system (42.43%), forwarder system (20.22%), skidder system (19.92%) and horse logging system (17.43%). Further, an environmental risk matrix for the most important 28 risk factors specific to any work equipment used in forest operations was produced. In the end, a multicriterial analysis generated a risk index RI ranging between 1.0 and 3.5, which could help choosing the optimal combination of logging system and logging equipment with low environmental impact. In order to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed approach, a simple application in specific conditions of a harvesting site is presented. - Highlights: • We propose a decision-making algorithm to select eco-friendly logging systems. • Analytic hierarchy process was applied for ranking 4 types of logging systems. • An environmental risk matrix with 28 risk factors in forest operations was made up

  11. Properties of hypothesis testing techniques and (Bayesian) model selection for exploration-based and theory-based (order-restricted) hypotheses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kuiper, Rebecca M; Nederhoff, Tim; Klugkist, Irene

    2015-05-01

    In this paper, the performance of six types of techniques for comparisons of means is examined. These six emerge from the distinction between the method employed (hypothesis testing, model selection using information criteria, or Bayesian model selection) and the set of hypotheses that is investigated (a classical, exploration-based set of hypotheses containing equality constraints on the means, or a theory-based limited set of hypotheses with equality and/or order restrictions). A simulation study is conducted to examine the performance of these techniques. We demonstrate that, if one has specific, a priori specified hypotheses, confirmation (i.e., investigating theory-based hypotheses) has advantages over exploration (i.e., examining all possible equality-constrained hypotheses). Furthermore, examining reasonable order-restricted hypotheses has more power to detect the true effect/non-null hypothesis than evaluating only equality restrictions. Additionally, when investigating more than one theory-based hypothesis, model selection is preferred over hypothesis testing. Because of the first two results, we further examine the techniques that are able to evaluate order restrictions in a confirmatory fashion by examining their performance when the homogeneity of variance assumption is violated. Results show that the techniques are robust to heterogeneity when the sample sizes are equal. When the sample sizes are unequal, the performance is affected by heterogeneity. The size and direction of the deviations from the baseline, where there is no heterogeneity, depend on the effect size (of the means) and on the trend in the group variances with respect to the ordering of the group sizes. Importantly, the deviations are less pronounced when the group variances and sizes exhibit the same trend (e.g., are both increasing with group number). © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

  12. Analysis of a Moodle-Based Training Program about the Pedagogical Content Knowledge of Evolution Theory and Natural Selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stasinakis, Panagiotis K.; Kalogiannnakis, Michail

    2017-01-01

    In this study we aim to find out whether a training program for secondary school science teachers which was organized based on the model of Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), could improve their individual PCK for a specific scientific issue. The Evolution Theory (ET) and the Natural Selection (NS) were chosen as the scientific issues of…

  13. The Cardy limit of the topologically twisted index and black strings in AdS{sub 5}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hosseini, Seyed Morteza; Nedelin, Anton; Zaffaroni, Alberto [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Milano-Bicocca,I-20126 Milano (Italy); INFN, Sezione di Milano-Bicocca,I-20126 Milano (Italy)

    2017-04-04

    We evaluate the topologically twisted index of a general four-dimensional N=1 gauge theory in the “high-temperature' limit. The index is the partition function for N=1 theories on S{sup 2}×T{sup 2}, with a partial topological twist along S{sup 2}, in the presence of background magnetic fluxes and fugacities for the global symmetries. We show that the logarithm of the index is proportional to the conformal anomaly coefficient of the two-dimensional N=(0,2) SCFTs obtained from the compactification on S{sup 2}. We also present a universal formula for extracting the index from the four-dimensional conformal anomaly coefficient and its derivatives. We give examples based on theories whose holographic duals are black strings in type IIB backgrounds AdS{sub 5}×SE{sub 5}, where SE{sub 5} are five-dimensional Sasaki-Einstein spaces.

  14. Bibliography, subject index, and author index of the literature examined by the Radiation Shielding Information Center. Volume 7

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Trubey, D.K.; Roussin, R.W.; Gustin, A.B.

    1983-08-01

    An indexed bibliography of open literature selected by the Radiation Shielding Information Center since the previous volume was published in 1980 is presented in the area of radiation transport and shielding against radiation from nuclear reactors (fission and fusion), x-ray machines, radioisotopes, nuclear weapons (including fallout, and low energy accelerators (e.g., neutron generators). The bibliography was typeset from computer files constituting the RSIC Storage and Retrieval Information System. In addition to lists of literature titles by subject categories (accessions 6201-10156), an author index is given. Most of the literature selected for Volume VII was published in the years 1977 to 1981.

  15. Bibliography, subject index, and author index of the literature examined by the Radiation Shielding Information Center. Volume 7

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Trubey, D.K.; Roussin, R.W.; Gustin, A.B.

    1983-08-01

    An indexed bibliography of open literature selected by the Radiation Shielding Information Center since the previous volume was published in 1980 is presented in the area of radiation transport and shielding against radiation from nuclear reactors (fission and fusion), x-ray machines, radioisotopes, nuclear weapons (including fallout, and low energy accelerators (e.g., neutron generators). The bibliography was typeset from computer files constituting the RSIC Storage and Retrieval Information System. In addition to lists of literature titles by subject categories (accessions 6201-10156), an author index is given. Most of the literature selected for Volume VII was published in the years 1977 to 1981

  16. Heuristic Model Of The Composite Quality Index Of Environmental Assessment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khabarov, A. N.; Knyaginin, A. A.; Bondarenko, D. V.; Shepet, I. P.; Korolkova, L. N.

    2017-01-01

    The goal of the paper is to present the heuristic model of the composite environmental quality index based on the integrated application of the elements of utility theory, multidimensional scaling, expert evaluation and decision-making. The composite index is synthesized in linear-quadratic form, it provides higher adequacy of the results of the assessment preferences of experts and decision-makers.

  17. A grounded theory of successful aging among select incarcerated older Filipino women.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lucas, Heizel Mae; Lozano, Carl James; Valdez, Les Paul; Manzarate, Rowena; Lumawag, Fortuna Angelli Jolyn

    Across the literature, impairment and disability among the older people have been associated with a decline in meeting their special needs. Failure in meeting such needs may cause deterioration of function and threaten successful aging. Accordingly, successful aging studies were carried out among males, in health care institutions, and in communities. In spite of these, the process by which successful aging is experienced by incarcerated older women remains to be a blank spot in research. This study purports to describe the process by which incarcerated older Filipino women experience successful aging. Strauss and Corbin's grounded theory design was employed. Semistructured interviews were conducted among 15 purposively selected incarcerated older Filipino from a Philippine penal institution exclusive for women. Further, data gathered was reduced to field text and was analyzed through open, axial and selective coding. Finally, truthfulness and trustworthiness of the findings were established through member checking. The study generated "The Road to Success Model". Interestingly, five phases relative to successful aging emerged, namely: Struggling, Remotivating, Reforming, Reintegrating and Sustaining. These phases describe how select incarcerated older Filipino women undergo transformation towards successful aging. Similar to a road, each phase is considered a station where one must pass through in order to get to the destination. Findings of the study serve as an impetus for structural and procedural changes in prison, with a view to providing an environment conducive to successful aging and appropriate recognition to the older prisoner's efforts to achieve successful aging. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Bibliography, subject index, and author index of the literature examined by the Radiation Shielding Information Center (Reactor and Weapons Radiation Shielding)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1978-01-01

    An indexed bibliography is presented of literature selected by the Radiation Shielding Information Center since the previous volume was published in 1974 in the area of radiation transport and shielding against radiation from nuclear reactors, x-ray machines, radioisotopes, nuclear weapons (including fallout), and low-energy accelerators (e.g., neutron generators). In addition to lists of literature titles by subject categories (accessions 3501-4950), author and keyword indexes are given. Most of the literature selected for Vol. V was published in the years 1973 to 1976

  19. Mean field theory for a balanced hypercolumn model of orientation selectivity in primary visual cortex

    CERN Document Server

    Lerchner, A; Hertz, J; Ahmadi, M

    2004-01-01

    We present a complete mean field theory for a balanced state of a simple model of an orientation hypercolumn. The theory is complemented by a description of a numerical procedure for solving the mean-field equations quantitatively. With our treatment, we can determine self-consistently both the firing rates and the firing correlations, without being restricted to specific neuron models. Here, we solve the analytically derived mean-field equations numerically for integrate-and-fire neurons. Several known key properties of orientation selective cortical neurons emerge naturally from the description: Irregular firing with statistics close to -- but not restricted to -- Poisson statistics; an almost linear gain function (firing frequency as a function of stimulus contrast) of the neurons within the network; and a contrast-invariant tuning width of the neuronal firing. We find that the irregularity in firing depends sensitively on synaptic strengths. If Fano factors are bigger than 1, then they are so for all stim...

  20. Project selection problem under uncertainty: An application of utility theory and chance constrained programming to a real case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Reza Hosnavi Atashgah

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Selecting from a pool of interdependent projects under certainty, when faced with resource constraints, has been studied well in the literature of project selection problem. After briefly reviewing and discussing popular modeling approaches for dealing with uncertainty, this paper proposes an approach based on chance constrained programming and utility theory for a certain range of problems and under some practical assumptions. Expected Utility Programming, as the proposed modeling approach, will be compared with other well-known methods and its meaningfulness and usefulness will be illustrated via two numerical examples and one real case.

  1. A comparison between index of entropy and catastrophe theory methods for mapping groundwater potential in an arid region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Abadi, Alaa M; Shahid, Shamsuddin

    2015-09-01

    In this study, index of entropy and catastrophe theory methods were used for demarcating groundwater potential in an arid region using weighted linear combination techniques in geographical information system (GIS) environment. A case study from Badra area in the eastern part of central of Iraq was analyzed and discussed. Six factors believed to have influence on groundwater occurrence namely elevation, slope, aquifer transmissivity and storativity, soil, and distance to fault were prepared as raster thematic layers to facility integration into GIS environment. The factors were chosen based on the availability of data and local conditions of the study area. Both techniques were used for computing weights and assigning ranks vital for applying weighted linear combination approach. The results of application of both modes indicated that the most influential groundwater occurrence factors were slope and elevation. The other factors have relatively smaller values of weights implying that these factors have a minor role in groundwater occurrence conditions. The groundwater potential index (GPI) values for both models were classified using natural break classification scheme into five categories: very low, low, moderate, high, and very high. For validation of generated GPI, the relative operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used. According to the obtained area under the curve, the catastrophe model with 78 % prediction accuracy was found to perform better than entropy model with 77 % prediction accuracy. The overall results indicated that both models have good capability for predicting groundwater potential zones.

  2. Strong coupling gauge theories and effective field theories. Proceedings of the 2002 international workshop

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harada, Masayasu; Kikukawa, Yoshio; Yamawaki, Koichi

    2003-01-01

    This issue presents the important recent progress in both theoretical and phenomenological issues of strong coupling gauge theories, with/without supersymmetry and extra dimensions, etc. Emphasis in a placed on dynamical symmetry breaking with large anomalous dimensions governed by the dynamics near the nontrivial fixed point. Also presented are recent developments of the corresponding effective field theories. The 43 of the presented papers are indexed individually. (J.P.N)

  3. Lifestyle index and work ability.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kaleta, Dorota; Makowiec-Dabrowska, Teresa; Jegier, Anna

    2006-01-01

    In many countries around the world, negative changes in lifestyles are observed. The aim of this study was to analyze the influence of selected lifestyle indicators on work ability among professionally active individuals. The study was performed in the randomly selected group of full-time employees (94 men and 93 women) living in the city of Lódź. Work ability was measured with the work ability index and lifestyle characteristic was assessed with the healthy lifestyle index. We analyzed four lifestyle indicators: non-smoking, healthy weight, fiber intake per day, and regular physical activity. Logistic regression was used to estimate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals to control the effects of lifestyle and work ability. The analysis of lifestyle index indicated that 27.7, 30.9, 27.7 and 11.7% of men and 15.1, 21.5, 35.5 and 26.9% of women scored 0, 1, 2, 3 points, respectively. Only 2.1% of men and 1.1% of women met the criteria for the healthy lifestyle (score 4). Work ability was excellent, good and moderate in 38.3, 46.8 and 14.9% of men, and in 39.8, 14.9 and 19.3% of women, respectively. Poor work ability was found in 9.7% women. Work ability was strongly associated with lifestyle in both men and women. Among men with index score = 0, the risk of moderate work ability was nearly seven times higher than in men whose lifestyle index score exceeded 1 or more points (OR = 6.67; 95% CI: 1.94-22.90). Among women with lifestyle index score = 0, the risk of moderate or lower work ability was also highly elevated as compared to those with lifestyle index = 1 or higher (OR = 14.44; 95% CI: 3.53-59.04). Prophylactic schedules associated with the improvement of lifestyles should be addressed to all adults. Future programs aimed at increasing work ability should consider work- and lifestyle-related factors.

  4. Denotational World-indexed Logical Relations and Friends

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Thamsborg, Jacob Junker

    and solve the fundamental type-worlds circularity by metric-space theory. This approach scales to state-of-theart step-indexed techniques and permits unrestricted relational reasoning by the use of so-called Bohr relations. Along the way, we develop auxiliary theory; most notably a generalized version...... of separation logic with assertion variables. In particular, we give criteria for when standard, unary separation logic proofs lift to the binary setting. Phrased dierently, given a module-dependent client and a standard separation logic proof of its correctness, we ponder the default question of representation...

  5. Automatic inference of indexing rules for MEDLINE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shooshan Sonya E

    2008-11-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background: Indexing is a crucial step in any information retrieval system. In MEDLINE, a widely used database of the biomedical literature, the indexing process involves the selection of Medical Subject Headings in order to describe the subject matter of articles. The need for automatic tools to assist MEDLINE indexers in this task is growing with the increasing number of publications being added to MEDLINE. Methods: In this paper, we describe the use and the customization of Inductive Logic Programming (ILP to infer indexing rules that may be used to produce automatic indexing recommendations for MEDLINE indexers. Results: Our results show that this original ILP-based approach outperforms manual rules when they exist. In addition, the use of ILP rules also improves the overall performance of the Medical Text Indexer (MTI, a system producing automatic indexing recommendations for MEDLINE. Conclusion: We expect the sets of ILP rules obtained in this experiment to be integrated into MTI.

  6. Author Index S¯adhan¯a Vol. 37, 2012

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Author Index. Abu-Bakar A R ... Seismic performance evaluation of existing. RC buildings designed as per past codes of practice. 281 ... Simulation–optimization model for ground- ... swarm optimization. 351 ... non-local elasticity theory. 461.

  7. Optimizing the allocation of resources for genomic selection in one breeding cycle.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riedelsheimer, Christian; Melchinger, Albrecht E

    2013-11-01

    We developed a universally applicable planning tool for optimizing the allocation of resources for one cycle of genomic selection in a biparental population. The framework combines selection theory with constraint numerical optimization and considers genotype  ×  environment interactions. Genomic selection (GS) is increasingly implemented in plant breeding programs to increase selection gain but little is known how to optimally allocate the resources under a given budget. We investigated this problem with model calculations by combining quantitative genetic selection theory with constraint numerical optimization. We assumed one selection cycle where both the training and prediction sets comprised double haploid (DH) lines from the same biparental population. Grain yield for testcrosses of maize DH lines was used as a model trait but all parameters can be adjusted in a freely available software implementation. An extension of the expected selection accuracy given by Daetwyler et al. (2008) was developed to correctly balance between the number of environments for phenotyping the training set and its population size in the presence of genotype × environment interactions. Under small budget, genotyping costs mainly determine whether GS is superior over phenotypic selection. With increasing budget, flexibility in resource allocation increases greatly but selection gain leveled off quickly requiring balancing the number of populations with the budget spent for each population. The use of an index combining phenotypic and GS predicted values in the training set was especially beneficial under limited resources and large genotype × environment interactions. Once a sufficiently high selection accuracy is achieved in the prediction set, further selection gain can be achieved most efficiently by massively expanding its size. Thus, with increasing budget, reducing the costs for producing a DH line becomes increasingly crucial for successfully exploiting the

  8. Selection of effective cocrystals former for dissolution rate improvement of active pharmaceutical ingredients based on lipoaffinity index.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cysewski, Piotr; Przybyłek, Maciej

    2017-09-30

    New theoretical screening procedure was proposed for appropriate selection of potential cocrystal formers possessing the ability of enhancing dissolution rates of drugs. The procedure relies on the training set comprising 102 positive and 17 negative cases of cocrystals found in the literature. Despite the fact that the only available data were of qualitative character, performed statistical analysis using binary classification allowed to formulate quantitative criterions. Among considered 3679 molecular descriptors the relative value of lipoaffinity index, expressed as the difference between values calculated for active compound and excipient, has been found as the most appropriate measure suited for discrimination of positive and negative cases. Assuming 5% precision, the applied classification criterion led to inclusion of 70% positive cases in the final prediction. Since lipoaffinity index is a molecular descriptor computed using only 2D information about a chemical structure, its estimation is straightforward and computationally inexpensive. The inclusion of an additional criterion quantifying the cocrystallization probability leads to the following conjunction criterions H mix 3.61, allowing for identification of dissolution rate enhancers. The screening procedure was applied for finding the most promising coformers of such drugs as Iloperidone, Ritonavir, Carbamazepine and Enthenzamide. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. The prostate health index selectively identifies clinically significant prostate cancer

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    S. Loeb (Stacy); M.G. Sanda (Martin G.); D.L. Broyles (Dennis L.); S.S. Shin (Sanghyuk S.); C.H. Bangma (Chris); J.T. Wei (John T.); A.W. Partin (Alan W.); G.G. Klee (George); K.M. Slawin (Kevin M.); L.S. Marks (Leonard S.); R.H.N. van Schaik (Ron); D.W. Chan (Daniel); L. Sokoll (Lori); A.B. Cruz (Amabelle B.); I.A. Mizrahi (Isaac A.); W.J. Catalona (William)

    2015-01-01

    textabstractPurpose The Prostate Health Index (phi) is a new test combining total, free and [-2]proPSA into a single score. It was recently approved by the FDA and is now commercially available in the U.S., Europe and Australia. We investigate whether phi improves specificity for detecting

  10. Perturbation results for the Estrada index in weighted networks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shang Yilun, E-mail: shylmath@hotmail.com [Institute for Cyber Security, University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78249 (United States)

    2011-02-18

    The logarithm of the Estrada index has been proposed recently as a spectral measure to character efficiently the robustness of complex networks. In this paper, we explore the Estrada index in weighted networks and develop various perturbation results based on spectral graph theory. It is shown that the robustness of a network may be enhanced even when some edge weights are reduced. This is of particular theoretical and practical significance to network design and optimization.

  11. Perturbation results for the Estrada index in weighted networks

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shang Yilun

    2011-01-01

    The logarithm of the Estrada index has been proposed recently as a spectral measure to character efficiently the robustness of complex networks. In this paper, we explore the Estrada index in weighted networks and develop various perturbation results based on spectral graph theory. It is shown that the robustness of a network may be enhanced even when some edge weights are reduced. This is of particular theoretical and practical significance to network design and optimization.

  12. Non-ignorable missingness item response theory models for choice effects in examinee-selected items.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Chen-Wei; Wang, Wen-Chung

    2017-11-01

    Examinee-selected item (ESI) design, in which examinees are required to respond to a fixed number of items in a given set, always yields incomplete data (i.e., when only the selected items are answered, data are missing for the others) that are likely non-ignorable in likelihood inference. Standard item response theory (IRT) models become infeasible when ESI data are missing not at random (MNAR). To solve this problem, the authors propose a two-dimensional IRT model that posits one unidimensional IRT model for observed data and another for nominal selection patterns. The two latent variables are assumed to follow a bivariate normal distribution. In this study, the mirt freeware package was adopted to estimate parameters. The authors conduct an experiment to demonstrate that ESI data are often non-ignorable and to determine how to apply the new model to the data collected. Two follow-up simulation studies are conducted to assess the parameter recovery of the new model and the consequences for parameter estimation of ignoring MNAR data. The results of the two simulation studies indicate good parameter recovery of the new model and poor parameter recovery when non-ignorable missing data were mistakenly treated as ignorable. © 2017 The British Psychological Society.

  13. Nineteenth-century aether theories

    CERN Document Server

    Schaffner, Kenneth F

    2013-01-01

    Nineteenth-Century Aether Theories focuses on aether theories. The selection first offers information on the development of aether theories by taking into consideration the positions of Christiaan Huygens, Thomas Young, and Augustin Fresnel. The text then examines the elastic solid aether. Concerns include Green's aether theory, MacCullagh's aether theory, and Kelvin's aether theory. The text also reviews Lorentz' aether and electron theory. The development of Lorentz' ideas of the stagnant aether and electrons; Lorentz' theorem of corresponding states and its development; and Lorentz' respons

  14. Method of identifying features in indexed data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jarman, Kristin H [Richland, WA; Daly, Don Simone [Richland, WA; Anderson, Kevin K [Richland, WA; Wahl, Karen L [Richland, WA

    2001-06-26

    The present invention is a method of identifying features in indexed data, especially useful for distinguishing signal from noise in data provided as a plurality of ordered pairs. Each of the plurality of ordered pairs has an index and a response. The method has the steps of: (a) providing an index window having a first window end located on a first index and extending across a plurality of indices to a second window end; (b) selecting responses corresponding to the plurality of indices within the index window and computing a measure of dispersion of the responses; and (c) comparing the measure of dispersion to a dispersion critical value. Advantages of the present invention include minimizing signal to noise ratio, signal drift, varying baseline signal and combinations thereof.

  15. Asymptotic Performance Analysis of the k-th Best Link Selection over Wireless Fading Channels: An Extreme Value Theory Approach

    KAUST Repository

    Al-Badarneh, Yazan Hussein

    2018-01-25

    We consider a general selection-diversity (SD) scheme in which the k-th best link is selected from a number of links. We use extreme value theory (EVT) to derive simple closed-form asymptotic expressions for the average throughput, effective throughput and average bit error probability (BEP) for the k-th best link over various channel models that are widely used to characterize fading in wireless communication systems. As an application example, we consider the Weibull fading channel model and verify the accuracy of the derived asymptotic expressions through Monte Carlo simulations.

  16. Asymptotic Performance Analysis of the k-th Best Link Selection over Wireless Fading Channels: An Extreme Value Theory Approach

    KAUST Repository

    Al-Badarneh, Yazan Hussein; Georghiades, Costas; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2018-01-01

    We consider a general selection-diversity (SD) scheme in which the k-th best link is selected from a number of links. We use extreme value theory (EVT) to derive simple closed-form asymptotic expressions for the average throughput, effective throughput and average bit error probability (BEP) for the k-th best link over various channel models that are widely used to characterize fading in wireless communication systems. As an application example, we consider the Weibull fading channel model and verify the accuracy of the derived asymptotic expressions through Monte Carlo simulations.

  17. Theory of Alike Selectivity in Biological Channels

    Science.gov (United States)

    Luchinsky, Dmitry G.; Gibby, Will A. T.; Kaufman, Igor Kh.; Eisenberg, Robert S.; McClintock, Peter V. E.

    2016-01-01

    We introduce a statistical mechanical model of the selectivity filter that accounts for the interaction between ions within the channel and derive Eisenman equation of the filter selectivity directly from the condition of barrier-less conduction.

  18. Comprehensive evaluation of global energy interconnection development index

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Lin; Zhang, Yi

    2018-04-01

    Under the background of building global energy interconnection and realizing green and low-carbon development, this article constructed the global energy interconnection development index system which based on the current situation of global energy interconnection development. Through using the entropy method for the weight analysis of global energy interconnection development index, and then using gray correlation method to analyze the selected countries, this article got the global energy interconnection development index ranking and level classification.

  19. Living with limited time: Socioemotional selectivity theory in the context of health adversity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan-Singh, Sarah J; Stanton, Annette L; Low, Carissa A

    2015-06-01

    The current research was designed to test the applicability of socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006), a life span theory that posits that perceived time remaining in life (time perspective) is a critical determinant of motivation, to individuals who face foreshortened futures (limited time perspective) due to life-limiting medical illness. In Study 1, we investigated whether life goals and biases in attention and memory for valenced emotional stimuli differed between women living with metastatic breast cancer (n = 113; theoretically living under greater limited time perspective than peers without cancer) and similarly aged women without a cancer diagnosis (n = 50; theoretically living under greater expansive time perspective than peers with cancer) in accordance with SST. As hypothesized, metastatic group goals reflected greater emphasis on limited versus expansive time perspective relative to comparison group goals. Hypotheses regarding biases in attention and memory were not supported. Study 2 followed metastatic group participants over 3 months and revealed that, consistent with hypotheses, whereas limited time perspective goals predicted decreased intrusive thoughts about cancer, expansive time perspective goals predicted decreased perceived cancer-related benefits. Together, these studies suggest that SST is a useful lens through which to view some components of motivation and psychological adjustment among individuals confronting medically foreshortened futures. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

  20. Living With Limited Time: Socioemotional Selectivity Theory in the Context of Health Adversity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sullivan-Singh, Sarah J.; Stanton, Annette L.; Low, Carissa A.

    2016-01-01

    The current research was designed to test the applicability of socioemotional selectivity theory (SST; Carstensen, 2006), a life span theory that posits that perceived time remaining in life (time perspective) is a critical determinant of motivation, to individuals who face foreshortened futures (limited time perspective) due to life-limiting medical illness. In Study 1, we investigated whether life goals and biases in attention and memory for valenced emotional stimuli differed between women living with metastatic breast cancer (n = 113; theoretically living under greater limited time perspective than peers without cancer) and similarly aged women without a cancer diagnosis (n = 50; theoretically living under greater expansive time perspective than peers with cancer) in accordance with SST. As hypothesized, metastatic group goals reflected greater emphasis on limited versus expansive time perspective relative to comparison group goals. Hypotheses regarding biases in attention and memory were not supported. Study 2 followed metastatic group participants over 3 months and revealed that, consistent with hypotheses, whereas limited time perspective goals predicted decreased intrusive thoughts about cancer, expansive time perspective goals predicted decreased perceived cancer-related benefits. Together, these studies suggest that SST is a useful lens through which to view some components of motivation and psychological adjustment among individuals confronting medically foreshortened futures. PMID:25984789

  1. Quantitative analysis of replication-related mutation and selection pressures in bacterial chromosomes and plasmids using generalised GC skew index

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Suzuki Haruo

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Due to their bi-directional replication machinery starting from a single finite origin, bacterial genomes show characteristic nucleotide compositional bias between the two replichores, which can be visualised through GC skew or (C-G/(C+G. Although this polarisation is used for computational prediction of replication origins in many bacterial genomes, the degree of GC skew visibility varies widely among different species, necessitating a quantitative measurement of GC skew strength in order to provide confidence measures for GC skew-based predictions of replication origins. Results Here we discuss a quantitative index for the measurement of GC skew strength, named the generalised GC skew index (gGCSI, which is applicable to genomes of any length, including bacterial chromosomes and plasmids. We demonstrate that gGCSI is independent of the window size and can thus be used to compare genomes with different sizes, such as bacterial chromosomes and plasmids. It can suggest the existence of different replication mechanisms in archaea and of rolling-circle replication in plasmids. Correlation of gGCSI values between plasmids and their corresponding host chromosomes suggests that within the same strain, these replicons have reproduced using the same replication machinery and thus exhibit similar strengths of replication strand skew. Conclusions gGCSI can be applied to genomes of any length and thus allows comparative study of replication-related mutation and selection pressures in genomes of different lengths such as bacterial chromosomes and plasmids. Using gGCSI, we showed that replication-related mutation or selection pressure is similar for replicons with similar machinery.

  2. Variance Function Partially Linear Single-Index Models1.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lian, Heng; Liang, Hua; Carroll, Raymond J

    2015-01-01

    We consider heteroscedastic regression models where the mean function is a partially linear single index model and the variance function depends upon a generalized partially linear single index model. We do not insist that the variance function depend only upon the mean function, as happens in the classical generalized partially linear single index model. We develop efficient and practical estimation methods for the variance function and for the mean function. Asymptotic theory for the parametric and nonparametric parts of the model is developed. Simulations illustrate the results. An empirical example involving ozone levels is used to further illustrate the results, and is shown to be a case where the variance function does not depend upon the mean function.

  3. Cardiac risk index as a simple geometric indicator to select patients for the heart-sparing radiotherapy of left-sided breast cancer

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sung, KiHoon; Choi, Young Eun; Lee, Kyu Chan

    2017-01-01

    This is a dosimetric study to identify a simple geometric indicator to discriminate patients who meet the selection criterion for heart-sparing radiotherapy (RT). The authors proposed a cardiac risk index (CRI), directly measurable from the CT images at the time of scanning. Treatment plans were regenerated using the CT data of 312 consecutive patients with left-sided breast cancer. Dosimetric analysis was performed to estimate the risk of cardiac mortality using cardiac dosimetric parameters, such as the relative heart volumes receiving ≥25 Gy (heart V 25 ). For each CT data set, in-field heart depth (HD) and in-field heart width (HW) were measured to generate the geometric parameters, including maximum HW (HW max ) and maximum HD (HD max ). Seven geometric parameters were evaluated as candidates for CRI. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses were used to examine the overall discriminatory power of the geometric parameters to select high-risk patients (heart V 25 ≥ 10%). Seventy-one high-risk (22.8%) and 241 low-risk patients (77.2%) were identified by dosimetric analysis. The geometric and dosimetric parameters were significantly higher in the high-risk group. Heart V 25 showed the strong positive correlations with all geometric parameters examined (r > 0.8, p < 0.001). The product of HD max and HW max (CRI) revealed the largest area under the curve (AUC) value (0.969) and maintained 100% sensitivity and 88% specificity at the optimal cut-off value of 14.58 cm 2 . Cardiac risk index proposed as a simple geometric indicator to select high-risk patients provides useful guidance for clinicians considering optimal implementation of heart-sparing RT.

  4. Automated spectral zones selection methodology for diffusion theory data preparation for pebble bed reactor analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mphahlele, Ramatsemela

    A methodology is developed for the determination of the optimum spectral zones in Pebble Bed Reactors (PBR). In this work a spectral zone is defined as a zone made up of a number of nodes whose characteristics are collectively similar and that are assigned the same few-group diffusion constants. In other words the spectral zones are the regions over which the few-group diffusion parameters are generated. The identification of spectral boundaries is treated as an optimization problem. It is solved by systematically and simultaneously repositioning all zone boundaries to achieve the global minimum error between the reference transport solution (MCNP) and the diffusion code solution (NEM). The objective function for the optimization algorithm is the total reaction rate error, which is defined as the sum of the leakage, absorption and fission reaction rates error in each zone. An iterative determination of group-dependent bucklings is incorporated into the methodology to properly account for spectral effects of neighboring zones. A preferred energy group structure has also been chosen. This optimization approach with the reference transport solution has proved to be accurate and consistent, however the computational effort required to complete the optimization process is significant. Thus a more practical methodology is also developed for the determination of the spectral zones in PBRs. The reactor physics characteristics of the spectral zones have been studied to understand the nature of the spectral zone boundaries. The practical tool involves the use of spectral indices based on few-group diffusion theory whole core calculations. With this methodology, there is no need to first have a reference transport solution. It is shown that the diffusion-theory coarse group fluxes and the effective multiplication factor computed using zones based on the practical index agrees within a narrow tolerance with those of the reference approach. Therefore the "practical" index

  5. Composite Indexes Economic and Social Performance: Do they Provide Valuable Information?

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nasierowski Wojciech

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper examines the information content of the selected composite indexes, namely the Global Competitiveness Report Index, the Human Development Index, the Knowledge Economy Index, the Innovation Union Scoreboard, and the like. These indexes are examined from the viewpoint of country rankings. It is argued that these indexes provide highly similar information, which brings to question the usefulness of such a variety of approaches. This paper also explores the drawbacks of composite indexes, and questions whether these indexes can adequately serve as policy-setting mechanisms.

  6. Management model of productive capacity: integrating theory of constraints and the global operational efficiency index (IROG

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diego Augusto Pacheco

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents a model of management capacity in productive systems integrating the concepts of the Theory of Constraints and Total Productive Maintenance (TPM. The main objective of this study is to discuss and propose a model of management capacity, able to answer the following key questions: i capacity indicators which should be considered and how to measure them to measure the productive capacity of manufacturing systems? ii what is the real productive capacity of the system analyzed under a determined relationship between capacity and demand? The discussion of the proposed model is relevant because the definition of productive capacity system enables better management of resources and capabilities, improve production scheduling on the factory floor and meeting the demands imposed by the market. This paper presents the proposition of using the Operating Income Index Global (IROG with a different approach from traditional literature dealing with the theme, presented by Nakajima (1988. The results of this paper enable to develop a model to determine the capacity of the production system and the impact on the productive capacity of the entire system, not to consider the quality conformances that occur after the bottleneck resource of the production flow.

  7. Comparison of China's oil import risk. Results based on portfolio theory and a diversification index approach

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wu, Gang; Liu, Lan-Cui; Wei, Yi-Ming

    2009-01-01

    In recent years, the international oil price has fluctuated violently, bringing about huge risk for the international oil trade. In fact, the risk of crude oil and petroleum product imports is different because of the different import origins and prices. Which import risk is lower for China? From the perspective of oil supply security, how should China portfolio crude oil and petroleum product imports to minimize its oil import risk? Using portfolio theory and a diversification index approach, this paper compares and analyzes the supply, price and transport risks of crude oil and petroleum product imports. Our results show that the following: (1) Specific risk (diversification risk) and marine transport risk of China's petroleum product imports are lower than that of crude oil imports. (2) The average rate of return of China's petroleum product imports is higher than that of crude oil imports. Moreover, the average import price variance of petroleum product imports is lower than that of crude oil imports. Thus, the systematic risk (price risk) of petroleum products is lower too. Therefore, from the perspective of oil supply security, China should increase petroleum product imports to decrease its oil import risk. (author)

  8. Boltzmann, Darwin and Directionality theory

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Demetrius, Lloyd A., E-mail: ldemetr@oeb.harvard.edu

    2013-09-01

    Boltzmann’s statistical thermodynamics is a mathematical theory which relates the macroscopic properties of aggregates of interacting molecules with the laws of their interaction. The theory is based on the concept thermodynamic entropy, a statistical measure of the extent to which energy is spread throughout macroscopic matter. Macroscopic evolution of material aggregates is quantitatively explained in terms of the principle: Thermodynamic entropy increases as the composition of the aggregate changes under molecular collision. Darwin’s theory of evolution is a qualitative theory of the origin of species and the adaptation of populations to their environment. A central concept in the theory is fitness, a qualitative measure of the capacity of an organism to contribute to the ancestry of future generations. Macroscopic evolution of populations of living organisms can be qualitatively explained in terms of a neo-Darwinian principle: Fitness increases as the composition of the population changes under variation and natural selection. Directionality theory is a quantitative model of the Darwinian argument of evolution by variation and selection. This mathematical theory is based on the concept evolutionary entropy, a statistical measure which describes the rate at which an organism appropriates energy from the environment and reinvests this energy into survivorship and reproduction. According to directionality theory, microevolutionary dynamics, that is evolution by mutation and natural selection, can be quantitatively explained in terms of a directionality principle: Evolutionary entropy increases when the resources are diverse and of constant abundance; but decreases when the resource is singular and of variable abundance. This report reviews the analytical and empirical support for directionality theory, and invokes the microevolutionary dynamics of variation and selection to delineate the principles which govern macroevolutionary dynamics of speciation and

  9. Boltzmann, Darwin and Directionality theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Demetrius, Lloyd A.

    2013-01-01

    Boltzmann’s statistical thermodynamics is a mathematical theory which relates the macroscopic properties of aggregates of interacting molecules with the laws of their interaction. The theory is based on the concept thermodynamic entropy, a statistical measure of the extent to which energy is spread throughout macroscopic matter. Macroscopic evolution of material aggregates is quantitatively explained in terms of the principle: Thermodynamic entropy increases as the composition of the aggregate changes under molecular collision. Darwin’s theory of evolution is a qualitative theory of the origin of species and the adaptation of populations to their environment. A central concept in the theory is fitness, a qualitative measure of the capacity of an organism to contribute to the ancestry of future generations. Macroscopic evolution of populations of living organisms can be qualitatively explained in terms of a neo-Darwinian principle: Fitness increases as the composition of the population changes under variation and natural selection. Directionality theory is a quantitative model of the Darwinian argument of evolution by variation and selection. This mathematical theory is based on the concept evolutionary entropy, a statistical measure which describes the rate at which an organism appropriates energy from the environment and reinvests this energy into survivorship and reproduction. According to directionality theory, microevolutionary dynamics, that is evolution by mutation and natural selection, can be quantitatively explained in terms of a directionality principle: Evolutionary entropy increases when the resources are diverse and of constant abundance; but decreases when the resource is singular and of variable abundance. This report reviews the analytical and empirical support for directionality theory, and invokes the microevolutionary dynamics of variation and selection to delineate the principles which govern macroevolutionary dynamics of speciation and

  10. MEASURING INFLATION THROUGH STOCHASTIC APPROACH TO INDEX NUMBERS FOR PAKISTAN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahid Asghar

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available This study attempts to estimate the rate of inflation in Pakistan through stochastic approach to index numbers which provides not only point estimate but also confidence interval for the rate of inflation. There are two types of approaches to index number theory namely: the functional economic approaches and the stochastic approach. The attraction of stochastic approach is that it estimates the rate of inflation in which uncertainty and statistical ideas play a major roll of screening index numbers. We have used extended stochastic approach to index numbers for measuring inflation by allowing for the systematic changes in the relative prices. We use CPI data covering the period July 2001--March 2008 for Pakistan.

  11. Automatic design of basin-specific drought indexes for highly regulated water systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zaniolo, Marta; Giuliani, Matteo; Castelletti, Andrea Francesco; Pulido-Velazquez, Manuel

    2018-04-01

    Socio-economic costs of drought are progressively increasing worldwide due to undergoing alterations of hydro-meteorological regimes induced by climate change. Although drought management is largely studied in the literature, traditional drought indexes often fail at detecting critical events in highly regulated systems, where natural water availability is conditioned by the operation of water infrastructures such as dams, diversions, and pumping wells. Here, ad hoc index formulations are usually adopted based on empirical combinations of several, supposed-to-be significant, hydro-meteorological variables. These customized formulations, however, while effective in the design basin, can hardly be generalized and transferred to different contexts. In this study, we contribute FRIDA (FRamework for Index-based Drought Analysis), a novel framework for the automatic design of basin-customized drought indexes. In contrast to ad hoc empirical approaches, FRIDA is fully automated, generalizable, and portable across different basins. FRIDA builds an index representing a surrogate of the drought conditions of the basin, computed by combining all the relevant available information about the water circulating in the system identified by means of a feature extraction algorithm. We used the Wrapper for Quasi-Equally Informative Subset Selection (W-QEISS), which features a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm to find Pareto-efficient subsets of variables by maximizing the wrapper accuracy, minimizing the number of selected variables, and optimizing relevance and redundancy of the subset. The preferred variable subset is selected among the efficient solutions and used to formulate the final index according to alternative model structures. We apply FRIDA to the case study of the Jucar river basin (Spain), a drought-prone and highly regulated Mediterranean water resource system, where an advanced drought management plan relying on the formulation of an ad hoc state index is used

  12. The theory of algebraic numbers

    CERN Document Server

    Pollard, Harry

    1998-01-01

    An excellent introduction to the basics of algebraic number theory, this concise, well-written volume examines Gaussian primes; polynomials over a field; algebraic number fields; and algebraic integers and integral bases. After establishing a firm introductory foundation, the text explores the uses of arithmetic in algebraic number fields; the fundamental theorem of ideal theory and its consequences; ideal classes and class numbers; and the Fermat conjecture. 1975 edition. References. List of Symbols. Index.

  13. Corners in M-theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sati, Hisham

    2011-06-01

    M-theory can be defined on closed manifolds as well as on manifolds with boundary. As an extension, we show that manifolds with corners appear naturally in M-theory. We illustrate this with four situations: the lift to bounding 12 dimensions of M-theory on anti-de Sitter spaces, ten-dimensional heterotic string theory in relation to 12 dimensions, and the two M-branes within M-theory in the presence of a boundary. The M2-brane is taken with (or as) a boundary and the worldvolume of the M5-brane is viewed as a tubular neighborhood. We then concentrate on the (variant) of the heterotic theory as a corner and explore analytical and geometric consequences. In particular, we formulate and study the phase of the partition function in this setting and identify the corrections due to the corner(s). The analysis involves considering M-theory on disconnected manifolds and makes use of the extension of the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theorem to manifolds with corners and the b-calculus of Melrose.

  14. Corners in M-theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sati, Hisham

    2011-01-01

    M-theory can be defined on closed manifolds as well as on manifolds with boundary. As an extension, we show that manifolds with corners appear naturally in M-theory. We illustrate this with four situations: the lift to bounding 12 dimensions of M-theory on anti-de Sitter spaces, ten-dimensional heterotic string theory in relation to 12 dimensions, and the two M-branes within M-theory in the presence of a boundary. The M2-brane is taken with (or as) a boundary and the worldvolume of the M5-brane is viewed as a tubular neighborhood. We then concentrate on the (variant) of the heterotic theory as a corner and explore analytical and geometric consequences. In particular, we formulate and study the phase of the partition function in this setting and identify the corrections due to the corner(s). The analysis involves considering M-theory on disconnected manifolds and makes use of the extension of the Atiyah-Patodi-Singer index theorem to manifolds with corners and the b-calculus of Melrose.

  15. Bibliography, subject index, and author index of the literature examined by the Radiation Shielding Information Center (Reactor and Weapons Radiation Shielding). [1973--1976

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1978-01-01

    An indexed bibliography is presented of literature selected by the Radiation Shielding Information Center since the previous volume was published in 1974 in the area of radiation transport and shielding against radiation from nuclear reactors, x-ray machines, radioisotopes, nuclear weapons (including fallout), and low-energy accelerators (e.g., neutron generators). In addition to lists of literature titles by subject categories (accessions 3501-4950), author and keyword indexes are given. Most of the literature selected for Vol. V was published in the years 1973 to 1976.

  16. Potential of Genomic Selection in Mass Selection Breeding of an Allogamous Crop: An Empirical Study to Increase Yield of Common Buckwheat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yabe, Shiori; Hara, Takashi; Ueno, Mariko; Enoki, Hiroyuki; Kimura, Tatsuro; Nishimura, Satoru; Yasui, Yasuo; Ohsawa, Ryo; Iwata, Hiroyoshi

    2018-01-01

    To evaluate the potential of genomic selection (GS), a selection experiment with GS and phenotypic selection (PS) was performed in an allogamous crop, common buckwheat ( Fagopyrum esculentum Moench). To indirectly select for seed yield per unit area, which cannot be measured on a single-plant basis, a selection index was constructed from seven agro-morphological traits measurable on a single plant basis. Over 3 years, we performed two GS and one PS cycles per year for improvement in the selection index. In GS, a prediction model was updated every year on the basis of genotypes of 14,598-50,000 markers and phenotypes. Plants grown from seeds derived from a series of generations of GS and PS populations were evaluated for the traits in the selection index and other yield-related traits. GS resulted in a 20.9% increase and PS in a 15.0% increase in the selection index in comparison with the initial population. Although the level of linkage disequilibrium in the breeding population was low, the target trait was improved with GS. Traits with higher weights in the selection index were improved more than those with lower weights, especially when prediction accuracy was high. No trait changed in an unintended direction in either GS or PS. The accuracy of genomic prediction models built in the first cycle decreased in the later cycles because the genetic bottleneck through the selection cycles changed linkage disequilibrium patterns in the breeding population. The present study emphasizes the importance of updating models in GS and demonstrates the potential of GS in mass selection of allogamous crop species, and provided a pilot example of successful application of GS to plant breeding.

  17. A generalized DEMATEL theory with a shrinkage coefficient for an indirect relation matrix

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Liu Hsiang-Chuan

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In this paper, a novel decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL theory with a shrinkage coefficient of indirect relation matrix is proposed, and a useful validity index, called Liu’s validity index, is also proposed for evaluating the performance of any DEMATEL model. If the shrinkage coefficient of an indirect relation matrix is equal to 1, then this new theory is identical to the traditional theory; in other words, it is a generalization of the traditional theory. Furthermore, the indirect relation is always considerably greater than the direct one in traditional DEMATEL theory, which is unreasonable and unfair because it overemphasizes the influence of the indirect relation. We prove in this paper that if the shrinkage coefficient is equal to 0.5, then the indirect relation is less than its direct relation. Because the shrinkage coefficient belongs to [0.5, 1], according to Liu’s validity index, we can find a more appropriate shrinkage coefficient to obtain a more efficient DEMATEL method. Some crucial properties of this new theory are discussed, and a simple example is provided to illustrate the advantages of the proposed theory.

  18. Schizophrenia: multi-attribute utility theory approach to selection of atypical antipsychotics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bettinger, Tawny L; Shuler, Garyn; Jones, Donnamaria R; Wilson, James P

    2007-02-01

    Current guidelines/algorithms recommend atypical antipsychotics as first-line agents for the treatment of schizophrenia. Because there are extensive healthcare costs associated with the treatment of schizophrenia, many institutions and health systems are faced with making restrictive formulary decisions regarding the use of atypical antipsychotics. Often, medication acquisition costs are the driving force behind formulary decisions, while other treatment factors are not considered. To apply a multi-attribute utility theory (MAUT) analysis to aid in the selection of a preferred agent among the atypical antipsychotics for the treatment of schizophrenia. Five atypical antipsychotics (risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, ziprasidone, aripiprazole) were selected as the alternative agents to be included in the MAUT analysis. The attributes identified for inclusion in the analysis were efficacy, adverse effects, cost, and adherence, with relative weights of 35%, 35%, 20%, and 10%, respectively. For each agent, attribute scores were calculated, weighted, and then summed to generate a total utility score. The agent with the highest total utility score was considered the preferred agent. Aripiprazole, with a total utility score of 75.8, was the alternative agent with the highest total utility score in this model. This was followed by ziprasidone, risperidone, and quetiapine, with total utility scores of 71.8, 69.0, and 65.9, respectively. Olanzapine received the lowest total utility score. A sensitivity analysis was performed and failed to displace aripiprazole as the agent with the highest total utility score. This model suggests that aripiprazole should be considered a preferred agent for the treatment of schizophrenia unless found to be otherwise inappropriate.

  19. Reflection Positive Stochastic Processes Indexed by Lie Groups

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jorgensen, Palle E. T.; Neeb, Karl-Hermann; Ólafsson, Gestur

    2016-06-01

    Reflection positivity originates from one of the Osterwalder-Schrader axioms for constructive quantum field theory. It serves as a bridge between euclidean and relativistic quantum field theory. In mathematics, more specifically, in representation theory, it is related to the Cartan duality of symmetric Lie groups (Lie groups with an involution) and results in a transformation of a unitary representation of a symmetric Lie group to a unitary representation of its Cartan dual. In this article we continue our investigation of representation theoretic aspects of reflection positivity by discussing reflection positive Markov processes indexed by Lie groups, measures on path spaces, and invariant gaussian measures in spaces of distribution vectors. This provides new constructions of reflection positive unitary representations.

  20. Selective Impairment of Auditory Selective Attention under Concurrent Cognitive Load

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dittrich, Kerstin; Stahl, Christoph

    2012-01-01

    Load theory predicts that concurrent cognitive load impairs selective attention. For visual stimuli, it has been shown that this impairment can be selective: Distraction was specifically increased when the stimulus material used in the cognitive load task matches that of the selective attention task. Here, we report four experiments that…

  1. Selective attention and the "Asynchrony Theory" in native Hebrew-speaking adult dyslexics: Behavioral and ERPs measures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Menashe, Shay

    2017-01-01

    The main aim of the present study was to determine whether adult dyslexic readers demonstrate the "Asynchrony Theory" (Breznitz [Reading Fluency: Synchronization of Processes, Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates, Mahwah, NJ, USA, 2006]) when selective attention is studied. Event-related potentials (ERPs) and behavioral parameters were collected from nonimpaired readers group and dyslexic readers group performing alphabetic and nonalphabetic tasks. The dyslexic readers group was found to demonstrate asynchrony between the auditory and the visual modalities when it came to processing alphabetic stimuli. These findings were found both for behavioral and ERPs parameters. Unlike the dyslexic readers, the nonimpaired readers showed synchronized speed of processing in the auditory and the visual modalities while processing alphabetic stimuli. The current study suggests that established reading is dependent on a synchronization between the auditory and the visual modalities even when it comes to selective attention.

  2. Conference on Representation Theory, Number Theory and Invariant Theory: on the Occasion of Roger Howe’s 70th Birthday

    CERN Document Server

    Kim, Ju-Lee; Zhu, Chen-Bo

    2017-01-01

    This book contains selected papers based on talks given at the "Representation Theory, Number Theory, and Invariant Theory" conference held at Yale University from June 1 to June 5, 2015. The meeting and this resulting volume are in honor of Professor Roger Howe, on the occasion of his 70th birthday, whose work and insights have been deeply influential in the development of these fields. The speakers who contributed to this work include Roger Howe's doctoral students, Roger Howe himself, and other world renowned mathematicians. Topics covered include automorphic forms, invariant theory, representation theory of reductive groups over local fields, and related subjects.

  3. Selection of index complex for the NPP operator activity efficiency

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kolesnik, A I; Chertorizhskij, E A

    1984-01-01

    Preconditions for choice of NPP operator activity efficiency index are determined. Results of the choice are given and a method for determination of generalized and particular parameters by means of which NPP operator activity efficiency can be estimated is considered. An algorithm of diagnosis of reason for unsuccess of operator activity based on assessment of psychological factors of complicacy is suggested.

  4. The criteria for selecting a method for unfolding neutron spectra based on the information entropy theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhu, Qingjun; Song, Fengquan; Ren, Jie; Chen, Xueyong; Zhou, Bin

    2014-01-01

    To further expand the application of an artificial neural network in the field of neutron spectrometry, the criteria for choosing between an artificial neural network and the maximum entropy method for the purpose of unfolding neutron spectra was presented. The counts of the Bonner spheres for IAEA neutron spectra were used as a database, and the artificial neural network and the maximum entropy method were used to unfold neutron spectra; the mean squares of the spectra were defined as the differences between the desired and unfolded spectra. After the information entropy of each spectrum was calculated using information entropy theory, the relationship between the mean squares of the spectra and the information entropy was acquired. Useful information from the information entropy guided the selection of unfolding methods. Due to the importance of the information entropy, the method for predicting the information entropy using the Bonner spheres' counts was established. The criteria based on the information entropy theory can be used to choose between the artificial neural network and the maximum entropy method unfolding methods. The application of an artificial neural network to unfold neutron spectra was expanded. - Highlights: • Two neutron spectra unfolding methods, ANN and MEM, were compared. • The spectrum's entropy offers useful information for selecting unfolding methods. • For the spectrum with low entropy, the ANN was generally better than MEM. • The spectrum's entropy was predicted based on the Bonner spheres' counts

  5. The Role of Nice and Nasty Theory of Mind in Teacher-Selected Peer Models for Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders

    Science.gov (United States)

    Laghi, Fiorenzo; Lonigro, Antonia; Levanto, Simona; Ferraro, Maurizio; Baumgartner, Emma; Baiocco, Roberto

    2016-01-01

    The study aimed at verifying if nice and nasty theory of mind behaviors, in association with teachers' peer buddy nomination, could be used to correctly select peer models for adolescents with autism spectrum disorder. Mentalizing abilities and emotional and behavioral characteristics of 601 adolescents were assessed. Results suggest that teachers…

  6. H-index in medicine is driven by original research.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nowak, Jan K; Lubarski, Karol; Kowalik, Lukasz M; Walkowiak, Jaroslaw

    2018-02-28

    To investigate the contribution of selected types of articles to h-indices of medical researchers. We used the Web of Science to export the publication records of various members from 26 scientific medical societies (13 European, 13 North American) associated with 13 medical specialties. Those included were presidents (n=26), heads of randomly chosen committees (n=52), and randomly selected members of those committees (n=52). Publications contributing to h-index were categorized as research articles, reviews, guidelines, meta-analyses, or other published work. Overall, 3259 items authored by 129 scholars were analyzed. The median h-index was 19.5. The median contribution of research articles to h-index was 84.4%. Researchers in the upper h-index tercile (≥28.5) had a larger share of research articles that contributed to h-index in comparison with those in the lower h-index tercile (≤12.5) (median 87.3% [1st-3rd quartile: 80.0%-93.1%] vs 80.0% [50.0%-88.9%], P=0.015). We observed an analogous difference with regard to guidelines (1.1% [0%-3.7%] vs 0% [0%-0%], P=0.007). Original research drives h-indices in medicine. Although guidelines contribute to h-indices in medicine, their influence is low. The specific role of randomized controlled trials in building h-index in medicine remains to be assessed.

  7. Denotational semantics in Synthetic Guarded Domain Theory

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Paviotti, Marco

    In functional programming, features such as recursion, recursive types and general references are central. To define semantics of this kind of languages one needs to come up with certain definitions which may be non-trivial to show well-defined. This is because they are circular. Domain theory has...... been used to solve this kind of problems for specific languages, unfortunately, this technique does not scale for more featureful languages, which prevented it from being widely used. Step-indexing is a more general technique that has been used to break circularity of definitions. The idea is to tweak...... the definition by adding a well- founded structure that gives a handle for recursion. Guarded dependent Type Theory (gDTT) is a type theory which implements step-indexing via a unary modality used to guard recursive definitions. Every circular definition is well-defined as long as the recursive variable...

  8. Human-competitive automatic topic indexing

    CERN Document Server

    Medelyan, Olena

    2009-01-01

    Topic indexing is the task of identifying the main topics covered by a document. These are useful for many purposes: as subject headings in libraries, as keywords in academic publications and as tags on the web. Knowing a document’s topics helps people judge its relevance quickly. However, assigning topics manually is labor intensive. This thesis shows how to generate them automatically in a way that competes with human performance. Three kinds of indexing are investigated: term assignment, a task commonly performed by librarians, who select topics from a controlled vocabulary; tagging, a popular activity of web users, who choose topics freely; and a new method of keyphrase extraction, where topics are equated to Wikipedia article names. A general two-stage algorithm is introduced that first selects candidate topics and then ranks them by significance based on their properties. These properties draw on statistical, semantic, domain-specific and encyclopedic knowledge. They are combined using a machine learn...

  9. Selected papers on number theory and algebraic geometry

    CERN Document Server

    Nomizu, Katsumi

    1996-01-01

    This book presents papers that originally appeared in the Japanese journal Sugaku from the Mathematical Society of Japan. The papers explore the relationship between number theory and algebraic geometry.

  10. Indices for 6 dimensional superconformal field theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Seok; Lee, Kimyeong

    2017-01-01

    We review some recent developments in the 6 dimensional (2, 0) superconformal field theories, focusing on their Bogomol’nyi–Prasad–Sommerfield (BPS) spectra in the Coulomb and symmetric phases computed by various Witten indices. We shall discuss the instanton partition function of 5d maximal super-Yang–Mills theory, and the 6d superconformal index. (topical review)

  11. Limnological state index (LSI) to evaluate ecological conditions of the Canal del Dique wetlands, Colombia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pinilla A, Gabriel A; Duarte Coy, Juliana; Vega Mora, Leonel

    2010-01-01

    Determining the ecological state or health of an ecosystem offers useful tools for its management and conservation. In Colombia, indexes of aquatic systems that combine in a single parameter the physical, chemical and biological variables have not been published, and the evaluation of water bodies' ecological state has been fragmentary or incomplete. In this work a limnological state index (LSI) for wetlands of the Canal del Dique, ecosystems under constant pressure by the human communities, is presented. For the construction of this multi-metric index, graphs of quality of the selected variables were constructed and values of importance were assigned to them. The theory of the multi-attributes was used to construct the LSI, which considers 12 variables. A principal components analysis was realized with these chosen parameters. A simplified version was designed (partial LSI - PLSI) in which four of the biological variables were excluded. Finally, an interpretation scale of the values obtained with these indices was built. The LSI and the PLSI were applied to wetlands of the Canal del Dique to establish their current ecological condition. Data show that the limnological state of most wetlands is acceptable, which suggests that these lentic ecosystems are within tolerable limits of function, although they are not exempt from deterioration processes.

  12. Sustainability index for Taipei

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, Y.-J.; Huang Chingming

    2007-01-01

    Sustainability indicators are an effective means of determining whether a city is moving towards sustainable development (SD). After considering the characteristics of Taipei, Taiwan, discussions with experts, scholars and government departments and an exhaustive literature review, this study selected 51 sustainability indicators corresponding to the socio-economic characteristic of Taipei City. Such indicators should be regarded as a basis for assessing SD in Taipei City. The 51 indicators are classified into economic, social, environmental and institutional dimensions. Furthermore, statistical data is adopted to identify the trend of SD from 1994 to 2004. Moreover, the sustainability index is calculated for the four dimensions and for Taipei as a whole. Analysis results demonstrate that social and environmental indicators are moving towards SD, while economic and institutional dimensions are performing relatively poorly. However, since 2002, the economic sustainability index has gradually moved towards SD. Overall, the Taipei sustainability index indicates a gradual trend towards sustainable development during the past 11 years

  13. On skein relations in class S theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tachikawa, Yuji; Watanabe, Noriaki

    2015-01-01

    Loop operators of a class S theory arise from networks on the corresponding Riemann surface, and their operator product expansions are given in terms of the skein relations, that we describe in detail in the case of class S theories of type A. As two applications, we explicitly determine networks corresponding to dyonic loops of N=4SU(3) super Yang-Mills, and compute the superconformal index of a nontrivial network operator of the T 3 theory.

  14. Index to conference titles; selected conferences cited in the ERDA data base 1972--1977

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hardin, N.E.; McGinnis, D.H.

    1977-08-01

    This publication cites energy-related conferences, meetings, symposia, and congresses within the programmatic interests of the Energy Research and Development Administration. It supplements and overlaps Index to Conferences Assigned CONF-Numbers by the Technical Information Center, U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (TID-4045), citing conferences held since January 1, 1972, and assigned a number in the CONF report number series. The Index contains two computer-produced listings, a KWIC (Key-Word-In-Context) index of the conference location and title and a listing numerically arranged by CONF number and providing location, date, and title information for each conference

  15. Non-affine deformation in microstructure selection in solids II: Elastoplastic theory for the dynamics of solid state transformations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Paul, Arya; Bhattacharya, Jayee; Sengupta, Surajit [S N Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Block JD, Sector III, Salt Lake, Calcutta 700 098 (India); Rao, Madan [Raman Research Institute, C V Raman Avenue, Bangalore 560 080 (India)

    2008-09-10

    We study the nucleation dynamics of a model solid state transformation and the criterion for microstructure selection. Using a molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, we had shown that the dynamics of the solid is accompanied by the creation of transient non-affine zones (NAZ), which evolve with the rapidly moving transformation front. Guided by our MD results, we formulate a dynamical continuum theory of solid state transformation, which couples the elastic strain to the non-affine deformation. We demonstrate that our elastoplastic description recovers all qualitative features of the MD simulation. We construct a dynamical phase diagram for microstructure selection, including regimes where martensite or ferrite obtains, in addition to making several testable predictions.

  16. Parallel In Situ Indexing for Data-intensive Computing

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Jinoh; Abbasi, Hasan; Chacon, Luis; Docan, Ciprian; Klasky, Scott; Liu, Qing; Podhorszki, Norbert; Shoshani, Arie; Wu, Kesheng

    2011-09-09

    As computing power increases exponentially, vast amount of data is created by many scientific re- search activities. However, the bandwidth for storing the data to disks and reading the data from disks has been improving at a much slower pace. These two trends produce an ever-widening data access gap. Our work brings together two distinct technologies to address this data access issue: indexing and in situ processing. From decades of database research literature, we know that indexing is an effective way to address the data access issue, particularly for accessing relatively small fraction of data records. As data sets increase in sizes, more and more analysts need to use selective data access, which makes indexing an even more important for improving data access. The challenge is that most implementations of in- dexing technology are embedded in large database management systems (DBMS), but most scientific datasets are not managed by any DBMS. In this work, we choose to include indexes with the scientific data instead of requiring the data to be loaded into a DBMS. We use compressed bitmap indexes from the FastBit software which are known to be highly effective for query-intensive workloads common to scientific data analysis. To use the indexes, we need to build them first. The index building procedure needs to access the whole data set and may also require a significant amount of compute time. In this work, we adapt the in situ processing technology to generate the indexes, thus removing the need of read- ing data from disks and to build indexes in parallel. The in situ data processing system used is ADIOS, a middleware for high-performance I/O. Our experimental results show that the indexes can improve the data access time up to 200 times depending on the fraction of data selected, and using in situ data processing system can effectively reduce the time needed to create the indexes, up to 10 times with our in situ technique when using identical parallel settings.

  17. Mathematical theory of sedimentation analysis

    CERN Document Server

    Fujita, Hiroshi; Van Rysselberghe, P

    1962-01-01

    Mathematical Theory of Sedimentation Analysis presents the flow equations for the ultracentrifuge. This book is organized into two parts encompassing six chapters that evaluate the systems of reacting components, the differential equations for the ultracentrifuge, and the case of negligible diffusion. The first chapters consider the Archibald method for molecular weight determination; pressure-dependent sedimentation; expressions for the refractive index and its gradient; relation between refractive index and concentration; and the analysis of Gaussian distribution. Other chapters deal with th

  18. Measurement of gradient index profiles by Babinet fringe analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pandya, T P; Saxena, A K

    1979-03-01

    A theory for determining one-dimensional ray deflections with the help of distorted Babinet fringes has been developed. An approach for investigating two-dimensional ray deflections has been presented. Applications of the techniques for the study of gradient index glass have been described.

  19. Understanding Ion Binding Affinity and Selectivity in β-Parvalbumin Using Molecular Dynamics and Mean Spherical Approximation Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kucharski, Amir N; Scott, Caitlin E; Davis, Jonathan P; Kekenes-Huskey, Peter M

    2016-08-25

    Parvalbumin (PV) is a globular calcium (Ca(2+))-selective protein expressed in a variety of biological tissues. Our computational studies of the rat β-parvalbumin (β-PV) isoform seek to elucidate the molecular thermodynamics of Ca(2+) versus magnesium (Mg(2+)) binding at the protein's two EF-hand motifs. Specifically, we have utilized molecular dynamics (MD) simulations and a mean-field electrolyte model (mean spherical approximation (MSA) theory) to delineate how the EF-hand scaffold controls the "local" thermodynamics of Ca(2+) binding selectivity over Mg(2+). Our MD simulations provide the probability density of metal-chelating oxygens within the EF-hand scaffolds for both Ca(2+) and Mg(2+), as well the conformational strain induced by Mg(2+) relative to Ca(2+) binding. MSA theory utilizes the binding domain oxygen and charge distributions to predict the chemical potential of ion binding, as well as their corresponding concentrations within the binding domain. We find that the electrostatic and steric contributions toward ion binding were similar for Mg(2+) and Ca(2+), yet the latter was 5.5 kcal/mol lower in enthalpy when internal strain within the EF hand was considered. We therefore speculate that beyond differences in dehydration energies for the Ca(2+) versus Mg(2+), strain induced in the β-PV EF hand by cation binding significantly contributes to the nearly 10,000-fold difference in binding affinity reported in the literature. We further complemented our analyses of local factors governing cation binding selectivity with whole-protein (global) contributions, such as interhelical residue-residue contacts and solvent exposure of hydrophobic surface. These contributions were found to be comparable for both Ca(2+)- and Mg(2+)-bound β-PV, which may implicate local factors, EF-hand strain, and dehydration, in providing the primary means of selectivity. We anticipate these methods could be used to estimate metal binding thermodynamics across a broad range of

  20. Application of Markowitz Portfolio Theory by Building Optimal Portfolio on the US Stock Market

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Martin Širůček

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available This paper is focused on building investment portfolios by using the Markowitz Portfolio Theory (MPT. Derivation based on the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM is used to calculate the weights of individual securities in portfolios. The calculated portfolios include a portfolio copying the benchmark made using the CAPM model, portfolio with low and high beta coefficients, and a random portfolio. Only stocks were selected for the examined sample from all the asset classes. Stocks in each portfolio are put together according to predefined criteria. All stocks were selected from Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA index which serves as a benchmark, too. Portfolios were compared based on their risk and return profiles. The results of this work will provide general recommendations on the optimal approach to choose securities for an investor’s portfolio.

  1. Potential of Genomic Selection in Mass Selection Breeding of an Allogamous Crop: An Empirical Study to Increase Yield of Common Buckwheat

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shiori Yabe

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available To evaluate the potential of genomic selection (GS, a selection experiment with GS and phenotypic selection (PS was performed in an allogamous crop, common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench. To indirectly select for seed yield per unit area, which cannot be measured on a single-plant basis, a selection index was constructed from seven agro-morphological traits measurable on a single plant basis. Over 3 years, we performed two GS and one PS cycles per year for improvement in the selection index. In GS, a prediction model was updated every year on the basis of genotypes of 14,598–50,000 markers and phenotypes. Plants grown from seeds derived from a series of generations of GS and PS populations were evaluated for the traits in the selection index and other yield-related traits. GS resulted in a 20.9% increase and PS in a 15.0% increase in the selection index in comparison with the initial population. Although the level of linkage disequilibrium in the breeding population was low, the target trait was improved with GS. Traits with higher weights in the selection index were improved more than those with lower weights, especially when prediction accuracy was high. No trait changed in an unintended direction in either GS or PS. The accuracy of genomic prediction models built in the first cycle decreased in the later cycles because the genetic bottleneck through the selection cycles changed linkage disequilibrium patterns in the breeding population. The present study emphasizes the importance of updating models in GS and demonstrates the potential of GS in mass selection of allogamous crop species, and provided a pilot example of successful application of GS to plant breeding.

  2. HLA-A and -B alleles and haplotypes in 240 index patients with common variable immunodeficiency and selective IgG subclass deficiency in central Alabama

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Barton James C

    2003-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background We wanted to quantify HLA-A and -B phenotype and haplotype frequencies in Alabama index patients with common variable immunodeficiency (CVID and selective IgG subclass deficiency (IgGSD, and in control subjects. Methods Phenotypes were detected using DNA-based typing (index cases and microlymphocytotoxicity typing (controls. Results A and B phenotypes were determined in 240 index cases (114 CVID, 126 IgGSD and 1,321 controls and haplotypes in 195 index cases and 751 controls. Phenotyping revealed that the "uncorrected" frequencies of A*24, B*14, B*15, B*35, B*40, B*49, and B*50 were significantly greater in index cases, and frequencies of B*35, B*58, B*62 were significantly lower in index cases. After Bonferroni corrections, the frequencies of phenotypes A*24, B*14, and B*40 were significantly greater in index cases, and the frequency of B*62 was significantly lower in index cases. The most common haplotypes in index cases were A*02-B*44 (frequency 0.1385, A*01-B*08 (frequency 0.1308, and A*03-B*07 (frequency 0.1000, and the frequency of each was significantly greater in index cases than in control subjects ("uncorrected" values of p p p = 0.0166. Most phenotype and haplotype frequencies in CVID and IgGSD were similar. 26.7% of index patients were HLA-haploidentical with one or more other index patients. We diagnosed CVID or IgGSD in first-degree or other relatives of 26 of 195 index patients for whom HLA-A and -B haplotypes had been ascertained; A*01-B*08, A*02-B*44, and A*29-B*44 were most frequently associated with CVID or IgGSD in these families. We conservatively estimated the combined population frequency of CVID and IgGSD to be 0.0092 in adults, based on the occurrence of CVID and IgGSD in spouses of the index cases. Conclusions CVID and IgGSD in adults are significantly associated with several HLA haplotypes, many of which are also common in the Alabama Caucasian population. Immunoglobulin phenotype variability

  3. Proceedings of the international colloquium on modern quantum field theory II

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Das, S.R.; Mandal, G.; Mukhi, S.; Wadia, S.R.

    1995-01-01

    In the second International Colloquium on Modern Quantum Field Theory an attempt was made to cover a broad spectrum of topics in theoretical physics that included string theory, quantum gravity, statistical mechanics, condensed matter theory, complexity, lattice gauge theory and epistemological aspects of quantum mechanics. Papers relevant to INIS in the published proceedings are indexed separately

  4. Study on Tei index of right ventricular by tissue doppler imaging and the observation point selection

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Luo Yinli; Wu Ji; Guo Shenglan; Zhang Di; Li Zhixian

    2009-01-01

    Objective: To explore the right ventricular (RV) Tei index in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI), and to explore more accurate observation point to obtain Tei index of right ventricular. Methods: Assessment of RV Tei index values was performed in 95 patients with PH and 32 normal subjects. The 95 patients were grouped into 3 groups according to the severity of PH. Tei index values were obtained by TDI measurement from three observation points, the anterior tricuspid and septal tricuspid attachment points in the apical 4-chamber view and the posterior tricuspid attachment point in parasternal right heart 2-chamber review. Results: (1) RV Tel index values were measured at the three points of PH was higher than the normal significantly (P<0.05). (2) RV Tei index values of the three PH groups at he anterior tricuspid attachment had significant difference each other (P<0.05). RV Tei index values of low-grade and medium-grade PH groups at septal tricuspid and posterior tricuspid had no significant difference, but that of high-grade PH group were higher than the low-grade and medium-grade PH group. Conclusion: RV Tei index value was significantly increased in PH patients. The Tei index value measured by TDI at anterior tricuspid attachment point in apical 4-chamber view was better than that at septal tricuspid attachment point in the apical 4-chamber view and posterior' attachment of parasternal right heart 2-chamber. (authors)

  5. Automobile Industry Strategic Alliance Partner Selection: The Application of a Hybrid DEA and Grey Theory Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chia-Nan Wang

    2016-02-01

    Full Text Available Finding the right strategic alliance partner is a critical success factor for many enterprises. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to propose an effective approach based on grey theory and data envelopment analysis (DEA for selecting better partners for alliance. This study used grey forecasting to predict future business performances and used DEA for the partner selection of alliances. This research was implemented with realistic public data in four consecutive financial years (2009–2012 of the world’s 20 biggest automobile enterprises. Nissan Motor Co., Ltd was set to be the target decision making unit (DMU. The empirical results showed that, among 19 candidate DMUs, Renault (DMU10 and Daimler (DMU11 were the two feasible beneficial alliance partners for Nissan. Although this research is specifically applied to the automobile industry, the proposed method could also be applied to other manufacturing industries.

  6. Modifying attitude and intention toward regular physical activity using protection motivation theory: a randomized controlled trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mirkarimi, Kamal; Eri, Maryam; Ghanbari, Mohammad R; Kabir, Mohammad J; Raeisi, Mojtaba; Ozouni-Davaji, Rahman B; Aryaie, Mohammad; Charkazi, Abdurrahman

    2017-10-30

    We were guided by the Protection Motivation Theory to test the motivational interviewing effects on attitude and intention of obese and overweight women to do regular physical activity. In a randomized controlled trial, we selected using convenience sampling 60 overweight and obese women attending health centres. The women were allocated to 2 groups of 30 receiving a standard weight-control programme or motivational interviewing. All constructs of the theory (perceived susceptibility, severity, self-efficacy and response efficacy) and all anthropometric characteristics (except body mass index) were significantly different between the groups at 3 study times. The strongest predictors of intention to do regular physical exercise were perceived response efficacy and attitude at 2- and 6-months follow-up. We showed that targeting motivational interviewing with an emphasis on Protection Motivation Theory constructs appeared to be beneficial for designing and developing appropriate intervention to improve physical activity status among women with overweight and obesity.

  7. The value of using DNA markers for beef bull selection in the seedstock sector.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Eenennaam, A L; van der Werf, J H J; Goddard, M E

    2011-02-01

    The objective of this study was to estimate the value derived from using DNA information to increase the accuracy of beef sire selection in a closed seedstock herd. Breeding objectives for commercial production systems targeting 2 diverse markets were examined using multiple-trait selection indexes developed for the Australian cattle industry. Indexes included those for both maternal (self-replacing) and terminal herds targeting either a domestic market, where steers are finished on pasture, or the export market, where steers are finished on concentrate rations in feedlots and marbling has a large value. Selection index theory was used to predict the response to conventional selection based on phenotypic performance records, and this was compared with including information from 2 hypothetical marker panels. In 1 case the marker panel explained a percentage of additive genetic variance equal to the heritability for all traits in the breeding objective and selection criteria, and in the other case to one-half of this amount. Discounted gene flow methodology was used to calculate the value derived from the use of superior bulls selected using DNA test information and performance recording over that derived from conventional selection using performance recording alone. Results were ultimately calculated as discounted returns per DNA test purchased by the seedstock operator. The DNA testing using these hypothetical marker panels increased the selection response between 29 to 158%. The value of this improvement above that obtained using traditional performance recording ranged from $89 to 565 per commercial bull, and $5,332 to 27,910 per stud bull. Assuming that the entire bull calf crop was tested to achieve these gains, the value of the genetic gain derived from DNA testing ranged from $204 to 1,119 per test. All values assumed that the benefits derived from using superior bulls were efficiently transferred along the production chain to the seedstock producer incurring

  8. Gradient index metamaterials realized by drilling hole arrays

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mei Zhonglei; Cui Tiejun; Bai Jing

    2010-01-01

    Gradient index metamaterials have wide applications in the microwave and optical fields. Based on the quasi-static theory, such materials at the microwave band have been realized by drilling hole arrays on ordinary dielectric materials. As applications of the gradient index metamaterials, novel devices including a 45 0 dielectric wave-bending structure, a 16 0 wave-steering lens and a microwave focusing lens are designed and fabricated. Field mapping measurements validate the proposed gradient index metamaterials and the device designs. The method can be directly and easily extended to the design of cloaks, various lenses, beam shifters and beam-steering devices. It can also be applied in the optical band as long as quasi-static conditions are satisfied. The method and the devices may find applications in integrated circuit systems.

  9. Attentional selection within and across hemispheres: implications for the perceptual load theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Ping; Kang, Guanlan; Zhou, Xiaolin

    2013-03-01

    The perceptual load of a given task affects attentional selection, with the selection occurring earlier when the load is high and later when the load is low. Recent evidence suggests that local competitive interaction may underlie the perceptual load effect and determine to what extent a task-irrelevant distractor is processed. Here, we asked participants to search for a target bar among homogeneously oriented bars (the low load conditions) or heterogeneously oriented bars (the high load conditions) in the central display, while ignoring a congruent or incongruent flanker bar presented to the left or right side of the central display, or a bar presented at one of the six positions outer to the central display. Importantly, we differentiated conditions in which the target in the central display and the peripheral flanker was presented within the same hemifield or across different hemifields. Results showed a significant flanker effect for the low load condition, but not for the high load condition, when the target and the flanker were across hemifields. However, when the target and the flanker were presented within the same hemifield, there was no flanker effect for either low or high load conditions. These findings demonstrate that the ability to ignore the task-irrelevant distractor is affected by local competition within hemisphere and that the perceptual load theory needs to be supplemented with detailed analysis of cognitive processes and mechanisms underlying the consumption of attentional resources.

  10. Information theory and rate distortion theory for communications and compression

    CERN Document Server

    Gibson, Jerry

    2013-01-01

    This book is very specifically targeted to problems in communications and compression by providing the fundamental principles and results in information theory and rate distortion theory for these applications and presenting methods that have proved and will prove useful in analyzing and designing real systems. The chapters contain treatments of entropy, mutual information, lossless source coding, channel capacity, and rate distortion theory; however, it is the selection, ordering, and presentation of the topics within these broad categories that is unique to this concise book. While the cover

  11. VECTOR THEORY AND OPTIMAL CHOICE OF ANTIMICROBIAL DRUG FOR LOCAL WOUND TREATMENT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boyko N. N

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Introduction. One of important problems in the field of medicine and pharmacy is an optimal choice among several alternatives. For example, the choice of drugs for treatment among several analogs, selection of excipients among analogs for development of pharmaceutical forms with optimal pharmacological, technological and economical parameters, etc.The aim of the work is to show the possibility of vector theory use for optimal choice of antimicrobial drugs for local wound treatment among analogs taking into account several criteria at the same time. Materials and methods. For our investigation we have chosen ten drugs with antimicrobial properties for local wound treatment in different pharmaceutical forms (ointment, liniment, water and glycerin solution, tincture. We have determined antibacterial activity of drugs by agar well diffusion method on six test-stain microorganisms: Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, Escherichia coli ATCC 25922, Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853, Proteus vulgaris ATCC 4636, Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, and Candida albicans ATCC 885-653. Well diameter was 10 mm, the volume of drug in the well was 0.27±0.02 ml, microbial burden of agar upper layer was 107 CFU/ml, and total layer height in Petri dish was 4.0±0.5 mm. In order to integrate various qualitative and quantitative parameters into one index (vector object in multidimensional factors’ space we modify these parameters to non-dimensional normalized values. For this purpose we use a desirability theory. We have chosen the following criteria for optimal choice of the drug: antimicrobial activity (integrated index of drug’s antimicrobial activity, drug’s price, pharmacological and technological index, spectrum of drug’s action on test strains of microorganisms studied. Results and their discussions. Using vector and desirability theory, we have obtained the following range of drugs in decreasing order: Laevomecol ointment, Ioddicerinum, Tincture of Sophora

  12. Improvement of kurtosis-guided-grams via Gini index for bearing fault feature identification

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miao, Yonghao; Zhao, Ming; Lin, Jing

    2017-12-01

    A group of kurtosis-guided-grams, such as Kurtogram, Protrugram and SKRgram, is designed to detect the resonance band excited by faults based on the sparsity index. However, a common issue associated with these methods is that they tend to choose the frequency band with individual impulses rather than the desired fault impulses. This may be attributed to the selection of the sparsity index, kurtosis, which is vulnerable to impulsive noise. In this paper, to solve the problem, a sparsity index, called the Gini index, is introduced as an alternative estimator for the selection of the resonance band. It has been found that the sparsity index is still able to provide guidelines for the selection of the fault band without prior information of the fault period. More importantly, the Gini index has unique performance in random-impulse resistance, which renders the improved methods using the index free from the random impulse caused by external knocks on the bearing housing, or electromagnetic interference. By virtue of these advantages, the improved methods using the Gini index not only overcome the shortcomings but are more effective under harsh working conditions, even in the complex structure. Finally, the comparison between the kurtosis-guided-grams and the improved methods using the Gini index is made using the simulated and experimental data. The results verify the effectiveness of the improvement by both the fixed-axis bearing and planetary bearing fault signals.

  13. Tackling wicked problems: how theories of agency can provide new insights.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Varpio, Lara; Aschenbrener, Carol; Bates, Joanna

    2017-04-01

    This paper reviews why and how theories of agency can be used as analytical lenses to help health professions education (HPE) scholars address our community's wicked problems. Wicked problems are those that resist clear problem statements, defy traditional analysis approaches, and refuse definitive resolution (e.g. student remediation, assessments of professionalism, etc.). We illustrate how theories of agency can provide new insights into such challenges by examining the application of these theories to one particular wicked problem in HPE: interprofessional education (IPE). After searching the HPE literature and finding that theories of agency had received little attention, we borrowed techniques from narrative literature reviews to search databases indexing a broad scope of disciplines (i.e. ERIC, Web of Science, Scopus, MEDLINE and PubMed) for publications (1994-2014) that: (i) examined agency, or (ii) incorporated an agency-informed analytical perspective. The lead author identified the theories of agency used in these articles, and reviewed the texts on agency cited therein and the original sources of each theory. We identified 10 theories of agency that we considered to be applicable to HPE's wicked problems. To select a subset of theories for presentation in this paper, we discussed each theory in relation to some of HPE's wicked problems. Through debate and reflection, we unanimously agreed on the applicability of a subset of theories for illuminating HPE's wicked problems. This subset is described in this paper. We present four theories of agency: Butler's post-structural formulation; Giddens' sociological formulation; cultural historical activity theory's formulation, and Bandura's social cognitive psychology formulation. We introduce each theory and apply each to the challenges of engaging in IPE. Theories of agency can inform HPE scholarship in novel and generative ways. Each theory offers new insights into the roots of wicked problems and means for

  14. Nuclear facility decommissioning and site remedial actions: A selected bibliography, Vol. 18. Part 2. Indexes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1997-09-01

    This bibliography contains 3638 citations with abstracts of documents relevant to environmental restoration, nuclear facility decontamination and decommissioning (D ampersand D), uranium mill tailings management, and site remedial actions. This report is the eighteenth in a series of bibliographies prepared annually for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Restoration. Citations to foreign and domestic literature of all types - technical reports, progress reports, journal articles, symposia proceedings, theses, books, patents, legislation, and research project descriptions - have been included in Part 1 of the report. The bibliography contains scientific, technical, financial, and regulatory information that pertains to DOE environmental restoration programs. The citations are separated by topic into 16 sections, including (1) DOE Environmental Restoration Program; (2) DOE D ampersand D Program; (3) Nuclear Facilities Decommissioning; (4) DOE Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Programs; (5) NORM-Contaminated Site Restoration; (6) DOE Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project; (7) Uranium Mill Tailings Management; (8) DOE Site-Wide Remedial Actions; (9) DOE Onsite Remedial Action Projects; (10) Contaminated Site Remedial Actions; (11) DOE Underground Storage Tank Remediation; (12) DOE Technology Development, Demonstration, and Evaluations; (13) Soil Remediation; (14) Groundwater Remediation; (15) Environmental Measurements, Analysis, and Decision-Making; and (16) Environmental Management Issues. Within the 16 sections, the citations are sorted by geographic location. If a geographic location is not specified, the citations are sorted according to the document title. In Part 2 of the report, indexes are provided for author, author affiliation, selected title phrase, selected title word, publication description, geographic location, and keyword

  15. Nuclear facility decommissioning and site remedial actions: A selected bibliography, Vol. 18. Part 2. Indexes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1997-09-01

    This bibliography contains 3638 citations with abstracts of documents relevant to environmental restoration, nuclear facility decontamination and decommissioning (D&D), uranium mill tailings management, and site remedial actions. This report is the eighteenth in a series of bibliographies prepared annually for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Environmental Restoration. Citations to foreign and domestic literature of all types - technical reports, progress reports, journal articles, symposia proceedings, theses, books, patents, legislation, and research project descriptions - have been included in Part 1 of the report. The bibliography contains scientific, technical, financial, and regulatory information that pertains to DOE environmental restoration programs. The citations are separated by topic into 16 sections, including (1) DOE Environmental Restoration Program; (2) DOE D&D Program; (3) Nuclear Facilities Decommissioning; (4) DOE Formerly Utilized Sites Remedial Action Programs; (5) NORM-Contaminated Site Restoration; (6) DOE Uranium Mill Tailings Remedial Action Project; (7) Uranium Mill Tailings Management; (8) DOE Site-Wide Remedial Actions; (9) DOE Onsite Remedial Action Projects; (10) Contaminated Site Remedial Actions; (11) DOE Underground Storage Tank Remediation; (12) DOE Technology Development, Demonstration, and Evaluations; (13) Soil Remediation; (14) Groundwater Remediation; (15) Environmental Measurements, Analysis, and Decision-Making; and (16) Environmental Management Issues. Within the 16 sections, the citations are sorted by geographic location. If a geographic location is not specified, the citations are sorted according to the document title. In Part 2 of the report, indexes are provided for author, author affiliation, selected title phrase, selected title word, publication description, geographic location, and keyword.

  16. Selection and Evaluation of Indexes Commonly Used to Determine Contamination with T-2 Toxin in Pacific White Shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei by the Grey Relational Method.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Pengli; Wang, Yaling; Dai, Zhe; Sun, Lijun; Xu, Defeng; Liu, Ying; Ye, Riying; Gooneratne, Ravi; Bi, Siyuan

    2017-09-01

    The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the effects of different concentrations of the mycotoxin T-2 toxin in feed on muscle performance in the Pacific white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei, evaluate indexes of physiological variables that indicate T-2 toxin contamination in the shrimp using the grey relational method, and determine the dose-response relationships between T-2 toxin and the indexes. Of the 6 physical, 7 biochemical, and 17 nutritional indexes examined, the values of the grey relational coefficients were highest for the hepatopancreas: body weight ratio (HBR), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) activity, and serine (SER) content (0.83, 0.68, and 0.82, respectively). Therefore, the HBR, ALT activity, and SER content were selected as appropriate indexes for contamination of Pacific white shrimp muscle with T-2 toxin. Based on their dose-response relationship curves, mean effective doses of 1.45, 1.69, and 1.33 mg of T-2 toxin/kg of feed were obtained for the HBR, ALT activity, and SER content, respectively. These results offer technical reference points for the evaluation and control of T-2 toxin in shrimp feed. Received April 28, 2016; accepted April 9, 2017.

  17. The Naïve Overfitting Index Selection (NOIS): A new method to optimize model complexity for hyperspectral data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rocha, Alby D.; Groen, Thomas A.; Skidmore, Andrew K.; Darvishzadeh, Roshanak; Willemen, Louise

    2017-11-01

    The growing number of narrow spectral bands in hyperspectral remote sensing improves the capacity to describe and predict biological processes in ecosystems. But it also poses a challenge to fit empirical models based on such high dimensional data, which often contain correlated and noisy predictors. As sample sizes, to train and validate empirical models, seem not to be increasing at the same rate, overfitting has become a serious concern. Overly complex models lead to overfitting by capturing more than the underlying relationship, and also through fitting random noise in the data. Many regression techniques claim to overcome these problems by using different strategies to constrain complexity, such as limiting the number of terms in the model, by creating latent variables or by shrinking parameter coefficients. This paper is proposing a new method, named Naïve Overfitting Index Selection (NOIS), which makes use of artificially generated spectra, to quantify the relative model overfitting and to select an optimal model complexity supported by the data. The robustness of this new method is assessed by comparing it to a traditional model selection based on cross-validation. The optimal model complexity is determined for seven different regression techniques, such as partial least squares regression, support vector machine, artificial neural network and tree-based regressions using five hyperspectral datasets. The NOIS method selects less complex models, which present accuracies similar to the cross-validation method. The NOIS method reduces the chance of overfitting, thereby avoiding models that present accurate predictions that are only valid for the data used, and too complex to make inferences about the underlying process.

  18. Comparative Evaluation of the Cognitive Theories of Piaget and Ausubel.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nielsen, Loretta A.

    Jean Piaget's theory of cognitive development and David Ausubel's assimilation theory of learning are explicated and selected research involving both theories is reviewed in this paper. The two theories are compared on selected dimensions to demonstrate that they are compatible and that, in conjunction with one another, they form a strong…

  19. The correlation of vascularization index and flow index of thyroid cancer ultrasound with tumor malignancy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bing Liao

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Objective: To study the correlation of ultrasound vascularization index and flow index of thyroid cancer with tumor malignancy. Methods: A total of 140 patients with thyroid nodule who accepted surgical resection in our hospital between May 2013 and June 2016 were selected as the research subjects, the patients with malignant thyroid nodule were included in the malignant group of the research and patients with benign thyroid nodule were included in the benign group of research. Three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasonography was conducted before operation to determine vascularization index (VI, flow index (FI and vascularization flow index (VFI; tumor tissues were collected after operation to detect the expression of angiogenesis as well as cell proliferation, apoptosis and invasion-related molecules. Results: VI, FI and VFI levels of tumor tissue of malignant group were significantly higher than those of benign group; VEGF, MK, Ang-2, IGF-II, Bcl-2, Livin, Wip1, S100A4, TCF, β-catenin and SATB1 protein expression in tumor tissue of malignant group were significantly higher than those of benign group and positively correlated with VI, FI and VFI levels while CCNG2 and p27 protein expression were significantly lower than those of benign group and negatively correlated with VI, FI and VFI levels. Conclusion: Ultrasound vascularization index and flow index of thyroid cancer increase significantly and are closely related to the angiogenesis as well as cell proliferation, apoptosis and invasion.

  20. Portfolio selection between rational and behavioral theories emergent markets case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bouri Abdelfatteh

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available The aim of this paper is to explore the determinants of Portfolio Choice under the investors, professionals and academics’ perception. We introduce an approach based on cognitive mapping technique with a series of semi-directive interviews. Among a sample of 30 Tunisian individuals, we propose tow different frameworks: a mean-variance framework and a behavioral framework. Each framework is oriented to capture the effect of some concepts as proposed by the mean-variance portfolio theory and the behavioral portfolio theory on the portfolio choice decision. The originality of this research paper is guaranteed since it traits the behavioral portfolio choice in emergent markets. In the best of our knowledge this is the first study in the Tunisian context that explores such area of research. Ours results show that the Tunisian investors behave as it prescribed by the behavioral portfolio theory. They use some concepts proposed by the rational mean-variance theory of portfolio choice but they are affected by their emotions and some others cognitive bias when constructing and managing they portfolio of assets.

  1. A Unifying Theory of Biological Function

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Hateren, J. H.

    2017-01-01

    A new theory that naturalizes biological function is explained and compared with earlier etiological and causal role theories. Etiological (or selected effects) theories explain functions from how they are caused over their evolutionary history. Causal role theories analyze how functional mechanisms

  2. INDEXING AND INDEX FUNDS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    HAKAN SARITAŞ

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Proponents of the efficient market hypothesis believe that active portfolio management is largely wasted effort and unlikely to justify the expenses incurred. Therefore, they advocate a passive investment strategy that makes no attempt to outsmart the market. One common strategy for passive management is indexing where a fund is designed to replicate the performance of a broad-based index of stocks and bonds. Traditionally, indexing was used by institutional investors, but today, the use of index funds proliferated among individual investors. Over the years, both international and domestic index funds have disproportionately outperformed the market more than the actively managed funds have.

  3. "I Won't Trust You if I Think You're Trying to Deceive Me": Relations between Selective Trust, Theory of Mind, and Imitation in Early Childhood

    Science.gov (United States)

    DiYanni, Cara; Nini, Deniela; Rheel, Whitney; Livelli, Alicia

    2012-01-01

    This study explores connections between 3-, 4-, and 5-year-olds' performance in theory-of-mind tasks, their performance on an assessment of selective trust, and their decisions to (not) imitate the questionable tool choices of an adult model. The prediction was that all the tasks would be related, with improvements in theory of mind and selective…

  4. Predição de ganho genético com diferentes índices de seleção no milho pipoca CMS-43 Prediction of genetic gain with different selection indexes in popcorn CMS-43

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria José Granate

    2002-07-01

    Full Text Available O melhoramento simultâneo da capacidade de expansão e da produtividade no milho pipoca são dificultados por causa da correlação negativa entre as duas características, mas o uso de índices de seleção permite contornar essa dificuldade. Em 1997/1998 foram avaliadas 166 famílias de meios-irmãos do composto de milho pipoca (Zea mays L. CMS-43, na Embrapa-Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Milho e Sorgo, em Sete Lagoas, MG, no delineamento em blocos casualizados. Os índices de seleção empregados para predizer os ganhos por seleção foram os de Smith e Hazel, Pesek & Baker, Elston e de Williams. O índice de seleção de Smith e Hazel permitiu a predição de ganhos superiores em maior número de caracteres; com o índice de seleção de Williams não se verificou nenhum dado significativo. O uso de índices de seleção é adequado porque permite a predição de ganhos simultâneos nas duas principais características.Simultaneous breeding for expansion volume and grain yield in popcorn (Zea mays L. is difficult because of negative correlation between these traits. The use of selection indexes allows to overcome this difficulty. In 1997/1998, at Embrapa-Centro Nacional de Pesquisa de Milho e Sorgo, in Sete Lagoas, MG, Brazil,166 half-sib families from CMS-43 popcorn were evaluated, using random blocks design. The selection indexes used were Smith and Hazel, Pesek & Baker, Elston and Williams. The selection index of Smith and Hazel allowed larger predicted gains in more traits, and on the contrary, the prediction using the selection index of Williams was insignificant. The use of selection indexes allows simultaneous prediction of gains in the two main traits.

  5. Selecting Items for Criterion-Referenced Tests.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mellenbergh, Gideon J.; van der Linden, Wim J.

    1982-01-01

    Three item selection methods for criterion-referenced tests are examined: the classical theory of item difficulty and item-test correlation; the latent trait theory of item characteristic curves; and a decision-theoretic approach for optimal item selection. Item contribution to the standardized expected utility of mastery testing is discussed. (CM)

  6. Financial markets theory equilibrium, efficiency and information

    CERN Document Server

    Barucci, Emilio

    2017-01-01

    This work, now in a thoroughly revised second edition, presents the economic foundations of financial markets theory from a mathematically rigorous standpoint and offers a self-contained critical discussion based on empirical results. It is the only textbook on the subject to include more than two hundred exercises, with detailed solutions to selected exercises. Financial Markets Theory covers classical asset pricing theory in great detail, including utility theory, equilibrium theory, portfolio selection, mean-variance portfolio theory, CAPM, CCAPM, APT, and the Modigliani-Miller theorem. Starting from an analysis of the empirical evidence on the theory, the authors provide a discussion of the relevant literature, pointing out the main advances in classical asset pricing theory and the new approaches designed to address asset pricing puzzles and open problems (e.g., behavioral finance). Later chapters in the book contain more advanced material, including on the role of information in financial markets, non-c...

  7. Compatible quantum theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Friedberg, R; Hohenberg, P C

    2014-01-01

    completion of the theory requires a macroscopic mechanism for selecting a physical framework, which is part of the macroscopic theory (MAQM). The selection of a physical framework involves the breaking of the microscopic ‘framework symmetry’, which can proceed either phenomenologically as in the standard quantum measurement theory, or more fundamentally by considering the quantum system under study to be a subsystem of a macroscopic quantum system. The decoherent histories formulation of Gell-Mann and Hartle, as well as that of Omnès, are theories of this fundamental type, where the physical framework is selected by a coarse-graining procedure in which the physical phenomenon of decoherence plays an essential role. Various well-known interpretations of QM are described from the perspective of CQT. Detailed definitions and proofs are presented in the appendices. (key issues reviews)

  8. Cortical Response Variability as a Developmental Index of Selective Auditory Attention

    Science.gov (United States)

    Strait, Dana L.; Slater, Jessica; Abecassis, Victor; Kraus, Nina

    2014-01-01

    Attention induces synchronicity in neuronal firing for the encoding of a given stimulus at the exclusion of others. Recently, we reported decreased variability in scalp-recorded cortical evoked potentials to attended compared with ignored speech in adults. Here we aimed to determine the developmental time course for this neural index of auditory…

  9. Blind Measurement Selection: A Random Matrix Theory Approach

    KAUST Repository

    Elkhalil, Khalil; Kammoun, Abla; Al-Naffouri, Tareq Y.; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

    2016-01-01

    -aware fashions. We present two potential applications where the proposed algorithms can be used, namely antenna selection for uplink transmissions in large scale multi-user systems and sensor selection for wireless sensor networks. Numerical results are also

  10. The insufficient part of abiogenesis theory - natural selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ploompuu, Tõnu

    2016-04-01

    Abiogenesis has already been studied for a whole century. There have been studies on the synthesis of precursors of biopolymers, concentration processes and polymerization pathways, sites of initiation of life. Autoreplication has been explained. Protocells have been constructed from abiogenic membranes. But one essential aspect for life - the natural selection - has been marginalized in these investigations. Despite the convincing use of natural selection in biology for one and half century, it has not been used sufficiently in the models of the beginning of life. Pictorially - Darwin's pond model is used without darwinism. This generates an unnecessary interruption on the path for understanding the process. Natural selection is essential in abiogenesis, in the genesis of biological information system. A selection of more collaborative autoreplicate biopolymers and the depolymerisation of others was required. Only natural selection was able to combine biopolymer molecules for life. The primary natural selection can operate only in an environment with variable physical and chemical conditions. The selective agent must constantly fluctuate during a long time span and a large area. Formation of the simplest complex of life needs homeostasis. The best sites for constant fluctuations are littoral areas of oceans. Two very constant fluctuations - waves and tides - occur there. The best conditions for the origin of life were exactly in the end of the Late Heavy Bombardment at temperature nealy 100° C. Earth's surface was then protected against the UV destruction by a thick cloud cover. High evaporation at the hotter parts of shore rocks increased the concentration of the primordial soup and there was excellent selective power by routine water level fluctuations. Because of the water level fluctuations salty ocean water and fresh water from continuous downpours alternated at the littoral zones. In low temperatures the formation of life would be hindered by UV

  11. A selective review of selective attention research from the past century.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Driver, J

    2001-02-01

    Research on attention is concerned with selective processing of incoming sensory information. To some extent, our awareness of the world depends on what we choose to attend, not merely on the stimulation entering our senses. British psychologists have made substantial contributions to this topic in the past century. Celebrated examples include Donald Broadbent's filter theory of attention, which set the agenda for most subsequent work; and Anne Treisman's revisions of this account, and her later feature-integration theory. More recent contributions include Alan Allport's prescient emphasis on the relevance of neuroscience data, and John Duncan's integration of such data with psychological theory. An idiosyncratic but roughly chronological review of developments is presented, some practical and clinical implications are briefly sketched, and future directions suggested. One of the biggest changes in the field has been the increasing interplay between psychology and neuroscience, which promises much for the future. A related change has been the realization that selection attention is best thought of as a broad topic, encompassing a range of selective issues, rather than as a single explanatory process.

  12. Directionality Theory and the Entropic Principle of Natural Selection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lloyd A. Demetrius

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available Darwinian fitness describes the capacity of an organism to appropriate resources from the environment and to convert these resources into net-offspring production. Studies of competition between related types indicate that fitness is analytically described by entropy, a statistical measure which is positively correlated with population stability, and describes the number of accessible pathways of energy flow between the individuals in the population. Directionality theory is a mathematical model of the evolutionary process based on the concept evolutionary entropy as the measure of fitness. The theory predicts that the changes which occur as a population evolves from one non-equilibrium steady state to another are described by the following directionality principle–fundamental theorem of evolution: (a an increase in evolutionary entropy when resource composition is diverse, and resource abundance constant; (b a decrease in evolutionary entropy when resource composition is singular, and resource abundance variable. Evolutionary entropy characterizes the dynamics of energy flow between the individual elements in various classes of biological networks: (a where the units are individuals parameterized by age, and their age-specific fecundity and mortality; where the units are metabolites, and the transitions are the biochemical reactions that convert substrates to products; (c where the units are social groups, and the forces are the cooperative and competitive interactions between the individual groups. % This article reviews the analytical basis of the evolutionary entropic principle, and describes applications of directionality theory to the study of evolutionary dynamics in two biological systems; (i social networks–the evolution of cooperation; (ii metabolic networks–the evolution of body size. Statistical thermodynamics is a mathematical model of macroscopic behavior in inanimate matter based on entropy, a statistical measure which

  13. Dream interpretation, affect, and the theory of neuronal group selection: Freud, Winnicott, Bion, and Modell.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shields, Walker

    2006-12-01

    The author uses a dream specimen as interpreted during psychoanalysis to illustrate Modell's hypothesis that Edelman's theory of neuronal group selection (TNGS) may provide a valuable neurobiological model for Freud's dynamic unconscious, imaginative processes in the mind, the retranscription of memory in psychoanalysis, and intersubjective processes in the analytic relationship. He draws parallels between the interpretation of the dream material with keen attention to affect-laden meanings in the evolving analytic relationship in the domain of psychoanalysis and the principles of Edelman's TNGS in the domain of neurobiology. The author notes how this correlation may underscore the importance of dream interpretation in psychoanalysis. He also suggests areas for further investigation in both realms based on study of their interplay.

  14. Perturbative Power Counting, Lowest-Index Operators and Their Renormalization in Standard Model Effective Field Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liao, Yi; Ma, Xiao-Dong

    2018-03-01

    We study two aspects of higher dimensional operators in standard model effective field theory. We first introduce a perturbative power counting rule for the entries in the anomalous dimension matrix of operators with equal mass dimension. The power counting is determined by the number of loops and the difference of the indices of the two operators involved, which in turn is defined by assuming that all terms in the standard model Lagrangian have an equal perturbative power. Then we show that the operators with the lowest index are unique at each mass dimension d, i.e., (H † H) d/2 for even d ≥ 4, and (LT∈ H)C(LT∈ H) T (H † H)(d-5)/2 for odd d ≥ 5. Here H, L are the Higgs and lepton doublet, and ∈, C the antisymmetric matrix of rank two and the charge conjugation matrix, respectively. The renormalization group running of these operators can be studied separately from other operators of equal mass dimension at the leading order in power counting. We compute their anomalous dimensions at one loop for general d and find that they are enhanced quadratically in d due to combinatorics. We also make connections with classification of operators in terms of their holomorphic and anti-holomorphic weights. Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant Nos. 11025525, 11575089, and by the CAS Center for Excellence in Particle Physics (CCEPP)

  15. Making HCI Theory Work

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Clemmensen, Torkil; Kaptelinin, Victor; Nardi, Bonnie

    2016-01-01

    different ways of using activity theory: (1) analysing unique features, principles, and problematic aspects of the theory; (2) identifying domain-specific requirements for new theoretical tools; (3) developing new conceptual accounts of issues in the field of HCI; (4) guiding and supporting empirical...... analyses of HCI phenomena; and (5) providing new design illustrations, claims, and guidelines. We conclude that HCI researchers are not only users of imported theory, but also theory-makers who adapt and develop theory for different purposes.......This paper reports a study of the use of activity theory in human–computer interaction (HCI) research. We analyse activity theory in HCI since its first appearance about 25 years ago. Through an analysis and meta-synthesis of 109 selected HCI activity theory papers, we created a taxonomy of 5...

  16. Refractive index and solubility control of para-cymene solutions for index-matched fluid-structure interaction studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fort, Charles; Fu, Christopher D.; Weichselbaum, Noah A.; Bardet, Philippe M.

    2015-12-01

    To deploy optical diagnostics such as particle image velocimetry or planar laser-induced fluorescence (PLIF) in complex geometries, it is beneficial to use index-matched facilities. A binary mixture of para-cymene and cinnamaldehyde provides a viable option for matching the refractive index of acrylic, a common material for scaled models and test sections. This fluid is particularly appropriate for large-scale facilities and when a low-density and low-viscosity fluid is sought, such as in fluid-structure interaction studies. This binary solution has relatively low kinematic viscosity and density; its use enables the experimentalist to select operating temperature and to increase fluorescence signal in PLIF experiments. Measurements of spectral and temperature dependence of refractive index, density, and kinematic viscosity are reported. The effect of the binary mixture on solubility control of Rhodamine 6G is also characterized.

  17. Quantification of sensory and food quality: the R-index analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Hye-Seong; van Hout, Danielle

    2009-08-01

    The accurate quantification of sensory difference/similarity between foods, as well as consumer acceptance/preference and concepts, is greatly needed to optimize and maintain food quality. The R-Index is one class of measures of the degree of difference/similarity, and was originally developed for sensory difference tests for food quality control, product development, and so on. The index is based on signal detection theory and is free of the response bias that can invalidate difference testing protocols, including categorization and same-different and A-Not A tests. It is also a nonparametric analysis, making no assumptions about sensory distributions, and is simple to compute and understand. The R-Index is also flexible in its application. Methods based on R-Index analysis have been used as detection and sensory difference tests, as simple alternatives to hedonic scaling, and for the measurement of consumer concepts. This review indicates the various computational strategies for the R-Index and its practical applications to consumer and sensory measurements in food science.

  18. A critique of the Active Ageing Index.

    Science.gov (United States)

    São José, José Manuel de; Timonen, Virpi; Amado, Carla Alexandra Filipe; Santos, Sérgio Pereira

    2017-01-01

    Active ageing and successful ageing are ubiquitous concepts in contemporary societies. In the European Union, active ageing is monitored and promoted chiefly by the Active Ageing Index, a policy tool in use since 2012. We acknowledge that the AAI may contribute to sensitizing people, including policymakers, to the multidimensionality and complexity of the process of "ageing well". However, we note that despite being widely used and promoted, the Active Ageing Index remains under-scrutinized. In this article, we undertake a comprehensive critical analysis of the Active Ageing Index. This critical analysis is supported by the Theory of Model Ageing, the Capability Approach and, to a lesser extent, by relevant literature on composite indices. We conclude that the Active Ageing Index was developed with the paradoxical aim of deriving "the solution" from "the problem". It is an under-theorized and narrowly conceptualized index that contributes to the process of Model Ageing, as its conceptual foundation, and its domains and indicators, convey a certain model of active ageing. This model is expert-based and ingrained with a priori assumptions about the potential of older people, the domains of life and activities they value and how strongly they value them. Finally, the Active Ageing Index measures current achievements, not capabilities (i.e. the opportunity set of achievable "doings" and "beings"), resulting in a valuable but incomplete tool for policymaking purposes. We hope that this critical analysis will initiate a debate on the Active Ageing Index that, in our view, is overdue. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Genomic selection improves response to selection in resilience by exploiting genotype by environment interactions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Han Mulder

    2016-10-01

    Full Text Available Genotype by environment interactions (GxE are very common in livestock and hamper genetic improvement. On the other hand, GxE is a source of genetic variation: genetic variation in response to environment, e.g. environmental perturbations such as heat stress or disease. In livestock breeding, there is tendency to ignore GxE because of increased complexity of models for genetic evaluations and lack of accuracy in extreme environments. GxE, however, creates opportunities to increase resilience of animals towards environmental perturbations. The main aim of the paper is to investigate to which extent GxE can be exploited with traditional and genomic selection methods. Furthermore, we investigated the benefit of reaction norm models compared to conventional methods ignoring GxE. The questions were addressed with selection index theory. GxE was modelled according to a linear reaction norm model in which the environmental gradient is the contemporary group mean. Economic values were based on linear and non-linear profit equations.Accuracies of environment-specific (GEBV were highest in intermediate environments and lowest in extreme environments. Reaction norm models had higher accuracies of (GEBV in extreme environments than conventional models ignoring GxE. Genomic selection always resulted in higher response to selection in all environments than sib or progeny testing schemes. The increase in response was with genomic selection between 9% and 140% compared to sib testing and between 11% and 114% compared to progeny testing when the reference population consisted of 1 million animals across all environments. When the aim was to decrease environmental sensitivity, the response in slope of the reaction norm model with genomic selection was between 1.09 and 319 times larger than with sib or progeny testing and in the right direction in contrast to sib and progeny testing that still increased environmental sensitivity. This shows that genomic selection

  20. Alternative Forms of Fit in Contingency Theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Drazin, Robert; Van de Ven, Andrew H.

    1985-01-01

    This paper examines the selection, interaction, and systems approaches to fit in structural contingency theory. The concepts of fit evaluated may be applied not only to structural contingency theory but to contingency theories in general. (MD)

  1. Deconfinement phase transition and finite-size scaling in SU(2) lattice gauge theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mogilevskij, O.A.

    1988-01-01

    Calculation technique for deconfinement phase transition parameters based on application of finite-size scaling theory is suggested. The essence of the technique lies in plotting of universal scaling function on the basis of numerical data obtained at different-size final lattices and discrimination of phase transition parameters for infinite lattice system. Finite-size scaling technique was developed as applied to spin system theory. β critical index for Polyakov loop and SU(2) deconfinement temperature of lattice gauge theory are calculated on the basis of finite-size scaling technique. The obtained value agrees with critical index of magnetization in Ising three-dimensional model

  2. Load Theory of Selective Attention and Cognitive Control

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavie, Nilli; Hirst, Aleksandra; de Fockert, Jan W.; Viding, Essi

    2004-01-01

    A load theory of attention in which distractor rejection depends on the level and type of load involved in current processing was tested. A series of experiments demonstrates that whereas high perceptual load reduces distractor interference, working memory load or dual-task coordination load increases distractor interference. These findings…

  3. The validity and value of inclusive fitness theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bourke, Andrew F G

    2011-11-22

    Social evolution is a central topic in evolutionary biology, with the evolution of eusociality (societies with altruistic, non-reproductive helpers) representing a long-standing evolutionary conundrum. Recent critiques have questioned the validity of the leading theory for explaining social evolution and eusociality, namely inclusive fitness (kin selection) theory. I review recent and past literature to argue that these critiques do not succeed. Inclusive fitness theory has added fundamental insights to natural selection theory. These are the realization that selection on a gene for social behaviour depends on its effects on co-bearers, the explanation of social behaviours as unalike as altruism and selfishness using the same underlying parameters, and the explanation of within-group conflict in terms of non-coinciding inclusive fitness optima. A proposed alternative theory for eusocial evolution assumes mistakenly that workers' interests are subordinate to the queen's, contains no new elements and fails to make novel predictions. The haplodiploidy hypothesis has yet to be rigorously tested and positive relatedness within diploid eusocial societies supports inclusive fitness theory. The theory has made unique, falsifiable predictions that have been confirmed, and its evidence base is extensive and robust. Hence, inclusive fitness theory deserves to keep its position as the leading theory for social evolution.

  4. Empirical test of Capital Asset Pricing Model on Selected Banking Shares from Borsa Istanbul

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fuzuli Aliyev

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available In this paper we tested Capital Asset Pricing Model (shortly CAPM hereafter on the selected banking stocks of Borsa Istanbul. Here we tried to explain how to price financial assets based on their risks in the case of BIST-100 index. CAPM is an important model in the portfolio management theory used by economic agents for the selection of financial assets. We used 12 random banking stocks’ monthly return data for 2001–2010 periods. To test the validity of the CAPM, we first derived the regression equation for the risk-free interest rate and risk premium relationship using January 2001–December 2009 data. Then, estimated January–December 2010 returns with the equation. Comparing forecasted return with the actual return, we concluded that the CAPM is valid for the portfolio consisting of the 12 banks traded in the ISE, i.e. The model could predict the overall outcome of portfolio of selected banking shares

  5. Boltzmann, Darwin and Directionality theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demetrius, Lloyd A.

    2013-09-01

    Boltzmann’s statistical thermodynamics is a mathematical theory which relates the macroscopic properties of aggregates of interacting molecules with the laws of their interaction. The theory is based on the concept thermodynamic entropy, a statistical measure of the extent to which energy is spread throughout macroscopic matter. Macroscopic evolution of material aggregates is quantitatively explained in terms of the principle: Thermodynamic entropy increases as the composition of the aggregate changes under molecular collision. Darwin’s theory of evolution is a qualitative theory of the origin of species and the adaptation of populations to their environment. A central concept in the theory is fitness, a qualitative measure of the capacity of an organism to contribute to the ancestry of future generations. Macroscopic evolution of populations of living organisms can be qualitatively explained in terms of a neo-Darwinian principle: Fitness increases as the composition of the population changes under variation and natural selection. Directionality theory is a quantitative model of the Darwinian argument of evolution by variation and selection. This mathematical theory is based on the concept evolutionary entropy, a statistical measure which describes the rate at which an organism appropriates energy from the environment and reinvests this energy into survivorship and reproduction. According to directionality theory, microevolutionary dynamics, that is evolution by mutation and natural selection, can be quantitatively explained in terms of a directionality principle: Evolutionary entropy increases when the resources are diverse and of constant abundance; but decreases when the resource is singular and of variable abundance. This report reviews the analytical and empirical support for directionality theory, and invokes the microevolutionary dynamics of variation and selection to delineate the principles which govern macroevolutionary dynamics of speciation and

  6. Analytic Hierarchy Process & Multi Attribute Utility Theory Based Approach for the Selection of Lighting Systems in Residential Buildings: A Case Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Othman Alshamrani

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper presents an approach developed for selecting lighting systems in residential buildings using an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP and the Multi Criteria Decision Making Technique (MCDMT. The developed approach considers four selection criteria of lighting systems: life-cycle cost, illumination, environmental performance, and life-span. The criteria of selection, along with the most widely used lighting systems in residential buildings, were determined through questionnaire surveys with suppliers, maintenance managers, and lighting experts. The Analytic Hierarchy Process and Multi Attribute Utility Theory were utilized to assess the significant influence of the identified main and sub-criteria on the selection process, from the design point of view. The developed approach was tested on a real case project in selecting the lighting system for aresidential building in Saudi Arabia. The obtained results show that the life-cycle cost and illumination proprieties, followed by the service life were found to be the most influential measures in the selection process. The results also show that Light-Emitting Diode(LED lighting systems prove to bear the highest initial cost while sustaining the best overall performance.

  7. Toward a general evolutionary theory of oncogenesis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ewald, Paul W; Swain Ewald, Holly A

    2013-01-01

    We propose an evolutionary framework, the barrier theory of cancer, which is based on the distinction between barriers to oncogenesis and restraints. Barriers are defined as mechanisms that prevent oncogenesis. Restraints, which are more numerous, inhibit but do not prevent oncogenesis. Processes that compromise barriers are essential causes of cancer; those that interfere with restraints are exacerbating causes. The barrier theory is built upon the three evolutionary processes involved in oncogenesis: natural selection acting on multicellular organisms to mold barriers and restraints, natural selection acting on infectious organisms to abrogate these protective mechanisms, and oncogenic selection which is responsible for the evolution of normal cells into cancerous cells. The barrier theory is presented as a first step toward the development of a general evolutionary theory of cancer. Its attributes and implications for intervention are compared with those of other major conceptual frameworks for understanding cancer: the clonal diversification model, the stem cell theory and the hallmarks of cancer. The barrier theory emphasizes the practical value of distinguishing between essential and exacerbating causes. It also stresses the importance of determining the scope of infectious causation of cancer, because individual pathogens can be responsible for multiple essential causes in infected cells.

  8. Anthropic Reasoning about Fine-Tuning, and Neoclassical Cosmology: Providence, Omnipresence, and Observation Selection Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walker, Theodore, Jr.

    2011-10-01

    Anthropic reasoning about observation selection effects upon the appearance of cosmic providential fine-tuning (fine-tuning that provides for life) is often motivated by a desire to avoid theological implications (implications favoring the idea of a divine cosmic provider) without appealing to sheer lucky-for-us-cosmic-jackpot happenstance and coincidence. Cosmic coincidence can be rendered less incredible by appealing to a multiverse context. Cosmic providence can be rendered non-theological by appealing to an agent-less providential purpose, or by appealing to less-than-omnipresent/local providers, such as alien intelligences creating life- providing baby universes. Instead of choosing either cosmic coincidence or cosmic providence, as though they were mutually exclusive; it is better to accept both. Neoclassical thought accepts coincidence and providence, plus many local providers and one omnipresent provider. Moreover, fundamental observation selection theory should distinguish the many local observers of some events from the one omnipresent observer of all events. Accepting both coincidence and providence avoids classical theology (providence without coincidence) and classical atheism (coincidence without providence), but not neoclassical theology (providence with coincidence). Cosmology cannot avoid the idea of an all-inclusive omnipresent providential dice-throwing living-creative whole of reality, an idea essential to neoclassical theology, and to neoclassical cosmology.

  9. KMAH index and separation of PSP-waves from streamer data

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mitrofanov, Georgy; Priimenko, Viatcheslav

    2017-08-01

    The presence of triplications (caustics) can be a serious problem in seismic data processing and analysis. The travel-time curve becomes multi-valued and the geometrical spreading correction factor tends to zero due to energy focusing. To select the regions of possible triplications (caustics) of travel-times, which can arise during the propagation of reflected seismic waves, we use the Keller-Maslov-Arnol'd-Hörmander (KMAH) index. The identification of such regions improves the selection of signals associated with target reflecting horizons and their use in solving various inverse dynamic problems, including amplitude-versus-offset (AVO) and full-waveform inversions. The importance of the KMAH index increases in 4D surveys when the structure of the model is already known, and it is necessary to conduct a detailed analysis of the shapes of seismic signals with increasing accuracy when solving inverse seismic problems. In addition, this index can be valuable when solving various marine seismic problems associated with single and converted waves, in particular with PSP-waves. The present work is dedicated to the separation of signals associated with this type of wave using surface marine seismic data. However, the proposed algorithm has a wider application. It is based on: (i) a priori information on the medium under study; (ii) ray tracing method. The ray tracing method enables the identification of the corresponding signals and the determination of the time and space intervals, in which such signals are most accurately traced. These intervals are used in the selection of target signals, particularly signals related to PSP-waves. In order to select optimal areas of observation with higher amplitudes of target signals, we use the τ -p transform. To improve the stability of the signal separation, KMAH index is used. This approach allows the elimination of possible triplications (caustics) in the travel-time curve from the selected intervals.

  10. Fivebrane instantons and higher derivative couplings in type I theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hammou, Amine B.; Morales, Jose F.

    2000-01-01

    We express the infinite sum of D5-brane instanton corrections to R 2 couplings in N=4 type I string vacua, in terms of an elliptic index counting 1/2-BPS excitations in the effective Sp(N) brane theory. We compute the index explicitly in the infrared, where the effective theory is argued to flow to an orbifold CFT. The form of the instanton sum agrees completely with the predicted formula from a dual one-loop computation in type IIA theory on K3xT 2 . The proposed CFT provides a proper description of the whole spectrum of masses, charges and multiplicities for 1/2- and 1/4-BPS states, associated to bound states of D5-branes and KK momenta. These results are applied to show how fivebrane instanton sums, entering higher derivative couplings which are sensitive to 1/4-BPS contributions, also match the perturbative results in the dual type IIA theory

  11. Perceptual Load Influences Selective Attention across Development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Couperus, Jane W.

    2011-01-01

    Research suggests that visual selective attention develops across childhood. However, there is relatively little understanding of the neurological changes that accompany this development, particularly in the context of adult theories of selective attention, such as N. Lavie's (1995) perceptual load theory of attention. This study examined visual…

  12. On the history of the connectivity index: from the connectivity index to the exact solution of the protein alignment problem.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Randić, M

    2015-01-01

    We briefly review the history of the connectivity index from 1975 to date. We hope to throw some light on why this unique, by its design, graph theoretical molecular descriptor continues to be of interest in QSAR, having wide use in applications in structure-property and structure-activity studies. We will elaborate on its generalizations and the insights it offered on applications in Multiple Regression Analysis (MRA). Going beyond the connectivity index we will outline several related developments in the development of molecular descriptors used in MRA, including molecular ID numbers (1986), the variable connectivity index (1991), orthogonal regression (1991), irrelevance of co-linearity of descriptors (1997), anti-connectivity (2006), and high discriminatory descriptors characterizing molecular similarity (2015). We will comment on beauty in QSAR and recent progress in searching for similarity of DNA, proteins and the proteome. This review reports on several results which are little known to the structure-property-activity community, the significance of which may surprise those unfamiliar with the application of discrete mathematics to chemistry. It tells the reader many unknown stories about the connectivity index, which may help the reader to better understand the meaning of this index. Readers are not required to be familiar with graph theory.

  13. Theory and applications of atomic and ionic polarizabilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mitroy, J; Safronova, M S; Clark, Charles W

    2010-01-01

    Atomic polarization phenomena impinge upon a number of areas and processes in physics. The dielectric constant and refractive index of any gas are examples of macroscopic properties that are largely determined by the dipole polarizability. When it comes to microscopic phenomena, the existence of alkaline-earth anions and the recently discovered ability of positrons to bind to many atoms are predominantly due to the polarization interaction. An imperfect knowledge of atomic polarizabilities is presently looming as the largest source of uncertainty in the new generation of optical frequency standards. Accurate polarizabilities for the group I and II atoms and ions of the periodic table have recently become available by a variety of techniques. These include refined many-body perturbation theory and coupled-cluster calculations sometimes combined with precise experimental data for selected transitions, microwave spectroscopy of Rydberg atoms and ions, refractive index measurements in microwave cavities, ab initio calculations of atomic structures using explicitly correlated wavefunctions, interferometry with atom beams and velocity changes of laser cooled atoms induced by an electric field. This review examines existing theoretical methods of determining atomic and ionic polarizabilities, and discusses their relevance to various applications with particular emphasis on cold-atom physics and the metrology of atomic frequency standards. (topical review)

  14. Theory and applications of atomic and ionic polarizabilities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mitroy, J [School of Engineering, Charles Darwin University, Darwin NT 0909 (Australia); Safronova, M S [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, Newark, DE 19716 (United States); Clark, Charles W, E-mail: jxm107@rsphysse.anu.edu.a, E-mail: msafrono@udel.ed, E-mail: charles.clark@nist.go [Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology and the University of Maryland, Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8410 (United States)

    2010-10-28

    Atomic polarization phenomena impinge upon a number of areas and processes in physics. The dielectric constant and refractive index of any gas are examples of macroscopic properties that are largely determined by the dipole polarizability. When it comes to microscopic phenomena, the existence of alkaline-earth anions and the recently discovered ability of positrons to bind to many atoms are predominantly due to the polarization interaction. An imperfect knowledge of atomic polarizabilities is presently looming as the largest source of uncertainty in the new generation of optical frequency standards. Accurate polarizabilities for the group I and II atoms and ions of the periodic table have recently become available by a variety of techniques. These include refined many-body perturbation theory and coupled-cluster calculations sometimes combined with precise experimental data for selected transitions, microwave spectroscopy of Rydberg atoms and ions, refractive index measurements in microwave cavities, ab initio calculations of atomic structures using explicitly correlated wavefunctions, interferometry with atom beams and velocity changes of laser cooled atoms induced by an electric field. This review examines existing theoretical methods of determining atomic and ionic polarizabilities, and discusses their relevance to various applications with particular emphasis on cold-atom physics and the metrology of atomic frequency standards. (topical review)

  15. Femtosecond index change mechanisms and morphology of SiC crystalline materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    DesAutels, Logan; Brewer, Christopher; Powers, Peter; Walker, Mark; Tomlin, David; Fratini, Albert; Juhl, Shane; Chen Weibin

    2009-01-01

    Femtosecond lasers have a unique ability of processing bulk transparent materials for various applications such as micromachining, waveguide manufacturing, and photonic bandgap structures just to name a few. These applications depend on the formation of micron or submicron size features that are known to be index modifications to the bulk substrate [H. Guo, H. Jiang, Y. Fang, C. Peng, H. Yang, Y. Li, Q. Gong, J. Opt. A: Pure Appl. Opt. 6 (2004) 787]. To the best of our knowledge the physical understanding of how these index-modified features are formed is still unknown, but many good theories exist such as Petite et al. [G. Petite, P. Daguzan, S. Guizard, P. Martin, in: IEEE Annual Report Conference on Electrical Insulation and Dielectric Phenomena, vol. 15, IEEE, 1995, pp. 40-44] or Tien et al. [A. Tien, S. Backus, H. Kapteyn, M. Murnane, G. Mourou, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82 (1999) 3883]. In this Letter the question on the physical cause for index changes is investigated by the combined efforts between Wright-Patterson AFB (WPAFB) and the University of Dayton (UD) using numerous imaging equipment such as TEM, AFM, NSOM, Nomarski microscopy, X-ray crystallography, Raman spectroscopy, and even diffraction efficiency experiments. With all the combined imaging equipment this research is able to present valuable data and deduce plausible theories of the physics of the index modification mechanism

  16. Game theory and public policy

    CERN Document Server

    McCain, Roger A

    2015-01-01

    This book provides a critical, selective review of concepts from game theory and their applications in public policy, and further suggests some modifications for some of the models (chiefly in cooperative game theory) to improve their applicability to economics and public policy.

  17. Pricing Equity-Indexed Annuities under Stochastic Interest Rates Using Copulas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Patrice Gaillardetz

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available We develop a consistent evaluation approach for equity-linked insurance products under stochastic interest rates. This pricing approach requires that the premium information of standard insurance products is given exogenously. In order to evaluate equity-linked products, we derive three martingale probability measures that reproduce the information from standard insurance products, interest rates, and equity index. These risk adjusted martingale probability measures are determined using copula theory and evolve with the stochastic interest rate process. A detailed numerical analysis is performed for existing equity-indexed annuities in the North American market.

  18. Topological fixed point theory of multivalued mappings

    CERN Document Server

    Górniewicz, Lech

    1999-01-01

    This volume presents a broad introduction to the topological fixed point theory of multivalued (set-valued) mappings, treating both classical concepts as well as modern techniques. A variety of up-to-date results is described within a unified framework. Topics covered include the basic theory of set-valued mappings with both convex and nonconvex values, approximation and homological methods in the fixed point theory together with a thorough discussion of various index theories for mappings with a topologically complex structure of values, applications to many fields of mathematics, mathematical economics and related subjects, and the fixed point approach to the theory of ordinary differential inclusions. The work emphasises the topological aspect of the theory, and gives special attention to the Lefschetz and Nielsen fixed point theory for acyclic valued mappings with diverse compactness assumptions via graph approximation and the homological approach. Audience: This work will be of interest to researchers an...

  19. The Big Mac Index: A Shortcut To Inflation And Exchange Rate Dynamics? Price Tracking And Predictive Properties

    OpenAIRE

    Luis San Vicente Portes; Vidya Atal

    2014-01-01

    The Economist magazine has been publishing the Big Mac Index using it as a rule of thumb to determine the over- or under-valuation of international currencies based on the theory of Purchasing Power Parity since 1986. According to the theory, using the Big Mac as a tradable single-good basket, the Dollar-value of the hamburger should be equalized around the world due to arbitrage. The popularity and following of the Big Mac Index led the authors to the following two questions: 1) How effectiv...

  20. Why Darwin would have loved evolutionary game theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Joel S

    2016-09-14

    Humans have marvelled at the fit of form and function, the way organisms' traits seem remarkably suited to their lifestyles and ecologies. While natural selection provides the scientific basis for the fit of form and function, Darwin found certain adaptations vexing or particularly intriguing: sex ratios, sexual selection and altruism. The logic behind these adaptations resides in frequency-dependent selection where the value of a given heritable phenotype (i.e. strategy) to an individual depends upon the strategies of others. Game theory is a branch of mathematics that is uniquely suited to solving such puzzles. While game theoretic thinking enters into Darwin's arguments and those of evolutionists through much of the twentieth century, the tools of evolutionary game theory were not available to Darwin or most evolutionists until the 1970s, and its full scope has only unfolded in the last three decades. As a consequence, game theory is applied and appreciated rather spottily. Game theory not only applies to matrix games and social games, it also applies to speciation, macroevolution and perhaps even to cancer. I assert that life and natural selection are a game, and that game theory is the appropriate logic for framing and understanding adaptations. Its scope can include behaviours within species, state-dependent strategies (such as male, female and so much more), speciation and coevolution, and expands beyond microevolution to macroevolution. Game theory clarifies aspects of ecological and evolutionary stability in ways useful to understanding eco-evolutionary dynamics, niche construction and ecosystem engineering. In short, I would like to think that Darwin would have found game theory uniquely useful for his theory of natural selection. Let us see why this is so. © 2016 The Author(s).

  1. Forecasting Analysis of Shanghai Stock Index Based on ARIMA Model

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Li Chenggang

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Prediction and analysis of the Shanghai Composite Index is conducive for investors to investing in the stock market, and providing investors with reference. This paper selects Shanghai Composite Index monthly closing price from Jan, 2005 to Oct, 2016 to construct ARIMA model. This paper carries on the forecast of the last three monthly closing price of Shanghai Stock Index that have occurred, and compared it with the actual value, which tests the accuracy and feasibility of the model in the short term Shanghai Stock Index forecast. At last, this paper uses the ARIMA model to forecast the Shanghai Composite Index closing price of the last two months in 2016.

  2. Bureau of Radiological Health Publications Index, August 1978. Report for 1953--1978

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1978-08-01

    The Bureau of Radiological Health Publications Index to the publications of the Bureau of Radiological Health was prepared to aid in the retrieval and identification of publications originated or authored by Bureau staff or published by the Bureau. These publications include journal articles, government publications and technical reports, selected staff papers and Bureau news releases issued by HEW. For convenience, the document is divided into three sections, KWIC Index, Author Index, and Bibliography Index as described. A section on BRH Technical Reports Index by Subject is included. This portion of the Publications Index lists only those reports published by BRH since 1972

  3. The Performance of Dow Jones Country Islamic Indexes Against Dow Jones Country Conventional Indexes in Asia and the Middle East : An Empirical Study of the Last Decade

    OpenAIRE

    Suharwardy, Zain

    2013-01-01

    This paper attempts to examine the performance of six countries spanning from Asia and the Middle East. Countries are selected from the Dow Jones Islamic Market Index and the focus is kept to only choose countries that have an active Dow Jones Islamic Market Country Index along with a parallel Dow Jones Conventional Country Index. Further break down is made by comparing the country performances to their respective Dow Jones regional index’s (Dow Jones Asia Index and the Dow Jones MENA) in ord...

  4. Navigating Glycerol Conversion Roadmap and Heterogeneous Catalyst Selection Aided by Density Functional Theory: A Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bin Liu

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available Glycerol has been utilized in an extremely diversified manner throughout human civilization—ranging from food, to various consumer products, to pharmaceuticals, and even explosives. Large surplus in glycerol supply thanks to biodiesel production and biomass processing has created a demand to further boost its utility. One growing area is to expand the use of glycerol as an alternative feedstock to supplement fuels and chemicals production. Various catalytic processes have been developed. This review summarizes catalytic materials for glycerol reforming, hydrodeoxygenation, and oxidation. In particular, rationale for catalyst selection and new catalyst design will be discussed aided by the knowledge of reaction mechanisms. The role of theoretical density functional theory (DFT in elucidating complex glycerol conversion chemistries is particularly emphasized.

  5. Acute psychological benefits of exercise performed at self-selected workloads: implications for theory and practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szabo, Attila

    2003-09-01

    Given that most studies to date examined the connection between exercise and affect without considering the participants' preferred exercise workload, in this research the affective-benefits of jogging or running at a participant-selected pace were investigated in a pilot field and a laboratory experiment. Ninety-six male and female students (19.5 yrs) took part in the pilot field experiment whereas 32 women (20.3 yrs) completed the laboratory experiment. In both experiments, the participants ran/jogged for 20 minutes at a self-selected pace. They completed an abbreviated version of a 'right now form' of the Profile of Mood States (POMS - Grove and Prapavessis, 1992) inventory before and after exercise. In both experiments all dependent measures changed significantly from pre- to post-exercise, except 'fatigue' and 'vigor' that did not change in the laboratory. Total mood disturbance (TMD) decreased significantly in both experiments (68% and 89%). No significant correlations were found between exercise intensity (expressed as percent (%) of maximal heart rate reserve) and the magnitude of changes seen in the dependent measures. It is concluded that exercising at a self-selected workload yields positive changes in affect that are unrelated to exercise intensity. These results suggest that the physiological theories linking exercise with positive changes in affect, in which exercise intensity is instrumental, could not account for the acute affective benefits of exercise. It is proposed that a 'cognitive appraisal hypothesis' may be more appropriate in explaining the acute affective benefits of exercise.

  6. Empirical comparison of theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Opp, K.D.; Wippler, R.

    1990-01-01

    The book represents the first, comprehensive attempt to take an empirical approach for comparative assessment of theories in sociology. The aims, problems, and advantages of the empirical approach are discussed in detail, and the three theories selected for the purpose of this work are explained. Their comparative assessment is performed within the framework of several research projects, which among other subjects also investigate the social aspects of the protest against nuclear power plants. The theories analysed in this context are the theory of mental incongruities and that of the benefit, and their efficiency in explaining protest behaviour is compared. (orig./HSCH) [de

  7. Grounded theory: building a middle-range theory in nursing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria João Fernandes

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The development of nursing as a discipline results from a boom of investigations underway for nearly a century, and of the construction of theories that have arisen during the 1950’s, with greater relevance since the 1960’s. Giving continuation to the production of knowledge in nursing and seeking to contribute to the increase in the number of explanatory theories of the functional content of nurses, there is interest in answering the question: how can a middle-range theory in nursing be built that explains the nurse-elderly interaction in a successful aging process? As well, we address the goal of describing the process of building a middle-range theory in nursing. Middle-range theory refers to a qualitative paradigm study of inductive thinking, developed in the context of primary health care. The information was collected through participant observation and interviews. Method of analysis grounded theory by Corbin and Strauss(1 was followed, utilizing the triangulation of data and theoretical sampling. Grounded theory has become a method of analysis which facilitates the understanding and explanation of the phenomenon under study. By making clear the nature and process of the nurse-elderly interaction in the selected context and within the context of successful aging, a middle-range theory proposal emerged.

  8. Design and Application of Drought Indexes in Highly Regulated Mediterranean Water Systems

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castelletti, A.; Zaniolo, M.; Giuliani, M.

    2017-12-01

    Costs of drought are progressively increasing due to the undergoing alteration of hydro-meteorological regimes induced by climate change. Although drought management is largely studied in the literature, most of the traditional drought indexes fail in detecting critical events in highly regulated systems, which generally rely on ad-hoc formulations and cannot be generalized to different context. In this study, we contribute a novel framework for the design of a basin-customized drought index. This index represents a surrogate of the state of the basin and is computed by combining the available information about the water available in the system to reproduce a representative target variable for the drought condition of the basin (e.g., water deficit). To select the relevant variables and combinatione thereof, we use an advanced feature extraction algorithm called Wrapper for Quasi Equally Informative Subset Selection (W-QEISS). W-QEISS relies on a multi-objective evolutionary algorithm to find Pareto-efficient subsets of variables by maximizing the wrapper accuracy, minimizing the number of selected variables, and optimizing relevance and redundancy of the subset. The accuracy objective is evaluated trough the calibration of an extreme learning machine of the water deficit for each candidate subset of variables, with the index selected from the resulting solutions identifying a suitable compromise between accuracy, cardinality, relevance, and redundancy. The approach is tested on Lake Como, Italy, a regulated lake mainly operated for irrigation supply. In the absence of an institutional drought monitoring system, we constructed the combined index using all the hydrological variables from the existing monitoring system as well as common drought indicators at multiple time aggregations. The soil moisture deficit in the root zone computed by a distributed-parameter water balance model of the agricultural districts is used as target variable. Numerical results show that

  9. Atomic spectroscopy sympsoium, Gaithersburg, Maryland, September 23--26, 1975. [Program, abstracts, and author index

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    1975-01-01

    Abstracts of one hundred papers given at the conference are presented along with the conference program and an author index. Session topics include: highly ionized atoms; laser spectroscopy and hyperfine structure; complex spectra; laser spectroscopy, radiation theory; theory of highly ionized atoms and analysis of plasmas; plasma spectroscopy, line strengths; spectral analysis, instrumentation, reference wavelengths; beam foil spectroscopy, line strengths, energy levels; absorption spectroscopy, autoionization, and related theory; and spectral analysis, instrumentation, and VUV physics. (GHT)

  10. Tunable negative index metamaterial using yttrium iron garnet

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He, Yongxue; He, Peng; Dae Yoon, Soack; Parimi, P.V.; Rachford, F.J.; Harris, V.G.; Vittoria, C.

    2007-01-01

    A magnetic field tunable, broadband, low-loss, negative refractive index metamaterial is fabricated using yttrium iron garnet (YIG) and a periodic array of copper wires. The tunability is demonstrated from 18 to 23 GHz under an applied magnetic field with a figure of merit of 4.2 GHz/kOe. The tuning bandwidth is measured to be 5 GHz compared to 0.9 GHz for fixed field. We measure a minimum insertion loss of 4 dB (or 5.7 dB/cm) at 22.3 GHz. The measured negative refractive index bandwidth is 0.9 GHz compared to 0.5 GHz calculated by the transfer function matrix theory and 1 GHz calculated by finite element simulation

  11. Application of Fault Management Theory to the Quantitive Selection of a Launch Vehicle Abort Trigger Suite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lo, Yunnhon; Johnson, Stephen B.; Breckenridge, Jonathan T.

    2014-01-01

    SHM/FM theory has been successfully applied to the selection of the baseline set Abort Triggers for the NASA SLS center dot Quantitative assessment played a useful role in the decision process ? M&FM, which is new within NASA MSFC, required the most "new" work, as this quantitative analysis had never been done before center dot Required development of the methodology and tool to mechanize the process center dot Established new relationships to the other groups ? The process is now an accepted part of the SLS design process, and will likely be applied to similar programs in the future at NASA MSFC ? Future improvements center dot Improve technical accuracy ?Differentiate crew survivability due to an abort, vs. survivability even no immediate abort occurs (small explosion with little debris) ?Account for contingent dependence of secondary triggers on primary triggers ?Allocate "? LOC Benefit" of each trigger when added to the previously selected triggers. center dot Reduce future costs through the development of a specialized tool ? Methodology can be applied to any manned/unmanned vehicle, in space or terrestrial

  12. middle range theory evaluation: bridging the theory-practice gap

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    The importance underlying the practice of nursing education must continue ... describes selected middle range theory evaluation as a tool for bridging ... engaging in innovative ways of acquiring competency. ..... performances, that guides learners attitudes towards ... Reference knowledge acquired by work experience.

  13. Life Sciences and Allied Fields: Indexes and Abstracts, Book Review Indexes, Serials Bibliographies, Translations. Bibliographic Series No. 32.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Colpitts, D. Corinne

    The information sources for the life sciences and allied fields listed were selected from the holdings of the Arkansas University library. Citations include indexes and abstracts dealing with national and international literature in medicine, the biological sciences, environmental science, veterinary medicine, agriculture, botany, and zoology, as…

  14. [Introduction to grounded theory].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shou-Yu; Windsor, Carol; Yates, Patsy

    2012-02-01

    Grounded theory, first developed by Glaser and Strauss in the 1960s, was introduced into nursing education as a distinct research methodology in the 1970s. The theory is grounded in a critique of the dominant contemporary approach to social inquiry, which imposed "enduring" theoretical propositions onto study data. Rather than starting from a set theoretical framework, grounded theory relies on researchers distinguishing meaningful constructs from generated data and then identifying an appropriate theory. Grounded theory is thus particularly useful in investigating complex issues and behaviours not previously addressed and concepts and relationships in particular populations or places that are still undeveloped or weakly connected. Grounded theory data analysis processes include open, axial and selective coding levels. The purpose of this article was to explore the grounded theory research process and provide an initial understanding of this methodology.

  15. Discussion of quantitative assessment index system of suitability of the site for geological disposal repository of high-level radioactive waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Su Rui; Wang Ju

    2014-01-01

    Site selection and suitability assessment of site are one of important tasks of research and development of geological disposal engineering for high-level radioactive waste (HLW). Quantitative assessment of suitability of the site is based on the scientific, reasonable and operational index system. The discussion of index screening of quantitative assessment of suitability of the site is conducted. Principle of index screening is presented and index systems are established for different stages of site selection, including planning stage of site selection, region or area investigation stage, site characterization and site confirmation stage. But the considerations are taken of the complexity of site selection of geological disposal engineering for HLW and itself development of quantitative assessment method, so improvement of the index systems presented above is needed in the further. (authors)

  16. Towards deconstruction of the type D(2,0) theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bourget, Antoine; Rodriguez-Gomez, Diego; Pini, Alessandro

    2017-10-01

    We propose a four-dimensional supersymmetric theory that deconstructs, in a particular limit, the six-dimensional (2,0) theory of type D k . This 4d theory is defined by a necklace quiver with alternating gauge nodes O(2k) and Sp(k). We test this proposal by comparing the 6d half-BPS index to the Higgs branch Hilbert series of the 4d theory. In the process, we overcome several technical difficulties, such as Hilbert series calculations for non-complete intersections, and the choice of O versus SO gauge groups. Consistently, the result matches the Coulomb branch formula for the mirror theory upon reduction to 3d.

  17. Automated indexing of Internet stories for health behavior change: weight loss attitude pilot study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manuvinakurike, Ramesh; Velicer, Wayne F; Bickmore, Timothy W

    2014-12-09

    Automated health behavior change interventions show promise, but suffer from high attrition and disuse. The Internet abounds with thousands of personal narrative accounts of health behavior change that could not only provide useful information and motivation for others who are also trying to change, but an endless source of novel, entertaining stories that may keep participants more engaged than messages authored by interventionists. Given a collection of relevant personal health behavior change stories gathered from the Internet, the aim of this study was to develop and evaluate an automated indexing algorithm that could select the best possible story to provide to a user to have the greatest possible impact on their attitudes toward changing a targeted health behavior, in this case weight loss. An indexing algorithm was developed using features informed by theories from behavioral medicine together with text classification and machine learning techniques. The algorithm was trained using a crowdsourced dataset, then evaluated in a 2×2 between-subjects randomized pilot study. One factor compared the effects of participants reading 2 indexed stories vs 2 randomly selected stories, whereas the second factor compared the medium used to tell the stories: text or animated conversational agent. Outcome measures included changes in self-efficacy and decisional balance for weight loss before and after the stories were read. Participants were recruited from a crowdsourcing website (N=103; 53.4%, 55/103 female; mean age 35, SD 10.8 years; 65.0%, 67/103 precontemplation; 19.4%, 20/103 contemplation for weight loss). Participants who read indexed stories exhibited a significantly greater increase in self-efficacy for weight loss compared to the control group (F1,107=5.5, P=.02). There were no significant effects of indexing on change in decisional balance (F1,97=0.05, P=.83) and no significant effects of medium on change in self-efficacy (F1,107=0.04, P=.84) or decisional

  18. Suppression of panel flutter of near-space aircraft based on non-probabilistic reliability theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ye-Wei Zhang

    2016-03-01

    Full Text Available The vibration active control of the composite panels with the uncertain parameters in the hypersonic flow is studied using the non-probabilistic reliability theory. Using the piezoelectric patches as active control actuators, dynamic equations of panel are established by finite element method and Hamilton’s principle. And the control model of panel with uncertain parameters is obtained. According to the non-probabilistic reliability index, and besides being based on H∞ robust control theory and non-probabilistic reliability theory, the non-probabilistic reliability performance function is given. Moreover, the relationships between the robust controller and H∞ performance index and reliability are established. Numerical results show that the control method under the influence of reliability, H∞ performance index, and approaching velocity is effective to the vibration suppression of panel in the whole interval of uncertain parameters.

  19. Surface terms and dual formulations of gauge theories

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mecklenburg, W.; Mizrachi, L.

    1982-09-01

    Previously proposed duality transformations for a pure non-Abelian gauge theory are carried out for a Yang Mills theory with non-vanishing theta parameter. We argue that the theory is no longer self-dual even in the weak coupling limit, as there is a surface term generated by the duality transformation. This surface term has non-zero Pontryagin index hence it gets contributions from instanton type configurations only. However, it does vanish for monopoles and vortices, therefore for this set of configurations self-duality is maintained in the weak coupling region. (author)

  20. Bibliometrics and citation analysis from the science citation index to cybermetrics

    CERN Document Server

    De Bellis, Nicola

    2009-01-01

    Bibliometrics and Citation Analysis: From the Science Citation Index to Cybermetrics offers a comprehensive overview of theories, techniques, concepts, and applications in the interdisciplinary and steadily growing field of bibliometrics. This book looks at bibliographic citation and citation networks by discussing the past, present, and future of bibliometrics, from its foundations in the Science Citation Index to its expansion into the World Wide Web. It is useful to those in every area of scholarship involved in the quantitative analysis of information exchanges, but also to general readers

  1. Source apportionment of social support and quality of life index ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Source apportionment of social support and quality of life index among drug abuse inmates using multiple linear regression. ... The data from 12 prisons selected in Peninsular Malaysia was collected during the period April and June 2015. The 1753 respondents were selected using simple random sampling. The method of ...

  2. On the anodic aluminium oxide refractive index of nanoporous templates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hierro-Rodriguez, A; Rocha-Rodrigues, P; Araujo, J P; Valdés-Bango, F; Alameda, J M; Teixeira, J M; Jorge, P A S; Santos, J L; Guerreiro, A

    2015-01-01

    In the present study, we have determined the intrinsic refractive index of anodic aluminium oxide, which is originated by the formation of nanoporous alumina templates. Different templates have been fabricated by the conventional two-step anodization procedure in oxalic acid. Their porosities were modified by chemical wet etching allowing the tuning of their effective refractive indexes (air-filled nanopores  +  anodic aluminium oxide). By standard spectroscopic light transmission measurements, the effective refractive index for each different template was extracted in the VIS–NIR region. The determination of the intrinsic anodic aluminium oxide refractive index was performed by using the Maxwell–Garnett homogenization theory. The results are coincident for all the fabricated samples. The obtained refractive index (∼1.55) is quite lower (∼22%) than the commonly used Al 2 O 3 handbook value (∼1.75), showing that the amorphous nature of the anodic oxide structure strongly conditions its optical properties. This difference is critical for the correct design and modeling of optical plasmonic metamaterials based on anodic aluminium oxide nanoporous templates. (paper)

  3. The Prediction of Item Parameters Based on Classical Test Theory and Latent Trait Theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anil, Duygu

    2008-01-01

    In this study, the prediction power of the item characteristics based on the experts' predictions on conditions try-out practices cannot be applied was examined for item characteristics computed depending on classical test theory and two-parameters logistic model of latent trait theory. The study was carried out on 9914 randomly selected students…

  4. Fundamental Flaws In The Derivation Of Stevens' Law For Taste Within Norwich's Entropy Theory of Perception

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nizami, Lance

    2010-01-01

    Norwich's Entropy Theory of Perception (1975-present) is a general theory of perception, based on Shannon's Information Theory. Among many bold claims, the Entropy Theory presents a truly astounding result: that Stevens' Law with an Index of 1, an empirical power relation of direct proportionality between perceived taste intensity and stimulus concentration, arises from theory alone. Norwich's theorizing starts with several extraordinary hypotheses. First, 'multiple, parallel receptor-neuron units' without collaterals 'carry essentially the same message to the brain', i.e. the rate-level curves are identical. Second, sensation is proportional to firing rate. Third, firing rate is proportional to the taste receptor's 'resolvable uncertainty'. Fourth, the 'resolvable uncertainty' is obtained from Shannon's Information Theory. Finally, 'resolvable uncertainty' also depends upon the microscopic thermodynamic density fluctuation of the tasted solute. Norwich proves that density fluctuation is density variance, which is proportional to solute concentration, all based on the theory of fluctuations in fluid composition from Tolman's classic physics text, 'The Principles of Statistical Mechanics'. Altogether, according to Norwich, perceived taste intensity is theoretically proportional to solute concentration. Such a universal rule for taste, one that is independent of solute identity, personal physiological differences, and psychophysical task, is truly remarkable and is well-deserving of scrutiny. Norwich's crucial step was the derivation of density variance. That step was meticulously reconstructed here. It transpires that the appropriate fluctuation is Tolman's mean-square fractional density fluctuation, not density variance as used by Norwich. Tolman's algebra yields a 'Stevens Index' of -1 rather than 1. As 'Stevens Index' empirically always exceeds zero, the Index of -1 suggests that it is risky to infer psychophysical laws of sensory response from information theory

  5. Impact of the Z potential technique on reducing the sperm DNA fragmentation index, fertilization rate and embryo development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Duarte, Carlos; Núñez, Víctor; Wong, Yat; Vivar, Carlos; Benites, Elder; Rodriguez, Urso; Vergara, Carlos; Ponce, Jorge

    2017-12-01

    In assisted reproduction procedures, we need to develop and enhance new protocols to optimize sperm selection. The aim of this study is to evaluate the ability of the Z potential technique to select sperm with intact DNA in non-normospermic patients and evaluate the impact of this selection on embryonic development. We analyzed a total of 174 human seminal samples with at least one altered parameter. We measured basal, post density gradients, and post density gradients + Z potential DNA fragmentation index. To evaluate the impact of this technique on embryo development, 54 cases were selected. The embryo development parameters evaluated were fertilization rate, cleavage rate, top quality embryos at the third day and blastocysts rate. We found significant differences in the study groups when we compared the sperm fragmentation index by adding the Z potential technique to density gradient selection vs. density gradients alone. Furthermore, there was no significant difference in the embryo development parameters between the low sperm fragmentation index group vs. the moderate and high sperm fragmentation index groups, when selecting sperms with this new technique. The Z potential technique is a very useful tool for sperm selection; it significantly reduces the DNA fragmentation index and improves the parameters of embryo development. This technique could be considered routine for its simplicity and low cost.

  6. Coupled-Mode Theory for Complex-Index, Corrugated Multilayer Stacks

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lüder, Hannes; Gerken, Martina; Adam, Jost

    , and by choosing a bi-orthogonal basis, obtained by solving the corresponding adjoint problem. With the once found modal solutions of the unperturbed waveguide, we can calculate the coupling coefficients, which describe the mode coupling caused by the introduced periodic corrugation. [1] C. Kluge et al., Opt......We present a coupled-mode theory (CMT) approach for modelling the modal behaviour of multi- layer thinfilm devices with complex material parameters and periodic corrugations. Our method provides fast computation and extended physical insight as compared to standard numerical methods...... to be non-Hermitian, introducing two major consequences. First, the eigenvalues (i. e. the mode neff) have to be found in the complex plane (Fig. 2). Second, the classical mode orthogonality is no longer valid. We address both challenges by a combination of three complex-root solving algorithms...

  7. The Effect of Theory of Mind Training on Social Skills Improvement in Intellectually Disabled Students

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    mahboub bakhshi-Barzili

    2013-07-01

    Full Text Available Objective: The development of theory of mind is considered as one aspect of social cognition by researchers and have attracted their attention in recent years. The purpose was to determine the effect of theory of mind training on social skills in male students with intellectual disability in Meshkinshahr City. Materials & Methods: In present experimental study, pretest-posttest design with control group were used. All intellectually disabled male students (aged 8-12 years old who educating in Meshkinshahr (43 individuals answered to theory of mind tests. Students who could not pass the tests (39 individuals selected as a sample and their teachers completed Social Skills Rating Scale (SSRS Gresham & Elliot, 1990 for them. They assigned randomly to experimental and control groups. Experimental group participated in 8 training sessions (for 2 weeks, 30 minutes per session. After last session, theory of mind tests and SSRS administered for all subjects again. Data were assesed with analysis of covariance.  Results: Analysis of covariance showed that experimental group performed better than control group in social skills index, cooperation and self-control components significantly (P=0.001. But, two groups were not significantly different in assertion component.  Conclusion: theory of mind training leads to improvement in social skills and its components of intellectually disabled students and will guarantee their success on these areas in adulthood.

  8. Conformity index: A review

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Feuvret, Loic; Noel, Georges; Mazeron, Jean-Jacques; Bey, Pierre

    2006-01-01

    We present a critical analysis of the conformity indices described in the literature and an evaluation of their field of application. Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy, with or without intensity modulation, is based on medical imaging techniques, three-dimensional dosimetry software, compression accessories, and verification procedures. It consists of delineating target volumes and critical healthy tissues to select the best combination of beams. This approach allows better adaptation of the isodose to the tumor volume, while limiting irradiation of healthy tissues. Tools must be developed to evaluate the quality of proposed treatment plans. Dosimetry software provides the dose distribution in each CT section and dose-volume histograms without really indicating the degree of conformity. The conformity index is a complementary tool that attributes a score to a treatment plan or that can compare several treatment plans for the same patient. The future of conformal index in everyday practice therefore remains unclear

  9. Observer agreement in the reporting of knee and lumbar spine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging examinations: Selectively trained MR radiographers and consultant radiologists compared with an index radiologist

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Brealey, S., E-mail: stephen.brealey@york.ac.uk [Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York YO10 5DD (United Kingdom); Piper, K., E-mail: keith.piper@canterbury.ac.uk [Department of Allied Health Professions, Canterbury Christ Church University, Canterbury, Kent CT1 1QU (United Kingdom); King, D., E-mail: david.g.king@york.nhs.uk [York Hospital, Wigginton Road, York YO31 8HE (United Kingdom); Bland, M., E-mail: martin.bland@york.ac.uk [Department of Health Sciences, University of York, York YO10 5DD (United Kingdom); Caddick, J., E-mail: Julie.Caddick@york.nhs.uk [York Hospital, Wigginton Road, York YO31 8HE (United Kingdom); Campbell, P., E-mail: peter.campbell@york.nhs.uk [York Hospital, Wigginton Road, York YO31 8HE (United Kingdom); Gibbon, A., E-mail: anthony.j.gibbon@york.nhs.uk [York Hospital, Wigginton Road, York YO31 8HE (United Kingdom); Highland, A., E-mail: Adrian.Highland@sth.nhs.uk [Sheffield Teaching Hospitals, Herries Road, Sheffield S5 7AU (United Kingdom); Jenkins, N., E-mail: neil.jenkins@york.nhs.uk [York Hospital, Wigginton Road, York YO31 8HE (United Kingdom); Petty, D., E-mail: daniel.petty@york.nhs.uk [York Hospital, Wigginton Road, York YO31 8HE (United Kingdom); Warren, D., E-mail: david.warren@york.nhs.uk [York Hospital, Wigginton Road, York YO31 8HE (United Kingdom)

    2013-10-01

    Purpose: To assess agreement between trained radiographers and consultant radiologists compared with an index radiologist when reporting on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations of the knee and lumbar spine and to examine the subsequent effect of discordant reports on patient management and outcome. Methods: At York Hospital two MR radiographers, two consultant radiologists and an index radiologist reported on a prospective, random sample of 326 MRI examinations. The radiographers reported in clinical practice conditions and the radiologists during clinical practice. An independent consultant radiologist compared these reports with the index radiologist report for agreement. Orthopaedic surgeons then assessed whether the discordance between reports was clinically important. Results: Overall observer agreement with the index radiologist was comparable between observers and ranged from 54% to 58%; for the knee it was 46–57% and for the lumbar spine was 56–66%. There was a very small observed difference of 0.6% (95% CI −11.9 to 13.0) in mean agreement between the radiographers and radiologists (P = 0.860). For the knee, lumbar spine and overall, radiographers’ discordant reports, when compared with the index radiologist, were less likely to have a clinically important effect on patient outcome than the radiologists’ discordant reports. Less than 10% of observer's reports were sufficiently discordant with the index radiologist's reports to be clinically important. Conclusion: Carefully selected MR radiographers with postgraduate education and training reported in clinical practice conditions on specific MRI examinations of the knee and lumbar spine to a level of agreement comparable with non-musculoskeletal consultant radiologists.

  10. Observer agreement in the reporting of knee and lumbar spine magnetic resonance (MR) imaging examinations: Selectively trained MR radiographers and consultant radiologists compared with an index radiologist

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brealey, S.; Piper, K.; King, D.; Bland, M.; Caddick, J.; Campbell, P.; Gibbon, A.; Highland, A.; Jenkins, N.; Petty, D.; Warren, D.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: To assess agreement between trained radiographers and consultant radiologists compared with an index radiologist when reporting on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations of the knee and lumbar spine and to examine the subsequent effect of discordant reports on patient management and outcome. Methods: At York Hospital two MR radiographers, two consultant radiologists and an index radiologist reported on a prospective, random sample of 326 MRI examinations. The radiographers reported in clinical practice conditions and the radiologists during clinical practice. An independent consultant radiologist compared these reports with the index radiologist report for agreement. Orthopaedic surgeons then assessed whether the discordance between reports was clinically important. Results: Overall observer agreement with the index radiologist was comparable between observers and ranged from 54% to 58%; for the knee it was 46–57% and for the lumbar spine was 56–66%. There was a very small observed difference of 0.6% (95% CI −11.9 to 13.0) in mean agreement between the radiographers and radiologists (P = 0.860). For the knee, lumbar spine and overall, radiographers’ discordant reports, when compared with the index radiologist, were less likely to have a clinically important effect on patient outcome than the radiologists’ discordant reports. Less than 10% of observer's reports were sufficiently discordant with the index radiologist's reports to be clinically important. Conclusion: Carefully selected MR radiographers with postgraduate education and training reported in clinical practice conditions on specific MRI examinations of the knee and lumbar spine to a level of agreement comparable with non-musculoskeletal consultant radiologists

  11. Direct Index Method of Beam Damage Location Detection Based on Difference Theory of Strain Modal Shapes and the Genetic Algorithms Application

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bao Zhenming

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Structural damage identification is to determine the structure health status and analyze the test results. The three key problems to be solved are as follows: the existence of damage in structure, to detect the damage location, and to confirm the damage degree or damage form. Damage generally changes the structure physical properties (i.e., stiffness, mass, and damping corresponding with the modal characteristics of the structure (i.e., natural frequencies, modal shapes, and modal damping. The research results show that strain mode can be more sensitive and effective for local damage. The direct index method of damage location detection is based on difference theory, without the modal parameter of the original structure. FEM numerical simulation to partial crack with different degree is done. The criteria of damage location detection can be obtained by strain mode difference curve through cubic spline interpolation. Also the genetic algorithm box in Matlab is used. It has been possible to identify the damage to a reasonable level of accuracy.

  12. Introductory lectures on quantum field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Alvarez-Gaume, L.; Vasquez-Mozo, M.A.

    2011-01-01

    In these lectures we present a few topics in quantum field theory in detail. Some of them are conceptual and some more practical. They have been selected because they appear frequently in current applications to particle physics and string theory. (author)

  13. ACUTE PSYCHOLOGICAL BENEFITS OF EXERCISE PERFORMED AT SELF-SELECTED WORKLOADS: IMPLICATIONS FOR THEORY AND PRACTICE

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Attila Szabo

    2003-09-01

    Full Text Available Given that most studies to date examined the connection between exercise and affect without considering the participants' preferred exercise workload, in this research the affective-benefits of jogging or running at a participant-selected pace were investigated in a pilot field and a laboratory experiment. Ninety-six male and female students (19.5 yrs took part in the pilot field experiment whereas 32 women (20.3 yrs completed the laboratory experiment. In both experiments, the participants ran/jogged for 20 minutes at a self-selected pace. They completed an abbreviated version of a 'right now form' of the Profile of Mood States (POMS - Grove and Prapavessis, 1992 inventory before and after exercise. In both experiments all dependent measures changed significantly from pre- to post-exercise, except 'fatigue' and 'vigor' that did not change in the laboratory. Total mood disturbance (TMD decreased significantly in both experiments (68% and 89%. No significant correlations were found between exercise intensity (expressed as percent (% of maximal heart rate reserve and the magnitude of changes seen in the dependent measures. It is concluded that exercising at a self-selected workload yields positive changes in affect that are unrelated to exercise intensity. These results suggest that the physiological theories linking exercise with positive changes in affect, in which exercise intensity is instrumental, could not account for the acute affective benefits of exercise. It is proposed that a 'cognitive appraisal hypothesis' may be more appropriate in explaining the acute affective benefits of exercise

  14. Towards cheminformatics-based estimation of drug therapeutic index: Predicting the protective index of anticonvulsants using a new quantitative structure-index relationship approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shangying; Zhang, Peng; Liu, Xin; Qin, Chu; Tao, Lin; Zhang, Cheng; Yang, Sheng Yong; Chen, Yu Zong; Chui, Wai Keung

    2016-06-01

    The overall efficacy and safety profile of a new drug is partially evaluated by the therapeutic index in clinical studies and by the protective index (PI) in preclinical studies. In-silico predictive methods may facilitate the assessment of these indicators. Although QSAR and QSTR models can be used for predicting PI, their predictive capability has not been evaluated. To test this capability, we developed QSAR and QSTR models for predicting the activity and toxicity of anticonvulsants at accuracy levels above the literature-reported threshold (LT) of good QSAR models as tested by both the internal 5-fold cross validation and external validation method. These models showed significantly compromised PI predictive capability due to the cumulative errors of the QSAR and QSTR models. Therefore, in this investigation a new quantitative structure-index relationship (QSIR) model was devised and it showed improved PI predictive capability that superseded the LT of good QSAR models. The QSAR, QSTR and QSIR models were developed using support vector regression (SVR) method with the parameters optimized by using the greedy search method. The molecular descriptors relevant to the prediction of anticonvulsant activities, toxicities and PIs were analyzed by a recursive feature elimination method. The selected molecular descriptors are primarily associated with the drug-like, pharmacological and toxicological features and those used in the published anticonvulsant QSAR and QSTR models. This study suggested that QSIR is useful for estimating the therapeutic index of drug candidates. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  15. Introduction: Critical Visual Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Ludes

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The studies selected for publication in this special issue on Critical Visual Theory can be divided into three thematic groups: (1 image making as power making, (2 commodification and recanonization, and (3 approaches to critical visual theory. The approaches to critical visual theory adopted by the authors of this issue may be subsumed under the following headings (3.1 critical visual discourse and visual memes in general and Anonymous visual discourse in particular, (3.2 collective memory and gendered gaze, and (3.3 visual capitalism, global north and south.

  16. MEDRank: using graph-based concept ranking to index biomedical texts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herskovic, Jorge R; Cohen, Trevor; Subramanian, Devika; Iyengar, M Sriram; Smith, Jack W; Bernstam, Elmer V

    2011-06-01

    As the volume of biomedical text increases exponentially, automatic indexing becomes increasingly important. However, existing approaches do not distinguish central (or core) concepts from concepts that were mentioned in passing. We focus on the problem of indexing MEDLINE records, a process that is currently performed by highly trained humans at the National Library of Medicine (NLM). NLM indexers are assisted by a system called the Medical Text Indexer (MTI) that suggests candidate indexing terms. To improve the ability of MTI to select the core terms in MEDLINE abstracts. These core concepts are deemed to be most important and are designated as "major headings" by MEDLINE indexers. We introduce and evaluate a graph-based indexing methodology called MEDRank that generates concept graphs from biomedical text and then ranks the concepts within these graphs to identify the most important ones. We insert a MEDRank step into the MTI and compare MTI's output with and without MEDRank to the MEDLINE indexers' selected terms for a sample of 11,803 PubMed Central articles. We also tested whether human raters prefer terms generated by the MEDLINE indexers, MTI without MEDRank, and MTI with MEDRank for a sample of 36 PubMed Central articles. MEDRank improved recall of major headings designated by 30% over MTI without MEDRank (0.489 vs. 0.376). Overall recall was only slightly (6.5%) higher (0.490 vs. 0.460) as was F(2) (3%, 0.408 vs. 0.396). However, overall precision was 3.9% lower (0.268 vs. 0.279). Human raters preferred terms generated by MTI with MEDRank over terms generated by MTI without MEDRank (by an average of 1.00 more term per article), and preferred terms generated by MTI with MEDRank and the MEDLINE indexers at the same rate. The addition of MEDRank to MTI significantly improved the retrieval of core concepts in MEDLINE abstracts and more closely matched human expectations compared to MTI without MEDRank. In addition, MEDRank slightly improved overall recall

  17. Efficient Joins with Compressed Bitmap Indexes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Computational Research Division; Madduri, Kamesh; Wu, Kesheng

    2009-08-19

    We present a new class of adaptive algorithms that use compressed bitmap indexes to speed up evaluation of the range join query in relational databases. We determine the best strategy to process a join query based on a fast sub-linear time computation of the join selectivity (the ratio of the number of tuples in the result to the total number of possible tuples). In addition, we use compressed bitmaps to represent the join output compactly: the space requirement for storing the tuples representing the join of two relations is asymptotically bounded by min(h; n . cb), where h is the number of tuple pairs in the result relation, n is the number of tuples in the smaller of the two relations, and cb is the cardinality of the larger column being joined. We present a theoretical analysis of our algorithms, as well as experimental results on large-scale synthetic and real data sets. Our implementations are efficient, and consistently outperform well-known approaches for a range of join selectivity factors. For instance, our count-only algorithm is up to three orders of magnitude faster than the sort-merge approach, and our best bitmap index-based algorithm is 1.2x-80x faster than the sort-merge algorithm, for various query instances. We achieve these speedups by exploiting several inherent performance advantages of compressed bitmap indexes for join processing: an implicit partitioning of the attributes, space-efficiency, and tolerance of high-cardinality relations.

  18. Electromagnetic scattering theory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bird, J. F.; Farrell, R. A.

    1986-01-01

    Electromagnetic scattering theory is discussed with emphasis on the general stochastic variational principle (SVP) and its applications. The stochastic version of the Schwinger-type variational principle is presented, and explicit expressions for its integrals are considered. Results are summarized for scalar wave scattering from a classic rough-surface model and for vector wave scattering from a random dielectric-body model. Also considered are the selection of trial functions and the variational improvement of the Kirchhoff short-wave approximation appropriate to large size-parameters. Other applications of vector field theory discussed include a general vision theory and the analysis of hydromagnetism induced by ocean motion across the geomagnetic field. Levitational force-torque in the magnetic suspension of the disturbance compensation system (DISCOS), now deployed in NOVA satellites, is also analyzed using the developed theory.

  19. The Pagerank-Index: Going beyond Citation Counts in Quantifying Scientific Impact of Researchers

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senanayake, Upul; Piraveenan, Mahendra; Zomaya, Albert

    2015-01-01

    Quantifying and comparing the scientific output of researchers has become critical for governments, funding agencies and universities. Comparison by reputation and direct assessment of contributions to the field is no longer possible, as the number of scientists increases and traditional definitions about scientific fields become blurred. The h-index is often used for comparing scientists, but has several well-documented shortcomings. In this paper, we introduce a new index for measuring and comparing the publication records of scientists: the pagerank-index (symbolised as π). The index uses a version of pagerank algorithm and the citation networks of papers in its computation, and is fundamentally different from the existing variants of h-index because it considers not only the number of citations but also the actual impact of each citation. We adapt two approaches to demonstrate the utility of the new index. Firstly, we use a simulation model of a community of authors, whereby we create various ‘groups’ of authors which are different from each other in inherent publication habits, to show that the pagerank-index is fairer than the existing indices in three distinct scenarios: (i) when authors try to ‘massage’ their index by publishing papers in low-quality outlets primarily to self-cite other papers (ii) when authors collaborate in large groups in order to obtain more authorships (iii) when authors spend most of their time in producing genuine but low quality publications that would massage their index. Secondly, we undertake two real world case studies: (i) the evolving author community of quantum game theory, as defined by Google Scholar (ii) a snapshot of the high energy physics (HEP) theory research community in arXiv. In both case studies, we find that the list of top authors vary very significantly when h-index and pagerank-index are used for comparison. We show that in both cases, authors who have collaborated in large groups and/or published less

  20. The Pagerank-Index: Going beyond Citation Counts in Quantifying Scientific Impact of Researchers.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Upul Senanayake

    Full Text Available Quantifying and comparing the scientific output of researchers has become critical for governments, funding agencies and universities. Comparison by reputation and direct assessment of contributions to the field is no longer possible, as the number of scientists increases and traditional definitions about scientific fields become blurred. The h-index is often used for comparing scientists, but has several well-documented shortcomings. In this paper, we introduce a new index for measuring and comparing the publication records of scientists: the pagerank-index (symbolised as π. The index uses a version of pagerank algorithm and the citation networks of papers in its computation, and is fundamentally different from the existing variants of h-index because it considers not only the number of citations but also the actual impact of each citation. We adapt two approaches to demonstrate the utility of the new index. Firstly, we use a simulation model of a community of authors, whereby we create various 'groups' of authors which are different from each other in inherent publication habits, to show that the pagerank-index is fairer than the existing indices in three distinct scenarios: (i when authors try to 'massage' their index by publishing papers in low-quality outlets primarily to self-cite other papers (ii when authors collaborate in large groups in order to obtain more authorships (iii when authors spend most of their time in producing genuine but low quality publications that would massage their index. Secondly, we undertake two real world case studies: (i the evolving author community of quantum game theory, as defined by Google Scholar (ii a snapshot of the high energy physics (HEP theory research community in arXiv. In both case studies, we find that the list of top authors vary very significantly when h-index and pagerank-index are used for comparison. We show that in both cases, authors who have collaborated in large groups and/or published

  1. The Pagerank-Index: Going beyond Citation Counts in Quantifying Scientific Impact of Researchers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Senanayake, Upul; Piraveenan, Mahendra; Zomaya, Albert

    2015-01-01

    Quantifying and comparing the scientific output of researchers has become critical for governments, funding agencies and universities. Comparison by reputation and direct assessment of contributions to the field is no longer possible, as the number of scientists increases and traditional definitions about scientific fields become blurred. The h-index is often used for comparing scientists, but has several well-documented shortcomings. In this paper, we introduce a new index for measuring and comparing the publication records of scientists: the pagerank-index (symbolised as π). The index uses a version of pagerank algorithm and the citation networks of papers in its computation, and is fundamentally different from the existing variants of h-index because it considers not only the number of citations but also the actual impact of each citation. We adapt two approaches to demonstrate the utility of the new index. Firstly, we use a simulation model of a community of authors, whereby we create various 'groups' of authors which are different from each other in inherent publication habits, to show that the pagerank-index is fairer than the existing indices in three distinct scenarios: (i) when authors try to 'massage' their index by publishing papers in low-quality outlets primarily to self-cite other papers (ii) when authors collaborate in large groups in order to obtain more authorships (iii) when authors spend most of their time in producing genuine but low quality publications that would massage their index. Secondly, we undertake two real world case studies: (i) the evolving author community of quantum game theory, as defined by Google Scholar (ii) a snapshot of the high energy physics (HEP) theory research community in arXiv. In both case studies, we find that the list of top authors vary very significantly when h-index and pagerank-index are used for comparison. We show that in both cases, authors who have collaborated in large groups and/or published less

  2. Review of current drive theory: selected topics

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fisch, N.J.

    1993-01-01

    Two themes in current drive theory in tokamaks are reviewed, both relevant to the progression of tokamak experiments toward the reactor regime. First, the physics of the tail electrons is reviewed. These electrons are capable of carrying enormous rf-driven electric current, and, in the course of current-drive experiments worldwide not only has the current drive effect been demonstrated, but the underlying physical description of these tail electrons has been established. Second, anticipating the presence of the energetic alpha particles that result from D-T reactions in a reactor, certain mechanisms through which these alpha particles can be used to facilitate current-drive are reviewed. (Author)

  3. Model to Estimate Monthly Time Horizons for Application of DEA in Selection of Stock Portfolio and for Maintenance of the Selected Portfolio

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Claudio Isaias

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available In the selecting of stock portfolios, one type of analysis that has shown good results is Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA. It, however, has been shown to have gaps regarding its estimates of monthly time horizons of data collection for the selection of stock portfolios and of monthly time horizons for the maintenance of a selected portfolio. To better estimate these horizons, this study proposes a model of mathematical programming binary of minimization of square errors. This model is the paper’s main contribution. The model’s results are validated by simulating the estimated annual return indexes of a portfolio that uses both horizons estimated and of other portfolios that do not use these horizons. The simulation shows that portfolios with both horizons estimated have higher indexes, on average 6.99% per year. The hypothesis tests confirm the statistically significant superiority of the results of the proposed mathematical model’s indexes. The model’s indexes are also compared with portfolios that use just one of the horizons estimated; here the indexes of the dual-horizon portfolios outperform the single-horizon portfolios, though with a decrease in percentage of statistically significant superiority.

  4. Indexation automatique des textes arabes : état de l’art

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mohamed Salim El Bazzi

    2016-11-01

    Full Text Available Document indexing is a crucial step in the text mining process. It is used to represent documents by the most relevant descriptors of their contents. Several approaches are proposed in the literature, particularly for English, but they are unusable for Arabic documents, considering its specific characteristics and its morphological complexity, grammar and vocabulary. In this paper, we present a reading in the state of the art of indexation methods and their contribution to improve Arabic document’s processing. We also propose a categorization of works according to the most used approaches and methods for indexing textual documents. We adopted a qualitative selection of papers and we retained papers approving notable indexation contributions and illustrating significant results

  5. Diffusion Indexes With Sparse Loadings

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kristensen, Johannes Tang

    2017-01-01

    The use of large-dimensional factor models in forecasting has received much attention in the literature with the consensus being that improvements on forecasts can be achieved when comparing with standard models. However, recent contributions in the literature have demonstrated that care needs...... to the problem by using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) as a variable selection method to choose between the possible variables and thus obtain sparse loadings from which factors or diffusion indexes can be formed. This allows us to build a more parsimonious factor model...... in forecasting accuracy and thus find it to be an important alternative to PC. Supplementary materials for this article are available online....

  6. An introduction to the theory of canonical matrices

    CERN Document Server

    Turnbull, H W

    2004-01-01

    Thorough and self-contained, this penetrating study of the theory of canonical matrices presents a detailed consideration of all the theory's principal features. Topics include elementary transformations and bilinear and quadratic forms; canonical reduction of equivalent matrices; subgroups of the group of equivalent transformations; and rational and classical canonical forms. The final chapters explore several methods of canonical reduction, including those of unitary and orthogonal transformations. 1952 edition. Index. Appendix. Historical notes. Bibliographies. 275 problems.

  7. A climate index derived from satellite measured spectral infrared radiation. Ph.D. Thesis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abel, M. D.; Fox, S. K.

    1982-01-01

    The vertical infrared radiative emitting structure (VIRES) climate index, based on radiative transfer theory and derived from the spectral radiances typically used to retrieve temperature profiles, is introduced. It is assumed that clouds and climate are closely related and a change in one will result in a change in the other. The index is a function of the cloud, temperature, and moisture distributions. It is more accurately retrieved from satellite data than is cloudiness per se. The VIRES index is based upon the shape and relative magnitude of the broadband weighting function of the infrared radiative transfer equation. The broadband weighting curves are retrieved from simulated satellite infrared sounder data (spectral radiances). The retrieval procedure is described and the error error sensitivities of the method investigated. Index measuring options and possible applications of the VIRES index are proposed.

  8. Current trends in nursing theories.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Im, Eun-Ok; Chang, Sun Ju

    2012-06-01

    To explore current trends in nursing theories through an integrated literature review. The literature related to nursing theories during the past 10 years was searched through multiple databases and reviewed to determine themes reflecting current trends in nursing theories. The trends can be categorized into six themes: (a) foci on specifics; (b) coexistence of various types of theories; (c) close links to research; (d) international collaborative works; (e) integration to practice; and (f) selective evolution. We need to make our continuous efforts to link research and practice to theories, to identify specifics of our theories, to develop diverse types of theories, and to conduct international collaborative works. Our paper gives implications for future theoretical development in diverse clinical areas of nursing research and practice. © 2012 Sigma Theta Tau International.

  9. Non-Lagrangian theories from brane junctions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bao, Ling [Chalmers Univ. of Technology, Goeteborg (Sweden); Mitev, Vladimir [Humboldt Univ., Berlin (Germany). Inst. fuer Mathematik und Inst. fuer Physik; Pomoni, Elli [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron DESY, Hamburg (Germany). Theory Group; Taki, Masato [RIKEN Nishina Center, Saitama (Japan). Mathematical Physics Lab.; Yagi, Futoshi [International School of Advanced Studies (SISSA), Trieste (Italy); INFN, Trieste (Italy); Korea Institute for Advanced Study (KIAS), Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-10-15

    In this article we use 5-brane junctions to study the 5D T{sub N} SCFTs corresponding to the 5D N=1 uplift of the 4D N=2 strongly coupled gauge theories, which are obtained by compactifying N M5 branes on a sphere with three full punctures. Even though these theories have no Lagrangian description, by using the 5-brane junctions proposed by Benini, Benvenuti and Tachikawa, we are able to derive their Seiberg-Witten curves and Nekrasov partition functions. We cross-check our results with the 5D superconformal index proposed by Kim, Kim and Lee. Through the AGTW correspondence, we discuss the relations between 5D superconformal indices and n-point functions of the q-deformed W{sub N} Toda theories.

  10. Non-Lagrangian theories from brane junctions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bao, Ling; Mitev, Vladimir

    2013-10-01

    In this article we use 5-brane junctions to study the 5D T N SCFTs corresponding to the 5D N=1 uplift of the 4D N=2 strongly coupled gauge theories, which are obtained by compactifying N M5 branes on a sphere with three full punctures. Even though these theories have no Lagrangian description, by using the 5-brane junctions proposed by Benini, Benvenuti and Tachikawa, we are able to derive their Seiberg-Witten curves and Nekrasov partition functions. We cross-check our results with the 5D superconformal index proposed by Kim, Kim and Lee. Through the AGTW correspondence, we discuss the relations between 5D superconformal indices and n-point functions of the q-deformed W N Toda theories.

  11. Testing some of Benjamin Graham’s Stock Selection Criteria: A Case of the FTSE Bursa Malaysia EMAS Index from Year 2000 to 2009

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Desmond Chang

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Benjamin Graham, also known as the “father of value investing” proposed that investment in the stock exchange can be a safe endeavor while receiving gains that outperform the market if the investor makes carefully thought out purchases. This study aims to determine if the use of some of Benjamin Graham’s stock selection criteria is able to generate returns that are significantly greater than the returns in the stock exchange of Malaysia, particularly, the comprehensive FTSE Bursa Malaysia EMAS Index. This study collected secondary data regarding fundamentals of companies listed in the FTSE Bursa Malaysia EMAS Index from the year 2000 to 2009. Five criteria were set up in this research based on one or a combination of price-to-earnings ratio, price-to-book value, current ratio and dividend yield. The listed companies were screened using those criteria. An equally weighted portfolio was created using the screened companies and their one-year and two-year returns calculated. The returns were compared to the market return. Hypotheses of this research were tested using t-test statistic to determine the significance of the data. This research found that most of the screening criteria used generated returns that were higher than the market return in almost every year they were tested in. Benjamin Graham’s stock selection criteria although have been conceived over 80 years ago is still applicable today in the Malaysian market. Further research can be conducted with different criteria with varying holding periods and in different markets.

  12. Evaluation of Relationships between Drilling Rate Index and Physical and Strength Properties of Selected Rock Units of Pakistan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shafique, U.; Abu Bakar, M. Z.

    2015-01-01

    Fifteen selected rock types collected from different formations of Pakistan were subjected to Drilling Rate Index (DRI) tests and various physical and strength properties tests including, porosity (n), density, primary wave velocity (V/sub p/), uniaxial compressive strength (sigma/sub c/), Brazilian tensile strength (sigma/sub t/) and Schmidt hammer rebound number (R/sub n/),. Prior knowledge of the drill ability of rocks and their physico-mechanical properties plays a decisive role in planning and design of rock drilling and excavation processes. DRI tests developed by NTNU/SINTEF are in use by the industry since 1960s and have proved very successful in estimation of the boreability of rocks, but no such work has been reported for Pakistani rocks to date. Reasonable correlations were found between the DRI and the properties of the tested rocks. The trends shown in this paper are of interest for the machine manufacturers and operators working on various projects involving the use of drilling machines and other mechanical excavators. (author)

  13. The effects of interstimulus interval on event-related indices of attention: an auditory selective attention test of perceptual load theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gomes, Hilary; Barrett, Sophia; Duff, Martin; Barnhardt, Jack; Ritter, Walter

    2008-03-01

    We examined the impact of perceptual load by manipulating interstimulus interval (ISI) in two auditory selective attention studies that varied in the difficulty of the target discrimination. In the paradigm, channels were separated by frequency and target/deviant tones were softer in intensity. Three ISI conditions were presented: fast (300ms), medium (600ms) and slow (900ms). Behavioral (accuracy and RT) and electrophysiological measures (Nd, P3b) were observed. In both studies, participants evidenced poorer accuracy during the fast ISI condition than the slow suggesting that ISI impacted task difficulty. However, none of the three measures of processing examined, Nd amplitude, P3b amplitude elicited by unattended deviant stimuli, or false alarms to unattended deviants, were impacted by ISI in the manner predicted by perceptual load theory. The prediction based on perceptual load theory, that there would be more processing of irrelevant stimuli under conditions of low as compared to high perceptual load, was not supported in these auditory studies. Task difficulty/perceptual load impacts the processing of irrelevant stimuli in the auditory modality differently than predicted by perceptual load theory, and perhaps differently than in the visual modality.

  14. Forewarning model for water pollution risk based on Bayes theory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Jun; Jin, Juliang; Guo, Qizhong; Chen, Yaqian; Lu, Mengxiong; Tinoco, Luis

    2014-02-01

    In order to reduce the losses by water pollution, forewarning model for water pollution risk based on Bayes theory was studied. This model is built upon risk indexes in complex systems, proceeding from the whole structure and its components. In this study, the principal components analysis is used to screen out index systems. Hydrological model is employed to simulate index value according to the prediction principle. Bayes theory is adopted to obtain posterior distribution by prior distribution with sample information which can make samples' features preferably reflect and represent the totals to some extent. Forewarning level is judged on the maximum probability rule, and then local conditions for proposing management strategies that will have the effect of transforming heavy warnings to a lesser degree. This study takes Taihu Basin as an example. After forewarning model application and vertification for water pollution risk from 2000 to 2009 between the actual and simulated data, forewarning level in 2010 is given as a severe warning, which is well coincide with logistic curve. It is shown that the model is rigorous in theory with flexible method, reasonable in result with simple structure, and it has strong logic superiority and regional adaptability, providing a new way for warning water pollution risk.

  15. Algebraic quantum field theory

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Foroutan, A.

    1996-12-01

    The basic assumption that the complete information relevant for a relativistic, local quantum theory is contained in the net structure of the local observables of this theory results first of all in a concise formulation of the algebraic structure of the superselection theory and an intrinsic formulation of charge composition, charge conjugation and the statistics of an algebraic quantum field theory. In a next step, the locality of massive particles together with their spectral properties are wed for the formulation of a selection criterion which opens the access to the massive, non-abelian quantum gauge theories. The role of the electric charge as a superselection rule results in the introduction of charge classes which in term lead to a set of quantum states with optimum localization properties. Finally, the asymptotic observables of quantum electrodynamics are investigated within the framework of algebraic quantum field theory. (author)

  16. Geometric Topology and Shape Theory

    CERN Document Server

    Segal, Jack

    1987-01-01

    The aim of this international conference the third of its type was to survey recent developments in Geometric Topology and Shape Theory with an emphasis on their interaction. The volume contains original research papers and carefully selected survey of currently active areas. The main topics and themes represented by the papers of this volume include decomposition theory, cell-like mappings and CE-equivalent compacta, covering dimension versus cohomological dimension, ANR's and LCn-compacta, homology manifolds, embeddings of continua into manifolds, complement theorems in shape theory, approximate fibrations and shape fibrations, fibered shape, exact homologies and strong shape theory.

  17. Application of Fault Management Theory to the Quantitative Selection of a Launch Vehicle Abort Trigger Suite

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lo, Yunnhon; Johnson, Stephen B.; Breckenridge, Jonathan T.

    2014-01-01

    The theory of System Health Management (SHM) and of its operational subset Fault Management (FM) states that FM is implemented as a "meta" control loop, known as an FM Control Loop (FMCL). The FMCL detects that all or part of a system is now failed, or in the future will fail (that is, cannot be controlled within acceptable limits to achieve its objectives), and takes a control action (a response) to return the system to a controllable state. In terms of control theory, the effectiveness of each FMCL is estimated based on its ability to correctly estimate the system state, and on the speed of its response to the current or impending failure effects. This paper describes how this theory has been successfully applied on the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Space Launch System (SLS) Program to quantitatively estimate the effectiveness of proposed abort triggers so as to select the most effective suite to protect the astronauts from catastrophic failure of the SLS. The premise behind this process is to be able to quantitatively provide the value versus risk trade-off for any given abort trigger, allowing decision makers to make more informed decisions. All current and planned crewed launch vehicles have some form of vehicle health management system integrated with an emergency launch abort system to ensure crew safety. While the design can vary, the underlying principle is the same: detect imminent catastrophic vehicle failure, initiate launch abort, and extract the crew to safety. Abort triggers are the detection mechanisms that identify that a catastrophic launch vehicle failure is occurring or is imminent and cause the initiation of a notification to the crew vehicle that the escape system must be activated. While ensuring that the abort triggers provide this function, designers must also ensure that the abort triggers do not signal that a catastrophic failure is imminent when in fact the launch vehicle can successfully achieve orbit. That is

  18. IT Project Selection

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pedersen, Keld

    2016-01-01

    for initiation. Most of the research on project selection is normative, suggesting new methods, but available empirical studies indicate that many methods are seldom used in practice. This paper addresses the issue by providing increased understanding of IT project selection practice, thereby facilitating...... the development of methods that better fit current practice. The study is based on naturalistic decision-making theory and interviews with experienced project portfolio managers who, when selecting projects, primarily rely on political skills, experience and personal networks rather than on formal IT project......-selection methods, and these findings point to new areas for developing new methodological support for IT project selection....

  19. An assessment study of the wavelet-based index of magnetic storm activity (WISA) and its comparison to the Dst index

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Zhonghua; Zhu, Lie; Sojka, Jan; Kokoszka, Piotr; Jach, Agnieszka

    2008-08-01

    A wavelet-based index of storm activity (WISA) has been recently developed [Jach, A., Kokoszka, P., Sojka, L., Zhu, L., 2006. Wavelet-based index of magnetic storm activity. Journal of Geophysical Research 111, A09215, doi:10.1029/2006JA011635] to complement the traditional Dst index. The new index can be computed automatically by using the wavelet-based statistical procedure without human intervention on the selection of quiet days and the removal of secular variations. In addition, the WISA is flexible on data stretch and has a higher temporal resolution (1 min), which can provide a better description of the dynamical variations of magnetic storms. In this work, we perform a systematic assessment study on the WISA index. First, we statistically compare the WISA to the Dst for various quiet and disturbed periods and analyze the differences of their spectral features. Then we quantitatively assess the flexibility of the WISA on data stretch and study the effects of varying number of stations on the index. In addition, the ability of the WISA for handling the missing data is also quantitatively assessed. The assessment results show that the hourly averaged WISA index can describe storm activities equally well as the Dst index, but its full automation, high flexibility on data stretch, easiness of using the data from varying number of stations, high temporal resolution, and high tolerance to missing data from individual station can be very valuable and essential for real-time monitoring of the dynamical variations of magnetic storm activities and space weather applications, thus significantly complementing the existing Dst index.

  20. Some reflections on the Renewal-theory paradox in queueing theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Robert B. Cooper

    1998-01-01

    Full Text Available The classical renewal-theory (waiting time, or inspection paradox states that the length of the renewal interval that covers a randomly-selected time epoch tends to be longer than an ordinary renewal interval. This paradox manifests itself in numerous interesting ways in queueing theory, a prime example being the celebrated Pollaczek-Khintchine formula for the mean waiting time in the M/G/1 queue. In this expository paper, we give intuitive arguments that “explain” why the renewal-theory paradox is ubiquitous in queueing theory, and why it sometimes produces anomalous results. In particular, we use these intuitive arguments to explain decomposition in vacation models, and to derive formulas that describe some recently-discovered counterintuitive results for polling models, such as the reduction of waiting times as a consequence of forcing the server to set up even when no work is waiting.

  1. Selectivity in multiple quantum nuclear magnetic resonance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Warren, W.S.

    1980-11-01

    The observation of multiple-quantum nuclear magnetic resonance transitions in isotropic or anisotropic liquids is shown to give readily interpretable information on molecular configurations, rates of motional processes, and intramolecular interactions. However, the observed intensity of high multiple-quantum transitions falls off dramatically as the number of coupled spins increases. The theory of multiple-quantum NMR is developed through the density matrix formalism, and exact intensities are derived for several cases (isotropic first-order systems and anisotropic systems with high symmetry) to shown that this intensity decrease is expected if standard multiple-quantum pulse sequences are used. New pulse sequences are developed which excite coherences and produce population inversions only between selected states, even though other transitions are simultaneously resonant. One type of selective excitation presented only allows molecules to absorb and emit photons in groups of n. Coherent averaging theory is extended to describe these selective sequences, and to design sequences which are selective to arbitrarily high order in the Magnus expansion. This theory and computer calculations both show that extremely good selectivity and large signal enhancements are possible

  2. Selectivity in multiple quantum nuclear magnetic resonance

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Warren, Warren Sloan [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Chemistry; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). Materials Sciences Division

    1980-11-01

    The observation of multiple-quantum nuclear magnetic resonance transitions in isotropic or anisotropic liquids is shown to give readily interpretable information on molecular configurations, rates of motional processes, and intramolecular interactions. However, the observed intensity of high multiple-quantum transitions falls off dramatically as the number of coupled spins increases. The theory of multiple-quantum NMR is developed through the density matrix formalism, and exact intensities are derived for several cases (isotropic first-order systems and anisotropic systems with high symmetry) to shown that this intensity decrease is expected if standard multiple-quantum pulse sequences are used. New pulse sequences are developed which excite coherences and produce population inversions only between selected states, even though other transitions are simultaneously resonant. One type of selective excitation presented only allows molecules to absorb and emit photons in groups of n. Coherent averaging theory is extended to describe these selective sequences, and to design sequences which are selective to arbitrarily high order in the Magnus expansion. This theory and computer calculations both show that extremely good selectivity and large signal enhancements are possible.

  3. Linguistic fuzzy selection of liquid levelmeters in nuclear facilities

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ghyym, S. H.

    1999-01-01

    In this work, a selection methodology of liquid levelmeters, especially, level sensors in non-nuclear category, to be installed in nuclear facilities is developed using a linguistic fuzzy approach. Depending on defuzzification techniques, the linguistic fuzzy methodology leads to either linguistic (exactly, fully-linguistic) or cardinal (i.e., semi-linguistic) evaluation. In the case of the linguistic method, for each alternative, fuzzy preference index is converted to linguistic utility value by means of a similarity measure determining the degree of similarity between fuzzy index and linguistic ratings. For the cardinal method, the index is translated to cardinal overall utility value. According to these values, alternatives of interest are linguistically or numerically evaluated and a suitable alternative can be selected. Under given selection criteria, the suitable selections out of some liquid levelmeters for nuclear facilities are dealt with using the linguistic fuzzy methodology proposed. Then, linguistic fuzzy evaluation results are compared with numerical results available in the literature. It is found that as to a suitable option the linguistic fuzzy selection is in agreement with the crisp numerical selection. In addition, this comparison shows that the fully-linguistic method facilitates linguistic interpretation regarding evaluation results

  4. Linguistic fuzzy selection of liquid levelmeters in nuclear facilities

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ghyym, S. H. [KEPRI, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

    1999-10-01

    In this work, a selection methodology of liquid levelmeters, especially, level sensors in non-nuclear category, to be installed in nuclear facilities is developed using a linguistic fuzzy approach. Depending on defuzzification techniques, the linguistic fuzzy methodology leads to either linguistic (exactly, fully-linguistic) or cardinal (i.e., semi-linguistic) evaluation. In the case of the linguistic method, for each alternative, fuzzy preference index is converted to linguistic utility value by means of a similarity measure determining the degree of similarity between fuzzy index and linguistic ratings. For the cardinal method, the index is translated to cardinal overall utility value. According to these values, alternatives of interest are linguistically or numerically evaluated and a suitable alternative can be selected. Under given selection criteria, the suitable selections out of some liquid levelmeters for nuclear facilities are dealt with using the linguistic fuzzy methodology proposed. Then, linguistic fuzzy evaluation results are compared with numerical results available in the literature. It is found that as to a suitable option the linguistic fuzzy selection is in agreement with the crisp numerical selection. In addition, this comparison shows that the fully-linguistic method facilitates linguistic interpretation regarding evaluation results.

  5. Optimality Theory and Lexical Interpretation and Selection

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Hogeweg, L.; Legendre, G.; Putnam, M.T.; de Swart, H.; Zaroukian, E.

    2016-01-01

    This chapter argues for an optimization approach to the selection and interpretation of words. Several advantages of such an approach to lexical semantics are discussed. First of all, it will be argued that competition, entailing that words and interpretations are always judged in relation to other

  6. Partner selection and Hollywood Films

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Grodal, Torben Kragh; Kramer, Mette

    2012-01-01

    Based on cognitive, neurological and evolutionary based film theory the article describes the representation of partner selection in Hollywood films. It analyses paradigm scenarios of partner selection and love, It further describes some of those mechanisms that regulate the relation between...

  7. Genomic selection in plant breeding: from theory to practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jannink, Jean-Luc; Lorenz, Aaron J; Iwata, Hiroyoshi

    2010-03-01

    We intuitively believe that the dramatic drop in the cost of DNA marker information we have experienced should have immediate benefits in accelerating the delivery of crop varieties with improved yield, quality and biotic and abiotic stress tolerance. But these traits are complex and affected by many genes, each with small effect. Traditional marker-assisted selection has been ineffective for such traits. The introduction of genomic selection (GS), however, has shifted that paradigm. Rather than seeking to identify individual loci significantly associated with a trait, GS uses all marker data as predictors of performance and consequently delivers more accurate predictions. Selection can be based on GS predictions, potentially leading to more rapid and lower cost gains from breeding. The objectives of this article are to review essential aspects of GS and summarize the important take-home messages from recent theoretical, simulation and empirical studies. We then look forward and consider research needs surrounding methodological questions and the implications of GS for long-term selection.

  8. Multiple Depth DB Tables Indexing on the Sphere

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Luciano Nicastro

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Any project dealing with large astronomical datasets should consider the use of a relational database server (RDBS. Queries requiring quick selections on sky regions, objects cross-matching and other high-level data investigations involving sky coordinates could be unfeasible if tables are missing an effective indexing scheme. In this paper we present the Dynamic Index Facility (DIF software package. By using the HTM and HEALPix sky pixelization schema, it allows a very efficient indexing and management of spherical data stored into MySQL tables. Any table hosting spherical coordinates can be automatically managed by DIF using any number of sky resolutions at the same time. DIF comprises a set of facilities among which SQL callable functions to perform queries on circular and rectangular regions. Moreover, by removing the limitations and difficulties of 2-d data indexing, DIF allows the full exploitation of the RDBS capabilities. Performance tests on Giga-entries tables are reported together with some practical usage of the package.

  9. Motivation of medical students: selection by motivation or motivation by selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wouters, Anouk; Croiset, Gerda; Galindo-Garre, Francisca; Kusurkar, Rashmi A

    2016-01-29

    Medical schools try to implement selection procedures that will allow them to select the most motivated students for their programs. Though there is a general feeling that selection stimulates student motivation, conclusive evidence for this is lacking. The current study aims to use the perspective of Self-determination Theory (SDT) of motivation as a lens to examine how medical students' motivation differs in relation to different selection procedures. The hypotheses were that 1) selected students report higher strength and autonomous motivation than non-selected students, and 2) recently selected students report higher strength and autonomous motivation than non-selected students and students who were selected longer ago. First- (Y1) and fourth-year (Y4) medical students in the six-year regular programme and first-year students in the four-year graduate entry programme (GE) completed questionnaires measuring motivation strength and type (autonomous-AM, controlled-CM). Scores were compared between students admitted based on selection, lottery or top pre-university GPA (top GPA) using ANCOVAs. Selected students' answers on open-ended questions were analysed using inductive thematic analysis to identify reasons for changes in motivation. The response rate was 61.4 % (n = 357). Selected students (Y1, Y4 and GE) reported a significantly higher strength of motivation than non-selected students (Y1 and Y4 lottery and top GPA) (p motivation as they felt autonomous, competent and that they belonged to a special group. These reported reasons are in alignment with the basic psychological needs described by Self-Determination Theory as important in enhancing autonomous motivation. A comprehensive selection procedure, compared to less demanding admission procedures, does not seem to yield a student population which stands out in terms of autonomous motivation. The current findings indicate that selection might temporarily enhance students' motivation. The mechanism

  10. Rock index properties for geoengineering in the Paradox Basin

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    O'Rourke, J.E.; Rey, P.H.; Alviti, E.; Capps, C.C.

    1986-02-01

    Previous researchers have investigated the use of a number of rapid index tests that can be used on core samples, or in situ, to determine rock properties needed for geoengineering design, or to predict construction performance in these rock types. Selected research is reviewed, and the correlations of index tests with laboratory tests of rock properties found by the earlier investigators are discussed. The selection and testing of rock core samples from the Gibson Dome No. 1 borehole in Paradox Basin are described. The samples consist primarily of non-salt rock above salt cycle 6, but include some samples of anhydrite and salt cycle 6. The index tests included the point load test, Schmidt hammer rebound test, and abrasion hardness test. Statistical methods were used to analyze the correlations of index test data with laboratory test data of rock properties for the same core. Complete statistical results and computer-generated graphics are presented; these results are discussed in relation to the work of earlier investigations for index testing of similar rock types. Generally, fair to good correlations were obtained for predicting unconfined compressive strength and Young's modulus for sandstone and siltstone, while poorer correlations were found for limestone. This may be due to the large variability of limestone properties compared to the small number of samples. Overall, the use of index tests to assess rock properties at Paradox Basin appears to be practial for some conceptual and preliminary design needs, and the technique should prove useful at any salt repository site. However, it is likely that specific correlations should be demonstrated separately for each site, and the data base for establishing the correlations should probably include at least several hundred data points for each type

  11. Perturbation theory for plasmonic modulation and sensing

    KAUST Repository

    Raman, Aaswath

    2011-05-25

    We develop a general perturbation theory to treat small parameter changes in dispersive plasmonic nanostructures and metamaterials. We specifically apply it to dielectric refractive index and metallic plasma frequency modulation in metal-dielectric nanostructures. As a numerical demonstration, we verify the theory\\'s accuracy against direct calculations for a system of plasmonic rods in air where the metal is defined by a three-pole fit of silver\\'s dielectric function. We also discuss new optical behavior related to plasma frequency modulation in such systems. Our approach provides new physical insight for the design of plasmonic devices for biochemical sensing and optical modulation and future active metamaterial applications. © 2011 American Physical Society.

  12. Creating Materials with Negative Refraction Index using Topology Optimization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Christiansen, Rasmus Ellebæk; Sigmund, Ole

    is used for regularizationand a projection step applied to obtain clean 0/1 designs. A continuation scheme is used to avoidstagnation in the optimization. Metamaterials with negative refraction index designed using this method are presented. The angular dependence of the refraction index......We apply topology optimization along with full modeling of the electromagnetic (acoustic) field to create metamaterials with negative refraction index. We believe that our approach can be used in the design of metamaterials with specific effective permittivity and permeability e.g. by adapting....... The direction of propagation for the prescribed wave is chosen to match the angle of incidence of the incoming plane wave and its position isused to select the refraction index for the slab. We introducing a continuous design field and apply The Method of Moving Asymptotes to perform the optimization. A filter...

  13. Controlling an acoustic wave with a cylindrically-symmetric gradient-index system

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Zhe; Li Rui-Qi; Liang Bin; Zou Xin-Ye; Cheng Jian-Chun

    2015-01-01

    We present a detailed theoretical description of wave propagation in an acoustic gradient-index system with cylindrical symmetry and demonstrate its potential to numerically control acoustic waves in different ways. The trajectory of an acoustic wave within the system is derived by employing the theory of geometric acoustics, and the validity of the theoretical descriptions is verified numerically by using the finite element method simulation. The results show that by tailoring the distribution function of the refractive index, the proposed system can yield a tunable manipulation of acoustic waves, such as acoustic bending, trapping, and absorbing. (paper)

  14. A new perspective on the perceptual selectivity of attention under load.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giesbrecht, Barry; Sy, Jocelyn; Bundesen, Claus; Kyllingsbaek, Søren

    2014-05-01

    The human attention system helps us cope with a complex environment by supporting the selective processing of information relevant to our current goals. Understanding the perceptual, cognitive, and neural mechanisms that mediate selective attention is a core issue in cognitive neuroscience. One prominent model of selective attention, known as load theory, offers an account of how task demands determine when information is selected and an account of the efficiency of the selection process. However, load theory has several critical weaknesses that suggest that it is time for a new perspective. Here we review the strengths and weaknesses of load theory and offer an alternative biologically plausible computational account that is based on the neural theory of visual attention. We argue that this new perspective provides a detailed computational account of how bottom-up and top-down information is integrated to provide efficient attentional selection and allocation of perceptual processing resources. © 2014 New York Academy of Sciences.

  15. A Permutation Approach for Selecting the Penalty Parameter in Penalized Model Selection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sabourin, Jeremy A; Valdar, William; Nobel, Andrew B

    2015-01-01

    Summary We describe a simple, computationally effcient, permutation-based procedure for selecting the penalty parameter in LASSO penalized regression. The procedure, permutation selection, is intended for applications where variable selection is the primary focus, and can be applied in a variety of structural settings, including that of generalized linear models. We briefly discuss connections between permutation selection and existing theory for the LASSO. In addition, we present a simulation study and an analysis of real biomedical data sets in which permutation selection is compared with selection based on the following: cross-validation (CV), the Bayesian information criterion (BIC), Scaled Sparse Linear Regression, and a selection method based on recently developed testing procedures for the LASSO. PMID:26243050

  16. Expectancy Theory in Media and Message Selection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Van Leuven, Jim

    1981-01-01

    Argues for reversing emphasis on uses and gratifications research in favor of an expectancy model which holds that selection of a particular medium depends on (1) the expectation that the choice will be followed by a message of interest and (2) the importance of that message in satisfying user's values. (PD)

  17. Using The Economist’s Big Mac Index for Instruction

    OpenAIRE

    Stegelin, Forrest E.

    2012-01-01

    The Economist first launched the concept of the Big Mac Index in 1986 as a guide to whether currencies were at their correct exchange rate; it is not intended to be a precise predictor of currency movements around the globe, but simply a way to make exchange-rate theory and discussions a bit more digestible. First used as a humorous illustration, the term “burgernomics†was coined and the Big Mac index became an annual occurrence. It is based upon one of the oldest concepts in internationa...

  18. Transfer of orbital angular momentum to an optically trapped low-index particle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garces-Chavez, V.; Sibbett, W.; Dholakia, K.; Volke-Sepulveda, K.; Chavez-Cerda, S.

    2002-01-01

    We demonstrate the transfer of orbital angular momentum from a light beam to a trapped low-index particle. The particle is trapped in a dark annular region of a high-order Bessel beam and rotates around the beam axis due to scattering from the helical wave fronts of the light beam. A general theoretical geometrical optics model is developed that, applied to our specific situation, corroborates tweezing and transfer of orbital angular momentum to the low-index particle. Good quantitative agreement between theory and experiment for particle rotation rates is observed

  19. Bibliography, subject index, and author index of the literature examined by the radiation shielding information center. Volume 6. Reactor and weapons radiation shielding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    1980-05-01

    An indexed bibliography is presented of literature selected by the Radiation Shielding Information Center since the previous volume was published in 1978 in the area of radiation transport and shielding against radiation from nuclear reactors, x-ray machines, radioisotopes, nuclear weapons (including fallout), and low energy accelerators (e.g., neutron generators). The bibliography was typeset from data processed by computer from magnetic tape files. In addition to lists of literature titles by subject categories (accessions 4951-6200), an author index is given

  20. Changing theories of change: strategic shifting in implicit theory endorsement.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leith, Scott A; Ward, Cindy L P; Giacomin, Miranda; Landau, Enoch S; Ehrlinger, Joyce; Wilson, Anne E

    2014-10-01

    People differ in their implicit theories about the malleability of characteristics such as intelligence and personality. These relatively chronic theories can be experimentally altered, and can be affected by parent or teacher feedback. Little is known about whether people might selectively shift their implicit beliefs in response to salient situational goals. We predicted that, when motivated to reach a desired conclusion, people might subtly shift their implicit theories of change and stability to garner supporting evidence for their desired position. Any motivated context in which a particular lay theory would help people to reach a preferred directional conclusion could elicit shifts in theory endorsement. We examine a variety of motivated situational contexts across 7 studies, finding that people's theories of change shifted in line with goals to protect self and liked others and to cast aspersions on disliked others. Studies 1-3 demonstrate how people regulate their implicit theories to manage self-view by more strongly endorsing an incremental theory after threatening performance feedback or memories of failure. Studies 4-6 revealed that people regulate the implicit theories they hold about favored and reviled political candidates, endorsing an incremental theory to forgive preferred candidates for past gaffes but leaning toward an entity theory to ensure past failings "stick" to opponents. Finally, in Study 7, people who were most threatened by a previously convicted child sex offender (i.e., parents reading about the offender moving to their neighborhood) gravitated most to the entity view that others do not change. Although chronic implicit theories are undoubtedly meaningful, this research reveals a previously unexplored source of fluidity by highlighting the active role people play in managing their implicit theories in response to goals. 2014 APA, all rights reserved

  1. Validation and simplification of Fournier's gangrene severity index.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lin, Tsung-Yen; Ou, Chien-Hui; Tzai, Tzong-Shin; Tong, Yat-Ching; Chang, Chien-Chen; Cheng, Hong-Lin; Yang, Wen-Horng; Lin, Yung-Ming

    2014-07-01

    To validate the predictive value of Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index in patients with Fournier gangrene and to facilitate patient mortality risk-stratification by simplifying the Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index. From January 1989 to December 2011, 85 male patients with clinically-documented Fournier's gangrene undergoing intensive treatment and with complete medical records were recruited. The demographic information and nine parameters of Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index were compared between survivors and non-survivors. The parameters that showed a significant difference between the two groups were selected to generate a simplified scoring index. Of the 85 patients recruited, 16 patients died of the disease with mortality rate of 18.8%. The Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index score at initial diagnosis was significantly higher in non-survivors than in survivors. Of the nine parameters of Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index, the scores of serum creatinine level, hematocrit level and serum potassium level were significantly different between the two groups. However, the mean body temperatures, heart rate, respiration rate, white blood cell count, serum sodium and bicarbonate levels were non-significantly different. Of the 12 patients with chronic kidney disease or end-stage renal disease, 10 died of severe sepsis. A simplified scoring index including parameters of creatinine, hematocrit and potassium was generated, which provided sensitivity and specificity of 87% and 77% in predicting patient mortality, respectively. The predictive values of this simplified Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index were shown to be non-inferior to Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index in our patients. The simplified Fournier's Gangrene Severity Index is easy to use at initial diagnosis, and offers a way to compare outcomes in different clinical populations. © 2014 The Japanese Urological Association.

  2. Intervention with the Selectively Mute Child.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Porjes, Michelle D.

    1992-01-01

    Defines selective mutism as describing children who actively choose to speak to few people in selected environments, noting it is most commonly used to describe nonverbal behavior in school setting. Reviews literature from psychoanalytic and learning theory approaches. Presents intervention strategies used with two selectively mute first graders.…

  3. Restaurant Selection in Dublin

    OpenAIRE

    Cullen, Frank

    2012-01-01

    The primary objective of this research was to investigate the selection process used by consumers when choosing a restaurant to dine. This study examined literature on consumer behaviour, restaurant selection, and decision-making, underpinning the contention that service quality is linked to the consumer’s selection of a restaurant. It supports the utility theories that consumers buy bundles of attributes that simultaneously combined represent a certain level of service quality at a certain p...

  4. Research on early-warning index of the spatial temperature field in concrete dams.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Guang; Gu, Chongshi; Bao, Tengfei; Cui, Zhenming; Kan, Kan

    2016-01-01

    Warning indicators of the dam body's temperature are required for the real-time monitoring of the service conditions of concrete dams to ensure safety and normal operations. Warnings theories are traditionally targeted at a single point which have limitations, and the scientific warning theories on global behavior of the temperature field are non-existent. In this paper, first, in 3D space, the behavior of temperature field has regional dissimilarity. Through the Ward spatial clustering method, the temperature field was divided into regions. Second, the degree of order and degree of disorder of the temperature monitoring points were defined by the probability method. Third, the weight values of monitoring points of each regions were explored via projection pursuit. Forth, a temperature entropy expression that can describe degree of order of the spatial temperature field in concrete dams was established. Fifth, the early-warning index of temperature entropy was set up according to the calculated sequential value of temperature entropy. Finally, project cases verified the feasibility of the proposed theories. The early-warning index of temperature entropy is conducive to the improvement of early-warning ability and safety management levels during the operation of high concrete dams.

  5. Theory- Building for Iranian Underground Music Using Grounded Theory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masoud Kowsari

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Different genres of underground music are important issues in Iranian youth culture. The purpose of this research was to study masculinity in Iranian- Persian rap music. Therefore, Persian rap music as a part of Iranian popular culture, between 2001 and 2011 was analyzed. We used qualitative research approach. The main method used in this study, was "Constructive Grounded Theory ". So instead of using existing theories as a theoretical framework, the researcher sought to generate local theory from research field. Thus, using theoretical sampling, data compiled from various sources. The multiple data collection techniques such as interviews, observation, online observation, collecting documents and texts were used. Then all the data was coded with using open, axial and selective coding methods. Finally, 62 concepts and 16 categories derived from data and "plural form of masculinity in Iranian-Persian rap music" was defined as the core category. Then according to paradigmatic model, "Substantive Theory" emerged from the data, was presented as "story" and "visual model". Finally seven questions of Strauss and Corbin about the experience in research has been assessed to evaluating research.

  6. Using grounded theory to create a substantive theory of promoting schoolchildren's mental health.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puolakka, Kristiina; Haapasalo-Pesu, Kirsi-Maria; Kiikkala, Irma; Astedt-Kurki, Päivi; Paavilainen, Eija

    2013-01-01

    To discuss the creation of a substantive theory using grounded theory. This article provides an example of generating theory from a study of mental health promotion at a high school in Finland. Grounded theory is a method for creating explanatory theory. It is a valuable tool for health professionals when studying phenomena that affect patients' health, offering a deeper understanding of nursing methods and knowledge. Interviews with school employees, students and parents, and verbal responses to the 'school wellbeing profile survey', as well as working group memos related to the development activities. Participating children were aged between 12 and 15. The analysis was conducted by applying the grounded theory method and involved open coding of the material, constant comparison, axial coding and selective coding after identifying the core category. The analysis produced concepts about mental health promotion in school and assumptions about relationships. Grounded theory proved to be an effective means of eliciting people's viewpoints on mental health promotion. The personal views of different parties make it easier to identify an action applicable to practice.

  7. The Genetic Theory of Infectious Diseases: A Brief History and Selected Illustrations

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casanova, Jean-Laurent; Abel, Laurent

    2016-01-01

    Until the mid-nineteenth century, life expectancy at birth averaged 20 years worldwide, owing mostly to childhood fevers. The germ theory of diseases then gradually overcame the belief that diseases were intrinsic. However, around the turn of the twentieth century, asymptomatic infection was discovered to be much more common than clinical disease. Paradoxically, this observation barely challenged the newly developed notion that infectious diseases were fundamentally extrinsic. Moreover, interindividual variability in the course of infection was typically explained by the emerging immunological (or somatic) theory of infectious diseases, best illustrated by the impact of vaccination. This powerful explanation is, however, best applicable to reactivation and secondary infections, particularly in adults; it can less easily account for interindividual variability in the course of primary infection during childhood. Population and clinical geneticists soon proposed a complementary hypothesis, a germline genetic theory of infectious diseases. Over the past century, this idea has gained some support, particularly among clinicians and geneticists, but has also encountered resistance, particularly among microbiologists and immunologists. We present here the genetic theory of infectious diseases and briefly discuss its history and the challenges encountered during its emergence in the context of the apparently competing but actually complementary microbiological and immunological theories. We also illustrate its recent achievements by highlighting inborn errors of immunity underlying eight life-threatening infectious diseases of children and young adults. Finally, we consider the far-reaching biological and clinical implications of the ongoing human genetic dissection of severe infectious diseases. PMID:23724903

  8. The genetic theory of infectious diseases: a brief history and selected illustrations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Casanova, Jean-Laurent; Abel, Laurent

    2013-01-01

    Until the mid-nineteenth century, life expectancy at birth averaged 20 years worldwide, owing mostly to childhood fevers. The germ theory of diseases then gradually overcame the belief that diseases were intrinsic. However, around the turn of the twentieth century, asymptomatic infection was discovered to be much more common than clinical disease. Paradoxically, this observation barely challenged the newly developed notion that infectious diseases were fundamentally extrinsic. Moreover, interindividual variability in the course of infection was typically explained by the emerging immunological (or somatic) theory of infectious diseases, best illustrated by the impact of vaccination. This powerful explanation is, however, best applicable to reactivation and secondary infections, particularly in adults; it can less easily account for interindividual variability in the course of primary infection during childhood. Population and clinical geneticists soon proposed a complementary hypothesis, a germline genetic theory of infectious diseases. Over the past century, this idea has gained some support, particularly among clinicians and geneticists, but has also encountered resistance, particularly among microbiologists and immunologists. We present here the genetic theory of infectious diseases and briefly discuss its history and the challenges encountered during its emergence in the context of the apparently competing but actually complementary microbiological and immunological theories. We also illustrate its recent achievements by highlighting inborn errors of immunity underlying eight life-threatening infectious diseases of children and young adults. Finally, we consider the far-reaching biological and clinical implications of the ongoing human genetic dissection of severe infectious diseases.

  9. Classical field theory. On electrodynamics, non-Abelian gauge theories and gravitation. 2. ed.

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Scheck, Florian

    2018-04-01

    Scheck's successful textbook presents a comprehensive treatment, ideally suited for a one-semester course. The textbook describes Maxwell's equations first in their integral, directly testable form, then moves on to their local formulation. The first two chapters cover all essential properties of Maxwell's equations, including their symmetries and their covariance in a modern notation. Chapter 3 is devoted to Maxwell's theory as a classical field theory and to solutions of the wave equation. Chapter 4 deals with important applications of Maxwell's theory. It includes topical subjects such as metamaterials with negative refraction index and solutions of Helmholtz' equation in paraxial approximation relevant for the description of laser beams. Chapter 5 describes non-Abelian gauge theories from a classical, geometric point of view, in analogy to Maxwell's theory as a prototype, and culminates in an application to the U(2) theory relevant for electroweak interactions. The last chapter 6 gives a concise summary of semi-Riemannian geometry as the framework for the classical field theory of gravitation. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the Schwarzschild solution of Einstein's equations and the classical tests of general relativity. The new concept of this edition presents the content divided into two tracks: the fast track for master's students, providing the essentials, and the intensive track for all wanting to get in depth knowledge of the field. Cleary labeled material and sections guide students through the preferred level of treatment. Numerous problems and worked examples will provide successful access to Classical Field Theory.

  10. K-theory for group C*-algebras and semigroup C*-algebras

    CERN Document Server

    Cuntz, Joachim; Li, Xin; Yu, Guoliang

    2017-01-01

    This book gives an account of the necessary background for group algebras and crossed products for actions of a group or a semigroup on a space and reports on some very recently developed techniques with applications to particular examples. Much of the material is available here for the first time in book form. The topics discussed are among the most classical and intensely studied C*-algebras. They are important for applications in fields as diverse as the theory of unitary group representations, index theory, the topology of manifolds or ergodic theory of group actions.

  11. Features of the Asynchronous Correlation between the China Coal Price Index and Coal Mining Accidental Deaths

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huang, Yuecheng; Cheng, Wuyi; Luo, Sida; Luo, Yun; Ma, Chengchen; He, Tailin

    2016-01-01

    The features of the asynchronous correlation between accident indices and the factors that influence accidents can provide an effective reference for warnings of coal mining accidents. However, what are the features of this correlation? To answer this question, data from the China coal price index and the number of deaths from coal mining accidents were selected as the sample data. The fluctuation modes of the asynchronous correlation between the two data sets were defined according to the asynchronous correlation coefficients, symbolization, and sliding windows. We then built several directed and weighted network models, within which the fluctuation modes and the transformations between modes were represented by nodes and edges. Then, the features of the asynchronous correlation between these two variables could be studied from a perspective of network topology. We found that the correlation between the price index and the accidental deaths was asynchronous and fluctuating. Certain aspects, such as the key fluctuation modes, the subgroups characteristics, the transmission medium, the periodicity and transmission path length in the network, were analyzed by using complex network theory, analytical methods and spectral analysis method. These results provide a scientific reference for generating warnings for coal mining accidents based on economic indices. PMID:27902748

  12. A study on operation efficiency evaluation based on firm's financial index and benchmark selection: take China Unicom as an example

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Zu-guang; Tian, Zhan-jun; Liu, Hui; Huang, Rui; Zhu, Guo-hua

    2009-07-01

    Being the only listed telecom operators of A share market, China Unicom has always been attracted many institutional investors under the concept of 3G recent years,which itself is a great technical progress expectation.Do the institutional investors or the concept of technical progress have signficant effect on the improving of firm's operating efficiency?Though reviewing the documentary about operating efficiency we find that schoolars study this problem useing the regress analyzing based on traditional production function and data envelopment analysis(DEA) and financial index anayzing and marginal function and capital labor ratio coefficient etc. All the methods mainly based on macrodata. This paper we use the micro-data of company to evaluate the operating efficiency.Using factor analyzing based on financial index and comparing the factor score of three years from 2005 to 2007, we find that China Unicom's operating efficiency is under the averge level of benchmark corporates and has't improved under the concept of 3G from 2005 to 2007.In other words,institutional investor or the conception of technical progress expectation have faint effect on the changes of China Unicom's operating efficiency. Selecting benchmark corporates as post to evaluate the operating efficiency is a characteristic of this method ,which is basicallly sipmly and direct.This method is suit for the operation efficiency evaluation of agriculture listed companies because agriculture listed also face technical progress and marketing concept such as tax-free etc.

  13. Abelian Chern-Simons theory and contact torsion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    McLellan, Brendan Donald Kenneth

    2013-01-01

    Chern-Simons theory on a closed contact three-manifold is studied when the Lie group for gauge transformations is compact, connected and abelian. A shift reduced abelian Chern-Simons partition function is introduced using an alternative formulation of the partition function using formal ideas in ...... in quantum field theory. We compare the shift reduced partition function with other formulations of the abelian Chern-Simons partition function. This study naturally motivates an Atiyah-Patodi-Singer type index problem in contact geometry.......Chern-Simons theory on a closed contact three-manifold is studied when the Lie group for gauge transformations is compact, connected and abelian. A shift reduced abelian Chern-Simons partition function is introduced using an alternative formulation of the partition function using formal ideas...

  14. Human Resource Management: The need for theory and diversity

    OpenAIRE

    Weber, Wolfgang; Kabst, Rüdiger

    2004-01-01

    Human Resource Management as an academic discipline needs to be theoretically grounded, i.e. it requires support through theories, theory-driven empirical research and critiques. In doing so, different theoretical perspectives are addressed suggesting a problem-orientated theory selection which leads inevitably to theoretical diversity.

  15. Elements of automata theory and the theory of Markov chains. [Self-organizing control systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lind, M

    1975-03-01

    Selected topics from automata theory and the theory of Markov chains are treated. In particular, finite-memory automata are discussed in detail, and the results are used to formulate an automation model of a class of continuous systems. Stochastic automata are introduced as a natural generalization of the deterministic automaton. Markov chains are shown to be closely related to stochastic automata. Results from Markov chain theory are thereby directly applicable to analysis of stochastic automata. This report provides the theoretical foundation for the investigation in Riso Report No. 315 of a class of self-organizing control systems. (25 figures) (auth)

  16. Geometric function theory in higher dimension

    CERN Document Server

    2017-01-01

    The book collects the most relevant outcomes from the INdAM Workshop “Geometric Function Theory in Higher Dimension” held in Cortona on September 5-9, 2016. The Workshop was mainly devoted to discussions of basic open problems in the area, and this volume follows the same line. In particular, it offers a selection of original contributions on Loewner theory in one and higher dimensions, semigroups theory, iteration theory and related topics. Written by experts in geometric function theory in one and several complex variables, it focuses on new research frontiers in this area and on challenging open problems. The book is intended for graduate students and researchers working in complex analysis, several complex variables and geometric function theory.

  17. Mode-multiplexed transmission over conventional graded-index multimode fibers

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Ryf, R.; Fontaine, N.K.; Chen, H.; Guan, B.; Huang, B.; Esmaeelpour, M.; Gnauck, A.H.; Randel, S.; Yoo, S.J.B.; Koonen, A.M.J.; Shubochkin, R.; Sun, Yi; Lingle, R.

    2015-01-01

    We present experimental results for combined mode-multiplexed and wavelength multiplexed transmission over conventional graded-index multimode fibers. We use mode-selective photonic lanterns as mode couplers to precisely excite a subset of the modes of the multimode fiber and additionally to

  18. Application of preference selection index method for decision making over the design stage of production system life cycle

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rajesh Attri

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The life cycle of production system shows the progress of production system from the inception to the termination of the system. During each stage, mainly in the design stage, certain strategic decisions have to be taken. These decisions are more complex as the decision makers have to assess a wide range of alternatives based on a set of conflicting criteria. As the decision making process is found to be unstructured, characterized by domain dependent knowledge, there is a need to apply an efficient multi-criteria decision making (MCDM tool to help the decision makers in making correct decisions. This paper explores the application of a novel MCDM method i.e. Preference selection index (PSI method to solve various decision-making problems that are generally encountered in the design stage of production system life cycle. To prove the potentiality, applicability and accuracy of PSI method in solving decision making problem during the design stage of production system life cycle, five examples are cited from the literature and are compared with the results obtained by the past researchers.

  19. The relationship between dental status, food selection, nutrient intake, nutritional status, and body mass index in older people

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Wagner Marcenes

    2003-05-01

    Full Text Available This paper reviewed the findings from a national survey in Great Britain which assessed whether dental status affected older people's food selection, nutrient intake, and nutritional status. The survey analyzed national random samples of free-living and institution subjects for dental examination, interview, and four-day food diary as well as blood and urine tests In the free-living sample, intakes of non-starch polysaccharides, protein, calcium, non-heme iron, niacin, and vitamin C were significantly lower in edentulous as compared to dentate subjects. People with 21 or more teeth consumed more of most nutrients, particularly non-starch polysaccharides. This relationship in intake was not apparent in the hematological analysis. Plasma ascorbate and retinol were the only analytes significantly associated with dental status. Having 21 or more teeth increased the likelihood of having an acceptable body mass index (BMI. Thus, maintaining a natural and functional dentition defined as having more than twenty teeth into old age plays an important role in having a healthy diet rich in fruits and vegetables, a satisfactory nutritional status, and an acceptable BMI.

  20. X-ray refractive index of laser-dressed atoms

    OpenAIRE

    Buth, Christian; Santra, Robin

    2008-01-01

    We investigated the complex index of refraction in the x-ray regime of atoms in laser light. The laser (intensity up to 10^13 W/cm^2, wavelength 800nm) modifies the atomic states but, by assumption, does not excite or ionize the atoms in their electronic ground state. Using quantum electrodynamics, we devise an ab initio theory to calculate the dynamic dipole polarizability and the photoabsorption cross section, which are subsequently used to determine the real and imaginary part, respectivel...