Unconstrained Iris Acquisition and Recognition Using COTS PTZ Camera

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Venugopalan Shreyas

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Uniqueness of iris patterns among individuals has resulted in the ubiquity of iris recognition systems in virtual and physical spaces, at high security facilities around the globe. Traditional methods of acquiring iris patterns in commercial systems scan the iris when an individual is at a predetermined location in front of the scanner. Most state-of-the-art techniques for unconstrained iris acquisition in literature use expensive custom equipment and are composed of a multicamera setup, which is bulky, expensive, and requires calibration. This paper investigates a method of unconstrained iris acquisition and recognition using a single commercial off-the-shelf (COTS pan-tilt-zoom (PTZ camera, that is compact and that reduces the cost of the final system, compared to other proposed hierarchical multicomponent systems. We employ state-of-the-art techniques for face detection and a robust eye detection scheme using active shape models for accurate landmark localization. Additionally, our system alleviates the need for any calibration stage prior to its use. We present results using a database of iris images captured using our system, while operating in an unconstrained acquisition mode at 1.5 m standoff, yielding an iris diameter in the 150–200 pixels range.

Anytime decision making based on unconstrained influence diagrams

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Luque, Manuel; Nielsen, Thomas Dyhre; Jensen, Finn Verner

2016-01-01

. This paper addresses this problem by proposing an anytime algorithm that at any time provides a qualified recommendation for the first decisions of the problem. The algorithm performs a heuristic-based search in a decision tree representation of the problem. We provide a framework for analyzing......Unconstrained influence diagrams extend the language of influence diagrams to cope with decision problems in which the order of the decisions is unspecified. Thus, when solving an unconstrained influence diagram we not only look for an optimal policy for each decision, but also for a so-called step......-policy specifying the next decision given the observations made so far. However, due to the complexity of the problem, temporal constraints can force the decision maker to act before the solution algorithm has finished, and, in particular, before an optimal policy for the first decision has been computed...

Single-Camera-Based Method for Step Length Symmetry Measurement in Unconstrained Elderly Home Monitoring.

Science.gov (United States)

Cai, Xi; Han, Guang; Song, Xin; Wang, Jinkuan

2017-11-01

single-camera-based gait monitoring is unobtrusive, inexpensive, and easy-to-use to monitor daily gait of seniors in their homes. However, most studies require subjects to walk perpendicularly to camera's optical axis or along some specified routes, which limits its application in elderly home monitoring. To build unconstrained monitoring environments, we propose a method to measure step length symmetry ratio (a useful gait parameter representing gait symmetry without significant relationship with age) from unconstrained straight walking using a single camera, without strict restrictions on walking directions or routes. according to projective geometry theory, we first develop a calculation formula of step length ratio for the case of unconstrained straight-line walking. Then, to adapt to general cases, we propose to modify noncollinear footprints, and accordingly provide general procedure for step length ratio extraction from unconstrained straight walking. Our method achieves a mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 1.9547% for 15 subjects' normal and abnormal side-view gaits, and also obtains satisfactory MAPEs for non-side-view gaits (2.4026% for 45°-view gaits and 3.9721% for 30°-view gaits). The performance is much better than a well-established monocular gait measurement system suitable only for side-view gaits with a MAPE of 3.5538%. Independently of walking directions, our method can accurately estimate step length ratios from unconstrained straight walking. This demonstrates our method is applicable for elders' daily gait monitoring to provide valuable information for elderly health care, such as abnormal gait recognition, fall risk assessment, etc. single-camera-based gait monitoring is unobtrusive, inexpensive, and easy-to-use to monitor daily gait of seniors in their homes. However, most studies require subjects to walk perpendicularly to camera's optical axis or along some specified routes, which limits its application in elderly home monitoring

A Trust-region-based Sequential Quadratic Programming Algorithm

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Henriksen, Lars Christian; Poulsen, Niels Kjølstad

This technical note documents the trust-region-based sequential quadratic programming algorithm used in other works by the authors. The algorithm seeks to minimize a convex nonlinear cost function subject to linear inequalty constraints and nonlinear equality constraints.......This technical note documents the trust-region-based sequential quadratic programming algorithm used in other works by the authors. The algorithm seeks to minimize a convex nonlinear cost function subject to linear inequalty constraints and nonlinear equality constraints....

UNCONSTRAINED HANDWRITING RECOGNITION : LANGUAGE MODELS, PERPLEXITY, AND SYSTEM PERFORMANCE

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Marti, U-V.; Bunke, H.

2004-01-01

In this paper we present a number of language models and their behavior in the recognition of unconstrained handwritten English sentences. We use the perplexity to compare the different models and their prediction power, and relate it to the performance of a recognition system under different

A one-sided sequential test

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Racz, A.; Lux, I. [Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest (Hungary). Atomic Energy Research Inst.

1996-04-16

The applicability of the classical sequential probability ratio testing (SPRT) for early failure detection problems is limited by the fact that there is an extra time delay between the occurrence of the failure and its first recognition. Chien and Adams developed a method to minimize this time for the case when the problem can be formulated as testing the mean value of a Gaussian signal. In our paper we propose a procedure that can be applied for both mean and variance testing and that minimizes the time delay. The method is based on a special parametrization of the classical SPRT. The one-sided sequential tests (OSST) can reproduce the results of the Chien-Adams test when applied for mean values. (author).

Optimal Cost-Analysis and Design of Circular Footings

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Prabir K. Basudhar

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The study pertains to the optimal cost-analysis and design of a circular footing subjected to generalized loadings using sequential unconstrained minimization technique (SUMT in conjunction with Powell’s conjugate direction method for multidimensional search and quadratic interpolation method for one dimensional minimization. The cost of the footing is minimized satisfying all the structural and geotechnical engineering design considerations. As extended penalty function method has been used to convert the constrained problem into an unconstrained one, the developed technique is capable of handling both feasible and infeasible initial design vector. The net saving in cost starting from the best possible manual design ranges from 10 to 20 %. For all practical purposes, the optimum cost is independent of the initial design point. It was observed that for better convergence, the transition parameter  should be chosen at least 100 times the initial penalty parameter kr .

Number-unconstrained quantum sensing

Science.gov (United States)

Mitchell, Morgan W.

2017-12-01

Quantum sensing is commonly described as a constrained optimization problem: maximize the information gained about an unknown quantity using a limited number of particles. Important sensors including gravitational wave interferometers and some atomic sensors do not appear to fit this description, because there is no external constraint on particle number. Here, we develop the theory of particle-number-unconstrained quantum sensing, and describe how optimal particle numbers emerge from the competition of particle-environment and particle-particle interactions. We apply the theory to optical probing of an atomic medium modeled as a resonant, saturable absorber, and observe the emergence of well-defined finite optima without external constraints. The results contradict some expectations from number-constrained quantum sensing and show that probing with squeezed beams can give a large sensitivity advantage over classical strategies when each is optimized for particle number.

Sequential computation of elementary modes and minimal cut sets in genome-scale metabolic networks using alternate integer linear programming

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Song, Hyun-Seob; Goldberg, Noam; Mahajan, Ashutosh; Ramkrishna, Doraiswami

2017-03-27

Elementary (flux) modes (EMs) have served as a valuable tool for investigating structural and functional properties of metabolic networks. Identification of the full set of EMs in genome-scale networks remains challenging due to combinatorial explosion of EMs in complex networks. It is often, however, that only a small subset of relevant EMs needs to be known, for which optimization-based sequential computation is a useful alternative. Most of the currently available methods along this line are based on the iterative use of mixed integer linear programming (MILP), the effectiveness of which significantly deteriorates as the number of iterations builds up. To alleviate the computational burden associated with the MILP implementation, we here present a novel optimization algorithm termed alternate integer linear programming (AILP). Results: Our algorithm was designed to iteratively solve a pair of integer programming (IP) and linear programming (LP) to compute EMs in a sequential manner. In each step, the IP identifies a minimal subset of reactions, the deletion of which disables all previously identified EMs. Thus, a subsequent LP solution subject to this reaction deletion constraint becomes a distinct EM. In cases where no feasible LP solution is available, IP-derived reaction deletion sets represent minimal cut sets (MCSs). Despite the additional computation of MCSs, AILP achieved significant time reduction in computing EMs by orders of magnitude. The proposed AILP algorithm not only offers a computational advantage in the EM analysis of genome-scale networks, but also improves the understanding of the linkage between EMs and MCSs.

New preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithms for nonlinear unconstrained optimization problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Bayati, A.; Al-Asadi, N.

1997-01-01

This paper presents two new predilection conjugate gradient algorithms for nonlinear unconstrained optimization problems and examines their computational performance. Computational experience shows that the new proposed algorithms generally imp lone the efficiency of Nazareth's [13] preconditioned conjugate gradient algorithm. (authors). 16 refs., 1 tab

Gender Recognition from Unconstrained and Articulated Human Body

OpenAIRE

Wu, Qin; Guo, Guodong

2014-01-01

Gender recognition has many useful applications, ranging from business intelligence to image search and social activity analysis. Traditional research on gender recognition focuses on face images in a constrained environment. This paper proposes a method for gender recognition in articulated human body images acquired from an unconstrained environment in the real world. A systematic study of some critical issues in body-based gender recognition, such as which body parts are informative, ho...

Several Guaranteed Descent Conjugate Gradient Methods for Unconstrained Optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

San-Yang Liu

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper investigates a general form of guaranteed descent conjugate gradient methods which satisfies the descent condition gkTdk≤-1-1/4θkgk2  θk>1/4 and which is strongly convergent whenever the weak Wolfe line search is fulfilled. Moreover, we present several specific guaranteed descent conjugate gradient methods and give their numerical results for large-scale unconstrained optimization.

Sequential computation of elementary modes and minimal cut sets in genome-scale metabolic networks using alternate integer linear programming.

Science.gov (United States)

Song, Hyun-Seob; Goldberg, Noam; Mahajan, Ashutosh; Ramkrishna, Doraiswami

2017-08-01

Elementary (flux) modes (EMs) have served as a valuable tool for investigating structural and functional properties of metabolic networks. Identification of the full set of EMs in genome-scale networks remains challenging due to combinatorial explosion of EMs in complex networks. It is often, however, that only a small subset of relevant EMs needs to be known, for which optimization-based sequential computation is a useful alternative. Most of the currently available methods along this line are based on the iterative use of mixed integer linear programming (MILP), the effectiveness of which significantly deteriorates as the number of iterations builds up. To alleviate the computational burden associated with the MILP implementation, we here present a novel optimization algorithm termed alternate integer linear programming (AILP). Our algorithm was designed to iteratively solve a pair of integer programming (IP) and linear programming (LP) to compute EMs in a sequential manner. In each step, the IP identifies a minimal subset of reactions, the deletion of which disables all previously identified EMs. Thus, a subsequent LP solution subject to this reaction deletion constraint becomes a distinct EM. In cases where no feasible LP solution is available, IP-derived reaction deletion sets represent minimal cut sets (MCSs). Despite the additional computation of MCSs, AILP achieved significant time reduction in computing EMs by orders of magnitude. The proposed AILP algorithm not only offers a computational advantage in the EM analysis of genome-scale networks, but also improves the understanding of the linkage between EMs and MCSs. The software is implemented in Matlab, and is provided as supplementary information . hyunseob.song@pnnl.gov. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online. Published by Oxford University Press 2017. This work is written by US Government employees and are in the public domain in the US.

Lower bounds of collapse loads in axisymmetrical vessels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fonseca Neto, J. de D.; Ebecken, N.F.F.

1981-01-01

The rigid-plastic limit analysis of shells of revolution subject to rotationally symmetric loadings, is presented. After assembling the finite elements, the limit analysis program is reduced to a simple application of the non-linear programming technique, where the sequential unconstrained minimization technique (SUMT) is utilized for the statically admissible approach. Lower bounds of the collapse loads are presented and compared with the results described in the literature. (Author) [pt

Forced Sequence Sequential Decoding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Ole Riis; Paaske, Erik

1998-01-01

We describe a new concatenated decoding scheme based on iterations between an inner sequentially decoded convolutional code of rate R=1/4 and memory M=23, and block interleaved outer Reed-Solomon (RS) codes with nonuniform profile. With this scheme decoding with good performance is possible as low...... as Eb/N0=0.6 dB, which is about 1.25 dB below the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that marks the cutoff rate for the full system. Accounting for about 0.45 dB due to the outer codes, sequential decoding takes place at about 1.7 dB below the SNR cutoff rate for the convolutional code. This is possible since...... the iteration process provides the sequential decoders with side information that allows a smaller average load and minimizes the probability of computational overflow. Analytical results for the probability that the first RS word is decoded after C computations are presented. These results are supported...

Unconstrained parameter estimation for assessment of dynamic cerebral autoregulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chacón, M; Nuñez, N; Henríquez, C; Panerai, R B

2008-01-01

Measurement of dynamic cerebral autoregulation (CA), the transient response of cerebral blood flow (CBF) to changes in arterial blood pressure (ABP), has been performed with an index of autoregulation (ARI), related to the parameters of a second-order differential equation model, namely gain (K), damping factor (D) and time constant (T). Limitations of the ARI were addressed by increasing its numerical resolution and generalizing the parameter space. In 16 healthy subjects, recordings of ABP (Finapres) and CBF velocity (ultrasound Doppler) were performed at rest, before, during and after 5% CO 2 breathing, and for six repeated thigh cuff maneuvers. The unconstrained model produced lower predictive error (p < 0.001) than the original model. Unconstrained parameters (K'–D'–T') were significantly different from K–D–T but were still sensitive to different measurement conditions, such as the under-regulation induced by hypercapnia. The intra-subject variability of K' was significantly lower than that of the ARI and this parameter did not show the unexpected occurrences of zero values as observed with the ARI and the classical value of K. These results suggest that K' could be considered as a more stable and reliable index of dynamic autoregulation than ARI. Further studies are needed to validate this new index under different clinical conditions

4D Unconstrained Real-time Face Recognition Using a Commodity Depthh Camera

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schimbinschi, Florin; Wiering, Marco; Mohan, R.E.; Sheba, J.K.

2012-01-01

Robust unconstrained real-time face recognition still remains a challenge today. The recent addition to the market of lightweight commodity depth sensors brings new possibilities for human-machine interaction and therefore face recognition. This article accompanies the reader through a succinct

Locating Critical Circular and Unconstrained Failure Surface in Slope Stability Analysis with Tailored Genetic Algorithm

Science.gov (United States)

Pasik, Tomasz; van der Meij, Raymond

2017-12-01

This article presents an efficient search method for representative circular and unconstrained slip surfaces with the use of the tailored genetic algorithm. Searches for unconstrained slip planes with rigid equilibrium methods are yet uncommon in engineering practice, and little publications regarding truly free slip planes exist. The proposed method presents an effective procedure being the result of the right combination of initial population type, selection, crossover and mutation method. The procedure needs little computational effort to find the optimum, unconstrained slip plane. The methodology described in this paper is implemented using Mathematica. The implementation, along with further explanations, is fully presented so the results can be reproduced. Sample slope stability calculations are performed for four cases, along with a detailed result interpretation. Two cases are compared with analyses described in earlier publications. The remaining two are practical cases of slope stability analyses of dikes in Netherlands. These four cases show the benefits of analyzing slope stability with a rigid equilibrium method combined with a genetic algorithm. The paper concludes by describing possibilities and limitations of using the genetic algorithm in the context of the slope stability problem.

A Note on the Dual of an Unconstrained (Generalized) Geometric Programming Problem

NARCIS (Netherlands)

J.B.G. Frenk (Hans); G.J. Still

2005-01-01

textabstractIn this note we show that the strong duality theorem of an unconstrained (generalized) geometric programming problem as defined by Peterson (cf.[1]) is actually a special case of a Lagrangian duality result. Contrary to [1] we also consider the case that the set C is compact and

Hazardous Traffic Event Detection Using Markov Blanket and Sequential Minimal Optimization (MB-SMO

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lixin Yan

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The ability to identify hazardous traffic events is already considered as one of the most effective solutions for reducing the occurrence of crashes. Only certain particular hazardous traffic events have been studied in previous studies, which were mainly based on dedicated video stream data and GPS data. The objective of this study is twofold: (1 the Markov blanket (MB algorithm is employed to extract the main factors associated with hazardous traffic events; (2 a model is developed to identify hazardous traffic event using driving characteristics, vehicle trajectory, and vehicle position data. Twenty-two licensed drivers were recruited to carry out a natural driving experiment in Wuhan, China, and multi-sensor information data were collected for different types of traffic events. The results indicated that a vehicle’s speed, the standard deviation of speed, the standard deviation of skin conductance, the standard deviation of brake pressure, turn signal, the acceleration of steering, the standard deviation of acceleration, and the acceleration in Z (G have significant influences on hazardous traffic events. The sequential minimal optimization (SMO algorithm was adopted to build the identification model, and the accuracy of prediction was higher than 86%. Moreover, compared with other detection algorithms, the MB-SMO algorithm was ranked best in terms of the prediction accuracy. The conclusions can provide reference evidence for the development of dangerous situation warning products and the design of intelligent vehicles.

Zips : mining compressing sequential patterns in streams

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoang, T.L.; Calders, T.G.K.; Yang, J.; Mörchen, F.; Fradkin, D.; Chau, D.H.; Vreeken, J.; Leeuwen, van M.; Faloutsos, C.

2013-01-01

We propose a streaming algorithm, based on the minimal description length (MDL) principle, for extracting non-redundant sequential patterns. For static databases, the MDL-based approach that selects patterns based on their capacity to compress data rather than their frequency, was shown to be

Forced Sequence Sequential Decoding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Ole Riis

In this thesis we describe a new concatenated decoding scheme based on iterations between an inner sequentially decoded convolutional code of rate R=1/4 and memory M=23, and block interleaved outer Reed-Solomon codes with non-uniform profile. With this scheme decoding with good performance...... is possible as low as Eb/No=0.6 dB, which is about 1.7 dB below the signal-to-noise ratio that marks the cut-off rate for the convolutional code. This is possible since the iteration process provides the sequential decoders with side information that allows a smaller average load and minimizes the probability...... of computational overflow. Analytical results for the probability that the first Reed-Solomon word is decoded after C computations are presented. This is supported by simulation results that are also extended to other parameters....

A multi-objective improved teaching-learning based optimization algorithm for unconstrained and constrained optimization problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Venkata Rao

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The present work proposes a multi-objective improved teaching-learning based optimization (MO-ITLBO algorithm for unconstrained and constrained multi-objective function optimization. The MO-ITLBO algorithm is the improved version of basic teaching-learning based optimization (TLBO algorithm adapted for multi-objective problems. The basic TLBO algorithm is improved to enhance its exploration and exploitation capacities by introducing the concept of number of teachers, adaptive teaching factor, tutorial training and self-motivated learning. The MO-ITLBO algorithm uses a grid-based approach to adaptively assess the non-dominated solutions (i.e. Pareto front maintained in an external archive. The performance of the MO-ITLBO algorithm is assessed by implementing it on unconstrained and constrained test problems proposed for the Congress on Evolutionary Computation 2009 (CEC 2009 competition. The performance assessment is done by using the inverted generational distance (IGD measure. The IGD measures obtained by using the MO-ITLBO algorithm are compared with the IGD measures of the other state-of-the-art algorithms available in the literature. Finally, Lexicographic ordering is used to assess the overall performance of competitive algorithms. Results have shown that the proposed MO-ITLBO algorithm has obtained the 1st rank in the optimization of unconstrained test functions and the 3rd rank in the optimization of constrained test functions.

Learning-based encoding with soft assignment for age estimation under unconstrained imaging conditions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Alnajar, F.; Shan, C.; Gevers, T.; Geusebroek, J.M.

2012-01-01

In this paper we propose to adopt a learning-based encoding method for age estimation under unconstrained imaging conditions. A similar approach [Cao et al., 2010] is applied to face recognition in real-life face images. However, the feature vectors are encoded in hard manner i.e. each feature

TabletGaze: Unconstrained Appearance-based Gaze Estimation in Mobile Tablets

OpenAIRE

Huang, Qiong; Veeraraghavan, Ashok; Sabharwal, Ashutosh

2015-01-01

We study gaze estimation on tablets, our key design goal is uncalibrated gaze estimation using the front-facing camera during natural use of tablets, where the posture and method of holding the tablet is not constrained. We collected the first large unconstrained gaze dataset of tablet users, labeled Rice TabletGaze dataset. The dataset consists of 51 subjects, each with 4 different postures and 35 gaze locations. Subjects vary in race, gender and in their need for prescription glasses, all o...

Single Crystals Grown Under Unconstrained Conditions

Science.gov (United States)

Sunagawa, Ichiro

Based on detailed investigations on morphology (evolution and variation in external forms), surface microtopography of crystal faces (spirals and etch figures), internal morphology (growth sectors, growth banding and associated impurity partitioning) and perfection (dislocations and other lattice defects) in single crystals, we can deduce how and by what mechanism the crystal grew and experienced fluctuation in growth parameters through its growth and post-growth history under unconstrained condition. The information is useful not only in finding appropriate way to growing highly perfect and homogeneous single crystals, but also in deciphering letters sent from the depth of the Earth and the Space. It is also useful in discriminating synthetic from natural gemstones. In this chapter, available methods to obtain molecular information are briefly summarized, and actual examples to demonstrate the importance of this type of investigations are selected from both natural minerals (diamond, quartz, hematite, corundum, beryl, phlogopite) and synthetic crystals (SiC, diamond, corundum, beryl).

Sequential and parallel image restoration: neural network implementations.

Science.gov (United States)

Figueiredo, M T; Leitao, J N

1994-01-01

Sequential and parallel image restoration algorithms and their implementations on neural networks are proposed. For images degraded by linear blur and contaminated by additive white Gaussian noise, maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation and regularization theory lead to the same high dimension convex optimization problem. The commonly adopted strategy (in using neural networks for image restoration) is to map the objective function of the optimization problem into the energy of a predefined network, taking advantage of its energy minimization properties. Departing from this approach, we propose neural implementations of iterative minimization algorithms which are first proved to converge. The developed schemes are based on modified Hopfield (1985) networks of graded elements, with both sequential and parallel updating schedules. An algorithm supported on a fully standard Hopfield network (binary elements and zero autoconnections) is also considered. Robustness with respect to finite numerical precision is studied, and examples with real images are presented.

Robust 3D Position Estimation in Wide and Unconstrained Indoor Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Annette Mossel

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a system for 3D position estimation in wide, unconstrained indoor environments is presented that employs infrared optical outside-in tracking of rigid-body targets with a stereo camera rig. To overcome limitations of state-of-the-art optical tracking systems, a pipeline for robust target identification and 3D point reconstruction has been investigated that enables camera calibration and tracking in environments with poor illumination, static and moving ambient light sources, occlusions and harsh conditions, such as fog. For evaluation, the system has been successfully applied in three different wide and unconstrained indoor environments, (1 user tracking for virtual and augmented reality applications, (2 handheld target tracking for tunneling and (3 machine guidance for mining. The results of each use case are discussed to embed the presented approach into a larger technological and application context. The experimental results demonstrate the system’s capabilities to track targets up to 100 m. Comparing the proposed approach to prior art in optical tracking in terms of range coverage and accuracy, it significantly extends the available tracking range, while only requiring two cameras and providing a relative 3D point accuracy with sub-centimeter deviation up to 30 m and low-centimeter deviation up to 100 m.

The effect of zero-ischaemia laparoscopic minimally invasive partial nephrectomy using the modified sequential preplaced suture renorrhaphy technique on long-term renal functions.

Science.gov (United States)

Sönmez, Mehmet Giray; Kara, Cengiz

2017-09-01

Laparoscopic minimally invasive partial nephrectomy (MIPN) is the preferred technique in renal surgery, especially T1 phase kidney tumours, and it is recommended for the protection of renal functions in methods that do not involve ischaemia. To evaluate long-term renal functions of zero-ischaemia laparoscopic MIPN patients who underwent a modified sequential preplaced suture renorrhaphy technique. In a total of 17 renal units in 16 patients with kidney tumours that were determined incidentally and did not cause any complaints, the masses were extracted via laparoscopic partial nephrectomy (LPN) using the modified sequential preplaced suture renorrhaphy technique. Creatinine and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) values of the patients were measured preoperatively and on the first day and after 12 months postoperatively, and the results were compared. The differences between the pre- and postoperative values were statistically significant (p = 0.033, p = 0.045), but the changes in postoperative creatinine and eGFR values were clinically insignificant. While the differences between preoperative and first-day postoperative creatinine and eGFR values were found to be statistically significant (p = 0.039, p = 0.042, respectively), a statistically significant difference was not detected between preoperative and 12-month postoperative creatinine and eGFR values (p = 0.09, p = 0.065, respectively). The global percentage of functional recovery was measured as 92.5% on the first day and 95.9% at the 12 th month. The modified sequential preplaced suture renorrhaphy technique is an effective, reliable method for avoiding complications and preserving renal functions and nephrons in appropriate patients.

Sequential dependencies in magnitude scaling of loudness

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Joshi, Suyash Narendra; Jesteadt, Walt

2013-01-01

Ten normally hearing listeners used a programmable sone-potentiometer knob to adjust the level of a 1000-Hz sinusoid to match the loudness of numbers presented to them in a magnitude production task. Three different power-law exponents (0.15, 0.30, and 0.60) and a log-law with equal steps in d......B were used to program the sone-potentiometer. The knob settings systematically influenced the form of the loudness function. Time series analysis was used to assess the sequential dependencies in the data, which increased with increasing exponent and were greatest for the log-law. It would be possible......, therefore, to choose knob properties that minimized these dependencies. When the sequential dependencies were removed from the data, the slope of the loudness functions did not change, but the variability decreased. Sequential dependencies were only present when the level of the tone on the previous trial...

Comparative performance of an elitist teaching-learning-based optimization algorithm for solving unconstrained optimization problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Venkata Rao

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Teaching-Learning-based optimization (TLBO is a recently proposed population based algorithm, which simulates the teaching-learning process of the class room. This algorithm requires only the common control parameters and does not require any algorithm-specific control parameters. In this paper, the effect of elitism on the performance of the TLBO algorithm is investigated while solving unconstrained benchmark problems. The effects of common control parameters such as the population size and the number of generations on the performance of the algorithm are also investigated. The proposed algorithm is tested on 76 unconstrained benchmark functions with different characteristics and the performance of the algorithm is compared with that of other well known optimization algorithms. A statistical test is also performed to investigate the results obtained using different algorithms. The results have proved the effectiveness of the proposed elitist TLBO algorithm.

Unconstrained SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills classical mechanics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahmen, B.; Raabe, B.

1992-01-01

A systematic study of contraints in SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills classical mechanics is performed. Expect for the SU(2) case with spatial angular momenta they turn out to be nonholonomic. The complete elimination of the unphysical gauge and rotatinal degrees of freedom is achieved using Dirac's constraint formalism. We present an effective unconstrained formulation of the general SU(2) Yang-Mills classical mechanics as well as for SU(3) in the subspace of vanishing spatial angular momenta that is well suited for further explicit dynamical investigations. (orig.)

Global Convergence of the EM Algorithm for Unconstrained Latent Variable Models with Categorical Indicators

Science.gov (United States)

Weissman, Alexander

2013-01-01

Convergence of the expectation-maximization (EM) algorithm to a global optimum of the marginal log likelihood function for unconstrained latent variable models with categorical indicators is presented. The sufficient conditions under which global convergence of the EM algorithm is attainable are provided in an information-theoretic context by…

Unconstrained monitoring of long-term heart and breath rates during sleep

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Wenxi; Zhu, Xin; Wei, Daming; Nemoto, Tetsu; Sugitani, Kayo; Kitamura, Kei-ichiro

2008-01-01

An unconstrained method for the long-term monitoring of heart and breath rates during sleep is proposed. The system includes a sensor unit and a web-based network module. The sensor unit is set beneath a pillow to pick up the pressure variations from the head induced by inhalation/exhalation movements and heart pulsation during sleep. The measured pressure signal was digitized and transferred to a remote database server via the network module. A wavelet-based algorithm was employed to detect the heart and breath rates, as well as body movement, during sleep. The overall system was utilized for a total six-month trial operation delivered to a female subject. The profiles of the heart and breath rates on a beat-by-beat and daily basis were obtained. Movements during sleep were also estimated. The results show that the daily average percentage of undetectable periods (UPs) during 881.6 sleep hours over a 180 day period was 17.2%. A total of 89.2% of sleep hours had a UP of not more than 25%. The profile of the heart rate revealed a periodic property that corresponded to the female monthly menstrual cycle. Our system shows promise as a long-term unconstrained monitor for heart and breath rates, and for other physiological parameters related to the quality of sleep and the regularity of the menstrual cycle. (note)

Unconstrained SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills clasical mechanics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dahmen, B.; Raabe, B.

1992-01-01

A systematic study of constraints in SU(2) and SU(3) Yang-Mills classical mechanics is performed. Expect for the SU(2) case with vanishing spatial angular momenta they turn out to be non-holonomic. Using Dirac's constraint formalism we achieve a complete elimination of the unphysical gauge and rotational degrees of freedom. This leads to an effective unconstrained formulation both for the full SU(2) Yang-Mills classical mechanics and for the SU(3) case in the subspace of vanishing spatial angular momenta. We believe that our results are well suited for further explicit dynamical investigations. (orig.)

Unconstrained off-shell N=3 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galperin, A.; Ivanov, E.; Kalitzin, S.; Ogievetsky, V.; Sokatchev, E.

1984-01-01

The harmonic superspace is used to build up an unconstrained off-shell formulation of N=3 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory. The theory is defined in an analytic N=3 superspace having M 4 x(SU(3)/U(1)xU(1) as an even part. The basic objects are the analytic potentials which serve as gauge connections entering harmonic derivatives. The action is an integral over analytic superspace. The Lagrange density is surprisingly simple and it is gauge invariant up to total harmonic derivative. The equations of motion are integrability conditions on the internal space SU(3)/U(1)xU(1). The jumping over the ''N=3 barrier'' became possible due to the infinite number of auxiliary fields

Optimization Strategies for Bruch's Membrane Opening Minimum Rim Area Calculation: Sequential versus Simultaneous Minimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Enders, Philip; Adler, Werner; Schaub, Friederike; Hermann, Manuel M; Diestelhorst, Michael; Dietlein, Thomas; Cursiefen, Claus; Heindl, Ludwig M

2017-10-24

To compare a simultaneously optimized continuous minimum rim surface parameter between Bruch's membrane opening (BMO) and the internal limiting membrane to the standard sequential minimization used for calculating the BMO minimum rim area in spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). In this case-control, cross-sectional study, 704 eyes of 445 participants underwent SD-OCT of the optic nerve head (ONH), visual field testing, and clinical examination. Globally and clock-hour sector-wise optimized BMO-based minimum rim area was calculated independently. Outcome parameters included BMO-globally optimized minimum rim area (BMO-gMRA) and sector-wise optimized BMO-minimum rim area (BMO-MRA). BMO area was 1.89 ± 0.05 mm 2 . Mean global BMO-MRA was 0.97 ± 0.34 mm 2 , mean global BMO-gMRA was 1.01 ± 0.36 mm 2 . Both parameters correlated with r = 0.995 (P < 0.001); mean difference was 0.04 mm 2 (P < 0.001). In all sectors, parameters differed by 3.0-4.2%. In receiver operating characteristics, the calculated area under the curve (AUC) to differentiate glaucoma was 0.873 for BMO-MRA, compared to 0.866 for BMO-gMRA (P = 0.004). Among ONH sectors, the temporal inferior location showed the highest AUC. Optimization strategies to calculate BMO-based minimum rim area led to significantly different results. Imposing an additional adjacency constraint within calculation of BMO-MRA does not improve diagnostic power. Global and temporal inferior BMO-MRA performed best in differentiating glaucoma patients.

CLAss-Specific Subspace Kernel Representations and Adaptive Margin Slack Minimization for Large Scale Classification.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Yinan; Diamantaras, Konstantinos I; McKelvey, Tomas; Kung, Sun-Yuan

2018-02-01

In kernel-based classification models, given limited computational power and storage capacity, operations over the full kernel matrix becomes prohibitive. In this paper, we propose a new supervised learning framework using kernel models for sequential data processing. The framework is based on two components that both aim at enhancing the classification capability with a subset selection scheme. The first part is a subspace projection technique in the reproducing kernel Hilbert space using a CLAss-specific Subspace Kernel representation for kernel approximation. In the second part, we propose a novel structural risk minimization algorithm called the adaptive margin slack minimization to iteratively improve the classification accuracy by an adaptive data selection. We motivate each part separately, and then integrate them into learning frameworks for large scale data. We propose two such frameworks: the memory efficient sequential processing for sequential data processing and the parallelized sequential processing for distributed computing with sequential data acquisition. We test our methods on several benchmark data sets and compared with the state-of-the-art techniques to verify the validity of the proposed techniques.

Global Convergence of a Spectral Conjugate Gradient Method for Unconstrained Optimization

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Jinkui Liu

2012-01-01

Full Text Available A new nonlinear spectral conjugate descent method for solving unconstrained optimization problems is proposed on the basis of the CD method and the spectral conjugate gradient method. For any line search, the new method satisfies the sufficient descent condition gkTdk<−∥gk∥2. Moreover, we prove that the new method is globally convergent under the strong Wolfe line search. The numerical results show that the new method is more effective for the given test problems from the CUTE test problem library (Bongartz et al., 1995 in contrast to the famous CD method, FR method, and PRP method.

Ethanol self-administration in serotonin transporter knockout mice: unconstrained demand and elasticity.

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Lamb, R J; Daws, L C

2013-10-01

Low serotonin function is associated with alcoholism, leading to speculation that increasing serotonin function could decrease ethanol consumption. Mice with one or two deletions of the serotonin transporter (SERT) gene have increased extracellular serotonin. To examine the relationship between SERT genotype and motivation for alcohol, we compared ethanol self-administration in mice with zero (knockout, KO), one (HET) or two copies (WT) of the SERT gene. All three genotypes learned to self-administer ethanol. The SSRI, fluvoxamine, decreased responding for ethanol in the HET and WT, but not the KO mice. When tested under a progressive ratio schedule, KO mice had lower breakpoints than HET or WT. As work requirements were increased across sessions, behavioral economic analysis of ethanol self-administration indicated that the decreased breakpoint in KO as compared to HET or WT mice was a result of lower levels of unconstrained demand, rather than differences in elasticity, i.e. the proportional decreases in ethanol earned with increasing work requirements were similar across genotypes. The difference in unconstrained demand was unlikely to result from motor or general motivational factors, as both WT and KO mice responded at high levels for a 50% condensed milk solution. As elasticity is hypothesized to measure essential value, these results indicate that KO value ethanol similarly to WT or HET mice despite having lower break points for ethanol. © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd and International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society.

Unconstrained N=2 matter, Yang-Mills and supergravity theories in harmonic superspace

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Galperin, A.; Kalitzin, S.; Sokatchev, E.

1984-04-01

A new approach to N=2 supersymmetry based on the concept of harmonic superspace is proposed and is used to give an unconstrained superfield geometric description of N=2 super Yang-Mills and supergravity theories as well as of matter N=2 hypermultiplets. The harmonic N=2 superspace has as independent coordinates, in addition to the usual ones, the isospinor harmonics Usub(i)sup(+-) on the sphere SU(2)/U(1). The role of Usub(i)sup(+-) is to relate the SU(2) group realized on the component fields to a U(1) group acting on the relevant superfields. Their introduction makes it possible to SU(2)-covariantize the notion of Grassmann analyticity. Crucial for our construction is the existence of an analytic subspace of the general harmonic N=2 superspace. The hypermultiplet superfields and the true prepotentials (pre-prepotentials) of N=2 super Yang-Mills and supergravity are unconstrained superfunctions over this analytic subspace. The pre-prepotentials have a clear geometric interpretation as gauge connections with respect to the internal SU(2)/U(1)-directions. A radically new feature arises: the number of gauge and auxiliary degrees of freedom becomes infinite while the number of physical degrees of freedom remains finite. Other new results are the massive N=2 Yang-Mills theory and various off-shell self-interactions of hypermultiplets. The propagators for matter and Yang-Mills superfields are given. (author)

Spherical symmetry as a test case for unconstrained hyperboloidal evolution

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vañó-Viñuales, Alex; Husa, Sascha; Hilditch, David

2015-01-01

We consider the hyperboloidal initial value problem for the Einstein equations in numerical relativity, motivated by the goal to evolve radiating compact objects such as black hole binaries with a numerical grid that includes null infinity. Unconstrained evolution schemes promise optimal efficiency, but are difficult to regularize at null infinity, where the compactified Einstein equations are formally singular. In this work we treat the spherically symmetric case, which already poses nontrivial problems and constitutes an important first step. We have carried out stable numerical evolutions with the generalized BSSN and Z4 equations coupled to a scalar field. The crucial ingredients have been to find an appropriate evolution equation for the lapse function and to adapt constraint damping terms to handle null infinity. (paper)

A convergent overlapping domain decomposition method for total variation minimization

KAUST Repository

Fornasier, Massimo; Langer, Andreas; Schö nlieb, Carola-Bibiane

2010-01-01

In this paper we are concerned with the analysis of convergent sequential and parallel overlapping domain decomposition methods for the minimization of functionals formed by a discrepancy term with respect to the data and a total variation

An Improved Marriage in Honey Bees Optimization Algorithm for Single Objective Unconstrained Optimization

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Yuksel Celik

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Marriage in honey bees optimization (MBO is a metaheuristic optimization algorithm developed by inspiration of the mating and fertilization process of honey bees and is a kind of swarm intelligence optimizations. In this study we propose improved marriage in honey bees optimization (IMBO by adding Levy flight algorithm for queen mating flight and neighboring for worker drone improving. The IMBO algorithm’s performance and its success are tested on the well-known six unconstrained test functions and compared with other metaheuristic optimization algorithms.

Sequential changes from minimal pancreatic inflammation to advanced alcoholic pancreatitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Noronha, M; Dreiling, D A; Bordalo, O

1983-11-01

A correlation of several clinical parameters and pancreatitis morphological alterations observed in chronic alcoholics with and without pancreatic is presented. Three groups of patients were studied: asymptomatic chronic alcoholics (24); non-alcoholic controls (10); and cases with advanced chronic pancreatitis (6). Clinical, biochemical and functional studies were performed. Morphological studies were made on surgical biopsy specimens in light and electron microscopy. The results of this study showed: 1) fat accumulates within pancreatic acinar cells in alcoholics drinking more than 80 g of ethanol per day; 2) ultrastructural changes found in acinar cells of the alcoholics are similar to those described for liver cells; 3) the alterations found in alcoholics without pancreatitis are also observed in those with advanced chronic pancreatitis. An attempt to correlate the sequential changes in the histopathology of alcoholic pancreatic disease with the clinical picture and secretory patterns was made. According to these observations, admitting the ultrastructural similarities between the liver and the pancreas and the recently demonstrated abnormalities of lipid metabolism in pancreatic cells in experimental animal research, the authors postulate a toxic-metabolic mechanism as a likely hypothesis for the pathogenesis of chronic alcoholic inflammation of the pancreas.

Long-term Outcome of Unconstrained Primary Total Hip Arthroplasty in Ipsilateral Residual Poliomyelitis.

Science.gov (United States)

Buttaro, Martín A; Slullitel, Pablo A; García Mansilla, Agustín M; Carlucci, Sofía; Comba, Fernando M; Zanotti, Gerardo; Piccaluga, Francisco

2017-03-01

Incapacitating articular sequelae in the hip joint have been described for patients with late effects of poliomyelitis. In these patients, total hip arthroplasty (THA) has been associated with a substantial rate of dislocation. This study was conducted to evaluate the long-term clinical and radiologic outcomes of unconstrained THA in this specific group of patients. The study included 6 patients with ipsilateral polio who underwent primary THA between 1985 and 2006. Patients with polio who underwent THA on the nonparalytic limb were excluded. Mean follow-up was 119.5 months (minimum, 84 months). Clinical outcomes were evaluated with the modified Harris Hip Score (mHHS) and the visual analog scale (VAS) pain score. Radiographs were examined to identify the cause of complications and determine the need for revision surgery. All patients showed significantly better functional results when preoperative and postoperative mHHS (67.58 vs 87.33, respectively; P=.002) and VAS pain score (7.66 vs 2, respectively; P=.0003) were compared. Although 2 cases of instability were diagnosed, only 1 patient needed acetabular revision as a result of component malpositioning. None of the patients had component loosening, osteolysis, or infection. Unconstrained THA in the affected limb of patients with poliomyelitis showed favorable long-term clinical results, with improved function and pain relief. Nevertheless, instability may be a more frequent complication in this group of patients compared with the general population. [Orthopedics. 2017; 40(2):e255-e261.]. Copyright 2016, SLACK Incorporated.

Assessment of patient functional performance in different knee arthroplasty designs during unconstrained squat.

Science.gov (United States)

Verdini, Federica; Zara, Claudio; Leo, Tommaso; Mengarelli, Alessandro; Cardarelli, Stefano; Innocenti, Bernardo

2017-01-01

In this paper, squat named by Authors unconstrained because performed without constrains related to feet position, speed, knee maximum angle to be reached, was tested as motor task revealing differences in functional performance after knee arthroplasty. It involves large joints ranges of motion, does not compromise joint safety and requires accurate control strategies to maintain balance. Motion capture techniques were used to study squat on a healthy control group (CTR) and on three groups, each characterised by a specific knee arthroplasty design: a Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA), a Mobile Bearing and a Fixed Bearing Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty (respectively MBUA and FBUA). Squat was analysed during descent, maintenance and ascent phase and described by speed, angular kinematics of lower and upper body, the Center of Pressure (CoP) trajectory and muscle activation timing of quadriceps and biceps femoris. Compared to CTR, for TKA and MBUA knee maximum flexion was lower, vertical speed during descent and ascent reduced and the duration of whole movement was longer. CoP mean distance was higher for all arthroplasty groups during descent as higher was, CoP mean velocity for MBUA and TKA during ascent and descent. Unconstrained squat is able to reveal differences in the functional performance among control and arthroplasty groups and between different arthroplasty designs. Considering the similarity index calculated for the variables showing statistically significance, FBUA performance appears to be closest to that of the CTR group. III a.

Assessment of patient functional performance in different knee arthroplasty designs during unconstrained squat

Science.gov (United States)

Verdini, Federica; Zara, Claudio; Leo, Tommaso; Mengarelli, Alessandro; Cardarelli, Stefano; Innocenti, Bernardo

2017-01-01

Summary Background In this paper, squat named by Authors unconstrained because performed without constrains related to feet position, speed, knee maximum angle to be reached, was tested as motor task revealing differences in functional performance after knee arthroplasty. It involves large joints ranges of motion, does not compromise joint safety and requires accurate control strategies to maintain balance. Methods Motion capture techniques were used to study squat on a healthy control group (CTR) and on three groups, each characterised by a specific knee arthroplasty design: a Total Knee Arthroplasty (TKA), a Mobile Bearing and a Fixed Bearing Unicompartmental Knee Arthroplasty (respectively MBUA and FBUA). Squat was analysed during descent, maintenance and ascent phase and described by speed, angular kinematics of lower and upper body, the Center of Pressure (CoP) trajectory and muscle activation timing of quadriceps and biceps femoris. Results Compared to CTR, for TKA and MBUA knee maximum flexion was lower, vertical speed during descent and ascent reduced and the duration of whole movement was longer. CoP mean distance was higher for all arthroplasty groups during descent as higher was, CoP mean velocity for MBUA and TKA during ascent and descent. Conclusions Unconstrained squat is able to reveal differences in the functional performance among control and arthroplasty groups and between different arthroplasty designs. Considering the similarity index calculated for the variables showing statistically significance, FBUA performance appears to be closest to that of the CTR group. Level of evidence III a. PMID:29387646

On Lattice Sequential Decoding for The Unconstrained AWGN Channel

KAUST Repository

Abediseid, Walid; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2013-01-01

channel has been studied only under the use of the minimum Euclidean distance decoder that is commonly referred to as the \\textit{lattice decoder}. Lattice decoders based on solutions to the NP-hard closest vector problem are very complex to implement

Distance majorization and its applications.

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Chi, Eric C; Zhou, Hua; Lange, Kenneth

2014-08-01

The problem of minimizing a continuously differentiable convex function over an intersection of closed convex sets is ubiquitous in applied mathematics. It is particularly interesting when it is easy to project onto each separate set, but nontrivial to project onto their intersection. Algorithms based on Newton's method such as the interior point method are viable for small to medium-scale problems. However, modern applications in statistics, engineering, and machine learning are posing problems with potentially tens of thousands of parameters or more. We revisit this convex programming problem and propose an algorithm that scales well with dimensionality. Our proposal is an instance of a sequential unconstrained minimization technique and revolves around three ideas: the majorization-minimization principle, the classical penalty method for constrained optimization, and quasi-Newton acceleration of fixed-point algorithms. The performance of our distance majorization algorithms is illustrated in several applications.

Comparing kinematic changes between a finger-tapping task and unconstrained finger flexion-extension task in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Teo, W P; Rodrigues, J P; Mastaglia, F L; Thickbroom, G W

2013-06-01

Repetitive finger tapping is a well-established clinical test for the evaluation of parkinsonian bradykinesia, but few studies have investigated other finger movement modalities. We compared the kinematic changes (movement rate and amplitude) and response to levodopa during a conventional index finger-thumb-tapping task and an unconstrained index finger flexion-extension task performed at maximal voluntary rate (MVR) for 20 s in 11 individuals with levodopa-responsive Parkinson's disease (OFF and ON) and 10 healthy age-matched controls. Between-task comparisons showed that for all conditions, the initial movement rate was greater for the unconstrained flexion-extension task than the tapping task. Movement rate in the OFF state was slower than in controls for both tasks and normalized in the ON state. The movement amplitude was also reduced for both tasks in OFF and increased in the ON state but did not reach control levels. The rate and amplitude of movement declined significantly for both tasks under all conditions (OFF/ON and controls). The time course of rate decline was comparable for both tasks and was similar in OFF/ON and controls, whereas the tapping task was associated with a greater decline in MA, both in controls and ON, but not OFF. The findings indicate that both finger movement tasks show similar kinematic changes during a 20-s sustained MVR, but that movement amplitude is less well sustained during the tapping task than the unconstrained finger movement task. Both movement rate and amplitude improved with levodopa; however, movement rate was more levodopa responsive than amplitude.

Radial basis function neural networks with sequential learning MRAN and its applications

CERN Document Server

Sundararajan, N; Wei Lu Ying

1999-01-01

This book presents in detail the newly developed sequential learning algorithm for radial basis function neural networks, which realizes a minimal network. This algorithm, created by the authors, is referred to as Minimal Resource Allocation Networks (MRAN). The book describes the application of MRAN in different areas, including pattern recognition, time series prediction, system identification, control, communication and signal processing. Benchmark problems from these areas have been studied, and MRAN is compared with other algorithms. In order to make the book self-contained, a review of t

Selective condensation drives partitioning and sequential secretion of cyst wall proteins in differentiating Giardia lamblia.

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Christian Konrad

2010-04-01

Full Text Available Controlled secretion of a protective extracellular matrix is required for transmission of the infective stage of a large number of protozoan and metazoan parasites. Differentiating trophozoites of the highly minimized protozoan parasite Giardia lamblia secrete the proteinaceous portion of the cyst wall material (CWM consisting of three paralogous cyst wall proteins (CWP1-3 via organelles termed encystation-specific vesicles (ESVs. Phylogenetic and molecular data indicate that Diplomonads have lost a classical Golgi during reductive evolution. However, neogenesis of ESVs in encysting Giardia trophozoites transiently provides basic Golgi functions by accumulating presorted CWM exported from the ER for maturation. Based on this "minimal Golgi" hypothesis we predicted maturation of ESVs to a trans Golgi-like stage, which would manifest as a sorting event before regulated secretion of the CWM. Here we show that proteolytic processing of pro-CWP2 in maturing ESVs coincides with partitioning of CWM into two fractions, which are sorted and secreted sequentially with different kinetics. This novel sorting function leads to rapid assembly of a structurally defined outer cyst wall, followed by slow secretion of the remaining components. Using live cell microscopy we find direct evidence for condensed core formation in maturing ESVs. Core formation suggests that a mechanism controlled by phase transitions of the CWM from fluid to condensed and back likely drives CWM partitioning and makes sorting and sequential secretion possible. Blocking of CWP2 processing by a protease inhibitor leads to mis-sorting of a CWP2 reporter. Nevertheless, partitioning and sequential secretion of two portions of the CWM are unaffected in these cells. Although these cysts have a normal appearance they are not water resistant and therefore not infective. Our findings suggest that sequential assembly is a basic architectural principle of protective wall formation and requires

Velocity-dependent changes of rotational axes in the non-visual control of unconstrained 3D arm motions.

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Isableu, B; Rezzoug, N; Mallet, G; Bernardin, D; Gorce, P; Pagano, C C

2009-12-29

We examined the roles of inertial (e(3)), shoulder-centre of mass (SH-CM) and shoulder-elbow articular (SH-EL) rotation axes in the non-visual control of unconstrained 3D arm rotations. Subjects rotated the arm in elbow configurations that yielded either a constant or variable separation between these axes. We hypothesized that increasing the motion frequency and the task complexity would result in the limbs' rotational axis to correspond to e(3) in order to minimize rotational resistances. Results showed two velocity-dependent profiles wherein the rotation axis coincided with the SH-EL axis for S and I velocities and then in the F velocity shifted to either a SH-CM/e(3) trade-off axis for one profile, or to no preferential axis for the other. A third profile was velocity-independent, with the SH-CM/e(3) trade-off axis being adopted. Our results are the first to provide evidence that the rotational axis of a multi-articulated limb may change from a geometrical axis of rotation to a mass or inertia based axis as motion frequency increases. These findings are discussed within the framework of the minimum inertia tensor model (MIT), which shows that rotations about e(3) reduce the amount of joint muscle torque that must be produced by employing the interaction torque to assist movement.

Does Cash Contribute to Value? A Comparison of Constrained and Unconstrained Firms in China and Germany

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Wei Zhang

2015-11-01

Full Text Available A fundamental characteristic of emerging markets is the underdevelopment of legal institutions and financial markets. Therefore, the marginal value of a firm’s cash holdings in emerging countries can be lower than 1, due to high agency costs resulting from poor external corporate governance. However, the marginal value of cash may also be high in emerging markets because the information asymmetry between current and new providers of funds is high, which means that it is difficult to access the (low quality capital markets. We study for the industrialized countries of China and Germany whether corporate cash holdings contribute to shareholder value in both constrained and unconstrained firms. In contradiction to previous literature on emerging markets, we find that the marginal value of cash is not smaller than 1 in China, so that agency costs do not dominate. We, however, find marginal values of cash lower than 1 for unconstrained firms in both countries, implying that in these firms agency costs of cash holdings exist. For constrained firms we find marginal values significantly larger than 1 in both countries. This indicates difficulties in accessing the financial markets for these firms. These difficulties prove to be larger in China than in Germany for small and service firms, but not for high growth firms.

Steepest descent method implementation on unconstrained optimization problem using C++ program

Science.gov (United States)

Napitupulu, H.; Sukono; Mohd, I. Bin; Hidayat, Y.; Supian, S.

2018-03-01

Steepest Descent is known as the simplest gradient method. Recently, many researches are done to obtain the appropriate step size in order to reduce the objective function value progressively. In this paper, the properties of steepest descent method from literatures are reviewed together with advantages and disadvantages of each step size procedure. The development of steepest descent method due to its step size procedure is discussed. In order to test the performance of each step size, we run a steepest descent procedure in C++ program. We implemented it to unconstrained optimization test problem with two variables, then we compare the numerical results of each step size procedure. Based on the numerical experiment, we conclude the general computational features and weaknesses of each procedure in each case of problem.

Standardized method for reproducing the sequential X-rays flap

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brenes, Alejandra; Molina, Katherine; Gudino, Sylvia

2009-01-01

A method is validated to estandardize in the taking, developing and analysis of bite-wing radiographs taken in sequential way, in order to compare and evaluate detectable changes in the evolution of the interproximal lesions through time. A radiographic positioner called XCP® is modified by means of a rigid acrylic guide, to achieve proper of the X ray equipment core positioning relative to the XCP® ring and the reorientation during the sequential x-rays process. 16 subjects of 4 to 40 years old are studied for a total number of 32 registries. Two x-rays of the same block of teeth of each subject have been taken in sequential way, with a minimal difference of 30 minutes between each one, before the placement of radiographic attachment. The images have been digitized with a Super Cam® scanner and imported to a software. The measurements in X and Y-axis for both x-rays were performed to proceed to compare. The intraclass correlation index (ICI) has shown that the proposed method is statistically related to measurement (mm) obtained in the X and Y-axis for both sequential series of x-rays (p=0.01). The measures of central tendency and dispersion have shown that the usual occurrence is indifferent between the two measurements (Mode 0.000 and S = 0083 and 0.109) and that the probability of occurrence of different values is lower than expected. (author) [es

Sequential determination of important ecotoxic radionuclides in nuclear waste samples

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bilohuscin, J.

2016-01-01

In the dissertation thesis we focused on the development and optimization of a sequential determination method for radionuclides 93 Zr, 94 Nb, 99 Tc and 126 Sn, employing extraction chromatography sorbents TEVA (R) Resin and Anion Exchange Resin, supplied by Eichrom Industries. Prior to the attestation of sequential separation of these proposed radionuclides from radioactive waste samples, a unique sequential procedure of 90 Sr, 239 Pu, 241 Am separation from urine matrices was tried, using molecular recognition sorbents of AnaLig (R) series and extraction chromatography sorbent DGA (R) Resin. On these experiments, four various sorbents were continually used for separation, including PreFilter Resin sorbent, which removes interfering organic materials present in raw urine. After the acquisition of positive results of this sequential procedure followed experiments with a 126 Sn separation using TEVA (R) Resin and Anion Exchange Resin sorbents. Radiochemical recoveries obtained from samples of radioactive evaporate concentrates and sludge showed high efficiency of the separation, while values of 126 Sn were under the minimum detectable activities MDA. Activity of 126 Sn was determined after ingrowth of daughter nuclide 126m Sb on HPGe gamma detector, with minimal contamination of gamma interfering radionuclides with decontamination factors (D f ) higher then 1400 for 60 Co and 47000 for 137 Cs. Based on the acquired experiments and results of these separation procedures, a complex method of sequential separation of 93 Zr, 94 Nb, 99 Tc and 126 Sn was proposed, which included optimization steps similar to those used in previous parts of the dissertation work. Application of the sequential separation method for sorbents TEVA (R) Resin and Anion Exchange Resin on real samples of radioactive wastes provided satisfactory results and an economical, time sparing, efficient method. (author)

An Equivalent Emission Minimization Strategy for Causal Optimal Control of Diesel Engines

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Stephan Zentner

2014-02-01

Full Text Available One of the main challenges during the development of operating strategies for modern diesel engines is the reduction of the CO2 emissions, while complying with ever more stringent limits for the pollutant emissions. The inherent trade-off between the emissions of CO2 and pollutants renders a simultaneous reduction difficult. Therefore, an optimal operating strategy is sought that yields minimal CO2 emissions, while holding the cumulative pollutant emissions at the allowed level. Such an operating strategy can be obtained offline by solving a constrained optimal control problem. However, the final-value constraint on the cumulated pollutant emissions prevents this approach from being adopted for causal control. This paper proposes a framework for causal optimal control of diesel engines. The optimization problem can be solved online when the constrained minimization of the CO2 emissions is reformulated as an unconstrained minimization of the CO2 emissions and the weighted pollutant emissions (i.e., equivalent emissions. However, the weighting factors are not known a priori. A method for the online calculation of these weighting factors is proposed. It is based on the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB equation and a physically motivated approximation of the optimal cost-to-go. A case study shows that the causal control strategy defined by the online calculation of the equivalence factor and the minimization of the equivalent emissions is only slightly inferior to the non-causal offline optimization, while being applicable to online control.

Electroweak symmetry breaking and collider signatures in the next-to-minimal composite Higgs model

Science.gov (United States)

Niehoff, Christoph; Stangl, Peter; Straub, David M.

2017-04-01

We conduct a detailed numerical analysis of the composite pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone Higgs model based on the next-to-minimal coset SO(6)/SO(5) ≅ SU(4)/Sp(4), featuring an additional SM singlet scalar in the spectrum, which we allow to mix with the Higgs boson. We identify regions in parameter space compatible with all current exper-imental constraints, including radiative electroweak symmetry breaking, flavour physics, and direct searches at colliders. We find the additional scalar, with a mass predicted to be below a TeV, to be virtually unconstrained by current LHC data, but potentially in reach of run 2 searches. Promising indirect searches include rare semi-leptonic B decays, CP violation in B s mixing, and the electric dipole moment of the neutron.

Reliability assessment of restructured power systems using reliability network equivalent and pseudo-sequential simulation techniques

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ding, Yi; Wang, Peng; Goel, Lalit; Billinton, Roy; Karki, Rajesh

2007-01-01

This paper presents a technique to evaluate reliability of a restructured power system with a bilateral market. The proposed technique is based on the combination of the reliability network equivalent and pseudo-sequential simulation approaches. The reliability network equivalent techniques have been implemented in the Monte Carlo simulation procedure to reduce the computational burden of the analysis. Pseudo-sequential simulation has been used to increase the computational efficiency of the non-sequential simulation method and to model the chronological aspects of market trading and system operation. Multi-state Markov models for generation and transmission systems are proposed and implemented in the simulation. A new load shedding scheme is proposed during generation inadequacy and network congestion to minimize the load curtailment. The IEEE reliability test system (RTS) is used to illustrate the technique. (author)

Sequential Power-Dependence Theory

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Buskens, Vincent; Rijt, Arnout van de

2008-01-01

Existing methods for predicting resource divisions in laboratory exchange networks do not take into account the sequential nature of the experimental setting. We extend network exchange theory by considering sequential exchange. We prove that Sequential Power-Dependence Theory—unlike

New generalized conjugate gradient methods for the non-quadratic model in unconstrained optimization

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Al-Bayati, A.

2001-01-01

This paper present two new conjugate gradient algorithms which use the non-quadratic model in unconstrained optimization. The first is a new generalized self-scaling variable metric algorithm based on the sloboda generalized conjugate gradient method which is invariant to a nonlinear scaling of a stricity convex quadratic function; the second is an interleaving between the generalized sloboda method and the first algorithm; all these algorithm use exact line searches. Numerical comparisons over twenty test functions show that the interleaving algorithm is best overall and requires only about half the function evaluations of the Sloboda method: interleaving algorithms are likely to be preferred when the dimensionality of the problem is increased. (author). 29 refs., 1 tab

Unconstrained Finite Element for Geometrical Nonlinear Dynamics of Shells

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Humberto Breves Coda

2009-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a positional FEM formulation to deal with geometrical nonlinear dynamics of shells. The main objective is to develop a new FEM methodology based on the minimum potential energy theorem written regarding nodal positions and generalized unconstrained vectors not displacements and rotations. These characteristics are the novelty of the present work and avoid the use of large rotation approximations. A nondimensional auxiliary coordinate system is created, and the change of configuration function is written following two independent mappings from which the strain energy function is derived. This methodology is called positional and, as far as the authors' knowledge goes, is a new procedure to approximated geometrical nonlinear structures. In this paper a proof for the linear and angular momentum conservation property of the Newmark algorithm is provided for total Lagrangian description. The proposed shell element is locking free for elastic stress-strain relations due to the presence of linear strain variation along the shell thickness. The curved, high-order element together with an implicit procedure to solve nonlinear equations guarantees precision in calculations. The momentum conserving, the locking free behavior, and the frame invariance of the adopted mapping are numerically confirmed by examples.

Speciation fingerprints of binary mixtures by the optimized sequential two-phase separation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Macasek, F.

1995-01-01

The analysis of the separation methods suitable for chemical speciation of radionuclides and metals, and advantages of sequential (double) distribution technique were discussed. The equilibria are relatively easy to control and the method enables to minimize a matrix composition adjustment, and therefore it minimizes also the disturbance of original (native) state of elements. The technique may consist in the repeat solvent extraction of sample, or the replicate equilibration with sorbent. The common condition of applicability is a linear separation isotherm of the species, what is mostly a reasonable condition in case of trace concentrations. The equations used for simultaneous fitting were written in general form. 1 tab., 1 fig., 2 refs

Design of Unconstrained DMC to Improve the Distillate Product Purity of the Distillation Column

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bhat Vinayambika S.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available This paper demonstrates the use of unconstrained Dynamic Matrix Control (DMC to control the process transfer function with time delay. The selection of tuning parameter is challenging task in predictive control algorithm. The DMC scheme is designed and it is used here to control the process transfer function, First Order Plant with Dead Time (FOPDT model. Here, one manipulated variable (reflux and one controlled variable (distillate is considered for the implementation. The algorithm significantly controls the reflux to improve the distillate product purity. The simulation is done using MATLAB m-file. Both servo and regulatory responses were obtained. The simulation result validates the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Electroweak symmetry breaking and collider signatures in the next-to-minimal composite Higgs model

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Niehoff, Christoph; Stangl, Peter; Straub, David M. [Excellence Cluster Universe, TUM,Boltzmannstr. 2, 85748 Garching (Germany)

2017-04-20

We conduct a detailed numerical analysis of the composite pseudo-Nambu-Goldstone Higgs model based on the next-to-minimal coset SO(6)/SO(5)≅SU(4)/Sp(4), featuring an additional SM singlet scalar in the spectrum, which we allow to mix with the Higgs boson. We identify regions in parameter space compatible with all current experimental constraints, including radiative electroweak symmetry breaking, flavour physics, and direct searches at colliders. We find the additional scalar, with a mass predicted to be below a TeV, to be virtually unconstrained by current LHC data, but potentially in reach of run 2 searches. Promising indirect searches include rare semi-leptonic B decays, C P violation in B{sub s} mixing, and the electric dipole moment of the neutron.

Automatic synthesis of sequential control schemes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Klein, I.

1993-01-01

Of all hard- and software developed for industrial control purposes, the majority is devoted to sequential, or binary valued, control and only a minor part to classical linear control. Typically, the sequential parts of the controller are invoked during startup and shut-down to bring the system into its normal operating region and into some safe standby region, respectively. Despite its importance, fairly little theoretical research has been devoted to this area, and sequential control programs are therefore still created manually without much theoretical support to obtain a systematic approach. We propose a method to create sequential control programs automatically. The main ideas is to spend some effort off-line modelling the plant, and from this model generate the control strategy, that is the plan. The plant is modelled using action structures, thereby concentrating on the actions instead of the states of the plant. In general the planning problem shows exponential complexity in the number of state variables. However, by focusing on the actions, we can identify problem classes as well as algorithms such that the planning complexity is reduced to polynomial complexity. We prove that these algorithms are sound, i.e., the generated solution will solve the stated problem, and complete, i.e., if the algorithms fail, then no solution exists. The algorithms generate a plan as a set of actions and a partial order on this set specifying the execution order. The generated plant is proven to be minimal and maximally parallel. For a larger class of problems we propose a method to split the original problem into a number of simple problems that can each be solved using one of the presented algorithms. It is also shown how a plan can be translated into a GRAFCET chart, and to illustrate these ideas we have implemented a planing tool, i.e., a system that is able to automatically create control schemes. Such a tool can of course also be used on-line if it is fast enough. This

An anomaly detection and isolation scheme with instance-based learning and sequential analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoo, T. S.; Garcia, H. E.

2006-01-01

This paper presents an online anomaly detection and isolation (FDI) technique using an instance-based learning method combined with a sequential change detection and isolation algorithm. The proposed method uses kernel density estimation techniques to build statistical models of the given empirical data (null hypothesis). The null hypothesis is associated with the set of alternative hypotheses modeling the abnormalities of the systems. A decision procedure involves a sequential change detection and isolation algorithm. Notably, the proposed method enjoys asymptotic optimality as the applied change detection and isolation algorithm is optimal in minimizing the worst mean detection/isolation delay for a given mean time before a false alarm or a false isolation. Applicability of this methodology is illustrated with redundant sensor data set and its performance. (authors)

A new smoothing modified three-term conjugate gradient method for [Formula: see text]-norm minimization problem.

Science.gov (United States)

Du, Shouqiang; Chen, Miao

2018-01-01

We consider a kind of nonsmooth optimization problems with [Formula: see text]-norm minimization, which has many applications in compressed sensing, signal reconstruction, and the related engineering problems. Using smoothing approximate techniques, this kind of nonsmooth optimization problem can be transformed into a general unconstrained optimization problem, which can be solved by the proposed smoothing modified three-term conjugate gradient method. The smoothing modified three-term conjugate gradient method is based on Polak-Ribière-Polyak conjugate gradient method. For the Polak-Ribière-Polyak conjugate gradient method has good numerical properties, the proposed method possesses the sufficient descent property without any line searches, and it is also proved to be globally convergent. Finally, the numerical experiments show the efficiency of the proposed method.

Recognition of Faces in Unconstrained Environments: A Comparative Study

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Javier Ruiz-del-Solar

2009-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this work is to carry out a comparative study of face recognition methods that are suitable to work in unconstrained environments. The analyzed methods are selected by considering their performance in former comparative studies, in addition to be real-time, to require just one image per person, and to be fully online. In the study two local-matching methods, histograms of LBP features and Gabor Jet descriptors, one holistic method, generalized PCA, and two image-matching methods, SIFT-based and ERCF-based, are analyzed. The methods are compared using the FERET, LFW, UCHFaceHRI, and FRGC databases, which allows evaluating them in real-world conditions that include variations in scale, pose, lighting, focus, resolution, facial expression, accessories, makeup, occlusions, background and photographic quality. Main conclusions of this study are: there is a large dependence of the methods on the amount of face and background information that is included in the face's images, and the performance of all methods decreases largely with outdoor-illumination. The analyzed methods are robust to inaccurate alignment, face occlusions, and variations in expressions, to a large degree. LBP-based methods are an excellent election if we need real-time operation as well as high recognition rates.

Modelling sequentially scored item responses

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Akkermans, W.

2000-01-01

The sequential model can be used to describe the variable resulting from a sequential scoring process. In this paper two more item response models are investigated with respect to their suitability for sequential scoring: the partial credit model and the graded response model. The investigation is

Sequential Administration of Carbon Nanotubes and Near Infrared Radiation for the Treatment of Gliomas

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Tiago eSantos

2014-07-01

Full Text Available The objective was to use carbon nanotubes (CNT coupled with near infrared radiation (NIR to induce hyperthermia, as a novel non-ionizing radiation treatment for primary brain tumors, glioblastoma multiforme (GBM. In this study we report the therapeutic potential of hyperthermia-induced thermal ablation using the sequential administration of carbon nanotubes and NIR. In vitro studies were performed using glioma tumor cell lines (U251, U87, LN229, T98G. Glioma cells were incubated with CNTs for 24 hours followed by exposure to NIR for 10 minutes. Glioma cells preferentially internalized CNTs, which upon NIR exposure, generated heat, causing necrotic cell death. There were minimal effects to normal cells, which correlate to their minimal uptake of CNTs. Furthermore, this protocol caused cell death to glioma cancer stem cells, and drug-resistant as well as drug-sensitive glioma cells. This sequential hyperthermia therapy was effective in vivo, in the rodent tumor model resulting in tumor shrinkage and no recurrence after only one treatment. In conclusion, this sequence of selective CNT administration followed by NIR activation provides a new approach to the treatment of glioma, particularly drug-resistant gliomas.

Vector Graph Assisted Pedestrian Dead Reckoning Using an Unconstrained Smartphone

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiuchao Qian

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The paper presents a hybrid indoor positioning solution based on a pedestrian dead reckoning (PDR approach using built-in sensors on a smartphone. To address the challenges of flexible and complex contexts of carrying a phone while walking, a robust step detection algorithm based on motion-awareness has been proposed. Given the fact that step length is influenced by different motion states, an adaptive step length estimation algorithm based on motion recognition is developed. Heading estimation is carried out by an attitude acquisition algorithm, which contains a two-phase filter to mitigate the distortion of magnetic anomalies. In order to estimate the heading for an unconstrained smartphone, principal component analysis (PCA of acceleration is applied to determine the offset between the orientation of smartphone and the actual heading of a pedestrian. Moreover, a particle filter with vector graph assisted particle weighting is introduced to correct the deviation in step length and heading estimation. Extensive field tests, including four contexts of carrying a phone, have been conducted in an office building to verify the performance of the proposed algorithm. Test results show that the proposed algorithm can achieve sub-meter mean error in all contexts.

Implementation of generalized measurements with minimal disturbance on a quantum computer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Decker, T.; Grassl, M.

2006-01-01

We consider the problem of efficiently implementing a generalized measurement on a quantum computer. Using methods from representation theory, we exploit symmetries of the states we want to identify respectively symmetries of the measurement operators. In order to allow the information to be extracted sequentially, the disturbance of the quantum state due to the measurement should be minimal. (Abstract Copyright [2006], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

A convergent overlapping domain decomposition method for total variation minimization

KAUST Repository

Fornasier, Massimo

2010-06-22

In this paper we are concerned with the analysis of convergent sequential and parallel overlapping domain decomposition methods for the minimization of functionals formed by a discrepancy term with respect to the data and a total variation constraint. To our knowledge, this is the first successful attempt of addressing such a strategy for the nonlinear, nonadditive, and nonsmooth problem of total variation minimization. We provide several numerical experiments, showing the successful application of the algorithm for the restoration of 1D signals and 2D images in interpolation/inpainting problems, respectively, and in a compressed sensing problem, for recovering piecewise constant medical-type images from partial Fourier ensembles. © 2010 Springer-Verlag.

Multi-agent sequential hypothesis testing

KAUST Repository

Kim, Kwang-Ki K.

2014-12-15

This paper considers multi-agent sequential hypothesis testing and presents a framework for strategic learning in sequential games with explicit consideration of both temporal and spatial coordination. The associated Bayes risk functions explicitly incorporate costs of taking private/public measurements, costs of time-difference and disagreement in actions of agents, and costs of false declaration/choices in the sequential hypothesis testing. The corresponding sequential decision processes have well-defined value functions with respect to (a) the belief states for the case of conditional independent private noisy measurements that are also assumed to be independent identically distributed over time, and (b) the information states for the case of correlated private noisy measurements. A sequential investment game of strategic coordination and delay is also discussed as an application of the proposed strategic learning rules.

Imaging Brain Function with Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy in Unconstrained Environments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Joana B. Balardin

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Assessing the neural correlates of motor and cognitive processes under naturalistic experimentation is challenging due to the movement constraints of traditional brain imaging technologies. The recent advent of portable technologies that are less sensitive to motion artifacts such as Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS have been made possible the study of brain function in freely-moving participants. In this paper, we describe a series of proof-of-concept experiments examining the potential of fNIRS in assessing the neural correlates of cognitive and motor processes in unconstrained environments. We show illustrative applications for practicing a sport (i.e., table tennis, playing a musical instrument (i.e., piano and violin alone or in duo and performing daily activities for many hours (i.e., continuous monitoring. Our results expand upon previous research on the feasibility and robustness of fNIRS to monitor brain hemodynamic changes in different real life settings. We believe that these preliminary results showing the flexibility and robustness of fNIRS measurements may contribute by inspiring future work in the field of applied neuroscience.

Comparative efficacy of simultaneous versus sequential multiple health behavior change interventions among adults: A systematic review of randomised trials.

Science.gov (United States)

James, Erica; Freund, Megan; Booth, Angela; Duncan, Mitch J; Johnson, Natalie; Short, Camille E; Wolfenden, Luke; Stacey, Fiona G; Kay-Lambkin, Frances; Vandelanotte, Corneel

2016-08-01

Growing evidence points to the benefits of addressing multiple health behaviors rather than single behaviors. This review evaluates the relative effectiveness of simultaneous and sequentially delivered multiple health behavior change (MHBC) interventions. Secondary aims were to identify: a) the most effective spacing of sequentially delivered components; b) differences in efficacy of MHBC interventions for adoption/cessation behaviors and lifestyle/addictive behaviors, and; c) differences in trial retention between simultaneously and sequentially delivered interventions. MHBC intervention trials published up to October 2015 were identified through a systematic search. Eligible trials were randomised controlled trials that directly compared simultaneous and sequential delivery of a MHBC intervention. A narrative synthesis was undertaken. Six trials met the inclusion criteria and across these trials the behaviors targeted were smoking, diet, physical activity, and alcohol consumption. Three trials reported a difference in intervention effect between a sequential and simultaneous approach in at least one behavioral outcome. Of these, two trials favoured a sequential approach on smoking. One trial favoured a simultaneous approach on fat intake. There was no difference in retention between sequential and simultaneous approaches. There is limited evidence regarding the relative effectiveness of sequential and simultaneous approaches. Given only three of the six trials observed a difference in intervention effectiveness for one health behavior outcome, and the relatively consistent finding that the sequential and simultaneous approaches were more effective than a usual/minimal care control condition, it appears that both approaches should be considered equally efficacious. PROSPERO registration number: CRD42015027876. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sadhana | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

In this paper an attempt is made to review the literature on optimizing machining parameters in turning processes. Various conventional techniques employed for machining optimization include geometric programming, geometric plus linear programming, goal programming, sequential unconstrained minimizationtechnique, ...

Sequential charged particle reaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hori, Jun-ichi; Ochiai, Kentaro; Sato, Satoshi; Yamauchi, Michinori; Nishitani, Takeo

2004-01-01

The effective cross sections for producing the sequential reaction products in F82H, pure vanadium and LiF with respect to the 14.9-MeV neutron were obtained and compared with the estimation ones. Since the sequential reactions depend on the secondary charged particles behavior, the effective cross sections are corresponding to the target nuclei and the material composition. The effective cross sections were also estimated by using the EAF-libraries and compared with the experimental ones. There were large discrepancies between estimated and experimental values. Additionally, we showed the contribution of the sequential reaction on the induced activity and dose rate in the boundary region with water. From the present study, it has been clarified that the sequential reactions are of great importance to evaluate the dose rates around the surface of cooling pipe and the activated corrosion products. (author)

Flow and fracture in water-saturated, unconstrained granular beds

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Germán eVaras

2015-06-01

Full Text Available The injection of gas in a liquid-saturated granular bed gives rise to a wide variety of invasion patterns. Many studies have focused on constrained porous media, in which the grains are fixed in the bed and only the interstitial fluid flows when the gas invades the system. With a free upper boundary, however, the grains can be entrained by the ascending gas or fluid motion, and the competition between the upward motion of grains and sedimentation leads to new patterns. We propose a brief review of the experimental investigation of the dynamics of air rising through a water-saturated, unconstrained granular bed, in both two and three dimensions. After describing the invasion pattern at short and long time, a tentative regime-diagram is proposed. We report original results showing a dependence of the fluidized zone shape, at long times, on the injection flow rate and grain size. A method based on image analysis makes it possible to detect not only the fluidized zone profile in the stationary regime, but also to follow the transient dynamics of its formation. Finally, we describe the degassing dynamics inside the fluidized zone, in the stationary regime. Depending on the experimental conditions, regular bubbling, continuous degassing, intermittent regime or even spontaneous flow-to-fracture transition are observed.

Eyewitness confidence in simultaneous and sequential lineups: a criterion shift account for sequential mistaken identification overconfidence.

Science.gov (United States)

Dobolyi, David G; Dodson, Chad S

2013-12-01

Confidence judgments for eyewitness identifications play an integral role in determining guilt during legal proceedings. Past research has shown that confidence in positive identifications is strongly associated with accuracy. Using a standard lineup recognition paradigm, we investigated accuracy using signal detection and ROC analyses, along with the tendency to choose a face with both simultaneous and sequential lineups. We replicated past findings of reduced rates of choosing with sequential as compared to simultaneous lineups, but notably found an accuracy advantage in favor of simultaneous lineups. Moreover, our analysis of the confidence-accuracy relationship revealed two key findings. First, we observed a sequential mistaken identification overconfidence effect: despite an overall reduction in false alarms, confidence for false alarms that did occur was higher with sequential lineups than with simultaneous lineups, with no differences in confidence for correct identifications. This sequential mistaken identification overconfidence effect is an expected byproduct of the use of a more conservative identification criterion with sequential than with simultaneous lineups. Second, we found a steady drop in confidence for mistaken identifications (i.e., foil identifications and false alarms) from the first to the last face in sequential lineups, whereas confidence in and accuracy of correct identifications remained relatively stable. Overall, we observed that sequential lineups are both less accurate and produce higher confidence false identifications than do simultaneous lineups. Given the increasing prominence of sequential lineups in our legal system, our data argue for increased scrutiny and possibly a wholesale reevaluation of this lineup format. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

Exploring the Metabolic and Perceptual Correlates of Self-Selected Walking Speed under Constrained and Un-Constrained Conditions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David T Godsiff, Shelly Coe, Charlotte Elsworth-Edelsten, Johnny Collett, Ken Howells, Martyn Morris, Helen Dawes

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Mechanisms underpinning self-selected walking speed (SSWS are poorly understood. The present study investigated the extent to which SSWS is related to metabolism, energy cost, and/or perceptual parameters during both normal and artificially constrained walking. Fourteen participants with no pathology affecting gait were tested under standard conditions. Subjects walked on a motorized treadmill at speeds derived from their SSWS as a continuous protocol. RPE scores (CR10 and expired air to calculate energy cost (J.kg-1.m-1 and carbohydrate (CHO oxidation rate (J.kg-1.min-1 were collected during minutes 3-4 at each speed. Eight individuals were re-tested under the same conditions within one week with a hip and knee-brace to immobilize their right leg. Deflection in RPE scores (CR10 and CHO oxidation rate (J.kg-1.min-1 were not related to SSWS (five and three people had deflections in the defined range of SSWS in constrained and unconstrained conditions, respectively (p > 0.05. Constrained walking elicited a higher energy cost (J.kg-1.m-1 and slower SSWS (p 0.05. SSWS did not occur at a minimum energy cost (J.kg-1.m-1 in either condition, however, the size of the minimum energy cost to SSWS disparity was the same (Froude {Fr} = 0.09 in both conditions (p = 0.36. Perceptions of exertion can modify walking patterns and therefore SSWS and metabolism/ energy cost are not directly related. Strategies which minimize perceived exertion may enable faster walking in people with altered gait as our findings indicate they should self-optimize to the same extent under different conditions.

Sadhana | Indian Academy of Sciences

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

... sequential unconstrained minimizationtechnique, dynamic programming etc. The latest techniques for optimization include fuzzy logic, scatter search technique, genetic algorithm, Taguchi technique and response surface methodology. Volume 31 Issue 6 December 2006 pp 671-681. Optimizing feed force for turned parts ...

Production of microbial biomass protein by sequential culture fermentation of Arachniotus sp., and Candida utilis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmed, S.; Ahmad, F.; Hashmi, A.S.

2010-01-01

Sequential culture fermentation by Arachniotus sp. at 35 deg. C for 72 h and followed by Candida utilis fermentation at 35 deg. C for 72 h more resulted in higher production of microbial biomass protein. 6% (w/v) corn stover, 0.0075% CaCl/sub 2/.2H/sub 2/O, 0.005% MgSO/sub 4/.7H/sub 2/O, 0.01% KH/sub 2/PO/sub 4/, C:N ratio of 30:1 and 1% molasses gave higher microbial biomass protein production by the sequential culture fermentation of Arachniotus sp., and C. utilis. The mixed microbial biomass protein produced in the 75-L fermentor contained 16.41%, 23.51%, 10.9%, 12.11% and 0.12% true protein, crude protein, crude fiber, ash and RNA content, respectively. The amino acid profile of final mixed microbial biomass protein showed that it was enriched with essential amino acids. Thus, the potential utilization of corn stover can minimize the cost for growth of these microorganisms and enhance microbial biomass protein production by sequential culture fermentation. (author)

Performance-complexity tradeoff in sequential decoding for the unconstrained AWGN channel

KAUST Repository

Abediseid, Walid; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2013-01-01

channel has been studied only under the use of the minimum Euclidean distance decoder that is commonly referred to as the lattice decoder. Lattice decoders based on solutions to the NP-hard closest vector problem are very complex to implement

Unconstrained Capacities of Quantum Key Distribution and Entanglement Distillation for Pure-Loss Bosonic Broadcast Channels.

Science.gov (United States)

Takeoka, Masahiro; Seshadreesan, Kaushik P; Wilde, Mark M

2017-10-13

We consider quantum key distribution (QKD) and entanglement distribution using a single-sender multiple-receiver pure-loss bosonic broadcast channel. We determine the unconstrained capacity region for the distillation of bipartite entanglement and secret key between the sender and each receiver, whenever they are allowed arbitrary public classical communication. A practical implication of our result is that the capacity region demonstrated drastically improves upon rates achievable using a naive time-sharing strategy, which has been employed in previously demonstrated network QKD systems. We show a simple example of a broadcast QKD protocol overcoming the limit of the point-to-point strategy. Our result is thus an important step toward opening a new framework of network channel-based quantum communication technology.

Unconstrained Capacities of Quantum Key Distribution and Entanglement Distillation for Pure-Loss Bosonic Broadcast Channels

Science.gov (United States)

Takeoka, Masahiro; Seshadreesan, Kaushik P.; Wilde, Mark M.

2017-10-01

We consider quantum key distribution (QKD) and entanglement distribution using a single-sender multiple-receiver pure-loss bosonic broadcast channel. We determine the unconstrained capacity region for the distillation of bipartite entanglement and secret key between the sender and each receiver, whenever they are allowed arbitrary public classical communication. A practical implication of our result is that the capacity region demonstrated drastically improves upon rates achievable using a naive time-sharing strategy, which has been employed in previously demonstrated network QKD systems. We show a simple example of a broadcast QKD protocol overcoming the limit of the point-to-point strategy. Our result is thus an important step toward opening a new framework of network channel-based quantum communication technology.

Remarks on sequential designs in risk assessment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seidenfeld, T.

1982-01-01

The special merits of sequential designs are reviewed in light of particular challenges that attend risk assessment for human population. The kinds of ''statistical inference'' are distinguished and the problem of design which is pursued is the clash between Neyman-Pearson and Bayesian programs of sequential design. The value of sequential designs is discussed and the Neyman-Pearson vs. Bayesian sequential designs are probed in particular. Finally, warnings with sequential designs are considered, especially in relation to utilitarianism

New sequential separation procedure for Sr, Nd and Pb isotope ratio measurement in geological material using MC-ICP-MS and TIMS

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Makishima, A.; Nath, B.N.; Nakamura, E.

A new 3-step sequential separation chemistry for Sr, Nd and Pb from silicate samples, which is suitable for isotope analysis by MC-ICP-MS as well as TIMS, has been developed. The chemistry is designed to minimize the number of evaporation steps...

Multistrain models predict sequential multidrug treatment strategies to result in less antimicrobial resistance than combination treatment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ahmad, Amais; Zachariasen, Camilla; Christiansen, Lasse Engbo

2016-01-01

Background: Combination treatment is increasingly used to fight infections caused by bacteria resistant to two or more antimicrobials. While multiple studies have evaluated treatment strategies to minimize the emergence of resistant strains for single antimicrobial treatment, fewer studies have...... the sensitive fraction of the commensal flora.Growth parameters for competing bacterial strains were estimated from the combined in vitro pharmacodynamic effect of two antimicrobials using the relationship between concentration and net bacterial growth rate. Predictions of in vivo bacterial growth were...... (how frequently antibiotics are alternated in a sequential treatment) of the two drugs was dependent upon the order in which the two drugs were used.Conclusion: Sequential treatment was more effective in preventing the growth of resistant strains when compared to the combination treatment. The cycling...

Sequential lineup laps and eyewitness accuracy.

Science.gov (United States)

Steblay, Nancy K; Dietrich, Hannah L; Ryan, Shannon L; Raczynski, Jeanette L; James, Kali A

2011-08-01

Police practice of double-blind sequential lineups prompts a question about the efficacy of repeated viewings (laps) of the sequential lineup. Two laboratory experiments confirmed the presence of a sequential lap effect: an increase in witness lineup picks from first to second lap, when the culprit was a stranger. The second lap produced more errors than correct identifications. In Experiment 2, lineup diagnosticity was significantly higher for sequential lineup procedures that employed a single versus double laps. Witnesses who elected to view a second lap made significantly more errors than witnesses who chose to stop after one lap or those who were required to view two laps. Witnesses with prior exposure to the culprit did not exhibit a sequential lap effect.

Unconstrained Enhanced Sampling for Free Energy Calculations of Biomolecules: A Review

Science.gov (United States)

Miao, Yinglong; McCammon, J. Andrew

2016-01-01

Free energy calculations are central to understanding the structure, dynamics and function of biomolecules. Yet insufficient sampling of biomolecular configurations is often regarded as one of the main sources of error. Many enhanced sampling techniques have been developed to address this issue. Notably, enhanced sampling methods based on biasing collective variables (CVs), including the widely used umbrella sampling, adaptive biasing force and metadynamics, have been discussed in a recent excellent review (Abrams and Bussi, Entropy, 2014). Here, we aim to review enhanced sampling methods that do not require predefined system-dependent CVs for biomolecular simulations and as such do not suffer from the hidden energy barrier problem as encountered in the CV-biasing methods. These methods include, but are not limited to, replica exchange/parallel tempering, self-guided molecular/Langevin dynamics, essential energy space random walk and accelerated molecular dynamics. While it is overwhelming to describe all details of each method, we provide a summary of the methods along with the applications and offer our perspectives. We conclude with challenges and prospects of the unconstrained enhanced sampling methods for accurate biomolecular free energy calculations. PMID:27453631

Review of applications of TLBO algorithm and a tutorial for beginners to solve the unconstrained and constrained optimization problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

R. Venkata Rao

2016-01-01

Full Text Available The teaching-learning-based optimization (TLBO algorithm is finding a large number of applications in different fields of engineering and science since its introduction in 2011. The major applications are found in electrical engineering, mechanical design, thermal engineering, manufacturing engineering, civil engineering, structural engineering, computer engineering, electronics engineering, physics, chemistry, biotechnology and economics. This paper presents a review of applications of TLBO algorithm and a tutorial for solving the unconstrained and constrained optimization problems. The tutorial is expected to be useful to the beginners.

Robustness of the Sequential Lineup Advantage

Science.gov (United States)

Gronlund, Scott D.; Carlson, Curt A.; Dailey, Sarah B.; Goodsell, Charles A.

2009-01-01

A growing movement in the United States and around the world involves promoting the advantages of conducting an eyewitness lineup in a sequential manner. We conducted a large study (N = 2,529) that included 24 comparisons of sequential versus simultaneous lineups. A liberal statistical criterion revealed only 2 significant sequential lineup…

Unconstrained tripolar implants for primary total hip arthroplasty in patients at risk for dislocation.

Science.gov (United States)

Guyen, Olivier; Pibarot, Vincent; Vaz, Gualter; Chevillotte, Christophe; Carret, Jean-Paul; Bejui-Hugues, Jacques

2007-09-01

We performed a retrospective study on 167 primary total hip arthroplasty (THA) procedures in 163 patients at high risk for instability to assess the reliability of unconstrained tripolar implants (press-fit outer metal shell articulating a bipolar polyethylene component) in preventing dislocations. Eighty-four percent of the patients had at least 2 risk factors for dislocation. The mean follow-up length was 40.2 months. No dislocation was observed. Harris hip scores improved significantly. Six hips were revised, and no aseptic loosening of the cup was observed. The tripolar implant was extremely successful in achieving stability. However, because of the current lack of data documenting polyethylene wear at additional bearing, the routine use of tripolar implants in primary THA is discouraged and should be considered at the present time only for selected patients at high risk for dislocation and with limited activities.

Comparison of Sequential and Variational Data Assimilation

Science.gov (United States)

Alvarado Montero, Rodolfo; Schwanenberg, Dirk; Weerts, Albrecht

2017-04-01

Data assimilation is a valuable tool to improve model state estimates by combining measured observations with model simulations. It has recently gained significant attention due to its potential in using remote sensing products to improve operational hydrological forecasts and for reanalysis purposes. This has been supported by the application of sequential techniques such as the Ensemble Kalman Filter which require no additional features within the modeling process, i.e. it can use arbitrary black-box models. Alternatively, variational techniques rely on optimization algorithms to minimize a pre-defined objective function. This function describes the trade-off between the amount of noise introduced into the system and the mismatch between simulated and observed variables. While sequential techniques have been commonly applied to hydrological processes, variational techniques are seldom used. In our believe, this is mainly attributed to the required computation of first order sensitivities by algorithmic differentiation techniques and related model enhancements, but also to lack of comparison between both techniques. We contribute to filling this gap and present the results from the assimilation of streamflow data in two basins located in Germany and Canada. The assimilation introduces noise to precipitation and temperature to produce better initial estimates of an HBV model. The results are computed for a hindcast period and assessed using lead time performance metrics. The study concludes with a discussion of the main features of each technique and their advantages/disadvantages in hydrological applications.

Multi-agent sequential hypothesis testing

KAUST Repository

Kim, Kwang-Ki K.; Shamma, Jeff S.

2014-01-01

incorporate costs of taking private/public measurements, costs of time-difference and disagreement in actions of agents, and costs of false declaration/choices in the sequential hypothesis testing. The corresponding sequential decision processes have well

Sequential stochastic optimization

CERN Document Server

Cairoli, Renzo

1996-01-01

Sequential Stochastic Optimization provides mathematicians and applied researchers with a well-developed framework in which stochastic optimization problems can be formulated and solved. Offering much material that is either new or has never before appeared in book form, it lucidly presents a unified theory of optimal stopping and optimal sequential control of stochastic processes. This book has been carefully organized so that little prior knowledge of the subject is assumed; its only prerequisites are a standard graduate course in probability theory and some familiarity with discrete-paramet

Exploring the sequential lineup advantage using WITNESS.

Science.gov (United States)

Goodsell, Charles A; Gronlund, Scott D; Carlson, Curt A

2010-12-01

Advocates claim that the sequential lineup is an improvement over simultaneous lineup procedures, but no formal (quantitatively specified) explanation exists for why it is better. The computational model WITNESS (Clark, Appl Cogn Psychol 17:629-654, 2003) was used to develop theoretical explanations for the sequential lineup advantage. In its current form, WITNESS produced a sequential advantage only by pairing conservative sequential choosing with liberal simultaneous choosing. However, this combination failed to approximate four extant experiments that exhibited large sequential advantages. Two of these experiments became the focus of our efforts because the data were uncontaminated by likely suspect position effects. Decision-based and memory-based modifications to WITNESS approximated the data and produced a sequential advantage. The next step is to evaluate the proposed explanations and modify public policy recommendations accordingly.

Solving Unconstrained Global Optimization Problems via Hybrid Swarm Intelligence Approaches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jui-Yu Wu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Stochastic global optimization (SGO algorithms such as the particle swarm optimization (PSO approach have become popular for solving unconstrained global optimization (UGO problems. The PSO approach, which belongs to the swarm intelligence domain, does not require gradient information, enabling it to overcome this limitation of traditional nonlinear programming methods. Unfortunately, PSO algorithm implementation and performance depend on several parameters, such as cognitive parameter, social parameter, and constriction coefficient. These parameters are tuned by using trial and error. To reduce the parametrization of a PSO method, this work presents two efficient hybrid SGO approaches, namely, a real-coded genetic algorithm-based PSO (RGA-PSO method and an artificial immune algorithm-based PSO (AIA-PSO method. The specific parameters of the internal PSO algorithm are optimized using the external RGA and AIA approaches, and then the internal PSO algorithm is applied to solve UGO problems. The performances of the proposed RGA-PSO and AIA-PSO algorithms are then evaluated using a set of benchmark UGO problems. Numerical results indicate that, besides their ability to converge to a global minimum for each test UGO problem, the proposed RGA-PSO and AIA-PSO algorithms outperform many hybrid SGO algorithms. Thus, the RGA-PSO and AIA-PSO approaches can be considered alternative SGO approaches for solving standard-dimensional UGO problems.

Sequential and simultaneous choices: testing the diet selection and sequential choice models.

Science.gov (United States)

Freidin, Esteban; Aw, Justine; Kacelnik, Alex

2009-03-01

We investigate simultaneous and sequential choices in starlings, using Charnov's Diet Choice Model (DCM) and Shapiro, Siller and Kacelnik's Sequential Choice Model (SCM) to integrate function and mechanism. During a training phase, starlings encountered one food-related option per trial (A, B or R) in random sequence and with equal probability. A and B delivered food rewards after programmed delays (shorter for A), while R ('rejection') moved directly to the next trial without reward. In this phase we measured latencies to respond. In a later, choice, phase, birds encountered the pairs A-B, A-R and B-R, the first implementing a simultaneous choice and the second and third sequential choices. The DCM predicts when R should be chosen to maximize intake rate, and SCM uses latencies of the training phase to predict choices between any pair of options in the choice phase. The predictions of both models coincided, and both successfully predicted the birds' preferences. The DCM does not deal with partial preferences, while the SCM does, and experimental results were strongly correlated to this model's predictions. We believe that the SCM may expose a very general mechanism of animal choice, and that its wider domain of success reflects the greater ecological significance of sequential over simultaneous choices.

Sequential memory: Binding dynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Afraimovich, Valentin; Gong, Xue; Rabinovich, Mikhail

2015-10-01

Temporal order memories are critical for everyday animal and human functioning. Experiments and our own experience show that the binding or association of various features of an event together and the maintaining of multimodality events in sequential order are the key components of any sequential memories—episodic, semantic, working, etc. We study a robustness of binding sequential dynamics based on our previously introduced model in the form of generalized Lotka-Volterra equations. In the phase space of the model, there exists a multi-dimensional binding heteroclinic network consisting of saddle equilibrium points and heteroclinic trajectories joining them. We prove here the robustness of the binding sequential dynamics, i.e., the feasibility phenomenon for coupled heteroclinic networks: for each collection of successive heteroclinic trajectories inside the unified networks, there is an open set of initial points such that the trajectory going through each of them follows the prescribed collection staying in a small neighborhood of it. We show also that the symbolic complexity function of the system restricted to this neighborhood is a polynomial of degree L - 1, where L is the number of modalities.

Facilitated assignment of large protein NMR signals with covariance sequential spectra using spectral derivatives.

Science.gov (United States)

Harden, Bradley J; Nichols, Scott R; Frueh, Dominique P

2014-09-24

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) studies of larger proteins are hampered by difficulties in assigning NMR resonances. Human intervention is typically required to identify NMR signals in 3D spectra, and subsequent procedures depend on the accuracy of this so-called peak picking. We present a method that provides sequential connectivities through correlation maps constructed with covariance NMR, bypassing the need for preliminary peak picking. We introduce two novel techniques to minimize false correlations and merge the information from all original 3D spectra. First, we take spectral derivatives prior to performing covariance to emphasize coincident peak maxima. Second, we multiply covariance maps calculated with different 3D spectra to destroy erroneous sequential correlations. The maps are easy to use and can readily be generated from conventional triple-resonance experiments. Advantages of the method are demonstrated on a 37 kDa nonribosomal peptide synthetase domain subject to spectral overlap.

Novel 2D-sequential color code system employing Image Sensor Communications for Optical Wireless Communications

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Trang Nguyen

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The IEEE 802.15.7r1 Optical Wireless Communications Task Group (TG7r1, also known as the revision of the IEEE 802.15.7 Visible Light Communication standard targeting the commercial usage of visible light communication systems, is of interest in this paper. The paper is mainly concerned with Image Sensor Communications (ISC of TG7r1; however, the major challenge facing ISC, as addressed in the Technical Consideration Document (TCD of TG7r1, is Image Sensor Compatibility among the variety of different commercial cameras on the market. One of the most challenging but interesting compatibility requirements is the need to support the verified presence of frame rate variation. This paper proposes a novel design for 2D-sequential color code. Compared to a QR-code-based sequential transmission, the proposed design of 2D-sequential code can overcome the above challenge that it is compatible with different frame rate variations and different shutter operations, and has the ability to mitigate the rolling effect as well as the rotating effect while effectively minimizing transmission overhead. Practical implementations are demonstrated and a performance comparison is presented.

Two New PRP Conjugate Gradient Algorithms for Minimization Optimization Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Yuan, Gonglin; Duan, Xiabin; Liu, Wenjie; Wang, Xiaoliang; Cui, Zengru; Sheng, Zhou

2015-01-01

Two new PRP conjugate Algorithms are proposed in this paper based on two modified PRP conjugate gradient methods: the first algorithm is proposed for solving unconstrained optimization problems, and the second algorithm is proposed for solving nonlinear equations. The first method contains two aspects of information: function value and gradient value. The two methods both possess some good properties, as follows: 1) βk ≥ 0 2) the search direction has the trust region property without the use of any line search method 3) the search direction has sufficient descent property without the use of any line search method. Under some suitable conditions, we establish the global convergence of the two algorithms. We conduct numerical experiments to evaluate our algorithms. The numerical results indicate that the first algorithm is effective and competitive for solving unconstrained optimization problems and that the second algorithm is effective for solving large-scale nonlinear equations.

Sequential Probability Ration Tests : Conservative and Robust

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Kleijnen, J.P.C.; Shi, Wen

2017-01-01

In practice, most computers generate simulation outputs sequentially, so it is attractive to analyze these outputs through sequential statistical methods such as sequential probability ratio tests (SPRTs). We investigate several SPRTs for choosing between two hypothesized values for the mean output

Sequential lineup presentation: Patterns and policy

OpenAIRE

Lindsay, R C L; Mansour, Jamal K; Beaudry, J L; Leach, A-M; Bertrand, M I

2009-01-01

Sequential lineups were offered as an alternative to the traditional simultaneous lineup. Sequential lineups reduce incorrect lineup selections; however, the accompanying loss of correct identifications has resulted in controversy regarding adoption of the technique. We discuss the procedure and research relevant to (1) the pattern of results found using sequential versus simultaneous lineups; (2) reasons (theory) for differences in witness responses; (3) two methodological issues; and (4) im...

Sequential Product of Quantum Effects: An Overview

Science.gov (United States)

Gudder, Stan

2010-12-01

This article presents an overview for the theory of sequential products of quantum effects. We first summarize some of the highlights of this relatively recent field of investigation and then provide some new results. We begin by discussing sequential effect algebras which are effect algebras endowed with a sequential product satisfying certain basic conditions. We then consider sequential products of (discrete) quantum measurements. We next treat transition effect matrices (TEMs) and their associated sequential product. A TEM is a matrix whose entries are effects and whose rows form quantum measurements. We show that TEMs can be employed for the study of quantum Markov chains. Finally, we prove some new results concerning TEMs and vector densities.

A Novel Walking Detection and Step Counting Algorithm Using Unconstrained Smartphones.

Science.gov (United States)

Kang, Xiaomin; Huang, Baoqi; Qi, Guodong

2018-01-19

Recently, with the development of artificial intelligence technologies and the popularity of mobile devices, walking detection and step counting have gained much attention since they play an important role in the fields of equipment positioning, saving energy, behavior recognition, etc. In this paper, a novel algorithm is proposed to simultaneously detect walking motion and count steps through unconstrained smartphones in the sense that the smartphone placement is not only arbitrary but also alterable. On account of the periodicity of the walking motion and sensitivity of gyroscopes, the proposed algorithm extracts the frequency domain features from three-dimensional (3D) angular velocities of a smartphone through FFT (fast Fourier transform) and identifies whether its holder is walking or not irrespective of its placement. Furthermore, the corresponding step frequency is recursively updated to evaluate the step count in real time. Extensive experiments are conducted by involving eight subjects and different walking scenarios in a realistic environment. It is shown that the proposed method achieves the precision of 93.76 % and recall of 93.65 % for walking detection, and its overall performance is significantly better than other well-known methods. Moreover, the accuracy of step counting by the proposed method is 95.74 % , and is better than both of the several well-known counterparts and commercial products.

Optimal Sequential Rules for Computer-Based Instruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Vos, Hans J.

1998-01-01

Formulates sequential rules for adapting the appropriate amount of instruction to learning needs in the context of computer-based instruction. Topics include Bayesian decision theory, threshold and linear-utility structure, psychometric model, optimal sequential number of test questions, and an empirical example of sequential instructional…

Electroweak precision observables in the minimal supersymmetric standard model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Heinemeyer, S.; Hollik, W.; Weiglein, G.

2006-01-01

The current status of electroweak precision observables in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) is reviewed. We focus in particular on the W boson mass, M W , the effective leptonic weak mixing angle, sin 2 θ eff , the anomalous magnetic moment of the muon (g-2) μ , and the lightest CP-even MSSM Higgs boson mass, m h . We summarize the current experimental situation and the status of the theoretical evaluations. An estimate of the current theoretical uncertainties from unknown higher-order corrections and from the experimental errors of the input parameters is given. We discuss future prospects for both the experimental accuracies and the precision of the theoretical predictions. Confronting the precision data with the theory predictions within the unconstrained MSSM and within specific SUSY-breaking scenarios, we analyse how well the data are described by the theory. The mSUGRA scenario with cosmological constraints yields a very good fit to the data, showing a clear preference for a relatively light mass scale of the SUSY particles. The constraints on the parameter space from the precision data are discussed, and it is shown that the prospective accuracy at the next generation of colliders will enhance the sensitivity of the precision tests very significantly

Contribution to computer aided design of digital circuits - Minimization of alphanumeric expressions - Program CHOPIN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Blanca, Ernest

1974-10-01

Alpha-numeric boolean expressions, written in the form of sums of products and/or products of sums with many brackets, may be minimized in two steps: syntaxic recognition analysis using precedence operator grammar, syntaxic reduction analysis. These two phases of execution and the different programs of the corresponding machine algorithm are described. Examples of minimization of alpha-numeric boolean expressions written with the help of brackets, utilisation note of the program CHOPIN and theoretical considerations related to language, grammar, precedence operator grammar, sequential systems, boolean sets, boolean representations and treatments of boolean expressions, boolean matrices and their use in grammar theory, are discussed and described. (author) [fr

Two Modified Three-Term Type Conjugate Gradient Methods and Their Global Convergence for Unconstrained Optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhongbo Sun

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Two modified three-term type conjugate gradient algorithms which satisfy both the descent condition and the Dai-Liao type conjugacy condition are presented for unconstrained optimization. The first algorithm is a modification of the Hager and Zhang type algorithm in such a way that the search direction is descent and satisfies Dai-Liao’s type conjugacy condition. The second simple three-term type conjugate gradient method can generate sufficient decent directions at every iteration; moreover, this property is independent of the steplength line search. Also, the algorithms could be considered as a modification of the MBFGS method, but with different zk. Under some mild conditions, the given methods are global convergence, which is independent of the Wolfe line search for general functions. The numerical experiments show that the proposed methods are very robust and efficient.

Assessing the effect of sodium dichloroisocyanurate concentration on transfer of Salmonella enterica serotype Typhimurium in wash water for production of minimally processed iceberg lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.).

Science.gov (United States)

Maffei, D F; Sant'Ana, A S; Monteiro, G; Schaffner, D W; Franco, B D G M

2016-06-01

This study evaluated the impact of sodium dichloroisocyanurate (5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 250 mg l(-1) ) in wash water on transfer of Salmonella Typhimurium from contaminated lettuce to wash water and then to other noncontaminated lettuces washed sequentially in the same water. Experiments were designed mimicking the conditions commonly seen in minimally processed vegetable (MPV) processing plants in Brazil. The scenarios were as follows: (1) Washing one inoculated lettuce portion in nonchlorinated water, followed by washing 10 noninoculated portions sequentially. (2) Washing one inoculated lettuce portion in chlorinated water followed by washing five noninoculated portions sequentially. (3) Washing five inoculated lettuce portions in chlorinated water sequentially, followed by washing five noninoculated portions sequentially. (4) Washing five noninoculated lettuce portions in chlorinated water sequentially, followed by washing five inoculated portions sequentially and then by washing five noninoculated portions sequentially in the same water. Salm. Typhimurium transfer from inoculated lettuce to wash water and further dissemination to noninoculated lettuces occurred when nonchlorinated water was used (scenario 1). When chlorinated water was used (scenarios 2, 3 and 4), no measurable Salm. Typhimurium transfer occurred if the sanitizer was ≥10 mg l(-1) . Use of sanitizers in correct concentrations is important to minimize the risk of microbial transfer during MPV washing. In this study, the impact of sodium dichloroisocyanurate in the wash water on transfer of Salmonella Typhimurium from inoculated lettuce to wash water and then to other noninoculated lettuces washed sequentially in the same water was evaluated. The use of chlorinated water, at concentration above 10 mg l(-1) , effectively prevented Salm. Typhimurium transfer under several different washing scenarios. Conversely, when nonchlorinated water was used, Salm. Typhimurium transfer occurred in

Quantum Inequalities and Sequential Measurements

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Candelpergher, B.; Grandouz, T.; Rubinx, J.L.

2011-01-01

In this article, the peculiar context of sequential measurements is chosen in order to analyze the quantum specificity in the two most famous examples of Heisenberg and Bell inequalities: Results are found at some interesting variance with customary textbook materials, where the context of initial state re-initialization is described. A key-point of the analysis is the possibility of defining Joint Probability Distributions for sequential random variables associated to quantum operators. Within the sequential context, it is shown that Joint Probability Distributions can be defined in situations where not all of the quantum operators (corresponding to random variables) do commute two by two. (authors)

Sequential rhodium/palladium catalysis: enantioselective formation of dihydroquinolinones in the presence of achiral and chiral ligands.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Lei; Qureshi, Zafar; Sonaglia, Lorenzo; Lautens, Mark

2014-12-08

Compatible combinations of achiral and chiral ligands can be used in rhodium/palladium catalysis to achieve highly enantioselective domino reactions. The difference in rates of catalysis and minimal effects of ligand interference confer control in the domino sequence. The "all-in-one" 1,4-conjugate arylation and C-N cross-coupling through sequential Rh/Pd catalysis provides access to enantioenriched dihydroquinolinone building blocks. © 2014 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Two New PRP Conjugate Gradient Algorithms for Minimization Optimization Models.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gonglin Yuan

Full Text Available Two new PRP conjugate Algorithms are proposed in this paper based on two modified PRP conjugate gradient methods: the first algorithm is proposed for solving unconstrained optimization problems, and the second algorithm is proposed for solving nonlinear equations. The first method contains two aspects of information: function value and gradient value. The two methods both possess some good properties, as follows: 1 βk ≥ 0 2 the search direction has the trust region property without the use of any line search method 3 the search direction has sufficient descent property without the use of any line search method. Under some suitable conditions, we establish the global convergence of the two algorithms. We conduct numerical experiments to evaluate our algorithms. The numerical results indicate that the first algorithm is effective and competitive for solving unconstrained optimization problems and that the second algorithm is effective for solving large-scale nonlinear equations.

An Improved Quantum-Behaved Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm with Elitist Breeding for Unconstrained Optimization.

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Zhen-Lun; Wu, Angus; Min, Hua-Qing

2015-01-01

An improved quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization with elitist breeding (EB-QPSO) for unconstrained optimization is presented and empirically studied in this paper. In EB-QPSO, the novel elitist breeding strategy acts on the elitists of the swarm to escape from the likely local optima and guide the swarm to perform more efficient search. During the iterative optimization process of EB-QPSO, when criteria met, the personal best of each particle and the global best of the swarm are used to generate new diverse individuals through the transposon operators. The new generated individuals with better fitness are selected to be the new personal best particles and global best particle to guide the swarm for further solution exploration. A comprehensive simulation study is conducted on a set of twelve benchmark functions. Compared with five state-of-the-art quantum-behaved particle swarm optimization algorithms, the proposed EB-QPSO performs more competitively in all of the benchmark functions in terms of better global search capability and faster convergence rate.

Sequential Path Model for Grain Yield in Soybean

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mohammad SEDGHI

2010-09-01

Full Text Available This study was performed to determine some physiological traits that affect soybean,s grain yield via sequential path analysis. In a factorial experiment, two cultivars (Harcor and Williams were sown under four levels of nitrogen and two levels of weed management at the research station of Tabriz University, Iran, during 2004 and 2005. Grain yield, some yield components and physiological traits were measured. Correlation coefficient analysis showed that grain yield had significant positive and negative association with measured traits. A sequential path analysis was done in order to evaluate associations among grain yield and related traits by ordering the various variables in first, second and third order paths on the basis of their maximum direct effects and minimal collinearity. Two first-order variables, namely number of pods per plant and pre-flowering net photosynthesis revealed highest direct effect on total grain yield and explained 49, 44 and 47 % of the variation in grain yield based on 2004, 2005, and combined datasets, respectively. Four traits i.e. post-flowering net photosynthesis, plant height, leaf area index and intercepted radiation at the bottom layer of canopy were found to fit as second-order variables. Pre- and post-flowering chlorophyll content, main root length and intercepted radiation at the middle layer of canopy were placed at the third-order path. From the results concluded that, number of pods per plant and pre-flowering net photosynthesis are the best selection criteria in soybean for grain yield.

Unconstrained snoring detection using a smartphone during ordinary sleep.

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Hangsik; Cho, Jaegeol

2014-08-15

Snoring can be a representative symptom of a sleep disorder, and thus snoring detection is quite important to improving the quality of an individual's daily life. The purpose of this research is to develop an unconstrained snoring detection technique that can be integrated into a smartphone application. In contrast with previous studies, we developed a practical technique for snoring detection during ordinary sleep by using the built-in sound recording system of a smartphone, and the recording was carried out in a standard private bedroom. The experimental protocol was designed to include a variety of actions that frequently produce noise (including coughing, playing music, talking, rining an alarm, opening/closing doors, running a fan, playing the radio, and walking) in order to accurately recreate the actual circumstances during sleep. The sound data were recorded for 10 individuals during actual sleep. In total, 44 snoring data sets and 75 noise datasets were acquired. The algorithm uses formant analysis to examine sound features according to the frequency and magnitude. Then, a quadratic classifier is used to distinguish snoring from non-snoring noises. Ten-fold cross validation was used to evaluate the developed snoring detection methods, and validation was repeated 100 times randomly to improve statistical effectiveness. The overall results showed that the proposed method is competitive with those from previous research. The proposed method presented 95.07% accuracy, 98.58% sensitivity, 94.62% specificity, and 70.38% positive predictivity. Though there was a relatively high false positive rate, the results show the possibility for ubiquitous personal snoring detection through a smartphone application that takes into account data from normally occurring noises without training using preexisting data.

Context Effects in Forensic Entomology and Use of Sequential Unmasking in Casework.

Science.gov (United States)

Archer, Melanie S; Wallman, James F

2016-09-01

Context effects are pervasive in forensic science, and are being recognized by a growing number of disciplines as a threat to objectivity. Cognitive processes can be affected by extraneous context information, and many proactive scientists are therefore introducing context-minimizing systems into their laboratories. Forensic entomologists are also subject to context effects, both in the processes they undertake (e.g., evidence collection) and decisions they make (e.g., whether an invertebrate taxon is found in a certain geographic area). We stratify the risk of bias into low, medium, and high for the decisions and processes undertaken by forensic entomologists, and propose that knowledge of the time the deceased was last seen alive is the most potentially biasing piece of information for forensic entomologists. Sequential unmasking is identified as the best system for minimizing context information, illustrated with the results of a casework trial (n = 19) using this approach in Victoria, Australia. © 2016 American Academy of Forensic Sciences.

Sequential Generalized Transforms on Function Space

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jae Gil Choi

2013-01-01

Full Text Available We define two sequential transforms on a function space Ca,b[0,T] induced by generalized Brownian motion process. We then establish the existence of the sequential transforms for functionals in a Banach algebra of functionals on Ca,b[0,T]. We also establish that any one of these transforms acts like an inverse transform of the other transform. Finally, we give some remarks about certain relations between our sequential transforms and other well-known transforms on Ca,b[0,T].

Sequential probability ratio controllers for safeguards radiation monitors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fehlau, P.E.; Coop, K.L.; Nixon, K.V.

1984-01-01

Sequential hypothesis tests applied to nuclear safeguards accounting methods make the methods more sensitive to detecting diversion. The sequential tests also improve transient signal detection in safeguards radiation monitors. This paper describes three microprocessor control units with sequential probability-ratio tests for detecting transient increases in radiation intensity. The control units are designed for three specific applications: low-intensity monitoring with Poisson probability ratios, higher intensity gamma-ray monitoring where fixed counting intervals are shortened by sequential testing, and monitoring moving traffic where the sequential technique responds to variable-duration signals. The fixed-interval controller shortens a customary 50-s monitoring time to an average of 18 s, making the monitoring delay less bothersome. The controller for monitoring moving vehicles benefits from the sequential technique by maintaining more than half its sensitivity when the normal passage speed doubles

Adaptive sequential controller

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

El-Sharkawi, Mohamed A. (Renton, WA); Xing, Jian (Seattle, WA); Butler, Nicholas G. (Newberg, OR); Rodriguez, Alonso (Pasadena, CA)

1994-01-01

An adaptive sequential controller (50/50') for controlling a circuit breaker (52) or other switching device to substantially eliminate transients on a distribution line caused by closing and opening the circuit breaker. The device adaptively compensates for changes in the response time of the circuit breaker due to aging and environmental effects. A potential transformer (70) provides a reference signal corresponding to the zero crossing of the voltage waveform, and a phase shift comparator circuit (96) compares the reference signal to the time at which any transient was produced when the circuit breaker closed, producing a signal indicative of the adaptive adjustment that should be made. Similarly, in controlling the opening of the circuit breaker, a current transformer (88) provides a reference signal that is compared against the time at which any transient is detected when the circuit breaker last opened. An adaptive adjustment circuit (102) produces a compensation time that is appropriately modified to account for changes in the circuit breaker response, including the effect of ambient conditions and aging. When next opened or closed, the circuit breaker is activated at an appropriately compensated time, so that it closes when the voltage crosses zero and opens when the current crosses zero, minimizing any transients on the distribution line. Phase angle can be used to control the opening of the circuit breaker relative to the reference signal provided by the potential transformer.

Adaptive sequential controller

Science.gov (United States)

El-Sharkawi, Mohamed A.; Xing, Jian; Butler, Nicholas G.; Rodriguez, Alonso

1994-01-01

An adaptive sequential controller (50/50') for controlling a circuit breaker (52) or other switching device to substantially eliminate transients on a distribution line caused by closing and opening the circuit breaker. The device adaptively compensates for changes in the response time of the circuit breaker due to aging and environmental effects. A potential transformer (70) provides a reference signal corresponding to the zero crossing of the voltage waveform, and a phase shift comparator circuit (96) compares the reference signal to the time at which any transient was produced when the circuit breaker closed, producing a signal indicative of the adaptive adjustment that should be made. Similarly, in controlling the opening of the circuit breaker, a current transformer (88) provides a reference signal that is compared against the time at which any transient is detected when the circuit breaker last opened. An adaptive adjustment circuit (102) produces a compensation time that is appropriately modified to account for changes in the circuit breaker response, including the effect of ambient conditions and aging. When next opened or closed, the circuit breaker is activated at an appropriately compensated time, so that it closes when the voltage crosses zero and opens when the current crosses zero, minimizing any transients on the distribution line. Phase angle can be used to control the opening of the circuit breaker relative to the reference signal provided by the potential transformer.

Unconstrained steps of myosin VI appear longest among known molecular motors.

Science.gov (United States)

Ali, M Yusuf; Homma, Kazuaki; Iwane, Atsuko Hikikoshi; Adachi, Kengo; Itoh, Hiroyasu; Kinosita, Kazuhiko; Yanagida, Toshio; Ikebe, Mitsuo

2004-06-01

Myosin VI is a two-headed molecular motor that moves along an actin filament in the direction opposite to most other myosins. Previously, a single myosin VI molecule has been shown to proceed with steps that are large compared to its neck size: either it walks by somehow extending its neck or one head slides along actin for a long distance before the other head lands. To inquire into these and other possible mechanism of motility, we suspended an actin filament between two plastic beads, and let a single myosin VI molecule carrying a bead duplex move along the actin. This configuration, unlike previous studies, allows unconstrained rotation of myosin VI around the right-handed double helix of actin. Myosin VI moved almost straight or as a right-handed spiral with a pitch of several micrometers, indicating that the molecule walks with strides slightly longer than the actin helical repeat of 36 nm. The large steps without much rotation suggest kinesin-type walking with extended and flexible necks, but how to move forward with flexible necks, even under a backward load, is not clear. As an answer, we propose that a conformational change in the lifted head would facilitate landing on a forward, rather than backward, site. This mechanism may underlie stepping of all two-headed molecular motors including kinesin and myosin V.

A Novel Walking Detection and Step Counting Algorithm Using Unconstrained Smartphones

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaomin Kang

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Recently, with the development of artificial intelligence technologies and the popularity of mobile devices, walking detection and step counting have gained much attention since they play an important role in the fields of equipment positioning, saving energy, behavior recognition, etc. In this paper, a novel algorithm is proposed to simultaneously detect walking motion and count steps through unconstrained smartphones in the sense that the smartphone placement is not only arbitrary but also alterable. On account of the periodicity of the walking motion and sensitivity of gyroscopes, the proposed algorithm extracts the frequency domain features from three-dimensional (3D angular velocities of a smartphone through FFT (fast Fourier transform and identifies whether its holder is walking or not irrespective of its placement. Furthermore, the corresponding step frequency is recursively updated to evaluate the step count in real time. Extensive experiments are conducted by involving eight subjects and different walking scenarios in a realistic environment. It is shown that the proposed method achieves the precision of 93.76 % and recall of 93.65 % for walking detection, and its overall performance is significantly better than other well-known methods. Moreover, the accuracy of step counting by the proposed method is 95.74 % , and is better than both of the several well-known counterparts and commercial products.

Biased lineups: sequential presentation reduces the problem.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindsay, R C; Lea, J A; Nosworthy, G J; Fulford, J A; Hector, J; LeVan, V; Seabrook, C

1991-12-01

Biased lineups have been shown to increase significantly false, but not correct, identification rates (Lindsay, Wallbridge, & Drennan, 1987; Lindsay & Wells, 1980; Malpass & Devine, 1981). Lindsay and Wells (1985) found that sequential lineup presentation reduced false identification rates, presumably by reducing reliance on relative judgment processes. Five staged-crime experiments were conducted to examine the effect of lineup biases and sequential presentation on eyewitness recognition accuracy. Sequential lineup presentation significantly reduced false identification rates from fair lineups as well as from lineups biased with regard to foil similarity, instructions, or witness attire, and from lineups biased in all of these ways. The results support recommendations that police present lineups sequentially.

Sound Power Minimization of Circular Plates Through Damping Layer Placement

Science.gov (United States)

Wodtke, H.-W.; Lamancusa, J. S.

1998-09-01

Damping layers, widely used for noise and vibration control of thin-walled structures, can be designed to provide an optimal trade-off between performance and weight which is of particular importance in the automotive and aircraft industry. The goal of the presented work is the minimization of sound power radiated from plates under broadband excitation by redistribution of unconstrained damping layers. The total radiated sound power is assumed to be represented by the sound power radiated at the structural resonances. Resonance tracking is performed by means of single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF)-approximations based on near-resonance responses and their frequency derivatives. Axisymmetric vibrations of circular plates under several boundary and forcing conditions are considered. Frequency dependent Young's modulus and loss factor of the damping material are taken into account. Vibration analysis is based on the finite element method (FEM) while acoustic radiation is treated by means of Rayleigh's integral formula. It is shown that, starting from a uniform damping layer distribution, substantial reduction in radiated sound power can be achieved through redistribution of the damping layers. Depending on the given situation, these reductions are not only due to amplitude reductions but also to changes in vibration shapes and frequencies.

Lineup composition, suspect position, and the sequential lineup advantage.

Science.gov (United States)

Carlson, Curt A; Gronlund, Scott D; Clark, Steven E

2008-06-01

N. M. Steblay, J. Dysart, S. Fulero, and R. C. L. Lindsay (2001) argued that sequential lineups reduce the likelihood of mistaken eyewitness identification. Experiment 1 replicated the design of R. C. L. Lindsay and G. L. Wells (1985), the first study to show the sequential lineup advantage. However, the innocent suspect was chosen at a lower rate in the simultaneous lineup, and no sequential lineup advantage was found. This led the authors to hypothesize that protection from a sequential lineup might emerge only when an innocent suspect stands out from the other lineup members. In Experiment 2, participants viewed a simultaneous or sequential lineup with either the guilty suspect or 1 of 3 innocent suspects. Lineup fairness was varied to influence the degree to which a suspect stood out. A sequential lineup advantage was found only for the unfair lineups. Additional analyses of suspect position in the sequential lineups showed an increase in the diagnosticity of suspect identifications as the suspect was placed later in the sequential lineup. These results suggest that the sequential lineup advantage is dependent on lineup composition and suspect position. (c) 2008 APA, all rights reserved

A sequential quadratic programming algorithm using an incomplete solution of the subproblem

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Murray, W. [Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Systems Optimization Lab.; Prieto, F.J. [Universidad `Carlos III` de Madrid (Spain). Dept. de Estadistica y Econometria

1993-05-01

We analyze sequential quadratic programming (SQP) methods to solve nonlinear constrained optimization problems that are more flexible in their definition than standard SQP methods. The type of flexibility introduced is motivated by the necessity to deviate from the standard approach when solving large problems. Specifically we no longer require a minimizer of the QP subproblem to be determined or particular Lagrange multiplier estimates to be used. Our main focus is on an SQP algorithm that uses a particular augmented Lagrangian merit function. New results are derived for this algorithm under weaker conditions than previously assumed; in particular, it is not assumed that the iterates lie on a compact set.

Tradable permit allocations and sequential choice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

MacKenzie, Ian A. [Centre for Economic Research, ETH Zuerich, Zurichbergstrasse 18, 8092 Zuerich (Switzerland)

2011-01-15

This paper investigates initial allocation choices in an international tradable pollution permit market. For two sovereign governments, we compare allocation choices that are either simultaneously or sequentially announced. We show sequential allocation announcements result in higher (lower) aggregate emissions when announcements are strategic substitutes (complements). Whether allocation announcements are strategic substitutes or complements depends on the relationship between the follower's damage function and governments' abatement costs. When the marginal damage function is relatively steep (flat), allocation announcements are strategic substitutes (complements). For quadratic abatement costs and damages, sequential announcements provide a higher level of aggregate emissions. (author)

Applying the minimax principle to sequential mastery testing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vos, Hendrik J.

2002-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to derive optimal rules for sequential mastery tests. In a sequential mastery test, the decision is to classify a subject as a master, a nonmaster, or to continue sampling and administering another random item. The framework of minimax sequential decision theory (minimum

Classical and sequential limit analysis revisited

Science.gov (United States)

Leblond, Jean-Baptiste; Kondo, Djimédo; Morin, Léo; Remmal, Almahdi

2018-04-01

Classical limit analysis applies to ideal plastic materials, and within a linearized geometrical framework implying small displacements and strains. Sequential limit analysis was proposed as a heuristic extension to materials exhibiting strain hardening, and within a fully general geometrical framework involving large displacements and strains. The purpose of this paper is to study and clearly state the precise conditions permitting such an extension. This is done by comparing the evolution equations of the full elastic-plastic problem, the equations of classical limit analysis, and those of sequential limit analysis. The main conclusion is that, whereas classical limit analysis applies to materials exhibiting elasticity - in the absence of hardening and within a linearized geometrical framework -, sequential limit analysis, to be applicable, strictly prohibits the presence of elasticity - although it tolerates strain hardening and large displacements and strains. For a given mechanical situation, the relevance of sequential limit analysis therefore essentially depends upon the importance of the elastic-plastic coupling in the specific case considered.

Simultaneous versus sequential penetrating keratoplasty and cataract surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayashi, Ken; Hayashi, Hideyuki

2006-10-01

To compare the surgical outcomes of simultaneous penetrating keratoplasty and cataract surgery with those of sequential surgery. Thirty-nine eyes of 39 patients scheduled for simultaneous keratoplasty and cataract surgery and 23 eyes of 23 patients scheduled for sequential keratoplasty and secondary phacoemulsification surgery were recruited. Refractive error, regular and irregular corneal astigmatism determined by Fourier analysis, and endothelial cell loss were studied at 1 week and 3, 6, and 12 months after combined surgery in the simultaneous surgery group or after subsequent phacoemulsification surgery in the sequential surgery group. At 3 and more months after surgery, mean refractive error was significantly greater in the simultaneous surgery group than in the sequential surgery group, although no difference was seen at 1 week. The refractive error at 12 months was within 2 D of that targeted in 15 eyes (39%) in the simultaneous surgery group and within 2 D in 16 eyes (70%) in the sequential surgery group; the incidence was significantly greater in the sequential group (P = 0.0344). The regular and irregular astigmatism was not significantly different between the groups at 3 and more months after surgery. No significant difference was also found in the percentage of endothelial cell loss between the groups. Although corneal astigmatism and endothelial cell loss were not different, refractive error from target refraction was greater after simultaneous keratoplasty and cataract surgery than after sequential surgery, indicating a better outcome after sequential surgery than after simultaneous surgery.

An Improved Real-Coded Population-Based Extremal Optimization Method for Continuous Unconstrained Optimization Problems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guo-Qiang Zeng

2014-01-01

Full Text Available As a novel evolutionary optimization method, extremal optimization (EO has been successfully applied to a variety of combinatorial optimization problems. However, the applications of EO in continuous optimization problems are relatively rare. This paper proposes an improved real-coded population-based EO method (IRPEO for continuous unconstrained optimization problems. The key operations of IRPEO include generation of real-coded random initial population, evaluation of individual and population fitness, selection of bad elements according to power-law probability distribution, generation of new population based on uniform random mutation, and updating the population by accepting the new population unconditionally. The experimental results on 10 benchmark test functions with the dimension N=30 have shown that IRPEO is competitive or even better than the recently reported various genetic algorithm (GA versions with different mutation operations in terms of simplicity, effectiveness, and efficiency. Furthermore, the superiority of IRPEO to other evolutionary algorithms such as original population-based EO, particle swarm optimization (PSO, and the hybrid PSO-EO is also demonstrated by the experimental results on some benchmark functions.

Trial Sequential Methods for Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Kulinskaya, Elena; Wood, John

2014-01-01

Statistical methods for sequential meta-analysis have applications also for the design of new trials. Existing methods are based on group sequential methods developed for single trials and start with the calculation of a required information size. This works satisfactorily within the framework of fixed effects meta-analysis, but conceptual…

Sequentially pulsed traveling wave accelerator

Science.gov (United States)

Caporaso, George J [Livermore, CA; Nelson, Scott D [Patterson, CA; Poole, Brian R [Tracy, CA

2009-08-18

A sequentially pulsed traveling wave compact accelerator having two or more pulse forming lines each with a switch for producing a short acceleration pulse along a short length of a beam tube, and a trigger mechanism for sequentially triggering the switches so that a traveling axial electric field is produced along the beam tube in synchronism with an axially traversing pulsed beam of charged particles to serially impart energy to the particle beam.

Large-scale sequential quadratic programming algorithms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Eldersveld, S.K.

1992-09-01

The problem addressed is the general nonlinear programming problem: finding a local minimizer for a nonlinear function subject to a mixture of nonlinear equality and inequality constraints. The methods studied are in the class of sequential quadratic programming (SQP) algorithms, which have previously proved successful for problems of moderate size. Our goal is to devise an SQP algorithm that is applicable to large-scale optimization problems, using sparse data structures and storing less curvature information but maintaining the property of superlinear convergence. The main features are: 1. The use of a quasi-Newton approximation to the reduced Hessian of the Lagrangian function. Only an estimate of the reduced Hessian matrix is required by our algorithm. The impact of not having available the full Hessian approximation is studied and alternative estimates are constructed. 2. The use of a transformation matrix Q. This allows the QP gradient to be computed easily when only the reduced Hessian approximation is maintained. 3. The use of a reduced-gradient form of the basis for the null space of the working set. This choice of basis is more practical than an orthogonal null-space basis for large-scale problems. The continuity condition for this choice is proven. 4. The use of incomplete solutions of quadratic programming subproblems. Certain iterates generated by an active-set method for the QP subproblem are used in place of the QP minimizer to define the search direction for the nonlinear problem. An implementation of the new algorithm has been obtained by modifying the code MINOS. Results and comparisons with MINOS and NPSOL are given for the new algorithm on a set of 92 test problems.

Impact of controlling the sum of error probability in the sequential probability ratio test

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bijoy Kumarr Pradhan

2013-05-01

Full Text Available A generalized modified method is proposed to control the sum of error probabilities in sequential probability ratio test to minimize the weighted average of the two average sample numbers under a simple null hypothesis and a simple alternative hypothesis with the restriction that the sum of error probabilities is a pre-assigned constant to find the optimal sample size and finally a comparison is done with the optimal sample size found from fixed sample size procedure. The results are applied to the cases when the random variate follows a normal law as well as Bernoullian law.

An Efficient System Based On Closed Sequential Patterns for Web Recommendations

OpenAIRE

Utpala Niranjan; R.B.V. Subramanyam; V-Khana

2010-01-01

Sequential pattern mining, since its introduction has received considerable attention among the researchers with broad applications. The sequential pattern algorithms generally face problems when mining long sequential patterns or while using very low support threshold. One possible solution of such problems is by mining the closed sequential patterns, which is a condensed representation of sequential patterns. Recently, several researchers have utilized the sequential pattern discovery for d...

Moving Synergistically Acting Drug Combinations to the Clinic by Comparing Sequential versus Simultaneous Drug Administrations.

Science.gov (United States)

Dinavahi, Saketh S; Noory, Mohammad A; Gowda, Raghavendra; Drabick, Joseph J; Berg, Arthur; Neves, Rogerio I; Robertson, Gavin P

2018-03-01

Drug combinations acting synergistically to kill cancer cells have become increasingly important in melanoma as an approach to manage the recurrent resistant disease. Protein kinase B (AKT) is a major target in this disease but its inhibitors are not effective clinically, which is a major concern. Targeting AKT in combination with WEE1 (mitotic inhibitor kinase) seems to have potential to make AKT-based therapeutics effective clinically. Since agents targeting AKT and WEE1 have been tested individually in the clinic, the quickest way to move the drug combination to patients would be to combine these agents sequentially, enabling the use of existing phase I clinical trial toxicity data. Therefore, a rapid preclinical approach is needed to evaluate whether simultaneous or sequential drug treatment has maximal therapeutic efficacy, which is based on a mechanistic rationale. To develop this approach, melanoma cell lines were treated with AKT inhibitor AZD5363 [4-amino- N -[(1 S )-1-(4-chlorophenyl)-3-hydroxypropyl]-1-(7 H -pyrrolo[2,3- d ]pyrimidin-4-yl)piperidine-4-carboxamide] and WEE1 inhibitor AZD1775 [2-allyl-1-(6-(2-hydroxypropan-2-yl)pyridin-2-yl)-6-((4-(4-methylpiperazin-1-yl)phenyl)amino)-1 H -pyrazolo[3,4- d ]pyrimidin-3(2 H )-one] using simultaneous and sequential dosing schedules. Simultaneous treatment synergistically reduced melanoma cell survival and tumor growth. In contrast, sequential treatment was antagonistic and had a minimal tumor inhibitory effect compared with individual agents. Mechanistically, simultaneous targeting of AKT and WEE1 enhanced deregulation of the cell cycle and DNA damage repair pathways by modulating transcription factors p53 and forkhead box M1, which was not observed with sequential treatment. Thus, this study identifies a rapid approach to assess the drug combinations with a mechanistic basis for selection, which suggests that combining AKT and WEE1 inhibitors is needed for maximal efficacy. Copyright © 2018 by The American

Discrimination between sequential and simultaneous virtual channels with electrical hearing.

Science.gov (United States)

Landsberger, David; Galvin, John J

2011-09-01

In cochlear implants (CIs), simultaneous or sequential stimulation of adjacent electrodes can produce intermediate pitch percepts between those of the component electrodes. However, it is unclear whether simultaneous and sequential virtual channels (VCs) can be discriminated. In this study, CI users were asked to discriminate simultaneous and sequential VCs; discrimination was measured for monopolar (MP) and bipolar + 1 stimulation (BP + 1), i.e., relatively broad and focused stimulation modes. For sequential VCs, the interpulse interval (IPI) varied between 0.0 and 1.8 ms. All stimuli were presented at comfortably loud, loudness-balanced levels at a 250 pulse per second per electrode (ppse) stimulation rate. On average, CI subjects were able to reliably discriminate between sequential and simultaneous VCs. While there was no significant effect of IPI or stimulation mode on VC discrimination, some subjects exhibited better VC discrimination with BP + 1 stimulation. Subjects' discrimination between sequential and simultaneous VCs was correlated with electrode discrimination, suggesting that spatial selectivity may influence perception of sequential VCs. To maintain equal loudness, sequential VC amplitudes were nearly double those of simultaneous VCs, presumably resulting in a broader spread of excitation. These results suggest that perceptual differences between simultaneous and sequential VCs might be explained by differences in the spread of excitation. © 2011 Acoustical Society of America

Simultaneous minimizing monitor units and number of segments without leaf end abutment for segmental intensity modulated radiation therapy delivery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Kaile; Dai Jianrong; Ma Lijun

2004-01-01

Leaf end abutment is seldom studied when delivering segmental intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) fields. We developed an efficient leaf sequencing method to eliminate leaf end abutment for segmental IMRT delivery. Our method uses simple matrix and sorting operations to obtain a solution that simultaneously minimizes total monitor units and number of segments without leaf end abutment between segments. We implemented and demonstrated our method for multiple clinical cases. We compared the results of our method with the results from exhaustive search method. We found that our solution without leaf end abutment produced equivalent results to the unconstrained solutions in terms of minimum total monitor units and minimum number of leaf segments. We conclude that the leaf end abutment fields can be avoided without affecting the efficiency of segmental IMRT delivery. The major strength of our method is its simplicity and high computing speed. This potentially provides a useful means for generating segmental IMRT fields that require high spatial resolution or complex intensity distributions

Sequential versus simultaneous market delineation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haldrup, Niels; Møllgaard, Peter; Kastberg Nielsen, Claus

2005-01-01

and geographical markets. Using a unique data setfor prices of Norwegian and Scottish salmon, we propose a methodologyfor simultaneous market delineation and we demonstrate that comparedto a sequential approach conclusions will be reversed.JEL: C3, K21, L41, Q22Keywords: Relevant market, econometric delineation......Delineation of the relevant market forms a pivotal part of most antitrustcases. The standard approach is sequential. First the product marketis delineated, then the geographical market is defined. Demand andsupply substitution in both the product dimension and the geographicaldimension...

STOCHASTIC GRADIENT METHODS FOR UNCONSTRAINED OPTIMIZATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nataša Krejić

2014-12-01

Full Text Available This papers presents an overview of gradient based methods for minimization of noisy functions. It is assumed that the objective functions is either given with error terms of stochastic nature or given as the mathematical expectation. Such problems arise in the context of simulation based optimization. The focus of this presentation is on the gradient based Stochastic Approximation and Sample Average Approximation methods. The concept of stochastic gradient approximation of the true gradient can be successfully extended to deterministic problems. Methods of this kind are presented for the data fitting and machine learning problems.

A new entropy function for feature extraction with the refined scores as a classifier for the unconstrained ear verification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mamta Bansal

2017-05-01

Full Text Available For high end security like surveillance there is a need for a robust system capable of verifying a person under the unconstrained conditions. This paper presents the ear based verification system using a new entropy function that changes not only the information gain function but also the information source values. This entropy function displays peculiar characteristics such as splitting into two modes. Two types of entropy features: Effective Gaussian Information source value and Effective Exponential Information source value functions are derived using the entropy function. To classify the entropy features we have devised refined scores (RS method that refines the scores generated using the Euclidean distance. The experimental results vindicate the superiority of proposed method over literature.

Group-sequential analysis may allow for early trial termination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gerke, Oke; Vilstrup, Mie H; Halekoh, Ulrich

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Group-sequential testing is widely used in pivotal therapeutic, but rarely in diagnostic research, although it may save studies, time, and costs. The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate a group-sequential analysis strategy in an intra-observer study on quantitative FDG-PET/CT mea......BACKGROUND: Group-sequential testing is widely used in pivotal therapeutic, but rarely in diagnostic research, although it may save studies, time, and costs. The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate a group-sequential analysis strategy in an intra-observer study on quantitative FDG...

Sequential logic analysis and synthesis

CERN Document Server

Cavanagh, Joseph

2007-01-01

Until now, there was no single resource for actual digital system design. Using both basic and advanced concepts, Sequential Logic: Analysis and Synthesis offers a thorough exposition of the analysis and synthesis of both synchronous and asynchronous sequential machines. With 25 years of experience in designing computing equipment, the author stresses the practical design of state machines. He clearly delineates each step of the structured and rigorous design principles that can be applied to practical applications. The book begins by reviewing the analysis of combinatorial logic and Boolean a

Computerprogram for the determination of minimal cardiac transit times

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bosiljanoff, P.; Herzog, H.; Schmid, A.; Sommer, D.; Vyska, K.; Feinendegen, L.E.

1982-10-01

An Anger-Type gamma-camera is used to register the first pass of a radioactive tracer of blood flow through the heart. The acquired data are processed by a suitable computer program yielding time-activity curves for sequential heart segments, which are selected by the region of interest technique. The program prints the minimal cardiac transit times, in terms of total transit times, as well as segmental transit times for the right atrium, right ventricle, lung, left atrium and left ventricle. The measured values are normalized to a rate of 80/min and are compared to normal mean values. The deviation from the normal mean values is characterized by a coefficient F. Moreover, these findings are qualitatively rated. (orig./MG)

Structural Consistency, Consistency, and Sequential Rationality.

OpenAIRE

Kreps, David M; Ramey, Garey

1987-01-01

Sequential equilibria comprise consistent beliefs and a sequentially ra tional strategy profile. Consistent beliefs are limits of Bayes ratio nal beliefs for sequences of strategies that approach the equilibrium strategy. Beliefs are structurally consistent if they are rationaliz ed by some single conjecture concerning opponents' strategies. Consis tent beliefs are not necessarily structurally consistent, notwithstan ding a claim by Kreps and Robert Wilson (1982). Moreover, the spirit of stru...

Generalized infimum and sequential product of quantum effects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Yuan; Sun Xiuhong; Chen Zhengli

2007-01-01

The quantum effects for a physical system can be described by the set E(H) of positive operators on a complex Hilbert space H that are bounded above by the identity operator I. For A, B(set-membership sign)E(H), the operation of sequential product A(convolution sign)B=A 1/2 BA 1/2 was proposed as a model for sequential quantum measurements. A nice investigation of properties of the sequential product has been carried over [Gudder, S. and Nagy, G., 'Sequential quantum measurements', J. Math. Phys. 42, 5212 (2001)]. In this note, we extend some results of this reference. In particular, a gap in the proof of Theorem 3.2 in this reference is overcome. In addition, some properties of generalized infimum A sqcap B are studied

Entropy generation minimization: A practical approach for performance evaluation of temperature cascaded co-generation plants

KAUST Repository

Myat, Aung; Thu, Kyaw; Kim, Youngdeuk; Saha, Bidyut Baran; Ng, K. C.

2012-01-01

We present a practical tool that employs entropy generation minimization (EGM) approach for an in-depth performance evaluation of a co-generation plant with a temperature-cascaded concept. Co-generation plant produces useful effect production sequentially, i.e., (i) electricity from the micro-turbines, (ii) low pressure steam at 250 °C or about 8-10 bars, (iii) cooling capacity of 4 refrigeration tones (Rtons) and (iv) dehumidification of outdoor air for air conditioned space. The main objective is to configure the most efficient configuration of producing power and heat. We employed entropy generation minimization (EGM) which reflects to minimize the dissipative losses and maximize the cycle efficiency of the individual thermally activated systems. The minimization of dissipative losses or EGM is performed in two steps namely, (i) adjusting heat source temperatures for the heat-fired cycles and (ii) the use of Genetic Algorithm (GA), to seek out the sensitivity of heat transfer areas, flow rates of working fluids, inlet temperatures of heat sources and coolant, etc., over the anticipated range of operation to achieve maximum efficiency. With EGM equipped with GA, we verified that the local minimization of entropy generation individually at each of the heat-activated processes would lead to the maximum efficiency of the system. © 2012.

Entropy generation minimization: A practical approach for performance evaluation of temperature cascaded co-generation plants

KAUST Repository

Myat, Aung

2012-10-01

We present a practical tool that employs entropy generation minimization (EGM) approach for an in-depth performance evaluation of a co-generation plant with a temperature-cascaded concept. Co-generation plant produces useful effect production sequentially, i.e., (i) electricity from the micro-turbines, (ii) low pressure steam at 250 °C or about 8-10 bars, (iii) cooling capacity of 4 refrigeration tones (Rtons) and (iv) dehumidification of outdoor air for air conditioned space. The main objective is to configure the most efficient configuration of producing power and heat. We employed entropy generation minimization (EGM) which reflects to minimize the dissipative losses and maximize the cycle efficiency of the individual thermally activated systems. The minimization of dissipative losses or EGM is performed in two steps namely, (i) adjusting heat source temperatures for the heat-fired cycles and (ii) the use of Genetic Algorithm (GA), to seek out the sensitivity of heat transfer areas, flow rates of working fluids, inlet temperatures of heat sources and coolant, etc., over the anticipated range of operation to achieve maximum efficiency. With EGM equipped with GA, we verified that the local minimization of entropy generation individually at each of the heat-activated processes would lead to the maximum efficiency of the system. © 2012.

Sequential Combination of Electro-Fenton and Electrochemical Chlorination Processes for the Treatment of Anaerobically-Digested Food Wastewater.

Science.gov (United States)

Shin, Yong-Uk; Yoo, Ha-Young; Kim, Seonghun; Chung, Kyung-Mi; Park, Yong-Gyun; Hwang, Kwang-Hyun; Hong, Seok Won; Park, Hyunwoong; Cho, Kangwoo; Lee, Jaesang

2017-09-19

A two-stage sequential electro-Fenton (E-Fenton) oxidation followed by electrochemical chlorination (EC) was demonstrated to concomitantly treat high concentrations of organic carbon and ammonium nitrogen (NH 4 + -N) in real anaerobically digested food wastewater (ADFW). The anodic Fenton process caused the rapid mineralization of phenol as a model substrate through the production of hydroxyl radical as the main oxidant. The electrochemical oxidation of NH 4 + by a dimensionally stable anode (DSA) resulted in temporal concentration profiles of combined and free chlorine species that were analogous to those during the conventional breakpoint chlorination of NH 4 + . Together with the minimal production of nitrate, this confirmed that the conversion of NH 4 + to nitrogen gas was electrochemically achievable. The monitoring of treatment performance with varying key parameters (e.g., current density, H 2 O 2 feeding rate, pH, NaCl loading, and DSA type) led to the optimization of two component systems. The comparative evaluation of two sequentially combined systems (i.e., the E-Fenton-EC system versus the EC-E-Fenton system) using the mixture of phenol and NH 4 + under the predetermined optimal conditions suggested the superiority of the E-Fenton-EC system in terms of treatment efficiency and energy consumption. Finally, the sequential E-Fenton-EC process effectively mineralized organic carbon and decomposed NH 4 + -N in the real ADFW without external supply of NaCl.

Sequential analysis in neonatal research-systematic review.

Science.gov (United States)

Lava, Sebastiano A G; Elie, Valéry; Ha, Phuong Thi Viet; Jacqz-Aigrain, Evelyne

2018-05-01

As more new drugs are discovered, traditional designs come at their limits. Ten years after the adoption of the European Paediatric Regulation, we performed a systematic review on the US National Library of Medicine and Excerpta Medica database of sequential trials involving newborns. Out of 326 identified scientific reports, 21 trials were included. They enrolled 2832 patients, of whom 2099 were analyzed: the median number of neonates included per trial was 48 (IQR 22-87), median gestational age was 28.7 (IQR 27.9-30.9) weeks. Eighteen trials used sequential techniques to determine sample size, while 3 used continual reassessment methods for dose-finding. In 16 studies reporting sufficient data, the sequential design allowed to non-significantly reduce the number of enrolled neonates by a median of 24 (31%) patients (IQR - 4.75 to 136.5, p = 0.0674) with respect to a traditional trial. When the number of neonates finally included in the analysis was considered, the difference became significant: 35 (57%) patients (IQR 10 to 136.5, p = 0.0033). Sequential trial designs have not been frequently used in Neonatology. They might potentially be able to reduce the number of patients in drug trials, although this is not always the case. What is known: • In evaluating rare diseases in fragile populations, traditional designs come at their limits. About 20% of pediatric trials are discontinued, mainly because of recruitment problems. What is new: • Sequential trials involving newborns were infrequently used and only a few (n = 21) are available for analysis. • The sequential design allowed to non-significantly reduce the number of enrolled neonates by a median of 24 (31%) patients (IQR - 4.75 to 136.5, p = 0.0674).

Group-sequential analysis may allow for early trial termination

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gerke, Oke; Vilstrup, Mie H; Halekoh, Ulrich

2017-01-01

BACKGROUND: Group-sequential testing is widely used in pivotal therapeutic, but rarely in diagnostic research, although it may save studies, time, and costs. The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate a group-sequential analysis strategy in an intra-observer study on quantitative FDG-PET/CT mea......BACKGROUND: Group-sequential testing is widely used in pivotal therapeutic, but rarely in diagnostic research, although it may save studies, time, and costs. The purpose of this paper was to demonstrate a group-sequential analysis strategy in an intra-observer study on quantitative FDG...... assumed to be normally distributed, and sequential one-sided hypothesis tests on the population standard deviation of the differences against a hypothesised value of 1.5 were performed, employing an alpha spending function. The fixed-sample analysis (N = 45) was compared with the group-sequential analysis...... strategies comprising one (at N = 23), two (at N = 15, 30), or three interim analyses (at N = 11, 23, 34), respectively, which were defined post hoc. RESULTS: When performing interim analyses with one third and two thirds of patients, sufficient agreement could be concluded after the first interim analysis...

Comparison of ablation centration after bilateral sequential versus simultaneous LASIK.

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Jane-Ming; Tsai, Yi-Yu

2005-01-01

To compare ablation centration after bilateral sequential and simultaneous myopic LASIK. A retrospective randomized case series was performed of 670 eyes of 335 consecutive patients who had undergone either bilateral sequential (group 1) or simultaneous (group 2) myopic LASIK between July 2000 and July 2001 at the China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan. The ablation centrations of the first and second eyes in the two groups were compared 3 months postoperatively. Of 670 eyes, 274 eyes (137 patients) comprised the sequential group and 396 eyes (198 patients) comprised the simultaneous group. Three months post-operatively, 220 eyes of 110 patients (80%) in the sequential group and 236 eyes of 118 patients (60%) in the simultaneous group provided topographic data for centration analysis. For the first eyes, mean decentration was 0.39 +/- 0.26 mm in the sequential group and 0.41 +/- 0.19 mm in the simultaneous group (P = .30). For the second eyes, mean decentration was 0.28 +/- 0.23 mm in the sequential group and 0.30 +/- 0.21 mm in the simultaneous group (P = .36). Decentration in the second eyes significantly improved in both groups (group 1, P = .02; group 2, P sequential group and 0.32 +/- 0.18 mm in the simultaneous group (P = .33). The difference of ablation center angles between the first and second eyes was 43.2 sequential group and 45.1 +/- 50.8 degrees in the simultaneous group (P = .42). Simultaneous bilateral LASIK is comparable to sequential surgery in ablation centration.

A Survey of Multi-Objective Sequential Decision-Making

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Roijers, D.M.; Vamplew, P.; Whiteson, S.; Dazeley, R.

2013-01-01

Sequential decision-making problems with multiple objectives arise naturally in practice and pose unique challenges for research in decision-theoretic planning and learning, which has largely focused on single-objective settings. This article surveys algorithms designed for sequential

Sequential lineups: shift in criterion or decision strategy?

Science.gov (United States)

Gronlund, Scott D

2004-04-01

R. C. L. Lindsay and G. L. Wells (1985) argued that a sequential lineup enhanced discriminability because it elicited use of an absolute decision strategy. E. B. Ebbesen and H. D. Flowe (2002) argued that a sequential lineup led witnesses to adopt a more conservative response criterion, thereby affecting bias, not discriminability. Height was encoded as absolute (e.g., 6 ft [1.83 m] tall) or relative (e.g., taller than). If a sequential lineup elicited an absolute decision strategy, the principle of transfer-appropriate processing predicted that performance should be best when height was encoded absolutely. Conversely, if a simultaneous lineup elicited a relative decision strategy, performance should be best when height was encoded relatively. The predicted interaction was observed, providing direct evidence for the decision strategies explanation of what happens when witnesses view a sequential lineup.

How to Read the Tractatus Sequentially

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tim Kraft

2016-11-01

Full Text Available One of the unconventional features of Wittgenstein’s Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus is its use of an elaborated and detailed numbering system. Recently, Bazzocchi, Hacker und Kuusela have argued that the numbering system means that the Tractatus must be read and interpreted not as a sequentially ordered book, but as a text with a two-dimensional, tree-like structure. Apart from being able to explain how the Tractatus was composed, the tree reading allegedly solves exegetical issues both on the local (e. g. how 4.02 fits into the series of remarks surrounding it and the global level (e. g. relation between ontology and picture theory, solipsism and the eye analogy, resolute and irresolute readings. This paper defends the sequential reading against the tree reading. After presenting the challenges generated by the numbering system and the two accounts as attempts to solve them, it is argued that Wittgenstein’s own explanation of the numbering system, anaphoric references within the Tractatus and the exegetical issues mentioned above do not favour the tree reading, but a version of the sequential reading. This reading maintains that the remarks of the Tractatus form a sequential chain: The role of the numbers is to indicate how remarks on different levels are interconnected to form a concise, surveyable and unified whole.

A minimax procedure in the context of sequential mastery testing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Vos, Hendrik J.

1999-01-01

The purpose of this paper is to derive optimal rules for sequential mastery tests. In a sequential mastery test, the decision is to classify a subject as a master or a nonmaster, or to continue sampling and administering another random test item. The framework of minimax sequential decision theory

Multichannel, sequential or combined X-ray spectrometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Florestan, J.

1979-01-01

X-ray spectrometer qualities and defects are evaluated for sequential and multichannel categories. Multichannel X-ray spectrometer has time-coherency advantage and its results could be more reproducible; on the other hand some spatial incoherency limits low percentage and traces applications, specially when backgrounds are very variable. In this last case, sequential X-ray spectrometer would find again great usefulness [fr

Primal Interior Point Method for Minimization of Generalized Minimax Functions

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Lukšan, Ladislav; Matonoha, Ctirad; Vlček, Jan

2010-01-01

Roč. 46, č. 4 (2010), s. 697-721 ISSN 0023-5954 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA201/09/1957 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : unconstrained optimization * large-scale optimization * nonsmooth optimization * generalized minimax optimization * interior-point methods * modified Newton methods * variable metric methods * global convergence * computational experiments Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 0.461, year: 2010 http://dml.cz/handle/10338.dmlcz/140779

Induction of simultaneous and sequential malolactic fermentation in durian wine.

Science.gov (United States)

Taniasuri, Fransisca; Lee, Pin-Rou; Liu, Shao-Quan

2016-08-02

This study represented for the first time the impact of malolactic fermentation (MLF) induced by Oenococcus oeni and its inoculation strategies (simultaneous vs. sequential) on the fermentation performance as well as aroma compound profile of durian wine. There was no negative impact of simultaneous inoculation of O. oeni and Saccharomyces cerevisiae on the growth and fermentation kinetics of S. cerevisiae as compared to sequential fermentation. Simultaneous MLF did not lead to an excessive increase in volatile acidity as compared to sequential MLF. The kinetic changes of organic acids (i.e. malic, lactic, succinic, acetic and α-ketoglutaric acids) varied with simultaneous and sequential MLF relative to yeast alone. MLF, regardless of inoculation mode, resulted in higher production of fermentation-derived volatiles as compared to control (alcoholic fermentation only), including esters, volatile fatty acids, and terpenes, except for higher alcohols. Most indigenous volatile sulphur compounds in durian were decreased to trace levels with little differences among the control, simultaneous and sequential MLF. Among the different wines, the wine with simultaneous MLF had higher concentrations of terpenes and acetate esters while sequential MLF had increased concentrations of medium- and long-chain ethyl esters. Relative to alcoholic fermentation only, both simultaneous and sequential MLF reduced acetaldehyde substantially with sequential MLF being more effective. These findings illustrate that MLF is an effective and novel way of modulating the volatile and aroma compound profile of durian wine. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Sequential Banking.

OpenAIRE

Bizer, David S; DeMarzo, Peter M

1992-01-01

The authors study environments in which agents may borrow sequentially from more than one leader. Although debt is prioritized, additional lending imposes an externality on prior debt because, with moral hazard, the probability of repayment of prior loans decreases. Equilibrium interest rates are higher than they would be if borrowers could commit to borrow from at most one bank. Even though the loan terms are less favorable than they would be under commitment, the indebtedness of borrowers i...

Real-time construction and visualisation of drift-free video mosaics from unconstrained camera motion

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mateusz Brzeszcz

2015-08-01

Full Text Available This work proposes a novel approach for real-time video mosaicking facilitating drift-free mosaic construction and visualisation, with integrated frame blending and redundancy management, that is shown to be flexible to a range of varying mosaic scenarios. The approach supports unconstrained camera motion with in-sequence loop closing, variation in camera focal distance (zoom and recovery from video sequence breaks. Real-time performance, over extended duration sequences, is realised via novel aspects of frame management within the mosaic representation and thus avoiding the high data redundancy associated with temporally dense, spatially overlapping video frame inputs. This managed set of image frames is visualised in real time using a dynamic mosaic representation of overlapping textured graphics primitives in place of the traditional globally constructed, and hence frequently reconstructed, mosaic image. Within this formulation, subsequent optimisation occurring during online construction can thus efficiency adjust relative frame positions via simple primitive position transforms. Effective visualisation is similarly facilitated by online inter-frame blending to overcome the illumination and colour variance associated with modern camera hardware. The evaluation illustrates overall robustness in video mosaic construction under a diverse range of conditions including indoor and outdoor environments, varying illumination and presence of in-scene motion on varying computational platforms.

Equivalence between quantum simultaneous games and quantum sequential games

OpenAIRE

Kobayashi, Naoki

2007-01-01

A framework for discussing relationships between different types of games is proposed. Within the framework, quantum simultaneous games, finite quantum simultaneous games, quantum sequential games, and finite quantum sequential games are defined. In addition, a notion of equivalence between two games is defined. Finally, the following three theorems are shown: (1) For any quantum simultaneous game G, there exists a quantum sequential game equivalent to G. (2) For any finite quantum simultaneo...

Accounting for Heterogeneous Returns in Sequential Schooling Decisions

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Zamarro, G.

2006-01-01

This paper presents a method for estimating returns to schooling that takes into account that returns may be heterogeneous among agents and that educational decisions are made sequentially.A sequential decision model is interesting because it explicitly considers that the level of education of each

Simultaneous Versus Sequential Ptosis and Strabismus Surgery in Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Revere, Karen E; Binenbaum, Gil; Li, Jonathan; Mills, Monte D; Katowitz, William R; Katowitz, James A

The authors sought to compare the clinical outcomes of simultaneous versus sequential ptosis and strabismus surgery in children. Retrospective, single-center cohort study of children requiring both ptosis and strabismus surgery on the same eye. Simultaneous surgeries were performed during a single anesthetic event; sequential surgeries were performed at least 7 weeks apart. Outcomes were ptosis surgery success (margin reflex distance 1 ≥ 2 mm, good eyelid contour, and good eyelid crease); strabismus surgery success (ocular alignment within 10 prism diopters of orthophoria and/or improved head position); surgical complications; and reoperations. Fifty-six children were studied, 38 had simultaneous surgery and 18 sequential. Strabismus surgery was performed first in 38/38 simultaneous and 6/18 sequential cases. Mean age at first surgery was 64 months, with mean follow up 27 months. A total of 75% of children had congenital ptosis; 64% had comitant strabismus. A majority of ptosis surgeries were frontalis sling (59%) or Fasanella-Servat (30%) procedures. There were no significant differences between simultaneous and sequential groups with regards to surgical success rates, complications, or reoperations (all p > 0.28). In the first comparative study of simultaneous versus sequential ptosis and strabismus surgery, no advantage for sequential surgery was seen. Despite a theoretical risk of postoperative eyelid malposition or complications when surgeries were performed in a combined manner, the rate of such outcomes was not increased with simultaneous surgeries. Performing ptosis and strabismus surgery together appears to be clinically effective and safe, and reduces anesthesia exposure during childhood.

Reading Remediation Based on Sequential and Simultaneous Processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Gunnison, Judy; And Others

1982-01-01

The theory postulating a dichotomy between sequential and simultaneous processing is reviewed and its implications for remediating reading problems are reviewed. Research is cited on sequential-simultaneous processing for early and advanced reading. A list of remedial strategies based on the processing dichotomy addresses decoding and lexical…

C-quence: a tool for analyzing qualitative sequential data.

Science.gov (United States)

Duncan, Starkey; Collier, Nicholson T

2002-02-01

C-quence is a software application that matches sequential patterns of qualitative data specified by the user and calculates the rate of occurrence of these patterns in a data set. Although it was designed to facilitate analyses of face-to-face interaction, it is applicable to any data set involving categorical data and sequential information. C-quence queries are constructed using a graphical user interface. The program does not limit the complexity of the sequential patterns specified by the user.

Top-down attention affects sequential regularity representation in the human visual system.

Science.gov (United States)

Kimura, Motohiro; Widmann, Andreas; Schröger, Erich

2010-08-01

Recent neuroscience studies using visual mismatch negativity (visual MMN), an event-related brain potential (ERP) index of memory-mismatch processes in the visual sensory system, have shown that although sequential regularities embedded in successive visual stimuli can be automatically represented in the visual sensory system, an existence of sequential regularity itself does not guarantee that the sequential regularity will be automatically represented. In the present study, we investigated the effects of top-down attention on sequential regularity representation in the visual sensory system. Our results showed that a sequential regularity (SSSSD) embedded in a modified oddball sequence where infrequent deviant (D) and frequent standard stimuli (S) differing in luminance were regularly presented (SSSSDSSSSDSSSSD...) was represented in the visual sensory system only when participants attended the sequential regularity in luminance, but not when participants ignored the stimuli or simply attended the dimension of luminance per se. This suggests that top-down attention affects sequential regularity representation in the visual sensory system and that top-down attention is a prerequisite for particular sequential regularities to be represented. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The minimally tuned minimal supersymmetric standard model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Essig, Rouven; Fortin, Jean-Francois

2008-01-01

The regions in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model with the minimal amount of fine-tuning of electroweak symmetry breaking are presented for general messenger scale. No a priori relations among the soft supersymmetry breaking parameters are assumed and fine-tuning is minimized with respect to all the important parameters which affect electroweak symmetry breaking. The superpartner spectra in the minimally tuned region of parameter space are quite distinctive with large stop mixing at the low scale and negative squark soft masses at the high scale. The minimal amount of tuning increases enormously for a Higgs mass beyond roughly 120 GeV

Mining compressing sequential problems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hoang, T.L.; Mörchen, F.; Fradkin, D.; Calders, T.G.K.

2012-01-01

Compression based pattern mining has been successfully applied to many data mining tasks. We propose an approach based on the minimum description length principle to extract sequential patterns that compress a database of sequences well. We show that mining compressing patterns is NP-Hard and

Fast sequential Monte Carlo methods for counting and optimization

CERN Document Server

Rubinstein, Reuven Y; Vaisman, Radislav

2013-01-01

A comprehensive account of the theory and application of Monte Carlo methods Based on years of research in efficient Monte Carlo methods for estimation of rare-event probabilities, counting problems, and combinatorial optimization, Fast Sequential Monte Carlo Methods for Counting and Optimization is a complete illustration of fast sequential Monte Carlo techniques. The book provides an accessible overview of current work in the field of Monte Carlo methods, specifically sequential Monte Carlo techniques, for solving abstract counting and optimization problems. Written by authorities in the

Computing sequential equilibria for two-player games

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Miltersen, Peter Bro

2006-01-01

Koller, Megiddo and von Stengel showed how to efficiently compute minimax strategies for two-player extensive-form zero-sum games with imperfect information but perfect recall using linear programming and avoiding conversion to normal form. Their algorithm has been used by AI researchers...... for constructing prescriptive strategies for concrete, often fairly large games. Koller and Pfeffer pointed out that the strategies obtained by the algorithm are not necessarily sequentially rational and that this deficiency is often problematic for the practical applications. We show how to remove this deficiency...... by modifying the linear programs constructed by Koller, Megiddo and von Stengel so that pairs of strategies forming a sequential equilibrium are computed. In particular, we show that a sequential equilibrium for a two-player zero-sum game with imperfect information but perfect recall can be found in polynomial...

Computing Sequential Equilibria for Two-Player Games

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Miltersen, Peter Bro; Sørensen, Troels Bjerre

2006-01-01

Koller, Megiddo and von Stengel showed how to efficiently compute minimax strategies for two-player extensive-form zero-sum games with imperfect information but perfect recall using linear programming and avoiding conversion to normal form. Koller and Pfeffer pointed out that the strategies...... obtained by the algorithm are not necessarily sequentially rational and that this deficiency is often problematic for the practical applications. We show how to remove this deficiency by modifying the linear programs constructed by Koller, Megiddo and von Stengel so that pairs of strategies forming...... a sequential equilibrium are computed. In particular, we show that a sequential equilibrium for a two-player zero-sum game with imperfect information but perfect recall can be found in polynomial time. In addition, the equilibrium we find is normal-form perfect. Our technique generalizes to general-sum games...

Sensitivity Analysis in Sequential Decision Models.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Qiushi; Ayer, Turgay; Chhatwal, Jagpreet

2017-02-01

Sequential decision problems are frequently encountered in medical decision making, which are commonly solved using Markov decision processes (MDPs). Modeling guidelines recommend conducting sensitivity analyses in decision-analytic models to assess the robustness of the model results against the uncertainty in model parameters. However, standard methods of conducting sensitivity analyses cannot be directly applied to sequential decision problems because this would require evaluating all possible decision sequences, typically in the order of trillions, which is not practically feasible. As a result, most MDP-based modeling studies do not examine confidence in their recommended policies. In this study, we provide an approach to estimate uncertainty and confidence in the results of sequential decision models. First, we provide a probabilistic univariate method to identify the most sensitive parameters in MDPs. Second, we present a probabilistic multivariate approach to estimate the overall confidence in the recommended optimal policy considering joint uncertainty in the model parameters. We provide a graphical representation, which we call a policy acceptability curve, to summarize the confidence in the optimal policy by incorporating stakeholders' willingness to accept the base case policy. For a cost-effectiveness analysis, we provide an approach to construct a cost-effectiveness acceptability frontier, which shows the most cost-effective policy as well as the confidence in that for a given willingness to pay threshold. We demonstrate our approach using a simple MDP case study. We developed a method to conduct sensitivity analysis in sequential decision models, which could increase the credibility of these models among stakeholders.

The sequential structure of brain activation predicts skill.

Science.gov (United States)

Anderson, John R; Bothell, Daniel; Fincham, Jon M; Moon, Jungaa

2016-01-29

In an fMRI study, participants were trained to play a complex video game. They were scanned early and then again after substantial practice. While better players showed greater activation in one region (right dorsal striatum) their relative skill was better diagnosed by considering the sequential structure of whole brain activation. Using a cognitive model that played this game, we extracted a characterization of the mental states that are involved in playing a game and the statistical structure of the transitions among these states. There was a strong correspondence between this measure of sequential structure and the skill of different players. Using multi-voxel pattern analysis, it was possible to recognize, with relatively high accuracy, the cognitive states participants were in during particular scans. We used the sequential structure of these activation-recognized states to predict the skill of individual players. These findings indicate that important features about information-processing strategies can be identified from a model-based analysis of the sequential structure of brain activation. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The minimal non-minimal standard model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bij, J.J. van der

2006-01-01

In this Letter I discuss a class of extensions of the standard model that have a minimal number of possible parameters, but can in principle explain dark matter and inflation. It is pointed out that the so-called new minimal standard model contains a large number of parameters that can be put to zero, without affecting the renormalizability of the model. With the extra restrictions one might call it the minimal (new) non-minimal standard model (MNMSM). A few hidden discrete variables are present. It is argued that the inflaton should be higher-dimensional. Experimental consequences for the LHC and the ILC are discussed

A novel non-sequential hydrogen-pulsed deep reactive ion etching of silicon

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gharooni, M; Mohajerzadeh, A; Sandoughsaz, A; Khanof, S; Mohajerzadeh, S; Asl-Soleimani, E

2013-01-01

A non-sequential pulsed-mode deep reactive ion etching of silicon is reported that employs continuous etching and passivation based on SF 6 and H 2 gases. The passivation layer, as an important step for deep vertical etching of silicon, is feasible by hydrogen pulses in proper time-slots. By adjusting the etching parameters such as plasma power, H 2 and SF 6 flows and hydrogen pulse timing, the process can be controlled for minimum underetch and high etch-rate at the same time. High-aspect-ratio features can be realized with low-density plasma power and by controlling the reaction chemistry. The so-called reactive ion etching lag has been minimized by operating the reactor at higher pressures. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy have been used to study the formation of the passivation layer and the passivation mechanism. (paper)

Mining Emerging Sequential Patterns for Activity Recognition in Body Sensor Networks

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gu, Tao; Wang, Liang; Chen, Hanhua

2010-01-01

Body Sensor Networks oer many applications in healthcare, well-being and entertainment. One of the emerging applications is recognizing activities of daily living. In this paper, we introduce a novel knowledge pattern named Emerging Sequential Pattern (ESP)|a sequential pattern that discovers...... signicant class dierences|to recognize both simple (i.e., sequential) and complex (i.e., interleaved and concurrent) activities. Based on ESPs, we build our complex activity models directly upon the sequential model to recognize both activity types. We conduct comprehensive empirical studies to evaluate...

Discrimination between sequential and simultaneous virtual channels with electrical hearing

OpenAIRE

Landsberger, David; Galvin, John J.

2011-01-01

In cochlear implants (CIs), simultaneous or sequential stimulation of adjacent electrodes can produce intermediate pitch percepts between those of the component electrodes. However, it is unclear whether simultaneous and sequential virtual channels (VCs) can be discriminated. In this study, CI users were asked to discriminate simultaneous and sequential VCs; discrimination was measured for monopolar (MP) and bipolar + 1 stimulation (BP + 1), i.e., relatively broad and focused stimulation mode...

Hybrid Computerized Adaptive Testing: From Group Sequential Design to Fully Sequential Design

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Shiyu; Lin, Haiyan; Chang, Hua-Hua; Douglas, Jeff

2016-01-01

Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) and multistage testing (MST) have become two of the most popular modes in large-scale computer-based sequential testing. Though most designs of CAT and MST exhibit strength and weakness in recent large-scale implementations, there is no simple answer to the question of which design is better because different…

Unconstrained and Noninvasive Measurement of Swimming Behavior of Small Fish Based on Ventilatory Signals

Science.gov (United States)

Kitayama, Shigehisa; Soh, Zu; Hirano, Akira; Tsuji, Toshio; Takiguchi, Noboru; Ohtake, Hisao

Ventilatory signal is a kind of bioelectric signals reflecting the ventilatory conditions of fish, and has received recent attention as an indicator for assessment of water quality, since breathing is adjusted by the respiratory center according to changes in the underwater environment surrounding the fish. The signals are thus beginning to be used in bioassay systems for water examination. Other than ventilatory conditions, swimming behavior also contains important information for water examination. The conventional bioassay systems, however, only measure either ventilatory signals or swimming behavior. This paper proposes a new unconstrained and noninvasive measurement method that is capable of conducting ventilatory signal measurement and behavioral analysis of fish at the same time. The proposed method estimates the position and the velocity of a fish in free-swimming conditions using power spectrum distribution of measured ventilatory signals from multiple electrodes. This allowed the system to avoid using a camera system which requires light sources. In order to validate estimation accuracy, the position and the velocity estimated by the proposed method were compared to those obtained from video analysis. The results confirmed that the estimated error of the fish positions was within the size of fish, and the correlation coefficient between the velocities was 0.906. The proposed method thus not only can measure the ventilatory signals, but also performs behavioral analysis as accurate as using a video camera.

Visual short-term memory for sequential arrays.

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Arjun; Jiang, Yuhong

2005-04-01

The capacity of visual short-term memory (VSTM) for a single visual display has been investigated in past research, but VSTM for multiple sequential arrays has been explored only recently. In this study, we investigate the capacity of VSTM across two sequential arrays separated by a variable stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA). VSTM for spatial locations (Experiment 1), colors (Experiments 2-4), orientations (Experiments 3 and 4), and conjunction of color and orientation (Experiment 4) were tested, with the SOA across the two sequential arrays varying from 100 to 1,500 msec. We find that VSTM for the trailing array is much better than VSTM for the leading array, but when averaged across the two arrays VSTM has a constant capacity independent of the SOA. We suggest that multiple displays compete for retention in VSTM and that separating information into two temporally discrete groups does not enhance the overall capacity of VSTM.

On Applicability of Tunable Filter Bank Based Feature for Ear Biometrics: A Study from Constrained to Unconstrained.

Science.gov (United States)

Chowdhury, Debbrota Paul; Bakshi, Sambit; Guo, Guodong; Sa, Pankaj Kumar

2017-11-27

In this paper, an overall framework has been presented for person verification using ear biometric which uses tunable filter bank as local feature extractor. The tunable filter bank, based on a half-band polynomial of 14th order, extracts distinct features from ear images maintaining its frequency selectivity property. To advocate the applicability of tunable filter bank on ear biometrics, recognition test has been performed on available constrained databases like AMI, WPUT, IITD and unconstrained database like UERC. Experiments have been conducted applying tunable filter based feature extractor on subparts of the ear. Empirical experiments have been conducted with four and six subdivisions of the ear image. Analyzing the experimental results, it has been found that tunable filter moderately succeeds to distinguish ear features at par with the state-of-the-art features used for ear recognition. Accuracies of 70.58%, 67.01%, 81.98%, and 57.75% have been achieved on AMI, WPUT, IITD, and UERC databases through considering Canberra Distance as underlying measure of separation. The performances indicate that tunable filter is a candidate for recognizing human from ear images.

The target-to-foils shift in simultaneous and sequential lineups.

Science.gov (United States)

Clark, Steven E; Davey, Sherrie L

2005-04-01

A theoretical cornerstone in eyewitness identification research is the proposition that witnesses, in making decisions from standard simultaneous lineups, make relative judgments. The present research considers two sources of support for this proposal. An experiment by G. L. Wells (1993) showed that if the target is removed from a lineup, witnesses shift their responses to pick foils, rather than rejecting the lineups, a result we will term a target-to-foils shift. Additional empirical support is provided by results from sequential lineups which typically show higher accuracy than simultaneous lineups, presumably because of a decrease in the use of relative judgments in making identification decisions. The combination of these two lines of research suggests that the target-to-foils shift should be reduced in sequential lineups relative to simultaneous lineups. Results of two experiments showed an overall advantage for sequential lineups, but also showed a target-to-foils shift equal in size for simultaneous and sequential lineups. Additional analyses indicated that the target-to-foils shift in sequential lineups was moderated in part by an order effect and was produced with (Experiment 2) or without (Experiment 1) a shift in decision criterion. This complex pattern of results suggests that more work is needed to understand the processes which underlie decisions in simultaneous and sequential lineups.

Minimalism

CERN Document Server

Obendorf, Hartmut

2009-01-01

The notion of Minimalism is proposed as a theoretical tool supporting a more differentiated understanding of reduction and thus forms a standpoint that allows definition of aspects of simplicity. This book traces the development of minimalism, defines the four types of minimalism in interaction design, and looks at how to apply it.

Dynamics-based sequential memory: Winnerless competition of patterns

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Seliger, Philip; Tsimring, Lev S.; Rabinovich, Mikhail I.

2003-01-01

We introduce a biologically motivated dynamical principle of sequential memory which is based on winnerless competition (WLC) of event images. This mechanism is implemented in a two-layer neural model of sequential spatial memory. We present the learning dynamics which leads to the formation of a WLC network. After learning, the system is capable of associative retrieval of prerecorded sequences of patterns

Sequential, progressive, equal-power, reflective beam-splitter arrays

Science.gov (United States)

Manhart, Paul K.

2017-11-01

The equations to calculate equal-power reflectivity of a sequential series of beam splitters is presented. Non-sequential optical design examples are offered for uniform illumination using diode lasers. Objects created using Boolean operators and Swept Surfaces can create objects capable of reflecting light into predefined elevation and azimuth angles. Analysis of the illumination patterns for the array are also presented.

Basal ganglia and cortical networks for sequential ordering and rhythm of complex movements

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jeffery G. Bednark

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Voluntary actions require the concurrent engagement and coordinated control of complex temporal (e.g. rhythm and ordinal motor processes. Using high-resolution functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI and multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA, we sought to determine the degree to which these complex motor processes are dissociable in basal ganglia and cortical networks. We employed three different finger-tapping tasks that differed in the demand on the sequential temporal rhythm or sequential ordering of submovements. Our results demonstrate that sequential rhythm and sequential order tasks were partially dissociable based on activation differences. The sequential rhythm task activated a widespread network centered around the SMA and basal-ganglia regions including the dorsomedial putamen and caudate nucleus, while the sequential order task preferentially activated a fronto-parietal network. There was also extensive overlap between sequential rhythm and sequential order tasks, with both tasks commonly activating bilateral premotor, supplementary motor, and superior/inferior parietal cortical regions, as well as regions of the caudate/putamen of the basal ganglia and the ventro-lateral thalamus. Importantly, within the cortical regions that were active for both complex movements, MVPA could accurately classify different patterns of activation for the sequential rhythm and sequential order tasks. In the basal ganglia, however, overlapping activation for the sequential rhythm and sequential order tasks, which was found in classic motor circuits of the putamen and ventro-lateral thalamus, could not be accurately differentiated by MVPA. Overall, our results highlight the convergent architecture of the motor system, where complex motor information that is spatially distributed in the cortex converges into a more compact representation in the basal ganglia.

The sequential price of anarchy for atomic congestion games

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Jong, Jasper; Uetz, Marc Jochen; Liu, Tie-Yan; Qi, Qi; Ye, Yinyu

2014-01-01

In situations without central coordination, the price of anarchy relates the quality of any Nash equilibrium to the quality of a global optimum. Instead of assuming that all players choose their actions simultaneously, we consider games where players choose their actions sequentially. The sequential

Native Frames: Disentangling Sequential from Concerted Three-Body Fragmentation

Science.gov (United States)

Rajput, Jyoti; Severt, T.; Berry, Ben; Jochim, Bethany; Feizollah, Peyman; Kaderiya, Balram; Zohrabi, M.; Ablikim, U.; Ziaee, Farzaneh; Raju P., Kanaka; Rolles, D.; Rudenko, A.; Carnes, K. D.; Esry, B. D.; Ben-Itzhak, I.

2018-03-01

A key question concerning the three-body fragmentation of polyatomic molecules is the distinction of sequential and concerted mechanisms, i.e., the stepwise or simultaneous cleavage of bonds. Using laser-driven fragmentation of OCS into O++C++S+ and employing coincidence momentum imaging, we demonstrate a novel method that enables the clear separation of sequential and concerted breakup. The separation is accomplished by analyzing the three-body fragmentation in the native frame associated with each step and taking advantage of the rotation of the intermediate molecular fragment, CO2 + or CS2 + , before its unimolecular dissociation. This native-frame method works for any projectile (electrons, ions, or photons), provides details on each step of the sequential breakup, and enables the retrieval of the relevant spectra for sequential and concerted breakup separately. Specifically, this allows the determination of the branching ratio of all these processes in OCS3 + breakup. Moreover, we find that the first step of sequential breakup is tightly aligned along the laser polarization and identify the likely electronic states of the intermediate dication that undergo unimolecular dissociation in the second step. Finally, the separated concerted breakup spectra show clearly that the central carbon atom is preferentially ejected perpendicular to the laser field.

Campbell and moment measures for finite sequential spatial processes

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.N.M. van Lieshout (Marie-Colette)

2006-01-01

textabstractWe define moment and Campbell measures for sequential spatial processes, prove a Campbell-Mecke theorem, and relate the results to their counterparts in the theory of point processes. In particular, we show that any finite sequential spatial process model can be derived as the vector

Sequential Dependencies in Driving

Science.gov (United States)

Doshi, Anup; Tran, Cuong; Wilder, Matthew H.; Mozer, Michael C.; Trivedi, Mohan M.

2012-01-01

The effect of recent experience on current behavior has been studied extensively in simple laboratory tasks. We explore the nature of sequential effects in the more naturalistic setting of automobile driving. Driving is a safety-critical task in which delayed response times may have severe consequences. Using a realistic driving simulator, we find…

Research on parallel algorithm for sequential pattern mining

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Lijuan; Qin, Bai; Wang, Yu; Hao, Zhongxiao

2008-03-01

Sequential pattern mining is the mining of frequent sequences related to time or other orders from the sequence database. Its initial motivation is to discover the laws of customer purchasing in a time section by finding the frequent sequences. In recent years, sequential pattern mining has become an important direction of data mining, and its application field has not been confined to the business database and has extended to new data sources such as Web and advanced science fields such as DNA analysis. The data of sequential pattern mining has characteristics as follows: mass data amount and distributed storage. Most existing sequential pattern mining algorithms haven't considered the above-mentioned characteristics synthetically. According to the traits mentioned above and combining the parallel theory, this paper puts forward a new distributed parallel algorithm SPP(Sequential Pattern Parallel). The algorithm abides by the principal of pattern reduction and utilizes the divide-and-conquer strategy for parallelization. The first parallel task is to construct frequent item sets applying frequent concept and search space partition theory and the second task is to structure frequent sequences using the depth-first search method at each processor. The algorithm only needs to access the database twice and doesn't generate the candidated sequences, which abates the access time and improves the mining efficiency. Based on the random data generation procedure and different information structure designed, this paper simulated the SPP algorithm in a concrete parallel environment and implemented the AprioriAll algorithm. The experiments demonstrate that compared with AprioriAll, the SPP algorithm had excellent speedup factor and efficiency.

Minimal changes in health status questionnaires: distinction between minimally detectable change and minimally important change

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Knol Dirk L

2006-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Changes in scores on health status questionnaires are difficult to interpret. Several methods to determine minimally important changes (MICs have been proposed which can broadly be divided in distribution-based and anchor-based methods. Comparisons of these methods have led to insight into essential differences between these approaches. Some authors have tried to come to a uniform measure for the MIC, such as 0.5 standard deviation and the value of one standard error of measurement (SEM. Others have emphasized the diversity of MIC values, depending on the type of anchor, the definition of minimal importance on the anchor, and characteristics of the disease under study. A closer look makes clear that some distribution-based methods have been merely focused on minimally detectable changes. For assessing minimally important changes, anchor-based methods are preferred, as they include a definition of what is minimally important. Acknowledging the distinction between minimally detectable and minimally important changes is useful, not only to avoid confusion among MIC methods, but also to gain information on two important benchmarks on the scale of a health status measurement instrument. Appreciating the distinction, it becomes possible to judge whether the minimally detectable change of a measurement instrument is sufficiently small to detect minimally important changes.

Framework for sequential approximate optimization

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jacobs, J.H.; Etman, L.F.P.; Keulen, van F.; Rooda, J.E.

2004-01-01

An object-oriented framework for Sequential Approximate Optimization (SAO) isproposed. The framework aims to provide an open environment for thespecification and implementation of SAO strategies. The framework is based onthe Python programming language and contains a toolbox of Python

A Survey of Multi-Objective Sequential Decision-Making

OpenAIRE

Roijers, D.M.; Vamplew, P.; Whiteson, S.; Dazeley, R.

2013-01-01

Sequential decision-making problems with multiple objectives arise naturally in practice and pose unique challenges for research in decision-theoretic planning and learning, which has largely focused on single-objective settings. This article surveys algorithms designed for sequential decision-making problems with multiple objectives. Though there is a growing body of literature on this subject, little of it makes explicit under what circumstances special methods are needed to solve multi-obj...

A Sequential Multiplicative Extended Kalman Filter for Attitude Estimation Using Vector Observations

Science.gov (United States)

Qin, Fangjun; Jiang, Sai; Zha, Feng

2018-01-01

In this paper, a sequential multiplicative extended Kalman filter (SMEKF) is proposed for attitude estimation using vector observations. In the proposed SMEKF, each of the vector observations is processed sequentially to update the attitude, which can make the measurement model linearization more accurate for the next vector observation. This is the main difference to Murrell’s variation of the MEKF, which does not update the attitude estimate during the sequential procedure. Meanwhile, the covariance is updated after all the vector observations have been processed, which is used to account for the special characteristics of the reset operation necessary for the attitude update. This is the main difference to the traditional sequential EKF, which updates the state covariance at each step of the sequential procedure. The numerical simulation study demonstrates that the proposed SMEKF has more consistent and accurate performance in a wide range of initial estimate errors compared to the MEKF and its traditional sequential forms. PMID:29751538

A Sequential Multiplicative Extended Kalman Filter for Attitude Estimation Using Vector Observations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fangjun Qin

2018-05-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a sequential multiplicative extended Kalman filter (SMEKF is proposed for attitude estimation using vector observations. In the proposed SMEKF, each of the vector observations is processed sequentially to update the attitude, which can make the measurement model linearization more accurate for the next vector observation. This is the main difference to Murrell’s variation of the MEKF, which does not update the attitude estimate during the sequential procedure. Meanwhile, the covariance is updated after all the vector observations have been processed, which is used to account for the special characteristics of the reset operation necessary for the attitude update. This is the main difference to the traditional sequential EKF, which updates the state covariance at each step of the sequential procedure. The numerical simulation study demonstrates that the proposed SMEKF has more consistent and accurate performance in a wide range of initial estimate errors compared to the MEKF and its traditional sequential forms.

Asynchronous Operators of Sequential Logic Venjunction & Sequention

CERN Document Server

Vasyukevich, Vadim

2011-01-01

This book is dedicated to new mathematical instruments assigned for logical modeling of the memory of digital devices. The case in point is logic-dynamical operation named venjunction and venjunctive function as well as sequention and sequentional function. Venjunction and sequention operate within the framework of sequential logic. In a form of the corresponding equations, they organically fit analytical expressions of Boolean algebra. Thus, a sort of symbiosis is formed using elements of asynchronous sequential logic on the one hand and combinational logic on the other hand. So, asynchronous

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

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Chatrchyan, Serguei; Sirunyan, Albert M; Tumasyan, Armen; Adam, Wolfgang; Aguilo, Ernest; Bergauer, Thomas; Dragicevic, Marko; Erö, Janos; Fabjan, Christian; Friedl, Markus; Fruehwirth, Rudolf; Ghete, Vasile Mihai; Hammer, Josef; Hörmann, Natascha; Hrubec, Josef; Jeitler, Manfred; Kiesenhofer, Wolfgang; Knünz, Valentin; Krammer, Manfred; Krätschmer, Ilse; Liko, Dietrich; Mikulec, Ivan; Pernicka, Manfred; Rahbaran, Babak; Rohringer, Christine; Rohringer, Herbert; Schöfbeck, Robert; Strauss, Josef; Taurok, Anton; Waltenberger, Wolfgang; Walzel, Gerhard; Widl, Edmund; Wulz, Claudia-Elisabeth; Mossolov, Vladimir; Shumeiko, Nikolai; Suarez Gonzalez, Juan; Bansal, Monika; Bansal, Sunil; Cornelis, Tom; De Wolf, Eddi A; Janssen, Xavier; Luyckx, Sten; Mucibello, Luca; Ochesanu, Silvia; Roland, Benoit; Rougny, Romain; Selvaggi, Michele; Staykova, Zlatka; Van Haevermaet, Hans; Van Mechelen, Pierre; Van Remortel, Nick; Van Spilbeeck, Alex; Blekman, Freya; Blyweert, Stijn; D'Hondt, Jorgen; Gonzalez Suarez, Rebeca; 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Faccioli, Pietro; Ferreira Parracho, Pedro Guilherme; Gallinaro, Michele; Seixas, Joao; Varela, Joao; Vischia, Pietro; Belotelov, Ivan; Bunin, Pavel; Gavrilenko, Mikhail; Golutvin, Igor; Kamenev, Alexey; Karjavin, Vladimir; Kozlov, Guennady; Lanev, Alexander; Malakhov, Alexander; Moisenz, Petr; Palichik, Vladimir; Perelygin, Victor; Savina, Maria; Shmatov, Sergey; Smirnov, Vitaly; Volodko, Anton; Zarubin, Anatoli; Evstyukhin, Sergey; Golovtsov, Victor; Ivanov, Yury; Kim, Victor; Levchenko, Petr; Murzin, Victor; Oreshkin, Vadim; Smirnov, Igor; Sulimov, Valentin; Uvarov, Lev; Vavilov, Sergey; Vorobyev, Alexey; Vorobyev, Andrey; Andreev, Yuri; Dermenev, Alexander; Gninenko, Sergei; Golubev, Nikolai; Kirsanov, Mikhail; Krasnikov, Nikolai; Matveev, Viktor; Pashenkov, Anatoli; Tlisov, Danila; Toropin, Alexander; Epshteyn, Vladimir; Erofeeva, Maria; Gavrilov, Vladimir; Kossov, Mikhail; Lychkovskaya, Natalia; Popov, Vladimir; Safronov, Grigory; Semenov, Sergey; Stolin, Viatcheslav; Vlasov, Evgueni; Zhokin, Alexander; Belyaev, Andrey; Boos, Edouard; Bunichev, Viacheslav; Dubinin, Mikhail; Dudko, Lev; Gribushin, Andrey; Klyukhin, Vyacheslav; Kodolova, Olga; Lokhtin, Igor; Markina, Anastasia; Obraztsov, Stepan; Perfilov, Maxim; Petrushanko, Sergey; Popov, Andrey; Sarycheva, Ludmila; Savrin, Viktor; Snigirev, Alexander; Andreev, Vladimir; Azarkin, Maksim; Dremin, Igor; Kirakosyan, Martin; Leonidov, Andrey; Mesyats, Gennady; Rusakov, Sergey V; Vinogradov, Alexey; Azhgirey, Igor; Bayshev, Igor; Bitioukov, Sergei; Grishin, Viatcheslav; Kachanov, Vassili; Konstantinov, Dmitri; Korablev, Andrey; Krychkine, Victor; Petrov, Vladimir; Ryutin, Roman; Sobol, Andrei; Tourtchanovitch, Leonid; Troshin, Sergey; Tyurin, Nikolay; Uzunian, Andrey; Volkov, Alexey; Adzic, Petar; Djordjevic, Milos; Ekmedzic, Marko; Krpic, Dragomir; Milosevic, Jovan; Aguilar-Benitez, Manuel; Alcaraz Maestre, Juan; Arce, Pedro; Battilana, Carlo; Calvo, Enrique; Cerrada, Marcos; Chamizo Llatas, Maria; Colino, Nicanor; De La Cruz, Begona; Delgado Peris, Antonio; Domínguez Vázquez, Daniel; Fernandez Bedoya, Cristina; Fernández Ramos, Juan Pablo; Ferrando, Antonio; Flix, Jose; Fouz, Maria Cruz; Garcia-Abia, Pablo; Gonzalez Lopez, Oscar; Goy Lopez, Silvia; Hernandez, Jose M; Josa, Maria Isabel; Merino, Gonzalo; Puerta Pelayo, Jesus; Quintario Olmeda, Adrián; Redondo, Ignacio; Romero, Luciano; Santaolalla, Javier; Senghi Soares, Mara; Willmott, Carlos; Albajar, Carmen; Codispoti, Giuseppe; de Trocóniz, Jorge F; Brun, Hugues; Cuevas, Javier; Fernandez Menendez, Javier; Folgueras, Santiago; Gonzalez Caballero, Isidro; Lloret Iglesias, Lara; Piedra Gomez, Jonatan; Brochero Cifuentes, Javier Andres; Cabrillo, Iban Jose; Calderon, Alicia; Chuang, Shan-Huei; Duarte Campderros, Jordi; Felcini, Marta; Fernandez, Marcos; Gomez, Gervasio; Gonzalez Sanchez, Javier; Graziano, Alberto; Jorda, Clara; Lopez Virto, Amparo; Marco, Jesus; Marco, Rafael; Martinez Rivero, Celso; Matorras, Francisco; Munoz Sanchez, Francisca Javiela; Rodrigo, Teresa; Rodríguez-Marrero, Ana Yaiza; Ruiz-Jimeno, Alberto; Scodellaro, Luca; Sobron Sanudo, Mar; Vila, Ivan; Vilar Cortabitarte, Rocio; Abbaneo, Duccio; Auffray, Etiennette; Auzinger, Georg; Bachtis, Michail; Baillon, Paul; Ball, Austin; Barney, David; Benitez, Jose F; Bernet, Colin; Bianchi, Giovanni; Bloch, Philippe; Bocci, Andrea; Bonato, Alessio; Botta, Cristina; Breuker, Horst; Camporesi, Tiziano; Cerminara, Gianluca; Christiansen, Tim; Coarasa Perez, Jose Antonio; D'Enterria, David; Dabrowski, Anne; De Roeck, Albert; Di Guida, Salvatore; Dobson, Marc; Dupont-Sagorin, Niels; Elliott-Peisert, Anna; Frisch, Benjamin; Funk, Wolfgang; Georgiou, Georgios; Giffels, Manuel; Gigi, Dominique; Gill, Karl; Giordano, Domenico; Giunta, Marina; Glege, Frank; Gomez-Reino Garrido, Robert; Govoni, Pietro; Gowdy, Stephen; Guida, Roberto; Hansen, Magnus; Harris, Philip; Hartl, Christian; Harvey, John; Hegner, Benedikt; Hinzmann, Andreas; Innocente, Vincenzo; Janot, Patrick; Kaadze, Ketino; Karavakis, Edward; Kousouris, Konstantinos; Lecoq, Paul; Lee, Yen-Jie; Lenzi, Piergiulio; Lourenco, Carlos; Magini, Nicolo; Maki, Tuula; Malberti, Martina; Malgeri, Luca; Mannelli, Marcello; Masetti, Lorenzo; Meijers, Frans; Mersi, Stefano; Meschi, Emilio; Moser, Roland; Mozer, Matthias Ulrich; Mulders, Martijn; Musella, Pasquale; Nesvold, Erik; Orimoto, Toyoko; Orsini, Luciano; Palencia Cortezon, Enrique; Perez, Emmanuelle; Perrozzi, Luca; Petrilli, Achille; Pfeiffer, Andreas; Pierini, Maurizio; Pimiä, Martti; Piparo, Danilo; Polese, Giovanni; Quertenmont, Loic; Racz, Attila; Reece, William; Rodrigues Antunes, Joao; Rolandi, Gigi; Rovelli, Chiara; Rovere, Marco; Sakulin, Hannes; Santanastasio, Francesco; Schäfer, Christoph; Schwick, Christoph; Segoni, Ilaria; Sekmen, Sezen; Sharma, Archana; Siegrist, Patrice; Silva, Pedro; Simon, Michal; Sphicas, Paraskevas; Spiga, Daniele; Tsirou, Andromachi; Veres, Gabor Istvan; Vlimant, Jean-Roch; Wöhri, Hermine Katharina; Worm, Steven; Zeuner, Wolfram Dietrich; Bertl, Willi; Deiters, Konrad; Erdmann, Wolfram; Gabathuler, Kurt; Horisberger, Roland; Ingram, Quentin; Kaestli, Hans-Christian; König, Stefan; Kotlinski, Danek; Langenegger, Urs; Meier, Frank; Renker, Dieter; Rohe, Tilman; Sibille, Jennifer; Bäni, Lukas; Bortignon, Pierluigi; Buchmann, Marco-Andrea; Casal, Bruno; Chanon, Nicolas; Deisher, Amanda; Dissertori, Günther; Dittmar, Michael; Donegà, Mauro; Dünser, Marc; Eugster, Jürg; Freudenreich, Klaus; Grab, Christoph; Hits, Dmitry; Lecomte, Pierre; Lustermann, Werner; Marini, Andrea Carlo; Martinez Ruiz del Arbol, Pablo; Mohr, Niklas; Moortgat, Filip; Nägeli, Christoph; Nef, Pascal; Nessi-Tedaldi, Francesca; Pandolfi, Francesco; Pape, Luc; Pauss, Felicitas; Peruzzi, Marco; Ronga, Frederic Jean; Rossini, Marco; Sala, Leonardo; Sanchez, Ann - Karin; Starodumov, Andrei; Stieger, Benjamin; Takahashi, Maiko; Tauscher, Ludwig; Thea, Alessandro; Theofilatos, Konstantinos; Treille, Daniel; Urscheler, Christina; Wallny, Rainer; Weber, Hannsjoerg Artur; Wehrli, Lukas; Amsler, Claude; Chiochia, Vincenzo; De Visscher, Simon; Favaro, Carlotta; Ivova Rikova, Mirena; Millan Mejias, Barbara; Otiougova, Polina; Robmann, Peter; Snoek, Hella; Tupputi, Salvatore; Verzetti, Mauro; Chang, Yuan-Hann; Chen, Kuan-Hsin; Kuo, Chia-Ming; Li, Syue-Wei; Lin, Willis; Liu, Zong-Kai; Lu, Yun-Ju; Mekterovic, Darko; Singh, Anil; Volpe, Roberta; Yu, Shin-Shan; Bartalini, Paolo; Chang, Paoti; Chang, You-Hao; Chang, Yu-Wei; Chao, Yuan; Chen, Kai-Feng; Dietz, Charles; Grundler, Ulysses; Hou, George Wei-Shu; Hsiung, Yee; Kao, Kai-Yi; Lei, Yeong-Jyi; Lu, Rong-Shyang; Majumder, Devdatta; Petrakou, Eleni; Shi, Xin; Shiu, Jing-Ge; Tzeng, Yeng-Ming; Wan, Xia; Wang, Minzu; Adiguzel, Aytul; Bakirci, Mustafa Numan; Cerci, Salim; Dozen, Candan; Dumanoglu, Isa; Eskut, Eda; Girgis, Semiray; Gokbulut, Gul; Gurpinar, Emine; Hos, Ilknur; Kangal, Evrim Ersin; Karaman, Turker; Karapinar, Guler; Kayis Topaksu, Aysel; Onengut, Gulsen; Ozdemir, Kadri; Ozturk, Sertac; Polatoz, Ayse; Sogut, Kenan; Sunar Cerci, Deniz; Tali, Bayram; Topakli, Huseyin; Vergili, Latife Nukhet; Vergili, Mehmet; Akin, Ilina Vasileva; Aliev, Takhmasib; Bilin, Bugra; Bilmis, Selcuk; Deniz, Muhammed; Gamsizkan, Halil; Guler, Ali Murat; Ocalan, Kadir; Ozpineci, Altug; Serin, Meltem; Sever, Ramazan; Surat, Ugur Emrah; Yalvac, Metin; Yildirim, Eda; Zeyrek, Mehmet; Gülmez, Erhan; Isildak, Bora; Kaya, Mithat; Kaya, Ozlem; Ozkorucuklu, Suat; Sonmez, Nasuf; Cankocak, Kerem; Levchuk, Leonid; Bostock, Francis; Brooke, James John; Clement, Emyr; Cussans, David; Flacher, Henning; Frazier, Robert; Goldstein, Joel; Grimes, Mark; Heath, Greg P; Heath, Helen F; Kreczko, Lukasz; Metson, Simon; Newbold, Dave M; Nirunpong, Kachanon; Poll, Anthony; Senkin, Sergey; Smith, Vincent J; Williams, Thomas; Basso, Lorenzo; Bell, Ken W; Belyaev, Alexander; Brew, Christopher; Brown, Robert M; Cockerill, David JA; Coughlan, John A; Harder, Kristian; Harper, Sam; Jackson, James; Kennedy, Bruce W; Olaiya, Emmanuel; Petyt, David; Radburn-Smith, Benjamin Charles; Shepherd-Themistocleous, Claire; Tomalin, Ian R; Womersley, William John; Bainbridge, Robert; Ball, Gordon; Beuselinck, Raymond; Buchmuller, Oliver; Colling, David; Cripps, Nicholas; Cutajar, Michael; Dauncey, Paul; Davies, Gavin; Della Negra, Michel; Ferguson, William; Fulcher, Jonathan; Futyan, David; Gilbert, Andrew; Guneratne Bryer, Arlo; Hall, Geoffrey; Hatherell, Zoe; Hays, Jonathan; Iles, Gregory; Jarvis, Martyn; Karapostoli, Georgia; Lyons, Louis; Magnan, Anne-Marie; Marrouche, Jad; Mathias, Bryn; Nandi, Robin; Nash, Jordan; Nikitenko, Alexander; Papageorgiou, Anastasios; Pela, Joao; Pesaresi, Mark; Petridis, Konstantinos; Pioppi, Michele; Raymond, David Mark; Rogerson, Samuel; Rose, Andrew; Ryan, Matthew John; Seez, Christopher; Sharp, Peter; Sparrow, Alex; Stoye, Markus; Tapper, Alexander; Vazquez Acosta, Monica; Virdee, Tejinder; Wakefield, Stuart; Wardle, Nicholas; Whyntie, Tom; Chadwick, Matthew; Cole, Joanne; Hobson, Peter R; Khan, Akram; Kyberd, Paul; Leggat, Duncan; Leslie, Dawn; Martin, William; Reid, Ivan; Symonds, Philip; Teodorescu, Liliana; Turner, Mark; Hatakeyama, Kenichi; Liu, Hongxuan; Scarborough, Tara; Charaf, Otman; Henderson, Conor; Rumerio, Paolo; Avetisyan, Aram; Bose, Tulika; Fantasia, Cory; Heister, Arno; St John, Jason; Lawson, Philip; Lazic, Dragoslav; Rohlf, James; Sperka, David; Sulak, Lawrence; Alimena, Juliette; Bhattacharya, Saptaparna; Cutts, David; Ferapontov, Alexey; Heintz, Ulrich; Jabeen, Shabnam; Kukartsev, Gennadiy; Laird, Edward; Landsberg, Greg; Luk, Michael; Narain, Meenakshi; Nguyen, Duong; Segala, Michael; Sinthuprasith, Tutanon; Speer, Thomas; Tsang, Ka Vang; Breedon, Richard; Breto, Guillermo; Calderon De La Barca Sanchez, Manuel; Chauhan, Sushil; Chertok, Maxwell; Conway, John; Conway, Rylan; Cox, Peter Timothy; Dolen, James; Erbacher, Robin; Gardner, Michael; Houtz, Rachel; Ko, Winston; Kopecky, Alexandra; Lander, Richard; Miceli, Tia; Pellett, Dave; Ricci-tam, Francesca; Rutherford, Britney; Searle, Matthew; Smith, John; Squires, Michael; Tripathi, Mani; Vasquez Sierra, Ricardo; Andreev, Valeri; Cline, David; Cousins, Robert; Duris, Joseph; Erhan, Samim; Everaerts, Pieter; Farrell, Chris; Hauser, Jay; Ignatenko, Mikhail; Jarvis, Chad; Plager, Charles; Rakness, Gregory; Schlein, Peter; Traczyk, Piotr; Valuev, Vyacheslav; Weber, Matthias; Babb, John; Clare, Robert; Dinardo, Mauro Emanuele; Ellison, John Anthony; Gary, J William; Giordano, Ferdinando; Hanson, Gail; Jeng, Geng-Yuan; Liu, Hongliang; Long, Owen Rosser; Luthra, Arun; Nguyen, Harold; Paramesvaran, Sudarshan; Sturdy, Jared; Sumowidagdo, Suharyo; Wilken, Rachel; Wimpenny, Stephen; Andrews, Warren; Branson, James G; Cerati, Giuseppe Benedetto; Cittolin, Sergio; Evans, David; Golf, Frank; Holzner, André; Kelley, Ryan; Lebourgeois, Matthew; Letts, James; Macneill, Ian; Mangano, Boris; Padhi, Sanjay; Palmer, Christopher; Petrucciani, Giovanni; Pieri, Marco; Sani, Matteo; Sharma, Vivek; Simon, Sean; Sudano, Elizabeth; Tadel, Matevz; Tu, Yanjun; Vartak, Adish; Wasserbaech, Steven; Würthwein, Frank; Yagil, Avraham; Yoo, Jaehyeok; Barge, Derek; Bellan, Riccardo; Campagnari, Claudio; D'Alfonso, Mariarosaria; Danielson, Thomas; Flowers, Kristen; Geffert, Paul; Incandela, Joe; Justus, Christopher; Kalavase, Puneeth; Koay, Sue Ann; Kovalskyi, Dmytro; Krutelyov, Vyacheslav; Lowette, Steven; Mccoll, Nickolas; Pavlunin, Viktor; Rebassoo, Finn; Ribnik, Jacob; Richman, Jeffrey; Rossin, Roberto; Stuart, David; To, Wing; West, Christopher; Apresyan, Artur; Bornheim, Adolf; Chen, Yi; Di Marco, Emanuele; Duarte, Javier; Gataullin, Marat; Ma, Yousi; Mott, Alexander; Newman, Harvey B; Rogan, Christopher; Spiropulu, Maria; Timciuc, Vladlen; Veverka, Jan; Wilkinson, Richard; Xie, Si; Yang, Yong; Zhu, Ren-Yuan; Akgun, Bora; Azzolini, Virginia; Calamba, Aristotle; Carroll, Ryan; Ferguson, Thomas; Iiyama, Yutaro; Jang, Dong Wook; Liu, Yueh-Feng; Paulini, Manfred; Vogel, Helmut; Vorobiev, Igor; Cumalat, John Perry; Drell, Brian Robert; Edelmaier, Christopher; Ford, William T; Gaz, Alessandro; Heyburn, Bernadette; Luiggi Lopez, Eduardo; Smith, James; Stenson, Kevin; Ulmer, Keith; Wagner, Stephen Robert; Alexander, James; Chatterjee, Avishek; Eggert, Nicholas; Gibbons, Lawrence Kent; Heltsley, Brian; Khukhunaishvili, Aleko; Kreis, Benjamin; Mirman, Nathan; Nicolas Kaufman, Gala; Patterson, Juliet Ritchie; Ryd, Anders; Salvati, Emmanuele; Sun, Werner; Teo, Wee Don; Thom, Julia; Thompson, Joshua; Tucker, Jordan; Vaughan, Jennifer; Weng, Yao; Winstrom, Lucas; Wittich, Peter; Winn, Dave; Abdullin, Salavat; Albrow, Michael; Anderson, Jacob; Bauerdick, Lothar AT; Beretvas, Andrew; Berryhill, Jeffrey; Bhat, Pushpalatha C; Bloch, Ingo; Burkett, Kevin; Butler, Joel Nathan; Chetluru, Vasundhara; Cheung, Harry; Chlebana, Frank; Elvira, Victor Daniel; Fisk, Ian; Freeman, Jim; Gao, Yanyan; Green, Dan; Gutsche, Oliver; Hanlon, Jim; Harris, Robert M; Hirschauer, James; Hooberman, Benjamin; Jindariani, Sergo; Johnson, Marvin; Joshi, Umesh; Kilminster, Benjamin; Klima, Boaz; Kunori, Shuichi; Kwan, Simon; Leonidopoulos, Christos; Linacre, Jacob; Lincoln, Don; Lipton, Ron; Lykken, Joseph; Maeshima, Kaori; Marraffino, John Michael; Maruyama, Sho; Mason, David; McBride, Patricia; Mishra, Kalanand; Mrenna, Stephen; Musienko, Yuri; Newman-Holmes, Catherine; O'Dell, Vivian; Prokofyev, Oleg; Sexton-Kennedy, Elizabeth; Sharma, Seema; Spalding, William J; Spiegel, Leonard; Tan, Ping; Taylor, Lucas; Tkaczyk, Slawek; Tran, Nhan Viet; Uplegger, Lorenzo; Vaandering, Eric Wayne; Vidal, Richard; Whitmore, Juliana; Wu, Weimin; Yang, Fan; Yumiceva, Francisco; Yun, Jae Chul; Acosta, Darin; Avery, Paul; Bourilkov, Dimitri; Chen, Mingshui; Cheng, Tongguang; Das, Souvik; De Gruttola, Michele; Di Giovanni, Gian Piero; Dobur, Didar; Drozdetskiy, Alexey; Field, Richard D; Fisher, Matthew; Fu, Yu; Furic, Ivan-Kresimir; Gartner, Joseph; Hugon, Justin; Kim, Bockjoo; Konigsberg, Jacobo; Korytov, Andrey; Kropivnitskaya, Anna; Kypreos, Theodore; Low, Jia Fu; Matchev, Konstantin; Milenovic, Predrag; Mitselmakher, Guenakh; Muniz, Lana; Remington, Ronald; Rinkevicius, Aurelijus; Sellers, Paul; Skhirtladze, Nikoloz; Snowball, Matthew; Yelton, John; Zakaria, Mohammed; Gaultney, Vanessa; Hewamanage, Samantha; Lebolo, Luis Miguel; Linn, Stephan; Markowitz, Pete; Martinez, German; Rodriguez, Jorge Luis; Adams, Todd; Askew, Andrew; Bochenek, Joseph; Chen, Jie; Diamond, Brendan; Gleyzer, Sergei V; Haas, Jeff; Hagopian, Sharon; Hagopian, Vasken; Jenkins, Merrill; Johnson, Kurtis F; Prosper, Harrison; Veeraraghavan, Venkatesh; Weinberg, Marc; Baarmand, Marc M; Dorney, Brian; Hohlmann, Marcus; Kalakhety, Himali; Vodopiyanov, Igor; Adams, Mark Raymond; Anghel, Ioana Maria; Apanasevich, Leonard; Bai, Yuting; Bazterra, Victor Eduardo; Betts, Russell Richard; Bucinskaite, Inga; Callner, Jeremy; Cavanaugh, Richard; Evdokimov, Olga; Gauthier, Lucie; Gerber, Cecilia Elena; Hofman, David Jonathan; Khalatyan, Samvel; Lacroix, Florent; Malek, Magdalena; O'Brien, Christine; Silkworth, Christopher; Strom, Derek; Varelas, Nikos; Akgun, Ugur; Albayrak, Elif Asli; Bilki, Burak; Clarida, Warren; Duru, Firdevs; Griffiths, Scott; Merlo, Jean-Pierre; Mermerkaya, Hamit; Mestvirishvili, Alexi; Moeller, Anthony; Nachtman, Jane; Newsom, Charles Ray; Norbeck, Edwin; Onel, Yasar; Ozok, Ferhat; Sen, Sercan; Tiras, Emrah; Wetzel, James; Yetkin, Taylan; Yi, Kai; Barnett, Bruce Arnold; Blumenfeld, Barry; Bolognesi, Sara; Fehling, David; Giurgiu, Gavril; Gritsan, Andrei; Guo, Zijin; Hu, Guofan; Maksimovic, Petar; Rappoccio, Salvatore; Swartz, Morris; Whitbeck, Andrew; Baringer, Philip; Bean, Alice; Benelli, Gabriele; Grachov, Oleg; Kenny Iii, Raymond Patrick; Murray, Michael; Noonan, Daniel; Sanders, Stephen; Stringer, Robert; Tinti, Gemma; Wood, Jeffrey Scott; Zhukova, Victoria; Barfuss, Anne-Fleur; Bolton, Tim; Chakaberia, Irakli; Ivanov, Andrew; Khalil, Sadia; Makouski, Mikhail; Maravin, Yurii; Shrestha, Shruti; Svintradze, Irakli; Gronberg, Jeffrey; Lange, David; Wright, Douglas; Baden, Drew; Boutemeur, Madjid; Calvert, Brian; Eno, Sarah Catherine; Gomez, Jaime; Hadley, Nicholas John; Kellogg, Richard G; Kirn, Malina; Kolberg, Ted; Lu, Ying; Marionneau, Matthieu; Mignerey, Alice; Pedro, Kevin; Peterman, Alison; Skuja, Andris; Temple, Jeffrey; Tonjes, Marguerite; Tonwar, Suresh C; Twedt, Elizabeth; Apyan, Aram; Bauer, Gerry; Bendavid, Joshua; Busza, Wit; Butz, Erik; Cali, Ivan Amos; Chan, Matthew; Dutta, Valentina; Gomez Ceballos, Guillelmo; Goncharov, Maxim; Hahn, Kristan Allan; Kim, Yongsun; Klute, Markus; Krajczar, Krisztian; Li, Wei; Luckey, Paul David; Ma, Teng; Nahn, Steve; Paus, Christoph; Ralph, Duncan; Roland, Christof; Roland, Gunther; Rudolph, Matthew; Stephans, George; Stöckli, Fabian; Sumorok, Konstanty; Sung, Kevin; Velicanu, Dragos; Wenger, Edward Allen; Wolf, Roger; Wyslouch, Bolek; Yang, Mingming; Yilmaz, Yetkin; Yoon, Sungho; Zanetti, Marco; Cooper, Seth; Dahmes, Bryan; De Benedetti, Abraham; Franzoni, Giovanni; Gude, Alexander; Kao, Shih-Chuan; Klapoetke, Kevin; Kubota, Yuichi; Mans, Jeremy; Pastika, Nathaniel; Rusack, Roger; Sasseville, Michael; Singovsky, Alexander; Tambe, Norbert; Turkewitz, Jared; Cremaldi, Lucien Marcus; Kroeger, Rob; Perera, Lalith; Rahmat, Rahmat; Sanders, David A; Avdeeva, Ekaterina; Bloom, Kenneth; Bose, Suvadeep; Butt, Jamila; Claes, Daniel R; Dominguez, Aaron; Eads, Michael; Keller, Jason; Kravchenko, Ilya; Lazo-Flores, Jose; Malbouisson, Helena; Malik, Sudhir; Snow, Gregory R; Baur, Ulrich; Godshalk, Andrew; Iashvili, Ia; Jain, Supriya; Kharchilava, Avto; Kumar, Ashish; Shipkowski, Simon Peter; Smith, Kenneth; Alverson, George; Barberis, Emanuela; Baumgartel, Darin; Chasco, Matthew; Haley, Joseph; Nash, David; Trocino, Daniele; Wood, Darien; Zhang, Jinzhong; Anastassov, Anton; Kubik, Andrew; Mucia, Nicholas; Odell, Nathaniel; Ofierzynski, Radoslaw Adrian; Pollack, Brian; Pozdnyakov, Andrey; Schmitt, Michael Henry; Stoynev, Stoyan; Velasco, Mayda; Won, Steven; Antonelli, Louis; Berry, Douglas; Brinkerhoff, Andrew; Hildreth, Michael; Jessop, Colin; Karmgard, Daniel John; Kolb, Jeff; Lannon, Kevin; Luo, Wuming; Lynch, Sean; Marinelli, Nancy; Morse, David Michael; Pearson, Tessa; Planer, Michael; Ruchti, Randy; Slaunwhite, Jason; Valls, Nil; Wayne, Mitchell; Wolf, Matthias; Bylsma, Ben; Durkin, Lloyd Stanley; Hill, Christopher; Hughes, Richard; Kotov, Khristian; Ling, Ta-Yung; Puigh, Darren; Rodenburg, Marissa; Vuosalo, Carl; Williams, Grayson; Winer, Brian L; Adam, Nadia; Berry, Edmund; Elmer, Peter; Gerbaudo, Davide; Halyo, Valerie; Hebda, Philip; Hegeman, Jeroen; Hunt, Adam; Jindal, Pratima; Lopes Pegna, David; Lujan, Paul; Marlow, Daniel; Medvedeva, Tatiana; Mooney, Michael; Olsen, James; Piroué, Pierre; Quan, Xiaohang; Raval, Amita; Safdi, Ben; Saka, Halil; Stickland, David; Tully, Christopher; Werner, Jeremy Scott; Zuranski, Andrzej; Acosta, Jhon Gabriel; Brownson, Eric; Huang, Xing Tao; Lopez, Angel; Mendez, Hector; Oliveros, Sandra; Ramirez Vargas, Juan Eduardo; Zatserklyaniy, Andriy; Alagoz, Enver; Barnes, Virgil E; Benedetti, Daniele; Bolla, Gino; Bortoletto, Daniela; De Mattia, Marco; Everett, Adam; Hu, Zhen; Jones, Matthew; Koybasi, Ozhan; Kress, Matthew; Laasanen, Alvin T; Leonardo, Nuno; Maroussov, Vassili; Merkel, Petra; Miller, David Harry; Neumeister, Norbert; Shipsey, Ian; Silvers, David; Svyatkovskiy, Alexey; Vidal Marono, Miguel; Yoo, Hwi Dong; Zablocki, Jakub; Zheng, Yu; Guragain, Samir; Parashar, Neeti; Adair, Antony; Boulahouache, Chaouki; Ecklund, Karl Matthew; Geurts, Frank JM; Padley, Brian Paul; Redjimi, Radia; Roberts, Jay; Zabel, James; Betchart, Burton; Bodek, Arie; Chung, Yeon Sei; Covarelli, Roberto; de Barbaro, Pawel; Demina, Regina; Eshaq, Yossof; Garcia-Bellido, Aran; Goldenzweig, Pablo; Han, Jiyeon; Harel, Amnon; Miner, Daniel Carl; Vishnevskiy, Dmitry; Zielinski, Marek; Bhatti, Anwar; Ciesielski, Robert; Demortier, Luc; Goulianos, Konstantin; Lungu, Gheorghe; Malik, Sarah; Mesropian, Christina; Arora, Sanjay; Barker, Anthony; Chou, John Paul; Contreras-Campana, Christian; Contreras-Campana, Emmanuel; Duggan, Daniel; Ferencek, Dinko; Gershtein, Yuri; Gray, Richard; Halkiadakis, Eva; Hidas, Dean; Lath, Amitabh; Panwalkar, Shruti; Park, Michael; Patel, Rishi; Rekovic, Vladimir; Robles, Jorge; Rose, Keith; Salur, Sevil; Schnetzer, Steve; Seitz, Claudia; Somalwar, Sunil; Stone, Robert; Thomas, Scott; Cerizza, Giordano; Hollingsworth, Matthew; Spanier, Stefan; Yang, Zong-Chang; York, Andrew; Eusebi, Ricardo; Flanagan, Will; Gilmore, Jason; Kamon, Teruki; Khotilovich, Vadim; Montalvo, Roy; Osipenkov, Ilya; Pakhotin, Yuriy; Perloff, Alexx; Roe, Jeffrey; Safonov, Alexei; Sakuma, Tai; Sengupta, Sinjini; Suarez, Indara; Tatarinov, Aysen; Toback, David; Akchurin, Nural; Damgov, Jordan; Dragoiu, Cosmin; Dudero, Phillip Russell; Jeong, Chiyoung; Kovitanggoon, Kittikul; Lee, Sung Won; Libeiro, Terence; Roh, Youn; Volobouev, Igor; Appelt, Eric; Delannoy, Andrés G; Florez, Carlos; Greene, Senta; Gurrola, Alfredo; Johns, Willard; Johnston, Cody; Kurt, Pelin; Maguire, Charles; Melo, Andrew; Sharma, Monika; Sheldon, Paul; Snook, Benjamin; Tuo, Shengquan; Velkovska, Julia; Arenton, Michael Wayne; Balazs, Michael; Boutle, Sarah; Cox, Bradley; Francis, Brian; Goodell, Joseph; Hirosky, Robert; Ledovskoy, Alexander; Lin, Chuanzhe; Neu, Christopher; Wood, John; Yohay, Rachel; Gollapinni, Sowjanya; Harr, Robert; Karchin, Paul Edmund; Kottachchi Kankanamge Don, Chamath; Lamichhane, Pramod; Sakharov, Alexandre; Anderson, Michael; Belknap, Donald; Borrello, Laura; Carlsmith, Duncan; Cepeda, Maria; Dasu, Sridhara; Friis, Evan; Gray, Lindsey; Grogg, Kira Suzanne; Grothe, Monika; Hall-Wilton, Richard; Herndon, Matthew; Hervé, Alain; Klabbers, Pamela; Klukas, Jeffrey; Lanaro, Armando; Lazaridis, Christos; Leonard, Jessica; Loveless, Richard; Mohapatra, Ajit; Ojalvo, Isabel; Palmonari, Francesco; Pierro, Giuseppe Antonio; Ross, Ian; Savin, Alexander; Smith, Wesley H; Swanson, Joshua

2012-01-01

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up- and down-type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant CKM matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. This result significantly reduces the allowed parameter space for a fourt...

Human visual system automatically encodes sequential regularities of discrete events.

Science.gov (United States)

Kimura, Motohiro; Schröger, Erich; Czigler, István; Ohira, Hideki

2010-06-01

For our adaptive behavior in a dynamically changing environment, an essential task of the brain is to automatically encode sequential regularities inherent in the environment into a memory representation. Recent studies in neuroscience have suggested that sequential regularities embedded in discrete sensory events are automatically encoded into a memory representation at the level of the sensory system. This notion is largely supported by evidence from investigations using auditory mismatch negativity (auditory MMN), an event-related brain potential (ERP) correlate of an automatic memory-mismatch process in the auditory sensory system. However, it is still largely unclear whether or not this notion can be generalized to other sensory modalities. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the contribution of the visual sensory system to the automatic encoding of sequential regularities using visual mismatch negativity (visual MMN), an ERP correlate of an automatic memory-mismatch process in the visual sensory system. To this end, we conducted a sequential analysis of visual MMN in an oddball sequence consisting of infrequent deviant and frequent standard stimuli, and tested whether the underlying memory representation of visual MMN generation contains only a sensory memory trace of standard stimuli (trace-mismatch hypothesis) or whether it also contains sequential regularities extracted from the repetitive standard sequence (regularity-violation hypothesis). The results showed that visual MMN was elicited by first deviant (deviant stimuli following at least one standard stimulus), second deviant (deviant stimuli immediately following first deviant), and first standard (standard stimuli immediately following first deviant), but not by second standard (standard stimuli immediately following first standard). These results are consistent with the regularity-violation hypothesis, suggesting that the visual sensory system automatically encodes sequential

A Bayesian Theory of Sequential Causal Learning and Abstract Transfer.

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Hongjing; Rojas, Randall R; Beckers, Tom; Yuille, Alan L

2016-03-01

Two key research issues in the field of causal learning are how people acquire causal knowledge when observing data that are presented sequentially, and the level of abstraction at which learning takes place. Does sequential causal learning solely involve the acquisition of specific cause-effect links, or do learners also acquire knowledge about abstract causal constraints? Recent empirical studies have revealed that experience with one set of causal cues can dramatically alter subsequent learning and performance with entirely different cues, suggesting that learning involves abstract transfer, and such transfer effects involve sequential presentation of distinct sets of causal cues. It has been demonstrated that pre-training (or even post-training) can modulate classic causal learning phenomena such as forward and backward blocking. To account for these effects, we propose a Bayesian theory of sequential causal learning. The theory assumes that humans are able to consider and use several alternative causal generative models, each instantiating a different causal integration rule. Model selection is used to decide which integration rule to use in a given learning environment in order to infer causal knowledge from sequential data. Detailed computer simulations demonstrate that humans rely on the abstract characteristics of outcome variables (e.g., binary vs. continuous) to select a causal integration rule, which in turn alters causal learning in a variety of blocking and overshadowing paradigms. When the nature of the outcome variable is ambiguous, humans select the model that yields the best fit with the recent environment, and then apply it to subsequent learning tasks. Based on sequential patterns of cue-outcome co-occurrence, the theory can account for a range of phenomena in sequential causal learning, including various blocking effects, primacy effects in some experimental conditions, and apparently abstract transfer of causal knowledge. Copyright © 2015

Impact of Diagrams on Recalling Sequential Elements in Expository Texts.

Science.gov (United States)

Guri-Rozenblit, Sarah

1988-01-01

Examines the instructional effectiveness of abstract diagrams on recall of sequential relations in social science textbooks. Concludes that diagrams assist significantly the recall of sequential relations in a text and decrease significantly the rate of order mistakes. (RS)

Optimization algorithms and applications

CERN Document Server

Arora, Rajesh Kumar

2015-01-01

Choose the Correct Solution Method for Your Optimization ProblemOptimization: Algorithms and Applications presents a variety of solution techniques for optimization problems, emphasizing concepts rather than rigorous mathematical details and proofs. The book covers both gradient and stochastic methods as solution techniques for unconstrained and constrained optimization problems. It discusses the conjugate gradient method, Broyden-Fletcher-Goldfarb-Shanno algorithm, Powell method, penalty function, augmented Lagrange multiplier method, sequential quadratic programming, method of feasible direc

Quantum Probability Zero-One Law for Sequential Terminal Events

Science.gov (United States)

Rehder, Wulf

1980-07-01

On the basis of the Jauch-Piron quantum probability calculus a zero-one law for sequential terminal events is proven, and the significance of certain crucial axioms in the quantum probability calculus is discussed. The result shows that the Jauch-Piron set of axioms is appropriate for the non-Boolean algebra of sequential events.

A path-level exact parallelization strategy for sequential simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Peredo, Oscar F.; Baeza, Daniel; Ortiz, Julián M.; Herrero, José R.

2018-01-01

Sequential Simulation is a well known method in geostatistical modelling. Following the Bayesian approach for simulation of conditionally dependent random events, Sequential Indicator Simulation (SIS) method draws simulated values for K categories (categorical case) or classes defined by K different thresholds (continuous case). Similarly, Sequential Gaussian Simulation (SGS) method draws simulated values from a multivariate Gaussian field. In this work, a path-level approach to parallelize SIS and SGS methods is presented. A first stage of re-arrangement of the simulation path is performed, followed by a second stage of parallel simulation for non-conflicting nodes. A key advantage of the proposed parallelization method is to generate identical realizations as with the original non-parallelized methods. Case studies are presented using two sequential simulation codes from GSLIB: SISIM and SGSIM. Execution time and speedup results are shown for large-scale domains, with many categories and maximum kriging neighbours in each case, achieving high speedup results in the best scenarios using 16 threads of execution in a single machine.

Concatenated coding system with iterated sequential inner decoding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Ole Riis; Paaske, Erik

1995-01-01

We describe a concatenated coding system with iterated sequential inner decoding. The system uses convolutional codes of very long constraint length and operates on iterations between an inner Fano decoder and an outer Reed-Solomon decoder......We describe a concatenated coding system with iterated sequential inner decoding. The system uses convolutional codes of very long constraint length and operates on iterations between an inner Fano decoder and an outer Reed-Solomon decoder...

Minimal surfaces

CERN Document Server

Dierkes, Ulrich; Sauvigny, Friedrich; Jakob, Ruben; Kuster, Albrecht

2010-01-01

Minimal Surfaces is the first volume of a three volume treatise on minimal surfaces (Grundlehren Nr. 339-341). Each volume can be read and studied independently of the others. The central theme is boundary value problems for minimal surfaces. The treatise is a substantially revised and extended version of the monograph Minimal Surfaces I, II (Grundlehren Nr. 295 & 296). The first volume begins with an exposition of basic ideas of the theory of surfaces in three-dimensional Euclidean space, followed by an introduction of minimal surfaces as stationary points of area, or equivalently

Lineup Composition, Suspect Position, and the Sequential Lineup Advantage

Science.gov (United States)

Carlson, Curt A.; Gronlund, Scott D.; Clark, Steven E.

2008-01-01

N. M. Steblay, J. Dysart, S. Fulero, and R. C. L. Lindsay (2001) argued that sequential lineups reduce the likelihood of mistaken eyewitness identification. Experiment 1 replicated the design of R. C. L. Lindsay and G. L. Wells (1985), the first study to show the sequential lineup advantage. However, the innocent suspect was chosen at a lower rate…

Trial Sequential Analysis in systematic reviews with meta-analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jørn Wetterslev

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Most meta-analyses in systematic reviews, including Cochrane ones, do not have sufficient statistical power to detect or refute even large intervention effects. This is why a meta-analysis ought to be regarded as an interim analysis on its way towards a required information size. The results of the meta-analyses should relate the total number of randomised participants to the estimated required meta-analytic information size accounting for statistical diversity. When the number of participants and the corresponding number of trials in a meta-analysis are insufficient, the use of the traditional 95% confidence interval or the 5% statistical significance threshold will lead to too many false positive conclusions (type I errors and too many false negative conclusions (type II errors. Methods We developed a methodology for interpreting meta-analysis results, using generally accepted, valid evidence on how to adjust thresholds for significance in randomised clinical trials when the required sample size has not been reached. Results The Lan-DeMets trial sequential monitoring boundaries in Trial Sequential Analysis offer adjusted confidence intervals and restricted thresholds for statistical significance when the diversity-adjusted required information size and the corresponding number of required trials for the meta-analysis have not been reached. Trial Sequential Analysis provides a frequentistic approach to control both type I and type II errors. We define the required information size and the corresponding number of required trials in a meta-analysis and the diversity (D2 measure of heterogeneity. We explain the reasons for using Trial Sequential Analysis of meta-analysis when the actual information size fails to reach the required information size. We present examples drawn from traditional meta-analyses using unadjusted naïve 95% confidence intervals and 5% thresholds for statistical significance. Spurious conclusions in

Heat accumulation during sequential cortical bone drilling.

Science.gov (United States)

Palmisano, Andrew C; Tai, Bruce L; Belmont, Barry; Irwin, Todd A; Shih, Albert; Holmes, James R

2016-03-01

Significant research exists regarding heat production during single-hole bone drilling. No published data exist regarding repetitive sequential drilling. This study elucidates the phenomenon of heat accumulation for sequential drilling with both Kirschner wires (K wires) and standard two-flute twist drills. It was hypothesized that cumulative heat would result in a higher temperature with each subsequent drill pass. Nine holes in a 3 × 3 array were drilled sequentially on moistened cadaveric tibia bone kept at body temperature (about 37 °C). Four thermocouples were placed at the center of four adjacent holes and 2 mm below the surface. A battery-driven hand drill guided by a servo-controlled motion system was used. Six samples were drilled with each tool (2.0 mm K wire and 2.0 and 2.5 mm standard drills). K wire drilling increased temperature from 5 °C at the first hole to 20 °C at holes 6 through 9. A similar trend was found in standard drills with less significant increments. The maximum temperatures of both tools increased from drill sizes was found to be insignificant (P > 0.05). In conclusion, heat accumulated during sequential drilling, with size difference being insignificant. K wire produced more heat than its twist-drill counterparts. This study has demonstrated the heat accumulation phenomenon and its significant effect on temperature. Maximizing the drilling field and reducing the number of drill passes may decrease bone injury. © 2015 Orthopaedic Research Society. Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Cost-effectiveness of simultaneous versus sequential surgery in head and neck reconstruction.

Science.gov (United States)

Wong, Kevin K; Enepekides, Danny J; Higgins, Kevin M

2011-02-01

To determine whether simultaneous (ablation and reconstruction overlaps by two teams) head and neck reconstruction is cost effective compared to sequentially (ablation followed by reconstruction) performed surgery. Case-controlled study. Tertiary care hospital. Oncology patients undergoing free flap reconstruction of the head and neck. A match paired comparison study was performed with a retrospective chart review examining the total time of surgery for sequential and simultaneous surgery. Nine patients were selected for both the sequential and simultaneous groups. Sequential head and neck reconstruction patients were pair matched with patients who had undergone similar oncologic ablative or reconstructive procedures performed in a simultaneous fashion. A detailed cost analysis using the microcosting method was then undertaken looking at the direct costs of the surgeons, anesthesiologist, operating room, and nursing. On average, simultaneous surgery required 3 hours 15 minutes less operating time, leading to a cost savings of approximately $1200/case when compared to sequential surgery. This represents approximately a 15% reduction in the cost of the entire operation. Simultaneous head and neck reconstruction is more cost effective when compared to sequential surgery.

Dihydroazulene photoswitch operating in sequential tunneling regime

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Broman, Søren Lindbæk; Lara-Avila, Samuel; Thisted, Christine Lindbjerg

2012-01-01

to electrodes so that the electron transport goes by sequential tunneling. To assure weak coupling, the DHA switching kernel is modified by incorporating p-MeSC6H4 end-groups. Molecules are prepared by Suzuki cross-couplings on suitable halogenated derivatives of DHA. The synthesis presents an expansion of our......, incorporating a p-MeSC6H4 anchoring group in one end, has been placed in a silver nanogap. Conductance measurements justify that transport through both DHA (high resistivity) and VHF (low resistivity) forms goes by sequential tunneling. The switching is fairly reversible and reenterable; after more than 20 ON...

Sequential search leads to faster, more efficient fragment-based de novo protein structure prediction.

Science.gov (United States)

de Oliveira, Saulo H P; Law, Eleanor C; Shi, Jiye; Deane, Charlotte M

2018-04-01

Most current de novo structure prediction methods randomly sample protein conformations and thus require large amounts of computational resource. Here, we consider a sequential sampling strategy, building on ideas from recent experimental work which shows that many proteins fold cotranslationally. We have investigated whether a pseudo-greedy search approach, which begins sequentially from one of the termini, can improve the performance and accuracy of de novo protein structure prediction. We observed that our sequential approach converges when fewer than 20 000 decoys have been produced, fewer than commonly expected. Using our software, SAINT2, we also compared the run time and quality of models produced in a sequential fashion against a standard, non-sequential approach. Sequential prediction produces an individual decoy 1.5-2.5 times faster than non-sequential prediction. When considering the quality of the best model, sequential prediction led to a better model being produced for 31 out of 41 soluble protein validation cases and for 18 out of 24 transmembrane protein cases. Correct models (TM-Score > 0.5) were produced for 29 of these cases by the sequential mode and for only 22 by the non-sequential mode. Our comparison reveals that a sequential search strategy can be used to drastically reduce computational time of de novo protein structure prediction and improve accuracy. Data are available for download from: http://opig.stats.ox.ac.uk/resources. SAINT2 is available for download from: https://github.com/sauloho/SAINT2. saulo.deoliveira@dtc.ox.ac.uk. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

Synthetic Aperture Sequential Beamforming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kortbek, Jacob; Jensen, Jørgen Arendt; Gammelmark, Kim Løkke

2008-01-01

A synthetic aperture focusing (SAF) technique denoted Synthetic Aperture Sequential Beamforming (SASB) suitable for 2D and 3D imaging is presented. The technique differ from prior art of SAF in the sense that SAF is performed on pre-beamformed data contrary to channel data. The objective is to im......A synthetic aperture focusing (SAF) technique denoted Synthetic Aperture Sequential Beamforming (SASB) suitable for 2D and 3D imaging is presented. The technique differ from prior art of SAF in the sense that SAF is performed on pre-beamformed data contrary to channel data. The objective...... is to improve and obtain a more range independent lateral resolution compared to conventional dynamic receive focusing (DRF) without compromising frame rate. SASB is a two-stage procedure using two separate beamformers. First a set of Bmode image lines using a single focal point in both transmit and receive...... is stored. The second stage applies the focused image lines from the first stage as input data. The SASB method has been investigated using simulations in Field II and by off-line processing of data acquired with a commercial scanner. The performance of SASB with a static image object is compared with DRF...

Evaluation Using Sequential Trials Methods.

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Mark E.; Ralls, Stephen A.

1986-01-01

Although dental school faculty as well as practitioners are interested in evaluating products and procedures used in clinical practice, research design and statistical analysis can sometimes pose problems. Sequential trials methods provide an analytical structure that is both easy to use and statistically valid. (Author/MLW)

Attack Trees with Sequential Conjunction

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jhawar, Ravi; Kordy, Barbara; Mauw, Sjouke; Radomirović, Sasa; Trujillo-Rasua, Rolando

2015-01-01

We provide the first formal foundation of SAND attack trees which are a popular extension of the well-known attack trees. The SAND at- tack tree formalism increases the expressivity of attack trees by intro- ducing the sequential conjunctive operator SAND. This operator enables the modeling of

The impact of eyewitness identifications from simultaneous and sequential lineups.

Science.gov (United States)

Wright, Daniel B

2007-10-01

Recent guidelines in the US allow either simultaneous or sequential lineups to be used for eyewitness identification. This paper investigates how potential jurors weight the probative value of the different outcomes from both of these types of lineups. Participants (n=340) were given a description of a case that included some exonerating and some incriminating evidence. There was either a simultaneous or a sequential lineup. Depending on the condition, an eyewitness chose the suspect, chose a filler, or made no identification. The participant had to judge the guilt of the suspect and decide whether to render a guilty verdict. For both simultaneous and sequential lineups an identification had a large effect,increasing the probability of a guilty verdict. There were no reliable effects detected between making no identification and identifying a filler. The effect sizes were similar for simultaneous and sequential lineups. These findings are important for judges and other legal professionals to know for trials involving lineup identifications.

Properties of simultaneous and sequential two-nucleon transfer

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pinkston, W.T.; Satchler, G.R.

1982-01-01

Approximate forms of the first- and second-order distorted-wave Born amplitudes are used to study the overall structure, particularly the selection rules, of the amplitudes for simultaneous and sequential transfer of two nucleons. The role of the spin-state assumed for the intermediate deuterons in sequential (t, p) reactions is stressed. The similarity of one-step and two-step amplitudes for (α, d) reactions is exhibited, and the consequent absence of any obvious J-dependence in their interference is noted. (orig.)

Sequential contrast-enhanced MR imaging of the penis.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaneko, K; De Mouy, E H; Lee, B E

1994-04-01

To determine the enhancement patterns of the penis at magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. Sequential contrast material-enhanced MR images of the penis in a flaccid state were obtained in 16 volunteers (12 with normal penile function and four with erectile dysfunction). Subjects with normal erectile function showed gradual and centrifugal enhancement of the corpora cavernosa, while those with erectile dysfunction showed poor enhancement with abnormal progression. Sequential contrast-enhanced MR imaging provides additional morphologic information for the evaluation of erectile dysfunction.

Direct methods and residue type specific isotope labeling in NMR structure determination and model-driven sequential assignment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schedlbauer, Andreas; Auer, Renate; Ledolter, Karin; Tollinger, Martin; Kloiber, Karin; Lichtenecker, Roman; Ruedisser, Simon; Hommel, Ulrich; Schmid, Walther; Konrat, Robert; Kontaxis, Georg

2008-01-01

Direct methods in NMR based structure determination start from an unassigned ensemble of unconnected gaseous hydrogen atoms. Under favorable conditions they can produce low resolution structures of proteins. Usually a prohibitively large number of NOEs is required, to solve a protein structure ab-initio, but even with a much smaller set of distance restraints low resolution models can be obtained which resemble a protein fold. One problem is that at such low resolution and in the absence of a force field it is impossible to distinguish the correct protein fold from its mirror image. In a hybrid approach these ambiguous models have the potential to aid in the process of sequential backbone chemical shift assignment when 13 C β and 13 C' shifts are not available for sensitivity reasons. Regardless of the overall fold they enhance the information content of the NOE spectra. These, combined with residue specific labeling and minimal triple-resonance data using 13 C α connectivity can provide almost complete sequential assignment. Strategies for residue type specific labeling with customized isotope labeling patterns are of great advantage in this context. Furthermore, this approach is to some extent error-tolerant with respect to data incompleteness, limited precision of the peak picking, and structural errors caused by misassignment of NOEs

Synthesizing genetic sequential logic circuit with clock pulse generator.

Science.gov (United States)

Chuang, Chia-Hua; Lin, Chun-Liang

2014-05-28

Rhythmic clock widely occurs in biological systems which controls several aspects of cell physiology. For the different cell types, it is supplied with various rhythmic frequencies. How to synthesize a specific clock signal is a preliminary but a necessary step to further development of a biological computer in the future. This paper presents a genetic sequential logic circuit with a clock pulse generator based on a synthesized genetic oscillator, which generates a consecutive clock signal whose frequency is an inverse integer multiple to that of the genetic oscillator. An analogous electronic waveform-shaping circuit is constructed by a series of genetic buffers to shape logic high/low levels of an oscillation input in a basic sinusoidal cycle and generate a pulse-width-modulated (PWM) output with various duty cycles. By controlling the threshold level of the genetic buffer, a genetic clock pulse signal with its frequency consistent to the genetic oscillator is synthesized. A synchronous genetic counter circuit based on the topology of the digital sequential logic circuit is triggered by the clock pulse to synthesize the clock signal with an inverse multiple frequency to the genetic oscillator. The function acts like a frequency divider in electronic circuits which plays a key role in the sequential logic circuit with specific operational frequency. A cascaded genetic logic circuit generating clock pulse signals is proposed. Based on analogous implement of digital sequential logic circuits, genetic sequential logic circuits can be constructed by the proposed approach to generate various clock signals from an oscillation signal.

Sequential weak continuity of null Lagrangians at the boundary

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kalamajska, A.; Kraemer, S.; Kružík, Martin

2014-01-01

Roč. 49, 3/4 (2014), s. 1263-1278 ISSN 0944-2669 R&D Projects: GA ČR GAP201/10/0357 Institutional support: RVO:67985556 Keywords : null Lagrangians * nonhomogeneous nonlinear mappings * sequential weak/in measure continuity Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.518, year: 2014 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2013/MTR/kruzik-sequential weak continuity of null lagrangians at the boundary.pdf

Sequential and simultaneous SLAR block adjustment. [spline function analysis for mapping

Science.gov (United States)

Leberl, F.

1975-01-01

Two sequential methods of planimetric SLAR (Side Looking Airborne Radar) block adjustment, with and without splines, and three simultaneous methods based on the principles of least squares are evaluated. A limited experiment with simulated SLAR images indicates that sequential block formation with splines followed by external interpolative adjustment is superior to the simultaneous methods such as planimetric block adjustment with similarity transformations. The use of the sequential block formation is recommended, since it represents an inexpensive tool for satisfactory point determination from SLAR images.

Optimal periodic inspection of a deterioration process with sequential condition states

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kallen, M.J.; Noortwijk, J.M. van

2006-01-01

The condition of components subject to visual inspections is often evaluated on a discrete scale. If at each inspection a decision is made to do nothing or to perform preventive or corrective maintenance, the proposed decision model allows us to determine the optimal time between periodic inspections, such that the expected average costs per unit of time are minimized. The model which describes the uncertain condition over time is based on a Markov process with sequential phases. The key quantities involved in the model are the probabilities of having to perform either preventive or corrective maintenance before or after an inspection. The costs functions for two scenarios are presented: a scenario in which failure is immediately detected without the need to perform an inspection and a scenario in which failure is only detected by inspection of the object. Analytical results for a special case and algorithmic results for a broad class of Markov processes are derived. The model is illustrated using an application to the periodic inspection of road bridges

Sequential Extraction Versus Comprehensive Characterization of Heavy Metal Species in Brownfield Soils

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dahlin, Cheryl L.; Williamson, Connie A.; Collins, W. Keith; Dahlin, David C.

2002-06-01

The applicability of sequential extraction as a means to determine species of heavy-metals was examined by a study on soil samples from two Superfund sites: the National Lead Company site in Pedricktown, NJ, and the Roebling Steel, Inc., site in Florence, NJ. Data from a standard sequential extraction procedure were compared to those from a comprehensive study that combined optical- and scanning-electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, and chemical analyses. The study shows that larger particles of contaminants, encapsulated contaminants, and/or man-made materials such as slags, coke, metals, and plastics are subject to incasement, non-selectivity, and redistribution in the sequential extraction process. The results indicate that standard sequential extraction procedures that were developed for characterizing species of contaminants in river sediments may be unsuitable for stand-alone determinative evaluations of contaminant species in industrial-site materials. However, if employed as part of a comprehensive, site-specific characterization study, sequential extraction could be a very useful tool.

Imitation of the sequential structure of actions by chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes).

Science.gov (United States)

Whiten, A

1998-09-01

Imitation was studied experimentally by allowing chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) to observe alternative patterns of actions for opening a specially designed "artificial fruit." Like problematic foods primates deal with naturally, with the test fruit several defenses had to be removed to gain access to an edible core, but the sequential order and method of defense removal could be systematically varied. Each subject repeatedly observed 1 of 2 alternative techniques for removing each defense and 1 of 2 alternative sequential patterns of defense removal. Imitation of sequential organization emerged after repeated cycles of demonstration and attempts at opening the fruit. Imitation in chimpanzees may thus have some power to produce cultural convergence, counter to the supposition that individual learning processes corrupt copied actions. Imitation of sequential organization was accompanied by imitation of some aspects of the techniques that made up the sequence.

A solution for automatic parallelization of sequential assembly code

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kovačević Đorđe

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Since modern multicore processors can execute existing sequential programs only on a single core, there is a strong need for automatic parallelization of program code. Relying on existing algorithms, this paper describes one new software solution tool for parallelization of sequential assembly code. The main goal of this paper is to develop the parallelizator which reads sequential assembler code and at the output provides parallelized code for MIPS processor with multiple cores. The idea is the following: the parser translates assembler input file to program objects suitable for further processing. After that the static single assignment is done. Based on the data flow graph, the parallelization algorithm separates instructions on different cores. Once sequential code is parallelized by the parallelization algorithm, registers are allocated with the algorithm for linear allocation, and the result at the end of the program is distributed assembler code on each of the cores. In the paper we evaluate the speedup of the matrix multiplication example, which was processed by the parallelizator of assembly code. The result is almost linear speedup of code execution, which increases with the number of cores. The speed up on the two cores is 1.99, while on 16 cores the speed up is 13.88.

Sequencing of real-world samples using a microfabricated hybrid device having unconstrained straight separation channels.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Shaorong; Elkin, Christopher; Kapur, Hitesh

2003-11-01

We describe a microfabricated hybrid device that consists of a microfabricated chip containing multiple twin-T injectors attached to an array of capillaries that serve as the separation channels. A new fabrication process was employed to create two differently sized round channels in a chip. Twin-T injectors were formed by the smaller round channels that match the bore of the separation capillaries and separation capillaries were incorporated to the injectors through the larger round channels that match the outer diameter of the capillaries. This allows for a minimum dead volume and provides a robust chip/capillary interface. This hybrid design takes full advantage, such as sample stacking and purification and uniform signal intensity profile, of the unique chip injection scheme for DNA sequencing while employing long straight capillaries for the separations. In essence, the separation channel length is optimized for both speed and resolution since it is unconstrained by chip size. To demonstrate the reliability and practicality of this hybrid device, we sequenced over 1000 real-world samples from Human Chromosome 5 and Ciona intestinalis, prepared at Joint Genome Institute. We achieved average Phred20 read of 675 bases in about 70 min with a success rate of 91%. For the similar type of samples on MegaBACE 1000, the average Phred20 read is about 550-600 bases in 120 min separation time with a success rate of about 80-90%.

Documentscape: Intertextuality, Sequentiality & Autonomy at Work

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Christensen, Lars Rune; Bjørn, Pernille

2014-01-01

On the basis of an ethnographic field study, this article introduces the concept of documentscape to the analysis of document-centric work practices. The concept of documentscape refers to the entire ensemble of documents in their mutual intertextual interlocking. Providing empirical data from...... a global software development case, we show how hierarchical structures and sequentiality across the interlocked documents are critical to how actors make sense of the work of others and what to do next in a geographically distributed setting. Furthermore, we found that while each document is created...... as part of a quasi-sequential order, this characteristic does not make the document, as a single entity, into a stable object. Instead, we found that the documents were malleable and dynamic while suspended in intertextual structures. Our concept of documentscape points to how the hierarchical structure...

Sequential series for nuclear reactions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Izumo, Ko

1975-01-01

A new time-dependent treatment of nuclear reactions is given, in which the wave function of compound nucleus is expanded by a sequential series of the reaction processes. The wave functions of the sequential series form another complete set of compound nucleus at the limit Δt→0. It is pointed out that the wave function is characterized by the quantities: the number of degrees of freedom of motion n, the period of the motion (Poincare cycle) tsub(n), the delay time t sub(nμ) and the relaxation time tausub(n) to the equilibrium of compound nucleus, instead of the usual quantum number lambda, the energy eigenvalue Esub(lambda) and the total width GAMMAsub(lambda) of resonance levels, respectively. The transition matrix elements and the yields of nuclear reactions also become the functions of time given by the Fourier transform of the usual ones. The Poincare cycles of compound nuclei are compared with the observed correlations among resonance levels, which are about 10 -17 --10 -16 sec for medium and heavy nuclei and about 10 -20 sec for the intermediate resonances. (auth.)

A node linkage approach for sequential pattern mining.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Osvaldo Navarro

Full Text Available Sequential Pattern Mining is a widely addressed problem in data mining, with applications such as analyzing Web usage, examining purchase behavior, and text mining, among others. Nevertheless, with the dramatic increase in data volume, the current approaches prove inefficient when dealing with large input datasets, a large number of different symbols and low minimum supports. In this paper, we propose a new sequential pattern mining algorithm, which follows a pattern-growth scheme to discover sequential patterns. Unlike most pattern growth algorithms, our approach does not build a data structure to represent the input dataset, but instead accesses the required sequences through pseudo-projection databases, achieving better runtime and reducing memory requirements. Our algorithm traverses the search space in a depth-first fashion and only preserves in memory a pattern node linkage and the pseudo-projections required for the branch being explored at the time. Experimental results show that our new approach, the Node Linkage Depth-First Traversal algorithm (NLDFT, has better performance and scalability in comparison with state of the art algorithms.

Sequential Change-Point Detection via Online Convex Optimization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yang Cao

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Sequential change-point detection when the distribution parameters are unknown is a fundamental problem in statistics and machine learning. When the post-change parameters are unknown, we consider a set of detection procedures based on sequential likelihood ratios with non-anticipating estimators constructed using online convex optimization algorithms such as online mirror descent, which provides a more versatile approach to tackling complex situations where recursive maximum likelihood estimators cannot be found. When the underlying distributions belong to a exponential family and the estimators satisfy the logarithm regret property, we show that this approach is nearly second-order asymptotically optimal. This means that the upper bound for the false alarm rate of the algorithm (measured by the average-run-length meets the lower bound asymptotically up to a log-log factor when the threshold tends to infinity. Our proof is achieved by making a connection between sequential change-point and online convex optimization and leveraging the logarithmic regret bound property of online mirror descent algorithm. Numerical and real data examples validate our theory.

Sequential decoders for large MIMO systems

KAUST Repository

Ali, Konpal S.; Abediseid, Walid; Alouini, Mohamed-Slim

2014-01-01

the Sequential Decoder using the Fano Algorithm for large MIMO systems. A parameter called the bias is varied to attain different performance-complexity trade-offs. Low values of the bias result in excellent performance but at the expense of high complexity

Alexia and agraphia with lesions of the angular and supramarginal gyri: evidence for the disruption of sequential processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Sakurai, Yasuhisa; Asami, Masahiko; Mannen, Toru

2010-01-15

To determine the features of alexia or agraphia with a left angular or supramarginal gyrus lesion. We assessed the reading and writing abilities of three patients using kanji (Japanese morphograms) and kana (Japanese syllabograms). Patient 1 showed kana alexia and kanji agraphia following a hemorrhage in the left angular gyrus and the adjacent lateral occipital gyri. Patient 2 presented with minimal pure agraphia for both kanji and kana after an infarction in the left angular gyrus involving part of the supramarginal gyrus. Patient 3 also showed moderate pure agraphia for both kanji and kana after an infarction in the left supramarginal and postcentral gyri. All three patients made transposition errors (changing of sequential order of kana characters) in reading. Patient 1 showed letter-by-letter reading and a word-length effect and made substitution errors (changing hiragana [one form of kana] characters in a word to katakana [another form of kana] characters and vice versa) in writing. Alexia occurs as "angular" alexia only when the lesion involves the adjacent lateral occipital gyri. Transposition errors suggest disrupted sequential phonological processing from the angular and lateral occipital gyri to the supramarginal gyrus. Substitution errors suggest impaired allographic conversion between hiragana and katakana attributable to a dysfunction in the angular/lateral occipital gyri.

Multistrain models predict sequential multidrug treatment strategies to result in less antimicrobial resistance than combination treatment

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ahmad, Amais; Zachariasen, Camilla; Christiansen, Lasse Engbo

2016-01-01

generated by a mathematical model of the competitive growth of multiple strains of Escherichia coli.Results: Simulation studies showed that sequential use of tetracycline and ampicillin reduced the level of double resistance, when compared to the combination treatment. The effect of the cycling frequency...... frequency did not play a role in suppressing the growth of resistant strains, but the specific order of the two antimicrobials did. Predictions made from the study could be used to redesign multidrug treatment strategies not only for intramuscular treatment in pigs, but also for other dosing routes.......Background: Combination treatment is increasingly used to fight infections caused by bacteria resistant to two or more antimicrobials. While multiple studies have evaluated treatment strategies to minimize the emergence of resistant strains for single antimicrobial treatment, fewer studies have...

Multi-Temporal Land Cover Classification with Sequential Recurrent Encoders

Science.gov (United States)

Rußwurm, Marc; Körner, Marco

2018-03-01

Earth observation (EO) sensors deliver data with daily or weekly temporal resolution. Most land use and land cover (LULC) approaches, however, expect cloud-free and mono-temporal observations. The increasing temporal capabilities of today's sensors enables the use of temporal, along with spectral and spatial features. Domains, such as speech recognition or neural machine translation, work with inherently temporal data and, today, achieve impressive results using sequential encoder-decoder structures. Inspired by these sequence-to-sequence models, we adapt an encoder structure with convolutional recurrent layers in order to approximate a phenological model for vegetation classes based on a temporal sequence of Sentinel 2 (S2) images. In our experiments, we visualize internal activations over a sequence of cloudy and non-cloudy images and find several recurrent cells, which reduce the input activity for cloudy observations. Hence, we assume that our network has learned cloud-filtering schemes solely from input data, which could alleviate the need for tedious cloud-filtering as a preprocessing step for many EO approaches. Moreover, using unfiltered temporal series of top-of-atmosphere (TOA) reflectance data, we achieved in our experiments state-of-the-art classification accuracies on a large number of crop classes with minimal preprocessing compared to other classification approaches.

Comment on: "Cell Therapy for Heart Disease: Trial Sequential Analyses of Two Cochrane Reviews"

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Castellini, Greta; Nielsen, Emil Eik; Gluud, Christian

2017-01-01

Trial Sequential Analysis is a frequentist method to help researchers control the risks of random errors in meta-analyses (1). Fisher and colleagues used Trial Sequential Analysis on cell therapy for heart diseases (2). The present article discusses the usefulness of Trial Sequential Analysis and...

Efficient sequential and parallel algorithms for record linkage.

Science.gov (United States)

Mamun, Abdullah-Al; Mi, Tian; Aseltine, Robert; Rajasekaran, Sanguthevar

2014-01-01

Integrating data from multiple sources is a crucial and challenging problem. Even though there exist numerous algorithms for record linkage or deduplication, they suffer from either large time needs or restrictions on the number of datasets that they can integrate. In this paper we report efficient sequential and parallel algorithms for record linkage which handle any number of datasets and outperform previous algorithms. Our algorithms employ hierarchical clustering algorithms as the basis. A key idea that we use is radix sorting on certain attributes to eliminate identical records before any further processing. Another novel idea is to form a graph that links similar records and find the connected components. Our sequential and parallel algorithms have been tested on a real dataset of 1,083,878 records and synthetic datasets ranging in size from 50,000 to 9,000,000 records. Our sequential algorithm runs at least two times faster, for any dataset, than the previous best-known algorithm, the two-phase algorithm using faster computation of the edit distance (TPA (FCED)). The speedups obtained by our parallel algorithm are almost linear. For example, we get a speedup of 7.5 with 8 cores (residing in a single node), 14.1 with 16 cores (residing in two nodes), and 26.4 with 32 cores (residing in four nodes). We have compared the performance of our sequential algorithm with TPA (FCED) and found that our algorithm outperforms the previous one. The accuracy is the same as that of this previous best-known algorithm.

Fault detection in multiply-redundant measurement systems via sequential testing

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ray, A.

1988-01-01

The theory and application of a sequential test procedure for fault detection and isolation. The test procedure is suited for development of intelligent instrumentation in strategic processes like aircraft and nuclear plants where redundant measurements are usually available for individual critical variables. The test procedure consists of: (1) a generic redundancy management procedure which is essentially independent of the fault detection strategy and measurement noise statistics, and (2) a modified version of sequential probability ratio test algorithm for fault detection and isolation, which functions within the framework of this redundancy management procedure. The sequential test procedure is suitable for real-time applications using commercially available microcomputers and its efficacy has been verified by online fault detection in an operating nuclear reactor. 15 references

Sequential designs for sensitivity analysis of functional inputs in computer experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fruth, J.; Roustant, O.; Kuhnt, S.

2015-01-01

Computer experiments are nowadays commonly used to analyze industrial processes aiming at achieving a wanted outcome. Sensitivity analysis plays an important role in exploring the actual impact of adjustable parameters on the response variable. In this work we focus on sensitivity analysis of a scalar-valued output of a time-consuming computer code depending on scalar and functional input parameters. We investigate a sequential methodology, based on piecewise constant functions and sequential bifurcation, which is both economical and fully interpretable. The new approach is applied to a sheet metal forming problem in three sequential steps, resulting in new insights into the behavior of the forming process over time. - Highlights: • Sensitivity analysis method for functional and scalar inputs is presented. • We focus on the discovery of most influential parts of the functional domain. • We investigate economical sequential methodology based on piecewise constant functions. • Normalized sensitivity indices are introduced and investigated theoretically. • Successful application to sheet metal forming on two functional inputs

Direct Succinic Acid Production from Minimally Pretreated Biomass Using Sequential Solid-State and Slurry Fermentation with Mixed Fungal Cultures

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jerico Alcantara

2017-06-01

Full Text Available Conventional bio-based succinic acid production involves anaerobic bacterial fermentation of pure sugars. This study explored a new route for directly producing succinic acid from minimally-pretreated lignocellulosic biomass via a consolidated bioprocessing technology employing a mixed lignocellulolytic and acidogenic fungal co-culture. The process involved a solid-state pre-fermentation stage followed by a two-phase slurry fermentation stage. During the solid-state pre-fermentation stage, Aspergillus niger and Trichoderma reesei were co-cultured in a nitrogen-rich substrate (e.g., soybean hull to induce cellulolytic enzyme activity. The ligninolytic fungus Phanerochaete chrysosporium was grown separately on carbon-rich birch wood chips to induce ligninolytic enzymes, rendering the biomass more susceptible to cellulase attack. The solid-state pre-cultures were then combined in a slurry fermentation culture to achieve simultaneous enzymatic cellulolysis and succinic acid production. This approach generated succinic acid at maximum titers of 32.43 g/L after 72 h of batch slurry fermentation (~10 g/L production, and 61.12 g/L after 36 h of addition of fresh birch wood chips at the onset of the slurry fermentation stage (~26 g/L production. Based on this result, this approach is a promising alternative to current bacterial succinic acid production due to its minimal substrate pretreatment requirements, which could reduce production costs.

On the origin of reproducible sequential activity in neural circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Afraimovich, V. S.; Zhigulin, V. P.; Rabinovich, M. I.

2004-12-01

Robustness and reproducibility of sequential spatio-temporal responses is an essential feature of many neural circuits in sensory and motor systems of animals. The most common mathematical images of dynamical regimes in neural systems are fixed points, limit cycles, chaotic attractors, and continuous attractors (attractive manifolds of neutrally stable fixed points). These are not suitable for the description of reproducible transient sequential neural dynamics. In this paper we present the concept of a stable heteroclinic sequence (SHS), which is not an attractor. SHS opens the way for understanding and modeling of transient sequential activity in neural circuits. We show that this new mathematical object can be used to describe robust and reproducible sequential neural dynamics. Using the framework of a generalized high-dimensional Lotka-Volterra model, that describes the dynamics of firing rates in an inhibitory network, we present analytical results on the existence of the SHS in the phase space of the network. With the help of numerical simulations we confirm its robustness in presence of noise in spite of the transient nature of the corresponding trajectories. Finally, by referring to several recent neurobiological experiments, we discuss possible applications of this new concept to several problems in neuroscience.

Sequential spatial processes for image analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

M.N.M. van Lieshout (Marie-Colette); V. Capasso

2009-01-01

htmlabstractWe give a brief introduction to sequential spatial processes. We discuss their definition, formulate a Markov property, and indicate why such processes are natural tools in tackling high level vision problems. We focus on the problem of tracking a variable number of moving objects

Sequential models for coarsening and missingness

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Gill, R.D.; Robins, J.M.

1997-01-01

In a companion paper we described what intuitively would seem to be the most general possible way to generate Coarsening at Random mechanisms a sequential procedure called randomized monotone coarsening Counterexamples showed that CAR mechanisms exist which cannot be represented in this way Here we

Robust Pitch Estimation Using an Optimal Filter on Frequency Estimates

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Karimian-Azari, Sam; Jensen, Jesper Rindom; Christensen, Mads Græsbøll

2014-01-01

of such signals from unconstrained frequency estimates (UFEs). A minimum variance distortionless response (MVDR) method is proposed as an optimal solution to minimize the variance of UFEs considering the constraint of integer harmonics. The MVDR filter is designed based on noise statistics making it robust...

Sequential bayes estimation algorithm with cubic splines on uniform meshes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hossfeld, F.; Mika, K.; Plesser-Walk, E.

1975-11-01

After outlining the principles of some recent developments in parameter estimation, a sequential numerical algorithm for generalized curve-fitting applications is presented combining results from statistical estimation concepts and spline analysis. Due to its recursive nature, the algorithm can be used most efficiently in online experimentation. Using computer-sumulated and experimental data, the efficiency and the flexibility of this sequential estimation procedure is extensively demonstrated. (orig.) [de

The sequential trauma score - a new instrument for the sequential mortality prediction in major trauma*

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Huber-Wagner S

2010-05-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background There are several well established scores for the assessment of the prognosis of major trauma patients that all have in common that they can be calculated at the earliest during intensive care unit stay. We intended to develop a sequential trauma score (STS that allows prognosis at several early stages based on the information that is available at a particular time. Study design In a retrospective, multicenter study using data derived from the Trauma Registry of the German Trauma Society (2002-2006, we identified the most relevant prognostic factors from the patients basic data (P, prehospital phase (A, early (B1, and late (B2 trauma room phase. Univariate and logistic regression models as well as score quality criteria and the explanatory power have been calculated. Results A total of 2,354 patients with complete data were identified. From the patients basic data (P, logistic regression showed that age was a significant predictor of survival (AUCmodel p, area under the curve = 0.63. Logistic regression of the prehospital data (A showed that blood pressure, pulse rate, Glasgow coma scale (GCS, and anisocoria were significant predictors (AUCmodel A = 0.76; AUCmodel P + A = 0.82. Logistic regression of the early trauma room phase (B1 showed that peripheral oxygen saturation, GCS, anisocoria, base excess, and thromboplastin time to be significant predictors of survival (AUCmodel B1 = 0.78; AUCmodel P +A + B1 = 0.85. Multivariate analysis of the late trauma room phase (B2 detected cardiac massage, abbreviated injury score (AIS of the head ≥ 3, the maximum AIS, the need for transfusion or massive blood transfusion, to be the most important predictors (AUCmodel B2 = 0.84; AUCfinal model P + A + B1 + B2 = 0.90. The explanatory power - a tool for the assessment of the relative impact of each segment to mortality - is 25% for P, 7% for A, 17% for B1 and 51% for B2. A spreadsheet for the easy calculation of the sequential trauma

Intimately coupling of photolysis accelerates nitrobenzene biodegradation, but sequential coupling slows biodegradation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yang, Lihui [Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, College of Life and Environmental Science, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234 (China); Zhang, Yongming, E-mail: zhym@shnu.edu.cn [Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, College of Life and Environmental Science, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234 (China); Bai, Qi; Yan, Ning; Xu, Hua [Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, College of Life and Environmental Science, Shanghai Normal University, Shanghai 200234 (China); Rittmann, Bruce E. [Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology, Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-5701 (United States)

2015-04-28

Highlights: • Intimately coupled UV photolysis accelerated nitrobenzene biodegradation. • NB biodegradation was slowed by accumulation of nitrophenol. • Oxalic acid was a key product of UV photolysis. • Oxalic acid accelerated biodegradation of nitrobenzene and nitrophenol by a co-substrate effect. • Intimate coupling of UV and biodegradation accentuated the benefits of oxalic acid. - Abstract: Photo(cata)lysis coupled with biodegradation is superior to photo(cata)lysis or biodegradation alone for removal of recalcitrant organic compounds. The two steps can be carried out sequentially or simultaneously via intimate coupling. We studied nitrobenzene (NB) removal and mineralization to evaluate why intimate coupling of photolysis with biodegradation was superior to sequential coupling. Employing an internal circulation baffled biofilm reactor, we compared direct biodegradation (B), biodegradation after photolysis (P + B), simultaneous photolysis and biodegradation (P&B), and biodegradation with nitrophenol (NP) and oxalic acid (OA) added individually and simultaneously (B + NP, B + OA, and B + NP + OA); NP and OA were NB’s main UV-photolysis products. Compared with B, the biodegradation rate P + B was lower by 13–29%, but intimately coupling (P&B) had a removal rate that was 10–13% higher; mineralization showed similar trends. B + OA gave results similar to P&B, B + NP gave results similar to P + B, and B + OA + NP gave results between P + B and P&B, depending on the amount of OA and NP added. The photolysis product OA accelerated NB biodegradation through a co-substrate effect, but NP was inhibitory. Although decreasing the UV photolysis time could minimize the inhibition impact of NP in P + B, P&B gave the fastest removal of NB by accentuating the co-substrate effect of OA.

Intimately coupling of photolysis accelerates nitrobenzene biodegradation, but sequential coupling slows biodegradation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang, Lihui; Zhang, Yongming; Bai, Qi; Yan, Ning; Xu, Hua; Rittmann, Bruce E.

2015-01-01

Highlights: • Intimately coupled UV photolysis accelerated nitrobenzene biodegradation. • NB biodegradation was slowed by accumulation of nitrophenol. • Oxalic acid was a key product of UV photolysis. • Oxalic acid accelerated biodegradation of nitrobenzene and nitrophenol by a co-substrate effect. • Intimate coupling of UV and biodegradation accentuated the benefits of oxalic acid. - Abstract: Photo(cata)lysis coupled with biodegradation is superior to photo(cata)lysis or biodegradation alone for removal of recalcitrant organic compounds. The two steps can be carried out sequentially or simultaneously via intimate coupling. We studied nitrobenzene (NB) removal and mineralization to evaluate why intimate coupling of photolysis with biodegradation was superior to sequential coupling. Employing an internal circulation baffled biofilm reactor, we compared direct biodegradation (B), biodegradation after photolysis (P + B), simultaneous photolysis and biodegradation (P&B), and biodegradation with nitrophenol (NP) and oxalic acid (OA) added individually and simultaneously (B + NP, B + OA, and B + NP + OA); NP and OA were NB’s main UV-photolysis products. Compared with B, the biodegradation rate P + B was lower by 13–29%, but intimately coupling (P&B) had a removal rate that was 10–13% higher; mineralization showed similar trends. B + OA gave results similar to P&B, B + NP gave results similar to P + B, and B + OA + NP gave results between P + B and P&B, depending on the amount of OA and NP added. The photolysis product OA accelerated NB biodegradation through a co-substrate effect, but NP was inhibitory. Although decreasing the UV photolysis time could minimize the inhibition impact of NP in P + B, P&B gave the fastest removal of NB by accentuating the co-substrate effect of OA

Sequential Foreign Investments, Regional Technology Platforms and the Evolution of Japanese Multinationals in East Asia

OpenAIRE

Song, Jaeyong

2001-01-01

IVABSTRACTIn this paper, we investigate the firm-level mechanisms that underlie the sequential foreign direct investment (FDI) decisions of multinational corporations (MNCs). To understand inter-firm heterogeneity in the sequential FDI behaviors of MNCs, we develop a firm capability-based model of sequential FDI decisions. In the setting of Japanese electronics MNCs in East Asia, we empirically examine how prior investments in firm capabilities affect sequential investments into existingprodu...

Retrieval of sea surface velocities using sequential ocean colour monitor (OCM) data

Digital Repository Service at National Institute of Oceanography (India)

Prasad, J.S.; Rajawat, A.S.; Pradhan, Y.; Chauhan, O.S.; Nayak, S.R.

velocities has been developed. The method is based on matching suspended sediment dispersion patterns, in sequential two time lapsed images. The pattern matching is performed on atmospherically corrected and geo-referenced sequential pair of images by Maximum...

A fast and accurate online sequential learning algorithm for feedforward networks.

Science.gov (United States)

Liang, Nan-Ying; Huang, Guang-Bin; Saratchandran, P; Sundararajan, N

2006-11-01

In this paper, we develop an online sequential learning algorithm for single hidden layer feedforward networks (SLFNs) with additive or radial basis function (RBF) hidden nodes in a unified framework. The algorithm is referred to as online sequential extreme learning machine (OS-ELM) and can learn data one-by-one or chunk-by-chunk (a block of data) with fixed or varying chunk size. The activation functions for additive nodes in OS-ELM can be any bounded nonconstant piecewise continuous functions and the activation functions for RBF nodes can be any integrable piecewise continuous functions. In OS-ELM, the parameters of hidden nodes (the input weights and biases of additive nodes or the centers and impact factors of RBF nodes) are randomly selected and the output weights are analytically determined based on the sequentially arriving data. The algorithm uses the ideas of ELM of Huang et al. developed for batch learning which has been shown to be extremely fast with generalization performance better than other batch training methods. Apart from selecting the number of hidden nodes, no other control parameters have to be manually chosen. Detailed performance comparison of OS-ELM is done with other popular sequential learning algorithms on benchmark problems drawn from the regression, classification and time series prediction areas. The results show that the OS-ELM is faster than the other sequential algorithms and produces better generalization performance.

Sequential spatial processes for image analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Lieshout, van M.N.M.; Capasso, V.

2009-01-01

We give a brief introduction to sequential spatial processes. We discuss their definition, formulate a Markov property, and indicate why such processes are natural tools in tackling high level vision problems. We focus on the problem of tracking a variable number of moving objects through a video

Polarization control of direct (non-sequential) two-photon double ionization of He

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pronin, E A; Manakov, N L; Marmo, S I; Starace, Anthony F

2007-01-01

An ab initio parametrization of the doubly-differential cross section (DDCS) for two-photon double ionization (TPDI) from an s 2 subshell of an atom in a 1 S 0 -state is presented. Analysis of the elliptic dichroism (ED) effect in the DDCS for TPDI of He and its comparison with the same effect in the concurrent process of sequential double ionization shows their qualitative and quantitative differences, thus providing a means to control and to distinguish sequential and non-sequential processes by measuring the relative ED parameter

A Bayesian sequential design using alpha spending function to control type I error.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Han; Yu, Qingzhao

2017-10-01

We propose in this article a Bayesian sequential design using alpha spending functions to control the overall type I error in phase III clinical trials. We provide algorithms to calculate critical values, power, and sample sizes for the proposed design. Sensitivity analysis is implemented to check the effects from different prior distributions, and conservative priors are recommended. We compare the power and actual sample sizes of the proposed Bayesian sequential design with different alpha spending functions through simulations. We also compare the power of the proposed method with frequentist sequential design using the same alpha spending function. Simulations show that, at the same sample size, the proposed method provides larger power than the corresponding frequentist sequential design. It also has larger power than traditional Bayesian sequential design which sets equal critical values for all interim analyses. When compared with other alpha spending functions, O'Brien-Fleming alpha spending function has the largest power and is the most conservative in terms that at the same sample size, the null hypothesis is the least likely to be rejected at early stage of clinical trials. And finally, we show that adding a step of stop for futility in the Bayesian sequential design can reduce the overall type I error and reduce the actual sample sizes.

Sequential ensemble-based optimal design for parameter estimation: SEQUENTIAL ENSEMBLE-BASED OPTIMAL DESIGN

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Man, Jun [Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou China; Zhang, Jiangjiang [Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou China; Li, Weixuan [Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland Washington USA; Zeng, Lingzao [Zhejiang Provincial Key Laboratory of Agricultural Resources and Environment, Institute of Soil and Water Resources and Environmental Science, College of Environmental and Resource Sciences, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou China; Wu, Laosheng [Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside California USA

2016-10-01

The ensemble Kalman filter (EnKF) has been widely used in parameter estimation for hydrological models. The focus of most previous studies was to develop more efficient analysis (estimation) algorithms. On the other hand, it is intuitively understandable that a well-designed sampling (data-collection) strategy should provide more informative measurements and subsequently improve the parameter estimation. In this work, a Sequential Ensemble-based Optimal Design (SEOD) method, coupled with EnKF, information theory and sequential optimal design, is proposed to improve the performance of parameter estimation. Based on the first-order and second-order statistics, different information metrics including the Shannon entropy difference (SD), degrees of freedom for signal (DFS) and relative entropy (RE) are used to design the optimal sampling strategy, respectively. The effectiveness of the proposed method is illustrated by synthetic one-dimensional and two-dimensional unsaturated flow case studies. It is shown that the designed sampling strategies can provide more accurate parameter estimation and state prediction compared with conventional sampling strategies. Optimal sampling designs based on various information metrics perform similarly in our cases. The effect of ensemble size on the optimal design is also investigated. Overall, larger ensemble size improves the parameter estimation and convergence of optimal sampling strategy. Although the proposed method is applied to unsaturated flow problems in this study, it can be equally applied in any other hydrological problems.

The pursuit of balance in sequential randomized trials

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raymond P. Guiteras

2016-06-01

Full Text Available In many randomized trials, subjects enter the sample sequentially. Because the covariates for all units are not known in advance, standard methods of stratification do not apply. We describe and assess the method of DA-optimal sequential allocation (Atkinson, 1982 for balancing stratification covariates across treatment arms. We provide simulation evidence that the method can provide substantial improvements in precision over commonly employed alternatives. We also describe our experience implementing the method in a field trial of a clean water and handwashing intervention in Dhaka, Bangladesh, the first time the method has been used. We provide advice and software for future researchers.

Event-shape analysis: Sequential versus simultaneous multifragment emission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cebra, D.A.; Howden, S.; Karn, J.; Nadasen, A.; Ogilvie, C.A.; Vander Molen, A.; Westfall, G.D.; Wilson, W.K.; Winfield, J.S.; Norbeck, E.

1990-01-01

The Michigan State University 4π array has been used to select central-impact-parameter events from the reaction 40 Ar+ 51 V at incident energies from 35 to 85 MeV/nucleon. The event shape in momentum space is an observable which is shown to be sensitive to the dynamics of the fragmentation process. A comparison of the experimental event-shape distribution to sequential- and simultaneous-decay predictions suggests that a transition in the breakup process may have occurred. At 35 MeV/nucleon, a sequential-decay simulation reproduces the data. For the higher energies, the experimental distributions fall between the two contrasting predictions

Sequential approach to Colombeau's theory of generalized functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Todorov, T.D.

1987-07-01

J.F. Colombeau's generalized functions are constructed as equivalence classes of the elements of a specially chosen ultrapower of the class of the C ∞ -functions. The elements of this ultrapower are considered as sequences of C ∞ -functions, so in a sense, the sequential construction presented here refers to the original Colombeau theory just as, for example, the Mikusinski sequential approach to the distribution theory refers to the original Schwartz theory of distributions. The paper could be used as an elementary introduction to the Colombeau theory in which recently a solution was found to the problem of multiplication of Schwartz distributions. (author). Refs

Configural and component processing in simultaneous and sequential lineup procedures

OpenAIRE

Flowe, HD; Smith, HMJ; Karoğlu, N; Onwuegbusi, TO; Rai, L

2015-01-01

Configural processing supports accurate face recognition, yet it has never been examined within the context of criminal identification lineups. We tested, using the inversion paradigm, the role of configural processing in lineups. Recent research has found that face discrimination accuracy in lineups is better in a simultaneous compared to a sequential lineup procedure. Therefore, we compared configural processing in simultaneous and sequential lineups to examine whether there are differences...

The composite sequential clustering technique for analysis of multispectral scanner data

Science.gov (United States)

Su, M. Y.

1972-01-01

The clustering technique consists of two parts: (1) a sequential statistical clustering which is essentially a sequential variance analysis, and (2) a generalized K-means clustering. In this composite clustering technique, the output of (1) is a set of initial clusters which are input to (2) for further improvement by an iterative scheme. This unsupervised composite technique was employed for automatic classification of two sets of remote multispectral earth resource observations. The classification accuracy by the unsupervised technique is found to be comparable to that by traditional supervised maximum likelihood classification techniques. The mathematical algorithms for the composite sequential clustering program and a detailed computer program description with job setup are given.

Alternatives to the sequential lineup: the importance of controlling the pictures.

Science.gov (United States)

Lindsay, R C; Bellinger, K

1999-06-01

Because sequential lineups reduce false-positive choices, their use has been recommended (R. C. L. Lindsay, 1999; R. C. L. Lindsay & G. L. Wells, 1985). Blind testing is included in the recommended procedures. Police, concerned about blind testing, devised alternative procedures, including self-administered sequential lineups, to reduce use of relative judgments (G. L. Wells, 1984) while permitting the investigating officer to conduct the procedure. Identification data from undergraduates exposed to a staged crime (N = 165) demonstrated that 4 alternative identification procedures tested were less effective than the original sequential lineup. Allowing witnesses to control the photographs resulted in higher rates of false-positive identification. Self-reports of using relative judgments were shown to be postdictive of decision accuracy.

Managerial adjustment and its limits: sequential fault in comparative perspective

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Flávio da Cunha Rezende

2008-01-01

Full Text Available This article focuses on explanations for sequential faults in administrative reform. It deals with the limits of managerial adjustment in an approach that attempts to connect theory and empirical data, articulating three levels of analysis. The first level presents comparative evidence of sequential fault within reforms in national governments through a set of indicators geared toward understanding changes in the role of the state. In light of analyses of a representative set of comparative studies on reform implementation, the second analytical level proceeds to identify four typical mechanisms that are present in explanations on managerial adjustment faults. In this way, we seek to configure an explanatory matrix for theories on sequential fault. Next we discuss the experience of management reform in the Brazilian context, conferring special attention on one of the mechanisms that creates fault: the control dilemma. The major hypotheses that guide our article are that reforms lead to sequential fault and that there are at least four causal mechanisms that produce reforms: a transactions costs involved in producing reforms; b performance legacy; c predominance of fiscal adjustment and d the control dilemma. These mechanisms act separately or in concert, and act to decrease chances for a transformation of State managerial patterns. Major evidence that is analyzed in these articles lend consistency to the general argument that reforms have failed in their attempts to reduce public expenses, alter patterns of resource allocation, reduce the labor force and change the role of the State. Our major conclusion is that reforms fail sequentially and managerial adjustment displays considerable limitations, particularly those of a political nature.

Expert system for identification of simultaneous and sequential reactor fuel failures with gas tagging

Science.gov (United States)

Gross, Kenny C.

1994-01-01

Failure of a fuel element in a nuclear reactor core is determined by a gas tagging failure detection system and method. Failures are catalogued and characterized after the event so that samples of the reactor's cover gas are taken at regular intervals and analyzed by mass spectroscopy. Employing a first set of systematic heuristic rules which are applied in a transformed node space allows the number of node combinations which must be processed within a barycentric algorithm to be substantially reduced. A second set of heuristic rules treats the tag nodes of the most recent one or two leakers as "background" gases, further reducing the number of trial node combinations. Lastly, a "fuzzy" set theory formalism minimizes experimental uncertainties in the identification of the most likely volumes of tag gases. This approach allows for the identification of virtually any number of sequential leaks and up to five simultaneous gas leaks from fuel elements.

Expert system for identification of simultaneous and sequential reactor fuel failures with gas tagging

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gross, K.C.

1994-01-01

Failure of a fuel element in a nuclear reactor core is determined by a gas tagging failure detection system and method. Failures are catalogued and characterized after the event so that samples of the reactor's cover gas are taken at regular intervals and analyzed by mass spectroscopy. Employing a first set of systematic heuristic rules which are applied in a transformed node space allows the number of node combinations which must be processed within a barycentric algorithm to be substantially reduced. A second set of heuristic rules treats the tag nodes of the most recent one or two leakers as ''background'' gases, further reducing the number of trial node combinations. Lastly, a ''fuzzy'' set theory formalism minimizes experimental uncertainties in the identification of the most likely volumes of tag gases. This approach allows for the identification of virtually any number of sequential leaks and up to five simultaneous gas leaks from fuel elements. 14 figs

Applying Sequential Particle Swarm Optimization Algorithm to Improve Power Generation Quality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdulhafid Sallama

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Swarm Optimization approach is a heuristic search method whose mechanics are inspired by the swarming or collaborative behaviour of biological populations. It is used to solve constrained, unconstrained, continuous and discrete problems. Swarm intelligence systems are widely used and very effective in solving standard and large-scale optimization, provided that the problem does not require multi solutions. In this paper, particle swarm optimisation technique is used to optimise fuzzy logic controller (FLC for stabilising a power generation and distribution network that consists of four generators. The system is subject to different types of faults (single and multi-phase. Simulation studies show that the optimised FLC performs well in stabilising the network after it recovers from a fault. The controller is compared to multi-band and standard controllers.

A Bayesian sequential processor approach to spectroscopic portal system decisions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sale, K; Candy, J; Breitfeller, E; Guidry, B; Manatt, D; Gosnell, T; Chambers, D

2007-07-31

The development of faster more reliable techniques to detect radioactive contraband in a portal type scenario is an extremely important problem especially in this era of constant terrorist threats. Towards this goal the development of a model-based, Bayesian sequential data processor for the detection problem is discussed. In the sequential processor each datum (detector energy deposit and pulse arrival time) is used to update the posterior probability distribution over the space of model parameters. The nature of the sequential processor approach is that a detection is produced as soon as it is statistically justified by the data rather than waiting for a fixed counting interval before any analysis is performed. In this paper the Bayesian model-based approach, physics and signal processing models and decision functions are discussed along with the first results of our research.

Sequential lineup presentation promotes less-biased criterion setting but does not improve discriminability.

Science.gov (United States)

Palmer, Matthew A; Brewer, Neil

2012-06-01

When compared with simultaneous lineup presentation, sequential presentation has been shown to reduce false identifications to a greater extent than it reduces correct identifications. However, there has been much debate about whether this difference in identification performance represents improved discriminability or more conservative responding. In this research, data from 22 experiments that compared sequential and simultaneous lineups were analyzed using a compound signal-detection model, which is specifically designed to describe decision-making performance on tasks such as eyewitness identification tests. Sequential (cf. simultaneous) presentation did not influence discriminability, but produced a conservative shift in response bias that resulted in less-biased choosing for sequential than simultaneous lineups. These results inform understanding of the effects of lineup presentation mode on eyewitness identification decisions.

Sequential cryogen spraying for heat flux control at the skin surface

Science.gov (United States)

Majaron, Boris; Aguilar, Guillermo; Basinger, Brooke; Randeberg, Lise L.; Svaasand, Lars O.; Lavernia, Enrique J.; Nelson, J. Stuart

2001-05-01

Heat transfer rate at the skin-air interface is of critical importance for the benefits of cryogen spray cooling in combination with laser therapy of shallow subsurface skin lesions, such as port-wine stain birthmarks. With some cryogen spray devices, a layer of liquid cryogen builds up on the skin surface during the spurt, which may impair heat transfer across the skin surface due to relatively low thermal conductivity and potentially higher temperature of the liquid cryogen layer as compared to the spray droplets. While the mass flux of cryogen delivery can be adjusted by varying the atomizing nozzle geometry, this may strongly affect other spray properties, such as lateral spread (cone), droplet size, velocity, and temperature distribution. We present here first experiments with sequential cryogen spraying, which may enable accurate mass flux control through variation of spray duty cycle, while minimally affecting other spray characteristics. The observed increase of cooling rate and efficiency at moderate duty cycle levels supports the above described hypothesis of isolating liquid layer, and demonstrates a novel approach to optimization of cryogen spray devices for individual laser dermatological applications.

Estimation After a Group Sequential Trial.

Science.gov (United States)

Milanzi, Elasma; Molenberghs, Geert; Alonso, Ariel; Kenward, Michael G; Tsiatis, Anastasios A; Davidian, Marie; Verbeke, Geert

2015-10-01

Group sequential trials are one important instance of studies for which the sample size is not fixed a priori but rather takes one of a finite set of pre-specified values, dependent on the observed data. Much work has been devoted to the inferential consequences of this design feature. Molenberghs et al (2012) and Milanzi et al (2012) reviewed and extended the existing literature, focusing on a collection of seemingly disparate, but related, settings, namely completely random sample sizes, group sequential studies with deterministic and random stopping rules, incomplete data, and random cluster sizes. They showed that the ordinary sample average is a viable option for estimation following a group sequential trial, for a wide class of stopping rules and for random outcomes with a distribution in the exponential family. Their results are somewhat surprising in the sense that the sample average is not optimal, and further, there does not exist an optimal, or even, unbiased linear estimator. However, the sample average is asymptotically unbiased, both conditionally upon the observed sample size as well as marginalized over it. By exploiting ignorability they showed that the sample average is the conventional maximum likelihood estimator. They also showed that a conditional maximum likelihood estimator is finite sample unbiased, but is less efficient than the sample average and has the larger mean squared error. Asymptotically, the sample average and the conditional maximum likelihood estimator are equivalent. This previous work is restricted, however, to the situation in which the the random sample size can take only two values, N = n or N = 2 n . In this paper, we consider the more practically useful setting of sample sizes in a the finite set { n 1 , n 2 , …, n L }. It is shown that the sample average is then a justifiable estimator , in the sense that it follows from joint likelihood estimation, and it is consistent and asymptotically unbiased. We also show why

Simultaneous optimization of sequential IMRT plans

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Popple, Richard A.; Prellop, Perri B.; Spencer, Sharon A.; Santos, Jennifer F. de los; Duan, Jun; Fiveash, John B.; Brezovich, Ivan A.

2005-01-01

Radiotherapy often comprises two phases, in which irradiation of a volume at risk for microscopic disease is followed by a sequential dose escalation to a smaller volume either at a higher risk for microscopic disease or containing only gross disease. This technique is difficult to implement with intensity modulated radiotherapy, as the tolerance doses of critical structures must be respected over the sum of the two plans. Techniques that include an integrated boost have been proposed to address this problem. However, clinical experience with such techniques is limited, and many clinicians are uncomfortable prescribing nonconventional fractionation schemes. To solve this problem, we developed an optimization technique that simultaneously generates sequential initial and boost IMRT plans. We have developed an optimization tool that uses a commercial treatment planning system (TPS) and a high level programming language for technical computing. The tool uses the TPS to calculate the dose deposition coefficients (DDCs) for optimization. The DDCs were imported into external software and the treatment ports duplicated to create the boost plan. The initial, boost, and tolerance doses were specified and used to construct cost functions. The initial and boost plans were optimized simultaneously using a gradient search technique. Following optimization, the fluence maps were exported to the TPS for dose calculation. Seven patients treated using sequential techniques were selected from our clinical database. The initial and boost plans used to treat these patients were developed independently of each other by dividing the tolerance doses proportionally between the initial and boost plans and then iteratively optimizing the plans until a summation that met the treatment goals was obtained. We used the simultaneous optimization technique to generate plans that met the original planning goals. The coverage of the initial and boost target volumes in the simultaneously optimized

Optimal Sequential Resource Sharing and Exchange in Multi-Agent Systems

OpenAIRE

Xiao, Yuanzhang

2014-01-01

Central to the design of many engineering systems and social networks is to solve the underlying resource sharing and exchange problems, in which multiple decentralized agents make sequential decisions over time to optimize some long-term performance metrics. It is challenging for the decentralized agents to make optimal sequential decisions because of the complicated coupling among the agents and across time. In this dissertation, we mainly focus on three important classes of multi-agent seq...

S.M.P. SEQUENTIAL MATHEMATICS PROGRAM.

Science.gov (United States)

CICIARELLI, V; LEONARD, JOSEPH

A SEQUENTIAL MATHEMATICS PROGRAM BEGINNING WITH THE BASIC FUNDAMENTALS ON THE FOURTH GRADE LEVEL IS PRESENTED. INCLUDED ARE AN UNDERSTANDING OF OUR NUMBER SYSTEM, AND THE BASIC OPERATIONS OF WORKING WITH WHOLE NUMBERS--ADDITION, SUBTRACTION, MULTIPLICATION, AND DIVISION. COMMON FRACTIONS ARE TAUGHT IN THE FIFTH, SIXTH, AND SEVENTH GRADES. A…

Sequential assessment of prey through the use of multiple sensory cues by an eavesdropping bat

Science.gov (United States)

Page, Rachel A.; Schnelle, Tanja; Kalko, Elisabeth K. V.; Bunge, Thomas; Bernal, Ximena E.

2012-06-01

Predators are often confronted with a broad diversity of potential prey. They rely on cues associated with prey quality and palatability to optimize their hunting success and to avoid consuming toxic prey. Here, we investigate a predator's ability to assess prey cues during capture, handling, and consumption when confronted with conflicting information about prey quality. We used advertisement calls of a preferred prey item (the túngara frog) to attract fringe-lipped bats, Trachops cirrhosus, then offered palatable, poisonous, and chemically manipulated anurans as prey. Advertisement calls elicited an attack response, but as bats approached, they used additional sensory cues in a sequential manner to update their information about prey size and palatability. While both palatable and poisonous small anurans were readily captured, large poisonous toads were approached but not contacted suggesting the use of echolocation for assessment of prey size at close range. Once prey was captured, bats used chemical cues to make final, post-capture decisions about whether to consume the prey. Bats dropped small, poisonous toads as well as palatable frogs coated in toad toxins either immediately or shortly after capture. Our study suggests that echolocation and chemical cues obtained at close range supplement information obtained from acoustic cues at long range. Updating information about prey quality minimizes the occurrence of costly errors and may be advantageous in tracking temporal and spatial fluctuations of prey and exploiting novel food sources. These findings emphasize the sequential, complex nature of prey assessment that may allow exploratory and flexible hunting behaviors.

Bound Alternative Direction Optimization for Image Deblurring

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiangrong Zeng

2014-01-01

the ℓp regularizer by a novel majorizer and then, based on a variable splitting, to reformulate the bound unconstrained problem into a constrained one, which is then addressed via an augmented Lagrangian method. The proposed algorithm actually combines the reweighted ℓ1 minimization method and the alternating direction method of multiples (ADMM such that it succeeds in extending the application of ADMM to ℓp minimization problems. The conducted experimental studies demonstrate the superiority of the proposed algorithm for the synthesis ℓp minimization over the state-of-the-art algorithms for the synthesis ℓ1 minimization on image deblurring.

Sequential sputtered Co-HfO{sub 2} granular films

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chadha, M.; Ng, V.

2017-03-15

A systematic study of magnetic, magneto-transport and micro-structural properties of Co-HfO{sub 2} granular films fabricated by sequential sputtering is presented. We demonstrate reduction in ferromagnetic-oxide formation by using HfO{sub 2} as the insulting matrix. Microstructure evaluation of the films showed that the film structure consisted of discrete hcp-Co grains embedded in HfO{sub 2} matrix. Films with varying compositions were prepared and their macroscopic properties were studied. We correlate the variation in these properties to the variation in film microstructure. Our study shows that Co-HfO{sub 2} films with reduced cobalt oxide and varying properties can be prepared using sequential sputtering technique. - Highlights: • Co-HfO{sub 2} granular films were prepared using sequential sputtering. • A reduction in ferromagnetic-oxide formation is observed. • Co-HfO{sub 2} films display superparamagnetism and tunnelling magneto-resistance. • Varying macroscopic properties were achieved by changing film composition. • Applications can be found in moderate MR sensors and high –frequency RF devices.

Minimizing opportunity costs to aquatic connectivity restoration while controlling an invasive species.

Science.gov (United States)

Milt, Austin W; Diebel, Matthew W; Doran, Patrick J; Ferris, Michael C; Herbert, Matthew; Khoury, Mary L; Moody, Allison T; Neeson, Thomas M; Ross, Jared; Treska, Ted; O'Hanley, Jesse R; Walter, Lisa; Wangen, Steven R; Yacobson, Eugene; McIntyre, Peter B

2018-03-08

Controlling invasive species is critical for conservation but can have unintended consequences for native species and divert resources away from other efforts. This dilemma occurs on a grand scale in the North American Great Lakes, where dams and culverts block tributary access to habitat of desirable fish species and are a lynchpin of long-standing efforts to limit ecological damage inflicted by the invasive, parasitic sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus). Habitat restoration and sea-lamprey control create conflicting goals for managing aging infrastructure. We used optimization to minimize opportunity costs of habitat gains for 37 desirable migratory fishes that arose from restricting sea lamprey access (0-25% increase) when selecting barriers for removal under a limited budget (US$1-105 million). Imposing limits on sea lamprey habitat reduced gains in tributary access for desirable species by 15-50% relative to an unconstrained scenario. Additional investment to offset the effect of limiting sea-lamprey access resulted in high opportunity costs for 30 of 37 species (e.g., an additional US$20-80 million for lake sturgeon [Acipenser fulvescens]) and often required ≥5% increase in sea-lamprey access to identify barrier-removal solutions adhering to the budget and limiting access. Narrowly distributed species exhibited the highest opportunity costs but benefited more at less cost when small increases in sea-lamprey access were allowed. Our results illustrate the value of optimization in limiting opportunity costs when balancing invasion control against restoration benefits for diverse desirable species. Such trade-off analyses are essential to the restoration of connectivity within fragmented rivers without unleashing invaders. © 2018 Society for Conservation Biology.

Involvement of Working Memory in College Students' Sequential Pattern Learning and Performance

Science.gov (United States)

Kundey, Shannon M. A.; De Los Reyes, Andres; Rowan, James D.; Lee, Bern; Delise, Justin; Molina, Sabrina; Cogdill, Lindsay

2013-01-01

When learning highly organized sequential patterns of information, humans and nonhuman animals learn rules regarding the hierarchical structures of these sequences. In three experiments, we explored the role of working memory in college students' sequential pattern learning and performance in a computerized task involving a sequential…

Double-blind photo lineups using actual eyewitnesses: an experimental test of a sequential versus simultaneous lineup procedure.

Science.gov (United States)

Wells, Gary L; Steblay, Nancy K; Dysart, Jennifer E

2015-02-01

Eyewitnesses (494) to actual crimes in 4 police jurisdictions were randomly assigned to view simultaneous or sequential photo lineups using laptop computers and double-blind administration. The sequential procedure used in the field experiment mimicked how it is conducted in actual practice (e.g., using a continuation rule, witness does not know how many photos are to be viewed, witnesses resolve any multiple identifications), which is not how most lab experiments have tested the sequential lineup. No significant differences emerged in rates of identifying lineup suspects (25% overall) but the sequential procedure produced a significantly lower rate (11%) of identifying known-innocent lineup fillers than did the simultaneous procedure (18%). The simultaneous/sequential pattern did not significantly interact with estimator variables and no lineup-position effects were observed for either the simultaneous or sequential procedures. Rates of nonidentification were not significantly different for simultaneous and sequential but nonidentifiers from the sequential procedure were more likely to use the "not sure" response option than were nonidentifiers from the simultaneous procedure. Among witnesses who made an identification, 36% (41% of simultaneous and 32% of sequential) identified a known-innocent filler rather than a suspect, indicating that eyewitness performance overall was very poor. The results suggest that the sequential procedure that is used in the field reduces the identification of known-innocent fillers, but the differences are relatively small.

Cortical responses following simultaneous and sequential retinal neurostimulation with different return configurations.

Science.gov (United States)

Barriga-Rivera, Alejandro; Morley, John W; Lovell, Nigel H; Suaning, Gregg J

2016-08-01

Researchers continue to develop visual prostheses towards safer and more efficacious systems. However limitations still exist in the number of stimulating channels that can be integrated. Therefore there is a need for spatial and time multiplexing techniques to provide improved performance of the current technology. In particular, bright and high-contrast visual scenes may require simultaneous activation of several electrodes. In this research, a 24-electrode array was suprachoroidally implanted in three normally-sighted cats. Multi-unit activity was recorded from the primary visual cortex. Four stimulation strategies were contrasted to provide activation of seven electrodes arranged hexagonally: simultaneous monopolar, sequential monopolar, sequential bipolar and hexapolar. Both monopolar configurations showed similar cortical activation maps. Hexapolar and sequential bipolar configurations activated a lower number of cortical channels. Overall, the return configuration played a more relevant role in cortical activation than time multiplexing and thus, rapid sequential stimulation may assist in reducing the number of channels required to activate large retinal areas.

Sequential Versus Simultaneous Market Delineation: The Relevant Antitrust Market for Salmon

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Haldrup, Niels; Peter, Møllgaard

Delineation of the relevant market forms a pivotal part of most antitrust cases. The standard approach is sequential. First the product market is delineated, then the geographical market is defined. Demand andsupply substitution in both the product dimension and the geographical dimension will no...... and geographical markets. Using a unique data set for prices of Norwegian and Scottish salmon, we propose a methodology for simultaneous market delineation and we demonstrate that compared to a sequential approach conclusions will be reversed.......Delineation of the relevant market forms a pivotal part of most antitrust cases. The standard approach is sequential. First the product market is delineated, then the geographical market is defined. Demand andsupply substitution in both the product dimension and the geographical dimension...

Endogenous sequential cortical activity evoked by visual stimuli.

Science.gov (United States)

Carrillo-Reid, Luis; Miller, Jae-Eun Kang; Hamm, Jordan P; Jackson, Jesse; Yuste, Rafael

2015-06-10

Although the functional properties of individual neurons in primary visual cortex have been studied intensely, little is known about how neuronal groups could encode changing visual stimuli using temporal activity patterns. To explore this, we used in vivo two-photon calcium imaging to record the activity of neuronal populations in primary visual cortex of awake mice in the presence and absence of visual stimulation. Multidimensional analysis of the network activity allowed us to identify neuronal ensembles defined as groups of cells firing in synchrony. These synchronous groups of neurons were themselves activated in sequential temporal patterns, which repeated at much higher proportions than chance and were triggered by specific visual stimuli such as natural visual scenes. Interestingly, sequential patterns were also present in recordings of spontaneous activity without any sensory stimulation and were accompanied by precise firing sequences at the single-cell level. Moreover, intrinsic dynamics could be used to predict the occurrence of future neuronal ensembles. Our data demonstrate that visual stimuli recruit similar sequential patterns to the ones observed spontaneously, consistent with the hypothesis that already existing Hebbian cell assemblies firing in predefined temporal sequences could be the microcircuit substrate that encodes visual percepts changing in time. Copyright © 2015 Carrillo-Reid et al.

Efficacy of premixed versus sequential administration of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

sequential administration in separate syringes on block characteristics, haemodynamic parameters, side effect profile and postoperative analgesic requirement. Trial design: This was a prospective, randomised clinical study. Method: Sixty orthopaedic patients scheduled for elective lower limb surgery under spinal ...

A novel solid-state control system for the minimization of re-switching transient currents of induction motor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abro, M.R.; Larik, A.S.; Mahar, M.A.

2005-01-01

This work is an investigation into the minimizing re-closure transient currents of induction motors by activating NOVEL solid state control system switching at a matched condition. This emphasis is placed upon-circuit transition starting of cage motors, particularly star-delta switching. The initial study is carried out on single-phase induction motion. This system is capable of effective sensing re-closure of a switched off running single-phase induction motor. Further this scheme could be developed to give sequential delta closure of a switched off running three-phase induction motor during 1st cycles following the opening of the star mode. Consideration is also given to the possibility of using sensed re-closure to minimize transient whenever the supply to a running induction motor is briefly interrupted, irrespective of whether the interruption is by accident design. A brief study is made into the type of transient currents generated by opening the circuit of a running induction motor. The importance of the switching pattern for star-delta starting is explained and emphasized. (author)

[Sequential degradation of p-cresol by photochemical and biological methods].

Science.gov (United States)

Karetnikova, E A; Chaĭkovskaia, O N; Sokolova, I V; Nikitina, L I

2008-01-01

Sequential photo- and biodegradation of p-cresol was studied using a mercury lamp, as well as KrCl and XeCl excilamps. Preirradiation of p-cresol at a concentration of 10(-4) M did not affect the rate of its subsequent biodegradation. An increase in the concentration of p-cresol to 10(-3) M and in the duration preliminary UV irradiation inhibited subsequent biodegradation. Biodegradation of p-cresol was accompanied by the formation of a product with a fluorescence maximum at 365 nm (lambdaex 280 nm), and photodegradation yielded a compound fluorescing at 400 nm (lambdaex 330 nm). Sequential UV and biodegradation led to the appearance of bands in the fluorescence spectra that were ascribed to p-cresol and its photolysis products. It was shown that sequential use of biological and photochemical degradation results in degradation of not only the initial toxicant but also the metabolites formed during its biodegradation.

Lexical decoder for continuous speech recognition: sequential neural network approach

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Iooss, Christine

1991-01-01

The work presented in this dissertation concerns the study of a connectionist architecture to treat sequential inputs. In this context, the model proposed by J.L. Elman, a recurrent multilayers network, is used. Its abilities and its limits are evaluated. Modifications are done in order to treat erroneous or noisy sequential inputs and to classify patterns. The application context of this study concerns the realisation of a lexical decoder for analytical multi-speakers continuous speech recognition. Lexical decoding is completed from lattices of phonemes which are obtained after an acoustic-phonetic decoding stage relying on a K Nearest Neighbors search technique. Test are done on sentences formed from a lexicon of 20 words. The results are obtained show the ability of the proposed connectionist model to take into account the sequentiality at the input level, to memorize the context and to treat noisy or erroneous inputs. (author) [fr

Optimal Energy Management of Multi-Microgrids with Sequentially Coordinated Operations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nah-Oak Song

2015-08-01

Full Text Available We propose an optimal electric energy management of a cooperative multi-microgrid community with sequentially coordinated operations. The sequentially coordinated operations are suggested to distribute computational burden and yet to make the optimal 24 energy management of multi-microgrids possible. The sequential operations are mathematically modeled to find the optimal operation conditions and illustrated with physical interpretation of how to achieve optimal energy management in the cooperative multi-microgrid community. This global electric energy optimization of the cooperative community is realized by the ancillary internal trading between the microgrids in the cooperative community which reduces the extra cost from unnecessary external trading by adjusting the electric energy production amounts of combined heat and power (CHP generators and amounts of both internal and external electric energy trading of the cooperative community. A simulation study is also conducted to validate the proposed mathematical energy management models.

Effect of sequential isoproturon pulse exposure on Scenedesmus vacuolatus.

Science.gov (United States)

Vallotton, Nathalie; Eggen, Rik Ilda Lambertus; Chèvre, Nathalie

2009-04-01

Aquatic organisms are typically exposed to fluctuating concentrations of herbicides in streams. To assess the effects on algae of repeated peak exposure to the herbicide isoproturon, we subjected the alga Scenedesmus vacuolatus to two sequential pulse exposure scenarios. Effects on growth and on the inhibition of the effective quantum yield of photosystem II (PSII) were measured. In the first scenario, algae were exposed to short, 5-h pulses at high isoproturon concentrations (400 and 1000 microg/l), each followed by a recovery period of 18 h, while the second scenario consisted of 22.5-h pulses at lower concentrations (60 and 120 microg/l), alternating with short recovery periods (1.5 h). In addition, any changes in the sensitivity of the algae to isoproturon following sequential pulses were examined by determining the growth rate-EC(50) prior to and following exposure. In both exposure scenarios, we found that algal growth and its effective quantum yield were systematically inhibited during the exposures and that these effects were reversible. Sequential pulses to isoproturon could be considered a sequence of independent events. Nevertheless, a consequence of inhibited growth during the repeated exposures is the cumulative decrease in biomass production. Furthermore, in the second scenario, when the sequence of long pulses began to approach a scenario of continuous exposure, a slight increase in the tolerance of the algae to isoproturon was observed. These findings indicated that sequential pulses do affect algae during each pulse exposure, even if algae recover between the exposures. These observations could support an improved risk assessment of fluctuating exposures to reversibly acting herbicides.

Sequential-Simultaneous Analysis of Japanese Children's Performance on the Japanese McCarthy.

Science.gov (United States)

Ishikuma, Toshinori; And Others

This study explored the hypothesis that Japanese children perform significantly better on simultaneous processing than on sequential processing. The Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC) served as the criterion of the two types of mental processing. Regression equations to predict Sequential and Simultaneous processing from McCarthy…

Acquisition of Inductive Biconditional Reasoning Skills: Training of Simultaneous and Sequential Processing.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Seong-Soo

1982-01-01

Tenth-grade students (n=144) received training on one of three processing methods: coding-mapping (simultaneous), coding only, or decision tree (sequential). The induced simultaneous processing strategy worked optimally under rule learning, while the sequential strategy was difficult to induce and/or not optimal for rule-learning operations.…

Mining of high utility-probability sequential patterns from uncertain databases.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Binbin Zhang

Full Text Available High-utility sequential pattern mining (HUSPM has become an important issue in the field of data mining. Several HUSPM algorithms have been designed to mine high-utility sequential patterns (HUPSPs. They have been applied in several real-life situations such as for consumer behavior analysis and event detection in sensor networks. Nonetheless, most studies on HUSPM have focused on mining HUPSPs in precise data. But in real-life, uncertainty is an important factor as data is collected using various types of sensors that are more or less accurate. Hence, data collected in a real-life database can be annotated with existing probabilities. This paper presents a novel pattern mining framework called high utility-probability sequential pattern mining (HUPSPM for mining high utility-probability sequential patterns (HUPSPs in uncertain sequence databases. A baseline algorithm with three optional pruning strategies is presented to mine HUPSPs. Moroever, to speed up the mining process, a projection mechanism is designed to create a database projection for each processed sequence, which is smaller than the original database. Thus, the number of unpromising candidates can be greatly reduced, as well as the execution time for mining HUPSPs. Substantial experiments both on real-life and synthetic datasets show that the designed algorithm performs well in terms of runtime, number of candidates, memory usage, and scalability for different minimum utility and minimum probability thresholds.

Time scale of random sequential adsorption.

Science.gov (United States)

Erban, Radek; Chapman, S Jonathan

2007-04-01

A simple multiscale approach to the diffusion-driven adsorption from a solution to a solid surface is presented. The model combines two important features of the adsorption process: (i) The kinetics of the chemical reaction between adsorbing molecules and the surface and (ii) geometrical constraints on the surface made by molecules which are already adsorbed. The process (i) is modeled in a diffusion-driven context, i.e., the conditional probability of adsorbing a molecule provided that the molecule hits the surface is related to the macroscopic surface reaction rate. The geometrical constraint (ii) is modeled using random sequential adsorption (RSA), which is the sequential addition of molecules at random positions on a surface; one attempt to attach a molecule is made per one RSA simulation time step. By coupling RSA with the diffusion of molecules in the solution above the surface the RSA simulation time step is related to the real physical time. The method is illustrated on a model of chemisorption of reactive polymers to a virus surface.

Sequential voluntary cough and aspiration or aspiration risk in Parkinson's disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Hegland, Karen Wheeler; Okun, Michael S; Troche, Michelle S

2014-08-01

Disordered swallowing, or dysphagia, is almost always present to some degree in people with Parkinson's disease (PD), either causing aspiration or greatly increasing the risk for aspiration during swallowing. This likely contributes to aspiration pneumonia, a leading cause of death in this patient population. Effective airway protection is dependent upon multiple behaviors, including cough and swallowing. Single voluntary cough function is disordered in people with PD and dysphagia. However, the appropriate response to aspirate material is more than one cough, or sequential cough. The goal of this study was to examine voluntary sequential coughing in people with PD, with and without dysphagia. Forty adults diagnosed with idiopathic PD produced two trials of sequential voluntary cough. The cough airflows were obtained using pneumotachograph and facemask and subsequently digitized and recorded. All participants received a modified barium swallow study as part of their clinical care, and the worst penetration-aspiration score observed was used to determine whether the patient had dysphagia. There were significant differences in the compression phase duration, peak expiratory flow rates, and amount of air expired of the sequential cough produced by participants with and without dysphagia. The presence of dysphagia in people with PD is associated with disordered cough function. Sequential cough, which is important in removing aspirate material from large- and smaller-diameter airways, is also impaired in people with PD and dysphagia compared with those without dysphagia. There may be common neuroanatomical substrates for cough and swallowing impairment in PD leading to the co-occurrence of these dysfunctions.

Information/disturbance trade-off in single and sequential measurements on a qudit signal

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Genoni, Marco G; Paris, Matteo G A [Dipartimento di Fisica, Universita degli studi di Milano (Italy)

2007-05-15

We address the trade-off between information gain and state disturbance in measurement performed on qudit systems and devise a class of optimal measurement schemes that saturate the ultimate bound imposed by quantum mechanics to estimation and transmission fidelities. The schemes are minimal, i.e. they involve a single additional probe qudit, and optimal, i.e. they provide the maximum amount of information compatible with a given level of disturbance. The performances of optimal single-user schemes in extracting information by sequential measurements in a N-user transmission line are also investigated, and the optimality is analyzed by explicit evaluation of fidelities. We found that the estimation fidelity does not depend on the number of users, neither for single-measure inference nor for collective one, whereas the transmission fidelity decreases with N. The resulting trade-off is no longer optimal and degrades with increasing N. We found that optimality can be restored by an effective preparation of the probe states and present explicitly calculations for the 2-user case.

Sequential fitting-and-separating reflectance components for analytical bidirectional reflectance distribution function estimation.

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, Yu; Yu, Chanki; Lee, Sang Wook

2018-01-10

We present a sequential fitting-and-separating algorithm for surface reflectance components that separates individual dominant reflectance components and simultaneously estimates the corresponding bidirectional reflectance distribution function (BRDF) parameters from the separated reflectance values. We tackle the estimation of a Lafortune BRDF model, which combines a nonLambertian diffuse reflection and multiple specular reflectance components with a different specular lobe. Our proposed method infers the appropriate number of BRDF lobes and their parameters by separating and estimating each of the reflectance components using an interval analysis-based branch-and-bound method in conjunction with iterative K-ordered scale estimation. The focus of this paper is the estimation of the Lafortune BRDF model. Nevertheless, our proposed method can be applied to other analytical BRDF models such as the Cook-Torrance and Ward models. Experiments were carried out to validate the proposed method using isotropic materials from the Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories-Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MERL-MIT) BRDF database, and the results show that our method is superior to a conventional minimization algorithm.

Random sequential adsorption of cubes

Science.gov (United States)

Cieśla, Michał; Kubala, Piotr

2018-01-01

Random packings built of cubes are studied numerically using a random sequential adsorption algorithm. To compare the obtained results with previous reports, three different models of cube orientation sampling were used. Also, three different cube-cube intersection algorithms were tested to find the most efficient one. The study focuses on the mean saturated packing fraction as well as kinetics of packing growth. Microstructural properties of packings were analyzed using density autocorrelation function.

Effects of sequential and discrete rapid naming on reading in Japanese children with reading difficulty.

Science.gov (United States)

Wakamiya, Eiji; Okumura, Tomohito; Nakanishi, Makoto; Takeshita, Takashi; Mizuta, Mekumi; Kurimoto, Naoko; Tamai, Hiroshi

2011-06-01

To clarify whether rapid naming ability itself is a main underpinning factor of rapid automatized naming tests (RAN) and how deep an influence the discrete decoding process has on reading, we performed discrete naming tasks and discrete hiragana reading tasks as well as sequential naming tasks and sequential hiragana reading tasks with 38 Japanese schoolchildren with reading difficulty. There were high correlations between both discrete and sequential hiragana reading and sentence reading, suggesting that some mechanism which automatizes hiragana reading makes sentence reading fluent. In object and color tasks, there were moderate correlations between sentence reading and sequential naming, and between sequential naming and discrete naming. But no correlation was found between reading tasks and discrete naming tasks. The influence of rapid naming ability of objects and colors upon reading seemed relatively small, and multi-item processing may work in relation to these. In contrast, in the digit naming task there was moderate correlation between sentence reading and discrete naming, while no correlation was seen between sequential naming and discrete naming. There was moderate correlation between reading tasks and sequential digit naming tasks. Digit rapid naming ability has more direct effect on reading while its effect on RAN is relatively limited. The ratio of how rapid naming ability influences RAN and reading seems to vary according to kind of the stimuli used. An assumption about components in RAN which influence reading is discussed in the context of both sequential processing and discrete naming speed. Copyright © 2010 The Japanese Society of Child Neurology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

STABILIZED SEQUENTIAL QUADRATIC PROGRAMMING: A SURVEY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Damián Fernández

2014-12-01

Full Text Available We review the motivation for, the current state-of-the-art in convergence results, and some open questions concerning the stabilized version of the sequential quadratic programming algorithm for constrained optimization. We also discuss the tools required for its local convergence analysis, globalization challenges, and extentions of the method to the more general variational problems.

Terminating Sequential Delphi Survey Data Collection

Science.gov (United States)

Kalaian, Sema A.; Kasim, Rafa M.

2012-01-01

The Delphi survey technique is an iterative mail or electronic (e-mail or web-based) survey method used to obtain agreement or consensus among a group of experts in a specific field on a particular issue through a well-designed and systematic multiple sequential rounds of survey administrations. Each of the multiple rounds of the Delphi survey…

Sequential function approximation on arbitrarily distributed point sets

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Kailiang; Xiu, Dongbin

2018-02-01

We present a randomized iterative method for approximating unknown function sequentially on arbitrary point set. The method is based on a recently developed sequential approximation (SA) method, which approximates a target function using one data point at each step and avoids matrix operations. The focus of this paper is on data sets with highly irregular distribution of the points. We present a nearest neighbor replacement (NNR) algorithm, which allows one to sample the irregular data sets in a near optimal manner. We provide mathematical justification and error estimates for the NNR algorithm. Extensive numerical examples are also presented to demonstrate that the NNR algorithm can deliver satisfactory convergence for the SA method on data sets with high irregularity in their point distributions.

Minimal local Lagrangians for higher-spin geometry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Francia, Dario; Sagnotti, Augusto

2005-01-01

The Fronsdal Lagrangians for free totally symmetric rank-s tensors φ μ 1 ...μ s rest on suitable trace constraints for their gauge parameters and gauge fields. Only when these constraints are removed, however, the resulting equations reflect the expected free higher-spin geometry. We show that geometric equations, in both their local and non-local forms, can be simply recovered from local Lagrangians with only two additional fields, a rank-(s-3) compensator α μ 1 ...μ s-3 and a rank-(s-4) Lagrange multiplier β μ 1 ...μ s-4 . In a similar fashion, we show that geometric equations for unconstrained rank-n totally symmetric spinor-tensors ψ μ 1 ...μ n can be simply recovered from local Lagrangians with only two additional spinor-tensors, a rank-(n-2) compensator ξ μ 1 ...μ n-2 and a rank-(n-3) Lagrange multiplier λ μ 1 ...μ n-3

Configural and component processing in simultaneous and sequential lineup procedures.

Science.gov (United States)

Flowe, Heather D; Smith, Harriet M J; Karoğlu, Nilda; Onwuegbusi, Tochukwu O; Rai, Lovedeep

2016-01-01

Configural processing supports accurate face recognition, yet it has never been examined within the context of criminal identification lineups. We tested, using the inversion paradigm, the role of configural processing in lineups. Recent research has found that face discrimination accuracy in lineups is better in a simultaneous compared to a sequential lineup procedure. Therefore, we compared configural processing in simultaneous and sequential lineups to examine whether there are differences. We had participants view a crime video, and then they attempted to identify the perpetrator from a simultaneous or sequential lineup. The test faces were presented either upright or inverted, as previous research has shown that inverting test faces disrupts configural processing. The size of the inversion effect for faces was the same across lineup procedures, indicating that configural processing underlies face recognition in both procedures. Discrimination accuracy was comparable across lineup procedures in both the upright and inversion condition. Theoretical implications of the results are discussed.

A multisyringe flow-through sequential extraction system for on-line monitoring of orthophosphate in soils and sediments

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buanuam, Janya; Miró, Manuel; Hansen, Elo Harald

2007-01-01

A fully automated flow-through microcolumn fractionation system with on-line post-extraction derivatization is proposed for monitoring of orthophosphate in solid samples of environmental relevance. The system integrates dynamic sequential extraction using 1.0 mol l-1 NH4Cl, 0.1 mol l-1 NaOH and 0...... of the operational times from days to hours, highly temporal resolution of the leaching process, and the capability for immediate decision for stopping or proceeding with the ongoing extraction. Very importantly, accurate determination of the various orthophosphate pools is ensured by minimization of the hydrolysis...... of extracted organic phosphorus and condensed inorganic phosphates within the time frame of the assay. The potential of the novel system for accommodation of the harmonized protocol from the Standards, Measurement and Testing (SMT) Program of the Commission of the European Communities for inorganic phosphorus...

Adrenal vein sampling in primary aldosteronism: concordance of simultaneous vs sequential sampling.

Science.gov (United States)

Almarzooqi, Mohamed-Karji; Chagnon, Miguel; Soulez, Gilles; Giroux, Marie-France; Gilbert, Patrick; Oliva, Vincent L; Perreault, Pierre; Bouchard, Louis; Bourdeau, Isabelle; Lacroix, André; Therasse, Eric

2017-02-01

Many investigators believe that basal adrenal venous sampling (AVS) should be done simultaneously, whereas others opt for sequential AVS for simplicity and reduced cost. This study aimed to evaluate the concordance of sequential and simultaneous AVS methods. Between 1989 and 2015, bilateral simultaneous sets of basal AVS were obtained twice within 5 min, in 188 consecutive patients (59 women and 129 men; mean age: 53.4 years). Selectivity was defined by adrenal-to-peripheral cortisol ratio ≥2, and lateralization was defined as an adrenal aldosterone-to-cortisol ratio ≥2, the contralateral side. Sequential AVS was simulated using right sampling at -5 min (t = -5) and left sampling at 0 min (t = 0). There was no significant difference in mean selectivity ratio (P = 0.12 and P = 0.42 for the right and left sides respectively) and in mean lateralization ratio (P = 0.93) between t = -5 and t = 0. Kappa for selectivity between 2 simultaneous AVS was 0.71 (95% CI: 0.60-0.82), whereas it was 0.84 (95% CI: 0.76-0.92) and 0.85 (95% CI: 0.77-0.93) between sequential and simultaneous AVS at respectively -5 min and at 0 min. Kappa for lateralization between 2 simultaneous AVS was 0.84 (95% CI: 0.75-0.93), whereas it was 0.86 (95% CI: 0.78-0.94) and 0.80 (95% CI: 0.71-0.90) between sequential AVS and simultaneous AVS at respectively -5 min at 0 min. Concordance between simultaneous and sequential AVS was not different than that between 2 repeated simultaneous AVS in the same patient. Therefore, a better diagnostic performance is not a good argument to select the AVS method. © 2017 European Society of Endocrinology.

Development of a flow method for the determination of phosphate in estuarine and freshwaters-Comparison of flow cells in spectrophotometric sequential injection analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mesquita, Raquel B.R.; Ferreira, M. Teresa S.O.B.; Toth, Ildiko V.; Bordalo, Adriano A.; McKelvie, Ian D.; Rangel, Antonio O.S.S.

2011-01-01

Highlights: → Sequential injection determination of phosphate in estuarine and freshwaters. → Alternative spectrophotometric flow cells are compared. → Minimization of schlieren effect was assessed. → Proposed method can cope with wide salinity ranges. → Multi-reflective cell shows clear advantages. - Abstract: A sequential injection system with dual analytical line was developed and applied in the comparison of two different detection systems viz; a conventional spectrophotometer with a commercial flow cell, and a multi-reflective flow cell coupled with a photometric detector under the same experimental conditions. The study was based on the spectrophotometric determination of phosphate using the molybdenum-blue chemistry. The two alternative flow cells were compared in terms of their response to variation of sample salinity, susceptibility to interferences and to refractive index changes. The developed method was applied to the determination of phosphate in natural waters (estuarine, river, well and ground waters). The achieved detection limit (0.007 μM PO 4 3- ) is consistent with the requirement of the target water samples, and a wide quantification range (0.024-9.5 μM) was achieved using both detection systems.

Development of a flow method for the determination of phosphate in estuarine and freshwaters-Comparison of flow cells in spectrophotometric sequential injection analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mesquita, Raquel B.R. [CBQF/Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, R. Dr. Antonio Bernardino de Almeida, 4200-072 Porto (Portugal); Laboratory of Hydrobiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS) and Institute of Marine Research (CIIMAR), Universidade do Porto, Lg. Abel Salazar 2, 4099-003 Porto (Portugal); Ferreira, M. Teresa S.O.B. [CBQF/Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, R. Dr. Antonio Bernardino de Almeida, 4200-072 Porto (Portugal); Toth, Ildiko V. [REQUIMTE, Departamento de Quimica, Faculdade de Farmacia, Universidade de Porto, Rua Anibal Cunha, 164, 4050-047 Porto (Portugal); Bordalo, Adriano A. [Laboratory of Hydrobiology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS) and Institute of Marine Research (CIIMAR), Universidade do Porto, Lg. Abel Salazar 2, 4099-003 Porto (Portugal); McKelvie, Ian D. [School of Chemistry, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010 (Australia); Rangel, Antonio O.S.S., E-mail: aorangel@esb.ucp.pt [CBQF/Escola Superior de Biotecnologia, Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, R. Dr. Antonio Bernardino de Almeida, 4200-072 Porto (Portugal)

2011-09-02

Highlights: {yields} Sequential injection determination of phosphate in estuarine and freshwaters. {yields} Alternative spectrophotometric flow cells are compared. {yields} Minimization of schlieren effect was assessed. {yields} Proposed method can cope with wide salinity ranges. {yields} Multi-reflective cell shows clear advantages. - Abstract: A sequential injection system with dual analytical line was developed and applied in the comparison of two different detection systems viz; a conventional spectrophotometer with a commercial flow cell, and a multi-reflective flow cell coupled with a photometric detector under the same experimental conditions. The study was based on the spectrophotometric determination of phosphate using the molybdenum-blue chemistry. The two alternative flow cells were compared in terms of their response to variation of sample salinity, susceptibility to interferences and to refractive index changes. The developed method was applied to the determination of phosphate in natural waters (estuarine, river, well and ground waters). The achieved detection limit (0.007 {mu}M PO{sub 4}{sup 3-}) is consistent with the requirement of the target water samples, and a wide quantification range (0.024-9.5 {mu}M) was achieved using both detection systems.

Sequential motor skill: cognition, perception and action

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruitenberg, M.F.L.

2013-01-01

Discrete movement sequences are assumed to be the building blocks of more complex sequential actions that are present in our everyday behavior. The studies presented in this dissertation address the (neuro)cognitive underpinnings of such movement sequences, in particular in relationship to the role

Improving the identification accuracy of senior witnesses: do prelineup questions and sequential testing help?

Science.gov (United States)

Memon, Amina; Gabbert, Fiona

2003-04-01

Eyewitness research has identified sequential lineup testing as a way of reducing false lineup choices while maintaining accurate identifications. The authors examined the usefulness of this procedure for reducing false choices in older adults. Young and senior witnesses viewed a crime video and were later presented with target present orabsent lineups in a simultaneous or sequential format. In addition, some participants received prelineup questions about their memory for a perpetrator's face and about their confidence in their ability to identify the culprit or to correctly reject the lineup. The sequential lineup reduced false choosing rates among young and older adults in target-absent conditions. In target-present conditions, sequential testing significantly reduced the correct identification rate in both age groups.

Simultaneous versus Sequential Intratympanic Steroid Treatment for Severe-to-Profound Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, Myung Hoon; Lim, Won Sub; Park, Joo Hyun; Kwon, Joong Keun; Lee, Tae-Hoon; An, Yong-Hwi; Kim, Young-Jin; Kim, Jong Yang; Lim, Hyun Woo; Park, Hong Ju

2016-01-01

Severe-to-profound sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) has a poor prognosis. We aimed to compare the efficacy of simultaneous and sequential oral and intratympanic steroids for this condition. Fifty patients with severe-to-profound SSNHL (>70 dB HL) were included from 7 centers. The simultaneous group (27 patients) received oral and intratympanic steroid injections for 2 weeks. The sequential group (23 patients) was treated with oral steroids for 2 weeks and intratympanic steroids for the subsequent 2 weeks. Pure-tone averages (PTA) and word discrimination scores (WDS) were compared before treatment and 2 weeks and 1 and 2 months after treatment. Treatment outcomes according to the modified American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery (AAO-HNS) criteria were also analyzed. The improvement in PTA and WDS at the 2-week follow-up was 23 ± 21 dB HL and 20 ± 39% in the simultaneous group and 31 ± 29 dB HL and 37 ± 42% in the sequential group; this was not statistically significant. Complete or partial recovery at the 2-week follow-up was observed in 26% of the simultaneous group and 30% of the sequential group; this was also not significant. The improvement in PTA and WDS at the 2-month follow-up was 40 ± 20 dB HL and 37 ± 35% in the simultaneous group and 41 ± 25 dB HL and 48 ± 41% in the sequential group; this was not statistically significant. Complete or partial recovery at the 2-month follow-up was observed in 33% of the simultaneous group and 35% of the sequential group; this was also not significant. Seven patients in the sequential group did not need intratympanic steroid injections for sufficient improvement after oral steroids alone. Simultaneous oral/intratympanic steroid treatment yielded a recovery similar to that produced by sequential treatment. Because the addition of intratympanic steroids can be decided upon based on the improvement after an oral steroid, the sequential regimen can be recommended to avoid unnecessary

Optimal Sequential Diagnostic Strategy Generation Considering Test Placement Cost for Multimode Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shigang Zhang

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Sequential fault diagnosis is an approach that realizes fault isolation by executing the optimal test step by step. The strategy used, i.e., the sequential diagnostic strategy, has great influence on diagnostic accuracy and cost. Optimal sequential diagnostic strategy generation is an important step in the process of diagnosis system construction, which has been studied extensively in the literature. However, previous algorithms either are designed for single mode systems or do not consider test placement cost. They are not suitable to solve the sequential diagnostic strategy generation problem considering test placement cost for multimode systems. Therefore, this problem is studied in this paper. A formulation is presented. Two algorithms are proposed, one of which is realized by system transformation and the other is newly designed. Extensive simulations are carried out to test the effectiveness of the algorithms. A real-world system is also presented. All the results show that both of them have the ability to solve the diagnostic strategy generation problem, and they have different characteristics.

Optimal Sequential Diagnostic Strategy Generation Considering Test Placement Cost for Multimode Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shigang; Song, Lijun; Zhang, Wei; Hu, Zheng; Yang, Yongmin

2015-01-01

Sequential fault diagnosis is an approach that realizes fault isolation by executing the optimal test step by step. The strategy used, i.e., the sequential diagnostic strategy, has great influence on diagnostic accuracy and cost. Optimal sequential diagnostic strategy generation is an important step in the process of diagnosis system construction, which has been studied extensively in the literature. However, previous algorithms either are designed for single mode systems or do not consider test placement cost. They are not suitable to solve the sequential diagnostic strategy generation problem considering test placement cost for multimode systems. Therefore, this problem is studied in this paper. A formulation is presented. Two algorithms are proposed, one of which is realized by system transformation and the other is newly designed. Extensive simulations are carried out to test the effectiveness of the algorithms. A real-world system is also presented. All the results show that both of them have the ability to solve the diagnostic strategy generation problem, and they have different characteristics. PMID:26457709

Inhibitory effect of sequential combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy on growth of implanted tumor in mice

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Okada, Kouji

1983-01-01

Sequential chemotherapy using FT-207, adriamycin and mitomycin C followed by radiotherapy was attempted to achieve effective inhibition against implanted tumor in C57BL/6 black mice bearing YM-12 tumors. Sequential combined chemotherapy was more effective than single drug chemotherapy or combined chemotherapy of other drugs. Addition of radiotherapy to the sequential combined chemotherapy was successful for enhancing therapeutic effect. (author)

The Bacterial Sequential Markov Coalescent.

Science.gov (United States)

De Maio, Nicola; Wilson, Daniel J

2017-05-01

Bacteria can exchange and acquire new genetic material from other organisms directly and via the environment. This process, known as bacterial recombination, has a strong impact on the evolution of bacteria, for example, leading to the spread of antibiotic resistance across clades and species, and to the avoidance of clonal interference. Recombination hinders phylogenetic and transmission inference because it creates patterns of substitutions (homoplasies) inconsistent with the hypothesis of a single evolutionary tree. Bacterial recombination is typically modeled as statistically akin to gene conversion in eukaryotes, i.e. , using the coalescent with gene conversion (CGC). However, this model can be very computationally demanding as it needs to account for the correlations of evolutionary histories of even distant loci. So, with the increasing popularity of whole genome sequencing, the need has emerged for a faster approach to model and simulate bacterial genome evolution. We present a new model that approximates the coalescent with gene conversion: the bacterial sequential Markov coalescent (BSMC). Our approach is based on a similar idea to the sequential Markov coalescent (SMC)-an approximation of the coalescent with crossover recombination. However, bacterial recombination poses hurdles to a sequential Markov approximation, as it leads to strong correlations and linkage disequilibrium across very distant sites in the genome. Our BSMC overcomes these difficulties, and shows a considerable reduction in computational demand compared to the exact CGC, and very similar patterns in simulated data. We implemented our BSMC model within new simulation software FastSimBac. In addition to the decreased computational demand compared to previous bacterial genome evolution simulators, FastSimBac provides more general options for evolutionary scenarios, allowing population structure with migration, speciation, population size changes, and recombination hotspots. FastSimBac is

Multi-terminal pipe routing by Steiner minimal tree and particle swarm optimisation

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Qiang; Wang, Chengen

2012-08-01

Computer-aided design of pipe routing is of fundamental importance for complex equipments' developments. In this article, non-rectilinear branch pipe routing with multiple terminals that can be formulated as a Euclidean Steiner Minimal Tree with Obstacles (ESMTO) problem is studied in the context of an aeroengine-integrated design engineering. Unlike the traditional methods that connect pipe terminals sequentially, this article presents a new branch pipe routing algorithm based on the Steiner tree theory. The article begins with a new algorithm for solving the ESMTO problem by using particle swarm optimisation (PSO), and then extends the method to the surface cases by using geodesics to meet the requirements of routing non-rectilinear pipes on the surfaces of aeroengines. Subsequently, the adaptive region strategy and the basic visibility graph method are adopted to increase the computation efficiency. Numeral computations show that the proposed routing algorithm can find satisfactory routing layouts while running in polynomial time.

Structural and Functional Impacts of ER Coactivator Sequential Recruitment.

Science.gov (United States)

Yi, Ping; Wang, Zhao; Feng, Qin; Chou, Chao-Kai; Pintilie, Grigore D; Shen, Hong; Foulds, Charles E; Fan, Guizhen; Serysheva, Irina; Ludtke, Steven J; Schmid, Michael F; Hung, Mien-Chie; Chiu, Wah; O'Malley, Bert W

2017-09-07

Nuclear receptors recruit multiple coactivators sequentially to activate transcription. This "ordered" recruitment allows different coactivator activities to engage the nuclear receptor complex at different steps of transcription. Estrogen receptor (ER) recruits steroid receptor coactivator-3 (SRC-3) primary coactivator and secondary coactivators, p300/CBP and CARM1. CARM1 recruitment lags behind the binding of SRC-3 and p300 to ER. Combining cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure analysis and biochemical approaches, we demonstrate that there is a close crosstalk between early- and late-recruited coactivators. The sequential recruitment of CARM1 not only adds a protein arginine methyltransferase activity to the ER-coactivator complex, it also alters the structural organization of the pre-existing ERE/ERα/SRC-3/p300 complex. It induces a p300 conformational change and significantly increases p300 HAT activity on histone H3K18 residues, which, in turn, promotes CARM1 methylation activity on H3R17 residues to enhance transcriptional activity. This study reveals a structural role for a coactivator sequential recruitment and biochemical process in ER-mediated transcription. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Sequential decay of Reggeons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yoshida, Toshihiro

1981-01-01

Probabilities of meson production in the sequential decay of Reggeons, which are formed from the projectile and the target in the hadron-hadron to Reggeon-Reggeon processes, are investigated. It is assumed that pair creation of heavy quarks and simultaneous creation of two antiquark-quark pairs are negligible. The leading-order terms with respect to ratio of creation probabilities of anti s s to anti u u (anti d d) are calculated. The production cross sections in the target fragmentation region are given in terms of probabilities in the initial decay of the Reggeons and an effect of manyparticle production. (author)

[Professor GAO Yuchun's experience on "sequential acupuncture leads to smooth movement of qi"].

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yanjun; Xing, Xiao; Cui, Linhua

2016-01-01

Professor GAO Yuchun is considered as the key successor of GAO's academic school of acupuncture and moxibustion in Yanzhao region. Professor GAO's clinical experience of, "sequential acupuncture" is introduced in details in this article. In Professor GAO's opinions, appropriate acupuncture sequence is the key to satisfactory clinical effects during treatment. Based on different acupoints, sequential acupuncture can achieve the aim of qi following needles and needles leading qi; based on different symptoms, sequential acupuncture can regulate qi movement; based on different body positions, sequential acupuncture can harmonize qi-blood and reinforcing deficiency and reducing excess. In all, according to the differences of disease condition and constitution, based on the accurate acupoint selection and appropriate manipulation, it is essential to capture the nature of diseases and make the order of acupuncture, which can achieve the aim of regulating qi movement and reinforcing deficiency and reducing excess.

TELEGRAPHS TO INCANDESCENT LAMPS: A SEQUENTIAL PROCESS OF INNOVATION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laurence J. Malone

2000-01-01

Full Text Available This paper outlines a sequential process of technological innovation in the emergence of the electrical industry in the United States from 1830 to 1880. Successive inventions that realize the commercial possibilities of electricity provided the foundation for an industry where technical knowledge, invention and diffusion were ultimately consolidated within the managerial structure of new firms. The genesis of the industry is traced, sequentially, through the development of the telegraph, arc light and incandescent lamp. Exploring the origins of the telegraph and incandescent lamp reveals a process where a series of inventions and firms result from successful efforts touse scientific principles to create new commodities and markets.

Results of simultaneous and sequential pediatric liver and kidney transplantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Rogers, J; Bueno, J; Shapiro, R; Scantlebury, V; Mazariegos, G; Fung, J; Reyes, J

2001-11-27

The indications for simultaneous and sequential pediatric liver (LTx) and kidney (KTx) transplantation have not been well defined. We herein report the results of our experience with these procedures in children with end-stage liver disease and/or subsequent end-stage renal disease. Between 1984 and 1995, 12 LTx recipients received 15 kidney allografts. Eight simultaneous and seven sequential LTx/KTx were performed. There were six males and six females, with a mean age of 10.9 years (1.5-23.7). One of the eight simultaneous LTx/KTx was part of a multivisceral allograft. Five KTx were performed at varied intervals after successful LTx, one KTx was performed after a previous simultaneous LTx/KTx, and one KTx was performed after previous sequential LTx/KTx. Immunosuppression was with tacrolimus or cyclosporine and steroids. Indications for LTx were oxalosis (four), congenital hepatic fibrosis (two), cystinosis (one), polycystic liver disease (one), A-1-A deficiency (one), Total Parenteral Nutrition (TPN)-related (one), cryptogenic cirrhosis (one), and hepatoblastoma (one). Indications for KTx were oxalosis (four), drug-induced (four), polycystic kidney disease (three), cystinosis (one), and glomerulonephritis (1). With a mean follow-up of 58 months (0.9-130), the overall patient survival rate was 58% (7/12). One-year and 5-year actuarial patient survival rates were 66% and 58%, respectively. Patient survival rates at 1 year after KTx according to United Network of Organ Sharing (liver) status were 100% for status 3, 50% for status 2, and 0% for status 1. The overall renal allograft survival rate was 47%. Actuarial renal allograft survival rates were 53% at 1 and 5 years. The overall hepatic allograft survival rate was equivalent to the overall patient survival rate (58%). Six of seven surviving patients have normal renal allograft function, and one patient has moderate chronic allograft nephropathy. All surviving patients have normal hepatic allograft function. Six

Minimally invasive orthognathic surgery.

Science.gov (United States)

Resnick, Cory M; Kaban, Leonard B; Troulis, Maria J

2009-02-01

Minimally invasive surgery is defined as the discipline in which operative procedures are performed in novel ways to diminish the sequelae of standard surgical dissections. The goals of minimally invasive surgery are to reduce tissue trauma and to minimize bleeding, edema, and injury, thereby improving the rate and quality of healing. In orthognathic surgery, there are two minimally invasive techniques that can be used separately or in combination: (1) endoscopic exposure and (2) distraction osteogenesis. This article describes the historical developments of the fields of orthognathic surgery and minimally invasive surgery, as well as the integration of the two disciplines. Indications, techniques, and the most current outcome data for specific minimally invasive orthognathic surgical procedures are presented.

Regularity of Minimal Surfaces

CERN Document Server

Dierkes, Ulrich; Tromba, Anthony J; Kuster, Albrecht

2010-01-01

"Regularity of Minimal Surfaces" begins with a survey of minimal surfaces with free boundaries. Following this, the basic results concerning the boundary behaviour of minimal surfaces and H-surfaces with fixed or free boundaries are studied. In particular, the asymptotic expansions at interior and boundary branch points are derived, leading to general Gauss-Bonnet formulas. Furthermore, gradient estimates and asymptotic expansions for minimal surfaces with only piecewise smooth boundaries are obtained. One of the main features of free boundary value problems for minimal surfaces is t

Multi-Stage Recognition of Speech Emotion Using Sequential Forward Feature Selection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Liogienė Tatjana

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The intensive research of speech emotion recognition introduced a huge collection of speech emotion features. Large feature sets complicate the speech emotion recognition task. Among various feature selection and transformation techniques for one-stage classification, multiple classifier systems were proposed. The main idea of multiple classifiers is to arrange the emotion classification process in stages. Besides parallel and serial cases, the hierarchical arrangement of multi-stage classification is most widely used for speech emotion recognition. In this paper, we present a sequential-forward-feature-selection-based multi-stage classification scheme. The Sequential Forward Selection (SFS and Sequential Floating Forward Selection (SFFS techniques were employed for every stage of the multi-stage classification scheme. Experimental testing of the proposed scheme was performed using the German and Lithuanian emotional speech datasets. Sequential-feature-selection-based multi-stage classification outperformed the single-stage scheme by 12–42 % for different emotion sets. The multi-stage scheme has shown higher robustness to the growth of emotion set. The decrease in recognition rate with the increase in emotion set for multi-stage scheme was lower by 10–20 % in comparison with the single-stage case. Differences in SFS and SFFS employment for feature selection were negligible.

Tinnitus after Simultaneous and Sequential Bilateral Cochlear Implantation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ramakers, Geerte G J; Kraaijenga, Véronique J C; Smulders, Yvette E; van Zon, Alice; Stegeman, Inge; Stokroos, Robert J; Free, Rolien H; Frijns, Johan H M; Huinck, Wendy J; Van Zanten, Gijsbert A; Grolman, Wilko

2017-01-01

There is an ongoing global discussion on whether or not bilateral cochlear implantation should be standard care for bilateral deafness. Contrary to unilateral cochlear implantation, however, little is known about the effect of bilateral cochlear implantation on tinnitus. To investigate tinnitus outcomes 1 year after bilateral cochlear implantation. Secondarily, to compare tinnitus outcomes between simultaneous and sequential bilateral cochlear implantation and to investigate long-term follow-up (3 years). This study is a secondary analysis as part of a multicenter randomized controlled trial. Thirty-eight postlingually deafened adults were included in the original trial, in which the presence of tinnitus was not an inclusion criterion. All participants received cochlear implants (CIs) because of profound hearing loss. Nineteen participants received bilateral CIs simultaneously and 19 participants received bilateral CIs sequentially with an inter-implant interval of 2 years. The prevalence and severity of tinnitus before and after simultaneous and sequential bilateral cochlear implantation were measured preoperatively and each year after implantation with the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ). The prevalence of preoperative tinnitus was 42% (16/38). One year after bilateral implantation, there was a median difference of -8 (inter-quartile range (IQR): -28 to 4) in THI score and -9 (IQR: -17 to -9) in TQ score in the participants with preoperative tinnitus. Induction of tinnitus occurred in five participants, all in the simultaneous group, in the year after bilateral implantation. Although the preoperative and also the postoperative median THI and TQ scores were higher in the simultaneous group, the median difference scores were equal in both groups. In the simultaneous group, tinnitus scores fluctuated in the 3 years after implantation. In the sequential group, four patients had an additional benefit of the second CI: a total

Learning sequential control in a Neural Blackboard Architecture for in situ concept reasoning

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Velde, Frank; van der Velde, Frank; Besold, Tarek R.; Lamb, Luis; Serafini, Luciano; Tabor, Whitney

2016-01-01

Simulations are presented and discussed of learning sequential control in a Neural Blackboard Architecture (NBA) for in situ concept-based reasoning. Sequential control is learned in a reservoir network, consisting of columns with neural circuits. This allows the reservoir to control the dynamics of

Microstructural evolution of reduced-activation martensitic steel under single and sequential ion irradiations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luo, Fengfeng [Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education, Hubei Nuclear Solid Physics Key Laboratory and School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072 (China); Guo, Liping, E-mail: guolp@whu.edu.cn [Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education, Hubei Nuclear Solid Physics Key Laboratory and School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072 (China); Jin, Shuoxue; Li, Tiecheng; Zheng, Zhongcheng [Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-structures of Ministry of Education, Hubei Nuclear Solid Physics Key Laboratory and School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072 (China); Yang, Feng; Xiong, Xuesong; Suo, Jinping [State Key Laboratory of Mould Technology, Institute of Materials Science and Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430074 (China)

2013-07-15

Microstructural evolution of super-clean reduced-activation martensitic steels irradiated with single-beam (Fe{sup +}) and sequential-beam (Fe{sup +} plus He{sup +}) at 350 °C and 550 °C was studied. Sequential-beam irradiation induced smaller size and larger number density of precipitates compared to single-beam irradiation at 350 °C. The largest size of cavities was observed after sequential-beam irradiation at 550 °C. The segregation of Cr and W and depletion of Fe in carbides were observed, and the maximum depletion of Fe and enrichment of Cr occurred under irradiation at 350 °C.

Sequential and Simultaneous Logit: A Nested Model.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Ophem, J.C.M.; Schram, A.J.H.C.

1997-01-01

A nested model is presented which has both the sequential and the multinomial logit model as special cases. This model provides a simple test to investigate the validity of these specifications. Some theoretical properties of the model are discussed. In the analysis a distribution function is

Truly costly sequential search and oligopolistic pricing

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Janssen, Maarten C W; Moraga-González, José Luis; Wildenbeest, Matthijs R.

We modify the paper of Stahl (1989) [Stahl, D.O., 1989. Oligopolistic pricing with sequential consumer search. American Economic Review 79, 700-12] by relaxing the assumption that consumers obtain the first price quotation for free. When all price quotations are costly to obtain, the unique

Making Career Decisions--A Sequential Elimination Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Gati, Itamar

1986-01-01

Presents a model for career decision making based on the sequential elimination of occupational alternatives, an adaptation for career decisions of Tversky's (1972) elimination-by-aspects theory of choice. The expected utility approach is reviewed as a representative compensatory model for career decisions. Advantages, disadvantages, and…

Sequential Computerized Mastery Tests--Three Simulation Studies

Science.gov (United States)

Wiberg, Marie

2006-01-01

A simulation study of a sequential computerized mastery test is carried out with items modeled with the 3 parameter logistic item response theory model. The examinees' responses are either identically distributed, not identically distributed, or not identically distributed together with estimation errors in the item characteristics. The…

Sequential Low Cost Interventions Double Hand Hygiene Rates ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Sequential Low Cost Interventions Double Hand Hygiene Rates Among Medical Teams in a Resource Limited Setting. Results of a Hand Hygiene Quality Improvement Project Conducted At University Teaching Hospital of Kigali (Chuk), Kigali, Rwanda.

Sequential optimization of matrix chain multiplication relative to different cost functions

KAUST Repository

Chikalov, Igor; Hussain, Shahid; Moshkov, Mikhail

2011-01-01

In this paper, we present a methodology to optimize matrix chain multiplication sequentially relative to different cost functions such as total number of scalar multiplications, communication overhead in a multiprocessor environment, etc. For n matrices our optimization procedure requires O(n 3) arithmetic operations per one cost function. This work is done in the framework of a dynamic programming extension that allows sequential optimization relative to different criteria. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Variation among heritage speakers: Sequential vs. simultaneous bilinguals

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teresa Lee

2013-08-01

Full Text Available This study examines the differences in the grammatical knowledge of two types of heritage speakers of Korean. Early simultaneous bilinguals are exposed to both English and the heritage language from birth, whereas early sequential bilinguals are exposed to the heritage language first and then to English upon schooling. A listening comprehension task involving relative clauses was conducted with 51 beginning-level Korean heritage speakers. The results showed that the early sequential bilinguals exhibited much more accurate knowledge than the early simultaneous bilinguals, who lacked rudimentary knowledge of Korean relative clauses. Drawing on the findings of adult and child Korean L1 data on the acquisition of relative clauses, the performance of each group is discussed with respect to attrition and incomplete acquisition of the heritage language.

Simultaneous determination of rutin and ascorbic acid in a sequential injection lab-at-valve system.

Science.gov (United States)

Al-Shwaiyat, Mohammed Khair E A; Miekh, Yuliia V; Denisenko, Tatyana A; Vishnikin, Andriy B; Andruch, Vasil; Bazel, Yaroslav R

2018-02-05

A green, simple, accurate and highly sensitive sequential injection lab-at-valve procedure has been developed for the simultaneous determination of ascorbic acid (Asc) and rutin using 18-molybdo-2-phosphate Wells-Dawson heteropoly anion (18-MPA). The method is based on the dependence of the reaction rate between 18-MPA and reducing agents on the solution pH. Only Asc is capable of interacting with 18-MPA at pH 4.7, while at pH 7.4 the reaction with both Asc and rutin proceeds simultaneously. In order to improve the precision and sensitivity of the analysis, to minimize reagent consumption and to remove the Schlieren effect, the manifold for the sequential injection analysis was supplemented with external reaction chamber, and the reaction mixture was segmented. By the reduction of 18-MPA with reducing agents one- and two-electron heteropoly blues are formed. The fraction of one-electron heteropoly blue increases at low concentrations of the reducer. Measurement of the absorbance at a wavelength corresponding to the isobestic point allows strictly linear calibration graphs to be obtained. The calibration curves were linear in the concentration ranges of 0.3-24mgL -1 and 0.2-14mgL -1 with detection limits of 0.13mgL -1 and 0.09mgL -1 for rutin and Asc, respectively. The determination of rutin was possible in the presence of up to a 20-fold molar excess of Asc. The method was applied to the determination of Asc and rutin in ascorutin tablets with acceptable accuracy and precision (1-2%). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Minimal Poems Written in 1979 Minimal Poems Written in 1979

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sandra Sirangelo Maggio

2008-04-01

Full Text Available The reading of M. van der Slice's Minimal Poems Written in 1979 (the work, actually, has no title reminded me of a book I have seen a long time ago. called Truth, which had not even a single word printed inside. In either case we have a sample of how often excentricities can prove efficient means of artistic creativity, in this new literary trend known as Minimalism. The reading of M. van der Slice's Minimal Poems Written in 1979 (the work, actually, has no title reminded me of a book I have seen a long time ago. called Truth, which had not even a single word printed inside. In either case we have a sample of how often excentricities can prove efficient means of artistic creativity, in this new literary trend known as Minimalism.

Two-step sequential pretreatment for the enhanced enzymatic hydrolysis of coffee spent waste.

Science.gov (United States)

Ravindran, Rajeev; Jaiswal, Swarna; Abu-Ghannam, Nissreen; Jaiswal, Amit K

2017-09-01

In the present study, eight different pretreatments of varying nature (physical, chemical and physico-chemical) followed by a sequential, combinatorial pretreatment strategy was applied to spent coffee waste to attain maximum sugar yield. Pretreated samples were analysed for total reducing sugar, individual sugars and generation of inhibitory compounds such as furfural and hydroxymethyl furfural (HMF) which can hinder microbial growth and enzyme activity. Native spent coffee waste was high in hemicellulose content. Galactose was found to be the predominant sugar in spent coffee waste. Results showed that sequential pretreatment yielded 350.12mg of reducing sugar/g of substrate, which was 1.7-fold higher than in native spent coffee waste (203.4mg/g of substrate). Furthermore, extensive delignification was achieved using sequential pretreatment strategy. XRD, FTIR, and DSC profiles of the pretreated substrates were studied to analyse the various changes incurred in sequentially pretreated spent coffee waste as opposed to native spent coffee waste. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Competitive interactions affect working memory performance for both simultaneous and sequential stimulus presentation.

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmad, Jumana; Swan, Garrett; Bowman, Howard; Wyble, Brad; Nobre, Anna C; Shapiro, Kimron L; McNab, Fiona

2017-07-06

Competition between simultaneously presented visual stimuli lengthens reaction time and reduces both the BOLD response and neural firing. In contrast, conditions of sequential presentation have been assumed to be free from competition. Here we manipulated the spatial proximity of stimuli (Near versus Far conditions) to examine the effects of simultaneous and sequential competition on different measures of working memory (WM) for colour. With simultaneous presentation, the measure of WM precision was significantly lower for Near items, and participants reported the colour of the wrong item more often. These effects were preserved when the second stimulus immediately followed the first, disappeared when they were separated by 500 ms, and were partly recovered (evident for our measure of mis-binding but not WM precision) when the task was altered to encourage participants to maintain the sequentially presented items together in WM. Our results show, for the first time, that competition affects the measure of WM precision, and challenge the assumption that sequential presentation removes competition.

Combined Orbital Fractures: Surgical Strategy of Sequential Repair

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Su Won Hur

2015-07-01

Full Text Available BackgroundReconstruction of combined orbital floor and medial wall fractures with a comminuted inferomedial strut (IMS is challenging and requires careful practice. We present our surgical strategy and postoperative outcomes.MethodsWe divided 74 patients who underwent the reconstruction of the orbital floor and medial wall concomitantly into a comminuted IMS group (41 patients and non-comminuted IMS group (33 patients. In the comminuted IMS group, we first reconstructed the floor stably and then the medial wall by using separate implant pieces. In the non-comminuted IMS group, we reconstructed the floor and the medial wall with a single large implant.ResultsIn the follow-up of 6 to 65 months, most patients with diplopia improved in the first-week except one, who eventually improved at 1 year. All patients with an EOM limitation improved during the first month of follow-up. Enophthalmos (displacement, 2 mm was observed in two patients. The orbit volume measured on the CT scans was statistically significantly restored in both groups. No complications related to the surgery were observed.ConclusionsWe recommend the reconstruction of orbit walls in the comminuted IMS group by using the following surgical strategy: usage of multiple pieces of rigid implants instead of one large implant, sequential repair first of the floor and then of the medial wall, and a focus on the reconstruction of key areas. Our strategy of step-by-step reconstruction has the benefits of easy repair, less surgical trauma, and minimal stress to the surgeon.

A framework for sequential multiblock component methods

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Smilde, A.K.; Westerhuis, J.A.; Jong, S.de

2003-01-01

Multiblock or multiset methods are starting to be used in chemistry and biology to study complex data sets. In chemometrics, sequential multiblock methods are popular; that is, methods that calculate one component at a time and use deflation for finding the next component. In this paper a framework

Interpretability degrees of finitely axiomatized sequential theories

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visser, Albert

In this paper we show that the degrees of interpretability of finitely axiomatized extensions-in-the-same-language of a finitely axiomatized sequential theory-like Elementary Arithmetic EA, IΣ1, or the Gödel-Bernays theory of sets and classes GB-have suprema. This partially answers a question posed

Interpretability Degrees of Finitely Axiomatized Sequential Theories

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Visser, Albert

2012-01-01

In this paper we show that the degrees of interpretability of finitely axiomatized extensions-in-the-same-language of a finitely axiomatized sequential theory —like Elementary Arithmetic EA, IΣ1, or the Gödel-Bernays theory of sets and classes GB— have suprema. This partially answers a question

Adult Word Recognition and Visual Sequential Memory

Science.gov (United States)

Holmes, V. M.

2012-01-01

Two experiments were conducted investigating the role of visual sequential memory skill in the word recognition efficiency of undergraduate university students. Word recognition was assessed in a lexical decision task using regularly and strangely spelt words, and nonwords that were either standard orthographically legal strings or items made from…

The subtyping of primary aldosteronism by adrenal vein sampling: sequential blood sampling causes factitious lateralization.

Science.gov (United States)

Rossitto, Giacomo; Battistel, Michele; Barbiero, Giulio; Bisogni, Valeria; Maiolino, Giuseppe; Diego, Miotto; Seccia, Teresa M; Rossi, Gian Paolo

2018-02-01

The pulsatile secretion of adrenocortical hormones and a stress reaction occurring when starting adrenal vein sampling (AVS) can affect the selectivity and also the assessment of lateralization when sequential blood sampling is used. We therefore tested the hypothesis that a simulated sequential blood sampling could decrease the diagnostic accuracy of lateralization index for identification of aldosterone-producing adenoma (APA), as compared with bilaterally simultaneous AVS. In 138 consecutive patients who underwent subtyping of primary aldosteronism, we compared the results obtained simultaneously bilaterally when starting AVS (t-15) and 15 min after (t0), with those gained with a simulated sequential right-to-left AVS technique (R ⇒ L) created by combining hormonal values obtained at t-15 and at t0. The concordance between simultaneously obtained values at t-15 and t0, and between simultaneously obtained values and values gained with a sequential R ⇒ L technique, was also assessed. We found a marked interindividual variability of lateralization index values in the patients with bilaterally selective AVS at both time point. However, overall the lateralization index simultaneously determined at t0 provided a more accurate identification of APA than the simulated sequential lateralization indexR ⇒ L (P = 0.001). Moreover, regardless of which side was sampled first, the sequential AVS technique induced a sequence-dependent overestimation of lateralization index. While in APA patients the concordance between simultaneous AVS at t0 and t-15 and between simultaneous t0 and sequential technique was moderate-to-good (K = 0.55 and 0.66, respectively), in non-APA patients, it was poor (K = 0.12 and 0.13, respectively). Sequential AVS generates factitious between-sides gradients, which lower its diagnostic accuracy, likely because of the stress reaction arising upon starting AVS.

Effects of neostriatal 6-OHDA lesion on performance in a rat sequential reaction time task.

Science.gov (United States)

Domenger, D; Schwarting, R K W

2008-10-31

Work in humans and monkeys has provided evidence that the basal ganglia, and the neurotransmitter dopamine therein, play an important role for sequential learning and performance. Compared to primates, experimental work in rodents is rather sparse, largely due to the fact that tasks comparable to the human ones, especially serial reaction time tasks (SRTT), had been lacking until recently. We have developed a rat model of the SRTT, which allows to study neural correlates of sequential performance and motor sequence execution. Here, we report the effects of dopaminergic neostriatal lesions, performed using bilateral 6-hydroxydopamine injections, on performance of well-trained rats tested in our SRTT. Sequential behavior was measured in two ways: for one, the effects of small violations of otherwise well trained sequences were examined as a measure of attention and automation. Secondly, sequential versus random performance was compared as a measure of sequential learning. Neurochemically, the lesions led to sub-total dopamine depletions in the neostriatum, which ranged around 60% in the lateral, and around 40% in the medial neostriatum. These lesions led to a general instrumental impairment in terms of reduced speed (response latencies) and response rate, and these deficits were correlated with the degree of striatal dopamine loss. Furthermore, the violation test indicated that the lesion group conducted less automated responses. The comparison of random versus sequential responding showed that the lesion group did not retain its superior sequential performance in terms of speed, whereas they did in terms of accuracy. Also, rats with lesions did not improve further in overall performance as compared to pre-lesion values, whereas controls did. These results support previous results that neostriatal dopamine is involved in instrumental behaviour in general. Also, these lesions are not sufficient to completely abolish sequential performance, at least when acquired

Correlates of minimal dating.

Science.gov (United States)

Leck, Kira

2006-10-01

Researchers have associated minimal dating with numerous factors. The present author tested shyness, introversion, physical attractiveness, performance evaluation, anxiety, social skill, social self-esteem, and loneliness to determine the nature of their relationships with 2 measures of self-reported minimal dating in a sample of 175 college students. For women, shyness, introversion, physical attractiveness, self-rated anxiety, social self-esteem, and loneliness correlated with 1 or both measures of minimal dating. For men, physical attractiveness, observer-rated social skill, social self-esteem, and loneliness correlated with 1 or both measures of minimal dating. The patterns of relationships were not identical for the 2 indicators of minimal dating, indicating the possibility that minimal dating is not a single construct as researchers previously believed. The present author discussed implications and suggestions for future researchers.

Eyewitness identification in simultaneous and sequential lineups: an investigation of position effects using receiver operating characteristics.

Science.gov (United States)

Meisters, Julia; Diedenhofen, Birk; Musch, Jochen

2018-04-20

For decades, sequential lineups have been considered superior to simultaneous lineups in the context of eyewitness identification. However, most of the research leading to this conclusion was based on the analysis of diagnosticity ratios that do not control for the respondent's response criterion. Recent research based on the analysis of ROC curves has found either equal discriminability for sequential and simultaneous lineups, or higher discriminability for simultaneous lineups. Some evidence for potential position effects and for criterion shifts in sequential lineups has also been reported. Using ROC curve analysis, we investigated the effects of the suspect's position on discriminability and response criteria in both simultaneous and sequential lineups. We found that sequential lineups suffered from an unwanted position effect. Respondents employed a strict criterion for the earliest lineup positions, and shifted to a more liberal criterion for later positions. No position effects and no criterion shifts were observed in simultaneous lineups. This result suggests that sequential lineups are not superior to simultaneous lineups, and may give rise to unwanted position effects that have to be considered when conducting police lineups.

Hemodynamic analysis of sequential graft from right coronary system to left coronary system.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wenxin; Mao, Boyan; Wang, Haoran; Geng, Xueying; Zhao, Xi; Zhang, Huixia; Xie, Jinsheng; Zhao, Zhou; Lian, Bo; Liu, Youjun

2016-12-28

Sequential and single grafting are two surgical procedures of coronary artery bypass grafting. However, it remains unclear if the sequential graft can be used between the right and left coronary artery system. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the possibility of right coronary artery system anastomosis to left coronary system. A patient-specific 3D model was first reconstructed based on coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) images. Two different grafts, the normal multi-graft (Model 1) and the novel multi-graft (Model 2), were then implemented on this patient-specific model using virtual surgery techniques. In Model 1, the single graft was anastomosed to right coronary artery (RCA) and the sequential graft was adopted to anastomose left anterior descending (LAD) and left circumflex artery (LCX). While in Model 2, the single graft was anastomosed to LAD and the sequential graft was adopted to anastomose RCA and LCX. A zero-dimensional/three-dimensional (0D/3D) coupling method was used to realize the multi-scale simulation of both the pre-operative and two post-operative models. Flow rates in the coronary artery and grafts were obtained. The hemodynamic parameters were also showed, including wall shear stress (WSS) and oscillatory shear index (OSI). The area of low WSS and OSI in Model 1 was much less than that in Model 2. Model 1 shows optimistic hemodynamic modifications which may enhance the long-term patency of grafts. The anterior segments of sequential graft have better long-term patency than the posterior segments. With rational spatial position of the heart vessels, the last anastomosis of sequential graft should be connected to the main branch.

Sequential test procedures for inventory differences

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goldman, A.S.; Kern, E.A.; Emeigh, C.W.

1985-01-01

By means of a simulation study, we investigated the appropriateness of Page's and power-one sequential tests on sequences of inventory differences obtained from an example materials control unit, a sub-area of a hypothetical UF 6 -to-U 3 O 8 conversion process. The study examined detection probability and run length curves obtained from different loss scenarios. 12 refs., 10 figs., 2 tabs

Minimal Super Technicolor

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Antola, M.; Di Chiara, S.; Sannino, F.

2011-01-01

We introduce novel extensions of the Standard Model featuring a supersymmetric technicolor sector (supertechnicolor). As the first minimal conformal supertechnicolor model we consider N=4 Super Yang-Mills which breaks to N=1 via the electroweak interactions. This is a well defined, economical......, between unparticle physics and Minimal Walking Technicolor. We consider also other N =1 extensions of the Minimal Walking Technicolor model. The new models allow all the standard model matter fields to acquire a mass....

Plasmon-driven sequential chemical reactions in an aqueous environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xin; Wang, Peijie; Zhang, Zhenglong; Fang, Yurui; Sun, Mengtao

2014-06-24

Plasmon-driven sequential chemical reactions were successfully realized in an aqueous environment. In an electrochemical environment, sequential chemical reactions were driven by an applied potential and laser irradiation. Furthermore, the rate of the chemical reaction was controlled via pH, which provides indirect evidence that the hot electrons generated from plasmon decay play an important role in plasmon-driven chemical reactions. In acidic conditions, the hot electrons were captured by the abundant H(+) in the aqueous environment, which prevented the chemical reaction. The developed plasmon-driven chemical reactions in an aqueous environment will significantly expand the applications of plasmon chemistry and may provide a promising avenue for green chemistry using plasmon catalysis in aqueous environments under irradiation by sunlight.

Better together: reduced compliance after sequential versus simultaneous bilateral hearing aids fitting.

Science.gov (United States)

Lavie, Limor; Banai, Karen; Attias, Joseph; Karni, Avi

2014-03-01

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of sequential versus simultaneous bilateral hearing aids fitting on patient compliance. Thirty-six older adults with hearing impairment participated in this study. Twelve were fitted with bilateral hearing aids simultaneously. The remaining participants were fitted sequentially: One hearing aid (to the left or to the right ear) was used initially; 1 month later, the other ear was also fitted with a hearing aid for bilateral use. Self-reports on usefulness and compliance were elicited after the first and second months of hearing aid use. In addition, the number of hours the hearing aids were used was extracted from the data loggings of each device. Simultaneous fitting resulted in high levels of compliance and consistent usage throughout the study period. Sequential fitting resulted in abrupt reduction in compliance and hours of use once the second hearing aid was added, both in the clinical scoring and in the data loggings. Simultaneous fitting of bilateral hearing aids results in better compliance compared with sequential fitting. The addition of a second hearing aid after a relatively short period of monaural use may lead to inconsistent use of both hearing aids.

Adjuvant sequential chemo and radiotherapy improves the oncological outcome in high risk endometrial cancer

Science.gov (United States)

Signorelli, Mauro; Lissoni, Andrea Alberto; De Ponti, Elena; Grassi, Tommaso; Ponti, Serena

2015-01-01

Objective Evaluation of the impact of sequential chemoradiotherapy in high risk endometrial cancer (EC). Methods Two hundred fifty-four women with stage IB grade 3, II and III EC (2009 FIGO staging), were included in this retrospective study. Results Stage I, II, and III was 24%, 28.7%, and 47.3%, respectively. Grade 3 tumor was 53.2% and 71.3% had deep myometrial invasion. One hundred sixty-five women (65%) underwent pelvic (+/- aortic) lymphadenectomy and 58 (22.8%) had nodal metastases. Ninety-eight women (38.6%) underwent radiotherapy, 59 (23.2%) chemotherapy, 42 (16.5%) sequential chemoradiotherapy, and 55 (21.7%) were only observed. After a median follow-up of 101 months, 78 women (30.7%) relapsed and 91 women (35.8%) died. Sequential chemoradiotherapy improved survival rates in women who did not undergo nodal evaluation (disease-free survival [DFS], p=0.040; overall survival [OS], p=0.024) or pelvic (+/- aortic) lymphadenectomy (DFS, p=0.008; OS, p=0.021). Sequential chemoradiotherapy improved both DFS (p=0.015) and OS (p=0.014) in stage III, while only a trend was found for DFS (p=0.210) and OS (p=0.102) in stage I-II EC. In the multivariate analysis, only age (≤65 years) and sequential chemoradiotherapy were statistically related to the prognosis. Conclusion Sequential chemoradiotherapy improves survival rates in high risk EC compared with chemotherapy or radiotherapy alone, in particular in stage III. PMID:26197768

Eyewitness decisions in simultaneous and sequential lineups: a dual-process signal detection theory analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Meissner, Christian A; Tredoux, Colin G; Parker, Janat F; MacLin, Otto H

2005-07-01

Many eyewitness researchers have argued for the application of a sequential alternative to the traditional simultaneous lineup, given its role in decreasing false identifications of innocent suspects (sequential superiority effect). However, Ebbesen and Flowe (2002) have recently noted that sequential lineups may merely bring about a shift in response criterion, having no effect on discrimination accuracy. We explored this claim, using a method that allows signal detection theory measures to be collected from eyewitnesses. In three experiments, lineup type was factorially combined with conditions expected to influence response criterion and/or discrimination accuracy. Results were consistent with signal detection theory predictions, including that of a conservative criterion shift with the sequential presentation of lineups. In a fourth experiment, we explored the phenomenological basis for the criterion shift, using the remember-know-guess procedure. In accord with previous research, the criterion shift in sequential lineups was associated with a reduction in familiarity-based responding. It is proposed that the relative similarity between lineup members may create a context in which fluency-based processing is facilitated to a greater extent when lineup members are presented simultaneously.

Sequential and Simultaneous Processing Abilities of High-Functioning Autistic and Language-Impaired Children.

Science.gov (United States)

Allen, Mark H.; And Others

1991-01-01

This study found that a group of 20 children (ages 6-12) with autism and a group of 20 children with developmental receptive language disorder both manifested a relative sequential processing deficit. The groups did not differ significantly on overall sequential and simultaneous processing capabilities relative to their degree of language…

Sequential boundaries approach in clinical trials with unequal allocation ratios

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ayatollahi Seyyed

2006-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background In clinical trials, both unequal randomization design and sequential analyses have ethical and economic advantages. In the single-stage-design (SSD, however, if the sample size is not adjusted based on unequal randomization, the power of the trial will decrease, whereas with sequential analysis the power will always remain constant. Our aim was to compare sequential boundaries approach with the SSD when the allocation ratio (R was not equal. Methods We evaluated the influence of R, the ratio of the patients in experimental group to the standard group, on the statistical properties of two-sided tests, including the two-sided single triangular test (TT, double triangular test (DTT and SSD by multiple simulations. The average sample size numbers (ASNs and power (1-β were evaluated for all tests. Results Our simulation study showed that choosing R = 2 instead of R = 1 increases the sample size of SSD by 12% and the ASN of the TT and DTT by the same proportion. Moreover, when R = 2, compared to the adjusted SSD, using the TT or DTT allows to retrieve the well known reductions of ASN observed when R = 1, compared to SSD. In addition, when R = 2, compared to SSD, using the TT and DTT allows to obtain smaller reductions of ASN than when R = 1, but maintains the power of the test to its planned value. Conclusion This study indicates that when the allocation ratio is not equal among the treatment groups, sequential analysis could indeed serve as a compromise between ethicists, economists and statisticians.

Immediately sequential bilateral cataract surgery: advantages and disadvantages.

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, Ranjodh; Dohlman, Thomas H; Sun, Grace

2017-01-01

The number of cataract surgeries performed globally will continue to rise to meet the needs of an aging population. This increased demand will require healthcare systems and providers to find new surgical efficiencies while maintaining excellent surgical outcomes. Immediately sequential bilateral cataract surgery (ISBCS) has been proposed as a solution and is increasingly being performed worldwide. The purpose of this review is to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of ISBCS. When appropriate patient selection occurs and guidelines are followed, ISBCS is comparable with delayed sequential bilateral cataract surgery in long-term patient satisfaction, visual acuity and complication rates. In addition, the risk of bilateral postoperative endophthalmitis and concerns of poorer refractive outcomes have not been supported by the literature. ISBCS is cost-effective for the patient, healthcare payors and society, but current reimbursement models in many countries create significant financial barriers for facilities and surgeons. As demand for cataract surgery rises worldwide, ISBCS will become increasingly important as an alternative to delayed sequential bilateral cataract surgery. Advantages include potentially decreased wait times for surgery, patient convenience and cost savings for healthcare payors. Although they are comparable in visual acuity and complication rates, hurdles that prevent wide adoption include liability concerns as ISBCS is not an established standard of care, economic constraints for facilities and surgeons and inability to fine-tune intraocular lens selection in the second eye. Given these considerations, an open discussion regarding the advantages and disadvantages of ISBCS is important for appropriate patient selection.

Accurately controlled sequential self-folding structures by polystyrene film

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Dongping; Yang, Yang; Chen, Yong; Lan, Xing; Tice, Jesse

2017-08-01

Four-dimensional (4D) printing overcomes the traditional fabrication limitations by designing heterogeneous materials to enable the printed structures evolve over time (the fourth dimension) under external stimuli. Here, we present a simple 4D printing of self-folding structures that can be sequentially and accurately folded. When heated above their glass transition temperature pre-strained polystyrene films shrink along the XY plane. In our process silver ink traces printed on the film are used to provide heat stimuli by conducting current to trigger the self-folding behavior. The parameters affecting the folding process are studied and discussed. Sequential folding and accurately controlled folding angles are achieved by using printed ink traces and angle lock design. Theoretical analyses are done to guide the design of the folding processes. Programmable structures such as a lock and a three-dimensional antenna are achieved to test the feasibility and potential applications of this method. These self-folding structures change their shapes after fabrication under controlled stimuli (electric current) and have potential applications in the fields of electronics, consumer devices, and robotics. Our design and fabrication method provides an easy way by using silver ink printed on polystyrene films to 4D print self-folding structures for electrically induced sequential folding with angular control.

Sequential capillary electrophoresis analysis using optically gated sample injection and UV/vis detection.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xiaoxia; Tian, Miaomiao; Camara, Mohamed Amara; Guo, Liping; Yang, Li

2015-10-01

We present sequential CE analysis of amino acids and L-asparaginase-catalyzed enzyme reaction, by combing the on-line derivatization, optically gated (OG) injection and commercial-available UV-Vis detection. Various experimental conditions for sequential OG-UV/vis CE analysis were investigated and optimized by analyzing a standard mixture of amino acids. High reproducibility of the sequential CE analysis was demonstrated with RSD values (n = 20) of 2.23, 2.57, and 0.70% for peak heights, peak areas, and migration times, respectively, and the LOD of 5.0 μM (for asparagine) and 2.0 μM (for aspartic acid) were obtained. With the application of the OG-UV/vis CE analysis, sequential online CE enzyme assay of L-asparaginase-catalyzed enzyme reaction was carried out by automatically and continuously monitoring the substrate consumption and the product formation every 12 s from the beginning to the end of the reaction. The Michaelis constants for the reaction were obtained and were found to be in good agreement with the results of traditional off-line enzyme assays. The study demonstrated the feasibility and reliability of integrating the OG injection with UV/vis detection for sequential online CE analysis, which could be of potential value for online monitoring various chemical reaction and bioprocesses. © 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.

Simultaneous Versus Sequential Side-by-Side Bilateral Metal Stent Placement for Malignant Hilar Biliary Obstructions.

Science.gov (United States)

Inoue, Tadahisa; Ishii, Norimitsu; Kobayashi, Yuji; Kitano, Rena; Sakamoto, Kazumasa; Ohashi, Tomohiko; Nakade, Yukiomi; Sumida, Yoshio; Ito, Kiyoaki; Nakao, Haruhisa; Yoneda, Masashi

2017-09-01

Endoscopic bilateral self-expandable metallic stent (SEMS) placement for malignant hilar biliary obstructions (MHBOs) is technically demanding, and a second SEMS insertion is particularly challenging. A simultaneous side-by-side (SBS) placement technique using a thinner delivery system may mitigate these issues. We aimed to examine the feasibility and efficacy of simultaneous SBS SEMS placement for treating MHBOs using a novel SEMS that has a 5.7-Fr ultra-thin delivery system. Thirty-four patients with MHBOs underwent SBS SEMS placement between 2010 and 2016. We divided the patient cohort into those who underwent sequential (conventional) SBS placement between 2010 and 2014 (sequential group) and those who underwent simultaneous SBS placement between 2015 and 2016 (simultaneous group), and compared the groups with respect to the clinical outcomes. The technical success rates were 71% (12/17) and 100% (17/17) in the sequential and simultaneous groups, respectively, a difference that was significant (P = .045). The median procedure time was significantly shorter in the simultaneous group (22 min) than in the sequential group (52 min) (P = .017). There were no significant group differences in the time to recurrent biliary obstruction (sequential group: 113 days; simultaneous group: 140 days) or other adverse event rates (sequential group: 12%; simultaneous group: 12%). Simultaneous SBS placement using the novel 5.7-Fr SEMS delivery system may be more straightforward and have a higher success rate compared to that with sequential SBS placement. This new method may be useful for bilateral stenting to treat MHBOs.

Bidding in sequential electricity markets: The Nordic case

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Boomsma, Trine Krogh; Juul, Nina; Fleten, Stein-Erik

2014-01-01

problem as a multi-stage stochastic program. We investigate whether higher risk exposure can explain the hesitation, often observed in practice, to bid into the balancing market, even in cases of higher expected price levels. Furthermore, we quantify the gain from coordinated bidding, and by deriving......For electricity market participants trading in sequential markets with differences in price levels and risk exposure, coordinated bidding is highly relevant. We consider a Nordic power producer who engages in the day-ahead spot market and the near real-time balancing market. In both markets......, clearing prices and dispatched volumes are unknown at the time of bidding. However, in the balancing market, the agent faces an additional risk of not being dispatched. Taking into account the sequential clearing of these markets and the gradual realization of market prices, we formulate the bidding...

Sequential and double sequential fission observed in heavy ion interaction of (11.67 MeV/u)197Au projectile with 197Au target

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nasir, Tabassum; Khan, Ehsan Ullah; Baluch, Javaid Jahan; Shafi-Ur-Rehman; Matiullah; Rafique, Muhammad

2009-01-01

The heavy ion interaction of 11.67 MeV/u 197 Au+ 197 Au has been investigated using mica as a passive detector. By employing Solid State Nuclear Track Detection Technique the data of elastic scattering as well as inelastic reaction channel was collected. The off-line data analysis of multi-pronged events was performed by measuring the three-dimensional geometrical coordinates of correlated tracks on event-by-event basis. Multi pronged events observed in this reaction were due to sequential and double sequential fission. Using a computer code PRONGY based on the procedure of internal calibration, it was possible to derive quantities like mass transfer, total kinetic energy loss and scattering angles. (author)

A sequential/parallel track selector

CERN Document Server

Bertolino, F; Bressani, Tullio; Chiavassa, E; Costa, S; Dellacasa, G; Gallio, M; Musso, A

1980-01-01

A medium speed ( approximately 1 mu s) hardware pre-analyzer for the selection of events detected in four planes of drift chambers in the magnetic field of the Omicron Spectrometer at the CERN SC is described. Specific geometrical criteria determine patterns of hits in the four planes of vertical wires that have to be recognized and that are stored as patterns of '1's in random access memories. Pairs of good hits are found sequentially, then the RAMs are used as look-up tables. (6 refs).

General Atomic HTGR fuel reprocessing pilot plant: results of initial sequential equipment operation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1978-09-01

In September 1977, the processing of 20 large high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (LHTGR) fuel elements was completed sequentially through the head-end cold pilot plant equipment. This report gives a brief description of the equipment and summarizes the results of the sequential operation of the pilot plant. 32 figures, 15 tables

Bootstrap Sequential Determination of the Co-integration Rank in VAR Models

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Guiseppe, Cavaliere; Rahbæk, Anders; Taylor, A.M. Robert

with empirical rejection frequencies often very much in excess of the nominal level. As a consequence, bootstrap versions of these tests have been developed. To be useful, however, sequential procedures for determining the co-integrating rank based on these bootstrap tests need to be consistent, in the sense...... in the literature by proposing a bootstrap sequential algorithm which we demonstrate delivers consistent cointegration rank estimation for general I(1) processes. Finite sample Monte Carlo simulations show the proposed procedure performs well in practice....

SuperLig® 639 Resin Performance using 8 Molar LAW Feed

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nash, C. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL); Williams, M. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL); Restivo, M. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL); Hamm, L. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL); McCabe, D. [Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River National Lab. (SRNL)

2016-01-15

All prior testing with SuperLig® 639 has been done with the aqueous concentration of LAW at ~5 M [Na+], where the resin sinks, and can be used in a conventional down-flow column orientation. However, the aqueous LAW stream from the Waste Treatment Plant is expected to be ~8 M [Na+]. The resin would float in this higher density liquid, potentially disrupting the ability to achieve a good decontamination due to poor packing of the resin that leads to channeling. Testing was completed with a higher salt concentration in the feed simulant (7.8 M [Na+]) in an engineering-scale apparatus with two columns, each containing ~0.9 L of resin. Testing of this system used a simulant of the LAW solution, and substituted ReO4 - as a surrogate for TcO4 -. Results were then compared using computer modeling. Bench-scale testing was also performed, and examined an unconstrained resin bed, while engineering-scale tests used both constrained and unconstrained beds in a two-column, lead and lag sequential arrangement.

SuperLig® 639 Resin Performance using 8 Molar LAW Feed

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nash, C.; Williams, M.; Restivo, M.; Hamm, L.; McCabe, D.

2016-01-01

All prior testing with SuperLig® 639 has been done with the aqueous concentration of LAW at ~5 M [Na+], where the resin sinks, and can be used in a conventional down-flow column orientation. However, the aqueous LAW stream from the Waste Treatment Plant is expected to be ~8 M [Na+]. The resin would float in this higher density liquid, potentially disrupting the ability to achieve a good decontamination due to poor packing of the resin that leads to channeling. Testing was completed with a higher salt concentration in the feed simulant (7.8 M [Na+]) in an engineering-scale apparatus with two columns, each containing ~0.9 L of resin. Testing of this system used a simulant of the LAW solution, and substituted ReO4 - as a surrogate for TcO4 -. Results were then compared using computer modeling. Bench-scale testing was also performed, and examined an unconstrained resin bed, while engineering-scale tests used both constrained and unconstrained beds in a two-column, lead and lag sequential arrangement.

Thermally Stable Bulk Heterojunction Prepared by Sequential Deposition of Nanostructured Polymer and Fullerene

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Heewon Hwang

2017-09-01

Full Text Available A morphologically-stable polymer/fullerene heterojunction has been prepared by minimizing the intermixing between polymer and fullerene via sequential deposition (SqD of a polymer and a fullerene solution. A low crystalline conjugated polymer of PCPDTBT (poly[2,6-(4,4-bis-(2-ethylhexyl-4H-cyclopenta [2,1-b;3,4-b′]dithiophene-alt-4,7(2,1,3-benzothiadiazole] has been utilized for the polymer layer and PC71BM (phenyl-C71-butyric-acid-methyl ester for the fullerene layer, respectively. Firstly, a nanostructured PCPDTBT bottom layer was developed by utilizing various additives to increase the surface area of the polymer film. The PC71BM solution was prepared by dissolving it in the 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE, exhibiting a lower vapor pressure and slower diffusion into the polymer layer. The deposition of the PC71BM solution on the nanostructured PCPDTBT layer forms an inter-digitated bulk heterojunction (ID-BHJ with minimized intermixing. The organic photovoltaic (OPV device utilizing the ID-BHJ photoactive layer exhibits a highly reproducible solar cell performance. In spite of restricted intermixing between the PC71BM and the PCPDTBT, the efficiency of ID-BHJ OPVs (3.36% is comparable to that of OPVs (3.87% prepared by the conventional method (deposition of a blended solution of polymer:fullerene. The thermal stability of the ID-BHJ is superior to the bulk heterojunction (BHJ prepared by the conventional method. The ID-BHJ OPV maintains 70% of its initial efficiency after thermal stress application for twelve days at 80 °C, whereas the conventional BHJ OPV maintains only 40% of its initial efficiency.

Comparison of human embryomorphokinetic parameters in sequential or global culture media.

Science.gov (United States)

Kazdar, Nadia; Brugnon, Florence; Bouche, Cyril; Jouve, Guilhem; Veau, Ségolène; Drapier, Hortense; Rousseau, Chloé; Pimentel, Céline; Viard, Patricia; Belaud-Rotureau, Marc-Antoine; Ravel, Célia

2017-08-01

A prospective study on randomized patients was conducted to determine how morphokinetic parameters are altered in embryos grown in sequential versus global culture media. Eleven morphokinetic parameters of 160 single embryos transferred were analyzed by time lapse imaging involving two University-affiliated in vitro fertilization (IVF) centers. We found that the fading of the two pronuclei occurred earlier in global (22.56±2.15 hpi) versus sequential media (23.63±2.71 hpi; p=0.0297). Likewise, the first cleavage started earlier at 24.52±2.33 hpi vs 25.76±2.95 hpi (p=0.0158). Also, the first cytokinesis was shorter in global medium, lasting 18±10.2 minutes in global versus 36±37.8 minutes in sequential culture medium (p culture medium. Our study highlights the need to adapt morphokinetic analysis accordingly to the type of media used to best support human early embryo development.

Probing finite coarse-grained virtual Feynman histories with sequential weak values

Science.gov (United States)

Georgiev, Danko; Cohen, Eliahu

2018-05-01

Feynman's sum-over-histories formulation of quantum mechanics has been considered a useful calculational tool in which virtual Feynman histories entering into a coherent quantum superposition cannot be individually measured. Here we show that sequential weak values, inferred by consecutive weak measurements of projectors, allow direct experimental probing of individual virtual Feynman histories, thereby revealing the exact nature of quantum interference of coherently superposed histories. Because the total sum of sequential weak values of multitime projection operators for a complete set of orthogonal quantum histories is unity, complete sets of weak values could be interpreted in agreement with the standard quantum mechanical picture. We also elucidate the relationship between sequential weak values of quantum histories with different coarse graining in time and establish the incompatibility of weak values for nonorthogonal quantum histories in history Hilbert space. Bridging theory and experiment, the presented results may enhance our understanding of both weak values and quantum histories.

Physics-based, Bayesian sequential detection method and system for radioactive contraband

Science.gov (United States)

Candy, James V; Axelrod, Michael C; Breitfeller, Eric F; Chambers, David H; Guidry, Brian L; Manatt, Douglas R; Meyer, Alan W; Sale, Kenneth E

2014-03-18

A distributed sequential method and system for detecting and identifying radioactive contraband from highly uncertain (noisy) low-count, radionuclide measurements, i.e. an event mode sequence (EMS), using a statistical approach based on Bayesian inference and physics-model-based signal processing based on the representation of a radionuclide as a monoenergetic decomposition of monoenergetic sources. For a given photon event of the EMS, the appropriate monoenergy processing channel is determined using a confidence interval condition-based discriminator for the energy amplitude and interarrival time and parameter estimates are used to update a measured probability density function estimate for a target radionuclide. A sequential likelihood ratio test is then used to determine one of two threshold conditions signifying that the EMS is either identified as the target radionuclide or not, and if not, then repeating the process for the next sequential photon event of the EMS until one of the two threshold conditions is satisfied.

Sequential accelerated tests: Improving the correlation of accelerated tests to module performance in the field

Science.gov (United States)

Felder, Thomas; Gambogi, William; Stika, Katherine; Yu, Bao-Ling; Bradley, Alex; Hu, Hongjie; Garreau-Iles, Lucie; Trout, T. John

2016-09-01

DuPont has been working steadily to develop accelerated backsheet tests that correlate with solar panels observations in the field. This report updates efforts in sequential testing. Single exposure tests are more commonly used and can be completed more quickly, and certain tests provide helpful predictions of certain backsheet failure modes. DuPont recommendations for single exposure tests are based on 25-year exposure levels for UV and humidity/temperature, and form a good basis for sequential test development. We recommend a sequential exposure of damp heat followed by UV then repetitions of thermal cycling and UVA. This sequence preserves 25-year exposure levels for humidity/temperature and UV, and correlates well with a large body of field observations. Measurements can be taken at intervals in the test, although the full test runs 10 months. A second, shorter sequential test based on damp heat and thermal cycling tests mechanical durability and correlates with loss of mechanical properties seen in the field. Ongoing work is directed toward shorter sequential tests that preserve good correlation to field data.

An automatic system for acidity determination based on sequential injection titration and the monosegmented flow approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Kozak, Joanna; Wójtowicz, Marzena; Gawenda, Nadzieja; Kościelniak, Paweł

2011-06-15

An automatic sequential injection system, combining monosegmented flow analysis, sequential injection analysis and sequential injection titration is proposed for acidity determination. The system enables controllable sample dilution and generation of standards of required concentration in a monosegmented sequential injection manner, sequential injection titration of the prepared solutions, data collecting, and handling. It has been tested on spectrophotometric determination of acetic, citric and phosphoric acids with sodium hydroxide used as a titrant and phenolphthalein or thymolphthalein (in the case of phosphoric acid determination) as indicators. Accuracy better than |4.4|% (RE) and repeatability better than 2.9% (RSD) have been obtained. It has been applied to the determination of total acidity in vinegars and various soft drinks. The system provides low sample (less than 0.3 mL) consumption. On average, analysis of a sample takes several minutes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Data-Driven Method for Selecting Optimal Models Based on Graphical Visualisation of Differences in Sequentially Fitted ROC Model Parameters

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K S Mwitondi

2013-05-01

Full Text Available Differences in modelling techniques and model performance assessments typically impinge on the quality of knowledge extraction from data. We propose an algorithm for determining optimal patterns in data by separately training and testing three decision tree models in the Pima Indians Diabetes and the Bupa Liver Disorders datasets. Model performance is assessed using ROC curves and the Youden Index. Moving differences between sequential fitted parameters are then extracted, and their respective probability density estimations are used to track their variability using an iterative graphical data visualisation technique developed for this purpose. Our results show that the proposed strategy separates the groups more robustly than the plain ROC/Youden approach, eliminates obscurity, and minimizes over-fitting. Further, the algorithm can easily be understood by non-specialists and demonstrates multi-disciplinary compliance.

Effect of cryoablation sequential chemotherapy on patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shu-Hui Yao

2016-03-01

Full Text Available Objective: To evaluate the effect of cryoablation sequential chemotherapy on patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer. Methods: A total of 39 cases with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who received cryoablation sequential chemotherapy and 39 cases with advanced non-small cell lung cancer who received chemotherapy alone were selected and enrolled in sequential group and control group, disease progression and survival of two groups were followed up, and contents of tumor markers and angiogenesis molecules in serum as well as contents of T-lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood were detected. Results: Progressionfree survival and median overall survival (mOS of sequential group were longer than those of control group, and cumulative cases of tumor progression at various points in time were significantly less than those of control group (P<0.05; 1 month after treatment, serum tumor markers CEA, CYFRA21-1 and NSE contents, serum angiogenesis molecules PCDGF, VEGF and HDGF contents as well as CD3+CD4-CD8+CD28-T cell content in peripheral blood of sequential group were significantly lower than those of control group (P<0.05, and contents of CD3+CD4+CD8-T cell and CD3+CD4-CD8+CD28+T cell in peripheral blood were higher than those of control group (P<0.05. Conclusions: Cryoablation sequential chemotherapy can improve the prognosis of patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer, delay disease progression, prolong survival time, inhibit angiogenesis and improve immune function.

Microwave Ablation: Comparison of Simultaneous and Sequential Activation of Multiple Antennas in Liver Model Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Harari, Colin M; Magagna, Michelle; Bedoya, Mariajose; Lee, Fred T; Lubner, Meghan G; Hinshaw, J Louis; Ziemlewicz, Timothy; Brace, Christopher L

2016-01-01

To compare microwave ablation zones created by using sequential or simultaneous power delivery in ex vivo and in vivo liver tissue. All procedures were approved by the institutional animal care and use committee. Microwave ablations were performed in both ex vivo and in vivo liver models with a 2.45-GHz system capable of powering up to three antennas simultaneously. Two- and three-antenna arrays were evaluated in each model. Sequential and simultaneous ablations were created by delivering power (50 W ex vivo, 65 W in vivo) for 5 minutes per antenna (10 and 15 minutes total ablation time for sequential ablations, 5 minutes for simultaneous ablations). Thirty-two ablations were performed in ex vivo bovine livers (eight per group) and 28 in the livers of eight swine in vivo (seven per group). Ablation zone size and circularity metrics were determined from ablations excised postmortem. Mixed effects modeling was used to evaluate the influence of power delivery, number of antennas, and tissue type. On average, ablations created by using the simultaneous power delivery technique were larger than those with the sequential technique (P Simultaneous ablations were also more circular than sequential ablations (P = .0001). Larger and more circular ablations were achieved with three antennas compared with two antennas (P simultaneous power delivery creates larger, more confluent ablations with greater temperatures than those created with sequential power delivery. © RSNA, 2015.

Implementing reduced-risk integrated pest management in fresh-market cabbage: influence of sampling parameters, and validation of binomial sequential sampling plans for the cabbage looper (Lepidoptera Noctuidae).

Science.gov (United States)

Burkness, Eric C; Hutchison, W D

2009-10-01

Populations of cabbage looper, Trichoplusiani (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), were sampled in experimental plots and commercial fields of cabbage (Brasicca spp.) in Minnesota during 1998-1999 as part of a larger effort to implement an integrated pest management program. Using a resampling approach and the Wald's sequential probability ratio test, sampling plans with different sampling parameters were evaluated using independent presence/absence and enumerative data. Evaluations and comparisons of the different sampling plans were made based on the operating characteristic and average sample number functions generated for each plan and through the use of a decision probability matrix. Values for upper and lower decision boundaries, sequential error rates (alpha, beta), and tally threshold were modified to determine parameter influence on the operating characteristic and average sample number functions. The following parameters resulted in the most desirable operating characteristic and average sample number functions; action threshold of 0.1 proportion of plants infested, tally threshold of 1, alpha = beta = 0.1, upper boundary of 0.15, lower boundary of 0.05, and resampling with replacement. We found that sampling parameters can be modified and evaluated using resampling software to achieve desirable operating characteristic and average sample number functions. Moreover, management of T. ni by using binomial sequential sampling should provide a good balance between cost and reliability by minimizing sample size and maintaining a high level of correct decisions (>95%) to treat or not treat.

Programme for test generation for combinatorial and sequential systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tran Huy Hoan

1973-01-01

This research thesis reports the computer-assisted search for tests aimed at failure detection in combinatorial and sequential logic circuits. As he wants to deal with complex circuits with many modules such as those met in large scale integrated circuits (LSI), the author used propagation paths. He reports the development of a method which is valid for combinatorial systems and for several sequential circuits comprising elementary logic modules and JK and RS flip-flops. This method is developed on an IBM 360/91 computer in PL/1 language. The used memory space is limited and adjustable with respect to circuit dimension. Computing time is short when compared to that needed by other programmes. The solution is practical and efficient for failure test and localisation

Tinnitus after Simultaneous and Sequential Bilateral Cochlear Implantation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Geerte G. J. Ramakers

2017-11-01

Full Text Available ImportanceThere is an ongoing global discussion on whether or not bilateral cochlear implantation should be standard care for bilateral deafness. Contrary to unilateral cochlear implantation, however, little is known about the effect of bilateral cochlear implantation on tinnitus.ObjectiveTo investigate tinnitus outcomes 1 year after bilateral cochlear implantation. Secondarily, to compare tinnitus outcomes between simultaneous and sequential bilateral cochlear implantation and to investigate long-term follow-up (3 years.Study designThis study is a secondary analysis as part of a multicenter randomized controlled trial.MethodsThirty-eight postlingually deafened adults were included in the original trial, in which the presence of tinnitus was not an inclusion criterion. All participants received cochlear implants (CIs because of profound hearing loss. Nineteen participants received bilateral CIs simultaneously and 19 participants received bilateral CIs sequentially with an inter-implant interval of 2 years. The prevalence and severity of tinnitus before and after simultaneous and sequential bilateral cochlear implantation were measured preoperatively and each year after implantation with the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI and Tinnitus Questionnaire (TQ.ResultsThe prevalence of preoperative tinnitus was 42% (16/38. One year after bilateral implantation, there was a median difference of −8 (inter-quartile range (IQR: −28 to 4 in THI score and −9 (IQR: −17 to −9 in TQ score in the participants with preoperative tinnitus. Induction of tinnitus occurred in five participants, all in the simultaneous group, in the year after bilateral implantation. Although the preoperative and also the postoperative median THI and TQ scores were higher in the simultaneous group, the median difference scores were equal in both groups. In the simultaneous group, tinnitus scores fluctuated in the 3 years after implantation. In the sequential group

Fractionation of plutonium in environmental and bio-shielding concrete samples using dynamic sequential extraction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Qiao, Jixin; Hou, Xiaolin

2010-01-01

Fractionation of plutonium isotopes (238Pu, 239,240Pu) in environmental samples (i.e. soil and sediment) and bio-shielding concrete from decommissioning of nuclear reactor were carried out by dynamic sequential extraction using an on-line sequential injection (SI) system combined with a specially...

Minimizing Mutual Couping

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

2010-01-01

Disclosed herein are techniques, systems, and methods relating to minimizing mutual coupling between a first antenna and a second antenna.......Disclosed herein are techniques, systems, and methods relating to minimizing mutual coupling between a first antenna and a second antenna....

In Vivo Evaluation of Synthetic Aperture Sequential Beamforming

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hemmsen, Martin Christian; Hansen, Peter Møller; Lange, Theis

2012-01-01

Ultrasound in vivo imaging using synthetic aperture sequential beamformation (SASB) is compared with conventional imaging in a double blinded study using side-by-side comparisons. The objective is to evaluate if the image quality in terms of penetration depth, spatial resolution, contrast...

Sequential kidney scintiscanning before and after vascular reconstruction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Siems, H.H.; Allenberg, J.R.; Hupp, T.; Clorius, J.H.

1985-01-01

In this follow-up study sequential scintigraphy was performed on 20 of selected patients up to 3.4 years after operation, the results are compared with the pre-operative examinations and with the surgical effect on the increased blood pressure. (orig./MG) [de

Retrieval of sea surface velocities using sequential Ocean Colour ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

R. Narasimhan (Krishtel eMaging) 1461 1996 Oct 15 13:05:22

pended sediment dispersion patterns, in sequential two time lapsed images. .... face advective velocities consists essentially of iden- tifying the ... matrix is time consuming, a significant reduction .... Chauhan, P. 2002 Personal Communication.

Competence and Praxis: Sequential Analysis in German Sociology

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kai-Olaf Maiwald

2005-09-01

Full Text Available In German social research nowadays most qualitative methodologies employ sequential analysis. This article explores the similarities and differences in conceptualising and practising this method. First, the working consensus, conceived as a shared set of methodological assumptions, is explicated. Second, with regard to three major paradigms of qualitative research in Germany—conversation analysis, objective hermeneutics, and hermeneutic sociology of knowledge—the dif­ferent ways of doing sequential analysis are investigated to locate the points of departure from a working consensus. It is argued that differences arise from different case-perspectives and, relative to that, from different modes of introducing general knowl­edge, i.e. knowledge that is not specific for the analysed case, into the interpretation. An import­ant notion to emerge from the comparison is the distinction between competence and praxis. URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0503310

Simultaneous sequential monitoring of efficacy and safety led to masking of effects.

Science.gov (United States)

van Eekelen, Rik; de Hoop, Esther; van der Tweel, Ingeborg

2016-08-01

Usually, sequential designs for clinical trials are applied on the primary (=efficacy) outcome. In practice, other outcomes (e.g., safety) will also be monitored and influence the decision whether to stop a trial early. Implications of simultaneous monitoring on trial decision making are yet unclear. This study examines what happens to the type I error, power, and required sample sizes when one efficacy outcome and one correlated safety outcome are monitored simultaneously using sequential designs. We conducted a simulation study in the framework of a two-arm parallel clinical trial. Interim analyses on two outcomes were performed independently and simultaneously on the same data sets using four sequential monitoring designs, including O'Brien-Fleming and Triangular Test boundaries. Simulations differed in values for correlations and true effect sizes. When an effect was present in both outcomes, competition was introduced, which decreased power (e.g., from 80% to 60%). Futility boundaries for the efficacy outcome reduced overall type I errors as well as power for the safety outcome. Monitoring two correlated outcomes, given that both are essential for early trial termination, leads to masking of true effects. Careful consideration of scenarios must be taken into account when designing sequential trials. Simulation results can help guide trial design. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The statistical decay of very hot nuclei: from sequential decay to multifragmentation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carlson, B.V.; Donangelo, R.; Universidad de la Republica, Montevideo; Souza, S.R.; Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul; Lynch, W.G.; Steiner, A.W.; Tsang, M.B.

2010-01-01

Full text. At low excitation energies, the compound nucleus typically decays through the sequential emission of light particles. As the energy increases, the emission probability of heavier fragments increases until, at sufficiently high energies, several heavy complex fragments are emitted during the decay. The extent to which this fragment emission is simultaneous or sequential has been a subject of theoretical and experimental study for almost 30 years. The Statistical Multifragmentation Model, an equilibrium model of simultaneous fragment emission, uses the configurations of a statistical ensemble to determine the distribution of primary fragments of a compound nucleus. The primary fragments are then assumed to decay by sequential compound emission or Fermi breakup. As the first step toward a more unified model of these processes, we demonstrate the equivalence of a generalized Fermi breakup model, in which densities of excited states are taken into account, to the microcanonical version of the statistical multifragmentation model. We then establish a link between this unified Fermi breakup / statistical multifragmentation model and the well-known process of compound nucleus emission, which permits to consider simultaneous and sequential emission on the same footing. Within this unified framework, we analyze the increasing importance of simultaneous, multifragment decay with increasing excitation energy and decreasing lifetime of the compound nucleus. (author)

A Bayesian sequential design with adaptive randomization for 2-sided hypothesis test.

Science.gov (United States)

Yu, Qingzhao; Zhu, Lin; Zhu, Han

2017-11-01

Bayesian sequential and adaptive randomization designs are gaining popularity in clinical trials thanks to their potentials to reduce the number of required participants and save resources. We propose a Bayesian sequential design with adaptive randomization rates so as to more efficiently attribute newly recruited patients to different treatment arms. In this paper, we consider 2-arm clinical trials. Patients are allocated to the 2 arms with a randomization rate to achieve minimum variance for the test statistic. Algorithms are presented to calculate the optimal randomization rate, critical values, and power for the proposed design. Sensitivity analysis is implemented to check the influence on design by changing the prior distributions. Simulation studies are applied to compare the proposed method and traditional methods in terms of power and actual sample sizes. Simulations show that, when total sample size is fixed, the proposed design can obtain greater power and/or cost smaller actual sample size than the traditional Bayesian sequential design. Finally, we apply the proposed method to a real data set and compare the results with the Bayesian sequential design without adaptive randomization in terms of sample sizes. The proposed method can further reduce required sample size. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A sequential mixed methods research approach to investigating HIV ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

2016-09-03

Sep 3, 2016 ... Sequential mixed methods research is an effective approach for ... show the effectiveness of the research method. ... qualitative data before quantitative datasets ..... whereby both types of data are collected simultaneously.

Losing a dime with a satisfied mind: positive affect predicts less search in sequential decision making.

Science.gov (United States)

von Helversen, Bettina; Mata, Rui

2012-12-01

We investigated the contribution of cognitive ability and affect to age differences in sequential decision making by asking younger and older adults to shop for items in a computerized sequential decision-making task. Older adults performed poorly compared to younger adults partly due to searching too few options. An analysis of the decision process with a formal model suggested that older adults set lower thresholds for accepting an option than younger participants. Further analyses suggested that positive affect, but not fluid abilities, was related to search in the sequential decision task. A second study that manipulated affect in younger adults supported the causal role of affect: Increased positive affect lowered the initial threshold for accepting an attractive option. In sum, our results suggest that positive affect is a key factor determining search in sequential decision making. Consequently, increased positive affect in older age may contribute to poorer sequential decisions by leading to insufficient search. 2013 APA, all rights reserved

Collaborative Filtering Based on Sequential Extraction of User-Item Clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Honda, Katsuhiro; Notsu, Akira; Ichihashi, Hidetomo

Collaborative filtering is a computational realization of “word-of-mouth” in network community, in which the items prefered by “neighbors” are recommended. This paper proposes a new item-selection model for extracting user-item clusters from rectangular relation matrices, in which mutual relations between users and items are denoted in an alternative process of “liking or not”. A technique for sequential co-cluster extraction from rectangular relational data is given by combining the structural balancing-based user-item clustering method with sequential fuzzy cluster extraction appraoch. Then, the tecunique is applied to the collaborative filtering problem, in which some items may be shared by several user clusters.

Sequential Uniformly Reweighted Sum-Product Algorithm for Cooperative Localization in Wireless Networks

OpenAIRE

Li, Wei; Yang, Zhen; Hu, Haifeng

2014-01-01

Graphical models have been widely applied in solving distributed inference problems in wireless networks. In this paper, we formulate the cooperative localization problem in a mobile network as an inference problem on a factor graph. Using a sequential schedule of message updates, a sequential uniformly reweighted sum-product algorithm (SURW-SPA) is developed for mobile localization problems. The proposed algorithm combines the distributed nature of belief propagation (BP) with the improved p...

Human visual system automatically represents large-scale sequential regularities.

Science.gov (United States)

Kimura, Motohiro; Widmann, Andreas; Schröger, Erich

2010-03-04

Our brain recordings reveal that large-scale sequential regularities defined across non-adjacent stimuli can be automatically represented in visual sensory memory. To show that, we adopted an auditory paradigm developed by Sussman, E., Ritter, W., and Vaughan, H. G. Jr. (1998). Predictability of stimulus deviance and the mismatch negativity. NeuroReport, 9, 4167-4170, Sussman, E., and Gumenyuk, V. (2005). Organization of sequential sounds in auditory memory. NeuroReport, 16, 1519-1523 to the visual domain by presenting task-irrelevant infrequent luminance-deviant stimuli (D, 20%) inserted among task-irrelevant frequent stimuli being of standard luminance (S, 80%) in randomized (randomized condition, SSSDSSSSSDSSSSD...) and fixed manners (fixed condition, SSSSDSSSSDSSSSD...). Comparing the visual mismatch negativity (visual MMN), an event-related brain potential (ERP) index of memory-mismatch processes in human visual sensory system, revealed that visual MMN elicited by deviant stimuli was reduced in the fixed compared to the randomized condition. Thus, the large-scale sequential regularity being present in the fixed condition (SSSSD) must have been represented in visual sensory memory. Interestingly, this effect did not occur in conditions with stimulus-onset asynchronies (SOAs) of 480 and 800 ms but was confined to the 160-ms SOA condition supporting the hypothesis that large-scale regularity extraction was based on perceptual grouping of the five successive stimuli defining the regularity. 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Generalizations of the limited-memory BFGS method based on the quasi-product form of update

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Vlček, Jan; Lukšan, Ladislav

2013-01-01

Roč. 241, 15 March (2013), s. 116-129 ISSN 0377-0427 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA201/09/1957 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10300504 Keywords : unconstrained minimization * variable metric methods * limited-memory methods * Broyden class updates * global convergence * numerical results Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics Impact factor: 1.077, year: 2013

Application of full-face round by the sequential blasting machine in tunnel excavation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, Y.D.; Park, B.K.; Lee, S.E.; Lim, H.U.

1995-12-31

Many methods and techniques have been developed to reduce ground vibrations. Some of them are an adoption of electric millisecond detonators with a sequential blasting machine and an improvement of initiating system with an adequate number of delay intervals. To reduce the level of ground vibration in tunnel excavation, the sequential blasting machine (S.B.M.) with decisecond detonators was adopted. A total of 134 blasts was recorded at various sites and the results were analyzed. The distances blast-to-structures were ranged from 20.3 to 42.0 meter, where charge weights were varied from 0.25 to 0.75kg per delay. It is proved that the sequential blasting in tunnel excavation is very effective to control ground vibration.

Application and analysis of retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with sequential segmental renal artery clamping for patients with multiple renal tumor: initial experience.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Jundong; Jiang, Fan; Li, Pu; Shao, Pengfei; Liang, Chao; Xu, Aiming; Miao, Chenkui; Qin, Chao; Wang, Zengjun; Yin, Changjun

2017-09-11

To explore the feasibility and safety of retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with sequential segmental renal artery clamping for the patients with multiple renal tumor of who have solitary kidney or contralateral kidney insufficiency. Nine patients who have undergone retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with sequential segmental renal artery clamping between October 2010 and January 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Clinical materials and parameters during and after the operation were summarized. Nineteen tumors were resected in nine patients and the operations were all successful. The operation time ranged from 100 to 180 min (125 min); clamping time of segmental renal artery was 10 ~ 30 min (23 min); the amount of blood loss during the operation was 120 ~ 330 ml (190 ml); hospital stay after the operation is 3 ~ 6d (5d). There was no complication during the perioperative period, and the pathology diagnosis after the surgery showed that there were 13 renal clear cell carcinomas, two papillary carcinoma and four perivascular epithelioid cell tumors with negative margins from the 19 tumors. All patients were followed up for 3 ~ 60 months, and no local recurrence or metastasis was detected. At 3-month post-operation follow-up, the mean serum creatinine was 148.6 ± 28.1 μmol/L (p = 0.107), an increase of 3.0 μmol/L from preoperative baseline. For the patients with multiple renal tumors and solitary kidney or contralateral kidney insufficiency, retroperitoneal laparoscopic partial nephrectomy with sequential segmental renal artery clamping was feasible and safe, which minimized the warm ischemia injury to the kidney and preserved the renal function effectively.

Sequential extraction applied to Peruibe black mud, SP, Brazil

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Torrecilha, Jefferson Koyaishi

2014-01-01

The Peruibe Black mud is used in therapeutic treatments such as psoriasis, peripheral dermatitis, acne and seborrhoea, as well as in the treatment of myalgia, arthritis, rheumatism and non-articular processes. Likewise other medicinal clays, it may not be free from possible adverse health effects due to possible hazardous minerals leading to respiratory system occurrences and other effects, caused by the presence of toxic elements. Once used for therapeutic purposes, any given material should be fully characterized and thus samples of Peruibe black mud were analyzed to determine physical and chemical properties: moisture content, organic matter and loss on ignition; pH, particle size, cation exchange capacity and swelling index. The elemental composition was determined by Neutron Activation Analysis, Atomic Absorption Graphite Furnace and X-ray fluorescence; the mineralogical composition was determined by X-ray diffraction. Another tool widely used to evaluate the behavior of trace elements, in various environmental matrices, is the sequential extraction. Thus, a sequential extraction procedure was applied to fractionate the mud in specific geochemical forms and verify how and how much of the elements may be contained in it. Considering the several sequential extraction procedures, BCR-701 method (Community Bureau of Reference) was used since it is considered the most reproducible among them. A simple extraction with an artificial sweat was, also, applied in order to verify which components are potentially available for absorption by the patient skin during the topical treatment. The results indicated that the mud is basically composed by a silty-clay material, rich in organic matter and with good cation exchange capacity. There were no significant variations in mineralogy and elemental composition of both, in natura and mature mud forms. The analysis by sequential extraction and by simple extraction indicated that the elements possibly available in larger

Effects of simultaneous and optimized sequential cardiac resynchronization therapy on myocardial oxidative metabolism and efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Christenson, Stuart D; Chareonthaitawee, Panithaya; Burnes, John E; Hill, Michael R S; Kemp, Brad J; Khandheria, Bijoy K; Hayes, David L; Gibbons, Raymond J

2008-02-01

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) can improve left ventricular (LV) hemodynamics and function. Recent data suggest the energy cost of such improvement is favorable. The effects of sequential CRT on myocardial oxidative metabolism (MVO(2)) and efficiency have not been previously assessed. Eight patients with NYHA class III heart failure were studied 196 +/- 180 days after CRT implant. Dynamic [(11)C]acetate positron emission tomography (PET) and echocardiography were performed after 1 hour of: 1) AAI pacing, 2) simultaneous CRT, and 3) sequential CRT. MVO(2) was calculated using the monoexponential clearance rate of [(11)C]acetate (k(mono)). Myocardial efficiency was expressed in terms of the work metabolic index (WMI). P values represent overall significance from repeated measures analysis. Global LV and right ventricular (RV) MVO(2) were not significantly different between pacing modes, but the septal/lateral MVO(2) ratio differed significantly with the change in pacing mode (AAI pacing = 0.696 +/- 0.094 min(-1), simultaneous CRT = 0.975 +/- 0.143 min(-1), and sequential CRT = 0.938 +/- 0.189 min(-1); overall P = 0.001). Stroke volume index (SVI) (AAI pacing = 26.7 +/- 10.4 mL/m(2), simultaneous CRT = 30.6 +/- 11.2 mL/m(2), sequential CRT = 33.5 +/- 12.2 mL/m(2); overall P simultaneous CRT = 4.29 +/- 1.72 mmHg*mL/m(2)*10(6), sequential CRT = 4.79 +/- 1.92 mmHg*mL/m(2)*10(6); overall P = 0.002) also differed between pacing modes. Compared with simultaneous CRT, additional changes in septal/lateral MVO(2), SVI, and WMI with sequential CRT were not statistically significant on post hoc analysis. In this small selected population, CRT increases LV SVI without increasing MVO(2), resulting in improved myocardial efficiency. Additional improvements in LV work, oxidative metabolism, and efficiency from simultaneous to sequential CRT were not significant.

Sequential vs simultaneous encoding of spatial information: a comparison between the blind and the sighted.

Science.gov (United States)

Ruotolo, Francesco; Ruggiero, Gennaro; Vinciguerra, Michela; Iachini, Tina

2012-02-01

The aim of this research is to assess whether the crucial factor in determining the characteristics of blind people's spatial mental images is concerned with the visual impairment per se or the processing style that the dominant perceptual modalities used to acquire spatial information impose, i.e. simultaneous (vision) vs sequential (kinaesthesis). Participants were asked to learn six positions in a large parking area via movement alone (congenitally blind, adventitiously blind, blindfolded sighted) or with vision plus movement (simultaneous sighted, sequential sighted), and then to mentally scan between positions in the path. The crucial manipulation concerned the sequential sighted group. Their visual exploration was made sequential by putting visual obstacles within the pathway in such a way that they could not see simultaneously the positions along the pathway. The results revealed a significant time/distance linear relation in all tested groups. However, the linear component was lower in sequential sighted and blind participants, especially congenital. Sequential sighted and congenitally blind participants showed an almost overlapping performance. Differences between groups became evident when mentally scanning farther distances (more than 5m). This threshold effect could be revealing of processing limitations due to the need of integrating and updating spatial information. Overall, the results suggest that the characteristics of the processing style rather than the visual impairment per se affect blind people's spatial mental images. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Simultaneous compared with sequential blood pressure measurement results in smaller inter-arm blood pressure differences.

Science.gov (United States)

van der Hoeven, Niels V; Lodestijn, Sophie; Nanninga, Stephanie; van Montfrans, Gert A; van den Born, Bert-Jan H

2013-11-01

There are currently few recommendations on how to assess inter-arm blood pressure (BP) differences. The authors compared simultaneous with sequential measurement on mean BP, inter-arm BP differences, and within-visit reproducibility in 240 patients stratified according to age (simultaneous and three sequential BP measurements were taken in each patient. Starting measurement type and starting arm for sequential measurements were randomized. Mean BP and inter-arm BP differences of the first pair and reproducibility of inter-arm BP differences of the first and second pair were compared between both methods. Mean systolic BP was 1.3±7.5 mm Hg lower during sequential compared with simultaneous measurement (Psequential measurement was on average higher than the second, suggesting an order effect. Absolute systolic inter-arm BP differences were smaller on simultaneous (6.2±6.7/3.3±3.5 mm Hg) compared with sequential BP measurement (7.8±7.3/4.6±5.6 mm Hg, PSimultaneous measurement of BP at both arms reduces order effects and results in smaller inter-arm BP differences, thereby potentially reducing unnecessary referral and diagnostic procedures. ©2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Selective Sequential Zero-Base Budgeting Procedures Based on Total Factor Productivity Indicators

OpenAIRE

A. Ishikawa; E. F. Sudit

1981-01-01

The authors' purpose in this paper is to develop productivity-based sequential budgeting procedures designed to expedite identification of major problem areas in bugetary performance, as well as to reduce the costs associated with comprehensive zero-base analyses. The concept of total factor productivity is reviewed and its relations to ordinary and zero-based budgeting are discussed in detail. An outline for a selective sequential analysis based on monitoring of three key indicators of (a) i...

Sequential learning in individuals with agrammatic aphasia: evidence from artificial grammar learning.

Science.gov (United States)

Schuchard, Julia; Thompson, Cynthia K

2017-01-01

We examined sequential learning in individuals with agrammatic aphasia ( n = 12) and healthy age-matched participants ( n = 12) using an artificial grammar. Artificial grammar acquisition, 24-hour retention, and the potential benefits of additional training were examined by administering an artificial grammar judgment test (1) immediately following auditory exposure-based training, (2) one day after training, and (3) after a second training session on the second day. An untrained control group ( n = 12 healthy age-matched participants) completed the tests on the same time schedule. The trained healthy and aphasic groups showed greater sensitivity to the detection of grammatical items than the control group. No significant correlations between sequential learning and language abilities were observed among the aphasic participants. The results suggest that individuals with agrammatic aphasia show sequential learning, but the underlying processes involved in this learning may be different than for healthy adults.

Strategic Path Planning by Sequential Parametric Bayesian Decisions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Baro Hyun

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The objective of this research is to generate a path for a mobile agent that carries sensors used for classification, where the path is to optimize strategic objectives that account for misclassification and the consequences of misclassification, and where the weights assigned to these consequences are chosen by a strategist. We propose a model that accounts for the interaction between the agent kinematics (i.e., the ability to move, informatics (i.e., the ability to process data to information, classification (i.e., the ability to classify objects based on the information, and strategy (i.e., the mission objective. Within this model, we pose and solve a sequential decision problem that accounts for strategist preferences and the solution to the problem yields a sequence of kinematic decisions of a moving agent. The solution of the sequential decision problem yields the following flying tactics: “approach only objects whose suspected identity matters to the strategy”. These tactics are numerically illustrated in several scenarios.

Sequential segmental classification of feline congenital heart disease.

Science.gov (United States)

Scansen, Brian A; Schneider, Matthias; Bonagura, John D

2015-12-01

Feline congenital heart disease is less commonly encountered in veterinary medicine than acquired feline heart diseases such as cardiomyopathy. Understanding the wide spectrum of congenital cardiovascular disease demands a familiarity with a variety of lesions, occurring both in isolation and in combination, along with an appreciation of complex nomenclature and variable classification schemes. This review begins with an overview of congenital heart disease in the cat, including proposed etiologies and prevalence, examination approaches, and principles of therapy. Specific congenital defects are presented and organized by a sequential segmental classification with respect to their morphologic lesions. Highlights of diagnosis, treatment options, and prognosis are offered. It is hoped that this review will provide a framework for approaching congenital heart disease in the cat, and more broadly in other animal species based on the sequential segmental approach, which represents an adaptation of the common methodology used in children and adults with congenital heart disease. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Parameter sampling capabilities of sequential and simultaneous data assimilation: I. Analytical comparison

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fossum, Kristian; Mannseth, Trond

2014-01-01

We assess the parameter sampling capabilities of some Bayesian, ensemble-based, joint state-parameter (JS) estimation methods. The forward model is assumed to be non-chaotic and have nonlinear components, and the emphasis is on results obtained for the parameters in the state-parameter vector. A variety of approximate sampling methods exist, and a number of numerical comparisons between such methods have been performed. Often, more than one of the defining characteristics vary from one method to another, so it can be difficult to point out which characteristic of the more successful method in such a comparison was decisive. In this study, we single out one defining characteristic for comparison; whether or not data are assimilated sequentially or simultaneously. The current paper is concerned with analytical investigations into this issue. We carefully select one sequential and one simultaneous JS method for the comparison. We also design a corresponding pair of pure parameter estimation methods, and we show how the JS methods and the parameter estimation methods are pairwise related. It is shown that the sequential and the simultaneous parameter estimation methods are equivalent for one particular combination of observations with different degrees of nonlinearity. Strong indications are presented for why one may expect the sequential parameter estimation method to outperform the simultaneous parameter estimation method for all other combinations of observations. Finally, the conditions for when similar relations can be expected to hold between the corresponding JS methods are discussed. A companion paper, part II (Fossum and Mannseth 2014 Inverse Problems 30 114003), is concerned with statistical analysis of results from a range of numerical experiments involving sequential and simultaneous JS estimation, where the design of the numerical investigation is motivated by our findings in the current paper. (paper)

Legal incentives for minimizing waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Clearwater, S.W.; Scanlon, J.M.

1991-01-01

Waste minimization, or pollution prevention, has become an integral component of federal and state environmental regulation. Minimizing waste offers many economic and public relations benefits. In addition, waste minimization efforts can also dramatically reduce potential criminal requirements. This paper addresses the legal incentives for minimizing waste under current and proposed environmental laws and regulations

Sequential Analysis: Hypothesis Testing and Changepoint Detection

Science.gov (United States)

2014-07-11

maintains the flexibility of deciding sooner than the fixed sample size procedure at the price of some lower power [13, 514]. The sequential probability... markets , detection of signals with unknown arrival time in seismology, navigation, radar and sonar signal processing, speech segmentation, and the... skimming cruise missile can yield a significant increase in the probability of raid annihilation. Furthermore, usually detection systems are

On Locally Most Powerful Sequential Rank Tests

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Kalina, Jan

2017-01-01

Roč. 36, č. 1 (2017), s. 111-125 ISSN 0747-4946 R&D Projects: GA ČR GA17-07384S Grant - others:Nadační fond na podporu vědy(CZ) Neuron Institutional support: RVO:67985807 Keywords : nonparametric test s * sequential ranks * stopping variable Subject RIV: BA - General Mathematics OBOR OECD: Pure mathematics Impact factor: 0.339, year: 2016

PC_Eyewitness and the sequential superiority effect: computer-based lineup administration.

Science.gov (United States)

MacLin, Otto H; Zimmerman, Laura A; Malpass, Roy S

2005-06-01

Computer technology has become an increasingly important tool for conducting eyewitness identifications. In the area of lineup identifications, computerized administration offers several advantages for researchers and law enforcement. PC_Eyewitness is designed specifically to administer lineups. To assess this new lineup technology, two studies were conducted in order to replicate the results of previous studies comparing simultaneous and sequential lineups. One hundred twenty university students participated in each experiment. Experiment 1 used traditional paper-and-pencil lineup administration methods to compare simultaneous to sequential lineups. Experiment 2 used PC_Eyewitness to administer simultaneous and sequential lineups. The results of these studies were compared to the meta-analytic results reported by N. Steblay, J. Dysart, S. Fulero, and R. C. L. Lindsay (2001). No differences were found between paper-and-pencil and PC_Eyewitness lineup administration methods. The core findings of the N. Steblay et al. (2001) meta-analysis were replicated by both administration procedures. These results show that computerized lineup administration using PC_Eyewitness is an effective means for gathering eyewitness identification data.

Development of computer-aided software engineering tool for sequential control of JT-60U

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shimono, M.; Akasaka, H.; Kurihara, K.; Kimura, T.

1995-01-01

Discharge sequential control (DSC) is an essential control function for the intermittent and pulse discharge operation of a tokamak device, so that many subsystems may work with each other in correct order and/or synchronously. In the development of the DSC program, block diagrams of logical operation for sequential control are illustrated in its design at first. Then, the logical operators and I/O's which are involved in the block diagrams are compiled and converted to a certain particular form. Since the block diagrams of the sequential control amounts to about 50 sheets in the case of the JT-60 upgrade tokamak (JT-60U) high power discharge and the above steps of the development have been performed manually so far, a great effort has been required for the program development. In order to remove inefficiency in such development processes, a computer-aided software engineering (CASE) tool has been developed on a UNIX workstation. This paper reports how the authors design it for the development of the sequential control programs. The tool is composed of the following three tools: (1) Automatic drawing tool, (2) Editing tool, and (3) Trace tool. This CASE tool, an object-oriented programming tool having graphical formalism, can powerfully accelerate the cycle for the development of the sequential control function commonly associated with pulse discharge in a tokamak fusion device

Sequential crystallization and morphology of triple crystalline biodegradable PEO-b-PCL-b-PLLA triblock terpolymers

KAUST Repository

Palacios, Jordana; Mugica, Agurtzane; Zubitur, Manuela; Iturrospe, Amaia; Arbe, A.; Liu, Guoming; Wang, Dujin; Zhao, Junpeng; Hadjichristidis, Nikolaos; Muller, Alejandro

2016-01-01

The sequential crystallization of poly(ethylene oxide)-b-poly(e-caprolactone)-b-poly(L-lactide) (PEO-b-PCL-b-PLLA) triblock terpolymers, in which the three blocks are able to crystallize separately and sequentially from the melt, is presented. Two

MOCUS, Minimal Cut Sets and Minimal Path Sets from Fault Tree Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fussell, J.B.; Henry, E.B.; Marshall, N.H.

1976-01-01

1 - Description of problem or function: From a description of the Boolean failure logic of a system, called a fault tree, and control parameters specifying the minimal cut set length to be obtained MOCUS determines the system failure modes, or minimal cut sets, and the system success modes, or minimal path sets. 2 - Method of solution: MOCUS uses direct resolution of the fault tree into the cut and path sets. The algorithm used starts with the main failure of interest, the top event, and proceeds to basic independent component failures, called primary events, to resolve the fault tree to obtain the minimal sets. A key point of the algorithm is that an and gate alone always increases the number of path sets; an or gate alone always increases the number of cut sets and increases the size of path sets. Other types of logic gates must be described in terms of and and or logic gates. 3 - Restrictions on the complexity of the problem: Output from MOCUS can include minimal cut and path sets for up to 20 gates

Do strict rules and moving images increase the reliability of sequential identification procedures?.

OpenAIRE

Valentine, Tim; Darling, Stephen; Memon, Amina

2007-01-01

Live identification procedures in England and Wales have been replaced by use of video, which provides a sequential presentation of facial images. Sequential presentation of photographs provides some protection to innocent suspects from mistaken identification when used with strict instructions designed to prevent relative judgements (Lindsay, Lea & Fulford, 1991). However, the current procedure in England and Wales is incompatible with these strict instructions. The reported research investi...

The Penalty Cost Functional for the Two-Dimensional

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Victor Onomza WAZIRI

2006-07-01

Full Text Available This paper constructs the penalty cost functional for optimizing the two-dimensional control operator of the energized wave equation. In some multiplier methods such as the Lagrange multipliers and Pontrygean maximum principle, the cost of merging the constraint equation to the integral quadratic objective functional to obtain an unconstraint equation is normally guessed or obtained from the first partial derivatives of the unconstrained equation. The Extended Conjugate Gradient Method (ECGM necessitates that the penalty cost be sequentially obtained algebraically. The ECGM problem contains a functional which is completely given in terms of state and time spatial dependent variables.

Sequential feeding using whole wheat and a separate protein-mineral concentrate improved feed efficiency in laying hens.

Science.gov (United States)

Umar Faruk, M; Bouvarel, I; Même, N; Rideau, N; Roffidal, L; Tukur, H M; Bastianelli, D; Nys, Y; Lescoat, P

2010-04-01

The effect of feeding nutritionally different diets in sequential or loose-mix systems on the performance of laying hen was investigated from 16 to 46 wk of age. Equal proportions of whole wheat grain and protein-mineral concentrate (balancer diet) were fed either alternatively (sequential) or together (loose-mix) to ISA Brown hens. The control was fed a complete layer diet conventionally. Each treatment was allocated 16 cages and each cage contained 5 birds. Light was provided 16 h daily (0400 to 2000 h). Feed offered was controlled (121 g/bird per d) and distributed twice (4 and 11 h after lights-on). In the sequential treatment, only wheat was fed at first distribution, followed by balancer diet at the second distribution. In loose-mix, the 2 rations were mixed and fed together during the 2 distributions. Leftover feed was always removed before the next distribution. Sequential feeding reduced total feed intake when compared with loose-mix and control. It had lower wheat (-9 g/bird per d) but higher balancer (+1.7 g/bird per d) intakes than loose-mix. Egg production, egg mass, and egg weight were similar among treatments. This led to an improvement in efficiency of feed utilization in sequential compared with loose-mix and control (10 and 5%, respectively). Birds fed sequentially had lower calculated ME (kcal/bird per d) intake than those fed in loose-mix and control. Calculated CP (g/bird per d) intake was reduced in sequential compared with loose-mix and control. Sequentially fed hens were lighter in BW. However, they had heavier gizzard, pancreas, and liver. Similar liver lipid was observed among treatments. Liver glycogen was higher in loose-mix than the 2 other treatments. It was concluded that feeding whole wheat and balancer diet, sequentially or loosely mixed, had no negative effect on performance in laying hens. Thus, the 2 systems are alternative to conventional feeding. The increased efficiency of feed utilization in sequential feeding is an added

Pass-transistor asynchronous sequential circuits

Science.gov (United States)

Whitaker, Sterling R.; Maki, Gary K.

1989-01-01

Design methods for asynchronous sequential pass-transistor circuits, which result in circuits that are hazard- and critical-race-free and which have added degrees of freedom for the input signals, are discussed. The design procedures are straightforward and easy to implement. Two single-transition-time state assignment methods are presented, and hardware bounds for each are established. A surprising result is that the hardware realizations for each next state variable and output variable is identical for a given flow table. Thus, a state machine with N states and M outputs can be constructed using a single layout replicated N + M times.

Hypotension Risk Prediction via Sequential Contrast Patterns of ICU Blood Pressure.

Science.gov (United States)

Ghosh, Shameek; Feng, Mengling; Nguyen, Hung; Li, Jinyan

2016-09-01

Acute hypotension is a significant risk factor for in-hospital mortality at intensive care units. Prolonged hypotension can cause tissue hypoperfusion, leading to cellular dysfunction and severe injuries to multiple organs. Prompt medical interventions are thus extremely important for dealing with acute hypotensive episodes (AHE). Population level prognostic scoring systems for risk stratification of patients are suboptimal in such scenarios. However, the design of an efficient risk prediction system can significantly help in the identification of critical care patients, who are at risk of developing an AHE within a future time span. Toward this objective, a pattern mining algorithm is employed to extract informative sequential contrast patterns from hemodynamic data, for the prediction of hypotensive episodes. The hypotensive and normotensive patient groups are extracted from the MIMIC-II critical care research database, following an appropriate clinical inclusion criteria. The proposed method consists of a data preprocessing step to convert the blood pressure time series into symbolic sequences, using a symbolic aggregate approximation algorithm. Then, distinguishing subsequences are identified using the sequential contrast mining algorithm. These subsequences are used to predict the occurrence of an AHE in a future time window separated by a user-defined gap interval. Results indicate that the method performs well in terms of the prediction performance as well as in the generation of sequential patterns of clinical significance. Hence, the novelty of sequential patterns is in their usefulness as potential physiological biomarkers for building optimal patient risk stratification systems and for further clinical investigation of interesting patterns in critical care patients.

POLYP: an automatic device for drawing sequential samples of gas

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gaglione, P; Koechler, C; Stanchi, L

1974-12-01

Polyp is an automatic device consisting of electronic equipment which drives sequentially 8 small pumps for drawing samples of gas. The electronic circuit is driven by a quartz oscillator and allows for the preselection of a waiting time in such a manner that a set of similar instruments placed in suitable position in the open country will start simultaneously. At the same time the first pump of each instrument will inflate a plastic bag for a preset time. The other seven pumps will inflate sequentially the other bags. The instrument is powered by rechargeable batteries and realized with C-MUS integrated circuits for a nearly negligible consumption. As it is foreseen for field operation it is waterproof.

POLYP: an automatic device for drawing sequential samples of gas

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gaglione, P.; Koechler, C.; Stanchi, L.

1974-12-01

POLYP is an automatic device consisting of an electronic equipment which drives sequentially 8 small pumps for drawing samples of gas. The electronic circuit is driven by a quartz oscillator and allows for the preselection of a waiting time in such a manner that a set of similar instruments placed in suitable position in the open country will start simultaneously. At the same time the first pump of each instrument will inflate a plastic bag for a preset time. Thereafter the other seven pumps will inflate sequentially the other bag. The instrument is powered by rechargeable batteries and realized with C-MOS integrated circuits for a nearly negligible consumption. As it is foreseen for field operation it is waterproof

Safeguarding a Lunar Rover with Wald's Sequential Probability Ratio Test

Science.gov (United States)

Furlong, Michael; Dille, Michael; Wong, Uland; Nefian, Ara

2016-01-01

The virtual bumper is a safeguarding mechanism for autonomous and remotely operated robots. In this paper we take a new approach to the virtual bumper system by using an old statistical test. By using a modified version of Wald's sequential probability ratio test we demonstrate that we can reduce the number of false positive reported by the virtual bumper, thereby saving valuable mission time. We use the concept of sequential probability ratio to control vehicle speed in the presence of possible obstacles in order to increase certainty about whether or not obstacles are present. Our new algorithm reduces the chances of collision by approximately 98 relative to traditional virtual bumper safeguarding without speed control.

A Relational Account of Call-by-Value Sequentiality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riecke, Jon Gary; Sandholm, Anders Bo

2002-01-01

We construct a model for FPC, a purely functional, sequential, call-by-value language. The model is built from partial continuous functions, in the style of Plotkin, further constrained to be uniform with respect to a class of logical relations. We prove that the model is fully abstract....

Is non-minimal inflation eternal?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feng, Chao-Jun; Li, Xin-Zhou

2010-01-01

The possibility that the non-minimal coupling inflation could be eternal is investigated. We calculate the quantum fluctuation of the inflaton in a Hubble time and find that it has the same value as that in the minimal case in the slow-roll limit. Armed with this result, we have studied some concrete non-minimal inflationary models including the chaotic inflation and the natural inflation, in which the inflaton is non-minimally coupled to the gravity. We find that the non-minimal coupling inflation could be eternal in some parameter spaces.

A sequential adaptation technique and its application to the Mark 12 IFF system

Science.gov (United States)

Bailey, John S.; Mallett, John D.; Sheppard, Duane J.; Warner, F. Neal; Adams, Robert

1986-07-01

Sequential adaptation uses only two sets of receivers, correlators, and A/D converters which are time multiplexed to effect spatial adaptation in a system with (N) adaptive degrees of freedom. This technique can substantially reduce the hardware cost over what is realizable in a parallel architecture. A three channel L-band version of the sequential adapter was built and tested for use with the MARK XII IFF (identify friend or foe) system. In this system the sequentially determined adaptive weights were obtained digitally but implemented at RF. As a result, many of the post RF hardware induced sources of error that normally limit cancellation, such as receiver mismatch, are removed by the feedback property. The result is a system that can yield high levels of cancellation and be readily retrofitted to currently fielded equipment.

Sequential bargaining in a market with one seller and two different buyers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Tranæs, Torben; Hendon, Ebbe

1991-01-01

A matching and bargaining model in a market with one seller and two buyers, differing only in their reservation price, is analyzed. No subgame perfect equilibrium exists for stationary strategies. We demonstrate the existence of inefficient equilibria in which the low buyer receives the good with...... with large probability, even as friction becomes negligible. We investigate the relationship between the use of Nash and sequential bargaining. Nash bargaining seems applicable only when the sequential approach yields a unique stationary strategy subgame perfect equilibrium...

Sequential bargaining in a market with one seller and two different buyers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hendon, Ebbe; Tranæs, Torben

1991-01-01

A matching and bargaining model in a market with one seller and two buyers, differing only in their reservation price, is analyzed. No subgame perfect equilibrium exists for stationary strategies. We demonstrate the existence of inefficient equilibria in which the low buyer receives the good with...... with large probability, even as friction becomes negligible. We investigate the relationship between the use of Nash and sequential bargaining. Nash bargaining seems applicable only when the sequential approach yields a unique stationary strategy subgame perfect equilibrium....

Visual Appearance-Based Unmanned Vehicle Sequential Localization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wei Liu

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Localizationis of vital importance for an unmanned vehicle to drive on the road. Most of the existing algorithms are based on laser range finders, inertial equipment, artificial landmarks, distributing sensors or global positioning system(GPS information. Currently, the problem of localization with vision information is most concerned. However, vision-based localization techniquesare still unavailable for practical applications. In this paper, we present a vision-based sequential probability localization method. This method uses the surface information of the roadside to locate the vehicle, especially in the situation where GPS information is unavailable. It is composed of two step, first, in a recording stage, we construct a ground truthmap with the appearance of the roadside environment. Then in an on-line stage, we use a sequential matching approach to localize the vehicle. In the experiment, we use two independent cameras to observe the environment, one is left-orientated and the other is right. SIFT features and Daisy features are used to represent for the visual appearance of the environment. The experiment results show that the proposed method could locate the vehicle in a complicated, large environment with high reliability.

Group-Sequential Strategies in Clinical Trials with Multiple Co-Primary Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Hamasaki, Toshimitsu; Asakura, Koko; Evans, Scott R; Sugimoto, Tomoyuki; Sozu, Takashi

2015-01-01

We discuss the decision-making frameworks for clinical trials with multiple co-primary endpoints in a group-sequential setting. The decision-making frameworks can account for flexibilities such as a varying number of analyses, equally or unequally spaced increments of information and fixed or adaptive Type I error allocation among endpoints. The frameworks can provide efficiency, i.e., potentially fewer trial participants, than the fixed sample size designs. We investigate the operating characteristics of the decision-making frameworks and provide guidance on constructing efficient group-sequential strategies in clinical trials with multiple co-primary endpoints. PMID:25844122

[Co-composting high moisture vegetable waste and flower waste in a sequential fed operation].

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Xiangfeng; Wang, Hongtao; Nie, Yongfeng

2003-11-01

Co-composting of high moisture vegetable wastes (celery and cabbage) and flower wastes (carnation) were studied in a sequential fed bed. The preliminary materials of composting were celery and carnation wastes. The sequential fed materials of composting were cabbage wastes and were fed every 4 days. Moisture content of mixture materials was between 60% and 70%. Composting was done in an aerobic static bed of composting based temperature feedback and control via aeration rate regulation. Aeration was ended when temperature of the pile was about 40 degrees C. Changes of composting of temperature, aeration rate, water content, organic matter, ash, pH, volume, NH4(+)-N, and NO3(-)-N were studied. Results show that co-composting of high moisture vegetable wastes and flower wastes, in a sequential fed aerobic static bed based temperature feedback and control via aeration rate regulation, can stabilize organic matter and removal water rapidly. The sequential fed operation are effective to overcome the difficult which traditional composting cannot applied successfully where high moisture vegetable wastes in more excess of flower wastes, such as Dianchi coastal.

Minimal families of curves on surfaces

KAUST Repository

Lubbes, Niels

2014-11-01

A minimal family of curves on an embedded surface is defined as a 1-dimensional family of rational curves of minimal degree, which cover the surface. We classify such minimal families using constructive methods. This allows us to compute the minimal families of a given surface.The classification of minimal families of curves can be reduced to the classification of minimal families which cover weak Del Pezzo surfaces. We classify the minimal families of weak Del Pezzo surfaces and present a table with the number of minimal families of each weak Del Pezzo surface up to Weyl equivalence.As an application of this classification we generalize some results of Schicho. We classify algebraic surfaces that carry a family of conics. We determine the minimal lexicographic degree for the parametrization of a surface that carries at least 2 minimal families. © 2014 Elsevier B.V.

Sequential and double sequential fission observed in heavy ion interaction of (11.67 MeV/u){sup 197}Au projectile with {sup 197}Au target

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Nasir, Tabassum [Gomal University, Dera Ismail Khan (Pakistan). Dept. of Physics; Khan, Ehsan Ullah [COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Islamabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Physics; Baluch, Javaid Jahan [COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Abbottabad, (Pakistan). Dept. of Environmental Sciences; Shafi-Ur-Rehman, [PAEC, Dera Ghazi Khan (Pakistan). ISL Project; Matiullah, [PINSTECH, Nilore, Islamabad (Pakistan). Physics Div.; Rafique, Muhammad [University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir, Muzaffarabad (Pakistan). Dept. of Physics

2009-09-15

The heavy ion interaction of 11.67 MeV/u {sup 197}Au+ {sup 197}Au has been investigated using mica as a passive detector. By employing Solid State Nuclear Track Detection Technique the data of elastic scattering as well as inelastic reaction channel was collected. The off-line data analysis of multi-pronged events was performed by measuring the three-dimensional geometrical coordinates of correlated tracks on event-by-event basis. Multi pronged events observed in this reaction were due to sequential and double sequential fission. Using a computer code PRONGY based on the procedure of internal calibration, it was possible to derive quantities like mass transfer, total kinetic energy loss and scattering angles. (author)

Hexavalent Chromium Minimization Strategy

Science.gov (United States)

2011-05-01

Logistics 4 Initiative - DoD Hexavalent Chromium Minimization Non- Chrome Primer IIEXAVAJ ENT CHRO:M I~UMI CHROMIUM (VII Oil CrfVli.J CANCEfl HAnRD CD...Management Office of the Secretary of Defense Hexavalent Chromium Minimization Strategy Report Documentation Page Form ApprovedOMB No. 0704-0188...00-2011 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE Hexavalent Chromium Minimization Strategy 5a. CONTRACT NUMBER 5b. GRANT NUMBER 5c. PROGRAM ELEMENT NUMBER 6

Further comments on the sequential probability ratio testing methods

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kulacsy, K. [Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest (Hungary). Central Research Inst. for Physics

1997-05-23

The Bayesian method for belief updating proposed in Racz (1996) is examined. The interpretation of the belief function introduced therein is found, and the method is compared to the classical binary Sequential Probability Ratio Testing method (SPRT). (author).

Sequential decoding of intramuscular EMG signals via estimation of a Markov model.

Science.gov (United States)

Monsifrot, Jonathan; Le Carpentier, Eric; Aoustin, Yannick; Farina, Dario

2014-09-01

This paper addresses the sequential decoding of intramuscular single-channel electromyographic (EMG) signals to extract the activity of individual motor neurons. A hidden Markov model is derived from the physiological generation of the EMG signal. The EMG signal is described as a sum of several action potentials (wavelet) trains, embedded in noise. For each train, the time interval between wavelets is modeled by a process that parameters are linked to the muscular activity. The parameters of this process are estimated sequentially by a Bayes filter, along with the firing instants. The method was tested on some simulated signals and an experimental one, from which the rates of detection and classification of action potentials were above 95% with respect to the reference decomposition. The method works sequentially in time, and is the first to address the problem of intramuscular EMG decomposition online. It has potential applications for man-machine interfacing based on motor neuron activities.

Self-regulated learning of important information under sequential and simultaneous encoding conditions.

Science.gov (United States)

Middlebrooks, Catherine D; Castel, Alan D

2018-05-01

Learners make a number of decisions when attempting to study efficiently: they must choose which information to study, for how long to study it, and whether to restudy it later. The current experiments examine whether documented impairments to self-regulated learning when studying information sequentially, as opposed to simultaneously, extend to the learning of and memory for valuable information. In Experiment 1, participants studied lists of words ranging in value from 1-10 points sequentially or simultaneously at a preset presentation rate; in Experiment 2, study was self-paced and participants could choose to restudy. Although participants prioritized high-value over low-value information, irrespective of presentation, those who studied the items simultaneously demonstrated superior value-based prioritization with respect to recall, study selections, and self-pacing. The results of the present experiments support the theory that devising, maintaining, and executing efficient study agendas is inherently different under sequential formatting than simultaneous. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Farraj_NO2-O3 Sequential exposure study_All data

Data.gov (United States)

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency — Cardiovascular Physiologic and Systemic Responses to Sequential Exposure to Nitrogen Dioxide and Ozone in Rats. This dataset is associated with the following...

The one-shot deviation principle for sequential rationality

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hendon, Ebbe; Whitta-Jacobsen, Hans Jørgen; Sloth, Birgitte

1996-01-01

We present a decentralization result which is useful for practical and theoretical work with sequential equilibrium, perfect Bayesian equilibrium, and related equilibrium concepts for extensive form games. A weak consistency condition is sufficient to obtain an analogy to the well known One-Stage......-Stage-Deviation Principle for subgame perfect equilibrium...

Sequential infiltration synthesis for enhancing multiple-patterning lithography

Science.gov (United States)

Darling, Seth B.; Elam, Jeffrey W.; Tseng, Yu-Chih

2017-06-20

Simplified methods of multiple-patterning photolithography using sequential infiltration synthesis to modify the photoresist such that it withstands plasma etching better than unmodified resist and replaces one or more hard masks and/or a freezing step in MPL processes including litho-etch-litho-etch photolithography or litho-freeze-litho-etch photolithography.

Competitive interactions affect working memory performance for both simultaneous and sequential stimulus presentation

OpenAIRE

Ahmad, J; Swan, G; Bowman, H; Wyble, B; De Ozorio Nobre, AC; Shapiro, KL; McNab, F

2017-01-01

Competition between simultaneously presented visual stimuli lengthens reaction time and reduces both the BOLD response and neural firing. In contrast, conditions of sequential presentation have been assumed to be free from competition. Here we manipulated the spatial proximity of stimuli (Near versus Far conditions) to examine the effects of simultaneous and sequential competition on different measures of working memory (WM) for colour. With simultaneous presentation, the measure of WM precis...

Sequential neural models with stochastic layers

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fraccaro, Marco; Sønderby, Søren Kaae; Paquet, Ulrich

2016-01-01

How can we efficiently propagate uncertainty in a latent state representation with recurrent neural networks? This paper introduces stochastic recurrent neural networks which glue a deterministic recurrent neural network and a state space model together to form a stochastic and sequential neural...... generative model. The clear separation of deterministic and stochastic layers allows a structured variational inference network to track the factorization of the model's posterior distribution. By retaining both the nonlinear recursive structure of a recurrent neural network and averaging over...

Breast conserving treatment for breast cancer: dosimetric comparison of sequential versus simultaneous integrated photon boost.

Science.gov (United States)

Van Parijs, Hilde; Reynders, Truus; Heuninckx, Karina; Verellen, Dirk; Storme, Guy; De Ridder, Mark

2014-01-01

Breast conserving surgery followed by whole breast irradiation is widely accepted as standard of care for early breast cancer. Addition of a boost dose to the initial tumor area further reduces local recurrences. We investigated the dosimetric benefits of a simultaneously integrated boost (SIB) compared to a sequential boost to hypofractionate the boost volume, while maintaining normofractionation on the breast. For 10 patients 4 treatment plans were deployed, 1 with a sequential photon boost, and 3 with different SIB techniques: on a conventional linear accelerator, helical TomoTherapy, and static TomoDirect. Dosimetric comparison was performed. PTV-coverage was good in all techniques. Conformity was better with all SIB techniques compared to sequential boost (P = 0.0001). There was less dose spilling to the ipsilateral breast outside the PTVboost (P = 0.04). The dose to the organs at risk (OAR) was not influenced by SIB compared to sequential boost. Helical TomoTherapy showed a higher mean dose to the contralateral breast, but less than 5 Gy for each patient. SIB showed less dose spilling within the breast and equal dose to OAR compared to sequential boost. Both helical TomoTherapy and the conventional technique delivered acceptable dosimetry. SIB seems a safe alternative and can be implemented in clinical routine.

Comparing cluster-level dynamic treatment regimens using sequential, multiple assignment, randomized trials: Regression estimation and sample size considerations.

Science.gov (United States)

NeCamp, Timothy; Kilbourne, Amy; Almirall, Daniel

2017-08-01

Cluster-level dynamic treatment regimens can be used to guide sequential treatment decision-making at the cluster level in order to improve outcomes at the individual or patient-level. In a cluster-level dynamic treatment regimen, the treatment is potentially adapted and re-adapted over time based on changes in the cluster that could be impacted by prior intervention, including aggregate measures of the individuals or patients that compose it. Cluster-randomized sequential multiple assignment randomized trials can be used to answer multiple open questions preventing scientists from developing high-quality cluster-level dynamic treatment regimens. In a cluster-randomized sequential multiple assignment randomized trial, sequential randomizations occur at the cluster level and outcomes are observed at the individual level. This manuscript makes two contributions to the design and analysis of cluster-randomized sequential multiple assignment randomized trials. First, a weighted least squares regression approach is proposed for comparing the mean of a patient-level outcome between the cluster-level dynamic treatment regimens embedded in a sequential multiple assignment randomized trial. The regression approach facilitates the use of baseline covariates which is often critical in the analysis of cluster-level trials. Second, sample size calculators are derived for two common cluster-randomized sequential multiple assignment randomized trial designs for use when the primary aim is a between-dynamic treatment regimen comparison of the mean of a continuous patient-level outcome. The methods are motivated by the Adaptive Implementation of Effective Programs Trial which is, to our knowledge, the first-ever cluster-randomized sequential multiple assignment randomized trial in psychiatry.

MUSCLE OR MOTIVATION? A STOP SIGNAL STUDY ON THE EFFECTS OF SEQUENTIAL COGNITIVE CONTROL

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hilde M. Huizenga

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Performance in cognitive control tasks deteriorates when these tasks are performed together with other tasks that also require cognitive control, that is, if simultaneous cognitive control is required. Surprisingly, this decrease in performance is also observed if tasks are preceded by other cognitive control tasks, that is, if sequential cognitive control is required. The common explanation for the latter finding is that previous acts of cognitive control deplete a common resource, just like a muscle becomes fatigued after repeated use. An alternative explanation however has also been put forward, namely that repeated acts of cognitive control reduce the motivation to match allocated resources to required resources. In this paper we formalize these two accounts, the muscle and the motivation account, and show that they yield differential predictions on the interaction between simultaneous and sequential cognitive control. Such an interaction is not predicted by the muscle account, whereas it is predicted by the motivation account.These predictions were tested in a paradigm where participants had to perform a series of stop-signal tasks, these tasks varied both in their demands on simultaneous control and in their demands on sequential control. This paradigm, combined with a multilevel analysis, offered the possibility to test the differential predictions directly. Results of two studies indicate that an interaction between simultaneous and sequential cognitive control is present. Therefore it is concluded that effects of sequential cognitive control are best explained by the motivation account.

Introducing sequential managed aquifer recharge technology (SMART) - From laboratory to full-scale application.

Science.gov (United States)

Regnery, Julia; Wing, Alexandre D; Kautz, Jessica; Drewes, Jörg E

2016-07-01

Previous lab-scale studies demonstrated that stimulating the indigenous soil microbial community of groundwater recharge systems by manipulating the availability of biodegradable organic carbon (BDOC) and establishing sequential redox conditions in the subsurface resulted in enhanced removal of compounds with redox-dependent removal behavior such as trace organic chemicals. The aim of this study is to advance this concept from laboratory to full-scale application by introducing sequential managed aquifer recharge technology (SMART). To validate the concept of SMART, a full-scale managed aquifer recharge (MAR) facility in Colorado was studied for three years that featured the proposed sequential configuration: A short riverbank filtration passage followed by subsequent re-aeration and artificial recharge and recovery. Our findings demonstrate that sequential subsurface treatment zones characterized by carbon-rich (>3 mg/L BDOC) to carbon-depleted (≤1 mg/L BDOC) and predominant oxic redox conditions can be established at full-scale MAR facilities adopting the SMART concept. The sequential configuration resulted in substantially improved trace organic chemical removal (i.e. higher biodegradation rate coefficients) for moderately biodegradable compounds compared to conventional MAR systems with extended travel times in an anoxic aquifer. Furthermore, sorption batch experiments with clay materials dispersed in the subsurface implied that sorptive processes might also play a role in the attenuation and retardation of chlorinated flame retardants during MAR. Hence, understanding key factors controlling trace organic chemical removal performance during SMART allows for systems to be engineered for optimal efficiency, resulting in improved removal of constituents at shorter subsurface travel times and a potentially reduced physical footprint of MAR installations. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Minimal and non-minimal standard models: Universality of radiative corrections

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Passarino, G.

1991-01-01

The possibility of describing electroweak processes by means of models with a non-minimal Higgs sector is analyzed. The renormalization procedure which leads to a set of fitting equations for the bare parameters of the lagrangian is first reviewed for the minimal standard model. A solution of the fitting equations is obtained, which correctly includes large higher-order corrections. Predictions for physical observables, notably the W boson mass and the Z O partial widths, are discussed in detail. Finally the extension to non-minimal models is described under the assumption that new physics will appear only inside the vector boson self-energies and the concept of universality of radiative corrections is introduced, showing that to a large extent they are insensitive to the details of the enlarged Higgs sector. Consequences for the bounds on the top quark mass are also discussed. (orig.)

Double-label autoradiographic deoxyglucose method for sequential measurement of regional cerebral glucose utilization

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Redies, C; Diksic, M; Evans, A C; Gjedde, A; Yamamoto, Y L

1987-08-01

A new double-label autoradiographic glucose analog method for the sequential measurement of altered regional cerebral metabolic rates for glucose in the same animal is presented. This method is based on the sequential injection of two boluses of glucose tracer labeled with two different isotopes (short-lived /sup 18/F and long-lived /sup 3/H, respectively). An operational equation is derived which allows the determination of glucose utilization for the time period before the injection of the second tracer; this equation corrects for accumulation and loss of the first tracer from the metabolic pool occurring after the injection of the second tracer. An error analysis of this operational equation is performed. The double-label deoxyglucose method is validated in the primary somatosensory (''barrel'') cortex of the anesthetized rat. Two different rows of whiskers were stimulated sequentially in each rat; the two periods of stimulation were each preceded by an injection of glucose tracer. After decapitation, dried brain slices were first exposed, in direct contact, to standard X-ray film and then to uncoated, ''tritium-sensitive'' film. Results show that the double-label deoxyglucose method proposed in this paper allows the quantification and complete separation of glucose utilization patterns elicited by two different stimulations sequentially applied in the same animal.

Sequential strand displacement beacon for detection of DNA coverage on functionalized gold nanoparticles.

Science.gov (United States)

Paliwoda, Rebecca E; Li, Feng; Reid, Michael S; Lin, Yanwen; Le, X Chris

2014-06-17

Functionalizing nanomaterials for diverse analytical, biomedical, and therapeutic applications requires determination of surface coverage (or density) of DNA on nanomaterials. We describe a sequential strand displacement beacon assay that is able to quantify specific DNA sequences conjugated or coconjugated onto gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). Unlike the conventional fluorescence assay that requires the target DNA to be fluorescently labeled, the sequential strand displacement beacon method is able to quantify multiple unlabeled DNA oligonucleotides using a single (universal) strand displacement beacon. This unique feature is achieved by introducing two short unlabeled DNA probes for each specific DNA sequence and by performing sequential DNA strand displacement reactions. Varying the relative amounts of the specific DNA sequences and spacing DNA sequences during their coconjugation onto AuNPs results in different densities of the specific DNA on AuNP, ranging from 90 to 230 DNA molecules per AuNP. Results obtained from our sequential strand displacement beacon assay are consistent with those obtained from the conventional fluorescence assays. However, labeling of DNA with some fluorescent dyes, e.g., tetramethylrhodamine, alters DNA density on AuNP. The strand displacement strategy overcomes this problem by obviating direct labeling of the target DNA. This method has broad potential to facilitate more efficient design and characterization of novel multifunctional materials for diverse applications.

A generally applicable sequential alkaline phosphatase immunohistochemical double staining

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Loos, Chris M.; Teeling, Peter

2008-01-01

A universal type of sequential double alkaline phosphatase immunohistochemical staining is described that can be used for formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded and cryostat tissue sections from human and mouse origin. It consists of two alkaline phosphatase detection systems including enzymatic

Using Unconstrained Tongue Motion as an Alternative Control Mechanism for Wheeled Mobility

OpenAIRE

Huo, Xueliang; Ghovanloo, Maysam

2009-01-01

Tongue drive system (TDS) is a tongue-operated, minimally invasive, unobtrusive, noncontact, and wireless assistive technology that infers users’ intentions by detecting and classifying their voluntary tongue motions, and translating them to user-defined commands. We have developed customized interface circuitry between an external TDS (eTDS) prototype and a commercial powered wheelchair (PWC) as well as three control strategies to evaluate the tongue motion as an alternative control input fo...

Strain development in a filled epoxy resin curing under constrained and unconstrained conditions as assessed by Fibre Bragg Grating sensors

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2007-04-01

Full Text Available The influence of adhesion to the mould wall on the released strain of a highly filled anhydride cured epoxy resin (EP, which was hardened in an aluminium mould under constrained and unconstrained condition, was investigated. The shrinkage-induced strain was measured by fibre optical sensing technique. Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG sensors were embedded into the curing EP placed in a cylindrical mould cavity. The cure-induced strain signals were detected in both, vertical and horizontal directions, during isothermal curing at 75 °C for 1000 minutes. A huge difference in the strain signal of both directions could be detected for the different adhesion conditions. Under non-adhering condition the horizontal and vertical strain-time traces were practically identical resulting in a compressive strain at the end of about 3200 ppm, which is a proof of free or isotropic shrinking. However, under constrained condition the horizontal shrinkage in the EP was prevented due to its adhesion to the mould wall. So, the curing material shrunk preferably in vertical direction. This resulted in much higher released compressive strain signals in vertical (10430 ppm than in horizontal (2230 ppm direction. The constrained cured EP resins are under inner stresses. Qualitative information on the residual stress state in the molding was deduced by exploiting the birefringence of the EP.

Anatomy of a defective barrier: sequential glove leak detection in a surgical and dental environment.

Science.gov (United States)

Albin, M S; Bunegin, L; Duke, E S; Ritter, R R; Page, C P

1992-02-01

a) To determine the frequency of perforations in latex surgical gloves before, during, and after surgical and dental procedures; b) to evaluate the topographical distribution of perforations in latex surgical gloves after surgical and dental procedures; and c) to validate methods of testing for latex surgical glove patency. Multitrial tests under in vitro conditions and a prospective sequential patient study using consecutive testing. An outpatient dental clinic at a university dental school, the operating suite in a medical school affiliated with the Veteran's Hospital, and a biomechanics laboratory. Surgeons, scrub nurses, and dental technicians participating in 50 surgical and 50 dental procedures. We collected 679 latex surgical gloves after surgical procedures and tested them for patency by using a water pressure test. We also employed an electronic glove leak detector before donning, after sequential time intervals, and upon termination of 47 surgical (sequential surgical), 50 dental (sequential dental), and in three orthopedic cases where double gloving was used. The electronic glove leak detector was validated by using electronic point-by-point surface probing, fluorescein dye diffusion, as well as detecting glove punctures made with a 27-gauge needle. The random study indicated a leak rate of 33.0% (224 out of 679) in latex surgical gloves; the sequential surgical study demonstrated patency in 203 out of 347 gloves (58.5%); the sequential dental study showed 34 leaks in the 106 gloves used (32.1%); and with double gloving, the leak rate decreased to 25.0% (13 of 52 gloves tested). While the allowable FDA defect rate for unused latex surgical gloves is 1.5%, we noted defect rates in unused gloves of 5.5% in the sequential surgical, 1.9% in the sequential dental, and 4.0% in our electronic glove leak detector validating study. In the sequential surgical study, 52% of the leaks had occurred by 75 mins, and in the sequential dental study, 75% of the leaks

Sequentially generated states for the study of two dimensional systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Banuls, Mari-Carmen; Cirac, J. Ignacio [Max-Planck-Institut fuer Quantenoptik, Garching (Germany); Perez-Garcia, David [Depto. Analisis Matematico, Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain); Wolf, Michael M. [Niels Bohr Institut, Copenhagen (Denmark); Verstraete, Frank [Fakultaet fuer Physik, Universitaet Wien (Austria)

2009-07-01

The family of Matrix Product States represents a powerful tool for the study of physical one-dimensional quantum many-body systems, such as spin chains. Besides, Matrix Product States can be defined as the family of quantum states that can be sequentially generated in a one-dimensional system. We have introduced a new family of states which extends this sequential definition to two dimensions. Like in Matrix Product States, expectation values of few body observables can be efficiently evaluated and, for the case of translationally invariant systems, the correlation functions decay exponentially with the distance. We show that such states are a subclass of Projected Entangled Pair States and investigate their suitability for approximating the ground states of local Hamiltonians.

Modeling eye gaze patterns in clinician-patient interaction with lag sequential analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Montague, Enid; Xu, Jie; Chen, Ping-Yu; Asan, Onur; Barrett, Bruce P; Chewning, Betty

2011-10-01

The aim of this study was to examine whether lag sequential analysis could be used to describe eye gaze orientation between clinicians and patients in the medical encounter. This topic is particularly important as new technologies are implemented into multiuser health care settings in which trust is critical and nonverbal cues are integral to achieving trust. This analysis method could lead to design guidelines for technologies and more effective assessments of interventions. Nonverbal communication patterns are important aspects of clinician-patient interactions and may affect patient outcomes. The eye gaze behaviors of clinicians and patients in 110 videotaped medical encounters were analyzed using the lag sequential method to identify significant behavior sequences. Lag sequential analysis included both event-based lag and time-based lag. Results from event-based lag analysis showed that the patient's gaze followed that of the clinician, whereas the clinician's gaze did not follow the patient's. Time-based sequential analysis showed that responses from the patient usually occurred within 2 s after the initial behavior of the clinician. Our data suggest that the clinician's gaze significantly affects the medical encounter but that the converse is not true. Findings from this research have implications for the design of clinical work systems and modeling interactions. Similar research methods could be used to identify different behavior patterns in clinical settings (physical layout, technology, etc.) to facilitate and evaluate clinical work system designs.

Bursts and heavy tails in temporal and sequential dynamics of foraging decisions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kanghoon Jung

2014-08-01

Full Text Available A fundamental understanding of behavior requires predicting when and what an individual will choose. However, the actual temporal and sequential dynamics of successive choices made among multiple alternatives remain unclear. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that there is a general bursting property in both the timing and sequential patterns of foraging decisions. We conducted a foraging experiment in which rats chose among four different foods over a continuous two-week time period. Regarding when choices were made, we found bursts of rapidly occurring actions, separated by time-varying inactive periods, partially based on a circadian rhythm. Regarding what was chosen, we found sequential dynamics in affective choices characterized by two key features: (a a highly biased choice distribution; and (b preferential attachment, in which the animals were more likely to choose what they had previously chosen. To capture the temporal dynamics, we propose a dual-state model consisting of active and inactive states. We also introduce a satiation-attainment process for bursty activity, and a non-homogeneous Poisson process for longer inactivity between bursts. For the sequential dynamics, we propose a dual-control model consisting of goal-directed and habit systems, based on outcome valuation and choice history, respectively. This study provides insights into how the bursty nature of behavior emerges from the interaction of different underlying systems, leading to heavy tails in the distribution of behavior over time and choices.

Bursts and Heavy Tails in Temporal and Sequential Dynamics of Foraging Decisions

Science.gov (United States)

Jung, Kanghoon; Jang, Hyeran; Kralik, Jerald D.; Jeong, Jaeseung

2014-01-01

A fundamental understanding of behavior requires predicting when and what an individual will choose. However, the actual temporal and sequential dynamics of successive choices made among multiple alternatives remain unclear. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that there is a general bursting property in both the timing and sequential patterns of foraging decisions. We conducted a foraging experiment in which rats chose among four different foods over a continuous two-week time period. Regarding when choices were made, we found bursts of rapidly occurring actions, separated by time-varying inactive periods, partially based on a circadian rhythm. Regarding what was chosen, we found sequential dynamics in affective choices characterized by two key features: (a) a highly biased choice distribution; and (b) preferential attachment, in which the animals were more likely to choose what they had previously chosen. To capture the temporal dynamics, we propose a dual-state model consisting of active and inactive states. We also introduce a satiation-attainment process for bursty activity, and a non-homogeneous Poisson process for longer inactivity between bursts. For the sequential dynamics, we propose a dual-control model consisting of goal-directed and habit systems, based on outcome valuation and choice history, respectively. This study provides insights into how the bursty nature of behavior emerges from the interaction of different underlying systems, leading to heavy tails in the distribution of behavior over time and choices. PMID:25122498

A Fixed-Precision Sequential Sampling Plan for the Potato Tuberworm Moth, Phthorimaea operculella Zeller (Lepidoptera: Gelechidae), on Potato Cultivars.

Science.gov (United States)

Shahbi, M; Rajabpour, A

2017-08-01

Phthorimaea operculella Zeller is an important pest of potato in Iran. Spatial distribution and fixed-precision sequential sampling for population estimation of the pest on two potato cultivars, Arinda ® and Sante ® , were studied in two separate potato fields during two growing seasons (2013-2014 and 2014-2015). Spatial distribution was investigated by Taylor's power law and Iwao's patchiness. Results showed that the spatial distribution of eggs and larvae was random. In contrast to Iwao's patchiness, Taylor's power law provided a highly significant relationship between variance and mean density. Therefore, fixed-precision sequential sampling plan was developed by Green's model at two precision levels of 0.25 and 0.1. The optimum sample size on Arinda ® and Sante ® cultivars at precision level of 0.25 ranged from 151 to 813 and 149 to 802 leaves, respectively. At 0.1 precision level, the sample sizes varied from 5083 to 1054 and 5100 to 1050 leaves for Arinda ® and Sante ® cultivars, respectively. Therefore, the optimum sample sizes for the cultivars, with different resistance levels, were not significantly different. According to the calculated stop lines, the sampling must be continued until cumulative number of eggs + larvae reached to 15-16 or 96-101 individuals at precision levels of 0.25 or 0.1, respectively. The performance of the sampling plan was validated by resampling analysis using resampling for validation of sampling plans software. The sampling plant provided in this study can be used to obtain a rapid estimate of the pest density with minimal effort.

Boundary conditions in random sequential adsorption

Science.gov (United States)

Cieśla, Michał; Ziff, Robert M.

2018-04-01

The influence of different boundary conditions on the density of random packings of disks is studied. Packings are generated using the random sequential adsorption algorithm with three different types of boundary conditions: periodic, open, and wall. It is found that the finite size effects are smallest for periodic boundary conditions, as expected. On the other hand, in the case of open and wall boundaries it is possible to introduce an effective packing size and a constant correction term to significantly improve the packing densities.

Sequential Therapy of Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Children

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

I.A. Karimdzhanov

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Aim of the study — to examine the effectiveness of sequential therapy of injectable and oral forms cephalosporins of II generation, cefuroxime sodium and cefprozil, in children with acute community-acquired pneumonia. We examined 53 child patients aged 6 months — 14 years with acute community-acquired pneumonia. Patients were divided into 2 groups: 1st group — 26 patients who treated with cefuroxime sodium intramuscularly, and 2nd — 27 patients who treated with cefuroxime sodium in first 3 days and then from the 4th day — with cefprozil suspension orally. Both groups of patients were comparable by forms and course of pneumonia. In the clinic to all patients were conducted conventional clinical and laboratory investigations. Complex therapy was not different in both groups. Efficacy of treatment was assessed in dynamics. When comparing the effectiveness of two antibiotic regimens (cefuroxime sodium parenterally and sequential regimen with replacement by cefprozil orally there were no differences in the dynamics of clinical course, laboratory and radiological data. Finding of the conducted investigations before treatment showed that majority of patients had clinical and radiological evidence of pneumonia: fever, cough, shortness of breath, tachycardia, physical and radiological changes in the lungs. Evaluation of treatment efficacy showed that by the end of treatment in both groups of patients there was a positive clinical and radiological dynamics of the disease, the body temperature returned to normal, symptoms of intoxication, physical changes in the lungs disappeared, focal and infiltrative changes disappeared completely. Thus, sequential therapy with cephalosporins of II generation, cefuroxime and cefprozil, in the treatment of acute community-acquired pneumonia in children is a quite effective and safe method with good tolerability and no side effects.

Diagnosis of Constitutional Hyperbilirubinemias by Sequential Scanning with 131I-BSP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ueda, Hideo; Lio, Masahiro; Yamada, Hideo; Kamada, Haruo; Luchi, Masahiko; Ishiwa, Mamoru

1971-01-01

Sequential liver scanning was introduced for the diagnosis of medical and surgical jaundices by Yamada and Taplin (1) using 131 I-Rose Bengal. Following this trial authors have reevaluated the 131 I-BSP (monoiodide) (2) and applied this dye successfully for the same purpose as well as for hepatic function study (2). In this paper, taking note of the fact that 131 I-BSP sequential scanning method makes visible the mechanism of liver uptake, intrahepatic transport and biliary excretion of this dye, the authors aimed to make clear the classification of constitutional hyperbilirubinemias and the pathophysiology of this disease subjects, which are still controversial among researchers.

Sequential analysis of materials balances. Application to a prospective reprocessing facility

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Picard, R.

1986-01-01

This paper discusses near-real-time accounting in the context of the prospective DWK reprocessing plant. Sensitivity of a standard sequential testing procedure, applied to unfalsified operator data only, is examined with respect to a variety of loss scenarios. It is seen that large inventories preclude high-probability detection of certain protracted losses of material. In Sec. 2, a rough error propagation for the MBA of interest is outlined. Mathematical development for the analysis is given in Sec. 3, and generic aspects of sequential testing are reviewed in Sec. 4. In Sec. 5, results from a simulation to quantify performance of the accounting system are presented

Double tracer autoradiographic method for sequential evaluation of regional cerebral perfusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Matsuda, H.; Tsuji, S.; Oba, H.; Kinuya, K.; Terada, H.; Sumiya, H.; Shiba, K.; Mori, H.; Hisada, K.; Maeda, T.

1989-01-01

A new double tracer autoradiographic method for the sequential evaluation of altered regional cerebral perfusion in the same animal is presented. This method is based on the sequential injection of two tracers, 99m Tc-hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime and N-isopropyl-( 125 I)p-iodoamphetamine. This method is validated in the assessment of brovincamine effects on regional cerebral perfusion in an experimental model of chronic brain ischemia in the rat. The drug enhanced perfusion recovery in low-flow areas, selectively in surrounding areas of infarction. The results suggest that this technique is of potential use in the study of neuropharmacological effects applied during the experiment

Sequential pattern recognition by maximum conditional informativity

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Grim, Jiří

2014-01-01

Roč. 45, č. 1 (2014), s. 39-45 ISSN 0167-8655 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GA14-02652S; GA ČR(CZ) GA14-10911S Keywords : Multivariate statistics * Statistical pattern recognition * Sequential decision making * Product mixtures * EM algorithm * Shannon information Subject RIV: IN - Informatics, Computer Sci ence Impact factor: 1.551, year: 2014 http://library.utia.cas.cz/separaty/2014/RO/grim-0428565.pdf

Quantum chromodynamics as the sequential fragmenting with inactivation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Botet, R.

1996-01-01

We investigate the relation between the modified leading log approximation of the perturbative QCD and the sequential binary fragmentation process. We will show that in the absence of inactivation, this process is equivalent to the QCD gluodynamics. The inactivation term yields a precise prescription of how to include the hadronization in the QCD equations. (authors)

What determines the impact of context on sequential action?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Ruitenberg, M.F.L.; Verwey, Willem B.; Abrahamse, E.L.

2015-01-01

In the current study we build on earlier observations that memory-based sequential action is better in the original learning context than in other contexts. We examined whether changes in the perceptual context have differential impact across distinct processing phases (preparation versus execution

Influence of synchronous and sequential stimulation on muscle fatigue

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Thomsen, M.; Thomsen, M.; Veltink, Petrus H.

1997-01-01

In acute experiments the sciatic nerve of the rat is electrically stimulated to induce fatigue in the medial Gastrocnemius muscle. Fatigue tests are carried out using intermittent stimulation of different compartments (sequential) or a single compartment (synchronous) of the sciatic nerve. The

Mean-Variance-Validation Technique for Sequential Kriging Metamodels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Tae Hee; Kim, Ho Sung

2010-01-01

The rigorous validation of the accuracy of metamodels is an important topic in research on metamodel techniques. Although a leave-k-out cross-validation technique involves a considerably high computational cost, it cannot be used to measure the fidelity of metamodels. Recently, the mean 0 validation technique has been proposed to quantitatively determine the accuracy of metamodels. However, the use of mean 0 validation criterion may lead to premature termination of a sampling process even if the kriging model is inaccurate. In this study, we propose a new validation technique based on the mean and variance of the response evaluated when sequential sampling method, such as maximum entropy sampling, is used. The proposed validation technique is more efficient and accurate than the leave-k-out cross-validation technique, because instead of performing numerical integration, the kriging model is explicitly integrated to accurately evaluate the mean and variance of the response evaluated. The error in the proposed validation technique resembles a root mean squared error, thus it can be used to determine a stop criterion for sequential sampling of metamodels

[Sequential monitoring of renal transplant with aspiration cytology].

Science.gov (United States)

Manfro, R C; Gonçalves, L F; de Moura, L A

1998-01-01

To evaluate the utility of kidney aspiration cytology in the sequential monitorization of acute rejection in renal transplant patients. Thirty patients were submitted to 376 aspirations. The clinical diagnoses were independently established. The representativity of the samples reached 82.7%. The total corrected increment index and the number of immunoactivated cells were higher during acute rejection as compared to normal allograft function, acute tubular necrosis, and cyclosporine nephrotoxicity. The parameters to the diagnosis of acute rejection were sensitivity: 71.8%, specificity: 87.3%, positive predictive value: 50.9%, negative predictive value: 94.9% and accuracy 84.9%. The false positive results were mainly related to cytomegalovirus infection or to the administration of OKT3. In 10 out of 11 false negative results incipient immunoactivation was present alerting to the possibility of acute rejection. Kidney aspiration cytology is a useful tool for the sequential monitorization of acute rejection in renal transplant patients. The best results are reached when the results of aspiration cytology are analyzed with the clinical data.

Kinase-loaded magnetic beads for sequential in vitro phosphorylation of peptides and proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Hromadkova, Lenka; Kupcik, Rudolf; Vajrychova, Marie; Prikryl, Petr; Charvatova, Andrea; Jankovicova, Barbora; Ripova, Daniela; Bilkova, Zuzana; Slovakova, Marcela

2018-01-15

Post-translational modifications, including phosphorylation, greatly impact the physiological function of proteins, especially those that are natively unfolded and implicated in many neurodegenerative diseases. However, structural and functional studies of such proteins require fully defined phosphorylation, including those that are not physiological. Thus, the kinases ERK2 and GSK-3β were immobilized to various superparamagnetic beads with carboxylic, aldehyde, Ni 2+ , or Co 3+ functional groups, with a view to efficiently phosphorylate peptides and proteins in vitro. Full phosphorylation of specific synthetic peptides confirmed that beads were successfully loaded with kinases. Remarkably, enzymes covalently immobilized on carboxylated SeraMag beads remained active upon reuse, with residual activity after 10 uses 99.5 ± 0.34% for GSK-3β and 36.2 ± 2.01% for ERK2. The beads were also used to sequentially phosphorylate recombinant tau, which in vivo is a biomarker of Alzheimer's disease. Thus, a system consisting of two fully active kinases immobilized to magnetic beads is demonstrated for the first time. In comparison to soluble enzymes, the beads are easier to handle, reusable, and thus low-cost. Importantly, these beads are also convenient to remove from reactions to minimize contamination of phosphorylated products or to exchange with other kinases.

Minimal Gromov-Witten rings

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Przyjalkowski, V V

2008-01-01

We construct an abstract theory of Gromov-Witten invariants of genus 0 for quantum minimal Fano varieties (a minimal class of varieties which is natural from the quantum cohomological viewpoint). Namely, we consider the minimal Gromov-Witten ring: a commutative algebra whose generators and relations are of the form used in the Gromov-Witten theory of Fano varieties (of unspecified dimension). The Gromov-Witten theory of any quantum minimal variety is a homomorphism from this ring to C. We prove an abstract reconstruction theorem which says that this ring is isomorphic to the free commutative ring generated by 'prime two-pointed invariants'. We also find solutions of the differential equation of type DN for a Fano variety of dimension N in terms of the generating series of one-pointed Gromov-Witten invariants

Use of sequential extraction to assess metal partitioning in soils

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kaasalainen, Marika; Yli-Halla, Markku

2003-01-01

The state of heavy metal pollution and the mobility of Cd, Cu, Ni, Cr, Pb and Zn were studied in three texturally different agricultural soil profiles near a Cu-Ni smelter in Harjavalta, Finland. The pseudo-total concentrations were determined by an aqua regia procedure. Metals were also determined after division into four fractions by sequential extraction with (1) acetic acid (exchangeable and specifically adsorbed metals), (2) a reducing agent (bound to Fe/Mn hydroxides), (3) an oxidizing agent (bound to soil organic matter) and (4) aqua regia (bound to mineral structures). Fallout from the smelter has increased the concentrations of Cd, Cu and Ni in the topsoil, where 75-90% of Cd, 49-72% of Cu and 22-52% of Ni occurred in the first two fractions. Slight Pb and Zn pollution was evident as well. High proportions of mobile Cd, Cu and Ni also deeper in the sandy soil, closest to the smelter, indicated some downward movement of metals. The hydroxide-bound fraction of Pb dominated in almost all soils and horizons, while Ni, Cr and Zn mostly occurred in mineral structures. Aqua regia extraction is usefully supplemented with sequential extraction, particularly in less polluted soils and in soils that exhibit substantial textural differences within the profiles. - Sequential extraction is most useful with soils with low metal pollutant levels

Fully vs. Sequentially Coupled Loads Analysis of Offshore Wind Turbines

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Damiani, Rick; Wendt, Fabian; Musial, Walter; Finucane, Z.; Hulliger, L.; Chilka, S.; Dolan, D.; Cushing, J.; O' Connell, D.; Falk, S.

2017-06-19

The design and analysis methods for offshore wind turbines must consider the aerodynamic and hydrodynamic loads and response of the entire system (turbine, tower, substructure, and foundation) coupled to the turbine control system dynamics. Whereas a fully coupled (turbine and support structure) modeling approach is more rigorous, intellectual property concerns can preclude this approach. In fact, turbine control system algorithms and turbine properties are strictly guarded and often not shared. In many cases, a partially coupled analysis using separate tools and an exchange of reduced sets of data via sequential coupling may be necessary. In the sequentially coupled approach, the turbine and substructure designers will independently determine and exchange an abridged model of their respective subsystems to be used in their partners' dynamic simulations. Although the ability to achieve design optimization is sacrificed to some degree with a sequentially coupled analysis method, the central question here is whether this approach can deliver the required safety and how the differences in the results from the fully coupled method could affect the design. This work summarizes the scope and preliminary results of a study conducted for the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement aimed at quantifying differences between these approaches through aero-hydro-servo-elastic simulations of two offshore wind turbines on a monopile and jacket substructure.

Breast Conserving Treatment for Breast Cancer: Dosimetric Comparison of Sequential versus Simultaneous Integrated Photon Boost

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hilde Van Parijs

2014-01-01

Full Text Available Background. Breast conserving surgery followed by whole breast irradiation is widely accepted as standard of care for early breast cancer. Addition of a boost dose to the initial tumor area further reduces local recurrences. We investigated the dosimetric benefits of a simultaneously integrated boost (SIB compared to a sequential boost to hypofractionate the boost volume, while maintaining normofractionation on the breast. Methods. For 10 patients 4 treatment plans were deployed, 1 with a sequential photon boost, and 3 with different SIB techniques: on a conventional linear accelerator, helical TomoTherapy, and static TomoDirect. Dosimetric comparison was performed. Results. PTV-coverage was good in all techniques. Conformity was better with all SIB techniques compared to sequential boost (P = 0.0001. There was less dose spilling to the ipsilateral breast outside the PTVboost (P = 0.04. The dose to the organs at risk (OAR was not influenced by SIB compared to sequential boost. Helical TomoTherapy showed a higher mean dose to the contralateral breast, but less than 5 Gy for each patient. Conclusions. SIB showed less dose spilling within the breast and equal dose to OAR compared to sequential boost. Both helical TomoTherapy and the conventional technique delivered acceptable dosimetry. SIB seems a safe alternative and can be implemented in clinical routine.

A Bayesian Optimal Design for Sequential Accelerated Degradation Testing

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Xiaoyang Li

2017-07-01

Full Text Available When optimizing an accelerated degradation testing (ADT plan, the initial values of unknown model parameters must be pre-specified. However, it is usually difficult to obtain the exact values, since many uncertainties are embedded in these parameters. Bayesian ADT optimal design was presented to address this problem by using prior distributions to capture these uncertainties. Nevertheless, when the difference between a prior distribution and actual situation is large, the existing Bayesian optimal design might cause some over-testing or under-testing issues. For example, the implemented ADT following the optimal ADT plan consumes too much testing resources or few accelerated degradation data are obtained during the ADT. To overcome these obstacles, a Bayesian sequential step-down-stress ADT design is proposed in this article. During the sequential ADT, the test under the highest stress level is firstly conducted based on the initial prior information to quickly generate degradation data. Then, the data collected under higher stress levels are employed to construct the prior distributions for the test design under lower stress levels by using the Bayesian inference. In the process of optimization, the inverse Gaussian (IG process is assumed to describe the degradation paths, and the Bayesian D-optimality is selected as the optimal objective. A case study on an electrical connector’s ADT plan is provided to illustrate the application of the proposed Bayesian sequential ADT design method. Compared with the results from a typical static Bayesian ADT plan, the proposed design could guarantee more stable and precise estimations of different reliability measures.

Minimal Marking: A Success Story

Science.gov (United States)

McNeilly, Anne

2014-01-01

The minimal-marking project conducted in Ryerson's School of Journalism throughout 2012 and early 2013 resulted in significantly higher grammar scores in two first-year classes of minimally marked university students when compared to two traditionally marked classes. The "minimal-marking" concept (Haswell, 1983), which requires…

Minimal families of curves on surfaces

KAUST Repository

Lubbes, Niels

2014-01-01

A minimal family of curves on an embedded surface is defined as a 1-dimensional family of rational curves of minimal degree, which cover the surface. We classify such minimal families using constructive methods. This allows us to compute the minimal