Dynamic location problems with limited look-ahead

Background Among the most frequently encountered mutations in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) are those in the lamin A/C (LMNA) gene. Our goal was to analyze the LMNA gene in patients with DCM and/or conduction disease referred to the cardiogenetics outpatient clinic and to evaluate the prevalence of LMNA mutations and their clinical expression. Methods and Results The LMNA gene was screened in 61 index patients. Eleven mutations (including 6 novel) were identified, mainly in the subgroup of familial DCM with cardiac conduction disease (3/10 index patients) and in patients with DCM and Emery-Dreifuss, Limb-Girdle, or unclassified forms of muscular dystrophy (7/8 index patients). In addition, a mutation was identified in 1 of 4 families with only cardiac conduction disease. We did not identify any large deletions or duplications.Genotype-phenotype relationships revealed a high rate of sudden death and cardiac transplants in carriers of the p.N 195K mutation. Our study confirmed that the p.R225X mutation leads to cardiac conduction disease with late or no development of DCM, underscoring the importance of this mutation in putative familial "lone conduction disease." Nearly one third of LMNA mutation carriers had experienced a thromboembolic event. Conclusions This study highlights the role of LMNA mutations in DCM and related disorders. A severe phenotype in p.N 195K mutation carriers and preferential cardiac conduction disease in p.R225X carriers was encountered. Because of the clinical variability, including the development of associated symptoms in time, LMNA screening should be considered in patients with DCM or familial lone conduction diseas

Worst case analysis for a general class of on-line lot-sizing heuristics.

In this paper we analyze the worst case performance of heuristics for the classical economic lot-sizing problem with time-invariant cost parameters. We consider a general class of on-line heuristics that is often applied in a rolling horizon environment. We develop a procedure to systematically construct worst case instances for a fixed time horizon and use it to derive worst case problem instances for an infinite time horizon. Our analysis shows that any on-line heuristic has a worst case ratio of at least 2. Furthermore, we show how the results can be used to construct heuristics with optimal worst case performance for small model horizons.

Interfaces to encourage look-ahead : impact on problem solving and performance

The experiments reported in this thesis attempted to directly study the process of look-ahead during problem solving. Recent work has suggested that interface manipulations that increase look-ahead during problem solving lead to improvements in performance. However, evidence has been indirect, and there have been few attempts specifically made to quantify look-ahead span, changes that may occur over time and possible interactions with the task environment. An initial experiment required users to specify 3 moves in advance while solving the 8-puzzle. The strict enforcing of look-ahead by even a small number of moves was unsuccessful in terms of improving problem performance. In fact, results indicated that such move enforcement may negatively affect performance. Subsequent experiments, using both the 8-puzzle and Water Jars problems, provided participants with a motivation to plan using a Scoreboard system that rewarded greater planning and look-ahead. Results found this approach to be more viable, as the interface appeared to support the opportunistic planning behaviour frequently undertaken by participants. Across a series of experiments, increased look-ahead led to more efficient problem solving performance compared to controls, while leaving total time to solution unaffected. Look-ahead span increased to approximately 11 steps when transforming the same start-state to a goal-state over trials on the 8-puzzle. When a new solution path had to be generated for each new problem start-state, look-ahead still increased over trials, but only to a span of approximately 4 steps. This look-ahead span was also observed during Water Jars performance when the Scoreboard manipulation was present. A manipulation of 'system response time' (SRT) on Water Jars problems also led to improved performance but indicated an adaptation to the manipulation, leading to a lesser impact of SRT than previous manipulations. The results are discussed in relation to existing studies of planning, performance and the role that look-ahead may have in future studies of problem solving

Equity Matters 2016: Digital and Online Learning for Students with Disabilities

The Center on Online Learning for Students with Disabilities (COLSD) has released the 2016 version of its annual publication Equity Matters: Digital and Online Learning for Students with Disabilities. This year’s publication focuses on promising practices for addressing the needs of students with disabilities in full-time virtual, blended, and supplemental online settings. The publication summarizes state and territorial policies related to students with disabilities, research on students with disabilities in online settings, the shifting roles of parents and teachers in K-12 virtual education, and state educational agency responsibilities

Fault-tolerant networks-on-chip routing with coarse and fine-grained look-ahead

Fault tolerance and adaptive capabilities are challenges for modern networks-on-chip (NoC) due to the increase in physical defects in advanced manufacturing processes. Two novel adaptive routing algorithms, namely coarse and fine-grained (FG) look-ahead algorithms, are proposed in this paper to enhance 2-D mesh/torus NoC system fault-tolerant capabilities. These strategies use fault flag codes from neighboring nodes to obtain the status or conditions of real-time traffic in an NoC region, then calculate the path weights and choose the route to forward packets. This approach enables the router to minimize congestion for the adjacent connected channels and also to bypass a path with faulty channels by looking ahead at distant neighboring router paths. The novelty of the proposed routing algorithms is the weighted path selection strategies, which make near-optimal routing decisions to maintain the NoC system performance under high fault rates. Results show that the proposed routing algorithms can achieve performance improvement compared to other state of the art works under various traffic loads and high fault rates. The routing algorithm with FG look-ahead capability achieves a higher throughput compared with the coarse-grained approach under complex fault patterns. The hardware area/power overheads of both routing approaches are relatively low which does not prohibit scalability for large-scale NoC implementations

Consideration of the novel psychoactive substances (‘legal highs’)

Original report can be found at: http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/ Crown Copyright, the Advisory Council/ The Home Office. This work is published under an open government license.The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) committed to providing the Government with advice on novel psychoactive substances (often colloquially termed „legal highs‟). This is a relatively recent phenomenon, exemplified by the drug known as mephedrone. The actions by the ACMD and subsequently by the Government on this drug have gone some way to reducing the potential harms caused by this substance. However, there is more that can be done. The advent of novel psychoactive substances has changed the face of the drug scene remarkably and with rapidity. The range of substances now available, their lack of consistency and the potential harms users are exposed to are now complex and multi-faceted. In light of this we have pleasure in enclosing the Council‟s report. This report provides advice on high level issues that ACMD believe the Government should give careful consideration to in addressing legally available psychoactive substances. The report does not purport to provide a single solution to the problem, but rather a number of practicable options that, in combination, seek to tackle the on-going sale, supply and consequential harms. It is important that the Government recognises that each and every department, that has a locus of responsibility in drug issues should both take personal ownership and share collective responsibility of the recommendations in this report. Tackling the issues that are raised by novel psychoactive substances requires a co-ordination of efforts that can only be realised by a strategic and co-operative approach. The ACMD has identified lead departments for each of the recommendations that should assist and guide the Government in this aim. The ACMD provides key recommendations in this report on legislation, public health, education and research. The key legislative measures are primarily concerned with tightening the enforcement of existing legislation and moving the responsibility for the supply of novel psychoactive substances to the vendors, such that the burden of proof falls to them. The ACMD believe it is for vendors to prove that such substances are neither analogues of current medicines nor products harmful to consumers in their intended form. The ACMD also makes key recommendations around public awareness from local to international initiatives.Final Published versio