Secondary Analysis of Electronic Health Records

Health Informatics; Ethics; Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery; Statistics for Life Sciences, Medicine, Health Science

Proceedings of Mathsport international 2017 conference

Proceedings of MathSport International 2017 Conference, held in the Botanical Garden of the University of Padua, June 26-28, 2017. MathSport International organizes biennial conferences dedicated to all topics where mathematics and sport meet. Topics include: performance measures, optimization of sports performance, statistics and probability models, mathematical and physical models in sports, competitive strategies, statistics and probability match outcome models, optimal tournament design and scheduling, decision support systems, analysis of rules and adjudication, econometrics in sport, analysis of sporting technologies, financial valuation in sport, e-sports (gaming), betting and sports

Coordinated Unmanned Aerial Vehicles for Surveillance of Targets

PhDThis thesis investigates the coordination approaches of multiple mobile and autonomous robots, especially resource-limited small-scale UAVs, for the surveillance of pre-de ned ground targets in a given environment. A key research issue in surveillance task is the coordination among the robots to determine the target's time varying locations. The research focuses on two applications of surveillance: (i) cooperative search of stationary targets, and (ii) cooperative observation of moving targets. The objective in cooperative search is to minimize the time and errors in nding the locations of stationary targets. The objective of cooperative observation is to maximize the collective time and quality of observation of moving targets. The thesis presents a survey of the approaches in a larger domain of multi-robot systems for the surveillance of pre-de ned targets in a given environment. This survey identi es various factors and application scenarios that a ect the performance of multi-robot surveillance systems. The thesis proposes a distributed strategy for merging delayed and incomplete information, which is a result of sensing and communication limitations, collected by di erent UAVs. An analytic derivation of the number of required observations is provided to declare the absence or existence of a target in a region. This number of required observations is integrated into an iterative use of Travelling Salesman Problem (TSP) and Multiple Travelling Salesmen Problem (MTSP) for autonomous path planning of UAVs. Additionally, it performs an exploration of the algorithmic design space and analyzes the e ects of centralized and distributed coordination on the cooperative search of stationary targets in the presence of sensing and communication limitations. The thesis also proposes the application of UAVs for observing multiple moving targets with di erent resolutions. A key contribution is to use the quad-tree data-structure for modelling the environment and movement of UAVs. This modelling has helped in the dynamic sensor placement of UAVs to maximize the observation of the number of moving targets as well as the resolution of observation.European Regional Development Fund and the Carinthian Economic Promotion Fund (KWF) under grant 20214/21530/32602

The Survey, Taxonomy, and Future Directions of Trustworthy AI: A Meta Decision of Strategic Decisions

When making strategic decisions, we are often confronted with overwhelming information to process. The situation can be further complicated when some pieces of evidence are contradicted each other or paradoxical. The challenge then becomes how to determine which information is useful and which ones should be eliminated. This process is known as meta-decision. Likewise, when it comes to using Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems for strategic decision-making, placing trust in the AI itself becomes a meta-decision, given that many AI systems are viewed as opaque "black boxes" that process large amounts of data. Trusting an opaque system involves deciding on the level of Trustworthy AI (TAI). We propose a new approach to address this issue by introducing a novel taxonomy or framework of TAI, which encompasses three crucial domains: articulate, authentic, and basic for different levels of trust. To underpin these domains, we create ten dimensions to measure trust: explainability/transparency, fairness/diversity, generalizability, privacy, data governance, safety/robustness, accountability, reproducibility, reliability, and sustainability. We aim to use this taxonomy to conduct a comprehensive survey and explore different TAI approaches from a strategic decision-making perspective

Learning with Joint Inference and Latent Linguistic Structure in Graphical Models

Constructing end-to-end NLP systems requires the processing of many types of linguistic information prior to solving the desired end task. A common approach to this problem is to construct a pipeline, one component for each task, with each system\u27s output becoming input for the next. This approach poses two problems. First, errors propagate, and, much like the childhood game of telephone , combining systems in this manner can lead to unintelligible outcomes. Second, each component task requires annotated training data to act as supervision for training the model. These annotations are often expensive and time-consuming to produce, may differ from each other in genre and style, and may not match the intended application. In this dissertation we present a general framework for constructing and reasoning on joint graphical model formulations of NLP problems. Individual models are composed using weighted Boolean logic constraints, and inference is performed using belief propagation. The systems we develop are composed of two parts: one a representation of syntax, the other a desired end task (semantic role labeling, named entity recognition, or relation extraction). By modeling these problems jointly, both models are trained in a single, integrated process, with uncertainty propagated between them. This mitigates the accumulation of errors typical of pipelined approaches. Additionally we propose a novel marginalization-based training method in which the error signal from end task annotations is used to guide the induction of a constrained latent syntactic representation. This allows training in the absence of syntactic training data, where the latent syntactic structure is instead optimized to best support the end task predictions. We find that across many NLP tasks this training method offers performance comparable to fully supervised training of each individual component, and in some instances improves upon it by learning latent structures which are more appropriate for the task

Machine learning applied to the context of Poker

A combinação de princípios da teoria de jogo e metodologias de machine learning aplicados ao contexto de formular estratégias ótimas para jogos está a angariar interesse por parte de uma porção crescentemente significativa da comunidade científica, tornando-se o jogo do Poker num candidato de estudo popular devido à sua natureza de informação imperfeita. Avanços nesta área possuem vastas aplicações em cenários do mundo real, e a área de investigação de inteligência artificial demonstra que o interesse relativo a este objeto de estudo está longe de desaparecer, com investigadores do Facebook e Carnegie Mellon a apresentar, em 2019, o primeiro agente de jogo autónomo de Poker provado como ganhador num cenário com múltiplos jogadores, uma conquista relativamente à anterior especificação do estado da arte, que fora desenvolvida para jogos de apenas 2 jogadores. Este estudo pretende explorar as características de jogos estocásticos de informação imperfeita, recolhendo informação acerca dos avanços nas metodologias disponibilizados por parte de investigadores de forma a desenvolver um agente autónomo de jogo que se pretende inserir na classificação de "utility-maximizing decision-maker".The combination of game theory principles and machine learning methodologies applied to encountering optimal strategies for games is garnering interest from an increasing large portion of the scientific community, with the game of Poker being a popular study subject due to its imperfect information nature. Advancements in this area have a wide array of applications in real-world scenarios, and the field of artificial intelligent studies show that the interest regarding this object of study is yet to fade, with researchers from Facebook and Carnegie Mellon presenting, in 2019, the world’s first autonomous Poker playing agent that is proven to be profitable while confronting multiple players at a time, an achievement in relation to the previous state of the art specification, which was developed for two player games only. This study intends to explore the characteristics of stochastic games of imperfect information, gathering information regarding the advancements in methodologies made available by researchers in order to ultimately develop an autonomous agent intended to adhere to the classification of a utility-maximizing decision-maker

Young mothers’ experiences of relationship abuse: Personal stories and public narratives

Domestic abuse has historically been defined and constructed as an adult issue. However, in recent years there has been increasing awareness that young people also experience abuse within their relationships that can have serious and long-term effects on their health and wellbeing. Research has revealed higher rates of abuse reported by younger women than by adult women (Barter et al, 2009) and young mothers in particular appear to be at significant risk of experiencing relationship abuse (Wood et al, 2011). However, there is a lack of empirical research that has explored young mothers’ experiences of abuse and, therefore, little is known about the ways in which they understand and make sense of relationship abuse and negotiate their mothering within an abusive relationship. By focusing exclusively on mothers who became pregnant before they were 18, this research addresses this gap in knowledge and offers an original contribution to the evidence base. The primary aim of the research was to offer young mothers who experienced relationship abuse an opportunity to tell their stories. Underpinned by a feminist, social constructionist epistemology, the research adopted a narrative methodology and used semi-structured interviews to generate data. Participants were six young women who became pregnant before their eighteenth birthday and who had experienced relationship abuse in the last year; two were pregnant with their first child and four were already mothers. Narrative analysis of the data using The Listening Guide explored how participants constructed themselves and made sense of their relationships, paying particular attention to the ways in which personal stories reflected or contested available narratives about relationships, abuse, motherhood and teenage pregnancy. The emerging stories offer an insight into how these young mothers negotiated limited and sometimes contradictory narratives in order to make sense of their experiences and tell their own story. Participants told stories about their relationships and stories about becoming and being a mother that were inextricably linked. Stories of relationships and abuse overwhelmingly reflected narratives of romantic love; narratives that place responsibility for relationships with women, perpetuate gender inequalities and normalise male control and abuse. Their stories of motherhood reflected currently available narratives of ‘good’ mothering and rejected dominant narratives about teenage motherhood that were inconsistent with being a good mother. The findings highlight the limited repertoire of narratives available to young mothers who have experienced relationship abuse and reveal the potentially constraining nature of dominant narratives. Recommendations are made for policy, practice and future research

Leadership for democratic development in Tanzania: the perspective of Mwalimu Julius K. Nyerere during the first decade of independence

This study analyses the perspectives about 'good leadership' as spelt out by an outstanding African leader, Julius Karnbarage Nyerere, who ruled Tanzania from independence in 1962 until 1985, and influenced African history until his death in 1999. This research reveals an exciting and interesting time in politics and social development in Africa, and puts questions forward in order to unveil Nyerere's perspectives on leadership. The particular period investigated is the decade of the 1960s, the critical time of independence and nation building. The study is composed of two parts, the understanding of the context of Tanzania's development, and the hermeneutical analysis of Nyerere's perspectives. To understand Nyerere in his context, I randomly selected seven authentic speeches and a handpicked one. I used content analysis (manifest and latent coding) and hermeneutics as my methodological approaches. Key-concepts explored in the study were Democracy, Development, Unity and Peace, and Leadership. The underlying assumption of this study is that 'good leadership' is needed to promote participation, democracy and socio~economic development, creating national stability. The research proves this assumption right. The qualitative character of the research does not allow for generalisation of the results, which is limited by the small sample of speeches. However, recent challenges of economic globalisation and its impact on the 'poor' countries remind us of the social and political responsibility of leaders. Understanding the importance of good leadership for development is one of Nyerere's legacies. Political leadership has to be learnt. Core to the research was a "dialogue' between Nyerere, in his historical, political and personal context, and I, in mine. Hans-Georg Gadamer, a prominent henneneuticaJ philosopher. taught me how to understand first, in order to interpret and then to influence social reality. I have developed a methodological technique, the 'triple•jump', to understand and to interpret the text and to approach the 'truth'. The central research question, "what in Nyerere's perspective is a good lead.er for democratic development?" could be answered through the study: a leader has to be ethical, reliable, knowledgeable, decisive, accountable, humble, hard working and socially responsible. Nyerere's perspectives on good leadership also serve as guidance to contemporary political leaders, who are committed to democratic development. It is hoped that the results of this study will enrich the Youth Leadership Training Programme (YL TP) in Tanzania and other leadership training programmes elsewhere in Africa

Realities from practice: What it means to midwives and student midwives to care for women with BMIs ≥30kg/m2 during the childbirth continuum

Women with raised BMIs ≥30kg/m2 have now become the ‘norm’ in maternity practice due to the recent obesity epidemic. To date only very limited research evidence exists highlighting midwives’ experiences of caring for this group of women. This thesis aims to provide original research on what it means to midwives and student midwives on the point of qualification to care for this client group throughout the childbirth continuum

Forecasting: theory and practice

Forecasting has always been at the forefront of decision making and planning. The uncertainty that surrounds the future is both exciting and challenging, with individuals and organisations seeking to minimise risks and maximise utilities. The large number of forecasting applications calls for a diverse set of forecasting methods to tackle real-life challenges. This article provides a non-systematic review of the theory and the practice of forecasting. We provide an overview of a wide range of theoretical, state-of-the-art models, methods, principles, and approaches to prepare, produce, organise, and evaluate forecasts. We then demonstrate how such theoretical concepts are applied in a variety of real-life contexts. We do not claim that this review is an exhaustive list of methods and applications. However, we wish that our encyclopedic presentation will offer a point of reference for the rich work that has been undertaken over the last decades, with some key insights for the future of forecasting theory and practice. Given its encyclopedic nature, the intended mode of reading is non-linear. We offer cross-references to allow the readers to navigate through the various topics. We complement the theoretical concepts and applications covered by large lists of free or open-source software implementations and publicly-available databases.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio