Quantum MHV diagrams

Over the past two years, the use of on-shell techniques has deepened our understanding of the S-matrix of gauge theories and led to the calculation of many new scattering amplitudes. In these notes we review a particular on-shell method developed recently, the quantum MHV diagrams, and discuss applications to one-loop amplitudes. Furthermore, we briefly discuss the application of D-dimensional generalised unitarity to the calculation of scattering amplitudes in non-supersymmetric Yang-Mills

Latent class analysis for segmenting preferences of investment bonds

Market segmentation is a key component of conjoint analysis which addresses consumer preference heterogeneity. Members in a segment are assumed to be homogenous in their views and preferences when worthing an item but distinctly heterogenous to members of other segments. Latent class methodology is one of the several conjoint segmentation procedures that overcome the limitations of aggregate analysis and a-priori segmentation. The main benefit of Latent class models is that market segment membership and regression parameters of each derived segment are estimated simultaneously. The Latent class model presented in this paper uses mixtures of multivariate conditional normal distributions to analyze rating data, where the likelihood is maximized using the EM algorithm. The application focuses on customer preferences for investment bonds described by four attributes; currency, coupon rate, redemption term and price. A number of demographic variables are used to generate segments that are accessible and actionable.peer-reviewe

Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center Annual Report to the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health 2014-2015

We are grateful to the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health (DMH) for its continued support of the University of Massachusetts Medical School’s (UMMS) DMH Research Center of Excellence, the Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center (SPARC). We continue to leverage the DMH investment to support innovative, recovery-oriented, state-of-the-art psychosocial and systems research. Highlights of Fiscal Year 2015 include another increase in research dollars awarded through new grants and contracts, and the end of our three-year Strategic Plan to guide our growth and trajectory over the coming years. The Systems and Psychosocial Advances Research Center conducts research to enhance services, improve the quality of life, and promote recovery for people with behavioral health conditions. Our research informs and advises individuals with lived experience and their families, providers, administrators and policy-makers navigating the behavioral health landscape in the Commonwealth and beyond. SPARC was created in 1993 when it was designated a Center of Excellence for Psychosocial and Systems Research by the Massachusetts DMH. Our mission mirrors the DMH commitment to collaborating with other state agencies, consumers, families, advocates, providers, and communities. DMH and SPARC are aligned in their vision of promoting mental health through early intervention, treatment, education, policy, and regulation to provide opportunities for citizens of the Commonwealth to live full and productive lives

An attempt to define the sodium requirements of lactating dairy cows in a tropical environment

BACKGROUND: Lactating dairy cattle in the tropics may require more sodium (Na) owing to the hot and humid climatic conditions. It is unknown whether the current recommendations on Na for lactating cows can be quantitatively used in tropical countries. This study attempted to define the Na requirement of lactating dairy cows under tropical conditions by measuring Na levels in saliva, milk and faeces. RESULTS: The concentrations of Na and potassium (K) in milk, faeces and serum were not affected by dietary treatments. The amount of Na absorbed by cows fed the basal (low-Na) diet containing 0.4 g Na kg-1 dry matter (DM) was equal to the amount of Na lost in the milk, showing that these animals were fed an Na-deficient ration. This observation was corroborated by salivary Na and K levels, with the cows on the low-Na diet having salivary Na concentrations below 120 mmol L-1 in combination with salivary K concentrations above 20 mmol L-1 (P <0.05). CONCLUSION: Consumption of a daily ration formulated to contain the current Na requirement set by the NRC appears to provide too much Na for lactating cows under tropical conditions. A tentative value of 1.2 g kg-1 DM is proposed as the Na requirement for dairy cows under tropical conditions. Copyright © 2011 Society of Chemical Industr

Applying prediction techniques to reduce uplink transmission and energy requirements in mobile free-viewpoint video applications

The increased efficiency of video compression algorithms, the improvements registered in reliability, data rates and quality of service of wireless transmission technologies, and the development of mobile multimedia terminals have made possible the implementation of Free-Viewpoint Video (FVV) technology on mobile platforms. The mobile environment however presents several restrictions. Two of these limiting factors being bandwidth constraints and energy availability in battery-operated mobile terminals. This paper looks at the possibility of employing prediction algorithms at the FVV server to anticipate the next viewpoint expected by the user. In doing so, the number of uplink requests is reduced to situations where the estimated view defers from the requested one and the associated transmissions required in retraining the algorithm once this occurs. Simulation results on two different prediction techniques demonstrate that the uplink transmission rate is reduced by up to 96.7% when emulating a conventional FVV usage scenario. Both prediction algorithms infer a substantial decrease in the mobile terminal’s power consumption and reduce the network’s uplink bandwidth utilization.peer-reviewe

Text content and task performance in the evaluation of a natural language generation system

An important question in the evaluation of Natural Language Generation systems concerns the relationship between textual characteristics and task performance. If the results of task-based evaluation can be correlated to properties of the text, there are better prospects for improving the system. The present paper investigates this relationship by focusing on the outcomes of a task-based evaluation of a system that generates summaries of patient data, attempting to correlate these with the results of an analysis of the system’s texts, compared to a set of gold standard human-authored summaries.peer-reviewe

Biographical Research: Inequality and Innovation

European Sociological Association; This project of the Baltic-German University Liaison Office is supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic German