An Empirical Evaluation Of Social Influence Metrics

Predicting when an individual will adopt a new behavior is an important problem in application domains such as marketing and public health. This paper examines the perfor- mance of a wide variety of social network based measurements proposed in the literature - which have not been previously compared directly. We study the probability of an individual becoming influenced based on measurements derived from neigh- borhood (i.e. number of influencers, personal network exposure), structural diversity, locality, temporal measures, cascade mea- sures, and metadata. We also examine the ability to predict influence based on choice of classifier and how the ratio of positive to negative samples in both training and testing affect prediction results - further enabling practical use of these concepts for social influence applications.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Use of a controlled experiment and computational models to measure the impact of sequential peer exposures on decision making

It is widely believed that one's peers influence product adoption behaviors. This relationship has been linked to the number of signals a decision-maker receives in a social network. But it is unclear if these same principles hold when the pattern by which it receives these signals vary and when peer influence is directed towards choices which are not optimal. To investigate that, we manipulate social signal exposure in an online controlled experiment using a game with human participants. Each participant in the game makes a decision among choices with differing utilities. We observe the following: (1) even in the presence of monetary risks and previously acquired knowledge of the choices, decision-makers tend to deviate from the obvious optimal decision when their peers make similar decision which we call the influence decision, (2) when the quantity of social signals vary over time, the forwarding probability of the influence decision and therefore being responsive to social influence does not necessarily correlate proportionally to the absolute quantity of signals. To better understand how these rules of peer influence could be used in modeling applications of real world diffusion and in networked environments, we use our behavioral findings to simulate spreading dynamics in real world case studies. We specifically try to see how cumulative influence plays out in the presence of user uncertainty and measure its outcome on rumor diffusion, which we model as an example of sub-optimal choice diffusion. Together, our simulation results indicate that sequential peer effects from the influence decision overcomes individual uncertainty to guide faster rumor diffusion over time. However, when the rate of diffusion is slow in the beginning, user uncertainty can have a substantial role compared to peer influence in deciding the adoption trajectory of a piece of questionable information

FACIES, DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT, DIAGENESIS AND SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY OF JAHROM FORMATION IN BINALOUD OILFIELD, PERSIAN GULF

Jahrom Formation (Middle Paleocene-Eocene) is one of the important reservoirs in the Zagros and Persian Gulf basin. This formation has been formed in the Binaloud field in the Persian Gulf with a total thickness of 660 meters of calcareous and dolomitic stones. In this study, microfacies, depositional environments, diagenetic processes and sequential stratigraphy of Jahrom Formation in Binaloud oilfield were studied. The deposits of Jahrom Formation include the periodicity of crystalline limestone and dolomite, with a discontinuous border below the Asmari Formation and above the Tarbur Formation.By studying the thin sections obtained from the cutting samples of 11 microfacies were identified in 4 facies assemblages, which were placed in a depositional environment of the homoclinic carbonate ramp. According to petrographic studies, the most important diagenetic processes observed in this formation are bioturbation, cementation, dolomitization, dissolution, porosity and fractures. Sequence stratigraphy studies led to the identification of 1 third-type depositional sequence with a first-type sequential boundary for Jahrom Formation deposits

FACIES, DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT, DIAGENESIS AND SEQUENCE STRATIGRAPHY OF JAHROM FORMATION IN BINALOUD OILFIELD, PERSIAN GULF

Jahrom Formation (Middle Paleocene-Eocene) is one of the important reservoirs in the Zagros and Persian Gulf basin. This formation has been formed in the Binaloud field in the Persian Gulf with a total thickness of 660 meters of calcareous and dolomitic stones. In this study, microfacies, depositional environments, diagenetic processes and sequential stratigraphy of Jahrom Formation in Binaloud oilfield were studied. The deposits of Jahrom Formation include the periodicity of crystalline limestone and dolomite, with a discontinuous border below the Asmari Formation and above the Tarbur Formation.By studying the thin sections obtained from the cutting samples of 11 microfacies were identified in 4 facies assemblages, which were placed in a depositional environment of the homoclinic carbonate ramp. According to petrographic studies, the most important diagenetic processes observed in this formation are bioturbation, cementation, dolomitization, dissolution, porosity and fractures. Sequence stratigraphy studies led to the identification of 1 third-type depositional sequence with a first-type sequential boundary for Jahrom Formation deposits

The survey of investigation about Mesopotamichthys sharpeyi projects in development program in Iranian Fisheries Research

Attention to the aquaculture capacity in inland water is needed to reach production of 262072 tons which was implicited in sixth economical and social development program of culture and production warmwater fishes industry. On of the most important aim of progressive management in fisheries program is native aquaculture activity with emphasis on Barbus fishes in Iran.Benni fish is one of the species of this genus despit of low relative growth rate, but is as a desire fishes in market. This fish not only has high fecondity and feed phytoplankton during the larval stages but also is very delicious for consumers. During the fifth economical and social development program there were so many projects have been done on aquaculture of this species but needs to analysis of all data which is important for successive future its aquaculture commercially. The precent analytical investigation base on three decades data, was done for completeing that gap including of analytical activities of researches were done, developmental access to fish aqu culture in six proficiency subjects , propagation and cultue, nutrition, genetic, health and disease biology, physiologt and determination of weak points. Then base on guideline studies on warmwater aquaculture and developmental road map, several suggestion for doing apply research were adopted

Prevalence of Gastrointestinal Symptoms among Individuals with and without Diabetes: A Cross-Sectional Study from the PERSIAN Guilan Cohort Study

Objective: Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are the most common complaint among individuals with diabetes. This study investigated the prevalence of upper, lower, and general GI symptoms in individuals with and without diabetes among the Prospective Epidemiological Research Studies in Iran (PERSIAN) Guilan Cohort study (PGCS) population. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional study of PGCS was conducted on 2669 participants, 1364 with diabetes and 1305 without diabetes. The first part of the questionnaire collected demographical and clinical data, and the second part collected GI symptoms. A 4-point Likert Scale was used for each question. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16, and the significance level was considered < 0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 52.24 ± 8.75 years, and 55.5% were female. Patients with diabetes have an increased incidence of upper GI symptoms (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.19, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.00–1.42, p = 0.045) compared to individuals without diabetes. The most common upper GI symptom in patients with diabetes compared to those without diabetes was eructation (18.6% vs. 14.9%, p = 0.009). Conclusions: The prevalence of GI symptoms was high in patients both with and without diabetes, and the chance of developing GI upper symptoms was higher in patients with diabetes

Standard of insurance procedures and risk assessment manual for cold water fish culture regarding management and natural disasters

The total production of Rainbow trout fish aquaculture in 2009 had been 72515 t which was significantly increased (91519 t) in 2010. Despite of increasing trout fish production during last decade, absence conformity between suitable cultural and proliferation district of this fish species and geographical one, faced this industry harmfully to natural disasters such as flood, overflow and so on, and mismanagement due to human injustices. Hence insurance and supporting concept of can be having a determinant role in efflorescence and increasing production of this fish. The aim of this project is performing an insurance policy based on risk analysis model in propagation and cultural phases of rainbow trout aquaculture, separately. In this study, pay attention to standards in trout fish aquaculture procedure and determination of critical parameters on, are the first research step and recognition of risk factors in different aquaculture phases due to natural disasters and mismanagement, from the brood stock maintenance till reach to 3-5 g fingerling and finally market size fishes, are the following research steps. After determination of proportion percentages of each parameters regarding to arise the risk, analysis risks and risk management were done for trout fish aquaculture. Three provinces, Fars, Mazandaran and Charmahal Bakhtiary as poles production of trout fish were chosen as delegates of the whole Iran and insurance ability of trout fish hatcheries and aquaculture farms were done. Trout aquaculture standardization were obtained, natural disasters and mismanagement affected on aquaculture activities were recognized (Chapters 1 and 3) and due to importance of health and disease of trout fish, mortality causes and audit signs of also determined and analyzed (Chapter 2) . In Chapter 4, trout farms degraded and fix and natural disasters for trout fish brood stock, propagation hatcheries and cultural farms were analyzed and accounted. Finally, premium and recompense were accounted for hatchery and farm separately

Bio-inspired geotechnical engineering: Principles, current work, opportunities and challenges

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Bio-inspired geotechnical engineering: principles, current work, opportunities and challenges

A broad diversity of biological organisms and systems interact with soil in ways that facilitate their growth and survival. These interactions are made possible by strategies that enable organisms to accomplish functions that can be analogous to those required in geotechnical engineering systems. Examples include anchorage in soft and weak ground, penetration into hard and stiff subsurface materials and movement in loose sand. Since the biological strategies have been ‘vetted’ by the process of natural selection, and the functions they accomplish are governed by the same physical laws in both the natural and engineered environments, they represent a unique source of principles and design ideas for addressing geotechnical challenges. Prior to implementation as engineering solutions, however, the differences in spatial and temporal scales and material properties between the biological environment and engineered system must be addressed. Current bio-inspired geotechnics research is addressing topics such as soil excavation and penetration, soil–structure interface shearing, load transfer between foundation and anchorage elements and soils, and mass and thermal transport, having gained inspiration from organisms such as worms, clams, ants, termites, fish, snakes and plant roots. This work highlights the potential benefits to both geotechnical engineering through new or improved solutions and biology through understanding of mechanisms as a result of cross-disciplinary interactions and collaborations