Using Explainability for Constrained Matrix Factorization

Explainable Model Black Box (opaque) predictors such as Deep learning and Matrix Factorization are accurate, ... but lack interpretability and ability to give explanations. White Box models such as rules and decision trees are interpretable (explainable), ... but lack accuracy

Towards a pedagogy for critical security studies: politics of migration in the classroom

International Relations (IR) has increasingly paid attention to critical pedagogy. Feminist, post-colonial and poststructuralist IR scholarship, in particular, have long been advancing the discussions about how to create a pluralist and democratic classroom where ‘the others’ of politics can be heard by the students, who can critically reflect upon complex power relations in global politics. Despite its normative position, Critical Security Studies (CSS) has so far refrained from joining this pedagogical conversation. Deriving from the literatures of postcolonial and feminist pedagogical practices, it is argued that an IR scholar in the area of CSS can contribute to the production of a critical political subject in the 'uncomfortable classroom', who reflects on violent practices of security. Three pedagogical methods will be introduced: engaging with the students’ life worlds, revealing the positionality of security knowledge claims, and opening up the class-room to the choices about how the youth’s agency can be performed beyond the classroom. The argument is illustrated through the case of forced migration with specific reference to IR and Politics students’ perceptions of Syrian refugees in Turkey. The article advances the discussions in critical IR pedagogy and encourages CSS scholarship to focus on teaching in accordance with its normative position

Perceptions et utilisation déclarée de la technologie de la réalité étendue dans les centres de simulation canadiens agréés par le Collège royal : Une enquête nationale auprès des directeurs de centres de simulation

Background: Extended reality technology (XR) in simulation-based medical education is becoming more prevalent. This study examined Canadian simulation centre directors’ perceptions toward XR and their self-reported adoption of XR within their centres. Methods: We conducted a national, cross-sectional survey study to examine five kinds of XR: Immersive Virtual Environments, Screen-based Virtual Worlds, Virtual Simulators, Immersive Augmented Reality, and Non-immersive Augmented Reality. An electronic survey with multiple-choice, Likert scales, and open-ended questions were developed to identify the current use, degree of satisfaction, and experienced and foreseen challenges with each XR technology. We used the Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys checklist to describe and justify our survey development. All twenty-three Royal College-accredited Canadian simulation centres were invited based on their Royal College membership to complete the survey. Directors and representatives of seventeen (74%) centres participated. Results: Each XR has been used for research or simulation education by about half of the simulation centres, at minimum. The degree of satisfaction among directors with XR ranged from 30% to 45%. Directors frequently cited logistical and fidelity challenges, along with concerns over maintenance. Cost and lack of evidence, and unclear needs were cited as foreseen challenges with the future implementation of XRs. Conclusions: This survey summarizes the status of XR in Canadian simulation centres. The pattern of use, satisfaction levels, and challenges reported by simulation centre directors varied depending on the types of XR.Contexte : La technologie de la réalité étendue (RE) est de plus en plus répandue dans l'enseignement médical fondé sur la simulation. Cette étude a examiné les perceptions des directeurs de centres de simulation canadiens à l'égard de la RE et leur adoption déclarée de la RE dans leurs centres. Méthodes : Nous avons mené une étude nationale transversale pour examiner cinq types de RE : les environnements virtuels immersifs, les mondes virtuels sur écran, les simulateurs virtuels, la réalité augmentée immersive et la réalité augmentée non immersive. Une enquête électronique comportant des questions à choix multiples, des échelles de Likert et des questions ouvertes a été élaborée afin d'identifier l'utilisation actuelle, le degré de satisfaction et les difficultés rencontrées et prévues pour chaque technologie de RE. Nous avons utilisé la Checklist for Reporting Results of Internet E-Surveys pour décrire et justifier l'élaboration de notre enquête. Les vingt-trois centres de simulation canadiens agréés par le Collège royal ont été invités, en fonction de leur appartenance au Collège royal, à répondre à l'enquête. Les directeurs et représentants de dix-sept centres (74 %) ont participé. Résultats : Chaque RE a été utilisée pour la recherche ou l'enseignement par simulation par environ la moitié des centres de simulation, au minimum. Le degré de satisfaction des directeurs à l'égard de la RE s’est situé entre 30 et 45 %. Les directeurs ont fréquemment cité des défis logistiques et de fidélité, ainsi que des préoccupations concernant la maintenance. Le coût et le manque de preuves, ainsi que l'imprécision des besoins, ont été cités comme des défis prévisibles pour la mise en œuvre future des technologies de RE. Conclusions : Cette enquête résume l'état d'avancement de la RE dans les centres de simulation canadiens. Le mode d'utilisation, les niveaux de satisfaction et les défis signalés par les directeurs de centre de simulation varient en fonction des types de RE

Performance comparison of ASN.1 encoder/decoders using FTAM

Abstract Syntax Notation-One (ASN.1) is a standard external data representation language used to define messages of application layer protocols. Its encoding rules, the Basic Encoding Rules (BER), are also international standards that define the encoding/decoding of data values into/from a transfer syntax. Various approaches to automating BER encoding/decoding are examined; in particular, two widely used software packages (ISODE and CASN 1) are studied. A hardware BER encoder/decoder called VASN 1 is presented. Performance of software and hardware approaches are evaluated on real instances of file transfer using a standard FTAM protocol. Benchmarks obtained from running CASN 1 on one of the fastest workstations and from running VHDL simulations of VASN 1 indicate the superiority of the hardware approach. © 1993

Estimation of nasal cavity and conchae volumes by stereological method

Background: Studies evaluating the mean volumes of nasal cavity and concha are very rare. Since there is little date on the mentioned topic, we aimed to carry out the presented study to obtain a volumetric index showing the relation between the nasal cavity and concha. Material and methods: The volumes of the nasal cavity and concha were measured in 30 males and 30 females (18&#8211;40 years old) on computed tomography images using stereological methods. Results: The mean volumes of nasal cavity, concha nasalis media, and concha nasalis inferior were 5.95 &#177; 0.10 cm3, 0.56 &#177; 0.22 cm3, and 1.45 &#177; 0.68 cm3; 7.01 &#177; 0.18 cm3, 0.67 &#177; 0.31 cm3 and 1.59 &#177; 0.98 cm3 in females and males, respectively. There were statistically significant differences in the volume of the nasal cavity and concha nasalis media (p < 0.05) between males and females, except for concha nasalis inferior (p > 0.05). Conclusions: Our results could provide volumetric indexes for the nasal cavity and concha, which could help the physician to manage surgical procedures related to the nasal cavity and concha

Définir des priorités de recherche à l’échelle du Canada pour les programmes de simulation agréés par le Collège royal

To advance the field of health sciences simulation, research must be of high quality and would benefit from multi-institutional collaboration where centres can leverage and share expertise as well as work together to overcome limits to the generalizability of research findings from single-institution studies. A needs assessment in emergency medicine simulation has illustrated the importance of identifying research priorities in Canada. The main purpose of this study was to identify simulation research priority directions for Canadian simulation centres. The current survey study drew on 16 research priorities developed through a two-round internal Delphi study at McGill University that 15 of 17 simulation centre advisory board members participated in. The final 16 research priorities were then rated by a total of 18 of 24 simulation centre directors and/or delegates contacted from 15 of 19 Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada-accredited simulation centres in Canada. Results revealed 9 common research priorities that reached 70% or higher agreement for all respondents. We anticipate that our findings can contribute to building a shared vision of priorities, community, and collaboration to enhance health care simulation research quality amongst Canadian simulation centres.Pour faire progresser le domaine de la simulation en sciences de la santé, il faut tendre vers une recherche de haute qualité, qui serait favorisée par une collaboration multi-institutionnelle permettant aux programmes de tirer parti de leur expertise, de la partager et de surmonter les limites de la généralisabilité des résultats de recherche provenant d’études menées dans un seul établissement. Une évaluation des besoins en matière de simulation en médecine d’urgence a illustré l’importance de définir des priorités de recherche à l’échelle du Canada. Le principal objectif de cette étude était de dresser les orientations prioritaires des programmes de simulation canadiens pour la recherche en simulation. Elle est basée sur 16 priorités de recherche dégagées d’une étude Delphi à deux tours réalisée à l’Université [masqué], à laquelle 15 des 17 membres du comité consultatif de son centre de simulation ont participé. Les 16 priorités de recherche finales ont ensuite été évaluées par 18 des 24 directeurs ou délégués de centres de simulation contactés, provenant de 15 des 19 programmes de simulation agréés par le Collège royal des médecins et chirurgiens du Canada. Les résultats font état de neuf priorités de recherche communes ayant obtenu un taux d’accord de 70 % ou plus parmi l’ensemble des répondants. Nous pensons que nos résultats peuvent contribuer à l’élaboration d’une vision commune des priorités parmi les programmes de simulation canadiens, à la création d’une communauté de pratique et à une collaboration pour améliorer la qualité de la recherche en simulation dans le domaine des soins de santé

Estimation of Fiber Orientations Using Neighborhood Information

Data from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) can be used to reconstruct fiber tracts, for example, in muscle and white matter. Estimation of fiber orientations (FOs) is a crucial step in the reconstruction process and these estimates can be corrupted by noise. In this paper, a new method called Fiber Orientation Reconstruction using Neighborhood Information (FORNI) is described and shown to reduce the effects of noise and improve FO estimation performance by incorporating spatial consistency. FORNI uses a fixed tensor basis to model the diffusion weighted signals, which has the advantage of providing an explicit relationship between the basis vectors and the FOs. FO spatial coherence is encouraged using weighted l1-norm regularization terms, which contain the interaction of directional information between neighbor voxels. Data fidelity is encouraged using a squared error between the observed and reconstructed diffusion weighted signals. After appropriate weighting of these competing objectives, the resulting objective function is minimized using a block coordinate descent algorithm, and a straightforward parallelization strategy is used to speed up processing. Experiments were performed on a digital crossing phantom, ex vivo tongue dMRI data, and in vivo brain dMRI data for both qualitative and quantitative evaluation. The results demonstrate that FORNI improves the quality of FO estimation over other state of the art algorithms.Comment: Journal paper accepted in Medical Image Analysis. 35 pages and 16 figure

Escaping the Big Brother: an empirical study on factors influencing identification and information leakage on the Web

This paper presents a study on factors that may increase the risks of personal information leakage, due to the possibility of connecting user profiles that are not explicitly linked together. First, we introduce a technique for user identification based on cross-site checking and linking of user attributes. Then, we describe the experimental evaluation of the identification technique both on a real setting and on an online sample, showing its accuracy to discover unknown personal data. Finally, we combine the results on the accuracy of identification with the results of a questionnaire completed by the same subjects who performed the test on the real setting. The aim of the study was to discover possible factors that make users vulnerable to this kind of techniques. We found out that the number of social networks used, their features and especially the amount of profiles abandoned and forgotten by the user are factors that increase the likelihood of identification and the privacy risks

Effective and Efficient Similarity Index for Link Prediction of Complex Networks

Predictions of missing links of incomplete networks like protein-protein interaction networks or very likely but not yet existent links in evolutionary networks like friendship networks in web society can be considered as a guideline for further experiments or valuable information for web users. In this paper, we introduce a local path index to estimate the likelihood of the existence of a link between two nodes. We propose a network model with controllable density and noise strength in generating links, as well as collect data of six real networks. Extensive numerical simulations on both modeled networks and real networks demonstrated the high effectiveness and efficiency of the local path index compared with two well-known and widely used indices, the common neighbors and the Katz index. Indeed, the local path index provides competitively accurate predictions as the Katz index while requires much less CPU time and memory space, which is therefore a strong candidate for potential practical applications in data mining of huge-size networks.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, 3 table