On the Sets of Real Numbers Recognized by Finite Automata in Multiple Bases

This article studies the expressive power of finite automata recognizing sets of real numbers encoded in positional notation. We consider Muller automata as well as the restricted class of weak deterministic automata, used as symbolic set representations in actual applications. In previous work, it has been established that the sets of numbers that are recognizable by weak deterministic automata in two bases that do not share the same set of prime factors are exactly those that are definable in the first order additive theory of real and integer numbers. This result extends Cobham's theorem, which characterizes the sets of integer numbers that are recognizable by finite automata in multiple bases. In this article, we first generalize this result to multiplicatively independent bases, which brings it closer to the original statement of Cobham's theorem. Then, we study the sets of reals recognizable by Muller automata in two bases. We show with a counterexample that, in this setting, Cobham's theorem does not generalize to multiplicatively independent bases. Finally, we prove that the sets of reals that are recognizable by Muller automata in two bases that do not share the same set of prime factors are exactly those definable in the first order additive theory of real and integer numbers. These sets are thus also recognizable by weak deterministic automata. This result leads to a precise characterization of the sets of real numbers that are recognizable in multiple bases, and provides a theoretical justification to the use of weak automata as symbolic representations of sets.Comment: 17 page

Analytical solution of a one-dimensional Ising model with zero temperature dynamics

The one-dimensional Ising model with nearest neighbour interactions and the zero-temperature dynamics recently considered by Lefevre and Dean -J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. {\bf 34}, L213 (2001)- is investigated. By introducing a particle-hole description, in which the holes are associated to the domain walls of the Ising model, an analytical solution is obtained. The result for the asymptotic energy agrees with that found in the mean field approximation.Comment: 6 pages, no figures; accepted in J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. (Letter to the Editor

User-definable resource bounds analysis for logic programs

We present a static analysis that infers both upper and lower bounds on the usage that a logic program makes of a set of user-definable resources. The inferred bounds will in general be functions of input data sizes. A resource in our approach is a quite general, user-defined notion which associates a basic cost function with elementary operations. The analysis then derives the related (upper- and lower-bound) resource usage functions for all predicates in the program. We also present an assertion language which is used to define both such resources and resourcerelated properties that the system can then check based on the results of the analysis. We have performed some preliminary experiments with some concrete resources such as execution steps, bytes sent or received by an application, number of files left open, number of accesses to a datábase, number of calis to a procedure, number of asserts/retracts, etc. Applications of our analysis include resource consumption verification and debugging (including for mobile code), resource control in parallel/distributed computing, and resource-oriented specialization

Glassy timescale divergence and anomalous coarsening in a kinetically constrained spin chain

We analyse the out of equilibrium behavior of an Ising spin chain with an asymmetric kinetic constraint after a quench to a low temperature T. In the limit T\to 0, we provide an exact solution of the resulting coarsening process. The equilibration time exhibits a `glassy' divergence \teq=\exp(const/T^2) (popular as an alternative to the Vogel-Fulcher law), while the average domain length grows with a temperature dependent exponent, \dbar ~ t^{T\ln 2}. We show that the equilibration time \teq also sets the timescale for the linear response of the system at low temperatures.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, includes two eps figures. Proof of energy barrier hierarchy added. Version to be published in Phys Rev Let

Breast tumors: an overview

Review on Breast tumors: an overview, with data on clinics, and the genes involved

Integrating evolution into ecological modelling: accommodating phenotypic changes in agent based models.

PMCID: PMC3733718This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Evolutionary change is a characteristic of living organisms and forms one of the ways in which species adapt to changed conditions. However, most ecological models do not incorporate this ubiquitous phenomenon. We have developed a model that takes a 'phenotypic gambit' approach and focuses on changes in the frequency of phenotypes (which differ in timing of breeding and fecundity) within a population, using, as an example, seasonal breeding. Fitness per phenotype calculated as the individual's contribution to population growth on an annual basis coincide with the population dynamics per phenotype. Simplified model variants were explored to examine whether the complexity included in the model is justified. Outputs from the spatially implicit model underestimated the number of individuals across all phenotypes. When no phenotype transitions are included (i.e. offspring always inherit their parent's phenotype) numbers of all individuals are always underestimated. We conclude that by using a phenotypic gambit approach evolutionary dynamics can be incorporated into individual based models, and that all that is required is an understanding of the probability of offspring inheriting the parental phenotype

The intrapreneurial state: Singapore's emergence in the smart and sustainable urban solutions field

The East Asian developmental state model and the Anglo-American entrepreneurial state model profile varied ways in which the state continues to intervene in economic development. These models are developed by different disciplines and against diverse contexts to capture extrasocietal state responses to neoliberalism and globalization but leave the intrasocietal preconditions for state evolution little explored. We elaborate the concept of state intrapreneurialism as one way of understanding the interrelationship between economic and state transformation – one ingredient of the intrasocietal preconditions underpinning the responses to extrasocietal changes emphasized in the post-developmental state literature. Drawing on the case of Singapore's emergence in the field of smart/sustainable urban solutions, the subsidiary contributions of this paper are to suggest intrapreneurship as a specific and enduring advantage within the developmental state model, especially when set against its limitations signalled in the post-developmental state literature

Interference of functional dual-tasks on gait in untrained people with Parkinson's disease and healthy controls: a cross-sectional study

[EN] Background In Parkinson's disease (PD) population, performing secondary tasks while walking further deteriorates gait and restrict mobility in functional contexts of daily life. This study (1) analyzed the interference of functional cognitive and motor secondary task on untrained people with PD and (2) compared their walking with healthy subjects. Methods Forty people with PD (aged 66.72 [7.5] years, Hoehn and Yahr stage I-II-III, on-medication) composed the PD group (PDG) and 43 participants (aged 66.60 [8.75] years) formed the group of healthy counterparts (HG). Gait was evaluated through spatiotemporal, kinematic and kinetic outcomes in five conditions: single task (ST) and visual, verbal, auditory and motor dual-task (DT). Results The velocity, stride length, and braking force performance of both groups was statistically higher in the ST condition than in verbal, auditory and motor DT (p.05). Conclusions: In untrained participants with PD, verbal and motor secondary tasks affect gait significantly, while auditory and visual tasks interfere to a lesser extent. Untrained people with PD have a poorer gait performance than their healthy counterparts, but in different grades according to the analyzed variables. Trial registration The data in this paper are part of a single-blind, randomized, controlled trial and correspond to the evaluations performed before a physical rehabilitation program, retrospectively registered with the number at clinicaltrial.govNCT04038866.San Martín Valenzuela, C.; Dueñas Moscardó, L.; Lopez Pascual, J.; Serra-Añó, P.; Tomás, JM. (2020). Interference of functional dual-tasks on gait in untrained people with Parkinson's disease and healthy controls: a cross-sectional study. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders. 21(1):1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-020-03431-xS111211Jankovic J. Parkinson’s disease: clinical features and diagnosis. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2008;79:368–76.Soh S-E, McGinley JL, Watts JJ, Iansek R, Murphy AT, Menz HB, et al. Determinants of health-related quality of life in people with Parkinson’s disease: a path analysis. Qual Life Res. 2013;22:1543–53.Tan D, Danoudis M, McGinley J, Morris ME. Relationships between motor aspects of gait impairments and activity limitations in people with Parkinson’s disease: a systematic review. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2012;18:117–24.Kelly VE, Eusterbrock AJ, Shumway-Cook A. A review of dual-task walking deficits in people with Parkinson’s disease: motor and cognitive contributions, mechanisms, and clinical implications. Parkinson’s Disease. 2012;918719.Sofuwa O, Nieuwboer A, Desloovere K, Willems A-M, Chavret F, Jonkers I. Quantitative gait analysis in Parkinson’s disease: comparison with a healthy control group. Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 2005;86:1007–13.Beauchet O, Berrut G. Gait and dual-task: definition, interest, and perspectives in the elderly. Psychologie et NeuroPsychiatrie du Vieillissement. 2006;4:215–25.Raffegeau TE, Krehbiel LM, Kang N, Thijs FJ, Altmann LJP, Cauraugh JH, et al. A meta-analysis: Parkinson’s disease and dual-task walking. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2019 May;62:28–35.Eric R. Kandel, James H. Schwartz, Thomas M. Jessell, Steven a. Siegelbaum, A. J. Hudspeth. Principles of neural science. Fifth edition. McGraw-Hill Medical: United States of America; 2013.Eisinger RS, Cernera S, Gittis A, Gunduz A, Okun MS. A review of basal ganglia circuits and physiology: application to deep brain stimulation. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2019 Feb;59:9–20.Isella V, Mapelli C, Morielli N, De Gaspari D, Siri C, Pezzoli G, et al. Validity and metric of MiniMental Parkinson and MiniMental state examination in Parkinson’s disease. Neurol Sci. 2013;34:1751–8.Morris ME, McGinley J, Huxham F, Collier J, Iansek R. Constraints on the kinetic, kinematic and spatiotemporal parameters of gait in Parkinson’s disease. Hum Mov Sci. 1999;18:461–83.Brauer SG, Morris ME. Can people with Parkinson’s disease improve dual tasking when walking? Gait & Posture. 2010;31:229–33.Baron EI, Miller Koop M, Streicher MC, Rosenfeldt AB, Alberts JL. Altered kinematics of arm swing in Parkinson’s disease patients indicates declines in gait under dual-task conditions. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2018;48:61–7.Rochester L, Galna B, Lord S, Burn D. The nature of dual-task interference during gait in incident Parkinson’s disease. Neuroscience. 2014;265:83–94.Logan D, Kiemel T, Dominici N, Cappellini G, Ivanenko Y, Lacquaniti F, et al. The many roles of vision during walking. Exp Brain Res. 2010;206:337–50.de Luna RA, Mihailovic A, Nguyen AM, Friedman DS, Gitlin LN, Ramulu PY. The Association of Glaucomatous Visual Field Loss and Balance. Transl Vis Sci Technol. 2017 May 22;6(3):8.Suarez H, Geisinger D, Ferreira ED, Nogueira S, Arocena S, Roman CS, et al. Balance in Parkinson’s disease patients changing the visual input. Brazilian Journal of Otorhinolaryngology. 2011;77:651–5.Wu T, Hallett M. Neural correlates of dual task performance in patients with Parkinson’s disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2008;79:760–6.Canning CG. The effect of directing attention during walking under dual-task conditions in Parkinson’s disease. Parkinsonism Relat Disord. 2005;11:95–9.Wu T, Liu J, Zhang H, Hallett M, Zheng Z, Chan P. Attention to automatic movements in Parkinson’s disease: modified automatic mode in the striatum. Cereb Cortex. 2015;25:3330–42.de Roiz R. M, Cacho EWA, Pazinatto MM, Reis JG, Cliquet a. Barasnevicius-Quagliato EMA Gait analysis comparing Parkinson’s disease with healthy elderly subjects Arq Neuropsiquiatr. 2010;68:81–6.Grabli D, Karachi C, Welter M-L, Lau B, Hirsch EC, Vidailhet M, et al. Normal and pathological gait: what we learn from Parkinson’s disease. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 2012 Oct;83(10):979–85.Anna C, Serena F, Maurizio F. Del Sorbo Francesca, Romito Luigi M., Elia Antonio E., et al. quantitative gait analysis in parkin disease: possible role of dystonia. Mov Disord. 2016;31:1720–8.Morris M, Iansek R, McGinley J, Matyas T, Huxham F. Three-dimensional gait biomechanics in Parkinson’s disease: evidence for a centrally mediated amplitude regulation disorder. Mov Disord. 2005;20:40–50.Peterson CL, Kautz SA, Neptune RR. Braking and propulsive impulses increase with speed during accelerated and decelerated walking. Gait Posture. 2011;33:562–7.Chiu M-C, Wang M-J. The effect of gait speed and gender on perceived exertion, muscle activity, joint motion of lower extremity, ground reaction force and heart rate during normal walking. Gait & Posture. 2007;25:385–92.Muniz AMS, Liu H, Lyons KE, Pahwa R, Liu W, Nobre FF, et al. Comparison among probabilistic neural network, support vector machine and logistic regression for evaluating the effect of subthalamic stimulation in Parkinson disease on ground reaction force during gait. J Biomech. 2010;43:720–6.Chastan N, Do MC, Bonneville F, Torny F, Bloch F, Westby GWM, et al. Gait and balance disorders in Parkinson’s disease: impaired active braking of the fall of Centre of gravity. Mov Disord. 2009;24:188–95.Perneger T. What's wrong with Bonferroni adjustments. BMJ. 1998 Apr 18;316(7139):1236–8

The systematic guideline review: method, rationale, and test on chronic heart failure

Background: Evidence-based guidelines have the potential to improve healthcare. However, their de-novo-development requires substantial resources-especially for complex conditions, and adaptation may be biased by contextually influenced recommendations in source guidelines. In this paper we describe a new approach to guideline development-the systematic guideline review method (SGR), and its application in the development of an evidence-based guideline for family physicians on chronic heart failure (CHF). Methods: A systematic search for guidelines was carried out. Evidence-based guidelines on CHF management in adults in ambulatory care published in English or German between the years 2000 and 2004 were included. Guidelines on acute or right heart failure were excluded. Eligibility was assessed by two reviewers, methodological quality of selected guidelines was appraised using the AGREE instrument, and a framework of relevant clinical questions for diagnostics and treatment was derived. Data were extracted into evidence tables, systematically compared by means of a consistency analysis and synthesized in a preliminary draft. Most relevant primary sources were re-assessed to verify the cited evidence. Evidence and recommendations were summarized in a draft guideline. Results: Of 16 included guidelines five were of good quality. A total of 35 recommendations were systematically compared: 25/35 were consistent, 9/35 inconsistent, and 1/35 un-rateable (derived from a single guideline). Of the 25 consistencies, 14 were based on consensus, seven on evidence and four differed in grading. Major inconsistencies were found in 3/9 of the inconsistent recommendations. We re-evaluated the evidence for 17 recommendations (evidence-based, differing evidence levels and minor inconsistencies) - the majority was congruent. Incongruity was found where the stated evidence could not be verified in the cited primary sources, or where the evaluation in the source guidelines focused on treatment benefits and underestimated the risks. The draft guideline was completed in 8.5 man-months. The main limitation to this study was the lack of a second reviewer. Conclusion: The systematic guideline review including framework development, consistency analysis and validation is an effective, valid, and resource saving-approach to the development of evidence-based guidelines