408 research outputs found
On the Executability of Interactive Computation
The model of interactive Turing machines (ITMs) has been proposed to
characterise which stream translations are interactively computable; the model
of reactive Turing machines (RTMs) has been proposed to characterise which
behaviours are reactively executable. In this article we provide a comparison
of the two models. We show, on the one hand, that the behaviour exhibited by
ITMs is reactively executable, and, on the other hand, that the stream
translations naturally associated with RTMs are interactively computable. We
conclude from these results that the theory of reactive executability subsumes
the theory of interactive computability. Inspired by the existing model of ITMs
with advice, which provides a model of evolving computation, we also consider
RTMs with advice and we establish that a facility of advice considerably
upgrades the behavioural expressiveness of RTMs: every countable transition
system can be simulated by some RTM with advice up to a fine notion of
behavioural equivalence.Comment: 15 pages, 0 figure
Unified functional network and nonlinear time series analysis for complex systems science: The pyunicorn package
We introduce the \texttt{pyunicorn} (Pythonic unified complex network and
recurrence analysis toolbox) open source software package for applying and
combining modern methods of data analysis and modeling from complex network
theory and nonlinear time series analysis. \texttt{pyunicorn} is a fully
object-oriented and easily parallelizable package written in the language
Python. It allows for the construction of functional networks such as climate
networks in climatology or functional brain networks in neuroscience
representing the structure of statistical interrelationships in large data sets
of time series and, subsequently, investigating this structure using advanced
methods of complex network theory such as measures and models for spatial
networks, networks of interacting networks, node-weighted statistics or network
surrogates. Additionally, \texttt{pyunicorn} provides insights into the
nonlinear dynamics of complex systems as recorded in uni- and multivariate time
series from a non-traditional perspective by means of recurrence quantification
analysis (RQA), recurrence networks, visibility graphs and construction of
surrogate time series. The range of possible applications of the library is
outlined, drawing on several examples mainly from the field of climatology.Comment: 28 pages, 17 figure
Quark-Gluon Matter
A concise review of the experimental and phenomenological progress in
high-energy heavy-ion physics over the past few years is presented. Emphasis is
put on measurements at BNL-RHIC and CERN-SPS which provide information on
fundamental properties of QCD matter at extreme values of temperature, density
and low-x. The new opportunities accessible at the LHC, which may help clarify
some of the current open issues, are also outlined.Comment: Minor changes to text. New refs. included. Updated figures with final
dat
Bacteraemia among severely malnourished children infected and uninfected with the human immunodeficiency virus-1 in Kampala, Uganda
BACKGROUND: To establish the magnitude of bacteraemia in severely malnourished children, and describe the types of bacteria and antimicrobial sensitivity by HIV status. METHOD: Isolates were recovered from 76 blood specimens. Antibiotic susceptibility tests were performed using commercial antibiotic disks and demographic and clinical findings were recorded. RESULTS: Of the 450 children 63% were male; median age 17.0 months (inter quartile range, IQR 12–24) and 57% had oedema. 151 (36.7 %) of 411 tested HIV-positive; 76 (17.1%) of 445 blood specimens grew bacterial isolates; 58% were Gram negative – S. typhimurium (27.6%) and S. enteriditis (11.8%). Staph. aureus (26.3%) and Strep. pneumoniae (13.2%) were the main Gram positive organisms. There was no difference in the risk of bacteraemia by HIV status, age < 24 months, male sex, or oedema, except for oral thrush (OR 2.3 CI 1.0–5.1) and hypoalbuminaemia (OR 3.5 CI 1.0–12.1). Isolates from severely immuno-suppressed children (CD4% <15%) were more likely to grow Salmonella enteriditis (OR 5.4; CI 1.6 – 17.4). The isolates were susceptible (≥ 80%) to ciprofloxacin, ceftriaxone and gentamicin; with low susceptibility to chlorampenicol, ampicillin (< 50%) and co-trimoxazole (<25%). Suspicion of bacteraemia had 95.9% sensitivity and 99.2% specificity. Among bacteraemic children, mortality was higher (43.5% vs 20.5%) in the HIV-positive; OR 3.0 (95%CI 1.0, 8.6). CONCLUSION: Bacteraemia affects 1 in every 6 severely malnourished children and carries high mortality especially among the HIV-positive. Given the high level of resistance to common antibiotics, there is need for clinical trials to determine the best combinations of antibiotics for management of bacteraemia in severely malnourished children
- …