Evotype: Towards the Evolution of Type Stencils

Typefaces are an essential resource employed by graphic designers. The increasing demand for innovative type design work increases the need for good technological means to assist the designer in the creation of a typeface. We present an evolutionary computation approach for the generation of type stencils to draw coherent glyphs for different characters. The proposed system employs a Genetic Algorithm to evolve populations of type stencils. The evaluation of each candidate stencil uses a hill climbing algorithm to search the best configurations to draw the target glyphs. We study the interplay between legibility, coherence and expressiveness, and show how our framework can be used in practice.Comment: EvoMUSART 2018 Best pape

Symmetric Biomechanically Guided Prone-to-Supine Breast Image Registration

Prone-to-supine breast image registration has potential application in the fields of surgical and radiotherapy planning, image guided interventions, and multi-modal cancer diagnosis, staging, and therapy response prediction. However, breast image registration of three dimensional images acquired in different patient positions is a challenging problem, due to large deformations induced to the soft breast tissue caused by the change in gravity loading. We present a symmetric, biomechanical simulation based registration framework which aligns the images in a central, virtually unloaded configuration. The breast tissue is modelled as a neo-Hookean material and gravity is considered as the main source of deformation in the original images. In addition to gravity, our framework successively applies image derived forces directly into the unloading simulation in place of a subsequent image registration step. This results in a biomechanically constrained deformation. Using a finite difference scheme avoids an explicit meshing step and enables simulations to be performed directly in the image space. The explicit time integration scheme allows the motion at the interface between chest and breast to be constrained along the chest wall. The feasibility and accuracy of the approach presented here was assessed by measuring the target registration error (TRE) using a numerical phantom with known ground truth deformations, nine clinical prone MRI and supine CT image pairs, one clinical prone-supine CT image pair and four prone-supine MRI image pairs. The registration reduced the mean TRE for the numerical phantom experiment from initially 19.3 to 0.9 mm and the combined mean TRE for all fourteen clinical data sets from 69.7 to 5.6 mm

Compartmentalization analysis using discrete fracture network models

This paper illustrates how Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) technology can serve as a basis for the calculation of reservoir engineering parameters for the development of fractured reservoirs. It describes the development of quantitative techniques for defining the geometry and volume of structurally controlled compartments. These techniques are based on a combination of stochastic geometry, computational geometry, and graph theory. The parameters addressed are compartment size, matrix block size and tributary drainage volume. The concept of DFN models is explained and methodologies to compute these parameters are demonstrated

Optimizing the Stark-decelerator beamline for the trapping of cold molecules using evolutionary strategies

We demonstrate feedback control optimization for the Stark deceleration and trapping of neutral polar molecules using evolutionary strategies. In a Stark-decelerator beamline pulsed electric fields are used to decelerate OH radicals and subsequently store them in an electrostatic trap. The efficiency of the deceleration and trapping process is determined by the exact timings of the applied electric field pulses. Automated optimization of these timings yields an increase of 40 % of the number of trapped OH radicals.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures (RevTeX) (v2) minor corrections (v3) no changes to manuscript, but fix author list in arXiv abstrac

Hypersensitivity and chaos signatures in the quantum baker's maps

Classical chaotic systems are distinguished by their sensitive dependence on initial conditions. The absence of this property in quantum systems has lead to a number of proposals for perturbation-based characterizations of quantum chaos, including linear growth of entropy, exponential decay of fidelity, and hypersensitivity to perturbation. All of these accurately predict chaos in the classical limit, but it is not clear that they behave the same far from the classical realm. We investigate the dynamics of a family of quantizations of the baker's map, which range from a highly entangling unitary transformation to an essentially trivial shift map. Linear entropy growth and fidelity decay are exhibited by this entire family of maps, but hypersensitivity distinguishes between the simple dynamics of the trivial shift map and the more complicated dynamics of the other quantizations. This conclusion is supported by an analytical argument for short times and numerical evidence at later times.Comment: 32 pages, 6 figure

Cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between energy intake and BMI z-score in European children

Background: Evidence for the effect of dietary energy on BMI z-scores in young children is limited. We aim to investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of daily energy intake (EI) on BMI z-scores of European boys and girls considering growth-related height dependencies of EI using residual EI. Methods: To investigate cross-sectional and longitudinal effects of daily energy intake (EI) on BMI z-scores of European boys and girls considering growth-related height dependencies of EI using residual EI. Methods: Subjects were children aged 2-<10 y old (N=2753, 48.2% girls) participating in the IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of Dietary- and lifestyle-induced health EFfects In Children and infantS) baseline and follow-up examination. Usual EI (kcal/day) was calculated based on the National Cancer Institute-method excluding subjects with implausible reported EI. Effect of age, height and sex-adjusted residuals of EI on BMI z-score was investigated stratified by baseline age -group (2-<4 y, 4-<6 y, 6-<8 y and 8-<10 y) cross-sectionally using linear regression models adjusted for relevant confounders (crude model: age, sex, country; fully adjusted model: plus parental ISCED level, parental BMI, screen time; subgroup analysis: plus objectively measured physical activity). Longitudinal associations were estimated between changes in (¿) residual EI per year and ¿BMI z-score per year with adjustments analogously to the cross-sectional models but with additional adjustment for residual EI at baseline. Results: Cross-sectionally, positive associations were observed between residual EI and BMI z-score for the full study sample, for boys and in older (=6years) but not in younger children in the crude and fully adjusted model. Longitudinally, small positive associations were observed between ¿residual EI per y on ¿BMI z-score per y for the full study sample and in 4-<6 y olds in the crude and fully adjusted model. Conclusion: In conclusion, EI above the average intakes for a certain sex, age and height are weakly associated with BMI z-scores in European children. Residual EI may be considered as a useful exposure measure in children as it accounts for growth-related changes in usual EI during childhood

Does Providing Assistance to Children and Adolescents Increase Repeatability and Plausibility of Self-Reporting Using a Web-Based Dietary Recall Instrument?

Background: It is important to find ways to minimize errors when children self-report food consumption. Objective: The objective of this study was to investigate whether assistance given to children completing a self-administered 24-hour dietary recall instrument called SACANA (Self-Administered Child, Adolescent and Adult Nutrition Assessment) increased the repeatability and plausibility of energy intake (EI) estimates. Participants/setting: The study was conducted between October 2013 and March 2016 in a convenience sample of 395 children, aged 8 to 17 years, from eight European countries participating in the I.Family study. Design: SACANA was used to recall the previous day's food intake, twice in a day, once with and once without assistance. Main outcome measures: The difference in EI between the first and second recalls was the main repeatability measure; the ratio of EI to basal metabolic rate was the plausibility measure. Statistical methods: Generalized linear mixed models, adjusted for sex, age, and body mass index z-score, were used to assess whether assistance during the first vs second recall influenced repeatability and plausibility. Results: The difference in estimated EI (EI from second recall minus EI from first recall) was significantly lower (P<0.001) in those assisted at first (median=-76 kcal) than those assisted at second recall (median=282 kcal). Modeling showed that EI at assisted first recall was 19% higher (95% CI 1.13 to 1.24) than in assisted second recall. Overall, 60% of recalls had a plausible EI. Modeling to estimate the simultaneous effects of second vs first recall and assistance vs no assistance on plausibility showed that those assisted at first recall had significantly higher odds of a plausible recall than those unassisted (odds ratio 3.64, 95% CI 2.20 to 6.01), with no significant difference in plausibility of second recall compared to the first (odds ratio 1.48, 95% CI 0.92 to 2.35). Conclusions: When children are assisted at first recall, the plausibility and repeatability of the later unassisted recall improve. This improvement was evident for all ages. A future, adequately powered study is required to investigate the age range for which assistance is advisable

Predictive associations between lifestyle behaviours and dairy consumption: The IDEFICS study

Background and aim: Physical activity (PA) and sedentary behaviours (SB) are related to obesity and cardiometabolic risk; however, the literature is controversial regarding the effect of dairy consumption on the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors. The aim of this study was to assess longitudinally the relationship between specific lifestyle behaviours (PA and SB) and dairy consumption in a sample of European children and adolescents. Methods and results: Children from the IDEFICS study were included in the analyses. Two measurements, with 2 years'' interval, were conducted. A total of 1688 (50.8% boys) children provided information regarding diet, measured by a 24-h dietary recall, PA measured by accelerometers and parent-reported sedentary screen time (SST) at both time points. Different combinations of these behaviours, at each survey and over time, were derived applying specific recommendations. Multilevel ordinal logistic regression and analysis of covariance were used to assess their association with dairy consumption, adjusted for potential confounders. Differences by gender were found regarding dairy product consumption and also adherence to SB and PA recommendations at T0 and T1. Children meeting both lifestyle recommendations, at the two measurement points, had higher probability to consume more milk and yogurt and less cheese than the rest of combinations. Conclusions: These results suggest that European children with a healthy lifestyle, especially regarding PA and SB over time, consumed more milk and yogurt. This study suggests that the protective effect of specific dairy products found in literature could be partially due to the association of their consumption with specific healthy lifestyles

Food and beverage intakes according to physical activity levels in European children: The IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of Dietary and lifestyle induced health EFfects in Children and infantS) study

Objective Physical activity (PA) levels and dietary habits are considered some of the most important factors associated with obesity. The present study aimed to examine the association between PA level and food and beverage consumption in European children (2-10 years old).Design/Setting/Subjects A sample of 7229 children (49·0 % girls) from eight European countries participating in the IDEFICS (Identification and prevention of Dietary and lifestyle induced health EFfects In Children and infantS) study was included. Moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) was assessed objectively with accelerometers. FFQ was used to register dietary habits. ANCOVA and binary logistic regression were applied.Results Boys who spent less time in MVPA reported lower consumption of vegetables, fruits, cereals, yoghurt, milk, bread, pasta, candies and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB) than boys who spent more time in MVPA (P<0·05). Moreover, boys who spent less time in MVPA were more likely to consume fast foods and water than those in the highest MVPA tertile (P<0·05). Girls who spent less time in MVPA reported lower consumption frequencies of vegetables, pasta, bread, yoghurt, candies, jam/honey and SSB than girls in the highest MVPA tertile (P<0·05). Also, girls in the lowest MVPA tertile were more likely to consume fast foods and water than those with high levels of MVPA (P<0·05).Conclusions Food intake among European children varied with different levels of daily MVPA. Low time spent in MVPA was associated with lowest consumption of both high- and low-energy-dense foods and high fast-food consumption