HypTrails: A Bayesian Approach for Comparing Hypotheses About Human Trails on the Web

When users interact with the Web today, they leave sequential digital trails on a massive scale. Examples of such human trails include Web navigation, sequences of online restaurant reviews, or online music play lists. Understanding the factors that drive the production of these trails can be useful for e.g., improving underlying network structures, predicting user clicks or enhancing recommendations. In this work, we present a general approach called HypTrails for comparing a set of hypotheses about human trails on the Web, where hypotheses represent beliefs about transitions between states. Our approach utilizes Markov chain models with Bayesian inference. The main idea is to incorporate hypotheses as informative Dirichlet priors and to leverage the sensitivity of Bayes factors on the prior for comparing hypotheses with each other. For eliciting Dirichlet priors from hypotheses, we present an adaption of the so-called (trial) roulette method. We demonstrate the general mechanics and applicability of HypTrails by performing experiments with (i) synthetic trails for which we control the mechanisms that have produced them and (ii) empirical trails stemming from different domains including website navigation, business reviews and online music played. Our work expands the repertoire of methods available for studying human trails on the Web.Comment: Published in the proceedings of WWW'1

Reasoning About Vote Counting Schemes Using Light-weight and Heavy-weight Methods

We compare and contrast our experiences in specifying, implementing and verifying the monotonicity property of a simple plurality voting scheme using modern light-weight and heavy-weight verification tools

Cortical dynamics of disfluency in adults who stutter

Citation: Sengupta, R., Shah, S., Loucks, T. M. J., Pelczarski, K., Scott Yaruss, J., Gore, K., & Nasir, S. M. (2017). Cortical dynamics of disfluency in adults who stutter. Physiological Reports, 5(9). doi:10.14814/phy2.13194Stuttering is a disorder of speech production whose origins have been traced to the central nervous system. One of the factors that may underlie stuttering is aberrant neural miscommunication within the speech motor network. It is thus argued that disfluency (any interruption in the forward flow of speech) in adults who stutter (AWS) could be associated with anomalous cortical dynamics. Aberrant brain activity has been demonstrated in AWS in the absence of overt disfluency, but recording neural activity during disfluency is more challenging. The paradigm adopted here took an important step that involved overt reading of long and complex speech tokens under continuous EEG recording. Anomalies in cortical dynamics preceding disfluency were assessed by subtracting out neural activity for fluent utterances from their disfluent counterparts. Differences in EEG spectral power involving alpha, beta, and gamma bands, as well as anomalies in phase-coherence involving the gamma band, were observed prior to the production of the disfluent utterances. These findings provide novel evidence for compromised cortical dynamics that directly precede disfluency in AWS. © 2017 The Authors. Physiological Reports published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Physiological Society and the American Physiological Society

Risk based ASME Code requirements

The objective of this ASME Research Task Force is to develop and to apply a methodology for incorporating quantitative risk analysis techniques into the definition of in-service inspection (ISI) programs for a wide range of industrial applications. An additional objective, directed towards the field of nuclear power generation, is ultimately to develop a recommendation for comprehensive revisions to the ISI requirements of Section XI of the ASME Boiler and Pressure Vessel Code. This will require development of a firm technical basis for such requirements, which does not presently exist. Several years of additional research will be required before this can be accomplished. A general methodology suitable for application to any industry has been defined and published. It has recently been refined and further developed during application to the field of nuclear power generation. In the nuclear application probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) techniques and information have been incorporated. With additional analysis, PRA information is used to determine the consequence of a component rupture (increased reactor core damage probability). A procedure has also been recommended for using the resulting quantified risk estimates to determine target component rupture probability values to be maintained by inspection activities. Structural risk and reliability analysis (SRRA) calculations are then used to determine characteristics which an inspection strategy must posess in order to maintain component rupture probabilities below target values. The methodology, results of example applications, and plans for future work are discussed

Scanning the Data Environment at the University of Massachusetts Medical School

Objective Environmental scanning constitutes a primary mode of organizational learning” (Choo 1999). In a step toward active development of research data support services for its community, the Lamar Soutter Library at the University of Massachusetts Medical School has undertaken extensive environmental scanning to better understand the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of an academic biomedical institution with respect to research data. Given the variety of potential data services that an academic library may deploy, the information gathered from these activities will identify and prioritize new library activities. Method Environmental scanning activities include a survey of student’s experiences and attitudes with research data management; faculty and administrator interviews (via the DuraSpace 2014 eScience Institute program); and the identification of existing local services and policy documents related to research data. Results from these activities are analyzed by the Library Data Services Advisory Group and the eScience Institute working group to plot a formal roadmap for library-based data services. Results Students, faculty, administrators, and existing documentation together reveal a variety of attitudes, assumptions, and avenues for the handling of research data on campus. They identify potential activities where the library might play a role, some expected and some unexpected. Conclusion Information gathered during environmental scanning activities at the University of Massachusetts Medical School informs the development and prioritization of library-based research data support services