gramEvol: Grammatical Evolution in R

We describe an R package which implements grammatical evolution (GE) for automatic program generation. By performing an unconstrained optimization over a population of R expressions generated via a user-defined grammar, programs which achieve a desired goal can be discovered. The package facilitates the coding and execution of GE programs, and supports parallel execution. In addition, three applications of GE in statistics and machine learning, including hyper-parameter optimization, classification and feature generation are studied

Probabilistic Model Checking for Energy Analysis in Software Product Lines

In a software product line (SPL), a collection of software products is defined by their commonalities in terms of features rather than explicitly specifying all products one-by-one. Several verification techniques were adapted to establish temporal properties of SPLs. Symbolic and family-based model checking have been proven to be successful for tackling the combinatorial blow-up arising when reasoning about several feature combinations. However, most formal verification approaches for SPLs presented in the literature focus on the static SPLs, where the features of a product are fixed and cannot be changed during runtime. This is in contrast to dynamic SPLs, allowing to adapt feature combinations of a product dynamically after deployment. The main contribution of the paper is a compositional modeling framework for dynamic SPLs, which supports probabilistic and nondeterministic choices and allows for quantitative analysis. We specify the feature changes during runtime within an automata-based coordination component, enabling to reason over strategies how to trigger dynamic feature changes for optimizing various quantitative objectives, e.g., energy or monetary costs and reliability. For our framework there is a natural and conceptually simple translation into the input language of the prominent probabilistic model checker PRISM. This facilitates the application of PRISM's powerful symbolic engine to the operational behavior of dynamic SPLs and their family-based analysis against various quantitative queries. We demonstrate feasibility of our approach by a case study issuing an energy-aware bonding network device.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled investigation of BCc1 nanomedicine effect on survival and quality of life in metastatic and non-metastatic gastric cancer patients

Background: Currently, the main goal of cancer research is to increase longevity of patients suffering malignant cancers. The promising results of BCc1 in vitro and vivo experiments made us look into the effect of BCc1 nanomedicine on patients with cancer in a clinical trial. Methods: The present investigation was a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel, and multicenter study in which 123 patients (30-to-85-year-old men and women) with metastatic and non-metastatic gastric cancer, in two separate groups of BCc1 nanomedicine or placebo, were selected using a permuted block randomization method. For metastatic and non-metastatic patients, a daily dose of 3000 and 1500 mg was prescribed, respectively. Overall survival (OS) as the primary endpoint and quality of life (measured using QLQ-STO22) and adverse effects as the secondary endpoints were studied. Results: In metastatic patients, the median OS was significantly higher in BCc1 nanomedicine (174 days 95% confidence interval (CI) 82.37-265.62) than in placebo (62 days 95% CI 0-153.42); hazard ratio (HR): 0.5 95% CI 0.25-0.98; p = 0.046. In non-metastatic patients, the median OS was significantly higher in BCc1 nanomedicine (529 days 95% CI 393.245-664.75) than in placebo (345 days 95% CI 134.85-555.14); HR: 0.324 95% CI 0.97-1.07; p = 0.066. The QLQ-STO22 assessment showed a mean difference improvement of 3.25 and 2.29 (p value > 0.05) in BCc1 nanomedicine and a mean difference deterioration of - 4.42 and - 3 (p-value < 0.05) in placebo with metastatic and non-metastatic patients, respectively. No adverse effects were observed. Conclusion: The findings of this trial has provided evidence for the potential capacity of BCc1 nanomedicine for treatment of cancer. Trial registration IRCTID, IRCT2017101935423N1. Registered on 19 October 2017, http://www.irct.ir/ IRCT2017101935423N1 © 2019 The Author(s)

National guidelines for cognitive assessment and rehabilitation of Iranian traumatic brain injury patients

Background: Individuals with moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) often have prolonged cognitive impairments, resulting in long-term problems with their real-life activities. Given the urgent need for evidence-based recommendations for neuropsychological management of Iranian TBI patients, the current work aimed to adapt eligible international guidelines for cognitive assessment and rehabilitation of the TBI patients in Iran. Methods: The project was led by an executive committee, under the supervision of the Iranian Ministry of Health and Medical Education (MOHME). Following a systematic literature search and selection process, four guidelines were included for adaptation. Clinical recommendations of the source guidelines were tabulated as possible clinical scenarios for 90 PICO clinical questions covering all relevant phases of care. After summing up the scenarios, our initial list of recommendations was drafted according to the Iranian patients� conditions. The final decision-making, with the contribution of a national interdisciplinary panel of 37 experts from across the country, was conducted in two rounds using online and offline survey forms (Round 1), and face-to-face and telephone meetings (Round 2). Results: A total of 63 recommendations in six sections were included in the final list of recommendations, among which 24 were considered as key recommendations. In addition, some of the recommendations were identified as fundamental, meaning that proper implementation of the other recommendations is largely dependent on their implementation. Conclusion: Iranian health policy makers and rehabilitation program managers are recommended to address some fundamental issues to provide the necessary infrastructure to set up an efficient cognitive rehabilitation service system. © 2020 Academy of Medical Sciences of I.R. Iran. All rights reserved

Mapping Sequence diagram in Fuzzy UML to Fuzzy Petri Net

This ability in fuzzy UML, practically leaves the customers and market’s need without response in this important and vital area. Here, the available sequence diagrams in fuzzy UML will map into fuzzy Petri net. However, the formal models ability will be added to the Semi-formal fuzzy UML. This formalization will add the automatic processing ability to the Semi-formal fuzzy UML. Further more, the other advantages of this mapping is: access to non-functional parameters such as reliability automatically to the considering systems, study the verification of the designed plan and also decrease the expenses because of satiety to make lab sample before its implementation. Using the fuzzy UML mapping into fuzzy Petri net in control, critical and real-time systems will be more applicable

Development and psychometric evaluation of "Quality of Life Scale for Asthmatic Children” (QOLSAC)

Background and aimAsthma is a chronic condition affecting on quality of life (QOL) of afflicted children and their families. Nurses and other healthcare workers need a valid and reliable tool to mesure these effects. The aim of this study was to Development and psychometric evaluation of "Quality of Life Scale for Asthmatic Children” (QOLSAC).  Materials and methodsThis research is a methodological study. A review of literature and semistructured interviews with 13 asthmatic children were carried out to develop 81 statements of “Quality of Life Scale for Asthmatic Children (QOLSAC).”The content of the scale were then validated by asking 30 professionals in pediatric medicine and nursing, asthma, tool development and QOL based on relatedness, clarity and simpleness. Statements with 75% validity or more were retained. Face validity of the scale was also identified. Construct (factor analysis) and criterion validitieswere identified by distributing the scale to 136 asthmatic children and comparing with Kindel’s QOL questionnaire respectively. Internal consistency (Cronbach’s α) and stability (test-retest) measurements were performed for the reliability of the scale. FindingsFactor analysis showed 5 domains (factors) in the scale and criterion validity revealed 0.89 correlation between the 2 tools. The range of Cronbach’s α (coefficient of correlation) in the 5 domains was between 0.81 and 0.92 and test-retest measurements indicated 0.93-0.98 correlations in the domains. ConclusionThe results showed that QOLSAC with 61 statements is valid and reliable, using Likert measurement scale. With respect to the importance of this scale, applying it to assess the quality of life of asthmatic children is recommended.  Keywords: Scale development, Psychometric evaluation, Quality of life, Asthmatic children. *Corresponding Author: Dr. Farideh, Yaghmaei. Dept. of Community Health Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Midwifery, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran E-mail: [email protected]

Dynamic compartmental models for large multi-objective landscapes and performance estimation

International audienceDynamic Compartmental Models are linear models inspired by epidemiology models to study Multi- and Many-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms dynamics. So far they have been tested on small MNK-Landscapes problems with 20 variables and used as a tool for algorithm analysis, algorithm comparison, and algorithm configuration assuming that the Pareto optimal set is known. In this paper, we introduce a new set of features based only on when non-dominated solutions are found in the population, relaxing the assumption that the Pareto optimal set is known in order to use Dynamic Compartment Models on larger problems. We also propose an auxiliary model to estimate the hypervolume from the features of population dynamics that measures the changes of new non-dominated solutions in the population. The new features are tested by studying the population changes on the Adaptive ϵ-Sampling ϵ-Hood while solving 30 instances of a 3 objective, 100 variables MNK-landscape problem. We also discuss the behavior of the auxiliary model and the quality of its hypervolume estimations