Reasoning about real-time teleo-reactive programs

The teleo-reactive programming model is a high-level approach to implementing real-time control programs that react dynamically to changes in their environment. Teleo-reactive programs are particularly useful for implementing controllers in autonomous agents. In this paper we present formal techniques for reasoning about robust teleo-reactive programs.We develop a temporal logic over continuous intervals, which we use to formalise the semantics of teleo-reactive programs. To facilitate compositional reasoning about a program and its environment, we use rely/guarantee style specications. We also present several theorems for simplifying proofs of teleo-reactive programs that control goal-directed agents

Reasoning about goal-directed real-time teleo-reactive programs

The teleo-reactive programming model is a high-level approach to developing real-time systems that supports hierarchical composition and durative actions. The model is different from frameworks such as action systems, timed automata and TLA+, and allows programs to be more compact and descriptive of their intended behaviour. Teleo-reactive programs are particularly useful for implementing controllers for autonomous agents that must react robustly to their dynamically changing environments. In this paper, we develop a real-time logic that is based on Duration Calculus and use this logic to formalise the semantics of teleo-reactive programs. We develop rely/guarantee rules that facilitate reasoning about a program and its environment in a compositional manner. We present several theorems for simplifying proofs of teleo-reactive programs and present a partially mechanised method for proving progress properties of goal-directed agents. © 2013 British Computer Society

Effects of a Transdiagnostic Group Treatment for Anxiety on Secondary Depression

Researchers have recently explored transdiagnostic anxiety treatments based on models of anxiety emphasizing a single common pathway across diagnostic categories. Results from a previous study (Norton and Hope, in press) indicated that a transdiagnostic approach was effective for both targeted and untargeted anxiety disorders. Consistent with the tripartite model, the transdiagnostic treatment should also influence symptoms of a broader pathology such as negative affectivity. This follow-up to Norton and Hope found significant decreases in depressed mood for clients undergoing transdiagnostic treatment for anxiety when compared to wait-list control participants. Although not statistically established, severity of depressive diagnoses seemed to generally decrease across treatment, whereas no change in severity occurred for those not receiving treatment

Neural network models for influenza forecasting with associated uncertainty using Web search activity trends

Influenza affects millions of people every year. It causes a considerable amount of medical visits and hospitalisations as well as hundreds of thousands of deaths. Forecasting influenza prevalence with good accuracy can significantly help public health agencies to timely react to seasonal or novel strain epidemics. Although significant progress has been made, influenza forecasting remains a challenging modelling task. In this paper, we propose a methodological framework that improves over the state-of-the-art forecasting accuracy of influenza-like illness (ILI) rates in the United States. We achieve this by using Web search activity time series in conjunction with historical ILI rates as observations for training neural network (NN) architectures. The proposed models incorporate Bayesian layers to produce associated uncertainty intervals to their forecast estimates, positioning themselves as legitimate complementary solutions to more conventional approaches. The best performing NN, referred to as the iterative recurrent neural network (IRNN) architecture, reduces mean absolute error by 10.3% and improves skill by 17.1% on average in nowcasting and forecasting tasks across 4 consecutive flu seasons

Effects of a Transdiagnostic Group Treatment for Anxiety on Secondary Depression

Researchers have recently explored transdiagnostic anxiety treatments based on models of anxiety emphasizing a single common pathway across diagnostic categories. Results from a previous study (Norton and Hope, in press) indicated that a transdiagnostic approach was effective for both targeted and untargeted anxiety disorders. Consistent with the tripartite model, the transdiagnostic treatment should also influence symptoms of a broader pathology such as negative affectivity. This follow-up to Norton and Hope found significant decreases in depressed mood for clients undergoing transdiagnostic treatment for anxiety when compared to wait-list control participants. Although not statistically established, severity of depressive diagnoses seemed to generally decrease across treatment, whereas no change in severity occurred for those not receiving treatment

Role of inflammation and infection in the pathogenesis of human acute liver failure:Clinical implications for monitoring and therapy

Acute liver failure is a rare and devastating clinical condition. At present, emergency liver transplantation is the only life-saving therapy in advanced cases, yet the feasibility of transplantation is affected by the presence of systemic inflammation, infection and resultant multi-organ failure. The importance of immune dysregulation and acquisition of infection in the pathogenesis of acute liver failure and its associated complications is now recognised. In this review we discuss current thinking regarding the role of infection and inflammation in the pathogenesis of and outcome in human acute liver failure, the implications for the management of such patients and suggest directions for future research

“An iron hand in a velvet glove’’: the embodiment of the platform logic in the emergency sector

Despite increasing attention on organizational responses to digital platforms the Information Systems research has overlooked the influence of platforms on the public sector. In this paper we draw on the concept of institutional logics to examine the impact of platforms on the emergency sector. A qualitative case study of the emergency sector is undertaken, comprised of interviews with organizations—including emergency response organizations, government agencies, firms, non-government organizations and community and volunteer groups. The findings reveal the interplay between the prevailing ‘command and control’ and ‘community’ logics and the ‘platform’ logic and how the tensions and synergies between them are shaping the information landscape in the sector. We demonstrate how organizations embody and resist aspects of the platform logic

Leadership Dispositions and Skills for Ethnically Diverse Schools

Quality educational leadership is especially critical today in the era of school improvement, student achievement, and teacher accountability. Leaders help meet ever-changing contexts and opportunities. Senge (1990) observed, “The new view of leadership in learning organizations centers on subtler and more important tasks. In learning organizations, leaders are designers, stewards, and teachers” (p. 340). In addition to these new leadership challenges, this is a time when school resources—human as well as financial--are limited not only in PK-12 schools but to universities as well (Price, 2008). While American educators today are serving an increasingly diverse community, educators are still predominately middle-class, European American, and English-only speakers (Banks et al., 2005; Jazzar & Algozzine, 2006; Swartz, 2003). Not only must school leaders understand students’ communities and experience, they also need the willingness, attitudes, and ethics or dispositions to work well with diversity and to teach these skills to others (Lindsey, Robins, & Terrell, 2003). Dispositions may be defined as, “values, commitments, and professional ethics that influence behaviors toward students, families, colleagues, and communities” (NCATE, 2002, p. 53). More specifically, diversity dispositions include the skills, beliefs and connections to be successful within the community (Schulte, Edwards, & Edick, 2008). For school administrators, the objective is to become a leader who “promotes the success of students by collaborating with families and community members, responding to the diverse community interests and needs, and mobilizing community resources” (CCSSO, 2007, p. 16) More than ever before, those who train educators need to assist candidates in cultivating their positive dispositions in order to help all students succeed (Keiser & Smith, 2009)

Provider-initiated symptom screening for tuberculosis in Zimbabwe: diagnostic value and the effect of HIV status.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the diagnostic value of provider-initiated symptom screening for tuberculosis (TB) and how HIV status affects it. METHODS: We performed a secondary analysis of randomly selected participants in a community-based TB-HIV prevalence survey in Harare, Zimbabwe. All completed a five-symptom questionnaire and underwent sputum TB culture and HIV testing. We calculated the sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of various symptoms and used regression analysis to investigate the relationship between symptoms and TB disease. FINDINGS: We found one or more symptoms of TB in 21.2% of 1858 HIV-positive (HIV+) and 9.9% of 7121 HIV-negative (HIV-) participants (P or = 2 weeks' duration, any symptom and a positive sputum culture had sensitivities of 48%, 81% and 65%, respectively; in HIV- participants, the sensitivities were 45%, 71% and 74%, respectively. Symptoms had a similar sensitivity and specificity in HIV+ and HIV- participants, but in HIV+ participants they had a higher positive and a lower negative predictive value. CONCLUSION: Even smear-positive TB may be missed by provider-initiated symptom screening, especially in HIV+ individuals. Symptom screening is useful for ruling out TB, but better TB diagnostics are urgently needed for resource-poor settings