Inherent Limits on Topology-Based Link Prediction

Link prediction systems (e.g. recommender systems) typically use graph topology as one of their main sources of information. We calculate hard upper bounds on how well the structure alone enables link prediction for a wide variety of real-world graphs. We find that in the sparsest of these graphs the upper bounds are non-trivially low, thereby demonstrating that if a link prediction system is going to perform well in a sparse context, it will almost certainly need more information than the network topology alone

Satisfaction Rating of Coordination Mechanisms by Dairy Producers around Community Milk Cooling Plants in Western Kenya

A number of studies have used value chains approach to look at critical constraints that limit the growth of milk production and marketing. However, existing literature is limited on case studies that have first considered establishing the satisfaction levels of support services provision to individual producer households so as to inform accurate constraints identification for sustainable policy and technical intervention. This study undertook to identify and analyze coordination mechanisms that had been developed to support producer households around community milk cooling plants using factor analysis approach. Primary data from 273 households selected through simple random sampling method was collected using a semi structured interview schedule. From the results,  the overall satisfaction mean score  rating was 5.4 with feeds provision and clinical services had the highest satisfaction mean scores respectively. From factor analysis, three factors were generated, and were named as support for training, support for inputs and support for marketing respectively. Cronbach’s α test results confirmed reliability for support for input and training factors. It was concluded that though efforts had been made to provide support services to producers, service provision was inefficient and uptake still low in some services. It is recommended that in order to enhance the proportion of milk that entered the community milk cooling plants, pricing policies based on grade of milk should be put in place so as to attract more producers to join and supply regularly to the cooling plant at premium prices and also to make the producers benefit from the services being offered Key words: Community Milk Cooling Plant, Factor Analysis, Producers, Support Services

A Citizens Compact: Reaching out to the Citizens of Europe. CEPS EPIN Working Papers No. 14, 1 September 2005

[Executive Summary]. How can the deadlock after the ‘no’ to the European Constitutional Treaty in France and the Netherlands be overcome? What should be the aim of the ‘period of reflection’ that has been agreed by the European Council? The authors of this paper propose the adoption of a ‘Citizens Compact’, which should directly address the larger malaise among citizens that underlies the Constitutional crisis. It should contribute to the reduction of the EU’s democratic deficit without treaty reform. The following measures should be envisaged: • National parliaments should participate more strongly in the controversies on core European issues through earlier and intensive debates about EU initiatives. • Every six months governments should explain their positions on the priorities of the EU-presidency in their national parliaments. • EU-actors (MEPs, Commissioners and top officials) should participate more intensively in national debates about European issues and contribute to a better understanding of the European political processes among citizens. • National governments should regularly publish information bulletins about the latest EU initiatives and –decisions. • Public fora about European issues should be established in every member state with speakers coming from national politics, from the EU level and other member states as well as representatives from civil society. • Uncontroversial elements of the Constitutional Treaty that strengthen EU democracy could already be adopted through inter-institutional agreements. • A White Paper on the establishment of a ‘European Democratic and Civic Space’ in the EU should be elaborated. • In the future important legislative acts should contain an impact assessment of the consequences on citizens’ lives

Methane observations from the Greenhouse Gases Observing SATellite: Comparison to ground‐based TCCON data and model calculations

We report new short-wave infrared (SWIR) column retrievals of atmospheric methane (X_(CH4)) from the Japanese Greenhouse Gases Observing SATellite (GOSAT) and compare observed spatial and temporal variations with correlative ground-based measurements from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) and with the global 3-D GEOS-Chem chemistry transport model. GOSAT X_(CH4) retrievals are compared with daily TCCON observations at six sites between April 2009 and July 2010 (Bialystok, Park Falls, Lamont, Orleans, Darwin and Wollongong). GOSAT reproduces the site-dependent seasonal cycles as observed by TCCON with correlations typically between 0.5 and 0.7 with an estimated single-sounding precision between 0.4–0.8%. We find a latitudinal-dependent difference between the X_(CH4) retrievals from GOSAT and TCCON which ranges from 17.9 ppb at the most northerly site (Bialystok) to −14.6 ppb at the site with the lowest latitude (Darwin). We estimate that the mean smoothing error difference included in the GOSAT to TCCON comparisons can account for 15.7 to 17.4 ppb for the northerly sites and for 1.1 ppb at the lowest latitude site. The GOSAT X_(CH4) retrievals agree well with the GEOS-Chem model on annual (August 2009 – July 2010) and monthly timescales, capturing over 80% of the zonal variability. Differences between model and observed X_(CH4) are found over key source regions such as Southeast Asia and central Africa which will be further investigated using a formal inverse model analysis

A web-based app to provide personalized recommendations for COVID-19

Peer Reviewe

Algorithms for Olfactory Search across Species

Localizing the sources of stimuli is essential. Most organisms cannot eat, mate, or escape without knowing where the relevant stimuli originate. For many, if not most, animals, olfaction plays an essential role in search. While microorganismal chemotaxis is relatively well understood, in larger animals the algorithms and mechanisms of olfactory search remain mysterious. In this symposium, we will present recent advances in our understanding of olfactory search in flies and rodents. Despite their different sizes and behaviors, both species must solve similar problems, including meeting the challenges of turbulent airflow, sampling the environment to optimize olfactory information, and incorporating odor information into broader navigational systems

MADNESS: A Multiresolution, Adaptive Numerical Environment for Scientific Simulation

MADNESS (multiresolution adaptive numerical environment for scientific simulation) is a high-level software environment for solving integral and differential equations in many dimensions that uses adaptive and fast harmonic analysis methods with guaranteed precision based on multiresolution analysis and separated representations. Underpinning the numerical capabilities is a powerful petascale parallel programming environment that aims to increase both programmer productivity and code scalability. This paper describes the features and capabilities of MADNESS and briefly discusses some current applications in chemistry and several areas of physics

Generate FAIR Literature Surveys with Scholarly Knowledge Graphs

Reviewing scientific literature is a cumbersome, time consuming but crucial activity in research. Leveraging a scholarly knowledge graph, we present a methodology and a system for comparing scholarly literature, in particular research contributions describing the addressed problem, utilized materials, employed methods and yielded results. The system can be used by researchers to quickly get familiar with existing work in a specific research domain (e.g., a concrete research question or hypothesis). Additionally, it can be used to publish literature surveys following the FAIR Data Principles. The methodology to create a research contribution comparison consists of multiple tasks, specifically: (a) finding similar contributions, (b) aligning contribution descriptions, (c) visualizing and finally (d) publishing the comparison. The methodology is implemented within the Open Research Knowledge Graph (ORKG), a scholarly infrastructure that enables researchers to collaboratively describe, find and compare research contributions. We evaluate the implementation using data extracted from published review articles. The evaluation also addresses the FAIRness of comparisons published with the ORKG

Ground-based FTIR measurements of O3- and climate-related gases in the free troposphere and lower stratosphere

In the frame of the EC project UFTIR (Time series of Upper Free Troposphere observations from a European ground-based FTIR network), a common strategy for an optimal determination of the chemical composition in the free troposphere and lower stratosphere with ground-based Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometers is being developed. The project focuses on 6 target species that are O3, CO, CH4, N2O, C2H6 and CHClF2 (HCFC-22). The strategy consists in selecting the most appropriate parameters to retrieve vertical concentration profiles from solar FTIR spectra. Among the important parameters are the spectral microwindows: they have been optimised to maximise the information content and to minimize the influence of poorly known spectroscopic data and interfering species