How Do People Process Ambiguous Strings

This article combines ambiguity phenomenon with Chinese word segmentation to observe how human being conduct language processing to clarify ambiguity between overlapping ambiguity and combination ambiguity. Artificial intelligence will easily missegment these two strings, while the study tries to introduce optimality theory to discover possible base of these two types of ambiguity comprehended by general people. According to the result, the key to clarify ambiguity is context, idiomaticity and word frequency

Noninvasive prediction of Blood Lactate through a machine learning-based approach.

We hypothesized that blood lactate concentration([Lac]blood) is a function of cardiopulmonary variables, exercise intensity and some anthropometric elements during aerobic exercise. This investigation aimed to establish a mathematical model to estimate [Lac]blood noninvasively during constant work rate (CWR) exercise of various intensities. 31 healthy participants were recruited and each underwent 4 cardiopulmonary exercise tests: one incremental and three CWR tests (low: 35% of peak work rate for 15 min, moderate: 60% 10 min and high: 90% 4 min). At the end of each CWR test, venous blood was sampled to determine [Lac]blood. 31 trios of CWR tests were employed to construct the mathematical model, which utilized exponential regression combined with Taylor expansion. Good fitting was achieved when the conditions of low and moderate intensity were put in one model; high-intensity in another. Standard deviation of fitting error in the former condition is 0.52; in the latter is 1.82 mmol/liter. Weighting analysis demonstrated that, besides heart rate, respiratory variables are required in the estimation of [Lac]blood in the model of low/moderate intensity. In conclusion, by measuring noninvasive cardio-respiratory parameters, [Lac]blood during CWR exercise can be determined with good accuracy. This should have application in endurance training and future exercise industry

Retraction and Generalized Extension of Computing with Words

Fuzzy automata, whose input alphabet is a set of numbers or symbols, are a formal model of computing with values. Motivated by Zadeh's paradigm of computing with words rather than numbers, Ying proposed a kind of fuzzy automata, whose input alphabet consists of all fuzzy subsets of a set of symbols, as a formal model of computing with all words. In this paper, we introduce a somewhat general formal model of computing with (some special) words. The new features of the model are that the input alphabet only comprises some (not necessarily all) fuzzy subsets of a set of symbols and the fuzzy transition function can be specified arbitrarily. By employing the methodology of fuzzy control, we establish a retraction principle from computing with words to computing with values for handling crisp inputs and a generalized extension principle from computing with words to computing with all words for handling fuzzy inputs. These principles show that computing with values and computing with all words can be respectively implemented by computing with words. Some algebraic properties of retractions and generalized extensions are addressed as well.Comment: 13 double column pages; 3 figures; to be published in the IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy System

Colonic Diverticulitis in the Elderly

SUMMARYDiverticular disease of the colon is a disease that mainly affects the elderly and presents in 50–70% of those aged 80 years or older. The most common complication is colonic diverticulitis. Eighty percent of patients who present with colonic diverticulitis are aged 50 years and older. Diagnosis and treatment of colonic diverticulitis in the elderly is more difficult and complicated owing to more comorbid conditions. Computed tomography is recommended for diagnosis when colonic diverticulitis is suspected. Most patients admitted with acute colonic diverticulitis respond to conservative treatment, but 15–30% of patients require surgery. Because surgery for acute colonic diverticulitis carries significant rates of morbidity and mortality, conservative treatment is recommended in the elderly. Conservative treatment of colonic diverticulitis with antibiotics, bowel rest, possibly including parenteral alimentation, is usually applied for 1–2 weeks. In the absence of a response to conservative treatment, frequent recurrence or complications (abscesses, fistulas, bowel obstructions, and free perforations), surgery is indicated

Network partitioning into tree hierarchies

This paper addresses the problem of partitioning a circuit into a tree hierarchy with an objective of minimizing a glo-bal interconnection cost. An efficient and effective algo-rithm is necessary when the circuit is huge and the tree has many levels of hierarchy. We propose a heuristic algorithm for improving a partition with respect to a given tree struc-ture. The algorithm utilizes the tree hierarchy as an efficient mechanism for iterative improvement. We also extend the tree hierarchy to apply a multi-phase partitioning approach. Experimental results show that the algorithm significantly improves the initial partitions produced by multiway parti-tioning and by recursive partitioning. 1

Role of SiNx Barrier Layer on the Performances of Polyimide Ga2O3-doped ZnO p-i-n Hydrogenated Amorphous Silicon Thin Film Solar Cells

In this study, silicon nitride (SiNx) thin films were deposited on polyimide (PI) substrates as barrier layers by a plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system. The gallium-doped zinc oxide (GZO) thin films were deposited on PI and SiNx/PI substrates at room temperature (RT), 100 and 200 °C by radio frequency (RF) magnetron sputtering. The thicknesses of the GZO and SiNx thin films were controlled at around 160 ± 12 nm and 150 ± 10 nm, respectively. The optimal deposition parameters for the SiNx thin films were a working pressure of 800 × 10−3 Torr, a deposition power of 20 W, a deposition temperature of 200 °C, and gas flowing rates of SiH4 = 20 sccm and NH3 = 210 sccm, respectively. For the GZO/PI and GZO-SiNx/PI structures we had found that the GZO thin films deposited at 100 and 200 °C had higher crystallinity, higher electron mobility, larger carrier concentration, smaller resistivity, and higher optical transmittance ratio. For that, the GZO thin films deposited at 100 and 200 °C on PI and SiNx/PI substrates with thickness of ~1000 nm were used to fabricate p-i-n hydrogenated amorphous silicon (α-Si) thin film solar cells. 0.5% HCl solution was used to etch the surfaces of the GZO/PI and GZO-SiNx/PI substrates. Finally, PECVD system was used to deposit α-Si thin film onto the etched surfaces of the GZO/PI and GZO-SiNx/PI substrates to fabricate α-Si thin film solar cells, and the solar cells’ properties were also investigated. We had found that substrates to get the optimally solar cells’ efficiency were 200 °C-deposited GZO-SiNx/PI