Toward Advanced Computer-Assisted Modeling

A mathematically elaborated modeling method alone cannot develop useful models of large-scale systems that involve human activities. What is needed as input to the model-building process, besides measurement data, is the knowledge of experts in relevant fields. The problem is, then, what types of knowledge should or can be included in the modeling process and, more important, how do we manage them. The interactive method of data handling (IMDH) presented in this paper develops linear models of complex systems through recursive interaction with the computer, systematically introducing the expert's knowledge about the structure of the underlying system. It should be emphasized that the more one repeats dialogues with the computer, the more effectively knowledge can be used to develop and refine the model

An Interactive Modeling Support System (IMSS)

A computer-assisted mathematical modeling method that emphasizes the interaction between analysts and computers is presented. It combines algebraic and graph-theoretic approaches to extract a trade-off between human mental models and models based on the use of data collected from the system under study. The method is oriented to the modeling of the so-called "gray box" systems which often involve human behavioral aspects and also knowledge of the experts in relevant fields. By recursive dialogues with the computer, the modeler finds a system model which can be nonlinear with respect to descriptive variables. The structure of the computer program packages is also presented

Measurement of tau polarization in e+ e- annihilation at sqrt{s}=58 GeV

The polarization of tau leptons in the reaction e+ e- --> tau+ tau- has been measured using a e+e- collider, TRISTAN, at the center-of-mass energy of 58 GeV. From the kinematical distributions of daughter particles in tau --> e nu nu-bar, mu nu nu-bar, rho nu or pi(K) nu decays, the average polarization of tau- and its forward-backward asymmetry have been evaluated to be 0.012 +- 0.058 and 0.029 +- 0.057, respectively.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

A structured review of long-term care demand modelling

Long-term care (LTC) represents a significant and substantial proportion of healthcare spends across the globe. Its main aim is to assist individuals suffering with more or more chronic illnesses, disabilities or cognitive impairments, to carry out activities associated with daily living. Shifts in several economic, demographic and social factors have raised concerns surrounding the sustainability of current systems of LTC. Substantial effort has been put into modelling the LTC demand process itself so as to increase understanding of the factors driving demand for LTC and its related services. Furthermore, such modeling efforts have also been used to plan the operation and future composition of the LTC system itself. The main aim of this paper is to provide a structured review of the literature surrounding LTC demand modeling and any such industrial application, whilst highlighting any potential direction for future researchers

Organic Geochemical Studies. I. Molecular Criteria for Hydrocarbon Genesis

In recent years the search for life-forms at the earliest periods of geological time has been continued not only at the morphological level but also at the molecular level. This has been possible as a result of the increase in the biochemical knowledge and with the advent of analytical techniques that are capable of describing the intimate molecular architecture of individual molecules in acute detail. The fundamental premises upon which this organic geochemical approach rest are the following: that certain molecules, possessing a characteristic structural skeleton, show a reasonable stability to degradation over long periods of geological time; that their structural specificity can be understood in terms of known biosynthetic sequences; and that their formation by any non-biological means is of negligible probability. In this manuscript it is proposed to critically re-examine these premises and to establish criteria whereby one can differentiate molecules derived from biological systems from those that have their origin in non-biological processes. The importance of establishing such criteria lies in the significance these criteria have in determining whether life exists, or has existed, on other planets. Within the very near future it may be possible to provide an initial answer to this question when the first lunar samples are returned to the earth for analysis

Economic evaluation of chemoprevention of breast cancer with tamoxifen and raloxifene among high-risk women in Japan

Raloxifene was approved for chemoprevention against breast cancer among high-risk women in addition to tamoxifen by the US Food and Drug Administration. This study aims to evaluate cost-effectiveness of these agents under Japan's health system. A cost-effectiveness analysis with Markov model consisting of eight health states such as healthy, invasive breast cancer, and endometrial cancer is carried out. The model incorporated the findings of National Surgical Adjuvant Breast and Bowel Project P-1 and P-2 trial, and key costs obtained from health insurance claim reviews. Favourable results, that is cost saving or cost-effective, are found by both tamoxifen and raloxifene for the introduction of chemoprevention among extremely high-risk women such as having a history of atypical hyperplasia, a history of lobular carcinoma in situ or a 5-year predicted breast cancer risk of ⩾5.01% starting at younger age, whereas unfavourable results, that is ‘cost more and gain less' or cost-ineffective, are found for women with a 5-year predicted breast cancer risk of ⩽5.00%. Therapeutic policy switch from tamoxifen to raloxifene among postmenopausal women are implied cost-effective. Findings suggest that introduction of chemoprevention targeting extremely high-risk women in Japan can be justifiable as an efficient use of finite health-care resources, possibly contributing to cost containment

Research on Teaching and Learning Mathematics at the Tertiary Level:State-of-the-art and Looking Ahead

This topical survey focuses on research in tertiary mathematics education, a field that has experienced considerable growth over the last 10 years. Drawing on the most recent journal publication as well as the latest advances from recent high quality conference proceedings, our review culls out the following five emergent areas of interest: mathematics teaching at the tertiary level; the role of mathematics in other disciplines; textbooks, assessment and students’ studying practices; transition to the tertiary level; and theoretical-methodological advances. We conclude the survey with a discussion of some potential ways forward for future research in this new and rapidly developing domain of inquiry

The role of the cerebellum in adaptation: ALE meta‐analyses on sensory feedback error

It is widely accepted that unexpected sensory consequences of self‐action engage the cerebellum. However, we currently lack consensus on where in the cerebellum, we find fine‐grained differentiation to unexpected sensory feedback. This may result from methodological diversity in task‐based human neuroimaging studies that experimentally alter the quality of self‐generated sensory feedback. We gathered existing studies that manipulated sensory feedback using a variety of methodological approaches and performed activation likelihood estimation (ALE) meta‐analyses. Only half of these studies reported cerebellar activation with considerable variation in spatial location. Consequently, ALE analyses did not reveal significantly increased likelihood of activation in the cerebellum despite the broad scientific consensus of the cerebellum's involvement. In light of the high degree of methodological variability in published studies, we tested for statistical dependence between methodological factors that varied across the published studies. Experiments that elicited an adaptive response to continuously altered sensory feedback more frequently reported activation in the cerebellum than those experiments that did not induce adaptation. These findings may explain the surprisingly low rate of significant cerebellar activation across brain imaging studies investigating unexpected sensory feedback. Furthermore, limitations of functional magnetic resonance imaging to probe the cerebellum could play a role as climbing fiber activity associated with feedback error processing may not be captured by it. We provide methodological recommendations that may guide future studies