Discovering Evolutionary Stepping Stones through Behavior Domination

Behavior domination is proposed as a tool for understanding and harnessing the power of evolutionary systems to discover and exploit useful stepping stones. Novelty search has shown promise in overcoming deception by collecting diverse stepping stones, and several algorithms have been proposed that combine novelty with a more traditional fitness measure to refocus search and help novelty search scale to more complex domains. However, combinations of novelty and fitness do not necessarily preserve the stepping stone discovery that novelty search affords. In several existing methods, competition between solutions can lead to an unintended loss of diversity. Behavior domination defines a class of algorithms that avoid this problem, while inheriting theoretical guarantees from multiobjective optimization. Several existing algorithms are shown to be in this class, and a new algorithm is introduced based on fast non-dominated sorting. Experimental results show that this algorithm outperforms existing approaches in domains that contain useful stepping stones, and its advantage is sustained with scale. The conclusion is that behavior domination can help illuminate the complex dynamics of behavior-driven search, and can thus lead to the design of more scalable and robust algorithms.Comment: To Appear in Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference (GECCO 2017

Interocular differences of the Pentacam measurements in normal subjects

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine the interocular differences of the Pentacam corneal measurements in a normal population. Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 550 eyes of 275 consecutive subjects evaluated for refractive surgery at the Rassoul Akram Hospital, Iran University of Medical Sciences. A Pentacam Scheimpflug camera was used for corneal measurements. Statistical analysis was performed to determine the normal levels of the difference between the two eyes. Results: One hundred and four men and 171 women with a mean age of 29.1 ± 7.73 years were evaluated. The mean (range) interocular difference was 2.17 (zero to 21) μm for maximum anterior elevation (AEmax), 3.62 (zero to 31) μm for maximum posterior elevation (PEmax), 8.42 (zero to 30) μm for minimum corneal thickness (CTmin), 0.06 (zero to 0.4) mm3 for three millimetre corneal volume (CV3), 0.19 (zero to 1.2) mm3 for five millimetre corneal volume (CV5), 0.44 (zero to 2.9) mm3 for seven millimetre corneal volume (CV7), 0.24 (zero to 2.5) dioptres for the mean keratometry (Km) and 0.39 (zero to 2.5) D for measurements of the corneal dioptric power in the steepest meridian (Kmax). Conclusions: Individuals with differences greater than 17.4 μm in AEmax, 29.1 μm in PEmax, 29.6 μm in CTmin, 2 D in Km, 2.27 D in Kmax, 0.32 in CV3, 1.05 in CV5, and 2.6 in CV7 between eyes represent less than 0.5 per cent of the population. An interocular difference outside the normal range should alert the clinician to examine for other parameters that are more predictive of post-refractive surgical ectasia. © 2009 Optometrists Association Australia

On the Exploitation of a High-throughput SHA-256 FPGA Design for HMAC

High-throughput and area-efficient designs of hash functions and corresponding mechanisms for Message Authentication Codes (MACs) are in high demand due to new security protocols that have arisen and call for security services in every transmitted data packet. For instance, IPv6 incorporates the IPSec protocol for secure data transmission. However, the IPSec's performance bottleneck is the HMAC mechanism which is responsible for authenticating the transmitted data. HMAC's performance bottleneck in its turn is the underlying hash function. In this article a high-throughput and small-size SHA-256 hash function FPGA design and the corresponding HMAC FPGA design is presented. Advanced optimization techniques have been deployed leading to a SHA-256 hashing core which performs more than 30% better, compared to the next better design. This improvement is achieved both in terms of throughput as well as in terms of throughput/area cost factor. It is the first reported SHA-256 hashing core that exceeds 11Gbps (after place and route in Xilinx Virtex 6 board)

Search based software engineering: Trends, techniques and applications

© ACM, 2012. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of ACM for your personal use. Not for redistribution. The definitive version is available from the link below.In the past five years there has been a dramatic increase in work on Search-Based Software Engineering (SBSE), an approach to Software Engineering (SE) in which Search-Based Optimization (SBO) algorithms are used to address problems in SE. SBSE has been applied to problems throughout the SE lifecycle, from requirements and project planning to maintenance and reengineering. The approach is attractive because it offers a suite of adaptive automated and semiautomated solutions in situations typified by large complex problem spaces with multiple competing and conflicting objectives. This article provides a review and classification of literature on SBSE. The work identifies research trends and relationships between the techniques applied and the applications to which they have been applied and highlights gaps in the literature and avenues for further research.EPSRC and E

Broadband Stacked Microstrip Patch Antenna for L-Band Operation: FDTD Modeling

This paper presents a novel implementation of an electromagnetically coupled patch antenna using air gap filled substrates to achieve the maximum bandwidth. We also propose an efficient modeling technique using the FDTD method which can substantially reduce the simulation cost for modeling the structure. The simulated results have been compared with measurement to show the broadband behavior of the antenna and the accuracy of the proposed modeling technique. The measured results show a 16% of VSWR<2 bandwidth which is considerable considering the inherent bandwidth limitations in microstrip antenna technology

Space and society at Bam : an archaeological investigation of Iranian urban space

During the 1980s, it was frequently claimed that spatial patterns of archaeological and contemporary settlements were closely related to the social nature of the societies which had created and modelled them (Hietala 1984; Hillier & Hanson 1984). Despite a decade of alternative claims, such theories are still widely accepted although in many cases the emphasis has shifted from economic factors to symbolic or social ones. The presence of a class-based social system is one of the major characteristics of Iranian society during the Sasanian era (224-651 CE). This social system was based upon the official religion of Sasanians - Zoroastrianism - and had a major impact on most aspects of Iranian society during this period. The far-reaching impact of this social system on architectural space and urban infrastructure is clearly representative of a class-based society. The collapse of the Sasanian world, accelerated by Arab invasions (641 CE), severely reduced the dominance of Zoroastrianism within Iran, heralding a fundamental change in the social life of its people. These changes, accompanied by the acceptance of a new religion, have been the focus of several researchers over the last decades (Kennedy 2001). In contrast to Sasanian society, Early Islamic social structure was characterised as one of equality and its urban forms as ones with little differentiation as typified by Medina (Zarrinkub 1993). The aim of this dissertation is to test the above assumptions and models with reference to a single urban site - the city of Barn. Selected due to its Pre-Islamic and Islamic occupations, its excellent state of preservation allows a full testing of the above assumptions through archaeological analysis. The results of this research indicate a continuation of patterns of Sasanian space and society into the Islamic period. In addition, the space and society of Bam, documented in this research, provides an important step towards a further understanding of the social and spatial organisation of Sasanian and Early-Islamic cities, as well as providing a foundation for additional research in this field.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceMinistry of Science, Research and Technology of IranGBUnited Kingdo

GSTM1 and GSTP1 polymorphisms and glutathione S-transferase activity: Iranian infertile men

&quot;nBackground: Pi-GST and Mu-GST are subclasses of glutathione S-transferase that present on human sperm surface and play an important role against oxidative stress. Therefore, any defects in the enzyme activity may be associated with male infertility.In this study the polymorphisms of GSTM1 and GSTP1 in association with enzyme activity and sperm parameters were studied. &quot;nMethods: This case-control study involved 95 men with oligoastenoteratozoospermia and 26 controls with normozoospermia. Semen analyses were carried out according to WHO guidelines. Blood DNA was extracted using salting out procedures. GSTM1 and GSTP1 polymorphisms gene were determined through PCR-RFLP and multiplex PCR, respectively. Finally, Glutathione S-transferase activity was measured. &quot;nResults: Frequencies of GSTM1 null genotype in oligoastenoteratospermic and normospermic groups were 52.1% and 53.8% respectively. There were no statistically significant differences in sperm parameters and enzyme activity between GSTM1 null and positive genotypes in two groups. There were no statistically significant differences in glutathione S-transferase activity between oligoastenoteratospermia and normospermic groups (p&amp;gt;0.05). All the 121 men in this study had Ile/Ile genotypes at 105 codon of GSTP1. Frequency of normal homozygote (114Ala/Ala), heterozygote (114Ala/Val) and mutant homozygote (114Val/Val) genotypes in oligoastenoteratospermic group were 81.1%, 17.9% and 1.1% respectively but in the control group they were 88.5%, 11.5% and null. &quot;nConclusions: Total glutathione S-transferase activity and sperm parameters were not affected by deficient Glutathione S-transferase activity in GSTM1 null genotype. Compensate activity of other sperm surface glutathione S-transferase isozymes, like GSTP1, may justify the cause

Sperm Ubiquitination Correlation with Human Semen Quality

Background: Ubiquitin, an 8.5 kDa peptide that marks other proteins for proteasomal degradation, tags defective sperm during epididymal passage. Thus, sperm ubiquitination is a universal marker for sperm defects and can be used as a sperm function test. The objective of the present study was to examine the relationships between sperm ubiquitination and clinical semen parameters, using simplified immunofluorescence assays in order to establish ubiquitin as a biomarker of male infertility. Methods: Semen samples from 100 couples attending Avicenna Infertility Clinic, Tehran, Iran, were collected and analyzed according to WHO criteria. Each sample was washed and adjusted at 106 sperm/ml concentration. Sperm were coated on slides, using cytospin centrifugation and were fixed in buffered formaldehyde. Subsequently ubiquitinated spermatozoa were evaluated by direct immunofluorescence microscopy using FITC-labeled anti-ubiquitin antibodies. After counting at least 200 sperm per sample, while employing light microscopy, the percentage of ubiquitinated spermatozoa was recorded on the same fields through epifluorescence microscopy. Results: Negative correlations were obtained between sperm ubiquitination and sperm count (r=-0.278, P&lt; 0.001), sperm concentration (r=-0.37, P&lt; 0.001), viability (r=-0.407, P&lt; 0.001), sperm morphology (r=-0.509, P&lt; 0.001), rapid progressive motility (a) (r=-0.246, P&lt; 0.001) and slow progressive motility (b) (r=-0.474, P&lt; 0.001). There was a positive correlation between ubiquitinated sperm and the percentage of immotile spermatozoa (r=0.486, P&lt; 0.000). Conclusion: Increased sperm ubiquitination is inversely associated with good semen quality parameters, supporting the use of ubiquitin as a biomarker for evaluation of human sperm quality