Teaching artificial neural systems to drive: Manual training techniques for autonomous systems

A methodology was developed for manually training autonomous control systems based on artificial neural systems (ANS). In applications where the rule set governing an expert's decisions is difficult to formulate, ANS can be used to extract rules by associating the information an expert receives with the actions taken. Properly constructed networks imitate rules of behavior that permits them to function autonomously when they are trained on the spanning set of possible situations. This training can be provided manually, either under the direct supervision of a system trainer, or indirectly using a background mode where the networks assimilates training data as the expert performs its day-to-day tasks. To demonstrate these methods, an ANS network was trained to drive a vehicle through simulated freeway traffic

Good Night, Little Girl, Good Night

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/5636/thumbnail.jp

Boy O\u27 Dreams

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/5073/thumbnail.jp

SETI in 2021

In this second installment of SETI in 20xx, we very briefly and subjectively review developments in SETI in 2021. Our primary focus is 93 papers and books published or made public in 2021, which we sort into six broad categories: results from actual searches, new search methods and instrumentation, target and frequency selection, the development of technosignatures, theory of ETIs, and social aspects of SETI.Comment: 10 pages, 0 figures, submitted to Acta Astronautica, comments welcom

The MSW and the MPA: Confrontation of Two Professions in Public Welfare

From its inception in the 1930\u27s, public welfare has emerged as a major service industry commanding a sizeable portion of the public tax dollar. Concomitant with growth and size and expenditure has come the federalization of the program. In the face of a series of changes--the growth of welfare, added administrative complexity, and the emergence of new economic function--public welfare\u27s identification with social work was weakened. Correspondingly, and perhaps logically, its identification with public administration has been strengthened. In this paper, there is exploration of the changes leading to the confrontation between social work and public administration within public welfare. A comparative analysis of this confrontation is undertaken, and the methods of conflict resolution between the professions are explored. The principal purpose of the paper, however, is to draw attention to the argument, stimulate further debate about this course of events, and encourage some public policy direction in public welfare

A cephalometric comparison of children with Down's Syndrome and their normal siblings

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI)The mongoloid face and craniofacial skeleton has been characterized by many investigators using clinical impressions and soft tissue measurements on living and autopsy material. Few studies have included data derived from cephalometric radiographs. The present study was designed to describe the mongoloid face and cranial base and to analyze the data. Twenty mongoloid children ranging in age from three years to 12 years, and their siblings were selected for study. A control group of children were selected on the basis of their essentially normal occlusion and facial skeleton. The data obtained from the cephalometric radiographs were analyzed in three ways. Each of the three groups of children, normal, mongoloid and their siblings were divided into four age groups, approximately three, five, seven and 11 years of age and means for the individual measurements were calculated. The sibling measurements were "corrected” to the age of the mongoloid child using the growth progression data from the normal children. The mean measurements of the “corrected” siblings and mongoloids were then compared using “t” tests for statistical significance. All children were then divided into three comparison pairs, normal-sibling, normal-mongoloid, and mongoloid-sibling, and the cephalometric measurements subjected to a multivariate, step-wise regression analysis. The growth of the maxillae and mandible were retarded in the Mongoloid children. The maxilla and mandible were positioned anteriorly under the cranial base

Nicotine Addiction: A Hidden Health Crisis

In the United States, nicotine addiction is an ongoing health crisis (U.S Food and Drug Administration, 2023). Pivotal to this crisis is the prevalence and ease of access to devices that deliver nicotine. Covering a broad spectrum, devices range from traditional forms of tobacco such as cigarettes, pipes, etc. to new nicotine devices such as e-cigarettes and vapes. Yet, even with the health crisis looming, more and more individuals are becoming addicted to nicotine (Ayers et al., 2011; Lyu et al., 2022; Pokhrel et al., 2021). In particular, research indicates that the 18-24 age demographic is significantly more likely to use new nicotine devices like e-cigerettes or vapes (Arora et al., 2016; Czaplicki et al. 2019; Ickes et al., 2020; Inman et al., 2020; Marron, 2017). Because of widespread use by young people, vapes and e-cigerettes have become normalized. This creates a lack of urgency for many young people regarding nicotine addiction as a health crisis due to the way that social influences have obscured the social perception of nicotine devices. Our research aims to uncover the social influences behind the acceptability of new and emerging nicotine devices for the 18-24 age demographic and how they reflect this ongoing health crisis. In Dr. P’s SRM course, we analyzed relevant research literature and used it to guide our research through multiple methodologies. We explored prevalence of usage and current beliefs of new and emerging nicotine devices by surveying college students within the identified susceptible age group (18-24 years), analyzing secondary data, conducting content analysis, and interviewing college students (18-24 years) about nicotine use and experience with nicotine devices. Through this, we engaged with research methods and procedures, but also uncovered information about the ongoing nicotine addiction health crisis

A Study on the Parallelization of Terrain-Covering Ant Robots Simulations

Agent-based simulation is used as a tool for supporting (time-critical) decision making in differentiated contexts. Hence, techniques for speeding up the execution of agent-based models, such as Parallel Discrete Event Simulation (PDES), are of great relevance/benefit. On the other hand, parallelism entails that the final output provided by the simulator should closely match the one provided by a traditional sequential run. This is not obvious given that, for performance and efficiency reasons, parallel simulation engines do not allow the evaluation of global predicates on the simulation model evolution with arbitrary time-granularity along the simulation time-Axis. In this article we present a study on the effects of parallelization of agent-based simulations, focusing on complementary aspects such as performance and reliability of the provided simulation output. We target Terrain Covering Ant Robots (TCAR) simulations, which are useful in rescue scenarios to determine how many agents (i.e., robots) should be used to completely explore a certain terrain for possible victims within a given time. © 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

Trends in Observation‐prone Emergency Department Visits Among Michigan Children, 2007–2011

ObjectivesTo the best of the authors’ knowledge, admission of children under observation status in community hospitals has not been examined. The hypothesis of this study was that there has been an increase in observation charge code use over time and variations in the application of observation charge codes across hospital types.MethodsThis was a cross‐sectional analysis of 5 years (2007 through 2011) of administrative claims data from Michigan residents enrolled in Medicaid, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan preferred provider organization, and Blue Cross Network health maintenance organization compiled into a single data set. Emergency department (ED) visits to facilities in Michigan made by children (younger than 18 years) were selected. Observation‐prone ED visits were identified based on the presence of International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD‐9‐CM) codes. Counts of observation‐prone ED visits were determined and descriptive statistics were calculated. Changes over time in the proportion of visits with observation charge codes by hospital type were assessed with chi‐square analysis.ResultsThe observation‐prone ICD‐9‐CM codes were identified in 881,622 ED visits made by children to 142 Michigan facilities during the 5‐year study period. Overall, the vast majority of visits (n = 646,499; 91.0%) with the selected ICD‐9‐CM codes resulted in discharge from the ED without associated observation or inpatient charge codes. Among the 64,288 visits that resulted in admission for observation or inpatient care, observation charge codes without inpatient charge codes were applied to 22,933 (35.7%) admissions, observation and inpatient charge codes were applied to 4,756 (7.4%) admissions, and inpatient charge codes without observation charge codes were applied to 36,599 (56.9%) admissions. Hospitals with pediatric ED and inpatient services (Type 1 and Type 2 hospitals) had higher proportions of ED visits that went on to admission for observation or inpatient care (15.9 and 10.7%) than hospitals without pediatric ED services (Type 3 and Type 4 hospitals; 7.2 and 3.7%). The proportion of admissions that had observation charge codes for all hospital types increased over time, most prominently among Type 1 and Type 2 hospitals.ConclusionsThe application of observation charge codes to Michigan children with observation‐prone conditions has increased over time across all hospital types. There is a need to evaluate pediatric observation care in diverse settings to compare the effectiveness of different models.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111217/1/acem12624-sup-0001-DataSupplementS1.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111217/2/acem12624-sup-0002-DataSupplementS2.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/111217/3/acem12624.pd