Cluster Hire in a Network of Experts

Finding a group of experts is a natural way to perform a collection of tasks that need a set of diversified skills. This can be done by assigning skills to different experts with complementary expertise. This allows organizations and big institutes to efficiently hire a group of experts with different skill sets to deliver a series of required tasks to finish a set of projects. We are given a collection of projects, in which each of them needs a set of required skills. Performing each project brings a profit to the organization. We are also given a set of experts, each of them is equipped with a set of skills. To hire an expert, the organization should provide her with monetary cost (i.e., salary). Furthermore, we are given a certain amount of budget to hire experts. The goal is to hire a group of experts within the given budget to perform a subset of projects that maximize the total profit. This problem is called Cluster Hire and was introduced recently. We extend this problem by making the realistic assumption that there exists an underlying network among experts. This network is built based on past collaboration among experts. If two experts have past collaboration, they form a more collaborative and efficient team in the future. In addition to maximizing the total profit, we are also interested to find the most collaborative group of experts by minimizing the communication cost between them. We propose two greedy algorithms with different strategies to solve this problem. Extensive experiments on a real dataset show our proposed algorithms can find a group of experts that cover projects with high profit while experts can communicate with each other efficiently

Being Mindfully Pluralistic: The Effects of Mindfulness Meditation on Student Perceptions of Religious Pluralism

This study explored the relationship between mindfulness meditation practice and student perceptions of religious pluralism. One hundred and eleven Butler University students were recruited using SONA, an online psychology research participation management system, and in-person presentation/professor encouragement in the PWB Mindfulness in Everyday Life course. The study was conducted via a survey shared with the PWB class and SONA participants. I predicted that participants who consistently practice mindfulness meditation would have stronger perceptions that promote the values of respect, relationships, and common action that are associated with religious pluralism. Specifically, I predicted that participants who have consistently (at least 7 weeks) practiced meditation as a part of the PWB mindfulness meditation course (PG) would display more openness to the values of respect, relationship building, and common action than the control participants not in the class and without consistent practice (CG). Thus, the independent variables (consistent mindfulness meditation vs. not) were used to understand the impact on mean scores of the agreement towards values of respect, relationship-building, and common action. Participants in PG displayed more openness to the values of respect and relationship-building than those in CG. However, there were no significant differences in openness between participants of PG and CG for the value of common action. These findings will illustrate the potential role of mindfulness meditation practice on how plurally students perceive others from backgrounds different than their own. Future studies and analyses need to replicate the findings of this study with larger sample sizes and go beyond assessing perceptions to measuring the consequent actions of participants

Influences of zero hour contracts and disability – Analysis of the 1970 British Cohort study

RATIONALE: In recent decades, there has been a rise of the “gig-economy” where workers are given non-standard work agreements, and work is completed in an ad-hoc nature. It was believed people this would create greater access to employment for people with disability as there would no longer be a need to disclose disability and could ‘pick and choose’ work. Although, little research has been done on the health-outcomes of working in non-standard agreements compared to traditional employment, and in particular it's impact on disability. OBJECTIVE: This study examines one particular non-standard workplace agreement, working under zero hour contracts as the main source of income as a predictor for disability at age 46 and how income levels effect this, while controlling for pre-existing illness at age 34. METHOD: This study used existing data made available in the 1970 British Cohort study. Age 46 and Age 34 sweeps were used, including predictors for disability such as zero hour work, sex, and income, and binary multiple logistic regression was used. RESULTS: This study was able to demonstrate that there is an association between working under a zero hour contract as the main source of income and disability. Further, this study shows that this association is statistically significant at low incomes but not at high incomes. CONCLUSIONS: The relationship between zero hour work and disability presented in this study may suggest that zero hour work will produce a burden on healthcare systems and limit further economic outputs by limiting individual's capacity for work

Better Together: An Exploration of Interfaith Ideologies

In a world full of polarizing agents that function to divide society, the binding nature of interfaith ideologies serves to develop meaningful relationships between individuals, groups, and communities that subscribe to various religious or secular belief systems. Interfaith dialogue and cooperation encapsulate one’s ability to genuinely listen, share stories, and embrace growth and learning, not despite but because of differences. This article explores the influence of interfaith work on college campuses, within urban communities, and throughout the fields of medicine and global health. These are all specific aspects of a society that has the potential, now more than ever before, to promote wellness through interfaith ideologies and pursue a future in which humankind is better together

State mask mandates to address COVID-19 have been complicated by anti-mask measures often dating back to the 19th century.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, governors, attorneys general, and public health officials have scrambled to enforce social-distancing guidelines and mask wearing. Their efforts were opposed in several states by those who argue that mandatory face-coverings are unconstitutional. Efforts to enforce mask wearing have been complicated by legacy anti-mask legislation in almost 40 percent of states (and the District of Columbia), which was passed in the 19th– and 20th-centuries in response to organizations like the KKK. Shyam K. Sriram, Will Gigerich, Meet Patel and Kayla Miller discuss the origins, evolution and current impact of anti-mask legislation in the United States

Role of dinoprostone gel in induction of labour

Background: Labour induction is one of the most common intervention in obstetric practice. A simple application of PGE2 intracervical gel can ripen the cervix effectively and improve Bishop’s score there by helping in successful vaginal delivery. Considering its good performance, the dinoprostone slow-release vaginal insert is the first choice for elective induction of labour in postdate pregnancy and in patients with term pregnancy of premature rupture of membranes.Methods: This was a single year retrospective study conducted in a tertiary care center of western India from May 2019 to May 2020.Results: In group I women who delivered within 24 hours were included, in group II women who required re-instillation were included. The most common indication for induction in both the groups was past dates (accounting for 36.1% in group I and 47.3% in group II). The success rate in group I was 68.1% while in group II was 36.8%.  The rate of cesarean delivery in group I was 25.9%, while in Group II, it was 60.1%. Negligible maternal and neonatal complications were seen in both the groups.  Conclusions: The study showed that intracervical application of prostaglandin E2 is an effective, safe and acceptable method for induction of labor in women with unfavorable cervix and indications for induction. All these effects were achieved without increasing maternal and neonatal morbidity

Design of an Autonomous Agriculture Robot for Real Time Weed Detection using CNN

Agriculture has always remained an integral part of the world. As the human population keeps on rising, the demand for food also increases, and so is the dependency on the agriculture industry. But in today's scenario, because of low yield, less rainfall, etc., a dearth of manpower is created in this agricultural sector, and people are moving to live in the cities, and villages are becoming more and more urbanized. On the other hand, the field of robotics has seen tremendous development in the past few years. The concepts like Deep Learning (DL), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML) are being incorporated with robotics to create autonomous systems for various sectors like automotive, agriculture, assembly line management, etc. Deploying such autonomous systems in the agricultural sector help in many aspects like reducing manpower, better yield, and nutritional quality of crops. So, in this paper, the system design of an autonomous agricultural robot which primarily focuses on weed detection is described. A modified deep-learning model for the purpose of weed detection is also proposed. The primary objective of this robot is the detection of weed on a real-time basis without any human involvement, but it can also be extended to design robots in various other applications involved in farming like weed removal, plowing, harvesting, etc., in turn making the farming industry more efficient. Source code and other details can be found at https://github.com/Dhruv2012/Autonomous-Farm-RobotComment: Published at the AVES 2021 conference. Source code and other details can be found at https://github.com/Dhruv2012/Autonomous-Farm-Robo

A comparison of 3D visualisation systems and 2D visualisation systems during laparoscopic cholecystectomy – a narrative review

Background: Laparoscopic cholecystectomy is a common procedure for the definitive treatment for cholecystitis and symptomatic cholelithiasis. One advancement in minimally invasive surgery has been the development of three-dimensional (3D) visualization systems to provide stereopsis. It is yet to be determined whether this innovation is beneficial to the surgeon or simply just a gimmick. This narrative review aims to answer the following research question, what is the impact of 3D visualization systems on surgical efficiency compared with two-dimensional visualization systems in laparoscopic cholecystectomy? Methods: Through a broad literature search it was determined that operative time and intraoperative errors have been used in published research to assess intraoperative efficiency. Results: Studies published to date have used operative time, intraoperative errors, and intraoperative bleeding as current measures for intraoperative efficiency. Previous meta-analysis have shown a slight improvement in operative time for 3D visualization systems; however, subsequent randomized control trials have not shown a significant difference in operative time. Reporting of intraoperative errors has been quite subjective and a difference between visualisation modality has not been shown. Conclusion: 3D visualization systems have shown a minor improvement in operative time compared with traditional laparoscopic systems and it is unlikely to be of any clinical significance. Studies that measure intraoperative error vary greatly in what they report, and which assessment tool is used. Across existing literature, studies do not control for surgeon's experience, elective/emergent cases, and grade of gallbladder/difficulty. Further research is required, using novel tools for assessment in laparoscopic cholecystectomy to determine intraoperative differences through objective and quantitative variables

Mouse Gesture Recognition for Human Computer Interaction

In the field of Computer Science and Information Technology, it goes without saying that the focus has been shifted from the System Oriented software to the User Oriented software. Naturally, for such software applications, the importance of User Experience has gained a paradigm shift. The paper highlights the significance of a seamless interaction between the user and the computer by proposing a reliable algorithm for performing basic operations by drawing gestures with a mouse. It aims to embrace simplicity and quick access using gestures and providing effortless interaction for the uniquely abled users. The core of the algorithm comes from the Hidden Markov Model, which is emblematic of a probabilistic approach for gesture recognition. DOI: 10.17762/ijritcc2321-8169.15050