Detecting Metagame Shifts in League of Legends Using Unsupervised Learning

Over the many years since their inception, the complexity of video games has risen considerably. With this increase in complexity comes an increase in the number of possible choices for players and increased difficultly for developers who try to balance the effectiveness of these choices. In this thesis we demonstrate that unsupervised learning can give game developers extra insight into their own games, providing them with a tool that can potentially alert them to problems faster than they would otherwise be able to find. Specifically, we use DBSCAN to look at League of Legends and the metagame players have formed with their choices and attempt to detect when the metagame shifts possibly giving the developer insight into what changes they should affect to achieve a more balanced, fun game

JPL Ephemeris Tapes E9510, E9511, and E9512

The first issue of JPL Ephemeris Tapes is described. These tapes carry the positions and velocities of the planets and of the Moon, plus nutations and nutation rates in longitude and obliquity, together with second and fourth modified differences, for the interval December 30, 1949, to January 5, 2000

Effect of response format for clinical vignettes on reporting quality of physician practice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Clinical vignettes have been used widely to compare quality of clinical care and to assess variation in practice, but the effect of different response formats has not been extensively evaluated. Our objective was to compare three clinical vignette-based survey response formats – open-ended questionnaire (A), closed-ended (multiple-choice) questionnaire with deceptive response items mixed with correct items (B), and closed-ended questionnaire with only correct items (C) – in rheumatologists' pre-treatment assessment for tumor-necrosis-factor (TNF) blocker therapy.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p><b><it>Study design</it></b>: Prospective randomized study. <b><it>Setting</it></b>: Rheumatologists attending the 2004 French Society of Rheumatology meeting. Physicians were given a vignette describing the history of a fictitious woman with active rheumatoid arthritis, who was a candidate for therapy with TNF blocking agents, and then were randomized to receive questionnaire A, B, or C, each containing the same four questions but with different response formats, that asked about their pretreatment assessment. <b><it>Measurements</it></b>: Long (recommended items) and short (mandatory items) checklists were developed for pretreatment assessment for TNF-blocker therapy, and scores were expressed on the basis of responses to questionnaires A, B, and C as the percentage of respondents correctly choosing explicit items on these checklists. <b><it>Statistical analysis</it></b>: Comparison of the selected items using pairwise Chi-square tests with Bonferonni correction for variables with statistically significant differences.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Data for all surveys distributed (114 As, 118 Bs, and 118 Cs) were complete and available for analysis. The percentage of questionnaire A, B, and C respondents for whom data was correctly complete for the short checklist was 50.4%, 84.0% and 95.0%, respectively, and was 0%, 5.0% and 5.9%, respectively, for the long version. As an example, 65.8%, 85.7% and 95.8% of the respondents of A, B, and C questionnaires, respectively, correctly identified the need for tuberculin skin test (p < 0.0001).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In evaluating clinical practice with use of a clinical vignette, a multiple-choice format rather than an open-ended format overestimates physician performance. The insertion of deceptive response items mixed with correct items in closed-ended (multiple-choice) questionnaire failed to avoid this overestimation.</p

Factory outlet centers--implications for development and investment

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1995.Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-69).by Roger P. Mann, Jr.M.S

Evolved orthogonal ribosome purification for in vitro characterization

We developed orthogonal ribosome−mRNA pairs in which the orthogonal ribosome (O-ribosome) specifically translates the orthogonal mRNA and the orthogonal mRNA is not a substrate for cellular ribosomes. O-ribosomes have been used to create new cellular circuits to control gene expression in new ways, they have been used to provide new information about the ribosome, and they form a crucial part of foundational technologies for genetic code expansion and encoded and evolvable polymer synthesis in cells. The production of O-ribosomes in the cell makes it challenging to study the properties of O-ribosomes in vitro, because no method exists to purify functional O-ribosomes from cellular ribosomes and other cellular components. Here we present a method for the affinity purification of O-ribosomes, via tagging of the orthogonal 16S ribosomal RNA. We demonstrate that the purified O-ribosomes are pure by primer extension assays, and structurally homogenous by gel electrophoresis and sucrose gradients. We demonstrate the utility of this purification method by providing a preliminary in vitro characterization of Ribo-X, an O-ribosome previously evolved for enhanced unnatural amino acid incorporation in response to amber codons. Our data suggest that the basis of Ribo-X’s in vivo activity is a decreased affinity for RF1

Low agreement for assessing the risk of postoperative deep venous thrombosis when deciding prophylaxis strategies: a study using clinical vignettes

BACKGROUND: Several clinical practice guidelines (CPG) on antithrombotic prophylaxis in surgical patients help to decide about the prophylaxis strategy based on the patient risk of deep venous thrombosis (DVT). However, the physician risk estimates of DVT could have little inter-observer reproducibility, which could lead to different individual prophylaxis practices. METHODS: Physicians were asked to evaluate DVT risk in eight clinical vignettes, describing actual patients cared for in our hospital. The vignettes included all possible levels of DVT risk. RESULTS: The degree of prophylaxis strategies accuracy was 63% (95% CI 523–75%). Overall agreement was 0.32 (z = 7.61, p < 0.001) and for each level of risk kappa was 0.38 (z = 6.50, p < 0.001); 0.1 (z = 1.65, p < 0.049) and 0.5 (z = 8.45, p < 0.001) for small, moderate and high risk group respectively CONCLUSIONS: Our results showed that there is poor agreement when physicians have to evaluate the risk for postoperative DVT, and in the cases of low and moderate risks of DVT there is the smallest agreement. In addition, the data also showed that the overall accuracy of DVT prophylaxis strategy was only moderate and the risk evaluation did not correlate to the selection of the strategy. The issue of inter-observers variability should be taken into account when CPG performance are analysed, especially when considering the risk-evaluation to choose the appropriate actions

Are there valid proxy measures of clinical behaviour?

Background: Accurate measures of health professionals' clinical practice are critically important to guide health policy decisions, as well as for professional self-evaluation and for research-based investigation of clinical practice and process of care. It is often not feasible or ethical to measure behaviour through direct observation, and rigorous behavioural measures are difficult and costly to use. The aim of this review was to identify the current evidence relating to the relationships between proxy measures and direct measures of clinical behaviour. In particular, the accuracy of medical record review, clinician self-reported and patient-reported behaviour was assessed relative to directly observed behaviour. Methods: We searched: PsycINFO; MEDLINE; EMBASE; CINAHL; Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials; science/social science citation index; Current contents (social & behavioural med/clinical med); ISI conference proceedings; and Index to Theses. Inclusion criteria: empirical, quantitative studies; and examining clinical behaviours. An independent, direct measure of behaviour (by standardised patient, other trained observer or by video/audio recording) was considered the 'gold standard' for comparison. Proxy measures of behaviour included: retrospective self-report; patient-report; or chart-review. All titles, abstracts, and full text articles retrieved by electronic searching were screened for inclusion and abstracted independently by two reviewers. Disagreements were resolved by discussion with a third reviewer where necessary. Results: Fifteen reports originating from 11 studies met the inclusion criteria. The method of direct measurement was by standardised patient in six reports, trained observer in three reports, and audio/video recording in six reports. Multiple proxy measures of behaviour were compared in five of 15 reports. Only four of 15 reports used appropriate statistical methods to compare measures. Some direct measures failed to meet our validity criteria. The accuracy of patient report and chart review as proxy measures varied considerably across a wide range of clinical actions. The evidence for clinician self-report was inconclusive. Conclusion: Valid measures of clinical behaviour are of fundamental importance to accurately identify gaps in care delivery, improve quality of care, and ultimately to improve patient care. However, the evidence base for three commonly used proxy measures of clinicians' behaviour is very limited. Further research is needed to better establish the methods of development, application, and analysis for a range of both direct and proxy measures of behaviour

Current LISA Spacecraft Design

The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. a space based gravitational wave detector. uses laser metrology to measure distance fluctuations between proof masses aboard three spacecraft. LISA is unique from a mission design perspective in that the three spacecraft and their associated operations form one distributed science instrument. unlike more conventional missions where an instrument is a component of an individual spacecraft. The design of the LISA spacecraft is also tightly coupled to the design and requirements of the scientific payload; for this reason it is often referred to as a "sciencecraft." Here we describe some of the unique features of the LISA spacecraft design that help create the quiet environment necessary for gravitational wave observations

Multifaceted contributions : health workers and smallpox eradication in India

Smallpox eradication in South Asia was a result of the efforts of many grades of health-workers. Working from within the confines of international organisations and government structures, the role of the field officials, who were of various nationalities and also drawn from the cities and rural enclaves of the countries in these regions, was crucial to the development and deployment of policies. However, the role of these personnel is often downplayed in official histories and academic histories, which highlight instead the roles played by a handful of senior officials within the World Health Organization and the federal governments in the sub-continent. This article attempts to provide a more rounded assessment of the complex situation in the field. In this regard, an effort is made to underline the great usefulness of the operational flexibility displayed by field officers, wherein lessons learnt in the field were made an integral part of deploying local campaigns; careful engagement with the communities being targeted, as well as the employment of short term workers from amongst them, was an important feature of this work