Towards a unified theory of intensional logic programming

AbstractIntensional Logic Programming is a new form of logic programming based on intensional logic and possible worlds semantics. Intensional logic allows us to use logic programming to specify nonterminating computations and to capture the dynamic aspects of certain problems in a natural and problem-oriented style. The meanings of formulas of an intensional first-order language are given according to intensional interpretations and to elements of a set of possible worlds. Neighborhood semantics is employed as an abstract formulation of the denotations of intensional operators. Then we investigate general properties of intensional operators such as universality, monotonicity, finitariness and conjunctivity. These properties are used as constraints on intensional logic programming systems. The model-theoretic and fixpoint semantics of intensional logic programs are developed in terms of least (minimum) intensional Herbrand models. We show in particular that our results apply to a number of intensional logic programming languages such as Chronolog proposed by Wadge and Templog by Abadi and Manna. We consider some elementary extensions to the theory and show that intensional logic program clauses can be used to define new intensional operators. Intensional logic programs with intensional operator definitions are regarded as metatheories

The Mayer Hashi Large-Scale Program to Increase Use of Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives and Permanent Methods in Bangladesh: Explaining the Disappointing Results. An Outcome and Process Evaluation

Background: Bangladesh has achieved a low total fertility rate of 2.3. Two-thirds of currently married women of reproductive age (CMWRA) want to limit fertility, and many women achieve their desired fertility before age 30. The incidence of unintended pregnancy and pregnancy termination is high, however. Long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs), consisting of the intrauterine device and implant, and permanent methods (PM), including female sterilization and vasectomy, offer several advantages in this situation, but only 8% of CMWRA or 13% of method users use these methods. Program: The Mayer Hashi (MH) program (2009–2013) aimed to improve access to and the quality of LARC/PM services in 21 of the 64 districts in Bangladesh. It was grounded in the SEED (supply–enabling environment–demand) Programming Model. Supply improvements addressed provider knowledge and skills, system strengthening, and logistics. Creating an enabling environment involved holding workshops with local and community leaders, including religious leaders, to encourage them to help promote demand for LARCs and PMs and overcome cultural barriers. Demand promotion encompassed training of providers in counseling, distribution of behavior change communication materials in the community and in facilities, and community mobilization. Methods: We selected 6 MH program districts and 3 nonprogram districts to evaluate the program. We used a before– after and intervention–comparison design to measure the changes in key contraceptive behavior outcomes, and we used a difference-in-differences (DID) specification with comparison to the nonprogram districts to capture the impact of the program. In addition to the outcome evaluation, we considered intermediate indicators that measured the processes through which the interventions were expected to affect the use of LARCs and PMs. Results: The use of LARCs/PMs among CMWRA increased between 2010 and 2013 in both program (from 5.3% to 7.5%) and nonprogram (from 5.0% to 8.9%) districts, but the rate of change was higher in the nonprogram districts. Client–provider interaction and exposure to LARCs/PMs were lower in the program than nonprogram districts, and the MH program districts had higher vacancies of key providers than the nonprogram areas, both indications of a more difficult health system environment. Conclusion: The weaknesses in the health system in the MH districts apparently undermined the effectiveness of the program. More attention to system weaknesses, such as additional supportive supervision for providers, might have improved the outcome

Localized Deformation in Ni-Mn-Ga Single Crystals

The magnetomechanical behavior of ferromagnetic shape memory alloys such as Ni-Mn-Ga, and hence the relationship between structure and nanoscale magnetomechanical properties, is of interest for their potential applications in actuators. Furthermore, due to its crystal structure, the behavior of Ni-Mn-Ga is anisotropic. Accordingly, nanoindentation and magnetic force microscopy were used to probe the nanoscale mechanical and magnetic properties of electropolished single crystalline 10M martensitic Ni-Mn-Ga as a function of the crystallographic c-axis (easy magnetization) direction relative to the indentation surface (i.e., c-axis in-plane versus out-of-plane). Load-displacement curves from 5–10 mN indentations on in-plane regions exhibited pop-in during loading, whereas this phenomenon was absent in out-of-plane regions. Additionally, the reduced elastic modulus measured for the c-axis out-of-plane orientation was ∼50% greater than for in-plane. Although heating above the transition temperature to the austenitic phase followed by cooling to the room temperature martensitic phase led to partial recovery of the indentation deformation, the magnitude and direction of recovery depended on the original relative orientation of the crystallographic c-axis: positive recovery for the in-plane orientation versus negative recovery (i.e., increased indent depth) for out-of-plane. Moreover, the c-axis orientation for out-of-plane regions switched to in-plane upon thermal cycling, whereas the number of twins in the in-plane regions increased. We hypothesize that dislocation plasticity contributes to the permanent deformation, while pseudoelastic twinning causes pop-in during loading and large recovery during unloading in the c-axis in-plane case. Minimization of indent strain energy accounts for the observed changes in twin orientation and number following thermal cycling

Prevalence and Correlates of Physical Spousal Violence Against Women in Slum and Nonslum Areas of Urban Bangladesh

This study explored the prevalence and correlates of past-year physical violence against women in slum and non-slum areas of urban Bangladesh. We used multivariate logistic regression to analyze data from the 2006 Urban Health Survey, a population-based survey of 9122 currently married women aged 15–49 selected using a multi-stage cluster sampling design. The prevalence of reported past-year physical spousal violence was 31%. Prevalence of past-year physical spousal violence was higher in slums (35%) than in non-slums (20%). Slapping/arm-twisting and pushing/shaking/throwing something at the women were the most commonly reported acts of physical abuse. Multivariate analysis showed that the risk of physical spousal abuse was lower among older women, women with post-primary education, and those belonging to rich households and women whose husband considered their opinion in decision-making. Women were at higher risk of abuse if they had many children, believed that married woman should work if the husband is not making enough money, and approved wife beating norms. This study serves to confirm the commonness of physical spousal abuse in urban Bangladesh demonstrating the seriousness of this multifaceted phenomenon as a social and public health issue. The present findings suggest the need for comprehensive prevention and intervention strategies that capitalize on the interplay of individual and sociocultural factors that cause physical spousal violence. Our study adds to a growing literature documenting domestic violence against women in urban areas of developing south Asian nations

NASA SPoRT Initialization Datasets for Local Model Runs in the Environmental Modeling System

The NASA Short-term Prediction Research and Transition (SPoRT) Center has developed several products for its National Weather Service (NWS) partners that can be used to initialize local model runs within the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Environmental Modeling System (EMS). These real-time datasets consist of surface-based information updated at least once per day, and produced in a composite or gridded product that is easily incorporated into the WRF EMS. The primary goal for making these NASA datasets available to the WRF EMS community is to provide timely and high-quality information at a spatial resolution comparable to that used in the local model configurations (i.e., convection-allowing scales). The current suite of SPoRT products supported in the WRF EMS include a Sea Surface Temperature (SST) composite, a Great Lakes sea-ice extent, a Greenness Vegetation Fraction (GVF) composite, and Land Information System (LIS) gridded output. The SPoRT SST composite is a blend of primarily the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) infrared and Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer for Earth Observing System data for non-precipitation coverage over the oceans at 2-km resolution. The composite includes a special lake surface temperature analysis over the Great Lakes using contributions from the Remote Sensing Systems temperature data. The Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory Ice Percentage product is used to create a sea-ice mask in the SPoRT SST composite. The sea-ice mask is produced daily (in-season) at 1.8-km resolution and identifies ice percentage from 0 100% in 10% increments, with values above 90% flagged as ice

The evolution of South Africa's democracy promotion in Africa : from idealism to pragmatism

Abstract: South Africa is an emerging power with fairly strong democratic institutions that were crafted during the transition from minority to majority rule twenty years ago. How has South Africa used its position and power to promote democracy in Africa? Against the backdrop of debates on democracy promotion by emerging powers, this article probes attempts by successive post-apartheid governments to promote democracy in Africa. We argue that although democracy promotion featured prominently in South Africa’s policy toward Africa in the immediate post-apartheid period under Nelson Mandela, the administrations of Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma faltered in advancing democratic norms. This is largely because South Africa has confronted pressures to maximize pragmatic national interests, which have compromised a democratic ethos in a continental environment where these values have yet to find steady footing

An imbalance in progenitor cell populations reflects tumour progression in breast cancer primary culture models

Many factors influence breast cancer progression, including the ability of progenitor cells to sustain or increase net tumour cell numbers. Our aim was to define whether alterations in putative progenitor populations could predict clinicopathological factors of prognostic importance for cancer progression.Journal ArticleResearch Support, Non-U.S. Gov'tinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishe

Impact evaluation of the Urban Health Initiative in urban Uttar Pradesh, India

The Urban Health Initiative (UHI) was initiated in 2009 with the goal of increasing family planning (FP) use among the poor in urban areas of Uttar Pradesh, India. The Measurement, Learning & Evaluation project (MLE) was tasked with rigorous impact evaluation of the UHI. This paper presents the impact evaluation findings of the UHI program

Linear modeling of possible mechanisms for parkinson tremor generation

The power of Parkinson tremor is expressed in terms of possibly changed frequency response functions between relevant variables in the neuromuscular system. The derivation starts out from a linear loopless equivalent model of mechanisms for general tremor generation. Hypothetical changes in this model from the substrate of the disease are indicated, and possible ones are inferred from literature about experiments on patients. The result indicates that in these patients tremor appears to have been generated in loops, which did not include the brain area which in surgery usually is inactivated. For some patients in the literature, these loops could involve muscle length receptors, the static sensitivity of which may have been enlarged by pathological brain activity

Two-step stabilization of orbital order and the dynamical frustration of spin in the model charge-transfer insulator KCuF3

We report a combined experimental and theoretical study of KCuF3, which offers - because of this material's relatively simple lattice structure and valence configuration (d9, i.e., one hole in the d-shell) - a particularly clear view of the essential role of the orbital degree of freedom in governing the dynamical coupling between the spin and lattice degrees of freedom. We present Raman and x-ray scattering evidence that the phase behaviour of KCuF3 is dominated above the Neel temperature (T_N = 40 K) by coupled orbital/lattice fluctuations that are likely associated with rotations of the CuF6 octahedra, and we show that these orbital fluctuations are interrupted by a static structural distortion that occurs just above T_N. A detailed model of the orbital and magnetic phases of KCuF3 reveals that these orbital fluctuations - and the related frustration of in-plane spin-order-are associated with the presence of nearly degenerate low-energy spin-orbital states that are highly susceptible to thermal fluctuations over a wide range of temperatures. A striking implication of these results is that the ground state of KCuF3 at ambient pressure lies near a quantum critical point associated with an orbital/spin liquid phase that is obscured by emergent Neel ordering of the spins; this exotic liquid phase might be accessible via pressure studies.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure