Practical Aspects of Solving Hybrid Bayesian Networks Containing Deterministic Conditionals

This is the author's final draft. Copyright 2015 WileyIn this paper we discuss some practical issues that arise in solv- ing hybrid Bayesian networks that include deterministic conditionals for continuous variables. We show how exact inference can become intractable even for small networks, due to the di culty in handling deterministic conditionals (for continuous variables). We propose some strategies for carrying out the inference task using mixtures of polyno- mials and mixtures of truncated exponentials. Mixtures of polynomials can be de ned on hypercubes or hyper-rhombuses. We compare these two methods. A key strategy is to re-approximate large potentials with potentials consisting of fewer pieces and lower degrees/number of terms. We discuss several methods for re-approximating potentials. We illustrate our methods in a practical application consisting of solv- ing a stochastic PERT network

Comparative study between laparoscopic hysterectomy and abdominal hysterectomy for the treatment of early stage endometrial cancer

Background: Aim was to study the feasibility of total laparoscopic pan hysterectomy in patients with early stage endometrial cancer.Methods: Retrospective and prospective study of 100 patients with clinical early stage endometrial cancer was done in Bombay Hospital & Research Center over 3 years. 44 patients underwent total laparoscopic hysterectomy while 56 patients underwent abdominal pain hysterectomy. Pelvic lymphadenectomy was performed in patients with myometrium invasion greater than 50%, size of tumor >2 cm, non-endometroid pathology, Grade 3.Results: The mean operating time was 2 hours in the abdominal hysterectomy group and 2.5 hrs. In the laparoscopic group. Average blood loss was 350 ml in the abdominal (Abd) group & 250 ml in the laparoscopic (lap) group. Which was comparable. The abdominal hysterectomy group experienced more postoperative pain than the laparoscopy group. However, cost wise laparoscopy group incurred more expenditure than the abdominal group. Among the post-operative complications, nausea vomiting, paralytic ileus and wound dehiscence were significantly more in the abdominal group as compared to the laparoscopy group.Conclusions: Morbidity is much less in laparoscopy route compare to open abdominal hysterectomy with equivalent survival

Missing physics in stick-slip dynamics of a model for peeling of an adhesive tape

It is now known that the equations of motion for the contact point during peeling of an adhesive tape mounted on a roll introduced earlier are singular and do not support dynamical jumps across the two stable branches of the peel force function. By including the kinetic energy of the tape in the Lagrangian, we derive equations of motion that support stick-slip jumps as a natural consequence of the inherent dynamics. In the low mass limit, these equations reproduce solutions obtained using a differential-algebraic algorithm introduced for the earlier equations. Our analysis also shows that mass of the ribbon has a strong influence on the nature of the dynamics.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. E (Rapid Communication

Public health for the people: participatory infectious disease surveillance in the digital age

The 21st century has seen the rise of Internet-based participatory surveillance systems for infectious diseases. These systems capture voluntarily submitted symptom data from the general public and can aggregate and communicate that data in near real-time. We reviewed participatory surveillance systems currently running in 13 different countries. These systems have a growing evidence base showing a high degree of accuracy and increased sensitivity and timeliness relative to traditional healthcare-based systems. They have also proven useful for assessing risk factors, vaccine effectiveness, and patterns of healthcare utilization while being less expensive, more flexible, and more scalable than traditional systems. Nonetheless, they present important challenges including biases associated with the population that chooses to participate, difficulty in adjusting for confounders, and limited specificity because of reliance only on syndromic definitions of disease limits. Overall, participatory disease surveillance data provides unique disease information that is not available through traditional surveillance sources

Mutational analysis of BCORL1 in the leukemic transformation of chronic myeloproliferative neoplasms.

BCORL1 mutations do not seem to be commonly associated with leukemic transformation of MPN, further substantiating the different molecular profile compared with denovo leukemias. Although the small number of cases does not allow us to exclude that BCORL1 mutations can be found also in post-MPN AML, their occurrence is, at least, very infrequent and their detection does not appear to deserve clinical relevance

Moluscos (Gastropoda e Bivalvia) da reserva natural de usos múltiplos ilha Martín García, Río de la Plata: Biodiversidade e ecologia

The Island of Martin Garcia is located in the Upper Río de la Plata, to the south of mouth the Uruguay River. The aim of the present study was to analyse the biodiversity of the island freshwater mollusks and their relationships to environmental variables. Twelve sampling sites were selected, five were along the littoral section of the island and seven were Inland ponds. Seven major environmental variables were measured: water and air temperature, percentage of oxygen saturation, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity, total dissolved solids and pH. Twenty-seven mollusk species were found, Antillorbis nordestensis, Biomphalaria tenagophila tenagophila, B. t. guaibensis, B. straminea, B. peregrina, Drepanotrema kermatoides, D. cimex, D. depressissimum, Chilina fluminea, C. rushii, C. megastoma, Uncancylus concentricus, Hebetancylus moricandi, Stenophysa marmorata, Heleobia piscium, H. parchappii, Potamolithus agapetus, P. buschii, P. lapidum, Pomacea canaliculata, P. megastoma Asolene platae, Corbicula fluminea, Eupera platensis, Pisidium sterkianum, P. taraguyense and Limnoperna fortunei. UPGMA clustering of species based on their occurrence in different ecological conditions revealed two main species groups. The Canonical Correspondence Analysis suggests that the species distribution is related to the physico-chemical condition of water. Axis two of the ordination diagram displayed the approximately 95.6% of the correlation between species and environmental variables. Dissolved oxygen, conductivity, water temperature and pH showed the highest fluctuations during the sampling period. The species richness (S) showed relationships mainly with water temperature and conductivity. The biodiversity of the gastropods and bivalves from Martín García Island amounts to up to 26 species. Among the Gastropoda, the Planorbidae family made the most sizeable contribution. The Lithogliphidae P. agapetus (26.28%) and P. buschii (9.50%) showed the highest relative frequencies of occurrence within the littoral environments, while the Planorbidae D. cimex (23.83%) and D. kermatoides (11.59%) likewise did so in the inland ponds.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse

Quarterly Progress Reports Nos. 1-5, 7, 8

This report, prepared during May 1958, summarizes the analysis of over twelve months of amplitude and angular scintillation data obtained using phase-switch interferometers at 223 Mc and 456 Mc on the Cygnus and Cassiopeia radio sources. The main parameters of the equipment used are first discussed. The method of scaling the records, involving the arbitrary division of the records into four (456 Mc) or six (223 Mc) levels of activity is then described. The probability distributions of the amplitude variations, as derived using a phase-sweep interferometer, are given for the main levels of scintillation activity at 223 Mc. Values of mean fractional deviation of power, -A.P. } for the main levels of activity at 223 Mc are also given. Preliminary probability distributions of angular deviation, and values of mean angular deviation, are also given for the different levels of activity at 223 Mc. The solar-time dependence and sidereal-time (elevation angle) dependence of the scintillation activity are presented arid c6mpared with similar data from temperate latitudes. The report concludes with a section in which a recent theory of radio star scintillations^ is modified to include the effect of an elongation of the irregularities along the earth's magnetic lines of force.Air Force Contract No. AF 30(635)-2837 Project No. 5535 - Task 45774 Rome Air Development Center, Griffiss Air Force Base Rome, New YorkTABLE OF CONTENTS -- ABSTRACT -- [SECTION I] The Phase-Switch Interferometers : Main Parameters of the Equipment ; Method of Operation -- [SECTION II] Analysis of Phase-Switch Interferometer Records : Scaling of Records ; Probability of Occurrence of Different Indexes of Scintillation Activity ; Preparation of Monthly Diurnal Curve of the Mean Value A? at 223 Mc. ; Preparation of Mean Solar Time and Sidereal Time Variation of Mean -AP. at 223 Mc. ; Solar Time Dependence of the Mean Values of -4£ at 223 Mc. ; Sidereal Time Dependence of 223 Me Scintillation Activity -- Analysis of Angular Scintillation Information -- [SECTION III] Discussion of Results [SECTION IV] Adaptation to an Anisotropic Ionosphere of Booker's Formulae for Radio Star Scintillations -- [SECTION V] Proposed Program of Further Research [SUMMARY] [REFERENCES]Ye

Dynamics of stick-slip in peeling of an adhesive tape

We investigate the dynamics of peeling of an adhesive tape subjected to a constant pull speed. We derive the equations of motion for the angular speed of the roller tape, the peel angle and the pull force used in earlier investigations using a Lagrangian. Due to the constraint between the pull force, peel angle and the peel force, it falls into the category of differential-algebraic equations requiring an appropriate algorithm for its numerical solution. Using such a scheme, we show that stick-slip jumps emerge in a purely dynamical manner. Our detailed numerical study shows that these set of equations exhibit rich dynamics hitherto not reported. In particular, our analysis shows that inertia has considerable influence on the nature of the dynamics. Following studies in the Portevin-Le Chatelier effect, we suggest a phenomenological peel force function which includes the influence of the pull speed. This reproduces the decreasing nature of the rupture force with the pull speed observed in experiments. This rich dynamics is made transparent by using a set of approximations valid in different regimes of the parameter space. The approximate solutions capture major features of the exact numerical solutions and also produce reasonably accurate values for the various quantities of interest.Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures. Minor modifications as suggested by refere

Variaciones bioquímicas relacionadas con el desarrollo en trigo

Dos variedades de trigos invernales, Kanred y Guatraché, fueron divididos en tres grupos. Uno de ellos fué vernalizado y luego recibió luz continua (I); el segundo sólo fué vernalizado (II); el tercero no recibió ningún tratamie to III). Todos los tratamientos terminaron el mismo día. Luego de un período de homogeneización a días cortos y altas temperaturas se observaron los primordios apicales que fueron vegetativos en los tres grupos de Kanred. El grupo I del Guatraché. espigó, mientras que los II y III permanecieron vegetativos. Se determinó peso seco. proteínas y actividad auxínica, en la masa vegetativa aérea de todos ellos.Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Field trial of an automated ground-based infrared cloud classification system

Automated classification of cloud types using a ground-based infrared imager can provide invaluable high resolution and localised information for Air Traffic Controllers. Observations can be made consistently, continuously in real time and accurately during both day and night operation. Details of a field trial of an automated, ground-based infrared cloud classification system are presented. The system was designed at Campbell Scientific ltd in collaboration with Loughborough University, UK. The main objective of the trial was to assess the performance of an automated infrared camera system with a lightning detector in classifying several types of clouds, specifically Cumulonimbus and Towering Cumulus, during continuous day and night operation. Results from the classification system were compared with those obtained from Meteorological Aerodrome Reports (METAR) and with data generated by the UK Meteorological Office from their radar and sferics automated cloud reports system. In comparisons with METAR data, a Probability of Detection of up to 82% was achieved, together with a minimum Probability of False Detection of 18%