742 research outputs found
The conductance of a multi-mode ballistic ring: beyond Landauer and Kubo
The Landauer conductance of a two terminal device equals to the number of
open modes in the weak scattering limit. What is the corresponding result if we
close the system into a ring? Is it still bounded by the number of open modes?
Or is it unbounded as in the semi-classical (Drude) analysis? It turns out that
the calculation of the mesoscopic conductance is similar to solving a
percolation problem. The "percolation" is in energy space rather than in real
space. The non-universal structures and the sparsity of the perturbation matrix
cannot be ignored.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, with the correct version of Figs.6-
Rate of energy absorption by a closed ballistic ring
We make a distinction between the spectroscopic and the mesoscopic
conductance of closed systems. We show that the latter is not simply related to
the Landauer conductance of the corresponding open system. A new ingredient in
the theory is related to the non-universal structure of the perturbation matrix
which is generic for quantum chaotic systems. These structures may created
bottlenecks that suppress the diffusion in energy space, and hence the rate of
energy absorption. The resulting effect is not merely quantitative: For a
ring-dot system we find that a smaller Landauer conductance implies a smaller
spectroscopic conductance, while the mesoscopic conductance increases. Our
considerations open the way towards a realistic theory of dissipation in closed
mesoscopic ballistic devices.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, published version with updated ref
Ethics of Artificial Intelligence Demarcations
In this paper we present a set of key demarcations, particularly important
when discussing ethical and societal issues of current AI research and
applications. Properly distinguishing issues and concerns related to Artificial
General Intelligence and weak AI, between symbolic and connectionist AI, AI
methods, data and applications are prerequisites for an informed debate. Such
demarcations would not only facilitate much-needed discussions on ethics on
current AI technologies and research. In addition sufficiently establishing
such demarcations would also enhance knowledge-sharing and support rigor in
interdisciplinary research between technical and social sciences.Comment: Proceedings of the Norwegian AI Symposium 2019 (NAIS 2019),
Trondheim, Norwa
Winding of planar gaussian processes
We consider a smooth, rotationally invariant, centered gaussian process in
the plane, with arbitrary correlation matrix . We study the winding
angle around its center. We obtain a closed formula for the variance
of the winding angle as a function of the matrix . For most stationary
processes the winding angle exhibits diffusion at large time
with diffusion coefficient .
Correlations of with integer , the distribution of the
angular velocity , and the variance of the algebraic area are also
obtained. For smooth processes with stationary increments (random walks) the
variance of the winding angle grows as , with proper
generalizations to the various classes of fractional Brownian motion. These
results are tested numerically. Non integer is studied numerically.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
Modeling cross-national differences in automated vehicle acceptance
The technology that allows fully automated driving already exists and it may gradually enter the market over the forthcoming decades. Technology assimilation and automated vehicle acceptance in different countries is of high interest to many scholars, manufacturers, and policymakers worldwide. We model the mode choice between automated vehicles and conventional cars using a mixed multinomial logit heteroskedastic error component type model. Specifically, we capture preference heterogeneity assuming a continuous distribution across individuals. Different choice scenarios, based on respondents’ reported trip, were presented to respondents from six European countries: Cyprus, Hungary, Iceland, Montenegro, Slovenia, and the UK. We found that large reservations towards automated vehicles exist in all countries with 70% conventional private car choices, and 30% automated vehicles choices. We found that men, under the age of 60, with a high income who currently use private car, are more likely to be early adopters of automated vehicles. We found significant differences in automated vehicles acceptance in different countries. Individuals from Slovenia and Cyprus show higher automated vehicles acceptance while individuals from wealthier countries, UK, and Iceland, show more reservations towards them. Nontrading mode choice behaviors, value of travel time, and differences in model parameters among the different countries are discussed
Computational fact checking from knowledge networks
Traditional fact checking by expert journalists cannot keep up with the
enormous volume of information that is now generated online. Computational fact
checking may significantly enhance our ability to evaluate the veracity of
dubious information. Here we show that the complexities of human fact checking
can be approximated quite well by finding the shortest path between concept
nodes under properly defined semantic proximity metrics on knowledge graphs.
Framed as a network problem this approach is feasible with efficient
computational techniques. We evaluate this approach by examining tens of
thousands of claims related to history, entertainment, geography, and
biographical information using a public knowledge graph extracted from
Wikipedia. Statements independently known to be true consistently receive
higher support via our method than do false ones. These findings represent a
significant step toward scalable computational fact-checking methods that may
one day mitigate the spread of harmful misinformation
Identification of plasma lipid biomarkers for prostate cancer by lipidomics and bioinformatics
Background:
Lipids have critical functions in cellular energy storage, structure and signaling. Many individual lipid molecules have been associated with the evolution of prostate cancer; however, none of them has been approved to be used as a biomarker. The aim of this study is to identify lipid molecules from hundreds plasma apparent lipid species as biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer.
Methodology/Principal Findings:
Using lipidomics, lipid profiling of 390 individual apparent lipid species was performed on 141 plasma samples from 105 patients with prostate cancer and 36 male controls. High throughput data generated from lipidomics were analyzed using bioinformatic and statistical methods. From 390 apparent lipid species, 35 species were demonstrated to have potential in differentiation of prostate cancer. Within the 35 species, 12 were identified as individual plasma lipid biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer with a sensitivity above 80%, specificity above 50% and accuracy above 80%. Using top 15 of 35 potential biomarkers together increased predictive power dramatically in diagnosis of prostate cancer with a sensitivity of 93.6%, specificity of 90.1% and accuracy of 97.3%. Principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) demonstrated that patient and control populations were visually separated by identified lipid biomarkers. RandomForest and 10-fold cross validation analyses demonstrated that the identified lipid biomarkers were able to predict unknown populations accurately, and this was not influenced by patient's age and race. Three out of 13 lipid classes, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), ether-linked phosphatidylethanolamine (ePE) and ether-linked phosphatidylcholine (ePC) could be considered as biomarkers in diagnosis of prostate cancer.
Conclusions/Significance:
Using lipidomics and bioinformatic and statistical methods, we have identified a few out of hundreds plasma apparent lipid molecular species as biomarkers for diagnosis of prostate cancer with a high sensitivity, specificity and accuracy
Pharmacoeconomic analysis of adjuvant oral capecitabine vs intravenous 5-FU/LV in Dukes' C colon cancer: the X-ACT trial
Oral capecitabine (Xeloda<sup>®</sup>) is an effective drug with favourable safety in adjuvant and metastatic colorectal cancer. Oxaliplatin-based therapy is becoming standard for Dukes' C colon cancer in patients suitable for combination therapy, but is not yet approved by the UK National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the adjuvant setting. Adjuvant capecitabine is at least as effective as 5-fluorouracil/leucovorin (5-FU/LV), with significant superiority in relapse-free survival and a trend towards improved disease-free and overall survival. We assessed the cost-effectiveness of adjuvant capecitabine from payer (UK National Health Service (NHS)) and societal perspectives. We used clinical trial data and published sources to estimate incremental direct and societal costs and gains in quality-adjusted life months (QALMs). Acquisition costs were higher for capecitabine than 5-FU/LV, but higher 5-FU/LV administration costs resulted in 57% lower chemotherapy costs for capecitabine. Capecitabine vs 5-FU/LV-associated adverse events required fewer medications and hospitalisations (cost savings £3653). Societal costs, including patient travel/time costs, were reduced by >75% with capecitabine vs 5-FU/LV (cost savings £1318), with lifetime gain in QALMs of 9 months. Medical resource utilisation is significantly decreased with capecitabine vs 5-FU/LV, with cost savings to the NHS and society. Capecitabine is also projected to increase life expectancy vs 5-FU/LV. Cost savings and better outcomes make capecitabine a preferred adjuvant therapy for Dukes' C colon cancer. This pharmacoeconomic analysis strongly supports replacing 5-FU/LV with capecitabine in the adjuvant treatment of colon cancer in the UK
Ownership, Activism and Engagement: Institutional Investors as Active Owners
Research Question We research two questions: First, why do some institutional investors operate at a distance from organizations seemingly acting only to “exit” and “trade” shares while others actively engage through various means of “voice”? Second, what processes and behaviour are associated with active ownership? Research Findings/Insights We develop the concept of active ownership by drawing on contrasting theories and images of ownership, identifying antecedents of active ownership and distinguishing between alternative processes of active ownership. Theoretical/Academic Implications Alternative pathways to active ownership contrast the distant, sometimes adversarial nature of shareholder activism with an engaged, collaborative relationship between investors and corporations. Few studies examine active ownership as a process of engagement and mutual exchange between parties taking a generally longer-term perspective towards investment in the firm and its affairs. After modelling active ownership, we develop a research agenda of substantive issues ranging from market and institutional conditions, through investment organization and practice, to board and investor relations. Practitioner/Policy Implications Opening up the multidimensionality of engagement and relations between investors and corporations is crucial to promoting good corporate governance. Policymakers and practitioners require such knowledge when anticipating and developing adjustments to institutions of corporate governance. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
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