An investigation into the performance and representation of a stochastic evolutionary neural tree

Copyright Springer.The Stochastic Competitive Evolutionary Neural Tree (SCENT) is a new unsupervised neural net that dynamically evolves a representational structure in response to its training data. Uniquely SCENT requires no initial parameter setting as it autonomously creates appropriate parameterisation at runtime. Pruning and convergence are stochastically controlled using locally calculated heuristics. A thorough investigation into the performance of SCENT is presented. The network is compared to other dynamic tree based models and to a high quality flat clusterer over a variety of data sets and runs

OGSA first impressions: a case study re-engineering a scientific applicationwith the open grid services architecture

We present a case study of our experience re-engineeringa scientific application using the Open Grid Services Architecture(OGSA), a new specification for developing Gridapplications using web service technologies such as WSDLand SOAP. During the last decade, UCL?s Chemistry departmenthas developed a computational approach for predictingthe crystal structures of small molecules. However,each search involves running large iterations of computationallyexpensive calculations and currently takes a fewmonths to perform. Making use of early implementationsof the OGSA specification we have wrapped the Fortranbinaries into OGSI-compliant service interfaces to exposethe existing scientific application as a set of loosely coupledweb services. We show how the OGSA implementationfacilitates the distribution of such applications across alarge network, radically improving performance of the systemthrough parallel CPU capacity, coordinated resourcemanagement and automation of the computational process.We discuss the difficulties that we encountered turning Fortranexecutables into OGSA services and delivering a robust,scalable system. One unusual aspect of our approachis the way we transfer input and output data for the Fortrancodes. Instead of employing a file transfer service wetransform the XML encoded data in the SOAP message tonative file format, where possible using XSLT stylesheets.We also discuss a computational workflow service that enablesusers to distribute and manage parts of the computationalprocess across different clusters and administrativedomains. We examine how our experience re-engineeringthe polymorph prediction application led to this approachand to what extent our efforts have succeeded

“What Man Am I?” The Hero’s Journey, the Beginning of Individuation, and \u3ci\u3eTaran Wanderer\u3c/i\u3e

Norman Holland\u27s entreaty to refocus psychoanalysis toward self-knowledge animates this study. Focusing on Lloyd Alexander\u27s Taran Wanderer (part of the Chronicles of Prydain), the novel\u27s location at the crossroads of human psychological development and myth is examined using Jung\u27s concept of individuation and Campbell\u27s Hero\u27s Journey in order to extract an underlying thematic question. The lessons learned from answering this question, in turn, teach us more about ourselves, illustrating the value of psychoanalysis both to the study of mythopoeic literature and to ourselves

\u3ci\u3eDante\u27s Dream: A Jungian Psychoanalytical Approach\u3c/i\u3e by Gwenyth E. Hood

This review presents a discussion of Gwenyth E. Hood\u27s recent book, Dante\u27s Dream: A Jungian Psychoanalytical Approach. The review focuses on the Jungian methods that Hood utilizes, as well as important questions about the identity and construction of mythopoeic literature that Hood\u27s discussion raises

Exploring the value of a teaching and learning intervention (using an assessment as learning-conceptual thread approach) in addressing acquired learning deficits in mathematics in South Africa

A Masters Dissertation submitted to the Wits School of Education Faculty of Humanities, University of the Witwatersrand August 2017The purpose of this study was to evaluate an assessment as learning – conceptual thread approach to the teaching and learning of Mathematics. The focus was on South African high school learners with acquired learning deficits that were causing functioning at levels as far back as Grade 2. Using a mixed-methods design, the study’s key findings are: that learners can catch up between 3-6 grade levels despite limited contact time through using a diagnostic assessment as learning – conceptual thread approach for targeted intervention; that learners’ acquired learning deficits are not necessarily insurmountable; and that Grade 10 is not too late to catch up on learners’ grade-level achievement in Mathematics. The assessment as learning – conceptual thread approach provided value: for teachers in revealing the nature of learner difficulties; and for learners enabling their metacognitive activation and stimulating the advancement of their metacognitive skills. Learners developed skills of error detection, diagnosis and analysis; awareness of strengths, weaknesses, learning needs and opportunities; self-reflective performance analysis and self-evaluation of improvement strategies.MT 201

Grid service orchestration using the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL)

Modern scientific applications often need to be distributed across grids. Increasingly applications rely on services, such as job submission, data transfer or data portal services. We refer to such services as grid services. While the invocation of grid services could be hard coded in theory, scientific users want to orchestrate service invocations more flexibly. In enterprise applications, the orchestration of web services is achieved using emerging orchestration standards, most notably the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). We describe our experience in orchestrating scientific workflows using BPEL. We have gained this experience during an extensive case study that orchestrates grid services for the automation of a polymorph prediction application

A variable-rate modulation and coding scheme for low earth orbit satellites

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites are increasingly being used for a wide variety of communications applications. These satellites have to operate in widely varying channel conditions. These conditions are often significantly better than the 'worst case' situations that are experienced and thus a single rate transmission scheme is clearly suboptimal. The objective of the thesis is to suggest and test a method of modulation/coding that can take advantage of better signal strength conditions in order to improve data transmission rates. In order to provide the goal of approximately 50kbps transmission in a 10kHz Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) channel it was necessary to consider spectrally efficient, rather than power efficient, modulations. The proposed modulation scheme makes use of an eight-dimensional trellis coded modulation system. Multiple signal constellation sets are used in conjunction with this coding in order to provide different transmission rates, depending on the signal to noise ratio and the channel state. To enhance the suitability of the modulation scheme for the channel, it was combined with Reed-Solomon Coding and interleaving in an inner/outer code arrangement. Various means of determining when to switch between coding rates were discussed briefly, but an in-depth treatment of the subject fell outside of the scope of the thesis. Various combinations of these codes were tested in gaussian noise conditions and various degrees of Rician and Rayleigh fading. In order to make use of the higher rate QAM constellations, it was necessary to provide the decoder with channel state information. The tested system achieved its purpose of providing a variable rate coding scheme resulting in good performance over a range of channel conditions. It is fairly flexible and can be adapted to specific channel requirements

Yankı: Veya Sözcüklerin Kökeni Üzerine

It is within the context of thinking about the phenomenology and semiotics of the human experience of the world that this article explores the twin topics of sound and listening. The discussion is informed by Jean-Luc Nancy’s recent volume Listening, a philosophy of sound that, I argue, raises communication as a question of listening. The first part of the article draws out this question from Nancy. The second part connects it to Werner Hamacher’s examination of the word as a gift of Being (Heidegger), which resonates, or can be heard, I argue, as an echo of being when taken up in communication. The perspectives on listening, word, and echo advanced in the article demonstrate how human communication may be understood philosophically, rather than theoretically, as a reversible semiotic and phenomenological relation.Bu makale, ses ve dinleme konularını, insanın dünyaya dair deneyiminin fenomenolojisi ve semiyotiği bağlamında incelemektedir. Bu tartışma, Jean-Luc Nancy’nin, iletişimi bir dinleme meselesi olarak gündeme getirdiğini savunduğum, bir ses felsefesi olan Listening adlı önceki bir çalışmasından hareketle oluşturulmuştur. Makalenin ilk kısmı, bu tartışmayı Nancy’den yola çıkarak yürütmektedir. İkinci kısım ise söz konusu tartışmayı, Werner Hamacher’in iletişimde ele alındığında varlığın bir yankısı olarak yankılandığını veya duyulabildiğini savunduğum sözcüğü, Varlık’ın bir armağanı (Heidegger) olarak, incelemesine bağlamaktadır. Makalede dinleme, sözcük ve yankı üzerine geliştirilen perspektifler, insan iletişiminin teorik olandan ziyade felsefi bir biçimde, tersine çevrilebilir bir semiyotik ve fenomenolojik ilişki olarak nasıl anlaşılabileceğini göstermektedir

James A. Butchart to Dr. Silver, 28 November 1960

Personal correspondenc