Online Pattern Matching for String Edit Distance with Moves

Edit distance with moves (EDM) is a string-to-string distance measure that includes substring moves in addition to ordinal editing operations to turn one string to the other. Although optimizing EDM is intractable, it has many applications especially in error detections. Edit sensitive parsing (ESP) is an efficient parsing algorithm that guarantees an upper bound of parsing discrepancies between different appearances of the same substrings in a string. ESP can be used for computing an approximate EDM as the L1 distance between characteristic vectors built by node labels in parsing trees. However, ESP is not applicable to a streaming text data where a whole text is unknown in advance. We present an online ESP (OESP) that enables an online pattern matching for EDM. OESP builds a parse tree for a streaming text and computes the L1 distance between characteristic vectors in an online manner. For the space-efficient computation of EDM, OESP directly encodes the parse tree into a succinct representation by leveraging the idea behind recent results of a dynamic succinct tree. We experimentally test OESP on the ability to compute EDM in an online manner on benchmark datasets, and we show OESP's efficiency.Comment: This paper has been accepted to the 21st edition of the International Symposium on String Processing and Information Retrieval (SPIRE2014

On gravitational-wave spectroscopy of massive black holes with the space interferometer LISA

Newly formed black holes are expected to emit characteristic radiation in the form of quasi-normal modes, called ringdown waves, with discrete frequencies. LISA should be able to detect the ringdown waves emitted by oscillating supermassive black holes throughout the observable Universe. We develop a multi-mode formalism, applicable to any interferometric detectors, for detecting ringdown signals, for estimating black hole parameters from those signals, and for testing the no-hair theorem of general relativity. Focusing on LISA, we use current models of its sensitivity to compute the expected signal-to-noise ratio for ringdown events, the relative parameter estimation accuracy, and the resolvability of different modes. We also discuss the extent to which uncertainties on physical parameters, such as the black hole spin and the energy emitted in each mode, will affect our ability to do black hole spectroscopy.Comment: 44 pages, 21 figures, 10 tables. Minor changes to match version in press in Phys. Rev.

Objective identification and analysis of physiological and behavioral signs of schizophrenia

BACKGROUND: A patient\u27s physical activity is often used by psychiatrists to contribute to the diagnostic process for mental disorders. Typically, it is based mostly on self-reports or observations, and hardly ever upon actigraphy. Other signals related to physiology are rarely used, despite the fact that the autonomic nervous system is often affected by mental disorders. AIM: This study attempted to fuse physiological and physical activity data and discover features that are predictive for schizophrenia. METHOD: Continuous simultaneous heart rate (HR) and physical activity recordings were made on 16 individuals with schizophrenia and 19 healthy controls. Statistical characteristics of the recorded data were analyzed, as well as non-linear rest-activity measures and disorganization measures. RESULTS: Four most predictive features for schizophrenia were identified, namely, the standard deviation and mode of locomotor activity, dynamics of Multiscale Entropy change over scales of HR signal and the mean HR. A classifier trained on these features provided a cross-validation accuracy of 95.3% (AUC = 0.99) for differentiating between schizophrenia patients and controls, compared to 78.5 and 85.5% accuracy (AUC = 0.85 and AUC = 0.90) using only the HR or locomotor activity features. CONCLUSION: Physiological and physical activity signals provide complimentary information for assessment of mental health

String Indexing for Patterns with Wildcards

We consider the problem of indexing a string $t$ of length $n$ to report the occurrences of a query pattern $p$ containing $m$ characters and $j$ wildcards. Let $occ$ be the number of occurrences of $p$ in $t$, and $\sigma$ the size of the alphabet. We obtain the following results. - A linear space index with query time $O(m+\sigma^j \log \log n + occ)$. This significantly improves the previously best known linear space index by Lam et al. [ISAAC 2007], which requires query time $\Theta(jn)$ in the worst case. - An index with query time $O(m+j+occ)$ using space $O(\sigma^{k^2} n \log^k \log n)$, where $k$ is the maximum number of wildcards allowed in the pattern. This is the first non-trivial bound with this query time. - A time-space trade-off, generalizing the index by Cole et al. [STOC 2004]. We also show that these indexes can be generalized to allow variable length gaps in the pattern. Our results are obtained using a novel combination of well-known and new techniques, which could be of independent interest

The Crystallisation of Glasses from the Ternary CaF2-CaAl2Si2O8-P2 O5 System

A study of glasses from the ternary system CaF2-CaAl2Si2O8-P2O5 has been carried out. It has been shown that glasses with low phosphorus contents and high fluorite contents crystallise to fluorite. Fluorine reduces the glass transition temperature and is also required for the formation of fluorapatite (FAP). In the absence of fluorine in the glass no apatite phase is formed. Bulk nucleation of FAP is favoured for glasses with Ca:P ratios close to the apatite stoichiometry of 1.67 and with low crosslink densities. Thermal gravimetric analysis showed significant weight losses attributable to the formation of volatile silicon tetrafluoride to occur on crystallisation of the aluminium containing phases, anorthite and mullite, which supports the view that silicon tetrafluoride formation is hindered by fluorine bonding to the aluminium atoms of the glass network. Anorthite crystallisation always occurred by a surface nucleation mechanism and ap peared to be favoured by the higher silicon to aluminium ratio in these glasses compared to previously studied glass compositions. © 2001 Kluwer Academic Publishers

Parametric Analyses In Randomized Clinical Trials

One salient feature of randomized clinical trials is that patients are randomly allocated to treatment groups, but not randomly sampled from any target population. Without random sampling parametric analyses are inexact, yet they are still often used in clinical trials. Given the availability of an exact test, it would still be conceivable to argue convincingly that for technical reasons (upon which we elaborate) a parametric test might be preferable in some situations. Having acknowledged this possibility, we point out that such an argument cannot be convincing without supporting facts concerning the specifics of the problem at hand. Moreover, we have never seen these arguments made in practice. We conclude that the frequent preference for parametric analyses over exact analyses is without merit. In this article we briefly present the scientific basis for preferring exact tests, and refer the interested reader to the vast literature backing up these claims. We also refute the assertions offered in some recent publications promoting parametric analyses as being superior in some general sense to exact analyses. In asking the reader to keep an open mind to our arguments, we are suggesting the possibility that numerous researchers have published incorrect advice, which has then been taught extensively in schools. We ask the reader to consider the relative merits of the arguments, but not the frequency with which each argument is made

Best practices and QA protocols for code development

The OperaHPC project aims to improve the numerical capabilities of 3D fuel performance modelling as part of its strategic objectives. To achieve this goal, an open-source approach has been chosen for the tools developed in the framework of the project, namely MMM and OFFBEAT, the latter coupled to the SCIANTIX code. As the open-source approach is relatively new in the domain of nuclear safety studies, this document presents a framework for achieving quality assurance targets for the open-source scientific computing tools within the OperaHPC project. First, the document provides a brief review of the most common QA programs and standards employed in the field, with a particular focus to the aspects that are more relevant to OperaHPC. Then, it discusses modern software development practices to improve code quality, highlighting the importance of revision control systems, testing methodologies, and documentation. Finally, it describes the concept of governance model for regulating interactions between contributors, users, and decision-makers. The framework presented in this document provides a backbone for the verification and validation actions that will be carried out within the project and contributes to the qualification of the MMM, OFFBEAT and SCIANTIX tools for nuclear safety studies

Siting prisons, sighting communities: geographies of objection in a planning process

This paper reviews the planning process for a Scottish prison located near a former mining village. Analysing the letters of objection submitted by residents offers an opportunity to explore local views about prison and community and to relate these to the unique social and spatial history of the area. The planning process itself structured how residents were able to express themselves and defined what counted as a relevant objection. After deconstructing this process, the paper then restores and uses as a framework for analysis three geographies of objection stripped from local responses to the development proposal: the emotional, temporal, and spatial. Emotional expressions of objection added intensity and gave meaning to claims about the historical decline of the region and also conveyed a deep sense of the proposed building site as a lived space. Particular grounds of opposition—over fear of strangers, the fragility of a local orchid, and the pollution from mining—provide an opportunity to explore the complex nature of place meaning and community identity, ultimately leading to a conclusion that the meaning of place is always in flux. The paper argues that Simmel’s classic concept of the stranger, as the outsider who comes to stay, offers a useful analytic in understanding how the quality of proximal remoteness that prisons and other unwanted developments constitute participates in a constantly evolving sense of the local