An Essay on the Double Nature of the Probability

Classical statistics and Bayesian statistics refer to the frequentist and subjective theories of probability respectively. Von Mises and De Finetti, who authored those conceptualizations, provide interpretations of the probability that appear incompatible. This discrepancy raises ample debates and the foundations of the probability calculus emerge as a tricky, open issue so far. Instead of developing philosophical discussion, this research resorts to analytical and mathematical methods. We present two theorems that sustain the validity of both the frequentist and the subjective views on the probability. Secondly we show how the double facets of the probability turn out to be consistent within the present logical frame

The european paediatric legislation: benefits and perspectives

BACKGROUND: The lack of availability of appropriate medicines for children is an extensive and well known problem. Paediatricians and Physicians who take care of the paediatric population are primarily exposed to cope with this negative situation very often as more than half of the children are prescribed off-label or unlicensed medicines.DISCUSSION: Medicinal products used to treat this population should be subjected to ethical research of high quality and be explicitly authorized for use in children as it happens in adults. For that reason, and following the US experience, the European Paediatric Regulation has been amended in January 2007 by the European Commission. The objective of the Paediatric Regulation is to improve the development of high quality and ethically researched medicines for children aged 0 to 17 years, to facilitate the availability of information on the use of medicines for children, without subjecting children to unnecessary trials, or delaying the authorization of medicines for use in adults.SUMMARY: The Paediatric Regulation is dramatically changing the regulatory environment for paediatric medicines in Europe and is fuelling an increased number of clinical trials in the paediatric population. Nevertheless, there are some risks and pitfalls that need to be anticipated and controlled in order to ensure that children will ultimately benefit from this European initiative

Cross correlations of the American baby names

The quantitative description of cultural evolution is a challenging task. The most difficult part of the problem is probably to find the appropriate measurable quantities that can make more quantitative such evasive concepts as, for example, dynamics of cultural movements, behavior patterns and traditions of the people. A strategy to tackle this issue is to observe particular features of human activities, i.e. cultural traits, such as names given to newborns. We study the names of babies born in the United States of America from 1910 to 2012. Our analysis shows that groups of different correlated states naturally emerge in different epochs, and we are able to follow and decrypt their evolution. While these groups of states are stable across many decades, a sudden reorganization occurs in the last part of the twentieth century. We think that this kind of quantitative analysis can be possibly extended to other cultural traits: although databases covering more than one century (as the one we used) are rare, the cultural evolution on shorter time scales can be studied thanks to the fact that many human activities are usually recorded in the present digital era.Comment: submitted for consideration to PNA

Notes on the Essential System to Acquire Information

This paper introduces a short survey on recent information theories and reviews some critical notes expressed on quantum information. The severe difficulties emerging from the literature lead us to argue about the way to follow, and in a preliminary stage, we consider how to proceed in order to provide a reasonable contribution to the conceptualization of information in classical and quantum physics. We conclude that we should go toward the essential elements of the system that acquire information and should define the common components of the measurement processes. In this way we should be able to establish fundamental properties and to circumvent tricky difficulties arisen by the concept of the observer and the variety of interferences that disturb the acquisition of information. Universal experience shows how sharpness is the indispensable feature of detected signals and we calculate the discernability of observables using various mathematical formalisms. The present logical frame brings evidence on how information is not an absolute quantity, and we close with a few notes on the information relativism which modern literature tackles from the operational stance and the philosophical stance

An Essay on the Origin of Software Evolution

Abstract The biological domain holds interesting keys to the theorists who investigate the root causes of software maintenance. Several authors believe that software systems need to adapt to changing environment the way biological systems do. The objections raised against this generic comparison induced the author to attend additional lessons in biology. Living beings exploit three main forms of adaptation: intelligent, specialist and genetic (or Darwinian). Of these, intelligent adaptation appears to be the most appropriate form to be examined in relation to computational phenomena; besides, it fits with the fundamental ideas of Artificial Intelligence. This study shows how computers are adaptive devices, which aid general systems (companies, production lines, individuals etc.) to have successful behavior in the world. This assumption leads to the inference that the root-causes of software evolution and those of the software itself coincide. Finally, all the factors that affect software maintenance have been surveyed and a measure to handle the software maintenance processes suggested. Index Terms -Nature of software, software changes, intelligent adaptation, information systems, programs classification, software maintenance, management of software projects

Acquisition of Information is Achieved by the Measurement Process in Classical and Quantum Physics

No consensus seems to exist as to what constitutes a measurement which is still considered somewhat mysterious in many respects in quantum mechanics. At successive stages mathematical theory of measure, metrology and measurement theory tried to systematize this field but significant questions remain open about the nature of measurement, about the characterization of the observer, about the reliability of measurement processes etc. The present paper attempts to talk about these questions through the information science. We start from the idea, rather common and intuitive, that the measurement process basically acquires information. Next we expand this idea through four formal definitions and infer some corollaries regarding the measurement process from those definitions. Relativity emerges as the basic property of measurement from the present logical framework and this rather surprising result collides with the feeling of physicists who take measurement as a myth. In the closing this paper shows how the measurement relativity wholly consists with some effects calculated in QM and in Einstein's theory.Comment: Prepared for : Quantum Theory: Reconsideration of Foundations - 4 (QTFR-4), Vaxjo, Sweden, 6-11 June 2007. To be published by the American Institute of Physics in the AIP Conference Proceedings series. Talk presented by Paolo Rocch

An Empirical Study of Offshore Software Development: the Case of a Ticketing Application

This is an industry report about a software development project that included a local team and an offshore team. Both teams contained highly qualified experts who had been selected before the project start up. After a year, which could be deemed as a break-in period, the project leaders observed that the quality and quantity of the software modules produced by the two teams were not up to expectation while costs had gone up. The management monitored the performance of the two groups by analysing the tests undertaken to ensure correctness of the modules. They reached the conclusion that the project failurewas influenced by cultural differences between the onshore and offshore teams. The management became convinced that the current work-organization prevented knowledge delivery and knowledge acquisition, so they established a new organization as the solution to this problem. Arapid validation of the newwork arrangement convinced all the involved experts that the diagnosis was right

Probabilistic Events and Physical Reality: A Complete Algebra of Probability

This contribution derives from a rather extensive study on the foundations of probability. We start by discussing critically the two main models of the random event in Probability Theroy and cast light over a number of incongruities. We conclude that the argument of probability is the critical knot of the probability foundations and put forward the structure of levels for the partially determinate event. The structural model enables us to define the prabability and to attune its subjective and objective interpretations

Physiological profile of high intensity functional training athletes

Introduction: High intensity functional trainings (HIFT) are among the most common and popular training modalities. The aim of the present study was to examine the physiological characteristics of a group of HIFT competitive athletes both in a laboratory and field setting. Methods: Twenty HIFT athletes, 10 men (29 ± 5.3 years) and 10 women (30 ± 3.2 years), were evaluated in the laboratory for anthropometric characteristics, VO2peak, lactate threshold, maximal anaerobic power, maximal voluntary isometric and isokinetic strength, and muscle power during a countermovement jump. Athletes were also monitored in the field by measuring VO2 and lactate during a training session. Results: HIFT competitive athletes reached high levels in VO2peak (52.9 ± 5.67 ml·kg-1·min-1 in men; 52.4 ± 6.17 ml·kg-1·min-1 in women), VO2 at lactate threshold (79.7% of VO2peak in men; 74.5% of VO2peak in women), maximal anaerobic power (7.6 ± 1.32 W·kg-1 in men; 5.0 ± 1.13 W·kg-1 in women; p < .05), maximal voluntary knee extension isometric strength (11.7 ± 1.43 N·kg-1 in men; 9.5 ± 2.25 N·kg-1 in women; p < .05) and isokinetic strength (281.4 ± 31.56 N·kg-1 in men; 243.1 ± 44.13 N·kg-1 in women; p < .05), and muscle power during a countermovement jump (54 ± 5.9 W·kg-1 in men; 40 ± 4.8 W·kg-1 in women; p < .05). VO2peak during the on-field training session (50.6 ± 3.82 ml·kg-1·min-1 in men; 51.9 ± 5.76 ml·kg-1·min-1 in women) and lactate production (10.4 ± 0.69 mmol·l-1 in men; 9.7 ± 0.96 mmol·l-1 in women) revealed the high intensity nature of HIFT. Conclusions: Overall, HIFT athletes show exceptional performances in physiological components that are key to many different sports. The lack of specialization in exclusively one domain of physical fitness reveals the comprehensive nature of this training methodology