The Novel Approach of Adaptive Twin Probability for Genetic Algorithm

The performance of GA is measured and analyzed in terms of its performance parameters against variations in its genetic operators and associated parameters. Since last four decades huge numbers of researchers have been working on the performance of GA and its enhancement. This earlier research work on analyzing the performance of GA enforces the need to further investigate the exploration and exploitation characteristics and observe its impact on the behavior and overall performance of GA. This paper introduces the novel approach of adaptive twin probability associated with the advanced twin operator that enhances the performance of GA. The design of the advanced twin operator is extrapolated from the twin offspring birth due to single ovulation in natural genetic systems as mentioned in the earlier works. The twin probability of this operator is adaptively varied based on the fitness of best individual thereby relieving the GA user from statically defining its value. This novel approach of adaptive twin probability is experimented and tested on the standard benchmark optimization test functions. The experimental results show the increased accuracy in terms of the best individual and reduced convergence time.Comment: 7 pages, International Journal of Advanced Studies in Computer Science and Engineering (IJASCSE), Volume 2, Special Issue 2, 201

Costs associated with policies regarding alcohol use during pregnancy: Results from 1972-2015 Vital Statistics.

Background and objectiveAs of 2016, 43 US states have policies regarding alcohol use during pregnancy. A recent study found that out of eight state-level alcohol/pregnancy policies, six are significantly associated with poorer birth outcomes, and two are not associated with any outcomes. Here we estimate the excess numbers of low birthweight (LBW) and preterm births (PTB) related to these policies and their associated additional costs in the first year of life.MethodsCost study using birth certificate data for 155,446,714 singleton live births in the United States between 1972-2015. Exposures were state- and month/year-specific indicators of having each of eight alcohol/pregnancy policies in place. Outcomes were excess numbers of LBW and PTB and associated costs in the first year of life. Fixed effects regressions with state-specific time trends were used for statistical analyses in 2018.ResultsIn 2015, policies mandating warning signs were associated with an excess of 7,375 LBW; policies defining alcohol use during pregnancy as child abuse/neglect were associated with an excess of 12,372 PTB; these excess adverse outcomes are associated with additional costs of $151,928,002 and$582,698,853 in the first year of life, respectively.ConclusionsMultiple state-level alcohol pregnancy policies lead to increased prevalence of LBW and PTB, which cost hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Policymakers should consider adverse public health impacts of alcohol/pregnancy policies before expanding extant policies to new substances or adopting existing policies in new states

Determinants of Wages and Returns to Education in Rural India

This study focuses on estimating determinants of wages across primary, secondary and tertiary sectors in rural India by the type of work contract involved. Casual labourers, with short term work contracts and nearly absent benefits and wage employees, with long term work contracts, higher wages and benefits represent dual sections of the labour market. Here we demonstrate that human capital and other factors that has been proven to explain variation in wages in other labour markets, explain little about wages in casual employment sector. Further, pattern of returns to education for casual labourers were found to decrease with increasing educational levels and was negative for higher education. Such a trend was no t noticed among wage employees, where pattern that was similar with other studies focusing on the whole labour market.returns to education, wages, particular labour markets, Labor and Human Capital, J3, J4,

Ode to our musical origins

Thesis (S.M. in Science Writing)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Humanities, Graduate Program in Science Writing, 2010."September 2010." Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.Includes bibliographical references (p. 29-32).Music is part of human culture and has been around for several thousand years. In spite of its strong emotional appeal, the history of this human characteristic, and the source of its allure remain elusive. This thesis is a report from the front lines of research into the origins of human music, presenting four popular scenarios for the source of music. Music is treated as a homolog for gibbon song, as a co-evolver with language, as a sexually selected adaptation and as a cultural artifact that elicits universally reaching, culturally exclusive emotional responses from listeners.by Nidhi Subbaraman.S.M.in Science Writin

High Speed Roll-to-Roll Printable Transistor Enabled by a Pulsed Light Curable CNT Ink

This paper reports the first high speed roll-to-roll printable transistor using a carbon nanotube (CNT) semiconducting layer. The transistor is made possible through the development of a pulsed light curable CNT ink compatible with typical drop on demand inkjet cartridges. This CNT ink uses a xylene based solvent with methanol, glycerin, and Triton X-100 modifiers to create an evaporable solution with appropriate absorption spectra for a mercury or xenon flash lamp with strong energy transmission in the UVB to mid visible light range, allowing the solution to absorb the energy from the flash lamp and evaporate. Transistor dimensions were defined by the capabilities of a typical roll-to-roll drop on demand cartridge. The final device demonstrated an on/off ratio of 104, representing performance similar to gravure printed devices. This represents the first CNT ink which can be used in high speed production methods without long thermal curing steps in the workflow