Common Paths Research Articles

Multi-modal language input: A learned superadditive effect

AbstractReview of psychological and language acquisition research into seeing faces while listening, seeing gesture while listening, illustrated text, reading while listening, and same language subtitled video, confirms that bi-modal input has a consistently positive effect on language learning over a variety of input types. This effect is normally discussed using a simple additive model where bi-modal input increases the total amount of data and adds redundancy to duplicated input thus increasing comprehension and then learning. Parallel studies in neuroscience suggest that bi-modal integration is a general effect using common brain areas and following common neural paths. Neuroscience also shows that bi-modal effects are more complex than simple addition, showing early integration of inputs, a learning/developmental effect, and a superadditive effect for integrated bi-modal input. The different bodies of research produce a revised model of bi-modal input as a learned, active system. The implications for language learning are that bi- or multi-modal input can powerfully enhance language learning and that the learning benefits of such input will increase alongside the development of neurological integration of the inputs.

Molecular and expression analysis of the Allograft inflammatory factor 1 (AIF-1) in the coelomocytes of the common sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus

Allograft inflammatory factor 1 (AIF-1) is a highly conserved gene involved in inflammation, cloned and characterized in several evolutionary distant animal species. Here, we report the molecular identification, characterization and expression of AIF-1 from the common sea urchin Paracentrotus lividus. In this species, AIF-1 encodes a predicted 151 amino acid protein with high similarity to vertebrate AIF-1 proteins. Immunocytochemical analyses on coelomocytes reveal localization of the AIF-1 protein in amoebocytes (perinuclear cytoplasmic zone) and red sphaerulocytes (inside granules), but not in vibratile cells and colorless sphaerula cells. The significant increase of AIF-1 expression (mRNA and protein) found in the coelomocytes of the sea urchin after Gram + bacterial challenge suggests the involvement of AIF-1 in the inflammatory response. Our analysis on P. lividus AIF-1 contributes to elucidate AIF-1 function along the evolutionary scale and consolidate the key evolutionary position of echinoderms throughout metazoans with respect to the common immune paths.

Editorial: A twenty‐first century scourge: Introducing the special issue on Islamophobia

Editorial: A twenty‐first century scourge: Introducing the special issue on Islamophobia

Secure Transmissions in Millimeter Wave Systems

Exploiting millimeter wave is an effective way to meet the data traffic demand in the 5G wireless communication system. In this paper, we study secure transmissions under slow fading channels with multipath propagation in millimeter wave systems. Concerning the new propagation characteristics of millimeter wave, we investigate three transmission schemes, namely, maximum ratio transmitting (MRT) beamforming, artificial noise (AN) beamforming, and partial MRT (PMRT) beamforming. We evaluate the secrecy performance by analyzing both the secrecy outage probability (SOP) and the secrecy throughput for each scheme. Particularly, for the AN scheme, we derive a closed-form expression for the optimal power allocation ratio of the information signal power to the total transmit power that minimizes the SOP, as well as obtain an explicit solution on the optimal transmission parameters that maximize the secrecy throughput. By comparing the secrecy performances achieved by different strategies, we demonstrate that the secrecy performance of the millimeter wave system is significantly influenced by the relationship between the legitimate user’s and the eavesdropper’s spatially resolvable paths, which is different from the wireless systems with statistically independent channel models. In the absence of the common path between the legitimate user and the eavesdropper, MRT beamforming is the best scheme. In the presence of common paths, AN beamforming and PMRT beamforming show their respective superiorities depending on the transmit power and the number of common paths. Numerical results are provided to verify our theoretical analysis.

Health care public reporting utilization \u2013 user clusters, web trails, and usage barriers on Germany\u2019s public reporting portal Weisse-Liste.de

BackgroundQuality of care public reporting provides structural, process and outcome information to facilitate hospital choice and strengthen quality competition. Yet, evidence indicates that patients rarely use this information in their decision-making, due to limited awareness of the data and complex and conflicting information. While there is enthusiasm among policy makers for public reporting, clinicians and researchers doubt its overall impact. Almost no study has analyzed how users behave on public reporting portals, which information they seek out and when they abort their search.MethodsThis study employs web-usage mining techniques on server log data of 17 million user actions from Germany’s premier provider transparency portal Weisse-Liste.de (WL.de) between 2012 and 2015. Postal code and ICD search requests facilitate identification of geographical and treatment area usage patterns. User clustering helps to identify user types based on parameters like session length, referrer and page topic visited. First-level markov chains illustrate common click paths and premature exits.ResultsIn 2015, the WL.de Hospital Search portal had 2,750 daily users, with 25% mobile traffic, a bounce rate of 38% and 48% of users examining hospital quality information. From 2013 to 2015, user traffic grew at 38% annually. On average users spent 7 min on the portal, with 7.4 clicks and 54 s between clicks. Users request information for many oncologic and orthopedic conditions, for which no process or outcome quality indicators are available. Ten distinct user types, with particular usage patterns and interests, are identified. In particular, the different types of professional and non-professional users need to be addressed differently to avoid high premature exit rates at several key steps in the information search and view process. Of all users, 37% enter hospital information correctly upon entry, while 47% require support in their hospital search.ConclusionsSeveral onsite and offsite improvement options are identified. Public reporting needs to be directed at the interests of its users, with more outcome quality information for oncology and orthopedics. Customized reporting can cater to the different needs and skill levels of professional and non-professional users. Search engine optimization and hospital quality advocacy can increase website traffic.

The Bitter Medicine: Competition Law and Parallel Trade in the Pharmaceutical Sector

The economic crisis and the growing urge of governments to cut public expenditure – particularly its heftier items, among which is pharmaceutical spending – have, in recent times, brought back on the agenda of pharmaceutical companies the issue of how to lawfully limit parallel trade of their products towards lower-price EU Member States. This objective may prove particularly hard to achieve since, from a EU competition law standpoint, parallel trade has been traditionally perceived as beneficial for consumers, as well as a force towards EU single market integration. This article aims at assessing, under a EU competition law perspective, the most common paths chosen by companies to deal with parallel trade, by relying on the (limited) case-law of EU courts and by providing a detailed and practical analysis of every available option.

Spectroelectrochemical analysis of the mechanism of (photo)electrochemical hydrogen evolution at a catalytic interface

Multi-electron heterogeneous catalysis is a pivotal element in the (photo)electrochemical generation of solar fuels. However, mechanistic studies of these systems are difficult to elucidate by means of electrochemical methods alone. Here we report a spectroelectrochemical analysis of hydrogen evolution on ruthenium oxide employed as an electrocatalyst and as part of a cuprous oxide-based photocathode. We use optical absorbance spectroscopy to quantify the densities of reduced ruthenium oxide species, and correlate these with current densities resulting from proton reduction. This enables us to compare directly the catalytic function of dark and light electrodes. We find that hydrogen evolution is second order in the density of active, doubly reduced species independent of whether these are generated by applied potential or light irradiation. Our observation of a second order rate law allows us to distinguish between the most common reaction paths and propose a mechanism involving the homolytic reductive elimination of hydrogen.

Dementia and Pressure Ulcers: Is There aClose Pathophysiological Interrelation?

The current theoretical investigation aimed to explore common pathophysiological mechanisms underlying dementia and pressure ulcers (PU). Along with the increased longevity, especially in frail elderly patients, there is a higher rate of functional and cognitive impairment with dementia coinciding with immobility, which results in a higher rate of PU. Understanding common etiological paths resulting in pressure ulcers and dementia is likely to produce new treatment strategies that could lead to the prevention of comorbid complications. Data collected from elderly dementia patients indicate a deterioration of several neurophysiological subsystems associated with motor, sensory, autonomic, cognitive, or behavioral pathways, supporting a "close pathophysiological interrelation" perspective linking PU with dementia progression. Overall, the authors' theoretical systemic-model of disease progression and PU comorbidity proposes that increased clinician awareness to PU in mild to moderate dementia may suppress the accelerated development of PU, resulting in less patient suffering, reduced long-term care hospitalization, and hopefully PU prevention.

Playing Many Religion-Games: a Wittgensteinian Approach to Multiple Religious Belonging

Abstract Using resources from Ludwig Wittgenstein and George Lindbeck, this paper develops a new conceptual tool for the understanding of religious identity: the ‘religion-game’. Although related to Wittgenstein’s language-games and drawing on Lindbeck‘s cultural-linguistic model of religion, this conceptual tool produces new results when applied to examples of multiple religious belonging. Drawing on the existing literature about the practice of multiple religious participation in Western countries, two realistic examples are developed at length and it is shown that the concept of a religion-game can help people to express their religious belonging in more positive ways. In particular, the many everyday choices made by people with more than one religious affiliation are clarified as choices to participate in some religion-games but not others. This de-emphasises the role of identity, often assumed to be singular, in religious belonging and enables an emphasis on behaviour which both fits with the turn towards ‘lived religion’ and permits a vivid and accurate account of the experience of at least two common paths to multiple religious belonging.

Main energy paths and energy cascade processes of the two types of persistent heavy rainfall events over the Yangtze River–Huaihe River Basin

Two types of persistent heavy rainfall events (PHREs) over the Yangtze River–Huaihe River Basin were determined in a recent statistical study: type A, whose precipitation is mainly located to the south of the Yangtze River; and type B, whose precipitation is mainly located to the north of the river. The present study investigated these two PHRE types using a newly derived set of energy equations to show the scale interaction and main energy paths contributing to the persistence of the precipitation. The main results were as follows. The available potential energy (APE) and kinetic energy (KE) associated with both PHRE types generally increased upward in the troposphere, with the energy of the type-A PHREs stronger than that of the type-B PHREs (except for in the middle troposphere). There were two main common and universal energy paths of the two PHRE types: (1) the baroclinic energy conversion from APE to KE was the dominant energy source for the evolution of large-scale background circulations; and (2) the downscaled energy cascade processes of KE and APE were vital for sustaining the eddy flow, which directly caused the PHREs. The significant differences between the two PHRE types mainly appeared in the lower troposphere, where the baroclinic energy conversion associated with the eddy flow in type-A PHREs was from KE to APE, which reduced the intensity of the precipitation-related eddy flow; whereas, the conversion in type-B PHREs was from APE to KE, which enhanced the eddy flow.

Cultivating business model agility through focused capabilities: A multiple case study

Focusing on strategic agility and business model concepts, the present paper proposes a framework for recognising common strategies, activities and paths to business model reconfiguration developed through the activation of a set of micro-capabilities. We argue that successful companies nurture specific capabilities in order to act proactively and to reach strategic agility and direct these to specific key elements of the business model (building blocks), thus enabling the renewing of the entire business model.The methodology is a multiple case study analysis of four successful companies in different industries. We identified three main classes of capabilities for strategic agility and we explored which ones are valid and how they can be activated in a company's business model through an in-depth within-case and cross-case analysis.Results show that strategy innovation capabilities could be focused on motto and value offer, research and development and social responsibility building blocks; resource capitalisation capabilities on education and knowledge, management and human resource building blocks, and networking capabilities on branding and retail and network building blocks.From a literature point of view, we contributed to the ongoing debate about business model change and critical capabilities, by investigating the “black box” of business models. From the practical point of view, the linkage between capabilities and the building blocks of the business model is important in order to capitalise on resources and time, focusing on specific actions and specific areas of the business model.

Towards Unambiguous Edge Bundling: Investigating Confluent Drawings for Network Visualization.

In this paper, we investigate Confluent Drawings (CD), a technique for bundling edges in node-link diagrams based on network connectivity. Edge-bundling techniques are designed to reduce edge clutter in node-link diagrams by coalescing lines into common paths or bundles. Unfortunately, traditional bundling techniques introduce ambiguity since edges are only bundled by spatial proximity, rather than network connectivity; following an edge from its source to its target can lead to the perception of incorrect connectivity if edges are not clearly separated within the bundles. Contrary, CDs bundle edges based on common sources or targets. Thus, a smooth path along a confluent bundle indicates precise connectivity. While CDs have been described in theory, practical investigation and application to real-world networks (i.e., networks beyond those with certain planarity restrictions) is currently lacking. Here, we provide the first algorithm for constructing CDs from arbitrary directed and undirected networks and present a simple layout method, embedded in a sand box environment providing techniques for interactive exploration. We then investigate patterns and artifacts in CDs, which we compare to other common edge-bundling techniques. Finally, we present the first user study that compares edge-compression techniques, including CD, power graphs, metro-style, and common edge bundling. We found that users without particular expertise in visualization or network analysis are able to read small CDs without difficulty. Compared to existing bundling techniques, CDs are more likely to allow people to correctly perceive connectivity.

Patterns and Sequences: Interactive Exploration of Clickstreams to Understand Common Visitor Paths.

Modern web clickstream data consists of long, high-dimensional sequences of multivariate events, making it difficult to analyze. Following the overarching principle that the visual interface should provide information about the dataset at multiple levels of granularity and allow users to easily navigate across these levels, we identify four levels of granularity in clickstream analysis: patterns, segments, sequences and events. We present an analytic pipeline consisting of three stages: pattern mining, pattern pruning and coordinated exploration between patterns and sequences. Based on this approach, we discuss properties of maximal sequential patterns, propose methods to reduce the number of patterns and describe design considerations for visualizing the extracted sequential patterns and the corresponding raw sequences. We demonstrate the viability of our approach through an analysis scenario and discuss the strengths and limitations of the methods based on user feedback.

Fast Consensus Using Bounded Staleness for Scalable Read-Mostly Synchronization

Reader-mostly synchronization schemes, such as rwlocks and RCU, aim to maximize parallelism among readers, but many existing designs either cause readers to contend, or significantly extend writer latency, or both. This paper attributes such a problem to the lack of a fast consensus protocol between readers and writers, by which the two parts cooperate to obey the semantics of a synchronization construct. This paper describes FCP, a fast consensus protocol among readers and writers that provides scalable read-side performance as well as small writer latency for TSO architectures. The heart of FCP is a version-based consensus protocol between multiple non-communicating readers and a pending writer. FCP leverages bounded staleness of memory consistency to avoid atomic instructions and memory barriers in readers’ common paths, and uses message-passing (e.g., IPI) for straggling readers so that the writer latency can be bounded. To demonstrate the effectiveness of FCP, this paper applies FCP to construct a scalable reader-writers lock (rwlock) and a scalable RCU implementation. Evaluation on a 64-core machine shows that FCP significantly boosts the performance of the Linux virtual memory subsystem, a concurrent hashtable and an in-memory database. Micro-benchmarks show that FCP achieves smaller reader-side latency and lower writer-side latency when compared to state-of-the-art rwlocks and RCU implementation.

Angiopoietin 2 signaling plays a critical role in neural crest cell migration.

BackgroundCollective neural crest cell migration is critical to the form and function of the vertebrate face and neck, distributing bone, cartilage, and nerve cells into peripheral targets that are intimately linked with head vasculature. The vasculature and neural crest structures are ultimately linked, but when and how these patterns develop in the early embryo are not well understood.ResultsUsing in vivo imaging and sophisticated cell behavior analyses, we show that quail cranial neural crest and endothelial cells share common migratory paths, sort out in a dynamic multistep process, and display multiple types of motion. To better understand the underlying molecular signals, we examined the role of angiopoietin 2 (Ang2), which we found expressed in migrating cranial neural crest cells. Overexpression of Ang2 causes neural crest cells to be more exploratory as displayed by invasion of off-target locations, the widening of migratory streams into prohibitive zones, and differences in cell motility type. The enhanced exploratory phenotype correlates with increased phosphorylated focal adhesion kinase activity in migrating neural crest cells. In contrast, loss of Ang2 function reduces neural crest cell exploration. In both gain and loss of function of Ang2, we found disruptions to the timing and interplay between cranial neural crest and endothelial cells.ConclusionsTogether, these data demonstrate a role for Ang2 in maintaining collective cranial neural crest cell migration and suggest interdependence with endothelial cell migration during vertebrate head patterning.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12915-016-0323-9) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The Limits of Interpretation in the Law of Contract

In the law of contract questions of risk allocation properly turn, where possible, on interpretation of the agreement. This article will explore the limits of that approach. It will do so by considering two doctrines that lie at the boundaries of contract interpretation: the implication of terms in fact and the remoteness principle. Both doctrines have been commonly understood as gap-filling rules, but in two influential judgments Lord Hoffmann sought to recast them as interpretative principles. It will be argued in this article that the implication of terms in fact can properly be regarded as an interpretative exercise, but the same cannot be said of the application of the remoteness doctrine. The implication of terms in fact can helpfully be understood as interpretative, provided care is taken to explain the paths of reasoning leading to the conclusion that a contractual instrument must be understood to include a particular unexpressed term. Because no common paths of interpretative reasoning can be identified for the determination of remoteness questions, it is unsettling and counterproductive to attempt to take an interpretative approach to these questions.

Real-time drift error compensation in a self-reference frequency-scanning fiber interferometer

In order to eliminate the fiber drift errors in a frequency-scanning fiber interferometer, we propose a self-reference frequency-scanning fiber interferometer composed of two fiber Michelson interferometers sharing common optical paths of fibers. One interferometer defined as reference interferometer is used to monitor the optical path length drift in real time and establish a measurement fixed origin. The other is used as a measurement interferometer to acquire the information from the target. Because the measured optical path differences of the reference and measurement interferometers by frequency-scanning interferometry include the same fiber drift errors, the errors can be eliminated by subtraction of the former optical path difference from the latter optical path difference. A prototype interferometer was developed in our research, and experimental results demonstrate its robustness and stability.

On the origin of inflected “non-finite” forms: the infinitive vs the supine

This paper deals with two verbal forms which, despite being traditionally labelled as “non-finite”, display inflection/agreement. We will focus on the behaviour and origin of the inflected infinitive attested in Romance and in languages from other families, against which we analyse the novel inflected supine found in the north-eastern area where Romanian is spoken (comprising the Republic of Moldova, Ukraine and the north-eastern part of the Romanian province of Moldova). The goal of the paper is to identify the common paths of diachronic change of these verbal forms and to put forward a formal account of the observed diachronic changes. From a diachronic perspective, our analysis shows that the functional structure of non-finite forms may become more enriched, a conclusion that is at odds with traditional findings, which generally argue for simplification, not enrichment of functional structure. At the same time, the proposed analysis also offers some insights into the diachrony of the supine marker de.

A questionnaire-based investigation of the skills and roles of Computer Music Designers

Throughout the history of electroacoustic music, creative collaboration has been a constant feature due to the complexity of the technology. All laboratories and electronic music studios involved the presence of different individuals with diverse, intertwined competencies. In particular, the embedding of technological tools into the process of musical creation prompted the rise of a new “agent” called the Computer Music Designer (CMD), who can work in writing, creating new instruments, recording and/or performance. Audiences as well as the academia have long been unaware of this emerging profession and its crucial role in the creative process of electroacoustic, electronic and computer music. This study sheds light on the socio-professional profile and expertise of the CMD in order to better understand how computer music design contributes to shaping electronic music as we know it. We present the methodology and outcomes of a questionnaire submitted to several CMDs. The purpose was to investigate this emerging community by means of an instrument permitting anonymity. Findings help to understand how the CMDs perceive their profession; trace common paths and habits among CMDs; and study this community from the point of view of their age, training, tasks, legal status, recognition, skills, professional identity and involvement in technological migration. The questionnaire instrument is appended.

On using density maps for the calculation of ship routes

This paper presents a research on the calculation of short- to mid-range ship routes that are based on density maps derived by previous historical locations of liner or merchant ships. Two main approaches are presented. In the first one, the route finding problem is formulated as an evolutionary-optimization problem. In the second one, a modified A* algorithm is presented, which is able to handle density data and smoothing requirements. Both methods are able to calculate accurate and smooth ship routes that comply with exiting density data of common sea paths. A combination of both methods is also presented for deriving smooth ship routes that comply with density data without the need for post processing. Several examples are presented and discussed to illustrate the effectiveness and the performance of all proposed methods.