Reconciliation Method Research Articles

Channel level crossing‐based security for communications over fading channels

Several key exchange methods for wireless channels have been proposed in the literature. They are referred to as physical-layer security techniques and are usually based on the channel's fading characteristics and the principle of channel reciprocity. In this study, the authors present key exchange algorithms for wireless fading channels whose operation is based on channel estimation. Specifically, the authors present a complete key exchange scheme that includes channel sampling, thresholding and error reconciliation. Two error reconciliation methods are proposed. The first one is based on neural networks and the second one is based on linear block coding. Simulations of the proposed methods’ performances and levels of security are presented and conclusions are drawn regarding their overall utility.

Phylogeny of the cycads based on multiple single-copy nuclear genes: congruence of concatenated parsimony, likelihood and species tree inference methods.

Despite a recent new classification, a stable phylogeny for the cycads has been elusive, particularly regarding resolution of Bowenia, Stangeria and Dioon. In this study, five single-copy nuclear genes (SCNGs) are applied to the phylogeny of the order Cycadales. The specific aim is to evaluate several gene tree-species tree reconciliation approaches for developing an accurate phylogeny of the order, to contrast them with concatenated parsimony analysis and to resolve the erstwhile problematic phylogenetic position of these three genera. DNA sequences of five SCNGs were obtained for 20 cycad species representing all ten genera of Cycadales. These were analysed with parsimony, maximum likelihood (ML) and three Bayesian methods of gene tree-species tree reconciliation, using Cycas as the outgroup. A calibrated date estimation was developed with Bayesian methods, and biogeographic analysis was also conducted. Concatenated parsimony, ML and three species tree inference methods resolve exactly the same tree topology with high support at most nodes. Dioon and Bowenia are the first and second branches of Cycadales after Cycas, respectively, followed by an encephalartoid clade (Macrozamia-Lepidozamia-Encephalartos), which is sister to a zamioid clade, of which Ceratozamia is the first branch, and in which Stangeria is sister to Microcycas and Zamia. A single, well-supported phylogenetic hypothesis of the generic relationships of the Cycadales is presented. However, massive extinction events inferred from the fossil record that eliminated broader ancestral distributions within Zamiaceae compromise accurate optimization of ancestral biogeographical areas for that hypothesis. While major lineages of Cycadales are ancient, crown ages of all modern genera are no older than 12 million years, supporting a recent hypothesis of mostly Miocene radiations. This phylogeny can contribute to an accurate infrafamilial classification of Zamiaceae.

Gender Differentials In Nutritional Status of Elderly People In Selected Rural Areas of Bangladesh

Background: The present cross sectional study was undertaken to assess the food habits and nutritional status among elderly people in rural Bangladesh and to compare the same between male and female. A simple random sampling and geographical re-conciliation method was used to select the study population. All the patients in a pre-publicized medical camp were approached and a total of 186 male and 237 female participated in the study. Data were collected through face to face interview with a semi-structured questionnaire and anthropometric measures were collected using instruments. Associations between dietary intake and World Health Organization (WHO) referred Body Mass Index (BMI) range was done using cross tabulation. Results: The mean age of male was 67.69 years and that of female was 65.46 years. The female subjects were higher than males in number in this study. The rate of male literacy was found to be 39.8% where literacy among the female was 13.9%. Among all, 79.6% males were found to be living with their spouse where the rate of living with spouse among the female amounted 53.2%. About half of elderly people were found to be living under poor and 32% in low middle class socio-economic condition. Study revealed that 80.6% male and 78.9% female got no opportunity to take protein-rich food more than three days per week. Again 95.7% male and 97.5% female had no opportunity take more than two servings of protein rich food per week. The similar case occurred in case of taking fatty food, vegetable and fruits per week. Similarly 100 % male and 99.6% female reported that they were taking more than two servings of fatty food per week. No significant association was found between BMI and food intake. The significance was tested by Pearson chi-square. In this test the p –value for protein rich food was 0.234 (p?0.05), while fatty food (0.712), vegetable (0.502) and fruits (0.274) which was more than referred significance p-value ?0.05. Hence, the study confirmed that malnutrition remains a common problem among older people living in rural Bangladesh though there is no significant association was found between food intake and nutrition. Conclusion: Management of malnutrition in case of elderly population requires a multidisciplinary approach that treats pathology and uses both social and dietary forms of intervention. Bangladesh Journal of Medical Science Vol. 12 No. 02 April’13 Page 150-157 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/bjms.v12i2.14943

Adopting the Municipal Enterprise Form in Finland: Core Dilemmas in the Transformation of Public Healthcare Organizations

Using a combination of institutional and dilemma theory, this article maps the core dilemmas underlying the transformation of three public healthcare organizations into municipal enterprises. The results concerning the expectations and outcomes of the processes of change show that identified dilemmas affect the isomorphic institutional process by either diminishing or enhancing isomorphic forces. Further analysis reveals the unconscious use of the dilemma reconciliation method among the senior managers and other decision-makers in the organizations. The discussion illustrates how dilemmas, together with isomorphic forces, are connected to decision-making. It highlights the need to investigate strategic dilemma management as a tool for resolving contradictory aims in the public healthcare sector.

ВЗАИМНАЯ СОГЛАСОВАННОСТЬ ЗАКОНОМЕРНОСТЕЙ ТЕЧЕНИЯ И ГИДРАВЛИЧЕСКОГО СОПРОТИВЛЕНИЯ

Mutual consistency of regularities demonstrated by the flow and hydraulic resistance is analyzed in this article. It is proven that the values of friction factors of pipes, identified through the employment of traditional methods, differ from those of channels by 4 times. It is also proven that the average velocity deficit inside pipes and channels, identified by integrating velocity profiles that depend on the Karman parameter, differ by only 1.5 times. The relation between the Karman parameter and the average velocity deficit provides this parameter with a clear physical sense.The original method of reconciliation of the experimental regularity of smooth pipes against the resistance ratio formula, obtained by integrating the logarithmic velocity profile, adjusts the value of the Karman parameter and the second constant of the velocity profile, as both are slightly different from the experimental values identified by I. Nikuradze.The average velocity deficit identified for the flow in rough pipes by integrating the velocity profile coincides with the same in smooth pipes, and they both have the same dependence on the Karman parameter. The adjusted Karman parameter value is almost the same for rough and smooth pipes. The adjusted value of the second turbulence constant for rough pipes is a little higher than the experimental value identified by I. Nikuradze.Adjusted first and second constant values of turbulence for rough and smooth pipes assure more consistency between the regularities of resistance and distribution of velocities inside smooth and rough pipes.

Medication Reconciliation Isn't Easy or Quick

Medication Reconciliation Isn't Easy or Quick

Reconciliation and local gene tree rearrangement can be of mutual profit.

BackgroundReconciliation methods compare gene trees and species trees to recover evolutionary events such as duplications, transfers and losses explaining the history and composition of genomes. It is well-known that gene trees inferred from molecular sequences can be partly erroneous due to incorrect sequence alignments as well as phylogenetic reconstruction artifacts such as long branch attraction. In practice, this leads reconciliation methods to overestimate the number of evolutionary events. Several methods have been proposed to circumvent this problem, by collapsing the unsupported edges and then resolving the obtained multifurcating nodes, or by directly rearranging the binary gene trees. Yet these methods have been defined for models of evolution accounting only for duplications and losses, i.e. can not be applied to handle prokaryotic gene families.ResultsWe propose a reconciliation method accounting for gene duplications, losses and horizontal transfers, that specifically takes into account the uncertainties in gene trees by rearranging their weakly supported edges. Rearrangements are performed on edges having a low confidence value, and are accepted whenever they improve the reconciliation cost. We prove useful properties on the dynamic programming matrix used to compute reconciliations, which allows to speed-up the tree space exploration when rearrangements are generated by Nearest Neighbor Interchanges (NNI) edit operations. Experiments on synthetic data show that gene trees modified by such NNI rearrangements are closer to the correct simulated trees and lead to better event predictions on average. Experiments on real data demonstrate that the proposed method leads to a decrease in the reconciliation cost and the number of inferred events. Finally on a dataset of 30 k gene families, this reconciliation method shows a ranking of prokaryotic phyla by transfer rates identical to that proposed by a different approach dedicated to transfer detection [BMCBIOINF 11:324, 2010, PNAS 109(13):4962–4967, 2012].ConclusionsProkaryotic gene trees can now be reconciled with their species phylogeny while accounting for the uncertainty of the gene tree. More accurate and more precise reconciliations are obtained with respect to previous parsimony algorithms not accounting for such uncertainties [LNCS 6398:93–108, 2010, BIOINF 28(12): i283–i291, 2012].A software implementing the method is freely available at http://www.atgc-montpellier.fr/Mowgli/.

A Real-Time Design Based on FPGA for Expeditious Error Reconciliation in QKD System

For high-speed quantum key distribution systems, error reconciliation is often the bottleneck affecting system performance. By exchanging common information through a public channel, the identical key can be generated on both communicating sides. However, the necessity to eliminate disclosed bits for security reasons lowers the final key rate. To improve this key rate, the amount of disclosed bits should be minimized. In addition, decreasing the time spent on error reconciliation also improves the key rate. In this paper, we introduce a practical method for expeditious error reconciliation implemented in a field programmable gate array for a discrete variable quantum key distribution system, and illustrate the superiority of this method to other similar algorithms running on a PC. Experimental results demonstrate the rapidity of the proposed protocol.

Mortality measures from sample-based surveillance: evidence of the epidemiological transition in Viet Nam

To report methods and results from a national sample mortality surveillance programme implemented in VietNam in 2009. A national sample of 192 communes located in 16 provinces and covering a population of approximately 2.6 million was selected using multi-stage cluster sampling. Deaths for 2009 were identified from several local data sources. Record reconciliation and capture-recapture methods were used to compile data and assess completeness of the records. Life tables were computed using reported and adjusted age-specific death rates. Each death was followed up by verbal autopsy to ascertain the probable cause(s) of death. Underlying causes were certified and coded according to international guidelines. A total of 9921 deaths were identified in the sample population. Completeness of death records was estimated to be 81%. Adjusted life expectancies at birth were 70.4 and 78.7years for males and females, respectively. Stroke was the leading cause of death in both sexes. Other prominent causes were road traffic accidents, cancers and HIV infection in males, and cardiovascular conditions, pneumonia and diabetes in females. VietNam is undergoing the epidemiological transition. Although data are relatively complete, they could be further improved through strengthened local collaboration. Medical certification for deaths in hospitals, and shorter recall periods for verbal autopsy interviews would improve cause of death ascertainment.

Dynamic data reconciliation based on node imbalance autocovariance functions

To reduce impacts of measurement errors on plant variables, data reconciliation is widely applied in process industries. Reconciled measurements are used in applications such as performance monitoring, process control, or real-time optimization. However, precise estimation generally relies on accurate and detailed process models which could be difficult to build in practice. The trade-off between estimate precision and model complexity is a relevant challenge motivating the development of effective observers with limited modeling efforts. This paper proposes a data reconciliation method based on a simple mass and/or energy conservation sub-model that also considers the autocovariance function of plant node imbalances. The observer is applied to simulated benchmark plants and its performance is evaluated in terms of variance reduction and robustness against modeling errors. Results show a superior performance in comparison with classical sub-model based methods and reveal less performance degradation than the Kalman filter in presence of model uncertainties.

Constrained unscented recursive estimator for nonlinear dynamic systems

Nonlinear constrained state estimation is an important task in performance monitoring, online optimization and control. There has been recent interest in developing estimators based on the idea of unscented transformation for constrained nonlinear systems. One of these approaches is the unscented recursive nonlinear dynamic data reconciliation (URNDDR) method. The URNDDR approach follows the traditional predictor-corrector framework. Constraints are handled in the prediction step through a projection algorithm and in the correction step through an optimization formulation. It has been shown that URNDDR produces very accurate estimates at the cost of computational expense. However, there are two issues that need to be addressed in the URNDDR framework: (i) URNDDR approach was primarily developed to handle bound constraints and needs to be enhanced to handle general nonlinear equality and inequality constraints, and (ii) computational concerns in the application of the URNDDR approach needs to be addressed. In this paper, a new estimation technique named constrained unscented recursive estimator (CURE) is proposed, which eliminates these disadvantages of URNDDR, while providing estimates with almost the same accuracy.

Unified modeling of gene duplication, loss, and coalescence using a locus tree

Gene phylogenies provide a rich source of information about the way evolution shapes genomes, populations, and phenotypes. In addition to substitutions, evolutionary events such as gene duplication and loss (as well as horizontal transfer) play a major role in gene evolution, and many phylogenetic models have been developed in order to reconstruct and study these events. However, these models typically make the simplifying assumption that population-related effects such as incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) are negligible. While this assumption may have been reasonable in some settings, it has become increasingly problematic as increased genome sequencing has led to denser phylogenies, where effects such as ILS are more prominent. To address this challenge, we present a new probabilistic model, DLCoal, that defines gene duplication and loss in a population setting, such that coalescence and ILS can be directly addressed. Interestingly, this model implies that in addition to the usual gene tree and species tree, there exists a third tree, the locus tree, which will likely have many applications. Using this model, we develop the first general reconciliation method that accurately infers gene duplications and losses in the presence of ILS, and we show its improved inference of orthologs, paralogs, duplications, and losses for a variety of clades, including flies, fungi, and primates. Also, our simulations show that gene duplications increase the frequency of ILS, further illustrating the importance of a joint model. Going forward, we believe that this unified model can offer insights to questions in both phylogenetics and population genetics.

Efficient reliable scheduling and load balancing framework for cloud computing using Metaheuristic technique

Efficient load balancing and scheduling are crucial for effectively managing resources in cloud computing. Imagine a busy highway where we need to ensure that traffic is spread out evenly among different lanes to prevent any single lane from getting jammed. In a similar vein, we want to avoid overloading any one server in cloud computing by evenly distributing computational tasks and network traffic among multiple servers. This guarantees a smooth and solid activity of the cloud framework. This method makes things happen faster, increases the amount of work that can be done, and improves how resources are used. In cloud frameworks, ensuring things are accessible and can deal with blunders well depends a ton on spreading the responsibility successfully among various pieces of the framework. In spite of the fact that there are numerous ways of dividing the responsibility between servers or virtual machines, these strategies frequently face troubles in overseeing when errands are planned, how rapidly they finish, how much work can be taken care of, and how well mistakes are dealt with. In distributed computing, it's truly critical to fan out client demands uniformly among various pieces of the framework to ensure everything chugs along as expected. An effective method for dividing the responsibility between servers is significant for ensuring errands are done proficiently and assets are utilized well. The objective is to move things along quickly and make the most of available resources. A comprehensive yet adaptable strategy for balancing workload and task management in cloud computing is presented in this study. It utilizes a shrewd method to deal with the difficulties that accompany this interaction. The proposed strategy utilizes a changed Newton reconciliation method to deal with responsibility adjusting issues in the cloud. Likewise, it presents an exceptional sort of brain network called a multi-wavelet brain organization to plan undertakings dependably in distributed computing settings. The viability of this arrangement, tried utilizing Cloud Sim, will be contrasted with laid out benchmarks from the most recent examination.

Long-distance continuous-variable quantum key distribution with a Gaussian modulation

We designed high-efficiency error correcting codes allowing to extract an errorless secret key in a continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol using a Gaussian modulation of coherent states and a homodyne detection. These codes are available for a wide range of signal-to-noise ratios on an AWGN channel with a binary modulation and can be combined with a multidimensional reconciliation method proven secure against arbitrary collective attacks. This improved reconciliation procedure considerably extends the secure range of a continuous-variable quantum key distribution with a Gaussian modulation, giving a secret key rate of about 10^{-3} bit per pulse at a distance of 120 km for reasonable physical parameters.

Simultaneous allocation and data reconciliation procedure in life cycle inventory analysis using fuzzy mathematical programming

AbstractLife cycle assessment (LCA) is a methodology used in assessing the environmental impacts of products. Life cycle inventory analysis (LCI) is one of the four components of LCA which quantifies flows of materials and pollutants in the entire life cycle (cradle‐to‐grave) of the product. Data are commonly collected from various sources (e.g. publications, databases and site‐specific measurements) which may result in violations of mass and energy balances due to uncertainties. In such cases, the data can be adjusted using reconciliation methods to improve the reliability of the results. Another computational issue in LCI arises when two or more products are involved, known as the multi‐functionality or allocation problem. The problem is how to allocate resource and emission streams to each product. This work describes a model using fuzzy optimization for solving both allocation and data reconciliation problems simultaneously. The model is illustrated on an aluminum industry case study involving open‐loop recycling, and the approach is compared with two sequential allocation and data reconciliation methods. Copyright © 2010 Curtin University of Technology and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Medicines Reconciliation Using a Shared Electronic Health Care Record

: This study aimed to evaluate the use of a shared electronic primary health care record (EHR) to assist with medicines reconciliation in the hospital from admission to discharge. : This is a prospective cross-sectional, comparison evaluation for 2 phases, in a short-term elderly admissions ward in the United Kingdom. In phase 1, full reconciliation of the medication history was attempted, using conventional methods, before accessing the EHR, and then the EHR was used to verify the reconciliation. In phase 2, the EHR was the initial method of retrieving the medication history-validated by conventional methods. : Where reconciliation was led by conventional methods, and before any access to the EHR was attempted, 28 (28%) of hospital prescriptions were found to contain errors. Of 99 prescriptions subsequently checked using the EHR, only 50 (50%) matched the EHR. Of the remainder, 25% of prescriptions contained errors when verified by the EHR. However, 26% of patients had an incorrect list of current medications on the EHR.Using the EHR as the primary method of reconciliation, 33 (32%) of 102 prescriptions matched the EHR. Of those that did not match, 39 (38%) of prescriptions were found to contain errors. Furthermore, 37 (36%) of patients had an incorrect list of current medications on the EHR.The most common error type on the discharge prescription was drug omission; and on the EHR, wrong drug. Common potentially serious errors were related to unidentified allergies and adverse drug reactions. : The EHR can reduce medication errors. However, the EHR should be seen as one of a range of information sources for reconciliation; the primary source being the patient or their carer. Both primary care and hospital clinicians should have read-and-write access to the EHR to reduce errors at care transitions. We recommend further evaluation studies.

Comparing Two Bayesian Methods for Gene Tree/Species Tree Reconstruction: Simulations with Incomplete Lineage Sorting and Horizontal Gene Transfer

With the increasing interest in recognizing the discordance between gene genealogies, various gene tree/species tree reconciliation methods have been developed. We present here the first attempt to assess and compare two such Bayesian methods, Bayesian estimation of species trees (BEST) and BUCKy (Bayesian untangling of concordance knots), in the presence of several known processes of gene tree discordance. DNA alignments were simulated under the influence of incomplete lineage sorting (ILS) and of horizontal gene transfer (HGT). BEST and BUCKy both account for uncertainty in gene tree estimation but differ substantially in their assumptions of what caused gene tree discordance. BEST estimates a species tree using the coalescent model, assuming that all gene tree discordance is due to ILS. BUCKy does not assume any specific biological process of gene tree discordance through the use of a nonparametric clustering of concordant genes. BUCKy estimates the concordance factor (CF) of a clade, which is defined as the proportion of genes that truly have the clade in their trees. The estimated concordance tree is then built from clades with the highest estimated CFs. Because of their different assumptions, it was expected that BEST would perform better in the presence of ILS and that BUCKy would perform better in the presence of HGT. As expected, the species tree was more accurately reconstructed by BUCKy in the presence of HGT, when the HGT events were unevenly placed across the species tree. BUCKy and BEST performed similarly in most other cases, including in the presence of strong ILS and of HGT events that were evenly placed across the tree. However, BUCKy was shown to underestimate the uncertainty in CF estimation, with short credibility intervals. Despite this, the discordance pattern estimated by BUCKy could be compared with the signature of ILS. The resulting test for the adequacy of the coalescent model proved to have low Type I error. It was powerful when HGT was the major source of discordance and when HGT events were unevenly placed across the species tree.

Development of method for estimation of world industrial energy consumption and its application

The energy balances published by the International Energy Agency (IEA) are one of the most valuable sources of energy statistics covering world energy supply and demand. However, some issues arise when these data are analyzed or used directly. Even when industrial energy consumption alone is examined, at least three types of issues are encountered: missing data, large amounts of misallocated data in some countries, and numerous unrealistic outliers in the time-series variations. When we deal with only a few regions, we can look at data one by one and modify them. In this case, we are going to overcome these issues with a systematic method because the data covers world including more than a hundred regions. This paper proposes a data reconciliation method to treat these issues, and describes its application to world industrial energy consumption. As a result of its application, we found that the three issues mentioned above seemed to be overcome. The degree of the reconciliation by region showed that OECD countries' degree tends to be smaller than those of non-OECD countries. However, not all of the OECD countries have low values and some countries, such as the United States, have high values.

Globalizing Memory and the Struggle for Historical Justice in Aotearoa/New Zealand: A Reflection on ‘Memories without Borders?’

In his exploration of painful Hispanic pasts, Professor Jose Colmeiro examines several interfaces between national and international memories and (relatedly) processes of transitional justice. While acknowledging that the main factors impelling the quest for historical justice lie within national boundaries, he also asks how far the pursuit of claims for transitional justice can be assisted by the transference of knowledge about the past across international borders. His answer is cautiously positive: the recent escalation of globalizing tendencies, which have so much capacity for harming people and environment through (for example) the operations of multinational corporations, can also assist the propagation of revival of memory by past and/or presently oppressed groupings. Moreover, this globalized transfer of knowledge can have an applied effect for those groupings through their garnering of popular and official international support. Additionally, in some cases, reverse transfer of memory-knowledge from struggles in other jurisdictions - including methods of struggle, reconciliation and reparations - can add value to the quest for historical justice.

Detecting Phylogenetic Breakpoints and Discordance from Genome-Wide Alignments for Species Tree Reconstruction

With the easy acquisition of sequence data, it is now possible to obtain and align whole genomes across multiple related species or populations. In this work, I assess the performance of a statistical method to reconstruct the whole distribution of phylogenetic trees along the genome, estimate the proportion of the genome for which a given clade is true, and infer a concordance tree that summarizes the dominant vertical inheritance pattern. There are two main issues when dealing with whole-genome alignments, as opposed to multiple genes: the size of the data and the detection of recombination breakpoints. These breakpoints partition the genomic alignment into phylogenetically homogeneous loci, where sites within a given locus all share the same phylogenetic tree topology. To delimitate these loci, I describe here a method based on the minimum description length (MDL) principle, implemented with dynamic programming for computational efficiency. Simulations show that combining MDL partitioning with Bayesian concordance analysis provides an efficient and robust way to estimate both the vertical inheritance signal and the horizontal phylogenetic signal. The method performed well both in the presence of incomplete lineage sorting and in the presence of horizontal gene transfer. A high level of systematic bias was found here, highlighting the need for good individual tree building methods, which form the basis for more elaborate gene tree/species tree reconciliation methods.