Restricted Case Research Articles

Inference for dependent complementary competing risks model from an inverted Kumaraswamy distribution under ranked set sampling

AbstractRanked set sampling (RSS) has been proved to be an efficient sampling design for parametric and nonparametric inference. This paper explores inference for a maximum RSS procedure with unequal samples (MRSSU) with multiple dependent failure causes. When the lifetimes of units are characterized by a proposed complementary competing risks model, classical likelihood and Bayesian approaches are discussed for parameters and reliability estimation. Maximum likelihood estimators of model parameters and associated existence and uniqueness are established, and approximate confidence intervals are constructed using asymptotic theory and delta methods. With respect to general flexible priors, Bayesian estimates of interested quantities are also performed and a Monte Carlo sampling algorithm is proposed for complex posterior computation. Additionally, when extra historical information between the competing risks parameters is available, likelihood and Bayesian estimation are also studied under an order restriction case. Different methods are compared based on extensive simulation studies, and another real data example is demonstrated for application propose.

Public Health, Internal Borders, and the Ends of Federalism

AbstractQuestions concerning border closures during pandemics often focus on international borders or rights-based considerations. Closures of internal borders in federal countries, such as Canada, raise independent concerns regarding who can close internal borders when. Those questions are not exhausted by rights-based considerations and cannot be resolved using brute empirical measures. They instead implicate the nature and ends of federalism. This text uses the case of internal border restrictions in Canada during COVID-19 to explore whether the kinds of closures that took place there can be justified on federalism grounds. It argues that the case for provinces being able to unilaterally enact interprovincial border closures in federal countries, as observed in Canada during COVID-19, do not withstand scrutiny. It attends to possible justifications for federalism to demonstrate that the best arguments for federalism do not support provincial control over borders that justify provinces possessing, let alone exercising, unilateral authority to close interprovincial borders to persons residing in other provinces.

Discharge measures for Fukushima wastewater and South Korea’s response and implications of the WTO Korea-Japan fishery dispute (Korea-Radionuclides) case

In the Korea-Fishery Products Importation Restriction case, the Appellate Body rejected the Panel’s decision which solely applied quantitative criteria in assessing Korea’s SPS measures. The Appellate Body’s judgment holding that the location of the accident must also consider qualitative criteria was an affirmation of the point that sufficient scientific evidence was not solely equivalent to quantitative evidence. The case at hand demonstrated the uncertainty of risk that the contaminated water from the incident posed— thereby further showing that quantitative measurements of a certain factor cannot serve as an absolute benchmark for justifying the discharge measures for the contaminated water.

Computational complexity of jumping block puzzles

In the context of computational complexity of puzzles, the sliding block puzzles play an important role. Depending on the rules and set of pieces, the sliding block puzzles can be polynomial-time solvable, NP-complete, or PSPACE-complete. On the other hand, a relatively new notion of jumping block puzzles has been proposed in the puzzle community. This is a counterpart to the token jumping model of the combinatorial reconfiguration problems in the context of block puzzles. We investigate some variants of jumping block puzzles, which are based on actual puzzles, and a natural model from the viewpoint of combinatorial reconfiguration, and determine their computational complexities. More precisely, we investigate two generalizations of two actual puzzles which are called Flip Over puzzles and Flying Block puzzles and one natural model of jumping block puzzles from the viewpoint of combinatorial reconfiguration. We prove that they are PSPACE-complete in general. We also prove the NP-completeness of these puzzles in some restricted cases, and we give polynomial-time algorithms for some restricted cases.

Filling crosswords is very hard

We revisit a classical crossword filling puzzle which already appeared in Garey& Jonhson's book. We are given a grid with n vertical and horizontal slots and a dictionary with m words. We are asked to place words from the dictionary in the slots so that shared cells are consistent. We attempt to pinpoint the source of intractability of this problem by carefully taking into account the structure of the grid graph, which contains a vertex for each slot and an edge if two slots intersect. Our main approach is to consider the case where this graph has a tree-like structure. Unfortunately, if we impose the common rule that words cannot be reused, we discover that the problem remains NP-hard under very severe structural restrictions, namely, if the grid graph is a union of stars and the alphabet has size 2, or the grid graph is a matching (so the crossword is a collection of disjoint crosses) and the alphabet has size 3. The problem does become slightly more tractable if word reuse is allowed, as we obtain an mtw algorithm in this case, where tw is the treewidth of the grid graph. However, even in this case, we show that our algorithm cannot be improved to obtain fixed-parameter tractability. More strongly, we show that under the ETH the problem cannot be solved in time mo(k), where k is the number of horizontal slots of the instance (which trivially bounds tw).Motivated by these mostly negative results, we also consider the much more restricted case where the problem is parameterized by the number of slots n. Here, we show that the problem does become FPT (if the alphabet has constant size), but the parameter dependence is exponential in n2. We show that this dependence is also justified: the existence of an algorithm with running time 2o(n2), even for binary alphabet, would contradict the randomized ETH. After that, we consider an optimization version of the problem, where we seek to place as many words on the grid as possible. Here it is easy to obtain a 12-approximation, even on weighted instances, simply by considering only horizontal or only vertical slots. We show that this trivial algorithm is also likely to be optimal, as obtaining a better approximation ratio in polynomial time would contradict the Unique Games Conjecture. The latter two results apply whether word reuse is allowed or not.Finally, we present some special cases where the problem is decidable in polynomial time. In particular, we present three reductions, one to 2-SAT, the second to Maximum Matching and the third to Exact Matching.

Burstein’s permutation conjecture, Hong and Li’s inversion sequence conjecture and restricted Eulerian distributions

AbstractRecently, Hong and Li launched a systematic study of length-four pattern avoidance in inversion sequences, and in particular, they conjectured that the number of 0021-avoiding inversion sequences can be enumerated by the OEIS entry A218225. Meanwhile, Burstein suggested that the same sequence might also count three sets of pattern-restricted permutations. The objective of this paper is not only a confirmation of Hong and Li’s conjecture and Burstein’s first conjecture but also two more delicate generating function identities with the $\mathsf{ides}$ statistic concerned in the restricted permutation case and the $\mathsf{asc}$ statistic concerned in the restricted inversion sequence case, which yield a new equidistribution result.

Numerical validations and investigation of a semi-submersible floating offshore wind turbine platform interacting with ocean waves using an SPH framework

In this work, we propose numerical validations of the DeepCwind semi-submersible floating platform configuration for a single horizontal axis wind turbine using data from two experimental testing investigations. A Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics solver is employed to estimate fluid induced loads, whereas the mooring connections are handled via an external library. The first validation setup is based on the DeepCwind offshore wind semi-submersible concept moored with a system of taut-lines and tested for free-decay surge and heave motion (OC6-Phase Ia). The damping evaluation yields a fair estimation of the heave damping behavior, whereas much more dissipation is experienced for the surge. The second validation features a full hydrodynamic characterization of the frequency-related load patterns induced by three different sea-state representations (mono-, bi-chromatic, and irregular waves) (OC6-Phase Ib). The model accurately matches the hydrodynamic load estimation for the whole spectrum of investigated wave components, perfectly capturing the non-linear behavior shown by the considered wave patterns. This work concludes with a systematic study on the motion response, mooring tension, pressure and vorticity, suggesting that: the wave steepness criterion alone cannot identify the most restrictive load case; waves with spectral characteristics close to the heave resonance period lead to higher tensions in the mooring systems, whereas the maximum fluid-induced loads on the hull are decoupled from displacement peaks, showing an average reduction of 30% with respect to the maxima; very steep waves maximize the likelihood of wave overtopping and slamming loads, resulting in locally induced overpressure on the free-board of up to 100% higher than expected for similar wave heights with milder profiles. The input data for these last tests is released for the sake of reproduction.

Some characterizations of resolute majority rules

AbstractIn this paper we consider decision functions in which voters have three options and one of them is abstention or indifference and the output is a binary decision between two alternatives so that a tie is not possible. These resolute decision functions appear frequently in grading, in some sport competitions, in voting situations in which the status quo is put to the vote, etc. It is a more restricted case of the voting context considered in the seminal article by Kenneth May on decision functions, published in Econometrica in 1952, because the output set does not admit a tie. Among these resolute decision functions we focus on the study of majority functions, in which the number of favorable votes to an alternative must be strictly greater than the number of votes against it. This work provides an axiomatic characterization for the set of majority functions and for the relative majority function with status quo bias. Both characterizations are based on weaker versions of neutrality. Other complementary characterizations are also provided.

Anatomization of Respiratory Diseases Using Machine Learning

The respiratory system is frequently susceptible to various diseases, with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) serving as a notable illustration. COPD is distinguished by an enduring lung ailment characterized by a gradual reduction in lung function over time. Precise prediction of respiratory diseases is of utmost importance, as a failure to do so can lead to fatal consequences. Timely diagnosis plays a pivotal role in reducing mortality rates. In this research, raw spirometry data undergoes a process of feature selection to identify relevant attributes. These selected characteristics are subsequently input into a classification system to distinguish between normal, obstructive, and restrictive cases. The study illustrates how the accuracy of classification algorithms, particularly in the field of machine learning, can be significantly improved through feature selection methods. The suggested study has significantly enhanced the accuracy of categorization using a variety of algorithms, such as Naïve Bayes, Support Vector Machine, Logistic Regression, and K-Nearest Neighbor. Among these algorithms, Logistic Regression emerges as the most accurate classifier in this specific context. This investigation underscores the critical importance of early detection and emphasizes the potential of machine learning techniques in enhancing the accuracy of diagnosing respiratory diseases, particularly COPD, which can have a profound impact on patient outcomes.

Lawful resctriction of the right to freedom of movement: international legal standards and practice of the European court of human rights

The article is devoted to the analysis of currentissues of restriction of the right to freedom of movement. The right to freedom of movement is one of the fundamental human rights in a democratic society and, accordingly, an integral part of the international human rights protection mechanism. At the same time, the right to freedom of movement is not absolute and is accompanied by certain restrictions necessary to ensure the realization of the rights, freedoms and interests of other people, the interests of the state and society. The author analyzed the provisions of international legal acts that enshrine the right to freedom of movement, in particular, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the American Convention on Human Rights (1969), the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965) and Protocol No. 4 to the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The guarantees provided for in the above-mentioned acts and permissible cases of restriction of the right to freedom of movement were analyzed, as well as the criteria for compliance with which such a restriction would be considered legitimate were identified: legality; existence of a goal; necessity. The author has researched the approaches of the UN Human Rights Committee and the European Court of Human Rights to the understanding and interpretation of the mentioned criteria. Based on the analysis of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights on issues of verification of the legality of restrictions on the right to freedom of movement, it is substantiated that interference with the right to freedom of movement will be admissible if it is carried out only on the basis of the law, necessary in a democratic society with a legitimate aim (to protect state security , public order, health or morality of the population or the rights and freedoms of other persons, etc.), the interpretation of each of these requirements by the European Court of Human Rights is given, conclusions are drawn regarding the need to take them into account in national law-making and law-enforcement practice.

EoPred: predicting the placental phenotype of early-onset preeclampsia using public DNA methylation data.

Background: A growing body of literature has reported molecular and histological changes in the human placenta in association with preeclampsia (PE). Placental DNA methylation (DNAme) and transcriptomic patterns have revealed molecular subgroups of PE that are associated with placental histopathology and clinical phenotypes of the disease. However, the clinical and molecular heterogeneity of PE both across and within subtypes complicates the study of this disease. PE is most strongly associated with placental pathology and adverse fetal and maternal outcomes when it develops early in pregnancy. We focused on placentae from pregnancies affected by preeclampsia that were delivered before 34weeks of gestation to develop eoPred, a predictor of the DNAme signature associated with the placental phenotype of early-onset preeclampsia (EOPE). Results: Public data from 83 placental samples (HM450K), consisting of 42 EOPE and 41 normotensive preterm birth (nPTB) cases, was used to develop eoPred-a supervised model that relies on a highly discriminative 45 CpG DNAme signature of EOPE in the placenta. The performance of eoPred was assessed using cross-validation (AUC = 0.95) and tested in an independent validation cohort (n = 49, AUC = 0.725). A subset of fetal growth restriction (FGR) and late-PE cases showed a similar DNAme profile at the 45 predictive CpGs, consistent with the overlap in placental pathology between these conditions. The relationship between the EOPE probability generated by eoPred and various phenotypic variables was also assessed, revealing that it is associated with gestational age, and it is not driven by cell composition differences. Conclusion: eoPred relies on a 45-CpG DNAme signature to predict a homogeneous placental phenotype of EOPE in a discrete or continuous manner. Using this classifier should 1) aid in the study of placental insufficiency and improve the consistency of future placental DNAme studies of PE, 2) facilitate identifying the placental phenotype of EOPE in public data sets and 3) importantly, standardize the placental diagnosis of EOPE to allow better cross-cohort comparisons. Lastly, classification of cases with eoPred will be useful for investigating the relationship between placental pathology and genetic or environmental variables.

A case of fetal growth restriction with placental confined mosaicism

A case of fetal growth restriction with placental confined mosaicism

The Ratio of Clavicle Length to Head Circumference: A Novel Date-Independent Clavicle Index.

We aimed to plot the growth curve of the fetal clavicle, identify gestational date-independent parameters. Using 2-dimensional ultrasonography, we obtained the clavicle lengths (CLs) from 601 normal fetuses between 12 and 40 gestational age (GA). The CL/fetal growth parameters ratio was calculated. Moreover, 27 cases of fetal growth restriction (FGR) and 9 cases of small for GA (SGA) were detected. In normal fetuses, the mean CL (mm) = -68.2 + 29.80 × ln(GA) ± Z × (1.07 + 0.02 × GA). A linear relationship was detected between CL and head circumference (HC), biparietal diameter, abdominal circumference and femoral length with R2 values of 0.973, 0.970, 0.962, and 0.972, respectively. The CL/HC ratio (mean value 0.130) showed no significant correlation with GA. Clavicle lengths in the FGR group significantly decreased compared with the SGA group (P < 0.01). This study determined a reference range of fetal CL in a Chinese population. Furthermore, the CL/HC ratio, which is independent of GA, is a novel parameter for the evaluation of the fetal clavicle.

Lawful resctriction of the right to freedom of movement: international legal standards and practice of the European court of human rights

The article is devoted to the analysis of currentissues of restriction of the right to freedom of movement. The right to freedom of movement is one of the fundamental human rights in a democratic society and, accordingly, an integral part of the international human rights protection mechanism. At the same time, the right to freedom of movement is not absolute and is accompanied by certain restrictions necessary to ensure the realization of the rights, freedoms and interests of other people, the interests of the state and society. The author analyzed the provisions of international legal acts that enshrine the right to freedom of movement, in particular, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), the American Convention on Human Rights (1969), the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights (1981), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1965) and Protocol No. 4 to the Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. The guarantees provided for in the above-mentioned acts and permissible cases of restriction of the right to freedom of movement were analyzed, as well as the criteria for compliance with which such a restriction would be considered legitimate were identified: legality; existence of a goal; necessity. The author has researched the approaches of the UN Human Rights Committee and the European Court of Human Rights to the understanding and interpretation of the mentioned criteria. Based on the analysis of the practice of the European Court of Human Rights on issues of verification of the legality of restrictions on the right to freedom of movement, it is substantiated that interference with the right to freedom of movement will be admissible if it is carried out only on the basis of the law, necessary in a democratic society with a legitimate aim (to protect state security , public order, health or morality of the population or the rights and freedoms of other persons, etc.), the interpretation of each of these requirements by the European Court of Human Rights is given, conclusions are drawn regarding the need to take them into account in national law- making and law-enforcement practice.

Added value of the pulmonary vein pulsatility index and its correlation to neonatal umbilical artery pH in fetal growth restrictions: a Vietnamese matched cohort study

BackgroundIn clinical obstetrics, many guidelines recommended the use of Doppler fetal ductus venosus blood flow to monitor and to manage fetal growth restriction (FGR). The ductus venosus and the pulmonary venous flow pattern of fetuses are similar. Umbilical artery pH (UA pH) is essential in identifying adverse pregnancy outcomes, particularly in fetal growth restriction cases. Nevertheless, the literature indicates that the relationship between pulmonary vein pulsatility index (PVPI) and UA pH in FGR cases has not been well investigated. This study aimed to identify the alteration in PVPI in FGR cases and evaluate the correlation between PVPI and UA pH in FGR newborns.MethodsThis matched cohort study of singleton pregnancies from 28+ 0 to 40+ 0 weeks of gestation without congenital abnormalities included 135 cases of FGR (disease group) and 135 cases of normal growth (control group). The PVPI was measured at the proximal segment of the right or left pulmonary vein, approximately 5 mm from the left atrium wall. The umbilical artery pulsatility index (UAPI) was measured on the free umbilical cord. An elective cesarean section or labor induction are both options for ending the pregnancy, depending on the condition of the mother or fetus. Umbilical artery blood samples were collected within 5 min of delivery for UA pH measurement. SPSS version 20 and Medcalc version 20.1 were used for data analysis.ResultsFGR cases had a significantly higher mean fetal PVPI than the control group (1.16 ± 0.26 vs. 0.84 ± 0.16; p < 0.01), and PVPI and UAPI were positively correlated (r = 0.63; p < 0.001). PVPI and UA pH were negatively correlated in FGR patients, with r = -0.68; p < 0.001. The PVPI value on the 95th percentile had a prognostic value of UA pH < 7.20 with a sensitivity of 88.2%, specificity of 66.3%, positive predictive value of 46.9%, and negative predictive value of 94.3%.ConclusionsThere was a statistically significant difference in PVPI values in FGR cases compared to the normal growth group, a positive correlation between PVPI and UAPI, and a negative correlation between PVPI and UA pH. PVPI might have a prognostic meaning in predicting UA pH at birth.

On periodic alternate base expansions

For an alternate base β=(β0,…,βp−1), we show that if all rational numbers in the unit interval [0,1) have periodic expansions with respect to the p shifts of β, then the bases β0,…,βp−1 all belong to the extension field Q(β) where β is the product β0⋯βp−1 and moreover, this product β must be either a Pisot number or a Salem number. We also prove the stronger statement that if the bases β0,…,βp−1 belong to Q(β) but the product β is neither a Pisot number nor a Salem number then the set of rationals having an ultimately periodic β-expansion is nowhere dense in [0,1). Moreover, in the case where the product β is a Pisot number and the bases β0,…,βp−1 all belong to Q(β), we prove that the set of points in [0,1) having an ultimately periodic β-expansion is precisely the set Q(β)∩[0,1). For the restricted case of Rényi real bases, i.e., for p=1 in our setting, our method gives rise to an elementary proof of Schmidt's original result. Therefore, even though our results generalize those of Schmidt, our proofs should not be seen as generalizations of Schmidt's original arguments but as an original method in the generalized framework of alternate bases, which moreover gives a new elementary proof of Schmidt's results from 1980. As an application of our results, we show that if β=(β0,…,βp−1) is an alternate base such that the product β of the bases is a Pisot number and β0,…,βp−1∈Q(β), then β is a Parry alternate base, meaning that the quasi-greedy expansions of 1 with respect to the p shifts of the base β are ultimately periodic.

Time domain analytical bounds to the homogenized viscous kernels of linear viscoelastic composites

New extremum principles in linear viscoelasticity are derived from general stationarity ones proposed in Carini and Mattei (2015), exploiting suitable selections of the admissible fields in the associated convolutive functionals. These new extremum principles have therefore a restricted validity. Analytical bounds to the homogenized viscous kernels of linear viscoelastic composites are derived in the time domain. In the restricted case of macroscopically isotropic composite materials, six new bounds are obtained from the new extremum principles. These bounds can be derived exploiting the choice of Representative Volume Elements (RVEs) loaded in a purely deviatoric way only. Two strict lower bounds to the homogenized viscous kernels, of the Reuss type, are also derived. One of these was already proposed in Huet (1995), and is valid for generic linear viscoelastic composites under general stress and strain states. The other Reuss-type strict lower bound is new, but has the same limited validity as the first six ones. The new upper bounds for isotropic composites, obtained both in terms of viscous kernels and of their time rates, as well as the strict lower bounds, are extensions to viscoelasticity of the Voigt and Reuss bounds for linear elastic composites. The performance of the obtained bounds is checked by comparison with numerical solutions. It is worth remarking that the use of the new extremum theorems for the purpose of deriving bounds is not possible in a general RVE stress case, i.e., deviatoric plus volumetric. As a consequence, the non-strict bounds holding for the case of deviatoric RVE loading are not valid for the volumetric case. The reason for this difference is not yet fully understood.

The Complexity of Aggregates over Extractions by Regular Expressions

Regular expressions with capture variables, also known as regex-formulas, extract relations of spans (intervals identified by their start and end indices) from text. In turn, the class of regular document spanners is the closure of the regex formulas under the Relational Algebra. We investigate the computational complexity of querying text by aggregate functions, such as sum, average, and quantile, on top of regular document spanners. To this end, we formally define aggregate functions over regular document spanners and analyze the computational complexity of exact and approximate computation. More precisely, we show that in a restricted case, all studied aggregate functions can be computed in polynomial time. In general, however, even though exact computation is intractable, some aggregates can still be approximated with fully polynomial-time randomized approximation schemes (FPRAS).

К проблеме правовой природы дел о лишении и ограничении дееспособности гражданина

The article deals with the issue of the nature of cases on the restriction and deprivation of a citizen’s legal capacity. It is shown that historically these cases are considered according to the rules of special proceedings in civil proceedings, which does not correspond to their controversial nature. Legal relations that develop regarding the deprivation of a citizen’s legal capacity or its restriction are public law, since the corresponding legal status can be assigned to a citizen only by a court decision — that is, a public authority. It is proposed, by analogy with cases of involuntary hospitalization of a citizen in a medical organization, to consolidate the consideration of cases of deprivation and restriction of a citizen’s legal capacity in the course of administrative proceedings. In this case, the applicant and the citizen himself must be endowed with the legal status of a party to the case. Considering that the citizen is the ‘weak party’ in the cases under consideration, the court must be procedurally active.

FEditNet: Few-Shot Editing of Latent Semantics in GAN Spaces

Generative Adversarial networks (GANs) have demonstrated their powerful capability of synthesizing high-resolution images, and great efforts have been made to interpret the semantics in the latent spaces of GANs. However, existing works still have the following limitations: (1) the majority of works rely on either pretrained attribute predictors or large-scale labeled datasets, which are difficult to collect in most cases, and (2) some other methods are only suitable for restricted cases, such as focusing on interpretation of human facial images using prior facial semantics. In this paper, we propose a GAN-based method called FEditNet, aiming to discover latent semantics using very few labeled data without any pretrained predictors or prior knowledge. Specifically, we reuse the knowledge from the pretrained GANs, and by doing so, avoid overfitting during the few-shot training of FEditNet. Moreover, our layer-wise objectives which take content consistency into account also ensure the disentanglement between attributes. Qualitative and quantitative results demonstrate that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art methods on various datasets. The code is available at https://github.com/THU-LYJ-Lab/FEditNet.