Stephen Hawking, a world-renowned scientist who recently passed away, had a brilliant mind that was trapped inside a paralyzed body, and I could not stop thinking about how the opposite is often the case with traumatic brain injury.

Google developer advocate Paul Kinlan has detailed his recent work on a lightweight sharing facility using a very simple intent share protocol. Web Intents began life in 2010. Now, Kinlan and company are looking for feedback. Basically, his intent tag is intended to allow users to more easily mix and match favorite plug-in capabilities, freeing Read the rest...

A lot of nice family time during these Corona times.

Receiving service-related disability compensation does not interfere with the funds veterans receive from the GI Bill, explains Adam.

Listening without judgement is one of the best things you can do for someone with PTSD.

By Melissa Hellmann Yes! Magazine A new report revealed surprising results when Oakland overhauled its lunch menu at 100-plus schools by serving less meat and more fruits and vegetables. When her eldest son was in elementary school in the Oakland … Continue reading →

Rimouski, Bas-St-Laurent, Québec

This paper considers the distributed nonconvex optimization problem of minimizing a global cost function formed by a sum of local cost functions by using local information exchange. We first propose a distributed first-order primal-dual algorithm. We show that it converges sublinearly to the stationary point if each local cost function is smooth and linearly to the global optimum under an additional condition that the global cost function satisfies the Polyak-{L}ojasiewicz condition. This condition is weaker than strong convexity, which is a standard condition for proving the linear convergence of distributed optimization algorithms, and the global minimizer is not necessarily unique or finite. Motivated by the situations where the gradients are unavailable, we then propose a distributed zeroth-order algorithm, derived from the proposed distributed first-order algorithm by using a deterministic gradient estimator, and show that it has the same convergence properties as the proposed first-order algorithm under the same conditions. The theoretical results are illustrated by numerical simulations.

We investigate quasistatic evolution in finite plasticity under the assumption that the plastic strain is compatible. This assumption is well-suited to describe the special case of dislocation-free plasticity and entails that the plastic strain is the gradient of a plastic deformation map. The total deformation can be then seen as the composition of a plastic and an elastic deformation. This opens the way to an existence theory for the quasistatic evolution problem featuring both Lagrangian and Eulerian variables. A remarkable trait of the result is that it does not require second-order gradients.

We show that the local equivalence class of the collapsed link Floer complex $cCFL^infty(L)$, together with many $Upsilon$-type invariants extracted from this group, is a concordance invariant of links. In particular, we define a version of the invariants $Upsilon_L(t)$ and $ u^+(L)$ when $L$ is a link and we prove that they give a lower bound for the slice genus $g_4(L)$. Furthermore, in the last section of the paper we study the homology group $HFL'(L)$ and its behaviour under unoriented cobordisms. We obtain that a normalized version of the $upsilon$-set, introduced by Ozsv'ath, Stipsicz and Szab'o, produces a lower bound for the 4-dimensional smooth crosscap number $gamma_4(L)$.

Let $chi_{Delta}(mathbb{R}^{n})$ denote the minimum number of colors needed to color $mathbb{R}^{n}$ so that there will not be a monochromatic equilateral triangle with side length $1$. Using the slice rank method, we reprove a result of Frankl and Rodl, and show that $chi_{Delta}left(mathbb{R}^{n} ight)$ grows exponentially with $n$. This technique substantially improves upon the best known quantitative lower bounds for $chi_{Delta}left(mathbb{R}^{n} ight)$, and we obtain [ chi_{Delta}left(mathbb{R}^{n} ight)>(1.01446+o(1))^{n}. ]

In this paper, we show that the difference between the number of parts in the odd partitions of $n$ and the number of parts in the distinct partitions of $n$ satisfies Euler's recurrence relation for the partition function $p(n)$ when $n$ is odd. A decomposition of this difference in terms of the total number of parts in all the partitions of $n$ is also derived. In this context, we conjecture that for $k>0$, the series

$$

(q^2;q^2)_infty sum_{n=k}^infty frac{q^{{kchoose 2}+(k+1)n}}{(q;q)_n}

egin{bmatrix}

n-1\k-1

end{bmatrix}

$$ has non-negative coefficients.

A subset of vertices in a graph $G$ is called a maximum dissociation set if it induces a subgraph with vertex degree at most 1 and the subset has maximum cardinality. The dissociation number of $G$, denoted by $psi(G)$, is the cardinality of a maximum dissociation set. A subcubic tree is a tree of maximum degree at most 3. In this paper, we give the lower and upper bounds on the dissociation number in a subcubic tree of order $n$ and show that the number of maximum dissociation sets of a subcubic tree of order $n$ and dissociation number $psi$ is at most $1.466^{4n-5psi+2}$.

We derive sufficient conditions for exponential decay of solutions of the delay negative feedback equation with distributed delay. The conditions are written in terms of exponential moments of the distribution. Our method only uses elementary tools of calculus and is robust towards possible extensions to more complex settings, in particular, systems of delay differential equations. We illustrate the applicability of the method to particular distributions - Dirac delta, Gamma distribution, uniform and truncated normal distributions.

A k-proper edge-coloring of a graph G is called adjacent vertex-distinguishing if any two adjacent vertices are distinguished by the set of colors appearing in the edges incident to each vertex. The smallest value k for which G admits such coloring is denoted by $chi$'a (G). We prove that $chi$'a (G) = 2R + 1 for most circulant graphs Cn([[1, R]]).

Assistive shared-control robots have the potential to transform the lives of millions of people afflicted with severe motor impairments. The usefulness of shared-control robots typically relies on the underlying autonomy's ability to infer the user's needs and intentions, and the ability to do so unambiguously is often a limiting factor for providing appropriate assistance confidently and accurately. The contributions of this paper are four-fold. First, we introduce the idea of intent disambiguation via control mode selection, and present a mathematical formalism for the same. Second, we develop a control mode selection algorithm which selects the control mode in which the user-initiated motion helps the autonomy to maximally disambiguate user intent. Third, we present a pilot study with eight subjects to evaluate the efficacy of the disambiguation algorithm. Our results suggest that the disambiguation system (a) helps to significantly reduce task effort, as measured by number of button presses, and (b) is of greater utility for more limited control interfaces and more complex tasks. We also observe that (c) subjects demonstrated a wide range of disambiguation request behaviors, with the common thread of concentrating requests early in the execution. As our last contribution, we introduce a novel field-theoretic approach to intent inference inspired by dynamic field theory that works in tandem with the disambiguation scheme.

Predicate constraints of general-purpose knowledge bases (KBs) like Wikidata, DBpedia and Freebase are often limited to subproperty, domain and range constraints. In this demo we showcase CounQER, a system that illustrates the alignment of counting predicates, like staffSize, and enumerating predicates, like workInstitution^{-1} . In the demonstration session, attendees can inspect these alignments, and will learn about the importance of these alignments for KB question answering and curation. CounQER is available at https://counqer.mpi-inf.mpg.de/spo.

In this paper, we present three distributed algorithms to solve a class of generalized Nash equilibrium (GNE) seeking problems in strongly monotone games. The first one (SD-GENO) is based on synchronous updates of the agents, while the second and the third (AD-GEED and AD-GENO) represent asynchronous solutions that are robust to communication delays. AD-GENO can be seen as a refinement of AD-GEED, since it only requires node auxiliary variables, enhancing the scalability of the algorithm. Our main contribution is to prove converge to a variational GNE of the game via an operator-theoretic approach. Finally, we apply the algorithms to network Cournot games and show how different activation sequences and delays affect convergence. We also compare the proposed algorithms to the only other in the literature (ADAGNES), and observe that AD-GENO outperforms the alternative.

Real-world application scenarios like modern Internet services consist of diversity of AI and non-AI modules with very long and complex execution paths. Using component or micro AI benchmarks alone can lead to error-prone conclusions. This paper proposes a scenario-distilling AI benchmarking methodology. Instead of using real-world applications, we propose the permutations of essential AI and non-AI tasks as a scenario-distilling benchmark. We consider scenario-distilling benchmarks, component and micro benchmarks as three indispensable parts of a benchmark suite. Together with seventeen industry partners, we identify nine important real-world application scenarios. We design and implement a highly extensible, configurable, and flexible benchmark framework. On the basis of the framework, we propose the guideline for building scenario-distilling benchmarks, and present two Internet service AI ones. The preliminary evaluation shows the advantage of scenario-distilling AI benchmarking against using component or micro AI benchmarks alone. The specifications, source code, testbed, and results are publicly available from the web site url{this http URL}.

Diagnosis of high impedance fault (HIF) is a challenge for nowadays distribution network protections. The fault current of a HIF is much lower than that of a normal load, and fault feature is significantly affected by fault scenarios. A detection and feeder identification algorithm for HIFs is proposed in this paper, based on the high-resolution and synchronous waveform data. In the algorithm, an interval slope is defined to describe the waveform distortions, which guarantees a uniform feature description under various HIF nonlinearities and noise interferences. For three typical types of network neutrals, i.e.,isolated neutral, resonant neutral, and low-resistor-earthed neutral, differences of the distorted components between the zero-sequence currents of healthy and faulty feeders are mathematically deduced, respectively. As a result, the proposed criterion, which is based on the distortion relationships between zero-sequence currents of feeders and the zero-sequence voltage at the substation, is theoretically supported. 28 HIFs grounded to various materials are tested in a 10kV distribution networkwith three neutral types, and are utilized to verify the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm.

Most currently available schemes for performance based ranking of Universities or Research organizations, such as, Quacarelli Symonds (QS), Times Higher Education (THE), Shanghai University based All Research of World Universities (ARWU) use a variety of criteria that include productivity, citations, awards, reputation, etc., while Leiden and Scimago use only bibliometric indicators. The research performance evaluation in the aforesaid cases is based on bibliometric data from Web of Science or Scopus, which are commercially available priced databases. The coverage includes peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings. Google Scholar (GS) on the other hand, provides a free and open alternative to obtaining citations of papers available on the net, (though it is not clear exactly which journals are covered.) Citations are collected automatically from the net and also added to self created individual author profiles under Google Scholar Citations (GSC). This data was used by Webometrics Lab, Spain to create a ranked list of 4000+ institutions in 2016, based on citations from only the top 10 individual GSC profiles in each organization. (GSC excludes the top paper for reasons explained in the text; the simple selection procedure makes the ranked list size-independent as claimed by the Cybermetrics Lab). Using this data (Transparent Ranking TR, 2016), we find the regional and country wise distribution of GS-TR Citations. The size independent ranked list is subdivided into deciles of 400 institutions each and the number of institutions and citations of each country obtained for each decile. We test for correlation between institutional ranks between GS TR and the other ranking schemes for the top 20 institutions.

This work addresses the problem of traffic management at and near an isolated un-signalized intersection for autonomous and networked vehicles through coordinated optimization of their trajectories. We decompose the trajectory of each vehicle into two phases: the provisional phase and the coordinated phase. A vehicle, upon entering the region of interest, initially operates in the provisional phase, in which the vehicle is allowed to optimize its trajectory but is constrained to guarantee in-lane safety and to not enter the intersection. Periodically, all the vehicles in their provisional phase switch to their coordinated phase, which is obtained by coordinated optimization of the schedule of the vehicles' intersection usage as well as their trajectories. For the coordinated phase, we propose a data-driven solution, in which the intersection usage order is obtained through a data-driven online "classification" and the trajectories are computed sequentially. This approach is computationally very efficient and does not compromise much on optimality. Moreover, it also allows for incorporation of "macro" information such as traffic arrival rates into the solution. We also discuss a distributed implementation of this proposed data-driven sequential algorithm. Finally, we compare the proposed algorithm and its two variants against traditional methods of intersection management and against some existing results in the literature by micro-simulations.

High-order entropy-stable discontinuous Galerkin (DG) methods for nonlinear conservation laws reproduce a discrete entropy inequality by combining entropy conservative finite volume fluxes with summation-by-parts (SBP) discretization matrices. In the DG context, on tensor product (quadrilateral and hexahedral) elements, SBP matrices are typically constructed by collocating at Lobatto quadrature points. Recent work has extended the construction of entropy-stable DG schemes to collocation at more accurate Gauss quadrature points.

In this work, we extend entropy-stable Gauss collocation schemes to non-conforming meshes. Entropy-stable DG schemes require computing entropy conservative numerical fluxes between volume and surface quadrature nodes. On conforming tensor product meshes where volume and surface nodes are aligned, flux evaluations are required only between "lines" of nodes. However, on non-conforming meshes, volume and surface nodes are no longer aligned, resulting in a larger number of flux evaluations. We reduce this expense by introducing an entropy-stable mortar-based treatment of non-conforming interfaces via a face-local correction term, and provide necessary conditions for high-order accuracy. Numerical experiments in both two and three dimensions confirm the stability and accuracy of this approach.

Recently, the outbreak of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly across the world. Due to the large number of affected patients and heavy labor for doctors, computer-aided diagnosis with machine learning algorithm is urgently needed, and could largely reduce the efforts of clinicians and accelerate the diagnosis process. Chest computed tomography (CT) has been recognized as an informative tool for diagnosis of the disease. In this study, we propose to conduct the diagnosis of COVID-19 with a series of features extracted from CT images. To fully explore multiple features describing CT images from different views, a unified latent representation is learned which can completely encode information from different aspects of features and is endowed with promising class structure for separability. Specifically, the completeness is guaranteed with a group of backward neural networks (each for one type of features), while by using class labels the representation is enforced to be compact within COVID-19/community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) and also a large margin is guaranteed between different types of pneumonia. In this way, our model can well avoid overfitting compared to the case of directly projecting highdimensional features into classes. Extensive experimental results show that the proposed method outperforms all comparison methods, and rather stable performances are observed when varying the numbers of training data.

By using dissipativity approach, we establish the stability condition for the feedback connection of a deterministic dynamical system $Sigma$ and a stochastic memoryless map $Psi$. After that, we extend the result to the class of large scale systems in which: $Sigma$ consists of many sub-systems; and $Psi$ consists of many "stochastic actuators" and "probability controllers" that control the actuator's output events. We will demonstrate the proposed approach by showing the design procedures to globally stabilize the manufacturing systems while locally balance the stock levels in any production process.

This paper investigates a class of optimal control problems associated with Markov processes with local state information. The decision-maker has only local access to a subset of a state vector information as often encountered in decentralized control problems in multi-agent systems. Under this information structure, part of the state vector cannot be observed. We leverage ab initio principles and find a new form of Bellman equations to characterize the optimal policies of the control problem under local information structures. The dynamic programming solutions feature a mixture of dynamics associated unobservable state components and the local state-feedback policy based on the observable local information. We further characterize the optimal local-state feedback policy using linear programming methods. To reduce the computational complexity of the optimal policy, we propose an approximate algorithm based on virtual beliefs to find a sub-optimal policy. We show the performance bounds on the sub-optimal solution and corroborate the results with numerical case studies.

“In computing, memoization or memoisation is an optimization technique used primarily to speed up computer programs by storing the results of expensive function calls and returning the cached result when the same inputs occur again” — Wikipedia article on memoization. 

I've written a two part article in Memoization in JavaScript. The first part explains the concept with basic implementation in JavaScript code. It details a way to apply the technique on function calls. It is generic to handle most JavaScript functions.

The apps and devices you use are conducting surveillance with your every move Sure, you lock your home, and you probably don't share your deepest secrets with random strangers.…

While not every musician has taken to the internet to perform live shows during the (almost) nationwide lockdown, it sure seems that way. At least, it does according to my social media feeds, which lean heavily on bands and solo artists.…

Gonzaga Athletic Director Mike Roth took to the Zoom online meeting app Wednesday for a lengthy chat with members of the school community, fans and media to answer questions about college sports in the era of COVID-19. Like so many things regarding the coronavirus, there are a lot of hopes for a rapid return to normalcy — all of them couched in the reality that none of us really know how the pandemic is going to affect our lives three months from now, or six months down the line.…

Drink Local In tumultuous times, one thing remains true: People still want their spirits.…

Cops are hackers now, too.…

At every level of America's food system, mandated closures and outbreaks of COVID-19 have interrupted the finely tuned network that normally gets food from farmers and food processors to restaurants, grocery stores and food banks.…

A catastrophic loss in biodiversity, reckless destruction of wildland and warming temperatures have allowed disease to explode. Ignoring the connection between climate change and pandemics would be “dangerous delusion,” one scientist said. The scientists who study how diseases emerge in a changing environment knew this moment was coming.…

Miang Goong Miang is the Thai version of lettuce wraps, in this case featuring goong, or shrimp.…

A library of macrocyclic compounds of the formula (I) where part (A) is a bivalent radical, a —(CH2)y— bivalent radical or a covalent bond;where part (B) is a bivalent radical, a —(CH2)z— bivalent radical, or a covalent bond;where part (C) is a bivalent radical, a —(CH2)t— bivalent radical, or a covalent bond; andwhere part (T) is a —Y-L-Z— radical wherein Y is CH2 or CO, Z is NH or O and L is a bivalent radical. These compounds are useful for carrying out screening assays or as intermediates for the synthesis of other compounds of pharmaceutical interest. A process for the preparation of these compounds in a combinatorial manner, is also disclosed.

The present invention relates to a process for preparing a compound of formula wherein: R2 is cycloalkyl or alkyl, each of which may be optionally substituted; Y is —CONR3R4, —CN or CO2R5; R3, R4 and R5 are each independently H or alkyl; n is 1 to 6; wherein said process comprising the steps of: (i) treating a compound of formula (IV), where R1 is alkyl, with a compound of formula (V) and forming a compound of formula (IIIb); (ii) treating said compound of formula (IIIb) with a compound of formula (I1) to form a compound of formula (I).

Methods and arrangements for analyzing and responding to communications data. Telecom data are input, as are social network data. The telecom data and social network data are analyzed, and action tuples representing opportunistic leads are generated based on the analyzed telecom data and social network data.

A computer implemented method of constructing formal definitions in intelligent glossaries for interpreting text, comprising the steps of: providing at least one Distinction having a Boundary, an Indication, a Counter-indication and a Frame; modeling each Distinction as a diagram to provide a Distinction Model; verifying each distinction model as being an instantiation of a generic Distinction Pattern; providing at least one Arrangement made of nonintersecting Marks of Distinction containing Indications from the verified Distinction Model; writing at least one Formulation for each Indication appearing in verified Distinction model and Arrangement, providing well-founded Indications; calculating precise Formulations in Natural Language from well-founded Indications by substituting Variables symbols and/or replacing Constants symbols to transform imprecise Formulations into precise Formulations; selecting a Definition type and embedding at least one precise Formulation and Definition type as a formal Definition in an Intelligent Glossary to provide computerized Semantic Systems of Intelligent Glossaries.

The present invention provides a use of a lipid composition for the preparation of a nutritional, pharmaceutical or nutraceutical composition or a functional food, for the prevention and treatment of gastrointestinal diseases and disorders, and for promoting intestinal development, maturation, adaptation and differentiation.

Disclosed is a process for reducing the amount of sterol in a sterol-containing microbial oil composition, including distilling, under short path distillation conditions, a sterol-containing microbial oil wherein said distillation produces a distillate fraction containing the sterol and a triacylglycerol-containing fraction having a reduced amount of the sterol when compared to the amount of sterol in the sterol-containing microbial oil composition that has not been subjected to short path distillation.

The present invention provides 4,6-disubstituted pyrimidine compounds useful as kinase inhibitors, pharmaceutically acceptable compositions thereof, and methods of using the same.

A composite sheet of the present invention comprises an oxetane-epoxy-based compound, represented by chemical formula 1, as a binder.

Polyamide molding materials for transparent molding parts. The materials comprise transparent copolyamides that contain: (A) 40 to 100 wt % of at least one transparent copolyamide with a glass transition temperature (Tg) of at least 80° C. and not more than 150° C., composed of at least two diamines that are different from each other, wherein the at least two diamines are a mixture of (a) 50 to 90 mol % bis-(4-amino-3-methylcyclohexyl)methane (MACM) and/or bis-(4-amino-3-ethylcyclohexyl)methane (EACM) and/or bis-(4-amino-3,5-dimethylcyclohexyl)methane (TMACM) and b) 10 to 50 mol % aliphatic diamine having 9 to 14 carbon atoms, in particular decandiamine, particularly preferably at least 20 mol % decandiamine, each relative to the total amount of diamines, and of one or more aliphatic dicarboxylic acids, having 6 to 36 carbon atoms, (B) 0 to 60 wt % of at least one further polymer, (C) 0 to 10 wt % of additives, the sum of the components (A), (B) and (C) totaling 100% by weight.

The invention relates to a polymer product obtained by polymerization of i) at least one monomer selected from N-vinylformamide and vinyl acetate, andii) maleic anhydrideto give a copolymer comprising N-vinylformamide and/or vinyl acetate and maleic anhydride followed by hydrolyzing formamide groups originating from N-vinylformamide to amino groups and/or acetate groups originating from vinyl acetate to hydroxyl groups and acid anhydride to dicarboxylic acid groups to give a water-soluble copolymer comprising amine and/or hydroxyl and carboxyl groups, wherein the molar ratio of the N-vinylformamide and/or vinyl acetate monomer to the maleic anhydride monomer is from 70:30 to 30:70. The polymer product can be used as a dispersing agent or as a scale inhibiting agent.

A composition comprising particulate solid (typically a pigment or filler), an organic medium (typically the organic medium may be a plastics material or an organic liquid) and a polyacrylic copolymer.

An aqueous dispersion includes particles at least partially encapsulated in a microgel where the microgel is prepared from a hyperbranched acrylic polymer. In addition, a method for making an aqueous dispersion includes: (1) mixing in an aqueous medium: (a) particles, (b) at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer, and (c) a water-dispersible hyperbranched acrylic polymer having ethylenic unsaturation; and (2) polymerizing the at least one ethylenically unsaturated monomer and water-dispersible hyperbranched acrylic polymer having ethylenic unsaturation to at least partially encapsulate the particles in a microgel.

The shape and number of surface defects are controlled so that the occurrence of failure is suppressed in an HDD device in which a magnetic head with a very small flying height, such as a DFH head, is mounted. A magnetic disk substrate is characterized in that when laser light with a wavelength of 405 nm and a laser power of 25 mW is irradiated with a spot size of 5 μm and scattered light from the substrate is detected, the number of defects detected to have a size of 0.1 μm to not more than 0.3 μm is less than 50 per 24 cm2 and, with respect to the defects, there is no defect in which, in a bearing curve obtained by a bearing curve plot method using an atomic force microscope, a portion from an apex of the defect to 45% thereof is located in an area of defect height higher than a virtual line connecting from the apex of the defect to 45% thereof.

A glass ceramic as cooktop for induction heating having improved colored display capability and heat shielding is provided. The cooktop includes a transparent, dyed glass ceramic plate having high-quartz mixed crystals as a predominant crystal phase. The glass ceramic contains none of the chemical refining agents arsenic oxide and/or antimony oxide and has a transmittance values greater than 0.4% at at least one wavelength in the blue spectrum between 380 and 500 nm, a transmittance >2% at 630 nm, a transmittance of less than 45% at 1600 nm, and a light transmittance of less than 2.5% in the visible spectrum.