394,987 research outputs found
Decentralised Coordination of Low-Power Embedded Devices Using the Max-Sum Algorithm
No full textThis paper considers the problem of performing decentralised coordination of low-power embedded devices (as is required within many environmental sensing and surveillance applications). Specifically, we address the generic problem of maximising social welfare within a group of interacting agents. We propose a novel representation of the problem, as a cyclic bipartite factor graph, composed of variable and function nodes (representing the agents’ states and utilities respectively). We show that such representation allows us to use an extension of the max-sum algorithm to generate approximate solutions to this global optimisation problem through local decentralised message passing. We empirically evaluate this approach on a canonical coordination problem (graph colouring), and benchmark it against state of the art approximate and complete algorithms (DSA and DPOP). We show that our approach is robust to lossy communication, that it generates solutions closer to those of DPOP than DSA is able to, and that it does so with a communication cost (in terms of total messages size) that scales very well with the number of agents in the system (compared to the exponential increase of DPOP). Finally, we describe a hardware implementation of our algorithm operating on low-power Chipcon CC2431 System-on-Chip sensor nodes
Prison overcrowding and prisoners health: the Italian penitentiary system at the time of the pandemic.
No full textThe Covid-19 pandemic, which has hit Italy as first among European countries, has caused fear of dramatic consequences for the Italian prison population, due to the impossibility to guarantee compliance with the minimum distancing recommended by the health authorities inside prisons which have one of the highest occupancy rates in Europe. Despite the declaration of a state of emergency in prisons ten years ago and the consequent use of a series of deflationary measures, a new increase in the number of prisoners, many of them foreigners, had been recorded in the five years preceding 2020. The crisis of the penitentiary system therefore had not been tackled by rethinking criminal policies, especially those on drug and irregular immigration, but simply by introducing mechanisms for the decongestion of prisons without a large-scale intervention. Only thanks to the recent legislative measures adopted in the context of the Covid-19 emergency, the number of prisoners had started to decrease from March to July 2020, except then resuming its growth. However, a wave of riots broke out in numerous Italian prisons in March, as a protest against the suspension imposed on the talks with relatives, causing the death of some inmates and allowing the escape of others. The present contribution aims to analyse the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the Italian prisons, reflecting on the current social and political state of the penitentiary system, with particular reference to the contradictions of the criminal policies adopted over time and to the social and health conditions of the prison population
Capsaicin short term administration effect on different immune parameters
No full textType 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease affecting a higher and higher number of persons; for this reason, the study of diabetes, and its complications, has shown a major interest. In order to highlight the modifications appeared in this disease, it is essential to use a suitable model. In "Cantacuzino" NIRDMI there is a double transgenic murine model which develops a fulminating form of type 1 diabetes. Previous studies indicate the usefulness of this diabetic murine model in order to study neuropathy. Capsaicin treatment is one method to reduce neuropathic pain. This study was based on the assumption that intraperitoneal administration of a low dose of capsaicin, on a short period of time, can decrease pain sensations generation and transmission. If from the neurological point of view, capsaicin effects are known, its effects on the immune system are not clear yet. Therefore, in this study we have investigated capsaicin effects on oxygen and nitrogen free radicals generation by phagocytic immune cells, in lymphocyte populations, and also capsaicin effects on plasmatic protein oxidation. Our results point to minor modifications in oxygen reactive species production, simultaneous with a significantly decrease in nitric oxide generation, without affecting lymphocyte populations. Therefore, capsaicin short term administration can be used to reduce pain sensations, without the impairment of immune parameters
Review of behavioral finance: effects on investor decisión making and market anomalies
No full textTreball Final de Grau en Finances i Comptabilitat. Codi: FC1049. Curs acadèmic: 2019/2020The following work focuses on identifying the inefficiencies of markets and investors and how behavioural finance explains these behaviours.
Therefore, the first section describes the bases of the financial market hypothesis, as Fama and French (quoted in Prosad, Kapoor and Sengupta, 2015) argue, in these markets it is operated under the condition that the prices of the securities show all the available and relevant information.
The second chapter analyses behavioural finance, starting with Tversky and Kahneman's (1974) prospective theory, then the most important biases are classified depending on whether they are cognitive or emotional, and ends with another classification according to the risk tolerance level of each bias
Optimized Ventriculo-Arterial Optimized Ventriculo-Arterial Interaction Explains Better Longitudinal Function in Endurance-Trained Athletes by Comparison with Strength-Trained Athletes
No full textnot availabl
Stigma and counter-stigma in contemporary society
No full textThe paper outlines "counter-stigma" as a new characterizing element in contemporary society. The author has defined conflictual counter-stigma what is paradoxical stigmatization of stigma, a negative social reaction to stigmatization of certain categories traditionally perceived and labelled as deviant. The most interesting aspect of this phenomenon is the coexistence of stigma attached to its usual modern society attributes -physical traits, faith, sexual orientation etcetera- and the stigmatization of stigmatizers as such on the other hand. Social change from deviance to conformity, that is the shift from negative moral judgement, harsh disapproval of behaviour or quality to social tolerance and finally, acceptance, doesn't pass as in the past through mere socio-educational de-construction of stigma and discrimination or protest by social movements claiming rights and positive identities acknowledgement. According to the author, the social transformation of deviance nowadays is highly conflictual due to extreme social differentiation derived from values fragmentation. A “stigma contest” as well as even a “labelling war” emerge rather than a behaviour progressive shift from deviance to conformity. There are attacks directed to specific individuals e.g., homophobic ones aimed to stigmatize them according to a social exclusion process exactly as attacks, stigma, and social exclusion of LGTB persons. Homophobia is stigmatized exactly as homosexuality and interestingly stigma is directed to behaviour because is a negative reaction to another behaviour perceived as deviant. Same Durkheim’s function of deviance as reinforcement of social moral cohesion is definitively challenged and disputed
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
No full textWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
"Closing the R&D Gap, Evaluating the Sources of R&D Spending"
No full textBoth spending and tax policies have been implemented in the United States with the goal of stimulating private sector research and development (R&D). Karier questions whether current R&D policy, especially the research and experimentation tax credit, can contribute to closing the gap between nondefense expenditures on R&D in the United States and such expenditures in other countries, such as Japan and Germany. He also explores possible changes to our current R&D policy to make it more effective.
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
No full textThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
- …
