An Adaptive Genetic Algorithm with Dynamic Population Size for Optimizing Join Queries

The problem of finding the optimal join ordering executing a query to a relational database management system is a combinatorial optimization problem, which makes deterministic exhaustive solution search unacceptable for queries with a great number of joined relations. In this work an adaptive genetic algorithm with dynamic population size is proposed for optimizing large join queries. The performance of the algorithm is compared with that of several classical non-deterministic optimization algorithms. Experiments have been performed optimizing several random queries against a randomly generated data dictionary. The proposed adaptive genetic algorithm with probabilistic selection operator outperforms in a number of test runs the canonical genetic algorithm with Elitist selection as well as two common random search strategies and proves to be a viable alternative to existing non-deterministic optimization approaches.

Protein lipoxidation:detection strategies and challenges

Enzymatic and non-enzymatic lipid metabolism can give rise to reactive species that may covalently modify cellular or plasma proteins through a process known as lipoxidation. Under basal conditions, protein lipoxidation can contribute to normal cell homeostasis and participate in signaling or adaptive mechanisms, as exemplified by lipoxidation of Ras proteins or of the cytoskeletal protein vimentin, both of which behave as sensors of electrophilic species. Nevertheless, increased lipoxidation under pathological conditions may lead to deleterious effects on protein structure or aggregation. This can result in impaired degradation and accumulation of abnormally folded proteins contributing to pathophysiology, as may occur in neurodegenerative diseases. Identification of the protein targets of lipoxidation and its functional consequences under pathophysiological situations can unveil the modification patterns associated with the various outcomes, as well as preventive strategies or potential therapeutic targets. Given the wide structural variability of lipid moieties involved in lipoxidation, highly sensitive and specific methods for its detection are required. Derivatization of reactive carbonyl species is instrumental in the detection of adducts retaining carbonyl groups. In addition, use of tagged derivatives of electrophilic lipids enables enrichment of lipoxidized proteins or peptides. Ultimate confirmation of lipoxidation requires high resolution mass spectrometry approaches to unequivocally identify the adduct and the targeted residue. Moreover, rigorous validation of the targets identified and assessment of the functional consequences of these modifications are essential. Here we present an update on methods to approach the complex field of lipoxidation along with validation strategies and functional assays illustrated with well-studied lipoxidation targets.

Adaptive E-learning Content Design and Delivery Based on Learning Styles and Knowledge Level

ACM Computing Classification System (1998): K.3.1, K.3.2.

Gondolkodásegyszerűsítő stratégiák hatékonysága (Simplifying decision strategies and their effectiveness)

A szerző a megelégedésre törekvő döntéshozatalt és eszközeinek, az egyszerűsítő döntési stratégiáknak a hatékonysági kérdéseit tárgyalja. Az egyszerűsítő stratégiáknak és az alkalmazásukat támogató attitűdnek nemcsak az időt, hanem az információkeresés és - feldolgozás egyéb költségvonzatait is tekintetbe véve számos előnyük van. A szerző a szakirodalom rendszerezésével rávilágít az egyéni szintű leegyszerűsítések természetére és pozitív hatásaikra. A bevezetést és a meghatározásokat követően az egyszerűsítő stratégiák hatékonysági kérdéseit tárgyalja a környezeti tényezők függvényében, majd a döntéshozó személyiségét és pszichológiai jóllétét érintő összefüggésekről ír. A tanulmány végén folyamatban lévő empirikus kutatásának kérdéseire tér rá, mely kutatás az üzleti gyakorlat empirikus vizsgálatával kíván hozzájárulni az eddig főként laboratóriumi kísérletek eredményeire épülő tudáshoz. ___________ Placing itself in the domain of bounded rationality theory, the article deals with the advantages of satisficing and of using decision heuristics. As to the approach to decision heuristics, the author stands on the positive side, not focusing on biases, but showing interest in the effectiveness potential in heuristics. As a review of recent literature, the article deals with different advantages of satisficing and of using simplifying strategies, be it cognitive advantages, the effectiveness, or advantages concerning the psychological well-being of the decision maker. Actual research questions of the „adaptive toolbox” approach, and the problem of determination by personality traits are presented based on the review of recent research results. Further research directions are indicated after the review. By presenting his research questions the author shows how he is willing to enrich the results of this research program by his own empirical work.

Adaptív döntéshozatal a beszállítóválasztásban = Adaptive Decision-making in Supplier Selection

Herbert Simon, a korlátozott racionalitás elméletének megalkotója szerint a döntéshozatalunk hatékonyságát az határozza meg, hogy korlátozott kognitív kapacitásaink birtokában milyen stratégiákkal birkózunk meg a komplex környezet kihívásaival. Az erre az elméletre építő kutatások egyik alapvetése, hogy az egyéni problémamegoldási folyamat helyzetspecifikus és ez az idomulás kulcsfontosságú az eredményességben és hatékonyságban. A döntéshozó rendelkezik egy „adaptív szerszámosládával”, amelyből a megfelelő helyzetekben a megfelelő döntési eljárásokat választja. A tanulmányban a szerző egy kvalitatív kutatás eredményeire építve, a beszállítóválasztás példáján keresztül mutat be lehetséges válaszokat a keveset kutatott kérdésre: hogyan működik az adaptivitás folyamata? A tanulmány a döntési helyzethez való alkalmazkodás kialakulását vizsgálja a döntési folyamatok kognitív szintjén. ______ Herbert Simon, the author of theory of bounded rationality claimed that the results of our decision-making is defined by the approprietness of strategies with which we handle the complexity of the environment with our bounded cognitive capacities. One of the main issues or research programs building on this theory is that problem solving is situation-specific, and the adjustment of strategies to actual situational factors is crucial for the effectiveness and efficiency of decision-making. The decision-maker possesses an „adaptive toolbox”, from which he chooses the right decision tools in the right situations. The author, based on the findnings of a qualitative study, presents possible answers to the not well-elaborated question: how does the process of adaptivity work? Forming of an adaptive mechanism is in the focus.

Optimization of adaptive traffic signal control with transit signal priority at isolated intersections using parallel genetic algorithms

Optimization of adaptive traffic signal timing is one of the most complex problems in traffic control systems. This dissertation presents a new method that applies the parallel genetic algorithm (PGA) to optimize adaptive traffic signal control in the presence of transit signal priority (TSP). The method can optimize the phase plan, cycle length, and green splits at isolated intersections with consideration for the performance of both the transit and the general vehicles. Unlike the simple genetic algorithm (GA), PGA can provide better and faster solutions needed for real-time optimization of adaptive traffic signal control. ^ An important component in the proposed method involves the development of a microscopic delay estimation model that was designed specifically to optimize adaptive traffic signal with TSP. Macroscopic delay models such as the Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) delay model are unable to accurately consider the effect of phase combination and phase sequence in delay calculations. In addition, because the number of phases and the phase sequence of adaptive traffic signal may vary from cycle to cycle, the phase splits cannot be optimized when the phase sequence is also a decision variable. A "flex-phase" concept was introduced in the proposed microscopic delay estimation model to overcome these limitations. ^ The performance of PGA was first evaluated against the simple GA. The results show that PGA achieved both faster convergence and lower delay for both under- or over-saturated traffic conditions. A VISSIM simulation testbed was then developed to evaluate the performance of the proposed PGA-based adaptive traffic signal control with TSP. The simulation results show that the PGA-based optimizer for adaptive TSP outperformed the fully actuated NEMA control in all test cases. The results also show that the PGA-based optimizer was able to produce TSP timing plans that benefit the transit vehicles while minimizing the impact of TSP on the general vehicles. The VISSIM testbed developed in this research provides a powerful tool to design and evaluate different TSP strategies under both actuated and adaptive signal control. ^

Data compilation on the biological response to ocean acidification: environmental and experimental context of data sets and related literature

The exponential growth of studies on the biological response to ocean acidification over the last few decades has generated a large amount of data. To facilitate data comparison, a data compilation hosted at the data publisher PANGAEA was initiated in 2008 and is updated on a regular basis (doi:10.1594/PANGAEA.149999). By January 2015, a total of 581 data sets (over 4 000 000 data points) from 539 papers had been archived. Here we present the developments of this data compilation five years since its first description by Nisumaa et al. (2010). Most of study sites from which data archived are still in the Northern Hemisphere and the number of archived data from studies from the Southern Hemisphere and polar oceans are still relatively low. Data from 60 studies that investigated the response of a mix of organisms or natural communities were all added after 2010, indicating a welcomed shift from the study of individual organisms to communities and ecosystems. The initial imbalance of considerably more data archived on calcification and primary production than on other processes has improved. There is also a clear tendency towards more data archived from multifactorial studies after 2010. For easier and more effective access to ocean acidification data, the ocean acidification community is strongly encouraged to contribute to the data archiving effort, and help develop standard vocabularies describing the variables and define best practices for archiving ocean acidification data.

Flexible strategies for association analysis with genomic phenotypes

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2016-08

Load balancing for aspect ratio in adaptive finite element simulations

In parallel adaptive finite element simulations the work load on the individual processors may change frequently. To (re)distribute the load evenly over the processors a load balancing heuristic is needed. Common strategies try to minimise subdomain dependencies by optimising the cutsize of the partitioning. However for certain solvers cutsize only plays a minor role, and their convergence is highly dependent on the subdomain shapes. Degenerated subdomain shapes cause them to need significantly more iterations to converge. In this work a new parallel load balancing strategy is introduced which directly addresses the problem of generating and conserving reasonably good subdomain shapes in a dynamically changing Finite Element Simulation. Geometric data is used to formulate several cost functions to rate elements in terms of their suitability to be migrated. The well known diffusive method which calculates the necessary load flow is enhanced by weighting the subdomain edges with the help of these cost functions. The proposed methods have been tested and results are presented.

Of sets of offsets: Cumulative impacts and strategies for compensatory restoration

Biodiversity offsets are increasingly advocated as a flexible approach to managing the ecological costs of economic development. Arguably, however, this remains an area where policy-making has run ahead of science. A growing number of studies identify limitations of offsets in achieving ecologically sustainable outcomes, pointing to ethical and implementation issues that may undermine their effectiveness. We develop a novel system dynamic modelling framework to analyze the no net loss objective of development and biodiversity offsets. The modelling framework considers a marine-based example, where resource abundance depends on a habitat that is affected by a sequence of development projects, and biodiversity offsets are understood as habitat restoration actions. The model is used to explore the implications of four alternative offset management strategies for a regulator, which differ in how net loss is measured, and whether and how the cumulative impacts of development are considered. Our results confirm that, when it comes to offsets as a conservation tool, the devil lies in the details. Approaches to determining the magnitude of offsets required, as well as their timing and allocation among multiple developers, can result in potentially complex and undesired sets of economic incentives, with direct impacts on the ability to meet the overall objective of ecologically sustainable development. The approach and insights are of direct interest to conservation policy design in a broad range of marine and coastal contexts.

Alcoholism and coping strategies among IPB students

This study aimed to assess the alcohol consumption habits and the different coping strategies of a group of students from the Instituto Politécnico de Bragança - IPB (Polytechnic Institute of Bragança) with a sample made out of 126 of its students (n=126). For this study, which is descriptive-correlational and transversal, a socio-demographic questionnaire, the AUDIT (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test, Cunha 2002) and the Brief COPE questionnaire (Pais-Ribeiro, J. and Rodrigues, A. 2004) were used as evaluation instruments. Findings were that the majority of young students stated they do not have significant life problems, that they have good social supports and they do not consume alcohol in an inadequate way. Similarly, the coping strategies that they indicate as most frequent seem also to be the most adaptive, which may help to explain the fact that most do not perceive significant current problems and do not resort to alcohol in an inadequate way.

Novel strategies for targeting innate immune responses to influenza.

NlmCategory="UNASSIGNED">We previously reported that TLR4(-/-) mice are refractory to mouse-adapted A/PR/8/34 (PR8) influenza-induced lethality and that therapeutic administration of the TLR4 antagonist Eritoran blocked PR8-induced lethality and acute lung injury (ALI) when given starting 2 days post infection. Herein we extend these findings: anti-TLR4- or -TLR2-specific IgG therapy also conferred significant protection of wild-type (WT) mice from lethal PR8 infection. If treatment is initiated 3 h before PR8 infection and continued daily for 4 days, Eritoran failed to protect WT and TLR4(-/-) mice, implying that Eritoran must block a virus-induced, non-TLR4 signal that is required for protection. Mechanistically, we determined that (i) Eritoran blocks high-mobility group B1 (HMGB1)-mediated, TLR4-dependent signaling in vitro and circulating HMGB1 in vivo, and an HMGB1 inhibitor protects against PR8; (ii) Eritoran inhibits pulmonary lung edema associated with ALI; (iii) interleukin (IL)-1β contributes significantly to PR8-induced lethality, as evidenced by partial protection by IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) therapy. Synergistic protection against PR8-induced lethality was achieved when Eritoran and the antiviral drug oseltamivir were administered starting 4 days post infection. Eritoran treatment does not prevent development of an adaptive immune response to subsequent PR8 challenge. Overall, our data support the potential of a host-targeted therapeutic approach to influenza infection.Mucosal Immunology advance online publication 27 January 2016; doi:10.1038/mi.2015.141.

An experimental study of adaptive control for evolutionary algorithms

International audience

GENETIC VARIATION, LOCAL ADAPTATION AND POPULATION STRUCTURE IN NORTH AMERICAN RED OAK SPECIES, QUERCUS RUBRA L. AND Q. ELLIPSOIDALIS E. J. HILL

Forest trees, like oaks, rely on high levels of genetic variation to adapt to varying environmental conditions. Thus, genetic variation and its distribution are important for the long-term survival and adaptability of oak populations. Climate change is projected to lead to increased drought and fire events as well as a northward migration of tree species, including oaks. Additionally, decline in oak regeneration has become increasingly concerning since it may lead to decreased gene flow and increased inbreeding levels. This will in turn lead to lowered levels of genetic diversity, negatively affecting the growth and survival of populations. At the same time, populations at the species’ distribution edge, like those in this study, could possess important stores of genetic diversity and adaptive potential, while also being vulnerable to climatic or anthropogenic changes. A survey of the level and distribution of genetic variation and identification of potentially adaptive genes is needed since adaptive genetic variation is essential for their long-term survival. Oaks possess a remarkable characteristic in that they maintain their species identity and specific environmental adaptations despite their propensity to hybridize. Thus, in the face of interspecific gene flow, some areas of the genome remain differentiated due to selection. This characteristic allows the study of local environmental adaptation through genetic variation analyses. Furthermore, using genic markers with known putative functions makes it possible to link those differentiated markers to potential adaptive traits (e.g., flowering time, drought stress tolerance). Demographic processes like gene flow and genetic drift also play an important role in how genes (including adaptive genes) are maintained or spread. These processes are influenced by disturbances, both natural and anthropogenic. An examination of how genetic variation is geographically distributed can display how these genetic processes and geographical disturbances influence genetic variation patterns. For example, the spatial clustering of closely related trees could promote inbreeding with associated negative effects (inbreeding depression), if gene flow is limited. In turn this can have negative consequences for a species’ ability to adapt to changing environmental conditions. In contrast, interspecific hybridization may also allow the transfer of genes between species that increase their adaptive potential in a changing environment. I have studied the ecologically divergent, interfertile red oaks, Quercus rubra and Q. ellipsoidalis, to identify genes with potential roles in adaptation to abiotic stress through traits such as drought tolerance and flowering time, and to assess the level and distribution of genetic variation. I found evidence for moderate gene flow between the two species and low interspecific genetic differences at most genetic markers (Lind and Gailing 2013). However, the screening of genic markers with potential roles in phenology and drought tolerance led to the identification of a CONSTANS-like (COL) gene, a candidate gene for flowering time and growth. This marker, located in the coding region of the gene, was highly differentiated between the two species in multiple geographical areas, despite interspecific gene flow, and may play a role in reproductive isolation and adaptive divergence between the two species (Lind-Riehl et al. 2014). Since climate change could result in a northward migration of trees species like oaks, this gene could be important in maintaining species identity despite increased contact zones between species (e.g., increased gene flow). Finally I examined differences in spatial genetic structure (SGS) and genetic variation between species and populations subjected to different management strategies and natural disturbances. Diverse management activities combined with various natural disturbances as well as species specific life history traits influenced SGS patterns and inbreeding levels (Lind-Riehl and Gailing submitted).

“ The Creation of an Urban Landscape” in Adaptive reuse,the modern movement toward the future, 14th international conference proceedings, Do_co.mo.mo international, Lisboa ( indexed by SCOPUS)

The headquarters and park of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon represent the first modern Portuguese environment with an outstanding relation between exterior and interior as a spatial continuum . As such, the project refused the more common conceptual attitude of interior plus exterior. This unitary view revealed a clear understanding of the proposed site for the project and what could have been Calouste Sarkis Gulbenkian (1869-1955) expectations, while concretizing Modern Movement ideals regarding landscape architecture and architecture. Through its design the park mediates the relation between the buildings’ super-structures, the urban context, and the human scale, while generating a unifying system established by the complicity between natural and synthetic materials. From the first moment of the project’s design process, this complicity resulted in a set of strategies that met programmatic