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Urine bags are commonly used to collect urine samples from neonates. However, the sample can be contaminated by stool, or detachment of the bag due to body movement can lead to failure of the collection. A qualitative urine collection kit containing ten filter papers of 3.2 mm diameter was developed and clinically verified among 138 neonates. During a single diaper change (approximately 3 h), the rate of urine collection was calculated. Urine collection was considered to be successful if any filter paper in the urine collection sheet turned from blue to white. Of the 127 neonates who passed urine, 122 had a change in the filter paper. The urine collection rate was 96%, with changes in all 10 filter papers observed in 98 neonates (80%). Urine collection rate was not influenced by sex (p = 1.00), age at collection (p = 0.72), preterm birth (p = 1.00), low birth weight (p = 0.92), or fecal contamination (p = 1.00). The incidence of dermatitis was not higher than in the group in which urine bags were used (urine collection kit: 2/68 [3%]; urine bag: 5/68 [7%]; p = 0.44). Novel urine collection kits using filter paper can collect samples from neonates safely and with a high probability of success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In drug development, few molecules from a large pool of early candidates become successful medicines after demonstrating a favourable benefit-risk ratio. Many decisions are made along the way to continue or stop the development of a molecule. The probability of pharmacological success, or PoPS, is a tool for informing early-stage decisions based on benefit and risk data available at the time. Results: The PoPS is the probability that most patients can achieve adequate pharmacology for the intended indication while minimising the number of subjects exposed to safety risk. This probability is usually a function of dose; hence its computation typically requires exposure–response models for pharmacology and safety. The levels of adequate pharmacology and acceptable risk must be specified. The uncertainties in these levels, in the exposure–response relationships, and in relevant translation all need to be identified. Several examples of different indications are used to illustrate how this approach can facilitate molecule progression decisions for preclinical and early clinical development. The examples show that PoPS assessment is an effective mechanism for integrating multi-source data, identifying knowledge gaps, and forcing transparency of assumptions. With its application, translational modelling becomes more meaningful and dose prediction more rigorous. Its successful implementation calls for early planning, sound understanding of the disease-drug system, and cross-discipline collaboration. Furthermore, the PoPS evolves as relevant knowledge grows. Conclusion: The PoPS is a powerful evidence-based framework to formally capture multiple uncertainties into a single probability term for assessing benefit-risk ratio. In GSK, it is now expected for governance review at all early-phase decision gates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

R.A. Fisher's 1922 paper On the dominance ratio has a strong claim to be the foundation paper for modern population genetics. It greatly influenced subsequent work by Haldane and Wright, and contributed 3 major innovations to the study of evolution at the genetic level. First, the introduction of a general model of selection at a single locus, which showed how variability could be maintained by heterozygote advantage. Second, the use of the branching process approach to show that a beneficial mutation has a substantial chance of loss from the population, even when the population size is extremely large. Third, the invention of the concept of a probability distribution of allele frequency, caused by random sampling of allele frequencies due to finite population size, and the first use of a diffusion equation to investigate the properties of such a distribution. Although Fisher was motivated by an inference that later turned out to lack strong empirical support (a substantial contribution of dominance to quantitative trait variability), and his use of a diffusion equation was marred by a technical mistake, the paper introduced concepts and methods that pervade much subsequent work in population genetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Video halftoning is a key technology for use in electronic paper (e-paper) or smart paper, which is an emerging display device that has received considerable attention recently. In this paper, a temporal frequency of flickering-distortion optimized video halftoning method is proposed. We first uncover three visual defects that conventional neighboring frame referencing-based video halftoning methods, due to their sequential changes of reference frames, will encounter. To deal with the problem, we then propose a reference frame update per GOP-based error diffusion video halftoning method based on a flickering sensitivity-based human visual model. To efficiently compromise between average temporal frequency of flickering (ATFoF) and visual quality, temporal frequency of flickering-distortion (TFoFD) is presented as a metric for video halftoning performance evaluation. Based on the proposed probability model of video halftoning, the TFoFD curve can be accurately estimated to optimize the tradeoff between quality and ATFoF before the video is halftoned. Our temporal frequency of flickering-distortion optimization strategy can also be applied to other video halftoning schemes for performance improvement. Experimental results and comparisons with known methods demonstrate the effectiveness of our video halftoning method. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the rationale behind the mathematics of excess losses in actuarial science in response to a paper by Leigh J. Halliwell which is published in the 2013 issue. Topics addressed include the allowed probability based on the properties of cumulative distribution function (CDF), casualty and non-casualty actuaries and the defnition of Riemann-Stieltjes integral. A comparison between the Riemann-Stieltjes integral and CDF is offered.

The article discusses the result of an experimental study which shows that people do not follow the optimal strategy in practice and suggests two strategies for defeating human opponents in rock-paper-scissors (RPS). The study found that the probability of repeating a game on the next trial is well above one-third, while the strategy of always playing the symbol is assessed to be an effective strategy in defeating the symbol that the other player has previously played. The study also observed that the wins of each competition have increased by 26.4%, while the losses are decreased by 9.51%.

Highlights: [•] Studied factor affecting bacteria survival probability in biocidal filter paper. [•] Biocidal agent: Triclosan-loaded micelles grafted to paper with cationic polymer. [•] Number of bacterium–micelle collisions was the main factor affecting efficiency. [•] Bacterial load and triclosan-resistance do not control the survival probability. [•] Bacterial survival probability can be controlled by thickness of filter paper. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Do highly productive researchers have significantly higher probability to produce top cited papers? Or do high productive researchers mainly produce a sea of irrelevant papers—in other words do we find a diminishing marginal result from productivity? The answer on these questions is important, as it may help to answer the question of whether the increased competition and increased use of indicators for research evaluation and accountability focus has perverse effects or not. We use a Swedish author disambiguated dataset consisting of 48.000 researchers and their WoS-publications during the period of 2008–2011 with citations until 2014 to investigate the relation between productivity and production of highly cited papers. As the analysis shows, quantity does make a difference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cooperation among kin is common in animal societies. Kin groups may form by individuals directly discriminating relatives based on kin recognition cues, or form passively through natal philopatry and limited dispersal. We describe the genetic landscape for a primitively eusocial wasp, Polistes dominula, and ask whether individuals choose cooperative partners that are nearby and/or that are genetic relatives. Firstly, we genotyped an entire sub-population of 1361 wasps and found genetic structuring on an extremely fine scale: the probability of finding genetic relatives decreases exponentially within just a few meters of an individual’s nest. At the same time, however, we found a lack of genetic structuring between natural nest aggregations within the population. Secondly, in a separate dataset where ~2000 wasps were genotyped, we show that wasps forced experimentally to make a new nest choice tended to choose new nests near to their original nests, and that these nests tended to contain some full sisters. However, a significant fraction of wasps chose nests that did not contain sisters, despite sisters being present in nearby nests. Although we cannot rule out a role for direct kin recognition or natal nest-mate recognition, our data suggest that kin groups may form via a philopatric rule-of-thumb, whereby wasps simply select groups and nesting sites that are nearby. The result is that most subordinate helpers obtain indirect fitness benefits by breeding cooperatively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the rock-paper-scissors problem for students. It states that the problem is a fun way for students to develop their understanding of probability. It notes that probability is a mathematical study of chance that is frequently used in everyday life. It also mentions that Kelsey Kerney-Porter at Doig Intermediate School in Garden Grove, California introduced the rock-paper-scissors problem to her sixth-grade class. Moreover, it also tells that the students of Kerney-Porter were able to develop their understanding of probability and fairness through the rock-paper-scissors problem.

We present theory for the shrinkage on drying of the cross-sectional area of cellulosic fibres and show that this depends on their initial moisture content only. For the linear shrinkage of cross-sectional dimensions, an additional parameter is required, which we estimate from comparison of the theory with experimental data from the literature. We proceed to combine our model of fibre shrinkage with probabilistic theory for fibre contacts in random fibrous networks to obtain a model for the unrestrained shrinkage of isotropic paper sheets. The expression obtained depends only on the moisture content of fibres and the extent of inter-fibre contact and exhibits good agreement with experimental data for laboratory-formed paper sheets. The results have relevance to the commercial manufacture of paper and potential for application to the study of cellulose nano-composites. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the secure transmission in a multiuser broadcast channel where only the statistical channel state information of the eavesdropper is available. We propose to apply secret dirty-paper coding (S-DPC) in this scenario to support the secure transmission of one user and the normal (unclassified) transmission of the other users. By adopting the S-DPC and encoding the secret message in the first place, all the information-bearing signals of the normal transmission are treated as noise by potential eavesdroppers and thus provide secrecy for the secure transmission. In this way, the proposed approach exploits the intrinsic secrecy of multiuser broadcasting and can serve as an energy-efficient alternative to the traditional artificial noise (AN) scheme. To evaluate the secrecy performance of this approach and compare it with the AN scheme, we propose two S-DPC-based secure transmission schemes for maximizing the secrecy rate under constraints on the secrecy outage probability (SOP) and the normal transmission rates. The first scheme directly optimizes the covariance matrices of the transmit signals, and a novel approximation of the intractable SOP constraint is derived to facilitate the optimization. The second scheme combines zero-forcing dirty-paper coding and AN, and the optimization involves only power allocation. We establish efficient numerical algorithms to solve the optimization problems for both schemes. Theoretical and simulation results confirm that, in addition to supporting the normal transmission, the achievable secrecy rates of the proposed schemes can be close to that of the traditional AN scheme, which supports only the secure transmission of one user. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Rock phosphate (RP) addition in cow-dung waste-paper mixtures at rates above 2% P has been reported to increase the rate of bio-transformation and humification of organic waste mixtures during vermicomposting to produce organic fertilizer for organic farming. However, the optimization of RP for vermicomposting was not established. The objective of this study was to determine the optimal amount of RP integration rates for effective bio-transformation of cow-dung waste-paper mixtures. Arrays of RP integration degrees (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, 2, and 4% P as RP) were thoroughly mixed with cow- dung waste-paper mixtures to achieve an optimized C:N ratio of 30 and allowed to vermidegrade following the introduction of earthworms at a stocking mass of 12.5 g-worms kg. The bio-transformation of the waste mixtures was examined by measuring C:N ratios and humification index (HI) and per cent ash and volatile solids. Application of 1% P as RP resulted in fast bio-transformation and maturation of cow-dung waste-paper mixtures. A scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to evaluate the morphological properties of the different vermicomposts affected by rates of RP showing the degree of degradation of initial compacted aggregates of cellulose and protein fibres in the mixtures at maturity. A germination test was used to further determine phytotoxicity of the final composts and microbial biomass assessment. The final vermicompost (organic fertilizer) had a C:N ratio of 7, MBC of 900 mg kg and HI of 27.1%. The RP incorporation rate of 1% P of RP investigated is therefore, recommended for efficient vermidegradation and humification of cow-dung waste-paper mixtures. However, higher rates of RP incorporation should be considered where greater P enrichment of the final vermicompost (organic fertilizer) is desired. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Costa's celebrated "writing on dirty paper" (WDP) shows that the power-constrained channel Y = X + S + Z, with Gaussian Z, has the same capacity as the standard AWGN channel Y = X + Z, provided that the "interference" S (no matter how strong it is) is known at the transmitter. While this ability for perfect interference cancelation is very appealing, it relies heavily on the Gaussianity of the (unknown) noise Z. We construct an example of "bad" noise for writing on dirty paper, namely, "difference set noise". If the interference S is strong, then difference-set noise limits the WDP capacity to at most 2 bits. At the same time, like in the AWGN case, the zero-interference capacity grows without bound with the input constraint. Thus almost 100% of the available capacity is lost in WDP in the presence of difference-set noise. This high capacity loss is due to the "entropy amplification property" (EAP) of noise with an aperiodic probability distribution. Using the EAP and the duality between WDP and Wyner--Ziv source coding, we also give an example of dramatic rate-loss in quantizing encrypted source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Translation of the seminal 1877 paper by Ludwig Boltzmann which for the first time established the probabilistic basis of entropy. Includes a scientific commentary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The generation of test vectors is a key technique that affects the efficiency and fault detection rate of the boundary scan test. Aiming at the local optimal solution problem of the current common test vectors generation algorithm, this paper proposes a test vectors generation algorithm based on improved GA-AO* model, through which the test vectors are generated by using the idea of heuristic search and backtracking correction. In order to speed up the heuristic search, this paper designed a heuristic function with both prior and posterior parameters to describe the influence of typical faults on the failure probability index of the test vectors. At the same time, this paper used a genetic algorithm (GA) to determine the specific values of the posterior parameters iteratively. Finally, through theoretical analysis and physical verification, compared with the test vector generated by the traditional method, the test vector generated by this method is optimized on the prior failure probability index and performs better in the physical experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a smart machine-learning-based unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) control system that optimizes UAV operations in real time. The purpose of this system is to increase the efficiency of UAVs that need to operate with limited resources. This can be accomplished by allowing the UAVs in flight to identify their current state and respond appropriately. The proposed system, which is developed based on "cloud robotics," benefits from the powerful computational capabilities of cloud computing and can therefore calculate many types of information received from various sensors in real time to maximize the performance of the UAV control system. The system learn about normal situations when creating models. That is, preprocessing data that is correlated with a particular situation and modeling it with a "multivariate Gaussian distribution." Once the model is created, the UAV can be used to analyze the current situation in real time during flight. Of course, it is possible to recognize the situation based on the traditional RULE or the latest LSTM. However, this is not an appropriate solution for UAV situations where irregularities are severe and unpredictable. In this paper, we succeeded in recognizing the UAV flight status in real time by the proposed method and succeeded in optimizing it by adjusting communication cycle based on a recognized situation. Based on the results of this study, we expect to be able to stabilize and optimize systems that are highly irregular and unpredictable. In other words, this system will be extended to learn about various situations and create a model. A reliable and efficient smart system can be designed by judging the situation comprehensively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the dynamics of a bouncing ball in classical and quantum regime, we have suggested in a previous paper to add an arbitrary function of time to the standard expression of the probability current in quantum mechanics. In this paper, we suggest a way to determine this function: imposing a suitable normalization condition. The application of our proposal to the case of the harmonic oscillator is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this paper is impulse noise reduction in digital color images. The most popular noise reduction schemes are the vector median filter and its many variants that operate by minimizing the aggregate distance from one pixel to every other pixel in a chosen window. This minimizing operation determines the most confirmative pixel based on its similarity to the chosen window and replaces the central pixel of the window with the determined one. The peer group filters, unlike the vector median filters, determine a set of pixels that are most confirmative to the window and then perform filtering over the determined set. Using a set of pixels in the filtering process rather than one pixel is more helpful as it takes into account the full information of all the pixels that seemingly contribute to the signal. Hence, the peer group filters are found to be more robust to noise. However, the peer group for each pixel is computed deterministically using thresholding schemes. A wrong choice of the threshold will easily impair the filtering performance. In this paper, we propose a peer group filtering approach using principles of Bayesian probability theory and clustering. Here, we present a method to compute the probability that a pixel value is clean (not corrupted by impulse noise) and then apply clustering on the probability measure to determine the peer group. The key benefit of this proposal is that the need for thresholding in peer group filtering is completely avoided. Simulation results show that the proposed method performs better than the conventional vector median and peer group filtering methods in terms of noise reduction and structural similarity, thus validating the proposed approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A deep learning-based Visual Inertial SLAM technique is proposed in this paper to ensure accurate autonomous localization of mobile robots in environments with dynamic objects. Addressing the limitations of real-time performance in deep learning algorithms and the poor robustness of pure visual geometry algorithms, this paper presents a deep learning-based Visual Inertial SLAM technique. Firstly, a non-blocking model is designed to extract semantic information from images. Then, a motion probability hierarchy model is proposed to obtain prior motion probabilities of feature points. For image frames without semantic information, a motion probability propagation model is designed to determine the prior motion probabilities of feature points. Furthermore, considering that the output of inertial measurements is unaffected by dynamic objects, this paper integrates inertial measurement information to improve the estimation accuracy of feature point motion probabilities. An adaptive threshold-based motion probability estimation method is proposed, and finally, the positioning accuracy is enhanced by eliminating feature points with excessively high motion probabilities. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm achieves accurate localization in dynamic environments while maintaining real-time performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The internet can provide evidence-based patient education to overcome time constraints of busy ambulatory practices. Health informationprescriptions (HIPs) can be effectivelyintegrated into clinic workflow, but compliance to visit health information sites such as Medline Plus is limited.Objective: Compare the efficacy of paper (pHIP)and email (eHIP) links to deliver HIPs; evaluate patient satisfaction with the HIP process and MedlinePlus information; assess reasons for noncompliance to HIPs.Method: Of 948 patients approached at two internal medicine clinics affiliated with an academic medical centre, 592 gave informed consent after meeting the inclusion criteria. In this randomised controlled trial, subjects were randomised to receive pHIP or eHIP for accessing an intermediate website that provided up to five MedlinePlus links for physician-selected HIP conditions. Patients accessing the intermediate website were surveyed by email to assess satisfaction with the health information.Survey non-responders were contacted by telephone to determine the reasons for no response.Results: One hundred and eighty-one patients accessed the website, with significantly more 'filling' eHIP than pHIP (38% vs 23%; P < 0.001). Most(82%) survey respondents found the website information useful, with 77% favouring email for future HIPs delivery. Lack of time, forgot, lost instructions or changed mind were reasons given for not accessing the websites.Conclusions: Delivery of MedlinePlus-based HIPs in clinic is more effective using email prescriptions than paper. Satisfaction with the HIP information was high, but overall response was low and deserves further investigation to improve compliance and related outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientists often perceive a trade-off between quantity and quality in scientific publishing: finite amounts of time and effort can be spent to produce few high-quality papers or subdivided to produce many papers of lower quality. Despite this perception, previous studies have indicated the opposite relationship, in which productivity (publishing more papers) is associated with increased paper quality (usually measured by citation accumulation). We examine this question in a novel way, comparing members of the National Academy of Sciences with themselves across years, and using a much larger dataset than previously analyzed. We find that a member’s most highly cited paper in a given year has more citations in more productive years than in in less productive years. Their lowest cited paper each year, on the other hand, has fewer citations in more productive years. To disentangle the effect of the underlying distributions of citations and productivities, we repeat the analysis for hypothetical publication records generated by scrambling each author’s citation counts among their publications. Surprisingly, these artificial histories re-create the above trends almost exactly. Put another way, the observed positive relationship between quantity and quality can be interpreted as a consequence of randomly drawing citation counts for each publication: more productive years yield higher-cited papers because they have more chances to draw a large value. This suggests that citation counts, and the rewards that have come to be associated with them, may be more stochastic than previously appreciated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Given an observed test statistic and its degrees of freedom, one may compute the observed P value with most statistical packages. It is unknown to what extent test statistics and P values are congruent in published medical papers. Methods: We checked the congruence of statistical results reported in all the papers of volumes 409-412 of Nature (2001) and a random sample of 63 results from volumes 322-323 of BMJ (2001). We also tested whether the frequencies of the last digit of a sample of 610 test statistics deviated from a uniform distribution (i.e., equally probable digits). Results: 11.6% (21 of 181) and 11.1% (7 of 63) of the statistical results published in Nature and BMJ respectively during 2001 were incongruent, probably mostly due to rounding, transcription, or type-setting errors. At least one such error appeared in 38% and 25% of the papers of Nature and BMJ, respectively. In 12% of the cases, the significance level might change one or more orders of magnitude. The frequencies of the last digit of statistics deviated from the uniform distribution and suggested digit preference in rounding and reporting. Conclusions: This incongruence of test statistics and P values is another example that statistical practice is generally poor, even in the most renowned scientific journals, and that quality of papers should be more controlled and valued. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Convolution Neural Networks (CNN) can quickly diagnose COVID-19 patients by analyzing computed tomography (CT) images of the lung, thereby effectively preventing the spread of COVID-19. However, the existing CNN-based COVID-19 diagnosis models do consider the problem that the lung images of COVID-19 patients in the early stage and incubation period are extremely similar to those of the non-COVID-19 population. Which reduces the model's classification sensitivity, resulting in a higher probability of the model misdiagnosing COVID-19 patients as non-COVID-19 people. To solve the problem, this paper first attempts to apply triplet loss and center loss to the field of COVID-19 image classification, combining softmax loss to design a jointly supervised metric loss function COVID Triplet-Center Loss (COVID-TCL). Triplet loss can increase inter-class discreteness, and center loss can improve intra-class compactness. Therefore, COVID-TCL can help the CNN-based model to extract more discriminative features and strengthen the diagnostic capacity of COVID-19 patients in the early stage and incubation period. Meanwhile, we use the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) as a classifier to design a COVID-19 images classification model of CNN-XGBoost architecture, to further improve the CNN-based model's classification effect and operation efficiency. The experiment shows that the classification accuracy of the model proposed in this paper is 97.41%, and the sensitivity is 97.61%, which is higher than the other 7 reference models. The COVID-TCL can effectively improve the classification sensitivity of the CNN-based model, the CNN-XGBoost architecture can further improve the CNN-based model's classification effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much debate exists between Frequentist and Bayesian methods in statistics. In the evaluation of evidence, the likelihood ratio is credited with quantifying the value of evidence in favour of one or other proposition by considering the probability of the evidence conditional on each proposition and this then converts the Bayesian prior odds into the posterior odds. Motivated by this approach, this paper considers an alternative p-value-based likelihood ratio by explicitly taking into account the behaviour of the Frequentist p-value under both hypotheses, rather than restricting focus solely on the null hypothesis. It is shown that by accommodating the alternative hypothesis, analysis leads to inferential conclusions which are consistent with Bayesian methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an activity focusing on the game Rock-Paper-Scissors in order to help students develop their understanding of probability. It includes a discussion of the rules of the game and an opportunity for the students to play the game before getting started on the questions which question the fairness of the game. Fairness is defined in mathematical terms as meaning each player has an equal chance of winning or of earning the same number of points. Students must think about ways to prove whether the game is fair using mathematics. Different ways students can record data are mentioned and include tables, tally charts, graphs, and tree diagrams.

Objective: To describe the technical performance of nested PCR for identifying hepatitis B viral (HBV) DNA. Methods: Hepatitis B viral DNA was extracted from a dried bloodstain on filter paper by a Chelex-100 method. Then the DNA fragment was amplified by nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The sensitivity and specificity of this method were also analyzed. The positive rate of the nested PCR-based method was compared with that of the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) method. Results: The lowest detection limit of the test was 5 copies of HBV DNA per μL by this method. McNemar's test showed that the difference between the positive rates of these 2 methods was not statistically significant (P=0.289, P>0.05). Hepatitis B viral test results showed a good concordance between these 2 methods (kappa=0.727). Conclusion: A very small amount of the dried blood sample is required for the detection, which could overcome the shortage of the normal ELISA method that requires a relatively large amount of fresh blood samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents three activities that promote probabilistic thinking with middle school students in the U.S. Activity 1 uses experimental probability as students play the game of rock, paper, and scissors. In activity 2, a table and a tree diagram help students understand the theoretical probability behind the game. Activity 3 allows three people to play the game. The results of these activities can give teachers valuable insight into adapting these activities to fit their classroom needs.

In the 21st century, various socio-economic crises have revealed that traditional economic science and (neo)classical thinking are unable to explain all the complexity of current economic problems, therefore the application of more complex and non-trivial economic concepts is gaining relevance. In addition to behavioral and evolutionary economic thinking, models of quantum economics have been developed in recent years, which allow solving economic problems, using mainly quantum thinking and the principles of quantum physics, in particular particle-wave dualism, the principle of uncertainty, the absence of a subject-object distinction, superposition and confusion. The article addresses 3 research questions (RQ). According to RQ1, the paper finds that quantum economics research is dominated by the following topics: quantum economics, quantum finance, quantum decision making, and quantum game theory. According to these four thematic descriptors, the article carries out a systematic modern review of scientific works in the period from 1978 to 2022 (if only 50 works were published in 1978-1999, then in 2000-2022 already 3430), with an emphasis on the most cited (Google Scholar) English-language journal articles. The analysis showed that articles on this topic are published mainly in journals of a non-economic profile, that the peaks of publication activity occur at times of powerful socio-economic upheavals (for example, the dot.com bubble, the substandard/financial crisis, the European debt crisis, the coronavirus pandemic, etc.). In accordance with RQ2, the article defines the key characteristics of the quantum economic model: in contrast to neoclassical economics (based on mechanistic classical physics, is rational and deterministic, with the help of the invisible hand of the market it leads to a stable equilibrium), the quantum approach, on the contrary, considers the economy as more complex, empirically oriented, uncertain, probabilistic, superpositional, as an archetypal example of a quantum social system that has its own versions of duality, measurement, and entanglement. According to RQ 3, the article determines to what extent quantum economics can update (neo)classical economics (integration of new ontological premises into economic thinking, more experimental and practical approach, connection between the concept of entanglement and sustainable development, management of financial risks based on the concept of quantum probability, rethinking the concept of randomness by quantum probability, introduction of quantum money, equilibrium using quantum games, etc.). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crashes involving large trucks have a significant association with increasing fatalities or serious injuries. Identifying the factors affecting large trucks crashes can be helpful in reducing the number of crashes and corresponded consequences. The purpose of this review was to appraise the published papers on factors affecting large truckinvolved crashes. Data were compiled through searching Google Scholar, Scopus, Science Direct, and Web of Science using keywords included "large truck and accident severity", "large truck and accident", "large truck and crash severity", "large truck and crash", "large truck and fatal accident", "large truck and fatal crash", "large truck and injury", and "large truck and collide". The accomplishment process had two steps: excluding unrelated studies and reviewing related ones to select papers meeting the inclusion criteria. According to data collected, 31 papers achieved the inclusion criteria. The results indicated that speed, driver age, location type, collision type, seat belt wearing, light condition, vehicle technical condition, time, road surface condition, and accident type were common factors in the included papers. From the perspective of our study, speed, location type, and light condition seem to be the most frequent factors in crashes involving large trucks. The present study helps to access the studies on factors affecting the large truck-involved crashes. Thereby, the experts can perform measures to decrease the probability and severity of traffic accidents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lagrangian particle dispersion models require meteorological fields as input. Uncertainty in the driving meteorology is one of the major uncertainties in the results. The propagation of uncertainty through the system is not simple, and has not been thoroughly explored. Here, we take an ensemble approach. Six different configurations of the Weather Research and Forecast (WRF) model drive otherwise identical simulations with FLEXPART for 49 days over eastern North America. The ensemble spreads of wind speed, mixing height, and tracer concentration are presented. Uncertainty of tracer concentrations due solely to meteorological uncertainty is 30-40 %. Spatial and temporal averaging reduces the uncertainty marginally. Tracer age uncertainty due solely to meteorological uncertainty is 15-20 %. These are lower bounds on the uncertainty, because a number of processes are not accounted for in the analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stochastic P-bifurcation behavior of bi-stability in a generalized van der Pol oscillator with the fractional damping under colored noise and thermal excitation is investigated. Firstly, using the principle of minimal mean square error and linearization method, the non-linear stiffness terms can be equivalent to a linear stiffness which is a function of the system amplitude, and the original system is simplified to an equivalent integer order van der Pol system. Secondly, the system amplitude stationary probability density function is obtained by the stochastic averaging, and then based on the singularity theory, the critical parametric conditions for the system amplitude stochastic P-bifurcation are found. Finally, the types of the stationary probability density function of the system amplitude are qualitatively analyzed in each area divided by the transition set curves. The consistency between the analytical results and the numerical results acquired from Monte-Carlo simulation also testifies the theoretical analysis in this paper and the method used in this paper can directly guide the design of the fractional order controller to adjust the response of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at the practical application of Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) in underwater combat, this paper proposes a battlefield ambush scene with UUV considering ocean current. Firstly, by establishing these mathematical models of ocean current environment, target movement, and sonar detection, the probability calculation methods of single UUV searching target and multiple UUV cooperatively searching target are given respectively. Then, based on the Hybrid Quantum-behaved Particle Swarm Optimization (HQPSO) algorithm, the path with the highest target search probability is found. Finally, through simulation calculations, the influence of different UUV parameters and target parameters on the target search probability is analyzed, and the minimum number of UUVs that need to be deployed to complete the ambush task is demonstrated, and the optimal search path scheme is obtained. The method proposed in this paper provides a theoretical basis for the practical application of UUV in the future combat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the paper "Independent functions: Probability and analysis in Poland between the Wars," by Professor Philip Holgate, is presented.

The determination of plotting positions on probability graph paper so that the associated weighted least squares estimators of the scale parameter and the percentiles of a continuous distribution have certain properties is discussed. Necessary and sufficient conditions are given for an invariant optimal plot for percentile estimation. Also discussed is the derivation of ordered plotting positions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author comments on the studies on neural networks and sensors. The author wonders on the possibility of the study to be applied in addressing medical applications such as breast cancer. He knows several applications of neural networks in breast cancer in such an instance when a developed website was created that offer predictions of survival probability among cancer patients. The author hopes for an artificial neural network (ANN) expert to investigate on ductal carcinoma in-situ (DCIS).

Abstract: The Centre for Kentish Studies in Maidstone, Kent holds the mathematical manuscripts of Philip Stanhope (1714–1786), second Earl of Stanhope. He was an active and capable amateur mathematician. Although the manuscripts cover a wide range of mathematical topics, the current article focuses only on Stanhope''s work in probability, where his interests appear to be on the theoretical rather than the applied side of the subject. His work, mainly derived from De Moivre''s The Doctrine of Chances and Montmort''s Essay d''analyse sur les jeux de hazard, touches on the major probability problems of the day. Among the notes on these two authors there is work that includes an alternate solution to the theory of runs and a simplified solution to a special case of the problem of the duration of play, related to the gambler''s ruin problem. In addition, the manuscript collection contains Stanhope''s transcription of an incorrect solution to the theory of runs by Thomas Bayes. There is also some correspondence with Sir Alexander Cuming that touches on George Berkeley''s criticism of Isaac Newton''s development of the calculus. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In this note, we improve some results of Granville and Soundararajan on the distribution of values of the truncated random Euler product , where the are independent random variables, taking the values ±1 with equal probability and 0 with probability . [Copyright &y& Elsevier]