scholarly journals A Penny for Your Thoughts: The Value of Communication in Ad Hoc Teamwork

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reuth Mirsky ◽  
William Macke ◽  
Andy Wang ◽  
Harel Yedidsion ◽  
Peter Stone
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Communication Protocol ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Multiple Agents ◽  
Common Assumption ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Communication Content ◽  
Multiagent Domain ◽  
Over Time

In ad hoc teamwork, multiple agents need to collaborate without having knowledge about their teammates or their plans a priori. A common assumption in this research area is that the agents cannot communicate. However, just as two random people may speak the same language, autonomous teammates may also happen to share a communication protocol. This paper considers how such a shared protocol can be leveraged, introducing a means to reason about Communication in Ad Hoc Teamwork (CAT). The goal of this work is enabling improved ad hoc teamwork by judiciously leveraging the ability of the team to communicate. We situate our study within a novel CAT scenario, involving tasks with multiple steps, where teammates' plans are unveiled over time. In this context, the paper proposes methods to reason about the timing and value of communication and introduces an algorithm for an ad hoc agent to leverage these methods. Finally, we introduces a new multiagent domain, the tool fetching domain, and we study how varying this domain's properties affects the usefulness of communication. Empirical results show the benefits of explicit reasoning about communication content and timing in ad hoc teamwork.

How smart cities are made: A priori, ad hoc and post hoc drivers of smart city implementation in Sydney, Australia

Urban Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 004209802098629
Author(s):  
Robyn Dowling ◽  
Pauline McGuirk ◽  
Sophia Maalsen ◽  
Jathan Sadowski
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Metropolitan Region ◽  
Relative Significance ◽  
Strategic Intent ◽  
Deliberate Strategy ◽  
Post Hoc ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Sydney Australia

Recent geographical attention to smart places has underlined the key point that smart places are made: crafted incrementally over time and woven through existing sites and contexts. Work on analysing the crafting of ‘actually existing’ smart cities has turned to describing and characterising the processes through which smart cities are made and, within this, the interplay and relative significance of accidental versus purposeful smart cities has come to the fore. Drawing on the concept of dispositif to capture the simultaneity of piecemeal and opportunistic change with deliberate strategy, this paper furthers these debates using examples of two places within the Sydney Metropolitan Region, Australia: Newcastle and Parramatta. Through their analysis we identify the evolving interplay of a priori drivers, ad hoc initiatives and post hoc strategies evident in the crafting of smart cities. Understanding the emergence of actually existing smart cities, we conclude, is sharpened and strengthened by the concept of dispositif, through its attention to processes characterised by non-linear, overlapping and recursively combined drivers that are not without purposeful, strategic intent.

Modified fuzzy-based greedy routing protocol for VANETs

2020 ◽  
Vol 39 (6) ◽  
pp. 8357-8364
Author(s):  
Thompson Stephan ◽  
Ananthnarayan Rajappa ◽  
K.S. Sendhil Kumar ◽  
Shivang Gupta ◽  
Achyut Shankar ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuzzy Logic ◽  
Routing Protocol ◽  
Intelligent Transportation Systems ◽  
Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Delivery Ratio ◽  
Greedy Routing ◽  
Hoc Networks

Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks (VANETs) is the most growing research area in wireless communication and has been gaining significant attention over recent years due to its role in designing intelligent transportation systems. Wireless multi-hop forwarding in VANETs is challenging since the data has to be relayed as soon as possible through the intermediate vehicles from the source to destination. This paper proposes a modified fuzzy-based greedy routing protocol (MFGR) which is an enhanced version of fuzzy logic-based greedy routing protocol (FLGR). Our proposed protocol applies fuzzy logic for the selection of the next greedy forwarder to forward the data reliably towards the destination. Five parameters, namely distance, direction, speed, position, and trust have been used to evaluate the node’s stability using fuzzy logic. The simulation results demonstrate that the proposed MFGR scheme can achieve the best performance in terms of the highest packet delivery ratio (PDR) and minimizes the average number of hops among all protocols.

The New Economic Populism and the Future of Inequality in the United States

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
William W. Franko ◽  
Christopher Witko
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Labor Unions ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Public ◽  
Empirical Results ◽  
Income Disparities ◽  
The Face ◽  
Over Time

The authors conclude the book by recapping their arguments and empirical results, and discussing the possibilities for the “new economic populism” to promote egalitarian economic outcomes in the face of continuing gridlock and the dominance of Washington, DC’s policymaking institutions by business and the wealthy, and a conservative Republican Party. Many states are actually addressing inequality now, and these policies are working. Admittedly, many states also continue to embrace the policies that have contributed to growing inequality, such as tax cuts for the wealthy or attempting to weaken labor unions. But as the public grows more concerned about inequality, the authors argue, policies that help to address these income disparities will become more popular, and policies that exacerbate inequality will become less so. Over time, if history is a guide, more egalitarian policies will spread across the states, and ultimately to the federal government.

Freedom of Research Area

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Weatherson
Keyword(s):  
Academic Freedom ◽  
Research Area ◽  
Academic Departments ◽  
Research Focus ◽  
Disciplinary Boundaries ◽  
Freedom Of Research ◽  
Continued Employment ◽  
Over Time

Some writers have said that academic freedom should extend to giving academics complete freedom over what they choose to research. I argue against this: it is consistent with academic freedom for universities to hire people to research particular subjects, and to make continued employment conditional on at least some of the academic’s research being in the areas they were hired to work in. In practice, many academics think that their fellow academics should be free to choose to work on anything that’s within the disciplinary boundaries of the department they were hired into. I argue that’s both too narrow and too broad. Academic freedom implies that researchers should be allowed to have their research focus drift over time. But the boundaries of permissible drift do not correspond to anything like the boundaries of contemporary academic departments.

scholarly journals P34 Characteristics, diagnosis and management of Cushing’s disease - A systematic review and meta-analysis

BJS Open ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chan Hee Koh ◽  
Danyal Z Khan ◽  
Ronneil Digpal ◽  
Hugo Layard Horsfall ◽  
Hani J Marcus ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Cushing’S Disease ◽  
Meta Analysis ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Pituitary Surgery ◽  
Serum Cortisol ◽  
Cushing's Disease ◽  
Diagnosis And Management ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Introduction The clinical practice and research in the diagnosis and management of Cushing’s disease remains heterogeneous and challenging to this day. We sought to establish the characteristics of Cushing’s disease, and the trends in diagnosis, management and reporting in this field. Methods Searches of PubMed and Embase were conducted. Study protocol was registered a-priori. Random-effects analyses were conducted to establish numerical estimates. Results Our screening returned 159 papers. The average age of adult patients with Cushing’s disease was 39.3, and 13.6 for children. The male:female ratio was 1:3. 8% of patients had undergone previous transsphenoidal resection. The ratio of macroadenomas: microadenomas:imaging-undetectable adenomas was 18:53:29. The most commonly reported preoperative biochemical investigations were serum cortisol (average 26.4µg/dL) and ACTH (77.5pg/dL). Postoperative cortisol was most frequently used to define remission (74.8%), most commonly with threshold of 5µg/dL (44.8%). Average remission rates were 77.8% with recurrence rate of 13.9%. Median follow-up was 38 months. Majority of papers reported age (81.9%) and sex (79.4%). Only 56.6% reported whether their patients had previous pituitary surgery. 45.3% reported whether their adenomas were macroadenoma, microadenoma or undetectable. Only 24.1% reported preoperative cortisol, and this did not improve over time. 60.4% reported numerical thresholds for cortisol in defining remission, and this improved significantly over time (p = 0.004). Visual inspection of bubbleplots showed increasing preference for threshold of 5µg/dL. 70.4% reported the length of follow up. Conclusion We quantified the characteristics of Cushing’s disease, and analysed the trends in investigation and reporting. This review may help to inform future efforts in forming guidelines for research and clinical practice.

Changes in the contents of corporate codes of ethics: an institutional interpretation

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-388 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jang B. Singh
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Codes Of Ethics ◽  
Legal Authority ◽  
Valuable Contribution ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovative Management ◽  
Study Population ◽  
Over Time

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to examine changes in the contents of Canadian corporate codes of ethics over a period of two decades from an institutionalization perspective. Design/methodology/approach – The paper tracks changes in the contents of the codes of large Canadian corporations longitudinally by analyzing their contents at two points over two decades, in 1992 and 2012. In particular, the paper tests three hypotheses related to the institutionalization of codes. Findings – It was found that the codes have become more prescriptive, they are more concerned with social responsibility and are more likely to identify their moral and legal authority. Overall, the findings support an institutional interpretation of the observed changes. Research limitations/implications – While large corporations are critical in establishing new and innovative management practices, their selection as the study population limits the generalizabilty of the findings. Another limitation of this paper is that it used an a priori determined set of items to analyze the contents of the codes and while this was needed to facilitate the comparison across time, it also meant that some important items were not clearly identified. Originality/value – Codes of ethics are the foundation of ethics programs in corporations and their contents could be critical in the development of a culture of ethics in corporations. This paper makes a valuable contribution to research on business ethics by analyzing the codes of ethics of the largest corporations in Canada at two points over two decades. The need to track changes in corporate codes of ethics over time has been advocated by several researchers, but longitudinal studies in this area are rare.

scholarly journals A Cooperative Communication Protocol for QoS Provisioning in IEEE 802.11p/Wave Vehicular Networks

Sensors ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (11) ◽  
pp. 3622 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jin-Woo Kim ◽  
Jae-Wan Kim ◽  
Dong-Keun Jeon
Keyword(s):  
Cooperative Communication ◽  
Vehicular Networks ◽  
Vehicular Ad Hoc Networks ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Communication Protocol ◽  
Ieee 802.11P ◽  
The Road ◽  
Free Data ◽  
On The Road ◽  
Hoc Networks

Vehicular ad hoc networks (VANETs) provide information and entertainment to drivers for safe and enjoyable driving. Wireless Access in Vehicular Environments (WAVE) is designed for VANETs to provide services efficiently. In particular, infotainment services are crucial to leverage market penetration and deployment costs of the WAVE standard. However, a low presence of infrastructure results in a shadow zone on the road and a link disconnection. The link disconnection is an obstacle to providing safety and infotainment services and becomes an obstacle to the deployment of the WAVE standard. In this paper, we propose a cooperative communication protocol to reduce performance degradation due to frequent link disconnection in the road environment. The proposed protocol provides contention-free data delivery by the coordination of roadside units (RSUs) and can provide the network QoS. The proposed protocol is shown to enhance throughput and delay through the simulation.

scholarly journals Fibromyalgia Impact Reduction Using Online Personal Health Informatics: Longitudinal Observational Study

10.2196/15819 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. e15819
Author(s):  
William Collinge ◽  
Robert Soltysik ◽  
Paul Yarnold
Keyword(s):  
Health Informatics ◽  
A Priori ◽  
Management Strategies ◽  
Personal Health ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Cumulative Number ◽  
Impact Reduction ◽  
Health Diary ◽  
Over Time

Background Personal health informatics have the potential to help patients discover personalized health management strategies that influence outcomes. Fibromyalgia (FM) is a complex chronic illness requiring individualized strategies that may be informed by analysis of personal health informatics data. An online health diary program with dynamic feedback was developed to assist patients with FM in identifying symptom management strategies that predict their personal outcomes, and found reduced symptom levels associated with program use. Objective The aim of this study was to determine longitudinal associations between program use and functional impact of FM as measured by scores on a standardized assessment instrument, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ). Methods Participants were self-identified as diagnosed with FM and recruited via online FM advocacy websites. Participants used an online health diary program (“SMARTLog”) to report symptom ratings, behaviors, and management strategies used. Based on single-subject analysis of the accumulated data over time, individualized recommendations (“SMARTProfile”) were then provided by the automated feedback program. Indices of program use comprised of cumulative numbers of SMARTLogs completed and SMARTProfiles received. Participants included in this analysis met a priori criteria of sufficient program use to generate SMARTProfiles (ie, ≥22 SMARTLogs completed). Users completed the FIQ at baseline and again each subsequent month of program use as follow-up data for analysis. Kendall tau-b, a nonparametric statistic that measures both the strength and direction of an ordinal association between two repeated measured variables, was computed between all included FIQ scores and both indices of program use for each subject at the time of each completed FIQ. Results A total of 76 users met the a priori use criteria. The mean baseline FIQ score was 61.6 (SD 14.7). There were 342 FIQ scores generated for longitudinal analysis via Kendall tau-b. Statistically significant inverse associations were found over time between FIQ scores and (1) the cumulative number of SMARTLogs completed (tau-b=–0.135, P<.001); and (2) the cumulative number of SMARTProfiles received (tau-b=–0.133, P<.001). Users who completed 61 or more SMARTLogs had mean follow-up scores of 49.9 (n=25, 33% of the sample), an 18.9% drop in FM impact. Users who generated 11 or more new SMARTProfiles had mean follow-up scores of 51.8 (n=23, 30% of the sample), a 15.9% drop. Conclusions Significant inverse associations were found between FIQ scores and both indices of program use, with FIQ scores declining as use increased. Based on established criteria for rating FM severity, the top one-third of users in terms of use had clinically significant reductions from “severe” to “moderate” FM impact. These findings underscore the value of self-management interventions with low burden, high usability, and high perceived relevance to the user. Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02515552; https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02515552

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