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This paper is concerned with developing low variance simulation estimators of probabilities related to the sum of Bernoulli random variables. It shows how to utilize an identity used in the Chen-Stein approach to bounding Poisson approximations to obtain low variance estimators. Applications and numerical examples in such areas as pattern occurrences, generalized coupon collecting, system reliability, and multivariate normals are presented. We also consider the problem of estimating the probability that a positive linear combination of Bernoulli random variables is greater than some specified value, and present a simulation estimator that is always less than the Markov inequality bound on that probability.
The genealogy of the key ideas, institutions and norms of what is religious and what is political in each national context sheds light on different types of relations between the religious and political sets of the three Bs: belief, behaving and belonging. The qualitative work on religion and politics in Syria, Turkey, India, China and Russia has revealed four arenas of politicization of religion: the belonging to the national and the belonging to the religious community line up; the association between national community and religious community is contested; national belonging supersedes religious communities; and the connection between national community and religious community is contested, as well as the actions of the state on the immanent axis. The patterns of politicization of religion for each of these cases were produced by data mining and Python programming applied to the EOS database of Georgetown University.
In order to assemble an ecological community it may be helpful to know not only how many parts there are, but what kinds of parts there are. Communities require at least two classification systems that provide simultaneous and somewhat contradictory lists of parts: phylogenetic and functional. These two classification systems can be arranged hierarchically so that many parts (species) are nested within a smaller number of groups (functional types). Even with objective classification techniques, it is difficult to know how many groups exist, and the number selected may be somewhat arbitrary. There does not seem to be a way to tell, a priori, how many functional types we can expect to find in a specified landscape or habitat. This raises difficult questions about the nature of fitness landscapes and the geometry of n-dimensional trait space.
Knowing the leading patterns will help timely predict that addictive behavior is being formed.
Objectives
To identify the leading patterns of addictive behavior in adolescents in Central Siberia according to the results of the CIAS test.
Methods
200 adolescents aged 11-18, 69 males and 131 females, with Internet addiction living in an urban area (Krasnoyarsk) were surveyed. The patterns of addictive behavior were assessed using the CIAS test, which includes scales of key symptoms: “Com” (compulsive symptoms), “Wit” (withdrawal symptoms), “Tol” (tolerance symptoms); and negative consequences scales: “IH” (intrapersonal and health problems), “TM” (problems with time management).
Results
The mean results (M) of key symptoms were obtained at 14.56 on the “Com” scale, 15.27 on the “Wit” scale, 12.23 on the “Tol”. The mean indices of negative manifestations were obtained at 17.00 on the “IH” scale and 13.94 on the “TM” scale. When comparing the mean results of the scales of addicted behavior by the method of one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), statistically significant differences between representatives of different sex and age groups were not revealed (p> 0.05).
Conclusions
The leading key symptoms of Internet-addicted behavior in Central Siberia adolescents include withdrawal symptoms: decreased mood, anxiety and irritation in the absence of access to the Internet. Symptoms of negative consequences include decreased social contacts, reduced communication with family members, and problems at school. When such symptoms emerge, one should suspect the formation of Internet addiction and carry out the necessary diagnostics for timely intervention. The study was funded by RFBR project № 18-29-22032\18.
Conflict of interest
The study was funded by RFBR project № 18-29-22032\18.
String matching is one of the oldest algorithmic techniques, yet still one of the most pervasive in computer science. The past 20 years have seen technological leaps in applications as diverse as information retrieval and compression. This copiously illustrated collection of puzzles and exercises in key areas of text algorithms and combinatorics on words offers graduate students and researchers a pleasant and direct way to learn and practice with advanced concepts. The problems are drawn from a large range of scientific publications, both classic and new. Building up from the basics, the book goes on to showcase problems in combinatorics on words (including Fibonacci or Thue-Morse words), pattern matching (including Knuth-Morris-Pratt and Boyer-Moore like algorithms), efficient text data structures (including suffix trees and suffix arrays), regularities in words (including periods and runs) and text compression (including Huffman, Lempel-Ziv and Burrows-Wheeler based methods).
The abnormal animal featured here is a fly with four wings instead of two. It was discovered 100 years ago, and the researchers who figured out its etiology went on to win the Nobel prize, so the story is worth retelling. This leads us to ask why the body segments differ at all, so we delve into homeotic genes (a lot).
We examined the likelihood of breast-feeding mothers consuming alcohol according to several socio-demographic factors.
Design:
We carried out secondary data analyses using participant information obtained from a cross-sectional survey designed to capture the dietary habits of UK infants aged 4–18 months.
Setting:
Data concerning breast-feeding mothers’ social and domestic circumstances and alcohol consumption were drawn from the 2011 Diet and Nutrition Survey of Infants and Young Children.
Participants:
Complete data from 2683 breast-feeding mothers were included, and further analyses were carried out on those who continued to drink alcohol (n 227).
Results:
Logistic regression enabled the identification of social factors associated with breast-feeding and continued alcohol consumption among mothers. Several social factors were found to influence the likelihood of breast-feeding mothers drinking alcohol. For example, older mothers, mothers with partners who drank alcohol, those with higher educational attainment and household income and those who consumed alcohol whilst pregnant were more likely to continue to drink alcohol. Mothers’ breast-feeding infants older than 12 months were less likely to drink alcohol than those feeding infants aged 4–6 months.
Conclusions:
Evidence suggests that social circumstances influence the likelihood of alcohol use among mothers who are breast-feeding. Greater understanding of mothers’ decision making with respect to the continuation or discontinuation of alcohol use whilst breast-feeding, according to the social context in which they live, is warranted.
Objective: Become acquainted with the most common and fundamental capabilities of the spreadsheet environment, the limitations of these capabilities, and opportunities to leverage them in combination.
This chapter treats the general concept of pattern matching and the specific functions available to do this. In addition, the chapter explains the syntax of regular expressions, the notation used to describe the patterns we want to match.
Sex and gender are important factors that impact cardiometabolic traits. Men have lower life expectancy and higher prevalence of fatal chronic conditions at younger age. Lifestyle risk profiles in young men have been rarely studied in the context of cardiometabolic health. This review aimed to summarise the evidence regarding the patterns of dietary-lifestyle behaviours in a population of young men (age <40years) and their associations with cardiometabolic health. Overall, unfavourable clusters of health behaviours are more prominent in men, when compared to women and more prevalent in younger adults, when compared to older age groups. Early signs of cardiometabolic health abnormalities have been reported among men with higher adherence to patterns which consistently shared poor dietary habits as a common denominator, combined with stimulant use, inadequate sleep or insufficient physical activity. In the majority of studies, dietary assessment was limited to the investigation of one or two behaviours, most frequently fruit and vegetable intake. Since young men may engage in a mixture of explicit behaviours, the examination of a singular dietary habit may not represent the overall diet quality. To conclude, the data regarding the synergistic effects of a broad spectrum of dietary and lifestyle behaviours in the context of cardiometabolic health remain scarce in this population. The inclusion of a broader range of dietary and lifestyle variables into the multicomponent pattern analysis might have a greater potential in explaining the association with cardiometabolic health. Defining behavioural clusters can help to develop interventions, tailored to the specific needs of the targeted group.
There has been no evidence about the prescribing practices in psychiatric care in Eastern Europe.
Aims
To examine the patterns of psychotropic prescribing in five countries of Eastern Europe.
Method
We conducted a one-day census of psychiatric treatments used in eight psychiatric hospitals in Albania, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia and Romania. We examined clinical records and medication charts of 1304 patients.
Results
The use of polypharmacy was frequent across all diagnostic groups. Only 6.8% of patients were on monotherapy. The mean number of prescribed drugs was 2.8 (SD 0.97) with 26.5% receiving two drugs, 42.1% receiving three drugs and 22.1% being prescribed four or more psychotropic drugs. Typical antipsychotics were prescribed to 63% and atypical antipsychotics to 40% of patients with psychosis. Older generations of antidepressants were prescribed to 29% of patients with depression. Anxiolitic drugs were prescribed to 20.4% and benzodiazepines to 68.5% of patients. One third of patients received an anticholinergic drug on a regular basis.
Conclusions
Older generation antipsychotics and antidepressants were used more frequently than in the countries of Western Europe. Psychotropic polypharmacy is a common practice. There is a need for adopting more evidence-based practice in psychiatric care in these countries.
Marco Polo, Petrarch, Tasso, Croce interested Borges, however Dante sat at the very highest pinnacle in his map of world literature and permeates his works. Italy took to Borges with intense enthusiasm, starting in the mid-1950s, earlier than in most countries. Following his death, a pivotal point came in 1998 when the rights to his entire oeuvre were acquired by the publishind house, Adelphi. Many highly important writers absorbed Borgesian elements, with Calvino, Sciascia, and Eco standing out. The case of Eco as a Borges avatar is compelling. Sciascia drew out hidden political and historical aspects in Borges’s work. Borges exercise influence on Italian fantastic literature both before and after his death. And the adaptation of ’Theme of the Traitor and the Hero’ by Bertolucci in ’The Spider’s Stratagem’ is an example of the astonishing energy Borges gave to two generations and more of Italian literature and culture.
Growing evidence has emerged about the role of dietary patterns and components in heart failure (HF) incidence and severity. The objective here is to provide a comprehensive summary of the current evidence regarding dietary patterns/components and HF. A comprehensive search of online databases was conducted using multiple relevant keywords to identify relevant human studies. The Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) and Mediterranean diets have consistently been associated with decreased HF incidence and severity. Regarding specific dietary components, fruit, vegetables, legumes and whole grains appear beneficial. Current evidence suggests that red/processed meats, eggs and refined carbohydrates are harmful, while fish, dairy products and poultry remain controversial. However, there is a notable lack of human intervention trials. The existing but limited observational and interventional evidence from human studies suggests that a plant-based dietary pattern high in antioxidants, micronutrients, nitrate and fibre but low in saturated/trans-fat and Na may decrease HF incidence/severity. Potential mechanisms include decreased oxidative stress, homocysteine and inflammation but higher antioxidant defence and NO bioavailability and gut microbiome modulation. Randomised, controlled trials are urgently required.
Adam Smith has long been celebrated as a polymath, and his wide interests in and contributions to each of the discrete component fields of PPE have long been appreciated. Yet Smith deserves the attention of practitioners of PPE today not simply for his substantive insights, but for the ways in which his inquiries into these different fields were connected. Smith’s inquiry was distinguished by a synthetic approach to knowledge generation, and specifically to generating knowledge with applications exportable to other fields. Further, Smith’s investigations of various areas of study led him to recognize patterns in and across these fields, and his sensitivity to such patterns helped guide his inquiry and render it a connected enterprise. This paper examines several of Smith’s discrete inquiries in the history of astronomy, language, moral philosophy, and political economy, to show how he employed the techniques of pattern detection that he practiced in each of these inquiries to the task of generating new insights into new fields of inquiry. In so doing, Smith not only distinguished himself as an early practitioner of what we today identify with PPE, but he also provides a useful point of reference for those doing PPE today.
Introduction: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of death and disability in Nova Scotia. TBI occurs in approximately 50% of major trauma seen annually in the province. The purpose of this study was to describe the characteristics and patterns of major TBI seen in Nova Scotia over a 12-year period. Methods: This was a retrospective case series. Data were obtained from the Nova Scotia Trauma Registry for all patients presenting with major TBI (abbreviated injury score [AIS] head ≥3) between 2002 and 2013. Injury rates were calculated on the basis of 100,000 population (all ages) using population estimates from Statistics Canada. Results: Overall, 4152 major TBI patients were seen in Nova Scotia hospitals during the study period. Mean age of TBI patients was 51±25 years; 73% were male. The majority of injuries were the result of blunt trauma (93%), with relatively few major TBIs resulting from penetrating trauma (7%). The most common mechanisms of injury were falls (44%) and motor vehicle crashes (27%). Analysis of census-based subpopulations of the province showed that injury rates varied significantly among counties (from 25 to 63 per 100,000 population). We observed an increase in the number of major TBI patients over twelve years. Conclusion: Our findings suggest significant regional variation in major TBI rates in Nova Scotia. There are ongoing needs for prevention and intervention efforts that focus on unintentional falls and motor vehicle crashes, especially in older adults. These results also suggest that geographically targeted efforts may be warranted.
Atomoxetine is a well-established pharmacotherapy for adult ADHD. Long-term studies show incremental reductions in symptoms over time. However, clinical experience suggests that patients differ in their response patterns.
Methods
From 13 Eli Lilly-sponsored studies, we pooled and analyzed data for adults with ADHD who completed atomoxetine treatment at long-term (24 weeks; n = 1443) and/or short-term (12 weeks; n = 2830) time-points, and had CAARS-Inv:SV total and CGI-S data up to or after these time-points and at Week 0 (i.e. at baseline, when patients first received atomoxetine). The goal was to identify and describe distinct trajectories of response to atomoxetine using hierarchical clustering methods and linear mixed modelling.
Results
Based on the homogeneity of changes in CAARS-Inv:SV total scores, 5 response clusters were identified for patients who completed long-term (24 weeks) treatment with atomoxetine, and 4 clusters were identified for patients who completed short-term (12 weeks) treatment. Four of the 5 long-term clusters (comprising 95% of completer patients) showed positive trajectories: 2 faster responding clusters (L1 and L2), and 2 more gradually responding clusters (L3 and L4). Responses (i.e. ≥ 30% reduction in CAARS-Inv:SV total score, and CGI-S score ≤ 3) were observed at 8 and 24 weeks in 80% and 95% of completers in Cluster L1, versus 5% and 48% in Cluster L4.
Conclusions
While many adults with ADHD responded relatively rapidly to atomoxetine, others responded more gradually without a clear plateau at 24 weeks. Longer-term treatment may be associated with greater numbers of responders.
Specific dietary patterns are associated with the risk of chronic disease. An in-depth understanding more reflective of lifestyle would be possible when assessing the synergistic effects of both diet and physical activity in pattern analysis. In the present study, we examined the biochemical markers of dysglycaemia and cardiometabolic risk in relation to lifestyle patterns using principal component analysis (PCA). Urban women (n 2800) aged 30–45 years were screened for dysglycaemia using cluster sampling from the Colombo Municipal Council area. All the 272 dysglycaemic women detected through screening and 345 randomly selected normoglycaemic women were enrolled. The International Physical Activity Questionnaire and a quantitative FFQ were used to assess physical activity and diet, respectively. Anthropometric measurements, bioelectrical impedance analysis and biochemical estimations were carried out. Lifestyle patterns were identified based on dietary and physical activity data using exploratory factor analysis. PCA was used for the extraction of factors. A total of three lifestyle patterns were identified. Women who were predominantly physically inactive and consumed snacks and dairy products had the greatest cardiometabolic risk, with a higher likelihood of having unfavourable obesity indices (increased waist circumference, fat mass percentage and BMI and decreased fat-free mass percentage), glycaemic indices (increased glycosylated Hb (HbA1c) and fasting blood sugar concentrations) and lipid profile (increased total cholesterol/TAG and decreased HDL-cholesterol concentrations) and increased high-sensitivity C-reactive protein concentrations. For the first time, we report lifestyle patterns and demonstrate the synergistic effects of physical activity/inactivity and diet and their relative association with cardiometabolic risk in urban women. Lifestyle pattern analysis greatly increases our understanding of high-risk behaviours occurring within real-life complexities.
Pattern avoidance is an important topic in combinatorics on words which dates back to the
beginning of the twentieth century when Thue constructed an infinite word over a ternary
alphabet that avoids squares, i.e., a word with no two adjacent identical
factors. This result finds applications in various algebraic contexts where more general
patterns than squares are considered. On the other hand, Erdős raised the question as to
whether there exists an infinite word that avoids abelian squares, i.e.,
a word with no two adjacent factors being permutations of one another. Although this
question was answered affirmately years later, knowledge of abelian pattern avoidance is
rather limited. Recently, (abelian) pattern avoidance was initiated in the more general
framework of partial words, which allow for undefined positions called holes. In this
paper, we show that any pattern p with n> 3 distinct variables of
length at least 2n is abelian avoidable by a partial word
with infinitely many holes, the bound on the length of p being tight. We complete
the classification of all the binary and ternary patterns with respect to non-trivial
abelian avoidability, in which no variable can be substituted by only one hole. We also
investigate the abelian avoidability indices of the binary and ternary patterns.
Few studies have considered the combined effects of home-related determinants on children's diet. The present study investigated independent associations between sociodemographic and food practice (SFP) characteristics and fruit and vegetable consumption in UK children and the combined effects of SFP on consumption using pattern analysis.
Design
Diet was assessed using 4 d food diaries, SFP were collected using computer-assisted personal interview. Linear regressions were used to test associations; principal component analysis was used to identify patterns of SFP characteristics. Regression of fruit (g/d) and vegetables (g/d) v. component scores of each pattern were performed.
Setting
UK National Diet and Nutrition Survey Rolling Programme (2008–2010).
Subjects
Children aged 1·5–10 years (n 642).
Results
Significant associations were found between fruit and vegetable consumption and household socio-economic status. Pattern 1, which was positively correlated with household structure characteristics, was associated with increased fruit consumption (P < 0·001). Pattern 2, characterised by positive correlations for socio-economic status, fruit availability and organic food purchase, and negatively correlated with household size and the number of children per household, was associated with higher fruit and vegetable consumption (both P < 0·001). Pattern 3, characterised by high frequency of eating out and eating takeaway, was associated with a lower consumption of both fruit (P < 0·012) and vegetables (P < 0·023).
Conclusions
Patterns of SFP determinants may be more informative than individual characteristics in relation to dietary outcomes. Results have public health implications on the healthfulness of meals eaten out of home and in takeaways, as well as the need to reduce diet inequality in larger households with lower socio-economic status.
The use of criminal-law powers to respond to people with HIV who place others at risk of HIV infection has emerged as a focal point of AIDS advocacy at global, national, and local levels. In the Canadian context, reform efforts that address the criminalization of HIV non-disclosure have been hampered by the absence of data on the contours, scale, and outcomes of criminalization. This article responds to that gap in knowledge with the first comprehensive analysis of the temporal trends, demographic patterns, and aggregate outcomes of Canadian criminal cases of HIV non-disclosure. The authors draw on insights into the role that rendering social phenomena in numerical terms plays for the governance of social life in order to make criminalization “visible” in ways that might contribute to activist responses. The article examines temporal trends, demographic patterns, and outcomes separately. In each instance, the pattern or trend identified is described, potential explanations for findings are offered, and an account is given of how the data have informed efforts to reform criminal law. Particular attention is paid to the following key findings: a sharp increase in criminal cases that began in 2004; the large proportion of recent criminal cases involving defendants who are heterosexual Black, African, and Caribbean men; and the high proportion of criminal cases resulting in conviction. The article closes with suggestions for future research.