Evaluating the application of a decision support system in identifying adequate wastewater treatment for small communities. A case study: the Fluvia River Basin.

The identification of adequate wastewater treatment for small communities is a complex problem since it demands a combination of data from different sources, such as aspects of the community and landscape, the receiving environment and the available wastewater treatment technologies. The Catalan Water Agency (Agència Catalana de l'Aigua) considered using an EDSS (Environmental Decision Support System) as a tool to help water managers select the most adequate treatment for the urban wastewater of nearly 3,500 small communities in Catalonia (Spain). From that moment, EDSS was applied to all the river basins in Catalonia. In this paper the authors present the results obtained for the 76 small communities located in one of these river basins: the Fluvia River Basin. The characteristics of the community used in the reasoning process of the EDSS, the list of selected wastewater treatment alternatives, the technical environmental justification for the selected treatments and the reasons for discarding, favouring or disadvantaging them are presented. Finally, some results for the Fluvia River Basin are compared with those obtained in other Catalan river basins with different characteristics in order to evaluate which are the significant features in identifying adequate wastewater treatments.     

Neutral fitness landscapes in signalling networks

Biological and technological systems process information by means of cascades of signals. Be they interacting genes, spiking neurons or electronic transistors, information travels across these systems, producing, for each set of external conditions, an appropriate response. In technology, circuits performing specific complex tasks are designed by humans. In biology, however, design has to be ruled out, confronting us with the question of how these systems could have arisen by accumulation of small changes. The key factor is the genotype-phenotype map. With the exception of RNA folding, not much is known about the exact nature of this mapping. Here, we show that structure of the genotype-phenotype map of simple feed-forward circuits is very close to the ones found in RNA; they have a large degree of neutrality, by which a circuit can be completely rewired keeping its input-output function intact, and there is a relatively small neighbourhood of a given circuit containing almost all the phenotypes.     

Novel hybrid DNN approaches for speaker verification in emotional and stressful talking environments

Neural Computing and Applications - In this work, we conducted an empirical comparative study of the performance of text-independent speaker verification in emotional and stressful environments....     

Learning Read-Constant Polynomials of Constant Degree Modulo Composites

Boolean functions that have constant degree polynomial representation over a fixed finite ring form a natural and strict subclass of the complexity class ACC⁰. They are also precisely the functions computable efficiently by programs over fixed and finite nilpotent groups. This class is not known to be learnable in any reasonable learning model. In this paper, we provide a deterministic polynomial time algorithm for learning Boolean functions represented by polynomials of constant degree over arbitrary finite rings from membership queries, with the additional constraint that each variable in the target polynomial appears in a constant number of monomials. Our algorithm extends to superconstant but low degree polynomials and still runs in quasipolynomial time.     

Open Challenges in Relationship-Based Privacy Mechanisms for Social Network Services

Social networking services (SNSs) such as Facebook and Twitter have experienced explosive growth during the few past years. Millions of users have created their profiles on these services because they experience great benefits in terms of friendship. SNSs can help people to maintain their friendships, organize their social lives, start new friendships, and meet others who share their hobbies and interests. However, all these benefits can be eclipsed by the privacy hazards that affect people in SNSs. People expose intimate information about their lives on SNSs, and this information affects the way others think about them. It is crucial that users be able to control how their information is distributed through the SNSs and decide who can access it. This article presents a list of privacy threats that can affect SNS users and what requirements privacy mechanisms should fulfill to prevent this threats. Then the article reviews current approaches and analyzes to what extent they cover the requirements.     

Self-adaptive utility-based web session management

In the Internet, where millions of users are a click away from your site, being able to dynamically classify the workload in real time, and predict its short term behavior, is crucial for proper self-management and business efficiency. As workloads vary significantly according to current time of day, season, promotions and linking, it becomes impractical for some ecommerce sites to keep over-dimensioned infrastructures to accommodate the whole load. When server resources are exceeded, session-based admission control systems allow maintaining a high throughput in terms of properly finished sessions and QoS for a limited number of sessions; however, by denying access to excess users, the website looses potential customers.In the present study we describe the architecture of AUGURES, a system that learns to predict Web user’s intentions for visiting the site as well its resource usage. Predictions are made from information known at the time of their first request and later from navigational clicks. For this purpose we use machine learning techniques and Markov-chain models. The system uses these predictions to automatically shape QoS for the most profitable sessions, predict short-term resource needs, and dynamically provision servers according to the expected revenue and the cost to serve it. We test the AUGURES prototype on access logs from a high-traffic, online travel agency, obtaining promising results.     

On some properties of quasi-MV algebras and \sqrt{^{\prime}} quasi-MV algebras. Part II

The present paper is a sequel to Paoli F, Ledda A, Giuntini R, Freytes H (On some properties of QMV algebras and QMV algebras, submitted). We provide two representation results for quasi-MV algebras in terms of MV algebras enriched with additional structure; we investigate the lattices of subvarieties and subquasivarieties of quasi-MV algebras; we show that quasi-MV algebras, as well as cartesian and flat quasi-MV algebras, have the amalgamation property.     

A high-level application using belief functions for exchanging and managing uncertain events on the road in vehicular ad hoc networks

This article introduces a high-level system using belief functions for exchanging and managing imperfect information about events on the road in vehicular ad hoc networks. The main purpose of this application is to provide the most reliable information for the driver from multiple messages received informing the driver about events on the roads. This system and some variants are tested using a MATLAB? simulator. An implementation with Android smartphones using a Bluetooth technology to exchange the messages is also introduced.     

Sheets of branched poly(lactic acid) obtained by one-step reactive extrusion–calendering process: physical aging and fracture behavior

The architectural modifications of a linear poly(D,L-Lactide) acid (PD,L-LA) commercial grade were induced by a one-step reactive extrusion–calendering process using a styrene-glycidyl acrylate copolymer as reactive agent. The melt degradation was counteracted by chain extension and branching reactions, leading to a stabilization of the melt properties and an increase in the molecular weight. For such modified samples [poly(lactic acid) (PLA)-reactive extrusion (REX)], the rate of physical aging at 30 °C was investigated during 1 week in order to simulate industrial storage conditions. Fracture behavior of “de-aged” and “controlled aged” (1 week) samples was investigated using the essential work of fracture (EWF) methodology and the critical tip opening displacement at the crack propagation onset, respectively. These analyses were complemented by digital image correlation analysis and inspection of the fractured surfaces by scanning electronic microscopy. As a result of the architectural modifications, the entanglement network density was increased. Those accounted for a slight decrease in the physical aging rate. Under uniaxial loading, aged reactive extrusion (REX) samples exhibited multiple crazing, leading to a slight increase in strain at break. Nevertheless, as a result of a similar dynamic environment of the entangled polymer coils, de-aged REX samples disclosed similar mechanical properties as compared to their neat counterparts. Regarding de-aged samples, the EWF analysis revealed no changes in the work required for the onset of crack propagation. However, the energy consumed up to the onset of crack propagation of aged PLA-REX samples decreased due to an apparently decreased network extensibility, promoting a premature craze–crack transition.     

Stability during storage of LC-PUFA-supplemented infant formula containing single cell oil or egg yolk

The medical community recommends that infant formulae should mimic human milk as far as possible, particularly in regards to long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFA). These include arachidonic acid (AA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), both of which provide biochemical and functional benefits to neonates. However, LC-PUFAs are highly susceptible to oxidation and the composition of formulae must be carefully controlled. In this study, the stability of two types of LC-PUFA-supplemented milk-based powdered infant formula was evaluated over the course of 18 months storage at 25 °C and 40 °C. One contained egg yolk phospholipids (IF-EPL) and the other contained triacylglycerides (DHA and AA) synthesized by single cell oils (IF-SCO). The following parameters were monitored: peroxide values, volatile content (propanal, pentanal and hexanal), fatty acid profiles, and potential and free furfural content (5-hydroxymethyl-2-furaldehyde and 2-furaldehyde). In addition, these formulae were subjected to sensory evaluations by a panel of experts. The parameters studied revealed acceptable lipid stability in both types of formula, with better results for IF-EPL. At the end of the study period, significant deficits (p < 0.05) in linoleic acid were noted in both formulae. However, no significant decreases were observed in the other fatty acids, including AA and DHA. In regards to furfural content, both formulae exhibited a similar increase, indicative of the typical Maillard reaction characteristic of products stored for long periods.