Ever since the creation of the first computers, humans have pondered the possibility of a computer capable of human-like thought and reason. Many sci-fi authors have explored the possibilities and consequences of a sentient computer and Artificial Intelligence. However, so far no one has managed to come close to an actual thinking computer. This is possibly because the core structure of a computer is based on binary truths, "ones" and "zeros", while the human brain does not work with only true or false. This thesis presents the creation of an AI prototype called IKE. It is not an AI that can act like a human, but rather one that is a step closer to that final goal of a thinking computer. In this thesis, this is done by merging simulations of the five major senses with artificially created feelings, which are then fed into the system's memory. These are in turn embedded into objects and stored in the memory as instances of those objects. The goal with this method is that when you give the system an object, it can tell you how it feels about the object and what experiences it associates with it. This is to give the computer a sense of simulated cognition which will allow it to answer in a human-like way. The result of this work is a system that can be seen as an approach to an AI-complete system. It is an AI that has feelings and senses, as well as the ability to express them. However, it cannot gather or make up new feelings nor experience them in any way, as this is left for a future project to solve. / Sedan de första datorerna skapades har människan funderat över möjligheten att skapa en dator som kan tänka som en människa. Många sci-fi författare har utforskat möjligheterna och konsekvenserna med en tänkande dator och Artificiell Intelligens. Dock har ingen ännu kommit i närheten av en dator som faktiskt tänker. Detta kan bero på att datorn i grunden endast arbetar med ”ettor” och ”nollor”, medan den mänskliga hjärnan inte alltid svarar sant eller falskt. I den här avhandlingen presenteras utveklingen av en AI-prototyp kallad IKE. Det är inte en AI som kan agera som en människa, utan en prototyp som är ett steg i rätt riktning, närmare målet att skapa en tänkande dator. Detta görs i denna avhandling genom att slå samman de fem sinnena med artficiellt skapade känslor som matas in systemets minne. Där sparas de i minnet some instanser av objekt med associationer till de faktiska objekten. Målet med denna metod är att givet ett objekt ska systemet kunna säga vad den tycker om objektet utifrån tidigare erfarenheter. Detta ger systemet en känsla av simulerad kognition som ska gör det möjligt att svara på ett mänskligt sätt. Resultatet av detta arbete är ett system som kan anses vara ett steg närmare AI-Komplett. Det är en AI som kan spara, ta hand om och uttrycka sig om känslor och sinnen. Dock har den ej funktionaliteten att på egen hand samla in nya känslor eller att uppleva dem naturligt, utan detta lämnas till ett framtida arbete

It was the aim of this 24-mo randomized controlled clinical trial to investigate whether the survival of a single median implant placed in the edentulous mandible to retain a complete denture is not compromised by immediate loading. Secondary outcomes were differences in prosthetic complications between the loading principles. Each of the 158 patients who received an implant was randomly assigned to the immediate loading group (n = 81) or the delayed loading group (n = 77). Recall visits were performed 1 mo after implant placement (for only the delayed loading group) and 1, 4, 12, and 24 mo after implant loading. Nine implants failed in the immediate loading group, all within the first 3 mo of implant loading, and 1 implant failed in the delayed loading group prior to loading. Noninferiority of implant survival of the immediate loading group, as compared with the delayed loading group, could not be shown (P = 0.81). Consistent with this result, a secondary analysis with Fisher exact test revealed that the observed difference in implant survival between the treatment groups was indeed statistically significant (P = 0.019). The most frequent prosthetic complications and maintenance interventions in the mandible were retention adjustments, denture fractures, pressure sores, and matrix exchanges. There was only 1 statistically significant difference between the groups regarding the parameter “fracture of the denture base in the ball attachment area” (P = 0.007). The results indicate that immediate loading of a single implant in the edentulous mandible reveals inferior survival than that of delayed loading and therefore should be considered only in exceptional cases (German Clinical Trials Register: DRKS00003730).

This paper presents the overall sinkhole distributions and conducts hypothesis tests of sinkhole distributions and sinkhole formation using data stored in the Karst Feature Database (KFD) of Minnesota. Nearest neighbor analysis (NNA) was extended to include different orders of NNA, different scales of concentrated zones of sinkholes, and directions to the nearest sinkholes. The statistical results, along with the sinkhole density distribution, indicate that sinkholes tend to form in highly concentrated zones instead of scattered individuals. The pattern changes from clustered to random to regular as the scale of the analysis decreases from 10-100 km2 to 5-30 km 2 to 2-10 km2. Hypotheses that may explain this phenomenon are: (1) areas in the highly concentrated zones of sinkholes have similar geologic and topographical settings that favor sinkhole formation; (2) existing sinkholes change the hydraulic gradient in the surrounding area and increase the solution and erosional processes that eventually form more new sinkholes.

Adventists following a plant-based diet have half the prevalence and incidence of type 2 diabetes than nonvegetarian Adventists. This study used a quantitative, correlational study design to assess if there was a significant difference in type 2 diabetes prevalence rate between Adventists and non-Adventists preprogram, and if there were significant differences in biometrics between Adventists and non-Adventists with diabetes pre- and post-Complete Health Improvement Program (CHIP). This study incorporated the social ecological model for its conceptual framework and examined pre- and postprogram changes among Adventists (n=210; 20.1%) and non-Adventists (n=836; 79.9%) with type 2 diabetes. It used secondary data from participants in the volunteer-delivered CHIP intervention from 2006 to 2012 (n=7,172), a whole foods, plant-based, vegan health program. Analysis showed a significant difference in the pre-CHIP diabetic state between the two groups in step one, but not after controlling for covariates in step two (OR=0.96 and 0.91; CI=1.21 and 1.24). A repeated measures MANOVA analysis indicated that religious affiliation (Adventist or non-Adventist) was the determining factor in improved biometric outcomes pre- and post-CHIP for TC (F(1) = 5.65; p = 0.02), and LDL (F(1) = 5.76; p = 0.02) but not for HDL (F(1) = 0.00; p = 0.99), TG (F(1) = 0.19, p = 0.67), FPG (F(1) = 2.71, p = 0.10), SBP (F(1) = 2.25; p = 0.13), DBP (F(1) = 1.20; p = 0.27), and BMI (F(1) = 1.65; p = 0.20). However, both groups improved post-CHIP in all biometrics. The implications for positive social change from this study showed that CHIP is an effective lifestyle model for improving type 2 diabetes outcomes for both Adventists and non-Adventists, a model that does not involve the use of pharmaceuticals.

No description available.

Propositional dynamic logic (PDL) is one of the most succesful variants of modal logic. To make it even more useful for applications, many extensions of PDL have been considered in the literature. A very natural and useful such extension is with negation of programs. Unfortunately, it is long-known that reasoning with the resulting logic is undecidable. In this paper, we consider the extension of PDL with negation of atomic programs, only. We argue that this logic is still useful, e.g. in the context of description logics, and prove that satisfiability is decidable and EXPTIME-complete using an approach based on Büchi tree automata.

An analytic framework is devised for the performance modelling and evaluation of a wireless Global System for Mobile Telecommunication (GSM) cell with General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) supporting both multiple class voice and data services, respectively, under an aggregate sharing scheme (ASS). The investigation focuses on the study of a proposed GE/GE/c/N/PR/CBS queueing system with c (¿1) servers, finite capacity, N (¿c), generalised exponential (GE) GSM/GPRS interarrival and service times under pre-emptive resume (PR) priority rule and complete buffer sharing (CBS) scheme. The principle of maximum entropy (ME) is used t ocharacterise new closed form expressions for the state and blocking probabilities, subject to appropriate GE-type queueing theoretic constraints per class. Typical numerical examples are included to validate the ME solution against simulation at 95% confidence intervals and study the effect of external GMS/GPRS bursty traffic upon the performance of the cell.

Salmonella est un agent pathogène animal et zoonotique d'importance mondiale. Les infections causées par cette bactérie chez les animaux d’élevage peuvent être asymptomatiques ou se traduire par une gastro-entérite ou une maladie invasive. Chez les humains, les maladies d’origines alimentaires associées à Salmonella sont principalement causées par l'ingestion de produits d'origine animale contaminés. Cependant, aucune étude n’a déterminé la prévalence ou caractérisé le profil de virulence et d’antibiorésistance de Salmonella provenant des fermes ovines du Québec, alors que cette province détient le 2ème plus grand cheptel ovin canadien. Ainsi, cette étude visait à estimer la prévalence des fermes ovines positives à Salmonella dans la province du Québec, à identifier les sérotypes circulant dans ces troupeaux, à caractériser le profil de virulence et de résistance aux antimicrobiens de souches de Salmonella isolées dans ces fermes et à évaluer l'influence de certains facteurs de risque (ex. la saisonnalité, la taille des troupeaux et le type de production) sur la prévalence de fermes ovines positives à Salmonella au Québec. Pour cela, 61 fermes ovines du Québec ont été sélectionnées aléatoirement et ont été échantillonnées. Un pool fécal provenant de 10 animaux a été prélevé par ferme. Des milieux sélectifs ont été utilisés pour isoler Salmonella dans chaque échantillon. La confirmation de Salmonella a été faite par des tests biochimiques suivis par la détection du gène invA par PCR et les sous-espèces ont été identifiées par PCR multiplex. Le rapport de prévalence a été calculé pour évaluer l’association entre les facteurs de risque et la présence de Salmonella dans les fermes. Le séquençage du génome complet de 76 isolats a permis d’identifier les sérotypes et de déterminer le profil de virulence et de résistance génotypique de ces isolats. La confirmation de la résistance phénotypique de différentes souches a été effectuée en utilisant la méthode de diffusion en milieu solide (antibiogramme) et la méthode de dilution en milieu liquide. Les résultats indiquent que 83,6% (95% CI 74,3%-92,9%) des troupeaux sont porteurs de Salmonella. Le sérotype Salmonella enterica sous-espèce diarizonae 61 k:1, 5, (7) (Sheep associated Salmonella diarizonae (SASd) a été le seul sérotype identifié dans tous les isolats qui ont été séquencés. Aucun des facteurs de risque évalués n’était associée à la présence de Salmonella. En outre, aucun gène de résistance aux antimicrobiens n’a été identifié à partir de l’analyse des génomes séquencés et toutes les souches ont été révélées comme étant phénotypiquement sensibles aux différents antimicrobiens testés. De plus, des facteurs de virulence, comme les ilots de pathogénicité (SPI-1, SPI-2, SPI-3, SPI-5, SPI-9 et SPI-13) et le plasmide (IncX1), ont été identifiés chez les 84 SASd. Cette étude est la première à rapporter que la prévalence des fermes ovines positives à Salmonella est élevée au Québec (83,6%). Seule la présence du sérotype 61 k:1, 5, (7) a été détectée. Finalement, toutes les souches de Salmonella isolées dans le cadre de cette étude étaient sensibles aux antimicrobiens testés. / Salmonella is a world-known animal and zoonotic pathogen. Infections caused by this bacterium in livestock can be asymptomatic or result in gastroenteritis or an invasive disease. In humans, food-related diseases associated with Salmonella are mainly caused by the ingestion of contaminated products of animal origin. However, no studies have determined the prevalence or characterized the virulence and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) profiles of Salmonella from sheep farms in Quebec, where the province holds the second largest sheep population in Canada. This study aimed to estimate the prevalence of Salmonella-positive sheep farms in the province of Quebec, to identify the serotypes circulating in these flocks, to characterize the virulence and AMR profiles of Salmonella strains isolated from these farms and to assess the influence of some potential risk factors on the prevalence of Salmonella-positive sheep farms in the province of Quebec. For this purpose, 61 sheep farms in Quebec were randomly selected and sampled. A fecal pool including samples from 10 animals was collected per farm. Selective culture media were used to isolate Salmonella in each sample. Salmonella was confirmed by biochemical tests followed by the detection of invA gene by PCR and the subspecies were identified by multiplex PCR. The prevalence ratio was calculated to assess the association between risk factors and the presence of Salmonella in farms. The Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of 76 isolates was used to determine the serotypes, the virulence and the AMR profile of these isolates. The confirmation of the phenotypic AMR of these isolates (n=76) was carried out using the Kirby–Bauer disk diffusion method (antibiogram) or the broth microdilution method. The results indicated that 83.6% (95% CI 74.3%-92.9%) of the flocks are carrier of Salmonella and only the Salmonella enterica subspecies diarizonae serotype 61: k: 1, 5, (7) (sheep associated S. diarizonae, SASd) was identified. None of the tested risk factors was associated with Salmonella positivity at the flock level. In addition, no AMR genes were identified from the WGS data, and all strains were phenotypically sensitive to the various antimicrobials tested. In addition, virulence factors such as pathogenicity islands (SPI-1, SPI-2, SPI-3, SPI-5, SPI-9 and SPI-13) and plasmid (IncX1) have been identified in the sequenced strains. This study was the first to report a high prevalence of Salmonella-positive sheep farms in Quebec (83.6%). Only the presence of serotype 61 k:1, 5, (7) was detected. Interestingly, all Salmonella strains isolated in this study were sensitive to the tested antimicrobials.

Complete blood count (CBC) analysis, often provided by an automated hematology analyzer, is a fundamental diagnostic test for evaluating a patient’s overall health status as a tool in diagnosing various medical conditions. CBC provides insights into the composition of the blood cells with parameters such as Mean Corpuscular Volume (MCV) and Hemoglobin (HGB). MCV represents the average size and volume of red blood cells, while HGB indicates the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. Different technologies are used in hematology analyzers, such as the impedance method and spectrophotometry, to achieve precise measurements of MCV and HGB. However, exploring other methodologies is of interest to potentially reduce instrument complexity and cost. Flow cytometry, based on light scatter, provides detailed information on the characteristics of individual cells and is commonly used in CBC analysis to differentiate white blood cells and reticulocytes. However, while the potential of this method for investigating MCV and HGB levels is well established, it is of significant interest to determine if the measurement techniques can be streamlined from three to one by solely using flow cytometry in this prototype analyzer. In this thesis, the possible use of measuring MCV and HGB using a flow cytometry system based on optical scatter data from a prototype hematology analyzer has been examined. The need to sphere the red blood cells before the measurements have also been investigated to evaluate reagent needs. The results have been evaluated based on the correlation factor, accuracy and precision of the proposed optical method. It is shown that the optical method in this thesis, can be used to measure MCV and HGB. However, the necessity of sphering the cells remains. Furthermore, a comparison is made between the optical method and the Sysmex XN-1000 to evaluate the accuracy of the obtained values. Finally, possible improvements and future work are suggested. / Blodstatus, utförd av automatiserade hematologiinstrument, är ett grundlägggande diagnostiskt test för att utvärdera en patients allmänna hälsotillstånd som ett verktyg för att diagnostisera olika medicinska tillsånd. Blodstatus ger inblick i blodets sammansättning med parameterar som Medelvolym av röda blodkroppar (MCV) och Hemoglobin (HGB). MCV representerar den genomsnittliga storleken och volymen av röda blodkroppar, medan HGB indikerar blodets syrebärande förmåga. Olika metoder används i hematologiinstrument, såsom impedansmetoden och spektrofotometri för att mäta MCV och HGB värden. Undersökning med hjälp av andra metoder för mätning av dessa parameter är dock utav intresse för att potentiellt minska instrument komplexitet och kostnader. Flödescytometri, baserad på ljusspridning, ger detaljerad information om egenskaperna hos enskilda celler och används ofta för att differentiera vita blodkroppar och reticulocyter. Även om potentialen att undersöka MCV- och HGB-nivåer med denna metod redan är väletablerad, är det av betydande intresse att undersöka om man kan minska mätmetoderna från tre till en, genom att enbart använda flödescytometri i detta prototypinstrument. I detta examensarbete har möjligheten att mäta MCV och HGB med hjälp av flödescytometri baserat på optisk spridningsdata från en prototyp hematologiinstrument undersökts. Behovet av att ”sfära” de röda blodkropparna innan mätningarna har också undersökts för att utvärdera reagensbehov. Resultaten har utvärderats utifrån den förslagna optiska metodens korrelationsfaktor, noggrannhet och precision. Resultatet visar att den optiska metoden som presenteras i denna uppsats, kan användas för att mäta MCV och HGB. Dock kvarstår behovet av att ”sfära” cellerna. Dessutom görs en jämförelse mellan den optiska metoden och Sysmex XN-1000 för att utvärdera noggrannheten hos de erhållna värdena. Till sist ges förslag på möjliga förbättringar och vidareutveckling av den optiska metoden för framtiden.

Yes / One of the main features of the third generation (3G) mobile networks is their capability to provide different classes of services; especially multimedia and real-time services in addition to the traditional telephony and data services. These new services, however, will require higher Quality of Service (QoS) constraints on the network mainly regarding delay, delay variation and packet loss. Additionally, the overall traffic profile in both the air interface and inside the network will be rather different than used to be in today's mobile networks. Therefore, providing QoS for the new services will require more than what a call admission control algorithm can achieve at the border of the network, but also continuous buffer control in both the wireless and the fixed part of the network to ensure that higher priority traffic is treated in the proper way. This paper proposes and analytically evaluates a buffer management scheme that is based on multi-level priority and Complete Buffer Sharing (CBS) policy for all buffers at the border and inside the wireless network. The analytical model is based on the G/G/1/N censored queue with single server and R (R¿2) priority classes under the Head of Line (HoL) service rule for the CBS scheme. The traffic is modelled using the Generalised Exponential distribution. The paper presents an analytical solution based on the approximation using the Maximum Entropy (ME) principle. The numerical results show the capability of the buffer management scheme to provide higher QoS for the higher priority service classes.