Search results for "election"

Involvement of nitrate reductase and pyoverdine in competitiveness of Pseudomonas fluorescens strain C7R12 in soil

2001

ABSTRACT Involvement of nitrate reductase and pyoverdine in the competitiveness of the biocontrol strain Pseudomonas fluorescens C7R12 was determined, under gnotobiotic conditions, in two soil compartments (bulk and rhizosphere soil), with the soil being kept at two different values of matric potential (−1 and −10 kPa). Three mutants affected in the synthesis of either the nitrate reductase (Nar − ), the pyoverdine (Pvd − ), or both (Nar − Pvd − ) were used. The Nar − and Nar − Pvd − mutants were obtained by site-directed mutagenesis of the wild-type strain and of the Pvd − mutant, respectively. The selective advantage given by nitrate reductase and pyoverdine to the wild-type strain was as…

Learning Automata Based Q-learning for Content Placement in Cooperative Caching

2019

An optimization problem of content placement in cooperative caching is formulated, with the aim of maximizing sum mean opinion score (MOS) of mobile users. Firstly, a supervised feed-forward back-propagation connectionist model based neural network (SFBC-NN) is invoked for user mobility and content popularity prediction. More particularly, practical data collected from GPS-tracker app on smartphones is tackled to test the accuracy of mobility prediction. Then, a learning automata-based Q-learning (LAQL) algorithm for cooperative caching is proposed, in which learning automata (LA) is invoked for Q-learning to obtain an optimal action selection in a random and stationary environment. It is p…

An Automatic System for the Analysis and Classification of Human Atrial Fibrillation Patterns from Intracardiac Electrograms

2008

This paper presents an automatic system for the analysis and classification of atrial fibrillation (AF) patterns from bipolar intracardiac signals. The system is made up of: 1) a feature- extraction module that defines and extracts a set of measures potentially useful for characterizing AF types on the basis of their degree of organization; 2) a feature-selection module (based on the Jeffries-Matusita distance and a branch and bound search algorithm) identifying the best subset of features for discriminating different AF types; and 3) a support vector machine technique-based classification module that automatically discriminates the AF types according to the Wells' criteria. The automatic s…

Honesty of agonistic signalling and effects of size and motivation asymmetry in contests

1999

Game theoretical models predict that the main function of fighting behaviour is to assess the relative fighting ability of opponents. The sequential assessment game has often been used to investigate contests, while honest signalling theory has received much less attention. With the wolf spider Hygrolycosa rubrofasciata we investigated whether male agonistic signalling can reveal honest information about fighting ability, and how size and motivation asymmetries affect male fighting behaviour. We also determined whether male–male competition affects the courtship behaviour of the males. We found that agonistic drumming activity is an honest indicator of male fighting ability, and that relati…

P-spline quantile regression: a new algorithm for smoothing parameter selection

Majority and minority influence, task representation and inductive reasoning

1996

One hundred and fifty-five participants had to solve a set of 2–4–6 like reasoning problems (Wason, 1960), in which they were told which hypothesis a majority (or a minority) proposed, as well as which example was used for the test. In a 2 × 2 design, participants were also told that the problems allowed either one single correct answer or several possible answers. Results show that, when the source is a majority and the problem allows one single answer, most participants adopt the source's hypothesis and use confirmatory testing. On the contrary, it is when the source is a minority and the problem allows several answers that most participants give alternative hypotheses and use disconfirma…

Procrastination out of Habit? The Role of Impulsive Versus Reflective Media Selection in Procrastinatory Media Use

2018

The pervasive access to media options seriously challenges users’ self-regulatory abilities. One example of deficient self-regulation in the context of media use is procrastination—impulsively ‘giving in’ to available media options despite goal conflicts with more important tasks. This study investigaes procrastinatory media use across 3 types of media (TV, computer, smartphone) from a dual-systems perspective, taking both person-level and situation-level predictors into account. Results from a 14-day long diary study (N = 347) suggest that procrastinatory media use is driven by automatic media selection, which is facilitated by strong media habits (person level) and low motivation for beha…

Narcissism and the Strategic Pursuit of Short-Term Mating:Universal Links across 11 World Regions of the International Sexuality Description Project-2

2017

Previous studies have documented links between sub-clinical narcissism and the active pursuit of short-term mating strategies (e.g., unrestricted sociosexuality, marital infidelity, mate poaching). Nearly all of these investigations have relied solely on samples from Western cultures. In the current study, responsesfrom a cross-cultural survey of 30,470 people across 53 nations spanning 11 world regions (North America, Central/South America, Northern Europe, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Southern Europe, Middle East, Africa, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and East Asia) were used to evaluate whether narcissism (as measured by the Narcissistic Personality Inventory; NPI) was universally associat…

Training and selection of sport psychologists: An international review

2003

Les élèves en accompagnement scolaire : adéquation entre public visé et public accueilli

2002

This article examines the adjustment between pupils targeted to study in after school programs and pupils who are already in attendance. Several analyses have been drawn up on a large cross-section of seven and ten year-old pupils and have shown that most of them have social problems and/or are under-achieving. However, a third of the cross-section are not experiencing difficulties and therefore should not have been enrolled. Regarding the selection process of the after school programs, the analysis also shows that weak and foreign pupils more frequently seek school support after the normal school day.