OBJECTIVE To determine whether an evidence based decision aid on the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine changed parents' attitudes towards vaccination. DESIGN Before and after study. SETTING Website promoted through search engines and online parenting and health websites. PARTICIPANTS 158 people completing online questions out of 1277 who accessed the website. INTERVENTION Eviden...

The prevalence of obesity has been steadily increasing in industrialized nations, reaching nearly 30% of the population (1). Visceral adiposity has been associated with early and accelerated progression of atherosclerotic disease (2,3). Beyond playing an important role in the pathogenesis of metabolic disorders that ultimately affect the coronary vessels, obesity is associated with increased ri...

This paper presents a novel learning feed-forward controller design approach for accurate robotics trajectory tracking. Based on the joint nonlinear dynamics characteristics, a model-free learning algorithm based on Support Vector Machine (SVM) is implemented for friction model identification. The experimental results verified that SVM based learning feed-forward controller is a good approach f...

We would like to describe a new illusion of perspective that to our knowledge has not been reported before. Figure 1 shows two images of the Leaning Tower of Pisa placed next to one another. One obtains a strong impression that the tower on the right leans more, as if photographed from a different angle. Yet the two images are identical, as close inspection will reveal. The explanation for this...

The paper presents an algorithm for learning drifting and recurring user interests. The algorithm uses a meta-learning level to find out the current context. After that, searches into past observations for episodes that are relevant to the current context, ‘remembers’ them and ‘forgets’ the irrelevant ones. Finally, the algorithm learns only from the selected relevant examples. The experiments ...

The sequentially adaptive Bayesian leaning algorithm is an extension and combination of sequential particle filters for a static target and simulated annealing. A key distinction between SABL and these approaches is that the introduction of information in SABL is adaptive and controlled, with control guaranteeing that the algorithm performs reliably and effi ciently in a wide variety of setting...