PURPOSE The aim of this study was to evaluate long-term marginal bone levels for two unsplinted implants supporting mandibular overdentures using conventional and early loading protocols with different implant surfaces and attachment systems. MATERIALS AND METHODS A cohort of 106 edentulous participants (mean age: 65 years) was treated with mandibular two-implant overdentures opposing complet...

We consider here the class of probability mass-function (PMF) based detectors of least significant bit (LSB) embedded steganography. That is, in this paper we investigate the use of frequency counts of pixel intensities as a statistic for tests detecting the presence of hidden messages. We focus on LSB replacement (though we briefly consider LSB matching) embedding as it is a simple technique w...

Scope insensitivity has been a common result in many contingent valuation studies applied to high non-use value resources. Previous studies have explained these results with different arguments, such as the theory of diminishing marginal existence values or even going as far as questioning the validity of contingent valuation method (CVM). In this paper, we conduct a meta-analysis on contingent...

Foraging theory provides archaeology with a valuable set of tools for investigating the constraints that influenced procurement decisions of the past. The prey-choice model has been used extensively by archaeologists, but has significant limitations given the nature of archaeological data. This paper suggests that the seldom-used Marginal Value Theorem (MVT) is a valuable tool for examining the...

Economic values for a range of different maternal and carcass sheep performance traits were derived for hill sheep in the United Kingdom. A bioeconomic model that includes estimates of available energy supply and herbage intake for sheep from hill and mountain pastures, together with that from improved grassland, has provided a base from which to define the economic limitations to genetic impro...

We use discrete event simulation to model and analyze a real-life emergency department (ED). Our approach relies on the appropriate integration of most real-life ED features to the simulation model in order to derive useful practical results. Data is supplied from the ED of the urban French hospital Saint Camille. Our purpose is to optimize the human resource staffing levels. We want to minimiz...

We implement the Ising model on a structural connectivity matrix describing the brain at two different resolutions. Tuning the model temperature to its critical value, i.e. at the susceptibility peak, we find a maximal amount of total information transfer between the spin variables. At this point the amount of information that can be redistributed by some nodes reaches a limit and the net dynam...

Consider an agent that can autonomously negotiate and coordinate with others in our stead, to reach outcomes and agreements in our interest. Such automated negotiation agents are already common practice in areas such as high frequency trading, and are now finding applications in domains closer to home, which involve not only mere financial optimizations but balanced trade-offs between multiple ...

Motivated by recent developments in designing algorithms based on individual item scores for solving utility maximization problems, we study the framework of using test scores, defined as a statistic observed performance data, budgeted stochastic problem. We extend an existing scoring mechanism, namely, replication to incorporate heterogeneous costs well values. show that natural greedy algorit...

The loss of biodiversity is threatening ecosystem productivity and services worldwide, spurring efforts to quantify its effects on the functioning of natural ecosystems. Previous research has focused on the positive role of biodiversity on resource acquisition (i.e., niche complementarity), but a lack of study on resource utilization efficiency, a link between resource and productivity, has ren...