In this paper we introduce some techniques for the analysis of time complexity of evolutionary algorithms (EAs) based on a finite search space. The Markov property and the decomposition of a matrix are employed for the exact analytic expressions of the mean first hitting times that EAs reach the optimal solutions (FHT-OS). Dynkin's formula, one-step increment analysis and some other probability methods are adopted for the lower and upper bounds of the mean FHT-OS. The theory of a non-negative matrix, including the Perron-Frobenius theorem, the Jordan standard form, etc., are applied for the convergence of EAs. In addition, some techniques for time complexity and convergence of general adaptive EAs are also involved in this paper. Finally, the theoretical results obtained in this paper are verified effectively by applying them to the analysis of a typical evolutionary algorithm, (1 + 1)-EA.

The goal of this study was to compare the quality of care received by HIV patients who report that their primary HIV care provider is a physician, a nurse practitioner (NP) or a physician assistant (PA) to that of patients who cannot identify a primary HIV provider. We used data from patients who participated in the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study (HCSUS), a study of a probability sample of non-institutionalized HIV-infected individuals in care in the US. We compared patients who did and did not name a primary HIV care provider in terms of patient and care site characteristics, and level of clinician HIV expertise. Care quality measures included receipt of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART), reported problems with care, satisfaction with care, unmet needs and perceived access to care. Patients in care who did not report having a primary HIV care provider received HAART at significantly lower rates (p < 0.05) and were less satisfied with their care (p < 0.05) than patients with a primary HIV care provider, after adjusting for illness severity and other patient characteristics. There were similar but non-significant trends for reported problems, unmet needs and perceived access to care. Patients who had lower income or were drug users were more likely not to have a primary provider. We conclude that having a primary HIV care provider who is knowledgeable about a patient's care is related to the quality of medical care received by persons with HIV infection.

This paper presents the application of an adaptive stencil diffuse interface method to the simulation of dam break problem. The adaptive stencil diffuse interface method is the combination of the diffuse interface method and a stencil adaptive algorithm, where the diffuse interface method is used as the solver, and the adaptive stencil refinement scheme is applied to improve the resolution around the interface so that the fine-scale interface behavior can be captured. In this paper, we use this method to simulate the dam break problem, study the dam height and leading edge position, and compare our results with the experiment data available in the literature. It is shown that the results using the adaptive stencil diffuse interface method agree very well with the experimental results.

Companies operating in today's global economy are increasingly expected to manage the entire lifecycle of their products, and are finding advantage in a distributed, collaborative working style. However, existing three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) systems are not well adapted to this way of working. This paper highlights some limitations in the current applications, and presents a framework for overcoming them based on three strands of current research: lightweight representations, the annotation of CAD models, and representation information as defined by the Open Archival Information System Reference Model (ISO 14721: 2003). In the proposed framework, a 'stand-off' method is used to layer information, in the form of annotations, on top of both CAD models and lightweight representations alike. These annotations can be circulated independently of the geometry, facilitating more flexible information flow across the whole product lifecycle. The approach is demonstrated with an industrial case study.