A Predictable Future?

An excitingly predictable 'omic future.

Chaos for a Fast, Secure, and Predictable Future

Violating a program’s semantics for fun and profit is a time honored hacker tradition. Compilers defend against such fiends by inserting run-time checks to enforce semantic safety properties. Safe language compilers insert type checks for down-casts, information flow compilers [11] add run-time checks to prevent information leakage, and tools like SAFECode [8], WIT [1], and DFI [6] insert run-t...

Discounting Future Gains and Future Losses: Predictable Differences and Appropriate Measures

This paper extends the common inclination for people to value losses more than gains to the measurement of time preferences. This extension provides testable predictions of a pattern of discount rates that includes use of higher rates to discount the value of future gains than future losses. Two empirical tests, one for differing valuations of future outcomes and the other for varied discount r...

Predictable semiautomata

We introduce a new class of nondeterministic semiautomata: A nondeterministic semiautomaton S is predictable if there exists k ≥ 0 such that, if S knows the current input a and the next k inputs, the transition under a can be made deterministically. Nondeterminism may occur only when the length of the unread input is ≤ k. We develop a theory of predictable semiautomata. We show that, if a semia...

A predictable outcome of a preventable disease.

Infective endocarditis is a systemic illness that can present with a variety of non-specific clinical symptoms. Patients with certain underlying heart valve abnormalities are at increased risk for development of infective endocarditis while undergoing minor procedures, particularly those associated with bacteremia by pathogens that typically cause infective endocarditis. We present a case of in...