Abstract
We present a method that can be seen as an improvement of standard progressive sampling method. The method exploits information concerning performance of a given algorithm on past datasets, which is used to generate predictions of the stopping point. Experimental evaluation shows that the method can lead to significant time savings without significant losses in accuracy.

Abstract
Inductive Logic Programming (ILP) is a promising technology for knowledge extraction applications. ILP has produced intelligible solutions for a wide variety of domains where it has been applied. The ILP lack of efficiency is, however, a major impediment for its scalability to applications requiring large amounts of data. In this paper we propose a set of techniques that improve ILP systems efficiency and make then more likely to scale up to applications of knowledge extraction from large datasets. We propose and evaluate the lazy evaluation of examples, to improve the efficiency of ILP systems. Lazy evaluation is essentially a way to avoid or postpone the evaluation of the generated hypotheses (coverage tests). The techniques were evaluated using the IndLog system on ILP datasets referenced in the literature. The proposals lead to substantial efficiency improvements and are generally applicable to any ILP system.

Abstract
In this paper, we describe a heuristic algorithm based on local search for the Single-Source Uncapacitated (SSU) concave Minimum-Cost Network Flow Problem (MCNFP). We present a new technique for creating different and informed initial solutions to restart the local search, thereby improving the quality of the resulting feasible solutions (upper bounds). Computational results on different classes of test problems indicate the effectiveness of the proposed method in generating basic feasible solutions for the SSU concave MCNFP very near to a global optimum. A maximum upper bound percentage error of 0.07% is reported for all problem instances for which an optimal solution has been found by a branch-and-bound method. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Abstract
For diffeomorphisms on surfaces with basic sets, we show the following type of rigidity result: if a topological conjugacy between them is differentiable at a point in the basic set then the conjugacy has a smooth extension to the surface. These results generalize the similar ones of D. Sullivan, E. de Faria and ours for one-dimensional expanding dynamics.

Abstract
In multivariate data with n individuals described by p variables it is usual to assume that the variables are fixed and the individuals are randomly selected; in the present study we assume that the individuals are fixed and the previously normalised variables are randomly selected from a population of variables. When we want to associate to the sample of variables a distribution, like the Bingham distribution, it is important to use beforehand a test of uniformity. In this article, we compare the power of Bingham and Gine tests of uniformity for some dimensions of the sphere, vs. a Bingham population or a mixture of Bingham populations.

Abstract
In order to assess the influence of social desirability in a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), 483 Portuguese university students (133 women and 350 men) were recruited to a two-part self-administered questionnaire: the first part included the Marlowe–Crowne Social Desirability Scale (M-CSDS), physical activity data and self-reported height and weight; the second part, a validated semiquantitative FFQ. All subjects completed the first part of the questionnaire but only 40.2% returned the FFQ fairly completed (no statistically significant differences were found between the two groups, for any of the variables studied). Statistical analysis included reliability and test–retest of M-CSDS, correlation and general linear model (GLM). The Cronbach's alpha of M-CSDS was 0.64 and a test–retest correlation of 0.80 was obtained in a subsample of 35 subjects who completed the scale twice. We found a significantly positive correlation between social desirability and vitamin E for women; when adjusted for physical activity, body mass index and energy, social desirability was positively correlated with vitamin E, magnesium and fibre for women; and vitamin C, magnesium and fibre, for men. In GLM, social desirability produced a significant upward bias in dietary fibre, sugars, ß-carotene, vitamins C, E, magnesium, potassium and iodine, for women; and in dietary fibre, pufa n-3, folate, vitamins C, E, magnesium, manganese and potassium, for men. In GLM, and for both genders, social desirability produced a significant upward bias in vegetable consumption. Moreover, social desirability produced for women a significant downward bias in white bread, onion and beer, and for men in biscuits. © 2017 Wiley.