Representation of Colour Concepts in Bilingual Cognition: The Case of Japanese Blues

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Athanasopoulos, Panos; Damjanovic, Ljubica; Krajciova, Andrea; Sasaki, Miho

2011-01-01

Previous studies demonstrate that lexical coding of colour influences categorical perception of colour, such that participants are more likely to rate two colours to be more similar if they belong to the same linguistic category (Roberson et al., 2000, 2005). Recent work shows changes in Greek-English bilinguals' perception of within and…

On Colour, Category Effects, and Alzheimer's Disease: A Critical Review of Studies and Further Longitudinal Evidence

PubMed Central

Moreno-Martínez, F. Javier; Rodríguez-Rojo, Inmaculada C.

2015-01-01

The role of colour in object recognition is controversial; in this study, a critical review of previous studies, as well as a longitudinal study, was conducted. We examined whether colour benefits the ability of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and normal controls (NC) when naming items differing in colour diagnosticity: living things (LT) versus nonliving things (NLT). Eleven AD patients were evaluated twice with a temporal interval of 3 years; 26 NC were tested once. The participants performed a naming task (colour and greyscale photographs); the impact of nuisance variables (NVs) and potential ceiling effects were also controlled. Our results showed that (i) colour slightly favoured processing of items with higher colour diagnosticity (i.e., LT) in both groups; (ii) AD patients used colour information similarly to NC, retaining this ability over time; (iii) NVs played a significant role as naming predictors in all the participants, relegating domain to a minor plane; and (iv) category effects (better processing of NLT) were present in both groups. Finally, although patients underwent semantic longitudinal impairment, this was independent of colour deterioration. This finding provides better support to the view that colour is effective at the visual rather than at the semantic level of object processing. PMID:26074675

On Colour, Category Effects, and Alzheimer's Disease: A Critical Review of Studies and Further Longitudinal Evidence.

PubMed

Moreno-Martínez, F Javier; Rodríguez-Rojo, Inmaculada C

2015-01-01

The role of colour in object recognition is controversial; in this study, a critical review of previous studies, as well as a longitudinal study, was conducted. We examined whether colour benefits the ability of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients and normal controls (NC) when naming items differing in colour diagnosticity: living things (LT) versus nonliving things (NLT). Eleven AD patients were evaluated twice with a temporal interval of 3 years; 26 NC were tested once. The participants performed a naming task (colour and greyscale photographs); the impact of nuisance variables (NVs) and potential ceiling effects were also controlled. Our results showed that (i) colour slightly favoured processing of items with higher colour diagnosticity (i.e., LT) in both groups; (ii) AD patients used colour information similarly to NC, retaining this ability over time; (iii) NVs played a significant role as naming predictors in all the participants, relegating domain to a minor plane; and (iv) category effects (better processing of NLT) were present in both groups. Finally, although patients underwent semantic longitudinal impairment, this was independent of colour deterioration. This finding provides better support to the view that colour is effective at the visual rather than at the semantic level of object processing.

Diagnostic value of commercially available shear-wave elastography for breast cancers: integration into BI-RADS classification with subcategories of category 4.

PubMed

Youk, Ji Hyun; Gweon, Hye Mi; Son, Eun Ju; Han, Kyung Hwa; Kim, Jeong-Ah

2013-10-01

To evaluate the diagnostic performance of shear-wave elastography (SWE) for breast cancer and to determine whether the integration of SWE into BI-RADS with subcategories of category 4 improves the diagnostic performance. A total of 389 breast masses (malignant 120, benign 269) in 324 women who underwent SWE before ultrasound-guided core biopsy or surgery were included. The qualitative SWE feature was assessed using a four-colour overlay pattern. Quantitative elasticity values including the lesion-to-fat elasticity ratio (Eratio) were measured. Diagnostic performance of B-mode ultrasound, SWE, or their combined studies was compared using the area under the ROC curve (AUC). AUC of Eratio (0.952) was the highest among elasticity values (mean, maximum, and minimum elasticity, 0.949, 0.939, and 0.928; P = 0.04) and AUC of colour pattern was 0.947. AUC of combined studies was significantly higher than for a single study (P < 0.0001). When adding SWE to category 4 lesions, lesions were dichotomised according to % of malignancy: 2.1 % vs. 43.2 % (category 4a) and 0 % vs. 100 % (category 4b) for Eratio and 2.4 % vs. 25.8 % (category 4a) for colour pattern (P < 0.05). Shear-wave elastography showed a good diagnostic performance. Adding SWE features to BI-RADS improved the diagnostic performance and may be helpful to stratify category 4 lesions. • Quantitative and qualitative shear-wave elastography provides further diagnostic information during breast ultrasound. • The elasticity ratio (E ratio ) showed the best diagnostic performance in SWE. • E ratio and four-colour overlay pattern significantly differed between benign and malignant lesions. • SWE features allowed further stratification of BI-RADS category 4 lesions.

Modelling memory colour region for preference colour reproduction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zeng, Huanzhao; Luo, Ronnier

2010-01-01

Colour preference adjustment is an essential step for colour image enhancement and perceptual gamut mapping. In colour reproduction for pictorial images, properly shifting colours away from their colorimetric originals may produce more preferred colour reproduction result. Memory colours, as a portion of the colour regions for colour preference adjustment, are especially important for preference colour reproduction. Identifying memory colours or modelling the memory colour region is a basic step to study preferred memory colour enhancement. In this study, we first created gamut for each memory colour region represented as a convex hull, and then used the convex hull to guide mathematical modelling to formulate the colour region for colour enhancement.

A behavioural investigation of human visual short term memory for colour.

PubMed

Nemes, V A; Parry, N R A; McKeefry, D J

2010-09-01

We examined visual short term memory (VSTM) for colour using a delayed-match-to-sample paradigm. In these experiments we measured the effects of increasing inter-stimulus interval (ISI), varying between 0 and 10 s, on the ability of five colour normal human observers to make colour matches between a reference and subsequently presented test stimuli. The coloured stimuli used were defined by different chromatic axes on the isoluminant plane of DKL colour space. In preliminary experiments we used a hue scaling procedure to identify a total of 12 colour stimuli which served as reference hues in the colour memory experiments: four stimuli were exemplars of red, green, blue and yellow colour appearance categories, four were located between these categories and a further four were located on the cardinal axes that isolated the activity of the cone-opponent mechanisms. Our results demonstrate that there is a reduction in the ability of observers to make accurate colour matches with increasing ISIs and that this reduced performance was similar for all colour stimuli. However, the shifts in hue that were measured between the reference and matched test stimuli were significantly greater for the cardinal stimuli compared to those measured for the stimuli defined by the hue scaling procedure. This deterioration in the retention of hue in VSTM for stimuli that isolate cone-opponent mechanisms may be a reflection of the reorganisation of colour processing that occurs in the cortex where colour appearance mechanisms become more prominent. © 2010 The Authors, Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics © 2010 The College of Optometrists.

Individual quality explains association between plumage colouration, arrival dates and mate acquisition in yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia).

PubMed

Jones, Teri B; Drake, Anna; Green, David J

2014-05-07

In many bird species colour traits influence social dominance and breeding success. In our study we first evaluated whether the colour of the basic plumage (tail feathers grown at the end of the breeding season), that provides an index of individual quality, influenced winter habitat use by yellow warblers. We then evaluated whether winter habitat use (inferred using δ13C and δ15N signatures of winter grown greater-coverts) influenced alternate plumage colouration, after controlling for individual quality using basic plumage colouration. Finally, we investigated whether basic and alternate plumage colouration influenced arrival dates, mate acquisition, breeding phenology and reproductive success of yellow warblers breeding in southern (Revelstoke, B.C.) and arctic (Inuvik, N.W.T.) Canada. The colour (chroma and hue) of tail feathers, grown on the breeding grounds, was not related to subsequent winter habitat use. Greater covert and tail feather colour (chroma and hue) were correlated, suggesting genetics and/or individual quality played a role in pigment deposition. After controlling for individual difference in tail colour, δ13C values did not explain any variation in greater covert colour, but birds with high δ15N signatures had greater coverts with higher chroma. Male arrival dates varied with tail chroma in Revelstoke and tail hue in Inuvik. Males that arrived early paired with older and/or more colourful mates that initiated clutches earlier, and at one site (Revelstoke) were more likely to fledge young. In addition, in Revelstoke (but not Inuvik) males with high tail hue also acquired more colourful mates. In contrast, after controlling for individual differences in tail colour, greater covert colour did not affect male arrival date, the quality of the mate obtained or reproductive success in either population. Our results suggest that plumage colour effects on breeding phenology and mate acquisition result from differences in the intrinsic quality of individuals rather than a carry-over effect of winter habitat use.

Individual quality explains association between plumage colouration, arrival dates and mate acquisition in yellow warblers (Setophaga petechia)

PubMed Central

2014-01-01

Background In many bird species colour traits influence social dominance and breeding success. In our study we first evaluated whether the colour of the basic plumage (tail feathers grown at the end of the breeding season), that provides an index of individual quality, influenced winter habitat use by yellow warblers. We then evaluated whether winter habitat use (inferred using δ13C and δ15N signatures of winter grown greater-coverts) influenced alternate plumage colouration, after controlling for individual quality using basic plumage colouration. Finally, we investigated whether basic and alternate plumage colouration influenced arrival dates, mate acquisition, breeding phenology and reproductive success of yellow warblers breeding in southern (Revelstoke, B.C.) and arctic (Inuvik, N.W.T.) Canada. Results The colour (chroma and hue) of tail feathers, grown on the breeding grounds, was not related to subsequent winter habitat use. Greater covert and tail feather colour (chroma and hue) were correlated, suggesting genetics and/or individual quality played a role in pigment deposition. After controlling for individual difference in tail colour, δ13C values did not explain any variation in greater covert colour, but birds with high δ15N signatures had greater coverts with higher chroma. Male arrival dates varied with tail chroma in Revelstoke and tail hue in Inuvik. Males that arrived early paired with older and/or more colourful mates that initiated clutches earlier, and at one site (Revelstoke) were more likely to fledge young. In addition, in Revelstoke (but not Inuvik) males with high tail hue also acquired more colourful mates. In contrast, after controlling for individual differences in tail colour, greater covert colour did not affect male arrival date, the quality of the mate obtained or reproductive success in either population. Conclusions Our results suggest that plumage colour effects on breeding phenology and mate acquisition result from differences in the intrinsic quality of individuals rather than a carry-over effect of winter habitat use. PMID:24886073

A developmental study of the acquisition of Russian colour terms.

PubMed

Davies, I R; Corbett, G G; McGurk, H; MacDermid, C

1998-06-01

We report a study of the acquisition of colour terms by Russian children which had two main aims: first, to test Berlin & Kay's (1969) theory of colour universals using acquisition order as a measure of basicness; and secondly, to see if the two BLUE terms of Russian are genuinely basic. Two hundred children aged from three to six-years-old were tested on three colour-tasks--colour term listing, colour term production and colour term comprehension. To a reasonable approximation, the order of colour term acquisition was in accord with Berlin & Kay's theory, but the data are also consistent with the weaker claim that primary terms tend to be learned before derived terms. On balance the data were consistent with Russian exceptionally, having an extra term for the BLUE region. But, the two BLUE terms--goluboj 'light blue' and sinij 'dark blue'--were confused more often than other pairs of terms even by the five- to six-year-old sample.

Evolution of colour vision in mammals.

PubMed

Jacobs, Gerald H

2009-10-12

Colour vision allows animals to reliably distinguish differences in the distributions of spectral energies reaching the eye. Although not universal, a capacity for colour vision is sufficiently widespread across the animal kingdom to provide prima facie evidence of its importance as a tool for analysing and interpreting the visual environment. The basic biological mechanisms on which vertebrate colour vision ultimately rests, the cone opsin genes and the photopigments they specify, are highly conserved. Within that constraint, however, the utilization of these basic elements varies in striking ways in that they appear, disappear and emerge in altered form during the course of evolution. These changes, along with other alterations in the visual system, have led to profound variations in the nature and salience of colour vision among the vertebrates. This article concerns the evolution of colour vision among the mammals, viewing that process in the context of relevant biological mechanisms, of variations in mammalian colour vision, and of the utility of colour vision.

Evolution of colour vision in mammals

PubMed Central

Jacobs, Gerald H.

2009-01-01

Colour vision allows animals to reliably distinguish differences in the distributions of spectral energies reaching the eye. Although not universal, a capacity for colour vision is sufficiently widespread across the animal kingdom to provide prima facie evidence of its importance as a tool for analysing and interpreting the visual environment. The basic biological mechanisms on which vertebrate colour vision ultimately rests, the cone opsin genes and the photopigments they specify, are highly conserved. Within that constraint, however, the utilization of these basic elements varies in striking ways in that they appear, disappear and emerge in altered form during the course of evolution. These changes, along with other alterations in the visual system, have led to profound variations in the nature and salience of colour vision among the vertebrates. This article concerns the evolution of colour vision among the mammals, viewing that process in the context of relevant biological mechanisms, of variations in mammalian colour vision, and of the utility of colour vision. PMID:19720656

Exposure estimate for FD&C colour additives for the US population.

PubMed

Doell, Diana L; Folmer, Daniel E; Lee, Hyoung S; Butts, Kyla M; Carberry, Susan E

2016-05-01

Dietary exposures to the seven food, drug, and cosmetic (FD&C) colour additives that are approved for general use in food in the United States were estimated for the US population (aged 2 years and older), children (aged 2-5 years) and teenage boys (aged 13-18 years) based on analytical levels of the FD&C colour additives in foods. Approximately 600 foods were chosen for analysis, based on a survey of product labels, for the levels of FD&C colour additives. Dietary exposure was estimated using both 2-day food consumption data from the combined 2007-10 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and 10-14-day food consumption data from the 2007-10 NPD Group, Inc. National Eating Trends - Nutrient Intake Database (NPD NET-NID). Dietary exposure was estimated at the mean and 90th percentile using three different exposure scenarios: low exposure, average exposure and high exposure, to account for the range in the amount of each FD&C colour additive for a given food. For all populations and all exposure scenarios, the highest cumulative eaters-only exposures in food were determined for FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5 and FD&C Yellow No. 6. In addition, the eaters-only exposure was estimated for individual food categories in order to determine which food categories contributed the most to the exposure for each FD&C colour additive. Breakfast Cereal, Juice Drinks, Soft Drinks, and Frozen Dairy Desserts/Sherbet (also referred to as Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt, Sherbet (including Bars, Sticks, Sandwiches)) were the major contributing food categories to exposure for multiple FD&C colour additives for all three populations.

Exposure estimate for FD&C colour additives for the US population

PubMed Central

Folmer, Daniel E.; Lee, Hyoung S.; Butts, Kyla M.; Carberry, Susan E.

2016-01-01

Dietary exposures to the seven food, drug, and cosmetic (FD&C) colour additives that are approved for general use in food in the United States were estimated for the US population (aged 2 years and older), children (aged 2–5 years) and teenage boys (aged 13–18 years) based on analytical levels of the FD&C colour additives in foods. Approximately 600 foods were chosen for analysis, based on a survey of product labels, for the levels of FD&C colour additives. Dietary exposure was estimated using both 2-day food consumption data from the combined 2007–10 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) and 10–14-day food consumption data from the 2007–10 NPD Group, Inc. National Eating Trends – Nutrient Intake Database (NPD NET-NID). Dietary exposure was estimated at the mean and 90th percentile using three different exposure scenarios: low exposure, average exposure and high exposure, to account for the range in the amount of each FD&C colour additive for a given food. For all populations and all exposure scenarios, the highest cumulative eaters-only exposures in food were determined for FD&C Red No. 40, FD&C Yellow No. 5 and FD&C Yellow No. 6. In addition, the eaters-only exposure was estimated for individual food categories in order to determine which food categories contributed the most to the exposure for each FD&C colour additive. Breakfast Cereal, Juice Drinks, Soft Drinks, and Frozen Dairy Desserts/Sherbet (also referred to as Ice Cream, Frozen Yogurt, Sherbet (including Bars, Sticks, Sandwiches)) were the major contributing food categories to exposure for multiple FD&C colour additives for all three populations. PMID:27092991

The meaning of colours in nutrition labelling in the context of expert and consumer criteria of evaluating food product healthfulness.

PubMed

Wąsowicz, Grażyna; Styśko-Kunkowska, Małgorzata; Grunert, Klaus G

2015-06-01

Qualitative and quantitative studies were conducted to explore the effect of front-of-pack nutrition labels on the perceived healthfulness of food products. Consumers were found to hold beliefs about colours and their fit to product categories that influence the assessment process. Consumers associate certain colours with product healthfulness. Yellow, blue, green and red were found to be evocative of health. Heather, pink and celadon suggested an artificial thus unhealthful product. The impact of labels on healthfulness assessment was observed only in the unhealthful category. The findings show the complexity of psychological processes in the perception of food healthfulness. © The Author(s) 2015.

Comparative study of qualitative and quantitative methods to determine toxicity level of Aspergillus flavus isolates in maize.

PubMed

Shekhar, Meena; Singh, Nirupma; Dutta, Ram; Kumar, Shrvan; Mahajan, Vinay

2017-01-01

An attempt was made to compare between easy and inexpensive qualitative method (ammonia vapour test) and analytical methods (thin layer chromatography and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay) for identification of aflatoxigenic isolates of Aspergillus flavus in maize. In this comparative study the toxicity level of A. flavus isolates exhibited 100% agreement among ammonia vapour test, ELISA and TLC for highly toxigenic (>2000 ppb) and toxigenic (501-2000 ppb) isolates while 88.5% agreement observed for least toxic (<20 ppb) isolates. In ammonia vapour test 51% of A. flavus isolates showed creamish or no colour change corresponding to least toxic/atoxic (<20ppb) category estimated by ELISA. Similarly 22% highly toxic isolates exhibited plum red colour, 12% moderately toxic indicated pink colour and 10% toxic isolates showed red colour. However, 11.5% isolates were found to be false positive in cream colour category (least toxic) and 28.5% false negatives in pink colour (moderately toxic) category. The isolates from different agroclimatic zones of maize in India showed high variability for aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) production potential ranging from 0.214-8116.61 ppb. Toxigenic potential of Aspergillus flavus isolates in culture was further validated by inoculating maize grain sample with four different isolates with varied toxin producing ability. With good agreement percentage between cultural and analytical methods the study concludes the ammonia vapour test to be easy, inexpensive, reliable and time saving method that can be used for segregating or pre-screening of contaminated samples from bulk food/feed stock.

The Impact of Colour, Spatial Resolution, and Presentation Speed on Category Naming

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Laws, Keith R.; Hunter, Maria Z.

2006-01-01

Studies of neurological patients with category-specific agnosia have provided important contributions to our understanding of object recognition, although the meaning of such disorders is still hotly debated. One crucial line of research for our understanding of category effects, is through the examination of category biases in healthy normal…

Determinants of Colour Constancy and the Blue Bias

PubMed Central

Gegenfurtner, Karl

2017-01-01

We investigated several sensory and cognitive determinants of colour constancy across 40 illumination hues. In the first experiment, we measured colour naming for the illumination and for the colour induced by the illumination on the colorimetric grey. Results confirmed that the induced colours are approximately complementary to the colour of the illumination. In the second experiment, we measured colour constancy using achromatic adjustments. Average colour constancy was perfect under the blue daylight illumination and decreased in colour directions away from the blue daylight illumination due to undershooting and a strong blue bias. Apart from this blue bias, colour constancy was not related to illumination discrimination and to chromatic detection measured previously with the same setup and stimuli. We also observed a strong negative relationship between the degree of colour constancy and the consensus of naming the illumination colour. Constancy coincided with a low naming consensus, in particular because bluish illumination colours were sometimes seen as achromatic. Blue bias and category consensus alone explained >68%, and all determinants together explained >94% of the variance of achromatic adjustments. These findings suggest that colour constancy is optimised for blue daylight. PMID:29348910

Interactions between colour and synaesthetic colour: an effect of simultaneous colour contrast on synaesthetic colours.

PubMed

Nijboer, Tanja C W; Gebuis, Titia; te Pas, Susan F; van der Smagt, Maarten J

2011-01-01

We investigated whether simultaneous colour contrast affects the synaesthetic colour experience and normal colour percept in a similar manner. We simultaneously presented a target stimulus (i.e. grapheme) and a reference stimulus (i.e. hash). Either the grapheme or the hash was presented on a saturated background of the same or opposite colour category as the synaesthetic colour and the other stimulus on a grey background. In both conditions, grapheme-colour synaesthetes were asked to colour the hash in a colour similar to the synaesthetic colour of the grapheme. Controls that were pair-matched to the synaesthetes performed the same experiment, but for them, the grapheme was presented in the colour induced by the grapheme in synaesthetes. When graphemes were presented on a grey and the hash on a coloured background, a traditional simultaneous colour-contrast effect was found for controls as well as synaesthetes. When graphemes were presented on colour and the hash on grey, the controls again showed a traditional simultaneous colour-contrast effect, whereas the synaesthetes showed the opposite effect. Our results show that synaesthetic colour experiences differ from normal colour perception; both are susceptible to different surrounding colours, but not in a comparable manner. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

On the biology of Tropidurus delanonis, Baur (Iguanidae).

PubMed

Werner, D I

1978-08-01

A field study of Tropidurus delanonis was carried out on an uninhabited island (Hood) of the Galapagos Archipelago over 18 months. The purpose of the study is to show the interrelation between social structure, behaviour and ecological aspects of the iguanid lizard Tropidurus delanonis. Five lizard categories are distinguished and the interrelation between colouration type and behaviour is shown. Data are given on population structure, composition and flexibility, reproductive cycle, clutch size, ontogeny and changes in colouration and behaviour. Detailed maps show the distribution of female and male territories and the area occupied by those male male that attempt to acquire a territory. The biomass is calculated for all categories in resect to total area available and to favorable and unfavorable areas within the observation area. The significance of various colouration types was tested experimentally.

Semantic word category processing in semantic dementia and posterior cortical atrophy.

PubMed

Shebani, Zubaida; Patterson, Karalyn; Nestor, Peter J; Diaz-de-Grenu, Lara Z; Dawson, Kate; Pulvermüller, Friedemann

2017-08-01

There is general agreement that perisylvian language cortex plays a major role in lexical and semantic processing; but the contribution of additional, more widespread, brain areas in the processing of different semantic word categories remains controversial. We investigated word processing in two groups of patients whose neurodegenerative diseases preferentially affect specific parts of the brain, to determine whether their performance would vary as a function of semantic categories proposed to recruit those brain regions. Cohorts with (i) Semantic Dementia (SD), who have anterior temporal-lobe atrophy, and (ii) Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA), who have predominantly parieto-occipital atrophy, performed a lexical decision test on words from five different lexico-semantic categories: colour (e.g., yellow), form (oval), number (seven), spatial prepositions (under) and function words (also). Sets of pseudo-word foils matched the target words in length and bi-/tri-gram frequency. Word-frequency was matched between the two visual word categories (colour and form) and across the three other categories (number, prepositions, and function words). Age-matched healthy individuals served as controls. Although broad word processing deficits were apparent in both patient groups, the deficit was strongest for colour words in SD and for spatial prepositions in PCA. The patterns of performance on the lexical decision task demonstrate (a) general lexicosemantic processing deficits in both groups, though more prominent in SD than in PCA, and (b) differential involvement of anterior-temporal and posterior-parietal cortex in the processing of specific semantic categories of words. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Category-contingent face adaptation for novel colour categories: Contingent effects are seen only after social or meaningful labelling.

PubMed

Little, Anthony C; DeBruine, Lisa M; Jones, Benedict C

2011-01-01

A face appears normal when it approximates the average of a population. Consequently, exposure to faces biases perceptions of subsequently viewed faces such that faces similar to those recently seen are perceived as more normal. Simultaneously inducing such aftereffects in opposite directions for two groups of faces indicates somewhat discrete representations for those groups. Here we examine how labelling influences the perception of category in faces differing in colour. We show category-contingent aftereffects following exposure to faces differing in eye spacing (wide versus narrow) for blue versus red faces when such groups are consistently labelled with socially meaningful labels (Extravert versus Introvert; Soldier versus Builder). Category-contingent aftereffects were not seen using identical methodology when labels were not meaningful or were absent. These data suggest that human representations of faces can be rapidly tuned to code for meaningful social categories and that such tuning requires both a label and an associated visual difference. Results highlight the flexibility of the cognitive visual system to discriminate categories even in adulthood. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Colour evaluation in scars: tristimulus colorimeter, narrow-band simple reflectance meter or subjective evaluation?

PubMed

Draaijers, Lieneke J; Tempelman, Fenike R H; Botman, Yvonne A M; Kreis, Robert W; Middelkoop, Esther; van Zuijlen, Paul P M

2004-03-01

The evaluation of scar colour is, at present, usually limited to an assessment according to a scar assessment scale. Although useful, these assessment scales only evaluate subjectively the degree of scar colour. In this study, the reliability of the subjective assessment of scar colour by observers is compared to the reliability of the measurements of two objective colour measurement instruments. Four independent observers subjectively assessed the vascularisation and pigmentation of 49 scar areas in 20 patients. The degree of vascularisation and pigmentation was scored according to a scale ranging from '1', when it appeared to be like healthy skin, to '10', which corresponds to the worst imaginable outcome of vascularisation or pigmentation. The observers also scored the pigmentation categories of the scar (hypopigmention, hyperpigmention or mixed pigmentation). Finally, each observer measured the scar areas with a tristimulus colorimeter (Minolta Chromameter) and a narrow-band simple reflectance meter (DermaSpectrometer). A single observer could reliably carry out measurements of the DermaSpectrometer and the Minolta Chromameter for the evaluation of scar colour (r = 0.72). The vascularisation of scars could also be assessed reliably with a single observer (r = 0.76) whereas for a reliable assessment of pigmentation at least three observers were necessary (r > or = 0.77). The agreement between the observers for the pigmentation categories also turned out to be unacceptably low (k = 0.349). This study shows that an overall evaluation of scar colour with the DermaSpectrometer and the Minolta Chromameter is more reliable than the evaluation of scar colour with observers. Of both instruments for measuring scar colour, we prefer, because of its feasibility, the DermaSpectrometer.

Influence of drug colour on perceived drug effects and efficacy.

PubMed

Tao, Da; Wang, Tieyan; Wang, Tieshan; Qu, Xingda

2018-02-01

A drug's physical characteristics, such as colour, could be factors influencing its therapeutic effects. It is not well understood whether people's expectations on drug effects and efficacy are affected by colour, especially among Chinese population. This study was conducted to examine people's expectations on drug effects and efficacy on the basis of drug colour, and to reveal possible gender differences in colour-related drug expectations. Participants (n = 224) were asked to classify seven single-coloured and six two-coloured capsules into one of four categories of drug effects, and to indicate the strength of drug efficacy. It is found that all the coloured capsules yielded non-chance distributions in classifications of drug effects, with six single-coloured and four two-coloured capsules associated with specific drug effects. Colour also conveyed differential strengths of drug efficacy in general and in relation to specific drug effects. There were gender differences in drug expectations for some colours and colour combinations. Practitioner Summary: Drug colour was found to have impacts on perceived drug effects and efficacy. The findings from the present study can be used by ergonomics practitioners to design appropriate drug colours in support of drug differentiation, therapeutic effects and medication adherence.

Effect of between-category similarity on basic-level superiority in pigeons

PubMed Central

Lazareva, Olga F.; Soto, Fabián A.; Wasserman, Edward A.

2010-01-01

Children categorize stimuli at the basic level faster than at the superordinate level. We hypothesized that between-category similarity may affect this basic-level superiority effect. Dissimilar categories may be easy to distinguish at the basic level but be difficult to group at the superordinate level, whereas similar categories may be easy to group at the superordinate level but be difficult to distinguish at the basic level. Consequently, similar basic-level categories may produce a superordinate-before-basic learning trend, whereas dissimilar basic-level categories may result in a basic-before-superordinate learning trend. We tested this hypothesis in pigeons by constructing superordinate-level categories out of basic-level categories with known similarity. In Experiment 1, we experimentally evaluated the between-category similarity of four basic-level photographic categories using multiple fixed interval-extinction training (Astley & Wasserman, 1992). We used the resultant similarity matrices in Experiment 2 to construct two superordinate-level categories from basic-level categories with high between-category similarity (cars and persons; chairs and flowers). We then trained pigeons to concurrently classify those photographs into either the proper basic-level category or the proper superordinate-level category. Under these conditions, the pigeons learned the superordinate-level discrimination faster than the basic-level discrimination, confirming our hypothesis that basic-level superiority is affected by between-category similarity. PMID:20600696

The Colour of Words.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Farrar, Bernice Lever

Students from the ages of 13 or 14 onward need to know the "colours of words" which can let them live fully in the rainbow of life, thus eliminating student fears associated with written language and of being pawns of those who have the power of words, especially written words. Colour coding the eight basic types of work that words can…

Semantically Induced Distortions of Visual Awareness in a Patient with Balint's Syndrome

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Soto, David; Humphreys, Glyn W.

2009-01-01

We present data indicating that visual awareness for a basic perceptual feature (colour) can be influenced by the relation between the feature and the semantic properties of the stimulus. We examined semantic interference from the meaning of a colour word ("RED") on simple colour (ink related) detection responses in a patient with simultagnosia…

Plasmonic colour generation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kristensen, Anders; Yang, Joel K. W.; Bozhevolnyi, Sergey I.; Link, Stephan; Nordlander, Peter; Halas, Naomi J.; Mortensen, N. Asger

2017-01-01

Plasmonic colours are structural colours that emerge from resonant interactions between light and metallic nanostructures. The engineering of plasmonic colours is a promising, rapidly emerging research field that could have a large technological impact. We highlight basic properties of plasmonic colours and recent nanofabrication developments, comparing technology-performance indicators for traditional and nanophotonic colour technologies. The structures of interest include diffraction gratings, nanoaperture arrays, thin films, and multilayers and structures that support Mie resonances and whispering-gallery modes. We discuss plasmonic colour nanotechnology based on localized surface plasmon resonances, such as gap plasmons and hybridized disk-hole plasmons, which allow for colour printing with sub-diffraction resolution. We also address a range of fabrication approaches that enable large-area printing and nanoscale lithography compatible with complementary metal-oxide semiconductor technologies, including nanoimprint lithography and self-assembly. Finally, we review recent developments in dynamically reconfigurable plasmonic colours and in the laser-induced post-processing of plasmonic colour surfaces.

Clinical colour vision tests.

PubMed

Dain, Stephen J

2004-07-01

The structure and function of the available and significant clinical colour vision tests are reviewed in the light of the needs in the clinical examination of congenital and acquired colour vision deficiencies. The tests are grouped and described as pseudo-isochromatic plates, arrangement tests, matching tests and vocational tests. The colorimetric constructions of the test types are described and the efficiency of their performance and usefulness discussed. Recommendations are made for basic and extended test batteries, when examining of congenital and acquired colour vision deficiencies in the consulting room.

IRIS COLOUR CLASSIFICATION SCALES – THEN AND NOW

PubMed Central

Grigore, Mariana; Avram, Alina

2015-01-01

Eye colour is one of the most obvious phenotypic traits of an individual. Since the first documented classification scale developed in 1843, there have been numerous attempts to classify the iris colour. In the past centuries, iris colour classification scales has had various colour categories and mostly relied on comparison of an individual’s eye with painted glass eyes. Once photography techniques were refined, standard iris photographs replaced painted eyes, but this did not solve the problem of painted/ printed colour variability in time. Early clinical scales were easy to use, but lacked objectivity and were not standardised or statistically tested for reproducibility. The era of automated iris colour classification systems came with the technological development. Spectrophotometry, digital analysis of high-resolution iris images, hyper spectral analysis of the human real iris and the dedicated iris colour analysis software, all accomplished an objective, accurate iris colour classification, but are quite expensive and limited in use to research environment. Iris colour classification systems evolved continuously due to their use in a wide range of studies, especially in the fields of anthropology, epidemiology and genetics. Despite the wide range of the existing scales, up until present there has been no generally accepted iris colour classification scale. PMID:27373112

IRIS COLOUR CLASSIFICATION SCALES--THEN AND NOW.

PubMed

Grigore, Mariana; Avram, Alina

2015-01-01

Eye colour is one of the most obvious phenotypic traits of an individual. Since the first documented classification scale developed in 1843, there have been numerous attempts to classify the iris colour. In the past centuries, iris colour classification scales has had various colour categories and mostly relied on comparison of an individual's eye with painted glass eyes. Once photography techniques were refined, standard iris photographs replaced painted eyes, but this did not solve the problem of painted/ printed colour variability in time. Early clinical scales were easy to use, but lacked objectivity and were not standardised or statistically tested for reproducibility. The era of automated iris colour classification systems came with the technological development. Spectrophotometry, digital analysis of high-resolution iris images, hyper spectral analysis of the human real iris and the dedicated iris colour analysis software, all accomplished an objective, accurate iris colour classification, but are quite expensive and limited in use to research environment. Iris colour classification systems evolved continuously due to their use in a wide range of studies, especially in the fields of anthropology, epidemiology and genetics. Despite the wide range of the existing scales, up until present there has been no generally accepted iris colour classification scale.

Colour in digital pathology: a review.

PubMed

Clarke, Emily L; Treanor, Darren

2017-01-01

Colour is central to the practice of pathology because of the use of coloured histochemical and immunohistochemical stains to visualize tissue features. Our reliance upon histochemical stains and light microscopy has evolved alongside a wide variation in slide colour, with little investigation into the implications of colour variation. However, the introduction of the digital microscope and whole-slide imaging has highlighted the need for further understanding and control of colour. This is because the digitization process itself introduces further colour variation which may affect diagnosis, and image analysis algorithms often use colour or intensity measures to detect or measure tissue features. The US Food and Drug Administration have released recent guidance stating the need to develop a method of controlling colour reproduction throughout the digitization process in whole-slide imaging for primary diagnostic use. This comprehensive review introduces applied basic colour physics and colour interpretation by the human visual system, before discussing the importance of colour in pathology. The process of colour calibration and its application to pathology are also included, as well as a summary of the current guidelines and recommendations regarding colour in digital pathology. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Sealant retention is better assessed through colour photographs than through the replica and the visual examination methods.

PubMed

Hu, Xuan; Fan, Mingwan; Rong, Wensheng; Lo, Edward C M; Bronkhorst, Ewald; Frencken, Jo E

2014-08-01

The aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that the colour photograph method has a higher level of validity for assessing sealant retention than the visual clinical examination and replica methods. Sealed molars were assessed by two evaluators. The scores for the three methods were compared against consensus scores derived through assessing retention from scanning electron microscopy images (reference standard). The presence/absence (survival) of retained sealants on occlusal surfaces was determined according to the traditional and modified categorizations of retention. Sensitivity, specificity, and Youden-index scores were calculated. Sealant retention assessment scores for visual clinical examinations and for colour photographs were compared with those of the reference standard on 95 surfaces, and sealant retention assessment scores for replicas were compared with those of the reference standard on 33 surfaces. The highest mean Youden-index score for the presence/absence of sealant material was observed for the colour photograph method, followed by that for the replica method; the visual clinical examination method scored lowest. The mean Youden-index score for the survival of retained sealants was highest for the colour photograph method for both the traditional (0.882) and the modified (0.768) categories of sealant retention, whilst the visual clinical examination method had the lowest Youden-index score for these categories (0.745 and 0.063, respectively). The colour photograph method had a higher validity than the replica and the visual examination methods for assessing sealant retention. © 2014 Eur J Oral Sci.

Does Maintenance of Colour Categories Rely on Language? Evidence to the Contrary from a Case of Semantic Dementia

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Haslam, C.; Wills, A. J.; Haslam, S. A.; Kay, J.; Baron, R.; McNab, F.

2007-01-01

Recent neuropsychological evidence, supporting a strong version of Whorfian principles of linguistic relativity, has reinvigorated debate about the role of language in colour categorisation. This paper questions the methodology used in this research and uses a novel approach to examine the unique contribution of language to categorisation…

From "Race-Consciousness" to "Colour-Consciousness"

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Le Grange, L.

2010-01-01

At the heart of the discussion in this special issue on race and affirmative action is the issue of whether race should be used as a category in admissions policies of South African universities. In my contribution I shall argue that there are no races. By race I mean the idea that skin colour (or other phenotypical features) associated with…

Hsp70 and lipid peroxide levels following heat stress in Xeropicta derbentina (Krynicki 1836) (Gastropoda, Pulmonata) with regard to different colour morphs.

PubMed

Dieterich, A; Troschinski, S; Schwarz, S; Di Lellis, M A; Henneberg, A; Fischbach, U; Ludwig, M; Gärtner, U; Triebskorn, R; Köhler, H-R

2015-01-01

Terrestrial snails which live under dry and hot conditions need efficient mechanisms of adaptation to counteract the problems of desiccation and over-heating. A profoundly heat tolerant snail species is the Mediterranean Xeropicta derbentina, exhibiting different shell colour morphs ranging from pale white to darkly banded. Considering that dark-pigmented snails are believed to have a disadvantage due to faster heating, we investigated possible differences in the stress markers Hsp70 and lipid peroxideation between four pre-defined colour morphs which were exposed to different temperatures for eight hours. The highest Hsp70 levels were observed in response to 38-40 °C. Levels decreased when this temperature was exceeded. Snails of a pre-defined colour category 3 (with a large black band at the umbilicus side of the shell) showed the most prominent Hsp70 response. Lipid peroxideation levels also showed a maximum at 38 °C but displayed a second peak at rather high temperatures at which the Hsp70 level already had decreased (45-48 °C). Particularly pure white snails (category 1) and the most pigmented ones (category 4) were found to have different levels of lipid peroxidation at 38 °C and 45 °C compared to the other morphs. A hypothesis involving a combined two-phase defence mechanism, to which both, the Hsp70 protection system and the antioxidant defence system, may contribute, is discussed.

Colour thresholding and objective quantification in bioimaging

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Fermin, C. D.; Gerber, M. A.; Torre-Bueno, J. R.

1992-01-01

Computer imaging is rapidly becoming an indispensable tool for the quantification of variables in research and medicine. Whilst its use in medicine has largely been limited to qualitative observations, imaging in applied basic sciences, medical research and biotechnology demands objective quantification of the variables in question. In black and white densitometry (0-256 levels of intensity) the separation of subtle differences between closely related hues from stains is sometimes very difficult. True-colour and real-time video microscopy analysis offer choices not previously available with monochrome systems. In this paper we demonstrate the usefulness of colour thresholding, which has so far proven indispensable for proper objective quantification of the products of histochemical reactions and/or subtle differences in tissue and cells. In addition, we provide interested, but untrained readers with basic information that may assist decisions regarding the most suitable set-up for a project under consideration. Data from projects in progress at Tulane are shown to illustrate the advantage of colour thresholding over monochrome densitometry and for objective quantification of subtle colour differences between experimental and control samples.

Semantically induced distortions of visual awareness in a patient with Balint's syndrome.

PubMed

Soto, David; Humphreys, Glyn W

2009-02-01

We present data indicating that visual awareness for a basic perceptual feature (colour) can be influenced by the relation between the feature and the semantic properties of the stimulus. We examined semantic interference from the meaning of a colour word (''RED") on simple colour (ink related) detection responses in a patient with simultagnosia due to bilateral parietal lesions. We found that colour detection was influenced by the congruency between the meaning of the word and the relevant ink colour, with impaired performance when the word and the colour mismatched (on incongruent trials). This result held even when remote associations between meaning and colour were used (i.e. the word ''PEA" influenced detection of the ink colour red). The results are consistent with a late locus of conscious visual experience that is derived at post-semantic levels. The implications for the understanding of the role of parietal cortex in object binding and visual awareness are discussed.

Global skin colour prediction from DNA.

PubMed

Walsh, Susan; Chaitanya, Lakshmi; Breslin, Krystal; Muralidharan, Charanya; Bronikowska, Agnieszka; Pospiech, Ewelina; Koller, Julia; Kovatsi, Leda; Wollstein, Andreas; Branicki, Wojciech; Liu, Fan; Kayser, Manfred

2017-07-01

Human skin colour is highly heritable and externally visible with relevance in medical, forensic, and anthropological genetics. Although eye and hair colour can already be predicted with high accuracies from small sets of carefully selected DNA markers, knowledge about the genetic predictability of skin colour is limited. Here, we investigate the skin colour predictive value of 77 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from 37 genetic loci previously associated with human pigmentation using 2025 individuals from 31 global populations. We identified a minimal set of 36 highly informative skin colour predictive SNPs and developed a statistical prediction model capable of skin colour prediction on a global scale. Average cross-validated prediction accuracies expressed as area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) ± standard deviation were 0.97 ± 0.02 for Light, 0.83 ± 0.11 for Dark, and 0.96 ± 0.03 for Dark-Black. When using a 5-category, this resulted in 0.74 ± 0.05 for Very Pale, 0.72 ± 0.03 for Pale, 0.73 ± 0.03 for Intermediate, 0.87±0.1 for Dark, and 0.97 ± 0.03 for Dark-Black. A comparative analysis in 194 independent samples from 17 populations demonstrated that our model outperformed a previously proposed 10-SNP-classifier approach with AUCs rising from 0.79 to 0.82 for White, comparable at the intermediate level of 0.63 and 0.62, respectively, and a large increase from 0.64 to 0.92 for Black. Overall, this study demonstrates that the chosen DNA markers and prediction model, particularly the 5-category level; allow skin colour predictions within and between continental regions for the first time, which will serve as a valuable resource for future applications in forensic and anthropologic genetics.

Categorical Perception of Colour in the Left and Right Visual Field Is Verbally Mediated: Evidence from Korean

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Roberson, Debi; Pak, Hyensou; Hanley, J. Richard

2008-01-01

In this study we demonstrate that Korean (but not English) speakers show Categorical perception (CP) on a visual search task for a boundary between two Korean colour categories that is not marked in English. These effects were observed regardless of whether target items were presented to the left or right visual field. Because this boundary is…

The role of skin colour in face recognition.

PubMed

Bar-Haim, Yair; Saidel, Talia; Yovel, Galit

2009-01-01

People have better memory for faces from their own racial group than for faces from other races. It has been suggested that this own-race recognition advantage depends on an initial categorisation of faces into own and other race based on racial markers, resulting in poorer encoding of individual variations in other-race faces. Here, we used a study--test recognition task with stimuli in which the skin colour of African and Caucasian faces was manipulated to produce four categories representing the cross-section between skin colour and facial features. We show that, despite the notion that skin colour plays a major role in categorising faces into own and other-race faces, its effect on face recognition is minor relative to differences across races in facial features.

Tests of commercial colour CMOS cameras for astronomical applications

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pokhvala, S. M.; Reshetnyk, V. M.; Zhilyaev, B. E.

2013-12-01

We present some results of testing commercial colour CMOS cameras for astronomical applications. Colour CMOS sensors allow to perform photometry in three filters simultaneously that gives a great advantage compared with monochrome CCD detectors. The Bayer BGR colour system realized in colour CMOS sensors is close to the astronomical Johnson BVR system. The basic camera characteristics: read noise (e^{-}/pix), thermal noise (e^{-}/pix/sec) and electronic gain (e^{-}/ADU) for the commercial digital camera Canon 5D MarkIII are presented. We give the same characteristics for the scientific high performance cooled CCD camera system ALTA E47. Comparing results for tests of Canon 5D MarkIII and CCD ALTA E47 show that present-day commercial colour CMOS cameras can seriously compete with the scientific CCD cameras in deep astronomical imaging.

Memory colours and colour quality evaluation of conventional and solid-state lamps.

PubMed

Smet, Kevin A G; Ryckaert, Wouter R; Pointer, Michael R; Deconinck, Geert; Hanselaer, Peter

2010-12-06

A colour quality metric based on memory colours is presented. The basic idea is simple. The colour quality of a test source is evaluated as the degree of similarity between the colour appearance of a set of familiar objects and their memory colours. The closer the match, the better the colour quality. This similarity was quantified using a set of similarity distributions obtained by Smet et al. in a previous study. The metric was validated by calculating the Pearson and Spearman correlation coefficients between the metric predictions and the visual appreciation results obtained in a validation experiment conducted by the authors as well those obtained in two independent studies. The metric was found to correlate well with the visual appreciation of the lighting quality of the sources used in the three experiments. Its performance was also compared with that of the CIE colour rendering index and the NIST colour quality scale. For all three experiments, the metric was found to be significantly better at predicting the correct visual rank order of the light sources (p < 0.1).

Identification of flavonoids and expression of flavonoid biosynthetic genes in two coloured tree peony flowers.

PubMed

Zhao, Daqiu; Tang, Wenhui; Hao, Zhaojun; Tao, Jun

2015-04-10

Tree peony (Paeonia suffruticosa Andr.) has been named the "king of flowers" because of its elegant and gorgeous flower colour. Among these colours, the molecular mechanisms of white formation and how white turned to red in P. suffruticosa is little known. In this study, flower colour variables, flavonoid accumulation and expression of flavonoid biosynthetic genes of white ('Xueta') and red ('Caihui') P. suffruticosa were investigated. The results showed that the flower colours of both cultivars were gradually deepened with the development of flowers. Moreover, two anthoxanthin compositions apigenin 7-O-glucoside together with apigenin deoxyheso-hexoside were identified in 'Xueta' and 'Caihui', but one main anthocyanin composition peonidin 3,5-di-O-glucoside (Pn3G5G) was only found in 'Caihui'. Total contents of anthocyanins in 'Caihui' was increased during flower development, and the same trend was presented in anthoxanthins and flavonoids of these two cultivars, but the contents of these two category flavonoid in 'Caihui' were always higher than those in 'Xueta'. Furthermore, nine structural genes in flavonoid biosynthetic pathway were isolated including the full-length cDNAs of phenylalanine ammonialyase gene (PAL), chalcone synthase gene (CHS) and chalcone isomerase gene (CHI), together with the partial-length cDNAs of flavanone 3-hydroxylase gene (F3H), flavonoid 3'-hydroxylase gene (F3'H), dihydroflavonol 4-reductase gene (DFR), anthocyanidin synthase gene (ANS), UDP-glucose: flavonoid 3-O-glucosyltransferase gene (UF3GT) and UDP-glucose: flavonoid 5-O-glucosyltransferase gene (UF5GT), and PAL, UF3GT and UF5GT were reported in P. suffruticosa for the first time. Their expression patterns showed that transcription levels of downstream genes in 'Caihui' were basically higher than those in 'Xueta', especially PsDFR and PsANS, suggesting that these two genes may play a key role in the anthocyanin biosynthesis which resulted in the shift from white to red in flowers. These results would provide a better understanding of the underlying molecular mechanisms of flower pigmentation in P. suffruticosa. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The effect of polyploidy and hybridization on the evolution of floral colour in Nicotiana (Solanaceae)

PubMed Central

McCarthy, Elizabeth W.; Arnold, Sarah E. J.; Chittka, Lars; Le Comber, Steven C.; Verity, Robert; Dodsworth, Steven; Knapp, Sandra; Kelly, Laura J.; Chase, Mark W.; Baldwin, Ian T.; Kovařík, Aleš; Mhiri, Corinne; Taylor, Lin; Leitch, Andrew R.

2015-01-01

Background and Aims Speciation in angiosperms can be accompanied by changes in floral colour that may influence pollinator preference and reproductive isolation. This study investigates whether changes in floral colour can accompany polyploid and homoploid hybridization, important processes in angiosperm evolution. Methods Spectral reflectance of corolla tissue was examined for 60 Nicotiana (Solanaceae) accessions (41 taxa) based on spectral shape (corresponding to pigmentation) as well as bee and hummingbird colour perception in order to assess patterns of floral colour evolution. Polyploid and homoploid hybrid spectra were compared with those of their progenitors to evaluate whether hybridization has resulted in floral colour shifts. Key Results Floral colour categories in Nicotiana seem to have arisen multiple times independently during the evolution of the genus. Most younger polyploids displayed an unexpected floral colour, considering those of their progenitors, in the colour perception of at least one pollinator type, whereas older polyploids tended to resemble one or both of their progenitors. Conclusions Floral colour evolution in Nicotiana is weakly constrained by phylogeny, and colour shifts do occur in association with both polyploid and homoploid hybrid divergence. Transgressive floral colour in N. tabacum has arisen by inheritance of anthocyanin pigmentation from its paternal progenitor while having a plastid phenotype like its maternal progenitor. Potentially, floral colour evolution has been driven by, or resulted in, pollinator shifts. However, those polyploids that are not sympatric (on a regional scale) with their progenitor lineages are typically not divergent in floral colour from them, perhaps because of a lack of competition for pollinators. PMID:25979919

An RGB colour image steganography scheme using overlapping block-based pixel-value differencing

PubMed Central

Pal, Arup Kumar

2017-01-01

This paper presents a steganographic scheme based on the RGB colour cover image. The secret message bits are embedded into each colour pixel sequentially by the pixel-value differencing (PVD) technique. PVD basically works on two consecutive non-overlapping components; as a result, the straightforward conventional PVD technique is not applicable to embed the secret message bits into a colour pixel, since a colour pixel consists of three colour components, i.e. red, green and blue. Hence, in the proposed scheme, initially the three colour components are represented into two overlapping blocks like the combination of red and green colour components, while another one is the combination of green and blue colour components, respectively. Later, the PVD technique is employed on each block independently to embed the secret data. The two overlapping blocks are readjusted to attain the modified three colour components. The notion of overlapping blocks has improved the embedding capacity of the cover image. The scheme has been tested on a set of colour images and satisfactory results have been achieved in terms of embedding capacity and upholding the acceptable visual quality of the stego-image. PMID:28484623

Performance of a five category front-of-pack labelling system - the 5-colour nutrition label - to differentiate nutritional quality of breakfast cereals in France.

PubMed

Julia, Chantal; Kesse-Guyot, Emmanuelle; Ducrot, Pauline; Péneau, Sandrine; Touvier, Mathilde; Méjean, Caroline; Hercberg, Serge

2015-02-25

Breakfast cereals exhibit a wide variability in nutritional quality, and differences are not easily grasped by consumers. A simplified nutritional information system might contribute to help consumers make healthier food choices. A five-category colour label based on the Food Standards Agency Nutrient profiling system (FSA score) has been proposed in France to be implemented on the front-of-pack of foods (the five-colour nutrition label - 5-CNL). Objectives were to evaluate the ability of the 5-CNL to discriminate nutritional quality between types of breakfast cereals, within a category and in equivalent products, as well as its ability to change through product reformulation. Nutritional information was collected through an Internet and supermarket research for N = 433 breakfast cereals (N = 380 complete data included in the analyses). Breakfast cereals were categorized according to common attributes in terms of processing and/or ingredients used. The FSA score and 5-CNL category allocation were computed for each cereal. Nutrient content and FSA score were compared across types of cereals. Distribution within the 5-CNL categories was assessed across types of cereals and for equivalent products. Impact of reformulation (reduction of 5 and 10% in simple sugar, saturated fat and sodium) on the 5-CNL category allocation was compared to original allocation with Bapkhar's tests of homogeneity of marginal distribution. Variability in nutritional quality of breakfast cereals was high, as reflected by the FSA score (range -7- 22 for a theoretical range of -15-40) and the 5-CNL (all five categories represented). The 5-CNL allowed for discrimination across types of cereals, within categories of breakfast cereals and for equivalent products (at least 3 categories of the 5-CNL represented). Reformulation scenarios allowed for significant change in 5-CNL allocation: 5% reduction in sugar lead to a modification of the label for 4.21% of products while a reduction of 10% of sugar, saturated fat and sodium lead to a modification of the label for 19.2% of products. The 5-CNL adequately discriminates between breakfast cereals. It would therefore be an adequate tool for consumer information on nutritional quality of foods in the French context.

The effect of polyploidy and hybridization on the evolution of floral colour in Nicotiana (Solanaceae).

PubMed

McCarthy, Elizabeth W; Arnold, Sarah E J; Chittka, Lars; Le Comber, Steven C; Verity, Robert; Dodsworth, Steven; Knapp, Sandra; Kelly, Laura J; Chase, Mark W; Baldwin, Ian T; Kovařík, Aleš; Mhiri, Corinne; Taylor, Lin; Leitch, Andrew R

2015-06-01

Speciation in angiosperms can be accompanied by changes in floral colour that may influence pollinator preference and reproductive isolation. This study investigates whether changes in floral colour can accompany polyploid and homoploid hybridization, important processes in angiosperm evolution. Spectral reflectance of corolla tissue was examined for 60 Nicotiana (Solanaceae) accessions (41 taxa) based on spectral shape (corresponding to pigmentation) as well as bee and hummingbird colour perception in order to assess patterns of floral colour evolution. Polyploid and homoploid hybrid spectra were compared with those of their progenitors to evaluate whether hybridization has resulted in floral colour shifts. Floral colour categories in Nicotiana seem to have arisen multiple times independently during the evolution of the genus. Most younger polyploids displayed an unexpected floral colour, considering those of their progenitors, in the colour perception of at least one pollinator type, whereas older polyploids tended to resemble one or both of their progenitors. Floral colour evolution in Nicotiana is weakly constrained by phylogeny, and colour shifts do occur in association with both polyploid and homoploid hybrid divergence. Transgressive floral colour in N. tabacum has arisen by inheritance of anthocyanin pigmentation from its paternal progenitor while having a plastid phenotype like its maternal progenitor. Potentially, floral colour evolution has been driven by, or resulted in, pollinator shifts. However, those polyploids that are not sympatric (on a regional scale) with their progenitor lineages are typically not divergent in floral colour from them, perhaps because of a lack of competition for pollinators. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Basic processes in reading aloud and colour naming: towards a better understanding of the role of spatial attention.

PubMed

Robidoux, Serje; Rauwerda, Derek; Besner, Derek

2014-05-01

Whether or not lexical access from print requires spatial attention has been debated intensively for the last 30 years. Studies involving colour naming generally find evidence that "unattended" words are processed. In contrast, reading-based experiments do not find evidence of distractor processing. One theory ascribes the discrepancy to weaker attentional demands for colour identification. If colour naming does not capture all of a subject's attention, the remaining attentional resources can be deployed to process the distractor word. The present study combined exogenous spatial cueing with colour naming and reading aloud separately and found that colour naming is less sensitive to the validity of a spatial cue than is reading words aloud. Based on these results, we argue that colour naming studies do not effectively control attention so that no conclusions about unattended distractor processing can be drawn from them. Thus we reiterate the consistent conclusion drawn from reading aloud and lexical decision studies: There is no word identification without (spatial) attention.

Innate preference and learning of colour in the male cotton bollworm moth, Helicoverpa armigera.

PubMed

Satoh, Aya; Kinoshita, Michiyo; Arikawa, Kentaro

2016-12-15

We investigated colour discrimination and learning in adult males of the nocturnal cotton bollworm moth, Helicoverpa armigera, under a dim light condition. The naive moths preferred blue and discriminated the innately preferred blue from several shades of grey, indicating that the moths have colour vision. After being trained for 2 days to take nectar at a yellow disc, an innately non-preferred colour, moths learned to select yellow over blue. The choice distribution between yellow and blue changed significantly from that of naive moths. However, the dual-choice distribution of the trained moths was not significantly biased to yellow: the preference for blue is robust. We also tried to train moths to grey, which was not successful. The limited ability to learn colours suggests that H armigera may not strongly rely on colours when searching for flowers in the field, although they have the basic property of colour vision. © 2016. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

NICE: A Computational Solution to Close the Gap from Colour Perception to Colour Categorization

PubMed Central

Parraga, C. Alejandro; Akbarinia, Arash

2016-01-01

The segmentation of visible electromagnetic radiation into chromatic categories by the human visual system has been extensively studied from a perceptual point of view, resulting in several colour appearance models. However, there is currently a void when it comes to relate these results to the physiological mechanisms that are known to shape the pre-cortical and cortical visual pathway. This work intends to begin to fill this void by proposing a new physiologically plausible model of colour categorization based on Neural Isoresponsive Colour Ellipsoids (NICE) in the cone-contrast space defined by the main directions of the visual signals entering the visual cortex. The model was adjusted to fit psychophysical measures that concentrate on the categorical boundaries and are consistent with the ellipsoidal isoresponse surfaces of visual cortical neurons. By revealing the shape of such categorical colour regions, our measures allow for a more precise and parsimonious description, connecting well-known early visual processing mechanisms to the less understood phenomenon of colour categorization. To test the feasibility of our method we applied it to exemplary images and a popular ground-truth chart obtaining labelling results that are better than those of current state-of-the-art algorithms. PMID:26954691

NICE: A Computational Solution to Close the Gap from Colour Perception to Colour Categorization.

PubMed

Parraga, C Alejandro; Akbarinia, Arash

2016-01-01

The segmentation of visible electromagnetic radiation into chromatic categories by the human visual system has been extensively studied from a perceptual point of view, resulting in several colour appearance models. However, there is currently a void when it comes to relate these results to the physiological mechanisms that are known to shape the pre-cortical and cortical visual pathway. This work intends to begin to fill this void by proposing a new physiologically plausible model of colour categorization based on Neural Isoresponsive Colour Ellipsoids (NICE) in the cone-contrast space defined by the main directions of the visual signals entering the visual cortex. The model was adjusted to fit psychophysical measures that concentrate on the categorical boundaries and are consistent with the ellipsoidal isoresponse surfaces of visual cortical neurons. By revealing the shape of such categorical colour regions, our measures allow for a more precise and parsimonious description, connecting well-known early visual processing mechanisms to the less understood phenomenon of colour categorization. To test the feasibility of our method we applied it to exemplary images and a popular ground-truth chart obtaining labelling results that are better than those of current state-of-the-art algorithms.

The Categorisation of Non-Categorical Colours: A Novel Paradigm in Colour Perception

PubMed Central

Cropper, Simon J.; Kvansakul, Jessica G. S.; Little, Daniel R.

2013-01-01

In this paper, we investigate a new paradigm for studying the development of the colour ‘signal’ by having observers discriminate and categorize the same set of controlled and calibrated cardinal coloured stimuli. Notably, in both tasks, each observer was free to decide whether two pairs of colors were the same or belonged to the same category. The use of the same stimulus set for both tasks provides, we argue, an incremental behavioural measure of colour processing from detection through discrimination to categorisation. The measured data spaces are different for the two tasks, and furthermore the categorisation data is unique to each observer. In addition, we develop a model which assumes that the principal difference between the tasks is the degree of similarity between the stimuli which has different constraints for the categorisation task compared to the discrimination task. This approach not only makes sense of the current (and associated) data but links the processes of discrimination and categorisation in a novel way and, by implication, expands upon the previous research linking categorisation to other tasks not limited to colour perception. PMID:23536899

The categorisation of non-categorical colours: a novel paradigm in colour perception.

PubMed

Cropper, Simon J; Kvansakul, Jessica G S; Little, Daniel R

2013-01-01

In this paper, we investigate a new paradigm for studying the development of the colour 'signal' by having observers discriminate and categorize the same set of controlled and calibrated cardinal coloured stimuli. Notably, in both tasks, each observer was free to decide whether two pairs of colors were the same or belonged to the same category. The use of the same stimulus set for both tasks provides, we argue, an incremental behavioural measure of colour processing from detection through discrimination to categorisation. The measured data spaces are different for the two tasks, and furthermore the categorisation data is unique to each observer. In addition, we develop a model which assumes that the principal difference between the tasks is the degree of similarity between the stimuli which has different constraints for the categorisation task compared to the discrimination task. This approach not only makes sense of the current (and associated) data but links the processes of discrimination and categorisation in a novel way and, by implication, expands upon the previous research linking categorisation to other tasks not limited to colour perception.

Coordinating perceptually grounded categories through language: a case study for colour.

PubMed

Steels, Luc; Belpaeme, Tony

2005-08-01

This article proposes a number of models to examine through which mechanisms a population of autonomous agents could arrive at a repertoire of perceptually grounded categories that is sufficiently shared to allow successful communication. The models are inspired by the main approaches to human categorisation being discussed in the literature: nativism, empiricism, and culturalism. Colour is taken as a case study. Although we take no stance on which position is to be accepted as final truth with respect to human categorisation and naming, we do point to theoretical constraints that make each position more or less likely and we make clear suggestions on what the best engineering solution would be. Specifically, we argue that the collective choice of a shared repertoire must integrate multiple constraints, including constraints coming from communication.

Phylogenetic analysis reveals a scattered distribution of autumn colours

PubMed Central

Archetti, Marco

2009-01-01

Background and Aims Leaf colour in autumn is rarely considered informative for taxonomy, but there is now growing interest in the evolution of autumn colours and different hypotheses are debated. Research efforts are hindered by the lack of basic information: the phylogenetic distribution of autumn colours. It is not known when and how autumn colours evolved. Methods Data are reported on the autumn colours of 2368 tree species belonging to 400 genera of the temperate regions of the world, and an analysis is made of their phylogenetic relationships in order to reconstruct the evolutionary origin of red and yellow in autumn leaves. Key Results Red autumn colours are present in at least 290 species (70 genera), and evolved independently at least 25 times. Yellow is present independently from red in at least 378 species (97 genera) and evolved at least 28 times. Conclusions The phylogenetic reconstruction suggests that autumn colours have been acquired and lost many times during evolution. This scattered distribution could be explained by hypotheses involving some kind of coevolutionary interaction or by hypotheses that rely on the need for photoprotection. PMID:19126636

Category-Contingent Face Adaptation for Novel Colour Categories: Contingent Effects Are Seen Only after Social or Meaningful Labelling

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Little, Anthony C.; DeBruine, Lisa M.; Jones, Benedict C.

2011-01-01

A face appears normal when it approximates the average of a population. Consequently, exposure to faces biases perceptions of subsequently viewed faces such that faces similar to those recently seen are perceived as more normal. Simultaneously inducing such aftereffects in opposite directions for two groups of faces indicates somewhat discrete…

Divergence in cryptic leaf colour provides local camouflage in an alpine plant.

PubMed

Niu, Yang; Chen, Zhe; Stevens, Martin; Sun, Hang

2017-10-11

The efficacy of camouflage through background matching is highly environment-dependent, often resulting in intraspecific colour divergence in animals to optimize crypsis in different visual environments. This phenomenon is largely unexplored in plants, although several lines of evidence suggest they do use crypsis to avoid damage by herbivores. Using Corydalis hemidicentra, an alpine plant with cryptic leaf colour, we quantified background matching between leaves and surrounding rocks in five populations based on an approximate model of their butterfly enemy's colour perception. We also investigated the pigment basis of leaf colour variation and the association between feeding risk and camouflage efficacy. We show that plants exhibit remarkable colour divergence between populations, consistent with differences in rock appearances. Leaf colour varies because of a different quantitative combination of two basic pigments-chlorophyll and anthocyanin-plus different air spaces. As expected, leaf colours are better matched against their native backgrounds than against foreign ones in the eyes of the butterfly. Furthermore, improved crypsis tends to be associated with a higher level of feeding risk. These results suggest that divergent cryptic leaf colour may have evolved to optimize local camouflage in various visual environments, extending our understanding of colour evolution and intraspecific phenotype diversity in plants. © 2017 The Author(s).

Basic level category structure emerges gradually across human ventral visual cortex.

PubMed

Iordan, Marius Cătălin; Greene, Michelle R; Beck, Diane M; Fei-Fei, Li

2015-07-01

Objects can be simultaneously categorized at multiple levels of specificity ranging from very broad ("natural object") to very distinct ("Mr. Woof"), with a mid-level of generality (basic level: "dog") often providing the most cognitively useful distinction between categories. It is unknown, however, how this hierarchical representation is achieved in the brain. Using multivoxel pattern analyses, we examined how well each taxonomic level (superordinate, basic, and subordinate) of real-world object categories is represented across occipitotemporal cortex. We found that, although in early visual cortex objects are best represented at the subordinate level (an effect mostly driven by low-level feature overlap between objects in the same category), this advantage diminishes compared to the basic level as we move up the visual hierarchy, disappearing in object-selective regions of occipitotemporal cortex. This pattern stems from a combined increase in within-category similarity (category cohesion) and between-category dissimilarity (category distinctiveness) of neural activity patterns at the basic level, relative to both subordinate and superordinate levels, suggesting that successive visual areas may be optimizing basic level representations.

Tsukamoto fuzzy implementation to identify the pond water quality of koi

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Qur'ania, A.; Verananda, D. I.

2017-01-01

The colour quality of koi was affected by the water quality in the pond. Koi fish have a diversity of types differentiated based on the body colour groups, such as one colour pattern, two colour patterns, three colours patterns and even more. Each colour characteristic of the koi have different handling, particularly in the handling of water quality, this is because the colour pigments in the body was affected by the composition of water quality include temperature, pH, TDS, do and salinity. The data of koi fish used were sanke, sowa, kohaku, shiro, yamabuki, ogon and chagoi. The aim of this study is to make an application to inform the condition of the pool water quality that can help breeders to know the water quality that will improve the handling strategies through water media. Tsukamoto Fuzzy method used to produce the three outputs namely water quality, water grade, and water conditions. The output of water quality consists of four categories, namely optimal, moderate, poor, and very poor. The output of water grade consists of grade A to D, while the output of water conditions consist of an excellent, good, bad, and very bad. Input to the application consists of five parameters, namely water temperature, pH, TDS, do and salinity.

[Patient-related color preference and color design in the hospital].

PubMed

Schuschke, G; Christiansen, H

1994-06-01

Colour-physiological studies involving volunteers and colour-psychological interviewing of patients with varied diagnoses revealed that, currently, no compelling scientific reasons can be given for coloration in the hospital. Interviewing 68 patients from a number of clinics on the coloration of sick-rooms yielded the following preferred colours, irrespective of the patients' classing into groups by various criteria: Light colours were consistently preferred for all objects such as ceiling, walls, floor, curtains, furniture, and bed linen. It should be emphasized that even white was a desirable colour for ceilings and bed linen. Beige was found to rank first for walls, floors, curtains, and furniture, whereas the colours of wood and grey shared the second rank for floors and furniture. Green and pink ranked second for bed linen. White and green ranked second for walls and curtains, respectively. In view of the heterogeneity, the findings may not be converted into an absolute just as the recommendations by other workers. Still, the patients' wish should be given priority over decreed recommendations by experts when basic considerations of illumination (reflectance!) are allowed for in the particular overall colour design project.

Estimated daily intake and safety of FD&C food-colour additives in the US population.

PubMed

Bastaki, Maria; Farrell, Thomas; Bhusari, Sachin; Bi, Xiaoyu; Scrafford, Carolyn

2017-06-01

A refined exposure assessment was undertaken to calculate the estimated daily intake (EDI) of the seven FD&C straight-colour additives and five FD&C colour lakes ('synthetic' food colours) approved in the United States. The EDIs were calculated for the US population as a whole and specific age groups, including children aged 2-5 and 6-12 years, adolescents aged 13-18 years, and adults aged 19 or more y. Actual use data were collected from an industry survey of companies that are users of these colour additives in a variety of products, with additional input from food colour manufacturers. Food-consumption data were obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). The assessment was further refined by adjusting the intake to more realistic scenarios based on the fraction of products containing colour within specific food categories using data provided by the Mintel International Group Ltd. The results of the analysis indicate that (1) the use levels reported by the industry are consistent with the concentrations measured analytically by the US Food and Drug Administration; and (2) exposure to food-colour additives in the United States by average and high-intake consumers is well below the acceptable daily intake (ADI) of each colour additive as published by the Joint WHO/FAO Committee on Food Additives (JECFA) and allows wide margins of safety. It is concluded that food colour use as currently practised in the United States is safe and does not result in excessive exposure to the population, even at conservative ranges of food consumption and levels of use.

Setters and samoyeds: the emergence of subordinate level categories as a basis for inductive inference in preschool-age children.

PubMed

Waxman, S R; Lynch, E B; Casey, K L; Baer, L

1997-11-01

Basic level categories are a rich source of inductive inference for children and adults. These 3 experiments examine how preschool-age children partition their inductively rich basic level categories to form subordinate level categories and whether these have inductive potential. Children were taught a novel property about an individual member of a familiar basic level category (e.g., a collie). Then, children's extensions of that property to other objects from the same subordinate (e.g., other collies), basic (e.g., other dogs), and superordinate (e.g., other animals) level categories were examined. The results suggest (a) that contrastive information promotes the emergence of subordinate categories as a basis of inductive inference and (b) that newly established subordinate categories can retain their inductive potential in subsequent reasoning over a week's time.

The Processing Speed of Scene Categorization at Multiple Levels of Description: The Superordinate Advantage Revisited.

PubMed

Banno, Hayaki; Saiki, Jun

2015-03-01

Recent studies have sought to determine which levels of categories are processed first in visual scene categorization and have shown that the natural and man-made superordinate-level categories are understood faster than are basic-level categories. The current study examined the robustness of the superordinate-level advantage in a visual scene categorization task. A go/no-go categorization task was evaluated with response time distribution analysis using an ex-Gaussian template. A visual scene was categorized as either superordinate or basic level, and two basic-level categories forming a superordinate category were judged as either similar or dissimilar to each other. First, outdoor/ indoor groups and natural/man-made were used as superordinate categories to investigate whether the advantage could be generalized beyond the natural/man-made boundary. Second, a set of images forming a superordinate category was manipulated. We predicted that decreasing image set similarity within the superordinate-level category would work against the speed advantage. We found that basic-level categorization was faster than outdoor/indoor categorization when the outdoor category comprised dissimilar basic-level categories. Our results indicate that the superordinate-level advantage in visual scene categorization is labile across different categories and category structures. © 2015 SAGE Publications.

Tooth, skin, hair and eye colour interrelationships in Greek young adults.

PubMed

Lagouvardos, Panagiotis E; Tsamali, Ioana; Papadopoulou, Christine; Polyzois, Gregory

2013-01-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible interrelationships of teeth, skin, eye and hair colour. A portable colorimeter (Shade Eye NCC/Shofu) was used to record the colour in the CIELAB system of the upper right incisors in 150 dental school students, along with their skin colour at three different areas. Natural hair and eye colour was classified into several categories by a trained examiner (ICC 0.93-0.99). One-way ANOVA and correlation tests were used to statistically analyse the data. Skin was found to have significantly higher L*, b* but lower a* values than teeth (p < 0.05). A significant correlation (p < 0.05) of teeth to skin L* and a*colour coordinate was found, but not to b* coordinate (p > 0.05). Hair tones were not correlated to teeth L* or b*, but only to a*coordinate. Teeth and eye colour coordinates were not correlated (p > 0.05). Eye and hair tones were found to have the highest significant correlation (ρ = 0.369). In conclusion, teeth of this cohort were found to be lighter, less red and yellow than the skin. Teeth colour was not related to eye colour, but lighter teeth were found to be associated with lighter skins, and redder lateral incisors to lighter hair. Darker facial skins or yellower forehead areas were also associated with darker hair and vice versa. The clinical relevance of the study is that the investigated facial characteristics are inter-correlated weakly to moderately, and for this reason predicting the colour parameters of one facial characteristic by another would not be accurate, but helpful for a rough colour selection as associations show.

Colour flow and motion imaging.

PubMed

Evans, D H

2010-01-01

Colour flow imaging (CFI) is an ultrasound imaging technique whereby colour-coded maps of tissue velocity are superimposed on grey-scale pulse-echo images of tissue anatomy. The most widespread use of the method is to image the movement of blood through arteries and veins, but it may also be used to image the motion of solid tissue. The production of velocity information is technically more demanding than the production of the anatomical information, partly because the target of interest is often blood, which backscatters significantly less power than solid tissues, and partly because several transmit-receive cycles are necessary for each velocity estimate. This review first describes the various components of basic CFI systems necessary to generate the velocity information and to combine it with anatomical information. It then describes a number of variations on the basic autocorrelation technique, including cross-correlation-based techniques, power Doppler, Doppler tissue imaging, and three-dimensional (3D) Doppler imaging. Finally, a number of limitations of current techniques and some potential solutions are reviewed.

When canary primes yellow: effects of semantic memory on overt attention.

PubMed

Léger, Laure; Chauvet, Elodie

2015-02-01

This study explored how overt attention is influenced by the colour that is primed when a target word is read during a lexical visual search task. Prior studies have shown that attention can be influenced by conceptual or perceptual overlap between a target word and distractor pictures: attention is attracted to pictures that have the same form (rope--snake) or colour (green--frog) as the spoken target word or is drawn to an object from the same category as the spoken target word (trumpet--piano). The hypothesis for this study was that attention should be attracted to words displayed in the colour that is primed by reading a target word (for example, yellow for canary). An experiment was conducted in which participants' eye movements were recorded whilst they completed a lexical visual search task. The primary finding was that participants' eye movements were mainly directed towards words displayed in the colour primed by reading the target word, even though this colour was not relevant to completing the visual search task. This result is discussed in terms of top-down guidance of overt attention in visual search for words.

Occupational risk identification using hand-held or laptop computers.

PubMed

Naumanen, Paula; Savolainen, Heikki; Liesivuori, Jyrki

2008-01-01

This paper describes the Work Environment Profile (WEP) program and its use in risk identification by computer. It is installed into a hand-held computer or a laptop to be used in risk identification during work site visits. A 5-category system is used to describe the identified risks in 7 groups, i.e., accidents, biological and physical hazards, ergonomic and psychosocial load, chemicals, and information technology hazards. Each group contains several qualifying factors. These 5 categories are colour-coded at this stage to aid with visualization. Risk identification produces visual summary images the interpretation of which is facilitated by colours. The WEP program is a tool for risk assessment which is easy to learn and to use both by experts and nonprofessionals. It is especially well adapted to be used both in small and in larger enterprises. Considerable time is saved as no paper notes are needed.

A mutation in the MATP gene causes the cream coat colour in the horse

PubMed Central

Mariat, Denis; Taourit, Sead; Guérin, Gérard

2003-01-01

In horses, basic colours such as bay or chestnut may be partially diluted to buckskin and palomino, or extremely diluted to cream, a nearly white colour with pink skin and blue eyes. This dilution is expected to be controlled by one gene and we used both candidate gene and positional cloning strategies to identify the "cream mutation". A horse panel including reference colours was established and typed for different markers within or in the neighbourhood of two candidate genes. Our data suggest that the causal mutation, a G to A transition, is localised in exon 2 of the MATP gene leading to an aspartic acid to asparagine substitution in the encoded protein. This conserved mutation was also described in mice and humans, but not in medaka. PMID:12605854

Novel quantitative pigmentation phenotyping enhances genetic association, epistasis, and prediction of human eye colour.

PubMed

Wollstein, Andreas; Walsh, Susan; Liu, Fan; Chakravarthy, Usha; Rahu, Mati; Seland, Johan H; Soubrane, Gisèle; Tomazzoli, Laura; Topouzis, Fotis; Vingerling, Johannes R; Vioque, Jesus; Böhringer, Stefan; Fletcher, Astrid E; Kayser, Manfred

2017-02-27

Success of genetic association and the prediction of phenotypic traits from DNA are known to depend on the accuracy of phenotype characterization, amongst other parameters. To overcome limitations in the characterization of human iris pigmentation, we introduce a fully automated approach that specifies the areal proportions proposed to represent differing pigmentation types, such as pheomelanin, eumelanin, and non-pigmented areas within the iris. We demonstrate the utility of this approach using high-resolution digital eye imagery and genotype data from 12 selected SNPs from over 3000 European samples of seven populations that are part of the EUREYE study. In comparison to previous quantification approaches, (1) we achieved an overall improvement in eye colour phenotyping, which provides a better separation of manually defined eye colour categories. (2) Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) known to be involved in human eye colour variation showed stronger associations with our approach. (3) We found new and confirmed previously noted SNP-SNP interactions. (4) We increased SNP-based prediction accuracy of quantitative eye colour. Our findings exemplify that precise quantification using the perceived biological basis of pigmentation leads to enhanced genetic association and prediction of eye colour. We expect our approach to deliver new pigmentation genes when applied to genome-wide association testing.

Novel quantitative pigmentation phenotyping enhances genetic association, epistasis, and prediction of human eye colour

PubMed Central

Wollstein, Andreas; Walsh, Susan; Liu, Fan; Chakravarthy, Usha; Rahu, Mati; Seland, Johan H.; Soubrane, Gisèle; Tomazzoli, Laura; Topouzis, Fotis; Vingerling, Johannes R.; Vioque, Jesus; Böhringer, Stefan; Fletcher, Astrid E.; Kayser, Manfred

2017-01-01

Success of genetic association and the prediction of phenotypic traits from DNA are known to depend on the accuracy of phenotype characterization, amongst other parameters. To overcome limitations in the characterization of human iris pigmentation, we introduce a fully automated approach that specifies the areal proportions proposed to represent differing pigmentation types, such as pheomelanin, eumelanin, and non-pigmented areas within the iris. We demonstrate the utility of this approach using high-resolution digital eye imagery and genotype data from 12 selected SNPs from over 3000 European samples of seven populations that are part of the EUREYE study. In comparison to previous quantification approaches, (1) we achieved an overall improvement in eye colour phenotyping, which provides a better separation of manually defined eye colour categories. (2) Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) known to be involved in human eye colour variation showed stronger associations with our approach. (3) We found new and confirmed previously noted SNP-SNP interactions. (4) We increased SNP-based prediction accuracy of quantitative eye colour. Our findings exemplify that precise quantification using the perceived biological basis of pigmentation leads to enhanced genetic association and prediction of eye colour. We expect our approach to deliver new pigmentation genes when applied to genome-wide association testing. PMID:28240252

Impact of the front-of-pack 5-colour nutrition label (5-CNL) on the nutritional quality of purchases: an experimental study.

PubMed

Julia, Chantal; Blanchet, Olivier; Méjean, Caroline; Péneau, Sandrine; Ducrot, Pauline; Allès, Benjamin; Fezeu, Léopold K; Touvier, Mathilde; Kesse-Guyot, Emmanuelle; Singler, Eric; Hercberg, Serge

2016-09-20

Front-of-pack (FOP) nutrition labelling has received growing attention from public health authorities, as a tool to promote healthier diets in the population. Recently, the French Health law introduced the principle of implementing a FOP nutrition labelling system. A scientific proposal has put forward the 5-Colour Nutrition Label (5-CNL), a five-category colour-coded summary system supported by research suggesting that it is well perceived and understood in the population. Our objective was to investigate the impact of the 5-CNL on the nutritional quality of purchases in experimental supermarkets. Participants (n = 901) were recruited using quota sampling between September and December 2015 and evenly distributed in three experimental conditions: 1) control situation; 2) Application of the 5-CNL on all food products in three specific sections: breakfast cereals, sweet biscuits and appetizers; 3) introduction of the 5-CNL accompanied by consumer information on use and understanding of the label. Main outcome was the nutritional quality of the shopping cart in the three sections combined, measured using the United Kingdom Food Standards Agency nutrient profiling system (FSA score). Significantly higher mean nutritional quality of the purchased items per section were observed for the sweet biscuits category in the intervention combining the label + communication (overall FSA score 21.01 vs. 20.23, P = 0.02). No significant effects were observed for the general mean over the three sections combined or other food categories. The results observed on purchase may be related to the high level of recall, self-reported and objective understanding of the label that were observed in the intervention groups as they are pre-requisites for use of a label in purchasing situations. These results suggest that the 5-CNL FOP nutrition label may have a limited impact on purchases, leading to healthier food choices in some food categories such as sweet biscuits. The trial was registered on Clinicaltrials.gov under the number NCT02546505 .

Categorical Perception Beyond the Basic Level: The Case of Warm and Cool Colors.

PubMed

Holmes, Kevin J; Regier, Terry

2017-05-01

Categories can affect our perception of the world, rendering between-category differences more salient than within-category ones. Across many studies, such categorical perception (CP) has been observed for the basic-level categories of one's native language. Other research points to categorical distinctions beyond the basic level, but it does not demonstrate CP for such distinctions. Here we provide such a demonstration. Specifically, we show CP in English speakers for the non-basic distinction between "warm" and "cool" colors, claimed to represent the earliest stage of color lexicon evolution. Notably, the advantage for discriminating colors that straddle the warm-cool boundary was restricted to the right visual field-the same behavioral signature previously observed for basic-level categories. This pattern held in a replication experiment with increased power. Our findings show that categorical distinctions beyond the basic-level repertoire of one's native language are psychologically salient and may be spontaneously accessed during normal perceptual processing. Copyright © 2016 Cognitive Science Society, Inc.

In search of a consumer-focused food classification system. An experimental heuristic approach to differentiate degrees of quality.

PubMed

Torres-Ruiz, Francisco J; Marano-Marcolini, Carla; Lopez-Zafra, Esther

2018-06-01

The present paper focuses on the problems that arise in food classification systems (FCSs), especially when the food product type has different levels or grades of quality. Despite the principal function of these systems being to assist the consumer (to inform, clarify and facilitate choice and purchase), they frequently have the opposite effect. Thus, the main aim of the present research involves providing orientations for the design of effective food classification systems. To address this objective, considering the context of food product consumption (related to heuristic processing), we conducted an experimental study with 720 participants. We analysed the usefulness of heuristic elements by a factorial 2 (category length: short and long) × 3 (visual signs: colours, numbers and images) design in relation to recall and recognition activities. The results showed that the elements used to make the classification more effective for consumers vary depending on whether the user seeks to prioritize the recall or the recognition of product categories. Thus, long categories with images significantly improve recognition, and short categories with colours improve recall. A series of recommendations are provided that can help to enhance FCSs and to make them more intuitive and easier to understand for consumers. Implications with regard to theory and practice are discussed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Influences of age and maxillary anterior teeth status on patient's satisfaction with dental appearance and tooth colour.

PubMed

Lajnert, Vlatka; Pavičić, Daniela K; Gržić, Renata; Kovač, Zoran; Pahor, Dana; Kuis, Davor; Simonić-Kocijan, Sunčana; Antonić, Robert; Bakarčić, Danko

2012-06-01

To study the impact of age, gender, tooth colour and maxillary anterior teeth status on patient's satisfaction with their dental appearance. A total of 259 Caucasian subjects participated in the study (119 men, mean age 56 years; 140 women, mean age 61 years) divided into three age groups (young <35 age; middle aged 35-54 age; old ≥55 age). Their maxillary anterior teeth status was classified into three groups: (1) natural teeth (NTG) group; (2) composite filling group (CFG) and (3) porcelain-fused-to-metal fixed prosthodontic restoration group (FPDG). The participants judged appearance and tooth colour using a scale with three categories: completely dissatisfied, moderately dissatisfied and completely satisfied. Almost half of the participants were completely satisfied with their dental appearance and tooth colour. Half of the 'young' and 'middle-aged' participants with natural maxillary anterior teeth were completely satisfied and half of the 'old' participants were moderately satisfied with their dental appearance and tooth colour. The majority of participants with composite restorations (45-51%) were moderately satisfied with their dental appearance, one-third of 'young' and 'middle-aged' participants were moderately satisfied or dissatisfied with their tooth colour and more than 70% of older participants were dissatisfied with their tooth colour (p > 0.05). Satisfaction with the appearance of the maxillary anterior teeth differed both between individuals of different age and different dental status. © 2011 The Gerodontology Society and John Wiley & Sons A/S.

Classifying Natural Waters with the Forel-Ule Colour Index System: Results, Applications, Correlations and Crowdsourcing.

PubMed

Garaba, Shungudzemwoyo P; Friedrichs, Anna; Voß, Daniela; Zielinski, Oliver

2015-12-18

Societal awareness of changes in the environment and climate has grown rapidly, and there is a need to engage citizens in gathering relevant scientific information to monitor environmental changes due to recognition that citizens are a potential source of critical information. The apparent colour of natural waters is one aspect of our aquatic environment that is easy to detect and an essential complementary optical water quality indicator. Here we present the results and explore the utility of the Forel-Ule colour index (FUI) scale as a proxy for different properties of natural waters. A FUI scale is used to distinguish the apparent colours of different natural surface water masses. Correlation analysis was completed in an effort to determine the constituents of natural waters related to FUI. Strong correlations with turbidity, Secchi-disk depth, and coloured dissolved organic material suggest the FUI is a good indicator of changes related to other constituents of water. The increase in the number of tools capable of determining the FUI colours, (i) ocean colour remote sensing products; (ii) a handheld scale; and (iii) a mobile device app, make it a versatile relative measure of water quality. It has the potential to provide higher spatial and temporal resolution of data for a modernized classification of optical water quality. This FUI colour system has been favoured by several scientists in the last century because it is affordable and easy to use and provides indicative information about the colour of water and the water constituents producing that colour. It is therefore within the scope of a growing interest in the application and usefulness of basic measurement methodologies with the potential to provide timely benchmark information about the environment to the public, scientists and policymakers.

Classifying Natural Waters with the Forel-Ule Colour Index System: Results, Applications, Correlations and Crowdsourcing

PubMed Central

Garaba, Shungudzemwoyo P.; Friedrichs, Anna; Voß, Daniela; Zielinski, Oliver

2015-01-01

Societal awareness of changes in the environment and climate has grown rapidly, and there is a need to engage citizens in gathering relevant scientific information to monitor environmental changes due to recognition that citizens are a potential source of critical information. The apparent colour of natural waters is one aspect of our aquatic environment that is easy to detect and an essential complementary optical water quality indicator. Here we present the results and explore the utility of the Forel-Ule colour index (FUI) scale as a proxy for different properties of natural waters. A FUI scale is used to distinguish the apparent colours of different natural surface water masses. Correlation analysis was completed in an effort to determine the constituents of natural waters related to FUI. Strong correlations with turbidity, Secchi-disk depth, and coloured dissolved organic material suggest the FUI is a good indicator of changes related to other constituents of water. The increase in the number of tools capable of determining the FUI colours, (i) ocean colour remote sensing products; (ii) a handheld scale; and (iii) a mobile device app, make it a versatile relative measure of water quality. It has the potential to provide higher spatial and temporal resolution of data for a modernized classification of optical water quality. This FUI colour system has been favoured by several scientists in the last century because it is affordable and easy to use and provides indicative information about the colour of water and the water constituents producing that colour. It is therefore within the scope of a growing interest in the application and usefulness of basic measurement methodologies with the potential to provide timely benchmark information about the environment to the public, scientists and policymakers. PMID:26694444

Neural activation patterns and connectivity in visual attention during Number and Non-number processing: An ERP study using the Ishihara pseudoisochromatic plates.

PubMed

Al-Marri, Faraj; Reza, Faruque; Begum, Tahamina; Hitam, Wan Hazabbah Wan; Jin, Goh Khean; Xiang, Jing

2017-10-25

Visual cognitive function is important to build up executive function in daily life. Perception of visual Number form (e.g., Arabic digit) and numerosity (magnitude of the Number) is of interest to cognitive neuroscientists. Neural correlates and the functional measurement of Number representations are complex occurrences when their semantic categories are assimilated with other concepts of shape and colour. Colour perception can be processed further to modulate visual cognition. The Ishihara pseudoisochromatic plates are one of the best and most common screening tools for basic red-green colour vision testing. However, there is a lack of study of visual cognitive function assessment using these pseudoisochromatic plates. We recruited 25 healthy normal trichromat volunteers and extended these studies using a 128-sensor net to record event-related EEG. Subjects were asked to respond by pressing Numbered buttons when they saw the Number and Non-number plates of the Ishihara colour vision test. Amplitudes and latencies of N100 and P300 event related potential (ERP) components were analysed from 19 electrode sites in the international 10-20 system. A brain topographic map, cortical activation patterns and Granger causation (effective connectivity) were analysed from 128 electrode sites. No major significant differences between N100 ERP components in either stimulus indicate early selective attention processing was similar for Number and Non-number plate stimuli, but Non-number plate stimuli evoked significantly higher amplitudes, longer latencies of the P300 ERP component with a slower reaction time compared to Number plate stimuli imply the allocation of attentional load was more in Non-number plate processing. A different pattern of asymmetric scalp voltage map was noticed for P300 components with a higher intensity in the left hemisphere for Number plate tasks and higher intensity in the right hemisphere for Non-number plate tasks. Asymmetric cortical activation and connectivity patterns revealed that Number recognition occurred in the occipital and left frontal areas where as the consequence was limited to the occipital area during the Non-number plate processing. Finally, the results displayed that the visual recognition of Numbers dissociates from the recognition of Non-numbers at the level of defined neural networks. Number recognition was not only a process of visual perception and attention, but it was also related to a higher level of cognitive function, that of language.

Colour-Value Based Method for Polydopamine Coating-Stability Characterization on Polyethersulfone Membranes

PubMed Central

Bucher, Thomas; Clodt, Juliana I.; Grabowski, Andrej; Hein, Martin; Filiz, Volkan

2017-01-01

Porous polyethersulfone membranes as used in oenology were investigated in order to evaluate temperature-dependent permeances in a temperature range from 10 to 35 °C. A temperature correction factor was determined for this type of membrane to get accurate and comparable results for further developments. Moreover, the membranes were modified with a bio-inspired polydopamine coating in order to reduce fouling. The performance of the membranes could be increased with respect to permeance and flux recovery under cross-flow conditions. In order to test the applicability and stability of the coating layer, they were treated with basic and acidic cleaning agents as used in industry for fouled membranes. The chemical stability of the coating layer was studied under basic and acidic conditions, by systematic observation of the colour change of the coated membranes over treatment time. PMID:29258193

Colour-Value Based Method for Polydopamine Coating-Stability Characterization on Polyethersulfone Membranes.

PubMed

Bucher, Thomas; Clodt, Juliana I; Grabowski, Andrej; Hein, Martin; Filiz, Volkan

2017-12-16

Porous polyethersulfone membranes as used in oenology were investigated in order to evaluate temperature-dependent permeances in a temperature range from 10 to 35 °C. A temperature correction factor was determined for this type of membrane to get accurate and comparable results for further developments. Moreover, the membranes were modified with a bio-inspired polydopamine coating in order to reduce fouling. The performance of the membranes could be increased with respect to permeance and flux recovery under cross-flow conditions. In order to test the applicability and stability of the coating layer, they were treated with basic and acidic cleaning agents as used in industry for fouled membranes. The chemical stability of the coating layer was studied under basic and acidic conditions, by systematic observation of the colour change of the coated membranes over treatment time.

Categorisation of Colour Terms Using New Validation Tools: A Case Study and Implications.

PubMed

Arbab, Shabnam; Brindle, Jonathan A; Matusiak, Barbara S; Klöckner, Christian A

2018-01-01

This article elaborates on the results of a field experiment conducted among speakers of the Chakali language, spoken in northern Ghana. In the original study, the Color-aid Corporation Chart was used to perform the focal task in which consultants were asked to point at a single colour tile on the chart. However, data from the focal task could not be analysed since the Color-aid tiles had not yet been converted into numerical values set forth by the Commission internationale de l'éclairage (CIE). In this study, the full set of 314 Color-aid tiles were measured for chromaticity and converted into the CIE values at the Daylight Laboratory of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. This article presents the conversion methodology and makes the results of the measurements, which are available in the Online Appendix. We argue that some visual-perception terms cannot be reliably ascribed to colour categories established by the Color-aid Corporation. This suggests that the ideophonic expressions in the dataset do not denote 'colours', as categorised in the Color-aid system, as it was impossible to average the consultants' data into a CIE chromaticity diagram, illustrate the phenomena on the Natural Colour System (NCS) Circle and Triangle diagrams, and conduct a statistical analysis. One of the implications of this study is that a line between a visual-perception term and a colour term could be systematically established using a method with predefined categorical thresholds.

Plants and colour: Flowers and pollination

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Miller, Renee; Owens, Simon J.; Rørslett, Bjørn

2011-03-01

While there is a range of colours found in plants the predominant colour is green. Pigments in plants have several roles e.g. photosynthesis and signalling. If colour is to be used as a signal then it must stand out from green. However, one should be aware that there are also coloured compounds where we have not yet fully investigated the role of colour in their functions—they may have roles in, for example, defence or heat exchange. In this paper, we will describe the basic chemistry of the major pigments found in plants and especially floral pigments. We will then discuss their locations in parts of the flower (such as sepals, petals, pollen and nectar), the cells in which they are found and their sub-cellular locations. Floral pigments have a large role to play in pollination of flowers by animals. They can and are modified in many ways during the development of flowers in nature, for example, at emergence and post-pollination. There are a range of biochemical mechanisms of colour change both within flowers and in isolated pigments. Some of the factors influencing colour are temperature, co-pigments, pH, metals, sugars, anthocyanin stacking and cell shape. There is a renewed interest in analysing floral pigments and how they are modified partly because of advances in recombinant DNA technologies, but also because of pollinators and their significance to biodiversity and for evolutionary studies. There is continued strong interest from the horticultural industry for the introduction of new colours e.g. the blue rose and for the exploitation of natural dyes. Funding in this area may impact future research in a potentially beneficial way but it must not deflect us from science-based conservation.

Cigarette brand variant portfolio strategy and the use of colour in a darkening market.

PubMed

Greenland, Steven J

2015-03-01

To evaluate cigarette branding strategies used to segment a market with some of the toughest tobacco controls. To document brand variant and packaging portfolios and assess the role played by colour before plain packaging, as well as consider the threat that recently implemented legislation poses for tobacco manufacturers. Brand variant and packaging details were extracted from manufacturer ingredient reports, as well as a retail audit of Australian supermarkets. Details were also collected for other product categories to provide perspective on cigarette portfolios. Secondary and primary data sources were analysed to evaluate variant and packaging portfolio strategy. In Australia, 12 leading cigarette brands supported 120 brand variants. Of these 61 had names with a specific colour and a further 26 had names with colour connotation. There were 338 corresponding packaging configurations, with most variants available in the primary cigarette distribution channel in four pack size options. Tobacco companies microsegment Australian consumers with highly differentiated product offerings and a family branding strategy that helps ameliorate the effects of marketing restrictions. To date, tobacco controls have had little negative impact upon variant and packaging portfolios, which have continued to expand. Colour has become a key visual signifier differentiating one variant from the next, and colour names are used to extend brand lines. However, the role of colour, as a heuristic to simplify consumer decision-making processes, becomes largely redundant with plain packaging. Plain packaging's impact upon manufacturers' branding strategies is therefore likely to be significant. Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.

Gender is not simply a matter of black and white, or is it?

PubMed

Semin, Gün R; Palma, Tomás; Acartürk, Cengiz; Dziuba, Aleksandra

2018-08-05

Based on research in physical anthropology, we argue that brightness marks the abstract category of gender, with light colours marking the female gender and dark colours marking the male gender. In a set of three experiments, we examine this hypothesis, first in a speeded gender classification experiment with male and female names presented in black and white. As expected, male names in black and female names in white are classified faster than the reverse gender-colour combinations. The second experiment relies on a gender classification task involving the disambiguation of very briefly appearing non-descript stimuli in the form of black and white 'blobs'. The former are classified predominantly as male and the latter as female names. Finally, the processes driving light and dark object choices for males and females are examined by tracking the number of fixations and their duration in an eye-tracking experiment. The results reveal that when choosing for a male target, participants look longer and make more fixations on dark objects, and the same for light objects when choosing for a female target. The implications of these findings, which repeatedly reveal the same data patterns across experiments with Dutch, Portuguese and Turkish samples for the abstract category of gender, are discussed. The discussion attempts to enlarge the subject beyond mainstream models of embodied grounding.This article is part of the theme issue 'Varieties of abstract concepts: development, use and representation in the brain'. © 2018 The Authors.

Document Image Processing: Going beyond the Black-and-White Barrier. Progress, Issues and Options with Greyscale and Colour Image Processing.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hendley, Tom

1995-01-01

Discussion of digital document image processing focuses on issues and options associated with greyscale and color image processing. Topics include speed; size of original document; scanning resolution; markets for different categories of scanners, including photographic libraries, publishing, and office applications; hybrid systems; data…

Racialized Subjects in a Colour Blind School

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lagermann, Laila Colding

2013-01-01

In this paper I examine processes of racialization in a school in Copenhagen, Denmark. On the basis of the data produced in 2009, which is part of a larger study, I investigate themes of race as a difference-making and constituting category for subjective (human) becoming and racialization as contingent and negotiated processes (Butler, 1997). As…

Colour spaces in ecology and evolutionary biology.

PubMed

Renoult, Julien P; Kelber, Almut; Schaefer, H Martin

2017-02-01

The recognition that animals sense the world in a different way than we do has unlocked important lines of research in ecology and evolutionary biology. In practice, the subjective study of natural stimuli has been permitted by perceptual spaces, which are graphical models of how stimuli are perceived by a given animal. Because colour vision is arguably the best-known sensory modality in most animals, a diversity of colour spaces are now available to visual ecologists, ranging from generalist and basic models allowing rough but robust predictions on colour perception, to species-specific, more complex models giving accurate but context-dependent predictions. Selecting among these models is most often influenced by historical contingencies that have associated models to specific questions and organisms; however, these associations are not always optimal. The aim of this review is to provide visual ecologists with a critical perspective on how models of colour space are built, how well they perform and where their main limitations are with regard to their most frequent uses in ecology and evolutionary biology. We propose a classification of models based on their complexity, defined as whether and how they model the mechanisms of chromatic adaptation and receptor opponency, the nonlinear association between the stimulus and its perception, and whether or not models have been fitted to experimental data. Then, we review the effect of modelling these mechanisms on predictions of colour detection and discrimination, colour conspicuousness, colour diversity and diversification, and for comparing the perception of colour traits between distinct perceivers. While a few rules emerge (e.g. opponent log-linear models should be preferred when analysing very distinct colours), in general model parameters still have poorly known effects. Colour spaces have nonetheless permitted significant advances in ecology and evolutionary biology, and more progress is expected if ecologists compare results between models and perform behavioural experiments more routinely. Such an approach would further contribute to a better understanding of colour vision and its links to the behavioural ecology of animals. While visual ecology is essentially a transfer of knowledge from visual sciences to evolutionary ecology, we hope that the discipline will benefit both fields more evenly in the future. © 2015 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

Dramatic colour changes in a bird of paradise caused by uniquely structured breast feather barbules.

PubMed

Stavenga, Doekele G; Leertouwer, Hein L; Marshall, N Justin; Osorio, Daniel

2011-07-22

The breast-plate plumage of male Lawes' parotia (Parotia lawesii) produces dramatic colour changes when this bird of paradise displays on its forest-floor lek. We show that this effect is achieved not solely by the iridescence--that is an angular-dependent spectral shift of the reflected light--which is inherent in structural coloration, but is based on a unique anatomical modification of the breast-feather barbule. The barbules have a segmental structure, and in common with many other iridescent feathers, they contain stacked melanin rodlets surrounded by a keratin film. The unique property of the parotia barbules is their boomerang-like cross section. This allows each barbule to work as three coloured mirrors: a yellow-orange reflector in the plane of the feather, and two symmetrically positioned bluish reflectors at respective angles of about 30°. Movement during the parotia's courtship displays thereby achieves much larger and more abrupt colour changes than is possible with ordinary iridescent plumage. To our knowledge, this is the first example of multiple thin film or multi-layer reflectors incorporated in a single structure (engineered or biological). It nicely illustrates how subtle modification of the basic feather structure can achieve novel visual effects. The fact that the parotia's breast feathers seem to be specifically adapted to give much stronger colour changes than normal structural coloration implies that colour change is important in their courtship display.

Site-directed mutagenesis of firefly luciferase: implication of conserved residue(s) in bioluminescence emission spectra among firefly luciferases.

PubMed

Tafreshi, Narges Kh; Sadeghizadeh, Majid; Emamzadeh, Rahman; Ranjbar, Bijan; Naderi-Manesh, Hossein; Hosseinkhani, Saman

2008-05-15

The bioluminescence colours of firefly luciferases are determined by assay conditions and luciferase structure. Owing to red light having lower energy than green light and being less absorbed by biological tissues, red-emitting luciferases have been considered as useful reporters in imaging technology. A set of red-emitting mutants of Lampyris turkestanicus (Iranian firefly) luciferase has been made by site-directed mutagenesis. Among different beetle luciferases, those from Phrixothrix (railroad worm) emit either green or red bioluminescence colours naturally. By substitution of three specific amino acids using site-specific mutagenesis in a green-emitting luciferase (from L. turkestanicus), the colour of emitted light was changed to red concomitant with decreasing decay rate. Different specific mutations (H245N, S284T and H431Y) led to changes in the bioluminescence colour. Meanwhile, the luciferase reaction took place with relative retention of its basic kinetic properties such as K(m) and relative activity. Structural comparison of the native and mutant luciferases using intrinsic fluorescence, far-UV CD spectra and homology modelling revealed a significant conformational change in mutant forms. A change in the colour of emitted light indicates the critical role of these conserved residues in bioluminescence colour determination among firefly luciferases. Relatively high specific activity and emission of red light might make these mutants suitable as reporters for the study of gene expression and bioluminescence imaging.

Pollen Morphology of Caesalpinia pulcherrima (L.) Swartz in Highland and Lowland West Sumatra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fitri, R.; Des, M.

2018-04-01

Determine the morphology structure of pollen on some variation colour of corolla Caesalpinia pulcherrima L. (Swartz) in highland and lowland West Sumatra has been conducted. The result reveals that topography and variation colour of corolla C. pulcherrima L. (Swartz) affects the shape of pollen. Pollen of C. pulcherrima L. (Swartz) has single grains or monad, isopolar polarity, radial symmetry, and size categories large. The length of polar axis (P) 58.16 to 74.11 μm, the length of the equatorial diameter (E) 59.86 to 75.97 μm, so that pollen can be classified into sub-spheroidal sub-oblate, spheriodal sub-spheroidal oblate, and sub-spheroidal prolate. Ornamentation of C. pulcherrima (L.) Swartz was reticulate. The pollen has aperture 3, the type pore and located in equatorial. From these data can be concluded that pollen from varying colour of corolla C. pulcherrima (L.) Swartz has same in terms of unit, polarity, symmetry, size, and type aperture, but it different in terms of shape.

Ethnic and Racial Inequalities in Notified Cases of Tuberculosis in Brazil

PubMed Central

Viana, Paulo Victor de Sousa; Gonçalves, Maria Jacirema Ferreira; Basta, Paulo Cesar

2016-01-01

Objective This study analysed clinical and sociodemographic aspects and follow-up for notified cases of tuberculosis (TB) and explored inequalities in incidence rates and outcome by colour or race and the geographic macro-regions of Brazil. Methods This paper reports the results of a population-based descriptive epidemiological study of all notified cases of TB in Brazil during the period from 01/01/2008 to 31/12/2011. We analysed sociodemographic and clinical variables according to colour or race (white, black, Asian, mixed, and indigenous) and geographic macro-regions of the country (North, Northeast, Central-West, South, and Southeast). Results During the study period, the average incidence of TB in Brazil was 36.7 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, with the highest rates occurring in the North and Southeast regions. The analysis of TB notifications by colour or race revealed that the indigenous population presented the highest incidence rates in all macro-regions except the South, where higher rates were reported in black patients. ‘Cured’ was the most frequently reported treatment outcome for all skin colour categories. The highest cure rate occurred among the indigenous population (76.8%), while the lowest cure rate occurred among the black population (70.7%). Rates of treatment default were highest among blacks (10.5%) and lowest among the indigenous population (6.9%). However, the fatality rate was similar across race categories, varying between 2.8% and 3.8% for whites and the indigenous population, respectively. The lowest cure rates were observed when follow-up was inadequate (58.3%), and the highest was observed when the follow-up was classified as excellent (96.8%). Conclusions This study revealed that—apart from the heterogeneous distribution of TB among the Brazilian macro-regions—ethnic-racial inequalities exist in terms of clinical-epidemiological characteristics and incidence rates as well as follow-up for cases undergoing treatment. The highest rates of TB occurred among the indigenous people. PMID:27176911

Mothering across Colour Lines: Decisions and Dilemmas of White Birth Mothers of Mixed-Race Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kouritzin, Sandra G.

2016-01-01

Conceptions of identity in multilingual multicultural societies still seem to be dominated by the perception that human beings are born into social locations and categories of ethnicity that are pre-existing. This fails to acknowledge the current reality for the progeny of interracial marriages, who may find themselves belonging neither to their…

Rainbow: A Framework for Analysing Computer-Mediated Pedagogical Debates

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Baker, Michael; Andriessen, Jerry; Lund, Kristine; van Amelsvoort, Marie; Quignard, Matthieu

2007-01-01

In this paper we present a framework for analysing when and how students engage in a specific form of interactive knowledge elaboration in CSCL environments: broadening and deepening understanding of a space of debate. The framework is termed "Rainbow," as it comprises seven principal analytical categories, to each of which a colour is assigned,…

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Adolescents' Processing of Pictures and Written Words for Taxonomic Categories in a Priming Task of Semantic Categorization

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Degao; Gao, Kejuan; Wu, Xueyun; Chen, Xiaojun; Zhang, Xiaona; Li, Ling; He, Weiwei

2013-01-01

Inspired by research by Li, Yi, and Kim (2011), the authors examined Chinese deaf and hard of hearing adolescents' responses to pictures for taxonomic categories of basic level (exemplar pictures) preceded by exemplar pictures, and to written words for taxonomic categories of basic level (exemplar words) preceded by exemplar words or by written…

Analysis of Prospective Mathematics Teachers’ Basic Teaching Skills (a Study of Mathematics Education Departement Students’ Field Experience Program at STKIP Garut)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rahayu, D. V.

2017-02-01

This study was intended to figure out basic teaching skills of Mathematics Department Students of STKIP Garut at Field Experience Program in academic year 2014/2015. This study was qualitative research with analysis descriptive technique. Instrument used in this study was observation sheet to measure basic teaching mathematics skills. The result showed that ability of content mastery and explaining skill were in average category. Questioning skill, conducting variations skill and conducting assessment skill were in good category. Managing classroom skill and giving motivation skill were in poor category. Based on the result, it can be concluded that the students’ basic teaching skills weren’t optimal. It is recommended for the collegians to get lesson with appropriate strategy so that they can optimize their basic teaching skills.

Mediaeval cantorals in the Valladolid Biblioteca: FT-Raman spectroscopic study.

PubMed

Edwards, H G; Farwell, D W; Rull Perez, F; Medina Garcia, J

2001-03-01

Raman spectroscopic studies of three mediaeval cantorals in the Biblioteca of the University of Valladolid has revealed information about the pigments used on these large manuscripts. Although executed in a simple colour palette, very pure cinnabar was used as the major colourant, offsetting the carbon black of the verses and script. A dark blue colour was achieved using a mixture of azurite (basic copper carbonate) and carbon, whereas a light blue colour was azurite alone. A grey colour was achieved using azurite, carbon particles and a calcareous 'limewash'. A yellow pigment, used sparely in the cantorals was ascribed to saffron; unusually, there was no evidence for the presence of the yellow mineral pigments orpiment, realgar and massicot. In several regions of the vellum specimens, evidence for biodeterioration was observed through the signatures of hydrated calcium oxalate. We report for the first time the Raman spectra of pigment in situ on a vellum fragment, which also shows evidence of substrate bands; comparison of black and red pigmented regions of vellum specimens has shown the presence of calcium oxalate in the black pigmented script but not in the red pigment regions, which suggests that the cinnabar in the red-pigmented regions acts as a toxic protectant for the vellum substrate against biological colonisation processes.

Categorisation of Colour Terms Using New Validation Tools: A Case Study and Implications

PubMed Central

Arbab, Shabnam; Brindle, Jonathan A.; Matusiak, Barbara S.; Klöckner, Christian A.

2018-01-01

This article elaborates on the results of a field experiment conducted among speakers of the Chakali language, spoken in northern Ghana. In the original study, the Color-aid Corporation Chart was used to perform the focal task in which consultants were asked to point at a single colour tile on the chart. However, data from the focal task could not be analysed since the Color-aid tiles had not yet been converted into numerical values set forth by the Commission internationale de l’éclairage (CIE). In this study, the full set of 314 Color-aid tiles were measured for chromaticity and converted into the CIE values at the Daylight Laboratory of the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. This article presents the conversion methodology and makes the results of the measurements, which are available in the Online Appendix. We argue that some visual-perception terms cannot be reliably ascribed to colour categories established by the Color-aid Corporation. This suggests that the ideophonic expressions in the dataset do not denote ‘colours’, as categorised in the Color-aid system, as it was impossible to average the consultants’ data into a CIE chromaticity diagram, illustrate the phenomena on the Natural Colour System (NCS) Circle and Triangle diagrams, and conduct a statistical analysis. One of the implications of this study is that a line between a visual-perception term and a colour term could be systematically established using a method with predefined categorical thresholds. PMID:29755718

Prefrontal cortex contributions to episodic retrieval monitoring and evaluation.

PubMed

Cruse, Damian; Wilding, Edward L

2009-11-01

Although the prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays roles in episodic memory judgments, the specific processes it supports are not understood fully. Event-related potential (ERP) studies of episodic retrieval have revealed an electrophysiological modulation - the right-frontal ERP old/new effect - which is thought to reflect activity in PFC. The functional significance of this old/new effect remains a matter of debate, and this study was designed to test two accounts: (i) that the effect indexes processes linked to the monitoring or evaluation of the products of retrieval in service of task demands, or (ii) that it indexes the number of internal decisions required for a task judgment. Participants studied words in one of two colours. In a subsequent retrieval task, old (studied) and new words were presented in a neutral colour. Participants made initial old/new judgments, along with study colour judgments to words thought to be old. They also indicated their confidence (high/low) in the colour decision. Right-frontal ERP old/new effects were larger for high than for low confidence correct colour judgments, and the magnitude of the right-frontal effect was correlated with the proportions of low confidence judgments that were made. Because the numbers of decisions associated with these response categories are equivalent, these findings do not support a decision-based account of the right-frontal ERP old/new effect. Rather, the correlation between confidence and the magnitude of the effect links it with retrieval monitoring and evaluation processes.

Modelling and simulating reaction-diffusion systems using coloured Petri nets.

PubMed

Liu, Fei; Blätke, Mary-Ann; Heiner, Monika; Yang, Ming

2014-10-01

Reaction-diffusion systems often play an important role in systems biology when developmental processes are involved. Traditional methods of modelling and simulating such systems require substantial prior knowledge of mathematics and/or simulation algorithms. Such skills may impose a challenge for biologists, when they are not equally well-trained in mathematics and computer science. Coloured Petri nets as a high-level and graphical language offer an attractive alternative, which is easily approachable. In this paper, we investigate a coloured Petri net framework integrating deterministic, stochastic and hybrid modelling formalisms and corresponding simulation algorithms for the modelling and simulation of reaction-diffusion processes that may be closely coupled with signalling pathways, metabolic reactions and/or gene expression. Such systems often manifest multiscaleness in time, space and/or concentration. We introduce our approach by means of some basic diffusion scenarios, and test it against an established case study, the Brusselator model. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Military personnel recognition system using texture, colour, and SURF features

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Irhebhude, Martins E.; Edirisinghe, Eran A.

2014-06-01

This paper presents an automatic, machine vision based, military personnel identification and classification system. Classification is done using a Support Vector Machine (SVM) on sets of Army, Air Force and Navy camouflage uniform personnel datasets. In the proposed system, the arm of service of personnel is recognised by the camouflage of a persons uniform, type of cap and the type of badge/logo. The detailed analysis done include; camouflage cap and plain cap differentiation using gray level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) texture feature; classification on Army, Air Force and Navy camouflaged uniforms using GLCM texture and colour histogram bin features; plain cap badge classification into Army, Air Force and Navy using Speed Up Robust Feature (SURF). The proposed method recognised camouflage personnel arm of service on sets of data retrieved from google images and selected military websites. Correlation-based Feature Selection (CFS) was used to improve recognition and reduce dimensionality, thereby speeding the classification process. With this method success rates recorded during the analysis include 93.8% for camouflage appearance category, 100%, 90% and 100% rates of plain cap and camouflage cap categories for Army, Air Force and Navy categories, respectively. Accurate recognition was recorded using SURF for the plain cap badge category. Substantial analysis has been carried out and results prove that the proposed method can correctly classify military personnel into various arms of service. We show that the proposed method can be integrated into a face recognition system, which will recognise personnel in addition to determining the arm of service which the personnel belong. Such a system can be used to enhance the security of a military base or facility.

Selection of trait combinations through bee and fly visitation to flowers of Polemonium foliosissimum.

PubMed

Campbell, D R; Forster, M; Bischoff, M

2014-02-01

Pollinators are known to exert natural selection on floral traits, but the extent to which combinations of floral traits are subject to correlational selection (nonadditive effects of two traits on fitness) is not well understood. Over two years, we used phenotypic manipulations of plant traits to test for effects of flower colour, flower shape and their interaction on rates of pollinator visitation to Polemonium foliosissimum. We also tested for correlational selection based on weighting visitation by the amount of conspecific pollen delivered per visit by each category of insect visitor. Although bumblebees were the presumed pollinators, solitary bees and flies contributed substantially (42%) to pollination. In manipulations of one trait at a time, insects visited flowers presenting the natural colour and shape over flowers manipulated to present artificial mutants with either paler colour or a more open or more tubular flower. When both colour and shape were manipulated in combination, selection on both traits arose, with bumblebees responding mainly to colour and flies responding mainly to shape. Despite selection on both floral traits, in a year with many bumblebees, we saw no evidence for correlational selection of these traits. In a year when flies predominated, fly visitation showed a pattern of correlational selection, but not favouring the natural phenotype, and correlational selection was still not detected for expected pollen receipt. These results show that flower colour and shape are subject to pollinator-mediated selection and that correlational selection can be generated based on pollinator visitation alone, but provide no evidence for correlational selection specifically for the current phenotype. © 2013 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2013 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

The utility of ultrasound superb microvascular imaging for evaluation of breast tumour vascularity: comparison with colour and power Doppler imaging regarding diagnostic performance.

PubMed

Park, A Y; Seo, B K; Woo, O H; Jung, K S; Cho, K R; Park, E K; Cha, S H; Cha, J

2018-03-01

To investigate the utility of superb microvascular imaging (SMI) for evaluating the vascularity of breast masses in comparison with colour or power Doppler ultrasound (US) and the effect on diagnostic performance. A total of 191 biopsy-proven masses (99 benign and 92 malignant) in 166 women with greyscale, colour Doppler, power Doppler, and SMI images were enrolled in this retrospective study. Three radiologists analysed the vascular images using a three-factor scoring system to evaluate the number, morphology, and distribution of tumour vessels. They assessed the Breast Imaging-Reporting and Data System categories for greyscale US alone and combinations of greyscale US and each type of vascular US. The Kruskal-Wallis test was performed and the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) measured. On SMI, vascular scores were compared between benign and malignant masses and the optimal cut-off value for the overall score was determined. SMI showed higher vascular scores than colour or power Doppler US and malignant masses had higher scores than benign masses (p<0.001). The diagnostic performance of the combination of greyscale US and SMI was higher than those of greyscale US alone and greyscale and colour or power Doppler US (AUC, 0.815 versus 0.774, 0.789, 0.791; p<0.001). The optimal cut-off value of the overall vascular score was 5 with a sensitivity of 82.3% and a specificity of 65.3% (AUC, 0.808). SMI is superior to colour or power Doppler US for characterising the vascularity in breast masses and improving diagnostic performance. Copyright © 2017 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Dramatic colour changes in a bird of paradise caused by uniquely structured breast feather barbules

PubMed Central

Stavenga, Doekele G.; Leertouwer, Hein L.; Marshall, N. Justin; Osorio, Daniel

2011-01-01

The breast-plate plumage of male Lawes' parotia (Parotia lawesii) produces dramatic colour changes when this bird of paradise displays on its forest-floor lek. We show that this effect is achieved not solely by the iridescence—that is an angular-dependent spectral shift of the reflected light—which is inherent in structural coloration, but is based on a unique anatomical modification of the breast-feather barbule. The barbules have a segmental structure, and in common with many other iridescent feathers, they contain stacked melanin rodlets surrounded by a keratin film. The unique property of the parotia barbules is their boomerang-like cross section. This allows each barbule to work as three coloured mirrors: a yellow-orange reflector in the plane of the feather, and two symmetrically positioned bluish reflectors at respective angles of about 30°. Movement during the parotia's courtship displays thereby achieves much larger and more abrupt colour changes than is possible with ordinary iridescent plumage. To our knowledge, this is the first example of multiple thin film or multi-layer reflectors incorporated in a single structure (engineered or biological). It nicely illustrates how subtle modification of the basic feather structure can achieve novel visual effects. The fact that the parotia's breast feathers seem to be specifically adapted to give much stronger colour changes than normal structural coloration implies that colour change is important in their courtship display. PMID:21159676

The HIrisPlex-S system for eye, hair and skin colour prediction from DNA: Introduction and forensic developmental validation.

PubMed

Chaitanya, Lakshmi; Breslin, Krystal; Zuñiga, Sofia; Wirken, Laura; Pośpiech, Ewelina; Kukla-Bartoszek, Magdalena; Sijen, Titia; Knijff, Peter de; Liu, Fan; Branicki, Wojciech; Kayser, Manfred; Walsh, Susan

2018-07-01

Forensic DNA Phenotyping (FDP), i.e. the prediction of human externally visible traits from DNA, has become a fast growing subfield within forensic genetics due to the intelligence information it can provide from DNA traces. FDP outcomes can help focus police investigations in search of unknown perpetrators, who are generally unidentifiable with standard DNA profiling. Therefore, we previously developed and forensically validated the IrisPlex DNA test system for eye colour prediction and the HIrisPlex system for combined eye and hair colour prediction from DNA traces. Here we introduce and forensically validate the HIrisPlex-S DNA test system (S for skin) for the simultaneous prediction of eye, hair, and skin colour from trace DNA. This FDP system consists of two SNaPshot-based multiplex assays targeting a total of 41 SNPs via a novel multiplex assay for 17 skin colour predictive SNPs and the previous HIrisPlex assay for 24 eye and hair colour predictive SNPs, 19 of which also contribute to skin colour prediction. The HIrisPlex-S system further comprises three statistical prediction models, the previously developed IrisPlex model for eye colour prediction based on 6 SNPs, the previous HIrisPlex model for hair colour prediction based on 22 SNPs, and the recently introduced HIrisPlex-S model for skin colour prediction based on 36 SNPs. In the forensic developmental validation testing, the novel 17-plex assay performed in full agreement with the Scientific Working Group on DNA Analysis Methods (SWGDAM) guidelines, as previously shown for the 24-plex assay. Sensitivity testing of the 17-plex assay revealed complete SNP profiles from as little as 63 pg of input DNA, equalling the previously demonstrated sensitivity threshold of the 24-plex HIrisPlex assay. Testing of simulated forensic casework samples such as blood, semen, saliva stains, of inhibited DNA samples, of low quantity touch (trace) DNA samples, and of artificially degraded DNA samples as well as concordance testing, demonstrated the robustness, efficiency, and forensic suitability of the new 17-plex assay, as previously shown for the 24-plex assay. Finally, we provide an update to the publically available HIrisPlex website https://hirisplex.erasmusmc.nl/, now allowing the estimation of individual probabilities for 3 eye, 4 hair, and 5 skin colour categories from HIrisPlex-S input genotypes. The HIrisPlex-S DNA test represents the first forensically validated tool for skin colour prediction, and reflects the first forensically validated tool for simultaneous eye, hair and skin colour prediction from DNA. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Poseidon's paintbox : historical archives of ocean colour in global-change perspective

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Wernand, M. R.

2011-11-01

In the thesis introduction issues are discussed on the historical background of marine optics and on marine optical devices that were used over the past centuries to observe and measure; as in all sciences, in marine optics we can see a steady development: that of ‘measuring’, beginning many centuries ago, to 'knowing' and since less than a century to the understanding of the phenomenon. Hereafter, six themes are treated successively. The first theme, ‘Ocean optics from 1600 (Hudson) to 1930 (Raman), shift in interpretation of natural water colouring’, addresses the question of why it took so long a time to explain the phenomenon ‘the colouring of the sea’, especially the blue colour, despite the age-long interest of sailors, for practical purposes of navigation and detection of fish - of which more later. The second theme ‘On the history of the Secchi disc’, describes the search to establish methods for the determination of (sea) water clarity concerning purposes of navigation (near coast colour changes) just mentioned to detect shoals, and for a more basic purpose, tracing lost objects. The search to determine the clarity of lakes and seas culminated in the invention of the Secchi disc, used since the late 19th century. The third theme, ‘Spectral analysis of the Forel-Ule ocean colour comparator scale’, addresses the accuracy of a colour scale proposed, used in limnology and oceanography. Scale observations are put into perspective with contemporary measurements on the colour of the sea. The fourth theme, ‘Ocean colour changes in the North Pacific since 1930’, handles the question whether long-term ocean colour changes using historic Forel-Ule observations, in this part of the ocean made very frequently over time, can be determined in relation to global change. In principal global warming may cause a gradual change in ocean colour due to the effect of biological, chemical and physical aspects of the ocean-surface. The fifth theme, ‘MERIS-based ocean colour classification using the Forel-Ule scale’, addresses the question whether a relation can be established between the old Forel-Ule methodology, the classification of ocean colour by means of one of the scale colours, and the more recent satellite ocean colour methodology. The sixth theme, ‘Trends in ocean colour and chlorophyll concentration since 1889 to present’, addresses decadal colour changes per ocean and sea, using the longest available Forel-Ule dataset and confirms the possibility to transform these colour changes into chlorophyll concentration (indicative of the biomass of marine planktonic microalgae) changes. Such a transformation is needed to provide a link to the present in which chlorophyll concentrations are determined by using new technologies such as satellite remote sensing calibrated with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) pigment analysis to determine marine microalgae pigments.

The influence of tooth colour on the perceptions of personal characteristics among female dental patients: comparisons of unmodified, decayed and 'whitened' teeth.

PubMed

Kershaw, S; Newton, J T; Williams, D M

2008-03-08

Physical appearance plays a key role in human social interaction and the smile and teeth are important features in determining the attractiveness of a face. Furthermore, the mouth is thought to be important in social interactions. The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between tooth colour and social perceptions. Cross-sectional survey. One hundred and eighty female participants viewed one of six images, either a male or a female digitally altered to display one of three possible dental statuses (unmodified, decayed, or whitened). The images were rated on four personality traits: social competence (SC), intellectual ability (IA), psychological adjustment (PA), and relationship satisfaction (RS). Decayed dental appearance led to more negative judgements over the four personality categories. Whitened teeth led to more positive appraisals. The gender of the image and the demographic background of the participant did not have a significant effect on appraisals. Tooth colour exerts an influence on social perceptions. The results may be explained by negative beliefs about dental decay, such as its link with poor oral hygiene.

Perceiving emotion: towards a realistic understanding of the task.

PubMed

Cowie, Roddy

2009-12-12

A decade ago, perceiving emotion was generally equated with taking a sample (a still photograph or a few seconds of speech) that unquestionably signified an archetypal emotional state, and attaching the appropriate label. Computational research has shifted that paradigm in multiple ways. Concern with realism is key. Emotion generally colours ongoing action and interaction: describing that colouring is a different problem from categorizing brief episodes of relatively pure emotion. Multiple challenges flow from that. Describing emotional colouring is a challenge in itself. One approach is to use everyday categories describing states that are partly emotional and partly cognitive. Another approach is to use dimensions. Both approaches need ways to deal with gradual changes over time and mixed emotions. Attaching target descriptions to a sample poses problems of both procedure and validation. Cues are likely to be distributed both in time and across modalities, and key decisions may depend heavily on context. The usefulness of acted data is limited because it tends not to reproduce these features. By engaging with these challenging issues, research is not only achieving impressive results, but also offering a much deeper understanding of the problem.

Revisiting the co-existence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Chronic Tic Disorder in childhood-The case of colour discrimination, sustained attention and interference control.

PubMed

Uebel-von Sandersleben, Henrik; Albrecht, Björn; Rothenberger, Aribert; Fillmer-Heise, Anke; Roessner, Veit; Sergeant, Joseph; Tannock, Rosemary; Banaschewski, Tobias

2017-01-01

Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Chronic Tic Disorder (CTD) are two common and frequently co-existing disorders, probably following an additive model. But this is not yet clear for the basic sensory function of colour processing sensitive to dopaminergic functioning in the retina and higher cognitive functions like attention and interference control. The latter two reflect important aspects for psychoeducation and behavioural treatment approaches. Colour discrimination using the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue Test, sustained attention during the Frankfurt Attention Inventory (FAIR), and interference liability during Colour- and Counting-Stroop-Tests were assessed to further clarify the cognitive profile of the co-existence of ADHD and CTD. Altogether 69 children were classified into four groups: ADHD (N = 14), CTD (N = 20), ADHD+CTD (N = 20) and healthy Controls (N = 15) and compared in cognitive functioning in a 2×2-factorial statistical model. Difficulties with colour discrimination were associated with both ADHD and CTD factors following an additive model, but in ADHD these difficulties tended to be more pronounced on the blue-yellow axis. Attention problems were characteristic for ADHD but not CTD. Interference load was significant in both Colour- and Counting-Stroop-Tests and unrelated to colour discrimination. Compared to Controls, interference load in the Colour-Stroop was higher in pure ADHD and in pure CTD, but not in ADHD+CTD, following a sub-additive model. In contrast, interference load in the Counting-Stroop did not reveal ADHD or CTD effects. The co-existence of ADHD and CTD is characterized by additive as well as sub-additive performance impairments, suggesting that their co-existence may show simple additive characteristics of both disorders or a more complex interaction, depending on demand. The equivocal findings on interference control may indicate limited validity of the Stroop-Paradigm for clinical assessments.

Effects of surface inactivation, high temperature drying and preservative treatment on surface roughness and colour of alder and beech wood

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aydin, Ismail; Colakoglu, Gursel

2005-10-01

Although extensive research has been conducted in wood surface quality analysis, a unified approach to surface quality characterisation does not exist. Measurements of the variation in surface roughness and surface colour are used widely for the evaluation of wood surface quality. Colour is a basic visual feature for wood and wood-based products. Colour measurement is one of the quality control tests that should be carried out because the colour deviations are spotted easily by the consumers. On the other hand, a common problem faced by plywood manufacturers is panel delamination, for which a major cause is poor quality glue-bonds resulting from rough veneer. Rotary cut veneers with dimensions of 500 mm × 500 mm × 2 mm manufactured from alder ( Alnus glutinosa subsp. barbata) and beech ( Fagus orientalis Lipsky) logs were used as materials in this study. Veneer sheets were oven-dried in a veneer dryer at 110 °C (normal drying temperature) and 180 °C (high drying temperature) after peeling process. The surfaces of some veneers were then exposed at indoor laboratory conditions to obtain inactive wood surfaces for glue bonds, and some veneers were treated with borax, boric acid and ammonium acetate solutions. After these treatments, surface roughness and colour measurements were made on veneer surfaces. High temperature drying process caused a darkening on the surfaces of alder and beech veneers. Total colour change value (Δ E*) increased linear with increasing exposure time. Among the treatment solutions, ammonium acetate caused the biggest colour change while treatment with borax caused the lowest changes in Δ E* values. Considerable changes in surface roughness after preservative treatment did not occur on veneer surfaces. Generally, no clear changes were obtained or the values mean roughness profile ( Ra) decreased slightly in Ra values after the natural inactivation process.

Revisiting the co-existence of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Chronic Tic Disorder in childhood—The case of colour discrimination, sustained attention and interference control

PubMed Central

Rothenberger, Aribert; Fillmer-Heise, Anke; Roessner, Veit; Sergeant, Joseph; Tannock, Rosemary; Banaschewski, Tobias

2017-01-01

Objective Attention Deficit / Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Chronic Tic Disorder (CTD) are two common and frequently co-existing disorders, probably following an additive model. But this is not yet clear for the basic sensory function of colour processing sensitive to dopaminergic functioning in the retina and higher cognitive functions like attention and interference control. The latter two reflect important aspects for psychoeducation and behavioural treatment approaches. Methods Colour discrimination using the Farnsworth-Munsell 100-hue Test, sustained attention during the Frankfurt Attention Inventory (FAIR), and interference liability during Colour- and Counting-Stroop-Tests were assessed to further clarify the cognitive profile of the co-existence of ADHD and CTD. Altogether 69 children were classified into four groups: ADHD (N = 14), CTD (N = 20), ADHD+CTD (N = 20) and healthy Controls (N = 15) and compared in cognitive functioning in a 2×2-factorial statistical model. Results Difficulties with colour discrimination were associated with both ADHD and CTD factors following an additive model, but in ADHD these difficulties tended to be more pronounced on the blue-yellow axis. Attention problems were characteristic for ADHD but not CTD. Interference load was significant in both Colour- and Counting-Stroop-Tests and unrelated to colour discrimination. Compared to Controls, interference load in the Colour-Stroop was higher in pure ADHD and in pure CTD, but not in ADHD+CTD, following a sub-additive model. In contrast, interference load in the Counting-Stroop did not reveal ADHD or CTD effects. Conclusion The co-existence of ADHD and CTD is characterized by additive as well as sub-additive performance impairments, suggesting that their co-existence may show simple additive characteristics of both disorders or a more complex interaction, depending on demand. The equivocal findings on interference control may indicate limited validity of the Stroop-Paradigm for clinical assessments. PMID:28594866

Birds see the true colours of fruits to live off the fat of the land

PubMed Central

Schaefer, H. Martin; Valido, Alfredo; Jordano, Pedro

2014-01-01

Communication is a characteristic of life, but its reliability and basic definition are hotly debated. Theory predicts that trade among mutualists requires high reliability. Here, we show that moderate reliability already allows mutualists to optimize their rewards. The colours of Mediterranean fleshy-fruits indicate lipid rewards (but not other nutrients) to avian seed dispersers on regional and local scales. On the regional scale, fruits with high lipid content were significantly darker and less chromatic than congeners with lower lipid content. On the local scale, two warbler species (Sylvia atricapilla and Sylvia borin) selected fruit colours that were less chromatic, and thereby maximized their intake of lipids—a critical resource during migration and wintering. Crucially, birds were able to maximize lipid rewards with moderate reliability from visual fruit colours (r2 = 0.44–0.60). We suggest that mutualisms require only that any association between the quality and sensory aspects of signallers is learned through multiple, repeated interactions. Because these conditions are often fulfilled, also in social communication systems, we contend that selection on reliability is less intense than hitherto assumed. This may contribute to explaining the extraordinary diversity of signals, including that of plant reproductive displays. PMID:24403330

Monitoring the North Atlantic using ocean colour data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fuentes-Yaco, C.; Caverhill, C.; Maass, H.; Porter, C.; White, GN, III

2016-04-01

The Remote Sensing Unit (RSU) at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO) has been monitoring the North Atlantic using ocean colour products for decades. Optical sensors used include CZCS, POLDER, SeaWiFS, MODIS/Aqua and MERIS. The monitoring area is defined by the Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program (AZMP) but certain products extend into Arctic waters, and all-Canadian waters which include the Pacific coast. RSU provides Level 3 images for various products in several formats and a range of temporal and spatial resolutions. Basic statistics for pre-defined areas of interest are compiled for each product. Climatologies and anomaly maps are also routinely produced, and custom products are delivered by request. RSU is involved in the generation of Level 4 products, such as characterizing the phenology of spring and fall phytoplankton blooms, computing primary production, using ocean colour to aid in EBSA (Ecologically and Biologically Significant Area) definition and developing habitat suitability maps. Upcoming operational products include maps of diatom distribution, biogeochemical province boundaries, and products from sensors such as VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite), OLCI (Ocean Land Colour Instrument), and PACE (Pre-Aerosol, Clouds and ocean Ecosystem) hyperspectral microsatellite mission.

Geographic and phenotypic variation in heartwood and essential-oil characters in natural populations of Santalum austrocaledonicum in Vanuatu.

PubMed

Page, Tony; Southwell, Ian; Russell, Mike; Tate, Hanington; Tungon, Joseph; Sam, Chanel; Dickinson, Geoff; Robson, Ken; Leakey, Roger R B

2010-08-01

Phenotypic variation in heartwood and essential-oil characters of Santalum austrocaledonicum was assessed across eleven populations on seven islands of Vanuatu. Trees differed significantly in their percentage heartwood cross-sectional area and this varied independently of stem diameter. The concentrations of the four major essential-oil constituents (alpha-santalol, beta-santalol, (Z)-beta-curcumen-12-ol, and cis-nuciferol) of alcohol-extracted heartwood exhibited at least tenfold and continuous tree-to-tree variation. Commercially important components alpha- and beta-santalol found in individual trees ranged from 0.8-47% and 0-24.1%, respectively, across all populations, and significant (P<0.05) differences for each were found between individual populations. The Erromango population was unique in that the mean concentrations of its monocyclic ((Z)-beta-curcumen-12-ol and cis-nuciferol) sesquiterpenes exceeded those of its bi- and tricyclic (alpha- and beta-santalol) sesquiterpenes. Heartwood colour varied between trees and spanned 65 colour categories, but no identifiable relationships were found between heartwood colour and alpha- and beta-santalol, although a weak relationship was evident between colour saturation and total oil concentration. These results indicate that the heartwood colour is not a reliable predictive trait for oil quality. The results of this study highlight the knowledge gaps in fundamental understanding of heartwood biology in Santalum genus. The intraspecific variation in heartwood cross-sectional area, oil concentration, and oil quality traits is of considerable importance to the domestication of sandalwood and present opportunities for the development of highly superior S. austrocaledonicum cultivars that conform to the industry's International Standards used for S. album.

Basic Skills: Quality Education Program Study. Booklet 3 (Description) and Booklet 3A (Needs Assessment).

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bucks County Public Schools, Doylestown, PA.

Categories of effective and ineffective behavior in regard to Goal Three of the Quality Education Program (regarding basic skills) are listed. Both the rationales for areas of effective student behavior and the categories of teacher strategies are also included. (See TM 001 375 for project description.) (MS)

The Potential Impact of Directionality, Colour Perceptions and Cultural Associations on Disaster Messages During Heatwaves in the UK

PubMed Central

Tang, Chris; Rundblad, Gabriella

2015-01-01

The health risks posed by heatwaves have been well documented. In the UK, before and during a heatwave, alerts are issued to the general public based on a tiered warning system integrating the use of colour and number sequences. There has of yet been no formal assessment of the public response to these messages. Cultural and language barriers make some members of ethnic minority communities particularly hard to reach. These may be less challenging amongst younger community members, who may be well placed to instigate the circulation of warning information to those less able or willing to use conventional channels. This qualitative study assesses the role of age and ethnic and cultural background in the conceptualisation of the number and colour systems used as part of the Heat-Health Watch System (HHWS) and the National Severe Weather Warning Service (NSWWS). Young and older participants were recruited from the Bangladeshi and white British populations of Tower Hamlets. All participants were given a cognitive task that required them to identify and draw associations between 12 cards depicting the four colours and numbers used in the warning system and four pictures providing contextualisation in terms of heatwave risk. A qualitative analysis of the heuristics used in the group discussions provided insights into the conceptualisations basic to interpreting colour and number sequences as representations of risk graduations, and how interpretation might be influenced by age and ethnic and cultural background. There were considerable differences in the interpretation of young Bangladeshi and older white British participants, on the one hand, and older Bangladeshi participants, on the other. Young Bangladeshis and older white British participants conceptualised the colours and numbers as a vertical scale, with the numbers/colours at “the top” corresponding to representations of higher temperature. This conceptualisation was mainly based on strong associations between colour and temperature, with risk only associated with the upper limit of the scale. Older Bangladeshi participants, on the other hand, conceptualised the numbers and pictures as a narrative sequence and disassociated the colours from the other cards. The differences between groups suggest potential cultural barriers to the “intended” interpretation of the colour and number sequences for older Bangladeshis but not for young Bangladeshis. The fact that the predominant association for the colour sequence for both young Bangladeshis and older white British participants was with graduations of temperature rather than risk raises questions about the applicability of using colours in a tiered warning system. PMID:25932346

The contribution of temporary storage and executive processes to category learning.

PubMed

Wang, Tengfei; Ren, Xuezhu; Schweizer, Karl

2015-09-01

Three distinctly different working memory processes, temporary storage, mental shifting and inhibition, were proposed to account for individual differences in category learning. A sample of 213 participants completed a classic category learning task and two working memory tasks that were experimentally manipulated for tapping specific working memory processes. Fixed-links models were used to decompose data of the category learning task into two independent components representing basic performance and improvement in performance in category learning. Processes of working memory were also represented by fixed-links models. In a next step the three working memory processes were linked to components of category learning. Results from modeling analyses indicated that temporary storage had a significant effect on basic performance and shifting had a moderate effect on improvement in performance. In contrast, inhibition showed no effect on any component of the category learning task. These results suggest that temporary storage and the shifting process play different roles in the course of acquiring new categories. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Chemical, chromatic, and sensory attributes of 6 red wines produced with prefermentative cold soak.

PubMed

Casassa, L Federico; Bolcato, Esteban A; Sari, Santiago E

2015-05-01

Six red grape cultivars, Barbera D'Asti, Cabernet Sauvignon, Malbec, Merlot, Pinot Noir and Syrah, were produced with or without prefermentative cold soak (CS). Cold soak had no effect on the basic chemical composition of the wines. At pressing, CS wines were more saturated and with a higher red component than control wines. After 1 year of bottle aging, CS wines retained 22% more anthocyanins than control wines, but tannins and total phenolics remained unaffected. Both saturation and the red component of colour were slightly higher in CS wines. From a sensory standpoint, CS only enhanced colour intensity in Barbera D'Asti and Cabernet Sauvignon wines, whereas it diminished colour intensity in Pinot Noir. Cold soak had no effect on perceived aroma, bitterness, astringency, and body of the wines. Principal Component Analysis suggested that the outcome of CS is contingent upon the specific cultivar to which the CS technique is applied. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Setters and Samoyeds: The Emergence of Subordinate Level Categories as a Basis for Inductive Inference in Preschool-Age Children.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Waxman, Sandra R.; Lynch, Elizabeth B.; Casey, K. Lyman; Baer, Leslie

1997-01-01

Three experiments examine how preschoolers partition their basic level categories to form subordinate level categories and whether these have inductive potential. Results suggest that contrastive information promotes the emergence of subordinate categories as a basis of inductive inference and newly established subordinate categories can retain…

Nicotine deprivation elevates neural representation of smoking-related cues in object-sensitive visual cortex: a proof of concept study.

PubMed

Havermans, Anne; van Schayck, Onno C P; Vuurman, Eric F P M; Riedel, Wim J; van den Hurk, Job

2017-08-01

In the current study, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) to investigate whether tobacco addiction biases basic visual processing in favour of smoking-related images. We hypothesize that the neural representation of smoking-related stimuli in the lateral occipital complex (LOC) is elevated after a period of nicotine deprivation compared to a satiated state, but that this is not the case for object categories unrelated to smoking. Current smokers (≥10 cigarettes a day) underwent two fMRI scanning sessions: one after 10 h of nicotine abstinence and the other one after smoking ad libitum. Regional blood oxygenated level-dependent (BOLD) response was measured while participants were presented with 24 blocks of 8 colour-matched pictures of cigarettes, pencils or chairs. The functional data of 10 participants were analysed through a pattern classification approach. In bilateral LOC clusters, the classifier was able to discriminate between patterns of activity elicited by visually similar smoking-related (cigarettes) and neutral objects (pencils) above empirically estimated chance levels only during deprivation (mean = 61.0%, chance (permutations) = 50.0%, p = .01) but not during satiation (mean = 53.5%, chance (permutations) = 49.9%, ns.). For all other stimulus contrasts, there was no difference in discriminability between the deprived and satiated conditions. The discriminability between smoking and non-smoking visual objects was elevated in object-selective brain region LOC after a period of nicotine abstinence. This indicates that attention bias likely affects basic visual object processing.

Nursing's values from a Confucian perspective.

PubMed

Chao, Y M

1995-01-01

Confucius' sayings-derived from his 450 recorded brief conversations and observations-colourfully expound such basic virtues as a child's duty toward his/her parents, love between brothers, devotion to family tradition, reliability in friendships, loyalty to superiors and justice to all men. How five major values of Confucian beliefs fit into nursing practices are elaborated below.

Deaf and hard of hearing adolescents' processing of pictures and written words for taxonomic categories in a priming task of semantic categorization.

PubMed

Li, Degao; Gao, Kejuan; Wu, Xueyun; Chen, Xiaojun; Zhang, Xiaona; Li, Ling; He, Weiwei

2013-01-01

Inspired by research by Li, Yi, and Kim (2011), the authors examined Chinese deaf and hard of hearing adolescents' responses to pictures for taxonomic categories of basic level (exemplar pictures) preceded by exemplar pictures, and to written words for taxonomic categories of basic level (exemplar words) preceded by exemplar words or by written words for those of superordinate level (category names), in a priming task of semantic categorization. Stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) was manipulated. The adolescents were less aware of taxonomic relations and were more likely to show the advantage of pictures over written words than their hearing counterparts. Their processing of exemplar primes steadily deepened as SOA increased, reaching its deepest level when SOA was 237 ms. Their processing of category names seemed immune to changes in SOA, probably because of their fuzzy representations of taxonomic categories of superordinate level.

Smart packaging for the monitoring of fish freshness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pacquit, Alexis; Lau, King Tong; Diamond, Dermot

2005-06-01

The development of chromo-reactive sensor spots for real time monitoring of fish freshness is described. The on-package sensor spots incorporating an immobilized pH sensitive dye, respond through visible colour change to basic volatile spoilage compounds collectively known as Total Volatile Basic Nitrogen (TVB-N). Trials on fresh fish filets have verified that the sensor can be employed for real time monitoring of fish spoilage. The sensor response can be interrogated with a simple, inexpensive reflectance colorimeter that we have developed based on two LEDs and a photodetector.

Light Vision Color

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Valberg, Arne

2005-04-01

Light Vision Color takes a well-balanced, interdisciplinary approach to our most important sensory system. The book successfully combines basics in vision sciences with recent developments from different areas such as neuroscience, biophysics, sensory psychology and philosophy. Originally published in 1998 this edition has been extensively revised and updated to include new chapters on clinical problems and eye diseases, low vision rehabilitation and the basic molecular biology and genetics of colour vision. Takes a broad interdisciplinary approach combining basics in vision sciences with the most recent developments in the area Includes an extensive list of technical terms and explanations to encourage student understanding Successfully brings together the most important areas of the subject in to one volume

Iconic memory for the gist of natural scenes.

PubMed

Clarke, Jason; Mack, Arien

2014-11-01

Does iconic memory contain the gist of multiple scenes? Three experiments were conducted. In the first, four scenes from different basic-level categories were briefly presented in one of two conditions: a cue or a no-cue condition. The cue condition was designed to provide an index of the contents of iconic memory of the display. Subjects were more sensitive to scene gist in the cue condition than in the no-cue condition. In the second, the scenes came from the same basic-level category. We found no difference in sensitivity between the two conditions. In the third, six scenes from different basic level categories were presented in the visual periphery. Subjects were more sensitive to scene gist in the cue condition. These results suggest that scene gist is contained in iconic memory even in the visual periphery; however, iconic representations are not sufficiently detailed to distinguish between scenes coming from the same category. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Category Label Effects on Chinese Children's Inductive Inferences: Modulation by Perceptual Detail and Category Specificity

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Long, Changquan; Lu, Xiaoying; Zhang, Li; Li, Hong; Deak, Gedeon O.

2012-01-01

Inductive generalization of novel properties to same-category or similar-looking objects was studied in Chinese preschool children. The effects of category labels on generalizations were investigated by comparing basic-level labels, superordinate-level labels, and a control phrase applied to three kinds of stimulus materials: colored photographs…

Gender Differences in the Relationship between Attention Problems and Expressive Language and Emerging Academic Skills in Preschool-Aged Children

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Zevenbergen, Andrea A.; Ryan, Meghan M.

2010-01-01

This study examined the relationship between attention problems and expressive language and academic readiness skills in preschool-aged children from middle-class families. Forty-three children (44% female) were assessed individually for expressive language skills and knowledge of basic academic concepts (e.g. colours, letters and numbers). The…

Escaping from Sunday School: Teaching "The Middle East" in the Setting of Religion

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Marten, Michael

2011-01-01

The article argues that, in the teaching of religion at undergraduate level, many students approach understanding the historical or contemporary Middle East in ways that are coloured by what they think is biblical knowledge or basic Christian beliefs. This is less noticeable for students in disciplines such as history or politics. Many history or…

Eye Movements Reveal the Time-Course of Anticipating Behaviour Based on Complex, Conflicting Desires

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Ferguson, Heather J.; Breheny, Richard

2011-01-01

The time-course of representing others' perspectives is inconclusive across the currently available models of ToM processing. We report two visual-world studies investigating how knowledge about a character's basic preferences (e.g. "Tom's favourite colour is pink") and higher-order desires (his wish to keep this preference secret) compete to…

Style in knitted textiles and fashion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Štemberger, M.; Pavko-Čuden, A.

2017-10-01

The presented research relates the basic elements of the art theory with the concept of style and fashion design. The objective of the research was to determine how style is manifested in knitting in different periods of fashion seasons. The collections of three designers were compared: Missoni, Issey Miyake and Sonia Rykiel, in four different seasons in three different years. The basic artistic elements used in the presented research were: point, line, light-dark and colour together with syntactic rules. A combination of different elements and syntactic rules refers to different artistic languages, which have their own artistic grammar, i.e. a different style. All three investigated fashion designers used knitting in their collections as a significant element which defined their style. Different knitting technologies as well as different yarns made of synthetic or natural fibres in all colour spectra significantly influence the surface of a knitted fabric. Even when the technology is the same, the use of different materials, structures, colours, etc. creates various unique surfaces. The method used in the presented research was a style matrix which is developed from the axiomatic system. Only the part dealing with the language of fine arts and the pictorial speech - the style of a certain designer and a certain work of art/knitted fabric was used. After the selected three designers were examined through all the periods, it was concluded that each designer can be characterised by his own style. Despite the influencing fashion trends, all the compared designers still retained their own style, their own techniques, their own inspirations.

The doctrine of signatures in the medieval and Ottoman Levant.

PubMed

Lev, Efraim

2002-06-01

This study traces the use of the Doctrine of Signatures among medieval and Ottoman physicians and its subsequent appearance in the pharmacological literature of the Levant. Close examination of the historical sources of the Levant seems to support the claim that although this theory did not originate in the region, it was certainly practised there. These sources have revealed 23 substances with medicinal uses based on the Doctrine, bearing witness to the extent of its influence at the time. The main categories of the Doctrine uncovered were: similarity between the substance used and the human organ; resemblance in shape or behaviour to a specific animal; correlation between the colour of a substance and the colour of the symptoms; similarities between the substance and the patient's symptoms and the use of a substance that might produce symptoms of a particular disease in a healthy person to remedy those same symptoms in one who is sick.

Dynamic camouflage by Nassau groupers Epinephelus striatus on a Caribbean coral reef.

PubMed

Watson, A C; Siemann, L A; Hanlon, R T

2014-11-01

This field study describes the camouflage pattern repertoire, associated behaviours and speed of pattern change of Nassau groupers Epinephelus striatus at Little Cayman Island, British West Indies. Three basic camouflaged body patterns were observed under natural conditions and characterized quantitatively. The mean speed of pattern change across the entire body was 4.44 s (range = 0.97-9.87 s); the fastest pattern change as well as contrast change within a fixed pattern occurred within 1 s. Aside from apparent defensive camouflage, E. striatus used camouflage offensively to approach crustacean or fish prey, and three successful predation events were recorded. Although animal camouflage is a widespread tactic, dynamic camouflage is relatively uncommon and has been studied rarely in marine teleosts under natural conditions. The rapid changes observed in E. striatus suggest direct neural control of some skin colouration elements, and comparative studies of functional morphology and behaviour of colour change in other coral-reef teleosts are likely to reveal new mechanisms and adaptations of dynamic colouration. © 2014 The Fisheries Society of the British Isles.

Animal coloration research: why it matters

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

While basic research on animal coloration is the theme of this special edition, here we highlight its applied significance for industry, innovation and society. Both the nanophotonic structures producing stunning optical effects and the colour perception mechanisms in animals are extremely diverse, having been honed over millions of years of evolution for many different purposes. Consequently, there is a wealth of opportunity for biomimetic and bioinspired applications of animal coloration research, spanning colour production, perception and function. Fundamental research on the production and perception of animal coloration is contributing to breakthroughs in the design of new materials (cosmetics, textiles, paints, optical coatings, security labels) and new technologies (cameras, sensors, optical devices, robots, biomedical implants). In addition, discoveries about the function of animal colour are influencing sport, fashion, the military and conservation. Understanding and applying knowledge of animal coloration is now a multidisciplinary exercise. Our goal here is to provide a catalyst for new ideas and collaborations between biologists studying animal coloration and researchers in other disciplines. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Animal coloration: production, perception, function and application’. PMID:28533451

Animal coloration research: why it matters.

PubMed

Caro, Tim; Stoddard, Mary Caswell; Stuart-Fox, Devi

2017-07-05

While basic research on animal coloration is the theme of this special edition, here we highlight its applied significance for industry, innovation and society. Both the nanophotonic structures producing stunning optical effects and the colour perception mechanisms in animals are extremely diverse, having been honed over millions of years of evolution for many different purposes. Consequently, there is a wealth of opportunity for biomimetic and bioinspired applications of animal coloration research, spanning colour production, perception and function. Fundamental research on the production and perception of animal coloration is contributing to breakthroughs in the design of new materials (cosmetics, textiles, paints, optical coatings, security labels) and new technologies (cameras, sensors, optical devices, robots, biomedical implants). In addition, discoveries about the function of animal colour are influencing sport, fashion, the military and conservation. Understanding and applying knowledge of animal coloration is now a multidisciplinary exercise. Our goal here is to provide a catalyst for new ideas and collaborations between biologists studying animal coloration and researchers in other disciplines.This article is part of the themed issue 'Animal coloration: production, perception, function and application'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Visual properties and memorising scenes: Effects of image-space sparseness and uniformity.

PubMed

Lukavský, Jiří; Děchtěrenko, Filip

2017-10-01

Previous studies have demonstrated that humans have a remarkable capacity to memorise a large number of scenes. The research on memorability has shown that memory performance can be predicted by the content of an image. We explored how remembering an image is affected by the image properties within the context of the reference set, including the extent to which it is different from its neighbours (image-space sparseness) and if it belongs to the same category as its neighbours (uniformity). We used a reference set of 2,048 scenes (64 categories), evaluated pairwise scene similarity using deep features from a pretrained convolutional neural network (CNN), and calculated the image-space sparseness and uniformity for each image. We ran three memory experiments, varying the memory workload with experiment length and colour/greyscale presentation. We measured the sensitivity and criterion value changes as a function of image-space sparseness and uniformity. Across all three experiments, we found separate effects of 1) sparseness on memory sensitivity, and 2) uniformity on the recognition criterion. People better remembered (and correctly rejected) images that were more separated from others. People tended to make more false alarms and fewer miss errors in images from categorically uniform portions of the image-space. We propose that both image-space properties affect human decisions when recognising images. Additionally, we found that colour presentation did not yield better memory performance over grayscale images.

Myopic Macular Retinoschisis in Teenagers: Clinical Characteristics and Spectral Domain Optical Coherence Tomography Findings

PubMed Central

Sun, Chuan-bin; You, Yong-sheng; Liu, Zhe; Zheng, Lin-yan; Chen, Pei-qing; Yao, Ke; Xue, An-quan

2016-01-01

To investigate the morphological characteristics of myopic macular retinoschisis (MRS) in teenagers with high myopia, six male (9 eyes) and 3 female (4 eyes) teenagers with typical MRS identified from chart review were evaluated. All cases underwent complete ophthalmic examinations including best corrected visual acuity (BCVA), indirect ophthalmoscopy, colour fundus photography, B-type ultrasonography, axial length measurement, and spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT). The average age was 17.8 ± 1.5 years, average refractive error was −17.04 ± 3.04D, average BCVA was 0.43 ± 0.61, and average axial length was 30.42 ± 1.71 mm. Myopic macular degenerative changes (MDC) by colour fundus photographs revealed Ohno-Matsui Category 1 in 4 eyes, and Category 2 in 9 eyes. Posterior staphyloma was found in 9 eyes. SD-OCT showed outer MRS in all 13 eyes, internal limiting membrane detachment in 7 eyes, vascular microfolds in 2 eyes, and inner MRS in 1 eye. No premacular structures such as macular epiretinal membrane or partially detached posterior hyaloids were found. Our results showed that MRS rarely occurred in highly myopic teenagers, and was not accompanied by premacular structures, severe MDC, or even obvious posterior staphyloma. This finding indicates that posterior scleral expansion is probably the main cause of MRS. PMID:27294332

A novel visualisation tool for climate services: a case study of temperature extremes and human mortality in Europe

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lowe, R.; Ballester, J.; Robine, J.; Herrmann, F. R.; Jupp, T. E.; Stephenson, D.; Rodó, X.

2013-12-01

Users of climate information often require probabilistic information on which to base their decisions. However, communicating information contained within a probabilistic forecast presents a challenge. In this paper we demonstrate a novel visualisation technique to display ternary probabilistic forecasts on a map in order to inform decision making. In this method, ternary probabilistic forecasts, which assign probabilities to a set of three outcomes (e.g. low, medium, and high risk), are considered as a point in a triangle of barycentric coordinates. This allows a unique colour to be assigned to each forecast from a continuum of colours defined on the triangle. Colour saturation increases with information gain relative to the reference forecast (i.e. the long term average). This provides additional information to decision makers compared with conventional methods used in seasonal climate forecasting, where one colour is used to represent one forecast category on a forecast map (e.g. red = ';dry'). We use the tool to present climate-related mortality projections across Europe. Temperature and humidity are related to human mortality via location-specific transfer functions, calculated using historical data. Daily mortality data at the NUTS2 level for 16 countries in Europe were obtain from 1998-2005. Transfer functions were calculated for 54 aggregations in Europe, defined using criteria related to population and climatological similarities. Aggregations are restricted to fall within political boundaries to avoid problems related to varying adaptation policies between countries. A statistical model is fit to cold and warm tails to estimate future mortality using forecast temperatures, in a Bayesian probabilistic framework. Using predefined categories of temperature-related mortality risk, we present maps of probabilistic projections for human mortality at seasonal to decadal time scales. We demonstrate the information gained from using this technique compared to more traditional methods to display ternary probabilistic forecasts. This technique allows decision makers to identify areas where the model predicts with certainty area-specific heat waves or cold snaps, in order to effectively target resources to those areas most at risk, for a given season or year. It is hoped that this visualisation tool will facilitate the interpretation of the probabilistic forecasts not only for public health decision makers but also within a multi-sectoral climate service framework.

The Conceptual Grouping Effect: Categories Matter (and Named Categories Matter More)

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lupyan, Gary

2008-01-01

Do conceptual categories affect basic visual processing? A conceptual grouping effect for familiar stimuli is reported using a visual search paradigm. Search through conceptually-homogeneous non-targets was faster and more efficient than search through conceptually-heterogeneous non-targets. This effect cannot be attributed to perceptual factors…

Basic Color Terms in Estonian Sign Language

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hollman, Liivi; Sutrop, Urmas

2011-01-01

The article is written in the tradition of Brent Berlin and Paul Kay's theory of basic color terms. According to this theory there is a universal inventory of eleven basic color categories from which the basic color terms of any given language are always drawn. The number of basic color terms varies from 2 to 11 and in a language having a fully…

Investigating the sources of sediment in a Canadian agricultural watershed using a colour-based fingerprinting technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Barthod, Louise; Lobb, David; Owens, Philip; Martinez-Carreras, Nuria; Koiter, Alexander; Petticrew, Ellen; McCullough, Gregory

2014-05-01

The development of beneficial management practises to minimize adverse impacts of agriculture on soil and water quality requires information on the sources of sediment at the watershed scale. Sediment fingerprinting allows for the determination of sediment sources and apportionment of their contribution within a watershed, using unique physical, radiochemical or biogeochemical properties, or fingerprints, of the potential sediment sources. The use of sediment colour as a fingerprint is an emerging technique that can provide a rapid and inexpensive means of investigating sediment sources. This technique is currently being utilized to determine sediment sources within the South Tobacco Creek Watershed, an agricultural watershed located in the Canadian prairies (south-central Manitoba). Suspended sediment and potential source (topsoil, channel bank and shale bedrock material) samples were collected between 2009 and 2011 at six locations along the main stem of the creek. Sample colour was quantified from diffuse reflectance spectrometry measurements over the visible wavelength range using a spectroradiometer (ASD Field Spec Pro, 400-2500 nm). Sixteen colour coefficients were derived from several colour space models (CIE XYZ, CIE xyY, CIE Lab, CIE Luv, CIE Lch, Landsat RGB, Redness Index). The individual discrimination power of the colour coefficients, after passing several prerequisite tests (e.g., linearly additive behaviour), was assessed using discriminant function analysis. A stepwise discriminant analysis, based on the Wilk's lambda criterion, was then performed in order to determine the best-suited colour coefficient fingerprints which maximized the discrimination between the potential sources. The selected fingerprints classified the source samples in the correct category 86% of the time. The misclassification is due to intra-source variability and source overlap which can lead to higher uncertainty in sediment source apportionment. The selected fingerprints were then included in a Bayesian mixing model using Monte-Carlo simulation (Stable Isotope Analysis in R, SIAR) in order to apportion the contribution of the different sources to the sediment collected at each location. A switch in the dominant sediment source between the headwaters and the outlet of the watershed is observed. Sediment is enriched with shale bedrock and depleted of topsoil sources as the stream crosses and down-cuts through the Manitoba Escarpment. The switch in sources highlights the importance of the sampling location in relation to the scale and geomorphic connectivity of the watershed. Although the results include considerable uncertainty, they are consistent with the findings from a classical fingerprinting approach undertaken in the same watershed (i.e., geochemical and radionuclide fingerprints), and confirm the potential of sediment colour parameters as suitable fingerprints.

The dynamics of categorization: Unraveling rapid categorization.

PubMed

Mack, Michael L; Palmeri, Thomas J

2015-06-01

We explore a puzzle of visual object categorization: Under normal viewing conditions, you spot something as a dog fastest, but at a glance, you spot it faster as an animal. During speeded category verification, a classic basic-level advantage is commonly observed (Rosch, Mervis, Gray, Johnson, & Boyes-Braem, 1976), with categorization as a dog faster than as an animal (superordinate) or Golden Retriever (subordinate). A different story emerges during ultra-rapid categorization with limited exposure duration (<30 ms), with superordinate categorization faster than basic or subordinate categorization (Thorpe, Fize, & Marlot, 1996). These two widely cited findings paint contrary theoretical pictures about the time course of categorization, yet no previous study has investigated them together. We systematically examined two experimental factors that could explain the qualitative difference in categorization across the two paradigms: exposure duration and category trial context. Mapping out the time course of object categorization by manipulating exposure duration and the timing of a post-stimulus mask revealed that brief exposure durations favor superordinate-level categorization, but with more time a basic-level advantage emerges. However, these advantages were modulated by category trial context. With randomized target categories, the superordinate advantage was eliminated; and with only four repetitions of superordinate categorization within an otherwise randomized context, the basic-level advantage was eliminated. Contrary to theoretical accounts that dictate a fixed priority for certain levels of abstraction in visual processing and access to semantic knowledge, the dynamics of object categorization are flexible, depending jointly on the level of abstraction, time for perceptual encoding, and category context. (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).

THE DYNAMICS OF CATEGORIZATION: UNRAVELING RAPID CATEGORIZATION

PubMed Central

Mack, Michael L.; Palmeri, Thomas J.

2015-01-01

We explore a puzzle of visual object categorization: Under normal viewing conditions, you spot something as a dog fastest, but at a glance, you spot it faster as an animal. During speeded category verification, a classic basic-level advantage is commonly observed (Rosch, Mervis, Gray, Johnson, & Boyes-Braem, 1976), with categorization as a dog faster than as an animal (superordinate) or Golden Retriever (subordinate). A different story emerges during ultra-rapid categorization with limited exposure duration (<30ms), with superordinate categorization faster than basic or subordinate categorization (Thorpe, Fize, & Marlot, 1996). These two widely cited findings paint contrary theoretical pictures about the time course of object categorization, yet no study has previously investigated them together. Over five experiments, we systematically examined two experimental factors that could explain the qualitative difference in categorization across the two paradigms: exposure duration and category trial context. Mapping out the time course of object categorization by manipulating exposure duration and the timing of a post-stimulus mask revealed that brief exposure durations favor superordinate-level categorization, but with more time a basic-level advantage emerges. But this superordinate advantage was modulated significantly by target category trial context. With randomized target categories, the superordinate advantage was eliminated; and with “blocks” of only four repetitions of superordinate categorization within an otherwise randomized context, the advantage for the basic-level was eliminated. Contrary to some theoretical accounts that dictate a fixed priority for certain levels of abstraction in visual processing and access to semantic knowledge, the dynamics of object categorization are flexible, depending jointly on the level of abstraction, time for perceptual encoding, and category context. PMID:25938178

Accommodative performance for chromatic displays.

PubMed

Lovasik, J V; Kergoat, H

1988-01-01

Over the past few years, video display units (VDUs) have been incorporated into many varieties of workplaces and occupational demands. The success of electro-optical displays in facilitating and improving job performance has spawned interest in extracting further advantage from VDUs by incorporating colour coding into such communication systems. However, concerns have been raised about the effect of chromatic stimuli on the visual comfort and task efficiency, because of the chromatic aberration inherent in the optics of the human eye. In this study, we used a computer aided laser speckle optometer system to measure the accommodative responses to brightness-matched chromatic letters displayed on a high-resolution RGB monitor. Twenty, visually normal, paid volunteers in a 22-35 year age category served as subjects. Stimuli were 14, 21, 28 minutes of arc letters presented in a 'monochromatic' (white, red, green or blue, on a black background) or 'multichromatic' (blue-red, blue-green, red-green, foreground-background combinations) mode at 40 and 80 cm viewing distances. The results demonstrated that while the accommodative responses were strongly influenced by the foreground-background colour combination, the group-averaged dioptric difference across colours was relatively small. Further, accommodative responses were not guided in any systematic fashion by the size of letters presented for fixation. Implications of these findings for display designs are discussed.

Methodology for constructing a colour-difference acceptability scale.

PubMed

Laborie, Baptiste; Viénot, Françoise; Langlois, Sabine

2010-09-01

Observers were invited to report their degree of satisfaction on a 6-point semantic scale with respect to the conformity of a test colour with a white reference colour, simultaneously presented on a PDP display. Eight test patches were chosen along each of the +a*, -a*, +b*, -b* axes of the CIELAB chromaticity plane, at Y = 80 ± 2 cd.m(-2) . Experimental conditions reliably represented the automotive environment (patch size, angular distance between patches) and observers could move their head and eyes freely. We have compared several methods of category scaling, the Torgerson-DMT method (Torgerson, W. S. (1958). Theory and methods of scaling. Wiley, New York, USA); two versions of the regression method i.e. Bonnet's (Bonnet, C. (1986). Manuel pratique de psychophysique. Armand Colin, Paris, France) and logistic regression; and the medians method. We describe in detail a case where all methods yield substantial but slightly different results. The solution proposed by the regression method which works with incomplete matrices and yields results directly on a colorimetric scale is probably the most useful in this industrial context. Finally we summarize the implementation of the logistic regression method over four hues and for one experimental condition. © 2010 The Authors, Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics © 2010 The College of Optometrists.

The international biological program/human adaptability studies among the Skolt Sami in Finland (1966-1970).

PubMed

Forsius, Henrik; Eriksson, Aldur W; Fellman, Johan

2012-04-16

The population is increasingly lighter pigmented moving in a northward direction in Europe until reaching the Arctic Circle, where the Samis (Lapps) are clearly more pigmented. In 1966-1970, we investigated a total of 689 subjects in the villages of Sevettijärvi and Nellim, including persons with mixed Sami and Finnish heritage; of these, 487 (242 males, 245 females) had both parents classified as Skolt Sami. For estimation of the colour of the iris and hair, international scales were used. For translucency of the iris, pigmentation of the fundus was estimated in 3 different shades. The length and type of eyelashes were classified into 3 categories. To our knowledge, a simultaneous study of the pigmentation of eyebrows, eyelashes and eye fundus at different ages has not previously been published. The age differences of iris colour were highly significant. Iris colour in children varied markedly, and they generally had lighter colours than later in life. Age and sex effects on the translucency of irises were found. Male irises were more translucent. Fundus pigmentation was scanty in the youngest age groups, with full pigmentation being reached at 20 years. Among young individuals hair colour darkens with increasing age. Eyebrow colour was slightly lighter for both sexes in the youngest age groups that in older cohorts. Women had longer eyelashes than males. The main factor of the lighter skin is a higher ability to synthesize vitamin D, providing superior protection against rickets. The Skolt Samis are more pigmented than other Nordic people. In earlier times they had problems with rickets but our studies did not show any essential symptoms of rickets today. Visual acuity among Skolt Samis was good. They had lower prevalence of myopia compared to Finns. The stronger pigmentation of Skolt Samis is probably due to their origin from darker Eastern populations. Since our investigations were made, the Skolt Samis have been to a great part mixed with neighbouring populations and scattered throughout Finland. Even their old language is nowadays used mainly for traditional purposes. Therefore similar studies could not be performed anymore.

The international biological program/human adaptability studies among the Skolt Sami in Finland (1966-1970).

PubMed

Forsius, Henrik; Eriksson, AldurW; Fellman, Johan

2012-01-01

The population is increasingly lighter pigmented moving in a northward direction in Europe until reaching the Arctic Circle, where the Samis (Lapps) are clearly more pigmented. In 1966-1970, we investigated a total of 689 subjects in the villages of Sevettijärvi and Nellim, including persons with mixed Sami and Finnish heritage; of these, 487 (242 males, 245 females) had both parents classified as Skolt Sami. For estimation of the colour of the iris and hair, international scales were used. For translucency of the iris, pigmentation of the fundus was estimated in 3 different shades. The length and type of eyelashes were classified into 3 categories. To our knowledge, a simultaneous study of the pigmentation of eyebrows, eyelashes and eye fundus at different ages has not previously been published. The age differences of iris colour were highly significant. Iris colour in children varied markedly, and they generally had lighter colours than later in life. Age and sex effects on the translucency of irises were found. Male irises were more translucent. Fundus pigmentation was scanty in the youngest age groups, with full pigmentation being reached at 20 years. Among young individuals hair colour darkens with increasing age. Eyebrow colour was slightly lighter for both sexes in the youngest age groups that in older cohorts. Women had longer eyelashes than males. The main factor of the lighter skin is a higher ability to synthesize vitamin D, providing superior protection against rickets. The Skolt Samis are more pigmented than other Nordic people. In earlier times they had problems with rickets but our studies did not show any essential symptoms of rickets today. Visual acuity among Skolt Samis was good. They had lower prevalence of myopia compared to Finns. The stronger pigmentation of Skolt Samis is probably due to their origin from darker Eastern populations. Since our investigations were made, the Skolt Samis have been to a great part mixed with neighbouring populations and scattered throughout Finland. Even their old language is nowadays used mainly for traditional purposes. Therefore similar studies could not be performed anymore.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Optically red galaxies in H-ATLAS/GAMA (Dariush+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Dariush, A.; Dib, S.; Hony, S.; Smith, D. J. B.; Zhukovska, S.; Dunne, L.; Eales, S.; Andrae, E.; Baes, M.; Baldry, I.; Bauer, A.; Bland-Hawthorn, J.; Brough, S.; Bourne, N.; Cava, A.; Clements, D.; Cluver, M.; Cooray, A.; de Zotti, G.; Driver, S.; Grootes, M. W.; Hopkins, A. M.; Hopwood, R.; Kaviraj, S.; Kelvin, L.; Lara-Lopez, M. A.; Liske, J.; Loveday, J.; Maddox, S.; Madore, B.; Michalowski, M. J.; Pearson, C.; Popescu, C.; Robotham, A.; Rowlands, K.; Seibert, M.; Shabani, F.; Smith, M. W. L.; Taylor, E. N.; Tuffs, R.; Valiante, E.; Virdee, J. S.

2016-09-01

We use data from the H-ATLAS phase 1 version 3.0 internal release which contains the IDs of >5σ SPIRE detections at 250um. We define two sub-samples of red and blue galaxies based on NUV-r colours. The morphology of all 117 red galaxies were examined from their SDSS r-band images, following independent visual inspection by three team members. Galaxies were classified into three categories of elliptical (E), spiral (S) and uncertain (U). (2 data files).

Effects of chitosan combined with nisin treatment on storage quality of large yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea).

PubMed

Hui, Guohua; Liu, Wei; Feng, Hailin; Li, Jian; Gao, Yuanyuan

2016-07-15

Effects of chitosan combined with different concentrations of nisin on quality enhancement of large yellow croaker (Pseudosciaena crocea) stored at 4 °C were evaluated for 8 days. Changes in sensory score and volatile spoilage products, total viable counts (TVC), and physiochemical indexes including weight loss, colour, pH, total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N), and K-value were examined. Results demonstrated that nisin-treated samples presented better quality preservation effects than chitosan alone. 1% chitosan combined with 0.6% nisin presented optimal quality enhancement effects, such as moisture loss control, volatile spoilage inhibition, TVB-N reduction, TVC growth control, and colour and sensory acceptability maintenance. Therefore, chitosan combined with nisin is promising in large yellow croaker shelf life extension. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Category Formation in Autism: Can Individuals with Autism Form Categories and Prototypes of Dot Patterns?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gastgeb, Holly Zajac; Dundas, Eva M.; Minshew, Nancy J.; Strauss, Mark S.

2012-01-01

There is a growing amount of evidence suggesting that individuals with autism have difficulty with categorization. One basic cognitive ability that may underlie this difficulty is the ability to abstract a prototype. The current study examined prototype and category formation with dot patterns in high-functioning adults with autism and matched…

UGV Control Interoperability Profile (IOP), Version 0

DTIC Science & Technology

2011-12-21

task or function associated with the ID (e.g. “select asset gear” and “switch between local and zulu time display”). Category Provides a high...CTRL- Basic Status-2 view Zulu date and time in Date-Time-Group (DTG) format Basic Status S SWP Icon (text) CTRL- Basic Status-3 switch...between local and zulu time display Basic Status C SW1 CTRL- Basic Status-4 view unique identifier/call sign for each asset Basic Status S

[Ergonomics in planning and reconstruction].

PubMed

Baglioni, A; Capolongo, S

2002-01-01

The state of well being of people is not represented only by any illness, but also by the satisfaction of all environmental components around him. For this reason, the hospitals demand new and more project attentions and in particular they demand specific attentions for all the environmental qualities (light, colours, indoor air qualities, and temperature), the equipment, the furniture and the privacy. This new attention to the requirements of people, during the phase of planning, needs the ergonomic studies. This kind of discipline, in fact, has got the objective of good relationships between men and context where they live. The study of ergonomic qualities needs different competence of multiple areas of acquaintance, that collaborate to analyse the requirements of sanitary structure, and in particular they analyse needs of different categories of people that work or stay in this place (the patients, visitors and sanitary staff). Moreover ergonomic studies concurs to analyse the various factors of complexity, of the buildings, that are very important for the project of hospital. From the scientific literature, we say that some physical environmental characteristics (light, colour, noise,) can influence the psychological conditions of people, and in particular they can generate three different categories of reactions: behavioural, neuropsychological, neuroendocrinal. For this reason the study of all the environmental factors, simple and composed, is a primary necessity in the hospital planning. In this way we can guarantee to the patient, a better sanitary service and a better comfort, and we can guarantee to all sanitary staff adequate conditions of security and functionality.

The use of traits and contextual information in free personality descriptions across ethnocultural groups in South Africa.

PubMed

Valchev, Velichko H; van de Vijver, Fons J R; Nel, J Alewyn; Rothmann, Sebastiaan; Meiring, Deon

2013-06-01

The present study investigates the differences between 3 ethnocultural groups in South Africa in the use of traits and contextual information for personality descriptions and the interaction of these differences with social distance from the target person and with personality domains. Semistructured interviews asking for self- and other-descriptions were conducted with 1,027 Blacks, 84 Coloureds and Indians, and 105 Whites, representing the country's 11 official languages. In Part 1 we found similarities in the total set of categories used most often for personality description across the 3 groups-traits, behaviors, preferences, and perceptions (over 86%), which were context-free (over 66%)-as well as substantial differences between the groups in the relative use of these categories. In Part 2 we found that distance from the target person plays a role in cross-cultural differences in trait use and contextualization. In Part 3 we found significant interactions of culture with the use of traits and contextual information across agency-communion and 9 indigenous South African personality clusters similar to the Big Five. The responses of Blacks confirmed expectations for collectivistic groups (fewer traits and more contextualization) and of Whites for individualistic groups (more traits and less contextualization), and Coloureds and Indians had an intermediate pattern. The results are discussed in the framework of the trait and cultural psychology perspectives on personality. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

It Never Hurts To Go Back and Remind Ourselves about the Basics in Newspaper Journalism.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Konkle, Bruce E.

2002-01-01

Suggests knowing the basics is critical if newspaper advisers and staffs are to move their newspaper into the best, excellent, superior, above average, all-everything category a scholastic press evaluation service may award. Discusses the basic areas of writing, design, photojournalism, advertising, and overall coverage. (RS)

How task demands shape brain responses to visual food cues.

PubMed

Pohl, Tanja Maria; Tempelmann, Claus; Noesselt, Toemme

2017-06-01

Several previous imaging studies have aimed at identifying the neural basis of visual food cue processing in humans. However, there is little consistency of the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results across studies. Here, we tested the hypothesis that this variability across studies might - at least in part - be caused by the different tasks employed. In particular, we assessed directly the influence of task set on brain responses to food stimuli with fMRI using two tasks (colour vs. edibility judgement, between-subjects design). When participants judged colour, the left insula, the left inferior parietal lobule, occipital areas, the left orbitofrontal cortex and other frontal areas expressed enhanced fMRI responses to food relative to non-food pictures. However, when judging edibility, enhanced fMRI responses to food pictures were observed in the superior and middle frontal gyrus and in medial frontal areas including the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex and ventromedial prefrontal cortex. This pattern of results indicates that task sets can significantly alter the neural underpinnings of food cue processing. We propose that judging low-level visual stimulus characteristics - such as colour - triggers stimulus-related representations in the visual and even in gustatory cortex (insula), whereas discriminating abstract stimulus categories activates higher order representations in both the anterior cingulate and prefrontal cortex. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2897-2912, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The performance assessment of undergraduate students in physics laboratory by using guided inquiry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Mubarok, H.; Lutfiyah, A.; Kholiq, A.; Suprapto, N.; Putri, N. P.

2018-03-01

The performance assessment of basic physics experiment among undergraduate physics students which includes three stages: pre-laboratory, conducting experiment and final report was explored in this study. The research used a descriptive quantitative approach by utilizing guidebook of basic physics experiment. The findings showed that (1) the performance of pre-laboratory rate among undergraduate physics students in good category (average score = 77.55), which includes the ability of undergraduate physics students’ theory before they were doing the experiment. (2) The performance of conducting experiment was in good category (average score = 78.33). (3) While the performance of final report was in moderate category (average score = 73.73), with the biggest weakness at how to analyse and to discuss the data and writing the abstract.

Prioritization of the essentials in the spending patterns of Canadian households experiencing food insecurity.

PubMed

Fafard St-Germain, Andrée-Anne; Tarasuk, Valerie

2018-03-21

Food insecurity is a potent determinant of health and indicator of material deprivation in many affluent countries. Food insecurity is associated with compromises in food and housing expenditures, but how it relates to other expenditures is unknown. The present study described households' resource allocation over a 12-month period by food insecurity status. Expenditure data from the 2010 Survey of Household Spending were aggregated into four categories (basic needs, other necessities, discretionary, investments/assets) and ten sub-categories (food, clothing, housing, transportation, household/personal care, health/education, leisure, miscellaneous, personal insurance/pension, durables/assets). A four-level food insecurity status was created using the adult-specific items of the Household Food Security Survey Module. Mean dollars spent and budget share by food insecurity status were estimated with generalized linear models adjusted first for household size and composition, and subsequently for after-tax income quartiles. Canada. Population-based sample of households from the ten provinces (n 9050). Food-secure households had higher mean total expenditures than marginally, moderately and severely food-insecure households (P-trend <0·0001). As severity of food insecurity increased, households spent less on all categories and sub-categories, except transportation, but they allocated a larger budget share to basic needs and smaller shares to discretionary spending and investments/assets. The downward trends for dollars spent on basic needs and other necessities became non-significant after accounting for income, but the upward trend in the budget shares for basic needs persisted. The spending patterns of food-insecure households suggest that they prioritized essential needs above all else.

Porcelain thickness and cement shade effects on the colour and translucency of porcelain veneering materials.

PubMed

Kürklü, Duygu; Azer, Shereen S; Yilmaz, Burak; Johnston, William M

2013-11-01

Purposes of this in vitro study include evaluating colour changes in combinations of feldspathic porcelain and cement resulting from different thicknesses of porcelain and different shades of composite luting agent, and evaluating relative translucency parameter (RTP) values. Porcelain discs of shade A1 at nominal thicknesses of 0.5 and 1.0mm were bonded to cements of three shades in a factorial design. Colours were calculated for CIE D65 Illuminant and Standard Human Observer on black, grey and white backings. A colour difference (CD) was calculated of each possible pair of different porcelain thickness values for the same cement shade and each possible pair of different cement shades for the same porcelain thickness. RTP was analyzed by ANOVA and selected pairwise comparisons. All mean CDs studied were perceptible and most were at or greater than the clinical acceptability threshold, with the notable exception that the mean CDs and their confidence limits were below the clinical acceptability threshold for a change in porcelain thickness when utilizing the Clear cement shade. Variation in the shade of the resin luting cement will result in CDs which are near or beyond clinical acceptability. A decrease in porcelain thickness did significantly increase RTP when bonded to the resin cement shades studied. Changes in porcelain thickness or cement shade may adversely affect basic aesthetic properties of these materials. Development of methods for analyzing aesthetic effects over greater ranges of thickness for these materials would improve the prognosis for using these materials. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Coloration principles of nymphaline butterflies - thin films, melanin, ommochromes and wing scale stacking.

PubMed

Stavenga, Doekele G; Leertouwer, Hein L; Wilts, Bodo D

2014-06-15

The coloration of the common butterflies Aglais urticae (small tortoiseshell), Aglais io (peacock) and Vanessa atalanta (red admiral), belonging to the butterfly subfamily Nymphalinae, is due to the species-specific patterning of differently coloured scales on their wings. We investigated the scales' structural and pigmentary properties by applying scanning electron microscopy, (micro)spectrophotometry and imaging scatterometry. The anatomy of the wing scales appears to be basically identical, with an approximately flat lower lamina connected by trabeculae to a highly structured upper lamina, which consists of an array of longitudinal, parallel ridges and transversal crossribs. Isolated scales observed at the abwing (upper) side are blue, yellow, orange, red, brown or black, depending on their pigmentation. The yellow, orange and red scales contain various amounts of 3-OH-kynurenine and ommochrome pigment, black scales contain a high density of melanin, and blue scales have a minor amount of melanin pigment. Observing the scales from their adwing (lower) side always revealed a structural colour, which is blue in the case of blue, red and black scales, but orange for orange scales. The structural colours are created by the lower lamina, which acts as an optical thin film. Its reflectance spectrum, crucially determined by the lamina thickness, appears to be well tuned to the scales' pigmentary spectrum. The colours observed locally on the wing are also due to the degree of scale stacking. Thin films, tuned pigments and combinations of stacked scales together determine the wing coloration of nymphaline butterflies. © 2014. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

Basic Emotions in the Nencki Affective Word List (NAWL BE): New Method of Classifying Emotional Stimuli.

PubMed

Wierzba, Małgorzata; Riegel, Monika; Wypych, Marek; Jednoróg, Katarzyna; Turnau, Paweł; Grabowska, Anna; Marchewka, Artur

2015-01-01

The Nencki Affective Word List (NAWL) has recently been introduced as a standardized database of Polish words suitable for studying various aspects of language and emotions. Though the NAWL was originally based on the most commonly used dimensional approach, it is not the only way of studying emotions. Another framework is based on discrete emotional categories. Since the two perspectives are recognized as complementary, the aim of the present study was to supplement the NAWL database by the addition of categories corresponding to basic emotions. Thus, 2902 Polish words from the NAWL were presented to 265 subjects, who were instructed to rate them according to the intensity of each of the five basic emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, fear and disgust. The general characteristics of the present word database, as well as the relationships between the studied variables are shown to be consistent with typical patterns found in previous studies using similar databases for different languages. Here we present the Basic Emotions in the Nencki Affective Word List (NAWL BE) as a database of verbal material suitable for highly controlled experimental research. To make the NAWL more convenient to use, we introduce a comprehensive method of classifying stimuli to basic emotion categories. We discuss the advantages of our method in comparison to other methods of classification. Additionally, we provide an interactive online tool (http://exp.lobi.nencki.gov.pl/nawl-analysis) to help researchers browse and interactively generate classes of stimuli to meet their specific requirements.

Basic Emotions in the Nencki Affective Word List (NAWL BE): New Method of Classifying Emotional Stimuli

PubMed Central

Wierzba, Małgorzata; Riegel, Monika; Wypych, Marek; Jednoróg, Katarzyna; Turnau, Paweł; Grabowska, Anna; Marchewka, Artur

2015-01-01

The Nencki Affective Word List (NAWL) has recently been introduced as a standardized database of Polish words suitable for studying various aspects of language and emotions. Though the NAWL was originally based on the most commonly used dimensional approach, it is not the only way of studying emotions. Another framework is based on discrete emotional categories. Since the two perspectives are recognized as complementary, the aim of the present study was to supplement the NAWL database by the addition of categories corresponding to basic emotions. Thus, 2902 Polish words from the NAWL were presented to 265 subjects, who were instructed to rate them according to the intensity of each of the five basic emotions: happiness, anger, sadness, fear and disgust. The general characteristics of the present word database, as well as the relationships between the studied variables are shown to be consistent with typical patterns found in previous studies using similar databases for different languages. Here we present the Basic Emotions in the Nencki Affective Word List (NAWL BE) as a database of verbal material suitable for highly controlled experimental research. To make the NAWL more convenient to use, we introduce a comprehensive method of classifying stimuli to basic emotion categories. We discuss the advantages of our method in comparison to other methods of classification. Additionally, we provide an interactive online tool (http://exp.lobi.nencki.gov.pl/nawl-analysis) to help researchers browse and interactively generate classes of stimuli to meet their specific requirements. PMID:26148193

[Phalloplethysmographic findings in homosexual pedophile offenders].

PubMed

Tichý, P

1991-03-29

Using phalloplethysmographic tests comprising 20 coloured slides of four categories the authors examined 50 homosexual pedophil delinquents and a matched group of heterosexual men. The findings of the two compared groups differed significantly on exposure to three categories of erotic stimuli--adult heterosexual and homosexual objects and child homosexual objects. Only on projection of child heterosexual objects there were no statistically significant differences in the number and magnitude of positive vasomotor reactions recorded in the two groups. Men in the control group responded more frequently and more positively to adult heterosexual objects than homosexual pedophil delinquents. The latter responded more frequently positively to adult and child homosexual objects. In more than one quarter of the delinquents (13 men) a preference of child objects was found, i.e. a deviant pedophil orientation. In seven men the preference of child objects was without sexual differentiation, six men preferred homosexual child objects.

Remote sensing in the mixing zone. [water pollution in Wisconsin

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Villemonte, J. R.; Hoopes, J. A.; Wu, D. S.; Lillesand, T. M.

1973-01-01

Characteristics of dispersion and diffusion as the mechanisms by which pollutants are transported in natural river courses were studied with the view of providing additional data for the establishment of water quality guidelines and effluent outfall design protocols. Work has been divided into four basic categories which are directed at the basic goal of developing relationships which will permit the estimation of the nature and extent of the mixing zone as a function of those variables which characterize the outfall structure, the effluent, and the river, as well as climatological conditions. The four basic categories of effort are: (1) the development of mathematical models; (2) laboratory studies of physical models; (3) field surveys involving ground and aerial sensing; and (4) correlation between aerial photographic imagery and mixing zone characteristics.

Study of the Wall Paintings of the Cenador Del Leon in the Real Alcazar of Seville

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Robador, Maria Dolores; Mancera, Inmaculada; Perez-Maqueda, Rafael; Albardonedo, Antonio

2017-10-01

The paintings on the walls of the Cenador del Leon located in the gardens of the Real Alcazar in Seville next to the Pabellon de Carlos V in the Jardin Ingles area have been studied. The components of the wall paintings cross-sections, which were prepared using small samples taken from the walls of Cenador del Leon, were characterized using infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) with energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The cross-sections of the collected samples indicated that the paint layer is well adhered to the preparation layer without any discontinuity, and only one carbonation layer exists at the top of the sequence of layers. These data suggest that the paint was applied on a fresco surface, and therefore, the adopted technique was fresco. Based on the different elements detected by EDX analysis of the cross-sections, the detected pigments included iron oxides accompanied by clay minerals (or earths) in the red pink, golden yellow and yellow colours, blue smelt for the blue colour and basic copper chloride (atacamite) for the green colour. In one sample, the particles were composed of Ba and S from barium sulphate and Ti and O from rutile titanium oxide due to a modern pigment.

Basic-Level Category Discriminations by 7- and 9-Month-Olds in an Object Examination Task.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Mareschal, Denis; Powell, Daisy; Volein, Agnes

2003-01-01

Examined 7- and 9-month-olds' ability to categorize cats and dogs as separate from one another. Found that both groups formed a cat category that included novel cats but excluded a dog and an eagle, and formed a dog category that included novel dogs and a novel cat but excluded an eagle. Results mirrored those of 3- to 4-month-olds with visual…

Automated Quality Assessment of Colour Fundus Images for Diabetic Retinopathy Screening in Telemedicine.

PubMed

Saha, Sajib Kumar; Fernando, Basura; Cuadros, Jorge; Xiao, Di; Kanagasingam, Yogesan

2018-04-27

Fundus images obtained in a telemedicine program are acquired at different sites that are captured by people who have varying levels of experience. These result in a relatively high percentage of images which are later marked as unreadable by graders. Unreadable images require a recapture which is time and cost intensive. An automated method that determines the image quality during acquisition is an effective alternative. To determine the image quality during acquisition, we describe here an automated method for the assessment of image quality in the context of diabetic retinopathy. The method explicitly applies machine learning techniques to access the image and to determine 'accept' and 'reject' categories. 'Reject' category image requires a recapture. A deep convolution neural network is trained to grade the images automatically. A large representative set of 7000 colour fundus images was used for the experiment which was obtained from the EyePACS that were made available by the California Healthcare Foundation. Three retinal image analysis experts were employed to categorise these images into 'accept' and 'reject' classes based on the precise definition of image quality in the context of DR. The network was trained using 3428 images. The method shows an accuracy of 100% to successfully categorise 'accept' and 'reject' images, which is about 2% higher than the traditional machine learning method. On a clinical trial, the proposed method shows 97% agreement with human grader. The method can be easily incorporated with the fundus image capturing system in the acquisition centre and can guide the photographer whether a recapture is necessary or not.

The evolution of egg colour and patterning in birds.

PubMed

Kilner, R M

2006-08-01

Avian eggs differ so much in their colour and patterning from species to species that any attempt to account for this diversity might initially seem doomed to failure. Here I present a critical review of the literature which, when combined with the results of some comparative analyses, suggests that just a few selective agents can explain much of the variation in egg appearance. Ancestrally, bird eggs were probably white and immaculate. Ancient diversification in nest location, and hence in the clutch's vulnerability to attack by predators, can explain basic differences between bird families in egg appearance. The ancestral white egg has been retained by species whose nests are safe from attack by predators, while those that have moved to a more vulnerable nest site are now more likely to lay brown eggs, covered in speckles, just as Wallace hypothesized more than a century ago. Even blue eggs might be cryptic in a subset of nests built in vegetation. It is possible that some species have subsequently turned these ancient adaptations to new functions, for example to signal female quality, to protect eggs from damaging solar radiation, or to add structural strength to shells when calcium is in short supply. The threat of predation, together with the use of varying nest sites, appears to have increased the diversity of egg colouring seen among species within families, and among clutches within species. Brood parasites and their hosts have probably secondarily influenced the diversity of egg appearance. Each drives the evolution of the other's egg colour and patterning, as hosts attempt to avoid exploitation by rejecting odd-looking eggs from their nests, and parasites attempt to outwit their hosts by laying eggs that will escape detection. This co-evolutionary arms race has increased variation in egg appearance both within and between species, in parasites and in hosts, sometimes resulting in the evolution of egg colour polymorphisms. It has also reduced variation in egg appearance within host clutches, although the benefit thus gained by hosts is not clear.

Good Phonic Generalizations for Decoding

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Gates, Louis

2007-01-01

An exhaustive analysis of 88,641 individual letters and letter combinations within 16,928 words drawn from the Zeno, et al. word list unveiled remarkable phonic transparency. The individual letter and letter combinations sorted into just six general categories: three basic categories of vowels (single vowels, vowel digraphs, and final…

An evaluation of a colour food photography atlas as a tool for quantifying food portion size in epidemiological dietary surveys.

PubMed

Turconi, G; Guarcello, M; Berzolari, F Gigli; Carolei, A; Bazzano, R; Roggi, C

2005-08-01

To test the validity of a colour food photography atlas for quantifying portion size eaten compared with weighed foods. The colour food photography atlas was prepared by cooking, weighing and taking digital photographs of three portion sizes of 434 foods and beverages typical of the Italian diet. In all, 448 male and female volunteers aged 6-60 y from a wide variety of social backgrounds completed 9075 assessments of food portions eaten at lunch and dinner in relation to a set of colour food photographs during 8 weeks of investigation. The amounts of foods eaten by individuals in five different cafeterias in Pavia, Northern Italy, were weighed by trained investigators at the time of serving and, within 5-10 min of the end of the meal, each subject was asked to quantify all foods consumed with reference to one of the three food photographs or in terms of virtual portions among those shown in the photographs. Multiple regression analysis shows that weights of portion sizes chosen from the set of photographs are significantly associated (P<0.05) to weights of eaten portions (beta=0.81; R(2)=0.70) and are independent of age, gender and BMI. The differences between mean weights of the portions chosen by individuals from photographs and mean weights of eaten foods are significant for all food categories (P<0.05), except for bread. However, because of the very large number of observations, the mean differences are very small (range: from +23.2 g (+11.2%) for first courses to -1.3 g (-2.7%) for bread). Bland-Altman plots show that first courses limits of agreement are wide because the dispersion is increasing while weights are rising. The use of a series of three photographs and virtual portion sizes being associated with relatively small errors, our findings support the validity of using this colour food photography atlas as a tool for quantifying food portion size in epidemiological dietary surveys on different age groups of Italian subjects.

Stratification of complexity in congenital heart surgery: comparative study of the Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1) method, Aristotle basic score and Society of Thoracic Surgeons-European Association for Cardio- Thoracic Surgery (STS-EACTS) mortality score.

PubMed

Cavalcanti, Paulo Ernando Ferraz; Sá, Michel Pompeu Barros de Oliveira; Santos, Cecília Andrade dos; Esmeraldo, Isaac Melo; Chaves, Mariana Leal; Lins, Ricardo Felipe de Albuquerque; Lima, Ricardo de Carvalho

2015-01-01

To determine whether stratification of complexity models in congenital heart surgery (RACHS-1, Aristotle basic score and STS-EACTS mortality score) fit to our center and determine the best method of discriminating hospital mortality. Surgical procedures in congenital heart diseases in patients under 18 years of age were allocated to the categories proposed by the stratification of complexity methods currently available. The outcome hospital mortality was calculated for each category from the three models. Statistical analysis was performed to verify whether the categories presented different mortalities. The discriminatory ability of the models was determined by calculating the area under the ROC curve and a comparison between the curves of the three models was performed. 360 patients were allocated according to the three methods. There was a statistically significant difference between the mortality categories: RACHS-1 (1) - 1.3%, (2) - 11.4%, (3)-27.3%, (4) - 50 %, (P<0.001); Aristotle basic score (1) - 1.1%, (2) - 12.2%, (3) - 34%, (4) - 64.7%, (P<0.001); and STS-EACTS mortality score (1) - 5.5 %, (2) - 13.6%, (3) - 18.7%, (4) - 35.8%, (P<0.001). The three models had similar accuracy by calculating the area under the ROC curve: RACHS-1- 0.738; STS-EACTS-0.739; Aristotle- 0.766. The three models of stratification of complexity currently available in the literature are useful with different mortalities between the proposed categories with similar discriminatory capacity for hospital mortality.

Basic-level and superordinate-like categorical representations in early infancy.

PubMed

Behl-Chadha, G

1996-08-01

A series of experiments using the paired-preference procedure examined 3- to 4-month-old infants' ability to form perceptually based categorical representations in the domains of natural kinds and artifacts and probed the underlying organizational structure of these representations. Experiments 1 and 2 found that infants could form categorical representations for chairs that excluded exemplars of couches, beds, and tables and also for couches that excluded exemplars of chairs, beds, and tables. Thus, the adult-like exclusivity shown by infants in the categorization of various animal pictures at the basic-level extends to the domain of artifacts as well--an ecologically significant ability given the numerous artifacts that populate the human environment. Experiments 3 and 4 examined infants' ability to form superordinate-like or global categorical representations for mammals and furniture. It was found that infants could form a global representation for mammals that included novel mammals and excluded other non-mammalian animals such as birds and fish as well as items from cross-ontological categories such as furniture. In addition, it was found that infants formed a representation for furniture that included novel categories of furniture and excluded exemplars from the cross-ontological category of mammals; however, it was less clear if infants' global representation for furniture also excluded other artifacts such as vehicles and thus the category of furniture may have been less exclusively represented. Overall, the present findings, by showing the availability of perceptually driven basic and superordinate-like representations in early infancy that closely correspond to adult conceptual categories, underscore the importance of these early representations for later conceptual representations.

Association of five SNPs with human hair colour in the Polish population.

PubMed

Siewierska-Górska, A; Sitek, A; Żądzińska, E; Bartosz, G; Strapagiel, D

2017-03-01

Twenty-two variants (single nucleotide polymorphisms - SNPs) of the genes involved in hair pigmentation (OCA2, HERC2, MC1R, SLC24A5, SLC45A2, TPCN2, TYR, TYRP1) were genotyped in a group of 186 Polish participants, representing a range of hair colours (45 red, 64 blond, 77 dark). A genotype-phenotype association analysis was performed. Using z-statistics we identified three variants highly associated with different hair colour categories (rs12913832:A>G in HERC2, rs1805007:T>C and rs1805008:C>T in MC1R). Two variants: rs1800401:C>T in OCA2 and rs16891982:C>G in SLC45A2 showed a high probability of a relation with hair colour, although that probability did not exceed the threshold of statistical significance after applying the Bonferroni correction. We created and validated mathematical logistic regression models in order to test the usefulness of the sets of polymorphisms for hair colour prediction in the Polish population. We subjected four models to stratified cross-validation. The first model consisted of three polymorphisms that proved to be important in the associative analysis. The second model included, apart from the mentioned polymorphisms, additionally rs16891982:C>G in SLC45A. The third model included, apart from the variants relevant in the associating analysis, rs1800401:C>T in OCA. The fourth model consisted of the set of polymorphisms from the first model supplemented with rs16891982:C>G in SLC45A and rs1800401:C>T in OCA. The validation of our models has shown that the inclusion of rs16891982:C>G in SLC45A and rs1800401:C>T in OCA increases the prediction of red hair in comparison with the algorithm including only rs12913832:A>G in HERC2, rs1805007:T>C and rs1805008:C>T in MC1R. The model consisting of all the five above-mentioned genetic variants has shown good prediction accuracies, expressed by the area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristics: 0.84 for the red-haired, 0.82 for the dark-haired and 0.71 for the blond-haired. A genotype-phenotype association analysis brought results similar to those in other studies and confirmed the role of rs16891982:C>G, rs12913832:A>G, rs1805007:T>C and rs1805008:C>T in hair colour determination in the Polish population. Our study demonstrated for the first time the possibility of a share of the rs1800401:C>T SNP in the OCA2 gene in hair colour determination. Including this single nucleotide polymorphism in the actual hair colour predicting models would improve their predictive accuracy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Students' Participation Styles in Two University Weight Training Classes.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Bennett, Gregg

2000-01-01

Described the participation styles of college students enrolled in two basic weight training classes. Participation styles fell onto a continuum between slackin' and sweatin'. Observation and interview data indicated that there were four participation styles in the slackin' category and two in the sweatin' category. The transtheoretical model for…

32 CFR 901.12 - Honor military and honor Naval schools-AFROTC and AFJROTC category.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-07-01

... the Professor of Aerospace Studies (PAS) who must certify that the applicants meet the basic... vacancies allocated to this category. (i) Students must apply for nomination to the Aerospace Science... Aerospace Science Instructor uses the nomination forms provided by the Academy to recommend for nomination...

32 CFR 901.12 - Honor military and honor Naval schools-AFROTC and AFJROTC category.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-07-01

... the Professor of Aerospace Studies (PAS) who must certify that the applicants meet the basic... vacancies allocated to this category. (i) Students must apply for nomination to the Aerospace Science... Aerospace Science Instructor uses the nomination forms provided by the Academy to recommend for nomination...

32 CFR 901.12 - Honor military and honor Naval schools-AFROTC and AFJROTC category.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-07-01

... the Professor of Aerospace Studies (PAS) who must certify that the applicants meet the basic... vacancies allocated to this category. (i) Students must apply for nomination to the Aerospace Science... Aerospace Science Instructor uses the nomination forms provided by the Academy to recommend for nomination...

32 CFR 901.12 - Honor military and honor Naval schools-AFROTC and AFJROTC category.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR

2013-07-01

... the Professor of Aerospace Studies (PAS) who must certify that the applicants meet the basic... vacancies allocated to this category. (i) Students must apply for nomination to the Aerospace Science... Aerospace Science Instructor uses the nomination forms provided by the Academy to recommend for nomination...

32 CFR 901.12 - Honor military and honor Naval schools-AFROTC and AFJROTC category.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-07-01

... the Professor of Aerospace Studies (PAS) who must certify that the applicants meet the basic... vacancies allocated to this category. (i) Students must apply for nomination to the Aerospace Science... Aerospace Science Instructor uses the nomination forms provided by the Academy to recommend for nomination...

Beyond Discrete Categories: Studying Multiracial, Intersex, and Transgender Children Will Strengthen Basic Developmental Science

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Dunham, Yarrow; Olson, Kristina R.

2016-01-01

Developmental research on social categorization has overwhelmingly focused on perceptions about and experiences of individuals who are clear or prototypical members of discrete and usually dichotomous social categories. For example, studies of social categorization, stereotyping, prejudice, and social identity have generally explored how children…

Children Acquire Emotion Categories Gradually

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Widen, Sherri C.; Russell, James A.

2008-01-01

Some accounts imply that basic-level emotion categories are acquired early and quickly, whereas others imply that they are acquired later and more gradually. Our study examined this question for fear, happiness, sadness, and anger in the context of children's categorization of emotional facial expressions. Children (N=168, 2-5 years) first labeled…

Verb Errors of Bilingual and Monolingual Basic Writers

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Griswold, Olga

2017-01-01

This study analyzed the grammatical control of verbs exercised by 145 monolingual English and Generation 1.5 bilingual developmental writers in narrative essays using quantitative and qualitative methods. Generation 1.5 students made more errors than their monolingual peers in each category investigated, albeit in only 2 categories was the…

Objective categorization of interferential tear film lipid layer pattern: validation of the technique

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

García-Resúa, C.; Giráldez, M. J.; Barreira, N.; Penedo, M. G.; Yebra-Pimentel, E.

2011-05-01

Purpose: The lipid layer of the tear film limits evaporation during the inter-blink interval and also affects tear stability. This study was designed to validate a new software application designed to characterize the tear film lipid layer through texture and colour pattern recognition. Methods: Using the Tearscope-plus (slit lamp magnification 200X), the lipid layer was examined in 105 healthy young adults and interference photographs acquired with a Topcon DV-3 digital camera. The photographs were classified by the new software and by 2 further observers (observer 1 and observer 2) with experience in examining the eye surface. Results: Strong correlation was detected between the categories determined by the new application, observer 1 and observer 2 (Cramer's V, from 0.81 to 0.87, p<0.001). Best agreement (96.2%) was noted between the new method and observers 1 and 2 for recognizing meshwork patterns, whereas observers 1 and 2 showed greatest correspondence when classifying colour fringe patterns. Conclusions: The new application can objectively categorize LLPs using the Tearscope-plus.

Antioxidant potential of curry (Murraya koenigii L.) and mint (Mentha spicata) leaf extracts and their effect on colour and oxidative stability of raw ground pork meat during refrigeration storage.

PubMed

Biswas, A K; Chatli, M K; Sahoo, J

2012-07-15

The aim of this study was to investigate the antioxidant activity of different solvent extracts of curry and mint leaf and their effect on colour and oxidative stability of raw ground pork meat stored at 4 ± 1°C. The results indicated that among the two individual leaf categories, the ethanol extract of curry leaf (EHEC) and the water extract of mint leaf (WEM) showed higher DPPH and ABTS(+) activity. EHEC also exhibited the highest total phenolic contents while these were the lowest for WEM. WEM showed the highest superoxide anionic scavenging activity (%). The pork meat samples treated with EHEC and WEM showed a decrease in the Hunter L- and a-values and a increase in b-value during storage at 4°C. However, the pH and TBARS values were higher in control samples irrespective of storage periods. In conclusion, EHEC and WEM have the potential to be used as natural antioxidants to minimise lipid oxidation of pork products. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

A dissociation between selective attention and conscious awareness in the representation of temporal order information.

PubMed

Eimer, Martin; Grubert, Anna

2015-09-01

Previous electrophysiological studies have shown that attentional selection processes are highly sensitive to the temporal order of task-relevant visual events. When two successively presented colour-defined target stimuli are separated by a stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA) of only 10 ms, the onset latencies of N2pc components to these stimuli (which reflect their attentional selection) precisely match their objective temporal separation. We tested whether such small onset differences are accessible to conscious awareness by instructing participants to report the category (letter or digit) of the first of two target-colour items that were separated by an SOA of 10, 20, or 30 ms. Performance was at chance level for the 10 ms SOA, demonstrating that temporal order information which is available to attentional control processes cannot be utilized for conscious temporal order judgments. These results provide new evidence that selective attention and conscious awareness are functionally separable, and support the hypothesis that attention and awareness operate at different stages of cognitive processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Machine Vision-Based Measurement Systems for Fruit and Vegetable Quality Control in Postharvest.

PubMed

Blasco, José; Munera, Sandra; Aleixos, Nuria; Cubero, Sergio; Molto, Enrique

Individual items of any agricultural commodity are different from each other in terms of colour, shape or size. Furthermore, as they are living thing, they change their quality attributes over time, thereby making the development of accurate automatic inspection machines a challenging task. Machine vision-based systems and new optical technologies make it feasible to create non-destructive control and monitoring tools for quality assessment to ensure adequate accomplishment of food standards. Such systems are much faster than any manual non-destructive examination of fruit and vegetable quality, thus allowing the whole production to be inspected with objective and repeatable criteria. Moreover, current technology makes it possible to inspect the fruit in spectral ranges beyond the sensibility of the human eye, for instance in the ultraviolet and near-infrared regions. Machine vision-based applications require the use of multiple technologies and knowledge, ranging from those related to image acquisition (illumination, cameras, etc.) to the development of algorithms for spectral image analysis. Machine vision-based systems for inspecting fruit and vegetables are targeted towards different purposes, from in-line sorting into commercial categories to the detection of contaminants or the distribution of specific chemical compounds on the product's surface. This chapter summarises the current state of the art in these techniques, starting with systems based on colour images for the inspection of conventional colour, shape or external defects and then goes on to consider recent developments in spectral image analysis for internal quality assessment or contaminant detection.

Quantitative approach for defining basic color terms and color category best exemplars.

PubMed

Fider, Nicole; Narens, Louis; Jameson, Kimberly A; Komarova, Natalia L

2017-08-01

A new method is presented that identifies basic color terms (BCTs) from color-naming data. A function is defined that measures how well a term is understood by a communicating population. BCTs are then separated from other color terms by a threshold value applied to this function. A new mathematical algorithm is proposed and analyzed for determining the best exemplar associated with each BCT. Using data provided by the World Color Survey, comparisons are made between the paper's methods and those from other studies. These comparisons show that the paper's new definition of "basicness" mostly agrees with the typical definition found in the color categorization literature, which was originally due to Kay and colleagues. The new definition, unlike the typical one, has the advantage of not relying on syntactic or semantic features of languages or color lexicons. This permits the methodology developed to be generalizable and applied to other category domains for which a construct of "basicness" could have an important role.

Characteristic of Adaptability - one of basic categories of the social aspect of sustainable housing construction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Orłowski, Z.; Radziejowska, A.; Orłowski, M.

2017-10-01

In the article the authors consider one of the basic aspects of sustainable construction regarding the social utility of a building. According to standard PN-EN 16309+A1:2014-12 during evaluating the social aspect should be assessed six categories: accessibility, adaptability, comfort and health, neighborhood, maintenance, safety and security. The authors present the evaluation criteria witch should be taken into account in the assessment of the second of them. Adaptability has been divided into three categories: The buidling’s ability to accomodate the change of user requirements, The buidling’s ability to accomodate technical changes, The buidling’s ability to accomodate the change of use. Each subcategory has been further elaborated by the criteria for which authors present proposal for the scale of assessments. The authors present a part of a work to construct a method for assessing the social characteristics of the residential buildings.

Natural and Artifactual Kinds: Are Children Realists or Relativists about Categories?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kalish, Charles

1998-01-01

Four studies assessed whether children and adults saw categorization decisions as objective matters of fact or as invented conventions. Found that preschoolers treated basic-level animal and human-made artifact category decisions as objective, with kinds of animals treated as more objective than kinds of artifacts. Adults' judgments were similar…

Conceptual influences on category-based induction

PubMed Central

Gelman, Susan A.; Davidson, Natalie S.

2013-01-01

One important function of categories is to permit rich inductive inferences. Prior work shows that children use category labels to guide their inductive inferences. However, there are competing theories to explain this phenomenon, differing in the roles attributed to conceptual information versus perceptual similarity. Seven experiments with 4- to 5-year-old children and adults (N = 344) test these theories by teaching categories for which category membership and perceptual similarity are in conflict, and varying the conceptual basis of the novel categories. Results indicate that for non-natural kind categories that have little conceptual coherence, children make inferences based on perceptual similarity, whereas adults make inferences based on category membership. In contrast, for basic- and ontological-level categories that have a principled conceptual basis, children and adults alike make use of category membership more than perceptual similarity as the basis of their inferences. These findings provide evidence in favor of the role of conceptual information in preschoolers’ inferences, and further demonstrate that labeled categories are not all equivalent; they differ in their inductive potential. PMID:23517863

Development and Evaluation of a Novel Method for Basic Marksmanship Training on an Australian Army Course

DTIC Science & Technology

2014-02-01

in DSTO’s Land Division. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree and First Class Honours Degree in Psychology from the University of Adelaide. He...also holds a Master of Psychology Degree from the University of South Australia and is a Registered Psychologist in Australia. He joined DSTO in 2002...including LF6 qualification. There was no evidence of negative training associated with using different colour targets in the simulator and live-fire

Solvatochromicity of 3-hydroxy-4-(1-(2,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-2-hydroxy-2,2-diphenylethylidene)cyclohexa-2,5-dienone for screening of solvents

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Babu, D. Suresh; Singh, W. Marjit; Kalita, Dipjyoti; Baruah, Jubaraj B.

2010-01-01

The quinonic compound 3-hydroxy-4-(1-(2,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-2-hydroxy-2,2-diphenylethylidene)cyclohexa-2,5-dienone ( I) is synthesised by the reaction of benzil with 1,3-dihydroxybenzene in basic medium. Solution of this compound shows visibly distinct colour differences in different solvents. From the different absorption maxima of the compound in visible spectra it can be used as an excellent analytical reagent to screen different solvents.

Stratification of complexity in congenital heart surgery: comparative study of the Risk Adjustment for Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1) method, Aristotle basic score and Society of Thoracic Surgeons-European Association for Cardio- Thoracic Surgery (STS-EACTS) mortality score

PubMed Central

Cavalcanti, Paulo Ernando Ferraz; Sá, Michel Pompeu Barros de Oliveira; dos Santos, Cecília Andrade; Esmeraldo, Isaac Melo; Chaves, Mariana Leal; Lins, Ricardo Felipe de Albuquerque; Lima, Ricardo de Carvalho

2015-01-01

Objective To determine whether stratification of complexity models in congenital heart surgery (RACHS-1, Aristotle basic score and STS-EACTS mortality score) fit to our center and determine the best method of discriminating hospital mortality. Methods Surgical procedures in congenital heart diseases in patients under 18 years of age were allocated to the categories proposed by the stratification of complexity methods currently available. The outcome hospital mortality was calculated for each category from the three models. Statistical analysis was performed to verify whether the categories presented different mortalities. The discriminatory ability of the models was determined by calculating the area under the ROC curve and a comparison between the curves of the three models was performed. Results 360 patients were allocated according to the three methods. There was a statistically significant difference between the mortality categories: RACHS-1 (1) - 1.3%, (2) - 11.4%, (3)-27.3%, (4) - 50 %, (P<0.001); Aristotle basic score (1) - 1.1%, (2) - 12.2%, (3) - 34%, (4) - 64.7%, (P<0.001); and STS-EACTS mortality score (1) - 5.5 %, (2) - 13.6%, (3) - 18.7%, (4) - 35.8%, (P<0.001). The three models had similar accuracy by calculating the area under the ROC curve: RACHS-1- 0.738; STS-EACTS-0.739; Aristotle- 0.766. Conclusion The three models of stratification of complexity currently available in the literature are useful with different mortalities between the proposed categories with similar discriminatory capacity for hospital mortality. PMID:26107445

Basic-Level and Superordinate-like Categorical Representations in Early Infancy.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Behl-Chadha, Gundeep

1996-01-01

Examined three- to four-month-old infants' ability to form perceptually based categorical representation in the domains of natural kinds and artifacts. By showing the availability of perceptually driven basic and superordinate-like representations in early infancy that closely correspond to adult conceptual categories, findings underscored the…

A Commentary on Phytoestrogens and Disease

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hard, Alison; Edelstein, Sari

2015-01-01

On the most basic level, phytoestrogens can be defined as compounds found in plants that exhibit estrogen-like activity in the human body. Phytoestrogens are considered functional foods because of their diverse physiological effects beyond basic nutritional functions. The 2 primary categories of phytoestrogens found in food are lignans and…

Department of Defense Basic Research Program.

DTIC Science & Technology

1983-01-01

25 Environmental Sciences oceanography ........................................................................... 27...budget category and increased emphasis on high- risk , high-payoff, and named Basic Research, most of the effort funded under long-term research was...proximity fue, °.tchooie-o examplsi, radar, theus prxiit fuzenan asrsk purchasing power because of inflation and was risking nuclear weapons, homing

Short-term memory binding deficits in Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Parra, Mario A; Abrahams, Sharon; Fabi, Katia; Logie, Robert; Luzzi, Simona; Della Sala, Sergio

2009-04-01

Alzheimer's disease impairs long term memories for related events (e.g. faces with names) more than for single events (e.g. list of faces or names). Whether or not this associative or 'binding' deficit is also found in short-term memory has not yet been explored. In two experiments we investigated binding deficits in verbal short-term memory in Alzheimer's disease. Experiment 1: 23 patients with Alzheimer's disease and 23 age and education matched healthy elderly were recruited. Participants studied visual arrays of objects (six for healthy elderly and four for Alzheimer's disease patients), colours (six for healthy elderly and four for Alzheimer's disease patients), unbound objects and colours (three for healthy elderly and two for Alzheimer's disease patients in each of the two categories), or objects bound with colours (three for healthy elderly and two for Alzheimer's disease patients). They were then asked to recall the items verbally. The memory of patients with Alzheimer's disease for objects bound with colours was significantly worse than for single or unbound features whereas healthy elderly's memory for bound and unbound features did not differ. Experiment 2: 21 Alzheimer's disease patients and 20 matched healthy elderly were recruited. Memory load was increased for the healthy elderly group to eight items in the conditions assessing memory for single or unbound features and to four items in the condition assessing memory for the binding of these features. For Alzheimer's disease patients the task remained the same. This manipulation permitted the performance to be equated across groups in the conditions assessing memory for single or unbound features. The impairment in Alzheimer's disease patients in recalling bound objects reported in Experiment 1 was replicated. The binding cost was greater than that observed in the healthy elderly group, who did not differ in their performance for bound and unbound features. Alzheimer's disease grossly impairs the mechanisms responsible for holding integrated objects in verbal short-term memory.

The common occurrence of epistasis in the determination of human pigmentation and its impact on DNA-based pigmentation phenotype prediction.

PubMed

Pośpiech, Ewelina; Wojas-Pelc, Anna; Walsh, Susan; Liu, Fan; Maeda, Hitoshi; Ishikawa, Takaki; Skowron, Małgorzata; Kayser, Manfred; Branicki, Wojciech

2014-07-01

The role of epistatic effects in the determination of complex traits is often underlined but its significance in the prediction of pigmentation phenotypes has not been evaluated so far. The prediction of pigmentation from genetic data can be useful in forensic science to describe the physical appearance of an unknown offender, victim, or missing person who cannot be identified via conventional DNA profiling. Available forensic DNA prediction systems enable the reliable prediction of several eye and hair colour categories. However, there is still space for improvement. Here we verified the association of 38 candidate DNA polymorphisms from 13 genes and explored the extent to which interactions between them may be involved in human pigmentation and their impact on forensic DNA prediction in particular. The model-building set included 718 Polish samples and the model-verification set included 307 independent Polish samples and additional 72 samples from Japan. In total, 29 significant SNP-SNP interactions were found with 5 of them showing an effect on phenotype prediction. For predicting green eye colour, interactions between HERC2 rs12913832 and OCA2 rs1800407 as well as TYRP1 rs1408799 raised the prediction accuracy expressed by AUC from 0.667 to 0.697 and increased the prediction sensitivity by >3%. Interaction between MC1R 'R' variants and VDR rs731236 increased the sensitivity for light skin by >1% and by almost 3% for dark skin colour prediction. Interactions between VDR rs1544410 and TYR rs1042602 as well as between MC1R 'R' variants and HERC2 rs12913832 provided an increase in red/non-red hair prediction accuracy from an AUC of 0.902-0.930. Our results thus underline epistasis as a common phenomenon in human pigmentation genetics and demonstrate that considering SNP-SNP interactions in forensic DNA phenotyping has little impact on eye, hair and skin colour prediction. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

A Computerized Content Analysis of the Perceived Criterion Categories for the "Speech to Inform" of Inexperienced and Experienced Basic Course Students.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Jones, Tom; Di Salvo, Vince

A computerized content analysis of the "theory input" for a basic speech course was conducted. The questions to be answered were (1) What does the inexperienced basic speech student hold as a conceptual perspective of the "speech to inform" prior to his being subjected to a college speech class? and (2) How does that inexperienced student's…

Investigations on colour dependent photo induced microactuation effect of FSMA and proposing suitable mechanisms to control the effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagchi, A.; Sarkar, S.; Mukhopadhyay, P. K.

2018-02-01

Three different coloured focused laser beams were used to study the photo induced microactuation effect found in some ferromagnetic shape memory alloys. Besides trying to uncover the basic causes of this unique and as yet unexplained effect, these studies are to help find other conditions to further characterize the effect for practical use. In this study some mechanisms have been proposed to control the amplitude of actuation of the sample. Control of the actuation of the FSMA sample both linearly with the help of a continuously variable neutral density filter as well periodically with the help of a linear polarizer was achieved. Statistical analysis of the experimental data was also done by applying ANOVA studies on the data to conclusively provide evidence in support of the relationship between the actuation of the sample and the various controlling factors. This study is expected to pave the way to implement this property of the sample in fabricating and operating useful micro-mechanical systems in the near future.

Investigations on colour dependent photo induced microactuation effect of FSMA and proposing suitable mechanisms to control the effect

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bagchi, A.; Sarkar, S.; Mukhopadhyay, P. K.

2018-07-01

Three different coloured focused laser beams were used to study the photo induced microactuation effect found in some ferromagnetic shape memory alloys. Besides trying to uncover the basic causes of this unique and as yet unexplained effect, these studies are to help find other conditions to further characterize the effect for practical use. In this study some mechanisms have been proposed to control the amplitude of actuation of the sample. Control of the actuation of the FSMA sample both linearly with the help of a continuously variable neutral density filter as well periodically with the help of a linear polarizer was achieved. Statistical analysis of the experimental data was also done by applying ANOVA studies on the data to conclusively provide evidence in support of the relationship between the actuation of the sample and the various controlling factors. This study is expected to pave the way to implement this property of the sample in fabricating and operating useful micro-mechanical systems in the near future.

Basic medium oxidation of aromatic α-hydroxy-ketones: A free radical mechanism

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Gómez-Vidales, Virginia; Vargas, Marina; Meléndez, Iván; Salmón, Manuel; Sansón-O, Carmen; Zaragoza, I. P.; Zolotukhin, Mikhail; Salcedo, Roberto

2010-01-01

A systematic study was undertaken of the EPR of sodium hydroxide solutions of Benzoin, Anisoin and Thenoin in both ethanol and DMSO as well as their corresponding ionised species of varying colours. In all cases, the EPR consist of symmetric spectra, resulting from the generation of a free radical-anion. Furthermore, theoretical DFT methods were applied in order to study the radical anions, revealing the reason for the colour change in the solutions and in the case of benzoin, found to be related to the interaction between the cis and trans-isomers with the molecules in the two solvents. We have defined the structure of the cis-isomer and for the first time we have described how the adduct between the cis-isomer and the solvent molecule, results in a stable conformer. This corresponds with the EPR results which indicated a significant difference between the cis and trans-isomers. Both the theoretical and experimental results inspired similar descriptions of the significant differences between the cis and trans-isomers in solution.

Ultra Rapid Object Categorization: Effects of Level, Animacy and Context

PubMed Central

Praß, Maren; Grimsen, Cathleen; König, Martina; Fahle, Manfred

2013-01-01

It is widely agreed that in object categorization bottom-up and top-down influences interact. How top-down processes affect categorization has been primarily investigated in isolation, with only one higher level process at a time being manipulated. Here, we investigate the combination of different top-down influences (by varying the level of category, the animacy and the background of the object) and their effect on rapid object categorization. Subjects participated in a two-alternative forced choice rapid categorization task, while we measured accuracy and reaction times. Subjects had to categorize objects on the superordinate, basic or subordinate level. Objects belonged to the category animal or vehicle and each object was presented on a gray, congruent (upright) or incongruent (inverted) background. The results show that each top-down manipulation impacts object categorization and that they interact strongly. The best categorization was achieved on the superordinate level, providing no advantage for basic level in rapid categorization. Categorization between vehicles was faster than between animals on the basic level and vice versa on the subordinate level. Objects in homogenous gray background (context) yielded better overall performance than objects embedded in complex scenes, an effect most prominent on the subordinate level. An inverted background had no negative effect on object categorization compared to upright scenes. These results show how different top-down manipulations, such as category level, category type and background information, are related. We discuss the implications of top-down interactions on the interpretation of categorization results. PMID:23840810

Ultra rapid object categorization: effects of level, animacy and context.

PubMed

Praß, Maren; Grimsen, Cathleen; König, Martina; Fahle, Manfred

2013-01-01

It is widely agreed that in object categorization bottom-up and top-down influences interact. How top-down processes affect categorization has been primarily investigated in isolation, with only one higher level process at a time being manipulated. Here, we investigate the combination of different top-down influences (by varying the level of category, the animacy and the background of the object) and their effect on rapid object categorization. Subjects participated in a two-alternative forced choice rapid categorization task, while we measured accuracy and reaction times. Subjects had to categorize objects on the superordinate, basic or subordinate level. Objects belonged to the category animal or vehicle and each object was presented on a gray, congruent (upright) or incongruent (inverted) background. The results show that each top-down manipulation impacts object categorization and that they interact strongly. The best categorization was achieved on the superordinate level, providing no advantage for basic level in rapid categorization. Categorization between vehicles was faster than between animals on the basic level and vice versa on the subordinate level. Objects in homogenous gray background (context) yielded better overall performance than objects embedded in complex scenes, an effect most prominent on the subordinate level. An inverted background had no negative effect on object categorization compared to upright scenes. These results show how different top-down manipulations, such as category level, category type and background information, are related. We discuss the implications of top-down interactions on the interpretation of categorization results.

Applying colour science in colour design

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luo, Ming Ronnier

2006-06-01

Although colour science has been widely used in a variety of industries over the years, it has not been fully explored in the field of product design. This paper will initially introduce the three main application fields of colour science: colour specification, colour-difference evaluation and colour appearance modelling. By integrating these advanced colour technologies together with modern colour imaging devices such as display, camera, scanner and printer, some computer systems have been recently developed to assist designers for designing colour palettes through colour selection by means of a number of widely used colour order systems, for creating harmonised colour schemes via a categorical colour system, for generating emotion colours using various colour emotional scales and for facilitating colour naming via a colour-name library. All systems are also capable of providing accurate colour representation on displays and output to different imaging devices such as printers.

The Dental Solid Waste Management in Different Categories of Dental Laboratories in Abha City, Saudi Arabia

PubMed Central

Haralur, Satheesh B.; Al-Qahtani, Ali S.; Al-Qarni, Marie M.; Al-Homrany, Rami M.; Aboalkhair, Ayyob E.; Madalakote, Sujatha S.

2015-01-01

Aim: To study the awareness, attitude, practice and facilities among the different categories of dental laboratories in Abha city. Materials and Methods: A total of 80 dental technicians were surveyed in the study. The dental laboratories included in the study were teaching institute (Group I), Government Hospital (Group II), Private Dental Clinic (Group III) and Independent laboratory (Group IV). The pre-tested anonymous questionnaire was used to understand knowledge, attitude, facilities, practice and orientation regarding biomedical waste management. Results: The knowledge of biomedical waste categories, colour coding and segregation was better among Group I (55-65%) and Group II (65-75%). The lowest standard of waste disposal was practiced at Group IV (15-20%) and Group III (25-35%). The availability of disposal facilities was poor at Group IV. The continuous education on biomedical waste management lacked in all the Groups. Conclusion: The significant improvement in disposal facilities was required at Group III and Group IV laboratories. All dental technicians were in need of regular training of biomedical waste management. Clinical Significance: The dental laboratories are an integral part of dental practice. The dental laboratories are actively involved in the generation, handling and disposal of biomedical waste. Hence, it is important to assess the biomedical waste management knowledge, attitude, facilities and practice among different categories of dental laboratories. PMID:26962373

Microcontroller based fibre-optic visual presentation system for multisensory neuroimaging.

PubMed

Kurniawan, Veldri; Klemen, Jane; Chambers, Christopher D

2011-10-30

Presenting visual stimuli in physical 3D space during fMRI experiments carries significant technical challenges. Certain types of multisensory visuotactile experiments and visuomotor tasks require presentation of visual stimuli in peripersonal space, which cannot be accommodated by ordinary projection screens or binocular goggles. However, light points produced by a group of LEDs can be transmitted through fibre-optic cables and positioned anywhere inside the MRI scanner. Here we describe the design and implementation of a microcontroller-based programmable digital device for controlling fibre-optically transmitted LED lights from a PC. The main feature of this device is the ability to independently control the colour, brightness, and timing of each LED. Moreover, the device was designed in a modular and extensible way, which enables easy adaptation for various experimental paradigms. The device was tested and validated in three fMRI experiments involving basic visual perception, a simple colour discrimination task, and a blocked multisensory visuo-tactile task. The results revealed significant lateralized activation in occipital cortex of all participants, a reliable response in ventral occipital areas to colour stimuli elicited by the device, and strong activations in multisensory brain regions in the multisensory task. Overall, these findings confirm the suitability of this device for presenting complex fibre-optic visual and cross-modal stimuli inside the scanner. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[Research progress on the cloning of Mendel's gene in pea (Pisum sativum L.) and its application in genetics teaching].

PubMed

He, Feng-Hua; Zhu, Bi-Yan; Gao, Feng; Li, Shao-Shan; Li, Niang-Hui

2013-07-01

One hundred and fifty years ago, Gregor Mendel investigated the segregation of seven traits in pea (Pisum sativum) and established the law of segregation and the law of independent assortment in genetics. After the two laws of genetics were rediscovered in 1900, the seven traits have been extensively investigated in the fields of plant physiology and biochemistry as well as in the cell and molecular levels. Recently, with the development of molecular technology in genetics, four genes for seed shape (R), stem length (Le), cotyledon colour (I), and flower colour (A) have been cloned and sequenced; and another three genes for immature pod colour (Gp), fasciation (Fa) and pod form (V) have been located in the linkage groups, respectively. The identification and cloning of the four Mendel's genes will help deeply understand the basic concept of gene in many respects: like the diversity of gene function, the different origins for gene mutation in molecular level, and the molecular nature of a dominant gene or a recessive gene. In teaching of genetics, the introduction of most recent research advancements of cloning of Mendel's genes to the students and the interpretation of the Mendel's laws in molecular level will help students promote their learning interests in genetics and help students grasp the whole content from classical genetics to molecular genetics and the developmental direction of this subject.

Verification testing of the compression performance of the HEVC screen content coding extensions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sullivan, Gary J.; Baroncini, Vittorio A.; Yu, Haoping; Joshi, Rajan L.; Liu, Shan; Xiu, Xiaoyu; Xu, Jizheng

2017-09-01

This paper reports on verification testing of the coding performance of the screen content coding (SCC) extensions of the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard (Rec. ITU-T H.265 | ISO/IEC 23008-2 MPEG-H Part 2). The coding performance of HEVC screen content model (SCM) reference software is compared with that of the HEVC test model (HM) without the SCC extensions, as well as with the Advanced Video Coding (AVC) joint model (JM) reference software, for both lossy and mathematically lossless compression using All-Intra (AI), Random Access (RA), and Lowdelay B (LB) encoding structures and using similar encoding techniques. Video test sequences in 1920×1080 RGB 4:4:4, YCbCr 4:4:4, and YCbCr 4:2:0 colour sampling formats with 8 bits per sample are tested in two categories: "text and graphics with motion" (TGM) and "mixed" content. For lossless coding, the encodings are evaluated in terms of relative bit-rate savings. For lossy compression, subjective testing was conducted at 4 quality levels for each coding case, and the test results are presented through mean opinion score (MOS) curves. The relative coding performance is also evaluated in terms of Bjøntegaard-delta (BD) bit-rate savings for equal PSNR quality. The perceptual tests and objective metric measurements show a very substantial benefit in coding efficiency for the SCC extensions, and provided consistent results with a high degree of confidence. For TGM video, the estimated bit-rate savings ranged from 60-90% relative to the JM and 40-80% relative to the HM, depending on the AI/RA/LB configuration category and colour sampling format.

Visual adaptation of the perception of "life": animacy is a basic perceptual dimension of faces.

PubMed

Koldewyn, Kami; Hanus, Patricia; Balas, Benjamin

2014-08-01

One critical component of understanding another's mind is the perception of "life" in a face. However, little is known about the cognitive and neural mechanisms underlying this perception of animacy. Here, using a visual adaptation paradigm, we ask whether face animacy is (1) a basic dimension of face perception and (2) supported by a common neural mechanism across distinct face categories defined by age and species. Observers rated the perceived animacy of adult human faces before and after adaptation to (1) adult faces, (2) child faces, and (3) dog faces. When testing the perception of animacy in human faces, we found significant adaptation to both adult and child faces, but not dog faces. We did, however, find significant adaptation when morphed dog images and dog adaptors were used. Thus, animacy perception in faces appears to be a basic dimension of face perception that is species specific but not constrained by age categories.

VizieR Online Data Catalog: Basic properties of Kepler and CoRoT targets (Yildiz+, 2016)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Yildiz, M.; Celik Orhan, Z.; Kayhan, C.

2018-01-01

The basic data of certain Kepler (79 stars) and CoRoT (seven stars) target stars, compiled from the literature, are listed in Table A1. Oscillation frequencies of three stars (Procyon A, HD 2151 and HD 146233) were obtained from ground-based observations (Bedding et al., 2010ApJ...713..935B; Bedding et al., 2007ApJ...663.1315B and Bazot et al. 2012, Cat. J/A+A/544/A106, respectively). These stars are also listed in this table, with data for the Sun for comparison. For most stars, we provide B-V and V-K colours (SIMBAD data base) from photometric observations, and surface gravity [log(g)], effective temperature (TeS) and metallicity ([Fe/H]) from spectroscopic observations. (2 data files).

On-site detection of packaged squid freshness

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ahmad, Noor Azizah; Heng, Lee Yook; Salam, Faridah; Hanifah, Sharina Abu

2018-04-01

The development of indicator label for detection of total volatile basic nitrogen (TVB-N) is described. Dye extract from edible plants containing anthocyanins was immobilized onto iota-carrageenan as polymer matrix. TVB-N detection worked based on pH increase as the basic deterioration volatile amines generated in the package headspace. Results showed that the indicator label has changed color from blue to green after 12 hours of storage at ambient conditions. The TVB-N value was 38.9648 mg /100 g which is exceeded of acceptability level for seafood products. The pH value of squid flesh has also increased during storage. The colour values of L * and a * negative increases while b* negative decrease with increasing storage time. The indicator label is potentially used as freshness indicator for squid at ambient conditions.

Effects of memory colour on colour constancy for unknown coloured objects

PubMed Central

Granzier, Jeroen J M; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

2012-01-01

The perception of an object's colour remains constant despite large variations in the chromaticity of the illumination—colour constancy. Hering suggested that memory colours, the typical colours of objects, could help in estimating the illuminant's colour and therefore be an important factor in establishing colour constancy. Here we test whether the presence of objects with diagnostical colours (fruits, vegetables, etc) within a scene influence colour constancy for unknown coloured objects in the scene. Subjects matched one of four Munsell papers placed in a scene illuminated under either a reddish or a greenish lamp with the Munsell book of colour illuminated by a neutral lamp. The Munsell papers were embedded in four different scenes—one scene containing diagnostically coloured objects, one scene containing incongruent coloured objects, a third scene with geometrical objects of the same colour as the diagnostically coloured objects, and one scene containing non-diagnostically coloured objects (eg, a yellow coffee mug). All objects were placed against a black background. Colour constancy was on average significantly higher for the scene containing the diagnostically coloured objects compared with the other scenes tested. We conclude that the colours of familiar objects help in obtaining colour constancy for unknown objects. PMID:23145282

Effects of memory colour on colour constancy for unknown coloured objects.

PubMed

Granzier, Jeroen J M; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

2012-01-01

The perception of an object's colour remains constant despite large variations in the chromaticity of the illumination-colour constancy. Hering suggested that memory colours, the typical colours of objects, could help in estimating the illuminant's colour and therefore be an important factor in establishing colour constancy. Here we test whether the presence of objects with diagnostical colours (fruits, vegetables, etc) within a scene influence colour constancy for unknown coloured objects in the scene. Subjects matched one of four Munsell papers placed in a scene illuminated under either a reddish or a greenish lamp with the Munsell book of colour illuminated by a neutral lamp. The Munsell papers were embedded in four different scenes-one scene containing diagnostically coloured objects, one scene containing incongruent coloured objects, a third scene with geometrical objects of the same colour as the diagnostically coloured objects, and one scene containing non-diagnostically coloured objects (eg, a yellow coffee mug). All objects were placed against a black background. Colour constancy was on average significantly higher for the scene containing the diagnostically coloured objects compared with the other scenes tested. We conclude that the colours of familiar objects help in obtaining colour constancy for unknown objects.

True and false memory for colour names versus actual colours: support for the visual distinctiveness heuristic in memory for colour information.

PubMed

Eslick, Andrea N; Kostic, Bogdan; Cleary, Anne M

2010-06-01

In a colour variation of the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) false memory paradigm, participants studied lists of words critically related to a nonstudied colour name (e.g., "blood, cherry, scarlet, rouge ... "); they later showed false memory for the critical colour name (e.g., "red"). Two additional experiments suggest that participants generate colour imagery in response to such colour-related DRM lists. First, participants claim to experience colour imagery more often following colour-related than standard non-colour-related DRM lists; they also rate their colour imagery as more vivid following colour-related lists. Second, participants exhibit facilitative priming for critical colours in a dot selection task that follows words in the colour-related DRM list, suggesting that colour-related DRM lists prime participants for the actual critical colours themselves. Despite these findings, false memory for critical colour names does not extend to the actual colours themselves (font colours). Rather than leading to source confusion about which colours were self-generated and which were studied, presenting the study lists in varied font colours actually worked to reduce false memory overall. Results are interpreted within the framework of the visual distinctiveness hypothesis.

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Hules, John

This 1998 annual report from the National Scientific Energy Research Computing Center (NERSC) presents the year in review of the following categories: Computational Science; Computer Science and Applied Mathematics; and Systems and Services. Also presented are science highlights in the following categories: Basic Energy Sciences; Biological and Environmental Research; Fusion Energy Sciences; High Energy and Nuclear Physics; and Advanced Scientific Computing Research and Other Projects.

Analogical and Category-Based Inference: A Theoretical Integration with Bayesian Causal Models

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Holyoak, Keith J.; Lee, Hee Seung; Lu, Hongjing

2010-01-01

A fundamental issue for theories of human induction is to specify constraints on potential inferences. For inferences based on shared category membership, an analogy, and/or a relational schema, it appears that the basic goal of induction is to make accurate and goal-relevant inferences that are sensitive to uncertainty. People can use source…

Activating Basic Category Exemplars in Sentence Contexts: A Dynamical Account

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Raczaszek-Leonardi, Joanna; Shapiro, Lewis P.; Tuller, Betty; Kelso, J. A. Scott

2008-01-01

This paper examines the influence of context on the processing of category names embedded in sentences. The investigation focuses on the nature of information available immediately after such a word is heard as well as on the dynamics of adaptation to context. An on-line method (Cross Modal Lexical Priming) was used to trace how this process…

Lighting New Fires: Catholic Schooling in America 25 Years after Vatican II.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Guerra, Michael J.

Two basic questions about Catholic schools are addressed: (1) what is the current status of Catholic schooling in the United States? and (2) what does an analysis of recent trends suggest about the prospects for Catholic schools in the future? Recent research about Catholic schools can be divided into three categories. The first category is…

The Precategorical Nature of Visual Short-Term Memory

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Quinlan, Philip T.; Cohen, Dale J.

2016-01-01

We conducted a series of recognition experiments that assessed whether visual short-term memory (VSTM) is sensitive to shared category membership of to-be-remembered (tbr) images of common objects. In Experiment 1 some of the tbr items shared the same basic level category (e.g., hand axe): Such items were no better retained than others. In the…

More Similar but Less Satisfying: Comparing Preferences for and the Efficacy of Within- and Cross-Category Substitutes for Food.

PubMed

Huh, Young Eun; Vosgerau, Joachim; Morewedge, Carey K

2016-06-01

When people cannot get what they want, they often satisfy their desire by consuming a substitute. Substitutes can originate from within the taxonomic category of the desired stimulus (i.e., within-category substitutes) or from a different taxonomic category that serves the same basic goal (i.e., cross-category substitutes). Both a store-brand chocolate (within-category substitute) and a granola bar (cross-category substitute), for example, can serve as substitutes for gourmet chocolate. Here, we found that people believe that within-category substitutes, which are more similar to desired stimuli, will more effectively satisfy their cravings than will cross-category substitutes (Experiments 1, 2a, and 2b). However, because within-category substitutes are more similar than cross-category substitutes to desired stimuli, they are more likely to evoke an unanticipated negative contrast effect. As a result, unless substitutes are equivalent in quality to the desired stimulus, cross-category substitutes more effectively satisfy cravings for the desired stimulus (Experiments 3 and 4). © The Author(s) 2016.

Colour discrimination, colour naming and colour preferences among individuals with Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Wijk, H; Berg, S; Sivik, L; Steen, B

1999-12-01

To study the ability of colour naming, colour discrimination and colour preference in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Descriptive, consecutive sample. Fifty subjects >65 years with AD. Testing colour discrimination, colour naming and colour preferences. Ability to detect colour differences in the yellow, red, blue and green areas, ability to assign a name to 22 colour samples, ability to rank seven colours in order of preference. Discrimination ability was significantly better in the yellow and red area and for lightness variations. Cognitive decline had a significant impact on naming mixed colours and using elaborate colour names. Severity of dementia did not affect the preference rank order of colours. Ability to discriminate is affected in AD, with most errors in the blue and green area. Naming colours shows a cognitive decline. Preferences for colour are stable despite the disease. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Proxy Measurement of Adult Basic Skills: Lessons from Canada.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murray, T. Scott

"Proxy" measures have been developed and applied that extend the usefulness of direct assessments of adult basic skills. Three categories of users of data on adult literacy are as follows: (1) government authorities who need objective data to inform the decision-making process; (2) program delivery institutions who require an assessment…

Kuhn's Paradigm and Example-Based Teaching of Newtonian Mechanics.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Whitaker, M. A. B.

1980-01-01

Makes a recommendation for more direct teaching of the basic principles of mechanics. Contends that students currently learn mechanics in terms of standard examples. This causes difficulty when the student is confronted with a problem that can be solved from basic principles, but which does not fit a standard category. (GS)

Basic Grammar in Use: Reference and Practice for Students of English.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Murphy, Raymond

This basic grammar book for beginning to low-intermediate level students of English contains 106 units. The units are divided into the following categories: Present; Past; Present Perfect; Passive; Future and Modals; Imperative; "There" and "It"; Verb Forms; Auxiliary Verbs; Negatives; Questions; "To" and "-ing"; Reported Speech; "Get" and "Go";…

Effects of Stimulus Duration and Choice Delay on Visual Categorization in Pigeons

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Lazareva, Olga F.; Wasserman, Edward A.

2009-01-01

We [Lazareva, O. F., Freiburger, K. L., & Wasserman, E. A. (2004). "Pigeons concurrently categorize photographs at both basic and superordinate levels." "Psychonomic Bulletin and Review," 11, 1111-1117] previously trained four pigeons to classify color photographs into their basic-level categories (cars, chairs, flowers, or people) or into their…

Preventing Dropouts in Adult Basic Education. Research to Practice Series.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Seaman, Don F.

Reasons given by Adult Basic Education (ABE) students for leaving the program are interpreted and discussed, and implications for the ABE program are suggested. The reasons are classified into four categories: environment, physiology, wants and goals, and past experiences. The chief reasons given for dropping out in relation to the ABE program…

Semantic Facilitation in Category and Action Naming: Testing the Message-Congruency Account

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Kuipers, Jan-Rouke; La Heij, Wido

2008-01-01

Basic-level picture naming is hampered by the presence of a semantically related context word (compared to an unrelated word), whereas picture categorization is facilitated by a semantically related context word. This reversal of the semantic context effect has been explained by assuming that in categorization tasks, basic-level distractor words…

A colour image reproduction framework for 3D colour printing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Xiao, Kaida; Sohiab, Ali; Sun, Pei-li; Yates, Julian M.; Li, Changjun; Wuerger, Sophie

2016-10-01

In this paper, the current technologies in full colour 3D printing technology were introduced. A framework of colour image reproduction process for 3D colour printing is proposed. A special focus was put on colour management for 3D printed objects. Two approaches, colorimetric colour reproduction and spectral based colour reproduction are proposed in order to faithfully reproduce colours in 3D objects. Two key studies, colour reproduction for soft tissue prostheses and colour uniformity correction across different orientations are described subsequently. Results are clear shown that applying proposed colour image reproduction framework, performance of colour reproduction can be significantly enhanced. With post colour corrections, a further improvement in colour process are achieved for 3D printed objects.

ERP signs of categorical and supra-categorical processing of visual information.

PubMed

Zani, Alberto; Marsili, Giulia; Senerchia, Annapaola; Orlandi, Andrea; Citron, Francesca M M; Rizzi, Ezia; Proverbio, Alice M

2015-01-01

The aim of the present study was to investigate to what extent shared and distinct brain mechanisms are possibly subserving the processing of visual supra-categorical and categorical knowledge as observed with event-related potentials of the brain. Access time to these knowledge types was also investigated. Picture pairs of animals, objects, and mixed types were presented. Participants were asked to decide whether each pair contained pictures belonging to the same category (either animals or man-made objects) or to different categories by pressing one of two buttons. Response accuracy and reaction times (RTs) were also recorded. Both ERPs and RTs were grand-averaged separately for the same-different supra-categories and the animal-object categories. Behavioral performance was faster for more endomorphic pairs, i.e., animals vs. objects and same vs. different category pairs. For ERPs, a modulation of the earliest C1 and subsequent P1 responses to the same vs. different supra-category pairs, but not to the animal vs. object category pairs, was found. This finding supports the view that early afferent processing in the striate cortex can be boosted as a by-product of attention allocated to the processing of shapes and basic features that are mismatched, but not to their semantic quintessence, during same-different supra-categorical judgment. Most importantly, the fact that this processing accrual occurred independent of a traditional experimental condition requiring selective attention to a stimulus source out of the various sources addressed makes it conceivable that this processing accrual may arise from the attentional demand deriving from the alternate focusing of visual attention within and across stimulus categorical pairs' basic structural features. Additional posterior ERP reflections of the brain more prominently processing animal category and same-category pairs were observed at the N1 and N2 levels, respectively, as well as at a late positive complex level, overall most likely related to different stages of analysis of the greater endomorphy of these shape groups. Conversely, an enhanced fronto-central and fronto-lateral N2 as well as a centro-parietal N400 to man-made objects and different-category pairs were found, possibly indexing processing of these entities' lower endomorphy and isomorphy at the basic features and semantic levels, respectively. Overall, the present ERP results revealed shared and distinct mechanisms of access to supra-categorical and categorical knowledge in the same way in which shared and distinct neural representations underlie the processing of diverse semantic categories. Additionally, they outlined the serial nature of categorical and supra-categorical representations, indicating the sequential steps of access to these separate knowledge types. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A generalized concept for cost-effective structural design. [Statistical Decision Theory applied to aerospace systems

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Thomas, J. M.; Hawk, J. D.

1975-01-01

A generalized concept for cost-effective structural design is introduced. It is assumed that decisions affecting the cost effectiveness of aerospace structures fall into three basic categories: design, verification, and operation. Within these basic categories, certain decisions concerning items such as design configuration, safety factors, testing methods, and operational constraints are to be made. All or some of the variables affecting these decisions may be treated probabilistically. Bayesian statistical decision theory is used as the tool for determining the cost optimum decisions. A special case of the general problem is derived herein, and some very useful parametric curves are developed and applied to several sample structures.

AN INTRODUCTION TO ESSENTIALS OF BIO-MEDICAL WASTE MANAGEMENT.

PubMed

Singh, Z; Bhalwar, R; Jayaram, J; Tilak, V W

2001-04-01

The issue of biomedical waste management has assumed great significance in recent times particularly in view of the rapid upsurge of HIV infection. Government of India has made proper handling and disposal of this category of waste a statutory requirement with the publication of gazette notification no 460 dated 27 July 1998. The provisions are equally applicable to our service hospitals and hence there is a need for all the service medical, dental, nursing officers, other paramedical staff and safaiwalas to be well aware of the basic principles of handling, treatment and disposal of biomedical waste. The present article deals with such basic issues as definition, categories and principles of handling and disposal of biomedical waste.

Hierarchical Regional Disparities and Potential Sector Identification Using Modified Agglomerative Clustering

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Munandar, T. A.; Azhari; Mushdholifah, A.; Arsyad, L.

2017-03-01

Disparities in regional development methods are commonly identified using the Klassen Typology and Location Quotient. Both methods typically use the data on the gross regional domestic product (GRDP) sectors of a particular region. The Klassen approach can identify regional disparities by classifying the GRDP sector data into four classes, namely Quadrants I, II, III, and IV. Each quadrant indicates a certain level of regional disparities based on the GRDP sector value of the said region. Meanwhile, the Location Quotient (LQ) is usually used to identify potential sectors in a particular region so as to determine which sectors are potential and which ones are not potential. LQ classifies each sector into three classes namely, the basic sector, the non-basic sector with a competitive advantage, and the non-basic sector which can only meet its own necessities. Both Klassen Typology and LQ are unable to visualize the relationship of achievements in the development clearly of each region and sector. This research aimed to develop a new approach to the identification of disparities in regional development in the form of hierarchical clustering. The method of Hierarchical Agglomerative Clustering (HAC) was employed as the basis of the hierarchical clustering model for identifying disparities in regional development. Modifications were made to HAC using the Klassen Typology and LQ. Then, HAC which had been modified using the Klassen Typology was called MHACK while HAC which had been modified using LQ was called MACLoQ. Both algorithms can be used to identify regional disparities (MHACK) and potential sectors (MACLoQ), respectively, in the form of hierarchical clusters. Based on the MHACK in 31 regencies in Central Java Province, it is identified that 3 regencies (Demak, Jepara, and Magelang City) fall into the category of developed and rapidly-growing regions, while the other 28 regencies fall into the category of developed but depressed regions. Results of the MACLoQ implementation suggest that there is only 1 regency which falls into the basic-sector category (Banyumas), while the other regencies fall into the non-basic non-competitive sector category.

The colour preference control based on two-colour combinations

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hong, Ji Young; Kwak, Youngshin; Park, Du-Sik; Kim, Chang Yeong

2008-02-01

This paper proposes a framework of colour preference control to satisfy the consumer's colour related emotion. A colour harmony algorithm based on two-colour combinations is developed for displaying the images with several complementary colour pairs as the relationship of two-colour combination. The colours of pixels belonging to complementary colour areas in HSV colour space are shifted toward the target hue colours and there is no colour change for the other pixels. According to the developed technique, dynamic emotions by the proposed hue conversion can be improved and the controlled output image shows improved colour emotions in the preference of the human viewer. The psychophysical experiments are conducted to investigate the optimal model parameters to produce the most pleasant image to the users in the respect of colour emotions.

Online colour training system for dental students: a comprehensive assessment of different training protocols.

PubMed

Liu, M; Chen, L; Liu, X; Yang, Y; Zheng, M; Tan, J

2015-04-01

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the training effect and to determine the optimal training protocol for a recently developed online colour training system. Seventy students participated in the evaluation. They first completed a baseline test with shade guides (SGT) and the training system (TST), and then trained with one of the three system training methods (Basic colour training for group E1, Vitapan Classical for E2, and Vitapan 3D-Master for E3) or shade guides (group C1) for 4 days. The control group (C2) received no training. The same test was performed after training and they finally completed a questionnaire. The correct matches after training increased in three experimental groups and group C1. Among experimental groups, the greatest improvement of correct matching number was achieved by group E3 (4·00 ± 1·88 in SGT, 4·29 ± 2·73 in TST), followed by E2 (2·29 ± 2·73 in SGT, 3·50 ± 3·03 in TST) and E1 (2·00 ± 2·60 in SGT, 1·93 ± 2·96 in TST). The difference between E3 and E1 was statistically significant (P = 0·036 in SGT, 0·026 in TST). The total average training time was shorter in group E2 (15·39 ± 4·22 min) and E3 (17·63 ± 5·22 min), with no significant difference between them. Subjective evaluations revealed that self-confidence in colour matching were improved greater in group C1 and E3. In conclusion, all tested sections of the system effectively improved students' colour-matching ability. Among system training methods, Vitapan 3D-Master showed the best performance; it enabled greater shade-matching improvement, it saved time and was superior in subjective evaluations. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Discriminating nutritional quality of foods using the 5-Color nutrition label in the French food market: consistency with nutritional recommendations.

PubMed

Julia, Chantal; Ducrot, Pauline; Péneau, Sandrine; Deschamps, Valérie; Méjean, Caroline; Fézeu, Léopold; Touvier, Mathilde; Hercberg, Serge; Kesse-Guyot, Emmanuelle

2015-09-28

Our objectives were to assess the performance of the 5-Colour nutrition label (5-CNL) front-of-pack nutrition label based on the Food Standards Agency nutrient profiling system to discriminate nutritional quality of foods currently on the market in France and its consistency with French nutritional recommendations. Nutritional composition of 7777 foods available on the French market collected from the web-based collaborative project Open Food Facts were retrieved. Distribution of products across the 5-CNL categories according to food groups, as arranged in supermarket shelves was assessed. Distribution of similar products from different brands in the 5-CNL categories was also assessed. Discriminating performance was considered as the number of color categories present in each food group. In the case of discrepancies between the category allocation and French nutritional recommendations, adaptations of the original score were proposed. Overall, the distribution of foodstuffs in the 5-CNL categories was consistent with French recommendations: 95.4% of 'Fruits and vegetables', 72.5% of 'Cereals and potatoes' were classified as 'Green' or 'Yellow' whereas 86.0% of 'Sugary snacks' were classified as 'Pink' or 'Red'. Adaptations to the original FSA score computation model were necessary for beverages, added fats and cheese in order to be consistent with French official nutritional recommendations. The 5-CNL label displays a high performance in discriminating nutritional quality of foods across food groups, within a food group and for similar products from different brands. Adaptations from the original model were necessary to maintain consistency with French recommendations and high performance of the system.

The use of error-category mapping in pharmacokinetic model analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI data.

PubMed

Gill, Andrew B; Anandappa, Gayathri; Patterson, Andrew J; Priest, Andrew N; Graves, Martin J; Janowitz, Tobias; Jodrell, Duncan I; Eisen, Tim; Lomas, David J

2015-02-01

This study introduces the use of 'error-category mapping' in the interpretation of pharmacokinetic (PK) model parameter results derived from dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE-) MRI data. Eleven patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma were enrolled in a multiparametric study of the treatment effects of bevacizumab. For the purposes of the present analysis, DCE-MRI data from two identical pre-treatment examinations were analysed by application of the extended Tofts model (eTM), using in turn a model arterial input function (AIF), an individually-measured AIF and a sample-average AIF. PK model parameter maps were calculated. Errors in the signal-to-gadolinium concentration ([Gd]) conversion process and the model-fitting process itself were assigned to category codes on a voxel-by-voxel basis, thereby forming a colour-coded 'error-category map' for each imaged slice. These maps were found to be repeatable between patient visits and showed that the eTM converged adequately in the majority of voxels in all the tumours studied. However, the maps also clearly indicated sub-regions of low Gd uptake and of non-convergence of the model in nearly all tumours. The non-physical condition ve ≥ 1 was the most frequently indicated error category and appeared sensitive to the form of AIF used. This simple method for visualisation of errors in DCE-MRI could be used as a routine quality-control technique and also has the potential to reveal otherwise hidden patterns of failure in PK model applications. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Synaesthesia and colour constancy.

PubMed

Erskine, Holly; Mattingley, Jason B; Arnold, Derek H

2013-04-01

Grapheme-colour synaesthesia is an atypical condition characterized by the perception of colours when reading achromatic text. We investigated the level of colour processing responsible for these experiences. To do so, we tapped a central characteristic of colour perception. In different lighting conditions the same wavelength of light can prompt the perception of different colours. This helps humans recognize distinctive coloured objects despite changes in illumination. We wanted to see if synaesthetic colours were generated at a neural locus that was susceptible to colour constancy analyses. We used colour matching and naming tasks to examine interactions between simulated coloured illuminants and synaesthetic colours. Neither synaesthetic colour matching or naming was impacted. This contrasted with non-synaesthetic control participants, who performed the colour-matching task with graphemes physically coloured to mimic synaesthesia. Our data suggest that synaesthetic colour signals are not generated at lower-levels of colour processing, but are introduced at higher levels of analysis and are therefore not impacted by the processes responsible for perceptual constancy. Crown Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Characterisation of the n-colour printing process using the spot colour overprint model.

PubMed

Deshpande, Kiran; Green, Phil; Pointer, Michael R

2014-12-29

This paper is aimed at reproducing the solid spot colours using the n-colour separation. A simplified numerical method, called as the spot colour overprint (SCOP) model, was used for characterising the n-colour printing process. This model was originally developed for estimating the spot colour overprints. It was extended to be used as a generic forward characterisation model for the n-colour printing process. The inverse printer model based on the look-up table was implemented to obtain the colour separation for n-colour printing process. Finally the real-world spot colours were reproduced using 7-colour separation on lithographic offset printing process. The colours printed with 7 inks were compared against the original spot colours to evaluate the accuracy. The results show good accuracy with the mean CIEDE2000 value between the target colours and the printed colours of 2.06. The proposed method can be used successfully to reproduce the spot colours, which can potentially save significant time and cost in the printing and packaging industry.

Learning Category-Specific Dictionary and Shared Dictionary for Fine-Grained Image Categorization.

PubMed

Gao, Shenghua; Tsang, Ivor Wai-Hung; Ma, Yi

2014-02-01

This paper targets fine-grained image categorization by learning a category-specific dictionary for each category and a shared dictionary for all the categories. Such category-specific dictionaries encode subtle visual differences among different categories, while the shared dictionary encodes common visual patterns among all the categories. To this end, we impose incoherence constraints among the different dictionaries in the objective of feature coding. In addition, to make the learnt dictionary stable, we also impose the constraint that each dictionary should be self-incoherent. Our proposed dictionary learning formulation not only applies to fine-grained classification, but also improves conventional basic-level object categorization and other tasks such as event recognition. Experimental results on five data sets show that our method can outperform the state-of-the-art fine-grained image categorization frameworks as well as sparse coding based dictionary learning frameworks. All these results demonstrate the effectiveness of our method.

The colour of an avifauna: A quantitative analysis of the colour of Australian birds

PubMed Central

Delhey, Kaspar

2015-01-01

Animal coloration is a poorly-understood aspect of phenotypic variability. Here I expand initial studies of the colour gamut of birds by providing the first quantitative description of the colour variation of an entire avifauna: Australian landbirds (555 species). The colour of Australian birds occupies a small fraction (19%) of the entire possible colour space and colour variation is extremely uneven. Most colours are unsaturated, concentrated in the centre of colour space and based on the deposition of melanins. Other mechanisms of colour production are less common but account for larger portions of colour space and for most saturated colours. Male colours occupy 45–25% more colour space than female colours, indicating that sexual dichromatism translates into a broader range of male colours. Male-exclusive colours are often saturated, at the edge of chromatic space, and have most likely evolved for signalling. While most clades of birds occupy expected or lower-than-expected colour volumes, parrots and cockatoos (Order Psittaciformes) occupy a much larger volume than expected. This uneven distribution of colour variation across mechanisms of colour production, sexes and clades is probably shared by avifaunas in other parts of the world, but this remains to be tested with comparable data. PMID:26679370

Basic-level categorization of intermediate complexity fragments reveals top-down effects of expertise in visual perception.

PubMed

Harel, Assaf; Ullman, Shimon; Harari, Danny; Bentin, Shlomo

2011-07-28

Visual expertise is usually defined as the superior ability to distinguish between exemplars of a homogeneous category. Here, we ask how real-world expertise manifests at basic-level categorization and assess the contribution of stimulus-driven and top-down knowledge-based factors to this manifestation. Car experts and novices categorized computer-selected image fragments of cars, airplanes, and faces. Within each category, the fragments varied in their mutual information (MI), an objective quantifiable measure of feature diagnosticity. Categorization of face and airplane fragments was similar within and between groups, showing better performance with increasing MI levels. Novices categorized car fragments more slowly than face and airplane fragments, while experts categorized car fragments as fast as face and airplane fragments. The experts' advantage with car fragments was similar across MI levels, with similar functions relating RT with MI level for both groups. Accuracy was equal between groups for cars as well as faces and airplanes, but experts' response criteria were biased toward cars. These findings suggest that expertise does not entail only specific perceptual strategies. Rather, at the basic level, expertise manifests as a general processing advantage arguably involving application of top-down mechanisms, such as knowledge and attention, which helps experts to distinguish between object categories. © ARVO

The Relationship between Memory and Inductive Reasoning: Does It Develop?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Hayes, Brett K.; Fritz, Kristina; Heit, Evan

2013-01-01

In 2 studies, the authors examined the development of the relationship between inductive reasoning and visual recognition memory. In both studies, 5- to 6-year-old children and adults were shown instances of a basic-level category (dogs) followed by a test set containing old and new category members that varied in their similarity to study items.…

A Reversed-Typicality Effect in Pictures but Not in Written Words in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Adolescents

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Li, Degao; Gao, Kejuan; Wu, Xueyun; Xong, Ying; Chen, Xiaojun; He, Weiwei; Li, Ling; Huang, Jingjia

2015-01-01

Two experiments investigated Chinese deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) adolescents' recognition of category names in an innovative task of semantic categorization. In each trial, the category-name target appeared briefly at the screen center followed by two words or two pictures for two basic-level exemplars of high or middle typicality, which…

Solar retinopathy. A study from Nepal and from Germany.

PubMed

Rai, N; Thuladar, L; Brandt, F; Arden, G B; Berninger, T A

1998-01-01

319 patients with a solar retinopathy were seen in an eye clinic in Nepal within 20 months. All patients had either a positive history of sun-gazing or typical circumscribed scars in the foveal area. In more than 80% of the patients the visual acuity was 6/12 or better and did not deteriorate over time. 126 (40%) patients had a history of gazing at the sun during an eclipse, 33 (10%) were sun worshipers and 4 (1%) were in both categories. Three years later 29 patients were re-examined in a follow-up study. Only 16 had had visual disturbances directly after they had gazed into the sun. No colour vision defects were seen in any of the 44 affected eyes, when tested with Panel D 15, while four patients (6 eyes) had some uncertainty with the tritan plates of the Ishihara test charts. Metamorphopsia were recorded in 11 eyes. Five German patients with solar retinopathy were examined in more detail. Colour contrast sensitivity (CCS) was tested for the central and the peripheral visual field. CCS for tritan axis was raised in all patients for the central visual field, while it was normal for the peripheral visual field.

Types of Cancer Research

Cancer.gov

An infographic from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) describing the four broad categories of cancer research: basic research, clinical research, population-based research, and translational research.

Independent effects of colour on object identification and memory.

PubMed

Lloyd-Jones, Toby J; Nakabayashi, Kazuyo

2009-02-01

We examined the effects of colour on object identification and memory using a study-test priming procedure with a coloured-object decision task at test (i.e., deciding whether an object is correctly coloured). Objects were selected to have a single associated colour and were either correctly or incorrectly coloured. In addition, object shape and colour were either spatially integrated (i.e., colour fell on the object surface) or spatially separated (i.e., colour formed the background to the object). Transforming the colour of an object from study to test (e.g., from a yellow banana to a purple banana) reduced priming of response times, as compared to when the object was untransformed. This utilization of colour information in object memory was not contingent upon colour falling on the object surface or whether the resulting configuration was of a correctly or incorrectly coloured object. In addition, we observed independent effects of colour on response times, whereby coloured-object decisions were more efficient for correctly than for incorrectly coloured objects but only when colour fell on the object surface. These findings provide evidence for two distinct mechanisms of shape-colour binding in object processing.

Most and Least Preferred Colours Differ According to Object Context: New Insights from an Unrestricted Colour Range

PubMed Central

Jonauskaite, Domicele; Mohr, Christine; Antonietti, Jean-Philippe; Spiers, Peter M.; Althaus, Betty; Anil, Selin; Dael, Nele

2016-01-01

Humans like some colours and dislike others, but which particular colours and why remains to be understood. Empirical studies on colour preferences generally targeted most preferred colours, but rarely least preferred (disliked) colours. In addition, findings are often based on general colour preferences leaving open the question whether results generalise to specific objects. Here, 88 participants selected the colours they preferred most and least for three context conditions (general, interior walls, t-shirt) using a high-precision colour picker. Participants also indicated whether they associated their colour choice to a valenced object or concept. The chosen colours varied widely between individuals and contexts and so did the reasons for their choices. Consistent patterns also emerged, as most preferred colours in general were more chromatic, while for walls they were lighter and for t-shirts they were darker and less chromatic compared to least preferred colours. This meant that general colour preferences could not explain object specific colour preferences. Measures of the selection process further revealed that, compared to most preferred colours, least preferred colours were chosen more quickly and were less often linked to valenced objects or concepts. The high intra- and inter-individual variability in this and previous reports furthers our understanding that colour preferences are determined by subjective experiences and that most and least preferred colours are not processed equally. PMID:27022909

Most and Least Preferred Colours Differ According to Object Context: New Insights from an Unrestricted Colour Range.

PubMed

Jonauskaite, Domicele; Mohr, Christine; Antonietti, Jean-Philippe; Spiers, Peter M; Althaus, Betty; Anil, Selin; Dael, Nele

2016-01-01

Humans like some colours and dislike others, but which particular colours and why remains to be understood. Empirical studies on colour preferences generally targeted most preferred colours, but rarely least preferred (disliked) colours. In addition, findings are often based on general colour preferences leaving open the question whether results generalise to specific objects. Here, 88 participants selected the colours they preferred most and least for three context conditions (general, interior walls, t-shirt) using a high-precision colour picker. Participants also indicated whether they associated their colour choice to a valenced object or concept. The chosen colours varied widely between individuals and contexts and so did the reasons for their choices. Consistent patterns also emerged, as most preferred colours in general were more chromatic, while for walls they were lighter and for t-shirts they were darker and less chromatic compared to least preferred colours. This meant that general colour preferences could not explain object specific colour preferences. Measures of the selection process further revealed that, compared to most preferred colours, least preferred colours were chosen more quickly and were less often linked to valenced objects or concepts. The high intra- and inter-individual variability in this and previous reports furthers our understanding that colour preferences are determined by subjective experiences and that most and least preferred colours are not processed equally.

An Extension of the Partial Credit Model with an Application to the Measurement of Change.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Fischer, Gerhard H.; Ponocny, Ivo

1994-01-01

An extension to the partial credit model, the linear partial credit model, is considered under the assumption of a certain linear decomposition of the item x category parameters into basic parameters. A conditional maximum likelihood algorithm for estimating basic parameters is presented and illustrated with simulation and an empirical study. (SLD)

International Directory of Facilities for Education and Training in Basic Subjects Related to the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

United Nations, New York, NY.

International facilities are described in the first section of this directory on the facilities for education and training in basic subjects related to the peaceful uses of outer space. Entries are organized into these categories: organizations of the United Nations system; intergovernmental agencies; international agencies; international…

The effects of age, viewing distance, display type, font type, colour contrast and number of syllables on the legibility of Korean characters.

PubMed

Kong, Yong-Ku; Lee, Inseok; Jung, Myung-Chul; Song, Young-Woong

2011-05-01

This study evaluated the effects of age (20s and 60s), viewing distance (50 cm, 200 cm), display type (paper, monitor), font type (Gothic, Ming), colour contrast (black letters on white background, white letters on black background) and number of syllables (one, two) on the legibility of Korean characters by using the four legibility measures (minimum letter size for 100% correctness, maximum letter size for 0% correctness, minimum letter size for the least discomfort and maximum letter size for the most discomfort). Ten subjects in each age group read the four letters presented on a slide (letter size varied from 80 pt to 2 pt). Subjects also subjectively rated the reading discomfort of the letters on a 4-point scale (1 = no discomfort, 4 = most discomfort). According to the ANOVA procedure, age, viewing distance and font type significantly affected the four dependent variables (p < 0.05), while the main effect of colour contrast was not statistically significant for any measures. Two-syllable letters had smaller letters than one-syllable letters in the two correctness measures. The younger group could see letter sizes two times smaller than the old group could and the viewing distance of 50 cm showed letters about three times smaller than those at a 200 cm viewing distance. The Gothic fonts were smaller than the Ming fonts. Monitors were smaller than paper for correctness and maximum letter size for the most discomfort. From a comparison of the results for correctness and discomfort, people generally preferred larger letter sizes to those that they could read. The findings of this study may provide basic information for setting a global standard of letter size or font type to improve the legibility of characters written in Korean. STATEMENT OF RELEVANCE: Results obtained in this study will provide basic information and guidelines for setting standards of letter size and font type to improve the legibility of characters written in Korean. Also, the results might offer useful information for people who are working on design of visual displays.

Land use map, Finney County, Kansas

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Morain, S. A. (Principal Investigator); Williams, D. L.; Coiner, J. C.

1973-01-01

The author has identified the following significant results. Methods for the mapping of land use in agricultural regions are developed and applied to preparation of a land use map of Finney County, Kanas. Six land use categories were identified from an MSS-5 image. These categories are: (1) large field irrigation; (2) small field irrigation; (3) dryland cultivation; (4) rangeland; (5) cultural features; and (6) riverine land. The map is composed of basically homogeneous regions with definable mixtures of the six categories. Each region is bounded by an ocularly evident change in land use.

Cross-sectional survey shows that follow-up formula and growing-up milks are labelled similarly to infant formula in four low and middle income countries.

PubMed

Pereira, Catherine; Ford, Rosalyn; Feeley, Alison B; Sweet, Lara; Badham, Jane; Zehner, Elizabeth

2016-04-01

This cross-sectional survey assessed the characteristics of labels of follow-up formula (FUF) and growing-up milk (GUM) compared with infant formula (IF), including cross-promotion practices between FUF/GUM and IF manufactured by the same company, sold in Phnom Penh, Cambodia; Kathmandu Valley, Nepal; Dakar Department, Senegal; and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. All products were imported. A wide recommended age/age range for introduction was provided by manufacturers across all sites, with products with an age recommendation of 0-6 months being most prevalent in three sites, representing over a third of all products. Various age categories (e.g. 1, 1+ and Stage 1) commonly appeared on labels. A number of descriptive names (e.g. infant formula and milk formula) per category of age of introduction were used with some appearing across more than one category. Images of feeding bottles were found on most labels across all age categories, but prevalence decreased with older age categories. The majority of FUF/GUM manufactured by IF companies across all sites displayed at least one example of cross-promotion with one or more of the company's IF: two-thirds or more contained similar colour schemes/designs and similar brand names; 20-85% had similar slogans/mascots/symbols. A wide and potentially confusing range of ages/categories of introduction and descriptive names were found, and cross-promotion with IF was common on FUF/GUM labels. Global guidance from normative bodies forms the basis of most low and middle income countries policies and should provide specific guidance to prohibit cross-promotion between FUF/GUM and IF, and all three categories should be classified as breastmilk substitutes. © 2016 The Authors. Maternal & Child Nutrition published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Does Colour Preference Have a Role in Colour Term Acquisition?

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Pitchford, Nicola J.; Davis, Emma E.; Scerif, Gaia

2009-01-01

A developmental association exists between colour preference and emerging colour term acquisition in young children. Colour preference might influence colour term acquisition by directing attention towards or away from a particular colour, making it more or less memorable. To investigate the role that colour preference may have in the acquisition…

The role of colour in implicit and explicit memory performance.

PubMed

Vernon, David; Lloyd-Jones, Toby J

2003-07-01

We present two experiments that examine the effects of colour transformation between study and test (from black and white to colour and vice versa, of from incorrectly coloured to correctly coloured and vice versa) on implicit and explicit measures of memory for diagnostically coloured natural objects (e.g., yellow banana). For naming and coloured-object decision (i.e., deciding whether an object is correctly coloured), there were shorter response times to correctly coloured-objects than to black-and-white and incorrectly coloured-objects. Repetition priming was equivalent for the different stimulus types. Colour transformation did not influence priming of picture naming, but for coloured-object decision priming was evident only for objects remaining the same from study to test. This was the case for both naming and coloured-object decision as study tasks. When participants were asked to consciously recognize objects that they had named or made coloured-object decisions to previously, whilst ignoring their colour, colour transformation reduced recognition efficiency. We discuss these results in terms of the flexibility of object representations that mediate priming and recognition.

Mechanisms, functions and ecology of colour vision in the honeybee.

PubMed

Hempel de Ibarra, N; Vorobyev, M; Menzel, R

2014-06-01

Research in the honeybee has laid the foundations for our understanding of insect colour vision. The trichromatic colour vision of honeybees shares fundamental properties with primate and human colour perception, such as colour constancy, colour opponency, segregation of colour and brightness coding. Laborious efforts to reconstruct the colour vision pathway in the honeybee have provided detailed descriptions of neural connectivity and the properties of photoreceptors and interneurons in the optic lobes of the bee brain. The modelling of colour perception advanced with the establishment of colour discrimination models that were based on experimental data, the Colour-Opponent Coding and Receptor Noise-Limited models, which are important tools for the quantitative assessment of bee colour vision and colour-guided behaviours. Major insights into the visual ecology of bees have been gained combining behavioural experiments and quantitative modelling, and asking how bee vision has influenced the evolution of flower colours and patterns. Recently research has focussed on the discrimination and categorisation of coloured patterns, colourful scenes and various other groupings of coloured stimuli, highlighting the bees' behavioural flexibility. The identification of perceptual mechanisms remains of fundamental importance for the interpretation of their learning strategies and performance in diverse experimental tasks.

The neural correlate of colour distances revealed with competing synaesthetic and real colours.

PubMed

Laeng, Bruno; Hugdahl, Kenneth; Specht, Karsten

2011-03-01

Synaesthetes claim to perceive illusory colours when reading alphanumeric symbols so that two colours are said to be bound to the same letter or digit (i.e., the colour of the ink, e.g., black, and an additional, synaesthetic, colour). To explore the neural correlates of this phenomenon, we used a Stroop single-letter colour-naming task and found that distances in colour space between the illusory and real colours of a letter target (as computed from either the RGB or CIExyY coordinates of colours) systematically influenced the degree of neuronal activation in colour-processing brain regions. The synaesthetes also activated the same fronto-parietal network during the classic colour-word Stroop task and single-letter tasks. We conclude that the same neural substrate that supports the conscious experience of colour, as triggered by physical wavelength, supports the experience of synaesthetic colours. Thus, two colour attributes (one that is wavelength-dependent and one that is illusory) can be bound to the same stimulus position and simultaneously engage the colour areas in proportion to their similarity in colour space. Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Srl. All rights reserved.

Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) and honeybees (Apis mellifera) prefer similar colours of higher spectral purity over trained colours.

PubMed

Rohde, Katja; Papiorek, Sarah; Lunau, Klaus

2013-03-01

Differences in the concentration of pigments as well as their composition and spatial arrangement cause intraspecific variation in the spectral signature of flowers. Known colour preferences and requirements for flower-constant foraging bees predict different responses to colour variability. In experimental settings, we simulated small variations of unicoloured petals and variations in the spatial arrangement of colours within tricoloured petals using artificial flowers and studied their impact on the colour choices of bumblebees and honeybees. Workers were trained to artificial flowers of a given colour and then given the simultaneous choice between three test colours: either the training colour, one colour of lower and one of higher spectral purity, or the training colour, one colour of lower and one of higher dominant wavelength; in all cases the perceptual contrast between the training colour and the additional test colours was similarly small. Bees preferred artificial test flowers which resembled the training colour with the exception that they preferred test colours with higher spectral purity over trained colours. Testing the behaviour of bees at artificial flowers displaying a centripetal or centrifugal arrangement of three equally sized colours with small differences in spectral purity, bees did not prefer any type of artificial flowers, but preferentially choose the most spectrally pure area for the first antenna contact at both types of artificial flowers. Our results indicate that innate preferences for flower colours of high spectral purity in pollinators might exert selective pressure on the evolution of flower colours.

Measurements and modelling of the influence of dentine colour and enamel on tooth colour.

PubMed

Battersby, Paul D; Battersby, Stephen J

2015-03-01

We provide a quantitative predictive model for the extent to which coloured dentine, visible through the enamel, contributes to tooth colour. Our model uses (L(*),a(*),b(*)) measurements rather than spectral measurements. We have used a model system, composed of a slice of bovine enamel placed on top of coloured paper. We have measured the colour of the enamel-paper combination, as an analogue for a tooth, and have related this to the colour of the paper, as an analogue for dentine. By changing the paper colour, we have been able to explore how the colour of dentine determines tooth colour, according to our model system. We have also compared hydrated and desiccated samples. In qualitative terms, superimposing the enamel on top of the paper increases the "lightness" for all colours tested except white while simultaneously reducing the chromaticity, a measure of the extent to which the colour differs from grey. Desiccated enamel is much more effective at increasing the lightness and reducing the chromaticity than hydrated enamel. Quantitatively, our measurements are reproduced by the mathematical model we have developed to within 2% in "lightness" and about 8% in chromaticity. We are able to predict the colour of an analogue for a tooth, composed of bovine enamel and coloured paper, from the colour of an analogue for the dentine, the coloured paper alone, with good accuracy. This understanding provides insights into the role of dentine colour in determining tooth colour. Our work helps quantify the importance of dentine colour, compared to other, extrinsic causes of colour, such as staining, in determining the visible colour of teeth. Our predicted colours represent a baseline to which extrinsic sources will add. Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Kappa and Rater Accuracy: Paradigms and Parameters.

PubMed

Conger, Anthony J

2017-12-01

Drawing parallels to classical test theory, this article clarifies the difference between rater accuracy and reliability and demonstrates how category marginal frequencies affect rater agreement and Cohen's kappa (κ). Category assignment paradigms are developed: comparing raters to a standard (index) versus comparing two raters to one another (concordance), using both nonstochastic and stochastic category membership. Using a probability model to express category assignments in terms of rater accuracy and random error, it is shown that observed agreement (Po) depends only on rater accuracy and number of categories; however, expected agreement (Pe) and κ depend additionally on category frequencies. Moreover, category frequencies affect Pe and κ solely through the variance of the category proportions, regardless of the specific frequencies underlying the variance. Paradoxically, some judgment paradigms involving stochastic categories are shown to yield higher κ values than their nonstochastic counterparts. Using the stated probability model, assignments to categories were generated for 552 combinations of paradigms, rater and category parameters, category frequencies, and number of stimuli. Observed means and standard errors for Po, Pe, and κ were fully consistent with theory expectations. Guidelines for interpretation of rater accuracy and reliability are offered, along with a discussion of alternatives to the basic model.

Covert colour processing in colour agnosia.

PubMed

Nijboer, Tanja C W; van Zandvoort, Martine J E; de Haan, Edward H F

2006-01-01

Patients with colour agnosia can perceive colours and are able to match coloured patches on hue, but are unable to identify or categorise colours. It is a rare condition and there is as yet no agreement on the clinical definition or a generally accepted explanation. In line with observations from object agnosia and prosopagnosia, we hypothesised that (some of) these patients might still be able to process colour information at an implicit level. In this study, we investigated this possibility of implicit access to colour semantics and colour names in a man (MAH) who suffers from developmental colour agnosia. We designed two experimental computer tasks: an associative colour priming task with a lexical decision response and a reversed Stroop task. The results of these experiments suggest that there is indeed automatic processing of colour, although MAH was unable to explicitly use colour information.

Profile of mathematical reasoning ability of 8th grade students seen from communicational ability, basic skills, connection, and logical thinking

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sumarsih; Budiyono; Indriati, D.

2018-04-01

This research aims to understand the students’ weaknesses in mathematical reasoning ability in junior secondary school. A set of multiple choice tests were used to measure this ability involve components mathematical communication, basic skills, connection, and logical thinking. A total of 259 respondents were determined by stratified cluster random sampling. Data were analyzed using one-way Anova test with Fobs = 109.5760 and F = 3.0000. The results show that students’ ability from schools with high National Exam in mathematics category was the best and followed by medium and low category. Mathematical connection is the most difficult component performed by students. In addition, most students also have difficulty in expressing ideas and developing logical arguments.

Capabilities and limitations of handheld Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) for the analysis of colourants and binders in 20th-century reverse paintings on glass

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Steger, Simon; Stege, Heike; Bretz, Simone; Hahn, Oliver

2018-04-01

A non-invasive method has been carried out to show the capabilities and limitations of Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) for identifying of colourants and binders in modern reverse glass paintings. For this purpose, the reverse glass paintings "Zwei Frauen am Tisch" (1920-22), "Bäume" (1946) (both by Heinrich Campendonk), "Lofoten" (1933) (Edith Campendonk-van Leckwyck) and "Ohne Titel" (1954) (Marianne Uhlenhuth), were measured. In contrast to other techniques (e.g. panel and mural painting), the paint layers are applied in reverse succession. In multi-layered paint systems, the front paint layer may no longer be accessible. The work points out the different spectral appearance of a given substance (gypsum, basic lead white) in reverse glass paintings. However, inverted bands, band overlapping and derivative-shaped spectral features can be interpreted by comparing the spectra from the paintings with spectra from pure powders and pigment/linseed oil mock-ups. Moreover, the work focuses on this method's capabilities in identifying synthetic organic pigments (SOP). Reference spectra of three common SOP (PG7, PY1, PR83) were obtained from powders and historical colour charts. We identified PR83 and PY1 in two reverse glass paintings, using the measured reference spectra. The recorded DRIFTS spectra of pure linseed oil, gum Arabic, mastic, polyvinyl acetate resin and bees wax can be used to classify the binding media of the measured paintings.

Changes in peak systolic velocity induced by chronic therapy with phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor.

PubMed

Sighinolfi, M C; Mofferdin, A; De Stefani, S; Celia, A; Micali, S; Cicero, A F G; Bianchi, G

2006-06-01

The aim of this study was to assess the influence of chronic therapy with phosphodiesterase type-5 inhibitor on penile haemodynamics at colour Doppler ultrasound. Thirty patients affected by erectile dysfunction (ED) of different aetiology tested with the International Index of Erectile Function (IIEF-5) were evaluated with penile colour Doppler ultrasound during basic and dynamic phases (10 microg PGE1) before and after chronic self-administration of sildenafil citrate (dosage: 100 mg as required, two to three times a week) for a period of 5-20 months (mean: 12.3). Treatment was interrupted 14-21 days before the second ultrasound evaluation. Peak systolic velocity (PSV) and end-diastolic velocity (EDV) were recorded by means of colour Doppler; cut off values were 25 and 5 cm s(-1) respectively. Data were compared by nonparametric tests. Twenty-two of the 30 patients showed normal pre-treatment PSV, while eight of 30 had an insufficient arterial flow. Mean pre-treatment EDV was 4.7 +/- 0.5. After chronic therapy with sildenafil, a global improvement of 10.5% on PSV was seen (P < 0.001), without any statistical difference between patients with normal pre-treatment peak and those with a borderline one. No statistically significant changes were found for EDV (P = 0.98). It is concluded that chronic therapy with phosphodiesterase-5 inhibitor results in a significant improvement in PSV values, probably due to a penile chronic vasoactive enhancement.

Grothendieck-Verdier duality patterns in quantum algebra

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Manin, Yu I.

2017-08-01

After a brief survey of the basic definitions of Grothendieck-Verdier categories and dualities, I consider in this context dualities introduced earlier in the categories of quadratic algebras and operads, largely motivated by the theory of quantum groups. Finally, I argue that Dubrovin's `almost duality' in the theory of Frobenius manifolds and quantum cohomology must also fit a (possibly extended) version of Grothendieck-Verdier duality.

Put on that colour, it fits your emotion: Colour appropriateness as a function of expressed emotion.

PubMed

Dael, Nele; Perseguers, Marie-Noëlle; Marchand, Cynthia; Antonietti, Jean-Philippe; Mohr, Christine

2016-01-01

People associate affective meaning with colour, and this may influence decisions about colours. Hue is traditionally considered the most salient descriptor of colour and colour-affect associations, although colour brightness and saturation seem to have particularly strong affective connotations. To test whether colour choices can be driven by emotion, we investigated whether and how colour hue, brightness, and saturation are systematically associated with bodily expressions of positive (joy) and negative (fear) emotions. Twenty-five non-colour-blind participants viewed videos of these expressions and selected for each video the most appropriate colour using colour sliders providing values for hue, brightness, and saturation. The overall colour choices were congruent with the expressed emotion--that is, participants selected brighter and more saturated colours for joy expressions than for fear expressions. Also, colours along the red-yellow spectrum were deemed more appropriate for joy expressions and cyan-bluish hues for fear expressions. The current study adds further support to the role of emotion in colour choices by (a) showing that emotional information is spontaneously used in an unconstrained choice setting, (b) extending to ecologically valid stimuli occurring in everyday encounters (dressed bodies), and (c) suggesting that all colour parameters are likely to be important when processing affective nonverbal person information, though not independently from each other.

48 CFR 239.7407 - Type of contract.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-10-01

... OF DEFENSE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING ACQUISITION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Telecommunications... use a basic agreement (see FAR 16.702) in conjunction with communication service authorizations. When...

Colours sometimes count: awareness and bidirectionality in grapheme-colour synaesthesia.

PubMed

Johnson, Addie; Jepma, Marieke; de Jong, Ritske

2007-10-01

Three experiments were conducted with 10 grapheme-colour synaesthetes and 10 matched controls to investigate (a) whether awareness of the inducer grapheme is necessary for synaesthetic colour induction and (b) whether grapheme-colour synaesthesia may be bidirectional in the sense that not only do graphemes induce colours, but that colours influence the processing of graphemes. Using attentional blink and Stroop paradigms with digit targets, we found that some synaesthetes did report "seeing" synaesthetic colours even when they were not able to report the inducing digit. Moreover, congruency effects (effects of matching the colour of digit presentation with the synaesthetic colour associated with that digit) suggested that grapheme-colour synaesthesia can be bidirectional, at least for some synaesthetes.

Fragrances Categorized According to Relative Human Skin Sensitization Potency

PubMed Central

Api, Anne Marie; Parakhia, Rahul; O'Brien, Devin; Basketter, David A.

2017-01-01

Background The development of non-animal alternatives for skin sensitization potency prediction is dependent upon the availability of a sufficient dataset whose human potency is well characterized. Previously, establishment of basic categorization criteria for 6 defined potency categories, allowed 131 substances to be allocated into them entirely on the basis of human information. Objectives To supplement the original dataset with an extended range of fragrance substances. Methods A more fully described version of the original criteria was used to assess 89 fragrance chemicals, allowing their allocation into one of the 6 potency categories. Results None of the fragrance substances were assigned to the most potent group, category 1, whereas 11 were category 2, 22 were category 3, 37 were category 4, and 19 were category 5. Although none were identified as non-sensitizing, note that substances in category 5 also do not pass the threshold for regulatory classification. Conclusions The combined datasets of >200 substances placed into potency categories solely on the basis of human data provides an essential resource for the elaboration and evaluation of predictive non-animal methods. PMID:28691948

Good School Maintenance. A Manual of Programs and Procedures for Buildings--Grounds--Equipment.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Harroun, Jack T., Ed.

This guide provides a basic program for managers and supervisors responsible for the care of buildings, grounds, and equipment; provides the maintenance staff member with basic information and solutions to typical problems; and is intended to be used as a training tool and a reference source. The manual is divided into five categories. (1) "Basics…

Comparison of Teachers' and School Psychologists' Accuracy in Assigning Basic Academic Tasks to Underlying CHC-Model Cognitive Abilities

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Petruccelli, Meredith Lohr; Fiorello, Catherine A.; Thurman, S. Kenneth

2010-01-01

Teacher perceptions of their students' cognitive abilities affect the referrals they make and intervention strategies they implement. In this study, teachers and school psychologists were asked to sort basic academic tasks into categories on the basis of the Cattell-Horn-Carroll (CHC) broad cognitive abilities, such as fluid reasoning and…

Being a (Good) Student: Conceptions of Identity of Adult Basic Education Participants Transitioning to College

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Reddy, Mina

2012-01-01

This study examines the perceptions of identity of a category of students that has rarely been studied in the context of higher education. These are adults who have participated in GED preparation or English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) courses in Adult Basic Education (ABE) programs. A college education is increasingly necessary for…

Colour Changes on the Surface of the Rock Materials Due to UV-A and UV-B Rays

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Binal, Adil; Ayderman, Aykut; Sel, Aylin

2015-04-01

The colour of the rocks used in the current buildings, and historical monuments is an important parameter in architecture and engineering. In addition, engineering geologists use the colour in order to identify the weathering class of rock material. The main colour of the stone, especially, are affected by the mineral size, the colour of the primary minerals and matrix material, as well as the colour of the accessory minerals. Due to atmospheric effects, changes in the outer surface colour of the rocks used as siding materials occur with over time. Factors causing the colour change are carbon dioxide (CO2), ozone (O3), sulphate (SO2, SO3) and nitrate (NOx) from the atmosphere with aerosols as well as UV rays from the sun. There is no more work in the literature on colour changes caused by UV-A and UV-B rays. In this study, the effects of ultraviolet in the colour of the surfaces of basalt, limestone, ignimbrite, travertine and sandstone have been simulated with a new experimental device in the laboratory medium. Lutron colour analyser (RGB-1002) was used for the measurements of RGB colours. Colour differences between the beginning and end of tests were determined with the standard practice for calculation of colour tolerances and colour differences from instrumentally measured colour coordinates (ASTM D2244). As a result of the experiments performed, lighten that seem on dark-grey micritic limestone (colour change ratio, CCR: 17.06) and basalt samples (CCR: 8.24) become even visually noticeable. Black and red ignimbrite samples having high porosity were presented the lower rate of colour changes. Finally, colour darkening has been observed in the light-coloured travertine (CCR: 13.8) and sandstone samples (CCR: 20.99).

Rethinking Colour Constancy.

PubMed

Logvinenko, Alexander D; Funt, Brian; Mirzaei, Hamidreza; Tokunaga, Rumi

2015-01-01

Colour constancy needs to be reconsidered in light of the limits imposed by metamer mismatching. Metamer mismatching refers to the fact that two objects reflecting metameric light under one illumination may reflect non-metameric light under a second; so two objects appearing as having the same colour under one illuminant can appear as having different colours under a second. Yet since Helmholtz, object colour has generally been believed to remain relatively constant. The deviations from colour constancy registered in experiments are usually thought to be small enough that they do not contradict the notion of colour constancy. However, it is important to determine how the deviations from colour constancy relate to the limits metamer mismatching imposes on constancy. Hence, we calculated metamer mismatching's effect for the 20 Munsell papers and 8 pairs of illuminants employed in the colour constancy study by Logvinenko and Tokunaga and found it to be so extensive that the two notions-metamer mismatching and colour constancy-must be mutually exclusive. In particular, the notion of colour constancy leads to some paradoxical phenomena such as the possibility of 20 objects having the same colour under chromatic light dispersing into a hue circle of colours under neutral light. Thus, colour constancy refers to a phenomenon, which because of metamer mismatching, simply cannot exist. Moreover, it obscures the really important visual phenomenon; namely, the alteration of object colours induced by illumination change. We show that colour is not an independent, intrinsic attribute of an object, but rather an attribute of an object/light pair, and then define a concept of material colour in terms of equivalence classes of such object/light pairs. We suggest that studying the shift in material colour under a change in illuminant will be more fruitful than pursuing colour constancy's false premise that colour is an intrinsic attribute of an object.

The handicap of abnormal colour vision.

PubMed

Cole, Barry L

2004-07-01

All people with abnormal colour vision, except for a few mildly affected deuteranomals, report that they experience problems with colour in everyday life and at work. Contemporary society presents them with increasing problems because colour is now so widely used in printed materials and in computer displays. Equal opportunity law gives them protection against unfair discrimination in employment, so a decision to exclude a person from employment on the grounds of abnormal colour vision must now be well supported by good evidence and sound argument. This paper reviews the investigations that have contributed to understanding the nature and consequences of the problems they have. All those with abnormal colour vision are at a disadvantage with comparative colour tasks that involve precise matching of colours or discrimination of fine colour differences either because of their loss of colour discrimination or anomalous perception of metamers. The majority have problems when colour is used to code information, in man-made colour codes and in naturally occurring colour codes that signal ripeness of fruit, freshness of meat or illness. They can be denied the benefit of colour to mark out objects and organise complex visual displays. They may be unreliable when a colour name is used as an identifier. They are slower and less successful in search when colour is an attribute of the target object or is used to organise the visual display. Because those with the more severe forms of abnormal colour vision perceive a very limited gamut of colours, they are at a disadvantage in the pursuit and appreciation of those forms of art that use colour.

Developmental colour agnosia.

PubMed

van Zandvoort, Martine J E; Nijboer, Tanja C W; de Haan, Edward

2007-08-01

Colour agnosia concerns the inability to recognise colours despite intact colour perception, semantic memory for colour information, and colour naming. Patients with selective colour agnosia have been described and the deficit is associated with left hemisphere damage. Here we report a case study of a 43-year-old man who was referred to us with a stroke in his right cerebellar hemisphere. During the standard assessment it transpired that he was unable to name coloured patches. Detailed assessment of his colour processing showed that he suffers from a selective colour agnosia. As he claimed to have had this problem all his life, and the fact that the infratentorial infarct that he had incurred was in an area far away from the brain structures that are known to be involved in colour processing, we suggest that he is the first reported case of developmental colour agnosia.

Seeing red primes tomato: evidence for comparable priming from colour and colour name primes to semantically related word targets.

PubMed

Nijboer, Tanja C W; van Zandvoort, Martine J E; de Haan, Edward H F

2006-12-01

There is ample evidence that an independent processing stream exists that subserves the perception and appreciation of colour. Neurophysiological research has identified separate brain mechanisms for the processing of wavelength and colour, and neuropsychological studies have revealed selective colour disorders, such as achromatopsia, colour agnosia, and colour anomia. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether the perception of colour may, despite its independent processing, influence other cognitive functions. Specifically, we investigate the possibility that the perception of a colour influences higher order processes such as the activation of semantically related concepts. We designed an associative priming task involving a colour prime (e.g. a red patch or the word RED) and a lexical decision response to a semantically related ('tomato' vs. 'timato') or unrelated ('grass' vs. 'griss') word target. The results of this experiment indicate that there is comparable facilitation of accessing colour-related semantics through the perception of a colour or the reading of a colour name. This suggests that colour has a direct effect on higher order level, cognitive processing. These results are discussed in terms of current models of colour processing.

Effects of colour on preview search: anticipatory and inhibitory biases for colour.

PubMed

Braithwaite, Jason J; Humphreys, Glyn W; Hodsoll, John

2004-01-01

Two experiments are reported examining the effects of colour grouping, colour change and target colour foreknowledge under preview search conditions (Watson and Humphreys, 1997). In Experiment 1 we manipulated the colour homogeneity of the old items at initial presentation, and the colour these items subsequently changed into. In all cases participants knew the colour of the target. We found that when the old items changed into the same colour as the new search set, search performance was affected. In Experiment 2 participants did not know the colour of the target. Here we found evidence for a negative colour-based carry-over effect that slowed search for new targets carrying the colour of the old items. This occurred even when the old items changed their original colour and the new target was a singleton. Collectively the results suggest an important role for both colour grouping and colour-based inhibition in the successful rejection of old distractors. The consequence of this, however, is that new stimuli that may carry the critical attribute may take longer to detect. We discuss the results in relation to prior 'feature-blind' accounts of preview effects on visual search.

Breast cancer trends differ by ethnicity: a report from the South African National Cancer Registry (1994-2009).

PubMed

Singh, E; Joffe, M; Cubasch, H; Ruff, P; Norris, S A; Pisa, P T

2017-02-01

To describe breast cancer (BC) incidence and mortality by ethnicity in South Africa (SA). Sources of data included the South African National Cancer Registry (NCR) pathology-based reports (1994–2009) and Statistics South Africa (SSA) mortality data (1997–2009). Numbers of cases, age-standardised incidence rates (ASIR) and lifetime risk (LR) were extracted from the NCR database for 1994–2009. Age-specific incidence rates were calculated for five-year age categories. The direct method of standardisation was employed to calculate age-standardised mortality rates (ASMR) using mortality data. Between 1994 and 2009, there were 85 561 female BC. For the Black, Coloured and Asian groups, increases in ASIR and LR were observed between 1994 and 2009. In 2009, the ASIR for the total population, Blacks, Whites, Coloureds and Asians were 26.9, 18.7, 50.2, 40.9 and 51.2 per 100 000, respectively. For Asians, an increase in proportion of BC as a percentage of all female cancers was observed between 1994 and 2002 (11.1%) and continued to increase to 2009 (a further 4.5%). Whites and Asians presented higher incidences of BC at earlier ages compared with Blacks and Coloureds in 2009. In 1998, there were 1618 BC deaths in SA compared with 2784 deaths in 2009. ASMR between 1997 and 2004 increased but stabilised thereafter. This paper demonstrated that SA BC incidence rates are similar to other countries in the region, but lower than other countries with similar health systems. Ethnic differences in BC trends were observed. However, the reasons for observed ethnic differences are unclear. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved.

Has the tobacco industry evaded the FDA's ban on ‘Light’ cigarette descriptors?

PubMed Central

Connolly, Gregory N; Alpert, Hillel R

2014-01-01

Background Under the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (FSPTCA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) banned the use of “Lights” descriptors or similar terms on tobacco products that convey messages of reduced risk. Manufacturers eliminated terms explicitly stated and substituted colour name descriptors corresponding to the banned terms. This paper examines whether the tobacco industry complied with or circumvented the law and potential FDA regulatory actions. Methods Philip Morris retailer manuals, manufacturers' annual reports filed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, a national public opinion survey, and market-wide cigarette sales data were examined. Results Manufacturers substituted “Gold” for “Light” and “Silver” for “Ultra-light” in the names of Marlboro sub-brands, and “Blue”, “Gold”, and “Silver” for banned descriptors in sub-brand names. Percent filter ventilation levels, used to generate the smoke yield ranges associated with “Lights” categories, appear to have been reassigned to the new colour brand name descriptors. Following the ban, 92% of smokers reported they could easily identify their usual brands, and 68% correctly named the package colour associated with their usual brand, while sales for “Lights” cigarettes remained unchanged. Conclusions Tobacco manufacturers appear to have evaded a critical element of the FSPTCA, the ban on misleading descriptors that convey reduced health risk messages. The FPSTCA provides regulatory mechanisms, including banning these products as adulterated (Section 902). Manufacturers could then apply for pre-market approval as new products and produce evidence for FDA evaluation and determination whether or not sales of these products are in the public health interest. PMID:23485704

Objective assessment of psoriasis erythema for PASI scoring.

PubMed

Ahmad Fadzil, M H; Ihtatho, Dani; Mohd Affandi, Azura; Hussein, S H

2009-01-01

Skin colour is vital information in dermatological diagnosis as it reflects the pathological condition beneath the skin. It is commonly used to indicate the extent of diseases such as psoriasis, which is indicated by the appearance of red plaques. Although there is no cure for psoriasis, there are many treatment modalities to help control the disease. To evaluate treatment efficacy, the current gold standard method, PASI (Psoriasis Area and Severity Index), is used to determine severity of psoriasis lesion. Erythema (redness) is one parameter in PASI and this condition is assessed visually, thus leading to subjective and inconsistent results. Current methods or instruments that assess erythema have limitations, such as being able to measure erythema well for low pigmented skin (fair skin) but not for highly pigmented skin (dark skin) or vice versa. In this work, we proposed an objective assessment of psoriasis erythema for PASI scoring for different (low to highly pigmented) skin types. The colour of psoriasis lesions are initially obtained by using a chromameter giving the values L*, a*, and b* of CIELAB colour space. The L* value is used to classify skin into three categories: low, medium and highly pigmented skin. The lightness difference (DeltaL*), hue difference (Deltah(ab)), chroma (DeltaC*(ab)) between lesions and the surrounding normal skin are calculated and analysed. It is found that the erythema score of a lesion can be distinguished by their Deltah(ab) value within a particular skin type group. References of lesion with different scores are obtained from the selected lesions by two dermatologists. Results based on 38 lesions from 22 patients with various level of skin pigmentation show that PASI erythema score for different skin types i.e. low (fair skin) to highly pigmented (dark skin) skin types can be determined objectively and consistent with dermatology scoring.

An odorant congruent with a colour cue is selectively perceived in an odour mixture.

PubMed

Arao, Mari; Suzuki, Maya; Katayama, Jun'ich; Akihiro, Yagi

2012-01-01

Odour identification can be influenced by colour cues. This study examined the mechanism underlying this colour context effect. We hypothesised that a specific odour component congruent with a colour would be selectively perceived in preference to another odour component in a binary odour mixture. We used a ratio estimation method under two colour conditions, a binary odour mixture (experiment 1) and single chemicals presented individually (experiment 2). Each colour was congruent with one of the odour components. Participants judged the perceived mixture ratio in each odour container on which a colour patch was pasted. An influence of colour was not observed when the odour stimulus did not contain the odour component congruent with the colour (experiment 2); however, the odour component congruent with the colour was perceived as more dominant when the odour stimulus did contain the colour-congruent odorant (experiment 1). This pattern indicates that a colour-congruent odour component is selectively perceived in an odour mixture. This finding suggests that colours can enhance the perceptual representation of the colour-associated component in an odour mixture.

Top-Level Categories of Constitutively Organized Material Entities - Suggestions for a Formal Top-Level Ontology

PubMed Central

Vogt, Lars; Grobe, Peter; Quast, Björn; Bartolomaeus, Thomas

2011-01-01

Background Application oriented ontologies are important for reliably communicating and managing data in databases. Unfortunately, they often differ in the definitions they use and thus do not live up to their potential. This problem can be reduced when using a standardized and ontologically consistent template for the top-level categories from a top-level formal foundational ontology. This would support ontological consistency within application oriented ontologies and compatibility between them. The Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) is such a foundational ontology for the biomedical domain that has been developed following the single inheritance policy. It provides the top-level template within the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies Foundry. If it wants to live up to its expected role, its three top-level categories of material entity (i.e., ‘object’, ‘fiat object part’, ‘object aggregate’) must be exhaustive, i.e. every concrete material entity must instantiate exactly one of them. Methodology/Principal Findings By systematically evaluating all possible basic configurations of material building blocks we show that BFO's top-level categories of material entity are not exhaustive. We provide examples from biology and everyday life that demonstrate the necessity for two additional categories: ‘fiat object part aggregate’ and ‘object with fiat object part aggregate’. By distinguishing topological coherence, topological adherence, and metric proximity we furthermore provide a differentiation of clusters and groups as two distinct subcategories for each of the three categories of material entity aggregates, resulting in six additional subcategories of material entity. Conclusions/Significance We suggest extending BFO to incorporate two additional categories of material entity as well as two subcategories for each of the three categories of material entity aggregates. With these additions, BFO would exhaustively cover all top-level types of material entity that application oriented ontologies may use as templates. Our result, however, depends on the premise that all material entities are organized according to a constitutive granularity. PMID:21533043

Object knowledge modulates colour appearance.

PubMed

Witzel, Christoph; Valkova, Hanna; Hansen, Thorsten; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

2011-01-01

We investigated the memory colour effect for colour diagnostic artificial objects. Since knowledge about these objects and their colours has been learned in everyday life, these stimuli allow the investigation of the influence of acquired object knowledge on colour appearance. These investigations are relevant for questions about how object and colour information in high-level vision interact as well as for research about the influence of learning and experience on perception in general. In order to identify suitable artificial objects, we developed a reaction time paradigm that measures (subjective) colour diagnosticity. In the main experiment, participants adjusted sixteen such objects to their typical colour as well as to grey. If the achromatic object appears in its typical colour, then participants should adjust it to the opponent colour in order to subjectively perceive it as grey. We found that knowledge about the typical colour influences the colour appearance of artificial objects. This effect was particularly strong along the daylight axis.

The colour wheels of art, perception, science and physiology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Harkness, Nick

2006-06-01

Colour is not the domain of any one discipline be it art, philosophy, psychology or science. Each discipline has its own colour wheel and this presentation examines the origins and philosophies behind the colour circles of Art, Perception, Science and Physiology (after image) with reference to Aristotle, Robert Boyle, Leonardo da Vinci, Goethe, Ewald Hering and Albert Munsell. The paper analyses and discusses the differences between the four colour wheels using the Natural Colour System® notation as the reference for hue (the position of colours within each of the colour wheels). Examination of the colour wheels shows the dominance of blue in the wheels of art, science and physiology particularly at the expense of green. This paper does not consider the three-dimensionality of colour space its goal was to review the hue of a colour with regard to its position on the respective colour wheels.

Object knowledge modulates colour appearance

PubMed Central

Witzel, Christoph; Valkova, Hanna; Hansen, Thorsten; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

2011-01-01

We investigated the memory colour effect for colour diagnostic artificial objects. Since knowledge about these objects and their colours has been learned in everyday life, these stimuli allow the investigation of the influence of acquired object knowledge on colour appearance. These investigations are relevant for questions about how object and colour information in high-level vision interact as well as for research about the influence of learning and experience on perception in general. In order to identify suitable artificial objects, we developed a reaction time paradigm that measures (subjective) colour diagnosticity. In the main experiment, participants adjusted sixteen such objects to their typical colour as well as to grey. If the achromatic object appears in its typical colour, then participants should adjust it to the opponent colour in order to subjectively perceive it as grey. We found that knowledge about the typical colour influences the colour appearance of artificial objects. This effect was particularly strong along the daylight axis. PMID:23145224

Mathematical misconception in calculus 1: Identification and gender difference

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Nassir, Asyura Abd; Abdullah, Nur Hidayah Masni; Ahmad, Salimah; Tarmuji, Nor Habibah; Idris, Aminatul Solehah

2017-08-01

A few years of experience of teaching mathematics make us notice that the same types of mistakes are done repeatedly by students. This paper presents an insight into categories of mistakes, how male and female students differ in terms of mistakes that are commonly done and the ability of the students to identify the mistakes. Sample of mistakes were taken from Calculus 1 final exam answer scripts, then it was listed and analyzed. Data analysis revealed that students' misconceptions fall into four categories. The first category is misunderstanding the meaning of brackets, followed by misconception of basic mathematics rules, misconception in notation and misconception in properties of trigonometry. A mistake identification test which consists of ten false mathematical statements was designed based on the mistake done by the previous batch of students that covered topics algebra, trigonometry, index, limit, differentiation and integration. Then, the test was given to students who enrolled in Calculus I course. Respondents of this study were randomly selected among two hundreds engineering students. Data obtained were analyzed using basic descriptive analysis and Chi Square test to capture gender differences in the mistake done for each category. Findings indicate that thirty five percent of the students have the ability to identify the mistakes and make a proper correction for at most two statements. Thirty one percent of the students are able to identify the mistakes but unable to make proper correction. Twenty five percent of the students failed to identify the mistakes in six out of ten false statements. Female students' misconception is more likely in basic mathematics rules compared to male. The findings of this study could serve as baseline information to be stressed in improving teaching and learning mathematics.

Using metaphors to investigate cognition-behavior link in problematic Internet use among college students.

PubMed

Koc, Mustafa

2015-09-01

This study employed metaphor analysis as a novel approach to explore college students' metaphorical representations of the Internet and their associations with problematic Internet use (PIU). It aimed to find out whether normal and problematic Internet users conceive the Internet through the same cognitive framework. The sample included 370 college students in Turkey. A questionnaire was conducted to gather metaphorical conceptions of the Internet, patterns of Internet usage, and PIU status. Data were analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively. Of the sample, 8.6% were diagnosed with PIU. Home access and entertainment gratification were strong correlates of PIU. Gender and major had no effects on PIU. Participants produced 66 metaphors that were grouped into eight conceptual categories: information source, immensity, basic need, addictive substance, double-edged sword, transporter, mood regulator, and supporter. PIU was the highest in the addictive substance category, followed by basic need and mood regulator categories, with cigarette, water, and friend being the dominant metaphors in these categories, respectively. Problematic users are less likely to conceptualize the Internet as a supportive entity. Normal users are able to verbalize the good and bad aspects of the Internet, but those negatively affected appear to have lost sight of the most useful function of the Internet. © 2014 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd.

Current trends in hardware and software for brain-computer interfaces (BCIs)

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Brunner, P.; Bianchi, L.; Guger, C.; Cincotti, F.; Schalk, G.

2011-04-01

A brain-computer interface (BCI) provides a non-muscular communication channel to people with and without disabilities. BCI devices consist of hardware and software. BCI hardware records signals from the brain, either invasively or non-invasively, using a series of device components. BCI software then translates these signals into device output commands and provides feedback. One may categorize different types of BCI applications into the following four categories: basic research, clinical/translational research, consumer products, and emerging applications. These four categories use BCI hardware and software, but have different sets of requirements. For example, while basic research needs to explore a wide range of system configurations, and thus requires a wide range of hardware and software capabilities, applications in the other three categories may be designed for relatively narrow purposes and thus may only need a very limited subset of capabilities. This paper summarizes technical aspects for each of these four categories of BCI applications. The results indicate that BCI technology is in transition from isolated demonstrations to systematic research and commercial development. This process requires several multidisciplinary efforts, including the development of better integrated and more robust BCI hardware and software, the definition of standardized interfaces, and the development of certification, dissemination and reimbursement procedures.

Deep Learning and Developmental Learning: Emergence of Fine-to-Coarse Conceptual Categories at Layers of Deep Belief Network.

PubMed

Sadeghi, Zahra

2016-09-01

In this paper, I investigate conceptual categories derived from developmental processing in a deep neural network. The similarity matrices of deep representation at each layer of neural network are computed and compared with their raw representation. While the clusters generated by raw representation stand at the basic level of abstraction, conceptual categories obtained from deep representation shows a bottom-up transition procedure. Results demonstrate a developmental course of learning from specific to general level of abstraction through learned layers of representations in a deep belief network. © The Author(s) 2016.

Higher order thinking skills: using e-portfolio in project-based learning

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Lukitasari, M.; Handhika, J.; Murtafiah, W.

2018-03-01

The purpose of this research is to describe students' higher-order thinking skills through project-based learning using e-portfolio. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method. The research instruments used were test, unstructured interview, and documentation. Research subjects were students of mathematics, physics and biology education department who take the Basics Physics course. The result shows that through project-based learning using e-portfolio the students’ ability to: analyze (medium category, N-Gain 0.67), evaluate (medium category, N-Gain 0.51), and create (medium Category, N-Gain 0.44) are improved.

Gastrodia kachinensis (Orchidaceae), a new species from Myanmar

PubMed Central

Aung, Ye Lwin; Jin, Xiaohua

2018-01-01

Abstract Gastrodia kachinensis, a new species of Orchidaceae, is described and illustrated from Putao, Kachin State, Myanmar. It is morphologically similar to G. gracilis, presumably its nearest relative, but can be easily distinguished from the latter by having perianth tube with punctate outer surface, verrucose outer surface of sepal lobe, orbicular petals, ovate-elliptic lip with truncate apex and auriculate-clawed base, glabrous lip apex with a pair of twin protuberance-like lamellae and column with a pair of blade-like lateral wings and acute stelidia at apex. Identification key and colour photographs are provided. A preliminary risk-of-extinction assessment, according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, is given for the new species. PMID:29416417

Gastrodia kachinensis (Orchidaceae), a new species from Myanmar.

PubMed

Aung, Ye Lwin; Jin, Xiaohua

2018-01-01

Gastrodia kachinensis , a new species of Orchidaceae, is described and illustrated from Putao, Kachin State, Myanmar. It is morphologically similar to G. gracilis , presumably its nearest relative, but can be easily distinguished from the latter by having perianth tube with punctate outer surface, verrucose outer surface of sepal lobe, orbicular petals, ovate-elliptic lip with truncate apex and auriculate-clawed base, glabrous lip apex with a pair of twin protuberance-like lamellae and column with a pair of blade-like lateral wings and acute stelidia at apex. Identification key and colour photographs are provided. A preliminary risk-of-extinction assessment, according to the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria, is given for the new species.

Colour is more than hue: preferences for compiled colour traits in the stingless bees Melipona mondury and M. quadrifasciata.

PubMed

Koethe, Sebastian; Bossems, Jessica; Dyer, Adrian G; Lunau, Klaus

2016-10-01

The colour vision of bees has been extensively analysed in honeybees and bumblebees, but few studies consider the visual perception of stingless bees (Meliponini). In a five-stage experiment the preference for colour intensity and purity, and the preference for the dominant wavelength were tested by presenting four colour stimuli in each test to freely flying experienced workers of two stingless bee species, Melipona mondury and Melipona quadrifasciata. The results with bee-blue, bee-UV-blue and bee-green colours offered in four combinations of varying colour intensity and purity suggest a complex interaction between these colour traits for the determination of colour choice. Specifically, M. mondury preferred bee-UV-blue colours over bee-green, bee-blue and bee-blue-green colours while M. quadrifasciata preferred bee-green colour stimuli. Moreover in M. mondury the preferences were different if the background colour was changed from grey to green. There was a significant difference between species where M. mondury preferred UV-reflecting over UV-absorbing bee-blue-green colour stimuli, whereas M. quadrifasciata showed an opposite preference. The different colour preferences of the free flying bees in identical conditions may be caused by the bees' experience with natural flowers precedent to the choice tests, suggesting reward partitioning between species.

Colour in flux: describing and printing colour in art

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Parraman, Carinna

2008-01-01

This presentation will describe artists, practitioners and scientists, who were interested in developing a deeper psychological, emotional and practical understanding of the human visual system who were working with wavelength, paint and other materials. From a selection of prints at The Prints and Drawings Department at Tate London, the presentation will refer to artists who were motivated by issues relating to how colour pigment was mixed and printed, to interrogate and explain colour perception and colour science, and in art, how artists have used colour to challenge the viewer and how a viewer might describe their experience of colour. The title Colour in Flux refers, not only to the perceptual effect of the juxtaposition of one colour pigment with another, but also to the changes and challenges for the print industry. In the light of screenprinted examples from the 60s and 70s, the presentation will discuss 21 st century ideas on colour and how these notions have informed the Centre for Fine Print Research's (CFPR) practical research in colour printing. The latter part of this presentation will discuss the implications for the need to change methods in mixing inks that moves away from existing colour spaces, from non intuitive colour mixing to bespoke ink sets, colour mixing approaches and colour mixing methods that are not reliant on RGB or CMYK.

Rethinking Colour Constancy

PubMed Central

Logvinenko, Alexander D.; Funt, Brian; Mirzaei, Hamidreza; Tokunaga, Rumi

2015-01-01

Colour constancy needs to be reconsidered in light of the limits imposed by metamer mismatching. Metamer mismatching refers to the fact that two objects reflecting metameric light under one illumination may reflect non-metameric light under a second; so two objects appearing as having the same colour under one illuminant can appear as having different colours under a second. Yet since Helmholtz, object colour has generally been believed to remain relatively constant. The deviations from colour constancy registered in experiments are usually thought to be small enough that they do not contradict the notion of colour constancy. However, it is important to determine how the deviations from colour constancy relate to the limits metamer mismatching imposes on constancy. Hence, we calculated metamer mismatching’s effect for the 20 Munsell papers and 8 pairs of illuminants employed in the colour constancy study by Logvinenko and Tokunaga and found it to be so extensive that the two notions—metamer mismatching and colour constancy—must be mutually exclusive. In particular, the notion of colour constancy leads to some paradoxical phenomena such as the possibility of 20 objects having the same colour under chromatic light dispersing into a hue circle of colours under neutral light. Thus, colour constancy refers to a phenomenon, which because of metamer mismatching, simply cannot exist. Moreover, it obscures the really important visual phenomenon; namely, the alteration of object colours induced by illumination change. We show that colour is not an independent, intrinsic attribute of an object, but rather an attribute of an object/light pair, and then define a concept of material colour in terms of equivalence classes of such object/light pairs. We suggest that studying the shift in material colour under a change in illuminant will be more fruitful than pursuing colour constancy’s false premise that colour is an intrinsic attribute of an object. PMID:26356217

The role of pollinators in maintaining variation in flower colour in the Rocky Mountain columbine, Aquilegia coerulea

PubMed Central

Thairu, Margaret W.; Brunet, Johanne

2015-01-01

Background and Aims Flower colour varies within and among populations of the Rocky Mountain columbine, Aquilegia coerulea, in conjunction with the abundance of its two major pollinators, hawkmoths and bumble-bees. This study seeks to understand whether the choice of flower colour by these major pollinators can help explain the variation in flower colour observed in A. coerulea populations. Methods Dual choice assays and experimental arrays of blue and white flowers were used to determine the preference of hawkmoths and bumble-bees for flower colour. A test was made to determine whether a differential preference for flower colour, with bumble-bees preferring blue and hawkmoths white flowers, could explain the variation in flower colour. Whether a single pollinator could maintain a flower colour polymorphism was examined by testing to see if preference for a flower colour varied between day and dusk for hawkmoths and whether bumble-bees preferred novel or rare flower colour morphs. Key Results Hawkmoths preferred blue flowers under both day and dusk light conditions. Naïve bumble-bees preferred blue flowers but quickly learned to forage randomly on the two colour morphs when similar rewards were presented in the flowers. Bees quickly learned to associate a flower colour with a pollen reward. Prior experience affected the choice of flower colour by bees, but they did not preferentially visit novel flower colours or rare or common colour morphs. Conclusions Differences in flower colour preference between the two major pollinators could not explain the variation in flower colour observed in A. coerulea. The preference of hawkmoths for flower colour did not change between day and dusk, and bumble-bees did not prefer a novel or a rare flower colour morph. The data therefore suggest that factors other than pollinators may be more likely to affect the flower colour variation observed in A. coerulea. PMID:25808657

Colour and pattern change against visually heterogeneous backgrounds in the tree frog Hyla japonica.

PubMed

Kang, Changku; Kim, Ye Eun; Jang, Yikweon

2016-03-02

Colour change in animals can be adaptive phenotypic plasticity in heterogeneous environments. Camouflage through background colour matching has been considered a primary force that drives the evolution of colour changing ability. However, the mechanism to which animals change their colour and patterns under visually heterogeneous backgrounds (i.e. consisting of more than one colour) has only been identified in limited taxa. Here, we investigated the colour change process of the Japanese tree frog (Hyla japonica) against patterned backgrounds and elucidated how the expression of dorsal patterns changes against various achromatic/chromatic backgrounds with/without patterns. Our main findings are i) frogs primarily responded to the achromatic differences in background, ii) their contrasting dorsal patterns were conditionally expressed dependent on the brightness of backgrounds, iii) against mixed coloured background, frogs adopted intermediate forms between two colours. Using predator (avian and snake) vision models, we determined that colour differences against different backgrounds yielded perceptible changes in dorsal colours. We also found substantial individual variation in colour changing ability and the levels of dorsal pattern expression between individuals. We discuss the possibility of correlational selection on colour changing ability and resting behaviour that maintains the high variation in colour changing ability within population.

A Bayesian Model of the Memory Colour Effect.

PubMed

Witzel, Christoph; Olkkonen, Maria; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

2018-01-01

According to the memory colour effect, the colour of a colour-diagnostic object is not perceived independently of the object itself. Instead, it has been shown through an achromatic adjustment method that colour-diagnostic objects still appear slightly in their typical colour, even when they are colourimetrically grey. Bayesian models provide a promising approach to capture the effect of prior knowledge on colour perception and to link these effects to more general effects of cue integration. Here, we model memory colour effects using prior knowledge about typical colours as priors for the grey adjustments in a Bayesian model. This simple model does not involve any fitting of free parameters. The Bayesian model roughly captured the magnitude of the measured memory colour effect for photographs of objects. To some extent, the model predicted observed differences in memory colour effects across objects. The model could not account for the differences in memory colour effects across different levels of realism in the object images. The Bayesian model provides a particularly simple account of memory colour effects, capturing some of the multiple sources of variation of these effects.

A Bayesian Model of the Memory Colour Effect

PubMed Central

Olkkonen, Maria; Gegenfurtner, Karl R.

2018-01-01

According to the memory colour effect, the colour of a colour-diagnostic object is not perceived independently of the object itself. Instead, it has been shown through an achromatic adjustment method that colour-diagnostic objects still appear slightly in their typical colour, even when they are colourimetrically grey. Bayesian models provide a promising approach to capture the effect of prior knowledge on colour perception and to link these effects to more general effects of cue integration. Here, we model memory colour effects using prior knowledge about typical colours as priors for the grey adjustments in a Bayesian model. This simple model does not involve any fitting of free parameters. The Bayesian model roughly captured the magnitude of the measured memory colour effect for photographs of objects. To some extent, the model predicted observed differences in memory colour effects across objects. The model could not account for the differences in memory colour effects across different levels of realism in the object images. The Bayesian model provides a particularly simple account of memory colour effects, capturing some of the multiple sources of variation of these effects. PMID:29760874

Reproducing the old masters: applying colour mixing and painting methodologies to inkjet printing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Olen, Melissa; Padfield, Joseph; Parraman, Carinna

2014-01-01

This research investigates multi-channel inkjet printing methods, which deviate from standard colour management workflows by reflecting on art historical processes, including the construction of colour in old master works, to reproduce specific colour pigment mixes in print. This is approached by incorporating artist colour mixing principles relevant to traditional art making processes through direct n-channel printing and the implementation of multiple pass printing. By demanding specific ink colourants to be employed in print, as well as the application of mixing colour though layering, we can mimic the effects of the traditional processes. These printing methods also generate colour through a variety of colour mixtures that may not have been employed or achieved by the printer driver. The objective of this research is to explore colour mixing and layering techniques in the printing of inkjet reproductions of original artworks that will maintain subtle colour transitions in dark shadow regions. While these colours are lost in traditional inkjet reproduction, by using direct n-channel editing capabilities to reproduce a painted original with high dynamic range we can improve colour variation in the shadow regions.

Scalable, full-colour and controllable chromotropic plasmonic printing

PubMed Central

Xue, Jiancai; Zhou, Zhang-Kai; Wei, Zhiqiang; Su, Rongbin; Lai, Juan; Li, Juntao; Li, Chao; Zhang, Tengwei; Wang, Xue-Hua

2015-01-01

Plasmonic colour printing has drawn wide attention as a promising candidate for the next-generation colour-printing technology. However, an efficient approach to realize full colour and scalable fabrication is still lacking, which prevents plasmonic colour printing from practical applications. Here we present a scalable and full-colour plasmonic printing approach by combining conjugate twin-phase modulation with a plasmonic broadband absorber. More importantly, our approach also demonstrates controllable chromotropic capability, that is, the ability of reversible colour transformations. This chromotropic capability affords enormous potentials in building functionalized prints for anticounterfeiting, special label, and high-density data encryption storage. With such excellent performances in functional colour applications, this colour-printing approach could pave the way for plasmonic colour printing in real-world commercial utilization. PMID:26567803

Scalable, full-colour and controllable chromotropic plasmonic printing.

PubMed

Xue, Jiancai; Zhou, Zhang-Kai; Wei, Zhiqiang; Su, Rongbin; Lai, Juan; Li, Juntao; Li, Chao; Zhang, Tengwei; Wang, Xue-Hua

2015-11-16

Plasmonic colour printing has drawn wide attention as a promising candidate for the next-generation colour-printing technology. However, an efficient approach to realize full colour and scalable fabrication is still lacking, which prevents plasmonic colour printing from practical applications. Here we present a scalable and full-colour plasmonic printing approach by combining conjugate twin-phase modulation with a plasmonic broadband absorber. More importantly, our approach also demonstrates controllable chromotropic capability, that is, the ability of reversible colour transformations. This chromotropic capability affords enormous potentials in building functionalized prints for anticounterfeiting, special label, and high-density data encryption storage. With such excellent performances in functional colour applications, this colour-printing approach could pave the way for plasmonic colour printing in real-world commercial utilization.

Immunogenetics of the Elephant Seal

NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)

Garza, John Carlos

1999-01-01

The goals of this cooperative agreement fall into three categories: 1) A basic description of Immunogenetic variation in the northern elephant seal genome; 2) A basic genetic map of the northern elephant seal genome; 3). Microevolutionary forces in the northern elephant seal genome. The results described in this report were acquired using funds from this cooperative agreement together with funds from a National Science Foundation Dissertation Improvement Grant.

An Empirical Analysis of Job Satisfaction Factors.

DTIC Science & Technology

1987-09-01

have acknowledged the importance of factors which make the Air Force attractive to its members or conversely, make other employees consider...Maslow’s need hierarchy theory attempts to show that man has five basic categories of needs: physiological, safety, belongingness , esteem, and self...attained until lower-level basic needs are attained. This implies a sort of growth process where optional job environments for given employees are

14 CFR Appendix C to Part 23 - Basic Landing Conditions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR

2014-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2014-01-01 2014-01-01 false Basic Landing Conditions C Appendix C to... AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: NORMAL, UTILITY, ACROBATIC, AND COMMUTER CATEGORY AIRPLANES Pt. 23, App. C Appendix C...) 23.479(a)(2)(ii) 23.481(a)(2) and (b). Vertical component at c. g nW nW nW nW nW. Fore and aft...

14 CFR Appendix C to Part 23 - Basic Landing Conditions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR

2012-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2012-01-01 2012-01-01 false Basic Landing Conditions C Appendix C to... AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: NORMAL, UTILITY, ACROBATIC, AND COMMUTER CATEGORY AIRPLANES Pt. 23, App. C Appendix C...) 23.479(a)(2)(ii) 23.481(a)(2) and (b). Vertical component at c. g nW nW nW nW nW. Fore and aft...

Machine Tool Technology. Automatic Screw Machine Troubleshooting & Set-Up Training Outlines [and] Basic Operator's Skills Set List.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Anoka-Hennepin Technical Coll., Minneapolis, MN.

This set of two training outlines and one basic skills set list are designed for a machine tool technology program developed during a project to retrain defense industry workers at risk of job loss or dislocation because of conversion of the defense industry. The first troubleshooting training outline lists the categories of problems that develop…

14 CFR Appendix C to Part 23 - Basic Landing Conditions

Code of Federal Regulations, 2010 CFR

2010-01-01

... 14 Aeronautics and Space 1 2010-01-01 2010-01-01 false Basic Landing Conditions C Appendix C to... AIRWORTHINESS STANDARDS: NORMAL, UTILITY, ACROBATIC, AND COMMUTER CATEGORY AIRPLANES Pt. 23, App. C Appendix C...) 23.479(a)(2)(ii) 23.481(a)(2) and (b). Vertical component at c. g nW nW nW nW nW. Fore and aft...

Colour Coding of Maps for Colour Deficient Observers.

PubMed

Røise, Anne Kari; Kvitle, Anne Kristin; Green, Phil

2016-01-01

We evaluate the colour coding of a web map traffic information service based on profiles simulating colour vision deficiencies. Based on these simulations and principles for universal design, we propose adjustments of the existing colours creating more readable maps for the colour vision deficient observers.

Printing colour at the optical diffraction limit.

PubMed

Kumar, Karthik; Duan, Huigao; Hegde, Ravi S; Koh, Samuel C W; Wei, Jennifer N; Yang, Joel K W

2012-09-01

The highest possible resolution for printed colour images is determined by the diffraction limit of visible light. To achieve this limit, individual colour elements (or pixels) with a pitch of 250 nm are required, translating into printed images at a resolution of ∼100,000 dots per inch (d.p.i.). However, methods for dispensing multiple colourants or fabricating structural colour through plasmonic structures have insufficient resolution and limited scalability. Here, we present a non-colourant method that achieves bright-field colour prints with resolutions up to the optical diffraction limit. Colour information is encoded in the dimensional parameters of metal nanostructures, so that tuning their plasmon resonance determines the colours of the individual pixels. Our colour-mapping strategy produces images with both sharp colour changes and fine tonal variations, is amenable to large-volume colour printing via nanoimprint lithography, and could be useful in making microimages for security, steganography, nanoscale optical filters and high-density spectrally encoded optical data storage.

Children's colour choices for completing drawings of affectively characterised topics.

PubMed

Burkitt, Esther; Barrett, Martyn; Davis, Alyson

2003-03-01

This study was designed to explore whether or not children systematically use particular colours when completing drawings of affectively characterised topics. Three hundred and thirty 4-11-year-old children were subdivided into three conditions, colouring in a drawing of a man, a dog, or a tree, respectively. The children completed two test sessions in counterbalanced order. In one session, children rated and ranked ten colours in order of preference. In the other session, children completed three colouring tasks in which they had to colour in three identical figures but which had been given different affective characterisations: a neutrally characterised figure, a figure characterised as nasty, and a figure characterised as nice. It was found that, in all age groups and for all topics, the children used their more preferred colours for the nice figures, their least preferred colours for the nasty figures, and colours rated intermediately for the neutral figures. It was also found that, in all age groups and for all topics, black tended to be the most frequently chosen colour for colouring in the drawings of the negatively characterised figures. By contrast, primary colours were predominantly selected for the neutral figure, while a wide range of mainly primary and secondary colours were chosen for colouring in the nice figure. These results suggest that children are able to alter systematically their use of colour during picture completion tasks in response to differential affective topic characterisations, and that even very young children are able to use colours symbolically.

Visualising fragrances through colours: the mediating role of emotions.

PubMed

Schifferstein, Hendrik N J; Tanudjaja, Inge

2004-01-01

To facilitate communication about fragrances, one can use the colours people tend to associate with their smells. We investigated to what extent odour-colour correspondences for fine fragrances can be accounted for by underlying emotional associations. Odour-colour matches and degree-of-fit judgments revealed that odours were matched to colours non-randomly. Matching colours differed mainly on blackness (brightness), and less on chromaticness (saturation) and hue. Furthermore, we found a consistent negative relationship between odour-colour degree-of-fit ratings and the difference between the odour scores and the colour scores on one of the emotion dimensions (pleasure). This suggests that emotional associations may partly underlie odour-colour correspondences.

Similarity-Dissimilarity Competition in Disjunctive Classification Tasks

PubMed Central

Mathy, Fabien; Haladjian, Harry H.; Laurent, Eric; Goldstone, Robert L.

2013-01-01

Typical disjunctive artificial classification tasks require participants to sort stimuli according to rules such as “x likes cars only when black and coupe OR white and SUV.” For categories like this, increasing the salience of the diagnostic dimensions has two simultaneous effects: increasing the distance between members of the same category and increasing the distance between members of opposite categories. Potentially, these two effects respectively hinder and facilitate classification learning, leading to competing predictions for learning. Increasing saliency may lead to members of the same category to be considered less similar, while the members of separate categories might be considered more dissimilar. This implies a similarity-dissimilarity competition between two basic classification processes. When focusing on sub-category similarity, one would expect more difficult classification when members of the same category become less similar (disregarding the increase of between-category dissimilarity); however, the between-category dissimilarity increase predicts a less difficult classification. Our categorization study suggests that participants rely more on using dissimilarities between opposite categories than finding similarities between sub-categories. We connect our results to rule- and exemplar-based classification models. The pattern of influences of within- and between-category similarities are challenging for simple single-process categorization systems based on rules or exemplars. Instead, our results suggest that either these processes should be integrated in a hybrid model, or that category learning operates by forming clusters within each category. PMID:23403979

Hue-specific colour memory impairment in an individual with intact colour perception and colour naming.

PubMed

Jakobson, L S; Pearson, P M; Robertson, B

2008-01-15

Cases of hue-selective dyschomatopsias, together with the results of recent optical imaging studies [Xiao, Y., Casti, A. R. R., Xiao, J., & Kaplan, E. (2006). A spatially organized representation of colour in macaque primary visual cortex. Perception, 35, ECVP Abstract Supplement; Xiao, Y., Wang, Y., & Felleman, D. J. (2003). A spatially organized representation of colour in macaque cortical area V2. Nature, 421, 535-539], have provided support for the idea that different colours are processed in spatially distinct regions of extrastriate cortex. In the present report, we provide evidence suggesting that a similar, but distinct, map may exist for representations of colour in memory. This evidence comes from observations of a young woman (QP) who demonstrates an isolated deficit in colour memory secondary to a concussive episode. Despite having normal colour perception and colour naming skills, and above-average memory skills in other domains, QP's ability to recall visually encoded colour information over short retention intervals is dramatically impaired. Her long-term memory for colour and her colour imagery skills are also abnormal. Surprisingly, however, these impairments are not seen with all hues; specifically, her ability to remember or imagine blue shades is spared. This interesting case contributes to the literature suggesting that colour perception, naming, and memory can be clinically dissociated, and provides insights into the organization of colour information in memory.

Testing the AUDI2000 colour-difference formula for solid colours using some visual datasets with usefulness to automotive industry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Martínez-García, Juan; Melgosa, Manuel; Gómez-Robledo, Luis; Li, Changjun; Huang, Min; Liu, Haoxue; Cui, Guihua; Luo, M. Ronnier; Dauser, Thomas

2013-11-01

Colour-difference formulas are tools employed in colour industries for objective pass/fail decisions of manufactured products. These objective decisions are based on instrumental colour measurements which must reliably predict the subjective colour-difference evaluations performed by observers' panels. In a previous paper we have tested the performance of different colour-difference formulas using the datasets employed at the development of the last CIErecommended colour-difference formula CIEDE2000, and we found that the AUDI2000 colour-difference formula for solid (homogeneous) colours performed reasonably well, despite the colour pairs in these datasets were not similar to those typically employed in the automotive industry (CIE Publication x038:2013, 465-469). Here we have tested again AUDI2000 together with 11 advanced colour-difference formulas (CIELUV, CIELAB, CMC, BFD, CIE94, CIEDE2000, CAM02-UCS, CAM02-SCD, DIN99d, DIN99b, OSA-GP-Euclidean) for three visual datasets we may consider particularly useful to the automotive industry because of different reasons: 1) 828 metallic colour pairs used to develop the highly reliable RIT-DuPont dataset (Color Res. Appl. 35, 274-283, 2010); 2) printed samples conforming 893 colour pairs with threshold colour differences (J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 29, 883-891, 2012); 3) 150 colour pairs in a tolerance dataset proposed by AUDI. To measure the relative merits of the different tested colour-difference formulas, we employed the STRESS index (J. Opt. Soc. Am. A 24, 1823-1829, 2007), assuming a 95% confidence level. For datasets 1) and 2), AUDI2000 was in the group of the best colour-difference formulas with no significant differences with respect to CIE94, CIEDE2000, CAM02-UCS, DIN99b and DIN99d formulas. For dataset 3) AUDI2000 provided the best results, being statistically significantly better than all other tested colour-difference formulas.

The unsuitability of HTML-based colour charts for estimating animal colours--a comment on Berggren and Merilä (2004).

PubMed

Stevens, Martin; Cuthill, Innes C

2005-08-30

A variety of techniques are used to study the colours of animal signals, including the use of visual matching to colour charts. This paper aims to highlight why they are generally an unsatisfactory tool for the measurement and classification of animal colours and why colour codes based on HTML (really RGB) standards, as advocated in a recent paper, are particularly inappropriate. There are many theoretical arguments against the use of colour charts, not least that human colour vision differs markedly from that of most other animals. However, the focus of this paper is the concern that, even when applied to humans, there is no simple 1:1 mapping from an RGB colour space to the perceived colours in a chart (the results are both printer- and illumination-dependent). We support our criticisms with data from colour matching experiments with humans, involving self-made, printed colour charts. Colour matching experiments with printed charts involving 11 subjects showed that the choices made by individuals were significantly different between charts that had exactly the same RGB values, but were produced from different printers. Furthermore, individual matches tended to vary under different lighting conditions. Spectrophotometry of the colour charts showed that the reflectance spectra of the charts varied greatly between printers and that equal steps in RGB space were often far from equal in terms of reflectance on the printed charts. In addition to outlining theoretical criticisms of the use of colour charts, our empirical results show that: individuals vary in their perception of colours, that different printers produce strikingly different results when reproducing what should be the same chart, and that the characteristics of the light irradiating the surface do affect colour perception. Therefore, we urge great caution in the use of colour charts to study animal colour signals. They should be used only as a last resort and in full knowledge of their limitations, with specially produced charts made to high industry standards.

Pseudoisochromatic test plate colour representation dependence on printing technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Luse, K.; Fomins, S.; Ozolinsh, M.

2012-08-01

The aim of the study is to determine best printing technology for creation of colour vision deficiency tests. Valid tests for protanopia and deuteranopia were created from perceived colour matching experiments from printed colour samples by colour deficient individuals. Calibrated EpsonStylus Pro 7800 printer for ink prints and Noritsu HD 3701 digital printer for photographic prints were used. Multispectral imagery (by tunable liquid crystal filters system CRI Nuance Vis 07) data analysis show that in case of ink prints, the measured pixel colour coordinate dispersion (in the CIExy colour diagram) of similar colour arrays is smaller than in case of photographic printing. The print quality in terms of colour coordinate dispersion for printing methods used is much higher than in case of commercially available colour vision deficiency tests.

Colour and pattern change against visually heterogeneous backgrounds in the tree frog Hyla japonica

PubMed Central

Kang, Changku; Kim, Ye Eun; Jang, Yikweon

2016-01-01

Colour change in animals can be adaptive phenotypic plasticity in heterogeneous environments. Camouflage through background colour matching has been considered a primary force that drives the evolution of colour changing ability. However, the mechanism to which animals change their colour and patterns under visually heterogeneous backgrounds (i.e. consisting of more than one colour) has only been identified in limited taxa. Here, we investigated the colour change process of the Japanese tree frog (Hyla japonica) against patterned backgrounds and elucidated how the expression of dorsal patterns changes against various achromatic/chromatic backgrounds with/without patterns. Our main findings are i) frogs primarily responded to the achromatic differences in background, ii) their contrasting dorsal patterns were conditionally expressed dependent on the brightness of backgrounds, iii) against mixed coloured background, frogs adopted intermediate forms between two colours. Using predator (avian and snake) vision models, we determined that colour differences against different backgrounds yielded perceptible changes in dorsal colours. We also found substantial individual variation in colour changing ability and the levels of dorsal pattern expression between individuals. We discuss the possibility of correlational selection on colour changing ability and resting behaviour that maintains the high variation in colour changing ability within population. PMID:26932675

Environmental and hormonal factors controlling reversible colour change in crab spiders.

PubMed

Llandres, Ana L; Figon, Florent; Christidès, Jean-Philippe; Mandon, Nicole; Casas, Jérôme

2013-10-15

Habitat heterogeneity that occurs within an individual's lifetime may favour the evolution of reversible plasticity. Colour reversibility has many different functions in animals, such as thermoregulation, crypsis through background matching and social interactions. However, the mechanisms underlying reversible colour changes are yet to be thoroughly investigated. This study aims to determine the environmental and hormonal factors underlying morphological colour changes in Thomisus onustus crab spiders and the biochemical metabolites produced during these changes. We quantified the dynamics of colour changes over time: spiders were kept in yellow and white containers under natural light conditions and their colour was measured over 15 days using a spectrophotometer. We also characterised the chemical metabolites of spiders changing to a yellow colour using HPLC. Hormonal control of colour change was investigated by injecting 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) into spiders. We found that background colouration was a major environmental factor responsible for colour change in crab spiders: individuals presented with white and yellow backgrounds changed to white and yellow colours, respectively. An ommochrome precursor, 3-OH-kynurenine, was the main pigment responsible for yellow colour. Spiders injected with 20E displayed a similar rate of change towards yellow colouration as spiders kept in yellow containers and exposed to natural sunlight. This study demonstrates novel hormonal manipulations that are capable of inducing reversible colour change.

Exposure of Polish children to Southampton food colours.

PubMed

Gajda-Wyrębek, J; Kuźma, K; Świtka, A; Jarecka, J; Beresińska, M; Postupolski, J

2017-01-01

A study published in 2007 showed that the intake of six food colours (the so-called 'Southampton colours') may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children. The present study set out to assess the exposure of Polish children (3 and 8-9 years old, n = 149) to six of the target colours. Two methods were used to evaluate colour consumption by children: scenario 1 using the maximum permitted levels (MPLs) and actual food consumption data; and scenario 2 using the actual levels in food and actual food consumption data. The data on the actual consumption of food containing the colours was collected using a 7-day questionnaire survey. The results of laboratory analysis of food consumed by children provided data on the actual levels of the colours in food. Consumption of the colours estimated by scenario 1 in any case did not exceed the acceptable daily intakes (ADIs) of the colours in both age groups of children. For more refined colour intake (scenario 2), isolated cases exceeding the ADI were recorded for four colours, but assuming that manufacturers comply with the current legislation on MPL of colours in food, the intake of the colours assessed in scenario 2 should not be a reason for exceeding of ADIs for the target food colours.

Geographical variation in colour of female threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus)

PubMed Central

Ingram, Travis; Bolnick, Daniel I.

2018-01-01

The ecological multifunctionality of colour often results in multiple selective pressures operating on a single trait. Most research on colour evolution focuses on males because they are the most conspicuous sex in most species. This bias can limit inferences about the ecological drivers of colour evolution. For example, little is known about population divergence in colour of female threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus), which is among the most intensively-studied model vertebrates in evolution, ecology, and behaviour. In contrast, the evolution and ecology of colour in male stickleback has received considerable attention. One aspect of female colouration that is lacking previous research is non-ornamental body colour. Non-ornamental colour can play defensive and social roles, and indicate other aspects of female stickleback ecology. To remedy this knowledge gap, we measured the colour and brightness of one dorsal and one ventral lateral area on female stickleback from nine lake populations on Vancouver Island. We found that lake populations varied in overall colour brightness and dorso-ventral contrast. In addition, we found that female brightness increased with lake size, indicating potential ecological drivers of these colour differences. Our results demonstrate that there is substantial scope for future research on female colour diversification, which has been overlooked because past researchers focused on dramatic male nuptial colours. PMID:29785354

Geographical variation in colour of female threespine stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus).

PubMed

French, Connor M; Ingram, Travis; Bolnick, Daniel I

2018-01-01

The ecological multifunctionality of colour often results in multiple selective pressures operating on a single trait. Most research on colour evolution focuses on males because they are the most conspicuous sex in most species. This bias can limit inferences about the ecological drivers of colour evolution. For example, little is known about population divergence in colour of female threespine stickleback ( Gasterosteus aculeatus ), which is among the most intensively-studied model vertebrates in evolution, ecology, and behaviour. In contrast, the evolution and ecology of colour in male stickleback has received considerable attention. One aspect of female colouration that is lacking previous research is non-ornamental body colour. Non-ornamental colour can play defensive and social roles, and indicate other aspects of female stickleback ecology. To remedy this knowledge gap, we measured the colour and brightness of one dorsal and one ventral lateral area on female stickleback from nine lake populations on Vancouver Island. We found that lake populations varied in overall colour brightness and dorso-ventral contrast. In addition, we found that female brightness increased with lake size, indicating potential ecological drivers of these colour differences. Our results demonstrate that there is substantial scope for future research on female colour diversification, which has been overlooked because past researchers focused on dramatic male nuptial colours.

Synaesthetic colour in the brain: beyond colour areas. A functional magnetic resonance imaging study of synaesthetes and matched controls.

PubMed

van Leeuwen, Tessa M; Petersson, Karl Magnus; Hagoort, Peter

2010-08-10

In synaesthesia, sensations in a particular modality cause additional experiences in a second, unstimulated modality (e.g., letters elicit colour). Understanding how synaesthesia is mediated in the brain can help to understand normal processes of perceptual awareness and multisensory integration. In several neuroimaging studies, enhanced brain activity for grapheme-colour synaesthesia has been found in ventral-occipital areas that are also involved in real colour processing. Our question was whether the neural correlates of synaesthetically induced colour and real colour experience are truly shared. First, in a free viewing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiment, we located main effects of synaesthesia in left superior parietal lobule and in colour related areas. In the left superior parietal lobe, individual differences between synaesthetes (projector-associator distinction) also influenced brain activity, confirming the importance of the left superior parietal lobe for synaesthesia. Next, we applied a repetition suppression paradigm in fMRI, in which a decrease in the BOLD (blood-oxygenated-level-dependent) response is generally observed for repeated stimuli. We hypothesized that synaesthetically induced colours would lead to a reduction in BOLD response for subsequently presented real colours, if the neural correlates were overlapping. We did find BOLD suppression effects induced by synaesthesia, but not within the colour areas. Because synaesthetically induced colours were not able to suppress BOLD effects for real colour, we conclude that the neural correlates of synaesthetic colour experience and real colour experience are not fully shared. We propose that synaesthetic colour experiences are mediated by higher-order visual pathways that lie beyond the scope of classical, ventral-occipital visual areas. Feedback from these areas, in which the left parietal cortex is likely to play an important role, may induce V4 activation and the percept of synaesthetic colour.

A Study of Program Manager Effectiveness and Risk Taking Propensity

DTIC Science & Technology

1988-09-01

Kelly Sherwin, my section leader , has been a great source of leadership and inspiration . Next, I would like to thank Lieutenant Colonel Fred Westfall...managers peiZ.rm ten basic tasks which can be broken into three categories. The categories and tasks are: Interpersonal Roles 1. Figurehead 2. Leader 3...17:59). When-a program manager is successful, he is not necessarily effective (10:10). Luthans studied this phenomenon by examining the managerial

The role of pollinators in maintaining variation in flower colour in the Rocky Mountain columbine, Aquilegia coerulea.

PubMed

Thairu, Margaret W; Brunet, Johanne

2015-05-01

Flower colour varies within and among populations of the Rocky Mountain columbine, Aquilegia coerulea, in conjunction with the abundance of its two major pollinators, hawkmoths and bumble-bees. This study seeks to understand whether the choice of flower colour by these major pollinators can help explain the variation in flower colour observed in A. coerulea populations. Dual choice assays and experimental arrays of blue and white flowers were used to determine the preference of hawkmoths and bumble-bees for flower colour. A test was made to determine whether a differential preference for flower colour, with bumble-bees preferring blue and hawkmoths white flowers, could explain the variation in flower colour. Whether a single pollinator could maintain a flower colour polymorphism was examined by testing to see if preference for a flower colour varied between day and dusk for hawkmoths and whether bumble-bees preferred novel or rare flower colour morphs. Hawkmoths preferred blue flowers under both day and dusk light conditions. Naïve bumble-bees preferred blue flowers but quickly learned to forage randomly on the two colour morphs when similar rewards were presented in the flowers. Bees quickly learned to associate a flower colour with a pollen reward. Prior experience affected the choice of flower colour by bees, but they did not preferentially visit novel flower colours or rare or common colour morphs. Differences in flower colour preference between the two major pollinators could not explain the variation in flower colour observed in A. coerulea. The preference of hawkmoths for flower colour did not change between day and dusk, and bumble-bees did not prefer a novel or a rare flower colour morph. The data therefore suggest that factors other than pollinators may be more likely to affect the flower colour variation observed in A. coerulea. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company 2015. This work is written by (a) US Government employee(s) and is in the public domain in the US.

Multivariate methods to visualise colour-space and colour discrimination data.

PubMed

Hastings, Gareth D; Rubin, Alan

2015-01-01

Despite most modern colour spaces treating colour as three-dimensional (3-D), colour data is usually not visualised in 3-D (and two-dimensional (2-D) projection-plane segments and multiple 2-D perspective views are used instead). The objectives of this article are firstly, to introduce a truly 3-D percept of colour space using stereo-pairs, secondly to view colour discrimination data using that platform, and thirdly to apply formal statistics and multivariate methods to analyse the data in 3-D. This is the first demonstration of the software that generated stereo-pairs of RGB colour space, as well as of a new computerised procedure that investigated colour discrimination by measuring colour just noticeable differences (JND). An initial pilot study and thorough investigation of instrument repeatability were performed. Thereafter, to demonstrate the capabilities of the software, five colour-normal and one colour-deficient subject were examined using the JND procedure and multivariate methods of data analysis. Scatter plots of responses were meaningfully examined in 3-D and were useful in evaluating multivariate normality as well as identifying outliers. The extent and direction of the difference between each JND response and the stimulus colour point was calculated and appreciated in 3-D. Ellipsoidal surfaces of constant probability density (distribution ellipsoids) were fitted to response data; the volumes of these ellipsoids appeared useful in differentiating the colour-deficient subject from the colour-normals. Hypothesis tests of variances and covariances showed many statistically significant differences between the results of the colour-deficient subject and those of the colour-normals, while far fewer differences were found when comparing within colour-normals. The 3-D visualisation of colour data using stereo-pairs, as well as the statistics and multivariate methods of analysis employed, were found to be unique and useful tools in the representation and study of colour. Many additional studies using these methods along with the JND and other procedures have been identified and will be reported in future publications. © 2014 The Authors Ophthalmic & Physiological Optics © 2014 The College of Optometrists.

Basic HIV/AIDS Statistics

MedlinePlus

... infections—down from 41,800 in 2010. a Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with ... HIV infections by transmission category , we see that gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with ...

False-colour palette generation using a reference colour gamut

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Green, Phil

2015-01-01

Monochrome images are often converted to false-colour images, in which arbitrary colours are assigned to regions of the image to aid recognition of features within the image. Criteria for selection of colour palettes vary according to the application, but may include distinctiveness, extensibility, consistency, preference, meaningfulness and universality. A method for defining a palette from colours on the surface of a reference gamut is described, which ensures that all colours in the palette have the maximum chroma available for the given hue angle in the reference gamut. The palette can be re-targeted to a reproduction medium as needed using colour management, and this method ensures consistency between cross-media colour reproductions using the palette.

On-line range images registration with GPGPU

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Będkowski, J.; Naruniec, J.

2013-03-01

This paper concerns implementation of algorithms in the two important aspects of modern 3D data processing: data registration and segmentation. Solution proposed for the first topic is based on the 3D space decomposition, while the latter on image processing and local neighbourhood search. Data processing is implemented by using NVIDIA compute unified device architecture (NIVIDIA CUDA) parallel computation. The result of the segmentation is a coloured map where different colours correspond to different objects, such as walls, floor and stairs. The research is related to the problem of collecting 3D data with a RGB-D camera mounted on a rotated head, to be used in mobile robot applications. Performance of the data registration algorithm is aimed for on-line processing. The iterative closest point (ICP) approach is chosen as a registration method. Computations are based on the parallel fast nearest neighbour search. This procedure decomposes 3D space into cubic buckets and, therefore, the time of the matching is deterministic. First technique of the data segmentation uses accele-rometers integrated with a RGB-D sensor to obtain rotation compensation and image processing method for defining pre-requisites of the known categories. The second technique uses the adapted nearest neighbour search procedure for obtaining normal vectors for each range point.

Detection of premature browning in ground beef with an integrated optical-fibre based sensor using reflection spectroscopy and fibre Bragg grating technology

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

O'Farrell, M.; Sheridan, C.; Lewis, E.; Zhao, W. Z.; Sun, T.; Grattan, K. T. V.; Kerry, J.; Jackman, N.

2007-07-01

This paper reports on an optical fibre based sensor system to detect the occurrence of premature browning in ground beef. Premature browning (PMB) occurs when, at a temperature below the pasteurisation temperature of 71°C, there are no traces of pink meat left in the patty. PMB is more frequent if poorer quality beef or beef that has been stored under imperfect conditions. The experimental work pertaining to this paper involved cooking fresh meat and meat that has been stored in a freezer for, 1 week, 1 month and 3 months and recording the reflected spectra and temperature at the core of the product, during the cooking process, in order to develop a classifier based on the spectral response and using a Self-Organising Map (SOM) to classify the patties into one of four categories, based on their colour. Further tests were also carried out on developing an all-optical fibre sensor for measuring both the temperature and colour in a single integrated probe. The integrated probe contains two different sensor concepts, one to monitor temperature, based on Fibre Bragg Grating (FBG) technology and a second for meat quality, based on reflection spectroscopy in the visible wavelength range.

The colour of pain: can patients use colour to describe osteoarthritis pain?

PubMed

Wylde, Vikki; Wells, Victoria; Dixon, Samantha; Gooberman-Hill, Rachael

2014-03-01

The aim of the present study was to explore patients' views on the acceptability and feasibility of using colour to describe osteoarthritis (OA) pain, and whether colour could be used to communicate pain to healthcare professionals. Six group interviews were conducted with 17 patients with knee OA. Discussion topics included first impressions about using colour to describe pain, whether participants could associate their pain with colour, how colours related to changes to intensity and different pain qualities, and whether they could envisage using colour to describe pain to healthcare professionals. The group interviews indicated that, although the idea of using colour was generally acceptable, it did not suit all participants as a way of describing their pain. The majority of participants chose red to describe high-intensity pain; the reasons given were because red symbolized inflammation, fire, anger and the stop signal in a traffic light system. Colours used to describe the absence of pain were chosen because of their association with positive emotional feelings, such as purity, calmness and happiness. A range of colours was chosen to represent changes in pain intensity. Aching pain was consistently identified as being associated with colours such as grey or black, whereas sharp pain was described using a wider selection of colours. The majority of participants thought that they would be able to use colour to describe their pain to healthcare professionals, although issues around the interpretability and standardization of colour were raised. For some patients, using colour to describe their pain experience may be a useful tool to improve doctor-patient communication. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Memory colours affect colour appearance.

PubMed

Witzel, Christoph; Olkkonen, Maria; Gegenfurtner, Karl R

2016-01-01

Memory colour effects show that colour perception is affected by memory and prior knowledge and hence by cognition. None of Firestone & Scholl's (F&S's) potential pitfalls apply to our work on memory colours. We present a Bayesian model of colour appearance to illustrate that an interaction between perception and memory is plausible from the perspective of vision science.

Quantifying plant colour and colour difference as perceived by humans using digital images.

PubMed

Kendal, Dave; Hauser, Cindy E; Garrard, Georgia E; Jellinek, Sacha; Giljohann, Katherine M; Moore, Joslin L

2013-01-01

Human perception of plant leaf and flower colour can influence species management. Colour and colour contrast may influence the detectability of invasive or rare species during surveys. Quantitative, repeatable measures of plant colour are required for comparison across studies and generalisation across species. We present a standard method for measuring plant leaf and flower colour traits using images taken with digital cameras. We demonstrate the method by quantifying the colour of and colour difference between the flowers of eleven grassland species near Falls Creek, Australia, as part of an invasive species detection experiment. The reliability of the method was tested by measuring the leaf colour of five residential garden shrub species in Ballarat, Australia using five different types of digital camera. Flowers and leaves had overlapping but distinct colour distributions. Calculated colour differences corresponded well with qualitative comparisons. Estimates of proportional cover of yellow flowers identified using colour measurements correlated well with estimates obtained by measuring and counting individual flowers. Digital SLR and mirrorless cameras were superior to phone cameras and point-and-shoot cameras for producing reliable measurements, particularly under variable lighting conditions. The analysis of digital images taken with digital cameras is a practicable method for quantifying plant flower and leaf colour in the field or lab. Quantitative, repeatable measurements allow for comparisons between species and generalisations across species and studies. This allows plant colour to be related to human perception and preferences and, ultimately, species management.

Quantifying Plant Colour and Colour Difference as Perceived by Humans Using Digital Images

PubMed Central

Kendal, Dave; Hauser, Cindy E.; Garrard, Georgia E.; Jellinek, Sacha; Giljohann, Katherine M.; Moore, Joslin L.

2013-01-01

Human perception of plant leaf and flower colour can influence species management. Colour and colour contrast may influence the detectability of invasive or rare species during surveys. Quantitative, repeatable measures of plant colour are required for comparison across studies and generalisation across species. We present a standard method for measuring plant leaf and flower colour traits using images taken with digital cameras. We demonstrate the method by quantifying the colour of and colour difference between the flowers of eleven grassland species near Falls Creek, Australia, as part of an invasive species detection experiment. The reliability of the method was tested by measuring the leaf colour of five residential garden shrub species in Ballarat, Australia using five different types of digital camera. Flowers and leaves had overlapping but distinct colour distributions. Calculated colour differences corresponded well with qualitative comparisons. Estimates of proportional cover of yellow flowers identified using colour measurements correlated well with estimates obtained by measuring and counting individual flowers. Digital SLR and mirrorless cameras were superior to phone cameras and point-and-shoot cameras for producing reliable measurements, particularly under variable lighting conditions. The analysis of digital images taken with digital cameras is a practicable method for quantifying plant flower and leaf colour in the field or lab. Quantitative, repeatable measurements allow for comparisons between species and generalisations across species and studies. This allows plant colour to be related to human perception and preferences and, ultimately, species management. PMID:23977275

Fruit over sunbed: carotenoid skin colouration is found more attractive than melanin colouration.

PubMed

Lefevre, Carmen E; Perrett, David I

2015-01-01

Skin colouration appears to play a pivotal part in facial attractiveness. Skin yellowness contributes to an attractive appearance and is influenced both by dietary carotenoids and by melanin. While both increased carotenoid colouration and increased melanin colouration enhance apparent health in Caucasian faces by increasing skin yellowness, it remains unclear, firstly, whether both pigments contribute to attractiveness judgements, secondly, whether one pigment is clearly preferred over the other, and thirdly, whether these effects depend on the sex of the face. Here, in three studies, we examine these questions using controlled facial stimuli transformed to be either high or low in (a) carotenoid colouration, or (b) melanin colouration. We show, firstly, that both increased carotenoid colouration and increased melanin colouration are found attractive compared to lower levels of these pigments. Secondly, we show that carotenoid colouration is consistently preferred over melanin colouration when levels of colouration are matched. In addition, we find an effect of the sex of stimuli with stronger preferences for carotenoids over melanin in female compared to male faces, irrespective of the sex of the observer. These results are interpreted as reflecting preferences for sex-typical skin colouration: men have darker skin than women and high melanization in male faces may further enhance this masculine trait, thus carotenoid colouration is not less desirable, but melanin colouration is relatively more desirable in males compared to females. Taken together, our findings provide further support for a carotenoid-linked health-signalling system that is highly important in mate choice.

Prevalence of Colour Vision Anomalies Amongst Dental Professionals and its Effect on Shade Matching of Teeth.

PubMed

Khosla, Amrit; Maini, Anuj Paul; Wangoo, Anuj; Singh, Sukhman; Mehar, Damanpreet Kaur

2017-01-01

The success of a restoration is dependent on accurate shade matching of teeth leading to studies evaluating the factors affecting the perception of shades. Colour vision anomalies including colour blindness have been found to exist in the population and it has been thought to be a potential factor affecting the colour perception ability. The present study was done to evaluate the prevalence of colour vision anomalies and its effect on matching of shades of teeth. A total of 147 dental professionals were randomly selected for the study and were first tested for visual acuity using the Snellen's Eye Chart so as to carry on the study with only those operators who had a vision of 6/6. Then, the Ishihara's colour charts were used to test the operators for colour vision handicap. In the last stage of the study, test for accuracy of shade selection was done using the Vitapan Classical shade guide. The shade guide tabs were covered to avoid bias. Percentage was used to calculate the prevalence of colour vision handicap and its effect on matching of shades of teeth as compared to normal vision, which was evaluated using Chi square test. Nineteen operators had colour vision anomalies out of hundred operators and only two operators presented with colour blindness. Colour vision anomaly was more prevalent than colour blindness and it was also found that it was more prevalent in males than females. The difference between the accuracy of shade matching between the operators with normal vision and colour vision defect and operators with normal vision and colour blindness was statistically not significant. Colour blindness and colour vision handicap are rare conditions, with the latter being more common in the population. According to our study, it was concluded that no statistically significant difference existed amongst the operators with normal vision and colour vision anomaly or operators with normal vision and colour blindness during the matching of shades of teeth.

Capabilities and limitations of handheld Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) for the analysis of colourants and binders in 20th-century reverse paintings on glass.

PubMed

Steger, Simon; Stege, Heike; Bretz, Simone; Hahn, Oliver

2018-04-15

A non-invasive method has been carried out to show the capabilities and limitations of Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transform Spectroscopy (DRIFTS) for identifying of colourants and binders in modern reverse glass paintings. For this purpose, the reverse glass paintings "Zwei Frauen am Tisch" (1920-22), "Bäume" (1946) (both by Heinrich Campendonk), "Lofoten" (1933) (Edith Campendonk-van Leckwyck) and "Ohne Titel" (1954) (Marianne Uhlenhuth), were measured. In contrast to other techniques (e.g. panel and mural painting), the paint layers are applied in reverse succession. In multi-layered paint systems, the front paint layer may no longer be accessible. The work points out the different spectral appearance of a given substance (gypsum, basic lead white) in reverse glass paintings. However, inverted bands, band overlapping and derivative-shaped spectral features can be interpreted by comparing the spectra from the paintings with spectra from pure powders and pigment/linseed oil mock-ups. Moreover, the work focuses on this method's capabilities in identifying synthetic organic pigments (SOP). Reference spectra of three common SOP (PG7, PY1, PR83) were obtained from powders and historical colour charts. We identified PR83 and PY1 in two reverse glass paintings, using the measured reference spectra. The recorded DRIFTS spectra of pure linseed oil, gum Arabic, mastic, polyvinyl acetate resin and bees wax can be used to classify the binding media of the measured paintings. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Colour constancy in insects.

PubMed

Chittka, Lars; Faruq, Samia; Skorupski, Peter; Werner, Annette

2014-06-01

Colour constancy is the perceptual phenomenon that the colour of an object appears largely unchanged, even if the spectral composition of the illuminating light changes. Colour constancy has been found in all insect species so far tested. Especially the pollinating insects offer a remarkable opportunity to study the ecological significance of colour constancy since they spend much of their adult lives identifying and choosing between colour targets (flowers) under continuously changing ambient lighting conditions. In bees, whose colour vision is best studied among the insects, the compensation provided by colour constancy is only partial and its efficiency depends on the area of colour space. There is no evidence for complete 'discounting' of the illuminant in bees, and the spectral composition of the light can itself be used as adaptive information. In patchy illumination, bees adjust their spatial foraging to minimise transitions between variously illuminated zones. Modelling allows the quantification of the adaptive benefits of various colour constancy mechanisms in the economy of nature. We also discuss the neural mechanisms and cognitive operations that might underpin colour constancy in insects.

Geographic divergence and colour change in response to visual backgrounds and illumination intensity in bearded dragons.

PubMed

Cadena, Viviana; Smith, Kathleen R; Endler, John A; Stuart-Fox, Devi

2017-03-15

Animals may improve camouflage by both dynamic colour change and local evolutionary adaptation of colour but we have little understanding of their relative importance in colour-changing species. We tested for differences in colour change in response to background colour and light intensity in two populations of central bearded dragon lizards ( Pogona vitticeps ) representing the extremes in body coloration and geographical range. We found that bearded dragons change colour in response to various backgrounds and that colour change is affected by illumination intensity. Within-individual colour change was similar in magnitude in the two populations but varied between backgrounds. However, at the endpoints of colour change, each population showed greater similarity to backgrounds that were representative of the local habitat compared with the other population, indicating local adaptation to visual backgrounds. Our results suggest that even in species that change colour, both phenotypic plasticity and geographic divergence of coloration may contribute to improved camouflage. © 2017. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd.

An experience of electron beam (EB) irradiated gemstones in Malaysian nuclear agency

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idris, Sarada; Hairaldin, Siti Zulaiha; Tajau, Rida; Karim, Jamilah; Jusoh, Suhaimi; Ghazali, Zulkafli; Ahmad, Shamshad

2014-02-01

In Nuclear Malaysia, a study on gemstone irradiation using beta particle is conducted. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the gemstone colour enhancement by using different kind of precious and non-precious gemstones. By using irradiation technique, selected gemstones are exposed to highly ionizing radiation electron beam to knock off electrons to generate colour centres culminating in the introduction of deeper colours. The colour centres may be stable or unstable depending on the nature of colour centre produced. The colour change of irradiated stones were measured by HunterLab colour measurement. At 50 kGy, Topaz shows changes colour from colourless to golden. Meanwhile pearl shows changes from pale colour to grey. Kunzite and amethyst shows colour changes from colorless to green and pale colour to purple. Gamma survey meter measurement confirmed that irradiation treatment with 3 MeV electron beam machine does not render any activation that activate the gems to become radioactive.

Automated colour identification in melanocytic lesions.

PubMed

Sabbaghi, S; Aldeen, M; Garnavi, R; Varigos, G; Doliantis, C; Nicolopoulos, J

2015-08-01

Colour information plays an important role in classifying skin lesion. However, colour identification by dermatologists can be very subjective, leading to cases of misdiagnosis. Therefore, a computer-assisted system for quantitative colour identification is highly desirable for dermatologists to use. Although numerous colour detection systems have been developed, few studies have focused on imitating the human visual perception of colours in melanoma application. In this paper we propose a new methodology based on QuadTree decomposition technique for automatic colour identification in dermoscopy images. Our approach mimics the human perception of lesion colours. The proposed method is trained on a set of 47 images from NIH dataset and applied to a test set of 190 skin lesions obtained from PH2 dataset. The results of our proposed method are compared with a recently reported colour identification method using the same dataset. The effectiveness of our method in detecting colours in dermoscopy images is vindicated by obtaining approximately 93% accuracy when the CIELab1 colour space is used.

Understanding WCAG2.0 Colour Contrast Requirements Through 3D Colour Space Visualisation.

PubMed

Sandnes, Frode Eika

2016-01-01

Sufficient contrast between text and background is needed to achieve sufficient readability. WCAG2.0 provides a specific definition of sufficient contrast on the web. However, the definition is hard to understand and most designers thus use contrast calculators to validate their colour choices. Often, such checks are performed after design and this may be too late. This paper proposes a colour selection approach based on three-dimensional visualisation of the colour space. The complex non-linear relationships between the colour components become comprehendible when viewed in 3D. The method visualises the available colours in an intuitive manner and allows designers to check a colour against the set of other valid colours. Unlike the contrast calculators, the proposed method is proactive and fun to use. A colour space builder was developed and the resulting models were viewed with a point cloud viewer. The technique can be used as both a design tool and a pedagogical aid to teach colour theory and design.

An experience of electron beam (EB) irradiated gemstones in Malaysian nuclear agency

DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)

Idris, Sarada, E-mail: sarada@nuclearmalaysia.gov.my; Hairaldin, Siti Zulaiha, E-mail: sarada@nuclearmalaysia.gov.my; Tajau, Rida, E-mail: sarada@nuclearmalaysia.gov.my

In Nuclear Malaysia, a study on gemstone irradiation using beta particle is conducted. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the gemstone colour enhancement by using different kind of precious and non-precious gemstones. By using irradiation technique, selected gemstones are exposed to highly ionizing radiation electron beam to knock off electrons to generate colour centres culminating in the introduction of deeper colours. The colour centres may be stable or unstable depending on the nature of colour centre produced. The colour change of irradiated stones were measured by HunterLab colour measurement. At 50 kGy, Topaz shows changes colour from colourlessmore » to golden. Meanwhile pearl shows changes from pale colour to grey. Kunzite and amethyst shows colour changes from colorless to green and pale colour to purple. Gamma survey meter measurement confirmed that irradiation treatment with 3 MeV electron beam machine does not render any activation that activate the gems to become radioactive.« less

Robust colour calibration of an imaging system using a colour space transform and advanced regression modelling.

PubMed

Jackman, Patrick; Sun, Da-Wen; Elmasry, Gamal

2012-08-01

A new algorithm for the conversion of device dependent RGB colour data into device independent L*a*b* colour data without introducing noticeable error has been developed. By combining a linear colour space transform and advanced multiple regression methodologies it was possible to predict L*a*b* colour data with less than 2.2 colour units of error (CIE 1976). By transforming the red, green and blue colour components into new variables that better reflect the structure of the L*a*b* colour space, a low colour calibration error was immediately achieved (ΔE(CAL) = 14.1). Application of a range of regression models on the data further reduced the colour calibration error substantially (multilinear regression ΔE(CAL) = 5.4; response surface ΔE(CAL) = 2.9; PLSR ΔE(CAL) = 2.6; LASSO regression ΔE(CAL) = 2.1). Only the PLSR models deteriorated substantially under cross validation. The algorithm is adaptable and can be easily recalibrated to any working computer vision system. The algorithm was tested on a typical working laboratory computer vision system and delivered only a very marginal loss of colour information ΔE(CAL) = 2.35. Colour features derived on this system were able to safely discriminate between three classes of ham with 100% correct classification whereas colour features measured on a conventional colourimeter were not. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chromatic VEP in children with congenital colour vision deficiency.

PubMed

Tekavčič Pompe, Manca; Stirn Kranjc, Branka; Brecelj, Jelka

2010-09-01

Visual evoked potentials to chromatic stimulus (cVEP) are believed to selectively test the parvocellular visual pathway which is responsible for processing information about colour. The aim was to evaluate cVEP in children with red-green congenital colour vision deficiency. VEP responses of 15 colour deficient children were compared to 31 children with normal colour vision. An isoluminant red-green stimulus composed of horizontal gratings was presented in an onset-offset manner. The shape of the waveform was studied, as well as the latency and amplitude of positive (P) and negative (N) waves. cVEP response did not change much with increased age in colour deficient children, whereas normative data showed changes from a predominantly positive to a negative response with increased age. A P wave was present in 87% of colour deficient children (and in 100% of children with normal colour vision), whereas the N wave was absent in a great majority of colour deficient children and was present in 80% of children with normal colour vision. Therefore, the amplitude of the whole response (N-P) decreased linearly with age in colour deficient children, whereas in children with normal colour vision it increased linearly. P wave latency shortened with increased age in both groups. cVEP responses differ in children with congenital colour vision deficiency compared to children with normal colour vision. © 2010 The Authors, Ophthalmic and Physiological Optics © 2010 The College of Optometrists.

Working memory in children and adolescents with Down syndrome: evidence from a colour memory experiment.

PubMed

Laws, Glynis

2002-03-01

This paper reports information on the visual and verbal short-term memory of individuals with Down syndrome. Colour memory in 16 children and adolescents with Down syndrome was compared with that of 16 typically developing children matched for receptive vocabulary. It was suggested that focal colours should be remembered more successfully than non-focal colours on the basis that the former could be remembered using a verbal recoding strategy. However, children with Down syndrome, for whom a deficit in verbal short-term memory makes the use of such a strategy unlikely, should remember focal and non-focal colours equally well. More importantly, if individuals with Down syndrome have more developed visual memory abilities than control children, they should outperform them in recognising non-focal colours. Although the group with Down syndrome demonstrated significantly better Corsi blocks performance than controls, and displayed similar levels of colour knowledge, no advantage for colour memory was found. Non-focal colours were remembered by individuals with Down syndrome as successfully as focal colours but there was no indication of a visual memory advantage over controls. Focal colours were remembered significantly more successfully than non-focal colours by the typically developing children. Their focal colour memory was significantly related to digit span, but only Corsi span was related to focal colour memory in the group with Down syndrome.

[Preliminarily application of content analysis to qualitative nursing data].

PubMed

Liang, Shu-Yuan; Chuang, Yeu-Hui; Wu, Shu-Fang

2012-10-01

Content analysis is a methodology for objectively and systematically studying the content of communication in various formats. Content analysis in nursing research and nursing education is called qualitative content analysis. Qualitative content analysis is frequently applied to nursing research, as it allows researchers to determine categories inductively and deductively. This article examines qualitative content analysis in nursing research from theoretical and practical perspectives. We first describe how content analysis concepts such as unit of analysis, meaning unit, code, category, and theme are used. Next, we describe the basic steps involved in using content analysis, including data preparation, data familiarization, analysis unit identification, creating tentative coding categories, category refinement, and establishing category integrity. Finally, this paper introduces the concept of content analysis rigor, including dependability, confirmability, credibility, and transferability. This article elucidates the content analysis method in order to help professionals conduct systematic research that generates data that are informative and useful in practical application.

The effects of stimulus competition and voluntary attention on colour-graphemic synaesthesia.

PubMed

Rich, Anina N; Mattingley, Jason B

2003-10-06

Colour-graphemic synaesthetes experience vivid colours when reading letters, digits and words. We examined the effect of stimulus competition and attention on these unusual colour experiences in 14 synaesthetes and 14 non-synaesthetic controls. Participants named the colour of hierarchical local-global stimuli in which letters at each level elicited synaesthetic colours that were congruent or incongruent with the display colour. Synaesthetes were significantly slower to name display colours when either level was incongruent than when both levels were congruent. This effect was significantly reduced when synaesthetes focused attention on one level while the congruency of letters at the ignored level was varied. These findings suggest that competition between multiple inducers and mechanisms of voluntary attention influence colour-graphemic synaesthesia.

Superordinate Level Processing Has Priority Over Basic-Level Processing in Scene Gist Recognition

PubMed Central

Sun, Qi; Zheng, Yang; Sun, Mingxia; Zheng, Yuanjie

2016-01-01

By combining a perceptual discrimination task and a visuospatial working memory task, the present study examined the effects of visuospatial working memory load on the hierarchical processing of scene gist. In the perceptual discrimination task, two scene images from the same (manmade–manmade pairing or natural–natural pairing) or different superordinate level categories (manmade–natural pairing) were presented simultaneously, and participants were asked to judge whether these two images belonged to the same basic-level category (e.g., street–street pairing) or not (e.g., street–highway pairing). In the concurrent working memory task, spatial load (position-based load in Experiment 1) and object load (figure-based load in Experiment 2) were manipulated. The results were as follows: (a) spatial load and object load have stronger effects on discrimination of same basic-level scene pairing than same superordinate level scene pairing; (b) spatial load has a larger impact on the discrimination of scene pairings at early stages than at later stages; on the contrary, object information has a larger influence on at later stages than at early stages. It followed that superordinate level processing has priority over basic-level processing in scene gist recognition and spatial information contributes to the earlier and object information to the later stages in scene gist recognition. PMID:28382195

The unsuitability of html-based colour charts for estimating animal colours – a comment on Berggren and Merilä (2004)

PubMed Central

Stevens, Martin; Cuthill, Innes C

2005-01-01

Background A variety of techniques are used to study the colours of animal signals, including the use of visual matching to colour charts. This paper aims to highlight why they are generally an unsatisfactory tool for the measurement and classification of animal colours and why colour codes based on HTML (really RGB) standards, as advocated in a recent paper, are particularly inappropriate. There are many theoretical arguments against the use of colour charts, not least that human colour vision differs markedly from that of most other animals. However, the focus of this paper is the concern that, even when applied to humans, there is no simple 1:1 mapping from an RGB colour space to the perceived colours in a chart (the results are both printer- and illumination-dependent). We support our criticisms with data from colour matching experiments with humans, involving self-made, printed colour charts. Results Colour matching experiments with printed charts involving 11 subjects showed that the choices made by individuals were significantly different between charts that had exactly the same RGB values, but were produced from different printers. Furthermore, individual matches tended to vary under different lighting conditions. Spectrophotometry of the colour charts showed that the reflectance spectra of the charts varied greatly between printers and that equal steps in RGB space were often far from equal in terms of reflectance on the printed charts. Conclusion In addition to outlining theoretical criticisms of the use of colour charts, our empirical results show that: individuals vary in their perception of colours, that different printers produce strikingly different results when reproducing what should be the same chart, and that the characteristics of the light irradiating the surface do affect colour perception. Therefore, we urge great caution in the use of colour charts to study animal colour signals. They should be used only as a last resort and in full knowledge of their limitations, with specially produced charts made to high industry standards. PMID:16131394

An exploratory study of linguistic-colour associations across languages in multilingual synaesthetes.

PubMed

Barnett, Kylie J; Feeney, Joanne; Gormley, Michael; Newell, Fiona N

2009-07-01

In one of the most common forms of synaesthesia, linguistic-colour synaesthesia, colour is induced by stimuli such as numbers, letters, days of the week, and months of the year. It is not clear, however, whether linguistic-colour synaesthesia is determined more by higher level semantic information--that is, word meaning--or by lower level grapheme or phoneme structure. To explore this issue, we tested whether colour is consistently induced by grapheme or phoneme form or word meaning in bilingual and trilingual linguistic-colour synaesthetes. We reasoned that if the induced colour was related to word meaning, rather than to the acoustic or visual properties of the words, then the induced colours would remain consistent across languages. We found that colours were not consistently related to word meaning across languages. Instead, induced colours were more related to form properties of the word across languages, particularly visual structure. However, the type of inducing stimulus influenced specific colour associations. For example, colours to months of the year were more consistent across languages than were colours to numbers or days of the week. Furthermore, the effect of inducing stimuli was also associated with the age of acquisition of additional languages. Our findings are discussed with reference to a critical period in language acquisition on synaesthesia.

Why do seals have cones? Behavioural evidence for colour-blindness in harbour seals.

PubMed

Scholtyssek, Christine; Kelber, Almut; Dehnhardt, Guido

2015-03-01

All seals and cetaceans have lost at least one of two ancestral cone classes and should therefore be colour-blind. Nevertheless, earlier studies showed that these marine mammals can discriminate colours and a colour vision mechanism has been proposed which contrasts signals from cones and rods. However, these earlier studies underestimated the brightness discrimination abilities of these animals, so that they could have discriminated colours using brightness only. Using a psychophysical discrimination experiment, we showed that a harbour seal can solve a colour discrimination task by means of brightness discrimination alone. Performing a series of experiments in which two harbour seals had to discriminate the brightness of colours, we also found strong evidence for purely scotopic (rod-based) vision at light levels that lead to mesopic (rod-cone-based) vision in other mammals. This finding speaks against rod-cone-based colour vision in harbour seals. To test for colour-blindness, we used a cognitive approach involving a harbour seal trained to use a concept of same and different. We tested this seal with pairs of isoluminant stimuli that were either same or different in colour. If the seal had perceived colour, it would have responded to colour differences between stimuli. However, the seal responded with "same", providing strong evidence for colour-blindness.

Quantitative studies of animal colour constancy: using the chicken as model

PubMed Central

2016-01-01

Colour constancy is the capacity of visual systems to keep colour perception constant despite changes in the illumination spectrum. Colour constancy has been tested extensively in humans and has also been described in many animals. In humans, colour constancy is often studied quantitatively, but besides humans, this has only been done for the goldfish and the honeybee. In this study, we quantified colour constancy in the chicken by training the birds in a colour discrimination task and testing them in changed illumination spectra to find the largest illumination change in which they were able to remain colour-constant. We used the receptor noise limited model for animal colour vision to quantify the illumination changes, and found that colour constancy performance depended on the difference between the colours used in the discrimination task, the training procedure and the time the chickens were allowed to adapt to a new illumination before making a choice. We analysed literature data on goldfish and honeybee colour constancy with the same method and found that chickens can compensate for larger illumination changes than both. We suggest that future studies on colour constancy in non-human animals could use a similar approach to allow for comparison between species and populations. PMID:27170714

Exploring the functional nature of synaesthetic colour: Dissociations from colour perception and imagery.

PubMed

Chiou, Rocco; Rich, Anina N; Rogers, Sebastian; Pearson, Joel

2018-08-01

Individuals with grapheme-colour synaesthesia experience anomalous colours when reading achromatic text. These unusual experiences have been said to resemble 'normal' colour perception or colour imagery, but studying the nature of synaesthesia remains difficult. In the present study, we report novel evidence that synaesthetic colour impacts conscious vision in a way that is different from both colour perception and imagery. Presenting 'normal' colour prior to binocular rivalry induces a location-dependent suppressive bias reflecting local habituation. By contrast, a grapheme that evokes synaesthetic colour induces a facilitatory bias reflecting priming that is not constrained to the inducing grapheme's location. This priming does not occur in non-synaesthetes and does not result from response bias. It is sensitive to diversion of visual attention away from the grapheme, but resistant to sensory perturbation, reflecting a reliance on cognitive rather than sensory mechanisms. Whereas colour imagery in non-synaesthetes causes local priming that relies on the locus of imagined colour, imagery in synaesthetes caused global priming not dependent on the locus of imagery. These data suggest a unique psychophysical profile of high-level colour processing in synaesthetes. Our novel findings and method will be critical to testing theories of synaesthesia and visual awareness. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The effect of colour on children's cognitive performance.

PubMed

Brooker, Alice; Franklin, Anna

2016-06-01

The presence of red appears to hamper adults' cognitive performance relative to other colours (see Elliot & Maier, 2014, Ann. Rev. Psychol. 65, 95). Here, we investigate whether colour affects cognitive performance in 8- and 9-year-olds. Children completed a battery of tasks once in the presence of a coloured screen that was one of eight colours and once in the presence of a grey screen. Performance was assessed for each colour relative to the grey baseline, and differences across colours were compared. We find a significant difference in performance across colours, with significantly worse performance in the presence of red than grey. The effect of colour did not significantly interact with task. The findings suggest that colour can affect children's cognitive performance and that there is a detrimental effect of red. Findings are related to the adult literature and implications for educational contexts are discussed. © 2015 The British Psychological Society.

The potential application of European market research data in dietary exposure modelling of food additives.

PubMed

Tennant, David Robin; Bruyninckx, Chris

2018-03-01

Consumer exposure assessments for food additives are incomplete without information about the proportions of foods in each authorised category that contain the additive. Such information has been difficult to obtain but the Mintel Global New Products Database (GNPD) provides information about product launches across Europe over the past 20 years. These data can be searched to identify products with specific additives listed on product labels and the numbers compared with total product launches for food and drink categories in the same database to determine the frequency of occurrence. There are uncertainties associated with the data but these can be managed by adopting a cautious and conservative approach. GNPD data can be mapped with authorised food categories and with food descriptions used in the EFSA Comprehensive European Food Consumption Surveys Database for exposure modelling. The data, when presented as percent occurrence, could be incorporated into the EFSA ANS Panel's 'brand-loyal/non-brand loyal exposure model in a quantitative way. Case studies of preservative, antioxidant, colour and sweetener additives showed that the impact of including occurrence data is greatest in the non-brand loyal scenario. Recommendations for future research include identifying occurrence data for alcoholic beverages, linking regulatory food codes, FoodEx and GNPD product descriptions, developing the use of occurrence data for carry-over foods and improving understanding of brand loyalty in consumer exposure models.

Effect of colour of drugs: systematic review of perceived effect of drugs and of their effectiveness.

PubMed

de Craen, A J; Roos, P J; de Vries, A L; Kleijnen, J

To assess the impact of the colour of a drug's formulation on its perceived effect and its effectiveness and to examine whether antidepressant drugs available in the Netherlands are different in colour from hypnotic, sedative, and anxiolytic drugs. Systematic review of 12 published studies. Six studies examined the perceived action of different coloured drugs and six the influence of the colour of a drug on its effectiveness. The colours of samples of 49 drugs affecting the central nervous system were assessed using a colour atlas. Perceived stimulant action versus perceived depressant action of colour of drugs; the trials that assessed the effect of drugs in different colours were done in patients with different diseases and had different outcome measures. The studies on perceived action of coloured drugs showed that red, yellow, and orange are associated with a stimulant effect, while blue and green are related to a tranquillising effect. The trials that assessed the impact of the colour of drugs on their effectiveness showed inconsistent differences between colours. The quality of the methods of these trials was variable. Hypnotic, sedative, and anxiolytic drugs were more likely than antidepressants to be green, blue, or purple. Colours affect the perceived action of a drug and seem to influence the effectiveness of a drug. Moreover, a relation exists between the colouring of drugs that affect the central nervous system and the indications for which they are used. Research contributing to a better understanding of the effect of the colour of drugs is warranted.

The effect of colour congruency on shape discriminations of novel objects.

PubMed

Nicholson, Karen G; Humphrey, G Keith

2004-01-01

Although visual object recognition is primarily shape driven, colour assists the recognition of some objects. It is unclear, however, just how colour information is coded with respect to shape in long-term memory and how the availability of colour in the visual image facilitates object recognition. We examined the role of colour in the recognition of novel, 3-D objects by manipulating the congruency of object colour across the study and test phases, using an old/new shape-identification task. In experiment 1, we found that participants were faster at correctly identifying old objects on the basis of shape information when these objects were presented in their original colour, rather than in a different colour. In experiments 2 and 3, we found that participants were faster at correctly identifying old objects on the basis of shape information when these objects were presented with their original part-colour conjunctions, rather than in different or in reversed part-colour conjunctions. In experiment 4, we found that participants were quite poor at the verbal recall of part-colour conjunctions for correctly identified old objects, presented as grey-scale images at test. In experiment 5, we found that participants were significantly slower at correctly identifying old objects when object colour was incongruent across study and test, than when background colour was incongruent across study and test. The results of these experiments suggest that both shape and colour information are stored as part of the long-term representation of these novel objects. Results are discussed in terms of how colour might be coded with respect to shape in stored object representations.

Colour Perception in ADHD

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Banaschewski, Tobias; Ruppert, Sinje; Tannock, Rosemary; Albrecht, Bjorn; Becker, Andreas; Uebel, Henrik; Sergeant, Joseph A.; Rothenberger, Aribert

2006-01-01

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is associated with unexplained impairments on speeded naming of coloured stimuli. These deficits may reflect hypofunctioning retinal dopaminergic mechanisms impairing particularly blue-yellow colour discrimination. Colour perception and rapid colour naming ability were investigated in 14 children…

A Handheld LED Coloured-Light Mixer for Students to Learn Collaboratively the Primary Colours of Light

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Nopparatjamjomras, Suchai; Chitaree, Ratchapak; Panijpan, Bhinyo

2009-01-01

To overcome students' inaccurate prior knowledge on primary additive colours, a coloured-light mixer has been constructed to enable students to observe directly the colours produced and reach the conclusion by themselves that the three primary colours of light are red, green, and blue (NOT red, yellow, and blue). Three closely packed tiny…

The "Human Colour" Crayon: Investigating the Attitudes and Perceptions of Learners Regarding Race and Skin Colour

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Alexander, Neeske; Costandius, Elmarie

2017-01-01

Some coloured and black learners in South Africa use a light orange or pink crayon to represent themselves in art. Many learners name this colour "human colour" or "skin colour". This is troublesome, because it could reflect exclusionary ways of representing race in images and language. This case study, conducted with two…

Colour image segmentation using unsupervised clustering technique for acute leukemia images

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Halim, N. H. Abd; Mashor, M. Y.; Nasir, A. S. Abdul; Mustafa, N.; Hassan, R.

2015-05-01

Colour image segmentation has becoming more popular for computer vision due to its important process in most medical analysis tasks. This paper proposes comparison between different colour components of RGB(red, green, blue) and HSI (hue, saturation, intensity) colour models that will be used in order to segment the acute leukemia images. First, partial contrast stretching is applied on leukemia images to increase the visual aspect of the blast cells. Then, an unsupervised moving k-means clustering algorithm is applied on the various colour components of RGB and HSI colour models for the purpose of segmentation of blast cells from the red blood cells and background regions in leukemia image. Different colour components of RGB and HSI colour models have been analyzed in order to identify the colour component that can give the good segmentation performance. The segmented images are then processed using median filter and region growing technique to reduce noise and smooth the images. The results show that segmentation using saturation component of HSI colour model has proven to be the best in segmenting nucleus of the blast cells in acute leukemia image as compared to the other colour components of RGB and HSI colour models.

Colour preferences and colour vision in poultry chicks.

PubMed

Ham, A D; Osorio, D

2007-08-22

The dramatic colours of biological communication signals raise questions about how animals perceive suprathreshold colour differences, and there are long-standing questions about colour preferences and colour categorization by non-human species. This study investigates preferences of foraging poultry chicks (Gallus gallus) as they peck at coloured objects. Work on colour recognition often deals with responses to monochromatic lights and how animals divide the spectrum. We used complementary colours, where the intermediate is grey, and related the chicks' choices to three models of the factors that may affect the attractiveness. Two models assume that attractiveness is determined by a metric based on the colour discrimination threshold either (i) by chromatic contrast against the background or (ii) relative to an internal standard. An alternative third model is that categorization is important. We tested newly hatched and 9-day-old chicks with four pairs of (avian) complementary colours, which were orange, blue, red and green for humans. Chromatic contrast was more relevant to newly hatched chicks than to 9-day-old birds, but in neither case could contrast alone account for preferences; especially for orange over blue. For older chicks, there is evidence for categorization of complementary colours, with a boundary at grey.

Farmer’s Motivation in Aren Sugar Processing Business

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Abdullah, W. G.; Rianse, U.; Muhidin; Widayati, W.; Mihrad, E. S.; Taridala, S. A. A.; Rianse, I. S.; Baka, W. K.

2018-02-01

The objectives of the research were to analyze socio-economic characteristics and motivation of farmers in aren sugar processing business in Kolaka District, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. The analysis used in this research was quantitative descriptive analysis. The results showed that average state of socio-economic characteristics of aren sugar farmer that were in the category of productive age, which was 46.12 years old, has fulfil basic education category (9 years education), low category of dependents as many as three people, the Average experience of aren sugar processing business during 18 years, and the average aren trees were tapped as much as seven trees, every day, (b) farmer’s motivation in aren sugar processing business in low category, with the indicator is the motive of imitation, economic, security, affiliations, awards, and self-actualization.

Colour Terms Affect Detection of Colour and Colour-Associated Objects Suppressed from Visual Awareness

PubMed Central

Forder, Lewis; Taylor, Olivia; Mankin, Helen; Scott, Ryan B.; Franklin, Anna

2016-01-01

The idea that language can affect how we see the world continues to create controversy. A potentially important study in this field has shown that when an object is suppressed from visual awareness using continuous flash suppression (a form of binocular rivalry), detection of the object is differently affected by a preceding word prime depending on whether the prime matches or does not match the object. This may suggest that language can affect early stages of vision. We replicated this paradigm and further investigated whether colour terms likewise influence the detection of colours or colour-associated object images suppressed from visual awareness by continuous flash suppression. This method presents rapidly changing visual noise to one eye while the target stimulus is presented to the other. It has been shown to delay conscious perception of a target for up to several minutes. In Experiment 1 we presented greyscale photos of objects. They were either preceded by a congruent object label, an incongruent label, or white noise. Detection sensitivity (d’) and hit rates were significantly poorer for suppressed objects preceded by an incongruent label compared to a congruent label or noise. In Experiment 2, targets were coloured discs preceded by a colour term. Detection sensitivity was significantly worse for suppressed colour patches preceded by an incongruent colour term as compared to a congruent term or white noise. In Experiment 3 targets were suppressed greyscale object images preceded by an auditory presentation of a colour term. On congruent trials the colour term matched the object’s stereotypical colour and on incongruent trials the colour term mismatched. Detection sensitivity was significantly poorer on incongruent trials than congruent trials. Overall, these findings suggest that colour terms affect awareness of coloured stimuli and colour- associated objects, and provide new evidence for language-perception interaction in the brain. PMID:27023274

Production of an anthocyanin-rich food colourant from Thymus moroderi and its application in foods.

PubMed

Díaz-García, Miriam Cristina; Castellar, María Rosario; Obón, José María; Obón, Concepción; Alcaraz, Francisco; Rivera, Diego

2015-04-01

Anthocyanins and other polyphenols from flowers and bracts of Thymus sp. are studied. An anthocyanin-rich food colourant with interesting high antioxidant activity from Thymus moroderi has been obtained, and applied to colour foods. Anthocyanins and other polyphenols from T. moroderi and another five Thymus sp. were extracted in methanol/hydrochloric acid 0.1 mol L(-1) (50/50, v/v) 2 h stirring at 50 °C. They were identified and quantified by HPLC-PDA-MS and UHPLC-PDA-fluorescence, as total individual polyphenols. Total polyphenols were also determined. Flowers had higher anthocyanins and other polyphenols concentrations than bracts; for example, total polyphenols content of T. moroderi were 131.58 and 61.98 g GAE kg(-1) vegetal tissue, respectively. A liquid concentrated colourant was obtained from T. moroderi using water/citric acid as solvent. It was characterised and compared with other two commercial anthocyanin-rich food colourants from red grape skin and red carrot (colour strength of 1.7 and 3.6 AU, respectively). T. moroderi colourant had 1.2 AU colour strength, and high storage stability (>97.1% remaining colour after 110 days at 4 °C). It showed a higher polyphenols content than commercial colourants. Its antioxidant activity was 0.707 mmol Trolox eq. g(-1) plant dry weight, 69.5 times higher than red carrot. The three colourants were applied to colour yogurts, giving pinky tonalities. The colour did not change evidently (ΔE*(ab)  < 3) when stored under refrigeration during 1 month. T. moroderi can be a source of anthocyanin-rich food colourant (E-163) with both high polyphenols content and high antioxidant activity. This colourant gives a stable colour to a yogurt during 1 month. These results expand the use of natural colourants. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry.

Colour Terms Affect Detection of Colour and Colour-Associated Objects Suppressed from Visual Awareness.

PubMed

Forder, Lewis; Taylor, Olivia; Mankin, Helen; Scott, Ryan B; Franklin, Anna

2016-01-01

The idea that language can affect how we see the world continues to create controversy. A potentially important study in this field has shown that when an object is suppressed from visual awareness using continuous flash suppression (a form of binocular rivalry), detection of the object is differently affected by a preceding word prime depending on whether the prime matches or does not match the object. This may suggest that language can affect early stages of vision. We replicated this paradigm and further investigated whether colour terms likewise influence the detection of colours or colour-associated object images suppressed from visual awareness by continuous flash suppression. This method presents rapidly changing visual noise to one eye while the target stimulus is presented to the other. It has been shown to delay conscious perception of a target for up to several minutes. In Experiment 1 we presented greyscale photos of objects. They were either preceded by a congruent object label, an incongruent label, or white noise. Detection sensitivity (d') and hit rates were significantly poorer for suppressed objects preceded by an incongruent label compared to a congruent label or noise. In Experiment 2, targets were coloured discs preceded by a colour term. Detection sensitivity was significantly worse for suppressed colour patches preceded by an incongruent colour term as compared to a congruent term or white noise. In Experiment 3 targets were suppressed greyscale object images preceded by an auditory presentation of a colour term. On congruent trials the colour term matched the object's stereotypical colour and on incongruent trials the colour term mismatched. Detection sensitivity was significantly poorer on incongruent trials than congruent trials. Overall, these findings suggest that colour terms affect awareness of coloured stimuli and colour- associated objects, and provide new evidence for language-perception interaction in the brain.

Selective interference reveals dissociation between memory for location and colour.

PubMed

Vuontela, V; Rämä, P; Raninen, A; Aronen, H J; Carlson, S

1999-08-02

The aim was to study whether there is indication of a dissociation in processing of visuospatial and colour information in working memory in humans. Experimental subjects performed visuospatial and colour n-back tasks with and without visuospatial and colour distractive stimuli presented in the middle of the delay period to specifically affect mnemonic processing of task-related information. In the high memory-load condition, the visuospatial, but not the colour, task was selectively disrupted by visuospatial but not colour distractors. When subvocal rehearsal of the memoranda in the colour task was prevented by articulatory suppression; colour task performance was also selectively disrupted by distractors qualitatively similar to the memoranda. The results support the suggestion that visual working memory for location is processed separate from that for colour.

Specific deficit of colour-colour short-term memory binding in sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease.

PubMed

Parra, Mario A; Sala, Sergio Della; Abrahams, Sharon; Logie, Robert H; Méndez, Luis Guillermo; Lopera, Francisco

2011-06-01

Short-term memory binding of visual features which are processed across different dimensions (shape-colour) is impaired in sporadic Alzheimer's disease, familial Alzheimer's disease, and in asymptomatic carriers of familial Alzheimer's disease. This study investigated whether Alzheimer's disease also impacts on within-dimension binding processes. The study specifically explored whether visual short-term memory binding of features of the same type (colour-colour) is sensitive to Alzheimer's disease. We used a neuropsychological battery and a short-term memory binding task to assess patients with sporadic Alzheimer's disease (Experiment 1), familial Alzheimer's disease (Experiment 2) due to the mutation E280A of the Presenilin-1 gene and asymptomatic carriers of the mutation. The binding task assessed change detection within arrays of unicoloured objects (Colour Only) or bicoloured objects the colours of which had to be remembered separately (Unbound Colours) or together (Bound Colours). Performance on the Bound Colours condition (1) explained the largest proportion of variance between patients (sporadic and familial Alzheimer's disease), (2) combined more sensitivity and specificity for the disease than other more traditional neuropsychological tasks, (3) identified asymptomatic carriers of the mutation even when traditional neuropsychological measures and other measures of short-term memory did not and, (4) contrary to shape-colour binding, correlated with measures of hippocampal functions. Colour-colour binding and shape-colour binding both appear to be sensitive to AD even though they seem to rely on different brain mechanisms. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Colour detection thresholds in faces and colour patches.

PubMed

Tan, Kok Wei; Stephen, Ian D

2013-01-01

Human facial skin colour reflects individuals' underlying health (Stephen et al 2011 Evolution & Human Behavior 32 216-227); and enhanced facial skin CIELab b* (yellowness), a* (redness), and L* (lightness) are perceived as healthy (also Stephen et al 2009a International Journal of Primatology 30 845-857). Here, we examine Malaysian Chinese participants' detection thresholds for CIELab L* (lightness), a* (redness), and b* (yellowness) colour changes in Asian, African, and Caucasian faces and skin coloured patches. Twelve face photos and three skin coloured patches were transformed to produce four pairs of images of each individual face and colour patch with different amounts of red, yellow, or lightness, from very subtle (deltaE = 1.2) to quite large differences (deltaE = 9.6). Participants were asked to decide which of sequentially displayed, paired same-face images or colour patches were lighter, redder, or yellower. Changes in facial redness, followed by changes in yellowness, were more easily discriminated than changes in luminance. However, visual sensitivity was not greater for redness and yellowness in nonface stimuli, suggesting red facial skin colour special salience. Participants were also significantly better at recognizing colour differences in own-race (Asian) and Caucasian faces than in African faces, suggesting the existence of cross-race effect in discriminating facial colours. Humans' colour vision may have been selected for skin colour signalling (Changizi et al 2006 Biology Letters 2 217-221), enabling individuals to perceive subtle changes in skin colour, reflecting health and emotional status.

Reproducibility of electronic tooth colour measurements.

PubMed

Ratzmann, Anja; Klinke, Thomas; Schwahn, Christian; Treichel, Anja; Gedrange, Tomasz

2008-10-01

Clinical methods of investigation, such as tooth colour determination, should be simple, quick and reproducible. The determination of tooth colours usually relies upon manual comparison of a patient's tooth colour with a colour ring. After some days, however, measurement results frequently lack unequivocal reproducibility. This study aimed to examine an electronic method for reliable colour measurement. The colours of the teeth 14 to 24 were determined by three different examiners in 10 subjects using the colour measuring device Shade Inspector. In total, 12 measurements per tooth were taken. Two measurement time points were scheduled to be taken, namely at study onset (T(1)) and after 6 months (T(2)). At either time point, two measurement series per subject were taken by the different examiners at 2-week intervals. The inter-examiner and intra-examiner agreement of the measurement results was assessed. The concordance for lightness and colour intensity (saturation) was represented by the intra-class correlation coefficient. The categorical variable colour shade (hue) was assessed using the kappa statistic. The study results show that tooth colour can be measured independently of the examiner. Good agreement was found between the examiners.

Turn the temperature to turquoise: cues for colour change in the male chameleon grasshopper (Kosciuscola tristis) (Orthoptera: Acrididae).

PubMed

Umbers, Kate D L

2011-09-01

Rapid, reversible colour change is unusual in animals, but is a feature of male chameleon grasshoppers (Kosciuscola tristis). Understanding what triggers this colour change is paramount to developing hypotheses explaining its evolutionary significance. In a series of manipulative experiments the author quantified the effects of temperature, and time of day, as well as internal body temperature, on the colour of male K. tristis. The results suggest that male chameleon grasshoppers change colour primarily in response to temperature and that the rate of colour change varies considerably, with the change from black to turquoise occurring up to 10 times faster than the reverse. Body temperature changed quickly (within 10min) in response to changes in ambient temperature, but colour change did not match this speed and thus colour is decoupled from internal temperature. This indicates that male colour change is driven primarily by ambient temperature but that their colour does not necessarily reflect current internal temperature. I propose several functional hypotheses for male colour change in K. tristis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Prevalence of Colour Vision Anomalies Amongst Dental Professionals and its Effect on Shade Matching of Teeth

PubMed Central

Maini, Anuj Paul; Wangoo, Anuj; Singh, Sukhman; Mehar, Damanpreet Kaur

2017-01-01

Abstract Introduction The success of a restoration is dependent on accurate shade matching of teeth leading to studies evaluating the factors affecting the perception of shades. Colour vision anomalies including colour blindness have been found to exist in the population and it has been thought to be a potential factor affecting the colour perception ability. Aim The present study was done to evaluate the prevalence of colour vision anomalies and its effect on matching of shades of teeth. Materials and Methods A total of 147 dental professionals were randomly selected for the study and were first tested for visual acuity using the Snellen’s Eye Chart so as to carry on the study with only those operators who had a vision of 6/6. Then, the Ishihara’s colour charts were used to test the operators for colour vision handicap. In the last stage of the study, test for accuracy of shade selection was done using the Vitapan Classical shade guide. The shade guide tabs were covered to avoid bias. Percentage was used to calculate the prevalence of colour vision handicap and its effect on matching of shades of teeth as compared to normal vision, which was evaluated using Chi square test. Results Nineteen operators had colour vision anomalies out of hundred operators and only two operators presented with colour blindness. Colour vision anomaly was more prevalent than colour blindness and it was also found that it was more prevalent in males than females. The difference between the accuracy of shade matching between the operators with normal vision and colour vision defect and operators with normal vision and colour blindness was statistically not significant. Conclusion Colour blindness and colour vision handicap are rare conditions, with the latter being more common in the population. According to our study, it was concluded that no statistically significant difference existed amongst the operators with normal vision and colour vision anomaly or operators with normal vision and colour blindness during the matching of shades of teeth. PMID:28274040

A generalized equation for the calculation of receptor noise limited colour distances in n-chromatic visual systems

PubMed Central

Clark, R. C.; Brebner, J. S.

2017-01-01

Researchers must assess similarities and differences in colour from an animal's eye view when investigating hypotheses in ecology, evolution and behaviour. Nervous systems generate colour perceptions by comparing the responses of different spectral classes of photoreceptor through colour opponent mechanisms, and the performance of these mechanisms is limited by photoreceptor noise. Accordingly, the receptor noise limited (RNL) colour distance model of Vorobyev and Osorio (Vorobyev & Osorio 1998 Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B 265, 351–358 (doi:10.1098/rspb.1998.0302)) generates predictions about the discriminability of colours that agree with behavioural data, and consequently it has found wide application in studies of animal colour vision. Vorobyev and Osorio (1998) provide equations to calculate RNL colour distances for animals with di-, tri- and tetrachromatic vision, which is adequate for many species. However, researchers may sometimes wish to compute RNL colour distances for potentially more complex colour visual systems. Thus, we derive a simple, single formula for the computation of RNL distance between two measurements of colour, equivalent to the published di-, tri- and tetrachromatic equations of Vorobyev and Osorio (1998), and valid for colour visual systems with any number of types of noisy photoreceptors. This formula will allow the easy application of this important colour visual model across the fields of ecology, evolution and behaviour. PMID:28989773

The evolution of colour pattern complexity: selection for conspicuousness favours contrasting within-body colour combinations in lizards.

PubMed

Pérez I de Lanuza, G; Font, E

2016-05-01

Many animals display complex colour patterns that comprise several adjacent, often contrasting colour patches. Combining patches of complementary colours increases the overall conspicuousness of the complex pattern, enhancing signal detection. Therefore, selection for conspicuousness may act not only on the design of single colour patches, but also on their combination. Contrasting long- and short-wavelength colour patches are located on the ventral and lateral surfaces of many lacertid lizards. As the combination of long- and short-wavelength-based colours generates local chromatic contrast, we hypothesized that selection may favour the co-occurrence of lateral and ventral contrasting patches, resulting in complex colour patterns that maximize the overall conspicuousness of the signal. To test this hypothesis, we performed a comparative phylogenetic study using a categorical colour classification based on spectral data and descriptive information on lacertid coloration collected from the literature. Our results demonstrate that conspicuous ventral (long-wavelength-based) and lateral (short-wavelength-based) colour patches co-occur throughout the lacertid phylogeny more often than expected by chance, especially in the subfamily Lacertini. These results suggest that selection promotes the evolution of the complex pattern rather than the acquisition of a single conspicuous colour patch, possibly due to the increased conspicuousness caused by the combination of colours with contrasting spectral properties. © 2016 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2016 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Colour stability of maxillofacial silicone elastomers: a review of the literature.

PubMed

Kulkarni, R S; Nagda, S J

2014-09-01

Colour degradation is a serious limitation of maxillofacial silicone elastomers and most silicone facial prostheses have to be remade within 1 year due to colour deterioration. A comprehensive review of the literature was completed using MEDLINE and PubMed Library databases. This was supplemented with a manual search of selected journals and textbooks. English language articles published in peer-reviewed journals from 1966 to January 2012 in which colour stability of silicone elastomers was evaluated using standard research protocols were included. In all, 127 articles were identified and 23 met the inclusion criteria. Current literature reveals that average colour stability of maxillofacial silicone prostheses is 6-12 months, and inherent unstable nature of silicones is responsible for the color degradation. Opacifiers, oil pigments and inorganic colourants may have a protective effect on colour stability of prostheses. Organic colourants, ultraviolet (UV) light, cleansing solutions, dust and aging can adversely affect colour stability of silicone prostheses. A direct comparison between studies has not been possible, because of the differences in experimental set-up such as materials tested, colourants used, or method of aging. There appears to be a need for a standardised test protocol for colour stability of maxillofacial materials. Colour degradation limits the useful lifespan of maxillofacial silicones. Improvements in colour stability is possible with the use of certain nano opacifiers, UV absorbers, photoprotective agents, and use of inorganic pigments and metal oxides.

Impact of colour blindness on recognition of haematuria in bladder cancer patients.

PubMed

Katmawi-Sabbagh, Samer; Haq, Ahsanul; Jain, Sunila; Subhas, Gokul; Turnham, Helen

2009-01-01

Colour blindness might lead to failure in recognizing frank haematuria. Our aim is to investigate as to whether colour-blind males who develop bladder cancer present later with less favourable histology. Two hundred male patients with bladder cancer were assessed using Ishihara plate test for colour deficiency. Degree of haematuria, method of presentation and initial histologic findings were also determined. Colour-blind patients who develop bladder cancer present with less favourable histology compared with non-colour-blind (p = 0.01). Colour blindness was associated with presentation with more advanced bladder tumours.

Colour application on mammography image segmentation

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Embong, R.; Aziz, N. M. Nik Ab.; Karim, A. H. Abd; Ibrahim, M. R.

2017-09-01

The segmentation process is one of the most important steps in image processing and computer vision since it is vital in the initial stage of image analysis. Segmentation of medical images involves complex structures and it requires precise segmentation result which is necessary for clinical diagnosis such as the detection of tumour, oedema, and necrotic tissues. Since mammography images are grayscale, researchers are looking at the effect of colour in the segmentation process of medical images. Colour is known to play a significant role in the perception of object boundaries in non-medical colour images. Processing colour images require handling more data, hence providing a richer description of objects in the scene. Colour images contain ten percent (10%) additional edge information as compared to their grayscale counterparts. Nevertheless, edge detection in colour image is more challenging than grayscale image as colour space is considered as a vector space. In this study, we implemented red, green, yellow, and blue colour maps to grayscale mammography images with the purpose of testing the effect of colours on the segmentation of abnormality regions in the mammography images. We applied the segmentation process using the Fuzzy C-means algorithm and evaluated the percentage of average relative error of area for each colour type. The results showed that all segmentation with the colour map can be done successfully even for blurred and noisy images. Also the size of the area of the abnormality region is reduced when compare to the segmentation area without the colour map. The green colour map segmentation produced the smallest percentage of average relative error (10.009%) while yellow colour map segmentation gave the largest percentage of relative error (11.367%).

Formation of automatic letter-colour associations in non-synaesthetes through likelihood manipulation of letter-colour pairings.

PubMed

Kusnir, Flor; Thut, Gregor

2012-12-01

Grapheme-colour synaesthesia is a well-characterized phenomenon in which achromatic letters and/or digits automatically and systematically trigger specific colour sensations. Models of its underlying mechanisms diverge on a central question: whether triggered sensations reflect (1) an overdeveloped capacity in normal cross-modal processing (i.e., sharing characteristics with the general population), or rather (2) qualitatively deviant processing (i.e., unique to a few individuals). To test to what extent synaesthesia-like (automatic) letter-colour associations may be learned by non-synaesthetes into adulthood, implied by (1), we developed a learning paradigm that aimed to implicitly train such associations via a visual search task that employed statistical probability learning of specific letter-colour pairs. In contrast to previous synaesthesia-training studies (Cohen Kadosh, Henik, Catena, Walsh, & Fuentes, 2009; Meier & Rothen, 2009), here all participants were naïve as to the end-goal of the experiment (i.e., the formation of letter-colour associations), mimicking the learning conditions of acquired grapheme-colour synaesthesia (Hancock, 2006; Witthoft & Winawer, 2006). In two experiments, we found evidence for significant binding of colours to letters by non-synaesthetes. These newly-formed associations showed synaesthesia-like characteristics, because they correlated in strength with performance on individual synaesthetic Stroop-tasks (experiment 1), and because interference between the learned (associated) colour and the real colour during letter processing depended on their relative positions in colour space (opponent vs. non-opponent colours, experiment 2) suggesting automatic formation on a perceptual rather than conceptual level, analogous to synaesthesia. Although not evoking conscious colour percepts, these learned, synaesthesia-like associations in non-synaesthetes support that common mechanisms may underlie letter-colour associations in synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Properties of colour reference solutions of the European Pharmacopoea in CIE L*a*b* colour space.

PubMed

Subert, J; Farsa, O; Gajdosová, Z

2006-12-01

The coordinates of CIE L*a*b* uniform colour space have been acquired from the transmitance spectra of colour reference solutions of European Pharmacopoeia (Ph.Eur.). Calculation of colour differences of these solutions from purified water deltaE* gave their values in the range between 0.7 (B9 solution) to 36 (Y1 solution) CIE units. Excluding red colour reference soulutions, deltaE* values did not depend on concentrations of colour compounds linearly. Small deltaE* values founded by the brown and brownish-yellow colour reference solutions of the lowest concentrations can possibly cause some problems of visual examination of the degree of coloration of liquids according to Ph.Eur.

Biomimetic superwettable materials with structural colours.

PubMed

Wang, Zelinlan; Guo, Zhiguang

2017-12-05

Structural colours and superwettability are of great interest due to their unique characteristics. However, the application of materials with either structural colours or superwettability is limited. Moreover, materials possessing both structural colours and superwettability are crucial for many practical applications. The combination of structural colours and superwettability can result in materials for use various applications, such as in sensors, detectors, bioassays, anti-counterfeiting, and liquid actuators, by controlling surfaces to repel or absorb liquids. Regarding superwettability and structural colours, surface texture and chemical composition are two factors for the construction of materials with superwettable structural colours. This review aims at offering a comprehensive elaboration of the mechanism, recent biomimetic research, and applications of biomimetic superwettable materials with structural colours. Furthermore, this review provides significant insight into the design, fabrication, and application of biomimetic superwettable materials with structural colours.

Measuring changes in internal meat colour, colour lightness and colour opacity as predictors of cooking time.

PubMed

Pakula, Christiane; Stamminger, Rainer

2012-03-01

Consumers and cooks often assess the degree of doneness of roasted beef by the internal meat colour. Real-time colour measurement of the cooking process is therefore developed in order to determine the degree of doneness, and thus the end of the cooking process, by the internal meat colour. The colour values (X, Y, Z) provided by the true colour sensor show significant variation within initial values and end values. Change in colour lightness caused by the increase of meat colour opacity is dominant. Calculating the first deviation of the Y values (dY/dt) indicates that most rapid changes in lightness are within a temperature range of 42°C and 56°C. At this temperature, the degree of meat doneness is still assumed to be rare, but it is possible to predict the time needed from this point until the desired degree of doneness is reached. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Colour preferences in nest-building zebra finches.

PubMed

Muth, Felicity; Steele, Matthew; Healy, Susan D

2013-10-01

Some bird species are selective in the materials they choose for nest building, preferring, for example, materials of one colour to others. However, in many cases the cause of these preferences is not clear. One of those species is the zebra finch, which exhibits strong preferences for particular colours of nest material. In an attempt to determine why these birds strongly prefer one colour of material over another, we compared the preferences of paired male zebra finches for nest material colour with their preferences for food of the same colours. We found that birds did indeed prefer particular colours of nest material (in most cases blue) but that they did not generally prefer food of one colour over the other colours. It appears, then, that a preference for one colour or another of nest material is specific to the nest-building context. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: insert SI title. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Consumer acceptance and stability of spray dried betanin in model juices.

PubMed

Kaimainen, Mika; Laaksonen, Oskar; Järvenpää, Eila; Sandell, Mari; Huopalahti, Rainer

2015-11-15

Spray dried beetroot powder was used to colour model juices, and the consumer acceptance of the juices and stability of the colour during storage at 60 °C, 20 °C, 4 °C, and -20 °C were studied. The majority of the consumers preferred the model juices coloured with anthocyanins or beetroot extract over model juices coloured with spray dried beetroot powder. The consumers preferred more intensely coloured samples over lighter samples. Spray dried betanin samples were described as 'unnatural' and 'artificial' whereas the colour of beetroot extract was described more 'natural' and 'real juice'. No beetroot-derived off-odours or off-flavours were perceived in the model juices coloured with beetroot powder. Colour stability in model juices was greatly dependent on storage temperature with better stability at lower temperatures. Colour stability in the spray dried powder was very good at 20 °C. Betacyanins from beetroot could be a potential colourant for food products that are stored cold. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The colour of fitness: plumage coloration and lifetime reproductive success in the tawny owl

PubMed Central

Brommer, Jon E; Ahola, Kari; Karstinen, Teuvo

2005-01-01

We studied variation in plumage colour and life history in a population of tawny owls (Strix aluco) in southern Finland, using 26 years of data on individually marked male and female owls. Colour was scored on a semi-continuous scale from pale grey to reddish brown. Colour scoring was repeatable and showed a bimodal distribution (grey and brown morph) in both sexes. During the study period, colour composition was stable in the study population in both sexes. The sexes did not mate assortatively with respect to their colour. Colour was a highly heritable trait and was under selection. Grey-coloured male and female owls had a higher lifetime production of fledglings, and grey-coloured male (but not female) owls produced more recruits during their lifetime than brown individuals. Selection on colour was mediated through viability selection and not through fecundity selection. Our results reveal remarkably strong selection on a genetically determined phenotypic trait. PMID:16024349

Digital colour management system for colour parameters reconstruction

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Grudzinski, Karol; Lasmanowicz, Piotr; Assis, Lucas M. N.; Pawlicka, Agnieszka; Januszko, Adam

2013-10-01

Digital Colour Management System (DCMS) and its application to new adaptive camouflage system are presented in this paper. The DCMS is a digital colour rendering method which would allow for transformation of a real image into a set of colour pixels displayed on a computer monitor. Consequently, it can analyse pixels' colour which comprise images of the environment such as desert, semi-desert, jungle, farmland or rocky mountain in order to prepare an adaptive camouflage pattern most suited for the terrain. This system is described in present work as well as the use the subtractive colours mixing method to construct the real time colour changing electrochromic window/pixel (ECD) for camouflage purpose. The ECD with glass/ITO/Prussian Blue(PB)/electrolyte/CeO2-TiO2/ITO/glass configuration was assembled and characterized. The ECD switched between green and yellow after +/-1.5 V application and the colours have been controlled by Digital Colour Management System and described by CIE LAB parameters.

Colourism: a global adolescent health concern.

PubMed

Craddock, Nadia; Dlova, Ncoza; Diedrichs, Phillippa C

2018-05-08

Colourism, a form of prejudice and discrimination based solely upon skin colour, stands to jeopardize the physical health, wellbeing and life chances of adolescents of colour, globally. Research shows that adolescents can experience colourism at school and college, in the criminal justice system, at work and in the media they consume. It is therefore unsurprising that adolescents of colour often express a desire for lighter skin tones and/or are dissatisfied with their skin tone. Although research is scarce, some studies include older adolescents in their samples of skin-lightening product users. This is significant as the evidence is clear that the unmonitored use of skin-lightening products can be harmful to physical and psychological health, with evidence linking skin-lightening use to skin damage, kidney failure and depression. Although it is evident that colourism is central to the lives of adolescents of colour, more research is needed concerning the use of skin-lightening products among adolescents. Media literacy and critical race theory offer avenues in helping attenuate the harmful impact of colourism for adolescents of colour.

Colour assortative pairing in a colour polymorphic lizard is independent of population morph diversity

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Pérez i de Lanuza, Guillem; Font, Enrique; Carretero, Miguel Ángel

2016-10-01

Previous work with a colour polymorphic population of Podarcis muralis (Lacertidae) revealed that lizards pair by ventral colour, favouring the same colour (i.e. homomorphic) pairs. Such assortative pairing, which probably results in colour assortative mating, can have consequences for the genetic structure of the population and potentially promote speciation. The population previously studied, located in the Pyrenees, encompasses white, yellow and orange animals, as well as intermediate white-orange and yellow-orange morphs. However, other Pyrenean populations of P. muralis have less ventral colour morphs. Our aim in this study is to test the generality of the assortative colour pairing system, extending our previous analyses to populations with different morph compositions and frequencies. The results show that the assortative pattern of pairing is similar in all the populations analysed and, hence, independent of morph composition and not restricted to pentamorphic populations. This suggests that assortative pairing by colour is a general phenomenon for colour polymorphic populations of P. muralis.

Colour change of twig-mimicking peppered moth larvae is a continuous reaction norm that increases camouflage against avian predators

PubMed Central

Rowland, Hannah M.; Edmonds, Nicola; Saccheri, Ilik J.

2017-01-01

Camouflage, and in particular background-matching, is one of the most common anti-predator strategies observed in nature. Animals can improve their match to the colour/pattern of their surroundings through background selection, and/or by plastic colour change. Colour change can occur rapidly (a few seconds), or it may be slow, taking hours to days. Many studies have explored the cues and mechanisms behind rapid colour change, but there is a considerable lack of information about slow colour change in the context of predation: the cues that initiate it, and the range of phenotypes that are produced. Here we show that peppered moth (Biston betularia) larvae respond to colour and luminance of the twigs they rest on, and exhibit a continuous reaction norm of phenotypes. When presented with a heterogeneous environment of mixed twig colours, individual larvae specialise crypsis towards one colour rather than developing an intermediate colour. Flexible colour change in this species has likely evolved in association with wind dispersal and polyphagy, which result in caterpillars settling and feeding in a diverse range of visual environments. This is the first example of visually induced slow colour change in Lepidoptera that has been objectively quantified and measured from the visual perspective of natural predators. PMID:29158965

Colour changes of orthodontic elastomeric module materials exposed to in vitro dietary media.

PubMed

Ardeshna, Anil P; Vaidyanathan, Tritala K

2009-09-01

To evaluate the colour stability of orthodontic elastomeric module material exposed to dietary media. An in vitro laboratory study. Coloured and clear orthodontic elastomeric modules from four companies were exposed to coffee, cola, tea and spices for 72 h. The difference in colour components was measured with a Minolta chromameter before and after exposure. Significant changes in colour, including grey level and chromaticity, both as a function of colour and company of elastomeric ligature module were found following exposure to beverages and spices. Colour change was most affected by Deltab* (yellowness) and most significant in clear modules. Modules made using injection mouldings were more resistant to colour change than those by extrusion. Spice mix had the most effect and cola beverage the least. Clinically, these changes compromised both colour stability and esthetics of the elastomeric module. Clinicians should make patients aware of the effect of consuming beverages and spices on the colour stability of their selected ligature modules. Clinicians should favour modules made with injection moulding. Darker colour modules may be preferred to clear modules to avoid excessive colour degradation through dietary media such as beverages and food spices. Patients consuming large amounts of spices or coffee should avoid clear modules made by extrusion processing because of their tendency to discolour.

Colour change of twig-mimicking peppered moth larvae is a continuous reaction norm that increases camouflage against avian predators.

PubMed

Eacock, Amy; Rowland, Hannah M; Edmonds, Nicola; Saccheri, Ilik J

2017-01-01

Camouflage, and in particular background-matching, is one of the most common anti-predator strategies observed in nature. Animals can improve their match to the colour/pattern of their surroundings through background selection, and/or by plastic colour change. Colour change can occur rapidly (a few seconds), or it may be slow, taking hours to days. Many studies have explored the cues and mechanisms behind rapid colour change, but there is a considerable lack of information about slow colour change in the context of predation: the cues that initiate it, and the range of phenotypes that are produced. Here we show that peppered moth ( Biston betularia ) larvae respond to colour and luminance of the twigs they rest on, and exhibit a continuous reaction norm of phenotypes. When presented with a heterogeneous environment of mixed twig colours, individual larvae specialise crypsis towards one colour rather than developing an intermediate colour. Flexible colour change in this species has likely evolved in association with wind dispersal and polyphagy, which result in caterpillars settling and feeding in a diverse range of visual environments. This is the first example of visually induced slow colour change in Lepidoptera that has been objectively quantified and measured from the visual perspective of natural predators.

Discrepancies between descriptions and illustrations of colours in Congo red-stained amyloid, and explanation of discrepant colours.

PubMed

Howie, Alexander J; Owen-Casey, Mared P

2010-09-01

Congo red-stained sections of amyloid may show various colours between crossed polariser and analyser. The aims were to see how papers described the colours, to compare descriptions with illustrations, and to explain the colours. In 160 papers on Congo red-stained amyloid, the commonest descriptions were 'green birefringence' and 'apple-green birefringence'. In 191 figures in 82 papers, 59 (31%) showed a pure green colour, 62 (32%) showed green and yellow or blue and yellow, 38 (20%) showed green and a colour other than yellow, mostly red, and 32 (17%) showed other colours. Discrepancies between colours reported and illustrated were noted in 127 figures (66%). Most (77) were between green alone in descriptions and green and another colour in figures, and 30 were between green in descriptions and no green at all in figures. Pure green can be seen in ideal conditions, but more often there are green and yellow, explained by strain birefringence, and green and red or other combinations, explained by uncrossing of polariser and analyser. These other anomalous colours are just as characteristic of amyloid as the pure green colour. Many papers on Congo red-stained amyloid appear to describe what is expected theoretically rather than what is actually seen.

48 CFR 239.7411 - Contract clauses.

Code of Federal Regulations, 2011 CFR

2011-10-01

... superseded. (d) Use the clause at 252.239-7016, Telecommunications Security Equipment, Devices, Techniques... OF DEFENSE SPECIAL CATEGORIES OF CONTRACTING ACQUISITION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Telecommunications... following clauses in solicitations, contracts, and basic agreements for telecommunications services. Modify...

Perceiving colour at a glimpse: the relevance of where one fixates.

PubMed

Brenner, Eli; Granzier, Jeroen J M; Smeets, Jeroen B J

2007-09-01

We used classification images to examine whether certain parts of a surface are particularly important when judging its colour, such as its centre, its edges, or where one is looking. The scene consisted of a regular pattern of square tiles with random colours from along a short line in colour space. Targets defined by a square array of brighter tiles were presented for 200ms. The colours of the tiles within the target were biased by an amount that led to about 70% of the responses being correct. Subjects fixated a point that fell within the target's lower left quadrant and reported each target's colour. They tended to report the colour of the tiles near the fixation point. The influence of the tiles' colour reversed at the target's border and was weaker outside the target. The colour at the border itself was not particularly important. When coloured tiles were also presented before (and after) target presentation they had an opposite (but weaker) effect, indicating that the change in colour is important. Comparing the influence of tiles outside the target with that of tiles at the position at which the target would soon appear suggests that when judging surface colours during the short "glimpses" between saccades, temporal comparisons can be at least as important as spatial ones. We conclude that eye movements are important for colour vision, both because they determine which part of the surface of interest will be given most weight and because the perceived colour of such a surface also depends on what one looked at last.

Effect of location in the canopy on the colour development of three apple cultivars during growth.

PubMed

Unuk, Tatjana; Tijskens, L M M Pol; Germšek, Blaž; Zadravec, Peter; Vogrin, Andrej; Hribar, Janez; Simčič, Marjan; Tojnko, Stanislav

2012-09-01

Homogeneity in appearance is one of the quality aspects asked for in the supply chain. Decreasing the biological variation in batches of harvested apples (cultivars Braeburn, Fuji and Gala) becomes increasingly important. Skin colour is one of the aspects that determine both optimal harvest and stage of development. Skin colour is affected by location in the canopy. The rules of development of biological variation are now established and will be used on skin colour data. The Minolta colour aspects a*, b* and L* measured before commercial harvest change in a sigmoidal fashion and can be analysed including the biological variation, with a logistic model in indexed nonlinear regression, obtaining explained parts of above 90%. The mechanism of colour change is not affected by state of development or location in the canopy. The location in the canopy affects the intensity of both red and green colouring compounds. The variation in colouration is not affected by the location in the canopy. The red-coloured apple cultivar (Gala) depends more on the location in the canopy than the less-coloured cultivars (Fuji and Braeburn). The colour development in Fuji apples is considerably slower, with a much larger variation in stage of development. The location in the canopy affects all aspects of biological variation (biological shift factor and asymptotic starting level of colouration) for all three colour aspects L*, a* and b*, but only the mean value, not the standard deviation. The biological shift factors per colour aspects are linearly related. Once induced, variation remains constant during development. Copyright © 2012 Society of Chemical Industry.

Is colour modulation an independent factor in human visual photosensitivity?

PubMed

Parra, Jaime; Lopes da Silva, Fernando H; Stroink, Hans; Kalitzin, Stiliyan

2007-06-01

Considering that the role of colour in photosensitive epilepsy (PSE) remains unclear, we designed a study to determine the potential of different colours, colour combinations and white light to trigger photoparoxysmal responses (PPRs) under stringent controlled conditions. After assessing their photosensitivity to stroboscopic white light and black and white patterns, we studied 43 consecutive PSE patients (mean age 19 years, 34 women), using a specially designed colour stimulator. Stimuli included: pulse trains between 10 and 30 Hz of white light and of all primary colours, and also isoluminant alternating time-sequences of colours. Illuminance was kept constant at 100 lux. A progressive stepwise increase of the modulation-depth (MD) of the stimuli was used to determine PPRs threshold. Whereas all the 43 patients were found to be sensitive during the stroboscopic and pattern protocol, only 25 showed PPRs (Waltz's score >2) at least in one session when studied with the colour stimulator. Coloured stimuli elicited PPRs in all these patients, whereas white light did so only in 17 patients. Of the primary colours, red elicited more PPRs (54 in 22 patients) and at a lower MD (max Z-score 0.93 at 10 Hz). Of the alternating sequences, the red-blue was the most provocative stimulus, especially below 30 Hz (100% of patients, max Z-score: 1.65 at 15 Hz). Blue-green was the least provocative stimulus, since it elicited only seven PPRs in seven (28%) patients (max Z-score 0.44 at 10 Hz). Sensitivity to alternating colours was not correlated to sensitivity to individual colours. We conclude that colour sensitivity follows two different mechanisms: one, dependent on colour modulation, plays a role at lower frequencies (<30 Hz). Another, dependent on single-colour light intensity modulation correlates to white light sensitivity and is activated at higher frequencies. Our results suggest that the prescription of spectacles with coloured lenses, tailored to the patient, can be an effective preventative measure against visually induced seizures.

Salience of Primary and Secondary Colours in Infancy

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Franklin, Anna; Pitchford, Nicola; Hart, Lynsey; Davies, Ian R. L.; Clausse, Samantha; Jennings, Siobhan

2008-01-01

Primary colour terms ("black", "white", "red", "green", "yellow", and "blue") are more fundamental in colour language than secondary colour terms ("pink", "purple", "orange", "brown", and "grey"). Here, we assess whether this distinction exists in the absence of language, by investigating whether primary colours attract and sustain preverbal…

A familial factor in the development of colour agnosia.

PubMed

Nijboer, Tanja C W; van Zandvoort, Martine J E; de Haan, Edward H F

2007-04-09

An important aspect of research into the link between genes and behaviour concerns the identification of familial determination. There is evidence for familial factors in selective deficits, such as developmental dyslexia and developmental prosopagnosia. Colour agnosia concerns a selective neuropsychological condition in which colour perception is intact, while the identification and naming of colour is disrupted. We recently demonstrated that this deficit can occur as a developmental deficit. Here, we show that there is a familial factor in the development of colour agnosia by reporting the colour processing abilities of the mother and the daughters of a man with developmental colour agnosia.

Colour measurements of pigmented rice grain using flatbed scanning and image analysis

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Kaisaat, Khotchakorn; Keawdonree, Nuttapong; Chomkokard, Sakchai; Jinuntuya, Noparit; Pattanasiri, Busara

2017-09-01

Recently, the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards (ACFS) have drafted a manual of Thai colour rice standards. However, there are no quantitative descriptions of rice colour and its measurement method. These drawbacks might lead to misunderstanding for people who use the manual. In this work, we proposed an inexpensive method, using flatbed scanning together with image analysis, to quantitatively measure rice colour and colour uniformity. To demonstrate its general applicability for colour differentiation of rice, we applied it to different kinds of pigmented rice, including Riceberry rice with and without uniform colour and Chinese black rice.

Colour vision experimental studies in teaching of optometry

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ozolinsh, Maris; Ikaunieks, Gatis; Fomins, Sergejs

2005-10-01

Following aspects related to human colour vision are included in experimental lessons for optometry students of University of Latvia. Characteristics of coloured stimuli (emitting and reflective), determination their coordinates in different colour spaces. Objective characteristics of transmitting of colour stimuli through the optical system of eye together with various types of appliances (lenses, prisms, Fresnel prisms). Psychophysical determination of mono- and polychromatic stimuli perception taking into account physiology of eye, retinal colour photoreceptor topography and spectral sensitivity, spatial and temporal characteristics of retinal receptive fields. Ergonomics of visual perception, influence of illumination and glare effects, testing of colour vision deficiencies.

Whorfian effects on colour memory are not reliable.

PubMed

Wright, Oliver; Davies, Ian R L; Franklin, Anna

2015-01-01

The Whorfian hypothesis suggests that differences between languages cause differences in cognitive processes. Support for this idea comes from studies that find that patterns of colour memory errors made by speakers of different languages align with differences in colour lexicons. The current study provides a large-scale investigation of the relationship between colour language and colour memory, adopting a cross-linguistic and developmental approach. Colour memory on a delayed matching-to-sample (XAB) task was investigated in 2 language groups with differing colour lexicons, for 3 developmental stages and 2 regions of colour space. Analyses used a Bayesian technique to provide simultaneous assessment of two competing hypotheses (H1-Whorfian effect present, H0-Whorfian effect absent). Results of the analyses consistently favoured H0. The findings suggest that Whorfian effects on colour memory are not reliable and that the importance of such effects should not be overestimated.

The elimination of colour blocks in remote sensing images in VR

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Zhao, Xiuying; Li, Guohui; Su, Zhenyu

2018-02-01

Aiming at the characteristics in HSI colour space of remote sensing images at different time in VR, a unified colour algorithm is proposed. First the method converted original image from RGB colour space to HSI colour space. Then, based on the invariance of the hue before and after the colour adjustment in the HSI colour space and the brightness translational features of the image after the colour adjustment, establish the linear model which satisfied these characteristics of the image. And then determine the range of the parameters in the model. Finally, according to the established colour adjustment model, the experimental verification is carried out. The experimental results show the proposed model can effectively recover the clear image, and the algorithm is faster. The experimental results show the proposed algorithm can effectively enhance the image clarity and can solve the pigment block problem well.

An RGB approach to prismatic colours

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Theilmann, Florian; Grusche, Sascha

2013-11-01

Teaching prismatic colours usually boils down to establishing the take-home message that white light consists of ‘differently refrangible’ coloured rays. This approach explains the classical spectrum of seven colours but has its limitations, e.g. in discussing spectra from setups with higher resolution or in understanding the well saturated colours of simple edge spectra. Besides, the connection of physical wavelength and colour remains obscure—after all, colour and wavelength are not equivalent. In this paper, we suggest that teachers demonstrate these impressive experiments in the classroom by using a video projector and a prism to disperse black-and-white slit images. We introduce experimental and diagrammatic methods for establishing the connection between the original slit image and the wavelength composition of the resulting spectrum. From this (or any other given) wavelength composition, students can systematically derive the colours with a simple RGB approach, thus gaining a more accurate picture of the relation between wavelength and colour.

Comparing colour discrimination and proofreading performance under compact fluorescent and halogen lamp lighting.

PubMed

Mayr, Susanne; Köpper, Maja; Buchner, Axel

2013-01-01

Legislation in many countries has banned inefficient household lighting. Consequently, classic incandescent lamps have to be replaced by more efficient alternatives such as halogen and compact fluorescent lamps (CFL). Alternatives differ in their spectral power distributions, implying colour-rendering differences. Participants performed a colour discrimination task - the Farnsworth-Munsell 100 Hue Test--and a proofreading task under CFL or halogen lighting of comparable correlated colour temperatures at low (70 lx) or high (800 lx) illuminance. Illuminance positively affected colour discrimination and proofreading performance, whereas the light source was only relevant for colour discrimination. Discrimination was impaired with CFL lighting. There were no differences between light sources in terms of self-reported physical discomfort and mood state, but the majority of the participants correctly judged halogen lighting to be more appropriate for discriminating colours. The findings hint at the colour-rendering deficiencies associated with energy-efficient CFLs. In order to compare performance under energy-efficient alternatives of classic incandescent lighting, colour discrimination and proofreading performance was compared under CFL and halogen lighting. Colour discrimination was impaired under CFLs, which hints at the practical drawbacks associated with the reduced colour-rendering properties of energy-efficient CFLs.

The original colours of fossil beetles

PubMed Central

McNamara, Maria E.; Briggs, Derek E. G.; Orr, Patrick J.; Noh, Heeso; Cao, Hui

2012-01-01

Structural colours, the most intense, reflective and pure colours in nature, are generated when light is scattered by complex nanostructures. Metallic structural colours are widespread among modern insects and can be preserved in their fossil counterparts, but it is unclear whether the colours have been altered during fossilization, and whether the absence of colours is always real. To resolve these issues, we investigated fossil beetles from five Cenozoic biotas. Metallic colours in these specimens are generated by an epicuticular multi-layer reflector; the fidelity of its preservation correlates with that of other key cuticular ultrastructures. Where these other ultrastructures are well preserved in non-metallic fossil specimens, we can infer that the original cuticle lacked a multi-layer reflector; its absence in the fossil is not a preservational artefact. Reconstructions of the original colours of the fossils based on the structure of the multi-layer reflector show that the preserved colours are offset systematically to longer wavelengths; this probably reflects alteration of the refractive index of the epicuticle during fossilization. These findings will allow the former presence, and original hue, of metallic structural colours to be identified in diverse fossil insects, thus providing critical evidence of the evolution of structural colour in this group. PMID:21957131

Human Commercial Models' Eye Colour Shows Negative Frequency-Dependent Selection.

PubMed

Forti, Isabela Rodrigues Nogueira; Young, Robert John

2016-01-01

In this study we investigated the eye colour of human commercial models registered in the UK (400 female and 400 male) and Brazil (400 female and 400 male) to test the hypothesis that model eye colour frequency was the result of negative frequency-dependent selection. The eye colours of the models were classified as: blue, brown or intermediate. Chi-square analyses of data for countries separated by sex showed that in the United Kingdom brown eyes and intermediate colours were significantly more frequent than expected in comparison to the general United Kingdom population (P<0.001). In Brazil, the most frequent eye colour brown was significantly less frequent than expected in comparison to the general Brazilian population. These results support the hypothesis that model eye colour is the result of negative frequency-dependent selection. This could be the result of people using eye colour as a marker of genetic diversity and finding rarer eye colours more attractive because of the potential advantage more genetically diverse offspring that could result from such a choice. Eye colour may be important because in comparison to many other physical traits (e.g., hair colour) it is hard to modify, hide or disguise, and it is highly polymorphic.

The original colours of fossil beetles.

PubMed

McNamara, Maria E; Briggs, Derek E G; Orr, Patrick J; Noh, Heeso; Cao, Hui

2012-03-22

Structural colours, the most intense, reflective and pure colours in nature, are generated when light is scattered by complex nanostructures. Metallic structural colours are widespread among modern insects and can be preserved in their fossil counterparts, but it is unclear whether the colours have been altered during fossilization, and whether the absence of colours is always real. To resolve these issues, we investigated fossil beetles from five Cenozoic biotas. Metallic colours in these specimens are generated by an epicuticular multi-layer reflector; the fidelity of its preservation correlates with that of other key cuticular ultrastructures. Where these other ultrastructures are well preserved in non-metallic fossil specimens, we can infer that the original cuticle lacked a multi-layer reflector; its absence in the fossil is not a preservational artefact. Reconstructions of the original colours of the fossils based on the structure of the multi-layer reflector show that the preserved colours are offset systematically to longer wavelengths; this probably reflects alteration of the refractive index of the epicuticle during fossilization. These findings will allow the former presence, and original hue, of metallic structural colours to be identified in diverse fossil insects, thus providing critical evidence of the evolution of structural colour in this group.

Colour fluctuations in grapheme-colour synaesthesia: The effect of clinical and non-clinical mood changes.

PubMed

Kay, Collette L; Carmichael, Duncan A; Ruffell, Henry E; Simner, Julia

2015-08-01

Synaesthesia is a condition that gives rise to unusual secondary sensations (e.g., colours are perceived when listening to music). These unusual sensations tend to be reported as being stable throughout adulthood (e.g., Simner & Logie, 2007, Neurocase, 13, 358) and the consistency of these experiences over time is taken as the behavioural hallmark of genuineness. Our study looked at the influence of mood states on synaesthetic colours. In Experiment 1, we recruited grapheme-colour synaesthetes (who experience colours from letters/digits) and elicited their synaesthetic colours, as well as their mood and depression states, in two different testing sessions. In each session, participants completed the PANAS-X (Watson & Clark, 1999) and the BDI-II (Beck, Steer, & Brown, 1996, Manual for Beck Depression Inventory-II), and chose their synaesthetic colours for letters A-Z from an interactive colour palette. We found that negative mood significantly decreased the luminance of synaesthetic colours. In Experiment 2, we showed that synaesthetic colours were also less luminant for synaesthetes with anxiety disorder, versus those without. Additional evidence suggests that colour saturation, too, may inversely correlate with depressive symptoms. These results show that fluctuations in mood within both a normal and clinical range influence synaesthetic colours over time. This has implications for our understanding about the longitudinal stability of synaesthetic experiences, and of how mood may interact with the visual (imagery) systems. © 2014 The British Psychological Society.

The evolutionary history of colour polymorphism in Ischnura damselflies.

PubMed

Sánchez-Guillén, Rosa A; Cordero-Rivera, Adolfo; Rivas-Torres, Anais; Wellenreuther, Maren; Bybee, Seth; Hansson, Bengt; Velasquez-Vélez, María I; Realpe, Emilio; Chávez-Ríos, Jesús R; Villalobos, Fabricio; Dumont, Henri

2018-05-10

A major challenge in evolutionary biology consists of understanding how genetic and phenotypic variation is created and maintained. In the present study, we investigated the origin(s) and evolutionary patterns of the female-limited colour polymorphism in ischnuran damselflies. These consist of the presence of one to three colour morphs: one androchrome morph with a colouration that is similar to the male, and two gynochrome morphs (infuscans and aurantiaca) with female-specific colouration. We (i) documented the colour and mating system of 44 of the 75 taxa within the genus Ischnura, (ii) reconstructed the evolutionary history of colour and mating system to identify the ancestral state, (iii) evaluated the stability of the colour morph status over time, and (iv) tested for a correlation between colour and mating system. We found that the ances tral female colour of Ischnura was monomorphic and aurantiaca and that colour morph status changed over time; characterised by many gains and losses across the species tree. Our results further showed that colour polymorphism is significantly more frequent among polyandric species, whereas monandric species tend to be monomorphic. Research on some Ischnura species has shown that colour morphs have evolved to reduce male mating harassment, and our finding that the same phenotypic morphs have evolved multiple times (convergent evolution) suggests that several species in this genus might be experiencing similar selective pressures. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

A comparative analysis of colour preferences in temperate and tropical social bees.

PubMed

Balamurali, G S; Nicholls, Elizabeth; Somanathan, Hema; Hempel de Ibarra, Natalie

2018-01-02

The spontaneous occurrence of colour preferences without learning has been demonstrated in several insect species; however, the underlying mechanisms are still not understood. Here, we use a comparative approach to investigate spontaneous and learned colour preferences in foraging bees of two tropical and one temperate species. We hypothesised that tropical bees utilise different sets of plants and therefore might differ in their spontaneous colour preferences. We tested colour-naive bees and foragers from colonies that had been enclosed in large flight cages for a long time. Bees were shortly trained with triplets of neutral, UV-grey stimuli placed randomly at eight locations on a black training disk to induce foraging motivation. During unrewarded tests, the bees' responses to eight colours were video-recorded. Bees explored all colours and displayed an overall preference for colours dominated by long or short wavelengths, rather than a single colour stimulus. Naive Apis cerana and Bombus terrestris showed similar choices. Both inspected long-wavelength stimuli more than short-wavelength stimuli, whilst responses of the tropical stingless bee Tetragonula iridipennis differed, suggesting that resource partitioning could be a determinant of spontaneous colour preferences. Reward on an unsaturated yellow colour shifted the bees' preference curves as predicted, which is in line with previous findings that brief colour experience overrides the expression of spontaneous preferences. We conclude that rather than determining foraging behaviour in inflexible ways, spontaneous colour preferences vary depending on experimental settings and reflect potential biases in mechanisms of learning and decision-making in pollinating insects.

A comparative analysis of colour preferences in temperate and tropical social bees

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balamurali, G. S.; Nicholls, Elizabeth; Somanathan, Hema; Hempel de Ibarra, Natalie

2018-02-01

The spontaneous occurrence of colour preferences without learning has been demonstrated in several insect species; however, the underlying mechanisms are still not understood. Here, we use a comparative approach to investigate spontaneous and learned colour preferences in foraging bees of two tropical and one temperate species. We hypothesised that tropical bees utilise different sets of plants and therefore might differ in their spontaneous colour preferences. We tested colour-naive bees and foragers from colonies that had been enclosed in large flight cages for a long time. Bees were shortly trained with triplets of neutral, UV-grey stimuli placed randomly at eight locations on a black training disk to induce foraging motivation. During unrewarded tests, the bees' responses to eight colours were video-recorded. Bees explored all colours and displayed an overall preference for colours dominated by long or short wavelengths, rather than a single colour stimulus. Naive Apis cerana and Bombus terrestris showed similar choices. Both inspected long-wavelength stimuli more than short-wavelength stimuli, whilst responses of the tropical stingless bee Tetragonula iridipennis differed, suggesting that resource partitioning could be a determinant of spontaneous colour preferences. Reward on an unsaturated yellow colour shifted the bees' preference curves as predicted, which is in line with previous findings that brief colour experience overrides the expression of spontaneous preferences. We conclude that rather than determining foraging behaviour in inflexible ways, spontaneous colour preferences vary depending on experimental settings and reflect potential biases in mechanisms of learning and decision-making in pollinating insects.

Improved colour matching technique for fused nighttime imagery with daytime colours

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Hogervorst, Maarten A.; Toet, Alexander

2016-10-01

Previously, we presented a method for applying daytime colours to fused nighttime (e.g., intensified and LWIR) imagery (Toet and Hogervorst, Opt.Eng. 51(1), 2012). Our colour mapping not only imparts a natural daylight appearance to multiband nighttime images but also enhances the contrast and visibility of otherwise obscured details. As a result, this colourizing method leads to increased ease of interpretation, better discrimination and identification of materials, faster reaction times and ultimately improved situational awareness (Toet e.a., Opt.Eng.53(4), 2014). A crucial step in this colouring process is the choice of a suitable colour mapping scheme. When daytime colour images and multiband sensor images of the same scene are available the colour mapping can be derived from matching image samples (i.e., by relating colour values to sensor signal intensities). When no exact matching reference images are available the colour transformation can be derived from the first-order statistical properties of the reference image and the multiband sensor image (Toet, Info. Fus. 4(3), 2003). In the current study we investigated new colour fusion schemes that combine the advantages of the both methods, using the correspondence between multiband sensor values and daytime colours (1st method) in a smooth transformation (2nd method). We designed and evaluated three new fusion schemes that focus on: i) a closer match with the daytime luminances, ii) improved saliency of hot targets and iii) improved discriminability of materials

From spectral information to animal colour vision: experiments and concepts.

PubMed

Kelber, Almut; Osorio, Daniel

2010-06-07

Many animals use the spectral distribution of light to guide behaviour, but whether they have colour vision has been debated for over a century. Our strong subjective experience of colour and the fact that human vision is the paradigm for colour science inevitably raises the question of how we compare with other species. This article outlines four grades of 'colour vision' that can be related to the behavioural uses of spectral information, and perhaps to the underlying mechanisms. In the first, even without an (image-forming) eye, simple organisms can compare photoreceptor signals to locate a desired light environment. At the next grade, chromatic mechanisms along with spatial vision guide innate preferences for objects such as food or mates; this is sometimes described as wavelength-specific behaviour. Here, we compare the capabilities of di- and trichromatic vision, and ask why some animals have more than three spectral types of receptors. Behaviours guided by innate preferences are then distinguished from a grade that allows learning, in part because the ability to learn an arbitrary colour is evidence for a neural representation of colour. The fourth grade concerns colour appearance rather than colour difference: for instance, the distinction between hue and saturation, and colour categorization. These higher-level phenomena are essential to human colour perception but poorly known in animals, and we suggest how they can be studied. Finally, we observe that awareness of colour and colour qualia cannot be easily tested in animals.

Counting with Colours? Effect of Colours on the Numerical Abilities of House Crows (Corvus splendens) and Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis).

PubMed

Rahman, Nor Amira Abdul; Ali, Zalila; Zuharah, Wan Fatma; Fadzly, Nik

2016-08-01

We conducted several aviary experiments to investigate the influence of colours in quantity judgments of two species of birds; house crow (Corvus splendens) and common myna (Acridotheres tristis). Different quantity (in seven different food proportions) of mealworms were presented nonsequentially to all birds using artificially coloured red mealworms, for experiment 1, and using artificially coloured green mealworms, for experiment 2. Both red and green coloured mealworms have no significant effect on house crow's quantity judgments (red: F6,30 = 1.748, p = 0.144; and green: F6,30= 1.085, p = 0.394). Common myna, however, showed a strong influence of red colour in their quantity judgment ( F6,30 = 2.922, p = 0.023) as they succeeded in choosing the largest amount of food between two cups, but not when offered food using green coloured mealworms ( F6,30 = 1.183, p = 0.342). In the next experiment, we hypothesised that both house crow and common myna will prefer red coloured food items over green coloured food items, when factors such as the amount of food is equal. We chose to test red and green colours because both colours play an important role in most avian food selections. Results showed that there were no significant differences in the selection of red or green coloured mealworms for both house crows ( F6,30 = 2.310, p = 0.06) and common myna ( F6,30 = 0.823, p = 0.561).

Colour break in reverse bicolour daffodils is associated with the presence of Narcissus mosaic virus

PubMed Central

2011-01-01

Background Daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) are one of the world's most popular ornamentals. They also provide a scientific model for studying the carotenoid pigments responsible for their yellow and orange flower colours. In reverse bicolour daffodils, the yellow flower trumpet fades to white with age. The flowers of this type of daffodil are particularly prone to colour break whereby, upon opening, the yellow colour of the perianth is observed to be 'broken' into patches of white. This colour break symptom is characteristic of potyviral infections in other ornamentals such as tulips whose colour break is due to alterations in the presence of anthocyanins. However, reverse bicolour flowers displaying colour break show no other virus-like symptoms such as leaf mottling or plant stunting, leading some to argue that the carotenoid-based colour breaking in reverse bicolour flowers may not be caused by virus infection. Results Although potyviruses have been reported to cause colour break in other flower species, enzyme-linked-immunoassays with an antibody specific to the potyviral family showed that potyviruses were not responsible for the occurrence of colour break in reverse bicolour daffodils. Colour break in this type of daffodil was clearly associated with the presence of large quantities of rod-shaped viral particles of lengths 502-580 nm in tepals. Sap from flowers displaying colour break caused red necrotic lesions on Gomphrena globosa, suggesting the presence of potexvirus. Red necrotic lesions were not observed in this indicator plant when sap from reverse bicolour flowers not showing colour break was used. The reverse transcriptase polymerase reactions using degenerate primers to carla-, potex- and poty-viruses linked viral RNA with colour break and sequencing of the amplified products indicated that the potexvirus Narcissisus mosaic virus was the predominant virus associated with the occurrence of the colour break. Conclusions High viral counts were associated with the reverse bicolour daffodil flowers that were displaying colour break but otherwise showed no other symptoms of infection. Narcissus mosaic virus was the virus that was clearly linked to the carotenoid-based colour break. PMID:21854646

Dynamic facial expressions of emotion transmit an evolving hierarchy of signals over time.

PubMed

Jack, Rachael E; Garrod, Oliver G B; Schyns, Philippe G

2014-01-20

Designed by biological and social evolutionary pressures, facial expressions of emotion comprise specific facial movements to support a near-optimal system of signaling and decoding. Although highly dynamical, little is known about the form and function of facial expression temporal dynamics. Do facial expressions transmit diagnostic signals simultaneously to optimize categorization of the six classic emotions, or sequentially to support a more complex communication system of successive categorizations over time? Our data support the latter. Using a combination of perceptual expectation modeling, information theory, and Bayesian classifiers, we show that dynamic facial expressions of emotion transmit an evolving hierarchy of "biologically basic to socially specific" information over time. Early in the signaling dynamics, facial expressions systematically transmit few, biologically rooted face signals supporting the categorization of fewer elementary categories (e.g., approach/avoidance). Later transmissions comprise more complex signals that support categorization of a larger number of socially specific categories (i.e., the six classic emotions). Here, we show that dynamic facial expressions of emotion provide a sophisticated signaling system, questioning the widely accepted notion that emotion communication is comprised of six basic (i.e., psychologically irreducible) categories, and instead suggesting four. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Testosterone-Induced Expression of Male Colour Morphs in Females of the Polymorphic Tawny Dragon Lizard, Ctenophorus decresii.

PubMed

Rankin, Katrina; Stuart-Fox, Devi

2015-01-01

Many colour polymorphisms are present only in one sex, usually males, but proximate mechanisms controlling the expression of sex-limited colour polymorphisms have received little attention. Here, we test the hypothesis that artificial elevation of testosterone in females of the colour polymorphic tawny dragon lizard, Ctenophorus decresii, can induce them to express the same colour morphs, in similar frequencies, to those found in males. Male C. decresii, express four discrete throat colour morphs (orange, yellow, grey and an orange central patch surrounded by yellow). We used silastic implants to experimentally elevate testosterone levels in mature females to induce colour expression. Testosterone elevation resulted in a substantial increase in the proportion and intensity of orange but not yellow colouration, which was present in a subset of females prior to treatment. Consequently, females exhibited the same set of colour morphs as males, and we confirmed that these morphs are objectively classifiable, by using digital image analyses and spectral reflectance measurements, and occur in similar frequencies as in males. These results indicate that the influence of testosterone differs for different colours, suggesting that their expression may be governed by different proximate hormonal mechanisms. Thus, caution must be exercised when using artificial testosterone manipulation to induce female expression of sex-limited colour polymorphisms. Nevertheless, the ability to express sex-limited colours (in this case orange) to reveal the same, objectively classifiable morphs in similar frequencies to males suggests autosomal rather than sex-linked inheritance, and can facilitate further research on the genetic basis of colour polymorphism, including estimating heritability and selection on colour morphs from pedigree data.

Testosterone-Induced Expression of Male Colour Morphs in Females of the Polymorphic Tawny Dragon Lizard, Ctenophorus decresii

PubMed Central

Rankin, Katrina; Stuart-Fox, Devi

2015-01-01

Many colour polymorphisms are present only in one sex, usually males, but proximate mechanisms controlling the expression of sex-limited colour polymorphisms have received little attention. Here, we test the hypothesis that artificial elevation of testosterone in females of the colour polymorphic tawny dragon lizard, Ctenophorus decresii, can induce them to express the same colour morphs, in similar frequencies, to those found in males. Male C. decresii, express four discrete throat colour morphs (orange, yellow, grey and an orange central patch surrounded by yellow). We used silastic implants to experimentally elevate testosterone levels in mature females to induce colour expression. Testosterone elevation resulted in a substantial increase in the proportion and intensity of orange but not yellow colouration, which was present in a subset of females prior to treatment. Consequently, females exhibited the same set of colour morphs as males, and we confirmed that these morphs are objectively classifiable, by using digital image analyses and spectral reflectance measurements, and occur in similar frequencies as in males. These results indicate that the influence of testosterone differs for different colours, suggesting that their expression may be governed by different proximate hormonal mechanisms. Thus, caution must be exercised when using artificial testosterone manipulation to induce female expression of sex-limited colour polymorphisms. Nevertheless, the ability to express sex-limited colours (in this case orange) to reveal the same, objectively classifiable morphs in similar frequencies to males suggests autosomal rather than sex-linked inheritance, and can facilitate further research on the genetic basis of colour polymorphism, including estimating heritability and selection on colour morphs from pedigree data. PMID:26485705

Structural colour printing from a reusable generic nanosubstrate masked for the target image

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Rezaei, M.; Jiang, H.; Kaminska, B.

2016-02-01

Structural colour printing has advantages over traditional pigment-based colour printing. However, the high fabrication cost has hindered its applications in printing large-area images because each image requires patterning structural pixels in nanoscale resolution. In this work, we present a novel strategy to print structural colour images from a pixelated substrate which is called a nanosubstrate. The nanosubstrate is fabricated only once using nanofabrication tools and can be reused for printing a large quantity of structural colour images. It contains closely packed arrays of nanostructures from which red, green, blue and infrared structural pixels can be imprinted. To print a target colour image, the nanosubstrate is first covered with a mask layer to block all the structural pixels. The mask layer is subsequently patterned according to the target colour image to make apertures of controllable sizes on top of the wanted primary colour pixels. The masked nanosubstrate is then used as a stamp to imprint the colour image onto a separate substrate surface using nanoimprint lithography. Different visual colours are achieved by properly mixing the red, green and blue primary colours into appropriate ratios controlled by the aperture sizes on the patterned mask layer. Such a strategy significantly reduces the cost and complexity of printing a structural colour image from lengthy nanoscale patterning into high throughput micro-patterning and makes it possible to apply structural colour printing in personalized security features and data storage. In this paper, nanocone array grating pixels were used as the structural pixels and the nanosubstrate contains structures to imprint the nanocone arrays. Laser lithography was implemented to pattern the mask layer with submicron resolution. The optical properties of the nanocone array gratings are studied in detail. Multiple printed structural colour images with embedded covert information are demonstrated.

The effect of growth rate and ageing on colour variation of European pond turtles.

PubMed

Ibáñez, Alejandro; Martín, José; Marzal, Alfonso; Bertolero, Albert

2017-06-01

Many chelonians have colourful dots, patches and stripes throughout their body that are made up, at least in part, of carotenoids. Therefore, turtles are very suitable models to study the evolution and functionality of carotenoid-based colouration. Recent studies suggested a close link between colouration and immune system in these taxa. However, more research is needed to understand the role of these colourful stripes and patches in turtle visual signalling. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between growth rate and colouration in European pond turtles. In particular, we wanted to answer the question of whether there is a trade-off between growth and colour expression. We also aimed to explore the effect of body size and age on colour variation. Turtles from a reintroduction-breeding program were recaptured, weighed and measured over an 8-year period to estimate their growth rates and age. We also measured with a spectrometer the reflectance of colour patches in two different body parts: shell and forelimb. We found that turtles with a faster growth rate had brighter limb stripes independently of their age. On the other hand, shell colouration was related to body size with larger turtles having brighter shell stripes and higher values of carotenoid chroma. Our results suggest that fast-growers may afford to express intense colourful limb stripes likely due to their higher intake of carotenoids that would modulate both growth and colour expression. However, shell colouration was related to body size probably due to ontogenetic differences in the diet, as juveniles are strictly carnivorous while adults are omnivorous. Alternatively, shell colouration might be involved in crypsis as the shell is visually exposed to predators.

The effect of growth rate and ageing on colour variation of European pond turtles

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Ibáñez, Alejandro; Martín, José; Marzal, Alfonso; Bertolero, Albert

2017-06-01

Many chelonians have colourful dots, patches and stripes throughout their body that are made up, at least in part, of carotenoids. Therefore, turtles are very suitable models to study the evolution and functionality of carotenoid-based colouration. Recent studies suggested a close link between colouration and immune system in these taxa. However, more research is needed to understand the role of these colourful stripes and patches in turtle visual signalling. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between growth rate and colouration in European pond turtles. In particular, we wanted to answer the question of whether there is a trade-off between growth and colour expression. We also aimed to explore the effect of body size and age on colour variation. Turtles from a reintroduction-breeding program were recaptured, weighed and measured over an 8-year period to estimate their growth rates and age. We also measured with a spectrometer the reflectance of colour patches in two different body parts: shell and forelimb. We found that turtles with a faster growth rate had brighter limb stripes independently of their age. On the other hand, shell colouration was related to body size with larger turtles having brighter shell stripes and higher values of carotenoid chroma. Our results suggest that fast-growers may afford to express intense colourful limb stripes likely due to their higher intake of carotenoids that would modulate both growth and colour expression. However, shell colouration was related to body size probably due to ontogenetic differences in the diet, as juveniles are strictly carnivorous while adults are omnivorous. Alternatively, shell colouration might be involved in crypsis as the shell is visually exposed to predators.

Contrast normalization in colour vision: the effect of luminance contrast on colour contrast detection

PubMed Central

Mullen, Kathy T.; Kim, Yeon Jin; Gheiratmand, Mina

2014-01-01

While contrast normalization is well known to occur in luminance vision between overlaid achromatic contrasts, and in colour vision between overlaid colour contrasts, it is unknown whether it transfers between colour and luminance contrast. Here we investigate whether contrast detection in colour vision can be normalized by achromatic contrast, or whether this is a selective process driven only by colour contrast. We use a method of cross-orientation masking, in which colour detection is masked by cross-oriented achromatic contrast, over a range of spatio-temporal frequencies (0.375–1.5 cpd, 2–8 Hz). We find that there is virtually no cross-masking of colour by achromatic contrast under monocular or binocular conditions for any of the spatio-temporal frequencies tested, although we find significant facilitation at low spatio-temporal conditions (0.375 cpd, 2 Hz). These results indicate that the process of contrast nornalization is colour selective and independent of achromatic contrast, and imply segregated chromatic signals in early visual processing. Under dichoptic conditions, however, we find a strikingly different result with significant masking of colour by achromatic contrast. This indicates that the dichoptic site of suppression is unselective, responding similarly to colour and luminance contrast, and suggests that dichoptic suppression has a different origin from monocular or binocular suppression. PMID:25491564

Colour and Optical Properties of Materials: An Exploration of the Relationship Between Light, the Optical Properties of Materials and Colour

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Tilley, Richard J. D.

2003-05-01

Colour is an important and integral part of everyday life, and an understanding and knowledge of the scientific principles behind colour, with its many applications and uses, is becoming increasingly important to a wide range of academic disciplines, from physical, medical and biological sciences through to the arts. Colour and the Optical Properties of Materials carefully introduces the science behind the subject, along with many modern and cutting-edge applications, chose to appeal to today's students. For science students, it provides a broad introduction to the subject and the many applications of colour. To more applied students, such as engineering and arts students, it provides the essential scientific background to colour and the many applications. Features: * Introduces the science behind the subject whilst closely connecting it to modern applications, such as colour displays, optical amplifiers and colour centre lasers * Richly illustrated with full-colour plates * Includes many worked examples, along with problems and exercises at the end of each chapter and selected answers at the back of the book * A Web site, including additional problems and full solutions to all the problems, which may be accessed at: www.cardiff.ac.uk/uwcc/engin/staff/rdjt/colour Written for students taking an introductory course in colour in a wide range of disciplines such as physics, chemistry, engineering, materials science, computer science, design, photography, architecture and textiles.

Diagnosing synaesthesia with online colour pickers: maximising sensitivity and specificity.

PubMed

Rothen, Nicolas; Seth, Anil K; Witzel, Christoph; Ward, Jamie

2013-04-30

The most commonly used method for formally assessing grapheme-colour synaesthesia (i.e., experiencing colours in response to letter and/or number stimuli) involves selecting colours from a large colour palette on several occasions and measuring consistency of the colours selected. However, the ability to diagnose synaesthesia using this method depends on several factors that have not been directly contrasted. These include the type of colour space used (e.g., RGB, HSV, CIELUV, CIELAB) and different measures of consistency (e.g., city block and Euclidean distance in colour space). This study aims to find the most reliable way of diagnosing grapheme-colour synaesthesia based on maximising sensitivity (i.e., ability of a test to identify true synaesthetes) and specificity (i.e., ability of a test to identify true non-synaesthetes). We show, applying ROC (receiver operating characteristics) to binary classification of a large sample of self-declared synaesthetes and non-synaesthetes, that the consistency criterion (i.e., cut-off value) for diagnosing synaesthesia is considerably higher than the current standard in the field. We also show that methods based on perceptual CIELUV and CIELAB colour models (rather than RGB and HSV colour representations) and Euclidean distances offer an even greater sensitivity and specificity than most currently used measures. Together, these findings offer improved heuristics for the behavioural assessment of grapheme-colour synaesthesia. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The role of enamel thickness and refractive index on human tooth colour.

PubMed

Oguro, Rena; Nakajima, Masatoshi; Seki, Naoko; Sadr, Alireza; Tagami, Junji; Sumi, Yasunori

2016-08-01

To investigate the role of enamel thickness and refractive index (n) on tooth colour. The colour and enamel thickness of fifteen extracted human central incisors were determined according to CIELab colour scale using spectrophotometer (Crystaleye) and swept-source optical coherence tomography (SS-OCT), respectively. Subsequently, labial enamel was trimmed by approximately 100μm, and the colour and remaining enamel thickness were investigated again. This cycle was repeated until dentin appeared. Enamel blocks were prepared from the same teeth and their n were obtained using SS-OCT. Multiple regression analysis was performed to reveal any effects of enamel thickness and n on colour difference (ΔE00) and differences in colour parameters with CIELCh and CIELab colour scales. Multiple regression analysis revealed that enamel thickness (p=0.02) and n of enamel (p<0.001) were statistically significant predictors of ΔE00 after complete enamel trimming. The n was also a significant predictor of ΔH' (p=0.01). Enamel thickness and n were not statistically significant predictors of ΔL', ΔC', Δa* and Δb*. Enamel affected tooth colour, in which n was a statistically significant predictor for tooth colour change. Understanding the role of enamel in tooth colour could contribute to development of aesthetic restorative materials that mimic the colour of natural tooth with minimal reduction of the existing enamel. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The description of physical signs of illness in photographs by physicians with abnormal colour vision.

PubMed

Campbell, John L; Spalding, J Anthony B; Mir, Fraz A

2004-07-01

Physicians with congenital colour vision deficiency (CCVD) have reported difficulties recognising certain physical signs of illness, for example, jaundice, red rashes and pallor, and interpreting coloured charts, diagrams and slide projections. However, there has been little study of the effects of CCVD on the performance of medical practitioners. The aim of this study was to look for evidence of the effect of CCVD on the ability of physicians to recognise and describe physical signs of illness that have colour as either the main or an important feature. Twenty-three general practitioners with CCVD were shown 11 colour photographs depicting colour signs of illness and were asked to describe the signs they saw and rate their confidence in making their descriptions. Their responses were compared to those of 23 age-matched general practitioners with normal colour vision. General practitioners with CCVD compared to those with normal colour vision had less ability and confidence in detecting physical signs in the photographs and naming the colours. The results of this study support other evidence that physicians with CCVD have difficulties detecting some colour signs of illness and naming the colours. Because of the use of photographs the extent of the problem in clinical practice is unknown but medical practitioners with CCVD should be aware of the possibility of failing to detect or correctly assess physical signs that are characterised by colour.

Colour Mixing Based on Daylight

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Meyn, Jan-Peter

2008-01-01

Colour science is based on the sensation of monochromatic light. In contrast to that, surface colours are caused by reflection of wide sections of the daylight spectrum. Non-spectral colours like magenta and purple appear homologous to colours with spectral hue, if the approach of mixing monochromatic light is abandoned. It is shown that a large…

Costs of colour change in fish: food intake and behavioural decisions.

PubMed

Rodgers, Gwendolen M; Gladman, Nicholas W; Corless, Hannah F; Morrell, Lesley J

2013-07-15

Many animals, particularly reptiles, amphibians, fish and cephalopods, have the ability to change their body colour, for functions including thermoregulation, signalling and predator avoidance. Many fish plastically darken their body colouration in response to dark visual backgrounds, and this functions to reduce predation risk. Here, we tested the hypotheses that colour change in fish (1) carries with it an energetic cost and (2) affects subsequent shoal and habitat choice decisions. We demonstrate that guppies (Poecilia reticulata) change colour in response to dark and light visual backgrounds, and that doing so carries an energetic cost in terms of food consumption. By increasing food intake, however, guppies are able to maintain growth rates and meet the energetic costs of changing colour. Following colour change, fish preferentially choose habitats and shoals that match their own body colouration, and maximise crypsis, thus avoiding the need for further colour change but also potentially paying an opportunity cost associated with restriction to particular habitats and social associates. Thus, colour change to match the background is complemented by behavioural strategies, which should act to maximise fitness in variable environments.

Triggerfish uses chromaticity and lightness for object segregation

PubMed Central

2017-01-01

Humans group components of visual patterns according to their colour, and perceive colours separately from shape. This property of human visual perception is the basis behind the Ishihara test for colour deficiency, where an observer is asked to detect a pattern made up of dots of similar colour with variable lightness against a background of dots made from different colour(s) and lightness. To find out if fish use colour for object segregation in a similar manner to humans, we used stimuli inspired by the Ishihara test. Triggerfish (Rhinecanthus aculeatus) were trained to detect a cross constructed from similarly coloured dots against various backgrounds. Fish detected this cross even when it was camouflaged using either achromatic or chromatic noise, but fish relied more on chromatic cues for shape segregation. It remains unknown whether fish may switch to rely primarily on achromatic cues in scenarios where target objects have higher achromatic contrast and lower chromatic contrast. Fish were also able to generalize between stimuli of different colours, suggesting that colour and shape are processed by fish independently. PMID:29308267

How temporal cues can aid colour constancy

PubMed Central

Foster, David H.; Amano, Kinjiro; Nascimento, Sérgio M. C.

2007-01-01

Colour constancy assessed by asymmetric simultaneous colour matching usually reveals limited levels of performance in the unadapted eye. Yet observers can readily discriminate illuminant changes on a scene from changes in the spectral reflectances of the surfaces making up the scene. This ability is probably based on judgements of relational colour constancy, in turn based on the physical stability of spatial ratios of cone excitations under illuminant changes. Evidence is presented suggesting that the ability to detect violations in relational colour constancy depends on temporal transient cues. Because colour constancy and relational colour constancy are closely connected, it should be possible to improve estimates of colour constancy by introducing similar transient cues into the matching task. To test this hypothesis, an experiment was performed in which observers made surface-colour matches between patterns presented in the same position in an alternating sequence with period 2 s or, as a control, presented simultaneously, side-by-side. The degree of constancy was significantly higher for sequential presentation, reaching 87% for matches averaged over 20 observers. Temporal cues may offer a useful source of information for making colour-constancy judgements. PMID:17515948

The assessment of colour perception, naming and knowledge: a new test device with a case study.

PubMed

Pagani, Rossella; Bosco, Giovanna; Dalla Valle, Elisabetta; Capitani, Erminio; Laiacona, Marcella

2012-08-01

Besides ocular diseases, also cerebral damage may cause colour vision deficits; cerebral lesions may be associated with a variety of clinical conditions that impair colour processing. This study presents procedures and normative data for a rapid, comprehensive seven-test battery aimed at assessing colour perception, colour naming and object colour knowledge. The norms, obtained from 96 healthy Italian participants, allow normality/pathology judgements on the basis of one-sided tolerance limits, after adjusting the score of each test for the demographic variables of the proband subjects. We also report, as an example, use of the battery in a stroke patient; this patient was chosen because her lesion affected the left temporal-occipital cortex, an area sometimes associated with a deficit of colour processing. The patient resulted normal on colour perception and colour name retrieval, but defective on object colour knowledge probed using the stimulus name. For the sound definition of the functional locus of cognitive impairment at the single case level, a multi-faceted set of tasks is necessary.

Colour blindness in everyday life and car driving.

PubMed

Tagarelli, Antonio; Piro, Anna; Tagarelli, Giuseppe; Lantieri, Pasquale Bruno; Risso, Domenico; Olivieri, Rosario Luciano

2004-08-01

The aim of the present work was to ascertain, through the administration of a psychosocial questionnaire, the difficulties that subjects with defective colour vision experience in carrying out everyday tasks and work, including driving a car with a driver's licence held for no more than 3 years. Subjects with defective colour vision (n = 151) and subjects with normal vision (n = 302) completed a psychosocial questionnaire regarding the difficulties associated with congenital colour vision deficiency in daily life, work and driving a car. Subjects were diagnosed as colour-blind using the Ishihara test. Statistically significant differences between the two samples were found for daily life activities. Subjects with defective colour vision preferred daytime driving. At night, subjects with defective colour vision had difficulty identifying reflectors on the road and the rear signal lights of cars ahead of them. Colour-blind Calabrian subjects admitted to experiencing colour-related difficulties with a wide range of occupational tasks and leisure pursuits. In particular, colour-blind Calabrian subjects preferred daytime driving, and fewer drove regularly, compared to orthochromatics, who were indifferent to night or daytime driving.

The BRITE-Constellation Nanosatellite Space Mission And Its First Scientific Results

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Handler, G.; Pigulski, A.; Weiss, W. W.; Moffat, A. F. J.; Kuschnig, R.; Wade, G. A.; Orleański, G.; Ruciński, S. M.; Koudelka, O.; Smolec, R.; Zwintz, K.; Matthews, J. M.; Popowicz, A.; Baade, D.; Neiner, C.; Pamyatnykh, A. A.; Rowe, J.; Schwarzenberg-Czerny, A.

2017-10-01

The BRIght Target Explorer (BRITE) Constellation is the first nanosatellite mission applied to astrophysical research. Five satellites in low-Earth orbits perform precise optical two-colour photometry of the brightest stars in the night sky. BRITE is naturally well suited for variability studies of hot stars. This contribution describes the basic outline of the mission and some initial problems that needed to be overcome. Some information on BRITE data products, how to access them, and how to join their scientific exploration is provided. Finally, a brief summary of the first scientific results obtained by BRITE is given.

Colour Measurements and Modeling

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Jha, Shyam N.

The most common property to measure quality of any material is its appearance. Appearance includes colour, shape, size and surface conditions. The analysis of colour is especially an important consideration when determining the efficacy of variety of postharvest treatments. Consumers can easily be influenced by preconceived ideas of how a particular fruit or vegetable or a processed food should appear, and marketers often attempt to improve upon what nature has painted. Recently colour measurements have also been used as quality parameters and indicator of some inner constituents of the material. In spite of the significance of colour in food industries, many continue to analyze it inadequately. This chapter deals with theory of colour, colour scales and its measurement, sampling techniques, and modeling of colour values for correlating them with some internal quality parameters of selected fruits.

The colour of domestication and the designer chicken

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Sheppy, Andrew

2011-03-01

Colour is an important feature of most living organisms. In the wild, colour has great significance affecting the survival and reproductive success of the species. The environmental constraints which lead to the specific colours of birds and animals are very strong and individuals of novel colours tend not to survive. Under domestication, mankind has transformed all the species involved which have thus been freed from environmental pressures to a large extent. Early colour variants were mostly selected for utility reasons or religious practices. In more recent centuries colour varieties have been created purely for ornament and pleasure, fashion playing a surprisingly large part in their development. A bewildering array of colours and patterns can now be found in all our commensal species, especially the Domestic Fowl ( Gallus gallus domesticus).

Accuracy of shade matching performed by colour blind and normal dental students using 3D Master and Vita Lumin shade guides.

PubMed

Vafaee, F; Rakhshan, V; Vafaei, M; Khoshhal, M

2012-03-01

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether 3D Master or VitaLumin shade guides could improve colour selection in individuals with normal and defective colour vision. First, colour perception of 260 dental students was evaluated. Afterwards, 9 colour blind and 9 matched normal subjects tried to detect colours of 10 randomly selected tabs from each kit and the correct/false answers were counted. Of the colour-defective subjects, 47.8% and 33.3% correctly detected the shade using 3D Master and VitaLumin, respectively. These statistics were 62.2% and 42.2% in normal subjects. In normal participants, but not in colour blind ones, 3D Master significantly improved shade matching accuracy compared to VitaLumin.

How do patients with neglect see a horizontal line? Analysis of performances in coloured line bisection task.

PubMed

Misonou, Kaori; Ishiai, Sumio; Seki, Keiko; Koyama, Yasumasa; Nakano, Naomi

2004-06-01

Twelve patients with left unilateral spatial neglect were examined with a newly devised "coloured line bisection task". They were presented with a horizontal line printed in blue on one side and in red on the other side; the proportions of the blue and red segments were varied. Immediately after placement of the subjective midpoint, the line was concealed and the patients were asked to name the colours of the right and left ends. Five patients who identified the left-end colour almost correctly had no visual field defect, while the other seven whose colour naming was impaired on the left side had left visual field defect. The rightward bisection errors were similarly distributed in the fair and poor colour-naming patients except for two patients from the latter group. The lesions of the fair colour-naming patients spared the lingual and fusiform gyri, which are known to be engaged in colour processing. Patients with neglect whose visual field is preserved may neglect the leftward extension of a line but not the colour in the neglected space. The poor colour-naming patients frequently failed to name the left-end colour that appeared to the left of their subjective midpoint, which indicates that they hardly searched leftward beyond that point. In such trials, they reported that the left end had the same colour as the right end. The results suggest that in patients with neglect and left visual field defect, both the leftward extent and the colour of a line may be represented on the basis of the information from the attended right segment.

How big does a coloured overlay have to be?

PubMed

Waldie, Michelle; Wilkins, Arnold

2004-01-01

Coloured overlays and coloured lenses can both increase reading speed, but when they do their colour is not necessarily the same, suggesting that the beneficial effects of a coloured filter might depend upon the area of the visual field that it colours. We investigated the effects of overlays on reading speed and varied the size of the overlay and the colour of the surround. Children who had been assessed with coloured overlays were required to read a passage of randomly ordered common words. The words were printed in black ink as a block of text positioned centrally on an A4 page of white paper in landscape orientation. The speed of reading was compared under four conditions: (1) without an overlay; (2) with an overlay of the chosen colour covering the entire page; (3) with the overlay cut so that it just covered the text but left the margin white; (4) with the overlay of the chosen colour covering the text but with the margin coloured a complementary colour, using a second overlay. The children who were using an overlay read more quickly with the overlay; those who were no longer using the overlay did not. Although the block of text covered less than half the page, the colour and nature of the margin did not affect reading speed significantly. These findings suggest that in order to be effective at improving reading speed an overlay needs to cover the text, but not necessarily the remainder of the page, which means that smaller overlays may sometimes be sufficient.

Seasonal Changes in Colour: A Comparison of Structural, Melanin- and Carotenoid-Based Plumage Colours

PubMed Central

Delhey, Kaspar; Burger, Claudia; Fiedler, Wolfgang; Peters, Anne

2010-01-01

Background Plumage coloration is important for bird communication, most notably in sexual signalling. Colour is often considered a good quality indicator, and the expression of exaggerated colours may depend on individual condition during moult. After moult, plumage coloration has been deemed fixed due to the fact that feathers are dead structures. Still, many plumage colours change after moult, although whether this affects signalling has not been sufficiently assessed. Methodology/Principal Findings We studied changes in coloration after moult in four passerine birds (robin, Erithacus rubecula; blackbird, Turdus merula; blue tit, Cyanistes caeruleus; and great tit, Parus major) displaying various coloration types (melanin-, carotenoid-based and structural). Birds were caught regularly during three years to measure plumage reflectance. We used models of avian colour vision to derive two variables, one describing chromatic and the other achromatic variation over the year that can be compared in magnitude among different colour types. All studied plumage patches but one (yellow breast of the blue tit) showed significant chromatic changes over the year, although these were smaller than for a typical dynamic trait (bill colour). Overall, structural colours showed a reduction in relative reflectance at shorter wavelengths, carotenoid-based colours the opposite pattern, while no general pattern was found for melanin-based colours. Achromatic changes were also common, but there were no consistent patterns of change for the different types of colours. Conclusions/Significance Changes of plumage coloration independent of moult are probably widespread; they should be perceivable by birds and have the potential to affect colour signalling. PMID:20644723

Counting with Colours? Effect of Colours on the Numerical Abilities of House Crows (Corvus splendens) and Common Myna (Acridotheres tristis)

PubMed Central

Rahman, Nor Amira Abdul; Ali, Zalila; Zuharah, Wan Fatma; Fadzly, Nik

2016-01-01

We conducted several aviary experiments to investigate the influence of colours in quantity judgments of two species of birds; house crow (Corvus splendens) and common myna (Acridotheres tristis). Different quantity (in seven different food proportions) of mealworms were presented nonsequentially to all birds using artificially coloured red mealworms, for experiment 1, and using artificially coloured green mealworms, for experiment 2. Both red and green coloured mealworms have no significant effect on house crow’s quantity judgments (red: ANOVA: F6,30 = 1.748, p = 0.144; and green: ANOVA: F6,30= 1.085, p = 0.394). Common myna, however, showed a strong influence of red colour in their quantity judgment (ANOVA: F6,30 = 2.922, p = 0.023) as they succeeded in choosing the largest amount of food between two cups, but not when offered food using green coloured mealworms (ANOVA: F6,30 = 1.183, p = 0.342). In the next experiment, we hypothesised that both house crow and common myna will prefer red coloured food items over green coloured food items, when factors such as the amount of food is equal. We chose to test red and green colours because both colours play an important role in most avian food selections. Results showed that there were no significant differences in the selection of red or green coloured mealworms for both house crows (ANOVA: F6,30 = 2.310, p = 0.06) and common myna (ANOVA: F6,30 = 0.823, p = 0.561). PMID:27688847

Sexual selection and genetic colour polymorphisms in animals.

PubMed

Wellenreuther, Maren; Svensson, Erik I; Hansson, Bengt

2014-11-01

Genetic colour polymorphisms are widespread across animals and often subjected to complex selection regimes. Traditionally, colour morphs were used as simple visual markers to measure allele frequency changes in nature, selection, population divergence and speciation. With advances in sequencing technology and analysis methods, several model systems are emerging where the molecular targets of selection are being described. Here, we discuss recent studies on the genetics of sexually selected colour polymorphisms, aiming at (i) reviewing the evidence of sexual selection on colour polymorphisms, (ii) highlighting the genetic architecture, molecular and developmental basis underlying phenotypic colour diversification and (iii) discuss how the maintenance of such polymorphisms might be facilitated or constrained by these. Studies of the genetic architecture of colour polymorphism point towards the importance of tight clustering of colour loci with other trait loci, such as in the case of inversions and supergene structures. Other interesting findings include linkage between colour loci and mate preferences or sex determination, and the role of introgression and regulatory variation in fuelling polymorphisms. We highlight that more studies are needed that explicitly integrate fitness consequences of sexual selection on colour with the underlying molecular targets of colour to gain insights into the evolutionary consequences of sexual selection on polymorphism maintenance. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Visual and digital comparative tooth colour assessment methods and atomic force microscopy surface roughness.

PubMed

Grundlingh, A A; Grossman, E S; Shrivastava, S; Witcomb, M J

2013-10-01

This study compared digital and visual colour tooth colour assessment methods in a sample of 99 teeth consisting of incisors, canines and pre-molars. The teeth were equally divided between Control, Ozicure Oxygen Activator bleach and Opalescence Quick bleach and subjected to three treatments. Colour readings were recorded at nine intervals by two assessment methods, VITA Easyshade and VITAPAN 3D MASTER TOOTH GUIDE, giving a total of 1782 colour readings. Descriptive and statistical analysis was undertaken using a GLM test for Analysis of Variance for a Fractional Design set at a significance of P < 0.05. Atomic force micros copy was used to examine treated ename surfaces and establish surface roughness. Visual tooth colour assessment showed significance for the independent variables of treatment, number of treatments, tooth type and the combination tooth type and treatment. Digital colour assessment indicated treatment and tooth type to be of significance in tooth colour change. Poor agreement was found between visual and digital colour assessment methods for Control and Ozicure Oxygen Activator treatments. Surface roughness values increased two-fold for Opalescence Quick specimens over the two other treatments, implying that increased light scattering improved digital colour reading. Both digital and visual colour matching methods should be used in tooth bleaching studies to complement each other and to compensate for deficiencies.

Up Scalable Full Colour Plasmonic Pixels with Controllable Hue, Brightness and Saturation.

PubMed

Mudachathi, Renilkumar; Tanaka, Takuo

2017-04-26

It has long been the interests of scientists to develop ink free colour printing technique using nano structured materials inspired by brilliant colours found in many creatures like butterflies and peacocks. Recently isolated metal nano structures exhibiting preferential light absorption and scattering have been explored as a promising candidate for this emerging field. Applying such structures in practical use, however, demands the production of individual colours with distinct reflective peaks, tunable across the visible wavelength region combined with controllable colour attributes and economically feasible fabrication. Herein, we present a simple yet efficient colour printing approach employing sub-micrometer scale plasmonic pixels of single constituent metal structure which supports near unity broadband light absorption at two distinct wavelengths, facilitating the creation of saturated colours. The dependence of these resonances on two different parameters of the same pixel enables controllable colour attributes such as hue, brightness and saturation across the visible spectrum. The linear dependence of colour attributes on the pixel parameters eases the automation; which combined with the use of inexpensive and stable aluminum as functional material will make this colour design strategy relevant for use in various commercial applications like printing micro images for security purposes, consumer product colouration and functionalized decoration to name a few.

FReD: the floral reflectance database--a web portal for analyses of flower colour.

PubMed

Arnold, Sarah E J; Faruq, Samia; Savolainen, Vincent; McOwan, Peter W; Chittka, Lars

2010-12-10

Flower colour is of great importance in various fields relating to floral biology and pollinator behaviour. However, subjective human judgements of flower colour may be inaccurate and are irrelevant to the ecology and vision of the flower's pollinators. For precise, detailed information about the colours of flowers, a full reflectance spectrum for the flower of interest should be used rather than relying on such human assessments. The Floral Reflectance Database (FReD) has been developed to make an extensive collection of such data available to researchers. It is freely available at http://www.reflectance.co.uk. The database allows users to download spectral reflectance data for flower species collected from all over the world. These could, for example, be used in modelling interactions between pollinator vision and plant signals, or analyses of flower colours in various habitats. The database contains functions for calculating flower colour loci according to widely-used models of bee colour space, reflectance graphs of the spectra and an option to search for flowers with similar colours in bee colour space. The Floral Reflectance Database is a valuable new tool for researchers interested in the colours of flowers and their association with pollinator colour vision, containing raw spectral reflectance data for a large number of flower species.

Loss of red opsin genes relaxes sexual isolation between skin-colour variants of medaka.

PubMed

Kamijo, Makiko; Kawamura, Mayuko; Fukamachi, Shoji

2018-05-01

Colour vision is often essential for animals. Fine discrimination of colours enhances the ability of animals to find food, predators, or mating partners. Using two colour variants of medaka (Oryzias latipes), which mate assortatively depending on visual cues (pale grey versus dark orange), we recently established red colour-blind strains by knocking out the red opsin (long-wavelength-sensitive) genes and elucidated that the fish were indeed insensitive to red light. In the present study, we investigated the mate choice of these red-blind fish. The colour variants with normal colour vision strongly preferred to mate with their own strain. The red-blind ones also preferred their own strain; i.e. they still mated assortatively. However, their preference was significantly weaker than that of fish with normal colour vision. In other words, the red-blind fish showed increased sexual interest in the other colour variant. These results indicated that reduced sensitivity to red light also reduced their ability to discriminate colours. This empirical evidence directly demonstrates that a change in cone-opsin repertoire changes mating decision behaviours, which would affect gene flow and speciation processes between conspecific colour variants in nature, as suggested in other studies. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Colour image compression by grey to colour conversion

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Drew, Mark S.; Finlayson, Graham D.; Jindal, Abhilash

2011-03-01

Instead of de-correlating image luminance from chrominance, some use has been made of using the correlation between the luminance component of an image and its chromatic components, or the correlation between colour components, for colour image compression. In one approach, the Green colour channel was taken as a base, and the other colour channels or their DCT subbands were approximated as polynomial functions of the base inside image windows. This paper points out that we can do better if we introduce an addressing scheme into the image description such that similar colours are grouped together spatially. With a Luminance component base, we test several colour spaces and rearrangement schemes, including segmentation. and settle on a log-geometric-mean colour space. Along with PSNR versus bits-per-pixel, we found that spatially-keyed s-CIELAB colour error better identifies problem regions. Instead of segmentation, we found that rearranging on sorted chromatic components has almost equal performance and better compression. Here, we sort on each of the chromatic components and separately encode windows of each. The result consists of the original greyscale plane plus the polynomial coefficients of windows of rearranged chromatic values, which are then quantized. The simplicity of the method produces a fast and simple scheme for colour image and video compression, with excellent results.

Development and validation of a questionnaire assessing the quality of life impact of Colour Blindness (CBQoL).

PubMed

Barry, John A; Mollan, Susan; Burdon, Michael A; Jenkins, Michelle; Denniston, Alastair K

2017-10-02

Congenital colour vision deficiency (CVD), commonly called 'colour blindness', affects around 8% of men and 0.4% of women. Although many aspects of health (e.g. change in colour of urine) and healthcare (e.g. coloured medication, colour-coded diagnostic tests), and modern life depend upon colour coding (e.g. graphs, maps, signals), the impact of colour blindness on everyday life is not generally considered a topic of importance. This study is the first to create and validate a questionnaire measuring the quality of life (QoL) impact of being colour blind. This study consisted of two phases. Firstly, the questionnaire design and development phase was led by an expert panel and piloted on a focus group. Secondly, an online sample of 128 men and 291 women filled in the questionnaire, and the psychometric properties of the questionnaire were analysed using principal components analysis (PCA). The scores of colour blind (CB) participants and normal-sighted controls, controlling for age and sex, were compared using matched t-tests. The PCA resulted in a questionnaire with three domains (or subscales): QoL for Health & Lifestyle, QoL for Work, and QoL for Emotions. Controlling for age, there was a significantly greater negative impact on QoL for CB people than normal-sighted controls in regards to confusion over colour in various aspects of their health (p = 5 × 10 -7 ), work (p = 1.3 × 10 -7 ), and emotional life (p = 6 × 10 -5 ). Colour blindness can significantly impact quality of life for health, emotions, and especially careers. The tool developed here could be useful in future clinical studies to measure changes in CBQoL in response to therapy in conditions where colour vision is affected. We also discuss ways in which everyday problems related to colour vision might be reduced, for example, workplaces could avoid colour coding where a non-colour alternative is possible.

Display Parameters and Requirements

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Bahadur, Birendra

The following sections are included: * INTRODUCTION * HUMAN FACTORS * Anthropometry * Sensory * Cognitive * Discussions * THE HUMAN VISUAL SYSTEM - CAPABILITIES AND LIMITATIONS * Cornea * Pupil and Iris * Lens * Vitreous Humor * Retina * RODS - NIGHT VISION * CONES - DAY VISION * RODS AND CONES - TWILIGHT VISION * VISUAL PIGMENTS * MACULA * BLOOD * CHOROID COAT * Visual Signal Processing * Pathways to the Brain * Spatial Vision * Temporal Vision * Colour Vision * Colour Blindness * DICHROMATISM * Protanopia * Deuteranopia * Tritanopia * ANOMALOUS TRICHROMATISM * Protanomaly * Deuteranomaly * Tritanomaly * CONE MONOCHROMATISM * ROD MONOCHROMATISM * Using Colour Effectively * COLOUR MIXTURES AND THE CHROMATICITY DIAGRAM * Colour Matching Functions and Chromaticity Co-ordinates * CIE 1931 Colour Space * CIE PRIMARIES * CIE COLOUR MATCHING FUNCTIONS AND CHROMATICITY CO-ORDINATES * METHODS FOR DETERMINING TRISTIMULUS VALUES AND COLOUR CO-ORDINATES * Spectral Power Distribution Method * Filter Method * CIE 1931 CHROMATICITY DIAGRAM * ADDITIVE COLOUR MIXTURE * CIE 1976 Chromaticity Diagram * CIE Uniform Colour Spaces and Colour Difference Formulae * CIELUV OR L*u*v* * CIELAB OR L*a*b* * CIE COLOUR DIFFERENCE FORMULAE * Colour Temperature and CIE Standard Illuminants and source * RADIOMETRIC AND PHOTOMETRIC QUANTITIES * Photopic (Vλ and Scotopic (Vλ') Luminous Efficiency Function * Photometric and Radiometric Flux * Luminous and Radiant Intensities * Incidence: Illuminance and Irradiance * Exitance or Emittance (M) * Luminance and Radiance * ERGONOMIC REQUIREMENTS OF DISPLAYS * ELECTRO-OPTICAL PARAMETERS AND REQUIREMENTS * Contrast and Contrast Ratio * Luminance and Brightness * Colour Contrast and Chromaticity * Glare * Other Aspects of Legibility * SHAPE AND SIZE OF CHARACTERS * DEFECTS AND BLEMISHES * FLICKER AND DISTORTION * ANGLE OF VIEW * Switching Speed * Threshold and Threshold Characteristic * Measurement Techniques For Electro-optical Parameters * RADIOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS * Broadband Radiometry or Filtered Photodetector Radiometric Method * Spectroradiometric Method * PHOTOMETRIC MEASUREMENTS * COLOUR MEASUREMENTS * LUMINANCE, CONTRAST RATIO, THRESHOLD CHARACTERISTIC AND POLAR PLOT * SWITCHING SPEED * ELECTRICAL AND LIFE PARAMETERS AND REQUIREMENTS * Operating Voltage, Current Drainage and Power Consumption * Operating Frequency * Life Expectancy * LCD FAILURE MODES * Liquid Crystal Materials * Substrate Glass * Electrode Patterns * Alignment and Aligning Material * Peripheral and End Plug Seal * Spacers * Crossover Material * Polarizers and Reflectors * Connectors * Heater * Colour Filters * Backlighting System * Explanation For Some of the Observed Defects * BLOOMING PIXELS * POLARIZER RELATED DEFECTS * DIFFERENTIAL THERMAL EXPANSION RELATED DEFECTS * ELECTROCHEMICAL AND ELECTROHYDRODYNAMIC RELATED DEFECTS * REVERSE TWIST AND REVERSE TILT * MEMORY OR REMINISCENT CONTRAST * LCD RELIABILRY AND ACCELERATED LIFE TESTING * ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS * REFERENCES * APPENDIX

76 FR 75871 - Certain Steel Nails From the People's Republic of China: Final Rescission of Antidumping Duty New...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2011-12-05

... published in the Federal Register our preliminary notice to rescind the NSR with respect to Shanghai Colour... should be rescinded. \\1\\ Shanghai Colour Nail Co., Ltd. (aka, Shanghai Colour Nail Import & Export Co., Ltd.), and Wuxi Colour Nail Co., Ltd. (collectively ``Shanghai Colour''). \\2\\ See Certain Steel Nails...

75 FR 61132 - Certain Steel Nails from the People's Republic of China: Initiation of Antidumping Duty New...

Federal Register 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014

2010-10-04

...), the Department received a NSR request from Shanghai Colour Nail Co., Ltd. (``Shanghai Colour''). Shanghai Colour's request was properly made during August 2010, which is the annual anniversary of the Antidumping Duty Order. Shanghai Colour certified that it is the exporter and Wuxi Colour Nail Co., Ltd...

Polychromatic SSVEP stimuli with subtle flickering adapted to brain-display interactions

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Chien, Yu-Yi; Lin, Fang-Cheng; Zao, John K.; Chou, Ching-Chi; Huang, Yi-Pai; Kuo, Heng-Yuan; Wang, Yijun; Jung, Tzyy-Ping; Shieh, Han-Ping D.

2017-02-01

Objective. Interactive displays armed with natural user interfaces (NUIs) will likely lead the next breakthrough in consumer electronics, and brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) are often regarded as the ultimate NUI-enabling machines to respond to human emotions and mental states. Steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) are a commonly used BCI modality due to the ease of detection and high information transfer rates. However, the presence of flickering stimuli may cause user discomfort and can even induce migraines and seizures. With the aim of designing visual stimuli that can be embedded into video images, this study developed a novel approach to induce detectable SSVEPs using a composition of red/green/blue flickering lights. Approach. Based on the opponent theory of colour vision, this study used 32 Hz/40 Hz rectangular red-green or red-blue LED light pulses with a 50% duty cycle, balanced/equal luminance and 0°/180° phase shifts as the stimulating light sources and tested their efficacy in producing SSVEP responses with high signal-to-noise ratios (SNRs) while reducing the perceived flickering sensation. Main results. The empirical results from ten healthy subjects showed that dual-colour lights flickering at 32 Hz/40 Hz with a 50% duty cycle and 180° phase shift achieved a greater than 90% detection accuracy with little or no flickering sensation. Significance. As a first step in developing an embedded SSVEP stimulus in commercial displays, this study provides a foundation for developing a combination of three primary colour flickering backlights with adjustable luminance proportions to create a subtle flickering polychromatic light that can elicit SSVEPs at the basic flickering frequency.

Tissue-plastinated vs. celloidin-embedded large serial sections in video, analog and digital photographic on-screen reproduction: a preliminary step to exact virtual 3D modelling, exemplified in the normal midface and cleft-lip and palate.

PubMed

Landes, Constantin A; Weichert, Frank; Geis, Philipp; Wernstedt, Katrin; Wilde, Anja; Fritsch, Helga; Wagner, Mathias

2005-08-01

This study analyses tissue-plastinated vs. celloidin-embedded large serial sections, their inherent artefacts and aptitude with common video, analog or digital photographic on-screen reproduction. Subsequent virtual 3D microanatomical reconstruction will increase our knowledge of normal and pathological microanatomy for cleft-lip-palate (clp) reconstructive surgery. Of 18 fetal (six clp, 12 control) specimens, six randomized specimens (two clp) were BiodurE12-plastinated, sawn, burnished 90 microm thick transversely (five) or frontally (one), stained with azureII/methylene blue, and counterstained with basic-fuchsin (TP-AMF). Twelve remaining specimens (four clp) were celloidin-embedded, microtome-sectioned 75 microm thick transversely (ten) or frontally (two), and stained with haematoxylin-eosin (CE-HE). Computed-planimetry gauged artefacts, structure differentiation was compared with light microscopy on video, analog and digital photography. Total artefact was 0.9% (TP-AMF) and 2.1% (CE-HE); TP-AMF showed higher colour contrast, gamut and luminance, and CE-HE more red contrast, saturation and hue (P < 0.4). All (100%) structures of interest were light microscopically discerned, 83% on video, 76% on analog photography and 98% in digital photography. Computed image analysis assessed the greatest colour contrast, gamut, luminance and saturation on video; the most detailed, colour-balanced and sharpest images were obtained with digital photography (P < 0.02). TP-AMF retained spatial oversight, covered the entire area of interest and should be combined in different specimens with CE-HE which enables more refined muscle fibre reproduction. Digital photography is preferred for on-screen analysis.

Floral colour versus phylogeny in structuring subalpine flowering communities.

PubMed

McEwen, Jamie R; Vamosi, Jana C

2010-10-07

The relative number of seeds produced by competing species can influence the community structure; yet, traits that influence seed production, such as pollinator attraction and floral colour, have received little attention in community ecology. Here, we analyse floral colour using reflectance spectra that include near-UV and examined the phylogenetic signal of floral colour. We found that coflowering species within communities tended to be more divergent in floral colour than expected by chance. However, coflowering species were not phylogenetically dispersed, in part due to our finding that floral colour is a labile trait with a weak phylogenetic signal. Furthermore, while we found that locally rare and common species exhibited equivalent floral colour distances from their coflowering neighbours, frequent species (those found in more communities) exhibited higher colour distances from their coflowering neighbours. Our findings support recent studies, which have found that (i) plant lineages exhibit frequent floral colour transitions; and (ii) traits that influence local population dynamics contribute to community structure.

Human colour in mate choice and competition.

PubMed

Rowland, Hannah M; Burriss, Robert P

2017-07-05

The colour of our skin and clothing affects how others perceive us and how we behave. Human skin colour varies conspicuously with genetic ancestry, but even subtle changes in skin colour due to diet, blood oxygenation and hormone levels influence social perceptions. In this review, we describe the theoretical and empirical frameworks in which human colour is researched. We explore how subtle skin colour differences relate to judgements of health and attractiveness. Also, because humans are one of the few organisms able to manipulate their apparent colour, we review how cosmetics and clothing are implicated in courtship and competition, both inside the laboratory and in the real world. Research on human colour is in its infancy compared with human psychophysics and colour research in non-human animals, and hence we present best-practice guidelines for methods and reporting, which we hope will improve the validity and reproducibility of studies on human coloration.This article is part of the themed issue 'Animal coloration: production, perception, function and application'. © 2017 The Author(s).

Colour preferences influences odour learning in the hawkmoth, Macroglossum stellatarum

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Balkenius, Anna; Kelber, Almut

2006-05-01

The hummingbird hawkmoth, Macroglossum stellatarum, learns colour fast and reliably. It has earlier been shown to spontaneously feed from odourless artificial flowers. Now, we have studied odour learning. The moths were trained to discriminate feeders of the same colour but marked with different odours. They did not learn to discriminate two natural flower odours when they were presented with the innately preferred colour blue, but they did learn this discrimination combined with yellow or green colours that are less attractive to the moth. The yellow colour could be trained to become as attractive as the innately preferred blue colour and the blue colour could be trained to become less attractive. This is the first proof of odour learning in a diurnal moth. The results show that M. stellatarum can use more than one modality in their foraging behaviour and that the system is plastic. By manipulating the preferences for the different colours, their influence on odour learning could be changed.

Colour-cueing in visual search.

PubMed

Laarni, J

2001-02-01

Several studies have shown that people can selectively attend to stimulus colour, e.g., in visual search, and that preknowledge of a target colour can improve response speed/accuracy. The purpose was to use a form-identification task to determine whether valid colour precues can produce benefits and invalid cues costs. The subject had to identify the orientation of a "T"-shaped element in a ring of randomly-oriented "L"s when either two or four of the elements were differently coloured. Contrary to Moore and Egeth's (1998) recent findings, colour-based attention did affect performance under data-limited conditions: Colour cues produced benefits when processing load was high; when the load was reduced, they incurred only costs. Surprisingly, a valid colour cue succeeded in improving performance in the high-load condition even when its validity was reduced to the chance level. Overall, the results suggest that knowledge of a target colour does not facilitate the processing of the target, but makes it possible to prioritize it.

Use of an Innovative Personality-Mindset Profiling Tool to Guide Culture-Change Strategies among Different Healthcare Worker Groups.

PubMed

Grayson, M Lindsay; Macesic, Nenad; Huang, G Khai; Bond, Katherine; Fletcher, Jason; Gilbert, Gwendolyn L; Gordon, David L; Hellsten, Jane F; Iredell, Jonathan; Keighley, Caitlin; Stuart, Rhonda L; Xuereb, Charles S; Cruickshank, Marilyn

2015-01-01

Important culture-change initiatives (e.g. improving hand hygiene compliance) are frequently associated with variable uptake among different healthcare worker (HCW) categories. Inherent personality differences between these groups may explain change uptake and help improve future intervention design. We used an innovative personality-profiling tool (ColourGrid®) to assess personality differences among standard HCW categories at five large Australian hospitals using two data sources (HCW participant surveys [PS] and generic institution-wide human resource [HR] data) to: a) compare the relative accuracy of these two sources; b) identify differences between HCW groups and c) use the observed profiles to guide design strategies to improve uptake of three clinically-important initiatives (improved hand hygiene, antimicrobial stewardship and isolation procedure adherence). Results from 34,243 HCWs (HR data) and 1045 survey participants (PS data) suggest that HCWs were different from the general population, displaying more individualism, lower power distance, less uncertainty avoidance and greater cynicism about advertising messages. HR and PS data were highly concordant in identifying differences between the three key HCW categories (doctors, nursing/allied-health, support services) and predicting appropriate implementation strategies. Among doctors, the data suggest that key messaging should differ between full-time vs part-time (visiting) senior medical officers (SMO, VMO) and junior hospital medical officers (HMO), with SMO messaging focused on evidence-based compliance, VMO initiatives emphasising structured mandatory controls and prestige loss for non-adherence, and for HMOs focusing on leadership opportunity and future career risk for non-adherence. Compared to current standardised approaches, targeted interventions based on personality differences between HCW categories should result in improved infection control-related culture-change uptake. Personality profiling based on HR data may represent a useful means of developing a national culture-change "blueprint" for HCW education.

Does the Aristotle Score predict outcome in congenital heart surgery?

PubMed

Kang, Nicholas; Tsang, Victor T; Elliott, Martin J; de Leval, Marc R; Cole, Timothy J

2006-06-01

The Aristotle Score has been proposed as a measure of 'complexity' in congenital heart surgery, and a tool for comparing performance amongst different centres. To date, however, it remains unvalidated. We examined whether the Basic Aristotle Score was a useful predictor of mortality following open-heart surgery, and compared it to the Risk Adjustment in Congenital Heart Surgery (RACHS-1) system. We also examined the ability of the Aristotle Score to measure performance. The Basic Aristotle Score and RACHS-1 risk categories were assigned retrospectively to 1085 operations involving cardiopulmonary bypass in children less than 18 years of age. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to determine the significance of the Aristotle Score and RACHS-1 category as independent predictors of in-hospital mortality. Operative performance was calculated using the Aristotle equation: performance = complexity x survival. Multiple logistic regression identified RACHS-1 category to be a powerful predictor of mortality (Wald 17.7, p < 0.0001), whereas Aristotle Score was only weakly associated with mortality (Wald 4.8, p = 0.03). Age at operation and bypass time were also highly significant predictors of postoperative death (Wald 13.7 and 33.8, respectively, p < 0.0001 for both). Operative performance was measured at 7.52 units. The Basic Aristotle Score was only weakly associated with postoperative mortality in this series. Operative performance appeared to be inflated by the fact that the overall complexity of cases was relatively high in this series. An alternative equation (performance = complexity/mortality) is proposed as a fairer and more logical method of risk-adjustment.

Preventive care delivered within Public Dental Service after caries risk assessment of young adults.

PubMed

Hänsel Petersson, G; Ericson, E; Twetman, S

2016-08-01

To study preventive care provided to young adults in relation to their estimated risk category over a 3-year period. The amount and type of preventive treatment during 3 years was extracted from the digital dental records of 982 patients attending eight public dental clinics. The baseline caries risk assessment was carried out by the patient's regular team in four classes according to a predetermined model, and the team was responsible for all treatment decisions. Based on the variables 'oral health information', 'additional fluoride' and 'professional tooth cleaning', a cumulative score was constructed and dichotomized to 'basic prevention' and 'additional prevention'. More additional preventive care was provided to the patients in the 'low-risk' and 'some risk' categories than to those classified as 'high' or 'very high' risk (OR = 2.0, 95% CI 1.4-3.0; P < 0.05). Professional tooth cleaning and additional fluorides were most frequently employed in the 'low-risk' and 'some risk' categories, respectively. Around 15% of the patients in the high-risk categories did not receive additional preventive measures over the 3-year period. There was an insignificant tendency that patients with additional prevention developed less caries than those that received basic prevention in all risk categories except for the 'very high-risk' group. The caries risk assessment process was not accompanied by a corresponding targeted individual preventive care in a cohort of young adults attending public dental service. Further research is needed how to reach those with the greatest need of primary and secondary prevention. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Relationship between natural tooth shade and skin colour.

PubMed

Nourbakhsh, M; Mousavinejad, N; Adli, A R; Harati, M

2013-06-01

The purpose of this study was to assess the correlation of skin colour and tooth shade. One hundred and twenty six individuals aging between 18 to 25 years participated in this study. Colour of the maxillary central incisors was examined by VITA easy shade. Tooth shades were assigned to four ordinal values. Nivea Beauty Protect Foundation shade sample was used as a guide to assess facial skin colour Shin colours were also assigned to four ordinal values. Spearman test revealed that there was a significant relationship between tooth shade and skin colour Total co-relation factor was 51.6% (p <0 .01). Co-relation factors were 57% for women and 27% for men (p <0 .01). The highest tooth shade prevalence belonged to the second group and the highest skin colour prevalence was also in the second skin colour group.

Self-reported skin colour and erythemal sensitivity vs. objectively measured constitutive skin colour in an African population with predominantly dark skin.

PubMed

Wright, Caradee Y; Wilkes, Marcus; du Plessis, Johan L; Reeder, Anthony I

2015-11-01

Skin colour is an important factor in skin-related diseases. Accurate determination of skin colour is important for disease prevention and supporting healthy sun behaviour, yet such data are lacking for dark skin types. Self-perceived, natural skin colour and sun-skin reaction were compared with objectively measured skin colour among an African population with predominantly dark skin. Unexposed skin of 556 adults (70.1% Black) was measured with a reflectance spectrophotometer to calculate an individual typology angle (°ITA). Participants reported self-perceived skin colour and erythemal sensitivity. There was a strong, positive monotonic correlation between self-reported and measured skin colour (Spearman ρ = 0.6438, P < 0.001), but only a weak correlation between self-reported erythemal sensitivity and measured skin colour (Spearman ρ = 0.2713, P < 0.001). Self-report biases in underestimation and overestimation of skin colour were evident. Many participants with 'dark brown' and 'black' skin had difficulty in classifying erythemal sensitivity. In Africa, self-reported skin colour could potentially be used in lieu of spectrophotometer measurements, but options for questions on sunburn and tanning require suitable adjustment. Our study provides evidence of range in °ITA values among residents in Africa and reinforces previous results that self-report may be reliable for determining skin colour, but not erythemal sensitivity, for dark skin individuals. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Basic list of veterinary medical serials, third edition: using a decision matrix to update the core list of veterinary journals.

PubMed

Ugaz, Ana G; Boyd, C Trenton; Croft, Vicki F; Carrigan, Esther E; Anderson, Katherine M

2010-10-01

This paper presents the methods and results of a study designed to produce the third edition of the "Basic List of Veterinary Medical Serials," which was established by the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section in 1976 and last updated in 1986. A set of 238 titles were evaluated using a decision matrix in order to systematically assign points for both objective and subjective criteria and determine an overall score for each journal. Criteria included: coverage in four major indexes, scholarly impact rank as tracked in two sources, identification as a recommended journal in preparing for specialty board examinations, and a veterinary librarian survey rating. Of the 238 titles considered, a minimum scoring threshold determined the 123 (52%) journals that constituted the final list. The 36 subject categories represented on the list include general and specialty disciplines in veterinary medicine. A ranked list of journals and a list by subject category were produced. Serials appearing on the third edition of the "Basic List of Veterinary Medical Serials" met expanded objective measures of quality and impact as well as subjective perceptions of value by both librarians and veterinary practitioners.

Basic list of veterinary medical serials, third edition: using a decision matrix to update the core list of veterinary journals

PubMed Central

Ugaz, Ana G; Boyd, C. Trenton; Croft, Vicki F; Carrigan, Esther E; Anderson, Katherine M

2010-01-01

Objective: This paper presents the methods and results of a study designed to produce the third edition of the “Basic List of Veterinary Medical Serials,” which was established by the Veterinary Medical Libraries Section in 1976 and last updated in 1986. Methods: A set of 238 titles were evaluated using a decision matrix in order to systematically assign points for both objective and subjective criteria and determine an overall score for each journal. Criteria included: coverage in four major indexes, scholarly impact rank as tracked in two sources, identification as a recommended journal in preparing for specialty board examinations, and a veterinary librarian survey rating. Results: Of the 238 titles considered, a minimum scoring threshold determined the 123 (52%) journals that constituted the final list. The 36 subject categories represented on the list include general and specialty disciplines in veterinary medicine. A ranked list of journals and a list by subject category were produced. Conclusion: Serials appearing on the third edition of the “Basic List of Veterinary Medical Serials” met expanded objective measures of quality and impact as well as subjective perceptions of value by both librarians and veterinary practitioners. PMID:20936066

Gamut Volume Index: a color preference metric based on meta-analysis and optimized colour samples.

PubMed

Liu, Qiang; Huang, Zheng; Xiao, Kaida; Pointer, Michael R; Westland, Stephen; Luo, M Ronnier

2017-07-10

A novel metric named Gamut Volume Index (GVI) is proposed for evaluating the colour preference of lighting. This metric is based on the absolute gamut volume of optimized colour samples. The optimal colour set of the proposed metric was obtained by optimizing the weighted average correlation between the metric predictions and the subjective ratings for 8 psychophysical studies. The performance of 20 typical colour metrics was also investigated, which included colour difference based metrics, gamut based metrics, memory based metrics as well as combined metrics. It was found that the proposed GVI outperformed the existing counterparts, especially for the conditions where correlated colour temperatures differed.

Computer Literacy for Teachers.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

Sarapin, Marvin I.; Post, Paul E.

Basic concepts of computer literacy are discussed as they relate to industrial arts/technology education. Computer hardware development is briefly examined, and major software categories are defined, including database management, computer graphics, spreadsheet programs, telecommunications and networking, word processing, and computer assisted and…

Data Banks; Bibliography.

ERIC Educational Resources Information Center

van der Aa, H. J., Comp.; And Others

This 249 item, mostly annotated bibliography cites literature on the general themes of basic principles, hardware, software and application studies of data bases. The broad categories are principles, development possibilities, organizational design, bibliographies, economic aspects, data structure-design, file organization, programing, aviation,…

Dual mode operation, highly selective nanohole array-based plasmonic colour filters

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Fouladi Mahani, Fatemeh; Mokhtari, Arash; Mehran, Mahdiyeh

2017-09-01

Taking advantage of nanostructured metal films as plasmonic colour filters (PCFs) has been evolved remarkably as an alternative to the conventional technologies of chemical colour filtering. However, most of the proposed PCFs depict a poor colour purity focusing on generating either the additive or subtractive colours. In this paper, we present dual mode operation PCFs employing an opaque aluminium film patterned with sub-wavelength holes. Subtractive colours like cyan, magenta, and yellow are the results of reflection mode of these filters yielding optical efficiencies as high as 70%-80% and full width at half maximum of the stop-bands up to 40-50 nm. The colour selectivity of the transmission mode for the additive colours is also significant due to their enhanced performance through the utilization of a relatively thick aluminium film in contact with a modified dielectric environment. These filters provide a simple design with one-step lithography in addition to compatibility with the conventional CMOS processes. Moreover, they are polarization insensitive due to their symmetric geometry. A complete palette of pure subtractive and additive colours has been realized with potential applications, such as multispectral imaging, CMOS image sensors, displays, and colour printing.

New UBVRI colour distributions in E-type galaxies . I. The data

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Idiart, T. P.; Michard, R.; de Freitas Pacheco, J. A.

2002-01-01

New colour distributions have been derived from wide field UBVRI frames for 36 northern bright elliptical galaxies and a few lenticulars. The classical linear representations of colours against log r were derived, with some improvements in the accuracy of the zero point colours and of the gradients. The radial range of significant measurements was enlarged both towards the galaxy center and towards the outskirts of each object. Thus, the ``central colours'', integrated within a radius of 3\\arcsec, and the ``outermost colours'' averaged near the muV =24 surface brightness could also be obtained. Some typical deviations of colour profiles from linearity are described. Colour-colour relations of interest are presented. Very tight correlations are found between the U-V colour and the Mg2 line-index, measured either at the Galaxian center or at the effective radius. Based in part on observations collected at the Observatoire de Haute-Provence. Tables 9-11 plus detailed tables for each object are available in electronic form at the CDS via anonymous ftp to cdsarc.u-strasbg.fr (130.79.128.5) or via http://cdsweb.u-strasbg.fr/cgi-bin/qcat?J/A+A/383/30

Innate colour preferences of the Australian native stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria Sm.

PubMed

Dyer, Adrian G; Boyd-Gerny, Skye; Shrestha, Mani; Lunau, Klaus; Garcia, Jair E; Koethe, Sebastian; Wong, Bob B M

2016-10-01

Innate preferences promote the capacity of pollinators to find flowers. Honeybees and bumblebees have strong preferences for 'blue' stimuli, and flowers of this colour typically present higher nectar rewards. Interestingly, flowers from multiple different locations around the world independently have the same distribution in bee colour space. Currently, however, there is a paucity of data on the innate colour preferences of stingless bees that are often implicated as being key pollinators in many parts of the world. In Australia, the endemic stingless bee Tetragonula carbonaria is widely distributed and known to be an efficient pollinator of both native plants and agricultural crops. In controlled laboratory conditions, we tested the innate colour responses of naïve bees using standard broadband reflectance stimuli representative of common flower colours. Colorimetric analyses considering hymenopteran vision and a hexagon colour space revealed a difference between test colonies, and a significant effect of green contrast and an interaction effect of green contrast with spectral purity on bee choices. We also observed colour preferences for stimuli from the blue and blue-green categorical regions of colour space. Our results are discussed in relation to the similar distribution of flower colours observed from bee pollination around the world.

Dual mode operation, highly selective nanohole array-based plasmonic colour filters.

PubMed

Mahani, Fatemeh Fouladi; Mokhtari, Arash; Mehran, Mahdiyeh

2017-09-20

Taking advantage of nanostructured metal films as plasmonic colour filters (PCFs) has been evolved remarkably as an alternative to the conventional technologies of chemical colour filtering. However, most of the proposed PCFs depict a poor colour purity focusing on generating either the additive or subtractive colours. In this paper, we present dual mode operation PCFs employing an opaque aluminium film patterned with sub-wavelength holes. Subtractive colours like cyan, magenta, and yellow are the results of reflection mode of these filters yielding optical efficiencies as high as 70%-80% and full width at half maximum of the stop-bands up to 40-50 nm. The colour selectivity of the transmission mode for the additive colours is also significant due to their enhanced performance through the utilization of a relatively thick aluminium film in contact with a modified dielectric environment. These filters provide a simple design with one-step lithography in addition to compatibility with the conventional CMOS processes. Moreover, they are polarization insensitive due to their symmetric geometry. A complete palette of pure subtractive and additive colours has been realized with potential applications, such as multispectral imaging, CMOS image sensors, displays, and colour printing.

Superhump and outburst activity of the cataclysmic variable RZ LMi in the U- and optical passbands

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Shugarov, S. Y.; Katysheva, N. A.; Chochol, D.; Krushevska, V. N.; Vozyakova, O. V.

2018-05-01

An analysis of the new U,B,V,RC,IC-photometry of the cataclysmic variable RZ LMi obtained in 2016-17 showed the largest (U-B) colour excess in quiescence as well as during the decline of brightness, associated with the outbursts activity. The smallest (U-B) colour excess was found during the brightness increase from the quiescence. In contrast to the (U-B) colour index, the (B-V),(V-RC),(RC-IC) colour indices exhibits the largest colour excesses near the maximum of the outburst and the smallest during the quiescence. The (B-V) colour index showed also a large excess 1-2 days before a minimum. The detailed study of superhumps during the maximum of activity reveals the largest (U-B) colour excess at the time of the minimum brightness of superhumps. The (B-RC) colour index exhibits a similar behaviour, but with a phase shift of +0.1-{+}0.2 period of superhumps. The tracks in two-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams during superoutbursts are compared with the data for other cataclysmic variables during their outbursts as well as with published theoretical calculations.

Condition-dependence, pleiotropy and the handicap principle of sexual selection in melanin-based colouration.

PubMed

Roulin, Alexandre

2016-05-01

The signalling function of melanin-based colouration is debated. Sexual selection theory states that ornaments should be costly to produce, maintain, wear or display to signal quality honestly to potential mates or competitors. An increasing number of studies supports the hypothesis that the degree of melanism covaries with aspects of body condition (e.g. body mass or immunity), which has contributed to change the initial perception that melanin-based colour ornaments entail no costs. Indeed, the expression of many (but not all) melanin-based colour traits is weakly sensitive to the environment but strongly heritable suggesting that these colour traits are relatively cheap to produce and maintain, thus raising the question of how such colour traits could signal quality honestly. Here I review the production, maintenance and wearing/displaying costs that can generate a correlation between melanin-based colouration and body condition, and consider other evolutionary mechanisms that can also lead to covariation between colour and body condition. Because genes controlling melanic traits can affect numerous phenotypic traits, pleiotropy could also explain a linkage between body condition and colouration. Pleiotropy may result in differently coloured individuals signalling different aspects of quality that are maintained by frequency-dependent selection or local adaptation. Colouration may therefore not signal absolute quality to potential mates or competitors (e.g. dark males may not achieve a higher fitness than pale males); otherwise genetic variation would be rapidly depleted by directional selection. As a consequence, selection on heritable melanin-based colouration may not always be directional, but mate choice may be conditional to environmental conditions (i.e. context-dependent sexual selection). Despite the interest of evolutionary biologists in the adaptive value of melanin-based colouration, its actual role in sexual selection is still poorly understood. © 2015 Cambridge Philosophical Society.

The development of a colour liquid crystal display spatial light modulator and applications in polychromatic optical data processing

NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)

Aiken, John Charles

The development of a colour Spatial Light Modulator (SLM) and its application to optical information processing is described. Whilst monochrome technology has been established for many years, this is not the case for colour where commercial systems are unavailable. A main aspect of this study is therefore, how the use of colour can add an additional dimension to optical information processing. A well established route to monochrome system development has been the use of (black and white) liquid crystal televisions (LCTV) as SLM, providing useful performance at a low-cost. This study is based on the unique use of a colour display removed from a LCTV and operated as a colour SLM. A significant development has been the replacement of the original TV electronics operating the display with enhanced drive electronics specially developed for this application. Through a computer interface colour images from a drawing package or video camera can now be readily displayed on the LCD as input to an optical system. A detailed evaluation of the colour LCD optical properties, indicates that the new drive electronics have considerably improved the operation of the display for use as a colour SLM. Applications are described employing the use of colour in Fourier plane filtering, image correlation and speckle metrology. The SLM (and optical system) developed demonstrates, how the addition of colour has greatly enhanced its capabilities to implement principles of optical data processing, conventionally performed monochromatically. The hybrid combination employed, combining colour optical data processing with electronic techniques has resulted in a capable development system. Further development of the system using current colour LCDs and the move towards a portable system, is considered in the study conclusion.

Classification of pre-sliced pork and Turkey ham qualities based on image colour and textural features and their relationships with consumer responses.

PubMed

Iqbal, Abdullah; Valous, Nektarios A; Mendoza, Fernando; Sun, Da-Wen; Allen, Paul

2010-03-01

Images of three qualities of pre-sliced pork and Turkey hams were evaluated for colour and textural features to characterize and classify them, and to model the ham appearance grading and preference responses of a group of consumers. A total of 26 colour features and 40 textural features were extracted for analysis. Using Mahalanobis distance and feature inter-correlation analyses, two best colour [mean of S (saturation in HSV colour space), std. deviation of b*, which indicates blue to yellow in L*a*b* colour space] and three textural features [entropy of b*, contrast of H (hue of HSV colour space), entropy of R (red of RGB colour space)] for pork, and three colour (mean of R, mean of H, std. deviation of a*, which indicates green to red in L*a*b* colour space) and two textural features [contrast of B, contrast of L* (luminance or lightness in L*a*b* colour space)] for Turkey hams were selected as features with the highest discriminant power. High classification performances were reached for both types of hams (>99.5% for pork and >90.5% for Turkey) using the best selected features or combinations of them. In spite of the poor/fair agreement among ham consumers as determined by Kappa analysis (Kappa-value<0.4) for sensory grading (surface colour, colour uniformity, bitonality, texture appearance and acceptability), a dichotomous logistic regression model using the best image features was able to explain the variability of consumers' responses for all sensorial attributes with accuracies higher than 74.1% for pork hams and 83.3% for Turkey hams. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Statistical colour models: an automated digital image analysis method for quantification of histological biomarkers.

PubMed

Shu, Jie; Dolman, G E; Duan, Jiang; Qiu, Guoping; Ilyas, Mohammad

2016-04-27

Colour is the most important feature used in quantitative immunohistochemistry (IHC) image analysis; IHC is used to provide information relating to aetiology and to confirm malignancy. Statistical modelling is a technique widely used for colour detection in computer vision. We have developed a statistical model of colour detection applicable to detection of stain colour in digital IHC images. Model was first trained by massive colour pixels collected semi-automatically. To speed up the training and detection processes, we removed luminance channel, Y channel of YCbCr colour space and chose 128 histogram bins which is the optimal number. A maximum likelihood classifier is used to classify pixels in digital slides into positively or negatively stained pixels automatically. The model-based tool was developed within ImageJ to quantify targets identified using IHC and histochemistry. The purpose of evaluation was to compare the computer model with human evaluation. Several large datasets were prepared and obtained from human oesophageal cancer, colon cancer and liver cirrhosis with different colour stains. Experimental results have demonstrated the model-based tool achieves more accurate results than colour deconvolution and CMYK model in the detection of brown colour, and is comparable to colour deconvolution in the detection of pink colour. We have also demostrated the proposed model has little inter-dataset variations. A robust and effective statistical model is introduced in this paper. The model-based interactive tool in ImageJ, which can create a visual representation of the statistical model and detect a specified colour automatically, is easy to use and available freely at http://rsb.info.nih.gov/ij/plugins/ihc-toolbox/index.html . Testing to the tool by different users showed only minor inter-observer variations in results.

Language use statistics and prototypical grapheme colours predict synaesthetes' and non-synaesthetes' word-colour associations.

PubMed

Goodhew, Stephanie C; Kidd, Evan

2017-02-01

Synaesthesia is the neuropsychological phenomenon in which individuals experience unusual sensory associations, such as experiencing particular colours in response to particular words. While it was once thought the particular pairings between stimuli were arbitrary and idiosyncratic to particular synaesthetes, there is now growing evidence for a systematic psycholinguistic basis to the associations. Here we sought to assess the explanatory value of quantifiable lexical association measures (via latent semantic analysis; LSA) in the pairings observed between words and colours in synaesthesia. To test this, we had synaesthetes report the particular colours they experienced in response to given concept words, and found that language association between the concept and colour words provided highly reliable predictors of the reported pairings. These results provide convergent evidence for a psycholinguistic basis to synaesthesia, but in a novel way, showing that exposure to particular patterns of associations in language can predict the formation of particular synaesthetic lexical-colour associations. Consistent with previous research, the prototypical synaesthetic colour for the first letter of the word also played a role in shaping the colour for the whole word, and this effect also interacted with language association, such that the effect of the colour for the first letter was stronger as the association between the concept word and the colour word in language increased. Moreover, when a group of non-synaesthetes were asked what colours they associated with the concept words, they produced very similar reports to the synaesthetes that were predicted by both language association and prototypical synaesthetic colour for the first letter of the word. This points to a shared linguistic experience generating the associations for both groups. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Categorial Compositionality II: Universal Constructions and a General Theory of (Quasi-)Systematicity in Human Cognition

PubMed Central

Phillips, Steven; Wilson, William H.

2011-01-01

A complete theory of cognitive architecture (i.e., the basic processes and modes of composition that together constitute cognitive behaviour) must explain the systematicity property—why our cognitive capacities are organized into particular groups of capacities, rather than some other, arbitrary collection. The classical account supposes: (1) syntactically compositional representations; and (2) processes that are sensitive to—compatible with—their structure. Classical compositionality, however, does not explain why these two components must be compatible; they are only compatible by the ad hoc assumption (convention) of employing the same mode of (concatenative) compositionality (e.g., prefix/postfix, where a relation symbol is always prepended/appended to the symbols for the related entities). Architectures employing mixed modes do not support systematicity. Recently, we proposed an alternative explanation without ad hoc assumptions, using category theory. Here, we extend our explanation to domains that are quasi-systematic (e.g., aspects of most languages), where the domain includes some but not all possible combinations of constituents. The central category-theoretic construct is an adjunction involving pullbacks, where the primary focus is on the relationship between processes modelled as functors, rather than the representations. A functor is a structure-preserving map (or construction, for our purposes). An adjunction guarantees that the only pairings of functors are the systematic ones. Thus, (quasi-)systematicity is a necessary consequence of a categorial cognitive architecture whose basic processes are functors that participate in adjunctions. PMID:21857816

Physical Fitness and Depressive Symptoms during Army Basic Combat Training

PubMed Central

Crowley, Shannon K.; Wilkinson, Larrell L.; Wigfall, Lisa T.; Reynolds, Alexandria M.; Muraca, Stephanie T.; Glover, Saundra H.; Wooten, Nikki R.; Sui, Xuemei; Beets, Michael W.; Durstine, J. Larry; Newman-Norlund, Roger D.; Youngstedt, Shawn D.

2014-01-01

Introduction Mental health-related problems are a significant cause of attrition during Basic Combat Training (BCT). Evidence in civilian populations suggests that physical fitness is associated with psychological benefits in civilians, but little is known about the association between physical fitness and psychological adjustment during BCT. Methods This study prospectively examined the association between physical fitness and depressive symptoms in 300 BCT soldiers from May to July, 2012 at Fort Jackson, Columbia, SC. Soldiers completed a baseline Army Physical Fitness Test (APFT) and survey within one week of arriving at BCT, and an end of cycle survey after eight weeks of BCT. Soldiers were assigned to the “high” fitness category if they had a passing score on the standard APFT of greater than or equal to 180 points out of 300 points. Soldiers scoring less than 180 points on the APFT were assigned to the “ low” fitness category. Depressive symptoms were measured using the 20-item Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale. Results In multivariate analyses, adjusting for baseline demographics, self-reported sleep prior to BCT, BCT confidence, Army identification, and depressive symptoms, the odds of reporting depressive symptoms were 60% lower for soldiers in the high fitness category (odds ratio, OR 0.40; 95% confidence interval, CI 0.19–0.84), compared to soldiers in the low fitness category. Conclusions Analogous to other positive outcomes of soldier fitness, improvement of soldier physical fitness prior to BCT might improve soldiers' psychological health outcomes. PMID:24870581

Accommodating Ontologies to Biological Reality—Top-Level Categories of Cumulative-Constitutively Organized Material Entities

PubMed Central

Vogt, Lars; Grobe, Peter; Quast, Björn; Bartolomaeus, Thomas

2012-01-01

Background The Basic Formal Ontology (BFO) is a top-level formal foundational ontology for the biomedical domain. It has been developed with the purpose to serve as an ontologically consistent template for top-level categories of application oriented and domain reference ontologies within the Open Biological and Biomedical Ontologies Foundry (OBO). BFO is important for enabling OBO ontologies to facilitate in reliably communicating and managing data and metadata within and across biomedical databases. Following its intended single inheritance policy, BFO's three top-level categories of material entity (i.e. ‘object’, ‘fiat object part’, ‘object aggregate’) must be exhaustive and mutually disjoint. We have shown elsewhere that for accommodating all types of constitutively organized material entities, BFO must be extended by additional categories of material entity. Methodology/Principal Findings Unfortunately, most biomedical material entities are cumulative-constitutively organized. We show that even the extended BFO does not exhaustively cover cumulative-constitutively organized material entities. We provide examples from biology and everyday life that demonstrate the necessity for ‘portion of matter’ as another material building block. This implies the necessity for further extending BFO by ‘portion of matter’ as well as three additional categories that possess portions of matter as aggregate components. These extensions are necessary if the basic assumption that all parts that share the same granularity level exhaustively sum to the whole should also apply to cumulative-constitutively organized material entities. By suggesting a notion of granular representation we provide a way to maintain the single inheritance principle when dealing with cumulative-constitutively organized material entities. Conclusions/Significance We suggest to extend BFO to incorporate additional categories of material entity and to rearrange its top-level material entity taxonomy. With these additions and the notion of granular representation, BFO would exhaustively cover all top-level types of material entities that application oriented ontologies may use as templates, while still maintaining the single inheritance principle. PMID:22253856

Morpho-colorimetric analysis and seed germination of Brassica insularis Moris (Brassicaceae) populations.

PubMed

Santo, A; Mattana, E; Grillo, O; Bacchetta, G

2015-03-01

Brassica insularis is a perennial plant growing on both coastal and inland cliffs. Three seed lots from Sardinia were analysed using an image analysis system to detect differences in seed morphology, both within and among populations. Germination requirements at constant (5-25 °C) and alternating temperatures (25/10 °C), both in light and in darkness, were evaluated for all populations. In addition, the effect of a dry after-ripening period (90 days at 25 °C) was also investigated. Morpho-colorimetric analysis clearly identified seeds from different populations and discriminated three chromatic categories for seeds belonging to the Isola dei Cavoli coastal population, but not for the inland Masùa and the coastal Planu Sartu. Inter-population variability was also observed in germination behaviour. B. insularis seeds germinated, with percentages up to 60%, in a wide range of temperatures (5-25 °C), and neither light nor dry after-ripening affected final germination percentages. Moisture content measurements were made for seeds of each colour, but there were no particular differences among colours. Inter-populational variability in germination behaviour may be a survival strategy for species growing under unpredictable environmental conditions, such as under Mediterranean climate, while heteromorphy may be due to independent evolutionary divergence processes of the Isola dei Cavoli population. © 2014 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.

Colour blindness does not preclude fame as an artist: celebrated Australian artist Clifton Pugh was a protanope.

PubMed

Cole, Barry L; Harris, Ross W

2009-09-01

The aim was to make a posthumous diagnosis of the abnormal colour vision of the acclaimed artist Clifton Pugh and to analyse his use of colours to discern the strategies he used to overcome his limited colour perception. A pedigree of Pugh's family was constructed by searching public records. Pugh had no daughters but he had two older brothers, one of whom was still living. We tested the colour vision of this brother and one of his daughters and one of his grandsons. Three children of the other brother were questioned about the colour vision of their father and one daughter was tested for heterozygosity with the Medmont C100. Four observers with normal colour vision categorised the colours used by Pugh in a sample of 59 of his paintings. Protanopic transformations of some of these paintings were made using the Vischeck algorithms to gain an appreciation of how Pugh saw his own paintings. The validity of the transformations was tested by asking a protanope to report if the transformations looked the same as the normal colour images of 10 of Pugh's paintings. Pugh's brother was a severe protan. His daughter showed Schmidt's sign and was a carrier of the protan gene and her son was a protanope. The oldest brother was reported as having normal colour vision. Therefore, it is almost certain that Clifton Pugh was a protanope. Pugh used all colours in his paintings but preferred to structure them on brown, black and blue or, for high key paintings, on cream or flesh colours. He used greens and purples sparingly. The protanopic Vischeck transformations did not always look the same as the normal colour image for the protanope observer. A severe colour vision deficiency does not preclude success as a painter. It is a handicap but there are strategies artists can use to overcome it.

New model for colour kinetics of plum under infrared vacuum condition and microwave drying.

PubMed

Chayjan, Reza Amiri; Alaei, Behnam

2016-01-01

Quality of dried foods is affected by the drying method and physiochemical changes in tissue. The drying method affects properties such as colour. The colour of processed food is one of the most important quality indices and plays a determinant role in consumer acceptability of food materials and the processing method. The colour of food materials can be used as an indirect factor to determine changes in quality, since it is simpler and faster than chemical methods. The study focused on the kinetics of colour changes of plum slices, under infrared vacuum and microwave conditions. Drying the samples was implemented at the absolute pressures of 20 and 60 kPa, drying temperatures of 50 and 60°C and microwave power of 90, 270, 450 and 630 W. Colour changes were quantified by the tri-stimulus L* (whiteness/darkness), a* (redness/greenness) and b* (yellowness/blueness) model, which is an international standard for color measurement developed by the Commission Internationale d'Eclairage (CIE). These values were also used to calculate total colour change (∆E), chroma, hue angle, and browning index (BI). A new model was used for mathematical modelling of colour change kinetics. The drying process changed the colour parameters of L*, a*, and b*, causing a colour shift toward the darker region. The values of L* and hue angle decreased, whereas the values of a*, b*, ∆E, chroma and browning index increased during exposure to infrared vacuum conditions and microwave drying. Comparing the results obtained using the new model with two conventional models of zero-order and first-order kinetics indicated that the new model presented more compatibility with the data of colour kinetics for all colour parameters and drying conditions. All kinetic changes in colour parameters can be explained by the new model presented in this study. The hybrid drying system included infrared vacuum conditions and microwave power for initial slow drying of plum slices and provided the desired results for colour change.